Chapter 6

A/N: What was everyone doing for the past few days? It seems like only my readers are on vacation…I know its not true, but hey, I got how many reviews for all 4 updated chapters and like, 3 new story? Jeez…people… .

Anyways, I'm still grateful for what I have so far…even though it's like nothing compared to others…hmm…what can I say? I don't write to please anyone but myself. Well, also others who like what I like, but perhaps I should have started with a crowd-pleaser…-sigh-…never going to be a business person, me.

Oh well. Here's Chapter 6.

Ps. Ah, I know Nocuous is an adjective, (or was it an adverb?), it means something like harmful. But that's ok, in this fic, they are names. So, reviewers, kindly not nag upon that subject. ;-) And don't blame me for getting it wrong, I literally flipped to a page in the giant dictionary my dad has, and this word happens to be right where I looked. Coincidence, what luck, it just happened to mean harmful. (It does, right?)

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"Sword,"

Rika called out and raised her hand. A cool coloured sword materialized out of nowhere. Rika grabbed the handle of the majestic blade and plunged it deeply into a dark figure which was just about to reach her and attack. The sword released a bright silvery light within the Shadow, and it gave a horrible cry of pain, then it evaporated into thin air.

Sighing with relief, Rika smiled. She caused the sword to vanish again and flew in a loop in the sky, then headed to where Ryo was, battling a dark blob himself.

Ryo smirked, and flew sharply to the left, then upwards, dodging a blade of ki. He turned to look at the Shadow, which was now angry. He stuck his tongue out childishly.

"Is this really a way to destroy Shadows, by sticking your tongue out at them? Real mature you are, Akiyama." Rika called as she flew over to where he was and hovered beside him.

"No, it simply pisses this guy off." Ryo explained, and dodged yet another energy blast.

"By acting like yourself, you'll piss off about anyone." Rika shook her head and rolled her eyes.

Ryo gave his trademark grin. "I know, trust me, I know."

Giving him a playful shove, Rika flew out of the way of a shadow blast.

"You better kill him soon. He could start possessing people or causing supernatural disasters, and we cannot hide that, no matter how hard we try." Rika frowned.

"Ah, you worry too much. This guy here's a newbie." Ryo circled the shadow, which was now clawing the air trying to catch Ryo, who was now blowing raspberries.

"Ryo..." Rika growled.

"Alright, keep your pants on." Ryo called as he flew towards the Shadow. He raised his hand, murmured a few words and gave a blast of light, which melted the shadow slowly.

"Did you really have to do that?" Rika tapped her arms impatiently. (Her arms are crossed.)

"Yeah, I did…" Ryo replied and without warning, dropped.

Rika swooped down, following him. The two slipped into a dark alley and slipped off their masks that hide them from any human or animals, except wolves, hawks and panthers. As casual as possible, the two walked into the main street and toward their homes.

They came to an intersection.

"Alright, so see you tomorrow?" Ryo called as he headed towards his left.

"Yeah, see you." Rika smiled and walked towards the opposite direction.

---

A sharp rapping on the door woke Rika up.

"Rika, dear, Alice is here."

Rika groggily turned towards her alarm clock. School starts in 5 minutes.

When it finally sank in, Rika jumped up, and got ready in an impossible time. She was just slipping on her sweater when Alice came in her room.

"Hey Rika, wow, I can't believe you weren't awake when I came…" Alice exclaimed as she looked around.

"Yeah…I stayed up pretty late last night." Rika mumbled as she remembered the killing of the Shadows.

"What a coincidence…Ryo did too. He was sleeping when we went to his house to pick him up…took forever to drag him out of bed. Well, 2 minutes, but with Kazu's babbling it seemed like forever." Alice said thoughtfully as she glanced towards the ceiling.

"Yeah, he's annoying. Aright, let's go." Rika announced as she picked up her bag.

They circled towards the kitchen, where Rumiko was sipping coffee.

"Have fun!" She called cheerily.

Outside, Ryo, Takato, Jeri, Kazu, Kenta, Henry and Suzie were waiting silently. They were all either yawning, or falling asleep standing up.

"Hey." Rika said briefly. "We have 5 minutes to get to school."

"Err…Rika…" Jeri piped up. "It's Saturday."

Rika blinked. A light blush crept up her cheeks.

"Rika, you set your alarm hours early so you would get up in the morning, remember?" Alice reminded. "It's actually pretty late now…"

"Oh well, where to?" Henry said suddenly, changing the subject as he noticed Rika's fidgeting.

"…Where can we go?" Takato asked.

"Anywhere with a bench or a chair is fine." Ryo yawned, his eyes drooping. "I need a few hours more of sleep…"

Alice sighed. "Why don't we go get some food to wake you all up?"

And so they did.

It woke them up, alright.

The results were not what Alice liked at all…

"…So I told her to be quiet because everyone knows I don't tell people off for no reason, because I'm really nice, seriously. The rumor was so untrue that it wasn't even funny, I mean, I am NOT like that! But…"

"…the mushrooms slowly crept up; their fangs were so long…it was so scary. The killer mushrooms started to chase me…so I ran, and ran, but I could outrun them, they were so fast, for mushrooms, that is. Not to brag, but I am one of the fastest runners…"

"…do you think the power cards were better? Or should I get more monster cards? Because either way, I have only 50 chance of winning. I mean, all ways, I have 50, unless my deck is really crapped up…then, I'd have less than 50, unless it's with Rika, or you, Ryo…then I'd have zero…but still, I think I should boost my deck by something…I just…Ryo, hey, wake up…oh well…Henry! Yes, so I was thinking…"

Suzie and Jeri were swapping rumours; Kazu was filling Takato with his killer mushroom dreams, and Kenta was nagging Ryo about his Digimon deck. Ryo was still falling asleep and Henry became the substitute for him to take Kenta's babbling. Rika was staring into space, and Alice looked ready to blow.

And before they knew it, an argument had spread and Ryo was getting a headache.

It was typical, for the 9 of them, to be arguing their asses off while not noticing anything at all. So naturally, no one noticed that around them, people were running and screaming hysterically in the opposite direction.

Thankfully, Ryo was a newbie to the 'group', and still had some senses in him.

"Hey, guys…"

"…I TOLD YOU, EATING ANIMALS IS WRONG!"

Ryo blinked, shook his head and tried again. "Hey, guys, am I the only one to-"

"…Shit in my pants every day! I swear! It's so annoying! And my parents actually thought I DID shit in my pants everyday! Who'd believe a 5-year-old? My parent, that's who, I tell you…it's mad!"

Ryo frowned.

"All of you, just…SHUT UP!"

…so they did.

Rika looked around, and frowned. No body, other than them, was around, and if they were, they were either screaming or running in the opposite direction. Pieces of the buildings started to fall.

"What's the matter…? Oh…" Kazu froze as he looked around. He took a step back as the ground under him shook, his eyes widening.

Jeri gave a sharp squeal of fright as she dodged out of the way; a decent sized rock nearly hit her. She snuggled near Takato in fright.

Rika frowned and started to walk backwards, her senses tingling. She sent a demanding glare towards Ryo, who nodded. Ryo turned to the rest of the 7. "Guys: let's run." He stated simply.

That was all they needed – Takato, Jeri, Kenta, Kazu, Suzie, Alice, Henry, Ryo and Rika bolted. As they ran, Rika and Ryo slipped away and launched into the sky, their invisibility shield on.

"That's not possible – they can't do any direct damage to buildings physically! They're SHADOWS for god's sake!" Rika growled as she stretched her wings furiously and gave a flap, causing it hard for Ryo to catch up with her. "I mean – they can only destroy solid stuff using ki!"

"Rika, don't you remember? There are more than Shadows in the other life." Ryo said calmly as he too soared towards the source of the problem. She turned to him, frowning. He nodded slowly and reached out and touched her forehead as well as his own…

---

"Ugh!" I gave a loud grunt as a large force threw me back. I felt my wings being crushed behind me. The pain stung my back. I felt a warm trickle down my back. My head bumped against something sharp. It was a rock. It sent pain in my head. I rolled over and groaned.

"Rika,"

I felt a shadow cover me. Groggily, I opened my eyes.

"You…" I muttered.

An amused smile that complimented his features played on his face. "That isn't what my parents named me, but I'll take that as well. Can you get up?"

I groaned again and tried to push myself up without succeeding. I collapsed again onto the ground. "No." I mumbled. "I can't…"

"Can you try? If you don't get up, you might…" He looked towards the thing that knocked me down. "Here…"

He bent down and lifted me onto his arms, being careful not to hurt my wings. He took a step back and pushed into the air. I felt the wind whipping my hair.

"Which one is it?" I asked faintly, not noticing as the creature tried to knock us off the air. Its clawed hand crashed down upon houses and trees, flattening them.

"Nocuous," He replied without taking his eyes off the air to see where we're flying. "It's a Nocuous."

---

"Joyful," Rika grumbled as she rubbed her forehead. "You gave me more memory. I think by now, I'm using more than the 2 I'm supposed to."

"We are using more than 2. Perhaps not for thinking, but where do you think we store all our memory of our past life?" Ryo smirked as they stopped. "Ah…here we go. It is a Nocuous after all."

Rika reached up and grabbed her sword from nowhere. "I guess now I get my revenge."

---

"Henry." Alice whispered urgently. "Where are Rika and Ryo? They've disappeared!"

Frowning, Henry stopped, as did Alice.

"Do you think they're in trouble?"

"I'm sure they can take care of themselves." Alice looked down. "But I'm still worried."

"Do you…want to go find them?" Henry asked hesitantly.

Alice was silent.

"What's up?" Henry asked with a light frown as he tried to catch Alice's eyes.

"They have been quite weird lately…" Alice mumbled, looking straight ahead. "It is as if they've been spending every free moment with each other. They are always both involved in the same thing, for example, being tired this morning."

Henry nodded. "Ever since Ryo came, weird things have been happening. Just a while ago, I don't remember what happened for a night and a morning. When I asked, everything came back right after either Ryo or Rika said it happened. Then, I…forgot them by the next morning…"

Alice's eyes widened as she turned to face Henry. "That happened to you too?"

Looking into Alice's light blue orbs, Henry nodded once again.

"And your back – did it feel weird? I mean, after the large gap in our memories, was the first thing you remember a strange feeling in your back?" Alice spoke urgently.

"Yes," Henry sighed. "There's something wrong with this. This isn't natural."

"We're missing a part of the puzzle…" Alice muttered to her self, but it was strangely audible to Henry.

Henry looked up to the sky. It was turning a nice shade of grey mixed with the blue it was.

His eyes widened. He nudged Alice, who looked up as well.

In the sky, two figures floated.

It wasn't just two figures; it was two teens with wings from their back.

One was holding a sword.

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Thanks to all who reviewed:

Wings Of Reason: gives box of pocky you're the first to review my updated chapter last time. Thanks a lot. I'm glad that you actually love my story! (Insert: They love me! They really love me!) - -;; anyways. Yeah, sorry it took too long to update. I was incredibly busy during the summer, though I got nothing done, I just don't know why I never had any actual free time. Life is quite strange, isn't it…-sigh- Oh well, thanks again!

Blast-Hornet: I'm trying, still to avoid writing stuff that's OOC, but it's amusing how most of has learned to like characters that are OOC, which, of course, benefits for the authors, like me, who cannot write complete IC characters. I'm still quite picky about the stuff I read. I guess I should learn to be slightly more grateful…- -. I'm happy that you think this is actually a nice story! Thanks for the review, and thanks for reading this fic.

Luzr-Gurl13: You know one thing that's strange? Your penname doesn't cause one of those error squiggly things on word…hmm…Yeah, the chapters are pretty long. I'm currently nagging one of my pen-friends to write longer…- -; I guess the personality and mood has to do with the writing. For example, today I feel like babbling a lot (notice the extremely long replies I'm giving everyone about absolutely nothing.) I'm glad these chapters make you want to read the next one. Glad you loved it, thanks a lot.

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Ryuki: Yeah, I know this is almost a short chapter compared to my usual habit of writing super long and probably boring chapters, but I wanted to end it in a half-cliffy for some reason…I don't quite know what the reason is yet, unlike Hoobastank. (For those who don't know, Hoobastank came out a while ago with a song named The Reason, and no I don't usually listen to Hoobastank, I just happened to have heard the song. Wouldn't this be so much easier if you all could read my mind?) Or perhaps Wings Of Reason has a reason, but I just happen not to. XD

Anyway, I'm going to just keep babbling, since you must read this, unless you skip it, then you might miss details. School's back and I just looked over my schedule and figured out that I can only use the computer on weekends because I don't have time. I mean, for a girl my age (no, still not telling you how old I am), I am ridiculously busy.

The ending is going to be quite surprising for everyone, because-

Oh, no, I can't say it! I almost forgot. Ah well, just keep reading until the end. The story is actually about…20 or so chapters, as I have planned it. But at this rate (I didn't write all that I planned to), it might be even more. Xx ah well, I guess that's all I'm going to blab. Tell me your reviews, if you like this story or not, or if it's a total failure, though, please, make your review slightly longer than, say, a word? -grin- Ja.