Chapter 45:
Hazard
Akira and Seita returned to a large-scale cleanup of computer equipment inside Kyoko and Kei’s house.
“Kyoko wants us all out by tomorrow morning,” Takashi said, catching their confused expressions. His demeanor softened when he saw Akira. “Are you okay?”
Akira nodded. “Better, I guess. Where’s Kei?”
“Locked up in her room with Terriermon, and refusing to talk to anyone.” Takashi sighed. “I guess it’s best to leave her alone for now.”
After a moment of silence, Seita asked,“Where will we be going?”
“Dad said we can borrow the R&D labs while the building repairs are going on,” Ryou spoke up, “No one will bother us.”
Akira slowly wandered away from them and toward Nami, who was sitting at the table with her laptop open, her conversation loud and clear.
“I can’t believe this,” Naoko said sternly, “The moment I look away, all hell breaks loose!”
“It could have been worse,” Nami said, “We could have lost more than one person in that death trap. One of the children, even.”
“I knew something was wrong when Akira’s connection cut off. If I had known what she and Kodamon were walking into, I would have sent backup!”
“Don’t blame yourself. No one could have known this would happen.” Nami turned as Akira approached, sat in the chair next to her, and leaned over with her head on the table. She looked at Akira curiously, then turned back to the laptop. “I’ll keep in touch.”
“Call me if something happens. Sooner, next time!” The screen winked out.
Grandmother and granddaughter sat silently. Akira continued leaning over the table with a dead expression on her face.
“Akira,” Nami said softly.
Akira looked up at her. “Yeah, Grandma?”
“What Kei said… don’t pay any of it any mind.”
Akira looked away for a moment, not saying anything. “I know,” she replied, “She’s angry and grieving.”
Nami nodded. Neither of them said anything for a moment, then she spoke up. “The serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can…”
“...and the wisdom to know the difference.” Akira finished.
“Those are the things you must pray for.” Nami smiled. “You remember.”
“You used to tell me that all the time, after Mom left us.”
“And it applies now, more than ever,” Nami said gravely, “Never dwell on the things you can’t change. That way leads to despair.
“Instead, go above and beyond to change the things you can change. Even if it might seem difficult or impossible. As long as the possibility exists… if you believe you can do something, it will happen.”
Akira’s brow furrowed as she took in that last statement. “I’m… not sure I understand.”
Nami returned Akira’s skeptical look with a knowing smile, then pushed herself out of the chair. “I’m going to bed,” she said, “Go get some rest. It’s been a very long day.”
Akira nodded. “Sure.”
As the house quieted down and everyone settled down to sleep, Akira continued to sit, turning Nami’s words around in her head to try to make sense of them.
Go above and beyond…
Something suddenly clicked in Akira’s mind, and she thought back to the drawings and equations that had haunted her since they had returned to the real world. She quickly pulled out a scrap of paper and a pencil, and jotted down the first lines of code. By this time she had it memorized:
無限
∞
א
1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, …
6:06:06
α Ω
AGTCTGAC
CGU, CGC, CGA, CGG, AGA, AGG
θ
Following this, Akira drew a large spiral, curling outward in a clockwise direction, then another, very small spiral, beside which she wrote “x2”. Following that, she drew the Crest of Spirit.
Afterward she wrote down two lines:
Find the answer… and it will take you far.
Beyond the edge of forever… and to the place where light reaches.
“Beyond…” Akira whispered, then glanced over to the laptop Nami had left open. Its screen glowed eerily in the darkness.
Akira got up and quietly tiptoed to the laptop, careful not to wake anyone nearby. She hesitated for a moment, then opened up a blank text file. She typed several lines of code, then minimized the file.
Afterward, she took a cable, plugged it into her D-Coder, and logged in to her email server. After digging into a folder of archived messages, she pulled up the original email she had received all those months ago, with a file attachment named infinity.exe.
She opened the file and was faced with a message:
Password?
She typed in a single number: 4.
Password Accepted.
The laptop flickered as a large map appeared on the screen. Red, blinking dots appeared on the map, first in areas close by, then spiraling out across the Atlantic Ocean, to places around the world.
A faint smile appeared on Akira’s face. “That’s it!” She focused on the dots covering the nearby areas, specifically on the first one to the left. She nodded to herself, then got up, unplugging her D-Coder from the laptop. She padded softly to Kodamon, and shook her awake.
“Huh- what?” Kodamon mumbled.
“Shh!” Akira whispered. “Let’s go!”
“Where?”
“I’ll explain later. Just come on!”
As the two quietly left the house, Akira stopped for a moment and looked back inside. Were they being watched?
Akira listened for a moment, and could almost swear she had heard footsteps on the stairs, in the direction of Kei’s room. She shook the feeling off and closed the door.
The next morning, there was a flurry of activity as everyone prepared to leave the house before Kyoko’s deadline. Kyoko and Kei sat in the living room, watching them, Kyoko’s sullen expression contrasting with Kei’s more downcast one. Terriermon sat nestled in Kei’s arms, looking up at her worriedly.
No one dared to ask whether Kyoko would still assist in the fight against Mataymon and the Midnight Army. Given the circumstances, she would likely want nothing at all to do with it. Kei’s case, however, was much more dire. Without her and Terriermon, the Chosen Children would likely fail in their mission. They had to fight, whether they wanted to or not.
“Does anyone know where Akira and Kodamon are?”
Kei looked over at Tian’s question, then looked away, not saying anything.
Nami looked over to her laptop and frowned. “I thought I turned this off last night…” She walked over to it, looking at the screen. Her expression was that of confusion, then recognition, then finally dread.
“We have to go!” she said, agitated.
“What?”
“Go where?”
Nami looked up at Takashi. “She solved it.”
Takashi stared at his mother in confusion. “Solved what?”
“The Infinity Riddle,” Nami replied, “She solved it!”
Takashi, Taira and Souichi scrambled over to the laptop, looking at the map with its blinking, spiral-positioned points.
“But... isn’t this a good thing?” Souichi asked. “We’ve been trying to get a map like this for years, and now we know where the enemy will strike!”
Taira shook her head. “That may be,” she replied, “but think of Akira’s state of mind right now. She’s hurting, and worried about us…”
“She blames herself for Touma’s death, and now she’d rather she and Kodamon take on the Midnight Army themselves if it means none of us get hurt!” Tian answered, catching on.
“Akira, you moron…” Seita muttered.
“Let’s get going,” Takashi said, “Where’s the first point?”
The fog rolled and wafted through the chilly pre-dawn air as Akira and Kodamon’s footsteps echoed in the parking lot. As they reached the entrance of the deserted building, Akira looked up, an unreadable look on her face.
“Of all the places for a Digimon invasion, this is the last one I’d ever think of,” she said softly.
Kodamon looked around. “This is where you went to school?”
Akira nodded. “And hated every minute of it.” She pulled her D-Coder from her pocket and pressed a few buttons.
“Is it time?” Kodamon asked.
“Almost,” Akira answered, “It should be 6 minutes and 6 seconds after 6 o’clock AM.”
As the time ticked over, the air suddenly shifted, and black and gold polyhedrons of all sizes shimmered into being.
Akira stared back at the floating polyhedrons. They were the same as the ones in ITI’s underground lab, and yet they were not the same. They each contained a copy of Apocalymon, and yet they radiated much less negativity. That was a good thing, in a way. It made what came next much easier.
Akira took a deep breath and let it out. “All right, Kodamon. Let’s get this over with.”
“Before anyone else gets involved,” Kodamon answered.
Akira nodded. “We can do this.”
At that, Akira’s D-Coder and Kodamon began to glow.
“Kodamon, warp evolve to… Auramon!”
Immediately, a series of polyhedrons launched themselves at Auramon. As they approached, the sides opened to reveal Apocalymon’s appendages.
“Aura Burst!”
The attack shattered the open polyhedrons before they could even fire a shot.
Akira let out a cheer. “You did it!”
Auramon nodded. “Let’s get going!”
They ran inside the school building, encountering polyhedrons at every corner. Every one of them crumpled under Auramon’s attacks.
“It looks like we were right, Akira!” Auramon called out as they ran through the empty hallways. “These copies are weaker than the ones in that underground lab!”
“Because they’re guarding something much worse!” Akira answered.
“I’d hate to see what could be worse than a million Apocalymons,” Auramon quipped. She looked back at Akira. “Basement?”
Akira nodded. “Basement!”
As they approached the basement stairs, more polyhedrons zoomed out to meet them.
“Here they come!”
“Aura Burst!”
When they reached the basement, Auramon bounded in while Akira skidded inside and slammed the door shut. Enveloped by sudden silence and pitch-black darkness, Akira groped around the nearby wall.
“Light switch, light switch… here!”
The room was immediately flooded with light.
“Look!” Auramon pointed.
They were face-to-face with another massive polyhedron. The darkness radiating from it was almost palpable.
“This is what they’re guarding?” Auramon asked, “Another one of these things?”
“The outside isn’t important,” Akira said, “It’s what’s inside.”
“What’s inside?”
Akira swallowed. “Death.”
They were interrupted by a loud, cold laugh. Auramon assumed a fighting stance while Akira held out her D-Coder in defense. The air shimmered, and Mataymon’s black-robed form appeared.
“You!” Auramon shouted.
“Congratulations on coming this far,” Mataymon said mockingly. He quickly scanned the area. “I was expecting more than just you two. Did your “friends” abandon you along the way? Or are you two actually bold enough to challenge me yourselves?” He laughed at the notion. “So brave. And so very stupid.”
Akira scowled. “Stop taunting us!”
Mataymon laughed. “You have two minutes before this shell releases its contents. Destroy it, and you face the darkness inside. Let it be, and you allow that darkness to spread into the unsuspecting world.”
“We’ll face death itself before we let anything inside that shell escape!” Auramon said forcefully.
Mataymon sneered. “As much as I want to stay and watch you squirm, I have other business elsewhere to attend to. Enjoy the time you have left!” With a sweep of his cloak, he disappeared.
As if turned on by a giant power switch, the polyhedron immediately awoke. It hummed as it powered up, the edges glowing green, then yellow, then orange. When the glow reached a bright red, the humming stopped, and a multitude of energy beams rained down. Akira and Auramon scrambled to avoid being hit.
“This is crazy!” Akira said frantically, “We can’t even get a shot in!”
“And time’s running out!” Auramon added.
An energy bolt grazed Akira’s leg, knocking her down, while Auramon rushed toward her to shield her from the rest of the deadly shots.
Akira shut her eyes in panic, random thoughts echoing in her head:
“Take care of Kyoko and Kei for me.”
“Don’t make me regret saving you!”
“Why couldn’t you save Daddy?”
“It’s as if you killed him yourself!”
“That way leads to despair.”
“...go above and beyond…”
“...above and beyond…”
“...beyond…”
Akira’s eyes snapped open as a new feeling spread through her. Power beyond what was normal filled her, and she was enveloped in a blinding blue glow. She looked up at Auramon and saw that she was surrounded by the same blue glow.
“Auramon!” Akira shouted.
“I feel it!” Auramon answered.
“Let’s do this!” Akira slotted the Crest of Spirit into her D-Coder and the blue glow got even brighter.
Auramon waved her arms spherically and erected a large circular barrier around the colossal polyhedron. The barrier absorbed the energy bolts easily as powerful storms kicked up inside, increasing exponentially in strength.
“Aura… Destroyer!”
The ground seemed to quake as the storms ripped right through the polyhedron as if it were made of paper.
Dark Seeds, numbering into the millions, spilled out of the shattered polyhedron. The walls and floor of the basement vibrated as the Dark Seeds were battered and neutralized and ground into dust by the powerful storms, the barrier keeping them safely contained.
“All right!” Akira cheered, pumping up a fist. “Take that, Mataymon!” She smirked. “’Face the darkness inside,’ my foot!” She turned to Auramon, beaming. “At this rate, we can destroy all the rest of Mataymon’s bases, easy!”
It wasn’t until moments later, when the storms faded away and the barrier disappeared, that Akira realized the ground really was shaking.
“What’s going on?” she said, the shaking keeping her off-balance. She looked around wildly, and noticed that she and Auramon were still glowing.
“I don’t know-” Auramon said, when a sudden wave of digital interference ripped through her, and she screamed, falling to the ground and reverting back to Kodamon.
“Kodamon!” Akira took a step, then the same digital interference pulsed through her. She screamed and collapsed to the ground in pain.
The pain continued as the interference continuously pulsed through them both.
And the earth kept on shaking.
“Are we there yet?” Mana asked.
“Just about,” Jun said, peering at the map on his D-Coder. A bright purple dot blinked solidly inside a nearby building. He turned to Ryou. “Are you sure this is the right place? Your school?”
Ryou nodded. “Positive.”
Mana turned to the driver of the large van everyone was stuffed in. “Please hurry, Mr. Takashi!”
“I’m hurrying,” he answered.
“Please don’t do anything stupid, Akira,” Tian murmured softly.
Suddenly, Jun’s D-Coder beeped a warning. The purple dot noting Akira and Kodamon’s location shined brighter, almost blinding, and flickered violently.
At the same time, a massive shock wave hit the van, followed by another.
Mana screamed.
“W-what’s going on?” Jun stammered.
The ground shook violently, causing large cracks to appear in the road.
“Earthquake!” Seita shouted.
With a screeching of tires, Takashi managed to bring the van to a halt. “Everyone, brace yourselves!”
More cracks appeared in the road, and the massive vibrations caused several power lines and transformers to fall over. Buildings shook, and a few started to crumble from the outside.
“No…” Nami moaned, “Nonono… not again!”
Five minutes passed, then ten, and the earthquake did not stop. In fact, it seemed to strengthen, with aftershocks coming quickly and adding to the earthquake’s power.
“It’s not stopping!” Mana said frantically, “Why is it not stopping?”
After what felt like forever, the earthquake suddenly stopped. Everyone looked around, seeing the aftermath of the shaking in the cracked roads and partially-destroyed buildings.
“Let’s go!” Nami spoke up, “We need to see what happened at the school!”
Takashi nodded and drove off, avoiding the cracks and debris strewn everywhere.
The school was in strangely immaculate condition as they approached. There were shattered remains of Apocalymon shells scattered everywhere, but the school itself didn’t have a single scratch.
“Weird,” Jun said, “The school’s still in one piece, but my D-Coder said the epicenter was here!”
“Come on!” Seita put in, “We need to find Akira and Kodamon before it’s too late!”
They followed the trail of shattered Apocalymon shells through the hallways and down to the basement, Seita and Tian leading the way. As they raced down the basement stairs and burst through the door, they spied Akira and Kodamon lying lifeless on the basement floor, in front of a large, open space.
“Akira! Kodamon!” Seita shouted, as he and Gazimon sprinted over to them.
Kodamon stirred, and came awake with a groan.
“Kodamon!” Gazimon said with a relieved smile, “You’re okay!”
“Barely,” Kodamon said weakly, “My everything hurts.” She looked over at Akira and gasped. “Akira! Is she okay?”
Akira was lying face-down and looked to be out cold.
“Akira?” Seita turned her over and tried to shake her awake.
“Akira!” Tian ran over and crouched over her, taking her pulse. After a moment, Tian’s eyes widened.
“She’s not breathing!”