Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Another memorial. ❯ Chapter 3 ( Chapter 3 )

Adventure… It had been long, and even back then, they had been often sad. And Wizarmon, Leomon, so many others they cared for… The dead do not easily rise.

 

But it didn't matter… Their third adventure was beginning now, and for that reason, if nothing else, so that they could have those strong, exciting, amazing times again, they would be happy.

Though compared to those times, it seemed nothing could ever measure up.

 

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It had resumed… It was weaker, but it had resumed, and to them, it seemed that was all that mattered. Their times of happiness had been seldom, sure, light-hearted downtime was tempered often by fear or hunger, even if they did look back fondly… It wasn't that they hadn't had their happier memories, it wasn't that there weren't even battles they could look back on fondly, digimon they were glad to have met, all of that, it was truly an amazing time.

 

Still, it had resumed, and… Even Hikari, fearful as she was, somewhere deep within her soul of light did feel happiness. “It's just like I was back then… Being with Takeru and Miyako, knowing they would protect me from the darkness, winning victories over the worst evils in the world… It was so fun, and…”

 

She stopped, afraid to continue that line of thought. After all, she was of the light, kindly, the radioactive battery of the digital world, supposed to be a noble heroine, the world's glowing queen…

 

At least, she was like that, back during those days where the world was covered with darkness, those days she still looked back at with light. Now, with the… Hangyomon? Deep ones? Deepmon? She wasn't sure what to call those things, but between them and their undersea eldritch horror of a master, she had been more terrified than kindly last year.

 

“So this time I'll atone, I'll cleanse the digital world again, restored to my old self? No, I won't, much as I'll want to… No one can hold their sorrows inside forever…”

 

“No one can hold their sorrows inside forever…” There was something familiar about that, something she almost remembered, in some weird way, even if she personally hadn't seen it.

 

She put the thought behind her, she needed someone right now… But she wouldn't burden Tailmon, she couldn't, a digimon that had felt so much pain searching for her, and then even more torment in Vamdemon's ethereal grip, she didn't need to see her partner suffer…

 

Then who would she talk to? She had never liked to burden any of them… Takeru had sworn to protect her, sure, and their digimon were close, but they weren't as close as Daisuke and the others thought. Ken? If there were any with a bigger burden, she didn't see it, only noticing her gentle friend always being crushed and twisted by the memories of his past. Miyako? She wouldn't do it, just like she wouldn't go to Tailmon now, they were too close for her to even think of causing the other girl pain. Daisuke? It seemed his childish infatuation of old had faded by now, but even still, it would be way too awkward.

 

So she stayed alone, desperately needing a shoulder to cry on, but fearing she would break whichever shoulder she used to rest her head.

 

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A black imp in a black forest, darkness to his left, darkness to his right, the sun had not yet risen. There might have been digimon there, but if there were, they were silent, not yet having lost the will to live. The ghoul's body was odd, deformed, with a long black tail and red, batlike wings. He tossed his detached left eye again, up and down, up and down, then resting in his steely silver claw, almost as if he was just performing some relaxing exercise, and then…

 

“There!” The eyeball spiraled through the air, his small wings spread and flapped quickly, and aided by this new range of vision, the data-type digimon sped to his destination. Then, balancing the eyeball on his tail, the digimon thrust his silver claw into the bushes and grabbed a poor Betamon that had the misfortune to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and didn't manage to find a good hiding spot.

 

Then he squeezed, digging his three triangular claws only inches into the Betamon's neck, then watching dispassionately as the child digimon disintegrated into green and blue bits of data. The task at hand complete, he turned and flew, his black wings carrying him up above the treetops, while the other digimon of the forest were left paralyzed by their absolute terror.

 

After that, he casually dropped his eyeball down into the forest. When the fog of darkness lifted, it was plain that there were no survivors.

 

From a cliff not far from there, Noriko was watching.

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They had gathered again, the eight chosen of old in the digital world, once more trying to save the world… It may be a dark, serious time, but… Just being together again like that, they had to converse, even if they had little to say. They wanted to laugh with each other again, to feel happiness as a group for the first time in, what, four years?

 

Still… They had so little to bind them; they were at least a little silent now. It seemed all they had to speak of was the past, and they wanted to look towards the future… They were already saddened, already with so many troubles, already isolating themselves even as they thought of their friendship…

 

“No wonder the digital world keeps finding new chosen… We can't even talk anymore, let alone save the world,” Yamato broke the silence, but… It wasn't right for something that sad to break the silence, someone should have said something happier, they should be able to converse about something with a bit of happiness and a light-hearted air about them once more…

 

“Yamato…” Mimi spoke, glancing over at the oft-angsty bishounen, the only one who seemed to share her sorrow.

 

“Yeah, great going there, the only one you're at all like is the one you never even talked to during that adventure…”

 

“I don't mind…” Takeru began, his faded innocence perhaps not as gone as it appeared. “At least we're together again…”

 

Part of him wondered what he was doing; he wasn't usually anywhere near this sentimental… Then again, it had been only two days since that day of memory, they were adventuring again, and he had known it the longest, so it wasn't that odd, right?

 

“So, what sort of black-winged evil awaits this time?” Taichi asked, knowing he should at least try for that sort of happy, light-hearted tone they once had so easily even during dark times…

 

“Even during dark times… Was it really? Have we even joked around this way since that night when Vamdemon took Tailmon prisoner?”

 

“Though we know not what evil awaits… The one with goggles shall lead us,” Yamato spoke, his voice taking some odd, dramatic tone. Had it only been two days since he considered attacking Taichi, since he thought he'd be willing to slay his leader and close friend for some pitiful attempt at happiness?

 

Sora laughed happily, her heart seeming to have found peace again… “But is it Taichi or Daisuke who is the true goggle-head?”

 

“Let's hope for Taichi, I've already had one adventure as effective leader,” Takeru answered, his voice jocular and barely suppressing a giggle, and he too was smiling again. Mimi, knowing how many digimon would suffer, Hikari, her enemy resurgent, Taichi and Yamato, Jou and Koushirou… Even after all they had gone through, even with all that was happening… They were smiling, too.

 

Their adventure resurgent, their lives meaningful… They continued to speak, not saying much, maybe, but they didn't really even need to… They were walking in the digital world, taking out a black-ringed digimon every now and then, nothing much, but it didn't matter… Just being together like that was enough, together in the digital world, stopping various evils; that was what they lived for, after all... And inside Takeru's shirt, it seemed there was again a faint, yellow glow.

 

“We're in danger now, we shouldn't be this happy…” Jou began, having often stated this sort of thing before. “But…”

 

“We've waited so long for this, let's try to enjoy it.” Those were Hikari's words, Hikari, the one who was supposed to be triumphant, the one whose dream seemed to be coming true until that day of memory…

 

“Right.” That was Koushirou's voice this time, still having that happy tone to it. He was more knowledgeable; he knew how good a chance there was that everything could fall apart…

 

Hours passed like this, hours that might have been months or years, as time seemed to be slowing down for them… And this wasn't the slowness of boredom either; no, this was a time like those before, a time they wished could last forever…

 

And though it was faint, very faint, small enough that it might have just been an illusion… Hikari wasn't sure if she was just imagining it, but it looked like she had seen a trace of that odd glow of old, orange from Taichi, blue from Yamato, red from Sora, purple from Koushirou, green from Mimi, gray from Jou, yellow from Takeru, and gazing down at her chest, she thought she saw a slight pink glow.

 

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It would not be eternal… An attack, something was bound to happen, they had never simply faced foes of strength equal to theirs… To be honest, it was probably a miracle that among the chosen and their digimon, there were only two casualties in the first two adventures, for all the desperate, dangerous battles they fought.

 

That said, it was still completely unexpected, there was an adventure now, sure, but the chosen had expected a reasonably light-hearted one.

 

A broken promise, a lost dream, a world betraying those who had once done so much for it… Was this how all adventures finished, how every quest in every world resulted, with either a sea of boredom or a pitiful attempt at continuation, even after all was meant to be over?

 

An end… People say “The end,” people on the outside act like it truly had ended, but those who went through those times always live on. So, it was bound to happen, it had to happen, after something like what the chosen went through…

 

It came quickly when it did, devastating, yes, and so horrible that even the fabric of time seemed warped and it might have taken hours… But it was just seconds, truly, only a few seconds…

 

There would be no Chuumon this time to take the sword… Sacrifice wouldn't be the place of some broken, weak digimon, and it wouldn't be easy to endure, it wouldn't be done by one they had barely even known. It wasn't that they hadn't felt darkness before during this adventure; no, they had that battle. But it wasn't just feeling darkness, it wasn't just pain, if it were just that it wouldn't have done so much…

 

A quick charge, a metallic claw of nightmares, a pinch of death… Palmon didn't even have time to become Togemon, she never had a chance or anything… Mimi didn't have time to stop Deathmon or anything, she could barely move inches, and then only watch as her digimon disintegrated, watch as her face became overwhelmed by horror.

 

Those sixteen had been together for so long… Angemon had died once. Briefly. And been revived in days. Yet even that, even a death that lasted as long as a vacation, even that was a crushing blow that still ate at Takeru's soul…

 

There were many circumstances in Mimi's case, many things that would make her all the sadder than even Takeru was, and her sadness might indeed be never-ending...

 

“I never wanted to fight… I never wanted to hurt anyone; I never asked to be made to save the world… And now…”

 

Mimi froze, her tears flowing not like a river, as tears often do, but instead like an ocean, massive and never-ending. She didn't want to say the next part, or even to think it, just the same way that Palmon, when their roles were reversed, had once refused to tell her goodbye…

 

“Besides… Even if I said it, the message wouldn't reach her spirit anyway…

 

“This world… I wish I could say that I hated it, that I always loathed it, that I was glad to run to New York and leave it behind me… But it's not true. Back then I was always complaining, it wasn't that wrong for others to think me whiny, I was, after all…

 

“But I was happy then, happy to meet all those digimon, and even over those past few days… I can't say I didn't like it, I can't even say I'd go back in time and change it without hesitating, much as I loved Palmon…”

 

“Palmon… Palmon…” She was speaking those last words out loud, falling to the ground helplessly and weeping for that digimon, that digimon she had been so close to, that digimon she had lost.

Once, when a chosen child was in darkness, or lost in sorrow, the said chosen would feel a comforting furry, scaly, or in her case, leafy hand upon her back, and the pleading words of a digimon trying to make that chosen child happier… But Palmon was dead now.

 

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Mimi Tachikawa left the digital world soon afterwards. She didn't want to stay, didn't want to remember, didn't even want to think about the digimon she had lost… In the back in her mind, she knew that the others were adventuring, that they had resumed their quest to drive out whatever unknown evil threatened the digital world this time, and they were her friends; she should be with them, she should be trying to avenge Palmon or something…

 

“I won't go back there, though. I don't want to remember the digital world. All I've ever felt there is loss…”

 

Running away… That's why her family had dragged her to New York in the first place, an ocean, a continent, a language barrier, none had even heard of digimon going that far back then… And perhaps now she finally understood why they had wanted to run away.

 

“I can live this way, right? America's not a boring country or anything, and New York's among the least boring of places there… I'd have to lose a few people, sure, but it's not like I've never lost anyone to THAT world before… I can survive like this, can't I? There's no reason I can't just stay away, leave Sora and Jou and all the others, forget the digital world…

 

“Forget the digital world…” She wanted to do that, she wanted to forget it so desperately… Her memories, strong, maybe, but they were all so sad… Chuumon, Piccolomon, Whamon, Wizarmon, Leomon, and now even Palmon, Palmon…

 

“I don't want anyone else to die for my sake… I can leave that world behind, somehow… I'll manage to just forget it, I have to…”

 

“You have to? Would Palmon have wanted you to abandon that world?”

 

For that, the brown-haired girl had no answer.

 

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The other chosen… Sadness in the digital world was nothing new to them, no, it had been all too common. After all, wasn't that what they had felt from Pumpmon and Gotsumon's deaths all the way until the end of that first adventure?

 

But… They had joked around so recently, they had wanted this adventure, all of them, and look at what it had led to… If all any of them had felt was regret, then it would be easier, regretting something you've done, no matter how horrible your deeds were, was much easier than this…

 

They dispersed before long, none of them even wanting to be together still, if only because their togetherness would remind them of who was missing… The adventure, if not discontinued, would be ineffectual, Noriko and Deathmon would end up ruling. If they left, they truly would be abandoning the world they loved to a sad fate.

 

That thought did not cross any of their minds, though; their emotions were strong enough to keep it from surfacing… Times like these have a way of making people forget their concerns.

 

No, their thoughts were… Well… It can't be said with a word like “They,” they did have their differences, after all, and in both thoughts and body, they were alone, alone like they had been ever since that amazing time had ended and they left on that inter-dimensional train. And alone they would stay, and for those nostalgic, desperate beings called the chosen children, “alone” is a crushing state, a very crushing state indeed.
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“I wanted this, didn't I? And even now that all this has happened… I'm living again, if nothing else… Being with them, even if only for a few minutes, being able to talk to them like that, that thrill of facing an unknown enemy for the fate of the digital world, all of it…

 

"I don't even mind this fear and regret so much, I'm used to it, and besides… Even with all the bad things that happened lately… I was still so happy…”

 

Sora shook her head, reality's cold breath upon her. “But Palmon's dead now, and…” She halted, remembering the words Taichi, during in a darker time, had once spoke, and those same words fit her thoughts perfectly right now.

 

“It's all my fault, it's all my fault!” Taichi's voice in the sands of server, or Sora's in an empty room… It seemed they were melding together, past and present, two people, one feeling… It sounded almost romantic that way, and some had thought her and Taichi a couple, sure… But the feeling was not one of caring, or anything of that sort, instead simply one of great sadness and regret, and those words continued to echo across years and dimensions, the sadness the same.

 

Were Palmon still alive, or if somehow she had a fate like Wizarmon, her spirit able to look down upon the living… She would be weeping now.

 

But she was not, and so she didn't.

 

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Abandonment… A path he still wished he could take, an end he had tried so hard over those past few months to reach. To leave everything, to travel through time and erase that part of his past, erase his guilt… That was his wish. But since he couldn't, he merely strove to put the digital world behind him, crushing ethics, respect and memory the same way he once crushed digimon under his iron-fisted rule… And it seemed he was succeeding too, it seemed he truly was living normally. But his angsty, regret-filled past, the crushing wait of self-hatred on his shoulders, that would not disappear soon.

 

“So, you want to forget, is that it?” Ken turned, Hikari's pointed hair swaying beautifully in the breeze. “You can't escape this world, you know.”

 

Ken, coldly as he was staring the girl down, with as little emotion as he showed, was still fuming underneath. “First Iori, now her… Can't I just leave that childish world behind?” He thought, still wanting to believe that time was meaningless, it was so much easier to believe such a thing. “Maybe I can't, maybe I am just running away… But…” His thoughts began, then paused.

 

“And you can't hold onto a dead world forever. Grow up, there's a life beyond digimon, y'know, and that one's a lot better these days.”

 

“Is it? It's a pleasant escape, I'll give you that. And call me a child if you want, I am a child, a chosen child…” Hikari's voice was firm now, determined, even her questions piercing, all the things different from the quiet, timid girl he had known as a chosen child. “But… That strength of spirit, or the excitement that came simply with living… Do you still have that these days?”

 

“Do I? Could anything ever measure up, has anything ever brought out that emotion? Have I ever cared for anyone I've met these days anywhere near as much as Wormmon? Have I ever been as happy as I was when Belial Vamdemon disintegrated? Or…” He paused again, not ready to admit this last thought, but his mind pushed it through anyway.

 

“Have I ever been as nostalgic, as caring for the world and longing for my past, dark as it was at times, as I was two days ago?”

 

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It rang. She knew it would, of course, she knew it would eventually… They were friends, after all, and even four years of oceanic separation could not change that; their closeness still remained. Maybe the American chosen would know, maybe she'd just talk to Michael or one of the others, but… Sora still had a strong feeling that it would be her trying to console Mimi, her that would soon feel the younger girl's pain all too clearly…

And of course, it was she who had made that wish.

 

“Moshi-moshi.” Sora grasped the phone and spoke those words, a traditional greeting, none of that emotion in her voice, even as regret permeated her thoughts and overwhelmed her mind.

 

“Hi.” Mimi's response was the same, a greeting like so many had spoke before, not yet wanting to even bring it up… “Maybe it's not too late, maybe I can take my mind off Palmon and still be happy with the other chosen…” They were silent for a bit, each knowing what the topic would be, each too saddened to even speak of such a thing.

 

But Sora, she had to say something, even if she was choking up inside from that wish she had made… “I'm sorry.”

 

“Sora…” Mimi hesitated, unsure what to say after that, knowing the words that should follow, the reason she had called, but hesitant still, afraid even speaking about it would bring her sadness flooding back, or maybe “make her even sadder” would describe it better, she was still crying inside, after all. But even if it wasn't her adventure personally, she had heard enough of Yamato's story to know bottling everything up didn't work well. “I miss her… I miss Palmon so much!”

 

She burst into tears after that, her emotions always strong, never easily suppressed, Mimi wasn't the sort to simply quietly speak words of sadness. The red-haired girl held her hand to the phone, her arm shaking, her mouth still silent.

 

She wanted to say she had wished for this that day, she wanted to tell someone she had desired another adventure so badly, and so soon before it happened, that she felt it was her fault… Her sadness and horror were growing, perhaps still having the caring called “love”, but certainly not having any of its positive aspects… Still, Mimi was her best friend, the years could not change that, and it was her place to console her friend…

 

“I know what you mean…” Sora began sadly, knowing all too well the crushing loneliness, but a different sadness was also seeping into her voice. And yet even now, I just want this adventure to continue, much as it's brought Mimi sorrow… “But Patamon and Wormmon were reborn, right? And until then, if it's any help… I'll be here for you.”

 

Mimi smiled at this, though of course her smile would not be carried through the phone lines. “Thank you… Just being there, I need someone to cry to, if nothing else… This really means a lot to me, Sora-chan.”

 

Had Mimi yelled angrily at her, had she called her a killer, blamed her for Palmon's death, called her a traitor to their world who's foolish desires endangered us all… Sora would not have been made this sad. But that thanks, those words of thankfulness even when it was her wish that brought about all this tragedy... That was far, far worse.

 

But still, Mimi needed her, evil as Sora was inside… Besides, after all the suffering I've caused, all the suffering that I'd still rather see… The least I can do is offer a shoulder to cry on, I owe them that much, even though it makes me even sadder.

 

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Noriko, the dark seed child, the so-called digimon Tsarina, was once again wondering how to continue her conquests. This digimon she had released would certainly make things… Interesting. Whether he proved to be ally or enemy, he'd still make things more interesting. But there were only so many things that could be done when taking over the world with dark towers, and Ken had done most of them. So she was plotting, thinking, hoping her mind would somehow come up with some brilliant idea and her boredom would finally end…

 

For thousands of years, people had been writing stories, and being the well-educated genius all with the dark seeds implanted become, she had read many of them… But this was her story, and yet all she could find was that which had been repeated before.

 

With those in thoughts, she walked down to her new base's dungeon, a cute little Betamon lying there, fearful of what would happen... If nothing else, she could find entertainment soon.

 

She brandished her whip, the Betamon just resting, the evil ring making him too complacent to actually desire escape… It was a bond between him and Noriko, as long as the evil ring stood, stronger even than that between human and digimon partner, but utterly one-sided, the Tsarina… She thought of them as nothing more than slaves.

Crack! The ring was shattered, and the Betamon was “freed.” In truth, the thoughts going through his mind were anything but jubilation, freedom was nowhere near his feeling, even if he could once again control his limbs. He had been made to kill, after all… He had attacked his American partner, close as they were once, and his future would be nothing more than torture, a whip cracking against his scales as he would cry out in pain…

 

He wanted to attack the Tsarina, oh, he wanted to attack that Kaiser-wannabe bitch so badly… From the view of an outsider, a normal human unknowing of digimon, it would look like some dressed-up little girl being savagely zapped by some sort of hideous froglike beast, how ironic it would seem…

 

The Tsarina was surrounded by bodyguards, two armed Musyamon, two Bakemon, four adults against one child, and one wounded quite badly from that battle, at that… He wasn't in any position to effectively resist, but that wouldn't matter either, a fight like that was heroic, and maybe he'd be accidentally killed or something nice like that…

 

But… That's what the Tsarina wanted, that's why he was released, after all, so she could have the pleasure of crushing his spirit… So instead he sat, not defiantly but simply half-dead, as if no pain would mean anything, as if she would just be breaking someone already broken…

 

But when the whip came, when it pierced his scaled and created that searing, crimson wound, he could do nothing, nothing but scream in sheer agony.

 

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Taichi, Yamato, Sora, Koushirou, Mimi, Jou, Takeru, Hikari… Their struggles are well-chronicled here, and similar, they were the ones for whom this adventure was made, after all, though perhaps it was some more than others… Ken and Iori, they were fading, wishing to abandon that world, no amount of destiny or other such concepts would change that, and they were not so much feeling addicted to that time of adventure as cursed by it.

 

Miyako, though, and perhaps Daisuke too, for that matter… It is time to chronicle their actions, this third day of August would not pass by them quickly.

 

A broken promise, a life unfulfilled… She held two digimentals still, love and purity, sitting in her D-Terminal as a reminder of what once was… And she couldn't help but feel that this wasn't reality, but some demented, horrid alternate timeline, that things were meant to be different, that her adventures should continue, or at least she'd be studying to be a housewife and dating Ken-kun, or something… Yeah, right, like that future suited her, but still… Sitting at home, bored, so distant from Hikari-chan and the others, so far away… Heroes, chosen, call them what you will, but they weren't supposed to endure this sort of thing, it was meant to fly by them, a minor interlude between adventures…

 

It wasn't supposed to be this way! Her adventure shouldn't have ended up this incomplete, while Iori went through his long processes of forgiveness and figures from his past, Hikari-chan struggling so desperately again the dark ocean, and Ken-kun at least had plenty of struggles, and besides, his banishing of Demon counted for something, right?

 

But… She supposedly had an adventure, she had seen the digital world, and perhaps Hawkmon fought with the rest of them to save both worlds… But what had that adventure truly brought her, was she not as energetic as when it began, did she not deal with the exact same issues? Sure, she had a few lasting friendships and fleeting loves. (Or perhaps not fleeting, in that one case.) But her bond with Hawkmon, save that one time when they were looking for the Kaiser's base, was so weak. Her crests still seemed unfulfilled, she may not have ended up the nympho so many thought, but she was still reasonably perverted, nowhere near the innocence one expects from Purity. And she was still lacking Love as well, even if she had once felt for half the chosen… She had loved many, maybe, but still… Ken-kun, Kou-kun, Hika-chan, did any of them ever know how her heart once pined for them?

 

“The digital world… I'll be intruding, this is their time, after all, and I'm just one of their successors, a newbie, so out of place in this adventure crafted for the chosen of old…”

 

Miyako sighed, wondering what she was doing. It seemed so out-of-character for her, why, it had barely been more than a year since she had stayed up all night wondering about the digital world and bugged Koushirou-tachi for the chance to go… “I'm not myself these days, I don't bel… Who am I kidding? Digital gate, open!”

 

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They were all lost now, lost and crying, afloat on some logs, helpless before a Metal Seadramon's grasp… Daisuke would have done something, once, even now he seemed immune, he'd be riding with Raidramon and dragging everyone out of their thoughts and back into battle, finally leading the chosen children. He was strong, of course, it seemed now, even with Ken so distant, he was handling life with ease, not in that crushed state it seemed all his comrades shared… But while he was strong, he was not knowledgeable, he had never realized how weak the others were these days… Leomon, File Island's old hero? What the heck could he do, even had he lived, it wasn't like he'd be able hold them off anymore. Had the digital world ever truly had a strong hero like that, the sort who could save them without being crushed on the inside?

 

More to the point, Andromon's domed city was in danger now, under assault from air and land by the Tsarina's forces. “Hold them off, if only for a few minutes… Fight on, I must tell the chosen children!”

 

As the young Hagurumon fell, he looked back, hoping desperately that the complete-type android digimon was right about these heroes, as that was all the hope he had.

 

 

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“So here it is… Another battle, a continuation of this adventure, even as Mimi's weeping because of that wish. I have to go, though, I might feel a little bad about it, but… The lives of innocent digimon are at stake.”

 

“Yeah, you're powerless now, powerless to stop what you still want…”

 

“You'd have me not go?” Sora shot back at her cynical conscience. “You'd have me abandon these digimon, not even try to save both worlds?”

 

“But when you are trying… Amidst the carnage, won't you be loving again, won't you be happy inside?”

 

“Happy? Loving? With Mimi as she is now, with so much horror caused by my deeds? What sort of a person would…” She paused, realization seeming to dawn over her, much as she hated her realization so. “It doesn't matter, though, even if atonement and simple evilness lead me down the same path, I can't be there for her…”

 

You promised you would… Is even your loyalty meaningless, are your words all fake?

 

Sora sighed at this, knowing she wouldn't find happiness anywhere, though in truth, it seemed she did prefer this to what had been going on all too recently…

 

Or will you just ignore it, ignore all the digimon dying, ignore those who've lost everything while not even accepting your wish?

 

“So what do I do?” She sat like that for a while, unable to answer, so much more torn than she was even during that time in the cave… But ultimately, the digital world called to her, and so… “Digital gate, open!”

 

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Otherwise, among the chosen… Jou would come, he was doing a little well on his studies, and though he could use the rest… The world came first. Koushirou, always the curious one, may have had some troubles lately, but be it the architecture, talking to Andromon, looking at a fully-functioning city of the Metal Empire, or even figuring out those many details of modern massive-scale digital world warfare, he wasn't going to pass up a chance for knowledge like this. Hikari, she was the light, even her name said it, and no matter how deep her struggles within were… She would fight on.

 

But… Taichi, he still thought himself a failure, thought his leadership was worthless, and besides… These days, he lacked the courage to fight. Yamato, he too was absent, the same as Taichi, really. He too thought himself worthless, and it seemed this whole day he was lost in thought… Mimi, Ken, Iori, they'd avoid it, of course they'd avoid it. They had abandoned that world, after all, or tried, at least… Daisuke was unknowing, else he probably would have come, had anyone seen fit to tell him…

 

As for Takeru…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

He was sitting again, remembering…

 

Patamon… How often were we together, back then? We played together, back in the village of beginnings, and against Devimon… Yeah, he knew he could never forget that, how Angemon looked at him so knowingly from within his helmet, promising to return if it was his desire… How they fought so many times, how he had abandoned his digimon once, or perhaps twice…

 

Pico Devimon… I know you wanted me to forget that, I did too, once… Such abandonment, such cruelty, I almost believe you did eat that mushroom…

 

And yet you stayed by my side through it all, even though I drove you away for thinking me and Onii-san cute… You forgave me then, everyone forgave me, I'm sure Pumpmon and Gotsumon did too, somewhere, if digimon stay intact in the afterlife…

 

Do they? When Palmon's reborn, will she remember any of what she went through with Mimi? Still, if someone had killed Patamon…

 

“I would never forgive them. Devimon, he's lucky he died, and even then I tried to exterminate all digimon of his sort. They are dark and evil, sure, and I never coldly ordered their deaths when they begged for life or anything… But still, if Devimon lived, I'd make sure he'd envy the dead.”

 

And after what had happened with Mimi… If the bearer of purity had wanted to kill him, and he was sure she did, he would have understood.

 

That said, the world needed saving. And he wasn't going to let Andromon and the others die, die as helplessly as Pumpmon and Gotsumon, killed so cruelly by some digimon of darkness, when all they desired was life… His energy back, if nothing else, he spoke. “Digital gate, open!”

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

And there they were now, assembled in that city of machine… Outside, outside it was a barren wasteland, a few Guardromon stood at the walls, sure, but it seemed that between it and anywhere else, all that was there was a boring, endless plain, where even the dirt was gray, and the dome couldn't help but look imposing standing out from it… The city itself was, interesting, at least, and… Hagurumon patrolling the streets, a bunch of shiny metal buildings, overpasses contained within blue transparent tubes, with a white dome at it's top, a word like “futuristic” describes it perfectly.

 

They had arrived there… They would have been amazed, normally, they would have been admiring this, even last year it wasn't this impressive... And most hadn't even gone then, most had only really the dilapidated digital world of old.

 

That said, when a Giga Dramon's bursting through the dome, a Deltamon's rampaging around the city, multitudes of controlled Guardromon are shooting their lasers, and a young girl in a Mecha Norimon's ordering them around, it is safe to say they had other concerns.

 

Once, things would have been different, when they went into battle… Ken would have been with them, shouting at Noriko, yelling how she was making a huge mistake, while the stubborn child ignored him… Tailmon would be remembering, but glad to protect Hikari, Mimi would have been mourning, wishing her allies weren't so violent… They were battling again, sure, good and evil clashed once more… But as Shurimon weaved through the many Guardromon's lasers, as Greymon stampeded through, smashing the robots holding their dark, evil rings, and as Angemon expertly threw his rod, disabling so many of his foes, it still felt like there was something missing, something vast, something gone.

 

The digimon fought on, their thoughts would not dissuade them… Kabuterimon thought something missing greatly, Koushirou wracked his mind to figure out what was wrong, but that Giga Dramon with the evil spiral still threatened so many digimon, so he fired his “Mega Shocker” just the same. Was it half-hearted, was that why, after a simple “Genocide Gear” he fell so easily?

 

Andromon stood forward, the perfect-level digimon clearly the strongest standing there, at least on the side of good. The chosen? A few weak digimon, distracted by their thoughts of old, their crests destroyed, all grown too distant to jogress? They fought bravely, sure, and Andromon did like them a good deal, but as heroes, they were looking quite obsolete.

 

“So, the chosen send me some silly robot? This is just too easy.” Noriko spoke, her voice emphasizing the “too,” and having an odd tone of… Amusement, was that her emotion? This villain role suited her, she had taken so easily to it, no conscience interfering, and she spoke the words of evil so easily... It suited her well, as long as she was conquering, it would be fun. For now, at least.

 

But… How long? She had already overwhelmed a good chunk of the digital world, Deathmon could complicate things, maybe, but he hadn't really done so yet… There was this world, so easily conquered, and beyond that… Beyond that…

 

It was then that Noriko was inspired. But she'd overwhelm the digital world first, happier this way… After all, this was only the beginning.

 

And as the Spiral Sword crashed with the Genocide Gear, as the chosen fought on helplessly, thinking their battle so empty, despite what the gods had granted them… At least Noriko was alive.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Hikari watched the battle, so tempted to intervene… They were losing, if nothing else, and that power… She had so much, even without the light that made her very name, though, she was still happy. Miyako-chan, Takeru-kun, Daisuke-kun, Tailmon… Those days with them, trying to make the digital world a better place…

 

She missed them, part of her did, and its returning to her like this… She was strong, though, she had always been strong, even when she was eight she hadn't cried much, even Tailmon's past didn't make her shed a tear of sympathy…

 

Was she human? She didn't even know any more, even with as many people loving her as there were… It was her duty, her dream, that which would make her friends cry so much… The light within her cried out, wanting to be let loose, wanting to shine away the darkness…

 

But even Light had failed to bring happiness, and right now, though she was healing a few digimon even as she thought this…What good was her existence, if her victory only made her friends sad?

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Andromon fell after that, his metal body clanking against the ground… The basic combat was fierce, sure, but it was even... But Giga Dramon, the lone perfect in a sea of digimon much weaker, was absolutely dominating.

 

And so, like many times before, the digimon of the chosen assembled, fighting an opponent so much stronger than any of them… And neglecting the attacks against them, they turned, and stood, and hoped their combined power would be enough to save both worlds…

 

“Autumn Wind!”

 

“Cat Kick!”

 

“Meteor Wing!”

 

“Mega Blaster!”

 

“Harpoon Vulcan!”

 

“Heaven's Knuckle!”

The attacks melded in midair, a multicolored blast headed for a powerful enemy, like so often before… Still, it was fun, seeing it this one last time, even if it did seem over… And as the rainbow blast hit the grey dragon, knocking him out as he flew, there truly was a feeling of real triumph in the air.

 

But how many times had the Kaiser been defeated, only to escape? Noriko wasn't much different, and it was only a small victory. That should have made them sad, that the war wasn't over, that digimon would still live in fear, that both worlds were still in danger, all that stuff…

 

But today, if only today, despite all that had happened… They were happy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Times turned to a crawl again, the battle over, the impact beginning to seep in… But this was a day of victory, like it was four years ago, if only for a couple hours… The bitter part might happen, eventually, but for now…

 

Takeru glanced over at Patamon, the same way he did after every fight… After all, he had known, once, he knew all too well… “Thank you… You didn't die this time.”

 

He spoke his words softly, putting his strong arms around the small rodent digimon… It looked awkward, yeah, but Patamon still squealed in happiness, happiness doesn't always look normal…

 

She looked over them, gently, almost motherly… They were almost like that, once, she so much older back then, even if the actual difference was the same… That vibe wasn't there so much, of course, it had all aged them so much… Nothing was normal for them, nothing looked normal, in this world it wouldn't even look odd for a human and a digimon to fall in love…

 

It was then that she caught Takeru's gaze. “Sorry… Am I intruding?” She spoke, her face blushing with embarrassment, she had never expected him to look back, after all. That was how she imagined it, she supposed, her gazing over always, Takeru always happy with another… But they were both chosen, both close.

 

Taichi was supposed to be her love, though, right? And Takeru was with Hikari… She smirked, remembering with amusement, the arguments, the fluff…

 

I was falling then, wasn't I? Falling into that pit of viruses, that pit which brought so much horror… Nanomon was supposed to be our ally, I was never meant to die that way…

 

Our adventure with Etemon, it only really impacted him, turning him from gutsy kid to a true leader… Still, I have memories of that, he risked so much for me back there.

 

Yamato-kun… We were so distant during the adventure, he was always so mysterious and sullen… I thanked him, once, he did save us from Pinnochimon, after all… But then he walked away, disappearing… Even if I dated him for a few months, the closest any two chosen had ever got…” She sneered at this, it seeming all the more pathetic to her now. “I still think Gabumon's the only one who comes close to understanding his soul…

 

Mimi-chan… We were friends, still are, and maybe once there could have been something more… We were always together, it seemed, even when we got back to the human world… We're still close, right? Still, I failed her…

 

“No, you're fine.” Takeru's response seemed sweet to her, almost soothing, as he let Patamon fly off and turned to face her. “So… What do you think of it?”

 

“It's been…” Sora began, her voice trailing off. “Look at me, I can't even respond to him… I don't have anything I can even manage to say!” She blushed, embarrassed by her silence, but much as she moved her mouth, she would not finish that sentence, after all Mimi had gone through, she would not speak that final word.

 

“I'm not to blame, am I?” Takeru wondered. “Can she even speak to me now? I thought she didn't even notice, back there… Palmon, that wasn't my fault, right? It was some different digimon, right? Right?”

 

Gazing out at her, he noticed Sora shaking her head, trying to erase the confusion in her mind that had stolen her voice. “Takeru... It's been fun.”

 

And with that understanding, the knowledge he gained from that, the bearer of hope truly was happy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Outsider, newbie, doesn't belong… None of them had ever said that, they had all welcomed her, they had always welcomed her. (Well, except Koushirou, but even he came around.)

 

But still… None of what had happened lately had changed that, she still seemed on the outside, even with all she had shared with the younger two, still unable to ever understand what goes on in a chosen child's heart…

 

Normally, of course, Miyako would have been awash with energy. Normally. Even during that adventure, she had only been like THIS once, there had only been one time she was ever truly sad…

 

“Hawkmon's fine, though. No wounds or anything, still as polite as ever… He might be the only one of us not suffering now.”

 

“Me, on the other hand… I'm not exactly happy, I still feel like there's a whole world they've lived in, and I've only tasted a piece of it… Even with all we've gone through, I feel exactly the way I did that day so long ago, back when I had no idea what the digital world even was…”

 

“So was it all for nothing, then? The others changed so much, it's almost like they evolved or something… And here I am, the adventure gone, but I'm no different than I was the day I've started…”

 

Her sentiment wasn't a new one, far from it. But at least the other one to think that way, at least he had the tail end of his adventure, and what an exciting end it was, Piemon and all.

 

“Does this mean I have nothing, that it's too late for me to change?”

 

Once, in a very similar scenario, the other who felt this way felt a chomp on his leg and the desperate words of his digimon partner, and he truly was changed by them. Miyako had none of that, but…

 

She shrugged after that, a look of evil unbefitting a chosen child coming across her face. “My adventure isn't over either.”

 

And after speaking those words, she laughed. And her laugh was the sort that would make even Devimon cover his ears in horror of what the future brought.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Hikari had many odd, unexplained powers she did not understand, but she was pretty sure accurate foretelling of the future was not among them. That said, she saw it all too clearly, just as she did the past, just as she remembered…

 

“Yesterday, the day before, even with all those fun times it brought… At the end of it, didn't we all end up alone?”

 

She remembered not the beginnings, but the end, not her sad, fearful nostalgia and sorrow born from victory, nor her amusing bits of adventure, slipping to near-death, getting that cryptic warning from Wizarmon, but how that last day had ended… Yesterday, only a night ago, after a day so much like this one...

 

“And this morning, too, with all we said of friendship, with how close we all are… I might have left them, they might not have ever known, I might have been afraid… Still, I don't want the future to be this way, if I have to cry, I'd at least want someone's support…

 

"Tailmon, she's been close and all, and I'd expect she'd help me… She doesn't let on much, or at all, for that matter, but… I'm sure she's thinking about Wizarmon, and Vamdemon, and I'd hate to burden her anymore…

 

"What am I saying? She's my digimon, isn't she? And isn't she suffering again, even after all she had gone through? I have to at least do something…”

 

“Tailmon… You're sad now, aren't you?” Hikari picked up the cat digimon, the digimon who's eyes were glaring sharply at her gloved paw.

 

The catlike digimon gazed up at her, but would not speak… “I've waited forever for her… We should be closer, we really should, and her sweetness has certainly helped me through the darkness. So why, why can't I tell her when I'm suffering?”

 

But soon she felt Hikari's hand on her back, stroking her, petting her, the same way a normal housecat without any sadness or destiny would be petted... “Her other cat, the normal one… I envied her once, didn't I? Thinking of how sweet everyone was to her, while no one was ever nice to me… No one was ever nice.”

 

“If you won't tell me… I won't make you. But try to be a bit happier, `kay?”

 

It was then that the white cat digimon was finally able to smile… And even if Hikari did have to cry herself to sleep this time, she knew she wouldn't be alone. After all, even if those who had sworn to protect her from Dagomon were so far… Tailmon would be with her.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Our adventure… It was fun, and even now, these past few days, pitiful imitation or not, they're also so fun…

 

I'd like to say, “Had only we realized the horrors we'd bring…” or something like that, it would make me feel better, at least… But we did, and we continued on, not caring what we'd do to either world.

 

I hope it's not too late.