Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon.
At last Digimon content finally. It only took what, five chapters to build up to it? I myself had been wondering if I would need to scrap the whole thing because it severely lacked any digimon awareness, but it is coming. And believe me when it does and it plays out Digimon Adventure will make complete and total sense. So excited for it. The World is Full wiill stop abruptly after the first part of this novel is complete. Oh, and while I am at it 'The World is Full of Takari Shippers.'
Chapter Six: The World is Full of Secrets
He arrived on a pristine cloudy day, none of the Kurenada's the wiser about his appearance. They accepted him as a distant relative on the mother's side of Fujiwara, who, he himself, had not been present to occasion or so he thought. Rei Kurenada appealed to the good graces of the other Kurenada's who some saw as a love interest, while other women stared at jealously for 'her' good looks.
Rei grimaced faking his way through his Fujiko persona, but also enjoyed the women who practically were staring daggers into him trying to intimidate him.
He turned his back towards a couple gentleman and approached one of them.
"Ladies," he said in his Fujiko accent, "It is improper to stare so intensely. Your age will only bleed out of your make up."
Their eyes turned from disdain to pure fury as they started barking at her verbal words unbecoming of rich ladies, some of their partners trying to calm them down on there merry way.
No sooner had he turned the corner that he bumped into a familiar figure.
"Should a young lady as yourself be prancing about at as a humble guest of a Kurenada?" Fujiwara asked.
Rei actually smiled, not at all concerned about having been found out. "I was merely answering their ego with my own," he smiled brazenly. "It's not my fault there's were bruised."
He felt something forcefully be pushed into his palm, Rei grasping it.
"The guest room is on the second floor to the right Miss Fujiko," he said, not at all amused he had to play this part.
"I'll get you for that," Rei said beneath his breath. He then called out in an obnoxiously girly voice. "Thank you Mr. Fujiwara! Say hit your wife for me!" he called out, Fujiwara glaring back at him with contempt.
They both separated their own ways, Rei proud of himself for getting the best of him. He then wasted no time, blending in among those of his family, faces he would rather have forgotten had ever lived. He worked his way upstairs until he found himself alone near his father's study. He opened the door swiftly as he heard footsteps approach him oncoming in the hallway and then locked the door.
Voices walked by, Rei Kurenada recognizing a maid's voice, but another younger one unfamiliar to him, perhaps new.
"Well, that takes care of that," he said observing his father's room, a curtain open letting in sunlight, but being on the second floor no one could see him. Nothing had changed after all that time. The curtains. The carpet. Everything looked the same, but unfortunately, this was all that remained of his possessions.
For a moment, amid that soft glow of the sun he had a brief memory of his father sitting in that study going through his notes, writing very intense memoirs, many of which he had seen. He remembered one day his Dad literally went mad and threw them all around his study, and, that day was the last he had heard from him.
Very rarely did Rei Kurenada see him, but his prim glasses, gray beard and mustache, soulful eyes and green nearly gray hair were engraved into his memory whist he took an ink pen from his suit coat pocket and started writing fervently.
He rarely engaged in conversation with his father, his father just looking at him every time he was nearby. He acted as if he wanted to talk to him, but actively held back. It was not only puzzling, but over time it became incredibly infuriating.
He shook himself out of his thoughts and sat down in his father's long lounge chair, at his desk, impenetrable to even the standards of time. Even now it had been dusted and cared for. He put his arms on the arm of the arm chair, even then feeling energy from when his father had started his memoirs.
Tapping the front desk, he wondered about this strange mystery of the coordinates in the password encrypted thumb drive.
"I'm in the right place," he said looking around. "Now just to decipher that message," he said thinking about it. "In solitary darkness light finds a way."
Reflecting on those words Rei understood the darkness part better than actually finding a light. "In other words, I need to make the world not any varying degrees of shade, but pitch black," he said looking out the window briefly, and then shutting the shades all the way.
The darkened room swallowed up the light and Rei Kurenada rested on the throne of his father's castle; poetic yes, but pointless he realized. He looked around the darkness for any sign of light, but nothing came up.
"Farcical," he sighed disappointed. "Just what was it you wanted to show me father?" he wondered.
He felt for a moment like someone started to watch him and turned to the right where his father's portrait had been staring at him from a wall when the lights were on, but off, they-
-Rei immediately got up and walked over to it.
"Clever, clever," he said noticing only from sitting down that the pin on his tie in that picture, a strange device or symbol no doubt could be seen like a hollow glow.
"In solitary darkness a light will find a way," he said, his hand going up and down over the image. "Find a way to where?" he wondered. Rei placed his hand over the light feeling a strange warmth over him.
"Quite odd for a painting," he realized slowly pressing in on the pin. But nothing happened. He then took his finger sliding it over the pin area and realized the symbol had actually been the shape of a hole.
"I recognize this somewhere," he said looking towards the door and then grabbed the key to his pocket. "It's the same. I bet this will-"
-His hands moved faster than his mouth as he placed the key into the 'pin' hole and turned it in, a sliding sound instantly startling him as the key went into the portrait and the portrait literally opened up most of the entire wall revealing an escalator.
Green halogenic lights shimmered all around, brightly. Rei wondered about them as he stepped inside, the rails on which they carried him lit up in a plasma green color.
"All right father," he said. "I think for once I'm impressed. You weren't just wasting your time were you?"
He expected to move forward as he plunged into the depths below, the walls taking on strange forms almost like a machine; Each layer becoming more complex as he went down.
"Just what in the world is all this?" he questioned to himself making his way to the bottom floor. He moved forward through a metal door that separated into two parts creating a way for him as he ventured forward into another room.
Inside, everywhere around him were strange metal walls with blue lights this time. In the center of the room however he saw what appeared to be a large, strange device in the center. It resembled a watch without the hands, yet it seemed like it came from a different world. On top of the device, he noticed a figure of some kind, glowing brilliantly as if staring right at him. It had no shape he could recognize, but resembled a burning blue fire, but emitted no heat.
"Welcome descendant of Reikoji Kurenada," a voice came out from the shape. "I am the creator of digital kind. You may call me the Digital Creator."
"Interesting title," Rei said. "You don't seem at all surprised to see me."
The being paused as if contemplating him. "With your appearance I fear the worst. What has become of Reijoki Kurenada?''
"To put it simply, he died," Rei replied a bit stunned by the being initiating the conversation.
"I see, so he has passed on."
"It happens to everyone," Rei quickly responded. "What do you have going on here?"
"A blueprint," the voice replied.
"For what?"
"That is yet to be determined," the voice said. "This is a fulfillment to a promise made to Reikoji Kurenada. I can only assume then that you are his son Rei Kurenada?"
Rei nodded his head, grimaced, and scraped the wig off of his head. "I detest this thing," he said letting it fall and stepped on it.
"I am indeed Rei Kurenada," he replied. "What business did you have with my father?"
"My business with him is now going to be fulfilled through you, Rei Kurenada," he said. "Ultimately as the heritage from your father you will help usher in a new age between the Digital World and Earth."
Rei Kurenada raised an eyebrow. "Digital World? You mean the world inside electronics?"
"No, that is only an interface to access our world," the being replied. "The Digital World exists separate from your world."
"A Digital World," Rei said thinking about it. "Is that where my father has been going this whole time?"
"Correct," the being replied. "Your father had been working on creating a special program foreign to your world; What you call the 'internet'. Even in the preliminary stages, he started to communicate with me. I hesitated to communicate back with him due to the error prone nature of humans, but, ever since I started talking with him, I concluded that the good-naturedness of Reijoji Kurenada superseded this error prone nature and continued in a more open discussion with him."
"You could communicate with him?" Rei asked. "He's hardly ever said a word to his family."
"But that's because I took his voice," the being replied. "In order to obtain the straightforwardness between us I told him to place something on the line that he would forfeit should he tell me a falsehood."
"A falsehood? You basically held his voice hostage?"
"Strange choice of words, but yes. I had to ensure his intentions communicating with us were pure and not self-serving as most of your kind are."
Rei Kurenada chuckled. "Oh, we are stubborn, selfish bastards," he replied. "But truthfully," he said becoming more serious, "I don't believe you. You come across as a deity-like figure wanting open dialogue, but you have not put anything on the line yourself," he said. "You could very well be an advanced hacker seeking to steal information from him and now me," he concluded. "I don't know how you stole my dad's voice, but you're not getting anything from me."
The being seemed to pause, letting him vent his frustrations.
"...This is exactly how your father told me you would receive me," he said. "True to his word."
"What in the hell are you talking about?" he asked suspiciously.
"He told me you would be suspicious of me, and, even though you would be he asked if he could leave a message for you. Would you like to hear it?"
Rei Kurenada scratched his neck irritated. "If you must," he replied.
"Very well."
With that a bunch of static could be heard as a strange message started playing throughout the room.
Hi Rei. It's your Dad. I suppose you're wondering why I am finally talking now, but my friend has probably already told you what happened by now. Ever since the death of your mother I have been keeping you at a distance to protect you. I don't know if you know this, but your mother did not die of natural causes. She had been recovering quite well, but someone poisoned her and I'm sure you know who it is," he said. "In order to protect you I had to leave you as their have been multiple assassination attempts on my life. I hope Goumatsu has not targeted you son. I know you are strong, and you can make it through this. If anything ever happens to me, I entrust the future of mankind to you. It's a big responsibility, but if we can make peace with the digital entities then truly our world will heal and we will be better able to handle pain and not self-destruct into self-indulgent lifestyles. I love you son. Should I pass on, I appoint you as the peacekeeper between mankind and Digimon. It'll be up to you son."
With that the message fizzled out, Rei Kurenada perplexed. He said nothing gripping his fist absolutely furious.
"So Goumatsu, you've killed them all," he grinned. "I can't wait to roast you over a spittle alive for this," he said. "That day is coming. And you will pay for everything you've done."
He looked up at the strange digital figure, his guard a bit down now.
"Well, I suppose my father's words were convincing," he said. "Now what business shall we conduct?"
The being hovered as if studying him. "It is as your father says," he replied. "I want you to be the liaison, the peacekeeper and bridge between the human world and the digital world."
"That unfortunately is impossible," Rei answered. I have no desire to complete his work even if he did it to benefit mankind."
The being paused as if puzzled by him. "Reikoji named you by name as his successor. You are also of his digital signature. It cannot be done since the process is nearly complete unless you finish his work."
"That's not my problem," Rei scoffed. "The fool shouldn't have made promises he couldn't keep."
"Isn't there any part of you that wants to honor him?"
Rei looked down thinking about his words. Even with all that had been told he felt bitter towards his Dad for all he had gone through regarding his family. It felt like had been abandoned and thrown to the wolves even though that's not how he had intended it to turn out. His intentions were good, but poorly executed.
He remembered a few times when he was younger playing chess with his Dad, his Dad rubbing his head sometimes proud of him especially when he beat him.
"For that memory," he said bitterly. "But only for that one," he said staring at the figure. "What is it you would ask of me?"
"Do you see that Digital Egg?"
Rei looked over where it seems the being had been projecting towards. A light crimson egg glowing a light red seemed to call out to him. He found himself venturing over to touch it.
"What is this?" he said aloud, his heart beating within himself. He stretched his hand out and touched the egg, the egg starting to beat as well, Rei feeling as if a part of himself had been passed onto the egg.
"What is this?" he said fascinated. "This sensation?"
"Imprinting," the being replied. "This, Rei Kurenada, is the future of mankind should you complete this simple task I give to you."
"Which is?"
"Let me explain first what I have done, what you have done, and what needs to be done."
"Fair enough. But keep it simple. I don't have time for long dromedary conversations," Rei replied still staring at the egg.
The voice spoke, it's words seemingly speaking to Rei Kurenada's core of his very being. "I have taken the very fabric of my very being, copied it, overlapped it with Reikoji Kurenada's DNA and shaped it in a way that can be transformed and given life complementary to the DNA holder once the holder of that DNA touches it, which you just have."
"In other words, I just touched the lovechild between you and my father," Rei Kurenada cringed. "I feel so disgusted."
The being continued as if ignoring that statement. "What you have done is opened up your heart and soul to the egg and are implementing the good nature you possess into the egg. When it hatches it will, in other words, be able to fulfill your deepest longings, thus over time correcting your own self destructive or harmful habits. And this relationship you will foster with this being will help you become joyful and happy and correct your nature."
Rei Kurenada sighed annoyed at him. "You could have said I was just your Guinea pig," he said. "And I don't know how to tell you this, but I'm not going to take care of a pet. How would that help the world anyway?"
The being seemed to hesitate but pressed on. "This is your partner. What you have to do, no, what you need to do is develop a relationship with your partner and the deeper it grows, the more the barriers between our worlds will break down. Every person alive will be receiving their own once the barrier comes down. With this fostered relationship in place their will be peace and harmony and eventually Digimon and mankind will freely be able to travel between worlds once your sinful error prone nature has been corrected."
Rei Kurenada scratched his head a bit irritated. "People are not programs," he said. "They are flesh and blood. Most of them more like flesh and dung. How are you so sure that people's ways can be corrected like that? What if people used their 'partner's' and they became monsters? I could very well do that you know. I could easily program whatever comes out of this egg into a killing machine and ruin your little world peace plan."
"This will not happen," the being replied. "Reikoji Kurenada was not a perfect man, but he had promise, he had what you would call the idealistic belief that one day it could happen. With our kindled friendship and me recognizing the potential of humankind I lay now this task to you. Fulfill your father's legacy, and reap the benefits not only for yourself, but for all mankind and Digimon."
Rei Kurenada said nothing else and just looked at the egg to such a degree he thought he could see his face on it.
"What will happen if I don't go along with your plan?"
"Then eventually as humanity develops technology the barriers will come down, and all kinds of Digimon will manifest in your world. In the confusion Digimon will be labeled as evil beings and it would be complete war between our worlds until either one of them is gone, or both of them destroy each other. This is why I have attempted to be the emissary for this world and Reikoji was for his own, but now that all falls to you."
Rei Kurenada swallowed realizing just how much of a burden had been placed on his shoulders by not only him, but his father. Never in a million years did he think he would ever have done anything like that for anyone but his friends.
"One final word of warning Rei Kurenada..." the being said as Rei looked up at him. They both seemed to be looking each other dead in the eye connecting on a level he had never experienced before.
"...A digimon's coding is unique. If anyone were to mess with it or change it then that being would be cursed. 'I did this for your father who was my friend," he said seriously. "I am a being of my word no matter what course of action you decide. The fate of humanity now rests with you," the being said. "Come back here should you need any assistance or have any more questions."
Rei Kurenada looked at him and then back at the egg contemplating the task he had been assigned. He then looked back up at the Creator, but its presence had completely vanished.
"...Gone without a trace," he quipped grabbing the egg, tucking it under his arm, and turning to exit the lab.
