The air within the dark Cave of Solitude rippled in front of the podium where Karatenmon stood. From it, he saw the Blue ShadoWira emerging, as if being thrown by someone judging by the way he attempted to regain his footing. He however failed and dropped onto his knees. Then the unconscious bodies of Agumon and Penguinmon flung out from the ripple of air, colliding with the Blue ShadoWira's hunched back, before finally the Red ShadoWira appeared as the portal closed.
They didn't look happy at all. The Blue ShadoWira merely let out a grunt upon setting sight of the fearsome avian general, while the Red ShadoWira let out an irritated growl and a huff.
"Once again, you have been outclassed by the DigiWira, and not to mention, by only the two girls," Karatenmon said snidely, seeing the harassed looks on the ShadoWira as both of them threw off their masks onto the solid, stony cavern ground. Those leather masks merely let out a faint 'flop' as they landed on the floor.
"Can it, Karatenmon," the Red ShadoWira growled tiredly as he lowered his hood, revealing medium-length and windswept dirty-blond hair against the dim light derived from the glowing orb hovering over the podium. His eyes flashed with green, which then became red, before turning to their original hazel color. His eyes landed onto the Blue ShadoWira, who was attempting to stand back up on his feet. "Those girls got an Ultimate as well – and that Lilymon's flowers somehow had a strange effect on him and the digimon."
The Red ShadoWira gestured towards the Blue ShadoWira, who merely grunted in annoyance.
"I saw it from here," the Mage General said calmly. "It was lucky that you have had the hindsight to burn the flowers before they could harm you."
The Red ShadoWira snorted and chuckled as he crossed his arms against his body. "Took the words out of my mouth. Who knows what would've happened if I let that wench's flowers take effect any longer? Reichmon got devolved easily…never thought that any digimon's capable of doing that."
"But you are wrong there," Karatenmon pointed out with his deep, regal voice. "I in fact, have known of a fellow general who has a similar power of forcing de-digivolution upon her opponent. But that is hardly the point we are making here right now. Our current situation is much more imperative to discuss. We now know that the DigiWira have managed to equalize their powers with the two of you, within the span of one week. The DigiWira have their digital powers and their partners are able to DNA digivolve, just like you are. But it seems that somehow…the DigiWira boy was not able to partake in the fight after the event at Shadow Realm earlier this week. Something does not seem to bode well here."
The Blue ShadoWira leaned his back over the wall and shrugged when Karatenmon eyed him curiously.
"Don't look at me," he said as he lowered his hood, revealing dark spiky hair which color was hard to discern due to the lack of light inside the cave. "I wasn't the one who's constantly after the White DigiWira. Someone among us seems to be spending quite some time with that boy as of late…" his voice trailed off as he gazed at his fellow comrade in crime.
"Watch it," the Red ShadoWira growled, his eyes narrowed dangerously. "I don't like your tone."
The Blue ShadoWira shrugged indifferently; he didn't look threatened at all by the menacing voice of the Red ShadoWira. "What I'm trying to say was…you've been copying my idea. How unoriginal, but very curious as well; why'd you choose to hang out with Adam instead of Liu Ying, I wonder?"
"If you must know, I've been doing my homework," the Red ShadoWira said smugly. "Liu Ying puts the 'D' in difficult…so I chose the second best option, or perhaps, the best option, now that I think of it – Adam's the exact opposite of Liu Ying. He literally is the letter 'E' in easy. So trusting, so willing to see the best in everyone, and so innocent…little did he know that his own best friend has unwittingly given me all the necessary information I need to break him completely, when the time's right. He now believes that I'm his friend…I can't wait when he finds out the truth that JD Kamaruzaman and the Red ShadoWira are actually the same person. That ought to make him pay for the little souvenir he's given me back at the Shadow Realm."
"You're conceited," the Blue ShadoWira said, as JD gestured towards his right arm.
"Speak for yourself," the Red ShadoWira snorted. "I'm not the one who's leading a girl to love me…ok, so I did break a few girls' hearts when I agreed to date them, before dumping them…but that's not the point here. But take it from someone who's actually has experience in doing this kind of stuff you're doing…what you're doing to that Gayathri girl…" the Red ShadoWira smirked as he leaned closer to the Blue ShadoWira's ear, and continued with a spiteful whisper, "to me, that's conceited, squared."
The Blue ShadoWira's dark eyes flashed dangerously, but he didn't reply to the Red ShadoWira's comment. In fact, for a brief moment a look of hesitance crossed his balanced facial features briefly before his eyes let out a green glow, followed by crimson, before reverting to their original reddish brown hue once more.
Karatenmon decided that the banter between the two ShadoWira had been going on long enough. He knew of the ShadoWira's mind games against the DigiWira, and had to admit that at some point it did sound brilliant, but he didn't like the way the Blue ShadoWira's plan had been going on with the DigiWira with the Pink DigiSphere. Such plan could backfire easily, if the Blue ShadoWira was not careful. For now however, Karatenmon was glad to see that his control of the ShadoWira prevailed their common senses.
"Now, now, Joshua, Emmanuel…there should be no fighting between the two of you," Karatenmon said idly. "Now, listen up. It is time for you to harness the deeper power of your DigiSpheres. The master has made it clear very recently that he wants all of us to get rid of the DigiWira once and for all. That time has come. The coming of the solar eclipse is approaching soon. At that precise moment, my power will grow to its fullest potential and I shall be able to use that power against the DigiWira."
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WIRA DIGITAL
- ShadoWira Unveiled, Part I –
Chapter 16 – Shadow Access
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"You want to hang out somewhere after school?" JD asked Adam, as the younger boy was saving up their latest file.
"Uh…I don't think I can," Adam said distractedly as he closed the program on the computer. He then turned his gaze to his new friend, offering an apologetic look to him. "I…kind of offered to stay behind here…to help Mr. Chan with something."
"Oh really? Sucks being you," JD said with a smirk. "On a Saturday? Don't you have better stuff to do than hang out at school, of all places?"
A small 'humph' was heard coming from Adam's back. Liu Ying stood up from her seat and fixed a glare at the taller teen.
"It's something that we do voluntarily," she said curtly, when she saw that Adam couldn't come up with any reply for JD's question. "Something senior computer club members do after the usual meeting. Sometimes it's just a meeting and sometimes we check the computers."
"I don't see the club president staying back," JD pointed out.
Liu Ying realized that she had blundered a little, and huffed in annoyance. "As far as I know he has tuition after this, so he can't stay back. And Adam here…as the vice-president, representing the Form Ones, Twos and Threes, will stay back in his stead."
"What about you?"
"Me?" Liu Ying's cheek colored slightly upon the question. She wasn't even in the committee members. "I…I've joined this club since last year. I'm a senior."
"Fine," JD said, and took his orange basketball from below the table. "Anyway, I still remember that we have a basketball lesson that we didn't get to start yesterday," he told Adam. "So if you're free in the afternoon, drop me an SMS and we can start with it today."
Adam smiled. "Ok."
"Well, ciao." JD turned around and exited the computer classroom.
"He seems…well, somewhat chummy on you," Liu Ying commented as soon as she saw the classroom's glass door closed. She gave Adam a questioning look.
"Chummy?" Adam repeated, wide-eyed. He then shrugged. "I think he's just being friendly."
"Adam, this is JD we're talking about. Since when does he go to a person wanting to become friends? And he's offering to teach you basketball?"
"Well, I did wish him happy birthday," he reasoned.
Liu Ying crossed her arms. "And all of a sudden, he's being so nice to you?" she countered uneasily. "I don't know Adam…something just doesn't look right with it."
The dark-haired boy cocked his head sideways. "Oh, how come?"
"Well, I've never seen him being this nice to anyone before, that's all. As far as I remembered, and mind you I've been in this school one extra year before you and Gayathri came along, this is the first time I've seen JD being so…well, companionable. I've never seen him acting like this with his own circle of friends. You know, I almost didn't believe that it was JD who was with us in today's meeting, if it weren't for the fact that this school only has one blonde, blue-eyed student."
"What's so hard to believe?" Adam asked back, clearly not seeing where Liu Ying was going. "And his eyes are this greenish-blue…"
"Not the point," Liu Ying sighed exasperatedly. "Adam, just…well, I don't know…it's just weird, that's all."
"Oookay," Adam said, lengthening every syllable on purpose. "But actually, it was him who offered the hand of friendship. It'd be rude for me to refuse…I mean, I don't really mind being friends with anybody; be it the school troublemaker or the future head prefect…" he grinned as he let his sentence hang.
Liu Ying saw Adam's clearly-defined hint and smiled. "Fine. Sorry I brought that up, it's just that it's so weird for me to believe, that's all."
"Not a problem," Adam shrugged, and turned his gaze to look for the other member of the DigiWira team.
Both of them then saw Gayathri watching Manny's retreating figure. "Hmm…Liu Ying? Do you notice that Gayathri looked somewhat…unwell, today?"
"I do notice," Liu Ying nodded, taking in the appearance of their pretty, curly-haired friend quickly.
Granted, Gayathri was still perfectly groomed for the day, with her hair done in her latest fashion favorite – in plaits which were let down her shoulders, and her forehead was secured with a light blue headband to keep some of her curly brown bangs out of her face. Her Girl Guide uniform was neatly pressed as usual. The only thing different with their teammate today was the fact that she looked rather weak today. Her usual bright chocolate brown eyes seemed to lose half of their usual spark. And the way she carried herself…it looked like she didn't have that much energy.
"Gayathri, are you feeling alright today?" Liu Ying asked as she approached Gayathri.
Gayathri let out a smile, which looked somewhat strained. "It's the fifth time I've heard that question today. My Girl Guide instructor, Bel and Dina, and Manny, then you…well, I'm ok."
"You look like you don't have any energy," Adam pointed out. "I'd look like you if I haven't eaten for one whole day, which never actually happened before..."
Gayathri grimaced as she observed her male teammate. Adam wasn't actually scrawny, but he was leaning more on the thin side, and it looked like he hadn't really completed his growth spurt yet. Liu Ying was a good inch taller than Adam and herself, and she was very slim, and willowy. Gayathri couldn't come up with an answer for Adam's statement, but luckily she didn't have to, as Jackie had called the three of them to his table.
"Look at this," he said, and revealed Adam's silver and pale blue D-3 Digivice. He pressed on a button on the Digivice, and instantly three dots were revealed on the screen, which had adapted a grid-like black background with green lines. Those dots were colored pink, white and yellow, and they were positioned in one same line. "These represent your D-3 signals."
Jackie then pressed the two buttons on the Digivice in a consecutive sequence, and increased the scanning range of the devices. Instantly, two other dots began to appear – and they were colored red and blue.
The DigiWira gasped as Jackie smiled triumphantly. "Alisha just sent me the completed programming codes an hour ago by e-mail. Your sister is an I.T. genius, Adam, no doubt about that. She has improved the scanning property of the D-3s. Now we can see the signals coming from the ShadoWira's D-3s."
Adam beamed as the girls took out their own D-3s. The similar thing was displayed on their D-3s.
"They look like they're quite a distance away from the school," Liu Ying noted, comparing the distance between the three dots that represented them to the dots that signaled the ShadoWira.
Jackie nodded. "They have been static for the last one hour," he said. "So, if you're not doing anything today, or if there's no attack at the Digital World, I think maybe we all can take a spin around town to discern the location of the ShadoWira's D-3s. That way, maybe we can meet them in their civilian forms, and try to convince them that they're not evil…"
The previous day, Lillymon had told them that Cherrymon had relayed a message to her before his demise. In that telepathic message, Lillymon had felt that something was not right about Reichmon and the ShadoWira. The dryad of nature and earth had claimed that she had felt an overwhelming sense of darkness coating the very beings of the ShadoWira and their digimon. She then had realized that the ShadoWira and their digimon, while evil, were not inherently evil.
At the same night, TobuCatmon had contacted the DigiWira to tell them about a special property within the healing Flower Wreath attack that Lillymon possessed. He had claimed that not only did the flowers could heal, but also it could remove any taint of evil from someone who was not inherently evil in the first place. The DigiWira had immediately recalled the black smokes that came out from Reichmon and the ShadoWira, before the Red ShadoWira burned all those flowers with his flame power.
"The black smokes would be the evil taint that is placed over the ShadoWira and their partners, by Karatenmon or SkullSatamon, or both of them altogether. Three hundred years ago Grademon had created all five DigiSpheres to be used by the forces of good to combat SkullSatamon's evil. Those DigiSpheres, and their wielders, are definitely not meant to be used by evil. While the DigiSpheres themselves cannot be used for evil directly, but should their destined wielders are tainted with evil, the Blue and Red DigiSpheres could be used against the forces of good," TobuCatmon had mentioned in his message.
"The ShadoWira might not be acting on their own accords, which mean that they actually need your rescuing, DigiWira," TobuCatmon had cautioned. "They are a dangerous force to be reckoned with as evil…but they will be the bane against evil if they are on our side."
The DigiWira had all thought that it would be impossible for them to be able to convince the ShadoWira that they were not actually evil. Adam especially, was rather apprehensive of the thought of convincing the Red ShadoWira in particular, as he held a personal grudge against the aforementioned villain for taking away his D-Terminal, thus taking away his White DigiSphere, rendering him powerless. The DigiWira leader's hesitation was backed up by the two girls instantly – neither one of them thought that the ShadoWira could be good people; the idea seemed too bizarre to comprehend.
They had been in the receiving ends of the ShadoWira's onslaught numerous times; first at the Megalith Coliseum where they had nearly lost their lives if it weren't for the timely arrival of their special abilities. With those new powers they managed to escape the villains while inflicting injuries on them at the same time. Then came the encounter at the Shadow Realm where Adam had been abducted by the ShadoWira for SkullSatamon's evil purpose; they escaped once more when Patamon dark digivolved into Black Knightmon, who had defeated Reichmon. Finally there was that recent battle they just had with the ShadoWira at the Evergreen Forest, where they were saved by the timely DNA digivolution of the girls' partners into Lillymon.
"What do we do when we meet the ShadoWira face to face?" Adam gulped, and eyed his D-3 with trepidation. "What if the Red ShadoWira tries to…kill me?" he squeaked on the last part unintentionally. "Again?" he added in a small voice.
"Well, you don't have to go alone; your sister and I will be going with you," Jackie assured. "And I have a few tricks up my sleeve for defensive purposes."
"What if they use their powers against you?" Adam asked again. "I don't want anything bad to happen to you or Kak Lisha."
"You're forgetting one thing, Adam," Liu Ying held up her index finger. "In our world, the special powers cannot be used. So they are not as dangerous as they are in the Digital World while being here." Her dark eyes then narrowed. "Unless, of course, something was done to enable the ShadoWira to use their powers while in this world as well; you never know, with them being evil, and with a powerful magician as their master."
Jackie nodded. "It is risky…but we have to at least try, right? For all we know, they might not have their powers. They might be vulnerable as much as you are right now. It will be the perfect opportunity for us to get through them."
"The ShadoWira…the Red one, in particular, is a very skilled fighter," Liu Ying noted, remembering her fight with the said villain the previous day. "I don't know about the Blue one…Gayathri?"
"He said yesterday that he knows how to fight too, but it wouldn't be fair of him to use it against me…he seemed to know that I don't know how to fight physically," Gayathri, who had been really quiet throughout the conversation, supplied with a low voice.
"Adam, just in case if it comes to this…do you know any martial arts?" Liu Ying asked. "I mean, with the ShadoWira both being probably excellent fighters, they still are a threat to us even here. The Red one knows Capoiera, and it didn't look like he's just an average fighter with that…his movements are very agile and swift. I don't know about the Blue ShadoWira, but I'm assuming that he's just as dangerous as Red."
"Well…" Adam ran his hand over his dark straight hair as a look of mild hesitation crossed his boyish face. "I've never gotten any official training…but someone taught me Silat a long time ago, long before I moved here. I know some basic skills…but I've never actually found the need to use it. I'm afraid that when it comes to Silat I'm just somewhat below average at best. Sorry."
"Don't worry, I know Kung Fu, I can defend the three of you," Jackie cracked up. "No, seriously, I'm not named after the Jackie Chan for nothing!" he added hastily when he saw three pairs of skeptical eyes boring through his clear blue eyes. "Wanna me show you some moves?" he asked with a grin.
"Err…no thanks," Adam said, with both hands raised up and his face contorted to bear the mixed look of amused and uneasiness.
"We'll take your words for it," Liu Ying added. Gayathri merely nodded, but didn't mention anything.
"Ok then," Jackie said and loosened the dark blue tie he was wearing. "So, what do you think…"
BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP!!
"Looks like duty calls," Adam said, and stood up quickly. Looking at his D-3 once again, he saw that the red and blue dots had vanished from the scanning range. "Man, they don't waste time now, do they? No signs from the ShadoWira's D-3s anywhere."
"Umm…Adam? Not that I want to single you out or anything…but do you think that you should…well, sit this one out? Now that you're without your powers and all?" Liu Ying asked worriedly.
Adam made a face slightly, but he understood instantly his friend's intention and concern. Quickly, he wiped the look out with an assuring smile.
"Don't worry about me. I can help in any other way. Besides Patamon can still digivolve to Centarumon; he can protect me."
"That's not what I meant. You know that the Red ShadoWira somehow likes to target you. He's been doing so from the start; I'm just worried that he'd go for you again," Liu Ying reiterated.
"I know," Adam nodded glumly. "You're right. But I still think that I should be with you guys. I'll be fine…the Red ShadoWira won't attack me as long as Centarumon's around me."
"Ok…but the moment things are getting too ugly, you're getting out of the battle," Liu Ying decided. "Lillymon and the two of us can handle the ShadoWira and Reichmon."
Adam pouted, but nodded begrudgingly. "Fine. I really have to get back my D-Terminal and my White DigiSphere from the Red ShadoWira."
"Ok, if that's settled…" Liu Ying spun around and set her eyes on her other teammate. "You're being awfully quiet today, Gayathri. Are you sure you're feeling alright? You don't look too well to me," she pointed out with concern.
"I'm fine," Gayathri said evasively, but even so, the lack of luster in her voice didn't go unnoticed by the DigiWira. She didn't sound like the usual vibrant Gayathri that they knew at all.
"You sure?" Adam asked. "If you ask me…"
"I'm positive. Besides, you guys need me and Floramon to form Lillymon," the dark-skinned girl said more assertively, cutting Adam off midway through his sentence. Then before her teammates could counter her words, she quickly marched towards the door which led to Jackie's office, and opened it. She bent down and took Tanemon in her arms, while Shaomon stepped out from the office on her own, and Patamon flew out and landed on his partner's head. "We should get going," Gayathri said.
Adam and Liu Ying exchanged worried looks with each other, clearly thinking that something was up with their teammate, but didn't say anything.
"If you say so, Gayathri," Adam murmured and pointed his D-3 towards the monitor. "DigiPort Open!!"
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While the DigiWira were discussing about the new improvements of their D-3s at the computer classroom, unbeknownst to them the two ShadoWira were racing off towards their own houses. They had purposely left their D-3s at home, knowing that it would be only a matter of time before the DigiWira would figure out a way to overcome the cloaking spell Karatenmon had placed on their D-3s, and it would give out their identities instantly should they brought their Digivices with them.
They reached the Cave of Solitude in record speed, where Karatenmon and their digimon partners awaited their arrivals.
"It is time," Karatenmon said, his eyes glinting with glee and malice. "Your Shadow Access power has been brought forth using my own dark powers. I shall be weakened slightly, but only temporarily. When the solar eclipse arrives in two days time, my power shall be replenished, and fluctuate. I will then challenge the DigiWira myself, so I cannot permit you to destroy them today. However, feel free to toy around with them as long as possible, in any way you see fit."
JD barked a laughter as the light from Karatenmon's floating viewing orb washed over his face, illuminating his rough-featured, yet good-looking, facial features. He leaned easily against the stone walls of the cavern, with Agumon standing very still at his side.
"I bet you want all the glory for yourself, Karatenmon," he accused.
"The glory for destroying the three DigiWira," Manny Abah continued with a monotonous voice, as if disinterested with the conversation. While JD was leaning against the wall, Manny simply stood three meters away from JD, with Penguinmon in front of him. He kept himself within the shadows, away from the orb's light, but some of the light did wash over him – revealing his gelled spiky dark maroon hair and russet eyes, high cheekbones and his balanced facial features, which was currently set in an emotionless expression.
"I did not say that I will be destroying them alone," Karatenmon pointed out calmly, knowing that his previous statement would garner that kind of response from the ShadoWira. "What I did say is that I will challenge them. You two shall prove instrumental in weakening them first; right now you are doing an excellent job with the DigiWira boy, so I will not question how exactly you manage to do so. All that is left is for you to weaken the girls and that Lillymon of theirs with your new power."
JD grew silent as the subject of Adam's powerlessness was brought to light. Manny noticed this, and glanced sideways towards his fellow ShadoWira.
"Yeah, I've been wondering about that too – just how exactly you made Adam weaker? His power should be just as developed as Liu Ying's and Gayathri's, but we didn't see him taking part in yesterday's battle."
"That's because he was up at the tree village, helping out in any way he could," JD said. Then, he felt that he needed to steer the conversation about Adam's lack of power from his present companies – nobody else in the cave, not even his own partner Agumon, knew that he now possessed Adam's D-Terminal, which stored his White DigiSphere and the curious artifact known as the Ivory Gem. "Just so you know, I was up at the village before I came down joining the battle between you and that Pink DigiWira. I saw Adam using his power to save a rookie from falling. Better don't count him out yet," JD said, straining to hide his smirk from becoming apparent. "For all we know, he might just be hiding his power to surprise us. Like yesterday, when that Lillymon appeared. Before she came into the picture, we were winning!"
Karatenmon nodded. "You might be right. Nevertheless, with your new power there is no chance for you to be beaten."
JD's smirk widened as he raised his hood and wore his mask. "How about we give this Shadow Access power a test drive?"
"Let's do it," Manny nodded in agreement, following JD's suit to protect his identity from being discovered by the DigiWira.
The ShadoWira then summoned a portal out of the Cave of Solitude, and their destination was the Green Meadow. Upon arrival, they immediately set their sight upon some of the peaceful digimon who hung around the lush paddock, disrupting the calmness that once prevailed within the field of green. Streams of fire and water were released continuously, and they caught on some of the smaller rookie digimon who were not quick enough to evade the ShadoWira's wrath. The bigger champion ones attempted to stop the ShadoWira, but Flarelizamon and Depthmon then stepped in to aid their human partners. The two evil digimon quickly defeated the digimon that were brave enough to oppose them.
Smokes began to rise from the burned shrubberies and bushes, enveloping the atmosphere around the meadow. The air was suffocating, and many innocent digimon began to collapse due to suffocation from the intense smokes derived from the fires of the Red ShadoWira and Flarelizamon.
On the other side of the field, where it was smoke-free, the Blue ShadoWira used his water power to generate thick mists from the nearby lake. The innocent digimon of the paddock's sights were instantly obscured, rendering them unable to escape. The evil duo of water, whose sights were not affected by the mists, attacked the innocents with jets of water without conscience. Their water jets caused the innocents to tumble onto the ground, made wet by the water.
They were doing this merely because of one thing.
It was time to call the DigiWira's meeting at the computer club off; the ShadoWira were here to test their new powers.
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"Wait a moment, DigiWira," TobuCatmon called, just as the DigiWira were about to step out from the Forest Sanctum. "I have an idea. Gather around me, please."
"What is it, TobuCatmon?" Adam questioned, halting instantly right before he stepped down from the marbled floor of the sanctum. He glanced across his shoulder as he addressed their feline mentor.
"Can't it wait?" Liu Ying asked with a rushed tone. "The ShadoWira are wrecking havoc right outside this forest."
"It won't take long," TobuCatmon promised. He beckoned for the DigiWira to approach him. "I've just figured out a way to give Adam his power back…but it's only something temporary and will be limited. However it's the best way I could think of for a moment and Adam won't be powerless against the ShadoWira."
Adam's face brightened considerably. "You can do that? How?"
"Adam, stand in the center, and girls, stand at Adam's either sides. Yes, that's it," TobuCatmon quickly instructed, and nodded his approval when he saw Liu Ying standing by Adam's right and behind, while Gayathri unquestioningly stood still at Adam's left side , towards the front. Their position was like one diagonal line.
Then the champion digimon asked the girls to summon their DigiSpheres out of their D-Terminals and to hold those spheres with their right hands, while pointing them towards the screens of their Digivices. The girls did as they were told unquestioningly and saw as pink and yellow aura emanated from their respective spheres, and their Digivices lit up with their respective colors.
"Ok, that's it. Good. Now, all three of you, hold your D-3s up."
Adam, Liu Ying and Gayathri watched as the girls' Digivices let out a pink and a yellow electrical bolt into Adam's Digivice, which caused the silver device to spark with life. White aura began to emanate from the Digivice as it absorbed the pink and yellow energy bolts, and streaks of white electrical bolt were released from the device. They flowed down Adam's arms and body before disappearing.
"I feel…a little bit lightheaded," Adam commented, slightly disoriented from the experience, as he lowered his arm down.
"Try teleporting, Adam," TobuCatmon encouraged.
"Ok…" Adam closed his eyes and thought of something. He then vanished in brilliant orbs of white light, and reappeared again about two meters away from where he once stood, right beside the sanctum's fountain. His face lit up with delight. "This is great! I have my power back."
"Use it sparingly, Adam, as the power you are using right now is drawn from the Yellow and Pink DigiSpheres," TobuCatmon cautioned. "Your power is now fairly limited and continually using it will result in the loss of power again. Use it only when it is necessary. With the powers from the other DigiSpheres you can also power up Patamon straight away into Sagittarimon, but that will instantly deplete the power you have just received. Once again, Sagittarimon is only as a last resort. From time to time you may require another recharging from the girls' DigiSpheres."
"Oh…kind of like a rechargeable battery now, am I?" Adam said.
"You could say that," TobuCatmon agreed.
"Well, now that Adam has his power back, I think we're ready to face the ShadoWira," Liu Ying said. "Let's go."
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As soon as the DigiWira stepped out of the forest, they were met with a sight that nearly caused them to jump in surprise. The Green Meadow was no longer a place of splendor; instead it was a total calamity. Thick smokes covered the sky above the paddock, coming from the burning shrubs and grasses. On the farther side of the meadow, they could see nothing more than thick mists, with sounds of water jets being strewn about. Weak cries of digimon were heard here and about, pleading for the ShadoWira to stop their relentless attacks.
The ShadoWira instantly saw that they had company, and ceased attacking the innocent digimon of the meadow.
"What took you so long?" the Red ShadoWira asked with a snide voice. "We almost thought that you won't show up."
Liu Ying leaned towards Adam and whispered to his ear, "Let us handle this…you digivolve Patamon to Centarumon and try help the digimon that have been attacked."
Adam nodded; he knew that he couldn't partake in the battle directly with his limited power, but he could be of use for other equally important thing. He took out his Digivice, and the girls followed suit. "Ready?" he asked, and Patamon leaped away from Adam's head. Adam pointed the Digivice towards the orange flying guinea pig. "Digivolve!"
"Patamon….digivolve to…. Centarumon!"
The male DigiWira immediately climbed on his centaur partner and held tight against the centaur's body. He turned around and met the gazes of his female teammates, frowning slightly upon seeing Gayathri's condition; no matter how she insisted that she was fine, Adam still thought that she looked sick. But now was not the time to point that out. Adam met Liu Ying's black irises and nodded grimly.
"You guys… be careful, ok?"
"You too, Adam," Liu Ying nodded. Gayathri followed suit and offered Adam a weak assuring smile, which didn't look too assuring in Adam's opinion.
"Heh, heh…we meet again, Adam," the Red ShadoWira said with a snicker. "You still have the guts to show up even though you have no powers at all. For that, I salute you." He made a saluting gesture which looked more on mocking rather than actual respect. His glowing green eyes were observing Adam and Centarumon.
Adam merely stared into the Red ShadoWira's hollow green eyes defiantly. Never in his life had he considered that he was able to hate someone, but if he was asked of whom he hated the most right then, automatically he'd say that the Red ShadoWira was the top on his otherwise empty list. His hand gripped onto Centarumon's human torso; he felt safe as long as he was with Centarumon. His digimon partner had proven that he'd go all the way in order to make sure that Adam was safe, back when they were at Shadow Realm. Adam however had no intention of making Centarumon attempt such digivolution again.
"Ooh, what's the matter? Cat got your tongue? Or is the big bad ol' Red ShadoWira making you afraid?" the Red ShadoWira mocked, and laughed loudly. His cocky manner unnerved Adam. "Looks like you're feeling secure enough riding on your partner…" he said, and flicked his hand so that his palm would be facing up. Fire flared an inch above his palm.
"Don't even think about it, pal!" Centarumon's brown eyes glinted beneath the helmet he was wearing, and he hoisted his cannon towards the Red ShadoWira. "Don't think that I won't use it, because I will, if you come any step closer. The fact that you're human won't deter me if I think my partner's in any danger."
The Red ShadoWira snorted. "Well, if attacking a human is a bother to your conscience, I'll make it easier for you."
Both Adam and Centarumon were confused of the Red ShadoWira's statements, but didn't have the time to ask as they saw the Red ShadoWira taking out his black Digivice with red accents from the compartment on his belt. He thrust his right hand forward, and flexed his left arm – where the left hand was holding the Digivice – to his body. Then, the right arm was also adducted back to his body, with the index finger touching one red button on the device.
"Shadow Access!!"
The D-3 Digivice suddenly flared with bright red light before erupting with raging fire. The flames surrounded the Red ShadoWira from head to toe, and transformed the human into a blazing fireball which streaked towards the smoke-filled sky. Flarelizamon, the partner of the Red ShadoWira, also experienced the same thing as his blazing body too became a blazing fireball, and he soared towards the smoke-filled sky. A wide spectrum of reds was thrown out from the explosion that followed; a vicious blast of heat more intense than the hate in what came next: a thunderous roar, akin to the cries of a newborn volcano, and with more ferocity than the light of a newborn star echoed over Green Meadow.
All the DigiWira watched forebodingly as something red and fiery streaked down through the smokes. It resembled the fireball forms of the Red ShadoWira and Flarelizamon, but looked to be much more intense and was streaking with a velocity that rivaled Gayathri's super speed. The new fireball crashed onto the burning ground of the Green Meadow with a loud explosion, sending dirt and rubbles scattering all over the nearby vicinity. Smokes filled the place momentarily, obscuring the DigiWira from witnessing the newcomer.
Someone no less than seven-feet tall emerged from the flames. It looked very much human, masculine and muscular, armored in glistening red and crimson steel with black accents. The flaming aura that emanated from his whole body gave him a fearsome appearance. The head was protected by a helmet, which obscured the upper half of the man-like being's face, revealing a humanly lower-face. Scraggly rusty blonde hair emerged from the back of the helmet, which fell no further than its back. The helmet was patented to look draconic with glowing green eyes in place of the normal eyes. One horn protruded from each side of the helmet while sharp ivory fangs decorated the lower right and left side of the helmet. The sides of his face were lined with black leather, which extended downward to cover his neck and the rest of his body and extremities. The body armors were as elaborate in design as the helmet. Thick torso armor protected the chest region, while the abdomen was unarmored, merely protected by leathery jet-black hide. At the center of the torso armor was a six-centimeter diameter golden coin-shaped emblem, which depicted a coiled serpentine dragon. Fixed just at the bottom of the chest armor was the bat insignia he wore while as the Red ShadoWira. The arms were unarmored, but shoulder and elbow guards were there to offer additional protection to the arm joints. His right hand was equipped with a shining crimson gauntlet, with gold claws protruding at its end, while his left hand was unarmed. The lower extremities were as protected as the upper extremities, but with sleeker armor in similar colors. The crotch and the upper thighs were protected with blazing red armor and the lower thighs were left unarmored, merely protected by the black leathery material that draped the man's whole body. In the meantime, the lower extremities were protected by black steel boots which were joined with crimson quadrangular-shaped knee protection armors. Despite armored, the lower extremities of this man seemed to be nimble enough for agile movements, which was demonstrated by the way the man was walking.
"Sleek stuff," the man-digimon muttered in a voice that resembled the tough voice of the Red ShadoWira's laced with the deep growls of Flarelizamon as he looked down to examine his new appearance. He then looked up, and smirked at the horrified expressions of the DigiWira and their partners. "Just call me Satriamon!"
"What in the world…?" Liu Ying gasped in shock. "They…fused?" Similarly, Gayathri too let out a gasp, but it sounded more like a stifled scream.
Adam's gray eyes widened upon taking in the fear-inspiring features of Satriamon. His heart was beating wildly; there was a sense of pure power radiating from Satriamon, and Adam knew there and then that Centarumon could never protect him from the fused form of the Red ShadoWira and Flarelizamon. He could feel Centarumon's body tensed; a soft growl was heard coming from inside Centarumon's helmet.
"Show off," the Blue ShadoWira chuckled, drawing the attention of the DigiWira to himself. "Satriamon's not going to be the only fused digimon around here." He took out his Digivice and performed a similar sequence of movements that was exhibited earlier by the Red ShadoWira. "Shadow Access!!"
"Not him too…" Gayathri said softly.
"Oh no," Liu Ying said, one hand instinctively moved in front of her mouth.
Both the Blue ShadoWira and Depthmon turned into two motes of blue lights before soaring towards the sky, where they coalesced with each other. The two fusion of light then, vanished within the dark smokes which coated the sky. An explosion of various shades of blue lights erupted from the sky, followed closely by the roars of massive tidal wave. Suddenly, a huge downpour came from the sky, drenching the DigiWira and their partners as a figure emanating with blue aura descended from the sky.
It was a man…or to be exact, a merman; the upper half part of him was a man; while the lower half of his body was a sleek fish tail in deep blue scales which ended in pale blue caudal fins, or tail fins. Similar to Satriamon, he too had a helmet which covered the upper half of his face. The helmet however was sleeker in design, and was colored sapphire. Lining the midline of the helmet was an erected fin, but otherwise the helmet was rather plain, with gray accent lining the bottom part of the helmet. Sleek pale aquamarine-colored hair cascaded down his back, reaching the beginning of his tail. His muscular torso was bare, with an X-shaped metallic armor crisscrossed his body. The X-shaped armor was colored steel gray, with indigo linings. At the center of the 'X' was a golden coin-shaped emblem similar to Satriamon's, but his depicted a merman. His shoulders were protected by navy shoulder armors with gray linings. Two straps of dark blue belts were latched on the each side of his arms. His elbows were protected by elbow pads similar in design to his shoulder armors. Dark gray belts with indigo linings were strapped around his abdomen, and defined the separation between his human torso and fish tail. Clasped on the middle of the belt was the bat insignia he wore while as the Blue ShadoWira. His skin was rather pale, and on the sides of his forearms and waist, traces of fish fins could be seen but they were not that obvious. And finally, like Satriamon, he too possessed a weapon in form of a shining metallic trident which he held with his right hand. When he nearly reached the ground, his tail glimmered in blue aura, and transformed into a pair of human legs draped in dark blue, form-fitting, leather trousers and a pair of metallic boots. Blue aura seemed to permeate out of his body.
"So this is the power of the Shadow Access," the merman said with a cool voice, clearly from the Blue ShadoWira's usual cold tone, layered with Depthmon's voice which sounded like one speaking whilst underwater – there was a distant, echoing quality in his voice which matched his cold demeanor. Then, staring at the DigiWira, although one could wonder how he would be able to see them as his vision was blocked by the helmet he was wearing, but he had his ways. The former merman, now a man, looked up to the DigiWira and a small trace of smile became evident from his thin, slightly pale lips. "I'm called Samudramon."
Satriamon and Samudramon both stood at near-equal heights, with Satriamon being the taller one out of the duo. Both had an imposing presence while looking impressive at the same time. Their influences over fire and water made more obvious now with them being digimon that bore close quality traits of a creature of fire (dragon) and a creature of water (merman).
"I don't like this," Liu Ying said, and looked at Labramon and Floramon. "You two better DNA digivolve to Lillymon quick."
"Labramon….digivolve to…. Youkomon!"
"Floramon….digivolve to…. Fairymon!"
"Fairymon…Youkomon… DNA digivolve to…. Lilymon!"
The beautiful floral maiden Lilymon stood protectively in front of her human partners, staring coolly at her opponents. Centarumon galloped nearby the girls and dropped Adam near the girls before joining Lilymon; the innocent digimon that were attacked previously by the ShadoWira had managed to escape while the transformation of Satriamon and Samudramon took place, thus Adam was not needed to help them out.
"Oh, it's on now," Satriamon smirked wildly. The flaming aura around him suddenly blazed wilder, and his whole physical body gained a magma-like appearance. He suddenly jetted towards the sky, propelled by his intense firepower before turning into a large, burning fireball.
"Flaming Torch!!"
The fireball then plummeted towards the three DigiWira with top speed; there was no way they could run. Lilymon and Centarumon tensed; both immediately released their signature attacks in order to stop Satriamon.
"Flower Cannon!!"
"Hunting Cannon!!"
The DigiWira looked on hopefully as two spheres of green and yellow soared to meet Satriamon. To their horror, their partners' electrical and nature based attacks didn't work! Instead of stopping the fireball or deflecting it, the spheres melted when it collided with Satriamon, while the fused fire digimon continued plummeting down towards the DigiWira and their partners. They fired again towards the raging flaming sphere but once again, their attacks had no effect as Satriamon approached them closer and closer…
Looking back, the two digimon saw that their human partners were in more danger than they did. There was one thing else that they could do.
"Kids, run now!!" Centarumon shouted.
"We'll hold him off!" Lilymon added.
Gayathri quickly seized Liu Ying's hand and ran at top speed back towards the Forest Sanctum, while Adam turned around and vanished in swirls of white orbs just in time before Satriamon rammed against Lilymon and Centarumon. The two digimon could have avoided Satriamon but they wanted to buy some time for their partners to escape. An explosion ensued as both Lilymon and Centarumon fell onto the ground, while the fireball-Satriamon reeled back and reverted into his humanoid form.
"This is too easy," he snorted. "No challenge at all, and Karatenmon expected us to go easy on them today?"
"Don't be such a glory-hog," Samudramon said coolly. "It's my turn now; look at what you've done to them. They're scorched… perhaps a douse of water would cool them off."
Raising his trident towards the sky, Samudramon summoned, "Ocean Submerge!!"
Out of nowhere, blasts of water suddenly erupted from Samudramon's back and towards the fallen digimon. Satriamon gaped slightly and shifted into his fireball mode to avoid the sudden rush of water. Samudramon chuckled slightly upon witnessing Satriamon's reaction, but his hidden gaze was still fixed on Lilymon and Centarumon. The two digimon, scorched badly by Satriamon's fireball attack, gasped when they saw the rush of water coming their way. They were both hit by the waters, and were instantly submerged underwater.
Meanwhile, the three DigiWira looked on despairingly as their partners disappeared underwater, and gasped upon seeing Samudramon's rushing waters coming towards the Forest Sanctum. Liu Ying was about to raise her telekinetic barrier when a familiar voice called out for them.
"DigiWira, step into the forest now! The forest will protect you from harm."
Looking at their back, they saw TobuCatmon perched on top of a branch of one of the outer trees of the sanctum. They quickly turned around and made a run for it as the waters chased them with unmerciful speed. They successfully entered the forest and saw a faint energy barrier began to glow in front of the forest.
"TobuCatmon?" Adam asked questioningly.
The feline nodded, understanding what the boy wanted to ask even before the boy could do so. "No evil can enter the forest – this forest is magically enchanted. It will repel any threat which it sees coming its way, in any way it sees fit. Observe."
The three teens suddenly felt the earth rumbling intensely. The ground right in front of the sanctum cracked open, revealing a five-meter wide crevice which separated the forest that housed the Forest Sanctum and the Green Meadow outside. Most of Samudramon's waters entered the crevice and the flooded meadow slowly was drained out of water. A drenched Lilymon emerged from the clearing water, flapping her leaves-like wings furiously. Her vine hairs were plastered on her face and body. In her hand was Patamon, who looked barely conscious.
The grounds shook once again as the crevice began to close up. After about a minute, only one longitudinal crack on the ground remained as evidence of the phenomenon occurring before, aside from the very wet earth. The grounds inside the forest however remained dry.
Samudramon grunted; he hadn't expected this turn of event. He knew that the forest was immune to evil, but he had no idea that it was magically enchanted to repel anything harmful to it as well. He then eyed Lilymon and smirked as he held his trident with both hands.
"Thunder Storm!!"
The smokes which layered the sky above the Green Meadow were quickly replaced by deep blue clouds, and a roaring thunder was heard. A yellowish white lightning bolt streaked down from the clouds while winds blew furiously from all around the atmosphere. The bolt hit Samudramon's trident, and the merman thrust his weapon towards the levitating Lilymon. The thunderbolt changed into blue color and streaked wildly towards the dryad of nature and earth, hitting it squarely on the chest.
Lilymon screamed and accidentally let go of Patamon. The rookie digimon plunged earthward, but was suddenly enveloped by glittering orbs before vanishing. Lilymon saw this and knew that Patamon was in good hands. She waved her hands and vines flowed down her arms towards the earth. She then closed her eyes and transferred the lightning bolt towards the earth – her vines had served as grounding method. Thus she was saved from fatal harm with only some brutal scorches on her exposed hands and legs. She heaved her breath painfully, feeling that her energy was slowly draining.
She couldn't defeat both Samudramon and Satriamon today; she had to think of something. Her eyes saw Satriamon, who stayed at a distance, watching the fight between her and Samudramon with interest. The fire digimon could easily attack her when her attention was fixed on Samudramon. Her only comfort right now was the fact that she needn't look out for the DigiWira and Patamon anymore, which could hinder her even more from fighting at her best.
There was a brief standstill between Lilymon and the two fused digimon. The nature heroine began to analyze a strategy in order to beat Samudramon and Satriamon; the Youkomon half of her began to formulate a strategy. As it did so, something occurred in her mind.
'Samudramon's two attacks are both derived from that trident of his. If only I can whisk it away from him…wait a minute, I know just how to do so.'
Lilymon raised one arm towards the sky and summoned her secondary attack.
"Flower Wreath!!"
Flowers began to fall from the sky, and with a flick of her arm Lilymon willed the flowers to form a large garland of flowers which glowed with green aura. She broke a part of the garland, which turned the wreath into a long rope of flowers. She then threw her long flower rope around the merman's trident, coiling the broken garland tightly around the trident. Then she pulled the rope, attempting to seize the trident from Samudramon.
However, Samudramon's hold on his trident was forceful, causing Lilymon to fail in her attempt. Nevertheless, she didn't give up and continued tugging on the trident. Unfortunately for Lilymon, physically she was not a match for the strapping Samudramon.
Samudramon chuckled coldly and tugged his trident, pulling Lilymon along with it. "Trying to get my trident? It's such a shame that you've failed to do so...not! How about you become the receiving end of these sharp points of my trident instead?"
Lillymon's dark green eyes widened, but she immediately saw a way out whilst being pulled by Samudramon.
"Not until you become the receiving end of my flowers! Flower Wreaths!!"
Instantly the flowers on the rope multiplied and fluttered towards Samudramon's body. A fern-green glow emanated from the flowers before they turned into three sets of wreaths which wrapped themselves all over Samudramon's body. The magical flowers worked differently for good and bad people. For good people, the flowers healed, while for the bad due to other evil influence, the flowers worked to remove the dark taint. But for the inherently evil people – the flowers had no effect.
On Samudramon, the flowers worked…by the second manner. Black smokes began to emanate from Samudramon's body and the merman fell onto his knees and onto the ground. He released his trident and writhed in apparent pain.
"You are not inherently evil," Lilymon breathed silently. "My flowers will remove the taint."
Unfortunately, somebody didn't appreciate her good intention. Lilymon felt a blazing presence coming from her back, but before she could identify the origin of the heat…
"Dragon-Force Striker!!"
A loud primordial roar of a dragon was heard and Lilymon shrieked when she felt something sharp grazing her wings and back. The wounds inflicted by the attack scorched her greatly and caused her to instantly de-digivolve into her composite in-training selves. Shaomon and Tanemon rolled onto the ground not far from the writhing Samudramon, who began to relax as the flowers dissipated into data particles.
The two in-trainings looked up to see Satriamon landing on his feet, a smug grin was seen on his face. His gauntlet was blazing with a fiery aura.
"Good to see that my patience has finally paid off; I don't really have much patience usually," Satriamon remarked, and eyed Samudramon. "Hey, you cool?"
Samudramon merely grunted something incomprehensible as he began to stand up. Satriamon shrugged; it seemed that his comrade was fine.
"I think we've had enough fun for one day," Satriamon said, eyeing the fear-stricken in-trainings with a sense of superiority. "We've proven that we're stronger than the DigiWira. Although I have to say…" he turned his eyes to Samudramon and pointed his left index finger towards the merman. "…who's the glory-hog now? You practically steal my thunder…"
"Just…shut up," Samudramon muttered, heaving his breath slowly.
Satriamon shrugged; Samudramon's snappiness didn't faze him. Instead, he turned his attention back to the vulnerable in-trainings. "Until tomorrow," he said, and snapped his fingers. The air behind him suddenly rippled. Satriamon then took a step back before turning around and entered the portal.
Samudramon looked down at the two in-trainings for a moment, merely staring at them. His mouth was set to form a thin line, and for a while his body radiated with a deep blue aura – cold fury could be felt by the in-trainings coming from the water digimon which they had managed to defeat. Suddenly, he clutched his head and groaned in pain. He abandoned the in-trainings instantly and stepped into the portal.
Shaomon and Tanemon heaved in relief when the portal disappeared. They had beaten Samudramon, but a sneak attack from Satriamon had been their downfall.
"They…spared us," Tanemon squeaked weakly. "Why didn't they just…finish us off?"
"I don't know," Shaomon said softly. "And I don't want to know…I'm grateful they didn't finish us off. But…it looks like they have a bigger plan in store for us."
xxx
xxx
The DigiWira all returned to their home world soon after their partners received treatments from TobuCatmon. Patamon was relatively uninjured – he was merely forced to a de-digivolution due to near drowning, but otherwise he was fine. However both Shaomon and Tanemon, while in their DNA digivolved form, had suffered major blow from Satriamon's sneak attack. Identical red gashes could be seen on Shaomon and Tanemon's backs. It was lucky for the DigiWira that TobuCatmon had healing ointments in store, and the injuries soon subsided. TobuCatmon had advised the DigiWira to feed their digimon well while in the real world, as they could use of any extra energy supplement to combat the newer, more dangerous threat in the ShadoWira.
When asked about Satriamon and Samudramon, TobuCatmon regretfully said that he had no idea how the ShadoWira managed to fuse with their digimon partners to form two single warrior digimon. He swore earnestly that he hadn't been keeping anymore secret about the DigiSphere; the fusion had baffled him just as much as it had baffled the DigiWira.
Jackie, upon their arrival back from the Digital World, quickly offered to send the DigiWira home after making a quick stop at a McDonald's driveway to give the DigiWira a treat and to satiate the digimon's hungers. Both Adam and Liu Ying agreed to a free treat from their computer instructor, but Gayathri politely declined the offer, saying that she was feeling tired and wanted to head straight home to rest. Tanemon seconded her partner, saying that she didn't need human food – she would just need to be left in the open air where there was sunlight and soil – both were essential for plant-based digimon like her to gather energy. Thus, after sending Gayathri home Jackie took the other two DigiWira to the McDonald's driveway.
After making the stop to the fast food restaurant, Jackie suggested for them to resume the task that they had planned to do before the DigiWira were called off to the Digital World. Both DigiWira agreed – they didn't exert themselves at all and thus didn't really need the rest yet. The digimon were sleeping at the back seat after their meals, on either side of Adam. They had been fed, thus sleep was the only other thing that the digimon needed.
Using the DigiWira's own D-3s' signals as guide, Jackie drove around the township of UEP Subang Jaya, watching the Digivices closely in order to see whether they were nearing the red and blue signals coming from the ShadoWira's D-3s. At present, they were much nearer to the red point so they decided to go with it first. From the wide-range scale the DigiWira managed to turn it into a close-range scale after about an hour of driving around in random.
Jackie slowed down his dark blue Proton Putra car as they reached a street lined by semi-detached houses. The red signal was nearby the white and yellow signals which represented Adam and Liu Ying's Digivices. Liu Ying immediately set her Digivice to the closest range scale, which was only about a hundred meter radius. The red signal was practically next to her yellow signal and Adam's white signal.
"Stop here," Liu Ying said, and looked out through the passenger seat's window. "Nice house."
"I've been around here before; it's not that far from my apartment," Adam informed Liu Ying and Jackie. He pointed towards the rooftops of several five-storey buildings which were visible from where Jackie had parked his car. "There. You can see the apartment complex from here."
"Hmm…" Liu Ying thought suspiciously. To her, it was uncanny that the Red ShadoWira happened to live nearby to Adam. The villain had been targeting Adam from the start, and now they discovered that the two opposing DigiWira somehow lived close to each other. "Adam, do you know anyone living nearby your apartment? That might give us a clue."
"Well…a couple of people actually," Adam answered. "Hakim lives around here, but not in these semi-Ds. I've been to his place – which is a corner-lot terrace house which is right beside my apartment complex. Then there's my class monitor David Liew who I think lives around here, but not at this house – I've gone to his house once to pick a homework assignment…" Adam paused upon seeing Liu Ying's cheeks colored a little, and wondered why she was blushing. "Hmm…Liu Ying?"
"What?" the flustered girl said. "Oh…nothing, continue."
"Nothing to continue," Adam shrugged. "Only Hakim and David live around here. Why are you blushing?"
"I'm not blushing!" Liu Ying protested; she was merely reminded of the conversation she had with Gayathri the previous day, about David Liew being the one who sent her the Valentine card. She chose to quickly change the topic of conversation. "Do you think we should press the bell?"
"No harm trying," Jackie said.
"Hold it. This isn't just anyone, this is the Red ShadoWira we're talking about," Liu Ying cautioned. "And he's now more dangerous with that new fusion ability of his."
"So what should we do?" Adam asked. He peered through the right-side window, careful not to rouse the dozing Shaomon. "Doesn't look like anyone's home, though. No cars."
Liu Ying turned to face Jackie. "Maybe we should take this house's address. Jackie, you're good with computers. Do you think you can retrieve a name for whoever lives at this address from the school's computerized database?"
Jackie grimaced. "I can try. It'll be easier though if I have a name to start with. The student database isn't sort out by their address. It could take a while. And what's more…only the principal has access to the student database…they are classified information. But I'm sure that I can think of something. The principal will only step back into his office this Monday, so I think I'll go to his office saying that I want to update his antivirus or something…yeah, that could work."
"Okay, so now…we look for the Blue ShadoWira," Adam proposed. "But I think I need to go back for a while. I still need to…"
"Umm…I don't think I can make it all today," Liu Ying interrupted, and pointed towards the car's digitized clock. "It's almost four; I've promised my mom that I'll help her out at her hair saloon. Business increases in weekends, and I should already be there by now."
Jackie nodded. "Ok, why don't you look for the Blue ShadoWira's signal, and if it's near Gayathri's place we can ask her to scout around. If it's nowhere near her house we can look for the signal origin together tomorrow morning. What do you say?"
"Sounds ok," Liu Ying nodded. "I'm free in the morning."
"We can actually speed up the process," Adam said. "I can go with Kak Lisha, you go with Jackie, and Gayathri can go with her driver…Anding. As far as I know, he also knows of Gayathri being a DigiWira…even her parents don't know that she's one."
"Good idea," the raven-haired girl concurred. She then set her D-3 to a wider scale scanning. "Hmm…looks like the blue signal is rather close to her pink signal; somewhere around her own neighborhood. I'll send her a message to ask her look around, if she feels up to it."
"Ok," Jackie said. "Now, Adam…point me the direction of your apartment. I'll send you home."
As the black car sped away from the house, somebody peeked through the window curtain of the house's ground floor. From the slightly tinted window glass, it wasn't hard to discern the person's blond hair and the smirk on his face.
"So they've found their way here," JD Kamaruzaman said.
-
Later in the evening, Gayathri decided to go out for a jog, despite feeling rather weak. A low growl from her stomach caused her to grimace; she hadn't been eating properly since the previous day, after her return from the Digital World. Her appetite seemed to have vanished, despite her feeling hungry. Last night she only ate two apples before going to bed, to the bewilderment of Mak Mirah and Anding. For breakfast, she ate a bowl of cereals with milk. And just now, she had a cup of fruit yogurt and lots of plain water to diminish the hunger. The sudden change of her eating habit caused Mak Mirah to be slightly upset – she had claimed that there was no need for Gayathri to go for an extreme diet.
Dieting. It was something that Gayathri had never thought she'd do. At least, not anytime soon.
But she found herself doing so right now.
She had surfed the web the previous night, to find out how to lose weight. The Blue ShadoWira's offhanded remark during the previous day's battle disturbed her. Nobody had said that to her before, and she had never really thought herself as fat. To have someone said that out to her face upset her greatly.
Her quick research revealed that the fastest way to lose weight was to cut out carbohydrates, which came mainly with rice and bread. Couple that with exercising – something Gayathri quite despised of doing – and she'd slim down in no time. At least, that was the website had said. And Gayathri had decided to follow the website's instruction.
"Dieting is one tough business," Gayathri muttered as she adjusted her MP3 player on her pink tank-top, which she wore underneath her light-pink set of cotton zip-up sweatshirt and pants. Her hair was done in one ponytail and she used a white headband to secure some of the stray bangs. The sun was partially hidden from the clouds – a fact that Gayathri was really grateful about. The next thing after exercising which she hated was to expose herself to the sun.
She had received Liu Ying's message, and had decided that while she was jogging, she'd look for the Blue ShadoWira's signal. She took out her Digivice, and frowned upon seeing that the blue signal was blinking so close to her own pink signal.
"That can't be right," she muttered, and began jogging down the road, towards the Abah's household.
It didn't take her more than five minutes to reach there, but she stopped short before reaching in front of the house. She saw water pouring out from the house's gate…it looked like someone was washing the car at the driveway of Manny's house. Taking a deep breath, she approached the house slowly and could hear two familiar laughs which she recognized coming from Manny and Debbie. A playful warning was heard coming from Manny, followed by a delighted squeal from Debbie.
Gayathri looked at her D-3 Digivice again. The two signals of pink and blue seemed to be almost next to each other.
She peered from the side of the green shrub which grew beside Manny's house. The shrub was big enough to avoid her from being seen by Manny or Debbie, but peering from the side of it gave the dark-skinned girl a good view of the Abah's household driveway. She saw Debbie, wearing a light purple T-shirt and white shorts, drenched from top to bottom, running around the garden while Manny, wearing nothing more than a pair of light brown cargo shorts which reached just before his knees, holding the water hose and pointing it towards his little sister. He too, was drenched from head to toe, but his gelled hair was still in spikes, despite being wet. It looked like they were given the task of washing their father's black Honda Accord, but somehow had deviated away from the task. But it looked like they were enjoying themselves nonetheless.
Gayathri smiled lightly upon watching the brother and sister fooling around with the water…she had always wondered what would her life be if she had a sibling. Liu Ying had a little brother whom she mentioned every once in a while, and Adam had Kak Lisha who knew of him being a DigiWira. Belinda had two older sisters too, with whom she always been at odds with. Dina had an older brother and a younger sister, whom she got along with fine. She was the only one amongst her friend who was an only child…
And sometimes, she resented that. But she'd learned long ago that her mother couldn't give birth to another child after having her. Gayathri would forever be an only child. Sure, she had Anding who she looked up as an older brother, but it wasn't the same as having a real sibling. She'd love to have a younger sister, someone like Deborah Abah with whom she could fool around with, like what Manny was doing with his little sister.
Gayathri then noticed a warm feeling creeping up her cheeks, and she realized that she had been staring at Manny far too long than she should have. Anyone who passed by the street would think of her as a stalker should they see what she was doing. She then turned back, and decided to follow another path for her jogging. She'd take a look at the houses at the street beside her street; maybe the Blue ShadoWira lived there instead on her street.
'Manny's so sweet and charming, there's no way he's the Blue ShadoWira. I'm feeling guilty now for even thinking about it,' Gayathri thought, brushing that thought instantly. 'Besides, the bad guys are always so obvious. Maybe there's somebody I don't know living at the street behind ours…someone who I can easily say to be the Blue ShadoWira. He should be living around the houses between mine's and Manny's.'
Thus, the DigiWira girl turned around and jogged away from the shrubs, unaware that her retreating form didn't go unnoticed by Emmanuel Abah.
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Author's Notes:
The first part of the ShadoWira Unveiled mini-chapters is done. I'm glad that this chapter turns out the way I wanted it to be. I'm having some difficulties describing the battle scenes and introducing Satriamon and Samudramon. The battle scene is quite long that I have to cut out some of the real world scenes…but the necessary ones are left intact. Some of the cut-out scenes are still usable, and might appear in the latter four mini-chapters. Describing Satriamon and Samudramon's appearances are hard too; because they are both my creations and I really want you to be able to picture them as I'm picturing them.
OK, to make that easier for you, I've decided to put easier descriptions here at the author's notes segment – putting them in the story will just spoil the story's flow.
Satriamon
Name derivation: Satria (SA-TREE-YA) Satria means 'knight' in Malay language.
Comparison to other digimon: Somewhat derived from Agunimon with notable differences described in the chapter.
Samudramon
Name derivation: Samudra/Samudera (SA-MOO-DRA) Samudra means 'ocean' in Malay language.
Comparison to other digimon: In short, a male version of Ancient Mermaidmon.
On a different note: I'm in NO way condoning the dieting regime Gayathri is undergoing. Trust me, it's NOT healthy. Well, jogging is healthy, the non-carb diet isn't. Cutting out carbohydrates totally is actually very dangerous, but reducing its intake is actually good.
Glossary:
Proton Putra – A type of Malaysian national car; it is one of the sportier ones from the Proton lines.
Silat – A type of martial arts rooted from the Malay culture. Do Wikipedia it if you have the time.
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Last but not least, I'd like to wish all Hindus a Happy Diwali (Deepavali), and to all Muslims – Happy Eid (Aidilfitri). The celebrations are just two days apart with Diwali on Saturday and Eid on Monday. Times like this really make me wish I'm at Malaysia right now…
UPDATED 22nd October 06 – Fixed some major errors throughout the story. Thanks to sugarhighnutjob for taking the time to point the mistakes out.