I'm guessing that just about everyone reading this story is assuming that I've given up on this story. Especially after almost a year (ten months to be exact) of not updating. Obviously I haven't. I have just been really busy lately, what with university, and work in the summer, I've been too busy to get around to any personal writing. In fact this chapter isn't completely finished. However, I felt that it had been too long since I had updated and all you patience deserved something. So here it is, at last the latest chapter of CDDII.

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon, blah blah blah. This is just fan fiction written for my and its readers, enjoyment

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Chapter Five: Preliminaries

"These have got to be some of the most uncomfortable seats I've ever sat in," I whined.

It was about an hour later, and all the competitors were called to sit in the stands while some presentation-thing was going on. The stands consisted of graduated plastic seats bolted to the ground. The seats themselves were spring loaded. The kind where when you sat up a spring would kick in and they'd pop up. Unfortunately they were also made up of the hardest plastic imaginable. They weren't even padded. They'd been here since the late eighties. No self-respecting arena used plastic spring loaded plastic seats anymore. Not to mention there was very limited leg room. No leg rest at all. You actually had to bend your knees. No serious arena had used a seating arrangement like this since the early 2000s.

"Actually," Labramon said. "I find them to be quite comfortable."

I almost lashed out on her. She had been egging me on ever since our fight. I wanted to curse at her, or at least throw an insult her way. Fortunately I stopped myself and instead said. "Yeah, well you're about a third my size. You've got more leg room. You know you think for a big event like this they'd pick out a big fancy stadium."

"You know this is the best our town can offer," Alex said. "And they chose our town because of the historical significance. Our parents were born here. A lot of events pertaining to the Digital World happened here."

I rolled my eyes. I didn't want to hear anymore about Digimon right now. The seats weren't the only reason I was uncomfortable. I was stuck entering the tournament, and again I had to put the balaclava back on; and once again it was itching like hell. Not comfy! Also every so often Labramon would throw some snide remark at me. I understood why she would resent me, but I was staying in this tournament for her. Did she have to continue to be so rude?

I was not a happy girl.

Fortunately Alex was being as supportive as possible. Except for that last remark he was keeping his mouth shut about Digimon. It was one of the things that I liked about him. He knew when he was walking on thin ice, and it was a good idea to tread lightly.

He only gave me a quick nudge and motioned with his head towards the arena below. A redheaded woman had stepped into the center of the arena. I noticed the microphone clipped to her collar. About time things got started.

The woman coughed into the microphone as a subtle little indication for all of us to shut up. Within seconds the loud rush of talking became almost total silence.

"The preliminary battles will begin in fifteen minutes," she announced. "For those of you who are new to the tournament I will now explain how it works.

"The preliminaries, like the tournament, will be set up in the traditional bracket, one loss elimination system. There are over hundreds of you here, but by the time the preliminaries are over there will be only sixteen. The sixteen will be decided by the winner of sixteen smaller tournaments. There will be approximately thirty-two combatalists in each mini-tournament, and they will consist of approximately five battles. Only those who can win all five of their battles within the mini-tournament will advance past the preliminaries to the televised tournament, which will be held tomorrow."

That news made me happy. I quickly did some rough math in my head. I believe the total number of combatalists was somewhere around five hundred. That meant I had a sixteen in five-hundred chance of having to go much further. When converted, that led to a measly little three percent chance of going further, and obviously, I did not want to go much further. I wanted out of this Digimon infested place as soon as possible; even if I was doing it for Labramon.

Unfortunately that little bit of happiness only lasted a moment. The outcome of this tournament wasn't going to be based on random generation of numbers. There were variables to it too. In my case the variables pointed in favor sticking around.

Labramon and I were almost guaranteed a win when going up against any Digimon incapable of Digivolving to their Champion state, and unfortunately there was only one other combatalist competing in the tournament was could go beyond rookie. Adam - the big cheese. Unless I went up against him in the preliminaries, I had a solid spot in the tournament, and another day of putting up with all this.

Of course there was always the option of losing on purpose.

No! I dismissed that thought immediately. I couldn't do that to Labramon. As much as I hated the idea, she was enjoying this, and I had been really selfish towards her for a long time. I was very bitter about it, but

I'd have to put up with this stupid tournament - for Labramon.

"The registration is now officially closed," the woman continued.

I turned off the calculator in my head and began to listen again.

"All registered participants have now been assigned a bracket in each of the sixteen preliminary mini-tournaments."

The woman lifted her hand to the plasma screen that hung above the far end of the area. It was the most high-tech object in the entire stadium. Not that you could really call a plasma screen high-tech. It was from the early 2000s. They were nothing like the holo-screens that were used in bigger arenas. They were the same arenas that also used a more comfortable seating arrangement. Plasma screens were only two dimensional - very primitive. But compared with the eighties style concrete and plastic seats, it was like something out of the future.

The screen suddenly lit up with the hundreds of combatalists' names, and next to each of the names were the combatalists' Digimon and a letter.

"Each combatalist has been assigned a letter A through P." The woman continued. "That letter will signify which mini-tournament you will be competing in. Once you have determined your letter, please report immediately to your designated area to find out when you will be fighting today. I suggest you check immediately, as the preliminaries will be beginning soon, and those that are not present for their battles will lose by default. Good Luck combat lists! And happy battling."

With that the women stepped out of the arena, and the silence was once against replaced with loud chatter.

My eyes immediately darted up to the screen as I searched for my name. Fortunately, they had been courteous enough to place the names in alphabetical order, so finding my name was not very difficult. I quickly scanned the Ms, revealing that the Masked Didigdestined had been assigned the letter C. I quickly ran my eyes toward's Adam's last name. I came very close to cursing when I saw he had been assigned A. That meant at least another day here.

Alex turned to me and smiled. "Letter D," he said. "It looks like we might wind up facing each other in the tournament."

I put an identical, but fake, smile. "Yeah, that would be great."

"I hope you're prepared to get your but kicked," Labramon said to Lopmon.

Lopmon released an amused grunt. "Yeah right, even in as a Champion you're no match for my skills."

"What? You mean annoying the hell out of your opponent. I've put up with that my entire life. I'm immune."

They continued to kid and joke for awhile. Did Labramon really have to enjoy it this much? She had every right to, but still - it bothered me.

I stood up. "Let's just get down there. Before we miss our battle and we're disqualified." I rolled my eyes.

"And that would be a horrible shame."

"Yes," Labramon said, hopping out of her seat. She began to move towards the designated area for the C combatalists. "Then the almighty Krystal might actually get her way."

I bit my tongue. I guess maybe I deserved that, but she was really pushing it.

I reluctantly separated from Alex and Lopmon as we maneuvered our way through the crowd of moving people towards our respective areas. It was about fifteen minutes later when the stands were emptied and the combatalists spread our at the designated battle areas. There were now slightly over thirty people and their Digimon partners gathered in this one area. The C area was towards the centre of the arena, and against the wall farthest from the seats we had been sitting at minutes before.

There was a single administrator at each of the blocks. I was sickened to see the administrator at the C block was the same enthusiastic guy who had registered Alex for the tournament. Just fabulous; his sugar coated attitude was going to make this day so much better - the idiot.

"Okay!" he said. The obedient little combatalists quieted down as soon as they heard his voice. "Now that everyone is here let's get started!"

Yes, let's get started so we can get this god damn thing over with. He spoke with a ridiculously large smile on his face, which gave his voice a sickening cheery sound to it that could have made Mary Poppins sound bitter.

"I'm sure many of you know how this works, as Ms. Takinouchi has already explained! In order to advance you must win five matches without losing! If you do lose you shall be eliminated!"

God, he even made losing sound nice. It was sickening.

"Your opponents have been chosen at random. I will read them out in a minute, so please listen carefully! Okay! Oh! And I should also mention there have been an odd number of you registered into this particular block, which means one of your will only have to win four battles! I'll now announce who each of you will be put up against!"

'Put up against?' Jesus, just say who we'd be "fighting." Did he really have to give everything a rainbow coating? Whatever.

Put up against? What did that even mean?

He read out the names of the combatalists and their Digimon partner, who they would be "put up against," and how long it would be until they fought. Not once did I hear Labramon and I's name. I was relieved for a moment. Maybe there had been some screw up in registration. Maybe I'd hit some loophole that would get me out of this. I wasn't surprised by the fact that the relief didn't last long.

"Oh and Masked Digidestined and Labramon!" the cheery voiced guy said. "I'm sure you'll be happy to hear that you're combatalist number thirty-three! The odd one! You've got a buy!"

I pushed aside a few other people until he could see and hear me.

"A what?"

"A buy!" He repeated. His loud happy voice didn't change even when he only spoke two word sentences. "You automatically move up to round two of the preliminaries! You only have to win four battles! Isn't that great?!"

I grunted. "Yeah, fucking fabulous."

He ignored my obvious sarcasm, or maybe he lived in too happy a world to know what cynicism even was; regardless, he went on.

"Which means your first battle won't be until some time this afternoon! If you'd like you can stick around here and check out your competition! Or look around and watch the other battles!"

"Yeah, I'll do that." I said, quickly turning around. I didn't want to even look at this guy another second.

"Well wasn't he just a barrel of sunshine," I said.

"Yeah," Labramon agreed. "He makes Andrew's mother look like Myotismon."

I laughed, so did Labramon. We were actually sharing a moment. Hell! For a moment I thought she had actually forgiven me. Unfortunately she it was only seconds later that she remembered she was mad at me and quickly turned her head away.

My mind screamed out to say something to her. The two of us had a moment there. I should say something and try and stop this stupid fighting. Unfortunately an exasperated sigh was the only message my brain was able to get to my mouth. So instead, we walked in awkward silence to the portion of the arena where Alex and Lopmon were competing.

When we arrived we were surprised to see a large crowd gathered around the battle area. There was already a battle going on? My area had barely gotten started and they were already partway through a fight?

"Hey what's going on?" Labramon said as she immediately ran ahead, and pushed her way through the crowd. She was able to use her smaller size to easily dart between the many legs within the crowd.

I called after her. "Hey wait up!"

I attempted to push my way through the crowd myself, but I was much larger than Labramon and these people weren't willing to let me through.

I turned to the person next to me. "Can you tell me what's going on here?"

He responded by rolling is eyes, as if I had missed something obvious. "Its some girl and a gigantic rookie Digimon." He answered. "They're beating the tar out of some other kid and his smart ass Lopmon."

A smart ass Lopmon? That had to be Alex - and he was losing! Suddenly that group of people didn't seem like much of a barrier anymore.

Quickly, I thrust my elbow into the ribs of the person next to me, and suddenly - there was an opening. I took it before it decided to close up again. I raised my foot, in came down on some one else's - and there was another opening.

Shoulder met back - opening.

Fist met side - opening.

Knee met crotch - opening.

Sometimes the opening was followed by a curse, or even a shove, but it wasn't enough to push me back at all, and it was only a matter of time before I was at the front of the crowd. I hadn't been misinformed. Alex and Lopmon were losing - badly.

Their opponent was a girl about our age. I recognized her from my Digital Sciences and History class. Her name was Angela - I think. She was always quiet; never said a word in class. And not quiet in the good way the way my father was. She wasn't quiet because she was afraid or shy. She was just plain mean. On the odd occasion she did talk she would answer with an angry grunt or snort, all of which was accompanied by a stare that could stop a bull from charging. I think this was actually the first time I had seen her smile.

She wore a mean satisfied grin on her face, as she watched Lopmon hobbling about on one side of the arena. Her Digimon was on the opposing side.

I was unfamiliar with this particular type of Digimon. It was a relatively new breed. The first one had only just made an appearance a few years ago. Even its baby and in-training forms had never been discovered before they had hatched.

It was currently at the Rookie level, but you wouldn't think that based on its size. Most Rookie Digimon stood about two or three feet - four at the most. This Digimon was my height. She was a yellow fox like Digimon, though it stood erect on two feet like a human. It also had arms much like a human, which in this case were crossed over her chest, and topped off with a defiant grin at her opponent.

My brain searched for its name. I'd heard it somewhere before, but it was difficult for me to remember. My area of expertise was Digital history, not recent developments. I actively tried not to learn anymore than my Uncle had told me about the Digital war. Those were back in the days when I was actually curious about it. I wanted to know what happened to my parents. Nevertheless, I had heard about this Digimon before. They were large for the rookie level, so their appearance was big news and hard to ignore.

Renamon! That was it!

Alex and Lopmon were in big trouble. From what I heard, this Digimon was unusually strong for a rookie Digimon. It was debated that they had the potential to defeat some of the weaker champion Digimon. That theory had yet to be proven though, seeing as there weren't very much Champion Digimon around anymore.

"Come on," Lopmon said defiantly, as he slowly limped towards his opponent. "Is that all you got?"

"Careful Lopmon…" Alex said. He wasn't looking nearly as confident as his partner. In fact he seemed downright worried.

"I've - I've got it covered," Lopmon assured Alex. "This girlie's got nothing on me. She's nothing but a mangy old canine; a canine that's in need of a serious shampooing. " Lopmon held his nose and gave a wave, as if he was trying to blow a smell away. "Anyone order a wet dog?"

Renamon cocked an eyebrow in response to Lopmon's joke, but was otherwise she was unaffected; much unlike the reaction he had gotten from Gotsumon a week before. Alex and Lopmon's usual battle strategy wasn't working.

Angela grunted. "Pathetic."

She jerked her head slightly towards Renamon, and Renamon's confident grin grew wider. Suddenly she was gone. She disappeared in a yellow blur. Suddenly that same yellow blur appeared behind Lopmon, and before anyone could react a swift kick had been delivered to Lopmon's head.

Lopmon flew several feet towards Angela like a rocket. He would have flown farther but he extended his ears, catching himself as he clumsily slid across the arena floor. He stood on all fours staring down his opponent.

"You - you call that - call that a kick?" he said smiling confidently; but no on was fooled. Lopmon was losing this fight, and it showed. He was clearly having trouble standing on one his legs. In addition, he was also panting heavily - very much out of breathe.

"Cut the insults and just attack already!" Alex ordered.

"Blazing ice!"

Lopmon fired his standard attack in the form of a light blue beam and scored a direct hit on Renamon's right paw. The beam settled, freezing Renamon's paw in a block of ice.

"Yes!" Alex cheered. "Got her!"

Lopmon smiled confidently, even though he was still out of breath. "As if there was ever any doubt."

Big mistake! Only a moment ago, Renamon had taken off like a bullet to kick Lopmon, if she had wanted to get out of the way of that attack, she could have effortlessly. Something was up.

Suddenly I heard Labramon cry out. "Lopmon look out! She's about to move."

The warning didn't do Lopmon any good; before he could react - Renamon struck! She vanished in a blur and reappeared in front of Labramon. Then -

WHAP!

She wielded her frozen paw like a club. Lopmon took the block of ice to the head and fell limply to the ground.

"Lopmon!" Three voices screamed. It took me a moment to realize that one of them was mine.

I looked down, following the source of Labramon's voice. She looked up, following the source of mine. We made eye contact for a second, and then quickly, and awkwardly, turned out gaze back to the battle.

Lopmon was slowly dragging himself to his feet. He let out a fake chuckle.

"Heh - the good thing about getting hit with a block of ice - is - is that it stops the swelling."

Despite his positive attitude, the little guy was not looking good. His eyes were barely open, and he stood very wobbly on two legs. I'm sure the only reason he didn't fall over was because his ears were propping him up.

Angela rolled her eyes, and grunted again. "Finish it."

"Hmmph." Renamon grunted back. "About time."

Renamon pulled back her unfrozen paw, and with one quick motion punched the block of ice that imprisoned her other paw. The block shattered, and she had use of both appendages once again. She tested her newly liberated paw, flexing her claws. It was as if it had never been frozen.

I expected her to do something right then to finish Lopmon off. For instance, another kick, or at least a quick swipe of her paw, but instead she jumped backwards. It was quite a beautiful jump at that. He did two back flips before her feet touched the ground.

Oh no! I knew what this meant. She had just created distance between her and her opponent. Not good!

Lopmon chuckled once again. "What's the matter? Have to back off? You afraid of me?"

Renamon didn't even bother to respond. She just thrust her paws forward preparing to attack.

"Diamond storm!"

Lopmon's previously confident grin suddenly changed. "Oh shit!"

In an instant Renamon formed dozens of pointed diamonds in her hands and hurled them at Lopmon. Lopmon responded quickly. He flared his ears, and with what was probably the last of his strength jumped upwards. He just barely avoided the diamonds as they sailed past him.

"Jesus!" Angela yelled as she jumped out of the diamonds path, as did most of the crowd standing behind her. The diamonds embedded themselves in the wall behind the crowd.

"You want to watch where you're throwing those attacks Renamon?!" Angela yelled. It was the most she had talked since I met her.

Renamon grunted in response. "Sorry."

I heard a referee mumbling something about installing Plexiglas around the arenas next year as Lopmon sailed safely to the ground - a few feet in front of Alex.

"You okay buddy?" Alex asked.

Lopmon smiled and gave a thumbs up. "Never better!"

That attitude lasted only a second. Lopmon winced in pain and his right knee collapsed.

"Damn diamond," he cursed quietly.

Lopmon must not have been fast enough. One of Renamon's smaller diamonds was embedded in his leg.

"Never better - my ass!" Alex said. "You're hurt."

Lopmon winced in pain as he tried to stand up. "What? You're crazy! It's barely even in the bone. I'm fine."

"Fine? You can't even walk. I'm pulling you out of this match. We'll try again next year."

Lopmon's mood shifted immediately. "No!" he yelled angrily.

I couldn't believe it. Lopmon was actually angry.

"I won't lose to her! I won't fail you!" I silently heard him mutter quietly so only Alex was supposed to hear. "…or Krystal."

"You wouldn't be-"

"Bull! Don't give me that crap and try and make me feel better."

Alex was shocked. I didn't blame him. I'd never heard Lopmon use any tone of voice that wasn't, at least slightly, comical. Lopmon seemed to pick up on this and immediately shifted his tone of voice.

"Besides, I got up at four in the morning to train this past week for this tournament! I skipped breakfast! I'm not losing in the first round of the freaking preliminaries!"

Alex couldn't help but smile. "But-"

"But nothing," Lopmon said. He began to limp forward jerking in pain every time he stepped on his injured leg. "I will not lose! I will not fail anyone!"

His tone of voice had shifted again. Now he was determined and dead serious with every word he said.

"How touching," Renamon mocked. "…and corny, and stupid, and completely out of touch with reality."

Once again the fox Digimon shot forward. She stopped short of Lopmon and hit him with a volley of punches and kicks. Lopmon mustered up the strength to dodge a few, but he was fatigued, and with his injured leg he wasn't very mobile. Only two or three of the three dozen or so blows actually missed. She finished off her assault with one last devastating kick to Lopmon's stomach.

Lopmon could no longer stand, he fell to his knees, panting the heavily.

"I won't lose," escaped his lips time and time again.

As determined as the little guy was, I knew he had no chance. The match would be over in a matter of seconds.

"I won't lose," he panted one last time. "There's too much at stake. A friend needs me."

A friend needs him? What was he talking about? I didn't need to be in this tournament anymore. I was only here because stupid Labramon was forcing me.

"That's too bad," Renamon said. She grabbed Lopmon by the scruff of his neck and held him above her head triumphantly. "Because you are about to lose."

Tears were coming down Lopmon's face now. "No! I said! I - WON'T - LOSE!"

Something was happening to Lopmon as he said that. He was glowing! A bright, white, glow - really bright white. In addition, beams of light were starting to randomly shoot out of his body.

I'd seen this before. Labramon and I exchanged looks quickly. There was one word in both of our minds: Digivolution!

The same crazy light effect was happening with Alex's Digivice. He held it in his hand and was alternating his stares between and it and Lopmon. The light from Lopmon and the light from Alex's Digivice suddenly combined, and then it happened.

"Lopmon Digivolve to………………Turuiemon!"

Turuiemon emerged from the Digivolution light as a purplish blur. A retracted blade on his forearm flipped forward and slashed at Renamon's arm. Renamon screamed in pain, grasping her injured arm, which was now covered in red matted down fur.

Wait! Red-matted down fur? But that meant -

"Raaaargh!"

My train of thought was suddenly interrupted by Renamon's frustrated scream. She pulled her hand away from her injury just long enough to pathetically swipe at Turuiemon. Turuiemon just laughed and jumped aside.

I finally got a good look at Turuiemon. He was about the same size of an adult human - just slightly larger than Renamon. Anatomically he looked like a human too. He had two arms, two legs, and a comparatively large torso. Except for the cute Lopmon-like head, he didn't look much different from a human. The head was the one part of Turuiemon that hadn't changed during the transition from Lopmon. He had the same beady eyes, three tiny horns, and long floppy ears. However, now he was taller. The legs only went down to his waist, not his feet.

He wore a yellowish-orange jumpsuit, which was topped off by a blue scarf around his neck, and bright red battle gloves. But what really drew the eyes were his weapons, the same weapons that had injured Renamon. They were large handheld blades that could be retracted to harmlessly rest on the forearms. That is not where they were now though. Turuiemon had them flipped out, and crossed in front of his chest. He complimented the pose with his trademark grin.

The blades glimmered in the light as Turuiemon chuckled. "Not so tough now, are ya' fox girl."

"Lucky hit."Renamon grunted.

"Lucky eh? Is that why you're bleeding all over the place?"

"Renamon!" Angela yelled.

"I'm on it already!"

Renamon screamed in frustration as she lunged forward - claws extended. She wasn't nearly fast enough. Her injury was slowing her down, but even if it wasn't, Turuiemon was faster.

Renamon took a swipe with her claw and Turruiemon disappeared, leaving behind nothing but an after image. Renamon's claw whistled as it slashed at empty space.

Turuiemon suddenly reappeared behind Renamon and struck. In the blink of an eye he struck the back of Renamon's head with the flat of his blade, and with that Renamon's eyes widened in pain and shock as she crumpled to the ground.

The referee standing on the side of the ring immediately raised his right arm. This bout is over. Alex and his partner Lop-Turuie-whatever-mon, are the winners!"

Turuiemon let out a characteristically arrogant chuckle before he was engulfed in a white light, and reverted back to his Lopmon state.

"Alright buddy!" Alex cheered as he scooped his partner up into his arms. "That was close for a bit, but you pulled it off."

"Ah come on. You didn't think I would actually lose did you. I was just playing around with the gal."

The spectators had held themselves off so far, but twenty seconds was all they were willing to wait. With the match over they erupted, breaking the previously impermeable ring, they crowded the two victors.

Questions rat-a-tatted from their mouths in a manner even Lopmon's smart ass couldn't respond to.

"Wow! Digivolution. How did-"

"- so awesome I can't -"

" - was like wham! Then you were -"

" - cool light. I actually saw it Dig - "

" - love you! Please sign my - "

" - blades! Swish! Slash! P- "

My vain attempts to translate the chatter were suddenly interrupted by a tugging at my pants legs.

"Krystal?" It was Labramon. "We should get going; our match is probably going to be starting soon."

I didn't even look down at her. I had forgotten about it for a moment, but now that the fight had settled down, it was once again gnawing at me.

"Yeah, yeah, just a minute, I gotta check something out."

"But we might-"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." I said, lightly brushing her aside with my foot. "Something is seriously up."

I pushed my way thought the layer of people that surrounded Alex and Lopmon. I got a few curses and middle fingers thrown at me, but I made it to them.

I rolled my eyes at the pair. The inner layer of the crowd - the layer that had actually reached them - was gushing all over him. The males were saying how awesome and cool the whole Digivolution was, and the girls were taking every chance they could they brush their hands over certain portions of Alex's body; those that weren't cooing over Lopmon's "cuteness" anyway.

I avoided the group that was surrounding Alex; I didn't need to see him right now. Instead I pushed two girls aside and snatched Lopmon away from a third.

"Hey missy! Wait your turn!"

I shot her a piercing look. "Calm down Barbie. I only need the fur ball for a minute."

"Barbie?"

"Take a year to think about it. You'll get it eventually."

I turned away from all the ditzes to concentrate on the task at hand. I began to examine Lopmon's arm.

Lopmon gave me an annoyed and confused look. "Krystal? What are you doing? I was totally scoring with the - ow! What are you doing with my arm?"

I used my finger to probe a red spot on Lopmon's arm. "I need to check something."

"What that? Oh don't be so concerned. I'm fine, just a bit of Renamon's blood that splashed on me when I hit her with my kick-ass blade!"

I cocked an eyebrow at him. "And that doesn't seem odd to you at all?"

"Why would it. I'm really tough as Turuiemon! Of course I'm going to injure my opponent. I make them bleed good! That isn't not odd at all!"

Labramon suddenly bounded next to us and said. "Except for the fact that Digimon don't have blood."

"That's right," I said. "Blood is a feature of biological creatures. Digimon aren't biological creatures. They're not made of flesh, blood, and bones; they're made of computer data. There's no blood in computer data."

Lopmon gave me a blank stare. He blinked once. "Whoa, so this is big."

"Very big," I said. I then muttered to myself.

Izzy was right. It was just what he had discovered with the newly hatched Digimon. They had DNA, not binary code. Renamon wasn't losing little bits of data because of her injury in the way Digimon were supposed to. She was bleeding! Digimon were not supposed to bleed.

Something was definitely wrong! Digimon were changing. The problem was: they shouldn't be. With no more forces of darkness causing trouble the world should be in balance. There shouldn't be any change; not any noticeable change anyway. There was still an imbalance. There was still an evil out there, and most likely, it was most likely the same evil that had taken my parents away from me.

"Krystal!"Labramon yelled.

I sighed. Once against my thought process had been broken.

Labramon gave another couple tugs on my pant legs.

"Come on we've got to go. Our battle is going to start soon. If we don't go we'll be disqualified - not that it would bother you at all."

"Excuse me?!" I yelled.

She rolled her eyes. "Nothing, let's just go."

She began to trot off towards our section of the arena.

Now she was really starting to get on my nerves. This whole guilt trip thing is fucking ridiculous. Okay maybe I had deserved it at first, but she was starting to really push it.

There was no sense in exploding on her now. All I could do was swallow my pride and try to bear with all the crap she threw at me - and I had a feeling there was going to be a lot of it.

"This is Preliminary round two, battle one," the far too enthusiastic coordinator announced. "The combat lists are The Masked Digidestined and her partner Labramon, versus Jimmy with his partner Snowagumon."

My opponent, "Jimmy," was an eight year old kid. I found it hard to believe the kid could even be in the tournament. He looked like he should be in a grade school eating paste; not trading blows with some of the serious combatalists that I'd seen today. How did he even make it to the second round?

The coordinator raised his arm. "Begin!"

I took a deep breath. "It's our first fight Labramon. Ready?"

She gave a rude snort. "Just stay out of my way and leave this to me."

Without any sort of order, Labramon immediately leaped into the battlefield, teeth bared.

"Snowagumon! Projectile!" Jimmy said.

Snowagumon didn't waste any time. He opened his mouth and fired a javelin like icicle at Labramon. She jumped to one side, and the icicle barely missed her. I swear I could see some of her fur sticking to it as it landed on the floor beside me.

That shouldn't have happened. Labramon was faster than that. She just didn't have her guard up; she was being reckless, especially considering she was going up against a Snowagumon.

"Labramon stop!" I yelled. "That thing is too quick. You can't just charge it!"

"I said stay out of my way!" she yelled, ignoring my warning and continuing her charge.

"Projectile!" Jimmy yelled.

Labramon laughed at the strategy. "It didn't work the first time. Why would you think it would work now that I'm ready for it?"

Labramon was getting closer; she was almost within range to use her powerful jaws. Unfortunately she wasn't going to get a chance to use them. I knew exactly what that Snowagumon was about to do. Luckily there was still enough time to call off the attack

"Labramon back off NOW!" I ordered. "He's going to-"

"I said stay out of this!" she yelled. "I know what I'm-"

"Little Blizzard!"

Okay, now it was too late to call off the attack.

Snowagumon had already launched his attack. Snowagumon opened his mouth, except this time it wasn't an icicle. It was a flurry of snow that engulfed everything before him. Unfortunately that included Labramon. The combination of snow and wind immediately halted Labramon's attack, blowing her backward. She was sent rolling across the arena, leaving her shivering and covered in snow.

I was beginning to see how this kid had gotten to the second round. That strategy was incredible! He told his Digimon to fire a projectile instead of calling out the name of the attack. That way neither Labramon nor I had any time to prepare for it. He anticipated that Labramon would be able to dodge the first attack, but when he ordered a second projectile he knew Labramon would assume it would be the same one, leaving her unprepared for a different type of projectile that was used. In this case he started off with a concentrated projectile, like the icicle, and then switched into a spread out one like the Little Blizzard. Chances were that he didn't even know which projectile Snowagumon would fire, making it even harder to prepare for. Snowagumon would be the only one who knew the sequence of the attacks, and he would only make that decision the very second he fired them. It was a very effective strategy for dealing with a direct attack.

What really irked me was that I saw it coming, and that I had more than enough time to counter it. If Labramon had only listened to me that is. As quick as Snowagumons are at firing their attacks, they are relatively slow to recover after firing them. If Labramon had been able to dodge - and she would have if she had listened to me, and stopped her attack - she would have had a five second window in which Snowagumon was vulnerable - a perfect chance to attack. Five seconds doesn't seem like a long time, but in the heat of battle, that would have been more than enough time to get in a bite or two.

"Now!" Jimmy yelled. "Physical!"

Snowagumon charged with jaws wide open.

"Retrieve bark!" Labramon said firing her attack.

"Labramon no!" I yelled. "That won't work!"

"Poy!"

Snowagumon fired another icicle from his mouth; it easily pierced Labramon's Retrieve Bark and continued to fly forward. Labramon ignored the cold that covered her body and easily leaped out of the way of the icicle. It imbedded itself in the ground where she had once been standing.

She was able to dodge the icicle, but not Snowagumon's jaws. No sooner did Labramon's front paws touch the ground than Snowagumon's jaws clamped down on her back ones.

"Aaaaaaah!" Labramon bellowed in pain, as Snowagumon chuckled and increased the pressure his mighty jaws had on her feet.

She desperately struggled and kicked at the little dinosaur as she tried to get free, but the jaws were far too powerful. There was no way a little dog's kick could match up with the power of lizard's jaw.

"Labramon! Now use the Retrieve Bark!" I said.

"I said - Aaaaah! - I said I could do this on my own."

Once again Labramon ignored me. She tried her own way to get free. She opened her own jaws and clamped bit onto Snowagumon's tail. Snowagumon winced let out a muffled cry of pain, but the bite only caused him to tighten his grip on Labramon's feet, which only spurred Labramon to bite down harder on his tail. It was a stalemate.

The pair stayed like that like that for a good ten minutes, and neither of them was willing to give in.

"Labramon that's enough," I said. "Let go. You're only wearing yourself out."

Labramon gave me the coldest stare I had ever seen. I'm sure she would have cursed me out if her mouth weren't filled with lizard's tail.

Luckily Jimmy had the same good sense as I did, and his Digimon was actually listening to him.

"She's right. Snowagumon, let go."

Snowagumon immediately complied. He immediately released the vice grip he had on Labramon's feet. Labramon responded in kind, releasing the grip on Snowagumon's tail. Both Digimon backed off from each other. Snowagumon returned to his partner, and Labramon limped back to me. They immediately turned to face each other down.

"Maybe now you'll listen to me," I scolded. "I'm sure you noticed that the fight isn't exactly going our way."

"Shut up," she said gritting her teeth, while shaking her head in annoyance. "Just get the fucking Digivice."

"Oh so you want to Digivolve?" I said in a mocking tone. "Now you want my help. Now that there's dinosaur teeth marks in your leg."

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" she yelled. "I thought you would want to get this fight over with. Just turn me into Shisamon and we can move on!"

I rolled my eyes. "Fine."

I held out the Digivice. The Digivolution light soon followed.

"Labramon Digivolve to……………….Shisamon!"

Shisamon was always a sight to see. She was a very large dog Digimon. Probably about the size of your average grizzly bear. Golden fur covered her body; the mane that surrounded her neck was an even brighter shade of gold. The mane took on an interesting shape. It was curled into the shape of several triangles surrounding her neck. It made her head like a shining sun. Lastly was her tail. It was the same golden colour as her mane, and it flowed from her body like a ribbon. Under any other circumstances I would have called it beautiful, because it was. It reminded me of the tail of a tropical fish.

I doubted anyone was concentrating on her beauty though. Snowagumon sure wasn't. Shisamon emerged from the Digivolution light growling, her lip pulled back, showing off her deadly teeth. Both Snowagumon and Jimmy had their eyes locked on those enormous teeth.

"Jim -"Snowagumon squeaked. "I don't believe we've prepared for this yet."

"Of - of - of course we didn't,"Jimmy stuttered. "I didn't expect to have to go up against Digivolution yet!"

Snowagumon began to pressure his partner for instructions. "Jimmy! I need to know what to do?"

Shisamon didn't wait for Jimmy to answer.

"Tidyada!" Shisamon yelled.

Shisamon began to form what I assume what was her trademark attack. She opened her mouth and quickly formed a yellow ball of energy in her mouth. It was similar to her Retrieve Bark, except it was a hell of a lot bigger.

With a flick of her head, Shisamon hurled the ball. Snowagumon never stood a chance. It collided with Snowagumon before he could even think to respond. The ensuing explosion lit the area in yellow light and dust. I - along with everyone else, I'm sure - were momentarily blinded, when our vision returned Snowagumon was nothing but a lifeless heap.

Jimmy immediately ran to his partner's side. "Snowagumon, please say something!"

Snowagumon managed to groan a response. The hit had really hurt him, but Digimon were hardy creatures. With a good meal and a peaceful night's rest he'd be fine.

The coordinator, who - for this match - was also acting as the referee, announced. "The match goes to Krystal and Shisamon, in an absolutely amazing feat of Digivolution!"

Shisamon, much like Lopmon had, chuckled arrogantly at the remark as she returned to her rookie state. I was glad that she had done it so quickly; because if I was right about what would happen next, I would have to act fast.

I ran up to Labramon, quickly scooped her up in my arms, and bolted.

"Hey what are you --" Labramon started.

"Hey where's she going? Come back!"

"I just need to-"

"How did you-"

"Digivolution! Twice in one-"

"This is the best -"

I thrust a finger at the crowd of people chasing us. "I'm running from that!"

I managed to lose the crowd by darting into a group of people watching another battle. By the time I realized I was no longer amongst that crowd, Labramon and I had safely retreated to the bathroom.

"Hey what was that all about?" Labramon snapped, as I placed her down on the tiled floor. "All those people wanted to do was talk to us. After as I'm sure you noticed Digivolution isn't exactly common these days, and it happened with Alex back there too. They were just amazed, that's all."

"And so was I!" I yelled. "What the hell were you doing out there?"

"What's wrong? We won."

"Yeah, but only because we Digivolved. No strategy that kid could have thought up would have been able to compete with that kind of strength. Before that you were doing horrible!"

"Jeez, sorry," she snorted. "I wouldn't think that would get you so mad. That just means you get to leave sooner."

"It's not the losing that's bothering me. It's the fact that you didn't have to do that poorly if you had just listened to me! I told you to hold back your attack; you didn't listen. I told you not to use Retrieve Bark; you used it. Then, when I told you that you should use it, you completely ignored me!"

"I don't need you're help! I'm a Digidestined Digimon; I fight. I don't need any of you're suggestions."

"I beg to differ!" I yelled. "Did you not see what happened before you Digivolved? And even if you had 'been doing well, that doesn't matter. I'm the human, you're the Digimon. I give the orders; you listen to them. To the best of my knowledge, that's how Digital Combat works. I may have to put up with this shit for your sake, but if I have to, we're doing it my way! Got that?"

She grunted a response. "Fine." As close as I could figure, it was the nearest she would get to admitting I was right. "Can we go back out there now?"

I sighed and leaned my back up against a sink. "Not just yet. I really don't feel like dealing with all that right now."

Labramon rolled her eyes. "Yeah, God forbid you should let me enjoy any of this."

That was enough! I had been patient up until now, but last comment broke through my patience.

"Oh that is fucking it!" I screamed. I was beyond angry now. The rage turned my face bright red and my voice grew to a volume that I didn't think was possible.

"I have been very very very very patient up until now! But I have had enough of your sarcasm! Don't you think this is hard enough for me?!"

"Oh boo hoo! Poor Krystal doesn't get her way for once!" My sudden outburst sparked a sudden eruption in Labramon as well. She bore her deadly teeth as she spoke, and she dug her nails into the bathroom tiles, almost to the point of breaking them. I think I could see her beginning to form a Retrieve Bark in her mouth as well.

"I'm so sorry that I'm actually doing something that I enjoy. You know, instead of sitting listen to you whine about what Digimon did to your parents. Get over it!"

I tried my best to ignore that last remark. She was angry, she didn't mean it. Unfortunately, so was I, which meant I wasn't going to hold back very much. I tried to calm myself down a little before I spoke next. "A little" being the key phrase.

"Look! I'm sorry for all of that! You're absolutely fucking right okay! Is that what you want to here? I was a whiney little bitch - okay." Strangely letting that out felt pretty good; I could feel the volume of my voice begin to diminish as I continued to speak. "But you have to understand how hard it is for me to have grown up without any parents. You can't possibly understand what it feels like. Digimon don't have parents, you grow up differently than we do. Do you know how hard it is to grow up to watch every one of your friends with parents, while you're stuck trying to piece together a family with just you and Cam."

I could feel the blood rushing away from my face now. It was replaced by tears. The level of my voice was also at a reasonable level. "It didn't matter how great you two were, and believe me you were; it just isn't the same as having actual parents. And I know Digimon didn't do anything to wrong me on purpose, but I'm sorry, I still blame them for my parents disappear- death. It's just something that makes me feel just a bit better. I know it's the wrong way to think, but it helps me. You need to understand that."

"I do understand that - I really do," Labramon said. She too had calmed down a bit. Her teeth were no longer bared, and her mouth was no longer pink with the energy of a Retrieve Bark, but she was definitely still tense. I could tell by the way she was leaving scuff marks on the tiles with her claws. "But that doesn't mean I like it. I guess that's why I was so sarcastic and mean today. Because you have to understand that how much your hate for Digimon hurts me. I'm a Digimon too, and whenever you talk down to them you're talking down to me too. And I know that you don't mean to put me down. I know you care about me. It's just - I'm a Digimon, and I like being one, and when you talk about them like they're just some stupid annoyance - well, it hurts."

I bent down and hugged her. There was no anger between us anymore.

"I'm sorry. I never meant to hurt you. I just feel the need to blame someone for what happened to my parents. It makes the whole thing make a bit more sense. And I'm sorry, but I'm not going to stop blaming Digimon for what happened -"

"I know you won't," Labramon soothingly whispered into my shoulder.

" - but I do promise I'll try to be more sensitive about it. I'll do whatever I can to avoid hurting you're feelings when I feel annoyed by Digimon, because I really don't mean to you hurt. Digimon are good creatures, I know that, it's just I have a personal problem with them, and that's a problem that isn't going to go away. I need you to understand that."

"I will, I promise," she said. She hugged back; I tightened my grip on her. "If you can promise to put that problem aside, and every so often and let me enjoy myself by being with my own kind. I promise I won't do it to the point that it seriously aggravates you."

I hugged her even closer. "Sounds like a deal to me," and with that we separated. "It looks like we both need to stop being total bitches."

Labramon laughed. "Easy for you to say, I'm the female dog."

I couldn't help but laugh. It felt good. I don't think I had seriously laughed all day. "Okay, let me rephrase that. We need to stop acting like bitches."

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean. I am a bitch."

I laughed and gave her a little push. "Oh don't start that up! We could do this all day."

"Yeah, and we've wasted enough time already. We should get out there; now that our match is over, Alex and Lopmon will probably be looking for us, plus we have three more matches today - oop." She stopped suddenly, as if she had said something offensive. "That is, if you think - if you'd still like to compete."

I sighed. "Yeah - I would - well, I don't want to, but I did promise I'd try and be more tolerable of Digimon, and I'd never break a promise to you."

An enormous smile grew on Labramon lips, as she said. "Thanks."

I just smiled back, and gave her a play kick. "Let's go, before Alex and Lopmon start worrying about us."

And so we emerged from the bathroom. Luckily the crowd had given up their search for us, and Labramon and I could leisurely start searching for Alex.

I felt strange all of a sudden. I didn't feel this incredible sense of dread as I walked among all the combatalists and their Digimon. They still reminded me of the Digital war, and the sacrifice my parents had made for Digimon; and that reminder still hurt, it always would. I still felt a strong annoyance for the whole thing in fact. What I felt wasn't a release from hate, but rather a newfound tolerance for it.

I don't know what it was, maybe translating my feelings into words during my argument allowed me to confront those feelings, and thus make sense of them.

Eh, who cares? It didn't matter how it happened, it just happened. I still couldn't stand this tournament, but at the very least I could tolerate it, and for Labramon's sake, that was enough for me right now.

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I know ending the tension between those too might have seemed a bit soon, however I felt that for the sake of the stories progression I had to end it for now. Don't think you've seen the end of tension between them though. I plan on sparking it again once I feel the storyline has progressed enough. There's not a whole lot left to write in the rest of the chapter, so I'll try to get it up as soon as possible; though "as soon as possible" might not be for awhile. I have a lot of essays and mid-terms coming up, and I'm quite confident that will get in the way. Regardless, stay tuned for the second part of this chapter, I am working on this fic I swear!