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Disclaimer:
Most of the characters herein are trademarked by Bandai and/or Toei. This work is derivative of season 3 of the Digimon television series (Digimon Tamers) and is in no way meant to imply ownership or infringe on any trademark or copyright.
Author's Note:
This is a sequel to the story begun in Wild Card andcontinued in Aces. Read those first if you haven't already.
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Ten Years After
by Eqgz
Chapter 1
Dinner
Sakuyamon's staff hissed through the air as she swung a powerful strike at my head. I got the point of my spear up just in time and there was a screech of metal-on-metal and a shower of sparks as the staff was deflected upward enough to miss me. I lunged for Sakuyamon's unprotected stomach with the butt of my spear and she twisted in the air just enough to make it miss her. I saw the muscles in her belly tighten and knew that her staff would be impacting on the back of my head in a fraction of a second if I didn't do something instantly. I twisted my wings, one upward and one downward to spin me around and I felt the point of her staff take a tiny notch out of the edge of my right ear as it whistled past. Not a perfect dodge-- but good enough. I continued my spin and twisted back out of close contact.
I can't mess around any more, I thought. My fur stood out all over my body and crackled with the strength of the electrical charge as I raised a gigantic pulse of attack energy and directed it into my spear. She saw it coming but I hoped it would be too late for her to counter or dodge such a powerful attack. The white-hot jet of energy sprayed from my spear point and Sakuyamon did something completely unexpected.
She pointed her staff directly at the stream of energy and spun the haft between her palms. The top metal circle blurred into a sphere that was just the perfect shape for deflecting my energy burst. The resulting spray of blinding light hid her from me for an instant and I didn't know if she had managed to avoid all of the blast or not. Then I saw the colorful forms of her Spirit Foxes curving around the fading glow and knew the answer.
They came at me from all angles and in an irregular pattern that prevented me from striking at all of them with a simple spinning attack. I spun my spear into a tight figure eight anyway and twisted my upper body enough to change the blade's path enough to get all but one of them. The last one arrowed in at my face, confident of a clean strike and I let it get within a hand's breadth before I jerked my muzzle sideways and snapped my jaws shut on its neck. Its fragments tasted like strawberries.
I whipped the point of my spear around and it clashed musically with the end of Sakuyamon's staff. We hovered there for a long moment, weapon locked against weapon, before I grinned and relaxed.
"That was an awesome block!" I told her. "Was that a spur-of-the-moment thing or have you been practicing behind my back?"
"I've been thinking about it for a while but I never got a chance to use it until now," she told me.
A shadow fell across us and we looked up to see a FujiTech lifter gliding overhead. The lenses of dozens of cameras glittered from the windows of the cabin.
"Damnit," I cursed. "They're way too close to us! Someday a dirigible full of camera-hounds is going to catch a stray blast of energy and they'll blame us even though we've told them a thousand times--" I realized I was talking to myself. Sakuyamon had flown off while I was distracted by the blimp.
I sighed unhappily. Our sparring match had been a really good one-- the best in a long, long time. I had hoped that Rika was opening up a little more and now the damned paparazzi had chased her away. I flew up close to the dirigible, tucked my spear in its sheath on my back and waited until I was sure every camera was focused on me. Then I pulled the lower lid of one eye down as far as it would go and stuck out my tongue at them all. Yeah-- childish-- but I was pissed off.
Then I flew up to the top surface of the airship and jumped around on it with a lot of force for a while. It must have rattled the bozos around like peas in a half-empty can. Did I mention that I was pissed off?
I dropped back down and shouted at the passengers as they were staggering back to their feet, "Remember that the next time you want to get in the middle of a digimon fight!"
I knew I was going to regret it later but at the time it felt very satisfying.
-o--()--o-
A couple of weeks later, on an absolutely beautiful spring day, I was perched on a rooftop above Hibiya Avenue letting the warm breeze ruffle my fur and watching Sakuyamon kick the snot out of a Dark Tyranomon. She was being positively flashy about it and I was enjoying the show immensely.
The crowd was getting a bit too close (as usual) and Sakuyamon was having to use her Spirit Foxes to protect the people more concerned about getting good photos than with their own safety. Elecmon was helping out by stinging the Dark Tyranomon with a blast of electricity whenever it looked like it might step on or bash into something irreplaceable.
I glanced over at the Sony Tower to see the close-ups. The whole north side of the building had cleared of ads and program feeds to display several views of the battle. There was an info crawl at about the eighth story giving the stats of both combatants. In Sakuyamon's case it was hardly necessary-- everyone in Tokyo knew them by heart. A second crawl was giving alternate routes to those commuters who would rather get to work than watch digimon fight.
The Big Ugly reared back as it readied an attack and the picture-in-picture inset of Sakuyamon switched to an extreme close-up of her face. Her lips curved upward in a smug smile. The crowd began to murmur in anticipation.
The poor, dumb thing never had a chance. I don't know why, after all these years, we still get the big vicious types coming to Earth from the Digital Dimension. They ought to know the fate that's waiting for them but there's a legend circulating that claims that if a digimon defeats and absorbs the data of one of Earth's "Protectors", they will acquire all the powers of a Sovereign, so they still keep trying-- the superstitious twits.
"I'm done with you now.
Trouble my city no more,
You stupid lizard!"
Sakuyamon whirled her staff into a blurred disk and the crescent shockwave it projected lifted the Dark Tyranomon clear off of his feet. He flew backwards and all the people behind him were suddenly aware that a few tons of meat and metal were about to come crashing down on them. They didn't get any more time than it took to gasp in surprise before the second swath of energy fragmented the big lumbering dinosaur into a million red bits. There was a lot of relieved laughter and cheering as people began grabbing at the cherry blossom petals as they drifted down.
Sakuyamon swooped down to street level and I leaned over to get a better view. She landed next to a half-flattened Lexus that I hadn't noticed before. Damn, I thought, we haven't had anybody killed in a long time. It'll be a shame if--
But it was okay-- the driver had been the only one in the car and it was only the rear end that was crushed. Sakuyamon peeled off the driver's door and helped him out. He thanked her profusely and begged to be allowed to take a photo of himself with her. He slipped an arm around her waist and flashed the "V" sign with his free hand as the shutters of hundreds of cameras clattered away like mechanical popcorn. The guy had just lost a car worth over 6 million yen and yet he was grinning from ear-to-ear. Fans-- go figure.
When Sakuyamon disentangled herself and soared up into the sky, I spread my wings and flew after her, matching her speed. "Heya, beautiful!" I called out to her, "That was very impressive!"
"Beating the Dark Tyranomon?" She sounded genuinely puzzled. "I could have done it in my sleep!"
"No," I clarified, "I meant not clobbering that guy who groped you. Are you getting mellow in your old age?"
She laughed. "Maybe if his hand had slipped a few centimeters lower--"
We flew along in silence for a while, curving out over the ocean and then back toward the city.
"So--" I began hesitantly, "how are you doing lately? We haven't seen much of each other in a while." Sakuyamon knew I was talking to the half of her that was Rika Nonaka. Renamon and I were together at least part of every day and the two of them as Sakuyamon, I saw fairly often. But Rika-- Rika had been having a miserable time lately. Her Grandmother had passed away in the autumn and she had gone through a very bad breakup with Ryo not long after. Though most of the other tamers liked or at least tolerated all the media attention they got, Rika was a very private young woman and didn't like having her personal life splashed all over the tabloid web-- particularly the details that were unpleasant or painful. Aside from her duties as a Protector, she had pretty much hid herself away for the last half-year.
"No, we haven't, have we?" She replied, obviously dodging the real question. Renamon had dropped some not so subtle hints that Rika might like some more company around-- someone understanding that she could relax with. Takato and Jeri were spending every spare moment planning for their wedding, Henry and Susie were still on their good-will tour of China, and the other tamers were scattered around the globe, so that pretty much left me. Not that I minded in the least-- but Rika had shut me out along with everyone else.
"I'd really like that to change," I told here sincerely. "Why don't we go somewhere tomorrow? We could fly down to Okinawa-- find a nice private beach and have a picnic lunch or something."
She considered that for a moment. "No," she said finally, "I'd really rather stay in Tokyo but--"
I waited patiently while she continued to think.
"You haven't seen my new apartment yet, have you?"
"Only from the outside."
"Okay, then," she said with sudden resolve, "Why don't you come over for dinner tomorrow night?"
I was surprised but pleased by her invitation. "That sounds great," I told her.
"Good," she nodded. "Eight o'clock-- and use the front door like a normal person, would you? Don't come crashing through the balcony windows or anything."
-o--()--o-
Renamon met me that night on top of one of the giant wind turbines near the edge of the city. I had ordered a few digignomes to circle us at a respectful distance and guard against paparazzi. After so many of them had gotten their expensive cameras melted or vaporized you'd think they would learn not to intrude on my private time with Renamon but there was always one or two who thought it worth the risk. They were even more annoying than the violent Wild Ones-- probably because I couldn't kill them. Every once in a while I'd take a particularly persistent one on a one-way trip to somewhere unpleasant like Siberia or Rwanda but they always seemed to find their way back home.
We snuggled together on the top of the generator enclosure and looked out over the city. So many new skyscrapers had gone up over the last decade that it looked like a forest of lights. The thrumming of the slowly turning giant blades behind us was a relaxing sound-- almost like gentle surf breaking on a beach.
"It seems like Rika is feeling better," I said to Renamon after a while. "If tomorrow night goes well, maybe I could fly the Wongs back for a bigger get-together on the weekend."
"I wouldn't rush it," Renamon said. "She will take her own time with this. You're someone she trusts and it will be easier for her to--"
"Oh come on!" I interrupted. "Are you saying she doesn't trust Henry? Or Takato?"
"No, but it's different with them. You were her partner once and that's still a strong connection between you." Renamon sighed and shifted in my arms. "She loves and respects Takato, of course, but--"
"Yeah," I said, gently running one finger along her cheek, "He and Jeri together reminds her of how happy she was with Ryo once."
Renamon nodded.
I bent my head and kissed her while my fingertip trailed tiny sparks along the line of her jaw. She slipped her hand inside my jacket and combed her claws through the fur of my chest. I let my hand drop to her side and stroked the velvety fur over her ribs, pushing a warm glow of data into my touch. Renamon made a soft, happy sound deep in her throat and pressed herself tightly against me.
We made love slowly and tenderly that night, taking a long time to craft our energy flows into subtle as well as pleasurable forms. I think it was because we both felt some melancholy about Rika's situation. Well-- that and the fact that if we really let go near any electrical equipment, we'd fry it completely and the generator we were lying on powered half of Shinjuku.
A few hours later we lay tangled together in a comfortable, tired heap. "I wish she could be as happy as we are," I murmured.
"I'm sure she will be," Renamon said. At the time I thought it was just a fond wish for Rika's future. Tesla save me from devious females!
-o--()--o-
The next night I wore my Rookie body when I knocked politely at the door of Rika's penthouse apartment promptly at eight and I was totally unprepared for the sight that greeted me as the door swung open.
Rika had stuck to her street-rat style of dress as she grew up and, much to her mother's surprise, fashions had changed because of it. Jeans and a faux baseball shirt were acceptable as eveningwear nowadays-- as long as the jeans cost over 30 thousand yen, and the shirt was made of nano-fiber and had a smartnet woven into it, that is. Rika had made a good deal of money from the very selective modeling she had done and the clothing lines she endorsed. "Elegant Tomboy" was what everyone called her habitual style. But tonight was different.
"Uh--" I gaped at the stunning vision in a liquid green nano-silk dress that greeted me in the foyer. Her long red hair hung to her waist, loosely gathered by two chrome digizoid pins that were studded with emeralds.
"I thought it would be fun to dress up a bit," Rika explained as she stepped back to let me enter.
"Wow," I finally got out, "You look-- wow!"
She blushed a bit and smiled, "Thank you." Blushed. Rika actually blushed.
I extended my senses and looked at her just to confirm it really was my Rika and not some impostor but I could clearly see the digital web inside her that allowed her to biomerge with Renamon-- and I'd recognize that aura anywhere.
Then I saw Renamon. She never changed what little clothing she had, of course, but tonight she had added a sort of long shawl draped over her shoulders that was made out of a nano-silk very similar to that of Rika's dress but in a purple hue that matched her arm guards. It had to have been crafted by a master tailor to fit her non-human form and it made her look even more beautiful than ever-- something I wouldn't have believed possible. A pair of star sapphire earrings completed her outfit.
"Holy Tesla," I breathed, "You ladies are astonishing! And I-- am really underdressed!" I transformed my scuffed old vest into an evening jacket. "Better?" I asked them.
They looked at each other and Rika wrinkled her nose. "A tuxedo just doesn't suit you, Coyomon. You look better in buckskins."
"Okay then," I said, "How about this?" And the tux became a set of full white buckskins, butter soft and beautifully beaded and fringed.
Renamon smiled with approval and Rika nodded. "Perfect! Shall we go eat?" She led us into the dining room where a lavish feast had been spread out.
We talked about all sorts of things during dinner, carefully avoiding sensitive issues. We got to reminiscing about old battles and our various trips to the Digital Dimension. Sometimes it was hard to talk about an adventure without mentioning Ryo or Cyberdramon directly but somehow we managed to do it.
After dinner we went into the living room for drinks and dessert. The wall screens of the room were displaying Tadashi Nakayama's horse prints and I paused to admire them.
"They remind me of digimon," Rika said from behind me when she noticed what I was looking at.
"Yeah," I agreed. "Colorful-- patterns-- I can see that. Jeeze! This one looks a little like Indramon, doesn't it?"
Rika laughed. "Oh god, it does!" She tapped her finger against the wall and the print faded away to be replaced with a different image. "I don't want My Bigdamn Pony glaring down at us all evening!"
That made me start with surprise. I'd never used that name for the deva out loud. I turned to Rika. "How did you know what I called him?"
"Hm? Oh, I read your journal. Renamon showed it to me."
I sputtered for a bit. Some of the things I had written about Rika in the early parts weren't very complimentary. "Uh-- did you-- I mean-- I never thought--"
Rika laughed at my discomfort. "Oh relax, Coyomon! You were very honest in that journal and that's something I value a lot. Besides-- you said some very nice things about me in there!" She stood up on her toes and kissed me lightly on my cheek and then said, "When you weren't calling me 'an appalling brat'."
Both Rika and Renamon laughed at my embarrassment then and I had to chuckle a bit myself. It was either that or slink off with my tail between my legs. We settled onto the low couches around the table and a tray of various sweets and a couple of flasks of sake rose from the serving port at its center. The sake was daiginjo-shu and the sweets included doughnut holes in addition to mochi and other traditional desserts. Rika had certainly put a lot of thought and effort into this evening together-- and I hadn't heard her laugh in a long time. That it was at my expense didn't seem to matter much. I was just glad to see her happy again.
Rika poured the sake for all of us and we lifted our cups.
"Kampai!" we all said together.