A/N: Thanks to Martiny, Something dictionary related, Immortal Fallen Radiance, Asarikou-chan, Stelra Etnae, madjack89, and the anonymous reviewer Alexus-al for reviewing. =) Sorry it took so long to update! ^^; To make up for that, I'm doing a double update!
As of this replan, there are only four chapters left, excluding this one. Let see how this goes…
Disclaimer: I do not and will probably ever own Digimon.
A Changed Destiny
Chapter 24: When Passion Colors Everything
The white pines stood tall and were spaced far apart which allowed the beautiful blue sky to shine down on the calm green grass and a pack of three ponds; a scene such as this would cause one to think of a peaceful time in the park or a nice place for a picnic but the affects of the pseudo forest were different for the young blonde as she recalled memories she had long ago thought were buried in the recesses of her mind. I shouldn't have been so quick to judge, Zoe thought, closing her green eyes to the world and picturing the hurt and shamed face of Kimiko. The girl came to a stop and stared at the ground, wishing that of all places she could have ended up, it was a place where she had to fight instead of reflecting over things.
Fortunately, something had snapped her out of her thoughts. "Help us!" called a chorus of voices, causing the blonde to look to her right to see three giant bee looking Digimon trapped in a cage made out of sticks.
Zoe hurriedly ran over, quickly asking, "How'd you get in there?"
"We were just flying around and this trap fell on us," one of them answered.
"All right," she said, backing up a step. "Just hang on a second and I'll have you out." With that, she quickly Spirit Evolved into Kazemon and kicked the cage hard enough to collapse, leaving the three bee Digimon gaping and thanking her and introducing themselves as Honeybeemon.
"How can we thank you?" one of them asked, stars in their eyes.
"How about we treat you to some of our food?" suggested another.
The idea appalled the third, causing the said Honeybeemon to answer, "But that's for—!"
"How else can we repay this lovely person?" the second retorted, making the girl blush embarrassedly. And so, she found herself having a small picnic with the three bee Digimon by the water, chatting and eating the various honey-flavored foods that the Honeybeemon brought.
"This is really amazing," Zoe said, beaming. "Thank you."
The honeybees blushed profusely and one spoke up, saying, "You're so kind. I bet you have tons of friends."
The blonde flinched suddenly, dropping her muffin onto the ground as her eyes looked down ashamedly as she remembered Kimiko and Nazu. "I'm not as kind as you think I am," she answered absently.
The three Honeybeemon cocked their heads in confusion. "What do you mean?" they questioned.
Zoe kept her eyes down and hesitated at first, twiddling her thumbs, but finally gave in. What was the worst that could happen? "Back in my world, there were two girls that I hurt. I made Kimiko cry after she offered to apologize to me and I broke Nazu's trust, all because of my temper," she explained, spilling out her emotions in a rapid succession, eyes becoming watery at her emotions that were irritated like reopened battle wounds. Despite feeling terrible about her past, it felt better to get it off her chest as it had been crushing the Italian for all those months though for a majority of them, the blonde had ignored them. At the moment, she was grateful and let a sad smile cross her face before thanking them for listening to her emotional spill, not noticing that one had disappeared into the forest farther in.
X:::::::::X
The day was beautiful and the Himi family walked in the park and eventually, the youngest had become tired and wasn't afraid of saying so to his parents.
"Well, Tommy," Mrs. Himi said as she and her husband turned to the two boys, a smile on her face. "How about you wait here with your brother and we go get some refreshments?"
The younger of the two brothers chirped happily, "Can I have ice cream, Mama?"
"Sure," she answered and her husband turned towards the elder of the two sons, asking, "Yutaka, you want anything?"
"Just water," he answered and the two parents walked away to get the refreshments. Tommy and Yutaka sat side-by-side on the fountain ledge in silence as the two never really got along, as the older boy had always—in the eyes of the younger—been rather cold and they had little in common. However, Yutaka spoke up, looking over at his brother. "You know we only rested twenty minutes ago."
"Yeah, but it's hot. I'm not you anyway, Yutaka," Tommy answered defensively. This was a common occurrence between the two and so Tommy wasn't meek in the presence of his brother unlike the bullies at his school.
The elder rolled his eyes. "You don't get it, Tommy," he answered. "You can't keep taking advantage of people like Mom and Dad. The world doesn't work like that because you'll eventually have to do something called work to get what you want. Even then, you can't always get what you want."
"Quit being so jealous! Mama and Papa are just nice to me, there's nothing I can do about it," the boy in the orange hat retorted, casting a glare at his brother.
The receiver of the glare didn't do anything but sigh. "You really don't get it." Yutaka narrowed his eyes, causing his younger brother to flinch. "This is why you don't have friends, you expect to be treated like a prince and get anything you want."
The young boy began to become teary-eyed as Yutaka poked his tender spot. "Shut up, Yutaka! You don't know anything!" he screamed. How dare he! How dare he!
Yutaka glared at his bother, about to retort but refrained, features growing soft. "I know more than you know, kid," he answered, surprising Tommy slightly. He rose before adding, "I'm out of here."
"Where are you going?" Tommy asked.
"Away from here, that's for sure."
"Well, I hate you too!"
Tommy awoke, disoriented and confused about why he was remembering that conversation with his brother. The boy snorted, shaking if off; Yutaka was a jerk to everyone save his older friends that he had never seen (but the young brunet was sure that his brother was still a jerk to them). Then, in an effort to push his brother out of his mind, the Warrior of Ice began to try and learn why it was so hot as the place he was in before was mild in temperature; a quick survey noted red hot lava pools and mounds of rock and possibly a volcano in the distance.
The human rose. How was he able to come here? Was it those eyes? The next question that entered his mind was where his friends were and so, Tommy took to the task of calling for them and received no answer and instead went about trying to on foot look for them.
"Takuya! Koichi! JP! Zoe! Strabimon! Anyone there?"
No matter how far he looked, the boy still didn't find any of his comrades and eventually sat down in defeat. "I wonder where everyone is? Did they get sent to a different place by those eyes?"
"Fire Fist of Shiva!"
Tommy had barely heard it coming and rolled out of the way just in time as the fireball exploded into nothing as it hit the rock where the would-be victim was seconds before. The Warrior looked up to see a three-faced humanoid that look like it had walked out of a Hindu legend, an angry one in a mask glared down the Warrior. Tommy summoned his courage and pulled out his D-tector, about ready to evolve but was quickly cut short as a second fire punch was launched at him, causing the Warrior of Ice to abandon the idea in favor of running and dodging the fireballs.
His heart pounded in his ears as he continued running, searching the land for somewhere to hide so he could maybe use it to his advantage. The land, however, had nothing to offer save pits of fire. Tommy dared a glance back, checking if the pursuer was still after him and indeed he was.
And with this distraction, the young brunet found that he had lost his balance as his foot had gone a step too far. The Warrior of Ice's vision snapped forwards and the boy found himself falling into a pit of lava. Fear gripped the small body as he suddenly cried out a name for help.
"Yutaka!"
Suddenly, a hand grabbed his wrist and stopped the descent. Tommy's heart skipped a beat: he was here! He had to be! The boy looked up expecting to see his brother but instead was met by a kindly face shrouded in a brown hooded-cloak.
"You okay, young one?" asked the rough voice.
"Y-yeah, I guess so," he answered.
The cloaked figure helped him up onto solid land before asking, "Who's Yutaka?"
Tommy was taken aback, about to inquire how the stranger knew his brother's name but then he realized why. "He's…my brother," the Warrior answered, his voice spilling over with suppressed anger towards the subject. Why had he called out his brother's name and not Takuya's? Or even JP's? Tommy considered both of them better brother-like than his real kin.
"You don't like him?" asked the stranger, shifting his head.
The boy shook his own. "I hate him."
"Well, hate is a strong word. How about we walk together since we're both stuck here?"
The Warrior nodded hesitantly, taking the hand offered by the unnamed figure. The notion of introducing each other then came to mind. "I'm Tomoki Himi but everyone calls me Tommy."
"Asuramon, friend," answered the cloaked Digimon with a smile, causing the younger to smile as well.
X:::::::::X
Zoe sat by the water, waiting for the final Honeybeemon so she could then thank them before going to find the rest of the Warriors. Some time passed and the blonde found herself falling asleep, deciding it was okay to close her eyes for a few minutes, she fell into unconsciousness. When she awoke, the final Honeybeemon was sitting before her with his three friends holding a red apple.
"Oh, man, how long did I sleep?" she asked, hurriedly standing. "I'm sorry to have kept you waiting!" The girl bowed awkwardly thanking them for the meal.
"Wait…" the Honeybeemon called, the one holding the apple offered it to her. "Uh…this is for you."
The blonde blinked before shaking her hands. "I'm sorry, but I can't take any more from you, sweet bombò," Zoe responded.
"Please," pressed the bee Digimon.
The Warrior of Wind considered it for a minute but then took it with a smile and thanked them before deciding to at least appease them and take a bit of the apple. Sadly, it was a stupid move on her part.
She began to get woozy and a feeling of shame came over the girl like a dark cloud, stealing away all the sunshine. Zoe wobbled over to the lake and stared down at her reflection to see a pretty face looking back at her but her mirror image seemed to lie, taunting her. This was something she wasn't, inside and out. Ugly, that was what Zoe was. A temper that was quick to snap and hurt those she knew. Nazu never did anything wrong to her and Kimiko was right to ditch her. After all, who could be friends with such a beast?
"Bugiarda!"
"Maiale!"
That was what she was: a liar and a pig. She was lying to herself that she'd be able to make friends and a swine for even trying to get something better than she deserved.
I'm sorry Kimiko.
"That's right, you're a joke, pretty little brat," a familiar voice called. Zoe looked up to see Ranamon walking over to her, a bouquet of orchids in her hands and a wide smirk on her face. "Ugly inside out. If only your outside matched your insides, sug."
"I shouldn't have been so cruel," the blonde stated to herself in a low whisper.
Ranamon bent down to meet her, gripping the distraught blonde's chin with a free hand and shaking the girl's head. "Sugar, you've been playing yourself from the start. I'm glad that the Honeybeemon showed you your true self, something ugly inside out." The Warrior of Water forced the human to look at the humiliated honeybee Digimon that refused to meet her green eyes. "They were working for me the entire time." When the Honeybeemon didn't answer, she gave out a sharp "Well?" that caused the Digimon to answer a reluctant yes.
Ranamon then pushed her into the shallow water. "You would eventually hurt your friends, so why don't you just give up now? Remember those poor girls?"
"I…" Zoe began, sitting up and looking down at her reflection again, eyes half closed and watery. A few drops fell into the water as she wished she had the chance to turn back time, stop herself from jumping the gun as she had…but, there was no way to turn back time and so, all she could do was better herself. "I…want to be kinder…"
The blue girl held a hand to her ear and asked, "Huh? Sug, I can't hear you whimper if you mumble."
The blonde looked towards Ranamon and repeated herself. "I want to be kinder…I don't want to be so cruel to my friends! I want…to be someone I am proud of!" It was her only chance to make amends, to learn from her mistakes.
Ranamon's face contorted in rage as she threw the flowers. "You can't become better!" she shrieked, calling upon a tidal wave to splash her onto the shore. The girl coughed up water as the blue Digimon continued her rant. "You can't change! You aren't even pretty! Who's going to take you anyway?"
"Don't listen to Ranamon!" called the Honeybeemon, causing the two to look towards them. "You're the kindest person we know!"
"R-really?" Zoe asked, at first surprised before a ray of happiness broke the gloom of her mind. Then, she remembered the stories of Beauty and the Beast: true beauty is on the inside, kindness. The beast had a nasty temper but changed himself into a better, nicer person. Sure she wasn't gorgeous or the nicest person on the face of the planet but she at least could start to become that way.
Ranamon shrieked and flew at them, using the lake water to her advantage to send them into the water. The Italian stood; this was Ranamon's last battle. She pulled out her D-tector and immediately Spirit Evolved into Zephyrmon and crashed into the Warrior of Water, sending Ranamon into her element before going to get the insect Digimon out of the water. Once they were collected, she put them on the shore.
"Are you okay?" the harpy asked and they nodded in response.
"Thank you!" they buzzed happily. "We're so sorry that we did that to you."
Zephyrmon waved her hand. "Don't worry, you guys made me realize something so just stay safe."
"Safe is the last thing they'll be!" screeched Ranamon as she blasted out of the water. "This is WAR! Slide Evolution!" Calmaramon stood high, making the three honeybees quake in their boots but the harpy stood ready. The squid Digimon launched her Acid Ink attack and Zephyrmon moved and went in for an attack with her Plasma Pods but stopped short as she heard the piercing cries of the Honeybeemon.
The humanoid-bird looked down to see the three had been hit by the acid and were too weak to hold in their Fractal Codes. Calmaramon was quick to finish them off, crushing them with one of her tentacles before cackling aloud in a shallow triumph.
X:::::::::X
Tommy sat, tired from walking in the heat as his newfound friend had gone to fetch water. "I'm not effected by the heat," Asuramon had reasoned, "I'll get you water, after all, friends help each other out." The boy smiled, he was as nice as Takuya and the others, but maybe a tad too nice? He remembered the events with the Porcupamon back in the islands. After shaking off his fears of the event, the Warrior of Ice remembered how the cannibal had kidnapped him using his hat as a ploy before snatching him up. Maybe Asuramon was doing that?
"What's wrong, Tommy?" the voice of the subject of the Warrior's thoughts spoke up, causing the said boy to look up.
"It's just…me and my friends have been in a situation like this before," the boy answered absentmindedly before catching himself a little too late.
Asuramon laughed heartily. "You think I'm going to take advantage of you?" he asked, causing the human to feel dumb about his suspicion. "Is that what friends do, Tommy? No, we help each other."
The Warrior of Ice couldn't help but giggle himself. What was he thinking? Of course friends wouldn't do that! Tommy beat back suspicion but caution still remained in his mind, after all, how many times had he and his friends been duped when they had help? For sure with the Toucanmon and Porcupamon (and possibly with the bird that made the horrible noodles) but then how many times had they met Digimon that actually helped them? Sorcermon, FlameWizardmon, Whamon, and many more came to mind; caution, however, remained all the same.
After Tommy finished the water, he and Asuramon began on their way for a way to find his friends or a way out. As they continued, it became hotter and hotter and the boy started to notice that they were coming closer and closer to the fiery mountain in the distance.
"Are you sure we will find my friends up there?" he asked, growing more unsure with his companion's direction. "It's too hot for me, so I doubt they'd be up there."
"Well, I think it's nice and cozy," Asuramon answered calmly as he began picking up the pace, dragging the other even faster towards the mountain, causing Tommy to dig his heels into the rock and stop the cloaked Digimon. He looked at the boy's worried expression with narrow eyes. "Why are you stalling? We're running out of time."
The Warrior of Ice slipped his hand out of Asuramon's grasp, doubt peaking finally. "Asuramon, my friends aren't going to be up there. It's so hot that I don't think that they'd survive."
"Well, I need to go up there and you're coming with me because you're my friend. Friends help each other, remember?" the cloaked Digimon snapped, making the human flinch. "Is this what I get in return for saving your life?"
Asuramon…there was something familiarly odd about him… His voice…
Tommy backed up a few steps. "But…it's wrong…to keep score…" he answered in a low voice. "Friendship isn't about the take… 'Friendship is an idea of mutual trust and giving and support.' …Yutaka always said that…" Quit being selfish…that's what Yutaka always told me…Asuramon is just like me…Yutaka's right!
"Yutaka isn't here and who cares if he's right," Asuramon growled, "I'm taking my debt!" In a battle cry, the cloak went up in flames, revealing the figure beneath it as the same Digimon who had attacked him earlier.
"You…!"
"Give me your Spirits!" the three faced demon demanded as the red masked face switched with the yellow one. Tommy took another step back, pulling out his D-tector and Spirit Evolved into Kumamon.
X:::::::::X
Zoe couldn't believe her eyes as she stared at the horror of Calmaramon claiming the Fractal Codes so mercilessly. Tears stung her eyes and rage claimed her mind. How could she do that? They were helpless next to her power!
"WHY?" Zephyrmon screamed, flying in and slicing at Calmaramon.
"They wanted out of the fanclub," the Warrior of Water growled back as she attempted to grab hold of her enemy. "They dared leave a beauty like me for a beast like you!"
Beast, me? "No, Ranamon, you're the real beast!" the Warrior of Wind answered, unleashing a Hurricane Gale upon the squid but she tucked into her lower body to avoid the attack.
"Titanic Twist!" The body began to spin like a top and rose into the air. Zephyrmon rose higher into the air to avoid it but Calmaramon's upper body rose out of the lower part and had enough of an arm span to capture the Warrior in her hands before throwing her into the water.
As soon as she broke the surface, Zephyrmon swam as fast as she could to get out of the way of an attack but Calmaramon's body still landed on her and the two fell down to the bottom of the lake before coming up. The Warrior of Wind rose in order and broke the surface, gasping. Her ears picked up the sound of the Warrior of Water claiming her victory over the Zephrmon. The harpy flicked the water off her wings and rose into the air.
"I, Calmaramon, am the most beautiful and the strongest Digimon to ever live!" she called out hysterically, raising her arms in victory like a small child.
"Wrong," Zephyrmon said, grabbing the squid Digimon's attention before unleashing a Hurricane Gale on her.
"Why you! Stay dead!" Calmaramon shrieked, swiping a tactical at the Warrior but she easily flew under it to dodge and rushed in for a kick, causing the squid to lose her balance.
"You're not strong! You rely on other people for a boost of confidence and when you don't get it, you dispose of them like JP does with his candy wrappers." Zephyrmon floated down and unleashed a second Hurricane Gale with enough force to cut the Warrior of Water's hide and push her onto land.
Calmaramon righted herself before spitting out acid ink but the Warrior of Wind easily dispatched the attack with her own Plasma Pod attack.
"Real beauty comes from the inside and strength from standing for yourself and people you love."
Zephyrmon raced in for the final attack, easily dodging the weakened Digimon's attempts to stop her and unleashed a twin slash on the upper body, causing it to give way for the Fractal Code to appear around it.
The harpy drew back a few feet before evolving down into Kazemon and producing her D-tector and scanning the data and claiming the Spirits for herself. With her enemy gone, the fairy Digimon de-evolved into her human form and brushed away a tear for the fallen Honeybeemon.
"I'm sorry that I couldn't save you guys," she whispered before noting an orchid by her feet. She bent down to pick it up, carefully looking it over. The flower was dainty and beautiful but it was a haughty flower, that's what Mrs. Orimoto always taught her. "What a fitting flower for Ranamon," the blonde muttered before her eyes caught an eye similar to the one that had sent her to the forest and lakes. It was most likely the Italian's way out and without a second thought, she walked into it, discarding the flower and going to hopefully join her friends.
X:::::::::X
Kumamon did his best to dodge the flames and the lava lakes but it wasn't like fighting on the glacier back at Akiba Market; there was too much friction to easily ski away and the heat hampered the effectiveness of his ice balls and it sapped at his stamina and any ice attacks he sent at Asuramon, the Digimon would easily put up a fist of fire and cancelled the attack.
So, the bear was left to running and dodging fireballs and a well placed one sent him falling into a lava pit. In an attempt to cling to something, the Warrior formed his body into an icicle and gripped onto the wall and then expanded the ice to keep a better grip and dug into the rock like a tree roots. Above, Kumamon heard his opponent speaking aloud, cursing how he had lost the Spirits before looking down and spotting the spiky ice sticking to the wall.
Asuramon smirked. "Hot, no?" he asked, before the face switched to the yellow-masked one. "Give me your Spirits and I'll spare you, after all, we're friends, aren't we?"
Tommy gritted his teeth and he glared up at the three-faced demon. "No! You're not my friend! You just think about yourself! We were never friends to begin with!"
Asuramon set his four hands aflame and his eyes narrowed. "Tommy, you stupid idiot, give me your Spirits so I can save you!"
"NO!" Kumamon screamed, forcing his ice roots to dig upwards, breaking up the rock that Asuramon stood on and having it slide down his body down into the lava pit. With the enemy gone, the Warrior of Ice crawled towards land and gave one last look into the pit and turning away from what he once was.
A small smile crossed Tommy's face, making a mental promise to himself to thank Yutaka for showing him what he couldn't see until now and to apologize for being a pest all those years.
"I'm not dead yet!"
Kumamon spun around as flame walls barricaded his path to see Asuramon standing before him, the red-masked face glaring down at him. "You stupid bear, fire is my element! Do you think you alone can defeat me?" the demon laughed.
The hybrid Digimon simply smirked in response. "I'm not alone. I have my friends and I have my brother."
"Oh, then where are your friends and brother?" Asuramon taunted, the flames drawing closer. "No one can save you."
"Everyone's fighting, even if we're apart. I have to stand my own ground sometimes, I can't rely on everyone else to fight with me," Kumamon answered, holding up a hand and shouting out, "Slide Evolution!" Korikakumon stood in the smaller Digimon's place, embracing the power that he needed.
"Frozen Arrowheads!"
The dreadlocks wrapped themselves around the enemy and slammed him into the ground, causing the ring of fire to be snuffed out. The dreadlocks untangled themselves and Korikakumon faced Asuramon.
"Fist of Shiva!"
The fireballs were nimbly dodged by the large yeti with far more agility than its previous evolution had. Frustrated, Asuramon continued and the Ice Warrior took cover behind a boulder before summoning his twin axes.
"Come out, coward!"
Korikakumon was more than willing to follow the demand, leaping into the air and using the boulder as leverage. The demon fired off his attack but the yeti easily countered, blocking them with his weapons, swinging them wildly to snuff out the flames before landing on his opponent and slashing at him, causing the three faced Digimon to reveal his Fractal Code.
Korikakumon stepped back and Slide Evolved down into Kumamon and took out his D-tector and scanning the code and just before the shadow disintegrated, the face turned to the yellow-masked one, a wide smile on his face.
With the enemy gone, the Digimon reverted to his human form just in time to see an eye open up to his right. There was a chance that it would lead him to his friends or lead him to another unfriendly entity but the boy in the orange hat was willing to take a chance. After all, he wanted to see them again and thank them for being his friend.
Chapter 24: End.
There's a bit of symbolism in here…hopefully you caught a bit of it. Zoe's part was heavily influenced by Beastly (book, not movie) by the fact that Zoe has a pity-party about being "beastly" on the inside and the connotation of the orchid is also borrowed from there but I think the idea of the rose also fits that (well, namely, the red rose. White roses are prettier!)
The title is borrowed from a song of the same name by Poets of the Fall with how the two are both toyed with by their fears and such and I thought it worked better for Ranamon at some parts as well.
So, yes, only four chapters left. Next is the chapter everyone's been waiting for: Koji vs. Koichi! That'll be followed by Takuya's battle and then the ending of the Sakkakumon arc before we arrive at the final battle with Cherubimon. Hope you can stick with me until the end!