Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ The Becoming ❯ Ch4 ( Chapter 4 )
[ P - Pre-Teen ]
By: HimitsuTheHunter 
Thesis of the Ravenous night, consumed of the bilght and straight ways into hell...
Anime/Manga: Digimon Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Supernatural / Sci-fi / Fantasy / Drama / Adventure / Action | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 06.18.2003 | Pages: 3 | Words: 5.0K | Visits: 282 | Status: Completed
Thesis of the Ravenous night, consumed of the bilght and straight ways into hell...
Anime/Manga: Digimon Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Supernatural / Sci-fi / Fantasy / Drama / Adventure / Action | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 06.18.2003 | Pages: 3 | Words: 5.0K | Visits: 282 | Status: Completed
DIGIMON: The Becoming
By Himitsu the Hunter
Chapter 4: Thesis of the Ravenous night, consumed of the bilght and straight ways into hell...
Suzy sat back quietly; it had been nearly 4 hours since the news had come... She would see Lopmon again. It had been the usual kind of night for her since Lopmon, her partner, her guardian, had left her because of the instabilities between their two worlds, the kind of night where she would simply sit back and read. Since the departure of her soft-spoken partner the young tamer strived to understand the world which her friend had come from, in child-like hope that maybe... just maybe she could learn something that would be useful. Useful namely in her true ambition, the retrieval of her lost Lopmon... but that was a goal eventually put aside, the complexity of the world of code and data baffled her youthful mind. But with the persistence that she had shown in the digital world in her confrontation with Antyamon she sat herself down and begun at the beginning learning little by little the workings of the programs from which the world and the friend for which she longed were built. It still wasn't enough for her.
It did help though to have others to share her sorrows with, first and foremost her over protective brother, she smiled at the thought of him always there charging in to defend her at the slightest hint of trouble, her expression soured slightly, even when she herself had the issue well in hand.... That brought back memories, times before when she was far younger. Once she had found her way into a situation with some other girls when she had been seven, a scuffle over something silly, she could barely remember, but then her brother stepped in, and she was wining too, dividing all parties involved and making it hell for her in the long run as she had been forced to take relentless teasing for having to be "rescued" by him. There was all the embracing times when he himself would tease her about some of the male friends she kept... in particular Makoto-kun, her eyebrow twitched at the thought. Henry had definitely been around that Terriormon far too long, she thought. It really wasn't as if he was even a consideration when she went over to their house, after all he was only a boy. It was Ai-chan that she was interested in playing with; they had even learnt how to play the card game together. Suzy remembered clearly the day they met. It was just after the Reaper was defeated and the true cost of victory became know to the Tamers, with eyes puffy from tears still flowing she noticed two others crying on each others shoulders. Swallowing her own tears and wiping her face clean of their last traces she tried to be brave as she knew Lopmon would wish of her and approached the heart broken pair.
"Hi..." she began, unsure of how she would accomplish her goal. The two looked up from their shared haze of tears, emotions yet unspent rolling off like fresh dew from a morning flower, pain concentrated in their twin gaze, "...I'm Suzy, what's your names?" her voice trembling imperceptibly, attempting to break the ice.
Both in the same motion reached to wipe away tears spent across youthful cheeks and said almost simultaneously,
"Ai,"
"Makoto,"
Suzy giggled, the symphony of male and female twin voices resonating together, each almost totally unaware of the other, then her face settled into a more serious mode, "He wouldn't want you to cry," she breathed, mustering the courage to continue, "I mean your partner, I'm sure he wouldn't want you to be so sad... like Lopmon..."
The two listened and then Ai spoke, all the while still drying the tears from her reddened eyes, "Impmon said he would come back right away... that he wouldn't leave us again..." dry sobs punctuating her words.
"And he won't," she said, the assurance sincere, "I'm sure of it. Lopmon told me they would all be back," her own words bringing a higher measure of confidence, "Lopmon never lies." Those final words were spoken in such utter decisiveness and conviction that the sorrow-filled twin could not help but be drawn in by the possibility... no eventuality, of their beloved partner's return.
A silence crept up as the thoughts shared sank deeper in, "Come on," she said finally, " you want to meet the rest of us Tamers?" then before they could reply dragged them over to where the others were gathered, determined that these, who like her self, would not be alone... even as they were together.
Her quiet sigh gave a haunting echo in her own ears, Lopmon, she thought, I'll see you soon, tears of joy restrained leaking from her eyes. Already her brother and Father endeavored to test the safety of the newly formed link between worlds and eagerly the threads of destiny wove the pattern of things as they came.
***********************************
Once upon a time a group of youths lead by an incredibly brilliant youth began an endeavor which they thought of as their legacy... only they never thought that it would every come this far or prove to be so dangerous. Arguably they were responsible for numerous deaths of both human and Digital kind and a world full of strife as violent as or more violent than their world had ever been, but in the same breath one had to realize that even along side of the death and violence a menagerie beautiful things too stemmed from it as well. Janyu sighed, it was inevitable now that the digital world was reconnected to our own that that conflict would ensue... but the rules and reasons for such conflicts were yet unknowable and even so it might still be possible to impress a more peaceful culture upon them... his first children, possible but not blood likely, he thought, not bloody likely indeed.
He sighed at his line of logic, its cold facts irrefutable. It was to his greatest horror that his own children were embroiled deeply in this... and that they would have to suffer the brunt of all war like overtures from both side, for they were the buffer zone of contact.
"Alright lets go, initializing the digital life algorithm, monitoring information packets for irregularities..." speaking into his headset, "Uploading data to you now Daisy."
" I got ya Tao, it all seems in order," came the voice from the COM-set.
"Now comes the real 'fun' part... We need to reconfigure the base coding we used on Granni for the best stat distribution we can... we got to make this little guy really good on the first try," Janyu sighed, it truly would be a long night... the amount of coding that they would have to check and double check would be staggering... not to mention organizing the stat data, an absolute necessity in that they needed this new creature to be used as a form of guardian program and thus powerful enough to fend off attacks from higher level Digimon with out the help of the Tamers. Much like Granni, which had been a search and retrieval program before the digital life algorithms they had used to make it responded in a surprising way and gained sentience then was reformatted as a carrier program, this new one they were shaping would not be truly a digimon and thus not governed by the same life form rules that all the digimon them-selves, even the Sovereigns, seemed to have. The sheer weight of work made another sigh cross Janyu's breath...
"Boy you sound stressed, take a break and grab some coffee it, it'll take a while for all the scripts to be read and I can reply," instructed Daisy over the Com, "Working for Hypnos ain't no picnic but at least we get to work with the Digimon again... and get paid real good," Janyu could hear the grin in her voice from where he sat.
"Yeah it really is... with the sheer amount of money that's being poured into this agency by our loving government just to keep the populace happy I'm surprised that we aren't literally swimming in yen..." he heard her chuckle at his parting comment. Getting up he moved to the kitchen where a large jar marked 'CAFFIEN FOR DADDY' sat in the coffee maker. Janyu smiled, it seemed that Suzie was doing her best to be helpful again, she must have gotten of the others to help her but it was clear by the scrawl on the jar whose idea it was.
"So how's it coming," Janyu heard over his back.
Not bothering to turn he simply replied, "Every thing is fine so far and the guardian program is shaping up but I'm not the one working on the gate code, Yamaki is. So how was Karate?"
Behind him Henry sighed quietly, " It was ok... we went through some new kata with Sensei and Takato didn't show up again..." once more he sighed, it was tough to be so close to the return of his partner yet not allowed to go in all the way, he would have loved nothing better than to go find the D-Gate and dive in head first, consequences be dammed. But it could not be so... he had to think of his responsibilities, to keep his sister out of trouble and from trying to do just what he had been thinking of; the digital realm was a dangerous place. Not quite satisfied but accepting of the answers provided he leaned back against the fridge.
Sensing his son's disposition, Janyu looked back, "I know how tough it must be to know that the gate is wide open but you still can't cross it... But just remember, your mother and have discussed this many a time and it all ways comes down to this, We care too much about you to simply run off into the unknown with out at least some of the protections we can provide when we can provide them and besides we do want Terriormon and Lopmon to come back also... they became a part of the family," he smiled ruefully, "In a way they are both just as much my children as you are, and what parent doesn't wish for their children to come back home to them?"
Henry simply nodded and gave his father a weak smile before walking right back out of the kitchen. Janyu shook his head, his son was growing up on him, sometimes it seemed that there was a gulf between them that was slowly getting harder and harder to cross... just as with all his other children as they grew past the confines of home. Letting go of them as children and welcoming the adult to come was always the hardest part, for them and him, but it seemed that that part would be faster approaching with Henry than any of the others. He just hoped that the time would not come too soon.
**************************
Renamon sat gazing at the twin moons that decorated the sky of the digital world, their stoic watch pouring light back unto her appreciative face. Always she had been a creature of the night and a child of the embrace of the moon, she sighed, if only her partner was here next to her again.... The loneliness gnawed at her insides, its bitter tang a poison of great potency. It made the night sting.
"Hmmm... I guess its time," she rose from her seated position and flicked off... hopping from roof to roof as an undefined blur against the tranquil sky moving with rapid efficiency and unmatched grace.
"Mission commencing," she stated clearly and quickly gained her reply.
"Good to go Foxy, the scans show 3 rookies and a champion... be careful fox, the rookies seem to have some really heavy Raver moding... they must have been ingesting some of the viral modules... the champion seems to be completely Raver free, he must be a dealer." Came a voice into her ear, briefly she murmured an acknowledgment of it warning then was off once again.
Using all the powers of stealth and skill she could muster, she catapulted her body unto the catwalk above then seemingly totally disappeared.
***
Within the small, dank ally-way a deal was going down, in the digital world was always a struggle for power and this deal brought no exception. The figures of two wild eyed Gabumon and an equally unfocused Kotemon stood quietly anticipation causing them to fidget more and more.
"So did you achieve the objective?" the heavily cloaked Champion asked quietly, its large bipedal frame looming over the rest. Hasty nods were given, the wait nearly bringing tears to their eyes... it was there... so close... all they had to do was reach... but then logic reasserted, if the tried to take the Rave modus from the champion before them it would be the last of it they would ever have... the last time that it would make them gods.
A smile broke from beneath the heavy robes of the champion's garb, "Good, then you've earned your rewards," a single gloved hand reaching out from the dark beneath the sheltering cloak and scattering before him a small amount of blue capsules, "help yourself to them ... fools," he whispered.
The creatures gobbled down their prize quickly, none would take it from their eager hands. All seemed to be going well as the champion watched the fool rookies greedily swallow their demise, then seemingly as if the air itself had come alive a figure shimmered past the Rookies at a high speed, their resent exposure to Rive keeping them from recognition of the threat, its speedy stride resulting in the needed momentum for the figure to suddenly nail the heavily concealed champion with a flying kick to the chest, and straight into an adjacent wall.
The staggered champion was not in the least happy... things were perfect up till this moment, now he was staggered and gasping and the enemy for the first time showed its face. Barely surprising that it was the Renamon, not even close to surprising that she would attack them after all she was the enforcer of the little town... but what had surprised him was the shear strength she had brought to bear in managing to down him like that in one blow, but now was not the time to be impressed, at this stage it would not do to take any kind of chances not when it came so close to their lords coming...
"GET HER," he screamed, the shouts cutting thru the Rave induced haze and bring them back into the world. The enemy was before them, it was only one but mattered not, they were invincible, and they were gods. All three charged in, the two Gabumon reaching first each with a fist full of raking claw and slashed... at where she had been 2 seconds ago, and in a battle like this where melee combat was the game Renamon excelled, in a battle like this two seconds is a deadly long time.
Having spun to the side to avoid the coming onslaught she had escaped the fate that now awaited the ground where she had stood, but this was the last thing on her mind... the ensuing butterfly into crescent into thrust kick combo she had given them proved that. They were only stunned for the moment but that was all the time she needed to finish them off... if only it had not been for the Kotemon who had attacked her from behind, its powerful sword technique busting through the air which had just occupied, having done a high back flip to behind the Kotemon's head, its slowed reaction times giving her the edge she needed to call out a Fox leaf arrow attack and pin her unfortunate opponent into the ground... or so she thought. The Raver enhanced rookie simply took the rain of shards, it had been so heavily moded that it barely felt the shower of sparking crystals and kept on going, only to have Renamon recover almost instantly from the shock of seeing her attack taken full on then follow up the attack with a rebound from the pavement straight into a flying kick which, after having taken so much of the damage from shards, impaled it then kept on going as its shattered body erupted into showers of ambient data.
Then before her feet had once more hit the ground she turned almost full circle in the air to check her surroundings, the two Gabumon had split-up and one of them now tried to rush her, bringing about its claws for a heavy haymaker attack. But having seen its approach she was ready for the relatively slow digimon and grabbed his slashing arm then pulled him into a rolling throw maneuver, ending it with a double kick which along with his own momentum propelled him into a grimy ally wall, horn first, the resultant collision breaking him into his component data.
But she had been too concerned with the last Gabumon to see the other who blindsided her with a powerful back fist and knocking her senseless into a wall. There she stayed as it approached to make its final move... it would break her now then load all the data in the area, maybe if it did it could get all of the Rave left dispersed between the data of its now deleted friends.
Renamon awoke a few seconds later to find the form of her enemy looming over her, its beady eyes wild with anticipation of its final strike, its arm up raised and nothing to stop its claws final decent... nothing but a Pyro Sphere straight into the face, ripping its head to shreds then a moment later its body following the fate of its two other friends.
Renamon looked straight up, heart beat logarithms out of synch but continuing none the less, into the face of some thing large and red flying above her, " Renamon, you ok???" its childlike voice rang out, she was damm glad to hear it.
"Guilmon, There was one more of them, did you see where he went?" she could not sense the presence of the dammed champion anywhere... he might have ran off during the fight... or he might be concealing his aura... but she had long learnt that it was near to impossible to hide from Guilmon's nose.
"No champion here for Guilmon to see, no smell one either," he answered simply, meanwhile scanning the area and sniffing for any trace of the runaway enemy Digimon, then scrunching his face into a semblance of disgust, "Guilmon can't smell anything but rotten data..."
She sighed, there were limits to even Guilmon's senses and the foreigner data from the mods and Ravers was everywhere, quietly she pressed the small wire tied onto her ear, "Mission completed, objective one failure, objective 2 success, thanks to Guilmon."
She heard a sigh and a curse across the com-link, "Alright, I'll hold position until you come," it would have normally brought at least the suggestion of a grin to see the 'Great lord mayor' of gear town so flustered... but in truth she was just as upset as he, this had been the first time that they were able to find a Raver deal going down at one of its sources only to have the dammed dealer escape, in fact she was rather angry with herself for not requesting back up, but at the time she had felt that her own skills would have been adequate in this endeavor...
"Renamon..." the red dragon asked from behind her, his voice quiet and reverent.
"Yes Guilmon?" she responded, a bit sharper than she had meant to but this was either ignored or not noticed by Guilmon
"If you alright then can I go??" he asked.
Her eyes narrowed a little then poked him in the chest, "Why were you even here?" it was not very kind of her to ask it like that, but kind was not her feeling at the moment, slowly she breathed out then considered again, it was not his fault that she had screwed it up.
Guilmon tilted his head in a strangely birdlike motion, "Smelled fight, smelled you, why not come, you my friend," then lifted huge forearm claws to his face resting one on his cheek.
Renamon turned and looked him over once more like a thousand times before, the dragonling had certainly changed, especially physically since his synthesis with the creature Granni. Gone was his stalky, heavyset body, repaced now with the sleek and elongated form. From snout to tail to arms, torso and legs this draconic beast had lengthened, become sleek and now sported a pair of large, leathery wings, each near twice the length of his body. Looking at him it was often hard to contemplate the fact that he was still in rookie form.
Silently she sighed, none of them had come out of the D-Reaper ordeal the same. The effects reached them all in one manner or another, and each dealt with the pain of separation differently. Terriormon had brought over his times of spending hours just looking things up on the internet to good use, it had been through his guidance and organizational skills that gear town now even existed much less ran smoothly. Lopmon had put to use his foresight and skills which had so impressed Zhuqhuelmon into making him one of the divas in helping in the organization and recruitment of a peace keeping forces within the city as well as with the making of laws and regulations. Even Impmon had come to a kind of resolution of self, he had left suddenly a while back then came back with the now tamed Behemoth in tow as Beelzebumon, seemingly having dealt with the issues which had caused him depression until his journey. He was reserved as their heavy guns against all the more powerful denizens of the digital world looking for free data all in one spot.
The others did as they knew best, they fought and protected those who needed to be fought for and protected, and thus the stability and population of the city had grown exponentially, at near to 10,000 residents and climbing this was the largest peaceful gathering of digimon in the southern quadrant. They had even begun to trade with smaller villages around, those were usually insular tribes of digimon most often of the same evolutionary lines, even going as far as to share technical expertise in various fields.
Her musings flooding back to the point at hand, Renamon wondered briefly when her so called 'boss' would get there, it should give him no trouble as every square inch of the city had to be approved by him before construction. He had certainly taken to this new job like a fish to water.
Thinking of the devil, "Gezz... the first time ever we've been able to corner these guys and you let 'im get away," Terriormon was not in the lest pleased, It had taken months to figure out how to scan for the Ravers and follow them back to the source, and now the first lead that they had ever found had gotten away... it frustrated him to no end. It was his city and his responsibility, nothing else was as important... it was the only way he could cope with being without his partner for so long.
"I'm sorry," she said bowing her head slightly, she knew that he only reason backup wasn't sent was because her trusted her most of all to be able to judge what she could handle and that in her not asking had meant that she thought she would be enough for the job, once again she cursed herself for not realizing just how strong the moded little beasts could be.
Terriormon looked up into her face, scowl upon his own softening and dieing away, "Momentai Renamon. There'll be another time, if it worked once it'll work again," It was hard for him to say, hard to act so nonchalant about it now, his hopes had been so high. He would finally rid the city of that dammed plague once and for all before it turned more innocent young Digimon into those mind-lacking creatures, Raver junkies. Reading in the real world had brought to him a special realization of how things like these could be permeated through a society if allowed and unchecked.
"Before I begun the assault I heard the champion speak, I think that he was trading the Rave for some kind of favors... the entire setup has gone beyond suspicious, some one is using the Ravers as tools in something..." Renamon spoke softly, but with an intensity that was seldom present in her voice. Guilmon on the other hand stood aside, listening to two of his best digimon friends speak of this issue, it seemed to be important enough that Renamon, who seldom got angry, sounded ready to kill, that is to any who intimately knew her.
Terriormon assumed his thinking pose, it was now becoming more clear than ever that they were dealing with a situation that was far more than they could see, something he had believed from the beginning, the fact of the matter is that other than their services most Ravers had nothing to trade with... this was looking more and more sinister by the moment.
The silence of the moment was thick enough to taste, a thing which went a long way to Guilmon's growing sense of the nervous energy which floated about. He had been helping in the city affairs, where ever possible, with what ever jobs he could, often he had fought with the Ravers, the pungent scent of the viral mod being utterly distasteful to his sense but useful in tracking down Ravers before the became violent and disrupted the regular flow of events in the city.
The continuation of the conversation ended right as Terriormon was about to continue, Guilmon had spoken, his eyes taking a far away quality, "Takato... Guilmon feels him... Guilmon feels him. Wasn't dream!" the overjoyed reaction was astonishing, his reptilian face breaking into a huge grin.
"What are ya talking 'bout Guil?" Terriormon asked, confused at the sudden revelation.
"Guilmon wake up with feeling of Takatomon, thought it was dream but look anyway, now feel again, now know, Takatomon is here here here!!!!!" the excited saurian bouncing up and down then settled for a moment and turned his head one more in that strange birdlike fashion, "but he far away, getting closer."
Renamon looked across to the dog-rabbit mayor, all thoughts of Ravers and dealers fleeing her mind... If Guilmon was right then the gates to the real world might just be open... and their respective partners just might be with him.
Careful to hold her calm veneer, she asked, "Do you think that you can lead us to him Guilmon?" hope bubbling up from the pit of her stomach.
Terriormon on the other hand could not be as impulsive, his time as mayor weighing him to the city, "You guys go on with out me... I need to look over some paper-work, besides this town would fall apart with out me to run it," his flashed grin there to reassure them that this is what he wanted.
The other two Knights nodded, they had been together for so long. Even when the others came and went they stayed as a unit. It would be strange leaving Terriormon out of anything with a possibility for trouble.
"Guilmon, lets go." The kitsune looked back once at her friend then with a leap was off, side by side with the demon dragon who begun to trace his partner with the link that they shared.
"Good luck you guys..." Terriormon's voice murmured, then he too left, flying away with his wing/ears.
******************
From beneath his cloak and hood a figure panted, tired in the exertion of running from the sudden attack and hurt from said same attack. The masters would not be pleased... it was hard enough to find Ravers with enough intelligence to complete the tasks they were assigned before they broke down or went vicious, and he had just lost 3 of the most capable... no the masters would not like this in the least. The material of his cloak slipped for a mere moment as he adjusted it against the night and prying eyes, revealing a flash of a single pure white wing, then was pulled closed and its owner taking flight on foot to report back to those he served.
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Well 2 months since the last chapter so then this one is litte more than twice the size of the others to make up for the delay... ~bows~ my appologies.
On another note i think you may see another chapter fairly soon, good reviews tend to make me work faster and i always go back and edit the past chapters eventually, nothing major just some adjustments, and this in turn makes me write more.
And no, the masters are not in any way form or fashion the dark masters.
Thanks to Neverwhere and all of my other reviewers hope you find this one entertaining, with a special thanks to Shadow, for verbally wakking me upside the head every once in a while to get the story going along.
Well pieces persons!!!!
Within the cold grip of the night the invincible has sturred, and now it holds the eternal to siege in the light,
Which shall win the prize of the black and the bright?
Neither i say for they battle forever in a night and a day...
but nigh for a day and a night,
-Himitsu the Hunter
By Himitsu the Hunter
Chapter 4: Thesis of the Ravenous night, consumed of the bilght and straight ways into hell...
Suzy sat back quietly; it had been nearly 4 hours since the news had come... She would see Lopmon again. It had been the usual kind of night for her since Lopmon, her partner, her guardian, had left her because of the instabilities between their two worlds, the kind of night where she would simply sit back and read. Since the departure of her soft-spoken partner the young tamer strived to understand the world which her friend had come from, in child-like hope that maybe... just maybe she could learn something that would be useful. Useful namely in her true ambition, the retrieval of her lost Lopmon... but that was a goal eventually put aside, the complexity of the world of code and data baffled her youthful mind. But with the persistence that she had shown in the digital world in her confrontation with Antyamon she sat herself down and begun at the beginning learning little by little the workings of the programs from which the world and the friend for which she longed were built. It still wasn't enough for her.
It did help though to have others to share her sorrows with, first and foremost her over protective brother, she smiled at the thought of him always there charging in to defend her at the slightest hint of trouble, her expression soured slightly, even when she herself had the issue well in hand.... That brought back memories, times before when she was far younger. Once she had found her way into a situation with some other girls when she had been seven, a scuffle over something silly, she could barely remember, but then her brother stepped in, and she was wining too, dividing all parties involved and making it hell for her in the long run as she had been forced to take relentless teasing for having to be "rescued" by him. There was all the embracing times when he himself would tease her about some of the male friends she kept... in particular Makoto-kun, her eyebrow twitched at the thought. Henry had definitely been around that Terriormon far too long, she thought. It really wasn't as if he was even a consideration when she went over to their house, after all he was only a boy. It was Ai-chan that she was interested in playing with; they had even learnt how to play the card game together. Suzy remembered clearly the day they met. It was just after the Reaper was defeated and the true cost of victory became know to the Tamers, with eyes puffy from tears still flowing she noticed two others crying on each others shoulders. Swallowing her own tears and wiping her face clean of their last traces she tried to be brave as she knew Lopmon would wish of her and approached the heart broken pair.
"Hi..." she began, unsure of how she would accomplish her goal. The two looked up from their shared haze of tears, emotions yet unspent rolling off like fresh dew from a morning flower, pain concentrated in their twin gaze, "...I'm Suzy, what's your names?" her voice trembling imperceptibly, attempting to break the ice.
Both in the same motion reached to wipe away tears spent across youthful cheeks and said almost simultaneously,
"Ai,"
"Makoto,"
Suzy giggled, the symphony of male and female twin voices resonating together, each almost totally unaware of the other, then her face settled into a more serious mode, "He wouldn't want you to cry," she breathed, mustering the courage to continue, "I mean your partner, I'm sure he wouldn't want you to be so sad... like Lopmon..."
The two listened and then Ai spoke, all the while still drying the tears from her reddened eyes, "Impmon said he would come back right away... that he wouldn't leave us again..." dry sobs punctuating her words.
"And he won't," she said, the assurance sincere, "I'm sure of it. Lopmon told me they would all be back," her own words bringing a higher measure of confidence, "Lopmon never lies." Those final words were spoken in such utter decisiveness and conviction that the sorrow-filled twin could not help but be drawn in by the possibility... no eventuality, of their beloved partner's return.
A silence crept up as the thoughts shared sank deeper in, "Come on," she said finally, " you want to meet the rest of us Tamers?" then before they could reply dragged them over to where the others were gathered, determined that these, who like her self, would not be alone... even as they were together.
Her quiet sigh gave a haunting echo in her own ears, Lopmon, she thought, I'll see you soon, tears of joy restrained leaking from her eyes. Already her brother and Father endeavored to test the safety of the newly formed link between worlds and eagerly the threads of destiny wove the pattern of things as they came.
***********************************
Once upon a time a group of youths lead by an incredibly brilliant youth began an endeavor which they thought of as their legacy... only they never thought that it would every come this far or prove to be so dangerous. Arguably they were responsible for numerous deaths of both human and Digital kind and a world full of strife as violent as or more violent than their world had ever been, but in the same breath one had to realize that even along side of the death and violence a menagerie beautiful things too stemmed from it as well. Janyu sighed, it was inevitable now that the digital world was reconnected to our own that that conflict would ensue... but the rules and reasons for such conflicts were yet unknowable and even so it might still be possible to impress a more peaceful culture upon them... his first children, possible but not blood likely, he thought, not bloody likely indeed.
He sighed at his line of logic, its cold facts irrefutable. It was to his greatest horror that his own children were embroiled deeply in this... and that they would have to suffer the brunt of all war like overtures from both side, for they were the buffer zone of contact.
"Alright lets go, initializing the digital life algorithm, monitoring information packets for irregularities..." speaking into his headset, "Uploading data to you now Daisy."
" I got ya Tao, it all seems in order," came the voice from the COM-set.
"Now comes the real 'fun' part... We need to reconfigure the base coding we used on Granni for the best stat distribution we can... we got to make this little guy really good on the first try," Janyu sighed, it truly would be a long night... the amount of coding that they would have to check and double check would be staggering... not to mention organizing the stat data, an absolute necessity in that they needed this new creature to be used as a form of guardian program and thus powerful enough to fend off attacks from higher level Digimon with out the help of the Tamers. Much like Granni, which had been a search and retrieval program before the digital life algorithms they had used to make it responded in a surprising way and gained sentience then was reformatted as a carrier program, this new one they were shaping would not be truly a digimon and thus not governed by the same life form rules that all the digimon them-selves, even the Sovereigns, seemed to have. The sheer weight of work made another sigh cross Janyu's breath...
"Boy you sound stressed, take a break and grab some coffee it, it'll take a while for all the scripts to be read and I can reply," instructed Daisy over the Com, "Working for Hypnos ain't no picnic but at least we get to work with the Digimon again... and get paid real good," Janyu could hear the grin in her voice from where he sat.
"Yeah it really is... with the sheer amount of money that's being poured into this agency by our loving government just to keep the populace happy I'm surprised that we aren't literally swimming in yen..." he heard her chuckle at his parting comment. Getting up he moved to the kitchen where a large jar marked 'CAFFIEN FOR DADDY' sat in the coffee maker. Janyu smiled, it seemed that Suzie was doing her best to be helpful again, she must have gotten of the others to help her but it was clear by the scrawl on the jar whose idea it was.
"So how's it coming," Janyu heard over his back.
Not bothering to turn he simply replied, "Every thing is fine so far and the guardian program is shaping up but I'm not the one working on the gate code, Yamaki is. So how was Karate?"
Behind him Henry sighed quietly, " It was ok... we went through some new kata with Sensei and Takato didn't show up again..." once more he sighed, it was tough to be so close to the return of his partner yet not allowed to go in all the way, he would have loved nothing better than to go find the D-Gate and dive in head first, consequences be dammed. But it could not be so... he had to think of his responsibilities, to keep his sister out of trouble and from trying to do just what he had been thinking of; the digital realm was a dangerous place. Not quite satisfied but accepting of the answers provided he leaned back against the fridge.
Sensing his son's disposition, Janyu looked back, "I know how tough it must be to know that the gate is wide open but you still can't cross it... But just remember, your mother and have discussed this many a time and it all ways comes down to this, We care too much about you to simply run off into the unknown with out at least some of the protections we can provide when we can provide them and besides we do want Terriormon and Lopmon to come back also... they became a part of the family," he smiled ruefully, "In a way they are both just as much my children as you are, and what parent doesn't wish for their children to come back home to them?"
Henry simply nodded and gave his father a weak smile before walking right back out of the kitchen. Janyu shook his head, his son was growing up on him, sometimes it seemed that there was a gulf between them that was slowly getting harder and harder to cross... just as with all his other children as they grew past the confines of home. Letting go of them as children and welcoming the adult to come was always the hardest part, for them and him, but it seemed that that part would be faster approaching with Henry than any of the others. He just hoped that the time would not come too soon.
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Renamon sat gazing at the twin moons that decorated the sky of the digital world, their stoic watch pouring light back unto her appreciative face. Always she had been a creature of the night and a child of the embrace of the moon, she sighed, if only her partner was here next to her again.... The loneliness gnawed at her insides, its bitter tang a poison of great potency. It made the night sting.
"Hmmm... I guess its time," she rose from her seated position and flicked off... hopping from roof to roof as an undefined blur against the tranquil sky moving with rapid efficiency and unmatched grace.
"Mission commencing," she stated clearly and quickly gained her reply.
"Good to go Foxy, the scans show 3 rookies and a champion... be careful fox, the rookies seem to have some really heavy Raver moding... they must have been ingesting some of the viral modules... the champion seems to be completely Raver free, he must be a dealer." Came a voice into her ear, briefly she murmured an acknowledgment of it warning then was off once again.
Using all the powers of stealth and skill she could muster, she catapulted her body unto the catwalk above then seemingly totally disappeared.
***
Within the small, dank ally-way a deal was going down, in the digital world was always a struggle for power and this deal brought no exception. The figures of two wild eyed Gabumon and an equally unfocused Kotemon stood quietly anticipation causing them to fidget more and more.
"So did you achieve the objective?" the heavily cloaked Champion asked quietly, its large bipedal frame looming over the rest. Hasty nods were given, the wait nearly bringing tears to their eyes... it was there... so close... all they had to do was reach... but then logic reasserted, if the tried to take the Rave modus from the champion before them it would be the last of it they would ever have... the last time that it would make them gods.
A smile broke from beneath the heavy robes of the champion's garb, "Good, then you've earned your rewards," a single gloved hand reaching out from the dark beneath the sheltering cloak and scattering before him a small amount of blue capsules, "help yourself to them ... fools," he whispered.
The creatures gobbled down their prize quickly, none would take it from their eager hands. All seemed to be going well as the champion watched the fool rookies greedily swallow their demise, then seemingly as if the air itself had come alive a figure shimmered past the Rookies at a high speed, their resent exposure to Rive keeping them from recognition of the threat, its speedy stride resulting in the needed momentum for the figure to suddenly nail the heavily concealed champion with a flying kick to the chest, and straight into an adjacent wall.
The staggered champion was not in the least happy... things were perfect up till this moment, now he was staggered and gasping and the enemy for the first time showed its face. Barely surprising that it was the Renamon, not even close to surprising that she would attack them after all she was the enforcer of the little town... but what had surprised him was the shear strength she had brought to bear in managing to down him like that in one blow, but now was not the time to be impressed, at this stage it would not do to take any kind of chances not when it came so close to their lords coming...
"GET HER," he screamed, the shouts cutting thru the Rave induced haze and bring them back into the world. The enemy was before them, it was only one but mattered not, they were invincible, and they were gods. All three charged in, the two Gabumon reaching first each with a fist full of raking claw and slashed... at where she had been 2 seconds ago, and in a battle like this where melee combat was the game Renamon excelled, in a battle like this two seconds is a deadly long time.
Having spun to the side to avoid the coming onslaught she had escaped the fate that now awaited the ground where she had stood, but this was the last thing on her mind... the ensuing butterfly into crescent into thrust kick combo she had given them proved that. They were only stunned for the moment but that was all the time she needed to finish them off... if only it had not been for the Kotemon who had attacked her from behind, its powerful sword technique busting through the air which had just occupied, having done a high back flip to behind the Kotemon's head, its slowed reaction times giving her the edge she needed to call out a Fox leaf arrow attack and pin her unfortunate opponent into the ground... or so she thought. The Raver enhanced rookie simply took the rain of shards, it had been so heavily moded that it barely felt the shower of sparking crystals and kept on going, only to have Renamon recover almost instantly from the shock of seeing her attack taken full on then follow up the attack with a rebound from the pavement straight into a flying kick which, after having taken so much of the damage from shards, impaled it then kept on going as its shattered body erupted into showers of ambient data.
Then before her feet had once more hit the ground she turned almost full circle in the air to check her surroundings, the two Gabumon had split-up and one of them now tried to rush her, bringing about its claws for a heavy haymaker attack. But having seen its approach she was ready for the relatively slow digimon and grabbed his slashing arm then pulled him into a rolling throw maneuver, ending it with a double kick which along with his own momentum propelled him into a grimy ally wall, horn first, the resultant collision breaking him into his component data.
But she had been too concerned with the last Gabumon to see the other who blindsided her with a powerful back fist and knocking her senseless into a wall. There she stayed as it approached to make its final move... it would break her now then load all the data in the area, maybe if it did it could get all of the Rave left dispersed between the data of its now deleted friends.
Renamon awoke a few seconds later to find the form of her enemy looming over her, its beady eyes wild with anticipation of its final strike, its arm up raised and nothing to stop its claws final decent... nothing but a Pyro Sphere straight into the face, ripping its head to shreds then a moment later its body following the fate of its two other friends.
Renamon looked straight up, heart beat logarithms out of synch but continuing none the less, into the face of some thing large and red flying above her, " Renamon, you ok???" its childlike voice rang out, she was damm glad to hear it.
"Guilmon, There was one more of them, did you see where he went?" she could not sense the presence of the dammed champion anywhere... he might have ran off during the fight... or he might be concealing his aura... but she had long learnt that it was near to impossible to hide from Guilmon's nose.
"No champion here for Guilmon to see, no smell one either," he answered simply, meanwhile scanning the area and sniffing for any trace of the runaway enemy Digimon, then scrunching his face into a semblance of disgust, "Guilmon can't smell anything but rotten data..."
She sighed, there were limits to even Guilmon's senses and the foreigner data from the mods and Ravers was everywhere, quietly she pressed the small wire tied onto her ear, "Mission completed, objective one failure, objective 2 success, thanks to Guilmon."
She heard a sigh and a curse across the com-link, "Alright, I'll hold position until you come," it would have normally brought at least the suggestion of a grin to see the 'Great lord mayor' of gear town so flustered... but in truth she was just as upset as he, this had been the first time that they were able to find a Raver deal going down at one of its sources only to have the dammed dealer escape, in fact she was rather angry with herself for not requesting back up, but at the time she had felt that her own skills would have been adequate in this endeavor...
"Renamon..." the red dragon asked from behind her, his voice quiet and reverent.
"Yes Guilmon?" she responded, a bit sharper than she had meant to but this was either ignored or not noticed by Guilmon
"If you alright then can I go??" he asked.
Her eyes narrowed a little then poked him in the chest, "Why were you even here?" it was not very kind of her to ask it like that, but kind was not her feeling at the moment, slowly she breathed out then considered again, it was not his fault that she had screwed it up.
Guilmon tilted his head in a strangely birdlike motion, "Smelled fight, smelled you, why not come, you my friend," then lifted huge forearm claws to his face resting one on his cheek.
Renamon turned and looked him over once more like a thousand times before, the dragonling had certainly changed, especially physically since his synthesis with the creature Granni. Gone was his stalky, heavyset body, repaced now with the sleek and elongated form. From snout to tail to arms, torso and legs this draconic beast had lengthened, become sleek and now sported a pair of large, leathery wings, each near twice the length of his body. Looking at him it was often hard to contemplate the fact that he was still in rookie form.
Silently she sighed, none of them had come out of the D-Reaper ordeal the same. The effects reached them all in one manner or another, and each dealt with the pain of separation differently. Terriormon had brought over his times of spending hours just looking things up on the internet to good use, it had been through his guidance and organizational skills that gear town now even existed much less ran smoothly. Lopmon had put to use his foresight and skills which had so impressed Zhuqhuelmon into making him one of the divas in helping in the organization and recruitment of a peace keeping forces within the city as well as with the making of laws and regulations. Even Impmon had come to a kind of resolution of self, he had left suddenly a while back then came back with the now tamed Behemoth in tow as Beelzebumon, seemingly having dealt with the issues which had caused him depression until his journey. He was reserved as their heavy guns against all the more powerful denizens of the digital world looking for free data all in one spot.
The others did as they knew best, they fought and protected those who needed to be fought for and protected, and thus the stability and population of the city had grown exponentially, at near to 10,000 residents and climbing this was the largest peaceful gathering of digimon in the southern quadrant. They had even begun to trade with smaller villages around, those were usually insular tribes of digimon most often of the same evolutionary lines, even going as far as to share technical expertise in various fields.
Her musings flooding back to the point at hand, Renamon wondered briefly when her so called 'boss' would get there, it should give him no trouble as every square inch of the city had to be approved by him before construction. He had certainly taken to this new job like a fish to water.
Thinking of the devil, "Gezz... the first time ever we've been able to corner these guys and you let 'im get away," Terriormon was not in the lest pleased, It had taken months to figure out how to scan for the Ravers and follow them back to the source, and now the first lead that they had ever found had gotten away... it frustrated him to no end. It was his city and his responsibility, nothing else was as important... it was the only way he could cope with being without his partner for so long.
"I'm sorry," she said bowing her head slightly, she knew that he only reason backup wasn't sent was because her trusted her most of all to be able to judge what she could handle and that in her not asking had meant that she thought she would be enough for the job, once again she cursed herself for not realizing just how strong the moded little beasts could be.
Terriormon looked up into her face, scowl upon his own softening and dieing away, "Momentai Renamon. There'll be another time, if it worked once it'll work again," It was hard for him to say, hard to act so nonchalant about it now, his hopes had been so high. He would finally rid the city of that dammed plague once and for all before it turned more innocent young Digimon into those mind-lacking creatures, Raver junkies. Reading in the real world had brought to him a special realization of how things like these could be permeated through a society if allowed and unchecked.
"Before I begun the assault I heard the champion speak, I think that he was trading the Rave for some kind of favors... the entire setup has gone beyond suspicious, some one is using the Ravers as tools in something..." Renamon spoke softly, but with an intensity that was seldom present in her voice. Guilmon on the other hand stood aside, listening to two of his best digimon friends speak of this issue, it seemed to be important enough that Renamon, who seldom got angry, sounded ready to kill, that is to any who intimately knew her.
Terriormon assumed his thinking pose, it was now becoming more clear than ever that they were dealing with a situation that was far more than they could see, something he had believed from the beginning, the fact of the matter is that other than their services most Ravers had nothing to trade with... this was looking more and more sinister by the moment.
The silence of the moment was thick enough to taste, a thing which went a long way to Guilmon's growing sense of the nervous energy which floated about. He had been helping in the city affairs, where ever possible, with what ever jobs he could, often he had fought with the Ravers, the pungent scent of the viral mod being utterly distasteful to his sense but useful in tracking down Ravers before the became violent and disrupted the regular flow of events in the city.
The continuation of the conversation ended right as Terriormon was about to continue, Guilmon had spoken, his eyes taking a far away quality, "Takato... Guilmon feels him... Guilmon feels him. Wasn't dream!" the overjoyed reaction was astonishing, his reptilian face breaking into a huge grin.
"What are ya talking 'bout Guil?" Terriormon asked, confused at the sudden revelation.
"Guilmon wake up with feeling of Takatomon, thought it was dream but look anyway, now feel again, now know, Takatomon is here here here!!!!!" the excited saurian bouncing up and down then settled for a moment and turned his head one more in that strange birdlike fashion, "but he far away, getting closer."
Renamon looked across to the dog-rabbit mayor, all thoughts of Ravers and dealers fleeing her mind... If Guilmon was right then the gates to the real world might just be open... and their respective partners just might be with him.
Careful to hold her calm veneer, she asked, "Do you think that you can lead us to him Guilmon?" hope bubbling up from the pit of her stomach.
Terriormon on the other hand could not be as impulsive, his time as mayor weighing him to the city, "You guys go on with out me... I need to look over some paper-work, besides this town would fall apart with out me to run it," his flashed grin there to reassure them that this is what he wanted.
The other two Knights nodded, they had been together for so long. Even when the others came and went they stayed as a unit. It would be strange leaving Terriormon out of anything with a possibility for trouble.
"Guilmon, lets go." The kitsune looked back once at her friend then with a leap was off, side by side with the demon dragon who begun to trace his partner with the link that they shared.
"Good luck you guys..." Terriormon's voice murmured, then he too left, flying away with his wing/ears.
******************
From beneath his cloak and hood a figure panted, tired in the exertion of running from the sudden attack and hurt from said same attack. The masters would not be pleased... it was hard enough to find Ravers with enough intelligence to complete the tasks they were assigned before they broke down or went vicious, and he had just lost 3 of the most capable... no the masters would not like this in the least. The material of his cloak slipped for a mere moment as he adjusted it against the night and prying eyes, revealing a flash of a single pure white wing, then was pulled closed and its owner taking flight on foot to report back to those he served.
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Well 2 months since the last chapter so then this one is litte more than twice the size of the others to make up for the delay... ~bows~ my appologies.
On another note i think you may see another chapter fairly soon, good reviews tend to make me work faster and i always go back and edit the past chapters eventually, nothing major just some adjustments, and this in turn makes me write more.
And no, the masters are not in any way form or fashion the dark masters.
Thanks to Neverwhere and all of my other reviewers hope you find this one entertaining, with a special thanks to Shadow, for verbally wakking me upside the head every once in a while to get the story going along.
Well pieces persons!!!!
Within the cold grip of the night the invincible has sturred, and now it holds the eternal to siege in the light,
Which shall win the prize of the black and the bright?
Neither i say for they battle forever in a night and a day...
but nigh for a day and a night,
-Himitsu the Hunter