Grim
Reality
Chapter Six- Everybody Needs Somebody
Day Four- Kohler Complex-
Contestant Seating Area- 3:10 PM
When it came to using monsters in battle, Ash Ketchum was one of the best
there was. When it came to using monsters in battle in the context of a card
game, Kazu Shiota would
have you believe that he was one of the best there was. There was a surprising
amount of strategy being used between the two, and the result was a pretty good
match, especially since neither of the two were willing to lose.
Izzy watched the match closely. Two inhuman companions were helping their human friends out. If the tamers’ Digimon were anything like the digi-destineds’, they’d give up their lives to save the life of their partner. Angemon did for TK once.
“Use quick attack,” said Ash, with an uncharacteristic lack of enthusiasm. Probably because Kazu was the intended target. It was also clear that Pikachu didn’t enjoy executing the command, but both knew full well what was at stake. Pikachu solemnly followed through, bashing Kazu into the outer ring before Guardromon could get there. Another match was in the books.
Four digi-destined and two tamers had been killed so far. And after all the times that their Digimon had come through to protect their partners, neither Armadillomon, Guilmon, Gomamon, Hawkmon, Patamon, nor Guardromon digivolved. All of the digivices had been taken away, in order to “ensure fairness” as the AA put it. But that was the biggest loophole in all of this. By all normal logic, the Digimon did not have the power to digivolve. But as Izzy already discovered years ago… in matters of life and death, normal logic does not apply. Nothing could stop evolution if it was for the right cause. Saving a partner’s life was a good cause… wasn’t it?
Beeda
Facility- Lounge- 7:00 PM
It was a legitimate question, one of many that Izzy
had. The situation was perfect for a little interrogation session: Mike came
across as one of the weaker-minded AA heads, one that would answer questions.
He also was Digimon’s “show supervisor”; he also was
on duty that night.
“Mr. Storch? Can I talk to you for a second?” Izzy asked.
Mike calmly strolled over and replied, “Sure.”
“I have a couple questions about all this.”
Mike was growing increasingly bored with having to defend Shougai from all the inane questions these kids were coming up with, “Okay… go ahead.”
Izzy decided to start with something simple: “First off… we’ve never had a problem with Pokémon before. What happened to kick this whole rivalry off?”
Mike smiled. “I brought your show to the US. That pretty much did it.”
“I mean here… why is it that we’re suddenly getting involved with a network rivalry?”
“Oh… well that’s the whole nature of a network rivalry. Everybody’s involved. That applies to American cartoons as well.” Mike was about to go into an example… but he couldn’t think of one. Maybe if he had actually had one of his American cartoons in a reality series, he could elaborate on that.
“That doesn’t make sense. Isn’t Cardcaptors on the WB?”
“Yeah… at least it was.”
“Why don’t we have a rivalry with them?”
“I don’t know… probably the whole monster thing. Still, I don’t see you becoming instant friends with anyone from Cardcaptors. Why? Because you’re on different networks.”
Izzy smiled. It was the hole he was looking for. “Yes… but we’re on the same network in Japan. If all this network stuff is really important, why would you take two shows airing back-to-back in Japan, and stick them against each other on different networks in America?”
Mike shook his head. “Is this all you wanted to know? Look, if that’s all you’re concerned about, do you want me to pick up Angelic Layer and stick it on Fox to make everything right?”
Izzy was winning now. Time to bring out the real questions, “No biggie. Just wondering. Anyway- my next question is how this is all legal. I’m no lawyer, but I do believe that Gary has committed a felony by murdering TK. Why isn’t he being locked up?”
It was Mike’s turn to smile. He replied, “Ah… there is a little bitterness because of what happened. Network rivalry is at…”
“While they’re at it, they can lock me up too. What I did to Brock was no better,” Izzy clarified.
Mike dropped the smile immediately. “Oh.” Mike thought for a second. He had been given an answer to the question, to avoid spilling anything about the McKormick Reaper. “Okay… legality… do you want me to sugar-coat it or tell you straight out?”
“Straight out.”
“Fine- you don’t exist in this world. By anyone’s records you are just a Saturday morning cartoon character, and even if you do die, the only people who will mourn you are your fans, and even they understand that it’s not real.” The best part about the answer was that it was essentially true.
Izzy looked down. He knew he wasn’t at home. He knew that in this world, he was just a fictional character. But there was still a missing piece of the puzzle. “Then what’s the point of all these reality series? What kind of person would watch a reality series that didn’t feature real people?”
“Judging by our ratings, a lot of different kinds of people. Our Mole 2 pulled higher ratings than ABC’s Mole 2. So people are watching. We’ve found that when we set it up to look like a reality series, people will believe whatever you say. The idea that a bunch of characters from different networks interacting in a different setting just makes it seem so real. Especially since we don’t have any direct control over you when you’re in this world. But even then, fans still realize that it’s not really happening. For all they know, everything that happened in Animation Survivor was all planned out and written by some hick from Wisconsin.”
“But you know it’s real. Don’t you think there’s anything wrong with this?”
New York, NY- 7:05 PM
He had only been going off the episodes Dave was sending him. Even based on
those alone, Shougai was looking fantastic. But there
was always some good behind-the-scenes action that the cameras never caught.
That’s what the extranet was for. He logged on to the server, typed in the
password, and found what he was looking for. Barb wasn’t the only one with
access to the cameras. Always the voyeur, he decided to check in on Mike and Izzy’s conversation.
“My last question," Izzy began, "You took our digivices away in order to prevent our Digimon from digivolving, right?”
Mike smiled as he replied, “Yeah.” That was an easy question!
“Since when was something like that ever able to control digivolution? We’ve shown time and time again that if we really need it, nothing can stop it.”
“What do you mean? Name one time you were able to…”
“Apocalymon. Our tags, our crests, all destroyed. That didn’t stop us.”
“So what- you’re saying it was a miracle… or an act of God?” Mike raised an eyebrow.
“Well, if you want to put it that way- sure. Because I can’t explain it.”
Mike started to laugh. “Oh man… this is why I love this line of work. You guys really didn’t have any idea did you? Thanks for the ego boost, but I was just doing my job.”
“What do you mean?”
“Look, let’s face it, if it weren’t for the Animation Alliance and our Japanese counterparts, you guys would have died a long time ago. If you only knew how many times we’ve had to go in and find some way to manipulate a victory for the group.” Mike had to set the record straight. If nothing else, these characters were taking miracles for granted. It was time to put them in their place. “Any time something unexplainable happens that allows you to stay alive? That’s not a miracle… that’s the Animation Alliance. Did you think it was Ken and the others that were able to seal Daemon away? No- that was the Animation Alliance! You think one of the sovereign just decided to make Jeri a Tamer for no real reason? No- that was the Animation Alliance! And honestly, do you really believe that a bunch of Pokémon crying would be able to bring Ash back to life? Of course not… that was the Animation Alliance.”
Mike started to walk away, but stopped to add, “We are a lot more than just a bunch of guys producing some reality shows… we’re your saviors. You should consider being more respectful.”
Izzy sat down. It was true… they were in control. The AA held all the cards. He couldn’t alert the police because he was just a fictional character here. He couldn’t escape, because the AA dictated who came here and who went home. Furthermore, any attempt to retaliate and bring the company down wouldn’t be fair- Rika and the other Tamers were in the battle of their lives, and they would have nowhere to go if they needed a miracle. But the more Izzy thought about it, the more he realized that the AA’s ability to control may have the answer.
“Bring Ash back to life…” Izzy mumbled. He didn’t know what Mike was referring to
with the Pokémon crying… but he did know that Ash was right down the hall.
“Dammit...” Was it just him or did Mike just ruin everything before his own eyes? He was just the quiet sponsor, but he was going to have to speak up to make sure everything was kosher. He picked up the phone.
Kohler Complex- Control
Room- 7:10 PM
Tom was going through some more editing when the phone rang. He calmly
picked it up and answered, “Ahoy-oy?”
“Did you just hear what that one guy said to that kid?”
“Uh…” Tom wasn’t sure who it was, but details would have been nice.
“He’s one of you AA guys. He just told one of the contestants about bringing Ash back to life. He was in the lounge at Beeda, just ran off down the hall.”
“Hm… Mike’s on duty tonight. Let’s have a look.” Tom wheeled over to the cameras and went to the first floor hall. Izzy was trying to figure out which door belonged to Ash.“The kid running down the hall?”
“Yeah, that’s him. Mike said something about how it wasn’t the Pokeyman crying that brought Ash back to life, that it was you guys.” He paused for a second. “Strange business you guys run. But anyway, he just gave away everything!”
“Hey… are you the sponsor guy that came up with all this?”
“Yes I am, and I’m really concerned about my investment!”
“I wouldn’t be… if he’s looking
for Ash, there’s nothing to worry about.”
Meanwhile, Izzy couldn’t find Ash, but he did bump into Tracey. “Izzy! What’s up?”
“I have to find Ash.”
“Oh… okay. Let’s see, he was the third seed for today… so that will put him in room 105.” Tracey calmly walked up to the room.
“How do you know?”
“Our room assignments are based on our seeds and what division we’re in. I’m surprised you haven’t figured that out already.” Tracey smiled, then knocked on Ash’s door.
Ash answered promptly, “Yeah?”
“Ash- do you remember something about being brought back to life? Something about the Pokémon crying or something. Mike just said something about…” Izzy composed himself and asked the question.
“What? Pokémon crying?" Ash stared, bewildered at the thought, "I have no idea what you’re talking about. Believe me, Izzy, if I was brought back to life by Pokémon crying… I’d definitely remember it.”
“Oh. Okay.” Izzy said, dejected. “Thanks away.” Ash shut the door. Izzy shook his head and turned to Tracey. “Maybe I’m just hearing things. All of this is stressing me out too much.”
“Must be. I don’t know how it works with you guys but Pokémon don’t cry. There’s an old legend about it… but that’s all it is,” Tracey stated.
“Whatever. See you Tracey.” Izzy walked away.
“What the…” The “mysterious sponsor” was totally confused.
Tom smiled, and coolly stated, “You thought Mewtwo erased the memories of Ash, Misty, and Brock after the incident? Nope… that was the Animation Alliance.”
Day Five
Kohler Complex- Arena- 11:58 AM
Matt stood next to Tai and Gabumon. His opponent,
Mousse, was alone on the other end of the arena. “Thanks for helping me out,
Tai,” Matt said quietly.
“Where’s Sora?”
“Sora hasn’t been watching. Especially not after…” Matt couldn’t finish.
“You okay?”
“I just want to get this over with.” Matt turned to Gabumon. “You okay with this Gabumon?”
“I guess so, but there has to be a better way of doing this,” his Digimon replied.
“This is the best one we could think of.”
“Begin!” No sooner had Artie given the signal had Gabumon started. It was all planned out.
“Blue Blaster!” It wasn’t any worse than a high-powered water gun, but it was all Matt needed. The highly concentrated blast of water was more than enough to allow Mousse’s curse to take effect. Matt’s task had been reduced from beating a martial artist… to beating a duck. Matt approached it to finish things off.
Still… the duck wasn’t giving in so easily. It flew around, desperately trying to get itself into a position to attack Matt. It did, and struck. Matt caught the duck and both collided with the ground. Matt carried the duck to the outer ring and attempted to throw it in, but Mousse started to fly away. Fortunately for Matt, Gabumon was right there. Another Blue Blaster, and Mousse was disabled, and fell into the ring. Matt sighed in relief. He was still alive.
Matt walked back to Tai. Matt wasn’t happy about, nor did he feel any sense of accomplishment in his victory. Still, Tai could only wonder how Matt was able to focus himself enough to do defeat Mousse. “What was that??” Tai asked.
“Two words- scouting report. Tracey said that the best thing you can do to prepare for a series like this is to learn about who you’re going up against. Know the enemy, know yourself.” Matt was solemn. He was just repeating Tracey’s words. Tai shook his head and they walked out.
Reception Room- 12:45 PM
Henry was seated, blankly watching Ryo socialize
with some of the other contestants. Henry had never felt this bad in his entire
life. Between his own stupidity in agreeing to participate in Shougai, witnessing Takato’s
death, and Ash’s stunt with the goggles, Henry was at his wit’s end. In an
hour, he was scheduled to go up against Tasuki. The
biggest problem was that he didn’t really care. He looked up. “Ryo?”
Ryo returned with a smile. “What do you think would happen if I asked Mimi out on a date?”
“I’m not going to win today,” he said blankly. Ryo looked at Henry for a second, then smiled.
“Don’t say that! You’ve gotta win! What happened to that ‘do it for Takato’ spirit?”
“I… don’t think it matters anymore.”
“But…” Ryo was trying to reason through words.
Rika, however, had a better idea. “Ryo? Learn from a pro…” Rika approached Henry and slapped him across the face, “Wake up Wong… you’re not getting out of this that easily. You’re going to go in there, you’re going to beat Tasuki, and you’re going to like it.”
Ryo smiled at Rika. “Maybe you should be his second…”
Rika turned to Ryo. “If that’s what it takes, then fine.” Rika returned her attention to Henry, continuing her rant, “I’m not going to let you take the easy way out. We’re in this together whether you like it or not.”
Henry shrugged. “I don’t know, I mean…”
He was interrupted by Ryo, looking over at Ken, heading to the arena for his match with Tamahome. “Hey Ken! Good luck!” Ryo shouted.
“Yeah… thanks,” Ken acknowledged politely.
Rika stared at Ryo. “You know Ken?”
Ryo laughed. “Yeah… it’s a long story. Anyway Henry, the whole point of this game is that you can’t let it get to you. If you do that, you’re screwed.”
Henry looked up. “That’s my point. What if I am screwed? In the end… so what?”
“So what?," Ryo mocked, "You’re fighting to stay alive, there’s a lot of ‘what’ there. When you sit down and think about it… it’s kind of exhilarating. It’s just when you lose someone like Takato that it starts to get to you. I’m trying not to let that happen.”
“So you’re saying that I should just forget about what’s going on, and try to enjoy killing people?”
Ryo frowned. “Well… if it keeps you alive… then yes.”
Arena- 1:05 PM
Tamahome pulled himself out of a Sticky Net attack and continued to move
around. Besides the occasional attack from Wormmon,
Ken wasn’t presenting much of a challenge. Tamahome could have ended it immediately,
but didn’t want to. He wanted to make it as painless as possible. Tamahome had
more than enough to live for to encourage him to win the match. But he felt
plenty of sympathy for his opponent. All of the dreams and
aspirations that Ken had were about to be thrown out the window. The
least Tamahome could do was ease the pain. Hotohori
was forced to resort to extreme measures to stay alive; Tamahome wasn’t about
to- Ken happened into a good position, and Tamahome charged. He didn’t even use
half his strength. It wasn’t even a punch- more of a push. Still, it did the
job, as Ken fell into oblivion.
He didn’t smile. He didn’t celebrate. He didn’t acknowledge the cheers of the screaming idiots watching. He simply walked up and hugged Miaka.
“Tamahome…” Her voice was so reassuring. Words could not describe how much he loved her. The embrace was not out of relief- Tamahome didn’t have a doubt that he was going to win. The embrace was out of fear… tomorrow Miaka was going to be on the spot. With her, however, there were plenty of doubts. Shampoo was going to present a much more difficult challenge than Ken did.
Beeda
Facility- Lounge- 2:00 PM
Rather than watching the match between Henry and Tasuki,
Tracey opted to quietly wait for his own match. Ash joined him, but he wasn’t
the silent type.
“Are you sure this is the best way to prepare for your match?”
Tracey glanced at him. “Of course it is. Believe it or not, my mind is going a mile a minute.” Tracey knew that he himself wasn’t fit for this sort of game. Scyther was his only ace. Tracey was playing out every possible scenario.
“Tracey? I forgot to thank you for helping me out last night.” Tracey looked up at the source of the new voice- Izzy.
“Oh… no problem.”
“It didn’t help much, but I’m just glad that some people are able to see through that stupid show rivalry.”
“Yeah. You know, I was thinking about that. Would you believe me if I told you that there’s a way we can completely take apart that whole show rivalry? To expose it for the fraud that it is?”
Izzy’s interested had been sparked. “What do you mean?”
Tracey smiled kindly. “Want to be my second?”
“Not really… I’m trying to stay out of that building as much as possible. I’ve seen enough.”
“You don’t really have to do anything. Just being in my corner makes enough of a statement. It shows that there’s no boundary between two different shows. We should be focusing on who we are as people rather than what show we come from.”
“I guess I can do that, but I’ll warn you right now- I don’t want to get involved. I’m not going to help you win or anything.”
“That’s fine- I shouldn’t have much of a problem. Scyther shouldn’t have much trouble.”
Izzy nodded. “Okay then. I’ll be there. Maybe we can start to put these guys in their place.” Izzy and Tracey shook on it, and Izzy walked away. This could be the start. It was a chance to fight back after what the AA was doing to them.
Ash, however, was very confused. “Um… Tracey? Isn’t…”
Tracey nodded. “I know, I know. Bug types are weak against fire types. So I lied a little. But I think Scyther’s at a higher level, so I could still win.”
Ash folded his arms and sat back in his chair. “That’s not what I was talking about,” he muttered.
Kohler Complex- Arena- 2:00
PM
Tasuki sized up Henry, standing there with Rika
and Terriermon. This wasn’t going to be too hard. His
only concern was with Rika. He’d get in trouble if she got caught in the
attack. He walked up to her and shouted, “Hey you- girlie. Get out of the way.” Rika stared
back at him. Tasuki was not telepathic, but her glare
sent the message- “fuck off.” Tasuki
continued to approach Rika. “No seriously… get out of the way.”
He grabbed her arm, but was immediately reprimanded by Artie, “Hey! You can’t touch the seconds!” Artie shook his head and sat down- his glare seemed angry at the fact that he actually had to do something as referee.
“Look, if I can’t touch you, you’re going to have to get over here!” Tasuki grew more frustrated as Rika remained still. “Dammit… it’s so easy… just walk over and…” Tasuki stopped as Rika smiled. She walked… so that she was directly in-between Tasuki and Henry.
“Rika…” Now Henry was the one trying to get Rika out of the way. He had a different reason though- Terriermon was charged up and ready to attack. Rika looked over to make sure, and bounced out of the way.
“Terrier Tor…”
“Lekka Shien!!” The second Rika was out of the way, Tasuki had readied, aimed, and fired. His metal fan brought forth an awesome fury of flame.
She could feel the heat from the flame along her back. She knew that she had made a mistake and turned away to avoid witnessing Henry and Terriermon being incinerated.
Announcer’s Booth- 2:50 PM
Henry wasn’t happy. Three matches, and none of
them lasted more than two minutes. Dave approached him. “Look, it’s not that
bad. We got an upset out of it. Any day when a six seed can beat a three seed
isn’t…”
“These matches are starting to get predictable. There was no challenge for Tasuki or Tamahome.”
“Well, we’ll just have to make up for it with the behind-the-scenes action.”
“Mike better get on the ball then, because we have a total of five minutes of competition for this episode so far. That requires a lot of filler space in a half-hour episode.”
“So we sell more commercial time. We’re getting some good proposals already. Fox, ABC, and CBS all want to put Shougai on the air and all want to pay top dollar for it.” Dave was still excited after hearing that. This was going to be more profitable than he had envisioned.
Henry, though, was skeptical. “Wait… ABC and CBS? Why are they interested? ABC’s been pretty pissed at us since Mole 2: AE got higher ratings.”
Dave smiled. “Top show on the WB last season… although that’s not saying much.”
Henry continued, “And CBS… do they even know who we are? Animation Survivor wasn’t even noticeable compared to the real thing.”
“Well, I briefly mentioned it to ABC a couple weeks ago. I guess they got word of it and were interested. Maybe Artie talked to CBS. I think he has some connections with them.”
“Either way it’s strange. It’s been more than twenty years since the Animation Alliance has had really strong programming on one of the big three networks. Why now? Why this?”
“Look- Survivor pulled solid ratings for Fox. The Moles pulled great ratings for the WB. Pokéball Run pulled… well it was good for UPN. It was only a matter of time before the big three realized that we are a force to be reckoned with.”
North Entrance- 2:58 PM
Izzy watched as Tracey called out Scyther and gave him a quick pep talk. “It’s a little
strange for me too, but if we don’t do this, we’re both in trouble.” Tracey
turned to Izzy. “Hey- that does bring up a good
question. What do they do with our Pokémon if we lose?”
Izzy recalled the image of Artie mindlessly tossing the Pokéball containing Onix into the outer ring, as if the rock-type was just a crumpled up sheet of paper to be tossed in the trash. “Same fate… I guess.”
“Scyther!” Scyther cried. He wasn’t about to let that happen.
“Well Izzy, he’s ready. Let’s show them exactly how much difference two shows make.”
Izzy started to follow Tracey. “So… who do you play against?”
“That’s the best part. Our being on the same side has even more significance. It shows that show loyalty is just fictitious. Just because he’s from the same show doesn’t mean that you’ll always side with Tai.”
Izzy stopped. “What??” Unfortunately, by the time he did so, it was too late. He was standing on the opposite end of Tai, Matt, and Agumon.”
“Izzy?? What the hell are you doing?” Matt yelled, infuriated.
Izzy was slowly becoming infuriated. Was this all just another of Tracey’s little games? He turned to Tracey. “You never told me you were playing Tai.”
Tracey smiled at Izzy. “Why does that matter? You do want to stop this rivalry don’t you? The best way to show that Digimon and Pokémon can get along is for you to show that your loyalty lies in your friends, not in your show.”
“But… but… Tai is my friend!”
“Yeah… I kinda forgot about that. But just smile for the cameras, pretend that you’re on my side, and it’ll all be over soon!”
This was too much. Even if Tracey was right, Izzy was still being put in this position. There wasn’t an excuse for this. There was no reason for Tracey and Tai to kill each other. There was no reason for Tai and Izzy to be on opposite sides. There was no reason for any of this to be happening. Unfortunately, Izzy was beyond rational thought. Tracey sounded sincere, and his idea had plenty of merit. But it was perfectly clear now why he wanted Izzy as a second… he wanted to fuck with everybody’s head again. After everything that was going on- all the death, manipulation, and suffering… After all of that, Izzy wasn’t going to take it anymore. Just as Tracey was about to send Scyther after Tai… Izzy sent himself after Tracey. And all of the morals in the world couldn’t stop Izzy from socking Tracey in the face.
“Now I’m really confused.” Tai didn’t know what was happening. Scyther’s instincts took over- he had to protect his trainer. Izzy backpedaled as Scyther charged after him.
“The hell??” Artie was as confused as everybody else.
Henry’s voice sounded in Artie’s microphone, “Uh… is that legal?”
“Well… seconds can’t attack an opponent. An opponent can’t attack a second… there isn’t anything about seconds attacking their teammates. I… guess it’s legal. Hey- it looks good anyway. Adds to the drama!”
Tai had to do something. Scyther had just knocked Izzy down. There was no telling what it was going to do next. Tai was about to give Agumon the signal to attack Scyther when Matt stopped him. “Hold on… look over there.” Izzy’s punch wasn’t all that strong, but it was enough to send Tracey reeling to the side- dangerously close to the outer ring. “Finish off Tracey and that’ll take care of Scyther,” Matt said.
“But…” Tai looked up at Matt. It wasn’t that easy… was it? Tai didn’t like Tracey, but killing him was definitely not a good way to settle their feud. And Matt- he had just become friends with the person he told Tai to kill. Unfortunately, with Scyther bearing down on Izzy, there were few options. “Agumon… you’re going to have to go after Tracey.”
“But!” Agumon objected.
“Just do it!” Tai screamed.
Agumon relented, and fired a Pepper Breath. It was right on target; the mutual distaste that had existed between Tracey and Tai had ended.
As Matt had stated, the second Tracey was out of the picture. Artie had sucked Scyther into a Pokéball, leaving an extremely shaken-up Izzy. Matt ran up to Izzy. “Are you okay?”
Izzy slowly stood up. Physically, Scyther did little than bruise him… although his hand certainly hurt. Mentally though, the whole episode did a number on him. He was breathing heavily, his hands were shaking, and he was trying to stay focused. “Izzy? You sure you’re okay?” Izzy didn’t respond to Matt's question. “You uh… want a glass of water or something?” Matt shook his head and started to exit the arena. He didn’t know… and he didn’t really care.
“I have to get out of here,” Izzy mumbled as he followed Matt.
Beeda
Facility- Lounge- 6:00 PM
Madison and Sakura were positioned behind a couch, just inside the room, on
a brief scouting assignment. They had no way of knowing how Kodachi
behaved in battle, but they could certainly observe her behavior here.
Madison put down her camera and sighed, “Do you really think this will help?”
“We have to try Madison. I know the odds are stacked against you, but there has to be some way for you to get through this. There’s always a way.”
Madison tried to smile for her best friend. “I know that Sakura. You’re right. You’re always right. I’m still worried though. I mean… I don’t want to die.”
“Try not to think of it that way. It’s not about what happens if you lose… it’s about what happens if you win.”
“I guess so.” Madison was still
nervous, but Sakura encouraged her… a little.
While Sakura and Madison continued to scout Kodachi, Miaka and Tamahome burst into the room, and dived behind the couch.
“Uh… what is it guys?” Miaka and Tamahome shushed Madison. Within a second, Ranma entered the room, followed by a very cute Shampoo.
“Shampoo would be so so happy if Ranma be Shampoo second.”
“Shampoo, for the last time- I’m not going to be your second. I’m trying to avoid playing favorites. That’s the last thing I need right now.” Ranma was setting the record straight. Miaka and Tamahome continued to watch Shampoo intently.
“But Ranma was Akane second,” Shampoo pouted.
Ranma sweated a few bullets. “Well… yeah… but Akane might have needed my help! See you- you don’t need any help to win!”
By this time, Kodachi had gotten up and approached the Amazon. “Actually, Shampoo, the reason that my dear Ranma isn’t going to be your second… is because he’s going to be mine tomorrow!” She followed with a round of evil laughter.
Ranma cringed. “What?!”
“Okay ribbon-girl- there only one way to settle this- whoever win get Ranma as second!” Shampoo jumped back and got into her preparatory fighting position.” Kodachi got out her ribbon, a must-have for any specialist in Anything Goes Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics. Ranma just got out the way. Fortunately, there were few others in the lounge at the time… most smelled trouble when it was just Kodachi in there.
Ranma walked up to the couch delegation, now taking serious interest in the previews of Kodachi and Shampoo’s fighting styles. “What are you guys doing?”
“Shh… we’re watching how they fight. Miaka and Madison have to play them tomorrow,” Tamahome said.
“Ah…” Ranma put a hand on both Miaka and Madison’s shoulder. “Well, good luck…” By the time he had said it, both Kodachi and Shampoo were glaring at him. Neither had taken too kindly to Ranma wishing luck to their opponents. Ranma backpedaled, “Hey! Hey! I was just being polite!”
“Since when has Ranma ever been polite?” Shampoo spat.
“She’s got a point there…” Tamahome smiled.
“TAMAHOME!!” Both Ranma and Miaka were angry. Before doing anything about it though, Ranma decided that it was best to turn tail and run. Kodachi and Shampoo chased after him.
“Do I even want to know?” Misty had entered from the same door the Nerima trio had exited. Needless to say, she was a tad confused.
“I… don’t think so,” Tamahome stated.
“Say Misty… who do you play tomorrow?” Sakura asked.
“Me? Mimi Tachikawa” Misty smiled. “And if she’s an angel… then I’m Unit 02.”
“I don’t get it.” Being from Ancient China, Tamahome didn’t watch much anime. “Another thing I don’t get is what the heck was up with Tracey’s match.”
“Don’t get me started. Little digi-destined punks… that was a dirty trick fooling Tracey into trusting Izzy like that. I bet they had that all planned out from the start.” Misty folded her arms. She was clearly unhappy at the result.
“Would you give it a rest??” Ash walked in behind her. “All I’ve been hearing from you since we got here is how much you hate Digimon. I… don’t believe you Misty. I was there. Tracey brought it on himself. He asked Izzy to be his second.”
“Yeah… and Izzy backstabbed him like the rat he is. I can’t believe Tracey of all people fell for it.”
Ash stared at Misty sadly. “I can’t believe you. I don’t know what your problem is but you’re going to have to realize that the digi-destined aren’t as bad as you think they are. If you don’t… then I have no reason to even bother talking to you.”
Ash turned around and walked out. Misty stared at the ground and sighed. She took a deep breath and ran after him. “Ash, wait!”
Room 310- 10:00 PM
Tai knocked on the door. After a second, the reply came, “Who is it?”
“It’s me… Tai. Look, I want to…” In a flash, the door was open. Izzy looked around the hall, and quickly pulled Tai into the room, slamming the door behind.
“Hey Tai. Look at what I found.”
Tai shook his head, not hearing Izzy’s statement. “I don’t know what happened this afternoon but I’m sure that whatever it was, there probably was a perfectly good reason for it. Still, I probably should talk to you and figure out what the…” Izzy was on his computer, seemingly ignoring Tai. “Um… Izzy?”
“Sorry Tai. This is big.” Izzy paused. Feeling the need to address the issue, he turned back. “Look- this afternoon I was stupid and got talked into doing something because I thought it would help us out. I was wrong, and I’m sorry.”
“Oh… well… that’s what I figured.” The match with Tracey messed Tai up in more ways than just that, but it was nice to get the situation with Izzy cleared up. “So what’s this big thing?”
“Check this out…” Tai pulled up a chair next to Izzy’s desk. His laptop was perched on it. “I found their extranet.”
“Uh… extranet?”
Izzy stopped, and turned to Tai, turning on his explanation mode: “An extranet is very similar to an intranet, only that instead of an enclosed network restricted to a geographic region, the enclosed network can be carried all over the world, accessible only to people who have the right to get into it. Good so far?”
Tai glared at Izzy. “They have an intranet now?”
“Point is- I found it for the Animation Alliance.”
“Okay… but do you have the right to access it?”
Izzy smiled. “Well… that’s how it’s supposed to work. In truth…” Izzy clicked his mouse, and a new window appeared on his screen. He was in. “I can’t believe they let me bring my computer.”
“Heh… did you see what Kari brought?”
“What? Fushigi Yuugi? So what?”
“Think about it- she has everything she needs to know about that show on DVD. If one of her opponents was from that series, she’d have an advantage. At this point… we should take whatever advantage we get.” Tai paused. “I think I’m comfortable enough with my masculinity to do a full scouting report on Tamahome.”
“You can’t be serious,” Izzy said, skeptical.
Tai stood up. “Look- Matt and I held hands that one time! That doesn’t mean anything!”
Izzy rolled his eyes. “I’m not talking about that. You would go to those lengths to make sure that you win your next match?”
“It’s not exactly a walk in the park. I don’t enjoy killing bishounen… but it’s the only way we can get through this. If one of us wins this thing… maybe we can set this all right.”
Izzy continued to play around with the site. “If you ask me, I think we should flat-out try to stop Shougai.”
Tai raised an eyebrow. “If you figure out a way to do it, let me know.” Tai continued to watch Izzy going to work on the ‘net. “You know… Davis and Matt go against Nuriko and Tasuki next. Maybe we can endure the pain together.”
“Prodigious…” Izzy was in awe.
“What?”
“Check this out- the cameras.” Tai came in for a closer look. The screen contained a list of all the cameras- a few were labeled by room number. “Oh God… I hope they don’t have a camera in here.” Izzy scanned the numbers. “Nope. Tai… pick a room. Let’s spy on somebody.”
“Izzy… I didn’t think you were into that kind of thing.”
“I’m not. I just want to see if that’s really what this is.”
Tai smiled. “Hey I’m not judging you- go into Misty’s room.”
Izzy smiled and shook his head. “Tai, Tai, Tai… let’s see… Misty is what- fourth seed tomorrow? That makes her… 208.” Izzy checked the list. “No camera in her room either.”
“How do you know?”
“Room numbers are assigned based on ranking and what day you compete. Tracey told me that yest…” Izzy stopped. He said the “T” word. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay.” Tai looked down. “You know the worst part about all this? It’s bad enough that I killed the guy. What makes it really bad is remembering all the times that I felt like I wanted to. Now that I have… it’s an eye-opener. Every decent human in the world is one moral fiber away from being a murderous beast.”
“That’s why we need to put a stop to this. There’s no fiber here.” Izzy looked at the screen. “112. That should be Matt’s room. He’s a friend… he’s a he. Should be safe.” Izzy clicked on the link. A video file started to load. The live stream was almost pitch black.
Tai tilted his head. “Must not be working. Oh well.”
“The lights are off, Tai. You can make out some shading if you look close enough. He’s probably sleeping. It is past ten.”
Tai stood up and stretched his arms. “Yeah. I should probably get some sleep too. I’ll have to talk to Matt and Davis tomorrow about…”
“Are you still up?” Tai turned around. That wasn’t Izzy.
“Prodigious… they have audio too.” That was Izzy. He was fiddling around with the speakers on his computer.
“I’m just worried… about tomorrow.” That wasn’t Izzy either. That was clearly Sora. Tai dived at the monitor, trying to catch a glimpse of what was going on.
Izzy cracked a half-smile. “Surprised?” Tai nodded, while giving up and taking a seat. “I mean they are dating. It’s not like Sora’s sleeping with Davis or something.”
Again, Tai leaned in closer. “Sleeping??”
Izzy clarified, “Yes, Tai. Sleeping. As in resting during nighttime hours in order to feel refreshed the next day. Sora is apparently accomplishing that process in Matt’s room. Nothing more.”
Tai sighed in relief. “Spooning, Izzy. The correct term, then, is spooning,” he explained.
“I’ve never heard that term before. Spooning is what you do with your cereal the next morning after sleeping.”
“You need to get out more, Izzy.”
“Sora, it’s going to be alright. I’m not going to let anything happen to you.” Although it was much too dark to see anything, Matt was clearly comforting Sora, “If I lost you… I don’t know what I’d do.” There was a pause in the dialogue, followed by, “I love you.”
“Matt… no. Not yet…” Sora sounded threatened.
Matt paused again. “Okay. Sorry. I just… never mind. Sorry.”
Even if Izzy couldn’t see it, he knew what was probably going on. “We really shouldn’t be watching this Tai.” Izzy looked back at his fellow voyeur, fixated on the dialogue. “Tai?” No response. Izzy smiled. “Face it Tai… you’re wishing you were Matt right now.”
Tai looked at Izzy, a little threatened. “Name one guy who wouldn’t want to be Matt right now!”
Izzy tilted his head. “Nuriko?”
“Not you?”
Izzy stared at Tai and said, “I have no romantic interest in Sora. I’m barely friends with her as it is. Still… they’re awfully close.” Izzy shook off the thought. “Regardless, we are impeding on their privacy.”
Tai continued to stare at the monitor. He still couldn’t see anything, and the conversation had subsided. There was something wrong with all of this. Regardless of who it was, this was a massive invasion of their privacy. This whole project wasn’t about killing people. It wasn’t about making children suffer. It was about television. They were doing all of this for one reason… to put it on television and make money. That was lower than anything else they were doing. The plan was to win and get his friends back. But even that wasn’t enough if it meant that the Animation Alliance still won. They’d still have their series, and they’d have their profit. They’d also have a kick-ass ending. Tai couldn’t let that happen.
“Izzy…
we’ve got to stop these guys.”
End Chapter Six
Author’s Notes
I’m trying to put into perspective exactly what the Animation Alliance is
about, and where exactly the previous series fell in terms of the TV world.
Basically, the Survivors aired on Fox, the Moles aired on the WB, and Pokéball Run aired on UPN in the seasons that they were
posted at ff.net (i.e. AS in Fall 2000; AS2 in Spring
2001). The order of ratings (from highest to lowest) was Mole 2, AS, Pokéball Run, Mole 1, and AS2. This has almost nothing to
do with the actual plot, but it is an elaboration on Henry and Dave’s
conversation.
Another plot that seemed to disappear temporarily… we will be seeing a lot more
of Moore Facility starting around chapter eight. Right now, I have to finish up
the first round. Once that’s done, everything starts getting crazy… as if it
isn’t already.
In case you’re like Tamahome and don’t watch much anime, Misty’s
reference to angels and Unit 02 were from Neon Genesis Evangelion.
The angels were the monsters destroying Tokyo, and Unit 02 was one of the mechas trying to kill them, and is piloted by a bitchy
redhead whose voice actress (a redhead, although not a bitchy one) grabbed my
program book at Anime Central and autographed it without my permission. How
rude…
Chapter Seven- Losing Isn’t Everything
Sometimes irony acts in very strange ways.
Those penned as losers can end up on top. Those fated to die in one realm can
live in another. Those who seem the most confident can end up in the worst
condition. On the final day of the first round, eight girls prepare for battle,
while everybody else prepares to deal with the results.