Garmmon=KendoGarurumon
Chapter 42: Digital World: Dark Evolution Final
The girl didn't look good.
The bits and parts of her that very still visible, that is. Her arms were swallowed by black mass, her torso was only a hair's breath -maybe a few hours- away from following, her head was absorbed pas her ears, up to the cheeks. She hardly looked human any more.
The digimon whose body Koji had borrowed, with her consent at the time, was getting more and more fanatic as time passed, even though since Koji had taken her body, she wasn't even conscious enough to form coherent thoughts.
It said a great deal about the connection between digimon and their partners. Stuck as closely to one of them as he was, Koji wondered what it would be like, having someone connected to him like that. Koji had his Spirits and Koichi and he couldn't imagine something closer or more connected than that, but that was the thing.
What was it like, caring so much about someone who wasn't connected by digital or real flesh and blood?
The others didn't count.
They had their own Spirits and the friendship that was between them had always been prompted by the ages their Spirits had spent together. Not that they had known that for a long time. Not that it was a bad thing.
But it was different and Koji was curious about this bond that hadn't had as much time to grow and was still strong enough to influence Koji's normal calm and clear state of mind.
Or at least that was what he told himself to keep his thoughts away from the nervous, almost panic like anxiousness that was swamping him from Gatomon.
Distraction wise, it didn't help much.
Koji didn't even have enough emotional space left for his own mounting tension.
The time was running short.
He tried to twitch a finger.
Send: minutes ago
To TK, Patamon, Cody, Armadimon (and Koichi, if you are there),
I don't know about that shadow thing, but if you want to know if something isn't right with Koichi, there is a very simple test. Simple. If I were you, I wouldn't try it unless there was really no other choice, though. It's dangerous. Make him evolve. If he evolves to Duskmon or Velgemon run for the hills and yes, there was something wrong. (I wouldn't bet on you coming out alive otherwise.) I'd really, really say you better only do that when there is enough force around to subdue him, though. Maybe once we all met up at the castle. Seriously.
From Takuya and Sora
"This isn't exactly good news," TK said, flipping his D-terminal shut, "and it doesn't really help us either."
Cody had his knees pulled up to this chest, his back resting against a wall as they rested on the cold stones of the ruins. "He doesn't seem to be fine even without this test. We don't really know him well, but this isn't normal for anyone."
"But then, he isn't exactly human," pointed TK out, even though he did agree. "I don't know if it's normal for some digimon."
The younger boy stared at Koichi, flickers of guilt and regret crossing his face. "Right."
They rested in silence for a while, TK's thoughts turning around his own feelings on the failure of all of them. Like the others, TK hadn't known it was possible to quite literally lose their humanity, but when it had come out, he had, beyond the shock and guilt, been angry. Now, he felt little of the first two and still a bit of the latter. Some directed at himself, some directed at Takuya and Koichi.
"I don't think their choices are our responsibility," he said at length, stroking Patamon between his shoulder blades. "Takuya, Koichi and even Tommy made their own choices. That isn't our fault. And who knows, if not then, they might would have had to make the same choices now. We offered our help, they didn't ask even for advice. And perhaps we could have done some things better, but in the end, that choice they made was none but their own." He looked away from his partner, first to the black haired teen sitting empty faced and silent some feet away from them, then to Cody, whose expression was pained.
"But maybe if we had asked for more details, we could have stopped them. Or if we had searched better and found them before they were even captured. Maybe if we would have done more, they would have believed in us enough to wait for other chances. Maybe they wouldn't have had to bargain with the few things they had for power." Cody ducked his faces closer to his knees, his shoulders hunched.
They should have talked to each other more, but they hadn't and so no one had done anything to change.
"Or maybe they would have," said TK and Patamon nodded his agreement. "When I think about it, the more I see it like suicide. We were there to offer our help. We were there to give advice. We would have done everything we could, but they didn't even let it get so far. There was hope, but Takuya and Koichi didn't see it and took the jump." He paused for a moment and trying to find the words to fit his feelings. Maybe he still did feel guilty after all. "If anything, that is our burden to bear. But it is not our fault, the decision they made took this form."
Cody was silent, his face unreadable, but at least the guilt was gone. Or hidden. Steadily, the young boy became more thoughtful. "What does it even mean," he voiced quietly, "that they aren't human anymore." He gazed at Koichi. "Koichi looks human and from what I know, he used to behave human as well. So what's the difference?" Koichi showed no sign of listening, answering or consciousness even though he had been walking with them for hours. Even now, when they were talking about him, about them, about things that felt immensely private to TK.
"You are right, come to think of it." Startled that he had never considered it, TK looked at Patamon, who also just shrugged his little shoulders. "I don't know. What could be the difference?" What made a digimon a digimon? "There is evolution for one."
"But they could do that before as well, Gennai said."
"That was with Digivice, though," TK remembered. "What else is there?"
Again, silence fell, disturbed only by their breathing and Armadimon's scales grating against the stones as he rolled on his back to let Cody rub his belly.
"Eggs."
TK startled at the sudden interruption. "Excuse me?"
Cody shifted unhappily. "Digieggs. When digimon die, their data gets scattered and become parts of new eggs, right?"
For a long moment, TK didn't grasp the meaning of what Cody was saying, then eyes widening in horror, he stared at Koichi.
Death. Death was the end of every life, and what came beyond death was one of the greatest questions of existence. No one knew, at least for humans. Religions and cultures fought about it and it has been questioned for as long as humans existed. No one knew. If there was an afterlife. Rebirth. Nothingness. Ghosts. It was definite, it was absolute. It was a facet of life from the very beginning. It was part of a human life. No matter how feared, no matter what feeling.
Everyone only lived because there was only one life to be lived and it had to be lived to its fullest and without regrets.
Death was...it was part of what made them humans. Of what humans were like.
Just for one moment, TK tried imagining what it would be like, to not have that and the thought was so terrifying, he reeled back from it.
Digimon weren't immortal, no, but their data preserved, sometimes even their memories. Digital lives had a different form of death that compared to the strict end of human death might not even be an end at all.
That was a great point of the digimon debates in real world.
TK reeled; to have his identity and being split into tiny little bits and put together, mixed with bits form other people, possibly remembering parts of a life that wasn't his.
It was a scenario out of his nightmares.
A difference between humans and Digimon. Humans prized individuality, privacy and a steady sense of self, a soul that was untouchable. Digimon didn't. Digimon liked masses and living in villages where everyone looked the same as them, fusing with another digimon for evolution and thinking nothing of it.
Like that, it was horrible.
Yet TK would never dream of interfering or judging them for it. Digimon weren't human. They were different and had other standards. Other things they considered important, a different way of existing and living. And that was fine. TK had never thought about it twice.
But that was not mixing the two of them.
More and more differences stumbled into his mind, one heavier than the last. "Digimon don't age like humans. They only change through evolution. Digimon don't have children." All things that were essential to humans. What made a human…
And TK realized that what Takuya had said, giving up their humanity, was in every sense literal, not only limited to some data code.
"Don't you have anything to say to that?"
Koichi didn't reply, his eyes unseeing and distant, unnaturally still.
TK pitied him.
"The time is approaching. Make the necessary preparations."
A unified, "Yes, Your Majesty," filled the darkness swamped throne room, followed by the resounding of many different sets of steps. When silence fell, only two beings were left behind.
The kneeling shadow kept his eyes on the ground, awaiting permission to speak as he felt his Lord's heavy gaze on him.
"What do you want, Murmuxmon? You are dismissed."
Murmuxmon didn't raise his eyes beyond the black floor. "My Lord, I wished to ask for permission. Bad fortune struck Phelesmon and thus was unable to return to us. Puppetmon fled with his strings in a knot. To this day, the containers of Darkness and Fire have not fallen in our hands, Ice has yet to be regained. Clearly, our forces are not working to satisfaction." He paused. "I ask for Your Majesty's order to bring them to your convenience personally."
Silence.
Then there was a hard ticking, hard material meeting equal sturdiness. "You ask for much, Murmuxmon. Free reign of my realm. In my absence." More silence, this one decidedly heavier.
Murmuxmon did not move.
The Lord spoke,"yet you also offer much in return. Glory and honour of the front lines in a new world with the results of Operation Nobel Revival to make your temporary surrender of your command permanent it I so will it. What gives you the motivation to pay that much?"
Murmuxmon became even more submissive. "My Lord's satisfaction is all I desire," he said. "However it is true that the hosts of the Legendary Warriors gather no favour with me, for my fellow has been slain by them not too long ago. It is a humiliation I wish to even if My Lord allows." True as it was, it was only part of the whole. Murmuxmon were schemers, strategists and very proud, sorcerers that they were. To have one of its likeness defeated by children. Human children. Weak and fragile, easily to trick and use beings was grating. But it was still a different Murmuxmon. If he chose to forget it, the humiliation was bearable.
But they escaped him. Twice!
His blood boiled with a cry for vengeance, made him itch for cruelty. It made him sloppy, mess up, messed with his control and Murmuxmon could allow nothing more than his absolute perfect as His Majesty has not reached his position by being unable to pick out lesser usurpers.
It was a price to pay and a heavy one, but in the long run, it was necessary.
The Lord chuckled. "Puppetmon has asked for a similar favour. Very well. You may remain. Even this favour if it so bothers you. But," the darkness became oppressive and menacing. "Do not stretch my goodwill. Now leave, to your position. The time is approaching. Operation Nobel Revival is complete."
And, shrewed as he is, the Lord knows of these trait of all Murmuxmon. It was believable.
Time was coming indeed. Darkness was still loose and if Murmuxmon could steal it...
But first he had appearances to keep.
The great fortress of unknown origins, floating high in the sky, jerks. It's black colour shimmers, reflecting white, blue and green light before, abruptly, it comes to a complete stop as if it had encountered an unmovable object. Then, ever so slowly, the air in front of it becomes solid and splits, opening a wide maw into whitish space beyond. Streaks of small things flashed and the fortress moved again, entering the gate.
DarkQuinlongmon felt its energy drain, without question, mercy and sharply and the instincts of the fallen sovereign screamed for survival. It was futile. When a gate was going to be forced open on the other side, the great dragon would breathe its last.
Gennai and his clones' screens lit up like red fire. Warning sirens blared and shouts of quickly followed. Slumping back in his chair, the digital man felt defeated.
This was it. He had done everything he could. It was over. The real world was no longer safe.
Send: Minutes ago
To Ken and Izzy,
The thing is formed like a dice, the size of my foot. It's black, heavier than a stone of that size, doesn't sound hollow. My digivice stopped reacting to it after some time before I turned it off. It glints a light blue or green sometimes. I tried stomping on it and dug at it with a rock without leaving a scratch. The surface is smooth. Palmon wonders if it might be digichrome.
Added the photo. What should I do with it?
From Mimi and Palmon
What Mimi hated most about the Digital World was the world saving.
She was a teenage girl -had been at a time not even that- and she should not have to worry about night-watch, food and water, the possible danger lurking around behind every bush of grass. She shouldn't have to wonder if a plant was poisonous, if the water was clean.
She should worry about her hair, possibly her grades, the latest fashion and definitely who was going to ask her on a date and who she wanted to ask her.
But no, Mimi wasn't that lucky.
When it was only for a picnic, a few hours where she could enjoy the scenery, smell the flowers and watch nature, where she had a home to return to, a bed to sleep in in the evening, means for body care, she loved the digital world like the others.
But no, Mimi was needed to do world saving.
Why her anyway? Weren't there people who were better suited for it?
Someone maybe with an adventurous spirit?
Mimi sighed, feeling depressed. Her matara of complains had over the past days faded into background noise and adding to the list didn't even make up of a distraction anymore.
"Urgh, I can't take it anymore!" Wilfully, she flopped down to the ground, crossing her arms and legs and refusing to move. "I need a break!"
Palmon, having jumped at her sudden exclamations, sat down next to her, looking just as tired as Mimi felt. However unlike Mimi, Palmon seemed to fit right into their surroundings. Lush green grass ranked into the sky, over towering their sitting forms.
The trail of destruction the two of them had followed had ended just about where they had found the cube and afterwards they had struggled their way through a day of forest before the trees became sporadic and grass took up most of what they saw. Palmon had found them a small stream of water to follow and they had done that for another day by now. Mimi's D-terminal said they were still another day of walking away from the next settlement. Whether that was deserted or not was still in question.
But for now, Mimi had had it with walking.
The landscape was beautiful, the weather warm, the sun high in the sky, wind was blowing and the grass made for surprisingly soft cushioning. It was time to take a nap. "I want a nap, Palmon," she announced after she had gone to drink a few handfuls of the cold water.
Palmon brightened. "I'll watch, don't worry Mimi."
"Hmm", said Mimi, pulling some grass together for a makeshift bed. "Don't forget to get your nutriments. The sun is shining, don't waste it."
Nodding energetically, Palmon rose to her feet, even then smaller than the grass, and Mimi watched, as always half fascinated, how roots grew out of her partner's feet and into the ground and how the flower on her head sprouted delicate new leaves. Then Palmon stilled like a statue. That part Mimi still found somewhat eerie to watch, but she supposed to each their own and let her eyes drift close, focusing on the sun on her skin lulling her to sleep.
A voice in her ear, Mimi woke up groggily, stiff and unwilling. Distractedly she waved a hand as if trying to get rid of a fly, but Palmon didn't shut up and it was only when Mimi was unable to stay in her still-pleasant doze that she realized the voice was all wrong, not Palmon.
She jumped to full wakefulness, her heart racing in her chest. There was not supposed to be anyone else. Her abrupt waking had startled Palmon and her partner was now looking at her worriedly. Photosynthesis over, Palmon looked revived. "Mimi?"
Mimi shushed her. "Don't you hear that?"
Palmon looked puzzled frowning as she tilted her head. "Hear what?"
"Shhh." There it was again. "That." It was soft and seemed almost monotone to Mimi, but not quite. Where did it come from? Uneasily, Mimi glanced around, but the grass was too high and too thick, ideal for hiding and she could recognize nothing. The wind brushed the grass into rustling, graceful curves.
"What? I don't hear anything," whispered Palmon anxiously.
Mimi groped for her digivice, only remembering now that she had put it in her bag when she had turned it off. As quietly as possible, she reached for her bag and pulled the zipper open, only to still.
There it was again, louder this time, more insistent. The voice was female.
Almost against her will, Mimi's eyes fell on the cube she had been carrying along, innocently sitting next to her digivice. Her glowing digivice. The light spilling from it was the light green of her Purity's crest and as she watched, the light seemed to become absorbed by the light blue, also glowing cube.
"What-" started Palmon, but Mimi didn't hear the rest of her question, drowned by the mysterious voice.
Suddenly Mimi realized why it sounded so odd and why Palmon couldn't hear it. It wasn't a voice at all; resounding with different timbers, all familiar, inside Mimi's head. "Come."
Taking Palmon's hand and closing her finger's around her digivice, Mimi swallowed nervously, but didn't stop.
She pressed her digivice to the cube.
A flash of blue-greenish light and beyond the flattened grass and the opened bag with a glowing object inside, there was no trace of sentient life within miles.
Even had Koji not anticipated this moment from the second he had been able to form coherent thoughts again, he could hardly have missed the timing.
The girl, Kari, was all but completely swallowed at this point, Gatomon had become suffocatingly panicked and the castle lurched for the second time, this time like a train sharp on the breaks. His borrowed body stumbled, but Koji's attention was turned inwards, pulling himself together and then pushing with all his mental and physical might.
His sight blurred, the columns disappeared, breath disappeared, light disappeared, and his sense of self disappeared, before flaring back into existence with the force of a supernova along with all his other sensations. Breath, smell, tasting blood from where he had bitten his lip, the very same sight he had just left behind only from another point, touching the very same girl he had just spend a week staring at.
She too spluttered and gasped, like a drowning man and her eyes shot wide open, struggling in his grasp. "Wha- I-" Gatomon was shouting and yelling and Koji set the girl to the ground at her demand, having more important things to do that a panicked child.
Like the others.
Completely ignoring the girl and her partner, it felt like a long buried instinct when he grasped to his side and his fingers closed around an object that he was only just pulling into existence. With as much force as he managed, he batted the blade of light against the electricity sparked column. Power flared and Koji was thrown back with a curse falling from his lips.
"Damn," he muttered under his breath, staring for a short moment at JP's prison and glancing over the others, before he pushed his regret and disappointment aside. It wasn't like hadn't expected it. Hatefully, he glared once at his own column, undamaged, black and sleek as it mocked him despite him having just violently broken free of it, before he spun on his heel and made for the other two. The girl had to get out, not matter what. "Get up," he told her harshly, interrupting Gatomon's calming and her hurried explanation. She startled, looking still like a frightened animal. "We have to leave. Now. Unless you would like to get back in there." He thumped over his shoulder.
The girl shuddered, violently, but fought to stand, stubbornly working past her shaking and weak body even as her small partner fussed over worriedly between glaring at Koji. "How?"
She had what it took, Koji would give her that. "As Garmmon, I'm very fast. We are going to run."
Still wide eyed, she looked past Koji. "What about the others, your friends?"
Koji bluntly ignored her, summoning the feeling of Garmmon to the surface of his thoughts. It came smoothly and easily and Koji let the feeling overwhelm him. "Spirit evolution."
This new evolution was not all that different from his old one. The first time, Koji remembered vividly getting overwhelmed by the sensations and instincts of what it was like to become a beast. The rage of the moment, swallowing all his reason, washing it away like dirt in the rain. But even then, there had been some part, some core the evolution had not touched. It had been more like slipping into another skin, but still staying the same at the core however shadowed that had been.
Now, that untouched core did not exist and Koji stopped existing, shifting and becoming a beast in his entirety. His memories and sense of Koji was still there, but it was unimportant, distant, like a different form for him to take when Garmmon needed it.
The light of evolution receded, Garmmon bared his teeth and howled. "Get on," he growled to the little human, her frightened and horrified gaze on him. His sharp eyes saw her swallow and the tremors still whacking her body, but she was hard enough not to break and Garmmon felt her fragile hands as she disappeared from his line of sight and climbed on his armoured back. Gatomon jumped on, perching between his sharp speed star attack blades.
He lowered his wheels to the ground, preparing to let them shoot to as high a speed that still allowed him to turn sharp corners, when his muscles tensed in aggression.
A repulsive smell assaulted his nose. Unwashed and old rags, old blood, hatred and arrogance. His head swung around to the source.
"That is far enough, little humans."
This is the chapter for September. Many thanks to smfan for doing a great job with beta reading at short notice! :)
Things get moving a bit faster now. This and the next few chapters I have spend a long time thinking about since I had only about ten chapters for this story. Everything got tossed and turned about. Multiple times. I rather think I am going to be happy with the end result. I hope you will like it as well.
Do you have suggestions? Critique? Likes? Dislikes? Complains? Things you noticed?
TBC.