I would have updated this sooner but I haven't really been feeling the flow lately, been feeling pretty bummed out. Hard, trying to get creative juices flowing again, but the only way to get anywhere is to keep writing anyway, well, refresh myself first, but not for too long. I'll get in a creative rut like that. Oh, and don't feel shy to tell me if I've messed up one of your OC's somewhere in some way so I can go back and edit it, about anything. Like an evo line or something, I dunno. Like accidentally stating Lycanthmon as a Champion level when he's really Ultimate… Hehehe... It doesn't affect much, just one or two lines where he calls himself a Champion or something… ANYWAY:
Yami belongs to ShadowLDrago, sorry for the late entry into the story but this looked like the best place to add her in (apart from in Eve's odd little mirror spying trick…)
Excluding any rap you read, any song lyrics featured are from the song I May Fall by Jeff Williams, part of the RWBY Original Soundtrack and stuff.
Chapter 9: I May Fall!
"Emily, breakfast's ready!" Mrs McKenna called from downstairs, her voice echoing through the hallway. Emily groaned as she turned over in her bed, the exhaustion from the previous night weighing down her muscles like led. Rapid footsteps sounded from downstairs before the door was yanked open. She folded her arms, an annoyed expression on her face. She grabbed the end of Emily's blanket with an evil grin before pulling all of the sheets out in one go, dropping a confused and half-asleep Emily to the ground. Emily scrambled to her feet startled, her blankets covering her head making her look ghost like before she tossed them off of herself.
"Mom, couldn't you give me five more minutes?"
"Five more minutes usually becomes five more hours with you," she replied. Emily's mother looked rather young for somebody's parent, being maybe in her late twenties or just under thirty, and was even dressed differently. She had ridiculously messy just-got-out-of-bed black hair with the fringe being red, a white blouse with ketchup stains on it, pink shorts and fuzzy pink slippers. She was dressed more like her big sister than her mother and probably just got out of bed an hour or so ago. "Hurry up or the bacon will get cold, and I want a warm meal this time."
Emily accompanied her mother down the stairs to the kitchen, the smell of sizzling bacon keeping Emily awake as she followed her nose. The two sat down, munching on toast with beans and bacon strips, Emily's mother talking on and on about her friends at work.
"…So then Bill said 'no, that's just my in-law!' can you believe it? All of us absolutely died!" Emily smiled, acknowledging the joke, but even as she sat there nibbling on her toast she could feel herself slipping in and out of consciousness. She just needed a few more hours of rest, that was all… "…Emily? Em, wake up." Emily's mother clicked her fingers in front of Emily's face, snapping her back to reality.
"Huh? What? Oh, sorry mom… I'm just feeling a little bit tired that's all…"
"Did you stay up all night playing video games again?" she questioned, her arms folded over her chest. "Or were you reading late into the night? You're supposed to be getting rest, you're still a young girl. It's not good for you to stay up late!"
"You stay up late all the time," Emily grumbled.
"That's different, I'm your mother, mothers don't need sleep!"
"How's that fair at all? And you're not really around anyway so what time I sleep doesn't affect you too much does it?" Mrs McKenna let out a deep breath.
"Look, I know what this is about… I haven't really been there for you recently. You know how it is, I've been working overtime since that recent project started. I have to get money in somehow you know. I just don't want to have to be worrying about what you're doing when I'm working that's all…" Emily looked down at her plate of food apologetically.
"Sorry, I'll try get to bed earlier next time," Emily mumbled. She couldn't really yell at her own mother about something like that anyway. It must have been hard raising a child all on your own. She was just trying to get the best for her.
"Relax, don't get tense early in the morning alright? Here, have some coffee." She poured out the rich brown liquid from a flask into a cup and handed it to Emily.
"Mom, isn't this brand the super strong stuff? It's not even safe to give to a ten year old! Besides, I don't even like coffee…"
"You're only ten? I thought you were thirteen already!" she laughed as Emily scowled at her, taking a tentative sip of the liquid. The second it touched her tongue she put it back down, yelping in pain as the heat scorched her mouth. "Oh yeah, careful, it's hot!"
"A little late for a warning don't you think?" Her mother stood up from the small table, her plate already emptied of her food. She was like Yoshi, Emily never saw the two of them even pick up their forks, but they always finished their food first somehow. Her appetite was almost as bad as she went to make herself a cheese sandwich as well. Three rapid knocks rapped against the wooden door. Emily's mom answered, half a slice of bread in her mouth muffling whatever she was saying before she shoved down the rest of it and went to open the door.
"Hi, does Emily happen to live here?" Ryuga said from the door. Emily almost choked on her coffee at the sound of his voice. Mrs McKenna's eyes went wide as he saw him standing there, his black sweater and all. She looked at her own scruffy just-got-out-of-bed appearance, going red in the face.
"Umm… Yeah she's just… Just back there in the kitchen… Yeah that's it… Umm, could you excuse me for a minute?" Emily's mom walked swiftly back inside and up the stairs, her face bright red. Ryuga entered the room accompanied by the woman who was on Eve's glass mirror. She had a black tank top and jeans, dressed much like Ryuga in all black, and had shimmering emerald green eyes.
"Looks like she wasn't expecting a visit from anybody special," Ryuga laughed. Emily escorted them to the family room, sitting down on an old leather couch while they sat down on the sofa. Emily's mother returned, her hair looking a little bit more manageable than before, a larger pair of jean shorts on instead of her tiny pink ones, the stain on her blouse roughly cleaned up.
"Sorry about that, I didn't we'd be having guests over or else I would have changed into something a little more appropriate… The only person who comes now is Sam and he practically lives here so it doesn't really matter anyway!"
"That's okay, sorry for coming by without warning anyway," Ryuga said apologetically. "Umm… do you know where Emily's mother is or if she'll stop by anytime soon?"
"I am Emily's mother," Mrs McKenna said, her eyebrows furrowed in annoyance.
"Wait, what? You are? I mean… Umm… Sorry for the mix up, I thought you were her big sister or something like that, you seemed rather… Well…" Mrs McKenna laughed heartily.
"Don't get your shorts all tied up, relax! Loads of people make the same mistake, it's kind of annoying really but I just take it that I look young and fresh, wouldn't you agree?"
"Don't mind my mother," Emily said. "She's just jumpy because she has guests over instead of me for a change. Sorry to burst your bubble but they're probably here for me not you."
"Whaat? That's not fair, you've always got Sam around here, I want to invite guests over sometimes, I've even been practicing my cooking to. Haven't started a fire in over two months…" The whole parent-daughter situation looked completely reversed, it looked more like Emily was the one lecturing her mother on how to behave. The female guest cleared her throat, attracting her attention.
"Sorry to interrupt your morning. I'm Yami Tategami, and this is my little brother, Ryuga Tategami. We're part of a campaign on getting the youth to be more active and involved in nature and the outdoors, especially considering how most of today's youth tend to spend more time watching TV and playing video games than actually getting active and being sporty.
"Sounds like somebody I know, Emily," Mrs McKenna said with a sly grin.
"Don't act like never used to join me with those games…"
"Either way," Yami continued. "I've already stopped by Emily's high school and the teacher's there think it's an interesting idea. Already they should be sending out emails to all the parents. Normally we would have waited for the last Monday of the term for Emily to get the notice at school but since we were nearby we felt that we should stop by in advance. For this trip to take place we'd need to get permission from the parent or guardian of whoever expressed an interest in this trip, if that's okay with you…" Emily's mother nodded her head as she listened while Emily herself stared at Ryuga questioningly.
"Okay, sounds good to me," Mrs McKenna said as she examined a card Yami gave her. "Emily doesn't really go out much anyway, it's great to see her actually doing stuff, who knows? She might even make some more friends!"
"Mom!"
"I'm just kidding, but next time warn me in advance if you want to go camping or anything! I'm your mother for crying out loud, act like it sometimes…"
"Sorry, it just slipped from my mind until now," Emily lied. How did they set up all the business cards and stuff with the school? Just who is she anyway?
"Emily," Ryuga said. "Let's talk about the details of the trip while Yami discusses stuff with your mom…" Emily and Ryuga3 with your mom…" Emily and Ryuga left, heading upstairs for Emily's room. As soon as they entered Yoshi was already waiting for them seated on the bed, his shinai on his lap as he stared at it.
"How did you manage all of that?" Emily asked. "Getting the school in on it and everything… I would have understood just having fake business cards but now…"
"That's what we were originally planning," Ryuga said. "But after Allison telling us about her parents we weren't entirely sure that anybody else would really buy this whole camping thing. Luckily my aunt and uncle actually do have this whole summer camp thing going on, so we begged them to try and check out your school as well, that way all your parents would get an e-mail from them with the same last name as us and think we're the real thing."
"That sounds like a lot of effort though, and wouldn't your aunt be confused if our parents called them instead? And what about if our parents contact the school to find out?"
"Well our aunt and uncle should have your names already so the school does to, but it's really complicated anyway… Just leave the complicated thinking to Yami, that's the job of adults. You've just got to think of what you need to pack with you, same as me and everybody else. Got that?" Emily nodded her head.
"But… Ryuga, do you really think that I'll be able to keep up with all of you guys?"
"Huh? What do you mean by that? You're doing fine so far."
"So far yeah, but we've only been able to just about make it through our battles from fusing and evolving… What if I can't do that?" Ryuga placed a large hand on her head, the hand feeling a little bit too heavy for Emily's neck.
"Don't worry, you'll also get to Digivolve Yoshi. It's just going to take some time that's all. Don't overthink things! You'll get grey hairs early!"
"I'm only eleven Ryuga!"
"Well you do more thinking than all of us combined! Nobody can tell what's going on up in there most of the time you know! We're heading over to Allison's place after this, we'll tell you how successful we were at the next meet up on Tuesday. If everything goes according to plan we'll leave by next week on the same day."
"So until then I should find something to do huh?"
"You'll probably figure something out." Emily doubted it, but before she could say anything more about it Yami entered the room with her mother close in tow.
"Alright, I'll just check up with the school and everything on Monday to make sure they're really okay with all of this and whatever trip she's going on will be fine. Sorry about the whole worried parent cliché," Mrs McKenna apologised. Yami gave her a charming smile.
"Don't worry about it, I know that this is all rather sudden and we think the safety of all the children that accompany us is important. Thanks for your time anyway." Yami gave Emily a quick wink while her mother turned to talk to Ryuga. Emily wasn't sure how they had managed to get the school in on this, and she would make sure she found out from Ryuga at some point, one way or another. After talking for a bit longer afterwards, they both left, Emily gently closing the front door after them. Emily turned around slowly to see her mother grinning from ear to ear at her.
"What's so funny?" Emily asked.
"Nothing, nothing, just that I always thought that you hated the outdoors, that's all," she stated.
"Normally I do, but I thought this would be fun, and I'm going with a bunch of friends from school." Mrs McKenna blinked rapidly, struggling to hold in her surprise.
"Friends from school? Aww, my baby's making more friends!"
"Mom!" Emily whined as her mother tried giving her a hug."
"Sorry, you just normally don't get along with most people except maybe Sam, so it's nice knowing you have loads of little playmates!"
"Mom! Now you're just doing this on purpose!"
"Hey, at least I waited for our guests to leave." Mrs McKenna released her from her clutches. "Now go get yourself freshened up. I'm guessing you're going to hang with Sam?"
"I'm going to grab some ice cream and Sam said he would tag along. How did you know?"
"I'm your mother, I know everything about you," she said before walking upstairs herself. "Just make sure that you're back home before dinner alright? If you're gonna sleep over at his place or something, call me first."
. . .
Yoshi watched in silence from Emily's windowsill as she walked off down the streets on her own, silent as ever. Already he was thinking of which area of the city he should go wandering off to. Of course, he had to make sure that he didn't get spotted by anybody. He didn't want to make things difficult for Emily, or for himself either.
"Munchkin, how ya been?" Devimon's voice said. Startled, Yoshi leaped backwards, tumbling over and banging his head against the floor. He picked himself up quickly, unsheathing his sword with one hand while the other held onto his aching head. Devimon sat in the uppermost branches of the tree outside the window, relaxing in the sunshine. Sure he was more of a random demon than a vampire, but the image still felt strange in Yoshi's head.
"You!" Yoshi growled, tightening his grip on his shinai.
"Oh come on, don't have such a hostile feeling to me," Devimon said as he jumped out, landing inside Emily's bedroom. "After all, I'm just here to say hiyas to my old buddy right? Let's leave all that fighting stuff behind us, deal?" Yoshi glared at his extended hand, making no move to shake it himself.
"Why are you out here?" Yoshi asked. "Sam wouldn't trust you to run around alone yet, he still doesn't trust you so much."
"I snuck out. Duh! It's not like I'm gonna run away. After all I did originally want to have a human partner. Now that I've got all this power getting a partner actually kinda sucks, and knowing that guy he probably won't even be able to Digivolve me higher than I am already. Defeats the whole purpose of getting a tamer doesn't it? I don't have any reason to leave him though. Who knows, I might even end up on his starting line-up team?" Yoshi said nothing, not even lowering his shinai. Devimon laughed. "You really don't like me do you?"
"You talk too much don't you?" Yoshi shot back. Devimon smiled, a pointed fang showing.
"Finally, I got some more words out of you! Here I was scared that I'd be talking all day and you wouldn't say nothing!" He laughed hard, clutching his sides. Yoshi frantically waved his shinai in the air before holding a finger up to his mask.
"Quiet," Yoshi whispered. "Emily's mother is still here, we can't make too much noise!" Devimon huffed as he turned around, facing the window again.
"Whatever, it's not like I really care if you get found out. Though if you're asking nicely…" Devimon smiled. "I guess I'll just keep quiet and keep my big ole secret to myself…"
"What secret?"
"Oh it doesn't matter, you wanted me to stay quiet anyway…" Yoshi shrugged his shoulders.
"Okay. Goodbye Devimon." Devimon turned around in surprise.
"W-wait, you're not going to beg me for what the secret is?"
"No, why would I?" Devimon glared at him evilly.
"Fine, I'll tell you. It's not like it's much of a secret anyway. It has to do with the identity of that Eve girl, the one with the D-tector. I've been doing a bit of thinking on my own. She can use powers that normally only digimon can use. Not only that, but she has a D-Tector. If you've been to as many places and seen as many people as I have, then you'd know that's not normal. I think I've got a plan to figure out her identity, and if we play out cards right, we can learn about your past to, if you'll only help me out…"
"Sorry, I'll pass," Yoshi said. Devimon blinked in surprise.
"Seriously? Don't you want to know who or what you are?"
"Not really," Yoshi replied. "I don't care about my past, I just like living here with Emily. She doesn't treat me like I'm evil, she didn't try to kill me, and I get as much food as I want. It's nice here, so really I don't need to bother about something that will just bother the both of us when we're fine as we are now." Devimon frowned at him and shook his head.
"Idiot… After Eve telling you about your dark powers to you still aren't even the least bit curious…" Yoshi sucked in a quick breath in shock and realisation. "What? Did I say something wrong?"
"Devimon… How do you know about the warning Eve gave us?" Devimon looked at him confused. "Eve only told us two about my past life, but she didn't mention it to anybody else. How do you know about that?"
"Uh oh, I did say something wrong didn't I?" Devimon smiled as he took one step out the window again. "Let's just say that Eve isn't the only one with secrets…"
"Wait, get back here!" Yoshi screamed as he reached for Devimon's leg, but he'd already leaped out the window, morphing and transforming into the smaller Demi-Devimon, flying too high for Yoshi to reach him if he tried. Yoshi banged his obscured fist on the window sill, small cracks appearing in the wood. What's really going on? How come everybody knows something that I don't? Who… who am I? Kotemon shrugged off the feeling of confusion and doubt. He wasn't going to get anywhere just sitting around, he might was well have gone to check up on Emily. Before the thought could even take place in his mind he already found himself leaping out the window, going after her. She'd only been gone a few minutes thought, what was the worst that could happen?
. . .
All Emily wanted to do was get some ice cream, nothing more, and nothing less. Just a normal day, yet here at the bus stop a young girl who looked like she was pretending to have a fashion show was arguing with that self-same conductor who went into town whenever Emily felt she didn't want to cycle or walk there instead.
"How many times are you gonna try this stunt kid?" the conductor asked. "I told you, your parents don't want you travelling on my lines."
"Oh come on, don't be like that!" the girl said. "And besides, I don't know what you're talking about!" The girl was wearing a wide brimmed flamingo pink hat and one of those fuzzy scarves you see in old fashioned Hollywood movies. Her eyes (and most of her face) were hidden by a ridiculously large pair of heart shaped sunglasses and the large white over coat she wore looked much too big for her, the sleeves hiding her hands. The conductor, a balding man who smelled like pizza, frowned at her.
"Allison, I can tell it's you," he grumbled. "Look little lady, even if I let you on, just how far do you think I'd take you anyway? I'm an inner-city bus driver, I travel from the bus depot to the market district to the suburbs to the ice cream parlour to the other side of town and a bunch of boring places there before coming back. The furthest I get from town is the outskirts. Where would you go from there?"
"I'd walk the rest of the way!" she yelled.
"And that's exactly why your rents won't let you on. Now if you'll excuse me I'm gonna be late!" Without waiting for another word, he shut the door and drove off, leaving Allison and Emily behind.
"W-wait! You're actually leaving too early!" Emily yelled. "I still need to get on!" She ran a few steps after it before realising it was hopeless.
"Shame, you just missed it," Allison said.
"You chased the guy away… And I wanted to get ice cream today…"
"Sorry about that, I'll try not to hold you up next time." Emily stared at her odd costume, the over coat's sleeve hanging off of her shoulder.
"So, what's the point of… this… anyway? That whole conversation seemed weird." Allison pulled off her glasses and fumbled with her scarf.
"I was trying to get this guy to take me to the next city over. I always wanted to go travelling."
"What? This line doesn't even go to the city limits. What do you want to do there anyway?"
"Not really sure, just thought it would be fun."
"Fun? That's still a long way away from your friends and your parents and all that. At least if you had somebody with you…"
"I know, that's why I always have Handle watching over me!" She held up her Digivice with a wide smile.
"I don't think that's what she meant," AxeHounmon said from within the Digivice. "I think she means that maybe you should rethink trying to travel everywhere just yet."
"Yeah, but my parents are still being stubborn about the whole camping idea…"
"Don't worry about that," Emily said. "Ryuga's big sis already set something up with the school, don't ask me how. You better remind me to ask them next time I see them, but basically that means that it's apparently an official school trip and everything. Your parents won't be able to get mad and overprotective on you then."
"I dunno, my mom can be really overbearing at times…" A low cry interrupted their thoughts. The pair looked to the source of the sound in confusion. Clanking sounds were coming from behind the shelter along with moaning and sobbing.
"Yo keep your cool and don't act a fool, you'll attract a crowd with this sound!" a deep voice said rhythmically. Allison and Emily stepped just behind the shelter, an odd sight awaiting them.
A large metal trashcan wobbled in front of them, a large pair of scaled green legs attacked to an odd white shell sticking out of it, kicking madly in the air. Next to the very panicked and very stuck individual was what had to be some kind of turtle/fish monster. It had thick orange dreaded hair, just barely hiding his eyes and a yellow duck bill. Its skin was pale green with his belly being white and his webbed hands were pulling on the legs of the other monster to no avail. Emily wasn't sure why a fish monster would need a pair of black headphones wrapped around its neck if it would be doing any swimming, but here this very monster was sporting a pair of headphones. Were they water proof? The fish monster slipped, collapsing to the dirt to land on his orange shell. Emily spied, oddly enough, a silver CD rom spinning on the top of his head, set deeply inside it. Emily had read somewhere that Kappa's were monsters that had dishes on their heads, and would weaken if you upturned their dishes, so were the discs this creature's dish? Just then it noticed Emily and Allison staring slack jawed at the pair of them. There was silence, both parties unsure what to say or do.
"So… lost in the human world?" Allison asked. The fish monster rapidly stood up, clearing its throat.
"Check this out… I'm the DJ from West Side/
Flows so sick it's like I breath cyanide/
I'm impossible to follow when I start to spit and rhyme/
It's like a pyroclastic flow it's like I'm breaking space and time/
Renowned for my skills on the mic world-wide, I'm…"
"Gawappamon!" the voice in the trash yelled angrily. "Keep it brief!" Gawappamon flinched at the harsh reprimanding voice.
"Okay okay! Can't let a cool cat rap can he, you can't rush artistry! My bad if my rhymes sound wack thanks to him, I'm still working on my flow…"
"Gawappamon!"
"… I'm Gawappamon, and that's Digitamamon.
My partner in crime got stuck inside when we arrived in town/
So I'm tryin ta bust him out so I can put the slam down/
Seein as you's all cool with my kind judging from the kind of face you wearing inside/
Could you's all be homies and help another homie in this needy time?"
"Uh, I'm guessing that means you want help right?" Allison asked awkwardly.
"As fine as a rhyme!" Gawappamon confirmed happily.
"And I'm guessing that means yes… Sure I suppose…" Allison took a long look at the grimy trash can, rapping her knuckles against it a few times. "This guy's stuck good. We could all keep pulling till he pops out but I've got a better idea." She pointed her Digivice in front of the trash can. "Realize, AxeHounmon!" AxeHounmon materialized in front of them all, Gawappamon's eyes widening in surprise as he saw it. "You think you could cut this guy out of here?" Allison asked.
"Do I look like a can opener to you?" AxeHounmon snapped.
"Sorry! I just thought you'd be able to, I'm not implying you look like anything other than my lovely partner and friend, right?" AxeHounmon stared at the can.
"I can't break this without harming whoever's inside it to. Unless he doesn't mind having to hold his own pieces in his hands of course." Allison let out a breath.
"So we have to pull him out by his feet then?" Together with Allison, Emily grabbed the odd digimon's legs, pulling with all of her might, Gawappamon assisting as well, heaving from the exertion before the victim popped out, everybody collapsing as soon as he was free.
"I'm free! I'm free I'm free I'm free I'm free I'm free!" the digimon laughed, running round the people on the floor. Whether it still classified as a digimon if it hadn't even fully hatched out of its egg though Emily wasn't so sure. It turned out that those legs and a yellow pair of eyes were the only parts of it that were visible, the rest of his body hidden by a large white and green speckled egg as tall as Emily.
"Huh, Digitamamon," Emily said to herself ponderously. "Tama, tama… Digi-eggmon?"
"Well, that's where my name comes from," Digitamamon said in surprise. "How did you know that?"
"Translated from Japanese, just a word or two from watching too many anime. The name suits you."
"Thank you… I guess… And you must be Emily correct?" Emily flinched at the mention of her name. How did he know her? "From your reaction it seems that I was right. And the mutt is the Lycanthmon that they were talking about back home…" Lycanthmon growled at his words, Allison also going on guard.
"Hey, back off buddy!" Allison retorted. "Nobody calls Handle a mutt, he's much too cuddly to be a mutt!"
"In what world am I 'cuddly'?" AxeHounmon asked sceptically. Gawappamon stared at Emily, his formerly easy going appearance now consumed by his cold piercing gaze.
"So you're the ones the boss told us to find/
You're the one full of evil that'll erase all of time…" Before Emily could question his odd words he'd raised a green flipper into the air. Reacting faster than her mind had time to realise what was happening, Emily leaped backwards, Gawappamon's flipper swinging inches away from her face. Allison gawked in shock at the sudden change in personality while AxeHounmon's fur stood up aggressively.
"What're you doing? Didn't we just save you?" AxeHounmon asked.
"Yes you did," Digitamamon replied, his own voice sounding surprisingly sinister. "For that we must thank you. We really didn't want it to come to this, but it looks like you're the ones Lord Bane told us to stomp out. A girl reeking of dark Digisoul, a variation of Sangloupmon, since the rest of you aren't here it will be much easier to defeat you now."
"Wait a second, what's this stuff I keep hearing about darkness and evil power?" Allison asked. "What're you guys all talking about in the first place? And why are you attacking us specifically? It's not like we've really done anything wrong…"
"Exactly!" Emily added. "If anything we've been keeping our world safe! Digimon return back to the digital world as Digi-eggs when they're defeated right? Well in that case, we've just been sending the ones who go on rampages back, there can't be anything wrong with that!" Digitamamon laughed loudly as she finished speaking.
"So you think it's fun turning back into an egg? You think that we enjoy losing all of our memory and being reborn as an infant? It's like you're not even the same digimon anymore! There isn't even a guarantee that you'll come back either!"
"Wait, what do you mean?"
"I can't believe you didn't know this! Here's a bit of digimon biology. When a digimon is destroyed they revert to an egg level, normally by having their data sent to the mainframe and reconfigured. They lose almost all of their memory and are reborn as new digimon. That's what normally happens. When evil digimon get destroyed though, once their data gets sent to the mainframe, it's evaluated and deemed unsafe for the rest of the world. It's never seen again, and nobody knows what happens to it…"
"That doesn't make sense though, people keep telling me that Kotemon was once evil but he's still walking around just fine, and if evil digimon don't come back isn't that a good thing?" Digitamamon remained silent for a few moments.
"Just… just shut up! That's just what I've heard, it's not like I even know what the mainframe even is! The point is, you little kids still think this is just one big game don't you? Even so, I'm not here to avenge the fallen. I'm here to do a job, and that job involves destroying any threats to Lord Bane's plans, starting with you guys!" Digitamamon charged forward, head butting AxeHounmon, sending him rolling across the pavement.
"What kind of useless attack was that?" Allison laughed, pulling down her bottom eyelid and sticking her tongue out at him. "Handle, show them how it's really done! Smile Seizure!" AxeHounmon got up on shaky legs before collapsing to the ground again. "Handle?"
"Allison, that things Ultimate level!" Emily yelled.
"What?!"
"Don't mess with it! You can't win without digivolving up to its level!"
"But… but going Ultimate is hard!"
"And I don't like becoming Sangloupmon," AxeHounmon countered. "It barely feels any different…" Gawappamon didn't give them any more time to talk, kicking AxeHounmon into the shelter, the metal bending in as he crashed into it.
"DJ Shooter!" Gawappamon yelled, placing his hands on the disc on his head. He flung them out of his head like shuriken throwing stars, multiple discs cutting into AxeHounmon. AxeHounmon howled in pain before Digitamamon crashed into him again, sending him to the ground. Both of the attacking digimon charged at him together.
"Thunder Kote!" A flash of a thunderbolt crashed just in front of AxeHounmon, the digimon shaking his head in an attempt to clear away his confusion. Yoshi stood in front of him, holding his shinai up in a ready pose. Digitamamon had already stepped back, almost as if he saw the attack coming, while Gawappamon was on the floor, blowing on his now swollen and burnt hands as if it would reduce the pain. "AxeHounmon, are you alright?"
"You're a little late rookie," AxeHounmon said in a strained voice as he struggled to his feet. Allison sprinted over to her partner to check if he was alright. Yoshi ignored him, clutching his shinai even tighter, staring the pair down.
"You're the dark power Kotemon, known as Hideyoshi/
The one with the blaze and the lightning that scares me/
You're a sad kid with a sad life with sad skills and no mic/
And no power to compete with…" With each syllable Gawappamon struck out at Yoshi with a mix of kicks and punches, Yoshi struggling to block them all with his shinai. More discs shot out of Gawappamon's head, sending Yoshi crashing into Emily, the pair collapsing in a heap on the ground.
"Emily!" Allison cried before glaring back at Gawappamon with rage, pulling her Digivice out of her pocket. "Now you've really annoyed me… Hurt me, that's one thing. Hurt my friends, and now you're pushing it!" Red pixelated Digi-Soul flames gathered around her, not just on her fists, but now wrapping all the way around her body, spinning like a cyclone. "AxeHounmon, prepare yourself! This one's gonna be a doozy!"
"It's finally time to show my real strength is it?" AxeHounmon asked, his smile widening. Allison pointed her Digivice at AxeHounmon.
"Digi-Soul, Full Charge!" she yelled, slamming the top of the device down with her free hand. A blast of energy shot out of it, engulfing AxeHounmon.
"AxeHounmon Digivolve to…" AxeHounmon grew larger, morphing first into Sangloupmon, then becoming bipedal, blades appearing at his sides and his garments draping him. "Lycanthmon!"
Lycanthmon swung his blades in a storm of slices, holding Gawappamon at bay. Digitamamon crashed into him, sending them both through the shelter. Lycanthmon kicked Digitamamon off angrily, the spikes on his boots doing no damage to his shell. "Crashing Death!" he roared, kicking Digitamamon again, harder this time. Digitamamon skidded backwards through the ground on his heels before stopping, not even knocked down.
"Hehe, you can't break my perfect defence!" he laughed.
"Best believe I'm set to win," Gawappamon began. "If you're testing me you better think again!" More discs shot out of his head, Lycanthmon desperately deflecting them with his swords. Yoshi launched forward, swinging his sword at Gawappamon. Gawappamon simply put up his arm, stopping the blow short. He pushed Yoshi back before Digitamamon body slammed him, crushing him against the ground with his whole armoured body.
"Yoshi!" Emily cried.
"I'm… okay!" Yoshi roared, tossing Digitamamon off. Before he could do anything else a storm of discs sliced through him, Yoshi screaming in pain. Lycanthmon leaped in the way, spinning his blades in front of him frantically, knocking them all back. Again Digitamamon intervened, body slamming him instead.
"What's up with this thing?" Allison asked in confusion. "This one knows nearly no techniques, but I can't even lay a dent in it, while that Gawappamon guy's attack is super annoying. If I could just get one good hit on him…"
"I can't when I'm covering Yoshi as well," Lycanthmon said, a hint of annoyance in his tone.
"When… covering for me?" Yoshi asked quietly.
"He's right now that I think about it," Allison began. "You've got all the skills, but the difference in raw speed and power is too huge. Those two are a Champion and Ultimate level, though together it's like they're both weak Ultimates. We're only one Ultimate and a Rookie. Yoshi can't do much against them."
"Again, we're just one step behind," Emily said. "I'm starting to get sick of this! If Sam had Starmon with him we could level it with Santoryou Kotemon!"
"Then call him!" Yoshi yelled, still comparatively quiet before Gawappamon kicked him in the face, sending him to the floor in a daze. "I'll hold out until then." Emily clenched her fists as she stared at the battle unfolding before her, emotions she couldn't quite understand bubbling up inside of her.
"No…" Yoshi stared at her questioningly.
"No?"
"I said no! I don't want to have to rely on the others anymore! Even if I can make up for it with tactics, it's not worth a thing if I'm alone now is it? Especially if we're outclassed like this!" Gawappamon laughed as he shot out more spinning discs at Yoshi, Yoshi curling up into a ball to lessen the damage to no avail.
"So what're you gonna do?" Allison asked. "We don't have much room for anything else here."
"That's true but…"
"Look, I'm not sure I can really say I know what you're going through. I've never actually had any problems getting AxeHounmon to Digivolve. In fact, I got to Ultimate level way quicker than most people do so I really don't see what's so hard about it! And I see I'm making things worse aren't I…" Emily nodded her head, her expression looking like thunder. "One thing I can say is that when I Digivolve, I put all of my guts behind it! The longer Handle stays Digivolved and the higher the level, the more guts I have to put in, which is why it's so hard to stay Ultimate level, makes sense? So I guess it's a bit harder with that Digivice, but the theory should still be the same, right?" Emily looked at the Digivice strapped to her arm.
"Put all my guts behind it? I don't think it works that way really…" Their opponents hadn't let up on the assault in the slightest, Lycanthmon falling to one knee, heaving from the exertion. Gawappamon bobbed his head to the beat that was playing from his headphones. All of my guts… That's probably what Gawappamon's doing when he uses his DJ Shooter. He's putting his belief in rap music behind each hit and attacking with it. I can literally feel his love of rap music coming from it… Wait…
"Allison, what about putting what you believe in behind it?" Allison's brow furrowed in thought.
"Yeah, I suppose that should work…"
"And if that belief or source were to disappear?"
"…Emily, by now I can tell by that look that you've got a plan cooking up…"
A smile graced Emily's lips as she brought her Digivice up in front of her. "Kotemon, I'm gonna send you an mp3 file via the Digivice!" Emily pulled out her cell and held it next to her Digivice. "Come on, Eve said this thing can transfer data, please tell me it can receive stuff through Bluetooth as well…" Digivice 01 appeared on her phone. "Bingo! Yoshi, go full defensive until I'm done! Defence! Defence!" Yoshi nodded his head, jumping backwards next to Lycanthmon. The two stood back to back, both of them holding up their weapons. Lycanthmon repelled each of Digitamamon's attacks with ease while Yoshi frantically batted away each of Gawappamon's attacks.
There's a day when our hearts will be broken… Yoshi's eyes widened in surprise as he heard the music playing through his head. When the Shadow will cast out the light.
When my eyes cry a million tears, help won't arrive.
There's a day when courage collapses, and our breath didn't leave us behind,
The creatures of darkness will triumph, the sun won't rise!
"Emily… what is this?" Yoshi asked, a dark purple aura building up around him.
"It's the awesome power of Rock n' Roll!" Emily yelled. "I May Fall, by Jeff Williams and Casey Williams! Put the data behind your shinai and Thunder Men Gawappamon!"
"Right," Yoshi said quietly, the yellow lights for eyes going out in total concentration. Yoshi leaped into the air, his sword lighting up with black lightning.
"I don't think so!" Digitamamon roared, jumping after him. Lycanthmon roared, slashing Digitamamon with both of his swords, knocking him back to the ground.
"DJ Shooter!" Gawappamon yelled with a laugh, shooting more discs at Yoshi, but Yoshi didn't even look like he noticed the damage.
"I won't let that day come… I won't let that day arrive!" Yoshi screamed. "Ninpo: Black Men!" Yoshi crashed his sword down on Gawappamon's head, the sound of his Digi-Melody playing along with the impact, played now with electric guitars instead of a synthesizer. Gawappamon cried out in pain as his headphones sparked up with black lightning.
"Wha… What's happening?" Gawappamon asked in a daze, not rhyming for the first time during the whole battle. "My beat… My beat just changed… Rock? What's going on? The chorus?"
When we love so close, it's all filled with fear
And the sky drained black, and the end draws near!
I MAY FALL!
"But not like this, it won't be by your hand!" Yoshi sung, cutting Gawappamon aggressively. Allison gaped in awe as Yoshi pushed back Gawappamon with ease.
"What did you do?" Allison asked.
"I figured if I couldn't increase my own power, I would drop Gawappamon's by changing his genre of music! He loves rap, so I was gonna give him classical, but all I had on my phone was rock so that worked. If the source of his power goes, no matter how much he loves or hates the song he can't use DJ Shooter which is fuelled by rap!"
"But to transfer the song to his headphones?"
"I used my Digivice! It can transfer any kind of data, so I thought songs would work to. It looks like Yoshi likes this song to though, I've never seen him so fired up! I kind of understand though. This song is talking about how the heroes are one day gonna face there final battle, and they won't have the power to stop it, but refuse to back down anyway, not against a foe like this at least! With how weak me and Yoshi have been feeling, I understand. None of us want to lose yet. We won't fall here!" Digitamamon charged for Yoshi, head butting him back ten metres, but Yoshi dug his feet deep in the ground, refusing to fall down.
"With weak spirit like that… You'll never defeat me and Emily! Our power is immense! In fact, it's infinite!" Emily closed her eyes in understanding.
"It's that time…"
"Emily?" Allison asked in a concerned tone. Emily's eyes opened, but no longer were they the meek awkward little girl from before.
"Kotemon! Roast these evil beings with your flames!" Emily roared. Yoshi roared in rage, confirming Emily's orders.
"Men!" he screamed, crashing his shinai on Gawappamon's head. "Dou!" he crashed his stick against Gawappamon's torso, Gawappamon wheezing in pain as an odd green liquid sprayed out of his mouth. "Kote!" he crashed his stick against Gawappamon's flippers, the flippers swelling again. Lycanthmon wrapped his arms around Digitamamon, stopping him from shooting over to assist his comrade. "Men! Dou! Kote! Men! Dou! Kote! Men! Dou! Kote! Men-Dou-Kote- Men-Dou-Kote- Men-Dou-Kote-" The mantra continued in an endless loop as Yoshi's pace continued, Gawappamon letting out a long endless scream.
Ridiculous! AxeHounmon thought to himself. That Rookie… he smells like a Champion level! He's already gained that much strength just from his desire to win! No… it's not that… This is his and Emily's joint desire to become stronger!
There's a moment that changes a life when, we do something that no one else can.
In the path that we've taken will lead us, one final stand…
Yoshi's eyes flared as he heard the words, all the instruments dying down as they were uttered.
Something that no one else can… Anybody can Digivolve, but only we can defeat these guys right now! I have to focus on this now!
Black Digi-Soul built up around Emily, a bar like a phones battery reaching maximum on her Digivice before growing larger, shooting out of the Digivice itself and into the air.
"Digivolution?!" Allison exclaimed in shock. "And not just any Digivolution, I've never seen anything like this! This is… the rumoured evolution said to come from D-3 Digivices and Taichi Digivices?!" Emily gave Allison a cocky smile before turning back to the battlefield, odd digital repetitions of the word Digimon getting added to the chorus of guitars and vocals coming from Kotemon's shinai.
"Kotemon, Blast Digivolve!" Emily cried, holding up her Digivice. Kotemon hovered in the air, black lightning sparking around him, the bar wrapping itself around him in the shape of a gigantic egg. His melody was even playing a new tune to the old one.
"Digimon are the Champions?" Allison asked in confusion, repeating a line of its new tune.
"Kotemon Blast Digivolve to…" Odd Japanese characters floated around him along with English spellings of Kotemon and odd unrecognizable characters. Kotemon began slowly rotating, speeding up rapidly. It all happened in the blink of an eye, too fast for anybody to even see what happened, but all of a sudden the characters around him changed, as did his appearance. A whole new digimon stood before them. "Musyamon!"
Musyamon fell from the air, landing on the ground with a thud towering at twice the height of the adult sized Gawappamon. He looked like a demon, giant like and intimidating. His blue armour was now red ceramic, and his old helmet that covered his face was gone, replaced with a red one that showed face, a pale grey demon-like one. His breastplate was also gone, instead what looked like four massive spider legs were wrapped around him with the blue talons joining up together at the front. His stick was replaced with a thick single edged broadsword, not unlike an oversized katana.
Musyamon
Level: Champion
Attribute: Virus
Tamer: Emily McKenna
Attacks: Kirisute Gomen, Hakuchoumaru
"I am the Musyamon known as noble Hideyoshi, a tenacious Oni with a soul as unrelenting as my back! My wooden shinai has been unleashed as I gained knowledge of its true name through evolution, Hakuchoumaru! Only a true swordsman or woman can stop my technique, Kirisute Gomen, but I have many more secret techniques hidden away!"
"Stand aside or fear my blade!" Musyamon yelled, holding his arm out in front of him in a goofy pose.
"I can't be scared of a chump like you/
I'm the mad monk bro, I eat chumps like you as stew! Man, I can't believe I just said that…" Gawappamon charged at Musyamon, but he was simply batted away with one swing of his sword, the tarmac beneath him opening in a tiny fissure.
"Like this… we have a chance!" Lycanthmon said, standing up on weak knees.
"Yeah, we stand more than a chance, we've got this!" Allison exclaimed. Emily and Allison looked each other in the eyes and nodded their heads. They stood back to back and crossed their arms over each other, each with their Digivices held out, black and red Digi-Soul coming off of the two of them.
"Go, Musyamon, Lycanthmon!" they both yelled together. The pair of them roared in rage, the energy engulfing the two of them. Gawappamon and Digitamamon huddled together, Digitamamon using his body to try defend the pair of them. Musyamon's blade began glowing blue while both of Lycanthmon's began glowing silver.
"Silver Dash!" Lycanthmon roared.
"Kirisute Gomen!" Musyamon screamed simultaneously. The two swung their swords at the same time, Lycanthmon slashing numerous times in the span of that one second while Musyamon nearly bowled over backwards from his own slash, the recoil from the attacking generating storm class winds. Waves of crisscrossing energy flew over to the opposing pair, slashing through them as if they weren't even standing there.
The blasts exploded, exploded dirt rising into the air, hiding Gawappamon and Digitamamon. Emily and Allison coughed as the dirt got into their systems. When they opened their eyes, they saw both of their enemies lying on their backs on the ground, yellow flecks of data rising from them.
"Man… That was hard!" Gawappamon laughed. "I'm impressed kids, I'm so shocked I've even stopped my rhymes… That kinda power isn't gonna save you though…"
"He's right," Digitamamon said. "If anything, all it has done is confirm Lord Bane's suspicions. The Kotemon… He is not who you think he is…" Emily blinked away her trance, wobbling on her feet, Allison having to steady her before she could fall over.
"What're you talking about?" Emily asked, her voice sounding slurred. "How would this Lord Bane have seen this battle? What's wrong with Yoshi?" Digitamamon chuckled, his voice sounding raspy.
"Lord Bane has his methods of finding anything. Who that Kotemon is, doesn't matter. It's already too late for you…"
"Too late? What's happening to Emily?" Allison growled.
"Just remember children, this is not a mere game. Digimon are not simply your pets for your amusement."
"Of course not, they're our partners and friends!"
"That's what you say, but is that what you truly believe? Perhaps one day, you will understand what I mean. It will be too late by then of course…" Digitamamon chuckled ominously, the sound creeping down Emily's spine before the pair of them dispersed as data into the sky. Allison let out a deep breath as Lycanthmon degenerated back down to AxeHounmon.
"That was a rough one… We got lucky that the bus had already left when they started making noise. Imagine if they attacked in the city and we couldn't send them to Digi-Quartz? Emily?" Emily was still staring at Yoshi with a puzzled look on her face while Yoshi stared back.
"Sooo, Emily," he said awkwardly. "How do I turn back to normal?"