Failed ventures don't necessarily mean that everything is lost.
Failure may prop up the next success.
Or lead the enemy into a trap unwary.
Abaddon continued to smile but remained outside in the hallway. He awaited a reply from Takato.
"How do you know about Ruki?" Takato demanded. He tried to sound firm but he felt incredibly uncomfortable in Abaddon's presence. It just felt wrong and all the digimon began to bristle, waiting for the slightest hostile move from Abaddon.
"I know many things Mr. Matsuda! The question is what do you want to know?" Abaddon continued. He stood there smugly and removed his sunglasses revealing one blue and one green eye. He idly cleaned his sunglasses with a handkerchief from his breast pocket and seemed to forget that there was six digimons ready to blow him away.
"How about you tell us and you get nothing," Renamon threatened. She did not like this mysterious boy and most of all she did not like what he implied. How could he possibly know Ruki's location unless he was spying on her? How could he know without letting betraying his presence around Renamon?
"Now, now Renamon. I'm a businessman! If I went around doing my services for free then no one would pay me," Abaddon explained coolly not bothering to look up and address Renamon. He continued to clean his sunglasses until he finally slipped them back on and put away his handkerchief. He looked back at the group with a magnanimous smile and waited for their response.
"Sorry, people tend to get suspicious when the business's name is 'Devil's Advocate Unlimited'," Jen stated. He eyed the boy very carefully and wondered briefly how he came into the house without anyone knowing.
"Such suspicious paranoia, I'm hurt," Abaddon said mockingly, "it matters not then. You shall come to me for the information everyone does eventually."
"If you hurt Ruki, I'll..." Renamon began.
"Is that a threat? You are in no position to threaten me. Don't worry Renamon, it is far more profitable if I don't harm Ms. Makino at this moment," Abaddon continued with a slightly mocking voice.
Renamon attacked with a Fox Leaf Arrowhead, which Abaddon avoided easily by jumping ten feet backward into the air. The attack hit the outside garden wall and Abaddon easily landed on an undamaged part of the wall.
The digimon almost seemed ready to blow Abaddon into the afterlife but an unexpected voice of reason stopped them.
"Don't attack guys! Let's hear him out," Juri ordered firmly. Everyone blinked in surprised at the firmness in Juri's voice and the digimon withheld their attacks, for now.
"Why thank you Ms. Katou... I will not harm Ms. Makino since as I stated before it is more profitable if she is still alive. Second it is more likely that she will harm herself rather than me harming her so don't think I'm out to murder her or anything. Third I have information, which would really be a use to you, but due to my company's ... er policy I cannot give it away free. Information surround the potential deal is all right but anything else is an obvious infraction against company policy," Abaddon explained in a clear and patient voice.
"So if we pay you, then we give us the information?" Kenta asked.
"In short yes Mr. Kitagawa, I don't want to harm you but I will if you force me to," Abaddon continued.
"Well I don't trust you," Marine Angemon fired back. At this Abaddon sighed and looked helplessly at the group.
"Whether you trust me or not, hardly matter but... I will keep in touch. If you change your mind and wish to speak business rip up the business card I gave you and call my name," Abaddon said defeated. There was nothing dramatic about his exit; he simply ceased to exist where he was standing. The group absorbed the information that Abaddon had provided them and it only set to increase their anxiety. What if he was telling the truth? What if he was lying? How were they going to explain to Rumiko about the garden's walls?
Takato took a look at the partially destroyed wall that Renamon had accidentally hit with her attack. Outside surveying the damage was Seiko who calmly looked at the fallen mortar and stone. Everyone winced and looked a little sheepish.
"So... What exactly happened here?" Seiko asked. She was clearly not happy by the damage done to the wall though she probably didn't blame them.
*****
Ruki woke up tired and confused from her strange dream. Her eyes were not focusing despite her best effort and her head felt as though it had taken a trip around a whirlpool. She turned over onto her right shoulder to try and get up and immediately came to regret it. Pain shot up her body like a shock and Ruki involuntarily made a sound of pain. Grasping her injured shoulder with her left hand, she tried massaging away the pain. The pain shattered the haze of drowsiness that idled her.
"Ah... damn it... Stupid shoulder, stupid birthday, STUPID FATHER! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU!" Ruki screamed out. With that Ruki laid on the flat of her back to alleviate the pressure on her right shoulder. Her hands flew up to her face and covered her eyes. Tears were threatening to spill from her eyes and she tried to stop them. The blankets that once covered her were in disarray and her things were neatly placed in a corner of the room. Ruki however didn't notice anything and kept her eyes covered. She laid there for a few moments before finally forcing her body to sit up straight.
The room was dark and Ruki's left hand immediately traveled to her right shoulder to find out what was hurting it. She quickly discovered that bandage gauze was wrapped around her shoulder and her hair had mysteriously grown a full eight inches. In fact her hair was spilling over her shoulders and went past her shoulder blades before stopping somewhere along the lower bottom of her back.
"What the hell?" Ruki said immediately at the realization of her newly grown hair and bandaged shoulder.
"Ruki?" Kaho's voice could be heard from the sliding door. It opened to reveal a rather frazzled looking Kaho whose robes were somewhat askew from who knows what. The old woman's quick eyes searched Ruki over and blinked in surprise at what she saw.
"What are you staring at?" Ruki said less than happy at her newfound injury and longer hair.
"Well... it's just that your hair is longer than..." Kaho never finished her sentence, Ruki interjected and glared at her angrily.
"Yes I know that but what happened? I have bandages on me;" Ruki demanded an immediate answer. Kaho frowned at the lack of patience, which Ruki demonstrated but decided to reply with a less than satisfactory answer.
"You injured yourself," Kaho deadpanned. Ruki glared at Kaho even harder.
"That's not the type explanation I want," Ruki stated.
"Very well then, but you'll probably think I'm insane when I tell you. Your ancestor Lady Inari, goddess of all kitsune, visited you. To come here she needed a bit of your energy and so she took a small bite into your shoulder. As for your longer hair I have no idea," Kaho answered.
Ruki took a few seconds to digest the information that Kaho gave her and blinked. Ruki simply stopped glaring and looked at Kaho as if she had gone insane or went senile on her.
"Okay run that by me again..." Ruki asked clearly thinking that Kaho had finally snapped and gone crazy.
"I said that your ancestor Lady Inari visited you... When I said you were a kitsune I didn't know you were literally a kitsune. I thought you just had an unusually strong connection with them," Kaho explained. Ruki chose to ignore Kaho after answering and immediately checked out her longer hair with her hands. Kaho rolled her eyes and immediately got a mirror out for Ruki from a closet. Ruki stood up easily enough and wordlessly took the mirror out of Kaho's hands and looked at herself. Sure enough the hair was much longer than what Ruki had remembered it to be last time she checked. There was no way Ruki could put her long hair up into its customary spiky ponytail. Ruki also noticed she could feel the individual grooves and nicks in the mirror's wooden casing very easily and how strange it felt running her fingers through her hair. The subtle smell of flowers and incense floating around in the air like a breeze. The sound of rushing water from the nearby mountain stream and rustling leaves. She could see the small letters written on a plaque behind Kaho that was about hundred meters away clearly and could read them. The onslaught of senses surprised Ruki to the extreme and shocked her tired brain with sensory overload. Ruki dropped the mirror in surprise and then something exceedingly strange happened. Everything seemed to go into slow motion for Ruki and she could see the mirror falling from her hands in almost painful descent. There was plenty of time for Ruki to think before reacting.
Questions such as "what the hell was that?" and "why the hell can I feel things so starkly?" and most of all "what the hell does Kaho mean by 'I didn't know you were literally a kitsune'?".
Ruki immediately let her hands grab the mirror before it even fell halfway between it's descent. She stood back up and faced Kaho who looked a bit surprised. To Kaho the mirror was falling to floor quickly and immediately planned to bring the broom out until Ruki somehow managed to grab it. The problem was Kaho didn't even see Ruki's hands move to grab the mirror, it was too fast for her eyes to see. Kaho soon quickly realized that Ruki's senses were active.
"... Oh boy... this maybe a lot more complicated than I thought," Kaho said. Ruki looked at Kaho baffled by the statement.
*****
An ancient battle was taking place between Ryou, the legendary Tamer, and his partner Monodramon. One that had stayed with them since the time they first been together and with no end in sight. Ryou probably would have enjoyed it if it were anything less tedious and monotonous.
"Trains... Why does it always have to be trains when we go traveling?" Monodramon complained a bit. Luckily there was no one on the train car at the moment but it didn't change the fact it was incredibly boring watching the country pass by. The problem to Monodramon's mind was there was nothing to do on the train.
"Because I can't drive a car and this is the cheapest way to travel," Ryou answered the digimon's question for the umpteenth time. He casually leaned back into the seat and tried to relax a bit. He wondered what exactly the meaning of his dream meant.
"Why couldn't we bring the game boy with us?" Monodramon whined. He casually forget to remember that the last time he had brought his game boy, he had beaten every single game he had and tried to 'borrow' some from a nearby electronics store without Ryou's permission.
"Don't remember what happened last time? You've already busted it once and then you ran out of batteries but didn't have money to buy more so you went into a store and..." Ryou began listing off what problems the annoying piece of electronic gaming equipment had brought them.
"Okay! I get the idea all ready! Get off my case!... I'm bored. Why do we have to be on a train?"
"Monodramon, for the last time we are on a train because something big is up! I thought you wanted to come so you could beat the crap out of the next enemy?"
"I do but why do I have to wait?"
Ryou sighed and threw up his hands in defeat.
'I have faced countless dangers, saved the world god knows how many times, defeated Millenniumon three times yet I cannot defeat Monodramon's impatience... I guess I'm not the greatest Tamer in the world,' Ryou thought. Then Ryou felt somewhat cold as if the temperature in the train car went down.
"My we have a rather impatient young one here don't we now?" A slick refined voice with what sounded like a Russian accent drawled from the end of the train car clearly. Ryou got up from his seat and turned around to face the voice. The sight that greeted him was what seemed to be a humanoid tiger who was dressed in an Italian business suit with a pair of sunglasses. The tiger-like being had an air of sinister sophistication and gave Ryou a rather toothy grin that showed the two largest canines in it's mouth quite prominently. Ryou immediately lifted up his D-arc and scanned the mysterious being. No data showed up and Ryou frowned.
"Really now," the tiger said a little irritated," you thought I was 'a' digimon? I should feel insulted."
"Well name a few things that look like a tiger that stands on two feet and wear business suits as a fashion statement because I can't think of any," Ryou retorted a little annoyed. If a fight broke out between him and the tiger thing, Ryou would be fighting blind.
Monodramon bristled at the tiger's presence and readied to attack at the slightest provocation. The tiger ignored the obviously hostile looks he was getting from the duo.
"Allow me to introduce myself Mr. Akiyama and Monodramon. I am Ruksasha at your service. Here's my business card," Ruksasha announced and immediately got a card out from his breast pocket. He threw the card towards Ryou, which Ryou caught easily. Too easily, Ryou could have sworn that the card was actually guided to him but couldn't be sure. The throw should have sent the card careening through the air and land a short distance in front of Ruksasha but somehow the card travelled five meters in a straight trajectory. Ryou read the card immediately and saw what it said.
Devil's Advocate Unlimited
Ruksasha
Ryou frowned at the name of the business at wearily watched Ruksasha for any hostile movements. Ruksasha ignoring the weary look on Ryou's face sat down in one of the train car seats and got a Cuban cigar out from his pocket. Ruksasha played with cigar with his hands or was it his paws? In any case he lights the cigar up and took a deep puff.
"I don't think I like the name of your business here," Ryou managed to respond.
Ruksasha gave the same toothy grin that made Ryou wonder if he was grimacing or smiling.
"Oh don't worry, no one seems to really like the name of business but it's rather accurate considering the business we do Mr. Akiyama," Ruksasha stated while smoking his cigar.
"Okay, then what do you want?"
"Always me isn't it? No, you see a more accurate question you should be asking yourself Mr. Akiyama is 'what do I want'?"
Ryou felt more than a little suspicious of Ruksasha but attacking someone for no good reason was not his style of fighting.
"What I want is to take this outside, do a smack down and see who wins?" Monodramon replied, obviously he felt less than warm and fuzzy about Ruksasha.
"Hold Monodramon, if he attacks us then you can delete him," Ryou answered.
Ruksasha simply waved off the death threat.
"Yes well I can tell you what you want Mr. Akiyama. You want a fight and you want to see the other Tamers who are your friends. Maybe save the life of a certain violet eyes girl called Makino Ruki? I have to admit Mr. Akiyama; she is one good-looking chick. Now if she was only ten years older..." Ruksasha hinted and made a slightly perverted dreamy look on his face. He sighed eventually as if reminding himself that Ruki was too young for him.
"You know where she is?" Ryou reacted to Ruksasha's less than wholesome comment on Ruki.
"Oh sorry did I hit a nerve? And the answer to your question is yes;" Ruksasha stated getting a rather perverse pleasure out the entire exchange.
"You're pushing it pal," Ryou retorted. Monodramon readied to attack at his partner's order.
"Now we don't have to get violent here Mr. Akiyama. I'm just here to do business if you're interested of course," Ruksasha said calmly.
"Well how about I tell you I don't want to do business."
"Are you sure? You're running around blind without a clue where your girlfriend is and yet you insist you don't want my information."
"I'll find it on my own! I don't need your damn help! I'm not the greatest Tamer in the world because I went around asking for help from anyone else!" Ryou proclaimed angrily. There was something that agitated Ryou about Ruksasha and he didn't like it. Ruksasha was not someone he would like to trust with anything.
Ruksasha made another toothy grin that Ryou wasn't quite sure if it was a smile or grimace but Ruksasha seemed to wave off the anger that Ryou had as if it was insignificant. Apparently Ruksasha was either incredibly brave or stupid or completely ignorant of what Ryou could do to him.
"Your arrogance may cost Ruki her life and you will be responsible for it," Ruksasha stated smugly.
"Monodramon!"
"Got it Ryou!" Monodramon answered and attacked Ruksasha. He charged towards where the relaxing Ruksasha was and launched his attack.
"Beat Knuckle!"
The attack reduced the seat into splintered mass of junk. Dust, debris and other things flew into the air and when it finally settled all that was left a completely totalled train seat.
"Hm was that really necessary?" Ruksasha asked to Monodramon. He stood right beside the rookie digimon with nary a speck of dust on his immaculate suit and seemed not in the least bit surprised. Monodramon looked up at him dumbfounded and before he could react Ruksasha kicked him in the stomach sending him flying down the entire length of the train car. Monodramon eventually reached the end of the train car and crashed into the door. A dent was visible in the door and the glass was cracked.
Ryou reached for his cards but before he could Ruksasha was right in front of him and grabbed Ryou's arm in a painful manner. Needless to say Ryou couldn't do anything.
"Now Mr. Akiyama please listen to me for the moment. Though you may not want the information you may want to consider my service in the future. If you need me please rip up the business card and call my name," Ruksasha explained and grinned.
"$%&^ you!" Ryou responded. Ryou kicked Ruksasha in the stomach but it didn't do much other than leave a footprint on the suit. Ruksasha sighed in annoyance at the mark on his suit.
"Pleasure meeting your acquaintance Mr. Akiyama," Ruksasha replied. With that Ruksasha let go of Ryou's arm. Ryou attempted to punch Ruksasha but his punch never landed. Ruksasha simply faded away and disappeared, leaving a beleaguered Tamer and digimon.
"Okay... Now it's personal," Monodramon announced as he painfully extracted himself out of the train doors.
"I don't like this one bit..." Ryou muttered and picked up the business card that was left behind. Ryou resisted the urge to rip the card up and pocketed the card. He would get back at the unnerving Ruksasha; he just needed to be patient.
*****
"So I take it that you have meet with Akiyama?" Abaddon asked Ruksasha.
"Indeed... but look what he did to my suit!" Ruksasha groused. Ruksasha took a seat in one of the comfortable leather chairs in the room. Abaddon stood at the window and looked out of it. The city sprawled in front of him and the window was the only barrier between him and the outside.
The room the two were in was large with many books spilling out from the shelves. In one corner was a computer with the latest equipment and digimon playing cards scattered on the desk in no order whatsoever. In the middle of this room, boxed in between two shelves of books and a single window, were two leather chairs and a table. On the said table was an untouched and prepared board of chess pieces.
"It's your move Abaddon... What are you going to do?" Ruksasha asked as he looked over the finely wrought chess pieces. The blonde haired boy continued to look out the window ignoring Ruksasha.
"The move that must begin everything and end everything... I hope that what we are doing will not destroy us in the end..." Abaddon responded not looking away from the window.
"The plan is all ready in motion. There is nothing to stop it now... Come on Abaddon, it's your move."
"Perhaps..."
Abaddon tore his eyes away from the window and headed over to the table where Ruksasha was sitting. He took off his sunglasses and looked over the undisturbed board with his blue and green eyes.
"My first move," Abaddon announced and reached out for a chess piece to move.