Mon in the Mirror: Redux
Chapter Two: “The Emperor’s Court”
Written by Notorious, Revised by agz
Twenty-One Years Later ...
[
All of mon-kind had felt a tranquil peace for years worldwide--twenty-one years to be exact--and all Digimon were joined together in copious amounts of joyous life for these two decades. Emperor Guilmon had made it one of his first orders of business to pass the Digital Tranquility Accords. These Accords were a group of Acts and Amendments that the Emperor thought would keep the Digital World in the peaceful nature he and his cohorts had fought so valiantly to create. The main law included in these agreements was the main cause for peace over these many years, The Unity Concordance, which stated that all creatures, regardless of level, color, species, or attribute, were equal. This settled most of the incongruities and chaos among viral Digimon and the other two types: data, and vaccine. It also helped settle some of the problems between Digimon and Humans, even though it was unnecessary considering the transdimensional pathways were all closed and sealed.
With the entire Digital World eager to follow these Accords, seeing the result of the bloody alternatives, no longer was the world in danger from evil Digimon, or hateful groups, because nobody had a reason to be evil or hateful anymore. Even those few who sought the old ways found themselves in a cell at Nibelcycer, the Digimon Prison located on an unknown and uncharted island far out to sea. Hearing horror stories of what went on there, and noting that no criminal had ever returned from Nibelcycer, people had yet another reason to straighten up and fly right. People felt safe and un-animistic with Emperor Guilmon, the infallible warrior and diplomat, on the throne at Digitropolis.
But still, as we all know there can never truly be light without darkness to counteract it, and even though they were scarce, there were still some shady characters out there in hiding. They called themselves Sleber Tsal, old Digiscript for "The Last Radicals," but for simplicity’s sake they referred to themselves as The ST. Sleber Tsal was a satanic cult led by Ciphermon, an evil Nazi Digimon claiming to be the reincarnation of the great Thetamon, an ancient war hero who was also responsible for fueling the split between the Virus, Data, and Vaccine Digimon in The Great War millennia ago.
Sleber Tsal was a slippery bunch, and though Guilmon had sent his best agents after them, he could never find them. They always seemed to be one step ahead of him and the rest of the government. The Emperor feared the day that The ST sparked a war, which seemed to be their mission.
"Attributable cleansing," he sighed to his executives at many a meeting. "The Sleber Tsal won't stop until they completely wipe out every Non-Viral Digimon on the face of the planet. The more time we allow Ciphermon to elude us, the more followers he's gaining."
And that was just the case. Although Guilmon's Accords had created peace in the Digital World, there were still many Digimon, Viral and otherwise, who were simply smiling with gritted teeth, biding their time until Emperor Guilmon and his government were taken out of the picture. Guilmon knew that he might be able to write all the laws and accords in the world, but there would always be those who would never cease to be evil deep down inside. His greatest fear was that Ciphermon could bring that wickedness out of people. He was quite persuasive.
Even this day, as he sat at the long briefing room table abridging the few trivial problems in the Digital World, he looked around the table into the faces of all twelve Governors, wondering if Sleber Tsal had gotten to them, and if so how many of the people smiling in his face and praising his pacific world were ready to stab him in the back at a moment’s notice. It wasn't just the Viral Digimon on the Council of Governors that he was worried about either. He knew that the Data and Vaccine council members were just as likely to be treacherous, and in fact harder to spot because they were allegedly peaceful in nature. He was especially worried about the Data Digimon.
Data Digimon had always been neutral but very federated in nature, whenever war had come about in the past. There were a lot of powerful Digimon in the world that were Data, and if the Sleber Tsal sparked the war they had been twiddling their thumbs over for all this time, would Ciphermon and his cohorts try to get the Data Digimon on his side? If a war ever did break out, would there be a race to get them on one side or the other, or would they remain neutral as they always had?
But didn't Ciphermon favor Viral Digimon above all? If he was trying to bring the Virals to order and proclaim them rulers of the Digital World, wouldn't he have to go through the Data Digimon to do it, or did he hope that they would all just stand idly by while he brought chaos to the world due to their nonpartisan nature?
"Meeting adjourned," Guilmon said and banged his gavel, signaling the twelve Governors of the Digital World to leave. "Next council meeting will be next Tuesday, don't forget!"
And this left Guilmon to his thoughts as
the room was swiftly vacated. He got up from his seat at the end of the table
and walked out onto the balcony of his magnificent home, and center of
international government It was an immense structure
that he had dubbed "
If a war did break out someday, would he be safe? Surely, he would be leading the charges considering how he was a famous war hero and all, and for the sake of mon-kind, he needed to keep himself safe so that he could lead his people through any future difficulties. He would need Terriermon as well, and Renamon--if she could be found. Perhaps word of a world war would bring the blood-thirsty fox mon out of the woodwork and into the fires ahead.
Emperor Guilmon looked up at the sky, searching for something, and that's when Andromon, Guilmon's most trusted advisor and friend, walked out onto the balcony and joined the mystified Digimon on the balcony.
"Sir," he said in his metallic
voice. "It’s getting late and you have a meeting with the representatives
of
But Guilmon was preoccupied and didn't seem to hear Andromon.
"Ah! There it is!" Guilmon said suddenly, jumping in triumph. "Found it."
Andromon considered restating his concerns, but was curious as to what Guilmon had ‘found’.
"Emperor?" he inquired, and Guilmon briefly looked at his advisor smiling.
"See that star out there?" he asked pointing into the velvety sky. "The small red one?"
Andromon's visual sensors found the burning pinprick almost instantly. He wondered why Guilmon was so interested in this simple star. He had remembered how childish Guilmon had been years ago, but now he was a much more complex being--wasn't he? Uncertainly, the silvery Digimon nodded with a whirring sound.
"That star," Guilmon continued, "is the one I look for every night, and I always find it. It's the only scarlet one out there, and it gets closer which each passing day."
Andromon tried to look at the extraterrestrial star, but was unable to.
"A meteorite?" he asked, looking at his friend. "Some kind of danger?"
Guilmon laughed.
"Perhaps, old friend," he said, patting Andromon on the back with a clunk. "Perhaps it's just space dust or something. Whatever it is, it'll surely burn up in the atmosphere someday, but I'm looking more at the metaphoric value of that star."
"Oh..." Andromon responded, and turned back to the sky with his considerably shorter confidant. "And what would that be?"
Guilmon smiled one of his old smiles that really meant that he was worried about something.
"I believe that star is war," he said, and Andromon rolled his eyes out of the sight of the Emperor. "And with each passing day, that star gets closer, and closer, until finally it's upon us. It's too far to distinguish, too bright and attractive to ignore, but too small and fast to impede or destroy. One day, it could be upon us, and it'll be too late to ignore. That is when it'll be at its biggest."
"Emperor ..." Andromon said. "Is this about the Sleber Tsal again?"
He took Emperor Guilmon's silence as a yes.
"How long will this peace last, old friend?" he asked without looking away from the scarlet star. "How long until these trivial matters stop, and the real troubles begin?"
"Emperor," Andromon pursued, "there is no tangible proof that the Sleber Tsal is planning anything, tactical or otherwise. They're just running around praising that madmon, Ciphermon. Furthermore--"
"They're planning something," Guilmon said quietly. "I can feel it in my bones. They're waiting for us to feel at our safest. That's when we'll be most vulnerable. That is when they will strike, and may very damn well destroy us all. It's been so long since this world has seen war and bloodshed, there is no way in the Digital World we'll be ready for them."
Andromon shook his head sadly at the Emperor.
"Sir," he began cautiously. "How do you know that they have something in the works?"
Guilmon frowned.
"Instinct," he said simply. "When you've been in as many battles - physical and otherwise--you start to get a sixth sense about these things. Sure, everyone is too afraid of Nibelcycer to break the law and be anything but brotherly, but he, Ciphermon, is not afraid of the government, or prison. Hell, I doubt that Mon is afraid of death."
Andromon wanted to speak, but thought it would simply be a waste of energy to form the words.
"It's a powder keg, Andromon," Guilmon went on. "People are out there waiting for Ciphermon to step in and destroy the peace, and I get the feeling it won't be too far off."
He turned to his companion.
"A war is brewing," he said in his most quiet voice. "There are too many alliances out there for this to be a controlled matter, and the peace may last for tonight, and tomorrow, but what of the day after that, and the day after that?"
Guilmon walked towards the archway leading back inside, and gave Andromon a fleeting glance.
"Nobody can control time, Andromon," he sighed. "And no matter how much I regret saying this, I'm getting old. We're getting old. The sky is getting old, the ground is getting old, EVERYTHING is getting old. If you're wrong, and I'm right, what will we do to defend ourselves? Throw Primary Village citizens at them, or throw our walking canes at them? We no longer have teeth to bare at any threat, we've become too used to peace, and there are no longer warriors in this newer generation."
Andromon smiled, giving Emperor Guilmon a warm look.
"We still have you, Emperor," he said kindly. "And Terriermon. Even Renamon wouldn't let some world war go on without showing herself."
Guilmon returned the smile, but weakly.
"Even we heroes have to grow a gray hair sometime, Andromon," he breathed shakily. "Goodnight."
He glanced up at the sky and at the red star in particular.
"Goodnight to you as well," he
said to it. He gave Andromon one curt nod, and walked through the curtains into
the