Ben10 & Digimon Tamers

Heroes and Humanity

Part 02: Humanity and Heroes

Another Myself – Chapter 80 Part 3

Originally Written: Friday, September 29, 2017 300PM to 709PM

. . . . .

"No, Davis. I'm fine. They were actually quite polite kidnappers until we tried to give them the slip." Ken sighed softly, typing quickly on Davis' D-Terminal. "Really, I just want a long hot shower, and a chance to sleep without the feeling of eyes on me, preferably, on a comfortable bed next to Yolei."

Albedo could easily relate to such a want. He watched Davis give Ken a thorough looking over. His hands firmly pressed on his friend's shoulders.

After more Chosen Children arrived, the alternate Tennyson's disappeared in flashes of light. Albedo had a feeling they'd return eventually, but for now they didn't have to worry about it.

He watched various Digidestined wave, and smile, and nod to Ken from their places in the shadows. Their digimon were much more noticeable, even as one by one they reverted to their previous forms.

"Where is Yolei anyway?"

"Over at Tai's place with Kari."

Jenrya wrapped his arms tightly around Albedo. The white haired male couldn't help but smile as Jenrya whispered in his ear. Terriermon's ears tapped softly against his head. He ducked his head low as Ken tried to convince Davis why the best course of action for him would be to return home before heading back out. Ken was fully convinced that the cops wouldn't be able to help much in this situation. Albedo had to agree. If there were Plumbers around, he'd be more inclined against the experienced Digidestined, but as it stood, the weak authorities they had here were no better than ants against the likes of four fully functioning Omnitrixes.

'He keeps looking at you.' Jenrya spoke to him mentally.

'He trusts me ever so slightly because they locked me in the same room as him. I helped him escape, but he still has good reason to be wary of me.' Albedo looked away, a scowl on his face, 'I regretfully do look like his kidnappers.'

Jenrya nodded against him. 'Right...'

"Dude, Yolei brought those documents of yours with her when Kari dragged her out. That flash drive too."

Ken shook his head, smiling a wry smile. "Of course she found them." He lowered his head in thought for a few moments. "Alright, I'll head on over to Tai's place with you."

"Yes!" Davis did a little jig.

Albedo rolled his eyes.

Davis looked at him and Jenrya with stern eyes that reminded Albedo a little too much of the Tennyson he was used to. "You're coming too."

"Naturally," his Jenrya replied, standing up straight. 'Davis has a really nice car by the way.'

Albedo snorted. He did find that Jenrya was right. Davis' sports car had very comfortable heated seats. They put him right to sleep. Jenrya laying against him helped too. He wasn't sure when he did fall asleep on the ride. He was just glad he didn't dream anything.

He looked up at Jenrya who stood with the side passenger door open, holding a hand out towards him. He gingerly took Jenrya's hand.

He looked at Davis watching them both with interest. He shrugged his shoulders.

"People's stare's really don't bother me." Jenrya spoke as he closed the door. "I've dealt with it before on my world. Gotten over it ages ago."

Oh, so that's why Davis kept looking at Jenrya like that. "If they've time to judge someone about that, they haven't opened enough books."

Davis blinked in confusion.

"He means they're stupid." Jenrya explained.

Davis grinned and thumbs up'd at them as Ken laughed a hearty laugh.

"Ah!" Veemon shouted, just barely jumping out of the way. A blur of purple and red suddenly dashed past Davis. A loud thud followed shortly afterward.

"Dude! Car!" Davis yelled holding his arms out.

"Fuck your car!" Yolei yelled even as she recovered from her momentum making her dash right by Ken and into said car. She promptly turned around and hugged Ken tightly. She looked up at his beard and mustache with a scrunched up face.

"I know I need a shave." Ken chuckled, wrapping his arms around her.

"You can grow it until you can put it in a ponytail, just don't disappear on me like that ever again!" She sniffed into his frame.

Davis looked at him and Jenrya with a smile, as he tilted his head towards the spacious house in front of them. Both followed him through the already open front door. Nervousness took Albedo as he entered, and was led to the living room.

"Davis! That you?"

Jenrya froze up ever so slightly, slowing down his pace in reaction to the voice calling for Davis.

"Yeup!" Davis called, popping the 'p'. "Found him. Well, he found us. Or maybe a bit of both." He looked down at Veemon

"A bit of both," The blue dragon agreed.

A tall white male with short dark brown hair and eyes, entered the doorway leading to what looked like the kitchen, dressed in a tanktop and jeans. Albedo watched him look at Jenrya, specifically, Terriermon, sitting on his head. He smiled warmly, though the bags under his eyes told Albedo he was anything but stressed and unhappy, at least for the moment. "I'm Tai Kamiya. Welcome to my home."

"I'm Henry Wong. Pleased to meet you." Jenrya returned his smile, and bowed politely. "This is Terriermon. Please excuse his mouth when he finally gets recovered." Jenrya patted the digimon sitting on his head affectionately.

"My mouth is just fine." The small digimon replied in a soft spoken voice.

"Albedo Lowenthal," he nodded at the taller male.

"Nice to meet you all. Everyone's out back. I'll bring them all inside, just in case there are any prying eyes."

"Right-o," Davis replied.

As Davis led them down a different hall Albedo refrained from letting them know where they were didn't really matter, as their opponents had the means to dimension travel at the bare minimum.

Davis suddenly turned back around, motioning for them to stay as he rushed back the way they had come. "Tai! Look at your Digivice when you get a chance." After a few moments. His voice was much more serious and softer than it had been even just a few moments ago. Albedo narrowed his eyes in thought.

Davis returned quickly and led them to the living room, where they were soon introduced to some overly comfortable seats, blankets, and a good amount of snacks and drinks.

'So, think he's got that government job yet?' Jenrya mentally spoke to him.

Albedo snorted in response, and closed his eyes. He leaned back on the couch, reaching up to make sure his hat was firmly placed on his head. Now that he was able to be a bit more calm, he noticed that it was the tiniest bit larger than the proper sizing for his head. Jenrya leaned up against them, and they sat in mostly peaceful silence, with a Veemon watching them with curiosity. More of the Legendary Digimon Adventure tv show characters entered the premises and introduced themselves, but not much else. Albedo figured that Tai told them to leave him and Jenrya alone for the time being.

'Rest.' Jenrya spoke to him. 'You're thinking too much. They probably won't talk to us much until Ken's rested and okay.'

Albedo somehow managed to close his eyes, and make himself sleep, even with all the familiar yet not faces among him. The room seemed so loud and over crowded, and yet not. He knew nothing of these people except what he saw on the television screen, which could not possibly be the entire truth. They didn't even sound like they had on the show. Still, he felt more comfortable in this room of strangers, than he would in a room with any version of Ben Tennyson that he knew.

Jenrya woke him up sometime later, and Albedo was surprised to find that it was the next day, late in the morning. Jenrya handed him a towel and some toiletries. He nodded to Ken, who sat on a couch next to Yolei drinking a coffee. He supposed the young woman had every right to attach herself to him for a while. He stood and followed Jenrya to the bathroom.

A nice looking bathroom at that. If the tub was any larger it could easily pass for a small swimming pool. He watched Jenrya mechanically set the water for him, and if he allowed himself to, he swore he may cry. He closed his eyes. Jenrya turned back and kissed him on the forehead. Jenrya then stepped outside, closing the door behind him. He clenched his fists as he stepped in the shower.

A large part of him wished he actually was stronger than Ben Tennyson. He looked at the scars and thin cuts marring his arms and legs. Long swatches of patched skin showing only a monster, not a single sign of the Galvan within. He angrily wiped his eyes, and bit back his screams and anger. He scrubbed himself until it hurt too much to do so anymore.

They'd throw him right out the door when they saw what he looked like. Maybe they'd lock him up outside so he-

'Shhhh, sweety.'

He blinked at the running water.

'It's okay. They're good people.'

He glared at the water. 'Are you reading my thoughts?'

'You're not concentrating enough for that, but I can feel your emotions. They're so strong. I wish you wouldn't feel that way... Come on out. I'm right here with you.'

It took him longer than he liked, but eventually he stepped out of the shower, and got dressed. Someone had laid out clothes for him, but he preferred his usual clothes. The moment he transformed into an alien said ensemble would be right back on him when he changed back anyway.

He stepped out of the steam filled bathroom. Damp white hair stuck to his forehead. Jenrya handed him his bag.

"You grabbed my things?" He shifted his sneakers he was holding as he placed said bag on his shoulders.

"I found them next to me when I woke up. I don't know who took them from you, or gave them to me, though."

Albedo nodded, looking down at the slippers provided for him. "It was probably Paradox." He spoke softly.

"Paradox?" Jenrya looked at him wide eyed.

"He was there when we were attacked." Albedo looked off to the side. It wouldn't help him any if anyone found out that said man had been following him around like a bored puppy for weeks. Silently admonishing him with his eyes, rarely speaking, watching him as though he were some science experiment.

He stood behind Jenrya almost as if he were hiding as the male led him back to the living room. Just about all the digidestined from the show were there.

Izzy sat at a computer set on the table. Said table sat in front of the couch Ken and Yolei had been sitting on. Yolei now stood behind Izzy, leaning over his shoulder. A beard and mustache-less Ken had leaned back on the couch, his eyes closed. Mimi looked at Albedo confused, occasionally looking down at her D-Terminal. Cody also looked at him, suddenly ignoring his phone in his lap. T.K. sat next to Cody, arms folded. Kari laid on the same couch that T.K. and Cody sat on, her head on T.K's lap, and her feet hanging over the couch's arm. Albedo recognized it as the same couch that he and Jenrya slept on.

Matt stood in the doorway closest to Tai, eyes flicking this way and that. Tai sipped on that looked to be soda in a glass full of ice. Joe was not in the room. Albedo couldn't determine if that was because he wasn't here or not. Sora didn't seem to be around either.

Davis laid on the floor in the middle of the room, Veemon on his stomach. The other Digimon had mostly crowded around Jenrya's Terriermon. From what Albedo heard they seemed to be comparing Digital Worlds for some reason.

"You look like..." Mimi eventually spoke.

Albedo ducked further behind Jenrya as she looked at him confused.

"He's cool," Davis replied. "Ken would have knocked him out if he wasn't."

"I know, but, how many of you are there?" She laughed helplessly, "This is getting a bit ridiculous!"

Albedo wondered how well she would take 'as many as there are alternate universes'. Instead he murmured, "At least my name is not Ben."

"What do you mean?" Jenrya spoke, leading him into the room. They took a seat on one of the spare couches.

"We know of those four boys who all call themselves Ben." Izzy clarified, not turning around. "They've been giving us the run around since we started looking for you, Ken."

Ken opened his eyes, "Seriously?" He said at the same time Albedo murmured "Five" just loud enough for only Jenrya to hear him.

"Yea." Tai walked further in the room. "We knew you were in Tamachi, but we couldn't figure out where. They led us all over the place. Then beat up Agumon and the others as though they were just playing with us. I'm really surprised we managed to even run into you." He sighed heavily.

Ken looked at Albedo. "Just as you said. You were tracking my D-Terminal, not my digivice."

"Mhm. We could only locate your D-Terminal's location." Izzy answered. "We hoped it would lead to you, but we just kept running into them."

Ken sighed a sigh that was a cross between a growl and a frustrated sigh, "One of them had my D-Terminal in their pocket. I'm guessing they kept switching who had it on them."

Albedo nodded solemnly. "It's a game to them. You aren't who they were after." He looked at Tai, "They've access to technology far more advanced than what this world has access to currently. It was enough that they could hide Ken in plain sight. I can't figure out why they would want you though." He looked at Ken, "What did you do to draw their attention?"

"Why is he the one at fault!?" Yolei shouted at him.

Albedo raised an eyebrow and folded his arms. "Documents and flash drive." He droned in a dull voice.

Yolei promptly glared at Davis.

"What?" He whined, "Saying you had them is the only reason he's here right now." He rolled his eyes. "You're welcome."

"It's okay Yolei." Ken sat up in his seat. He rested his forearms on his legs, "An old... friend of mine contacted me a few months ago." Ken smiled wistfully, "We got to speaking, catching up on things, and eventually he asked me about someone named Ben Tennyson."

Albedo looked hard at him. Jenrya slapped his arm none too lightly, but he continued staring.

"Albedo." Jenrya frowned at him.

"You can say partial truths all you desire, but it will do you no good. It will most likely result in your death."

Ken frowned at him. The other Digidestined looked at him curiously.

"What are you talking about?" Tai focused his attention on Albedo.

"In the warehouse, after we triggered the alarm. The fifth voice we heard over the intercom. You remember?"

Ken nodded numbly.

"That voice belongs to a time space traveler named Eon." He ignored Jenrya looking at him wide eyed. "Back on m-our world, Jen-Henry's and mine, even if you are a Plumber, a member of the interplanetary guards there, contact with Eon is not advised. You're advised to flee."

"Shit..." Matt muttered, "Seriously?"

"Eon is taken extremely seriously where I'm from."

"What's this 'Eon's' gameplan?" Tai questioned.

"He's another Ben Tennyson, right?" Izzy had finally turned around.

"Yes, he is Ben Tennyson, like the others. I do not know what his gameplan is, but I do know he finds other Ben Tennyson's throughout different space time continuums and he enslaves them to do his bidding. The four Tennyson's we saw, are working for him. I'm one hundred percent sure of it."

"This is crazy." Ken whispered through a sigh.

"Space time continuums?" Cody questioned, "Like alternate timelines?"

"Precisely."

The group fell quiet, looking around at each other, save for Jenrya and Albedo.

Eventually, Kari sat up, and broke the silence that engulfed the room. "Can we back up a bit?" She raised her hands as she blinked quickly, trying to process the information.

"Of course." Albedo nodded.

"You said you're from an alternate Earth, with an interplanetary police force?"

"Yes."

"And they deal with aliens and the like? How much experience do you have working with them?"

"More years than you think I would at the age I appear to be." He smirked his trademark smirk, hiding his concern. Things could go sour very quickly if they started asking too many questions about him. Jenrya rolled his eyes in response. "I have dealt with many creatures and sentient beings many times stronger than say a Mega or Omega Digimon."

Matt whistled. T.K. blinked at him. Albedo had a feeling the male didn't quite believe him.

"So you would know how they handle someone like Eon?" Cody questioned.

"I do and I have already told you. They do not." He folded his arms.

"Someone has had to, for you to know that." Kari tapped her fingers on her thighs. T.K. rubbed her shoulders. Albedo watched him smile a small smile.

Ken groaned, "He's probably going to say Ben Tennyson."

T.K. groaned as well. Kari remained hopeful.

Albedo pointed to Ken.

"There is a Ben Tennyson on our world." Jenrya spoke up. "He is a bit like, our Earth's 'champion.'" He smiled sheepishly.

Albedo rolled his eyes. "A nuisance is more like it." He muttered.

"Did this Eon nutjob think you're Ben?" Mimi asked. Now standing next to Mimi's legs, Palmon rubbed at her head, her eyes glazed over in confusion.

"It would seem so." He eventually replied. "That however doesn't explain why he contacted you. The only thing that conclusion tells us is that you shouldn't be involved at all, Ichijouji." Albedo leaned back in his seat. "So, who did these Bens pretend to contact you as?"

Ken lowered his head.

Tai looked at him particularly intensely.

"He told me he was Ryo." The Digidestined of kindness closed his eyes. "I wanted so badly to think it was Ryo. He acted so much like him."

"Ryo?" Matt stepped up next to Tai, "Ryo Akiyama, Ryo?"

Ken nodded.

"Why didn't you ask one of us?" Tai shook his head as he started to pace.

"Because I knew what you would tell me." Ken sighed, "And I don't think I could have handled you telling me 'No'."

Davis sat up by now, looking at Tai intently.

"Not with the chance of it actually being Ryo."

Yolei hugged Ken tightly, "I know you miss him."

Albedo looked around the room. It was as though some kind of switch had been flipped. From confusion, to sadness. Albedo wondered just how close the Ryo he knew got with his version of the Digidestined he knew. "He played to your feelings, preyed on them. Just as he did most likely to the others Bens. He asked you, about himself."

Tai walked out the room. The sound of glass banging against a table rang out loudly in the room. Matt nodded to Davis. Then he followed Tai.

"I pissed off the human equivalent of MaloMyotismon enough to make him come to my world with the intent to kill everyone until he finds this Ben Tennyson, who doesn't exist here by the way, and all you can give me is a 'It's not your fault. You're just another victim.' speech?" Ken spat. He looked away from him and folded his arms.

"I could give you an, 'you're all going to die' speech instead if you want."

"Albedo." Jenrya snapped.

"I'm not accepting that! There has to be another way of stopping this guy and his brainwashed lackeys than waiting for a super human who doesn't exist to show up!" Davis jumped to his feet and clenched his fists. "'Cause seriously, enslaving yourself? You're either the biggest narcissist ever, or you just hate yourself more than should be possible!"

"Yea!" Veemon shouted. One by one the other chosen voiced their agreement.

Albedo closed his eyes, thinking. He folded his arms as he spoke, "You could wait for him to show up, and attack him. I doubt it would do much good though. Really, more than defeating, killing him, your intention is to make his search so difficult that he gets bored and leaves. There's an infinite amount of alternate timelines. Unless your world grabs his attention again, the odds of him returning would be very slim. Slim enough that you shouldn't have to worry about him again in your lifetime. Your gre-" Jenrya covered his mouth. He glared at Jenrya.

Jenrya pointed to the digidestined. Yolei was cracking her knuckles, and Ken silently cried next to her. It reminded him of that scene after Wormmon died, except Ken was older now. Said Wormmon had climbed up on Ken's lap, speaking softly to him. Izzy kept banging his head against the table. Kari covered her mouth staring at him in shock. T.K. glared at him. Cody stared at him, but not, lost in thought. Mimi fumed fumbling her hands in her lap. The digimon all looked at him in shock.

"How do you manage to be worse than me?" Jenrya's Terriermon asked. "Like, that's a feat in itself. You should win an award."

"Terriermon." Jenrya scolded.

"I killed everyone." Ken muttered, covering his face with his hands, "All because I wanted..."

Albedo rolled his eyes. A bit too dramatic for his tastes.

"Let me fix this, okay?" Jenrya whispered. He nodded. Jenrya smiled sweetly at him. Jenrya stood and moved to kneel in front of him. "Ken?"

"What?" Said male looked at him with dull eyes.

"If your Ryo was to return here, where are the first three to five places you're certain he would go?"

"That's an odd question." Izzy commented.

Jenrya waved a hand at him to hush him.

"...He'd go to the cemetery first. Then he'd go home, his old one. He'd run into his dad because his parents didn't want to move in case he did come back. Then, he and his dad would go to the hospital."

Jenrya tilted his head.

"...To see his mother."

Albedo looked at Jenrya in surprise.

"Good enough. Thank you, Ken." Jenrya nodded and looked back at Albedo.

Albedo reached into his bag. He activated the map on his own D-Terminal. "He came with us?" He spoke louder than he desired. He quickly sent a text message. 'I can see why Eon took you, Jenrya, but why did Eon take him with me?' He questioned as he studied the map on his device. 'And why bother contacting Ken?' His thoughts raced, trying to understand the situation.

Ken looked at Jenrya wide eyed.

"Are you telling me that you have a Ryo Akiyama with you? Who got caught up and dragged here with you when Eon and the Ben's attacked you?" Davis spoke slowly, his fists slowly falling open.

Jenrya just smiled brightly at him. "On my world he's the Legendary Tamer. He's also a member of our interplanetary police force. So in addition to him, we've you Legendary Digidestined, clever me, a whole slew of powerful digimon, and someone on our side who knows how Eon likes to play his games. And he's pretty good at holding his own in a fight. I like to think we've got something of a chance."

Albedo leaned back in his chair, waiting for a response. He resisted the urge to let Jenrya know it was more of a 'sliver of a chance of a chance' than 'something of a chance'.