Chapter Text
Homeros floated in his room.
It was quiet in his crystalline room. It had been quiet for 24 years.
He stewed. The Digital World had also been mostly quiet since Theiamon and her Eosmon had appeared.
It had been quiet because the Sovereign Twelve had been stopping any threat before any damage could be caused.
The Sovereign Twelve…Homeros’ allies that were stolen from him. Who went against his orders and ideals.
Twelve Digimon, six of which would have disappeared with the reboot had it not been for him, had turned against him.
Homeros was angry, but he was but an orb. So, he stewed silently, the same thing he had been doing for two dozen years.
It would be very easy to tear the Sovereign Twelve out of the world’s data streams, but that would be wrong.
The Digimon had already acted. It would be wrong to undo what they considered to be a righteous action. Though Homeros disagreed with their actions, he wouldn't do anything to revert them.
His bigger problem was that they had done it for the humans. So that the humans wouldn’t have to constantly protect the Digital World. So they didn’t have to ‘waste’ their time helping to resolve problems that had mostly been caused by them.
That annoyed Homeros more than anything else.
The fact any Digimon thought they owed the humans was wrong. Like he said before, humans caused most of the problems in the Digital World. You don’t owe someone for solving something when the problem only existed because of that someone…
Homeros often wondered how the humans were doing in the human world.
He wondered how many Tamers freely let their Digimon die because of incompetence. How the humans treated the wild animals that were ‘below’ them. How the humans even treated each other.
Despite all of his incredible strength as a Server Master, he didn’t actually have a way to observe the human world. He could merely speak to those in the human world, and even then, ONLY if they had gone to the Digital World at some point.
Taichi and his friends, he figured were good humans. Davis and his friends, he figured were good humans.
But what about humans now? Thirty years after the V-Tamer saved the world, has the world appreciated its continued existence?
It didn’t matter to Homeros that people were ignorant of Daemon and the many other villains the Digidestined faced in the Digital World. If they weren’t taking full advantage of every day, then how was it fair for them to cause so much trouble in the Digital World?
But, again, Homeros was but an orb. He could only overlook his Digital World.
As much as he wished he could observe the human world, he had no outlet. No conduit in which he could peer into the existence of the modern human.
And there was no Digimon, who was his ally, that would be willing to commit the sin of spying against the humans who had ‘saved’ them.
So, Homeros would stew. He’d be angry. Angry until the end of time. It was not a god’s right to act on such…well, human emotion.
After all, not even Homeros truly knew if the Digital World had existed before the humans had created their internet related technology. If he really was a product of the humans, then his emotions are surely as rash as theirs.
He was lonely though. He had nothing to do. As god, he shouldn’t destroy or create anything that doesn’t deserve it…and as far as he thought, the human world didn’t quite YET deserve to finally be destroyed.
If only he had someone to speak to about his thoughts. Someone who would understand him-
Someone appeared in the room. Homeros focused on it.
He very nearly let out a gasp as he saw who it was.
In his room, which was sealed from all foreigners, stood Taichi…
Or at least, someone who looked like Taichi.
It was the eleven year old Taichi. Wearing his cape, goggles, and D-1.
Homeros was confused. Tai was forty or so years old. Who was this creature in his room?
It was unmoving. It wasn’t breathing or blinking. Its face held no emotion.
Homeros scanned the creature.
Its coding checked out. It was exactly the same as Taichi’s. But he realized that its data was barely moving, and he was yet to witness an overwrite.
This creature, did it have emotion? Was it spawned as a completely blank slate?
It looked like Taichi, but it held none of his personality…It was a perfect clone, waiting for life to be breathed into it.
There was only one creature Homeros knew of that could create something like it: A Server Master.
Homeros created it.
It must have been an accident. His thoughts of having something to speak to, they must have materialized as a clone of Taichi.
He did hold respect for the boy. He wondered if Taichi would understand his perspective on humans and Digimon, and the relationship they share.
But this creature was not Taichi. So he wouldn’t bother to speak to it. Realistically, he should probably destroy it.
Though, it wasn’t hurting anyone. He brought something into this world. It would be wrong to immediately take away its freedom.
Homeros just left the creature alone. He returned to thinking.
Thinking about his dislike of humans. Thinking about his-
“The humans should be destroyed.” Homeros focused on the creature again.
The creature was completely silent, not expanding on what it had just told him.
“Excuse me? Can you speak?” Homeros asked.
The creature didn’t respond. Homeros chose to leave it be again.
He returned to his thoughts of humans-
“The humans should be destroyed.”
Homeros directed his attention to the creature. He quickly scanned its data, finding that its coding was barely moving again. But, it had managed a few overwrites.
Homeros thought about humans for a second. He watched as the creature’s data began to flare, moving extremely quickly. Far faster than anything he had ever seen before, bar ChouforceVeedramon.
A matter of fact…it was moving on the scale of a Server Master’s coding.
Homeros stopped thinking and the creature’s data slowed to a crawl again.
Now he understood. This creature wasn’t merely an accidentally made clone of Taichi.
It wasn’t quite a Server Master, but it did contain a great deal of Homeros’ power. It was…almost like him, just in a different form.
One that he could contort into anything. One that he could use as a vassal and conduit.
This creature shared his thoughts, though seemingly his most extreme and dangerous thoughts. It shared some of his power. It could be used.
And Homeros decided that he would use it.
He would indeed breathe life into it.
Why hadn’t he done this before? Why hadn’t he created something to assist him before?
Maybe…it just wasn’t okay for him to do this. To create a clone of someone who he held genuine respect for without their permission.
“It’s okay, sir.” The creature reassured him. “There is no problem with being weary of those who pose a threat.”
“Very well.” Homeros replied. “Go now. Learn about the human world.”
“Okay, sir.” The creature bowed. He raised his head. “What is my name?”
Homeros thought for a second.
“V-Tamer.” Homeros stated.
V-Tamer nodded. With that, he disappeared.
Homeros rested in his room alone again. But now, he had an ally.
One he was willing to trust.
Chapter 48: A Day Off!
“Sir! Please, I’m telling you that it’s unwise to give them a day off!” V-Tamer argued with Homeros. Dino sat by his side.
“They fought for a day off and they won one.” Homeros rebutted.
“They shouldn’t be allowed one, though! We’ve given them too much information! An entire day where they can do nothing but work is unwise.” V-Tamer frowned.
“What do you propose, V-Tamer?” Homeros wondered.
“We should watch them. Once they lower their defenses, we silently spread some Digimon across the city. Then, we attack with our strongest Digimon-”
“I’ve heard enough.” Homeros sighed. “V-Tamer, I think you may be a little too excited. You’ve been arguing day in and day out that we should attack the humans with the whole might of our force, but that would prove nothing.”
“Why do we need to prove anything? I watched the humans for three years! There is no redeeming them! You can’t teach them a lesson and you can’t make them appreciate what they have!” V-Tamer whined.
“If I cannot change the humans, then I will at least reassure myself that their destruction is best.” Homeros explained.
“I…I…” V-Tamer drooped. “Okay, sir. I understand that much. But are you sure we should give them a day off like this?”
“You know the humans better than I do, V-Tamer. Can you say they’ll use the whole day purely for planning?” Homeros asked. “Or will they take it for granted?”
V-Tamer’s eyes lit up. “You’re right! Those fools are sure to waste today!” He realized. V-Tamer frowned. “They always force their Digimon to work, and when they get a day off, they make it about themselves. How selfish.”
“Again with the insults. Perhaps you should take the day off as well, V-Tamer.” Homeros suggested. “You and Dino need a break as well.”
“Sir-”
“Take a break, V-Tamer.” Homeros ordered. “If you spend your whole life hating, you won’t be able to recognize what’s good. Enjoy your time with Dino…especially because it may end soon.”
V-Tamer and Dino exchanged glances. The former nodded. “Alright, Sir. Thank you.” He and Dino bowed.
Both of them disappeared from the room.
=+=
Izzy woke up and stretched. He rubbed his eyes as he picked up his phone and Squawker.
“Izzy…” Sora mumbled from their small bed.
“Good morning, Sora.” Izzy turned to her.
Sora sat up in bed. “You’re already leaving? Where are you going?” She asked.
“Tadashi and I were working on something. I was just going to finish it. It should take only a few hours.” Izzy answered.
“A few hours? Izzy, today’s our day off.” Sora got out of bed. “That applies to you too.”
“But Sora, I relax by doing work.” Izzy reassured her.
“I think the casual work can wait until the world isn’t on the brink of ending.” Sora crossed her arms.
Izzy pouted. “Fiiiiine. I’ll get to it later.” He puffed.
“Thanks, Izzy.” Sora dragged him back into bed. "Well...Now we're both awake and we have some time before we have to get up..." She smirked.
Izzy blushed. "S-Sora, we can't do that! I'm sure some of the others have woken up, and they would surely hear!"
"We can just lower the movie's volume if it's too loud." Sora replied.
"Mov...Movie? Wait, you just want to watch a movie together?" Sora nodded. Izzy's blush fled. "Oh sure! We can do that... Though...I'm kinda disappointed now-"
Sora grabbed Izzy and brought the sheets over them.
=+=
A few hours later, the two left the room together, walking out into the hallway. Several other people were waking up as well.
“Morning, Sora, Izzy!” Tai and Rei waved.
“Hey, you two.” Sora and Izzy waved back.
Neo walked out of his room. A few people waved at him, he chose to ignore all of them but his sister, and he walked over to Hideto’s room.
He kicked the door open, finding both Hideto and Mari preparing for the day. Except, it’s not like Mari actually slept in that room normally…
“Can you two idiots shut up during the night?! I could barely get any sleep!” Neo yelled angrily. “And make what you’re doing less obvious!”
He slammed the door shut before either of them could respond. A few people in the hallway giggled while Neo walked off.
Hideto peered out of his room. “I’ll be spending the day here if anyone needs me.” He cleared his throat.
“Ditto!” Mari winked at everyone. The door to their room closed.
“I guess everyone’s coping with the D-Reaper differently?” Tai scratched his head. “Welp, I guess we do all have the day off. Let’s make the most of it.” He smiled.
=+=
Tsurugi kicked a soccer ball over to Agumon.
“Wooh! We’re gonna get a goal for sure!” Agumon ran down the field with the ball.
“Nope.” Hudiemon easily stole the ball. “Idiot!” She looked over her shoulder.
Hudiemon accidentally tripped on the ball, falling over. The ball rolled away from her, quickly being taken by Davis.
“That’s what you get!” Agumon shook his hand at Hudiemon. Hudiemon stuck her tongue out at him.
Several people got ready to intercept Davis. A long grin stretched across his face.
“Davis, pass!” Ken waved.
“Just watch, Ken! I got this!” Davis said with full confidence.
“I just had to be on the same team as Davis…” Ken facepalmed.
Davis weaved through Aiba, Guilmon, Veemon, and finally managed to even dodge Tai.
“Ha! I win!” He wound up a kick. Gatomon, who was the enemy team’s fairly small goalie, got ready to stop the ball.
“No you don’t!” Tai quickly kicked Davis’ other leg, knocking him over.
“Ow! What the hell-that’s not allowed!” Davis rolled around in pain.
“Red card!” Sora called from the side.
“Bullshit red card!” Tai immediately countered.
“You literally kicked him! That’s a crimson red card!” Sora argued as Tai stomped over to her.
“Oh, I didn’t know it was illegal to stop people who have the ball!” Tai poked her in the chest.
“Screw you!” Sora shoved him. “That’s another red card!”
Tai tackled Sora. The two rolled across the ground in a scuffle.
“Should…should we stop them?” Aiba watched.
“Nah. That’s just how most players argue.” Davis patted him on the shoulder.
“I’ll paint a yellow card red with your blood!” Sora screamed.
“I wanna see you try!” Tai shouted back.
The two rolled by Rei and Takato.
“And that’s…how you draw Daemon.” Rei showed off her drawing pad.
“W-Wow…” Takato inspected the very well drawn demon. “Looks exactly like he did in the manga!”
“And all it took was meeting Daemon Ultra very up close.” Rei laughed halfheartedly. “Boy was that terrifying.”
“Did you really almost jump off a cliff?” Takato wondered.
“Yes. That wasn’t a good idea.” Rei sighed. “Luckily, Zero caught me a few seconds before I died.”
“Was there anything in the V-Tamer Manga that didn’t happen?” Takato scratched his head.
“The ‘Junior DATS’ special was completely made up. Unfortunately, the Sukamon special wasn’t.” Rei shivered. “I’m very lucky that I showed up a few days after that happened.”
“Huh…” Takato blinked a few times.
Tai and Sora rolled by again. Rei sighed.
=+=
V-Tamer sat down on a park bench. Dino ran up to him with a ball in his mouth.
Dino placed the ball down and sat down in front of V-Tamer. V-Tamer patted him a few times.
“I don’t get it. Homeros created me to observe the humans. I did! For three years!” V-Tamer sighed. “We should just get rid of them.”
Dino nodded in agreement. He puffed in disappointment.
“Enough complaining from me.” V-Tamer leaned back on the bench. “What about you, Dino? What’s on your mind?”
Dino hopped onto the bench with him. He barked a few times before snapping down on nothing in the air.
“Excited for your fight, huh?” V-Tamer let out a light laugh. He frowned. “You don’t…have to fight, Dino. If you don’t want to.”
Dino shook his head. He let out a determined bark.
“But you don’t have to fight, Dino. Maybe I’ll die if the humans win, but you don’t have to!” V-Tamer argued. “It’s my destiny to fight. You don’t have to.”
Dino shook his head again. He nuzzled his head against V-Tamer’s chest and let out some quiet whines.
“You don’t think life’s worth living with me gone, huh?” V-Tamer looked into Dino’s eyes.
Dino nodded. V-Tamer hugged him closely.
“Thank you, Dino.” V-Tamer whispered.
The park around them was silent as the two stayed close.
The D-Reaper’s body pulsed all around him.
=+=
Patamon and Gatomon rammed into each other. The two fell over.
Everyone watching them let out quiet giggles. Patamon and Gatomon shook off the pain and hopped back onto their feet.
“Come on! We can Jogress!” Patamon said determinedly.
“What exactly is the Digimon’s plan?” Meiko wondered.
“They think that they can Jogress with the other 02 Digimon because their Tamers have close relationships. But…” Izzy watched as Patamon and Gatomon fell over again. “I don’t think that’s how it works.”
“Hawkmon, Veemon, how about you try?” Gatomon and Patamon stumbled over to them.
“Alright!” Veemon and Hawkmon ran out to the middle of the field.
Veemon and Hawkmon nodded at each other. They rushed at each other full speed, bumped heads, and rolled across the ground.
“Hey, Veemon!” Davis waved to get his attention. “Use Vee-Headbutt! Maybe you guys just need to hit each other harder?”
“Good idea, Davis!” Veemon hopped back onto his feet.
He and Hawkmon nodded again before charging at each other.
“Vee-Headbutt!” Veemon struck Hawkmon on the head. Hawkmon went flying across the field, slowly rolling to a soccer goal. “Hawkmon?”
“Hawkmon? Are you okay?” Yolei asked.
Hawkmon didn’t respond.
“I-I think I knocked him out.” Veemon rubbed his head.
Veemon ran off to help Hawkmon. Armadillomon and Wormmon moved to the middle of the field.
“Do you think we could Jogress, Takatomon?” Guilmon wondered as Armadillomon and Wormmon rammed into each other.
“Maybe? You should try with Agumon.” Takato shrugged.
“Agumon!” Guilmon slammed into Agumon in an attempt to Jogress.
Agumon tripped over into Hudiemon, knocking her over.
“You wanna fight?” Hudiemon tackled Agumon. The both of them began to roll around.
“Well, I can say this much: Those two ain’t gonna Jogress any type soon.” Tsurugi sighed. Takato and Aiba chuckled.
Tai rubbed his chin, making sure to dodge the cuts he had procured during his scuffle earlier. “Hey, I got an idea!” He snapped his fingers.
“Yeah?” A few of the Tamers looked interested.
“Hey, Elecmon!” Tai ran over to him. He looked over to BlackWarGreymon. “BlackWarGreymon! Try to Jogress with him! Maybe we can use Omnimon Zwart again!”
“I refuse.” BlackWarGreymon crossed his arms.
“Come on!” Tai and Elecmon ran over to him.
“If Jogressing means running into someone repeatedly, I won’t do it.” BlackWarGreymon harrumphed. “I hate Jogressing, anyways.”
“Come on, pal! Just one try!” Tai begged.
“Yeah, BlackWarGreymon!” Veemon and the other Digimon crowded around him. “Maybe you’ll manage to actually Jogress!”
“I refuse!” BlackWarGreymon stomped his foot. “I’m still tired after yesterday’s fight! I don’t need a concussion to go along with my other wounds!”
“Just one try!” Tai repeated.
“Yeah!” The Digimon and Tamers nodded excitedly.
“I’ll let you smack me in return!” Veemon proposed.
“Deal.” BlackWarGreymon immediately replied.
“Uh oh.” Veemon’s eyes jumped.
“My condolences.” Gatomon patted him on the back.
BlackWarGreymon and Elecmon walked to the middle of the field.
“Here I come!” They ran at each other.
“I hope something cool happens!” Tai and the others watched on expectantly.
BlackWarGreymon headbutted Elecmon, throwing him back. Elecmon yelped as he hit the ground. “That…didn’t work…” His eyes were in a daze.
“There.” BlackWarGreymon walked up to Veemon.
“Well, crap-” BlackWarGreymon slapped him hard enough to make him spin. Gatomon and the other Digimon laughed.
“Aw man, I thought something would happen for sure.” Tai sighed.
“Actually, maybe if Elecmon was in his Mega form, something would happen?” Tadashi suggested.
“That’s a good point! The Digimon have to be in their Champion form to Jogress!” Tk noted.
“No wonder our tries went nowhere.” Patamon grumbled.
“You think one of us would remember that…” Armadillomon looked at a bruise on Wormmon’s head.
“I’ll do whatever you want as long as I can hit Veemon again.” BlackWarGreymon shrugged.
“Heck no-”
“Alright! Veemon loves that idea!” Gatomon nodded.
“Then let’s try again.” BlackWarGreymon wandered back to the field.
“Oh no…” Veemon sniffled. Everyone patted him on the back.
“Elecmon! Warp Digivolve to…” Elecmon cycled through BlackGarurumon and ShadowWereGarurumon quickly. “BlackMetalGarurumon!” He became a cybernized wolf.
“Try number two!” BlackWarGreymon and BlackMetalGarurumon ran at each other.
“Here it comes!” Everyone looked giddy.
“They’ll jogress for sure!” Tai rubbed his hands together.
BlackWarGreymon and BlackMetalGarurumon slammed into each other again. They both fell over.
“Dammit!” Tai jumped around angrily.
“It’s been a while since I read the Jogress section of the Digimon manual…but I don’t think that’s how you do it…” Takato facepalmed. Tsurugi and Aiba sighed.
“Infinity Dream!” Hudiemon chased after Agumon while shooting lasers.
=+=
As the sun was halfway towards setting, everyone reconvened in the office. Mostly everyone, anyways.
Some of the Digimon were outside. They had evolved and were now tossing broken buildings into the path of the D-Reaper. Hopefully, it would serve to slow down the Digimon waves.
More than that, they were digging trenches, plugging alleyways, and narrowing paths to make choke points.
The humans were all gathered in the office. A few watched the Digimon.
“Alright. Now that we’ve all had some fun, taken some breaks, talked to our parents, children, and friends, I think we should move onto using the day for something more productive.” Izzy proposed.
“We should probably focus on beating the D-Reaper then. We have all of the clues we could need at this point.” Davis shrugged.
“Right.” Tadashi nodded. “Our choices are to either stun the D-Reaper and his Agents long enough to completely eradicate him without resistance, or to find V-Tamer and kill him.”
“Destroying the D-Reaper would be incredibly difficult, and if we don’t destroy him fast enough, he will surely retaliate with an extravagant amount of Agents.” Izzy noted.
“But the problem with fighting the V-Tamer is…” Tadashi sighed.
“We don’t know where he is. He’s physically hiding within the D-Reaper, but he’s so big, finding him would be incredibly difficult.” Neo crossed his arms.
“I wouldn't worry about that.” Tai grinned.
“What do you mean?” Rei raised an eyebrow.
“You guys remember that I shot V-Tamer yesterday, right?” Tai shot at the air with a finger gun. “Well, I just so happened to convince him to keep the bullet.”
“And that bullet had a tracker in it so we could find V-Tamer!” Tsurugi guessed.
“Exactly!” Tai nodded.
“Wait, actually?!” Takato’s eyes hopped.
“You can all thank our friend Meiko for the invention.” Tai directed their attention to her.
“Taichi came to me with the idea after V-Tamer explained his connection with the D-Reaper. It should be nearly impossible for V-Tamer to know that there’s a tracker within the bullet, so I don’t think he’ll get rid of it.” Meiko said hopefully.
“And Meiko made the tracker very resistant to digital stream tampering, so it should work even though V-tamer is in the D-Reaper.” Tai added.
“Great job, Meiko!” Everyone nodded.
“Thank you.” Meiko smiled.
“Great job doesn’t cut it. You might have just saved the world. Thanks a ton, Meiko.” Tai gave her a thumbs up.
“T-Thank you.” Meiko cleared her throat as a pretty obvious blush came onto her face.
“Sure…” Tai squinted at her. “Anyways, we know V-Tamer’s exact position within the D-Reaper. But…I don’t know how we’ll reach him.”
“Can’t Aiba get to him? He could just hop through the digital streams and over to V-Tamer.” Tsurugi suggested.
“V-Tamer’s physically hiding in the D-Reaper. I won’t be able to pop up in front of him unless he has a digital device that enough data streams are entering.” Aiba shook his head.
“Dang it.” Takato mumbled.
“Why not try the old fashioned way? Brute force!” Davis punched his palm.
“Shove our way through the D-Reaper’s body?” Hideto rubbed his chin. “I feel like that would be a quick way for someone to get dissolved.”
“Actually, I have done it myself.” Aiba raised his hand. “When I was moving through the D-Reaper’s data streams, I found Kyoko within a strange orb. That orb was made out of the same substance as the D-Reaper’s body, and I was able to push through it.”
“Interesting. Did it hurt at all?” Kyoko asked.
“Absolutely! Imagine placing your hand on a bunch of needles that are as hot as a stove top.” Aiba rubbed his hand. “It’s like that, but a tad worse.”
“How long did you have to experience that?” Mari shivered.
“Only a quick second. Passing through the substance didn’t take long, but the orb’s shell wasn’t thick.” Aiba answered.
“The D-Reaper’s body, however, is most likely very thick. Traversing through it would hurt a lot.” Izzy guessed.
Tai furrowed his eyebrows. “Meiko. Can I see where V-Tamer is right now?”
“Sure.” Meiko took out her phone. She tapped around it before handing it over to Tai.
Tai studied the map on her phone, seeing that V-Tamer was waiting in a large park. A matter of fact, it was the same one the 02 kids had fought MaloMyotismon in.
“If there’s anywhere I didn’t want to go again, it would probably be there…” Tai grumbled. “Tadashi, Izzy, how deep into the D-Reaper is this?” He handed the phone to them.
Izzy and Tadashi exchanged some words while looking between the phone and their computers.
“If you were to go down the most optimal route, we would say about…five hundred feet.” Izzy answered.
“Christ, that’s gonna hurt.” Tai sighed. He took the phone back and handed it to Meiko. “I’ve made my decision then.”
“Huh?” Everyone blinked at him.
“I’ll go into the D-Reaper.” Tai stated. “After we hit him with everything we have and all those Agents spawn in, we'll run in and fight V-Tamer.” He looked over to BlackWarGreymon and Elecmon.
They both nodded.
“What?! But that’s insane!” Rei immediately replied.
“That would be absolutely painful! There’s no way you could make it through there without falling unconscious! After that, you’d just die!” Sora argued.
“I’ll be fine! I’m the toughest one here. Except for maybe Davis.” Tai shrugged. Davis gave him a thumbs up for the compliment.
“But Tai-”
“I agree with the plan.” Neo spoke up. “Someone will have to fight the V-Tamer. Again, Tai’s experienced and his Digimon are strong. If he thinks he can get through the D-Reaper, then I say we let him try.” He began to walk towards Tai.
“Thanks for the vote of confidence, pal.” Tai smiled innocently.
“We can’t hesitate to risk our lives if it means stopping the D-Reaper. We haven’t cared before and we shouldn’t care now.” Neo stopped in front of Tai.
“Neo-”
Without warning, Neo punched Tai in the stomach with all his might. Tai’s upper body immediately slumped over.
“Neo!” Sora, Rei, Meiko, and Davis shouted in both anger and surprise.
Neo pulled away from Tai and the latter fell over onto the floor. “But you really aren’t going to accomplish anything if you just walk in without any type of protection.”
“Screw you…Neo…” Tai grunted.
"If that punch was nearly enough to take you out, then you won't last long in the D-Reaper." Neo crossed his arms.
“What do you propose then, Neo?” Ken inquired.
“I mentioned before that we made incredibly effective anesthetics. They’ll take a while to make, but using one might help to keep you on your feet while you travel through that thing.” Neo looked over to the D-Reaper.
Tai quickly got back up and socked Neo across the face. As Neo stumbled back, Tai gripped his stomach. “Good idea, I think. Are you sure I’ll be able to think straight while I’m drugged though?”
“Yeah. The drug keeps you completely awake. You’ll just feel very numb, so that may be disorienting.” Neo answered. He leapt at Tai and the two continued to struggle with each other.
“What are they doing?” Takato scratched his head.
“That’s just how they are.” Hideto sighed.
“Those would be pretty useful for the Digimon too. How many do you think you can make before tomorrow?” Cody asked.
“I would advise against using them on Digimon.” Tadashi raised his hand. He lowered it as everyone turned their attention to him. “It’s not like the drug was tested very much. They were made specifically for humans, not Digimon.”
“We don’t know what side effects it might cause to Digimon, and we don’t need to deal with any drawbacks while attacking the D-Reaper.” Izzy stated.
“Fair enough.” Tk nodded.
Neo threw Tai off. “Alright. Then I think a few of us should immediately get to creating the anesthetic. It will take a while to prepare.” He informed everyone.
“One more question.” Everyone turned to Kari. “We plan on hitting the D-Reaper incredibly hard- way harder than our Digimon can. How?”
Tadashi and Izzy exchanged glances.
“The Sovereign Twelve.” They answered.
Everyone began to pay very close attention.
“The absolute strongest Digimon on our team are the Sovereign Twelve. But they’re stuck in the Digital World, so there wasn’t really much they could do up until now.” Izzy shrugged.
“Veemon brought up a very good point to us a few days ago, though. The Sovereign Twelve can hit the D-Reaper’s body in the Digital World without us having to waste any of our energy.” Tadashi noted.
“All we have to do is coordinate with them. Which…is the hard part.” Izzy admitted.
“The Sovereign Twelve can’t really be spoken to in a normal fashion. Coordinating with them will require help from one of us, Pul, and Jijimon.”
“Pul and Jijimon?” Davis noticed.
“Both of them are staying in the Digital World to watch the D-Reaper. With their help, we can get help from the Sovereign Twelve during our final battle against the D-Reaper without having to go to the Digital World.” Yolei explained. “Hawkmon already explained this part of the plan to me.”
“How come Veemon didn’t tell me?” Davis grumbled.
“One of us should go to the Digital World tomorrow to speak to Pul and the Sovereign Twelve. They’re always listening, I think, so speaking into the air should work.” Kari looked upwards.
“Meh, I’ll go. It’s not like I’m doing anything around here” Rei raised her hand.
“I doubt you’ll run into much trouble in the Digital World, so sure.” Neo nodded.
“Perfect. We’ll brief you on that later.” Tadashi gave her a thumbs up.
“Oh, um. Can the 02 Tamers go and collect their Digivice tablet things?” Izzy requested. “They’re going to be needed for the plan.”
“Right away.” Yolei flashed the ok symbol at him.
“Is there anything else we need to talk about?” Tai looked around the room. Everyone shook their heads.
“Wait, so…with the anesthetic and the Sovereign Twelve, we could defeat the D-Reaper in two or three days-tomorrow even!” Tsurugi realized.
“Maybe. But V-Tamer won’t let things be so easy, I’m sure.” Tai furrowed his eyebrows. “Everyone, this may be the final days of this battle against V-Tamer and Homeros. Though it won’t be easy to defeat a threat like V-Tamer, and it won’t be easy to harm an… acquaintance like Homeros, we’re gonna have to.”
Everyone nodded.
“From the first generation of Digidestined to the new one, we’re humanity's last hope. And no matter how hard things get, it’s up to us to protect everyone.” Tai stated determinedly. “Humanity isn’t as worthless as V-Tamer says. And our bonds with the Digimon are just as real as we think. Homeros can spawn as many abominations as he wants, they won’t stop us…They just can’t, because everyone depends on us.”
“Right.” Neo, Hideto, Tadashi, Mari, Izzy, Sora, and Rei nodded.
“Yeah!” Davis, Ken, Tk, Cody, Yolei, and Kari nodded.
“We’re ready for anything.” Takato, Tsurugi, and Aiba nodded.
“Same here.” Meiko and Kyoko nodded.
“There’s no way we’ll lose as long as we stay together.” Tai grinned. “Welp, we all have things to be doing now. Everyone should get moving.”
“Right! We’ll go get our devices real quick!” Davis and the other 02 Tamers ran out.
“Well, if we’re grabbing some things from our houses, I think I’ll be back too.” Tsurugi walked over to the door.
“Oh yeah, me too.” Takato and Tsurugi ran out.
“I’ll leave for the hospital once the others return. I doubt V-Tamer is going to be happy when he figures out our plan, so having Imperialdramon protecting us until we’re done would be highly appreciated.” Neo told them.
“Long as you can make your drugs before the waves start.” Tai shrugged.
“You’re making me sound like some underground cocaine salesman.” Neo narrowed his eyes at Tai.
“Sure doesn’t sound too far off.” Mari coughed. Neo rolled his eyes.
=+=
Everyone waited around in the office for the others to show up again. BlackWarGreymon, Elecmon, and Hudiemon were already in the office, so they were just waiting on the other Tamers and their Digimon.
Mari sat nearby writing on her computer. Rei looked over her shoulder. “What are you writing?”
“I’ve been recording everything that’s happened since the D-Reaper first appeared.” Mari answered. “This is going to be the biggest story of the century, so having more information than anyone else is going to make me the best news person of the century!”
“Assuming you can keep your job.” Neo crossed his arms. Mari released a startled meep.
“There’s no way the government can hide everybody’s involvement in this mess. I don’t know how the populace will respond to us being the ones who protected the city.” Meiko dropped her head into her hands tiredly.
“Seeing as more than twenty percent of the city can be deemed as wrecked at this point, I don’t think they’ll be happy.” Tadashi pouted.
“And even if the businesses you guys are working for allow you to keep working, we’re still probably going to be harassed by random people everyday.” Sora noted.
“They better not.” Tai spoke up with an angry tone. “I understand that people are going to be pissed off, but if they try to touch any one of us for saving the world, I’ll personally kick their ass!”
“And there’s no possible way we can hide the existence of Digimon at this point. That’s an entire mess that’s going to have to be solved later.” Hideto grumbled.
The door opened and the 02 Tamers, their Digimon, the younger kids, and their Digimon walked in.
“We found ‘em!” Davis waved his tablet around.
“And we brought these!” Takato and Tsurugi showed off their copies of the V-Tamer Manga, specifically the eighth volume. Rei smiled.
“Great. That means we should probably go now.” Neo proposed.
“Who are you going to take with you?” Rei wondered.
“Tadashi, Izzy. Kyoko, we could do with help from you too.” Neo looked at each of them.
“Alright.” Izzy, Tadashi, and Kyoko nodded.
“And…” Neo sighed. “Meiko, it would be good if you helped us too.”
“Oh…s-sure.” Meiko replied, somewhat surprised.
“Davis, Ken, it would be nice if we had Imperialdramon protecting us.” Neo requested.
“For sure.” They gave him a thumbs up.
“Hey, hold on Neo!” Takato and Tsurugi ran up to him. “Could you sign our books?”
Neo puffed. “Sure.” He motioned Tadashi to throw a pen over to him.
Slowly, Takato and Tsurugi got their books signed by everyone, both humans and Digimon. They walked up to Tai and held their books out.
“Could you sign it too, V-Tamer?” Tsurugi tittered.
Tadashi tossed the pen over to Tai. “Of course I can.” Tai caught the pen and looked down at the cover of the manga.
His eyes immediately fell on Arcadiamon.
“AH!” Tai slapped the book away, straight out of Tsurugi’s hands. He stumbled back for a second as his breathing grew irregular.
Everybody watched on with both surprised and worried looks. Tsurugi rubbed his hand.
“D-Did…I do something wrong?” Tsurugi looked around the room.
“Taichi, are you okay?” Rei asked worriedly.
“Y-Yeah…” Tai stuttered. He walked over to the book and picked it up, hiding Arcadiamon behind his hand. “Sorry, Tsurugi. Here.”
Tsurugi took his book back. “Thanks…I guess.” He cleared his throat awkwardly.
Everyone stared at Tai. He was clearly trying to return his breathing to normal, but it didn’t really seem to be going too well.
“I…” Tai closed his eyes. “I need some time alone.”
Tai walked out of the room swiftly. Everyone exchanged glances.
“Uh…if I can ask, what was that about?” Tsurugi spoke up.
Everyone looked over to Rei. Rei sighed. “Takato, Tsurugi, Aiba…I’m sure you’ve noticed that a few of us…have scars.”
Takato and Tsurugi looked around the group.
Rei had long scratches on her cheek from BlackWarGreymon. Neo had a small cut on his throat from Laylamon. Izzy had a mark on his cheek from when Dynasmon slapped him. Ken had a long cut on his cheek from AeroVeedramon. And Cody had marks from when BlackWarGreymon slapped him.
“These scars all came from the Digital World. Most of them because we wanted to protect the Digital World.” Rei admitted.
“Yeah…I guess I never really noticed until now.” Takato frowned.
“But these are just physical scars. Unimportant marks.” Rei patted her cheek. “The actual scars that matter…are inside.”
“Hidden from view. Hard to notice.” Sora sighed. “Each of us went through some rough times, but Tai might have had it the worst.”
“Because Tai felt like he was alone-or at least, that he should suffer alone.” Neo crossed his arms. “The worst thing you can do to yourself is hide your emotions.”
“When you keep them to yourself…when you let them simmer, they are eventually forced to reveal themselves.” Hideto looked over to Neo.
“And that is not a pretty process. You do stupid things, stupid things happen because you did stupid things, and no one’s the better for it.” Mari pouted.
“Tai went through that whole process. Hiding his emotions, letting them come forth in an unhealthy way, and regretting everything afterwards.” Izzy shook his head.
“Tai seems really confident on the outside. But inside, I’m sure he’s scared that we’ll fail.” Rei said honestly. “But the confidence he exudes, it’s what keeps a lot of us sure of ourselves.”
“Huh…” Takato and Tsurugi nodded understandingly.
“Still though, not even Tai’s invincible.” Sora looked at the books in Takato and Tsurugi’s hands.
“I guess all of us have something that we’re afraid of…” Aiba peered outside.
“The Digital World can give you confidence, and new fears you might not have ever thought of before.” Neo stated. “You have to sacrifice to gain.”
=+=
Tai stared at the D-Reaper from a different window. He held his phone in his shaking hands.
He dialed a number and lifted his phone up. The phone buzzed a few times.
“Dad!” Seinaru responded on the other side.
“Hey, Seinaru! How are you doing, kid?” Tai smiled.
“Same as every other day.” Seinaru sounded glum. “Dad, am I going to see you and mom again soon? Are any of us going to see our parents soon?”
“I hope so, Seinaru. I think we’re close- really close to finally stopping the D-Reaper.” Tai said hopefully. “But this last stretch will probably be the hardest part.”
“I’m sure you’ll be fine, dad. After all, you did beat Daemon when you were my age.” Seinaru reminded him.
“Yes I did. And that guy was way worse than D-Reaper…because of his big, fat mouth.” Tai muttered angrily.
Seinaru giggled on the other side. “I’ve seen pictures of the D-Reaper. His mouth looks a lot bigger than Daemon’s.”
“Believe me, Seinaru. I’ve talked to Daemon for less than like, 3 hours in total.” Tai sighed. “That guy never shuts up unless you punch him in the mouth.”
“Is that your plan with the D-Reaper too then?” Seinaru wondered.
“Just about. Except, we found something a little smaller to punch in the mouth, so that’s convenient.” Tai chuckled.
The two fell silent.
“Stay safe, dad. I miss you and mom, but I can wait.” Seinaru told him.
“I’ll see you soon, Seinaru. I promise.” Tai replied seriously.
“Good luck, dad. Good luck to you and all of your friends. You’ll beat that monster for sure.” Seinaru said reassuringly.
“Yeah, I’m sure we will. Thanks, Seinaru.” Tai let out a light laugh. “Bye for now.”
“Bye.” Seinaru said before hanging up.
Tai lowered his phone, noticing that his hands weren’t shaking anymore.
“D-Reaper, V-Tamer, Homeros. I don’t care how impossible it might be...” Tai stuck his phone back into his pocket. “I’ll destroy each of you. I won’t let you win.”
Tai narrowed his eyes at the D-Reaper.
“For Seinaru, Rei, and Zero.” Tai whispered.
To be continued. 6664 words.