I do not own InuYasha or Digimon Adventure in any way!
Speech Key:
"The" – Oral/Normal Speech
'The' – Thoughts
PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE BEGINNING!
AN: All right, I think it's noticeable now that the black crests will play a significant roles, though nothing will officially come into play until a while later. Right now, I'm just going to list what the colors that each of the crests glow means:
Maroon = Rage
Dark-Orange = Agression
Citrine (A dull-yellow) = Greed
Hunter (a dark shade of green) = Jealousy
Navy = Betrayal
Plum = Despair
Hot-Pink = Desire
Grey = Darkness
White = Apathy
Now, I also know that there may a bit of confusion as to why Kagome's digivice never reacted to Tai's or why Kari's wasn't mentioned and giving off a signal. The simple explanation is that while watching the series, both the first and second seasons, I realized that the aspects of Digital World are created through belief and of course data obviously. And so, Kagome doesn't want to be found yet, so in turn she won't be because it's her digivice responding to her wishes. As for Kari's digivice, it hasn't been found yet, and therefore not active, so it won't give off a signal until it is found.
Anyway, enjoy the chapter!
Review, but if you don't have anything nice to say, then don't say anything at all!
-The Ninth Child-
xX-Discoveries-Xx
-Kamiya Residence-
"What are you doing?" Kari asked, raising an eyebrow at the mess her brother had created in their room.
"I was looking for my old address book," Tai answered dizzily, "Except I can't find it."
"I'm helping, too," Agumon answered from underneath a pile of books and papers, "But I can't find anything, either."
"You'd be able to if you decided to clean up and organize once in a while," Kagome commented dryly.
The~Ninth~Child
Kari wore a pair of pink capris with a sleeveless yellow top, a small pink scarf tied around her neck, a silver whistle hanging around her neck down to her chest, and a pair of white socks on her feet.
The~Ninth~Child
Kagome wore a short-sleeved lavender dress with a pair of white mid-calf-length tights, with a white scarf that had lavender accents wrapped around her neck so that one end hung down to her waist, and a pair of white ankle socks. Around her waist was a brown belt, to which a small black pouch was attached. She wore a pair of white fingerless gloves that went just past her wrists and her hair was left down to her waist.
The~Ninth~Child
"Tai!" came their mother's voice. "Izzy's at the door!"
"Uh, coming!" Tai called back as he inched out of his room into the hallway with Agumon glued to his back and Kagome and Kari following behind just in case.
It seemed as though it were the right thing to do since the moment Tai and Agumon had passed by the kitchen, and their mother's sight, the small orange dinosaur tripped, landing on Tai with a loud 'thud'.
Airi Kamiya turned to see what had made the noise to find her eldest daughter on the floor with her youngest in her lap, both giggling nervously. She smiled at their antics before turning back to her cooking.
This gave Tai and Agumon a chance to escape through the front door with Kagome and Kari following suit a few moments after; Kagome slipping into her black converse and Kari into a pair of red sneakers.
"Now, make sure you go only where you know," Kagome told Kari, "don't talk to anyone you don't know, let alone go near them and—"
"Kagome!" Kari exclaimed, giggling. "I'll be fine; I know what I should and shouldn't do, so don't worry so much. But if you're not going to come home for lunch, then call, okay? You know how Mama and I worry."
"Don't we both," Kagome sighed, smiling. "All right, then. I'll see you later!" And with that, the two sisters parted ways, the youngest calling out for their family cat that'd gone missing that morning.
"It's all right, she's gone," Kagome said softly.
The girl's 'scarf' shifted slightly and Kudamon's head popped out from the curtain of her hair to rest just below Kagome's ear.
"Well, this isn't how I thought we'd be going out," Kudamon commented. "But it makes for good camouflage."
Kagome nodded with a giggle as her Digimon's fur tickled her skin slightly. "So where to?"
"That way," Kudamon motioned to the right turn after the crosswalk. "Keeping going that way and I'll lead you to where our target is at."
Kagome nodded in assent and walked. "Kudamon, do you think that Myotismon has anything to do with the women fainting over town?" Tai had stayed up late telling her and Kari everything that had happened from the time he went back to the Digital World to the moment he came back home again.
"It's possible," Kudamon replied. "Tai did describe as a—what was it called again?"
"A Vampire," Kagome answered. "Those are only myths here, though."
"But in the Digital World myths can become a reality," Kudamon reminded her, "just in a different form. Look at me, I'm a Digimon, to most humans I don't exist, but I would to those who are aware. Turn left."
"I guess you're right," the raven-haired girl conceded, as she turned in said direction.
"We're here," Kudamon narrowed his eyes warily, around the Aqua City shopping centre they'd walked to.
"Once again it's in a place with a bunch of people," Kagome said dryly. "Seriously, would it kill them to pick someplace quiet for once?"
"Well you need to remember that they're working for Myotismon who is searching for the Eighth Child," Kudamon reminded.
"Who is the Eighth Child, anyway?" Kagome asked walking through the centre, doing a little window shopping here and there to keep up appearances. "I know I'm one of the missing ones, though they don't know that. But who's the other?"
"According to Tai, it's someone that remembers the event at Highton View Terrace four years ago," Kagome explained. "But the only problem is that a lot of children that lived at Highton View Tearrace during that time either don't remember because they were too young, or because they just never saw the fight."
"That's true, but I have my suspicions," Kudamon nodded.
"Really who?" Kagome asked.
Kudamon was about to answer, when he ticked his ear slightly.
"What's wrong" Kagome asked. "Do you hear something?"
"I think—" Kudamon began.
"Whoo-WHOOOOOOOO!" A deep gruff voice cut off the fox-like Digimon as a large train Digimon burst out from a dark portal.
"What the heck is a train doing the shopping district?" Kagome shouted as she ducked into an alley to get out of the Digimon's way. "Kudamon just what is that?!"
"Locomon," Kudamon answered. "An Ultimate Level Digimon whose purpose is to go and keep going!" he looked at Kagome. "That's our target right there!"
"Wheel Grinder!" Locomon's spiked wheels glowed as copies of them were shot anywhere and everywhere, destroying whatever they came in contact with.
By this point, everyone within the shopping centre was screaming in panic as they ran for cover, fearing the animate train that was hell-bent on causing mayhem.
-Opposite Side of Odaiba-
Meanwhile, on the other side of town, three children were struck unconscious as they received three crests; two courtesy of DemiDevimon while the last was distributed by Gatomon.
Myotismon only grinned maliciously as he felt three more bolts run through his soul. His plan was coming along perfectly.
-Aqua City Shopping Centre-
(AN: Well, I had to give the place a name, and continuously calling it shopping centre would be really general considering the fact that there would most likely be more than one shopping centre, big or small, in a single town or city.)
"I think it's time for you to Digivolve," Kagome told her partner determinedly. She held her arm out, watching as Kudamon hovered along it into the air.
The Digimon was overcome with a white glow as the small fox-like Digimon changed into something much bigger. "Kudamon Digivolve to: Reppamon!"
The~Ninth~Child
Reppamon was a large Digimon at least ten to twelve times Kagome's height. He had the body of a fox covered in cream-hued fur with dark-brown on his legs, a white mask with red accents and whiskers poking out of it and no eyeholes covered the head of what seemed to be a cat from the uncovered bottom of his muzzle. Thick white fur sprouted from underneath the back of his mask going down to where his shoulder blades were with raggedy sky-blue strips of what seemed to be cloth emerged from the part of his muzzle that was visible hanging around him as though suspended by air. He wore a braided collar of red and white with small strings of paper diamond chains hanging off of it, a yin-yang symbol was stamped onto the side of his thighs, and his tail was a large angled silver and violet blade with an eye printed on it.
The~Ninth~Child
"Okay, big," Kagome whispered with wide eyes. "Go Reppamon! Stop him before he hurts someone!"
Reppamon leaped into the air and began spinning. "Sky Fissure!" When he'd gained enough momentum, the Digimon struck downward with its blade tail, catching Locomon in its face, leaving a dent and some scratches, but no real damage.
Kagome rushed out of her hiding place and began to lead the stragglers into places that weren't likely to get hit or out of the shopping centre if she could.
"Beast Fang!" Reppamon dug his sharp claws into Locomon's wheels, but like his previous attack, this did little to no damage, either.
"Steam Bomb!" A large ball of dense smoke was launched out of Locomon's smokestack as Reppamon, exploding on contact, knocking the fox-like Digimon back into a, thankfully empty, shop.
-Tai and His Friends-
"Well that killed the day," Mimi grumbled as she, Sora, Tai, and Izzy sat in the shade of some trees away from prying eyes with their Digimon. "How were we supposed to know that that brute was going to be at the Tower?"
"We didn't," Izzy confirmed. "But that just means that we need to be all the more careful. Myotismon's goons are attacking all around the city, so we really can't relax. But—hey! Take a look at this!"
At Izzy's exclamation, they all crowded around the small boy and his laptop, wanting to see just what had caught the boy's attention.
There on the screen was live footage of a Digimon battle at the Aqua City Shopping Centre. The fight was between what looked like a large train and a huge fox. "What the…" Tai muttered.
"I don't get it," Mimi said. "Who's fighting who?"
"Could one of the Digimon belong to the Eighth Child?" Sora asked.
"It's a possibility," Izzy nodded.
"Hey, does anyone even know what those Digimon are?" Tai asked.
"I'd be happy to oblige," Tentomon volunteered. "Locomon is an Ultimate Level, Machine Type Digimon whose purpose is to go and keep going. Though you'd do well to avoid his Wheel Grinder attacks."
"And the other?" Mimi asked.
"Reppamon is a Champion Level, Exhalted Beast Digimon," Tentomon answered. "With his Sky Fissure attack coming at you, this is one Digimon you can never drop your guard around."
-Aqua City Shopping Centre-
"Reppamon!" Kagome called out in worry for her friend and partner. 'No, you have to get up! If you don't, all these people are going to get hurt! You said that Locomon just keeps on going, so when he's done here, who's to say that he won't go near my family and so many others? I could care less if I got hurt, but no one else will!' "REPPAMON!"
Underneath her dress, Kagome's crest began to glow, as did her digivice. A pure white glow over took Reppamon as he digivolved once more. "Reppamon Digivolve to: Chinrinmon!"
-Tai and His Friends-
The group just stared at the screen with wide eyes.
"Did that Digimon just—?" Sora broke off.
"Yup," Palmon answered in awe.
"But how?" Tai asked.
"Maybe he belongs to the Eighth Child?" Biyomon suggested.
"That's a definitely possibility," Izzy confirmed. "Digimon all digivolve throughout their lives though maybe at different times, but if the last Digimon was a Champion Level, I'd bet that it digivolved from a Rookie. And the fact that he's gone onto Ultimate just means that this child had a crest."
"So who's this?" Mimi asked.
"That's Chinrinmon, an Ultimate Level Exhalted Beast Digimon," Agumon answered. "He's a compassionate Digimon that usually gates fighting. But be careful of causing meaningless damage, his Heaven's Gale attack will take out any enemy quicker than you can say 'cheese'."
"Wow," Tai breathed.
-Aqua City Shopping District-
"Oh my—" Kagome breathed out at the sight of her partner. "What just happened?"
The~Ninth~Child
This Digimon was just about the same size as Reppamon, if not a yard taller. He was a large four legged dragon whose torso and legs were encased in brown cloth before being covered in some areas with gold and green armor that had the occasional red gem attached onto them. On his legs were what looked like black boots with cloudy swirls on either side of each paw with a gold band of lightning connecting them.
The upper half of his body was left uncovered, leaving his deep-green and mint scaled head visible. He had violet eyes, a beard of white that was his muzzle stretched to the back of his neck to meet and connect with the crimson hair sprouting back from the top of his head, and a wavy maroon horn placed where his crimson hair began to grow from. Two long strands of sky-blue sprouted from his muzzle like the whiskers of a traditional dragon. From his shoulders and back sprouted two pure-white feathery wings and a long tail of thick gold curls dragged along the ground.
The~Ninth~Child
"It was you, Kagome," Chinrinmon said, his voice having deepened a few octaves, but still sounding warm to the girl's ears. "Your desire to protect others above yourself was what gave me the power to digivolve."
And with that said, the dragon-like Digimon sped off for the nonstop train Digimon with just a push of his legs along the ground, looking as though he were gliding.
"Wheel Grinder!" Spiked wheels were launched at Chinrinmon who dodged them with his added speed.
"Swift Knowledge!" Chinrinmon sped up around the train Digimon so fast, that copies of him were being left around the area.
"Smoke Bomb!" Locomon shot off an array of his smoke bombs at each of the Chinrinmon he saw, only for the bombs to disintegrate into simple smoke when there was nothing to impact.
"Heaven's Gale!"The dragon Digimon flew high up into the air before abruptly swooping down, gaining more and more momentum the closer he got to the ground, only to pierce the side of the Digimon's engine.
A bright light erupted from the place where Chinrinmon's horn struck Locomon and before the train Digimon shattered into bits of data that soon disappeared.
A small sparkle caught Kagome'e eye when the machine Digimon had finally disappeared. Curious, the girl went forward and picked up the object and stashed it in her pouch just as Chinrinmon came to let her on his back before anymore of the press showed up.
-Tai and His Friends-
The group just stared at the computer screen in amazement as they watched Chinrinmon take Locomon down as though it were nothing.
"Hey, it looks like he's letting someone on his back!" Mimi pointed out
It was true; they tried to see just who or what the dragon Digimon was picking up when he knelt, but with the angle the camera was at, no one was able to see anything but a small speck. And even then, if the angle were correct, the dragon digimon's huge wings would have shielded the person from view anyway.
"Okay," Sora commented, "so at least we know that whoever that was, they live close to where we do."
Izzy nodded. "But don't get your hopes up. We haven't gotten a signal on our digivices yet and for all we know, that child and his Digimon could have come from a whole other town."
"That's true…" Tai murmured. "I guess we'll just have to keep on searching…"
-Kagome & Chinrinmon-
"Are you sure you're okay?" Kagome asked her Digimon worriedly as she climbed off of his back. They'd flown straight from the Aqua City shopping centre to roof of the apartment complex Kagome's family lived in.
A golden glow engulfed the large Digimon as he shrunk down, changing form. What was left behind wasn't Kudamon, but his In-Training form: Kyaromon.
The~Ninth~Child
The little Digimon was literally a soft light-brown ball with large furry ears of the same colour, a soft puffy tail shaped much like a fox's of the same light-brown fur with two lavender stripes. The Digimon had large blue eyes with a small triangle of red at the corner of each eye.
The~Ninth~Child
"K-Kudamon?" Kagome blinked at the tiny puffball, resisting the urge to squeal and hug it close like some plushie. 'No Kagome…don't touch…he might not like that…'
"Uh-uh!" the little Digimon chirped, its ears and tails twitching happily. "I'm Kyaromon! I used to be Kudamon, and I'll go back once I'm rested up!"
Kagome twitched. 'One teensy-weensy hug wouldn't hurt, right?'
The smile fell from the little puffball's face. "Kagome?"
The raven-haired girl couldn't resist. She rushed forward with a 'squee' of delight and took the little Digimon into her arms, cooing about how adorable he was.
Kyaromon only blinked for a moment before snuggling into her arms. 'She's warm…' it wasn't long before the little Digimon was lulled to sleep.
"I guess we better get home if there's nothing left to do right now," Kagome commented, walking through the door on the roof down to her family's apartment.
"I'm home!" Kagome called as she took of her shoes carefully, trying not to jostle the small puffball in her arms.
"Kagome!" Kari said excitedly, running out of their room. "You believe what I fo—"
The young girl stopped short at the sight of the small sleeping Digimon in her sister's arms.
Kagome stiffened. 'Dang it! This wasn't supposed to happen!'
"You have one?" Kari asked quietly as the duo walked to their room. "Does that mean that you have that digivice thing Tai was talking about, too?"
Kagome, seeing no reason to lie to her sister, nodded and showed her the crest around her neck and brought the digivice out from inside her pouch.
"How long?" Kari asked. "And why didn't you say something before?"
"My Digimon came the night of the day Tai left three days ago after coming home with Koromon," Kagome told her sister. "I didn't say anything because Kudamon, my Digimon, told me not to because I had to wait until the right time."
"Then aren't you the Eighth Child Tai and his friends are looking for?" Kari asked.
Kagome shook her head. "I'm one of the DigiDestined, but I'm not the Eighth. From what Kudamon told me, I should be the Ninth. Now what was it that you wanted to show me?"
Kari looked at her fisted hand and then up at her sister hesitantly. "Well, when I came home, I was looking for Meeko and figured that she might've gone up into my bed again, so I checked. But she wasn't there and I was going to check around the house, when I found this under my pillow."
The young girl opened her fisted hand to reveal the familiar white and blue-accented digivice exactly like the ones Kagome and Tai had.
"Kari…" Kagome breathed out. "You're—" She was cut off by a glow coming from her pouch that reacted with Kari's digivice, making it glow a pale-pink.
Kagome opened her pouch and took out the little object she'd picked up from the fight between her Digimon and Locomon. It was a gold tag just like hers, but the crest within was pink with an eight-pointed star etched into it. The crest at the moment was glowing in time with the digivice within Kari's hand.
Neither girl had noticed, but the combined glow from the crest and digivice had woken the small Digimon in Kagome's lap. Kyaromon stared at the digivice in his partner's sister's hand and the crest his partner held in hers.
"This must be—" Kagome began.
"It's her crest," Kyaromon broke in. "But it's not the real thing."
"What?" The girls said in unison.
"Just a minute," Kyaromon said as he hopped down from Kagome's lap. "Kyaromon Digivolve to: Kudamon!" The familiar white glow overcame the little puffball, shifting to the more familiar form of Kudamon.
The fox-like Digimon glided back to curl up in Kagome's lap, raised his head to speak to the girls.
"You were Kagome's scarf!" Kari realized, to which the Digimon just gave a nod.
"What did you mean, Kudamon?" Kagome asked, steering them back on topic. "How isn't this the real crest?"
"Tai told you that Myotismon was using the Digimon he brought with him to help search for the Eighth Child," Kudamon explained. "However, no one knew the identity of that child, but he probably had their crest. Each crest will react to their owners' digivices; and it was that concept that he must have used. All the Digimon out in the city couldn't be carrying the same crest or be passing it along to one another; no that would take too much time. So I think Myotismon must have created copies of the real crest. This won't help your partner digivolve, this copy was only designed to react to the digivice the original is bonded to."
"Actually," Kagome blinked before turning to Kari. "Do you know who your partner is?"
Kari shook her head in negative.
"That's odd," Kudamon said. "Usually once the digivice is found, the Digimon wouldn't be too far behind from finding their partner. That is, if the Digimon even knew that it had a partner…"
Kari wandered around in her mind, sifting through memories, when a though occurred to her. "Do you think it could that be that strange kitty I met today?"
"'Strange kitty'?" Kagome and Kudamon repeated in unison.
Kari nodded. "She was a really pretty kitty I met when I was out looking for Meeko. She was just wandering around until she started following me home."
"She followed you home?" Kagome muttered. "I wonder…" she glanced at Kudamon for a moment, getting only a nod in return; they both had the same thought. Maybe that cat wasn't an ordinary cat, but a Digimon instead. But could that Digimon have been working for Myotismon or was that Digimon actually Kari's partner?
Kagome's digivice began to beep. The raven-haired girl looked down at it, only to see two dot next to each other and realized that they represented her and Kari's digivices. It was then that something hit Kagome. If digivices could pick up on each other's signals, then why didn't Tai's pick up on Kari's or hers?
"Kudamon, why didn't Tai's digivice pick up on my signal or even Kari's?" Kagome asked.
"That's simple," Kudamon told her. "Kari's wasn't sensed because she hadn't discovered it yet. The moment she did would be the moment her signal would be picked up by anyone searching. Yours wasn't picked up because you didn't want to be found despite it being activated. The Digital World isn't just made of data, but also belief and wishes. You wished not to be found, and so your digivice must have reacted to that wish and hid its signal."
"Will that work for me?" Kari asked suddenly.
"It should," Kudamon said slowly. "But the signal will only be hidden from the digivices, not from the false crests being used to find you."
"Kari, maybe you should tell Tai," Kagome said with worried eyes.
"Not until you do," Kari said determinedly. "You have a reason for keeping hidden, and until you tell, I won't."
Kagome looked at Kudamon for help and only received a soft look in reply. He sighed and nodded in resignation.
"All right, then," Kagome relented. "But make sure you keep your digivice with you at all times."
"And if you want to stay hidden from the other digivices, then wish hard for that to happen and continue wishing, even if it's not out loud," Kudamon added.
Kari nodded and clipped the device to the pocket of her capris, the clip being on the outside, while the digivice was faced towards the inside.
-Digital World-
"Come in my friend," Gennai greeted Centarumon, allowing the Digimon to enter his home. "So what brings you here?" he asked as they both sat down at the table, a cup of tea set before them both.
"I'm afraid that I must be the bearer of bad news," Centarumon said ruefully, bowing his head.
"It can't be that bad, can it?" the Data-Human asked nervously. 'He couldn't have found out that I wasn't sticking to the diet that blasted Digi-Doctor prescribed…could he?'
"It is about the crests belonging to the DigiDestined," Centarumon said seriously.
Gennai sat up straighter, all the while giving a mental sigh of relief. "What about them?"
"They weren't the only crests created," Centarumon said grimly.
The~Ninth~Child
A few moments later found Gennai hurrying to his own computer, trying to contact Izzy. After several failed tries at getting a connection with the intelligent boy, the Data-Human decided to create a self-video explaining what he'd found out from Centarumon and even including some quickly computer-generated diagrams to help with the explanation.
Gennai sighed as he hit the 'send' button. "I hope they get this in time; because if they don't, then those children will have much more than just Myotismon to worry about." 'Much more…'
Ciao,
TsukiyoTenshi