Memoirs of Victory: Taming the Instincts.

By: Sonfaro

“It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas”.

Sora Takenouchi swatted her boyfriend in the arm. “Don’t say that, she told him. “I haven’t looked for gifts for anybody yet”.

“Not even mine?”

Sora narrowed her eyes seductively. “Well, I have something special planed for you…”

They grinned. Tai decided now would be a good time to clear his throat, before either Sora or her boyfriend, Matt Ishida, decided to get anymore perverted. Sora blushed and got back to the game. The Odaiba Tigers versus the Shinjuku Raiders. AKA Davis Versus Ken II. A good game. One Tai strangely wasn’t interested in.

“Tai, you’ve been pretty quiet”, Matt noticed.

Sora raised an eyebrow. “Yeah what gives?”

“An… Old friend invited me to a party.”

“Oh? Somebody from our old soccer days?”

“No.”

“Camp?”

“No.”

“Where then?”

“You wouldn’t know him.”

Sora frowned. “I wouldn’t?”

“I have friends of my own”. Tai grinned at her. “You don’t know everything about me”.

--

I’m walking towards the old FacTry Mark building a few blocks from school. Matt’s right. It is beginning to look like Christmas. Some one thought to drape some lights over the power lines down the street. That must have been awful dangerous.

I’m thinking about Sora again.

She’s going to be ticked off at me. I know she’ll be ticked off at me. But I’ve got to do this alone. My past has caught up with me. My dark past. Darn it, I should have brought my flashlight.

They’re first kiss had been an accident. A wrong step landed them under a mistletoe during the Christmas holiday. Not to ruin the Christmas cheer and too prideful to back down from a few friendly bets, they’d set aside their common disgust for the romantic and puckered up. It had been short, sweet and to the point. And by the end of it, they both had wanted it to last a little longer.

If I don’t hurry, I’m going to be late. If I know him, he’s not going to be pleased. Something in my gut though tells me something is wrong. I can’t put my finger on it. Yet.

But I will.

I look over my shoulder. She’d been trailing me all day. She was wondering why I’d gotten so secretive. I never talk to her anymore. Well I don’t, but it isn’t like that. It isn’t her. I’ve just had some other priorities I’ve had to deal with. A lot has been on my mind.

They’re first kiss was well planned. He’d brought her to the roller rink. She said she’d never gone skating, so he skipped the normal soccer game to take her. She’d felt awkward at first, but by the end of the day she was laughing and generally happy. They’d headed back to the parking lot to wait for her big brother. She’d asked him to lean over, as if to whisper into his ear. And then they kissed, underneath the stars and, unknowingly, in front of her highly annoyed former psychopathic brother.

She asks me how Kari was. I tell her she’s been grounded. She asks me why. Kari’s her friend too. She deserves to know. She laughs when I say his name. “TK”, I say. Yeah, we had a good laugh right there, at the expense of my sincerely annoyed sister. But it wasn’t like Kari was there to do anything about it. I owe this girl the truth. We’ve been through a lot, this girl and me.

--

‘I thought you’d like a hair bow!’ ‘Oh, so you don’t like my hair now’! ‘I can’t ever tell! You always wear that hat’! ‘Oh, so you don’t like my hat either!’ That wasn’t what he’d said at all. Girls were so freaking fickle.

--

She tells me she’s met some of my ‘friends’. She does that annoying finger thing, quoting or whatever. She’s referring to Mari Goutokuji and Hideto Fujimoto. I laugh. I hadn’t planed on running into those two. Mari looks a lot better with all that muck off her face. Sora glares at me. Man, she’s really been annoyed at her lack of information on my personal life.

Earlier…

“Can you tell me something?”

The blonde girl looks up at her. “Hum? Do I know you?”

“No frankly you don’t. I was wondering. How you met that guy back there.”

“What does it matter to you?”

Sora’s agitated. She’s still mad from earlier. “It just does alright?”

“What, you his girlfriend?”

Sora blushes. “No.”

“I don’t get it. What do you want?”

“Look I need some answers, that’s all.”

The blonde raises her eye. “You his mother?”

“No.”

“Again. What’s the point?”

Sora sighs and grips her head. “Can you just answer my question please?”

The blonde cocks her head to the side. “What’s your name?

“Look…” She sighs and gives up. “Sora. Sora Takenouchi.”

“Sora? Haven’t we met before?”

“I doubt it.”

The blonde puts a hand to her chin and thinks. “You look oddly familiar.”

Sora’s annoyed. She doesn’t like sleazes. “Will you answer me?

“Mari.”

“What?”

The blonde smiles. “That’s my name. Mari Goutokuji.” She looks up in revelation after a few seconds. “Shucks I do know you! You’re one of those Digidestined. Like Tai right?”

Sora looks at her. She’s very careful and quiet when the words come out. “Yes. Yes I am. Now about Tai…”

“What about him?”

“Where do you know him from?”

“Here and there. We used to…” Mari laughs. “We used to fight a lot. We’ve gotten to be pretty close.”

“Close?”

“You don’t mind that do you?”

Sora blushes again. “Huh? Oh… No, not really.”

Mari laughs. “Tai and I are just friends. We met a while back and well, the rest is history.”

Sora raises an eyebrow. “That’s all?”

“Course not. But we all have our little secrets right?”

“Do you know where he was going?”

Mari shrugs. “No clue. Ask my boyfriend. He and Tai talked earlier.” She turns toward the restaurant. “Hideto!”

A voice from inside yells back. “What!”

“Get over here!”

“What?”

Mari repeats it, louder this time. Out comes a young boy with an apron, apparently this Hideto. Mari motions to Sora.

“Hideto Fujimoto, meet Sora Takenouchi”

The Present

She informs me that she doesn’t like Mari. Understandable. Sora’s a traditionalist when it comes to clothes. I can’t remember the last time she dressed to show off anything. It’s always a dress below the knees and jeans. She says Hideto seems to speak of me only as a professional. Good old Hideto. You were my Joe in those days.

Earlier…

The boy looks at her. “So what do you want?”

“Um. She said you’d talked to Tai. Brown haired guy. Lots of it. Tan. He has an obsession with blue.”

Hideto looks stupid for a moment, then he laughs. “Ah. Yagami.”

“Wha…” Sora shrugs. “Well, that is his middle name.”

“Taichi Yagami Kamiya.” Hideto nods and looks at her again. “What do you want to know?”

“Well where has he gone. I saw him talking with you’re girlfriend?”

“Girlfriend?”

“Um, Mari.”

Hideto sighs and shakes his head. “We’ve got to talk about that one.” He shrugs and goes back to business. “So what. You want to know where he’s headed?”

“My friends place. Neo Saiba. That’s where he went.”

Sora recognizes that name almost instantly. “Neo? The Donkey Madness guy that beat Ken! The one with the…”

“V-pets? Yeah, that’s him. He and Tai are tight. Go see him.”

Sora bows. “Thank you.”

The Present…

I’m fine. They’re my friends not hers. I was a little worried when she said she met Neo. Matt would have a tough time there.

Earlier…

“Excuse me…”

“You’re looking for Tai?”

“How did…”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“Any idea where he went?”

“The old FacTry Mark building. He went to pay his respects.”

“Um… Thank you…”

And she left the complex. Thus was the Sora/Neo conversation.

The Present…

Neo. I shake my head. Talk about a ladies man. I have a lot of memories with that guy. Some good. Most bad. But these days I hold him with respect. Not too many people can beat Ken at donkey madness. I’ve long since forgiven the platinum blonde. But that doesn’t mean I’ll forget.

He gripped his Wonderswan tight and swore. She turned and walked away from him. Towards his most bitter rival. The only human being that he’d ever hated. Her brother. He reached for her, and called her name. She waved goodbye. And then she was gone.

She’s worried about Mari and Hideto’s knowledge of the Digital World. I tell her she’s worrying too much. My friends can keep a secret. Tamer’s honor. She cringes at the word. She doesn’t like Tamers. Digimon Tamers. Humans with no direct link with the Digital Sovereigns. She gives me that look. I’ve grown used to it.

--

It didn’t come out right, and he knew it. Sora was looking at him with those sad motherly eyes of hers and he felt like dieing then and there. His stomach had twisted in knots. But his words had never rang truer. ‘I’ll always be there for you’.

--

She asks me who wrote the note, and I repeat, and old friend. Yes. We were friends long ago. And what are we now? That’s what I am going to find out

‘You okay’? She was trembling. He held her as she trembled. She’d had a nightmare. That he and the others had left her. Like he’d ever do that. He’d never leave her. ‘I’ll always be there for you’.

Sora tells me she was jealous. That I knew. But she’s acting odd with me all of a sudden. I wonder if she’s flirting with me. She can’t be. She’s with Matt.

--

She screamed his name. He was hot, sweating. He couldn’t control his breathing. He had her. That slimy traitor had her. And he couldn’t move. Not a bone in him twitched. That demented freak had just made off with his best friend. The one girl he cared about more than any other. And all he could do was stare at the fence.

--

She’s still keeping up with me. We passes the flower shop not to long ago. She mentions a tennis game. I tell her I can’t go. Where is Matt? She pouts and tells me that I just ruined her day. “Worse things have happened”, I tell her. She asks me how.

A beautiful girl jumped off a ledge.

“Something’s”, I say slowly, “Are best not said”.

We make it to FacTry Marks old building. It’s decrepit and falling apart, and I wonder if he’s given me the wrong address. Sora’s cold. Why the heck did she come along? Then the door opens, eerily, like some horror movie. And a voice bids us to come inside.

That’s when I see him. Shini’chiro Josaki. The son of Josaki Electronics. Prodigy of the FacTry Mark technological empire. Sigma.

“Good evening Tai.”

I frown. “What the hell are you doing?”

“My, my. What language. Especially in front of the lady.”

He does a freaking back flip over the railing. He’s amazingly agile for a kid younger than my sister. Sora’s looking at me funny. “Friend of yours”, she asks me?

“It’s nice to meet you too my love”, he says upon rising from his ridiculous 630º. Shin’ichiro. Still as deceptively charming as ever.

“It’s been a long time Taichi.”

“Long enough”, I spit. I’m wondering why I’m so angry right now. Sigma didn’t do anything to me personally. I should hate Neo. Not him. But this kid just rubs me the wrong way these days. Mari says the same. She and Hideto and Neo have all been avoiding him. Sigma. The only human who could tame a Piedmon.

“What do you want?”

“I wanted to show you something.”

“Well hurry it up.”

“Patience is a virtue Taichi.”

“So is me not kicking your sorry little face in.”

Images of what he did to her. What he did to…

I shake them off. Sora’s looking at me funny. Shin’ichiro bows and turns a corner. He leads us away. I get a quick, cold feeling in my gut but shake it off. I’m getting to old for this.

--

Shin’ichiro leads them into a large, empty room. The room its self is very white, and very new, making Tai wonder what in the world is going on.

“Behold. Josaki electronics newest creation.”

Shin’ichiro motions to a small black box sitting in the middle of the floor. Sora raised an eyebrow. That same cold feeling fills Tai’s gut again.

“What is it?”

Sora frowns. “It looks like a box.”

The strange boy simply grins. “It’s not just a box my love, he said with all the charm of an English gentlemen. “It’s a supercomputer.”

The cold filling moved from Tai’s gut to his lungs.

“We’re calling it Yggdrasil, said Shin’ichiro, still smiling.

“Ig-dra… what?”

“Based on the old Norse legend. The world tree”, he laughed. “Do you want to know what it does?”

Sora nodded. “What?”

“It connects all of the ports to the Network of Artificial Diversity.”

“The what?”

Shin’ichiro’s face grew dark. “The digital world.”

Then Tai knew what was going on. Why he’d been called here. He’d been stupid to come. “My god… You’ve made a digiport.”

“Oh, its more than that. This thing does more than open gates in and out. It can control temperature. Climate. It can reshape NAD as we know it.”

“I can’t let you do this.”

“This is genius Taichi.”

“This is tampering with another being s life Shin’ichiro!”

Then Shin’ichiro smiles hard. “You could finally see him again.”

Idiot!

A low blow if I ever felt one. Memories of the past flow through my brain. That week without the others. The fond farewells. Fallen friends. Blast you Sigma. I try to compose myself, but it’s hard to do when Sora’s glaring at him as well.

I grunt. I know what he wants now. Darn it, I wasn’t prepared for this at all. I check to be sure my digivice is on me. I’m not sure how much good it’s going to do in this situation. But I have a small advantage now. This guy doesn’t want Tai Kamiya. He wants Taichi Yagami Kamiya. He wants the Victory Tamer.

“And then what? This isn’t a game anymore Shin’ichiro. This is life. We can’t be held responsible for another world.”

“Wasn’t that the whole point of being a Digidestined? To change their world?”

He’s getting annoyed. Keep it up Tai. Let him be the one to slip up.

“Not at the expense of their existence…”

God Sora, just stay quiet. Shin’ichiro smiles at her. He looks like a computer when he does that. Cold and calculating. I wish he still had his mask.

I buckle up. “The intention was to save it from corruption. We did that. There’s no need to change it.”

“Consider it an upgrade then.”

I take a step forward. “I’m not going to consider it anything.”

“If you choose not to join me then you can die. Triceramon.”

As soon as I hear ‘mon’ escape his lips, I know we’re in trouble. I should have expected Shin’ichiro… No, Sigma now. Old school Sigma is back. He takes a step back and a door behind him we never saw opens. This huge Triceramon enters, unnaturally huge even for their standards. Sora cowers behind me.

“Tai!”

And of course, this is when all hell breaks loose.

--

That’s when he felt the wonderswan in his pocket start to vibrate. There was a flash of light, and Greymon popped out of a portal.

…

There was dead silence.

The dragon looked a little confused. “Um… What am I doing here?”

Tai moved fast. “No idea partner, but we’ve got a problem!”

The big dinosaur cocked his head. “What’s going… Holy Mackerel!”

The Triceramon lumbered towards them, grunting and charging up his finisher. Greymon yelped and ran after Tai and Sora.

“What is going on!”

Tri-Horn Attack!

Greymon barely ducked out of the way as three beams of energy careened after him. The earth shook and Sora lost her footing. Tai glanced over to see a sight he never wanted on his mind. Sora on the ground. Motionless.

Instinct took over.

“Greymon! What’s your second attack?”

“My what?”

“You’re close range ability! What is it?”

“Um? Great Antler… I think. I never tried to use…”

“Aim for his leg on my command.”

“What?”

“Just do it!”

Tai knew what his partner was thinking. Triceramon was an Ultimate. An unnaturally created Ultimate. Most Champions wouldn’t have a chance against a creature like that. Greymon wasn’t most champions. And he had Taichi. “Now!”

Great Antler!

Greymon dove headlong into the monsters kneecap, tripping the monstrous Triceratops and throwing him to the ground. There was no real damage however. That wasn’t what Tai was hoping for. As Greymon got up, the Triceramon turned and gave a long roar.

“Now Greymon! Aim for his mouth!”

“What?”

“Just do it!”

“Alright…” And Greymon inhaled.

Nova Blast!

The ball of fire connects hard with the soft insides of Triceramon. The creature falls, directly for where I was hoping. Crushing the Ig-dra… whatever. The move is instantly effective. With the insides of his mouth seared together, the end is inevitable. The target will delete via suffocation. The threat is neutralized.

God I sound like a tamer.

It’s probably better like this. He was a freak of Digital nature. Like the boy who should be cowering in my shadow. I turn and glare at Sigma. Instead he’s laughing.

“What the…”

“Congratulations Taichi. You managed to defeat my first draft. But there will be others.”

“It’s over Sigma. Give it up now.”

“Till we meet again… Tai.”

And then he… disappears. Vanishes. And I wonder whether I’m making all this up. I check on Sora, she’s alright. A little shook up. She has a look in her eyes I haven’t seen in a long time. Fear. I help her up.

Greymon scratches his chin and looks around. “What was that all about?”

“A long story partner.” Greymon grunts and shrugs. Sora asked him what happened. He gets flustered and jitters a bit. That means Biyomon was over his roost again. Whatever that entails.

“Come on. We have to find a computer for you.”

--

The FacTry Mark building was in shambles to begin with, but we’re more concerned with whether or not anyone heard us. Humans Against Digital Demon’s could be out tonight for all we know, even though most of them have been dealt with. We don’t need another resurgence of anti-Digimon feeling.

We managed to get Greymon to a digital clock. It isn’t much of anything, and Greymon complains about not being able to fit. Sora asks him why he’s a champion in the first place, and he gets flustered again. I really don’t think I should ask what he and Biyomon are doing. Greymon vanishes into a cloud of digital smoke, and that just leaves Sora and me.

“What a night”, I begin.

“Who was he Tai?”

“Sora…”

“No lies either.”

I cough. “I’ve got somewhere I need to be”.

“Another old friend?”

I’m avoiding the issue, and I know it. “Come on. I’ll walk you home.”

“I want to go with you”, she says. She’s looking at me with those browns. I can’t resist.

So we go walking. It’s really quiet. I’m wondering why she’s staying with me. What does she want? I keep thinking that until we reach the Saiba complex. She asks me what I’m doing back here. I tell her I’m here to meet someone. She turns and looks at me. I start thinking about the love of my life. And here she is.

--

God she was beautiful. At four she made every one else – save perhaps his mother, look like cheap amateurs. The old sandbox was where four-year-old lovers met anyways. Sora Takenouchi. He would never forget that name. She looked at him and he went breathless. ‘Watch it stupid-head’, she said while fixing their sand castle. It was love at first sight.

God she was beautiful. And she had him in her arms and he absolutely melted. He could hear his friends laughing, but he didn’t care. For these few seconds, he knew what heaven meant. Heaven was her. Rei. Rei Saiba. He would never forget that name.

--

And in that split second, I realize in a strange way that two very different worlds are about to collide. I think I’m ready for them. After what Sigma’s shown me, I’m ready for anything. It’s time the past caught up to me. Tai, the bearer of Courage and Taichi, the Victory Tamer were, once, one and the same.

The same goofy kid with the goggles and the ‘swan.

Their eyes lock. I swallow spit.

“Sora Takenouchi, meet Rei Saiba.”

--

To Be Continued in Sonfaro’s Digimon: Anniversary.

Authors Note: This story is sort of a tribute to Anubis Soundwave’s ‘Tamed Instincts’ series. For those of you who haven’t seen it, I suggest you do. It’s unfinished, but it’s still a good read. And yes, these are the characters from the ever popular V-Tamer series, and yes, this is also part of the ‘Anniversary’ timeline. How that plays on certain characters relationships is yet to be seen. Poor Greymon huh? Can’t ever get a Biyomon break. Ah well. Expect him to answer her in Year Three of Anniversary.

For those of you who may have been confused. Sorry. I wanted to show you Tai’s divided half. What he was, and what he used to be. There are two sides of Tai’s past, and if he’s going to be the UN guy we see he is in the future, he’s going to have to work out his past issues. Shin’ichiro/Sigma among them.

Shin’ichiro was a character from a rarely read Italian Manga called C’Mon Digimon. I figured he and Sigma look alike, so why not make them the same person. This isn’t the last you’ll see of the heir apparent to Josaki electronics.

Digimon Chronicle fans already know about Yggdrasil. This isn't the last we'll see of that particular super computer either.

Any questions, send them through the review. And keep a look out for Year Three of Anniversary. It should be finished before Christmas. You’re not going to believe what’s happened to our guys in one year! Peace out!

- Sonfaro