Okay, time for another wonderful chapter. And as many of you mentioned, Impmon is not going to be a happy digimon when he gets back. Look on the bright side, Mizutani actually believes she is doing the right thing for the kids. The others with her are just doing their job and don't care one way or the other.
There should be a real treat near the end of the chapter. There will be another type of print (underlined) that will represent another special situation. It should be easy to identify, but I'll explain at the end. I hope you enjoy it.
When the initial shock of the invasion began to wear off, Mrs. Kamiya had returned to the kitchen and mixing her batter in order to distract herself from the current situation. But even as her hands went through the motions of preparing the healthy (if inedible) food, her eyes watched the strangers for any signs of threat. She also stared at the twins as they resumed their coloring on the floor.
The young pair of children were doing more than simply working on an art project. Their four year olds' minds were planning. While their options were limited, they were determined to find a way to keep their partner safe. So they combined the awesome might of their young imaginations in order to devise a plan.
"We can't call someone for help," Mako whispered. "We don't know any phone numbers and the bad guys are listening anyway."
"They want to hurt Impmon when he comes back or steal him," his sister reminded softly. "If he shows up, they'll get him and take him away forever."
"Can't he beat them? He's tough and they're not even as creepy as some bad digimon."
"But they'll surprise him. He'll come in and won't know about the bad guys until they get him."
"What if we warn him about the trap?" Mako suggested hopefully.
Ai shook her head, "All the meanies would hear or see us. We don't even know how to do that. Rika and Jeri haven't shown us how to do that with our D-arc yet."
For some reason, Mizutani hadn't tried to take away their device or their new crest. She'd seemed to have considered it momentarily, but left the items where they were. Not that the twins would have let her take them without throwing a tantrum (and possibly biting her).
Frowning, her brother tossed his crayon down and muttered, "Well, do you have any ideas?"
The young girl, after a moment of considering, nodded slowly. Her eyes drifted sadly down to her current drawing. It held two shapes that could be called humans and a purple one that they both loved, even in its current crayon form. Judging from the trees in the picture, Mako guessed she'd drawn the three of them at the park.
"I know how we can keep him safe," she whispered, "but you aren't going to like it. We just make sure he never, ever comes back here."
Her brother stared at her, uncomprehending of her idea. After a moment, it began to dawn him. He shook his head, unwilling to accept his sister's plan.
"No, we promised."
"But we have to," she reasoned, her voice cracking softly as she tried to remain firm with her painful plan. "Don't you see? If we keep him safe, isn't it worth it? We love him and even if…"
Mako slowly nodded, "Right. He'll be alright at least."
"Ready? We have to be really loud so he'll hear us before he comes in."
The young boy took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and shrieked, "Ai stole my crayon!"
Rika glanced up at their attacker and, as she'd guessed, it was Marsmon. Instead of having Valkyrimon and Dianamon both to back him up this time, it was just the avian mega. Doubtless the data type's speed had something to do with their abrupt appearance.
The red-head shot a look at her companions. Patamon was back at the rookie level, but both T.K. and Kari were holding their D-3's firmly. Gatomon dashed over to join the brown-haired girl. Rika's partner stepped beside the tamer and they locked their gaze on their opponent.
"Another sneak attack? How honorable," spat Rika. "Come for another fight or do you plan to run away again?"
Marsmon took a step forward, "I've come to complete our duel, human. Our master still wishes for us to deal with the stubborn digimon who threaten our world by aligning with the humans. And even if you are only females, you and your traitorous digimon offer at least some challenge."
"And is your friend intending to stab us in the back while you distract us?" she asked, seeing Kyubimon dedigivolve beside her.
"He can keep your friends occupied until I'm through," the vaccine mega shrugged.
"We can handle this canary," called Gatomon. "You focus on the muscle-bound gorilla."
The girl felt a brief second of doubt, wondering if she would spend the fight watching her back for Valkyrimon, before shoving it away and focusing on her target. She needed to hope that she could depend on the others to keep him out of the way. She held up the blue-ringed D-arc.
"Renamon Biomerge to…"
"Patamon Digivolve to…"
"Gatomon Digivolve to…"
"Sakuyomon!"
"Angemon!"
"Angewomon!"
The two angelic digimon and the golden-armored shaman appeared out of the burst of light and turned to their respective opponents. Marsmon produced a condescending smile as he raised his fists.
"Ladies first," he remarked.
"Idiots last," the fox-lady answered. "Twin Blades of Beauty and Truth!"
Using her staff, she created two pink rings around herself. They then shot out at Marsmon with deadly accuracy. The mega deflected the attack with the metal rings on his wrists. He smiled as the Biomerged digimon frowned at his actions.
"You'll have to do better than that, female," he taunted.
She glanced over at the others, spotting Valkyrimon and Angewomon exchanging arrows as her male counterpart swung his staff at the avian digimon's head. The golden falcon, earlier perched on Valkyrimon's wrist, was now circling the trio. Sakuyamon tore her attention back to the panther-man before her.
The golden being announced, "Talisman Sphere!" and formed a crystalline barrier charged with pure power that only a shaman digimon could create. The shield expanded quickly, crashing into Marsmon and knocking him back in surprise. Last time he had observed this sort of attack from her, she'd used it to contain his fiery pillar rather than directly striking him. "That looked painful."
"Hardly," he remarked before launching at her with the intent to physically punch her.
"Spirit Strike!" she called, summoning the fox-shaped entities to combat the mega.
"Predictable," scoffed the vaccine as he smacked them away like before.
The shaman digimon had expected him to deflect the colorful spirits and was already preparing another attack while he was distracted. Shifting her staff in her grip, she chose her next move.
"Amethyst Mandala!"
Around Marsmon, a huge ring of golden energy formed. Too caught up with the fox-spirits directly attacking him, he didn't immediately notice the new threat until the ring began to contract around him. At that point, the mega began struggling against his crushing restraints.
Rika, within her blue sphere of awareness, once more felt the urge to assure herself that the avian opponent wasn't about to attack from behind. Diverting part of her attention away from the golden trap, she checked again that the two angels were fulfilling their promise to keep Valkyrimon occupied.
That short lapse in concentration was all Marsmon needed. Forcing his arms outwards, he shattered the ring that bound him. The backlash of the attack's destruction knocked Sakuyamon out of the air. She did manage to catch herself before she fell flat on her face at least, throwing out the end of her staff to maintain her balance.
"Rika, you need to remain focused on our opponent," Renamon's voice reminded. "Do you not trust our companions to handle Valkyrimon as they said they would? Would you doubt Gallantmon or MegaGargomon like this?"
"I…," the girl began before Marsmon interrupted.
"Mugen Hadou!"
The fire on his cuffs engulfed his fists. With speed that would make his avian team mate jealous, he punched Sakuyamon hard in the stomach. His next blow connected to the left side of her face. His flaming fist struck the back of her head next. For several seconds, he rained down long combinations of painful blows on the fox-lady. The speed and ferocity left the Biomerged mega too stunned to gasp out in pain. To finish off his attack, Marsmon struck the ground and a pillar of fire exploded out of the ground.
When the flames cleared, Rika and Renamon were left battered on the ground. They weren't, however, out of trouble yet. As the red-haired tamer stumbled to her feet, the vaccine shook his head at the pair.
"I expected better of you after your first attempt," he remarked disappointedly. "But I shouldn't have. You are, after all, females."
"Celestial Arrow!" cried Angewomon, firing on the muscular mega.
T.K. and Kari, who'd run up behind the girl while her attention was on Marsmon, began to quickly help her and Renamon upright.
"You okay?" the boy asked, his face showing concern for the pair. "I mean, I know you're not okay, but…"
"You're starting to sound like Davis," Kari interrupted. "You're babbling."
Rika nodded, "I'm fine. Renamon?"
The yellow fox nodded; her icy blue glancing at her partner. The red-haired girl felt ashamed that her distraction allowed them to lose their grip on Marsmon. Why couldn't she have just focused on the one digimon she was supposed to?
"Angemon," shouted the vaccine champion's partner, "I think you better go up a level."
Of course. An ultimate and champion would work against a single mega, especially since the angels were powerful anyway. But Angemon wouldn't be able to hold his own against a mega if Angewomon was facing another mega and couldn't help him. And they didn't have a mega of their own anymore because of a certain tamer.
"Angemon Digivolve to… MagnaAngemon!"
The new ultimate now possessed a total of eight wings, a glowing purple sword on his right wrist, and a beam shield on his left shoulder. His helm was now purple and longer than the grey one of Angemon. Four of his white wings wrapped around his body along with twin yellow ribbons covered in digi-code.
"Laser Javelin!" shouted Valkyrimon.
His explosive projectile struck the transformed angelic digimon, but it didn't seem to have seriously harmed him. Before MagnaAngemon could return his own attack, the agile avian digimon dashed behind him. With his incredible speed, the mega drew his weapon from his sheath.
"Feral Sword!" the vaccine opponent announced as he swung his blade and froze several of the angel's multiple wings.
Grimacing, Rika felt her hand clench into a fist by her side. She hated being helpless. Now she was forced to stand at the sidelines with her partner because of a stupid mistake. Why did she let this happen?
Because Renamon was right, she realized. She'd been distracted away from Marsmon for one simple reason. She lacked trust. She hadn't trusted the Digidestined and their partners enough to keep Valkyrimon away from their duel. So she'd kept watching for them to fail their promise.
And it wasn't the first time she'd been suspicious of trusting people who just wanted to help. Henry, Takato, and their partners were met with disapproval, feelings of superiority, and distrust of their reliability. How many times did they have to prove themselves before she began to actually believe she could depend on someone beyond herself? For that matter, there were points she didn't trust her own partner. In addition to viewing Renamon as a tool, she'd even been stupid enough to accuse her of not trying hard enough. It all came back to her trust issues.
"I'm sorry," she sighed slowly, catching the Digidestined and her partner's attention. "I should have known better."
"It's not your fault that…," began Kari, but Rika interrupted.
"Yes, it is. I was acting stupid and distrustful again. I didn't trust you guys enough and allowed myself to be distracted by it."
T.K. tried to assure her, "You barely know us. It's hard to trust strangers."
"But I barely give people a chance. I just don't trust," she continued, her eyes narrowing as Angemon and Marsmon. "I never trust anyone and that's going to get me and my partner killed."
The Digidestined of Light actually smiled at this, "Sounds like someone is having an epiphany moment."
The red-head nodded, "There are people I can trust though. I can trust Renamon. I can trust Grandma and Mom to stand by me and love me, even if they don't always understand me. I can trust Takato to be a goggle-head, but dependable and Henry to be understanding of everyone's viewpoint. I can trust Guilmon, Jeri, and Calumon to be too caring for their own good. I trust that Terriermon, Kazu, and Impmon will continue to annoy me, but will remain loyal when things get tough. I trust that Leomon and Guadromon will keep up their 'hero behavior,' even if the robot is kind of naïve. I trust my friends and I trust that not everyone I meet will break that trust."
Both Digidestined adopted a grin as the girl finished her miniature speech and the white card around her neck began to glow. While Rika looked surprised, the pair seemed to be expecting the reaction.
"Well, I think we know your crest now," the Digidestined of Hope commented.
On the white surface, blue lines appeared. Two diamonds interlocked, like links of a chain, were set vertically on her crest and matched the shade of blue of her D-arc. Even more importantly, she could feel power radiating off. It was a warm sensation that eased away the earlier damage that Marsmon caused. And a strange ringing sounded in her ears.
She received an even bigger surprise when the ringing became voices. It wasn't one voice, but several of multiple genders, volumes, and tones that overlapped so seamlessly that the individual ones could hardly be noticed. In the end, the effect was similar to having one, gender-neutral voice with only the slightest sense of echoing. Out of the corner of her eyes, Rika saw Renamon stiffen as the voices began. On the other hand, no one else reacted. Thus, the tamer felt confident only she and the fox rookie could hear it.
Trust. The belief that others can be depended on and that they can depend on you in return. Fragile and easily broken, bonds forged in trust can still support the weight of friendship.
Easy to lose and difficult to regain when lost, it is a precious gift to possess. It means you can rely on them to be there in all situations. They can be entrusted to be there in all of that befalls you.
Trust is not only being able to have faith in others, but to keep their trust in return. Those you depend on shall rely on you in return. When they reach out, they will know you will take their hand. Neither shall believe that the other shall betray.
Trust.
Blinking as the sound faded away, Rika once more looked at her earlier opponent. Angewomon was blocking the flaming fist directed at her with a cross-like shape acting as a shield. Marsmon seemed vaguely frustrated, but still confident.
Taking the crest in one hand and her D-arc in the other, the tamer asked, "Ready for another try, Renamon?"
"Always."
Slashing the card-shaped object through the device, the girl announced, "Digi-Modify! Crest of Trust Activate!"
Once more, the two individuals were enveloped in light. This time, however, the power seemed infinitely greater.
"Renamon Crest Biomerge to… Sakuyamon Trust Mode!"
Marsmon was growing increasingly frustrated with all the females. He barely defeats the fox-lady mega before an even more feminine-looking ultimate took her place. At least with Sakuyamon, there was a challenge with her variety of attacks. Angewomon was more straightforward. If his master had not requested that they try again against these partnered digimon, this time in smaller groups if possible, then the proud mega would not have wasted his time with the angel.
"Why do you not switch with the other angel so that I might fight a proper opponent for once?" he asked as she blocked his blows with another "Heaven's Charm."
The female digimon smiled below her metal helm, "I'm simply keeping you entertained until its time."
"Time for what?"
"Time for us to rejoin the fun," a dual voice answered.
Recognizing the speaker as Sakuyamon, he turned away from Angewomon in favor of the slightly more interesting challenge. To his surprise, the data type was not quite as he remembered.
In general shape, she seemed the same. A shaman in golden armor still remained, but certain details were different. Her golden staff, the pole once smooth, was now covered in digi-code wrapped around its length and spiraling down to the end. They spelt out the words "Sakuyamon Trust Mode" in their strange shapes. One end, still bearing the golden rings that rattled rhythmically, now held a sapphire at the pointed tip and seemed to contain an inner glow. Her golden armor still protected her form, but at the top of her purple boots, the back of her wrists where a pair of her many yin-yang symbols once adorned her, and the center of her chest where her collarbone would end, a sapphire-blue orb was embedded. The one on her chest had thin gold lines forming two interlocking diamonds on the smooth blue surface. Her silvery hair, previously drawn back in a pair of ponytails, now flowed freely behind her. Her golden mask still hid her face except for her lavender lips, but now twin sapphire gems were placed like false eyes on the fox-like covering.
"May we cut in, Angewomon?" the transformed mega requested.
The angel nodded, "I'll help out MagnaAngemon then. We'll handle Valkyrimon."
"I trust you," smiled Sakuyamon. Turning her attention back to the staring Marsmon, the smile changed into a smirk, "Let's try this again, shall we?"
A small, blue flame appeared at the end of her staff. Twisting the long pole in a circle, the small flame left a trail behind it. When she held the staff back in its original position, a thin ring of fire now stood between them. The blue flames brightened until they began to glow white. The entire process took only seconds to achieve.
"Try knocking this one aside," the human girl's voice suggested smugly. "Ring of Truth!"
Turning on its side, the white-hot flames spun at him like a sawblade. Raising his fist towards the threat, Marsmon felt something he hadn't in a long time.
He felt that he'd found a worthy opponent.
Man, that was too awesome. I kept rewriting part of this, trying to get her to look right. It took thirty chapters to have the first crest activated, but it was completely worth it. I hope she turned out alright. And yes, when these crest activate, the kids and the digimon get a brief explanation of their crest's power. That will be represented as underlined.
Since Rika was the originally the lone wolf of the group, like Matt from season 1, she ended up with the crest that is difficult for her. Just like Friendship was harder for the boy. And she had one of those epiphany moments that the kids always have when they get their crest or digi-egg power to work the first time. Of course, Rika is going to never tell anyone that she made a mini-speech like that.
Reviews are deeply appreciated. Especially since I want to know how this went over. And if you can draw, I would love to see someone draw some of the things from my story. This includes digimon, DigiDestined, the new crests, etc. Like I said, I love your feedback.