Chapter 37:
Explanations
In the early dawn light, Tian and a de-evolved Pokomon picked through debris of what looked like a post-apocalyptic battle.
“This is where the memory program took you?” Pokomon asked, skirting around a slab of fallen concrete.
“Yeah,” Tian answered. “I guess I really wasn’t dreaming, then. The stuff with Auntie and Uncle, the twins, and Yuu actually happened.” She pulled the twins’ drawing out of her pocket and glanced at it, then put it back in.
“Where are we going now?” Pokomon asked.
Tian bent over and picked Pokomon up. “To the nearest shelter. I want to make sure my family’s safe.”
They wandered around until they found a patrolling police officer.
“You there!” he called out in Chinese, “We have a curfew in place! What are you doing outside?”
“I’m sorry,” Tian replied, “I got separated from my family when we evacuated. Could you tell me where the nearest shelter is?”
The officer tersely gave her directions, then sent her on her way.
When Tian and Pokomon entered the shelter building, they were met with scores of families, grouped together and scattered across a large room. They wandered around for a moment, until a familiar voice rang out.
“Tian! Over here!” Yuu called out, waving.
Tian ran over to where the family was camped, and carefully put Pokomon down.
“Thank goodness you’re all right!” her aunt said.
“We were thinking about getting a search party for you if you didn’t come back before noon,” Yuu said, smirking. Tian made a face and pushed him playfully.
“It’s nice to see you again, Tian.” a new voice said.
Tian turned toward the voice and smiled at a young woman with mid-length hair. “Cai-lin!”
“I came as quickly as I could, once I found out what happened here,” Cai-lin said, “I’m glad everyone is all right.”
Taosan and Ming were giggling, petting Pokomon like a puppy, until Pokomon let out a loud sneeze. Pokomon glowed, and promptly evolved into Renamon.
Tian’s aunt let out a surprised shout, while her uncle stared in shock. Yuu’s mouth fell open, while the twins happily called out “Fox spirit!” Cai-lin stared at Renamon, then at Tian, and nodded to herself, as if she was confirming something.
“Renamon…” Tian murmured, looking around to see if anyone else had seen. Renamon nodded, and turned invisible.
“Tian,” her aunt said, “Who was that?”
“More like, what was that?” her uncle added.
“A Digimon,” Cai-lin answered.
Tian stared at Cai-lin in surprise. “How do you-”
“I had the most interesting conversation with your mom today,” Cai-lin said, “right before I left Shanghai to come here. Now I know she wasn’t joking.” She reached into her pocket, pulled out a folded envelope, and handed it to Tian.
“Your mom wanted me to give that to you, saying that it will explain some things,” she continued. As she saw the puzzled look on Tian’s face, she added, “If you want some privacy, we can leave you alone for a while.”
“In the meantime,” Tian’s uncle said, “can you please explain what that… fox spirit was?”
“I can tell you what Aunt Taira told me,” Cai-lin answered.
“I can help, too!” Yuu added.
As the two took turns explaining to their parents, Tian opened the envelope and read through the neatly typed text. She could feel Renamon’s comforting presence next to her as she read.
Tian,
By the time you read this letter, the world will have gone to hell in a handbasket, and you will know why. I can’t pretend that I understand what you and your friends are going through. I can only hope that after reading this letter you’ll find some comfort and confidence.
There are things I need to tell you that have not been spoken of in years, and I may be stirring up old feelings by telling you, but I don’t care – you need to know, and no one else will tell you.
Your father was never a resistance leader. That was the cover-up story given to the Chinese government to authorize them to take him out. The real reason for his death is tied to events in the past that have nothing to do with politics and everything to do with Digimon and the Digital World.
Twenty years ago, I was a part of a small group that came together to investigate the causes of the Great Shaking of 2019: Akira’s parents Takashi and Kyoko, your father Tao-rin, your uncle Souichi, and me. We were a bunch of college kids with outlandish theories about what really happened, but we all had one thing in common: We knew about Digimon and the legends of the Chosen Children. They were stories told to us by our parents and relatives who saw and lived through everything.
I t was after a few years of investigating when we started to see connections to the Digital World, and to ITI. Certain projects that ITI sponsored, and related incidents that were connected to Digimon. When Takashi connected the main cause of the Great Shaking to the first group of Chosen Children, his mother Nami revealed herself to us and told us everything.
When you were five years old, your father discovered something disturbing on ITI’s servers: a plot to take over all of the satellites orbiting the earth and use the geographic information for a possible invasion of unknown proportions. He was working for ITI’s Chinese branch at the time, and after discovering this, he locked down and erased whatever information he had, and secured access to the satellites from ITI using a set of pass-phrases. It was a very brave and very stupid thing to do, and it prompted ITI to have him killed.
After your father died, the rest of us gradually drifted apart. Nami retreated completely from our circle. Takashi and Kyoko divorced, and Kyoko refused to continue believing in the Digimon. Your uncle and I threw ourselves into our jobs , and rarely meet, as you know. But despite all of this, we still kept an eye on you and your friends. We had reason to believe that you would become the next Chosen Children, because of who your ancestors are. I won’t go into details now, but just know that you and each of your friends have at least one person in your family tree that was a Chosen Child.
I know this is a lot to take in. I’m sorry I never told you any of this until now. I only wanted to protect you. But now it seems that fate is pushing all of you to save this troubled world of ours. I wish that we adults could take this burden from all of you and handle it ourselves, but the world doesn’t work that way. All I ask is that you let us help you, in any way we can.
The next time we meet, we can have a long talk. About anything you want. It’s never too late to have a better mother-daughter relationship! Good luck, and please be careful.
Love,
Mom
Tian couldn’t speak for a few moments. Her eyes brimmed with tears and she quickly wiped them away.
She felt angry. Not at her mother – what she said in the letter had finally made some things make sense. Not at her father for dying. Not at the Chinese police that killed him. After years of self-blame and apathy, Tian’s anger burned brightly as it finally had gained a target.
“What are you going to do?” Cai-lin asked.
“I need to get to America,” Tian answered shakily, “If I’m right, everyone will be gathering there, where ITI is. We need to find out what their real plans are – what’s so important that they felt the need to kill someone over them.” Her voice cracked, then she fell silent.
“That may be difficult,” Cai-lin said, “All flights are grounded now, and the government just instituted martial law.”
“There has to be a way,” Tian said, thinking.
“Couldn’t you fly there yourself?” Yuu suggested.
Tian raised an eyebrow. “What?”
“Your Digimon… Renamon, you called her? Couldn’t she evolve to something that can fly?”
“I don’t think it’s that simple, Yuu,” Cai-lin replied.
“Wait a minute,” Tian said suddenly, turning to her right. “Renamon,” she said to the air, “when you evolve to Sakuyamon, your staff allows you to hover, doesn’t it?”
Renamon reappeared, startling Cai-lin and Yuu. “I can do that,” she said thoughtfully.
“With passengers, and over thousands of miles?” Yuu asked.
“What are you trying to say, Yuu?” Cai-lin asked exasperatedly, “I hope you don’t think you’re going-”
“I want to help!” Yuu said. Cai-lin opened her mouth to protest, but he interrupted. “And I know you want to help too – it’s written all over your face!”
“Yuu!” their mother said warningly, “You need to stay here!”
“But we can help!” Yuu retorted, “Cai-lin and I know computers, and this problem has computer work written all over it!”
“It’s not that simple-” Cai-lin said.
“Would you rather stay in the shelter and do nothing?” Yuu countered, “When you know you could’ve done something?”
No one said anything for a moment. Then, Tian’s uncle sighed. “Well, Cai-lin’s old enough to take care of herself. I’m sure she can take care of Yuu and Tian as well.”
“You can’t be serious,” Tian’s aunt moaned.
“If the situation is as dire as what Cai-lin said it is,” Tian’s uncle reasoned, “Tian and her Digimon need to do some very important things, and they’ll need all the help they can get!”
“All right!” Yuu cheered.
“Now listen here,” his mother said seriously, “Your father, in his infinite stupidity, has allowed you two on this “adventure,” but that doesn’t mean you can do whatever you want. Be careful, and don’t break any rules. I don’t want to have to break you two out of prison!”
“We’ll be careful, we promise!” Yuu said solemnly. Cai-lin nodded.
Meanwhile, Tian was flabbergasted at the outpouring of support. “Uh… Thanks, guys,” she mumbled. She faced her aunt and uncle and bowed deeply. “Thank you so much for your help.”
As night fell, Tian, Yuu and Cai-lin crept through the empty streets, trying to avoid any police that were patrolling. Curfew had started an hour earlier, and if they were caught, they would be sent back to the shelter under guard. Renamon stayed by Tian’s side, invisible. A dense fog soon appeared, shrouding everything in white, which made it easier for them to hide.
After another hour of skulking about, they finally reached the edge of the city.
“All right,” Tian said, sighing. “This ought to be a safe place to set off from. There don’t seem to be any guards.”
“This fog, though.” Yuu remarked, “it’s like pea soup!”
Renamon reappeared, looking around uneasily. “I don’t like this,” she said, “It’s too quiet.”
Suddenly, the emergency siren went off, just as it had the previous night. Cai-lin and Yuu jumped and looked around in surprise, but there didn’t seem to be any sign of a Digimon attack.
“We should get going,” Tian said, pulling her D-Coder from her pocket. It began to glow, and so did Renamon.
“Renamon, warp evolve to… Sakuyamon!”
Cai-lin and Yuu stared at Sakuyamon in awe. “Whoa…” Yuu murmured.
Sakuyamon waved her staff and slammed the bottom on the ground, causing a large circular dome to form. A ying-yang symbol covered the bottom of the dome. “Everyone inside,” Sakuyamon said.
The three got inside the dome, and they all hovered into the air. As the dome cleared the tops of the trees, it moved forward at high speed… only to nearly be sideswiped by an Airdramon.
The vibration of the Airdramon zooming by knocked the three teens off their feet. The Airdramon swung around and approached the dome head-on.
“Go!” Sakuyamon pushed the dome onward with her staff and flew off to engage the Airdramon, drawing it away from the dome.
“Izuna!”
Four elemental fox spirits erupted from her staff and attacked the Airdramon, causing it to shatter. More Airdramon appeared to take its place.
Sakuyamon was about to attack again when a missile flew by, striking one of the Airdramon with a blast of fire. She looked behind her to see three military jets flying in formation, shooting off more missiles at the horde of Airdramon.
Sakuyamon quickly returned to the dome and cloaked it before the jet pilots noticed them.
“Are you all right?” Tian asked. Sakuyamon nodded.
“Is it okay to just leave them like that?” Cai-lin asked, looking back at the battle between the jets and the Airdramon. There was another blast of flame as a missile hit its target.
“I don’t think you want to be in the middle of that,” Yuu answered, “And besides, they’re distracted enough that no one knows we’ve left!”
“Let’s hope the rest of the trip goes well,” Tian said softly.
The moon cast its shining reflection off of the sea as the dome continued on toward its destination.