Chapter: 2 (The Truth Revealed)
Disclaimer: I don't own digimon
Takato heard the growling and saw the direction that it came from. He reached down and grabbed his backpack. He reached and grabbed Kari's hand.
"Quickly, we need to get out of here" he pulled her and she followed slowly, suddenly he heard another growl behind them. He looked to see a digimon walking towards him he raised his arm to get the information of his D-arc, but Kari grabbed his arm.
"Come on" she shouted and ran off in the opposite direction. But there were two more in that direction. They were surrounded, Takato slowly reached for his backpack. While he had decided not to have his cards on his belt, he had kept them in his backpack, he didn't know why but he didn't feel right without them. He slowly grabbed the top card, knowing it was the card Henry gave him, but before he could grab it a small voice echoed around the fog.
"What Peeerfect timing" it said and a small cat appeared. It sat and licked its paws, before standing and raising its gloved paws into a fighting stance. It ran forward and jumped at the nearest digimon "Lightning Paw" it shouted out and attacked. It hit it and sent it flying.
"Kari" it shouted running towards the next opponent "you're no hur…" it was interrupted by an explosion hitting it on the side sending it crashing to floor by Kari's feet.
"Gatomon" Kari screamed and cuddled the digimon. Takato looked at the Digimon then at Kari. He grabbed he hand and ran towards the side of the mist. The digimon followed but they reached the side first. They ran threw the fog and came out by the front gate. He saw TK running up. He led Kari to him. He looked around but everyone else must have left.
"Take care of her" he said before turning around and running back towards the fog. He heard a terrible roar and turned to see the digimon running out the side of the fog. He grabbed his goggles and placed them round his head.
He opened his backpack and grabbed his cards before throwing it into the air "Time to go to work boy" he shouted and grabbed his D-arc.
"Digimodify" he shouted running the card threw the side "Rookie's Power activate" the bag glowed and he turned to see Kari and TK staring at it.
"Gigimon Digivolve to…" a tiny voice bellowed "Guilmon" the bag exploded and the now much bigger Guilmon stood before the digimon.
He pointed his D-arc at them.
"Firamon, Champion level beast type, special attack Fira bomb" he looked at Guilmon, then at Kari and TK, he ran towards them "Guilmon you ready?" he shouted reaching them. He pulled out his cards with one hand, fanned them, and pulled out the next card (he had been practising this the whole time he was at home) he put the other cards back in his pocket, and grabbed his D-arc.
"Digimodify" he swiped the card "Digivolution Activate" and Guilmon started glowing.
"Guilmon Digivolve to…" he glowed white and grew much bigger "Growlmon" he looked at the Firamon and opened his mouth and roared. He ran towards them and the spikes on his arms glowed "Dragon slash" he roared and slashed it at two of the Firamon who went flying. Growlmon turned towards the other Firamon and opened his mouth "Pyro blaster". Blasts of fire erupted from his mouth shooting towards the two Firamon. One jumped clear in time and rolled to Growlmon's left.
He began to glow and grew bigger.
"Firamon Digivolve to…" he grew into a humanoid digimon with a flaming mane "Flaremon" he looked towards Growlmon and raised his arms.
"Crimson beast king wave" he roared and shot out a wave of power hitting Growlmon. Growlmon flew threw the air and landed near Takato. Growlmon glowed and then reverted to Guilmon.
"Guilmon boy, are you ok" he held his head and heard Flaremon roar and started walking towards Kari and TK "what can we do boy?" he looked at Guilmon who stood and looked at him.
"You know what we have to do Takato" and grabbed his hand with the D-arc in it "we have to become Gallantmon, we have no other choice" he looked at Guilmon then at Kari and TK
"Looks like we don't have a choice" he ran towards them with Guilmon right behind him. Stood before them and raised his D-arc. He looked at Kari.
"Don't worry, we'll protect you" and he looked at Guilmon and gulped "let's not over do this" then he looked at Flaremon who had stopped and was watching them.
"Bio-merge Activate" and he felt his whole body be surrounded with power. He heard Guilmon's voice ring out.
"Guilmon Bio-merge to…" then he felt his own voice answer in unison with Guilmon's "Gallantmon" he stood before Flaremon and raised his lance. He could feel his body growing weak already. They didn't have much time.
Flaremon looked at them then before raising his arms.
"Crimson beast king wave" and a wall of power rushed towards them he knelt and raised his shield. The blast his it with some force but not nearly enough. He threw the shield to one side and raised his lance.
"Now it's our turn" he raised his lance to the sky and power concentrated at the top, it formed a ball of power and he pointed it at Flaremon "Lightning Joust" and the ball shot out as an arrow hitting Flaremon, he then turned towards the other Firamon who stood nearby watching in awe. They all bowed down and glowed. Gallantmon tensed but saw then go smaller. The Firamon vanished and all that were in there place were small spiked-balls with a flame on top.
He turned towards the Flaremon who also bowed and he too glowed turning into a small digimon. Gallantmon relaxed and suddenly felt the drain on his body. He glowed and separated. He knelt on the floor and felt exhausted, he could stand but just. He turned to see Kari and TK staring at him. He stood slowly and Guilmon stood by him. He rested his arm on Guilmon and they walked over to the bench where he could sit down.
He looked a Guilmon and smiled.
"Time to lose a bit of weight boy" he said smiling and pulled out his card. He pulled out the other card that Henry had given him "You ready boy" Guilmon looked tired and nodded slowly.
"Digimodify" he swiping the card "Back to training activates" Guilmon glowed then became smaller until he was again back to Gigimon. He put him on the bench next him. Takato breathed a sigh of relief and grabbed the form goggles round his head. He placed them back in his pocket. He looked at the floor catching his breath.
"What's wrong with me" he thought looking at his hands "I used to be able Bio-merge for hours, look at the fight with the D-reaper" he looked at the sky then stood slowly.
He walked over to his backpack (or at least what was left of it); it had been ripped to shreds when Gigimon had Digivolved. He looked at the contents and sighed, it was nothing he couldn't replace. He started grabbing paper and stuff and looked across to see Kari and TK taking quietly.
"Must be wondering what happened" he thought as he grabbed the last of his stuff and walked out of the gate.
He managed to get home easily enough. His parents had even believed that he had ripped his backpack playing with Gigimon on the way home. They had looked like they might ground him but just let him off saying he should be more careful. He flopped down on his bed and heard a little squeaking noise he moved to see he was sat on a much flatter looking Gigimon. He laughed and sat on his bed pulling out his cards. He had gone through them a thousand times since he had gotten here. He had hope maybe to get some more, but for some reason they didn't sell any. He had been practising with his cards as much as possible so as to feel like he was in someway helping the others
Takato had gone threw his cards three times and was just about to do it again, when he heard a knock at his door. He stood slowly and walked over open it. He was surprised to see Kari smiling at him. He opened his mouth to say something.
"Hi, I'm sorry for just popping round, I just wanted to see how your first day at our school went" he was confused till he saw her look at him and wink. He moved away from the door and opened it.
"Come on in" he said and she walked in standing in the nearly empty room, he closed the door behind them "here sit on the bed" he said grabbing the cards quickly and put them on his desk.
He suddenly went very woozy and had to grab the desk for support. He felt a hand on his shoulder and saw Kari standing there with a very concerned look on her face.
"Are you ok" she asked looking at him.
"Yeah I'm ok" he said and sat down on the bed.
"You look exhausted" she said "Is it because of earlier" he looked at her and wondered what she really wanted.
"Yeah" he said moving up the bed to make room for her.
She put he backpack on the floor and slowly undid the strap. She reached inside and pulled out a small cat. Takato recognised it instantly, re got up and walked over to his desk, he grabbed his D-arc and turned to see a confused looking Kari raising her hands in front on the cat. He pointed his D-arc at it and it instantly displayed her data,
"Gatomon, Champion level beast type" Takato said looking at the digimon "he looked at Kari "Where did you get a digimon" and he leaned against the desk as he felt his legs become a little weaker. She raised her hand and pointed at his D-arc.
"What is that thing?" he looked at it and moved forward.
The cat moved to face him and raised itself on Kari's legs. It looked at him and raised his hands slowly.
"Not so fast" it said and he slowly raised his hand and opened it to show his D-arc.
"I was just going to pass you it" he said moving forward. The cat looked at him then and lifted its paw "fine give it here" he handed the device to Gatomon, and then moved back to the desk.
"It's called a D-arc; it's what connects me and Gigimon as partners"
He was starting to feel the strain of being Gallantmon. He realised that he had been stupid to bio-merge, but at the time he could see no other choice. He moved to the desk chair and sat down feeling his head go a bit fuzzy. He looked at Kari and she was examining his D-arc. She flicked through the options till it came to the tracking mode. The compass swung round till it pointed to behind her. She moved around and looked on the bed. She moved his coat and exposed a cowering Gigimon. She lifted him gently with her hands and looked at him, Takato smiled at Gigimon's attempts to stay still.
He walked over the Kari and Gatomon watched him the whole way. He gently grabbed Gigimon and held him in his arms.
"Its ok boy" he said placing him on the desk "she has a digimon too" he stroked the top of Gigimon's head. He slowly opened his eyes and looked at Takato. He tried to say something but his voice was to quiet to speak. Takato lowered his head to Gigimon, who whispered in his ear. Takato tried to stop himself but he started laughing, he kept laughing for a few minutes till he was able to calm down. He looked at Kari and smiled.
"I'm sorry for that" he looked at Gatomon addressing her.
"What was that about?" Gatomon asked and looked at Gigimon "What did he say?"
"He said that he's really nervous, that why he didn't speak before" Takato answered holding back another laugh. Kari looked at the little digimon and smiled.
"It's ok, were not going to hurt you" Gigimon moved forward a little before suddenly moving suddenly hiding behind Takato. She looks at Takato who picked the little digimon up and held his like a baby.
"It's not you he's afraid of" he bent down and looked at Gatomon "It's you" Gatomon looked at him and smiled.
"As he should be" she said and smiled. She jumped to Kari's lap and lay down making herself comfortable.
"Its ok boy" Takato said stroking Gigimon's head "I won't let anyone hurt you" he looked at Kari and felt his head go fuzzy again, he shuck his head and felt it get little better "I don't mean to seemed rude or anything, but why did you come round?" he knew he sounded like a jerk, but he was exhausted. She looked at him and stood.
"I'm sorry I'll come back another time" Gatomon jumped to the floor and she moved to leave and he nearly let her, but just couldn't let himself be that rude.
He grabbed her shoulder and she looked at him.
"I'm sorry" he moved over to his desk and placed Gigimon down "I'm just not feeling well, I was told not to overexert myself while I was here but" he turned to Kari and saw her look at him with a look of concern "when I saw you and TK getting attacked by those digimon I just had to help" he sat on the edge of the desk and looked at the floor before suddenly snapping his head up and looking at her "Oh no, the digimon, I completely forgot about the little one's left from this morning" Kari grabbed shoulder and he looked at her, she smiled and he felt a little better.
"It's ok me and TK took care of it" she said and sat back down on the bed "we sent them back to the digital world" she smiled at him and stopped when she saw his face, it was one of wonder.
"How?" he said looking at her trying to hide his amazement "she reached in her pocket and pulled out a small device and tossed it to him. He grabbed it out of midair and looked at it. It was small and white with pink at the sides; it had a small screen and the same buttons as his D-arc.
He looked at her.
"What is it?" he asked looking back at the device "It's called a D-3; it's a digivice like this thing" she said and held up his D-arc, it connects me and Gatomon. She stood up and handed him his D-arc and he gave her the D-3.
"Now tell me" she said looking at him with an intense look and he knew that this was knew reason that he came to see her "what did you do back at school, first those digimon show up, then you turn your backpack into a lizard, then that lizard into a bigger lizard" she held up a card and he recognised it as the 'Rookie's Power' card "and you did it with this, how?".
He considered not telling her and trying to forget this whole thing. But something told him he could be truthful with her, so starting at the beginning he told her everything from when her made Guilmon to the battle with Paricitemon.
"So after I woke up the doctor's told me that I had over exerted myself so much my whole body had been weakened" he lifted his arm and squeezed as hard as he could, but it was hardly anything "they told me that if I Bio-merged again I risked doing further damage" he relaxed his hand and looked at her. She had been quiet for the whole story, only offering quiet gasps at some of the more dangerous parts but surprisingly she never asked questions. She just sat and listened. He sat on the desk and closed his eyes for a moment he was exhausted. He had meant to go to bed after checking his cards four times, but Kari arrived just as he was starting the fourth.
Kari looked at him with tears in her eyes "so when you saved us from those digimon you did so knowing the dangers?" he looked at Gigimon then back at Kari. He nodded slowly
"I just couldn't let you get hurt, not while I had the power to help" he stroked Gigimon's head and moved over the desk chair, his legs were starting to hurt and he knew he wouldn't be able to keep up the pretense of being ok anymore. The truth was he felt his whole body ache but he didn't want her feeling like it was her fault. She got up and moved over to him. She knelt in front of him and he looked at her for the first time, she was quite good looking.
"Thank you" she said and hugged him. He was taken by complete surprise and hadn't a clue what to do. He just sat there while she squeezed him. She let go, she stood up and moved towards the door, he tried to follow but his legs just screamed and he fell to his knees. Kari gasped and ran over to him.
"Are you ok?" he crawled onto the bed and his whole body clenched in agony, he ended up bowled over in pain, it was a few minutes before he could move. The pain eventually ebbed away and he was able to lie back on his bed.
"I'm…sorry" he said through gasps "I didn't…want you to...see that" his breathing eased and he sat up straight and felt his body clench again but not so bad. He remembered back to when he had been in hospital.
He had gone through the same thing. According to the doctor's it was because of the intensity of the muscle damage. It was about as bad at a week ago. The pain had ebbed away slowly but it had gone and he knew that he would be fine. He looked at Kari who had been watching him the whole time. She smiled and put her hand on his shoulder.
"Are you going to be ok?" she asked looking at him with concern
"You think you'd be sick of asking that" he smiled and felt his body ache a little less "I'll be fine, I just need a good night's sleep" he felt his head go fuzzy again and had to shake it again to focus.
He turned to see Kari looking at the floor tears in her eyes
"What's wrong?" he asked
"It's just…this is all my fault" she wiped the tears from her eyes "If I hadn't been so surprised by seeing your digimon, I would have been able to help, and you wouldn't have been forced to rescue me" she wiped away her tears and looked at him "how can I ever repay you?" she asked staring at him
"You could stop crying for a start" he said smiling "and you don't have to thank me, I could not have stood by even if you had not been there, if you have to blame someone then blame the Firamon" he looked down to see Gatomon at his feet.
She jumped up and sat on his lap. He looked at her for a moment before she turned and curled up on his lap. He didn't know what to do so he did what he's normally do if a cat jumped on his lap, he stroked her behind the ear and quite amusingly she sat and purred.
They sat in silence for a few minutes with only the sounds of Gatomon purring. Takato didn't feel as tired as he sat and stroke the cat like digimon and Kari sat and smiled at the digimon. He liked Gatomon, while he would always love Gigimon like a brother his scaly skin wasn't very soft, while Gatomon's fur was lovely and sort. Eventually Gatomon stood and walked over to Kari's backpack, she dragged it over to her.
"As much as I hate going in this thing its time we set out Kari, the others will be worried" Gatomon said getting into the backpack.
"What others?" the voice emanated from Gigimon, who had spent the whole time hiding around the corner of the bed.
"The other digidestened" Gatomon said with a touch of irritation like she expected him to already know the answer "you didn't think Kari and me were the only ones here?" Kari lifted the backpack and put it on her shoulder.
"Gatomon's right we should go" she hugged Takato again before walking to the door and stopping "will you be I school tomorrow?" she asked he hand on the handle.
Takato thought for a second before deciding to go with the truth.
"No" he said looking down "it will be a couple of days before I'm strong enough, I kinda set back my recovery" he looked at her and wondered what she was thinking.
"Ok, I'll see you again soon Takato" and opened the door leaving before he could reply. He sat on the bed for a few minute before lying down next to Gigimon and closing his eyes to sleep.