The man in black stepped out of the shadows of the dim alley. His shoulders slumped dejectedly, he walked down the moist dirt pathway toward the park, wrapped deep in thought.
Yamaki had failed. The disaster of the Juggernaut program had left the financial future of the Project’s involvement with the Digital World in serious jeopardy, and in the end his mistake had ended up costing him everything that mattered in his life: his job with Hypnos, his barely begun relationship with Kei- and his chance to eradicate the Digimon menace once and for all. This last failure was the most troubling of all. Yamaki’s few experiences with Digimon had never been good. They were evil abominations, pieces of random data and code that emerged into the real world from time to time, playing at being alive and leaving nothing but devastation in their wake.
Recently, he had even discovered some of the repulsive creatures paired with certain human beings- unthinkable! And his catastrophic failure with the Juggernaut project had left him unable to do anything about it. He clenched his fists in frustration. The Tamers, Yamaki thought as he sank wearily onto the park bench, listlessly skipping a stone across the lake’s placid surface. The Tamers are the key to everything. Eliminate the Tamers, and perhaps the last link with the Digital world will finally be severed.
He dug into his coat pocket absentmindedly, clicking the lighter open and closed, open and closed. The age-old habit came back to him effortlessly, though it had been absent for almost a month following his departure from Hypnos. He always did it unconsciously when he felt most alive: when he was in deep thought, knowing what was happening to the world he lived in, and, more importantly, knowing he was in a position to do something about it. Yamaki stood, lighter in the palm of his hand and a plan already beginning to form in the depths of his mind. The Tamers would pay for the horrors they’d caused the world. Oh, yes… they would pay. A sudden light flashed on directly behind Yamaki. The man jumped, whirling to face its source. A small, black… creature was the only word Yamaki could think of to describe it, stood before him. A single finger was extended from one of the creature’s hands, bright orange flame blossoming at its tip. That explained the light, at least…Yamaki squinted in the gloom of the deserted park- and recoiled in disgust at what he saw. A Digimon. One of them. “What do you want?” he asked, half in curiosity, half in disgust mixed with fear at what the creature might be capable of doing. “My name’s Impmon,” the Digimon said in a rude tone, “And this is my neck of the woods- so you better buzz off now before I get angry.” “You-“ Yamaki spluttered, “I will never back down to a, a- Digimon.” He said the word with such disgust and bitterness in his tone that most humans- or Digimon, for that matter- would have been shocked at the emotion that Yamaki put behind that one word. Digimon.
Impmon, however, shrugged, unaffected. “Suit yourself, then,” he said, crooking his finger forward. “Bada-BOOM!” he shouted. The ball of flame he’d been using to light the area hurtled toward Yamaki, striking the ground inches away from his feet. He backed away, now openly fearful of Impmon and his intentions. He pressed a button on his watch, the one connecting him directly to the Hypnos mainframe. “This is your last chance- get out!” Impmon shouted, advancing with another ball of flame held at the ready. “Input command,” a distinctly feminine voice said in Yamaki’s ear. Impmon’s own ears pricked up at that, having a much keener sense of hearing than most would have given him credit for. “Deploy the Yuggoth program!” Yamaki shouted. “Eliminate this abomination!” Impmon held glowing pinpoint of flame higher, curious as to what this human thought he could do to stop him. “Access code invalid,” the voice said. “Unable to implement command.” Yamaki saw the savage gleam in Impmon’s eye, knew he’d heard the message- and turned and ran for his life. Dodging wildly, frantically between the trees, Yamaki headed for the park’s entrance, hoping the Digimon wouldn’t pursue him if he could at least get back to where there were more people, hoping against hope he would find some defense against the creature that followed. He rounded steep curve in the path near the park entrance, dimly lit by a single old-fashioned street lamp- and froze in disbelief. Standing directly in front of him, not even breathing hard, was Impmon. The ever-present ball of flame hovered at his fingertips, ready to strike. Groaning in despair, Yamaki lowered his head, resigned- knowing that he couldn’t escape this one. Impmon laughed. “You humans,” he said, and suddenly there was no trace of mirth in his voice. “So pathetic- and so dangerous to us Digimon. I really am doing the world a favor by killing you. Bada-BOOM!” Yamaki stood completely still, not even trying to dodge- he knew he couldn’t move fast enough to escape the creature’s attack. Head lowered once again, he waited for the end- but it never came. With an abrupt swish, a furred, fox-like Digimon appeared in front of Impmon, easily deflecting his attack. Impmon looked surprised for a moment, then quickly regained his composure. “Whoa, foxy lady,” he jeered. “You like this guy or something?” “I wish to speak with this human,” Renamon said. “I have questions that only he can answer. Then he is yours to do with as you please. But for now, leave here, Impmon- and don’t come back until I’ve finished.” With a final glare of defiance at Yamaki, Impmon flung his ball of flame to the ground and was gone. Alone for the moment, Renamon approached the still trembling human. “I don’t want to hurt you,” she said, trying to calm the man enough so she could at least talk to him. “At least, not now.” But Yamaki was beyond calming. “What do you want with me?” he shouted, leaping to his feet and weeping hysterically. “What do you Digimon want?” “I just want to know why you hate Digimon so much,” Renamon said. “Why? WHY?” Yamaki asked, a mad gleam in his eyes. It was as if Renamon had opened a floodgate. “Digimon ruined my life!” Yamaki half-sobbed, muttering something else unintelligibly under his breath. Abruptly he straightened up, drawing a pistol from inside his tattered clothing. “Digimon and their human allies must die!” he shouted, firing off shot after shot at the fox-creature that stood before him. “You dare threaten Rika?” Renamon asked, her voice rising for the first time with a deadly edge as she effortlessly deflected Yamaki’s bullets. “Tamers, Digimon- what difference does it make?” Yamaki shouted, oblivious to his growing peril. “You’re all abominations- a pestilence on this world that must be destroyed!” He fell to the ground, shuddering and weeping uncontrollably. “Impmon was right then,” Renamon said, her voice resolved. “You truly are pathetic- and dangerous, as well. A pity- you could have helped our world so much, but instead you chose the path of destruction.” Yamaki looked up, dimly sensing what Renamon was about to do- but too late. “Diamond Storm!” she cried.
Yamaki slowly
regained consciousness. A bright white light shone from overhead, and he
squinted against it, unsure of what he would find there. It hurt just to move…
and with a sudden shock, he realized he couldn’t move, at least not his
legs. He forced his eyes slowly open, gritting his teeth at the pain that
simple action brought- and realized he was somewhere that looked like a
hospital ward. A young orderly entered the room, obviously surprised to see his
patient awake. “We were afraid you wouldn’t make it,” he said. “It’s been over
a week since they found you in the park- they thought you were already dead
when they brought you in.” He laughed softly. “This truly is a miracle,” he said.
“I’ll have to go tell the others.” As he left, a burning rage filled Yamaki.
The Digimon’s attack hadn’t been quite enough to kill him- but it had left him,
just barely alive, a wreck of his former self. And as the doctors filed into
the small room, Yamaki realized for himself the bitter truth, even before they
could tell it to him: he would never walk again.