A/N: I don't own this. None of it. Not Yu-Gi-Oh, not Digimon, nada. For a
lengthier disclaimer, read chapter two. For those who notice these things,
the face-down card I refer to was played immediately before the Digital
Gate in Chapter One. Oh, and just a heads up: I don't do /character/
bashing, but I /will/, on occasion, allow the characters to bash something.
Pokemon and rap music, so far. This is because. . . Tamara and Kaishi have
Opinions. Without further ado, Chapter Three.
Chapter Three: First Fights
"Boy, it sure got dark fast," Yoko noted, hugging Celamon, her cinnamon- colored eyes wide.
"No kidding," Kaishi snapped. Tamara stared at him, her eyebrows raised, and tapped him on the shoulder.
"What is /up/?" she whispered. "You aren't usually this antisocial."
"I am /not/ antisocial!"
The dark-haired girl leveled a devastating smile at him, then dropped back to speak with the brightly-glowing Arcamon.
"Shouldn't we stop for the night?" Chino asked, painfully oblivious to the fact that Kaishi was being quite obvious in his hatred of athletic fifth graders.
"I think that's a good idea," Sandra murmured, staring down at the sleeping Teromon in her arms.
"There's a clearing just ahead," Varismon hissed, hovering just over Kaishi's head. "We can stay there for the night."
It took only a few minutes for them to set up camp, as they had no sleeping bags and no food. Arcamon was able to light a fire after Inero had gathered some wood.
"I'm tired," Yoko finally said, her hands held out to the blaze. "Do we got to sleep on the ground?"
Sandra nodded. "We got to sleep on the ground, yes."
Shortly after that, unknowingly compelled by the Nightmares card, they all fell asleep.
All but the owner of a pair of deep brown eyes, who watched them from behind a bush, silent and patient.
~~
Tamara woke up screaming, her voice hoarse. She quickly grabbed hold of herself by putting her hand on Arcamon's back, quite by accident. With another screech, she yanked her hand away, shaking it frantically. "You burned me!" she accused shrilly, staring at the red mark on her palm.
"I warned you to warn me," Arcamon protested, yawning as she woke up. "I can't turn the heat off /all/ the time. It's very strenuous."
"Ah!" Inero yelled, thrashing around in his sleep and accidentally brushing his sister's partner. That woke him up rather quickly. "Ow ow ow!"
"Well, that's just great," Tamara snapped, sisterly instincts shutting out her new friendship with the canine digimon. "I'd think that after /my/ accident you would shut it /off/. You 'kay, Inero?"
"Yuh," he answered, rubbing his burned elbow.
"Are you sure?" Ranumon asked, bouncing up and down anxiously.
"Yes." He looked around nervously. "Shouldn't I be running cold water on it?"
"No sinks," Kaishi said, poking the fire with a stick. Tamara glanced at him, noting the haunted look in his dark eyes.
"How long you been awake?"
"In space, no one can hear you scream," he said cryptically, refusing to meet her eyes.
"Bah humbug to you," she muttered.
Yoko blinked and sat up, sniffling a little. "I'm /cold/," she whispered, hugging Celamon close to her chest.
"No heating," Kaishi answered.
Tamara clenched her fist. "What the heck is wrong with you, Kaishi Izumi? You've been antagonistic since we got here!"
His dark eyes seemed to stare right through her, but Tamara just glared right back. Finally, he answered, "The same thing that's wrong with you, Takana. We're all insane. This can't possibly be real."
Tamara's brown eyes burned into his. "That's not all it is, Kaishi."
Varismon, who had been floating around on the ground, zoomed upwards, a barely visible shadow. "The girl is right."
Chino gasped loudly and leapt up, glancing around wildly. "Dad!" he shouted. Noticing where he was, he sat down again, flushing.
Inero, still rubbing at the burn on his elbow, looked down at Ranumon. "It appears that everyone had a nightmare."
"I had no such thing!" Tamara yelled. "It's getting lighter. Let's get outta here."
"Alexandra is still sleeping," Teromon noted.
"Wake her up, then."
~~
Senauramon leaned back in her throne, a smirk touching her lips. "It appears that my Nightmares had a spectacular effect on some of our little friends."
"It was mean," Kemaimon pouted.
Ryukumon flipped a card expertly through the window and onto the table, where it lay beside his face-down card. "I play the Forest of Illusions."
"A combo card," Kemaimon breathed, his turquoise eyes lighting up.
"What's a combo card?" Skydramon asked, his eye widening.
"It does more than one thing," the Water Master explained. "Forest of Illusions is a Magic card /and/ a potent Trap."
"Correct," Ryukumon rumbled. "In the capacity of a Trap card, it remains on the field for five turns, disabling all Attack cards. Magically speaking, the Illusions shield all the cards I play until the five turns are up. None of you will be able to tell what I play, face-down or not."
Farasimon swept into the room grandly. "Not to mention that my forest has /changed/. I don't /like/ it, Ryukumon. It's a /maze/ now."
"At least you have five more turns before you have to fight them."
"Whatever." She picked up her hand, chose a card, and placed it on the table. "I play Armor Upgrade." Shining armor appeared on her, delicately made with sharp edges. She tapped her foot experimentally, her new steel boots clicking on the tiled floor.
Skydramon stared at the five cards he held between his claws. "I can't do this," he whined. "Not with my Attacks disabled. Not for /five turns/. I don't trust my Monsters unless /I/ control them."
Kemaimon grinned. "It's okay, Sky. You have that Remove Trap card in your deck, remember? Draw it and you can get rid of the Forest."
Skydramon stared apprehensively at his deck, then let the breeze take his card and lay it on the table, face-down.
~~
Sandra watched the other Digidestined discreetly as they moved through the thick forest. She could tell that something had changed during the night. Inero kept rubbing at his burnt elbow, his eyes fixed straight ahead, ignoring his sister and Kaishi. The two walked as far apart from one another as they could, Kaishi ignoring everyone, Tamara snapping at those who came too close. Chino's eyes were visibly red, and he led the small group deeper into the forest, speaking in one-word sentences. Yoko. . .well, Yoko didn't seem to be suffering /too/ badly. She talked animatedly, but nervously, trying hard to fill the horrible silence that had descended.
A brilliant green leaf dropped from a tree and drifted down, brushing softly against Sandra's face in its flight to the ground. Her skin shivered at that gentle touch, and she paused, staring down at the leaf.
"Oh," Teromon said, bending over a little to sniff the leaf. "Those are good in meducine."
"Medicine," Sandra corrected, leaning forward. She picked up the leaf, and immediately her hand went numb. She gasped, startled, and slid it into her pocket. Within moments, the feeling began to return to her fingers. She stared up at the tree thoughtfully, aware that the others had moved on, forgetting about her.
"Alexandra..."
"Hush, Tero." The American girl walked over to the tree, grabbed a low branch, and swung herself up, leaving her baton on the ground. She grabbed a handful of leaves, shuddering as the anesthetic plants deadened her hands. She shoved all the leaves into her pockets and reached for more.
A scream rang through the forest from somewhere up ahead. Sandra leapt from the tree and landed on the ground - hard. She winced at the sharp pain in her ankle and limped in the general direction the scream had come from, followed closely by Teromon. The Rainbow Baton lay forgotten on a bed of leaves, glowing slightly.
~~
Farasimon groaned, watching the abandoned Rainbow Baton sadly. "That damn kid. . ."
"Watch your mouth, Fara." Kemaimon turned his eyes from the scene unfolding in the air before him and looked at his cards. Now was the perfect time to play the card he had been holding from the beginning - now!
With a flourish, he laid down the card. Senauramon's black eyes widened, and emotions played across her face - shock, anger, desperation. Farasimon folded her arms and put her head down, shoulders shaking with supressed laughter. Skydramon chuckled.
"He's gotten the best of you again, Senauramon. . ."
~~
"Ahh!" Tamara shrieked, flailing her arms wildly. "Get it off! GET IT OFF!"
"Tamara!" Arcamon yelled, sitting back on her hind legs. "It's only a Yulimon!"
"IT'S ON ME! IT'S ON ME! GET IT OFF!"
Inero dashed forward and yanked the small, fuzzy blue digimon off of his sister. "Tamara, shut it. It's just a little Yulimon."
Tamara calmed down - very little - and pointed a shaking finger at the Yulimon. "Why did it jump at me?!"
Yulimon sniffled, cradled in Inero's arm. "Rappermon."
"Rappermon?" Kaishi snorted. "A black man who has no singing talent whatsoever, that kinda Rappermon?"
"Be nice," Chino said. "Not all rap is bad music, and not all rappers or whatever you call 'em are black."
Sandra appeared just then, her face contorted in pain. "Who screamed?"
"My sister," Inero spat, glaring at her. "Yulimon here jumped onto her."
"Rappermon," Yulimon repeated, snuggling against Inero's chest.
Darmon's green eyes narrowed. "Chino. . ." He tugged on his partner's shirt. "Chino. . ."
"What is it?"
"There's no such thing as a Rappermon."
~~
Senauramon recovered quickly after seeing Kemaimon's card. She slammed a card onto the table. "I'm going to snatch up that 'Rappermon'," she snapped. "And use this. Multiplication! Multiply my 'Rappermon' by six!" She added the Magic card to the table.
Farasimon's head jerked up, and she stared, horrified, at Senauramon. "Are you /insane/? You can't multiply a Raptormon! They're deadly enough when it's just one of them!"
"I can and I am. All six of my Raptormon will do just fine without my guidance. . .they're bloodthirsty enough already!"
~~
"Rappermon!" Yulimon squealed.
"Shut /up/," Yoko said, not very convincing about it. "It's all right. There's no Rappermon here."
A bush rustled, and a little boy popped out, brown eyes wide. The child was no more than five years old, with shoulder-length hair so blonde it was almost white. He walked very quickly to the Digidestined and grabbed Sandra's sleeve, tugging on it and pointing the way she had come.
"Hello, what do you want?" Sandra asked, crouching so that she could look straight into the child's eyes. He merely pointed again, urgently. Sandra's brow wrinkled in confusion. "Go back?" He nodded. "Why - my baton! I left it at the tree!"
"I'll get it, Alexandra!" Teromon shouted, dashing along the path. Just as she left their sight, another bush rustled.
"Rappermon!" Yulimon screamed, tiny claws scrabbling to get hold of Inero's shirt. The Digidestined and the little blonde boy turned to look at the bush.
A golden eye peered back.
When the attack came, it was from above. A six-foot-high reptilian digimon dropped onto them with a screech, talons ready to catch. Tamara yanked Kaishi out of the way, and they tumbled to the ground in a heap.
Yoko screamed and jumped back - into the grip of a third Raptormon. Screaming again as the claws tore the bare skin on her arms, she yanked away as Celamon leapt between them, snarling. "Water Strike!" she screamed, leaping up. Streams of water shot from her forepaws and slammed into the Raptormon, who backed up, barely fazed.
The little boy trotted seriously over to Chino and tugged at the blue device clipped to Chino's belt. Chino glanced down and unhooked the device.
"Digivice!" Darmon cried, his voice ringing in a sudden stillness. "If you have a digivice, we can digivolve to stop them!"
"Then do it!" Chino commanded.
A brilliant green light emanated from Darmon. "Darmon, digivolve to. . . Relomon!" The light dissipated, leaving an eight-foot-tall dinosaur. Deep reddish-brown scales covered Relomon's body. His green eyes shone from the silver mask covering his head. His fangs and claws gleamed brightly as he moved forward, slashing at the Raptormon that was patiently waiting for Tamara and Kaishi to stand. The Raptormon shrieked and tried to duck, but couldn't. It was flung into a nearby tree.
"Varismon," Kaishi snapped, eyes flashing as he located his digivice and held it up. The shadow seemed to nod, then emitted a deep gray light - or perhaps the opposite of light. A chill swept the clearing, making all of the Raptormon - the one attacking and the ones still in hiding - scream in pain. Teromon, lugging the Rainbow Baton up the path, paused, staring.
"Varismon, digivolve to. . . Devidramamon!"
The shadow was a shade no longer. Instead, a tall, thin black dragon gazed down, dark blue eyes betraying no emotion. The dragon flapped its grey wings twice, and in a delicate, tantalizing voice, Devidramamon murmured, "Hypnosis Power. . ."
All six of the Raptormon swayed, then collapsed where they stood. Relomon dedigivolved and pressed close to Chino, eyes wide beneath the mask.
Celamon stared first at the unconscious Raptormon, then at Devidramamon. She leapt into Yoko's arms, shivering uncontrollably. Yoko gasped in agony as blood dripped from the gashes on her arms. Teromon handed the baton up to Sandra, who took it, reaching numbly for the anesthetic leaves. Tamara hugged Inero, who in turn hugged Yulimon. Arcamon and Ranumon gazed up at Devidramamon.
The strange little blonde boy simply looked at Kaishi. Their eyes met for a moment, and then the boy turned and walked off down the path, disappearing within moments.
Kaishi watched Devidramamon, coldness settling into his limbs. Terror crept into his dark eyes as the first ramifications of what was happening hit him all at once. Worst of all was that tiny little boy. Kaishi knew, somehow, that if the child had not looked away, he would have been trapped by that brown-eyed gaze forever.
And perhaps. . . it would have been better that way.
~~
Ryukumon placed a card silently on the table. He didn't tell the others what it was, since they couldn't see it through the mist his Forest card had generated. It would be a little while before it took effect, but he could wait.
"Where did that human child come from?" Farasimon demanded shrilly, pointing a finger at the scene before them. "That's no Digidestined!"
"I know," Senauramon said quietly, her eyes hard. "No card brought that one here. . ."
In a hushed voice, Kemaimon whispered, "Then what did?"
~~~~~~
A/N: Ah! I finished the chapter! *faints*
Ken: Oh, that was brilliant.
Casia: Smartest thing you've done yet.
Ken: All right. First thing we're supposed to address. . . we know that Kemaimon's last move was not named. It wasn't a mistake. It was intentional. Oh, and Raptormon isn't much of a name. . . that was obvious from the moment Yulimon announced that "Rappermon" was chasing him.
Casia: As for the little blonde boy, his name is Riki. Don't expect to find out about that any time soon in the actual story. Just store the information away and remember it. And don't expect that Yulimon will be important. He probably won't, but no promises.
Ken: Oh, and review. Soon. Please.
Casia: And watch Yu-Gi-Oh tomorrow, unless tomorrow is Sunday, then it's not on. Is that it?
Ken: Yes, it is. We'll all see you soon enough. . . mwaha.
Chapter Three: First Fights
"Boy, it sure got dark fast," Yoko noted, hugging Celamon, her cinnamon- colored eyes wide.
"No kidding," Kaishi snapped. Tamara stared at him, her eyebrows raised, and tapped him on the shoulder.
"What is /up/?" she whispered. "You aren't usually this antisocial."
"I am /not/ antisocial!"
The dark-haired girl leveled a devastating smile at him, then dropped back to speak with the brightly-glowing Arcamon.
"Shouldn't we stop for the night?" Chino asked, painfully oblivious to the fact that Kaishi was being quite obvious in his hatred of athletic fifth graders.
"I think that's a good idea," Sandra murmured, staring down at the sleeping Teromon in her arms.
"There's a clearing just ahead," Varismon hissed, hovering just over Kaishi's head. "We can stay there for the night."
It took only a few minutes for them to set up camp, as they had no sleeping bags and no food. Arcamon was able to light a fire after Inero had gathered some wood.
"I'm tired," Yoko finally said, her hands held out to the blaze. "Do we got to sleep on the ground?"
Sandra nodded. "We got to sleep on the ground, yes."
Shortly after that, unknowingly compelled by the Nightmares card, they all fell asleep.
All but the owner of a pair of deep brown eyes, who watched them from behind a bush, silent and patient.
~~
Tamara woke up screaming, her voice hoarse. She quickly grabbed hold of herself by putting her hand on Arcamon's back, quite by accident. With another screech, she yanked her hand away, shaking it frantically. "You burned me!" she accused shrilly, staring at the red mark on her palm.
"I warned you to warn me," Arcamon protested, yawning as she woke up. "I can't turn the heat off /all/ the time. It's very strenuous."
"Ah!" Inero yelled, thrashing around in his sleep and accidentally brushing his sister's partner. That woke him up rather quickly. "Ow ow ow!"
"Well, that's just great," Tamara snapped, sisterly instincts shutting out her new friendship with the canine digimon. "I'd think that after /my/ accident you would shut it /off/. You 'kay, Inero?"
"Yuh," he answered, rubbing his burned elbow.
"Are you sure?" Ranumon asked, bouncing up and down anxiously.
"Yes." He looked around nervously. "Shouldn't I be running cold water on it?"
"No sinks," Kaishi said, poking the fire with a stick. Tamara glanced at him, noting the haunted look in his dark eyes.
"How long you been awake?"
"In space, no one can hear you scream," he said cryptically, refusing to meet her eyes.
"Bah humbug to you," she muttered.
Yoko blinked and sat up, sniffling a little. "I'm /cold/," she whispered, hugging Celamon close to her chest.
"No heating," Kaishi answered.
Tamara clenched her fist. "What the heck is wrong with you, Kaishi Izumi? You've been antagonistic since we got here!"
His dark eyes seemed to stare right through her, but Tamara just glared right back. Finally, he answered, "The same thing that's wrong with you, Takana. We're all insane. This can't possibly be real."
Tamara's brown eyes burned into his. "That's not all it is, Kaishi."
Varismon, who had been floating around on the ground, zoomed upwards, a barely visible shadow. "The girl is right."
Chino gasped loudly and leapt up, glancing around wildly. "Dad!" he shouted. Noticing where he was, he sat down again, flushing.
Inero, still rubbing at the burn on his elbow, looked down at Ranumon. "It appears that everyone had a nightmare."
"I had no such thing!" Tamara yelled. "It's getting lighter. Let's get outta here."
"Alexandra is still sleeping," Teromon noted.
"Wake her up, then."
~~
Senauramon leaned back in her throne, a smirk touching her lips. "It appears that my Nightmares had a spectacular effect on some of our little friends."
"It was mean," Kemaimon pouted.
Ryukumon flipped a card expertly through the window and onto the table, where it lay beside his face-down card. "I play the Forest of Illusions."
"A combo card," Kemaimon breathed, his turquoise eyes lighting up.
"What's a combo card?" Skydramon asked, his eye widening.
"It does more than one thing," the Water Master explained. "Forest of Illusions is a Magic card /and/ a potent Trap."
"Correct," Ryukumon rumbled. "In the capacity of a Trap card, it remains on the field for five turns, disabling all Attack cards. Magically speaking, the Illusions shield all the cards I play until the five turns are up. None of you will be able to tell what I play, face-down or not."
Farasimon swept into the room grandly. "Not to mention that my forest has /changed/. I don't /like/ it, Ryukumon. It's a /maze/ now."
"At least you have five more turns before you have to fight them."
"Whatever." She picked up her hand, chose a card, and placed it on the table. "I play Armor Upgrade." Shining armor appeared on her, delicately made with sharp edges. She tapped her foot experimentally, her new steel boots clicking on the tiled floor.
Skydramon stared at the five cards he held between his claws. "I can't do this," he whined. "Not with my Attacks disabled. Not for /five turns/. I don't trust my Monsters unless /I/ control them."
Kemaimon grinned. "It's okay, Sky. You have that Remove Trap card in your deck, remember? Draw it and you can get rid of the Forest."
Skydramon stared apprehensively at his deck, then let the breeze take his card and lay it on the table, face-down.
~~
Sandra watched the other Digidestined discreetly as they moved through the thick forest. She could tell that something had changed during the night. Inero kept rubbing at his burnt elbow, his eyes fixed straight ahead, ignoring his sister and Kaishi. The two walked as far apart from one another as they could, Kaishi ignoring everyone, Tamara snapping at those who came too close. Chino's eyes were visibly red, and he led the small group deeper into the forest, speaking in one-word sentences. Yoko. . .well, Yoko didn't seem to be suffering /too/ badly. She talked animatedly, but nervously, trying hard to fill the horrible silence that had descended.
A brilliant green leaf dropped from a tree and drifted down, brushing softly against Sandra's face in its flight to the ground. Her skin shivered at that gentle touch, and she paused, staring down at the leaf.
"Oh," Teromon said, bending over a little to sniff the leaf. "Those are good in meducine."
"Medicine," Sandra corrected, leaning forward. She picked up the leaf, and immediately her hand went numb. She gasped, startled, and slid it into her pocket. Within moments, the feeling began to return to her fingers. She stared up at the tree thoughtfully, aware that the others had moved on, forgetting about her.
"Alexandra..."
"Hush, Tero." The American girl walked over to the tree, grabbed a low branch, and swung herself up, leaving her baton on the ground. She grabbed a handful of leaves, shuddering as the anesthetic plants deadened her hands. She shoved all the leaves into her pockets and reached for more.
A scream rang through the forest from somewhere up ahead. Sandra leapt from the tree and landed on the ground - hard. She winced at the sharp pain in her ankle and limped in the general direction the scream had come from, followed closely by Teromon. The Rainbow Baton lay forgotten on a bed of leaves, glowing slightly.
~~
Farasimon groaned, watching the abandoned Rainbow Baton sadly. "That damn kid. . ."
"Watch your mouth, Fara." Kemaimon turned his eyes from the scene unfolding in the air before him and looked at his cards. Now was the perfect time to play the card he had been holding from the beginning - now!
With a flourish, he laid down the card. Senauramon's black eyes widened, and emotions played across her face - shock, anger, desperation. Farasimon folded her arms and put her head down, shoulders shaking with supressed laughter. Skydramon chuckled.
"He's gotten the best of you again, Senauramon. . ."
~~
"Ahh!" Tamara shrieked, flailing her arms wildly. "Get it off! GET IT OFF!"
"Tamara!" Arcamon yelled, sitting back on her hind legs. "It's only a Yulimon!"
"IT'S ON ME! IT'S ON ME! GET IT OFF!"
Inero dashed forward and yanked the small, fuzzy blue digimon off of his sister. "Tamara, shut it. It's just a little Yulimon."
Tamara calmed down - very little - and pointed a shaking finger at the Yulimon. "Why did it jump at me?!"
Yulimon sniffled, cradled in Inero's arm. "Rappermon."
"Rappermon?" Kaishi snorted. "A black man who has no singing talent whatsoever, that kinda Rappermon?"
"Be nice," Chino said. "Not all rap is bad music, and not all rappers or whatever you call 'em are black."
Sandra appeared just then, her face contorted in pain. "Who screamed?"
"My sister," Inero spat, glaring at her. "Yulimon here jumped onto her."
"Rappermon," Yulimon repeated, snuggling against Inero's chest.
Darmon's green eyes narrowed. "Chino. . ." He tugged on his partner's shirt. "Chino. . ."
"What is it?"
"There's no such thing as a Rappermon."
~~
Senauramon recovered quickly after seeing Kemaimon's card. She slammed a card onto the table. "I'm going to snatch up that 'Rappermon'," she snapped. "And use this. Multiplication! Multiply my 'Rappermon' by six!" She added the Magic card to the table.
Farasimon's head jerked up, and she stared, horrified, at Senauramon. "Are you /insane/? You can't multiply a Raptormon! They're deadly enough when it's just one of them!"
"I can and I am. All six of my Raptormon will do just fine without my guidance. . .they're bloodthirsty enough already!"
~~
"Rappermon!" Yulimon squealed.
"Shut /up/," Yoko said, not very convincing about it. "It's all right. There's no Rappermon here."
A bush rustled, and a little boy popped out, brown eyes wide. The child was no more than five years old, with shoulder-length hair so blonde it was almost white. He walked very quickly to the Digidestined and grabbed Sandra's sleeve, tugging on it and pointing the way she had come.
"Hello, what do you want?" Sandra asked, crouching so that she could look straight into the child's eyes. He merely pointed again, urgently. Sandra's brow wrinkled in confusion. "Go back?" He nodded. "Why - my baton! I left it at the tree!"
"I'll get it, Alexandra!" Teromon shouted, dashing along the path. Just as she left their sight, another bush rustled.
"Rappermon!" Yulimon screamed, tiny claws scrabbling to get hold of Inero's shirt. The Digidestined and the little blonde boy turned to look at the bush.
A golden eye peered back.
When the attack came, it was from above. A six-foot-high reptilian digimon dropped onto them with a screech, talons ready to catch. Tamara yanked Kaishi out of the way, and they tumbled to the ground in a heap.
Yoko screamed and jumped back - into the grip of a third Raptormon. Screaming again as the claws tore the bare skin on her arms, she yanked away as Celamon leapt between them, snarling. "Water Strike!" she screamed, leaping up. Streams of water shot from her forepaws and slammed into the Raptormon, who backed up, barely fazed.
The little boy trotted seriously over to Chino and tugged at the blue device clipped to Chino's belt. Chino glanced down and unhooked the device.
"Digivice!" Darmon cried, his voice ringing in a sudden stillness. "If you have a digivice, we can digivolve to stop them!"
"Then do it!" Chino commanded.
A brilliant green light emanated from Darmon. "Darmon, digivolve to. . . Relomon!" The light dissipated, leaving an eight-foot-tall dinosaur. Deep reddish-brown scales covered Relomon's body. His green eyes shone from the silver mask covering his head. His fangs and claws gleamed brightly as he moved forward, slashing at the Raptormon that was patiently waiting for Tamara and Kaishi to stand. The Raptormon shrieked and tried to duck, but couldn't. It was flung into a nearby tree.
"Varismon," Kaishi snapped, eyes flashing as he located his digivice and held it up. The shadow seemed to nod, then emitted a deep gray light - or perhaps the opposite of light. A chill swept the clearing, making all of the Raptormon - the one attacking and the ones still in hiding - scream in pain. Teromon, lugging the Rainbow Baton up the path, paused, staring.
"Varismon, digivolve to. . . Devidramamon!"
The shadow was a shade no longer. Instead, a tall, thin black dragon gazed down, dark blue eyes betraying no emotion. The dragon flapped its grey wings twice, and in a delicate, tantalizing voice, Devidramamon murmured, "Hypnosis Power. . ."
All six of the Raptormon swayed, then collapsed where they stood. Relomon dedigivolved and pressed close to Chino, eyes wide beneath the mask.
Celamon stared first at the unconscious Raptormon, then at Devidramamon. She leapt into Yoko's arms, shivering uncontrollably. Yoko gasped in agony as blood dripped from the gashes on her arms. Teromon handed the baton up to Sandra, who took it, reaching numbly for the anesthetic leaves. Tamara hugged Inero, who in turn hugged Yulimon. Arcamon and Ranumon gazed up at Devidramamon.
The strange little blonde boy simply looked at Kaishi. Their eyes met for a moment, and then the boy turned and walked off down the path, disappearing within moments.
Kaishi watched Devidramamon, coldness settling into his limbs. Terror crept into his dark eyes as the first ramifications of what was happening hit him all at once. Worst of all was that tiny little boy. Kaishi knew, somehow, that if the child had not looked away, he would have been trapped by that brown-eyed gaze forever.
And perhaps. . . it would have been better that way.
~~
Ryukumon placed a card silently on the table. He didn't tell the others what it was, since they couldn't see it through the mist his Forest card had generated. It would be a little while before it took effect, but he could wait.
"Where did that human child come from?" Farasimon demanded shrilly, pointing a finger at the scene before them. "That's no Digidestined!"
"I know," Senauramon said quietly, her eyes hard. "No card brought that one here. . ."
In a hushed voice, Kemaimon whispered, "Then what did?"
~~~~~~
A/N: Ah! I finished the chapter! *faints*
Ken: Oh, that was brilliant.
Casia: Smartest thing you've done yet.
Ken: All right. First thing we're supposed to address. . . we know that Kemaimon's last move was not named. It wasn't a mistake. It was intentional. Oh, and Raptormon isn't much of a name. . . that was obvious from the moment Yulimon announced that "Rappermon" was chasing him.
Casia: As for the little blonde boy, his name is Riki. Don't expect to find out about that any time soon in the actual story. Just store the information away and remember it. And don't expect that Yulimon will be important. He probably won't, but no promises.
Ken: Oh, and review. Soon. Please.
Casia: And watch Yu-Gi-Oh tomorrow, unless tomorrow is Sunday, then it's not on. Is that it?
Ken: Yes, it is. We'll all see you soon enough. . . mwaha.