Digital Demons III - Epilogue
by Nopporn Wongrassamee
Summary - A Digimon Tamers/Jackie Chan Adventures/
Gatekeepers Crossover. The mop up operation where all is
revealed.
Disclaimer - None of these characters are mine, nor am I
making a profit here.
"Bravo!" Ambassador Li applauded, clapping his hands together.
His gaze tracked to include them all. "You are all everything Agent
Yamaki has said about you and more."
"Ah, thank you, Mr. Ambassador," Agent MacTaggert replied,
speaking for the team as its designated leader.
"Although, Yamaki's report didn't mention you, little warrior," the
Ambassador continued, his eyes locking on Jade. She had the
Green Destiny in hand, flat of the blade resing on her shoulder.
"Why is that?"
"Miss Chan isn't a member of this team," MacTaggert told him
stiffly.
"Why not?" the Ambassador pressed. "She contributed greatly to
the victory here."
All eyes swiveled to lock on Jackie.
"Ah, er..." Jackie stammered.
"Go on, Uncle Jackie," Jade prompted. "Tell the nice Ambassador."
Jackie sighed in resignation. "One, it's too dangerous," Jackie
began, ticking the reasons off on his fingers. "Two, Jade is too
young. They are all too young."
"Hey!" the kids all objected at once.
"And three, unlike the rest of them," Jackie continued stubbornly,
"Jade is lacking in innate magic powers."
Jade casually flipped the Dog Talisman like a coin. She said
nothing.
"All good points, Jackie," the Ambassador said thoughtfully. "I
admit, if Jade were my daughter, I would not want her playing
superhero as well. On the other hand, Jade possesses a
resourcefulness that would be very useful for the team to have.
Perhaps you should reconsider?"
"Sir, you can't be serious," Agent MacTaggert said to Ambassador
Li as Jackie considered.
"I am," the Ambassador replied. He frowned at the agent. "I'm
sorry, who are you again?"
"Agent MacTaggert," the Agent answered. "I've been assigned as
the temporary team leader."
"Very temporary," the Ambassador murmurred under his breath.
Then louder so everyone could hear, "Are you? I would have
thought this dignified lady is the team leader."
"Oh, not me," Ruriko said modestly. She hugged Rika close to her
side with one arm. "I'm just a relation."
"Perhaps you should be more?" the Ambassador suggested. "You
displayed a certain level headedness and confidence one would
expect in a leader. And I saw that you possess some measure of
power yourself. Perhaps you should be the team's leader instead
of... of..." The Ambassador turned to MacTaggert. "What was your
name again?"
"Alright!" Jackie said suddenly. "Jade can join the team."
"Yes!" Jade exclaimed. Several of the other kids congratulated
her.
"But I reserve the right to pull you out at any time," Jackie added
pointedly.
"Sure, whatever Jackie," Jade said dismissively.
"I'm sure you'll do us all proud, Jade," the Ambassador told Jade.
"The best wishes of all of China go with you."
"Does this mean I get to keep the Green Destiny?" Jade asked
hopefully.
Ambassador Li chuckled in amusement. "No."
"Darn."
***
"So, what can we say are the results of this disaster of a test?"
the Attache asked quietly.
"Everything functioned exactly as we predicted," the Technician
stated. "The test would have been a success if the opposition had
not surprised our forces with traps and previously unseen
abilities."
"Humans do that," the Spy said drily. "All the time."
"Well, yes," the Technician fumbled. "As it is, we suffered some
losses."
"Some losses?" the Accountant echoed vehemently. "Try one
hundred percent! One. Hundred. Percent. Both among the our
ordinary troops and the new prototype! Not only that, we've also
lost those Talismans that would have been most useful to us.
And the primary objective was not completed."
"Well, one thing this test has shown is that these humans and
their pet Digimon are far more dangerous than we had initially
estimated them to be," the Soldier announced. "That means they
can be dangerous to us as well."
"Please, leave the paranoia to me," the Spy told him. "I'm much
better at it. In any case, my team being dangerous is a good
thing. They can defend us against the wild Digimon all the
better and they'll be under our control. They are only a danger to
us only if we keep pulling these half-baked hit and run attacks
around them."
The Spy glared at the others around the table, daring anyone to
disagree with him. Nobody did.
"Alright, I think we are all agreed to let you handle the Digimon
situation," the Attache said, finally breaking the silence. "If no
one has any other business?" No one did. "Then I declare this
meeting adjourned. See you all next month."
As one, they stood up. "HAIL, VADER!" they simultaneously
chanted.
"That is such a corny line," the Newsie added as they all
teleported out.
All was quiet for several minutes. Then the Zealot returned
alone.
"'Corny'? They should have more respect for the old Masters," the
Zealot muttered darkly into the emptiness. A Shadowkhan
appeared beside him. "I have a message for your Master," the
Zealot told it. "Listen closely..."
***
Nocking an arrow into her bow, Ruriko studied her target.
"I hear that Agent MacTaggert has...embarrased himself," Captain
Black asked as he watched behind her.
"Mm hmm," she hummed affirmative. Ruriko brought the bow up
and aimed carefully.
"I also hear that you've taken over the team from him," Black
continued.
"I did," Ruriko confirmed, releasing the arrow. It flew straight and
true. Ruriko had another arrow nocked and ready to go as the
first struck the target. She sent several more arrows off in rapid
succession.
"I also hear that this practice range was designed with handguns
in mind," Black added lightly.
Ruriko stifled a giggle. "Why do you think I'm using a stuffed
dummy instead of a paper target?" she asked with mock severity.
"If I'm going to be doing this superhero nonsense again, it only
makes sense to get some practice in before the next crisis."
"I would have thought that you might want to spend some time
with the kids," Black said. "Train them up on teamwork."
"Like Agent Tag did?" Ruriko snorted as she reeleed the target
back. It was leaking stuffing badly. "The kids are already a team,
Captain Black. What they really need is to learn a little discipline.
Just because they're playing superhero now doesn't exempt them
from rules of common courtesy."
"Like tying up and gagging Agent MacTaggert?"
"Exactly," Ruriko nodded, pulling her arrows from the practice
dummy. "I've arranged a little punishment detail for them. They
have to clean up every rest room here at Section 13."
"Oh?" Black eyebrows rose. "I didn't think our restrooms were
that bad."
"They're not," Ruriko chuckled. "It's just time consuming and
boring. That's punishment enough for the kids."
There was a distant crash, followed by the sound of gushing
water.
"Although maybe I shouldn't have left them alone," Ruriko added
faintly.
***
"Did you hear that?" Takato asked, pausing in wiping down the
mirror in the Men's room.
"Yeah," Henry replied. He reached out and stopped a mop being
ridden by two Digimon. Terriermon was clutching the mop and
using his spinning attack to whirl the mop at high speed.
Calumon was just along for the ride. "Stop that," Henry ordered
sternly. "Mrs. Ukiya said no powers."
"Oh, c'mon, Henry," Terriermon whined.
"I don't think that was it," Takato told them as he put the rag and
spray bottle into a holder Guilmon was wearing. The large
Digimon's claws were too big and clumsy to help in cleaning so
Takato had elected him as the group's pack mule. "I think that
noise is coming from next door. The Ladies' room I think."
"It's probably nothing," Henry told him, rinsing the mop out in the
bucket. "Even if it is, I'm sure the girls can handle it."
"Yeah, I suppose you're right," Takato agreed. He examined his
handiwork on the mirror for a moment. "Henry?"
"Hmm?" Henry answered as he started mopping. "What is it?"
"Could you loan me a few Modify cards?"
"What happened to yours?" Henry asked, concerned.
"Oh, heh, I lost most of mine on that last attack," Takato replied
sheepishly. "When I pulled out that last card, the wind blew most
of my deck all over the place. I think they're scattered all over
downtown San Francisco now."
"Hey, Henry," Terriermon interupted before Henry could reply.
"Don't you think that's too much water?"
"Terriermon, what..." Henry began. He stopped abruptly when he
spotted water streaming in under the door from the hallway.
***
"Correct me if I'm wrong," Rika began, standing in ankle deep
water, "but didn't Grandma say not to use any powers?"
"Sorry," Jeri squeaked.
"Hey, it was my idea," Jade interceded. "Lay off her."
"Well, we're all going to be in serious trouble if we can't fix this,"
Rika declared as a glowing orange broom strolled by hauling a
toilet in its arms. "Jeri, can't you stop it?"
"I don't think it's going to stop if I just tell it to," Jeri said. "It's like
that statue back at the convention center. When I make one of my
Gatepuppets with an already existing object, it just does what I
first told it to. They don't stop for anything."
"Oh, I don't believe that," Jade scoffed. "You made it, you should
be able to exert some kind of control over it."
"We don't have time for this," Rika said irritably. "Renamon?"
There were a couple of splashes as Renamon materialized beside
the Tamer. "Rika?"
Rika pointed at the returning broom. It had chucked the toilet
somewhere. "You know what to do."
"Of course. DIAMOND STORM!"
***
"Where to start?" Shibumi said to himself.
Yukino said nothing. She just stared back.
"Might as well, start at the beginning," Shibumi concluded with a
sigh. "For what seems like forever, humanity has been plagued
by demons. They werealways just there, feeding on the energies
humanity put out. Now occaisionally, some demons will develop
aspirations for world conquest. They'll create legions of identical
minions for themselves, gather allies, and accumalate all sorts of
magical mojo. You with me so far, highness?"
Yukino just stared back.
"When we Eight Immortals banished those Demon Sorcerers two
thousand years ago, I thought our job was done," Shibumi
continued. "Oh, sure, other demons would try something similar,
but a band of heroes would always rise to the occaision. I wasn't
too concerned after a while." He grimaced. "Then came thirty
years ago when Kageyama tried taking over Japan. I got my first
look at the Invaders."
Yukino stare seemed to shift from him. She was recalling that
event, too.
"These Invaders were demons of a different breed than the ones
that came before," Shibumi reminisced. "They were demons of
the Industrial Age, a magnitude more powerful than their
medieval predecessors. With a little research, I figured out that
demons were evolving along with human society. And I also
discovered that the next Age of demons was practically around
the corner."
He paused as the Digignome that Yukino had summoned landed
on his shoulder. Yukino herself examined it.
"The spirit world was changing," Shibumi continued. "As computers and networks became more common, spirits were
starting to pick up digital formats. I knew demons in digital forms
were inevitable. So I pre-empted them. Instead of waiting for
digital demons to spontaneously appear, I set out to create them.
I recruited a team of programmers who were also latent magicians
of one kind or another. We created digital demons, but we built
in code so that they would naturally bond with humans."
Shibumi looked at Yukino, a pleading look in his eyes.
"Please understand, your highness," he almost begged. "I only
meant to free humanity of the constant cycle of demon attacks. I
didn't want humans to become the victims of Information Age
demons. I had no idea the D-Reaper would become so dangerous,
or that the Sorcerers could asume digital form and come back to
haunt us."
Yukino just looked down. A single tear fell from her eye. When it
hit the nonexistant floor, it shattered, frozen in mid-drop. And
when it shattered, Shibumi's eyes opened.
He was back in his apartment, alone but for a small snowman
melting on his coffee table..
***
"I cannot contact, Po Kong," AstroTsoLanMon announced.
"She's probably just stuffing her face," MegaShenduMon
reasoned.
"You are not listening, brother," AstroTsoLanMon disagreed. "I
said that I could not contact her. Po Kong is not there to be
contacted. Not in body or in spirit. She is gone."
There was silence as the others digested this information.
"Perhaps an even stronger force?" ElectroTchangZuMon
suggested.
"We had thought Xiao Fung and Po Kong more than enough
force," AstroTsoLanMon pointed out. "Perhaps we should employ
a bit of subtlety first?"
"You have a point, brother," TidalBaiSaMon said thoughtfully. "We
rule the Digital World now. Let's see if we can get some use out
of these Digimon. I even have the perfect agent."
"Do you now?" MegaShenduMon asked as TidalBaiSaMon
literally vomited out a tiny purple Digimon into her waiting hand.
"I believe I will take you up on your offer," TidalBaiSaMon told
the little purple Digimon. "Introduce yourself."
"About time," the Digimon coughed. "I'm Impmon."
"Indeed?" mused MegaShenduMon. "Finally, a Digimon that
admits what it truly is."
"You bet yer golden hiney," Impmon replied miserably. "What do
you want me to do?"
by Nopporn Wongrassamee
Summary - A Digimon Tamers/Jackie Chan Adventures/
Gatekeepers Crossover. The mop up operation where all is
revealed.
Disclaimer - None of these characters are mine, nor am I
making a profit here.
"Bravo!" Ambassador Li applauded, clapping his hands together.
His gaze tracked to include them all. "You are all everything Agent
Yamaki has said about you and more."
"Ah, thank you, Mr. Ambassador," Agent MacTaggert replied,
speaking for the team as its designated leader.
"Although, Yamaki's report didn't mention you, little warrior," the
Ambassador continued, his eyes locking on Jade. She had the
Green Destiny in hand, flat of the blade resing on her shoulder.
"Why is that?"
"Miss Chan isn't a member of this team," MacTaggert told him
stiffly.
"Why not?" the Ambassador pressed. "She contributed greatly to
the victory here."
All eyes swiveled to lock on Jackie.
"Ah, er..." Jackie stammered.
"Go on, Uncle Jackie," Jade prompted. "Tell the nice Ambassador."
Jackie sighed in resignation. "One, it's too dangerous," Jackie
began, ticking the reasons off on his fingers. "Two, Jade is too
young. They are all too young."
"Hey!" the kids all objected at once.
"And three, unlike the rest of them," Jackie continued stubbornly,
"Jade is lacking in innate magic powers."
Jade casually flipped the Dog Talisman like a coin. She said
nothing.
"All good points, Jackie," the Ambassador said thoughtfully. "I
admit, if Jade were my daughter, I would not want her playing
superhero as well. On the other hand, Jade possesses a
resourcefulness that would be very useful for the team to have.
Perhaps you should reconsider?"
"Sir, you can't be serious," Agent MacTaggert said to Ambassador
Li as Jackie considered.
"I am," the Ambassador replied. He frowned at the agent. "I'm
sorry, who are you again?"
"Agent MacTaggert," the Agent answered. "I've been assigned as
the temporary team leader."
"Very temporary," the Ambassador murmurred under his breath.
Then louder so everyone could hear, "Are you? I would have
thought this dignified lady is the team leader."
"Oh, not me," Ruriko said modestly. She hugged Rika close to her
side with one arm. "I'm just a relation."
"Perhaps you should be more?" the Ambassador suggested. "You
displayed a certain level headedness and confidence one would
expect in a leader. And I saw that you possess some measure of
power yourself. Perhaps you should be the team's leader instead
of... of..." The Ambassador turned to MacTaggert. "What was your
name again?"
"Alright!" Jackie said suddenly. "Jade can join the team."
"Yes!" Jade exclaimed. Several of the other kids congratulated
her.
"But I reserve the right to pull you out at any time," Jackie added
pointedly.
"Sure, whatever Jackie," Jade said dismissively.
"I'm sure you'll do us all proud, Jade," the Ambassador told Jade.
"The best wishes of all of China go with you."
"Does this mean I get to keep the Green Destiny?" Jade asked
hopefully.
Ambassador Li chuckled in amusement. "No."
"Darn."
***
"So, what can we say are the results of this disaster of a test?"
the Attache asked quietly.
"Everything functioned exactly as we predicted," the Technician
stated. "The test would have been a success if the opposition had
not surprised our forces with traps and previously unseen
abilities."
"Humans do that," the Spy said drily. "All the time."
"Well, yes," the Technician fumbled. "As it is, we suffered some
losses."
"Some losses?" the Accountant echoed vehemently. "Try one
hundred percent! One. Hundred. Percent. Both among the our
ordinary troops and the new prototype! Not only that, we've also
lost those Talismans that would have been most useful to us.
And the primary objective was not completed."
"Well, one thing this test has shown is that these humans and
their pet Digimon are far more dangerous than we had initially
estimated them to be," the Soldier announced. "That means they
can be dangerous to us as well."
"Please, leave the paranoia to me," the Spy told him. "I'm much
better at it. In any case, my team being dangerous is a good
thing. They can defend us against the wild Digimon all the
better and they'll be under our control. They are only a danger to
us only if we keep pulling these half-baked hit and run attacks
around them."
The Spy glared at the others around the table, daring anyone to
disagree with him. Nobody did.
"Alright, I think we are all agreed to let you handle the Digimon
situation," the Attache said, finally breaking the silence. "If no
one has any other business?" No one did. "Then I declare this
meeting adjourned. See you all next month."
As one, they stood up. "HAIL, VADER!" they simultaneously
chanted.
"That is such a corny line," the Newsie added as they all
teleported out.
All was quiet for several minutes. Then the Zealot returned
alone.
"'Corny'? They should have more respect for the old Masters," the
Zealot muttered darkly into the emptiness. A Shadowkhan
appeared beside him. "I have a message for your Master," the
Zealot told it. "Listen closely..."
***
Nocking an arrow into her bow, Ruriko studied her target.
"I hear that Agent MacTaggert has...embarrased himself," Captain
Black asked as he watched behind her.
"Mm hmm," she hummed affirmative. Ruriko brought the bow up
and aimed carefully.
"I also hear that you've taken over the team from him," Black
continued.
"I did," Ruriko confirmed, releasing the arrow. It flew straight and
true. Ruriko had another arrow nocked and ready to go as the
first struck the target. She sent several more arrows off in rapid
succession.
"I also hear that this practice range was designed with handguns
in mind," Black added lightly.
Ruriko stifled a giggle. "Why do you think I'm using a stuffed
dummy instead of a paper target?" she asked with mock severity.
"If I'm going to be doing this superhero nonsense again, it only
makes sense to get some practice in before the next crisis."
"I would have thought that you might want to spend some time
with the kids," Black said. "Train them up on teamwork."
"Like Agent Tag did?" Ruriko snorted as she reeleed the target
back. It was leaking stuffing badly. "The kids are already a team,
Captain Black. What they really need is to learn a little discipline.
Just because they're playing superhero now doesn't exempt them
from rules of common courtesy."
"Like tying up and gagging Agent MacTaggert?"
"Exactly," Ruriko nodded, pulling her arrows from the practice
dummy. "I've arranged a little punishment detail for them. They
have to clean up every rest room here at Section 13."
"Oh?" Black eyebrows rose. "I didn't think our restrooms were
that bad."
"They're not," Ruriko chuckled. "It's just time consuming and
boring. That's punishment enough for the kids."
There was a distant crash, followed by the sound of gushing
water.
"Although maybe I shouldn't have left them alone," Ruriko added
faintly.
***
"Did you hear that?" Takato asked, pausing in wiping down the
mirror in the Men's room.
"Yeah," Henry replied. He reached out and stopped a mop being
ridden by two Digimon. Terriermon was clutching the mop and
using his spinning attack to whirl the mop at high speed.
Calumon was just along for the ride. "Stop that," Henry ordered
sternly. "Mrs. Ukiya said no powers."
"Oh, c'mon, Henry," Terriermon whined.
"I don't think that was it," Takato told them as he put the rag and
spray bottle into a holder Guilmon was wearing. The large
Digimon's claws were too big and clumsy to help in cleaning so
Takato had elected him as the group's pack mule. "I think that
noise is coming from next door. The Ladies' room I think."
"It's probably nothing," Henry told him, rinsing the mop out in the
bucket. "Even if it is, I'm sure the girls can handle it."
"Yeah, I suppose you're right," Takato agreed. He examined his
handiwork on the mirror for a moment. "Henry?"
"Hmm?" Henry answered as he started mopping. "What is it?"
"Could you loan me a few Modify cards?"
"What happened to yours?" Henry asked, concerned.
"Oh, heh, I lost most of mine on that last attack," Takato replied
sheepishly. "When I pulled out that last card, the wind blew most
of my deck all over the place. I think they're scattered all over
downtown San Francisco now."
"Hey, Henry," Terriermon interupted before Henry could reply.
"Don't you think that's too much water?"
"Terriermon, what..." Henry began. He stopped abruptly when he
spotted water streaming in under the door from the hallway.
***
"Correct me if I'm wrong," Rika began, standing in ankle deep
water, "but didn't Grandma say not to use any powers?"
"Sorry," Jeri squeaked.
"Hey, it was my idea," Jade interceded. "Lay off her."
"Well, we're all going to be in serious trouble if we can't fix this,"
Rika declared as a glowing orange broom strolled by hauling a
toilet in its arms. "Jeri, can't you stop it?"
"I don't think it's going to stop if I just tell it to," Jeri said. "It's like
that statue back at the convention center. When I make one of my
Gatepuppets with an already existing object, it just does what I
first told it to. They don't stop for anything."
"Oh, I don't believe that," Jade scoffed. "You made it, you should
be able to exert some kind of control over it."
"We don't have time for this," Rika said irritably. "Renamon?"
There were a couple of splashes as Renamon materialized beside
the Tamer. "Rika?"
Rika pointed at the returning broom. It had chucked the toilet
somewhere. "You know what to do."
"Of course. DIAMOND STORM!"
***
"Where to start?" Shibumi said to himself.
Yukino said nothing. She just stared back.
"Might as well, start at the beginning," Shibumi concluded with a
sigh. "For what seems like forever, humanity has been plagued
by demons. They werealways just there, feeding on the energies
humanity put out. Now occaisionally, some demons will develop
aspirations for world conquest. They'll create legions of identical
minions for themselves, gather allies, and accumalate all sorts of
magical mojo. You with me so far, highness?"
Yukino just stared back.
"When we Eight Immortals banished those Demon Sorcerers two
thousand years ago, I thought our job was done," Shibumi
continued. "Oh, sure, other demons would try something similar,
but a band of heroes would always rise to the occaision. I wasn't
too concerned after a while." He grimaced. "Then came thirty
years ago when Kageyama tried taking over Japan. I got my first
look at the Invaders."
Yukino stare seemed to shift from him. She was recalling that
event, too.
"These Invaders were demons of a different breed than the ones
that came before," Shibumi reminisced. "They were demons of
the Industrial Age, a magnitude more powerful than their
medieval predecessors. With a little research, I figured out that
demons were evolving along with human society. And I also
discovered that the next Age of demons was practically around
the corner."
He paused as the Digignome that Yukino had summoned landed
on his shoulder. Yukino herself examined it.
"The spirit world was changing," Shibumi continued. "As computers and networks became more common, spirits were
starting to pick up digital formats. I knew demons in digital forms
were inevitable. So I pre-empted them. Instead of waiting for
digital demons to spontaneously appear, I set out to create them.
I recruited a team of programmers who were also latent magicians
of one kind or another. We created digital demons, but we built
in code so that they would naturally bond with humans."
Shibumi looked at Yukino, a pleading look in his eyes.
"Please understand, your highness," he almost begged. "I only
meant to free humanity of the constant cycle of demon attacks. I
didn't want humans to become the victims of Information Age
demons. I had no idea the D-Reaper would become so dangerous,
or that the Sorcerers could asume digital form and come back to
haunt us."
Yukino just looked down. A single tear fell from her eye. When it
hit the nonexistant floor, it shattered, frozen in mid-drop. And
when it shattered, Shibumi's eyes opened.
He was back in his apartment, alone but for a small snowman
melting on his coffee table..
***
"I cannot contact, Po Kong," AstroTsoLanMon announced.
"She's probably just stuffing her face," MegaShenduMon
reasoned.
"You are not listening, brother," AstroTsoLanMon disagreed. "I
said that I could not contact her. Po Kong is not there to be
contacted. Not in body or in spirit. She is gone."
There was silence as the others digested this information.
"Perhaps an even stronger force?" ElectroTchangZuMon
suggested.
"We had thought Xiao Fung and Po Kong more than enough
force," AstroTsoLanMon pointed out. "Perhaps we should employ
a bit of subtlety first?"
"You have a point, brother," TidalBaiSaMon said thoughtfully. "We
rule the Digital World now. Let's see if we can get some use out
of these Digimon. I even have the perfect agent."
"Do you now?" MegaShenduMon asked as TidalBaiSaMon
literally vomited out a tiny purple Digimon into her waiting hand.
"I believe I will take you up on your offer," TidalBaiSaMon told
the little purple Digimon. "Introduce yourself."
"About time," the Digimon coughed. "I'm Impmon."
"Indeed?" mused MegaShenduMon. "Finally, a Digimon that
admits what it truly is."
"You bet yer golden hiney," Impmon replied miserably. "What do
you want me to do?"