Wira Digital Chapter 3: Fairymon's Vice Versa, a digimon fanfic

"Here we are, Miss Gayathri," said a man with slicked-back black hair from the car's driver seat.

Gayathri looked out the window and gathered her schoolbag. "Good, no one's around. Thanks, Anding….and I thought I've told you not to call me like that?"

The driver, Anding, glanced behind and smiled. "You did, but I'm working now and it's a formality. So, will today be another day where you'll be late and I have to make yet another excuse to your parents?"

Gayathri giggled but considered her answer before replying. "I don't know for sure. We're getting called there twice already this week alone. Usually it's only once per week, sometimes even lesser than that. It's getting slightly unpredictable."

Anding winked and pointed towards her schoolbag. "It's a good thing you decide to bring her along to school this time around."

"Yeah, don't want to repeat yesterday's event," Gayathri murmured and patted the schoolbag lightly. "Liu Ying looked like she wanted to have my head."

The driver chuckled. "That girl really needs to loosen up a bit."

Gayathri laughed as she observed the family driver. Anding was a young man of twenty-five, and the son of the family's cook. He had come all the way from Sabah; a Malaysian state located at the island of Borneo; with an intention to find work, but was disheartened to find that work with decent paying required at least college or university degree. A degree was something Anding did not possess as he only had secondary school qualification – the Malaysian Certificate of Education – which he had merely passed with credits. At the same time, Gayathri's parents were looking for someone to drive their daughter to and from school, and to drive them to work. Their cook suggested her son to them, and Anding was not in the position to be choosy. Under Mr. Nadarajah's suggestion, Anding took up the offer to be the family driver while taking some night classes at a private college with the payment he received. Upon graduating, Mr. Nadarajah had promised to secure a spot for him in his corporate telecommunications company in Putrajaya.

And as for Gayathri, the appointment of Anding one year ago as the family driver disgruntled her for a while, as she had intended to just walk or ride a bicycle to school after starting secondary school. Her parents however would have none of it as they wanted only the best for their daughter. However Gayathri had experienced enough awkwardness while in primary school; her father was quite a well-known corporate tycoon. Being sent to school by a driver during secondary school was not something Gayathri wanted everybody to know.

Luckily Anding was someone easy to talk to, and hence Gayathri was able to come up with a plan. Anding's willingness to oblige with her wish was one of the reasons of their friendship, despite their age. As Gayathri was an only child, Anding was somebody she looked up close to an older brother.

"Anyway, your father said yesterday that he needs to go to work early today, so I've got to get going now," he said, breaking Gayathri's thoughts.

"Oh, ok," Gayathri snapped back into attention. "Wait, my parents…they still don't know about this yet, right?"

"Which one?" Anding pretended to think, while rubbing his clean-shaven chin. "The fact that I let you walk for about one or two hundred meters to school, which they will kill me if they know about this…or that you're a heroine saving an alien world from evil monsters?" He grinned.

Anding had known about Gayathri being a DigiWira since the first day Gayathri became one, solely due to the fact that he and his mother had seen the girl with a weird 'toy' emerged from the computer monitor in the Nadarajah's household. Anding's mother had nearly fainted due to shock while he himself was profoundly dumbfounded. Gayathri had no choice but to explain, and made the two of them promise not to tell her parents. That however, was three months ago.

"Don't be silly," Gayathri laughed and swatted the man's shoulder. "If my overprotective parents don't even trust me to go to school on my own, I don't know what their reaction will be if they know about me being a DigiWira. They still think that Tanemon is a weird plush toy I got from Toys-R-Us."

Both of them shook their heads. "What's Tanemon doing now?" Anding asked, eyeing the schoolbag.

"Still sleeping I think," Gayathri answered and prodded her bag gently. No response. "She didn't want to come along, but after yesterday we might never know for sure when we're needed. Liu Ying's already bringing her partner to school everyday since this year's school session. And Adam…well, I don't know yet."

"Have you gotten the picture of Tanemon in her…Fairymon form?" Anding inquired; a hopeful note was in his voice while a mischievous glint flashed from his coffee-brown eyes.

"No, and you'll never get it," Gayathri declared with a grin. One day she had accidentally spilled out the fact that Tanemon's digivolved form was a scantily-clad fairy, and Anding had constantly asked her for a picture ever since. "And I better go now, or else you'll be late to take Appa to work."

"One day I'll sneak in to that Digital World and take Fairymon's photo myself," Anding said with mock-glumness. He then shook his head and smiled. "Well, today's Friday, so I'll see you at twelve thirty then. I'll wait up right here if you're late." He emphasized on the word 'late' and grinned knowingly.

"Thanks, Anding, you're the best!" Gayathri said sweetly and stepped out from the silver Mercedes Benz. She walked down the street and turned right at the junction, heading straight to school. All the while she was aware of Anding keeping an eye for her from behind, just to make sure she reached to school safely. Upon reaching the school gate she waved at Liu Ying who was approaching the school gate for her prefect duty, and began looking for her two best-friends to do some chitchat before heading to their separate classes that day.

xxx

WIRA DIGITAL

Chapter 03 – Fairymon's Vice Versa

xxx

In the Digital World, two Digimon were flying side by side amidst the clear sky. One, the taller of the two, was a feminine looking Digimon with lithe body and a pair of brown wings emerging from the back of her body. She was dressed in light violet armor covering just about enough to maintain some modesty, yet still very far from decent. Metallic shoulder pads adorned her shoulders. Her hair was the color of the sky, flapped freely against her face. Her companion, the shorter of the duo, was a wizardly Digimon in white attire, which included a cape, a wizard hat and a baggy jumpsuit. His pale skin merely blended with his attire, and so was his pair of wide, icy green eyes. The bird-woman was flying effortlessly, her wings flapped once in a while to propel her whenever she descended lower, but the male sorcerer seemed to be rather dependent of his glowing white staff in order to levitate, which he waved every now and then.

Having flying in silence for quite some time, one of them was eager to break it.

"So Shutumon, what have you been doing these past three hundred years?" Sorcerymon began, looking at his female accomplice.

The bird-woman was quiet, as if not hearing her friend's question. Her sparkling eyes were staring somewhere towards their front – a lush jungle with trees of blue, pink and green, but it was perfectly clear that her attention was not focused towards the jungle. She seemed to be in a deep thought.

"Hello? Digital World to Shutumon!" Sorcerymon said loudly, and waved his free hand in front of Shutumon's face.

"Huh? What were you saying?" Shutumon was instantly snapped back into attention.

Sorcerymon shook his head. "You seem to be deep in thought."

"Oh, yes…" Shutumon said slowly. "I was actually thinking of what I've been doing these past three centuries, now that the Master has summoned us back again."

A drop of sweat trailed down Sorcerymon's forehead. "Actually, that was what I was asking you just now."

"Really? So what do you want to know?"

"Any detail, after we got separated and all…anything after that final battle three hundred years ago, between the Master and….what's his name again?"

Shutumon flinched slightly. "Grademon. That was his name. My memories are rather…distorted, but I do remember about that battle, how the Master and Grademon went on to an all-out battle. We were never around after the first day, though. We were entombed with many of the Master's soldiers."

"Yeah, I remember. How did you escape your entombment?" Sorcerymon asked.

"I don't know for sure…but I did feel that after some time, that hocus pocus trick Grademon used on us somehow waned after some time. I was awake the whole time of the entombment…it was a horrible experience, to be trapped for over a century, but when I got out I had to start all over again from In-training."

"Lucky you," Sorcerymon muttered slowly. "I went back to my Fresh form."

"Ugh," Shutumon said, "definitely not a nice experience."

The wizard nodded grimly. "So any memorable time these past two hundred years then, since you were trapped for a hundred years plus?"

"No, not really. It was tough when I was still a Poromon, but things got easier when I became Hawkmon. For fifty years I moved back and forth between Rookie and Champion, but for the last forty years I've not once de-Digivolved. There wasn't any particularly interesting thing happened before I met you…except for this one thing. Ugh, I just hate of even thinking of her!"

"Oh? Who's 'her'?" Sorcerymon asked interestedly.

"You've heard of her, though I don't think you've met her face to face," Shutumon said, her brows furrowed. Her teeth gritted slightly as her eyes blazed with anger. "Oh, how I hate her!"

"Why? What happened?"

"Well, there was one day…about a month before we met. I was plain bored that day, before I saw a trio of airheads laughing, joking and gossiping around. They were laughing and laughing and from the tree branch where I was hanging out it just irked me a lot, so I decided to bother them…just toying around and all. I wasn't planning to do anything major that day, it's not like I'd get a challenge fighting three Rookies. They were those weak plant types…Palmon, Alraumon and Floramon…"

"So, let me guess. You trashed them good?"

Shutumon snorted. "What do you expect? But then something unexpected happened…I've had underestimated them. Somehow the Palmon and the Alraumon were strong enough to retaliate with a rather good comeback. They let out this stinking gas from the flowers on their heads before tying me up with their poison ivies. I so totally did not expect that to happen, and something even worse happened…they LEECHED out my powers!"

"I don't think I like where this is going…"

"Well, be glad that I have quick reflexes. I snapped out and hurled my Wind of Pain towards those stupid nature reptiles. However they managed to make do with the leeched energy they stole from me and combined…luckily to just a stupid Veggiemon. I was scared for a while that they'd become a Togemon or some other formidable plant Champions. And luckily too they were much too inexperienced; I beat them in just a couple of minutes. Veggiemon split back into the Rookies and were knocked out, so I chose to pursue the third plant – Floramon. It was a boring day, so I decided to give the little sucker a head start and let her run from me."

"Is this the same Floramon that's partnered with the DigiWira?"

"I'm getting to that! Anyway…that Floramon was pretty good in hiding, and it was a big jungle. Yet I took my time looking, there was no rush. I then heard her voice, with another voice I didn't recognize, though what I did know for sure was that whoever it was, it was as annoying as the reptiles, if not more. I then saw her talking from a distance, with a human girl."

"AHA! I knew it!"

Shutumon ignored Sorcerymon. "I approached them and that Floramon quickly asked the girl to take cover. All of a sudden that little runt had become brave, and attacked me with pollens! Ugh, imagine at that time I had a rude discovery that I'm actually ALLERGIC of pollens! Of all the imperfect timing; luckily I managed to blow away all the pollens but I couldn't concentrate anymore. So I decided, well, I'd get her after I'm finished with the human girl. Then…"

"Uh oh…"

"Right," Shutumon groaned. "All of a sudden something happened and the girl was holding something…a glowing pink contraption I didn't recognize. The Floramon suddenly digivolved on her own, into that…that Fairymon! Ugh! She made me sick… what a copycat! She was dressed almost exactly as me! Ugh!"

"Oh…well, if she's dressed like you I don't think I'd mind meeting her," Sorcerymon said grinningly.

Shutumon however didn't see the humor side of it and elbowed Sorcerymon hard on the back. This caused the sorcerer to suddenly lose his control of flying. He lurched down slightly before his magic staff glowed, and he regained balance once again.

"OUCH! Hey! Don't do that…you know I'm not as good a flyer as you! I need to concentrate!"

"Well that'll teach you not to compare me with that wench!" Shutumon growled fiercely.

"Wench? Boy, you really hate this Fairymon now, do you? What did she do to you; beat you in combat or something?"

Shutumon's pale face turned beet-red all of a sudden. It looked like she was mortified all of a sudden. "Well, no, not exactly. We did fight…but ugh! It seemed as if we were equals! And I've lived longer with more experience than her, and I made sure she knows that too. But do you know what her response was?"

"Not unless you tell me."

Shutumon suddenly flew closer to Sorcerymon until they were merely a couple of inches apart. "Look at my face. What did you see?"

"Uh…I can't see the lower half of your face, but really, for the last few centuries I've known you, I've never seen anybody having alluringly beautiful blue eyes like you do."

"Really? You mean it?"

Sorcerymon blushed slightly. "Yeah, I do."

Shutumon was evidently flattered. "Oh, I could kiss you…"

The wizard's eyes widened; he couldn't believe what he was hearing. He didn't even dare blink, afraid that what he had heard was merely a dream.

His accomplice however, suddenly changed her mind. "…if you weren't so ugly." She then jetted off, laughing heartily, leaving a dumbstruck Sorcerymon behind.

"HEY! I'm not ugly!" Sorcerymon protested, and with a wave of his white staff he too, jetted forward and caught up with Shutumon. He was slightly affronted with Shutumon's comment, but his mind immediately went back to her story. "So, what was Fairymon's response to your gloating of being more powerful and older and whatever?"

Shutumon stopped laughing instantly and turned a shade of crimson once again, but this time it was out of anger instead of embarrassment. "She….she LAUGHED!"

"Huh?"

"And she called me….called me….AAAAAAAAAARGH!"

For Shutumon's sake if not his own, Sorcerymon opted to wait for Shutumon to finish her sentence.

"AAAAAARGH! I can't stand it! Let's go attack some random place! I need to blow off some steam before I face the Master!" Shutumon shouted angrily.

The bird-woman blasted away without waiting for an answer. Sorcerymon was slightly surprised with Shutumon's sudden shift of emotion.

"Hey, Shutumon! What did that Fairymon call you? Hey! Hey, wait for me!"

xxx

"How's your days so far, girls?" Gayathri asked as she took a seat in between her two best friends.

It was recess time, and as Gayathri always preferred to eat at home rather than buying food from the school canteen, she usually spent recess hanging out with Belinda Foo and Wardina Fadlullah, her two best friends who were placed in different classes than her. The three of them were friends since primary school, when during standard five they were all placed in the same class. After discovering that they were alike in many ways, yet different in some ways just enough to distinguish their individualities, they became closer, despite being separated into different classes the subsequent year when they entered standard six. It didn't really bother them that they were no longer in same classes, as they still managed to find some time to hang out together, whether it was for group study, shopping trip, gossip session or just plain hanging out.

"It's good so far," Wardina said demurely. "Still no homework yet, and I hope this will continue till the end of the day."

The quietest of the three, Wardina Fadlullah was a girl with a light complexion, brown eyes and dark shoulder-length hair which while straight, was curved slightly as it reached her shoulders. Gayathri merely grinned upon hearing Wardina's response to her question; she knew that out of the three of them, Wardina was the most hardworking. However she knew somebody who would be relieved if she was not given any homework.

"Dina, I thought you loved homework?" Belinda teased. "Me, I could use with no homework today, I still have that Math homework due Monday, and it's gonna take me all night to sit down and figure all the problems out. Mrs. Kwan sure is mean. And Mr. Thaya seemed to be in his usual giving-lots-of-homework mode this morning; I have the third chapter for History to be read by…also Monday. Oh, darn…"

The three girls giggled, and Gayathri cast a look at the girl who was sitting on her left. Belinda Foo was the athletic one in the team, judging from her rather sun-tanned fair skin and slightly toned limbs. Her hair was styled short but that didn't make her look any less a girl. Gayathri smiled inwardly upon hearing Belinda complaint; she knew however that despite her friend's tendency to complain about homework, and her bad habit of putting things off to the last minute, her sporty friend had a knack to grasp things quickly.

"I don't exactly love homework…who does, anyway?" Wardina's reply brought Gayathri's mind back to her friends' conversations.

"Well, for starters, the teachers," Belinda said with a wide smile. "Though, they enjoy correcting the homework more than actually doing them."

Another round of laugh was heard from the trio of girls, which caught the attentions of the students around them. It was quite a common sight during recess to see the three pretty girls sitting together on the bench near the pavilion connecting the canteen with the school buildings. The girls were aware of attracting some attentions from the passersby, but as they didn't break any school rule, none was bothered by the attentions.

"Say, Gaya, I called you yesterday," Belinda said, drawing Gayathri's attention towards her, "but you weren't around. Your cook picked up the phone and I asked her to tell you that I called. Did she tell you that? Because you know, you didn't actually return my call."

Gayathri grimaced slightly, but was quick to hide it before any of her friends caught her expression. She was at the Digital World the day before. Neither Belinda nor Wardina knew about her being DigiWira. She was already a little exhausted after returning from the Digital World, but she did recall vaguely about her cook mentioning something about a phone call, but she wasn't paying that much attention.

"Oh…she did tell me," Gayathri answered quickly, "but I guess I forgot about it. Sorry…"

"Ah, it was nothing important really," Belinda waved it off. "I just wanted to ask you whether you're good for this Sunday. Shopping? Sunway Pyramid?"

"Hmm?" For a moment, she had no idea what her friend was talking about. Then something clicked in her mind; it was something they had planned to do since Monday. "Yeah, of course."

It didn't really take any effort from either Belinda or Wardina to notice that something was off with their friend. Gayathri wasn't a forgetful person, at least not when shopping was concerned. Something was not right.

Wardina gave her a thoughtful look. "You know Gaya…I can't help but notice that you look a little distracted…as of late," she said.

"Huh? No…not really. I had something to do yesterday, and by the time I've gotten around it I was too tired of doing anything else," Gayathri answered evasively.

"The computer club can't be that demanding," Belinda pointed out. "All you need to do is sit, stare and type. Of course, if you're staring at Mr. Jackie Chan instead of the monitor, then it's a different story…" she grinned impishly, which caused Gayathri's eyes to widen.

"Bell!"

Belinda grinned again. "I always wonder why you'd want to join the computer club, out of all other clubs in school. It isn't the most popular club in the school."

"That's not exactly true," Wardina said. "I know a lot of girls signed up for the club after Mr. Chan takes over from old Mrs. Miriam as the club advisor."

To cover up for her occasional absence since the last three months, Liu Ying had advised her to tell anybody who asked, that she was taking computer lessons with the school's computer instructor. That was what she had told Belinda and Wardina, and luckily they believed her. But both of them had been teasing her about it ever since she told them about it earlier that year.

"Well, for one, I am learning how to make my own website," Gayathri said defensively, and it was true.

"Don't you have the webpage editor for that?" Wardina asked. "I saw my older brother using it while designing his anime website. It didn't look too difficult."

"Oh…I just want to know the underlying codes behind it," Gayathri quickly answered. She smiled nervously. "A new hobby of mine, other than…uh…make-ups and clothes."

Both Belinda and Wardina looked at her oddly, not utterly convinced.

"Isn't your driver studying computer science too?" Belinda asked suspiciously. Then her face lit up as she shared a knowing look with Wardina. "Oh, I know. But Gaya…he's too old for you."

"What! No!" Gayathri said in shock. "How did you come up with that kind of conclusion? Seriously, Anding's like a brother."

"Really," Belinda said teasingly.

"I am so not having this conversation," Gayathri said exasperatedly. She quickly scanned the whole surrounding for something else to talk about, and her eyes fell onto a tall boy with wiry hair, who was with a group of male students hanging out near the school's bookshop. She grinned devilishly. "Hey, isn't that Michael Yong? Your ex-boyfriend? You never really told us what happened between the two of you."

"Huh? Where?" Belinda was immediately distracted as she quickly followed her friend's gaze. "Oh, there he is…" she grumbled slightly. "Well, if you must know, it's because of a stupid argument really that caused the break up. But we're cool with it now; we're still friends, and…HEY! I thought we're interrogating you, not me. Dina, help me out here…Dina?"

When their demure friend didn't reply, both Gayathri and Belinda averted their attention towards her, and saw her looking towards a direction where another group of boys were hanging out under a big tree. The boys seemed to be deeply engrossed in a discussion, with occasional laughs were heard. Gayathri didn't recognize them save for two – her classmates Adam and Hakim, who were both leaning against the tree.

"Ahh…" Belinda said. She leaned past Gayathri towards Wardina, and poked her on the shoulder. "Looks like you're distracted yourself, Dina."

"Huh?" Wardina immediately turned to face her two friends; her fair cheeks were noticeably pinker.

"You know, I think he likes you too, Dina," Gayathri said slowly, smiling. She didn't really like using Adam as a way to escape of her friends' interrogations, but she wasn't badmouthing him, so there was no harm to it.

Wardina's cheeks became redder with the comment. "I wasn't thinking about Adam that way, really."

"But you liked him now, don't you?" Belinda asked. "You saw how he was staring at you while he was in detention with Mr. Singh? Looks like the feeling is mutual…all we need to do now is to make sure that he knows you like him too, so…" Belinda didn't continue, but connected her two index fingers together with a knowing smile.

Wardina merely chose to ignore her friend's comment. "I'm just glad he has lots of friends now."

At this, the other two girls, Gayathri especially, were confused. "What do you mean?" Gayathri asked. "He does always seem to be a friendly guy to me. Laidback, warm, and very helpful…but can be a little bit gullible at times…cute guy too. It isn't strange that lots of people like to be around him."

"Out with it, girl," Belinda was more forward. She seemed excited too, as she always had a penchant for gossip. "What were you trying to say?"

Gayathri couldn't help to feel curious as well. She felt slightly guilty and hoped that Wardina didn't have anything bad to say about her fellow DigiWira, as she enjoyed having Adam as a friend and one of the DigiWira.

"I don't know whether you two remember, but Adam was my classmate last year," Wardina began. "He came in around July."

"I remember," Gayathri said, recalling Adam mentioning once that he was from Form One Gamma, the same class Wardina was in.

"Back then he was…well, rather withdrawn. Aloof too. I sometimes saw him having faraway looks while in class."

"Maybe he just missed his old friends back then," Gayathri said. "Transferring can do that to you."

"Yes, but…Adam was different. I mean, he was perfectly civil and all but unless talked to, he usually would stay silent and preferred to watch everybody in class. Everyone thought he was…well, a little weird. He didn't laugh at any jokes anybody made in class. It was hard actually to know what he was thinking back then, his face was always neutral. Nobody really knew whether he was happy or sad, he was always…well…unnaturally calm."

"Unnaturally calm?" Gayathri repeated. In her mind, she couldn't picture the slightly impulsive leader of the DigiWira team to fit the description. Liu Ying was the levelheaded one in the team, but even she didn't fit the bill of being unnaturally calm. Calm, usually yes. Unnaturally, no…the most senior member of the DigiWira had quite a temper too.

Wardina glanced towards Adam and his group of friends once again, and saw the boy laughing heartily.

"Back then, we didn't even know he was capable of laughing…at least until Hakim from Form One Delta approached him during one of our shared Islamic Studies class. It had been more than a month after Adam first came in, and somehow the two became fast friends. Since then however, Adam became friendlier to others…almost like how he is now. I think almost everyone had forgotten about the old him…it was like two different persons sharing the same body." She stopped after noticing Adam was looking at her for the briefest of moment before resuming his conversation with his friends. The girls could hear some teasing being directed towards Adam.

"You really paid him that much attention," Belinda said finally.

"He wasn't really that hard to notice," Wardina replied evenly.

"Oooh...someone's had her eyes on Adam..."

"It wasn't like that!" Wardina replied hastily. "He was sitting at the same row with me, but beside the window, while I was in the middle of the class. Nobody sat beside him that time and I could see him quite clearly…" Wardina's words trailed off when she finally noticed that she had revealed too much, and blushed again.

Gayathri shook her head, and made a mental note to start observing Adam for any 'unnatural' behavior from now on. She doubted she would find any though; for the last one and a half months she had been classmates with Adam, and ever since Monday when Adam first became a DigiWira, Gayathri never recalled any strange behavior displayed by the boy.

"Maybe he just felt a little bit lonely. He wasn't from a town, as far as I know. He came from the east coast; perhaps he just didn't know how to fit in that time. When Hakim befriended him, it opened a chance for Adam to start getting to know more people around here," Gayathri explained.

Wardina nodded, but didn't comment on Gayathri's opinion.

"That explains his brooding demeanor," Belinda nodded, seemingly satisfied. "But now, I'll show you two a real dark and brooding guy. You see over there?"

Belinda's eyes were fixed at the fountain near the school gate. An empty bench was there, occupied by a lone figure. He was a tall, broad-shouldered teen with messy dark blond hair. The girls recognized the hair anywhere; only one student in their school possessed such unique, yet authentic, hair-color.

"J.D. Kamaruzzaman?" Gayathri inquired wryly. "What about him?"

"Don't you think that he's a hunk?" Belinda asked Gayathri and Wardina excitedly.

"Given his reputation, no," Gayathri said resoundingly. "A bad boy isn't really in my list of hunks."

"Well, to be fair, he is handsome," Wardina commented neutrally. "Not my type as well…but I have to admit that Belinda's right. The benefits of being a mixed-blood, I suppose."

"Of course he's not your type, not when you're in love with Adam," Belinda said, causing Wardina to frown. The short-haired girl then let out a sigh. "If only he's not a troublemaker, I might just march straight to him and ask him out."

"Sounds like someone else is in love," Gayathri commented dryly. "I know Valentine Day is approaching, but J.D.? Come on, you're better off with Michael."

"Hmm, maybe you're right," Belinda said grudgingly. "Hey, speaking about in love…at least I've dated someone, Dina's having a crush on Adam, if not in love, but what about you?"

Before Gayathri could reply, the bell rang loudly, signaling the end of their twenty-minute recess. Dissatisfied groans were heard everywhere as people began to clear out from the canteen and pavilion, walking as slowly as they could towards their classes to resume their study for the rest of the morning.

Gayathri smiled. "I guess I'm still looking around. See you later, girls."

xxx

School ended about half an hour earlier than the other days on Friday, which caused Gayathri to shake her head in relief as the Malaysian Language teacher reminded them of exercises that needed to be done for the weekend. It was only the last week of January and already they were given workloads that befitted the students of Form Three. The curly-haired girl sighed as she marked the pages on her Malaysian Language workbook idly with a pencil.

"An essay, a summary, a comprehension exercise and a grammar exercise altogether?" Gayathri groaned. "This is pure torture."

"Tell me about it," a familiar voice replied from in front of her. Gayathri looked up at Adam, who turned back to face her. He was smiling. "But look on the bright side – it's Friday. We'll have two free days tomorrow."

"Don't tell me that you've forgotten about tomorrow, Adam," the boy sitting beside Adam said. "This Saturday, a.k.a. TOMORROW, is the day we register our names in the club, society and uniformed unit society."

"Oh….yeah," Adam said, looking at Gayathri as to avoid Hakim from seeing his eyes.

To the girl, it was clear as glass that Adam had entirely forgotten about it. And she couldn't exactly blame him – it had been an exciting week for Adam, as well as to her and Liu Ying as well.

What Hakim didn't know about his best friend was Adam, along with Liu Ying and Gayathri, were DigiWira – chosen children partnered with Digimon to protect the Digital World from evil Digimon. Gayathri grimaced inwardly of the term chosen children; she and Adam were both turning fourteen. Liu Ying was fourteen turning fifteen. The term hardly fitted them now. According to Liu Ying, some of the chosen children from other parts of the world were referred as DigiDestined, a term she preferred instead of chosen children. But she still liked their designation best – the DigiWira – as it had an authentic Malaysian feel in it.

All the while, after the recess, Gayathri did ponder upon Wardina's recollections of the previous year's Adam, and could not see that in the present day Adam that was sitting in front of her. She then decided not to dwell on it anymore.

"So what club, society and uniformed unit society will you be joining, Adam?" she asked casually. "Hakim?" she added, as an afterthought.

"Oh, I'm planning to continue with St. John Ambulance, badminton club and…uh, I'm planning to drop Science and Math club this year, I'm thinking of joining another club," Adam said promptly.

"Great! Then you can join Arts club with me," Hakim suggested.

"And have Mrs. Lucy Tan more than once a week? No thanks, I'll pass," Adam replied with a shudder.

"Why? She's not bad," Hakim defended the teacher, but really had to smile upon his friend's reaction. Adam was not alone; more than half of the class disliked the no-nonsense Mrs. Lucy Tan, who was the head teacher for Arts in their school.

"Not bad? Did she promise to give you As in all Arts assignment this year in exchange of promoting her name and club?" Gayathri teased.

"Well, if you join the club then you'll improve, and you'll get As in her assignments too," Hakim shot back with a smile.

"She teaches Arts like it's a PMR subject," Adam pointed out glumly. He shook his head slowly. "I just don't see the point. Sure I can draw, color and everything, but to learn them all in detail, thanks but no thanks."

"I have a suggestion," Gayathri said, shooting a direct look into Adam's gray eyes. "Why don't you join the computer club? I'm joining."

"Now that's a good idea," Adam nodded, looking back at her, his eyes seemed to recognize Gayathri's attempt. "I'll think about it. Besides, Mr. Jackie Chan is one of the nicest teachers around. Anyway, do you think Mr. Chan would be able to teach us how to make websites? I've always wanted to make my own homepage."

"Oh, I'm sure that could be arranged," Gayathri said. "Oh, Liu Ying will be joining the computer club too," she added as an afterthought, and bore a brief gaze onto Adam's grey orbs.

It was evident that Adam thought that Gayathri had stressed on Liu Ying's name the same way she had done before. Something was up. He raised an eyebrow but Gayathri avoided locking gaze with him, busying herself by packing away her books and stashing all her stationeries inside her pink pencil case. She pulled out a small piece of pink paper and scribbling something on it urgently.

"Adam. We should be going," Hakim said suddenly. "It's 12.45 already…Friday prayer's going to start at 1.30 and I need to get something to eat first."

"Ok, ok, I'm coming," Adam said. When Hakim turned away from them to gather his belongings, Gayathri immediately stashed the small piece of paper into Adam's palm.

"Later," she said. She then got up and bid both boys goodbye before exiting the room. "Bye, you two. See you guys tomorrow." She stalled slightly at the door to make sure of something.

Gayathri saw Adam opening the small paper, as Hakim was still packing up. A brief sentence was compressed in it, written by Gayathri's slightly round-curved handwriting.

Adam, join the Computer Club. Mr. Jackie Chan knows about US.

A knowing look dawned on Adam's face, as if confirming his suspicion, and that was all Gayathri needed to make sure before she left.

xxx

"So, did you manage to get Adam to join the Computer Club?" Liu Ying asked Gayathri when the latter met up with her in the computer classroom.

"I know I've convinced him," Gayathri said with a smile. "At least, it's a lot better than the Arts club his friend is trying to persuade him to join tomorrow."

"Excellent," Jackie said as he leaned back against the back of the wooden chair he was sitting on. "You know the plan for tomorrow, right? I'd like for the three of you to stay back after our club's meeting, so that we can go on towards the real meeting. I want to meet your new teammate and tomorrow is perfect."

"So does this mean that we'll be having our meeting every week, even on first and third Saturdays?" Gayathri asked, sounding somewhat worried.

"No, why?" the computer instructor asked, fixing his blue eyes towards the brown-skinned girl.

"Oh, nothing really," Gayathri said in relief. "I was scared for once, that I'd miss my weekly shopping trip with Bel and Dina."

Liu Ying snorted. "Don't tell me that you think shopping is more important than our job."

"No, I like saving the Digital World as much as you do, but I like shopping too," Gayathri countered back.

Jackie Chan could only shook his head; this bantering between Liu Ying and Gayathri had become quite a normalcy with every meeting they had since the school year started, and during the last two months before the previous school year end holidays. It couldn't be avoided as they were almost the exact opposite of each other – Liu Ying the more proper and stickler to the rules, while Gayathri the carefree and fun-loving of the duo. Despite that, he knew that the two had made an excellent duo. He could only wonder now how did they perform as a trio as his eyes trailed down to watch Shaomon and Tanemon munching some chocolates noisily at the corner of the empty computer classroom, perfectly hidden by one of the tables should anybody walked in the classroom without warning.

"Jackie, did you find out about the device I gave you yesterday?" Liu Ying asked abruptly, not wanting to prolong the 'friendly' bantering with her fellow DigiWira teammate. While in public, the DigiWira would address the computer teacher as Mr. Chan, but between the three of them he insisted to be called as only Jackie, with unexplained reason.

"Oh, yeah, I did," Jackie said, and took out a PDA-like device from a drawer of the table he was sitting at. It was white with yellow lining – similar to the colors of Liu Ying's D3 Digivice. "I've managed to contact one Koushirou Izumi from Japan, Izzy as he prefers – one of the first eight DigiDestined – and he told me that their successors too have the same device. This device is what they call a D-Terminal, used as a means of communication between the DigiDestined, and usually comes with the D3 Digivices."

"If it comes with the Digivice, then why we only got ours yesterday?" Gayathri inquired.

"Good question," Liu Ying nodded.

Jackie shrugged. "I have no idea, girls. But there's another function of the D-Terminal which I'd like to demonstrate now. Liu Ying, your Yellow DigiSphere, if you please?"

The girl complied. Jackie then placed the Yellow DigiSphere on one palm and the D-Terminal in the other. He then pressed a button on the D-Terminal, which lit the device up. The Yellow DigiSphere glowed brightly before the D-Terminal screen let out a stream of yellow light, absorbing the Yellow DigiSphere inside of it the same way how the DigiWira were pulled into their computer monitors.

"Hey!" Liu Ying exclaimed in shock. "What's just happened?"

"Relax, it's just as I have thought," Jackie nodded with a smile. "The D-Terminals also serve as a storage device. The younger DigiDestined of Japan use them to store their Crest DigiEggs; you can store your DigiSpheres. It's a lot better and more practical than carrying your DigiSpheres by yourself. Take a look."

Liu Ying took her D-Terminal and saw a digitized display of her Yellow DigiSphere on the screen, with some wordings below.

DigiWira: Chang Liu Ying

DigiSphere: Yellow – Earth, Magical

Digimon Partner: Shaomon (In-training) / Labramon (Rookie) / Youkomon (Champion)

"Wow," Liu Ying said. "Earth and magical? What are those?"

Nobody had the answer. "Maybe your mentor in the Digital World would know," Jackie suggested.

Liu Ying nodded. "Yeah, TobuCatmon would know. I'll ask him the next time I'll meet him."

Gayathri immediately took out her Pink DigiSphere and her own D-Terminal, which was white with pink lining. She did the same thing Jackie did with Liu Ying's DigiSphere. After the Pink DigiSphere was absorbed in by the D-Terminal she peered at the screen to see the information the device produced.

DigiWira: Gayathri Nadarajah

DigiSphere: Pink – Nature, Wind

Digimon Partner: Tanemon (In-training) / Floramon (Rookie) / Fairymon (Champion)

"Nature and wind…I can see what these mean," Gayathri murmured.

"You can?" Liu Ying asked, barely concealing her skeptic tone.

"Yes, I can," Gayathri said, not affronted with Liu Ying's cynicism at all. "Tanemon and Floramon are plant types, which in my opinion is rather similar to nature types, while Fairymon is…well, she possesses wind-based attacks so she must be a wind type."

Liu Ying thought about it and nodded. She was surprised too, but decided to hide her surprise lest Gayathri would take it to heart. "You know, that sounds logical. But where does this put Shaomon, Labramon and Youkomon? Earth is fine, but magical?"

"As far as I know, Youkomon is a bewitching beast Digimon," Shaomon quipped, looking up from her half-eaten chocolate bar. "Bewitching, magical, they are the same thing, are they not?"

"There you go," Gayathri said with a smile. "But it might be better if we ask TobuCatmon for more details; he must know more of this. I wonder what Adam's White DigiSphere is referring to?"

"We'll ask Adam when we meet him tomorrow," Liu Ying decided. "Besides he needs to know about the D-Terminal too."

"Right," Gayathri agreed. "So, if there's nothing else I think I'll take my leave now…"

Suddenly both girls' Digivices beeped. The two Digimon stiffened, alerted by the sound of the Digivices. The DigiWira looked at each other wryly.

"Looks like you've spoken too soon," Liu Ying said grimly. "We're needed. Let's go."

"Wait. What about Adam? He's still at the mosque," Gayathri reminded the other DigiWira.

"After he's finished, he'll join us. I think he will notice his Digivice beeping as well."

"Ok. But just to be safe I'm going to try the messaging function the D-Terminal has. I know he brings his Digivice, D-Terminal and Patamon today, his bag did look kind of bulky today."

"One computer ready, girls," Jackie announced and stood up. He inched his chair aside and beckoned for the DigiWira to come towards the computer.

As Gayathri began tinkering with her D-Terminal, Liu Ying collected both Shaomon and Tanemon and placed them in front of the monitor.

"Gayathri, I'm opening the Digiport now. Better hurry with the message."

"Ok…and…send," Gayathri said. "Alright, I'm done! Let's go."

"DIGIPORT OPEN!"

xxx

As soon as the two DigiWira disappeared from the computer room, Jackie pulled his chair back in front of the monitor. The Digiport had closed; he knew it would be reopened again from the other side – the Digital World. The window that housed the Digiport portal however remained on the desktop, so Jackie minimized it while opening another program. He loaded a sophisticated graphic software and clicked one of the saved files after it prompted him to select a file.

Instantly, a file with three set of digitally-drawn outfits appeared on the computer screen. All three were mainly dark grey, and two were feminine looking while the other one was clearly masculine. The linings of the outfits were yellow, pink and white respectively.

"Looks like they won't need the DigiSphere pouches anymore," Jackie murmured slowly, and using his electronic mouse he clicked on the eraser icon. "So let's erase them."

Humming to the indistinctive song played by the computer's music player, Jackie began altering the outfits carefully.

"I wonder whether they like the outfits I've created for them?" he said to himself as he re-colored the erased parts of the outfits. "Nobody said anything….I guess they're ok with the outfits."

After a minute, Jackie leaned back towards the chair and looked at the drawn outfits admiringly.

"Hmm…should I add the national flag on the left part of their chest?"

Jackie opened another file and the Malaysian flag appeared on the screen. The flag then was copied and pasted on the file containing the outfits. Jackie then minimized the size of the flag until it fitted perfectly on the male outfit, on the left chest side. He leaned back and took another look, and frowned.

"Nah, too many striking colors," he said, and deleted the flag before saving the file. "It's not like they're delegates from this country to another world or something."

xxx

TobuCatmon waited patiently beside the TV set he had within the Forest Sanctum. He was perched on top of a beige stone table, where the TV was, its screen turned towards the side of the table. Beside the table and on the floor, an Agumon was accompanying him. This was the Agumon who served as TobuCatmon's messenger…and the little orange tyrannosaurus rex was evidently nervous.

The TV glowed and let out a flash of light, forcing Agumon to close his eyes, while TobuCatmon was relatively unfazed. When the light disappeared, two out of three DigiWira appeared along with their partner Digimon, standing beside the stone table. The two girls were clad in their uniforms.

"Not this uniform again," Liu Ying muttered.

"What's wrong with it?" Gayathri asked her friend in wonder. She made a turn as she inspected her uniform. "I think they look rather chic."

"Welcome, Digi…girls. Where's Adam?" TobuCatmon inquired, realizing that the team was one DigiWira short.

"Oh, he has something he needs to care of. He'll come later," Gayathri said. "What's the problem, TobuCatmon?"

"I'll let Agumon speak," TobuCatmon beckoned towards the orange T-rex.

The two girls instantly fixed their attentions towards the small dinosaur Digimon. Agumon's green eyes were watery; there was no doubt that he was distraught.

"It's…it's my village," Agumon said sadly. A trickle of tear escaped his eyes, and as he attempted to rub it, his claws accidentally scratched his scales below the eyes instead. Agumon groaned slightly and looked up. "I was going back there for a visit, but from a far I saw chaos. A violent tornado has somehow erupted there, but the weather was fine before. I saw some parts of the villages being blown away by the tornado. I...I got scared and ran all my way back here."

"We suspect foul play," TobuCatmon added. "That was not just a tornado. The weather was perfectly fine before. Someone caused it." He turned a knowing glance towards Gayathri and Floramon. "Someone with powers like Fairymon has," he concluded grimly.

"Sounds very familiar," Gayathri said suspiciously. "What do you think Floramon?"

"It sounds like her alright," the Rookie Digimon replied back, her eyes narrowed. "We better go and see. Where's your village, Agumon?"

"It's up north from here, over the rock quarry, about an hour from here by foot."

"Well, I know a way to make the journey quicker," Liu Ying said, whipping out her Digivice from her belt. She noticed something was slightly different with a belt; something was missing, but decided that it was not that important. She turned to Gayathri. "Youkomon can get us all there in no time flat. TobuCatmon, if Adam and Patamon are here, send them to help us as well."

TobuCatmon nodded. "I'll be sure to inform them. Good luck, girls."

xxx

Once outside the forest, the two DigiWira used their Digivices to make their rookie partners advanced into their Champion forms. Fairymon took to the sky, while both Liu Ying and Gayathri rode on Youkomon. Fairymon flew up high, trying to find the location of Agumon's village. With her affinity to the wind, the fairy could feel something that was not right coming from a direction. There was a faint smell of smoke coming from the north. Trusting the winds and her instinct, she beckoned for Youkomon to follow her.

Youkomon took several strides quicker with one leap, while Fairymon glided the sky with ease. Within fifteen minutes they saw the rock quarry Agumon had mentioned. The smokes coming out from somewhere behind the quarry only served to confirm that this was indeed the place they needed to be. Fairymon descended down while Youkomon turned around a corner to drop the two DigiWira before proceeding to seek out the enemy.

Fairymon followed the direction where the smoke came from, and to her horror she saw a ravaged village. Huts and various vegetations were burnt, and many Digimon were knocked out and injured. Bodies of unconscious Rookies were everywhere; the assailant had only been kind enough not to delete them. But judging from their injuries, kindness was the last thing that came into Fairymon's mind.

"A tornado couldn't cause this," Fairymon muttered as the tip of her right foot descended onto the rocky ground. Beneath her visor, her eyes were trying to detect any sign of somebody who could tell her what had exactly happened there.

Suddenly, a gust of wind originated from Fairymon's back, causing her to shiver slightly. There was a rather familiar, yet unwelcome tingling sensation that seemed to radiate from the gust of wind, which made her turn around to look at it. To her shock, she saw a pair of Digimon. A wizard in white, and a bird-woman.

"You," Fairymon said venomously. "I knew that you're behind this."

Shutumon had an amused look reflected on her exposed upper part of face. Her blue eyes twinkled in mirth as she crossed her slender arms against her chest.

"So we meet again, Fairymon."

"Whoa! This is Fairymon?" the wizard exclaimed, ogling at Fairymon. "What a knock-out! But of course, you're more gorgeous Shutumon, honest."

"Glad to hear that Sorcerymon…now back off. Things are going to get nasty around here," Shutumon said coolly, narrowing her eyes in disgust towards her companion. She then directed her cool gaze towards Fairymon. "Where's your pretty human friend, Fairymon? Little girls shouldn't walk in a battle site alone."

"Neither should grandmas," Fairymon retorted with a smirk.

A vein threatened to burst in the middle of Shutumon's forehead. Her cheeks became an ugly shade of maroon. Without warning, Shutumon let out an angry snarl and zipped with top speed towards Fairymon, before…

SMACK!

Shutumon had slapped Fairymon, leaving a faint, but visible palm mark on Fairymon's left cheek. Fairymon yelled in pain and was thrown several steps behind. She almost fell onto the ground if it weren't for her sense of balance to keep herself upright. Her butterfly wings flapped in order to push her back onto her feet. Her left cheek was burning, Fairymon let out an angry shriek as she streaked towards Shutumon, and…

SMACK! SMACK!

"AAARGH!" Shutumon screamed, having been slapped twice by Fairymon. It was a wonder how did she manage to keep herself standing. Both her cheeks were numb.

"You'll pay for that! Wind of Pain!" Shutumon screeched in fury, and unleashed a violent purple tornado with blade projectiles towards Fairymon.

Fairymon however wasn't going to let Shutumon attack her without brandishing her own attack. "Hurricane Wind!"

Pink and purple tornadoes clashed with each other and threw both female Digimon away from each other. Fairymon knocked over Sorcerymon and both fell onto the ground, with Fairymon falling on top of Sorcerymon, while Shutumon managed to regain her poise just before she crashed onto the rocky wall. Somehow, Fairymon had accidentally knocked Sorcerymon unconscious.

"Heh! It's plain obvious here of who's the stronger one between us!" Shutumon declared. She saw Fairymon trying to disentangle herself from Sorcerymon, who wasn't making any effort to make it easier for Fairymon to stand up. "Oh, what's the matter Fairymon? Do you actually happen to enjoy your position with Sorcerymon to not continue our battle, or is it just your butt getting heavier and bigger for you to lift up?"

Fairymon snorted in disgust as she finally managed to stand up after slapping away Sorcerymon, who had become blissfully unaware of his surrounding. "Honey, at least my butt isn't as big as your head!"

Shutumon's face colored a little. "I do NOT have a big head!"

"You SO have a big head!" Fairymon deadpanned with a smirk, and to make her point she made a gesture with her hands, indicating Shutumon's head being inflated to an impossible size.

"Why you insolent little insect!"

SMACK!

SMACK!

SMACK!

SMACK!

When Youkomon arrived with the two girls, they were astounded upon seeing an extremely vicious catfight happening between Fairymon and Shutumon. They were slapping each other continuously that their cheeks were terribly swollen. In between all the slaps, they had also managed to deliver kicks, punches and scratches onto each other. Over the corner was an out cold Digimon in white whom neither DigiWira recognized; he seemed to be caught in the middle of the fight. Fairymon's visor was thrown off in the middle of the battle, and in retaliation Fairymon pulled out Shutumon's mouth covering…and doubled over in mid-air, laughing heartily.

"Oh dear! Your face is defective!" Fairymon said loudly after her laughs subsided.

Spread across Shutumon's lower face was a scar, shaped in a thin line just above her lips. It contrasted starkly with Shutumon's complexion.

"A scar like this suggests more battle experience, sister!" Shutumon shot back with all the dignity she could muster. "Which you so obviously LACK!"

"That's because you're the old one around here, granny!" Fairymon retorted. "And I've still got a lot to learn, because I am so YOUNG!"

"Why you! I'll show you how much I've learned these few centuries! Oh, on a second thought…shall I let my junior start?"

"Don't bother. I've always believed in the saying: Age before Beauty. Bring it on, birdbrain!"

SMACK!

SMACK!

SMACK!

SMACK!

"Oh dear…" Gayathri muttered, pressing her temples in frustration. She was standing beside Youkomon. "I was afraid that this would happen."

"Now I'm glad Adam isn't around," Liu Ying muttered as she dismounted her partner. "This is embarrassing. What would he think…"

"Shhh. Listen," Gayathri interrupted her friend. The earth was slightly rumbling and there was an approaching galloping sound, signing the arrival of one and only…

"Hey guys! I came as soon as I can!" yelled a very familiar teenage male's voice, as Sagittarimon appeared from the corner of the rock quarry.

Gayathri gave a dry laugh and turned to Liu Ying. "You were saying?"

Adam got down from Sagittarimon as soon as the mighty centaur halted beside Youkomon. He approached his fellow DigiWira breathlessly and had to stop for a while to gather his breathing. It was pretty evident that the boy had been doing some running prior in reaching there. He then noticed the tensed looks on Gayathri and Liu Ying.

"Liu Ying, Gayathri…what's the matter?" He then saw Youkomon, usually calm and poised, was also looking somewhat embarrassed. "Youkomon, aren't you supposed to…uh…help Fairymon?"

"No. Way," Youkomon said slowly, emphasizing every point. She shuddered. "I am not going to interfere with THAT!"

"Huh? Why?"

Youkomon gestured with her head upwards and sideways. Adam looked towards the direction the blue-furred fox had indicated, and his eyes widened instantly.

"Oh…"

SMACK!

SMACK!

Seeing Adam's eyes transfixed onto the two feminine Digimon's catfight unnerved the two DigiWira girls.

"Oh…so that's how women fight…they slap their faces off," he said, struggling to keep pace with the fight. "Wow…you can never see this on TV."

He didn't notice that behind his back, both Liu Ying and Gayathri were positively scowling at his somewhat gullible remarks.

SMACK!

SMACK!

"Wind of PAIN!"

"Hurricane WIND!"

SMACK!

SMACK!

"Gilgamesh SLICER!"

"Tempest TWIST!"

SMACK!

SMACK!

"Alright, this has gone far enough," Liu Ying snapped. "We need to end this. Youkomon, go and help Fairymon."

"Uh…you too Sagittarimon," Adam said hesitantly after Liu Ying and Gayathri both glared at him.

Youkomon and Sagittarimon took their positions, deciding that it was best to deliver their ranged attacks in order not to get close with the two fighting Digimon.

"Fox Tail Inferno!"

"Judgment Arrow!"

The arrow of lightning, surrounded by nine crimson fireballs, streaked the air with a distinct buzzing sound. Fairymon saw the incoming attacks and quickly avoided them by making a very agile back-flip. Shutumon however had no time to evade and decided to protect herself by attacking as well.

"Wind of Pain!"

She released a violent tornado of purple energy with blade projectiles swirling inside the tornado. Instantly the fireballs and the lightning arrow were deviated from their intended course, hitting instead the rocks surrounding them all with a loud explosion. Shutumon immediately backtracked towards Sorcerymon and slung an arm around the unconscious wizard's shoulder. She flapped her wings and glided over the chaotic atmosphere, occasionally using the falling quarry rocks as stepping stones to gain momentum. She was outnumbered and it was unwise to continue fighting. However, she was intent on giving the last words.

"Enjoy your victory today, DigiWira…because it will be your last! Our Master has returned, so you better watch your backs!"

Shutumon then flew away, leaving an echo of her shrill laughter behind as a way to irk a particular someone.

"Darn it! That's the second time she got away!" Fairymon yelled angrily. "Come back here you witch with a capital 'B'!"

"Fairymon!" Gayathri admonished. "What's gotten into you today? You never swear."

"And I didn't," Fairymon grumbled as she flew towards Gayathri. For the first time, she wasn't wearing her visor, and everybody could see that her eyes were a stunning light violet. She then glimmered and devolved back into a battered looking Floramon. "It was merely hinted; I didn't exactly swear."

Gayathri shook her head and knelt down to inspect her partner. "Looks like it's to TobuCatmon with you, you're a mess."

"Hey, Gayathri," Adam said. "What's the deal between Fairymon and that other…uh…girl-mon?"

"As far as I know it all started since day one of me becoming a DigiWira. In fact, my arrival to the Digital World was what initiated the bitter enmity between Shutumon and Fairymon."

"Don't say that, Gayathri," Floramon said quickly. "That crazy Shutumon was disturbing me and my friends even before I met you. She bullied my friends simply because she was bored, then she decided to go after me. If it weren't for you, I might already get deleted. You made me Digivolve, and better still, you made me win against a three-hundred-years old bitter grandma."

"Grandma?" Adam asked, confused.

"She can't help being catty towards Shutumon," Gayathri explained. "It's rather pointless."

"But it feels good!" Floramon exclaimed with a wide smile. Gayathri shook her head in amusement and patted the flower-reptile's head affectionately.

Liu Ying then cleared her throat. "Did you catch what Shutumon said right before she took off?"

"Yeah…she said that her master has returned," Adam said slowly. "Wonder what she meant by that. Do you two know about this master?"

"That's the thing, Adam," Liu Ying said worriedly. "All these while…all the six months I've spent being a DigiWira, I've never known of any master."

"TobuCatmon will know about it, I'm sure," Youkomon suggested. "Maybe we should return to Forest Sanctum now."

"Uh…just a sec," Adam said nervously. Liu Ying and Gayathri looked at him questioningly. "There's something weird happened just before I came here. I was fumbling with the computer back home, and I held my DigiSphere and the strange device we got with our uniform yesterday….when suddenly the device ate my DigiSphere! No, I'm not joking…."

"Adam, can you give me your D-Terminal for a while?" Gayathri asked with a smile.

"A what? Oh, you mean the device?" Adam took out the D-Terminal from his pouch, and his was a very pale blue D-Terminal with white-grey lining.

Gayathri took the D-Terminal and flipped it open. "Ah, I see you don't even realize that I've sent you a message?"

"Huh?"

"Oh, never mind. I'll explain it to you later." Gayathri then pressed a button and showed Adam what was displayed on the screen display.

"Hey, that's my DigiSphere in there!" the boy exclaimed in surprise.

Gayathri and Liu Ying both peered over Adam's D-Terminal, wanting to know the information that came with the White DigiSphere.

DigiWira: Adam Ariff

DigiSphere: White – Light

Digimon Partner: Patamon (Rookie) / Centarumon (Champion) / Sagittarimon (Armored Champion)

"Hey, Sagittarimon doesn't have an In-training form like our Digimon," Gayathri commented. "Why's that?"

"And his DigiSphere only refers to one thing instead of two, like ours," Liu Ying pointed out.

Adam looked positively puzzled by Liu Ying's statement, but nodded slowly towards Gayathri's question.

"I've asked Patamon actually last night about the reason he retains his Rookie form while in our world," Adam began. "It's because he's already a Champion when I first met him. Going to our world weaken our partners slightly; hence they would usually revert into their previous stages to conserve energy."

"That sounds plausible," Liu Ying nodded. "Our partners were both Rookies when we first met them; hence they become In-trainings whenever they are with us in our world."

"About the second question however, I have no clue what you two are talking about," Adam admitted.

"It states here that Sagittarimon is an Armored Champion, while Centarumon is a Champion," Gayathri said. "What's an Armored Champion?"

"I can answer that," Sagittarimon offered, turning everyone's attention towards him. "Armored Champions, or usually referred as Armors or Armor-level Digimon, are Digimon with powers equivalent to a normal Champion Digimon, but as hinted by the name, they have relatively higher defense and endurance. But that doesn't necessarily mean that Armored Champion are stronger than normal Champions – usually they just have better defense, which makes them harder to beat. Lynxmon of yesterday was a good example."

"And you?" Adam asked smilingly. "You're an Armored Champion too. I wonder why the White DigiSphere just changed you from Centarumon to your current form instead of making you go one level higher…if it exists."

"That I don't know for certain, Adam," Sagittarimon answered truthfully, "but I do have a theory. You see, I was made leader of Green Meadow Village when the original leader, a Centarumon, passed away due to extreme old age and an incurable disease – yes, don't be surprised, Digimon can die too, although most of the times they will be reconfigured. I inherited some of the late Centarumon's power and prematurely Digivolved into one as well. I believe the White DigiSphere merely added its power to maturely Digivolve me into Sagittarimon, which I consider as my true Champion form. Digivolving into a level past Champion is possible as well, but I consider myself still not up to scratch to achieve it. Digivolving into Ultimate requires extremely high level of experience, power and endurance, not many Digimon have the privilege to achieve their Ultimate, which for Digimon, is considered a level of perfection."

The three DigiWira, as well as Floramon and Youkomon, were amazed of Sagittarimon's knowledge.

"Do tell me, Sagittarimon; how long have you lived before being partnered with Adam?" Youkomon inquired. "Your knowledge is sound."

"I'm not certain – I do know that I am more than fifteen years of age," Sagittarimon said thoughtfully, "because I've led Green Meadow Village for fifteen years prior in meeting Adam."

"Whoa! You're even older than me!" Adam gasped.

"Fifteen? I'm only three!" Floramon yelped in surprise. Gayathri rolled her eyes.

"And I am…eight," Youkomon admitted begrudgingly.

"Age doesn't matter," Sagittarimon said consolingly. "What does matter now is that we work together as one, now that we know an evil master has returned."

"Spoken like a true leader," Adam said proudly, grinning. His grin then faltered. "As for me, I still have a lot to learn. Once in a while I really think Liu Ying should be made leader instead of me."

Liu Ying shook her head. "My grandfather once said that life is about learning. And TobuCatmon has told Gayathri and I, back when you weren't a DigiWira, that the one chosen by the White DigiSphere as its wielder will lead the team. If you don't feel like you can lead…then learn from your partner."

"….Okay," Adam said slowly as he thought of Liu Ying's suggestion. "You're right. So…now, I propose we return to Forest Sanctum, to ask TobuCatmon about this…'master'."

Gayathri giggled, and Liu Ying shook her head. Adam looked at them questioningly with a credulous expression, wondering what he did wrong.

"In time, you'll get the hang of it," Liu Ying assured the male DigiWira. "Now, come on, let's go."

xxx

"The master?" TobuCatmon questioned. "Didn't Shutumon refer to this 'master' in name?"

As soon as they arrived at the Forest Sanctum, the DigiWira, Gayathri mainly, recounted to TobuCatmon about their recent battle. They managed to ease Agumon's despair, saying that many villagers were found unconscious and injured instead of dead. But of course, there was no knowing how many Digimon had been deleted, if there were any, because deceased Digimon would combust into data particles to be reconfigured instead of decomposing. They however, were discreet enough to keep that from Agumon in case they'd upset the little dino, and recounted the battle between Fairymon and Shutumon.

"No, she didn't," Adam said. "She just said that her master has returned, and that we'd better watch our backs."

"And the way she said it didn't sound like an empty threat," Gayathri added.

TobuCatmon pondered about it for a moment. The news brought by the DigiWira was certainly disconcerting. He had a suspicion, a terrible suspicion, but he needed to make sure lest not to alarm the three teenagers unnecessarily.

"You've said that Shutumon is accompanied by another Digimon. Do you know his name?" he asked.

"I heard that three hundred years old granny called him Sorcerymon," Floramon supplied. She couldn't help being catty again.

TobuCatmon however didn't look amused at all. He had just begun putting two and two together, and frowned. He fluttered about the Forest Sanctum, while the DigiWira and their partners watched their mentor anxiously.

"What do you mean, three hundred years old granny? Were you referring to Shutumon?" TobuCatmon asked.

"Well, yeah…she kept bragging that she has three hundred or so years of experience," Floramon answered.

TobuCatmon shook his head. "Not good, not good at all…"

"What's not good, TobuCatmon?" Adam asked.

The flying feline Digimon considered for a moment before replying. He needed to figure this out completely before saying anything.

"I need to think this over first, DigiWira," TobuCatmon said gravely. "I shall get back to you about this soon. In the meantime…" he tried to muster a smile, "have an enjoyable weekend."

There was something else the DigiWira wanted to ask their mentor, but seeing the sudden grim mood predominated TobuCatmon's usual jovialness, the DigiWira decided to save their other questions for later, and returned to their home world.

xxx

After returning from the Digital World, Gayathri decided to go out for a few rounds of rollerblading around her housing lane, as a form to unwind after the short battle in the Digital World. TobuCatmon's strange behavior concerned her, but she believed their mentor to know what he was doing, so she shrugged off any form of worry clouding her mind. Tanemon was back in her room, sleeping after a quick meal to recover the energy she had spent fighting Shutumon.

The day was not as sunny as usual, but the lack of heat was the main reason Gayathri opted to rollerblade instead of spending the afternoon cooped in the house. To her knowledge the lane was usually empty in the afternoon, so it was safe enough for her to rollerblade without worrying of being knocked over by the car. Gayathri might not be into sports that much, but rollerblading was something she had been doing since she was in primary school, and after a few years Gayathri could be proud of her rollerblading skills. Despite her skills however, Gayathri still observed the safety precautions, and wore a helmet, a pair of gloves, elbow pads and knee pads to avoid any injury should she fell. And since the day was neither too warm nor too cold, Gayathri chose to wear a simple pink top and a pair of jean shorts.

Gayathri waved towards Anding, who was busy washing one of the Nadarajah's two cars before exiting the gate, signing that she was stepping out for only around the area. Anding nodded and continued with his task. She was about to start her first stride when from a distance, two lorries turned into the housing lane, led by a black Honda Accord. Gayathri stopped and observed the lorries with interest, then shifted her gaze to a bungalow located five houses down her own house. It was a double-storey bungalow with dark green roof, and it had been empty since the end of the previous year.

"Somebody's moving into Uncle Malik's old house," Gayathri said, fondly remembering the previous owner of the house. "I better go closer to take a look of the new owners."

She moved towards the bungalow and stopped in front of the house beside the empty one just as the black car parked in front of the empty house's gate. From the driver seat, a tall man with short black hair emerged. He wore a yellow polo shirt and brown khakis, and a pair of black sunglasses. The door of the passenger seat flew open and a woman stepped out. The woman had a pleasant face and long brown hair. She was wearing a white blouse and a pair of black jeans. Both didn't seem to notice Gayathri standing not far from them, as upon emerging they quickly shifted their attention towards the empty house, and the two lorries that began to pull over at the other side of the road.

"Oh, the house is lovely, dear!" the woman said delightfully. "The walls and the gate could use some repainting, and the grasses need trimming, but otherwise, it's beautiful."

"Of course," the man replied proudly. "Our new home, for the four of us. Manny, Debbie, come outside and look at our new house."

Gayathri noticed that the couple spoke with an accent, recognizing it as the traits of people from Sabah, the Land below the Winds. Anding spoke with the same accent, though less thick than the woman and the man. Her eyes then diverted towards a male teen emerging from the back seat, followed by a little girl who was clutching a white teddy bear. The teen was rather built in size, and obviously taller than her, with short spiked -reddish brown hair and a brown complexion similar to his father, and almost the same as her own skin color. He wore a blue T-shirt with a white stripe across the chest, and a pair of black jeans. Gayathri felt a brief flutter in her stomach and quickly shifted her gaze to the girl beside the boy. She was an endearing girl with a complexion a shade lighter than her brother. And to Gayathri's amused delight, the girl too, was dressed in pink.

"What do you think?" the man asked towards the teen.

The teen cast an apprehensive look towards the house; Gayathri noticed that he looked rather unhappy. "It's fine," he replied slowly.

"Wow, the house is big, daddy," the girl said, her eyes widened. Unlike her brother, the girl brightened up instantly. "Can I have my room painted in pink?"

"We'll see, sweetie," the man said, grinning as he fumbled inside his pants pocket and took out a set of keys.

Gayathri then decided to greet the new family of the neighborhood. She strolled towards the woman, who noticed her instantly. She smiled as Gayathri stopped in front of her.

"Hello, aunty," Gayathri greeted politely with a smile. She extended both hands forward. "You must be our new neighbors. I live at the end of the lane."

The woman nodded and shook Gayathri's hands, smiling. "Yes, yes we are. It's very nice to see you…"

"Oh, excuse me," Gayathri said. "My name is Gayathri Nadarajah."

"Well, it's very nice to meet you, Gayathri," the woman said pleasantly. "Just call me Aunty Kim. That's my husband; you can call him Uncle Abah."

"Hello, uncle," Gayathri greeted the man, who nodded back as he took off his sunglasses.

"Pleasant to meet you, Gayathri," he said with a friendly tone. "So you are Nadarajah's daughter. I have the pleasure of meeting your father before, when I came around this area three weeks ago to survey this house. He was very helpful; gave me a lot of information about the house and the area around here." He then observed Gayathri briefly, seemingly trying to figure out how old she was. He cast a brief look over his son before turning back to Gayathri once again. "Hmm… where do you go to school, Gayathri?"

Gayathri understood that 'Uncle Abah' must be trying to locate a school to enroll his teenage son in. She smiled.

"I attend USJ 2 National Secondary School, uncle, it's not very far from here," Gayathri answered. "I'm in Form Two."

"Form Two?" Uncle Abah repeated. His eyes lightened up as he glanced towards his son. "That's excellent! My son, Emmanuel, is in Form Two as well. Manny, come over and say hi to Gayathri."

The teen, Emmanuel, or Manny, stepped forward slowly, his eyes trained towards the road. Now that he was closer, Gayathri could see that her height merely reached Manny's eyes, and she was wearing the rollerblades which added to her current height. He looked up briefly at Gayathri and the DigiWira could have sworn that the boy was blushing, but it was hard to tell. He extended a hand towards Gayathri.

"Uh…hi," he said in a low tone; Gayathri had to strain her ears to hear it.

Realizing that the boy might be shy, Gayathri took the offered hand and shook it once. "It's very nice to meet you, Manny. Hopefully I'll see you around at school this Monday; I can introduce you to my friends. Maybe you can come over to school tomorrow too, we're going to pick up the clubs and societies that we want to join for this year, so maybe you can have a look around at school…."

Manny looked up at her inquiringly at her unfinished sentence, but didn't say anything. His curiosity however was reflected from his russet eyes. Gayathri found herself somewhat attracted to the color of Manny's eyes. They were not as brown as hers, and somewhat darker, with a reddish shade. Then she realized that she was staring at Manny, and flustered. She couldn't admit that she was thinking about the boy's eyes, so she would have to improvise.

"Oh, sorry about that…it's just that I thought you must be in Form Three or higher, you're rather…uh…big, for a Form Two," Gayathri explained quickly. Manny looked a little surprised by her comment, which prompted Gayathri to immediately elaborate on her rather ambiguous comment. "Not fat-big, just…uh…big-framed, I guess."

Uncle Abah and Aunty Kim both laughed knowingly. "He gets that a lot," Uncle Abah said as he patted Manny's shoulder. "Our boy here used to be chubby, but lost loads of fat after he takes up swimming three years ago. He swims a lot back in Labuan." He patted the boy's back in a fatherly way.

Manny's face reddened even more. "Dad…" he muttered with a mixed tone of annoyance, embarrassment and…Gayathri thought she could detect a whine, but she wasn't so sure.

The little girl bustled past her father and brother and looked up at Gayathri curiously. Gayathri couldn't help but to think again that the girl was adorable, with her dark hair kept in pigtails with vibrant pink hair bands.

"Hello! My name is Deborah, but you can call me Debbie," she said fluently, and friendlily. Gayathri noted that the girl was quite the opposite of her older brother; she was warmer while Manny was quite withdrawn.

"Hi Debbie, my name is Gayathri," Gayathri knelt down to meet the girl's large, doe-like eyes. "How old are you?"

"Six," Debbie replied promptly, holding up six fingers, the remaining four were clutched on the teddy bear's hand. Then she smiled. "You're very pretty, Kakak. Will you be my friend?"

The sincere comment surprised the teenage girl, coming from a youngster such as Debbie. "Oh…thank you, Debbie. I think you're adorable too. And sure, I'd love to be your friend."

"Yay! And, you can be Abang's girlfriend too!" Debbie squealed happily and clapped her hands, bouncing the teddy bear back and forth in the process.

At this, Gayathri's eyes widened and Manny choked a little as the parents laughed once again. Manny pulled back his sister closer to him and held her shoulders with both hands, and ignored the girl's squeals of protest.

"Sorry about that," he muttered, his eyes lowered back towards the ground.

"Oh…um…" Gayathri looked away, towards Aunty Kim. "Aunty, do you need help?"

"No, Gayathri, but thank you for asking," Aunty Kim replied smilingly. She then looked as if she had thought of something, and proceeded to ask Gayathri, "However, we would love to have you and your parents come over for tea Sunday afternoon. By that time I think we can get the house to be welcoming enough for visitors. What do you say, dear?" she glanced towards her husband.

"Yes, that'll be great," Uncle Abah agreed. "I'm looking forward to see your father once again, and meet your mother."

"I'll be sure to tell my parents, aunty," Gayathri nodded, and this time she too tried hard not to look at Manny. She then smiled grimly. "Please excuse me now, as I need to go back to my house."

"Of course, Gayathri," Aunty Kim said. "Thank you for coming to see us, and don't forget this Sunday."

"I won't," Gayathri said and began rollerblading away from the family. As she began to pick up speed, she felt a gaze being fixed at her from behind. Curiously she turned back and saw Manny observing her. Before their eyes made contact however, the boy looked away quickly and followed his parents who were entering the house. Amused, Gayathri headed straight back towards her house, the desire to rollerblade forgotten completely as she silently hoped for Sunday to come sooner.

xxx

Author's Note:

I've decided to try a different approach in retelling Gayathri's first experience as a DigiWira. While Liu Ying has flashbacks in the previous chapter, Gayathri's was reflected in a different way, briefly but with all necessary details included. I want to focus more on her characterizations.

I have a lot of trouble at first writing the girl-talk session between Gayathri and her two friends, but suddenly the inspiration comes when I hear my female classmates talking about guys. They were talking about actors, actually, but I did listen and got the inspiration to add it inside the chapter. :D

Malaysians usually address their elders, apart from their immediately family and teachers, as 'uncle' and 'aunty' even though the person who is being referred to it might not be a blood relative to them at all. If a person is considered old enough, or if the age is closer to their parents, of if the person is a friend of their parents, he/she will usually be addressed that way. On a similar note - Debbie addresses Manny as 'Abang' (literally translated as big brother) and calls Gayathri 'Kakak' (which means big sister, although Gayathri is no blood relation to her).

Shutumon uses the original attack names because they sound much more villainess-like compared to the American dub ones.

I've finished this chapter quite a while ago, since the 15th of January, but there seemed to be a problem with uploading new chapters on the website. It gives me time to make adjustments and add some new parts, which explain the staggering 13 000 + words for this chapter.