West Shinjuku, Tokyo
Yamaki finally finds his address book under the ton of papers on his kitchen
table. It'd been a long time since he'd used it; the only people he keeps in
touch with are his co-workers at Hypnos. But, he had to talk to Ubihara, that
kid was just bugging him. It looked too much like his old partner's son.
Picking up his cell phone from the counter, he quickly dialed the number and
waited for someone to pick up.
"Hello?" asks a voice on the other end of the line.
"Shigeru? Its me, Yamaki," he replies with a smile.
"Yamaki? How have you been? It's been so long since I heard from you. I
heard you're the head of a new department," says Shigeru. Yamaki takes off
his sunglass and sits in one of the chairs.
"I'm fine, how's Emiko?" asks Yamaki, picking up a picture from the
pile of papers. Its an old picture, they'd taken it back when he was still
partners with Shigeru. It was at Tokyo Tower, he is standing next to Shigeru,
who's got his arm around Emiko. Standing in front of them is little Shinji,
he'd been about two years old then, and next to Emiko is Reily. That was almost
ten years ago..
"She's got a job over here as a secretary," replies Shigeru.
"And how's Shinji?" he asks.
"Ok, he's doing great in school. Emiko keeps telling me he's pretty good
at that card game that's popular now. Came in second place in the National
Tournament. Oh yeah, he's in Tokyo right now," says Shigeru.
Crap...it's him, thinks Yamaki.
"So, what's going on over in Tokyo, Yamaki? How's Reily?" asks
Shigeru. Yamaki clears his head, takes a deep breath, and smiles.
_____
West Shinjuku Park, Tokyo
Renamon looks down at her reflection in the fountain water, the sound of
running water soothing in her ears. She had wanted to tell Rika of her
feelings, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. But…why? Even after how
close they've gotten, she still can't talk to her about her feelings.
Especially now…
"That digimon…" whispers Renamon, closing her eyes and visualizing
the digimon she'd met in the park earlier that day. She could see his gentle
brown eyes, his strong hands, his voice…it's as if he is actually there. She
opens her eyes and looks up at the moon, her fur swaying in a slight breeze.
Suddenly, she can hear a twig snap under someone's foot.
Renamon spins to her right, putting the fountain behind her and facing the
stranger.
"I…" she says. The stranger lets his hat get blown away by the
breeze, his trenchcoat moving with the wind.
"Hello, Renamon," says Kouji. The two just stand there, silently
staring at eachother, neither knowing what to say next. Renamon gains some
composure and finally speaks.
"Wh-who are you?" she asks.
"My name is Kouji," he replies quietly. Renamon can only smile, it
seems that they both have the same personality, and the inability to show their
emotions. Now is the time for her to get over it.
"I've been thinking about you, Kouji," says Renamon. Now it is
Kouji's turn to smile.
"Me too. I mean I've been thinking about you, not me..." says Kouji,
blushing a bit and looking to his left. Renamon walks over to him and smiles
again. Kouji looks up and into her eyes.
"Renamon..." he says with a smile. She closes her eyes and Kouji
leans toward her..
"HEY! LAY OFF THE BABE!" yells Impmon, hurling a fireball at Kouji's
feet from a nearby tree.
"Hey!" yells Kouji, jumping back a foot to avoid the attack. Renamon
stares angrily at the small purple digimon.
"Impmon!" she yells, seriously pissed.
"What?" he asks innocently, putting his hands behind his back and
whistling.
"FIRE BLAST!" yells Kouji, hurling a fireball at Impmon.
"YAAHH!!" screams Impmon, diving off of the branch just seconds
before it explodes into a shower of burning of splinters, "Hey! Watch
where you're throwing that!"
"Good shot," says Renamon, surpressing a laugh as Impmon's head pops
up from a nearby bush.
"Thanks," replies Kouji, "Want to take a walk?"
"Gladly," she answers, and the two walk away in the opposite
direction of Impmon.
"Hey! Where are you going?! Get me out of this bush! Argh..." yells
Impmon, struggling to get out of the bush.
_____
Shinjuku Heights Hotel
West Shinjuku, Tokyo
Just as Shinji gets out of the bathroom, having finished getting dressed after
his shower, there is a knock at the hotel room door.
"It's unlocked, Kouji," he says, throwing the towel he'd been using
to dry his hair with in the corner. But the person just keeps knocking.
Sighing, Shinji walks over to the door and opens it. Standing there is a tall
man in a black suit, wearing sunglasses, who looks vaguely familiar.
"Hello, Shinji," he says, smiling.
"Uhh...do I know you?" asks Shinji, confused.
"You don't recognize me?" replies the man, taking off his sunglasses.
"Yamaki-san!" says Shinji, a big smile plastered on his face as he
recognizes his father's old friend, "How did you know I was here?"
Shinji closes the door as Yamaki walks inside and sits on a chair.
"I called your father, he said you were in Tokyo, so I came by to say
hi," replies Yamaki. As Shinji walks to the other side of the room to get
something, Yamaki can only amaze at how much he's grown. It's been six years
since Shigeru got transferred to Osaka and moved his family with him, Shinji
had been only eight at the time.
"Didn't Reily come with you?" asks Shinji, putting on a blue jean
jacket and walking back over to Yamaki.
"No, she doesn't know yet. I'll tell her tomorrow," says Yamaki,
"Do you got any coffee here?"
"I don't know, let me check," he replies, walking back to the other
side of the room and checking a coffemaker on a desk, "Yeah, I'll make
some. Wait a minute."
"Yeah, sure, ok," says Yamaki, noticing the bag next to his chair on
the floor. There is a small device inside, some sort of card scanner.
"Hey, what's this thing?" he asks, picking it up. Shinji looks back
over at Yamaki to see what he's talking about.
"Oh, that's a card reader, its used in the Digimon Card Game," Shinji
replies off-handedly, walking over to Yamaki and takes it from him, "Let
me show you how it works." Shinji reaches back into the back, takes out a
card case and pulls out a card.
"What's wrong?" asks Yamaki as Shinji just stares at the card.
"I've never seen this card before," he replies, staring at the blue
card in his hand. Almost without thinking, he slashes it through the scanner.
Suddenly, the device starts to glow in his hand, its shape changing before his
very eyes.
"What's happening?!" yells Yamaki, jumping from his chair as Shinji
throws the shape-shifting scanner onto the nearest bed. By the time it reaches,
though, it stops glowing and has assumed a new form.
"What the hell.." says Shinji, picking up the device. Yamaki
immediately recognizes it; the kids he'd been monitoring carry similar devices.
Shinji flips the device over in his hand and looks at the back.
"Its some sort of digivice...hey, there's something written here:
'D-Arc'," he continues.
_____
West Shinjuku Park, Tokyo
Renamon shivers as a gust of wind blows up around her and Kouji. It had been
warm just a moment earlier, but now its as cold as winter in Hokkaido, she can
even see her own breath.
"Are you cold? Here, take this," says Kouji, taking off his
trenchcoat and putting it over her shoulders.
"Won't you be cold?" asks Renamon, putting her arms into the warm
sleeves.
"Nah, if I get cold I'll just blast some bush," he replies jokingly.
They take only a few steps forward when suddenly there is a massive blast of
cold air from directly in front of them, the wind speed nearly gale force. It
quickly dies down, but when Renamon looks up she is frozen with terror.
"I-it can't be! You're dead!" screams Renamon, staring at the
creature before her. Kouji only stares with curiosity, not quite sure what to
think.
"Who are you?" he asks calmly, readying himself for a fight.
"IceDevimon..." whispers Renamon, her eyes wide with shock and terror.
The frozen demon just smiles at them, his arms crossed before his chest.
"I am the fallen angel, I shall not die, my return is imminent," says
IceDevimon, his calm voice creepy in the silence that has fallen over the area,
"Renamon, our time has come."
"You leave her alone!" yells Kouji, quickly putting himself in
between her and IceDevimon. IceDevimon silently sneers at him and stretches his
tattered wings to their full span. The icy beast then leaps at Kouji, pulling
its right arm back to deliver a blow to its opponent. Kouji quickly thrusts
both of his hands in front of him.
"MAGNA FL…urg!!" he yells, just as IceDevimon gets right on top of
him and thrusts its hand through his chest and out his back.
"KOUJI!!!" screams Renamon as everything seemingly goes into slow
motion. Kouji reels from the unimagined pained as the monster pulls its hand
back out and delivers a solid kick to his side, throwing him into a lightpole
at the side of the walkway before he falls to the cold pavement. Then the demon
turns its attention to Renamon. Renamon doesn't think as the monster leaps
toward her, she lets her emotions guide her as she jumps into the air above it.
"DIAMOND STORM!" she screams, unleashing her attack upon IceDevimon.
But instead of the attack having any effect, it just hits the pavement below as
the monster just vanishes, blowing away like some smoke. Renamon lands and
immediately runs to Kouji's side, that's when she notices that there's no blood
on the ground. In fact, there isn't even a wound, except for the bruise from
where he hit the lightpole.
"Kouji..." whispers Renamon, gently touching his arm. Suddenly, he
moves slightly and coughs.
"Ow," he says, weakly opening one of his eyes, "Renamon, you're
crying." Renamon just smiles and wipes a tear away.
"I'm just glad you're ok," she says.
_____
"Huh?" says Impmon as he walks past the small building that Guilmon
uses as a 'house', noticing a dull light emanating from inside. Curious, the
mischief-maker runs up the steps and takes a look inside. Its dark again, the
light having subsided, so Impmon forms a small fireball so he can see.
"What the…?" says Impmon as he looks at the reptillian digimon
silently sleeping. Guilmon now sports two white bat-like wings attached to his
shoulders.
_____
Well, this chapter is a little longer than the others, and I hope you liked it.
As always, I'll try to have the next chapter as soon as possible. I've also
fixed some technical errors pointed out by Devidramon in the previous chapters.
Thanks for reading so far!
