Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon or any of the main characters in this fic except for Rime and Phloem. I also came up with the idea of 'weremon.' Most Digimon that appear in this fic I looked up at Sora's Digimon Palace Digidex.
Warnings: Implied shounen ai.
Chapter 9: Eye of the Hurricane
"It was reported this morning that both High Prince Rime and his kidnapper, Phloem Greenhill, were killed by two corrupt guards upon entering Haven yesterday, and the bodies were entirely destroyed. The guards are currently in custody until the Lord and Lady Haven personally decide on their sentence. Under law, the Lord Haven is to be crowned Emperor because the High Princess Pixie Sugienna has recently resigned from her position in a letter, stating emotional turmoil over losing her fiancé as the cause for her resigning. In other new…" Alan turned off his handheld computer as he looked at the others assembled in Van's house. "That says it. We're off the hook, finally."
"Faking that… was an interesting experience," Sho remarked.
Pixie began to giggle. "I wonder how they faked that letter," she said between burst of laughter. "No offense, Rime, but I wouldn't of been that traumatized if you had actually died."
Rime ignored the comment. "What's important is that most people do think I'm dead."
"I didn't like having to donate blood," Phloem muttered. He was now dressed in a set of Vahn's clothing that was too big on him. The shorter boy had had to give up his clothes – which were quite bloodstained in the first place – so that the mock death of he and Rime would go through smoothly.
"If there hadn't been fresh blood on the scraps of clothes, they wouldn't of believed that you were dead," retorted Brian. He was proud that his plan had been pulled off.
The world viewed Rime and Phloem as deceased because Brian's plan had worked so well. It had begun with everyone in their places: Phloem and Rime just out of sight from Haven's walls, Relaina in a position where she could levitate Alan to a better viewpoint with her telekinesis, and various other members of the team hidden in the treetops thanks to Kurai's teleportation abilities. Once Phloem and Rime had walked up to the city, Growlmon (Digivolved from Guilmon) 'attacked' them. Alan had held an illusion over them that had made it seem like Growlmon had ingested the pair and destroyed the Digimon, but in reality Kurai had teleported there and teleported away with the humans. The Digimon had only been illusions in the first place.
Afterwards, Growlmon had led the guards on a chase as Magnus carefully planted the bloodied scraps of cloth along the route the guards had taken. The blood had been given from Rime and Phloem earlier, and they had also given up their clothing to create the false evidence. Kurai, after dropping the two of them off in a safe place, had teleported immediately to Growlmon and teleported him away so that it looked as if he had jumped in the River. In all, it had been realistic enough to convince the guards and their superiors because of the tracks, broken foliage, and stained clothing.
"You're right," Phloem acquiesced.
"What are we going to do now?" asked Tatsu.
"We've jumped the first hurdle, but we're running up fast to the next and we don't even know exactly what it is," Sakura said thoughtfully.
"Then we should stop and take a break," put in Magnus. "If we don't do what we need to properly, we could fail."
"Unless you overdo it," Kurai said with a glare in the prince's direction.
Tsukaimon snorted a threw a look at his partner. "He's not the only one, you know."
"Overdoing anything can be as bad as not doing enough," Vahn said. "Magnus is right, we should take a break. We're all tired from the hike to Haven and back, so some rest will do us only good."
The meeting broke up, and everyone went his or her separate way. Magnus wandered around for a while, but then he found a secluded spot and decided to sit on a comfortable rock as Guilmon stood by him. He noted that Relaina was sitting in the lower branches of a tree in front of him with Gabumon further below her. Neither said anything for a few minutes, though they did observe each other.
"You were great the other day," Magnus told her after contemplating his words. "I was surprised at how good you were with your telekinesis already."
Her retort was sharp. "Why were you surprised? Was it because I'm a girl that's younger than you?" Gabumon rolled his eyes and sighed. She never changed.
"Well, no," the bodyguard answered candidly. Relaina elegantly lifted an eyebrow. "I was surprised because I didn't think that all of the traveling we were doing was giving you time to practice. I was impressed."
"Oh." They lapsed into silence again until Relaina finally talked again. "Are you upset that you don't have a special power?"
"I do have a special power," he replied. "It comes out when I'm fighting, or when I want it to. My speed, reflexes, and abilities are greatly increased, but even with an adrenaline rush I can only hold it for fifteen minutes max."
"That seems strange for a special power."
"Yeah, but you should see him when he uses it," said Guilmon happily. "He goes boom, bang, kapow! and I can hardly see him when I'm a Rookie." He had been gesturing as he spoke, and at the end he slipped and fell over. He ended up sprawled on his stomach on the ground. "Oops."
Guilmon looked very comical as he lay there. Relaina had to smile at the sight, and then she began to laugh for the first time in years.
"You have a nice laugh, Relaina," Magnus said as she quieted down again.
"I guess." I didn't know I still knew how to laugh. "It feels nice to laugh."
Beneath Relaina, Gabumon looked happy. She's finally starting to be happy again. I think that she's finally considering him a friend. He went to help Guilmon get up as Relaina and Magnus lapsed into silence again, but this time it was a comfortable silence.
*******
Near the back of the house, there was a low wall overlooking a lake. Aquatic-type weremon splashed around in it playfully. Pixie, Brian, and their Digimon sat peacefully on the wall, enjoying the view.
"Do you think that we'll survive whatever is coming our way?" Pixie wondered as one particularly hyper Dolphmon leaped high into the air.
"I think so," said Brian. "We've done a lot already, and I think that we'll make it."
"Do you have any idea what we have to do?"
"Hmm… We're going to have to defeat the Havens and put Rime on the throne. The Emperor is the only person who can change the way the government works, so it would be best if one of us Digidestined were on the throne. Rime's the one with the strongest claim for kingship, so it'd be easiest for us to do it that way."
"He's changed a lot," Pixie replied to the unspoken "even if I don't really trust Rime." "He'll change the way the Angel's Domain does everything, and he'll make it better."
"I guess so…" Brian trailed off. "Hey, Miss Sugar, what do you plan to do after our mini-war is over?"
She swished her legs back and forth and looked up into the sky. "When this is over… I don't know. My life used to be planned out for me, even if I didn't like it. I would have married Rime and became the next Empress. But I didn't want to, and now I don't have to. I broke off the engagement, but now… I really don't know."
"I'm glad that you don't have to marry Rime."
"Any particular reason why?" she said teasingly. "Do you want to go out with me?"
He began to blush, but then he said, "Okay. I'll take you out to a nice restaurant, when all of this is over." He grinned. "Didn't expect me to take you up on your offer, did you?"
It was her turn to blush. "Actually, I was hoping that you would."
A few minutes later, Otamamon and Patamon both noted with amusement that their partners were holding hands.
*******
Kurai sat gloomily on the roof of the house. He felt so lonely and secluded, even with Tsukaimon by his side. Some of it was because of his realization that nothing that had happened to him had been Tsukaimon's fault and that he had worsened the situation by pushing Tsukaimon away.
"Will you forgive me?" Tsukaimon asked suddenly. Kurai didn't reply, but the Digimon continued, "I've been a horrible Digimon. I haven't been around when you needed me, and when you did need me, I couldn't Digivolve, but both of the Tapirmon could." Tears were forming in his eyes.
Impulsively, the thief hugged his Patamon-like Digimon. "No, it's all my faulty, Tsukaimon. I've been a b*tch towards you, and you're supposed to be the best friend I could ever have! I was just not able to face up to the fact that my life has been better since you came around. I've been able to fight now, instead of just run away. So, forgive me."
"I've never blamed you." He flapped his ears happily. "By the way, are you ever going to tell everyone else about that?"
He got the Digimon's meaning. "I don't know how you know about that, but I might tell them – eventually. How did you find out?"
"I've had my suspicions because of how you act sometimes. You calling yourself a b**** instead of a jerk or a son of a b**** just clinched it."
Kurai sighed. "Look, it's my choice if I want to dress and act like a guy," she said. "I've never actually told them that I was a guy, so I didn't lie. They just assumed from my hinting that I was a guy."
"So, here's the all important question: Do you like girls, or guys?"
She slapped him. "I like guys, you idiot!"
Tapirmon and Rime climbed over the roof. He had used a trapdoor to get up to the top just in time to hear Kurai say that "he" liked guys. "You're homosexual?" Rime asked Kurai.
She turned a bright red. "NO! I don't like girls…" she mumbled.
"Then you're homosexual."
"Grr…"
"You could just swear him to secrecy," suggested her Digimon.
"Rime, do you promise never to tell anyone what I'm about to tell you?" she demanded.
"Okay." Kurai got up and whispered in his ear. He nearly fell off the roof. "Dear gods!" he choked on laughter. "Everyone's going to freak out if they find out that!"
"I thought that you said that you wouldn't tell!" Kurai wailed.
"I won't… if you go out on a date with me."
She punched him in arm. "Fat freaking chance!" she said as she walked away in a huff and teleported when she reached the edge of the roof. But Tsukaimon could have sworn that she had the start of a blush on her cheeks.
*******
Phloem was the only one still sitting inside. He was staring at nothing and thinking over recent events. That included Tapirmon beginning to talk aloud, and Tapirmon's past. Tapirmon had explained it to him that morning.
"Phloem? What's wrong?" asked the Digimon. "Are you mad because I broke my promise?"
"Ah, what?" he said dazedly. Then he smiled. "Oh, no, I'm mad at all, Tapirmon. I'm happy that you're talking. I was just wondering why you began to talk again."
He looked serious. "When I realized that me not talking was not going to save your life, it became unimportant. I also wanted somebody to know of my past if I was again going to die."
"I understand." He considered how they seemed to be bonded together in almost every aspect. "I wonder what's so different about us."
Just then, Vahn walked into the room. "Hi, Phloem. Are you worried about something?" He pulled a chair closer to Phloem.
"I'm worried about how closely bonded I am to Tapirmon. If he gets hurt, I also get hurt. We share thoughts, emotions, and sometimes even our dreams. When I was dying, he was fading, too." His fist clenched until the knuckles were white. "I don't want him to die because of me."
Vahn reached over and held his hand comfortingly. "It's not your fault that you two are so close, Phloem. It's happened to others before this, or that's what I've heard. Some humans are just closer to their Digimon than other humans. It's not the same as being a weremon, but it's something similar."
"Why does it happen?"
"I wish I knew. Let's go outside. It's a very nice day today." Vahn let go of Phloem's hand and the two walked outside. The weremon led him to a temple-like place. "This is the library, though it is also the place where all of our records are kept. I've already requested that you and all of your friends be allowed to see the records."
"Don't they have to do what you say? I thought that you were their prince." The only system of government he had experience with was that of the capital.
Vahn shook his head negatively. "No. I may be their prince, but I am more like a chosen leader. It is not a permanent, supreme position; if the people feel like I am a bad ruler, I am kicked out of my position, if not this town. Also, I have a council of advisors who also have the power to decide things, and they vote yes or no on my decisions." He opened the door to the library and led Phloem past rows of ancient books to a room with books that varied in age. Both were surprised to see that Tatsu, Sakura, and their Digimon were already in there.
Sakura waved politely. "Hello. We were looking for the records on hybrids that have passed by this village. Do you know where those records are kept?" Vahn nodded and went towards a shelf in the back of the room. He did not ask what they wanted it for.
"What're hybrids?" wondered Phloem.
She answered, "People that are unusually close to Digimon sometimes pick up Digimon-like traits, and in those cases they are called hybrids. The process of becoming more Digimon-like is called hybridization."
"It sounds like you're working with plants, using that term," he said as he rubbed the back of his head in a nervous gesture. Is that what's happening to me?
Then Vahn pulled out a book that was dry and slightly dusty, like it had only been around few years. He flipped to a page that had a marker in it and read, "'The Agumon people today have found a young girl that wandered into a village with a Gatomon at her side. She is no more than five years old, but a curious thing about her is that she seems to be able to change her shape slightly. When the Agumon-weremon found her, they claimed she had Gatomon-like ears and a tail, but now she does not. But, I have seen these ears and tail with my own eyes. She is not quite fully human, yet she has a Digimon partner.' It stops there, but around two weeks later there's another passage.
"'We now have found another Digimon-like human. This one has Cyberdramon-like wings on his back. His Monodramon has a scar on his right hand, and the child has both his hand and his eyes wrapped in bandages. I do not know how he can move about as if he can see, but perhaps he can 'see' in the same way that a Cyberdramon can. The child claims that he was looking for the girl.'
"'Last night, both of the Digimon-human 'hybrids,' as they are now being called, have left town. All of us sincerely hope that they are in good health. They obviously had many worries for ones so young,'" Vahn finished reading. He looked at Tatsu, Monodramon, Gatomon, and Sakura in surprise. "I thought that you've been here before, but I never thought that you were the hybrids."
Tatsu shifted uncomfortably and unclasped his cloak. It fell with a swish to the ground, and then large wings unfurled from his back. They were indeed just like a Cyberdramon's.
Then Sakura shape-shifted, and her cat ears and tail appeared again. But these were more like Gatomon ears than her usual ones. "I didn't know that you were actually a hybrid, too," Tatsu murmured to her.
"You didn't want reminding of what you were, so I pretended that I wasn't," she told him gently. "You didn't like being a hybrid."
Phloem was staring at both of them. "That's… amazing," he said finally. "I think it's neat that you are so close to your Digimon."
"You're that close to Tapirmon, too," said Vahn, "if not closer." Everyone looked at him in surprise as he closed the book and put it back in its place. "For some reason, you don't really show many of your Digimon's traits, but you do seem to be as closely bonded as you can be."
Closing his eyes, Phloem remembered his last Digimon battle. I felt like I was becoming part of Tapirmon as he Digivolved to Ultimate. I was putting every ounce of myself into helping him get there. And ever since I got my D-Seed, we had been even closer than before. "I think we are," he said as he opened his eyes. "But we only became so close recently, so I didn't pick up any of his traits. Our bond has become stronger with time." Vahn nodded understandably.
As Phloem spoke, Tatsu had recovered his wings and Sakura had made her extra Digimon appendages vanish again. Both of them walked out together. "We're two of a kind, Sakura," Tatsu said as he opened the library door.
"That's right, and we'll always be two of a kind," she promised as she held the door open for their Digimon. "And we'll never let ourselves be separated again in the way we did when we were young." Then she slid it shut behind them, leaving Vahn, Phloem, and Tapirmon alone.
Phloem looked towards Vahn. "I guess I'll just have to be extra careful whenever I get into a battle, huh? I don't really want the bond between me and Tapirmon to get weaker."
They exited the library. As they walked along the streets, a Labramon was chasing a Nyaromon. The Nyaromon ran up to hide behind Phloem and accidentally tripped him. Vahn caught him as the two weremon ran off again. "Sorry, misters!" they called back and giggled they continued their game of tag.
Both of the teenagers blushed as they realized that they looked like they had been embracing because of the way that Vahn had caught Phloem. They hastily pulled away, but privately, Phloem thought that he hadn't really minded being "hugged" by Vahn. As Tapirmon caught the gist of that thought, he sent a knowing look to Phloem and winked. He turned a brighter shade of red.
"Well, ah, let's get back to you house now," Phloem said as his blush went away. "We should meet back up with the others, I guess."
"Right," agreed Vahn readily. In his mind, he was actually thinking, I wonder if he's straight or not…
"What do you think we'll end up doing?"
Vahn contemplated that for a few minutes. "I'm not sure, but I think that today was like the eye of the hurricane. We've had it pretty easy, but soon the eye wall will hit, and we'll be back into the action even more than before."
They were silent after that, but both of them were hoping that everyone would come through it okay.
Chibigreen's Ending Notes: I decided to start replying to comments in reviews. ^___^ If you feel like commenting on this chapter (please do, in a review!), then I'll be happy to reply to it in the next chapter.
Takeru and Hikari – Thanks for the nice comments. ^___^ The idea of weremon suddenly popped up one day in my head when I was reading a few Harry Potter fics that involved werewolves, and I wondered, "What would the Digimon version of werewolves be? Weremon!" It kind of progressed from there. And, as you might've noticed, the shounen ai between Vahn and Phloem is finally beginning. ^___^
Steel Knight – Yep, Sho's finally helping. It took me a bit to develop his character (he was so darn quiet! I didn't get any ideas…), but now he's going to be more apparent. In this chapter he wasn't, but this chapter was focusing on romance.
Tatsu-no-Houou (That was you that reviewed, right? There wasn't any name.) – I don't think I need more info on Tatsu. Sorry I made him so quiet in the last chapter, but he just didn't quite fit into the plot in it. Is how I portrayed Tatsu in this chapter fine?
ChibiSora – I thought that you would like the evil grin part. ^___^ And I decided that she would come up with the plan. She sounded like the type of character who would do something like that. I hope you don't mind me pairing up Magnus and Relaina. It just seems to work out!
Feed my muses! REVIEW!