Gabumon: Where is she? She's supposed to say her disclaimer, and announce her little contest, and give out her warnings.
Gomamon: She's over there…
Gabumon: What is she doing?!
Gomamon: What do you think? She's been dreaming about her trip to New Orleans and the welcome escape from the mundane presence of school, bratty siblings, and the general bad weather ever since she got her travel plans approved.
Mmm… sun, jazz…hot Cajun boys ~ drools ~…I'm so there…
Gabumon: We've got to snap her out of it, but how…?
Gomamon: Just leave it to me.
Gabumon: ~ sweatdrops ~ I have a bad feeling about this. ShannonL warned us that if we misbehave she would torture one of the Digidestined.
Ahhhh!!!
Gomamon: Okay, she's out of internal fantasy mode now…
Gabumon: What did you do to her?
Gomamon: Told her that her little brother stole all of her favorite Java coffee. And reminded her that she has an introduction to do.
Gabumon: She'll go berserk for sure when she finds out that we used it all up in that wild party you threw. Not to mention that you set her up on a blind date with Myotismon!
Gomamon: Ssshhh…She's starting!
I have a confession to make, a really big one. I don't own Digimon ~ gasp ~ Toei, Saban and Bandai do. As I said in Balance, Act 1, violence, mayhem, language, Out Of Characterness (OOC), homemade, low operating explosives, and Taiora, Mimoe, Takari and another pairing (I'm still not telling, but look for it. I'm giving hints, and whoever first guesses correctly gets a cameo.), abound in this series. If any of you can't handle that or if just hate the pairings (And I know some of you really do.) don't bother yelling and screaming and sicking your muses on me because I warned you. Please use discretion, this is PG-13 and let me warn you right now that later on in the series, things will get real intense. Also it is HIGHLY advised that you read Darkness Rising and the first act of Balance or you will have no clue at all about what's going on here.
All flames, as always, will be fed to my furnace.
Balance, Act 2
"What happened down there Cody?" A masculine voice howled as its owner paced back and forth, his spiky reddish-brown hair swaying ever so slightly.
"We suspect it was an attack by one or more Digimon, Davis. Yolei and I saw a suspicious plant Digimon disappear from the scene but before we could chase after it, we got the feeling of being watched…"
"Watched? By who?" A man with wavy, shoulder length blond hair and blue eyes, gave a concerned wince. Cody had expected as much. With everything that had been going on, this added another twist in the already tangled web woven by the situation. He had every right to be to be worried.
"I really don't know…"And I don't know if I want to know. "One moment I was about to go after that Digimon, then we were hit by that weird presence. It wasn't Digimon, it didn't have that right feel about it, but it seemed too powerful to be any mere human. I've never ever felt anything like it. I'm glad you had Armadillomon and Hawkmon contact us through our respective links, Michael…" Cody clenched his fist as purple and orange power began to crackle around it. "Whatever it was, it felt like death."
Clear from the expressions from all others present, that was not the most comforting thing to say.
"Could it have been another Digidestined?" a soft voice asked from the shadows. Pale blue eyes flickered as Davis slumped a bit, pain and sorrow evident in his eyes. Something akin to memory was dancing around in those cinnamon depths, slashing and tearing every bit of self-control Davis possessed. Uh oh. Cody decided to break in before whatever was haunting Davis was allowed to do too much damage.
"No, couldn't have been. We're connected to life; this thing was connected to death. Rest assured Davis, it wasn't a Digidestined, and certainly not the Digidestined you're thinking about."
Davis sighed a bit in relief and allowed the blue eyed speaker to gently support him and lead him to a dusty couch in the corner. He gasped, "Thanks Ken." and buried his face in his hands. Ken sat down besides him, and began talking to him in soft, soothing tones. He still must not be over it; Cody mused to himself, Course, if I'd been in that position that he was in, and that situation had occurred to me, I certainly wouldn't be alright either. No one deserves to have that happen to him, no one.
"Cody?"
"Yes Yolei?"
"Get over here. You won't believe what's going on out here!"
Cody shrugged a bit and made his way over to where Yolei was standing, besides an open warehouse door. What he saw made his jaw drop in disbelief.
"Oh yeah Yolei, you're right. I'm seeing it, but I am not believing it!" Cody said amazed, while scratching his head a bit. He unconsciously leaned on the Kendo sword he always carried. This is wrong; this is just plain WRONG! There was absolutely no logical, rational explanation for what he was seeing!
"Believe it Cody. It is snowing!"
At that very moment, across the Odiaba district, the very person who had been the subject of such heated debate among the rogue Digidestined was swiftly making her way towards a place simply known as "the Underground". Gracefully making her way under some steel girders, she stole into the vast underground chamber that was work, fun, and generally home, to most of the "homeless" of Odiaba.
As she passed a withered, troll-like Digimon; he roughly called out to her, "Sanari Matsudaira, you know the rules. No entering the Underground without paying tribute to our lord and master, Serpimon; not unless you want to leave this place as nothing more than Digital Dust!"
Muttering a few choice comments under her breath, Sanari paid off the Digimon with a gold necklace she pilfered from some unsuspecting rich broad. Troll face looked appraisingly at the ornate necklace then at the irate Sanari, whose hands were creeping towards her si knives, and then with a regretful sneer, motioned her through.
Stupid Troll face, if Serpimon wasn't around, I'd turn you into Digital dust. Things are bad enough as it is; I don't need your sniveling, servile ass on my case right now. She shuddered internally; where had those thoughts come from? Sanari brushed a few locks of white hair from her eyes, not noticing the faint glow coming from her fingertips. She was a little more concerned with what she was becoming. What's happening to me?! Ever since she stole the food from the two Digidestined boys, she had felt strange changes begin to work themselves in her, altering parts of her in way even she couldn't understand. Frankly it was scaring her. Why is this happening to me? Why me? I don't understand…
"Hey San, what's skanking?" A cold cruel voice called from the shadows.
Oh great, just the way to make a bad day even worse. "Terla, I don't need or want to deal with you right now so do everyone a favor and take a hike! Maybe then everybody would loosen up around here."
Terla just laughed, a very sadistic smile curving her lips. Her perfect doll's features turned frosty and she delivered a slap that sent Sanari's ears ringing. Sanari's hands flew, and before either she or Terla knew it, a set of razor sharp tri-blades were positioned millimeters above Terla jugular. If she so much as twitched, the Underground would have one less jaded character running about it.
"BITCH! If you dare touch me, Serpimon himself will see that you finally get the death you deserve!" Sanari felt her veins burn with raw, untapped energy, and seethed at the thought that she couldn't release it on the one she hated most. At the same time, she felt a little part of her cringe at the sheer maliciousness of the thoughts running rampant in her head. She felt her si lower a bit, and watched as Terla pulled away.
"Glad you finally came to your senses. I think we should have a talk about who out ranks who in the social pecking order around here, when you're feeling a little more sociable…what the… HELL IS WRONG WITH YOUR EYES! "
She had one shaking finger pointing at Sanari, or more accurately her eyes. Usually a pale green with flecks of gold, Sanari's eyes burned like foxfire, and everything and everyone that fell in her gaze seemed to simply crumple into a pile of cinders.
"I told you I don't want to deal with you right now…" Sanari hissed in a low voice.
Terla turned and ran, stumbling over discarded beer bottles, and disappeared into a curtained off corridor. Sanari gave a snort of disgust. Coward!!! She slipped the si into the weapons harness hidden under the shirt. They came right back out as she noticed the multitudes of eyes still staring at her with expressions ranging all the way from fear, to hate, to pity. At that moment, something inside Sanari just snapped, and before she could stop herself, she roared, "WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT?!"
Not even registering the shocked faces of all around her, she whirled and half ran, half flew out of the main cavern, and climbed into the tunnels that connected to the subway system. Sanari raced down a labyrinth of alleyways and crawled through several maintenance shafts and into a small dead-ended passage, which served as a place where Sanari could kick back without too much worry that she would be killed in her sleep. She threw herself on her "bed", a ragged heap of dirty pillows and blankets, and began to weep. She raised red eyes to the ceiling and asked in a small voice…
"What have I become?"
"Master Koda, where is Mistress Karmeramon? We thought…" Aruramon broke of as she saw the stare from Koda's eyes. Madness and malevolence made their home in those ruby orbs, and she took his gaze as the unspoken warning to shut up as it was. Humbly she lowered her face to the floor and waited for the fiendish onslaught of Koda's rage to fall upon all present in the room. But nothing came. Curious, she rolled one eye in the direction of her master, tapping his fingers on Karmeramon's chess board as he bit his lip in thought, and the other in direction of Gerinmon, the fiery Champion Digimon. He was kneeling in fear as well, his face staring resolutely at the floor. He looked like he was going to throw up. Not surprising, considering the way Koda tolerated failure.
"You thought wrong…" Koda replied frostily. He idly picked up one of Karmeramon's pieces, a bronze figure of a young man with glasses and shoulder length hair, and scowled menacingly at it. Aruramon knew only that he and this certain young man shared an unquenchable hatred of each other, though for what reason she had no idea. Koda returned the figure of the Digidestined boy back to behind his Gomamon, and slowly turned to face them. "Why are you still here? If you have something to report, then report it! Otherwise just get out of my sight. I'm not in the mood for company."
Aruramon could just feel her insides turn to mush, as she numbly began to answer, "Master, on the café bombing…"
"What of it? It succeeded quite nicely, if I do say so myself. The humans are rallying behind me, and dissent and prejudices are running rampant. They are totally divided, the fools. When I take over as Prime Minister, the rabble that is left over will have no chance to defeat Karmeramon's and my iron fists. And then, oh and then,…"
"Master, as much as we would love to hear your plans for world conquest at the moment, something has come up that has to be dealt with."
"And what would that be?" Koda's eyes narrowed and hardened to the purest ice. Aruramon gulped as she saw this. She could just literally see her life flashing in front of her now.
"The two Digidestined we were supposed to kill…escaped…from the blast we intended for them."
I'm dead.
"They what!!!!"
"A white-haired wench interfered in our plans and warned them off. And when it was too late to do anything, we found out they were gone. Master…we…tried…" Aruramon paled from her normal, rich, azure to a sickly turquoise. What she said hadn't gone exactly like that, but it was close enough.
Koda looked pale as well. His hands clenched spasmodically into fists, and his breathing was harsh and labored. What disturbed Aruramon most however, were the glowing coals that served for his eyes had dimmed to scattered embers. They were literally swamped with fear! Koda had never shown fear before.
Finally with a shaking breath, he whispered, "Source is not going to like this. Not one little bit."
Source? She had heard the masters mention the name more than once, and was inexplicably sickened with fear and horror each and every time. From what little she knew about this enigmatic "Source", was that it was the source of every nasty, vile and in other words, evil thing and deed, that occurred in this world. Hence the name. Not the most pleasant of characters indeed.
Koda looked them up and down slowly, deliberately. Finally, he said, in a baritone voice that rocked the floorboards and every stone littered in the walls, "Find her. Get rid of her. And if you don't…" He let the threat, no promise, hang heavy in the air. Nobody had to ask what failing a second time brought. "Leave."
Aruramon and Gerinmon needed no second invitation.
Meanwhile at Matt's apartment…
"Hey Mimi, where did Joe and Raine run off to? I can't find them anywhere. Of course in this pig sty, I wouldn't be surprised if we found them buried underneath the left over pizza boxes or something."
"Hey are you dissing my apartment Izzy?" The irritated blond called out from his kitchen. He had soap bubbles stuck to his spiky hair, and was absently scrubbing a dish while glaring acidly at Izzy. "I don't see you helping out. After all you certainly made your fair share of this mess…" He put down his plate and pointed to the chaos that had been his nice, clean living room. Had been. The place had been utterly totaled after the all the Digidestined and all the Destined Digimon had held what could only be called a council of war after the "bombing" of the café and the resulting speech from the political extremist Shoji Koda.
"I have been helping out, you know. I've been trying to figure out why in hell Koda, a known human supremacist, would have anything to do with any renegade Digimon, or in that particular case, any Digimon at all. It just doesn't make SENSE!!!"
"Woah, woah, woah Izzy. No need to yell…" Mimi looked around nervously, "…you'll wake everyone up." Everyone glanced worriedly at the various sprawled figures that were littered around sleeping in the next room. After many hours of debate, everyone had succumbed to the fact they could not stay awake forever, no matter how many cups of Java one had to stay awake - everyone except Matt, Mimi, Izzy and Joe.
"Maybe you should get some sleep Izzy. You look like you're about to drop dead from exhaustion." Matt looked at him worriedly. After all he had been through the previous day, and the all nighter everyone had pulled, haggard didn't even come close to describing Izzy. Even Izzy the Invincible, conqueror of a thousand late night study sessions, couldn't fight of the inevitable.
"I will Matt. I just want to know what happen to Joe and Raine. I need to ask Joe a question that's been bugging me all night, and when I went to look for him…"
"He was gone?" Mimi finished. Her lips tightened in a grimace, and suddenly she seemed decades older. "He left for a jog and took Raine with him. He said he need to blow off steam and that the fresh air would do them both some good. I wish…I wish he would bring our daughter home soon. I'm beginning to worry." The tiny catch in her voice made it clear to all present that that was not all she was beginning to worry about.
"What is it Mimi?" Matt asked as Izzy stretched out beside the couch, and shuffled a bit to get into a more comfortable position. Both of them were eyeing the amber-eyed lady with the flaming pink hair with keen interest.
"Well…" Mimi sighed a bit, "Well…Joe has been acting more than a little weird. I never would have expected that reaction from him - him of all people." She paused for a moment to think of her husband, gentle and kind, fighting to control the raging demon called Hate that had welled up inside of him, the instant that monster had shown up on the screen. "I don't know why Joe feels this way; I don't think they knew each other or something. Joe isn't the type to associate with bigots, zealots and school yard dictators, any more than I'm the type to stoop to buy my clothes at some tacky discount store."
"He'll be back soon, and then we can get through this whole mess. Don't worry about it." Izzy slumped against the couch as he suddenly fell asleep. Matt wasn't far behind as he left his dishwashing, and found a piece of floor that wasn't occupied by human, Digimon or trash. That left Mimi all alone to her thoughts, as she stared out of Matt's balcony window. A snowflake trickled down and she absently traced its path with one finger. All the while she was thinking…
I wish I could follow your advice Izzy. I really wish I could…
Michael yawned as he watched the dawn creep over the horizon, trailing streaks of fire and crimson over the sky as it chased the darkness away. So pretty…The light and the way the colors play over the clouds…I'd never really noticed these things since I came to Odiaba. I've never really had the time. Everything here is so busy, crowded, confusing, and lonely. Especially lonely… Sometimes I just feel like I have the word foreigner branded to my forehead with flashing neon signs saying, "Hey you; over here! Easy pickings; come and get it!" Sometimes it feels like I'll never fit in. Man, I wish I were in New York right now. At least there, a major crisis would be dealing with a zit on your forehead or the rush hour traffic, not wading your way through intrigue, plots, and motives, trying to find a reason for this chaos currently going on. He ran a hand through his wavy blond hair, playing with the ends as he tried to figure out what was going on the battlefield and off it. Suddenly something tweaked his senses and without needing to turn around, he knew he would find his friends behind him.
"Hey Willis, Cody. What are you doing here?"
"Looking for Davis and Ken. It's their turn to cook today. Do you know where they keep disappearing off to?"
"Nah…" came the reply, "No clue where they are…" But I know what they're probably doing… "Have you seen Yolei anywhere? The computer's on the blink again, and she has the tools to fix it." He twisted his head to grin teasingly at them, "Besides, she's awfully cute in the morning…"
This earned a few hearty chuckles from the two behind them. Willis's eyes flashed indigo with amusement, as he put Michael in a headlock and began to give him a friendly noogie, as he giggled, "Oh, so does Mikey have a little crush on Yolei? Aww, I never would have guessed."
Michael laughed as he squirmed out of Willis's grasp. "Come on you guys; you know we're just friends. Now seriously, where is she? I need those tools now; I'm missing CNN for Pete's sake!"
Cody snorted a bit. "Isn't that a tragedy?" Then he turned serious. "She's sleeping off the late night we had. We ran into her in the sleeping quarters and she said if anybody disturbed her, she would immediately remove their heads. Personally I think she would back up that threat. In that case, CNN can wait."
Michael opened his mouth to say something, but a loud rumble from his stomach stopped all that. "Maybe I can help you look for them," he said sheepishly, flushing a deep red. He hopped off the ledge he'd been sitting on and joined them. " I'm kinda getting hungry myself."
Laughing, the three disappeared into the air. But one unspoken thought echoed on the breeze.
Maybe, just maybe, I'm not as alone as I thought…
"Sanari…Sanari…wakey, wakey…" A voice called, distant at first, then stronger, as Sanari opened one eye, and found herself face to face with a grinning seven year old. Limp teal hair fell over her wide obsidian eyes; a fair dusting of freckles over pale, dull cheeks, and white lips were pulled back into an impish smile. At that smile, Sanari felt an irresistible urge to start smiling too. She couldn't resist the orphan's charm. Nobody can in fact she mused a bit. Of course, it wasn't hard to be charmed by a person who totally looked up to you, and thought you could do absolutely no wrong. I really wish I could be the person that Marisa thinks I am. Instead I'm someone who nearly knocks off someone just because I lost my temper. Not to say that person wasn't deserving of it…but still…she should have someone better than me to look up to.
"Aw, kid…can't this wait? Sanari has had one looonng day."
"Nope…You've gotta get up." At this Sanari groaned; then rolled over and went back to sleep. However she was rudely snapped back to reality when something pulled off one of her shoes and socks and began ruthlessly tickling the bottom of her foot.
Between shrieks of laughter, she looked down and saw the imp crouched at the bottom of her foot with a large pink feather poised directly at the tips of her toes.
"M, what are you doing?" Sanari's eyes widened in horror as Marisa gave a devilish smile and began waving the feather threateningly above her toes.
"Waking you up. You sleep way too much anyway." But before she could begin to tickle her again, Sanari dived of her bed and grabbed her shoe and sock; stumbling as she awkwardly yanked them on.
"Okay, okay, you win: I'm up." Not that I would object to a few more hours of sleep - especially since I feel smashed. Ugh. She shook her head, trying to clear the last vestiges of sleep from her mind. "You hungry?" and without any further comment, Sanari retrieved the cinnamon buns she had stolen from the previous day. She tried to ignore the faint sensation of guilt connected to the deed, rationalizing it as a "steal or you die of starvation" sorta situation. Still it didn't make it right, or did it? She sighed as she tried to figure out that particular little problem.
"Not really hungry, Sanari." Sanari looked at her with concern. Marisa hadn't been eating much recently and whatever she did partake in, she had difficulty keeping it down. Not like you can take her to the local doc. You don't have enough money for food most of the time, what makes you think you can even afford the physician's waiting room. Ah jeez, what am I gonna do…
"Are you sure? I mean, these are your favorites…" She looked fondly at the child, whom she had kept an eye out for since the girl was four years old. When Sanari had found her, she had even been without a name, just a beggar girl with sad, lonely eyes. Sanari didn't even know why she even cared at the time. The girl wasn't her problem. Still there had been something about her… So she had dubbed the girl with the name of Marisa, after the woman who had looked after her and taught her how to survive on the streets; and decided to protect, teach and do whatever she could…in order that Marisa grew up happier than Sanari had ever been. And they have been happy years…for both of us. Hard but happy. Until now… Until Marisa had gotten sick.
"So Sanari, I heard you kicked Terla's butt all the way to the Shinjuku district." Marisa's face was eager. She wanted to know all the juicy little details of what happened. And she wouldn't let up until she had.
"Not exactly…" Sanari began. Her face became tense and she kept her luminous green eyes fixed firmly to the cement. The little catfight replayed itself in her head, clear in every nasty little detail. She tried to shake it off, but a little nagging voice told her this wasn't the last of it. No, it was only the beginning. The beginning of everything. Well that's a nice ominous thought from out of nowhere, isn't it? Just what I get when I only get six or so hours of sleep. Jeez what's next, flying pigs and good government. Aye, I need to get this head of mine debugged. I certainly have a few screws loose up there.
"So? So did the absolute ruler of bitchdom get what was coming to her? Huh? Huh?"
"Marisa! Where did you learn that?!" Sanari was shocked. She had never heard Marisa use that kind of language before and it was kind of unsettling to say the least.
"By watching you."
"Ooch. Do us all a favor kid, and don't watch me all the time, 'kay?"
"Fine. So did she get it or what? And what was up with the glowing eyes and the just plain glowing at the Underground? People are saying things like you're some Digidestined or something…"
"What? Glowing? Digidestined?!" Sanari began to chuckle, which turned into laughter, which became hysterics. The more she thought about it; hell, the funnier it became. Digidestined? Her? Whoever was telling that particular tale was absolutely delusional, completely psychotic!
"Kiddo, I am a lot of things; some good, some bad, some even I don't know of yet. But of one thing I'm sure. Of all the things I could be, I'm sure as hell not a Digidestined!"
Man is this a bad area of town or what! Joe thought, as he cuddled his daughter while waiting for the light to change. I'm glad I don't live here! The light flashed red and Joe walked across, hoisting Raine to a more comfortable position as he strolled.
Halfway over, he bumped into a pair of men passing through. Joe expected a few insults from them or at least an angry glare from the man with the shoulder length black hair and the glacial eyes, that he had accidentally knocked down. But nothing came. The two men smiled at each other and apologized for not looking where they were going. The brown-eyed guy even picked up the bag with Raine's baby supplies and handed it over to him. Both of them were ever so polite as they left together, arms linked. Joe smiled. Not many people are like that nowadays… Those two really are a special breed.
Not until Joe was across the street and the men had apparently disappeared somewhere else all together; realization hit and it began to dawn on Joe, that there was something strange about the two he had encountered. Something that just triggered every neuron and fiber in his being, that something wasn't what it seemed…Suddenly a surge of power filled the air, and Joe winced from the intensity. An unsettling idea was working its way out of the back of his mind. Wait a sec; those two aren't exactly your normal streetwalkers. Normal streetwalkers don't exactly vanish without a trace- especially since there's nowhere to vanish to. He glanced down the dead ended alleyway that the two had gone down and gasped. Just like I thought. Guess I was right about them being special; I just didn't know how special they actually were. Hmm, the others will certainly want to know about this! But before he could go anywhere, a rough hand clasped him on the shoulder.
"Hello Joe. It's been a long time and we have so much to talk about…"
Joe stiffened. He knew that voice. Slowly he whirled around and saw exactly what he knew he see. A tall man with a thatch of spiky blond hair, and eyes…those eyes. Crimson red, haughty eyes, eyes that boiled like magma. Eyes that demanded to be remembered, and eyes Joe desperately wanted to forget. His eyes…Joe unconsciously clutched Raine closer to him, though not in fear, but in rage. Joe's own eyes began to faintly sparkle with black and silver light. Down Joe, down…you don't want to show your own special abilities to this enemy. But the anger wouldn't back down. It wanted out. And it got it…
"KODA!!"
To be continued….
Cliffhanger! What's going to happen now? Or in the words of the much screwed up narrator ~ shudder ~ "What will be the outcome of Joe's confrontation with his arch nemesis. What do the new Digidestined have to do with all this? And who really is this mysterious Sanari? Is she truly a Digidestined? Stay tuned for the next act of Balance for the answers and more." You know, I really hate that guy with a vengeance. Anybody else?
Moving right along, keep it moving, I apologize for the delay and the lack of action in the first two acts. I just finished doing the setting up for the story and now the intense stuff begins. Hold on tight, the roller coaster ride is about to begin.
Oh, my Contest. Whoever first guesses correctly my fourth coupling gets a small cameo in the next act of Balance. So be sure to review.
Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go hunt down my brother. Little thief stole all my favorite Java. ~ Stomps off ~
~ Enter ShannonL's muses ~
Gabumon: She's gonna kill us when she finds out. You know what she'll do! She always keeps her promises.
Gomamon: When her *date* arrives, she'll have her hands so full she'll won't be able to do anything!
Gabumon: I don't know about this…
Gomamon: ~ interrupts ~ Myotismon's here. Aww, that's nice, he brought her roses. Dead roses…but roses…
~ ShannonL answers her door ~
AAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!