The next chapter is here! Yey! I wasn't kidding when I said that I would be updating regularly. By the way, don't forget to watch out for my other stories! I'm glad you guys liked it by the way. I'm so happy for receiving the reviews thanks guys!

This isn't a Digimon crossover; so that the readers won't have difficulty understanding what I meant when I wrote "…it broke down, shattered like glass in to a million very tiny white lights and disappeared…", I made this scene similar to what would happen if a Digimon were to die so that the readers can imagine what it looks like.

Hao didn't tell Yoh and his friends the method by which they could stop him. Anna did a little research and found the method on how to stop him, Hao just told everyone what happened to him and what he is about to do about his situation. Why did he tell them that? You'll find out in the later chapters.

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Chapter 2: Callous Kappa

Tamao cautiously walked along the dark and spine-chilling streets. "Eeeekkk!" She jumped back when she heard a group of bats shrieking and flying in the dark sky. "I wish I never agreed to this! I should have at least tagged along with someone else…"

"You're being a chicken Tamao!" Ponchi teased, he was able to avoid Tamao's punch luckily.

"Yeah! You have nothing to worry about because we're here to protect you!" Konich said confidently and bravely after teasing her.

"That's what I'm worried about…" Tamao silently muttered under her breath as she continued to walk behind her main spirits. She was already thankful that she didn't run into any monsters yet. She thought that if she kept avoiding them a little longer, the others would get the eighteen stones in time while she won't have to do anything which involves fighting a monster.

Then again, if it were to happen, she'll probably be the only one who didn't contribute and help the group. The feeling of guilt and uselessness would eventually conquer her. Tama shook her head violently to rid her mind of such thoughts. Whether she liked it or not, she was going to have to fight a monster sooner or later and hope that it is one of the eighteen chosen monsters; besides, there are more than a hundred monsters in Funbari and she won't be always lucky enough to avoid one.

Tamao looked to her left and found an alley where the sound of a whimpering dog was coming from. She took a deep breath and gulped before entering the murky alley in order to see if the dog is alright. She walked deeper and finally managed to see the dog cowering in fear in the corner.

She also spotted a figure when the moonlight shone on it; it was standing in front of the dog. Tamao was silently praying that it wasn't a monster, unfortunately for her, it was a monster. The moonlight showed the creature's features; it has the body of a green tortoise, the head of monkey with a very sharp beak, a bowl shaped crown of their heads with water, and dark blue eyes.

"Is that a Kappa?" Tamao asked Konchi and Ponchi. It definitely was a Kappa, a fierce protective water goblin, but what was it doing in the alley? These monsters only live in the river which is miles away from this place.

"Ummm…n…nice to meet you Mr. Kappa" Tamao stiffly and nervously bowed in front of the Kappa which diverted its attention to the fortune teller.

"What are you doing Tamao?" Konchi asked anxiously.

"I heard that it since a Kappa is very polite, if you bow to one, it will bow back to you…" Tamao said as she tensed up while hearing the Kappa's heavy feet walk towards her. "If they bow back, the water on their head will spill, making them weak and defenseless since it is its source of power."

The Kappa stopped in front of her and growled loudly. "I guess it didn't work…" Ponchi said uneasily. "I guess Hao's monsters aren't polite at all…"

"So what do we do now?" Tamao slowly stood up and backed away from the Kappa step by step.

"Give it a cucumber! They like those things!" Konchi stepped back together with Tamao and Ponchi.

"Where can I get a cucumber at this time of the night and place?" Tamao asked anxiously. "The stores are closed and we don't have any cucumbers in the onsen!"

"Well in that case…" Ponchi and Konchi said in unison. "RUN AWAY!"

"I thought you guys were going to protect me?" Tamao yelled at them, ignoring the Kappa for awhile.

"We'll protect you if the monster's not strong!" the two spirits' voices faded as they ran further and further. "Try to get it to spill the water from its head. Until then, you're on your own!"

"WHAT?" Tamao now darted her attention from her spirits who just called her a chicken earlier, to the ferocious Kappa standing and breathing heavily in front of her. "Maybe Ponchi and Konchi's idea wouldn't be so bad after all…"

She slowly turned to her opposite direction and ran away as fast as she could. Tamao thought that the Kappa would just leave her alone, but it did the exact opposite as it chased her down the roads.

"SOMEONE HELP!" Tamao yelled with tears of fright streaming down her eyes as she frantically ran away from the Kappa. For a monster that has a giant carapace on its back, it sure runs very fast.

"I HATE THIS, I HATE THIS, I HATE THIS!" she ran across the tightly closed houses and past a few random monsters that failed to notice her because of her speed. The Kappa was just a few meters away from her. Tamao found a skateboard on the sidewalk; she didn't have enough time to think, so she got on and sped away. There was only one little problem: she doesn't know how to ride one.

"Ahhh!" She didn't care right now, she just wanted to get away from the Kappa which was still chasing her. One foot was on the skateboard and the other was pushing forward.

She pushed forward and stopped for awhile after looking at the downhill road. She gulped, but right now, she just pushed forward and went downhill. "AHHH!" She sat down and gripped the skateboard tightly as if it were a loge. The Kappa followed behind her, using his shell to slide down with the same velocity as Tamao.

"Of all the people to chase, why does it have to be me? Of all the monsters to run in to, why was it the Kappa?" Tamao shouted in fright as she continued going down hill, going faster each second. Realizing that the skateboard would be the death of her instead of the Kappa, she abandoned it and ran away while the Kappa was still busy sliding down the hill.

She took a few turns, loops, and she finally managed to reach the playground. The Kappa was nowhere in sight, but just to make sure it won't spot her, she used her remaining energy and climbed up a tree. Tamao rested on the branch of the big tree and caught her breath. She curled up on the tree, held her legs with her two arms, and rested her head on them.

"I am such a coward…" Tamao said in between sobs. "No wonder I'm always an apprentice…I'm always scared; I'm too soft and too weak to fight back." All these negative thoughts started flowing her mind.

Her thinking was interrupted when the tree she was on trembled violently. She looked down to see the Kappa shaking the tree and even attempting to climb it. "Leave me alone!" Tamao held tightly to the branch of the tree which was starting to break due to the shaking.

The branch she held on finally snapped due to the force and she landed on the ground with a thud, the heavy branch pinned her leg down, making her unable to move. The Kappa went closer and closer with its beak half open, its eyes wide open, and its muscles flexing involuntarily.

"Someone…please help me…" Tamao cried, hoping someone would hear her, but she was too scared right now to amplify her voice. Struggling from the weight on her leg didn't help for she couldn't lift it even with her two hands. "HELP!"

"Pick on someone else you water imp!" a voice called out, accompanied by a cucumber flying towards the Kappa. When the cucumber landed on the ground, the Kappa immediately ignored Tamao and went down to pick the cucumber carefully so as not to spill the water from its head.

"Ponchi, Konchi, you came back!" Tamao said happily as she wiped away her tears. Ponchi broke the branch in half to lessen the weight while Konchi continued throwing his last remaining cucumbers at the Kappa.

"Come on Tamao, we can't leave a chicken out in the open and let it get butchered by a water imp!" Ponchi teased. The Tamao came back and gave a punch to Ponchi, sending him flying to the tree where she fell from. At least Tamao was acting like her usual self again, but it was all washed away when he saw the Kappa gobbling up all the cucumbers tossed to him in one bite.

"I think we'd better get out of here before I run out of ammo!" Konchi said as he threw his last cucumber at the Kappa. "I'm all out of ideas!"

The fox ran behind Tamao together with his raccoon friend while the Kappa continued eating the cucumbers hungrily.

It finished the last produce and turned to face the three. "I've got another idea!" Ponchi said as he whispered his idea to Konchi. Tamao saw both of them laugh mischievously and it wasn't a good sign for the Kappa and her.

The two spirits ran in front of Tamao and their backs faced the Kappa. "Take this you overgrown turtle!" They took a deep breath and released gas; the Kappa covered its nose in disgust and waited for the air to dilute the foul stench.

"That's so disgusting!" Tamao covered her mouth and nose and tried to fan away the stench. She grabbed half of the branch that was on her foot awhile ago and pounded the two to the ground. "You two are so vulgar!"

"Hey, at least we had an idea!" Ponchi said, with swirls in his eyes and his partners'.

"You just made it angrier!" Tamao shouted while the Kappa fanned away some of the stench. The foul stench was blown away by the wind; when the monster opened its eyes, it found out that everyone was gone. It growled furiously as it sniffed the air and tried to find the scent of its victim who was none other than Tamao Tamamura.

Three streets away from the playground, the three started running away.

"This is hopeless…" Tamao dropped to her knees beside a lamp post. "I'm just too scared to do anything right…"

"Hey, don't cry you big baby!" Konchi said.

"It won't help you at all!" Ponchi continued, so Tamao's tears turned in to soft sobs.

"If you keep running away from what you're afraid off, then you'll never be brave!"

"Why are you so afraid of it anyway? Okay, so Konchi and I were afraid of it at first, but then we realized there's nothing to be afraid of, since he can't hurt ghosts like us! Anyway, we came back because we knew you were in danger, but not without cucumbers!"

"We may be vulgar and green minded, but we have a heart which can drive us to do reckless things just to protect someone!"

"Ponchi's point? Turn your fear around three hundred sixty degrees and kick that Kappa's butt, er…carapace!"

They were suddenly interrupted when the Kappa jumped in front of them. Tamao was shaking in fear, but her fox and raccoon spirits were just smiling at the Kappa mischievously.

Tamao started thinking, why was she afraid of the Kappa? Was it because of its scary appearance and because it looked tough? She never knew what the monster was capable of doing, so she was really afraid. Who can blame her? Most people are afraid of something that is new to them, but they must learn to gather all their courage to find out what they are up against in order to discover and face their fears.

A kappa, it was a monster which has a very vulnerable weakness and she was busy being nervous about its appearance that it didn't even stop to think of a way to take advantage of its weakness. Tamao's negative thoughts interfered with her thinking; and if she were not being pessimistic and scared in the first place, then this monster would have been beaten already.

Tamao opened her eyes and saw Ponchi and Konchi distracting the Kappa as if they were just playing with him. They were so full of confidence because they discovered that this monster was no match for them because they cannot be touched by it. "Why was I afraid of the Kappa in the first place?" she thought back and realized that it was silly to get scared of this monster. For all she knew, she could just have made the Kappa trip in order to spill the water from its head.

"I am not afraid of you anymore!" Tamao's voice and eyes were full with confidence; she stood up to face the Kappa. "I may not be as strong and as brave as Master Yoh or the rest, but I know that I can be brave enough to defend myself and those whom I care for!"

Kappa moved its arms in a strange manner and fired a stream of water as powerful as a rocket at Tamao. "Ponchi, oversoul!" the raccoon entered her Planchette, forming a medium sized shield which was enough to protect her from the strong force.

The monster growled at its own failed attempt to attack and charged her. Tamao used her shield to block the Kappa's tackle; it defended her, but she was slowly being pushed back by the Kappa.

"Konchi, do something!" Tamao yelled.

"I'm on it!" he sidestepped at the Kappa's right side and kicked its waist. It immediately stopped pushing Tamao back in order to relieve the pain in his side.

"Now's our chance, Konchi oversoul!" Ponchi immediately got out of her weapon and Konchi replaced him. Now Tamao's weapon was a bow gun with Konchi's head acting as the tip and it's tail as an arrow.

The Kappa was now finished relieving the pain from his waist so it went to attack Tamao. Her reflexes allowed her to dodge unharmed and Ponchi unexpectedly jumped in front of the Kappa and covered its face. "How do you like that you monkey headed turtle?"

The irritated Kappa couldn't see and he couldn't get Ponchi off of his face either. The Kappa's sudden movements spilled some of the water on it's head, slowing down its movement each time.

"I have an idea!" while Ponchi was distracting the Kappa, Tamao ran and bent down when she was at the Kappa's lower body. She did a sweep kick to the Kappa's ankle in order to trip it. The Kappa fell down on its carapace and spilled all the water on his head. It was now weak and defenseless, not to mention completely harmless.

"Time to do it!" Tamao aimed her weapon at the Kappa. "Love Strike!" Tamao fired, Konchi's tail shot out of the bow gun; Ponchi got off the Kappa's face and jumped away to avoid the attack. When the Kappa opened its eyes, the arrow hit and pierced it at its heart.

The Kappa wailed loudly and broke like glass in to a million tiny lights and disappeared. Konchi left the medium and Ponchi rejoined the two. "We did it, we did it, we defeated the Kappa!" Tamao jumped in joy accompanied by Ponchi and Konchi.

They suddenly turned their attention when they saw a vermillion stone emerge when all the tiny white lights disappeared. "Is this what the stone looks like?" Tamao reached for the stone; its color changed from vermillion to orange. "Fear…" Tamao read a small writing inscribed in the stone which was fading and changing in to something else. "Courage…"

"Way to go Tamao!" Ponchi and Konchi cheered. Tamao took out a yellow talisman, its color changed to brown and she tossed it in the air. The talisman shot high up in the air and quickly floated to where Jun was right now.

"So Tamao, what do we do now?" Konchi asked. "Do you want to follow the talisman and go back to Jun?"

Tamao looked up at the night sky and the talisman; she slowly shook her head and opened her eyes. "Let's try to find more stones; I think I'm up for it."

Her two spirits gave her a wide smile as they started walking. "So, where did you get the cucumbers anyway?"

"We saw a bag of groceries along the streets and found a lot of cucumbers, the owner probably ran away cause of the monsters, hehehehe" Ponchi answered while the three of them walked away from the lamp post which was flickering on and off.

"Just goes to show that even cowards can be brave at times…" Hao was just observing Tamao from atop a building. "That's one stone down…" Hao looked at the talisman that Tamao tossed up, floating towards Jun. "…and seventeen more to go…"

Hao smiled and turned his attention to another one of Yoh's friends. "Let's see how he'll do when he's against a monster…"

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Chapter one down! How did you guys like it?

If you're wondering how the story will go, well here it is. Each character has a chapter of its own. I drew lots in order to arrange the character chapters, and it seems Tamao was lucky number one! So I wonder who's next on our list?

Finally, my exam's over. I hope my one week of studying will pay off. I'll be receiving the results on January (so long!) and I hope I pass. Thanks for the support guys!