Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.
This novel has been difficult to write due to my schedule. I am trying to stay ahead of one chapter posting so I don't get overwhelmed. It took a little while, but here is the next part. I also realized making a prologue has really messed with the chapters. They are not supposed to be chapter two and onward after a prologue. It should still be chapter one after the prologue.
Regardless I am going to try to get a chapter up a week. It's taking time, but the result is well worth it. You will see what I mean very soon.
Chapter 19: The Seed of Chaos to the Soil of Ruination
Rei contemplated his next move sipping on a can of coffee from a vending machine having realized that he had wasted too much time in that coffee shop and now all the others were closed.
He downed the last of a can, squeezed it, and dropped it to the ground, muttering to himself unpleasantries about that woman who he had spared.
"So very aggravating," he said calmly taking out his phone. He notated his location and thought about how he should proceed forward.
"Thanks to that mysterious guest I have an idea of what I should do," he said. "However, I will need the resources I began with. And I must move cautiously lest Homeostasis and the Digital Creator gets wind of my plans."
He then tapped his fingers playfully on the phone and then tapped in the coordinates of the lab where he had first changed into a viral digital being.
Unfortunately, there had been no location that could be found. Not that it surprised him. He searched for articles and information on the phone coming across certain key words that popped up in his own database of information.
Rei closed his eyes as if he had transcended into a digital plane looking at all of the information in front of him. With the majority of the Kurenadas gone it seemed as if the project he had been a part of had been scrapped.
He slapped his forehead shaking his head. "So then it's all been destroyed? I doubt it. Surely their would be a power hungry dictator or politician who would want the data for sinister purposes."
He searched for articles about politicians and military leaders and cults, but he found nothing regarding any of them picking up any data.
"No clues at all," he scoffed. He pondered to himself staring at all of the information.
"Not all of the Kurenadas were slain by my hand," he mused. "So then, what about that name?"
He typed in the word Kurenada searching for the most relevant data and instantly an article popped up about his uncle Fujiwara who had the place closed down and took the data with him.
"Oh Uncle, you sly fox," he grinned. "I'll have to thank you properly for making this so easy once I see you."
Rei Kurenada waited in what seemed like hours inside his uncle's study somewhere in a distant location. He looked around the secret place noticing pictures of his wife and kids and could sense a great deal of happiness from that place devoid of them.
He sank back into a rocking chair by a fireplace lightly kindled and just enjoyed himself.
No sooner had he done this that he heard the key to the interior door click and turn, his uncle Fujiwara walking into the room immediately dropping his keys and what looked like a stack of books.
He stared at Rei as if he had just seen a ghost.
"It can't be," Uncle Fujiwara swallowed, his eyes wide. "Rei? Is that you? My nephew Rei Kurenada?"
"In the flesh," he replied, "Or what's left of it. How have you been uncle?" he said getting up.
"H-how did you get here?" Uncle Fujiwara asked, tilting the glasses on his face. "This is a place of total secrecy. There is no way you could have found out even if I am relieved to see you."
"Oh, that?" Rei said brushing off of his concern, "I have become a digital being, which, I'm sure you could have seen based off the research I had done."
Fujiwara grimaced, nodding his head. "Yes, I could tell," he said. "After nearly all of the Kurenadas up and vanished I knew you had something to do with it. But, with you gone I could not just allow your data to just sit out there while other powerful men would seek to use it for their own dark purposes."
"And you did well," Rei smiled walking towards him. "I'm really quite impressed Fujiwara. You have always been my favorite uncle."
Fujiwara took a step back as if slightly wary of him. "You never used to smile like that," he said defensively. "Tell me did you think I would listen to you because of flattery? Because I can't let you use that data either. From what you've become it's too dangerous."
"Too dangerous?" Rei contemplated walking along the wall and putting his hands on it knocking down pictures.
"Hey, what do you think you are doing?" Fujiwara snapped.
Rei only grinned. "You have a beautiful family Fujiwara," he said stepping forward on some pictures. "A very wonderful yet fragile family," he added, cracks appearing on some of the pictures. "I wonder if they have negative thoughts? Perhaps they would like to be a part of something greater? They could become part of something truly wonderful."
Fujiwara gritted his teeth, his hand clenched in a fist.
"After everything I've done for you," he groaned, "You would do this to me Rei?"
Rei smiled back simply nodding his head.
"Don't misunderstand uncle," he said studying his movements. "The old Rei would definitely have responded differently. But that Rei lashed out because he was afraid. Now that I have become a digital entity I fear nothing. I have no moral constraints. No physical constraints. I can basically do nearly anything I want," he said plainly. "So please, don't make me do something I don't want to do," he said seriously narrowing his eyes.
This seemed to unnerve his uncle who took one look at him and then another look at the cracked picture frame of his family.
"All right Rei," he sighed. "You win. If you'll spare me and my family then I will give you back what's yours regardless of the consequences."
At this Rei smiled back beaming. "I knew you would see it my way," he said.
"This way," he said turning around, Rei following after him being careful not to step on the picture frame this time.
Eventually he led them down to an old cellar and an amber brick wall. He walked over to it and pushed on a brick up lifting a bar. Then he put in a code and immediately the brick wall opened revealing some kind of storage facility, Rei impressed with his uncle about how he had been able to safely conceal it.
All of the files are stored in that box," he said pointing to the metallic device in cold storage on a table in the middle of the room, the frigid cold air keeping everything in place.
"Tell me," Rei said curiously, "Why did you have to freeze the room?"
"Simply put," he replied pushing his glasses on his face, "When that event happened and you became a digital entity this data became wholly corrupted with a strange energy I have termed 'viral energy'. It started to go out of control absorbing data and adding to the virus, and, were it not for myself it would have spread out of that laboratory and infected the rest of the world."
"Then why didn't you just destroy it?" he asked Rei walking over to it placing his hands on the glass.
"Think of it like radioactive material," Fujiwara replied. "You can't just dispose of it. You have to resort to very expensive methods to do so. Anything other than the most careful method could release devastating consequences."
Rei snickered. "I'd advise for you to step back then,'" he said pushing against the glasses causing all of it to shatter, Rei dissolving the fragments afterward.
He then walked forward to the cold metal case, placed a hand on it and closed his eyes.
He pressed down on the case, the material instantly being released, Rei latching onto it and filling his body with the material. He could feel a strange power fill him, the same power that had been used before. He instantly recognized this viral material, the strange digital pattern that had helped convert him into a digital being.
"But this time," he smirked, "I can now separate them. Human and Digimon data. And I can also have the solution to combine them."
"What are you saying?" Fujiwara asked slightly taken aback.
"It's really quite easy uncle," he said smugly. "I now have the formula I need to manipulate physical data and turn it digital. I can command it, I can tell it where to go, and it obeys my voice."
Fujiwara stared at him wide eyed mystified, but also slightly terrified of him.
"Just what is it you are planning to do?"
Rei turned to him staring him dead in the eye. his eyes wide. "Recreate everything in my image."
He then walked past his shocked uncle and placed one arm on his shoulder.
"You always were strait-laced uncle," he said. "Hardly ever a negative murderous impulse at all. It's too bad. Looks like you'll have to wait until you can be reborn in the new world."
With that he left him, Rei coursing with the digital viral energy he had obtained.
"And now," he snickered, "Back to the lab."
It did not take long for Rei to threaten his way to obtaining what he needed for his lab. His old employer, though surprised to see him gave him everything he needed upon threat of deletion after witnessing one of her employees be devoured in front of her.
He worked in a laboratory provided for him working day and night with little to no rest on his project, changing the digital into physical, and, considering the best possible method to administer this change. This transformation would in effect turn a human DNA coded person into a coded digimon, now known as a viral type.
It took a while for him to make his way through it, coding and recoding, filling up containers full of what he could only describe as translated content into a single compact container, the process taking nearly a whole week to complete, even with his powers.
When at last the final drop had landed Rei marveled at the glowing purple substance. Rei realized this had been similar to the same wondrous light he witnessed in the presence of the Digital Creator.
"This is exactly what I had been looking for," he said staring through it watching the viral data fluid dance in the vial, Rei turning it around.
He wondered about it realizing just what an opportunity mankind now had to live forever like him, but, he wondered who would be worthy enough to do that. Who would be worthy enough to go?
He turned around and saw a general standing behind him curiously looking in.
"I heard what you were saying," he said, his bullish haircut and physique imposing in the doorway, numerous pins and medals decorating his uniform. "If you are looking for someone worthy enough to live forever then I am your man," he said.
"Really?" Rei contemplated seeing if he could see any negativity emitting from him. He certainly could see his fair share, but somehow it did not seem like he could be a good match. But, it was not like he had a means of measuring what qualified someone.
"You're wasting your time," Kurenada said. "I don't think you're cut out for this."
"Not cut out for this?!" the general growled walking up to him in and grabbing him by the scruff of his collar.
"My body index is larger than yours. I am more fit than you. I know how to operate all kinds of weapons from knives to rifle guns to even tanks. I have been first in my class in all my military career, and yet, you say I am unqualified? I am insulted!" he barked.
Rei let him prattle on. He rolled his eyes letting the dog have his moment.
"So then," he said, "How in the world are you more qualified than I am? What do you have that I don't?"
Rei said nothing for a moment but then grabbed his shoulder and started to squeeze it, the general grabbing it with his other arm, but having no success forcing him off of him.
"For all that bravado you are just a simple weak human made of blood and flesh," he said letting go, the man grimacing holding onto his shoulder where Rei had squeezed it.
"And yet," the man groaned, "What can I do to prove myself? I want to live forever."
Rei put his foot on the man's chest and lightly kicked him rolling over.
"It's not about living forever," he said. "It's about being reborn," he declared one foot on his rib cage lightly pressing little by little.
"Being reborn?"
"Yes. It's for those who are sick of this world and want a fresh start; Tormented demented souls who would trade it all for something better. All notice of regard, merit, status, family, friends- all of it would be no more. So let me ask you general," he said, his face getting closer and pressing harder on his rib cage, "Are you willing to throw that all away?"
The general stared at him, his menacing eyes searching him, but groaned and turned away pounding his fist on the ground.
"I thought so," Rei said walking away from him. "You're all garbage anyway," he chuckled. "And only garbage that wants to be burned has any chance of even being considered for my gift."
It had been a week since Rei had accomplished his completion of his project to create viral digital entities from human flesh. And yet, even still he had not found a suitable vessel.
After the event with the general Rei had decided he needed to branch out some more and complete some experiments before deciding. If a general did not have the will power to say goodbye to this life then who would? He contemplated how he should move forward, but did not want to conduct any interviews. He could not see a means wherein that could show who could be worthy. And not only this, but this did not show dedication. Something like that could only be decided in a most bizarre fashion.
Moreover, Rei knew if he made his next move carelessly he could be backed into a corner. His King would fall. He would be annihilated. Checkmate. He decided therefore if he did make his next move against them it would have to be to distract the enemy.
Looking at the vile once more he groaned and put it in his pocket. "This will have to wait for now," he said sitting down contemplating on how to proceed.
He stared over at a computer screen wondering about it. This device, this computer was a gateway to the digital world and Rei had been banished from it.
He closed his eyes thinking about his ultimate goal. A farfetched goal it seemed, but, the record of laws of the digital world, if he could find it then he might be able to find a way to use it to battle against the Digimon Creator. After all there was no way he could just up and vanish like that. Something must have happened.
At that moment he remembered during the battle with Homeostasis how he had copied her information, her digital profile, and even still it resided within him. The data for the digimon sovereign had been sealed, but he still had hers.
"What with her power," Rei said to himself, "She breaks apart the conventions of digital programming. She is an anomaly of sorts whose purpose is to achieve balance between these two worlds. She is the second in command commanding even the sovereign and all of Digimonkind," he mused.
Slowly a grin spread across his face. "All right then Digital Creator," he said starting to type in algorithms into the computer inputting the data of Homeostasis. "If you seek to restore balance then I will counter against you...with chaos."
Rei worked tirelessly stopping every now and then only to have a negative person or two to eat as he developed a program using the data of Homeostasis. No, this was not just some mere program. This device could only be described as a very bold strategic move that would assist him in all of his goals to fight the digital creator.
Slowly the data morphed as Rei allowed it to feast on his own digital data, taking breaks to devour to restore himself. Over time the being seemed to awaken a mild conscience of its own. It pulsated with life within the screen; the being resembling a seed of some kind.
"Excellent," Rei said to himself, his glaring eyes reflecting the screen and his project. It had taken at least a few months for him to accomplish, but at last he had completed what he had set to do.
He marveled looking at the seed and all the potential it had. Now he only had to deposit it into the dark prison in the sealed dimension and then let the seed plant itself. The only problem he had concerning this troubled him. In this current body of his in the fleshly world he could not access the dark prison he had been stored in. In order for his plan to work he would have to find some way to get it there from the back door where he left.
He stood up looking at his hand chuckling to himself. "Such a simple answer. It's the same door."
Rei casually entered into the office in the high rising building he had first entered to when he had come back to the real world. People casually glanced at him walking over in his suit and tie, but no one thought anything of it.
They must have thought he was a new hire. As he walked by he heard a couple of other women wondering about the woman who had disappeared a few months ago and if the detectives had any leads on her and the former manager. However, since Rei had disposed of all of the evidence no one had been the wiser.
He casually walked forward into the manager's office where he saw a stern-faced older man with wrinkles and glasses and sharp spiky short hair. He couldn't have been more than 40.
"Yeah, who is it?" he asked, Rei hearing him typing fervently at his computer, the same computer from before.
"Just a random stranger," Rei replied casually.
"What's that now?" he asked. "We were expecting a new hire today. You got quite a sense of humor," he said. "You Fujima?"
"Why yes," Rei smiled. "Yes I am."
"All right," he said hesitating getting up. "Let me go grab the paperwork."
Rei waited until he had left the room and took out his disk drive. He plugged it into the machine, his seed manifesting. He closed his eyes and pressed his hand on the computer. Very thinly, he could still sense the parting of the digital data from when he had crossed over from the other side.
He smiled as he pushed his hand inside and let the seed flow through the traces that remained into the dark prison he had come from, embedding itself into the ruination of his domain. He contemplated going with it, but if he had done that he would not have been able to continue on this side with his plan. Homeostasis would find out and corner him and he would have nowhere to go.
He smiled to himself and took out the chip.
As he did the manager came back in the room, turned to him and walked up to him angrily.
"What did you just do?" he demanded grabbing Rei's suit coat. "Are you a hacker? Are you trying to steal from me? Did you implant a dam virus?!"
"Not at all old man," Rei replied grabbing his hand, lowering it and lifting him up by it.
"I AM the virus."