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Chapter: 9/ Fate Held in the Hand
Hang in there, Terriermon, Henry thought as his feet pounded desperately down the hallway, heading to the door of the apartment. His family turned toward him, eyebrows raised in confusion at his urgency.
"What's got you in such a hurry?" asked Jaarin, Henry's older sister as she munched absently on a thin reed of chocolate Pocky, looking up from the manga magazine she had spread in her hands.
"He probably heard about one of some new Digimon games and decided he absolutely has to have them," laughed Rinchei, Henry and Jaarin's older brother and eldest child in the family. "Kids are still going crazy over that stuff."
Jaarin shrugged her shoulders. "No need to kill yourself over them, Henry."
Henry, for his part, ignored the jibes from his siblings as he hastily threw on his shoes.
"I've got to go see a friend," he told them, tying the laces. "I'll be back before dinner."
"Before?" Holding a kitchen knife in one hand over a fish on a cutting board, Mayumi raised an eyebrow and glanced at the clock. It was fast approaching five. "Mister, you'd better be able to run at warp speed in order to get back before then, unless you're friend is standing just outside…"
"I'll be back before midnight!" Henry exclaimed, throwing open the door and racing outside. His family stared at him, flabbergasted. Finally, after an incredibly long moment, Mayumi turned a baleful look at her husband, who was sitting on the couch, a newspaper in his hands.
"Janyu! Don't just sit!"
Janyu sighed and offered his wife a small smile.
"Boys will be boys," he commiserated. "He'll be fine."
The tone in his voice suggested a rather shaken confidence, and as if to prove it, he got up from his seat and went after his wayward son.
…
"C'mon… C'mon…" Henry hit the button for the elevator immediately and stood there, every fiber in his body straddling the edge between the desire to fidget or take the stairs while fighting for control. Impatience was not a habit of his, but the desire to see Terriermon, his closest friend, was all but consuming. How long had it been since they had seen each other? Would he even remember him?
So many questions. The reset could have done anything to him. I mean, it was supposed to effect only the human world, but we…humans…could have changed that! Takou didn't tell me everything so…
Henry clenched his eyes shut, trying to dispel the storm of thoughts that threatened to drown him. He took a deep, calming breath and let it out, forcing himself to relax.
One thing at a time. Find Terriermon and get him back home. Right now, that's all that matters.
For the briefest of instants—the absolutely briefest of instants—he found himself wondering whether or not it had been a good idea to send the digimon away.
Was it worth it? Was it…
"Henry."
The half-Chinese boy blinked in surprise just as the elevator door dinged and opened. Spinning around, his gaze fell on his father, who approached him with a bit of a tired look on his face. In spite of that, a playful smile bloomed on his face.
"You need to slow down. I'm not as young as I used to be."
Henry stood there for the barest of seconds, surprised at seeing his father and uncertain as to what he should say. Oddly, a thought came to mind.
He looks better than I remember, he thought, taking in the lack of white hair and haggard wrinkles that, in another life, been so familiar.
"Dad…" He finally said, the elevator door closing shut before him.
"Sorry to make you miss your ride," Janyu said, rubbing the back of his head. "Anyway, I should point out that most households wouldn't allow you to just up and take off with as little warning that you gave us."
Henry closed one hand and, carefully, reopened it.
"Mom's upset, huh?"
Janyu raised an eyebrow at his son, taken aback by his sudden bluntness.
"Well…you did decide to leave without even asking for permission. Not that you haven't done so in the past, we have been rather lax about when you leave and where you spend your time, but she did start making dinner, and in case you forgot everyone did agree to spend tonight together as a family."
Henry found himself cursing mentally as a memory from his previous, unawakened self, floated up from the abyss. Yes, he had promised that.
"I'm…sorry, Dad. But this only suddenly came up. I'm not happy about it either."
"Are you in trouble, Henry?"
Henry schooled his face carefully and smiled reassuringly.
"No," he lied. "It's just…something really stupid that my friend did with his computer. He's…" his mind raced furiously, "working to complete a project for summer lessons and he can't get it working. He's afraid he's lost all his files and he's," Henry laughed as an image of Takato during one of his more flighty moments came to mind, "panicking."
Henry found himself relaxing upon seeing his father nod in understanding.
"Well, if that's the case, it can't be helped. I'll explain things to your mother, but just make sure that you get home at a decent time."
"I will, Dad. And tell Mom that I'm sorry."
"I'll relay it, but you'll have to tell her yourself when you get home."
"Okay."
With that, Janyu departed, leaving Henry to marvel at how easily the lie came to his lips. The boy sighed and hit the elevator call button, and once more the door dinged open.
Well, it helped that I had years of experience from Takato, he thought, stepping inside. Taming aside, he was not the easiest person to work with when he was in college…
…
Takato Matsuki, had he known of Henry's thought, and remembered himself for that matter, would have agreed. Even without the memories, he would still have agreed that he had the tendency to get a little overworked about every little thing, particularly what he didn't understand, to the point where all rational thought would shut down, leaving him a quivering mass of panic. In his old life, years of battling hostile digimon, more than a fair amount capable of destroying the planet, changed him, making him bolder, but even that did not completely scour that habit out of him.
As he was now, he had no experience in combat. He had no years to guide him on how he should react to a given situation, or who he could turn to. He was simply a twelve year-old boy with bigger-than-life dreams.
On top of it, he never quite got the knack of dealing with the girl in front of him, whether she was a friend or an enemy. Takato tilted his head to one side questioningly, feeling a touch of familiarity that he was unaccustomed to having when dealing with strangers. He wanted to shake his head. Perhaps the dream he had about her and the realization that she was real was getting to him.
"Well?" she asked him with a touch of impatience in her voice, still eyeing him with a cool, dispassionate gaze of violet. "Are you going to sit down and play against me, or are you going to just sit there with a dumb look on your face?"
"Huh? Oh!" Takato blinked, dumbfounded for a moment before quickly pulling the chair across from her out and setting himself down in it. His arms shook a little and he fumbled with the lid. His hands felt clammy and his armpits took on a bit of an uncomfortable chill to them; cold sweat. He pulled out his cards and, after removing one card from it and setting it on the side, clumsily shuffled them together while she waited. He glanced up at her to make sure that she was real, taking in her appearance for a moment, his eyes drifting down to the broken-heart design on her shirt, subtly hidden behind her crossed arms, before jerking his gaze back to his desk.
What am I going to say to her? he wondered. I mean, I saw her in that dream, and then…I blurted it out loud as soon as I saw her.
He had a hard time believing that this was happening, but the reality was staring him rather coolly, making him not only self-conscious, but also hard to ignore her. He finished shuffling and placed his deck beside him. He looked up at the girl and offered her a smile.
"I'm all set," he said. She merely hmmphed and cut her deck, after which she began to draw her first ten cards. Takato did likewise. His heartbeat picked up its pace as she lifted the card she had set to the side, like him. This was the Rookie card that they were all supposed to choose at the start of the game.
Her partner is Renamon… a part of him whispered. An image of a golden-furred, vulpine digimon with purple arm-guards and icy blue eyes appeared in his mind.
"What did you say?"
Takato jerked, brought out of his reverie and looked at the girl, her Rookie card still hidden. She had an eyebrow raised and an icy glare threatened storm clouds if he didn't answer.
"Uh…what?"
"You said something about a Renamon."
"I said that?" Takato pointed at himself intelligently. Her eyes narrowed dangerously. All at once another image came to mind, this time from the dream. It came on him so vividly that reality seemed to disappear around him.
…
The sky above was stone-gray…or at least would have appeared that way if not for the fact that the darkness of night obscured its color. He was standing in the middle of the streets in some obscure part of Shinjuku, cold, hard rain pelting down on him from above. He stared up at the dark sky, allowing the rain to strike his face, tracing trails down his cheeks as though they were tears, emulating a hidden emotion that he could barely describe, save that he felt as though he were missing something. Something grand and much larger than he was, yet was as much a part of him as his leg or arm.
Suddenly, something obscured his vision of the sky—an umbrella! Looking down, he found its owner standing directly next to him. Feminine, violet-colored eyes shining in the darkness eyed him coolly, yet strangely holding amusement and sympathy within their depths. Her crimson hair tied up into a distinctive pony tail, and she wore a trench-coat that reached almost all the way down to her heels. She said nothing. Did nothing. Takato felt his lips move, saying something, but he couldn't hear his own words. She seemed to understand though, as she closed her eyes and brought the corners of her lips up into a smile.
"Gogglehead," was her response. The sound of her voice, crisp, clear, firm, and full of emotion was enough to wake him up, startled.
…
"Wake up."
Takato's vision of the world swam slightly as he was jolted out of the recollection. For what had to be the hundredth time, he blinked his eyes blearily, realizing that he was at the game store and not in the dream.
What was that? he wondered, glancing uncertainly around him.
"Hey!" the girl said, annoyance making itself known in her tone. "Are you going to take your turn or what? Reveal your Rookie already!"
"Uh…right." Takato shook his head for real this time and did just that, placing Agumon on the field. Rika made a snorting noise.
"Great. Another Greymon specialist…"
"Hey!" Takato bristled, feeling slightly annoyed himself now. He quickly worked to calm himself though. This was just a game after all, and everyone had the right to hold their opinions about it.
Still…did she have to be so rude? She's…so different from the way she was in my dream. Well…it's a dream. It's not like there's any guarantee that the real thing will be the same. I don't know anything about her. I don't even know her name.
That strange sense of familiarity came to him again, and Takato frowned, wondering where it came from.
Déjà vu. Did I know her in another life or something, like in those stories I read? Is that why I dreamt about her?
Takato knew that his thoughts would only go around and around in an endless circle unless he did something about them. The problem was how she had reacted to him when he first told her that he saw her in a dream. It was hardly what anyone could call a good first impression.
The girl across from him was glaring at him impatiently. Seeing this, Takato quickly snapped back to attention and placed a card in the digivolve slot. Seeing this, the girl did likewise. He glanced up at her card, and his eyes widened in surprise at seeing the Renamon card that he missed seeing her play.
"Wha…? A Renamon…" Again, the image of the Renamon appeared in his mind—almost violently—appearing fully real. His fingers twitched, as though they were feeling the sensation of the fur on them.
Wha…? his mind gasped. The sensation felt intensely real, more so than the downpour from his dream had ever been, and his mind reeled at the unexpectedness of it.
"Are you even paying attention?" she snapped at him irritably. "What? Did all of your other opponents just quit because you took too long to make decisions or notice stuff like this?"
"Huh?" Takato looked up, distracted for the moment from his disorienting thoughts. "No! I'm…" he swallowed nervously and tried to compose himself. "It's just…um…" His voice trailed off, and the girl eyed him, clearly expecting him to say something more—perhaps expecting him to say something in particular.
It'd be too weird to say out loud, he finished in his mind. That's it. I'm just going nuts. That's all there is to it. I meet a girl I saw in my dreams, and suddenly my brain is going haywire.
The girl made a grumbling noise.
"This is getting boring," she said, playing a card titled 'Digivice Power Option'. "If you're not going to do anything, then I'll go first."
She turned over the card she had in the digivolve pile, a Kyubimon. Takato felt his heart sink upon seeing it.
Oh man… She digivolved…
The situation was worse than that. Kyubimon had a B icon on its top, whereas the Greymon in his hand had an A icon. Takato quickly ran through the rules in his head and swallowed. He was in trouble. Greymon would be forced to attack with weaker points than Kyubimon.
Not unless I use an Option card, Takato thought, looking at his hand, spying Hyper Wing and the Speed upgrade card. But I'll need those on the attack. I'll need something else to protect myself.
It didn't look good though. The other cards in his hand weren't very helpful, and he would need to discard some of them in order to digivolve, as per the rules.
Rika placed a card face-down in the Power Port section of the field. She glanced up at him, indicating that it was now his turn to digivolve or lose the card.
Not good… Takato's eyes wove through his hand, but in the end the best bet that he had remained Greymon, if only because now that he had Greymon in the Digivolve Zone, he had to either use him or lose him. Takato quickly paid the cost and played a Digivice Power Option card to digivolve Agumon to his Champion form of…
"Not so fast."
Aw nuts…
Takato's eyes widened in surprise as Rika turned over the Power Option card she had hidden—a Control Spire card—shattering what little hope Takato had for winning. In his mind's eye, he imagined Agumon spinning in midair as he began his digivolution, only to slow down and fall to the ground as the Control Spire worked its power over him, preventing him from turning into the ferocious Champion.
The girl smirked.
"You'll need a better mon than that thing to handle me, little boy," she crowed.
"I am not a little boy," Takato glowered. He decided that, dream or no dream, he did not very much like this girl.
The girl smirked triumphantly at him, as though the rise in his attitude had been another victory she had won from him. "Tell you what," she said. "I'll throw you a free turn to change things around. Maybe you'll have better luck, though I suggest that you change out your 'dino-boy' for something with a little more bite to it." The girl leaned back in her chair. Her tone had a very superior sound to it that made Takato feel just a little bit annoyed.
"In that case," Takato began, the two of them now drawing from their decks until their hand size stood at ten cards again, "I'll show you that Agumon has all the bite I need."
It wasn't a very good comeback, but at this point Takato didn't care. His smile was back on in full force as he took note of the cards he had now.
All right. A new Greymon and some more Power Option cards!
On the whole, this Greymon wasn't much of an improvement over the previous one. It was a newer edition, with superior stats, but it would still be forced to attack Kyubimon with its weaker B attack, while it attacked Greymon with its substantially more powerful A attack. Likewise, Greymon's A attack was weaker than Kyubimon's. It didn't look like there was a way out of thi—
Hold on.
While the girl placed a card in the Power Port zone and another card in the Digivolve Zone, Takato's smile widened as he thought of an idea.
All I'll need is a little luck.
"All right," Takato began, pulling a card from his hand. "I'm going to play this Option card, Floppy Disk!"
The girl raised a curios eyebrow at that. "Wow," she chided. "When I said that your luck might improve this round, I didn't mean for you to take it literally. All right. Bring it on."
Takato followed the directions on the card and drew a card from his deck, praying to the gods that his luck would hold through.
As he revealed a digimon card, he knew that his luck was rewarded. Agumon's power was now double what it was.
"Now all I have to do is digivolve and…" Takato's voice trailed off and his eyes bulged in their sockets as realization crashed heavily into him. His eyes snapped up to the girl, who was smirking at him.
"Geez," she chuckled. "Did I even need my Option card? You're your own worst enemy!"
Oh man… Takato thought fast. Once he digivolved the card's effect would be rendered null and void. The girl leaned forward, her eyes joining her lips in its triumphant smirking.
"Okay, little boy. It's time to send you back home to your mom."
Rika revealed a digivice Power Option card from her hand and flipped over the digimon in the Digivolve Zone. Taomon.
Takato had the distinct feeling that he was trapped beneath a pile of wet carpets at the bottom of a swimming pool. In short—drowning with no hope of escape.
Aw nuts…
"So…" she began. "Are you going to digivolve?
760… Takato's mind whispered, seeing Taomon's stats. Even though they can both fight with their A attack, Greymon's completely outgunned. Even a modify card won't do anything at this point. But…there's still…something I can do…right?
It didn't look good. Not at all.
Great. Looks like my best chance is for us to start over again, and that means she'll be ahead in points. I'll have a lot to catch up to…
Takato's mind paused as he felt something tingle the tips of his fingers. For a moment, he thought he was going crazy again. Turning towards its source, his eyes could only widen again as he wished he was going crazy for real this time. Electric bolts sparked around a single, distinctive card in his hand. A card depicting a long-eared, cream-colored digimon known as Terriermon.
The girl was about to say something else when she too noticed what was going on. Her whole body stiffened in surprise, words dying in her mouth. Before either of them could say or do anything else, the electrical dance increased in intensity and Takato threw his hand away from him in surprise and pain. The cards suddenly exploded violently and a fine mist flew outward, settling over the game store. Takato hit the floor hard, jarring his head on its surface. Stars burst across his vision, but he was up almost immediately.
"Rika!" he found himself calling out. "Are you all right? Rika!"
Who's Rika? he wondered stupidly, but he had no time to think about it at the moment as he beheld a pair of glowing, yellow eyes staring directly at him from inside the mist. He stood there, staring back, frozen in shock.
Wha…What is that thing?
The creature's eyes tilted slightly to the side and then took a step forward, a soft giggle coming from it. In Takato's rather floor-addled mind it was the giggle of a hungry monster as it spied prey to devour, and all at once he snatched up his chair and swung it at the creature. The thing dodged easily to the side landing next to him.
"Sheesh," the creature said. "Momentai already would ya, Takatomon?"
"Ha-huh-wha…?" Takato's mouth fell open, now even more stunned than earlier. What had the thing called him? And that voice…why did it sound so familiar?
Takatomon…
"Aaagh!" Takato's questions were interrupted as a sharp pain erupted in his skull, sending all sorts of quakes ripping visions across his eyes. A crimson dinosaur with a hazard sign on his white chest flitted before him, and he went down to one knee. Following the image of Shinjuku Park and a small, concrete hut his second knee joined its brother.
Wha…What's going on?
"Uh oh," came the voice from the creature again. "I forgot. I'm not supposed to talk to you. I'm out of here!"
"Ah…" Takato looked up just in time to see the still unseen creature go and make himself scarce, disappearing into the fog. Takato reached out toward it, not fully understanding why, but at the same time needing to…
"Wait," he croaked, his hand trembling. Another quake of pain and Takato fell over to the side, unconsciousness smashing him brutally back down to the floor.
…
A/N: The above match comes from what rules and cards I could find on the digimon card game, namely the Digi-Battle Card Game. I'm sure there are all kinds of holes in the match. Both players appear to take their turns through the game phases as opposed to other CCGs, where each player has a turn and goes through the phases of play on their own. The game is also structured around very small decks (as small as 29-30 cards). Cards from the deck appear to be the payment offered for digivolving to Champion (exception card effects) and also appear to be meant to be played in ten round matches, though I'm not sure as it's also geared towards whoever reaches a certain set score (100 or 1000 depending on the version of the game…and there are a few). The actual match between digimon themselves is actually rather interesting, being a rock/paper/scissors setup involving three battle types with each digimon having a specific type that a digimon must throw that type of attack at (A attack vs an A type digimon for example).
If I am remise in any of the rules and game play, feel free to inform me and I will edit as best as I can. Given the complexities of the game, I'm tempted to use a version that I created waaay back in a chapter of Less than Human, but…eh. We'll see what happens.
This chapter was a bit of a challenge as it has a rather…YuGiOh flair to it, and I've never written that sort of story before. Since the trick to storytelling is 'show, don't tell' the challenge came in showing the game play rather than bore everyone with game mechanics that I barely even understand myself, never mind what the cards do themselves. Usually I tend to leave out the details, but a friend wanted a chapter that showed Rika curb stomping Takato in a match, which required a look at some old sites I bookmarked a number of years ago. I wasn't planning on it at first, but I decided to include Takato's 'goof' because it's just so…Takato-ish. It also comes from personal experience—myself and friends. There's nothing more dooming than having all the conditions for victory, only to screw up the order of your moves and have a technicality nail the coffin shut. Wording is very important in these kinds of games after all.
Oh, and for the record, Rika had a way of taking him out even if he managed to pull off his move in the first place.
Now concerning Takato not using his combo…I honestly couldn't find the cards, or at least a translated version of what the cards did. Likewise I can't seem to find anything that shows whether or not digimon that fly have an advantage over others. The closest that I could find was a LadyDevimon card, but I couldn't find any similar rules on other well-known fliers. Blagh.
Anyway, 'till next time.
-Crazyeight
