Takato was left standing there, holding his hand that still tingled with pain. Guilmon relaxed, then rushed over to him.
"Takato?" he said worriedly to his partner.
"I'm alright Guilmon, or I will be," Takato replied, holding back his whimpers of pain. He bent down to Guilmon's level, then patted him on his back, "You did well, you blitzed him with one attack," Takato said encouragingly. Then he walked over to where his digivice lay idly on the floor.
"But I didn't, I couldn't even protect you," Guilmon replied, he was very disappointed in himself. He followed Takato to where he now stood. "What kind of partner can't even protect his tamer?" he said softly.
"And what kind of tamer can't hold onto his digivice?" Takato replied, he leant over and picked up the red rimmed device from the ground. It wasn't scratched, not even a dent. He placed it in his pocket, and zipped it shut.
"Come on Guilmon, let's go home," Takato said softly. He began walking, Guilmon waited, just staring nonchalantly at the floor, the jerked into movement and followed his partner.
"You aren't taking what that kid said seriously are you?" Guilmon asked.
"No, I don't think we rely on my digivice at all, I mean you got rid of him in one attack. But one thing he said is just sticking in my head. You aren't my pet Guilmon, but I treat you like that. I tell you what to do, and when to do it. well, um, I'm sorry boy, I'm sorry," Takato said, he was ashamed of himself, and was full of remorse.
"I didn't ever think of you like that Takato, I thought you were looking out for me… and I'm glad for it," Guilmon replied.
"Well, I think from now on, I'm not going to call you 'boy' anymore."
"Then what will you call me?" Guilmon asked.
"I don't know, I'll think of something," Takato said, a smile finally coming to his face.
"Alright, how about a race, first one home wins?" Guilmon said playfully. He ran off down the path, Takato shook off the last of his self pity, then followed behind him, "Guilmon wait, you don't know where home is!" Takato yelled as he raced after him.
Guilmon reached the end of the park pathway, and waited for Takato to arrive. He ran and slowed as he neared Guilmon then stopped beside him,
"What's up?" he asked.
"Nothing, I just thought I should wait for you instead of running rampant through the streets."
"Oh, well, I guess we'd better just run anyway, I'm an hour late, so I'll be lucky if my mom doesn't ground me. Just stick near me, and don't stop for any reason."
"Okay, I think I can handle that." They returned to their running pace, and stormed through the streets. Getting around people was not really hard because no one really felt like standing in the way of a five foot, red dinosaur. They made It into Takato's street, then headed down an alley and eventually made it to the side entrance to Takato's home. Henry wasn't there, so Takato suspected he would be inside.
"Alright, you'll have to wait here b-- Guilmon," Takato stumbled.
"Takato, please don't worry about it, I don't mind."
"No, you deserve better. But you'll have to wait here, I need to think of a way to get you up into my room."
"Okay, I'll be quiet too."
"Good thinking," Takato replied. He continued down the short stretch of the alley that remained, then turned left and walked out of Guilmon's sight. Takato opened the door to the bakery, quickly placed his injured hand in his pocket, and crept in.
"Takato!" Mrs Matsuda screeched.
"Hi mom, I'm, uh, sorry I'm late."
"You'd better be, I told you to be home an hour ago," she continued her ranting, turning a slight shade of red.
"Go easy on him dear, he is only fifteen, he needs to have some fun too," Mr Matsuda reasoned as he walked into the room.
"But he also needs to pass school so he can make something of himself one day," she replied turning to her husband. At that point Henry burst in through the door, Terriermon gripped in his arms,
"Hi Mrs Matsuda, don't be too hard on Takato, it was my fault he was late. We were going to come here to study together, but we needed to go by my apartment to pick up some math books," he explained. Takato turned to Henry, wide-eyed, and surprised at his sudden appearance, even if it was saving his hide.
"Oh, well I suppose that's okay, just next time call me, you could have just stayed there," she responded, now smiling at the thought her son had actually taken some initiative toward his education.
"We're gonna go up to my room now mom, call me when dinners ready."
"Okay, and Henry, you're welcome to stay for dinner."
"Oh, that would be great, I'll have to call my dad first though."
"Well, Takato can help you with that, you two study hard now," she said, then returned to rolling her pastry. Takato and Henry, with Terriermon in hand, walked out back, and then ascended the stairs and entered Takato's room. Henry took a seat on Takato's bed and let Terriermon loose, but Takato remained standing.
"Hey Henry, thanks for the quick save back there, mom was about to grill me bad," Takato said, voice full of appreciation.
"I don't know why you say she's so hard on you, she's always so nice to me," Henry explained.
"Sure, try living with her," Takato replied.
"So where were you, and where is Guilmon?" Henry asked.
"He's down in the alley, I'll explain it when we get him up here."
"Here's a question, exactly how do you plan to get him up here?" Terriermon asked in a rather impolite tone.
"He has a point, even if he made it in a rude way, how do you plan to get him up here?" Henry asked.
"I hadn't really thought about it, I mean he can't walk through the front door. Man, this would be so much easier if he could just fly," Takato said in annoyance. Henry walked over to Takato's desk and looked down,
"I think you're neglecting the fact that he can fly," Henry replied in a know-it-all tone, he handed Takato one of the cards from his desk.
"Of course, I don't know why I didn't think of that," Takato replied. He walked over to his window and slid it open, "Guilmon, get ready," he announced as quietly as possible, this was not something he wanted his parents to see. He took his hand out of his pocket and held onto the card while he got his digivice with the other. He readied the card, and his digivice positioning both of them in his hands so that he could swipe the card, "Digimodify… Hyper wing activate!" he announced assertively. The glowing white wings appeared on Guilmon's back, and he lifted himself up to Takato's window, it was then they realised the flaw in their plan. Guilmon was a little bigger than they had anticipated, and as a result he was stuck.
"Takatomon, help, I'm stuck," he said helplessly.
"I realise that, just hold on, we'll get you in here," Takato replied. He took one arm, Henry took the other, and together they pulled. The had to wrench hard to get him in, and when they did so all three fell to the ground creating a rather loud crash, especially for two boys that were supposed to be studying math.
"Oh man, I hope my parents didn't here that," Takato said.
"Yeah, especially because now that he's in here, we have nowhere to put him," Terriermon added.
"You know, sometimes you can be just so helpful," Henry said sarcastically.
"Don't worry, I know," Terriermon replied, completely ignoring the sarcasm.
"So this is your room. Wow, you have a lot more stuff than I do," Guilmon said in amazement as he looked around.
"Yeah, but not if my mom gets her way," Takato replied, neglecting the fact that Guilmon would have no clue what he was on about. Henry was also having a look around, mostly at the drawings Takato had done.
"Hey, what happened to your hand?," he asked as he paged through a sketch pad of Takato's.
"Oh, we were attacked, we need to talk about this, all three of us." Takato said seriously, watching Guilmon closely as he wandered around his Takato's room, he wasn't really listening to Henry.
"Okay, why don't you tell me now though, Rika probably isn't home yet, her school makes them stay back to do homework, or if you really want to wait you could always teach me to draw, you're pretty good."
"Hey, how did you know?" he replied, revoking his gaze from Guilmon and looking over to Henry. It was then he realised exactly what he had sketched in that particular pad. The first few pages were of digimon, but the last two were different, they were of a girl. But it was not just any girl, it was Rika. Takato dashed over to Henry and wrentched the sketchpad away with his bad hand, wincing as he took it.
"Hey, that didn't look like a digimon," Henry said as Takato grabbed it out of his hands.
"Oh, really, must have been one of my worse drawings," Takato said nervously.
"But Takato, it could have been one of your drawings of--" Guilmon started but was interrupted by Takato,
"Guilmon, how about some bread?" he said glaring at his digimon.
"Ooh, bread!" he replied, completely forgetting about the drawings. He had watched Takato complete them one afternoon while he was with Guilmon at the shed. Takato was bored and decided to sketch something because there was not much to do as it was raining that day. he had just met Guilmon, and since he had a partner now he wanted to draw something different. That's when he decided to draw her, ever since the dream he had been oddly drawn to her.
"Come on, let me see it, I won't laugh," Henry replied, knowing full well that it was not a bad drawing, rather something Takato was embarrassed about.
"Fine," he replied unwillingly and handed Henry the sketchpad. He flipped through the pages until he reached the drawing.
"Rika," he said quietly.
"Yeah, I did it one day, I don't know why."
"This is good Takato, really good. But why Rika?" he asked, trying to treat the subject delicately. He could see through the corner of his eye that Terriermon was about to say something so he lifted his hand signalling him not to, he did it out of Takato's line of sight. Henry was not trying to be mean, he just did not want Terriermon to accidentally say something derogatory and place more pressure on Takato.
"I guess I like her… I don't know, can we not talk about it now?" Takato asked quietly, he was not sure how he felt, so talking about it would just confuse him.
"That's okay, here," he said closing the sketchpad and handing it back to Takato, "And if you do wanna talk, just say so."
"Thanks, but I dunno about that, I think it was just boredom," he said, trying to cover it all up, but it wasn't very convincing. Henry felt he should change the subject,
"So I suppose this attack is why you turned up so late, huh?" he asked.
"Yeah, I didn't like that boy, he's not as nice as you are Henry," Guilmon replied, becoming suddenly side tracked from his rummaging in Takato's cupboard by Henry's question. Henry smiled.
"Boy?" Henry asked, now rather confused.
"It's a long story, but I suppose I can tell you now. We were on our way home from our shed, but once we got onto the street Kazu was nearby, so we had to dive into some bushes and take a detour through the park. We started walking but it got kinda dark, and we ended up getting very lost. For a park of that size I don't know how we managed it, but we did. It was really dark, and we ended up at a dead end. We were about to head back when this weird guy shows up, he says that he wants to talk, but took every chance to start a fight."
"I would have though he'd have been more interested in the red dinosaur standing next to you," Terriermon said jokingly.
"That's the weird part, he knew all about digimon being real. But that's just the start of it all - he had a digimon. He was a tamer," Takato started, but stopped awaiting Henry's reply.
"Yeah, and he wasn't very nice either," Guilmon added.
"Well I suppose there could be more of us, we don't even know why we get to have digimon, so why not."
"Well I hope any more that come are nicer than he was," Guilmon commented.
"So do I, that really hurt," Takato said looking at his injured hand.
"Yeah, what happened there?" Henry asked.
"He managed to start that fight he was so eager for. He said that I was the one who wanted to fight, then called his digimon - I think he called it Belluamon or something. Then he tells him to attack us. I tried to play a speed card to give Guilmon the upper hand, but he threw a fireball at my digivice. But after that Guilmon got him for me. Then he just leaves."
"Yeah, but too late," Guilmon said, disappointed in himself.
"I told you, you did your best, it was my fault," Takato replied leaning down to Guilmon's level.
"That's pretty new. I suppose Rika might get through to this guy," Henry suggested.
"I don't know, with Rika I always sensed some kind of a will to change, but this guy seemed really happy like that. Worse off, he's coming back for more."
"In that case maybe we should warn Rika about him."
"Yeah, we'll do it when you phone your dad," Takato replied looking up at Henry.
"Takato?" Guilmon said softly.
"Yeah boy?" Takato said looking back down at Guilmon, not realising what he was saying until he had said it.
"Can I have that bread now?" Guilmon continued.
"Sure thing, uh, buddy," Takato answered.
"Buddy?" Henry replied almost laughing.
"Well it's better than boy, he's not my pet or something," Takato snapped.
"Hold up, I think I missed something," Henry replied defensively.
"Yeah, I think I was with you," Terriermon added.
"I do, I didn't notice it till that guy said something, but I treat Guilmon like a pet," Takato said quietly.
"I don't think so. Okay, maybe a little, but that's just because sometimes he needs it. He's still young, y'know?"
"Yeah, well maybe I shouldn't, so I'm not going to," Takato replied, somewhat childishly.
"Okay, but how about we sort out phoning Rika, and my dad?" Henry suggested.
"Okay, the phone is down stairs. Guilmon, um, do you mind waiting here?" Takato asked.
"No, I wanna look through more of your things, you have so many!"
"Okay," Takato chuckled. He and Henry left the room and descended the stairs.
They arrived at the hallway at the bottom of the stairs and Takato pointed to the phone, "It's in there," he said.
"Right, I won't be long," Henry replied. Takato continued straight across the hallway and into the pantry. He grabbed an armful of bread and pastries and headed back up the stairs. He returned to his room, and lay the bread down on his bed. Guilmon was there within the second it had made contact with the covers, and was waiting for Takato to give him the go ahead.
"Okay, you guys can dig in," he said. Guilmon grabbed a few pieces, Terriermon took a few, but Takato only took one. He ate it slowly and graciously, a contrast to the two digimon. Henry soon appeared in the doorway and sat on the bed. He grabbed a Danish and took a bite, swallowed, then spoke, "My dad said it's fine if I stay the night, rather that walking home late tonight."
"Yeah, that is a better idea," Takato replied, "But what did Rika say?" he continued.
"She wasn't there, I spoke to her grandmother so I couldn't leave a message, but she is gonna call us back."
"Any idea when that's gonna be?"
"Nope, her she didn't say where she was, just that she would get her to call us back, and then hung up."
"Well this is great, oh well, I suppose we just wait."
*******A modelling agency*******
"Why do I have to do this?" Rika asked in a very disapproving tone. Her mother had decided to retry the modelling session with Rika, and it was not going well. This time she was in an even flashier dress. It was pink again, but lace arrangements on either sleeve, came down to her knees, after multiple layers of fabric arrayed downward, the top of which had a floral pattern on it. she was also wearing makeup, but not as much as her mother had wanted. Her hair hanging down and had not been styled yet.
"Because, you're such a pretty girl, but you wear such - how should I say this - 'unfeminine' clothing," her mother replied in her usual bimbo-like tone. Rika cringed, she resented the dress, she resented the makeup, but most of all she resented being called a 'pretty girl'.
"At least people will take me seriously in what I wear," she snapped.
"There's no need to get aggressive, I just want to help you. Who knows, maybe someday you'll be as famous as I am," Rika's mother was now getting star struck over herself.
"Well mother," Rika started harshly, brining her mother right back down to earth, "Did it ever occur to you that I don't want to be like you?" she finished. Rika's mom was taken back by the comment, she did not know quite what to say.
"Well, at least think of the money. You can buy all of those silly cards that you like," she replied, trying to level with Rika. But she had made her final mistake, and her cause was now a lost one.
"Why do you do that? You always insult what I like. It may be stupid to you, but it means something to me! You never take any interest in what I do, you just… you just…" Rika yelled, unable to finish because of the tears that were now falling down her face. "I'm outta here. Talk to me when you are interested in having a daughter, and not a miniature version of yourself." Rika stood up and stormed out of the room. She was heading for the exit of the building, but reconsidered not wanting anyone to see her in her current state. She ran into the change room she had previously used and slammed the door. Her mother had tried to follow her, but had failed.
Rika entered the room, locked the door, and ran to the rear of the room where her trademarked outfit waited. The ripped off the dress as quickly as she could and redressed in her usual clothes. She walked over to the mirror and wiped off all the makeup, but could not do her hair. She put on her belt and headed for the door, but reconsidered knowing that her mother would be waiting to stop her. She headed over to the back of the room again and slid open a window. She battled to fit through it, but managed. The landed on the floor with a thud, but still somewhat gracefully. She wiped away the last of her tears and headed off down the road. She did not know where to go, but it was definitely not going to be home.
The streets were relatively quiet, but the evening air was cold. She could feel it biting away at her hands, but still the thought of going home did not cross her mind. She turned into a small side street until she realised that it was barricaded by a wire fence. She didn't care, rather she planned to climb over it. she stopped to catch her breath before attempting the climb. In the distance she heard footsteps, she darted her head round, but there was no one there. "Renamon," she called quietly. The fox digimon appeared before her, "Yes Rika?" she answered.
"There's someone here, I can feel it. Don't go to far," she replied quietly.
"Of course," Renamon acknowledged. She disappeared again, and waited on the rooftop of a nearby building. Rika then heard the footsteps again.
"Alright, no games, show yourself!" she commanded loudly. Sure enough the dark haired boy came around from the corner and into the alley. He stood soundlessly, awaiting her next response.
"Well, aren't we just the stalker?" she said mockingly.
"I haven't done anything, what makes you say that?" he asked self-righteously.
"Look buddy, I have no time for your little games, so why don't you go find someone who cares?" Rika said coldly.
"Good, because I do not intend on playing any games. All I want is to talk. But you aren't one for talking are you?" he said smugly.
"You looking for a fight? Because I've had a really bad day and I really need to let loose."
"As you wish, I must say though, for a bunch that know so little about this situation you and your friends do love to fight," he commented.
"My friends? Oh you know what, I. Don't. Care."
"Belluamon, why don't we teach this girl some manners?" he said to what seemed to be the darkness. Sure enough the dark digimon appeared from the shadows.
"So you have a little friend, pathetic. Renamon, walk all over him," she said confidently. Renamon jumped down from the rooftops and readied herself for combat,
"As you wish Rika," she replied. She jumped high into the air and spread her arms, "DIAMOND STORM!" she yelled. The tiny particles appeared and rained down upon the black dragon-like monster.
"FIREJET!" it yelled sending forth a stream of constant flame toward the air raid. Both attacks dissipated.
"What, am I supposed to be scared?" Rika said confidently. She pulled a card from her pouch, and readied her digivice, "Digimodify… Power activate!" Renamon glowed as the new strength absorbed into her body.
"Playing cards are we now? Well then, I'll have to oblige," the boy said smugly. He pulled a digivice of his own from his pocket. It was the same as the tamers', but his was a deep shade of purple, similar to that of his digimon. He then pulled a card from the same pocket, it did not look like one Rika had seen before, but it was dark so she could not be sure, "Digimodify… Afflict activate!" he announced. a black stream materialized from his digimon's chest and headed for Renamon. It connected with her, and soon began to glow a dark light. Renamon could feel her strength being sapped away, and soon she felt incredibly weak. The black stream disappeared, and the yellow fox fell to the ground.
"Renamon!" Rika yelled running to her fallen digimon.
"Ha, and I'm the pathetic one. That was all too easy."
"How about you shut your mouth. I'll show you the meaning of pathetic," Rika yelled. She readied a digivolution card, but the boy was one step ahead of her and Belluamon gave Rika the same treatment that Takato had received. Rika yelled in pain, then the boy approached her.
"Just like him, you really must learn to be independent of these devices," he chuckled smugly. Rika just groaned. "Well, I must be off, but before I go I think I might just show you how your powerless digimon feels," he announced. he readied another card.
"What re you doing?" she asked.
"Just a little card, don't worry, a card game can't hurt you can it?" he said rhetorically. He swiped the card, "Digimodify… soul scourge activate." A dark aura erupted around Rika, and she could now feel her strength leeching away.
"Rika!" Renamon said worriedly. Rika fell to the ground and the aura disappeared.
"Oh, I guess it can hurt you," he chuckled.
"Who are you?" Rika whispered hoarsely with the last of her strength.
"I am Alex. A name you would do well to remember, because I'll be back to finish you off later," he replied. He turned away from her and began walking away. Belluamon followed and soon they were out of sight. Rika lay there helpless, Renamon the same. They could barely move, Rika could feel herself getting tired, and soon her head fell to the ground, and she was unconscious.
There ya go, I finally finished off part 2. sorry it took so long, biut TBW (The Beast Within – I abbreviate it) is taking a lot of thought and some proof reading at the moment. But I hope it was good, and that you liked it. I am drawing fanart now too, so that takes up some of my time. I will be uploading it, and included will be a drawing of Alex so all of you can see him, seeing as my description is a little lacking in greatness. Please R & R, I really need the feedback on this one!!! And TBW part 11 is coming soon!!!