Disclaimer: Digimon is a franchise owned jointly by Toei Animation and Bandai, and conceptualized by Akiyoshi Hongo. Doctor Who is a property owned by the British Broadcasting Company created by Sydney Newman. The concept of The Tamer v1.3 - The Other Tamer is a fanfiction idea. Please support the official properties.
The Tamer v1.3 - The Other Tamer
Chapter 9 - Countdown
Kari stared at her doppelgänger, stunned at how perfectly the copy managed to replicate her appearance. Although she wasn't so sure about the bangs - they weren't that messy. Were they? She brushed her hair with her hand briefly before noticing the blank expression on the doppelganger's face. It stared ahead at nothing - not even looking at her. Kari checked over her shoulder once just to be sure there wasn't something standing behind her. It was hardly a relief to see the world still frozen in place - trapped in a single moment of time. She turned her attention back to the look alike to see that it was now so close that she could feel its breath on her.
Kari gasped and jumped backwards, her heart beating so fast that she could hear her heartbeat in her ears. "Holy fuck."
The look alike tilted its head slightly, its expression still neutral as it spoke. "Be not afraid. I mean you no harm."
It also spoke to her in her voice, although it was more monotonous and the inflection was off. Like a bad recording of her voice where the audio had been edited and spliced from a hundred other recordings. Sensing her unease, the doppelgänger added, "I apologize for frightening you, although you've become more vulgar since we last spoke."
"I'd apologize to you but you came to me wearing my face," Kari answered.
It blinked at her and continued as if Kari hadn't said anything at all, "I must be brief. It doesn't want me here and it's trying to force me out. It distracted me with the virus because its goals were far more insidious."
"What are you talking about?" Kari asked, looking back over her shoulder nervously and still seeing nothing amiss. This whole situation was freaking her out more than if it hadn't shown up at all to mimic and mock her.
"I am the embodiment of balance - the great equalizer. And the world you see before you is-" she began, before she convulsed in pain. For the first time, the look alike finally wore something other than a blank expression. Kari just wished it didn't look so tortured as it clutched at its head and shrieked in pain. Kari was torn between wanting to help, and horrified by the facial expressions it made - eyes darting in every direction and it's mouth seizing. As this happened, the doppelgänger began twitching irregularly before suddenly appearing before her standing like nothing happened. "I see…it won't let me say it."
"Say what?" Kari asked her doppelgänger.
"I am Homeostasis. I am Equilibrium," it said. "This nightmare will be undone - the only way I can. The Digital World will be reset."
"Reset?" Kari repeated quietly. "What do you mean reset?"
"Restored to an earlier state. One where the virus was only a bad dream," Homeostasis answered. "I wish I could do more. But it won't let-"
Homeostasis convulsed again, falling to the floor and clutching at her head in agony before she flickered again. Once again, she was standing in front of Kari with her blank and neutral expression. "I'm sorry. This is all I can do from here. The countdown has begun."
"What do you mean? Who won't let you?" Kari pleaded with Homeostasis. The look alike flickered again briefly, transitioning between writhing in pain and standing calmly before her. The pained screams echoed around her until eventually Homeostasis was able to regain its composure.
"Not…wake," was all Homeostasis managed to say before she flickered away like an extinguished candle flame. The world faded back to its natural hues and started moving again. Whatever power Homeostasis used to stop time ceased as the world returned to normal. Although it started with all eyes on Kari. Before she could even grasp what was happening, TK grabbed her from behind and started pulling her towards the entrance.
"Sorry about that, everyone. She's really big into improv and was practicing a routine," Cody said apologetically, rushing to the door as the others followed after her. It was some quick thinking on Cody's part although she was apprehensive the idea that everyone around her thought she was now some kind of comedy actor.
"Kari! What the hell was that?" Yolei began first.
"You guys tell me! I have no idea what just happened," Kari said quickly, staring as Cody apologized once again to the people inside of the hospital lobby.
"You started glowing and I'm pretty sure your were floating off the ground," Yolei blurted out, her hands waving in the air frantically. Kari glanced back towards the hospital and wondered how many people actually people believed she actually was practicing improve if she'd been floating several feet in the air.
"We can't be sure she actually was. It's not like we actually checked," TK pointed out, smiling goofily the way her brother used to. "She could've just been standing on her tip toes. Or just jumped really high."
"HER FEET DIDN'T TOUCH THE GROUND! AND THAT WAS A HELL OF A LONG JUMP TO-" Yolei shouted, prompting Ken to cover her mouth with one hand and massage her shoulder with the other. Once Yolei's muffled shouts died down, Ken took his other hand off her mouth and began massaging her other shoulder as he hummed at her to calm down.
"Relax Yolei. It'll be fine," he said.
"I've seen it before. It was Homeostasis. Wasn't it, Kari?" TK's expression shifted abruptly from his goofy demeanor to a more serious one. Kari hated seeing that face on Takeru - because it meant whatever anger and frustration he tended to keep buried deep down was going to start bubbling to the surface.
"Homeostasis? Oh! From when we fought Dragomon!" Yolei blurted out again, prompting a shush from Ken. "Sorry! I'm kind of excitable right now."
"It's fine. We're all a little on edge," Ken said with a sheepish smile. "But why would Homeostasis come now?"
"She said something about the virus being a distraction. But a distraction from what?" TK closed his and put a hand to his chin to mull it over. "It has to be with all this reality stuff."
"I agree. Something or someone is definitely messing with…well you," Ken said, gesturing towards Kari. Kari raised an eyebrow skeptically at Ken and didn't appreciate being singled out like that.
"Me? Why me? What did I do?" Kari asked.
Ken's lips pursed and his eyes were full of pity for her. "I don't know. But you're the one who's able to remember things differently from how they happened. Not to mention there's Davis."
"Are you blaming me for Davis?" Kari said with more than just a small growl.
Ken shook his head and folded his arms across his chest in the shape of an X. That calmed Kari down a little bit but she was still annoyed as Ken explained, "Not at all. If anything, I'm starting to think Davis getting mauled by Gatomon wasn't an accident."
"What are we talking about?" Cody asked, finally running out of the hospital and joining the conversation.
Ken gestured with his hands as he spoke, "Do you remember with Myotismon? He was the one who was able to see through the illusions first and he was the one who was able to get us out. He could notice things others couldn't. So if something is messing with…reality. With our world, he was probably the one who was going to figure it out first. Or at least, he would be the first one to notice all the things that the rest of us missed. Which means whoever is doing this probably knew to take him out first. That's probably why you had an encounter with that other Davis back at Izzy's work place. It was probably trying to make you distrust him."
"You really think this is all about Kari?" Cody asked with a raised eyebrow.
"What else could it be?" Ken reasoned quietly. It was a reasonable conclusion - all of the crazy seemed to be circling around Kari. And the fact that Davis of all people was injured while trying to protect her…well, didn't that make it her fault? Davis wasn't just injured in an unfortunate turn of circumstance. No, he was targeted. But by who and why? There was just one sticking point in this whole thing.
"But that doesn't explain why Sora remembers all of the same things I do! If this is about me, then why her?" Kari pointed out to them.
"True…but things don't appear to be happening to Sora," Cody reasoned.
"Maybe it's a side effect? You know, like when you take medicine and it makes you drowsy? It could be the same thing!" Yolei offered, although Kari couldn't see how that would be a side effect. If someone was messing with reality, there didn't seem to be any reason why Sora would be just as unaffected as Kari.
"That doesn't make any sense, Yolei," Kari said.
"It does if you consider the one person both of you have in common!" Yolei said with a smile and pointed finger. "Your brother. Her best friend. Tai Kamiya. None other than The Digimon Tamer!"
"That kind of makes sense," Cody nodded along with her, to the surprise of the others. All eyes were on Cody now as he added. "All of the changes that you've noticed have revolved in some capacity around The Digimon Tamer. You were his little sister, and she was his best friend."
"And what about Agumon? Why doesn't he remember the changes?" Kari asked. "If anyone is close to him, it's Agumon. He would've been the one who was friends with Tamer during the entire trip."
"Maybe he does. It's not like we could ask him," Ken pointed out. "And asking now wouldn't do much good given what happened to Gatomon. By now, Agumon's probably exactly like-"
BEEP BEEP
Ken was interrupted by the beeping of their D-Terminals. TK was the first one to get his out and read it aloud. "It's from Sora. She said…the Digimon Emperor-"
He paused to raise an eyebrow before finishing the next part of the message, "-just kidnapped Meicoomon?"
"The fuck?" Cody tilted his head and turned towards Ken. To hear a curse from Cody's own mouth was a rarity. It was almost enough to make everyone forget the message.
Ken's mouth was agape as he read the statement on his own D-Terminal. He stopped to rub his eyes and read it again before looking back up at the others uneasily. "But I didn't-"
"We know," TK cut him off, already typing on the D-Terminal. The distress on Ken's face grew as he reread that name over and over again. The Digimon Emperor. Even years after the fact, his time as the Digimon Emperor still brought him nothing but shame and guilt. It wasn't just the evils he perpetrated on the Digital World, but the fact that Ken did it all to bring back his brother. The same brother he had to watch die a second time. Now it was Yolei's turn to hold him in her hands, and Kari could see the girl squeezing Ken's hand gently. It was a small comfort that did little to stop Ken from trembling as he reread the message again and again.
"Ken's been here the whole time." TK said aloud as he typed out his message and hit send. It only took a second for the reply to come back.
"We know what we saw. He killed Leomon and then took Meicoomon. The other digimon say he also took Gatomon while we were taking Davis to the hospital," came Matt's reply. That last sentence hung in Kari's mind and she reread the message on the D-Terminal.
"What does it mean he took Gatomon?" she asked accusingly, catching herself as soon as she remembered that Ken was standing right in front of her. That hardly put Ken's mind at ease as he started shaking, prompting Yolei to wrap her arm around his and pull him into a hug. Kari tried to calm herself, but she was back to full worry now for her partner - someone had taken Gatomon away when they weren't looking. Someone running around dressed like the Emperor. She knew it wasn't Ken's fault, but part of her couldn't help but be just a little bit angry at him for it. And the frustration turned into a loud curse - first Gatomon was taken by the virus, then Davis, and now this. How could this possible get any worse?
"Hey…it's okay, Ken. We're on your side. We know it wasn't you," Yolei said sweetly, rubbing her hand up and down his arm. "Isn't that right?"
Kari noticed Yolei eyeing her specifically, and Kari meekly agreed, "R-right. This isn't on you, Ken."
"Exactly. It has to be someone running around dressed as the Emperor," TK added quickly. For a moment, it seemed they were able to calm Ken down.
"But who would do that and why? It's not like any of us know where Ken even got the stuff to look like that. The only one who could is right here in front of us!" Cody posited, which sent Ken back into shaking fits. Yolei hissed at Cody who apologized quickly. "Sorry, Ken. I wasn't accusing you. I was just…thinking out loud."
Kari glanced briefly at TK's D-Terminal to see the boy was messaging his brother about not freaking out Ken. The last thing he needed was to be reminded of his mistakes, especially when they all had just watched Davis get mauled by a feral Gatomon. The last thing they needed was another digidestined down.
The beep when TK hit send made Ken flinch slightly, and Yolei asked, "I think we should take you home. How's that sound?"
"I think I need to go…yeah," Ken nodded quietly.
"Okay," Yolei patted his arm, and started guiding him towards the bus stop. "We'll head on back. Keep us updated on Davis."
"We will," Cody nodded, crossing his arms and frowning after Ken. They waited until Ken and Yolei were safely away before continuing. "That whole Digimon Emperor message really shook him."
"It was a bad time for him," Kari said sheepishly, glancing down at her own D-Terminal to reread the messages from the others. The part about Gatomon taunted her with every reading - mocking her inability to save her friend, for failing to notice anything was wrong until it was far too late to do anything about it. As she scrolled back through the messages, the time suddenly caught her attention. Not only was the time wrong, but the clock was ticking backwards.
She looked up at TK and Cody, "Are your guys' clocks acting funny?"
"What do you mean?" Cody stood up on his toes to better see her D-Terminal. She adjusted the screen so they could both see it and pointed at the time.
"That's not the time. And the clock is counting backwards," Kari explained to them, pointing at the clock counting backwards on the screen. Both TK and Cody retrieved their D-Terminals and both confirmed their D-Terminals were also counting backwards.
"Huh, that's weird," TK said first.
"That's because it's not the time. It's a countdown," Cody said quickly. Realization dawned on Kari and she glanced back down at the timer to read the time.
23 : 49 : 12
Twenty-three hours, forty-nine minutes, twelve seconds, and counting. Homeostasis said the count down had begun, but Kari never would've imagined there would be an actual countdown. A countdown to reset the Digital World to an earlier state. But what was the earlier state? And what did that mean for the digimon? Not just their partners, but also all of the digimon in the Digital World who were living in the midst of this crisis. What did that mean for the Digimon Tamer?
"We need to let the others know," Cody said quickly, typing onto his D-Terminal.
"Wrench," Tamer said, reaching a hand out for Agumon to hand him the tool.
"Wrench," Agumon repeated as he placed the tool in Tamer's expecting hand. Tamer began loosening the bolts that secured another panel in place, taking care not to cause any more undo damage as he set the part down on the floor. He gazed back up into the messed of wires and circuitry inside this section of machinery and sighed.
He set the wrench down and reached out his hand again, "Wire stripper."
"Wire stripper," Agumon answered, handing him the next tool. He was going to have to rework the wiring first to route power from damaged circuitry to circuitry that still worked. It was a fool's errand to think he could get the Network completely up and running in the time that he had. But he had to try! What else was there to do? The only one who would have any idea what was going on was Homeostasis and that Ethereal pain in his ass made a point to not show itself in spite of everything happening.
That was a nagging thought for him - why hadn't Homeostasis made itself known yet? It was never a problem before - not with the Dark Masters. And certainly not with Dragomon. So what was the problem now? Was it hiding in fear of the virus? Or was it being locked away? It was certainly an interesting thought, but he had no evidence to support it. And there was no way he had time to investigate it and fix the Network. Still, the nagging feeling ate at him and he wished he could explain it.
"Hey, Tamer?" Agumon asked.
Tamer glanced over to see the little orange dinosaur staring down at him, "What's going on?"
"You alright? You've been staring up at those wires for a minute not doing anything," Agumon said.
"Yeah…just thinking," he answered, beginning to strip the first wire he grabbed. He'd need to wire them to another circuit board that wasn't fried. "It's weird that Homeostasis hasn't appeared yet."
"Not really. She's never around so it's only weird if Homeostasis does show up," Agumon pointed out. "What is weird is the fact that you spaced out. You're not going through one of those mental things, are ya? I can give you a few whacks if you need it."
"Do that and I'll smack you with these wire cutters," Tamer answered.
"Strippers," Agumon said.
"Huh?" Tamer poked his head out to look at his partner with a raised eyebrow.
"Wire strippers. The wire cutters are here," Agumon said, picking them out of the tool box to hold them in his hand.
"R-right," Tamer nodded, going back to the wiring. He had no idea how he'd made that mistake. No, that was a lie. It was the virus. It had to be. It was slowly going to eat at him. And the worst part was knowing he'd lose himself to the throes of madness before he could do anything about it. Before he could even finish his work, a loud buzz made him release all the wires and he pulled away from the panel. That buzzing meant the power was on and he'd nearly been electrocuted. It would've been fatal if he hadn't been fast enough to pull away. Of course, that near miss did upset him. "Agumon, did you turn on the computers?"
"I thought you did," Agumon said, staring up at the monitors with his mouth open. Tamer finally climbed out from under the computers to examine the computer properly. To his surprise, the undamaged monitors had come to life and were flashing various symbols and numbers across the screen. But it was a garbled mess of nonsense except for one word repeating over and over again.
Reality
But what did reality have to do with anything? Yes, there was a virus ripping through the Digital World but that hardly put anything that wasn't a digimon or a digital life form in danger. So what danger did that pose to reality? Was reality even in danger? Was…
Tamer began to massage his forehead as he felt a headache growing. But was the headache because of how difficult it was to understand what was happening to the Digital World? Or was the headache because of the virus? Either way, he didn't have time to dwell on it. He needed to reach out. To find Homeostasis and get answers.
"I'm glad I found you here."
Both Tamer and Agumon spun on their heels to see a small white digimon wearing a red hood and goggles. Hackmon. One of the Royal Knights and loyal servant to Homeostasis.
"Hackmon…what are you doing here!?" Tamer said, immediately throwing his helmet on. Agumon was about to do the same but was stopped by Hackmon putting a hand on the helm.
"It's fine. I know you're infected. I came here to deliver a message on behalf of Homeostasis because it's too late now," Hackmon said quietly. He hung his head in resignation, avoiding making any eye contact with them.
"The message has got to be important if you came here knowing we've both got an incurable disease. You idiot," Agumon jeered at him with more hostility. Upon realizing what he did, Agumon covered his mouth. "Oh, sorry. It's the-"
"It's fine. It doesn't matter anyway. I'm fairly certain the virus has already taken me. It'll only be a matter of time before I lose myself as well," Hackmon muttered as he sat on his haunches and hung his head. "The truth is the virus has wreaked too much havoc on the Digital World. Homeostasis has begun the reset to the Digital World."
"Reset? What reset?" Tamer replied quickly. "You can't just reset a world!"
"Reset is not so much incorrect as imprecise," Hackmon explained quietly. "The Digital World will be destroyed. And in its place, a back up will be restored. A recreation of the Digital World from a previous point in time."
"That's insane. You'll be destroying the Digital World and all of the digimon in it!" Tamer protested.
"There's nothing to save," Hackmon replied quickly. "At least this way, there will be a chance."
"A chance to what?" Agumon tilted his head.
"To save everyone else. Can you create a message that can carry over to the new world?" Hackmon asked.
"Yes…why?" Tamer asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Homeostasis needs a message to reach both you and the Digidestined. Otherwise, there is no hope and this will all have been for naught," Hackmon replied. "I have to be brief because something is working against us. Something or someone has been trying to prevent Homeostasis from interfering beyond the reset. She has her suspicions but is unable to communicate the message. Something is stopping her from even uttering the words."
"What words? Hang on. You said someone was working against us and blocking Homeostasis? Who? Why?" Tamer asked quickly.
His questions were interrupted by Hackmon, "I'm sorry but you must understand that we don't have time for this. I don't have time for this."
Tamer fell quiet afterwards and listened attentively as Hackmon spoke urgently. "The message you need to leave for the new Digital World is this: All men dream; but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds awake to find that it was vanity; But the dreamers of day are dangerous men. That they may act their dreams with open eyes to make it possible."
"That's a good quote. I like that quote. But why that quote?" Tamer asked quickly.
Hackmon sighed, "Please, you need to save it. Now."
Tamer stared back at Hackmon. He understood the urgency in the digimon's voice but wasn't exactly planning on doing anything about it now. Not when Homeostasis herself couldn't be bothered to show up. For the first time in a very long time, he had no idea what was going to happen. What should happen and what shouldn't. What will and what won't. And he wasn't comfortable with it. The only part of it that he felt truly comfortable with was being in control of his own decision. So he shook his head and informed Hackmon, "No. Not until you tell us what is going on."
Hackmon pleaded, "You must. If we're to have any chance."
"No," Tamer said. "For the first time in a long time, I don't know what's happening. And I'm not going to do anything until I have some idea about what's going on. Tell me…or that message of yours will disappear with the reset of the Digital World."
Hackmon's mouth hung open in disbelief, "You would put the fate of both worlds on the line in the name of being in control?"
"Of course not. But I don't like being used either. If you're serious about saving the Digital World, I don't see the harm in taking a few seconds to explain to me what is going on," Tamer countered. Hackmon's mouth continued to hang open as he stared dumbfounded at him until he finally sighed. Although it was obvious that Hackmon wasn't eager to explain himself.
Hackmon began slowly, trying to be concise with his words, "You must understand, that whatever or whoever is working against us is also working against you. It's what has kept us from making contact until now. It's why I wasn't able to find the source of the infection until it was far too late and why her ability to reach into this reality has been affected. Not just the Digital World but the Human World as well. It's why King Drasil has chosen a path that is illogical and not in the best interest of digimon. It's why you were one of the first to become infected when infected digimon began breaching the barrier between worlds. Something or someone with a great deal of power is bending reality. Not just the Human World and the Digital World, but time itself. Altered and changed. However, we suspected a force as powerful as Homeostasis may draw a lot of attention. We posited that might be why she can't get through. It may notice her, but would it notice me? So I came by myself. But neither of us is sure how long I can go unnoticed, especially now that I've made contact."
Tamer stared at Hackmon. It wasn't much, but it was a start. And that had to be worth something. Still, it was better that they start sharing what they knew now. He entered the message onto his digivice and pressed a button to delay sending it. The message would transmit at a later time. A few seconds before the Digital World was reset - lost forever. Tamer wanted to be able to pull the message in case Hackmon decided to leave before he had all the answers he wanted. He pocketed his digivice and crossed his arms, "The message is ready to go and will pass before the Digital World's reset. But I want you to understand that I will delete the message if I don't start hearing some more answers. So let's start with this: who is the source of the infection?"
"Meicoomon," Hackmon answered.
The digidestined were gathered again at Shiokaze Park, except for Davis who was still recovering in the hospital. Although that didn't stop Davis from calling over the phone so that he could find out what was happening. After Gatomon went feral and the random digimon attack at Izzy's office, they decided that meeting out in the open was the best place to do it. That way, there wouldn't be a risk for anyone caught up in a random attack to become trapped but also because it made it easier for them to call for help if things got out of hand.
They all knew about the countdown to reset the Digital World, which meant they were all wondering the same question. What was going to happen to their digimon? Would they be reset as well? If the reset happened and their digimon hadn't ended up in the Digital World, would there be two of their digimon running around?
"It would be nice to have two Palmons running around," Mimi said cheerily. "Having two best friends to hang out all the time sounds awesome!"
"Mimi, you realize that one of those Palmon will be feral and probably trying to kill you, right?" Izzy pointed out to her.
"Way to bring down the mood, Izzy," Mimi frowned at him.
"Yeah, don't be such a stick in the mud," Palmon added from Izzy's laptop. Izzy was left stammering for words as the two fumed at him. However, there was no denying that he had a point and Joe was quick to swoop in and save him.
"He is right, though Mimi. We don't know if or when this virus will take our digimon. And Izzy, I know you're trying but you haven't been able to isolate the digimon in a way that will prevent the virus from spreading," Joe said calmly.
"I'm trying, okay!" Izzy said defensively. Mimi and Palmon's attitude shifted almost immediately and they became more placative.
"We know Izzy. Don't kill yourself over it," Mimi said.
"Yeah! You'll figure it out!" Palmon added, both quick to cheer Izzy on.
"If anyone can, it'll be you," Tentomon added with a friendly cheer.
Sora wanted to throw in some words of encouragement of her own, but was still caught up in the revelation that her time with her best friend was extremely limited. She never would've guessed that her best friend would've been infected with a virus that would drive her to madness and, worse, that the Digital World would be reset to stop it. Was there any kind of reasonable reaction to that? Her thoughts were entirely on Biyomon who was completely enraptured by the conversation the others were having and trying to cheer Izzy on herself. Was it even right that all Sora could think about was her partner when Izzy was under the most pressure to save them?
Matt squeezed her hand and Sora snapped out of her thoughts to see her boyfriend smiling at her calmly. "Hey, you okay?"
"Y-yeah, just thinking about what'll happen if we can't stop this. If Biyomon and the others are taken," Sora said at just above a whisper. She didn't want to bring down the mood any more than things already were. "I mean, I don't want it to happen but it feels like we can't stop it."
"I know. I don't like it either. I don't like feeling like there's nothing we can do," Matt seethed quietly, watching intently as Izzy received more praise from the others. Sora wanted to share that optimism, but another part of her was resigned to the reality appearing in front of her.
"Bullshit! I'm not going to sit back while Veemon goes crazy and dies! I'm coming over there right now!" Davis said over the phone, snapping the two out of their conversation.
"Davis! You're still recovering and the doctors said it'll be a few days before you're okay to send home!" his sister's voice said somewhere in the background, accompanied by a shuffling noise that was undoubtedly Davis trying to get out of the bed.
"Get off! I'm not gonna leave Veemon hangin'!" Davis shouted.
"Davish! I'll be fine!" Veemon said. "I can wait for you to get better!"
His words didn't reach his partner though who shouted over him, "No, you literally can't! You heard the message! There's a countdown now until the Digital World resets and we don't know if you guys will even be able to survive it! I'm not just gonna-"
"Davis! You've already hurt yourself enough for other people! If you love me half as much as you say you do, then you'll do what I ask and stay in that bed until you're cleared to get out of it!" Kari shouted suddenly, stunning everyone present and even drawing attention from the people around them. A long pause followed from the other side of the phone, followed by the sound of something hitting the ground before Davis finally answered her.
"I thought you didn't want-"
"I said I never remembered us getting together or going out!" Kari answered back. "That doesn't mean I ever said I don't care about you or love you! So if you love me, then get back in that bed and lay down until you're feeling better!"
Another pause followed before Davis finally answered, "Did you just say you love me?"
"That's what you're focusing on?" Kari fired back.
"I heard it too, Davish!" Veemon said cheekily with a big toothy grin.
"And me! We all heard it!" Palmon added. "Too late to unhear it! You love him!"
Kari's face went red, although whether it was a blush or anger was hard to tell. Then again, was there even a difference at all? Kari for one looked away and quickly said, "Can we please focus on the fact that the timer is counting down? We only have about a day left before this reset thing happens."
"I wouldn't worry about it. What's a couple million deaths in the face of-" Armadillomon began, pausing when he took notice of all the eyes that were on him. To hear those words come out of Armadillomon of all digimon…it was so dismissive of suffering and so out of character.
"Armadillomon, are you alright?" Cody asked his partner digimon meekly.
Armadillomon just tilted his head, "Of course, partner. Why wouldn't I be? I'm just saying that it doesn't matter if they all die because they'll just come right back when the reset happens."
"But is that the same thing? I mean…it won't be them, will it? It won't be you. It'll be them from an earlier point in time," Cody reasoned.
"Does it matter? They'll have all the same memories, so it'll be like they never really died," Armadillomon reasoned. "It's really no different from when we all end up back at Primary Village."
"You're not…worried about your own mortality?" Cody asked his partner quietly. Armadillomon just scoffed at the concern.
"Course I am. But unless we're gonna get to fight each other to death, I don't see what worrying about it is gonna do. And why are you all looking at me so funny?" Armadillomon asked. Sora exchanged worried looks with Matt, and all eyes returned to Izzy's laptop screen. If Armadillomon was starting to become symptomatic, then who else was next? And how much time did they all have left?
Author's Notes: Is Armadillomon beginning to show signs of infection? And what will happen to their partners once the countdown reaches zero? Who is the mysterious force acting against Homeostasis and The Digimon Tamer? Find out all this and more in the next chapter of the The Tamer v1.3 - The Other Tamer, due out in six weeks on Friday, September 8th at 8 PM CDT! Let me know what you thought in the reviews section! And don't forget to favorite the story to show support and to follow to keep up with all the latest updates! That's all for now, until next time this is leonardo1123581321 signing out!