24) Juri's Desire
The green beams from the twin towers, seemed to hit an unseen barrier. Right above the towers, a yellow glow appeared, from which emanated green ripples. Shaggai had been deployed once more.
The three Ultimates faced down Vikaralamon, who stopped his advance. They just stood there, eyeing each other...
(The creature that just appeared in Shinjuku is now advancing down Meiji Ave. An evacuation has been declared for all citizens living in Shinjuku...)
"Uhhhhh...", Takehero sighed as TV coverage was interrupted. His neighbors were gathering outside their homes and places of business.
"Do not panic and move along in an orderly manner", a police man was announcing to the departing crowds. "Follow all instructions of emergency personnel and everything will be alright", he called out his reassurance.
"The phone's out too", Yoshi called to her husband. "Where's Takato?", she asked. "You have everything we need?", she called back to her husband.
"Yeah, everything's ready. You go on ahead, look for a place for us to stay. I'll wait here until Takato comes home, then we'll join you", he explained.
"If you're staying, I'm staying. I'm sure Takato will be worried if he comes back, and we're not here..."
"The Matsuda family?", it was a police man. "Please", he said, "you have to leave at once".
"But our son isn't back yet", Yoshi explained. "We can't just go and leave him alone".
"Understood, but don't wait too long. It isn't safe here".
"Thank you for your concern. He shouldn't be too long", Takehero said.
The two cops ran off to check on more neighbors.
"We're wasting time here", Yoshi announced.
"We're not waiting any longer", Takehero agreed. "we'll find him ourselves"
"I think he plays around here", Takehero said.
"Maybe up there?", as she pointed to Guilmon's shed.
They went to check it out, but there was no Takato here. He picked up an empty sack.
"This is from the bakery", he pointed out. "What could he be doing up here?"
Meiji Ave
"Rapid Fire!", Rapidmon struck the first blow, launching the RPGs at the boar Deva. All that did was get his attention, as he fired back with his Boar Bog: a foul smelling, black, sticky mass of sludge.
"I... I can't move!", Rapidmon complained as he was engulfed by the foul smelling mess.
"Bonhitsusen!", Taomon fired off her main attack, clearing away the sludge.
"Thanks, Taomon", he replied.
"This Deva... I'm afraid our power won't be enough", Taomon told him.
Next up, it was Megalogrowlmon, who was growling at the pig Deva. Again, it struck with its Boar Bog; this time, Megalogrowlmon slashed his way clear with his Plasma Blades.
He screamed at it as he fired his rocket packs, intending to drive the huge boar back. Vikaralamon's eyes glowed bright red. There was an orange glow at the back of his throat. He fired off an orange fireball...
"Megalogrowlmon!", Takato called out.
Whatever this attack was, it engulfed Megalogrowlmon, trapping him inside, pinning him to the ground.
"Can you get up?!", Takato called out.
"Ta...ka...to", Megalogrowlmon said, as he struggled against the fireball.
Takato came running: "Megalogrowlmon! Stand! Get up!", he encouraged.
Vikaralamon fired more Boar Bog at both Taomon and Rapidmon. This time, both were engulfed and trapped.
By this time, whatever the pig Deva was doing, had ripped open the sky, exposing the Frontier. Digimon of all sorts were gathering on their side to watch the show. It was also keeping the SDF choppers at a distance.
"Why?", Jen asked. "Why is this happening?!", he called out.
"Jen!", Koichi called back. "Get it together! Our partners need us right now!", as he pulled out a card.
"Yes, of course", Jen replied, taking out the same card.
Hypnos
"Shaggai's network control has reached the Fourth Layer", Megumi announced.
"Can we really do this?", her partner asked.
"Don't you think it's heretical for humans to play God by trying to create life?", Yamaki taunted Janyu. So much for his lying promises of not blaming the Wild Bunch. He activated the main viewer, displaying the scenes of devastation.
"This is the end result of all your work", Yamaki announced.
Meiji Ave
Megalogrowlmon was still struggling against that fireball: "Megalogrowlmon?", Takato asked more to himself than to his partner.
"Fate's Glow: digimodify!", Jen and Koichi scanned their cards.
A white light began to appear within the black sludge. Taomon and Rapidmon easily freed themselves from the mess.
"Rajas!", Taomon threw the digitizoid blade that sliced cleanly through the Boar Bog, clearing the way for Rapidmon.
"Rapid Fire!", he released all the ordinance, targeting it on the Deva's mouth. The missiles and RPGs flew down his throat. Flames shot from his mouth and nose. He reared back, roaring in agony, then dropped to the street.
"We can defeat him, Jen!", he called out.
"Huh?", he said to himself: "Jen! Something's wrong here! I... I'm losing power?!"
"On!", Taomon created her force field: "Rapidmon! Inside now!", she ordered.
"What's going on?", Jen asked. Those green ripples were just now passing overhead.
"What do you think?", Koichi told him, "Hypnos fuckery. I expected something like this"
Hypnos
"Shaggai's network control has reached the Physical Layer", Megumi announced.
Yamaki laughed: "I'm not like the rest of you. I know how to use the power I have!"
Janyu said nothing, just turned to leave.
"There's nothing you can do now!", Yamaki taunted him.
Actually, there was one thing he could do, even if it wasn't much.
A couple of rent-a-cops came running: "Exiting the area is prohibited!", they warned Janyu. He pretended not to notice.
"You hear us?! We said..."
Janyu flattened the both of them before they knew what hit them. "Jenyra!", he called out. He, at least, could be there for his son when he lost his partner...
Meiji Ave
"Takato!", Koichi shook him, "snap out of it!"
This was the one thing he didn't need right now: Takato's slipping into one of his periodic funks. "Remember what Yamaki's dossier on you said? Prone to depressive episodes? We need you. Your partner needs you!"
"Is this what evolution means?", he asked. "When they get bigger, become stronger, they aren't friends any more?"
"Hell're you talkin' about? It doesn't matter how big and strong Taomon becomes. She's still Renamon: my friend... my lover!", Koichi told him.
"There has to be a reason why they grow bigger and stronger", Jen said.
"A reason?", Takato asked.
Those green "ripples" broke up into green arcs that straightened out. These green lines projected a green beam earthward, targeting every digimon. Vikaralamon began to "phase out". Unfortunately, so was every other digimon.
"The shield is disappearing!", Rapidmon called out.
"There is a power that's deleting our very existence", Taomon replied.
For Megalogrowlmon, Vikaralamon's fireball, intended for destruction, became an instrument of preservation.
Kazu, Kenta, Juri and Calumon saw the same phenomenon.
"Scared, culu?!", he said as he tried to bury himself deeper in Juri's arms. "Calumon doesn't remember, culu?!"
"What is it, Calumon?", Juri asked.
"Yeah, what is it?', Kazu asked.
"Who are you talking too... or about?", Kenta asked.
Hypnos
"The situation is well under control", Yamaki was reporting. "I'm glad to live up to your expectations...", he was telling his main sponsor, the one who had gotten him the approval for Shaggai.
"Yamaki, sir!", one of the techs called out, as the view screen filled with ones 'n' zeros.
"What is this?!", he demanded. "A bug?"
"No, sir", Megumi explained. "it's coming from the network's deepest layer"
"More binary?", Yamaki asked. "Is it another counter measure?
"No. Streaming audio. Putting it on the main screen now..."
Attention! Attention! To the humans who created us: you are no longer a God to us digimon. You have interfered in our world, uninvited and unwanted. We have the right to life; we have the right to pursue our own evolutions in our own way. We have the right to defend our world. We will eliminate those who would deny us our evolution and our lives. It's only natural.
"What?!", Yamaki asked. "How dare they..."
Meiji Ave
"What the hell are you saying?", Kazu asked of that strange boy. Everything Yamaki heard in the control room was also being said by this boy.
The Flood Diversion Tunnel
Icedevimon had led Ruki back here. She stood before a shimmering wall of light. It resembled that anomaly she'd seen, back when Renamon was still her partner, reminding of her debt of honour to Guilmon. She reluctantly joined Takato and Jen to rescue Guilmon. This was different in that it filled the whole tunnel, floor-to-ceiling, wall-to-wall. It didn't look as solid, and seemed to recede into the distance.
"Do you want to be the strongest Tamer, Ruki?" The voice seemed to be coming from behind whatever this wall of light was.
"You... you know my name? Who are you?", she asked.
"We are Evolution, Ruki. Do you want to Tame just one digimon, or do you desire to Tame multitudes? Are you content to play card games, to play at digibattles, or do you desire real power? Your reign as the Digimon Queen awaits..."
Meiji Ave
That "boy" was casually walking toward Juri, chuckling softly.
"Don't...", she started.
He turned his head through 360 degrees: "Your turn!", he challenged.
Juri and Calumon both screamed.
"Stay back!", Kazu demanded. "What the fuck are you?", he asked. "You're disgusting!"
One of those green beams hit him, stripping from his disguise. It was obvious he was a digimon who was patterned after a monkey. He immediately launched a sonic attack that enabled him to escape.
"My shield won't hold out for much longer", Taomon announced.
"What should we do?", Rapidmon asked.
"If your plan's gonna work", Jen was complaining, "it had better do so and damned soon! Otherwise, we lose all the digimon!"
"Not to panic", he said as he opened his lap top. He brought up his special app...
Hypnos
Klaxons blared. "Lightening" flashed across the walls, knocking off loose tiles.
"What's happening!", Yamaki demanded.
"Shaggai... it's been controlled", one tech was explaining. "Shaggai is attacking itself".
"How is that possible? Wasn't the Icewall supposed to prevent this?!"
"It doesn't look like it's coming from the Digital World. It's something else... It's getting dangerous here; we should go"
The digital warp field generators were overloading as severely as suddenly.
"Get back here, Mister, you have a job to do!", Yamaki demanded.
"Ask yourself one question", the tech paused, "is it really just an artificial intelligence? Those scientists from the old days... how I envy them", he said as he left against orders. Megumi, alone, waited.
"Go, save yourself", Yamaki said in resignation.
"Sir..."
"Go now. Go, please"
In the subbasement, the overloaded generators exploded. Outside, the distribution transformer was protesting with a loud 50Hz hum as its core saturated, causing it to draw even more current worsening the overheating, its cooling oil began to boil. A pressure relief valve opened, spraying the hot oil everywhere. Without its cooling oil, the windings burnt out, shorted, and the transformer exploded. A tongue of flame shot up through the grate in the sidewalk. Fortunately, no one was standing nearby.
Yamaki rethought his intention to go down with the ship, as the lights went out and the emergency lights took over. He followed his techs out of the building. Outside, he watched the thick black smoke pouring out of the main doors and up through the sidewalk grate. The fire in the basement lab was still burning; Yamaki watched, knowing his career was going up in the same flames.
Meiji Ave
"Jenyra!", Janyu called out. He was just now arriving. "You should go! It's dangerous here!"
"Taomon!", Koichi called out.
"The impure energy that was weakening us is gone", she said.
It was also gone from Vikaralamon as well. The boar Deva roared with renewed vigour, his connection with the Digital World renewed and intensified.
The SDF helicopter gunships were engaging the target with air-to-surface missiles. All that accomplished was to draw the Deva's attention, as he fired one of those orange bursts at the chopper. The pilot barely dodged in time, as the ball flew into a nearby building before exploding. They had no choice but to back off, as their ordnance was ineffective.
"Takato!", it was Juri calling from across the street.
"Stay there!", Takato called back.
"That weird boy", Juri began, "he was a digimon all along!"
"And he was saying some weird shit", Kazu added.
"Janyu crossed the street: "Children, it's dangerous here. Hurry up and get away!"
"Jen?", Takato said. "You said once that digimon are friends, right?"
"Yes, they are our friends", he agreed.
"And friends always help friends, don't they?"
"That's why we're here: to help our friends"
"What're you driving at?", Koichi asked.
He said nothing, as he went to stand before Megalogrowlmon and that fireball. He said nothing, just started screaming. That was it: just screaming for all he was worth.
"Hell's he doin'?", Koichi asked.
He had his answer as Megalogrowlmon suddenly burst through the fireball that had held him captive up till now. He stood, and fired his rocket pack, as he threw himself at the Deva. Vikaralamon fired off another orange burst, but this time, he slashed his way through it.
Megalogrowlmon was pushing the massive form backwards, overcoming the boar's strength with his own. He succeeded in elevating his head. He fired a burst of those fireballs. They flew uselessly into the sky where Rapidmon shot them down before they could drop into the city, causing even more damage.
"Bonhitsusen!", Taomon attacked that connection Vikaralamon had with the Digital World, weakening him further as it was severed. Megalogrowlmon succeeded in tipping the massive beast over. He fired an Atomic Blaster down his throat at point blank range. The boar Deva roared, then burst into data. As he did so, he left behind a crater that was as wide as the street.
"Could this be...", Janyu said to himself, "...the real Digital Monsters?"
Takato stood in the middle of the street, hands on knees, bent over trying to catch his breathe.
"Takato!", Juri called out. Now that the danger was over, she and the others were running to join him.
"Huh?', she barely got out, it happened so fast. That monkey digimon had snatched Calumon out of her hands.
"Calumon!", she called out.
That monkey digimon had him under one arm: "we require this to evolve to higher levels".
"What're you talking about?!", Jen called out.
"I shall take it back to where it belongs"
"Calumon isn't a thing!", Takato protested. "He's out friend. Leave our friend alone!", Takato challenged, as he tried to tackle that monkey. He missed, landing in the street.
The Frontier was still exposed, but closing rapidly. That monkey digimon leaped for the Frontier.
"Calumon!", Takato called out.
"Leomon!", Juri pointed as he leaped from the roof of an office building.
"Everyone has the right to live their own lives their own way!", he challenged the "monkey". It did little good, as that monkey easily swatted him away.
From behind the Frontier there appeared the silhouette of a large black bird. As Leomon fell, it fired dozens of white "needles" at him, piercing him, as he dropped into the street.
"LEOOOO-MONNNN!", Juri called out. As she reached out, a white ball of light formed. She took it as it burst, revealing a digivice.
Janyu was standing beside her at the time: "An... Ark?", he asked himself.
She pointed it at Leomon, and those "needles" disappeared. It looked like he was going to be OK. Juri finally had the partner she wanted ever since seeing him materialize in the park, ever since learning of Guilmon's existence as a physical being.
The "monkey" disappeared with the Frontier; the sky looked as normal as though nothing had ever happened.
"Everything's ruined", Takato said as they surveyed the damage. It was like watching the news of wars in some Third World country. He never expected to see his own hometown looking like this.
"Like a war zone", Jen said.
"Which it is", Koichi agreed. "Now with Calumon gone... He held the power of Evolution... if that power falls into the wrong hands..."
"Then we have no choice!", Takato announced. "We get him back! We rescue our friend!"
"How...", Jen began.
"We go to the Digital World, and we get him back!"
"How?", Koichi asked.
"We find a way", Takato insisted.
Ther SDF helicoperr gunships were returning. Taomon "teleported" away, Rapidmon flew off, and Megalogrowlmon stepper to the crater, and began to tunnel his way to a quick escape.
Janyu and Koichi hustled the rest of the Tamers and their friends from the scene. No sense in allowing them to fall into the hands oif the SDF, who was sure to demand answers and explanations they didn't really have.