"Old Reliable"
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The full moon shone down on the hut and the light streamed in through the window and down onto the sleeping occupants of the bedroom.
On the bed was Daisuke who was hugging Veemon to her chest like one of her old plush toys while Youko was curled up on top of the girl to keep her warm through the chilly night.
Moaning in her sleep, the girl nuzzled her face into her pillow as she was consumed in her dreams.
A six year old Daisuke was sitting in the yard behind her house with a frown on her face as she stared down at the scroll in front of her.
She had been trying to summon a fox, but she kept failing and Naruto had assured her that it was normal.
When she was 12 years old, she had tried many times to try and summon a toad, but had only managed to make tadpoles appear much to Jiraiya's amusement.
She had only managed to finally summon a toad, the boss toad Gamabunta, when the pervy sage threw her off a cliff.
Later on she gained two toads she became friends with called Gamakichi and Gamatatsu who were Gamabunta's sons whom she summoned many times over the years.
Groaning, Daisuke gripped at her hair as she pouted.
"I don't get how to do this." She said.
"Do what?" Someone asked.
Turning, the girl found Ryo standing behind her with a curious look on his face.
"This! I can't figure out how to get this scroll to work." The girl told him.
Walking over, the brunette kneeled down to stare at the paper and his eyes grew wide in surprise when he realized what it was.
"Is this... A summoning scroll? Where did you even get this?" He asked.
"Kurama gave it to my mom to give to me. It's the summoning contract for the foxes." She explained.
"Wait, let me get this straight. The most powerful demon in the world has a summoning contract that he's the boss of and is giving it to you?" Ryo questioned in disbelief.
He knew that Kurama had become more kind over the years after Naruto had befriended him, but this generosity was just amazing.
"Yeah, my dad was pretty stunned too. Anyway, I keep tryin' to summon a fox, but everything just comes up in smoke." Daisuke pouted.
Humming in thought, Ryo glanced over the scroll as he tried to think of what his friend was doing wrong and wondered how he could help her out.
"Show me." He told her.
Blinking at him in surprise, Daisuke then shrugged as she then bit her thumb to draw blood and formed her hands into the seals.
"Summoning Jutsu!" She cried.
Smoke puffed up around her hands, but nothing appeared which made the girl whine as the ribbon in her hair seemed to almost droop in depression like fox ears.
"You see?" She whined.
Ryo, who had been watching her hands, frowned as he then thought over how she went through the process. and noticed that her movements were perky.
"I think you messed up on the hand seals. It was a little sloppy. Try it again, but do it with more confidence and focuss." He advised.
Blinking at that, the mahogany haired girl then took a deep breath as she tried to focuss her chakra and calm her mind.
Bringing her hands up to her chest, she then repeated the hand seals, but did it slowly so that she wouldn't mess them up and her hands moved perfectly together.
"Summoning Jutsu!" She cried.
Smoke then appeared once again, but this time it faded away to reveal a fox the size of a kitten sitting on the ground and staring up at the two humans with curious gold eyes.
"Where am I?" The fox asked.
"I-I did it. I actually did it!" Daisuke laughed happily.
Ryo smiled at the girl, but then yelped when he was suddenly tackled into a hug by his extatic friend and was knocked onto the ground with her on top of him.
"Thank you so much, Ryo!" She said.
"D-Don't mention it." The boy stuttered as he blushed from the contact.
As for the fox, he was simply staring at the two humans in confusion since he wasn't sure where he was, why he was summoned or who the children were.
"Excuse me, I don't mean to interupt you, but can you tell me who you are and where I am?" The arctic fox asked politely.
Bouncing onto her feet, Daisuke smiled down at the fox who was stunned when he saw her birthmarks.
"Your face... Those are the markings of Lord Kurama! How... How do you have them?" He questioned.
"Because my mom is his Jinchuriki." Daisuke told the fox kit as she kneeled down in front of him.
"Jinchuriki? I heard that Lord Kurama was sealed inside of a woman named Mito Uzumaki many years ago. But I thought she would have died by now." The kit said in confusion.
"She did die, but before she did, she sealed Kurama inside of my grandmother and when she gave birth to my mom, she had the fox sealed inside of her next. He's actually still inside of her, but she can let him out too when needed." Daisuke explained.
The adorable baby fox listened to the girl intently as his Lord's life was explained to him.
"Oh, wow! But that still doesn't explain who you are or where we are and why I'm here." The fox frowned.
"Right, sorry! My name's Daisuke Uzumaki and that's Ryo Hatake." She said as she gestured to herself and her friend who had moved to sit next to her.
"We're in Konohagakure and the reason why you're here is because I summoned you." The girl finished.
"Summoned? You mean Lord Kurama gave you the fox contract?" The kit gaped in shock.
"I'm guessing this has never been done before?" Ryo questioned.
"No, it hasn't. If my Lord has trusted you with the contract, then it means you're viewed as one of his kits. And if he trusts you, then that means that the other foxes and I can as well." The fox explained.
Smiling, he then stood up and bowed his head in a proper greeting to his newly claimed mistress.
"It's nice to meet you, Daisuke, I am Youko and I'll be your partner from now on." He said.
Laughing happily, the girl scooped Youko up into her arms and cuddled the bashful fox into her arms.
(The next day...)
Dressed in a black bikini, the Uzumaki heir was swimming around in the ocean to calm down from the training she had that morning and to have some fun.
Since her second elemental affinity was water, she enjoyed swimming or simply floating along in lakes or rivers.
Veemon was sitting on a cliff that overlooked the beach with a fishing pole in his hand as he tried to catch fish for dinner that night while Youko was resting beside him as he bathed in the sunlight.
Diving down deeper into the ocean, Daisuke smiled as she saw a school of fish swim by her and air bubbles tickled her skin as she glided through the water.
The deeper she dove down into the ocean, the colder the water got and she was able to see different Digimon swimming around.
A Seadramon was in the water and was tending to a group of Pichimon which must have been the sea serpent's babies with how attentive he was with them.
The sight of the normally dangerous Digimon acting like a protective and loving parent was a sweet sight to the girl who simply floated in the water as she watched the scene before her.
Seadramon sensed the girl watching them, but when he saw that she wasn't going to harm any of his babies, he left her alone as he led the six Pichimon off to go hunt for food.
Feeling the need for air, Daisuke then swam up towards the surface where the sun was creating an ethreal light on the water.
Head breaking the surface of the water, the girl took in a deep breath of air as she brushed her bangs out of her face.
Her hair and tan seemed to glow in the light of the sun; her hair becoming the color of strawberries while her skin looked like gold.
"All right, kit, get out of the water before you sprout fins and gills!" Youko called.
Rolling her eyes at this, Daisuke then placed her hands on the water's surface as she then pulled herself up until she was standing on the ocean and started walking towards the beach as her hair swayed with each step she took.
"No matter how many times I see something like that, I still think it's cool." Veemon commented as he reeled his line in and grinned when he found a large fish attached to it.
"Believe it or not, water is harder to walk on than trees. Trees have a flat surface, but water is constantly moving and you need to be able to make your chakra flow with the tides." Youko explained.
"Can you do that too?" Veemon asked as he unhooked the fish from his line and threw it onto the sand with the other five he caught.
"I am a summons. Of course I can. I learned along with the kit." Youko told him.
"Why do you always call her that?" Veemon frowned.
Youko hummed in a questioning way, a sign for the Rookie to elaborate.
"Kit. Why do you call her that? Is it short for something?" The dragon inquired.
"A kit is a baby fox. It's what we adult foxes call the younger ones. I started calling her that when I became too big for her to carry me around." Youko informed.
Kurama always refered to Naruto as a kit since she was his kit in a way.
He had been with the blonde her entire life, healed her injuries, indirectly saved her life and gave her power to protect herself.
When she had first arrived inside the seal to meet him, he wasn't impressed by her lack of power and viewed her as an annoyance, but he called her a kit because she reminded him of a baby fox at times like when she was pulling pranks or giving mischivous grins.
Naruto was his Jinchuriki which made her his kit and the rest of her children that he marked with the whiskers were considered his kits as well.
"Oh! That's kinda cool. And I guess Daisuke does kind of look like a fox with those whisker marks." Veemon mused.
"You should have seen her when she was younger. She used to wear this orange ribbon in her hair that her godmother styled into a bow that resembled fox ears." Youko smirked.
"Ah, really? I wish I could have seen that. I bet she looked really cute!" Veemon grinned.
Finally, Daisuke had arrived and walked up onto the beach where her supplies was laid out on a blue picnic blanket.
Grabbing a white fluffy towel, the girl wrapped it around her as she sat on the blanket to dry off in the sun.
"Guys, hurry up! Get the fish over here so we can eat!" She called as she wrung the water out of her hair.
"Coming!" Veemon called as he gathered the fish he caught in his arms and walked over.
Youko snapped his jaws down on a particuallry large fish to claim it as his own and trotted off with a happy grin.
A fire was then built to cook the fish and then the trio sat on the picnic blanket as they enjoyed their meal.
"This is yummy! We should do something like this more often." Veemon said.
"That'll be a bit hard to do, lizard boy. We still have that Digimon Emperor brat to worry about. I say we just kill him and be done with it." Youko frowned.
"Youko, we can't just kill him." Veemon protested.
"Why not? He's a menace and needs to be taken out. Kit, you agree with me right?" Youko turned his attention to the kunoichi.
Sighing at this, Daisuke set her fish down with a frustraded look.
As a kunoichi, she was meant to do whatever it took to survive even if it meant killing, but she simply just couldn't bring herself to do it.
"I can't, Youko." She said.
"You're a shinobi. If you were still in your village, then you probably would have killed someone already in battle." Youko reasoned.
"Yeah, but that would have been because I would be locked in a life and death battle. The Digimon Empror has only been enslaving innocents. Unless he takes a life, then I can't kill him. When he crosses the line of angry tyrant to murderous monster, then I'll take him out. Not before then." Daisuke said firmly.
Groaning in annoyance, Youko relented on the subject and continued eating as he snapped his jaws down on the fish and tore into it.
Veemon had been listening closely to the conversation and a frown was on his face as he thought over their words.
"Do you think he ever will cross that line?" He asked.
"...I hope not." Daisuke sighed.
After they finished their meal, the two males turned their backs as they allowed their human to get changed back into her clothing and tied her hair up into a ponytail.
Once the girl was dressed, she and her males arrived back at the hut when suddenly a message popped up on her D-Terminal.
"What is it now?" Youko asked in aggravation.
Pulling out her D-Terminal, Daisuke opened it up to see she had been given a message from the youngest member of the Digidestineds.
"It's from Cody. Gomamon's hurt and he's in... Oh no! No way, not there!" Daisuke whined in despair.
"What? What is it? What's wrong?" Veemon asked, thinking the worst.
Seeing what the message said, Youko started laughing at his human's misfortune.
"We're going to..." Daisuke trailed off.
(Later on...)
"The frozen sector." Daisuke finished with a look of great displeasure on her face.
Going through her clothing, she had pulled out her burgundy winter boots, an orange turtle neck sweater, burgundy gloves, orange earmuffs and a burgundy cloak which she wore over her clothing.
A green scarf was wrapped around Youko's neck and Veemon was wearing a red hat with a matching tuque, mittens and a scarf.
"Oh, I hate the cold." The girl growled with her arms folded.
"Kit, stop complaining. The snow isn't going to kill you." Youko chided.
"This coming from the ARCTIC fox!" Daisuke glared at him as Youko snickered smugly.
"Wow, it is really freezing here. No wonder you were mad." Veemon shivered.
It was cold and he wasn't used to it, but he had to admit that the snowy area was quite beautiful.
The snow and ice were all glittering from the sunlight and the waters were a beautiful arctic green color rather than the deep blue of the ocean from the beach.
As for the shadows, they were blue rather than black and it made everything seem so pure and innocent.
"Ugh! Let's just find the others so we can get rid of the threat and go home." Daisuke growled as she stomped off.
"It might take a while, kit. Just relax and enjoy the gorgeous landscape." Youko teased.
This caused the girl to growl in annoyance which made the fox snicker once again.
"Why don't you just use that teleportation seal you put on Yolei to find them?" Veemon suggested.
Freezing in their steps, Youko and Daisuke turned to face the dragon with looks of astonishment.
He wasn't even a ninja or a ninken and yet he had come up with a way to use fuinjutsu to find their friends.
They must be rubbing off on him.
"What?" Veemon asked feeling confused by the stares.
"I'll be damned, lizard boy. You have a brilliant mind after all." Youko grinned.
"Thanks, I think." Veemon said unsure if he should take that as a compliment or not.
"Hang on, boys." Daisuke called.
Veemon jumped onto Youko's back while the fox clamped his jaws on the cloak his human wore as her hands flashed through the seals.
They disappeared in a streak of mahogany, white and blue as they then appeared miles away on top of the arctic water just as Cody fell off of the iceberg.
He fell right into Daisuke's arms as she caught the boy while everyone else had been thrown off a wooden sled they made out of logs.
"Not a good place to go swimming." The Uzumaki commented.
Opening his forest green eyes at the sound of her voice, Cody looked up at the girl with surprise and relief.
"Daisuke, you made it." He said.
Kari, TK, Yolei, Armadillomon and the rest of the Digimon glanced down at the water where they found the kunoichi and her summons standing on.
With them was a 16 year old boy with shoulder length blue hair, onyx eyes with a pair of lgasses perched on his nose and he was wearing a blue jakcte over a white shirt, beige pants and black shoes.
In his arms was an injured Gomamon who was smiling.
"Hey, it's been a while!" Gomamon said.
"Hey you guys." Daisuke winked.
"...I'm not even gonna ask." Yolei commented about the fact that her new friend was standing on top of the water.
Jumping up, Daisuke and Youko landed on the iceberg and Veemon hopped down beside the rest of the Digimon as everyoen stood up and brushed off the snow.
"Sorry for being so late." Veemon apologized.
"We would've been here sooner, but the kit insisted to break out the winter clothing first." Youko said.
"I hate the cold, sue me." The girl pouted as she set Cody down.
The bluenette smiled at the new Digidestined and walked over to greet her.
"You must be Daisuke. It's nice to finally meet you. I'm Joe Kido." He said.
"Hey." She smiled back.
Looking over the group, the girl frowned when she spotted Kari shivering due to her lack of dress.
Shedding her cloak, Daisuke then threw it at the brunette who caught it in surprise.
"Put it on, we don't need you getting sick." She told her.
"Thanks." Kari nodded as she pulled the cloak over her head and relished in the warmth it provided.
"We need to find shelter to come up with a plan." TK spoke up.
"Look, there's a cave right over there!" Patamon pointed out.
Looking over, the group found a cave that was carved out inside of a cliff and they walked over to hide.
Gathering up wood, everyone worked on starting a fire as they sat down to try and get warm while Joe looked through his bag of supplies he brought with him.
"Here, drink this herbal tea. It's 10 percent herbal and 90 percent tea." Joe held out cups which were passed around to everyone.
"Thanks Joe." Cody smiled.
"Boy, that Joe really comes prepared." Yolei said as she took a sip of her tea.
"That's nothing. Wait until you see him during hay fever season." Kari commented.
Youko had curled his body around Daisuke and Veemon to keep them warm, his tail flicking behind him.
"So, what's the plans kiddies?" The fox asked.
"We need to destroy the control spire." Daisuke stated.
"Yeah, but there are a group of Frigimon guarding it." Armadillomon told her.
"Can't three of you fly?" Youko asked as he looked over Hawkmon, Gatomon and Patamon.
"Just swoop in from the skies and destroy it that way. Honestly, it's not that hard to figure out." The fox sighed.
"Couldn't you have said it in a nicer way?" Yolei frowned.
"That's Youko for ya." Gomamon grinned.
The fox simply smirked at the lavender haired girl which made her face burn in anger while everyone else sighed.
"Okay, then the three of us will go take out the control spire then." TK said.
"We should go too. We can hold off the Frigimon. Cody and Joe can stay here and take care of Gomamon. No offense, buddy, but you look aweful." Daisuke grinned.
"I look better than most people." Gomamon joked.
"Are you sure you won't need our help?" Cody asked the kunoichi.
"I'm sure. Don't worry about it. Just take care of Gomamon." Daisuke insisted.
"Let's get going then." Yolei said.
"We'll be back soon." TK called as the duos of Hope, Light, Love and Courage left the cave.
"Good luck guys and be careful!" Joe called after them.
Hawkmon, Gatomon and Patamon were tied to the sled so they could carry their humans over to the control spire while Daisuke and Veemon mounted Youko who ran off after the sled.
Arriving at the area where the Frigimon were located, the three civilian Digidestineds jumped off the sled as they then untied their Digimon.
"Time to get down to business. Veemon, let's do it." Daisuke held up her Digivice.
"Right!" Veemon nodded.
"DIGI ARMOUR ENERGIZE!" Daisuke cried.
"Veemon armour digivolve too…Flamedramon: the Fire of Courage!"
The Frigimon blasted at Flamedramon, but he jumped up and dodged all of the attacks, then used his Fire Rockets to knock them all back.
Charging forward, Youko then jumped onto one of the Frigimon while Daisuke pulled a scroll out of her holster which she activated to release two bronze fans.
"Whoa, what are those for?" Yolei asked.
"Just watch." Daisuke told her.
Running in to help with the fight, Daisuke swung her fans and created a large gust of wind that blasted a Frigimon back onto his rear.
"Flamedramon, Daisuke and Youko can handle the Frigimon by themselves, so it's up to us to destroy the spire." TK said to the other two girls.
"Okay, but I think Youko`s right. We're going to have to do it from the air." Kari said.
"Got it." Yolei nodded.
"DIGI ARMOUR ENERGIZE!" They cried.
"Gatomon armour digivolve too…Nefertimon: the Angel of Light!"
"Patamon armour digivolve too…Pegasusmon: Flying Hope!"
"Hawkmon armour digivolve too…Halsemon: the Wings of Love!"
Mounting their winged Digimon, they took to the skies while the trio of Courage continued fighting off the Frigimon who were fighting them.
A Frigimon tried to use his Subzero Ice Punch on Daisuke, but the girl jumped into the air to dodge the attack and spun in the air as she landed a kick to the back of his head.
Flamedramon caught the fist of another Frigimon who tried the same attack on him, but the dragon's hand was covered in flames to counter the Subzero Ice Punch.
Youko dodged a large snowball that was thrown at him and then the fox spat out a ball of water at the Frigimon which startled the Digimon.
Nefertimon, Halsemon and Pegasusmon then fired off their attacks at the control spire and it was destroyed upon impact which relieved everyone as the Frigimon stopped their assault as they pulled off their dark rings in confusion.
Once the battle was done, the group went back to the cave where they met up with Joe, Cody, Digmon and Ikkakumon who then informed them of the Digimon Emperor attacking them and were able to defeat the Ebidramon he sent after them.
With the battle done, everyone went back to the TV portal to return to their own world.
"All right Gomamon, you're in charge here now." Joe said to the seal.
"Great, a frozen waste land. Just what I've always wanted." Gomamon said sarcastically.
"At least you'll have plenty of time to practise your jokes." Joe said crouching down to his partner.
"Very funny." The seal said.
"I guess we better be heading back home." TK said as Joe stood up properly and Cody faced him.
"Before we go, there's one thing I just have to finish." The kid said making the group all look at him curiously.
"Oh really? What's that?" Joe asked.
"Our introduction. Hello, my name's Cody." He said with a polite bow.
"I don't get it Cody. What's the big deal?" Daisuke asked curiously.
"My grandfather says that next to prune juice, manners are the most important thing a man can have." Cody explained.
"You know Cody reminds me an awful lot of Joe. Always honest and sticks to the rules." Kari said.
"I think he reminds me of Izzy. Just loaded with curiosity." TK said with a slight chuckle.
"Part Izzy and part me? That's a scary combination." Joe said with his arms crossed and a smile.
Everybody smiled at the blushing Cody, amused by his bashfulness.
"He's got a split personality." Daisuke teased.
To be continued...