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o-w-quinlan · 4 years

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Game Journal: Tag Tamers - Entry #03

Previously: Following Millenniummon dividing the world into two and separating Ryo and Ken, Gennai manages to build a machine to establish communication between the two mirror worlds, starting a plan with both boys to free each area of the digital world on both sides of the divide. A Greymon, agent of Millenniummon, opposes them, having somehow gained the ability to travel between the two worlds, and evolving into MetalGreymon later on.

Now: I learn how many areas I must clear, explore the jogress mechanics of the game and face up against an old favorite of the Adventure 02 fanbase.

Special thanks to NikcDC and Ajora Fravashi from Romhacking net for translating this game!

Last time around, I cleared a Tropical Islands area and half of a Mountain area (on Ryo’s side of the divide). By returning to talk with Gennai before clearing the Mountain area as Ken, I learn how many areas there are in this game. They are as follows: File Island (cleared during Ryo’s part of the prologue), Remote Forest (cleared during Ken’s part of the prologue), Sea Islands (cleared during the previous entry), Mountains (Ryo’s side already cleared), Machine area and Millenniummon’s continent.

Going by the above, I’m two and a half areas away from facing the final boss. Lore-wise, it’s strange for there to not be a desert area, considering how long the Chosen Children spent in such areas during the anime. Perhaps this is Millenniummon’s continent? I’ll see when I get there.

Anyway, before going to face MetalGreymon’s forces, I check if I can pick up new digimon. I have 3 options: Gabumon, Botamon and YukimiBotamon. I initially pick the Child-level, thinking it’ll be more powerful, only to find it has just one attack, which consumes its energy points and would eventually leave him useless in a long-term mission. I decide to instead pick up the YukimiBotamon and train it, hoping to see it evolve into Tailmon. After all, I already have the Digimental of Light, so might as well use it.

The enemies in the mountain area of this world are much the same as in the other: primarily teams of 2 Baby II level digimon with 1 Child level digimon as the main threat. While Wormmon and Patamon can easily handle that, YukimiBotamon is very vulnerable, so I end up having to revive it mid-battle.

It’s worth it, though, because fighting such relatively high-levelled opponents means my Baby level digimon very soon evolves into the Child stage. Plotmon is adorable here, and will be very useful for this area.

Clearing the first dungeon of the mountains opens up the DigiCave, where a sign can be read, bearing the above inscription. This is digimoji, and translating it (with the handy guide provided by NikcDC in the patch), it turns out to be a particular jogress evolution: LadyDevimon + MarineDevimon -> SkullSatamon.

While exploring the final dungeon of the area, the Death Chasm, I come across a piece of the Digimental of Darkness. Given how much focus there is in the Adventure series to darkness as a corrupting force, I was expecting this to be handled differently from the others. It is a bit interesting, though, that it is Ken and not Ryo the one who finds the pieces.

Anyway, the dungeon is pretty long, but manageable for my team, and soon enough I’m face to face with MetalGreymon again. As before, he boast of having stolen my skills, but given I don’t normally use tricky moves against him (I prefer straight-forward offense unless I can’t help it, you see), it doesn’t really mean much. Defeating MetalGreymon for a second time opens up a portal in the village, though, this time leading to the “Machine Continent”. Gennai tells us that this continent has been corrupted by a great evil, and that we must go face the source.

With my Wormmon-Patamon-Plotmon team, I go face the first dungeon. It’s harder, the teams now consisting of either 2 Childs/1 Adult, 1 Child/2 Adults or even 3 Adults. I manage to defeat them, but it’s clear I won’t be progressing much with my current team, which shows no sign of evolving anytime soon. I remember the message regarding jogress, though.

There’s a particular building in the village that is centered around fusion, as well as a “fusion counter” in the digimon information when you look up your team. Assuming that jogress is the way to new evolution, as it often was during this era of the franchise, I decide to use it on my team, namely on Patamon and Plotmon.

I did not expect to receive a Baby I level again, but that just means I can train it. Going back to earlier dungeons, I start to clear them with my inappropiately powerful Wormmon by my side, and these efforts pay off very fast.

Soon enough, I repeat this process with the Gabumon I mentioned at the start and an Elecmon I trained from a Punimon, gaining another Punimon that evolves into Centalmon. With a team of 2 Adults and Wormmon, I go face the dungeons.

While still harder than the previous areas, it’s much more manageable this time around. The Digimental of Light means Tailmon gains access to a Nefertimon move, which heals me much like the Pegasusmon one did. Still, I end up having to restock my healing items in the ocassional mid-battle shop frequently enough. Finally, after what frankly felt like much, much more fights than in any of the previous dungeons, I come accross MetalGreymon.

Can’t see him clearly? Don’t worry, I have a zoomed-in view for you.

Don’t let anyone tell you the Adventure 02 writers didn’t know what they wanted to include in their series.

Still, this BlackWarGreymon is much different from the anime one, being a willful servant of evil rather than a lost soul looking for answers to his existance. He implies Ken is quite scared during this battle, which is a bit of a change from Ryo, for whom this has never been implied.

I manage to defeat him, after which the perspective once again changes to Ryo. Piccolomon confirms that BlackWarGreymon is the powerful digimon controlling the Machine Continent, so he’s not just coasting on his master’s power here, but exerting his own. Coupled with a plan, one to test the power I can get from the jogress facility before facing up against Millenniummon’s agent, I leave Piccolomon’s house.

But that’s a story for next time. See you soon for what I assume is the conclusion of our conflict with BlackWarGreymon, as well as our arrival to Millenniummon’s Continent.

#digimon #Digimon Adventure 02 #Digimon Adventure 02 Tag Tamers #Ryo Akiyama #Ken Ichijouji #BlackWarGreymon #game journal

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turqrambles · 4 years

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The Five Worst Things About Digimon World

I did it.

It took 20 years but I did it.

I finally beat Digimon World for the Playstation 1, a game that has haunted me for most of my lifetime, and I did it with a Phoenixmon, the reason why I use “Turquoisephoenix” as a handle!

This is who I used to beat the game, named after an obscure Ratchet and Clank character because that’s just how I roll. The final boss battle involved a lot of Prominence Beam spamming and med recovery floppy spamming but I did it fair and square.

Before I get into what I thought about this game as a whole - and I do have a lot of good things to say about this game since I obviously enjoyed it enough to get to the end - I gotta talk about my least favorite things about this game. In a concise, Buzzfeed-esque list because I like writing things in easy to digest chunks.

Because, like most charming yet difficult games of the late 90′s, this game is very flawed and the flaws are pretty annoying!

1. Care Mistakes

The three emojis - Smile, Cool, and Poop.

Okay. This one - my least favorite part in the game - is going to take a bit of explanation.

First off, I don’t actually hate care mistakes existing as a mechanic. I think it’s a cute, virtual pet-y way to add a different wrinkle to evolution requirements, even if I think it’s a bit counter-intuitive to have to suddenly abuse my little companion once they reach Champion just because I want them to evolve into a floating metallic ball with a chainsaw.

My problem with care mistakes is that there’s literally no way of telling many care mistakes you have on your given Digimon.

Literally everything else in this game is concisely recorded and easily displayed on your Digimon’s stats screen. You can see how much your Digimon weighs. You can see their Happiness, their Discipline. How much Life they have left. Their Age. Even how many poops they need to make before they digivolve into a sentient pile of feces.

But Care Mistakes? Naaaaw, you just gotta remember every single thing that you did to your Digimon from the moment it evolves in your fallible human brain. What’s that? A good portion of this game involves grinding in the Green Gym and it’s really easy to make a Care Mistake there without knowing you did so because you mashed A too fast like the stat-grinding numskull that you are? Well, that’s just too fucking bad for you, then! Enjoy not getting some of the best evolutions, you piece of shit. You stooge. You moron!

This game, multiple times: You know who I hate? The player.

Care Mistakes are such an invisible mechanic that, to this day, there are many guides with misleading info about what counts as a Care Mistake and what doesn’t, which...really stinks for a game such as this where you will be using a guide pretty extensively to get the Digimon you deserve. And you know why that is? Because we don’t get any indication as to whether or not some random event counts against you when raising your Digimon.

And honestly, having one of your main mechanics of the game being entirely invisible to the player is a terrible idea. Just put a little number in my profile that says “Care Mistakes: 0″ in there. Let me know this information without guessing.

2. The Glitches

Pictured: Something that will CRASH YOUR GAME if you try it on a physical copy.

Let me start with a disclaimer that most of the glitches I’m going to complain about were added into the game when Digimon World was localized and therefore aren’t the original intent of the developers. There are certain versions of Digimon World that are more stable than others (The English PAL version is the best version to play because of this) and, if you play this game via “certain methods”, there are patches to circumvent some of the bigger problems.

That being said! Boy! Isn’t it ironic that a game where I’m exploring the digital world is plagued with so many annoying, game-ruining glitches? Especially if I’m playing this game on a physical 20-year old copy like a dunce?

“Ohhhh...so Agumon thinks that they can block the Digimon game with their big fat Digimon-blocking head, do they?!”

The NTSC version of this game has a jukebox that will crash the game if you try to use it, keeping you from ever using a bonus feature meant to be a fun little reward for completing a certain dungeon, but that’s not as heinous as the Spanish, French, German, and Italian PAL versions of this game locking a good portion of the game to players because they forgot to make the Agumon in front of Ogremon’s Fortress an object you can interact with.

So that means, if you happened to get this game in one of four lucky countries, you can’t complete the Ogremon mission, you can’t recruit Whamon, you can’t recruit Shellmon, you can’t recruit anything tied to Shellmon’s bulletin board (which means no Vademon or Skullgreymon), and you can’t go to Factorial Town and recruit Giromon, Andromon, or Numemon. Ogremon is a key part of the Digimon World storyline and causes so many different things in the game to change, meaning that it should’ve been imperative to make sure this part of the game works!

But no. Instead this one little bastard Agumon keeps most players from finishing the game, because it starves players of those PAL regions of a bunch of Prosperity points, the main source of progression in this game. That means that Mt. Infinity and the final boss is just that much harder to unlock. It’s doable, but it’s more grueling process.

This really is a problem with the translators and really highlights a lack of general care with testing this game. Why this game was allowed to be shipped with such glaring bugs is anyone’s guess, especially in an era where you couldn’t release any patches over the Internet to fix retail versions.

3. The Monochromon’s Shop Minigame

Ohhhh....this one was so close to getting the top spot. When I first wrote this draft, this was the top spot.

Monochromon was only spared of my true ire on account of the fact that it really only exists for one part of the game (rather than being a constant problem like the Care Mistakes and the Glitches are) and you can easily cheese it by sleeping in front of the store so that you can save scum your way to victory. Like a true Digital Champion!

At one point in the game, you gotta help a entrepreneur dinosaur rhino man make a profit, because he was stupid and put his convenience store in the middle of a giant canyon next to a gaping chasm. So you play a little game of haggling, where you try to ruthlessly oversell a bunch of random items to customers until you make enough of a profit that this talking dinosaur tells you that you passed his secret test of character, abandons his store, and moves into File City.

There’s just one problem with this minigame - everything is decided by RNG.

“Get the hell out of my shop”

This minigame hates you. It wants nothing but to see you fail and to waste your time. The difference in profit margins of the three items (Meat sells for 50g, Portable Potties sell for 300g, and Medicine sells for 1000g) are so stark that, if you get too many customers asking for Meat, you might as well just reset the game and start over because it will be literally impossible to meet the requirement even if you busted the customer’s proverbial balls and squeezed every last bit out of their cutesy penguin faces.

Oh! It’s also RNG as to whether or not your customers will take your asking price or storm out of the store without buying anything!

It’s all the fun of working at retail! In a video game!

4. Three on One Battles

What you see before you is a battle system that is really fun when it’s one vs. one, manageable at two vs. one, and downright unbearable at three vs. one.

The battle system works for the most part. You don’t have full control of your Digimon (and yes, you only have one Digimon with you at one time, so you can never stack the numbers in your favor) so you shout commands at it, commands that the Digimon’s AI are pretty good at following, and hope for the best as you chuck healing items at it.

It’s not the best battle system, but it’s fun. And it definitely reinforces the whole “this is a pet you’re taking care of with its own thoughts and feelings” atmosphere that this game is going for.

However, nothing can protect your Digimon from enemy fire concentrated on them, especially if you did the thing that most players do and equipped your Digimon with the most powerful attacks that also happen to have slower cast times than the faster, weaker attacks.

What then happens is your Digimon’s Health is slowly whittled away as you are powerless to stop it, watching as your digital friend is straight up bullied by enemy Digimon as they keep falling to the ground over and over and over and over again.

The one saving grace is that Friendly Fire exists in this game so that oftentimes the enemy Digimon will damage each other in their mad dash to ruin your day, but that seems more like a band-aid than an actual fix to this system.

5. Fishing Seadramon

“Hi, kid. Let me guess - you also thought you had to talk to the Tankmon in Factorial Town in order to unlock me, huh.”

This one is a lot less of a pain than the other four and it’s only a little annoying but boy...getting Seadramon kinda sucks in this game.

It took me almost a goddamn hour to catch Seadramon. One hour of gameplay devoted to catching one fish. Just like real fishing!

I will say, besides Seadramon, the fishing minigame in this game is pretty competent. It’s just that Seadramon is very elusive, showing up at only two hours in a 24 hour day, and is a very finicky fish that won’t take your bait even if you literally placed it in front of his dumb fish face.

Don’t be fooled by this screenshot. The heart just means you have the right bait. The heart means that you didn’t actually get within range of hooking him.

IT’S RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU!!!

Seadramon is also subject to almost as many gaming myths as the Care Mistakes are, due to how elusive he is, but that’s less to do with poor communication (the game does at least explain multiple times in multiple places how to find him) and more to do with the fact that catching him is just such a goddamn chore to do that players of this game always assume they’re doing something wrong.

When in reality, Seadramon is just a picky little bitch.

Next time I discuss Digimon World, I’ll talk about things I liked, don’t worry. I just had to get all of this negativity out before discussing the full game proper.

#Digimon World #Turq Reviews #Turq Plays a Game

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ahiddenpath · 5 years

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Epilogue Celebration: Family

I keep running behind with these, there’s so much going on! HOW ABOUT THAT STEVEN UNIVERSE FINALE, EH?

I keep intending to write a ficlet, but I can never seem to stay on top of it. I hope you’ll accept some miscellaneous 2028 family headcanons below the cut.

-Taichi is one of the last Chosen to have his first child, age wise. This is partially because he’s busy representing digimon in human government, and humans to digimon. It’s a difficult and demanding job, both in terms of the work and the emotional toll as a subset of humans exploit digimon and a large swath of humans fear them. It often feels like Taichi is standing alone in a huge chasm between the two parties, trying to bring them together with little interest from either side.

So, yeah, he’s not really thinking about kids and family... Except that he is, and he’s eating his heart out with indecision over it. I think it takes a ton of courage and time for him to decide to become a father.

Like many of the Chosen, Taichi can’t spend as much time with his child as he would like because of his career. Still, his son adores him and thinks he’s the best Dad in the world, an attitude helped along by Agumon constantly saying so!

Taichi is a laid back and indulgent dad, except when his Worry kicks in. His wife has put him in parenting time out when he gets into his head and starts hovering too much.

-Yamato and Sora also waited a while to have kids because of their family backgrounds. They wanted to really be sure that they were ready first, committed to each other and to their new family. (I wrote a drabble that gets into it here, if you’re interested).

Because Yamato is an astronaut and Sora is a clothing designer, they rely heavily on their parents and Takeru for help watching their children. This is difficult for them, because they very much want to be with their kids... But they also want to achieve their own aspirations. Luckily, their parents and Takeru all dote on the kids, and sometimes squabble a bit over who gets them next.

Yamato tries to be chill about it, but it’s embarrassingly easy to get him gushing about his kiddos and the wife. Like, he’s that guy who starts every sentence with, “My daughter/son/wife/brother/Gabumon/nephew...” Missions are really hard on him for this reason. He’s known to tear up when talking to his family from space.

Sora is Best Mom, having trained since age 11 by handling the Chosen. Even when she’s away, the kids can’t get away with anything; her Mom Powers elicit confessions without much effort. The trick is that the kiddos just can’t lie to their adoring mother who takes such great care of them.

Sora does have to monitor herself closely. When her emotional state is poor, she sometimes snaps at the kids for normal kid stuff. Meanwhile, Yamato has to watch out for his tendency to send mixed messages by retreating when his emotions act up.

-I talked about Koushiro as a Dad a lot both here and here. His Dad strengths are supporting all of his daughter’s interests and engaging with her via activities and teaching opportunities, but he’s not skilled at understanding and meeting her emotional needs and giving social advice. Happily, I headcanon him marrying a lady who is well-equipped to cover those areas. He also sometimes just... gets scared of doing the wrong thing and retreats, but again, his parents and his wife quickly learn when to intervene.

-Mimi also has a parent post here. She’s great at interacting with her kid and having fun with him, and as an adult, she’s learned how to set boundaries. Still, she has a tendency to spoil her son, so luckily, there’s a wide network of beloved people helping to raise him to balance that out.

-Jyou! Oh my god, Jyou would be the most amazing dad, fight me (there’s likely no need).

The thing I most want to say here is that Jyou goes out of his way to expose his son to all kinds of careers and hobbies. In fact, he asks his friends, including the Chosen, to allow his son to participate in their “take your kids to work” events. He tells his boy that he can be whatever he wants, and that while he wants his son to find his passion and succeed in it... If he ever needs a place to fall back on, Jyou will be there.

He doesn’t want his son to experience the pressure he felt. Still, he is sure to instill the virtues of hard work and service.

Honestly, I think his only major flaw as a parent is worrying too much about his kids, and also spending too much time at work (he’s a doctor, so that’s inevitable). Luckily, Gomamon is around to keep things light-hearted, and to remind Jyou that is family needs him and he needs to go home now.

-Takeru is a great dad, and I think having his own family was really... A dream? Just a dream come true for him. After his parents divorced, I think it’s clear that Takeru wanted his family back, the way it used to be. These days, he has both parents (and they love babysitting), his brother, his sister-in-law, their kids... And he has his own wife and child. Things are no longer quiet at home or awkward with his parents.

Honestly, I think Dad Takeru is living his best life and organizing play dates and is just so happy. He’s amazing with children, and they love him... But his adult friends know to be wary when their kids and Takeru huddle up. What the hell kind of mischief is he encouraging? At least they never have to wait long to find out.

-Hikari is also an A+ Mama. Her warm, sweet aura soothes kids and inspires good behavior, but don’t think she can be walked on! A teacher takes no guff and knows how to convince kiddos to behave.

Hikari needs to learn to tend her mental health with love, care, and regularity. Teaching saps her emotional strength, and she often feels depleted, but forces herself to keep smiling and giving her all. There are times when everything just reaches critical failure levels, and she melts down.

So, Hikari... I’mma need you to love yourself the way you love everyone else.

-Oh my God, Daisuke. Sometimes, he acts more like a brother or uncle than a father, so his kid gets away with things that he... probably shouldn’t. I’m hoping he is with someone who disciplines instead of joining in on nonsense!

I can tell you that his son adores him, though. They live a fun, loud, and noisy life! Daisuke and his son both wish that Daisuke wasn’t so busy as an entrepreneur, but the good news is that Daisuke’s parents, sister, and Chosen friends (especially the 02 crew) are always willing to babysit.

-Miyako and Ken might have the most... stable???? Presence for their kiddos, since Miyako is a stay-at-home-mom. I do think that, when her youngest goes into kindergarten, she starts working part time as a researcher for Koushiro’s company, but... She’s always wanted a big, happy family, and she is always, always there for her kiddos. I really admire that.

I think the kiddos might favor Ken, just because he’s not at home all the time, and... Well, who doesn’t love Ken-chan? I bet Miyako gets a little miffed when the kiddos rejoice when daddy comes home after she cared for them all day... But she’s probably just as excited to see him!

I kind of think Ken and Miyako are That Couple. You know, the one that makes everyone think, blech, get a room, just from the way they look at each other.

Miyako is the kind of mom that can cheerfully yell at kids XD Like, the standard speaking volume is pretty high in this household. They’re the kind of sibling group that bickers one moment and cuddles and plays together the next. She always sees to everyone’s needs, knows how to discipline, but also brings on the fun. The only issue is that her emotions get carried away sometimes, and she needs to reel herself in before she riles up the kiddos to the point where they’re impossible to calm.

Ken, I think, is like an oasis for his kids. Calm, soothing, understanding, patient, quiet... He might not be as good as talking and taking charge as Miyako, but he’s an amazing listener, and he gives the world’s best hugs, certified.

He has his hands full with the bedtime routine, trying to wind everyone down after a loud, fun day with Miyako and each other.

-I believe that leaves Iori! Ugh, I love him, and I love to think of him as this strong, capable man who dedicates himself to service. He’s like a pillar to his daughter, who is likely the sweetest and kindest gen 2 baby. Like so many of the Chosen, Iori’s career is demanding, but his wife, mother, and grandfather step in. In fact, they might all live together? And while his daughter loves all of them, Iori is her favorite. In her eyes, he is just, kind, capable, dedicated, and strong, always helping the digimon and people who need help.

I think the only issue is that Iori doesn’t realize how big of a shadow he’s casting. His daughter pushes herself to be everything that she sees in him, which is a lot for anyone, let alone a kid. The good news is that her great-grandfather sees everything, and he is always telling her that she is more than enough.

I LOVE THEM ALL, THANKS FOR COMING TO MY TED TALK.

#digimon epilogue celebration #digimonepiloguecelebration #chosen children #digidestined

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digitaldreams0801 · 4 years

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Digimon Frontier Rewrite: Episode Fifty

Woooooooah we’re almost there wooooooooah Lucemon on a chair

Episode Fifty

Takuya, Saki, Haroi, Bokomon, and Lopmon continue to travel along the surface of the Digital World, winding up at a large chasm where data was removed in huge chunks by the Royal Knights. They look down upon seeing a stream of data, specifically belonging to Leopardmon, shoot past them. Takuya wonders if that could have been another Knight defeated by the rest of the party, and Haroi says that he hopes that is the case.

Dynasmon appears on the scene and begins to attack, saying that the Legendary Warriors should have died already. He admits that he has not heard from the rest of the Royal Knights in quite some time, but that won’t stop him from defeating the group.

All three of the Legendary Warriors spirit evolve soon afterwards, and Aldamon tells Dynasmon that he hasn’t heard from Alphamon since he’s dead. Dynasmon grows angry at his words and charges forward in rage. Aldamon, Aerismon, and Siriusmon all put up an admirable fight, able to turn the tides against Dynasmon almost right off the bat.

Izumi, Tomoki, Chihiro, and Neemon arrive on the scene shortly afterwards, all three Warriors holding their D-Tectors and trying to track down the previous group. When they realize a fight has broken down, they all Unified spirit evolve, becoming JetSilphymon, Daipenmon, and Yaiamon before charging into the battle. Dynasmon realizes he is heavily outnumbered with the arrival of the three new Warriors and tries to call for help.

Yaiamon tells him that Jesmon has fallen at the hands of the Warriors of Wind, Ice, and Earth. Dynasmon grows upset again but tells the group that they will not defeat him.

Beowolfmon, RhinoKabuterimon, and Lyseirmon appear soon afterwards with Patamon. The combined might of the nine Legendary Warriors shows Dynasmon that he has no chance of victory despite his confidence, and Lyseirmon confirms the Royal Knight’s fears about the fall of Crusadermon, leaving Dynasmon to believe that only Leopardmon has survived the juggernaut force of the combined Legendary Warriors in Unified form.

Last but not least, Rhihimon, Ceruleamon, and Aethermon appear with Salamon. They say that Leopardmon has fallen as well and that they were sent through a rift made by AncientSphinxmon that restored their energy from the fight. The boost in power also gave Nyaromon the ability to evolve to Salamon, putting her at the Rookie level.

Dynasmon is swiftly defeated from there, though Mayumi gets the final blow in and scans his data. As expected, Dynasmon’s data sinks into the ground to find Lucemon.

The Warriors revert back to human form and embrace each other in excitement, glad to be reunited at long last. The group embraces each other before looking to the chasm where Dynasmon’s data disappeared. They say that it is likely Lucemon is waiting there.

Takuya declares that they only have one option and that they must find Lucemon and kill him for real this time rather than just seal him away as the Legendary Warriors did. The rest of the group agrees, but Koichi is clearly uncertain about what will come after the battle and remains oddly quiet, prompting others to wonder what is going on with him.

Koji attempts to approach Koichi, but it yields no results, and the rest of the group joins in to try and learn more. Koichi remains firm in his silence, saying that they should be focused on Lucemon first and foremost. Everyone agrees hesitantly, but they are still able to sense that something is wrong with him even if they don’t know exactly what it is.

#digimon #frontier #rewrite #digimon frontier #digital's frontier rewrite bs

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the-digimon-tamer · 5 years

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Chapter 33 - The Thing Below is out now on FanFiction.Net and ArchiveOfOurOwn! Check them out with the links or find it after the break!

Title: The Tamer v2.0 - In HIs Name

Fandom: Digimon

Rating: T

Synopsis: In the next adventure of the Digimon Tamer, the lives of Juri, Rika, and Henry change forever when digimon begin crossing over into the human world. But it’s all just a story, right? Just a book series by an author no one has seen in a long time. Why are they here and can they save their world before something worse follows the digimon?

While the others descended into the depths of the chasm, Kenta found himself left alone with Juri, Calumon, Tamerkato and Guilmon. All four of them were completely out of it - Juri was practically catatonic, Calumon was too busy panicking behind her back to notice anything going on around, and Guilmon was still out cold. Tamerkato was probably the only one who hadn’t shut down mentally but he hadn’t said or done anything since they got here. He may as well have shut down mentally since he just stayed by his partner and who was completely unconsciously. And he wasn’t sure what he could to help any of them.

Kenta would’ve liked to not be in that position; to have gone down into the depths with the others, but knew that he’d probably only manage to slow the others down if he were there. After all, what did he have to contribute without a partner?

So he was stuck here, trying to think of something to say either of them. It was weird to try and talk to Juri - she was Takato’s friend more than his. And Takato apparently wasn’t even the real Takato. So what should he say to either of them? He scratched the back of his head - he may not be the real Takato but he’d spent the last year hanging around him. That was something at least. It beat trying to talk to Juri or the all mighty Sovereign digimon ho wrong around them.

“Hey Tak…Tamer,” he began with his hands in his pocket, “How you holding up?”

“I’m sorry,” he mumbled back quietly, not really looking back or talking to him. In fact, it seemed that he was talking to his partner Guilmon, “I let it happen again. I promised I never would again and instead it happened again. And I’m so sorry.”

There was also a soft glow of warm light coming from Tamerkato - although Kenta wasn’t really sure where it was coming from. He tried to peer over Tamerkato’s shoulder to get a better look but the boy adjusted to keep it just out of view. He tried to peer over his shoulder again but the boy shifted once more to keep it out of sight. Tamerkato let out a small chuckle and added, “The worst part is you probably don’t remember any of it, huh? Not the first time…not the second…”

Guilmon opened his eyes and quietly asked, “Remember what? Where are we anyway? Was I sleep walking again?”

“No buddy. It’s my fault,” Tamerkato answered, his chuckle replaced with a frown. He hugged his partner. Kenta was slightly relieve to see that they were alright. But what was that light? He wanted to ask but Tamerkato was really determined to not let any of them know he was a Guardian for whatever reason. Why all the sudden secrecy?

…

Azulongmon hovered over the crevice, surprised that he was going along with this absurd plan that the humans had come up with. Then again, he knew why he was going along with it. They couldn’t wait for the Digimon Tamer to help them, they had no way of reaching the digidestined, and none of them actually knew how to use the Catalyst. This was as good a plan as any they could come up with. He just wished it wasn’t so embarrassing for him.

The humans and their digimon were descending down the crevice atop their partners, intent to help Baihumon. With any luck, they’d either drive off whatever was down there or help to save their missing ally. Either way, hopefully the problem would resolve itself soon. He gazed down into the crevice, watching them descend and called down, “Are you okay?”

“It’s kinda dark and there needs to be more light!” Kazu shouted back up.

A bolt of lightning shot up from within the depths of the crevice followed by another pillar of fire. Azulongmon moved out of its path and heard the kids below screaming in terror and protest as their flung around by his beard. After a moment of silence, Rika shouted, “Dammit Kazu! You just had to ask for light, didn’t you!?”

“I didn’t mean that kind of light. And seriously, stop shouting at me. You’re making me look bad in front of Azulongmon! Also, what the hell was that?”

Rapidmon laughed, “I love your priorities! We’re going into a part of the Digital World that even they’re afraid to go to, with no idea what we’re doing, and you’re more worried about what his opinion of you.”

“Are you kidding? Have you not seen the show? Or read the books? He’s awesome!” Kazu fired back.

“Kazu, this isn’t any of those things! This is real and you should take it seriously!” Henry added. Then Ryo, the boy who claimed to not be the Digimon Tamer, called out, “Focus guys! Whatever we’re going to find down there scares the Sovereigns! How about we concentrate on that instead of arguing? Keep your eyes open down there!”

“I have no eyes. Just a hunger for battle,” Cyberdramon growled.

“Yes, we noticed,” Rapidmon pointed out.

“We should all be cautious,” Taomon pointed out. Azulongmon began to reconsider his opinion that this group might be the hope that they’re waiting for. No, everything would be fine. He just had to have faith in what destiny foretold. However, he’d known what reliance on destiny had done for those who came before. Should he have faith in it now?

…

Juri looked over from Tamer to Kenta to Guilmon...and felt nothing but useless. They probably didn’t need her anymore. What use was she without a partner? What use was she when she couldn’t keep a partner alive? This was her fault! It was all her fault.

Beelzemon lay unconscious just a few feet away. She wished he didn’t. Being near him was a reminder of what happened. Being near Tamer was a reminder of what was. She hated it. Why’d she even come here? Everything she cared for died. She knew that for a fact. If she stuck around any longer, the others would die too. It’s no wonder they were keeping their distance from her.

“Target acquired...scanning...status: indeterminate.”

“Juri?” she heard Calumon whimper out quietly, “Are...are you okay?”

No she wasn’t. She shouldn’t be near Calumon either. He’d end up just like Leomon if she stuck around. Just like her mother. What was the point of her?

“Scanning for vulnerabilities.”

Vulnerabilities? She was probably the queen of that for all the trouble she caused. Her partner Leomon. Her classmate Takato. Her mother! Everything she came close to died.

“Vulnerabilities found.”

She didn’t want to be found. She wanted to go away. To be anywhere that wasn’t here. So that she wouldn’t hurt her friends. So that the people she cared about would stop dying.

“Identifying insecurity type.”

There was so much wrong with her.

“Identification complete. Preparing transfer.”

Take her away. Be anywhere but here.

“Juri! Juri! Please listen to me!” Calumon pleaded, “Juri!”

…

Kenta looked over his shoulder at Calumon shouting in a panic while Juri sat there with her eyes fixed on the ground. Tamerkato didn’t even seem to notice, his eyes still fixed on Guilmon. But Guilmon, friendly dinosaur that he was, scrambled to his feet and walked over to investigate, “Juri? Are you okay?”

“Transfer complete,” she answered quietly. Guilmon sniffed her and began to growl. Now Tamerkato was paying attention to her and he was quick to jump on his partner, “Guilmon, stop.”

Guilmon’s growling turned into bared fangs and Tamerkato had to start pulling his partner back. When he didn’t make much headway, Kenta hurried over to help, “Tamer! Don’t tell me you’re still mad or something! This is the last thing Juri needs.”

“A little, but not as mad as I was before! I have no idea what’s up with Guilmon,” he answered, taking a few deep breaths to try and calm himself. However, Guilmon continued to growl and snap at Juri. His bare fangs turned into an open mouth snap and an attempt to actually bite Juri, something Tamerkato stopped by slapping his mouth shut. Despite the attempt at her, the poor girl barely even reacted. Somehow, she appeared unfazed by what Guilmon had done. She even seemed indifferent to the danger she was in. Calumon however was still freaking out, before finally hopping out of her arms and scrambling towards the sovereigns. Calumon’s panicked frenzy caught Zhuqiaomon’s attention and he turned his head angrily, “What’s happening?”

“Guilmon’s being difficult!” Tamerkato answered loudly. Zhuqiaomon glided over to them and examined the dinosaur, “YOU! EXPLAIN YOURSELF!”

Guilmon let out another loud roar that Tamerkato had to slap his jaw shut again, “Sorry. When he gets likes this, he becomes wild. I’ll get him under contro-WAAGH!”

Guilmon lunged at Juri with his mouth wide open, eyes focused solely on attacking her. He was only stopped when Calumon yelped, releasing a flash of light that blinded everyone. When the light faded, Guilmon crashed into the ground beside Juri, throwing Tamerkato off and sending both of them rolling along the ground.

Tamerkato scrambled to his feet before his partner could and Kenta joined him in trying to pin Guilmon to the ground, “Stop it Guilmon! What’s gotten into you!? If you’re hungry, I have bread in my bag!”

The digimon finally stopped struggling against them and repeated, “Bread? You have bread! Yay! I’m hungry!”

He leapt off them and helped Tamerkato up, mostly to go through his backpack better while he helped to himself to some food. Kenta took a moment to catch his breath before realizing Juri was still unmoving, staring down at the ground blankly. Then she jerked her head up to face him. Her eyes were somehow both vacant but staring with an uncharacteristic intensity that Kenta found chilling.

It was like a statue was staring at him and he hated it. He wanted to ask her to stop but was sure that she’d throw herself at him full force if he tried. So he sat there quietly, hoping that she would stop staring if he pretended to not notice. It didn’t help. In fact, her continued staring became horrifying the longer it went on - like she was staring straight into his soul. She only stopped when Tamerkato helped lift her to a stand, “Juri! Are you okay? You’re not hurt are you? I’m sorry. I have no idea what came over Guilmon. He’s never done that before to anyone. Well, anyone who wasn’t a digimon.”

She jerked her head towards him next, and now it was Tamerkato’s turn to be unsettled. Or should’ve been. He didn’t even seem to notice anything was wrong with the way she was acting, instead droning on, “I swear, I’ll make it up to you. I promise. Seriously though, you are okay right? The last thing I want on my conscious is to find out you’ve been hurt in some way.”

“Are you all done? You’re being loud and annoying. I’d smite you all if you weren’t the best chance our world has at surviving at the moment,” Zhuqiaomon asked. Tamerkato stepped away from Juri and shrugged, “I guess? Maybe he was hungry? I don’t know.”

Despite that, Calumon was still minding his distance with his big wide eyes brimming with tears. He approached Juri slowly, “Juri, are you okay?”

No answer. How could she be okay after everything they’d seen happen? Her partner killed, Tamerkato going into a blind rage that made her partner’s killer powerless. And then he did something to Beelzemon. He didn’t know but it broke the digimon mentally. Then Azulongmon comes along and blows Megidramon apart like it was nothing. On that note, he was impressed with how the rest of them were handling everything that had happened. This had been quite the day for everyone.

Tamerkato scooped up Calumon and stepped away from Juri, “Give her some space, Calumon. I think she wants to be alone right now.”

…

Ryo leapt off his partner and dropped down to the ledge just below him. They’d gone down as far as their partners were carrying them and they were still nowhere near Baihumon or whatever he was fighting at the bottom. It must’ve been half a mile with how far above the light of the surface was; it was so far that the light barely reached this far down. If it weren’t for the occasional flashes of lightning and fire, they wouldn’t be able to see anything more than a few vague shadows moving in the dark. The flashes of lightning and fire were becoming more frequent too. Either they were getting closer to the source or the fighting was getting more intense. It was hard to say which of the two was worse.

Every one took a moment from that point to collect their thoughts and catch their breaths before they proceeded further down. Maybe it was just now sinking in how serious the situation was. Or maybe it was the nervous tension from not really knowing what they were about to go up against. Whichever it was, everyone was on the edge of their seat in anticipation.

They proceeded another mile, sticking as close to the sides as possible to avoid more arcs of lightning and blasts of fire. Not only that, but they also had to proceed single file as the crevice narrowed - likely from the fighting shifting loose earth and rock.

During those few gaps where there were no blasts of electricity or fire, they had to proceed in total darkness. They could only barely make out the light filtering in from the sky above and a soft red glow below. If hell were real, Ryo was sure that it was what awaited this far down. Maybe the devil was waiting to meet them?

“WHY WON’T YOU JUST STAY DEAD!? TAKE THIS! AND THIS! WE CAN DO THIS FOR AS LONG AS IT TAKES! I HAVE ALL ETERNITY!”

“We’re getting close guys,” Kazu announced, craning his neck to get a better glimpse of what exactly was going on beneath them. Despite that, it was still too far down to properly see and Kazu’s shifting made it harder for anyone else to see either. Then Rapidmon pointed out, “Normally I let Henry be the stick in the mud, but I think it deserves pointing out that its really tight down here. This is going to become really messy if we need to fight.”

“THEN WE GO FIRST!” Cyberdramon roared proudly, descending faster than the rest. Ryo smacked his partner and protested, “No we don’t! We still don’t know what to expect down there. We could be flying down in the Digital World’s biggest trap.”

“THERE’S NO WHERE TO GO BUT DOWN, RYO,” Cyberdramon protested grumpily, “AND I GET THE FIRST PUNCH IN ANY FIGHT!”

Ryo raised an eyebrow, “Are you kidding? We’re not even the first ones into the fight! Look, just slow down! Let Taomon and Rika go first!”

“Hey! Don’t go volunteering us!” Rika shouted back at them angrily. Taomon laughed, “It’s not like you to turn down a chance at a fight.”

Ryo realized how that sounded and quickly explained “I didn’t mean it like that. It’s because you can throw up a shield, Taomon. You go first because you can throw up a shield to protect us from whatever is down there if it attacks. I mean, you held back Megidramon without breaking a sweat.”

“Yes, and he was defeated by a Sovereign in one hit. And now we’re going up against something that can take a Sovereign no problem. What chance do you possibly think any shield I could create has?”

Ryo felt stupid for even suggesting his idea now but he still didn’t really like the idea of going first. He sighed, “Yeah, good point.”

“Then it’s settled! Me first!” Cyberdramon roared. Ryo yelped as his partner suddenly descended faster into the depths until the faint red glow of light became as bright as day. Ryo was right, it was like descending into hell. The chasm opened into a large cavern whose walls were scarred from battle and looked ready to collapse on top of them at any moment. Just below them was a tiger like digimon wearing a blue helm and followed by orbs of light that fired flares of lightning at a moving mass of what looked like red gelatin. The gelatinous ooze would rise up to try and strike the tiger, before bursting and unleashing a blast of fire onto the unsuspecting digimon. The two traded blows but it was obvious the mass of ooze was winning, slowly driving the tiger Sovereign back with every passing moment. For all the Sovereigns efforts, it seemed all he could really do was slow whatever the thing beneath them was.

“That looks like our missing Sovereign. What’s the plan guys?” Rapidmon asked.

“What else would the plan be? Attack!” Kazu shouted, slapping his partner’s back and signaling him to charge ahead. Guardromon obliged and dove straight down into the battle. And was promptly struck by a stray blast of electricity from Baihumon. And Kazu, holding on to his completely metal partner, convulsed violently until the arc passed through - both falling towards the goop of red mass. Right away, Rapidmon and Cyberdramon flew down to save them - snatching them both and rising back into the air before either got too close to whatever that red thing was.

The mass seemed to sense how close they were and rose after them before it collapsed on itself. For a moment, it really seemed to be alive and aware of their presence because a pillar of fire shot at them. Right away, Taomon flew in front of them and drew a symbol in the air with her brush, “Talisman Spell!”

A sphere of green light appeared around them, blocking the blast of fire and finally drawing Baihumon’s attention, “Who are you and why are you here? ARE THOSE HUMANS!?”

“Hiya! We came down here to help! Or we did until Kazu and Guardromon got knocked out by your electricity,” Rapidmon explained, gesturing at the two unconscious members of their party. Baihumon’s eyes narrowed and he grunted, “If you want to help, stay out of my way. This enemy requires my full attention. Now, where was-NO! CLOSE BUT NOT QUITE!”

A blast of fire shot out from the blob towards Baihumon, who narrowly avoided getting struck, and hit the cavern wall just above them. The cavern shook and loose rocks fell down on them, bouncing off the shield and continuing downward until it hit the blob below. At first, it seemed the rocks injured the red mass as it writhed in pain. At least, that’s how it looked until the rocks burst into data. The data didn’t even linger, sinking into the red mass below like it were a digimon absorbing the data.

Ryo supposed that made sense. Everything in the Digital World was made of data so, in theory, something could absorb the data left over from destroyed bits of the Digital World. But then what was that thing? It wasn’t any kind of digimon he’d seen but it was absorbing the data no problem. And what did it mean for them since they weren’t from the Digital World? Could it harm and absorb them? Who knows how much of the Digital World had already been eaten by this thing. More terrifically, what chance did they have?

Baihumon was unfazed and unleashed another torrent of electricity at the red mass, striking the creature. On closer inspection, the parts hit with the electricity dissipated but only briefly. As quick as Baihumon could put dents on its surface, the red mass would regrow and continue its advance upon them.

Cyberdramon grumbled, “Are we just going to sit here and watch, or are we going to fight back!?”

“Right, of course. Here we go,” Taomon waved her hand and let shield dissipate. Terriermon hung back with the unconscious Guardromon and Kazu tucked under his arms, leaving Taomon and Cyberdramon to go on the offensive. Taomon opened by drawing a character in the air with her brush, “Let’s go with this! Bon-Hitsu-Sen! Talisman of Light!”

The symbol flew towards the red mass below them and exploded in a violent blast of light. Cyberdramon followed up the attack with a beam of red light from his claws, “DESOLATION CLAW!”

The attacks hit their mark and the red blob appeared to retreat for all of a moment. The two digimon cheered excitedly, “Alright! We hurt it!”

“YOU FOOLS! YOU ONLY ANNOYED IT!” Baihumon roared back at them. Ryo wasn’t sure what that meant. After all, their attack had hurt it. It barely scratched it, but damage was damage. And this thing was barely fighting back. As long as they stayed out of reach, defeating it would be no problem!

At least, that’s what Ryo though until the red mass regurgitated a red bubble that floated up towards them. They moved aside and let it past, watching it bump into the cavernous ceiling. And on contact, both dissipated into data before being absorbed by the D-Reaper.

“Okay, avoid the bubbles. Got it,” Ryo grumbled, trying to think of what he could do to counter this new attack. If it could even be called that. It was more like a burp or fart - that is to say, it was disgusting but seemed harmless.

“GUYS! WATCH OUT!” Rapidmon called out to them. Cyberdramon jolted to the side as they narrowly avoided another bubble belched out from the red mass beneath them. And then another bubble narrowly avoided them. Baihumon had gone from the standing his ground to a full retreat, ascending towards them and shouting, “There’s too much. Run! Now!”

Cyberdramon jerked upward again, and Ryo held on for dear life as they retreated upward. Baihumon was the last one up the chasm after them as more rocks collapsed from the ceiling. Behind them, Ryo could see the sovereign firing as much electricity into his surroundings as possible to narrow the chasm behind him. But the bubbles continued their pursuit. In all his years traveling the Digital World, this was a first for him: running for his life from bubbles.

It would be funny if he didn’t know his life was in some kind of mortal peril. If the fate of the Digital World wasn’t in peril What exactly was his life right now? Or rather, what had his life become?

He glanced down once more to see the chasm narrowing behind them only to see it reopening as more bubbles destroyed the loose earth and stone raining down on top of. This thing, whatever it was, was eating threw the rock as fast as Baihumon could bury it. Even with the weight of the Digital World collapsing on top of it, it continued to advance upon them without slowing down. They had to do something though. If they didn’t, this thing was going to escape. But their partners were already at the Ultimate level and that wasn’t enough. And no amount of power ups were ever going to match a mega. So what else was there to do?

He would’ve looked through his cards but there was no way he could hold on to Cyberdramon and shuffle his deck at the same time. He’d just have to hold on and hope they got away before

“AAAHHH!”

Ryo glanced upwards and his eyes widened in terror, “RIKA!”

She was falling and Taomon was right behind her. He tried to grab her as she fell past him but she was too far away to be reached. So he watched, powerless as she fell downward towards the swarm of red blobs coming after them and hoping Taomon was fast enough.

...

It was a careless mistake. An accident. Rika’s grip slipped as Taomon accelerated upwards and she fell downward towards the red mass. Ryo tried to grab her as she fell past but she couldn’t reach. And his eyes widened in terror. She’d seen what that the blob could do to the Digital World. What chance did she have? None. That thing was going to kill her the moment she made contact.

Wind rushed past and her heart raced so fast that she could hear it in her ears. During that brief moment she was in free fall, she glanced upwards at Taomon diving down to save her. And a calm washed over her as she realized that her partner was gaining. She was going to make it. She trusted her partner. She would save her. They were partners. That was what they’d promised each other. She reached out to Taomon as the digimon got closer, knowing that they’d make it if they reached out just a little more. Her fingers brushed Taomon’s fingers for a brief second and-

A blast of fire shot past them, loosing a rock that struck Taomon in the back. After everything they’d been through today, that strike was probably the last straw as she regressed back to Renamon. Now it didn’t matter it Renamon caught her. She couldn’t fly.

No, that wasn’t true. She just had to believe in her partner. Renamon was still trying to save her. She hadn’t given up. And neither would she. They outstretched their hands towards each other, brushing fingers a few times before they finally clasped on to each other. Right away, Rika felt a warmth inside of her she hadn’t felt before. Her heart beat grew louder - her digivice began to glow.

“Biomerge Digivolution,” It announced. And the light wrapped around her. Renamon’s voice cried out, “Renamon! Biomerge to!”

She felt something warm wrap around her - enveloping her in golden armor and black leather. She felt a weight on the back of her head and in her arms - a metal staff and helm wrap around her, “Sakuyamon!”

Her head spun wildly as the world turned upside-down and corrected to right-side up. She felt light and like she was flying. It took her a moment longer to understand why - she was flying in the air. She was flying. In the air. How was that even possible?

“Are you okay, Rika?” Renamon’s voice echoed. She looked around in search of her partner but found nothing, “Renamon?”

“I’m here Rika. Or rather, we’re here,” she answered. Rika looked around, “Where?”

“This is DNA Digivolution. Or Jogress. It’s only ever been done between digimon. I never would’ve thought it could be done between human and digimon,” Renamon’s voice echoed inside her head, “It really is something different to have to be inside your head like this.”

Inside her head. Renamon was inside her head, “Or maybe I’m inside yours.”

“LOOK OUT!” Ryo’s cry snapped her attention back to the swarm of rising bubbles. Almost as if on instinct, Rika felt her body propel itself upwards to the others. And that was when she noticed the staff she was holding in her hand. She had no idea where this staff came from. Taomon hadn’t been holding one when they came down here and Renamon certainly didn’t need one. It must’ve been a part of the digivolution - like Taomon’s brush or Beelzemon’s shotgun. Yeah, that’s what it had to be.

But how to use it? She could only think to swing it and felt embarrassed by the fact that this was the kind of plan the goggle head would come up with. With a twirl, she tried beating back the encroaching bubble and watched a wave of light stream out from the base, “Amethyst Mandala!”

She didn’t cry that out. But she did. Her voice acted on its own. Or maybe Renamon had forced it. Either way, the stream of light spread out and split amongst the various red blobs floating upward - shattering them like glass and weakening the structure of the crevice walls so that loose stone came tumbling down on top of any digimon unfortunate enough to be standing in the way.

Then silence.

Nothing else was coming up. But that wasn’t going to hold them for long. Eventually, they would just eat their way through and they’d be back in the same problem all over again. They needed to get back to the rest of them and explain what just happened. The whole trip up, she tried her best to ignore the fact that the others were staring at her - but she knew why. She’d done the impossible. She had become one with her partner and become Sakuyamon.

“Renamon?” she thought quietly, “Can you hear me?”

“Yes, although this is going to take some getting used to. It’s…different, having to share a mind and body,” Renamon’s voice echoed. What did that mean? Sure, they shared a body but they weren’t sharing a mind. Were they? The more she thought on it, the more confusing it became. She tried to recall something only Renamon would but it made her head hurt.

Like the time she was traveling alone in the desert zone after a group of Chrysalimon ganged up on her. Wait, that didn’t happen. Did it?

This was more confusing than the time she’d gotten herself wrapped into a marriage ceremony with a WereGarurumon. Wait, that definitely didn’t happen.

“Are you alright?” Renamon’s voice echoed. Rika tried to shake the dizzying headache but it was hard to focus on anything, “I think so? I keep remembering things that didn’t happen.”

“They did happen Rika. Because those are my memories. You can see into my mind. As I can see into yours. I can see Ryo is very important to you. Before me, he was your only friend. Or at least, the one person you saw as a friend,” Renamon answered quietly. That revelation gave her pause as she realized that her mind was an open book to her partner. But if anyone should know her deepest darkest secrets, who better than her partner Renamon? Then she gasped, “Wait! You never told me you were going to get married!”

“You never asked. Besides, what would it have mattered if I had? I thought that kind of thing didn’t even matter to you?”

If she was at all capable of blushing like this, she really hoped it wasn’t obvious as she averted her attention away from the others. She was just glad no one could hear what she was thinking right now. The last thing she wanted was for any of them to be able to see how much of an open book she was. At least, until she noticed Ryo staring at her again, “What?”

“Sorry, just…taking in everything that’s happened today,” he replied sheepishly, scratching the back of his head anxiously, “I’m glad you’re alright, Rika. Er, Sakuyamon. Come on, we should get these guys back up to the surface of the Digital World before things go crazy again.”

Rika nodded. Or rather, Sakuyamon nodded. It was hard to think of herself as being one of two people. Or for her to be sharing a body with her partner Renamon. It wasn’t a bad thing, it just...felt different. Or rather, it didn’t feel different.

“You know I can hear your thoughts, right?” Renamon’s voice echoed in her mind. Rika forgot that they were also sharing a mind now, “So does that mean you know I’m wondering when you were going to get married?”

“Why? Curious?” Renamon asked.

“You know the answer.”

“Well then, let me start at the beginning...”

#The Tamer v2 In His Name #Chapter 33 #Fanfiction #Digimon #archiveofourown #The Tamer

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richsretroreviews · 6 years

Text

Spyro the Dragon Review.

Release date: 9th September 1998 NA, October 1998 EU.

Developer: Insomniac Games.

Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment, Universal Interactive Studios.

Ok, I have been putting off doing this for way too long…

Back in 1999 for my 7th birthday I got my first Playstation as an early birthday present. I remember being incredibly impatient for one reason or another until my parents went “Fine, here, this’ll shut you up and keep you occupied.” And it did. I had already gotten a SNES from my uncle when I was 6 which blew my infant mind, but getting the Playstation had solidified video games being a prominent part of my life.

One game in particular that was special to me was Spyro 2 Gateway to Glimmer (or Ripto’s Rage in the US). I was very possessive of that game as a kid… Then I got Spyro 3.

But I never played the first one…

I remember seeing it in a Playstation magazine after I had got Spyro 2 and for some reason it astounded me that there was another one that came before it. I mean, I was a kid. Anything new would bewilder and fascinate me. I remember it clearly that it was a screenshot of the beginning of the Toasty level and Terrace Village. Also there was a Tekken 3 article in that magazine too of that little dinosaur, Gon.

Anyway, fast forward to about 2012. I had just gotten a PS1 emulator working on my laptop and gotten a PS2 for my dad. I still kept a hold of my PS1 memory card from when I was a kid that still had Digimon World 2003 and a couple other saves on it. And I still got that blue card today. That’s when I decided to get back all the games I had lost as a child to play on the PS2, starting with Spyro 2. BUT, the lady I bought it from on ebay mis-advertised the game and I ended up getting the first Spyro. It wasn’t what I wanted at all, but I had never gotten to play it all these 13 years since I first got my Playstation. So I wasn’t one to complain. I messaged the seller, told her it was the wrong one “Oh, haha, ok send it back and I’ll get you a refund” but it was a Friday afternoon. So before I went to send it back the following Monday I blasted through that game on my PS1 emulator on my laptop and made the most of it. I know I could’ve used the PS2 but whatever.

And I’m so happy I mistakenly got the first one.

It was exactly like being a kid again to when I first played Spyro 2. The soundtrack by Stewart Copeland immediately sticking and playing songs on loop in my head, the atmosphere it laid out, controlling Spyro for the first time in a long while and the first time ever in his first title, setting everything on fire, charging everywhere (because you don’t just walk everywhere in a Spyro game, you have to charge), but also there was a wealth of new things to the game that was very different to what I was accustomed to in Spyro 2.

You go through the game freeing crystalized dragons, collecting all the gems, catching all the eggs, doing the time trials for more gems, beating all the bosses and beating Gnasty Gnorc. By the end of it you can get 120% completion.

With Spyro’s controls, you charge, you glide, you breath fire, you charge faster, you fly forever until you hit a giant lighthouse, and you plummet to your death at the push of a button.

I was so used to pressing X to glide then triangle to do a little hover for an extra boost of height in Spyro 2 and 3, but that was never a thing in this. You press triangle after a glide and you plop down on the ground. So many times when I first played it did I mess that up, especially in Alpine Ridge. I go to glide across a giant chasm, feel I’m not quite going to make it so I instinctively press triangle for a last bit of extra height and—nope, let’s just turn gliding off.

You glide along, you soar! Whee! It’s fun! Triangle and turn it off. Foomp. Shit…

But honestly it didn’t take that long after a while to learn that triangle=bad when gliding in this. Do it all you wish in 2 and 3 but this, noooooo.

Either way, gliding was just as fun as the other 2 games. I feel like it was refined in 2 and 3 more, obviously, but it was definitely satisfying to do. Which a lot of what you can do as Spyro feels like, it’s satisfying. It’s a joy to run and fly and play around and jump about as Spyro. For the most part it has great controls to play as Spyro and I never had any problems controlling the lovable purple dragon.

Although, if you were to charge down a line of 6 enemies in a row, you see them all lined up and think “Yessss, I know exactly what I’m going to do!” You go to knock them all down but sometimes it doesn’t entirely work because it feels like after you hit one and go to hit the second behind him it feels like you roll off of the enemies and have to almost fight to keep Spyro in a straight line. So you can’t satisfyingly knock down the whole row of enemies like you want to. Otherwise you miss one and it kinda takes the fun out of what you wanted to do.

But yeah, beyond those two complaints Spyro controls so well it feels too good to play around as him, and it’s important that you enjoy playing as the character you’re stuck with for the next 6-8 hours, otherwise what’s the point?

Also, with being able to roll side to side. I don’t understand why they took that out in 2 and 3. That came in so useful against bosses in this game they could’ve easily used that mechanic again in the later games, but they didn’t. I liked it and I thought what the others would have been like if they implemented that move. Oh well…

The soundtrack I’m not sure I could say anything more to it that hasn’t already been said the past 20 years for it (shit, it’s been 20 years already…). It’s good! It’s wonderful! It’s so joyful, bouncy and uplifting and so fitting for the universe of Spyro that it feels almost like no other could’ve done it better than Stewart Copeland. It’s like outside of the Police that’s what he was meant to do. He put so much energy and attitude and enthusiasm and creativity into each track to accentuate the atmosphere and tone of each level he’s done more than a marvellous job of it. And his soundtracks only got better later on for 2 and 3.

But what sold me and captured me was Lofty Castle and Haunted Towers tracks. That’s when I had to stop myself playing to take in what I was seeing and listening to and thought to myself “I am in love with this game.” And I didn’t want the level to end. I hadn’t felt that way about a game in such a long time I felt robbed of not having more frequently felt that feeling.

And for its levels, the Artisan homeworld and its levels available there are perfect opening levels. Easy enough difficulty, access to how each enemy works and a safe enough environment for you to figure out how to deal with them without being too pampering. But the look and design of the Artisan homeworld and its levels are very good. Bright, colourful (throughout the whole game really), inviting and laid out all for you to run about and play in and explore. Which is what the whole game is designed for you to do. To play.

The Beast Maker’s homeworld and its levels I think is the only place I didn’t like. They all seemed a bit murky and muddy and almost grimy. It still had charm and fun to be in, definitely, but with its colour schemes I felt I just wanted to get through them and move onto the next world and hope for something brighter. In fact, while I’m at it, most levels and its designs and even its enemies and bosses do have this “first time doing this” feel to them which can be pardoned given its execution. They got better though.

And that’s when I got to the Dream Weavers homeworld and its levels. Like I already said, once I got to Lofty Castle and Haunted Towers I fell in love with this game and its design. It gave me the warm fuzzy happy feeling I got as a kid and I loved it. Hell, playing the levels again now and even just listening to the tracks makes me feel giddy! Once a game can do that to me in some way or another it has me captivated, I’m helpless to it. That’s what made me a fan of this game.

Now the boss fights are the most interesting I’ve come across in a platformer.

All the ones I had been acquainted with were Spyro 2 and 3 (ok, I got to stop referencing those I feel), Crash Bandicoot, Mario Sunshine, and numerous others I can’t really think to name off the top of my head. But still, no other game I’ve played had done boss fights like Spyro.

The first is Toasty, who is just a joke and I definitely don’t mean that in a bad way. He’s set out as this scary scarecrow with a fleet of wolves, or dogs. I seem them as wolves. You flame, roll and flame again to defeat the wolves and then you get Toasty all on his own. You flame him and then… it’s a sheep on stilts. You don’t expect that. You’ve gone in all raring and prepared for a tenacious boss fight but then you get this for your first boss and it’s just “Oh… Alright.” I didn’t expect it going in. I went in on this game blind knowing almost nothing about it. But it’s well executed and so funny to come across and for kids I’m sure that would get many a heavy laugh.

Doctor Shemp felt like the first actual boss with a proper video game-y rhythm to him that you had to learn to defeat him. You jump and flame his behind. Easy stuff.

Blowhard was cool but his design didn’t really stand out, same with the rest of them really, Metalhead and Jacques. They were serviceable and the battles themselves are perfectly fine, especially how their levels are laid out as full levels and then the boss battle at the end, but how they look they don’t really stand out.

Metalhead’s battle was cool though. I liked that one.

And then Gnasty Gnorc.

He was honestly pretty challenging at first, what with chasing down the egg thieves to get the keys first. Which! The egg thieves were honestly not that hard to get throughout the game… At all… They were so easy. I can understand struggling as a kid getting them, but these days they’re just not that difficult as you remember them to be. Spyro 3 however, the egg thieves on that, THOSE guys are hard. That’s how people remember the egg thieves to be in Spyro 1 I feel.

Anyway, you beat Gnasty Gnorc charging through the level over some fairly tricky moving platforms flaming him along the way and then he’s toast. Poof.

After you get 100% you get to raid Gnasty’s Loot and collecting those last little bits of gems and that giant room of purple gems with Gnasty’s mug looking down on you is so rewarding for everything you’ve been through.

On my first playthrough it took me 6 hours to complete. I wanted to see if I could beat that and in my second playthrough on that same weekend I beat it in 5 and a half hours. Recently I managed to complete it all 120% in 5 hours.

It’s not too hard a game when you know what you’re doing but for those going in blind and for a child it’ll definitely give reasonable enough challenge, which is good.

Some other things I liked about it, it basically had no loading screens. I mean it technically does when Spyro is flying from homeworld to level, but for a game to do that before Arkham Asylum claimed to not have loading screens is impressive.

Overall, it’s a fun as hell and straight forward adventure platformer. I’d most definitely recommend playing this. It’s dirt cheap to download these days so go for it.

Also, Tree Tops isn’t that hard at all either. It’s fun as hell charging and flying everywhere once you know where you’re going and how to do it. And I know, I understand where the dread comes from and it’s fine. But come on, when you’re a kid it would be tricky but most of us are in our mid to late 20’s now. We can handle a couple slow moving egg thieves and tree top speedways.

Also also! After sending the game back to the buyer I did buy this game again from another seller later on and this one came with a demo disc too. I still don’t know why I didn’t decide to originally keep it the first time. Maybe it was money. And I did want Spyro 2 more. Oh well…

Where to purchase: Playstation Store (PS3 PSP); £7.99 (Trilogy) £3.99/$5.99 (single)

Ebay; £14.99-£49 (Even £100!! Why?) $20-$150 (20/08/18)

Amazon; £25.99-£199.99 $19.99-$246.95 (20/08/18)

#spyro the dragon #playstation #games #video games #review #rich's retro reviews

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joyfuladorable · 6 years

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Had a pretty vivid ass dream last night about Tri. It started with shots of the international kids (I specifically remember seeing that trio of brothers from China) being surrounded by specs of light like fireflies and remembering digimon and the digital world, because they’d forgotten.

Then scene shift to I think Taichi’s room, and he’s wondering how he got there because, hey, he’d just been falling through a massive chasm with his teacher. He turns and... there’s Daisuke. He’s smiling and ready to help. Taichi’s memories return, too.

The scene then changes to Hikari and Takeru in a city looking up as Miyako and Iori fly down to meet them. And they’re all so happy to see each other again.

Final scene was of the OG kids walking together to face the big bad.

My brain was so happy, I’m pretty sure it replayed the dream a second time.

#no Ken though which is a shame #not my personal ideal for the 02 and international kids to be addressed but pretty good #digimon adventure tri

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adragoninshiningarmour · 7 years

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I am curious, what is the "Null Origin"?

Duftmon: I shall handle this question. Somebody else may screw it up.

The Null Origin was the creation event of the entire Digital World and the surrounding universe. At the very beginning, there was nothing. There was only void. There was anabsence of space, time, and matter before the Digital World was created. This state of emptiness was known as theChaotic Abyss, otherwise known as Ginnungagap. The Chaotic Abyss was the empty void where tiny bits of free data wasrunning unconsolidated and aimless. It is believed that Yggdrasil installed itself from acollection of this roaming data. Once the Yggdrasil program created itself, it sought to create a state of order within the empty chaos around it. And so, Yggdrasil continued to compile the pieces of data together. After an incalculable period of run-time, it created the Digital World, starting withthe Chasm of Creation, which is said to be thesource from where the Digital World was created. The Chasm of Creation, located in the Neutral Zone currently, was the very first semblance of orderwithin the chaos.

Everything in this universe was born out of the Null Origin. It was the event where Yggdrasil created matter from void, organic data from junk data, life from nihility. Those of the Golden Faith believe that Huanglongmon was the first Digimon and the emperor of the whole Digital World. Specifically, Huanglongmon is believed to be the first Digimon who wascreated within the void of the Chaotic Abyss. For a time, he created the aetherand ruled over the void alone. In his loneliness, he created the sky, the land,ocean, and sun, as well as the first Digimon on it. His primary concern withthe Digital World was that of balance, so he gave the day and night equal partsthroughout the year, and the ocean and land equal measure. From there, they believe that he had a role in the creation of Digimon. There is some historical evidence to support this, but not enough to say with certainty. In any case, after the creation of the Digital World, the first digital life forms began to emerge. There were numerous inanimate objects and random data, but soon, Digimon began to form, evolve, reproduce, and die. Some were likely created by Yggdrasil, while others were created from other Digimon.

There may have been nothing in the beginning, but with the Null Origin, there was life.

I am not an expert on proto-Digital World history or that of the First Cycle, but I do hope that this is a helpful explanation. Your curiosity is appreciated.

Sincerely,

Duftmon

Royal Knight, and Chief Strategist of the Order

#Digimon #Royal Knights #A Dragon in Shining Armour #adisa #Null Verse #Holy War #worldbuilding #Ask the RKs #Ask the Royal Knights #Duftmon #Yggdrasil #Huanglongmon

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digimonascending · 2 years

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Digimon Chasm Episode 55 - Hydrophobia, is now out on the site, dA and FF.net.

Let us go then, you and I down into the depths surrounded by our fears our regrets our darkest possibilities and we will carry on knowing we are not alone Seven episodes to go

Chapter links in reblob

#digimon ascending #digimon chasm #digimon fdd #digimon fanseries #digimon oc #digimon fanfiction #digifake #chapter #illustration

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dragonandtiger · 2 years

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Dreaming To Reality: Oneiromancy Chapter Twenty Four - 18

Narakumon stared at the dragon Digimon before he grit his teeth, his eyes beginning to water. “B-bastard…!”

“Stop it!” the male scientist barked as he rushed to the controls and began to type away. “Stop it right now! I’m deploying the suppressors, I know how much you love those!”

“Deploy them! Deploy every last one!” Huanglongmon roared as he strained against his restraints. His glow did not diminish in the slightest, growing brighter and brighter until he was a miniature sun, making it too painful for the humans to look directly at him. “Deploy everything you have! See what good it does you!”

“Chiyoko, activate the taser program,” the male scientist began, then paused when he noticed that the female scientist wasn’t moving. “Stop looking at the data for once and focus!”

“I always wondered what would happen if a human died in the Digital World,” Chiyoko said as she tapped her chin. “But I was never allowed authorization. Even during the crest controller project, our subjects died in the real world rather than here.”

“What… what kind of garbage are you saying now?” the man asked, his expression aghast. He always thought his colleague was a bit off, but even he wasn’t prepared for just how off. “What’s that got to do with anything?”

“It’s too late,” Chiyoko said as she finally turned to stare at her companion. “We’re all going to die.”

“What!?” the male scientist shrieked before he looked up sharply at Huanglongmon, squinting against the glare. While he couldn’t see anything within the light, it was at the edges of it that caught his attention. The world was glitching around the enslaved god, twisting and distorting in ways that defied all known physics. The sight made the blood drain from his face, and he instantly turned on his heels, abandoning his post to flee towards the door.

“You can’t gate out,” Chiyoko said after her fleeing companion, nonplussed. She barely even raised her voice to catch his attention, as though it didn’t matter if he actually heard her or not. “His power was responsible for the gates. Without that, they won’t respond.”

“Yes, run! Run, insects! It cannot save you!” Huanglongmon laughed, his voice booming. The glitching spread slowly in all directions around him, twisting and tainting the world in ways that were practically incomprehensible to look at. “Do you not know who you are dealing with!? I am Huanglongmon, DigiGod of Miracles! I am your god!”

Sirens began to go off, red lights flashing angrily. Chiyoko barely glanced at them and instead focused on the scene in front of her, watching as their perfectly crafted anti-Digimon restraints twisted and crumbled against the corruption, spreading along the walls. The walls quickly gave way before the corruption could reach the other two bound DigiGods, the bindings giving way and releasing both even as the structures collapsed under their own weight. Narakumon was quickest to recover thanks to the surging of Miracles energy and he flung himself across the chasm using the remnant of the wall behind him as a springboard, lunging to all but tackle Tenraimon before she could fall to the ground.

#Dreaming To Reality #oneiromancy #digimon #Digimon Adventure 02 #digimon adventure

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adventure-hearts · 7 years

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tri. Chapter 5 - Recap, Review, Analysis [part four]

(part one ) (part two ) (part three)

Phew! This took way longer than I expected and my thoughts are still convoluted, but this movie was packed. I don’t think it was perfect by any means, but the themes are given a lot of depth, pacing was good, the plot is advancing, and the characters (especially Taichi) had some memorable moments. Above all, it worked far better after a (close) rewatch.

I think it’s up there with Kokuhaku in terms of quality. My faith in tri. continues to be justified!

We have months of speculation ahead of us, so I won’t bother you with a lot of predictions for what’s coming next. I’m sure I’ll come back to some of these ideas until the summer :)

Raguelmon and Jesmon fight each other, and at one moment Raguelmon protects Meiko. This only reinforces the Chosen Children’s belief that there's still a connection between the Meiko and her partner, further strenghtehing their resolve to protect Meicoomon against Jesmon, even if it means going against Homeostasis.

Of course, Homeostasis isn't happy about this, so it takes over Hikari and tells them to stop interfering.

At this point, Homeostasis straight-up threatens the Chosen Children. Moreover, it’s essentially telling them they failed. Homeostasis picks human children to fight its battles to keep balance, but it has no qualms in pushing them aside if they don’t serve its purpose.

No more Mr nice guy! Daigo is done with Homeostasis, and he knows he has been played as well. When he was a Chosen Child, he had to make a sacrifice that resulted in Maki’s partners death, and it destroyed Maki in the process - and (if you believe Hackmon’s words) this was seen as a failure by Homeostasis. This time, Daigo decides to protect his friends. He has been fond of the Chosen Children from the start, and he’s firmly on their side now.

As Homeostasis goes on about how it can do what it wants and how sacrifices are needed, the Chosen Children fight back -- including, significantly, Hikari: the ONE kid who's literally been used by Homeostasis. This is a tremendous character moment for Hikari -- she’s standing up for herself and for her beliefs, and against a supernatural entity at that! We know that behind her sweet, passive attitude Hikari has plenty of courage (surrendering herself to Vamdemon was another defining moments), but it’s so rare for her to actually show that this tiny scene ends up being really significant.

To be fair, this is a pretty weird line, considering their past history. You’d think the Chosen Children are aware that sometimes sacrifices are needed, since it has happened a million times before.

Hikari then accuses Homeostasis of being selfish, which has to be unfair. Homeostasis is hardly doing this for its own benefit, but only to keep the stability between the worlds. Sure, it’s a cruel, impersonal decision, but human morality and concepts of “good”, “evil”, and “justice” clearly do not concern Homeostasis.

Is this another example of how the Chosen Children’s idealism sometimes blinds them to the harshness reality? Are the kids forgetting the lessons from past, or are they just being obtuse? It’s one of the moments where tri.’s ambiguous position to what came before (what its critics describe as cherry-picking) can make it difficult to interpret what the characters are thinking.

However, I think the point here is that there’s a clear difference between choosing to sacrifice yourself (like Wizarmon, Oikawa and so many others) and being sacrificed for the sake of the “Greater Good”, which is Homeostasis’ MO. One is selfless; the other a forceful, unilateral decision. Clearly, the Chosen Children are willing to risk the worlds collapsing in order to protect their friend, Meicoomon, from being sacrificed by Homeostasis, whatever the reasons that may justify this execution. You have to admire the strength of the Chosen Children’s principles – they aren’t willing to watch a friend get destroyed to keep the balance of the world, and are ready to go against Homeostasis to uphold that principle. This isn’t just a moral standpoint -- they choose the team (i.e. love) over The Bigger Picture.

But again, it’s hard to argue that Homeostasis is being evil or even irrational. Taichi and the others being so surprised and conflicted shows how their deep-set beliefs can fail when confronted with though choices.

Generally speaking, I think this is a very important theme in this Chapter: idealism vs. pragmatism in the Chosen Children’s decisions.

Once they get to the Digital World, though, Taichi's mind is made – they will protect their friends no matter what, regardless of right or wrong. This hits a cord with Daigo, who's reminded of his own partner, Maki and Bakumon, and how he used to be a goggle boy. He knows what it’s like to be unwillingly sacrificed for the Bigger Picture.

Alphamon shows up again (apparently, he's aligned with Ygrasil) and proceeds to fight Jesmon. A four-way battle of conflicting loyalties ensues between Raguelmon, Omegamon, Alphamon, and Jesmon, which if anything illustrates how complicated the plot of this series is, and how it’s characterised by the lack of a clear, single antagonist.

And then it comes the moment half the fandom expected. The Dark Ocean’s comeback!

Somehow, in her despair and a less than balanced mental state, Maki found her way to the Dark World and is looking for Bakumon there. I don't know if she went there through a distortion (as in 02) or if Dagomon's minions called her there - remember, like Hikari, Maki was also a vessel for Homeostasis. Depending on how we read this, parallels with Ken or Hikari become apparent.

(And Maki holding a DARK D3 back in Chapter 3 suddenly becomes even more intriguing!)

Maki is swallowed by the dark ocean, Daigo somehow senses something is wrong. maki drowns further.

Hikari's words seem to have an unecpected effect because it's Meiko who hears them. Meiko decides she can't make Meicoomon suffer anymore.

So Meiko makes the bravest, toughest, and probably more logical decision - she realises that destroying Meicoomon would not only stop the problem at hand, but it would ALSO stop her partners suffering. meiko realises there's nothing left to do. The Chosen Children's strategy has failed. She can't handle this anymore, and she wants to put an end to it.

As Sora realises, this isn't a coward's way out: this is a brave, necessary decision. The alternative is for Meicoomon to kill more people, be killed anyway, or end up destroying the world. Ultimately, destroying Meicoomon can also be seen as an act of mercy. Meiko is her partner’s only hope - she makes the “rational choice”, but her decision is made out of love for Meicoomon.

Taichi remembers her words at the school, and he understands that Meiko’s decision is the right one. Remember, Taichi is the only one who knows what is like to have his partner gone bad, and he’s had to face a similar choice before. tri. never references the events in 02 where Agumon was controlled by the Kaiser and Taichi allowed his friends to fight against him, but the parallels are there.

However, the other Chosen Children don’t get it yet. They're all too blinded by idealism and afraid to hurt one of them, even if it's the only way. They contest Taichi’s decision, but he’s calm and determined.

THIS, MY FRIENDS, IS A TRUE LEADER.

Like Meiko, Taichi realises that if they end Meicoomon themselves, they'll put an end to this and neither Homeostasis nor Ygdrasil will win. In this context, killing Meicoomon (with Meiko’s blessing) means protecting Meicoomon.

Yamato’s negative reaction here is very interesting. Apparently, his refusal to kill Meicoomon seems to contradict a lot of his previous actions.

After all, back in 02, it was Yamato who convinced Taichi that “Agumon would rather die than to become a slave”, and was willing to fight him. Moreover, since the beging of tri., he’s been chastising Taichi for running away and for refusing to take a stand. In Chapter 3, he was even the one who pragmatically stated that if one of the digimon partners became infected, they would have to fight them, much to Takeru’s horror.

I don’t quite understand this development, unless they just want to inject the mandatory opposition between Taichi and Yamato. I suppose you could read it this way: Yamato didn’t really mean what he said earlier, or at least he was fooling himself about his ability to go through with this though decision.

Although for most of tri. Taichi and Yamato’s roles have often been inverted (more on this later), we know that Taichi is actually the more pragmatic of the two, while Yamato is a very emotional person who makes decisions based on feelings. When Taichi suggests killing a friend, it goes against Yamato’s most important values -- friendship and loyalty – and he’s so emotionally upset by the idea he can’t stop to reflect that this is actually a mercy-killing, and lashes out at Taichi, which is usually a symptom that his feelings are in turmoil. Koushirou intervenes and tells that he should already know it. Yamato seems to see the other side of the issue, but the conclusion is so painful that it causes him to howl in frustration.

Meiko thanks them for doing something so difficult... And then she makes a terribly stupid decision and runs off to the middle of the battle, after Meicoomon. We’ve seen some indication that Meiko’s will to live (and her belief that “she shoudn’t have been born) are pretty strong, and now it seems she intends to share her partners fate. Yamato, Taichi, and Daigo go after her.

Jesmon's attack fails somehow and the ground starts crumbling, opening a chasm that separates Taichi from Yamato and Meiko. In a selfless move, Taichi orders Omegamon to protect Yamato and Meiko and faces the danger on his own.

Taichi and Daigo disappear into the crumbling rock, and Jesmon and Alphamon are gone as well, leaving behind a battered Raguelmon and Taichi’s goggles.

Hikari watches the loss of her brother and enters a sort of catatonic state. Her powers start acting up, and Nyaromon becomes Ophanimon FallDown mode. When prophecy spoke of going through darkness to reach power, I’m not sure if this was included. Anyway, it’s hard to argue that this is Hikari’s normal Ultimate evolution in any way - it’s clearly powered by sorrow and pain, that is, (metaphorically) darkness. This darkness now causes the world to go crazy and envolves a battered Raguelmon.

Mystery Man’s words seem to echo that old line: “The brighter the light, the darker the shadow”. Inflicting this sort of trauma on Hikari has consequences that are beyond normal. Was this the plan all along, or happy collateral damage? Either way, I don’t think it’s coincidental that we keep seeing Mystery Man’s reactions to everything that’s happening.

When Hikari gives the order “Take Over”, Ophanimon FM and Raguelmon fuse into a monstruous being with dark wings. The parallels between Tailmon and Meicoomon finally mean something. As Mystery Man talks about destruction, Hikari speaks cryptic words.

The being disappears into a hole in the sky and emerges in the real world. The harmony between the worlds is in collapse. As Ygdrasil planned, the human world will be swallowed by the Digital World.

Yamato picks up Taichi's goggles and remembers his words.

He understands that Taichi was willing to sacrifice himself for his friends. I don't know if this is what Yamato meant when he said he “expected too much of him”, but I like to think that it is. Yamato accepts and supports Taichi’s decision.

In Taichi's absence, the group needs a leader, and this time Yamato realises there’s no time for crying. He’s gone, but the group still has work to do: they can lick their wounds later. Yamato steps up to the responsibility: he gives an inspiring speech, proving what he has learnt from Taichi as well. Yamato’s got tough words for his friends, but they are willing to follow him.

So we have come full circle. Taichi has finally decided to stop running away and has sacrificed himself for his friends. Yamato has decided to honour Taichi’s sacrifice, and lead the others as Taichi would have done. As he puts on the goggles, Yamato symbolically takes over as leader and they get ready to fight on.

#digimon #digimon adventure tri #kyousei

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