Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ After ❯ After ( One-Shot )

After

Renegade

Disclaimer: Digimon is the property of Toei Animation.

Notes: Takes place a few years after the conclusion of the second season, but that stupid epilogue never existed.

---

The Digital World was in a state of panic.

Digimon everywhere were running, flying, swimming here and there in pandemonium. They did not know where they were going. They did not know where they wanted to go. But time was of the essence, and they had to get away.

---

On the land, the Digimon fled here and there, trying to reach a Portal. It was their only hope: to abandon the Digital World and go to Earth. The lines at the Portals stretched miles as Digimon stood with their families. At Primary Village, Elecmon systematically handed eggs and Babies through a Portal opened by the Chosen Children.

The earthquakes were taking the land. The ground cracked open, creating wide chasms that filled with water, then froze over; the ground rose in tall spires eclipsing the height of anything the forces of Darkness could have erected.

The earthquakes were taking the Digimon. Abysses yawned under the very feet of Digimon, and drew them into their depths; towers of rock rose with Digimon stranded on them, and as they shook and jolted in their rising, the Digimon fell to their deaths. The bodies of airborne Digimon fell from the skies, crushing those below.

And still the lines at the Portals moved. Streams of light were immortalized in air as the Portals to Earth remained open. Digimon walked, crawled, dragged themselves through, knowing they were safe if only they reached the other world.

And still at Primary Village, the eggs were searched for and found, and brought to Elecmon, as the determined caretaker and the Eighth Digimon worked tirelessly to get them through the Portal safely. But young Yukimibotamon, Yuramon, Botamon hid from the unknown menace, secure in their belief that if the danger couldn't find them, they were safe. They crawled under bushes and scuttled to secret hideouts. It was past their realization that safety was in the arms of those who sought them in desperation. And so they were overtaken by nature, swallowed by the gaping chasms.

The Portals opened to computer labs. They opened to the homes of the Chosen Children. They opened to libraries, as disks with copies of the DigiPort program were thrust into drives and run. There was no time to lose. Izumi Koushiro worked frenetically, mechanically inserting a floppy disk into a computer, pasting the data copied from the original, ejecting the disk, inserting another. The others took the disks to a computer and ran the program. Digimon poured through, from the smallest In-Training to the largest Mega. Yagami Hikari and Takenouchi Sora worked at the Yagami apartment, ensuring the safe arrival of thousands of DigiEggs and Baby Digimon.

But the earthquakes continued to take lives. The chasms stretched for miles, and grew with every passing moment; Digimon, when running from one, fell into another. Ice from the seas continued its frenetic race and took the land-bound as easily as it had taken the creatures of the sea.

Everywhere there was death.

---

In the oceans, Ikkakumon lead the fleeing processions of Digimon south. He no longer looked back, for he knew what he would see- the frozen bodies of Digimon, trapped in their pursuer- the ever-spreading ice. He no longer listened to the cries of those behind him, for he knew what he would hear- the screams of the doomed as the ice caught them by the tail, enclosed them in its grip, and prevented their movements as it covered them completely. Ikkakumon could not concentrate on the dead. He had to concentrate on the living.

They swam for their lives in the ocean that had become their enemy. They dissipated into data from sheer exhaustion. Hearts burst. Fins gave out. Bodies sank to the bottoms as regularly as they were caught in the ice. Still they paddled on, the fit and determined, diving down and coming back up for precious oxygen in frenzy.

"To shore!" Ikkakumon roared to those who still followed him. "No use swimming any more!"

They veered from the course they had set and swam still faster. There was still a chance that they could escape with their lives if they abandoned the sea and ran for the shore. Those who were left had feet. Those that had once followed were no longer, their forms immortalized in the ice.

But the ice traveled as quickly by the shore as it had in the open waters. The Digimon were frozen as quickly here as they had been in the middle of the ocean. In time, the screams dimmed and died out. Only Ikkakumon was left.

The ice grabbed his hind leg in its teeth and held it. Ikkakumon ripped away with a mighty stroke of his feet, leaving a bleeding hole where the appendage had once been and his leg frozen in the ice. He strained his exhausted, injured body to paddle faster, ever faster, until he had reached his limit and could not gain more speed.

His frenetic panting was the only sound he could hear as he rhythmically lifted a paw, set it down, pushed it back, lurched forward and repeated the process at a speed unmatched by any other. His abdomen clenched and his muscles cramped, yet he could not think of stopping or slowing his frantic pace. The ice froze waters seconds after he passed through them. The shore was his goal. He saw nothing but the sandy beaches. The friendly sands would stop the ice. They had to. Or everything he did would have been in vain, and he would die.

He reached the shores; he felt the familiar texture of the sands under his paws. He limped a run, now, and kept running until he was a safe distance up the beach. The ice would not travel the hot sands. It would not reach him here. He was safe.

Without looking back, Ikkakumon dragged his weary body under a tree and lay down to sleep and recover.

And so it was that as the ice raced from the water to the sands of the shore without ever noticing that it had changed mediums, Ikkakumon, the Chosen Digimon of Reliability, was frozen in its grasp.

---

In the skies, the dives for Portals continued. Dodging lightning, the Digimon flew for safety, often holding smaller Digimon. Several Unimon served as transport to the Portals; others helped at Primary Village, carrying Eggs and Baby-level Digimon to Elecmon and the Portal. Some Digimon just dived down and flew through Portals to take care of those on the other side.

Wings failed. They cramped and went numb. Lightning struck the fliers as it plunged from the clouds to the earth below. But the flights went on, all streaming to the Portals.

The Portals- the sole goal in everyone's mind. The Portals must be reached. The Portals must be kept up. Digimon must be kept passing through the Portals. The lives in the Digital World depended on them.

---

"The Digital World's program is crashing!" Angewomon cried, bending down and gently placing twelve more DigiEggs on the disappearing floor of Elecmon's domain.

The small red Digimon hardly looked at her as he replied. "Go," he said, mechanically sending more Eggs to safety through Primary Village's small Portal. "Take everyone you can with you."

The walls in the small building began to shake. Bits of stone and mortar fell from cracks.

"What about you?" Angewomon shouted over the din of falling buildings.

"I'll get everyone out that I can. Then I'll leave."

"I'm staying with you!"

A tiny Botamon bounced towards the Portal, leading a small parade of young Digimon. "This is everyone I can find!" he shrilled, leading the others through the Portal.

Stones fell from the ceiling, first small, then gradually increasing in size.

Elecmon sighed, never stopping his transfer of Eggs, and nodded his head to both Angewomon and the now-absent Botamon. Angewomon knelt on the shaking floor beside the smaller Digimon, and sent Eggs to the other world with a speed that matched Elecmon's.

Finally Elecmon stopped his frantic motion. "That's the lot, I think," he said tiredly.

A wall crashed in.

"Just in time, too- let's get out of here!" Angewomon shouted over the banging of falling stones and wood.

A second wall went. The Portal closed.

For a split second, the two Digimon stared at the space that once held the Portal, then Angewomon scooped Elecmon up and launched herself out of the building, flying as fast as her tired wings could carry her. The closest Portal was a good few miles away.

Flitting in and out between lightning, clutching Elecmon to her in a sort of desperation, she flew on through storms. She dodged the whirlwind of a tornado and soared above falling bodies half gone with dissipation. Ducking low over a forest, branches whipped in the wind and crashed against her wings.

Then they landed, and she ran towards the Portal that had not yet closed. As her booted feet pounded the ground, one landed in a hole, and she somersaulted and landed sprawled on the ground, her leg in the Portal and Elecmon broken-legged on the ground.

The light flared, and Angewomon was on her way to safety. "Elecmon!" she shouted. He never heard her.

Limping at top speed toward the Portal, bleeding from multiple wounds, Elecmon was halfway through when his body collapsed. He burst into data.

---

Angewomon spun, caught in the vortex of dizzying color, and stumbled awkwardly at the landing. She fell, the thorns of a thousand roses tearing at her flesh and clothing. She sat up, bleeding all over, and deftly snapped the stem of one of the black roses. The angel held it, the thorns ripping into her hand, letting her palm bleed.

Blood for her dead world.