There they are, three of them, gathering at the school's pond. All looking nervous, unaware that they are being watched.
He sat there, leaned against the trunk of a tree, shadowed from the morning sun by the tree's thick canopy. He wasn't alone, but the other school pupils around him were of no concern to him. He was only after three particular pupils. Two girls, one boy. It was Saturday, and the extracurricular activities were on. Looking at the time displayed on his cell phone – he didn't bother to wear a watch – he knew that it was still early, but people were already bustling about. Some ignored him, which suited him just fine, but some did pause to stare at him, which irked him. He didn't bother them and was minding his own business, and with a glare, he sent them scurrying away.
Works every time, he thought. Fools. None of them are aware of what I can do…it's just their lucky day that I can't use my power here, he thought maliciously, and snapped his finger with a smirk. He had to chuckle lightly upon the dark thought he was thinking. Really, given my way I wouldn't even be here, but it is fun stalking them without them knowing. The boy seemed to realize that someone's tailing him, but he didn't know that it was me. It was almost a close call that day when they almost noticed me…it won't happen again. It has been taken care of.
The boy and the girls then parted ways when the school bell rang, forcing him to get up as well. His eyes darted on the girl with curly brown hair, who was joined by her two giggling girlfriends. He recognized them immediately; the three girls were quite popular – always together, all perky, all pretty, and all could get on his nerves sometimes. They were wearing identical uniforms – light green shirts and navy blue knee-length skirt.
The Girl Guides. No good in tailing them. If she doesn't notice me, her two friends would. Strength in numbers, eh? Pah.
His eyes then turned to look for the other girl of the trio. Taking notice of the girl's all-white Tae-Kwan-Do uniform with a black belt around her waist, his mouth twisted into a smile. Probably the strongest the three, he thought with a grin as he observed the girl doing some warm-up movements with mild interest. Very fluid and graceful, he thought silently. One could say that he was checking the girl out, but he had an ulterior motive for his action. Finally after five minutes, he saw the raven-haired girl then proceeded with the rest of the Tae-Kwan-Do members towards one of the school's three game courts, which was still within his view. Suddenly he saw that she was about to turn around. Mustn't let her see me watching, might give her some ideas, he mused and darted away, blending in with the crowd.
Looking around the school compound, he finally settled to sit at the nearly vacant canteen, which gave him a clear view of the school's open assembly hall, where a group of students dressed in white shirts and black pants were lining up in three lines. He searched for a familiar face, and saw him, lining up at the middle of the second row. For a moment, he watched as the boy and his fellow society teammates making several steps and movements, obeying the senior member standing in front of the lines who were shouting out the commands for them. He had been keeping a closer watch on this boy for some times now, and was settled to further observe the boy from the vicinity of the school canteen.
"Hey," a friendly voice coming from his back interrupted his thoughts.
Hmmm, he grunted inwardly. Turning around, he saw a group of five guys he didn't know, all looking at him expectantly. He raised an eyebrow inquiringly towards the one who had called out for him - a boy with wiry brown hair, with slightly slanted eyes and sharp facial features.
"If you're not doing anything, how about joining us for a game? We could use an extra person," the boy said with a wide, expectant, toothy grin. "What do you say?"
He got up and wiped his hands on the shirt he was wearing. "Sure. I've got time to kill." Looking back at the assembling troop of the first aid cadet members, he smirked.
Until later.
xxx
xxx
WIRA DIGITAL
Chapter 11 – Divide and Conquer
xxx
xxx
"Ok, so you type everything else between the body tags," Adam instructed. "Go ahead; write something like…this is just a test page."
Liu Ying followed Adam's instruction, and typed 'This is just a test page' onto the screen.
(BODY) This is just a test page (/BODY)
"Then save the document, and go to the web browser," Adam continued. "Press the control button and the letter 'S' at the same time to save the document quicker. Then go to the browser and press the F5 button to refresh it." He watched as his friend followed his guides, and saw the delighted look on the girl's face when she saw the page loaded by the web browser.
- This is just a test page -
"Hey, it works," Liu Ying said happily.
"Told you," Adam replied with a grin. "Go ahead; make another opening and closing tags between the sentences you have just typed. Put the letter…'B' between those tags. Save the document, and reload it on the browser. See what happens."
(BODY) (B) This is just a test page (/B) (/BODY)
- This is just a test page –
"The sentence is now in bold," Liu Ying realized.
"Ok, now replace the letter 'B' with the letter 'I'," Adam encouraged.
"Like this?" Liu Ying asked, typing out the command Adam had just given.
(BODY) (I) This is just a test page (/I) (/BODY)
"Yeah, that's it. Now do the same procedures in order to see the alterations you've made."
- This is just a test page –
"It's italicized," Liu Ying said. She beamed at the gray-eyed boy. Suddenly, the girl's hand shot up in front of her face, just in time to cover a yawn. "You made this interesting, Adam. I didn't quite understand when Jack…Mr. Chan, gave us the instructions, but with you, making a website doesn't seem to be too hard at all," she said with a slightly muffled voice. Then she realized how it must have looked like to the boy, and frowned a little. Another untimely yawn ensued and she quickly gave Adam an apologetic look.
Adam pretended to look puzzled. "Now that's an oxymoron…saying that this is interesting and yet, yawning twice. I'm not that boring, am I?"
"No!" Liu Ying said quickly, as if scandalized by the thought that she was bored. "It's just that, I'm so tired. After yesterday…" she added with a whisper audible only to Adam, her eyes looking at the one sitting on Adam's other side.
Granted, the teen sitting beside Adam didn't seem to be paying them any attention at all. He was preoccupied with his handphone, seemingly absorbed playing with the game inside the phone. Connected to his cell phone was an earphone set, which the dirty-blond teen had on both ears. Faint rock music could be heard escaping the earphones. Clad in a slightly drenched white shirt with the emerald-colored school insignia emblazoned over the left chest side, and knee-length black Bermuda shorts, he seemed to realize that he was being watched by Adam and Liu Ying, and raised his head up, revealing a chiseled face and a pair of hazel eyes.
"What?" J.D. Kamaruzaman demanded, unplugging one earphone from his right ear.
"Nothing," Adam said quickly and returned his attention towards the computer screen. However, Liu Ying's face remained fixed towards the blond teen.
"Aren't you going to watch or hear him teach HTML?" she snapped. "It's today's assignment."
"No need," J.D. said smugly. "I have FrontPage at home."
"So what are you doing here in the first place?" Liu Ying demanded. "We…" she indicated herself and Adam, "…could use some free space around here."
J.D. shrugged. "I'm here for the attendance, what else?" He placed the earphone back on his free ear and leaned against the chair. He grinned once again upon seeing Liu Ying scowling at him. Pressing a button on his handphone, the loud music which escaped the earpieces gradually decreased. "Besides, the music's actually low enough for me to hear what he's been talking about."
"You call that low?" Liu Ying asked skeptically. "You might as well put yourself beside an airplane's engine."
"And…" J.D. continued, ignoring what Liu Ying had just said, and held up his black and orange cell phone. On the small colored screen there were the same instructions which Adam was teaching Liu Ying. The example sentences however was different – instead of the one Adam and Liu Ying were using, they were simply the two letters of his initials, the letter 'J' and 'D'. One was a plain text version, the second was bolded, and the third was italicized. Seeing the disgruntled look on Liu Ying's face, the Form Three student smiled lopsidedly.
"Oh," Adam said. "Why don't you just practice here with us?" he offered, ignoring the pointed look Liu Ying was giving him.
J.D. chuckled and typed something on his keyboard rapidly. Then he held up the cell phone and smiled haughtily, as Adam observed what he had just written. Whatever it was, Adam seemed to be somewhat rattled, and with a slight scowl he returned his attention towards the screen, with Liu Ying looking at him questioningly. Then, after seeing the look on Adam's face, she glared at the blond boy, who looked as if he didn't care.
As he continued to give more instructions to his fellow DigiWira partner, Adam cast a look at the computer table across the one he and Liu Ying were using, seeing Gayathri and her partner, Emmanuel Abah, watching them. Gayathri looked somewhat amused with the small commotion, making a grimacing face while at it, while Manny merely smiled at both of them before averting his eyes away when J.D. looked up from the cell phone. Adam then continued giving Liu Ying more instructions of basic HTML knowledge for the next ten minutes before the school bell rang.
Liu Ying rose up from her chair immediately and stalked towards the instructor's table. Adam had to smile upon seeing that; Liu Ying certainly didn't seem to want to waste time in informing Jackie of the recent happenings at the Digital World just as the other students cleared out of the classroom. A few students remained in the classroom, presumably to finish up their assignments before calling it a day. Adam saw Gayathri and Manny both stood up, and the pretty girl told something towards the russet-eyed boy – presumably an excuse for him to go along while she remained in the computer classroom. Looking at his side, to Adam's surprise, J.D. was still there; he'd assumed that J.D. would be the first one to step out of the computer room.
The DigiWira watched with mild interest as the other boy stood up and went towards the unoccupied computer two tables away from Adam after giving the near-empty classroom a good look around. The table beside Adam's was also empty, but apparently whatever J.D. was doing, he certainly didn't want anybody else around him to notice. Adam could easily hazard a guess that J.D. was surfing the web, from the way he was typing the keyboard and tapping on the mouse. Then he pressed the buttons on his keyboard, and typed a sequence of numbers and letters on the keyboard, occasionally shifting his attention back and forth between the keyboard and the computer screen.
However, before the blond could proceed with what he was doing, a voice called out to him.
"Joshua! What are you doing?" Mr. Jackie Chan, the computer instructor, demanded.
J.D. immediately closed the window and stood up. "Nothing," he said irritably. "Can't a guy check his e-mail in peace?" he grumbled, and stalked out wordlessly from the computer classroom along with the rest of the students, save for three in particular. With J.D. now gone, the classroom was almost empty, except for Adam, Liu Ying, Gayathri and the computer instructor.
"Adam, please make sure that whatever he's opened on that computer…if it's still running, shut it down and log the computer off," Jackie instructed with a sigh.
"I'm on it."
Darting towards the computer, Adam saw nothing peculiar. There was the usual Windows XP background and several shortcut icons. Looking down at the right and bottom side of the computer screen, Adam saw a yellow smiley face icon, recognizing it as an opened instant messaging program. The boy realized that J.D. must have forgotten to close the program properly in his haste to get out of the classroom. Adam clicked on the icon, intending to close the program properly when a chat box popped out.
Happy 16th Birthday, J.D.!
It's his birthday today? Adam wondered, eyeing the message that followed the birthday wish. It was a string of words wishing the recipient the best of everything and more, and finally signed with a nickname that could only belong to a girl who was trying to sound very cute. Adam had to smile – this girl, whoever she was, sounded really like a love-struck girl; Adam doubted that J.D. even knew this girl personally. His eyes then darted towards the lower left side of the monitor and saw that while J.D. had closed the window he was viewing before Jackie called him; another window was still left opened. Clicking on it, Adam was brought to a page where he was familiar with, but didn't participate. Adam was about to close the webpage too, when something on the webpage caught his attention.
Hakim? The dark-haired boy wondered, clicking on a small picture of the boy, which was with five picture boxes on the webpage's right corner. He was brought quickly into another webpage, bearing a picture of his best friend and a brief profile. I didn't know that Hakim knows J.D.?
His mind was brought back to the brief meeting he had with Hakim before going to the Computer Club's meeting. Well, it's a meeting if you count watching from afar as meeting, the boy mused wistfully. Adam had attempted to find Hakim much earlier at the scout's meeting, but the scout leader had informed him that Hakim had signed out from the society. The scout-leader however didn't manage to give out the reason of Hakim's quitting the scout team as a teacher had called for his help, and he was forced to go. Adam then had wondered about the school when he saw Hakim at the badminton court. He was dressed normally, and had just finished a game of badminton with a group of students who didn't join any uniformed societies.
Hakim had been acting strange, Adam thought, but today, as he watched his friend from a corner, his friend seemed to be almost normal. Well, normal if counted out the fact that he had dropped out from the scout's society, and as far as I know Hakim loves being a scout – he's been one since primary school. I wonder why he quits, Adam thought as he browsed the webpage. Adam didn't have an account yet with the renowned website, so he didn't expect to find his picture there. Well, I suppose it's not so strange after all if Hakim has J.D. as a friend here; you can add virtually anybody as your friend here, even though you don't know that person in real life.
Two more chat box windows then popped out, and more birthday wishes for J.D. came out in strings of colorful, curvy fonts. The wishes however disrupted Adam's train of thoughts, and he realized that he had spent more time than he ought to just to shut down the computer. Deciding that he had pried long enough, Adam decided to do him a favor and properly logged J.D. out of the website and the instant messaging client after taking note of the username. J.D. probably didn't even realize that these messages came to him, so Adam thought that he'd just drop a message to J.D. later to tell him to check his saved messages. He made a mental note to check out the website as well, whenever he had the time. The boy finally logged off the computer and went to join his teammates who were just finished regaling the story of how they received their special powers to their computer instructor.
"What was so interesting on that computer that it took you so long to log it off?" Liu Ying asked curiously as Adam took a seat beside her.
"Nothing much," Adam replied. "Just properly logging out of the website and the chatting client that J.D. was using earlier," he added casually.
"Nu-uh. I saw you browsing through a MySpace page and using the Yahoo Messenger," Gayathri pointed out.
Sharp girl, Adam thought as he shook his head. "They weren't mine, and like I've said just now, I was only logging out from J.D.'s MySpace page and Yahoo account," he explained. Something then crossed his mind and he decided to share it with his teammates. "Hey, did you guys know that it's his sixteenth birthday today?"
"Adam, you don't even know that guy," Liu Ying pointed out indifferently. "Why should you care? I know I don't. It can be his sixtieth birthday and I still won't care."
"Wait a minute. He's sixteen? I thought he's fifteen?" Gayathri interrupted interestedly.
"That's what I thought. Being a Form Three student, I thought he's fifteen like any other Form Three students," Adam said. He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Although, if you ask me, he can say that he's eighteen and I'll still believe him."
"Well, that's not usually the case. Take Liu Ying here; she's in Form Two and she's entering fifteen before the school year ends," Gayathri explained. Suddenly her brown eyes widened and she immediately covered her mouth. "Oops! Sorry!" she said and gave Liu Ying an apologetic look. The other girl in the meantime was glaring and scowling at the dark-skinned girl at the same time. Adam didn't look too surprised upon hearing it, but still he looked at Liu Ying inquiringly.
"Let me guess…you were in vernacular primary school before?" he attempted.
"Yes, and that's not the point," Liu Ying said, shooting an annoyed look to the other female DigiWira, who looked like she was sincerely sorry, as if she had just mentioned something that she wasn't supposed to. The taller girl nodded slightly, signaling that she was cool with it, to Gayathri's relief. "Enough about ages and whatever, we have other important issues to address."
"Right'O, big sis," Adam said cheekily. Gayathri chuckled upon hearing it but immediately, but hopelessly, turned it into a fake cough. Liu Ying gave Adam a scowl which Adam had seen her giving J.D. earlier and was rather thankful that the DigiWira couldn't access their special powers while in their home world, or else he would be hurled onto the wall already by Liu Ying's new telekinetic powers.
BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP!
"Speaking of urgent," Jackie noted, upon hearing the beeps coming from the DigiWira's D-Terminals. "Looks like you're needed in the Digital World."
Gayathri groaned. "Do we have to? I'm still tired from yesterday's fight…" she complained, but headed towards the door leading to Jackie's office. Opening it, Patamon flew out, followed by Shaomon and Tanemon who trotted along the rookie's back. "I thought we're just going to practice with our new powers…"
"No…No…None of that," Liu Ying said warningly to the other girl, who was beginning to launch out a string of complains out of tiredness. She collected Shaomon, who as usual, was chewing on a banana fritter, and placed Tanemon on Gayathri's arms while Patamon landed on Adam's head. "I'm tired too, but you don't hear me complain."
"It's not just Gayathri," Shaomon said. "I'm still rather exhausted from yesterday's battle myself. I do not know whether I can Digivolve into Youkomon."
"Same here," Tanemon said tiredly. "I don't even know whether I can Digivolve to Floramon. How about you, Patamon?"
"Drained," the orange rookie said worriedly. "No way can I become Sagittarimon, that's for sure. I hope it's nothing too serious at the Digital World."
Gayathri grimaced and turned to the male DigiWira. "Well, leader, do the honors."
"Thought you'd never ask," Adam murmured, and took out his silvery white and azure-accented D3 Digivice. "Digiport Open!"
xxx
xxx
"If we aren't going to attack them today, then why are we here exactly?"
"You'll see. But right now, we're here to see how far the DigiWira have mastered their new powers."
"Just to see? I'm not wasting my time sight-seeing!"
"Patient, Red, be patient. We certainly don't want to get thrown away again by Yellow's telekinetic power, or let White escapes us with his teleportation power, or let Pink slips past us with her remarkable speed."
"What's the big deal, Blue? Before they could even lift their hands, I'd burn them with my fire!"
"You can go attack the DigiWira if you want, but I am going to remain here for now and analyze their skills."
"For now?" the Red ShadoWira questioned, with interest.
"For now," the Blue ShadoWira said mildly.
"Oh, and why's that?"
"You'll see."
xxx
xxx
Loud, echoing wails could be heard all over the once-beautiful Green Meadow Village. Digimon were seen running about in panic, screaming for their safety. Over the sky above, six avian warriors identical in form and color, save for one, could be seen flying in circles as they released a blast of hypersonic sound all over the village. The blast of sound uprooted trees from the grounds and destroyed many wooden huts in the village, as well as sending many innocent Digimon flying about. Once in a while, the villagers who were able to take flight, such as a flock of peaceful-looking swans were seen trying to save their friends, but the vicious avian warriors immediately attacked the swans instead, and deleted them without mercy.
"The Swanmon!" shouted a Centarumon. He aimed a cannon which was attached to his arm, and his eyes – hidden inside the metallic helmet he was wearing – glinted crimson. "You'll pay for that, wretched Harpymon! Hunting Cannon!"
A blast of pure energy cannonball erupted from the cannon, sailing all the way towards one of the Harpymon – the one who was different from the other five. While the other Harpymon were purple-feathered, the one targeted by Centarumon was white-feathered, thus making it an easy target. The avian warrior saw the incoming attack and immediately made a back-flip, evading the attack. Its eyes glinted with blood red light as it prepared for a retaliating counterattack.
"Wind Seeker!"
Centarumon immediately made haste, but the white Harpymon's blast of hypersonic shriek caught up with his palomino body. His legs lost their balance and limped, followed by his horse-like body. The brown centaur quickly attempted to stand back up on his feet once again, only to be attacked by a purple Harpymon. Another wave of shriek hit him squarely on the chest and his body emitted faint yellow light. Everything around him suddenly seemed to be bigger, and his body felt lighter and lighter. A second attack came and almost collided with him, but to his disbelief, the attack suddenly seemed to be pushed away by an unseen force.
"Gabumon!"
Centarumon wondered why someone had called out to him by his rookie-level name when he realized that…he was a rookie Digimon now. No longer a centaur, he was now a yellow-scaled reptilian draped in blue canine fur-coat. Turning his head sideways, he saw one boy and two girls at the village's gate; one girl was thrusting her arm forward while the other was helping the villagers clearing out the village. To his amazement he saw the curly-haired girl zipped towards a couple of Palmon in a flash-like speed, with pink aura lines emitted from her body, and successfully pushed the two plant-reptile rookies out of a Harpymon's attack. His eyes searched for the one who had called out to him earlier, and they fell on an orange hamster that was hovering in front of the boy with dark hair, blowing away anything that came their way. He watched in shock as the boy grabbed the hamster and together they vanished in brilliant orbs of bluish white light, and within a split second they materialized right in front of him. His mouth hung open in surprise.
"Patamon," he noted, recognizing the rookie form of the former leader of the village instantly.
"Gabumon, you're hurt," Patamon said as he hovered down from the human boy's hold. The rookie then looked up to the human boy inquiringly. "Adam, do you think you can…?"
"I can try," Gabumon watched the boy said after a moment of hesitation. "I can teleport with you alone, but remember that I couldn't even teleport out of the Forest Sanctum with the girls earlier," he said glumly, and held his palm on Gabumon's blue pelt, while the other palm landed on Patamon's back. The boy then closed his eyes, seemingly trying to concentrate onto something. Then the reptilian rookie noticed that orbs of light began to surround the boy, before enveloping Patamon, and finally as the boy and the rookie vanished, the orbs extended slowly to envelop Gabumon as well, and he too, dematerialized out of sight just as a Harpymon swoop down from the sky to grab hold onto them.
The DigiWira and the two Digimon then reappeared behind the other two DigiWira, and Gabumon saw that the boy staggered a little, holding one hand onto the village's bamboo gates.
"Are you alright?" Gabumon asked concernedly, trying to search his memory for the boy's name. Patamon had told him that before he passed on the torch of being the village's leader to him two weeks before. "Adam?" he finally managed to recall.
"I'm ok," Adam answered, and stood still. "Still need to get used to this teleportation stuff, that's all."
"Adam, there's a Digimon near the tree there, it looks like she couldn't escape and Gayathri's somewhere around the village, trying to look for any Digimon who needs help escaping," the long-haired girl near them said quickly. "Do you think you can get to him? I'll distract the Harpymon," she said further and flicked her arm towards several wood planks that had been walls of a ruined hut. The planks flew away towards one Harpymon, whom Gabumon saw was about to attack a cowering bear cub Digimon.
"I'm on it," Adam said, and vanished again in a shower of light orbs. The planks shoved telekinetically by Liu Ying came into contact with the Harpymon and it shrieked in anger. It turned its attention towards Liu Ying and the two rookies, and began to charge towards them. Liu Ying saw a streak of pink crossed the Harpymon's back and saw Adam reappearing behind the Harpymon, right just behind the Bearmon. Then with a thumbs-up, Adam held Bearmon's paw and together they vanished, and Liu Ying took the chance to throw away another few planks and a group of pebbles towards the Harpymon. Couple of seconds later, Adam and Bearmon reappeared behind Liu Ying, and not too long after, Gayathri too halted close to her teammates with a cute puppy in her arms. The three DigiWira observed as the Harpymon easily swiped away the incoming wooden planks and pebbles that came its way.
"Bearmon, Salamon, you're alright!" Gabumon exclaimed, relieved.
"Gabumon, take them away now," Patamon instructed. "We'll handle the Harpymon."
Gabumon took heed of the former leader's order and immediately exited the village under siege with the other two rookies. The three DigiWira and Patamon then braced themselves against the six Harpymon – five of them purple and one white. All six had their sights fixed on the three teenagers and one Digimon.
"Ok, any strategy?" Adam, who was standing in the middle, whispered to his teammates.
"I absolutely have no idea," Gayathri replied promptly. "Now that we've got the remaining villagers out of the way, I don't know what else I could do."
Liu Ying thought of their chances silently. She knew that power and strength-wise, they still couldn't be compared to the Harpymon, but perhaps they could outsmart them with wits and good strategies. They could protect themselves fairly but only Liu Ying could deliver a half-decent attack on the Harpymon. And Patamon, still weakened due to his injury sustained during the battle at the Megalith Coliseum the day before, couldn't Digivolve into his strong Armored Champion form. Shaomon and Tanemon in the meantime were still too drained that they remained un-Digivolved, watched over by the worried TobuCatmon at the Forest Sanctum.
"We can't fight the Harpymon while they're together, so we need to split up," Liu Ying finally said.
"I think you're right," Adam concurred. He gulped slightly, but his face was set with determination.
"I think you're crazy!" Gayathri said incredulously. "Haven't you heard of the phrase Together We Stand?" She sweatdropped when Liu Ying walked speedily towards the direction of the ruined village houses, arms ready in case she was being attacked. Adam stalked towards the opposite direction with Patamon following him closely, and Gayathri sweatdropped even more upon seeing that Adam had picked up a fair-sized wooden stick and swung it twice before bearing a satisfied smile on his face. He then vanished with Patamon in swirls of white orbs. "Apparently not," Gayathri muttered to herself and be on her fullest guard.
The Harpymon saw that the DigiWira had split up and they too, decided to do the same. They split into three groups of two, and each group went after one DigiWira. The white Harpymon and its purple teammate remained on their place while the other two groups took flight and went towards the girls.
"Hey, ugly!" called out Adam's voice as the voice-owner appeared right behind of a purple Harpymon. The boy immediately used the thick wood stick he was holding and delivered a loud, audible smack on the Harpymon's back, before teleporting away to safety. The avian warrior squawked loudly and turned away, but all it could see was faint traces of Adam's teleportation after-effects. It angrily swiped the particles with its wings; his action attracted the attention of the white Harpymon, who began observing its purple companion warily. It braced itself upon seeing the glowing orbs of light began materializing behind the purple Harpymon, and delivered a flurry of sharp feathery bullets in an attempt to strike the offending DigiWira.
"Adam, look out behind you!" cried Patamon's voice, which seemed to be coming from above a nearby tree.
"Huh?" Adam had just finished his teleportation sequence and barely could turn his head back when his ears caught the swift sounds of projectiles heading his way. Panicked, he quickly willed himself to teleport away from the impending danger, and felt some of the feather projectiles grazing his shoulders, arms and body as the light orbs surrounded his body. The boy vanished out of sight just as the projectiles sailed past the spot where he was standing, and reappeared at the same spot just in time to witness the projectiles hitting the purple Harpymon on the back. The victim Harpymon shrieked agonizingly before exploding into data particles.
"One…down," Adam whispered with a pained smile before he collapsed onto the ground. Faint trickles of blood were seen seeping through his light gray uniform, over the arms, shoulders and right waist. He was still conscious, but the white Harpymon's attack had injured him. The injuries were nowhere fatal, but they caused Adam pain and he had never felt such physical pain before, nor had he ever sustained such injuries during his lifetime.
"ADAM!" Patamon yelled and jumped down from the tree where he was hiding, immediately coming to his partner's aid. In his mind, he didn't even care that he was in danger of being attacked by the other Harpymon; his mind was simply set to protect his fallen DigiWira partner. Suddenly, as if sensing his need, a white streak of light then shot out from Adam's D3 Digivice and hit him, supplying the rookie Digimon with enough power for one Digivolution process.
"Patamon… Digivolve to…. CENTARUMON!"
"Huh?" Adam blinked weakly, surprised by the Digivolution of his partner. "Centarumon?"
Patamon, now Digivolved to his former champion form, was extremely agitated about his human partner's safety that he couldn't care less about the difference of his own form. He landed on all fours just a meter away from his sprawled human partner. Quickly he made way to Adam and picked him up, holding him close to his body before galloping away to safety. The white Harpymon didn't give chase; it was warily watching Centarumon, who as a Champion Digimon was able to present it a challenge.
"Patamon…Centarumon…how?" Adam asked, as Centarumon placed him gently behind a large stone, just a few meters from the village's gate.
Centarumon simply shook his head and set his sights on the white Harpymon who had caused his human partner pain. His upper body shook in anger and Adam felt a pulsating throb coming from his vibrating D3. A shriek coming from the inner side of the village then caught his ear. It was familiar, but Adam couldn't decide whether it belonged to Liu Ying or Gayathri. But apparently, Centarumon didn't hear it as his attention was solely fixed onto the white Harpymon. Adam grew worried as he watched his partner, for the first time, seemed to be caught up in anger.
"You've injured Adam…" Centarumon muttered darkly towards the white Harpymon. A crimson flash came out from the helmet visor he was wearing. "Unforgivable…"
"Centarumon…" he said slowly; the throbbing suddenly became more intense. "Centarumon? Centarumon!" Adam called urgently, when his partner didn't answer his first call. "CENTARUMON!"
"Huh?" Adam's shout finally snapped Centarumon out of his thirst to avenge his fallen human partner. The crimson glow within his visor disappeared, replaced by the normal beige hue. The brown centaur gasped loudly, and turned away from the white Harpymon to focus on his human partner. He stopped shaking and felt his anger slowly dissipating. His mind became clearer as he finally was able to fix a gaze on his human partner, who looked absolutely troubled and in pain. The boy's hand was clutching his D3 Digivice, which seemed to just have stopped shaking.
"Centarumon," Adam said again, this time in relief. "Forget about that Harpymon…I'm fine, but Gayathri and Liu Ying need your help. Go help them, I'll be ok here."
"But…are you sure you're going to be alright here?" Centarumon asked worriedly.
Adam rolled his eyes weakly. "I can just teleport away if that Harpymon approaches me, you know," he said, making a motion with his arm to emphasize his point. "Go."
Centarumon hesitated for a moment before one of the blue spheres on his body glimmered, and the sphere affixed on his chest rolled out, leaving an empty spherical compartment on his chest. The half-man, half-palomino caught the blue sphere gingerly with his hand, and held it to Adam.
"Take this, Adam. If that Harpymon tries anything, just throw this at it."
"What does it do?"
"Enough to tell me that you're in trouble."
With that said, Centarumon galloped away before Adam could ask him of what the sphere could do.
xxx
xxx
"Out with it, Blue. What's the deal? Why are we here exactly?"
"You just can't wait now, can you?"
"Not when I know there's something more that I should know."
"Then you should've come to the cave earlier. I was early and saw the conversation between Karatenmon and the master himself."
"Oh? What does ol' bag-of-bones want?"
"If he hears you speak of him like that…"
"So what? I'm not afraid of him. And he's stuck in that barrier-thing. Now tell me, what should I know?"
The Blue ShadoWira chuckled darkly. "What if I tell you that the Harpymon are merely a distraction to split up the DigiWira?"
xxx
xxx
In the meantime, Gayathri was running at top speed in order to avoid the attacks from the two purple Harpymon who were giving chase to her. Acting solely by instinct, she just ran and ran, occasionally and narrowly avoiding the hypersonic beams generated by the Harpymon. The curly-haired girl couldn't figure out what her super speed could do towards the Harpymon, so she just kept on running to save her own life.
It was lucky for the DigiWira girl that her super speed had so far served her well in avoiding the Harpymon. The Armor Digimon were fairly swift while flying, but aided with a power coming from one of the fastest Digimon known who was also the master of air, Gayathri still had the advantage. But she also realized that her speed of the winds ability still was fairly limited; she was beginning to feel tired and her speed was slowly decreasing. Gayathri had been running around the village for almost fifteen minutes, nearly non-stop, which would explain her sudden weariness. And to make matters worse, even though her speed wasn't decreasing she still would need to stop, as a weird sensation arose from within her body. It was as if her windpipe was expanding, as her chest throbbed slightly. It wasn't painful, but it was distracting and somewhat irritating to the dark-skinned girl.
This way, the Harpymon could catch up with me! Gayathri thought in panic. Her eyes began to search for any means to escape the Harpymon. I need to get out of this village and hide!
A bamboo gate came in view, and Gayathri saw an exit from the village. Behind the village was a lush green forest with exotic trees, which reminded her of the forests surrounding the Forest Sanctum. Summoning her remaining energy Gayathri sped towards the exit and into lush forest. Hearing the shrieks of the Harpymon Gayathri didn't hesitate and quickly jumped into a thick green bush…only to hit her head against something which was soft, and had the ability to yelp.
"AACK!"
"AAH!" Gayathri gasped loudly, but her cries were muffled as her head was stuck inside the bush.
"Get out of there!" hissed an indignant high-pitched voice, faintly masculine and sounded extremely embarrassed.
The DigiWira wiggled her head free and pulled herself out from the thick bush. She then felt the bush moving, and gasped upon seeing that the bush was actually attached into the back of an avian creature with blue feathers, which looked like a distinct hybrid between a penguin and a bird. He had large brown eyes and was wearing a shining, small crown on his head. The height of the bird was as tall as a kneeling Gayathri, and he looked extremely miffed.
"What are you, a pervert or something?" the bird inquired soundly, with exaggerated wiggling of his body as he flapped his wings about. He was clearly blushing.
"Oops, I'm sorry," Gayathri apologized quickly. She caught her breath slowly, and the pain in her chest slowly faded. Then she realized that she didn't know this Digimon. "Uhh…?"
"Deramon's the name, and hiding's my game," the bird answered quickly with a dawdling manner. His eyes widened upon hearing the shrieks of the Harpymon. "Well hun, I'd love to stay and chat, but with those harpies around here it's best to make like a banana…and split." The bird-plant Digimon then tottered away noisily, still with a slightly exaggerating, unnecessary manner, and Gayathri sweatdropped upon seeing that Deramon didn't really move far away. He stopped just behind a tree with thick trunk, and bent his body down while raising his backside up. From where Gayathri was standing, Deramon didn't look more than just a normal bulky shrub.
Suddenly the purple Harpymon came in view and squawked triumphantly upon finding Gayathri. The throbbing inside her chest came back and she was weary from all the running. The girl tumbled on her back as the Harpymon approached her slowly. Raising her body back slightly using her hand, the girl didn't know what else to do.
She just closed her eyes tight, and let out a scream. An extremely earsplitting, high-pitched, scream.
xxx
xxx
The Red ShadoWira chortled loudly and derisively upon hearing what the Blue ShadoWira had just said. "Hah! What you've seen was merely a reminder from SkullSatamon to Karatenmon. Tsk, tsk, Blue… I was at the cave last night, and I saw the whole conversation! And I bet Karatenmon didn't even know I was there."
"Hmmm. Then why were you so persistent in asking?"
"Heh. It's fun to see you being high and mighty over a piece of worthless info. Just remember, Blue, that unlike you, I have no restrictions! I can come here anytime and no one would ask anything. Unlike you…heh, heh," said the Red ShadoWira arrogantly.
"Whatever," the Blue ShadoWira snorted coldly. "So you do know what we're supposed to do, right?"
"Just leave it to me. I can get the job done easily."
"I doubt it. He's already escaped you twice."
"Says the one who couldn't even attack him when you two met yesterday."
"I was injured."
"Thanks to the Yellow DigiWira," the Red ShadoWira snickered.
The Blue ShadoWira remained quiet, not interested to let the conversation stray even further. He cleared his throat and spoke again. "What if he sees you? Admit it, Red. You can't do this alone. The moment the White DigiWira sees you, he'll teleport away to his partner."
"Fine. You win. So what are we going to do?"
"Well, if you want to get the White DigiWira so badly, then go. Leave the distraction to me, I'll make it easier for you to grab him and take off."
"It'll be like taking candy from a baby."
"Really? Well, we'll just have to wait and see now won't we?"
xxx
xxx
Amongst the three DigiWira, Liu Ying had the best fighting chance with her telekinetic power. Despite having the power just the day before, the girl was growing more and more adept in using her power. The willowy female DigiWira found out that she could throw various objects, up to those nearing her own weight, to her opponents with a mere flick of her hand or arm, although for the time being she couldn't control her power to retrieve simple objects. Right now, that suited her just fine, she thought, as she flicked her right arm over and over again towards anything around her which would stop the pursuing Harpymon. Stones, wooden planks, even small uprooted trees, she had thrown it all…but there was no stopping the two Harpymon from attempting to harm her.
And so far, she had managed to not get herself injured. But she didn't know for how much longer she could do this.
Whenever the Harpymon attacked, Liu Ying realized that she could either throw an object to stop it, or if that wasn't possible she could hold her hand up to stop the incoming attack. The latter option seemed to work by generating an invisible energy barrier in front of her. The barrier was somewhat effective; it had deflected the Blue ShadoWira's water blast attack the day before, and today, it seemed to work in absorbing the supersonic sound waves generated by the Harpymon. However, effective as it might be, the senior DigiWira preferred to just throw an object to intercept the incoming attack, because shielding herself from the attack caused a feeling of numbness and a burning sensation to her arms, and Liu Ying thought that it would just hinder her from defending herself against the enemies.
But no matter what I do, I just can't stop them from coming, Liu Ying thought desperately as she flicked her arm towards a metallic oval tray that flew out from a collapsing hut. The tray changed course and zoomed towards a Harpymon, who saw it and swiped the tray away with its wing. However it seemed that the edges of the tray was rather sharp, as while swiping away the tray the avian warrior shrieked painfully. A straight line of cut was seen on its purple-feathered wings, and liquefied data leaked out from it. The avian warrior looked up towards the DigiWira with malice, and with a loud wail it soared towards the sky, before plummeting down towards her.
"Oh great, now I've ticked it off," Liu Ying muttered.
She grunted and swung her arm as forcefully as she could muster. Her effort caused the Harpymon to stagger while in midair, but the creature regained its balance immediately and resumed its earlier intention. The DigiWira looked around desperately for anything to throw towards the Harpymon, who was beginning to open its mouth. Liu Ying knew what was about to come, and since forcing the avian warrior away telekinetically didn't seem to work she had to resort in blocking the incoming sound wave attack. At close range, one arm won't going to be enough so Liu Ying immediately rose up both arms, and felt the barrier generating from her palms. The faint sounds of chimes which came out of nowhere confirmed it.
The Harpymon's attack collided with the barrier put up by the girl, and Liu Ying let out a scream as she was pushed down by the sheer force of the Harpymon's attack. Her boots buried into the earth, rendering her immobilized. There was nowhere to run with her feet sunk into the ground. The Harpymon hovered ten meters away from where Liu Ying was standing, screaming its lung out without the intention to stop anytime soon. Soon, Liu Ying felt her arms became warmer as they began to vibrate wildly. Liu Ying screamed – it felt as if her arms were going to be detached from the sockets of her shoulder joints. Yellow aura began to emit from her arms and enveloped her body, pulling her backward without her consent before thrusting her body forward. The warmness and the numbness she was feeling on her arms suddenly evaporated as a glittering yellow energy wave was blasted onto the Harpymon, hitting it all over its body. For a moment it hovered in midair, looking like it had the wind knocked out from its body before limping spinelessly. It then plummeted towards the ground and crash-landed with a loud explosion.
"Did I…did I do that?" Liu Ying whispered in disbelief, as her knees buckled. She felt completely drained and collapsed onto the ground. The last thing she saw was a visage of Centarumon jumping in front of her, with his cannon raised up, before her vision began to blur into blackness. The centaur was saying something to her, but Liu Ying didn't hear anything. Her head was heavy, and she felt like lying down and close her eyes to will the pain away.
xxx
xxx
Tired and battered, Adam's half-closed eyes shot up upon hearing an ear-splitting scream coming from the farthest back area of the village, which was a thick forest. He'd first thought that the scream belonged to the Harpymon, but noticed that it sounded oddly familiar. This was followed by several faint squawks, which no doubt belonged to the Harpymon. Then from the corner of the village, Adam heard a loud chiming sound and a glowing yellow wave soaring towards the sky before dissipating into data particles. This was ensued by a faint, defeated squawk.
"What's going on?" he wondered, fingering the sphere given by Centarumon anxiously. "I hope the girls are ok."
Suddenly, Adam noticed that from outside the Green Meadow Village's gate, mists began to form. He looked up and saw the clear sky; there was no sign of the dark clouds which would cause any rain. Yet the mists, oddly cool and mysterious, seemed to be approaching the village. It began as faint fogs, but thickened as it reached Adam. Adam could feel his skin dampened when the mists made contact with his face and hands, and felt a slight twinge of pain over the places where he was cut by the Harpymon's feathery projectiles. It caused him to flinch inwardly, but mists on a clear day were strange and Adam focused his attention on that to prevent himself into thinking about the pain he was feeling.
"Odd," Adam said, beginning to notice something peculiar about the mists. The mists seemed to be focused around him, circling around him and obscuring his vision. He could no longer see the Green Meadow Village clearly. All around him was whiteness, which was beginning to unnerve him.
Faint sounds of footsteps were suddenly heard coming from his back, and in reflex, the dark-haired boy turned around. He thought he saw a shadow darting within the mists – something human-shaped, black, and…wait a minute, blue? However before Adam could identify the shadow even further, it vanished just as soon as it appeared. The bearer of the White DigiSphere began to realize that the mists weren't natural, and readied to teleport himself away.
"Oh no, you don't! You're not going to get away so easily!"
The rough voice was all too familiar for Adam, but before he could even initiate his teleportation power, an arm enveloped around his waist and Adam was pulled back towards a taller presence behind him. Before he could register what was going on, another hand shot across his right cheek, and cupped his mouth and nose tight. For a moment Adam struggled to break free, but his nose, desperate for air, detected a strange smell permeated from the leather-gloved hand. The smell was neither good nor foul, but was very strong, causing Adam to become dizzy instantly. A feeling of cloudiness invaded his mind and he was beginning to lose his sense of balance. The world seemed to be spinning around him and his eyelids suddenly felt heavy. He then felt as if his body was hoisted up and placed onto the shoulder of the one who had seized him. Feeling that he was losing his consciousness rapidly, Adam let down his hand and released the sphere he was holding as his eyelids began to droop down.
The last thing he heard before everything became dark was a very familiar laugh, sinister and loud, coming from the person who was carrying him. The laughter was eerily familiar; Adam had heard it just the day before. But in his current state of mind it was difficult for the DigiWira to place the voice with the owner. Before closing his eyes completely, the boy finally registered the voice, but it was already too late. There was nothing he could do; he couldn't even access his power anymore. Everything suddenly became very still and black.
"Sleep tight…Adam."