Chapter Text
"We live in a moment of history where change is so speeded up that we begin to see the present only when it's already disappearing." - R. D Laing
Commencing Overwrite
Data Fragment 1: Bright
It was a glorious day outside, the sun beaming brightly across Tokyo and its cloudless skies. Yamaki hated days like this. Such sunny days meant that he had to wear his sunglasses all the time to protect his sensitive eyes. And it was on peaceful, innocent days like this that everyone let their guard down, only to be blindsided in broad daylight.
So rather than be lulled into false comfort, Yamaki was deep within the Hypnos building. The buzz of electronic calculations and thoughtless mechanical movement echoed within the dark chamber. It was just him, those soulless sounds, and that boy.
"So, whatcha want to talk to me about?" asked Ryo, leisurely observing all the machines with the usual bored apathy of a teenager.
Yamaki was quiet at first, keeping his back turned away from Ryo. "I think you of all people would already know, traitor." He turned around to let himself smirk at the boy. "Or should I say, Digimon?"
From the ceiling of the enclosed room shot down an almost-blinding beam of golden light. It spotlighted the boy, and, for a few moments, nothing more occurred. Then the boy's body began to flicker like a broken TV screen. A piecing screech filled the air where the false child stood.
Yamaki, knowing the target was locked in place by the digital disruptions of the beam, calmly walked over to the boy. "I was wondering why so much top-secret Hypnos information was leaking out to the Digital World. I realized we must have a mole in our organization. After much investigation, all signs pointed to you, the Tamer that always preferred the Digital World, the one who never fit in, and the one that's been acting strangely the past few months."
"…Very good! You got me!" said Ryo cheerfully, though neither his face or lips moved.
Yamaki was not amused by the boy's happy tone. "So what Digimon are you? And where's the real Ryo, if he even existed? Answer me, or you will be deleted immediately by the power of this beam."
"I never said I was just a Digimon," said the boy.
Yamaki scowled. "What else would you be besides a Digimon? You wouldn't be affected by this beam otherwise."
At this the boy actually smiled, even though all processes for digital movement should have been halted. "I'm the future, the coming evolution of both our worlds." The boy stopped flickering, and to Yamaki's shock and horror easily stepped out of the golden beam. "I'm both human and Digimon, flesh and data. I've been around since before you existed. I've outlived gods and demons. And now I'm finally seeing these two worlds follow in my path."
"What are you talking about?" Yamaki snarled.
"This world and the Digital World are merging," explained Ryo. "From this a third world, a new existence, will be created for all. And it will be lead by the chosen, once they evolve to the same state as me and the others."
The chosen…He must mean the Tamers! "That's insanity! What have you done to them?"
"I've done nothing that wouldn't happen anyway," said Ryo coolly. "Fight it all you want, Yamaki, but you can't stop it. This is the natural evolution of both worlds, the bright future that awaits us all. You'll only understand that when you see it all unfold before you."
Yamaki heard all of Hypnos, all of his careful mechanizations and calculations, slowly grind to silence around them. The few lights, including the useless golden beam, sputtered out.
"By the way, have fun cleaning out that virus of mine out of your system!" Ryo chirped from the blackness, sounding like the boy Yamaki thought he knew these past two years.
Yamaki fumbled out a flashlight out of his pocket (it never hurt to be too prepared…except when you were prepared for the wrong thing) but the boy was already gone.
The real world and Digital World merging? Data and flesh combining permanently? Bright future? thought Yamaki, as he restrained himself from flinging his flashlight against the now-dead machines. Yeah, bright like the fires of hell.