Author's Notes: Oh fine, don't reply! Wait… do! Why won't you people reply? How else do we know if you've been reading or not? I don't care if all you've got to say about this fan fic is negative comments—as long as they're said nicely why should I? Though I have nothing much to say for this chapter so… have a good read! And reply…
Disclaimer: Let's see… aw, I'm a girl. Ditto Ravyn. So we aren't Akiyoshi Hongo so we don't own Digimon! We're just borrowing it. Hope you don't mind! However, Kayhera owns Sakura and everything about her, and I own some of Mermaimon 'cause some of it I made up… Ravyn owns Yori, everything about her, and Roninmon! There we go, wasn't that fun?
Today's Vocab Word for Today: Okay, this isn't happening every time I update, so don't worry. Any-who, for those who don't know a Dojo is a place where you practice Japanese self-defense like karate and such. A Ronin is an outcast samurai. Like, they tried to be a samurai and they failed so their clan threw food at them and kicked them out—okay, kinda kidding there. So basically they're a loser samurai! Let's poke fun at them! Well, they're just a samurai who failed and got kicked out of their clan, that's seriously about it. People who have failed their college entrance exams have been known to be dubbed ronin as well. That's about it. Have a good read!
Recap: Yori here! So, basically, all that's happened so far was me finding a cell phone and it going on about my destiny. I spotted some kid in goggles named Takuya and got on a train to this weird place called the Digital World! I also met Zoe, JP, and Tommy. Meanwhile, two other kids found their way to this crazy world too: Kouji and Sakura. Takuya had to save Tommy and found this spirit of fire and turned into Agunimon with his D-Tector, which was before a cell phone. When we ran into Kouji and Sakura we had to save JP and Tommy from this Raremon Digimon. Kouji fell into a hole and found the spirit of light. Now he can turn into Lobomon. Kouji left, Sakura went with him, I went with Takuya and the others while thinking to myself, "Where's my spirit!" What sort of crazy stuff is gonna happen next? Oh yeah… AND WHEN DO I GET MY SPIRIT!
Chapter Two
"Why are you following me?" muttered Kouji, hearing the girl's footsteps behind him.
"Because I had nothing else to do?" said Sakura with a smile, rushing over to his side. "Besides, I'd just worry about you if I didn't follow you."
"I don't need people to worry about me," snapped Kouji, looking the other way.
"Sure you do!" said Sakura cheerfully, clapping her hands together. "Spread the love!"
"Just go away!" said Kouji, walking a little faster.
"How about not?" snapped Sakura, putting her hands back to her sides and clenching her fists.
"Then shut up, at least!"
"Fine!" snapped Sakura, crossing her arms.
"Hmph…" muttered Kouji, shaking his head a little.
Sakura sighed. Now this guy was just irritating her. Though it's not like she could take her anger away by punching him. She figured out the hard way that that never solved anything. Besides, he looked like he could handle himself and hit her back, which wouldn't be a good thing. Still, why'd she have to follow him in the first place if he was such a jerk! She should just go back to the other group and hang with them. They looked more cheerful and talkative anyways. But she'd already been following Kouji around for a little while and wouldn't be able to find which way Takuya and the others went without getting lost…
A noise interrupted Sakura's thoughts. That was all right, because the alternative could have been to bump into Kouji. She always managed to bump into something when she thought and walked at the same time. Either that or trip over something… But it sounded like someone was in trouble.
"We should go help them!" Sakura told Kouji.
"What?" said Kouji, turning around with his arms crossed.
"Don't tell me you didn't hear that!" cried Sakura.
"Why should I go help them for? And I thought I told you to shut up."
"Oh, how about this? You go help them and I shut up!"
"Fine, whatever," muttered Kouji, going towards the source of the panicking voices.
"Hey, wait for me!" cried Sakura. Why did she keep falling behind?
It turned out to be these cute little green creatures with a horn on top of their head being bullied by this mean looking grey bunny rabbit. They were standing pretty close to the edge of a cliff, which was just a bit odd…
"Hey! Pick on someone your own size!" snapped Sakura, rushing over with Kouji right behind her.
"Oooh, they're human children!" said the little green creatures.
"Maybe you should mind your own business!" growled the grey rabbit.
"He has a point," muttered Kouji irritably.
"Oh, come on, your conscious won't mind leaving this perfectly innocent green things to be bullied by these grey jerks?" said Sakura, hands on her hips.
"We're Gummymon!" cried the green creatures cheerfully. "And that's Gazimon!"
"All right then…" mumbled Sakura. "Well… hmm… hey, Kouji, go do your stuff!"
"What!" cried Kouji.
"Oh, you know," said Sakura, waving her hand around a bit, "that weird spirit thing you did before. That cool wolf thing."
"Oh. Hey, why should you be able to boss me around for?"
"Hmm… let's look at our options…" muttered Sakura. "You're the kid with the super powers, not me. And these cute adorable green things—"
"We're called Gummymon!"
"Right… those… they need our help, so evolve already!" cried Sakura.
"Fine…" muttered Kouji, pulling out his D-Tector. At first he looked a little unsure but then a bright light covered him and Sakura could hear him cry, "Execute! Spirit Evolution!"
"Ahh…" said Sakura, blinking up at Lobomon.
"Keh. Two can play that game!" said Gazimon. Then a bright light surrounded the grey rabbit-like creature and he transformed into—
"Lynxmon, a beast Digimon. Not only is its flaming fur coat terrifying, its Wild Nail Rush is too," said Sakura's D-Tector.
"Swell. Just swell…" muttered Sakura, looking back at Lobomon and Lynxmon.
Lobomon was just about to lift his weird light sword thing when suddenly a bright light surrounded him and he turned back into Kouji. He didn't change his position, just blinked a few times before swearing under his breath and going, "What's up with this!"
"Er… we're in trouble?" shrugged Sakura.
Lynxmon hissed. "Wild Nail Rush!"
The two quickly dodged the claw attack; Kouji jumped to the left and Sakura leaped backwards. The only problem with jumping backwards was the fact that the edge of the cliff was right there, and Sakura missed her footing and fell downwards.
"Ahh!" cried Sakura, trying to grab on to something. Usually on television the character finds a branch randomly sticking out of the cliff then they grab onto it and the other character helps pull them up, but Sakura couldn't find anything to grab onto. Just when she was running out of hope she fell in water and discovered that there was a lake at the edge of the cliff. Or an ocean…
"Oh…Oh… oh-oh-oh!" cried Sakura, waving her arms around in the water foolishly.
"Are you all right?" called Kouji, looking down from the edge.
"No!" cried Sakura, shaking her head a little before realizing that wasn't such a good idea and tried to keep her head above the water.
"What's wrong?" shouted Kouji.
"I… I can't…" mumbled Sakura, trying to keep her head above the surface. But no matter how quickly she waved her arms around and kicked her legs she was starting to sink.
Great… let's just die in some foreign place that's inhabited with creatures that are apparently called Digimon… thought Sakura dully in her head, holding her breath and looking at the surroundings underwater as she sunk to the bottom. She gave up with waving her arms and legs about. It obviously wasn't doing anything and she needed to keep as much oxygen as possible… not that there was any point…
But suddenly Sakura felt very relaxed. The water no longer felt cold, but warm and comfortable. And she could see a blue light coming towards her… And somehow she knew what this blue light was. It was her spirit.
"It is time."
Wow, these device things work underwater! Last time I checked cell phones shouldn't be able to do that!
The blue light overcame Sakura and she found herself holding her D-Tector out in front of her and shouting in her head, "Execute! Spirit Evolution!"
As soon as…whatever just happened was over… Sakura forced herself up to the surface, which was amazingly simple despite the fact she didn't know how to swim. But when she took a look at herself above the water she discovered she had no need to be above. Her hair was longer and blue and out of the braids, and her now larger body was covered with a weird, tight blue material. She had fins at her arms and legs and even scales, and held some weird golden pole thing that looked like a trident. For some reason she knew she was no longer Sakura, but Mermaimon.
"I'm a mermaid!" cried Mermaimon. "Oh, come on, I could have been some totally awesome thing, but no, I'm a mermaid!"
"Is that you?" cried Kouji from above.
Wow, I totally forgot about the jerk… "Yo!" she cried cheerfully, waving.
"Can you just get up here already?" cried Kouji.
"Hmm…" said Mermaimon, trying to figure out how. The cliff wasn't as high up as it felt like it was when she fell, but it was still about three stories high. Without any other ideas coming to her she decided to dive down as far as possible and see how far she could leap up. She was a mermaid; she should be able to do it… Well, she didn't have the mermaid tail so that made it easier to stand and walk around once she got on land.
Okay, she just made it to the cliff afterwards. She still had to pull herself up. Once up, she glanced over at Lynxmon and tired to figure out what to do next. But it just seemed to come to her…
"Crystal Billow!" cried Mermaimon, spinning around her trident twice. A spiral of wind came out of her trident and it went towards Lynxmon, piercing it with bits of crystal.
"Wow, neat…" muttered Mermaimon, looking down at her trident with her eyebrows raised.
"Watch out…" said Kouji.
"Wild Nail Rush!" cried Lynxmon.
Sakura's reflexes were quick, but Mermaimon's reflexes were even faster. After dodging that she cried, "Time to put your fire out! Tsunami Blast! Fractal code… digitize!"
With Lynxmon gone Mermaimon disappeared too, and Sakura was Sakura again. Kouji rushed over to her and the Gummymon cheered as she blinked down at her D-Tector.
"What… in the hell…" muttered Sakura.
"Bravo, you made the bully go away… Can we get going now or do you have any more good deeds you need to accomplish?" asked Kouji.
"I don't get it…" muttered Sakura, still looking down at her D-Tector. "I get on a train just because my phone tells me too, then I show up in this weird place with creatures called Digimon… and somehow I can turn into one too… This is one messed up video game!"
"It's not like I understand it either…" muttered Kouji. "Let's just go. We aren't going to figure this out here."
"Leaving already?" frowned the Gummymon. "Without saying good bye?"
"Buh-bye!" said Sakura, waving at the Gummymon.
"Are you coming or not?" muttered Kouji from about fifteen feet away.
"Is it so hard to wait for people?" cried Sakura, rushing over to him.
"I don't have time to wait around for people," he said simply.
"But you sure have time to stand there and yell at them," said Sakura.
Kouji didn't respond, just rolled his eyes.
As soon as I get my Spirit I'll be stronger than all of you and can take care of myself!
So far, it had all been talk. Tommy had been the next to get his spirit when he tried to protect Agunimon. Not only did Yori get extremely jealous that she had been left out of the fight again but Tommy hardly ever exchanged a word with her. It was always Takuya this and Takuya that. He had already grown up and out of her reach and she hardly just met him. Then Zoe got her spirit. Though Yori hadn't been there she had followed Tommy and Takuya the other way. However, the earth had started to crumble and disappear forcing the group the head back the other way. Apparently that guy Kouji and the girl—Sakura, she thought it was—had shown up and beat the Digimon for Zoe. At least Yori was sure she would be stronger than her even if she didn't have a Spirit.
JP had gotten sullen thinking he was the last one to get his Spirit. Annoyed with the whole lot of them Yori let him keep on thinking that so he would get really bummed when she got hers. Except that didn't happen. They went to this weird wind factory where the weird electric Digimon were being forced into labor by the Ogremon, who were being controlled by Snimon. By this time the whole talking Digimon thing was starting to become normal to Yori. But at first sight Snimon hadn't looked too intelligent, though it talked nonetheless. Agunimon wasn't doing too hot when JP showed up and kicked some ass even without his Spirit. Though he soon got it and was able to destroy Snimon once and for all.
Now Yori was the last one out and she kept telling everybody that her Spirit was going to be the best one of them all. After a while everybody seemed to tune her out, even little Tommy. Finally the kid turned around and told her she needed to give it a rest. She yelled at him but he kept his cool and finally she did give it a rest. In her head she ran through the list of Legendary Warriors and counted them off on her fingers. If there were ten originally, then Kouji, Sakura, Tommy, Takuya, Zoe and JP make it so there was only four left. She had no idea what kind of Digimon there was left to choose from but she suspected that the last one would be the strongest. That's how it always worked in movies. But Bokomon, the fat round dude, wouldn't let her look in the book so she couldn't check them out for herself. To top everything off, there wasn't anything to eat!
"Argh!" cried Yori suddenly, stopping in the middle of the train tracks. "This is so frustrating!"
"You can say that again…" muttered JP as his stomach growled. Tommy and Zoe stopped too as their stomach growled.
"Look guys, we can't afford to stop now," said Takuya, stopping a little ahead of the group. "If we keep going we're bound to find something."
"Takuya is right!" said Bokomon. "The Digital World is full of stuff!"
"Except for where there are big holes," said the other Digimon, Neemon.
"How about this," said Takuya, "we go on top of that hill and look around. If there isn't anything we'll camp out there."
"Sounds like a plan," said Yori, scanning the hilltop. "Best place if somebody is coming to attack you. You can see them before they show up."
Everybody tended to ignore her when she started acting like everything was a war. And yet they listened to Takuya when he started making battle plans and freedom speeches and leading revolts against angry tyrants. He was the stupid one and Yori was the one with actual experience in the real world. If she were to choose she would have put herself in command. At least JP had been thinking about not going on Takuya's command. Unfortunately he wasn't thinking about figuring out somebody that could take his place. Plus with the gain of his own Spirit he didn't seem to really care if Takuya was in charge or if a freakin' mushroom was in charge. A talking one! The only person who really seemed to care was Tommy. There were times when Yori felt like stabbing Takuya in the back with her dagger, which she now kept in plain sight on her belt. Not only did it make it more efficient to fight with but hardly anybody dared to mess with her up close.
As they reached the top of the hill they noticed how it was a harder feat than any of them thought it would be. When they started looking around two more people joined them: Kouji and Sakura. As everybody looked at each other Kouji immediately looked annoyed—Takuya too but in a more stupid manner. Tommy, Zoe and JP looked surprised as well but in various different degrees. Yori could care less and Sakura… well, Sakura was a bit difficult to read which was kind of annoying.
"What are you doing here?" snapped Kouji.
"Looking for a place to eat, what about you?" asked Takuya.
"Would you like to know…" muttered Kouji.
"Yeah I— " started Takuya.
"A dojo!" cried Yori, staring off in the opposite direction Koji and Sakura had come from. Her eyes seemed to light up and she started off toward the unmistakable building in the distance.
"A what?" said everybody else.
"The place where they teach martial arts and junk," said Yori, rolling her eyes. "I went to one once. That's where I got my knife."
"A Digi-Dojo… what will they think of next?" said Takuya, following. Tommy ran to catch up. When he reached them Yori grabbed his hat and promptly put it on her head.
"What'd you do that for?" asked Tommy, blinking.
"Well… A, I wanted to see what you looked like without your hat on," said Yori conversationally. "And B… I like the hat and wanted to wear it. I guess C would be that I'm bored."
"Well, how about you give it back," said Takuya almost forcefully.
"Look, Mister Hot Shot!" snapped Yori, turning toward him. "Just because you're Agunimon doesn't mean you get to order me around! If Tommy wants his hat back he can ask. In the meantime, he doesn't need you doing everything for him. He can take care of himself, obviously, and he's saved your butt a couple of times too!"
"You're just jealous because I've got a Spirit and you don't!" said Takuya, reaching for the hat.
"And so what if I am?" snapped Yori. "It's only because I think you're too big-headed to deserve one and I want one so I can safely leave you all behind!"
"How come you didn't go with Kouji then?" asked Takuya trying again and again to grab Tommy's hat from Yori's head. "You two can be jerks together."
"Because I'm use to being alone!" shouted Yori. "And the only people I can stand are little kids and people that don't try and understand what's going through my brain, okay? And even those kind of people can annoy me at times. Because you have parents you've been sheltered your whole life but I know what life is outside of your cozy little home and it isn't nice! I think I can handle the Digital World far better than you because it's not a long shot from the world I've lived in since I can remember. Even in the orphanage it was a struggle for survival. So I hate people ordering me about, I hate people trying to figure me out or pretending they know how I feel and I really hate selfish, dense people who seem to try and take charge like you!"
"Sheesh," said Takuya, taking a step back. "What brought that along?"
"Because you're so frustrating!" screamed Yori. "And if I could I would be out of here in a flash. Maybe you could save me a whole load of trouble: hand over your Spirit and you can be rid of me!"
"But… why would you want to go?" said Tommy suddenly. "Can't we just all be friends?"
"Friends are just people who bind you to them so when they're not around you can't do anything for yourself and in the end are just weak," said Yori tonelessly. "Take your stupid hat back. I don't want it."
"Wow… She's got issues," said Takuya, standing with Tommy as they watched Yori walking off toward the Dojo.
Everybody else nodded in agreement.
"Welcome to the Digital Dojo!" said an overly dressed samurai Digimon. As if to try and soften his look he was wearing an apron. Completely disregarding the polite greeting, Yori pushed past him and into the building. The rest of the Digidestined followed suit though they stopped to say hello. A little put off but none the less grateful for some guests, the samurai Digimon then led them into another room where they could sit down and rest their feet. When he had left Bokomon pulled out his book.
"Let's see, let's see… Ah ha!" he said, pointing at something in the book but not letting anybody see. "Musyamon, a samurai Digimon with a large sword you don't want to mess with."
"Well he's obviously fairly friendly," said Sakura, leaning forward to look. Bokomon, as is characteristic of him, shut the book and put it away immediately.
"Don't trust anybody," muttered Yori. "Especially people who seem friendly."
"So since you're so cranky all the time we should trust you the most!" said Takuya from farther away. "Sheesh, do you ever give anything a break?"
"Look who's talking!" snapped Yori, standing up. "I was about ready to drop this, you know!"
"No, I don't know," said Takuya, standing up as well. "Because you made it quite clear what you thought of me but I didn't get to tell you what I think of you!"
"Fine!" said Yori, crossing her arms. "Tell me. I'm listening."
"Well… uh… er…" said Takuya, leaning away and blinking. He looked around the room as if expecting help. Nobody seemed willing to say anything on his behalf. "Well… you see… You are…"
One more glance around the room…
"Ugh, this is so frustrating!" said Takuya, flopping back down in his seat. "I'll think about it…"
With a smirk Yori sat back down as well. The room was deathly quiet for a while when suddenly Musyamon burst back into the room carrying platters of food. Everybody's looks of surprise slowly lit up as they saw the food and they literally attacked the platters except Kouji and Yori. Kouji because he was too dignified for that sort of stuff and Yori because she'd much rather not get her hand bitten off or something. Sakura hung back for a little when she saw Kouji and Yori still sitting. Eventually the five had their fill and Musyamon returned with even more food, which everybody ate immediately, the first five slower than usual letting Kouji and Sakura in. By this time Yori had decided she wasn't too hungry and instead went for a walk around the Dojo.
"I go to the Digital World and nothing changes," sighed Yori, finally finding it safe enough to talk to herself. It had been a habit that she had been trying to break for the period of time she would be hanging with the others. Unfortunately she broke out suddenly. It was something being alone for a long period of time had done to her… The only thing different about Digi-World was the lack of people but the fact that she spent more time with other kids than she had in the past year might be why she thought this; plus the fact that there was a considerably larger amount of Digimon in this world than the real one.
"You know, when I dreamed about something like this happening," she said, looking up at the sky but talking to nobody in particular, "I didn't expect to share it with other people. But I've always shared everything even when I was alone. I want to be able to do something for myself for once…"
Eventually she started to feel like she was going to drift off to sleep. Coming around the corner she found Takuya slumped on the ground. She wondered how long he had been there… asleep? No, he was in too awkward of a position. Suddenly infuriated Yori hit him on the head and expected him to wake up. But he didn't. Now not only had he been listening to her but she also found out she would have to wait for him to wake up to yell at him. She didn't know if she could stay mad at him for that long!
"What are you still doing awake?" cried a voice. Yori whipped around to see Musyamon striding toward her, ripping off his apron as he went. She suddenly realized why she hadn't eaten the food: she didn't trust Musyamon, and when she didn't trust someone she didn't take anything they offered. Sometimes it was even unconsciously. But this also brought into light how willing she trusted the other kids, though she didn't have time to think about it in too much detail. She needed to wake the others up and quick!
"Ninja Blade!" cried Musyamon, leaping in the air and heading straight toward Yori. She cried out, grabbed Takuya and quickly pulled him out of danger. He moaned and she quickly shook him as awake as possible.
"Dude! We need Agunimon!" she nearly shouted, shaking him over and over. Finally he blinked and opened his eyes as wide as he could. She figured there had been some sort of drug in the food and didn't expect him to awaken completely.
"I don't think… I can… digivolve…" muttered Takuya, his eyes starting to roll again.
"Argh!" screamed Yori, lifting him to his feet and prodding him away from Musyamon who was attempting another attack. "Fine, wake up the others! I'll distract Musyamon. Think you can stay awake enough to do that?"
"Yeah…" said Takuya, nodding and heading off toward the room where the others were. Thinking quickly Yori grabbed up a board and threw it at Musyamon.
"Hey, big guy, after me!" she said, running in the opposite direction. As the chase persisted she kept dodging attack after attack. She wasn't exactly sure what had led to her playing decoy as the others escaped… or at least woke up enough to help… but she was doing it. They owe me big time' she thought finally. At last she stumbled across the place she wanted to be: the training room. On the far wall was a rack of weapons at which Yori greedily ran toward and chose the best sword she could find. She turned just in time to attempt to repel Musyamon's attack. Except for not only was he twice her size but he was also a Digimon, which probably doubled the power of any normal sword attack. She almost swore that her arms were broken when Takuya and the rest burst into the room.
"Yori!" cried Takuya.
"What are you doing here?" shouted Yori, taking the momentary surprise to push Musyamon as far away as possible. "You're supposed to run! You're in no condition to fight."
"It's not like you can do anything," said Kouji, who still managed to stay infuriating even half asleep.
"Who asked you?" shouted Yori.
"Look, we don't leave anybody behind!" said Takuya. "We're a group and we have to work together."
"I don't work with anybody!" cried Yori. "I can't afford to trust anybody because if I do I'll just end up getting hurt in the end."
"You're going to get hurt if you don't get out of here," said Takuya. "We're not trying to steal your glory or whatever but you still need us and we need you!"
"Ninja Blade!" cried Musyamon again. This time Yori more easily blocked the attack. But that probably wasn't his goal. When he attacked Musyamon put himself directly between Yori and the exit.
"We need to get out of here," said Kouji.
"Are we just going to leave her?" said Tommy.
"Yeah, she needs our help!" said Sakura.
"Yori!" shouted Takuya. "Get out of there."
"Argh!" shouted Yori, pushing Musyamon again. "This is so frustrating. How am I supposed to learn to do something selfless if you keep trying to save me? I'm not a damsel in distress; I can take care of myself."
At this very moment in time her D-Tector started glowing and beeping. The sword in her hand started glowing as well and floated out of her hand. Before Yori's very eyes it morphed itself into a shape similar to the things that came when Tommy and Takuya and JP first go their spirit. Completely in awe and unsure of exactly what she was doing, Yori pointed her D-Tector at the Spirit. As the circle of data closed over her she heard herself crying out, "Execute. Spirit Evolution!" When the data cleared she was no longer just Yori but Roninmon as well.
"Oooh!" said Bokomon, quickly checking the book. "She's a samurai warrior Digimon by the name of Roninmon. Apparently her village was burned when she was young and decided to get revenge and taught herself to become a samurai. Her strongest attack is… Well… Hmm, this is interesting…"
But "Yori" wasn't paying attention anymore but instead checking herself out. Her hair hung out long and silky but still the same strawberry-blonde color as before. She wore a sort of reddish kimono over which she had some sparse silver armor that was most definitely made out of leather. At her waist was a kimono with a red hilt. After getting over his primary shock Musyamon rushed forward, waving his sword wildly. Roninmon quickly dodged the attack, turned around while grabbing her sword and swung it at Musyamon's back.
"Magical Gate!" she cried, lifting her sword, which was starting to glow and point it toward the sky. A mix of wind, light and lightning came down into the sword, which she then gracefully swung at Musyamon. Just then the fractal code appeared which she quickly grabbed with her D-Tector as she had seen the others do countless times. When this had finished, as short as the battle had been, Yori found herself sitting on the floor, clutching at her dagger, and breathing heavily.
"Are you okay?" said Takuya, running over to help her up. Yori quickly turned to glare at him and turned to her D-Tector from which she released the fractal code. Suddenly the Dojo looked far more inviting and there were a far more array of weapons to choose from. Satisfied Yori got to her feet, ignoring Takuya's helping hand.
"That was awesome!" cried Tommy, rushing forward. "You could have my hat any day if I could wield a sword like you could!"
Yori couldn't help but feel a little prideful at this remark. But to just be funny she grabbed his hat and said, "Well, now you must be able to wield a sword. If not you've got to do something dang cool!"
Tommy laughed at this, blushing slightly. As the others came forward to talk to Yori and say how amazing her Digimon was Yori watched Kouji slip out of the door and leave. He didn't even take Sakura with him, which she found to be completely rude. She would have taken Sakura with her. She couldn't imagine wandering around the Digital World without at least one whiny kid to take care of. But whiny wasn't so bad. In fact, some of the best people were whiners. The people surrounding her proved this. And for the moment she was on top of the world, definitely the strongest of the group. In fact everybody was saying so, and Yori could tell they weren't lying! Well, maybe JP. But that didn't matter. All that mattered was that for once Yori felt like she had done something for someone else and it felt like it had been for her… but not in a selfish way.
Then somebody cleared their throat.
"I hate to break it to you but Roninmon is not one of the ten legendary warriors," said Bokomon, looking straight at Yori. "She's just a wannabe who competed constantly with the warriors to try and grow stronger. At first she never even won but slowly it came to a point where she would always tie. Even though she may be as strong as any of the warriors does not make her one. The spirit you have is of just an ordinary Digimon."
Silence, and then… "YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!" screamed Yori.
It took about an hour to calm Yori down in which about that time she started getting sleepy. By the time she was done yelling at anyone and everything everybody had left the room except Takuya. He had stayed a fair distance away, especially when she started to go for her dagger. But finally she calmed down and sighed heavily. Looking up at Takuya she smiled guiltily.
"I was stupid… sorry…" she muttered.
"Er… well… don't worry about it!" said Takuya. "Hey, you wanted me to tell you what I thought about you."
Yori looked up directly at him in surprise. Then in dread she waited for what he had to say.
"You may seem a little rough around the edges but I think this is how you want others to perceive you," started Takuya, and at that point Yori suddenly felt relax. More relaxed than she had felt since she was a young girl. In fact at one point in her youth an older girl had told her that she was beautiful and that a certain someone might like her. She had gone along with it just to have the guy squash her dreams and beliefs. Ever since then she hadn't let herself trust, like or relax in front of anyone. The idea that she was relaxing to Takuya scared her more than any of the past Digimon they had faced. She tried desperately to build up the wall again, but too late. Takuya had already knocked it down and was working on the next.
"So what I'm going to do is try and not come up with an opinion of you just yet," continued Takuya. "Let's see what happens. And everything you said about me may be true but I think you forgot the flip side."
"Flip side?" said Yori, blinking. "Oh, I get this one. Now you get to talk about how you're a handsome, charming gentleman…"
"You see, I am a very charming, cute… yeah, what you said!" said Takuya, blushing slightly. Just then Yori remembered that she was supposed to be angry with him. But it was hard to be angry when he had figured out part of who she was without rubbing it into her face and pretending to understand how she felt. It was almost like he had just written it down as another fact about her and held off on the opinions as much as possible. It was strange but it was happening. And later that night, as she slowly fell asleep she realized that in reality, Takuya knew more about her than she knew about him.