Human, Digimon, or...?
Part III
by Christian "Sid" Lang
It would be an understatement to say that Ruki is angry.
To vent her anger, she punches the wall to her right as she is walking home.
How dares she!
*PUNCH*
She had it right there! But then...
*PUNCH*
...then...
*PUNCH*
...
*PUNCH*
...
*PUNCH*
Ruki stares at her hand and is surprised to see that it's bleeding.
Slowly she turns around and takes a look at the wall.
She flinches when she notices that there are three red dots marking the last three punches.
Cursing, the Digimon Queen starts to run.
After what seemed to last an eternity, Ruki arrives at home.
Fortunately, her grandmother hasn't noticed her being away.
Since her hand has stopped bleeding a while ago, Ruki heads straight for her room.
Renamon's got a lot of explaining to do... she thinks, trying not to clench her right hand.
She stops in front of her door since two things have changed since her departure.
The first thing she notices is that her D-Arc and her cards are lying in front of the door.
All of the cards are stored neatly inside Ruki's deck-holder.
Her Renamon card is, of course, the top card.
Nice try to say...
Then she notices the note that has been attached to her door.
"I'm sorry." she reads out loud, frowning.
Holding her D-Arc and her cards, Ruki opens her door.
Nice try, Renamon. But you've got to say more than just-
"What the..." she slowly mutters when she sees her room.
While all of her cards have been stored away with so much care, the rest of the room looks like a battlefield.
Her first thought is that somebody has robbed her place.
But that wouldn't make any sense since her most prized belongings are her cards and the D-Arc.
As she slowly steps into her room, she notices claw marks on the floor.
She carefully clears the floor with her foot and examines the marks.
"What the..." she repeats when she realizes that the claw marks are actually letters forming words.
After clearing the rest of the floor, Ruki gasps as she can now make out the words:
'NO PET'
"Oh, Ruki." Renamon sighs.
The Digimon has chosen a small children's playground to rest.
By now she is sitting on top of the small slide, regretting what she had done this evening.
"First I attack this creature alone, almost getting killed in the process."
She stares at the moon, as if hoping that it can answer her questions.
"Then I get the chance to finish it off and I just go away. Hooray for me."
She notices a faint screeching sound and looks around.
Finally she looks down and realizes that she had absent-mindedly scratched something into the slide.
NO PET
These words seem to haunt her ever since that creature had called her that way.
Which brings Renamon to her third act of shame.
Ruki's room.
After arriving at her room, she had sorted Ruki's cards with an unhuman patience.
Having taken care of the cards, she had... vented her anger.
Groaning, Renamon puts one paw over her eyes.
"My my... Would you look at that. A homeless pet..." somebody behind her cheerfully states.
Oh please, let it be Impmon. Or some drunk. Renamon thinks, still holding her paw over her eyes.
Finally she turns her head and-
Fate must be on the Pro-Ruki side today...
"It's you." she just answers.
The wolf steps out of the shadows and looks up at her.
"So this is your home?" the wolf asks, seemingly not noticing her frustration.
"If you have come to finish your job, then please do it quickly." Renamon pleads.
The wolf stares at her with a hard expression.
"Listen. I never wanted to fight." he almost barks.
Slowly, Renamon nods.
Right. It... No... He told me that before I... attacked.
The wolf seems to notice Renamon's confusion and gives her a weak smile.
"What are you?" Renamon finally asks.
Now the wolf looks puzzled.
"I mean... You're clearly not human. But I have never seen a Digimon like you."
"What is a Digimon?" the wolf simply asks.
Definately no Digimon. Renamon tells herself.
Sanjay sighs.
Leaning against the construction Renamon is sitting on, he starts his story.
"My name is Sanjay and I am a member of the Clan of the Wolves.
I guess you don't know my land. Or my world.
I normally live in a huge forest inhabited by many Clans.
Once we roamed the whole land but one day, Man came and settled.
When Man started to spread over the land, we retreated into the forest.
The humans respected the forest as our land and we even lived in peace for a while."
The yellow fox swiftly jumps off the construction and stands next to him now.
"To avoid more wars, the Clans decided to split the forest into small portions."
"Wait. There have been wars among these... Clans?" Renamon asks.
Sanjay laughs shortly.
"Do you actually believe that all of us were trying to avoid a fight like me?
Of course there have been wars. But we decided to stop them to stand a chance against the humans.
Then, once day, a human mage came into the forest and built a tower in its center.
The tower was standing on all Clan's territories since we split the forest like a pie.
He knew it. He wanted to make us angry. Maybe that's why the humans just called him Dark One.
Of course, all Clans sent their warriors to drive the human out of the forest."
Renamon draws in her breath, sensing what followed.
"Nobody ever returned. I was among one of the parties, acting as a healer.
The Dark One was waiting for us, toying with us. Then he did some kind of flash and..."
"And landed here?" Renamon asks with wide eyes.
Sanjay just nods.
Renamon doesn't know what to say.
She has just been confronted with the history of another culture.
A culture whose enemy was just known as Man.
Worse yet, the one who told her about it wasn't even a fighter, but a healer.
So he came here, alone and confused, maybe searching for one of his kind...
And I had nothing better to do than force him into a fight. Great. Just great.
Still, the wolf that calls himself Sanjay is still friendly.
"I'm sorry." she finally says, offering him her paw.
Sanjay actually smiles and accepts it.
"And I have to thank you." she quickly adds.
"Oh?"
"For healing me after... well, after what I did."
Sanjay just shrugs.
After a while, Renamon is also smiling.
"So, you're that little girl's pet?" Sanjay asks, smiling innocently.
Renamon's smile fades away instantly and is replaced by a snarl.
Seeing that, Sanjay's smile widens even more.
"Yep, thought so." he mutters.
Just as she wants to give him a snappy response, she can hear a familiar voice in the distance.
"Renamon! This is not funny!"
Ranamon's head quickly turns around to check how close Ruki is.
After making sure that she isn't yet in sight, she turns back to Sanjay.
Or rather, to the place that had been occupied by Sanjay.
Gasping in surprise, Renamon realizes that the wolf has vanished during the few moments she hadn't been looking.
He can't be far. she tells herself.
"I know you're here somewhere! And I'm furious enough already!"
Hearing that, Renamon dismisses any thoughts of a chase with a sigh.
Slowly moving towards her partner, a last thought makes Renamon smile again.
One day, I will tell you that I am not a pet. You're not getting away that easily.
Part III
by Christian "Sid" Lang
It would be an understatement to say that Ruki is angry.
To vent her anger, she punches the wall to her right as she is walking home.
How dares she!
*PUNCH*
She had it right there! But then...
*PUNCH*
...then...
*PUNCH*
...
*PUNCH*
...
*PUNCH*
Ruki stares at her hand and is surprised to see that it's bleeding.
Slowly she turns around and takes a look at the wall.
She flinches when she notices that there are three red dots marking the last three punches.
Cursing, the Digimon Queen starts to run.
After what seemed to last an eternity, Ruki arrives at home.
Fortunately, her grandmother hasn't noticed her being away.
Since her hand has stopped bleeding a while ago, Ruki heads straight for her room.
Renamon's got a lot of explaining to do... she thinks, trying not to clench her right hand.
She stops in front of her door since two things have changed since her departure.
The first thing she notices is that her D-Arc and her cards are lying in front of the door.
All of the cards are stored neatly inside Ruki's deck-holder.
Her Renamon card is, of course, the top card.
Nice try to say...
Then she notices the note that has been attached to her door.
"I'm sorry." she reads out loud, frowning.
Holding her D-Arc and her cards, Ruki opens her door.
Nice try, Renamon. But you've got to say more than just-
"What the..." she slowly mutters when she sees her room.
While all of her cards have been stored away with so much care, the rest of the room looks like a battlefield.
Her first thought is that somebody has robbed her place.
But that wouldn't make any sense since her most prized belongings are her cards and the D-Arc.
As she slowly steps into her room, she notices claw marks on the floor.
She carefully clears the floor with her foot and examines the marks.
"What the..." she repeats when she realizes that the claw marks are actually letters forming words.
After clearing the rest of the floor, Ruki gasps as she can now make out the words:
'NO PET'
"Oh, Ruki." Renamon sighs.
The Digimon has chosen a small children's playground to rest.
By now she is sitting on top of the small slide, regretting what she had done this evening.
"First I attack this creature alone, almost getting killed in the process."
She stares at the moon, as if hoping that it can answer her questions.
"Then I get the chance to finish it off and I just go away. Hooray for me."
She notices a faint screeching sound and looks around.
Finally she looks down and realizes that she had absent-mindedly scratched something into the slide.
NO PET
These words seem to haunt her ever since that creature had called her that way.
Which brings Renamon to her third act of shame.
Ruki's room.
After arriving at her room, she had sorted Ruki's cards with an unhuman patience.
Having taken care of the cards, she had... vented her anger.
Groaning, Renamon puts one paw over her eyes.
"My my... Would you look at that. A homeless pet..." somebody behind her cheerfully states.
Oh please, let it be Impmon. Or some drunk. Renamon thinks, still holding her paw over her eyes.
Finally she turns her head and-
Fate must be on the Pro-Ruki side today...
"It's you." she just answers.
The wolf steps out of the shadows and looks up at her.
"So this is your home?" the wolf asks, seemingly not noticing her frustration.
"If you have come to finish your job, then please do it quickly." Renamon pleads.
The wolf stares at her with a hard expression.
"Listen. I never wanted to fight." he almost barks.
Slowly, Renamon nods.
Right. It... No... He told me that before I... attacked.
The wolf seems to notice Renamon's confusion and gives her a weak smile.
"What are you?" Renamon finally asks.
Now the wolf looks puzzled.
"I mean... You're clearly not human. But I have never seen a Digimon like you."
"What is a Digimon?" the wolf simply asks.
Definately no Digimon. Renamon tells herself.
Sanjay sighs.
Leaning against the construction Renamon is sitting on, he starts his story.
"My name is Sanjay and I am a member of the Clan of the Wolves.
I guess you don't know my land. Or my world.
I normally live in a huge forest inhabited by many Clans.
Once we roamed the whole land but one day, Man came and settled.
When Man started to spread over the land, we retreated into the forest.
The humans respected the forest as our land and we even lived in peace for a while."
The yellow fox swiftly jumps off the construction and stands next to him now.
"To avoid more wars, the Clans decided to split the forest into small portions."
"Wait. There have been wars among these... Clans?" Renamon asks.
Sanjay laughs shortly.
"Do you actually believe that all of us were trying to avoid a fight like me?
Of course there have been wars. But we decided to stop them to stand a chance against the humans.
Then, once day, a human mage came into the forest and built a tower in its center.
The tower was standing on all Clan's territories since we split the forest like a pie.
He knew it. He wanted to make us angry. Maybe that's why the humans just called him Dark One.
Of course, all Clans sent their warriors to drive the human out of the forest."
Renamon draws in her breath, sensing what followed.
"Nobody ever returned. I was among one of the parties, acting as a healer.
The Dark One was waiting for us, toying with us. Then he did some kind of flash and..."
"And landed here?" Renamon asks with wide eyes.
Sanjay just nods.
Renamon doesn't know what to say.
She has just been confronted with the history of another culture.
A culture whose enemy was just known as Man.
Worse yet, the one who told her about it wasn't even a fighter, but a healer.
So he came here, alone and confused, maybe searching for one of his kind...
And I had nothing better to do than force him into a fight. Great. Just great.
Still, the wolf that calls himself Sanjay is still friendly.
"I'm sorry." she finally says, offering him her paw.
Sanjay actually smiles and accepts it.
"And I have to thank you." she quickly adds.
"Oh?"
"For healing me after... well, after what I did."
Sanjay just shrugs.
After a while, Renamon is also smiling.
"So, you're that little girl's pet?" Sanjay asks, smiling innocently.
Renamon's smile fades away instantly and is replaced by a snarl.
Seeing that, Sanjay's smile widens even more.
"Yep, thought so." he mutters.
Just as she wants to give him a snappy response, she can hear a familiar voice in the distance.
"Renamon! This is not funny!"
Ranamon's head quickly turns around to check how close Ruki is.
After making sure that she isn't yet in sight, she turns back to Sanjay.
Or rather, to the place that had been occupied by Sanjay.
Gasping in surprise, Renamon realizes that the wolf has vanished during the few moments she hadn't been looking.
He can't be far. she tells herself.
"I know you're here somewhere! And I'm furious enough already!"
Hearing that, Renamon dismisses any thoughts of a chase with a sigh.
Slowly moving towards her partner, a last thought makes Renamon smile again.
One day, I will tell you that I am not a pet. You're not getting away that easily.
