Chapter 26 – Pride
How long ago Akira had been in America. She loved this country. Freedom, the air, landscape and much more. The young woman especially liked the food. It was ironic that Knightmon also appeared in America. She was pleased that they (along with Mimi and Palmon) and Wanyamon were allowed to travel to the United States. Akira really wanted to eat a burger in America. She also believed that her partner would like such a burger.
When the four finally arrived in New York, the young woman could hardly hide her joy. She wanted to do everything possible. Eat a burger, go shopping, and sunbathe in a park. Just doing what she could do only marginally or not at all in Japan.
Akira remembered the day Shin said he had to go back to Japan, to Tokyo, because of his work. The young woman had been very happy that day, because she had experienced something beautiful with Jack. For her, a world collapsed. How could Shin destroy her happy life?
That's what she thought at the time. She had strongly reproached Sera's friend for this. That's why their relationship was aggressive until she met Wanyamon. After that, the relationship improved. First she ignored him as best she could, then she started talking to him briefly. And before she saw it, she treated him like a big brother.
"So this is America," the in-training digimon simply said, "looks exactly like Tokyo."
"But it's not. We are in New York! There are a lot of things here that don't exist in Tokyo," she said, smiling, walking a few steps away from the three of them, before turning in a circle with outstretched arms and laughing happily.
Mimi looked at her a little bit surprised. Akira was always so cold-hearted and aggressive towards her. But Wanyamon also noticed his partner's cheerful mood.
"I want to eat a burger!" she suddenly shouted.
"What's a burger?" her partner asked.
"You'll see," she laughed, turning in circles again.
"Why are you so happy?"
"I like New York!"
"And why?"
"I once lived here. I have so many fond memories here!"
"I see…"
"Hey. Don't be so depressed!"
"It's just that a horde of Knightmon, who serve King Drasil, will appear," he raved.
"And you're good at killing the mood," she said, but didn't sound very angry.
"I agree with you," Said Mimi: "You, Wanyamon, are killing the mood. Correction. You conjure up rain clouds through your mood."
Palmon's partner pointed her second finger into the sky. There were no clouds wide and wide. Just a bright blue sky with a sun.
"Should this be a metaphor?" the in-training digimon asked.
As if Mimi had solidified to stone, she did not move for several seconds.
"Is she frozen to stone now?" said Akira.
Palmon's partner briefly shook her head before she began to smile broadly.
"She went mad," Wanyamon said.
The four continued to talk without knowing that anyone was watching them. This one was a perfect-level digimon standing on a roof with his arms crossed.
The purple eyes watched with suspicion the Digiritter and their partners. With his feet shaped into silver blades, he held onto the thin metal tube. The Digimon wore red trousers with a grey symbol on it. This symbol had two rings and a diamond in the middle of it. The trousers themselves were held by a green belt knotted to the left side. The belly above was wrapped in a white fabric while wearing a black jacket with a yellow collar on his chest.
His slender arms were wrapped up far above his wrists in a thin purple fabric. The silver-sounding fingers were very pointed. This digimon had four devil wings. The upper pair was red, the lower yellow. The neck and lower part of the head had a white color, while the upper part of the head was embroidered with yellow hair. In general, this digimon looked like a matador from Spain. The Digimon itself was a good 1.80 centimetres tall.
"Akira," whispered Wanyamon, who was carried by his partner.
"Yes?" she bent down slightly.
"We are being watched by a digimon."
"Really?" she wanted to look around.
"Don't look around. I have a bad feeling."
The matador jumped from the roof and attacked the four.
"Thousand Arrow!" he summoned several purple arrows at the group from his right sleeves.
"Palmon!" Mimi shouted in panic.
"Palmon warp-digivolve to... Rosemon!" she jumped into the air, holding her hands in front of the rose by her chest, before turning in a circle and saying, "Forbidden Temptation!"
A swarm of rose petals raced to the attacker. He was thrown against a house wall. The matador growled furiously and eventually jumped to Rosemon. He used the wall as a temporary springboard.
"Matadormon, stop!" a voice shouted.
Akira shuddered. This voice... she knew it. The said Digimon made a back-flip in the air and landed on the ground before joining a young man. He was wearing jeans and a black T-shirt with a white circle, which was also black in the middle. The young man looked at the two DigiDestined and shrugged.
"Akira!" he said, terrified: "What are you doing here?"
"Nothing you'd care about, Jack," she replied grumpily.
"Hey. You're still so grumpy," he folded his arms in front of his chest.
"Just shut up," she raved, grabbing Wanyamon's body tighter.
"Akira!" he cried, biting her hand.
"Ow! Wanyamon!" she said annoyed to her partner.
He growled and freed himself from her arms.
"You're also a DigiDestined?" asked Jack, astonished.
"Also?" she repeated: "That means... you're also one."
"Yes. This is my partner, Matadormon. He appeared in New York just over a year ago and couldn't go back to the digital world. I found him and took him home. Soon I got my Digivice."
"Um... If I am allowed to interfere," Mimi said, "You know Akira?"
"She's my ex girlfriend. We broke up," the young man said.
With his flat hand, Akira hit him on the back.
"Ow!" exclaimed Jack.
"You were the one who broke up with me!" she raved.
"But you don't have to hit my back."
"You wrote that you have a new girlfriend!"
"That was a lie. I didn't want you to see Matadormon."
"You... IDIOT!," she yelled at him: "I hate you. Hate you, hate you, HATE YOU!"
Again and again she screamed at him in a rage. Jack replied quietly, so that only his partner heard it:
"I know..."
He closed his eyes and sighed heavily. Wanyamon looked at his partner, who was still insulting her ex. Until she finally stopped. She was breathing heavily and her head was more than red. Akira turned around and was going to move away from her ex and Mimi. But her partner cried out:
"Akira! Stop! We need to destroy those Knightmon!"
Jack looked at him confused. What was he talking about? But before he could asked the in-training digimon Akira ran away.
"Akira!" Jack called after her but she ignored him.
Behind Wanyamon a distortion appeared. He looked between Akira's ex, Mimi and Palmon before he jumped into said portal. Meanwhile the other young woman was shocked. Akira never told anyone that she had a boyfriend. Then again, she was literally a closed book and never told anyone about her past in America. However, Mimi could understand her. Her ex lied to her and broke up with her. In Akira's place Mimi would also be very angry at the man.
"I told you, it was a bad idea not telling her." Matadormon said coldly.
"I know!" Jack snapped at him: "But how could I explain it to her? Suddenly I have a friend that is a Digimon. She knew that a giant Digimon attacked Tokyo. How would that sound that a friend of mine is now a Digimon?"
"Well… You could have explained her that you-" began his partner but was stopped as a loud explosion appeared.
"What was that?" asked Mimi in panic.
Shortly before said explosion happened Akira sat on a bench and stared into the distance. She hated her ex more than anything. Why did he do that to her? Why did he hide his partner? Did he think that she couldn't take it? If that was the case then he had no trust in her. At least Matadormon looked more like a human than a monster… Sighing heavily she closed her eyes. Tears started to form in her eyes. She just hoped that no one saw her.
"Akira?" she heard a familiar voice.
Opening her eyes she looked directly at her partner who sat in front of her on the ground. He looked concerned. Something she never thought he would do. But soon her mood changed into anger. Why did he follow her? She wanted to be alone.
"What do you want?" she asked him annoyed.
"I…" he turned away embarrassed.
He so hated it to admit something.
"I was concerned about you." he finally said after a pause.
"Leave me alone, Wanyamon!" she yelled angrily: "I don't want to see you ever again! If I hadn't become a DigiDestined I wouldn't be here!"
Wanyamon growled lowly in his throat. Signalling her that he started to get angry at her as well. Well… She didn't care. She just wanted to go home and forget all of this. Her partner somehow sensed what she was thinking and growled even louder. Meanwhile Akira herself prepared right away. He would bite her for her insult.
But he didn't. Instead, he hopped onto her lap and looked at her.
"Akira..." Wanyamon said with a somewhat sudden tone.
"What?"
His eyes looked really serious right now. He took a deep breath. Then:
"I care about you. You are my best friend. And… I need you…" he murmured while her eyes widened.
Never had she heard something like that from him. And it surprised her more than she would have suspected. He cared about her. She was his best friend. And she needed her.
"Why?" she asked.
"Because… I don't want to lose another friend."
"Another friend?" she repeated.
"Yes. I remember everything now. I remember what really happened then and who my best friend was."
"Then let's hear," she smiled, brushing his fur.
"At that time we were arguing so much that a Digimon attacked us..." he took a short break.
"Who was this digimon?" she asked.
"I don't know."
"I thought you can remember everything."
"But... This digimon killed them. This Digimon killed my best friend Crusadermon. When she was killed, I became so furious with anger that I attacked this digimon without thinking. It caused me a serious injury, so I had to rest for 10,000 years after the fight."
"And this Crusadermon..."
"Works now for King Drasil."
"What will happen when you meet her?" she tilted her head slightly to the right and looked at him inquiringly.
"I... don't know. I don't know how to react. On the one hand, I don't want to fight her because she's an old friend... On the other hand, it cooperates with the enemy. What I hope is that I will never meet them again. I really hope so."
"Because you're in discord, wouldn't you?" Akira suspected.
"Exactly," he closed his eyes and sighed heavily.
"Wanyamon..."
The in-training digimon reopened his eyelids, shook briefly and looked into the distance. Suddenly an explosion appeared causing them to jump.
"What's going on?" she asked after she collected herself.
"Probably the Knightmon." he hissed through clenched teeth.
He enveloped himself in a light and hopped from her lap. Afterwards he yelled:
"Wanyamon warp-digivolve to… Dynasmon!"
Dynasmon flapped his wings and growled angrily. He sensed another Royal Knight here. He just hoped that he/she wasn't his lost friend.
"One of the Royal Knights has appeared here. Rosemon and Matadormon have no chance against this one," he explained: "I have to stop him or her!"
"I'll come with you!" she said euphorically.
The ultimate-level digimon shook his head and took off leaving his partner behind. Akira's partner digimon flapped vigorously with his wings and raced to the enemy Royal Knight. The ultimate-level Digimon growled in flight because he had lied to his partner. He felt no Royal Knights nearby. Nevertheless, he wanted to help Rosemon and Matadormon in the fight against them. When a Knightmon stood in his way, Dynasmon pulled out and dismembered him with his left claw. Half snarling, he fired a laser and hit another Knightmon, which dissolved into data. Behind him, an opponent approached, but he could not react so quickly.
"Forbidden Temptation!" a voice shouted, letting loose a wave of roses on the Knight's Digimon.
The Knightmon was hurled against a lamppost and eventually retreated into a distortion.
"Thousand Arrow!", Matadormon fired several purple arrows at one of the attackers.
However, he dodged and wanted to destroy the matador with his sword. But Wanyamon's ultimate-level was a little faster and blocked the attack with his arm guards. The Knightmon flew several meters away, much to Dynasmon's astonishment. Suddenly he saw a pink flash, which hit him in the stomach the next moment.
The eyes of the ultimate-level Digimon widened in terror before he was thrown to the ground a short time later by the force of the attack. He landed his back and would only be able to get up after a good ten seconds. However, the pink lightning bolt rushed to him and wanted to kill him with a drawn sword. But the lightning paused when the Digimon saw Dynasmon.
"You... you are..." he did not produce another word.
In front of him stood Crusadermon, whom he had not hoped he would see. His body trembled. He didn't want it. He didn't want to fight her.
"Why are you destroying your allies?" she asked.
"Allies...? No. I..." he still lacked the words.
"Please don't tell me that you, of all Digimon, have sided with humans," she quipped.
Her voice sounded as if she was having trouble suppressing her anger.
"Crusadermon..." he still saw the yellow sword made of a ribbon in front of him: "I chose this site because humans are not as bad as you think?!"
"Humans," she uttered the word with contempt: "Have you forgotten that humans invented this Gizmon?!"
"It was just a part of the people! Not even one percent!"
"That's enough!"
"Don't do it, Crusadermon! Look at me! I know good people!"
"Then you're blind!"
"I'm not blind! You only see what you want to see! You're like Alphamon!"
"What do you know about us!" she yelled at him.
She got out and wanted to kill him. But she struggled with herself. She couldn't kill him, couldn't she? Dynasmon pushed her away with his left foot and jumped up.
"Crusadermon. I don't want to fight you," he said after the pink knight also rose.
"Then that's your bad luck. I will kill you for your betrayal!"
"Is there no other way? Do we have to fight?" he looked at her with sad eyes.
"There is no other way!"
She rushed towards him and hit him to the ground again with her shield. He couldn't do it. He didn't want to fight and hurt her. He would rather die than fight against her. No one would take him away from his decision. He didn't want to hurt her. So he closed his eyes and waited for the death blow.
"Dynasmon!" shouted one voice.
"What?" in shock at the voice, Crusadermon turned around and saw a man with a ponytail and brown hair.
Akira stood in front of Dynasmon and looked resolutely high at her opponent.
"What are you doing?" his partner asked him: "It looked like you wanted to be killed! Where is your will to fight?!"
The ultimate-level Digimon slowly straightened up and looked at Akira.
"I..." he began to speak.
"Come on!" she interrupted him: "Pull yourself together! I don't know what Digimon that is... But if you die now, you won't be able to protect anything, Dynasmon! Pull yourself together and fight!"
"She's Crusadermon..." he explained, sighing.
His partner was briefly terrified and looked at him. But then she smiled at him and nodded.
"If you don't want that, then it's okay. But remember. If you don't stop her, who does it? You are equal to her. If you give up, who will protect New York?" her words were unusually gentle and encouraging.
Her partner closed her eyes briefly and breathed a deep breath. When his lids reopened, they showed determination.
"Thank you, Akira!" he said, once flapping with his purple wings.
"You really are a traitor, Dynasmon," Crusadermon said, "Then I'm sorry."
"For what?"
"That I'm going to kill you here and now!"
She rushed to Dynasmon, but he intercepted her shield with his arm guards. He wanted to meet her with the other claw. Elegantly, she jumped over his head to land behind him so she could easily attack him. But she didn't expect her opponent to turn around and throw her in the air with his left claw. Immediately Dynasmon followed her, grabbed her and flew high into the air. When they were just under the clouds, the pink knight freed herself and rammed her sword into his arm. He flew away from her with a sound of pain. The next moment he fired a green laser at her. The pink knight rushed to the side and took one end of her ribbon in her hand.
"Spiral Masquerade!" she added to him with several cuts.
Wanyamon's ultimate-level knew exactly when he could grab her. After inflicting the fifth injury on him, he grabbed her and raced towards the ground in a dive. She couldn't get her arms out of the grip, so she hit her back on the ground. A gigantic crater formed beneath it. At the same time, some boulders swirled. One of them hit Akira at the temple, causing her to lose consciousness. Dynasmon, however, did not notice. He was too deep in the fight.
"Listen to me, Crusadermon," he growled: "Humans aren't just evil. There are kind-hearted humans like Akira."
"Akira... So that's the name of her. She changed you a lot," she hissed: "For the worse, well-noticed."
"She changed me for the good."
"Whatever." she would have shrugged, but her opponent still held her arms with his claw.
"Don't be so ignorant, Crusadermon! You should live with a kind person for at least one day. Then you would realize that humans also have good sides."
"Which one?" she asked, laughing dryly: "What good sides? Humans are greedy, selfish, power-hungry and stupid. Why should humans have "good" sides?"
"Because," he interrupted himself as he had to scream.
She had managed to stab him in the palm of his hand with her band. Inevitably, he had let her go and jumped away a bit. The pink knight jumped up and rammed her shield into him, hurling him against a house wall. His head buckled forward, so she believed he was unconscious. With a sure-fire nod, she turned away from him and saw the unconscious Akira.
If she hadn't worn a helmet, you could have seen a vicious smile. That was a good idea. Crusadermon wrapped a ribbon around the body of Dynasmon's partner and lifted it up. She noticed that her opponent had risen again and placed Akira in front of her. This stopped Dynasmon.
"You!" he growled angrily: "Let her go immediately!"
"Why?" she asked him.
"Crusadermon! I... please."
"So that's how much does this person mean to you? What does she have that I don't have?"
"That's not what it's about! Release them!"
"And what if not? She is my hostage. If you want to attack me, I will use her as a shield."
Wanyamon's ultimate-level growled in frustration and rage.
"You don't want to kill me... So you don't have the will to fight me," she said, before attacking him again with her shield.
He coughed and got down on his knees. Meanwhile, she rose in the air and flew away. Dynasmon struck vigorously with his purple wings and followed her.
"Akira!" he shouted after his partner: "Damn it, Crusadermon! Let her go!"
However, the pink knight ignored him and flew through a cloud.
"AKIRA!" he shouted.
In the cloud, Crusadermon created a distortion and landed in the digital world before setting off to King Drasil. Akira's partner cried out loud after he couldn't find the pink knight. Eventually, he landed on the ground. Exhausted by the struggle and the kidnapping of his partner.
"Akira..." he spoke softly before returning to his in-training level.
Mimi and Rosemon approached him and saw tears in his eyes.
"What... has happened?" the rose woman asked uncertainly.
"Akira was... She was kidnapped by Crusadermon..." he breathed and closed his lids, before screaming again.
"What?" a voice said, terrified.
"Jack..." said Mimi, looking at him.
"Akira became..." his eyes widened: "I will help you. I will save Akira!"
"No..." Wanyamon's voice rang out: "You're not supposed to do anything. You will not get involved in this fight any further. It is a battle between two gods... Therefore. Don't get in."
"But-" Jack began.
"Didn't you listen to me, human?! You shall keep yourself out of the matter for your own security!"
"Hey. Don't be so harsh to him, Wanyamon," Rosemon rebuked him.
"Shut up!" the in-training digimon yelled at her: "Just keep your mouth shut!"
"Hey! Nobody talks to my partner like that!" exclaimed Mimi, trying to grab Wanyamon by the tail.
He dodged to the side and growled menacingly.
"Please calm everyone down," Matadormon said: "It is no use to anyone to argue now. Wanyamon, right? You may know where this Crusadermon had taken Akira."
"No..." he shook himself: "But I will save her! And if I put my life at risk! I will save Akira!"
Author's note: This chapter was changed a little bit. In the original Akira lost her consciousness after the argument with Jack. In this she just ran away.