Digital Monsters Forever

[Pkmatrix]

Editor's Notes[/u]: Wow, considering how much I write, I'm surprised it has taken me this long to post a story here. Anyways, this is something that I've been meaning to do for two years, and since I come here so often, this is one of the best places to post it. Some background: two years ago, I wanted to start a Digimon RPG. After starting, I had the idea to eventually turn the RPG into a story after we finished. It was a good idea, especially since a few of the players were EXCELLENT writers. The Digimon RPG ran at Gundamwatch (and later Animemech) from April to August 2002.

I'm not sure why, but it has taken me all of this time to get off my lazy butt and put this story together. I think it would make a pretty cool Digimon anime (although it would be much more serious than any of the previous seasons). As of this writing, I've complied the first thirteen episodes by editing together posts that I've saved since 2002 and am in the process of writing the fourteenth. I do not know how long this will ultimately be (I will have to write an ending, since we never finished...), but I do hope you enjoy what I've put together.

Now, keep in mind, I am NOT taking credit for this story. It was a collaborative effort, all I've done is some minor editing (grammar, spelling) and separated it into episodes. The screennames (as of 2002) for the writers who wrote in any particular episode are included in the credits at the end of the episode.

I'll include a complete list here:

Cast (In order of first IC post in the RPG)

Kaoline Shokai . . . . . . . . . Tiakall

David Milliard . . . . . . . . . . Pkmatrix

Ira Caraway . . . . . . . . . . . Camille Bidan

Kana Stone . . . . . . . . . . . . Renee Aarons

Caspian Callaway . . . . . . . .

Kouyuu Fukushima . . . . . . . Corey

Fal Micheals . . . . . . . . . . . . Anubis

Garfield Magnus . . . . . . . . . Draco Starcloud

Shadow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Shadow

Jajan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Blue Meth

(In order of Bio Posting)

Alan Maxwell . . . . . . . . . . . Duo

Shiro Arkov . . . . . . . . . . . . Shrykull

Utora . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Voltage

Tim Areo. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tim Areo


I welcome any comments or constructive criticism, I hope it will help me when the time comes to write the ending.

[Pkmatrix]

Prologue

There was once a time when the entire Universe could fit on the head of a pin. For reasons few understand, that tiny spec of matter exploded in the largest explosion in the history of time, creating reality itself. Within reality there are many subdivisions, but the two most well known by Humans are the Physical and Astral plains, the Physical plain being where life exists and the Astral being the realm of the dead.

For billions of millennia, that is the way it remained, with only those plains born in creation. That is, until the year AD 1945. In that year, the first Digital computer in the history of the Universe, ENIAC, was created on the planet Earth. But, the activation of ENIAC did more than set the stage for the birth of the Information Age fifty years later, it also gave birth to an entirely new plain of reality: the Digital plain.

From the moment ENIAC is activated, all data ever entered into any Digital computer or network is also compiled into the Digital plain, turning this plain into a literal archive of Human knowledge. Not only is normal data compiled, but also are mankind's early attempts at Artificial Intelligence. At first, the data compiles into small creatures that could be referred to as digital amoebas. But, as more advanced AI is developed; these creatures evolve into more advanced and intelligent forms.

Eventually, the Digital Life-forms reach a point where they had evolved to the same intellectual level as their own creators. They collect the half-century's worth of data and use it to reshape their world into one that is reminiscent of the Earth. It is at this moment that both the Physical Earth and the Digital "Earth" both reach their height, before falling into chaos.

Starting late in the year 2001, chaos erupts among the Humans and Digital "Monsters". The political landscape on the Physical Earth spirals out of control, before ending in a final confrontation between the world's nations. On the Digital Earth, the Digimon divide themselves into various groups and begin a series of chaotic wars that devastate their world.

Seventy years later....

Mankind, having nearly been blown back to the Industrial age, has finally reached an uneasy peace with itself. It is in this world, at this time, that an invisible rift opens between the Physical and Digital plains. Very few in either world know of this rift’s existence, but there will be, of course, those who will accidentally stumble through and cross over....

The year is AD 2071....

[Pkmatrix]

[Cue Theme - "Infinity (Red Zone Mix)"]



D I G I T A L M O N S T E R S

[We weave through the skyscrapers, before cutting to the streets below, a crowded sidewalk. A shadow quickly moves over them. Cut again to the skyline, then zoom into the top of the TransAmerica Building (the large triangular building), where a figure stands with its arms crossed: Aero Veedramon.]

[Cut to a red background, a silver haired person turns left to face the camera, Ira Caraway, before fading away. Fal Michael fades in and does the same, only turning right, before fading away. David Milliard fades in, turns left to face the camera, and then fades away.]

[Aero Veedramon, Seadramon, and Veemon Akira fade in and do the same as their respective partners]

[Cut to a shot of the camera flying over Tokyo bay towards Tokyo itself, the skyline in the distance. Cut again to a shot flying over Shinjuku, looking straight down as we pass over the Tokyo Metropolitan Building]

[Cut to a blue background; Kouyuu Fukushima, "Callie" Stone, and Kaoline Shokai fade in and do the same as the others, followed by their partners: Hitorimon, Psymon, and Dianamon]

[We now see two Earths floating next to each other in front of a star-filled background. Suddenly, two glowing red eyes open, looking somewhat faded, one over each Earth.]

[Now we are above the clouds, in the distance we see a giant blue-ish dragon, Azulongmon. We rapidly zoom in to the face of a person sitting on his head: Caspian Callaway. Cut to what appears to be a desert, another young man, Shadow, stands alone covering his face with one hand (like Heero in the Gundam Wing intro), we pull back just far enough as Antylamon lands in front of him. Cut again, Garfield Magus and Black Agumon are back to back, Garfield firing two handguns and his partner shooting a fireball. Now we are in a field of tall grass, Jajan appears and shoots an arrow at a target, and then Celermon walks up behind him.]

[All of the partner Digimon each appear and fire their signature attacks at an unseen enemy (in order: Aero Veedramon, Seadramon, Veemon Akira, Hitorimon, Psymon, Dianamon, Azulongmon, Antylamon, Black Agumon, and Celermon). We then cut to black. The background lightens to reveal seven shadowed figures: Olympidianamon, Metal Seadramon, Ridatsumon Zero, Imperialdramon, Paladimon, Black WarGreymon and Adeemon.]

[All of the Tamers (Ira, Fal, David, Kouyuu, Callie, Kaoline, Caspian, Shadow, Garfield, and Jajan) walk into view (like the end of Digimon Season 3's intro), followed by their respective partners.]

DIGITAL MONSTERS FOREVER

[Pkmatrix]

“Only a Dream”


Tuesday, April 7, 2071

Sacramento, California

"Help me..."

"Who are you?" asks David, searching the darkness surrounding him.

"My life is darkness...death..."

The darkness seems to lift, revealing a world of devastation. The clouds in the sky are red and black, the ground is moist. David is in a village now, and the buildings are aflame.

"What...? What is this place...?" he says, spinning around and looking down the street. In the distance, a small dragon-like creature stands, holding his blood-smeared right shoulder. David is transfixed by the sight, wanting to immediately run to help, but frozen with fear. Of what, he cannot describe. The permeating darkness...the aura of death...? A word comes to his mind for an inexplicable reason.

"Akira..." he whispers as sudden bright light overwhelms everything...

"David...DAVID!"

"Wh-what?!" David shouts, jumping up in his seat as the teacher gives him an annoyed look.

"David, this is the fifth time you've fallen asleep in my class!" he yells.

"Sorry..." David mumbles, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. It happened again, that same nightmare. But…now it's been getting both clearer and more frequent. He can't explain the dream, nor does he dare tell anyone about it, or suffer some form of ridicule from the idiots he is surrounded by.

They'd probably annoy me with the fact I dream at all... he thinks, just as the last bell rings, signaling the end of school and the start of Spring Break. Within mere seconds, the classroom is empty, with the exception of the teacher and himself. David picks up his Chemistry book and stuffs it in his backpack.

"David," says Mr. Ira Caraway, the Chemistry teacher, "Have you been getting much sleep lately? Its odd that you've just suddenly started falling asleep in class..."

David looks up at the young, silver-haired man, and then looks around to make sure they were alone. Wouldn't want one of those immature brats to find out about this.

"I've been having nightmares," David replies, somewhat casually.

"If its bothering you this much, maybe you should see a guidance counselor," says Ira, but David quickly shakes his head.

"No, it's no problem. I should be fine after Break," he replies. Ira stares at him for a moment, concern in his eyes, before closing his gradebook.

"Okay, just stay out of trouble," he says. David smiles and then heads for the door.

"All right, have a good vacation, Mr. Caraway," says David with a wave, before disappearing from view into the hallway.

--

Ira Caraway nodded pleasantly as the student left the room; the expression dropped as the door shut behind David. Finally. Although he regarded himself as relatively patient, he was getting a bit tired of having to deal with the obnoxious brats. It didn’t help that he disliked children to begin with – after all, they were always asking irritating questions, and it was the carefree way that they went about things that irritated him the most. He wasn’t a religious man, but he was thanking God that it was spring break now. A few more days and his ire might begin to show through his mask. The silver-haired teacher set about closing up the chemistry room: straightening his desk, seeing to it that the white board was clean and the floor was free of trash. Sometimes he had to wonder just what it had been that had possessed him to apply for the position in this high school.

I suppose that it’s really just the fact that this job’s a good cover.

Which was entirely true. No one would suspect anything of a simple high school teacher and Ira was content to leave it that way, just as he was content with his current name. The young man swept his trench coat from the back of his seat. It really wasn’t his concern what a student might be dreaming or what happened to that boy. This was only a temporary position; at least, until he could find a better way to get closer to his goal. Still, this does start to get rather tiresome. Ira didn’t particularly care if the students passed or failed his class – in fact, he didn’t really care about them to begin with. As far as he was concerned, they could all jump off a cliff and he probably wouldn’t notice, much less give a damn.

Ira left the classroom, his trench coat sweeping a white trail behind him as he stalked down the emptying corridors of the high school. Because it was spring break, most of the students had already left, although a few were still wandering the halls. The pale teacher smiled cordially at these as he passed them, nodding as he was occasionally given a cheerful farewell. He smiled outwardly as he inwardly laughed at their foolishness, their stupidity for living their petty lives. They were fools for not seeing the big picture. Well, that was their fault – it wasn’t his business to baby sit these brats and steer their lives in the direction that he thought would be far more constructive. It wasn’t worth the bother, anyway.

Not that he cared enough to even consider such a possibility.

His cell phone rang insistently as he stepped into the sunlight. With an inaudible sigh of impatience, Ira reached into the depths of his ivory coat’s pocket and thumbed the phone on as he brought it to his ear, continuing to head toward the parking lot as he answered the call:

“What is it?”

He listened calmly as the familiar voice on the other end began describing the current situation, switching the cell phone to another ear as he searched about for the keys to his sable Mustang. He was already sliding into the driver’s seat as the woman finished the briefing.

“No, that’s not going to be possible,” he answered. It was ridiculous what the woman was asking. “I don’t have the resources to accomplish something like that.”

The woman was getting flustered, as she demanded hotly that he’d better do something.

“It’s not my concern what happens there,” Ira replied coolly. He eased the black car out of the parking lot, depositing his glasses into the cup holder. It probably wasn’t that good of an idea to be talking so caustically to his contact, but he had already guessed (correctly) that the woman wouldn’t be willing to take such a risk and blow his cover. “And what you ask requires me to have a large amount of fire power, not to mention access to government buildings. Not only that, but what you’re asking is going to draw a lot of attention to yourself.”

She suggested that he’d have to think of something, saying that if the warring factions therecontinued to battle one another, it could get ugly and spill into the Real World, which would disrupt her employer’s clandestine work.

“That’s your area, not mine.” Ira’s face was expressionless as he sped down the street, the car passing in and out of the shadows cast by the thickly leafed trees lining the boulevard.

Well, she snapped, it was his area as of now. And, she added, she was willing to make a compensation for the trouble. It was up to him how he was going to get it done.

That’s more like it.

“I’ll see what I can do. However, I’m going to need access to that system.”

She told him to check his mailbox in a few days – the instructions and the necessary files and codes would be there.

“Fine.” Ira turned the cell phone off, not bothering with any pleasantries. The young man decided to concentrate on his driving – he’d feel like quite the idiot if he went and did something completely stupid simply because he wasn’t paying attention, like driving into a tree or something. Not that he was particularly reckless or anything, but you couldn’t be too cautious. His mind mulled over the contact’s words. …Sounds like things are getting worse. He didn’t pretend that he understood what it was that her employer did – after all, he’d never been told (not that he’d ever asked) and he wasn’t particular about it even if he did know. Ira had no qualms about such things, and he didn’t trouble himself if his actions were “right” or “wrong”.

It simply didn’t matter to him: as long as he got what he wanted.

[Pkmatrix]

Tokyo, Japan

"Kana! Come here please!"

Kana Stone looked up from her computer screen where she had been pecking away at a paper for her Japanese Class. "Yes, Mother?" Kana called in slightly accented English.

"Come set the table please. Your father will be home soon." her mother called.

Kana got up from her computer chair and walked into the kitchen. "What’s for dinner?" she asked.

"Its a surprise!" her mother smiled.

Kana pulled down four plates. "Smells like meatloaf...I hate meatloaf..."

"I know, I do too. But your father likes it and I thought it’d be nice to have something different."

Kana placed the plates and the rest of the utensils needed on the table. Just then the apartment door opened.

"I'm home!" Jake Stone walked into the kitchen. He threw his tie and coat on his chair. " Is that meatloaf I smell Mitsuke?"

"Yes. I thought you might like it." Mitsuke pulled the pan from the oven.

Jake turned to look at his daughter. "There’s my girl." he hugged Kana. "How was your day Callie?"

Kana smiled at his nickname for her. He was the only one allowed to call her that. "It was fine. How was yours?"

"Fine, fine. Got a new program going. Maybe I'll let you see it before I send it in."

"I'd like that." Callie smiled.

"Toyo! Dinner!" Mitsuke called to her 12-year-old son.

"Mother, he's at Kenji's house tonight. Remember?" Callie said to her mother.

"Oh, yes. How silly of me to forget!" Mitsuke sat down. "Well let’s begin."

--

Meanwhile…

A flash of deep blue light pulses out from Callie’s computer screen. A device the size of a pocket watch falls out and onto her keyboard.

--

Later, after dinner…

"Kana, don't stay up too late!" Mitsuke called after Callie’s retreating figure.

"I promise. I just have to finish my paper. Goodnight Mother, Father."

"Night Callie." Jake said reading the newspaper.

Callie closed her door and walked back over to her computer desk. She collapsed into her chair and rolled up to the desk. The blue device pulsed quickly as she got nearer to it.

"What is this?" Callie muttered to herself as she picked it up. A wave of images assailed her senses. In the foremost a fox like creature was calling her name and running toward her. Callie dropped it onto her floor and touched her forehead. It had been a long time since she had had a vision. Especially one of that magnitude. Little ones were common, but one like that only comes once or twice every six months.

Callie picked up the device. Nothing this time. She looked at it carefully. How had that creature known her name...and more than that it had been calling her Callie! No one called her that except her father. Callie placed the device next to her keyboard and went back to her paper. Whatever was going on would reveal itself to her eventually.

--

Naha, Okinawa

A vague figure appears in front of an eerie blue light. It stands silent and still.

[heart beat]

"Who are you...?" Nothing...

"Where are you...?" Nothing...

"Why are you...?" Nothing...

"Why must you haunt me night after night?" Nothing...

"...? Why won't you say anything?!" There is a flash, and then darkness....

[end heart beat]

"HUH?!" Kouyuu Fukushima awakes with a startle, sweat rolls down his face. The sun pours in threw the window on his left. He sits up, and stares off at nothing in particular.

"[panting]"

"Again, the same dream... Always the same, never changing." He wipes the sweat off of his face, and slowly slides out of bed. He makes his way to the window, and unlocks it before pushing it up letting in the sweet morning air. Kouyuu leans against the window with his left hand tucked under his chin supporting it. He gazes out of the window for a while looking out at the shimmering orange sea before...

"Kouyuu!! YOU'RE going to make me late again!" Akiko Fukushima bursts into the room, shaking a fist at her brother of the same age. Kouyuu spins around startled by the sudden interference.

"Oh...It's you Aki. You startled me..." He said as he began to relax again.

"Is something wrong?"

"No, I'm fine. I'm just tired, so don't mind me." Kouyuu turned his attention back to the sea again. Akiko placed her hands on her hips, and looked at him curiously.

"You know Kouyuu, sometimes I think you're the most mellow person ever...If not that than the most modest." Akiko stated shaking her head and leaving the room, heading down the stairs.

"It's best not to trouble her or anyone else with my personal problems." Kouyuu said grinning and scratching his head before heading out to the shower.

--

Sacramento, California

"Stupid bus...it's never on time..." David mutters while staring out towards the horizon. The bus-stop is on top of some hill, giving a near-perfect view of the San Francisco skyline and the bay.

"Hey, Milliard!" yells a voice, interrupting David's thoughts. He looks over and sees a group of three kids about his age, one of which is MUCH bigger than he is.

"What do you want?" asks David, outwardly with no emotion. A few weeks ago he'd gotten into a fight with one of them, some punk named Lukas. The boy smirks and cracks his knuckles.

"Rematch, dumbass," replies Lukas. David takes off his backpack and stands up from the bench, then looks over at them with a dead-serious glare. Almost as if this act of standing up was the ultimate insult, Lukas runs at him and throws a punch, but David effortlessly sidesteps the attack and elbows the punk in the kidney, sending him falling to the concrete sidewalk. Lukas' two friends quickly run up, both ready to beat the crap out of David, who surprises them by ducking and sweeping their legs out from underneath them.

"F**k!!" yells Lukas, standing back up just in time for David to sidekick him in the face, sending him back to the sidewalk with a bloody nose. Lukas' larger friend gets back up and punches David across the jaw, cutting his lip. In retaliation, David quickly kicks him in a very...sensitive area, and watches as his eyes bug out for a second as he collapses to the ground.

"Take this, b***h!" yells that last punk, taking out a knife and stabbing at David, who barely dodges. Quickly, he spins around and delivers a kick to the kid's side, sending him flying into a sign, then punches him repeatedly into the gut before letting him slide to the floor. David picks up his backpack and begins to walk away.

"Don't piss me off…ever," he says, not looking back.

--

The Digital World...

A small group of Digimon marches towards a small village in the mountains. One of them, a Tyrannomon, carries the flag of the Dragon Vanguard.

Here I go again, to fight some more... thinks one of the Digimon, a Veemon called Akira. For seventy years now, since the Digital Earth was created, the world has been at war. While some places are at peace, thanks to being deep within the territory of one of the four Digimon armies, most of the world is in chaos. Akira was forced to join the Dragon Vanguard, if he didn't they would've destroyed the village because no one wanted to fight. His village had been in complete peace until that day...

"I hate war...” he mutters.

"We all hate war," replies one of the Digimon next to him, a Kuwagamon, "But if we help the Dragon Vanguard defeat the other three armies, then there will be peace. Then no one will ever have to kill again."

"I hope that's true," the Veemon sighs.

--

Another Dragon Vanguard squad. Looks like they’ve got some business with that village.

Aero Veedramon crouched down, one muscled blue arm resting on the rocky outcropping as he surveyed the town below. He wasn’t sure what he was going to do about the approaching Digimon; certainly nothing until he saw what they were up to. What with all the fighting and carnage over the past years, he was starting to get sick of the whole lot of then. It didn’t particularly matter that these Digimon were part of the Dragon Vanguard – he was annoyed at the whole mess. It made him grit his fangs together in anger to listen to all that self-righteous trash that they spouted; the various factions used different words, true, but behind it all, they were all the same. Arrogance, that’s what it is. Aero Veedramon decided, his jaws drawing back in a snarl of disgust.

Well, he certainly wasn’t going to let himself be seen by the fighters down below. He had no wish to be recruited for their little war: and he definitely had no desire to play hero either.

Aero Veedramon got to his feet, ignoring the cramps that had been forming in the muscles of his hind legs and were now making a nuisance of themselves. The pins and needles would go away; unfortunately, the Dragon Vanguard unit wouldn’t, the small mass of Digimon still creeping toward the village. Briefly, he wondered if they were going to raze the buildings there. Maybe they would delete all of its inhabitants and upload their data. He turned his back on the village, washing his claws clean of the whole affair.

It wasn’t his war, after all. Unless it was, he wasn’t going to get himself involved with those down below.

[Pkmatrix]

[Cue End Theme – “I’ll be there – Megumi Hayashibara”]

[In a dim, trash-filled alleyway, we see Ira Caraway, his hands in his coat pockets as wind blows his silver hair into his face. Panning up slowly, we see Aero Veedramon looking down at him from atop the building to his right. Cut to a street in Sacramento, overlooking San Francisco Bay. David Milliard is on the sidewalk, leaning against a building and staring towards the ground, as rain falls from a dim and cloudy sky. As we pan to the right, dissolve into a similar view of Veemon Akira, who is doing the same except he is in a devastated village, the way he is leaning giving the impression that they’re standing back to back. The sky is black, but glowing red as is rains lightly]

[Cut to a beach on the Southern California coast at sunset. Fal Micheal watches as the sun slowly sinks below horizon, bathing him in an orange-red light. Quickly zoom into his eye, then back out to see Serpentmon doing the same. Cut to Kana Stone sitting on a windowsill, staring out across Tokyo as the Sun sets in the distance. Dissolve to a similar scene in the Digital World with Psymon, only she is sitting on the opposite side of her window, staring out across a devastated city with columns of smoke lazily drifting across the red-orange sky.]

[On an empty road on Okinawa, we see Kouyuu Fukushima leaning against his car staring towards us as a heavy rain falls from the dark sky. Cut to the Digital World, Kaoline Shokai, Dianamon, and Wizardmon stare up at the Digital star filled sky. Pan and zoom to a tree to the right, Jajan looks out from behind it at her, Celermon behind him.]

[Cut to a gray background, the shadows of Azulongmon appears. Then, Shadow and Caspian Callaway fade into view, Lopmon Mist on Shadow’s shoulder. Cut again to a dark room, where Garfield Magnus loads a handgun as Black Agumon looks on]

[On the plains of North America, Alan Maxwell and Oppimon stare at the dark clouds brooding in the distance ominously. In the Digital World, Titaniumon Utora stands in the shadows of some city.]



--

Episode 1 Cast (In order of author arrangement):

David Milliard . . . . . . . . . . Pkmatrix
Veemon Akira
Lukas and Thugs
Kuwagamon

Ira Caraway . . . . . . . . . . . Camille Bidan
AeroVeedramon

Kana Stone . . . . . . . . . . . . Renee Aarons
Mitsuke Stone
Jake Stone
Toyo Stone

Kouyuu Fukushima . . . . . . . Corey
Aki

[Tobari Sabbatine]

digimon?! <.< ... ok...

[Draco Starcloud]

Just wondering, but have you updated this over at fanfiction.net recently? I'd rather read newer stuff I'd forgotten I did than the stuff I did that you've already posted there.

[Pkmatrix]

No, I'm updating that one today.