Digimon Tamers: Digital Princess
Chapter 3: Meeting Her
Shinjuku Train Station
17-year-old Alyssa Watanabe looked up at the golden sun, casting orange rays as it surrendered to the glowing moon. She stepped out of the train, dragging her heavy luggage behind her. The teenage girl was exceptionally beautiful, even by human standards. She had wavy, elbow-length, chestnut brown locks that framed her face, drawing attention to her warm amber eyes. But there was something different about those eyes. They had lost their warm twinkle. In their place was a tired, weary look.
"Alyssa, are you okay?" A tiny voice said. The supposed stuffed animal perched on top of her luggage spoke. Alyssa snuck off to a corner where nobody could see her and crouched down so she was at eye-level with her partner. The all-white Terriermon with purple butterfly wings stared back at her with purple eyes.
"I'm okay, Ariamon."She replied, patting the dog-rabbit's head. She liked the way her partner actually cared for her, showing concern in even the smallest ways.
"Then why the face?" Ariamon asked.
"An old friend. He still lives here and is actually one of the Tamers..." She replied, her voice drifting away after the last part.
"Then you can see him again! Well, whoever he is at least." Ariamon replied in a chipper voice but she could tell her tamers thoughts were far away. She followed Alyssa's eyes, which had drifted to a really tall building a few blocks away. It looked like an apartment building. Suddenly, she broke her gaze, the pep returning to her face.
"We better go before Minami calls me and gets grumpy." She said then she dragged her bag away and Ariamon along with it, zipping in and out of the throng of people, barely slowing down. Ariamon held on to the handle for her dear life, well it was either that or get crushed by moving feet.
Nonaka Residence
"RIINGGGG!RIIINNNGGGG!" A loud ring roared through the Nonaka family's quiet house. Rumiko groaned as she threw her covers off and bolted to the hallway to answer the annoying caller who just had to disrupt her beauty sleep.
"Hello? Nonaka Residence. This is Rumiko speaking." She said as she faked a chipper voice to the caller on the other end.
"Good Morning Mrs. Nonaka! This is Jeri. I just called to tell Rika that we were supposed to meet at the park in about 20 minutes. If you don't mid Mrs. Nonaka, I have to go myself." Jeri said in a real happy tone. Rumiko sighed. Usually, she would be happy that Rika had friends but they were starting to get annoying at times.
"I'll wake her up Jeri. Good bye." Rumiko replied.
"Goodbye!" Jeri said then Rumiko hung up the phone and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes.
"Rika! It's already 6:30 and you're supposed to meet your friends in 30 minutes." She shouted from the silent hallway of their giant Japanese inspired house.
"Good Morning, dear." Seiko greeted her daughter as Rumiko sat down on the dining table. She entered the kitchen taking out a bowl of oatmeal for Rumiko and getting ready to make waffles for Rika and herself.
"Good Morning, mother."Rumiko muttered. Seiko smiled. "Like mother like daughter, as always."
"Rika, dear! Time to get up!" Seiko shouted again. She heard her granddaughter groan as always every time she was told to wake up.
Rika groaned again then finally cracked her lilac eyes open. They drifted over to the digital clock on her study table near her bed. It flashed 6:45 in bright red, she only had 15 minutes left until the others left for the skating rink.
"SHOOT!" Rika said as she stood up hurriedly to put on clothes. She slid her wooden closet open and took out whatever she could grab first. She slipped on a pair of dark skinny jeans and a black shirt with a broken heart print on the front. Her spiky red hair stayed in it's usual ponytail because she lacked time to do anything else with it. Her new red sneakers came on last as she bolted out of the house to meet her fellow tamers in the park.
"Bye Mom! Bye Grandma!" She yelled as she ran down the street towards the park.
Wong Residence
Henry looked out the window to the apartment building a few blocks away where Alyssa used to live about a decade ago. His mother looked at him worriedly. As far as she knew, all he was going to do was meet a young tamer and train with her.
"Anything wrong Henry?" She asked him. He just shook his head and continued to eat his breakfast silently. Mrs. Wong sighed as she took a seat beside her son. Rinchei and Jaarin had already moved out so Mrs. Wong only had Henry and Suzie left to take care of.
"It's been over a decade since I've last seen her. I wonder if she still remembers me." He told his mom, absent-mindedly forgetting to say Alyssa's name. Alyssa had been his best friend in martial arts camp and as Terriermon had guessed before she was also his first crush, something he could never deny.
"Who?" Mrs. Wong asked, concerned that her own son might be lovesick.
"Alyssa." He responded flatly, scooping another bowl of cereal into his mouth. Mrs. Wong tapped her finger against her chin trying to remember an Alyssas she met over the years, then her eyes fell on one of Henry's martial arts camp medals.
"Oh! I remember her. She was Eric Watanabe's daughter, right? She was very pretty! No wonder you had a crush on her!" Mrs. Wong said, recalling Henry's best friend. She was very pretty, especially those amber eyes! She thought, then she looked over at Henry, whose ears had turned somewhat pinkish.
"Heeennnnrrryyyy hhhhasss a ccccrrrussshhh!"Someone shout-sang through the house. Both mother and son looked back to see Suzie singing while dancing with a nauseous Lopmon who looked like she might have to use the current bathroom Terriermon was hogging. Henry sighed, wondering how he managed to live through this weirdness for the past 17 years of his life.
"Who was singing? My ears are bleeding!" Terriermon complained as he stepped out of the shower. Lopmon ran past him, coughing up another hairball. Suzie scolded Terriermon shouting: "If you think you're so better than me, then why was I voted "Best Singer" in class?" Henry slipped out of the kitchen while his mother was busy trying to stop Suzie from having another fit.
He locked the door to his room and inserted a key to the locked drawer of his computer table. His dad once asked him about that but Henry was able to persuade him that it was just a bunch of junk, though it actually held one of Henry's secret possessions. He slid the drawer out and caught hold of his sheathed dagger, a parting gift from Alyssa before she moved to Tokyo.
The bronze dagger had an eagle and a lightning bolt engraved on one side and a saying in Mandarin on the other side: Bravery is measured not through strength or power but through heart and spirit. He closed his eyes recalling the day he had first received it.
FLASHBACK...(Storyteller's POV)
"Henry?" 7-year old Alyssa asked the blue-haired boy seated next to her. They were both leaning against one of the old cherry blossom trees in the camp. The sun was just setting but you could already make out the stars that usually lit up the midnight blue sky. The sun and moon looked like they were battling against each other as the sky exploded into different colors. It wasn't the type of sky you used to give bad news but Alyssa had no choice.
"What?" Henry asked rather impatiently.
"My dad said we were moving to my grandma's house in Tokyo." She said sadly. When she looked to her right, she saw that Henry's usually intelligent gray eyes had darkened to a sad twinkle. It was one of those signs that Henry was somewhat depressed.
"Why do you have to move?" He asked, somewhat depressed. Alyssa looked away. She couldn't tell him her true identity especially now that she knew he was destined to become a Tamer. It wouldn't be safe for him under every circumstance.
"He just said that were moving to Tokyo." She lied to him. Alyssa hated lying to him but she had no choice. They both fell silent for a moment until Alyssa took out a sheathed dagger from her bag. She turned it around offering the handle to Henry who stared at her in amazement.
"Bravery is measured not through strength or power but through heart and spirit." She said as Henry took the dagger, unsheathing it and reading the Mandarin inscription on the back of the sword.
"Henry, can you promise me something?" She asked him.
"Promise what?" He asked her. Alyssa placed her hand on top of his right hand which was holding the dagger. I wasn't sure whose face was redder Henry's or Alyssa's but both were blushing pink
"Promise me that the next time we'll see each other we'll still be friends. I don't care if were already 70 years old." She pleaded with him. Her amber eyes locked onto his grey ones. Henry returned the gaze for a while then broke it by saying:"I promise". Alyssa cracked a smile as Henry said it then she gave Henry something that he did not expect at that time. She kissed him on the cheek then grabbed her bag and raced down the hill.
"RACE YA!" She called then Henry bolted down the hill, trying to catch up with her as she bolted for the Pavillion, where the other campers were filing in for dinner.
End of Flashback...
"Can I still keep my promise?" Henry thought as he slid the dagger into his bag, sticking it in the secret pocket his uncle had told him about. Alyssa had a very sharp eye. She was able to notice things without really trying. He was kind of hoping she would actually remember him. He was deep in thought, well until Suzie's shrill voice knocked him out of it: "HENRY! Let's go!" He jumped then walked out of his room.
Henry was almost 18 years old while Suzie was turning 14 in 2 months. She had grown out of her habit of playing"Pwincess Pwetty Pants" and started bossing her older brother around. Normally, Henry would tell her that he was older but he wasn't in the mood. She was in the middle of texting Jeri that they'd be arriving in a while as soon as Henry would get out of his room.
"I'm done." Henry said as he entered the living room to find his sister spritzing the entire room with perfume. He gagged as he opened the door letting the perfume go out of the door.
"About time bro. Let's go before my perfume fades."She told him.
"I doubt it will."He said. Suzie looked like she wanted to strangle him but she just kept quiet and walked ahead, simply furious why boys were like that.
"Suzie, you know the elevator's the other way right?" Henry called out. Suzie spun around while Henry chuckled as Suzie crashed into a janitor and kept on walking even though she was covered in toilet paper.
Rika, Kazu, Kenta, Jeri, and Takato were already waiting for him once they got there. The digimon were in Guilmon's hideout except for Renamon who was still at Hypnos.
"Is everyone here?" Jeri asked.
"Let's see there's Gogglehead, the stupid twins, me, you, Henry, and Suzie. Ai and Mako are in Hong Kong right now and Ryo's no where to be found."Rika said flatly. Then the driver's window rolled down and Ryo stuck his head out.
"Hey Pumpkin." He called sweetly.
"Akiyama, shut up or I will use you as my personal punching bag. Got it?" She warned then entered the van. Ryo was driving this time, seeing as Takato had stayed up too late last night and was still sleepy. Everyone was silent as they drove to West Shinjuku except for Kazu and Kenta who were debating on whether Omnimon was more powerful than Imperialdramon.
Silver Dragon Ice Skating Rink
"Thank God." Jeri said as she stpped out of the van. Kazu and Kenta were driving her nuts so much she wanted to kiss the ground but refrained from doing so since it looked kind of dirty.
"So where to next?" Henry asked. Rika took out a small piece of paper from her jacket pocket. Jeri leaned over her shoulder and saw a short note written in dainty purple script.
Rika,
We're in Practice Rink No. 3. Bring a jacket. It's gonna be really cold.
xoxo, Alyssa
"Follow me." Rika said then she walked ahead. The skating rink was gigantic. It was shaped like a giant diamond. There were 3 big skating rinks used mostly for competitions or skating exhibits and 15 smaller ones used for practices, private events like parties, and public usage but today the entire skating rink was packed. Everyone groaned once we saw the long line that stretched all the way to the parking lot but Rika just walked up to the guards and took out a simple gray card. It was just a plain gray card but the guards were acting like it was such a big deal. They bowed to Rika and hurriedly let all of us in despite the complaints of the people in line.
"How did you do that?" Suzie asked in wonder and awe.
"Alyssa's dad owns this entire place. For short, he's my uncle and the gray card is kind of like a VIP pass." She continued as we walked then she suddenly stopped in front of a giant set of double doors. A bronze number 3 was hung over the door.
She pushed it open and a heavenly sight was revealed to them. For a practice rink, it was huge. Snowflakes hung from the ceiling using invisible thread so it looked like it was snowing while a lone skater spun, lept, and twirled on the ice with the grace of a swan and the precision of an archer to the beat of a tango song that was playing through invisible speakers built-in the wall.
Rika bounded down the stairs taking two at a time, with all of us chasing after her. The song stopped and the skater glided toward Rika and hugged her tightly. Rika said something and both of them burst out laughing. Suzie's mouth dropped open as she saw Rika's cousin look at them.
"EHHMAAGGAWWDDD!" Suzie screamed then bounded down the rest of the stairs and hugged the girl. She was surprisd at first but then returned the hug.
"Guys, this is Alyssa. 'Lyss, this is Gogglehead, Hero Boy, Stupid Twins No.1 and 2, Wong, and Jeri." Rika introduced and the girl sighed.
"Rika, real names please."Alyssa asked.
"Fine. This is Takato Matsuki, Ryo Akiyama, Kazu, Kenta Kitagawa, Jeri, and Henry Wong." She plainly stated pointing of each of us. Alyssa widened her amber eyes at the mention of Henry's , she squinted them as if looking for something. Her eyes landed on the dagger which he discreetly strapped to his thigh. There was only one way to know of this was really him.
In a second, she grabbed her own dagger from her cropped leather jacket and stabbed Henry with cat-like grace. Henry caught the strike in his hilt and Alyssa grinned. It was him.
"Not bad." She commented. "Good to see you again, Henry." She sheathed the blade while the others stared at them. Rika smiled smugly as if she knew about this.
"You as well." He commented then grinned. You hardly saw old friends again, let alone old crushes, but maybe that was the true beauty of fate.
