~Well, heeeere's the second chapter of my first little venture into the
world of fanfiction! I would've had it up sooner if I hadn't had to change
all the italic marks into quotation marks, for some reason I can't get the
goddamn html code to work. Anywayz, from the reviews, I gather that
there're quite a few indignant Ryou fans out there, sorry, y'guys, don't
worry though, it'll get worse. Sorry again, bear with me, I'll have him
decent around or after the fourth chapter. So please refrain from flaming,
thanks to y'all! R&R!!!~
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The Shadow Realms: Part II - Back to the Digital Side
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The Tamers' D-Arks were all buzzing so loudly they were forced to stuff them into their shirts and whisper rather loudly because they were afraid the teacher would hear and come to investigate. Juri just looked sadly down at the static-filled screen of her yellow D-Ark, which she was cradling in her hands, and Takato kept glancing worriedly in her direction.
'Oh, no. She's not gonna start that moping again, is she?' Hirokazu thought, also looking at her.
Juri was oblivious to the world at that moment. Her soft hazel eyes filled with tears that fell, one by one, onto her slender hands.
'Oh, Leomon.'
Just thinking about her lion friend hurt. Juri shook her head angrily. She'd gotten over that! Hadn't she? A vivid image of herself, sitting with Leomon out on the balcony of her home, slid into her mind.
'Apparently not,' she thought, as a fresh wave of tears made its appearance, and the ache in her heart grew more pronounced than ever.
***
Jenrya tapped Ruki on the shoulder and she turned to fix him with an inquisitive violet stare.
"What?"
"Look, whatever this is, we've got to check it out," Jenrya began.
"I 'know', Jenrya, but in case you didn't notice, we happen to be in 'class'," Ruki interrupted in a sour tone.
"Let me finish, Ruki. We can't all go at once, but maybe one or two of us could go to investigate, then report back here. So what do you say?" Jenrya smiled.
"It's worth a try, I guess," Ruki replied with a touch of uncertainty in her voice.
"Okay, so you and I will go, since we've both got spotless records," Jenrya winked at her and Ruki had to hide a slight smile.
Takato had already accidentally soaked the principal with milk during last year's mass food fight, while Juri had been caught eating cream puffs in class. Hirokazu had been sent to the principal's office for impertinence more than once, Ryou had been sent to the same place for fighting, and Kenta, well, Kenta had accidentally hit a baseball into a school window.
"Okay, let's do it," she whispered.
Jenrya waited only a few more moments before putting up his hand.
"What is it, Gordon?" Mr. Nasukio paused in the middle of the incredibly boring speech he gave every year to introduce himself, even though this year he had the same students as last year.
He made 'Gordon' sound like 'Goddon'.
Takato chuckled and Hirokazu burst out laughing.
"It's Jenrya, sensei," Jenrya reminded the teacher, trying to keep the exasperation out of his voice, before continuing, "I have a dentist's appointment today, and, er, Okaa-san's gonna pick me up in 5 minutes."
"Do you have a note from your parents?" Mr. Nasukio asked.
For a moment, Ruki thought she saw Jenrya hesitate. Then he walked up to the front and gave a note to the teacher. To everyone's amazement, Mr. Nasukio nodded and let him go.
'I never knew Jenrya could set up a lie so quickly,' Ruki thought, impressed, 'Must be my bad influence... Or was it true?'
She chuckled softly.
***
Meanwhile, Jenrya hurried out of the school and then took out his D-Ark. It was in compass mode.
'I wonder what could be going on?' he thought, 'How could a Digimon possibly have come through again?'
And what could the Tamers do about it? Terriermon was gone, and so were all the other Digimon.
'We'll have to think of something,' he told himself, trying not to think about Terriermon and failing.
Jenrya sighed heavily and waited for Ruki to show up.
***
Ruki waited for about ten minutes before putting her hand up.
"What is it, Tipa? (he made it sound like 'teapot')" Mr. Nasukio asked, annoyed to be interrupted in the middle of a lecture on geometrical figures.
"It's Ruki, sensei (A/N: Um, did I use that right?)," Rika replied soberly, giving Hirokazu a death glare when he let out a hearty guffaw.
He winked roguishly at her, and she tried to ignore him.
"Um, my mother wants me to go to a fashion show with her. She's picking me up soon," Ruki continued, somewhat unnerved.
She produced a note and the teacher let her go. The note had actually been from her mother, but it had been for later. Ruki had changed the written time. She hurried out and joined Henry.
"Sorry to keep you waiting. I didn't want Nasukio-san to get suspicious," Ruki said shortly, "So where are we going?"
Jenrya pointed to his D-Ark and she took out hers.
"C'mon," he told her, gray eyes anxious, "We've no time to lose."
They took off in the direction indicated by their D-Ark compasses.
***
Meanwhile, back in class, Takato and Hirokazu were squirming with impatience to know what this new threat was. Finally Mr. Nasukio lost it when Hirokazu shot an eraser at him while he was writing on the blackboard and hit him in the head, making him yelp. Everyone cracked up.
"HIROKAZU!!!" Mr. Nasukio thundered.
"Yes, sensei?" Hirokazu answered promptly, looking politely puzzled.
"GET OUT OF THIS CLASS AND INTO THE PRINCIPAL'S OFFICE IMMEDIATELY!!!!" the teacher roared.
"Sir, yes, sir!" Hirokazu made a mock-salute before fairly skipping out of the class.
'That was too easy,' he thought, laughing at the teacher's fury.
Hirokazu took out his brown D-Ark, 'Now let's find out what the heck is going on here.'
He tore out of the school, hoping to find Jenrya and Ruki. When he didn't, he, too, followed the arrow on his D-Ark compass.
***
"Katou-san, are you as bored as I am?" Takato whispered to her.
Juri yawned.
"Yeah," she murmured, with a glance down at her useless D-Ark, "I wish I could go with Lee-kun and Ruki-chan."
Takato shook his head in exasperation, trying not to show how much Juri's demeanor saddened him.
"Yeah, so do I, and Hirokazu's probably with them too," he replied unhappily, adding silently, 'It's so unfair. But if I ditched school and Mom found out, she'd ground me for life!'
***
Ryou, meanwhile, was also very impatient to get the hell outta there.
'Damn!' he thought, fuming, 'That puny toothpick Hirokazu and those two goody-two-shoes get to have all the luck, running around investigating what could be... 'it', while I'm stuck here listening to the teacher blabber on about some stupid triangle area thing! AARGH!!!'
He slammed his fist into the desk. Kenta looked over in alarm.
"Uuuh. Ryou-san, are you okay?" he asked, his voice shaking slightly in spite of his efforts to keep it steady, his glasses sliding down on his nose.
"Just leave me alone," Ryou's voice was low and silky, and definitely dangerous.
"Um, okay, um, right," Kenta turned away hurriedly.
***
A girl behind Takato tapped him on the shoulder.
"Oh, hey, Nikki," Takato said when he saw who it was.
Nikki's hair was still quite short, but she'd dyed bright blue streaks into it.
"Hi," Nikki smiled, "You're still wearing your goggles, Takato."
"Oh, I am?!" Takato put his hand up to his head, startled, and quickly took the goggles off, thankful that Mr. Nasukio hadn't seen them, "Thanks for the heads-up, Nikki."
Nikki giggled, "Anytime."
"Takato-kun," Juri's soft voice, barely more than a whisper, came over his shoulder.
"Yeah?" he turned back to her, "What is it, Katou-san?"
"What do you think is happening? I mean, we did make peace with the Digimon sovereign, and he was the one making Digimon come into our world to attack and stuff," Juri whispered breathlessly, "So how could they appear again?"
"I dunno, Katou-san," Takato replied, "I'm not even sure they are appearing. We'll have to wait for Jen and Ruki to come back. Maybe Hirokazu will have something to tell us as well. It could be just a fluke. Then again, if they are appearing, what could we do? Our Digimon aren't here anymore."
Takato bit his tongue and turned away as Juri looked down at her D-Ark again.
'STUPID, Takato, 'stupid'! Just the thing to say to make her feel better,' he berated himself, then thought sadly, 'Guilmon, I wish you were here.'
"It's okay, Takato-kun," Juri laid her hand on his shoulder, correctly interpreting his silence, "If the Digimon are here again, maybe that means y-your Digimon are going to come back, too."
"Yeah, maybe," Takato said doubtfully, but he turned and smiled at Juri, whose eyes were brimming with tears, "Katou-san, don't look so sad. Please?"
Juri turned away and swiped a hand across her face.
"I'll be okay," her voice was shaky and barely audible.
Takato sighed, wondering if Juri would ever really be okay.
***
Meanwhile, Jenrya and Ruki had ended up in the park, and were scouting for a Digital Field. They rounded a corner and found themselves practically nose to nose (or rather nose to feet) with a huge plant-like creature. This strange creature, which looked like nightmarish cross between a sunflower with glowing red eyes and a tangle of vines, had a face that looked like a black and white sunflower and small round bluish-black faces at the tips of some of its vine-like roots.
"Whoa! A Digimon!" Jenrya backed away.
"Aw, nuts!" Ruki cried as she tried to consult her D-Power, "This thing's useless without Renamon!"
"Blossomon..." Jenrya was muttering to himself, searching through his cards, "I've got it, Ruki! It's Darkblossomon, a Perfect level Dark Digimon! Its special attack is Slashing Vines!"
Ruki backed into him as the great Digimon came at them, vines/roots/bluish- black heads flailing in all directions, knocking down a couple of trees and crushing a bench, "Who cares what it's called, what are we going to do about it?"
"Ruki, this is bad. It's not contained in a Digital Field!" Jenrya yelled as Darkblossomon let out an ear-splitting screech.
"I know, I know!" Ruki replied agitatedly as she stared up at the Digimon.
"We've got to do something before it starts wrecking the city!" Jenrya cried, trying to evade the great whipping green roots.
"I 'know', Mr. Obvious, but without our Digimon, there's nothing we can do to stop him!" Ruki yelled, "Aaaah!"
She was knocked over by a flailing root.
"Ruki! Are you okay?" Jenrya was at her side in an instant and helped her up.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Ruki dusted herself off.
Just then, both of them heard a shout.
***
"What the heck?! What is this, the sunflower convention?!" Hirokazu stood behind them, staring up at Darkblossomon.
"Oh, great," Ruki said with extreme annoyance, though she actually was rather pleased to see him, "What are 'you' doing here, Hirokazu?!"
"You didn't think I'd let you have all the fun, did ya?" Hirokazu winked at her before turning to Jenrya, "So what 'is' going on?"
"What does it look like?," Jenrya replied sarcastically, "That's Darkblossomon, an Ultimate level Dark Digimon. Look out!"
He lunged and knocked Hirokazu out of the way of one of the flailing vines. They both landed on Ruki, who let out a yelp.
"Hey! Get off me, you clumsy clods!" she shoved both boys off of her and got up, wincing, "You two are heavier than a pack of elephants!"
"Gee, thanks," Hirokazu replied sarcastically, "But right now we have a waaay bigger problem."
They all looked up at Darkblossomon, who reared up menacingly and shot vines at them with astonishing speed.
***
Meanwhile in class Ryou suddenly shot to his feet, his sky blue eyes going wide with shock.
"Ryou! Sit down!" Mr. Nasukio snapped.
But Ryou didn't hear him. He was staring out at the giant twisted version of Blossomon in the park. Soon the whole class was assembled around the windows, staring. Takato, Juri, Ryou and Kenta slipped out of the classroom and hurried outside.
"C'mon guys, the others could be in trouble!" Takato yelled as he followed the arrow on his D-Ark and started running.
"What's going on, Takato? How come that Digimon wasn't in a Digital Field?!" Kenta asked as he ran beside Takato, trying to catch his breath and then falling back.
"I have no idea, but what I do know is that this is really, really bad!" Takato called back over his shoulder, "Come on, Katou-san, hurry!"
She was trailing despondently at the back of the group, head bowed and feet dragging.
"What's the point," Juri whispered, "We can't do anything about it."
"Well, we'll try!" Takato dropped back to Juri's side, reached over, took her by the shoulders and shook her, "Look, Katou-san, don't be like this. They need our help. We can't give up just because it 'seems' hopeless!"
Juri sighed and ran faster.
***
They arrived at the park to find Ruki and Hirokazu trying to free Jenrya, who was being strangled by one of Darkblossomon's vines. All together, they managed it, and hurried out of range, but keeping Darkblossomon within sight. They all ended up in a clump of bushes behind a tree. Only then did they allow themselves to relax slightly. Juri's braid was all messed up so she undid it and shook her long hair out over her shoulders. Ryou gave her an appraising glance, but didn't say anything, noting her red eyes and sad expression.
"Takato, that thing's dangerous, it could wreck the whole city, the way it's going," Jenrya whispered hoarsely, massaging his neck and looking very pale.
"I know, Jen, but there's nothing we can do about it," Takato replied, his voice shaking very slightly, "Without our Digimon, we're powerless against him."
"Then we have to go get our Digimon!" Ruki put in.
"Yeah, but how?" Kenta asked, as usual completely at sea.
"Go to the Digital World again! Duh," Hirokazu said, shaking his head at Kenta's stupidity, "Baka."
"Hey!"
"But while we're gone, that thing's gonna wreck the city!" Takato shook his head.
"Whatever. Let Yamaki-san take care of it," Hirokazu replied airily.
"If you stop for a moment to 'think', Hirokazu, we don't even know where Yamaki-san is!" Ruki snapped at him, rolling her eyes when he merely grinned back impudently.
'What can he be thinking?! There could be lives at stake here, and he's acting like we discovered a new leaf in the rhododendron patch,' she thought, exasperated.
"Guys, stop fighting, we need a plan," Jenrya snapped.
Rika stared at him. She'd rarely heard Jenrya use that kind of tone.
'He must be really worried,' she thought, feeling rather anxious herself.
Jenrya was usually so levelheaded that when 'he' started acting unlike himself you knew the situation at hand was getting really bad.
***
Then they realized Darkblossomon was almost upon them when a tree nearby suddenly crashed to the ground. Its roots showed starkly in the air like grotesquely twisted dead fingers reaching for the sky. The youngsters scattered as the Digimon rained chunks of torn concrete and pieces of bench and tree upon them, then reassembled a few yards away, under the cover of another grove of trees.
"We don't have much time," Jenrya said hurriedly as they watched Darkblossomon knock down some more trees and crush a fountain, "We need to figure out a way to stop him, but."
"But we don't have anything to stop him with, except our D-Arks, which are useless without our Digimon, and since our Digimon aren't here, there's nothing we can do," Ruki finished for him.
He nodded, looking rather discouraged.
'I wish Terriermon was here,' Jenrya thought sadly.
He missed his old friend more than ever.
'He'd probably be Momentaiing us until either Ryou or Ruki lost it,' Jenrya had to chuckle at the image, despite the ache that always came whenever he thought of Terriermon now.
"Guys, we're talking in circles," Hirokazu complained, exasperated.
Everyone glared at him, which didn't sway him one bit.
"We all know that we can't do anything as long as our Digimon aren't here, and that if we leave to get them, by the time we get back, there might not be any city left to defend. So could we get some new facts into this ancient whirlpool?!" he ranted.
"Shut up, Hirokazu," Ruki spoke for all of them.
Hirokazu looked slightly hurt, "Hey! I was just telling the truth, you know!"
"Well the truth won't help if we can't find a way to stop that Digimon!" Ruki retorted, angry with herself for getting so worked up over such a small thing.
***
Just then something totally unexpected happened. Darkblossomon started to fade out, like a picture sinking into water, and within moments, he was completely gone. There was no sign that he'd ever been there, except for the wrecked section of the park and a slight glimmer of some of the data he'd left behind floating in the air.
"Uh, guys, what just happened?!" Takato was the first to speak as the others stared, stunned.
"He just. disappeared," Jenrya replied quietly, his gray eyes puzzled.
'Something's not right. When Digimon come into our world, they usually don't want to go back. So what could have made him disappear like that?' he wondered.
"Yeah, duh, but why?" Ruki sounded as confused as everyone felt, "Did something attack him?"
"I didn't see anything," Hirokazu spoke up, "And I had a perfect view of all of that sunflower thing."
"Neither did I," Juri said, "This is creepy, you guys."
'That Darkblossomon. was like something out of one of my nightmares.' She trembled slightly, and Takato gave her a reassuring smile.
"Well, he's gone now," he said confidently, then noticed Kenta was looking kind of weird, "Kenta? Kenta! Yoohoo!"
***
Kenta was staring off at something in the distance.
'Could it be?' his numb mind had absorbed so many shocks today that he simply didn't realize what he was looking at, 'But it's not possible.'
He started when Takato waved his hand in front of his face.
"Kenta, you look like you just saw a ghost!" Hirokazu remarked.
"Look, you guys, a portal!" Kenta pointed.
The others followed his trembling finger with their gazes, and sure enough, at the exact spot where Darkblossomon had been, a portal just like the one through which they had first gone to the Digital World had appeared. Except this time it was above ground and somewhat bigger.
"Whoa, weird," Hirokazu remarked, but his slate blue eyes were filled with excitement.
"So, do we go?" Takato asked nobody in particular.
"Of course we do!" Hirokazu yelled exuberantly, looking like he was ready to burst, jumping up into the air (and just missing kicking Kenta in the head - "Hey! Watch it, Hirokazu!") and raising his fist, "I can't wait to see Guardromon again!"
'This is so awesome! Guardromon, buddy, here I come!' his thoughts were as wildly euphoric as his demeanor.
"This could be some sort of sign," Jenrya said thoughtfully, "I think the Digital World needs us!"
'I hope Terriermon didn't get into too much trouble while I was gone.'
"Quit standing there like statues, goggleheads, that portal's not going to stay there forever, you know," Ruki cut in on their reflections.
'Renamon, I'm finally coming back. It's been so long. too long.'
Suddenly she turned her piercing gaze on Juri, who was staring at the ground. The brown-haired girl suddenly raised her head, and there was a very sad expression on her face, but she looked determined.
"Ruki-chan's right, if we want to go, we have to go right now!" Juri said with unusual firmness of tone, causing Ruki to sigh at the choice of honorific.
'I'll just have to deal with it,' Juri thought, repressing the flood of memories the idea of going back to the Digital World had released.
And so, when Takato asked her, very gently, if she was going to be all right, Juri was able to reply in a perfectly calm tone, with a composed expression, "I'm fine, don't worry about me."
***
"So, everybody in?" Takato asked, his happy grin stretching from ear to ear.
"YEAH!" everyone raised their fist except for Ryou, who simply nodded.
'It has succeeded,' Ryou experienced no pleasure whatsoever at this thought.
"Great! Let's go!" Takato made it sound somewhat like a battle cry.
'Finally! I knew I'd see Guilmon again. We're too close to be separated forever!' he thought happily as he led them to the portal.
***
And so, the Tamers set off for the unknown once more, this time armed with nothing more than each other's friendship and their hopes of seeing their beloved Digimon partners once more, after such a long, difficult separation.
When they had gone, the portal dissipated. Little did they realize what terrible dangers awaited them in that strange, eerily beautiful place they called the Digital World.
***
~ So how was the second part of my Digimon Tamers fanfic? I fear that it is not quite as good as the first, but, I ask for your opinions. Gimme reviews, y'all! ~
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The Shadow Realms: Part II - Back to the Digital Side
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The Tamers' D-Arks were all buzzing so loudly they were forced to stuff them into their shirts and whisper rather loudly because they were afraid the teacher would hear and come to investigate. Juri just looked sadly down at the static-filled screen of her yellow D-Ark, which she was cradling in her hands, and Takato kept glancing worriedly in her direction.
'Oh, no. She's not gonna start that moping again, is she?' Hirokazu thought, also looking at her.
Juri was oblivious to the world at that moment. Her soft hazel eyes filled with tears that fell, one by one, onto her slender hands.
'Oh, Leomon.'
Just thinking about her lion friend hurt. Juri shook her head angrily. She'd gotten over that! Hadn't she? A vivid image of herself, sitting with Leomon out on the balcony of her home, slid into her mind.
'Apparently not,' she thought, as a fresh wave of tears made its appearance, and the ache in her heart grew more pronounced than ever.
***
Jenrya tapped Ruki on the shoulder and she turned to fix him with an inquisitive violet stare.
"What?"
"Look, whatever this is, we've got to check it out," Jenrya began.
"I 'know', Jenrya, but in case you didn't notice, we happen to be in 'class'," Ruki interrupted in a sour tone.
"Let me finish, Ruki. We can't all go at once, but maybe one or two of us could go to investigate, then report back here. So what do you say?" Jenrya smiled.
"It's worth a try, I guess," Ruki replied with a touch of uncertainty in her voice.
"Okay, so you and I will go, since we've both got spotless records," Jenrya winked at her and Ruki had to hide a slight smile.
Takato had already accidentally soaked the principal with milk during last year's mass food fight, while Juri had been caught eating cream puffs in class. Hirokazu had been sent to the principal's office for impertinence more than once, Ryou had been sent to the same place for fighting, and Kenta, well, Kenta had accidentally hit a baseball into a school window.
"Okay, let's do it," she whispered.
Jenrya waited only a few more moments before putting up his hand.
"What is it, Gordon?" Mr. Nasukio paused in the middle of the incredibly boring speech he gave every year to introduce himself, even though this year he had the same students as last year.
He made 'Gordon' sound like 'Goddon'.
Takato chuckled and Hirokazu burst out laughing.
"It's Jenrya, sensei," Jenrya reminded the teacher, trying to keep the exasperation out of his voice, before continuing, "I have a dentist's appointment today, and, er, Okaa-san's gonna pick me up in 5 minutes."
"Do you have a note from your parents?" Mr. Nasukio asked.
For a moment, Ruki thought she saw Jenrya hesitate. Then he walked up to the front and gave a note to the teacher. To everyone's amazement, Mr. Nasukio nodded and let him go.
'I never knew Jenrya could set up a lie so quickly,' Ruki thought, impressed, 'Must be my bad influence... Or was it true?'
She chuckled softly.
***
Meanwhile, Jenrya hurried out of the school and then took out his D-Ark. It was in compass mode.
'I wonder what could be going on?' he thought, 'How could a Digimon possibly have come through again?'
And what could the Tamers do about it? Terriermon was gone, and so were all the other Digimon.
'We'll have to think of something,' he told himself, trying not to think about Terriermon and failing.
Jenrya sighed heavily and waited for Ruki to show up.
***
Ruki waited for about ten minutes before putting her hand up.
"What is it, Tipa? (he made it sound like 'teapot')" Mr. Nasukio asked, annoyed to be interrupted in the middle of a lecture on geometrical figures.
"It's Ruki, sensei (A/N: Um, did I use that right?)," Rika replied soberly, giving Hirokazu a death glare when he let out a hearty guffaw.
He winked roguishly at her, and she tried to ignore him.
"Um, my mother wants me to go to a fashion show with her. She's picking me up soon," Ruki continued, somewhat unnerved.
She produced a note and the teacher let her go. The note had actually been from her mother, but it had been for later. Ruki had changed the written time. She hurried out and joined Henry.
"Sorry to keep you waiting. I didn't want Nasukio-san to get suspicious," Ruki said shortly, "So where are we going?"
Jenrya pointed to his D-Ark and she took out hers.
"C'mon," he told her, gray eyes anxious, "We've no time to lose."
They took off in the direction indicated by their D-Ark compasses.
***
Meanwhile, back in class, Takato and Hirokazu were squirming with impatience to know what this new threat was. Finally Mr. Nasukio lost it when Hirokazu shot an eraser at him while he was writing on the blackboard and hit him in the head, making him yelp. Everyone cracked up.
"HIROKAZU!!!" Mr. Nasukio thundered.
"Yes, sensei?" Hirokazu answered promptly, looking politely puzzled.
"GET OUT OF THIS CLASS AND INTO THE PRINCIPAL'S OFFICE IMMEDIATELY!!!!" the teacher roared.
"Sir, yes, sir!" Hirokazu made a mock-salute before fairly skipping out of the class.
'That was too easy,' he thought, laughing at the teacher's fury.
Hirokazu took out his brown D-Ark, 'Now let's find out what the heck is going on here.'
He tore out of the school, hoping to find Jenrya and Ruki. When he didn't, he, too, followed the arrow on his D-Ark compass.
***
"Katou-san, are you as bored as I am?" Takato whispered to her.
Juri yawned.
"Yeah," she murmured, with a glance down at her useless D-Ark, "I wish I could go with Lee-kun and Ruki-chan."
Takato shook his head in exasperation, trying not to show how much Juri's demeanor saddened him.
"Yeah, so do I, and Hirokazu's probably with them too," he replied unhappily, adding silently, 'It's so unfair. But if I ditched school and Mom found out, she'd ground me for life!'
***
Ryou, meanwhile, was also very impatient to get the hell outta there.
'Damn!' he thought, fuming, 'That puny toothpick Hirokazu and those two goody-two-shoes get to have all the luck, running around investigating what could be... 'it', while I'm stuck here listening to the teacher blabber on about some stupid triangle area thing! AARGH!!!'
He slammed his fist into the desk. Kenta looked over in alarm.
"Uuuh. Ryou-san, are you okay?" he asked, his voice shaking slightly in spite of his efforts to keep it steady, his glasses sliding down on his nose.
"Just leave me alone," Ryou's voice was low and silky, and definitely dangerous.
"Um, okay, um, right," Kenta turned away hurriedly.
***
A girl behind Takato tapped him on the shoulder.
"Oh, hey, Nikki," Takato said when he saw who it was.
Nikki's hair was still quite short, but she'd dyed bright blue streaks into it.
"Hi," Nikki smiled, "You're still wearing your goggles, Takato."
"Oh, I am?!" Takato put his hand up to his head, startled, and quickly took the goggles off, thankful that Mr. Nasukio hadn't seen them, "Thanks for the heads-up, Nikki."
Nikki giggled, "Anytime."
"Takato-kun," Juri's soft voice, barely more than a whisper, came over his shoulder.
"Yeah?" he turned back to her, "What is it, Katou-san?"
"What do you think is happening? I mean, we did make peace with the Digimon sovereign, and he was the one making Digimon come into our world to attack and stuff," Juri whispered breathlessly, "So how could they appear again?"
"I dunno, Katou-san," Takato replied, "I'm not even sure they are appearing. We'll have to wait for Jen and Ruki to come back. Maybe Hirokazu will have something to tell us as well. It could be just a fluke. Then again, if they are appearing, what could we do? Our Digimon aren't here anymore."
Takato bit his tongue and turned away as Juri looked down at her D-Ark again.
'STUPID, Takato, 'stupid'! Just the thing to say to make her feel better,' he berated himself, then thought sadly, 'Guilmon, I wish you were here.'
"It's okay, Takato-kun," Juri laid her hand on his shoulder, correctly interpreting his silence, "If the Digimon are here again, maybe that means y-your Digimon are going to come back, too."
"Yeah, maybe," Takato said doubtfully, but he turned and smiled at Juri, whose eyes were brimming with tears, "Katou-san, don't look so sad. Please?"
Juri turned away and swiped a hand across her face.
"I'll be okay," her voice was shaky and barely audible.
Takato sighed, wondering if Juri would ever really be okay.
***
Meanwhile, Jenrya and Ruki had ended up in the park, and were scouting for a Digital Field. They rounded a corner and found themselves practically nose to nose (or rather nose to feet) with a huge plant-like creature. This strange creature, which looked like nightmarish cross between a sunflower with glowing red eyes and a tangle of vines, had a face that looked like a black and white sunflower and small round bluish-black faces at the tips of some of its vine-like roots.
"Whoa! A Digimon!" Jenrya backed away.
"Aw, nuts!" Ruki cried as she tried to consult her D-Power, "This thing's useless without Renamon!"
"Blossomon..." Jenrya was muttering to himself, searching through his cards, "I've got it, Ruki! It's Darkblossomon, a Perfect level Dark Digimon! Its special attack is Slashing Vines!"
Ruki backed into him as the great Digimon came at them, vines/roots/bluish- black heads flailing in all directions, knocking down a couple of trees and crushing a bench, "Who cares what it's called, what are we going to do about it?"
"Ruki, this is bad. It's not contained in a Digital Field!" Jenrya yelled as Darkblossomon let out an ear-splitting screech.
"I know, I know!" Ruki replied agitatedly as she stared up at the Digimon.
"We've got to do something before it starts wrecking the city!" Jenrya cried, trying to evade the great whipping green roots.
"I 'know', Mr. Obvious, but without our Digimon, there's nothing we can do to stop him!" Ruki yelled, "Aaaah!"
She was knocked over by a flailing root.
"Ruki! Are you okay?" Jenrya was at her side in an instant and helped her up.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Ruki dusted herself off.
Just then, both of them heard a shout.
***
"What the heck?! What is this, the sunflower convention?!" Hirokazu stood behind them, staring up at Darkblossomon.
"Oh, great," Ruki said with extreme annoyance, though she actually was rather pleased to see him, "What are 'you' doing here, Hirokazu?!"
"You didn't think I'd let you have all the fun, did ya?" Hirokazu winked at her before turning to Jenrya, "So what 'is' going on?"
"What does it look like?," Jenrya replied sarcastically, "That's Darkblossomon, an Ultimate level Dark Digimon. Look out!"
He lunged and knocked Hirokazu out of the way of one of the flailing vines. They both landed on Ruki, who let out a yelp.
"Hey! Get off me, you clumsy clods!" she shoved both boys off of her and got up, wincing, "You two are heavier than a pack of elephants!"
"Gee, thanks," Hirokazu replied sarcastically, "But right now we have a waaay bigger problem."
They all looked up at Darkblossomon, who reared up menacingly and shot vines at them with astonishing speed.
***
Meanwhile in class Ryou suddenly shot to his feet, his sky blue eyes going wide with shock.
"Ryou! Sit down!" Mr. Nasukio snapped.
But Ryou didn't hear him. He was staring out at the giant twisted version of Blossomon in the park. Soon the whole class was assembled around the windows, staring. Takato, Juri, Ryou and Kenta slipped out of the classroom and hurried outside.
"C'mon guys, the others could be in trouble!" Takato yelled as he followed the arrow on his D-Ark and started running.
"What's going on, Takato? How come that Digimon wasn't in a Digital Field?!" Kenta asked as he ran beside Takato, trying to catch his breath and then falling back.
"I have no idea, but what I do know is that this is really, really bad!" Takato called back over his shoulder, "Come on, Katou-san, hurry!"
She was trailing despondently at the back of the group, head bowed and feet dragging.
"What's the point," Juri whispered, "We can't do anything about it."
"Well, we'll try!" Takato dropped back to Juri's side, reached over, took her by the shoulders and shook her, "Look, Katou-san, don't be like this. They need our help. We can't give up just because it 'seems' hopeless!"
Juri sighed and ran faster.
***
They arrived at the park to find Ruki and Hirokazu trying to free Jenrya, who was being strangled by one of Darkblossomon's vines. All together, they managed it, and hurried out of range, but keeping Darkblossomon within sight. They all ended up in a clump of bushes behind a tree. Only then did they allow themselves to relax slightly. Juri's braid was all messed up so she undid it and shook her long hair out over her shoulders. Ryou gave her an appraising glance, but didn't say anything, noting her red eyes and sad expression.
"Takato, that thing's dangerous, it could wreck the whole city, the way it's going," Jenrya whispered hoarsely, massaging his neck and looking very pale.
"I know, Jen, but there's nothing we can do about it," Takato replied, his voice shaking very slightly, "Without our Digimon, we're powerless against him."
"Then we have to go get our Digimon!" Ruki put in.
"Yeah, but how?" Kenta asked, as usual completely at sea.
"Go to the Digital World again! Duh," Hirokazu said, shaking his head at Kenta's stupidity, "Baka."
"Hey!"
"But while we're gone, that thing's gonna wreck the city!" Takato shook his head.
"Whatever. Let Yamaki-san take care of it," Hirokazu replied airily.
"If you stop for a moment to 'think', Hirokazu, we don't even know where Yamaki-san is!" Ruki snapped at him, rolling her eyes when he merely grinned back impudently.
'What can he be thinking?! There could be lives at stake here, and he's acting like we discovered a new leaf in the rhododendron patch,' she thought, exasperated.
"Guys, stop fighting, we need a plan," Jenrya snapped.
Rika stared at him. She'd rarely heard Jenrya use that kind of tone.
'He must be really worried,' she thought, feeling rather anxious herself.
Jenrya was usually so levelheaded that when 'he' started acting unlike himself you knew the situation at hand was getting really bad.
***
Then they realized Darkblossomon was almost upon them when a tree nearby suddenly crashed to the ground. Its roots showed starkly in the air like grotesquely twisted dead fingers reaching for the sky. The youngsters scattered as the Digimon rained chunks of torn concrete and pieces of bench and tree upon them, then reassembled a few yards away, under the cover of another grove of trees.
"We don't have much time," Jenrya said hurriedly as they watched Darkblossomon knock down some more trees and crush a fountain, "We need to figure out a way to stop him, but."
"But we don't have anything to stop him with, except our D-Arks, which are useless without our Digimon, and since our Digimon aren't here, there's nothing we can do," Ruki finished for him.
He nodded, looking rather discouraged.
'I wish Terriermon was here,' Jenrya thought sadly.
He missed his old friend more than ever.
'He'd probably be Momentaiing us until either Ryou or Ruki lost it,' Jenrya had to chuckle at the image, despite the ache that always came whenever he thought of Terriermon now.
"Guys, we're talking in circles," Hirokazu complained, exasperated.
Everyone glared at him, which didn't sway him one bit.
"We all know that we can't do anything as long as our Digimon aren't here, and that if we leave to get them, by the time we get back, there might not be any city left to defend. So could we get some new facts into this ancient whirlpool?!" he ranted.
"Shut up, Hirokazu," Ruki spoke for all of them.
Hirokazu looked slightly hurt, "Hey! I was just telling the truth, you know!"
"Well the truth won't help if we can't find a way to stop that Digimon!" Ruki retorted, angry with herself for getting so worked up over such a small thing.
***
Just then something totally unexpected happened. Darkblossomon started to fade out, like a picture sinking into water, and within moments, he was completely gone. There was no sign that he'd ever been there, except for the wrecked section of the park and a slight glimmer of some of the data he'd left behind floating in the air.
"Uh, guys, what just happened?!" Takato was the first to speak as the others stared, stunned.
"He just. disappeared," Jenrya replied quietly, his gray eyes puzzled.
'Something's not right. When Digimon come into our world, they usually don't want to go back. So what could have made him disappear like that?' he wondered.
"Yeah, duh, but why?" Ruki sounded as confused as everyone felt, "Did something attack him?"
"I didn't see anything," Hirokazu spoke up, "And I had a perfect view of all of that sunflower thing."
"Neither did I," Juri said, "This is creepy, you guys."
'That Darkblossomon. was like something out of one of my nightmares.' She trembled slightly, and Takato gave her a reassuring smile.
"Well, he's gone now," he said confidently, then noticed Kenta was looking kind of weird, "Kenta? Kenta! Yoohoo!"
***
Kenta was staring off at something in the distance.
'Could it be?' his numb mind had absorbed so many shocks today that he simply didn't realize what he was looking at, 'But it's not possible.'
He started when Takato waved his hand in front of his face.
"Kenta, you look like you just saw a ghost!" Hirokazu remarked.
"Look, you guys, a portal!" Kenta pointed.
The others followed his trembling finger with their gazes, and sure enough, at the exact spot where Darkblossomon had been, a portal just like the one through which they had first gone to the Digital World had appeared. Except this time it was above ground and somewhat bigger.
"Whoa, weird," Hirokazu remarked, but his slate blue eyes were filled with excitement.
"So, do we go?" Takato asked nobody in particular.
"Of course we do!" Hirokazu yelled exuberantly, looking like he was ready to burst, jumping up into the air (and just missing kicking Kenta in the head - "Hey! Watch it, Hirokazu!") and raising his fist, "I can't wait to see Guardromon again!"
'This is so awesome! Guardromon, buddy, here I come!' his thoughts were as wildly euphoric as his demeanor.
"This could be some sort of sign," Jenrya said thoughtfully, "I think the Digital World needs us!"
'I hope Terriermon didn't get into too much trouble while I was gone.'
"Quit standing there like statues, goggleheads, that portal's not going to stay there forever, you know," Ruki cut in on their reflections.
'Renamon, I'm finally coming back. It's been so long. too long.'
Suddenly she turned her piercing gaze on Juri, who was staring at the ground. The brown-haired girl suddenly raised her head, and there was a very sad expression on her face, but she looked determined.
"Ruki-chan's right, if we want to go, we have to go right now!" Juri said with unusual firmness of tone, causing Ruki to sigh at the choice of honorific.
'I'll just have to deal with it,' Juri thought, repressing the flood of memories the idea of going back to the Digital World had released.
And so, when Takato asked her, very gently, if she was going to be all right, Juri was able to reply in a perfectly calm tone, with a composed expression, "I'm fine, don't worry about me."
***
"So, everybody in?" Takato asked, his happy grin stretching from ear to ear.
"YEAH!" everyone raised their fist except for Ryou, who simply nodded.
'It has succeeded,' Ryou experienced no pleasure whatsoever at this thought.
"Great! Let's go!" Takato made it sound somewhat like a battle cry.
'Finally! I knew I'd see Guilmon again. We're too close to be separated forever!' he thought happily as he led them to the portal.
***
And so, the Tamers set off for the unknown once more, this time armed with nothing more than each other's friendship and their hopes of seeing their beloved Digimon partners once more, after such a long, difficult separation.
When they had gone, the portal dissipated. Little did they realize what terrible dangers awaited them in that strange, eerily beautiful place they called the Digital World.
***
~ So how was the second part of my Digimon Tamers fanfic? I fear that it is not quite as good as the first, but, I ask for your opinions. Gimme reviews, y'all! ~