DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon, but I do own the OCs introduced in this story (except where stated).
DEVIATIONS
Chapter 9
Old Habits
The night once again drew a dark mood on all, assisted by that day's events. None less than Rika Nonaka, as she stood in her room, clutching the D-Arc and her card holder that she had worn practically every day for the past month and a week.
No longer.
At one point she would've seen it as a great triumph to be able to get rid of the contraption. It would entail that her partner was strong enough not to need a moulded piece of plastic or some pieces of strengthened paper to fight, but clearly that was no longer the case.
Her partner came to mind, the partner who had deceived her and treated her like she was a baby. No one would ever treat her like that, she didn't care where Renamon ended up, as far as she was concerned, that part of her life was over.
She tossed the pair of items into the waste bin in her room, landing on piles of paper and assorted objects that were similarly unnecessary. She looked at them for a few second, her violet eyes having a short lasted longing for something, before it was dismissed.
"I hate Digimon…"
Takato on the other hand, was a person who couldn't possibly hate Digimon. Or stay mad at something for too long. Or concentrate on something bad for longer than an hour. Well, he could have, but it simply didn't show…
"Hyper Wing and Speed modify cards, you lose Henry!" Takato cheered, playing down his moves. A pleasant day after school had naturally erupted into a game of Digimon, and Takato was eager to reuse the strategy he had been taught by Henry the other day, that had worked so well in the battle against IceDevimon.
Henry smiled and nodded. "You did great…" he congratulated. "Another game?"
"Of course…" Takato replied, pausing when an electronic beeping sounded from under his jumper.
Henry paused, eager to see how Takato would explain this situation, while Takato felt nervous.
'I can't get my D-Arc out, he'll see it…but I have to check it…hmm…' "Oh great, my pager…" he noted.
Henry cocked an eyebrow. "A…pager?"
Takato scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, my mom got sick of me taking so long to get to the bakery that she bought me a pager, she must need me to help in the store…" he replied, Henry not buying a word of it. "Sorry about the game…"
Henry shrugged. "Never mind, we'll play when you next get a chance…"
Takato smiled, standing up out of the dinosaur. "Great! Well, see ya…" he said to Henry, as he headed away.
"Don't poison too many customers!" Henry joked, watching as the boy, as usual, headed in the opposite direction to his home. He was going to get Guilmon, which gave him a chance to go and see.
He gathered up his cards, beginning to sort through his deck. He'd wait a while, Takato's battles normally meant he would be away from the hideout for at least thirty minutes, he was in no hurry. Plus, the risk of bumping into Takato by heading there now was too great, so he decided to leave it for the time being.
"Hey Guilmon!" Takato called, arriving at the hideout.
"Hey Takatomon…I smell a Digimon!" the saurian replied.
Takato took out his D-Arc and his new favourite two cards, grinning. "Yeah, I know…time to get some more action Guilmon, with this card combo, we're unstoppable!"
"Yay!" Guilmon cheered, as the pair raced away from the hideout.
'This'll be interesting, first battle without Rika in it…I hope…'
He recalled the previous day, events he had pushed from his mind. His partner seemed to have no idea about the tail thing when consulted on it, and he'd ended up dropping the issue, knowing he'd find out in time. The much more obvious remaining issue was Rika and Renamon. Takato wished he could've stopped their fallout, but nothing could have worked. After Rika said she hated Digimon, Kyubimon had simply left, neither speaking from then on despite Takato's attempts to stop them leaving.
This, naturally, left him with a nagging problem that was, what was he supposed to do if he came across a Digimon too strong even for Growlmon to handle? Without Rika, what would he do?
"Gogglehead…you really need a backbone…"
Despite the fact she hadn't intended it that way, Takato knew that Rika was right; he was going to have to learn to fight his battles on his own.
He pushed his card combo back into his pocket.
They'd fight, and they'd be unstoppable!
"I can't seem to secure a tracer lock on the anomalies' data…" Tally reported.
"We won't make it in time; it's going to bioemerge…" Riley analysed.
"Use the Digital Field Deletion Program!" Yamaki ordered.
"But DFDP hasn't been completely tested…" Riley replied. "The Digimon has breeched, at this stage it could be extremely dangerous!" she warned.
"Don't argue with me, launch it! That wild one is a ticking time bomb!"
Takato grinned as he neared the Digital Field, a somewhat sadistic grin since he was looking forward to a battle. Regardless, he was prepared, he had his pair of cards, he had Guilmon (who in his running wasn't exactly pulling off the 'costume' tactic) and he was ready to battle, nothing could stop them.
The Digital Field was at a busy junction between two roads, and Takato stopped on an overbridge to watch it and see what would come out. Would it be a rookie, would it be a champion, or maybe even an Armour level? That was the thrill of Digimon taming, he knew it was, and he slightly understood why Rika enjoyed Renamon's battles, although she didn't seem to enjoy them as much as he was looking forward to this battle.
Car horns and engines sounded as the lights were stuck at red. Takato presumed it was something to do with the Digital Field; maybe it could affect electronics or something.
"When are we going down to attack?" Guilmon asked. Takato grinned, patting his partner on the head.
"As soon as the Digimon appears, right now we'd run straight into some cars…" he answered. Guilmon smiled and nodded.
"Good…what are cars?"
"Those big vehicles down there, all lined up…"
"Are they going to move?"
"If the lights change, yeah, but otherwise you're going to have to fight around them…"
"Okay Takato…"
"Hey, you forgot the 'mon'!" Takato cheered, glad for his partner's listening to him.
"Oh…sorry Takatomon, I won't forget it from now on…"
Takato groaned. "That's not what I meant…"
"Sorry…"
"Anyway, it's up to us to defend Tokyo from now on, so we better get used to this!" Takato cheered, determination in his eyes as he stared on at the Digital Field.
It suddenly faded and vanished, the lights turning green and the traffic moving on.
"Huh?" Takato asked. "What happened?"
"Did the Digimon go away?" Guilmon asked.
'What's going on?' Takato pondered.
"Digital Field is terminated…" Riley reported.
"Good…what was the effect on the real world?" Yamaki asked.
"I'm still collecting data…" Tally replied.
"Good, collect the data on the point of termination as well…"
"Affirmative…"
Yamaki chuckled, flicking his lighter. "Data on the internet, nothing more…"
"I WILL HAVE MY REVENGE!"
Yamaki turned to the voice, and saw nothing. Just what was that?
He glanced to the two operatives, who seemingly haven't heard. What was going on?
Henry walked towards the hideout, carefully checking that Takato and Guilmon had left yet. He intended to check out the hideout, to see if he could figure out anything more to do with these Digimon.
'Where did they come from?' he pondered, walking up the steps and looking into the dug out building. 'And why are they exactly like in the TV series, well, mostly?'
He placed his hand on the dug out wall, surprised at how anything could've managed to burrow through concrete. It was pretty impressive, although the power that the Digimon had was worrying at the same time.
He recalled seeing both Renamon and Guilmon in battle, and how they had managed to cause so much damage to where they fought. Could Digimon really exist in the real world?
I mean, they literally did exist of course, but the problem was, could they really coexist with humans? He knew that his mother and sisters would probably run straight away at the sight of a Digimon, and that his Dad would probably be intrigued by (albeit afraid of) them.
None of the Digimon battles, excepting the Devidramon battle, had been particularly public, but he had a feeling that would change in the future.
Even if Takato were to show Guilmon, how exactly could he help? He didn't have a Digimon, albeit wishing he did, he'd just be a target.
Maybe he could keep people away from the Digital Fields? Or look after Calumon?
What did Calumon do anyway? He thought that he was just an ordinary Digimon, that just happened to be so interested in playing and eating rather than fighting like Renamon and Guilmon, although then again, Guilmon was interested in both. He acted so differently in battle; he seemed to be more under control lately than when he had first seen Renamon and Guilmon fighting, but still different to normally, when he was highly docile.
But, the battle where Guilmon had digivolved had told him otherwise. Calumon had leapt off of his head, his ears out, and then his symbol glowed on his head, before bursting into light. And then Guilmon digivolved to Growlmon. What was that? Did Calumon cause it? Was Calumon really a digimon at all?
He'd never shown any attacks, and he didn't want to fight, not exactly like Digimon he'd seen, both in real life, and in the game he played. So was he a Digimon, or was he something else entirely?
"Henry?" asked a voice, as the boy looked up to see Takato and Guilmon, staring at him standing thinking in the hideout with looks of concern and bewilderment. This was not good. What happened to their battle, it couldn't have finished that quickly, could it? An uncomfortable silence descended at first, until Guilmon interrupted.
"Is this that friend you were talking about Takatomon?" Guilmon asked, looking to his partner.
"Um…yeah…Henry…what are you doing here?" Takato asked.
"That's…a Digimon?" Henry asked, looking to the red dinosaur.
Takato went into worried explanation mode, as he panicked that Henry had found out. "Um…I can explain…" he began, fishing around for something to explain what Guilmon was. He sighed in resignment; even for him this would be impossible. "Yeah, it's my digimon partner, Guilmon…"
"Cool…" Henry replied, smiling to reassure Takato. "Don't worry; I'm not going to tell anyone…"
Takato breathed a sigh of relief. "Thanks…"
"Did you really expect me to? This is far too interesting to wreck it like that…"
Takato chuckled. "Yeah, you're not going to believe what I've done…"
Henry chuckled. 'Oh, I think I will…'
"Takatomon, I'm hungry…" Guilmon complained.
Takato sighed. "How much do you eat? Thank god we own a bakery…" he noted, Henry chuckling at the sight. "Okay, I've got to go get some bread now for Guilmon, you can come if you want?" he asked Henry.
"Yeah, you must have plenty of things to mention…"
Takato smiled. "Yeah…Bye Guilmon…" he said to his partner, as Henry followed him out of the hideout.
"Bye bye!" Guilmon replied.
Henry walked alongside Takato once they got to the path at the bottom of the stairs. "So, where to start?" Takato asked.
"Try the beginning…" Henry replied.
"Of course…well, it all started when I found this blue card in my card box…it was really weird, it just appeared, it was all blue with a black strip down the side and the digimon symbol on it. And then, I used it on my card reader, and it turned into this thing…" Takato explained, taking out his D-Arc and showing it to Henry.
"Can I have a closer look?" Henry asked. Takato nodded, and passed it over to the blue-haired boy, who looked at it with awe. Even having seen the many battles, this was still an amazing thing, as he flicked through the screens, seeing the compasses, the time, and a multitude of other information, gawping at even the simplest things. "This is a pretty impressive piece of technology, I've never seen anything like it…"
"Yeah, I'd love to know who designed it, mine and Rika's are exactly the same, except hers has a blue ring of course…"
Henry glanced to Takato, nodding and passing the D-Arc back.
"Oh, I just realised I've not mentioned Rika before…"
"No, you haven't…"
"Well, anyway, I'll come to her in my story…so I was amazed at the D-Arc, that's what we call them, sounds cooler than digivice…anyway, I took it home that evening, and I'd drawn a picture of Guilmon, and designed him…the D-Arc scanned it…I created Guilmon, or at least his digi-egg!"
"You created him?"
"Yeah…"
"I thought he was just a Digimon that appeared, I didn't think you actually designed him…no wonder I couldn't find him when searching for him on the net…"
Takato nodded, although something bugged him. "Why were you searching for the data on an imaginary Digimon?"
Henry sighed. "I'll be honest with you Takato, I've known about Guilmon since he and Renamon first fought back in the park…"
Takato's eyes widened. "What? You knew?"
"Yeah, I saw both battles with Renamon, and when Hypnos caught you. And then, I saw the battle with Vilemon, and then the battle with Devidramon…"
"Really? That's amazing, I never even saw you…"
"Well, Growlmon nearly burnt me to cinders…"
Takato chuckled. "Sorry about that…did you really see all of those battles? I thought I had a lot to tell you…"
"Yeah…and…I set off the fire alarm at Hypnos…"
"That was you?!"
"Yeah…did it help?"
"Yeah, thanks…"
"Good, I'm glad to know that I didn't set off a fire alarm for nothing."
Takato chuckled. "Hypnos would be after you in a second…"
"Who are those guys anyway?"
"I'm not sure; they seem to be after the Digimon though…"
"By the looks of it, they're not particularly good at it."
Takato chuckled, but then frowned. "Still worries me though, I don't want to lose Guilmon…"
"When did you meet Guilmon?"
"The Digi-egg hatched the next day, and I found him by following my compass. I bravely went down and approached him, and we've been friends ever since."
"Didn't he run away from you?"
Takato hesitated, realising that his lie hadn't work. He sighed. "Okay, to be honest, I was scared he'd attack me at first, and then he ran away when I hid him while I went to school. I found him on the roof."
"I see…that was the day Rika and Renamon attacked you, right?"
"Yeah, it was surprising…I…I thought she'd got past that by now, but…"
Henry looked to him curiously, unsure if he was missing something here. What'd happened since the Devidramon battle and now?
"Well…there was this digimon, IceDevimon, and by what I could tell, he wanted Rika to be his Tamer, and he was a freak too…"
"A Devimon?"
"Yeah, he looked just like the one in the TV show, but he was all icy white…he took out Kyubimon, and then he was only finally beaten by Guilmon, when I used your combo of Hyper Wing and Speed modify cards! It worked really well, except afterwards, Rika said that she hated Digimon, and then Kyubimon and her went separate ways…"
Henry frowned. "Gee, I want a partner and she gets one, and then she loses it…"
"Really, you want a partner?"
Henry nodded. "Yeah, but I don't expect it to happen…and don't say Calumon…"
Takato chuckled. "Wouldn't even think of it…"
They arrived at Takato's bakery, and Takato stopped, stepping through the doors, gesturing for Henry to follow.
"Welcome to…oh, it's you Takato, are you finally going to clean up your room?" Mie asked, greeting her son in only the way she could.
"I'll do it later Mum…this is my friend, Henry…"
"It's good to meet you," Henry greeted, bowing slightly.
"So polite…" Mie noted. "So, why did you come home then?"
"I came to pick up…um…something from my room…"
"Right…" Mie replied, her voice not convinced as Takato gestured to Henry to wait by the stairs, before heading up to his room. Henry paused, looking around the bakery. On this floor, it was half bakery, half home, with a living room at the back and the shop at the front, with the kitchen in the middle. Takehiro, Takato's father, was preparing dough in the kitchen, and he looked to Henry.
"You must be Takato's friend?" he asked. Henry nodded.
"Henry Wong, pleased to meet you…" Henry replied, putting his hand out, but withdrawing it when he realised that in a kitchen, that wasn't a good move by any means. Takehiro chuckled, and Henry turned, hearing someone coming down the stairs. Takato had a rucksack in his hand, and gestured for Henry to follow him into the storeroom, where he proceeded to fill it with bread, bread that to Henry looked rather old. Takato chuckled, noticing his expression.
"Guilmon doesn't mind the day-old bread…" he whispered. "Or the day-day-day-day-day-old bread for that matter…" he added, Henry nodding. "Bye mom!"
"Don't be home too late!" Mie called.
"Fine!" Takato replied, leaving through the door, Henry following. As they stepped out into the street, Henry turned to Takato.
"Well, they seem nice…"
"Really? They drive me nuts…"
"Well, parents always do…you try having three siblings…"
"You have three siblings?"
"Yeah, two older, one a boy, one a girl, and one younger, a girl…"
"A handful?"
"Not really, Jaarin and Rinchei aren't bad, but Suzie can be a bit annoying at times…"
"I've always wondered what it'd be like to have a brother or sister…"
"Yeah…" Henry replied, turning back to the road. The past thirty minutes had been an avalanche of events, Takato had learnt about Henry knowing about his partner, he'd been to Takato's house, and he was now taking bread to a monster that would eat it in about thirty seconds. Plus, he'd learnt of a battle that'd happened that he hadn't even heard of, something that was still concerning him. "So…why exactly do you fight the other Digimon then?"
Takato sighed. "There's really no other way to deal with them…"
"Yeah, but you could…try to reason with them, couldn't you?"
"Never tried that…"
Henry frowned. How did Takato expect to improve the situation if he just continued destroying the Digimon? What if one of them could become his partner? And even if not, maybe they were just confused? His sensei had taught him that, despite knowing martial arts, fighting was never the answer, let alone killing, and yet both Rika and Takato seemed to do it without thinking. If their enemy was Hypnos, why were they destroying the Digimon who could help them in proving that Digimon aren't bad at all? Or was Hypnos their enemy at all?
This wasn't as simple as the TV show.
Henry smiled, looking to the dinosaur that he'd never seen up close before. "I still can't believe he's real, even after seeing Calumon and Impmon…"
"Takato, am I real?" Guilmon asked.
"Of course boy, he just means that he's amazed that you exist" Takato explained.
"Oh…are you amazed that I exist?" Guilmon asked, cocking his head in curiosity.
"Yeah, but it's worn off by now…"
"Aw…I thought I was amazing…"
"You are! Seeing you fighting IceDevimon was incredible! Even when you went beserk in those battles, it was still amazing!"
"Is that all there is to it?" Henry asked, his voice stronger than he intended as Takato and Guilmon looked up curiously.
"What do you mean Henry?" Takato asked, his voice bewildered at Henry's outburst.
"Sorry, I said that a bit strong, but…is that all you enjoy, fighting?"
"No, we play too, but…the fighting is the most interesting bit, the intensity, the pressure, the power…seeing my friend fight so well, and being able to help him…"
"But don't you try to avoid fighting?"
"I did once…I suppose Rika has rubbed off on me …"
Henry sighed and nodded. "Okay Takato…" he answered.
Henry sighed, sitting back in the bath, and sighing, as the tap dripped away. His eyes were full of concern for the topic that had begun to truly worry him that day.
How could Takato just fight like that? I mean, he was his friend, but he couldn't agree with his tactics. 'There must be a better way than fighting…there's just got to be…it isn't the answer…'
But what could he do? He didn't even have a Digimon, he was on the sidelines. Sure, he could advise Takato, maybe he'd need to, Takato didn't seem all that great with cards (although he did have his streaks of brilliance, although that could also be luck), but that was the true extent of it all. He'd simply be a target out there, and if Guilmon had to think about protecting more than one of them, there was a much increased risk.
Fighting like that also seemed so shallow. There just had to be something more to it, didn't there? More than simple random Digimon appearing.
Henry sighed. Maybe he was worrying too much, his sister Rinchei had once told him that it seemed to be an old habit of his. The old habits die hardest.
Rika had gone to bed early that night. There was very little worth staying up for, yet as she lay on her futon, the floor bed, in her room, she simply couldn't sleep. Her red hair was untied from its usual ponytail, and left free on the top of her head and over her ears, a look she wouldn't in a million years want anyone else to see, let alone someone like the Gogglehead.
Far too much was on her mind for her to sleep. During the day, she'd gone from anger to sadness to anger and back again, and she'd disposed of all of her cards into her bin. She didn't need them anymore, Digimon was simply a little childish game that had gotten a bit too real. Gogglehead and Guilmon could become the greatest Tamer and partner duo ever for all she cared, albeit that naturally they were now since they were the only Tamer and partner pair. Her D-Arc in the bin had reacted during the day, but she'd ignored it, and it had soon silenced.
She recalled the previous day's events, how that monster had kidnapped her and made her listen to his sick ideals, and made her feel like nothing. She'd turned on Renamon, and yet she still came to save her. She was sick of it, sick of the changes in her relationship, sick of having to deal with any of that. From now on, she was her own person, other people were unneeded, they simply made things too complicated.
'Who needs them anyway?' she thought, tinges of sadness and depression in her voice as she noticed the wastepaper bin topple over. She looked curiously across the room, whoever it was would better be prepared for a lot of trouble, be it Renamon or anyone.
So why did she call her name when she sat up?
"Renamon?"
Her voice felt eager, longing for that fox which had tricked her so many times. What did the Kitsune get from their partnership? She sure as hell couldn't figure that out. Was it to be strong? Then why did she protect Rika, why did she bother with any of that, when she now would be able to be strong on her own, not needing the girl.
Rika frowned as the white puffball known as Calumon leaped out to stand on the cards that had splayed out of the bin when it toppled, holding her D-Arc and card holder in his small hands.
"Nope, just me…" he said, his ears extending. "How come you threw this away huh? How come?"
Rika's voice turned to one of annoyance and anger, as she glared at the fairy. How dare he enter her room without even her permission? For that matter, how'd he get in without opening the door? She'd made her feelings about him extremely clear, she didn't like him, so why'd he return?
"Get out of my room you overgrown rat!" she said meanly, him frowning and retracting his ears in his normal cute way.
"You're not happy are you?"
Once again, the ears flew out, as Calumon leapt into the air, floating over to her with the D-Arc and card holder still in his hands.
"Let's play, that'll make you happy!" he cheered, landing on the mattress. Rika groaned, what did it take to make this thing go away?
"Oh please…" she groaned, pulling up the cover and turning to one side with her eyes closed, knocking him off it, him landing on his head and moaning as a result. "Leave me alone!" she groaned, her voice muffled by the covers. 'He's like a hyperactive version of Takato…' she thought in irritation.
Calumon placed the D-Arc and card holder down after flying over the bed, causing Rika to open her eyes and look across to see him. "Maybe later these will make you…happy!" he cheered, his ears once again flying around as he laughed. "Happy, happy, happy!" he began to chant, leaping across her bed onto the other side. "How about now, well?" he asked.
Rika settled into her covers. "Hmm…"
He wasn't that bad, just incredibly over-cute. And annoying with far too much of that. Someone told her not to keep rejecting his attempts. Was it that little ounce of care she had for anything that threatened to continue to make her life a misery? Rika scrunched her eyes closed, why did she have to care about anything? It'd make her life so much simpler.
And why oh why did she have to think the fairy was like Takato? Now she couldn't get him off her mind either. And when did she stop calling him Gogglehead?
Rika groaned.
Takato smiled, looking to his childlike partner who waved back to him with his claws, before turning and walking down the steps to calls of "Bye bye!" from behind from the saurian. The night had by now set in, and Takato knew that he'd probably be in trouble with his parents for staying out too late again, but at the same time, it had been a great day. Although he still wasn't sure how he lost his chance at a battle, and he and Henry seemed to have come into conflict about fighting, it was good enough that he now had someone to talk to about Digimon other than Rika who would normally shoot down all his attempts at being friends anyway.
The park wasn't dangerous this early on in the evening, to be fair, later on at night wasn't dangerous either, but there were far less people around to ensure nothing bad happened and this made his mother usually have a heart attack, or close enough anyway.
Moving back to the subject of the redhead, he contemplated her current situation with her partner. He really didn't like seeing them like that, even if it had been only briefly at the end of the battle, he not having seen either since then. He hoped they would reconcile, but they were both very strong-minded, Kyubimon in particular looked hurt by what Rika had said. He wanted to help get them back together, but knowing his record on that type of thing, he knew it would probably result in failure.
He sighed; it seemed that they never had managed to get back to a 'normal' situation in terms of how things worked for them. Sure, they'd had the odd day or two when it seemed like the current status quo was maintained, but then they were captured by Hypnos, or Growlmon went beserk, or Rika started being a bit nicer, or Rika and her partner had a fight, and everything was thrown for a loop again.
Was it too much to ask to have just a simple team? The situation of knowing that she would be there as soon as she could to back him up, and hopefully, her appreciating the reverse? There had to be tougher opponents coming, and they had only recently managed to get their Digimon to champion (although getting them back from there to rookie had become the new problem). They'd have to be ready to fight whatever came, to protect their family, their friends, even random people they existed in the lives of for a millisecond on the street.
But how could they? With just him and Guilmon alone to fight anything that appeared, would it be enough? Even with their superb card combination.
He quickened his pace, eager to get home before his mother would get too mad.
He paused, noticing suddenly that a yellow fox was in front of him.
"We need to talk…"
TO BE CONTINUED…
I split the Musyamon episode in two because I changed the events of the first day to put Takato finding out in. Plus, it makes a nice dramatic ending, don't ya think?
Next time…
What does Renamon wish to talk about? Is fighting the only way? Are Takato and Guilmon enough to defend Tokyo alone?
Find out in 'Morals', Chapter Ten of Deviations.