Call of the Spirit

I don't own Digimon

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"Talking"

'Thoughts'

)-( Scene change

(----) Different point of view

(-/-/-) Flash back

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Chapter 12

They haven't encountered Takato, Henry, and Terriermon yet and they're getting worried. One of the things they worry about is that Beelzemon has them and is currently torturing them, maybe using them as bait. Jeri, Leomon, Renamon, Guilmon, and her firmly believe that they're fine, mostly because they know that if worst came to worst, Takato could always spirit evolve into Enlilmon to help kick butt.

Then there's the chance that Takato found Cerawmon, his beast spirit. For all they know, Takato could be on a rampage through one of the planes of the Digital World. It's could happen, for from the story about those Digidestine that spirit evolve, most of the Digidestine lost control of themselves during their first use of their beast spirit, hell Takuya even attacked his friends. Oddly enough, Guilmon doesn't believe this reason.

So they're left wondering about what's going on with Takato, Henry, and Terriermon. It's getting close to night and they were stopped when Growlmon says, "I hear Takato." Kazu says, "I don't hear anything." "GUILMON!" They hear Takato's voice shout. They all turn and as a data stream comes towards them, a large dragon rams into Cyberdramon. "You guys help your friend! We'll handle this guy." Ryo says. They nod as they charge into the data stream; Growlmon is the first to reach it though.

They soon land and find Rapidmon trying to detain Beelzemon. Takato is currently holding a really scared kid and at his feet is a brown version of Terriermon with two extra horns. 'Lopmon.' She thinks as she identifies the brown bunny. "Takato!" They shout and Takato turns towards them. They race towards him and the girl. "Wish we could have met up again under better circumstances." Takato says as he puts down the little girl. Jeri moves to comfort her and Takato adds, "This is Susie, Henry's little sister. Her partner is the ex-rabbit Deva, Antylamon. Susie, you'll be alright with Jeri, ok?" Susie nods, she bites her lip as she noticed the trail of tears running down the girl's face.

They turn to find Growlmon flying into the ground. She pulls out a card and transforms it into a blue card. Takato mimics her and they say it at the same time, "Matrix Digivolution!" Growlmon Digivolves into WarGrowlmon and Renamon becomes Taomon, skipping her champion form. As she watches the battle, she notices that Kazu and Guardromon are heading to Henry. She wonders just what happened that could cause the normally calm boy to be an emotional wreck she sees before her. Then again, I might want to skip it.' She thinks as she returns to watching Beelzemon beat up on their partners.

It's clear that Beelzemon was in his own class as he easily punches WarGrowlmon out of the air and into the ground with a great deal of force. Taomon and Rapidmon weren't doing any better, either. Parts of Rapidmon were becoming fuzzy, much like the pictures that Kenta tried to take in the Digital World, it wasn't a very encouraging sign truth be told. Taomon is breathing heavy and trying to conserve as much energy she could for an attack.

It just didn't look good and Beelzemon seems to be enjoying this. She turns slightly to see Takato's reaction and it's the first time that she has ever seen Takato's eyes is that of a freezing rage. WarGrowlmon tries to protect Rapidmon from Beelzemon's Double Impart. It hits WarGrowlmon in the back and the cyber Dino collapses.

Beelzemon takes a step towards Rapidmon then before Beelzemon or anyone could do anything, Takato screams, "That's enough, Impmon! You think you're powerful, but you're not! The strength you're using comes from someone else, doesn't it? Therefore you're only proving how weak you are by continuing to use that power. So stop trying to kidded yourself and just leave already." They all just stare in astonishment at Takato for knowing that Beelzemon and then at Beelzemon to try to see the imp they remember from the real world. "It is Impmon, I should have recognised that scarf he has around his arm." She can hear Taomon say. Beelzemon is still frozen and both Takato and him were staring at each other, either is blinking.

Then Beelzemon growls as he says, "I'm not Impmon any more. And I don't care how you know that, but it's going to be the last thing you ever say, goggle head." Beelzemon take aim at Takato and Takato ducks onto the ground. She sees a flash of white and knows that what Takato's going to do. "Beast Spirit Evolution!" Takato cries as he kneels. A ball of light surround Takato and soon a large dirty brown and dark green scaled Digimon is revealed.

Beelzemon says, "That was you? How the hell did you that? On second thought, I really don't care." Beelzemon pulls the trigger and Cerawmon simply leaps into the air. The arms turn out to be wings and Cerawmon cries out, "Solar Storm!" The attack hits Beelzemon in a whirling display of yellow light flashing around Beelzemon. Cerawmon dive bombs Beelzemon and they watch as the barbed tail increases in size, the spikes moving about so there's a spike on each side. "Tail Mace!" Cerawmon growls out and as Cerawmon begins to soar just above Beelzemon's head, the attack hits Beelzemon in the back, sending the mega flying into the dirt.

She turns to where WarGrowlmon should be, but only finds Guilmon lying there. She watches as Terriermon pulls himself up off the ground. She turns and is relieved to find that her partner is still an ultimate and also seems to be recovering as Cerawmon and Beelzemon battle it out.

Speaking of which, she returns to watch Takato as Cerawmon getting the better of Beelzemon. She can almost see Cerawmon's yellow eyes glow. "Is it just me or is Takato getting stronger?" Kenta asks. "It's all of the adrenalin going through Cerawmon's body. The more Cerawmon battles, the stronger he gets, during battle he doesn't even feel his injuries either. He took out a Vermilimon all on his own, it was in the cave where his beast spirit was." Henry explains. They all flinch as Beelzemon shoots his guns wildly into the air in hopes of hitting Cerawmon. "Just what are you talking about?" Kazu asks. "We'll explain later. So, he'll win?" She asks. "I don't know. I just hope this will end so, for Takato's sake." Henry says. "Why do you say that?" She asks, puzzled. "Once this battle is done, Takato will be in no shape to help us. He'll be exhausted and we'll be luck if he remembers to change back after the battle." Henry replies. "O." Everyone other then Henry says.

The best thing that could happen, happens, Beelzemon runs out of ammo and Cerawmon is fine. Then Beelzemon decides to change tactics. The mega turns and begins to run towards Guilmon. Cerawmon notices this and dives to intercept the demon Digimon. Cerawmon takes the hit meant for his partner, Guilmon. "Takato!" Everyone shouts out at the same time.

The image of Cerawmon reveals Takato and the goggle wearing boy lies on top of his partner. "I wouldn't let you hurt Guilmon." Takato says clearly. "Feh! Say your prayers, kid." Beelzemon says. "Stop!" Taomon says and then adds, "Talisman of Light!" This hits Beelzemon in the back and Beelzemon turns to face Taomon, this allows Takato time to do something, anything.

(----Takato----)

He knows that he needs to wake up, but he can't at the moment. He stares at both of his spirits and they in turn part. "We'll help." Enlilmon says. "We give you our strength." Cerawmon says. Enlilmon finishes, "And our blessing." "Wait, does this mean I'll lose the pair of you?" He asks them. "We're just being overly dramatic is all. We just want you to know we'll support your Bio Merge with Guilmon." Enlilmon says. "It's just that you'd normally become one with one of us, then merge with Guilmon." Cerawmon explains. "Thanks." He says to the pair, they nod and they disappear.

He moves forward and finds Guilmon standing on a hill, staring up at the full moon. He approaches Guilmon and his partner turns to him with a big goofy grin. "They said you'd come. So we're going to do this?" Guilmon asks. He laughs and says, "I think somethings were always pointing us in this direction. This will be different then when I Spirit Evolve, how different I'm willing to find out." Guilmon nods and the reach out and touch each other.

"Guilmon Bio-Merge too…" Guilmon says once they wake. "Gallantmon!" They say in a unified voice. He finds himself in a sphere of red light. He feels the power that they share as Gallantmon. 'This is way pass cool!' He says. 'I know, Takato. Just look how surprise Beelzemon is!' Guilmon says. They look together at the demon Digimon and he cracks a smile.

"It's time you face someone your own level, Beelzemon! Justus will be served!" They say as one, their voices mixing together. "You think you stand a chance against me? I defeated you as both WarGrowlmon and as that freaky mon! It's you who should be worried about what I'll do!" Beelzemon shouts and tries to use his Darkness Claw on them, but they use the lance to block the attack and then the shield to force the other mega back.

They then start to trade blows, but it's clear that the damage that Beelzemon took when he was Cerawmon is slowing down the biker Digimon. They didn't really want to really harm Beelzemon, but they'll not stand by and let the biker mega kill one of their friends.

Beelzemon lands close to Taomon and before he could interfer Beelzemon grabs Taomon by the neck. Rika shouts out, "Digimodify! Alias activate!" Beelzemon absorbs the data form of Taomon, but before the biker mega could turn to delete Renamon, Leomon uses his Fist of the Beast King. He sends Beelzemon flying just as Beelzemon injuries Leomon. He kneels and puts his hand over the wound. He can't stop it from slowly deleting Leomon.

"I'm sorry I wasn't fast enough, but I promise that Beelzemon wouldn't absorb your data, my friend." He says, he turns to see Jeri crying into Henry's chest. Henry puts a protective arm around her. He looks to where Beelzemon is and finds that Beelzemon is only holding onto the ground with one hand.

'I need your help on this, O spirits of Shifting Chaos. I don't want to absorb Leomon's data, but I also don't want it lost at the same time. What can I do?' He asks. 'Takato, look!' Guilmon says and he stares at the D-Tector in their hand. The last of Leomon's data frame transforms into a data flow, then it begins to flow into his D-Tector. Once all of the data is within his D-Tector, it disappears.

He then says softly, 'I'll find a way to bring him back, Jeri. All I need to do is figure out how to get the data out of the D-Tector.' Guilmon hums his agreement, then they move as one to face Beelzemon. The mega level Digimon has just climb up and is staring the sobbing form of Jeri. He sighs and tells Beelzemon, "Just go, Beelzemon. A good friend and comrade has just been deleted. If you want to continue this, we'll do it later." Beelzemon swallows and moves onto his bike and takes off.

Once the mega is out of sight, Guilmon and him unmerge into their usual selves. He holds up his D-Tector, he looks up at where Jeri is still crying and remembers what he promised. He'll figure out a way to reformat Jeri's partner by using his data. He just hopes they have time to come up with a way to do that.

Just as they're walking towards the group, something appears behind them. He freezes as some kind of armoured dog lands just a few feet in front of them. He watches as Terriermon blocks the transformed dog Deva attack on Lopmon. Rika uses a modify card and Renamon's attack sends the dog Deva flying. Then Guardromon uses his Guardian Barrage; Kazu had swiped two cards to make a combo, the attack keeps the Deva down.

He races forward with Guilmon keeping pace. He takes out his D-Tector and Spirit Evolves into Enlilmon. He takes to the air and one in range of the Deva, he cries out, "Blazing Ancient!" The attack finishes the Deva off, soon the data from the dog Deva enters into his D-Tector. He transforms back into his normal self. Guilmon catches up to him and they move together towards Jeri.

Rika moves up to where Renamon is laying, they move pass each other as they head in different directions. He stops in front of Jeri, he says, "I'm really sorry, Jeri. We shouldn't have gone as easy on him as we did." Jeri says, "The two of you did more then most of us could do. I mean, when you were Cerawmon, you did more damage then all when WarGrowlmon, Rapidmon, and Taomon were fighting. Then when you were Gallantmon, you two had the power to wiped the floor with Beelzemon, but you reframed from doing so. You two had more honour then Beelzemon had, you shouldn't feel guilty about Leomon's death." He sighs and they all just stand around in silence, in honour of the bravery of a very righteous Digimon.

After ten minutes, Kazu and Kenta finally look at him and Kazu asks, "Since when have you've been able to transform into a Digimon?" Kenta adds, "First you keep the fact that you're a Tamer from us, then you forget to mentioned about this ability to transform into Digimon? Just what kind of friend are you?" He blinks a few times and then before he says anything Henry says, "He was only trying to keep you safe. I mean, you can't tell what you don't know, right?" The pair looks thoughtful and then Kazu says, "We'll forgive you. Only if you'll let us have take pictures of you Digimon forms." He says, "Ok." Kazu and Kenta high five each other and make plans on how to make money off the pictures they'll be taking of him.

"Thanks Henry." He whispers to Henry. Henry smiles and reply; "I don't think they'd be able to keep it a secret for long, once we get back home." He nods and then looks at the bridge before them. He then follows the steps to the large spiked tower. He frowns as he realized just who's base it most likely is.

He then looks over towards Lopmon and sees how Susie is hugging the brown rookie. He then looks to where Rika and Renamon are; they're slowly making their way to the group. He looks to find Guilmon busy with Calumon. Terriermon is looking a bit worn, but fine all things considered. He spots Jeri sitting by Guardromon, looking at her D-Ark. He doesn't feel the need to look at either Kazu or Kenta; he turns to find Henry looking over at Jeri. He places a comforting hand on his friend's shoulder. Henry looks at him and smiles sadly.

"So, we need to confront who ever is living in that tower then." He says as he turns to look at the spiked tower. "I don't want Susie or Jeri to come with us when we do." Henry says with conviction. He nods and says, "I'm sure that Kazu and Kenta will be delighted to stay with them. Lopmon will want to come with, though. Let's wait for an hour, that way our partners have time to recover, ok?" Henry looks relieved at his idea and nods his agreement. "I'll talk with Susie and explain why she needs to stay behind." Henry says. "Say that you want her to try her best to cheer up Jeri. It'll make her feel important and it might help Jeri forget for a while." He suggests to Henry. "You're a great leader, Takato. I'll try that, thanks for the suggestion." Henry says, then heads to where Susie and Lopmon.

He watches Henry kneels down and begins to chat with Susie. He looks around for Rika and walks towards the red head. "Hey." He says to Rika. Rika snaps out of her thoughts and replies, "O hey, goggle head. What's up?" He says, "I'm wondering if you'll come with Henry and me to the spiked tower? Henry wants his sister and Jeri to remain behind, and I think Kazu and Kenta will remain behind to watch them. Lopmon will most likely be coming with, so?" Rika snorts and says, "We came this far, why should I continue on? I'm not letting you have all the fun, goggle head." He grins and says, "I feel safer already." He then turns and heads to where Guilmon and Calumon are, he wants to know if Calumon will be fine coming with them.

(----Rika----)

She can still hear what Takato told her, it keeps repeating in her head. 'I feel safer already.' She knew that Takato hadn't meant anything by it, but she can't help but wonder with Takato. The way just thinking about her make her feel… oddly, it a mixture of security, a feel of safeness, and light headed. She couldn't pinpoint when she started to feel like this towards Takato, but ever since Takato went up against IceDevimon, she really began to reconsider her initial reactions towards Henry and Takato. Most notably would be her outlook on Digimon.

Her musings are cut short as Takato waves a hand in front of her face. "Hello! Earth to Rika. Come in Rika." She hears Takato say. "Huh?" She replies. "It's time to head out." Takato says as he offers his hand to her. She blushes lightly as she takes it. Takato pulls her up on to her feet. She hangs behind, letting Takato and Guilmon to be in front. "Rika!" Calumon shouts and she soon is holding the white Digimon in her arms.

"You feeling alright, Rika? Your face was kind of red." Calumon asks. She sighs and says, "It's nothing, Calumon." "If you say so, Rika." Renamon says as she appears to her left. She sighs and mouths, "I'll tell you later." Renmon nods and they start off towards the start of the bridge. She focuses on the task at hand, hopefully pushing all thoughts of Takato out of her head. She doesn't need to have her feeling towards interfere with the coming battle. She knows that Takato and Guilmon can take care of themselves, so she just needs to worry about Renamon and herself.

To be continued …