"Judgment Arrow!"
"Fox Tail Inferno!"
"Hurricane Wave!"
The meteorites generated from Sagittarimon's hooves, combined with Youkomon's nine fireballs and Fairymon's pink hurricane, coalesced together in the midair of that cold night and rammed against a massive white rooster, sending it flying before crashing on the stony ground. The attacks from the DigiWira Digimon managed to scorch the chicken's formerly white feathers into shades of black and grey. The chicken crowed as it struggled to get up, its eyes flashing crimson as it did. Shaking its head which made its red plumage dangling left and right, it turned around to face its opponent and crowed loudly against the breezy Sunday night as its sharp talons scratched the barren ground.
"You know, I suddenly have this urge to go and buy some fried chickens after we're finished with this," Adam commented jokingly as he observed their latest Digimon menace. He grinned cheekily as his shoulder was lightly slapped by Gayathri. "Sorry. Pun fully intended, nevertheless."
"Ugh," Liu Ying said with disgust. "Out of all Digimon I've seen for the past six months I've been a DigiWira, this HAS to be the most ridiculous Digimon of all."
Gayathri crossed her arms over her body. "Tell me about it. But you've got to admit, this one's a tough one. The combined attacks from our partners didn't cause him to flee or anything. Instead he looks like he's seriously mad at us."
"And I thought we've finally got some leads on what's going on with the kidnappings of Agumon and Penguinmon yesterday," Adam grunted.
The three DigiWira were watching the battle between their partners and the strange rooster from a safe distance. Earlier, when they had received signals via their D3 Digivices and the D-Terminals, all of them had thought that TobuCatmon had contacted them regarding to the mysterious abductions of the two rookie Digimon that had occurred the previous day. As it was already nightfall and on a weekend, the three teens had quite a time trying to access the Digital World without rousing suspicion from their families. They were disappointed when TobuCatmon told them that he still didn't have the answers they wanted, but rather they were needed to deal with a somewhat minor threat.
"Welcome to the world of the DigiWira, Adam," Liu Ying said dryly. "Sometimes, occurrences like this happen."
Gayathri snorted. "But it certainly doesn't make it any less annoying. I still have one page of Science to cover for tomorrow, and Science is the first class Adam and I am going to have tomorrow."
"That'll teach you not to wait to do everything at the last minute," the fairer girl retorted, but there was no malice in her tone. She then offered Gayathri a smile to remove whatever little sting present in the comment.
And it seemed that Gayathri didn't take any offence of what had just been said to her. She smiled back, revealing her set of sparkling white teeth.
"Well…I've got a good reason for that. You see, we - my parents and I – went for a high-tea at Manny's house in the afternoon."
Adam cleared his throat. "What I'm interested to know is that how you two told your families about…this?"
"My family knows that I'm a DigiWira but still…it's a Sunday night and we have school tomorrow. My mother almost didn't allow me to go…and hadn't Shaomon been so polite and convincing I probably wouldn't be here by now," Liu Ying said as she observed the four Digimon, where everything seemed to have reached a standstill.
"At least you won't have to make up any stories to come here," Adam pointed out with a frown. "I'm just lucky my sister decides that she didn't feel like cooking tonight and decided to go to buy some takeouts instead rather than order a pizza."
"You still haven't told anyone about us?" Gayathri inquired disapprovingly. "Trust me, you really should, it'll make your life a lot easier."
"I'm waiting for the right time to tell my sister," Adam replied, thinking about his older sister. "She's been quite busy lately."
"She'd be wondering where in the world you are at this time of night, when she got back with those takeouts," Liu Ying reminded the sole male DigiWira.
"Oh shoot! They better fry that chicken quickly, or else, I'll be the one who'd get fried!"
Unbeknownst to the DigiWira, several meters up and hidden against the darkened stratus, two Digimon were hovering silently as they too, observed the battle between the large rooster and the three DigiWira partners. The battle had resumed, but it looked like it was not going to be on the rooster's favor. The partners didn't even attack it altogether. Sagittarimon took a step back and observed as Fairymon delivered a flurry of high-kicks onto the bird's pelt and wings, while Youkomon standing guard nearby.
"I've told you; sending that Cockatrimon is not a good idea!" Shutumon groaned. "He can't hope to match the powers of those Digi-freaks."
"Hey, it was the best I could find in such a short notice," Sorcerymon said defensively. "The general wants a distraction while he executes the master's plan. And I've found us a distraction. Besides you know yourself that the Cockatrimon is only half of what I have in mind."
Shutumon shrugged. "Fine. Whatever. Have you got the spell ready?"
"I'm still memorizing it. Just give me a couple more minutes."
"I'd give you all the time you need; it's just that…that big bird you've got us probably won't be around after a few seconds!"
"Hey, Cockatrimon's not that bad. Besides the DigiWira partners don't delete Digimon unnecessarily, or so I heard."
"If the chicken doesn't come across those pesky kids, they won't," Shutumon grumbled. "HURRY UP! We don't have all night."
Sorcerymon closed his eyes and tried to concentrate, amidst the sounds of yells and small explosions down below. His mouth let out a barely audible string of chants. Shutumon glanced at her smaller companion with impatience reflected from her clear eyes. True to his word, Sorcerymon opened his eyes no longer than two minutes later, and nodded slightly with a smile. With a slight gesture with his head, the sorcerer in white gestured for his bird-woman companion to move down towards the ground slowly.
In the meantime, a pink tornado sent Cockatrimon flying several meters across the empty region as Fairymon pulled down her arms to her sides. Her glittering butterfly wings illuminated her beautiful features against the dark night; truly a sight to behold. She had defeated Cockatrimon soundly and seemed to be proud of her achievement as Sagittarimon and Youkomon approached her. Turning sideways, she smiled at her fellow partners.
"Looks like we get to call this a night," she declared, pointing towards the fallen Cockatrimon. "I believe I've knocked him out."
True enough, the Cockatrimon didn't move after being knocked down by Fairymon. Instead a faint black aura seemed to emanate from the chicken's body, before a thin wisp of vapor rose up from the avian Digimon's head and disappeared in the midst of the dark night. Cockatrimon was defeated, but the DigiWira partners didn't delete him as he was not a direct threat compared to Deltamon and Lynxmon which they had faced several days before. And the sudden deletion of Aquilamon the previous day was still fresh in their minds.
"Let's just leave him as that and go, I don't think he's going to pose any harm to anyone," Sagittarimon suggested, eyeing the disappearing smoke with his sharp eyes critically.
"Oh-HO! Not so fast you three!"
The DigiWira partners were stunned when they saw Shutumon and Sorcerymon descended from the sky. Sagittarimon and Youkomon groaned in displeasure upon seeing the reaction of their fellow partner when she saw the two sudden comers. The last thing they wanted to see was for their fairy friend to lose it once again, just like she had two days before. Both quadrupled Digimon inched closer to their humanoid comrade while keeping eyes on the two villainous Digimon.
"YOU!" Fairymon hissed.
"Me," Shutumon said with a wink. "And I've got a gift for you. Sorcerymon!"
Sorcerymon pointed his white staff towards the DigiWira partners and grinned wickedly. As he waved the staff a little, the staff began to shimmer with soft blue light. Then without warning a blue jet of light shot out from the staff, heading towards the partners with speed as quick as lightning.
However, alert as always, Youkomon successfully jumped out of way, although her tails were nearly grazed by the bolt of blue light. Sagittarimon attempted to move, but he need not to, the blue bolt knocked his crimson torso armor and was instantly deflected, much to the dismay of the bad duo. However Shutumon smirked as Fairymon was not as quick or as protected as her friends in avoiding the blast deflected from Sagittarimon's armor. The blast hit her squarely on the face and body, and Shutumon waited in anticipation for the attack to take effect.
Five seconds passed. Ten seconds passed. And fifteen seconds passed as Shutumon and Sorcerymon observed Fairymon with anticipation.
"Uh…ok, what was that?" Fairymon asked airily, confused and relieved at the same time. Nothing happened to her after being hit by the blue bolt.
Shutumon face-faulted and smacked Sorcerymon on the head. "Sorcerymon, you dolt! Your spell didn't work!"
"OWW!" the white wizard cried indignantly as he rubbed his head. "It should! I memorized all the words and methods of executing it. It should work!"
"Well it didn't! Obviously you screwed up something, somehow!" Shutumon seethed angrily.
"Um…yoo-hoo! You two?" Fairymon called out perkily, putting her hands on her hips. "We really need to get going and we don't have time for this?"
Sorcerymon snorted loftily and stepped forward, thrusting his staff forward. "Well, I suggest, you make time…now."
Nine streaks of red fireballs jetted over Fairymon's head and sides and collided with the ground in front of Sorcerymon with a solid sound of an explosion. The evil duo shivered slightly upon meeting the piercing glare of a blue-furred kitsune whose wrath seemed to be not the one they would like to incur.
"Or not," Sorcerymon said with a nervous giggle. "Ciao!"
With a poof of white smoke, both he and Shutumon vanished from the battlefield, to the confusion of the partners, and the DigiWira themselves. They went towards their partners as they de-Digivolved back into their rookie levels, and Gayathri quickly inspected Floramon for any wounds or scars.
"I'm fine, Gayathri, don't worry," Floramon assured her human partner. She was rewarded by a hug by Gayathri.
"If you ask me, this is rather odd," Labramon commented as Liu Ying patted her head.
"Why's that, Labramon?" Patamon inquired as he perched on top of Adam's head, after making sure that it was ok with the boy. He had recently found that it was very comfortable.
"Well, the battle we had with Cockatrimon was rather pointless, and suddenly those two showed up and fired a harmless bolt of light towards Fairymon before disappearing again…something seems to be wrong somewhere," Labramon explained.
"We can ask TobuCatmon to check our Digimon out for any…thing unusual?" Adam inquired, looking at the other two more experienced DigiWira.
"Yes, we can do that," Gayathri confirmed. "Then we can go back."
"What about that Cockatrimon?" Adam asked.
"Well…usually we just leave the defeated Digimon be. He'd be unconscious for quite a while," Liu Ying explained. "Let's go back to the Forest Sanctum."
Adam cast one last look at the unconscious Cockatrimon and frowned upon looking at his blackened feathers. Some of the feathers on his wings were frayed and bruises were evident on the left side of the cockatrice's face. It was a rather pitiful sight. "Ugh. I take back what I've said before. You know… the pun I've made about the chicken thing? On the contrary, I think I've had enough of chickens today."
"Hear, hear," Liu Ying muttered.
As they started their way back to the Forest Sanctum, which was not far away from where they were at, nobody noticed a very faint blue smoke coming out from Floramon and entered the D3 which was clipped on the belt of Gayathri's uniform. The D3's screen flickered momentarily and let out a buzz. Gayathri's hand instinctively reached for her D3, and in a blink of the eye the same transparent smoke entered her right hand and irradiated upwards towards her forearm, arm, shoulder, neck, and face before finally entering the pretty girl's almond eyes. Gayathri was walking behind Adam and Liu Ying, thus nobody noticed this occurrence taking place. Not even Gayathri or Floramon noticed that something had happened, thus it wasn't strange when TobuCatmon too didn't find anything strange on any of them and permitted them to return back to their home-world.
Upon exiting his computer, Adam quickly straightened himself up upon hearing the doorknob of his apartment's main door was being opened. Patamon remained still on the chair, pretending to be a stuffed toy. The monitor was not displaying anything other than the anime wallpaper Adam had installed. The teenage boy looked at the door eagerly as Alisha Ariff entered the apartment with two red-and-white colored plastic bags.
"Hi Adam," she said smilingly, and raised one of the plastic bags she was holding. "I hope you don't mind but I feel like eating KFC tonight."
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WIRA DIGITAL
Chapter 05 – Pink With Envy
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After leaving Shaomon at the computer room Liu Ying started her way towards her classroom that Monday morning. Yesterday's attack didn't seem to faze her at all, as she had immediately went back to sleep after returning to the Digital World. Smiling inwardly, she was glad that her mother, grandfather and younger brother knew about her being a DigiWira – it had saved her from making up excuses whenever she needed to go to the Digital World.
Taking her seat in her classroom, she began taking out her stationeries when her teacher came in. Promptly all of the students rose from their seats to greet the elderly female teacher who taught them Geography for that first period. She was a woman in her late forties, known by her gray hairs held back in a bun and her large thick glasses. Those were her trademarks, as the students cheekily put in. That day she was wearing a red and yellow floral-patterned baju kurung. The teacher returned the greeting and beckoned for them to return to their seats and promptly opened her textbook to begin the lesson for that day. However before she could begin, a knock on the door interrupted her.
"Yes?" she asked with a mild irritation, and adjusted her large glasses while glancing sideways towards the door.
It was known that Mrs. Rohana Jalil was one of those teachers who disliked being interrupted while she was teaching, and students usually would remain silent as not to invoke her rather short temper. One student had made that mistake earlier that month, and the whole class had to endure a half-an-hour lecture by Mrs. Rohana of being respectful to the elderly and how important it was for them to pay attention in class if they wanted to receive good marks in the examination.
All twenty-nine students of Class 2B now had their attentions towards the door, where a strapping teenager with short black hair was standing nervously. Liu Ying immediately recognized the boy as she had met him last Saturday. Gayathri had introduced Emmanuel Abah to her and Adam, and they had joined the computer club together.
"Good morning, teacher," the teen greeted politely. "I…"
"Why are you late?" Mrs. Rohana asked promptly before the teen could continue, and he was taken aback by the question. "Class has started for five minutes."
"Um…I was told by the administration clerk that I'm supposed to come here to start today's class. I just got transferred from Sabah…"
The hardened expression on Mrs. Rohana's face softened slightly. "Oh. A new student. Excuse me. Come in and introduce yourself to the whole class."
Manny walked into the class and stood nervously in front of the whole classroom as the teacher moved to stand beside her table. He placed the indigo bag he was carrying down and looked at everyone, and his troubled face looked slightly relieved upon recognizing Liu Ying amidst the strangers. Liu Ying smiled slightly and gave an encouraging nod as her eyes traveled to the empty seat located at the back of the class, beside the table of a burly dark-skinned teenager who was looking outside the window. The empty seat had belonged to a boy who had transferred to another school about one week after the term had begun.
"Hello. I'm Emmanuel Abah, but people usually call me Manny. I come from Kota Kinabalu, Sabah," Manny said with a loud, but slightly quivering voice.
"Alright, that will do for now, you can get acquainted with the students later after my class," Mrs. Rohana said quickly. "You can take your seat beside Theeban….Theeban! Stop your daydreaming and raise your hand so that Emmanuel knows where he should be sitting!"
The burly teen sitting beside the empty seat immediately turned his face to look at the teacher and raised his hand, grinning sheepishly. Manny immediately took his seat and the teacher resumed her lesson, as if nothing had happened beforehand. The lesson went on non-stop for the next forty minutes before the bell rang, signaling the end of the first period. She immediately wrote down the list of tasks that she expected her students to complete and promptly walked out of the classroom.
Instantly the quiet classroom was filled with excited whispers and everyone turned their attentions towards the new boy. Some of them got up from their seats and took advantage of the five-minutes interval breaks to get to know Manny; many were intrigued by his accent which was slightly different from the people originated from Peninsular Malaysia. Liu Ying watched the commotion with an amused smile as another tall, but thin, male teenager, wearing a dark green tie with a red nametag marking the word CLASS MONITOR pinned on it, and a pair of wire-rimmed glasses, approached her table. This was Class 2B's monitor, Hafiz.
"Hey, Millie, Liu Ying," he greeted towards Liu Ying and the girl sitting beside her.
"Just a sec, Hafiz," the girl beside Liu Ying said without raising her head up. She was busy writing something in her notebook while looking at the opened exercise book on Liu Ying's table. "Let me finish jotting the notes from Liu Ying's book."
Hafiz nodded and turned towards Liu Ying. "Usually you would be the one who would stop this kind of commotion," he remarked with a smile.
"Yes, I would. But actually, that's supposed to be your job," Liu Ying replied as she observed her classmates welcoming Manny to the class.
Hafiz grinned. "You're the second assistant head prefect. They'd listen to you more than me."
"You have more leverage while inside the class. Outside however, is a different story," Liu Ying pointed out with a grin. "Besides, you know that the class would listen to you as well. You've done a pretty good job last year – that's why the class insisted that you remain the monitor."
"You out of all people in this classroom should know that they reelected me as monitor again this year because they know I won't have the heart to complain to the teacher of who's making the noises in this class," Hafiz snorted.
"That's why we love you," the girl beside Liu Ying chipped in with a playful smile. She was a vivacious brunette girl with straight, shoulder-length hair framing her oval face. Her dimpled smile made her look quite attractive.
"Yeah, right, Millie," Hafiz snorted, blushing slightly. He looked at the prefect instead of the girl beside her. "So…should I ask them to return to their seats?"
"Well, as long as it doesn't get out of control, let them be," Liu Ying assured Hafiz. "Won't you go and introduce yourself to Manny? You're the class monitor, after all."
"I would, and how about you?" Hafiz asked.
"I've known him already; he was here on Saturday with a friend of mine who brought him to school to have a look-around. He has joined the Computer Club and the Ninjutsu Club."
Millie looked at the prefect suspiciously. "Ooohh. You seem to know a lot about the new boy here, Liu Ying. Now, has our stickler prefect has interest…."
"Wait a second, and erase that thought," Liu Ying interrupted her friend and held up her palm just an inch away from Millie's mouth. Hafiz laughed lightly but turned it into a cough when Liu Ying glared at him as well. "We're just friends, Millie," she stated firmly. 'Besides I know someone who's having more interest in Manny, more than just friends,' she added mentally.
"Oh…ok. Sorry. Well, come on Hafiz, let's go and introduce ourselves." Millie got up from her seat and went with the class monitor towards where Manny was sitting. Before leaving their tables however, she leaned closer to Liu Ying and whispered to the prefect's ear. "You know, if you do like him, it's not a problem. We're teenagers after all and…"
"Millie!" Liu Ying gave her friend a glare. She turned to Hafiz and gave him an incredulous look. "Hafiz, control your girlfriend!" she hissed.
Hafiz shrugged and Millie giggled hysterically. Liu Ying shook her head in amusement as she watched the couple heading towards Manny's table, deciding to inform Gayathri about Manny being her new classmate. She wondered whether Gayathri would be disappointed that Manny ended up in Class 2B instead of Class 2A where Gayathri and Adam were.
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Gayathri was feeling uneasy the whole day. She got up in the morning with a headache, and had even considered skipping school for that one day before deciding to go, as she had spent quite some time the previous night to complete her homework and preparing for her lessons today. Her effort would be pointless if she missed school. Bypassing the mirror on her vanity table before going out from her room that morning, she was glad that her complexion was dark as it made the dark circles around her eyes looked less obvious.
School went by rather uneventfully for her. She simply could not concentrate on her lessons, and was not being particularly good with it as well. The girl sitting beside her had commented that she looked sick, and Gayathri believed her – there was no fever and it was not that time of the month. All the time she tried to figure out what could be bugging her, only to be left even more in the dark. She kept having the urge to simply snap at somebody as a way to vent, but her natural easy-going tendencies had kept that at bay. At least, for the time being...
'I don't know how long I can handle this,' she thought desperately. 'The pain is killing me…'
Her temples ached by the time the recess ball rang. The students began to clear out from the classroom and Gayathri was relieved. The noises made by her classmates were not particularly loud, but to Gayathri somehow they were amplified to the point of deafening. She could hear the soft conversation between Adam and Hakim in front of her as if they were speaking over a microphone. Annoyance sparked from within her and she resisted the urge to snap towards the two boys, taking deep breaths to calm herself down.
"Are you coming, Adam?"
"Well, you go first. There's something I need to ask Gayathri first."
"Ok… do you want me to buy you something? It's not a problem."
"A plate of that fried kuey-teow would be fine. Thanks Hakim, you're the best."
"Don't I know it? Heh. Anyway, don't take too long. And you're buying the drinks."
As Hakim went out of the classroom, Gayathri saw Adam turning towards her, looking at her with obvious concern. The throbbing on her temples had spread quickly towards her forehead and the back of her head. At the time, she wished for nobody to speak with her. Unfortunately for Gayathri, that was not going to happen.
"Is anything wrong, Gayathri? You look awful," Adam inquired with concern.
Something triggered inside Gayathri's mind, as the question Adam had posed echoed loudly in her head. Gayathri groaned and clutched her head, as the words 'You look awful' were echoed repeatedly, each reverberations changed the tone slowly from genuine concern to a simple unfeeling statement before the echoes began to sound terribly wrong…it had sounded downright insulting and before she knew it, anger swelled from out of nowhere.
"Are you saying that I look ugly?" Gayathri hissed towards the boy hoarsely.
Adam gasped in surprise. "What? No…that wasn't what I meant! I was just asking…"
"Oh, save it! Just get out and leave me alone," Gayathri barked back. "Get out!"
The dark-haired boy was absolutely taken aback with Gayathri's attitude, so shocked he was that he was left speechless. He tried to protest but suddenly his eyes caught a faint red glimmer from Gayathri's doe-like eyes. He blinked and the glow was gone. He looked around the classroom and was thankful that the class was empty, the commotion would have roused questions which he himself didn't have the answer. Wondering whether he was hallucinating or not, he waited for a while, staring at Gayathri to see whether he could catch the girl's eyes glowing again. His friend's attitude was puzzling him. However, what he was doing only served to infuriate the girl.
"I told you. Get. OUT. NOW!"
Unsure of what to do, Adam slowly exited the classroom via the back door. Gayathri saw the hurt look flashed briefly across Adam's face, but it was also over-layered with concern. The boy quickly exited the classroom and headed towards the stairs. The anger within her dimmed considerably.
"Oh dear, what have I done…" Gayathri whispered to herself regretfully. "What's gotten into me?"
Before she could ponder upon this however, Liu Ying appeared at the entrance of the classroom. "Oh good, you're here," the willowy girl said with a smile, but as soon as she saw the look on her friend's face instantly she knew something was amiss. "Are you ok?"
"No, I have a headache…" Gayathri moaned.
Liu Ying entered the classroom and went up to her friend's table. "Maybe you should go to the infirmary and lie down?"
"I guess so," Gayathri muttered as she hung her head down. She pressed her forehead, frowning in pain.
"Come on, I'll bring your bag with you," Liu Ying offered kindly. "And I have something to tell you. It's about Manny."
"What about him?" Gayathri asked, her eyes narrowing slightly. Hearing Liu Ying mentioning Manny caused a new feeling to emerge from within Gayathri's mind.
Liu Ying could have sworn that she saw something flickered from Gayathri's eyes, but it was gone just as sudden as it had appeared. She decided that it must have been a trick of light, and brushed it off. "Manny is in my class. He came in this morning."
"And I bet you're thrilled about it, don't you?" Gayathri snapped angrily. Her tone was ugly and Liu Ying was taken aback by the response.
"Excuse me?"
"Don't play dumb, Liu Ying! Now that he's in your class, there's your chance to take him away from me!"
Liu Ying's eyebrows knitted together. "What in the world are you talking about?" she said in a low tone, glaring at her fellow DigiWira and friend.
"Oh, how about this…Looks like we have something in common," Gayathri said scathingly, mimicking Liu Ying's words towards Manny last Saturday when the two of them were talking about martial arts preferences. "Now that you're classmates, guess what? You two now have more than one thing in common. I bet you're happy now. And I'll take that!" she snatched her bag from Liu Ying's hands and stared at her friend with a hardened look on her face.
Liu Ying was beyond surprised; she was now irritated by the accusations thrown towards her. And for that moment she lost control of her temper and let it got the best of her.
"Boy, jealousy is one ugly thing up close," she said tartly.
Gayathri snorted and brushed past the prefect, purposely bumping into the taller girl before rushing out from the classroom. Her brisk paces changed into a full sprint once she was outside, leaving her friend bewildered with her actions. But right then, she couldn't care less as the anger just would not go away, haunting her and echoes of what Liu Ying had just said remained in her head, further fueling her fury towards her friend.
"So she thinks that she's getting Manny?" she muttered to herself, her dark irises now harbored a faint red tint. "Not without a fight she will!"
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BEEP BEEP BEEP! BEEP BEEP BEEP!
The bell just rang when Liu Ying's D-Terminal beeped continuously. Luckily the beeping sound, loud as it was, was drowned by the noises made by the excited conversations of students as they were preparing to go back. The sounds of chairs being pulled out from the tables and the students getting up from their seats further made the beeping D-Terminal noise less obvious. Liu Ying wondered what the emergency was and as she waited for her classmates to clear out from the classroom, her thoughts drifted to Gayathri.
After recess, Liu Ying couldn't get herself to concentrate for her lessons. Once, Millie had asked her about a mathematical equation which Liu Ying should not have any problem in solving, yet she couldn't solve the question during the first try, whereas during every other day she could easily cracked the question without even thinking, she would just let her hands do all the solving. Millie had commented about Liu Ying being sluggish, but before Liu Ying could explain herself Millie laughed it off, saying that every person had their off moment, and that she had actually spent the whole lesson daydreaming.
She was further disturbed when she had come across Adam at the canteen. The boy had commented that Gayathri was acting very strange in the class, being very quiet at one time and infuriated at the other, both didn't fit the vibrant girl's natural characteristic at all. Liu Ying had thought that Gayathri was overreacting about Manny being in her class, but there was no reason for the girl to be angry with Adam as well.
Her eyes suddenly set on a pretty girl with a ponytail, who was just about to leave the class. "Dina…wait up!" Liu Ying called as she got up from her seat. This girl was a close friend with Gayathri, and she might know what was actually bothering Gayathri.
Wardina Fadlullah halted, standing just by the doorway as she turned to face Liu Ying. "Yes?"
Liu Ying approached her and decided to just ask straight to the point. "Did you notice anything strange about Gayathri this morning?"
Dina thought about it, her small smile vanished as a look of concern replaced her face. "She did look rather odd before the assembly…and I didn't see her during recess. Strange, because usually she would hang out with Bel and me, but she didn't show up today. Why do you ask?" Dina eyed Liu Ying curiously. "I didn't know that you two are friends?"
Before Gayathri became a DigiWira, Liu Ying never had the reason to speak with her, and knew the other girl only by name as she was Dina's friend, and Dina was her classmate. Even after Gayathri was selected, their initial friendship was not known to others as they didn't get along well during the first couple of months, one of those month being the annual end of the year's one month holiday. It was only after school reopened and a few weeks before Adam found the White DigiSphere that the two DigiWira girls managed to get along with each other.
"We're in the same computer club," Liu Ying answered smoothly. It was the truth, but not wholly.
"Oh, right, Gaya did mention about it," Dina nodded, seemingly satisfied with the answer. "Well, I don't know what's been troubling her, but Bel and I intend to ask her about it during our tonight's chatting session. I'll let you know about it tomorrow if you want."
'Maybe you don't have to if I managed to get to the bottom of this, this afternoon,' Liu Ying thought silently, but nodded. "That will be great. Thanks, Dina."
"See you tomorrow," Dina said as she picked up her textbook from where she had placed it, and stepped out…only to run over into someone. "Ah..!"
"Oh! Sorry!" a familiar voice cried out, and Liu Ying was a little amused to see that Adam and Dina had bumped into each other. The girl had dropped her textbook on the floor, and both of them then attempted to retrieve the book at the same time, only to bump their heads into each other again. Adam then quickly bent down again to pick up the book as Dina was rubbing her forehead, now slightly reddish against her fair complexion.
"Uh…thanks, Adam," Dina said, barely audibly as her cheeks reddened as well.
Adam nodded, and Liu Ying took notice of how the two of them were blushing. She smiled inwardly as she recalled that Gayathri had mentioned some time ago that Dina did have a liking for Adam, it was before the boy became a DigiWira. What she didn't know was that apparently the feeling was mutual.
"You're welcome," Liu Ying heard Adam replied, or rather, croaked. "Are you ok?" his voice became normal, with a somewhat bashful quality which didn't show up while directed to Liu Ying or Gayathri. "Sorry I bumped into you like that."
"No…I wasn't looking at where I was going," Dina assured, and smiled slightly at Adam who was standing right in front of her. "Uh…I need to go."
"Oh! Sorry. Sure thing." Adam quickly moved out of the way and watched as the pony-tailed girl walked past him with a careful pace. He then sighed as he turned towards Liu Ying.
Liu Ying smiled as she took out her D-Terminal. "What was that between you and Dina?"
"An accident, that's all," Adam said quickly as he walked into the classroom. The blush on his cheeks vanished as his face harbored a troubled look. "Gayathri didn't show up at all after class!"
"What!" Liu Ying gasped and flipped open her D-Terminal. She frowned and snorted, "I don't believe this!" She held up her D-Terminal, the screen facing Adam. "It's from Gayathri."
The male DigiWira read out loud the digital words that showed up on the screen.
Come to the Digital World's Green Meadow after school. We'll settle this once and for all with a battle between our partners. If I win, you can NOT approach Manny in any way at all. If you win…well, I will make sure THAT does not happen.
P/S: Adam, if you're reading this, DO NOT interfere. This is between me and Liu Ying.
"Unbelievable," Adam said. "This could get ugly," he continued, as flashes of images of Fairymon and Shutumon's nasty catfight played in his mind. He cringed slightly as he imagined Fairymon and Youkomon having the same kind of fight. It didn't turn out very well as he'd somehow imagined Youkomon burning Fairymon's translucent wings and zigzagged purple hair. "Really, really ugly indeed."
Liu Ying snapped close her D-Terminal. Her thin brows furrowed with worry. "I better go to the computer room. You…well, although Gayathri did mention about you not interfering, it would be good if you come as well."
"Don't worry, I'll come," Adam assured the troubled girl. "Let me just tell Hakim that I won't be able to follow him back today, due to…uh…"
"Emergency computer club meeting," Liu Ying promptly said.
"That could work," Adam nodded.
"Just be quick about it. I'll wait for you at the computer room."
"Ok. Don't worry, Patamon's there as well. I left him with Jackie before the assembly."
A few minutes later Adam came into the computer room and Patamon instantly flew from the table and landed on Adam's head, messing up the boy's dark hair slightly. Not that Adam minded; his hair had always been easy to manage, and seemed to be fixed at its parted-in-the-middle state. Liu Ying was already holding Shaomon, who was nibbling some banana fritters.
"According to Jackie, Gayathri came in here during recess time, snatched Tanemon and went into the Digital World," Liu Ying briefed Adam with what Jackie had just told her earlier.
"She was acting really strange," Jackie Chan, the blue-eyed computer instructor agreed as he ran his hand into his spiky brown hair. "Strange for a girl like her. Gayathri has always been very polite…except for today. And now she's initiating a fight with Liu Ying, not just a fight…a Digimon Battle."
"She literally pushed Jackie aside and grabbed Tanemon by her leaves," Patamon added. "Rough, for a girl like her. She looked as if she was possessed. Poor Tanemon was whimpering in pain."
"The Gayathri I know will never do such a thing to anyone, let alone her own Digimon partner whom she is very closely attached to," Shaomon said sensibly. "Patamon may be right about this."
"Maybe you should talk to TobuCatmon about this," Jackie advised. "He might know what is going on."
"Hopefully. I really don't want to fight Gayathri," Liu Ying said worriedly, "and I don't want Shaomon to fight Tanemon as well."
"There's one way to solve this, and it could only be done in the Digital World," Adam said resolutely, holding up his D3 Digivice in front of the monitor. Liu Ying followed suit.
"DIGIPORT OPEN!"
xxx
xxx
"This is indeed very strange," TobuCatmon agreed after Liu Ying explained to the sagely bat-cat about Gayathri's bizarre behavior. "She came here earlier, but didn't offer any explanation at all. Floramon had simply Digivolved into Fairymon and carried Gayathri out from the Forest Sanctum."
"Patamon thought that Gayathri might've been possessed," Adam supplied.
"And how do you suppose that happened?" TobuCatmon inquired interestedly.
Adam glanced towards his partner and raised his brows. "Well, Patamon?"
The orange-furred bat-pig shrugged. "That, I don't know. And I only said that Gayathri looked as if she was possessed."
"However, that's the only theory we have for now, illogical as how it may sound," Liu Ying said. "But I couldn't think of any other explanation too so I have to go with this one too." Then her D-Terminal beeped again, causing the pale-skinned girl to wince. She took out the said device and read it out loud for all others to hear.
Hurry up! I don't have all day! Do I have to drag you here or would you come here yourself!
"Until we get to the bottom of this, Labramon…try your very best not to attack Fairymon, only defend yourself. Adam, Patamon, you two will remain here with me for a moment."
"WHAT!" Both Liu Ying and Adam roared in protest.
"But TobuCatmon," Adam objected. "Youkomon might need Sagittarimon's help, especially if she's only going to defend herself."
Their mentor's face had a resolute look on it, meaning that nothing they say would be able to change his mind. "Liu Ying and Labramon shall handle Gayathri and her partner for the time being. It's important for you to remain here for now, I wish to ask you in detail of last night's event. Perhaps Gayathri's problem is rooted from there. Was she acting weird last night?"
"No," Liu Ying answered. "She was being her usual self."
"That's an important lead," TobuCatmon said. "Liu Ying, Labramon, go now. Adam and Patamon shall join you later."
The female team murmured their agreements reluctantly and hustled out from the thick jungle of the Forest Sanctum. TobuCatmon then hovered in front of the dark-haired male DigiWira.
"Now Adam, tell me in detail of last night's battle. Do not miss any single detail, however minute or insignificant it might seem."
Adam began explaining about the battle they had with Cockatrimon, and the sudden yet unfruitful, appearances of Shutumon and Sorcerymon. TobuCatmon's interest was roused when Adam mentioned lightly about Sorcerymon's failed attack on Fairymon.
"Wait. You didn't mention this to me last night," TobuCatmon pointed out.
"I didn't think it was important. It didn't have any effect on Fairymon at all, but Sorcerymon seemed really, really surprised that his 'spell' didn't work…"
"It might have worked after all…only instead of affecting Fairymon, somehow this 'spell' Sorcerymon cast last night had affected Gayathri," TobuCatmon said.
"How's that possible?" Adam asked. "Gayathri wasn't even hit by the attack."
"There is a strong bond between a DigiWira and his or her Digimon partner. This bond works in a mysterious, yet wondrous way. I have heard tales from the other parts of the Digital World of how these bonds between humans and Digimon manifest. Just by being partners, the bond is established between them, at the most primal level. This will require more elaboration, but now is not the time. I am convinced however that Sorcerymon's spell is the reason behind Gayathri's misbehaviors today," TobuCatmon said with surety. "And Fairymon's too, now that I think of it," he added as an afterthought.
"So what should I do?" Adam inquired.
"To counter a wizard's spell we shall require assistance from another wizard. Sorcerymon's magical powers are moderate at best, but this spell seems to be at a higher level than what I would anticipate Sorcerymon would come up with. However there is still hope.
"There is a wizard Digimon living at the feet of the mountainous region over the west. He is called Wizardmon, and he is rumored to have been around since the time when Grademon was still alive, so experience-wise, he should have the upper-hand against Sorcerymon."
Adam nodded. "Is the mountain region far from here?"
"Nothing Sagittarimon can't handle," Patamon said confidently, and TobuCatmon nodded. "And I can recognize a Wizardmon so there shouldn't be a problem on that too."
"Then it's settled," Adam said. "We're going."
Together the sole male DigiWira team rushed out from the Forest Sanctum, and TobuCatmon watched them until both human and Digimon were out of his sight and their voices were no longer heard, drowned by the thickness of the jungle.
xxx
xxx
Liu Ying and Youkomon arrived at the Green Meadow within ten minutes after departing from the Forest Sanctum. The day was windy, and rather cloudy. Liu Ying shivered slightly as she felt the cool air emanating around her. Luckily her uniform prevented her from feeling any colder than she already was.
"It's quite chilly today," she commented, and tucked several strands of her straight raven hair behind her ears. However she was having difficulty in restraining her hair as the winds became stronger. The yellow headband she was wearing suddenly flew out from her head, causing her long hair to get messed as it flew in different directions.
"What in the world?" the girl groaned irritably and looked around.
"Nice of you to finally be here," a ringing voice called out to her. Turning towards their right, both representatives of the Yellow DigiSphere saw Gayathri standing several yards away from them, hands on her hips. She had a pleased look on her face, layered with an unexplainable menacing quality. Behind her was Fairymon, floating in midair about three meters from the grassy ground.
"I was getting tired of waiting," Gayathri continued with a voice quite unlike her own. Instead of sounding cheerful and perky as it usually sounded, her voice was rather forceful. "Now that you're here…"
"Gayathri, wait!" Liu Ying interrupted. "This isn't like you. What's going on? I don't want to fight you."
Gayathri snorted. "Really? How touching," she said, and smirked. Her usual pleasant pretty face no longer looked that way, the smirk merely caused her to look somewhat frightening. Her curly brown hair was flying askew behind her, due to the winds generated by Fairymon. Both of them looked equally frightening, and Liu Ying felt a chill running down her spine. Gayathri let out a laugh. "Well, too bad for you because I do want to fight you! Fairymon, now!"
"Hurricane Wave!" Fairymon shouted, and blasted out a pink hurricane towards Youkomon, and Liu Ying who was riding on the blue-furred fox. The force erupting from the attack was unlike what Youkomon had felt before.
"Liu Ying, hold on to me very tight!" the kitsune cautioned loudly as she planted her feet firmly onto the ground. There was no time for her to evade the hurricane, as it might place Liu Ying at risk. The hurricane would caught up with them while Youkomon was jumping in midair, and Liu Ying would be blasted with the attack. Youkomon could withstand such attack, but her human partner couldn't. By staying put the danger was lessened. Her sharp nails dug into the earth as she began to brace herself. Liu Ying in the meantime wrapped one arm around the fox's thick furred neck, grasping onto the white furs as she couldn't reach for the skin. The other arm was clutching the accessory Youkomon had wrapped around her neck tightly.
The hurricane blast was blasted upon them, but Youkomon's prediction proved to be correct as such attack didn't faze her that much. And more importantly, Liu Ying was also safe, for the time being, but she wouldn't be if Youkomon remained defending herself. Reluctantly, Youkomon realized that she had to fight back, regardless of what TobuCatmon had cautioned earlier. It was for Liu Ying's sake, and also for her own.
"Liu Ying, you will need to get down from me," Youkomon whispered urgently. "By only defending ourselves, we will not stand a chance against Fairymon. I will try to not hurt Fairymon or Gayathri…but I could not do it with you around as I would need to watch for your safety as well. Go and take cover behind the large rock near the lake, or at the village."
"The rock's closer," Liu Ying said decisively. She got down from Youkomon and glanced behind to make sure that she didn't become Fairymon's target. The fairy watched over her silently, and Gayathri's face harbored a sickening satisfied look. Liu Ying quickly made a beeline towards the rock, hoping that Adam and his partner would come to her aid soon.
xxx
xxx
It was a race against time for Adam and Sagittarimon as they headed towards the mountainous region as directed by TobuCatmon. Despite his bulky stature Sagittarimon was capable of galloping at top speed, which served to their advantage.
"Almost there," Sagittarimon announced as the mountains came into view. It was a beautiful sight to behold, the grayish blue mountains soared towards the brilliant sunny sky, and at the foot of the mountains were lush green trees lined against a river coming down from the mountains.
"If we don't have an emergency right now I could stay here for hours and appreciate the beauty of this nature. It's like the advertisements on TVs back home," Adam commented as Sagittarimon halted.
Sagittarimon let out a small laugh. "Indeed. Perhaps we can all come here and have a DigiWira picnic someday," the draconic centaur suggested. "But now we need to look for somewhere that has some semblance to a house. Wizardmon is a humanoid Digimon. Tell me Adam, if given a chance to stay here, where would you build your house?"
"Me?" Adam replied, startled with the inquiry. Then he saw Sagittarimon's point and thought about it. "Well…if it were me, I'd choose a place close to the river where I can easily get water and fish, and for washing and bathing…but not too close so that the river won't flood my house when it's raining. I'll also prefer somewhere cool and shady, away from the sunray, a house is meant as a place for relaxing and I can't relax if my house is warm. And…that's about it for now, I can't think of any other criteria for now."
"That will do for now," Sagittarimon said assuringly. "We'll follow your direction to look for Wizardmon's home. Let's enter the forest."
As the pair got into the forest, little did they know that they were being followed by someone, who was floating in the air. The figure waved the staff it was holding slowly and moved towards the forest as well carefully.
"I've worked too hard for this plan, and I'm sure not going to let you two Digi-nincompoops to ruin it," the lone figure muttered to itself as it approached the forest.
For the next fifteen minutes, Adam and Patamon (Sagittarimon had devolved back to his rookie form to preserve his energy) looked around the riverside area for Wizardmon's house. They went deeper into the forest, following against the river flow. Not long after they were by the river, suddenly Patamon let out a delighted squeal.
"You really have a good instinct, Adam!" the bat-winged guinea pig shouted. "Look up ahead, there's a cottage, or something. I bet Wizardmon's staying there."
Adam looked up ahead as directed by his partner, smiling inwardly at Patamon's reaction. It was rather amusing for the boy to see that his partner was quite mature, almost on par with Youkomon, when he was in his champion-armor form, but retained a child-like quality like Floramon when he reverted into his rookie form. Patamon had flown towards the wooden hut, and his eyes widened at the look of the house. He stopped dead on his track, staring at the house.
It was a wooden square-ish house built on four thick, sturdy wooden pillars which supported the house from the four corners of the house. The roof, also made out of wood, was constructed into a triangular shape with ventilation holes at various direction. The windows were all closed, so was the wooden door. A simple wooden stairs was built from the door downwards to the ground at a forty-five degrees angle.
"Adam?" Patamon called, causing Adam to start slightly. The rookie Digimon flew back towards his human partner. "You ok?"
"Oh…yeah, yeah I am," Adam replied slowly, his dark grey eyes still were fixated on the house. "It's just that…this house, reminds me of where I used to live." Adam paused for a while to take a deep breath, and Patamon saw immediately that something was troubling the young boy. However he decided to wait for Adam to gather his thoughts rather than to ask him straight out. But unexpectedly, Adam then let out a small smile and the troubled look on his face vanished.
"It's like a traditional kampung-house, that's all," Adam said with a shrug.
Patamon saw the sudden changes in his partner's mood but decided that perhaps it was something from the real world that Adam was referring to, something which he still wasn't familiar with. After all, he was only partnered to Adam for a week.
"I'll fly up there and knock the door," the rookie offered. Adam nodded his approval.
However before Patamon could fly up, the door opened without warning and a humanoid figure stepped out. Adam gasped in shock upon setting sight of the familiar pointed hat, cape and outfit…but there were several obvious differences. The colors of his cape and hat, for example, were purple instead of white.
"Sorcerymon!" he muttered in disbelief, but unconvincingly as well. He knew that whoever there at the doorway, it was not Sorcerymon, but the resemblance was uncanny.
"I beg your pardon?" the humanoid figure asked back with a wizened voice, perfectly matched by his spiky, grayish-white hairs and the long beard which he had grown down towards his chest. Adam then saw that he was hunched, and was standing with help of his wooden staff. "I am Wizardmon. I heard commotions outside my house…" the Digimon paused and let out a small cough. "…and thought that I'd better check it out…" The cough came again. "…as it's not often that I receive guests." He stopped and observed his visitors with curious green eyes.
"Oh…I'm sorry," Adam said, and bowed slightly in respect as Wizardmon looked about old enough to fit to be his grandfather. "It's just that…you look somewhat similar to…somebody."
"Somebody you know, child?" Wizardmon asked curiously.
"Not a friend, trust me," Adam said hastily. Patamon then flew closer to Adam and nudged his shoulder. The boy turned to his partner and received a meaningful look from the Digimon. Adam immediately got the hint and let out a sheepish smile. "Oh, where are my manners? Sorry…I'm Adam, and this is my partner, Patamon."
"You're a human boy," Wizardmon noted, and Adam thought that he sounded as if he approved of it. "A DigiWira you are, perhaps, Adam?" Wizardmon ended the inquiry with a cough, then looked expectantly towards Adam.
"Yeah, as a matter of fact, I am," Adam nodded.
"And what color of Grademon's DigiSpheres that you possess?" Wizardmon asked interestedly, crooning his head slightly. He coughed again.
"I have the White DigiSphere," Adam responded quickly. "Wait a minute, you knew Grademon?"
"Ah, you are the leader of the group," Wizardmon said delightfully. "And about Grademon, as a matter of fact, yes, I did. A great, chivalrous hero. Did you know that I've been around, as Wizardmon, ever since Grademon was merely a baby Digimon?" Wizardmon laughed lightly, which only resulted in yet another cough. "Forgive me, child. Do come into my humble home. That is, if you are not in a hurry, but I sense that you are here for a mission."
"Unfortunately, we have an emergency, and we need your help," Adam said apologetically and quickly summarized the whole story to Wizardmon, who listened to it intently. He told the wizened wizard everything, from the battle they had with Cockatrimon the previous night, Gayathri's sudden behavior changes, and TobuCatmon's theory.
"It seems to me that your friend Gayathri has fallen into an abhorrence spell," Wizardmon said after Adam had finished. He coughed again before continuing, "The feelings of hate, anger, jealousy…they all fall into the abhorrence spell category. Only immoral wizard-type Digimon can come up with such a sordid curse."
"Sorcerymon must be behind this, then," Patamon said.
"I believe so, Patamon," Wizardmon agreed. "But do not worry. Your mentor is right when he sends you here to find me. During the days when Grademon rose up against SkullSatamon's evil regime, such spell was a problem to the side of good. It was a dirty trick, turning good Digimon against each other. It was lucky for us that I have managed to come up with a counter-curse for the abhorrence spell."
"That's great!" both Adam and Patamon exclaimed together.
"Oh, no it's NOT!" a voice screamed back at them, somewhere from the trees. As Adam and Patamon turned to look for the source of the voice, a white blur shot towards them and Adam felt like something kicked him squarely on his chest. The boy groaned in pain as he fell onto the ground on his back. Patamon too was knocked by the intruder, and was sent flying towards the walls of Wizardmon's house. The white blur then landed on the ground and a familiar enemy stared back at the good guys.
"Sorcerymon!" Adam said, and coughed. He rubbed his chest, resisting the stinging pain that resulted from the kick.
"My spell is working perfectly on that girl with the Fairymon," Sorcerymon said vehemently. "Do you actually think that I'd let you ruin it? The general is pleased with the outcome, and so I heard, the master is too. Shutumon will now look at me with respect. I'm not gonna let you trash my achievement!"
"Yeah? Well I'M not going to let you get away with what you've done to Adam!" Patamon shouted angrily and launched himself towards Sorcerymon. Adam's D3 sparked with brilliant white, black and crimson lights and Patamon instantly transformed into a large, black-scaled dragon-centaur hybrid with shining red armor adorning his torso, shoulders and head.
"Patamon Digivolve to…Sagittarimon!"
"Meteor Gallop!" Sagittarimon exclaimed loudly, and at close range Sorcerymon was overwhelmed with torrents of meteorites which were projected from the sparks generated from Sagittarimon's hooves.
However the boyish sorcerer let out a snicker and waved his white staff, which let out a freezing ice-blue wave. Instantly the meteorites were frozen into balls of ice, and shattered into digital dusts. Adam gaped in surprise; Sorcerymon was stronger than he had expected, but then again, he had never seen the white sorcerer in action before. He'd only assumed that from the way Shutumon was treating him, Sorcerymon would be the less-powerful of the duo.
"Surprised?" Sorcerymon asked sardonically. "Heh heh. Wait till you get a load of these!"
Sorcerymon waved his staff back and thrust his left arm forward. A blast of icy laser shot out from his palm, and knocked away the much larger Sagittarimon. The place where the laser hit him – the chest – was instantly frozen. It was lucky that Sagittarimon's chest was protected by strong armor. It looked like Sorcerymon was currently having the upper hand in this duel…
…Which made it totally unexpected when suddenly, a laugh was heard coming from the house. All the others were stunned to see Wizardmon laughing, in a mocking sort of way. But Adam saw that Wizardmon's attention was fixed onto Sorcerymon alone.
"What are you laughing about, old man?" Sorcerymon demanded.
Wizardmon observed Sorcerymon with a pair of critical eyes, and smiled slightly. The smile looked innocent enough, but somehow hid the superiority that also hinted by the way his mouth crooked slightly towards the left and upwards. "I recognize an improvement charm anywhere," he stated simply.
"I don't know what you're talking about!" Sorcerymon shot back, but Adam saw how the last trace of color on Sorcerymon's pale face was drained. It looked like Wizardmon had hit a nerve.
Wizardmon snorted derisively. "I remember you being around during the great war between good and evil three hundred years ago. You were incompetent back then, Grademon was able to seal you easily with the charm I taught him."
Sorcerymon's eyes widened. His body trembled as he pointed his staff towards Wizardmon. The old wizard knew too much, and it was totally unexpected for Sorcerymon. However he quickly regained his stature and let out a confident smirk towards the elder wizard.
"Heh. That was in the past, you senile crusty old grandpa. The general and the master will be so pleased if I managed to destroy you AND the DigiWira at the same time. The DigiWira girls are battling each other, and who knows…perhaps they'll end up destroying each other. Then I can make a move and destroy this boy. Improvement charm or not, I shall be known as the ones who destroy the DigiWira! I'll be promoted to general for sure!" Sorcerymon boasted.
"Aha. So you do have an improvement charm cast on you," Wizardmon let out a triumphant grin. "I was only guessing – there is no way for me to actually know that you have charmed yourself with one, so I tricked you into admitting. How foolish of you. You still have a lot to learn, little child. Now…" Wizardmon struggled slightly to stand erect and coughed violently as his staff shimmered with golden light. The sun-shaped upper end of his staff was shining as if it was the real sun itself. "A thorough cleansing spell shall do the trick just fine. Thunder Blast!"
A streak of gold lightning shot out from the sun-staff Wizardmon was holding and struck Sorcerymon squarely on his chest. Sorcerymon collapsed onto the ground and writhed aggressively as the gold lightning electrocuted his whole body. Sorcerymon's body shone with blue light for a while and when it was gone, somehow the confident aura Sorcerymon had previously vanished.
Sorcerymon struggled to get up, only to find a glittering crimson arrow being pointed towards his head. Looking up, he saw the towering figure of Sagittarimon looming against him, eyes blazing with anger.
"This…is only the beginning!" Sorcerymon shouted as he took a few steps back. He waved his white staff and the air rippled as the white sorcerer vanished out of sight.
Sagittarimon let out a relieved sigh and took a few steps back. A golden warm light suddenly coalesced around his frozen armor and to his delight, the ice melted and Sagittarimon felt invigorated.
"One of my specialties…the healing charm," Wizardmon said kindly. "And this…" he waved his wooden staff and a brown satchel materialized in midair. The satchel hovered and Wizardmon beckoned for the satchel to move towards Adam. "Adam, take this…this is the powdered form of my cleansing charm…another one of my specialties. It should be sufficient to eradicate the abhorrence curse cast upon your friend."
"Really?" Adam said delightfully as he clutched the satchel. It felt slightly heavy for its small size. "Thank you, Wizardmon sir."
"It is my pleasure to be of assistance to you, young hero," Wizardmon smiled. Adam blushed slightly in response to Wizardmon's compliment. "It feels so good to be of use again, after three long centuries of retirement."
"Why don't you come with us, Wizardmon? We sure could use your help," Sagittarimon inquired. "I was surprised to know that you actually fought alongside Grademon during the great war. Your power and experience must be profound."
Wizardmon shook his head slowly. "Alas, my time of glory has long since passed. I am old. It is time for you young ones to take over in this fight against evil. However…" Adam and Sagittarimon looked up expectantly, thinking that maybe Wizardmon was about to change his mind. The old wizard coughed again and cleared his throat loudly. "…I would love it if you two come by tomorrow to my house again. I will demonstrate some of my tea-making skills…no charm needed to make good tea. What do you say?"
Both DigiWira human and partner sweatdropped upon hearing the invitation, but immediately hid their surprise.
"We'd love to," Adam replied. Sagittarimon nodded as well in agreement.
"And do not forget to bring your friends along. There are so many things that I cannot wait to share with you young ones. So many tales, of the battle of good and evil that I want to tell you. But now, my young friends…you must go. Your friends need you now more than I do."
Adam nodded and hopped on Sagittarimon. "Thanks again, Wizardmon. And I'll see you tomorrow for tea."
"I look forward for tomorrow, and you are very much welcome," Wizardmon said and watched as Sagittarimon galloped away, back towards outside of the forest. After the lasts of the galloping sounds were heard, Wizardmon closed the door to retire for the day.
xxx
xxx
The Green Meadow was a battlefield, with a pink windstorm spiraling from the grounds towards the sky. Inside the windstorm was Fairymon, arms spread wide and a burning pink aura glimmering from her body. She screamed loudly and thrust the hurricane over towards Youkomon, who was staying put, her paws were firmly placed onto the ground. The strong windstorm however nearly caused her to be lifted up from the ground before moving away from her and dissipated as it soared from the ground.
The battle had been almost one-sided, with only Fairymon delivering the attacks. As long as the attacks had not been a danger to Liu Ying, Youkomon simply diverted or avoided contact with the attacks. Once, she had to morph into her flaming dragon mode in an attempt to nullify a whirlwind directed towards the village, but her flames only served to make the hurricane bigger. It was almost impossible for Youkomon to fight the wind powers of Fairymon. Fairymon's power also seemed to have been amplified…she didn't hold back at all in an attempt to initiate Youkomon to fight her back. Remembering TobuCatmon's advise, Youkomon didn't do so and waited in full faith for Adam and Sagittarimon to come.
"What's taking Adam so long?" Liu Ying groaned in frustration as she grasped a protrusion of a sturdy stone. She was soaked from head to toe, no thanks to one whirlwind which had coursed over the lake and sent waters raining onto her. She was shivering, and once in a while, she sneezed. The willowy girl could only guess what was happening as she was hiding behind the stone.
"I'm going to get a pneumonia if this thing continues on," Liu Ying muttered, and sneezed again.
"Well, that'll serve you right for trying to take Manny away from me!" Gayathri exclaimed shrilly as she walked over to Liu Ying. She stared at Liu Ying intently and pointed her index finger towards Liu Ying. "I SAW him first!"
"This is really getting ridiculous," Liu Ying breathed to herself, and stood up. She glared back towards the darker girl but didn't say anything. She had been shouting towards Gayathri throughout the whole time Fairymon was attacking Youkomon, and was now too tired to even try convincing Gayathri again.
Suddenly, a familiar galloping sound was heard coming from a distance. Relieved, Liu Ying peered over the stone and saw Sagittarimon braving the winds generated by Fairymon. The fairy stopped attacking and observed Sagittarimon with mild curiosity; she wasn't ordered to attack him and thus, she wasn't sure of what to do. Sagittarimon merely stood somewhere close to Fairymon and Adam lowered himself from his partner, looking around.
"Adam! Over here!" Liu Ying called out loudly. She quickly approached the boy, who looked at her with a strange indifference. He didn't acknowledge Liu Ying's presence, but the girl couldn't care less. She hoped that Adam would be able to assist her. "Thank goodness you're here, Adam. What took you so long? Has TobuCatmon come up with something to snap Gayathri out of it?"
Gayathri walked away from the stone as well and stared at Adam venomously. Adam ignored Liu Ying and saw Gayathri. He smirked slightly and Liu Ying was starting to worry; Adam's behavior was strange.
"Who says I'm here to help you?" Adam asked loudly, which shocked Liu Ying. He laughed. "That's right…be surprised. I'm actually here…to help HER!" Adam pointed towards Gayathri, who seemed surprised to hear what Adam had just said. Curious, the curly-haired girl approached the other two DigiWira.
"What did she do to you, Adam?" Gayathri asked with a satisfied tone. But then she held her palm up and flashed a sinister-looking grin. "Never mind. What matters now that she has wronged us both. We can team up against her."
"Can't agree with you more…" Adam murmured, and Liu Ying saw Adam's hand moving towards his back, and he took out a small brown satchel and held it up for both girls to see. "See this, Gayathri? This will help us to combat Liu Ying."
"Oh…what's that?" Gayathri inquired, her tone now was surprised and excited.
Liu Ying, scared of the sudden outcome, took a few steps back. Both Adam and Gayathri were now against her, and she didn't even know what caused Adam to turn against her as well. She was in grave danger now that both her fellow teammates were now against her.
Adam slowly opened the satchel as Gayathri approached him closer. He held the opened satchel near to Gayathri's face. Inside the satchel was a small pile of gold-colored powders.
"What is this?" Gayathri asked, sounding disappointed. "How can a pile of sand help us fight Liu Ying?"
"This…is a powdered cleansing spell! Now hold still!" Adam announced loudly and blew the powders hard towards Gayathri's face. Gayathri screamed in surprised as the powders entered her nostrils, eyes and her opened mouth. She collapsed onto the ground as a warm golden light emanated from her body, and for a while, she struggled hard. But a few seconds later, she stopped trashing about and calmed down. Her D3 Digivice shone slightly with pink light and a loud gasp was heard. Adam and Liu Ying saw Fairymon limped onto the ground and devolved back all the way into Tanemon, her in-training form.
Gayathri's eyes were closed and her body was still. Liu Ying, still trying to register what had just happened, approached Adam, who was watching intently at Gayathri's body. His face was etched with worry and concern.
"Adam?" Liu Ying asked cautiously.
"Yeah?" Adam replied back, and turned towards Liu Ying. "Oh…sorry about earlier. I needed to make the possessed-Gayathri believed that I was on her side…lest she wouldn't even come closer to me and the cleansing spell would be wasted being blown by the winds."
Liu Ying exhaled in relief. "That's ok. Good thinking, by the way. But you scared me…you're quite a good actor…"
"Look, she's moving," Adam cut in, pointing towards Gayathri, who was starting to stir slightly. Her eyes fluttered open and she looked around, confused.
"Adam? Liu Ying?" she asked weakly. She tried to raise her body and was further confused at her body's weakened state. Adam and Liu Ying knelt down, and Liu Ying cautiously helped her up. "How did I get here?" she inquired, her doe eyes widened as she saw an unconscious Tanemon being carried by Sagittarimon, with Youkomon following him closely at the side. "What happened to Tanemon?"
Adam smiled assuringly towards her fellow DigiWira. "That's a long story."
Liu Ying smiled too and patted Gayathri's shoulder. She was happy that Gayathri seemed to be alright. "Welcome back, Gayathri. Let's go home."
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"I'm sorry, general," Sorcerymon said, and knelt towards a looming black figure who was standing in front of him. "I've tried and the spell was successful on one of the DigiWira girls, but the DigiWira boy and one Wizardmon had messed things up; the Wizardmon gave him a counter-curse for my abhorrence spell."
A moment of silence was heard, and curious, Sorcerymon risked a glance up and saw that the one called general seemed to be in deep thought. The pale moonlight bathed the dark features of this avian-humanoid general, and his raven-black feathers reflected the shine, giving him a glowing-like appearance. This added to the dark quality possessed by the general. Then, as if aware of being observed, the general's yellow eyes then caught Sorcerymon's icy green, causing the sorcerer to immediately lower his gaze back on the darkened ground.
"Rise, Sorcerymon," the general commanded, his voice neither high nor low, but demanded reverence all the same. "You have not failed me completely. There is no need to feel remorseful, but should you succeed the Master and I would be extremely pleased with you. But your failure has been anticipated by the Master; he merely wished to test the effectiveness of the abhorrence curse on its own, and the result has proven to be rather destructive, which is excellent. The DigiWira girl with the Floramon has proven to be dangerous enemies to their own friends, and supposedly the Patamon and the Labramon are stronger than the Floramon. I shall only need to strengthen the curse, and coat it with the power of darkness from the master himself…and the curse shall be UNBREAKABLE!"
Sorcerymon merely nodded, and out of curiosity, he dared himself to ask the general about what the general's plan.
"If you don't mind me asking, general…what do you have in mind?" he asked meekly. His inquiry was rewarded with an intense glare from the general's yellow eyes. His dark-colored beak opened slightly, making him appear as if he was grinning.
"Let's just say that we are going to fight fire with FIRE," he said softly, but his low tone was far from comforting. Instead it contained a tone marked with pure evil. So evil the statement had sounded, it gave Sorcerymon the chills.
"You have done your part for today, Sorcerymon," the general continued. "Now return to your friend Shutumon, you have done enough, and she might be wondering how you have fared for today. It is best not to keep her waiting, right?"
The way the general had said it, polite as it had sounded, there was no mistaking the dismissive gesture which the general had given to Sorcerymon. Not wanting to invoke the general's anger, Sorcerymon silently gave him a slight bow and retreated into the darkness of the night.
The general watched Sorcerymon go and in a puff of purple smokes, his swords appeared within his grasps. The metallic blade reflected the moonlight, and the general's eyes glinted maliciously.
"And now, there is only one little thing that needs…settling, in order for Master SkullSatamon's plan to be executed," he whispered darkly as his sharp crimson fingernails caressed the sharp blades of his swords. "The Digital World can only have one experienced wizard…"
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Author's Note:
Yet another chapter of Wira Digital completed. I'm in the process of regaining my writing groove…it is now holidays and I'm back at my homeland and have a lot of free time at my disposal.
Wizardmon's house is actually a reference to traditional village houses which can be found at the rural parts of Malaysia – the countryside region. Kampung is Malay for village.
Kuey-teow – This is one of the well-known Malaysian foods. It is somewhat similar to noodles or pasta in shape and textures, but the way of preparing this food is absolutely different. Kuey-teow is usually prepared by frying it with a mixture of soy sauce and chili paste, with vegetables, onions, egg, and meat.