Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon, nor do I own When the World's Not Ending, by Smartalec121 or any of their associated works.
Off the Beaten Path
Chapter: 23/ "Guilt, She is the Governess…"
Himiko swore under her breath. The binoculars she procured were better than the nothing from before, but they still offered limited intelligence on the situation unfolding in the park. Every so often, she would catch sight of movement, but the only sighting that was at all meaningful was the interception and destruction of the Shaggai units.
They still aren't good enough, she thought bitterly. Her frustrations were interrupted by the buzzing of her cellphone. Whipping it out, she hit the reply button.
"Talk to me, Mizuno," she said. "Tell me you have good news."
"I wish I did," came the reply. "I've been going over the data for the Sleipnir program…"
"Your orders were to investigate the situation with Takato and provide a solution," she half-growled.
"This couldn't wait, so I asked Janyu to handle it. I couldn't ask him to look into Sleipnir. Ms. Hata, the line of code that triggered Sleipnir's malfunction during the test run… I found what appears to be a video file within it. And there's more of them. A lot more. I didn't have time to analyze them more fully, so I've walled them off to keep them from interacting with the rest of Sleipnir's AI. I don't think it would be a good idea to activate Sleipnir until we know for sure what it is we're dealing with."
Himiko glanced back in the direction of the park. A new plume of smoke rose into the air along with a distant thump. A chill ran through her.
"Keep it warmed up. We might need to activate it anyway."
She hung up. Pressing her lips together into a thin line, she pondered the situation and her options. Her heart was banging at what felt like a mile a minute, making concentration difficult.
The tactical situation is poor and we're unable to contact anyone outside of this building. Sleipnir might be too dangerous to use. That leaves us with Juggernaut.
Before arriving, she had gone over the specs on Yamaki's version 2.14 of his infamous Juggernaut program. Compared to the original version one and the later 1.5, it had been streamlined considerably, causing fewer problems for the digital world with various functionality and allowed for specific targeting as opposed to the previous general, attractive force.
But the portal in the park is causing problems for our equipment. Targeting will be a problem. And that digital field… It still hasn't discharged. Why?
She frowned. The lack of dispersal bothered her. She had read everything she could to understand the conversion process by which digimon entered the material world. The digital field was a combination of basic elements – carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen and other trace elements – being drawn out of the air during the digimon's realization, resulting in ionization of the local area until fully discharged. Juggernaut's original version one function interfered with the conversion process, forcefully dispersing any potential energy a digimon obtained to form their false proteins and tearing their data apart.
Titamon's a Mega and has been here long enough for the digital field to dissipate. So why is the field still there?
Something clicked in Himiko's mind and two possibilities came to mind. Either Titamon was not finished bio-emerging, or he was using the digital field to recover from injuries.
Alternatively, he could be using the digital field to create a Juggernaut-like effect, allowing him to weaken everyone, she thought, remembering how deftly he handled Gallantmon. Could that explain the problems with the portal? Is he using it to maintain the process? Of course, she knew she was only theory-crafting, but it fit her observations as well as Yamaki's extensive information on digimon structure and bio-emerging.
Pulling up Riley's contact information on her cellphone, she tapped the call button.
"Ootori," she said. "Prepare to activate Juggernaut. Set it for wild field and dispersal. Keep the power down, but be ready to turn it up on my orders."
"Ma'am. Even at low level, we will see widespread network damage."
"I'm well aware of that, Ootori. Follow my orders." Lifting the binoculars back up, she glanced through them. Was it her imagination or was the digital field growing thicker?
Beneath her feet, Himiko felt the floor quiver, signaling the activation of Juggernaut. Swallowing her anxiety, Himiko took a shaky breath.
"Okay," she said as Juggernaut cycled through its first stage. "Let's see how you deal with this, data trash."
###
Rika arrived at the edge of Chuo Park, her chest heaving in desperation for air. She had lost the counting rhythm Toshiko taught her and subsequent attempts to regain it fell apart with every explosion she heard. Each thump gave her thoughts a laser-focus and helped her ignore the stitch in her side and the fire burning inside her lungs. Frowning, she took a gander about her. There were Hypnos vans up and down the length of the street. Agents milled about them with what plainly anxiety. Some kept looking back at the park while others kept calling for further instructions.
Sounds like they're having problems contacting anyone, she thought before dropping down behind a trashcan to hide from them – lest they arrest her for her own safety. Her frown deepened. Between the battle-thunder and the agents' uncertainty, she got the sense that things were going rather badly for the Tamers. Bad enough that the fighting continued for the entire time it took for her to run down here.
She looked up and down the street. How am I going to get by them? They're all over the place and there's a lot of them. I can't just run in there without them chasing after me. That'd put them in danger too.
A wiser part of her asked just what she intended to do once she found the Tamers. She had her cards – having decided to keep a deck with her at all times now – but that was no guarantee of anything in so far as her utility went in battle, nor could she use them to protect herself either.
Yet, the billowing of smoke from the park made her resolve to join the Tamers that much stronger. Her eyes darted about more quickly, taking in the position of each of the agents and looking for gaps in their attention. Aside from the Hypnos vans and her trashcan, the streets were largely empty with very little in the way of cover. A straight run was out of the question. There was simply too much open ground.
"How am I going to get inside?" she wondered aloud.
"Do you normally talk to yourself?" came a voice from behind her. Rika barely suppressed a cry of surprise. She whirled about; bag held at the ready to clobber whoever dared to sneak up on her. She froze upon seeing that the voice's owner was, of all people and digimon, none other than Calumon. The tiny creampuff of a digimon tilted his oversized head to the side, beaming happily up at her.
"Calumon!" Her voice strained in the attempt to keep her voice down. "What are you doing here?!"
"I was going to ask you the same thing," Calumon said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "It's pretty dangerous out here now. Too dangerous to be playing hide and seek."
Rika's eyes went wide with bafflement.
This digimon…
"I'm not playing hide and seek!" she hissed under her breath. "For your information, I'm trying to figure out how to get into the park so I can help Takato and the others. It's closed off and Hypnos is watching it like a hawk!"
"They have hawks?" Calumon peeked around the trashcan, his green eyes curious. Rika snatched hold of him and yanked him back.
"What are you doing?! They'll see you!" Rika scolded.
"Oh?" Calumon then beamed happily. "Wouldn't that distract them then?"
"I…what?" Rika blinked, but the tiny digimon was already moving. Riggling free from her grasp, he shot toward the Hypnos agents, gesticulating wildly with his tiny arms.
"Hello, hello, hellooo! Wanna play tag?" His ears expanding, he jumped and snatched a cellphone out of the hands of one of the agents. "You're it!"
"What the…?" The agent's mouth fell open in shock. "What are you doing? Get back here!"
"Keep away! Keep away!" Calumon laughed, leaping into the air. "Oh… What's this button do?"
Agents proceeded to chase after Calumon, leaving a bewildered Rika to stare at the tiny digimon. After a couple seconds, another thump refocused her thoughts.
"Calumon, I owe you some bread when this is all over," she said. Adjusting her bag, she dashed toward the park and swiftly disappeared into its brush.
###
"It's all my fault…"
Guilmon heard Takato's lament through the darkness of their merged form. In his mind, he saw memories of Takato standing outside Jeri's home as her unconscious body was being loaded into the back of an ambulance. Guilmon remembered that day well and the crushing sadness that overwhelmed his Tamer then.
"I wasn't a good enough partner to help you," he said. Outwardly, their merged form of Gallantmon clutched at the sides of his head and their legs began to buckle. Bereft of the pressure of his hands, fresh blood began to seep through the cracks in the side of their armor, mingling with the black mist that coiled around their injury. As if sensing their emotions, the fog shifted, stabbing its tendrils deeper into their wounds. In response, images of Henry, fury burning in his eyes, came to mind, standing over him with clenched fists beneath the blood red sky of the Sovereign's domain.
"Henry was right. H-He was right. He warned me I was going to get people killed if I kept fighting.
Takato saw Leomon, impaled on Beelzemon's claws, roaring in agony. He heard Jeri's scream, loud and raw and knew it was because of him. He heard Henry's horrified shout for his sister as the Sovereign's domain cracked from the titanic battle with Leomon's murderer. He saw Suzie, so young, hands covered in blood, sobbing over her brother's body. And Ryo and Kazu… Their remains had never been recovered. Devoured by the D-Reaper alongside their partners. Their families would never have the closure of knowing where they rested.
"I should have been stronger," Guilmon said as the memories washed over him. "Smarter. I should have thought less about bread and thought more about how to beat up the bad digimon."
Gallantmon fell to his knees. Weak. They felt so very weak. Hardly a surprise. They didn't deserve to have biomerged in the first place. They were always getting bailed out by Henry. They were always just barely hanging on, thinking things would work out in the end somehow; depending almost entirely on luck to be with them.
"Why? Why was I chosen to be a Tamer instead of Rika? In the Other World, she kept everyone from dying. I'm-I'm worthless."
"You are not worthless, Subject Takato."
The sound of Jeri's voice pierced through the fog in his mind. Turning his golden eyes up, he found the girl – garbed in a red dress with wings stretched out behind her – gazing up at him. Her eyes were flat, yet buried deep inside them lay sympathy. Memory stirred, and the haze around his wounds flexed in response. At once, flashes came of his battle with the malevolent entity. "You do not deserve to live!" it had shouted at him with a voice filled with utter hatred and contempt for digimon and humanity. He had said then that it was wrong. They did deserve to live. He closed his eyes and for the first time wondered if the D-Reaper had been right.
"Jeri," he moaned, reaching out toward the girl. "I'm so, so sorry. I couldn't save you."
The girl took a step away from his hand. Gallantmon felt his heart crack at the rejection and he lowered his arm.
Of course. Why would she forgive me? I tried to be there for her, but in the end, I'm responsible for everything that went wrong with her.
"All my fault…" Gallantmon whispered. "Everyone died because of me."
"It is not your fault," Juri said, and behind her Kenta and MarineAngemon's floating heart deposited them on the ground. "Subject Takato. You and your friends are victims of mathematical probability. There was nothing you could have done to change that, but you can still change the future." Her hand reached out, as if by reflex, only to freeze before it could make contact with his armor. Biting her lower lip, a pained expression crossed her face. After retracting her hand, Juri turned toward Kenta.
"We cannot touch him while he is like this. We will only make him worse. Subject Kenta. Subject MarineAngemon. Affect repairs. We will stand guard."
Kenta nodded hesitantly. He still didn't feel right trusting the D-Reaper, but so far, she – it – remained true to their word.
"Okay, MarineAngemon. Time to go puh, buddy."
"Puh!" MarineAngemon said and hastily flew up to the Royal Knight's injuries. Inspecting the cracked armor and the black mist surrounding it, a worried expression crossed MarineAngemon's face. He turned toward his partner.
"Pihpih," he said.
"W-What do you mean it's attacking his heart?"
"When Titamon's Phantom Blade attack injures an opponent, it causes them to hallucinate and believe they are being harrowed," Juri replied. "It is a virus program designed to ensure that the victim is in constant pain and emotional misery. Even if the body survives, it will inevitably kill their spirit."
"MarineAngemon. Can you heal him, buddy?"
"His power should be sufficient to prevent it from getting worse," Juri said flatly. "Further healing will have to come after and will be dependent on him. Do not waste time." Her head snapped up. "Titamon is coming. We will distract him."
Her wings flapping, Juri took to the air and then disappeared into the fog. Kenta, MarineAngemon, and Gallantmon watched her go. The knight felt darkness close in around his heart as she vanished. Once again, the image of Jeri's body being loaded into an ambulance flashed through his mind and fear roared up from the deepest pits of his being.
"N-No…" Gallantmon gasped. He immediately began struggling to get to his feet. "Jeri… Jeri, no… No!"
"It's not Jeri," Kenta said as MarineAngemon shot a blue, glowing heart at Gallantmon's side. "Remember? It's the D-Reaper."
But Gallantmon wasn't listening. "J-Jeri…" he repeated as the heart came into contact with his armor. Cracks began sealing up and the dark stains of blood marring his armor evaporated. His body shuddered from the unexpected surge of renewed strength and suddenly his eyes dilated. "Jeri!"
"Hey! Wait!" Kenta began, only for the knight to dash forth, knocking MarineAngemon out of the way. "Takato! Wait!"
###
Juri touched down in an open area where a towering fountain of stone stood. Water fell down its smooth, curved surfaces. Folding her wings into her body, she regarded it for a moment. Memories from Jeri – still unconscious from the shock of her body's destruction – stirred in the back of her mind, recalling a more innocent time. A time when fantasy appeared fulfilled during a warm, sunny day when Leomon bio-emerged into the real world, standing atop a rainbow, powerful arms folded across his chest. Juri felt an instinctive flutter in her digital heart as Jeri's emotions seeped into her. She didn't resist. She let them wash over her and for a moment, experienced that day as Jeri, in mind and body, before returning to the present. A small smile graced the corners of her lips.
Shinjuku Niagara Falls. That's what they call this place.
"That was a fun day," her mouth said in a more childish tone. Juri cocked her head to one side and her smile disappeared.
"Calumon. You are awake?"
"Finaaally!" her mouth crowed impatiently."But I feel awful tired. I need creampuffs."
"They will have to wait. Calumon," Juri replied. "This body is insufficient for the both of us and will be destroyed shortly. Move to one of our remaining agents and bring them all here."
"Jeri!"
At the voice, Juri turned and found Gallantmon crashing through the brush. He looked somewhat better, but his injuries remained plain. Alarm clutched her data core.
"Subject Takato. You should not be here. You are still in need of repairs."
"I-I can't lose you again, Jeri!" Gallantmon rasped. Juri's eyes widened a little.
"You are still under the influence of Titamon's attack. Subject Takato: You must leave this area at once! He…"
A tree crashed and fog spilled into the area. Whirling about, Gallantmon and Juri saw the towering figure of Titamon step into view, his massive sword held out before him. His eyes settled on her.
"So, you survived," Titamon declared. There rang a note of anger in his voice. "I shall rectify that."
Juri didn't reply. Already, she was calculating how to handle the situation. Her original intention had been to sacrifice this body holding Titamon off until Gallantmon had been fully healed. Now, however, that plan could not be utilized.
"Don't you dare touch her!" shouted Gallantmon, suddenly stepping forward. Juri gave a start, surprised by the ferocity in his voice. As she watched, the knight rematerialized his lance and shield.
Titamon lifted an eyebrow. "Interesting. You use the pain from my Phantom Blade to fuel your defiance. But to protect the Chaos?"
"It is due to the form we take," Juri explained, circling out from behind Gallantmon. She gestured to herself indicatively. "In some worlds, this was the human we took to study humanity and fuel our evolution. A human he loved. Your attack prevents him from seeing us for what we truly are."
Titamon cocked his head to one side, wondering why the Chaos was informing him of this.
Does it feel that I will hesitate on his behalf? He frowned slightly. His eyes flickered over to Gallantmon. Despite his injuries and the afflictions from the Phantom Blade, his body was carrying itself well. His eyes though… A mad fire burned within them. He wondered what the knight saw and felt that drove him to fight through the virus permeating his body and infecting his mind and defend the Chaos of all beings.
Surely, he couldn't be that far gone?
He saw Gallantmon shift his balance. He sighed and brought his sword up. A moment later, Gallantmon's lance clashed against his, sending a shower of sparks raining across the park.
Behind them, twin pillars of emerald light shot into the sky. A warp began to form and grid-like lines appeared. Slowly and steadily, sparkling light began to draw up from the digital field and into the hole that was forming above the pillars.
###
"I can't let Jeri down again!" Takato shouted. Desperation lent his limbs a strength and speed he didn't know he could possess and he furiously made use of it. Lightning sparked at the tip of his lance as he thrust and stabbed at Titamon, trying to get around the Mega's massive sword. Titamon dug his back foot into the earth and held his ground as his sword spun, bashing against Gallantmon's lance in an attempt to create an opening he could use. But wherever Gram wasn't, Aegis rose to intercept Titamon's counterattack. They were stalemated.
"I'm not letting Takato down!" Guilmon growled. "Not again!" Suddenly Gallantmon's lance changed, becoming a bright, glowing, double-bladed spear. Titamon's eyes went wide with surprise as Aegis morphed into a sword and thrust forth. Both blades bit into Titamon's hands and the Mega dropped his weapon in shock and surprise. Gallantmon, white-armor changing to Crimson, pressed his attack. Ripping his blades free, he came at Titamon. Burning red light swept up at Titamon and he narrowly blocked it with a gauntlet. Cracks appeared along his armor, but already the digital field swirling about him rose up, repairing the damage.
Mode change. Powerful. Titamon lifted a blood-covered hand and his sword flew back into his grasp. Gallantmon lifted his weapons in preparation to block, but Titamon had other plans.
"Underworld's Call!" he said. At once, the fog roiled and shadowy figures rose up from it, bearing the appearance of insect-like skulls. Immediately, they dogpiled upon Gallantmon and with strength that surprised the knight, forced him to his knees. His angelic wings swept up, blazing with intense light.
"Let…go!" Gallantmon shouted, blowing them off his body, shattering them into showers of sparkling light. Gallantmon began to rise back to his feet, only to find Titamon's sword smashing into the side of his helm, stunning him.
"I am empowered by the Sovereign to destroy the Chaos," Titamon said, winding up for another blow. "Where armies falter, I shall not. If you defy my mission to safeguard the digital world, you will die."
Movement from off to the side caught his attention. Whirling about, he swung his great-sword about, narrowly blocking Juri. Her fingers, shifted into talons, left great claw marks along the surface of his blade. Her amber eyes glared with surprising venom at Titamon and the Mega flinched reflexively.
"You will not delete Subject Takato," she growled, and at once her body began to further alter. She lengthened in size, becoming thinner and her skin took on a dark, almost grey complexion. Shadows shrouded her eyes and her mouth became a gaping, black maw. Rearing back, she let out an enraged howl that sent shockwaves blasting across Shinjuku Niagara Falls. Titamon thrust his sword into the earth to brace himself and Gallantmon, even in his Crimson Mode, rocked from the impact of Juri's anger.
The emerald pillars of light above the tree-line intensified and lightning cracked across the sky.
With a flap of her wings, Juri flung herself at Titamon. The Mega barely had enough time to rip his sword free from the ground. Claws met Chrome Digizoid, and sparks flew all about them. Thunder cracked and the ground splintered as the pair rained blow after blow upon each other.
"You would destroy all that Jeri holds dear!" Juri shouted, her claws leaving deep grooves in his sword with every slash. "Destroy all that we hold dear! You serve a Sovereign who tried to destroy this world out of hatred! You do not deserve to live!"
Titamon's mind raced in utter confusion at the Chaos's words and behavior. He could see what appeared to be tears flowing down her face. All because he threatened to slay Gallantmon.
Juri's claws thrust forth and punched through the flat of Titamon's blade. Caught there, Titamon swung her like a mallet into the earth, shattering the ground upon impact. Wasting no time, he stomped hard on her and then ripped his sword free from her claws. Great chunks of metal tore loose with a shriek, but he paid it no mind and immediately set about hammering home his advantage. He swung down. He swung hard. He swung repeatedly, and a crimson fluid gushed up, splashing along his body and sword with every stroke. Juri thrashed at first in agony. Then attempted to block the attacks as they tore into her.
She ceased all attempts at protecting herself a moment later, even when Titamon's sword continued to crash into her.
After what felt like an eternity, Titamon drew back and surveyed his work. Juri's body was a wreck. Very little of it remained amidst a sea of red fluids save for her head and a solitary arm – both already reverting back to a more human form. Her expression was flat and calm, but not dead. Not yet. Her breathing continued, as if driven out of reflex, harsh and gasping. Her eyes were focused on Titamon, studying him.
"You do not deserve to live," Titamon said. His fingers flexed about the hilt of his sword. "You are a danger to everything that lives. You came to our world. You slaughtered. You destroyed. We were no threat and you killed us anyway."
Juri's eyes traced over him, and she nodded in agreement.
"We are…s-s-s-sorry," she slurred. Titamon blinked, taken aback.
"What?" he said in a hushed voice. In his battle-filled mind, an apology had been the last thing he would have expected from the Chaos; a malevolent entity that laid waste to entire worlds. Why would the unfeeling monster feel anything like remorse after all the pain and suffering it caused?
"Y-Y-You arrre a-a-a product of our c-chaos." Her head twitched. "Our des-des-destruction. Lost in our anger, we-we-we failed to-to…" She closed her eyes and took a shuddering breath. "…see."
She opened her eyes again and frowned. "But…in your damage, you damage others." Her head turned toward Gallantmon, who had risen back to his feet. His eyes were wide with horror. "T-The cycle…re-re-repeats." Her eyes softened and then closed. "We are sor-sor-sorry… Takato. Do not… Do…not…"
Her breathing suddenly ceased and her remnants melted into liquid red.
Gallantmon's breath caught in his throat.
###
No… NO!
Again, the image of Jeri being loaded into the back of an ambulance. Again, Suzie standing over the cooling body of her brother, both caked in blood. Jeri's father, snapping his neck after the D-Reaper hurled him to the ground. Again, and again. Over and over. Every failure. Every death. The devastation. And now, here Gallantmon was again. Too late. Too weak. He hadn't been good enough at the card game to properly teach Jeri so she could survive being a Tamer, and Leomon paid for it. And Jeri continued to pay for it over and over and over. Titamon's virus surged through him, filling him with sorrow and a deep, pitch-black loathing for having failed Jeri yet again.
"It's all my fault," said Takato.
"I wasn't good enough," said Guilmon.
Their emotions suddenly sharpened. And with each memory of their failures, it cut into them.
"As long as we stay here, fighting to stay alive, we're going to keep letting everyone down," they said together, and the hazard core emblazoned on their chest began to glow ominously. "But we can do one last thing and take this guy out for good!"
The glow in his core pulsated, and the heat in his body soared to such intensity that the red of his armor turned to a deep, burning blue. The light of his wings took on an azure glow as they pulsated dangerously and energy crackled all about him. Behind him, Shinjuku's Niagara Falls fountain cracked and then exploded as the water suddenly flashed to steam. With smoking debris raining on him, Titamon fell back. So intense was the heat that his sword suddenly went white hot in his hand, causing him to drop it in surprise. Data began to peel away from his skin and though mist rose up to replenish him, it evaporated almost as quickly as it reformed.
With a flap of his wings, Gallantmon – now in his Chaos Mode – rose up and summoned his double-bladed spear, Gungnir. Electricity surged along the its twin blades and he lifted it, taking aim.
"I'll send you to hell with one strike, Titamon!" he shouted, hurling his spear at the God of Destruction. "Quo Vadis!"
In the sky, lightning flashed as Juggernaut, now fully powered up, loosed its power. A beam of emerald light fell upon Chuo Park, encompassing all within it. Gallantmon's lance froze in front of Titamon's chest, its tip just brushing against his skin and trapped in midair by Juggernaut's power. It quivered there for a moment, the metal, straining to reach its target and humming loudly, before exploding with a catastrophic flash of blue fire.
9
