Adam couldn't believe his ears upon hearing what the stranger had just said.
"That's impossible!" he said, trembling. "You can't be him! You can't be…he…he's dead, along with our parents."
The dark-haired man gazed at Adam understandingly, as if knowing that Adam's reaction was coming. He stepped forward as Adam backed away. The purple Patamon that was perched on top of his shoulder appeared somewhat confused.
"Is this the younger brother you've talked about?" he chirped, in a voice that was almost akin to Patamon's.
"Yes, Tsukaimon, now be quiet," the stranger replied without looking at the Rookie Digimon. His dark brown eyes were affixed to Adam. His expression was warm. "Look closer, Adam," he urged softly. "Look at my eyes. They say eyes never really change, even if everything else does." He stopped approaching Adam.
Adam was torn between horror and hope. Horror, because the stranger claimed to be his older brother, who had passed away; and hope, because it meant that he wasn't alone in times like this. The DigiWira did what the stranger had instructed and walked tentatively towards him. Peering at his eyes, Adam saw something and his expression changed.
The dark-haired young man, who looked around eighteen, bore a remarkable resemblance to Adam, with the exception of his eye color being dark brown instead of gray. Adam gulped; his late brother's eye color had been dark brown as well, as opposed to Adam and Alisha's gray irises. Adam and Alisha inherited their mother's eyes, while Aizad, their brother, inherited their father's. All of them had the same dark hair. 'Who is this guy? Why does he look so similar to him?' Adam thought breathlessly. He studied the man even more.
Broad-shouldered, sturdy and stood at five-foot-ten tall, the man could be considered good looking but with a hardened expression. Dark bangs lined the sides of his slightly gaunt face, with the rest of his slightly wavy hair fell to his shoulders. The hair structure was almost similar to Adam's, with Adam's being straighter - his brother and sister had slightly wavy hair from their father, while he had the straight-hair gene from his mother. Adam then observed the man's clothes and his heart pounded when he noticed that even the clothes were familiar. Dressed simply in a plain black, V-necked, sleeveless T-shirt which was slightly loose, a pair of army-patterned cargo pants and a pair of well-worn snickers, as well as two black wristbands, Adam remembered immediately where he'd seen the same set of clothes before. 'Didn't Abang Zad wear the same set of clothes…before stepping out of the house…the last time I saw him?'
"You knew it, don't you? From the moment you saw me, you knew. You just don't want to admit it yet," the man said softly.
But still…no power could bring the dead back from the grave. Sense snapped Adam back to reality.
"You just CAN'T be my brother. Even if you are, you're not! You're an impostor…a look-alike, that's all. My brother is dead. My parents are dead. Their death certificates are back at our house." The DigiWira backed away again; his gray eyes glinted with a renewed edge. With a shaky arm he pointed his index finger towards the stranger. "I don't know who put you up to this, or what you think you can achieve by this…but my brother's dead, we buried him two years ago and that's the way I want him to stay! And you…you're just a lying impostor!"
The young man looked stunned before gazing at Adam forlornly. "Well, if that's what you want, then fine…" He turned away, and glanced towards Adam over his unoccupied shoulder. "I know we had a fight before that accident. I'm sorry for picking on you that night…you said that you hated me then…I just had no idea that you wanted me dead."
Adam gasped loudly. "What did you say?" he choked. 'Nobody's supposed to know THAT!' "I never wanted you dead. Never. Don't you say that. I've never wished for you to die!" he said with a shaky voice, and his vision blurred. It took a moment before he realized that tears had formed on the brims of his eyes. His emotions, always kept in check, surged wildly within him, causing his breaths to become more ragged, his heartbeat became rapid, and he was experiencing difficulty to breathe.
"Do you believe me now?" the stranger asked, turning back to face Adam. He looked tensed, but hopeful at the same time.
"Abang Zad?" Adam finally acknowledged. Confused tears fell on his cheeks, unrestrained no more. "Is it really you?"
Upon hearing the affectionate name, the stranger smiled warmly. "In a flesh."
Overwhelmed by emotions piled one after another these past few days finally took a toll on the young DigiWira. Adam's body shivered violently. Alisha's accident had nearly caused him to lose his will, but now, the startling revelation that his older brother was still alive…it was too much for Adam to handle. Furthermore, he was tired, physically and emotionally. A lot of things had happened, and all this while he'd been putting up a brave front with his friends…all this crumbled upon staring face to face with his brother. His legs began to give way.
Everything blacked out thereafter.
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"I can't believe it," Adam murmured before drinking through the brown mug that was given to him. Pleasant warmness radiated within him as the hot chocolate flowed down his alimentary tract. He set the mug down, stretched his legs as he had a look around. He was inside a small, square wooden hut. The interior was bare – Adam could only see a basic table, chair, a kitchen, and the wooden bed he was sitting on. He gazed at the man who was sitting at the end of the bed. "I must be dreaming. Is it really you?"
Aizad Ariff grinned and clasped Adam's right ankle firmly. "It's me alright. You're not dreaming."
"But…how?" Adam asked. "How? We buried you. I saw the villagers as they cleaned up your body. I saw when they covered you. I prayed along with them before following them towards the cemetery, and I saw them set you and our parents down, before burying you. I sat there until night, until it rained…until Pak Long had to drag me back home…"
"I don't know how to explain," Aizad began steadily, "but I remember the accident too. That night, it was raining cats and dogs. Loud thunders. Lightning all over. The road was slippery, and Ayah had trouble seeing the traffic. We were at a winding road, near that dreaded cliff where accidents always happened. Then a loud honk and a bright flash of light… I remember Ibu screaming loudly and Ayah trying to evade an incoming truck."
Adam felt ill as Aizad shook his head with a grim expression. "The next thing I know, I ended up here. In the Digital World, but not really around here. Somewhere a lot farther…along the central region." Then he became silent as he gazed at Adam. "Unfortunately…the same couldn't be said about Ibu and Ayah. They weren't with me then…"
Adam nodded sadly. His eyes were blinking rapidly again, but with a soft shook of the head Adam regained his composure before sadness seized him once again. "Please continue…I want to hear more. Everything."
Aizad realized that he'd have to lighten up the mood. "Another bedtime story? Why can't you just go to sleep with one story?" he teased, eliciting a tint of blush from Adam.
"That seemed to happen a long time ago," Adam murmured as he leaned against the bed's wooden railing. He shifted slightly; the wooden bed wasn't as comfortable as his bed back at his apartment. But he wasn't complaining. Not when he had his brother back.
"Well, alright…" Aizad shifted closer, seeing that Adam no longer unconvinced. "I was wounded real badly. I didn't know where I was. For what seemed like hours, I was there, unable to move, unable to get up. Then, when I almost thought that I'd die from the heat and dehydration…" he glanced towards Tsukaimon with a small smile. "I found him. Or rather, he found me. Tsukaimon. He couldn't do anything to help me, so he went to call for help. I was shocked to see that Tsukaimon could speak, but then again I had no idea where I was at and what Tsukaimon was. Then Oryxmon came, and she was big enough to lift me up. She took me back to a village with big colorful eggs – the Primary Village – and there, I healed. Slowly, but gradually.
"Oryxmon asked me how I ended up in the Digital World. I said I don't know, but after some careful thinking of what had happened I remembered the accident." He smiled wistfully. "A Datamon scoured some information from me, said that he hacked the info from the Real World…home…and he'd found a database containing the death certificates of me and our parents. I was devastated – I wondered how you and Kak Lisha would take the news. Back then, there was no DigiPort leading to Malaysia, so I was forced to remain behind. I didn't know what else to do, so Oryxmon offered me to help her and Tsukaimon around the Primary Village. It wasn't really a job I had in mind – caring baby Digimon – but I was grateful for their help, so I said ok. I took care of the fishing, and finding woods, and Tsukaimon and I became friends.
"A year and a half passed and I began to let go of my past, and accepted what I am then. It was then, words got around that a girl from Malaysia had appeared in the south-eastern part of the Digital World. I began to have hope, as that meant that a DigiPort had been opened to lead me to Malaysia. I'd just have to find this girl, ask her to take me to the Real World…heh, see, I'm referring my home world as the real world, like all Digimon…anyway, if I could find this girl, I could go home, and I could look for you and Kak Lisha. I wanted to do that so bad…but I was needed around the village still. I owed Oryxmon a lot, so I agreed to stay back. Then I heard another girl came to the south-eastern side three months later, but I wasn't concerned much still because I thought…what are the odds that these girls would know you? Then, sometime early this year, something came up.
"A Digimon called SkullMeramon arrived one day and started wrecking havoc all over the Primary Village. The DigiEggs were destroyed, the babies slain without mercy, and Oryxmon was deleted while trying to give me and Tsukaimon a chance to run away. I was horrified, and there and then, something happened…Tsukaimon digivolved into Piddomon and managed to force SkullMeramon away, but he couldn't finish off that killer; SkullMeramon's an Ultimate Digimon. However the damage was done. With the Primary Village destroyed and Oryxmon deleted, I had no reason to remain behind. I wanted to avenge Oryxmon but SkullMeramon was too strong. We looked for him anyway…and it was then I heard that a third DigiWira had arrived at the south-eastern side…"
Adam held his breath as Aizad gazed at him intensely. "The third DigiWira was a male teenaged boy. Dark hair, fair skin, gray eyes… I heard those descriptions and abandoned my desire to look for SkullMeramon momentarily. I asked around for this boy's name, and soon I found out that it was you. You can't imagine how happy I was then to hear that.
"It was a long, hard journey to go to south-eastern side, but I was determined to look for you. I missed you so much. Tsukaimon didn't agree to go at first, he wanted to find Oryxmon's killer, but then we managed to see reason…we'd look for you first, and ask for your help. Words have it that you wield a mystical ancient artifact which holds great power…so I was convinced that finding you first would be the right choice.
"Along the journey, we heard the news that the ShadoWira had made their appearances, and the DigiWira were in danger. I hastened my way, and learned more and more about your exploits along the way. Thank God the Digimon love to gossip. When I finally arrived at a demolished city called East Lake City three days ago, the Exveemon leader told me that you and your friends were there before to drive away two evil Digimon. I heard you'd gotten kidnapped by the ShadoWira, escaped, battled them and finally managed to convince them to become good. Then I set forth to look for you, after hearing that everything had calmed down."
The young man smiled again and grasped Adam's palm, entwining their fingers together firmly. "And here we are, reunited." His eyes went up and down his brother. "Look at you," he said. "How you've grown… you're almost as handsome as me when I was your age!"
Adam breathed out slowly as he gazed at his brother. He shook his head. "It's unbelievable…seeing you back here." Tears welled up again on his eyes, against his will. He didn't bother to mask his emotions anymore – this was his brother. Thought to be dead, but was in fact miraculously alive. Adam thought that there was still a loop hole in the explanation – how did his brother get to be here with him, and buried at the same time – but Adam brushed that thought aside quickly. It made his head spin thinking about that too deeply, so Adam chose not to. His brother was here right now, with him. Explanation didn't seem to matter anymore. "It's a miracle. It's like you're back from the dead. You don't know how much this would mean to Kak Lisha…what it means to me." He wiped his tears quickly with his sleeve. "I really missed you. I don't know what to do right now…" he laughed lightly.
Aizad grinned back. "There is something you can do right now."
"What's that?"
"How about giving your brother a big hug?"
Adam laughed. The two brothers embraced, and once again emotions took over Adam. He was overwhelmed with happiness. But then something triggered his mind and he jerked backward, his face aghast. Aizad looked at him, confused.
"Oh no, Abang Zad…Kak Lisha…"
"What about Kak Lisha?" Aizad asked patiently. A smile tugged at his lips. "I can't wait to meet her too. She probably would react worse than you did –"
"No, no…" Adam shook his head rapidly, interrupting his brother. "She's gotten into an accident! Yesterday. It…it was terrible."
Aizad's gaze sharpened. His dark brown eyes glinted slightly, his face mildly confused. But then a look of great concern washed over him. "Accident?" He placed a hand on his younger brother's shoulder. "How is she right now?"
"Kak Lisha…she's alive, but she's in coma," Adam said with a subdued tone. He pressed the temples of his head. His head felt heavy all of a sudden. "She's at the hospital right now. The doctors don't know when she's waking up." Adam looked up at his brother and grasped both of his hands. "Abang Zad, you've got to come see her. Maybe…if she hears you, if she can hear you…she'll get up quicker…she'll be so happy to see you!"
"Of course," Aizad said. "Of course I'll come. It's a good thing I found that, and take it back here with me." He gestured towards under the table.
Adam followed his gaze and was delighted to see a television set. He hadn't noticed it before but the TV was obscured by the shadows and the hut they were in right now was only illuminated by the moonlight which flowed through the windows and the gaps between the woods that constituted the walls. He quickly took out his Digivice, but dropped it on the floor by accident. Then he let out a wide yawn, barely managing to cover his mouth. Upon Aizad's puzzled look, Adam smiled sheepishly.
"I don't know what's gotten into me…I feel so tired, so sleepy…I've never been this clumsy." He yawned again and his vision blurred.
Aizad nodded understandingly. "You've had a rough day. It's ok. After all that has happened to you these few days, I figured you'd be exhausted, both physically and mentally. So sleep. You really look like you could use it. I'll wait up for you."
"But, Kak Lisha…"
Aizad held up his hand. "I think Kak Lisha's not going to go anywhere for the time being. Sleep. I can wait…I've been waiting to meet you for a couple of years. A few hours won't be any different for me, but you need your rest. So…" Seeing that Adam still somewhat adamant to remain sitting, despite a third yawn and what seemed to be a throbbing over the temples, judging by the way he was rubbing them, Aizad shook his head and pushed Adam gently back on the bed. "You're overtired. Lie down a bit."
Adam was about to protest again when the throbbing vanished as his head touched the pillow. It felt so good. Adam supposed a few hours of sleep wouldn't harm anybody, so he closed his eyes, smiling contently as he began to doze away.
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WIRA DIGITAL
Chapter 26 – Brothers at Arms
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On Friday afternoon, after school had ended, Manny was on his way to the school library in a hasty pace. During recess time Gayathri had informed him of an advert about the school holding interviews for those who were interested in becoming library prefects. She'd told him jokingly that she'd only apply for the post if they had pink uniform, but since it was blue, she'd thought that Manny would be suitable for it. And Manny had agreed with her; for the guys, the uniform consisted of the usual white shirt, but with cerulean pants. Manny liked the uniform, and the librarian prefect post was a good opportunity for him to still become a prefect while not really having to be as aggressive and assertive as the main school prefects. He'd even asked Liu Ying's opinion about it, and his classmate and fellow DigiWira had nothing but encourage him to apply.
Steering right from the corridor and towards a shady corner, Manny paused when he heard a beep from his pocket. Looking around, he made sure that no one was passing by before taking out his D-Terminal. It wasn't the usual emergency alert beep, but the single beep which indicated that another DigiWira had contacted him. He flipped open the device and stared at the screen.
'Manny, if you don't have anything to do today, mind joining me at the Digital World? –JD'
Manny wondered why JD wanted to meet him. JD's message was brief, and had been directed to only him. There however was no indication at all of the reason for JD to want to meet him. Looking at his watch, it was fifteen minutes to one. The interview would be held at one for non-Muslims candidates and female Muslims, while male Muslims got to go for the interview earlier to enable them to go for their Friday prayers, which would usually start around fifteen minutes past one. Manny had some time, so he replied to JD's message.
'I suppose I can, but not right now. There's an interview for school library prefects, I'm thinking of trying. – Manny'
JD's reply came almost immediately. 'Sure. No prob. I'm stepping out right now anyway. 3 o'clock sounds fine to you?'
'3's fine. Why do you want to meet me?'
'Just wanna talk about stuffs. See ya later. Come on over my place when you're done; I've found a great spot where we can talk.'
Manny was about to store his D-Terminal back into his pocket when another beep came. It was another message from JD, and it was short.
'Break a leg.'
'Thanks.'
Manny smiled inwardly upon receiving the unconventional good luck message. Receiving JD's messages got him into thinking about the recent gossip he'd heard – pertaining JD, and Manny himself. News about JD punching him on Monday was a hot topic that week apparently, but the fact that Manny had fought back caused the news to spread like wildfire throughout the school. He had only known about this via Liu Ying the previous day – everything had been hectic at the Digital World as of late and Manny hadn't been paying enough attention to his surroundings. Only then he'd realized the weird, somewhat adoring glances he'd been receiving from his friends, which earlier he had dismissed as simply because of the fact that he was a new student, or his noticeable accent. Several guys from his class had asked him; what did it feel like, punching JD Kamaruzaman on the face? Manny could only sweatdrop upon hearing the query – he knew about JD's reputation, but didn't know that JD had that much of reputation in school. Having done that earned him a reputation himself, to his annoyance.
'That's the new kid who's knocked JD Kamaruzaman on the face.'
It didn't bode well with him, earning a reputation by fighting. He had always been known as the shy one, preferring to stay away from the limelight of any sort, unless if it involved academics like quizzes or essay competition, or sports tournament. He'd been a champion swimmer in his previous school, and had been an instrumental part of the school website design team there as well – they had won second prize in a competition held all over the state of Sabah the previous year. Those kinds of achievements were the one Manny didn't mind having. Fighting? No way.
'Maybe I should show these messages to all of them,' Manny mused to himself, as he watched the line of students growing longer. 'Or maybe not…I'd fuel another kind of gossip such as 'the-new-kid-is-FRIENDS-with-JD-Kamaruzaman' or something like that.'
The echoing call from the muezzin from the mosque beside school indicated Manny that it was time for Friday prayer, and that was further proved by a couple of candidates who immediately rushed off from the library to get to the mosque in time. He noticed that aside from him, there were nine other students going to the interview. He recognized no one from the line, but apparently some of them knew about him, judging from the whispers. They were giving him curious glances, as if wondering what kind of person he was for getting a fight just a few weeks after transferring to the school. He pretended not to hear what they were talking about, and focused of what he'd have to say in the interview. He didn't even want to think about the fight; his parents had given him enough grief for having a part in a fight – they had received a call from the school and had been appalled that their shy son had punched a guy's nose until it bled. Manny had asserted that it was an act of self defense but didn't elaborate any further – his family didn't know about him being a DigiWira. His sister had been curious of his time-to-time disappearance, but Manny had to give Debbie credit for not blabbing about it to their parents. He made a mental note to buy her some sweets at the school canteen before going back home.
He was the last one to be called in, and when he walked to the table where a small-framed girl in glasses was sitting at, the girl nearly jumped when she noticed him. Then she sheepishly indicated for Manny to sit down.
"Sorry. I was just surprised," the girl confessed, looking somewhat intimidated. Manny sweatdropped; that didn't surprise him – his large stature had intimidated many who didn't know him beforehand. Thickset in nature but definitely not portly, Manny had begun his growth spurt recently which added to his height. His balanced facial features, made more evident by a pair of prominent cheekbones, and a pair of thick eyebrows, made him appeared stern-faced to many…until he smiled and the sternness morphed into warmness.
"Uh…it's alright. Sorry to surprise you," Manny said – and the girl relaxed immediately. That was the usual effect of those who were intimidated by him had after they heard him speak. He had a gentle soft-spoken voice, which contradicted his size. It would immediately set people to ease.
"So…I'm Emily Chua, I'm a Form Three and the assistant head librarian here." The girl paused and flipped through a stack of paper that was piled in front of her.
"Emmanuel Abah, from Two Beta."
Emily Chua blinked back. "Yeah, I know," she said and grinned. "You've made a name of yourself these past couple of days."
'Not that again…' Manny thought.
"JD Kamaruzaman is my classmate this year," Emily supplied. She didn't look too happy about it, though. The girl adjusted her frameless glasses and observed Manny intently. "So you're the one who punched him on the face."
"Uhh…"
"Sorry, I'm supposed to interview you about being the school library prefect, not about that fight. So, what makes you want to be a library prefect?"
Manny sat up straight. "I want-"
"Oh, never mind," Emily interrupted with a big smile. "You're in. Definitely. We could use a guy like you. People would think twice of not returning books they borrowed if you're around. They won't dare make noises if you're on duty, and no one would do those darned dog-ears on our precious books if you tell them not to!" Emily giggled slightly, and Manny was speechless. "So, see you on Monday. Everything's not certain yet, but I'm pretty sure that you'll be in. I'll put on some good words for you, and I'm sure the library's head prefect and teacher advisor will agree with me. So just come back here on Monday during recess time for me to confirm it, and if you're in, which I think you most probably will, then you'll have to stay back for a while after school as we'll be having the tailor here to take your measurements, for your new blue library-prefect pants!" She smiled, pulled her chair back, stood up and held her hand out. "It was nice doing interview with you, Emmanuel."
"Uh… my pleasure. Thanks," Manny said awkwardly, and shook Emily's hand. 'That's the oddest interview session I've ever had,' Manny sighed inwardly as he walked out from the library. 'Wait till JD hears about this.'
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"Get out!" JD sputtered with laughter. "You mean you aced your interview just because you've punched me?"
"I suppose so, if you can call that an interview," Manny murmured, casting his sight towards the breathtaking sea instead. "The interviewer said she's your classmate. Emily Chua… She told me to come on Monday for the results, but she was also pretty confident that I'd get the post. I don't know…she just asked me my name and that was it. No interview at all. It was really odd."
"Ah…Emily Chua," JD said knowingly. He stopped laughing instantly. "No wonder." He lied down on the sandy beach, crossing his arms behind his head for pillow.
Manny and JD had met at the Digital World as promised. The place of their rendezvous was Azure Cove, somewhere north-east from the Forest Sanctum. The Azure Cove was found by JD, whom earlier out of boredom of being grounded and suspended at the same time, used his free time to reformat his computer. When he opened a DigiPort via his computer, it led him to Azure Cove instead of the destroyed Cave of Solitude. Pleased of his recent find, he decided to use that spot to have some chat with Manny later that day.
The cove was a beautiful place; a perfect spot for spending a quiet afternoon at. Golden sandy beaches lined the narrow shores of the cove, and towering rocky spires lined the edges of the cove. The spires were so high that the sunlight was partially blocked at the place where the two reformed villains were now sitting. It gave them a nice shade against the bright sunny afternoon. Aside from them and their partners, the cove was almost deserted hadn't it been for a trio of Gomamon – small seal-like Rookie Digimon with red Mohawks – who were splattering water gleefully towards Penguinmon and Agumon by the shores.
"What do you mean?" Manny asked as he pulled his legs closer to his body.
"Ah, it's nothing really. Just a girl I used to date…and dumped," JD said, not looking at Manny. He was observing the sky instead. "Emily didn't take it too well."
"Oh." 'No wonder,' Manny added silently.
"Don't worry about it," JD said lazily, noticing Manny's troubled face from the corner of his eyes. "Just take the post, and do what you have to do."
"I don't know…if words got out that I got the post simply because your ex-girlfriend has a grudge against you…" Manny trailed off, loss of words.
JD snorted. "Let them speak. Words can't hurt you."
A few minutes passed in silence as JD stared at the sky and Manny the horizon. Then, Manny decided to break the silence.
"So…what do you want to talk to me about?"
JD stretched, and got up. "Just wanted to do the whole…bonding thing, y'know. I settled things off with Adam and we've started over as friends again. Yesterday, I teamed up with Gayathri against that Cerberumon. So that just leaves you and Liu Ying. I figured that although we're both used to be ShadoWira, we never really got the chance to talk. That's why I asked to meet you." He grinned. "How about we start with names, age, where we come from…things like that."
Manny nodded. "Emmanuel Abah. I'll turn fourteen in two months. I come from Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. We transferred here because of my dad's job."
"Joshua Daniel Kamaruzaman bin Johan Awaludin. I'm already sixteen since 19th February." He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "My dad's a mix of Malay and Australian, my mom's a New Zealander Caucasian, if you're wondering about this…" he pointed at his dishwater blonde hair, "and this…" He jerked his eyebrows up, drawing attention to his greenish-blue eyes.
"It did cross my mind," Manny agreed, although he had figured it out before. "You're sixteen…but you're in Form Three?"
JD shrugged. "We moved to Malaysia from Australia when I was twelve. I didn't know much of Malay language then so I entered Peralihan year for an intensive course in Malay language. That and my knack for languages, and also some private tutor my Dad hired for Mom, me and my siblings, we got the hang of it in a few months. It doesn't really bother me that I was a year behind; there are others who're just like me. Take Liu Ying for instance; she's gonna be fifteen and she's in Form Two."
"Oh…" Manny said, nodding. His thoughts reeled as he observed the blonde. JD was perfectly affable to him, which didn't fit the rumors he had heard of the older boy. He decided that since JD was in the mood to talk, why not just ask him about it. "From what I've heard, you're not usually one who loves to talk. My classmates mentioned that either you're a….uh…a…"
"Dark, brooding troublemaker?" JD supplied.
Manny ran a hand along his spiked dark maroon hair nervously. "Something like that…"
JD snorted. "I don't brood. I just like to sit around to think, and watch people around me."
Manny thought about JD's explanation, and decided to ask JD to elaborate. "What do you usually think about?"
The older teen shrugged. "Nothing much. Home. Fighting parents. Cold siblings." Then JD paused, as if regretting mentioning it. When he saw Manny looking at him silently, he shrugged and continued, "Those stuffs are enough to make you feel like crap." He eyed Manny sharply. "I bet you don't have to put up with that kind of experience, right? You don't strike me as someone who'd have to deal with shitty stuffs everyday."
"I suppose not…" Manny said hesitantly. "And…uh…what you did, that's actually called brooding."
JD glared at the younger DigiWira, but the glare softened as a smirk began to form. "Yeah…I suppose so. Heh." He tried to think of other things to talk about. Manny didn't seem to have a specific question for him; JD supposed that in a way he still intimidate the boy. Manny wasn't as vibrant as Gayathri, who was the DigiWira who warmed up to him instantly – she'd totally cast aside the fact that he was once evil. Adam, while appearing to be mild-mannered and laid-back, had a certain edge that made him stood out. JD had a hard time figuring out the DigiWira leader, up till the previous day. He still remained somewhat an enigma, to JD. Liu Ying…well, Liu Ying was Liu Ying. Tough as nails.
"Can I ask something?" Manny started again. "It's something I've been wondering about. That is, if you don't mind me asking…"
JD shrugged. "That's the whole purpose of our meeting. So shoot."
Manny trailed one finger on the sands aimlessly as he thought of how to voice out his question. He cleared out his unobstructed throat, and asked, "Back during our ShadoWira days… what drew you to Adam instead of Liu Ying…?" Upon seeing JD's eyes suddenly sharpened, Manny gulped, but decided to make his question clearer. "I mean, umm… I suppose you know why I targeted Gayathri… I was thinking, uh… I thought you'd do the same thing."
To Manny's surprise, JD snickered at his reaction. "I guess I should've seen that question coming. Agumon asked me that, too," he said. "I thought you're Liu Ying's classmate? Don't you know her better by now?" Manny didn't look like he quite understood what JD had meant, causing the older teen to groan. "She hates me, period. No way could I approach her. She'd get suspicious instantly. Besides…I've done some heartbreaking before, the idea had gotten so old… your future colleague Emily Chua is a proof of that."
Manny was about to ask, but JD had cut him in. Manny immediately shut his mouth, seeing that JD's expression had darkened considerably. "And that's why I picked Adam instead. That time, I thought he was gullible enough. The computer club gave me an opening to both Adam and Liu Ying, although that time we weren't under Karatenmon's spell yet. Liu Ying was super-annoyed when I joined their table, but Adam was civil enough. Last year, I saw him every now and then, sitting alone at somewhere secluded, seemingly lost in thoughts… he looked real sad. That changed when he started befriending that songkok-kid Hakim.
"It was through Hakim that I'd gotten all the info I needed. It dawned to me that how alike both of us are in some respect. He is the youngest of three, like me. He lost his parents and big bro in an accident… I lost them to real-life stuffs. Different situations, but with near-same results. Aside from the money, I never really got anything else from my folks and siblings – they're always too busy. My brother and I used to be close when we were little…hell, all three of us were close once…"
JD had a faraway look as he mentioned that, Manny observed, but the blonde seemed to be oblivious of it as he continued, "But when academic achievements became so important to Jade, we became distanced. And when Jas got so popular and gained lots of friends, same thing happened. In a way, I understood how he'd be feeling about the loss of his brother...
"Then I thought; Adam and his brother must've been close too. It was that damned curse which convinced me to get closer to Adam. It was just a fleeting thought but somehow it worked better than I expected. When Adam sent me a birthday message after finding out about it by accident, I set my plan into action. Ironically it was after we fought to a near-death point at Shadow Realm. I chatted with him, gave him a treat, joked around him, and taught him basketball… In short we hung out like we've been close friends, almost like brothers…" JD shook his head, looking remorse.
Manny said nothing, waiting for JD to continue. He suspected that JD wanted to get this out.
"Somehow, I think my plan went too well… the stuffs I did with Adam were those that I wanted to do with my brother for a long time, but Jade was always so busy impressing other people. I used that feeling to get to Adam, and somehow, it worked. I got a hunch that I've projected the same kind of image his brother had been, because…I dunno, Adam was instantly at ease after the first day we hung out. I did see him looking slightly awkward for a few seconds, every now and then, as if something crossed his minds whenever we hung out. He'd stare at me when he thought I wasn't looking, and the look on his face was like when we saw someone familiar, but never gotten around to actually remember who it was. You know, that annoyed, somewhat bothered look? Adam seemed to dismiss those thoughts every time they came. I on the other hand, knew that my plan was working.
"Everything went downhill after the revelation last Monday. I saw the look from his eyes. Betrayed, hurt, anger, all jumbled into one… but somehow Adam didn't let them out like I expected him to. He just…kept everything in. It was Liu Ying who did all the angry bits, as I'm sure you remember."
"I do," Manny nodded. He took a while to digest everything JD had just told him.
JD let out a long breath and stared at the horizon. "In a way, although it was scary as hell, I'm kind-of thankful that the whole Dark Ocean thing happened. It gave me a chance to make up for what I've done to Adam. It did look hard for him to forgive me at first, but eventually he did, after we got back here. I suspected that what I used against him had been a bigger blow to him than how I'd imagined, but he let it go…just like that." He stared at Manny pointedly, and chuckled as he looked at his watch. "Whoa…I've spent half an hour telling you about my stuff! Your turn."
Manny smiled back in return. "What do you want to know about?"
JD was reminded of Manny's nightmare, which Tapirmon had blasted onto him. He'd made a promise with Gayathri not to mention about the nightmares. Although the promise was only about hers and his nightmares – if JD asked Manny straight out about his fear of drowning, it would draw suspicion from Manny of how JD managed to acquire such knowledge. The other boy was sure to ask JD about it. No, he couldn't ask Manny flat-out about this.
So he decided to improvise. "How did you get into swimming?"
Manny gulped. JD somehow had managed to ask a sore question. It wasn't a secret, but something that he didn't usually discuss. But since JD had already spoken a lot about himself, Manny supposed that he could tell JD about this.
"I learned how to swim after a rather close call when I was seven…" Manny closed his eyes as he recollected the event. Everything was still as clear as day, despite nearly seven years had passed. His face became grim. "I went too far into the sea, and I…nearly drowned. Luckily my uncle managed to save me; my parents decided that I should learn how to swim after that. I was scared at first…but I got over it, and swimming became a hobby. But sometimes…the water still scares me," Manny admitted, shuddering a little.
"And you have the power of water," JD pointed out. "At least there's a connection. I don't have a clue of where my firepower is based upon." With that, he took out a box of cigarettes and a lighter. He cocked an eyebrow towards Manny. "Do you mind?"
"Umm…" Manny looked at the lighter nervously. "Uh…you're smoking?"
"What does it look like I'm doing?" JD lit a cigarette and puffed it. He didn't look awkward doing it, which suggested that he'd been doing that for a while.
"When did you start?" Manny asked softly.
JD blew the smoke away, and turned to Manny. His expression darkened ever so slightly. His handsome face looked somewhat menacing from the ways his eyes narrowed. "When my folks decided that their new hobby is screaming at the top of their lungs everyday. When my siblings got out of the house, escaping to the world outside, and me? I was left behind. I had to endure the fighting every single damned day. Sometimes I couldn't even sleep hearing them fighting." All of a sudden, flames ignited from JD's hands and burnt the cigarette totally to ash, surprising even JD. He tossed the ashes away disgustedly and looked up to Manny's severely-intimidated face, stiff body and widened russet eyes. "Get a grip; I wasn't mad at you," he grunted, looking somewhat miffed. Then a wry smirk escaped his lips. "But I gave you that kind of impression, huh?"
Manny relaxed a little. "I'm sorry to hear that. Your family, I mean."
"Don't be. I'm quite used to it by now. Doesn't mean I like it, though. It's been two years, if you're wondering," JD said, using the lighter to light another cigarette. Then, he snorted derisively. "What the hell? Why am I using the lighter to light up my cigarette when I have my firepower?" As if what he'd said was funny, he began to chuckle. It wasn't a lighthearted chuckle, but rather, a hollow one…sounding like a feigned one too.
Manny realized then that his teammate needed to talk about his trouble, although Manny was sure that JD would not admit to it. Manny figured that JD would be more comfortable around Adam after their adventure at the Dark Ocean, but Adam had his own major problem. Manny wondered how his other teammate was holding up; he hadn't heard of Adam that day. Then, while looking at JD, who was smoking silently, Manny studied the blonde's expression. It wasn't hard to see that JD was frustrated over something. JD didn't look this harassed the previous day. Perhaps something had happened today?
"JD…" Manny began, and waited until JD was finished with his cigarette. The blonde tossed the butt of the cigarette away, and cocked an eyebrow towards him.
"What?"
"What happened today…earlier?" Manny asked carefully.
JD stared at Manny suspiciously. "What makes you think something happened?"
"You look upset," Manny pointed out. "And you sound upset too."
JD was quiet. He looked at the playing Digimon wordlessly as he finished up his current cigarette. Then he threw the remains away and faced Manny with a dark glint in his eyes. "My folks found about me smoking. They weren't exactly thrilled. At first they yelled at me, and then somehow they ended up yelling at each other in my room. Of all the places, it had to be in my room. Where else could I go now for escape? Where else…other than the Digital World?" With every sentence, his tone became higher and higher.
"Umm… what were you doing smoking in your room if you didn't want your parents to find out about it?"
JD blinked. "They weren't supposed to come in," he said defensively. "But my Dad just had to barge in, wanting me to hurry up getting ready for Friday prayers. At first he got mad when he saw that I still hadn't showered. Then he detected the reek… I wasn't smoking at the time but I guess the smell remained. And you know what happened next."
Manny was silent. "Why do you smoke?" He asked, after a couple of minutes passed in silence.
The blonde teen contemplated his answer by examining the pack of Marlboro Light he was holding. Then he shrugged. "I dunno… for some peace, I guess. It gave me a peace of mind. A senior recommended it to me…I could do without the smell though, but it works nonetheless…so I continue on."
Manny eyed the pack of cigarettes tentatively. JD was reaching for his third cigarette.
"My grandfather was a heavy smoker…" Manny said slowly. He held his breath, anticipating JD's reaction.
JD cocked his head sideways. "Was?" He asked, interested.
"He's passed away…" Manny exhaled quietly. "Lung cancer."
Comprehension dawned on the blonde's face. He shrugged and eyed the cigarette he was holding. "I could get hit by a truck tomorrow and end up dead…Karatenmon could've killed me when we battled each other…" A flicker of flame was ignited on his right index finger. JD placed the cigarette closer to the lit finger.
'I must be crazy for doing this…' Manny pointed a quivering hand at the cigarette pack's direction, and released a perfectly-targeted jet of water towards it. The cigarettes were instantly soaked. Manny held his breath as he waited for JD's reaction. 'He is definitely NOT liking this."
JD looked appalled. Turning towards Manny, the other boy could see his eyes blazing dangerously. The blonde threw the cigarette pack and instantly leaped towards Manny, pinning him down with his left arm. The right hand was brought up to the side of his head, clenched into a fist, readied for a punch. His teeth gritted in anger.
"What the HELL was that for?!"
"Smoking is not the answer, JD," Manny said with a wavering tone. His nostril was invaded by the stench of tobacco that emanated from JD, resulting in him trying so hard not to choke in repugnance. It wouldn't help him in his current fix. He looked up at JD; eyes transfixed on the blonde's flashing irises, and saw immediately why people had been saying that JD was not a person to mess with. The pleasantness that the blonde had displayed to him earlier had evaporated with a blink of the eye.
"Answer to WHAT?!" JD growled. "I'm not looking for answers. I'm looking for a brief peace of mind, and you have the nerve to…"
"It's still not the way…" Manny said, trying to reach out for the blonde's hardened heart. He couldn't move; JD's grasp on his shoulder was too strong. Despite them being in near-equal size, JD was still evidently the superior in terms of physical strength.
The excited chattering from their partners and the Gomamon instantly stopped; their attentions now fixated towards the two humans.
"HEY! Get off my partner!" Penguinmon yelled.
"Josh! What's going on?" Agumon pleaded. "Why are you fighting?"
JD glared towards Manny, his reddening face contorted. His chest heaved in and out slowly as he steadied his emotions. Manny's words echoed in his mind. The fury in his hazel eyes diminished slowly. Then he got off the younger boy, and offered a tentative hand to help Manny up. Manny took it and allowed the blonde to pull him back up.
"God, what's gotten into me?" JD murmured. He placed a hand on his forehead, massaging it slowly in frustration.
"JD, it's alright…umm…not really, but I understand why you did it." Manny dusted off some sands from his uniform jacket before looking at JD. JD was letting his emotions show; Manny understood that. He'd never seen his parents fighting, except for some occasional banter which turned into loud arguments, but usually ended up with laughter and joking. The way JD had described his parents…Manny now understood why people described JD as the dark and brooding one.
Looking at JD, Manny saw the JD that had never been displayed in front of Adam, Liu Ying and Gayathri. Manny had seen the somewhat-sarcastic-cum-flirting side of JD when the blonde was with Liu Ying. He'd caught a glimpse of the warmer side of JD when he was with Adam. While he didn't see how he was like with Gayathri, the girl had mentioned that JD was kind of funny and wild, but in a good way. And now with Manny, JD had shown a deeper, darker side of his personality…and Manny saw it fully – a frustrated, sad JD – an upset JD Kamaruzaman who currently could use a friend to lighten his burden, whether the blonde would admit it or not.
The blonde's multitude of personalities fazed him slightly. But he also knew that JD needed a friend.
"I don't know whether I can help you or how can I do that, but if you need someone to talk about your problems…I'll listen to you," Manny began as he moved in front of the dejected JD. "And I won't tell anyone else, if that's what you want." He gulped, and continued again with a tone lower than before. "You know…I've read that it's not good that we keep things bottled up inside of us. If you want to talk about it…"
JD considered Manny's offer. He seemed somewhat hesitant at first, before sighing. "That would be great, Manny. I appreciate that. Thanks."
"Anytime, for a friend," Manny returned with an assuring smile.
JD held out his right hand, which was balled up into a fist. He let his hand hung in midair and looked at Manny inquiringly.
At first, Manny was confused of the gesture. He wondered what JD wanted him to do. Then, something clicked in his mind – he remembered seeing this gesture from TV series he'd watched. A gesture between two buddies. Manny quickly balled up his right hand into a fist, and knocked it lightly against JD's. JD moved his fist, placing it several inches up from Manny's, and knocked Manny's fist downward. Manny retracted his fist and returned the gesture. The two teens smiled and knocked their fists together face on.
Unbeknownst to them, their fight and quick reconciliation surprised the Digimon.
"What the heck was that? Can someone explain to me what has just happened?" Penguinmon demanded, as the Gomamon trio oohs-and-aahs admiringly.
"I think our partners have made up, whatever their dispute was," Agumon explained. s
"First they talk, then they fight like enemies, and then somehow they're friends again? That's so weird." Penguinmon shook his head. "Humans are stupid."
The Gomamon trio giggled and looked towards the sea, where a white furred walrus-like Digimon was approaching. "Ooh, Mama's coming, Mama's coming!" the smallest of the three Gomamon gushed happily, beckoning towards the approaching. The other two looked at the Ikkakumon and showed their delight as well. The biggest of the trio tapped Agumon on the shoulder.
"It's been nice meeting you two…but we better get going," the Gomamon said, indicating Ikkakumon with his flipper.
"Maybe we should meet again sometime," the middle-sized Gomamon suggested. "Azure Cove is our favorite play site, but it does get a bit boring when all we have is each other to play with."
"Ooh, ooh…say you'll come again," the smallest Gomamon enthused.
"We're pretty busy mons, so no promises," Penguinmon said, puffing out his chest.
"Don't be that way, Penguinmon," Agumon said, and looked at the Gomamon. "We'll try."
"YAAY!!" The Gomamon cheered, and turned to go to the Ikkakumon. "See you again! Bye!"
Agumon and Penguinmon waved their friends goodbye and watched as the Gomamon boarded their large mother on her back. Ikkakumon regarded them with caution eyes, which darted from them towards the two DigiWira, who were now on their feet and looking at her as well. To the partners' surprise, Ikkakumon's eyes narrowed, and she glared at them suspiciously.
"You are the ShadoWira!!" she exclaimed shrilly. Her body tensed; the Champion Digimon looked furious all of a sudden. "You…you…stay away from my boys!!"
Agumon and Penguinmon froze; they didn't expect Ikkakumon to react that way. The Gomamon brothers peered over their mother's shoulder in wonder. They looked at each other, wondering why their mother was angry towards their new friends.
"Did they harm you, boys?" she asked the Gomamon.
"Harm us? Agumon and Penguinmon? Of course not, mom," the middle Gomamon answered. "They're our friends."
"Friends?" Ikkakumon snorted. Her eyes didn't leave the DigiWira partners. "Them? Your father's murderers?"
"Murderers?" JD looked at their partners, confused. "Them? Agumon and Penguinmon?"
"That can't be right," Manny murmured.
"And why NOT?!" Ikkakumon demanded hotly. She raised one paw and pointed it towards Agumon and Penguinmon accusingly. "They're the ones who killed my dear Archelomon, back at the East Lake City! Exveemon told me it was Flarelizamon and Depthmon who were the murderers! BUTCHERS!!" she shouted.
The Gomamon looked at Agumon and Penguinmon, and at their mother. "They killed papa?" the smallest Gomamon asked sadly.
Realization dawned to Agumon and Penguinmon. After being recruited by Karatenmon as the partners for JD and Manny, they were sent to the East Lake City to draw the attention of the DigiWira. While awaiting their arrivals, Flarelizamon and Depthmon had wrecked havoc, nearly demolishing the entire city if it weren't for the DigiWira's interference. There were still some dark spots in Agumon and Penguinmon's minds pertaining to that day, but they had done a lot of damage and had attacked many Digimon. Perhaps the Archelomon was one of them.
It had been an intense day. Agumon and Penguinmon both remembered it well enough, although it had been shrouded upon their conversion to the side of good. Now that Ikkakumon had mentioned it, a large green-shelled turtle Digimon began to take form in the Rookies' minds. The Digimon had blades for fin. He had attempted to stop Depthmon from attacking the citizens of the city, when Flarelizamon attacked him from behind. Being an Armored Champion Digimon, Archelomon was tough enough to withstand Flarelizamon's fire power, so he'd retaliated with his fins. Depthmon stopped him with a jet of pressurized water, which sent the turtle tumbling. They then combined their powers and deleted Archelomon.
"We're sorry…" Agumon said wholeheartedly. He looked at Penguinmon, who appeared horrified upon remembering their evil deeds. "We were under Karatenmon's evil influence at that time…"
"Sorry?" Ikkakumon said incredulously. "SORRY?! Sorry won't bring back my dear Archelomon! What use your sorry is to me? My children are fatherless, and I am without my other half!" Ikkakumon stared at them dangerously, her body hunched; she was pointing her horn towards the beach, where the DigiWira were currently at. The pointed black horn suddenly burst out, zooming towards the DigiWira with rapid speed. "Harpoon Torpedo!!"
"Look out!" JD pushed Manny away, seeing the incoming missile. The harpoon missile exploded onto the ground; the shockwave resulted sent all four of them flying, and tumbling against the piles of sands of the cove. Luckily the sands had prevented them from getting hurt. They coughed as smokes erupted. For a moment they waited for the smoke to clear to regain a clear view of their surroundings. What they were about to see however was something none of them expected.
The calm waters around the cove were now stirring wildly. Waves washed down the narrow with a force that could crush the hardest of stones. The sky darkened, clouds formed and thunders rumbled as Ikkakumon and the Gomamon trio shone with menacing dark purple light. The three Gomamon were enveloped by a water tornado which erupted from the ocean just as Ikkakumon's whole body was propelled to new heights. She became bigger and transformed into a bipedal giant gray and orange walrus wearing a spiked turtle shell on her back. Tufts of orange hair erupted from her upper torso as a belt clasped the turtle shell she wore on her back. Lightning tore from sky and formed a large metal hammer. The zigzagged tusk on her snout blitzed with lightning.
"What you've done to my spouse was unforgivable! I, now Zudomon, shall avenge my dear Archelomon!!" the walrus Digimon shrieked in a voice that was forebodingly menacing. She no longer sounded like Ikkakumon; this was a voice akin to a crazed woman.
The water tornado exploded and a giant dark figure emerged from it. It was a frightening devil-like Digimon who stood almost as tall as the towering Zudomon. Its face was diamond-shaped with bat wings around the tip. Where Zudomon was a hulking creature this Digimon was slight and lanky. Draped in leathery blue armor, the Digimon looked human-like except for the elongated white tentacles that erupted from its back. Two of them went up vertically and bent over its shoulders frontward, and the ends were shaped like flippers with black claws while the other tentacles snaked from its back to other directions. The arms were long and ended with clawed flippers as well. Red eyes stared down towards the DigiWira.
"We're now MarineDevimon, and we'll help our mama avenge our papa, killers!" the aquatic beast hissed with the combined voices of the Gomamon trio.
"Shit…" JD muttered. "From the looks of it both of them are now Ultimate Digimon!" He took out his Digivice and Red DigiSphere, and glanced towards Manny. "You know what this means…"
Manny nodded and followed suit as the Digimon stood in front of them.
"We can't delete them…we can't fight them…" Agumon whimpered. "They…they're just consumed by anger and we're the ones to blame. We're the ones who killed Archelomon…it's not their fault for getting angry…I can't bear to fight them…"
"…" Penguinmon, usually one with witty remarks, was speechless. He was backing away towards Manny, his eyes transfixed fearfully towards Zudomon and MarineDevimon who were both looming towards them. The shadows of the two infuriated Digimon loomed over the four of them menacingly.
"We'll decide that after we merge," JD snapped, looking up towards the two Ultimates. "In these forms those two are gonna crush us for sure!"
"JD's right," Manny concurred. "In our Ultimate forms perhaps we can reason with them."
The two Digimon realized that their partners were right, and readied themselves to merge with them.
"Digital Access…"The two DigiWira thrust their Digivices forward, and pointed their DigiSpheres towards the Digivices. "…Digivolution!!"Red and blue beams entered their Digivices and an explosion of light in shades of red and blue took place, as JD's and Manny's transformation cries echoed all over Azure Cove. "HAAAA!!!"
The lights died down, revealing Satriamon and Samudramon standing side by side. The two dragon-men Digimon watched as Zudomon and MarineDevimon began approaching the shores, hammer and tentacles ready to attack.
"We have to try to knock them out," Samudramon said, as Penguinmon's memory and knowledge of Archelomon's deletion became his own.
"Sure, if they don't trample us first," Satriamon grunted. "I'll take on the mom, you handle the kid."
"Fine by me. Remember…no deleting."
"Yeah, yeah…fine. If they don't delete us first, that is."
Satriamon summoned his Flaming Torch technique and sailed towards Zudomon. Seeing him coming, Zudomon shrieked wildly and swung her hammer to knock out Satriamon. Satriamon made a back-flip whilst midair, demonstrating great agility, before using the hammer as a stepping stone to launch himself once again. Zudomon shrieked and once again attempted to crush Satriamon, but the fusion Digimon streaked away before slamming his magma-self onto Zudomon's right shoulder blade, scorching her tufts of torso hair with flames. However to Satriamon's annoyance, the walrus Digimon furiously scooped some water and washed away the flames. The waters nearly drowned his flaming body if he wasn't quick enough to torch away. But then, a swishing sound of something heavy was heard from his back, followed by a gust of wind and the sounds of crackling electricity.
"Vulcan Hammer!!"
Satriamon whirled around and quickly counter-attacked. He raised his clawed golden gauntlet and summoned the might of his flames to take form of a roaring dragon as he launched it towards Zudomon's hammer. "Dragonforce Striker!!"
The two weapons collided with a deafening clang, and to Satriamon's surprise he was pushed back forcefully. Zudomon's strength was fearsomely high; Satriamon was sent crashing onto the beach. He got up quickly and felt a searing pain coming from his right arm, which was shivering uncontrollably due to the force from the collision of weapons. It almost felt as if his arm was fractured, but Satriamon knew that wasn't the case. His human half had experienced fractured arm before, which assured him that his arm was still intact. But should Zudomon struck any harder…
"What the hell? My gauntlet's made of Chrome Digizoid alloy! It should've broken the hammer," Satriamon muttered.
Zudomon loomed down triumphantly as she flexed her arm, bringing her hammer close to her body. "You're not the only one with a Chrome Digizoid weapon!" she boomed. "My Thor Hammer is fully made out of Chrome Digizoid!!" She swung the heavy hammer with ease, showing off her prowess to her smaller foe.
"What? Oh, damn…" The red-armored warrior cast his eyes aside and momentarily observed the heated battle between Samudramon and MarineDevimon.
Due to the fact that MarineDevimon was the digivolved form of three inexperienced Rookie Digimon, Samudramon had the advantage during the first few minutes of their battle. True to his words to Satriamon earlier, he'd made sure not to deliver a fatal blow towards the aquatic beast. That made him refraining from using the deadly Double-Edged Thunderblades technique, but he'd made full use of his other techniques. The Deep Ocean Submerge was somewhat useless against a marine Digimon, so Samudramon only had the Cosmic Thunderstrike and the Divine Rain at his disposal. Two scorch marks on MarineDevimon's chest were the evidence of him being struck by Samudramon's thunderbolts.
Soon however, MarineDevimon had gotten used of their…his new body, and prepared for a counter attack. He launched his tentacles towards Samudramon, who was currently propelled to his eye level by a pillar of water. Samudramon knocked away the tentacles easily with his trident, and seemingly decided that pricking the other Digimon with the sharp points of his trident wouldn't send MarineDevimon to oblivion. MarineDevimon seethed angrily and opened his mouth, spraying Samudramon point-blanc with…
"Guilty Black!!" …deadly poisonous ink, which coated Samudramon's whole merman body. Samudramon cried in pain and fell from his pillar.
Satriamon gaped when he saw Samudramon, coated with ink all over his body, crashed onto the shore. MarineDevimon approached the writhing Samudramon and chuckled menacingly – there was no trace of the kind Gomamon inside him; MarineDevimon was a complete corruption. Without thinking, Satriamon thrust an arm towards MarineDevimon, while the other was fixed towards Zudomon. "Shadow Flame Helix!!"
A black fiery serpent sped towards Zudomon and coiled around her wrist, blistering through her skin which elicited a pained shriek from the female. In the meantime, an orange roaring dragon snaked towards MarineDevimon and spiraled around his thin body, burning through his leathery armor. For a moment, Satriamon struggled to keep his balance as the two marine Digimon attempted to resist him. There was a brief standstill but Satriamon knew that he couldn't keep this up for long.
Zudomon stopped screaming and summoned, "Ice Lord Bump!" She breathed out a wave of ice from her mouth, which promptly froze the black serpent. The ice radiated further until it froze Satriamon's left arm, to the dragon man's dismay. With her arm freed, she wasted no time and approached the shore. Then she thumped her hammer mightily onto the sandy beach with a cry of "Vulcan Hammer!!", and a bolt of electricity streaked towards Satriamon, shocking him to his knees. With him down, the orange dragon that was fixed on MarineDevimon also dissipated.
Samudramon and Satriamon had both fallen.
"Justice is served," Zudomon said, pleased as she raised her arm high. Her shadow loomed over Satriamon. "Vulcan…"
However Zudomon wasn't able to fully summon her attack, when torrents of meteorites with flaming feather projectiles spiraling around them slammed against her. The force of the sudden attack sent her falling on her shelled back. Her submerged body instantly caused a meter-high wave to wash over the cove's narrow shore. Seeing the sudden turn of events, Satriamon whipped his head back and saw Sagittarimon Radiant Mode and a winged humanoid Digimon in white and crimson approaching them. On board Sagittarimon were Adam and a young man, whom Satriamon thought to be strangely familiar.
'Wait…isn't that…?' He saw Adam and the man vanished from Sagittarimon and reappeared near Samudramon.
Samudramon, coated from head to caudal tail with ink, turned sideways as he noticed the familiar glimmer of light. "Adam…?"
"Hang on, Samudramon." Adam knelt beside the merman, his expression set as he positioned both palms several inches above Samudramon's chest and closed his eyes. The ink slowly vanished in orbs of white light, reappearing over a pile of sand harmlessly. "It's not the cleanest job ever…" he commented as Samudramon got up. He eyed the patches of ink that were still evident on Samudramon's body. "But at least you're not fully covered by that thick gooey stuff anymore."
Samudramon was more than grateful for Adam's help – the ink was poisonous and had weakened him. "Thank you, Adam."
Then he took a moment to observe Adam, surprised to see that the boy looked somewhat elated. He no longer appeared subdued as it had been yesterday. Samudramon's attention shifted to the young man that was standing behind Adam, and was stricken with how similar he and Adam looked. But while Adam was pleasant, the stranger was cold when his eyes caught Samudramon's. He made no attempt to acknowledge Samudramon, focusing his attention instead towards an unfamiliar winged Digimon which made Samudramon gape with amazement.
'An angel Digimon?' Samudramon's hidden eyes went back towards the stranger. 'Could it be that this angel is partnered to this guy? Who is he?'
"You're welcome," Adam said smilingly. "Are you okay on your own now?"
Samudramon returned the smile. "I think so." He watched as Adam jogged towards Satriamon, with the stranger following him close by. Odd as it was, Samudramon decided that now was not the time to think about that. He observed MarineDevimon, who was about to attack again. Gritting his teeth as a bout of pain radiated from his abdomen, Samudramon grasped his trident tight.
He heard galloping sounds, and saw Sagittarimon coming towards him, bow and arrow ready. "Adam said that you could use some help," the white-armored centaur said.
"Sure," Samudramon nodded. "Thanks. But we can't kill MarineDevimon; he's just not himself for now. He's not to blame for what he's doing. We need to knock him unconscious, that's all."
Sagittarimon cocked his head curiously, but didn't ask for a reason. "Alright. I know what to do."
"Guilty Black!!"
Sagittarimon and Samudramon quickly prepared to counter the attack. Respectively they released an arrow of electrifying light and a cerulean thunderbolt towards the incoming spray of poisonous obsidian ink. The two attacks pierced through the ink and sailed towards MarineDevimon. The arrow barely grazed the left side of the beast's abdomen, enough to cause liquid to drain out from the wound. The thunderbolt went straight towards MarineDevimon's chest, forcing him to stumble backward.
Samudramon then raised his trident and called forth, "Divine Rain!"
From the heavens, heavy rains poured over MarineDevimon and Samudramon. The rains leeched out the demon's energy and transferred it towards Samudramon. Feeling some energy returning to him, Samudramon spun his staff and released another bolt of lightning, slamming MarineDevimon over the chest again. It was followed by another thunderbolt, which finally sent the weakened aquatic beast falling into the sea, creating a huge wave which washed over to the shore in the process. Beams of light erupted from MarineDevimon as he glowed with dark purple aura. Data particles dissipated from him, and what remained soon after was three unconscious Gomamon.
Samudramon heaved a relieved breath and regressed into Manny and Penguinmon. Both of them looked somewhat roughed up, but apart from that they were fine.
The battle with Zudomon was considerably fiercer. Satriamon and the angelic Digimon launched their flame attacks together, but they were easily countered by Zudomon. However, it didn't look like Zudomon was having an easier time as well. Satriamon alone was a tough opponent, and with the angel Digimon's arrival, things didn't seem to look up her way.
"Dark Rage!!" Satriamon sent several waves of dark energy which slammed over Zudomon.
The beast shrieked; the Dark Rage was a power-depleting technique which could reduce an opponent's energy. Satriamon had found an opening to launch his attack when the angel Digimon launched a fiery tornado, which effectively distracted the water beast's attention from Satriamon. Seeing the effectiveness of this technique, Satriamon sent it again.
Zudomon nonetheless wouldn't go down easily. She raised her hammer and slammed it forth towards Satriamon. "Vulcan Hammer!!"
This time, Samudramon was prepared to face the attack. He channeled more power into his clawed gauntlet and thrust it towards the incoming hammer. "Dragonforce Striker!!"
Two Chrome Digizoid weapons collided once again with a deafening clang, but this time around Satriamon was the stronger assailant. Zudomon gasped in surprise as her powerful hammer was forced out from her grasp. The angel Digimon further carried the hammer away from Zudomon with his tornado.
"Without your weapon, you're not so tough now are you?" Satriamon smirked, seeing Zudomon's horror-struck expression. "This is getting boring. The game ends now for you. Shadow Flame Helix!!" Seizing the water beast by her arms with flaming dragon and serpent, Satriamon waited until the pain of the attack began to set in Zudomon before relinquishing control of his attack to form another power depleting attack. The Dark Rage attack sent Zudomon crashing against the stone walls of the cove. Satriamon then aimed another Dark Rage, and fired it just as Zudomon was about to fall into the sea. With the attack hitting its target, Zudomon was knocked out unconscious and reverted into Ikkakumon.
Satriamon smirked, pleased. "Finally. I thought she's never going down!" Looking at Adam, he reverted back to JD and Agumon. JD flashed a thumbs-up. "Thanks for the help!"
Adam smiled back as Sagittarimon approached him, devolving into Patamon in the process. The mammal Digimon landed over Adam's head; JD saw them tailing their attention towards the angel Digimon, who descended towards the young man before devolving into a purple version of Patamon. The other Patamon flew directly towards the stranger's right shoulder, landing on it. It struck JD there and then that not only Adam and the young man were similar, but their Digimon too were nearly identical save for their coloring.
'Who is this guy? I think I've seen him before…' JD observed the young man, careful not to really look at him, but instead watching him from the corner of his eyes. 'He looks like Adam.' He also noticed that Adam was looking remarkably happier than he had been the day before.
"JD…Manny…" he said in a barely-concealed glee as he beckoned towards the stranger. "Meet my brother…Abang Zad."
JD and Manny froze. I thought Adam's brother has passed away? They both thought at the same time. Manny glanced at JD curiously; it was JD who had told him about Adam's brother's death. JD looked visibly shocked upon the revelation.
Adam turned towards his brother. "This is JD… and this is Manny."
Aizad narrowed his eyes. "Yeah. I've heard of them," he said with a low growl. Then, speedily he darted past Adam and launched a punch which knocked the wind out of JD, sending the blonde teen staggering backward before landing, dazed, onto the sandy beach.
Adam gasped. "Stop!" He quickly moved to grab his brother by his black shirt, successfully restraining him from hitting Manny as well. The russet-eyed boy had backed away from Aizad's reach, but the young man could easily pursue him if it weren't for Adam pulling the back of his shirt.
Aizad glanced over his shoulder. "Weren't they the ones who kidnapped you?" There was a murky look reflected from his eyes, which caused Adam to flinch inwardly. Adam knew this look. He had seen it several times before… Aizad would have that look whenever someone had wronged Adam or Alisha, back when they were younger. It would only take an insult to set Aizad off. Adam gulped; had his brother heard of the misdeeds JD and Manny had done to him when they were evil? Adam shuddered. He needed to explain their situation, pronto.
"Well….uh….yes, but that was when they were evil. It wasn't even their fault for being evil, and now, they're good. Why did you hit them?" Adam quickly went to inspect JD. JD swore silently and allowed Adam to help him up. Adam looked back at his brother, confused of his attitude.
"Just a lesson for messing with you. No one messes with my family and gets away with it." Aizad cracked his knuckles and stared at JD and Manny coldly. "Stories go around. Some of the villagers from Green Meadow Village had sought refuge over at East Lake City when their village was destroyed. No prize for guessing how I came to learn the rest of the story." His tone was dark. "Heard that it was the Red ShadoWira who'd always targeted you…a punch on the gut is nothing compared to what I have in mind right now…"
"But it's all in the past," Adam cut in softly. "JD and Manny are my friends now. Please don't attack them anymore." He gave a pleading look towards his brother and let go of his brother's shirt. "Please?"
Aizad considered it. "If you say so, little brother," he said finally. The dangerous glint in his eyes evaporated, and Adam sighed with relief.
JD walked past Adam, glaring towards Aizad angrily. He knew why exactly Aizad was violent towards him, and he accepted it. But that still didn't quench his fury of being punched without warning. As much as he wanted to give Aizad a taste of his own knuckle, JD restrained himself. There was something else that was bothering him, even more than the fact that he'd been punched over the gut. "Hey! Aren't you supposed to be dead?" he demanded.
"Apparently, I'm not."
"Care to explain why?"
Aizad snorted and crossed his arms over his chest. "I see no need to explain myself to you."
JD scowled. "What's with the attitude?"
"You've got a problem, blondie?"
JD seethed at the nickname. Manny wisely placed a placating, yet firm grasp on the blonde's right shoulder.
"Um…guys…?" Adam looked from Aizad to JD, unsure of what to do. Why was Aizad still picking a fight with his friends, for something that Adam had put to rest?
Aizad tore his gaze away from the former ShadoWira, and regarded his younger brother. "Adam, come on. Let's go. As I remember, you have your best friend's kenduri to attend to later on. We can visit Kak Lisha tomorrow. Do you have school tomorrow?"
"Umm…do we?" Adam looked at JD and Manny questioningly.
"Tomorrow's a club and society meeting day," Manny supplied. "Are you coming?"
Adam regarded his brother, who merely shrugged in return. He returned to face Manny and shook his head. "I don't think I'll be coming." He met Manny's and JD's gazes, and knew that they had some questions to ask him. He let out an assuring smile and a nod, indicating that he would tell them what they wanted, just not right at that moment. He retreated a few steps back before turning, as Aizad flung one arm across the back of Adam's neck, placing it on the boy's shoulders as the young man guided him to walk away from the other DigiWira. Adam glanced across his shoulder briefly, mouthing out 'See you guys later' with the briefest of a nod, before turning back to face where he was going. The two Patamon, orange and purple, flew behind their respective partners as they made their way away from Azure Cove.
JD and Manny watched them leave, before the older of the DigiWira let out a groan.
"I don't trust that guy. Adam's brother. Something seems to be off with him."
"He's supposed to be dead. Him walking around means that a lot of things are way off about him," Penguinmon quipped.
Manny sighed, nodding. "I saw how he looked at us. He hates us." He looked down at their partners. "First, someone you two wronged came back to seek revenge. Then it was someone we wronged…" The spike-haired teen looked troubled, and glanced towards his friend.
"Karma sure bites back hard… but it's not that that was troubling me," JD grunted, and rubbed his abdomen where he'd been punched. "I'm telling you, something's not right about that brother of Adam's. I just can't figure out why."
"But Adam seems happy though." Manny rubbed his chin. "It's what he needs in times like this. I thought I'd never see him smile so genuinely again after yesterday." He then blinked, as if an inspiration struck him. "You know, JD… you mentioned that you thought that you'd projected something like Adam's brother when you two hung out…" He saw JD whipping his head up, looking at Manny curiously. "Now that we've met the said big brother… I think you're right. You two seemed to come from one same mould…"
JD appeared stunned. "I didn't realize that."
"It's true; I've never thought that I'd see two people who are so much alike," Manny pointed out.
"Still, that guy's supposed to be dead," JD muttered, still unsatisfied. "Hakim had been sure of it, heck even Adam was sure of it." His thought reeled back to Adam's nightmare which he'd seen the previous day. It had clearly shown him that Adam's parents and brother didn't survive the accident. It had been Adam's nightmare to lose his sister the same way he'd lost his parents and brother. And now somehow Adam's brother was back from the dead?
"I'm sure there's a good explanation for this," Manny reasoned. "Adam will tell us about it soon, I think." He eyed JD's hand, placed at the site where he was punched by Aizad. "Are you ok?"
JD grimaced as he rubbed his abs again. "Man, that guy packs quite a punch!" he admitted to Manny. "You're lucky Adam managed to grab him before he punched you too…"
"Could it be worse than your punch?" Manny asked. His tone was kept to sound as an inquiry, but there was a teasing there, well-placed, yet well-hidden. Manny's expression was innocent, it was hard to see whether he was really asking, or he was teasing JD.
"Of course NOT!" JD clasped his right fist tight into his left palm. "No freaking way. Mine's still stronger."
Manny nodded. "Of course." He smiled slightly upon seeing JD's disgruntled face. "But you're mad that he punched you. Your reputation's ruined." Now that they were friends, Manny decided that it was safer now to make quips such as that to the renowned school troublemaker. It was now obvious that he was teasing JD, but he still kept his tone sounding as if he was merely pointing out facts.
JD huffed and crossed his arms across his chest. Now that they were friends, real friends, JD just didn't have the heart to lay a punch on Manny like he would to anyone who dared to make fun of him. He scowled, irritated, feeling that there was one point that he had to straighten out.
"I'm telling you, I could take him down, anytime! He's just a little taller than me. Just an inch, tops." Seeing Manny chuckling, JD grunted in annoyance and gave up. "Let's just go back."
xxx
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Author's Notes:
No scene with the girls or with the Puaka Generals in this chapter. They were here in previous draft…but their appearances were redundant so I had to cut them out. Besides, this newer draft fits more with the title. This chapter is JD and Manny's chapter mainly, focusing on their friendship, as well as the introduction of Aizad Ariff, Adam's 18 year old brother, thought to be deceased. Why did I bring him in the story? We'll see.
I've modified Zudomon's appearance in this chapter, seeing that this Zudomon is a she.
Next chapter: JD and Liu Ying's chapter – "Opposites Attract"
Words Glossary:
Ayah – Father
Ibu - Mother
Abang – Literarily means big brother. Adam calls Aizad 'Abang Zad' because it's considered rude to call an elder sibling just by their name unless mutually agreed upon or the age gap is close. In Adam's case, the age gap between him and Aizad is four years, which is prominent enough for Aizad to get the title 'Abang' from him. It works the same way as well between Adam and Alisha, who are eight years separated. But between male friends it's generally acceptable to refer to each other by names, regardless of age, although sometimes it's done as well. Hence, Adam and Manny don't have to call JD big brother despite the two-year differences between them.
Also has a second meaning; it's also a loving call from a woman to her spouse (boyfriend and husband alike). Yup, it can be confusing…
Pak Long – It means 'first uncle' if literarily translated. Usually the first male sibling of a Malay person's father or mother is referred as Pak Long.
Peralihan – An extra one year of secondary school before entering Form One. This is usually for students who came from vernacular primary schools where Malay language is not used while teaching the subjects, as opposed to national schools.