Chapter 3
Max obviously saw the panicked expression plastered across my face.
"Dude, don't freak out on me!"
Yeah right.
"Aaaaaagggghhhhh! Dude! How am I not supposed to freak out right now? I'm covered in fur! FUR! I only have 3 fingers now, I have a freaking tail, and I'm pretty sure the only way I can be identified as a guy is by my voice! What the hell? What the hell? What am I gonna…"
I was cut short of my rant by a hard slap across my face, snapping me out of my hysteria.
"Ow," I said, rubbing the spot where the medicine was administered.
"You can NOT freak out on me right now," Max said with a glare at me. "At the very least, you don't have control over your abilities right now and can trigger them without meaning to. For all we know, you could've launched a diamond storm at me. I woulda died. You can freak out all you want once you can control your powers. Control first, panic later."
My eyes went wide with panic again. "Oh, my, god. I can do a Diamo…"
I was cut off again as this time he had clamped a hand around my mouth. Or muzzle. Hmmm.
"Don't say that. Like I said, even that could accidentally set it off. Just relax, stay calm, and for god's sake don't say any of Renamon's attacks. Okay?"
I nodded my head, seeing as he still had a vice grip on my jaw. He released my mou…, uh, muzzle, and I got up and walked to the kitchen to get a glass of water. With any luck it'd drain out the caffeine from that soda I had earlier. If it was even still in my system. As I was working that problem through my brain, I had reached for a glass but wasn't paying any attention. I had grabbed the glass with the tips of my fingers, which now had claws. The sound of breaking glass brought me back from my current state. Crap, I thought. I gotta be more careful now. I reached for another glass, keeping my claws out of the way this time. I pushed the glass against the water dispenser on the fridge. You always had to push a little to get it to work, and again I reacted without thinking. SMASH!
Another two glasses later, Max finally took down a metal cup and filled it for me.
"Thanks," I said sheepishly. "I don't know my own strengths."
He shrugged, and got a broom to sweep up the glass. I wanted to do it, I felt bad. But I'd probably smash the counters and dent the floor if I tried. I sighed and held the cool glass to my forehead as I tried to work through the facts. Max finished sweeping and joined me on the barstool next to mine. Still holding the glass to my forehead, I half opened an eye and looked over at him. He seemed to be eyeing me up, critiquing my new form. I didn't blame him; I'd do the same thing in the mirror later. I sighed again, and spoke calmly for the first time since the change.
"Okay, so, after a few mental and bodily checks, I have decided I am fully digimon. I have no more… human left. Don't know if I will ever look human again. I know I will never be human again. Not really too bad of a thing, Renamon is my favorite digimon after all. I probably have special attacks; don't know if they're the same as the one in the show. I am blue after all, and she was yellow. My mind seems the same, still as slow and nonfunctional as ever. Some things never change. And I guess that I won't be able to go to work tomorrow, meaning Killer now has to find another victim. As a matter of fact, the only downside I see is that now I have to figure out how to play video games with only 3 fingers." I smiled at my friend beside me. "What do you think? I'm not the only one who has to live with this. You have to live with me too. So? Spill it."
Max regarded me for a moment, then sighed much the same way I had a moment ago. "Well, I guess it isn't so bad. Money'll be a bit tight, but I think we can manage. We might even be able to dress you up and get you a heavy lifting job, if it comes to that. I mean, how often do you get to see a Renamon in real life? Much or less every day, if you really can't change back. I suppose not much of our lives changes at all. Well, except for one thing. We need to train you."
After a withering glance at him, Max held up his hands in a sign of surrender.
"No, no no. Not like that. I mean, get you used to your abilities. Like I said, I don't want an accidental diamond storm breaking even more glasses. Or me, should you get frustrated. Plus, we might someday making good on that promise, having to fight the D-Reaper. So, training, as in learning how to fight, and well. K? Not like a dog. Unless…" He paused, a fiendish grin growing on his face. "Unless you want a treat."
I gave him a dead serious 'that is so not funny right now' look, which only made him laugh harder. I gave him a slight punch in the shoulder. Or at least, it would have been, had I been human. It actually sent him flying off the bench and onto the floor. He stood up, rubbing his shoulder, and now it was my turn to laugh inappropriately. He punched me in the arm with his good one, and I didn't even feel the impact. This of course, made me laugh harder. As a result, he hit me even harder, with everything he had. I felt a slight thud, but no pain whatsoever. He scowled at me, and eventually I calmed down enough to apologize, sort of. He deserved it, making it out like I'm some sort of pet. After a grouchy apology from him, we both agreed to head outside and relieve our anger on our surroundings. Or training, as he called it.
A few minutes later, I stood by a tree we had in our backyard. Since we lived a good few minutes from town, our backyard bordered a forest and the neighbors lived a good distance away. So, in other words, we could destroy things loudly without bothering anyone or attracting attention. Neither of us went outside much, we opted to play games and talk, so we really didn't have much of a problem busting up the stuff back here. I wanted to test out my strength and speed before trying any kind of special attack, so after examining some particularly tough looking rocks I opted to try punching a small tree near the border; the very one I was standing by. I figured it would hurt, but it seemed like a good way to test just how much stronger I had gotten. Without any further procrastinating, I reared back my fist and smashed it into the wooden obstacle. I fully expected a dent, if that, in the tree and a bruise on my knuckle. My fist connected with the tree, went completely through it, and my momentum caused me to stumble and punch through another tree. And what is more, I felt NO pain. There was some serious power here. I looked over to Max with a huge grin on my face. Max looked as surprised as I was. If I was that strong…
I gave him a fiendish grin and ran as fast as I could from the now fallen trees to him. It was a good couple hundred feet, but I covered it in little over a second. I almost ran into him, but I stopped on a dime a few inches from his face. He almost fell over backward.
"Well, I have super strength, insane speed, and you can add super reflexes to the list, judging by that last second stop." I said, still exhilarated. I wasn't even sweating yet! Though, I honestly had no idea if even could do that anymore… anyway. I had one last thing I wanted to test before I tried any special attacks. Renamon was able to jump up several story buildings in only a few bounds, and I wanted to try it. Just, not so high. I looked over to the roof, which was a good 15 feet off of the ground, and back at Max. He grinned, and nodded. I coiled my legs, gathered my strength, and leapt as hard as I could. 5 feet! 10! 15! 20! 25. Uh oh. 30. 35... 40! I peaked at about 3 times my house's height, and started a freefall.
Crap! I thought as I started to fall back toward the roof. Even with my strength, this is gonna hurt. I panicked and flailed my arms but at the last second before I hit the roof, I felt almost like a primal force. Like it was urging me to do something. I stopped thrashing, righted myself in the air, adjusted my legs, and landed on the roof. Silently. I didn't hear a thud when my feet hit the roof, and a quick glance at Max told me he hadn't either. He was staring at me again, mouth agape. Oh, I could get used to this. I smiled and gestured to him with my chin.
"You're catching flies; you might want to close that."
He snapped his jaw shut quickly. I doubt he'll make fun of me now.
Okay, now was a good time to try out my abilities. I warned Max to stand back; I didn't know how much control I was gonna have over this. Having no idea how to proceed, I mimicked what I saw in Tamers. I jumped, lightly this time, and held my arms out as I called out the name of the attack.
"Diamond Storm!"
Instead of launching a storm of diamonds while hung in midair, however, I simply fell back to the ground heavily, making a loud thud when ii hit.
"Well, that didn't work," I said to Max, disappointment lacing my voice. I looked over at him. "Any ideas?" He seemed thoughtful for a moment, staring off into space. He set like that for a minute before he finally turned back to me.
"Well, I can't think of any ways to trigger a diamond storm, short of pissing you off and running like hell. What did you do when you were falling up there? You seemed pretty panicked until the last second. Then you got this calm look on your face and landed perfectly. Even now, you made a pretty loud thud landing back on the ground. What changed?"
I thought that over for a moment. He was right, I did panic. But it seemed like as soon as I lost control, something was telling me what to do. All I had to do was listen to it. It was like it took control for a brief second, and then left without a trace. I looked over to Max.
"I think I have some kind of instincts almost built in or something. Whether all Renamon have it, or it was that Renamon's training coming back to me, I have no idea. All I know is that when I panicked and lost control, it was almost like it took over and did what I needed to. Then it was gone."
Max nodded, almost as if taking what I said in. He seemed lost in thought again, but seemed to come to a conclusion this time. "I think that those instincts, or whatever they are, are the key. If you let go and let it happen, I think that not only the special attacks, but the fighting skills, reflexes, battle knowledge, and things like that will kick in. All you have to do is just try to direct them and plan ahead. Think about your moves, but let your instincts actually do them. I'm not being very clear; do you understand what I'm saying?"
I cocked my head to the side. I think I got it. I think about doing it, and then my body reacts. I shouldn't try to control every single movement. Almost like a general ordering his troops. Wow, he was good at this stuff. I smiled and nodded. I'm glad I got it so quickly. He looked relieved that I had understood him, any longer and he might have tried to explain again, only confusing me and himself further.
I tried again, this time following Max's advice. I focused on the words, and like magic I jumped up and raised my arms. I shouted the name of the attack as I directed it into the trees I had recently knocked down.
"Diamond Storm!"
I felt power build up around me, and the crystals that had flash-formed around me suddenly became charged with energy. With a final thought, I sent them flying into the bark of the fallen trees, each one imbedding into the wood. A split second later they all detonated at once, completely obliterating all traces that those trees ever existed.
I grinned, quite proud of myself for getting the hang of it. I tried another attack, one that few people who watched the show actually caught.
"Power Paw!"
My entire hand glowed, cloaked in an ethereal blue fire, and I used it to smash into one of the older trees on the border. It stood about 50 feet tall and about 2 feet in diameter. With a loud crack, the mighty tree slowly fell in the direction of the forest, completely cracked through at section I had hit with all of my might. Man that felt good. I looked over at Max, triumphant grin still plastered on my face.
"Much better, where would I be without ya?"
He smiled back. I had said it jokingly, but he knew that I meant every word. "Same here, Ax."
The moment was broken up by a bright ball of light that suddenly appeared in the air above Max's head. No. Way. This couldn't be happening. It slowly drifted down to him, and as soon as it touched the skin of his palm, the glow faded. He looked shocked at first, and then grinned like an idiot. He held the device up to show me. Now I stood in shock. In his hand he held a stark white digivice, which could only mean one thing. Well, this was weird.
