Ben10 & Digimon Tamers
Heroes and Humanity
Part 02: Humanity and Heroes
Presage – Chapter 75
Originally Written: Thursday, April 20, 2017 848PM to 1128PM
Song: Phantom - Hole In Your Face (Remastering ver.); Tom Day - Somewhere In October
. . . . .
A/N: The "Song" section up above 'kind of' matters for this chapter. They are heavy inspiration for the singing featured in this chapter.
"Here?" Beelzemon asked Albedo.
"There is fine," the white haired male hadn't even looked up as he typed on his laptop. He was a bit too skeptical to believe him when Henry told him that it was unlikely for the Digital World's sand to damage the computers, due to the computers being unable to even think such a thought. As true as it was, he convinced everyone to go to a more grassy area instead.
He pulled some cables out of the bag he had brought with him, and connected them to his laptop and another smaller device. "This will scan your data." He set the other cables on a small boulder they had found. He pointed at the smaller oval shaped device at the tall Digimon. "All you do is sit relatively still."
Swamps, Jenrya, Hugh and Fridge all looked at the device as they leaned over the boulder. It was a small, silver thing, shaped similar to a D-Arc, but flatter. "What does it do?" Swamps asked.
"It will-"
"-Should." Beelzemon interjected.
Albedo stared at him.
The digimon shrugged. "C'mon now. Ya told me the odds of this working smoothly are a bit low. And if it does work, you don't know if Jeri's gon' kick your ass o' hug it."
"But what does it do?" Swamps slowly walked his hand towards the device.
Albedo swiftly smacked the hand away. "While examining Jeri's D-Arc I found that there's a chance it may work again. It just cannot find the data it was previously connected to."
Jenrya looked at him wide-eyed. "Leomon? Jeri is gonna kick your ass!" He looked at Beelzemon, "You too!"
"He insists." Beelzemon shrugged, "Don't know why though. I'd like to do it too, ya know. If there's even a chance, why not?" He looked away. "He's one of the ones that shouldn't have gone."
Fridge blinked, "Are you trying to bring back to life someone who died?" He shook his head, "The dead are dead for a reason, even if you do not like why."
"From my analysis, unless in certain circumstances Digimon do not die, even in this realm."
Jenrya groaned. "Too late to convince you otherwise, huh?"
"Why tarnish their memories? Especially if there's a risk this won't work?" Fridge continued.
"Does Ryo know you asked to come here for this?"
"It will work." Albedo gave Fridge a look, quickly transforming it into a glare. He wished to say more, but couldn't bring himself to. 'Because she has helped me more than any of you could understand. Quietly at that. Without complaint.' He looked away, glaring at the floor. 'It is not fair to her. She takes everything without complaint...'
"Sometimes, it's better to leave things as they are."
He gave Jenrya a look. 'Why does everyone keep telling me that lately?' He shook his head. "I'm certainly doing nothing that's bad." He pointed to Beelzemon as Jenrya huffed again and walked away. "If you move too much, especially out of it's range, it'll need to start over again, so don't move more than a few inches in any direction."
Beelzemon nodded as he looked at the odd device.
"And nothing to Jeri." Albedo pointed and glared at Hugh.
The Vaxasaurian gulped and nodded. "I-I can keep a secret."
"Sounds boring." Swamps muttered. "But, I hope it works." He lied back on the grass and closed his eyes. A lone Poyomon floated on over and sat on the Methanosian's stomach. Swamps opened his eyes for a moment but then closed them. "Tickles." He giggled. The Poyomon joined him in giggling.
Albedo knelt in front of the boulder as he typed.
Hugh sat next to him, towering over the boulder.
He looked at Beelzemon, "Don't move."
"Alrighty," The Digimon shrugged. A thin beam of blue light slowly scanned over Beelzemon from the small device.
"As I explained to you before, it'll examine your data, and note the code that doesn't fit in with the rest of you. I'll need to examine other Leomon, but eventually, I should be able to determine the data that is yours, and the data that is strictly Leomon."
"With everyday Earth technology that would take forever." Fridge commented.
"Ten to twenty years easily." Albedo rested his head on the boulder, "Luckily, nothing here was constructed with Earth technology."
"You have those plumbers wrapped around your finger." Swamps snorted.
"Hm." He closed his eyes. 'Jeri and Ryo.'
Beelzemon and the trio sat quietly around him, but he could hear Ryo and Henry's murmured words off to his left. He heard some Poyomon cooing and oohing as well. He heard some other small digimon too. A cool breeze flowed through the area.
"What?" Swamps spoke up.
Albedo opened his eyes. Fridge whispered something in Swamps' ear.
"Yea. I'm in. Which one." The Methanosian grinned as he sat up.
He closed his eyes again. Fridge said something in Necrofriggian.
"Oooh," Hugh spoke next, "I-I like that one."
"Ready?" Fridge spoke.
"Yep." Swamps.
"Y-yes." Hugh.
Albedo folded his arms underneath his head.
"Count me down please." Fridge requested.
"Three...two..." Swamps counted.
'Just like before.' Albedo smiled as Fridge sang the intro of a song. He opened his eyes and looked at Beelzemon. The digimon looked at them wide eyed, jaw dropped. He closed his eyes again.
"...Show me what you got, baby girl."
"You too!?" Beelzemon shouted in response to Swamps pitching in his own lyrics in English.
Albedo idly tapped his fingers against the rock in beat to Hugh tapping against the ground with his tail, keeping the pace of the song steady. 'Back in Bellwood.'
He wouldn't openly admit it if asked, but he had heard Fridge singing in the backroom before the tryouts to Ben Ten Live. He was a terrible actor, but the singing reminded him of back when he worked alongside his mentor. Usually Azmuth wondered what trash he was ruining his brain cells listening to, but he calmed his comments after he told the old galvan that the music helped him work.
Here on Earth, he hadn't been able to take the resources to buy anything music related, nor had he needed to until he got trapped in this wretched form. Finding Fridge solved the issue. Swamps and Hugh hadn't seemed to mind either, even going so far as to add their own inputs to Fridge's songs, so it all worked out well.
He opened his eyes when he felt hands touch his own. Jenrya looked at him, smiling.
He looked over to Ryo, who stood with his arms folded, nodding his head.
Albedo shook his head. "I'm not very good."
"That's okay." Jenrya pulled him up.
He ignored Hugh looking at him as Jenrya wrapped his arms around him, and pulled him into slow dance.
"Like this."
He shivered as he felt Jenrya's hands touch him through his clothes. He'd take it, though it confused him why Jenrya still wanted to do such. He closed his eyes as he leaned his head against Jenrya's shoulder.
"What a lovely song."
"What do you mean?" He blinked, then sighed softly as though laughing breathlessly, "I forgot you don't know Necrofriggian. They're singing about how they don't understand Humans and other species' need for romantic relationships. They don't understand the amounts of hardships they put themselves through just for a romantic endeavor."
"What?" He felt Jenrya stop short, "But it sounds like a romance song."
"That's the point." He explained. "There's quite a few aliens who would find such a thing confusing."
Jenrya chuckled.
"Necrofriggians don't need a companion to reproduce, so Fridge wouldn't understand the culture about it on Earth. Swamps, is..." He took a few moments to think as he looked at the Methanosian dancing, seemingly without a care in the world, where he sat, "Swamps."
"I see." Jenrya looked back at Fridge, watching the two finish off their song. He clapped his hands in applause from around Albedo's waist. "Awesome!"
"Damn." Beelzemon muttered. Albedo watched him shake his head as he smiled.
Fridge mocked bowed from his seated position.
"Got another one in those lungs?"
"Hmm." Fridge tapped a finger to his chin.
"Somewhere on Kylmyys." Albedo spoke softly. "Have you finished that one?"
"Oh, um, not quite." Fridge looked downcast. Swamps nudged him. He quickly looked up, "But I can sing what I have so far." He spoke louder and quickly. He looked at Fridge and nodded.
"Alright then."
"Hugh. Count us." Swamps pointed to the male with both his pointer fingers.
A few moments after that, Ryo whistled, looking up from a standard Plumber communicator that, unlike the badges, allowed him to send text messages.
"I didn't know Swamps could beatbox." Jenrya commented, swaying back and forth, moving Albedo with him.
"You missed a lot of their talents during the Invasion." While Albedo spoke, Fridge sang something different, yet similar to what he remembered previously hearing. "Sounds like he took the words out. He's just singing notes." He looked at Fridge.
The Necroffrigian nodded at him. His eyes shined, and Albedo knew the alien were in a different, more peaceful place. For him though, he knew that place was not Kylmyys.
He watched Ryo frown in response to something on his communicator.
"You should be famous by now, with a voice like that!" Beelzemon spoke loudly. Cyberdramon snorted.
Albedo shook his head. Fridge wasn't as sensitive as Swamps. He wouldn't mind if he explained. "Necroffrigians do not sing. It is considered insulting and taboo to their culture. Instead, they pray."
"But every culture sings." Jenrya sputtered in surprise. "Even when praying sometimes."
"The cultures we know of on Earth do." Ryo retorted. "Not every alien lives like us, even if we don't agree with it or don't see why they live that way. Life's too harsh sometimes for things like singing."
Jenrya hugged Albedo tightly.
"Don't get all down," Fridge looked at Jenrya while Swamps continued beat boxing. "I can sing all I want without a care in the world here. I thought that somewhere on Kylmyys, where I'm from, there would be another Necroffrigian who likes music. So I came up with 'Somewhere on Kylmyys'. I didn't find them there, but I did on Earth."
Albedo looked away.
"I just said don't get all down. You're my friend, Albedo. I'll follow you wherever you go."
"H-here here!" Hugh called in agreement.
Jenrya smiled and pressed his cheek to his. His stomach fluttered. Where would he be without these three silly fools?