The tapping sound of someone typing on a keyboard was heard amidst the quiet, dark room. Once in a while the air-conditioner let out a rattle which signed its old age, but otherwise it was working just fine to cool the air inside the room. Faint lights emerging from the computer monitor illuminated the table where a man was seen working on something on the computer. From the small speakers situated at either sides of the monitor, a soft instrumental tune of the classical music of Beethoven was heard, set on low volume. Every once in a while, the man – his face barely lit by the lights from the monitor – was heard humming along with the tunes. His body was stiff and his attention was solely focused on what was displayed on the computer screen. Sometimes, the man's right hand was seen navigating the optical mouse, which emitted blinking red lights, furiously, whenever he was not typing on the keyboards. These movements – tapping the keyboards and moving the mouse – were done alternately.
"Now that I've restored this thing, it's time to modify it and equip it with some enhancements," the man murmured, and his attention shifted to the time displayed on the lower right side of the monitor screen. "Seven thirty five already? Wow, time sure flies when you're hard at work."
Wearily he stood up and stretched his body. He then went over to the window, which was covered by blinds to block excessive outdoor lights from entering the room, and peeked through it. It was almost dark outside and nobody was in sight. The man stretched once again and returned to his working table. Sighing, he resumed working on his computer once again for the next one hour, doing the exact same things he had been doing for the last three and a half hours before. It was something urgent that needed completing as soon as possible, and the man had no intention to go home until the project was completed.
Just as the computer clock displayed the numbers '8:40 PM', the man let out a triumphant shout. His work for the day was done.
"Finally; I thought I couldn't even finish it by midnight," he said softly, relieved. "Now all I need to do is to send this to him, and I'm done."
The man got up and packed his stuffs before leaving the room. He didn't even bother to switch off the computer, as he would be using it again the next day. He merely closed the multimedia application which was still playing a selection of songs in the play list, and the program which he had used to work on his project. Then he walked out from the room, and closed the door quickly. A sound of the door being locked was heard, and from the windows, the shadow of the man could be seen walking away.
Over the computer monitor, the file was still being sent to its recipient.
Sending…
Sending…
And finally,
File ModifiedSunStaff.exe is sent to TobuCatmon
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WIRA DIGITAL
Chapter 07 – Two For One
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After two days of resting, coupled with the weekends, Liu Ying now felt that she was ready to go to school again. It was now Monday. Her fever had subsided since the previous day's evening, her soar throat was gone, and her runny nose was not as bad as before. Her mother had insisted for her to remain home for just one more day, until her nose was better – meaning fully healed – but Liu Ying didn't want to spend yet another day at home. She didn't feel sick anymore so there was no point of her being at home, where she would only laze around. She had done all her homework already, thanks to her fellow classmates Hafiz and Millie who had kept her up to date with the previous two days' assignments. All had seemed well at school, according to her classmates, but the same could not be said at the Digital World.
The previous night, Liu Ying had received unsettling news from Adam. The message however was rather short and ambiguous – it simply told Liu Ying that she was right, and big trouble was indeed going to happen in the Digital World. Apparently Adam had gone to the Digital World last Friday, and had found trouble. When she replied with a message, asking Adam to elaborate, the boy didn't reply. That annoyed Liu Ying, and she was furthermore agitated throughout the weekends when she realized that she didn't have Adam's home or cell phone numbers. She did manage to contact Gayathri, but the other girl was as in the dark as Liu Ying. The lack of information made Liu Ying more determined to go to school, and interrogate Adam whenever the chance presented itself to her.
As she crossed the park, located just beside the mosque, which in turn, was just by the higher ground where the school was built, Liu Ying's ears caught muffled conversations coming somewhere from her right. Trees were there, and as the sun had just begun to rise Liu Ying had difficulty in determining what was being said. However she then saw bicycles parked nearby the trees and her eyes narrowed suspiciously. The conversations were alternated with laughter, and a moment of quiet. Curious, Liu Ying moved closer towards the trees, intending to just take a quick peek just to make sure that whoever that were speaking behind those trees, they had better not be the students of the school. The bikes seemed to belong to teenagers, and the voices Liu Ying had heard too, sounded somewhat young, pre-adult like.
"I can take a look without being noticed by hiding behind these shrubs," Liu Ying decided, and moved quietly towards the said plants, careful not to make any sudden or noticeable movements. She walked silently along the green shrubs, noting that their color, height and closeness to each other had effectively camouflaged her, as her prefect uniform was two shades of green. By the end of the line of shrubberies, Liu Ying managed to get a good view of what was behind the trees, and her eyes widened of the sight in front of her, just about ten to fifteen meters away from where she was hiding.
There, leaning against the trees, were four students whom Liu Ying immediately recognized, and somewhat detested. She saw Kenny Ling, a bespectacled boy whose hairstyle reminded Liu Ying of a mushroom, sitting on the tree's roots, writing furiously on an exercise book. Probably doing the homework of the other three's, Liu Ying thought snidely. Among the foursome, Kenny was known to be the brainy one. Liu Ying's attention then averted to the other boy – a gangly boy with very dark complexion, way darker than Gayathri's complexion. He was talking with another boy, one with curly hair parted at the side and, to Liu Ying's opinion, a major case of pimples. Once in a while, they would cast a look at Kenny, and at their watches, before resuming their conversation. The two boys were Samy and Megat; Liu Ying didn't know their full names and only knew them by reputation. As far as she knew however, those two were the best of friends. The willowy girl then eyed the fourth boy – tallest of the four, rugged with dishwater blonde hair – leaning against the tree, staring towards the sky. Frowning, Liu Ying noticed a half-finished cigarette being held between the blonde boy's fingers, its faint smoke rising towards the early morning sky. This boy Liu Ying recognized more than just reputation as she had several run-ins with him. But then, nearly everyone in school, students and teachers alike, knew J.D. Kamaruzaman, and his small gang of troublemakers.
"Smoking, hmm?" Liu Ying muttered to herself, not the least surprised.
It wasn't a new revelation to Liu Ying at all that JD was smoking, but the school considered smoking while wearing the school uniform as an act which would tarnish the school's reputation. Thinking quickly, the second assistant head prefect then decided to confiscate the cigarettes from J.D., but not while at the park. She was not scared, but outside the school compound she could not exercise her power as a prefect. She retreated from the shrubs slowly, careful not to attract any attention from J.D. and his gangs.
As she arrived at the school, she saw a fellow prefect, wearing a long sleeved light green shirt and dark green pants and tie, standing by the school gate. He was talking with another student, whom Liu Ying recognized as classmate to the prefect. Quickly, she made a beeline towards the male prefect and seized his hands, pulling him towards her.
"I need to borrow Tin Kong for a while Johnny, sorry," she said quickly to the other boy who was talking to the male prefect.
"Be my guest, Liu Ying," Johnny Choo said. "See ya in class, Tin Kong."
"Hey…" the prefect protested. "Liu Ying, what is…?"
"Tin Kong, listen," Liu Ying stopped Ho Tin Kong, the prefect who was assigned at the gate for the week. "I saw J.D. Kamaruzaman smoking at the park just now."
The wiry, dark brown-haired prefect shrugged and crossed his arms across his chest. "So what else is new?"
"Don't you get it?" Liu Ying asked Tin Kong irritably, narrowing her eyes towards the other prefect. "We have to confiscate the cigarettes from J.D., and probably from his gang as well."
"Probably?"
"Well, I didn't exactly see Kenny, Megat and Samy smoke, so I don't know."
Tin Kong laughed. "Kenny doesn't smoke, that I know for sure. Megat, I'm not so sure but Samy does. I saw him doing so while I went to Subang Parade yesterday," Tin Kong said. He snorted and shifted his arms towards his back. "The way he smoked, he seemed to think that he's a full-fledged adult."
"Smoking doesn't make you an adult," Liu Ying said wistfully.
"True. Wish you could say that to my older brother," Tin Kong replied with a laugh. He then tapped Liu Ying's shoulder and pointed outside the school compound. "Look who's here."
The two prefects observed as J.D. and his friends cycling along the road recklessly. They were laughing loudly with each other as one by one, they – except for Kenny – showed off some moves with their bikes. One car which was heading towards the school honked at them, but the foursome simply ignored the car and continued with their moves. Students who were walking towards the school wisely moved out of the way to avoid colliding with the bikers. The prefects shook their heads and walked out to the outer side of the school gate, attempting to stop the four troublemakers from entering the school.
"Hey, what's all these!" J.D. demanded roughly, stopping his bike just inches away from the prefects.
"Yeah, what's the big idea?" Kenny squeaked out from behind of J.D., echoing the latter.
"Kenny, shut up," J.D. groaned, his hazel eyes staring into Liu Ying's obsidian orbs. "Well?" he asked the prefects with a smirk. He got off from his bike and walked over towards the two prefects, stopping just a couple of inches away from them. Both Liu Ying and Tin Kong were in near equal heights, and both were also considered tall, but J.D. practically towered over both of them. The fact that he was of mixed ancestry and that he was active in basketball seemed to have contributed in his gangling height. Nevertheless, they were not intimidated.
"Either tell me what do you two want or get the hell out of my way!" J.D. said harshly.
"Watch it, J.D.," Tin Kong warned, stepping forward, in front of Liu Ying. He wrinkled his nose as he caught the familiar odor of cigarette smokes emanating from J.D. "Were you smoking?"
J.D. let out a lopsided grin and crossed his arms against his broad chest. He cocked his head to the side, looking at them challengingly. "Hmm… maybe. So? Were you snooping?"
"Just…hand over your bag, J.D.," Liu Ying instructed irritably, fighting the urge not to blush, as she did spy on the foursome earlier. It was simply a lucky coincidence that J.D. had mentioned about it at that time, she thought. With that, she quickly composed herself and stated calmly towards the foursome, "No student is to enter the school if they possess cigarettes. It's the school's rule."
"What is this, early mornings spot-check? Never remembered the school has one for the last couple of years I'm here," J.D. said with a sarcastic chuckle as he handed over his school bag towards the two prefects. "Well, Mr. and Miss Prefects, do your job then. I won't stop you."
Liu Ying let Tin Kong check J.D.'s bag for any cigarettes, but after a minute of inspecting the male prefect looked up from the bag and shook his head. "No cigarettes," he said, and handed over the school bag back to J.D. "Not even anything that can be confiscated," he whispered into Liu Ying's ear.
J.D. snatched back his bag and slung it over his shoulder. "No one's dumb enough to actually bring cigarettes inside the school," he pointed out with a loud laugh. "That would spell trouble with old Gurmit Singh…not that I'm scared of that big oaf. Outside the school, however, is a different matter. Heh, heh."
"It's still the school concern if you go around smoking while wearing the school's uniform. Not even the school, the education ministry and the police are also against it!" Liu Ying said hotly.
J.D. shrugged. "Whatever. I know how to take care of myself. And by the way, Miss Prefect…I know for sure that you were around the park earlier. I just chose not to call you out," he said, and winked at Liu Ying, who was shocked to hear what J.D. had just said. J.D. flashed his lopsided grin once again and pointed his index finger towards Liu Ying. Smiling, he wiggled his finger at the female prefect. "Better luck next time."
Liu Ying fumed silently as she eyed J.D. from up to down, scrutinizing his uniform in order to find something to tell him off. It was not like Liu Ying to find fault in anyone, but the boy with a mixed heritage simply irked her. Yet, that day J.D. had his white shirt decently tucked in over his earth green pants. His straight hair was messy, as if intentionally uncombed, but as its length was permissible and J.D. didn't exactly look horrible with his messy hair, Liu Ying didn't mention anything. Under J.D.'s shirt, with its topmost and second buttons were left undone, Liu Ying could see that he was wearing a thin metallic necklace. The school badge was intact on his chest pocket.
"If you like what you're seeing, maybe you should take a picture," J.D. teased with a laugh. He dug in the pocket of his trousers and took out a camera-phone. "Here, I have a camera."
"Just…go in, now!" Liu Ying snapped back in annoyance and moved out of their way. J.D. exchanged high-fives with his fellow cohorts before getting on his bike again. After the foursome were nowhere in sight, she decided to excuse herself from Tin Kong as well. "Sorry for dragging you into this, Tin Kong. Apparently J.D. is smart enough to throw away the cigarettes before coming over to school."
"Eh…it's not a problem at all, Liu Ying," Tin Kong assured his fellow prefect with a smile. "He was smoking, that's for sure. The stench is evident, but it's a shame we couldn't turn him over to the disciplinary teacher just because of how he smells."
Liu Ying nodded and walked into the school compound, forcing herself to repel the irritableness she was feeling out of her mind. However just as she calmed down, her thoughts drifted back to the park, where she had observed J.D. and his gang earlier. She was sure that she had kept herself hidden well and at a safe distance, and she didn't make any noise at all. Nobody was supposed to notice her at all. How on earth would he know that Liu Ying was snooping over him?
Sighing, Liu Ying dismissed the thought, thinking that since there was no way that she would ask J.D. about it, she would never know the answer. Hence it was best to just forget about it. Perhaps she had been careless and was spotted. Liu Ying really didn't think so, but there was no other explanation. She tried to think of other matters, and looked over her watch. Realizing that she still had fifteen minutes before school started, she decided to make full use of the remaining free time.
"Now where is Adam?"
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"My mom will be taking me and Debbie out for a lunch at some fast-food outlet this afternoon," Manny said nervously, his russet eyes were looking everywhere else except at the person he was talking too. "She let us choose; I wanted to go to Kenny Rogers, but Debbie opts for McDonald's as she wants this week's Happy Meal."
"Oh…well, ok," Gayathri replied, wondering why Manny was telling her this. She looked at Manny with puzzlement reflected from her doe eyes.
It was fifteen minutes before the school would start for the day, and Gayathri had arrived at school on seven in the morning, as she usually did. For the last ten minutes she was hanging out with her two best friends, as she usually did, when suddenly her new neighbor approached her. The boy asked to speak with Gayathri alone, and that had caused Gayathri's heart to skip a few beats. Her friends however had giggled, causing Manny to blush heavily. Gayathri had decided to spare Manny of the embarrassment, and took Manny a few meters away from Belinda and Wardina, knowing that her friends would be trotting along to spy on them.
Gayathri sighed wistfully. Not that she minded – Belinda and Wardina after all were her best friends – but they could at least did the spying a little bit more inconspicuously. At the moment, she could see clearly half of her friends' profiles, partially hidden by the walls around the corner. Gayathri had taken Manny to the school's artificial fountain, and they were currently sitting on some of the stone toadstools made by the Arts Club members. The curly haired girl was sitting opposite Manny, who had his back facing the direction where Belinda and Wardina were at.
"Oh…hmm, actually, the thing I want to say is," Manny said, as he rubbed his hand along his spiky black hair. "My mom actually said that we could bring… you along. What do you say?"
Gayathri's face brightened instantly upon hearing the request. It sounded as if Manny was asking her out. Despite with two chaperons – namely his mother and sister – but Gayathri decided that this was a good start. She smiled widely, showing two rows of white teeth.
"Oh, sure! I'd love to join you guys," Gayathri said excitedly. "I'll call home during recess to inform that I'll be going out for lunch with you and your family."
"Great," Manny nodded, smiling. "Erm…listen. Now that you're going with us…will you choose Kenny Rogers instead of McDonald's? Please?"
Gayathri immediately sweatdropped upon hearing Manny's request, and tried hard not to do a double-take as well. She certainly didn't expect that to come out of Manny. And to make it even weirder, Manny really had sounded genuinely like he was hoping that Gayathri would choose his choice over his sister's.
"Well…I did have a McDonald's burger with the girls not too long ago…" Gayathri managed to answer. "So I guess I'll choose Kenny Rogers."
The strapping, spike-haired boy beamed upon hearing Gayathri's choice. "Good."
"What about Debbie?" Gayathri inquired. She remembered Manny's little sister and was very fond of her. "Won't she get mad or anything…?"
"Not when she hears that you are the one who chooses Kenny Rogers instead of McDonald's," Manny replied confidently. "Besides, she'd always want to eat at McDonald's whenever there's a new Happy Meals toys advertised on TV. There was this time last year's August, when the Happy Meals toys were those Hello Kitty stuffs. There were six different kitties, so…"
"Don't tell me that you guys went to McD's for six days straight," Gayathri said, laughing.
"Oh…actually we managed to make it only for five days," Manny replied, joining with the laughing as well.
Gayathri liked this development. Manny, once shy and introverted when they had first met, had gradually warmed up to her. When Gayathri was absent for two days, Manny and his little sister had dropped by her house for a visit. Yet, Manny's last visit to her house the previous week's Wednesday had been the last time she had spoken with Manny. Whenever they were at school, Gayathri had decided to give Manny room to get to know his fellow classmates. And now, for Gayathri, to have a decent conversation with the boy she was growing to like a lot…well, she loved the development. Gayathri didn't know how else to phrase her happiness.
'Here's hoping that no Digital World problem would interfere with my 'date' with Manny…and his family,' Gayathri thought hopefully.
"Well…so I guess I'll see you later," Manny said. He turned around before Gayathri could stop him...and sweatdropped.
Both of them could see the heads of Wardina and Belinda poking out from one of the wall's corner. Upon realizing that they had been caught snooping, the girls giggled hysterically and averted their heads away so that Gayathri and Manny could not see them, never mind that it was already too late. Gayathri shook her head while Manny scratched his head in mild bashfulness. Manny looked at Gayathri questioningly and gave her a nervous, small smile.
"Oh boy," Gayathri said, rolling her eyes. "Those two…I better get back to them. See you later, Manny."
Manny watched Gayathri go for a moment, and nodded. His smile was gone. "Yeah…see you later," he said softly.
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Thunders echoed over the cloudy sky of the Shadow Realm as five figures were seen crossing its barren grounds. All over the dark region, ghosts Digimon in forms of Bakemon were floating about, emitting haunting sounds as they observed the quintet. However, ghastly as the sounds were, they had no effect upon the five figures. The Bakemon too, stayed away from the five, merely watching from afar with bared yellow teeth and gleaming evil eyes. It was said that those who dared intrude the grounds of SkullSatamon would fall prey to the Bakemon. As the Bakemon themselves avoided the five Digimon that had stepped into the valley, it was highly probable that these Digimon far surpassed the Bakemon in terms of power.
The group of five was led by a dark and dastardly humanoid Digimon who looked like a cross between a human warrior and a raven. He was dressed in white puffy trousers and purple armor. This was Karatenmon, an ultimate level Digimon, a master of sorcery and dark arts, and one of SkullSatamon's generals. He was flanked on both sides by a flaming bipedal lizard on his right, and a merman whose lower body was enveloped by swirling water. And finally behind the three Digimon walked Shutumon and Sorcerymon, henchmen to SkullSatamon with ranks lower than Karatenmon. As they were walking, both Shutumon and Sorcerymon cast looks of hatred towards the Bakemon around them, as if daring them to attack. They knew however that Bakemon, despite their appearances, were smart enough not to do so.
Soon they reached the Horror Hall, a gleaming onyx skull-shaped bastion perched on a stone mountain which seemed to be projected out of a bottomless pit around it. Over the end of the stone bridge which connected the moss-green staircases and the ground across the abyss, there stood a hulking demonic Digimon, whose sight alone would make anyone quiver in fear. It was a skeletal humanoid Digimon, whose head, body and extremities were all skinless and consisted only of crimson bones. Inside his ribcage there was a DigiCore, obsidian in color and gleamed against the pale lights emitted by the force-field around the crater in which the Horror Hall was at. At the moment, the DigiCore was tinted with yellow at the bottom.
"Master SkullSatamon," Karatenmon greeted the frightful Digimon with reverence, and knelt on the dry, cracked ground. The other four Digimon behind him followed suits immediately.
"Rise, General," SkullSatamon said hoarsely. He perched forward his head – which in actuality was a black skull with a crimson bat tattooed over the forehead with bat wings erupted from the sides. The demon observed his visitors with his empty eye sockets; his sight worked in a mysterious way unknown to no one but a similar species to himself – not many could see without eyes, yet the way SkullSatamon look at the Digimon ensemble in front of him it was as if he possessed eyes like any other Digimon. The emptiness of his eye sockets were unnerving to those who dared to see directly towards it – which was why many chose wisely to avoid staring into the darkness of SkullSatamon's eye sockets.
"I see you have selected two excellent candidates in order for my plan to be executed, Karatenmon. Flarelizamon and Depthmon, excellent choices indeed. You have carried out my order flawlessly."
"Thank you, my master," Karatenmon said as he rose regally from the ground.
From behind the dark avian Digimon and the fire and water duo, Sorcerymon and Shutumon watched each other from the corners of their eyes. They felt somewhat dissatisfied that only Karatenmon received all the good rapport from their master as they too, had done their parts. However it was not their place to object to what they perceived as unfairness, and their loyalty to SkullSatamon still surpassed their own ego. Thus, they kept their mouths shut and watched the event that took place before their very eyes.
Karatenmon then beckoned for Flarelizamon, the flaming lizard, and Depthmon the merman, to move forward. A flash of crimson was seen from Flarelizamon's eyes and Depthmon's visor before both moved forward. Once directly in front of SkullSatamon, with only the force-field being in the way, the two Digimon bowed their heads, lowering their gazes onto the dark dry grounds.
"Karatenmon, proceed." SkullSatamon gave a nod to his minion.
"Yes, master."
Karatenmon then stretched his thin arms forward, one towards the back of Flarelizamon and the other towards the back of Depthmon. He began chanting an incantation in a foreign language which sounded dark and mystical. As he chanted, flashes of lightning streaked against the sky, followed by earthshaking thunderclaps which made Sorcerymon and Shutumon jump and hugged each other in reflex. However upon realizing the position they were currently at, they quickly unlatched from each other and Shutumon dunked Sorcerymon on the head for seemingly 'taking advantage' of her.
Dark smokes appeared from Karatenmon's fingertips before two crimson beams shot out from the wizard's hands. The beams hit Flarelizamon and Depthmon at the back of their heads, which made them scream in surprise. They immediately clutched their heads and roared in pain as Karatenmon continued chanting his dark spell. Crackles of lightning were generated from out of nowhere, spiraling around Flarelizamon's and Depthmon's bodies, and Karatenmon quickened his spell in a crescendo as Shutumon, Sorcerymon and SkullSatamon all looked upon them in anticipation. The two Digimon's roars of pain echoed all over the Shadow Realm, sending any visible Bakemon out of sight in a blink of the eye.
"At this moment I really don't want to be in their shoes," Sorcerymon whispered into Shutumon's ears.
"Who says I want to be in their shoes in the first place?" Shutumon replied with a low voice, not wanting to attract any attention at all.
Several minutes passed by painfully before Flarelizamon and Depthmon stopped screaming. The crackles of lightning had now disappeared, and they were silently standing (or hovering, in Depthmon's case) in front of SkullSatamon. A notable difference was present in both of them – they now had the crimson emblem of a bat tattooed at the center of Flarelizamon's fiery forehead and Depthmon's helmet. The emblem was the same insignia that was on SkullSatamon's skull.
"The mark of evil has been bestowed upon them, master," Karatenmon informed.
"Good. Now I can control them telepathically, even though I am confined within this barrier," SkullSatamon said viciously.
"Indeed, master. They are at your beck and calls."
SkullSatamon nodded, satisfied with the explanation. "And what of their… human partners?"
"Do not worry, master," Karatenmon said convincingly. "The ones chosen are perfect."
"Good. Despite I'm having control over Flarelizamon and Depthmon now, they will however, obey their human partners more than they do me. You must make sure that their human partners will never stray from evil, Karatenmon! This will be your responsibility."
"It has been taken care of, master," Karatenmon said. "With your evil mark on these two, your influence shall seep through the minds of their human partners as well. I have tested this before by making Sorcerymon cast the abhorrence spell upon the partner of one of the DigiWira. While the human partner of that Fairymon was not hit directly by the spell, she exhibited stronger signs of being influenced by the spell more than her partner. If not for that meddling Wizardmon, the wielder of the Pink DigiSphere would have ordered her partner Digimon to destroy her comrades."
"Is that so? And have you taken the necessary action against the meddler?"
"Yes, master. The said obstacle has been removed. I have made sure of that myself."
"You have done well, Karatenmon. Now, leave Shadow Realm and carry out the next step of the plan."
"Of course, master."
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Watching as students walking past him, Adam sat at the sitting area constructed along the drains in front of the school's pavement. It was already ten minutes after the end of the day's school session. Usually he would go back home with Hakim, but earlier that day Hakim had informed him that the he needed to go to Kuala Lumpur right after school. There was something that he needed to do and his mother had asked Hakim to inform Adam that she couldn't send Adam back home today.
Adam sighed. He didn't mind that at all; something like this had happened previously. It was something that Adam had to accept, since he was hitching a ride along with his friend, for free. Adam remembered there was one time that Hakim's brother got sick and they had to go to the hospital right after school had let up. Adam had simply used his cell phone to contact a public cab in order to return back to his apartment. Unfortunately, he couldn't utilize the same solution today.
"Really need to talk to Kak Lisha about changing that phone's battery," Adam made a mental reminder to himself.
Adam regretted the fact that he didn't have his cell phone with him. The battery was dead and Adam was forced to leave it home to have its battery charged. To make things worse for Adam, the public phone could not be used anymore. A few weeks before it was vandalized and the school hadn't gotten round to fix it.
However, what was strange to Adam this time around was the fact that Hakim seemed somewhat secretive about this. He didn't want to elaborate of what he would do at the nation's capital, and Adam could only guess that it wasn't just a usual trip. This brought Adam's mind back to Hakim's change of demeanor these past few days. Hakim had indeed become quieter than before, and would talk only when someone engaged a question towards him. During the nights when Adam had enough free time to log on the internet and the online chatting client, he'd see Hakim being online as well but whenever Adam tried to engage an online conversation with him, he would receive only short replies or no replies at all.
"Finally, there you are! I've been trying to find you since this morning!"
Interrupted all of a sudden, Adam glanced sideways and saw a familiar girl marching towards him with a stern expression on her face. She looked rather harassed, and somehow it seemed to Adam that he was the reason for it. Then it immediately occurred to him that he himself was acting strange towards his fellow DigiWira by not replying to her messages. It somehow comforted him; perhaps Hakim had something bothering his mind, and it was somewhat personal that he didn't want Adam or anybody else to know about it. After all, Adam didn't tell Hakim about him being a DigiWira too, did he?
"Hey, Adam…did you hear me?" Liu Ying asked. Adam nearly jumped when he saw that the straight-haired prefect was now standing by his side.
"Oh…hi, Liu Ying," he greeted with a smile, quickly pushing his earlier thoughts to the back of his mind.
"Don't Hi, Liu Ying me, Adam!" Liu Ying snapped irritably. She however had managed to keep herself from raising her tone in order not to attract the other student's attentions. She looked around and glared to anybody that gave them curious looks, making students who did so to turn away instantly. Most people knew better than to harass the strict second assistant head prefect.
"What gives? Why didn't you reply to my messages? All you said was that you ran into trouble while at the Digital World last Friday. Care to explain more about it?"
"Woah, Liu Ying. Sorry about that. I'll explain now."
Adam thought carefully about the events that had taken place the previous week's Friday. He was bothered greatly by Wizardmon's death, and Patamon had told him that Adam was having nightmares about it that he had to wake Adam up. Adam shook his head and decided since Liu Ying was here, he might as well tell her about it. Then, knowing that Liu Ying's house was nearby, he planned to ask a favor from the girl. And so he began explaining slowly about Wizardmon, and about his untimely death based on what he had seen on Wizardmon's staff.
"Oh…" Liu Ying said as her brain processed the information she had just gathered from Adam. "I'm sorry about your friend Wizardmon."
"I really was looking forward to meet him again that Friday," Adam said glumly. "And he was already gone – killed without mercy by this Karatenmon."
"Gayathri and I didn't even get the chance to meet him. We too owed him a great favor," Liu Ying said and placed a comforting hand on Adam's shoulder. "This Karatenmon is a very dangerous adversary indeed. We've never faced an Ultimate Digimon before. Our partners simply don't have enough experience yet to face him."
"But from the looks of it, it could be Karatenmon who we're gonna face next," Adam pointed out worriedly. "What are we going to do?"
"Shaomon, what do you think?" Liu Ying asked; her eyes averted slightly to her slightly bulging school bag.
"I am willing to do my best, as best as I could ever deliver as Youkomon," Shaomon's muffled reply was heard. "Perhaps three Champions would be enough to deal with an Ultimate."
"That's the spirit, Shaomon. I'll have to check with Izzy Izumi about that," Liu Ying decided promptly.
Adam looked puzzled. The name Liu Ying had just said was not familiar to him. "Who?"
"One of the earliest DigiDestined in the world. He's from Odaiba, Japan."
Adam's gray eyes lit up with interest. "Will you be chatting with him today?"
Liu Ying nodded. "He's always online at this forum he has established for all the DigiDestined around the world. There's also a special chat room he has created over the mIRC, exclusive for all the chosen children around the world. He's usually around every day, and even if he doesn't there are a lot more chosen children that we could ask about this. Experience-wise however, the Japanese team has been doing this since 1999, so you can say that they know what they are doing the most."
"1999? That's like six years ago! How cool is that?" Adam said excitedly. "I wanna join the conversation too."
"Ok. When you get home, give me a message via the D-Terminal. I'll give you all the necessary info for you to access the chat room."
"Oh…heh, heh…umm…Liu Ying? About getting home, is it ok for me to use your phone? I've left mine home, and Hakim has something to do at KL and I really need to make a call."
"No problem, Adam, but I don't have my cell with me now. But you can tag along to my house and use my house phone. Who're you planning to call?"
"The cab."
Liu Ying nodded and smiled. "No problem, then. Come on."
"Won't your family mind?" Adam inquired.
"Of course not. Now come on."
Together, the two DigiWira walked down the road before making a right turn at the junction. Along the way they talked more about what Liu Ying had learned from her chatting sessions with the DigiDestined from various countries. Apparently Liu Ying had first found the chat rooms and forums just a few days after she had been chosen to be Malaysia's first DigiDestined – or DigiWira. She was attempting on doing some research about Digimon over the internet and had stumbled upon someone who at first remained anonymous to her. They had corresponded over three times before the anonymous person then pointed her to Izzy Izumi.
"So who was that anonymous person?" Adam asked as they walked past the park.
"I didn't manage to get to know about him, or her," Liu Ying said. "Whoever he is however, he had been very helpful."
Adam was about to reply when a gust of wind interrupted their conversation. It wasn't particularly strong, but was forceful enough to have its presence recognized. Coming from behind, the wind had messed up Liu Ying's sleek black hair, but Adam had worn a hair gel to keep his dark hair in place. Both DigiWira thought that it was strange, as the air had been rather still throughout the day. It was a warm day and no winds were expected. Looking up, neither DigiWira saw any signs of impending rain or storm, judging by the brilliantly clear sky and the little amount of clouds over the stratus.
Suddenly, Adam felt a prickling sensation over the back of his neck. It was the same feeling he had felt a few days ago, over the empty corridor – the feeling of being watched closely. He instinctively ran his hand there, and to his surprise, he saw Liu Ying doing the same thing as she adjusted her hair back in place. He looked at Liu Ying questioningly. Could the girl also was experiencing the same creepy feeling Adam was feeling.
"What?" the girl asked curiously, when she noticed Adam looking at her with an odd expression over his face.
"I know this will sound silly…but I've the strangest feeling that we're being watched," Adam admitted quickly.
"Really?" Liu Ying replied, immediately looking around them. "I don't see anyone." Then she paused as a new feeling dawned upon her. There was no one around, true, but she couldn't shake the sinister aura she had just picked up from out of nowhere. She understood quickly what Adam had just said – at the moment, she too, could feel an intense, piercing gaze being fixed upon both of them. But she couldn't pinpoint from where exactly the gaze originated. It could be anywhere around the nearby vicinity. However the nearby places around them – the park, the mosque, the cluster of benches near the basketball court and along the road – were completely deserted of people, with the exception of the two of them.
"You know what? I think I believe you," Liu Ying said, with the calmest tone she could muster. "Let's…"
Before they could decide on what they should do, their Digivices suddenly let out a single, loud beep and vibrated within their pockets.
"Uh oh, trouble," Liu Ying immediately said as she eyed the LCD screen of her yellow-rimmed white D3 Digivice. "Hey, is Gayathri around here?"
"No, why?" Adam replied. "She told me that she would be following Manny's family for lunch. I think they've already gone there."
"Strange…because there are three dots on my D3," Liu Ying said. "Look at yours."
"One for you, one for me, and the other for Gayathri," Adam responded lightly as he eyed his sky blue and silver D3 Digivice. Suddenly, he frowned. "But hey, Gayathri isn't with us right now. And this third dot is really close with the other two dots."
"Exactly. And my D3 isn't set on wide scale scanning," Liu Ying agreed.
"Huh?" Adam looked dumbfounded. "Wide scale scanning?"
"One of the functions of our D3 that TobuCatmon, and Izzy Izumi, told me maybe once or twice before," Liu Ying explained quickly. "Right now, by default our D3's parameter is set for only about one kilometer radius, which is its minimal setting. It's maximum however…let's just say that it can cover the whole of Malaysia, and probably include Singapore, Brunei and some parts of Thailand and Indonesia as well."
"Really? That far?" Adam asked.
"There's so much that you still have to know Adam," Liu Ying said. "Which makes it imperative for you to go to the DigiDestined channel and…well, start learning."
Adam nodded. "Ok. Back to the mystery of these three dots. It's really weird. What do you think…hey look, the third dot's gone!" he said and held his D3 up for Liu Ying to see.
On the LCD screen of their D3s were now only two blinking neon green dots against a black background, instead of three. The third dot was gone as soon as it had appeared.
"This is very, very odd…and creepy," Adam said with a shiver. "I'm sure that both of us saw that third dot."
"Let's just go to my house quickly. We can ask the DigiDestined later about this, I'm sure they can explain this to us," Liu Ying decided promptly.
Adam nodded his head vigorously. "I'm way ahead of you."
Immediately the two DigiWira hastened their paces towards Liu Ying's house without looking back at all. When both of them were far away, another figure stepped out from behind a big tree. The tree was big and shady enough to hide the person well, and the shrubs in front of the tree were sufficient to block the person from view. The figure watched as both Adam and Liu Ying entered the latter's house before fully emerging from his hiding.
"That was close," the figure muttered. The mysterious person then took out a very modern cell phone and fiddled with the buttons. "DIGIPORT OPEN!"
xxx
xxx
Liu Ying was just beginning to close the gate of her house when all of a sudden her D3 beeped. This was followed by another series of buzzes from her D-Terminal. These signs were familiar to the wielder of the Yellow DigiSphere – there was trouble at the Digital World and she was needed. True enough, she saw a rather urgent message on the screen of her D-Terminal.
DigiWira, there is a major Digimon attack over East Lake City. You three and your partners are direly needed. Please hurry. Many Digimon have been injured.
Signed, TobuCatmon
"Oh no," Liu Ying said softly. "East Lake City…"
Liu Ying and Labramon had been to East Lake City before, and that was before Gayathri and Adam joined the DigiWira team. It had been only a small threat before, one that was resolved by Youkomon easily. The leader of the city, an Exveemon, was grateful for their help that he had welcomed them to come over the city anytime. Liu Ying had taken Gayathri there once; the second day after Gayathri became a DigiWira, in order to get her acquainted with more Digimon.
Her thoughts then raced to her fellow DigiWira. Adam had just taken a cab back to his apartment, and according to him it would take him another fifteen to twenty minutes before he would arrive at his home. Liu Ying nonetheless was confident that Adam had received the message too, and would do his best to join Liu Ying at the Digital World as soon as possible. On the other hand, she was concerned of how would Gayathri attempt to go to the Digital World. She was with Manny's family at a restaurant.
"Liu Ying? I heard the D-Terminal and the D3 Digivice beeping?" Shaomon inquired. Inside the compounds of Liu Ying's home, Shaomon was now free to move about.
Liu Ying nodded. "Yes, we're needed. And it looks like we'll be the ones to go to the Digital World first."
"Adam and Patamon will join us soon, that I am sure," Shaomon said as she trotted along her partner to enter the house. "And as for Gayathri, do not worry. That girl is very resourceful. Somehow, she will manage to find a way to free herself of her current engagement in order to join us as soon as she could manage. Let's not forget that she and Floramon have been to East Lake City before, Floramon will know how to get to the city."
"What about Adam?"
"I trust Patamon is experienced enough to know where East Lake City is. After all, he was the leader of the Green Meadow Village. Some diplomatic meetings must have occurred between Green Meadow Village and East Lake City. In fact, I think I can recall Exveemon once mentioned that they bought some food items from Green Meadow Village."
The fair-skinned girl merely smiled upon hearing her partner's attempt to console her. The way Shaomon speak had never ceased to amaze her. They immediately went to the computer and seconds later, they were already inside the Forest Sanctum where TobuCatmon was waiting for them patiently. The first thing Liu Ying realized however, instead of their mentor or the fact that her partner had Digivolved into Labramon, was that a certain change was done inside what she had termed as the DigiWira's base of operation.
"Welcome back, Liu Ying, Labramon," TobuCatmon greeted. His tone however, harbored a great worry.
"Hi. Umm…what is that?" Liu Ying asked, pointing towards a wooden device that stood erect near the fountain. She had been a DigiWira for six months, and she hadn't seen the device before.
"That is Wizardmon's sun-staff," TobuCatmon explained. "I trust Adam has already explained to you about Wizardmon?"
Liu Ying nodded. TobuCatmon then continued, "Behold!"
The sun-shaped upper end of the staff glimmered with pale gold lights, and to Liu Ying's amazement, it began to show something. A small city in chaos was shown. Digimon – In-trainings, Rookies and Champions were seen running about, shouting and pleading at the same time. Explosions were heard as a stream of fire was seen coming from the tallest building, coming from a flaming bipedal dragon-like creature which Liu Ying had never seen before. The torrents of fire released by the flaming dragon were blasted against a flying blue-scaled bipedal dragon, which was seen protecting a group of small Digimon.
The scene then shifted away slightly towards the lake nearby the city, where another threat was seen. An armored Digimon, partly submerged by the water, was seen flooding the city with streams of water from the lake. At the same time, the Digimon wielded the waters to attack any Digimon who were seen nearby. Some water types Digimon were seen trying to protect the city from the Digimon, but the enemy seemed to be too strong for them to handle.
"Exveemon's not going to stand a chance against that flaming lizard. We have to go to help him," Liu Ying said breathlessly.
"Who are those intruders of East Lake City?" Labramon wondered.
TobuCatmon sighed as he observed the sun-staff. Liu Ying thought that there was something reflected from TobuCatmon's eyes, and was puzzled upon realizing that it was sadness. Their mentor had never exhibited that reaction towards the enemies – especially destructive ones such as the flaming dragon and the armored merman.
"They are Flarelizamon and Depthmon," finally answered the bat-cat hybrid.
Liu Ying nodded in understanding. "It's time to put a stop to them. Ready, Labramon?"
Labramon exclaimed her readiness and was instantly washed up with dazzling yellow lights emitted from Liu Ying's D3. She grew bigger, and her fur changed color from pale beige into a shining coat of night blue. At first glance, Youkomon seemed to resemble a creature of darkness – her dark features would send the shivers to any unsuspecting Digimon – but in actuality she was merely a creature of the night.
Within a few minutes, both of them were out of the jungle surrounding the Forest Sanctum. Youkomon began to pick up speed as she began heading towards the northeast direction, with the Forest Sanctum as the referral point. She was about to make a big sprint when a familiar, deep voice called out to her from behind.
"Hey guys, wait up!"
Liu Ying glanced behind and smiled as she saw a dragon-centaur in crimson armor coming their way. On top of the centaur was a boy all too familiar to the girl. She recognized the voice that called out to them earlier too, it belonged to Sagittarimon. The girl was further impressed by the quickness they had managed to make it to the Digital World.
"Right on time, Adam!" Liu Ying called out as Sagittarimon began to level with Youkomon. "Actually, you're rather early. I didn't think that you'd make it until another twenty minutes!"
Adam gave her a thumbs-up. "That taxi driver is a young guy with an adrenaline rush. I don't know what his problem was, but he got me back to the apartment in record speed, so who am I to complain?" he hollered back with a grin. Then, for the next half an hour, the two duos raced towards East Lake City, where their helps were needed. They hoped that Gayathri and Floramon would be able to join them as soon as possible; their current threats seemed to be much too treacherous than before.
Upon arriving at the city's gateway, Adam and Liu Ying gasped upon seeing the total destruction the city had suffered. The grounds were soaked and wet, traces of floods were evident. Buildings harbored traces of scorches, no doubt a souvenir from Flarelizamon. Casualties were sprawled everywhere, from small Rookies and In-trainings, to much stronger Champions and Armors. Judging from some of the crying Digimon, there had been fatalities as well.
Over the sky, a battle was taking place. Looking up, the DigiWira saw a large bipedal blue-scaled dragon with white draconic wings, holding his own against Flarelizamon and Depthmon. Muscular and looking tough, it was obvious however that the blue dragon had taken some heavy beatings. The enemies in the meantime didn't look tired at all. Streams of fire and water were fired alternately against the flying dragon, who avoided them by gliding away from the two streams. From the movements exhibited by the dragon however, it looked like he won't be able to sustain such evasive movements any longer. His movements were lagging; it was apparent that he was getting tired.
"Exveemon!" Liu Ying called out towards the blue dragon.
The dragon looked down, and a look of relief washed across his face, made clearer by the twinkle of his crimson eyes. "DigiWira! Thank goodness you're here."
"Exveemon, stand down. Let us take over the fight!" Sagittarimon exclaimed, as Adam jumped down from his body.
"Let's get down to business," he said, as his gray eyes scanned over their surroundings. "Liu Ying and I will help the injured Digimon in any way we can, Youkomon and Sagittarimon can fight that Flarelizamon and Depthmon. What do you say, guys?"
Liu Ying nodded as she too, got down from her nine-tailed Digimon partner. "Sounds good to me. Exveemon can help us too by giving us protection against any stray blasts that might come from our partners, or our enemies."
"I second that," Sagittarimon said, and Youkomon nodded her agreement.
"The only problem we have right now is to make those two come down here, since neither of us have the advantage Exveemon has," the kitsune remarked calmly. Her sharp eyes glinted as she erected her nine tails up, red flames flaring wildly from each tips. "Perhaps I can engage Flarelizamon in a battle, as Depthmon's water abilities will serve as a great disadvantage to me." With that said, she leapt upwards as Exveemon descended down. The bipedal blue dragon then used his hands for Youkomon to use as a stepping stone for her to jump even higher towards the sky. Then, she was enveloped in glaring red and orange flames, and transformed into a spectral dragon.
"They've done that before now, haven't they?" Adam asked Liu Ying, pertaining to Youkomon and Exveemon's brief team-up.
"Yes, they have. Now let's get busy."
As the two DigiWira approached the casualties, Sagittarimon looked up for his foe. He saw Youkomon and Flarelizamon began to fight each other in a glorious display of firepower exchanges. Youkomon, aided by her swiftness and her magical attributes layering her fire attacks, proved to be a challenge for Flarelizamon. Yet Flarelizamon himself was no ordinary Digimon. His lack of agility was made up by his raw powers. So far, the two Digimon proved to be equals, so Sagittarimon needn't worry for Youkomon's safety for the time being. Then, from the corner of his eyes he saw Depthmon attempting to assist Flarelizamon, his hands beginning to generate some water bubbles.
"Ah ah ah, I don't think so, buddy!" Sagittarimon said as he took out his bow. Swiftly he took a precise aim towards Depthmon and yelled, "Judgment Arrow!"
xxx
xxx
Gayathri fidgeted nervously on her seat as she ate her roasted chicken. She wanted to finish eating up the chicken as soon as possible, as she needed to get home soon. Sitting next to her, Manny was chatting with his sister Debbie animatedly – actually he was teasing his little sister gently for not being able to go to McDonald's that day. Debbie had accused Manny to be the one who had persuaded Gayathri to go to Kenny Rogers that day. Yet the noises the two siblings made didn't stop Gayathri from thinking about her fellow DigiWira? What could be the problem today? Can they solve it without her for the time being?
"Would you please tell Debbie once again that I am not responsible for you choosing Kenny Rogers instead of McD's?" Manny's voice broke Gayathri's trails of thought.
"Hmm?" Gayathri looked up. "Oh…well, it's kind of been a while since I've had Kenny Rogers."
"See?" Manny said to his sister with a triumphant grin. Debbie merely responded by sticking her tongue out and blew raspberries towards her older brother.
"Now, now, you two, settle down," Mrs. Kimberly Bhatt, Manny and Debbie's mother, reprimanded them gently. "Have you no shame for our guest?" She then turned her attention towards her daughter. "How about tomorrow, the two of us go to McDonald's. Ok?" she asked Debbie. "They'll still have that Happy Meal toy that you want."
"Ok," Debbie said glumly as she picked on the mashed potatoes and macaroni, which were served along her roasted chicken.
"Debbie, don't pick on your food."
"Sorry, mommy."
Kimberly shook her head and smiled at Gayathri, who was sitting in front of her. "It's so nice to see you two getting along. I was worried at first that Manny would take a long time to fit in, but thanks to you, Manny's now already joined a club at school, and already has so many friends in only one week."
"It's my pleasure, aunty, but really, I didn't do much," Gayathri said smilingly. "And thank you for this lunch."
"Oh, don't mention it," Kimberly replied. She then checked her watch and looked at her son expectantly. "Manny, could you go over the counter and ask whether the vanilla muffins I ordered are ready. I think we're ready to have them, now that you have finished your meal."
"Sure, mom," Manny said. He got up from their table and went to the counter.
Kimberly then leaned closer towards Gayathri. Her brown eyes were twinkling. "Truthfully, Gayathri dear, I'm quite surprised that Manny asked me last night whether it would be ok if he asked you to join us for lunch today."
Gayathri, who was sipping her drink, nearly choked upon hearing Mrs. Abah's statement. It was totally unexpected, and a startling revelation. She coughed slightly and took another sip of her Diet Coke to settle her cough down. Didn't Manny say to her that it was his mother who asked her to join them for lunch?
"Are you ok, dear?" Kimberly asked, concerned.
"Oh, I'm ok, aunty. Sorry about that," Gayathri said quickly, and smiled. "It's just that I'm as surprised as you are," she quickly added.
Kimberly nodded, satisfied, and continued, "He was always a very shy boy back at Kota Kinabalu, but here, he's becoming more outgoing. I think it's because of you he managed to overcome his shyness. It's a really good change on him. I have to thank you for that."
"Really…I didn't do much, aunty, you don't have to thank me," Gayathri protested. "In fact, I'm the one who should be thanking you for the lunch. It's really wonderful."
"Oh, it's only fast food, dear. I'll invite you for a proper home-cooked lunch when we've finished stocking our kitchen with all the essentials," Kimberly said and pressed Gayathri's hand warmly.
Manny then came back with a plate of muffins, which the four of them ate quickly. All the time while they were eating, Gayathri managed to catch Manny stealing glances at her, and every time she had caught him, he merely gave her a smile, which made her blush. What Manny's mother had said suddenly occurred to Gayathri's mind – Manny did seem to have warmed up to her greatly – there was a confidence layered with the smile, it was no longer the bashful one that Gayathri had seen when the two first met. Gayathri liked the confidence exuded with Manny's smile, in fact she liked it a lot and that made her heart raced, but at the same time she was reminded that it was the bashful smile that made the butterflies in her stomach fluttered.
'He was the one who wanted to ask me out for lunch with his family, yet he still says that it was his mom who wants me over for lunch,' Gayathri thought as she watched Manny drink his glass of Coke. Then, it was Manny who managed to catch Gayathri staring at him, and Gayathri saw the straw nearly slipped out of his mouth. She tried hard to sustain her laugh; it would be impolite for her to laugh at Manny, especially in front of his mother and sister.
'Well, I guess there's still that bashful Manny somewhere – he's probably still shy to admit that he wants to ask me out,' Gayathri thought smilingly. 'I can deal with that for now.'
"Looks like we're all done now," Kimberly announced. "It's time to go home."
Gayathri sighed in relief. Now she could go and help her fellow DigiWira out. She tried hard not to look so eager to leave, which she partially was not, but it had been nearly an hour after her D-Terminal and D3 beeped. She really hoped that Adam and Liu Ying managed to get things under control during her absence.
xxx
xxx
It was a battle of equals between Flarelizamon and Youkomon, and between Depthmon and Sagittarimon. Two Digimon with fire-based powers pitting strength against each other, and two Armor Digimon with equally high defenses that they could not even injure the other. For the past forty minutes they had been battling each other and no one could beat the other. Youkomon, with her unparalleled stealth and agility, managed to use her many magical abilities to her advantage, but even with those backing her up she couldn't match the raw powers that Flarelizamon possessed. Her fireballs were simply neutralized by Flarelizamon's very own high temperature flame bullets, and Youkomon often found herself having to relinquish her Dragon Wheel technique when Flarelizamon countered it with his powerful Flame Tower ability – which generated an enormous pillar of fire as barrier to protect him from Youkomon's fire.
In the meantime, Sagittarimon too faced difficulty fighting against Depthmon. Both were Champion-Armor Digimon, which meant that both had high defenses. Sagittarimon's arrows, while powerful, did little to injure Depthmon, although they did manage to cause dents to form on his armor. Depthmon's water techniques however couldn't even budge the hulking centaur, but his sharp claws had done to Sagittarimon's armor what the centaur's arrows had done to his. Once or twice Depthmon attempted to drag Sagittarimon into the lake, where he would possess the advantage, but Sagittarimon saw through that immediately and resisted simply with his weight. But Sagittarimon had found himself at a severe disadvantage, as his meteorites attack could simply be nullified by the waters that Depthmon could wield at his whim.
As the four Digimon battled, Adam and Liu Ying did their best to help the injured casualties retreating to a safer shelter. The city's leader, Exveemon, had helped them by shielding them from any attack. Once, Flarelizamon's flame bullets had strayed from Youkomon, and hadn't Exveemon been quick with his X-Laser technique the bullets would have incinerated the DigiWira. And on another equally dire occasion, Depthmon's flood of water would have drowned the DigiWira and some Rookies and In-trainings, if it wasn't for Exveemon to carry them away to safety, and firing an abandoned building, which reduced it into rubbles, which in turn protected them from the full-force of the water.
"Hang on, little one," Adam said as he applied a medical ointment on a Nyaromon's injury. The little green-furred In-training yelped in pain but understood that the DigiWira was helping her, so she kept herself from struggling hard. "There. All done. A few days later and you'll be as good as new." The Nyaromon purred happily and licked Adam with her large tongue.
Liu Ying was helping two puppy-types Salamon, whose legs were dislocated due to a fall, by bandaging their legs. She then passed the puppies over to Exveemon to be transported into a sturdy building, where many Digimon had been transferred for medical care by the city's doctor – a Leomon who was completely attired with a white coat and a stethoscope.
"If only Gayathri and Floramon are here, maybe we can win this fight against those two," Liu Ying said to Adam. "Where are they?"
"She'll be here," Adam said assuringly, and passed the Nyaromon to her. However, the Nyaromon hissed slightly at Liu Ying and wrapped its long tail around Adam's arm.
"Looks like she's taken a liking for you," Liu Ying observed.
"Oh boy," Adam groaned.
Suddenly, two figures entered the site of massive destruction. To Adam and Liu Ying's relieves, it was reinforcements – in the form of their friends Gayathri and the fully-Digivolved Fairymon, who was carrying her partner as she flew inside the city. Spotting the other two DigiWira, Fairymon descended quickly, narrowly avoiding a torrent of fire coming from Flarelizamon, which was successfully evaded by Youkomon.
"Hey, watch it, lizard-breath! I'm right here!" Fairymon shouted in annoyance. "You nearly burned my hair off my head!"
"Umm…Fairymon? Before you pick a fight, mind putting me down first?" Gayathri asked meekly.
Fairymon did as she was requested and flew up towards the sky once again. She took a moment to assess her friends' conditions – a trait she had gotten from Youkomon – rather than jumping into a battle recklessly. She saw Youkomon leaping from one rooftop to another as she alternately attacked and defended herself from one that Fairymon could immediately identify as Flarelizamon. She turned her gaze around and saw Sagittarimon battling a marine-type Digimon, who was sending streams of water jets towards the centaur.
"I think I know just what to do," Fairymon said with a smirk, and flew towards Sagittarimon.
"Gayathri, what took you so long?" Liu Ying demanded, just as the curly haired DigiWira joined her and Adam. "We could use you and Fairymon ever since…yesterday!"
Gayathri rolled her eyes. "Now that's so exaggerating. But really, I'm sorry guys. It's just that I was with Manny's family and I didn't know how to get out of it."
"It's cool," Adam said quickly. He noticed Fairymon's shadow went past him and looked up. "Now what could your partner be up to?"
In the meantime, Sagittarimon was busy fending off bubble-bombs that were sent to him by Depthmon by firing away his arrows. Whenever his arrow hit a bubble-bomb, an explosion resulted. Sagittarimon had learnt that when he had unwittingly let one bubble, which looked harmless at first glance, to hit his armor. It had caused his armor to be slightly chipped along the edge, which irked the centaur slightly. The result of the attack was unexpected, but he had learned his lesson. Thus, he resorted to use his arrows, and occasionally his Meteor Gallop technique, to repel the bubble-bombs.
"Yoo-hoo, Sagittarimon!"
Sagittarimon couldn't be gladder when he heard the slightly flirtatious voice, knowing that it belonged to a friend.
"Fairymon, glad that you could come. Ugh… Judgment Arrow!"
"Fishface's giving you trouble?" Fairymon asked as she descended on Sagittarimon's back. "Then let's turn the tides on him. Hurricane Wave!"
Fairymon's pink hurricane attack had done what Sagittarimon's attacks couldn't possibly come up with – it had deflected all the bubble-bombs back towards Depthmon. It happened too quickly that Depthmon was unprepared to defend himself. As a result, the bubble-bombs combusted upon contact with his body, damaging his own sleek aquamarine armor. Depthmon was thrown into the lake, and this was witnessed by many Digimon of the East Lake City. A thunderous cheer erupted from all over the city.
"She shoots, and she scores!" Fairymon squealed in delight.
"Um…I think it's actually he shoots, and she scores," Sagittarimon pointed out. "Since it was Depthmon who did all the shootings…"
"Oh, you get my point," Fairymon said, waving her hands dismissingly. "Anyway, Sagittarimon…I have a plan to help Youkomon. But we need to egg that fishface. I need him to…"
As Fairymon whispered her plan to Sagittarimon, the battle between Youkomon and Flarelizamon escalated one degree higher. Flarelizamon was getting impatient of seeing Youkomon surviving and evading his attacks, and decided to come up with a bigger, forceful attack. The fires that flared from his body began to become wilder and higher. The temperature around him increased twice as high as before, and the fires on his body actually emitted sounds – burning sounds, which didn't seem too well for Youkomon.
"He is unleashing his mightiest attack yet. I cannot believe that all this while he has been holding back. I…have given my best shot," Youkomon muttered desperately. "I need help."
"Raging….INFERNO!" Flarelizamon shouted forcefully, and the flames on his body erupted in all directions, threatening to burn anything in nearby vicinity. The rooftop where Flarelizamon was standing caught the fire and began to burn wildly. The building began to rumble as the fires were spreading rapidly.
To make things worse, Youkomon's sharp ears caught the sound of an impending tsunami – even though East Lake City was located merely beside a lake, but a very, very big lake. Even Sagittarimon and Fairymon together couldn't beat Depthmon, the kitsune thought. What chance could she have against the raging Flarelizamon, whose power was beginning to show whereas Youkomon had used up all of her own powers.
"Youkomon, duck!"
Startled, Youkomon turned around and her eyes widened in a somewhat pleasant surprise. She saw Fairymon flying towards her at top speed, wielding three hurricanes of water with her. It was an amazing sight, and Youkomon was reminded of what Fairymon could actually do if pushed at full strength. She had witnessed it herself when Fairymon was influenced by Sorcerymon's spell. Quickly she jumped onto the ground as Fairymon approached Flarelizamon.
"Hey, lizard-breath! Cool it!"
Too consumed in his own fiery rage, Flarelizamon didn't have enough time to avoid three massive water hurricanes coming his way. Fairymon thrust all three water hurricanes towards Flarelizamon, which took out all the fire in a blink of the eye and sent Flarelizamon plummeting down from the building he was on. When he got up, to his horror, his body was no longer flaring with flames – all the fire had died out, leaving him in his orange scales.
"Without all the flames, you look just like an overgrown Agumon, now that I think of it."
Flarelizamon immediately jumped back to his feet when he saw Youkomon's approaching him with a menacing look reflected over her brilliant blue eyes. The blue-furred fox still managed to move with elegance and grace, despite her being overtaxed from the earlier battle. Her tails were still lit with red flames. With one look, Flarelizamon knew that he couldn't win the day's battle.
"We'll meet again, Youkomon. Mark my words," Flarelizamon swore, and with a wave of his arm, he vanished in a puff of dark purple smokes.
Both Sagittarimon and Depthmon saw that Flarelizamon had retreated. Sagittarimon then gave Depthmon a piercing glare.
"Your friend has chickened out. What are you gonna do?" Sagittarimon challenged.
Depthmon knew that with Flarelizamon defeated, he couldn't hope to match the power of three DigiWira Digimon. He would have to retreat as well. Deep within, he was irked with Fairymon for outsmarting him – he didn't realize that Fairymon, who appeared to be an airhead in his opinion, was the one who would eventually cause their humiliating defeat. He had let himself being affected by Fairymon's taunts that he'd sent a giant tsunami-like attack, not knowing that it was what Fairymon had wanted him to do, in order for her to save the blue-furred fox that was battling Flarelizamon.
"Enjoy your victory now, DigiWira, because it will be your last. We'll see who's going to have the last laugh!"
With a vicious laugh, Depthmon too disappeared in a puff of dark purple smokes.
"Well, good riddance," Fairymon said as she descended beside Youkomon. Her body then glimmered with pink lights as she regressed back into Floramon. "Wow, all the battle, brief as it was, had taken a great deal out of me. Still…I managed to do some good, right Youkomon?" Floramon asked weakly.
"You did well, my friend. We could never have won the battle without you," Youkomon assured, as she reverted into Labramon.
"That's good to hear," Floramon said slowly, and dozed off right on the wet, floppy ground.
"She must be really tired," Sagittarimon remarked as he de-Digivolved back into Patamon. "She has exerted a lot of energy trying to wield all those waters that Depthmon had sent her way. Just look at the lake now…or lack thereof, there's barely a room for one Seadramon now. It's too shallow now that this city should change its name into East Waterhole City instead of East Lake City!"
"Flarelizamon and Depthmon seem to be our greatest match at the moment," Labramon said grimly. "And I have a feeling that our paths will cross again soon."
"Depthmon's made that pretty clear before he retreated," Patamon pointed out.
"You guys ok?" Adam asked as he retrieved his tired partner. "You've taken some pretty serious beatings there."
"We'll be ok, but those two sure are tough," Patamon admitted as he settled down on Adam's head. "Very tough, actually."
"I don't like the sound of that," Gayathri said. She picked up her sleeping partner, and wiped away some mud that got stuck on her partner's body before cradling her.
Liu Ying nodded her agreement and observed the conditions of their Digimon partners. Both Labramon and Patamon, while awake, were already too tired to Digivolve once more. "Umm… guys? How are we going back to the Forest Sanctum?" she inquired.
"Oh, don't worry about that, my young friends," a deep, throaty voice replied. It was Exveemon, who was beaming as he approached them. Despite being injured, the bipedal dragon still managed to walk steadily. He was quite a sight to behold; it was not everyday that the DigiWira could see a full-fledged dragon. "You have done us a great favor," he continued, his crimson eyes twinkling merrily. "Our city is saved thanks to your efforts. The least we could do as a token of our gratitude is to offer you transports back home. You all must be really tired now, and want to return to your home world as soon as possible. I believe three Raidramon would be up for the task. They are after all, the swiftest Digimon in this city. You'll be home in no time."
xxx
xxx
"You have failed, Karatenmon. Flarelizamon and Depthmon are defeated by the DigiWira."
"This is just a temporary setback, my master. Flarelizamon and Depthmon still lacked battle experience in comparison to Sagittarimon, Youkomon and Fairymon. However, they have proven to be a great challenge for the DigiWira. Even though they have lost their first battle, the DigiWira partners too suffered. They are greatly weakened. In my humble opinion, my master, the first battle is actually, quite a success. Both Flarelizamon and Depthmon have now gained fight experience, which they can now use against the DigiWira. They are now familiar with the DigiWira partners' powers and styles. The dark powers they have received are now backed up by their experience, which have unlocked a new ability which I have concocted for them, master."
"Interesting. When will I be able to see the fruits of your plan?"
"We shall need more time, master. I will give them three days from now. They will be undergoing strict practice to hone their skills and to further increase their experience."
"Time is a luxury that we cannot afford, Karatenmon."
"I understand, master. But I am sure that the end results will fully justify our patience."
"Very well. See to it that I will not be disappointed."
The transmission between SkullSatamon and Karatenmon was then cut off. Footsteps were then heard coming from Karatenmon's back. The avian dark warrior turned around and saw two human figures approaching the stone podium where he was standing. They were wearing outfits identical in pattern to the DigiWira, but instead of gray they were black. On the middle of their belts were gleaming metallic crimson bats – the same symbol which SkullSatamon had on his forehead. Behind the two humans were an Agumon and a Penguinmon.
"Welcome back, ShadoWira."