Dealing with the Consequences

[Kiara Lycro]

Cain blinked heavily at the bright lights beating at his eyelids. Cain slowly gained his wits after coming out of what seemed like a drugged sleep. Once again, he found himself in a DATS hospital ward. "It seems like a spend a lot of time here." He muttered to himself.

In the back of his head, Cain had come to grips with what had happened to Bayo, but he wasn't quite ready to admit it outloud just yet. As he shifted to a sitting position, his arms pulled on IV inserted in his arms, which successfully set off the nurse's alarm.

He listened without much interest. It was only a matter of time until he was brought in for questioning about Mike and his original mission, which he had failed. Falling backwards, Cain mentally checked off what objectives of the mission he had completed. He went to the digital world, they arrived at the village Stacy was supposed to be kept at, and then he failed.

He failed the mission, the village was destroyed, and Bayo was gone. As far as he could tell all of his belongings had been taken, including the broken digivice. "Ummm, I wonder how long it will take for them to erase my memory and sent me back to the mountains I came from?" He said to no one.

[Miashin]

It was several hours now after the rush of wounded and injured soldiers had been transported back out of the digital world, and many more since the battle at Sigurd had ended so brutally. Caim wasn't the only one walking around with the weight of failure pressing him down. Zearzen had attempted to reduce casualties by meeting the enemy on only the most defensible front, and to be fair it had worked to an extent. Though injuries were high, fatalities were restricted almost exclusively to digimon. And at least with the D-Power system, those could be replaced.

But more concernedly was the fact that some things he'd foreseen hadn't even occurred. The future rarely changed from what he saw, by the time any vision was possible the events were almost entirely set in stone. But the fact that they had changed now meant that an even greater event and change was upcoming, something that would disturb fate so greatly that NOTHING could be said to be entirely certain.

To him it was like being deafened once again, loosing a critical sense and all the comfort and stability it provided.

But now he had to face another aspect of his guilt. He was walking down the halls of the hospital ward, having been sent a notice that one of the many tamers that he had asked to be informed off at all times had awakened. Rikou padded beside him, silent even in his mind as their connection lay dormant to give the small digimon's mind a much deserved break. Things had been hectic for so long she'd been relaying information almost entirely for the last day and some.

They came to the door behind which he knew Caim awaited, probably having been told of his coming by a nurse. Taking a fortifying breath, and waiting until he felt the buzz of Rikou re-establishing their connection, before opening the door and stepping into the room. The door was rather noisy, the hinges squeeling enough to make Rikou, with her sensitive ears, flinch.

"Caim..." he paused for a second, choosing his words and topic carefully, "I'm sorry for what's happened, and putting you in harms way."

[Kiara Lycro]

Cain blinked slowly as Zearzen himself walked into the room. A brief hint of surprise and honor crossed through his body before giving way for bitter restment. This was the man responsible for the massacre suffered at the dragon village. The young boy looked into his leader's eyes and tried to channel as much of his hate and anger at the man as he could muster, which was none.

All he could do was stare at the deaf man with lifeless eyes. His hand's reached at the entry points of his IVs and traced the tape covering his arm, before answering. "Why are you sorry? I accepted the mission set before me, knowing full well what it entailed. I dragged my injured partner into that desert. I left Mike once the battle began. I evolved Bayo to the ultimate level to fight a hopeless battle, and Bayo was destroyed."

Cain's voice droned steadly as his eyes remained on Zearzen, but his hands shook slightly. "I failed my mission sir. That is not your fault, it is mine and my partner fell because of it. It's over."

At the end of his little speech Cain turned towards the window. Waiting for the worst.

[Miashin]

The fault game could go on back and forth forever, Zearzen knew as much, so despite the fact that he wanted to say once more that he was sorry for having put Caim in such a situation he refrained. The best part now was to focus on the future, though there wasn't far one could see of it, even him.

"Usually you would have a few options. You could be either re-assigned to regular military services or discharged with honors. On the bright side, they would not take your memories, I wouldn't allow it if they tried." Because, he thought, there was nothing worse then to have such a partner and the be forced to forget it all.

"You could also stay here. Since your digivice was a D-Power it can be replaced and a new digimon re-assigned."

He reached into the inside pockets of his coat, for once wearing his military uniform due to recent events, and pulled out Caim's broken D-Power. "But, you know, digimon can't truly die. Their data may be re-configured, mixed and matched with bits and pieces of other digimon, but their data never truly disappears. This machine is still assigned to your digimon, if you were to find him again, it would repair itself." He left that in the air for now. Pointedly his silence and the way he presented the information, in contrast to what was said before, carried the tone that this was not one of the 'official' options like the previous three mentioned.

[Kiara Lycro]

Cain looked up sharply. There was a chance he could find Bayo again! The broken digivice in Zearzen's hand seemed to glint the light of the room for a single moment before he looked away again as reason and logic overcame his thoughts.

"So there is a chance that Bayo could be found. I will accept that since I hope you would not play with my mind like that and since I spent enough time in the academy to know that digimon are made of data. In theory and in practice everything you say should hold true, but one thing." He dropped off, Cain's eyes unfocused as he tried to gather his thoughts and put togeather those far off school lessons.

"The D-Power was created at DATS, for DATS, and by DATS. Unlike other digivices it is not made of digital matter or keyed specifically to a partner. That is way it is possible ofr D-Power trainers to recieve new partners, right?" He asked as more of a refreasher for himself then Zearzen.

"So how is it that by finding Bayo, who by the way is the only digimon I will accept as my partner, that it can reconfigure itself? It couldn't possibly happen in the human world, but if it happen's in the digital world wouldn't that require some of the digital program that creates natural digivices to affect this one. I just do not understand how that could work."

"I will go after Bayo as soon as you give me clearnce, but don't you think that a working digivice would be more useful and seeking his data then a broken one?" Cain finished his eyes now holding far more hope then they had before.

[Miashin]

Zearzen smiled and repeated after Caim. "'Who is the only digimon I will accept as my partner.' You answer your own question with that line." Although up until this Zearzen had been keeping a respectful distance, naw he approached the bed.

"You are absolutely right, the digital world, just like a computer, works under a strict set of rules. But there is one rule that supersedes all others. The digital world, more than anything, bows to human emotion. Both good and bad; if you doubt whether you will find him then it'll be impossible. But if you put your effort and will into it without faltering then I guarantee you will be able to see him again."

He held the digivice out for Caim to take out of his hands. "And this will help you because it is yours and his, and nobody elses. Even if it is broken, that fact alone will help you find him."

"However..." and at this point his face darkened slightly. "I can not give you clearance to leave, without a partner you have as good as no DATS ranking, but you are still bound to the military. You are forbidden to enter the digital world unless you attain a new partner or somebody accompany you. I'd be glad to assign a tamer to you except that there are no free personal to engage in a personal quest. You'd have to break some rules to get back into the digital world..."

[Kiara Lycro]

A small grin broke across Cain's face as listened to Zearzen's explaination. Was it just his ego talking or were a lot of wierd exceptions occuring to this lowly trainee. Oh well, it is better not to question it at this crucial point. For the frist time he reached towards his commander and grasped his D-Power.

The broken screen seemed to glint in challenge toward him, could he really find Bayo? That doubt was quickly overcome with a surge of confidence, determination, and... need? Yes, it was clear that he needed Bayo and Bayo needed him, after all they were partners.

"Well sir, I would be an idiot to think that this would be easy. I'm not afraid of what I'll see but I must ask, how long are you going to be distracted for me to figure out a way to get to the Digital World?" He asked, his grin almost mischevious as he glanced up at Zearzen.

[Miashin]

"I don't get distracted." Zearzen made a mock insulted face. "Besides for now you need rest, it would be dangerous for you to go to the digital world now. You'll probably want to be in the best condition possible to go after Bayo."

'Especially with the situation in the Digital World being what it is now.' He thought to himself. He stepped away from the bed and towards the door, Rikou on his heels.

"I'll see you again before they release you from the ward." He said as parting and left with a wave over his shoulder.

((ooc: Umm, sorry for the bad post. Feel free to add a time skip of however long Caim needs to heal up, for you're next post.))

[Kiara Lycro]

OOC: It's cool, we all have those sometimes.

Cain sat on the side of his hospital bed with his former hospital garb folded neatly beside him. He leaned over slowly to test his formly bruised body and tied his military boots just as slowly. He stood up in full DATS uniform and feeling good for the first time in two weeks.

He was supposed to clear out of the room as soon as possible, after all he was certainly not the first soilder to be injured and he definatly would not be the last. However, he had to wait for Zearzen. If he had any hope of going into the digital world after Bayo it would be through him.

Slightly bored from his long uneventful stay in the hospital ward. Cain fell back on the bed and began his long list of potential search areas in the digital world.

[Miashin]

The door creaked on its hinges as Zearzen entered the room. He was back in regular attire, with a slouched posture and heavy circles forming under his eyes. As one could expect the last few weeks had been anything but a cakewalk, and if his appearance wasn't enough to go off then the fact that Rikou stayed in the doorway and checked up and down the hall outside before closing it was definitely a clue that all was not as it should be, apart from assisting Caim in semi-illegal activity that was.

The Dorumon closed the door with a heavy snort while Zear began the conversation. "So how've you been, doing better than two weeks ago from the look of things." Smalltalk for now, but that wasn't intended to last long.

[Kiara Lycro]

Cain did not give any appearnce of noticing his commanders entrance at first. He simply picked up his backpack and turned around to reply. "You were right, resting and medicine does make you body feel better. I suppose I'll have to add that tip to my things never to forget."

He did his best to keep his voice from betraying his nervous state. He really just wanted to go. "Sir, you remeber what we were speaking about before, you haven't changed your mind, have you?" This single worry had plaged Cain for his entire recovery. After all Zearzen was one of the highest ranking officials in the world, what motives would he have for a single trainee.

[Miashin]

"I don't know what you're talking about." Zearzen put on his most innocent expression at the blatant lie. "I'm simply here to inform you that you are on mandatory leave until further notice. Also the other generals have passed along a warning to all DATS who lost their digimon not to dare enter the digital world." He sighed heavily, as if he wasn't one of those generals and as if he had no control over these events. Considering how his hold on DATS had been crumbling recently, that was actually pretty close to the truth.

"And you should take this warning very seriously." he straightened then, to look more his rank and importance. "I myself will be guarding the machine tonight. Starting at 2200 hours, half an hour from now 0-hundred." Now he was grinning and abruptly changed the subject. "But I am glad to see you're doing better, and I do hope thinks turn out for the better for you." He gave a light nod of respect and turned to leave. "Good luck," he said of her shoulder as the door closed behind him and Rikou.

----

Sure enough, half an hour later he was sitting in the control room which monitored the DATS made permanent gates into the digital world. Three of the gates were open, as other DATS teams had entered the digital world earlier for their own missions and were expected to return within the night.

Zearzen himself was seated before a control panel, with his back to the door and the pathway through the rows of computers that led to the room where the gates were, and Rikou pointedly absent. Keeping himself occupied by playing solitaire with an old and worn deck of cards, it would be ever so easy to enter the room behind him and walk to the gates. Not like he could hear.

[Kiara Lycro]

Cain was not such an idiot that he couldn't take the clearly laid hint in his commander's words. He grinned slightly at Zearzen's blithe comments, this was going to be much easier then he orginally suspected. Two weeks had given him plenty of time to think of longshot ways to sneak into rouge bases, blow up doors to DATS strong holds, and on one very "happy" night with painkillers, holding a few foggy generals captive. Yes, this was going to be much easier.

"Thank you sir." Cain replied simply as Zearzen left, not entirely sure he heard him, before he left for his quarters. His room was in perfect order, with field cloathing tucked carefully away. Within moments he was packed to the best of his ablity, considering he did not have the aurthorization or the time to retrieve staples like a tent, food, water, etc, he would have to make due with the change of clothes in a worn backpack, and broken digivice.

At this late hour no one was really paying attention to passerbys in the hallways, nor did they notice the slight bulge of his understuffed pack under his large jacket. Cain showed no sign of guilt as he walked through the room, past his commander, and through the digital gate, which he only hoped would not deliver him into the hands of a returning or retreating DATS team.