Chapter Twenty-Four: Hope?
(Ken's P.O.V)
I winced slightly when Rin poked my arm. As soon as I winced she narrowed her eyes at me. I gave her a smile but she shook her head and crossed her arms over her chest.
"So it doesn't hurt?" I shook my head.
"Nope." I watched her unfold her arms and my eyes went wide.
"OW!" I grabbed my arm, which she just punched.
Tai and Davis both laughed while Matt shook his head and Izzy sighed. I looked to Rin the moment her hands slipped below my jacket. She had a nervous look on her face but she was worried too.
"I can take off my own jacket." Her hands quickly were pulled back and a blush appeared but she looked away.
"Sorry, you were being hard-headed I didn't think you would take it off so I could look." I sighed and I took my jacket off.
As I took my jacket off I noticed the same thing I had a little while ago; Rin was forcing a smile again. I noticed it a lot more now but I had a feeling she's been forcing smiles for a while. I didn't like her pretending she's always hid her pain. It made me wonder at times if she's hiding something from me.
"I still want to know who you are." I glanced at the girl when Tai spoke.
She had brownish blonde hair that was completely messy. She looked at us, her red eyes glancing over us. She had shown up out of nowhere suddenly but we were thankful since she helped us fight a Digimon she called Belphemon. He had retreated though so we were safe, for now at least.
"Spark." I was going to say something but I bit my lip when Rin put disinfectant on the wound that was on my arm.
"Huh?" She rolled her eyes.
She turned around and leaned on the wall. She wore a red t-shirt and black pants along with a sleeveless white jacket. What confused me was that there was an odd symbol on the back of the white jacket. It was related to the Digital World somehow but I didn't know how it was related to it. Something about the symbol told me that there was more to this girl than what meets the eye. She was hiding something and I didn't like the fact that she was hiding it, especially since she was strong enough to take on Belphemon. She may not match him in power but she beat him out in brains, Belphemon seemed like a complete idiot which was good since he seemed over powered.
It bugged me though that she had shown up out of nowhere. She just shows up and helps up push Belphemon away for now and she's yet to ask for anything. She's barely said anything to us. She had helped us get back here to Tai's house.
"My name's Spark, Spark Gallant." I looked to Tai and he looked at me.
"You're a runner aren't you?" While Tai looked at her I looked to Rin.
Her hands lingered on my arm. She was watching me as if deep in thought. Rin had played medic for us since she was surprising very good at being a medic. She had a lot of knowledge in that field, not as nearly as much as Joe but then again he is in college to be a doctor so that's to be expected. Yet after a few seconds I took know of the faraway look that she had.
"Yeah I'm a runner, got a problem with that?" Rin removed her hands when Spark spoke.
"No, just never met a runner before that's all." Well there was Kain but he was a retired runner.
"Ah, I see so it's your first meeting of a Runner. Care to introduce yourselves?" Spark yawned, covering her mouth as she did so.
"I'm Izzy Izumi; I have to ask, where did you come from?" Izzy makes it sound like she's some kind of alien.
"My origins are none of your concern." She looked over the shoulder out of the window.
Yet with a roll of thunder I thought about the weather once again. It wasn't just raining but storming. Lightning lit the sky and thunder rumbled. She seemed uneasy, waiting for something almost. Izzy seemed upset by her answer but sighed. The way she said it made me feel even more uneasy of her actually.
"Gallant, do you have something to do with a Digimon named Gallantmon? Also I'm Tai Kamiya." Her eyes snapped to Tai and looked him over before she sighed.
"Is your partner an Agumon?" Tai nodded but the fact that she knew that disturbed me since we hadn't told her and she didn't meet our Digimon.
"Um yeah, how do you know?" She scratched the back of her head sighing.
"Don't worry about it, surprised me all that's all. After all your sister is a well-known runner." Izzy and Matt's eyes widened while I sighed; like I thought Kari was a runner after all.
"My sister, Kari Kamiya?" Spark nodded her head.
I had to wonder once again just what a runner was. Kain said that most DigiDestineds that were given a choice to become a Runner never became a Runner. I want to know why they wouldn't become Runners. From what I gathered Runners help other worlds and I would think going around helping people and exploring other worlds would be fun. Seeing what kind of worlds are out there seems interesting.
I glanced at Izzy, I bet he would love being a Runner if it meant going around and exploring worlds. He always wants to learn new things, especially about the Digital World.
"Yes Hikari Kamiya though she's known as the Harmony Runner, she helped take down the Demon Lords last time." My eyes went wide hearing that.
Kari's fought the Demon Lords before? Kari wasn't that stronger though, was she? Even knowing what she wrote in her Dairy I had trouble believing that. Kari really doesn't seem like she would've fought a grope like that before. Not when she's so against fighting now of days, she didn't like fighting and she didn't like destroying Digimon. Maybe it was because what she went through while she was in the Digital World the first time; they had said that they saw a lot of their allies get deleted.
"Kari's famous?" Spark's eyes shifted to Davis, she stared at him for a few moments.
"Yeah; most runners know the story of how she, Takuya, Koji, and Koichi defeated Lucemon, Lilithmon, and Barbamon." She helped defeat the leader?!
"Why are they fighting if their leader is defeated?" Rin's voice gave away her surprise.
"Sadly that Lucemon was a fragment of his data; once it was destroyed it went back to his main form that was sealed away." I bit my lip; the leader was stronger than what Kari had fought, which from her dairy he was already overly strong it seemed liked.
"Anyways, I'm Rin Sylph." She gave a knowing look to Rin that confused me.
"I'm Ken Ichijouji." She nodded, never looking from Rin.
"It's safe to assume the blonde is Matt Ishida and the maroon haired one is Daisuke Motomiya then." Knowing their name made me even wearier of her.
"I hate Daisuke; Davis is my name." She nodded, still looking at Rin.
I looked to Rin and I saw that her eyes were half closed. She looked tired and a little weary. Her smile wasn't there; her blue eyes were darker than usual too. Rin looked so different in that moment. She looked like she knew a lot more than she was letting us believe. I want to think that Rin has told us everything that she knows or at least has told me everything that she knows since we're best friends.
"I don't know what you're planning but if you're deceiving her friends she won't forgive you. Kari might be forgiving but when her friends are hurt she doesn't forgive even if it seems like she does." What does she mean?
Not only that, why is she telling Rin that? Why is she acting as if she knows Rin? Wait, does she know Rin? No she can't know Rin if she's a runner. Unless Rin is actually hiding something but she seriously didn't seem to know anything about the Digital World when Izzy was telling her of things so that means that she doesn't know anything about the Digital World, well at least she didn't until just a little while ago. Not to mention I highly doubt that Rin would betray us, if she was going to do something then she would've done it by now more than likely since we trust her so much. Yet it dawned on me that she also talks like she knows Kari. How would she know Kari? Did she meet Kari but that would mean that they just met since Kari wasn't a Runner while she was still in this world, was she? Ah my head hurts slightly.
"Maybe you have me mixed up with the other Rin you know. I would never harm my friends; I would rather die before hurting my friends." I was shocked Rin's harsh tone.
"The Rin you know might be a back stabbing bitch who is dating her own cousin but that ain't me. Don't get me confused with her." Rin was usually nice so not only her narrowed eyes looked odd but hearing her say what she did was surprising.
"When did you learn of your parallel self, Rin?" Only when Izzy asked that I realized that she spoke like she knew her parallel self.
"She met her parallel self when the parallel versions of Takeru and Daisuke were here five years ago." She must've known of Digimon before now then but she said she didn't and she was so surprised when Izzy told her so either she's a good actress or she missed something back then.
"I was right! That means that the Daisuke that teased Kari was an alternative version of me! I knew the crybaby didn't have it in him to tease her either! So the T.K. we know and the T.K. that teased her are two different people!" I looked at Davis, he had a grin on his face and he seemed rather relieved for some reason.
"Yelp two different people, that 'T.K.' rather being called Takeru though, two different people, two different personalities." I had to agree with her if I based it off of what Kari had written, the T.K. I knew and that 'T.K.' was nothing alike besides appearance.
"You learned of Digimon back then didn't you Rin?" I heard Rin sigh.
"No, I hadn't learned of Digimon back then. We met by chance, she was cold and cruel. She laughed at me, said I was to 'peaceful' and 'nice'." Her words confused me but I heard Spark laugh.
"I doubt Belphemon will come back. They'll be after me since I showed my face as a fighter in this war though. I need to be going." She pushed form the wall and began to the door.
"Wait, you said war." She stopped and looked at Matt; she shoved her hands in her pockets.
"Yeah I said war, that's what it is. Kari, Koji, and Koichi are fighting them in that world; the three of them are taking the blunt of it. Takuya is currently under the control of the enemy but I think he did that on purpose for some reason. The Demon Lords have wiped out many worlds already, this 'battle' isn't going to be over until one side is completely wiped out." I gulped hearing that.
"Wiped out?" She nodded, Tai sounded like he had choked on the words.
"Yeah, I wish there was a seal strong enough to hold them but there isn't so the Demon Lords have to be defeated and deleted." A war between human and Digimon, a war we can't help with.
"There isn't anything that we can do to help Kari is there?" I saw Spark smile slightly.
"Let her know that you guys believe in her, Kari's strength comes from her friends." I smiled slightly.
"Oh I know! Do you think you could pass along a letter to my sister then?" I looked to Tai; a part of me didn't trust Spark.
"Well I don't actually know Kari personally." I looked at her.
You brought her up as if you knew her though?" She shook her head at Matt's comment.
"A friend of mine that I met during my travels knows her, close friend of Kari's too." So she's only heard of her then.
"Do you know one of the three she fought with then?" Her eyes flickered with a bit of anger before she sighed.
"No, she's someone Kari only met recently. Her name's Chrono Aleksander." As she stood there I could tell that she was lying for some reason but she wasn't lying completely.
"Well do you think you could get her to pass the letter onto Kari?" Did Tai completely trust this girl?
"You have an hour before I leave, I'll be waiting under your sister's tree." I was confused but surprised that she agreed.
"Thanks." Spark shook her head and left.
Spark left and it was dead silent. I don't know about them but I didn't trust her. She appeared out of nowhere and managed to push Belphemon into retreating. Not to mention she used something that I can only describe as magic. She was able to use lightning somehow, she was able to conjure it and control it. Not to mention she was able to bend the air at least to some degree since she was flying or at least floating.
"I want to write Kari too!" After a few seconds of Davis's words they went to Tai's room to write the letters to Kari.
Whoever Spark was she was mysterious. She seemed calm but during that fight she was like the storm that raged outside. She didn't stop attacking but each move was planned. Each attack had served some kind of purpose. No moment had been wasted.
"Why don't we all write letters to Kari?" I looked to Izzy who seemed tempted to write.
"I bet Kari would be happy to receive letters from us, after all she's probably missing us somewhat." I crossed my arms but winced when I moved my arm that was hurt it was cut pretty deeply.
"She probably thinks everyone hates her because she left. She would probably be relieved to know we're still her friends." At that I felt kind of bad, she probably does think that.
"I'll be back, I'm going to go and get some things." Rin left quickly but something bothered her, she looked hurt, as she left Matt went to Tai's room.
Something wasn't right. I don't understand why the Demon Lords would attack us so suddenly; we actually had no connection to the 'war' that was being fought besides the fact that we knew Kari. Are they just after Kari maybe? Are they trying to break her or something by coming after us? I was snapped out of my thoughts when someone knocked on the door.
"Who is it!?" Tai really is loud since he can yell that from his bedroom and still be loud out here.
"OW!" I heard a crash in Tai's room, looks like Matt or Izzy didn't appreciate his loud mouth.
"It's us." Looks like Yolei's here and since she said 'us' Cody and T.K. are here too.
"The doors open." Matt spoke that as he walked out, Izzy following him glaring at Tai and rubbing his ear.
"You are seriously too loud at times Tai." Tai smiled and shrugged but he was rubbing his head.
"What happened to you guys?" At that we turned our attention the T.K., Yolei, and Cody not to mention we had a few bandages thanks to the fight that we had gotten into with Belphemon.
"One of the Demon Lords attacked us but we're fine, he won't be bothering us anymore." I took note that Davis was out here, was he still writing to Kari?
"So, what are you guys doing now?" I thought about what they had been doing, even if I don't trust Spark I kinda want to write to Kari too, she's one of the only friends that I had.
"Well we met a DigiDestined named Spark, she travels worlds and well she knows a person who knows Kari. We were writing letters that she was going to get passed to Kari." I saw T.K. smile; I wonder if he still likes Kari even though he 'hated' her since he found out about Kari's secret.
"Hey, think I could write a letter?" I noticed that Tai looked at T.K., probably thinking about how much he could believe of the fact that while someone who looked just like him and with the same name had once teased his sister but that was a parallel version of him.
"Sure, she's probably worried about since this is Kari we're talking about." He smiled and I had to wonder if he really was smiling a lot not forcing smiles since his sister was in another world or was he just that confident that Kari would be safe.
"Yeah that's just how Kari is." I looked at Matt when his phone went off, he sighed.
"What's wrong?" Matt shook his head and replied before putting his phone away.
"Rin's heading home." I was hoping that she could meet Yolei and Cody; I think she would get along with them.
"Rin was here?" T.K. sounded stunned and that's when it finally clicked; if she's Matt's cousin that means that she's also T.K.'s cousin.
"Yeah she's apparently Ken's childhood friend." That got me a look from Yolei and I laughed slightly.
"Who is she?" I smiled.
"Rin Sylph, she's someone I've known since I was a little kid. We live next door to each other and we've gone to the same school since pre-school. She actually stayed my friend through the whole Digimon Emperor phase somehow too." Even now I'm trying to figure out how she remained friends with me during that time; it seemed that they were surprised too.
"Rin's also mine and T.K.'s cousin." Wonder why she never claimed T.K. as her cousin?
"She hates claiming me as her cousin, ever since five years ago she won't even talk to me!" T.K. seemed annoyed but I realized what else that fell in with, that was when she supposedly met his parallel self.
"What did you expect? You two were really close and then you just move off to France with mom and never tell her, you should've seen her when she found out from me! She was crying her eyes out so it's your fault that she won't talk to you." I sighed but laughed once again, Rin did hate losing friends so I could see her doing that but I don't understand why she wouldn't talk to him now.
"Hey I apologized to her last year when we bumped into each other." Maybe something else happened or maybe the meeting of his parallel self does play a role in why she doesn't talk to him.
"Well if you want to write the letters and get them delivered to Kari we only have forty-five minutes to write and get them to Spark." And so that's when the 'argument' stopped since we were all writing a letter to Kari, no matter what at the end the DigiDestined will always pull together and get over any kind of problem that we have with each other.