6) Ruki's Epiphany
Ruki sat in class at her all girls' school. She did not particularly like school. In the first place, every girl was required to wear a uniform consisting of a blouse with vest and skirt at the very least. The sweater was optional, depending on the weather. Ruki did not like wearing "girlie stuff".
Secondly, school could not compete with Digimon Battle. She forced herself to do well to keep her mother from bitching at her over her grades. Ruki was not one of the more popular girls, not one to be asked to go to hang out at the mall, or to ask for help with homework, or to sit with during lunch time, or to invite to play hopscotch or dodge ball during recess.
Ruki was stuck on "pissed off"; the other girls knew it, and gave her a wide berth. She would show up on time, do her work, and usually sit alone in the classroom, doing her homework or studying during recess. This allowed her time outside of class to pursue what truly engaged her interests. Finally, today was Parents' Day.
She overheard her classmates whispering to one another:
"Whose older sister is she?"
"She's a mother - Ruki's mother".
"Ruki's mom looks so young!"
"Ruki's mom is so good-looking"
"She's a model, yannow"
"Did you see her in the latest fashion ad?"
And on and on it went. "You have no clue, you morons", she thought to herself. "It's not fun having a model and a clothes horse for a mother".
Ruki opened her pencil box, and adjusted its lid so that she could see her mother standing at the back of the classroom in the built-in mirror. Her mother noticed this and gave her a subtle wave. Ruki cursed to herself: "Fuck off and stop embarrassing me!"
Almost as soon as that thought had formed, Ruki heard the low chime of a cell phone. Ruki's mother quietly left the room to answer the call. She was always doing this, as a call for another modeling job could come at any time. Even on her special day, she couldn't give her her undivided attention, she paradoxically complained to herself. There was one final problem: it was Parents' Day. That included fathers, but Ruki had no father to accompany her, to see her school, to see how she was doing. She was four – maybe five, she wasn't certain – when he divorced her mother. She hadn't seen him since.
While walking home from school, her usually foul mood grew even darker, as she recalled an incident with her mother.
"What?", Ruki asked, none too pleasantly, as her mother hovered over her.
"Those look like Tarot cards", she commented, as Ruki was practicing for that big tournament.
"Is that so?", she replied, not bothering to look up.
"It's nice to see you so enthusiastic about something. Ruki, you should decide what you want to be in the future quickly. After all, you're growing up fast"
Ruki said nothing to that: she'd heard it before. Quite frankly, she didn't care (though she would never say that to her mother) she knew her family was old money, and that she'd have more than enough regardless of what she did.
"Well, I'm off to work", her mother said.
Once again, she'd demonstrated that her interest in her daughter was very shallow, that she had better things to do than be with her, to further explore that which interested her. It had been that way for as long as she could remember. As at school just today, she was with Ruki at her convenience. It was almost as if Ruki were just another fashion accessory when she wasn't a burden. She almost would have preferred neglect: at least that would have been more honest.
Her mood brightened considerably as she caught sight of the forming digital field. She ran the last block to her home, hoping to get to the scene of this materialization before anyone else.
"I'm home", she announced, not slowing down, as she ran down the hall, and through the breeze way to her room.
"Welcome back", her grandmother greeted, but received no acknowledgment she'd even been heard.
She tore off the school uniform, leaving it piled on the floor as she pulled on her Digimon Battle "uniform". Fixing the digivice and card carrier to her belt: "Renamon", she called. Renamon appeared almost at once. "Time to kick some digimon ass!"
"Understood", Renamon replied.
"I'm going out for awhile, Gran", Ruki called out as she ran back the way she came.
"She'll never change", her grandmother told herself. She may have been more tolerant, but still... "She's more like a boy than a girl".
"Just don't be gone too long".
"I won't... What's for supper?"
"I'm making fried chicken livers"
"YUCK!", she said to herself. Oh well, there was no need to make any special effort to be back by supper time.
Guilmon, Jenyra, Takato, and Terriermon were in Guilmon's home, playing a game of "Rock, Paper, Scissors". Guilmon was not having much luck with this game. His paws didn't let him give a sign other than "paper". Suddenly, Guilmon sat up, very alert. He gave a low growl.
"A new digimon has appeared somewhere close by", Terriermon announced.
Guilmon ran out of his "house", with the other three following closely.
Renamon was already there, and was confronting something very blue, and very large. Ruki ran the "Ident" function:
Allomon:
Dinosaur animal digimon
Armour level
His attack is Dino Burst
"Kick his ass, Renamon!"
Renamon jumped up, tucked and flipped. At just the right moment, she extended a foot and delivered a powerful kick to the bridge of Allomon's nose. It only temporarily distracted him. When Renamon went in to deliver another blow, Allomon's powerful tail whipped around, connecting solidly with the anthrovixen. This sent Renamon flying, to land on her back.
"Renamon!", Ruki called out.
Ruki pulled out an Option Card: "YukiAugomon's Frozen Wind: digimodify!"
Renamon leaped up, extended a paw and launched the attack just as Allomon belched forth a huge gout of flame. The one neutralized the other, and at first, it looked like neither one was gaining the upper hand. Slowly, Allomon's fire advanced towards Renamon, who did her best to hold it at bay.
"Why... why can't we win?", Ruki asked.
Allomon's flame had nearly reached Renamon, then it finally overcame her, throwing her hard into a lamp post. She sank to the ground, unconscious.
"Why aren't you evolving?!", Ruki asked in desperation to the inert form. Allomon was moving in for the kill...
"Pyrosphere!"
"Petit Twister!"
Guilmon and Terriermon had arrived, and combining attacks, threw Allomon away from Renamon.
"I figured it was you!", Jenyra announced.
"That digimon is mine! You two back off!", Ruki demanded.
"Why do you want to make your partner fight so much?", Jenyra tried to reason with her.
He received the standard reply: "Because that's what a digimon does".
This distraction did buy her the necessary time: "Devil chip: digimodify!", Ruki called out as she scanned the card. This gave Renamon a burst of renewed energy. Getting up, she advanced on Allomon: "Please get out of my way", she threatened to Guilmon and Terriermon, as she strode confidently towards the perplexed Allomon.
Renamon released the freezing wind once again. This time, Allomon's fire was no match, was quickly extinguished, and ice began to form around Allomon. Being a dinosaur, the cold slowed him down. Renamon leaped high above the now inert dinosaur: "Koyousetsu!" The shards struck Allomon, began to tear him apart, and finally, he burst into disorganized data, which Renamon loaded.
"Renamon: we're finished here", Ruki announced, as the yellow anthrovixen disappeared from sight.
"Wait a minute...", Takato started.
"We neither needed nor asked for your help. Renamon could have handled the battle all by herself. You should have minded your own goddamn business".
"You little bitch!" Jenyra called to Ruki's back, "If we hadn't shown up when we did, you wouldn't even have a partner right now!". Ruki said nothing, did nothing, to acknowledge that she had even heard.
As they watched Ruki walking off, they did not realize that they weren't the only ones to have witnessed this event. From high atop a lamp post, Impmon was getting an idea: "Looks like trouble in paradise", he said to himself. "They're dipshits, relying on Outworlders. However it looks like there's hope for that one. Enjoy it while you can, your partnerships won't last much longer".
That evening, Ruki was standing by the reflecting pool in the back yard of her home. Renamon sat on the edge of the roof.
"Why didn't you evolve? You could have beaten him easily if you had".
"That's true", Renamon agreed.
"Why aren't you evolving?"
"I'm waiting..."
"For what?!", Ruki accused. "Either you want to evolve or you don't. Which is it? I want a straight answer from you, no more excuses and evasions"
"I'm sorry, Ruki."
"I'm home", Ruki's mother announced. This spared Renamon the need for further explanation. "Ruki, are you here?"
"Yes, Mom, I'm out back", she called out.
After going to bed, as Ruki lay in the dark, she asked the ceiling: "Renamon: why won't you evolve?"
Ruki remembered the day she won the tournament. It was down to the two final contestants: she and a sixteen year old high school boy. The rail birds surrounded the final table three deep. Ruki sat there, cool as Daniel Negreanu at the final table of the WSOP, as she flipped over the winning card. It took a second or two for her opponent to realize what just happened, before he did a head desk, conceding defeat.
"The winner is...", the emcee paused for dramatic effect. "...Ruki Makino!", as Ruki stood on the stage, gold medallion dangling from a ribbon around her neck, gold cup in her hand.
"That was an impressive victory!", he congratulated. "Were there any tough moments during the tournament?", the emcee asked in the customary opening for her to be gracious in victory, to praise the abilities of her opponents.
"No, none at all", she replied.
"Uhhhh...", the emcee wasn't expecting this, "...that's... interesting"
Ruki threw the medallion into the pile of cards that were still out from that morning's practice session before the tournament.
"So boring", she said, as she lay on the floor. She finally made it: she was the Digimon Queen for a whole year. The victory could have been sweeter, but the one opponent she wanted to beat more than any other didn't bother to show up: Ryo Akiyama – the "Legendary Tamer". What challenges lay ahead, now that she'd accomplished a goal for which she'd worked hard for three years? That medallion didn't look so bright and shiny now.
Did she fall asleep, was this a dream? She wasn't sure. The lighting was very strange, the room oddly distorted. There was a burst of light from her score keeper, and this light transformed into three screens. From each, appeared the dark silhouettes of various digimon.
"It's that girl!"
"The Digimon Queen!"
"It's her!"
"It's this girl!"
"Make me evolve!"
"Make me stronger!"
"Be my Tamer!"
She backed away in fear as clawed hands reached through the screens. These figures threatened to climb into the room itself
"I only want a strong digimon!", she called out.
As if in reply, there was another flare of light, and a Blue Card. The other digimon backed off.
"Who's that?", one asked.
"Renamon", another answered.
The dark outline of the anthrovixen approached, as the other digimon backed away.
"Renamon?", Ruki asked herself. Just as the figure of Renamon was close enough to step into the room, the screens disappeared as suddenly as they appeared. Ruki sat there, trying to process what just happened. Finally, she approached the table, and her card reader. That's when she found it: that Blue Card.
She scanned it with her Card Fighter accessory, watched as the text scrolled past too fast to read, as hex digits flashed across the bottom of its screen. Then, it glowed with a white light. She should have dropped it, but she didn't.
"What's this?", she asked as she examined her new digivice. A white light shown brightly from its screen. Ruki closed her eyes, pressed the digivice to her chest. For how long, she did not know. When she opened her eyes, the room was back to normal, the last of the digital field was dissipating, and a very real Renamon stood before her: "I am the strong digimon you have been waiting for"
0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
Renamon was walking the streets. She did not like the tone of that last conversation: "Ruki, I'm sorry", she apologized. "I will surely evolve", she promised as though speaking directly to Ruki.
Renamon had climbed above the street, and was sitting, legs crossed, improbably on a wire that crossed the street.
"I will defeat and load the strongest digimon to evolve: it's the only way..."
"Why so gloomy, good lookin'?", a new voice startled her, as she jumped up, landing on the wire, crouched, ready to defend herself. She turned towards the source. There, laying sideways along the arm of a street lamp, was the sight of a rather lagomorphic digimon. Despite being startled, normally a very dangerous thing to do to Renamon, she did not attack on sight.
"I know you. Aren't you the digimon who lives with the Outworld girl? So, you're another one of those digimon who can't do anything by themselves, huh?
0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
Ruki was awakened as her digivice alerted: "A digimon!"
"Renamon!"
This time, uncharacteristically, her partner didn't appear.
"Renamon?", she asked, but there was no reply.
"Renamon, you're not here?"
It was the first time this ever happened: Renamon always came when called, especially if there was another digimon to defeat and load. For some reason, Ruki's digivice switched itself to "Ident" mode:
Impmon
Hybrid anthro-animal digimon
Rookie, Virus
Attacks:
Night of Fire
Pillar of Fire
Summon
"Why am I being shown this?", she asked herself. It made no sense, this Impmon didn't look very interesting, if he was just materializing, Renamon could have easily killed him, that is, if she would even bother. He wasn't there, and he posed no possible threat. There was no reason she could see for this, unless the digivice were somehow malfunctioning, but that, too, was beyond her experience so far.
0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
"Are you telling me you don't have a partner?"
"That's a good question. I'm not one of those digimon who can't do anything without being ordered by Outworlders. Sounds cool, huh? You want to be like me, right?"
Impmon awaited an answer that never came. They stared at one another, sizing each other up. Renamon wanted to hear more. If he knew how to evolve without needing a partner, then she was very interested. Her Tamer, Ruki, was turning out to be a big disappointment. She was supposedly the Digimon Queen, the strongest Tamer who wanted a strong digimon. Yet, Ruki had failed to make her evolve. Her only suggestion was that Renamon fight and load, she'd been doing that, and it wasn't working, but Ruki could not come up with any different ideas. More and more, it looked to Renamon that it didn't work like that in this new world. What new skills, attributes, powers did she acquire? There were none that she could see. Not once had she been able to use an attack that she hadn't brought with her from the Digital World, or that wasn't provided by the cards.
Other Tamers evolved their partners. Even that Jenyra Lee, despite that he didn't even want Terriermon to evolve at all. Hadn't he said so multiple times? The only Tamer she knew who also had not evolved his partner was Takato: that was what they had in common, but Ruki held Takato in the deepest contempt, and surely wouldn't like to be compared to him. As for Takato, she didn't know much, but suspected he wasn't evolving his partner for the same reason as Jenyra: he didn't want to.
As for Ruki's insistence that Renamon explain herself, she had no explanations. As far as she was concerned, if she wasn't evolving, then the problem lay with her Tamer. Isn't that what Tamers were for? But Ruki was far too arrogant to ever believe that she was the problem, and Renamon was fast running out of excuses before she would have no other choice but to place the blame squarely where it belonged: an inadequate and failed Tamer. She knew that would end the relationship. More and more, it was looking like that was going to happen anyway. Would it make a difference: an independent digimon who couldn't evolve since she had no partner, or a digimon who couldn't evolve because she had an incompetent partner?
How about that Goblimon? He evolved and he didn't have a partner. That was reason enough for her to believe Impmon just might know something she didn't. Furthermore, he must've been here longer, as she would have known if he'd materialized while she was here. As for not jumping at the bait, she didn't want to look desperate. It was always best to bargain from a position of strength. Impmon would surely want something in return for such valuable information. If he had solved the problem of independent evolution, that is.
"Are you listening to me?', he asked. "Errrr... yeah... All you have to do is listen. I think that'll be the best for you. What I mean is that you – and by 'you' I mean all the digimon dependent on Outworlders – you're pathetic!"
"Pathetic?"
"That's right: you are pathetic. You should be ashamed of yourselves. Know why I say that? Every time I see something pathetic, it pisses me off. It's disgusting! You know what I mean? I mean it annoys me, it makes me sick, it makes me want to puke!"
Renamon stood on the thin wire: "I don't understand a word of what you're trying to say", she said as she leaped to the street. That was disappointing: his incoherent rant was meaningless.
"What? Wait! Where are you going? I'll explain it properly"
It was obvious that Renamon had no further interest.
"If you turn your back on me...", he paused to flick up a red-orange fireball that floated just above his finger tip, "...I can do something like this"
Impmon threw the fireball at Renamon. She ducked just as it exploded like a firecracker.
"It makes no sense serving Outworlders! No sense! No sense at all!"
Renamon was spared further rants by the appearance of a digital field. Ruki received the alert via her digivice. That meant sneaking out of the house, but that was no problem, as her bedroom opened onto the backyard, so it was simple to sneak out, cross the yard, and climb the tree in the far corner to get over the wall. she'd done it lots of times, and hadn't been caught yet. Renamon was already there, and had discovered something quite nasty. Every tree in sight was covered in thick webs.
"What is this?!"
"Ruki! Run!", came Renamon's call. Renamon tackled Ruki, getting her out of the way of the webs that threatened to trap her. "Are you all right?", she asked.
That's when this enormous spider appeared, climbing down along the strands of its web. Ruki ran the "Ident" function:
Dokugumon
Feral animal digimon, Champion
He corrodes his opponents at a touch
His attack is Sting Operation
"Leave it to me", Renamon replied, as she leaped.
"Koyousetsu!"
That didn't work, as Dokugumon fired more webs, trapping and deleting, the shards. Next, it retaliated with that Sting Operation, a flood of malodorous sludge that struck Renamon, dropping her into the webs, suspended, upside down.
"Ruki! Stay away!".
Renamon knew that she had finally met her match. This wasn't the same sort of accident she had feared when her impact hammer had jammed as she attacked Guilmon. She was clearly out matched, and now her main concern was to get Ruki safely away. Nothing else mattered. Renamon watched in horror as Dokugumon fired his spinnerets at Ruki, immobilizing her in webbing. The beast, its jaws wide open, advanced on the helpless girl. Fortunately, Renamon still had enough mobility: "Koyousetsu!", as she aimed the crystals to cut the strands that bound Ruki.
"Now's your chance! GET AWAY!"
"Renamon, you saved my life; I can't do that".
Dokugumon had turned his attention back to Renamon. Ruki picked a Character Card this time: "Snimon: digimodify!"
This equipped Renamon with Snimon's sickles, and she cut herself free of the webbing that bound her.
"Shadow Sickles!", she attacked with Snimon's attack. Once again, it wasn't enough, as Dokugumon parried the Shadow Sickles with his horns.
Renamon was nearly crushed in Dokugumon's powerful jaws. She would have been, but for his tossing her aside and back into more web to, once again, turn his attention to Ruki. Dokugumon fired more of that nasty slime. Renamon used the last of her strength to rush forward to shield Ruki with her body, taking the full hit.
"Renamon! Renamon, why...?"
"Because... I'm... your partner", Renamon barely got out before collapsing to the ground.
Ruki caught the falling anthrovixen. As she lay on the ground: "Renamon?"
Renamon looked up at Ruki through a single sapphire eye: "Ruki: run. Run now".
"Renamon: hang on!"
"Ruki, run. Run away. Save yourself".
The sapphire eye closed, the head lolled, mouth opened, and tongue spilled out. Ruki felt the body go limp under her touch. Should she run away? Yes, of course she should! It would give Renamon's sacrifice meaning. One part of her mind quoted back to Ruki her own words: "Renamon is just data. Just data. JUST DATA!" Still, she could not make herself run as she ran her fingers through the soft yellow fur.
Ruki did not notice that Calumon was looking on. She didn't see the glowing red triangle.
"Renamon? Renamon?! REN-NA-MON!"
Renamon's entire body seemed to go translucent. A yellow glow seemed to emanate from within. The sapphire eye snapped open.
Renamon evolve! ….
… KYUUBIMON!
Where there was an adult-sized anthrofox, now stood a yellow, nine-tailed, kitsune the size of a draft horse. She was wearing a fashion accessory: a thick woolen rope tipped with large brass balls, tied around her neck in a bow. Glittering crystals hung below her neck.
"Renamon... evolved?", Ruki could hardly believe it, "Amazing".
The huge kitsune casually walked up to Dokugumon, closed her eyes, head down, as she slowly spread her tails like a peacock "Demon Spirit Fireballs!", as she flicked her tails forward. The white, glowing, semi-smart fireballs sought out the strands of webbing, spread out, and followed them straight towards Dokugumon. Seeing this, the enormous spider jumped off his web, avoiding the white fire, throwing himself at Kyuubimon.
"Foxfire Dragon!" She sprang at the spider, tucked her head and tails, and began to spin. Faster and faster, until her whole body dissolved into a uniform plasma, glowing bluish-white as it attained a temperature of well over 9000 Kelvins. A dragon-like head appeared with a loud roar, as it flowed over and around Dokugumon. He burst into raw data, which Kyuubimon eagerly loaded. As the last of the data disappeared, the digital field collapsed, and normal night returned. Kyuubimon jumped down, in front of Ruki.
"Ruki, I evolved"
"Kyuubimon."
"This is the evolution we have both been waiting for".
"Yes. You saved my life"
"Because we're partners"
"Partners?"
"Do you understand what that means?"
Ruki reached out and softly stroked the side of Kyuubimon's face. She closed her eyes in pleasure, and returned the affectionate stroking: "I understand. I understand... a little".
Impmon saw the whole thing. He was beginning to fear that his plans to disrupt the Tamers was falling apart before his eyes.
Ruki lay in bed:. "I should have run away", she cursed herself for a weakling. It was happening all over again. The one thing she swore to herself that she would never allow, the intention she broadcast to the entire world with the broken heart symbol on every T-shirt she owned. It was the very reason she dressed the way she did: Ruki knew that, even for a ten year old, she was very attractive. She wanted to make herself look as unattractive as possible. She didn't want the attention because attention led to interest, and interest led to involvement.
And it wasn't even human! As Renamon lay dying, she couldn't help it. She swore to herself that she would not make that mistake again. She fell into a restless sleep.