Digital Demons - Part 5
by Nopporn Wongrassamee
Disclaimer - All characters belong to whoever owns
them. I am doing this for fun and making no money
off this work.
As the overcrowded old convertable tore down the
street, Rika looked over her shoulder at the giant
bowling ball chasing after them. It was catching
up.
"Where did that thing come from?" Rika asked no one
in particular.
"You remember those guys in the suits?" Grandma
asked in reply. "That's their fusion mode. They can
get together and form, well, all sorts of things."
"How do you know that?" Jade asked.
"I used to be a secret agent in my youth," Grandma
replied modestly. "I fought them. We called them
'Invaders' because we thought they were aliens from
outer space."
"You fought them with super powers?" Jade deduced,
putting together what she saw Grandma do earlier
with what was being explained now. She looked at
Grandma, then Renamon, then frowned thoughtfully to
herself.
"Grandma, I never knew that," Rika said at
Grandma's nod. She was impressed.
"That's the secret part of being a secret agent,"
Grandma replied wryly. She glanced over her
shoulder. "Strange, but they're not shooting at us.
I wonder why?"
The convertable swerved just in time to avoid
several missiles from above. HyperHsiWuMon flew
around for another pass.
"Lady, I don't care why your Invaders aren't
shooting at us," Finn interjected. He pointed up at
the circling Digimon. "But he still is!"
"I got an idea," Jade said suddenly. "Ratso, take
the next right."
"Finn?" Ratso glanced at his supposed boss.
"Do it, Ratso!" Finn ordered as another bombardment
from HyperHsiWuMon almost hit them.
The car skidded around the corner at speed. The
Invaders turned the same corner moments later. The
ball clipped a building, showering the street with
debris. It hardly slowed them down. Luckily, this
street was light on traffic, allowing the car to
pick up some speed.
Unfortunately, the road was blocked.
The Shadowkhan had piled themselves up on each
other in a crude parody of the Invaders' fusion
mode. They had formed a barrier to stop the car
with the sheer mass of their bodies.
Everybody screamed. They were going too fast to
stop.
"Renamon!" Rika shouted.
"DIAMOND STORM!" Instantly, the yellow Digimon
hurled herself from her precarious position on the
trunk to the car's hood. As she did so, she hurled
her signature cloud of digital diamonds at the
Shadowkhan. The center of the ninja wall exploded
into blue mist an instant before their car roared
through.
"Anybody care to let us know what's going on?" Chow
asked when he got his breath back. "Why the heck
are we being chased?"
"Something to do with Calumon, here," Jade replied
pointing to the Digimon in Rika's arms. "And that's
all I know. Hey, Calumon, why are we being chased?"
"I'm carrying the Catalyst again," Calumon told
them.
"The what?" Jade asked, confused.
"Aw, no, not again," Rika groaned. "Why is that?"
"Strange and powerful Digimon appeared in the
Digital World after the destruction of the
D-Reaper," Renamon answered. "They actually
defeated the Sovereigns." She pointed at the
Digimon in the sky taking pot shots at them.
"That's one of them."
"What?" Jade exclaimed, thinking furiously. "Lemme
guess, are there eight of them?"
"Why yes," Renamon answered. "How did you know?"
***
"It's headed where?!" Captain Black shouted into
his head set.
"Captain Black, what is it?" Jackie asked.
"Miles says that the Invaders are headed right for
Section 13," Black relayed. He hauled on the wheel,
redirecting the AEGISmobile down a side street. A
glance in the rear view mirror showed the other
AEGISmobile was still with him. "We have to
intercept it."
"How did the Invaders find out about Section 13?"
Yamaki asked.
"Jade!" Jackie realized aloud. "If they're chasing
Jade, then Jade will want to go where she knows to
find help."
"Hmm, it might not be Jade they're chasing," Yamaki
mused. "It might be someone with her."
"Ah, I think we found them," Black said, spotting a
convertable with a yellow furry something on its
hood zoom across the intersection ahead. Moments
later, a black sphere followed. Hauling the
AEGISmobile in another tight turn, the sphere was
fully visible. It was also pulling away from them.
"Time to break out the Big Gun!"
"Big gun?" Jackie echoed.
Then the AEGISmobile began to transform.
***
"We're almost there," Jade murmured to herself. She
turned to the other girl. "Hey, Red..."
"Rika," the other girl corrected. "My name is
Rika."
"Right, whatever," Jade said. "You're partnered to,
um, Reddamon, here, right?"
"Her name's Renamon," Rika corrected again, "and,
yeah, we're partners."
"So, can't you make her digivolve?" Jade asked.
"Y'know, like on the TV show."
"I, ah, left all my cards in Japan," Rika said,
embarrassed."
"What do cards have to do with it?" Jade asked.
Rika looked down at Calumon. She remembered once
that Takato theorized that the cards were nothing
more than a mental crutch. Subsequent events seemed
to prove him right. "Now, that I think about it,"
she said slowly, "nothing at all."
Before she could add anything more, another barrage
from HyperHsiWuMon rocked the car. "Hey, Hsi Wu!
Your aim sucks big time!" Jade taunted.
Enraged by Jade's taunt and frustrated by the long
chase, HyperHsiWuMon divebombed the car again. But
instead of releasing more bombs again, he tackled
Renamon, knocking her into the crowded passenger
seats and taking her place on the hood.
"Now," HyperHsiWuMon growled, reaching for Calumon,
"give me that..."
He never got the opportunity to finish. The Invader
ball following them finally opened fire.
***
The Invaders had been patient. With one Digimon in
the air and the other two fleeing in the car, they
had decided to bide their time until an opportunity
to concentrate their fire presented itself. The
moment came when HyperHsiWuMon landed on the car,
providing the perfect target.
They then unleashed a machine gun barrage of...
themselves. Each projectile was an Invader drone
who had shapeshifted itself into a spherical form.
Each one struck like a cannonball. Many missed the
fleeing car. Many did not.
The impacts flipped the vehicle like a child's toy.
***
"No," Jackie whispered in horror. "Jade..." As the
AEGISmobile swerved to avoid a piece of debris, he
caught a glimpse of what was happening ahead.
Behind the Invaders, the two AEGISmobiles had
transformed. Armor panels had been extruded. On
Black's, a tube almost as long as the vehicle whose
appearance practically screamed "gun!" rose from
the top of the vehicle.
"Dammit, no!" Black shouted, having seen the same
thing. He slammed on the brakes to avoid running
into the Invader sphere as it suddenly slowed down.
The other AEGISmobile pulled up beside them,
extruding a socket to connect to the first. "Is
that thing ready yet?"
Yamaki glanced at several readouts an anonymoous
gunner's shoulder. "Yes, it is," he said. "They
both are."
"Then fire!"
"The Big Gun", as Black called it, had been
originally designed for use against rogue Digimon
of Ultimate level and maybe even higher. Built into
it was a more refined version of the Juggernaut
program Yamaki had originally made to use against
Digimon. The Gun was more discriminate, designed to
destroy only what it was aimed at, leaving any
presumably friendly Diigimon in the area untouched.
But the Invaders weren't Digimon.
The side of the Invader sphere exploded in a shower
of individual Invader drones. But none of them had
been outright destroyed. There was a large crater
in the sphere now, and the drones blown off began
to float up and back into position.
"Shoot it again!" Jackie said.
"We can't," Black said, slumping in his seat. "The
gun needs an hour to recharge before we can use it
again. In fact, the power requirement is so high
that one of the AEGISmobiles has to be dedicated
to generating it while the other mounts the actual
gun."
Jackie looked back at the sphere as it reassembled
itself. He could almost feel it stare menacingly at
them.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Yamaki
staring at the Invaders, too. His eyebrows were
knitted in a slight frown. Puzzlement? Anger? With
those sunglasses Yamaki always seem to wear. Jackie
couldn't tell.
The Sphere began rolling away from them.
***
She hurt.
Ruriko woke up in pain. The others were sprawled on
the pavement, unconscious. The car was a complte
loss. The Invader drones that had been shot at them
were floating over to the ball, rejoining the mass.
Ruriko spotted the girls. They were still and
bloody, but she could see they were breathing. They
were alive!
They were also helpless. Ruriko saw a furious
HyperHsiWuMon get off the pavement, uninjured. Both
Renamon and Calumon were out cold as well. Rika was
curled around the latter, apparently in an attempt
to protect the little Digimon.
No, not quite helpless, Ruriko realized. There was
one thing she could do.
"Gate open," she whispered, painfully lifting a
hand above her head. Above her, the gate she
summoned opened wide, bathing everybody in its
healing light. Unlike some other Gatekeepers,
Ruriko's Gate was poorly suited to combat,
requiring props like a bow and arrow to channel her
Gate's energies. But Ruriko's Gate power was the
power of life, and in that arena, none could match
her at all.
Once, Ruriko had turned a mountain winter into
summer, undoing another Gatekeeper's unintended
effects. Beside that, healing everyone's injuries
was almost no effort at all.
***
Rika opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was
Renamon lying inert on the ground. Above her stood
HyperHsiWuMon, poised to strike the helpless
Digimon.
"Renamon!" Rika called out, reaching out with her
hand...and more than her hand. Her digivice flashed
as Renamon's eyes popped open.
Renamon digivolved, growing in size and shifting
to a four footed form. HyperHsiWuMon stumbled
backwards in the glaring light of digivolution.
Renamon was no longer Renamon. She was now called
Kyubimon.
HyperHsiWuMon was no fool. As Kyubimon turned to
him, he didn't wait for an attack or even witty
banter. He hit her. Hard.
***
"This does not look good," Ratso commented watching
a very one sided fight take place.
"I'll say," Chow added, looking in a completely
different direction. "That ball's coming toward us,
again!"
"I say we run," Finn suggested.
"Good plan," Chow agreed. "I like that plan."
They ran.
***
Rika doubled over. With each blow HyperHsiWuMon
rained on Kyubimon, Jade saw Rika suffer a similar
injury. Jade spotted Rika's grandmother nearby,
getting unsteadily to her feet. An idea formed in
Jade's mind. Maybe Rika's empathic connection with
her Digimon could also be a two way street.
She rushed over to the woman and grabbed her hand.
"C'mon, lady," Jade insisted, "your granddaughter
needs your help."
"What?" the lady replied. She shook her head to
clear it, realizing what was going on. "Yes, of
course."
Wrapping her arms around her granddaughter, the two
were suddenly infused with light. The healing light
repaired Rika's injuries and traveled her link to
Kyubimon. Rika's Digimon could now take the blows
better, but was still unable to make any attacks of
her own.
Behind her, Jade heard something crunch. Spinning
around, she saw a parked car vanish under the
rolling Invader ball. It was apparently content to
crush the lot of them underneath it.
But Jade also spied the phone booth.
"Keep them busy!" Jade told Rika and her grandma,
unsure if they heard her at all. "I'll be right
back!"
With that, Jade dashed to the phone booth. A moment
later, the booth disappeared into the ground into
the depths of Section 13.
***
Even with Grandma's support, Rika could feel
Kyubimon's strength flagging with each blow. Her
partner needed to Digivolve again. But there was no
blue card. There were no friends to help; they were
all in Japan.
No, not all her friends were in Japan. Her Grandma
was here. Calumon was here.
Calumon. Where was Calumon?
"Calumon?" Rika called weakly. "I need your help."
"I'm here, Rika," Calumon replied, nuzzling up
against her.
"Kyubimon needs your help to digivolve, Calumon,"
Rika explained.
"Okay," Calumon agreed readily. "But how do I do
that without zapping HyperHsiWuMon, too?"
"Uh..." Rika hadn't quite thought that far ahead.
While she groped for an answer, something zoomed
past them, hitting HyperHsiWuMon and knocking him
a hundred feet away from Kyubimon.
It was Jade. She was flying.
"Stupid Talismans!" Rika heard HyperHsiWuMon rage
in the distance. She could see him get up again.
"Now, Calumon!" Rika ordered. There was no time to
waste.
***
Talismans.
Jade's very first adventures had revolved around
Talismans. Each of these ancient artifacts imbued
the bearer with specific powers. Each Talisman was
identified by an animal from the Chinese zodiac. The
Rooster provided levitation. The Rabbit, speed. The
Bull, strength.
Jade had helped her uncle Jackie recover all twelve
Talismans. The Talismans had been stored in Section
13 to keep them from being misused by anybody. But
Jade knew where they were, what they could do, how
to use them, and how to get them. She had "borrowed"
them from Section 13 so many times over the years,
she almost considered them her property.
In the instant Kyubimon digivolved into Taomon, Jade
had to make a choice. Continue to attack Hsi Wu
while he was off balance or attack the Invader
ball rolling towards Rika and her grandmother. She
only had an instant because the Invaders were mere
seconds away from crushing the two underneath.
That was no choice at all.
Jade hit the sphere dead center, bringing it to a
complete halt.
***
"Uh, Rika, I think we should move," Ruriko suggested
to her granddaughter. Jade punched the ball. It was
nudged backwards slightly. Ruriko wondered where
Jade's powers had suddenly come from. Jade's was far
too sure in the use of her powers for them to be new
to her.
"Uh, yeah," Rika agreed. Picking up Calumon, she led
them out of the thing's shadow.
"Rika!" Taomon called. "He's coming back!"
HyperHsiWuMon was charging back at them. This time,
Taomon was ready. Pulling an absurdly large paint
brush from her sleeve, she painted a letter in the
air which projected itself at the charging Digimon.
It splattered against a shield he erected in his
defense.
Twisting in mid air, HyperHsiWuMon returned fire by
the expedient of shooting his tail at Taomon. The
tail missile burst into swarms of smaller missiles
that smashed against Taomon's own shield. This was
immediately followed by HyperHsiWuMon himself. He
struck Taomon's shield, cracking but not quite
penetrating it. But it sent Taomon reeling away,
letting the evil Digimon turn his attention on the
observers on the ground.
As he started to dive towards them, Ruriko was
thinking furiously. The only one of them with any
powers on the ground, she was trying to think of
some way to defend them. No bow, no arrows, only her
Gate.
Her Gate. An idea began to form in her mind.
And then Jade was back, engaging HyperHsiWuMon in an
airborne display of hand to hand combat punctuated
by the occaisional energy bolt. Jade loosed a flurry
of punches and kicks on her opponent. HyperHsiWuMon
was slower than Jade, but he could take the hits
she dished out and return some of his own.
And then as quickly as it started, it was over. With
a grab of the wrist and a spin in the air, Jade was
flung to the ground in front of the Invaders. When
Jade had stopped attacking, they had begun to roll
forward again. They rolled right over Jade.
Ruriko's heart almost broke then. She hadn't known,
the feisty girl long, but she had liked her. Jade
was so much like Rika in some ways...
A beam pierced through the top of the Invader ball.
Apparently, Jade wasn't quite dead yet. But she
wasn't available either. HyperHsiWuMon had began an
attack dive towards them again, arms outstretched.
He evaded a desperate shot from Taomon who was just
making it back from where he tossed her.
It was all down to Ruriko. She did the only thing
she could think of. She opened her Gate wide and
placed it between herself and the incoming Digimon.
She knew the energies in her Gate were destructive
to Invaders. She desperately hoped the same was for
this Digimon.
HyperHsiWuMon stopped himself just short of hitting
the Gate. "You're not going to get me that easily,"
he told Ruriko, wagging a finger.
***
Using the Dragon and Pig Talismans, Jade carved her
way up through the center of the Invader mass,
slicing away with fire and light. She just missed
hitting the red Invader, but Jade disrupted his
control enough that the Invader ball crumbled back
into their individual components.
She shot out of the top of the crumbling pile just
in time to see Hsi Wu stop himself from hitting
those concentric rings that Rika's grandmother
created. He seemed to think they were dangerous to
him.
That was good enough for Jade.
She hit Hsi Wu from behind at near Mach speeds. That
was more than enough to push him into the rings. He
hit the those rings, and they both exploded in a
brilliant flash of light and a scream that pierced
the soul.
***
The Gate that a Gatekeeper such as Ruriko opened was
described by the original AEGIS' scientists as an
interdimensional portal through which energy was
brought. This was true, but not the whole truth. The
Gate was not only a conduit for those energies, it
also shaped those energies, imposing a pattern that
was determined by the Gatekeeper's very soul.
So a fanciful girl can create illusions. An athlete
has her athletic prowess enhnaced to superhuman
levels. A Tamer desiring a Digimon can bring that
Digimon through because the Digimon is already the
desired form. And in almost every case, the
Gatekeeper creates Gates that only conduct energy
one way.
So when Hsi Wu entered Ruriko's Gate, he was already
going the wrong way. It was like crawling into the
exhaust of a jet engine while the engine was going
full blast.
But suddenly blocking the exhaust of a jet engine
isn't pleasant on the engine either.
***
The Invaders resumed their humanoid forms. They
turned towards the humans who had caused them so
much grief and found their way blocked by Taomon.
The big Digimon was practically boiling with both
fury and power. Behind them, the reaction team from
Section 13 was deploying troops. Each of them could
calculate the odds. They weren't good.
Behind the troops, Yamaki could also calculate the
odds. "Go away," he whispered, unheard by the people
around him.
Then the red Invader gave an order no human had ever
before heard an Invader give.
"Retreat."
They sank into the ground and vanished.
***
"Grandma? Grandma?" Rika called, cradling her
unconscious grandmother in her arms. Her pulse was
alarmingly weak. "C'mon, Grandma, please wake up!"
With tears in her eyes, Rika looked up at a
horrified Jade and demanded, "What did you DO to
her?!"
by Nopporn Wongrassamee
Disclaimer - All characters belong to whoever owns
them. I am doing this for fun and making no money
off this work.
As the overcrowded old convertable tore down the
street, Rika looked over her shoulder at the giant
bowling ball chasing after them. It was catching
up.
"Where did that thing come from?" Rika asked no one
in particular.
"You remember those guys in the suits?" Grandma
asked in reply. "That's their fusion mode. They can
get together and form, well, all sorts of things."
"How do you know that?" Jade asked.
"I used to be a secret agent in my youth," Grandma
replied modestly. "I fought them. We called them
'Invaders' because we thought they were aliens from
outer space."
"You fought them with super powers?" Jade deduced,
putting together what she saw Grandma do earlier
with what was being explained now. She looked at
Grandma, then Renamon, then frowned thoughtfully to
herself.
"Grandma, I never knew that," Rika said at
Grandma's nod. She was impressed.
"That's the secret part of being a secret agent,"
Grandma replied wryly. She glanced over her
shoulder. "Strange, but they're not shooting at us.
I wonder why?"
The convertable swerved just in time to avoid
several missiles from above. HyperHsiWuMon flew
around for another pass.
"Lady, I don't care why your Invaders aren't
shooting at us," Finn interjected. He pointed up at
the circling Digimon. "But he still is!"
"I got an idea," Jade said suddenly. "Ratso, take
the next right."
"Finn?" Ratso glanced at his supposed boss.
"Do it, Ratso!" Finn ordered as another bombardment
from HyperHsiWuMon almost hit them.
The car skidded around the corner at speed. The
Invaders turned the same corner moments later. The
ball clipped a building, showering the street with
debris. It hardly slowed them down. Luckily, this
street was light on traffic, allowing the car to
pick up some speed.
Unfortunately, the road was blocked.
The Shadowkhan had piled themselves up on each
other in a crude parody of the Invaders' fusion
mode. They had formed a barrier to stop the car
with the sheer mass of their bodies.
Everybody screamed. They were going too fast to
stop.
"Renamon!" Rika shouted.
"DIAMOND STORM!" Instantly, the yellow Digimon
hurled herself from her precarious position on the
trunk to the car's hood. As she did so, she hurled
her signature cloud of digital diamonds at the
Shadowkhan. The center of the ninja wall exploded
into blue mist an instant before their car roared
through.
"Anybody care to let us know what's going on?" Chow
asked when he got his breath back. "Why the heck
are we being chased?"
"Something to do with Calumon, here," Jade replied
pointing to the Digimon in Rika's arms. "And that's
all I know. Hey, Calumon, why are we being chased?"
"I'm carrying the Catalyst again," Calumon told
them.
"The what?" Jade asked, confused.
"Aw, no, not again," Rika groaned. "Why is that?"
"Strange and powerful Digimon appeared in the
Digital World after the destruction of the
D-Reaper," Renamon answered. "They actually
defeated the Sovereigns." She pointed at the
Digimon in the sky taking pot shots at them.
"That's one of them."
"What?" Jade exclaimed, thinking furiously. "Lemme
guess, are there eight of them?"
"Why yes," Renamon answered. "How did you know?"
***
"It's headed where?!" Captain Black shouted into
his head set.
"Captain Black, what is it?" Jackie asked.
"Miles says that the Invaders are headed right for
Section 13," Black relayed. He hauled on the wheel,
redirecting the AEGISmobile down a side street. A
glance in the rear view mirror showed the other
AEGISmobile was still with him. "We have to
intercept it."
"How did the Invaders find out about Section 13?"
Yamaki asked.
"Jade!" Jackie realized aloud. "If they're chasing
Jade, then Jade will want to go where she knows to
find help."
"Hmm, it might not be Jade they're chasing," Yamaki
mused. "It might be someone with her."
"Ah, I think we found them," Black said, spotting a
convertable with a yellow furry something on its
hood zoom across the intersection ahead. Moments
later, a black sphere followed. Hauling the
AEGISmobile in another tight turn, the sphere was
fully visible. It was also pulling away from them.
"Time to break out the Big Gun!"
"Big gun?" Jackie echoed.
Then the AEGISmobile began to transform.
***
"We're almost there," Jade murmured to herself. She
turned to the other girl. "Hey, Red..."
"Rika," the other girl corrected. "My name is
Rika."
"Right, whatever," Jade said. "You're partnered to,
um, Reddamon, here, right?"
"Her name's Renamon," Rika corrected again, "and,
yeah, we're partners."
"So, can't you make her digivolve?" Jade asked.
"Y'know, like on the TV show."
"I, ah, left all my cards in Japan," Rika said,
embarrassed."
"What do cards have to do with it?" Jade asked.
Rika looked down at Calumon. She remembered once
that Takato theorized that the cards were nothing
more than a mental crutch. Subsequent events seemed
to prove him right. "Now, that I think about it,"
she said slowly, "nothing at all."
Before she could add anything more, another barrage
from HyperHsiWuMon rocked the car. "Hey, Hsi Wu!
Your aim sucks big time!" Jade taunted.
Enraged by Jade's taunt and frustrated by the long
chase, HyperHsiWuMon divebombed the car again. But
instead of releasing more bombs again, he tackled
Renamon, knocking her into the crowded passenger
seats and taking her place on the hood.
"Now," HyperHsiWuMon growled, reaching for Calumon,
"give me that..."
He never got the opportunity to finish. The Invader
ball following them finally opened fire.
***
The Invaders had been patient. With one Digimon in
the air and the other two fleeing in the car, they
had decided to bide their time until an opportunity
to concentrate their fire presented itself. The
moment came when HyperHsiWuMon landed on the car,
providing the perfect target.
They then unleashed a machine gun barrage of...
themselves. Each projectile was an Invader drone
who had shapeshifted itself into a spherical form.
Each one struck like a cannonball. Many missed the
fleeing car. Many did not.
The impacts flipped the vehicle like a child's toy.
***
"No," Jackie whispered in horror. "Jade..." As the
AEGISmobile swerved to avoid a piece of debris, he
caught a glimpse of what was happening ahead.
Behind the Invaders, the two AEGISmobiles had
transformed. Armor panels had been extruded. On
Black's, a tube almost as long as the vehicle whose
appearance practically screamed "gun!" rose from
the top of the vehicle.
"Dammit, no!" Black shouted, having seen the same
thing. He slammed on the brakes to avoid running
into the Invader sphere as it suddenly slowed down.
The other AEGISmobile pulled up beside them,
extruding a socket to connect to the first. "Is
that thing ready yet?"
Yamaki glanced at several readouts an anonymoous
gunner's shoulder. "Yes, it is," he said. "They
both are."
"Then fire!"
"The Big Gun", as Black called it, had been
originally designed for use against rogue Digimon
of Ultimate level and maybe even higher. Built into
it was a more refined version of the Juggernaut
program Yamaki had originally made to use against
Digimon. The Gun was more discriminate, designed to
destroy only what it was aimed at, leaving any
presumably friendly Diigimon in the area untouched.
But the Invaders weren't Digimon.
The side of the Invader sphere exploded in a shower
of individual Invader drones. But none of them had
been outright destroyed. There was a large crater
in the sphere now, and the drones blown off began
to float up and back into position.
"Shoot it again!" Jackie said.
"We can't," Black said, slumping in his seat. "The
gun needs an hour to recharge before we can use it
again. In fact, the power requirement is so high
that one of the AEGISmobiles has to be dedicated
to generating it while the other mounts the actual
gun."
Jackie looked back at the sphere as it reassembled
itself. He could almost feel it stare menacingly at
them.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Yamaki
staring at the Invaders, too. His eyebrows were
knitted in a slight frown. Puzzlement? Anger? With
those sunglasses Yamaki always seem to wear. Jackie
couldn't tell.
The Sphere began rolling away from them.
***
She hurt.
Ruriko woke up in pain. The others were sprawled on
the pavement, unconscious. The car was a complte
loss. The Invader drones that had been shot at them
were floating over to the ball, rejoining the mass.
Ruriko spotted the girls. They were still and
bloody, but she could see they were breathing. They
were alive!
They were also helpless. Ruriko saw a furious
HyperHsiWuMon get off the pavement, uninjured. Both
Renamon and Calumon were out cold as well. Rika was
curled around the latter, apparently in an attempt
to protect the little Digimon.
No, not quite helpless, Ruriko realized. There was
one thing she could do.
"Gate open," she whispered, painfully lifting a
hand above her head. Above her, the gate she
summoned opened wide, bathing everybody in its
healing light. Unlike some other Gatekeepers,
Ruriko's Gate was poorly suited to combat,
requiring props like a bow and arrow to channel her
Gate's energies. But Ruriko's Gate power was the
power of life, and in that arena, none could match
her at all.
Once, Ruriko had turned a mountain winter into
summer, undoing another Gatekeeper's unintended
effects. Beside that, healing everyone's injuries
was almost no effort at all.
***
Rika opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was
Renamon lying inert on the ground. Above her stood
HyperHsiWuMon, poised to strike the helpless
Digimon.
"Renamon!" Rika called out, reaching out with her
hand...and more than her hand. Her digivice flashed
as Renamon's eyes popped open.
Renamon digivolved, growing in size and shifting
to a four footed form. HyperHsiWuMon stumbled
backwards in the glaring light of digivolution.
Renamon was no longer Renamon. She was now called
Kyubimon.
HyperHsiWuMon was no fool. As Kyubimon turned to
him, he didn't wait for an attack or even witty
banter. He hit her. Hard.
***
"This does not look good," Ratso commented watching
a very one sided fight take place.
"I'll say," Chow added, looking in a completely
different direction. "That ball's coming toward us,
again!"
"I say we run," Finn suggested.
"Good plan," Chow agreed. "I like that plan."
They ran.
***
Rika doubled over. With each blow HyperHsiWuMon
rained on Kyubimon, Jade saw Rika suffer a similar
injury. Jade spotted Rika's grandmother nearby,
getting unsteadily to her feet. An idea formed in
Jade's mind. Maybe Rika's empathic connection with
her Digimon could also be a two way street.
She rushed over to the woman and grabbed her hand.
"C'mon, lady," Jade insisted, "your granddaughter
needs your help."
"What?" the lady replied. She shook her head to
clear it, realizing what was going on. "Yes, of
course."
Wrapping her arms around her granddaughter, the two
were suddenly infused with light. The healing light
repaired Rika's injuries and traveled her link to
Kyubimon. Rika's Digimon could now take the blows
better, but was still unable to make any attacks of
her own.
Behind her, Jade heard something crunch. Spinning
around, she saw a parked car vanish under the
rolling Invader ball. It was apparently content to
crush the lot of them underneath it.
But Jade also spied the phone booth.
"Keep them busy!" Jade told Rika and her grandma,
unsure if they heard her at all. "I'll be right
back!"
With that, Jade dashed to the phone booth. A moment
later, the booth disappeared into the ground into
the depths of Section 13.
***
Even with Grandma's support, Rika could feel
Kyubimon's strength flagging with each blow. Her
partner needed to Digivolve again. But there was no
blue card. There were no friends to help; they were
all in Japan.
No, not all her friends were in Japan. Her Grandma
was here. Calumon was here.
Calumon. Where was Calumon?
"Calumon?" Rika called weakly. "I need your help."
"I'm here, Rika," Calumon replied, nuzzling up
against her.
"Kyubimon needs your help to digivolve, Calumon,"
Rika explained.
"Okay," Calumon agreed readily. "But how do I do
that without zapping HyperHsiWuMon, too?"
"Uh..." Rika hadn't quite thought that far ahead.
While she groped for an answer, something zoomed
past them, hitting HyperHsiWuMon and knocking him
a hundred feet away from Kyubimon.
It was Jade. She was flying.
"Stupid Talismans!" Rika heard HyperHsiWuMon rage
in the distance. She could see him get up again.
"Now, Calumon!" Rika ordered. There was no time to
waste.
***
Talismans.
Jade's very first adventures had revolved around
Talismans. Each of these ancient artifacts imbued
the bearer with specific powers. Each Talisman was
identified by an animal from the Chinese zodiac. The
Rooster provided levitation. The Rabbit, speed. The
Bull, strength.
Jade had helped her uncle Jackie recover all twelve
Talismans. The Talismans had been stored in Section
13 to keep them from being misused by anybody. But
Jade knew where they were, what they could do, how
to use them, and how to get them. She had "borrowed"
them from Section 13 so many times over the years,
she almost considered them her property.
In the instant Kyubimon digivolved into Taomon, Jade
had to make a choice. Continue to attack Hsi Wu
while he was off balance or attack the Invader
ball rolling towards Rika and her grandmother. She
only had an instant because the Invaders were mere
seconds away from crushing the two underneath.
That was no choice at all.
Jade hit the sphere dead center, bringing it to a
complete halt.
***
"Uh, Rika, I think we should move," Ruriko suggested
to her granddaughter. Jade punched the ball. It was
nudged backwards slightly. Ruriko wondered where
Jade's powers had suddenly come from. Jade's was far
too sure in the use of her powers for them to be new
to her.
"Uh, yeah," Rika agreed. Picking up Calumon, she led
them out of the thing's shadow.
"Rika!" Taomon called. "He's coming back!"
HyperHsiWuMon was charging back at them. This time,
Taomon was ready. Pulling an absurdly large paint
brush from her sleeve, she painted a letter in the
air which projected itself at the charging Digimon.
It splattered against a shield he erected in his
defense.
Twisting in mid air, HyperHsiWuMon returned fire by
the expedient of shooting his tail at Taomon. The
tail missile burst into swarms of smaller missiles
that smashed against Taomon's own shield. This was
immediately followed by HyperHsiWuMon himself. He
struck Taomon's shield, cracking but not quite
penetrating it. But it sent Taomon reeling away,
letting the evil Digimon turn his attention on the
observers on the ground.
As he started to dive towards them, Ruriko was
thinking furiously. The only one of them with any
powers on the ground, she was trying to think of
some way to defend them. No bow, no arrows, only her
Gate.
Her Gate. An idea began to form in her mind.
And then Jade was back, engaging HyperHsiWuMon in an
airborne display of hand to hand combat punctuated
by the occaisional energy bolt. Jade loosed a flurry
of punches and kicks on her opponent. HyperHsiWuMon
was slower than Jade, but he could take the hits
she dished out and return some of his own.
And then as quickly as it started, it was over. With
a grab of the wrist and a spin in the air, Jade was
flung to the ground in front of the Invaders. When
Jade had stopped attacking, they had begun to roll
forward again. They rolled right over Jade.
Ruriko's heart almost broke then. She hadn't known,
the feisty girl long, but she had liked her. Jade
was so much like Rika in some ways...
A beam pierced through the top of the Invader ball.
Apparently, Jade wasn't quite dead yet. But she
wasn't available either. HyperHsiWuMon had began an
attack dive towards them again, arms outstretched.
He evaded a desperate shot from Taomon who was just
making it back from where he tossed her.
It was all down to Ruriko. She did the only thing
she could think of. She opened her Gate wide and
placed it between herself and the incoming Digimon.
She knew the energies in her Gate were destructive
to Invaders. She desperately hoped the same was for
this Digimon.
HyperHsiWuMon stopped himself just short of hitting
the Gate. "You're not going to get me that easily,"
he told Ruriko, wagging a finger.
***
Using the Dragon and Pig Talismans, Jade carved her
way up through the center of the Invader mass,
slicing away with fire and light. She just missed
hitting the red Invader, but Jade disrupted his
control enough that the Invader ball crumbled back
into their individual components.
She shot out of the top of the crumbling pile just
in time to see Hsi Wu stop himself from hitting
those concentric rings that Rika's grandmother
created. He seemed to think they were dangerous to
him.
That was good enough for Jade.
She hit Hsi Wu from behind at near Mach speeds. That
was more than enough to push him into the rings. He
hit the those rings, and they both exploded in a
brilliant flash of light and a scream that pierced
the soul.
***
The Gate that a Gatekeeper such as Ruriko opened was
described by the original AEGIS' scientists as an
interdimensional portal through which energy was
brought. This was true, but not the whole truth. The
Gate was not only a conduit for those energies, it
also shaped those energies, imposing a pattern that
was determined by the Gatekeeper's very soul.
So a fanciful girl can create illusions. An athlete
has her athletic prowess enhnaced to superhuman
levels. A Tamer desiring a Digimon can bring that
Digimon through because the Digimon is already the
desired form. And in almost every case, the
Gatekeeper creates Gates that only conduct energy
one way.
So when Hsi Wu entered Ruriko's Gate, he was already
going the wrong way. It was like crawling into the
exhaust of a jet engine while the engine was going
full blast.
But suddenly blocking the exhaust of a jet engine
isn't pleasant on the engine either.
***
The Invaders resumed their humanoid forms. They
turned towards the humans who had caused them so
much grief and found their way blocked by Taomon.
The big Digimon was practically boiling with both
fury and power. Behind them, the reaction team from
Section 13 was deploying troops. Each of them could
calculate the odds. They weren't good.
Behind the troops, Yamaki could also calculate the
odds. "Go away," he whispered, unheard by the people
around him.
Then the red Invader gave an order no human had ever
before heard an Invader give.
"Retreat."
They sank into the ground and vanished.
***
"Grandma? Grandma?" Rika called, cradling her
unconscious grandmother in her arms. Her pulse was
alarmingly weak. "C'mon, Grandma, please wake up!"
With tears in her eyes, Rika looked up at a
horrified Jade and demanded, "What did you DO to
her?!"
