Disclaimer: …bah, why do I even bother with these anyway? Please refer to the first chapter.

Vengeance of the Lost – Chapter 1

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The sounds of applause filtered the room as the stage curtain opened. A girl, no older than thirteen tops, stood behind it, wearing a purple tanktop, blue jeans, and jean side-skirt. The girl smiled as the lights focused on her, revealing her long, shoulder length blonde hair, and sapphire blue eyes. The girl took a deep breath, and raised the microphone in her right hand to her mouth.

Zankoku na teshi no youni

Shounen yo shinwa ni nare

The crowd instantly recognized this song, and most of the audience began cheering loudly for the girl, encouraging her to continue. The girl, known as Izumi Orimoto, smiled and continued to recite the song.

Aoi kaze ga ima

Mune no door wo tatatietemo

Watashidake wo Tada Mitsumete
Hohoenderu Anata

Izumi started dancing on the stage, spinning around in place while singing each line to the song with absolute perfect timing and grace.
Sotto fureru mono
Motomeru koto ni muchu de
Unmei sae mada shiranai
Itaikena hitomi

At this point, Izumi had stopped dancing rather abruptly and stared straight out at the crowd for a supposedly dramatic moment.
Dakedo itsuka kizuku deshou
Sono senaka niwa

Izumi once again started to spin in place on the stage, occasionally kicking out one of her legs, or making motions with her left arm.
Haruka mirai mezasu tameno
Hanega arukoto

Izumi stopped spinning again, and put every last bit of emotion she had on that stage into the next set of lyrics:
Zankoku na teshi no thesis
Madoba kara yagate tobitatsu
Hotobashiru atsui Pathos de
Omoide wo uragiru nara

The lights on the stage dimmed, and Izumi toned her voice down to the point of whisper, just barely able to be heard to be carried over the microphone and into the speakers.
Kono sora wo daite kagayaku…

Izumi once again raised her voice, putting every last bit of emotion she had into the final verse:
Shounen yo shinwa ni nare!

Izumi bowed as soon as she finished the song, and was instantly rewarded with applause from everyone in the room. A faint tint of red crept across her cheeks as she smiled grandly at the crowd, and quickly rushed offstage. Even after she had left, the crowd continued to applaud, and clapping the loudest were three boys, also at the age of thirteen. One had chocolate brown hair and reddish-brown eyes, and he wore khaki cargo shorts, and a red long-sleeved t-shirt. The other two boys both had dark bluish-black hair and blue eyes, but one of the two wore his in a ponytail and bandana, while the others was cut short. The ponytailed boy wore navy blue sweatpants, a white t-shirt, and a grayish purple bandana with yellow stripes. The short-haired boy wore a hooded navy green fleece and black sweatpants.

The brown haired boy, Takuya Kanbara, sat back down in his seat and reached for his soda can. He took a long swig from it, and waited for his two companions – Kouichi Kimura and Kouji Minamoto – to sit back down at their table. The ever-optimistic "goggle-head" smirked and placed his drink back on the table.

"Izumi really knows how to capture emotion like that, huh?"

One of the other said boys, Kouji, nodded as he reached to fix his bandanna. "Yes. She does always rise to the occasion, and it's a good thing to know that she's finally found something she likes to do in her free time."

"Do you think she'll win the competition?" Takuya pressed on.

Kouichi interjected before Kouji could answer, "Its possible, considering on how she was able to captivate the audience like that. But, you never know…"

"She'll win," said Takuya, and rather confidently added, "I know she will."

Kouji reached for his drink and put it to his lips. Parting with it, he turned towards Takuya. "But I never expected her to sing The Cruel Angel's Thesis. I never saw her as a Shinseiki Evangelion* fan…"

Kouichi shrugged. "Never judge a book by its cover."

Kouji sighed. "I guess so."

The older twin smiled slightly at this. Ever since they had returned home two years ago, he'd been able to finally connect with his younger twin. Of course, he spent time with Takuya, Izumi, and two other of his friends – Junpei and Tomoki – often as well. It never ceased to amaze him of how he met this small, rag-tag bunch of children two years ago, and how they successfully fended off not one, but two world crises. Alas, they were not famous for it, but they still treasured the time spent in the Digital World as much as humanly possible.

The blackish-blue haired boy was interrupted from his musings when Izumi rejoined them at their table. Her face was still flushed, but she had a huge smile on her face. "So, whachaa think, guys?"

Takuya and Kouichi smiled and both said, "You were great, Izumi." Kouji, however, simply smirked and took another sip from his drink. Izumi simply rolled her eyes and took a seat at the table, sitting in between Kouji and Takuya. She looked around the table, and a frown came to her face. "Hey…where are Junpei and Tomoki?"

Takuya sighed. "Junpei claimed that he had 'other plans to attend to' tonight, or something like that. And Tomoki … well, you know…"

Izumi and the twins hung their heads in grief. Two weeks ago, Tomoki's brother was stabbed to death by a murderer. Sure, the  Hime family were still grieving as the death was still recent, but Tomoki was only 10 years old, and the death of his brother – someone of much importance to the boy – still shocked him. After the funeral, the other five Legendary Warriors had been unable to contact the young Hime. Whether if it was out of personal matters, or something far worse, they didn't know.

"Anyways," said Izumi, trying to shake the bad mood off, "…you guys don't think I overdid it, right?"

Kouichi smiled slightly. "Not at all. I'm sure you'll win, Izumi."

Izumi sighed. "I'm not going to win right away, guys. This is a 3 round thing; if I get past this, I go to the next, and so on and so forth." The guys nodded in understanding. "Anyways, if I get past, I'd better come up with some new material – and fast. I don't know if The Cruel Angel's Thesis will be enough…"

Kouji sighed again, and locked his eyes with hers, his cool dark blue piercing into her aqua. "If you keep putting yourself down, then you'll never achieve what you want. Just think of something else. You're going to do just fine, Izumi. Relax."

Izumi smiled slightly. "Thanks, Kouji."

Kouichi turned to Izumi, "He is right though. Thinking too hard about this and getting nervous about it isn't going to make it better. Just … sing a song you like, or something like that. Just try not to put too much thought into it, and you'll do just fine."

Izumi giggled slightly. "Ah, you're making it seem like I'm famous or something!"

Takuya laughed. "If you were famous, not just Junpei would be kissing the very ground you stand on."

And they all laughed heartily for the first time in the past two weeks.

Little did they know that the peace that they knew was about to shatter, and the life of one of them would be forever changed.

*The Japanese title for Neon Genesis Evangelion

Red: I'm sorry this took so long, guys. But, with Thanksgiving and Christmas in the way, I had a hard time coming up with material for this. Expect an update to "The Crusaders" some times in the days to follow, and if not, please have mercy on my soul.

Davis: Because WE won't.

Rika: Damn straight.

Red: ::gulp::

Jenrya: ::rolls eyes:: Anyways, the song used in this chapter is the theme song to Neon Genesis Evangelion, an anime that Red is rabidly obsessed with, and he couldn't resist putting a reference for it in there.

Red: Hey, it isn't MY fault I have the complete box set!

Kouichi: I don't really care, Red. I'm just glad that my torturing has not yet begun.

Red: You just wait Kouichi. You just wait. ::evil grin::

Davis: Yikes! This doesn't look good! Oh, and remember to leave a review on the way out, folks!