I'm so happy! Last chapter got five reviews, that's a new record! I thanks Tigerblossom, TheVideoGameResearcher, and Nyx The Last Keybearer, i lov Wizardmon, and A hurricane of words for their reviews, really, those made my day. I also thank my friend and beta-reader Casju, for, well, beta-reading (is that even a word?). I'm really sorry for the waiting, I was a bit blocked, I'm not very good with chapters with a lot of dialogue.
Disclaimer: I do NOT own digimon, sadly.
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VI: After the Battle
The trip back to my home was... interesting. Since everyone had their eyes on us, we couldn't just de-evolve there and go home. No, we definitely couldn't do that. So we had to make our way back in digimon form. Not exactly an easy task. After Groundramon's defeat, people had begun popping out of nowhere, and we had to make our way through the crowd; well, over the crowd; jumping five meters high really helps in this kind of circumstances, even if I needed help to do it.
Minutes later, we landed on my house's roof with a soft 'thud'. My room's window had been left open. Mom always does that because my room in the morning, as she says, smells like a tiger.
Zoe and Tommy, who had already regained conscience, were waiting in my rooms, and looked slightly relieved when we slid through the window. Once we were outside, I returned to my digitalized state, and inmediately felt better. I wasn't sure about how I had managed to stay as Agunimon that long, after that beating I mean.
"You made it!" Tommy exclaimed. He got up and hugged me, maybe a little to hard for my taste.
"No, don't, Tommyeeeeeeegh!" Tommy let go off me as soon as he realized that I wasn't in a very hugable state, and hurried to apologize.
"I'm okay, just a bit sore, don't worry." Okay, maybe I was a bit more than sore, but what would be the point in complaining? "You three get comfortable- no, not you Kouji, I said three. I'll go get some drinks or something." This earned me a glare from Kouji, but I guess my current state saved me from any other kind of "attack".
"Oh no you don't!" Zoe inmediatly grabbed my shirt's neck, stopping me on my tracks. "You are hurt, so go to bed and rest." I tried to complain, but as concerned as Zoe was supposed to be, she didn't hesitate to taking advantage of my wounds to make sure I did as she said.
"I'll go get the drinks. You three keep an eye on him. If I come back and he isn't laying on his bed, no one's gonna be happy, understand?" We all nodded furiously, a mad Zoe isn't pretty, well, actually it is, but you know what I mean.
Wow, Zoe's scary. Flamon's voice resonated inside my head.
Tell me about it. Remind me to tell you about that time with the cake; I'm too tired right now, why don't you get out of my head and let me sleep?
Okay. But you know you're never gonna hear the end of this from Kouji, don't you?
Whatever. I had everything under control, really.
Suuuuure you did. Flamon said before disappearing from my mind, or maybe he just shhut up, I'm not sure, since my mind was already beginning to drift away.
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"... but they're so cuuuuuuuute!"
I woke up from my sleep at this rather loud remark, which came from somewhere nearby, but I was still a bit disoriented. I tried to focus on the voices around me, since I almost went blind after my first attemp of opening my eyes.
"Gahhhhhg! No Zoe! Let go oaaaahhhg!" Hmmmm, that was weird. That's Kouji, I'm pretty sure. I wonder what's all this about?
"Kouji, if you try to escape it's gonna be worse, just let her." And that one was Koichi. I don't know what they're talking about, but Koichi's probably right, he usually is.
"Yeah Kouji, take it easy, lighten up! Get it? LIGHTen up?" And that one was definitively Flamon. He's cracking up, I wonder what's going on?
Finally, I began opening my eyes, and slowly sat up on the bed."*Yawn* What are you-" I blinked, I blinked again, and then again.
Kouji was sweating, probably after having been chased for a while, and was struggling to get free from his capturer, who was no other than a rather excited, histerical (and slightly maniacal) Zoe, who now had a firm grip on one of Kouji's ears, yes I said ears, but not just any ears, but what could only be described as blue doggy ears, coming out of equally blue hair. Zoe had Kouji grabbed with one hand, and had what seemed to be some kind of ribbon, and judging from Koichi's no blond bow infested hair and... kitty ears, I was pretty sure about what she was going to do with it.
"C'mon Kouji! Just a moment!" Begged Zoe while pulling Kouji's ear.
"No way! I'm gonna keep the little dignity I've got left!"
As much as I enjoyed the show, I decided to intervene, after all I owed Kouji one.
"Ehrm, guys?" Apparently no one had noticed I was awake until that point, since eferyone froze on the spot except Flamon, who was kind of busy with the whole breathing while laughing thing). Zoe seemed to lose interst on Kouji's ears (much to Kouji's relief), and turned to me.
"Good mor-I mean afternoon! Did you sleep well?" Zoe asked with a smile.
"Yes, thanks. I'm feeling much better now, But..." I looked behind Zoe, "...what exactly were you doing to them" I said pointing at Koichi and Kouji.
"Well, you see-" Just at that moment the door opened, and Tommy came in carrying some ribbons in his hand.
"All yours Koichi. Takuya, you're awake! Are you feeling better?" Tommy said.
"Ehrm, yes, thanks. Where did you come from?"
Tommy blushed a little and scratched the back of his head. "From the bathroom, Zoe's knots are really hard to undo without a good mirror and both hands." He admitted.
Koichi intervened, "Yes, and if you excuse me, I'm going to fix this." He exited the room while pointing at his rather colorful head, and I couldn't help but notice a black tail with a tuft of hair at the end that came out of Koichi's pants.
"Okaaaaaay... Zoe, why did you decide to play dress up dolls with them?" I asked Zoe.
"Just look at Kouji!" She pointed at Kouji,"Look at his head, wouldn't he look just ADORABLE with some bows, an maybe a couple of blond highlights, maybe even pink..."
Judging from Kouji's expression, he didn't agree with Zoe's ideas, and this seemed to be as far as his patience went. "Okay, that's enough, I'm done with this." Data began to surround Kouji, and his new ears and hair color disappeared, along with some other details I had failed to notice before due to the circumstances. Namely a pair of clawed black gloves, a ragged black scarf around his neck, and the symbol of light on his bandana, that was now tied around his upper arm.
Zoe was visibly disappointed."Owww, c'mon Kouji, Tommy and Koichi let me."
"'Let' wouldn't be the word I would use." Tommy whispered into my ear,"But something among the lines of "were forced into submission"."
"No, seriously, I'm leaving. Tell Koichi I already left. Strabimon, let's go." Kouji glanced to the window for a second, and a blue and white digimon entered the room through it.
The digimon had a mostly humanoid body, except for the head and feet feet. He had a rather thin build. He had clawed feet, a bit like Flamon's but longer and white (the feet not the claws), and was wearing white pants that looked like an armorless version of Lobomon's, with several black straps around them. His upper body was covered in blue fur, except for the white abdomen, and a small black mane around his neck, from which sprouted the two ends of a ragged scarf. There was a black leather strap around each of his arms, and his hands were covered by black clawed gloves, strikingly similar to the ones Kouji was wearing before. His head was somewhat canine in shape, and I couldn't help but to be reminded of Sonic the hedgehog, due to the colours, even if he had a sharper look and just wolf ears, not spikes.
"Oh, you must be Lobo-Wait a second! Why did you come through the window!" I asked startled.
"I was keeping watch." The digimon said in a very serious and expressionless voice.
"You were keeping watch?" I asked in bewilderment, and he nodded. "On my roof?" He nodded again."Were everyone could see you?"
"While I took remaining unseen into account, having proper visibility was prioritary." He answered with the same "terminator" voice.
"On my roof." I repeated, gawking at him.
"Well look who decided to stop by." Flamon said as he approached the newcomer."What's up Strabimon? Having trouble with that stick up your-"
"Flamon, please refrain yourself from using that kind of vocabulary." Strabimon cut him off, the slightless hint of irritation showing in his voice.
"But you know I don't mean it!" Flamon and Strabimon stared ar each other for a short while"At least not completely... Anyways, good to see you." Flamon turned around and jumped into my bed."Now if you don't mind, Takuya wasn't the only one working his ass off out there."
Strabimon scowled and disappeared, I guess into Kouji's head.
"Well, see you all later, I'm going home." I almost expected Kouji to jump out the window, since it seemed like that was the new thing, but he just used the door, like normal people do.
"He's such a patry pooper." I thought out loud."So Tommy, how about you introduce me to your partner."
"Sure thing." A tiny blizzard formed next to Tommy, and a little white digimon appeared.
It was the same digimon I had seen before, after Tommy got knocked out by Groundramon. It wasn't very big, barely a meter tall, and looked pretty much like a white teddy bear, even more so than its evolved form. It wore green mittens, a snow hat of the same colour, and had a spot of grey fur on it's belly shaped like the symbol of ice.
"Isn't he cute!" Zoe exclaimed, and hugged the little digimon, who didn't seem very pleased with his new situation, but didn't say anything about it.
"This is Kiyumon, Kumamon's rookie form." Tommy introduced his partner,"Kiyumon, you already know Takuya."
I stretched my arm to shake his hand,"Nice to meet you." I said.
Kiyumon, just freed from Zoe's hug, stared at me, not blinking even once, with an expressionless face, and then, slowly, he shook my hand.
I looked at him a bit perplexed,"Hey, is something wrong?" Kiyumon just shook his head.
"Kiyumon doesn't talk very often." Tommy explained sheepishly,"He's kind of shy."
"I see..." I had just let go of Kiyumon's hand when the phone began ringing. "Oh, I'll get it." I ran downstairs, a bit impressed by how fast I had healed, and took the phone.
"Hello, Kanbara residen-"
"TAKUYA!" I almost fell to the floor because of the shout that came through the speaker.
"Gahh! JP are you trying to get me deaf!" I shouted back, although not nearly as loudly.
"Takuya, you jerk! Why didn't you tell me! Why didn't any of you tell me? Is it because I'm always the last one? It's not my fault! Why am I always the last oooone!" JP's rambled through the phone.
I didn't really know what he was going on about."JP, you are rambling. What are you talking about?" I asked.
"I saw you on TV fighting that green digimon, why didn't any of you tell me!"
I felt a bit bad for JP, last time he was the last one to get his spirit, and apparantly he hadn't met Beetlemon yet.
"Ah, I'm sorry, but you've been so busy lately, I didn't want to bother you, I thought it would be better if you just found out once-" My brain just seemed to register the rest of what Jp told me."Did you just say on TV!"
"Yes, I'm watching it right now, it's like in four different channels." JP replied.
"WHAT! Don't hung up, I'll be right back." I rushed to the living room and turned on the TV. It didn't take me long to find what I was looking for.
We were right there, on TV. They were showing multiple videos that people had recorded using phones or your average camera, along with another one with better quality, probably recorded by the guys from the news. I paid close attention, with one big question in mind:"What if someone saw Tommy?". I was lucky enough though; most videos didn't have very good quality, and were more focused in Groundramon, and apparently, me.
"GUYS! Come see this!" I called. Some seconds later, I heard hurried footsteps coming down the stairs.
All three other Chosen Children plus Flamon came into the living room, Koichi still dealing with the last of the ribbons attached to his hair.
"What is it? I was trying to sleep." Flamon complained while rubbing his eyes. I just pointed to the TV.
"We are on TV!" Tommy exclimed, and jumped in front of the TV.
"That's awesome! We don't have a lot of functional TVs in the Digital World." Flamon said.
"Shouldn't we be a bit more worried about all this?" Koichi asked,"You know, since Tommy de-evolved in the middle of the battle."
"Koichi's right. I did my best trying not to get Tommy noticed, but who knows" Zoe added.
"Yeah, that's what I was thinking. So far I haven't seen any recording with Tommy in it. After he turned back human I mean." I replied,"But hey! Look at the bright side. We're on TV! You'll see, everyone's gonna be talking about this at school."
We just kept watching the TV for a while until the news about the "Mysterious creatures" ended.
"See? No problem. Zoe did a great job, nobody saw Tommy, and I look awesome while fighting; but we already knew that." said Flamon. "Now, who's up for playing some cards or something? I vote for Poker."
"Not me, I'm late already, I've gotta go to Kouji's." He looked around a second."Where's Kouji anyways?" Koichi asked.
"He left a while ago, after Zoe expressed her latest ideas in hairstyles." I answered.
"He would've looked cute." Zoe defended herself.
"Tsk, it's almost time, and Kouji's house is a station away." Koichi seemed to be meditating about something. His expression changed, and a small burst of black mist surged next to him, followed by the appearance of a digimon. "Sheidmon, give me a hand please. I've gotta get to Kouji's in two minutes. Can you do that?"
Sheidmon's body structure, was pretty mush humanoid, like Flamon's, just taller, but not as tall as Strabimon. He was covered in pitch-black fur, or at least his upper body, since his legs were covered by clothes. His feet were paw-like, and had four toes each, and his legs were covered by long, loose pants that almost looked like a hakama; they were mostly black, except for the two golden hexagons that adorned the outer part of each leg, with a black symbol of darkness on them. Two dark grey straps crossed on his torso, makin an X-shape, and his forearms were covered in golden bandages. Most of his facial features looked like a cat's, but his head was shaped like a human's, and was adorned with spiky blonde hair that partially covered his cat-like ears. His eyes were yellow, and had lightining-shaped markings of the same colour runing down his cheeks. He had a tired expression on his face, like someone who has just been woken up.
"Ah? Yeah, sure..." Sheidmon cracked his neck and stretched his arms."Just gimme a sec." Sheidmon yawned, and continued to stretch his body in different ways.
"Oh! Sheidmon what's up!" Flamon exclaimed as he walked to the newcomer.
Sheidmon looked at Flamon, said "Sup" while bumping fists with Flamon, and just kept stretching.
Flamon pointed at him with his thumb."He's a cool guy."
"Ok, I'm good." Sheidmon announced, looking much more active."Oh! Hi guys, didn't see you there! We'll have to catch up later. Now we've gotta leave." He turned to Koichi."Ready when you are. Digitalize, and we'll be going."
Koichi did as told and waved goodbye."See ya guys!" He put a hand on Sheidmon's shoulder, and they suddenly sank into the shadows and disappeared.
"What was that!" I exclaimed, perplexed at Koichi's departure."Hey Flamon! How did he do that?"
"Sheidmon can connect to places and move between one and the other pretty much instantaneously." He explained,"But it's gotta be somewhere he's been before, and it's kind of a point A to point B thing; two places tops. Right now Kouji's and your house, apparently."
"That's very useful." Zoe commented
"I wish Kiyumon could do that." Tommy sighed. I nodded in agreement.
The metallic click of a lock opening was heard."Takuya! We are home!" My mother's voice surprised us from the entrance hall. We all looked alarmed at Flamon.
"What?" He asked. "Oh, right." He disappeared into a burst of flames.
"Takuya, are you home?" My mother was heard again.
"Yes mom! I'm in the living room." I called back.
The room's door opened, and my mother came into the room, closing the door behind her. She looked a bit worried.
"Takuya, did you see the-Oh!" She began, but stopped when she saw Zoe and Tommy. "Hello guys. I didn't know you were here. Do you want something to drink?"
"Thak you Mrs. Kanbara, but I was leaving now." Zoe replied, as she stood up.
"Um, yeah. Me too." Tommy said.
"Oh, okay. See you later. Takuya, see them to the door."
"Ma'am, yes ma'am!" I saluted exaggeratedly.
I was about to open the door when the walking little disaster that is my brother bumped into me, not before nearly breaking my nose with the door.
"Wagh!" We both fell to the floor, but that didn't hold him back for more than a second."Did you see it!" He shouted at my face.
"See what?" I asked while rubbing my left ear.
"The dinosaur! And the fight! It has to be on the news!" He bolted towards the TV.
"You just missed it, it was on TV a minute ago." Zoe informed him.
"What! I missed it? I'm gonna have to ask Hiro if he recorded it." And with that, he ran out the door.
We watched Shinya disappear, and stood in our places for a short while, not really sure of what had just happened. I shook my head rapidly and and got up.
I went with Tommy and Zoe to the door "Well guys, see you tomorrow. Or at school, who knows."
"See ya." They both said.
As Tommy and Zoe walked away, I got the strangest feeling that I was forgetting something; you know, that nagging feeling on the back of your head.
What could it be, what could it be...? Flamon said in a sing-song tone.
"Takuya! Why is the phone picked up?" My mother asked from the hall.
"Oh, shoot."
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A/N: Forgiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiive meeeeeeeeeeeeee! I'm so sorry! This took so freaking long, and it's not nearly as good as the last one. I'm just not very good with episodes with a lot of dialogue. I promise next episode will not take so long (unless I update my other stories at least twice). And I have the next episode pretty much sorted out (the plot will begin to be uncovered, just a little though). And yes people, I know how to spell "shade".
On another note, if you don't have anything else to do, why not check out my new Pokémon fic, "Before Dawn"? I think it's pretty good so far.
If you aren't too angry, please review.