| Ryder Mark Watson Stevens | |
|---|---|
| |
| Brief information | |
| First appearance: | Book Four |
| Partner: | Donmon |
| Status: | Alive (permanently) |
| Date of birth: | 20th October 1993 |
Ryder Stevens is a character in the Dimensions series. He is first introduced in Book Four at the age of 16, and soon after becomes aware that he is in fact an Angel, the First Angel of Time to be precise. He is in a relatively steady relationship with Mari Flynn, although they have had various problems relating to Ryder's past, which is something Ryder doesn't divulge in detail, even to Mari. It is clear that Rey Matsuki knows about it from when Ryder told her in the future, although she has not yet made it clear what she knows.
His partner is Donmon.
Character[]
Ryder, when he entered the series, seemed to know more than he let on. Thanks to his world having the Tamer's and Digidestined's own realites as TV series (rather like in real world, but with an additional series, called Dimensions), he is aware of most things about the group, which disturbs them somewhat. He tends to take on battles with determination, but is haunted by the results of his actions. He occasionally makes Goggleheaded moves despite not being a Gogglehead (he did eventually gain a set of goggles as gift though), and has a knack for going between deadly serious and more relaxed and comedic, usually involving bad jokes. He thinks that his luck is extremely poor, as it has somewhat proved to be.
He was transported to the Tamer's world after Takato used the powers of Chaos to damage Ragnarok in a government facility, the reality traveling machine in Book Four: Gods, Chapter 2. This resulted in a major malfunction that changed the coordinates to 929292929292929292. That eventually lead to Ryder being transported from his home to the facility.
Upon meeting Mari Flynn in New York later in Book Four, he was somewhat surprised by her forwardness, and concerned by it. They slowly developed a relationship over the ensuing Books, but Ryder then managed to wreck it several times thanks to mistakes, usually involving his past. Despite this, Mari and him seem to get on reasonably well.
As the First Angel, he was the first to awake, and hence ended up knowing a lot about the Angels before the others did, but not nearly as much as Rey Matsuki did.
His past life has been delved into occasionally, and he was a member of a team of Tamers back in his own world, one of whom, Ivy, he had a crush on, something that has caused conflict with Mari.
He and his partner, Donmon, seem to share a lot of knowledge that is not divulged with the rest of the group, and there are suggestions that they have been through some form of harsh battles or tests in their past. Ryder created Donmon in a virtual reality world and, thanks to Donmon latching onto his arm, drew him into reality, possibly as a result of his Angel abilities.
Upon being forced to kill Taiki Araki, the First Demon, he experienced a great deal of mental trauma and regret at his actions, events further taking a turn for a worse when he ended up in a coma as a result of freezing up in battle because of this.
During the coma, he died twice, but mysteriously returned to life both times, making him suspect that he could be unable to die, and possibly unable to age too. While in the coma, he had mysteriously been transported back into his world, on one occasion even kissed Ivy thrice for the last time before being transported to another location. This was one of the reasons that Mari and he argued about.
In Book Six, he died again when he shot by Chiyo Suzume, the Second Demon, multiple times. Once more, he dreamt of Ivy during his death. He seemed to have continued his life in his old world, even gaining her as a girlfriend. He appeared to spontaneous fall asleep and have vivid dreams of the events in the tamer universe. When he awoke, he found Chiyo about to kill Mari. He fired a shot at the Demon of Seduction, attempting to simply injure her. Onstead, he mortally wounded her and left DarkBiyomon heartbroken. The guilt of two murders, along with the knowledge he may never be able to die, begins to truly prey on his mind.
In Book Seven, he meets Natsuki Takara, a girl who reminds him strongly of Ivy originally. This leads to some awkward moments that would later contribute to the girl reacting badly and trying to flee from the group in the Digital World. Rayleigh Thompson begins a wide-spread hunt for the tamers after Rika is framed for the murder of the Prime Minister, leading to all the tamers running for the park. Dragging Natsuki along during their escape, Ryder later tries to give his little group of individuals a chance to get away by distracting the armed forces. He ends up dying again.
During this dream, Ryder sees himself lying in a hospital with Ivy hovering over him. She is begging him to wake up out of a coma. This particular dream leads to him believing that everything in the tamer universe to be a figment of his imagination, created by his mind during this coma. This new view, that everyone and everything around him was fake, lead to some foolish insults towards Rayleigh (which also allowed him to use his power at the ideal moment to the greatest effect) and hurt feelings from his partner. The Priestess essentially called him an idiot for this attitude and Mari, when she learned of this idea, felt extremely frustrated by his stubborn refusal to see the truth. Mari finally decided that the only way to break through to him would be to provide an experience he couldn't possibly just imagine.
Ryder is said to not have any destiny, by both Rei and the Priestess, but his life is touched by those with destinies. Thus, the Priestess is able to make several prophecies concerning him by reading the destinies of those around him. How these prophecies will come to pass is still a mystery, but most seem fairly negative. These include the fact his name seems to be "Pandora," "The four black ships are coming," "She is going to die," "You will lose a loved one," and "Four is coming."
Angelhood'[]
Ryder, as the First Angel of Time, has various powers over time. He is able to feel the flow of time, and anything which disrupts it. He is able to alter probabilities to give a better outcome from an event (although this uses up more energy if the outcome is more unlikely), in an ability called 'Retcon' (meaning Retroactive Continuity). When biomerged with his partner as BlazeDonnermon, he has an attack called Angel Inferno that specifically utilises his Angel powers.
As the First Angel of Time, he also acts as the leader of the Angels, and none of the other Angels could awake before he did.