Disclaimer: Refer to chapter 1 pwease.
Alright... I got 2 reviews... Better than nothing, this fic really ain't
nothing right now anyhoo... @@; It'll be something... I PROMISE!! But I might
only put up the next chapter after 5 reviews or so... So review! D I'm
mean. Well, nothing else to say... Read on reader!
~*~*~
Courageous Angel
Chapter 2: Courage Fails
All of a sudden, the patter of rain was heard, and it rained.
"Great. Rain. That'll add to my depression..." Taichi said gloomily.
Agumon looked at Taichi with concern.
"You sure you're ok Taichi? You seem so... sad and worried."
"Agu, please stop asking. I'm fine. Just... deep in thought about...
something."
~*~
"So now what? We called this meeting to try and help Taichi, but we just
let him go and failed instead," Takeru said, sounding abit depressed.
"Who are you asking, Takaru?" Daisuke said.
"His name's Takeru, not Takaru, Daisuke, and I think he was asking us
all," Hikari told Daisuke sternly.
"Well, whatever. What do you guys think we should do?" Daisuke said,
pretending he didn't make that mistake.
"Ahem," Miyako interrupted.
"Sorry, guys and girls. Geez..."
"Well, I don't know. Suggestions anyone?" Jyou said.
Everyone turned to look at the two geniuses.
"Well..." they all said, waiting with somewhat patient faces.
"Wh-What?" Koushiro and Ken stammered, "how should we
know?"
"I think we should just wait for Agumon and try to pretend everything's
still normal," Yamato suggested.
"We'll try that I guess," Sora said, "I just hope he's
ok..."
Rain started to fall from the smokey grey sky. The sound was heard as it hit
and formed puddles on the ground of the park. This was about the same time as
the rain fell where Taichi was.
"Come on everyone. Let's go all go home. Maybe we'll think of something then,"
Piyomon said, "besides, it's starting to rain and might rain harder. I
don't think we should be out now."
"Biyomon's right. We could all catch a cold or something and I'm sure I'm
allergy to rain," Jyou said.
"If we do catch a cold, you could cure everyone, Jyou!" Gomamon said,
laughing and playing in the rain.
"Ha ha, very funny."
"Well, I think we all should go home now, just in case," Miyako said.
So with that, everyone and their Digimon walked back home.
Taichi and Agumon walked back home slowly. Hikari was still far behind,
probably just exiting the park right now. Taichi let the rain trickle down his
dripping wet hair and clothes, soaking them through and making him shudder. He
had his head down as he walked. All of a sudden, lightning came. Thunder
roared.
"Let's run back home Taichi. It's raining harder now plus there's
lightning and thunder coming this way. Come on! I'll race ya!"
"Na. I don't wanna Agu. I don't have the energy right now. Besides, I
kinda like the rain," Taichi's low, gloomy voice said.
"You could catch a cold or get sick or worse, you could get struck by
lightning!" Agu half said, half shouted to him in a worrired tone.
"If you so want to, you can go ahead. I'll catch up Agumon. Don't worry
'bout me."
"No, I stay with you no matter what. I'm just suggesting because I don't
want you sick or hurt. That's all."
Taichi suddenly stopped walking and turned swiftly around to face Agumon, with
more energy than he had just moments ago.
"Listen, Agumon, buddy, I'm 15 now. I can take care of MYSELF just
FINE!" Taichi shouted, a new fury in his voice. Agumon was in shock by
this new and angry Taichi. Taichi was more in shock than Agumon.
"S-Sorry Agu... I'm just going through hard times. I kinda vented my anger
on you I guess. Sorry..." He swept his hand through his thick hair,
calming himself down. A silence settled between the two partners, then-
"That's ok Taichi. You just shocked me, that's all. You never acted this
way before."
"I know, that's one of the many problems I'm facing right now..." He
turned away and shut his eyes, just like he was trying to shut everything out
of his sight, letting nothing enter.
"What is the problem Tai-" Agumon began, but Taichi and more thunder
interrupted him.
"Agu, it's raining quite hard now. Wanna run home?" Taichi shouted
through the thundering of the storm, smiling for the first time in a few days.
The rain pattered, harder than before. Agumon looked abit unsure, but he gave a
weak smile too.
"Yeah, let's. Last one home's a rotten egg!"
And they darted off the sidewalk. Taichi ran down the street with Agumon
following his trail.
~*~
The storm slowly died down as the night slowly came. Now all that was left was
a trickle coming from the sky ever so peacefully. It was night and all the
digidestineds were sound asleep in their beds. All 'cept one...
He was all alone, standing on nothing at all. At least, nothing he could
see. The place was surrounded by darkness. All around him, there was darkness.
How he could see through all this, he didn't know. He didn't even know what was
going on. He heard laughter, evil, insane laughter. The voice was harsh and
cold. Filled with evil, filled with the darkness around him. It was so evil
that it made Taichi shudder everytime he heard it.
"Who's there?" Taichi demanded, sounding brave, but not feeling so at
all. "Who is that?"
"Heh..." the voice snickered, making Taichi shuffle uncomfortably.
"Who's that? What's going on? Why am I here anyways? Answer me!"
"I've been searching for you for along time... Taichi Yagami."
"Why? What do you want? H-How do you know who I am?"
"Oh, I want nothing, nothing at all. 'Cept of course... Your death, your
pitiful and painful death."
"W-What?" Taichi spoke, barely higher than a whisper. Yet it rang out
clear through that silent and isolated place. "M-My death...? But- What
have I ever done to you? Y-Your joking... Right..." He tried to reassure
himself, but that was failing. It sounded in his voice, the fear that was
caused just by that other voice. That whisper-y voice, filled with everything
evil, like no natural human's voice.
The other laughed. "Joking? No, if I said I was, I would be lying. And I
know just how much you love honesty Taichi..." He chuckled darkly.
"Angel of Courage..."
"A-Angel of Courage? You got the wrong guy..." Taichi backed away
slowly, away from the laughter and the voice, but it seemed to be everywhere.
There seemed to be no escaping it. No where at all.
"I ain't no Angel of Courage. Whoever you are, you're insane!" He
started to run, run away, but he felt like he was being followed. The voice was
everything, everywhere...
"Am I? Well, we'll see about that, when I reach you... After I destory
you, the other digidestineds will fail without their true leader. Then... No
one will be there to stop me from destorying the world. No one at all. I'm
gonna like seeing you die. And me, as the cause of your death."
"Why are you doing this?"
"Oh, that's just a long story about my past..." The voice paused, as
if painful memories filled him- yes, it was a him, Taichi was sure of it now.
"But- that's none of your concern!" he snapped, "all you need to
know is that I'm coming... You and everyone you love, everyone you've cared
about, will die... Very soon..."
"Stop that!" Taichi yelled out. "Stop it! Whoever you are, if I
must, I-I will fight you! To defend everyone and save them from you! I
will!"
Ropes latched out at Taichi. He tried to run faster, but he was using up all
his strength. His body seemed to just shut off. The ropes wrapped themselves
around Taichi's arms, legs, neck, surrounding him, not letting him move
anywhere or anything. He struggled, but even he knew he was losing, to this
voice... To this... thing...
"Agumon! Agumon! Where are you? Help me!! Agumon!" he called out
desperately. "AGUMON!"
Taichi awoke sweating and panting. He almost screamed.
"Angel of Courage, I'm coming nearer. I shall get you. You, your
friends, your family, everyone..."
"No," Taichi whispered through breaths of air, "no you
won't. Whoever you are, I'll fight you. I'll defend everyone you want to
destroy. I won't let you win. I might not be this 'Angel of Courage', I don't
even understand what's happening, but I will fight you. You won't win as long
as I live."
"We shall see, we shall see..."
Then the voice faded away, words on the wings of the wind, into the night.
The dream that's been bothering him for a month. He didn't know what to make of
it. Every night it came, every night it became more clearer. As if the voice was
getting closer... It haunted him, asleep or awake. Was it real? Was it just an
illusion his mind made? But that voice... So cold, heartless... evil...
Taichi just sat on his bed, afraid to move. Afraid of what he must face, in the
future to come...
~*~
"Taichi! Time for school!" Hikari shouted in Taichi's ear.
"Huh?" Taichi said, jumping up and staring into his sister's face,
"Hikari! I was trying to sleep!"
"It's 7:40 and school starts at 8:00!" (Note: I dunno if that's
right... So I just made it up. ^_^;)
"OK, OK, I'm up," Taichi mumbled. He walked into the bathroom to
clean up and changed into his school uniform.
'Was it just another dream?' he thought while dressing, 'or is it real...' He
sighed. 'I'm confused. This has been going on for a month. I want to know
what's going on. Anytime soon would be good...'
Taichi pondered in his thoughts once again, just like every other day now.
'Agumon's right. He does think as much as Koushiro now,' Hikari thought,
watching him silently. 'Maybe I should ask him-' But Hikari had no more time to
think.
"Taichi! Hikari! School's starting! I packed your lunches. Go go go!"
Mrs. Yagami urged them, pushing them out the door.
"OK mom. We're going. See you after school," Taichi said with a
somewhat normal voice and face, only his dark brown eyes showed abit of what he
felt inside- confused and miserable.
'I guess I'll have to wait 'till later to ask him,' Hikari thought, hurrying to
catch up with Taichi as they headed out the door.
~*~
Weird things happened that day. While going to class, Daisuke and Takeru passed
by a notice hung up on the bulletin board so they both stopped to read it.
(Note: Again made up, just for the story! YAY!!)
--------------------
School Dance!!!
Date: Next Friday
Time: 12:30 - 3:00 PM
Place: Gym
That's right! Our school is gonna have a school dance next Friday in periods
6,7,8,9 & 10. That would mean a whole afternoon without school!
Now's your chance to ask the person you have a crush on to the dance. See ya
all there!
--------------------
"Alright! A school dance. Now I can ask Hikari if she'll be my date
there," Daisuke said.
"Not before me you don't, Daisuke," Takeru said, a note of warning in
his voice.
"It's a race then. Whoever reaches Hikari after school first will ask her
and win!" Daisuke challenged.
"Accepted." Both of the boys stared at each other with confidence,
thinking that both of them would get to her first.
"As long as the loser ain't asking Miyako to the dance," Ken said
behind them, "she's mine."
"Yeah, yeah, we won't Ken. Miyako's your girl," they both said as
they all walked to class.
This dance was also at the school Taichi, Sora, Yamato and Koushiro went to.
Same place, same date, just different school.
'Now's my chance to take Sora to the dance,' Yamato thought, 'if Taichi asks
her, she'll say no. I just know it.'
But Taichi had no such plans anyways. In fact, he didn't plan to go to the
dance. Just took a glance at the notice and walked away, head down. Of course,
Koushiro never cared for anything except computers. So naturally, he didn't
plan to go either.
That was when the weird things started happening to each Digidestined... (Note:
I'm writing about the orginal ones only... Cause it's easier and stuff. Just
pretend stuff is happening to the others too.)
In his class, Koushiro sat in his seat. Always alert, always ready to answer a
question, always listening.
"I'm going to test you on what you learned from probably two years ago.
So, which continent is Australia located in?"
The teacher looked around the class as a few hands went up. Koushiro's wasn't
one of them, for once.
"Koushiro?"
"Huh? Oh, um... uh... ah..." He knew the answer, but something held
him back... Fear...?
Everyone in the class snickered. Koushiro was usually the first one to put
their hand up and he would answer anything. To see him speechless was new.
"Well, It's ah... um... Ya see..."
"Yes, James," the teacher said suddenly, pointing to a student three
seats behind Koushiro.
"The country Australia is located in Australia because it is a continent
and a country," was the respond heard.
"Very good, James."
Just then, the bell rang for school dismissal. Koushiro sighed and began to
walk out, carrying his school bag.
"Just a minute Koushiro! I'd like to have a word with you."
Koushiro stayed behind and watched everyone leave the class. The students
snickered as they passed by him. The teacher walked to him when everyone left.
"What's wrong Koushiro? You seem different today, not that that's a bad
thing mind..."
"Oh, it's nothing. Just, just, thinking about something else,"
Koushiro said, though that wasn't the real reason.
"Well, if there's anything wrong, I'm here. OK?"
"S-Sure." Koushiro bowed and exited.
'What... Just happened...?' he thought, 'I could've answered that question. It
was like... Like... Like I didn't have the courage to talk in front of the
class... What's going on...'
Daisuke and Takeru raced to Hikari when school was out.
"Hikari! Hey, Hikari!" they both yelled, trying to get her attention
first.
"Why was I expecting this?" Hikari said to Miyako who was next to
her.
" 'Cause you knew they were bound to ask you?" Miyako suggested,
teasing her abit.
Daisuke and Takeru reached Hikari at the same time, just as a group of students
passed by them. They were just about to ask her, but something prevented them
from asking Hikari to the dance.
"Well, we... errr... uh... umm," they both stuttered and blushed deep
red.
Hikari and Miyako looked at them, confused.
"What is it, Daisuke? Takeru?" Hikari said.
Takeru and Daisuke felt queasy. The students were still walking passed them a
few metres away. Takeru and Daisuke glanced at the students, at Hikari and
Miyako and then on the ground.
"We were, uh... um..." Takeru started.
"Just going to... err..." Daisuke stammered.
Just then, Ken appeared, but he too, was speechless and couldn't say anything
to Miyako.
"I was, uh... gonna ask you to um..." Ken said.
"Move aside weaklings." Two older boys came over and pushed Daisuke,
Takeru and Ken aside.
"Hey, you two girls wanna go to the dance with us?" the first boy
asked smugly.
"Yeah, better us then those weak guys," the second replied, jeering
at Daisuke, Takeru and Ken.
"Who do they think are?" Daisuke wanted to say, but he just couldn't.
"Well, we were- gonna..." Hikari and Miyako began, but they too had
lost the courage they had before to say no to the two older boys or fight back.
The two boys walked away with the students who had all past by now, smirks on
their faces.
"How could you do that, Miyako?" Ken asked with an angry face.
"I don't know. It felt like... like all my courage was all gone. I was
afraid..." she said softly.
"Same here," Hikari said, before Daisuke and Takeru pestered her.
"This has been one weird day," Takeru said, "I passed Koushiro
today and he told me he couldn't answer a simple Geography question.
"Now that's not weird, that's crazy," Daisuke responded.
"I know," Takeru replied.
At the other school, Yamato was forced into a wall.
"What did you say?" an older boy said to Yamato.
"I said you shouldn't talk to Sora like that!" Yamato shouted in his
face.
"You do know who you're dealing with, don't you?" he snarled
back, "The school... bully?"
"So? You don't scare me!"
"Please stop fighting!" Sora said.
The bully raised a fist.
"See this? You'll get hurt if you don't shut up."
Yamato was about to answer back, fight if needed. But he couldn't... Courage
being sucked away, in cowered under the bully's shadow.
"OK, I'm sorry. Just, please, leave me alone!" Yamato yelped, as he
got a punch in the arm.
The bully left Yamato and walked to Sora.
"So what about that dance, Sora?" he said, trying to sound cool, but
failing.
All Sora could do was stand there, shaken and afraid. She wanted to hit that
bully so bad for hurting Yamato- but she couldn't.
"I'll take that as a yes. See ya at the dance." He started to walk
away when suddenly...
"What do you think you're doing, huh?"
He turned around and stood face to face with Taichi.
"Doing what I came here for. Gotta problem small fry?"
"Yes, I do actually. You're hurting and threatening my friends. You're
gonna pay for that."
Taichi punched the bully, sending him to the ground. The bully stood up and
aimed a kick at Taichi. Taichi dodged and kicked him in the mouth. The older
boy lay on the ground, hurt.
"Son of a- I'll see that you pay for that, Taichi Yagami." He stood
up and ran.
"I'll be waiting right here," Taichi shouted to him, a look of pure
anger in his eyes.
"Taichi, that... that was..." Yamato stood there, shocked.
"Here." Taichi held out his hand for Yamato to hold on to. Yamato
grabbed it and stood up.
"Thanks, Taichi."
"No problem, bud. Best friends remember? But why didn't you stand up
against him? You could've won."
"I-I don't know. It felt like- like, all my courage was sucked out of me
and I couldn't fight back, in fear of getting hurt." He rubbed his bruised
arm.
Sora ran over and hugged Taichi.
"Thank you, Taichi! Thanks for helping us!"
"Yeah, thanks old pal. I owe you one. I still don't know what happened
there though..."
Taichi pushed Sora to Yamato.
"You two go to that dance," he said with a painful look in his eyes,
"and you're welcome, you two. Anytime." He walked away, head hung
down while Yamato and Sora watched him leave.
'Whoosh!' The sound of a wooden stick passed Iori's ear. Iori was at his
Grandfather's place again, practicing.
Iori's grandfather lifted the stick up again and brought it back down. Iori
blocked it.
"Good job, Iori," his grandfather commented.
Iori brought his stick up and swung it down. His grandfather easily blocked
that. They continued this for quite sometime. All of a sudden, Iori's
grandfather swung the stick down hard and it whizzed by Iori's face. Iori
started to sweat. His grandfather kept making blows and hits which Iori
blocked. Just at that moment, Iori felt weak and frightened. Every move his
grandfather made, Iori blocked. Iori didn't fight back. Sensing this, his
grandfather stopped.
"What's wrong, Iori?"
"Nothing, grandfather," Iori lied, panting.
"There is something wrong. You have been blocking all my blows and you
never fought back. What is the matter? If you're tried, we can rest."
"I-I feel like I have no more strength, and- and that I fear for myself
everytime you try to hit me, even though I know I can trust you."
"Hmm, will, maybe you are tried. Come child. Let's go drink some prune
juice."
~*~*~
PRUNE JUICE! =D Man, I love that joke... Anyhoo, review! If I get more than 5,
you get to read more! More than 5 is good too! Please...? *puppy eyes*
