A/N: Better get to the reviews fast…
Mel: Please don't kill me! I'm writing as fast as I can! I'm really busy, you know! Glad you liked it. Only reason I stopped it there was because if I went any further, my fic would have probably needed a much higher rating! Please don't kill me! *puppy dog face*
Quantum: That sucks, although I get a headache every day so I get used to it. *shrug* take some advil next time! Thanx!
Kathleen: Ooh, that sucks. Well, I hope this is soon enough for you! Sorry I didn't update sooner! -_-'
Chapter 7: Mel's POV~
Oh. My. God. Ryo just kissed me! Well, I kissed him first but then he kissed me. I'm in heaven!
//Did that really happen? Wh-mmm…yes, yes it did! Ahh! This is great! \\
"Um, guys? Guys!" Takato shouted, blushing and staring at the same time.
"What is it?" I asked, irritably. I was not happy with Takato interrupting my first kiss with Ryo.
"GET A ROOM!" Everybody, except Henry, yelled. Ryo and I blushed a deep red. Then I scowled and managed to look even more menacing than Rika when she was in a very bad mood. Everybody backed up a step, including Rika and excluding Ryo.
"I should get you two for that! Luckily, Ryo actually LIKES you guys, otherwise, you wouldn't be standing here right now." I said, turning towards Ryo. Everybody, except Henry, froze. However, Rika merely smirked and said, "Come on, Mel. You know you won't be able to beat me. You never have and never will." I scowled fiercely at her, but was forced to admit it. It was true, every time Rika and I had sparred against each other, Rika always won. Ryo also always won. I scowled even more fiercely than before, causing everybody to take even more steps backwards while at the same time, causing Ryo and Rika to succumb to laughter. Thinking even more, I knew there was no way in hell I would ever defeat Henry. I sighed and wondered if there was anybody who could beat Henry. Then again, I suppose the leader Evil would be somewhat of a match for him.
"Mel? Are you OK? Hel-lo, earth to Mel!" Takato cried, waving his head in front of my face. Scowling, I slapped his hand away from my face and glared at him.
"Leave Ryo and I alone now!" I yelled, turning towards Ryo.
"Mel, calm down. We still need to train, you know. Just because you and Ryo have finally gotten together doesn't mean you can slack off! You can make-out all you want later, but not now, OK?" Henry said, softly but firmly. I sighed but agreed.
"Good. Here are the sparring couples. Juri vs. Rika, Kenta vs. Kazu, Mel vs. Ryo, Takato vs. me. OK? Try not to go easy on each other!" Henry said, glaring at all the couples.
"Wait a minute! That's not fair! You've pitted all us 'weak' ones versus the 'stronger' ones! Except Mel and Ryo, that is." Kenta cried, unhappy. I frowned, but I had to agree with him. We were unfairly matched.
Kenta's POV~
Why did Henry pair me up with Kazu?! Every single time I go against him, I always end up losing and Kazu always end up horny! I shook my head. Kazu and fighting me was a bad thing. A very bad thing.
//Damn it, why couldn't Henry have paired me up with Juri or Takato? OK, maybe not Takato. Still, anybody would be better than Kazu the horny! \\
"What's wrong with fighting Kazu? Juri isn't complaining about fighting against Rika. Takato also isn't complaining either. Then again, it would be better matched up if you went against Juri, Takato went against Kazu, and Rika went against me…" Henry said, mulling thoughtfully over the new arrangements.
"Yeah! Change it to that! That is so much better matched up! Please?" I said, hopeful. Kazu shot me his 'I-know-why-you're-doing-this-and-you-aren't-going-to-get-away-with-it!' Look. Ignoring him, I turned back to Henry who looked slightly bewildered.
"O-kay then…if that's what you want, Rika vs. Mel, you vs. Juri, Takato vs. Kazu, and Ryo vs. me. Why do you not want to be paired up with Kazu so badly?"
"You wouldn't want to be paired up with Takato either, if he was as horny as Kazu!"
Surprised and embarrassed look.
"Oh. Well, damn."
"Oh. Well, damn is right!"
"If you had told me how much you hated me doing that, you should've just told me!" Kazu spat, angry. I opened and closed my mouth like a fish. That was unexpected.
"It's not…I don't…I…" I spluttered, at a loss for words. What am I doing? What was I thinking of? This sucks majorly.
"It's not, I don't, I what!?"
"Kazu! You know I don't hate it! It just gets tiring, you know? Every single time that happens, I can barely think straight the next morning!"
"Fine then! I'm leaving. Come on, Takato. Let's get to work." With that, Kazu stomped off, a dazed and bewildered Takato following him. I growled and followed suit.
"Juri, let's go." I snapped, turning angrily on my heel.
"Damn…" I heard Rika mutter behind my back. I chose to ignore her however. This was not a good day.
//Kazu is such a jackass! Why is he so insistent on being a jackass? \\ [1]
"Kenta?" Juri asked meekly.
"What!?" I snapped, not caring if I was rude or not.
"Calm down! You and Kazu shouldn't be fighting at all! Why did you have to make such a small and supposed to be private thing into such a big problem? That's stupid!"
"Why should you care? Our argument is between me and Kazu, nobody else can interfere!"
"Oh? Then why did you go and blurt it out to us?"
"That was a mistake! That was an idiotic mistake I don't plan on making again."
"If you're still wondering as to why I care, it's because I'm your friend! Friends are supposed to help each other out! I'm not going to ignore what just happened between you and Kazu and I'm sure Takato is doing very much the same thing to Kazu as I'm doing to you! All you and Kazu are being right now is foolish! You may not think that whatever goes on between you and Kazu does not matter much to us, but you're dead wrong! We care! If you guys are hurting, then WE'RE hurting!"
*Open mouth, close mouth*
I realized what Juri said was right. Thinking back to all the times when Rika and Juri or Takato and Henry had a fight, he and Kazu had always felt guilty and hurt by those fights.
*flashback*
"Thanks a lot, Takato. Now I know how you really feel about me. I'll be going now, see you guys later," Henry snapped, walking off.
Takato and Henry had just gotten into a fight, Takato telling Henry that he was a good-for-naught elf. Naturally, or unnaturally, Henry withdrew once more into his thick as the Great Wall of China walls and was once more the distant, untouchable elf that we had known in the very beginning of our friendship.
After Henry had left, Takato had stormed off, leaving Juri, Rika, Kazu, and I standing there, in the middle of the town square of Utopia[2]. I was immediately overcome with feelings of sadness and hurt, feelings that I knew the others would be feeling. That was how tight my friends and I were. Without a word, Rika and Ryo followed Henry while Juri, Kazu, and me followed Takato.
"Takato! Wait up, man! Slow down! Better yet, CALM DOWN!" Kazu screamed, trying in vain to catch up to Takato.
"Takato, you big oaf! Slow down and wait up! Augh! Vines!" Juri yelled, commanding several long, strong, and thick vines to wrap around Takato, therefore effectively holding him back.
"Juri! Get these vines off of me or will I have to burn them off?!" Takato yelled, angry. All of us were appalled. Takato knew that if he did that, he would also hurt Juri since we were closely bonded with whatever our powers came from or was strongest or well, you get the picture. Luckily, we reached Takato just in time and Juri let him free. However, Takato could not run away again considering the fact that the three of us had surrounded him.
"Takato, you idiot! Calm down and start thinking, man! What you said to Henry was wrong! OK, none of us may know what the hell you guys were arguing about but whatever it is, forget about it, OK? You two love each other! You guys stick together like, like glue sticks to gum! *collective sweatdrop* eh…that didn't come out right…but you know what I mean! What you said was totally uncalled for! Why don't you go and apologize to Henry, eh chumley[3]?" Kazu gasped out, clutching Takato's shoulder for balance and to not let him get away.
"Why should I? He probably doesn't care anyway! When has he ever?" Takato shot back, tears glistening in his mahogany eyes.
"Henry cares! He cares! Look at him, why don't you?" Juri said, quietly but forcefully and pointing towards where Rika and Ryo were talking, or more like, yelling at Henry. Slowly, Takato turned to look.
Rika and Ryo were taking turns yelling/speaking/stomping at Henry. Henry's wall seemed to grow thicker and thicker, however, which, obviously, resulted in Rika finally losing her temper and releasing her Fury onto Henry. All of us winced when we heard Rika explode at Henry.
"HENRY WILL YOU STOP BEING SO WITHDRAWN INTO THE FREAKIN' SHELL OF YOURS!? WE'RE YOUR FRIENDS FOR GODS[4] SAKE! TALK TO US HERE! WE WANT TO HELP YOU BUT HOW CAN WE HELP YOU IF YOU DON'T LET US THROUGH THAT STUPID GREAT WALL OF CHINA THICK WALL OF YOURS?" Rika continued ranting on for several minutes not even needing to breathe. Finally, we could all see Henry FINALLY begin to let Rika and Ryo through. However, Rika, who didn't notice this, continued on ranting even more and with one final phrase, "HENRY LET US THROUGH BECAUSE WE'RE YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY AND WE LOVE YOU!!!" Managed to collapse Henry's wall and get through to him. Henry did not say word. He just started to cry[5]. Rika, looking at the same time proud, embarrassed, and guilty, quickly gathered him into her arms and let him cry into her shoulder. Ryo, having stood there all that time listening and watching, gently rubbed Henry's back, letting him know that he was there. That was the final straw for Takato. Breaking free of the prison made by yours truly, he ran to Henry and gathered him into his arms. Rika had let go and sidestepped just in time or else she would have been crashed into.
Nearing Takato and Henry, we heard Takato mumbling into Henry's hair, "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry…" repeatedly. Henry merely responded by clutching Takato even tighter to him. The feeling of hurt and sadness finally was lifted off of our shoulders and everything was right again.
*end flashback*
"Juri, you're right. And I'm sorry. I should apologize to Kazu, shouldn't I?" I said, fully knowing the answer. Therefore, I just walked past her and towards Kazu, who was also walking towards me.
"Kazu…"
"Kenta…"
We stared at each other and smiled.
"I'm sorry." We said at the same time. Then we engaged in a full make-out session for several minutes before we had to surface for air. Meanwhile, there were whistles and catcalls from our friends, mainly from Rika, Mel, and Ryo.
"Come on you guys! I'd hate, I sincerely mean this, to break up your happy little get-back-together session, but we really need to train!" Henry said, apologetically. Kazu and I sent identical dark glares his way before walking off to join our sparring partners.
Nobody's POV~ Mel's and Rika's battle
"Blizzard!" Mel yelled bringing a gargantuan blizzard down onto Rika.
"I don't think so! You're going down! Freeze Over, walk all over her!" Rika shouted. [6]
Mel's blizzard was frozen over by Rika's attack, however, Mel retaliated by sending out several ice formed snakes which Rika tried to counter attack by using her hydro spear. However, that did not work as the snakes were too fast.
"Give up yet?" Mel taunted, glaring at Rika. Rika merely shook her head.
"Not a chance, Melon! Waterfall Cascade, wash out this fight!" Rika shouted, looking slightly surprised.
"Ooh! I TOLD you NOT to call me Melon! Waterfall Cascade? *eyes widen in surprise* That must be one of your unidentified attacks! Oh, oh no! Not again!"
"Not bad. Not bad at all. I told you I would win."
"*sigh* Yeah, but I thought that I would have been able to beat you! I totally wasn't expecting that kind of surprise. Well, if you hadn't gained enough experience by then, I bet I would've won."
"Nope, no way, no how."
"Whatever. I'm wiped out, let's go watch the others."
"Yeah, me too. Good idea."
Juri's and Kenta's battle~
"Think again, mister!" Juri said, smiling slightly.
"What can you do to possibly defeat moi? The best Mystic there ever was!" Kenta said, having an ego boost. Unknown to him, over a hundred plants from within 50 miles of the area were creeping up on him.
"Go Juri!" Rika and Mel shouted, reaching the battle site. Juri smiled but did not move her gaze and concentration from the battle. Kenta looked offended but also didn't move his gaze or concentration from the battle.
"Stone Barrage!" Kenta shouted, aiming his attack straight at Juri.
"Oh no you don't!" Juri cried, as a thick wall of roses and thorns appeared in front of her, effectively blocking Kenta's attack.
"STONE BARRAGE OMEGA!"
"Uh oh…"
"Come on Juri! You can do it!" Rika shouted, worried. Juri nodded and all at once, the plants that were behind Kenta, attacked him, breaking his concentration away from his attack.
"OW! OW! OW! THAT HURTS!" Kenta shouted, jumping up and down trying, futilely, to fend off the ever-increasing plants that were viscously attacking him. Using the precious time her plants had bought her, Juri rapidly healed herself and let out an enormous amount of power that could be felt by all her friends. Henry, who had been watching, narrowed his eyes as he felt Juri's power extend beyond her normal limit of 80 miles and stretching to 100 miles and beyond. Looking at Juri's face, he noticed that her face was entirely focused and concentrated on this one attack. With a start, he realized that all her frustration, happiness, sadness, anger, etc. had been enough to awaken the hidden technique inside of her. Knowing the potential danger if not leashed in tightly, he threw up a transparent shield nobody noticed.
"X-EARTH RAY!" Juri yelled unleashing the power that she had been building up. In one directed ray, all the Earth's essence that Juri had collected aimed straight at Kenta, obliterating everything in its path. Paling, everybody, including Juri, knew what would happen if somebody didn't do something soon and fast.
"Oh no…STOP, PLEASE!" Juri shouted desperately. The ray slowed and then stopped, however, it looked like as if the ray was fighting against her, trying to get loose and hit Kenta. Henry knew that Juri could not hold it any longer and leapt into action. He also knew that the transparent, but weak, shield he had thrown up wasn't going to be enough to stop the attack. Therefore, he pulled it down, letting the ray that had been momentarily stopped by Juri and his shield shoot forward once more.
"Stop!" Henry cried, jumping in front of Kenta with his hands out. The ray shimmered and disappeared, leaving only a few lingering sparkles in its wake. Everybody breathed a sigh of relief as the beam disappeared. Juri and Kenta collapsed onto the ground partly from relief and partly from fear.
"Woah, are you guys OK?" Mel asked, concerned. Takato quickly ran to Henry, Kazu to Kenta, and Rika to Juri.
"Yeah, I'm OK. Thanks Henry. You saved my life." Kenta stammered, ashen-faced. Henry merely nodded and stood.
"I'm OK, just a little shaken" Henry said, as Takato wrapped his arms around Henry's slim waist.
"I'm OK too, but K-Kenta….I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to do that! You have to believe me! I'm so sorry!" Juri cried, bursting into tears. Rika quickly hugged Juri closed to her as Juri turned and buried her face into Rika's shoulder. Kenta shook his head quickly and pulled himself away from Kazu's grasp.
"Juri! Please don't cry! I hate it when girls cry! It's OK! I'm OK with it! The beam didn't even touch me! Juri, it's OK, I forgive you!" Kenta gasped, hugging Juri also. Walking over, Kazu also pulled Juri into a hug.
"Juri, even I forgive you. Man, please don't cry! I hate it when girls cry too!" Kazu pleaded, his hands clasped in front of him. Juri sniffled but stopped crying.
"Y-you do? Even after what I did to you?" Juri asked, whimpering slightly.
"YES! WE DO!" Kazu and Kenta shouted, grinning although still pale. Juri smiled slightly and nodded.
"So, if everybody is OK, I think we should stop for the rest of the day." Henry said, quietly. He still looked paler-than-usual.
"No, it's OK. We'd like to keep on training." Kenta said, looking around at everybody. Everybody nodded, excluding Henry and Kenta.
"Um, OK then. Next battle up, Takato vs. Kazu." Henry muttered, looking up at his boyfriend, who still had his arms wrapped around his waist.
"Are you sure you're OK, Henry? You still seem kind of pale and unsteady." Takato remarked, concerned. Henry shook his head again and pulled himself out of Takato's grasp.
"No really, I'm fine. Just go out there and train, okay?" Henry said, gently patting Takato on the head. Takato scowled and reached up to grab Henry's hand.
"You know I hate it when you do that! But really, you're sure you're OK?"
"I'm positive, p-o-s-i-t-i-v-e. See? Positive."
"Alright. But if I come back and find you ummm uhhh, well, you know. I will injure you myself."
*light laughter*
"Alright, Taka-chan. I'll be fine. I swear it."
*sighs*
"OK, if you're sure."
With that, Takato walked off with Kazu to their training area. The rest of the group followed. Henry stood there for a second, waiting for a dizziness spell to pass away, then followed them.
//I knew I shouldn't have overdone it when I stopped Juri's spell. Well, next time, I definitely won't do that until I have all my strength returned. \\
[1]: That was from a fight between my sister and I. *grins ruefully* Normally, I wouldn't have anything written like that, but it fit the mood.
[2]: Can't remember where I got that from…
[3]: Spelling? I seem to recall Kazu saying that…Am I right?
[4]: No blasphemy intended.
[5]: Sorry, couldn't help it, although Henry doesn't seem to be the crying type to me. Well, except for at the end of season 3, when all their Digimon had to leave. *sobs* That was so sad!
[6]: I like that phrase, "Walk all over him/her". Rika seemed to love saying that to Renamon during a fight.
A/N: That's it for now! Once more, please R&R!!!
Shadow: hn preview for the next chapter: "Oh, no! Henry! Watch out!!!"