Power of Friendship
By: Theodore 'Blitz' Leung
Disclaimer: All Digimon and their characters (except for those introduced in this fic/series) do NOT belong to me. I do not have permission to use their characters, but it's a FanFic, so, who cares? =) This story line belongs to me and me alone. Please ask for permission if you wish to use it. Thanks. Now let's get onto reading!
A friend is someone who's there for you, no matter what the case is.
Just because they disagree with you doesn't mean they hate you. Just because you both have separate views doesn't mean you aren't friends. Just because you start punching doesn't mean you will never talk to each other.
I guess it's what you would call 'bonding' in all these situations.
~Diary of Yamato 'Matt' Ishida, second generation Digi-Destined
* * * * * *
"So…in the end…Yasmine and Damon got back together…" Shastina spoke softly, sighing and closing her Digivice. Marc sent her an e-mail relating to the days events, and despite the happy ending, it still left something missing in her heart. Tigramon leaped onto her shoulder, knowing what was wrong when half of the e-mail was complete.
"It's like a fairy tale, isn't it?" Shastina spoke aloud. Tigramon wasn't sure how the respond, but the Digimon knew her partner's heart ached for the one person she opened up to before this entire Digi-Destined thing started.
"Shas…" Tigramon started. "If you believe like Marc does, then he'll come back." Shastina sighed, leaning back on the chair.
"I know he'll come back…" Shastina replied. "I just wish Tao would come back sooner…I can't stand this waiting…" Tigramon licked her partner in the cheek, then leaped down onto the floor and back up onto the bed.
"She knows…" Tigramon thought, curling up onto the bed. "But does she believe…I still can't tell…" The Digimon sighed, closing her eyes.
"Tao…please come back soon…" she muttered.
* * * * * *
"Marc…what are we doing here?" Xemon asked, trying to stay well hidden in his bag. Marc didn't answer, only stood still and watched Tao's house. Marc held his Digivice in his hand, waiting for something to happen. The teenager had a hunch, and hoped that the hunch didn't disappoint him.
"Just be patient…" Marc responded softly.
"I would be more patient if I WASN'T STUCK IN THIS BAG!" he exclaimed, kicking Marc's back. Marc lowered his head and shook it, grinning lightly.
"Got to love that Digimon," he thought. His train of thought was interrupted. Marc's Digivice began to go off once again, showing another Digi-Destined close by now.
"Yeah…I was right…" Marc thought, looking back up at the house where the signal was coming from. "So why won't you show yourself?" Marc thought, noticing the signal faded already. He sighed, and began to walk back to his own house.
"Well…at least Biyomon will be sleeping easier…" Marc thought next, closing his mind off. "Depends I guess…"
* * * * * *
Tigramon sat on the computer, watching the screen. It was difficult for her to type with her tiny body and small claws, but she making an effort. Shastina left to do something, but never informed Tigramon of what she was doing.
"She's getting more distant…" Tigramon typed in slowly. The Digimon waited patiently for a response from the other side. The small ICQ symbol changed into a flashing yellow message card, which Tigramon sloppily opened with the mouse.
"Man…this can't be good…" the message said.
"I know Marc, but there's only so much she can believe in," Tigramon typed in slowly, then pressing the 'send' button.
"Well, then I'm going to have to find Tao and beat some sense into him for letting Shastina fall into such a state."
Tigramon winced at the wording, though she knew that Marc wouldn't go as far as to beat his friend to a pulp.
"Do you know where he is?" Tigramon instead asked, thankful Marc couldn't see her. She also hoped Marc could bring Tao home before Shastina breaks down completely.
"I'll have to do some searching…and the Digital World is big…" he answered. "I just wish I knew why he doesn't want to come back…" Marc sent in another message before Tigramon could respond.
"Maybe he's in despair," Tigramon suggested. "He does have a strong belief he failed Shastina."
"I'm beginning to doubt he still exist…to tell the truth…." Marc answered. Tigramon was shocked to read about this revelation.
"But…the Crest of Hope choose you for a reason! You can't give up!" Tigramon protested. There was a long silence after this message was sent. Tigramon began to wonder if Marc was truly thinking about his words or if the connection was just acting up again.
"…" was his response, before his ICQ persona went off-line, leaving Tigramon confused and worried for the team now.
"We're falling apart…" she whispered, leaping down from the desk, making sure to close the ICQ program beforehand. "And if we don't stay together, then there's no way to we can protect the Digital World…" Tigramon sighed, losing hope herself with the situation.
"Please…let there be a light to guide us…" she spoke softly, almost in a religious tone.
* * * * * *
"Marc…I hope we're searching for Tao while we're here…" Xemon spoke, unaffected by the cold weather that surrounded them. Marc didn't answer, nor did he seem affected by the arctic weather where they decided to pick as their destination in the Digital World.
"…" was Marc's response as the pair trudged along the snow. Thankfully it wasn't snowing, so the weather was sort of manageable. There was silence as the two continued to walk across the snow filled terrain.
* * * * * *
The two leaned back against the same tree, far from where Marc was exploring in the arctic region. Their blades were imbedded on the ground beside the tree as both were tired from their last practice.
"Shastina…with Friendship…" the second told the first, stating who's Crest will be revealed next. The first remained silent, holding a small canteen of water in his hand, but not taking a sip from it yet.
"She'll pass, you don't have to worry," the second tried to console the first. He remained quite still, finally taking a small sip.
"It'll be cold…" the first spoke softly. The second wasn't sure how to respond, knowing full well what the first was concerned about.
"Come on, let's train some more," the second offer, standing up and retrieving his weapon. The first stayed seated however, not moving from his spot, deaf to the previous statement.
"Or maybe not…" the second thought, driving his sword back into the ground and sitting down. There was silence between the two partners.
* * * * * *
Shastina flopped onto her bed, still in a horrid mood. No matter what she thought, she couldn't bring herself out of her negative mood.
"Shas…" Tigramon whimpered, leaping onto the bed and curling up beside Shastina. The teenage human glanced over to her Digimon, then back up at the ceiling. Her Digivice remained untouched on the night table since the morning, and it was already early afternoon.
"Maybe we should go look for Tao…" Tigramon offered. Shastina winced at the name, but remained motionless. Time ticked away slowly, Tigramon slowly becoming agitated with the silent air.
"Shastina, I think we should-"
"Would you shut up!" Shastina screamed out. It was a good thing her father wasn't in the house, or he would have become very suspicious.
Tigramon was taken aback by the sudden outburst. She was also surprised when Shastina's white Digivice opened a Digital Portal, as if there wasn't any worse timing, sucking both into the Digi-World.
* * * * * *
Shastina fell onto the arctic landscape, thankfully on her feet, as did Tigramon, who landed on her partner's shoulder. Nevertheless, the Digimon quickly leaped off the shoulder, now afraid of her partner.
"Shastina…" Tigramon muttered.
"Just leave me alone!" she continued to scream, and began to trudge through the landscape, unaffected by the cold and leaving Tigramon standing into the snow, stunned. Even when she recovered, the Digimon didn't chase after her partner. She was too devastated to go after Shastina.
"Shas…" she whimpered, a tear forming in her eye.
* * * * * *
Shastina continued to trudge through the snow, eventually reaching a small lake, the water frozen over. She stood still at the edge of the lake, staring.
"They shouldn't be near me…" she thought. "Anyone who gets near me just ends up injured…or worse…" She sniffled, taking a step onto the ice. She slipped a bit, but remained on her feet. "Maybe if I'm lucky, the ice will crack and I'll fall and freeze…" she thought in a strange and scary optimistic mental tone. She knelt down and stared at the ice, wondering how unstable it was.
"I'm a jinx…it would be better if I left the group…" she thought, smiling a little. "Heh, maybe I'll even be able to see Tao…in the life beyond here…"
"Damnit Tao…maybe if you didn't know me…maybe…this wouldn't have happened…" she continued, lying down on the ice and forgetting about the cold temperatures.
"Tao…" she whispered, closing her eyes. She placed her hands over her face, trying to restrain her crying, but failed miserably. Tears slowly slid down her cheek and touched the icy surface.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" a voice asked. Shastina slowly slid the hands away from her face and stared to her right. "A lone Digi-Destined without a Digimon…how nice…" Shastina stared at the Digimon in her sight.
Standing on the ice was a Digimon, humanoid like. She wore a black cape over her snow white, full body armour. She held a large scythe in her hands. The female Digimon's black eyes narrowed, a small smile forming from her lips.
"And may I get the name of my killer before my death?" Shastina asked carelessly, staring back up at the sky, making no move to get up.
"Sendomon…" she replied suspiciously. "And you're not afraid of death?"
"Go on, do it," Shastina spoke, stretching her arms across the ice. Sendomon blinked, but didn't refuse, raising her scythe and rushing forward across the ice.
Shastina closed her eyes, waiting for the end. She had no regrets, she held nothing. Death was the only thing she could accept now.
"BEAM OF CONVERGENCE!"
The blast of fire and ice energy pushed Sendomon back, halting her advance completely. The initial few seconds of the attack startled her, but she swatted the remainder of the beam away with her scythe.
"Curse…" she muttered, seeing Vormon and Marc at the edge of the ice rink.
"Shas!!" Marc cried out, trying to stimulate some response from the female. The Digi-Destined glanced over at Marc, but remained on the ice.
"Come on, what's wrong with you?" Marc thought, looking back at Vormon. He shrugged.
"One thing at a time, let's handle death lady over there," the Digimon told his partner. Marc loaded his Crest of Hope, but then a thought struck him.
"You get any bigger, that ice won't be able to support you and your attacks will annihilate the ice, killing Shas," he whispered to the Digimon.
"Then I'll do it like this," Vormon spoke, stepping onto the ice carefully. Sendomon giggled at this, knowing full well her ability to fight on ice surpassed her adversary.
"You're mine!" she screamed out, blasting across the ice, scythe reeled back and ready to strike.
"BEAM OF CONVERGENCE!"
The fire and ice attack blasted right towards Sendomon, but she easily evaded the attack, breaking stride for only a second.
"Woah!" Vormon cried out as her scythe slashed across his chest. The dragon like Digimon fell backwards, cracking the ice partially, but not breaking it. He slid across the ice, slowly trying to get back to his feet.
"No way!" Sendomon shouted, sliding back on the ice, dark energy charging into her weapon.
"DOOM SMASH!"
The black gale of energy slashed Vormon's arms as he made a sloppy attempt to dodge on the slippery surface. The attack ripped a hole into his arm, exposing it to the icy wind. Vormon used his other arm to cover the wound, but was stopped when another Doom Smash hacked his other arm. He fell over once more, with not as much force, and exhausted.
"Vormon!" Marc cried, unable to do anything but watch his companion fall.
"Die," Sendomon muttered, diving down from the sky.
Vormon let out a cry of pain as the weapon dived right into his stomach. The Digimon went tense, the blade entering through one side and out the other, cracking the ice. Sendomon slowly withdrew the curved weapon, leaving Vormon lying there, who somehow didn't revert back to his Rookie form.
"Vormon…" Marc whispered, falling to his knees. If the Digimon wasn't dead yet, he wouldn't survive much longer with those kinds of wounds. Sendomon grinned, turning her attention back to Shastina.
"Now…back to you my dear…" she whispered, slowly walking on the ice back to the teenage Digi-Destined.
"Vormon…Marc…it's a curse…you shouldn't come…" Shastina thought, closing her eyes once more. Sendomon stood over her original target and raised her bloody scythe.
"NO!" Tigramon shouted, leaping at Sendomon. Shastina's Digivice suddenly burst to life, empowering her Digimon even if she wished not to.
"Tigramon…Digivolve to…Toramon!"
The massive tiger Digimon knocked over Sendomon, pinning her to the ice for a short moment.
"Fool!" Sendomon cried out, kicking the tiger off her since Toramon had no true grip on such an icy surface. Nevertheless, Toramon landed on her feet, albeit still sliding across the ice slightly.
"T-Toramon…?" Shastina thought, wondering why her Digimon would fight for her even after she screamed at her Digimon. "Why…?" Shastina asked herself, slowly getting to her feet. Tigramon leapt at Sendomon again, but provided to be near fatal.
Sendomon ducked down, the tiger soaring over her. With one swipe, she opened a wound against Tigramon's chest. The Digimon fell onto the ice and skidded right into Shastina, though Shastina was able to provide the breaks to the skidding.
"Toramon…speak to me…" Shastina whispered into the Digimon's ear.
"I'm okay…no problem Shas…" she answered, slowly getting to her feet, though wobbly.
"Why Toramon…?" Shastina asked. "After what I did…I wasn't expecting you to come back…" Toramon snorted, almost making her fall.
"We're friends forever…you aren't losing me that easily…" the Digimon answered, getting ready to pounce once more.
"F-friends…?" Shastina stammered, as if it was the first time she heard this.
"I've forgotten the meaning of that…" she thought, watching Toramon leap back into action, despite the large wound across her chest.
"Now…everyone might die because of this…" Sendomon kicked the weaken tiger away before scathing one of Toramon's forelegs with her scythe.
"It's all my fault…" Shastina thought, sinking to her knees once more. "If only I wasn't so…so…so…selfish…this might not have happened."
Toramon fell down onto her side, leaving a completely exposed angle for Sendomon to kill her with.
"Toramon, no!!" Shastina screamed out.
Marc's Digivice began to react with the scream as the teenager tended to the dwindling Vormon. A light blue aura surrounded the device as the Crest of Friendship formed in front of it. The Crest streaked towards Shastina's Digivice, pausing the combat for a brief moment.
The Crest of Friendship registered on Shastina's Digivice, automatically activating.
"Toramon…Digivolve to…"
The tiger Digimon slowly stood upright on her hind legs, blue energy surrounding her form. Her Ultimate form was clearly humanoid, though much else was hard to distinguish through the energy. Her face was revealed, her sapphire eyes and blue lipstick. Silver hair flowed down her back with some blue streaks over the silver. Energy collected at her body, creating her blue, crystal like armour when the aura around her shattered into millions of tiny fragments. A long, flowing blue cloak formed from top to bottom on the back of her armour. In her left hand, more energy gathered, shooting out from both sides of her closed fist. The energy formed a shaft, a spearhead on each end of the staff. The double-edged spear lay in her hand.
"Akukorimon!"
If anyone just witnessed this event, they would never have known Akukorimon was wounded in her prior form. Her eyes narrowed menacingly at her foe, ready to clash. The two female humanoid like Digimon stood tall, neither making a move as they now assessed each other's capabilities.
"DOOM SMASH!"
Sendomon made the first move, skating forward on the ice and slashing with her scythe, creating the gale of dark energy. Akukorimon strafed left, the attack narrowly missing her. The Digimon quickly got back to her feet and kicked off the ice, using the low friction to add momentum to her assault. The spear tip was near inches away from Sendomon's chest before she could use her scythe as a hook to knock the spear point into the air, along with her blade.
Akukorimon quickly about faced, almost driving the back of her spear into Sendomon if not for the Digimon's lightning reflexes to evade the attack.
"You're good…" Sendomon commented, gracefully landing on the ice. She rushed again, unleashing another Doom Smash attack. Akukorimon leaped into the air, extending her right arm towards her enemy.
"GLACIER STORM!"
A small storm enwrapped Sendomon, distracting her sense as sharp ice shards impaled against her.
Akukorimon took the opening to the fullest, diving back down and driving her spear right through Sendomon and smashing into the ice. She let out a cry, her body still up from the support the spear gave. Her cry was quickly silenced.
"G-good fight…" she whispered in Akukorimon's ear, smiling faintly. Akukorimon was surprised, but had no time to question the other as she faded into bits of data, one with the snow.
Akukorimon exhaled, lowering her spear, then looked over at Vormon, wound still opened, and somehow he was still a champion. Steadily, she walked over to the fallen Digimon, placing a hand on his chest.
"Heh…l-look af-f-fter M-Marc f-for m-me…" he grunted painfully, clasping the humanoid hand in his own dragon like hands.
"Don't say that…you'll survive…" Akukorimon spoke softly. Blue aura surrounded her body, causing a small storm of snow to surround Vormon. The Digimon disappeared for a second.
"Ice Blizzard Heal…" Akukorimon whispered, Vormon phasing back. His wound was closed, and he was breathing normally. Blinding energy surrounded the two as they reverted back to their Rookie forms. Both fell flat onto the ice, Xemon fainting from the experience and Tigramon blacking out from using too much energy.
Fin
Completed: 02/12/01
