Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Digimon Tamers: The Next Level ❯ Episode 23: Aftermath ( Chapter 23 )

"Takato!" Jeri cried out, throwing her arms around Takato's shoulders. "I was so worried..."

 

"Sorry, Jeri," Takato said sheepishly. He closed his eyes, absently stroking Jeri's hair. "I guess I overexerted myself out there. I didn't mean to make you worry like that."

 

"I know..." Jeri said wistfully. "You had to do it to protect everybody. That's... That's why I can't be selfish..."

 

"Oh, Jeri," Takato said quickly. "You have every right to be selfish! After everything you've been through both now and all those years ago..."

 

"Takato..."

 

"Master Takato!" Gotsumon called, looking into the room. "You're awake!"

 

Awkwardly, Jeri pulled away, wiping a tear from the corner of her eye. Takato, too, looked uncomfortable, but he quickly put on a smile. "Ahh, yes. Tell me," he said, getting up and straightening his clothes. "What did I miss?"

 

 

******

 

 

Package in hand, Yamaki adjusted the hat of his acquired uniform and stepped through the doors leading into the university, trying his best to keep the Hypnos agents from recognizing his face. He stopped at the desk by the entrance, greeting the secretary there with a cheerful "Hello!"

 

"Oh, good afternoon, sir," the secretary replied, looking up at Yamaki and taking in his uniform. "Making a delivery? I heard that somebody new would be making the deliveries. You're him?"

 

"Ahh, no. I'm just a stand-in," Yamaki chuckled lightly. "The new guy is out today. Cold." Briefly, he showed his ID to the woman, hoping that she wouldn't take too close of a look to the picture. To his relief, she only took a brief glance.

 

"Thank you," the secretary smiled, waving Yamaki through. "Go on ahead."

 

Yamaki inclined his head politely before turning towards the elevator. As he walked, he passed by one of the agents and noticed the man looking at his face. Out of the corner of his eye, Yamaki looked back at him, triggering a spark of recognition. He was a good man, Yamaki had hired him personally.

 

"Excuse me," the agent said, walking up to Yamaki. "Your face looks familiar."

 

"Really?" Yamaki replied, putting on his best smile. "I get that a lot." Yamaki glanced quickly, checking where the other agent was. In a low voice so that only the other man could hear him, he added, "How's your daughter doing?"

 

The agent was taken aback for a second but replied in an equally low voice. "Ah, sir, she's fine..." Louder, "Right, my mistake."

 

With that obstacle crossed, Yamaki headed into the elevator, letting the doors close behind him before breathing a sigh of relief. He was in.

 

 

******

 

 

News of Takato's awakening spread quickly around the compound, and everybody was gathered in the meeting chamber. Rika entered the room with help from Renamon, who supported the side of her injured leg. Kenta, who had said that he was looking to become a doctor in the future, had cleaned and bandaged the wound, but it still ached. Likewise, Kazu's back had to be bandaged, though the injury wasn't as deep as Rika's. Henry and Ryo were sore from their battle, but they had gotten through without suffering any serious injuries.

 

“Good to see you up and about, Takato,” Rika said, gingerly sitting in her chair. “Wish I could say the same about myself.”

 

“And I wish that I could have helped all of you guys out,” Takato said. “I can't believe that I slept through the whole thing. I should have been there.” Though his face didn't show it, he sounded angry.

 

“There really wouldn't have been much you could have done,” Henry replied thoughtfully. “They managed to do an excellent job of dividing our forces. Still, we managed to get through everything with minimum damage to the city and minimal casualties."

 

"Well, that is good," Takato conceded, settling back in his chair. "All right, let's hear from everybody what happened."

 

One by one, each fighter detailed their battles, Kazu frowning as he related how Black Were Garurumon had fought to the death. After Henry finished telling of the battle against Mugen Dramon, they pieced together what they had learned.

 

"So, Kurouji has been giving his troops D-Bands..." Henry frowned, steepling his fingers in concentration. "And, from the sound of it, Mugen Dramon was a General... As was Black War Greymon."

 

"I'm afraid it just gets worse," Takato said, leaning forward. "While I was... asleep... I received a message from the four Sovereign Digimon. They believe that this army is an even bigger threat to the Digital World than the D-Reaper."

 

"What?" Henry asked in shock. "Worse than the D-Reaper? How is that possible?"

 

"I'm not sure," Takato said, shaking his head. "They're worried about whoever is leading the army. All they know is that it's some sort of powerful dark force, but even they haven't been able to find out who, what, or where it is."

 

"Aren't the Sovereigns supposed to be the strongest Digimon around?" Rika asked.

 

"Actually, that's part of the problem. While I was out, they sent me a message. They told me that their powers have been severely weakened, probably because of the barrier between the worlds. I don't know how much help, if any, that they can provide us. We're going to have to fight alone."

 

"Hmmm," Henry said, deep in thought. "Well, regardless of the strength of our opponents, right now, they have the advantage. They know where we are, but we don't know where they are. So, logically, our first step would be to correct that.”

 

“And what would be the best way to do that?” Takato asked.

 

“Well, we still have a lead that we weren't able to fully follow up on,” Henry answered. “If you'll recall, we heard from those Greymon about the bounty on our heads.”

 

Rika grumbled at the memory, but otherwise remained silent.

 

“When we went to explore the plane of the Digital World mentioned in the bounty, we ran into some... serious trouble: Black War Greymon. General Black War Greymon, if I interpret what Mugen Dramon said correctly. As a result, we were never able to fully explore the area.”

 

This time it was Takato's turn to be uncomfortable as scattered memories of the fight returned to his mind.

 

“What I'm thinking is this. Right now, we are not even close to full strength. With the exclusion of Kenta and Suzie, everyone is weakened or injured. We all need time to recover, but time is of the essence. We managed to repel the initial attack on this city, but it won't be long before they regroup and make another attempt. So, while we recover, we also send out recon to find the base. Also, I'll get in contact with my father once again, and see if he's come up with anything.”

 

“You've got this all planned out, don't you, Henry?” Rika asked with a raised eyebrow. She shrugged. “All right, who did you plan on going on this mission?”

 

“I'll go.” All eyes in the room turned to face Renamon. “I'll go,” she repeated.

 

“Wait just one second,” Rika said, leaning forward in her chair. “You're hurt too!”

 

“True,” Renamon agreed. “But I heal quickly. Besides, I'm probably the fastest one here. And I'll have a D-Band with me as well.”

 

“Damn...” Rika sighed. She wasn't happy, but she agreed with Renamon. If anyone could do the job, it was Renamon. “Just be careful out there, okay? The D-Band has its limitations.”

 

“Of course.”

 

 

******

 

 

The first order of the night for the Tamers was to catch up on the rest they lost from being so rudely awakened in the middle of the night. Everyone, including the recently awoken Takato, settled back into their rooms to sleep. Kazu's back was still raw and sore from the wounds he had received while fighting as Valkyrimon, so he lay on his stomach in the room he shared with Kenta, memories of the fight still playing in his head. He sighed audibly.

 

“Kazu, buddy, what's wrong?” Guardromon asked with concern tingeing his voice. “Why has Black Were Garurumon's death gotten to you so much?”

 

“I really don't know,” Kazu answered, laying his head on his pillow. “Maybe it's because Black Were Garurumon was the first Digimon I've had to kill. Really, he's only the third Digimon that I personally have fought. And then, after the incident with Ryo and Metal Tyrannomon...”

 

“Now, to be fair, it was not really Ryo's fault.”

 

“I know that,” Kazu said. He propped himself up on his elbows and turned to look at his partner. “I've known about Cyberdramon's violent side pretty much ever since I first met Ryo. Maybe... I'm afraid that I might end up enjoying killing too much. That maybe I'll be the reason we Biomerge to a dark form, like Revenmon.”

 

“I have known you for quite some time,” Guardromon reminded his partner. “I know that you are not the kind of man who takes pleasure from killing.”

 

Kazu thought about that for several seconds, turning onto his side. “You're right, of course,” he smiled faintly. “Let's just get some sleep, okay?”

 

“Good night, Kazu.”

 

“Good night,” Kazu mumbled, closing his eyes. Despite his words and his best efforts, the image of Black Were Garurumon's death played over and over in his head.

 

 

******

 

 

Janyuu looked up from the circuit board that he was working on, rubbing his sore eyes. Making a copy of the communications device that his son had created was proving to be more difficult than first suspected. While the technology itself wasn't anything extraordinary, figuring out exactly why it worked was the hardest part. What he did know was that it related to the icewall that had been set up between the two worlds, and that it somehow managed to exploit an incredibly obscure flaw in the seemingly impenetrable barrier.

 

It was so obscure that, had it not been for his long talk to Henry the other day, Janyuu and the rest of the Monster Makers would probably had never found out about it. As for why it existed in the first place, Janyuu took Henry's word for it when he said that it was intentionally placed there by Shibumi, the main coder for the icewall. Without being able to contact the ever elusive man, Janyuu had no way to know for sure.

 

“How's it going, Dolphin?” Janyuu turned to look at Rai Aishuwarya, better known as Curley, another Monster Maker. Having drawn the short straw, she had gone to get cups of coffee for the group. Janyuu accepted his mug with a grateful, yet weary, sigh.

 

“As well as could be expected,” Janyuu replied, taking a long drink. “It's taken a couple of days, but we should have a second communicator ready soon. At the very least, it's let us get a bit more information about the flaw that the device exploits. Speaking of which... Dolphin, Babel, you guys having any luck?”

 

“Man, if it wasn't for bad luck, I wouldn't be having any at all,” Babel sighed, not looking away from the computer screen. He scrolled through line after line of text, but with noticeably few results. With Henry's information, they had found the flaw, but exploiting and widening it took considerable more effort. “I'm having a hard time even understanding half of this stuff.”

 

There was a knock at the door, everyone's heads turning towards the sound. “I'll get it,” Janyuu sighed, standing up and crossing over to the door. He looked out, seeing a delivery man just outside the door. “Can I help you?” he asked, opening the door.

 

“I have a package,” the man said with a faint smile. “I need a signature.”

 

Janyuu looked at the box, reading the address. “I'm sorry, you want the room down the hall.”

 

“Actually,” the delivery man said, removing his hat to reveal a familiar blonde head. “This is exactly the right room.”

 

“Yamaki?”