Disclaimer: The standard. I don't own Digimon, nor do I own the song "The Touch" by Stan Bush. (which will appear exclusively at the site until drops the uprising against songfics.)
Notes: This is a "what if" songfic story, which diverges from the battle between Megidramon and Beelzemon, set about two months after the end of Tamers. All will be explained at the end (or better yet, in responses to reviews), if there are any questions. The song has a unique purpose in this story.
The usual key applies, BTW. If you don't know it by now, check out some of my other works. . The only exception this time is that it is also used for the songs, which will be centered. Enjoy. .
Secondary note: READ THE AUTHOR'S NOTES AT THE BOTTOM OF THE STORY!
It had been almost impossible to believe. Certainly Ruki Makino would not have believed it. Yet there it was in front of her. Oblong, oak, and- or so it seemed to her- laughing in her face.
Jenrya Lee sat not that far from the red-blonde haired female Tamer, Terriermon perched on his shoulder. For once, the wiseass wisely said nothing sarcastic. Of course, Jenrya would have desperately welcomed any attempt to lighten the mood, even as he was sure at the same time that he would have attempted to strangle his partner for doing so. Not too far from him were Renamon, Guardromon, Hirokazu, Kenta, and MarineAngemon. The humans and Renamon looked sad. Guardromon and MarineAngemon however, looked perplexed.
Juri Katou was, understandably, the farthest of the
group from the casket. Having lost both her mother, and then much later
her partner Leomon, it was astonishing to everyone present that she was
even here. Even more startling, was that not too far from her, was Impmon!
Given the circumstances, Tamers and Digimon both were surprised to see
him not only even being here, but being so close by Juri. What Ruki found
startling was that she didn't even feel that she had enough strength to
get up, walk over, and strangle the little Digimon to death. She was more
surprised that Renamon hadn't managed it, though she could tell just by
looking at her partner that she damned well wanted to, but seemed to be
holding herself back for the sake of everyone present.
As for Impmon, he looked genuinely remorseful.
Little Shaochung Lee seemed confused, which was understandable. Lopmon, however, she understood this all too well. As they stood there, each had their own thoughts running through their heads, as did their famililes, and even yes, Yamaki himself. They were all present. All to honor a fallen hero. Yamaki however, seemed perhaps far more disturbed than the rest of them. Why exactly, nobody coould say.
You never bend, you never break
You seem to know just what it takes
You're a fighter
It's in the blood, it's in the will
It's in the mighty hands of steel
When you're standin' your ground
And you never get hit when your back's to the wall
Gonna fight to the end and you're takin' it all
You got the touch
You got the power
As surprising as all of this was, only Ruki
seemed to be concered with these things. But then, her days as the ice
cold Digimon Queen had more or less conditioned her to think about more
than just the immediate things. Her mind was primarily concerned with the
immediate, but she couldn't help but wonder at why Yamaki seemed to be
so pained by all of this.
Not that she had much time to ponder it, as a peal
of thunder roared overhead, the inky blackness of the clouds settling over
the sun.
Appropriate, I suppose. Ruki thought
to herself.
Guilmon stood not too far away, ears drooping. His
childlike mentality still had a hard time wrapping around this concept.
Renamon went over and gently hugged the red dinosaurian-type. As the rain
began to fall, all but four beings left. Ruki, Renamon, Guilmon, and Yamaki.
You got the touch
You got the power
When all hell's breakin' loose
You'll be riding the eye of the storm
You got the heart
You got the motion
You know that when things get too tough
You got the touch
"I'm sorry about all of this."
Ruki started a bit, as did the others. Impmon, it
seemed, had returned.
"Is that all you can say! That you're sorry!
Sorry can't do anything about this! This, in some ways, is even worse
than what you did to Leomon!" Renamon retorted. Ruki actually seemed surprised
by that comment for the merest of moments until she realized that she was
speaking from the viewpoint of a Digimon, and for Digimon, killing was
a fact of life in their world, where it was all or nothing more often than
not.
"Look, it was a stupid mistake, okay!" The little
rookie snapped. "I just wanted to be able to Digivolve! I was tired of
always being kicked around, treated like some weak in-training, and I couldn't
stand the fact that you Digimon had partners who actually gave a damn about
you! But I never wanted THIS! I mean yeah, they contracted me to
kill Dino-boy there, but he's one of us! It woulda been just business as
usual! How the hell was I to know this was gonna happen!" He continued.
Renamon, finally pushed beyond her limits for the
day, lost her temper for the first time in more years than she cared to
count, teleported next to the little Digimon and slapped him with enough
force to send him hurtling through the air and into a tree. Even Guilmon
seemed a bit taken aback by this. Renamon had seemed the calmest of them
all. Indeed, very little could rattle the fox-type. Impmon looked the most
surprised of all. After all the times Renamon had tried to be friends with
Impmon, this was a full 180 degree turn for her. The look on her face was
staggering. She was genuinely upset. More than she should have been, at
least that's what he thought.
"How can you be so damned callous!" She all but
shouted. "Haven't you figured it out yet? He wasn't one of us! He had a
life ahead of him, Goddramon damn you! He...he..." Renamon finally just
vanished from sight, but the look on her face was very easy to notice by
Impmon and the returning Terriermon who had come back to find out what
all the commotion was.
"That was...unexpected." Yamaki said slowly. Terriermon
barely bit back a wsiecrack about the leader of Hypnos' sudden gift for
understatement. However, he simply allowed his ears to catch an updraft
and took to the air. He had a feeling he knew where the fox-type was headed.
"Hey! Where are you going, long ears!" Ruki said
angrily.
"I'll be back in a bit with Renamon! Tell Jen not
to worry, I'll be okay." Was all the dog-rabbit said, as the currents carried
him off. Impmon was stunningly swift and stealthy, managing to depart and
follow the other rookie from a discreet distance.
A short while later, Terriermon found the Vulpine
near the home of the fallen one. She was sitting on the roof of the neighboring
home. Terriermon gently glided down to land behind her. Impmon, with a
few leaps, landed a short ways behind the two, simply waiting and watching.
"You loved him, didn't you?"
Renamon whipped around, and Impmon winced with another
pang of guilt. The Vulpine was crying, but also looked surprised at having
been discovered.
"How did you find me!" She demanded, almost choking
on her own words. Terriermon looked like he wanted to break down too and
just hug her. But instead just looked at her and repeated:
"You loved him, didn't you?"
Renamon turned around, looking back down at the
house. "How did you know?"
"I'd say it was pretty damned obvious." The two
turned to see Impmon walking over. "The way you went apeshit on me earlier.
Look, Renamon, I'm sorry. I really am. If I'd known then what I know now,
I never would've accepted Chatsuramon's offer. I may not have been all
that fond of humans, but I kinda liked him. He was as naive as Pineapple
head sometimes. But at least he was consistent. I didn't think that guy
had a mean bone in his body at times.I'm just sorry I pulled the trigger
that last time. I had no fucking CLUE he'd take the hit for'im. I knew
he was a little nuts when it came to protecting his friends, but even I
didn't think he was THAT nuts!"
Renamon almost looked ready to attack the small
Rookie again. Since their time in the Digital World, Impmon had surrendered
his power, only to gain it back in the form of Beelzemon Blast Mode, a
variant version of the Mega form in which he had caused such pain and suffering.
For Leomon, Beelzemon had been the spectre of death. Despite it all, Juri
had never been able to fully forgive him for the death of her partner.
Megidramon though, had proven that rage, when properly applied, makes for
a great battery of energy, and Impmon carried the scars of that lesson
to this day. Scars that might have been avoided, if not for the second
death which had occured that day. As the three Digimon looked down at the
small home, which also helped serve to bring income to the fallen Tamer
and his family, each had their own thoughts. Terriermon voiced the most
obvious one.
"Does Ruki know?" He asked.
Renamon said nothing. It had become obvious that
in the days that followed, that Ruki was beginning to suffer a breakdown
as well, since she too had loved him. Juri, however, her depression nearly
lead to the destruction of life as it was known on Earth and the Digital
World, thanks to her encounter with the D-Reaper. Ruki had dealt with her
grief by becoming cold-hearted to everyone but Renamon again. When things
returned to normal though, she completely broke down. She refused to eat,
go to school, or talk with anyone except her grandmother and Renamon. Renamon
remained stoic, but her own heart had been crushed by the events of that
day, and she couldn't bear to reveal her own affections for the now departed
Tamer, since she already felt a wedge being driven between her and her
Tamer. Ruki had begun to see Digimon as things to be hated again because
of what Beelzemon had done.
"I hate to break up this sob-fest...but it's...startin
ta rain..." Impmon said in a tiny voice. Renamon finally looked over at
him and sighed.
"Impmon...I...I forgive you. What you did was horrible..but
in the end, you did see the error of your ways. I cannot find it in my
heart to destroy you, not knowing what I know. And I would not deprive
your partners of their best friend."
"Hey, no need to sweat it, fox-face. They..they
don't entirely understand what happened, or what I did, but I was ready
to die to fix my mistake. I wouldn't have blamed ya if ya did decide
to axe me. But..thanks anyway. Ai and Mako will understand someday. I just
hope they're as forgiving."
"Somehow...I believe they will be." She said, with
an almost smile.
As the rain finally broke, lightning pealing out
from the clouds and the roar of thunder bringing them back to reality,
they took a final look at the small building, then leapt away, bounding
back to the cemetary.
"Hey, Renamon?"
"Yes?"
"Man, I'm gonna get a brow-beating for this one
but...you think you'da been able to ask him out if things went differently?"
The sound of a dual facefault from twenty feet up
by Renamon and Impmon could be heard for three blocks in all directions
in response to Terriermon's question.
Aftermath:
Renamon snapped awake as a peal of thunder and lightning
ripped through the sky. She blinked a few times, disoriented. Then realized
where she was as the song she had been listening to on a loop from a CD
player came to a close yet again. She had fallen asleep listening to it,
and oddly enough, the song was so true to the way the fallen one had acted
it was scary. She was home. Five years since the Incident. In those five
years, things had certainly changed, and not completely for the better.
Impmon, amazingly, had found himself becoming Beelzemon
Blast Mode once again, and rather than question the occurence, began making
the best of it by becoming a crimefighter. He was often joined in his heroics
by Guilmon, who had started randomly digivolving up to Megidramona year
after the Incident, and the two had managed to become not only friends,
after two years of bitterness on Megidramon's part, but also a formidible
duo. Though Megidramon still had a tendancy to be more brutal than his
partner.
Juri was eventually institutionalized for attempting
to return to the Digital World through suicide.
Ruki, surprisingly, had also been instituionalized
for attempting to exhume the body of the fallen Tamer.
Jenrya had begun lobbying for the rights of Digimon,
alongside Terriermon and most of Hypnos AND The Monster Makers,
which lead to the establishing of relations between Earth and Zhuqiaomon's
sector of the Digital World, which in turn lead to invitations from the
other Sovereigns to begin talks with them as well. As a result, the Digital
World was united for the first time in over fifteen years, with the Sovereigns
forming a counterpoint to Earth's United Nations.
Antylomon, once again at Ultimate, had begun a relationship
with, of all Digimon, Megidramon. The two are celebrating their two year
anniversary. Though she spends most of her time helping to further Human/Digimon
relations, she occasionally joins Megidramon and Beelzemon in their crimefighting
campaigns.
Terriermon, who decided not to digivolve up, has
become a comedian, and has a special airing on HBO in a few months. He
picked up english surprisingly fast.
And then there was Renamon. She had become almost
a hermit after the fallen one's death. She left the Makino home only rarely,and
when she did, it was often as Sakuyamon. She had somehow gained the ability
to digivolve to Mega without Ruki. She never questioned it. She was simply
grateful for the chance to go out in that form. She often vistits his grave.
And indeed, she was about to Digivolve and head out on this night, but
a strange light began to coalesce in front of her, forming into the shape
of a Digimon. Renamon's eyes narrowed suspiciously. She knew this Digimon,
by reputation, and she did not entirely welcome his presence
"What do you want?"
"Peace, young Renamon. I have come to offer you
a gift." The Digimon replied, giving her a gentle smile.
"I don't trust you, Seraphimon. You've got a reputation
for causing more trouble than you're worth sometimes."
"Perhaps" The Holy Mega Digimon replied. "But I
can give you your fondest wish. I can give Takato back to you."
Renamon's eyes narrowed dangerously. "You tread
dangerous waters, Seraphimon."
"I speak the complete truth, gentle one. You know
of my reputation, so you must also know of my power. I can give him back
to you, as alive and as healthy as he had always been. All you have to
do is accept my gift, and take my hand, that I may send you to him."
Renamon hesitated...
Owari
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Okay! This story WILL have a sequel, or perhaps I'll add another chapter on to this. I see it going one of two ways. Either Renamon will accept Seraphimon's offer, which will allow for even greater story potential, or she'll reject it, which will lead down another storyline arc. I want to hear from you, the readers, as to what you think I should do. Should Renamon accept the offer? reject it? Or should I write both storylines, for those who want to see both stories play out? Let me know! .
Secondary note: My two fanfics will remain intact on and I will post the URLs on my profile page in a few days for those who want to see the original version of this fic and Faith of the Heart. In the meantime, let know how you feel about their attack on songfics!