Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ War Diaries: Adventures Zero-Three ❯ Call to Duty ( Chapter 26 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: Lord Archive 
The Dark Seed Children continue to attack the dreams of the Chosen.
Anime/Manga: Digimon Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Drama / Adventure / Action | Type: Divergence | Uploaded On: 11.16.2012 | Pages: 5 | Words: 3.6K | Visits: 767 | Status: Completed
The Dark Seed Children continue to attack the dreams of the Chosen.
Anime/Manga: Digimon Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Drama / Adventure / Action | Type: Divergence | Uploaded On: 11.16.2012 | Pages: 5 | Words: 3.6K | Visits: 767 | Status: Completed
War Diaries
Entry 24 - Call to Duty
By Lord Archive
Digimon and most characters in this series belong to Akiyoshi Hongo and Toei Animation Inc. They are used without consent.
-----------
Koushiro typed away at his computer. He went to access a file and it wasn't where it should be. He couldn't understand it. He was very exacting on where he put everything. If he didn't he'd never find anything on his computer.
Koushiro's jaw dropped as he watch file after file disappear from the open folder. This shouldn't be possible. His customized version of Linux should be virtually unhackable. He'd have a hard time getting into it without his passwords and he wrote a fair chunk of the coding. A virus was also unlikely to ever affect his computer as the command structure was unlike any commercial operating system in existence. How was he losing files? Well, he knew one way to get to the bottom of this.
Koushiro executed a program from a hidden file and disappeared in a flash of light. He rubbed his hands together. "Now let's see what jerk has been messing with my computer."
"My. My. Sakura and Noriko didn't tell me you could do this!"
Koushiro spun around and frowned at an overly plump girl. "You're Keiko, aren't you?"
"Aren't you being overly familiar, Izumi," the girl returned.
"How are you in the Internet?" Koushiro demanded.
Keiko smirked. "Do you think we really can't attack you anywhere we want?"
Koushiro's eyes widened. "This isn't the Internet. It's a dream!"
"Realizing that won't save you," Keiko teased. "Now, seeing as this IS the Internet for you, why not bring out the big ugly thing."
"Big... ugly..." Koushiro felt a presence behind him and turned around and saw the big open maw of Diablomon. "...thing. Oh, fuck me."
"Sorry, Yuri is playing with Ichijouji tonight," Keiko joked.
-----------
Taichi couldn't understand it. Shinjuku junior high sucked. How in the Hell was their football team making a mockery of his team? It was only the first half and they had already racked up five goals. The last time they had played, Odaiba junior high had routed them four to nothing. This made no sense! To be knock out of the National tournament by a team that had no chance of making it was an insult. He had to rally his team, but they had no strength left.
"Wow, do you suck at this sport," a young boy teased from the stands.
"Takeshi," Taichi spat.
The boy walked onto the field. "How about we make this more interesting. Me, verses your whole team?"
The Shinjuku team faded from sight as Takeshi began to kick the black and white ball around. "Baseball is more my game, but beating your ass won't be hard."
"In your dreams," Taichi countered.
"No. In YOUR dreams." Takeshi shot off, running faster than the older boy and going straight for the goal, scoring easily.
"Come on! He's just a little kid!" Taichi yelled at his team.
"It's Ichijouji all over again. We can't beat him!" protested one of his teammates.
-----------
Sora loved days like this. Warm sunshine, nothing to do, and being able to hang out in the park with Taichi.
A loud crack echoed and Taichi bonelessly fell to the ground. A bleeding whole in the middle of his forehead.
Sora collapsed as she hugged the now dead body of her lover. "Taichi!" she cried, her heart seizing up in pain.
Another loud crack echoed out. Sora felt nothing and looked around.
"Tamiyo?" a mother yelled in horror. "TAMIYO!"
Another crack, another child fell dead.
"I'm sorry," Sora said tearfully as she set her lover's body down. She had to find whoever was responsible.
"Mommy, Daichi fell do-" A crack and the little girl slumped to the ground.
"Everyone hide!" Sora ordered. She morbidly noted where each of the dead bodies had fallen, trying to figure out where the shooter could be.
"Aw, is Takenouchi trying to save everyone? Why don't you join your lover in death?" a girl's voice taunted.
"Noriko..." Sora breathed out. This might not be real. She clenched a fist as another crack announced the death of another person, this time a mother protecting her child. Dream or reality, it didn't matter. This evil had to be stopped.
-----------
Jyou tried to stem the bleeding, but the gash was so deep. He applied pressure to the wound, wishing he had a means to get blood. There was certainly enough of it splattered around.
The doctor in training shook his head. Don't think about that. Don't look at the bodies of his friends. He had no chance to save them.
"Jyou... help me..." Mimi gurgled out weakly from behind him.
Tears were in his eyes. "I'm sorry..."
"You can save me," Mimi pleaded.
"I... I can't." Jyou choked back his tears. "Yamato has the best chance of living and I don't know if I can save him. I'm sorry, Mimi, I'm so sorry."
"Save me..." his lover pleaded. Mimi's leg was gone, her arm crushed, a gaping wound in her chest. It was a minor miracle she hadn't bled out already. And Jyou couldn't look at her. He wanted to remember her as she was, not this way.
"Save..." Mimi's voice rasped out and then went silent forever.
Jyou began to sob.
"Murderer," Yamato wheezed out. "You could've saved her. Saved all of us."
"Save you breath," Jyou ordered. "I can't save the others, but I can save you."
"Of course you can't save me now. You're a wannabe doctor. You'll never be the real thing and you know it," Yamato countered his voice oddly gaining strength. "You may as well quit school and learn to like flipping burgers."
"Quiet!" Jyou pleaded. The blood was flowing faster. "You'll die if you don't stay still."
Jyou was suddenly kicked in the head.
"You're a failure, Kido. Always have been, always will be," intoned an angry voice.
Jyou frowned at the kid before him. "You're one of the Dark Seed Children."
"Yep. And I'm going to show you how much you really suck." Hitochi kicked Mimi's unmoving body. "You'll never be good enough for her, and you know it."
Jyou clenched his fists. "This is a dream."
Hitochi stomped down on Mimi's head, crushing her skull under his boot. "Doesn't matter if this is a dream. You'll never be waking up."
-----------
This was the big one. A ten thousand seat stadium and his band was going to be playing. He had given everyone he knew tickets to the event. Now it was show time!
The curtain raised to thousands of empty seats.
"What?" Yamato squawked. Not even finding friends or his family were here.
"You've got no one to blame but yourself on this one." The drummer threw a tabloid magazine at him.
Yamato stared at the front cover. In full color was him with Taichi and the caption 'Ishida rapes best friend.' "This never happened!"
"Didn't it?" Takashi, another band member, slithered up to him. "That's a lot of beer in that picture. Getting your buddy drunk so you can take advantage of him."
"Don't forget who I am!" Yamato protested. "I would never betray a friend!"
"Oh, really?" came from the audience.
Yamato whirled around. "Dark Seed Child... This is a dream."
Hiroshi shrugged. "Dream or reality, both have truths you're hiding from." He glanced over. "Wizarmon, would you do the honors?"
The digimon nodded. "Magical Game!" Possessing the large screen, images began to flow.
"Attacking Taichi in the snow. Dragging Jyou into the baths even though he was embarrassed. Using Metal Garurumon to fight Taichi." Hiroshi munched on some popcorn. "And that's just the tip of the iceberg. What a stellar example of Chosen of Friendship you are. The loner of the group who barely gets along with any one else. And why is that?"
"Daddy? Why did you marry mommy?" little Yamato asked on the large screen.
The image of Mr. Ishida smiled. "Because your mother is the best friend I've ever had."
"Some best friend she turned out to be for him," Hiroshi commented sarcastically.
Yamato didn't even remember that conversation. He folded his arms defiantly. "Is this where you try to turn me evil and fight Taichi? Not going to happen. I've made mistakes. I've learned from them. And I've learned from my friends as well. GARURUMON!"
From the back stage emerged the giant wolf. "How did I get here?"
"I need some help with some trash," Yamato intoned.
"Oh, really? I thought we were getting somewhere," a familiar voice Yamato did not expect to hear intoned.
-----------
Sora was sure this was a dream. For Noriko to talk to her despite their distance from each other wasn't possible otherwise. Her enemy was atop a nearby building and she had no method of approaching it without exposing herself to lethal gunfire. She really didn't want to test if dying in a dream could actually kill her. It might not happen in a normal dream, but this was not any regular dream.
The snap rifle cracked out another round. "Was that your mother? I hope it was," Noriko called out.
Sora clenched her fists. Yume had been able to change her dream by calling for help, and she desperately needed help now. Holding her hands over her chest, she cried out from her heart, "BIRDRAMON!"
"There's no..." Noriko suddenly squeaked as an orange fiery bird streaked past her.
"Sora, what's going on?" Birdramon wondered.
"Noriko has been messing with my dreams," her partner replied.
Birdramon scowled. "I'll take care of that!"
"You're not getting near Noriko!" Toy Agumon protested, moving to protect her partner.
Noriko smirked. "We are in a dream, go for it!"
"Toy Agumon warp evolve!" the small building block dinosaur called out.
"Stop her!" Sora ordered.
"Meteor Wing!" Birdramon immediately responded.
Toy Agumon and Noriko went flying as the roof top erupted in explosions.
"My dream and I'm taking control!" Sora intoned.
-----------
This was his dream, his world. Here he should be king, not running from the horror of the Internet. Koushiro slid between two data streams. Diablomon should be too big to reach him for the moment. He had to act fast.
Keiko munched on a chocolate covered rice ball. "What do you think you can accomplish besides being lunch."
"Transport Kabuterimon!" Koushiro called out, executing the command.
The giant blue insect emerged next to him. "Wha? Diablomon is back? Like we didn't have enough to deal with!"
"This is my dream. One of the dark seed girls sent it after me," Koushiro quickly explained while doing something with the data streams.
Kabuterimon noticed the codes his partner was inputting. "You're not..."
"Have a better idea to beat that?" Koushiro retorted.
The gargantuan digimon unleashed an energy attack at the obstacle.
"Hope this works," Kabuterimon commented before crying out in pain. The glow of evolution erupted around him.
"Go for it," Koushiro prayed. "Go all the way."
The data streams fed into ball what had been Kabuterimon. It grew to almost the same size as Diablomon before the energy egg shattered and a golden beetle emerged. "Hercules Kabuterimon."
"Hey, ugly! Crush that bug!" Keiko ordered.
"My dreams, my rules!" Koushiro intoned. "Hercules Kabuterimon, take him down!"
"My pleasure," replied the gargantuan beetle, who proceeded to toss around the slightly larger dark Internet digimon around like a rag doll.
"How is it losing to a stupid insect?" Keiko protested.
"Insects can lift several times their own weight," Koushiro pointed out. "A non-insect isn't about to out muscle one of a similar size."
A Gabumon appeared next to Keiko. "We've lost this round. You must retreat."
The plump girl clenched her fists. "This isn't the end, Izumi."
"Not by a long shot," Koushiro returned.
-----------
Not since Etemon had Jyou felt such anger, such hate. Hitochi had only stopped mutilating the dream corpses of his friends only because there wasn't much left to desecrate. All his attempts to stop the bully resulted in pain as Hitochi punched and kicked him. This may be a dream, but it certainly felt all to real. As Yume had called for help, he had cried out for his partner.
That had been a mistake.
Black War Greymon was toying with Zudomon, throwing the larger digimon around with disgusting ease. He had to stop this. His partner couldn't take much more of this.
Clenching a sharp rock in his hand, Jyou charged Hitochi. Take out the partner, take out the digimon. And Hitochi was seriously asking for some pain.
Jyou's attack only resulted in a foot into his own gut, sending him sprawling to the ground.
Zudomon began to shimmer and shrink.
"I'm sorry..." Jyou whizzed out clutching his stomach.
-----------
"You want a real game, then let's have one!" Taichi spat out. "Everyone, come here! The Dark Seed kids want their asses kicked!"
"Like that would do..." Takeshi blinked. "WHAT?!"
Every Odaiba Chosen appeared with their partner minus Yume, Iori and Mimi stood before him, their digimon in various states of evolution, from Pukamon cradled in Jyou's arms to a gargantuan beetle looming overhead.
Sakura stomped past the young boy. "What is the meaning of this?"
"Takeshi wanted to play football against me, thought we'd have some real teams," Taichi informed with a smirk.
"Or we could play spank the bad children," intoned Hercules Kabuterimon.
"I've had enough for one night," Noriko hissed out, several burns doting her clothes and hair. With a wave of her hand, the Dark Seed Children and their digimon faded from view.
"So that's Tentomon's final form, huh?" Hikari noted. "Not really surprised."
"Would've been nice if I could've gotten Gomamon to Ultimate," Jyou commented with a frown. "He didn't stand a chance against Black War Greymon."
"The important part is we're all safe now," Takeru commented.
The Chosen digimon all devolved, the threat having passed.
"So, what happens now?" Agumon wondered.
Taichi shrugged. "We wake up."
Sora sat up and then quickly dived under the covers of her bed.
The Odaiba Chosen and their digimon blinked at the sudden change of location.
"Is this still a dream?" Taichi wondered as everyone was now in Sora's bedroom. A sudden pinch caused him to whelp. "Nope... not a dream."
Daisuke folded his arms. "Would've like beating those kids at football."
"I've got to contact Sorcerymon!" V-mon fretted. "She's going to wonder where I went!"
Ken shrugged weakly. "At least the timing wasn't worse."
"Can you all go home please?" Sora pleaded. "At least leave the room."
"Come on, everyone." Hikari tried to usher everyone out. "Nothing to see here."
"Unless you have a death wish," Daisuke joked.
Yamato and Gabumon were the last ones to move toward the door. "Get dressed. We've got to talk."
-----------
Iori had Yume's Chosen profile loaded on his computer, staring at her image. He had failed her. He was the leader and yet she had been injured under his watch. He knew very well there was nothing he could've done to stop the attack. Yet the blame for failing her was still his.
Iori didn't want to go to sleep. He wasn't afraid of the dreams. He was afraid of what he would do to who ever attacked his dreams. His anger had gotten out of control before. What could it bring in a world where reality was his to command.
Try as he might, his vigil at the computer screen could not keep him awake.
"Hello, Iori-sama!" Yume chirped.
Iori whirled around and frowned at the girl standing before him. "I'm sorry. I failed you."
Yume huffed. "Not you too. I just spent the past hour telling Bakumon there was nothing she could've done."
Iori blinked. "Wait... Yume?"
The girl nodded. "It's really me. I know the poison Sakura used on me has me in a coma." She folded her arms. "Kind of silly really. Putting me to sleep."
Iori frowned. "We don't know how to cure you."
"I know." Yume pouted. "Even if I never wake again, I'm not gone. I can still talk to you here."
Iori bowed his head. "Yet you're not fully alive. We should've seen the attack coming. They targeted you before."
"As much as I like the idea of you watching me every minute of the day, you know you couldn't do that," Yume pointed out. "There was nothing you could do." She waved a hand and a golden chair appeared next to her. "Besides in dreams I'm a god. Which is a LOT more boring than you think. And not as powerful as I'd like either. I can't fight those kids with dark seeds, only help our friends a little." She smiled. "Most of them had good dreams. Though I wasn't able to help Jyou and a few of others."
Iori nodded. "That's good."
Yume walked up to him. "Now I think we should have a little bit of revenge."
Iori blinked. "Huh?"
Yume grinned impishly. "The Dark Seed Children just went to sleep. It's about time they've had some nightmares."
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Coming Next:
War Diaries Entry 25 - The Other Foot
The Chosen take over their dreams and give the Dark Seed Children nightmares.
Red Digivice Diaries 23 - Seduction
Yuri tries to seduce the Chosen to the side of darkness.
Both entries occur roughly at the same time. I am not sure when I get to the Red Digivice side as I work toward the mid-series boss battle.
Entry 24 - Call to Duty
By Lord Archive
Digimon and most characters in this series belong to Akiyoshi Hongo and Toei Animation Inc. They are used without consent.
-----------
Koushiro typed away at his computer. He went to access a file and it wasn't where it should be. He couldn't understand it. He was very exacting on where he put everything. If he didn't he'd never find anything on his computer.
Koushiro's jaw dropped as he watch file after file disappear from the open folder. This shouldn't be possible. His customized version of Linux should be virtually unhackable. He'd have a hard time getting into it without his passwords and he wrote a fair chunk of the coding. A virus was also unlikely to ever affect his computer as the command structure was unlike any commercial operating system in existence. How was he losing files? Well, he knew one way to get to the bottom of this.
Koushiro executed a program from a hidden file and disappeared in a flash of light. He rubbed his hands together. "Now let's see what jerk has been messing with my computer."
"My. My. Sakura and Noriko didn't tell me you could do this!"
Koushiro spun around and frowned at an overly plump girl. "You're Keiko, aren't you?"
"Aren't you being overly familiar, Izumi," the girl returned.
"How are you in the Internet?" Koushiro demanded.
Keiko smirked. "Do you think we really can't attack you anywhere we want?"
Koushiro's eyes widened. "This isn't the Internet. It's a dream!"
"Realizing that won't save you," Keiko teased. "Now, seeing as this IS the Internet for you, why not bring out the big ugly thing."
"Big... ugly..." Koushiro felt a presence behind him and turned around and saw the big open maw of Diablomon. "...thing. Oh, fuck me."
"Sorry, Yuri is playing with Ichijouji tonight," Keiko joked.
-----------
Taichi couldn't understand it. Shinjuku junior high sucked. How in the Hell was their football team making a mockery of his team? It was only the first half and they had already racked up five goals. The last time they had played, Odaiba junior high had routed them four to nothing. This made no sense! To be knock out of the National tournament by a team that had no chance of making it was an insult. He had to rally his team, but they had no strength left.
"Wow, do you suck at this sport," a young boy teased from the stands.
"Takeshi," Taichi spat.
The boy walked onto the field. "How about we make this more interesting. Me, verses your whole team?"
The Shinjuku team faded from sight as Takeshi began to kick the black and white ball around. "Baseball is more my game, but beating your ass won't be hard."
"In your dreams," Taichi countered.
"No. In YOUR dreams." Takeshi shot off, running faster than the older boy and going straight for the goal, scoring easily.
"Come on! He's just a little kid!" Taichi yelled at his team.
"It's Ichijouji all over again. We can't beat him!" protested one of his teammates.
-----------
Sora loved days like this. Warm sunshine, nothing to do, and being able to hang out in the park with Taichi.
A loud crack echoed and Taichi bonelessly fell to the ground. A bleeding whole in the middle of his forehead.
Sora collapsed as she hugged the now dead body of her lover. "Taichi!" she cried, her heart seizing up in pain.
Another loud crack echoed out. Sora felt nothing and looked around.
"Tamiyo?" a mother yelled in horror. "TAMIYO!"
Another crack, another child fell dead.
"I'm sorry," Sora said tearfully as she set her lover's body down. She had to find whoever was responsible.
"Mommy, Daichi fell do-" A crack and the little girl slumped to the ground.
"Everyone hide!" Sora ordered. She morbidly noted where each of the dead bodies had fallen, trying to figure out where the shooter could be.
"Aw, is Takenouchi trying to save everyone? Why don't you join your lover in death?" a girl's voice taunted.
"Noriko..." Sora breathed out. This might not be real. She clenched a fist as another crack announced the death of another person, this time a mother protecting her child. Dream or reality, it didn't matter. This evil had to be stopped.
-----------
Jyou tried to stem the bleeding, but the gash was so deep. He applied pressure to the wound, wishing he had a means to get blood. There was certainly enough of it splattered around.
The doctor in training shook his head. Don't think about that. Don't look at the bodies of his friends. He had no chance to save them.
"Jyou... help me..." Mimi gurgled out weakly from behind him.
Tears were in his eyes. "I'm sorry..."
"You can save me," Mimi pleaded.
"I... I can't." Jyou choked back his tears. "Yamato has the best chance of living and I don't know if I can save him. I'm sorry, Mimi, I'm so sorry."
"Save me..." his lover pleaded. Mimi's leg was gone, her arm crushed, a gaping wound in her chest. It was a minor miracle she hadn't bled out already. And Jyou couldn't look at her. He wanted to remember her as she was, not this way.
"Save..." Mimi's voice rasped out and then went silent forever.
Jyou began to sob.
"Murderer," Yamato wheezed out. "You could've saved her. Saved all of us."
"Save you breath," Jyou ordered. "I can't save the others, but I can save you."
"Of course you can't save me now. You're a wannabe doctor. You'll never be the real thing and you know it," Yamato countered his voice oddly gaining strength. "You may as well quit school and learn to like flipping burgers."
"Quiet!" Jyou pleaded. The blood was flowing faster. "You'll die if you don't stay still."
Jyou was suddenly kicked in the head.
"You're a failure, Kido. Always have been, always will be," intoned an angry voice.
Jyou frowned at the kid before him. "You're one of the Dark Seed Children."
"Yep. And I'm going to show you how much you really suck." Hitochi kicked Mimi's unmoving body. "You'll never be good enough for her, and you know it."
Jyou clenched his fists. "This is a dream."
Hitochi stomped down on Mimi's head, crushing her skull under his boot. "Doesn't matter if this is a dream. You'll never be waking up."
-----------
This was the big one. A ten thousand seat stadium and his band was going to be playing. He had given everyone he knew tickets to the event. Now it was show time!
The curtain raised to thousands of empty seats.
"What?" Yamato squawked. Not even finding friends or his family were here.
"You've got no one to blame but yourself on this one." The drummer threw a tabloid magazine at him.
Yamato stared at the front cover. In full color was him with Taichi and the caption 'Ishida rapes best friend.' "This never happened!"
"Didn't it?" Takashi, another band member, slithered up to him. "That's a lot of beer in that picture. Getting your buddy drunk so you can take advantage of him."
"Don't forget who I am!" Yamato protested. "I would never betray a friend!"
"Oh, really?" came from the audience.
Yamato whirled around. "Dark Seed Child... This is a dream."
Hiroshi shrugged. "Dream or reality, both have truths you're hiding from." He glanced over. "Wizarmon, would you do the honors?"
The digimon nodded. "Magical Game!" Possessing the large screen, images began to flow.
"Attacking Taichi in the snow. Dragging Jyou into the baths even though he was embarrassed. Using Metal Garurumon to fight Taichi." Hiroshi munched on some popcorn. "And that's just the tip of the iceberg. What a stellar example of Chosen of Friendship you are. The loner of the group who barely gets along with any one else. And why is that?"
"Daddy? Why did you marry mommy?" little Yamato asked on the large screen.
The image of Mr. Ishida smiled. "Because your mother is the best friend I've ever had."
"Some best friend she turned out to be for him," Hiroshi commented sarcastically.
Yamato didn't even remember that conversation. He folded his arms defiantly. "Is this where you try to turn me evil and fight Taichi? Not going to happen. I've made mistakes. I've learned from them. And I've learned from my friends as well. GARURUMON!"
From the back stage emerged the giant wolf. "How did I get here?"
"I need some help with some trash," Yamato intoned.
"Oh, really? I thought we were getting somewhere," a familiar voice Yamato did not expect to hear intoned.
-----------
Sora was sure this was a dream. For Noriko to talk to her despite their distance from each other wasn't possible otherwise. Her enemy was atop a nearby building and she had no method of approaching it without exposing herself to lethal gunfire. She really didn't want to test if dying in a dream could actually kill her. It might not happen in a normal dream, but this was not any regular dream.
The snap rifle cracked out another round. "Was that your mother? I hope it was," Noriko called out.
Sora clenched her fists. Yume had been able to change her dream by calling for help, and she desperately needed help now. Holding her hands over her chest, she cried out from her heart, "BIRDRAMON!"
"There's no..." Noriko suddenly squeaked as an orange fiery bird streaked past her.
"Sora, what's going on?" Birdramon wondered.
"Noriko has been messing with my dreams," her partner replied.
Birdramon scowled. "I'll take care of that!"
"You're not getting near Noriko!" Toy Agumon protested, moving to protect her partner.
Noriko smirked. "We are in a dream, go for it!"
"Toy Agumon warp evolve!" the small building block dinosaur called out.
"Stop her!" Sora ordered.
"Meteor Wing!" Birdramon immediately responded.
Toy Agumon and Noriko went flying as the roof top erupted in explosions.
"My dream and I'm taking control!" Sora intoned.
-----------
This was his dream, his world. Here he should be king, not running from the horror of the Internet. Koushiro slid between two data streams. Diablomon should be too big to reach him for the moment. He had to act fast.
Keiko munched on a chocolate covered rice ball. "What do you think you can accomplish besides being lunch."
"Transport Kabuterimon!" Koushiro called out, executing the command.
The giant blue insect emerged next to him. "Wha? Diablomon is back? Like we didn't have enough to deal with!"
"This is my dream. One of the dark seed girls sent it after me," Koushiro quickly explained while doing something with the data streams.
Kabuterimon noticed the codes his partner was inputting. "You're not..."
"Have a better idea to beat that?" Koushiro retorted.
The gargantuan digimon unleashed an energy attack at the obstacle.
"Hope this works," Kabuterimon commented before crying out in pain. The glow of evolution erupted around him.
"Go for it," Koushiro prayed. "Go all the way."
The data streams fed into ball what had been Kabuterimon. It grew to almost the same size as Diablomon before the energy egg shattered and a golden beetle emerged. "Hercules Kabuterimon."
"Hey, ugly! Crush that bug!" Keiko ordered.
"My dreams, my rules!" Koushiro intoned. "Hercules Kabuterimon, take him down!"
"My pleasure," replied the gargantuan beetle, who proceeded to toss around the slightly larger dark Internet digimon around like a rag doll.
"How is it losing to a stupid insect?" Keiko protested.
"Insects can lift several times their own weight," Koushiro pointed out. "A non-insect isn't about to out muscle one of a similar size."
A Gabumon appeared next to Keiko. "We've lost this round. You must retreat."
The plump girl clenched her fists. "This isn't the end, Izumi."
"Not by a long shot," Koushiro returned.
-----------
Not since Etemon had Jyou felt such anger, such hate. Hitochi had only stopped mutilating the dream corpses of his friends only because there wasn't much left to desecrate. All his attempts to stop the bully resulted in pain as Hitochi punched and kicked him. This may be a dream, but it certainly felt all to real. As Yume had called for help, he had cried out for his partner.
That had been a mistake.
Black War Greymon was toying with Zudomon, throwing the larger digimon around with disgusting ease. He had to stop this. His partner couldn't take much more of this.
Clenching a sharp rock in his hand, Jyou charged Hitochi. Take out the partner, take out the digimon. And Hitochi was seriously asking for some pain.
Jyou's attack only resulted in a foot into his own gut, sending him sprawling to the ground.
Zudomon began to shimmer and shrink.
"I'm sorry..." Jyou whizzed out clutching his stomach.
-----------
"You want a real game, then let's have one!" Taichi spat out. "Everyone, come here! The Dark Seed kids want their asses kicked!"
"Like that would do..." Takeshi blinked. "WHAT?!"
Every Odaiba Chosen appeared with their partner minus Yume, Iori and Mimi stood before him, their digimon in various states of evolution, from Pukamon cradled in Jyou's arms to a gargantuan beetle looming overhead.
Sakura stomped past the young boy. "What is the meaning of this?"
"Takeshi wanted to play football against me, thought we'd have some real teams," Taichi informed with a smirk.
"Or we could play spank the bad children," intoned Hercules Kabuterimon.
"I've had enough for one night," Noriko hissed out, several burns doting her clothes and hair. With a wave of her hand, the Dark Seed Children and their digimon faded from view.
"So that's Tentomon's final form, huh?" Hikari noted. "Not really surprised."
"Would've been nice if I could've gotten Gomamon to Ultimate," Jyou commented with a frown. "He didn't stand a chance against Black War Greymon."
"The important part is we're all safe now," Takeru commented.
The Chosen digimon all devolved, the threat having passed.
"So, what happens now?" Agumon wondered.
Taichi shrugged. "We wake up."
Sora sat up and then quickly dived under the covers of her bed.
The Odaiba Chosen and their digimon blinked at the sudden change of location.
"Is this still a dream?" Taichi wondered as everyone was now in Sora's bedroom. A sudden pinch caused him to whelp. "Nope... not a dream."
Daisuke folded his arms. "Would've like beating those kids at football."
"I've got to contact Sorcerymon!" V-mon fretted. "She's going to wonder where I went!"
Ken shrugged weakly. "At least the timing wasn't worse."
"Can you all go home please?" Sora pleaded. "At least leave the room."
"Come on, everyone." Hikari tried to usher everyone out. "Nothing to see here."
"Unless you have a death wish," Daisuke joked.
Yamato and Gabumon were the last ones to move toward the door. "Get dressed. We've got to talk."
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Iori had Yume's Chosen profile loaded on his computer, staring at her image. He had failed her. He was the leader and yet she had been injured under his watch. He knew very well there was nothing he could've done to stop the attack. Yet the blame for failing her was still his.
Iori didn't want to go to sleep. He wasn't afraid of the dreams. He was afraid of what he would do to who ever attacked his dreams. His anger had gotten out of control before. What could it bring in a world where reality was his to command.
Try as he might, his vigil at the computer screen could not keep him awake.
"Hello, Iori-sama!" Yume chirped.
Iori whirled around and frowned at the girl standing before him. "I'm sorry. I failed you."
Yume huffed. "Not you too. I just spent the past hour telling Bakumon there was nothing she could've done."
Iori blinked. "Wait... Yume?"
The girl nodded. "It's really me. I know the poison Sakura used on me has me in a coma." She folded her arms. "Kind of silly really. Putting me to sleep."
Iori frowned. "We don't know how to cure you."
"I know." Yume pouted. "Even if I never wake again, I'm not gone. I can still talk to you here."
Iori bowed his head. "Yet you're not fully alive. We should've seen the attack coming. They targeted you before."
"As much as I like the idea of you watching me every minute of the day, you know you couldn't do that," Yume pointed out. "There was nothing you could do." She waved a hand and a golden chair appeared next to her. "Besides in dreams I'm a god. Which is a LOT more boring than you think. And not as powerful as I'd like either. I can't fight those kids with dark seeds, only help our friends a little." She smiled. "Most of them had good dreams. Though I wasn't able to help Jyou and a few of others."
Iori nodded. "That's good."
Yume walked up to him. "Now I think we should have a little bit of revenge."
Iori blinked. "Huh?"
Yume grinned impishly. "The Dark Seed Children just went to sleep. It's about time they've had some nightmares."
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Coming Next:
War Diaries Entry 25 - The Other Foot
The Chosen take over their dreams and give the Dark Seed Children nightmares.
Red Digivice Diaries 23 - Seduction
Yuri tries to seduce the Chosen to the side of darkness.
Both entries occur roughly at the same time. I am not sure when I get to the Red Digivice side as I work toward the mid-series boss battle.