Rika: So Mister high and mighty, can I asked what's going on in that empty
space you call a head?
Me: So what do you want to ask me?
Rika: Just what are you planning?
Me: Oh, I just going to be showing you the effect that your mother had on my character with twists thrown in here and there.
Rika: So you're going be showing how a cat can change a stone hard person? You know that's the lamest thing I had ever heard.
Me (Grinning slyly): Oh but you forget that Matt isn't a normal teen he got these freaky powers. (Wicker his fingers about)
Rika (Rolling eyes); Right. Now if you don't mind I need something to treat this big headache you're giving me.
Me: And before I forget, if you see sentences surrounded in these [] quotation marks, it mean Rika and Rumiko are talking to each other.
Shadows of the Past:
Charter six: Fire burning in the shadows.
Early morning at the Urameshi household was the same as always. The due the cover the grounds gave it a light misty feeling and the light of the half moon cast it shine on two blurry figure clashing in the backyard.
"HIIAAHH!" Matt screamed as he threw a fierce uppercut to his opponent's chin. Rena responded to this by jumping into the air and doing a half flip, grabbing Matt's wrist in the process. The disguised fox got behind her friend and grabbed his other arm before he had the chance to react. She thrust her right knee into Matt's back and began pulling on his arm, forcing his back into her knees. The shadow fighter bit his lower lip to hold his cry of pain back. On the porch, two very unique animals watched the fighters, each giving their support in the forms of meows and yips.
"So you're ready to call it quiets for today?" Rena asked calmly.
Despite all the pain in was in, the shadow fighter smiled cockily," You know, fox I think its time for you to learn another of my family age old techniques, the shadow escape."
Matt turned his wrists just right and he was able to grab a hold of Rena's wrists. He then jumped up with all of his might, taking the digimon turned human with him. Matt then relocated himself behind Rena by using the force of the air rushing around them. He repositioned Rena so she was looking at the ground and shoved his knees into her spine.
The two began descended to the ground and the digimon turned human felt a shiver of fear run through her, but at the last moment, Matt freed Rena and jumped away from her. Rena landed on her hands and knees and stayed like that for a few seconds before standing and wiping the sweat from her brow. Matt landed in front of her and flashed his grin that he will pass to his daughter.
"Nice move," Rena said. "Let me guess that move was supposed to allow you to escape while at the same time inflicting pain on your opponent?"
Matt answered her by nodding his head and then getting into his usually fighting stance. Rena remained relax for a minute as she studied the person before her.
The disguised fox had grown into studying the father of her tamer, always on the look for the slightly connection to Rika and Matt. But unknown to Rena, Matt was also studying her, but he was looking for anything suspicious about Rena.
Rena got back into her fighting stance and the two fighters began they usually staring contest. On the porch, Rika and Rumiko watched in anticipation. The future mother and daughter liked watching the two fight it out because for them it seemed just so magical when those two fought.
Rena decided to make the first move before Matt pulled his usual vanishing act. Couching low, Rena kicked off the ground and rushed towards Matt. But like always, the shadow fighter was prepared for anything his blonde haired friend could threw at him.
With swift hands, Matt took of his workout jacket and threw it in Rena's face. The disguised fox yipped in surprised as the black fabric covered her vision. She stopped and removed the jacket from her head, only to found that her opponent had vanished into thin air.
That's the third time this week he pulled a stunt like this, Rena thought a little angrily as she began scanning the area with her eyes and listened to the wind.
The current of the wind suddenly shifted, blowing above Rena and she thrust her hands up just in time to catch a foot that was aimed for her back. She tossed Matt onto his back and leapt at him in the same way a tiger would its prey. Matt quickly thrust his hands and knees up and caught Rena.
"You know if people saw this, they'll talk," Matt said with his dry humor.
Rena flashed her friend a half of a grin and replied," I thought you didn't care what other say about you?"
Matt returned the grin full heartedly and said in a sly tone," I don't." He then threw the disguised fox to his right and Rena landed back on her hand and knees.
The two fighters leapt to their feet and resumed their stances. Rena notice that Matt had taken a different stance then his normal one. His right hand was extended out in front of him and his fingers were slightly bent at the knuckle. His other hand was overleaping his right arm and was balled up into a loose fist. His legs are line up with shoulders and were bent at the knees.
Hmm, never seen that stance before, what is he planning, Rena wondered. She studied the stance for a bit and saw at least three opening for an attack. Strange this stance had fails that even a rookie could see, so what's his game?
Rena studied the stance some more before coming up with a plan of attack. She couched low and shoot off to the right. She circled behind Matt and went in for the kill. Rena throw a punch with all of her strength at Matt's back, but at the last moment Matt spun around and batted Rena's fist away with his right hand. He threw out his fist and Rena barely stopped as she closed her eyes, waiting for the impending pain that was coming. Surprising she felt nothing hitting her face and she squirm opened one eye. Matt's fist had stopped mere inches for the ram of the Fox's nose. Rena looked between the fist and it owner as a nervous sweat broke out on her face.
Matt pulled his fist away Rena's face and smiled at her," So what do you think of one of my family's finishing move, the shadow fist?"
Rena relaxed her tensed body and began rubbing her neck as she said," It was a good move, but I'm wondering how were you able to turn around so fast in the blink of an eye?"
Matt chuckled lightly and began explaining," Well first you must have seen the opening in my stance right?" Rena nodded, singling Matt to go on. "Well the stance was created for the purpose of luring people into a false sense."
"So they'll attack," Rena said thoroughly.
Matt nodded and resumed his speaking," Well when they attack, we're able to move quickly because of the position of our legs allow us to leapt off of our of feet and your know the rest, but of course like half of the techniques in my family style, it useless without prefect timing."
Rena nodded and began thinking about all the techniques she's seen even since she began training with the shadow fighter. All of the techniques she had seen had needed prefect timing and Matt had executed them just right. But she did recall a few times when Matt nearly screwed up a move he was doing.
A mix of happy meows and yips brought the disguised fox out of her thoughts and she and the shadow fighter looked to their right to see Rika and Rumiko racing towards them. They launch themselves into the air and the fighters caught them with ease.
"So what did you think of my fight, wildcat?" Matt softly whispered into Rumiko's ear.
Rumiko responded to this by meowing in a soft tone and then notice the small red blister on his chin that Rena gave Matt in the opener of the sparring match. She leaned up and began licking the blister in a childish adept to clean his face. Matt responded to this by giving the feline a soft, out of character smile and rubbing her just in the right place, causing the cat with unnatural blue eyes to purr in pleasure. Off to the side, Rena and Rika watched as the cold-hearted shadow fighter petting a cat and enjoying it too.
It has been three weeks since Rena, Rika and Rumiko came to live with Matt and his grandmother and the disguised fox notice several changes in the shadow fighter. First his casual mark, which he hides his pain and loneness was slowly slipping away and that anger he keeps buried deepen within, was also fading. The must surprising thing, Rena had witness in these past three weeks was the actual smile Matt was showing and it wasn't those empty casual smile he flashes, but he only showed those real smiles when he holding Rumiko.
"Well I'm taking a shower," Rena said, stretching her back out a little as Rika yawned. "And I'm going to put Rika to bed."
Matt nodded his head constituently and continued to pet Rumiko. Rena shock her head slightly and turn to go into the house. She stopped at the door and looked at the future couple one last time. She couldn't help by smile slightly at the heart-warming scene in front o her. She watched the shadow fighter petting the feline with gentleness for a few seconds before turning around and entering the house.
(...)
Rena slowly made her way up the stair, feeling the effect of her workout with the shadow fighter. In the fox's arms, the cursed tamer was struggling to stay awake long enough to ask her humanoid partner a few questions.
"Renamon, do you like sparring with my dad?" the flame colored fox asked in a tired voice and looking up at her partner with just a hint of childish curiousness gleaming in her eyes.
The disguised fox titled her head down slightly as a light, almost useable blush appeared on her cheeks as she said," Well I didn't have to many opponents that was a match for me back in our time."
What Rena wasn't telling her tamer was that at one point she taught Guilmon some offensive and defensive moves when they first returned to the real world. They two had spar at times in the two years before their tamers were cursed, but in reality they were doing that so they could be together without spilling their guts about how they feel about each other.
"Well I know that my mom was good enough to go head to head with you," Rika said, thinking out loud.
"Well actually there's someone else in our time that can almost match me," Rena muttered to herself, the blush on her cheeks deepen to a darker shade of red.
"Huh, who?" Rika asked curiously.
Once again, our favorite fox turned human had forgotten about her partner's sensitive hearing and that caused her blush to spread to her entire face. Taking one look at her partner's crimson red face, everything became clear to the cursed tamer.
"Oh I see, the dinoboy. Don't worry Renamon you know I wouldn't tell anyone unless you tell someone about my crush on gogglehead," Rika said light heartedly. She then curled up in Rena's arms and drifted into a light sleep before the fox could say a thing.
Rena stopped dead in her track and stare at her partner, feeling relived and confused at the same time. Of course she would never break her word and tell about Rika's crush, just like Rika would never tell about Rena's crush.
Rena continued to stared down at Rika for a few more seconds before sighing and resuming making her way back up the stairs," I don't think I'll ever understand this family even if I saw live to the point where Rika was born."
Rena suddenly stopped dead in her track again as the realization of her own words sunk in. What if she was stuck here for the rest of her "human" life? What if she never gets to see Guilmon again or get to hit Terriermon on the head when he made a fool of himself? What if she never gets Rika home to see Takato even again?
Stop this Renamon, the dismay digimon told herself. If you start thinking like that, then you'll never get to see him again. Besides I need to be strong for Rika.
Pushing all of the negative thoughts and bad feelings aside, Rena ascended to the second floor of the house and headed towards her room to drop Rika off before heading to the showers.
(...)
At Matt and Rena high school, the fighting pair was at their favorite spot on the entire ground, a large tree in front of the school. Rena was sitting on the lowest branch, enjoying the view while Matt set against the base of the tree, rubbing the back of his neck for some reason. He had been doing that for three straight weeks now and a certain someone was starting to get worried.
"Hey, Matt may I ask what's wrong with you?" Rena called softly to her friend.
Matt looked up at Rena without stopping rubbing his neck and said in his casual voice," I think that someone really powerful his close by?"
"Huh?" Rena looked down at her friend, her curiosity peeked.
Matt look up at the sky as he began explaining," Well when I was training with my grandpa, I used to find him by feeling his aura."
Rena jumped from her spot and looked at her friend with confusion," Aura?"
Matt nodded at her and said," Yeah, every human has this aura that surrounds their bodies. Some believe that an aura is made up of the energy of the human sprit and each aura has they unique feeling to them. For my grandpa, it felt like there was a large hole of pure shadow in my gut."
"But what makes you think this feeling you have is dangerous?" the fox asked curiously.
Matt scanned the grounds quickly before leaning in close to his blonde friend. "Well just between you and me, Rumiko is more then she seems."
"What do you mean?" Rena asked with mock curiousness.
"I can see the human soul that lay buried deep down within that feline body, just like I can see the soul hidden in Rika's eyes," surprised by this, Rena could only look at the father of her tamer with her mouth hanging. Matt notice the look on his friend's face and smile lightly to her as he leaned back against and said," Don't worry I wouldn't tell."
Rena closed her mouth and resist the urge to raise an eyebrow as the memory of early crept into the back of her mind. Shocking off the image of her little talk with her partner, she looked at her "cousin" with determined eyes.
"But that still didn't explain to me about my first question, why you think this person is dangerous," the fox said a little demandingly.
Matt sigh, and rose to his feet. He looked to past the gate of the school to where he thought he feel the energy coming from. "Well about a day after Rumiko came, I felt like someone was passing something heat into the base of my neck and little by little that feeling gotten worse."
"But what makes you think this has anything to do with Rumiko?" Rena asked as she got to her feet and looked at the spot Matt was looking at.
"Well this is actually this is more of a gut feeling then anything else," Matt said softly. "But I got this strange feeling that Rumiko is in grave danger and I will protect her no matter what."
"Hmm," Rena looked at her friend, feeling a sense of pride rising deep within her. That quickly faded as Matt's words sunk in. What if there was someone out there, watching her and Matt? Then that's would mean that Rika would be in great danger. But it did bring her some relief knowing that Matt was there by her side.
The morning bell, singling that it was time for homeroom. Students began making their way into the school, but the shadow fighter and his foxy partner remained in exact same spot as before, one worry for once in a long time and the other worried that someone might happened to the one she caves deeply. The two stared off into the horizon for about two minutes before turning and heading into school.
(Close to the school)
The mysterious boy with the wigged hair watched as the proctor of his prey went into his school, his irritation growing. He had watched the boy with weird hair for about three weeks, looking for anything to use against the boy and hasn't come up with anything good enough. He thought about using the boy's grandmother, but after seeing how the boy and his female campaign spar, he decided it wasn't a good idea.
"That boy and his friend are to strong to take head on and my spell would be useless against their combined force," the guy mattered, his irritation clear in his voice.
The boy began pacing around the rooftop where he was spying on the shadow fighter and his friend, trying to think up a plan of action. After five minutes of pacing, the boy gave up with a frustrated sigh and slammed his fist into the ground, sending a wave of fire across the roof. The fire left a path of melted stone.
"Wait, that's it," the boy muttered to himself as he remembered that the shadow fighter had this craving for fighting. "Yes I can lure this boy into a fight and then trap him within one of my barriers, then I can easily take that girl and my darling sister will be all my."
The boy straightened up and looked at the school. A half grin forming on his face as fire erupted in his hands. He lifted his hands over his head and intertwined them, merging the two balls of flames into one. He threw his hands down and began drawing something in the roof with the fire. Once he was done with is task, the boy smiled down in pride at the KM letters, he had written with his mysterious powers of fire before leaving.
(Sango's house)
Rika and Rumiko watched as the elder made some of her family remedy while humming to herself. The elder took this strange yellow and white plant with panels that looked like flower themselves. Sango took off four panels and threw them into an old gray gale bowl. The two small animals stared at the plant like it was a man-eating versus flytrap and the elder notice this.
"Would you two like to know about this plant?" she asked softly. The flame colored fox and blonde cat nodded in unison and the level of intelligence they displayed once again took the elder by surprise. "Well this is a rare flower that was never identified, but it panels can produce this incredible sap with amazing results."
"Meow?" Rumiko asked.
"You're probably wondering what kind of results this plant can generate, right?" Sango asked softly.
The blonde cat nodded, singling yes.
"Well this plant can be used in different ways," the elder replied, brushing her fingers along the ram of one of the panels. "Like how I use it to created my family's remedy by mixing other plants that is used for natural healing. But I do believe it can be used in different fashion, but I never really tried."
Curious Rika jumped over to where the plant was and took in a whiff of it. For some reason the cursed tamer felt like she smelled this plant before, but couldn't remember where.
"Meow?" Rumiko asked. [What are you doing?]
"Yip," Rika said. [Just taking in a whiff of this plant.]
"Meow?" Rumiko asked confused [Why?]
Yip," Rika said, getting a little edgy. [Just because I felt like it, okay.]
"Meow," Rumiko squeaked. [Sorry.]
Rika watched as her future mother's feline face dropped and remembered that this wasn't the stubborn woman she argue with so much, but a small defenseless kid who was going through a tough time.
Sighing at herself, Rika walked over to her future mother and began nuzzling her neck in a friendly way. She yipped her apologizes and Rumiko immediately accepted them.
"Yip?" Rika asked eagerly. [Say what to play.]
"Meow!" Rumiko turned around and tipped Rika's nose with her tail [Sure and your it!]
Rumiko jumped off the table and run around of the kitchen. Rika smiled to herself as she jumped from table and gave chase.
(Later...after school)
"Hmm," Matt looked down at the two letters burned into the roof of building across from his school. He got down on his right knee and traced the K with his pinker. He could feel the remains of a great power here. "Why did I have this sinking feeling that this is trouble? What do you think, Rena?"
Half way during school, Matt had felt this strange source in power and once school was over, his foxy partner and himself want to check out Matt's feeling.
The disguised fox was examining the other burn on the roof when Matt called to her. "Huh?" Rena looked up at her friend and blinked. "What did you say, Matt?"
The shadow fighter walked over to his friend and asked seriously," I was just wondering what you think about all of this?"
Rena got up and brush her skirt off before looking at Matt with serious eyes," Well nothing good, so what does your gut say on this?"
"Nothing good, that much I know," Matt said seriously, his eyes darting between the two melted areas.
"But what I can't seem to figure out is these letters," Rena said wonderingly as she walked up to the letter and looking at them thoughtfully.
"Again, nothing good," Matt said as he joined his friend.
Rena stared at the letter, feeling like she was missing something. She titled her head to the right as she tried to figure out what those letters meant. But one name came to mind and she knew it couldn't be him.
"Kai Makino," the fox mutter under her breath as she shock her head.
Kai Makino was the reason behind most of her recent frustration. He was the man who cursed her tamer and Guilmon's as well and he was probably who sent Rena and Rika through time, but to what purpose that salved, she still couldn't figure out.
"Who's Kai Makino?" Matt asked off handedly, startling the disguised digimon out of her thoughts.
"Huh?" Rena looked at Matt, confusingly.
"Who's this Kai Makino?" Matt asked casually.
"Oh, just someone I meat during my travels," Rena answered in a calm voice.
"If you say so," Matt said with a shrug of his shoulder, but Rena didn't miss the suspicious look he gave her. "Well lets get going before gram starts to worry and think I'm get into a fight over a squirrel."
Rena nodded and the fighting pair over to one of the ledges over the building. The two shoot a look over to the other building across from the building they were on and proceed to reach the ground by jumping from building to building. The pair lifted the alleyway and went in the direction of Sango's house.
"Hmm," Matt looked behind his shoulder just in time to see a shadow ducked behind a trashcan. The pair walked up to another alley and he pulled Rena in with him.
"Hey what's the big-?"
"Shh," Matt silenced his "cousin" by placing the tips of his fingers on her mouth. "We're being followed."
"Huh?" curious Rena looked at the man who was going to be the father of her tamer and watched him.
Matt peeked over the edge of the alley and watched. In a few seconds the figure that was following the pair can into reach and Matt grabbed him with the same swiftness as a lion jumps its prey. He pinned the stalker to the wall opposite of the wall he was against and got a good look of the man.
"Oh it just you Shimon," Matt said casually and let go of the man.
Ramma Shimon was a boy about the same height as Matt though he was about a year and half older then the shadow fighter, but he was much more bulkier then Matt. He kept his black hair with white died tips in a Mohawk that reached down to the bridge of his nose. Ramma's the legal bully and touch guy, he has won even fights he's been in except when it came to Matt and really boils the guy knowing that's there's a person tougher then he is and with half of his muscles too.
"What do you want now, Shimon?" Matt asked lazily.
Ramma fixed his jacket collar as he glared angrily at the boy before him. "You know what I want Smith and I want it now," he spoke in a challenging tone of voice.
Matt answered Shimon's challenge with a light shrug of his shoulders and said in his casual voice," Listen Shimon, I really don't want to get into a one sided fight today."
"One sided!" Shimon screamed and then grinned as he flexed his arm muscles. "If you haven't notice I bulked up more since our last fight a year ago."
Matt looked at the muscles ripping through Shimon's uniform jacket lazily and looked at him," You know my grandfather said once that power without guidance is doomed to be eating a life time of dirt pies." Matt grinned as he watched Shimon's face turn a bright red from anger.
"Why you..." Shimon lunged at the fighting pair.
In the blink of an eye, Matt grabbed Rena and pulled his shadow walking technique just as Shimon reached them. The bully slammed head first into the building's wall, knocking him senseless.
Matt reappeared at the mouth of the alley seemingly unnoticed by the bystanders and looked into the alley. He shook his head when he saw Shimon lying on his back with a dazed look on his face.
"Some people never will learn," he muttered and then walked away without another word.
"Hmm," Rena looked at the senseless boy in the alley and then at her "cousin" with a raised eyebrow. "He's becoming more like his daughter each day." She then hurried to catch up with the shadow fighter.
(The next day...early morning)
Matt was doing his normal morning stretching routine, while the three R watched from the porch. Rika watched her father thoroughly, taking in ever move and technique he did. Rena waited patiently for the time when she'll began their usually sparring match with Rika on her lap. Rumiko on the other hand was completely intertwined with Matt's routine. To the blonde feline with the unnatural blue eyes it was like Matt was dancing instead of practicing his martial arts moves. Like he was an angel dancing on a cloud. Rumiko could watch the boy with the strange colored hair for hours.
Matt was in the middle of his finishing stretch when he felt that searing heat returned to the back of his neck, causing him to stop in mid throw of his black lightening strike. He dropped his stance and began looking over the yard, which warned the other warrior on the ground.
"Something wrong?" Rena called from the porch, hiding her concern at her friend's behavior.
"That feeling back with a vengeance," Matt said with a tight voice.
"Hmm," Rena looked between the fox and the cat before sitting Rika down on the porch and joining Matt. The two fighters got against each other's backs and took up their fighting stances. "So can you tell where you feeling is coming from?"
"Normally I would, but this one is different," Matt answered, a hint of doubt working its way into his voice.
"What do you mean?" Rena asked.
"Well this feeling hangs in a certain place and when I think I locked onto it, it jump to someplace new," Matt answered, more of his doubt appearing in his voice.
That can't be anything good, Rena thought grimly, but said reassuringly," Don't worry Matt, I'm sure you'll find it out."
"Maybe, but I sure wish- gaaaahhh!" Matt felt an invisible hand griping around his throat, cutting off his sentence and lifting the shadow fighter in the air.
"Matt!" Rena was about to help the father of her tamer when she felt that same power that held Matt in the air gripped her and threw him back onto the porch, hard.
"This doesn't concern you, Blondie," an icy smooth voice rung out from nowhere.
Rena recognized that voice no matter what time she was in and immediately bolted into a sitting position. She was just in time to see a figure taller then Matt appeared before the elevated figure with his right hand even with the shadow fighter. Focusing all of her sight onto the figure, Rena barely made out the face of a younger Kai Makino, grinning evilly at Matt.
"So sorry, but I wanted to get your attention before you began you're usual morning rumble," Kai said in a cruel sarcastic voice and let go of his hold.
Matt fell to the ground and got up onto his knees and hands as flesh air made it way into his lungs, causing him to chock slightly. Kai waited for Matt to regain his composure before walking up to him.
"Who are you?" Matt asked, getting to his feet and eyeing the blonde boy suspiciously.
"Kai," Kai answered simply. "And that's all you need to know."
"And why is that?" Matt asked calmly, his bodying tensing.
"Because you're be dead soon," Kai said in a low, dark tone.
Matt raised an eyebrow to this and replied a bit sarcastically," And how are you going to do that?"
"You'll have to fight me to find that out," Kai said simply, a mischievous smile growing on his face. "Or are you going to walk away like with that bully?"
"How do you know that?" Matt asked, a hint of suspicion rising in his voice.
"Doesn't it really matter?" Kai said with a shrug of his shoulders. "Now are we going to fight or talk?"
"Hmm," Matt looked over at his friends with his eyes and saw them eagerly waiting for his decision. Matt turned his eyes forward and closed them for second to think. He reopened them and looked at Kai with that hidden victory glee back in his violet orbs. "Okay Mister Mysterious you're on."
Matt wasted no time, he immediately charged at Kai and threw a spin kick at the boy. Kai used some of his own special powers to lift himself off the ground and into the air, avoiding Matt's attack completely. Matt held his surprise at bay as he looked up at the boy suspended in the air.
"Oh did I forget to manage that I'm a sorcerer?" Kai asked in a smooth, sarcastic filled voice.
"Yeah you lift that little detail out," Matt muttered to himself and crouched low. The shadow fighter jumped up with such speed and grace that he seemed to vanish from view. Kai began looking around for any sighs of his prey, but he couldn't find hid or hair of him. "Up here!!!"
Kai snapped his head up and saw Matt's foot coming straight for his head. The evil sorcerer smiled to himself and waved his hands in a circle patterns. An invisible barrier surround Kai and Matt's foot slammed right into it. Matt was repealed away and threw across lawn. Matt turned around just in time and landed in his hands and knees. He got up and turned to look at Kai with a fire burning in his eyes.
"What do you think of my barrier?" Kai asked casually. "It's one of the strongest in the world."
"Strongest huh? Will let put it to the test. Hiiaahh!!' Matt lunged at Kai and threw his tattoo fist into Kai's barrier.
"What do you think you can break my barrier so easily?" Kai asked in amusement.
"We'll see, we'll see," Matt said simply.
Matt put all of his strength into it and the barrier actually began bending. Kai's amusement turned to shock as his barrier began folding in on itself.
"How is this impossible?" Kai screamed. "This is the strongest barrier in the world!!!"
"Nothing is impossible if you put your mind to ITTTTTTT!!" Matt screamed as he reeled by his free fist and threw it.
The fist broke through Kai's magical barrier and meant with Kai's cheek. The evil sorcerer fell to the ground, his eye wild in shock.
How? How can someone like that punk break through my barrier, the evil sorcerer wondered to himself.
At the same time, Matt was wondering the same question himself. He was looking wide eye at his hand, which felt a little numb from all of pressure it was put on. He relaxed his body and drew hand in, looking at his palm.
How did I do that? Matt asked himself. If I remember my grandfather's lessons right, only a greater magical force can break another magical force. So how did I do it?
A growling noise from Kai reminded Matt that he was still in a fight and other things need to be put aside until the fight with over. Matt resumed his fighting stance as Kai got to his feet, his back to the shadow fighter. For a few heart-racing moments, Kai kept his back to Matt, his shoulder raising and lowing slightly as he breathed in short, hash breathes. He looked at Matt and there was fire literally burning in his eyes.
"You really pissed me off now," Kai, said angrily his body shocking from anger.
"How man what's with the eyes?" Matt asked calmly, but eyeing the fire in his opponent's eyes nervously.
"You'll see soon enough," Kai answered roughly.
The evil sorcerer began groaning to himself and the area around him heating up greatly. The area around Kai began expending and reached Matt in no time, throwing unbearable heat in his face. The heat even reached the porch, causing the two furred animals to begin panting in an attempt to cool themselves down. Rena was sweating like a pig, but she really didn't notice because all of her attention was focus on Kai.
What's going on, Rena wondered to herself. The Kai in my time never did anything like this. It so hot here, I think I can actually cook twelve eggs on this porch and it getting hotter here. The disguised digimon removed her jacket, hopping it would cool her off a bit.
Matt had also taken off his training jacket, but it so hot that he felt like he was going to pass out from heat exhaustion any minute now.
This is just plain crazy, Matt thought. It must over hundred and getting warmer. Now what?
The shadow fighter noticed that Kai's short hair was standing on its end and it was flickering from it natural blonde color to a color matching Rika's fur. After a moment, the evil sorcerer's hair settled on the color of fire and he grinned evilly.
"You're probably wondering what's with my hair now, right?" Kai asked in his smooth, icy voice.
Matt resisted the urge to wipe his brow off as he said as lightly as he could," The thought had cross my mind once or twice."
"Well it's actually quit simple, I'm an elemental sorcerer," Kai said proudly.
"An elemental sorcerer," Matt whispered to himself.
"Do you want to know more?" Kai asked in his sickly icy smooth voice.
"Thanks, but I know all about them," Matt answered calmly.
Kai threw a grin at Matt and said," Oh, but I'm a special kind of elemental sorcerer. I can use any types of spells I want, but I still like to use my power of fire to blush others in."
Kai held out his arms at his sides and curled his fingers slightly. Small flickers of fire emitted in the centers of his palms and begin expending until it filled his hands. Seeing those flares caused Matt to become frozen in place. Kai throw his hands down, sending the fire into the ground and causing it to streak across the ground. The line of fire divided into two lines and circled around the shadow fighter. The fire shot up, creating a wall of flames that Matt could have easily gotten out of if an old childhood fear hasn't spring back to life.
Matt stared around the fire, a rare look of fear appearing on his face as memories danced across his eyes. His breathing began rough and shallow. He could hear the sound of screeching of tires, causing him to cover his ears.
Outside the fire, Kai watch in puzzlement as the person who he thought was unbeatable began cowering at the mere sight of the flames. A victorious grin suddenly appeared on his face.
"So it would seem you aren't made out stone like I first thought," with his grin turning into an evil smile; Kai lifted his right hand up. The flames rose with his hand and then closed up, creating a dome of pure fire.
The evil sorcerer waited for about a minute and a half before commanding the flame to part in certain area and creating a birdcage of fire. By that time, Matt had completely lost it and was now curled up into a ball on the ground. The rock hard shadow fighter had begun lost in the most painful memory of his young life, the day his parents' die in a flaming car accident.
Rena, Rika and Rumiko watched in shock and fear as the person they believe to be unbreakable looking like a child who just got wondering away from his parents and gotten lost in a big store. But for the fox turned human it was something completely different.
As Rena watch her friend cowering in the cage of flames, his figure along with that of the cage was replaced with images of IceDevimon holding a frightened Rika. Rena just kept seeing the eyes of her tamer and her father locked in fear and without even knowing it, began walking forward.
Kai caught sight of the movement from the corner of his right eye and frown slightly. The sorcerer threw some of his magic Rena's way and lifting the girl off her feet.
"Now what do you think you could have done to me when even your so called cousin couldn't even beat me?" Kai asked in his sickly smooth sarcastic voice as he slowly walked up to the elevated digimon turned human.
Rena responded to the man in front by growling dangerously. Kai responded to this by flicking the sides of his lips slightly and outstretching his right arm. He even out his hand with Rena's throat and began squeezing. Rena let out aloud gasp as she felt something tightened around her throat, cutting off her air.
Kai chuckled and said," Well Blondie now you see how pointless it is to fight someone as great as me. So why don't you take a seat and watch."
Kai sent Rena flying backwards with him magic. The disguised fox the wall right of the porch hard, and fell to the ground with piece of broken wood tailing her.
Guilmon I wish you were here by my side, was the last thought Rena had before slipping into an unconscious state.
Satisfied with his work, Kai turned his attention to the reason why he was here in the first place. He smiled evilly as he saw a certain blonde furred cat with unusual blue eyes shaking in fear and began walking towards her. Every step Kai took caused Rumiko's fur to stand up more. In a matter of seconds Kai was looking down at her with an evil grin. Rumiko stiffly looked up at the face of the evil sorcerer with a fear uncommon for cat's eyes.
Kai reached down to picked up the scared feline when a flame colored blur came out of nowhere and Rika bit down on Kai's middle finger with all of her might. Kai's eyes widened slightly, more in annoyance then pain and looked down at the strangely colored fox.
"You think this hurts me you annoying little pest, think again," Kai grabbed Rika with his free hand and sent some of his magic into her, causing the cursed tamer to fall asleep. Tossing Rika aside, Kai looked back at Rumiko and picked her up by the neck.
"Well my darling little sister our little game of cat and mouse finally end and what you're the mouse," Kai said in a sarcastic voice.
Rumiko began meowing and struggling to get free of Kai's grip, but the evil sorcerer just tightened his grip and chuckle.
"You can do whatever, darling sister, but the only ones how can help you are either scared out of his mind or taking a nice catnap on the grass," Kai said in a dry joking tone.
Rumiko don't her struggling and her moaning in catcall, hopping that it would at least annoy Kai somewhat. But it did the expert opposite, it made Kai grin evilly. Rumiko knew right then and there that she was going to die, but she didn't give up her crying. She would get in her last words even if no one is around who could understand her.
In the cage of fire, Matt was reliving that fateful day when his parents were taken from him. He could see it as clearly as if he was watching a movie in a theater.
(Flashback)
Matt and his parents were driving home after watching the latest kid's movie. His father was driving a nice, green Ford car and Matt being the young five old he was, was going against his parents' orders and not in his seat. The young boy was reacting senses from the movie he just saw, making his parents laugh slightly. In front of the happy family's car was a cargo truck with a large trailer in back. Because of the driver being so exhausted from a long day's work, he didn't close the trailer's door properly and it was in danger of flying open at any time.
On the road the two vehicles were traveling on long was a very small pit hole that was useable at the die of night and the truck rode over it. The trailer jerked a little causing the lose door to fly open and a large empty, wooden box to slid dangerous close to opening. The driver of the truck nearly missed his exiting because he was zoning out, made a sharp right and caused the box in his back to fly off of the trailer.
The box slammed onto the road and shattered into different good size pieces. A small chuck of wood slammed right into the windshield of the Smith's family car. The piece of wood wasn't big enough or did it hit the window with enough force to break through it, but it did leave a large cracked right in the center of the windshield, making it hard for the driver to see.
Mister Smith was a talented driver, but even with his many years of driving experience this was still hard. Plus having his wife and son screaming in his ear at the tops of their lungs didn't help matter either.
Mister Smith see a piece of wood and immediately swirl to avoid it and him that another piece of wood was right in his way and this one has nails in it too. Having no time to maneuver around it, Mister Smith slammed on the break and began turning right.
It would seem luck was with the young Matthew Smith at the time because he was slammed against left door of the passenger side of the car. The door flew open suddenly as if a unseen hand had opened it and Matt was ejected from the car just as it began trampling on it sides.
Despite all the pain the young five year old was in, he looked up and watched as the vehicle with his family in it rolled three times before stopping on its roof. Squinting his little violet colored eyes, Matt could make out figures moving about in the car through the back window. A big childish smile appeared on the boy face and he began to get up, only to fall onto his hand and knees from all the pain that rushed through his body.
Matt had never experienced pain before so it was taking everything that young boy had to keep himself from passing out. He began slowly crawling to his parents' car when suddenly it exploded into flames. Matt heard the screams of his parents as he watch them slowly burn to death.
Mamma? Papa?" The glow of the flames cast shadows of the young boy's face as hot tears ran down his face onto the road. He reached out with his right hand, his young mind refused to believe that his parents were gone and that they would appear beside him any minute now, smiling down at him in a loving way and that his mother would take him in her arms any time now.
But as the boy stared at the flames, the screams of his parents dieing down, he felt his outstretched hand began to burn. Tarring his eyes away from the blazing inferno and to his hand, he watched as a black light began carving something on the back of his hand. In a moment of seconds a lightening bolt shaped had carved itself in and colored itself black.
Matt looked at the tattoo with a sick realization that a boy his age shouldn't have. He knew that if the tattoo had appeared on his hand that he was the new shadow fighter and that both of his parents were gone, never to return to him or hold him in their arms ever again.
"Mamma. Papa." The boy whispered solemnly as he curled up into a ball and cried. The boy cried for a good while until he cried himself to sleep filled with dream of his parents and himself playing together.
(End of flashback)
"Mamma. Papa," Matt repeated what his young self said in his flashback. He was also in the same position that he was in nine long years ago with tear running down his face. For the first times in years the shadow fighter was pooling all of the negative emotions that had build in him for nine long years. MAAAMMMAAAA!!! PAAAPPPAAA!!!"
Suddenly a feline cry of help somehow made it to the emotional tore boy and he knew immediately who it was.
Rumiko, Matt thought solemnly. Looks like I fail you too.
For some reason thinking about Rumiko struggling the grasp of that madman just made the feeling in his stomach grow even worse. He knew that he couldn't save the one being in this world that actually meant someone to him and that made him worse, which in turn caused his tears to run faster.
"I can't do anything right," Matt mutter solemnly through with his sobs.
The wind in the cage suddenly went through a change and if Matt wasn't so caught up in his grief, he would felt another being in the cage with him.
"Will you just give up?" An elderly, yet stern voice said in the shadow fighter's eyes. "Because that's not the Matthew Smith I now."
"Will you just leave me along old man," Matt whispered solemnly. "I'm not in the mood for one of your lecture today."
"You can't give up because you're a shadow fighter and a shadow fighter never gives up, the elder said, his voice taking on a level of commanded.
"Listen can't you just leave me along to sulk in peace?" Matt asked, his voice rising in anger.
"You're a shadow fighter and that's comes with great responsible," The elder said commandingly.
Matt always hated that voice. To him, it sounded like being a shadow fighter was the only thing that really mattered in the world and that always-boiled Matt over and it still does to this ever day.
Matt bolted to his feet and spun around to face his grandfather, Souta Urameshi, angrily. "Listen here you windbag of a ghost I never wanted any of this. The strength, the powers I never want any of it, you got it?" the anger in the boy's voice was strong and yet the ghost in front of him didn't even flick one bit.
"You're a shadow fighter, so deal with it," Souta's voice began slightly harder then before and his glare became piercing.
When Matt was young that tone and glare would have scared him witless, but that was in the past. Now he's a man who couldn't be broken, or close to it and no one and not even some ghost who couldn't even touch him, would scare him.
"Listen good from once you old fart," Matt said angrily. "I never liked fighting in the first place. You drilled that into my head when I was just a boy and now I can't stop fighting even if I wanted to and it's all your fault."
Souta watched as his grandson clinched his fists up tightly and tears began falling from his face, but this time there were tears of betrayal instead of sadness and bitterness.
"Then if you wouldn't fight of yourself, fight for them." An image of Rena lying face down appeared and descended into the darkness. Next an image of Rika appeared, sleeping thanks to Kai's spell. That also disappeared into the darkness. Next an image of Matt's grandmother, sleeping peacefully in her own bed appeared and disappeared into the darkness moments latter. Finally an image of Rumiko, struggling in Kai's hand appeared, but unlike the last ones, this stayed in front of Matt, like it was mocking him. The image faded like the rest in a few second and Matt's grandfather reappeared. "If you wouldn't fight yourself then fight for the ones who you cared about the most."
With that said, the ghost of Souta Urameshi turned his back on his grandson and faded away as he walked away.
"If you wouldn't fight for yourself then fight for the once who cared about the most." Matt echoed the words of his grandfather as he thought about it. He looked beyond his cage of fire at the blonde feline, struggling in the hands of a madman and Kai seemed to be enjoying every minute of it. "Fight for the ones you care for."
Matt got in the center of his cage and looked towards the ceiling. He focused his every being on helping the ones he cared deeply for and the tattoo feed off of those desires. The tattoo began glowing like never before and Matt felt a new power, the like which he never felt before, begin pulping into his veins.
Hang on guys I'm coming, Matt thought determinedly and crouched down.
(...)
Kai chuckled as he continued to watch his sister's pathetic adepts of getting free. "You may as well just gave up, darling sister, you'll never break free." But blonde feline refused to give up.
Rumiko suddenly stopped her struggling and looked over Kai's shoulder. Kai frown in disappointment when he notice his sister stop struggling, but was more curious as to what she was looking at. The evil sorcerer turned around and was amazed when he saw the inside of his cage of fire, glowing a deep black color.
"What's going on?" Kai wondered to himself.
Suddenly a figure jumped out of the cage of fire, causing it to collapsed in on itself and despite. Kai watched in amazement as the black light soared higher then anything then Kai himself as even witness and stay there for a minute or so. The light then dropped from the sky and went straight from Kai.
"KAI!!" The energy dissolved, reliving none other then Matthew smith.
The evil sorcerer was to stun to move as Matt up righted himself and delivered a devastating spun kick to Kai. Luckily the evil sorcerer was able to bring himself out of his shock and placed a small barrier in front of him, Matt was still able to shatter the barrier and his leg meant with Kai's face. The evil sorcerer lost his hold on the cat and was sent flying into the yard.
Matt caught Rumiko was such grace; it was like the unnatural eyed feline was suspended in mid-air. Matt dropped to his knees and hugged Rumiko tightly. Rumiko was startled by anything that had happening was finally starting to recover. Looking up at the boy holding her, Rumiko notice he had the most gently smile she even seen on a person.
"You okay, wildcat?" Matt whispered softly in Rumiko's ear.
Rumiko nodded her head slyly and let out an embarrassed meow. Matt smiled grew more softer and he began rubbing Rumiko's back to help her relax. The rubbing began working and Rumiko snuggled into Matt's arm. The two just wanted to stay like this for the rest of their lives, but sadly moments like this never last when you're a shadow fighter.
The two heard a slight moaning sound with their acute hearing, coming from the lawn. Turning their attention to the front, they saw Kai slowly working his way to his feet.
"You'll have to do more then that to make me fall," Kai said coldly as got into a lazy position.
Matt stared at the man who had caused him nothing by misery with stern eyes. He set Rumiko down and patted her on the head reassuringly. He stood up and walked out onto the lawn.
"I'm tried of fighting, so would you just go back from whatever you came from and just leave me along," Matt said in a tired voice.
"Well that's tough, I'm not leaving until my sister's body is lying in a pool of her own blood!" Kai said angrily and took out a spell scroll. "Oh father of the sky hear my plea and sent to me your holy weapons of judgment!!"
The symbol for lightening drew themselves onto the paper and they became alive with lightening. Bolts of lightening begin tarring up the ground as Matt began darting left and right to keep the bolt from hitting the house.
"NOW IT'S TIME FOR YOU TO FRY!!!" Kai aimed his talisman at Matt and all the lightening conjoined into one big bolt of lightening, heading straight for Matt.
Time seemed to slow as the lightening bolt went straight for Matt. He knew he couldn't dodge something like this, so he did the only thing that came to his mind at the moment and that just happened to be his black lightening strike. But he knew he couldn't use it unless he was perfectly calm.
"Fight for them, use that as power," his grandfather voice said in the wind.
Matt looked over his shoulder and notice Rumiko was starting to tremble with fear. He looked quickly at his other friends and felt a desire to protect them. The tattoo responded to this emotion by sending black lightening sourcing all over Matt's body.
For my friends, Matt thought determinedly as he got into position. All of the black lightening sourcing around Matt was gathered into his right hand as he pulled his hand forward. "BLACK LIGHTENING STRIKE!!!" With a boom like thunder, Matt unleashed the biggest bolt of black lightening he had very done in his life.
The two bolts of lightening sourced through the air, lighting up the night like a charismas tree. The two bolts clashed, in which, the evil sorcerer's lightening was cut right through and the black bolt went for the sorcerer himself.
"GGGRRRUUUHHHH!!" Kai was thrown off of his feet as the bolt struck him in the center of his chest, his eyes widen with surprise.
Kai flew through the air and came crushing down five feet from his original spot. The evil sorcerer tried to get to his feet, but found it felt like he was trying to lift a thousands pones with his bares arms. It was just a chore to twitch a single finger.
"What...power," Kai managed to chock out.
Matt gasped as his eyes turned to the glowing object on the back of his hand. He had never fired such a big blast black of lightening in his life and it was a little overwhelming to witness such an act.
Now that's was truly cool, Matt thought amazingly.
The light from the tattoo faded in mere moments and the lightening bolt tattoo now looked like it was incurved on Matt's hand instead of just painted on. His tattoo now looked like the one his mother's had before.
"You think you win?" Kai chocked out.
Matt looked from his tattoo to the boy lying on his lawn and said calmly," Well if you haven't notice you're in a spot there."
The evil sorcerer suddenly began laughing insanely, throwing the shadow fighter off of his guard. Matt was about to ask him what's was so funny when he suddenly grabbed one of his spell scrolls and held it high in the air.
"Oh guardian of the sky, help my plea and send to me a blanket of clouds!!!" The symbol for clouds became visible on the talisman and air began rushing out of it and under Kai. A cloud was created under the immobile sorcerer and lifted him off the ground. The cloud flew away before Matt could even make a move.
"Don't see that every day," Matt said to himself in his usual casual voice and stuck his hands in his pocket.
He grabbed his jacket and went over to Rena. After checking and finding no major injuries, Matt set Rena in a comfortable sleeping position with his jacket as a pillow. He then went over to Rika and repeated a similar process like he did with Rena. Finally the man returned to the spot where Rumiko were now sleeping and gently took her in his lap.
"Man what a day and it isn't even noon yet," He said in a tired voice while a few yawns escaped him. "Think...I'll...take...a...quick nip."
And with that, the young warrior's hand fall and his eyes closed. He fell into a light sleep and dream about meeting this lovely girl with the same hair and eyes as Rumiko.
(...)
BlackRenamon (Crying on my shoulder): That's was the most heart breaking thing I have ever read.
Me (annoyed): Well actually it's the only thing you read and personal I didn't think it was some of my better work.
Rika: That's an understatement.
Me: who ask you?
Rika: No one.
Me: Why me?
Me: So what do you want to ask me?
Rika: Just what are you planning?
Me: Oh, I just going to be showing you the effect that your mother had on my character with twists thrown in here and there.
Rika: So you're going be showing how a cat can change a stone hard person? You know that's the lamest thing I had ever heard.
Me (Grinning slyly): Oh but you forget that Matt isn't a normal teen he got these freaky powers. (Wicker his fingers about)
Rika (Rolling eyes); Right. Now if you don't mind I need something to treat this big headache you're giving me.
Me: And before I forget, if you see sentences surrounded in these [] quotation marks, it mean Rika and Rumiko are talking to each other.
Shadows of the Past:
Charter six: Fire burning in the shadows.
Early morning at the Urameshi household was the same as always. The due the cover the grounds gave it a light misty feeling and the light of the half moon cast it shine on two blurry figure clashing in the backyard.
"HIIAAHH!" Matt screamed as he threw a fierce uppercut to his opponent's chin. Rena responded to this by jumping into the air and doing a half flip, grabbing Matt's wrist in the process. The disguised fox got behind her friend and grabbed his other arm before he had the chance to react. She thrust her right knee into Matt's back and began pulling on his arm, forcing his back into her knees. The shadow fighter bit his lower lip to hold his cry of pain back. On the porch, two very unique animals watched the fighters, each giving their support in the forms of meows and yips.
"So you're ready to call it quiets for today?" Rena asked calmly.
Despite all the pain in was in, the shadow fighter smiled cockily," You know, fox I think its time for you to learn another of my family age old techniques, the shadow escape."
Matt turned his wrists just right and he was able to grab a hold of Rena's wrists. He then jumped up with all of his might, taking the digimon turned human with him. Matt then relocated himself behind Rena by using the force of the air rushing around them. He repositioned Rena so she was looking at the ground and shoved his knees into her spine.
The two began descended to the ground and the digimon turned human felt a shiver of fear run through her, but at the last moment, Matt freed Rena and jumped away from her. Rena landed on her hands and knees and stayed like that for a few seconds before standing and wiping the sweat from her brow. Matt landed in front of her and flashed his grin that he will pass to his daughter.
"Nice move," Rena said. "Let me guess that move was supposed to allow you to escape while at the same time inflicting pain on your opponent?"
Matt answered her by nodding his head and then getting into his usually fighting stance. Rena remained relax for a minute as she studied the person before her.
The disguised fox had grown into studying the father of her tamer, always on the look for the slightly connection to Rika and Matt. But unknown to Rena, Matt was also studying her, but he was looking for anything suspicious about Rena.
Rena got back into her fighting stance and the two fighters began they usually staring contest. On the porch, Rika and Rumiko watched in anticipation. The future mother and daughter liked watching the two fight it out because for them it seemed just so magical when those two fought.
Rena decided to make the first move before Matt pulled his usual vanishing act. Couching low, Rena kicked off the ground and rushed towards Matt. But like always, the shadow fighter was prepared for anything his blonde haired friend could threw at him.
With swift hands, Matt took of his workout jacket and threw it in Rena's face. The disguised fox yipped in surprised as the black fabric covered her vision. She stopped and removed the jacket from her head, only to found that her opponent had vanished into thin air.
That's the third time this week he pulled a stunt like this, Rena thought a little angrily as she began scanning the area with her eyes and listened to the wind.
The current of the wind suddenly shifted, blowing above Rena and she thrust her hands up just in time to catch a foot that was aimed for her back. She tossed Matt onto his back and leapt at him in the same way a tiger would its prey. Matt quickly thrust his hands and knees up and caught Rena.
"You know if people saw this, they'll talk," Matt said with his dry humor.
Rena flashed her friend a half of a grin and replied," I thought you didn't care what other say about you?"
Matt returned the grin full heartedly and said in a sly tone," I don't." He then threw the disguised fox to his right and Rena landed back on her hand and knees.
The two fighters leapt to their feet and resumed their stances. Rena notice that Matt had taken a different stance then his normal one. His right hand was extended out in front of him and his fingers were slightly bent at the knuckle. His other hand was overleaping his right arm and was balled up into a loose fist. His legs are line up with shoulders and were bent at the knees.
Hmm, never seen that stance before, what is he planning, Rena wondered. She studied the stance for a bit and saw at least three opening for an attack. Strange this stance had fails that even a rookie could see, so what's his game?
Rena studied the stance some more before coming up with a plan of attack. She couched low and shoot off to the right. She circled behind Matt and went in for the kill. Rena throw a punch with all of her strength at Matt's back, but at the last moment Matt spun around and batted Rena's fist away with his right hand. He threw out his fist and Rena barely stopped as she closed her eyes, waiting for the impending pain that was coming. Surprising she felt nothing hitting her face and she squirm opened one eye. Matt's fist had stopped mere inches for the ram of the Fox's nose. Rena looked between the fist and it owner as a nervous sweat broke out on her face.
Matt pulled his fist away Rena's face and smiled at her," So what do you think of one of my family's finishing move, the shadow fist?"
Rena relaxed her tensed body and began rubbing her neck as she said," It was a good move, but I'm wondering how were you able to turn around so fast in the blink of an eye?"
Matt chuckled lightly and began explaining," Well first you must have seen the opening in my stance right?" Rena nodded, singling Matt to go on. "Well the stance was created for the purpose of luring people into a false sense."
"So they'll attack," Rena said thoroughly.
Matt nodded and resumed his speaking," Well when they attack, we're able to move quickly because of the position of our legs allow us to leapt off of our of feet and your know the rest, but of course like half of the techniques in my family style, it useless without prefect timing."
Rena nodded and began thinking about all the techniques she's seen even since she began training with the shadow fighter. All of the techniques she had seen had needed prefect timing and Matt had executed them just right. But she did recall a few times when Matt nearly screwed up a move he was doing.
A mix of happy meows and yips brought the disguised fox out of her thoughts and she and the shadow fighter looked to their right to see Rika and Rumiko racing towards them. They launch themselves into the air and the fighters caught them with ease.
"So what did you think of my fight, wildcat?" Matt softly whispered into Rumiko's ear.
Rumiko responded to this by meowing in a soft tone and then notice the small red blister on his chin that Rena gave Matt in the opener of the sparring match. She leaned up and began licking the blister in a childish adept to clean his face. Matt responded to this by giving the feline a soft, out of character smile and rubbing her just in the right place, causing the cat with unnatural blue eyes to purr in pleasure. Off to the side, Rena and Rika watched as the cold-hearted shadow fighter petting a cat and enjoying it too.
It has been three weeks since Rena, Rika and Rumiko came to live with Matt and his grandmother and the disguised fox notice several changes in the shadow fighter. First his casual mark, which he hides his pain and loneness was slowly slipping away and that anger he keeps buried deepen within, was also fading. The must surprising thing, Rena had witness in these past three weeks was the actual smile Matt was showing and it wasn't those empty casual smile he flashes, but he only showed those real smiles when he holding Rumiko.
"Well I'm taking a shower," Rena said, stretching her back out a little as Rika yawned. "And I'm going to put Rika to bed."
Matt nodded his head constituently and continued to pet Rumiko. Rena shock her head slightly and turn to go into the house. She stopped at the door and looked at the future couple one last time. She couldn't help by smile slightly at the heart-warming scene in front o her. She watched the shadow fighter petting the feline with gentleness for a few seconds before turning around and entering the house.
(...)
Rena slowly made her way up the stair, feeling the effect of her workout with the shadow fighter. In the fox's arms, the cursed tamer was struggling to stay awake long enough to ask her humanoid partner a few questions.
"Renamon, do you like sparring with my dad?" the flame colored fox asked in a tired voice and looking up at her partner with just a hint of childish curiousness gleaming in her eyes.
The disguised fox titled her head down slightly as a light, almost useable blush appeared on her cheeks as she said," Well I didn't have to many opponents that was a match for me back in our time."
What Rena wasn't telling her tamer was that at one point she taught Guilmon some offensive and defensive moves when they first returned to the real world. They two had spar at times in the two years before their tamers were cursed, but in reality they were doing that so they could be together without spilling their guts about how they feel about each other.
"Well I know that my mom was good enough to go head to head with you," Rika said, thinking out loud.
"Well actually there's someone else in our time that can almost match me," Rena muttered to herself, the blush on her cheeks deepen to a darker shade of red.
"Huh, who?" Rika asked curiously.
Once again, our favorite fox turned human had forgotten about her partner's sensitive hearing and that caused her blush to spread to her entire face. Taking one look at her partner's crimson red face, everything became clear to the cursed tamer.
"Oh I see, the dinoboy. Don't worry Renamon you know I wouldn't tell anyone unless you tell someone about my crush on gogglehead," Rika said light heartedly. She then curled up in Rena's arms and drifted into a light sleep before the fox could say a thing.
Rena stopped dead in her track and stare at her partner, feeling relived and confused at the same time. Of course she would never break her word and tell about Rika's crush, just like Rika would never tell about Rena's crush.
Rena continued to stared down at Rika for a few more seconds before sighing and resuming making her way back up the stairs," I don't think I'll ever understand this family even if I saw live to the point where Rika was born."
Rena suddenly stopped dead in her track again as the realization of her own words sunk in. What if she was stuck here for the rest of her "human" life? What if she never gets to see Guilmon again or get to hit Terriermon on the head when he made a fool of himself? What if she never gets Rika home to see Takato even again?
Stop this Renamon, the dismay digimon told herself. If you start thinking like that, then you'll never get to see him again. Besides I need to be strong for Rika.
Pushing all of the negative thoughts and bad feelings aside, Rena ascended to the second floor of the house and headed towards her room to drop Rika off before heading to the showers.
(...)
At Matt and Rena high school, the fighting pair was at their favorite spot on the entire ground, a large tree in front of the school. Rena was sitting on the lowest branch, enjoying the view while Matt set against the base of the tree, rubbing the back of his neck for some reason. He had been doing that for three straight weeks now and a certain someone was starting to get worried.
"Hey, Matt may I ask what's wrong with you?" Rena called softly to her friend.
Matt looked up at Rena without stopping rubbing his neck and said in his casual voice," I think that someone really powerful his close by?"
"Huh?" Rena looked down at her friend, her curiosity peeked.
Matt look up at the sky as he began explaining," Well when I was training with my grandpa, I used to find him by feeling his aura."
Rena jumped from her spot and looked at her friend with confusion," Aura?"
Matt nodded at her and said," Yeah, every human has this aura that surrounds their bodies. Some believe that an aura is made up of the energy of the human sprit and each aura has they unique feeling to them. For my grandpa, it felt like there was a large hole of pure shadow in my gut."
"But what makes you think this feeling you have is dangerous?" the fox asked curiously.
Matt scanned the grounds quickly before leaning in close to his blonde friend. "Well just between you and me, Rumiko is more then she seems."
"What do you mean?" Rena asked with mock curiousness.
"I can see the human soul that lay buried deep down within that feline body, just like I can see the soul hidden in Rika's eyes," surprised by this, Rena could only look at the father of her tamer with her mouth hanging. Matt notice the look on his friend's face and smile lightly to her as he leaned back against and said," Don't worry I wouldn't tell."
Rena closed her mouth and resist the urge to raise an eyebrow as the memory of early crept into the back of her mind. Shocking off the image of her little talk with her partner, she looked at her "cousin" with determined eyes.
"But that still didn't explain to me about my first question, why you think this person is dangerous," the fox said a little demandingly.
Matt sigh, and rose to his feet. He looked to past the gate of the school to where he thought he feel the energy coming from. "Well about a day after Rumiko came, I felt like someone was passing something heat into the base of my neck and little by little that feeling gotten worse."
"But what makes you think this has anything to do with Rumiko?" Rena asked as she got to her feet and looked at the spot Matt was looking at.
"Well this is actually this is more of a gut feeling then anything else," Matt said softly. "But I got this strange feeling that Rumiko is in grave danger and I will protect her no matter what."
"Hmm," Rena looked at her friend, feeling a sense of pride rising deep within her. That quickly faded as Matt's words sunk in. What if there was someone out there, watching her and Matt? Then that's would mean that Rika would be in great danger. But it did bring her some relief knowing that Matt was there by her side.
The morning bell, singling that it was time for homeroom. Students began making their way into the school, but the shadow fighter and his foxy partner remained in exact same spot as before, one worry for once in a long time and the other worried that someone might happened to the one she caves deeply. The two stared off into the horizon for about two minutes before turning and heading into school.
(Close to the school)
The mysterious boy with the wigged hair watched as the proctor of his prey went into his school, his irritation growing. He had watched the boy with weird hair for about three weeks, looking for anything to use against the boy and hasn't come up with anything good enough. He thought about using the boy's grandmother, but after seeing how the boy and his female campaign spar, he decided it wasn't a good idea.
"That boy and his friend are to strong to take head on and my spell would be useless against their combined force," the guy mattered, his irritation clear in his voice.
The boy began pacing around the rooftop where he was spying on the shadow fighter and his friend, trying to think up a plan of action. After five minutes of pacing, the boy gave up with a frustrated sigh and slammed his fist into the ground, sending a wave of fire across the roof. The fire left a path of melted stone.
"Wait, that's it," the boy muttered to himself as he remembered that the shadow fighter had this craving for fighting. "Yes I can lure this boy into a fight and then trap him within one of my barriers, then I can easily take that girl and my darling sister will be all my."
The boy straightened up and looked at the school. A half grin forming on his face as fire erupted in his hands. He lifted his hands over his head and intertwined them, merging the two balls of flames into one. He threw his hands down and began drawing something in the roof with the fire. Once he was done with is task, the boy smiled down in pride at the KM letters, he had written with his mysterious powers of fire before leaving.
(Sango's house)
Rika and Rumiko watched as the elder made some of her family remedy while humming to herself. The elder took this strange yellow and white plant with panels that looked like flower themselves. Sango took off four panels and threw them into an old gray gale bowl. The two small animals stared at the plant like it was a man-eating versus flytrap and the elder notice this.
"Would you two like to know about this plant?" she asked softly. The flame colored fox and blonde cat nodded in unison and the level of intelligence they displayed once again took the elder by surprise. "Well this is a rare flower that was never identified, but it panels can produce this incredible sap with amazing results."
"Meow?" Rumiko asked.
"You're probably wondering what kind of results this plant can generate, right?" Sango asked softly.
The blonde cat nodded, singling yes.
"Well this plant can be used in different ways," the elder replied, brushing her fingers along the ram of one of the panels. "Like how I use it to created my family's remedy by mixing other plants that is used for natural healing. But I do believe it can be used in different fashion, but I never really tried."
Curious Rika jumped over to where the plant was and took in a whiff of it. For some reason the cursed tamer felt like she smelled this plant before, but couldn't remember where.
"Meow?" Rumiko asked. [What are you doing?]
"Yip," Rika said. [Just taking in a whiff of this plant.]
"Meow?" Rumiko asked confused [Why?]
Yip," Rika said, getting a little edgy. [Just because I felt like it, okay.]
"Meow," Rumiko squeaked. [Sorry.]
Rika watched as her future mother's feline face dropped and remembered that this wasn't the stubborn woman she argue with so much, but a small defenseless kid who was going through a tough time.
Sighing at herself, Rika walked over to her future mother and began nuzzling her neck in a friendly way. She yipped her apologizes and Rumiko immediately accepted them.
"Yip?" Rika asked eagerly. [Say what to play.]
"Meow!" Rumiko turned around and tipped Rika's nose with her tail [Sure and your it!]
Rumiko jumped off the table and run around of the kitchen. Rika smiled to herself as she jumped from table and gave chase.
(Later...after school)
"Hmm," Matt looked down at the two letters burned into the roof of building across from his school. He got down on his right knee and traced the K with his pinker. He could feel the remains of a great power here. "Why did I have this sinking feeling that this is trouble? What do you think, Rena?"
Half way during school, Matt had felt this strange source in power and once school was over, his foxy partner and himself want to check out Matt's feeling.
The disguised fox was examining the other burn on the roof when Matt called to her. "Huh?" Rena looked up at her friend and blinked. "What did you say, Matt?"
The shadow fighter walked over to his friend and asked seriously," I was just wondering what you think about all of this?"
Rena got up and brush her skirt off before looking at Matt with serious eyes," Well nothing good, so what does your gut say on this?"
"Nothing good, that much I know," Matt said seriously, his eyes darting between the two melted areas.
"But what I can't seem to figure out is these letters," Rena said wonderingly as she walked up to the letter and looking at them thoughtfully.
"Again, nothing good," Matt said as he joined his friend.
Rena stared at the letter, feeling like she was missing something. She titled her head to the right as she tried to figure out what those letters meant. But one name came to mind and she knew it couldn't be him.
"Kai Makino," the fox mutter under her breath as she shock her head.
Kai Makino was the reason behind most of her recent frustration. He was the man who cursed her tamer and Guilmon's as well and he was probably who sent Rena and Rika through time, but to what purpose that salved, she still couldn't figure out.
"Who's Kai Makino?" Matt asked off handedly, startling the disguised digimon out of her thoughts.
"Huh?" Rena looked at Matt, confusingly.
"Who's this Kai Makino?" Matt asked casually.
"Oh, just someone I meat during my travels," Rena answered in a calm voice.
"If you say so," Matt said with a shrug of his shoulder, but Rena didn't miss the suspicious look he gave her. "Well lets get going before gram starts to worry and think I'm get into a fight over a squirrel."
Rena nodded and the fighting pair over to one of the ledges over the building. The two shoot a look over to the other building across from the building they were on and proceed to reach the ground by jumping from building to building. The pair lifted the alleyway and went in the direction of Sango's house.
"Hmm," Matt looked behind his shoulder just in time to see a shadow ducked behind a trashcan. The pair walked up to another alley and he pulled Rena in with him.
"Hey what's the big-?"
"Shh," Matt silenced his "cousin" by placing the tips of his fingers on her mouth. "We're being followed."
"Huh?" curious Rena looked at the man who was going to be the father of her tamer and watched him.
Matt peeked over the edge of the alley and watched. In a few seconds the figure that was following the pair can into reach and Matt grabbed him with the same swiftness as a lion jumps its prey. He pinned the stalker to the wall opposite of the wall he was against and got a good look of the man.
"Oh it just you Shimon," Matt said casually and let go of the man.
Ramma Shimon was a boy about the same height as Matt though he was about a year and half older then the shadow fighter, but he was much more bulkier then Matt. He kept his black hair with white died tips in a Mohawk that reached down to the bridge of his nose. Ramma's the legal bully and touch guy, he has won even fights he's been in except when it came to Matt and really boils the guy knowing that's there's a person tougher then he is and with half of his muscles too.
"What do you want now, Shimon?" Matt asked lazily.
Ramma fixed his jacket collar as he glared angrily at the boy before him. "You know what I want Smith and I want it now," he spoke in a challenging tone of voice.
Matt answered Shimon's challenge with a light shrug of his shoulders and said in his casual voice," Listen Shimon, I really don't want to get into a one sided fight today."
"One sided!" Shimon screamed and then grinned as he flexed his arm muscles. "If you haven't notice I bulked up more since our last fight a year ago."
Matt looked at the muscles ripping through Shimon's uniform jacket lazily and looked at him," You know my grandfather said once that power without guidance is doomed to be eating a life time of dirt pies." Matt grinned as he watched Shimon's face turn a bright red from anger.
"Why you..." Shimon lunged at the fighting pair.
In the blink of an eye, Matt grabbed Rena and pulled his shadow walking technique just as Shimon reached them. The bully slammed head first into the building's wall, knocking him senseless.
Matt reappeared at the mouth of the alley seemingly unnoticed by the bystanders and looked into the alley. He shook his head when he saw Shimon lying on his back with a dazed look on his face.
"Some people never will learn," he muttered and then walked away without another word.
"Hmm," Rena looked at the senseless boy in the alley and then at her "cousin" with a raised eyebrow. "He's becoming more like his daughter each day." She then hurried to catch up with the shadow fighter.
(The next day...early morning)
Matt was doing his normal morning stretching routine, while the three R watched from the porch. Rika watched her father thoroughly, taking in ever move and technique he did. Rena waited patiently for the time when she'll began their usually sparring match with Rika on her lap. Rumiko on the other hand was completely intertwined with Matt's routine. To the blonde feline with the unnatural blue eyes it was like Matt was dancing instead of practicing his martial arts moves. Like he was an angel dancing on a cloud. Rumiko could watch the boy with the strange colored hair for hours.
Matt was in the middle of his finishing stretch when he felt that searing heat returned to the back of his neck, causing him to stop in mid throw of his black lightening strike. He dropped his stance and began looking over the yard, which warned the other warrior on the ground.
"Something wrong?" Rena called from the porch, hiding her concern at her friend's behavior.
"That feeling back with a vengeance," Matt said with a tight voice.
"Hmm," Rena looked between the fox and the cat before sitting Rika down on the porch and joining Matt. The two fighters got against each other's backs and took up their fighting stances. "So can you tell where you feeling is coming from?"
"Normally I would, but this one is different," Matt answered, a hint of doubt working its way into his voice.
"What do you mean?" Rena asked.
"Well this feeling hangs in a certain place and when I think I locked onto it, it jump to someplace new," Matt answered, more of his doubt appearing in his voice.
That can't be anything good, Rena thought grimly, but said reassuringly," Don't worry Matt, I'm sure you'll find it out."
"Maybe, but I sure wish- gaaaahhh!" Matt felt an invisible hand griping around his throat, cutting off his sentence and lifting the shadow fighter in the air.
"Matt!" Rena was about to help the father of her tamer when she felt that same power that held Matt in the air gripped her and threw him back onto the porch, hard.
"This doesn't concern you, Blondie," an icy smooth voice rung out from nowhere.
Rena recognized that voice no matter what time she was in and immediately bolted into a sitting position. She was just in time to see a figure taller then Matt appeared before the elevated figure with his right hand even with the shadow fighter. Focusing all of her sight onto the figure, Rena barely made out the face of a younger Kai Makino, grinning evilly at Matt.
"So sorry, but I wanted to get your attention before you began you're usual morning rumble," Kai said in a cruel sarcastic voice and let go of his hold.
Matt fell to the ground and got up onto his knees and hands as flesh air made it way into his lungs, causing him to chock slightly. Kai waited for Matt to regain his composure before walking up to him.
"Who are you?" Matt asked, getting to his feet and eyeing the blonde boy suspiciously.
"Kai," Kai answered simply. "And that's all you need to know."
"And why is that?" Matt asked calmly, his bodying tensing.
"Because you're be dead soon," Kai said in a low, dark tone.
Matt raised an eyebrow to this and replied a bit sarcastically," And how are you going to do that?"
"You'll have to fight me to find that out," Kai said simply, a mischievous smile growing on his face. "Or are you going to walk away like with that bully?"
"How do you know that?" Matt asked, a hint of suspicion rising in his voice.
"Doesn't it really matter?" Kai said with a shrug of his shoulders. "Now are we going to fight or talk?"
"Hmm," Matt looked over at his friends with his eyes and saw them eagerly waiting for his decision. Matt turned his eyes forward and closed them for second to think. He reopened them and looked at Kai with that hidden victory glee back in his violet orbs. "Okay Mister Mysterious you're on."
Matt wasted no time, he immediately charged at Kai and threw a spin kick at the boy. Kai used some of his own special powers to lift himself off the ground and into the air, avoiding Matt's attack completely. Matt held his surprise at bay as he looked up at the boy suspended in the air.
"Oh did I forget to manage that I'm a sorcerer?" Kai asked in a smooth, sarcastic filled voice.
"Yeah you lift that little detail out," Matt muttered to himself and crouched low. The shadow fighter jumped up with such speed and grace that he seemed to vanish from view. Kai began looking around for any sighs of his prey, but he couldn't find hid or hair of him. "Up here!!!"
Kai snapped his head up and saw Matt's foot coming straight for his head. The evil sorcerer smiled to himself and waved his hands in a circle patterns. An invisible barrier surround Kai and Matt's foot slammed right into it. Matt was repealed away and threw across lawn. Matt turned around just in time and landed in his hands and knees. He got up and turned to look at Kai with a fire burning in his eyes.
"What do you think of my barrier?" Kai asked casually. "It's one of the strongest in the world."
"Strongest huh? Will let put it to the test. Hiiaahh!!' Matt lunged at Kai and threw his tattoo fist into Kai's barrier.
"What do you think you can break my barrier so easily?" Kai asked in amusement.
"We'll see, we'll see," Matt said simply.
Matt put all of his strength into it and the barrier actually began bending. Kai's amusement turned to shock as his barrier began folding in on itself.
"How is this impossible?" Kai screamed. "This is the strongest barrier in the world!!!"
"Nothing is impossible if you put your mind to ITTTTTTT!!" Matt screamed as he reeled by his free fist and threw it.
The fist broke through Kai's magical barrier and meant with Kai's cheek. The evil sorcerer fell to the ground, his eye wild in shock.
How? How can someone like that punk break through my barrier, the evil sorcerer wondered to himself.
At the same time, Matt was wondering the same question himself. He was looking wide eye at his hand, which felt a little numb from all of pressure it was put on. He relaxed his body and drew hand in, looking at his palm.
How did I do that? Matt asked himself. If I remember my grandfather's lessons right, only a greater magical force can break another magical force. So how did I do it?
A growling noise from Kai reminded Matt that he was still in a fight and other things need to be put aside until the fight with over. Matt resumed his fighting stance as Kai got to his feet, his back to the shadow fighter. For a few heart-racing moments, Kai kept his back to Matt, his shoulder raising and lowing slightly as he breathed in short, hash breathes. He looked at Matt and there was fire literally burning in his eyes.
"You really pissed me off now," Kai, said angrily his body shocking from anger.
"How man what's with the eyes?" Matt asked calmly, but eyeing the fire in his opponent's eyes nervously.
"You'll see soon enough," Kai answered roughly.
The evil sorcerer began groaning to himself and the area around him heating up greatly. The area around Kai began expending and reached Matt in no time, throwing unbearable heat in his face. The heat even reached the porch, causing the two furred animals to begin panting in an attempt to cool themselves down. Rena was sweating like a pig, but she really didn't notice because all of her attention was focus on Kai.
What's going on, Rena wondered to herself. The Kai in my time never did anything like this. It so hot here, I think I can actually cook twelve eggs on this porch and it getting hotter here. The disguised digimon removed her jacket, hopping it would cool her off a bit.
Matt had also taken off his training jacket, but it so hot that he felt like he was going to pass out from heat exhaustion any minute now.
This is just plain crazy, Matt thought. It must over hundred and getting warmer. Now what?
The shadow fighter noticed that Kai's short hair was standing on its end and it was flickering from it natural blonde color to a color matching Rika's fur. After a moment, the evil sorcerer's hair settled on the color of fire and he grinned evilly.
"You're probably wondering what's with my hair now, right?" Kai asked in his smooth, icy voice.
Matt resisted the urge to wipe his brow off as he said as lightly as he could," The thought had cross my mind once or twice."
"Well it's actually quit simple, I'm an elemental sorcerer," Kai said proudly.
"An elemental sorcerer," Matt whispered to himself.
"Do you want to know more?" Kai asked in his sickly icy smooth voice.
"Thanks, but I know all about them," Matt answered calmly.
Kai threw a grin at Matt and said," Oh, but I'm a special kind of elemental sorcerer. I can use any types of spells I want, but I still like to use my power of fire to blush others in."
Kai held out his arms at his sides and curled his fingers slightly. Small flickers of fire emitted in the centers of his palms and begin expending until it filled his hands. Seeing those flares caused Matt to become frozen in place. Kai throw his hands down, sending the fire into the ground and causing it to streak across the ground. The line of fire divided into two lines and circled around the shadow fighter. The fire shot up, creating a wall of flames that Matt could have easily gotten out of if an old childhood fear hasn't spring back to life.
Matt stared around the fire, a rare look of fear appearing on his face as memories danced across his eyes. His breathing began rough and shallow. He could hear the sound of screeching of tires, causing him to cover his ears.
Outside the fire, Kai watch in puzzlement as the person who he thought was unbeatable began cowering at the mere sight of the flames. A victorious grin suddenly appeared on his face.
"So it would seem you aren't made out stone like I first thought," with his grin turning into an evil smile; Kai lifted his right hand up. The flames rose with his hand and then closed up, creating a dome of pure fire.
The evil sorcerer waited for about a minute and a half before commanding the flame to part in certain area and creating a birdcage of fire. By that time, Matt had completely lost it and was now curled up into a ball on the ground. The rock hard shadow fighter had begun lost in the most painful memory of his young life, the day his parents' die in a flaming car accident.
Rena, Rika and Rumiko watched in shock and fear as the person they believe to be unbreakable looking like a child who just got wondering away from his parents and gotten lost in a big store. But for the fox turned human it was something completely different.
As Rena watch her friend cowering in the cage of flames, his figure along with that of the cage was replaced with images of IceDevimon holding a frightened Rika. Rena just kept seeing the eyes of her tamer and her father locked in fear and without even knowing it, began walking forward.
Kai caught sight of the movement from the corner of his right eye and frown slightly. The sorcerer threw some of his magic Rena's way and lifting the girl off her feet.
"Now what do you think you could have done to me when even your so called cousin couldn't even beat me?" Kai asked in his sickly smooth sarcastic voice as he slowly walked up to the elevated digimon turned human.
Rena responded to the man in front by growling dangerously. Kai responded to this by flicking the sides of his lips slightly and outstretching his right arm. He even out his hand with Rena's throat and began squeezing. Rena let out aloud gasp as she felt something tightened around her throat, cutting off her air.
Kai chuckled and said," Well Blondie now you see how pointless it is to fight someone as great as me. So why don't you take a seat and watch."
Kai sent Rena flying backwards with him magic. The disguised fox the wall right of the porch hard, and fell to the ground with piece of broken wood tailing her.
Guilmon I wish you were here by my side, was the last thought Rena had before slipping into an unconscious state.
Satisfied with his work, Kai turned his attention to the reason why he was here in the first place. He smiled evilly as he saw a certain blonde furred cat with unusual blue eyes shaking in fear and began walking towards her. Every step Kai took caused Rumiko's fur to stand up more. In a matter of seconds Kai was looking down at her with an evil grin. Rumiko stiffly looked up at the face of the evil sorcerer with a fear uncommon for cat's eyes.
Kai reached down to picked up the scared feline when a flame colored blur came out of nowhere and Rika bit down on Kai's middle finger with all of her might. Kai's eyes widened slightly, more in annoyance then pain and looked down at the strangely colored fox.
"You think this hurts me you annoying little pest, think again," Kai grabbed Rika with his free hand and sent some of his magic into her, causing the cursed tamer to fall asleep. Tossing Rika aside, Kai looked back at Rumiko and picked her up by the neck.
"Well my darling little sister our little game of cat and mouse finally end and what you're the mouse," Kai said in a sarcastic voice.
Rumiko began meowing and struggling to get free of Kai's grip, but the evil sorcerer just tightened his grip and chuckle.
"You can do whatever, darling sister, but the only ones how can help you are either scared out of his mind or taking a nice catnap on the grass," Kai said in a dry joking tone.
Rumiko don't her struggling and her moaning in catcall, hopping that it would at least annoy Kai somewhat. But it did the expert opposite, it made Kai grin evilly. Rumiko knew right then and there that she was going to die, but she didn't give up her crying. She would get in her last words even if no one is around who could understand her.
In the cage of fire, Matt was reliving that fateful day when his parents were taken from him. He could see it as clearly as if he was watching a movie in a theater.
(Flashback)
Matt and his parents were driving home after watching the latest kid's movie. His father was driving a nice, green Ford car and Matt being the young five old he was, was going against his parents' orders and not in his seat. The young boy was reacting senses from the movie he just saw, making his parents laugh slightly. In front of the happy family's car was a cargo truck with a large trailer in back. Because of the driver being so exhausted from a long day's work, he didn't close the trailer's door properly and it was in danger of flying open at any time.
On the road the two vehicles were traveling on long was a very small pit hole that was useable at the die of night and the truck rode over it. The trailer jerked a little causing the lose door to fly open and a large empty, wooden box to slid dangerous close to opening. The driver of the truck nearly missed his exiting because he was zoning out, made a sharp right and caused the box in his back to fly off of the trailer.
The box slammed onto the road and shattered into different good size pieces. A small chuck of wood slammed right into the windshield of the Smith's family car. The piece of wood wasn't big enough or did it hit the window with enough force to break through it, but it did leave a large cracked right in the center of the windshield, making it hard for the driver to see.
Mister Smith was a talented driver, but even with his many years of driving experience this was still hard. Plus having his wife and son screaming in his ear at the tops of their lungs didn't help matter either.
Mister Smith see a piece of wood and immediately swirl to avoid it and him that another piece of wood was right in his way and this one has nails in it too. Having no time to maneuver around it, Mister Smith slammed on the break and began turning right.
It would seem luck was with the young Matthew Smith at the time because he was slammed against left door of the passenger side of the car. The door flew open suddenly as if a unseen hand had opened it and Matt was ejected from the car just as it began trampling on it sides.
Despite all the pain the young five year old was in, he looked up and watched as the vehicle with his family in it rolled three times before stopping on its roof. Squinting his little violet colored eyes, Matt could make out figures moving about in the car through the back window. A big childish smile appeared on the boy face and he began to get up, only to fall onto his hand and knees from all the pain that rushed through his body.
Matt had never experienced pain before so it was taking everything that young boy had to keep himself from passing out. He began slowly crawling to his parents' car when suddenly it exploded into flames. Matt heard the screams of his parents as he watch them slowly burn to death.
Mamma? Papa?" The glow of the flames cast shadows of the young boy's face as hot tears ran down his face onto the road. He reached out with his right hand, his young mind refused to believe that his parents were gone and that they would appear beside him any minute now, smiling down at him in a loving way and that his mother would take him in her arms any time now.
But as the boy stared at the flames, the screams of his parents dieing down, he felt his outstretched hand began to burn. Tarring his eyes away from the blazing inferno and to his hand, he watched as a black light began carving something on the back of his hand. In a moment of seconds a lightening bolt shaped had carved itself in and colored itself black.
Matt looked at the tattoo with a sick realization that a boy his age shouldn't have. He knew that if the tattoo had appeared on his hand that he was the new shadow fighter and that both of his parents were gone, never to return to him or hold him in their arms ever again.
"Mamma. Papa." The boy whispered solemnly as he curled up into a ball and cried. The boy cried for a good while until he cried himself to sleep filled with dream of his parents and himself playing together.
(End of flashback)
"Mamma. Papa," Matt repeated what his young self said in his flashback. He was also in the same position that he was in nine long years ago with tear running down his face. For the first times in years the shadow fighter was pooling all of the negative emotions that had build in him for nine long years. MAAAMMMAAAA!!! PAAAPPPAAA!!!"
Suddenly a feline cry of help somehow made it to the emotional tore boy and he knew immediately who it was.
Rumiko, Matt thought solemnly. Looks like I fail you too.
For some reason thinking about Rumiko struggling the grasp of that madman just made the feeling in his stomach grow even worse. He knew that he couldn't save the one being in this world that actually meant someone to him and that made him worse, which in turn caused his tears to run faster.
"I can't do anything right," Matt mutter solemnly through with his sobs.
The wind in the cage suddenly went through a change and if Matt wasn't so caught up in his grief, he would felt another being in the cage with him.
"Will you just give up?" An elderly, yet stern voice said in the shadow fighter's eyes. "Because that's not the Matthew Smith I now."
"Will you just leave me along old man," Matt whispered solemnly. "I'm not in the mood for one of your lecture today."
"You can't give up because you're a shadow fighter and a shadow fighter never gives up, the elder said, his voice taking on a level of commanded.
"Listen can't you just leave me along to sulk in peace?" Matt asked, his voice rising in anger.
"You're a shadow fighter and that's comes with great responsible," The elder said commandingly.
Matt always hated that voice. To him, it sounded like being a shadow fighter was the only thing that really mattered in the world and that always-boiled Matt over and it still does to this ever day.
Matt bolted to his feet and spun around to face his grandfather, Souta Urameshi, angrily. "Listen here you windbag of a ghost I never wanted any of this. The strength, the powers I never want any of it, you got it?" the anger in the boy's voice was strong and yet the ghost in front of him didn't even flick one bit.
"You're a shadow fighter, so deal with it," Souta's voice began slightly harder then before and his glare became piercing.
When Matt was young that tone and glare would have scared him witless, but that was in the past. Now he's a man who couldn't be broken, or close to it and no one and not even some ghost who couldn't even touch him, would scare him.
"Listen good from once you old fart," Matt said angrily. "I never liked fighting in the first place. You drilled that into my head when I was just a boy and now I can't stop fighting even if I wanted to and it's all your fault."
Souta watched as his grandson clinched his fists up tightly and tears began falling from his face, but this time there were tears of betrayal instead of sadness and bitterness.
"Then if you wouldn't fight of yourself, fight for them." An image of Rena lying face down appeared and descended into the darkness. Next an image of Rika appeared, sleeping thanks to Kai's spell. That also disappeared into the darkness. Next an image of Matt's grandmother, sleeping peacefully in her own bed appeared and disappeared into the darkness moments latter. Finally an image of Rumiko, struggling in Kai's hand appeared, but unlike the last ones, this stayed in front of Matt, like it was mocking him. The image faded like the rest in a few second and Matt's grandfather reappeared. "If you wouldn't fight yourself then fight for the ones who you cared about the most."
With that said, the ghost of Souta Urameshi turned his back on his grandson and faded away as he walked away.
"If you wouldn't fight for yourself then fight for the once who cared about the most." Matt echoed the words of his grandfather as he thought about it. He looked beyond his cage of fire at the blonde feline, struggling in the hands of a madman and Kai seemed to be enjoying every minute of it. "Fight for the ones you care for."
Matt got in the center of his cage and looked towards the ceiling. He focused his every being on helping the ones he cared deeply for and the tattoo feed off of those desires. The tattoo began glowing like never before and Matt felt a new power, the like which he never felt before, begin pulping into his veins.
Hang on guys I'm coming, Matt thought determinedly and crouched down.
(...)
Kai chuckled as he continued to watch his sister's pathetic adepts of getting free. "You may as well just gave up, darling sister, you'll never break free." But blonde feline refused to give up.
Rumiko suddenly stopped her struggling and looked over Kai's shoulder. Kai frown in disappointment when he notice his sister stop struggling, but was more curious as to what she was looking at. The evil sorcerer turned around and was amazed when he saw the inside of his cage of fire, glowing a deep black color.
"What's going on?" Kai wondered to himself.
Suddenly a figure jumped out of the cage of fire, causing it to collapsed in on itself and despite. Kai watched in amazement as the black light soared higher then anything then Kai himself as even witness and stay there for a minute or so. The light then dropped from the sky and went straight from Kai.
"KAI!!" The energy dissolved, reliving none other then Matthew smith.
The evil sorcerer was to stun to move as Matt up righted himself and delivered a devastating spun kick to Kai. Luckily the evil sorcerer was able to bring himself out of his shock and placed a small barrier in front of him, Matt was still able to shatter the barrier and his leg meant with Kai's face. The evil sorcerer lost his hold on the cat and was sent flying into the yard.
Matt caught Rumiko was such grace; it was like the unnatural eyed feline was suspended in mid-air. Matt dropped to his knees and hugged Rumiko tightly. Rumiko was startled by anything that had happening was finally starting to recover. Looking up at the boy holding her, Rumiko notice he had the most gently smile she even seen on a person.
"You okay, wildcat?" Matt whispered softly in Rumiko's ear.
Rumiko nodded her head slyly and let out an embarrassed meow. Matt smiled grew more softer and he began rubbing Rumiko's back to help her relax. The rubbing began working and Rumiko snuggled into Matt's arm. The two just wanted to stay like this for the rest of their lives, but sadly moments like this never last when you're a shadow fighter.
The two heard a slight moaning sound with their acute hearing, coming from the lawn. Turning their attention to the front, they saw Kai slowly working his way to his feet.
"You'll have to do more then that to make me fall," Kai said coldly as got into a lazy position.
Matt stared at the man who had caused him nothing by misery with stern eyes. He set Rumiko down and patted her on the head reassuringly. He stood up and walked out onto the lawn.
"I'm tried of fighting, so would you just go back from whatever you came from and just leave me along," Matt said in a tired voice.
"Well that's tough, I'm not leaving until my sister's body is lying in a pool of her own blood!" Kai said angrily and took out a spell scroll. "Oh father of the sky hear my plea and sent to me your holy weapons of judgment!!"
The symbol for lightening drew themselves onto the paper and they became alive with lightening. Bolts of lightening begin tarring up the ground as Matt began darting left and right to keep the bolt from hitting the house.
"NOW IT'S TIME FOR YOU TO FRY!!!" Kai aimed his talisman at Matt and all the lightening conjoined into one big bolt of lightening, heading straight for Matt.
Time seemed to slow as the lightening bolt went straight for Matt. He knew he couldn't dodge something like this, so he did the only thing that came to his mind at the moment and that just happened to be his black lightening strike. But he knew he couldn't use it unless he was perfectly calm.
"Fight for them, use that as power," his grandfather voice said in the wind.
Matt looked over his shoulder and notice Rumiko was starting to tremble with fear. He looked quickly at his other friends and felt a desire to protect them. The tattoo responded to this emotion by sending black lightening sourcing all over Matt's body.
For my friends, Matt thought determinedly as he got into position. All of the black lightening sourcing around Matt was gathered into his right hand as he pulled his hand forward. "BLACK LIGHTENING STRIKE!!!" With a boom like thunder, Matt unleashed the biggest bolt of black lightening he had very done in his life.
The two bolts of lightening sourced through the air, lighting up the night like a charismas tree. The two bolts clashed, in which, the evil sorcerer's lightening was cut right through and the black bolt went for the sorcerer himself.
"GGGRRRUUUHHHH!!" Kai was thrown off of his feet as the bolt struck him in the center of his chest, his eyes widen with surprise.
Kai flew through the air and came crushing down five feet from his original spot. The evil sorcerer tried to get to his feet, but found it felt like he was trying to lift a thousands pones with his bares arms. It was just a chore to twitch a single finger.
"What...power," Kai managed to chock out.
Matt gasped as his eyes turned to the glowing object on the back of his hand. He had never fired such a big blast black of lightening in his life and it was a little overwhelming to witness such an act.
Now that's was truly cool, Matt thought amazingly.
The light from the tattoo faded in mere moments and the lightening bolt tattoo now looked like it was incurved on Matt's hand instead of just painted on. His tattoo now looked like the one his mother's had before.
"You think you win?" Kai chocked out.
Matt looked from his tattoo to the boy lying on his lawn and said calmly," Well if you haven't notice you're in a spot there."
The evil sorcerer suddenly began laughing insanely, throwing the shadow fighter off of his guard. Matt was about to ask him what's was so funny when he suddenly grabbed one of his spell scrolls and held it high in the air.
"Oh guardian of the sky, help my plea and send to me a blanket of clouds!!!" The symbol for clouds became visible on the talisman and air began rushing out of it and under Kai. A cloud was created under the immobile sorcerer and lifted him off the ground. The cloud flew away before Matt could even make a move.
"Don't see that every day," Matt said to himself in his usual casual voice and stuck his hands in his pocket.
He grabbed his jacket and went over to Rena. After checking and finding no major injuries, Matt set Rena in a comfortable sleeping position with his jacket as a pillow. He then went over to Rika and repeated a similar process like he did with Rena. Finally the man returned to the spot where Rumiko were now sleeping and gently took her in his lap.
"Man what a day and it isn't even noon yet," He said in a tired voice while a few yawns escaped him. "Think...I'll...take...a...quick nip."
And with that, the young warrior's hand fall and his eyes closed. He fell into a light sleep and dream about meeting this lovely girl with the same hair and eyes as Rumiko.
(...)
BlackRenamon (Crying on my shoulder): That's was the most heart breaking thing I have ever read.
Me (annoyed): Well actually it's the only thing you read and personal I didn't think it was some of my better work.
Rika: That's an understatement.
Me: who ask you?
Rika: No one.
Me: Why me?