I looked up.
"Trouble?" Rika asked.
Guilmon sniffed the air, but then slowly shook his head to the side.
"Not this time, actually." My eyes closed for a moment -not that anyone could see it, and I paused for a moment.
Yamaki... had just met up with Janyu.
And both of them were... heading towards the Metropolitan building.
Oh, right. Monster Maker gathering.
"I'll be back later." My eyes opened. "Got a few things I need to do now."
I waved- and then promptly vanished.
Silently, I followed behind Yamaki and Janyu, naught but a very, very, very slight shadow on the ground, almost entire imperceptible.
Certainly, it was enough that absolutely nobody had noticed me, despite the fact that we were in one of the most important buildings in all of Shinjuku.
Then again, I could hardly blame them. I was an outside context problem even among outside context problems.
I followed Yamaki and Janyu for a little while, eventually arriving at a small little room inside the Metropolitan building.
The door opened, and all three of us entered.
One of the people inside turned as the door opened, smiling upon seeing Janyu. "Hey Tao!"
"D-Dolphin?" Janyu stuttered.
"Yep." Rob smirked.
"I don't believe it, you've changed- I barely recognize you."
"You haven't changed at all Tao." Aishwarya smiled.
"Well, except for the grey hair." Babel grinned.
"I don't know, I kind of like it. It makes you look distinguished." Daisy said.
"Curly... Babel... Daisy..." Janyu's voice wavered slightly.
The three nodded as Janyu said their old code names.
Daisy, however, quickly stopped smiling, turning to Yamaki with a serious look on her face. "Okay, now that the pleasantries are out of the way, do you mind telling us what this is all about? A reunion of the Monster Makers is cool and all, but-"
"You haven't told us anything." Rob stated.
"Where's Shibumi?" Janyu asked.
"He's living somewhere out in the country." Yamaki answered. "We haven't been able to locate him yet."
Not that it would do you any good even if you could locate him, since his body is currently in a coma.
"I will answer all of your questions now, so thank you for your patience."
Janyu looked down. "It's the Digimon, isn't it?"
Yamaki twitched. "You know."
Janyu sighed. "I do."
"Explanation, please?" Daisy asked.
Janyu walked over to a table, taking a seat.
"Do you recall," Janyu began "When Shibumi predicted that Digimon would appear in the real world?"
The other Monster Makers nodded, all of them also taking seats.
"I thought he was being crazy, after all, how could Digimon ever possibly get into this world?" Janyu stated. "Well, turns out he was right."
"Digimon have been appearing in the real world for years now." Yamaki seamlessly picked up. "And they've proven themselves a threat to humanity at large."
"Not all of them." Janyu cut in. "Just..." He sighed, leaning back. "I never would have imagined that what we created back then would grow into..."
"None of us did." Aishwarya frowned.
Yamaki frowned. "Regardless of what you did, nobody would hold it against you. The situation at hand is not your fault, because there is another power at work here."
Janyu straightened up, the other Monster Maker's paying close attention to Yamaki. "And what force is that?"
"Apparently, the Digimon now have an omnipotent master-"
"Nope." I cut in.
Everybody in the room promptly jumped, startled- save Janyu, who didn't move an inch.
I sat down in one of the chairs in the room, staring at them all.
"Hello." Janyu greeted.
"Good day, Janyu." I greeted him. I turned towards Yamaki. "Anyway, no. The Digimon do not have a single, omnipotent master."
Unless Yggdrasil or ENIAC counted. And even then...
"Care to shed some light on the matter, then?" Yamaki asked, his tone significantly colder.
"Actually, yes." I said, straightening up and getting serious.
"Tao? Who's this?" Daisy asked.
"My name is Drich." I saved him from answering. "And you..." I looked over each of them. "Are the Monster Makers, minus one. A pleasure." I inclined my head at them.
"Explanation?" Yamaki reminded me.
"Oh, learn some patience Yamaki." I spoke. "But anyway, yes."
I leaned back. "This so-called 'omnipotent master' is, in reality, no such thing. It does not exist. There is nothing that is omnipotent, though there are things that are, indeed, very powerful. There is nothing that all Digimon serve and obey without question, though there are things that, indeed, do command the allegiance of many Digimon."
The Sovereigns, the Seven Demon Lords, the Thirteen Royal Knights, Yggdrasil, and ENIAC... The list goes on, and on, and on.
Too many, really.
"Although I have a feeling that wasn't entirely what you were talking about." I stared at him. "Was it?"
"I was referring to whatever being made it possible for Digimon to enter this world and become living beings." He stated.
"In which case, what I said stands." I looked upwards. "There is no such being. It does not exist."
"And I'm supposed to believe that they can enter this world just because?" Yamaki asked.
"Believe it or not, it's true." I shrugged. "The reason that Digimon possess the capacity to enter this world is simply due to how things work, and the very nature of the connection between this world and the Digital World. For much the same reason, it is perfectly possible for a Human to cross over as well."
"What?" This one came from Janyu, instead of Yamaki.
"It's something I've told Yamaki before. A connection from the Digital World to the Real World is also a connection from the Real World to the Digital World." My head tilted to the side. "If you think it's only possible for them to travel here, you're wrong. Just as they can come here, so too can you go there."
All of the Monster Maker's leaned forwards at that, and even Yamaki was, to a very, very minor extent, surprised.
"And how does that work?" Babel asked.
"More or less in the reverse of the way that it does when Digimon come here. Cross the barriers between dimensions, get converted into data. I can explain more about that later, but as it is, there are other and more important matters to discuss."
They looked at me, confused.
"One that poses more of a threat than any Digimon."