Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Digital Reflection ❯ Chapter 8: Appearance of the Mercuries ( Chapter 8 )

Digital Reflection

By Wolf O'Donnell

Author's Note: Digimon is copyrighted by Bandai and Toei Animation. All other characters are probably copyrighted by me. I am copyrighted by Nintendo, but that has nothing to do with the story. This fanfic is set within a completely different dimension from any of the TV shows or comics and features a lot of death, so if you're squeamish about that sort of thing, leave now. Visit my website at http://strwlf.cjb.net. 'Nuff said. Read fic now please. (P.S this story is a bit slow to start, the Digimon might not appear until at least three chapters into the story).

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Chapter 8: Appearance of the Mercuries
'You know, before I became a DigiAnthrope, weather like this used to make me shiver' thought Kai to himself with a strange smirk on his face, 'but now it doesn't faze me whatsoever.' He stood there in the snow in nothing more than a green shirt, black trousers and brown boots.
The others were kitted out in the thickest jackets they could find, with scarfs around their necks and hats on their heads.
"Don't you find it cold, Kai?" asked Fumiko, who had her arms wrapped around herself.
"No," replied Kai, "not really." He looked up into the sky. Clear blue skies. No clouds in the air. Only the white snow on the ground and the sun that shone brightly above them. He didn't know why, but he had this strange urge to play in the snow. 'That's the playful wolf talking' he told hismelf mentally. He crouched down on the top of the hill and looked down at the train tracks below. "It must be treacherous driving trains out here."
Cody couldn't believe this. They could have been doing all sorts of other things, but this...?
"I don't understand why we have to wait here," he grumbled. "There are other ways to fight against the UN. Ways that don't involve derailing trains."
"We have to do this," Fumiko growled. "The UN's transporting a huge amount of weapons across this track to the Oslo Base. We must stop them." She feared that the UN was planning something on the border between Norway and Sweden. She just hoped that that wasn't the case. "The UN thinks that no one will notice what goes on out here, but they couldn't be more wrong."
"I don't believe I'm doing this," sighed Paul, as he crouched low on the snow. "Fighting against the Organisation I once fought for."
Kai shook his head.
"It's not the same Organisation," he said.
"True," agreed Paul. "Too true."
"Isn't that it over there?" asked Takeru, looking to the south through powerful binoculars.
They all turned their heads and saw something coming along the tracks towards them.

Marshal Kaplan looked around him. Wooden seats, wooden panels, in a huge marble building. This was the inside of the Capitol, where the US Congress once met. It was still known as the Capitol, however, the Pecunia Board of Directors now met here instead of Congress.
The Directors. Kaplan felt disdain for those politicians. All of them were back-stabbing, filthy rats with no concept of the term 'loyalty', or at least, in his eyes that's what they were to him. He walked back outside of the room and sat down on a chair outside. 'I will not let them carry on with this foolishness of remote-controlled Mechs' he thought quietly. 'I will change their minds, as much as possible.'
"Your Excellency, Marshal Kaplan, it is an honour to finally meet you," exclaimed a voice thick with American accent. A thin man with thin-framed spectacles and white hair, walked up to the Commander-in-Chief of the UN Organisation.
Standing up, Kaplan deemed it necessary to greet this strange Director.
"And who might you be?" he asked, extending a gloved hand in friendship.
"Paul Garduno," replied the Director, shaking Kaplan's hand heartily. "I am the Director of Finance for Pecunia."
"Director of Finance?" exclaimed Kaplan, suppressing a frown. "So, you are the one who sets the budgets." He smiled mentally, but not physically. 'So this is the man who causes the irregularities in Pecunia's budget' he mused. "I've heard so much about what the people think about you, Mr. Garduno."
The man laughed.
"They may think what they like," he chuckled, "but I assure you I am not embezzling money from the Government." There was a strange glint in his eyes, one that couldn't quite be identified. "If I was, Chairman Prince would have found out ages ago, I'm sure of that." A smile spread across his face. "I understand it that you have called this meeting to try and prevent a certain program from occurring."
Kaplan heard a nasal tone in Garduno's voice, and put it down to the slenderness of the man's nose.
"That's right," he confirmed.
"Well, I'd love to speak to you further about this matter," began Garduno, "but proper conduct requires me to remain completely unbiased on the notion."
"That is quite all right, I understand," sighed Kaplan.

Kai smiled. This was perfect.
"D-Power Activate! Blizzard!"
In an instant, the sky had darkened and clouded over. Snow hurtled down from above, as a huge storm suddenly rushed into the area. A blizzard raged against the oncoming train.
"Let's go!" cried Paul, as he transformed into his Digimon form.
The others followed suit and ran down the side of the snowy slope towards the train. They skidded to a halt, but to no avail. They slid down the side, as the carriages of the train burst open and huge metallic Mechs stepped out from their hiding places onboard.
"It's an ambush!" exclaimed Cody.
"No kidding, Sherlock!" shouted Fumiko angrily, as she spread her tails out. "Fox Tail Inferno!" Several balls of fire flew through the air and smashed into the Mechs, but to no avail.
"Yamaki must have set this up," growled Paul angrily, as he charged up a 'Fist of the Beast King' attack in his hands. He flung the mass of energy at the nearest Mech, and watched as it tore off the left metallic arm. "Fall back!" he shouted to the others. "I'll keep them busy while you get out of here!" He was thankful for the raging blizzard around them, that decreased visibility. They'd be able to hide without the UN soldiers finding them. "Go!" he roared. "Get out of here!"
Fumiko refused. Performing a Dragon Wheel, she knocked a Mech over and caused it to topple over and crash on to the train.
"I'm not leaving you behind," she called out to him over the howling of the winds. 'Man, why does Kai's D-Power have to be so intense?'
In his Garurumon form, Kai was completely oblivious to the cold. He continued fighting against the Mechs without a care in the world. He dodged another spray of lasers and flew at the Mech, shoulder fist. Hitting it with a thud, he toppled the thing over. 'Shoot!' he thought mentally, as he saw the toppled over Mech aim its cannon at him. 'Still operational. Well, we can fix that. Howling Blaster!' He inhaled sharply and a beam of cold air smashed against the cannon.
With lightning quick speed, he rushed over and closed his mouth over the cannon, cracking it apart.
"That's one down!" he barked, his tail wagging.
"Surrender now, DigiAnthrope!" echoed a voice from one of the Mechs, as two of the large military units marched towards him, their guns aimed at him.
"I'm surprised they can still see with all this snow flying about," muttered Kai under his breath. "Bet they're not as quick as they should be." He leapt up over the Mech and towards the others that advanced towards him. They fired, several lasers hurtling towards him. He dodged them and then got blasted in the side. He fell to the cold floor. Luckily his fur had protected him from a lot of damage, but he was still hurt.
"I'm coming!" cried Takeru. He lashed out with his tail, and smashed it into the advancing Mech, crushing its metallic head. There was an explosion and the unit was destroyed. "You okay?"
"I'll be fine," growled Kai through clenched teeth. "Just get going!"
Takeru shook his head.
"Not without you, Kai," he replied. "D-Power Activate! Tsunami!" He wasn't sure how it had happened, but it did. A huge wave of water gushed across the snowy plains and smashed into each Mech unit, toppling each one over. 'Ice Blast' He inhaled sharply and let rip with his special attack, freezing the water that had flooded into the Mechs and covered them. "Simple. Now let's get out of here."

"Dr. Yamaki?" exclaimed Reisz in surprise, as he entered the room. "Where's Colonel Takenawa?"
The pink-haired woman smiled at his question.
"She's incapacitated at the moment," replied the scientist, turning her line of sight away from him. "I'm standing in for her, as per her own orders."
Reisz kept his facial expressions under control. He didn't want to give anything away, especially to such a dangerous woman as Yamaki.
"How did it happen?" he asked her curiously.
"It was an accident, really," replied Dr. Yamaki absent-mindedly, as she continued with her work. "I don't know how it happened though. When I came in here, there she was, slumped against the desk, lethargic..." She trailed off, as she continued writing. "So, Captain Reisz, I understand it that you were escorting a rocket booster here?"
"I went ahead to find out what's going on," replied Reisz sternly. "Why is the booster being sent here to L3 instead of L4 as per His Excellency's orders?"
Yamaki sighed angrily, as she looked up at him.
"It is per Chairman Prince's orders," she replied. "Marshal Kaplan has no say over this. It is after all, Pecunia money we are using to build this new space station with." She could tell that he didn't believe her. That was all right though. "Now if you don't mind, I have important work to do. Kari, Joshua, show Captain Reisz the door."
The platinum-haired Reisz looked to either side and saw two people in black, leather coats advancing towards him.
"Don't bother," he growled angrily, keeping his emotions in check. "I'll show myself out." He turned round and walked towards the door, thinking carefully about what Yamaki had said. 'She's hiding something and I will find out what that is.'

"Sir, we're right above the rogue DigiAnthropes," said the soldier behind the Lieutenant. "Should we drop the Mercuries?"
The Lieutenant thought about it a while, as they flew above the snow covered countryside.
"Yes, drop them now," he replied.

Cody turned round and looked up, seeing huge transporter planes flying above them.
"We're being ambushed from above!" he exclaimed, as he saw more Mech units being parachuted down from the sky. 'Well, I'll deal with them,' he thought, as he crossed his arms. 'V-Laser!' An orange laser flew from his chest upwards and destroyed one of the Mech units.
One landed in front of him. He looked up and saw that it was silver in colour, with a visor that glowed a hideous purple. It glared down at him, as it straightened up and aimed its cannon down. It fired. He dived out of the way, as the laser smashed into the snowy ground, throwing up dirt and snow.
"Cody!" screamed Fumiko, as she turned round and saw him in trouble. She ran towards the advancing new Mech models. 'Dragon Wheel!' She leapt through the air, a wheel of blue fire flying at the silver opponents. A dragon's head appeared on the wheel of fire, as it smashed against the Mech, tearing it in half to reveal nothing more but circuitry.
"It's nothing more than a gigantic robot!" exclaimed Paul in surprise, as the damaged Mech crashed to the snowy ground. "What's happening?" he cried in surprise.
The two halves of the Mech were melting and merging together, the strange unit bubbling up and reforming its original shape. The newly repaired Mech turned round and aimed its cannon at a surprised DigiAnthrope. It then fired, a powerful laser flying from its cannon and straight towards Fumiko.

Marshal Kaplan stood in front of the Board of Directors, in front of Chairman Prince.
"The beauty of war," he continued, "is in the action that soldiers take. Wars are fought by people, not by machines. These Mercuries are nothing more than equipment, and you cannot fight wars with just equipment. You must have people fighting wars, or else the fighting becomes meaningless." He looked around him at the faces. All of them were old men and all of them were keen supporters of Chairman Prince. Convincing them to stop production of the Mercuries would be a difficult thing to do. "I think it is a mistake to hand over the role of fighting to mere machines. It takes away the horror of war as well as its beauty. Think what war would be like if there was no death. Nations would resort to more war. Countries would be torn apart by violence and it will be the citizens that suffer the most.
"Think of it. War is fought amongst the people in cities, in countryside, in towns. The only casualities will be innocent civilians, those who lose their homes to the fighting." Kaplan noticed the look on Chairman Prince's face. "I do not understand your convictions, Chairman Prince. You say you created the Mercuries to enforce peace? How is that possible, when these machines just make waging war easier? Humanity still has worth, Chairman Prince. There is still hope for using human soldiers yet. These toys of yours, these Mercuries... their presence degrade the value of human life. I cannot stand for that, and I hope that you will see that your actions of relying on Mercuries are foolish."
Prince sighed.
"You do not understand," he said in an exasperated tone of voice. "The Mercuries can be mass produced. We can knock off several thousands of them. They are cheap and effective. We can create enough to enforce the people, enough to prevent the people from fighting wars. As you said yourself, wars are fought by people." He saw the expression on Kaplan's face. "May I remind you, Marshal Kaplan, that the Pecunia Conglomerate financially controls your Organisation? Should you wish to be victorious in this situation, I suggest that you learn to live with the Mercuries."
"Perhaps then I do not wish to be victorious," chuckled Kaplan, closing his eyes and entrusting his fate and soul to any benign god out there. "Perhaps then I wish to be the loser."
"What are you saying?" asked Chairman Prince.
"I am saying that I would rather be a loser than use these mechanical monstrosities of yours," replied Marshal Kaplan. "I would rather lose the battle than send machines to fight in the place of soldiers. I do not wish to be a winner, I wish to be a loser."
A frown appeared on Prince's face, as he reached down. He placed a rather elaborate, and old-fashioned gun on the wooden surface in front of him.
"Are you saying, Marshal Kaplan, that you still oppose Pecunia's decisions?" he asked Kaplan.
"I do indeed," replied Kaplan.
"Then I have no other choice, Marshal Kaplan," sighed Chairman Prince. "Marshal Kaplan, you are to be stripped of all powers and control of the UN Organisation is to be taken away from you and handed over to the Pecunia Conglomerate. All in favour of this motion?" He looked around him. "All opposed?" None. "The motion is passed. Marshal Neil Kaplan, you are to be put under house arrest until further notice."
'So be it' thought Kaplan quietly, as he stood there as still as a statue, no emotion registered on his face. 'You may silence my voice, but you cannot silence that of the soldiers. Just you wait and see. The Mercuries will be your downfall.'

To be Continued...