In our last chapter of Ayame's Chronicles, Takami was deemed the victor of the King of the Hill tournament, claiming victory over his latest opponent, Sera. Now he resides within his hotel room with the rest of the Falx tamers on the night before the Qualifier rounds of the doubles tournament. Can't wait to turn some heads with this chapter :3
From their only full sized bathroom, Takami and Rua try to drown out their female companion's bickering over who gets the bathroom in the afternoon first by using various channels on the television, to no avail. The first 10 minutes of the argument were somewhat interesting, but quickly declined when they went into how intricate their hygiene methods were.
"I'm getting a headache…" Takami says while rubbing his temples and standing from the couch. "I need a drink..."
"Bring me back Sprite!" Rua yells over the female's argument and the monster truck rally that was currently being broadcasted.
Takami gives a brief nod before putting on his pair of jeans over his shorts he planned to sleep in, his digivice still clipped to the waistband. Firmly shutting the door behind him, he begins walking down the carpeted corridors of the hotel hall. Takami occasionally glances over the edge of the railing that lined the hollow center of the hotel, marveling just how 44 floors below him looked like. Shaking off the slight dizziness, he boards an elevator and systematically goes down each floor in search of the one machine that offered his absolute favorite drink in the world: root beer.
After many floors of searching, one machine that had been nearly emptied smiles down on his luck, offering both root beer and Sprite.
"Hooray! My prayers have been answered!" He quickly channels some of the bits from his digivice as instructed by Alacia for whenever he made a purchase and out comes the last root beer within the machine. He opens it and takes a precautionary sip from the can, as he always does when relishing some new beverage. The soda tasted similar to other brands he was fond of in the human world, but aside from the rich vanilla-y taste, the digital world version had a bit of something… new. As the liquid trickled down into his stomach, he felt more hype and eager to go out and seize the nightlife. "Quite some kick in such a small can, but I like it~."
"The drinks in the digital world always have that re-energizing taste to them, that's why tamers love them so much." Takami whips his head around to find the origin of the voice, finding none other than Sera smiling at him. She too was clad in her sleeping clothes consisting of a long silky negligee that extended from the center of her collarbone all the way down to her creamy-white thighs.
Nearly coughing up another sip he took, Takami holds back the light blush that threatened to light up his cheeks. "Sera! I didn't see you there! Nice outfit by the way."
"Well aren't you funny?" She giggles and pushes his shoulder lightly to the side, moving past him and holding up her own digivice for a beverage, only to frown when seeing her limited options. "Dammit, all the root beer is gone, AGAIN." With a loud sigh, her forehead comes to meet the picture of her most favorite beverage.
"Sorry, but I searched through 30 floors of vending machines to find it. Root beer is worth that much to me~" Takami smiles sheepishly as he takes another sip from his drink.
"I see… That girlfriend of yours doesn't keep the room stocked so you don't have to wander all by your lonesome?"
He nearly choked on the last sip he took, "Girlfriend? I think not! I am available-notice I didn't say single, that makes me sound more desperate- and free to go to wherever I please and speak to whoever I want!"
"Is that so?" Sera cocks an eyebrow with a smirk, "Well I just happen to be so very single and would have felt bad about doing this until now~." She takes a slow step towards Takami.
His sudden steely nerves reverted back to the jelly she caused when showing up, "D-do… what?"
Sera says nothing and leans in close to him, Takami's cheeks red as a ripe apple. "This~" He closes his eyes and tries to prepare himself.
But no embrace came; no encounter of the flesh of a vivacious female. One eye slowly opens to see her finger tipping his root beer up some so she could waterfall off of it. Her face look extremely pleased to see him so wound up and her eyes were closed to relish the taste of her coveted drink.
"You little sneak!" The outburst of Takami startled Sera, causing her to flinch backwards, sending the remainder of their shared beverage spilling down the front of Takami's chest, sending shivers down his spine.
Sera eeps and extends a hand out towards him, unsure of how to immediately fix the spill, "I'msorryI'msorryI'msorry!"
"No, no… its fine, I'll just go to my room and change," Takami waves his hand, trying to calm her down while rifling through his pockets for something. "Now if only I could find that room key… that Suri had… in her bag- AW DAMMIT ALL TO HELL, I'm locked out…"
"Can't you just wash it or something?" Sera inquires, thinking of a possible solution.
"Well yeah, but I don't want to go to bed sticky either."
"I have an idea!" She smiles and takes a grip of Takami's wrist, whisking him down the hallway from where she came. "Just use my room, to shower and borrow a shirt."
"I guess- wait, what?"
Takami couldn't help but resemble a tomato in the face as he handed piece by piece of his outer clothing to Sera as he slowly undressed in her hotel room's bathroom. "You sure you can have them washed by the time I'm done?"
"Relax, I wash clothes all the time. And there's no need to be shy about it, you have a nice chest; don't try to hide it~" She giggles as he attempts to cover every last part of his body when he slammed the door shut, even though she could barely make out his facial expression.
30 minutes later
Takami emerges from Sera's bathroom with at least 3 towels secured around his body, making sure not an inch of skin showed more than usual. To his relief, a pair of clothes was lying folded on her dresser, minus one thing.
"Hey… where did she go?" He wastes no time in dressing himself and peeks around her apartment. The room key was still here, so she couldn't have gotten out… He inches toward the window for a peek outside before-
"TAKAMI!" A female voice chirps to grab his attention, causing his foot to bang against the radiator in reflex.
"OW… What is it Ayame?" He groans while rubbing his shin, picking up his digivice, nearly forgetting he brought it with him.
"Let me out, there's something not right…"
Ayame's behavior was strange, even for her, so Takami holds out his digivice to release her. Her ears were pointed back and her eyes shifting very slowly around the room. "Well? What's up?"
"I sense a digimon nearby… and not a friendly DATS one either…" Her ears flick as she growls lowly. Even her fur was standing on end.
'What's with her? I've never seen her so riled up like this.' "That's impossible. We're in the middle of a huge city full of DATS surveillance and security. How could anything get in or out without setting off an alarm?"
"I'll let you two ponder that while I dust you from the face of this earth," said a deep malevolent voice said, malice dripping off the end of his statement.
Takami whips his head around to face the room's door, "IT CAN'T BE! YOU CAN'T HAVE POSSIBLY-"
"Nightmare wing!" A blast of wind and dark energy launches the door off its hinges, knocking Takami back with it, slamming him into a wall. Clenching his teeth and gripping his chest, Takami glares up at an old relative of Falx: The Devimon that got away. "What's with that look, boy? You almost look unhappy to see me~"
"Takami, we need to get to an open area!" Ayame yells as she grabs his shirt, launches a Diamond Storm at the window and leaping out of it to a fire escape below. Devimon laughs as he emerges out of the hole Ayame made, floating down to the ground.
Before descending any further, Takami activates his Aegis and lands on the ground with the impact to shatter the sidewalk under him, Ayame teleporting to his side. "How did you get in here?" Takami barks at him, "And what did you do to Sera?"
Devimon puts a hand to his forehead as he shakes his head, "You've got your priorities all mixed up, boy. Instead of wondering how I got in here, why not wonder why I'm here?"
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Ayame growls while flexing her claws, ready to strike whenever he made even a half-movement towards her partner.
"I come bearing a gift for you," the fallen angel's long arms extend out, tearing a rip within the air, just like when he made his escape from Rua, but had no intention of leaving this early. The rift seemed to stretch and distort, as if something were trying to wriggle its way through… "From the lovely Dark Area, let's all greet Devidramon and friends!" The rift then bursts open to release a deluge of Devidramon into the air, at least 20 of them making it out of the tear within the first 3 seconds. They circle the city high above while two linger next to Devimon, eyeing Takami and Ayame intently. "If you expect to save even a pebble of what's left of this city, I'd hurry if I were-"
Devimon is cut off by one of the Devidramon being knocked several decameters back, followed by an aggressive 'Digi-Soul: Charge!' Kyuubimon stands in front of her tamer as her tails flare out. "I'm pretty sure I can rip through a couple of small fry like Devidramon. So what's the real goal here?"
"So eager and feisty, you two are. You wanna know why they're here?" He saunters over to the Devidramon Takami just knocked back, it barely being up on its feet. "Nightmare Claw!" A quick swipe across its torso quickly ends the minion's existence. Instead of disappearing into data as usual, the data pulses outward. The pulse itself makes Ayame wince when it approaches, but no physical damage is apparent, even to the surrounding buildings.
"Is that all?" Takami asks, hoping that Devimon's example was just a mistake.
"Why not find out for yourself? Go, Devidramon!" The dark lizard roars as it charges at Ayame with a Crimson Claw charged up.
"Not even in the same league! Koshugeki!" Ayame charges back at the lizard, releasing a burst of her own kitsune energy, knocking it back before following up with a Dragon Wheel, ending it almost as quickly as it started. The same pulse bursts out from the fallen Devidramon, this time causing Ayame to shiver. "What was that?"
"That was just a glimpse of the raw energy in the Dark Area. All of the Devidramon who came here were nice and full on it and whenever they're destroyed, it spreads out. And the best part about residing in the Dark Area is that the corrupting energies don't hurt me~ But for all of you out here, who knows what'll happen when you digivolve?" Devimon shrugs as he looks upward at a Devidramon being attacked on the roof of the hotel they were previously in.
Ayame squints up at the assaulter, "Hey isn't that… Dalc? But there's something funny looking about him…"
Far above the ground, Suri watches as her partner violently mauls and swipes at the demented dragon. She felt something was wrong with Dalc the moment he digivolved to champion earlier with a face mask that didn't used to be there. Next to her was an unconscious Sera, who had been rescued a few moments earlier. "Metal Cast!" DexDorugamon roars as his arms launch into Devidramon's chest, clawing its way to the very center before ravenously devouring its core. More of the Dark Area's energy pulses from Dalc's mouth as he roars, soaring higher for another meal.
"What did you do to him?" Ayame yells toward Devimon, who only laughs as a retort.
"Nothing at all! Just giving him a taste of the dark side. And it's safe to say that he likes it, just like all the others who have defeated these lovely carriers around the town."
Takami gulps as he runs over his options within his head. He could either let Ayame turn into Taomon and try to cleanse the digimon of the excess energy, but run the risk of being corrupted herself. Fighting would only make it worse, yet not fighting would doom the city. 'What do I do...?'
End of chapter 26
a/n
Annnnnnnnnnd that's where I'm cutting it off for now :D no more chapters til 2012. But I wonder something about this chapter. What's the title referencing anyways? Who knows? I DO. So sit and watch to see what's gonna happen next.
Editor: Well, it issss called corruption, and Dalc is being corrupted, along with whatever else is corrupted by this dark power. The title itself seems to be explained in the chapter, but why do I feel like there's more to it?
Me: Because you know better than to assume that's all that happened.