All Seasons: Wisemon’s Actual Ending Series
Part 8: Callin’ In Sick / When I Was Your Age / Hardware Store / Another One Rides the Bus / You’re Pitiful / Nature Trail to Hell / A Complicated Song
By Wisemon
Digimon is the property of Toei Animation. This series is intended mostly as a release for a burning plot idea, and for an ending that I find far more relatable than that of my Alternate Ending Series. So, the dialogue will be a bit less frequent in this one. To save time, toward the end of this chapter, I switch to half-assed present tense summarizing. I’m not proud of it, and I apologize in advance. I swear I’ll make it up to you in the last chapter.
I couldn’t decide on one title, so I went with a bunch of sequential ones. I won’t tell you what happened last time. The previous chapter was essential, and if you didn’t read it, you probably wouldn’t be reading this sentence. This story has a disclaimer for all sorts of shit. Proceed at your own risk.
“You were right there! How could you sleep while my daughter was being kidnapped?!” Mr. Wong stood face-to-face with Cody, uncomfortably close. He gripped the young man tightly by each of his shoulders, and he stared down into dull emerald eyes.
Cody almost said, “I was tired,” but instead, he wisely said nothing.
“Dad, lay off him; this isn’t his fault.” Henry hoped to move his father into the next phase. “We know that Suzie isn’t here. We know that Yamaki took her. Now we need to get her back.”
Cody misinterpreted Henry’s intentions. “I agree; we need to call the proper authorities.”
Mr. Wong shook Cody vigorously. “The ‘proper authorities’ are subordinate to Hypnos!” Mr. Wong saw no gleams of comprehension. “Do you know what that means?”
Henry answered his father’s question. “It means that the local police can’t do a goddamn thing, and we have to take matters into our own hands.”
“You’re talking about vigilante justice,” Cody realized. “That’s illegal.”
Kenta had been quiet through most of Mr. Wong’s ranting (though not as quiet as Cody), but he interjected every so often. “It ain’t your dimension, so just assume that we play by a different set of rules. We’re gonna go to Hypnos, and we’re gonna take back Suzie.”
It was exactly as Henry had proclaimed, but it just didn’t sound right. “Kenta, that tough guy slang is starting to get really annoying. I appreciate your enthusiasm, but this ain’t the time and place for—damn it all, now you got me doing it!”
“Sorry about that…I was raised by animation heroes and their voice actors. That’s just the way some of them talk. I don’t remember exactly which ones, but they must’ve been influential. Give it some time, and you might be the most influential.”
Henry was flattered, but flattery wouldn’t retrieve his sister. He returned to the matter at hand. “Dad, if you tell us where to find Hypnos, we can bust in and get Suzie.”
If the situation had been different, Mr. Wong would’ve laughed. “Henry, that’s a secure government complex guarded by armed security officers. You can’t just ‘bust’ into it.”
Much like the prelude to his battle with Zhuqiaomon, Henry did not tremble. Unlike that occasion, if only to assuage his father’s concerns, he claimed team confidence before self-confidence. “We’ve got bulletproof suits, offensive capabilities, and the will to succeed. The Real Legendary Warriors can pull off this rescue mission.”
Mr. Wong was not convinced. “Just the three of you?”
“No, there’s six of us (maybe seven) and two Digimon. We can all meet tomorrow, and you can tell us everything we need to know about where to find Hypnos, how to get some programs from Hypnos, and anything else you would consider to be vital information.”
“You don’t remember where to find Hypnos? It’s the giant twin-towered imposingly utilitarian building next to the Krispy Kreme. I worked there for a few months when the D-Reaper attacked the first time.” Mr. Wong reminded himself of his current employer, an employer that considered him to be replaceable. “Henry, I want to help in any way I can, but tomorrow is a Friday.” Mr. Wong almost said, “I have to go to work,” but instead, he wisely said, “I’ll call in sick.”
Around , Tomoki got a call on his D-Tector. With Miyako, Daisuke, and SlimeBakemon in range of the conversation (with Daemon passed out in the hallway), Tomoki hoped that the call would not be another confidential one. He answered his D-Tector warily.
“Tomoki, it’s Henry. I know we don’t speak over the phone or by D-Tector all that often (or at all), but as long as we’re teammates, I think we should stay in contact and update each other.” Not wanting his original priorities to be disregarded, Henry started with the less urgent matter. “I sent Daemon over with prints for those castings. Have you started on them?”
“As I understand it, Daemon forgot the concrete supplies. I checked with SlimeBakemon; he says that he could probably become the mold, and we could pour the hot aluminum directly into him to form the castings.”
Henry liked the plan, but he saw a danger in it. “Ingestion of aluminum has been linked to Alzheimer’s. I’m not sure if it’s safe for your Digimon to be a mold for hot aluminum.”
“He’s not my digimon. He’s his own digimon, and he already has brain damage. If he wants to be the mold, I’m not standing in his way.” Tomoki had nothing more to say on the casting issue, but he sensed that something was left unsaid. “Is there anything else?”
Knowing that Tomoki and Suzie were friends, Henry had considered sugarcoating the news, but Henry saw no nutritional value in sugar coatings. “Suzie’s been kidnapped.”
Tomoki was silent for a few seconds. He considered the possibility that Henry was joking, but with what he knew of Henry, sarcasm would be the only thing remotely close to insincerity. “Whoa, kidnapping teenage girls is not cool. Who would do something like that?” Tomoki thought rationally, avoiding all the wayward phases that Mr. Wong went through. Unlike Cody, the thought of consulting the “proper authorities” never occurred to Tomoki. All he knew of rescue missions he learned in the proactive digital world. “We’ll just have to take her back.”
“No kidding, but it’s going to be easier said than done. We’re going to have a team meeting tomorrow, same scheduled time and place.”
Tomoki was somewhat confused. “Why does Suzie being kidnapped concern the whole team? You’re her older brother, and I’m her…friend. Why should anybody else care?”
Henry understood Tomoki’s lack of faith in his fellow man; he was surprised by Tomoki’s maturity. “She was kidnapped by Hypnos. We have to go to Hypnos anyway to get the Yuggoth and Juggernaut programs.”
“Hmm, I suppose this does concern everyone. In that case, we’ll all meet at your apartment tomorrow—except maybe for Daemon. We’ll see how he’s feeling in the morning.” Tomoki ended the call.
Miyako was somewhat peeved. “Why did he call Tomoki? I’m supposed to be the second in command.”
“He’s known me longer,” Tomoki answered. “He only knows me through Suzie, but that still counts for something.”
Daisuke had a better answer. “You know, talking to girls doesn’t come so easy for every guy. Some of us are just blessed.”
Miyako was curious about Daisuke’s assertion. “Really, what sort of salacious language do you use with men that you wouldn’t use in the company of women?”
Daisuke tried to recall an instance of self-censorship. He was unsuccessful. “None, but I never said that I was blessed.”
On
They all observed the recording with varied degrees of interest. They saw an unkempt man in his late teens to early twenties entering the picture. He snuck up behind Suzie, which wasn’t hard, considering that her attention was securely fastened to the television screen. He took out a taser, zapped Suzie in the back of the neck, picked her up, and walked out of the picture with her. Mr. Wong allowed the video to roll for another minute, desperately hoping for another clue, and then he stopped it. “How did he get into our apartment? Our door locks automatically.”
“If he works for Hypnos, I’m sure he has his methods,” Henry hypothesized. “I just wish I knew who that guy was. When we go to Hypnos, if I see him, I’ll–”
“–Don’t say it, Henry,” Mr. Wong warned. “Violence is never the answer. Inaction is action. How many times do I have to tell you that?”
Though he heard Mr. Wong’s warning loud and clear, Tomoki recognized the kidnapper, and he felt the need to share his insight. “His name is Yutaka Himi—my older brother. He disappeared about six years ago when the police wanted to question him about my disappearance. For some reason, it doesn’t look like he’s aged all that much.”
Once again, Tomoki had fallen out of favor with Mr. Wong. “You’re related to that hired goon?”
“Not by choice,” Tomoki answered. “It’s been at least seven years since we’ve spoken. We used to be the best of friends, but then he changed, and he started to hate me, and eventually, the feeling was mutual. That’s part of why I changed my name. I didn’t want him to find me, not that I expected him to look.”
Daisuke misconstrued Tomoki’s bitter words as angry sentiment. “Dude, weren’t you telling me just last week that I needed to chill. I’ve got an older sister, and I’m not too keen on her either, but–”
“–Did your sister kidnap my daughter,” Mr. Wong asked Daisuke rhetorically. “Then I don’t need to hear about your sister.”
Daisuke clenched his fist, except for his middle finger, which he proudly brandished for Mr. Wong.
Henry stood up. “I just remembered something. If I’m right, getting back Suzie could be harder than I originally thought.” Henry walked toward his room, completely unconcerned with Daisuke’s effrontery toward his father.
Mr. Wong glared at Daisuke. “When I was your age, I showed a bit more respect to my elders.”
Daisuke felt no intimidation. “When you were my age, smoking was cool, most women became housewives, and the Sex Pistols were pioneers for badmouthing a token monarch. The world changes; you either adapt to it, or you get in the checkout line with the rest of the geezers who can’t figure out which way the magnetic strip is supposed to face.”
Mr. Wong was silent for several seconds. “…I find you to be particularly annoying.”
Daisuke smirked. “You know, I get that a lot.”
Henry walked back into the living room. “There’s something I want you all to have a look at. I need everybody to pile into my room and gather round my computer; you know the drill.” Henry watched as Tomoki, SlimeBakemon, Cody, and his father approached, while Kenta, Miyako, and Daisuke rose from the futon. Something caught his attention. “You’re all wearing the same clothes you wore yesterday!”
Daisuke excused his fellow DigiDestined. “We only brought one change of clothes. The ones we were wearing yesterday didn’t get all that dirty, so we wore them again.”
“The longer I hold off on doing the laundry, the less I spend on laundry,” Tomoki stated matter-of-factly.
Mr. Wong had the “best” excuse. “Henry, I always wear the same clothes. That’s part of working at a company with a strict dress code. Though I’ve called out for today, you shouldn’t expect me to dress any differently.”
Miyako looked Henry up and down. “Any condemnation in your accusation would be hypocritical.”
Henry realized that by all appearances, he was also wearing the same outfit as the day before. “I have more than one black t-shirt, my vest only needs to be washed about once every two weeks, and it’s a real hassle to transfer everything in my pockets to a fresh pair of pants.”
“Hey, I’m wearing a completely different outfit today.” Kenta was wearing dark green cargo pants with a cobalt t-shirt. On the previous day, he had worn stone white cargo pants with an orange t-shirt.
“That’s great, Kenta, but I’ve moved past that.” Henry barely glanced at Kenta. “What happened to that belt I gave you?”
“You wanted me to wear that orange belt every day? It’s gonna fade to pink if I have to wash it too many times.”
Henry couldn’t stand the notion of fading intensity. “No, you made the right decision. I kept the belt in a plastic storage container, and I suggest that you do the same. I hate pink.”
Henry’s last three words caught Miyako's attention. She recognized the declaration of hatred as her own.
Henry, Kenta, Miyako, Daisuke, Tomoki,
Cody, SlimeBakemon, and Mr. Wong crowded into Henry’s
room. Henry sat down at his computer and
clicked on the minimized task that he wanted to display. His screen showed a map with gridlines. Dozens of squares on the map were filled in
entirely with black pixels. Perhaps the
map was self-explanatory, but Henry felt the need to explain it anyway. “This is a map of the city. It includes every district in
The map was all too familiar to Miyako. “The black squares represent areas under the control of the Digimon Emperor…I mean the D-Reaper.”
Henry scrolled down to find the area he wanted to double-check. “You sound so unimpressed…not that I made the map personally; it’s a .gov site. Among other uses, the map is a valuable resource to tourists who want to avoid areas of the city littered with corpses.”
“Well, we’re tourists, but somehow, I get the feeling we’re heading toward the corpses.” Daisuke repeated his prediction inaudibly, and then he gulped.
“Dad, this is it. This is where you said the Hypnos building is located.” Henry moved his cursor into the corresponding square on the map—a black square.”
Daisuke noted the position of Henry’s cursor. “I hate it when I’m right.”
Henry would not be deterred by the color of the square; he would work around it. “This means that we can’t take the subway or the bus. All routes into areas controlled by the D-Reaper have been closed off. We might be able to trick a taxi driver into taking us (maybe a Pakistani), but we won’t all fit in one taxi. We could rent a van, but we’d still need a driver…Dad?”
Mr. Wong had no interest in visiting a black square. “Henry, I take the subway to work every morning. I know how to drive a car, but I only do it when I’m out with my coworkers and they need a designated driver. Since I’m rarely out with my coworkers, because I want to come straight home to my family, I’m a very poor driver. How come you never got your license?”
Henry had his reasons. “I was too busy with school. I’ve only been of legal driving age for about a year. Until the D-Reaper showed up, we had a reliable system of public transportation. You never signed me up for drivers’ education.”
“I know how to drive,” Cody said.
“Don’t blame me just because you can’t drive a car,” Mr. Wong told Henry. “A resourceful young man like you can always find a way to learn a new skill.”
“I know how to drive,” Cody repeated.
“I agree with Mr. Wong,” Miyako inputted smugly. “I’ve had to go through all manner of channels for academic enrichment, but the ends have usually justified the means.”
“Uh, I think we all should listen to Cody,” Tomoki suggested. “Cody, for the benefit of those who weren’t paying attention, could you repeat yourself one more time?”
“I know how to drive,” Cody repeated.
Mr. Wong was incredulous. “You’re not old enough to drive! Where did you learn how to drive? What kind of irresponsible adults would teach a boy your age how to drive?”
“The police academy,” Cody answered. “I’m a junior police officer. I drive the squad car and practice at the firing range.”
Mr. Wong’s incredulity turned to outrage. “They let you use a gun! They trust you with a gun, and you’re not even responsible enough to keep my daughter from getting kidnapped when she was sitting right next to you! You’re a poor excuse for a police officer.”
Cody was offended, and he felt a definite dislike toward Mr. Wong building. At the same time, Cody recalled his father saying that a real police officer was never truly off duty. By that logic, Mr. Wong was justified in his insult, and Cody was to blame for Suzie’s abduction. Cody left this possibility open in his mind. It was easy to blame others for mistakes, but if the mistakes were his, Cody would accept culpability, as he strived to be a flawless police officer. He gave Mr. Wong no retorts and no excuses.
“Dad, lay off him,” Henry told his father for the second time. “We needed a driver, and we’ve got our driver. Now we need a vehicle. A van will get us to Hypnos, but if the place is secure enough to keep out the D-Reaper in a black square, there’s no way they’re going to let an ordinary van through the gates. We’re going to need a vehicle that they won’t be able to refuse.”
Fittingly, Tomoki had the Trojan horse idea. “What about an ice cream truck? Everybody loves ice cream.”
“
Tomoki hoped to offer Cody a chance at further redemption. “As a junior police officer, Cody can commandeer an ice cream truck for us, and that way, we won’t have to pay any rental fees.”
Cody disapproved of the idea. “I’m only supposed to commandeer vehicles in emergency situations.”
Mr. Wong disapproved of Cody’s assessment of the situation. “You don’t consider my daughter being kidnapped as an emergency? If it takes an ice cream truck to get into Hypnos, then you will use whatever means you have available to get an ice cream truck. Am I making myself clear?”
“Now that you mention it, I’m a little fuzzy on this whole ice cream truck thing.” Daisuke had a much simpler plan. “Why can’t Daemon just teleport us into Hypnos?”
“Daemon is currently passed out in the hallway of Tomoki’s apartment,” Miyako reminded Daisuke. “Do you really want to trust him to teleport us to the precise coordinates on a map?”
Daisuke considered what he knew about the relationship between alcoholism and transportation. “About as much as I trust my old man behind the wheel.” Daisuke looked to Cody. “Come on, Cody, be a sport and commandeer us an ice cream truck.”
“I’ll do it, but I don’t have to like it,” Cody acquiesced.
Henry ignored Cody’s preferences and moved on. “Okay, we’ll have our transportation to Hypnos. We ought to stop by the hardware store first to pick up the internal components for the deletion weapons, and maybe some spirit weapons to use in the meantime, since we probably don’t have time to build those guns right now.”
“You’re darn right you don’t,” Mr. Wong told Henry. “Rescuing Suzie is your top priority.”
“Do I have to go to the hardware store? I’ve already got my spirit weapon. It’s a totally awesome spirit weapon. It’s already gotten me out of a jam.” Daisuke recalled the location of his Mizuno MZB271 bamboo baseball bat. “I left it at Tomoki’s apartment; I’ll have to go back for it.”
“SlimeBakemon and I will come with you,” Tomoki offered. “We can wake up Daemon, and then the digimon can make those castings while the rest of us go to Hypnos. There’s no point in me going to the hardware store since I can’t buy any ice or darkness weapons.”
“Does anybody else see no point in going with me to the hardware store?” Henry asked with irritation.
Miyako felt it was safest to keep her distance from Henry. “I have the spirit of water, so if you could buy me a power washer, or even a higher end squirt gun, that would suffice.”
“A flashlight,” Cody requested.
“Fine, I’ll get you your spirit weapons, but then you have to commandeer the ice cream truck without me.” Henry realized that he was forgetting about someone. “Kenta, are you coming with me to the hardware store, or are you going with the rest of the team back to Tomoki’s apartment?”
Through his scratched glasses, Kenta saw whom he would follow to hell and back. “You ain’t getting rid of me that easily. Henry, I’m with you like twenty-four hour deodorant—the real twenty-four hour deodorant, not the deodorant that just says it’s gonna last twenty-four hours.”
“That’s great…you can help me find the components we’ll need. As for the rest of you, call me when you get the ice cream truck. We’ll meet up and head out.”
There wasn’t much more to the meeting. For the time that it took, Mr. Wong regretted his absence from work, but he decided that it was best not to voice this gripe.
Henry reserved the tools and electrical sealing supplies to his own shopping expertise, and he gave Kenta a grocery list of various screws and wire. He had to help Kenta a few times (lower gauges meant thicker wires and other little tidbits). By , Henry and Kenta had bought what they thought they needed from the hardware store.
Just outside the doors of the hardware store, Henry remembered that he forgot something. “We didn’t get spirit weapons for Miyako and that police officer kid. That was half the point in coming here. We’ll have to go back in for them.”
“Hey, I got it covered,” Kenta assured. “I picked out weapons for the spirits of water and light. I even got a little something extra for the spirit of steel—a reel of steel-jacketed wire rope. 500 meters should hold you for a while, right?”
Henry had no interest in Kenta’s rope. “Thanks, Kenta, but maybe you should take the rope. I’ve already got a steel-coated containment rod.”
“Steel ain’t my spirit. What am I ‘sposedta do with 500 meters of steel-jacketed wire rope?”
“A good engineer always comes up with something.” Henry came up with a hint. “You might want to start by carrying something to cut it with.”
As Daisuke
retrieved his bat from his suitcase, SlimeBakemon and
Daemon were assigned to their aluminum casting tasks. They voiced their preferences for joining the
rescue party, but to no avail.
Reluctantly, they accepted their lesser roles. By ,
they had begun to melt and mold aluminum on the rooftop of Tomoki’s
apartment. Meanwhile, the roommates had
ventured to an area that Tomoki designated as a favorite sales site for himself
and his competition. The location was
not far from the bleachers of a public soccer field in
“Good afternoon, my name is Junior Officer Cody Hida.” Cody’s tone was perfectly firm and steady. He took out his wallet and flashed his junior officer’s badge to the ice cream salesman. “Would you mind stepping out of the truck?”
The ice cream salesman complied with Cody’s request. He opened the rear door of his truck and hopped down to street level as if he didn’t have an option. Then he got a good look at Cody, and he realized that his compliance was not necessary. “Officer? You’re too young to be a police officer.”
“I’m a junior police officer,” Cody assured.
“There’s no such thing as a junior police officer,” the ice cream salesman retorted. “This is some sort of prank, isn’t it?”
“I’m a junior police officer,” Cody insisted, “and this is not a prank. I need to commandeer your vehicle. It’s an emergency situation.”
“Bullshit! You just want to go joyriding while eating up everything in my freezer.”
From under the bleachers, Miyako, Daisuke, and Tomoki eavesdropped on the conversation with avid disappointment. “Hmm, I don’t think this plan is going to work,” Tomoki inputted. “I forgot that junior police officers only exist in your televised dimension.”
“Swell, how are we supposed to get our ice cream truck now?” Daisuke turned to Miyako. “Tell me you’ve got another plan.”
Miyako had a plan. “Naturally, we move to Plan B.”
“Well, what’s Plan B?” Daisuke asked urgently.
Miyako and Tomoki turned to Daisuke. They stared at him expectantly. More specifically, they stared at the baseball bat he carried.
Daisuke got the hint. He looked down at his baseball bat with justifiable anxiety. “Plan B…you say?”
At , Miyako and Daisuke stood in the back of a moving ice cream truck, Tomoki sat in the passenger’s seat, and Cody reluctantly had the wheel. As was the plan, they were driving toward the Wongs’ apartment to pick up Henry and Kenta.
“Are we going to have to park this thing?” Daisuke inquired. “It could be a real hassle to find a spot in a garage, unless we get lucky and find a spot on the street, but then Cody will have to parallel park this big clunker. Well, Cody, are you up for it?”
Cody kept his eyes on the road, and he kept his mouth shut.
“You’re still not talking to me?” Daisuke knew the reason. “You’re still mad about how I whacked that guy in the forehead with my baseball bat? You know, he probably won’t feel a thing until tomorrow.”
Cody kept his eyes on the road. “Tomoki, will you please tell Daisuke that I’m mad because he committed a felony, and because he made me an accomplice?”
Tomoki accepted the request. “Daisuke, Cody says–”
“–Yeah, I heard him. I forgot that Cody takes a while to forgive people.” Daisuke moved on to the more pressing issue. “Miyako, when do we reach our next stop?”
“Thus far, traffic has been smooth.” Miyako checked her D-Tector for the time. “I estimate that we’ll reach Henry’s apartment in approximately two minutes.”
“Then he and Kenta will meet us out front and hop in our party wagon?”
“Correct, those were the arrangements.” Miyako shivered. “All of these freezers make the atmosphere rather chilly back here.”
Daisuke noted the headlights shining through Miyako's sky blue dress shirt. He smirked. “I can tell. You probably should’ve worn a bra today.”
Miyako quickly folded her arms over her chest in embarrassment. “Not that it’s any of your business, but I am wearing a bra.”
Cody spotted Henry and Kenta standing on the sidewalk in front of the Wongs’ apartment. He pulled slightly to the side (entering a fire lane) and stopped the truck. Quite intentionally, it was a very sudden stop. Daisuke and Miyako fell over. Cody heard the thud, and he smiled.
Henry and Kenta dashed to the ice cream truck and opened the rear door. Henry hopped into the truck first. He saw Miyako lying on top of Daisuke. “…Are we interrupting something?”
Miyako rapidly stood up and turned to face Henry. “The situation you just observed was not what it appeared to be.”
Kenta followed Henry into the truck and shut the door.
Daisuke stood up. “It’s never what it appears to be. We used to land like that all the time back in the computer room. Those were the days…” Daisuke shook off his nostalgia. “Well, if everybody’s here, let’s get this bus rolling.”
“Don’t tell Kenta we’re on a bus ride,” Henry advised. “He’ll grab a microphone and serenade us for the whole trip.”
“Hey, I think I’m a pretty good singer,” Kenta asserted. “My voice cracks, and I’m tone-deaf, but at least I can sing with passion. That’s important, dontya think?”
There was no comment. Cody rejoined the flow of traffic, and the Real Legendary Warriors were on their way to Hypnos.
In the back of the ice cream truck, Henry, Kenta, Miyako, and Daisuke sat atop stainless steel freezers. Their butts were cold, but as Miyako and Daisuke had demonstrated, sitting in a moving vehicle was much more stable than standing. Since the freezers were only on one side of the truck, they took the same positions that they had while sitting on the Wongs’ futon. This time, there were no complaints about being cramped together. They needed each others’ body heat. Actually, Kenta would’ve complained, but since Daisuke and Henry were so tightly packed around Miyako, Kenta was able to keep a few millimeters of separation between himself and Henry.
At , a troubling thought occurred to Daisuke. “Cody, how do you know where you’re going? This isn’t even your dimension.”
Cody was silent.
“After we settled on the ice cream truck idea, I printed him out a map,” Henry answered.
Miyako kept her arms folded. “Did you acquire spirit weapons for the warriors of water and light?”
Henry eyed his own spirit weapon with apprehension. His containment rod lay on the floor of the truck beside Daisuke’s baseball bat. “Kenta brought them in one of the shopping bags.”
Kenta held up his shopping bag. “I left the bags with the gun parts back in Henry’s apartment, but we don’t need them right now.” Kenta rummaged through the bag and pulled out a flashlight. “I got a flashlight for Cody.” Kenta put the flashlight back and pulled out his next item. “I got a powerful spray nozzle for Miyako.”
In a flash, Miyako leaned across Henry and grabbed Kenta by the hair. “You imbecile! How do you propose I use a non-portable water distribution item?”
“You find a hose and attach it,” Kenta answered. “Couldya let go of my hair?”
Daisuke noticed that in Miyako’s lunge for Kenta’s hair, her body was unapologetically covering Henry’s. Daisuke shot Henry a “Don’t even think about it,” glare, but more than likely, his perceived rival wasn’t paying attention. Then Daisuke followed Henry’s gaze to the spirit weapons that lay on the floor of the truck. With dejection, he realized that Henry’s containment rod was longer than his baseball bat.
“Even for a sidekick, you’re absolutely pitiful.” Miyako released Kenta’s hair and returned to her snug position between Henry and Daisuke. “Keep your useless nozzle. Someone has to locate and download the necessary computer programs. I’m content as the brains of this operation.”
Kenta accepted Miyako’s rejection. “I guess you’ve never been in a back alley water war; nozzles come in handy. If you ain’t gonna use it, I’ll use it.”
Traffic increased somewhat after The Real Legendary Warriors were fortunate enough to reach their destination before the peak of rush-hour traffic. By , they were in the black square, and they were one building away.
The building adjacent to Hypnos was particularly appealing to Cody. “Can we stop at the Krispy Kreme?”
“Dude, what is it with you cops and doughnuts?”
Cody forgot that he wasn’t talking to Daisuke. “I just like their coffee.”
“Blehh, that’s disgusting,” Miyako commented.
“I need to get my caffeine from somewhere. I used to drink tea with my grandfather, but without him…” Cody drifted off from his attempt at conversation. If his audience were listening, perhaps they would’ve asked him to continue. The vehicle he was maneuvering arrived at the gates of an imposing twin-towered structure. A mechanical yellow bar stood firmly in his way. The guard who controlled the bar sat despondently in his miniscule office.
“Cody, let me do the talking,” Tomoki advised. “I have years of experience in this business.” Tomoki stepped out of the ice cream truck and ducked under the yellow bar. He confronted the guard with his ploy prepared. “Good afternoon, sir, would you or any of your associates be interested in purchasing some ice cream?”
The guard looked at Tomoki somewhat indecisively, as if he were the menu of various confections displayed on the side of the truck. A pair of goggles did nothing to detract from Tomoki’s conspicuousness. “Sorry kid, but this is a secure government facility. I can’t let in any unauthorized personnel, especially not with the D-Reaper running amuck outside.”
Tomoki put on a slight frown. “That’s too bad. Since your business would have been a new customer, we were going to offer the first ten patrons a free treat of their choice. We would park just inside the gates, so you would probably be the first one in line.”
The guard was suddenly leaning toward a new definition of “authorized personnel.” “Does that include Nutty Royales?”
Tomoki’s frown dissipated. “Anything you want.”
The guard lifted the bar. “Alright, you’re in, but you’d better not be the D-Reaper in disguise. I don’t want to lose my job.”
Tomoki watched with satisfaction as his Trojan horse rolled through the gates. He turned back to the guard. “Chill, we’re not the D-Reaper. We’re just your average ice cream salespeople. I just need to hop back on the truck to check on our stock, and then anybody in the mood for ice cream can get in line for a serving.”
“When you’re ready, I’m first in line,” the guard insisted.
Tomoki dashed back to the truck and returned to his passenger’s seat. He turned anxiously to the four chilly college students. “Somebody has to stay behind to sell the ice cream.”
Daisuke briefly recollected Kimeramon’s first attack. Hopeless as it was, he didn’t like having to push a tree just to get in on the action. He stood up and picked up his baseball bat. “Dude, you’re the expert ice cream salesman. Why can’t you stay behind? It’s probably a lot safer.”
“I have two personal stakes in this,” Tomoki answered. “Yutaka is my brother, and Suzie is my…friend. I’m going in there.”
Miyako stood up. “I have to retrieve the Yuggoth and Juggernaut programs. Someone else will have to peddle this flavored sucrose. I suggest that Kenta fills this role.”
Kenta stood up and grabbed his shopping bag. “This is gonna be a rescue mission, right? It’s gonna be dangerous and exciting—an opportunity for a hero. I ain’t missing out on this.”
Henry stood up and picked up his containment rod. “I’m taking my sister back.”
There seemed to be no resolution. Then Cody volunteered. “I’ll stay behind. You’re going to break laws. I don’t want to be a part of that.”
“We’ll break what we have to,” Henry told Cody. “You go to the window at the side and start selling some prepackaged tooth decay. I’ll call you to get the truck ready when it’s time to go. This shouldn’t take too long.” Henry opened the rear door and jumped to the pavement.
Kenta jumped out after Henry. Miyako and Daisuke attempted the door simultaneously; neither went through. Daisuke allowed Miyako to pass and followed her down. Tomoki was considering giving Cody some sales advice, but he decided against it. He followed the rest of the Real Legendary Warriors out the backdoor of the truck. Knowing his duty, Cody went to the side window of the truck in preparation for his customers.
As he said he would be, the guard was the first (and temporarily, the only) customer in Cody’s line. He spotted five teenagers pouring out of the rear of the truck, and he noticed that the salesman at the window was missing the goggles that the other young salesman had. “Who are you? Who are all those other guys? Where are they going?”
Though preoccupied with the immorality of his teammates, Cody managed to fire off his answers. “I’m nobody. They’re nobodies. They’re going to hell. Would you like some ice cream?”
Henry, Kenta, Miyako, Daisuke, and Tomoki ran to the entrance of the twin-towered building. To their surprise, the door was the revolving variety.
Henry addressed the team with his outline of a plan. “We go in, we get Suzie, we get the programs, and we get out. Any questions?”
Daisuke had one. “You know that steel rod you’re carrying? Is the one up your ass just as shiny?”
Once again, Henry restrained himself. “Any legitimate questions?”
Miyako had one. “As a precautionary measure, wouldn’t it be advisable to don our spirit suits at this juncture?”
“Hmm, that sounds like a good idea,” Tomoki commented. “Our suits are supposed to be bulletproof, and these government agent guys usually have guns.” Tomoki took out his khaki ice spirit D-Tector, “Execute: Spirit Suit!” A khaki jumpsuit with dark khaki cuffs and collar formed around Tomoki, along with black rubber boots.
Kenta’s sentimentalities were somewhat offended. “Hey, Tomoki jumped the gun! The Power Rangers always call to morph all together.”
“Kenta, we’re not the Power Rangers.” Henry took out his metallic gray D-Tector. “We’re just a recruited team of teenagers with attitudes. Alright everybody, it’s morphin’…Execute: Spirit Suits!” A metallic gray spirit suit with grass green cuffs and collar formed around Henry. A periwinkle spirit suit with pink cuffs and collar formed around Miyako. A chocolate brown spirit suit with cobalt cuffs and collar formed around Daisuke. A marigold spirit suit with orange cuffs and collar formed around Kenta. Seeing that his team was readily attired, Henry pushed his way through the revolving door. Kenta followed. Miyako and Daisuke shared a revolving compartment. Tomoki went in last.
The inside of the building resembled the lobby of a hotel. There was abused furniture sprawled across beige and scarlet carpet. There was a coffee machine and a tray of corporate bagels. The public restrooms were clearly marked.
Daisuke took a seat in a splotched recliner. “You think they have HBO?”
Tomoki took a bagel and bit into it. “Cable can get pretty expensive. It’s a lot cheaper to just download whatever you want to see.”
“For a secret government building, this is kinda disappointing,” Kenta remarked. “I was hoping to see some aliens in stasis.”
Miyako checked the lobby’s building plan, a glass-enclosed black sign with white letters specifying floors for each department. For all the talk of the “Hypnos building,” Miyako was somewhat surprised to find that there were actually dozens of smaller government agencies with offices in the building. Hypnos wasn’t even listed on the building plan. “This is most perplexing. This is not a problem that can be solved deductively.”
Henry happened to be standing behind Miyako. “So you solve it inductively. Hypnos is on the top floor, the one that requires an elevator key. My dad used to have one of these keys, but he had to return it at the end of his stint with Yamaki.” Henry was looking for the right way to break the news to everyone. He couldn’t find it. He turned to face Daisuke, Tomoki, and Kenta, all of whom were seated comfortably. “We’re going to have to take the stairs, not just to the last floor, but all the way up. There’s a surveillance guard devoted entirely to the elevator cameras. As soon as we enter, we’ll be spotted. If we’re going to pull this off, we’re going to need at least some element of surprise.”
The bagel fell out of Tomoki’s mouth. “Not cool…this place is like forty stories high.”
“Forty-one office floors, two utility floors, and a three-star cafeteria according to the building plan,” Miyako corrected.
Daisuke rose from his recliner and headed back toward the revolving door. “Have fun with that. Let me know what happens when you make it to the top. I’m betting at least one of you passes out.”
“Daisuke, you’re coming with us,” Miyako commanded firmly.
Daisuke turned around and rejoined the group. “Heh-heh, I was just kidding.”
Kenta was gung-ho. “These rescue missions are ‘sposeta be a challenge. There’s always an uphill climb, whether it’s a nature trail up a steep hillside or a staircase up a high rise. Now let’s hit those stairs and start climbing!”
The rest of the group stared incredulously at Kenta.
Kenta knew he had said something awkward. “What?”
Henry sighed. “You heard the man; head for the emergency staircase—but let’s make sure we pace ourselves. Nobody’s passing out on my watch.”
Author’s Notes:
No, the chapter’s not over, but this is where I stopped caring. I’ll give you a summary of how it ends, but first, I’ll give you some concessions. I didn’t know most tuna cans are actually made of steel, not aluminum, so when the guns were made, I was going to have my Real Legendary Warriors comment on how fucking heavy they were. Also, junior police officers do exist in this world. I got a telemarketing call recently asking me if I wanted to contribute to the program.
A Complicated Song (the rest of this story):
The Real Legendary Warriors get to the top of the stairs, and they find that the door to the last flight is locked (of course), so Henry kicks the door in, much to the envy of Daisuke. The gang stealthily makes their way past a few guards, but then they get caught and just start kicking ass. Yes, they get shot at, but fortunately, their suits are bulletproof. Henry and Kenta fight their way through dozens of guys in black suits, which provides a distraction while Miyako, Daisuke, and Tomoki head for the computer mainframe.
Miyako tries to convince Riley to allow her access to the Hypnos system (since it’s password-protected), but Riley refuses. Then Daisuke manages to convince Riley by playing psychologist to her personal frustrations in her relationship with Yamaki. Somehow, Daisuke even gets Riley’s phone number, which doesn’t sit well with Miyako (despite their having the same American voice actor), but of course, she would never admit that. Miyako downloads the Yuggoth and Juggernaut programs to her jump drive, and the three of them rejoin Henry and Kenta just as they’ve fought their way to Yamaki.
Henry demands that Yamaki release Suzie, and if necessary, Henry threatens to take Suzie by force (like he hasn’t already used force beating on Hypnos employees with his springy sneakers and his containment rod). Yamaki makes a call on his cell phone, and then Yutaka enters the room from a nearby office supply closet toting a bound and gagged Suzie. Tomoki notes how, curiously, Yutaka doesn’t look any older than the last time he saw him. Yamaki offers to give Suzie back in exchange for the password to the inter-dimensional portal program.
Henry says that even if he knew the password, he wouldn’t give it up, and then he does a huge running jump over Yamaki’s head (keep in mind; his spirit sneakers amplify his jumping height tenfold). As soon as he lands, he does a high back kick that nails Yamaki in the back of the head. Yamaki falls flat. Then Henry smacks Yutaka in the back of the head with his containment rod. Yutaka falls flat. Then Henry removes the gag from Suzie’s mouth and asks if she’s alright (and by “alright,” he probably wants to know if she was raped).
Yamaki and Yutaka stand up immediately, which shocks Henry because he’s pretty sure he delivered knockout shots. Then Yutaka’s arm liquefies into a tendril and he re-snags Suzie. That’s when the Real Legendary Warriors realize something is terribly wrong. Henry thinks he has the puzzle solved: Yamaki and Yutaka were assimilated by the D-Reaper, but there’s more to it than that. Like all good villains, Yamaki explains everything.
Before the D-Reaper was reduced to a program no smarter than a calculator and sucked back into the Digital World, a piece of the core consciousness infiltrated Hypnos and latched onto the mainframe (which corresponds with the series; there was an episode where the D-Reaper caused some technical difficulties for Yamaki). The piece that remained took a year to rebuild itself, but then it split in two—a sectarian divergence. One core consciousness still wanted to follow the D-Reaper’s programming and eliminate everything that exceeded its original parameters, but the other piece was so enthralled with Jeri’s nihilistic attitude that it wanted to find a suitable human host with whom to share these emotions in a symbiotic relationship.
The piece that wanted to feel human emotions is elsewhere with its willing host, but Yamaki and Yutaka are controlled by the other consciousness, and they aren’t really Yamaki and Yutaka. They’re D-Reaper clones (like the Jeri clone), and they killed and dismembered the real versions several years prior. Yamaki was the first human replaced because the D-Reaper knew his level of access was invaluable. The D-Reaper (Yamaki) aided the re-growth of the D-Reaper in the Digital World, and once it had conquered the Digital World, it broke through Takato’s stone and entered the real world.
While in the real world, the D-Reaper is continuously assimilating, and just to ensure its survival, it replaced every member of the Hypnos organization. With that assertion, all the guys Henry and Kenta had thought they had knocked out get up and turn into D-Reaper versions of Digimon (as previously described by Takato in his recounting of his visit to the Digital World). Riley turns into Arukenimon (much to Daisuke’s chagrin), Tally turns into Mummymon, Yutaka turns into BlackWarGreymon, and Yamaki turns into MaloMyotismon. The other Hypnos employees turn into various Champion level Digimon.
Completely surrounded, Henry and Daisuke use their spirit weapons. Amazingly, Henry bests BlackWarGreymon in hand-to-hand combat and uses his containment rod to reduce BlackWarGreymon to a puddle of ooze. Daisuke does the same to Mummymon using his baseball bat. Unfortunately, the puddles of ooze just reform. Henry says it’s because they were using digital energy attacks, which were never able to keep the D-Reaper down for very long, and what they need are deletion attacks, which Tomoki would be capable of, if only he had access to some ice.
MaloMyotismon (Yamaki, the D-Reaper) tells the Real Legendary Warriors that all of their lives will be terminated unless they give up the password. To emphasize his point, he grabs Suzie and dangles her twenty feet in the air. Tomoki says he’ll give up the password, but as a show of cooperation, MaloMyotismon has to start by releasing Suzie. MaloMyotismon gradually lowers Suzie back to the floor. Then Tomoki gives him the password: “inaction” (recall that Mr. Wong said “inaction is action” earlier in this story).
MaloMyotismon turns back into Yamaki. He types the password into the inter-dimensional portal program, and sure enough, it works. A portal to the digital world (the one where Junpei and Izumi live) is opened, and Yamaki sends BlackWarGreymon (Yutaka, the D-Reaper) through to begin assimilating it. Then Yamaki turns back into MaloMyotismon, and the Real Legendary Warriors understand that their lives are still going to be terminated despite giving up the password.
Kenta notes that the floor they are standing on is tile, meaning ceramic, meaning an earth material. He puts his hands on the floor and summons a huge digital energy attack that disintegrates every D-Reaper Digimon standing on the floor, which is all of them. Henry, Kenta, Miyako, Daisuke, Tomoki, and Suzie run back to the emergency stairs as the D-Reaper Digimon are starting to reform.
The kids don’t have the time or energy to run back down the stairs, but fortunately, Kenta has another bright idea. He wraps one end of his steel-jacketed wire rope around a handrail and ties off the end with the nozzle he bought for Miyako. Then he throws the reel over the stairway barricade. He climbs over the barricade and slides down (yes, all forty-four stories) the rope like a firehouse pole. When he hits the bottom, he calls the others on his D-Tector to let them know he’s fine, except for the fact that his hands and thighs have severe rope burn. With the D-Reaper Digimon almost done reforming, the other Real Legendary Warriors follow Kenta down. They all curse the severe rope burn when they get to the bottom.
Daisuke gives Kenta his pocketknife to cut off the used portion of the rope (let’s say Daisuke’s pocketknife blade is made of some sort of super hard and sharp tool steel that can cut through steel rope) so Kenta can still keep the rest of the reel, and the pocketknife, for another such emergency.
The gang runs out of the building and piles into the ice cream truck. With urgency, they tell Cody to drive, and that’s the end of this story.
Author’s Notes (okay, now we’re done):
Musical Inspirations:
Mr. Wong’s main theme: “Say Hello 2
Heaven” by
Yamaki’s main theme: “Data Control” by Hüsker Dü
The Real Legendary Warriors main theme: “Invincible” by Jeremy Sweet
Cody’s “Load” theme: “Wasting My Hate” by Metallica
Kenta’s gung-ho attitude: “Alive or Dead” by The Draft
Outcome of this story: “The Shape of Things to Come” by Powerman 5000
Literature Inspirations:
One of the core consciousnesses symbiotically bonded with a human. Ring a bell? Maybe I’m ripping off the Marvel Comics Symbiote, or maybe the D-Reaper was a rip-off of the Symbiote to begin with.
Television Inspirations:
I think I there was some Captain Planet influence for the spirit powers.
As if this wasn’t Power Rangerish enough, I made a direct reference.
Political Inspirations:
Is the “sectarian divergence” a
reference to the veritable civil war that erupted in
Personal Inspirations:
I had to purchase steel-jacketed wire rope to a military specification as one of the components of a rubber plug (for a CH-37 helicopter, I think) that my employer manufactured.
©2007 by Benjamin Wiseman
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