MarineAngemon looked around himself in shock. "What is this?" he murmured. "I don't know any of these children. Where's my trusty troop of tiny toddlers?"
Sure, there were a lot of little kids around him, human and Digimon... but he never had seen any of them before in his life.
In one corner, a little boy was playing with two Digimon, an In-Training who looked like a toaster, and a young Rookie with draconic features.
"When I grow up, I wanna be a pilot," the little dragon-girl smiled.
"Me too, me too," the little toaster shouted with glee as he jumped up and down, making his mechanical innards rattle around.
"You can't be a pilot," the human boy pointed out. "You're a machine. You don't even have arms!"
"Well, then... I wanna be an airplane!" the little Machine Digimon grinned.
MarineAngemon shook his head. "Who in the world are they? I have never seen them before..."
"Oh, haven't you?" someone next to him asked. "I think you just don't recognize them."
MarineAngemon turned around to face another group of Rookie Digimon... but they all looked like little devils.
They mostly looked humans, but had several, glaring differences. For one, their little cherub wings were as black as the night. The boys wore black shorts, wrist bands and sandals decorated with red. They had gleaming, red eyes.
The girls had what looked like a dark purple swim suit, with the same sandals as the boys, but with leg straps. Also, they had disturbing red irises.
"You don't recognize them?" one of the devil boys asked. "Why, they'll be crushed when they hear this..."
"What the... do you know what happened here? Who are you?"
One of the girls grinned. "We are KidDevimons and SmallLadyDevimons. We, as well as those losers over there, are the new students of your kindergarten."
"You... wait a minute! You are the followers of Ai, aren't you? So, you finally embraced the dark side? I knew it was just a matter of time, with Lucemon as your leader..."
"Well, we just turned into Rookies so a few of us can stay in your troop, to have a little eye on you... would be strange if several, grown up Devil Digimon would hang out with a small group of kids and tots, wouldn't it?"
"Yeah, that's why we chose to be your students," a KidDevimon grinned. "This way, we can make sure that you keep doing your job and don't interfere with our new way of life."
"What makes you believe I'd be willing to accept this?" MarineAngemon grumbled.
"No one," the SmallLadyDevimon chuckled. "That makes it even more fun, don't you think?"
MarineAngemon wondered what she meant by that, but before he could do anything else, she opened her mouth and started to sing. She had a beautiful voice, but the melody sounded a bit creepy... and when the floating notes wrapped themselves around MarineAngemon, he realized that something was seriously wrong.
"Now you will do what I tell you," the devil girl smiled after she stopped singing. "You will do your job and act as if we were your normal group of students. You will do nothing that hinders us or our plans in any way. And, most important, you will never try to contact anyone who would try to stop us... especially not the Sovereigns and their allies. Is that clear?"
MarineAngemon tried to protest, but realized that he only could obey. "Yes, I understand." He shuddered. 'How come they are able to control me like that?' he wondered. 'They couldn't do it back when they were angels...'
"Good," the SmallLadyDevimon smirked. "Now, why don't you go and play with Toastermon, Whelpmon and Shun?"
And when MarineAngemon turned to face the three playing children, he somehow knew who they were. They were none other but his old friend, Guardromon, and Ryo's parents, Shun and Yuki Fafnimon Akiyama... all of them regressed to little kids.
'Whatever is going on here?' he wondered as he was forced to play along. 'Kenta... Ryo... anyone... I hope you're on your way to put an end to this...'
Kitmon sighed as she closed her eyes and blissfully cuddled against the warm body of the Kyubimon lying next to her in the darkness of the fox den. Next to her, an equally small Viximon was doing the same.
The big, vulpine Champion gently licked the younger Digimon's fur. Kitmon looked up at her with a wide smile and said: "I luv you, Mommy..."
"I love you too, Mommy..." Viximon nodded.
The Kyubimon smiled. "Mommy loves you too, you little darlings... now get some rest until Daddy comes home from the hunt."
"Okay, Mommy!" Content, Rika closed her eyes and went to sleep. With her Mommy and her sister at her side, nothing bad would ever happen to her...
This scene was watched by a pair of attentive eyes. Lucemon sat on her throne in the top chamber of her tower and smiled when she saw the sweet scene with the mother and her two little kits. True, this mother, just like the father, was nothing but an illusion... but as long as Rika and Renamon were happy, they would do nothing to stop her.
She waved her hand, and the image floating in front of her changed. She now saw a pair of Tinymons being fed by a large Growlmon. Then, the image changed to show a Pupmon, who was hugged by her owner, a young human girl... and then a Fluffmon, who was rubbing against the legs of a big, powerful SaberLeomon. And finally, she looked upon a tiny, green lizard that was partly covered with a huge eggshell. Looking at it, you would never guess that this little Hatchmon was Ryo Akiyama.
"You can't keep them like this forever," the voice of her brother spoke up behind her. "They will have to realize that those 'parents' you gave to them are fake."
Lucemon stood up and turned around to face Twilimon, who was bound to a chair. "I beg to differ, dear brother," she smiled. "With their childish minds, they will never be able to tell the difference... they will be happy forever! Isn't that nice of me?"
"No, it isn't!" Mako protested. "You are lying to them. And they need their true family. You can't just force them to act like you want to!"
"Sometimes, humans and Digimon has to be forced to be lucky... or otherwise, they would kill each other," Lucemon chuckled. "Take a look... there has been no sign of any crime in my new world as of yet, and no fights... they are all happy and content."
Twilimon stayed silent. He knew he couldn't convince Ai of the truth right now... not while she was controlled by the dark Lucemon data within her heart.
"At least tell me what you did to Impmon," he then pleaded. "He's not with the others, isn't he?"
"No, he isn't," Lucemon replied. "Since he's my old partner, I had the feeling to give him a... special treatment."
She turned around and whistled. A metal door opened, and something huge and furry came stepping out. The mask the creature had on its face resembled that of Beelzemon, and it also had a pair of black, feathered wings on its back... but that's where the similarities ended.
The snarling wolf was bigger than a Garurumon and was covered with deep, black fur. A ridge of extremely long hairs was running down its spine. The claws on its feet were curved and deadly.
Lucemon walked up to her new pet and stroked its head fur affectionally. "Mako, meet my new partner! Beelzemon is a thing of the past, but Garmon... is the most loyal watchdog you could imagine. He'd never attack any member of my squad of loyal devils... but any other person that has no business in my tower... will be ripped to shreds in a manner of seconds."
Garmon growled, revealing two rows of wicked teeth. Saliva was dripping down his snout and on the floor. Twilimon couldn't believe his eyes... that was Impmon?
"I realized that some Digimon are more loyal if you reduce their intelligence," Lucemon smiled. "And Garmon is the most feral predator I have ever seen in my life. Well, of course... I created him this way. But still, isn't he amazing?" She cuddled the killing machine Impmon had become some more.
Twilimon hung down his head and sighed. He had wanted to save his sister... but he saw no hope anymore. "So why don't you transform me already?" he whispered. "Why torture me by showing me all of this?"
Lucemon walked over to him and stroke his cheek. "Because... I want you to be my equal, brother! Think about what we could do together, what peace and harmony we could bring to the world... and this is just the beginning. Today, Japan. Tomorrow..." She giggled. "Maybe China? Or Korea, I'm really not picky. We could also start with the United States, Australia or a European country, I don't mind. As long as in the end, the whole world will be in peace with each other... isn't that a wonderful thought, brother?"
"It isn't..." Twilimon protested weakly.
The fallen angel shrugged. "Well, I have all the time I need... I will convince you, given some time. If I have to, I will change your mind just like theirs. I had just hoped I wouldn't be forced to do this... so think about it some more, okay?"
She turned around and left the room. "Garmon, heel!"
The giant killer dog barked once and obediently followed his mistress.
Twilimon looked up and saw that Lucemon had left the floating images of the transformed Hybrid Tamers in the air... so that he was forced to watch what happened to them.
He had already tried to break his bounds, but they were of some strange material that absorbed his powers of light and darkness and made him as weak as he had been when he was still a TinyDevimon.
'It's no use, I can't escape...' he thought. 'Mom... Dad... where are you?'
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(Posted Thu, 12 Jun 2008 13:27)
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