Me: -dances happily- I got two reviews for my first chapter! Awesomeness! Thanks to my friend Icey and Kimiko Heroux for reviewing!
Disclaimer: Shiningheart doesn't own Digimon. There will be a few references in here to other fandoms, but I don't own them either.
Chapter 2: Lobomon, Warrior of Light
After much shoving, pushing, and bitching, Takuya and I finally reached the platform the others were waiting on. Takuya seemed to not be entirely over the previous events and collapsed against a wall, staring at his d-tector like it held all of the answers to his questions. "What... What just happened to me?" he asked, sounding dazed. If I wasn't as freaked out as he was, I probably would have sympathized with him a little more.
Zoe has her hands on her hips on her hips and her head cocked to the side, a look of puzzled curiosity in her pretty green eyes. "You mean before or after you turned into a digimon?" Her tone held just enough sarcasm in it to make it a rhetorical question, but not enough to make it sound rude. I'll have to ask her to teach me how to do that. I always seemed to be grounded whenever I use sarcasm on my parents...
Takuya's eyes widened comically in shock. He looked from face to face to face for confirmation. Tommy was looking at him in awed excitement. It was the expression of someone who had just unexpectedly met their favorite celebrity. JP was watching him with a mixture of wariness and curiosity, a look that was both understandable and contridictory. He wanted to know how Takuya did it and what this whole thing was about, but he didn't want to get involved if it proved too dangerous. From the way that Ceberumon was talking, though, this whole adventure that we're being forced into is going to be everything but safe.
I'm not sure what my expression was when Takuya looked at me. Maybe it mirrored JP's or Tommy's, or maybe I was looking concerned and upset. Either way, I nodded when he looked at me. "You looked pretty bad-ass too. Then again, that is most definitely the spirit's fault, since you're actually anything but bad-ass back home." I grinned mockingly when he scowled at me and crossed my arms, just daring him to contridict me. "Don't even try to deny it, Mister Screams-When-The-Merry-Go-Round-Goes-Too-Fast." Zoe quickly looked at me with a wicked grin on her face. "I'll tell you later, doll, promise." I said to her.
My bestest buddy decided to ignore me, which is probably for the best knowing our arguments. He looked back down to his d-tector with that same looked of dazed amazement. "Wow... Me, a digimon?"
The white creature, whose name I still don't know, paced back and forth. He reminded me of one of my teachers back home in the way he was standing: back straight, one hand behind him and the other held in the air to emphasize importance. Too bad for the digimon that I dislike that particular teacher immensely. "Yes, my dear boy, through the process of Digivolution." Digimon, digiworld, digivolution... The people who named these things must of had some imagination, huh? They could have used at least some originality.
During my thought processs, Takuya was trying to turn into Agunimon. He pressed a single button before his patience, which was already thin to begin with, broke and he started to mess with it even more, yelling at it and pressing all of the buttons he saw. Which was really really stupid, in case you wanted to know. For all he knows, the thing could have a self-destruct button on it, and then we'd be REALLY fucked. "Come on, digivolution start! Operation Turn-Me-Into-A-Digimon is a go!"
Just as I roll my eyes and ready my infamous scathing sarcasm for the idiotic name, a bright like comes from his d-tector and shot into the sky. I yelped loudly- third or fourth time since we've come to this world, so I can already sense my pride and dignity taking a nose dive- and hid behind JP. The large boy glared at me from over his shoulder and shrugged me away. Well, fine then! Karma will teach him a lesson later on how to protect damsels in distress.
Takuya whimpered pathetically as the light became brighter. "Oh man, I think I broke it... Alex, don't tell my mom I broke my phone again, please! I'll be grounded for forever!" If it weren't for the fact that I was freaking out as much as him, I'd have laughed. This was prime black-mail material. Now if only I'd remembered my camera before I left my house for his, then I'd be able to get proof!
The two digimon that hadn't left us since Takuya saved them weren't distressed at all, though. In fact, they were ecstatic. "I knew it! It's the fractal code!" said the white one, pointing to the sky. I hadn't even noticed, but the light that Takuya's device was emitting was transforming into a stream of data that was flying off into the distance. Where the stream ended came a forest. No, I'm serious! Trees, grass, dirt, stones, the whole she-bang was left when the light faded.
The five of us humans were gaping. If it were possible for jaws to hit the ground, ours would have. I'm pretty sure if my eyes were to get any wider, they'd pop out of their sockets. But that would be bloody and gory and something that Tommy totally does not need to see. With a ridiculously huge amount of effort, I picked my jaw up and put my eyeballs back where they should be. "Come on guys" I yelled and started running.
I was barely three yards away when Takuya shot passed me, laughing all the while. I shouted out in surprise and tried to run faster. The next to pass me were the two digimon, who were quickly joined by the surrounding digimon that streamed in through the alleys and streets from all around us. They were laughing as well, though it wasn't difficult to see it was in euphoria instead of to mock like Takuya did.
Then it was Tommy, then Zoe, and even freaking JP leveled with me. The white digimon gave a whoop and yelled out, "It's the dawn of regeneration!"
The yellow bunny digimon followed after with, "No more living in a train station! Trailmon will never go 'woo woo' in my ear again!" I'd thought his voice was just squeaky with fear from Ceberumon's attack. It's actually just naturally high-pitched and squeaky. It reminds me of that one time I accidentally kicked Takuya in the nuts. He was singing soprano for the rest of that day. Ah, the good ol' days...
The white digimon turned to Takuya and said, "Nice going, my human friend! By the way, I am Bokomon, keeper of the book, at your service."
The yellow one followed Bokomon's lead by turning around, still running, and said, "And I'm Neemon, keeper of my pants, also at your service you awesome human!" Oh good, they do have names. I was going to eventually resort to calling Bokomon Radish-Head and Neemon Bunny-chan.
Bokomon ignored his companion in favor of continuing. "On behalf of the Digital World, accept our thanks, O' Human Who Restores What Has Been Lost!"
I almost lost my footing at the title Bokomon gave Takuya. I only tripped, though, so I was able to continue running after them. That didn't stop me from laughing, though. "Yeah, too bad he can't restore the brain cells he's lost from playing video games all day long!"
Takuya glared at me over his shoulder. "You must play more than I do, since you're better then me!" My grin widened into a 'That's What You Think' look, and Takuya turned away with a huff before responding to Bokomon. "Call me Takuya." He glared back at me when I opened my mouth to give them my nickname of him and went on when I closed my mouth. "I still don't know why all this fractal code stuff is such a big deal anyway."
The two digimon shared a surprised look, and Bokomon blinked back at Takuya in shock. "What, you mean you really don't know?" Neemon muttered something to himself in astonishment about Takuya not knowing. They should learn to expect him not to know stuff. I'll be surprised if he ever gets anything more than a lower B on his report cards.
JP, who was running next to Zoe, looked over at the blond and asked her, "Hey, question. Why are we running?"
Over Zoe's responsive shrug, I snapped, "I have a better question. How the hell are you running faster than me?" Maybe Mama has a point when she says that I should start trying to get into shape. I thought that was just her favoring her precious baby Cecil, but if even freaking JP can get ahead of me...
Bokomon reached into his pants and yelled out, "BEHOLD!"
I fell to the ground and covered my face before I could see what he took out. "DUDE, COME ON, WE DON'T WANT TO SEE THAT! WE'RE STILL KIDS!" There was no response. Even the others had stopped running. Then I peeked out from behind my hands and saw Bokomon staring at me oddly, holding a book. Was that was he'd pulled out of his pants? Wasn't he worried about paper cuts? I coughed awkwardly and stood, scratching the back of my head. "Um... Ignore me. Please, Bokomon, continue."
Tommy tugged on JP's shirt and whispered, "Why would us being kids have anything to do with a book?"
JP was giving me a weird look while he answered, "Um... I'll tell you later when you're older, squirt."
Bokomon shrugged and opened his book. Everyone but me crowded around to watch the pages, but I was content standing near the back, just listening to him narrate his story. "Before the evil Cherubimon came, our world was a beautiful place!"
Neemon abruptly broke in with his own little piece. "Flowers, trees, and butterflies!" Bokomon glared at him in reproach and Neemon's ears drooped a little. "Sorry!"
We all started walking again to catch up to the other digimon, and Bokomon continued. "His power made many digimon go wild, and our world started to die. The only way to bring back everything that was lost is with a fractal code."
Takuya stared at his D-Tector again in wonder. "And I made it happen... with this little device..." I sensed more than heard JP perk up, and I glanced behind me to eye him suspiciously. He wouldn't do anything to get anyone hurt or killed, would he? In any case, just to be sure, I slowed myself until I was next to him.
Zoe had her own d-tector out and was looking at it from all angles, eventually putting it up into the air. "Wow. Maybe I can do it too!"
JP swiftly grabbed Tommy's back, and I instinctively stopped and growled at him to let Tommy go. JP didn't noticed and waited until Takuya and the others in the group continued onward. Neither my best friend nor my new ones, namely Zoe and Bokomon and Neemon, seemed to notice we'd gone missing. "Hey, guys, I have an idea." he whispered. He started to walk back towards the town while explaining the basics of his plan. "Step one, figure out how to get home. Step two, get home. Step three, pretend this stupid world never existed."
So basically, JP was being a coward. He was going to run away before any of the danger even appeared. Tommy followed after him, but I turned to watch Takuya and Zoe walk further and further away. If I wanted to go after them, I'd have to go now. But Tommy... I didn't fully trust JP to keep him safe, so I turned back and started to walk after them.
I caught up with them just as JP concluded with, "This place sucks. It sucks with teeth. You guys with me?"
He was met with my stony silence, but Tommy didn't seem as sure or unsure. "Well... I guess. But... Um..." JP gave Tommy an impatient look that made me want to smack him. Never, ever, make a child hurry up in front of me. It's a damn good way to get on my bad side, and no one wants to be on my bad side. Takuya says I get scary when I'm playing Mother Goose. "When Takuya changed into that digimon, he looked really cool! He was like a super hero!"
Bite your tongue, Alex. He's a child. He's young. He's innocent. He doesn't know Takuya like you do. He doesn't know that, the last time he tried to play super hero, he had his ass set on fire. That was the day I learned from my Spanish teacher how to say, 'your pants are on fire' in another language. Deep breath, Alex, deep breath. No dying of laughter in front of the others. Go crawl in a hole if you want to kill yourself at your best friend's past expense. Note to self, though, tease him about it later.
JP scoffed at Tommy's excitement. "He didn't look that great." You're just jealous that Takuya saved the day while you sat on your ass eating chocolate.
His response didn't dampen Tommy's enthusiasm, and he turned to look at me with a beam on his face. "I've always wanted to be a hero! Do you think I could, Alex? Do you think I could be a hero too, like Takuya?"
I almost felt my heart melt at his question, and my hand went to pat his head. "Sure you could, Tommy! Everyone could be a hero if they tried." JP rolled his eyes again and shrugged his broad shoulders. I huffed at him and glared. "Well, if you're so great, what do you think about it, you twit?"
JP grinned at the chance to speak and looked down at Tommy, who's head was tilted curiously at the older boy. "Kid, take it from me! This hero stuff, it's way overrated, and I should know!" Tommy's shoulders drooped as JP went on, and I fought the urge to push the large male into the dirt. "It's entirely too much work, it's dangerous, not to mention annoying! And there's always some sap going," he pitched his voice high and clasped his hands by his face dramatically, "'Save me, save me!"
I wondered if I'd see blood dripping from my clenched fists if I glanced down. JP made it sound like being someone's hero was the worst possible thing. And how the hell would he know? He's probably never lifted a finger to help someone else unless there was something in it for him! I must have had a death-like look in my eye, because JP gulped loudly and quickly placed himself out of my reach. Tommy scuffed his shoe into the ground sadly and sighed, "I guess..."
JP smiled down at him again and took his wrist, tugging him towards the town. "Atta boy! Now what do you say we get out of this dump?" When I didn't follow, he glanced nervously over his shoulder and asked, "You comin', Alex? Or are you going to run back to Takuya and tattle on us?"
The words stung, as they were meant to, and I hissed between my teeth, "If you're calling me a coward, you should look in a mirror!" I stalked toward them and stopped on Tommy's other side, glaring at JP. "Only a scaredy-cat would run away from something like exploring a whole new world. Do you have any sense of adventure, JP? Or was it drowned in melted butter and too smothered in chocolate to be of any use?" He jerked back like I'd smacked him and scowled at me. "I'm coming, but only until you find a way out of here. You'll only get yourself or one of us killed if you stay."
We exchanged heated looks before starting forward, with Tommy in between us. I was almost certain that I'd try to hurt JP if we didn't have a barricade between us. The three of us walked in a tensed silence until we spotted one of the creatures who'd greeted us when we arrived on the Trailmon. JP, ignoring my presence, spoke to Tommy in a lowered boy. "Yo Tommy, check this little guy out." He raised his voice to address the digimon. "Hey, egg-shaped dude with ears! What's shakin'?"
I stood away from the two other humans and took in our surroundings. We'd passed these buildings just minutes ago, but I didn't recognize any of them. Maybe because we'd been running in a hurry? I'd have to remember it if I wanted to find my way back to Takuya and Zoe. Then again, if they'd noticed that we weren't there, would they try to find us? Takuya wouldn't leave without me, that much I knew for certain. But what about Zoe? She seemed the type to worry about people, even if she didn't know them, but I couldn't be sure. I picked up a nearby rock and made a mark on one of the buildings. It would help me remember where I'd been.
The conversation between JP and the digimon had been in the background the entire time, and I turned to watch them just as the digimon leaped from the building's room and snatched a piece of chocolate from JP's hand. Wow... I'd been exaggerating when I asked if his sense of adventure had been smothered in chocolate. To see that he was carrying around a bar with him made me kind of worry for his health, despite what I'd said. JP held out the rest of the chocolate and said, "Alright, egg-face. Talk to me and you get the whole bar."
The digimon swallowed the piece of chocolate and made a face of appreciation. He eyed the bar in JP's hand before apparently deciding to help us out. "Take Angler the Trailmon at the station. He can take you three back where you came from." I almost corrected him before deciding not to draw more attention than needed to myself. "Now fork it over."
JP placed the bar of chocolate on the ground with a wide smile on his face. "Thanks a bunch, bud!" He and Tommy set off running towards the station. I followed at a walk, waving to the digimon over my shoulder and sending back a soft smile.
I walked slow enough to not catch up to the other two, but fast enough that I was able to keep them in sight. After my argument with JP, I didn't want to be anywhere near him. My eyes kept wandering around, looking for landmarks to remember, and I just happened to look into an alleyway where I met the unexpected gaze of Kouji Minamoto.
He stood there, blinking in surprise. He looked about as shocked at my appearance as I was by his. A quick scan of his appearance didn't tell me much. He wore the same clothes he did at school, the navy blue jacket with the yellow stripes on the sleeves and his yellow shirt and gray pants. His bandanna was still there as well, resting on top of his head. There was a D-Tector in his hand, but the colors wouldn't be seen at the distance. A map hovered over the screen.
A yell from Tommy made me jump. "Come on, Alex! Hurry up!" I took a step toward his voice before glancing back over to Kouji. He was still watching me, now with his eyes narrowed warily. I smiled at him quickly with a short wave before jogging away, towards the train station.
JP and Tommy were already there. JP was attempting to sweet talk the Trailmon, a blue one with one eye and a lantern on top of his head. I could see why this particular Trailmon was named Angler. "Hey there, you sleek mode of transportation you! Feel like taking a ride? To the real world?" He clasped his hands by his face again and winked at Angler in what he probably thought was a fetching manner.
I covered my mouth to stifle my giggles when Tommy copied his pose. "Yeah, please?" That's just beyond wrong. I swear, if JP corrupts Tommy beyond repair, I'm going to... Well, probably laugh again. Gods know that we don't need more than one JP in the world.
Angler seemed to be debating it before closing his eye. "Eeeh... Take a hike."
Tommy whined in sadness before JP rummaged in his pockets and pulled out yet another chocolate bar. "How about a tasty down payment? And two more bars once we get there!"
I stared at JP in shock and amazement and blurted out, "Dude, how many bars are you freaking hiding in there?" He scowled at me in annoyance. "No, seriously, how many? And how did you stuff them all without any of them even breaking? Because I swear, if there's a way to actually do that, I want to learn how. I could sneak chocolate into school without being caught once!"
He looked like he was about to answer me, but Angler took the chocolate bar out of his hand and chewed a few times. He swallowed and his one eye widened in awe. "Mm, yummy!" JP and Tommy had looks of excitement that turned into coughs when Angler backed up and shot forward. "I'm off!"
The smoke made them late in response and Tommy coughed out, "Wait! You're supposed to-" more coughing before he continued in a subdued voice. "Take us..."
JP continued where Tommy trailed off, groaning in defeat. "With you..." The two of them sulked for a minute. I kind of felt sorry of them. They wanted to go home, and were so sure that they'd found a way to get there. Instead, they were once again stranded.
I was the only one of us who noticed the pile of the same digimon that had told JP to take Angler coming towards us. They had looks on their faces that made a shiver of fright go down my spine, and I tensed while standing in front of the two humans. Why, I'm not sure. I knew I wouldn't be able to defend them as well as I wanted to. I was never a very good fighter, despite what I might say about Takuya.
The digimon in the forefront of the group jumped up and down to get our attention. I recognized it as the same digimon that JP had spoken to. "Hey, chocolate boy! We want more!"
Seeing who they were talking to, I turned to JP and pleaded with my eyes for him to just give up the stupid chocolate. He couldn't be a total idiot, right? Instead, he put his hands protectively over both of his pockets. "No way!" I face-palmed. And I'm pretty sure I face-palmed hard enough to leave a red mark on my forehead. The digimon all huddled together and whispered among themselves. Taking a chance, I spun around and shoved both boys towards relative safety, intent on getting away while they were distracted.
The crowd of small digimon that had been watching JP 'negotiate' hurried away as well, mumbling to themselves in squeaky voice. We were barely a foot from our original spot before the pile of digimon turned around in eerie unison. The three of us froze mid-step, and the digimon on the top of the pile jumped down and yelled out, "BANZAI!"
The other digimon followed his lead and were soon hopping at us. It would have been a funny sight if I wasn't terrified for all of our lives. Soon they were jumping and hopping and leaping all over us, and trying to chomp at us wherever they could reach. I tried to defend Tommy as well as I could, not really caring much for my own safety. He was more important than I was. I punched and kicked at every digimon I could see.
JP broke out first, and Tommy and I followed his lead. We ran, screaming, away from the vicious little beasts. JP jumped down to the tracks and I didn't think before following after him and Tommy. The large boy climbs up the other side and I helped Tommy go up and struggled with lifting myself. JP grabbed my upper arm and pulled me up with no problems. He held on to me with Tommy under his other arm and ran as fast as his burden would let him.
The steel buildings flashed passed all of us. I didn't have time to try and pick out the landmarks, and I was too panicked to even try. JP lead the way into the forest. I had a feeling he wasn't even trying to find where Takuya and Zoe had gotten to. Instead, he threw me and Tommy down a ledge and followed down. He had to bend his knees until he was half of his height to stay hidden, but he did it well enough.
My heart thudded dangerously loud in my chest, and I leaned against the wall before slowly sliding down to land on my butt. If we got out of this alive, I was going to fucking kill JP. All of this is his fault. Tommy and I were perfectly happy with Takuya and Zoe. We were perfectly happy with the idea of exploring the digiworld and finding out what it had to teach us. But no, JP had to be a spineless wimp and drag me and Tommy into his 'get the hell out of here' plan. In a raspy voice, I told JP, "I'm going to murder you if we survive this, JP." He didn't answer.
Tommy pulled his d-tector from his pocket and started to play with it. I was about to reprimand him about this not being the time for games when he whispered harshly, "Please, turn me into a digimon!" He was talking to his d-tector, trying to turn into a digimon like Takuya did. But didn't we need a spirit for that? "Come on, digivolve! Make me digivolve now!"
JP spoke from where he was keeping watch without turning around. "Come on, Tommy, would you keep it down?" For the first time, I agreed with him. This wasn't the time to start talking to a machine that you'd just gotten that day.
Tommy snapped back without turning away from his d-tector, "I am keeping it down! But I want to turn into a digimon like Takuya did, so we can beat them!" I didn't have the heart to tell him it was no use. At least he wasn't paralyzed with fear like I was. I just hoped those stupid things decided to give up the chase and go home.
JP turned away from the ledge to glare at Tommy in worry. "What? That's crazy talk! What do you think a runt like you can do, huh? Besides, digivolving looks kind of painful. You ever think of that?" He went back to looking through the grass.
The younger boy frowned and spoke in a biting tone that didn't fit a child, "I bet digivolving isn't as painful as being eaten alive by those crazy digimon." After rubbing a stinging bite mark on my arm, I was inclined to agree with a nod. "See, Alex agrees with me!" He looked at my arm with a guilty expression. "I'm sorry you got hurt protecting me, Alex. I promise, I'll take better care of myself!"
I gave him a soft smile that probably looked more like a grimace. "Don't worry about it, Tommy. You're the youngest out of all of us. It's our responsibility to take care of you." His expression flickered for a moment, and I put a hand on his arm softly. "And besides, this isn't the worst bite I've ever gotten. When we find Takuya, ask him about the rottweiler we annoyed when we were in fifth grade."
He chuckled weakly before paling considerably, his eyes above my head. He gulped loudly and pointed slowly. JP and I looked up to find us all surrounded by the digimon, who had hungry looks on their faces. I spotted one of them with blood on his teeth, and my bitten arm tingled a little in remembrance. "Oh no... RUN!" I scrambled to my feet and took Tommy's hand before running. JP followed after a moment. He tripped and the ground was suddenly gone from under us.
I screamed and pulled Tommy to me. We fell for a while before landing in something surprisingly soft. One glance said it was straw. Why straw would be at the bottom of a hole is anyone's guess. JP groaned from somewhere to my left got to his feet. "You two okay?" I lifted myself and Tommy up with a grunt and gave an affirmative nod. "Great. Now let's scram before we become someone's lunch."
He took the lead again and I let him. I didn't have the energy to argue with him. Tommy kept his hand in mine, and I let him pull me along while I took a look around. We seemed to be beneath the town. It didn't smell like a sewer area, so where the hell were we? There were buildings around us that looked like they haven't been inhabited for a while. There wasn't any natural light, though some torches lit up automatically as we passed. I wanted to take one with us, in case we needed a weapon for later, but decided against it. Probably a bad idea on my part, but I didn't want to seem afraid in front of Tommy.
JP stopped us to pick up some grass and leaves that probably drifted in with a breeze and let them go. "The wind is blowing in this direction, so if we walk this way we should find a way out." He started to walk again and glanced at me in worry when I hissed and leaned against a wall. "You sure you're okay Alex? You know we can't stay still for too long. Who knows what else is down here?"
I grunted at him and limped up next to him. "I'll live. We'll just need to convince Bokomon to let me bring some medical supplies from this town with us when we leave. I'll need bandages and anti-infection shi- crap." I corrected myself for Tommy's benefit and glanced over to see the child in question examining a wall. "Something wrong hon?"
He looked up at us in worry and said, "There's no chance we're walking in circles, is there?" I gave him a questioning look and he tapped the wall he'd been looking at with a sheepish smile. "I drew a cross here when we started out. I saw you do it when we were above ground, and it seemed like a good idea." The reality of his revelation crashed down on all three of us as the same time. "Great, that means we're lost." Tommy groaned out. "We'll be stuck down here for days."
JP kicked at the ground and grunted, "That's if we're lucky. It could be months!" Tommy started to cry again. I sunk down to the ground against a building and looked blankly at him. I knew I'd feel guilty about it later, but I just didn't feel like trying to calm him down. JP looked at me like he was waiting for me to jump up and rush to Tommy's side. He sighed when he saw I wasn't going to do anything and pulled out, not one, not two, but three chocolate bars from his pocket.
He handed one to me and Tommy each. I took my time unwrapping it. "Thank you, JP..." I muttered, breaking off the first square and eating it.
Tommy quieted down after he received his bar and JP sighed. "Well, look on the bright side. At least we won't starve." They were about to take a bite of their chocolate before a sound, a bunch of sounds actually, drew our attention upwards. I was almost too afraid to look up, but I did anyways. Too many pairs of eyes to count stared down at us, and I leaped to me feet just as the feral digimon fell down on top of all of us. We ran, throwing our chocolate bars behind us as we went. "Here, just take them!"
At first, I thought we were safe. We gave them all of the chocolate we had, they wouldn't still chase after us, would they? I started to slow down with my thought process, but they still came after us. The entire group of them were chanting, "EAT THE HUMANS! EAT THE HUMANS!" Let me tell you, there is nothing more terrifying than hearing that when you're already bleeding.
I already felt myself slowing down when they set on us. One went straight for Tommy, but I grabbed it by the ears and flung it as far as I could. My instincts were still telling me to protect him, and protect him I will. JP and Tommy were shouting out for help while I fought. One of them latched onto my shoulder and I felt it's teeth sink into my skin. I screamed out in pain and fell to my knees. They started to attack me more and more, probably being drawn to my blood. JP and Tommy yelled out for me.
And suddenly, they were all still. I stood up shakily and watched in shock as, for the second time that day, Kouji Minamoto met my eyes. Everyone else was staring at him too. Kouji smirked at the digimon tauntingly. They took the bait and launched themselves at him. JP let me lean on his arm as we watched Kouji kick and break a pipe.
It was like watching a dance, though Kouji would probably hit me if I told him that. The way he swung and spun and moved... I knew that I'd never be able to mimic it, even if I tried. JP and Tommy both stood at my sides and watched in amazement as Kouji practically bowled all of these blood-sucking bastards over. "Woah... Who's that?" Tommy asked.
JP had no real answer, only saying, "That guy is serious!" I had a moment of deja vu while this was going on. People in trouble, dude coming to the rescue, people who were in trouble oohing and aahing over how epic he was... Didn't this happen just this morning with Takuya?
Kouji grunted with each swing of his weapon and yelled out before every attack. As I watched with JP and Tommy, I muttered under my breath, "Yeesh, this guy sounds like a fucking power ranger..." JP snorted loudly and had to cover his mouth to stop from laughing. He'd obviously heard me and gave a small thumbs up that neither Tommy nor Kouji saw. The pipe, somehow, made it's way to over Kouji's shoulders and the digimon all piled on top of him. I worried for a moment and ran forward, then had to duck and cover my head when he spun around. The digimon flew all over the place and hit the walls with painful thuds. "Fucking hell, Minamoto, watch where you're throwing those things, would ya?" I yelled with a playful smile.
He returned it with a roll of his eyes and a smirk and placed the end of the pipe on the ground just as the last digimon hit the ground. The digimon saw the smirk and yelled, "Oh yeah, human? Don't smile yet!" It was surrounded by data and Kouji picked up his weapon again as the cocoon faded and a new digimon, WAY larger than the previous one, appeared. It was made from slime. I don't mean it was covered in slime, it was literally made from slime. There were pipes all over it and metal guards covering both of it's red eyes.
From someone's d-tector (I'm assuming, since it was the same voice as all the other times it's freaking talked), I heard, "Raremon: a sewer digimon. If the smell of its rotting flesh doesn't knock you out, its Acid Sludge attack will!" Really, mystical d-tector voice lady? Is this really the time to be making bad jokes about its smell, however true it may be?
We had to run from it's Acid Sludge attack. I wasn't as fast as I'd like to have been, considering my injuries from earlier. Tommy tripped and, before I could get to him, Kouji scooped him up in his arms and dodged. I got to Kouji's side to check on Tommy, but Kouji grabbed my wrist and pulled me with him, dodging another Acid Sludge. With each Acid Sludge, more and more holes appeared in the ground. I was scared, I feel no shame in admitting it.
Kouji dragged me along as he went, dodging and running as best he could. I heard a familiar girly voice saying, "Ew, it smells!"
A snarl made it's way into my voice before I could stop it. "Nice of you to join the party! Did you bring the decorations?" Kouji gave me a quick look of curiosity before he had to run again. Raremon advanced on us and Kouji pulled myself and Tommy backwards, glaring with venom in his eyes. "Dammit, Takuya, hurry the hell up and spirit evolve!" I yelled at him, backing up until the edge of my foot hit the biggest hole.
Takuya replied almost immediately. "I'm working on..." A panicked glance over gave me the image of Takuya once again being covered in the data. The data disappeared with a single shout of Agunimon. Agunimon leaped the entire distance between him and Raremon and tackled the enemy into the wall, making him send multiple Acid Sludge bombs everywhere. Light streamed through the holes in the ceiling and walls. Agunimon leaped back and knocked aside a splash of green coming right towards us. Agunimon turned back and said, "Now's your chance. Run!" Then, once again, he was covered in light and just regular Takuya stood there.
I stared at him in shock and he stared right back. "... We're fucked, aren't we?" I said blankly while Kouji stood. I hadn't felt him fall next to me, but it makes sense since I'd been stopped by the hole. Tommy still held on to his side, though. Takuya gave a sheepish and slightly crazed smile. "If we get out of this..." I growled, narrowing my eyes.
Takuya waved his hand impatiently. "Yeah, yeah, you'll paint your bedroom walls with my blood." ... That totally wasn't what I was going to say, but I'll remember it for future threats. Thanks a bunch, Taki!
Raremon stood up from where he'd been knocked over and said, "Still here! ACID SLUDGE!" He sent the attack straight towards us. For a giant stinky ball of slime with metal covering it's eyes, it has surprisingly good accuracy and this is not the time to admire your soon-to-be-killer's aim, Alex!
Takuya turned and pushed Tommy out the way, yelling, "Watch out!" In the process of pushing Tommy out of the way he nudged Kouji. In process of Kouji being nudged, he'd fallen into the hole. I tried to grab onto his hand to help, but I used the arm that was attached to the bad shoulder that was bitten earlier. I cried out in pain and shock as I was dragged into the hole behind him. "ALEX!"
Kouji and I continued to fall. I refused to let go of his hand, though. It was more of an instinctive thing than actual conscious thought, but since he didn't let go either, he was probably doing the same thing. We were both yelling, and I cried out, "Now can I freak out about us falling to our deaths?" I asked sarcastically, reminding us both of our fall in the elevator.
He glared at me before we were both distracted by a light at the bottom. A figurine materialized in the light, and I took a moment to study it. It looked like a man's torso on a platform. Silver armor covered most of it, and the arms met together in fists. "What's going on here?" Kouji asked. More to himself than me, but it was asked out loud all of the same. I looked at him to see his eyes becoming dazed for a moment, then he stuck out his d-tector in his free hand. "SPIRIT!"
I was forced to let go of his hand as he was covered in data, but we both miraculously stopped falling. I covered my face with both of my arms to shield my eyes from the light and, soon enough, it faded. Before I could put my arms down, I felt arms go behind my back and under my legs to hold me bridal style. My eyes popped open, and I was met with the red eyes of a new person.
I was struck dumb by what I saw. Blond hair that looked like straw came from under a wolf-shaped helmet. His skin, what little of it I could see, matched Kouji's in a pale shade. Most of him, including the arms that held me up, had purple and silver armor. A blue-and-purple striped scarf waved in the breeze. Pain pulsed suddenly in my shoulder, and I covered it with a grimace that I knew he saw.
I heard Takuya's voice from below, and looked down to see all of my friends. Takuya and Tommy were where we'd left them, crouched on the ground. "Wow, did I look that cool?" Takuya asked in excitement.
My body didn't connect to my brain before I twisted in Kouji's arms- or whoever this new person was, I didn't know his name yet- and I yelled down, "YOU HAVEN'T LOOKED COOL A SINGLE DAY OF YOUR LIFE, KANBARA!" He looked too relieved at seeing me to really mind the insult. I didn't know why until I remembered that he'd seen me fall down the hole. The only reason I knew that Kouji had laughed was because I was pressed against his chest and felt it vibrate with a silent chuckle. There was no change in his facial expression when I looked and no sound to suggest his amusement.
This new warrior drifted towards the ground and landed softly before gently putting me on the ground. "Go." he growled. He was glaring at Raremon with such intensity that I didn't answer before turning and running towards Takuya. It was an awkward run, since I still had my shoulder covered, but I got to him all the same. He glared at my shoulder like it was it's fault it was injured. If that made any sense, I didn't really pay attention to it.
Bokomon stood near a large entrance into the cavern that we were in and had his book open. "That's the legendary warrior of light, Lobomon!" ... Legendary warrior of light? Kouji? Oh lovely, now I need to mock him about it. He won't appreciate it, but it needs to be done all the same.
Raremon sent out another Acid Sludge attack. Lobomon pulled something from his belt and called out, "Lobo Kendo!" A beam of light shot out from what I now understood to be the hilt. I gotta tell ya, I had a hell of a time not making a Star Wars reference. Takuya glared at me from the side of his eye like he was expecting me too, but I didn't say anything.
Lobomon ran forward, straight towards the Acid Sludge bombs, and knocked them aside with his beam sword. With a tremendous leap, he landed on Raremon's head. I was fully prepared to see steam rise from his boots from the corroding effects of Raremon's skin, but the only thing to happen was Lobomon sticking his sword into Raremon's head. Raremon gave a yell of pain and rage, with fountains of purple... stuff sprouting from his head. Lobomon leaped down as Raremon's fractal code showed. He pulled Kouji's d-tector from his belt and yelled, "Alright, you talking trash heap! Prepare to be recycled!" As he scanned the fractal code, he yelled out, "FRACTAL CODE, DIGITIZE!"
The stream of date went into Kouji's d-tector. The silhouette of Raremon transformed into that of a pearly egg and went off into the distance while Lobomon fell to the grown. He was covered in data, and I wasn't surprised this time when Kouji appeared in Lobomon's place. He was panting heavily, just like Takuya had been when he first spirit evolved. Takuya watched him for a moment before running for him. I knew this wouldn't end well, so I went after him and Tommy. "Hey, you alright? Let me help you up." Takuya said.
I was the only one who didn't flinch when Kouji glared and growled out, "Don't touch me. I don't need your help! Or anyone else's!" I knew he was glaring at me when he said it, but I merely watched him worriedly. He was never a nice person, even for the very few years I'd known him, but that never stopped me from caring about his well-being before. He stood up shakily before speaking again. "But I guess I should thank you for saving me. And I always repay my debts."
Takuya narrowed his eyes. With a bite to his tone that even I usually never heard, he said, "I didn't do it so you'd owe me, you know."
Kouji turned to face the three of us and said, "I don't know if the girl has told you this, but my name is Kouji Minamoto. And you are?" Takuya looked at me accusingly, like I should have told him Kouji's name before, but it didn't matter anymore. "So are you going to tell me? I can't repay you if I don't know your name."
My best friend answered with the same bite as before. "Takuya Kanbara. And the girl's name is-"
He was cut off by Kouji's roll of his eyes. "Alexandra Cardon. Prefers Alex and has been known in multiple classes to raise hell if any teachers call her Alexandra." My face heated up before I looked away from all three of them, pouting. I knew Kouji was smirking without even looking at him. "See ya."
He started to walk away, but I suddenly realized something. I waited until he was half-way towards the opening before yelling, "Kouji, wait!" I ran a few steps forward until he stopped. He didn't turn to face me, but I didn't care all that much. His reaction wasn't what I was looking for. "Despite how it turned out..." I waited until he looked over his shoulder with an annoyed expression before grinning wickedly and bowing slightly. "I'm sorry Takuya pushed you down the hole."
I saw the amusement in his eyes before he could turn away from me, and Takuya cried out behind me, "I did NOT push him down the hole!"
Kouji started to walk away again, and I turned my back on him to glare at Takuya with my hands on my hips. "Oh, don't give me that, Kanbara! You totally pushed him down the hole!"
Our argument continued much in that fashion before Zoe pulled him away by the back of his shirt. "Come on, you guys, let's get out of here. This place smells like dead fish!" We all followed, Takuya protesting at Zoe man-handling him and me laughing all the while.
