Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Digimon Tamers: The Next Level ❯ Episode 19: Aftermath of the Battle ( Chapter 19 )

Kazu was still puzzling over Ryo's odd behavior when he arrived back at Takato's place. The first thing he noticed was that Takato and the others hadn't arrived back yet. The only human he managed to find was Henry, staring at a computer screen.

"We're back," Kazu announced, knocking on the entrance to the room. "What's up?"

"Oh, hey Kazu," Henry said offhand, not turning away from the computer. "That was quick."

"Quick?" Kazu replied with a raised eyebrow. "We've been gone for like three hours."

"Three hours?" Henry asked incredulously, turning away from the computer. "That can't be…" He pinched the bridge of his nose in consternation. "And the others aren't back yet? Where could they be? Damn it…"

"Hey," Kazu said quickly, laying a hand on Henry's shoulder. "Hey, don't worry. I'm sure everybody's fine… including Suzie. Especially Suzie."

"And there's nothing we can do except wait," Henry grumbled. With an exasperated sigh, he leaned back in his chair, giving Kazu a glance at the screen.

"Digital World Timeline?" he said, reading the line at the top.

"Yeah," Henry replied, turning back towards the monitor. "I've been trying to work a couple of things back with everybody back in the Real World."

"Come up with anything?"

"Yeah," Henry answered, "but it's something I plan to bring up with everybody at once. You know, on that note, what happened to Ryo?"

"Ehh, well, I'm starting to worry about him."

"What happened?"

"You see, we had a run in with a Metal Tyrannomon. Guy thought he was a hot-shot after our bounty. And, well, Justimon pretty much… slaughtered him."

"Slaughter?"

"Seriously. I mean, his personality did a complete 180. It was like when I fought him as Revenmon."

"That's… not good. Sounds like Cyberdramon's influence," Henry replied thoughtfully. "All the time he spent in the Digital World without any other people certainly didn't help."

"You don't suppose… he could be dangerous, do you?"

"To us? Maybe… To his enemies? Definitely. The real problem is to himself. If he loses control again against an enemy he can't beat so easily, it'll be trouble."

"Damn," Kazu cursed, lightly banging the table with his fist. "Is there anything we can do?"

"We'll have to keep an eye on him," Henry answered. "There's really nothing else to do."

******

"I wish I knew what was taking them so long," Jeri worried, pacing up and down. "If something happened to Takato, I don't know if I could ever forgive him."

She looked up at the odd Digital World sky from one side of the large courtyard. It had been over an hour since Takato's group were supposed to have been back. She had spent the hour pacing back and forth

"Moumantai," Terriermon replied simply, opening one eye to look over at Jeri. "You'll see. Everything will turn out just fine."

Jeri frowned at this and let out a small groan. "You're right, I'm sure," she said. "But, I can't help but worry."

"Ehh, well, I suppose you have a right to worry given the circumstances," Terriermon admitted. "Just cut out the pacing, would ya? It's distracting. And I think you're wearing a groove in the path."

Despite herself, Jeri gave a small giggle. "It is a bit ridiculous, isn't it? Not like it'll make time go by any faster."

Just then, a voice from inside the house called out, "They're back! Takato and the others are back!"

Jeri turned quickly in the direction of the front door. "Takato…" she said, moving swiftly back inside. Terriermon watched her go then, with a slight chuckle, flipped to his feet and hurried to catch up.

When they got to the front hall, they saw that everybody had indeed come back, but not quite as they had expected. Everybody seemed to be in varying states of disarray; the only ones who didn't show it were Marine Angemon, Suzie and Kenta. It was then that Jeri's eyes fell upon Takato. His arms were slung across Kenta's and Rika's shoulders, his eyes were closed and his breathing was shallow. Guilmon, too, looked in bad shape. He was moving under his own power, though not without help from Renamon.

"My god!" Henry blurted out, rushing towards them and especially his sister. "What the hell happened?"

"We were attacked," Rika informed him. "I don't know if it was a trap or simply our bad luck but, as you can see, this was the result."

The onlookers shifted to either side to allow the group to move through into the building. There, Rika and Kenta lowered Takato onto a couch, Guilmon slumping down next to his partner. A check revealed that, aside from some soreness and minor injuries, everybody would be just fine given some time.

"What… happened to Takato?" Jeri asked, leaning over to study his face. "Is he all right?"

"I think he will be," Rika answered. "He used up a lot of energy during the fight, and now he has to recover. He'll be asleep like this for some time."

"So, what happened? What kind of guy could do all this?" Kazu asked, indicating the injured Digimon with a sweep of his arm.

"First things first," Rika groaned. "If I don't sit down soon, I think I'm going to collapse…"

******

"So, anyway, that's what happened," Rika said, wrapping up her retelling of the fight. The entire group, save for Ryo, was gathered around a large table, those absent from the fight listening intently. "We were lucky Takato still had access to Grani's power. I don't want to think about what might have happened if he hadn't."

"What did the guy say his name was again?" Henry asked. "Kurouji?"

"Exactly," Rika nodded. "I'll never forget that name." With that, she punched her open hand with a grimace. "Kurouji… Ichiro Kurouji. Also, for some reason, he too called Takato 'Prodigal Son.'"

"That's what I thought you said his name was," Henry replied, lowering his chin into his hands. "He knew about 'Prodigal Son' too… Could it be the same guy…?"

"You know that prick?" Rika said, whipping her head around to face Henry.

"Well, while you guys were gone," Henry explained, "I was able to talk to my father again. You're never going to believe this, but… Dad said that the name of the man running Hypnos right now… is Ichiro Kurouji."

Gasps of disbelief rose from everyone seated around the table at the announcement.

"So…" Rika scowled. "He's the one behind everything, is he?"

"But, wait," Suzie put in. "Didn't… Didn't he say something about their 'master'?"

"Yes," Renamon nodded, closing her eyes. "I indeed remember that."

"Then there's someone even higher?" Kenta said, leaning back in his chair with an exasperated cry. "How come every time we get more information, it just confuses everything further?"

"Such seems to be our lot in life," Renamon answered.

"Well then," Henry said, "it brings up another question. Who is higher than the person in charge of Hypnos? Considering what we know of the overall plan, it would have to be someone higher up in the government."

"Dude," Kazu spoke up, "How are we supposed to fight against that? Fighting Digimon is one thing, but the government? Not to mention what something like this would do to Japan and, for that matter, the rest of the world."

"We reverse the old adage," Renamon replied. "In this case, remove the body and the head will die. If we can neutralize the Digimon army they're building up, their source of power dries up."

"Well, as long as it's that simple," Kazu muttered. "We'll just walk over there and say, 'Excuse me, but would you mind terribly not preparing to attack us?'"

"All right," Henry admitted, "It's not going to be easy, but we don't have much of a choice. We might also not have a lot of time. If they don't know about this place and this city, I'd be very surprised. We could get attacked here at home at any time. For right now, let's just worry about building up our defenses and getting everybody back to full strength."

As everyone got up to leave, Kazu stepped over to have a word with Rika. "There's… something I need to talk to you about."

"Could you make it quick?" Rika yawned. She stretched but grimaced slightly at the soreness in her muscles from the battle. "I'm beat… literally."

"Well," Kazu said hesitantly, "it's about Ryo…"

******

"Takato," Jeri said softly, kneeling next to the bed where the young man lay. His chest rose and fell in a long, steady rhythm. The slight grimace on his face served as contrast to the seeming peace of the rest of his body. "I know that you're just sleeping and that you'll wake up before long, but… I'm going to be right here anyway.

"I know that it's selfish of me, but I just wish that you didn't have to fight like this. I know I've seen more fighting that I would have ever wanted to. I won't stop you because I know that this is something that has to be done. So, I'll just ask you for one thing. Come back. No matter what, I want you to come back. Even if I say something else later, I want you to come back. That's my promise to you."

Lifting the blanket from Takato's hand, Jeri took the promise ring from her finger and placed it onto his before replacing his hand and the blanket. A slight cough from behind caused Jeri to turn around and see Henry standing in the doorway. Jeri wiped a tear from her eye that she hadn't realized was there and stood to face him. "Have you… been there long?"

"Only a second," Henry answered. "Hardly heard anything. Anyway, I just came in here to see how Takato was doing." Henry crossed the room to Takato, laying a hand on the boy's forehead. Takato's breathing hardly changed.

"I… was just about to go," Jeri said, turning to leave.

"Well, actually," Henry said slowly. "I wasn't being completely honest just now…" Nervously, he coughed into his fist. "I actually… came to see how you were doing."

"Thank you," Jeri answered without turning around. "But I'll be fine. Honestly." She slipped out through the doorway and was soon out of sight.

"Well," Henry said once Jeri was gone, "I gotta hand it to you, Takato buddy. Even asleep you got a girl all over you. I'm a bit jealous…" Moving his fingers quickly over a keyboard, Henry called up some files to look at. "But then, look at me." He laughed wryly. "What do I do? I sit around, look at a computer and talk to unconscious people."

Henry sighed and leaned back in his chair, stretching his arms. "Seriously though," he said, the calm expression that always came with serious matters coming over his face. "This fight means more than the others know. Digimon, hell, the Digital World itself actually hangs in the balance. They're both evolving at an increased rate, and that rate is only speeding up. I've always known that Digimon are more than anybody thinks they are, but…"

"They're becoming just like us, Takato. Physically, mentally, sociologically. Somehow, on their own, they've developed sexual reproduction and beyond that, the idea of a related family over the standard pack or loner behavior. If you look at this city of ours, yours, you can see the base of a stable society. No longer is this world ruled by a simple 'survival of the fittest' missive. This battle we're fighting right now, it's not just a battle for our future. Whether we win or lose will determine the fate of the Digital World and all that inhabit it."

"So, Takato, please… Hurry up and recover. Everybody needs your strength. Please…"