Yamato Ishida (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
angry_friendship_wolf) wrote2020-04-04 01:44 am
angry_friendship_wolf) wrote2020-04-04 01:44 am
[tri OOM] State of Play
The journey down to the Wall of Fire is a lengthy one. It involves heading to the Temple of the Chosen, down to its deepest level, and then through a tunnel to the underside of Mount Infinity. There’s a door, a heavy circle of stone marked with the symbols of the Crests, that rolls open as Yamato and Koushiro approach, and from there it’s a long, long walk down a wide staircase, curving about the walls of a seemingly bottomless stone shaft.
It takes a good three and a half hours of walking to reach the bottom of the staircase, and from there it’s another walk down a tunnel marked with carvings and wall paintings, lit by the distant flames of the Wall.
When they emerge into the vast cavern that holds the Wall, the heat is almost unbearable. The cavern ends in a cliff face, and beyond it is the Wall, a rushing torrent of fire too thick and bright to see through. Yamato knows what’s past it, a Gate to the depths of the Dark Ocean, but just by looking, he has no way to tell if the Wall has weakened at all.
“It won’t take long to do an analysis,” Koushiro says, taking out his laptop. “The cavern makes regular logs of the intensity of the Wall’s flames, so if it’s weakened at all, we’ll be able to see.”
“Right,” Yamato says, taking a step over to the Wall. He can feel the Ocean through it, just faintly, as though it’s reaching out to him. There’s a part of him that isn’t him that wants to reach back.
“There. The intensity of the flames were falling steadily until the Reboot, at which point they were restored to their old intensity. They’ve started to fall again now, though, bit by bit,” Koushiro says.
“All right,” Yamato replies. “Let’s get out of here.”
---
“Here’s the summary of our findings,” Koushiro says. “As the number of Infections rise and cause greater amounts of electromagnetic and spatial distortions, the power of the Wall of Fire falls. It’s verging on being dangerously low -- I wouldn’t be surprised if temporary rifts to the Dark Ocean have been opening and closing.”
They had returned, gathered the other Chosen (and Meiko, who Yamato still doesn’t really count as a Chosen), and settled around a campfire to make their report and discuss it. It’s almost comfortingly familiar to be discussing plans around a File Island campfire again.
“And if the flames go out entirely, the Ocean will consume the Digital World,” Taichi says.
“And then it will set off a chain reaction, swallowing every other world, one by one, until nothing’s left,” Koushiro said. “Gennai has …”
“Gennai has us in check,” Yamato says. “If we do nothing, the Infection spreads, and eventually the Wall falls. The Digital World can keep Rebooting, but so long as the Infection survives in some form, it can spread again.”
“Right. He used Daisuke, Miyako, Iori, and Ken to create safe zones that couldn’t be rebooted,” Sora murmured. “And now that Meicoomon has … now that she’s remembered who she used to be, he doesn’t need those safe zones anymore. She’ll escape to another world, or a space between worlds, and then just come back and re-Infect the Digital World.”
Yamato notes the insistent terminology there. Who she used to be, not who she is. Meiko looks down at her hands all the same, avoiding their gazes.
“And if the Digital World continues to Reboot, eventually one of those Reboots will fail,” Yamato says. “And failing means Dark Ocean emergence followed by the world being consumed, and then that chain reaction, et cetera.”
“We also can’t fight Meicoomon directly,” Koushiro says. “When we fought her before, it prompted her to evolve, and it accelerated the effects of the Infection. The same thing happened when she detected all eight Crests. Gennai knows that if we try to face her in battle, it might prompt her to evolve again, strengthening the Infection and becoming closer to a fully realised, fully manifested Apocalymon.”
Takeru frowns, folding his arms. “So if we leave the Infection alone, everything dies; if the Digital World keeps Rebooting, everything dies; and if we fight her, she’ll evolve and maybe everything will die. What can we do?”
“We cure the Infection,” Sora says. “Miyako and Ken should already be working on it. When we get back to Odaiba, Koushiro, Jyou, and Yamato can join them, and we can contact Wallace to get his help.”
“Right,” Taichi agrees, stroking his chin. “If we cure the Infection, then Meicoomon isn’t a threat anymore. We take the legs out from under Gennai’s plan.”
“It’s the only thing he doesn’t have a solid plan to counter,” Yamato says. “Not yet, anyway. But Koushiro and I were talking about that, too.”
“A few times now, Gennai has tried to make one of us blacken our Crest,” Koushiro says. “I believe he -- ah, this will require some explanation.”
Several Chosen groan, slumping down onto the logs they’re sitting on. Koushiro doesn’t seem to notice.
“So, here’s a timeline of events,” Koushiro says. “In 1999, we defeated Apocalymon. A fragment of him survived, falling to the Digital World and embedding itself in a Digi-Egg, which later hatched into Meicoomon. At this point, someone sent her to Tottori, along with a digivice.”
“We have to assume that Gennai did that,” Yamato says. “I’m not -- convinced that Meiko was the intended recipient of it, though.”
“What’s more, this is, as far as we know, long before whatever change to his personality set Gennai on this current path,” Koushiro says. “I believe the intention was to have whoever found Meicoomon and the digivice act as a limiter on the shard of Apocalymon. We’ve seen that proximity to Meiko-san seems to suppress the piece of Apocalymon in Meicoomon. I think that -- how do I put this.”
“Take your time, Koushiro-kun,” Sora says, offering him a smile.
“At the time that we fought him, Apocalymon had grown beyond being a Digimon, or a collective of Digimon. He’d become an existence that had outgrown those classifications, that existed on the border between Digimon and Crest, an Idea clad in physical shape,” Koushiro says. “Our Digivices, the Crest pendants we wear, and we ourselves all act as limiters for the power of the Crests, channeling and suppressing their power. Meiko, or whoever was meant to find her digivice and Meicoomon, is the same as us -- she’s a Crestbearer for the Crest that is Apocalymon, a Crest of Stagnation or a Crest of Darkness or however you want to refer to it.”
“Right,” Taichi says, frowning.
“When we fought him, we did so in a kind of interstice between the Dark Ocean and the Digital World -- his power there was great enough to affect every world, but since he couldn’t manifest fully in the Digital World, he was limited,” Koushiro says. “And he’s still limited now. But if one of us were to blacken our Crest, then …”
“Then one of our partners would go berserk, and Gennai could effect a fusion between Meicoomon and them,” Yamato says. “It would be a complete manifestation of Apocalymon. He wouldn’t just border on being a Crest, he could steal enough power from one of us to become a true Crest, housed in the body of a Digimon, fully manifested in the material world.”
“At which point, a cure would be irrelevant. The corrupting power that the Infection stems from would be released in its totality,” Koushiro says. “Every world would be swallowed by the Dark Ocean in a matter of weeks.”
Meiko frowns, fidgeting. She’s still not looking at any of them. “I couldn’t stop Mei-chan …”
“It’s not your fault, Mei-Mei!” Mimi protests, sitting bolt upright.
“I’m her partner,” Meiko replies. “But … I couldn’t …”
“Having a partner doesn’t mean everything goes smoothly,” Yamato says sharply. “That’s just how it is. Having just one listen to the other isn’t what it means to be partners.”
“Yeah,” Mimi says firmly. “We both have faults, but we kinda … balance each other out …”
“I’ve been watching everyone with their partners,” Meiko says, frowning more deeply. “You’re all different, but … a strong tie is always there. I don’t know if Mei-chan and I have that. And if I wasn’t even meant to be chosen, then maybe if it wasn’t for me, Mei-chan would …”
“Don’t say that,” Taichi says softly, settling a hand on her shoulder. “If you hadn’t found her, we’d never have become friends, right? I bet Meicoomon feels the same way.”
It takes a good three and a half hours of walking to reach the bottom of the staircase, and from there it’s another walk down a tunnel marked with carvings and wall paintings, lit by the distant flames of the Wall.
When they emerge into the vast cavern that holds the Wall, the heat is almost unbearable. The cavern ends in a cliff face, and beyond it is the Wall, a rushing torrent of fire too thick and bright to see through. Yamato knows what’s past it, a Gate to the depths of the Dark Ocean, but just by looking, he has no way to tell if the Wall has weakened at all.
“It won’t take long to do an analysis,” Koushiro says, taking out his laptop. “The cavern makes regular logs of the intensity of the Wall’s flames, so if it’s weakened at all, we’ll be able to see.”
“Right,” Yamato says, taking a step over to the Wall. He can feel the Ocean through it, just faintly, as though it’s reaching out to him. There’s a part of him that isn’t him that wants to reach back.
“There. The intensity of the flames were falling steadily until the Reboot, at which point they were restored to their old intensity. They’ve started to fall again now, though, bit by bit,” Koushiro says.
“All right,” Yamato replies. “Let’s get out of here.”
“Here’s the summary of our findings,” Koushiro says. “As the number of Infections rise and cause greater amounts of electromagnetic and spatial distortions, the power of the Wall of Fire falls. It’s verging on being dangerously low -- I wouldn’t be surprised if temporary rifts to the Dark Ocean have been opening and closing.”
They had returned, gathered the other Chosen (and Meiko, who Yamato still doesn’t really count as a Chosen), and settled around a campfire to make their report and discuss it. It’s almost comfortingly familiar to be discussing plans around a File Island campfire again.
“And if the flames go out entirely, the Ocean will consume the Digital World,” Taichi says.
“And then it will set off a chain reaction, swallowing every other world, one by one, until nothing’s left,” Koushiro said. “Gennai has …”
“Gennai has us in check,” Yamato says. “If we do nothing, the Infection spreads, and eventually the Wall falls. The Digital World can keep Rebooting, but so long as the Infection survives in some form, it can spread again.”
“Right. He used Daisuke, Miyako, Iori, and Ken to create safe zones that couldn’t be rebooted,” Sora murmured. “And now that Meicoomon has … now that she’s remembered who she used to be, he doesn’t need those safe zones anymore. She’ll escape to another world, or a space between worlds, and then just come back and re-Infect the Digital World.”
Yamato notes the insistent terminology there. Who she used to be, not who she is. Meiko looks down at her hands all the same, avoiding their gazes.
“And if the Digital World continues to Reboot, eventually one of those Reboots will fail,” Yamato says. “And failing means Dark Ocean emergence followed by the world being consumed, and then that chain reaction, et cetera.”
“We also can’t fight Meicoomon directly,” Koushiro says. “When we fought her before, it prompted her to evolve, and it accelerated the effects of the Infection. The same thing happened when she detected all eight Crests. Gennai knows that if we try to face her in battle, it might prompt her to evolve again, strengthening the Infection and becoming closer to a fully realised, fully manifested Apocalymon.”
Takeru frowns, folding his arms. “So if we leave the Infection alone, everything dies; if the Digital World keeps Rebooting, everything dies; and if we fight her, she’ll evolve and maybe everything will die. What can we do?”
“We cure the Infection,” Sora says. “Miyako and Ken should already be working on it. When we get back to Odaiba, Koushiro, Jyou, and Yamato can join them, and we can contact Wallace to get his help.”
“Right,” Taichi agrees, stroking his chin. “If we cure the Infection, then Meicoomon isn’t a threat anymore. We take the legs out from under Gennai’s plan.”
“It’s the only thing he doesn’t have a solid plan to counter,” Yamato says. “Not yet, anyway. But Koushiro and I were talking about that, too.”
“A few times now, Gennai has tried to make one of us blacken our Crest,” Koushiro says. “I believe he -- ah, this will require some explanation.”
Several Chosen groan, slumping down onto the logs they’re sitting on. Koushiro doesn’t seem to notice.
“So, here’s a timeline of events,” Koushiro says. “In 1999, we defeated Apocalymon. A fragment of him survived, falling to the Digital World and embedding itself in a Digi-Egg, which later hatched into Meicoomon. At this point, someone sent her to Tottori, along with a digivice.”
“We have to assume that Gennai did that,” Yamato says. “I’m not -- convinced that Meiko was the intended recipient of it, though.”
“What’s more, this is, as far as we know, long before whatever change to his personality set Gennai on this current path,” Koushiro says. “I believe the intention was to have whoever found Meicoomon and the digivice act as a limiter on the shard of Apocalymon. We’ve seen that proximity to Meiko-san seems to suppress the piece of Apocalymon in Meicoomon. I think that -- how do I put this.”
“Take your time, Koushiro-kun,” Sora says, offering him a smile.
“At the time that we fought him, Apocalymon had grown beyond being a Digimon, or a collective of Digimon. He’d become an existence that had outgrown those classifications, that existed on the border between Digimon and Crest, an Idea clad in physical shape,” Koushiro says. “Our Digivices, the Crest pendants we wear, and we ourselves all act as limiters for the power of the Crests, channeling and suppressing their power. Meiko, or whoever was meant to find her digivice and Meicoomon, is the same as us -- she’s a Crestbearer for the Crest that is Apocalymon, a Crest of Stagnation or a Crest of Darkness or however you want to refer to it.”
“Right,” Taichi says, frowning.
“When we fought him, we did so in a kind of interstice between the Dark Ocean and the Digital World -- his power there was great enough to affect every world, but since he couldn’t manifest fully in the Digital World, he was limited,” Koushiro says. “And he’s still limited now. But if one of us were to blacken our Crest, then …”
“Then one of our partners would go berserk, and Gennai could effect a fusion between Meicoomon and them,” Yamato says. “It would be a complete manifestation of Apocalymon. He wouldn’t just border on being a Crest, he could steal enough power from one of us to become a true Crest, housed in the body of a Digimon, fully manifested in the material world.”
“At which point, a cure would be irrelevant. The corrupting power that the Infection stems from would be released in its totality,” Koushiro says. “Every world would be swallowed by the Dark Ocean in a matter of weeks.”
Meiko frowns, fidgeting. She’s still not looking at any of them. “I couldn’t stop Mei-chan …”
“It’s not your fault, Mei-Mei!” Mimi protests, sitting bolt upright.
“I’m her partner,” Meiko replies. “But … I couldn’t …”
“Having a partner doesn’t mean everything goes smoothly,” Yamato says sharply. “That’s just how it is. Having just one listen to the other isn’t what it means to be partners.”
“Yeah,” Mimi says firmly. “We both have faults, but we kinda … balance each other out …”
“I’ve been watching everyone with their partners,” Meiko says, frowning more deeply. “You’re all different, but … a strong tie is always there. I don’t know if Mei-chan and I have that. And if I wasn’t even meant to be chosen, then maybe if it wasn’t for me, Mei-chan would …”
“Don’t say that,” Taichi says softly, settling a hand on her shoulder. “If you hadn’t found her, we’d never have become friends, right? I bet Meicoomon feels the same way.”