Ben10 & Digimon Tamers
Heroes and Humanity
Part 02: Humanity and Heroes
Another Myself – Chapter 96 Part 2
Originally Written: Saturday, October 14, 2017 1157PM; Sunday, October 15, 2017 410PM to Monday, October 16, 2017 1252AM
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A/N:Trigger warning. -points to genres-
"Eon somehow has us able to view the events currently where we are, but managed to do so by keeping us just outside the time stream." Albedo mused. "That's my best reasoning for why not one person has noticed us or paid us any attention. It is like we're watching an individual line of the space time continuum."
Jenrya rubbed his arms to warm them, "That's a bit creepy. Does that mean we're stuck until Eon's finished toying with us?" He shied away from the look Ryo gave him.
Albedo figured Jenrya knew that Eon was more than toying with them, but that was the only way he could think to explain what Eon was currently putting them through. He noticed Rika kept subtly trying to reach for Ryo's hand, but Ryo was nowhere near interested. It left her with a look between a glare and a worried frown on her face. A worried Rika greatly concerned him.
He looked back at younger Ryo just in time to catch him climbing into an abandoned building with ease. He held a small plastic bag in his hands. Jenrya and Rika walked ahead, curious to see what the child was up to. Ryo frowned in his place next to him. Albedo gave him a look.
Ryo shook his head and walked forward.
"What are you doing?" Albedo asked, unsure if he was inquiring about younger Ryo or modern Ryo.
They watched Rika and Jenrya peer in through the window younger Ryo just climbed through. Rika covered her mouth. Albedo narrowed his eyes. Terriermon's ears drooped.
"Mourning." Ryo eventually spoke.
"The youngest boy?" Albedo recognized the pale child with his straight jet black hair and brown eyes who almost always seemed to fall behind the others. Ryo always made them wait for him, even if they were about to be caught by the police for trespassing. Somehow, all of them always made it through. Except this day, he supposed with a frown.
"Yea." Ryo spoke as both he and Albedo joined the others at the window.
"You've explained this like 100 times, and I still don't..." Terriermon made his ears flop dramatically. "Humans are like a thousand times weaker than Digimon, but you guys let rookie humans..." He flopped his ears dramatically.
"And how many rookie digimon have you assisted?" Renamon replied.
"Quite a few back then." The smaller digimon quickly replied, "Was a part of a ton of my quest lines."
Albedo blinked for a moment. Sometimes he forgot that Terriermon had actually came from a Digimon game. His experiences were quite different from Renamon's or Monodramon's. Even more different than Guilmon's.
Jenrya just sighed softly. "I don't think we should be..."
"It's fine." Ryo muttered. He put his hands in his pants pockets.
Younger Ryo and the other kids carefully lit the candles in the bag Ryo had brought. They listened to Ryo explain that he would have their hides if any candles got knocked over, as well as other rules concerning the wax based items.
Albedo watched Ryo walk away from the window. Ryo looked up at the clear sky.
Rika looked at Ryo, thoughts running behind those purple eyes. "You're not ten here, are you?" She looked away for a moment, before steeling her nerves once more and facing him again.
They stood in a nicely sized room, large enough to fit a couple hundred people. Lights shone brightly on a stage near the front of the room, by one of the entrances. At the back of the stage, a large camera screen projected two people sitting on the stage, playing a game.
Ryo shook his head. "Nope." He said, popping the 'p'.
"Not even 12?" Jenrya questioned.
Younger Ryo sat at a small square table facing a shy girl with pink hair and blue eyes in the Digimon card game. The girl reminded Albedo of Aimi, one of his students. She saw she was going to lose ages ago, but still played, fully determined to show her skill and worth. Ryo played like a general, Albedo noted. A kind, yet firm general who could afford no bits of nonsense to seep into his gameplay.
He wondered if that's what Rika picked up on. He didn't smile when he knew he had the lead, or frown when she somehow managed to set him back very slightly in his strategy. He played as though it was something he had to do.
Camera's flashed around the two. Ryo dressed casually, but smartly, in yet another pair of jeans and a gray button down shirt. Albedo wondered how many small tournaments he had to win to afford the new clothes. A few times now, the group got the chance to watch younger Ryo debate on getting new cards, or food, or clothes. They listened to him weigh the pros and cons of each decision.
"No," Ryo shook his head again. He went silent for a bit before he spoke again. "I don't know how old I am right now, but I know if you stay in the Digital World long enough, you start to age differently. Even if it's not noticeable now, time still runs differently there than on Earth. If it helps, I was going on 14 when I first went into the Digital World, I think. It's been a while. I don't really keep track." He kicked a small rock on the sidewalk. "Haven't seen much need to."
The crowd burst into loud cheers and boos. Newcomer Ryo trashed the competition once again. The boy stood, smoothed his shirt, and leaned over to shake the girl's hand. Said girl looked extremely frustrated, but honorably reached for his hand anyway.
They watched younger Ryo's small group of friends accept Cyberdramon in their party with ease. For a while at least. That's how Albedo knew for sure that Ryo was much older. Cyberdramon's eyes were wild, unkind and untamed. He did not look as though he belonged at all. And from the way Ryo held his new blue and white D-Arc with a grip so strong it looked like Ryo would break the thing, Albedo knew that not even younger Ryo thought Cyberdramon was anything but a bloodthirsty creature.
That familiar blue whip wrapped tightly around Cyberdramon's neck. He pulled hard, and watched Cyberdramon slowly get dragged back from the scared, well dressed older man who's day went from nice and pleasant to horror movie level terrible all because he had accidentally bumped into Cyberdramon's tamer. Apparently you did not touch this Cyberdramon's tamer without Cyberdramon's permission.
Monodramon stood quietly next to Ryo, glaring at this Cyberdramon. An angry creature who only understood how the Digital World worked, and didn't care how to figure out how Earth worked.
"Up." Younger Ryo spoke, voice strained. "Hurry up and go."
The older man looked at Cyberdramon, shaking and trembling. Too scared to move.
"I forgave you ages ago." Ryo continued.
The male slowly looked at Ryo. Albedo couldn't see the look on the younger male's face, but he knew it was enough to make the man get up and run.
Behind Ryo, the small group of slightly older, slightly better dressed children shied away from Ryo. They took small steps back, their minds debating on if it was worth the threat of being killed to stay with a person who shared their prize money with you to keep you alive.
"Back to the shadows." Ryo snapped, voice gravelly.
Cyberdramon snarled at him. Albedo wondered if the digimon was even capable of speaking at this point in time.
Jenrya had pressed himself back against a building. His body shook, his mind temporarily lost in its own world. Albedo stood next to him, gaze switching from young Ryo and Cyberdramon to Jenrya. He knew that this Cyberdramon and Ryo could not harm them, yet, even Albedo felt on edge. He wouldn't have crossed the path of that Cyberdramon. He easily would have taken the long way around.
Rika stood next to Ryo, her hands clenched tightly to her bosom. Albedo noticed the small tremors running through her as well.
Ryo was the only one who stood not shaken by the events before him. Albedo could only guess that since Cyberdramon made his presence known, that this was merely just the events of another day.
Cyberdramon growled again. Younger Ryo let him go. The champion digimon faded away, just enough that you had to focus to see him. The blue whip returned to his digivice.
Albedo watched older Ryo pat Monodramon's head lightly.
The rookie digimon shook his head. "How bad was I back then?"
Ryo stood up straight and shook his head. "It doesn't matter now."
Albedo watched younger Ryo kneel on the floor, hands pressed together in prayer. Loud crunching sounds echoed loudly further into the alley he knelt in.
"What," Jenrya looked at Ryo, his voice wavering, "what are you praying for?"
Albedo wasn't sure if Jenrya wanted to know the answer to that.
"I'm praying that I find a portal to the digital world soon." Ryo stood calmly for a short while. Then he lowered himself to his knees, and prayed along with his younger self.
Albedo lowered his head, "The man following you was a plumber."
Rika and Jenrya looked at him surprised. "A plumber?" Rika asked.
"They would have detected the disturbances Cyberdramon's presence created much sooner than Hypnos." He explained. He looked at the scene with a bit of remorse. He didn't like plumbers, but that was a horrible way to end your life. "Cyberdramon is...hiding the evidence of the man he killed." He looked down at Monodramon.
"Wait, what!?" Rika looked at him with wide eyes. "How...?"
"He's eating him." Renamon explained calmly.
If Jenrya held onto his arm a bit tighter, Albedo did not mention it. Cyberdramon still unnerved him, but, somehow, after watching the digimon act a bit more, he felt a bit more confident that if he had run into this digimon, he could subdue him. Jenrya had told him that Yamaki first viewed digimon as wild untamed beasts in the beginning of his journey. Even to this day the viewpoint stood. If the digimon he had first run into were anything close to like Cyberdramon was at this point in time, then he wasn't surprised that's how Yamaki felt about digimon.
"Hypnos isn't around yet." Ryo stood up, and put his hands back in his pants pockets. "Nowhere near how you explained how they were back then to me, Henry. There's barely any Plumbers in Japan right now too."
"Why are they?" Rika closed her eyes and shook her head.
One of the kids in Ryo's group screamed loudly, thrashing in an older man's arms. The man wore a black and white uniform Albedo recognized as the plumber outfits of old. The boy shouted his protests, struggling against the stronger man's frame.
Younger Ryo and his other friends watched the boy struggle from their places hidden behind bushes, boxes, cars and buildings. They looked at Ryo and Cyberdramon expectantly, but knew why Ryo or any of them didn't try to go get him.
Another plumber came up to the struggling teen. Eventually the two overpowered the kid in front of an old building. They watched him be taken away, screaming and crying for Ryo and his friends.
Albedo took a look at Ryo. His frame shook as he took in the scene. As he watched, he occasionally closed his eyes for a few moments. Then he forced them open, as though he felt the need to watch all of the past Eon made them see, in his own defiant way. Albedo shook his head.
"They want me, but they're not skilled enough to go up against Cyberdramon. Or they were ordered that taking them away first, before targeting me again was safest. I couldn't bring myself to tell them to go with the Plumbers, even though that might have been somewhat safer."
"Your friends." Albedo looked at the dwindling group of solemn children.
"My family." Ryo nodded.
Slowly they watched them all get taken away, even as younger Ryo continued participating in card game tournaments. For, how else was he to get money for them all to survive? He was too young to legally work, and an undocumented citizen. Cyberdramon's violent temperament made extra human contact not viable as well.
Albedo watched younger Ryo seem to calm the lower the number of his friends surrounding him got, and he knew that deep down Ryo truly believed that Cyberdramon could one day snap and kill them too. Cyberdramon did nothing to protect the other children from the plumbers. Only Ryo did he shield and guard.
One time the Plumbers ambushed Ryo and his few remaining friends shortly after he won just another card tournament. Younger Ryo thought for a moment then he spoke.
"If I ask, you'll just lie, won't you?" He looked at the older plumber, and his partner, a female.
"It depends on your question." The male plumber replied.
Younger Ryo looked around ever so discreetly. Albedo watched his eyes. One behind that building. Another behind the building over there. One in that tree. All the way until Albedo and younger Ryo counted ten of them total.
"They're okay, right?"
The two remaining, a boy slightly younger than Ryo, and a girl Albedo recognized as his younger sister looked at Ryo.
"All of your friends are alright. They are safe and warm as all children your age should be." The male replied.
"Bullshit." Ryo replied at the same time younger Ryo muttered.
Rika looked at him with tears in her eyes. Jenrya shook his head. Their digimon remained silent, unsure how to handle the influx of information.
"Your bigwig bosses freaked out when they realized they actually liked Cyberdramon despite the things he did, because he protected me, which they knew they couldn't do." older Ryo continued, "You trapped them in this system, like you did me."
Albedo looked at the two standing next to Ryo. He didn't recognize them as children, but maybe he would if he saw them in the present time. A part of him hoped he didn't.
"Fuck you Eon," Ryo spat, "Fuck you with a rusty spoon."
Albedo thought he heard the time traveler laughing in his head, or at the very least in the area, responding to Ryo's declaration. He pulled at his shirtsleeves, and looked away as the last two children were forced to go with the plumbers.
The group found themselves back in Fukuoka. Young Ryo walked down the street, hands in his pockets. He wore a pair of nice looking brown slacks, and a thermal blue shirt. Without as many people to worry about, combined with his booming success at the tournaments, Ryo could afford to take better care of himself.
Still, Albedo saw the plumbers hiding in the shadows, trailing him, studying him. They were probably working to plan out their next move. Despite how cruel it seemed, Cyberdramon simply could not be allowed to do whatever he wished whenever he wanted. Especially when doing so consisted of attacking anyone who accidentally gave Ryo a hard time whether it was a human or a digimon emerging from a Digital Field.
"Hm." Ryo smiled a small smile. "I actually liked this day."
Albedo wasn't sure if anyone else had paid his words much attention, but he wished he hadn't the foresight to do so. He lowered his gaze.
Young Ryo fixed up his hair and then walked into a food restaurant. Ryo examined the menu for a while. Albedo assumed he was determining what was cheapest and most filling at the same time. Finally he ordered a small sandwich and a bottle of water. He took a seat at a table. He was served, and he ate in silence. Occasionally he looked around with just his eyes, studying his surroundings.
"Someone has offered to pay for your meal for you." The waitress, a short female with black hair informed him when she handed him the bill. "Is this alright with you?"
Ryo looked up at the woman with confusion. "Did they give a name?"
"Oh um, yes!" She looked around searching her pockets. After a few moments she pulled out her notepad. "Hideyoshi. His name is Hideyoshi Akiyama."
Albedo looked around the area the same time younger Ryo started. Ryo rocked on the balls of his feet as he looked off to the side.
Younger Ryo saw the man sitting at a table a good distance away. He had vibrant brown eyes, and the same beard and hair as Albedo saw in the Digimon Adventure timeline. His hair showed no signs of graying. He did look tired, as though he spent a lot of time thinking. He was by himself, drinking what looked to be either water or soda. He didn't seem to notice Ryo looking at him. "It's fine." Younger Ryo ducked his head. His eyes shifted around, focused on the table.
Eventually younger Ryo stood, gathered up his things and left. Albedo watched him stand by the restaurant for a short while. Then he walked down the street. Then he walked back. Not quite pacing, more debating if to wait, or to just leave. After a few repeats of this action the teen decided to stay put. He waited by the restaurant, his hands in his pockets.
"You waited for me?"
Young Ryo jumped in response to Hideyoshi Akiyama's voice.
Ryo looked at him for a few moments, then looked away trying to appear bored. "Just wanted to say thanks."
"Well, I'm glad either way."
"That's how you met your dad?" Terriermon asked. "Seems so boring after all of the other things."
"Terriermon," Jenrya scolded him.
"What?"
Ryo laughed. "I didn't trust him for anything. It was too coincidental, you know?" He watched his younger self spend some time speaking to the older man. "I didn't know if the Plumbers had sent him or something."
"Weird, but makes sense." Rika commented. "I can see it. Maybe he was a Plumber in plain clothes?"
"Yea. Something like that." They watched younger Ryo walk away from Hideyoshi. Hideyoshi followed him for a few steps before stopping. The two took their separate paths. "It took him like a month tracking me, before I decided to give up and just go with him." He chucked a short laugh as he rolled his eyes, "He thought it was creepy all those adults were following me."
"He noticed that?" Jenrya looked at Ryo.
"Something had him on edge. I don't know if it was me or something else, but he was always looking around." Ryo started to follow his younger self. Albedo and the others followed him with ease. "Do you remember?" Ryo glanced at Monodramon. "He could see you back then when you went hiding."
"A little bit." Monodramon replied.
"I think you were letting him see you."
"I've always liked him." The digimon's smile was small and subdued.
"Me too." Ryo grinned. They continued down the street, smiling small smiles.
'Threat detected.'
"Ryo!" Albedo shouted. He pulled the tamer back. Monodramon's eyes shifted forward, and he growled.
Rika pulled out her digivice, a deep scowl set on her face. Renamon stood in front of her a little off to the side. Terriermon dropped off from Jenrya's head and hung off his tamer's shoulder. Jenrya aimed his guns forward, silver eyes burning with anger.
Ryo looked ahead. "Eon," he glared at the purple clad male. "What do you want?"
Eon held his arms out to the side, "Just to ease your curiosity."
Ryo frowned at him.
"You want to ease his curiosity? You're more likely to stab him and say you were doing him a favor by releasing all that extra blood in him." Terriermon scoffed.
Eon burst into deep, deranged giggles. He waved a hand, trying and failing to hold back his laughs. He wiped a tear from his eye. "Why wouldn't I want to ease the curiosity of a new comrade?"
"Yea, no thanks." Ryo folded his arms. "Not interested. Not in what you think I need help with, and definitely not in your alliance."
"You mean you haven't ever wondered what made this Hideyoshi so cautious?" Eon spun on his feet. "Not even once? It's always there you know. That tension that never leaves him, even when he's relaxed."
Ryo narrowed his eyes. "Not particularly."
"Aww, don't lie. You're not that good at it." Eon waved a finger in admonishment. "Leave that to the professionals."
Monodramon shot out an attack at him. He snarled as Eon dodged. "Do not taunt my tamer!" His voice boomed. Ryo gripped his digivice as Monodramon digivolved before them.
Albedo noticed Jenrya and Rika take a step back, but he didn't comment on it, for he stepped back as well, fists clenched.
"You never wondered why he decided to find you? Why he went through all that trouble after he saw you on the tv, kicking ass and taking names in a children's card game?" Eon circled around them, ignoring Cyberdramon growling and snarling at him.
Ryo looked off to the side with a firm scowl set on his face.
"Don't let him get into your head," Jenrya growled out. "Manipulation is all he knows how to do." His arms shook just enough to guarantee it would throw off his shooting aim.
"You've not been paying attention. I'm a pretty decent time traveler too, if I do say so myself. I'm an excellent leader, and fervent supporter of all Ben Tennyson's around." He held his arms out to the sides. Then he broke out into another set of giggles.
"You're just a monster." Rika spat, "A nuisance to the entire universe."
"Ah, you caught me!" He spoke between his giggles. Then he disappeared. "I wanna show you anyway, dearest Ryo."
Ryo shied back as Eon reached a hand towards him.
"Because I'm just that nice. You're welcome!" He sang as he disappeared again. The world around them flashed a bright, blinding lavender.