Power of the Bonds
Chapter 2
DISCLAIMER: as much as I wished I owned Digimon, I don't, because if we did we would have another season of Tamers by now… The characters that I own are Matthew O'Mara, Wepmon, and all of the other OC's.
Hello! Welcome to chapter 2, this chapter will be from the perspective of Krista.
When this story takes place, I was 165 cm tall and had fair, white skin. My bright red hair was up in a ponytail; I wore jeans, a white shirt with a red, broken-heart design on the front. As to how I met Renamon… that is for another time.
Matthew was just knocked out by Shoutmon after he spoke, and I was pissed. "DAMNIT SHOUTMON!" I yelled at Travis, "He was fine before you knocked him out again!"
"Well excuse me for thinking that he died from the fusion with that thing!" Travis countered, clearly flustered with me, "it's not like we killed him…" there was an awkward silence "you didn't kill him, right?" he asked Shoutmon.
"It wasn't my intent…" his partner tried to explain.
"Intent means bugger all." Renamon said in a low tone of voice, "weren't they just sitting against that tree?" she gestured to the fallen tree.
"Well, he is still breathing so that is a plus, but now we have a bigger problem… we have an unconscious man in the middle of a field and can't just leave him here until he comes to." Seth commented.
"Momentai, we'll figure something out." Added Terriermon from his tamer's shoulders.
"That phrase has become a trademark with your species as of late…" I muttered.
"It's a good principle I must say" Seth returned.
Now what? I thought everyone else was thinking the same thing because there was an awkward silence.
"Let's try and figure out our options." Travis suggested.
"Well, we could try and take him with one of us…" Seth muttered.
"There's an idea, at least until he recovers." I said.
"So who is the best candidate?" Travis asked, frowning.
"Well, my parents won't be home this weekend, so I suppose that I could take him..." I thought about the logistics for a moment, "I have a learners permit so I could take his car to where I live." I said as I searched his pockets, "bingo!" I exclaimed while I pulled out his car keys.
"Here, we will help you take him to his car." Said Travis.
"I can help as well." Added Seth.
"Thanks." I gave an air-curtsy.
After we found and loaded his still unconscious ass into the car, we split and set up a meeting for midday tomorrow. My house wasn't too far from the park and it was a simple drive that I had practiced before. My abode was a home on Ames Lake, where we had a lakefront property. There was a large garden of flowers in the front going uphill to the road. There was a bit of gravel as a way for cars to get out of the narrow driveway. The front of the house was beige and made out of a wood composite. I parked the car facing out so that it would be easier to leave and went inside with Renamon helping me carry Matthew.
"We should probably lay him down somewhere…" Renamon said when they got into the front room. The room split into two hallways and one open arch going to the living room, inside of the living room there was a green sofa, a leather armchair, and a dark green rocking chair, all facing a wide screen television.
"Let's put him down on the sofa." I suggested.
"Right." Renamon agreed. It took some effort, but we managed it. He didn't even stir through the movement. I sighed, and sat down in the rocking chair to turn on the TV. The sound echoed through the empty home. After an hour, I rose from my seat, stretching my legs; Renamon moved into the backyard and was sleeping in the grass.
"Hey, Renamon!" she glanced up towards the deck, "Want anything?" She just shook her head and went back to sleep. "I will take that as a no then." When I went back inside my house, I saw one of Matthew's eyes flicker open, he quickly shut them again. "Shoutmon and Travis aren't here ya' know."
"Oh thank the Sovereign," he muttered, rubbing his head where a nasty bruise was beginning to appear. "Where am I?"
"In my home on Ames Lake." I explained, "You want something to drink?"
"Sure, got any root beer?"
"My mom usually keeps a little in the fridge." I said, walking towards the kitchen. I grabbed two bottles of Frostie vanilla root beer, and handed one to Matthew and took a sip of mine.
"Nice choice, so why am I here?" he asked after taking a draught from the bottle.
"Well, you were possessed by a Digimon and then proceeded to hold your own against two digimon, and you seemed to know our strategies, and reacted accordingly." I paused trying to recount the events of earlier. "You then dove in front of the wild one before we could kill it. You then fused with the damn thing and suddenly was able to defeat every one of our partners without deleting them, only knocking them out. You saw right through Shoutmon's feint and changed from the brave shield to a weapon set similar to Gallantmon-"
"As I recall Shoutmon fired Trident Revolver, and we ducked behind out shield, not exactly prepared for the force of the blast, we were flung away, knocking over a tree." He interrupted
"We thought you were dead, completely consumed by the Digimon. That's why when we heard you screaming in pain we didn't know what to do." I hate to admit it, but I broke down a little bit here.
"Whoa, it's okay, I am alive and well, minus a couple aches and pains." He comforted me with those soothing words.
"Thanks," I said regaining my composure; his eyes widened "What's wrong?"
"It's nothing…," he said as he got up and took a couple of steps before grasping his head with both hands.
"It is clearly something!" I jumped up to help him.
"No, stay away! Hopefully this goes well." He grimaced and closed his eyes, concentrating very hard.
"Why should I stay away?!" I exclaimed as a bright light flooded the room. Where Matthew had been standing, was two different people. One was Matthew while the other was dressed in all black, his skin was metallic gold, and his eyes were sky blue almonds and on his back was the symbol of the Tokugawa clan. Both of them then fell down unconscious, again. Renamon jumped up onto the deck and walked inside.
"What the hell happened?" she muttered while monitoring the Digimon that spawned out of Matthew.
Krista didn't care, she just ran over to him and saw the same symbol that was on the wild one's back on the backside of Matthew's right hand, branded permanently in black. He stirred and looked up
"That was extremely painful." He muttered before rolling over to lie on his back.
"I thought skin shifting was painful, but two conscious in one body… and then forcing them to split…" The Digimon was awakening as well.
"Don't move," said Renamon who was standing behind him ready to act, he just put his hands up in surrender, a forlorn look upon his face
"Well you could at least let him introduce himself before you threaten his life…" Matthew muttered
"Why should we?! He possessed you and then fused with you, which is reason enough to delete a Digimon, let alone talk to one." I protested.
"Yes, but let me tell you the full story now that I can't hide the fact that you didn't kill him!" he sighed exasperated, and then he proceeded to tell me what happened before we hunted them down. "Now, will you let him formally introduce himself before you make accusations of possession?"
"Fine, Renamon; ease up on him" she backed off so that he could actually stand.
"Hello, my name is Wepmon, pleased to meet your acquaintance." he gave a Japanese style bow instead of a western handshake. His voice was like caramel, smooth and sweet, not at all the metallic tone that I expected.
"Well, that's new," I muttered while pulling out my D-arc "there is absolutely no data about your existence on the database."
"Well that is probably because I change a lot, even though it is extremely painful. I haven't been pinned down and analyzed by the network yet." He suggested. I raised an eyebrow,
"Can you shape shift?"
"No, I have not tired a full shape shift, but I can skin shift, giving me a different signature and appearance."
"So, now what?" Matthew asked, his hand stroking his chin. "I can't exactly bring you home…" he addressed Wepmon as he said this.
"Maybe you can, I have experimented with this in the past, but I have never tried something of this scale." Wepmon closed his eyes and began to breathe deeply.
"What is he doing?" Renamon queried, still on edge.
"I have a guess, but I am not sure about it…" Matthew began, "if it's right, he is slowly releasing the energy that he makes his weapons with back to the universe, to change shape. As opposed to what I did earlier..."
"And what was that?" I wondered to no one in particular.
"You know all that screaming that happened before you found me? It was my attempt to change skin, and by god, it hurt. I forced my body to change quickly, forcing all of the energy to be released very as heat. The fused being's skin was burned off and replaced with a copy of mine."
"Wow, you have had a much harder day than we did." My day consisted of being ground to bits by a chemistry final before being tossed around in a boat for an hour, aka PE.
Wepmon's body was shrinking until he became a sheathed katana. "This better?" hummed the sword.
"Yeah, but if I need you how will you change back? Or will we have to fuse again?" Matthew questioned.
"Well, if you draw the sword we will share a conscious and you will have the benefits of the fusion we had earlier without the side effects."
"So I can change weapons on the fly?" he said while unsheathing the golden blade, "Tonfa!" he commanded and Wepmon changed into the two pieces of red energy that manifested as two police batons, already in Matthew's hands.
"You see, it is much easier to transform into another weapon than a person…"
"Can you change back into a katana?" Matthew asked, "We need to go home."
"Right" Wepmon went back to the sheathed sword. I didn't notice it at first, but both the sheathe and the handle were black with gold inlays, the Tokugawan crest adorned the end of the handle and the side of the sheathe.
"Why is your symbol the Tokugawa crest?" I asked. The blade remained silent for a few seconds.
"That is a story for another time." Wepmon sighed.
"Well I should thank you for your hospitality and not killing me," he paused to pick up his partner, "but that sounds a bit odd, doesn't it?" Matthew joked.
"How about we leave it at you owe me a root beer." I chuckled.
"Sounds good." He bowed to both of us. "Arigato" he said in Japanese.
"What does that mean?"
"Thank you." He turned to leave.
"Wait! The other tamers and I, we're having a meeting here, at midday, tomorrow if you're interested…"
"Sure, that sounds wonderful; we'll get here around noon." He walked out and started his car, when he passed the front door, he waved goodbye. When he got out of sight, Renamon had a slight smile.
"You fancy him, don't you?" she quipped
"What!? I don't like him in that way!"
"Sure you don't?" Renamon leaned towards me.
"No! I mean… Yes! I've got no clue." I felt myself blushing, what I was saying was a complete lie, and Renamon knew it. Yes, I had feelings for him, and I would get to know him a lot better than being around for only an hour and half each school day.
I went back to sofa and grabbed my unopened root beer; a sigh escaped my mouth as I lay down. I took a swig and flicked through TV channels. It just isn't my day… I thought several hours later before calling it a night.
The next day, I prepped to receive my guests, salvaging snacks, people could get drinks if they wanted to, but I didn't trust Travis, Shoutmon, or Terriermon to keep out of the pantry. I wore a pair of capries instead of the usual jeans. The first ones there were Seth and Terreirmon, and I would expect no less, they were punctual to a tee, and their Seth's parents needed to work that day anyway so they agreed to drop him off. Surprisingly, Travis and Matthew arrived together, Travis's bike locked into a bike rack mounted to the back of Matthew's car. Shoutmon had gone into Travis's Digivice to conserve space (What, you thought that they rode their bikes to the park with a Digimon on the back?). Travis grumbled that he didn't need to be driven here and there, but was still grateful for the lift. Matthew came in with a six-pack of root bear and Wepmon, still in sword mode.
"What's the root beer for?" I asked taking one and popping the cap off the top.
"Well, I thought I would clear that root beer I owed you, as well as try and show hospitality towards the other members." The boys, their Digimon, and Renamon all hesitated to take one. "Well, go ahead just be sure not to spill on the hostess's carpet." Travis didn't take one, neither did Shoutmon. "It's not poisoned…" Matthew muttered.
"What if you're lying?" He accused.
"Fine, you win…" he grabbed a bottle, popped the cap off and downed half of it. Neither took the last one. Matthew sighed, "Stubborn ones aren't you?"
"They are just slow to trust. You did give them a run for their money, right you two?" I commented.
"We won't accept bribes from a rival!"
"Rival? Since when am I your rival?" Matthew said aghast.
"Since yesterday, apparently." Commented Terriermon, the little one had trouble holding his root beer. A short time later, after many jokes, insults and quips, the tone became more serious.
"So, how long have you three been tamers?" Matthew asked casually, like one might say 'how was your weekend?'
"Well, I met Terriermon while I was training outside. He fell from one of the surrounding trees, being chased by a Karamon. Terriermon took a hit, and I caught him. I asked him if he was alright, he said yes before vaporizing Karamon. We shook hands after it was done, and a digivice appeared out of a light. That was about three months ago."
"Let me rephrase the question, the backstory isn't necessary, but how long ago it was is, and if you knew at least something about Digimon before you took one on as a partner." Matthew responded, wanting to hurry the conversation along.
"I have been partnered with Renamon since Christmas, and I had watched a little bit of tamers and then everything before that." I said
"Well, I suppose we could tell you, if you beat us in a fight!" Shoutmon exclaimed.
"Are you challenging me?" Matthew returned a hard look in his eyes.
"Yeah! Do you accept?" Travis agreed with his partner.
"You haven't even laid out the challenge yet!" Renamon disciplined.
"If you want a fight, let us go outside to the spacious yard, we don't want our hostess to be vengeful, now would we?" Wepmon hummed
"DEAR GOD!" yelled Travis and Seth simultaneously.
"Did I mention that Wepmon changed into a sword yesterday? No? Well now you know."
I hope that they don't hurt themselves… I thought as Travis explained the rules. It would be a contest to see who could knock the other out first. Matthew would first fight Travis barehanded, and then if Matthew were still standing, he would face Shoutmon with Wepmon.
"I will add another rule, as to not risk injury or suspicion; we will forbade the use of special moves other than those to summon a weapon." I added, the last thing I needed was the neighbors reporting explosions and fire coming from her home.
"Right, well Travis, you first." Matthew grumbled, but he bowed anyway. A true gentlemen I thought as Travis was prepping a kick towards his bowed head. Matthew was ready for it though, he was being both respectful and tactful. The bow was designed to piss off Travis so that he would make a stupid decision, while he was able to see his opponent's feat. In a move of elegance and brutality, he dodged to the side, placing his shoulder underneath Travis's raised leg, while one of his legs moved behind the last remaining support for Travis. Then coming up from the bow, he knocked Travis off of his feet and onto the hard ground, where Matthew put one knee into his solar plexus and one hand on his throat. "We're done here." He turned towards the deck, "Shoutmon, would you like to continue this?"
"What the hell do you think?!" shouted the small red lizard.
"Renamon, toss me my partner please." He caught the sheathed Wepmon with one hand. He now got off Travis, who rolled over and began to cough. "You okay?" Matthew said.
"Other than my pride being wounded and the wind taken out of my sails." He said between coughs.
"Well, you were able to take on my partner, but he isn't versed in fighting like I am. Now prepare to get destroyed!" Shoutmon boasted.
"I wonder what Matthew is going to use? We know that they have four different modes, glaive, tonfa, katana, and lancer, but he won't risk using a bladed weapon, leaving the tonfa as the only remaining choice. He will be at a range disadvantage with those…" Renamon analyzed.
"I just hope that they don't hurt each other." Seth vocalized, the generally quiet teen showing some concern for the combatants.
"Chigiriki!" Matthew commanded, Wepmon transforming into a staff with a chain and weight attached to one end. The staff was a metallic red-gold color, and glinted in the sunlight.
"That gave the advantage to him, that weapon can both strike and trap, not to mention the extended range."
"Renamon, just stop, the faster we finish this, the sooner we can continue the meeting." I stated as Shoutmon summoned his own staff and waited for the go-ahead. "It's your fight, guys, start whenever." As I finished my sentence, they charged at each other. They are really going at it, I thought, their inner warriors showing.
They clashed in the dead center, their weapons clashing. Shoutmon could move and attack faster, but Matthew and Wepmon had the advantage of superior reach and strength. Shoutmon tried for a sweep, but the Chigiriki's chain wrapped around the staff, stopping it. Matthew pulled and took away Shoutmon's mic as well as strike him with the end of the weapon, knocking the small lizard back before hitting him over the head with his own staff.
"Katana." Wepmon went back into the sheath, "well, shall we continue the meeting?" Matthew picked up the unconscious Shoutmon and carried him up to the deck. "Seth, you never commented if you knew anything about Digimon…"
"Right, well I knew of it, but I never watched the show." Seth said, clearly embarrassed.
"I knew about the same amount as Seth when I first started, and that was around Christmas." Travis managed to cough out.
"Okay, how much do you know now?" Matthew inquired.
"We… have yet to find what is causing the Digimon to bio-emerge, and our knowledge of Digimon is fairly limited-"
"Two things, one, we think we may have an idea of what's driving them into our world, and two, it never occurred to any of you to go and watch the anime or research what you were getting into?" Matthew interrupted; face palming as he did so. "You clearly know enough, because you have your cards with you, allowing you to modify your partners, and you have spent money to buy these things…" none of us said a word, "well?"
"We each found a card box, completely filled with cards, and they seemed to be themed to our strengths. For instance, Shoutmon's was filled with lots of speed and strength upgrades, Terriermon's had lots of recharges, power, and support cards. Ours had a lot of weapons and augmentations." I explained.
Matthew sighed, "You all have a lot of learning to do-"
"Bite your tongue!" Travis snapped, "You just met your partner yesterday, yet you claim to be an expert! You-"
"Travis, today, I took both you and your partner down, in the real world, both of you would be dead!" Matthew exclaimed before taking a moment to clear his head, "My partner will explain what is happening in the digital world at the moment.."
"Here it goes…" he explained everything that he knew about the digital world at the moment, the virus, the bickering sovereign, the death of a demon lord, etc. At the end, there was a silence as everyone thought about what this news meant.
"Where do the deva stand?" Asked Shoutmon
"Well, I know for a fact that Azulongmon's have stayed faithful, as well as Baihumon's, I don't know about the other two." Wepmon hummed.
"That is very concerning," muttered Renamon, "not even the scavengers touched the data?"
"No, I heard that when they tried to absorb it, it just stayed there, and didn't move."
"I, for one, don't see a problem with a demon lord parrishing!" Terriermon commented
"Now you know what is happening, now what?" Matthew inquired.
"We generally move to honing our skills and our decks for the Digimon card game." Seth said.
"I am going to leave you three to that-"
"Wait, Matthew, you should learn how to play, just in case you get a digivice." I interrupted.
"Thanks for the offer, but no," he gestured to the blank brand on the back of his right hand, "this is my anchor point to Wepmon, which creates a similar bond to your D-arcs, but this also allows us to have a mental link in battle." He explained. "Listen up you six. We are at a turning point, we don't know what lies ahead, but are you ready to give your lives to protect others? Are you willing to take risks, and follow your hearts?" he addressed each to each of us. We all nodded in response. "Good, now all of you, study up, talk to your partners, and stay vigilant, you three are the best hope as of now. Wepmon and I will support you and provide advice, but we won't be the soldiers in coming days. Remember, all of you were chosen, don't forget that, in your darkest times, you will always find a way." He then left, depositing Travis's bike on the garage door.
"I wonder if activity will pick up, now that there is another one of us?" Seth mumbled to himself.
"Momentai, like Matthew said, we will always find a way to persevere." reassured Terriermon.
"One can only hope…" I commented pessimistically, destiny is a load of crap, I just want to avenge my brother…
That was a chapter of mostly dialogue and plot… Thank you for reading! if you have time, please rate and review.