Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon.

I have been remarkably inconsistent as of late, but my work schedule has demanded this of me. Rei Kurenada certainly has been busy. The fact he is so calm while committing horrific violent deaths is startling, but he has his end goal in mind the only downfall is he just does not want to get caught before his plans can come to fruition. We will see what becomes of that. The first time he nearly had been wiped out including his domain. Had it not been for his clever planning he would have been burnt toast already. Any takers to comment on the story so far? Or is Rei the one 'taking' still...negative people's lives that is...


Chapter Twenty: The Lord of the Watchers of the Periphery

A few days had passed since the seed had germinated into the dark prison. He had no way to monitor it, but he knew in time the seed would start exhibiting effects from it's very existence and that would spread from the Dark Ocean, to the Digital World, and then to the Earth itself.

He sipped a cup of coffee while standing on top of a bridge, staring out across a river in a park. Couples walked by him in the late night. A few oddballs here or their showed their faces, but he paid them no heed.

"Very soon," he said staring up. "Everything...is going to change."

Just like he predicted in two weeks time at 09:46pm in the Odaiba District of Japan that's when the modern world first saw their appearance. The skies were clear. The stars were out, and, suddenly manifesting as if in a digital apparatus hologram two giant monsters seemed to be fighting each other, the likes of which the world had ever seen.

More specifically, these two digimon were a Tyrannomon and a Meramon, but, these two were of the viral variation, much stronger than their original forms. No longer digital data, but infected with viral data. These beings he would now call Darktyrannomon and SkullMeramon.

The world was not ready for them as these two digimon clashed with each other and ultimately before the final blow could be struck upon the Dark Tyrannomon the hologram mysteriously vanished.

He recalled the looks of horror and wonder on people's faces watching it, anticipating how mankind would respond. People when confronted with the unknown would attempt to disregard it, and, ultimately after repeated heated newspaper and news anchors and specialists yelling back and forth they were able to gaslight the public about the truth.

What caused those apparitions to appear in the sky had been an accidental leak from a chemical truck that had somehow thrown the chemical in the air creating this miraculous image.

Rei snickered at the absurdity of it and how gullible most of humanity could be about this. A few people on the fringes of society understood, but they were lambasted and maligned according to newspapers and magazines. In his boredom waiting for more signs to appear he had a habit of reading through them one way or another.

As he bided his team he knew eventually their would be some measure of preemptive measures taken. No doubt the secret bowels of government were already gathering together to study the event. All of the best researchers, scientists, and others the best in their field would be there. Not only this, but, usually those who craved power took advantage of such situations, and, from this, Rei knew if the person exhibited such negativity he could rein himself in.

It happened as Rei had expected. One day next to his computer he felt a huge pull of negativity, and, following the negativity he slipped through his computer through a dark digital space through on the other side of what appeared to be a board meeting of sorts with all kinds of people. Heads of state, military, scientists, and politicians.

Rei enjoyed the terror on their face, smiled and walked up to them one hand up waving.

Instantly some of them drew firearms.

A stubborn looking man with short hair and glasses leered over at him, two body guards pointing fine glocks.

"I don't know who or what you are," he said, "But you picked the wrong room to come into. This is a top secret meeting on pain of death," he said. "Anyone who is not invited must die."

Rei snickered and walked over to him.

"Then kill me if you can," he said casually walking up to him.

"K-kill him!" the man shouted, Rei closing his eyes as two bullets whisked his way, but he effortlessly dodged them.

"No way!" he shouted.

"This is a security issue!" a top politician said. "I don't know who that guy is with, but take him down right now!"

Rei said nothing as the bullets flew at him from all kinds of weapons, Rei dodging each one until he targeted the man with the most negative energy yelling out in a loud voice trying to pin his bullets on him.

"You're the one that called me," he said licking his lips. He placed his hand over his face and converted him immediately into dark digital data absorbing him into him as the man cried out in agony until he was just another piece of him.

Everyone who watched shivered where they stood, some of them soiling themselves.

"So sorry to interrupt your little get together," Rei said walking up to one of them lifting his chin up with his boot, "But we have business to discuss."

"W-who are you," the man said shaken. "What do you want with us?"

"What do I want?" Rei wondered. "I want the things you want most. The thing all evil men want without the evilness. I am after all very logical."

"I don't understand," the man fussed.

"I know the reason you all have gathered is because of the giant hologram that appeared in the sky right? The PR team for the news networks have been doing horrible on it. Surely you could have come up with something better than a chemical truck?"

Another man walked forward to him, but put his head down. "We have never seen anything like that in our lives," he said. "Of course we panicked."

Rei looked at all of their faces analyzing their negativity. Surely out of one of this sorry bunch one of them would be suitable for his purposes.

At that moment another man stepped forward wearing a brass uniform. He had white short hair and yellow jasper eyes; couldn't have been more than 35 years old.

"Surely you know more about this situation than us," he said. "Tell us, who are you? And what can you tell us about what happened?"

"A military man!" Rei said dropping his leg letting the other man's chin fall. "I always had respect for those in service. You actually have a purpose in life. What is your name and rank?"

"Hideko Kurazuma. I am the general of the private Japanese armada of the 14th district."

"You're eyes do not seem clouded at all," Rei noticed. "Are you not jaded with this world? Does it still hold some appeal to you?"

"Not at all," he replied. "However I strongly suspect you may have had something to with this. Tell us what you know and we can prepare against these digital threats."

"Prepare?" Rei said. "What a silly proposition."

"It's not silly at all!"

"How dare you say that?!"

Two men barked at him, much to Rei's annoyance.

"These digital entities are only going to keep appearing more and more. It's only going to be a matter of time before they materialize in this world," Hideko said. "We must be prepared to take down this threat as soon as possible."

"You sound awfully confident," Rei noticed. "Could it be because of your military experience you are blinded by your own self righteousness?"

"No sir," he said. "I've seen terrible things in my lifetime, but nowhere the level of devastation that I could have seen if those two figures had actually accessed the planes of this world. Our cities would be devastated. It would be a constant national state of emergency. The country would barely cling to survival."

"And yet," Rei said, "you have come to the conclusion these creatures are your enemy. What if I were to tell you otherwise?"

"They are not the enemy?" one of the officer's exclaimed.

"Impossible!" Shouted another.

"Explain," Hideko demanded, Rei taking a note of the clearness in his eyes.

"I'm sure if you were thrust into another world their would be a whole bunch of confusion, Rei said. "Especially if you were big giant monsters. But, if you sought to fortify your defenses when they showed up how do you think they would react?"

"I get it," Hideko replied. "They would think you were going to hurt them."

"And hence the confusion would cause a bunch of collateral damage. Lives, property, the lot of it. These creatures are called 'Digimon' short for Digital Monsters. They may appear to be mindless monsters, but I can tell you otherwise they are quite intelligent."

"Intelligent?"

"Of course," Rei said. "I used to have one myself. They come in all varieties, but can also be very territorial. I'm sure you know what that means."

"We do," Hideko responded. "And that's why we are having this meeting. We have to find out the best way to take care of these monsters."

"It's not so simple," Rei said taking his hand out of his pocket and looking at it. "If you took care of even one of them you risk having all of Digimonkind under the assumption that should they show up their only recourse of action is extreme violence. You are setting yourselves up for destruction."

"Then what would you suggest?" another man said standing up, tilting thick glasses on his face. "Should they show up mankind is facing extinction!"

"Extinction?" Rei questioned. "Far be it from you to think like that. That kind of mentality would really hasten mankind's inevitable demise. You need to approach this as a manner of acceptance. It would behoove you not to come in guns blazing."

"You're saying like this is inevitable," Hideko said.

"That's because it is. Over time the boundaries of both worlds are going to merge together. Slowly, but surely. Sure they might be isolated incidents at first, but more and more Digimonkind will show up and you will not be able to cover these incidents up. The world will know about digimon one way or another."

"Then what do you suggest we do?" Hideko asked.

"Their is nothing any of you can do," he said. "However, I do have a plan in place."

"A plan?"

"Of course, but I will not tell you what it is right now. I may lack humanity at times, but I do not trust the scowling faces and hands twitching holding their firearms," he chuckled.

"But, I will tell you something. I like you Hideko," he said. "You and you alone. I trust you and your judgment."

Hideko's eyes studied him, but Rei cared not for his suspicions.

"This is outrageous!" one of the men said. "Hideko is military, but we have the best and brightest minds in the field of research to assist from many nations and the cooperation of those nations."

"What are you trying to say?" Rei asked. "Are you asking for my cooperation."

"No," the man said taking off of his glasses. "I don't ask for it. I beg for it," he said folding them up and looking at him sternly. "We've seen what you can do. Only a being like yourself has any idea what we are up against. Will you help us?"

Rei grinned staring at Hideko, who kept eyeing him strangely.

"If you hearken to Hideko," he said slyly, "Then I just might."

The fools had no idea what deal they had struck. Rei convinced them instead of violence they needed to peaceably be ready to accept the presence of digimon and live in coexistence with them, but, in order to do that instead of waiting for the worlds to merge they should do all they could to force it. Preconceptions from all sides would be tossed aside and only the naked truth would be left for them to sort it out.

Of course, due to the manifestation of his abilities they believed him. And how could they not? No one had ever seen a being like him before and they all promised swearing fealty to him to not let his existence become public knowledge. Everything seemed to fall into place.

It took about a month for things to properly settle down and be organized. Hideko, his leading man agreed to lead a new organization called The Watchers of the Periphery. Nations had pledged their finances to the cause of leading the world towards Digital Synchronization, that is, the merging of the two worlds and to prepare the world for their arrival in all mediums.

Hideko immediately took command of the first meeting calling forth the leaders and financiers in their respective fields to slowly disseminate the idea of digimon to the public. The entertainment industry, the religions of the world, the fields of engineering, mathematics, biology, a variety of sciences, and even music. Over time with these forces in play the world would accept Digimon hopefully even though Rei Kurenada had them dangling in the palm of his hands.

While they sought to hasten the coming of the Merging of the Worlds they tried to isolate, humiliate, and discredit those who sought to counter their narrative. In some extreme cases this led to the loss of life of certain individuals.

In the span of twenty years the organization developed a ruthlessness with extensive control over the worlds affairs, and yet remained completely hidden from the public. They seemed to have a vague awareness of external existences, possibly aliens, but just the idea of imprinting the idea of 'there is something beyond them' would at least prepare mankind for visitors instead of the usual flight or fight mode of which they were bound to use the latter.

Rei Kurenada noticed a considerable difference in the organization he had founded. Murmurs and rumors of Rei Kurenada working for the digimon as a spy made their rounds, but yet regardless of that they were powerless to do anything against him. This made them all the more untrustworthy.

One day Hideko approached him with his son Hasayo, a youth reflecting every bit the man Hideko had been, but possessing a craftiness about him that hid it seemed many dark secrets from what Rei could tell.

"Sir," Hideko said. "I have done as you have instructed. The world over is prepared to meet visitors from another dimension. The appearances of the holograms has appeared a few times since they were first seen, but we have not seen any appearances of digimon kind as of yet," he said.

"So it seems," Rei studied him. "Who is that with you?"

"My son," he said. "He possesses the values and drives that I do," Hideko said, now stricken in his late 50s. Due to my declining health I wanted to consult you before the counsel on making him my successor to the Watchers of the Periphery."

"A wise move indeed," Rei replied. "Though I suspect there is more to your reasoning than this."

"Their certainly is," he replied, "But in deference I will refer to my son Hasayo to explain it."

Rei studied Hasayo, a cockiness to him that rivaled his home, but possessed a sleek evasiveness that could pull off heinous acts of manipulation. His eyes looked dark and shimmering, but the young man himself was anything but dead. Instead of being consumed by the consequences of his dark deeds he only thrived by them.

"Sir Kurenada," he said, "I am Hasayo. My father asked me to serve you and the organization and lead it in his stead due to his health. But more over than that their has begun to be a divergence in the philosophies of the organization that is causing some real backlash and concern from an outsiders perspective."

"I am well aware," Rei said. "And just what are you telling me you can do about it?"

"Well," he said, "If the counsel is turning against you and seeking to circumvent leadership then it would make sense that the leader of this organization be someone you can trust. Because I am my father's son I believe that has made more than qualified than all the other candidates."

Rei stared at him, wondering about this craftiness about him. Certainly this young man could weave his web of deception over all of them even more.

"But that alone," he said, "Is not enough of a reason for me to trust you Hasayo."

"I dedicate it all to the organization," he said. "I have risen in the ranks. I know it's mission, it's importance, and what it is we are trying to do."

The young man seemed laughable. "Then you really don't get it," he snickered. "The leadership, the organization, the mission-it's all pointless," he laughed. "Do you know why?"

The young man looked at him perplexed. "Do enlighten me."

"It's because all of that is only accomplished through obedience. If you don't obey me everything falls apart. If you try to go against me you will perish. I will absorb you and all of your dark negativity into myself. And yet, do you still want to lead the Watchers of the Periphery?"

The young men seemed to hesitate slightly. "I do, but I will do what I want. Regardless if it's you or the committee I will fashion things my way."

Rei looked into his eyes and found himself grinning from ear to ear. "You will won't you?" he said. "You will mold things to how you see fit. And that is just fine by me."

"Really? I find that hard to believe," he replied a bit suspiciously. "Don't you want to know what my plans are? I plan to merge the worlds even faster and hold this world hostage to do it."

"Interesting," Rei said. "All right. You have my attention. Let's go into my private quarters and talk about this in detail Hasayo."

Hasayo's plan could not have come at a better time. True, The Purpose of the Watcher's of the Periphery mission was to accelerate the merging of both worlds, but it had always been known as a secret organization. His plan turned more ruthless. It involved the kidnapping of top scientists in their field , funding finances towards the exploration of other plains of existence, and lastly becoming a terrorist organization in order to instill fear into their enemies and other governments who would stand against them.

Truly this plan would cement the Powers of the Watchers of the Periphery. Rei went along with it for a time. He let the man grow, develop, and, in a short time he almost became a megalomaniac demanding obedience or death and making examples of those who did not meet his own goals. Rei simply stepped out of the way.

Among the organization he knew that their were self righteous elements in there. The methods of the committee and Hasayo were too contrasting. Eventually their would come a moment of reckoning.

It happened during the commencement speech celebrating the consolidation of power as they had taken over a very large financial institution and had raised enough capital to implement an army of technological officers skilled in all kinds of combat.

Holding a glass of champagne, the handsome devil toasting to their celebration and the masked armies at his and the organization's command, he failed to realize his own danger. Or that someone in that crowd of masked soldiers had it in for him. A lone gun rang out from the crowd, pierced him through the heart, and, amid all the panic whoever it was escaped. Perhaps it had been an insider with the committee.

That's what Rei framed it to have been anyway. He appeared feigning extreme anger when in fact it had been him in the crowd the whole time with the weapon waiting for such a time as this. He took the heads of the committee, chastised them, and told them he would bring in outside leadership to lead the organization.

Many of those committee leaders had ties to world financiers and were strictly motivated by profit and hand outs. Nevertheless, the greedy much like his family in the past would get exactly what they deserved at least after Rei had used them to his satisfaction.

With the head of the organization gone the group split into two factions. Both were still with the organization, but on one side were those who supported the committee, while on the other side the others were those who thought the committee was not taking enough action and stalling the projects for the world merging.

Rei delighted himself in the conversations knowing that this had been his plan all along, but it was still not enough. There was one element needed, a familiar face that he would not let slip away from his plans.

As he watched the chaos unfold during a committee meeting he watched overhead with one hand folded over the other looking down on them all from a balcony chair.

"I'm coming for you...Fujiwara Kurenada."

Fujiwara Kurenada had not been stricken with age. Though he himself had become older, he still maintained a youthful vibrancy in his late sixty's and had not succumbed to illness or fatigue.

When Rei Kurenada appeared to him Rei wondered how he could possibly get him to come over, but then realized with how twisted the organization had become he would appear like a savior to them and would pull many to his side thus splitting the organization apart.

That was how he framed it anyway. But it did not go according to plan.

Fujiwara sat in his studio working on a paper typing into his computer fastidiously, but Rei would not let him enjoy his retirement. In the dark he snuck up behind him and placed both hands on his shoulders.

"Hello dear Uncle Fujiwara Kurenada," he said.

"Is that you Rei?" the old man said closing his eyes. "I knew one day you would come back for me. You probably want me to do something for you is that right?"

"Quite right uncle," he said letting go having a seat next to him.

"How long has it been?" he asked. "Twenty years? Thirty?"

"Nearly thirty years Rei," Fujiwara replied. "Thankfully whatever it is you wanted to do hasn't affected the real world yet. Though, I am sure those monstrous appearances in the sky had something to do with that power you attained."

"Ah well," he said brushing his shoulder. "It would be improper for me to deny that claim. But, as for the reason for coming I require your presence and aid."

"Aid? An old man like me? You couldn't find a young buck raring to go with plenty of fire for your self righteous plans?"

"Nay uncle," he said. "Unfortunately there are not many in this generation with the character of yourself. You can do something that no one else can. You can save the future."

Fujiwara leaned back and folded his hands together. "I find that hard to believe. And I find it hard to believe that's what you want."

"Well," he chuckled, "You always could see through me uncle. So because I like you I will tell you what it is I am planning. My organization called The Watchers of the Periphery is seeking to merge both worlds together."

"Merge both worlds?!" he exclaimed. "Are you mad Rei?"

"Hold on," Rei said holding up his hand as if to calm him down. "The only thing is my organization can't move forward with my goal because the current leader has been assassinated. He had a bit too much gusto for the committees liking," he smiled. "So as it is, things are in shambles right now with no real direction; no leader to guide the organization."

"And why do you think I would want anything to do with that?" Fujiwara asked. "You're telling an old man to go lead an organization that leads to the end of the world?"

"Far be it from me uncle. You know I could never force you to do anything. Your children are grown up. Your wife has passed. It's just you in solitary isolation. You still have your moral upright integrity and character. I am not asking you to follow my mission. I am asking you to do whatever seems fit in your eyes."

Fujiwara stood up staring directly into him. "I don't know what you are planning Rei, but I am retired. I don't have that kind of fire I used to. I'm just an old man trying to enjoy my last days in peace."

Rei got up and put a hand on his shoulder. "So you say," he said studying him. "But tell me, if the worlds merge and digimon cause world war three what will you say to your grand children? Will you tell them as their world falls apart around them you could have done something, but you chose not to? That would be rather heartless," he emphasized. "Wouldn't you agree?"

Fujiwara closed his eyes, obviously disturbed. He clenched his hands till they were pale and slammed his head on top of the table. "Dam you Rei, "he said exhausted. "Fine, I'll do it. I'll do it until I can secure their future."

Rei smiled and bent down to him. "Don't despair uncle," he grinned confidently. "You've made the right decision."