Interlude - Guardian Devil
There was a sudden thudding noise from the playground, followed by a shrill scream. I looked up and spun around from where I was playing the Digimon Card Game with Doroon. I knew that scream.
AI!
I ran as fast as my feet could carry me, hoping to get there before too much happened. Then I saw him.
He was a big guy, had to be at least twelve to my ten. I wasn't going to let that stop me though.
"Hey you! Quit picking on my sister!"
I jumped and tackled him to the ground. He threw me off pretty fast. He got up and looked down at me.
"Hmpf. You're pretty pathetic. Just like your sister."
I got up too, but a bit slower.
"I am not pathetic."
"Yeah, right."
Behind me Ai sniffed.
"Impmon's gonna beat you up."
The face of the goon in front of me contorted for a second, then burst out laughing.
"Impmon? A digimon? HA! Digimon aren't real. All that stuff three years ago was a biological mutation from too much industrial waste, like my dad told me. Digimon. That's a laugh. You're even more pathetic than I thought."
"You're the one who's pathetic."
We all turned at the new voice into the conversation. It was hard, cold, arrogant, and mocking. He had wavy green hair and piercing brown eyes on a cold face. The guy was eleven, in the grade above me, but below the goon. But that didn't matter. Jamie had been practicing martial arts since before he could walk if the rumors were true. He was also one of the smartest people in his grade. He was also filthy rich.
The goon turned white and began backing up before he turned and ran. I looked at the guy with barely concealed anger.
"I don't need your help, Jamie."
He snorted.
"I wasn't helping you. Your sister's bawling was disrupting my concentration."
Doroon came up then, looking between the two of us, feeling the tension.
"Uh, Mako, you forgot your deck…"
Jamie snorted. I glared at him.
"What's it to you?!"
Jamie used to scoff at digimon, but in the last month or so, he had been buying almost every card his money could get him. And as far as his playing skill went, he was good. He had just started, and was outstripping everyone. I glared. He just walked off. I turned back to Ai, and helped her up off the ground.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I actually smiled a little as I approached the table. I felt the goggles hit against my leg lightly as I sat down. I sighed as it brought to mind Gogglehead again. But then I calmed a little as Henry and Jeri came over and started sitting down. Jeri smiled.
"How's your day been Rika?"
I shrugged.
"Not that bad. My teachers aren't giving me a hard time, and no one's really bugged me yet."
Henry grinned.
"Or they've just learned to avoid you."
I rolled my eyes. The truth was I had calmed down a lot since I'd come here. The kids here were nothing like the prissy rich girls over at my other school, and as a result they got on my nerves less.
Once I'd started to relax anyways.
Then the small talk started, something I was getting better at. Then I cocked my hand at a sound I couldn't quite place.
"…aaaaaaAAAAAHHHHHHH!"
The scream had started out so small I'd had to concentrate to hear it, but as it became more pronounced Henry and Jeri were looking around as well, and I stood up to see if that would help me pinpoint it.
That turned out to be a mistake.
"AAAAAAAHHHHHH- ugh"
"Gah!"
The screaming something hit me in the face and I fell backwards. Jeri screamed as well, though I didn't know why. Until I heard the voice and opened my eyes.
"Ugh, where am I?"
Impmon…
I hadn't seen the little terror for a few months now, and he was hardly welcome now. He got off my head and stood up. I got up quickly after, staring a hole into the back of his head. He didn't seem to notice as he looked around. He spotted the trembling Jeri, then he sighed and kicked the ground.
"Great. I land here of all places. I was just starting to like it there too. Well, see ya."
I he turned around to walk off. Right into me. He looked up, probably staring at the huge vein coming out of my forehead.
"Oh no."
Then he started sprinting off. I went after, like a bat out of hell. After a while of chasing him around the schoolyard, something came to me.
Why isn't he throwing fireballs at me to distract me like usual?
I brushed the thought out of my head. After all it made catching him easier.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Oh yeah, that was smooth.
Landing on Rika's head wasn't the smartest move I had ever made. I shrugged. It was her fault for being there anyways. It wasn't like I could control where I was falling.
That still doesn't change the fact that I'm being chased… wait! Over there!
I spotted a gap between the two buildings of the school and ran over to it, hoping to lose her by gaining time cutting a few quick corners. I couldn't just blast her after all. Takato wouldn't like that, after all. I considered that as I came to the corner.
Stupid morals.
I rounded the corner and… stopped.
WHAT THE HELL?!!!!
There was no gap. There was only an indentation. I could actually hear the smirk behind me without turning around. I turned around, a grin plastered all over my face.
"Hey, nice weather we're having…"
She cracked her knuckles.
"Any last requests, Imp? Or should I call Renamon and get it over with?"
"Uhhh…"
I looked around, eyes darting for something, anything, that could get me out of this. My eyes caught the sun glinting off of something.
His goggles?
The grin came back to my face. Her eyes narrowed, and her voice was flat.
"What?"
"Nothing… I was just thinking, 'So that's where his goggles went…'. Always meant to ask, but I never got around to it. Eh, maybe next time."
Bingo.
Her eyes widened, her jaw went slack, and her hands dropped to her sides as she stared at me. I left while the going was good.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
About a later I was wandering the streets. Well, over the streets anyways. I doubt the humans would have liked it if I had walked where they were.
Probably would have been kicked a bunch too.
I hopped out of the trees as I entered Shinjuku Park. No one really came around here very much, not since that kid disappeared here a few days ago.
What was the guy's name? Oh, right. Dirk. Stupid name really.
I walked slowly up to the shed where Guilmon used to sleep. I was staying there now, the rock wasn't a huge inconvenience and I didn't leave garbage lying around. Seemed wrong somehow. I stopped in front of the marker and snorted.
"Impmon…"
My eyes widened at the voice. I spun to face the doglike Chatsuramon.
"What do you want, dog breath?"
He snorted.
"I am sent by my master Zhuqiamon. I am asked to deliver this to you, and leave right away, so there will be no reply."
His eyes narrowed.
"My master dislike being used for mail, so you're lucky this even came through, Imp."
I waved my hand dismissively.
"Yeah, whatever. Just leave it and go, eh?"
He growled, but left, dropping a small package with an envelope on top and leaving. I picked up the envelope first.
Dear Impmon,
I'm not sure if you'll get this or not, Zhuqiamon being Zhuqiamon, but there should be a small package with this letter. Inside is something that resembles a digiegg. Load it. Relax, it's just Behemoth. It didn't want to be separated from you.
I don't want to go into the details of how we escaped after that giant data stream catapulted you all the way back home, but let's just say it was pretty ugly for a while.
This is a bit difficult to say on my end, so I doubt you've admitted it to yourself, but I think I'm going to miss you.
But in another way I'm glad you're back there. You've seen some of the things I've had to do here, and I wonder occasionally about what happens back home, where you are now. I need you there Impmon. I need you to be there because I cannot. It's comforting for me to have someone I can trust over there, watching their backs.
Heh. It just occurred to me that watching over people is what guardian angels do. But as we can both attest, you are no angel. A fallen angel… maybe.
I'm not going to try to insist you try to patch it up with your Tamers, but please take it as a suggestion. I know you've had your difficulties with them, but try to put it into the past. If you do talk with them, be honest. That's all I ask.
Impmon, I have to ask that you not tell anyone I'm still alive. I really have no intention of returning, and I don't want to raise any hopes. Assuming they don't hate me, anyway.
This is a huge burden to lay on your shoulders my friend, but I'm confident you can handle it.
Your friend,
Takato
I looked down at the box. I grinned as I tore it open and took out my motorcycle's egg. It was red with a black circle on it. It broke easily in my grip and I felt the familiar sensation of Behemoth rejoining my data.
Then I picked up the clutter.
Can't just leave this stuff lying around…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"SKULL WHIRLWIND!"
The Reapermon's attack slammed into me, and I felt myself exit the biomerge, Terriermon and I joining Rika and Renamon groaning on the ground.
"SERPENT FLAME!"
It's leveled arm cannon spouted green flames. It would have hit us if SaberLeomon hadn't jumped in the way.
"SaberLeomon!"
SaberLeomon was out of it. Not quite unconscious, but certainly out of it. Reapermon didn't even bother with an attack this time, it just raised its sword arm to strike.
I watched in horror as it came down…
Then grinned in relief when it stopped…
And gasped when I saw just who had stopped it.
Beezlemon had caught the sword coming to claim SaberLeomon's data, the sword of the digimon that had made short work of Rika and myself, with little effort. He tossed the thing back, and grinned his usual cocky grin.
"Not nice to swing swords at people's necks you know."
It just frowned. It had a lot of strength, but apparently it was severely lacking in intelligence. Seeing no reaction, Beezlemon just shrugged.
"Oh well. You're just spare data anyways. I doubt he'll care if I take your data."
Huh? Who's 'he'?
The Reapermon roared, SaberLeomon completely forgotten.
"SKULL WHIRLWIND!"
Beezlemon jumped, avoiding Reapermon's assault, arching over top of him. With a quick flick of his wrists his guns almost seemed to fly into his hands. Still in mid-air, directly above Reapermon, he let loose.
"DOUBLE IMPACT!"
Reapermon detonated into excess data, while Beezlemon flipped in mid-air, landing lightly on his feet. He stopped to download the data. SaberLeomon got up.
"Wh… Why are you helping us?"
I couldn't tell if it was exhaustion or fear that was making SaberLeomon's voice quake, but I certainly hoped that Beezlemon thought it was the latter. Beezlemon's face grew grim.
"I made a promise."
He turned to leave. SaberLeomon spoke again.
"I still don't trust you."
Beezlemon answered without looking back.
"I don't care."
Rika, amazingly enough, was silent, a strange look in her eyes.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I growled at the same stupid goon picking on my sister again.
"Leave her alone you jerk!"
He laughed; he had friends with him this time. Behind me Ai sobbed a little.
"Jamie isn't here to save you this time, Mako."
I growled.
"I don't need his help."
The goon grinned.
"Well, you're gonna need someone's help real soon twerp."
Ai sniffed behind me.
"Impmon will come. I know it…"
"'Impmon' won't save you either, kid."
He balled up a fist and came forward, but a fireball exploded at his feet.
"BADA BOOM!"
My eyes widened.
Could it be…?
The goon's eyes widened, and he backed away from the direction it had come from.
"Wh… Who's th…ere?"
A small black figure with a wicked smile on his face and a fireball in his hand walked out.
"The name's Impmon. And nobody picks on my Tamers."
He tossed the other fireball, and as one, they all turned and fled. He spat in the direction they went.
"Nobody."
He looked over at me.
"Mako, Ai, we've got a lot to talk about."
There was a sudden thudding noise from the playground, followed by a shrill scream. I looked up and spun around from where I was playing the Digimon Card Game with Doroon. I knew that scream.
AI!
I ran as fast as my feet could carry me, hoping to get there before too much happened. Then I saw him.
He was a big guy, had to be at least twelve to my ten. I wasn't going to let that stop me though.
"Hey you! Quit picking on my sister!"
I jumped and tackled him to the ground. He threw me off pretty fast. He got up and looked down at me.
"Hmpf. You're pretty pathetic. Just like your sister."
I got up too, but a bit slower.
"I am not pathetic."
"Yeah, right."
Behind me Ai sniffed.
"Impmon's gonna beat you up."
The face of the goon in front of me contorted for a second, then burst out laughing.
"Impmon? A digimon? HA! Digimon aren't real. All that stuff three years ago was a biological mutation from too much industrial waste, like my dad told me. Digimon. That's a laugh. You're even more pathetic than I thought."
"You're the one who's pathetic."
We all turned at the new voice into the conversation. It was hard, cold, arrogant, and mocking. He had wavy green hair and piercing brown eyes on a cold face. The guy was eleven, in the grade above me, but below the goon. But that didn't matter. Jamie had been practicing martial arts since before he could walk if the rumors were true. He was also one of the smartest people in his grade. He was also filthy rich.
The goon turned white and began backing up before he turned and ran. I looked at the guy with barely concealed anger.
"I don't need your help, Jamie."
He snorted.
"I wasn't helping you. Your sister's bawling was disrupting my concentration."
Doroon came up then, looking between the two of us, feeling the tension.
"Uh, Mako, you forgot your deck…"
Jamie snorted. I glared at him.
"What's it to you?!"
Jamie used to scoff at digimon, but in the last month or so, he had been buying almost every card his money could get him. And as far as his playing skill went, he was good. He had just started, and was outstripping everyone. I glared. He just walked off. I turned back to Ai, and helped her up off the ground.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I actually smiled a little as I approached the table. I felt the goggles hit against my leg lightly as I sat down. I sighed as it brought to mind Gogglehead again. But then I calmed a little as Henry and Jeri came over and started sitting down. Jeri smiled.
"How's your day been Rika?"
I shrugged.
"Not that bad. My teachers aren't giving me a hard time, and no one's really bugged me yet."
Henry grinned.
"Or they've just learned to avoid you."
I rolled my eyes. The truth was I had calmed down a lot since I'd come here. The kids here were nothing like the prissy rich girls over at my other school, and as a result they got on my nerves less.
Once I'd started to relax anyways.
Then the small talk started, something I was getting better at. Then I cocked my hand at a sound I couldn't quite place.
"…aaaaaaAAAAAHHHHHHH!"
The scream had started out so small I'd had to concentrate to hear it, but as it became more pronounced Henry and Jeri were looking around as well, and I stood up to see if that would help me pinpoint it.
That turned out to be a mistake.
"AAAAAAAHHHHHH- ugh"
"Gah!"
The screaming something hit me in the face and I fell backwards. Jeri screamed as well, though I didn't know why. Until I heard the voice and opened my eyes.
"Ugh, where am I?"
Impmon…
I hadn't seen the little terror for a few months now, and he was hardly welcome now. He got off my head and stood up. I got up quickly after, staring a hole into the back of his head. He didn't seem to notice as he looked around. He spotted the trembling Jeri, then he sighed and kicked the ground.
"Great. I land here of all places. I was just starting to like it there too. Well, see ya."
I he turned around to walk off. Right into me. He looked up, probably staring at the huge vein coming out of my forehead.
"Oh no."
Then he started sprinting off. I went after, like a bat out of hell. After a while of chasing him around the schoolyard, something came to me.
Why isn't he throwing fireballs at me to distract me like usual?
I brushed the thought out of my head. After all it made catching him easier.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Oh yeah, that was smooth.
Landing on Rika's head wasn't the smartest move I had ever made. I shrugged. It was her fault for being there anyways. It wasn't like I could control where I was falling.
That still doesn't change the fact that I'm being chased… wait! Over there!
I spotted a gap between the two buildings of the school and ran over to it, hoping to lose her by gaining time cutting a few quick corners. I couldn't just blast her after all. Takato wouldn't like that, after all. I considered that as I came to the corner.
Stupid morals.
I rounded the corner and… stopped.
WHAT THE HELL?!!!!
There was no gap. There was only an indentation. I could actually hear the smirk behind me without turning around. I turned around, a grin plastered all over my face.
"Hey, nice weather we're having…"
She cracked her knuckles.
"Any last requests, Imp? Or should I call Renamon and get it over with?"
"Uhhh…"
I looked around, eyes darting for something, anything, that could get me out of this. My eyes caught the sun glinting off of something.
His goggles?
The grin came back to my face. Her eyes narrowed, and her voice was flat.
"What?"
"Nothing… I was just thinking, 'So that's where his goggles went…'. Always meant to ask, but I never got around to it. Eh, maybe next time."
Bingo.
Her eyes widened, her jaw went slack, and her hands dropped to her sides as she stared at me. I left while the going was good.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
About a later I was wandering the streets. Well, over the streets anyways. I doubt the humans would have liked it if I had walked where they were.
Probably would have been kicked a bunch too.
I hopped out of the trees as I entered Shinjuku Park. No one really came around here very much, not since that kid disappeared here a few days ago.
What was the guy's name? Oh, right. Dirk. Stupid name really.
I walked slowly up to the shed where Guilmon used to sleep. I was staying there now, the rock wasn't a huge inconvenience and I didn't leave garbage lying around. Seemed wrong somehow. I stopped in front of the marker and snorted.
"Impmon…"
My eyes widened at the voice. I spun to face the doglike Chatsuramon.
"What do you want, dog breath?"
He snorted.
"I am sent by my master Zhuqiamon. I am asked to deliver this to you, and leave right away, so there will be no reply."
His eyes narrowed.
"My master dislike being used for mail, so you're lucky this even came through, Imp."
I waved my hand dismissively.
"Yeah, whatever. Just leave it and go, eh?"
He growled, but left, dropping a small package with an envelope on top and leaving. I picked up the envelope first.
Dear Impmon,
I'm not sure if you'll get this or not, Zhuqiamon being Zhuqiamon, but there should be a small package with this letter. Inside is something that resembles a digiegg. Load it. Relax, it's just Behemoth. It didn't want to be separated from you.
I don't want to go into the details of how we escaped after that giant data stream catapulted you all the way back home, but let's just say it was pretty ugly for a while.
This is a bit difficult to say on my end, so I doubt you've admitted it to yourself, but I think I'm going to miss you.
But in another way I'm glad you're back there. You've seen some of the things I've had to do here, and I wonder occasionally about what happens back home, where you are now. I need you there Impmon. I need you to be there because I cannot. It's comforting for me to have someone I can trust over there, watching their backs.
Heh. It just occurred to me that watching over people is what guardian angels do. But as we can both attest, you are no angel. A fallen angel… maybe.
I'm not going to try to insist you try to patch it up with your Tamers, but please take it as a suggestion. I know you've had your difficulties with them, but try to put it into the past. If you do talk with them, be honest. That's all I ask.
Impmon, I have to ask that you not tell anyone I'm still alive. I really have no intention of returning, and I don't want to raise any hopes. Assuming they don't hate me, anyway.
This is a huge burden to lay on your shoulders my friend, but I'm confident you can handle it.
Your friend,
Takato
I looked down at the box. I grinned as I tore it open and took out my motorcycle's egg. It was red with a black circle on it. It broke easily in my grip and I felt the familiar sensation of Behemoth rejoining my data.
Then I picked up the clutter.
Can't just leave this stuff lying around…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"SKULL WHIRLWIND!"
The Reapermon's attack slammed into me, and I felt myself exit the biomerge, Terriermon and I joining Rika and Renamon groaning on the ground.
"SERPENT FLAME!"
It's leveled arm cannon spouted green flames. It would have hit us if SaberLeomon hadn't jumped in the way.
"SaberLeomon!"
SaberLeomon was out of it. Not quite unconscious, but certainly out of it. Reapermon didn't even bother with an attack this time, it just raised its sword arm to strike.
I watched in horror as it came down…
Then grinned in relief when it stopped…
And gasped when I saw just who had stopped it.
Beezlemon had caught the sword coming to claim SaberLeomon's data, the sword of the digimon that had made short work of Rika and myself, with little effort. He tossed the thing back, and grinned his usual cocky grin.
"Not nice to swing swords at people's necks you know."
It just frowned. It had a lot of strength, but apparently it was severely lacking in intelligence. Seeing no reaction, Beezlemon just shrugged.
"Oh well. You're just spare data anyways. I doubt he'll care if I take your data."
Huh? Who's 'he'?
The Reapermon roared, SaberLeomon completely forgotten.
"SKULL WHIRLWIND!"
Beezlemon jumped, avoiding Reapermon's assault, arching over top of him. With a quick flick of his wrists his guns almost seemed to fly into his hands. Still in mid-air, directly above Reapermon, he let loose.
"DOUBLE IMPACT!"
Reapermon detonated into excess data, while Beezlemon flipped in mid-air, landing lightly on his feet. He stopped to download the data. SaberLeomon got up.
"Wh… Why are you helping us?"
I couldn't tell if it was exhaustion or fear that was making SaberLeomon's voice quake, but I certainly hoped that Beezlemon thought it was the latter. Beezlemon's face grew grim.
"I made a promise."
He turned to leave. SaberLeomon spoke again.
"I still don't trust you."
Beezlemon answered without looking back.
"I don't care."
Rika, amazingly enough, was silent, a strange look in her eyes.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I growled at the same stupid goon picking on my sister again.
"Leave her alone you jerk!"
He laughed; he had friends with him this time. Behind me Ai sobbed a little.
"Jamie isn't here to save you this time, Mako."
I growled.
"I don't need his help."
The goon grinned.
"Well, you're gonna need someone's help real soon twerp."
Ai sniffed behind me.
"Impmon will come. I know it…"
"'Impmon' won't save you either, kid."
He balled up a fist and came forward, but a fireball exploded at his feet.
"BADA BOOM!"
My eyes widened.
Could it be…?
The goon's eyes widened, and he backed away from the direction it had come from.
"Wh… Who's th…ere?"
A small black figure with a wicked smile on his face and a fireball in his hand walked out.
"The name's Impmon. And nobody picks on my Tamers."
He tossed the other fireball, and as one, they all turned and fled. He spat in the direction they went.
"Nobody."
He looked over at me.
"Mako, Ai, we've got a lot to talk about."