Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Of Doors and Data ❯ Capitulation ( Chapter 5 )

~*~Disclaimer~*~

I don't own Digimon itself, or characters associated with it. But if I make one of them up I own his/her/it's name and characteristics. The same goes for other new characters. Odds are I wont in this story, but I will someday. ') I also own chapter names, unless somebody sues me because they though of it first, but rest assured, I tried to be original. The same goes for story titles.

As I think about it...I WILL be making another character in this story...but you won't hear about him/her/it for a while.. ')

Chapter 5: Capitulation

Gigimon?

Gigimon, are you okay?

...What happened?

What the hell is going on?

Is he going to be all right?

Sshhh, he seems to be waking up.

"How...did I...what happened?" Gigimon mumbled as he roused from his trauma-induced sleep.

"Something weird happened to your eyes and you passed out," Calumon surmised.

Gigimon groaned, he had a horrible headache…or at least he thought it was a headache, he hadn't really had one before. The title certainly didn't give justice to the splitting pain behind his eyes. He regained his senses and realized that he wasn't in outside anymore. Looking around him at the walls of stone, he realized that he must have been moved back into the cave. "How long was I asleep?"

Leaning against the wall, or at least as best her body was capable of, Pokomon answered, "All night and most of the next day…It's now some time in the late afternoon. We've been watching over you in shifts."

"Geez…I've been asleep for a while huh? Thanks for watching me."

Everyone was relieved that he was all right. Some of them had feared losing another of their number. Yaamon, though he hadn't said anything, was afraid of another repeat of the Leomon incident, and the last thing he needed was to have everybody start to think about how he had murdered…yes, he had come to grips with it, he had killed Leomon when he had tried to do nothing but help him see the true way of things, and be released from his lust for power. He hoped Juri was doing all right. He missed Makato and Ai too.

The entire band had been more worried about Gigimon's condition than they were willing to admit to him. Though they were all relieved that he had woken up, even after he had been out for so long, they didn't want to loose somebody else, like they had Leomon...which weighed heavily on Yaamon's conscience. Disturbing thoughts and emotions running through his head, Yaamon went outside for some air.

Dusk began to fall, and the landscape was washed in an orange and violet glow. Yaamon watched the sun begin it's final descent to the land, when he realized something. Wait one second...since when did the digital world have a sun? When did we suddenly develop all of these clouds, and how could the land put on such an elaborate show if this kind of beauty? The last time they were all here, when it was time for it to be night, the land and sky turned black, and it was night...like some giant flipped a switch on the side of the digital world.

As these disturbing thoughts all flew through the startled Yaamon, suddenly his eyes caught a bright flash of light against the horizon, in the direction of the setting sun. Wondering what the flash was, his thoughts were suddenly stilled. Still conscious of his surroundings, Yaamon saw the sky spin around him, and heard a voice whispering to him, words foreign and unrecognizable. He dully felt the thud as he hit the ground, his vision darkened and he knew no more.

~*~

Yaamon, what's wrong with you?

Where did you find him?

He was right here, I don't know how long he was here before I got to him.

What's wrong with his eyes?

Say something Yaamon!

Is he going to be all right...?

"Oh, look at all you poor dearies, how lost and forlorn you look in this dessert, don't you want some place nice and safe to go to?"

All the digimon looked on wide eyed as Yaamon sat up and spoke in strange, mechanical voice. He opened his eyes, and to all of their shock, they were glowing, and binary code flashed across them at speeds none of their eyes could keep up with. Shocked, none spoke until Yaamon prompted, "Well?"

Gigimon, worried and confused exclaimed, "Yaamon, cut this out, it isn't funny!"

Pokomon, taking swifter control of the conversation, demanded, "What are you and what have you done to Yaamon?" She was the first to actually speak with Impmon with respect, and had saved his life from certain deletion several times. If anybody was going to fight for him, it would be her.

"Well isn't that just the rudest little minx I've ever heard. Why I should wash your mouth out with soap for that kind of attitude! But...I suppose I should explain myself. I am here to help you, all you need to do is follow this body."

"How would you help us? And how are you talking to us anyways?" Pokomon continued.

"You didn't let me finish, I am a digital nanny of sorts, and as to how I'm speaking with you, I merely uploaded a program to impose my mind onto your friend's body, and make your friend into a sort of temporary walkie-talkie. I am in a position where I can help you digivolve, you wanted to see the sovereign right?"

"How do you know that?" Pokomon demanded.

"Why your short little friend has it right here in his mind, rather right near the surface. I didn't even have to dig deeply for it! Gosh, this little guy has a whole lot of guilt around his life, did he do something bad? I don't like to dig too deeply into other digimon's memories, I think that it is quite rude!"

All of the digimon were on edge, bristling with anger watching their comrade being so casually manipulated. All they could do was watch as this thing spoke through Yaamon and opened him up like a book, his very thoughts as clear as ink on paper.

"That's none of your damned business!" Hopmon exclaimed. He wasn't the greatest friend to Yaamon, they never did talk much. Not to mention that the entire time they had known each other they had been either fighting each other or fighting the D-Reaper. Still though, he found himself siding with him against this entity who could so easily manipulate their bodies and minds.

"Well since there seems to be little I can do to convince you, I'll simply leave directions with your little friend here, come look for me if you want. It doesn't seem like you've been making much progress. Personally, I can tell you from experience that you are going to get nowhere trying to digivolve like this, I've been doing this sort of thing near since the dawn of the digital world." With these final words from the strange entity, Yaamon's eyes cleared and he rolled backwards, unconscious.

~*~

"I remember you."

"You remember me? Who are you?"

"I'm hurt, you don't remember me? All those dreams..."

"Go away! I don't want to hear you!!"

"I know what you really want. I could give you what you need to be whole once again."

"You don't know anything!!

"I could help you."

"Nobody can help me!"

"Of course I can, I know what you desire and what you crave."

"How could you know? You couldn't possibly understand the loneliness of being without him! He was everything to me. Without him I am nothing. And now he's gone...what could you do to help that?"

"There is one thing I can do to help you, you just have to be a little willing. I can make it so that you will never be alone again. This despair, this sadness, it can all go away. Would you like that? All you have to do is say yes."

"..."

"I'm sorry, I have little time. This is your only chance to be free from your burden. Say yes now and come with me and it can all end. We can help each other to attain our goals. You will never be lonely ever again, and I will...well that you will soon find out. Say nothing and I will leave and you will not even have your dreams to keep you company anymore."

"...I...I don't know..."

"If that's how you feel than I cannot force you. Goodbye, lets see how you can live life without anybody to support you. I'm afraid I cannot do anything for you."

"Wait! ...I'll...yes, I'll do it."

"That's what I thought. Shall we?"

~*~

"It's very quiet here."

The shock of a sound other than her own startled the girl out of her fetal position. The great black void that she floated in was still empty, but the sound of the words still echoed against the walls of her mind. Did she say that? She didn't think she did. But there was nothing there. Nothing to make the soud but her. She must have done it, yet she gave up sound a long time ago. The emptiness had become the one constant in her reality, and she clung to it like a child with a beloved teddy bear. Had she begun to speak to herself? Thinking she was going insane, she curled back into herself and lay still.

"You're not crazy."

More words startled her again, and she looked around her void. There was nothing there. Not even a surface to lean against, nothing to lay down on. Yet still she lay, hovering in the inky blackness. She decided to test this voice, to see if it sounded like her own.

"Hello?"

"About time I got your attention."

"Who are you? Do I know you?"

"We were never exactly close, but we knew each other. Or rather, knew OF each other."

"What do you want?"

"You know this is an awfully boring dream for you to have."

"Dream? I'm having a dream?"

"Of sorts, yes. Do you spend much time like this?"

"All of it."

"Wouldn't you like to do anything else?"

"Not really."

"You are very stuffy. Seems like you don't have many friends around here. It's pretty dismal."

"I used to have a friend...but he went away. Ever since I've been here."

"Maybe you're here because you lost him?"

"That could be. But why do you ask?"

"Oh no reason. Oops! Look at the time, I must be going now."

"Wait! Don't leave. It's been so long since anybody's spoken to me. Please stay and talk to me."

"I cannot stay, I have important business to attend to."

"But you must! I cannot stand to be alone again..."

"I'm afraid I have to. But you don't have to be alone."

"I don't?"

"No, of course not. You could always come with me. I am in need of some help with a certain matter that needs to be taken care of..."

"I could? But this is all I know...I don't know if I could help you with anything. What could I do?"

"More than you know. Just say yes, and I will take care of the rest."

"Yes, I will come with you."

"Excellent. You are very trusting, did you know that? Now just come with me and never be alone again."

"Thank you."

"Oh, and there's one last thing you need to know, since you're SO trusting..."

"Yeah?"

"You and I are going to have to, do a little merging when we get there."

"Merging? There? Where is there?"

"Oh don't worry your pretty little head about it. All that matters is that we are together now, together forever."

~*~

A few weeks after Ruki and Jenrya reunited in front of Guilmon's old home, Takato found himself standing there once more. 'How many times have I made this trip?' he wondered. Since he had spoken with Lee that evening, Takato had come everyday to that spot. He just gazed up at the old spot, the focal point of their adventures, where he and the rest of the tamers had made their trip to the home of their partners, the Digital World. He often dreamed of going there again one day, and keeping his promise to Guilmon...but how could he?

He began to wonder if he would ever be able to keep his promise to his friend. He hadn't seen hide nor hair of any Digimon for a while, not since the final battle with the D-Reaper. He doubted that there had been a grand scale change of heart among the Digimon that whatever motivated them to break through the barrier between the worlds and cause mayhem. Few came through without destroying something, and even those with good intentions had been desperate enough to try to battle their way through the Tamers, whether to get a Tamer themselves, or those who thought they could digivolve by absorbing the data of a Tamer's Digimon. Could some barrier have been put between the two worlds? Perhaps the Sovereign had done something about that, viewing the humans as too dangerous. Or maybe Lee's dad and the rest of the monster makers had put up some kind of digital firewall. There was no real way to know. How else could the Digimon have seemed to simply drop off the face of the Earth?

He hadn't seen Juri today; lately she hadn't been feeling well. Takato suspected that she had been having more dreams, but she hadn't said anything about them. Then today she simply hadn't shown up for school. He was worried, but she had done this before. He had been on his way over to her home when she had taken this little detour, which he had been doing almost religiously. With a sigh, Takato began to walk away. Suddenly though, the sense of some familiar presence washed over him. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. He thought for a second that he heard…a laugh? Almost like a giggle, carefree, and like nothing he had heard in ages. Not since…

Takato turned around…something drew him to that place again. He was standing at the base of the little hill leading to Guilmon's old home, but something compelled him to climb the steps. He walked slowly up to the small building, the presence growing stronger with each step. His cloths began to cling to his body as static electricity crackled through the air. He had felt this before.

Something began to rise in Takato…something frantic and desperate. He felt as in a dream, one from which he might wake at any moment. Like a bubble in a field of pins, he feared that this might all just disappear if he touched anything, to discover that it was a falsity. For the first time in months he began to hope that he would be able to…

…To see his partner once again.

He reached the gate to the house. He opened it, noticing the multiple breaks and bends in the metal from all the times he had to force Guilmon to stay, who had then promptly escaped to play with Calumon. Even once Guilmon obeyed Takato, there was still that time when they had foolishly tried to fit Growlmon inside of the shack. That thought lightened Takato's heart, as he stepped over the threshold into the dug out cubbyhole of a room.

In the room, there was such energy that Takato could almost see it. He felt no fear though. He could think of nothing but reuniting with his friend. He walked forward into the house and could see the hole that had lead to where once contained the gate, and Takato prayed, would now be once again.

His dreams were realized, as he gazed down into the pit. The vortex was open again, the colors and shapes swirled around as loose data from the Digital World materialized and then dissipated, to be replaced by others instantaneously.

Overcome with joy, Takato could only think of one thing before he jumped into the vortex...

"Maybe I can keep that promise after all..."

~*~

Long after the presence had left them, they still sat in the cave, in silence. Under normal circumstances, they would have argued over what was said for hours, but the situation had changed. There was little they could do to argue against what the being had said, all it had done was tell them the truth. A truth that they had been mulling over for what felt like forever. Each worked up the courage to face the fact that they needed real help this time.

There was no way of knowing whether or not they could do this themselves. They had spent what was now probably months trying to get back into their rookie forms, with practically no results. Much as they thought they could do this themselves before, they were now faced with the reality that there was nothing they could do but put their lives in the hands of something that not only had little respect for their bodies, but their lives as well. The invasion of Yaamon's mind was proof enough of that.

Yet none of them had the courage to speak the obvious, they knew how they would react to somebody telling them what they had to do, and they were hesitant to hear what the others had to say.

Finally, Pokomon had to speak her mind. "We have no choice you know. We have to go with whatever he says."

Her comment was met as expected. Everybody, even though they knew on some level that this was what they had to do, argued against it. Trying to get her points out over the high pitched roar of disapproval from the other Digimon, Pokomon had to shout, "Don't you see? This is the only chance we have! If we stay here we might just fall back into our basic programming and not even remember our partners, much less be able to reunite with them," thoroughly shushing the audience, she continued, "if we stay here, there is an high probability that we won't ever digivolve again, not by our own means, and our only chance of defending ourselves is MarineAngemon here, and he doesn't have much experience in that area. Remember, everybody else here is probably either still strong from Calumon's Shining Evolution, or they are in the same position we are in. This is our best, no, our only chance to become strong again."

"She's right you know," Yaamon spoke up, rousing from his possession-induced slumber, "For some reason, after feeling her mind inside of my own, I feel as if we should trust her."

"Her? How do you know that this thing is a female?" Hopmon asked.

"I…I don't know, I just get a feeling from it…like she was trying to protect us from something, or at least she thought she was."

"In case you hadn't all forgotten, technically none of us have genders as it is, so how could this being be female?" Pokomon quipped.

"I'm not sure...but for whatever reason, the impression I got makes me sure that she's a woman," Yaamon answered back defensively.

"Maybe she just wants to be viewed that way," Chocomon suggested, "I mean, none of us are male or female, but we're associated as one or the other. She was in his mind, so she could pretty much make him believe anything she wanted him to."

Yaamon turned away, embarrassed at the whole situation. He gave up arguing, there was no point. It was obvious that they would hesitate to believe him even if some unidentifiable force hadn't just possessed him. They simply didn't completely trust him. He had tried his best to make it up to them, but he acknowledged the fact that he couldn't fully atone for what he had done by himself. He had fought side by side for them, was nearly deleted trying to save the very victim of his power-induced insanity, and had even begged for forgiveness…but no matter what they said, it would take a long while before they could really put the whole thing behind them.

Even before he had been taken into the service of the Sovereign, he hadn't been well liked. On some level he had wanted to be with all of them, but he had been so contemptuous at the same time that he hadn't been able to express his desire…to be with people… and knowing his luck, as soon as he had finally made amends with his Tamers, he had been sucked here, with people who didn't trust his words, and who's memories were still fresh. Only the strange MarineAngemon had been absent that day.

The group had sunk to petty arguing over little points...It had happened more than a few times since they had started. Maybe this was part of their original programming, but no matter what, and even if he started quite a few of them himself, Impmon was starting to get pissed off at the whole situation. He needed a change of scenery.

"What does any of this freakin' matter anyhow?" Impmon cut in, "We're getting nowhere fast here, and I for one don't think things are gonna' change. I've tried this crap before, and if there's one thing that you can all trust that I know, it's that sometimes we just have to suck it up and ask somebody for help. I learned that lesson the hard way, and I think we have no choice but to try to take what breaks we can get."

Yaamon's audience was struck. Nobody thought he would say something so candid, and were a tad thrown by it. "Yaamon, that-" Pokomon began, but was cut off by Yaamon.

"Yeah what is it?"

Unperturbed, Pokomon continued, "Yaamon, that was the smartest thing said all day. I wouldn't expect that sort of thing from you."

"Neither would I," Gummymon said, laughing.

Blushing Yaamon answered back, "Well yeah, it was kind of smart wasn't it," then angrily, "Hey wait a minute! What do you mean you wouldn't expect that from me? Are you trying to say I'm dumb or something?"

"Hey, if the shoe fits..." Gummymon shot back, but was incapable of finishing his joke, rolling on the ground with laughter.

"I did not mean it that way," Pokomon corrected, yet offered no further explanation, which only further aggravated the little Digimon. Soon all of them were laughing, and eventually Yaamon as well. The sudden good cheer of the group was contagious.

Finally, as they settled down, Chocomon asked, "So is that it? Are we all decided on going forward with this?"

The murmuring of agreement was good enough for her. It must have been good enough for MarineAngemon as well, apparently, as he created a bubble large enough for all of them to travel in, and after they all hopped in, the floated off towards the direction Yaamon supplied.

~*~