Intermezzo) Soul Searching: Yamaki
(According to the Network Administration Bureau, the appearance of a gigantic life form known as a digimon that caused heavy damage in Shinjuku was an isolated incident and is not expected to be repeated. The General Communications Office has assured that an investigation is ongoing, and that short term measures are being implemented to avoid any future issues... On to other news. Police officials are asking the public for assistance in finding a missing child. Ten year old Ruki Makino, who was last seen in her own home ...)
It was 10:00AM and Mitsou Yamaki was still sitting on the love seat of his apartment. The TV was on, but he was paying no attention. He looked off to the twin towers of the Hypnos building. The sight taunted him silently. He was out; it was his place of former employment. He was an even bigger failure than Capt. Satsuma RentarÅ. He, at least, had not been fired despite the failure of DATS to keep the public unaware of the existence of digimon. They did not blame him after the climax of a civil war in the Digital World had spilled onto the streets of Tokyo. He, and his DATS team, had been offered plum assignments in other specialties after DATS lost its raison d'etre.
Too late did he realize how he'd been set up. After the rampage of that gigantic pig through the streets of Shinjuku, every politician, every bureaucrat, had looked the cameras in the eye and denied everything. They denied all knowledge of Shaggai. Yamaki didn't need their approval because he was "testing" the new system. They did not deny he had the leeway to develop Hypnos in this manner. They regretted Yamaki's irresponsible handling of that developmental leeway. They placed all the blame for the materialization of that pig squarely in his lap. They were saying Hypnos had materialized the enormous beast, and that Yamaki's irresponsibility and incompenence allowed that to happen. There was talk of possible criminal indictments, of a special inquiry before the Diet.
All those whom he believed he could count on, every last one, had thrown him to the wolves as they covered their own asses. Nor could he defend himself, as he didn't keep records of the conversations. He didn't believe he'd need to do so. They led him to believe they shared his doubts as to the wisdom of allowing unrestricted emigration out of the Digital World, that it was an invasion in progress that threatened, not only the country, but the future of humanity itself.
They were blaming him for that rampage. The threats coming from that digimon God had been widely heard. Now, they were saying that the digimon were justified in making those threats because Yamaki and Hypnos attacked them first. No one told his side of the story: that he was reacting to an invasion, that he tried to warn them off with the Yuggoth program, that Shaggai was his answer to what he could only believe was malevolent intent after they defeated a purely defensive measure.
His live-in fiancee, Megumi, entered the room: "What's going to happen now?", she asked as she stepped in front of the table opposite Yamaki.
"We did everything we could. There's nothing we can do anymore...", he replied as he still looked off into the distance.
"That's not what I'm talking about. What are you going to do? I'm worried about you. You can't mope around here your whole life. You did your best; you did what you thought right".
Yamaki was on his second pack of cigarettes and third Scotch. He'd been like this ever since getting the bad news that he was going to be replaced.
"You need to pull yourself together, and consider your future career plans..."
He was only half listening. What career? From now on, what would he put on his resume? He'd forever be known for bringing destruction to Shinjuku. Who would ever trust him around a computer ever again?
"Are you hearing me?", she asked. She got no answer. "You can be so exasperating at times!", she said, as she turned to go.
Alone with his thoughts once more. He had to admit the truth to himself. He told the Wild Bunch that his main concern was the safety of the children. He told the politicians his main motivation was protecting the country from invasion. Those were lies, they had always been lies, even if he was close to convincing himself otherwise.
What Shibumi saw as a promise, he saw as a threat: that, one day, the digimon would replace humanity. The very thought that anything, anywhere, any time would ever replace such a magnificent being as Man was revolting. That the digimon claimed repeatedly that they, like maturing children, had out grown their "parents", that they had their own God now, he took very personally.
Yamaki had to admit that truth he dare not speak, not even to his fiancee, he wanted to destroy the digimon out of pure, unadulterated, anthropocentric hatred. Punish them for the effrontery of becoming the equals of their creators: he, Mitsou Yamaki, was the Judge, Jury, and High Executioner of the Digital World. The arrogance had come so naturally he didn't even recognize it at the time, how he treated everyone around him. He knew he needed friends and allies, but had given none of them any reason why they would want to help him.
He turned to his laptop that rested amidst a mess spread out on the coffee table. He brought up his dossier on Takato.
"I thought you were going to clean up this mess for brunch?", Megumi said.
"Uhhhhh", he grunted out an acknowledgment of her presence.
"What are you doing now?', she asked.
"Planning my next career move", he said without looking up.
It was another bitter pill to swallow, and he needed another slug of Scotch to wash it down. His career, his future, were in the hands of three ten year old elementary school children, and one ill-tempered eighteen year old between high school and university. He had given none of them any reason why they would want to help him, and plenty of reasons not to. He recalled how he and Takato, he and Jenyra, and he and Koichi had gotten off to rotten starts.
His fate, his life, were in the hands of the Tamers.
"That Koichi is going to be a problem", he told himself. "I'm not gonna put one past him, and I'm not even gonna try".
He knew what they were planning. He knew what was the responsible, adult thing to do. He decided differently.