I'M SORRY I TOOK SO LONG GETTING THIS DONE! PLEASE FORGIVE ME!
Yeah, with my muse going to various rock concerts without me (much to my annoyance!) I've been a little busy with job hunting, procrastination, freshers week, procrastination, starting my 2nd year at university, procrastination, writers block, procrastination, assignments…did I mention procrastination? But yeah, you get the idea. After getting the 1st 3 chapters done so quick…I kinda lost the spark for a while. Hopefully it doesn't read too badly and will be better with the TLC that Magician Girl Mirani has very kindly provided!
Also, Kudos to code R.R for recognising my choice of Zanpakutou for Takato.
And with that, Here...We...GO!
Explanations, Snakes and New Tamers!
A low groan emerged from his throat as Takato eye's slowly opened from his long rest. He tried to sit up in his bead, but was barely able to lift his head of the pillow to look at his surroundings.
He noticed that he was in his bedroom, but he had absolutely no idea how he got there in the first place. The last thing he remembered was...
He suddenly bolted upright as he recalled the events at the Hypnos building, but slumped to the side of his bed, unable to move. He'd never felt this exhausted before, it was like he hadn't moved in weeks. Before he could attempt do anything else, he heard his bedroom door opened and someone step into his bedroom, before rushing to his bed, noticing that he had moved.
"'Bout time you finally woke up Gogglehead! We've been waiting for you to get moving for the past 3 days!" Came a female voice that Takato instantly recognised as Rika's. He may have been a little groggy, but he definitely heard how long he'd been out for.
'3 Days! I've never slept that long before! Then again, I've never done anything like that before.' He would have said something in response, but his throat was like sandpaper. He was thirsty. He just croaked slightly, it was the loudest he could speak for the moment. However, his mother walked past the room at that moment and heard. Realising that he was finally awake, she quickly ran into his room, nearly knocking Rika over.
"Takato! Are you alright, sweetie? Everyone's been worrying about you!" exclaimed Mie, who was now helping her son sit up, oblivious of the girl that was standing behind her. That is, until Rika coughed to get her attention and pass her the glass of water that had been on the side. Mie blinked in confusion, until an apologetic look appeared on her face.
"Sorry Rika, I didn't see you there," apologised Mie, as she took the glass from Rika with a small thank you. Rika nodded in return, understanding what Takato's mother meant before leaning against the wall, waiting for a chance to...talk with the goggle headed boy about just WHAT had happened 3 days ago.
Takato gratefully drank the water that his mother was giving to him. He'd have taken the glass to have the drink himself, but his arms didn't quite feel strong enough to hold the glass without dropping it. He could slowly feel life returning to his limbs though. Soon enough, he'd drained the entire contents of the glass.
"Thanks mum," mumbled Takato, who was grateful that his throat no longer felt rough. He turned his attention to Rika. He was glad that she was alright, but he was still worried about the others.
"How's everyone else doing, Rika?"
"They're all fine, sleeping beauty. We've been waiting for you to finally wake up. You owe us some SERIOUS explanations," replied the red head, who glared at Takato, so he knew that there was no way he was going to worm his way out of this situation. A fact he quickly realised.
"I'm glad you're ok," replied Takato, before sighing and asking, "Where are the others?"
"They're all downstairs. We got here a few minutes ago when I decided to see if you'd finally woken up. And before you ask, Henry brought Guilmon here from the park. He's fine as well."
Takato sighed in relief. He remembered seeing his friend get knocked aside by the creature after fighting Mihiramon and didn't know how he was. Hearing this from Rika took a weight off his chest.
"I'm gonna let the others know you're awake." Before Rika could leave the room though, Takato quickly asked, "If you want me to try and explain what happened, you mind bringing the others up here? I don't think I'll be moving for a little while, and I don't want to repeat this too much. It's probably gonna take a while." Despite the fact that he was finally awake, he didn't feel strong enough to be moving from his bed just yet.
"Sure," replied Rika, who quickly left, muttering "Lazy Goggle head," under her breath. Though she'd never admit this to the others, the other reason she'd volunteered to check on Takato was because she enjoyed seeing how peaceful he looked. None of the others knew this, though she could have sworn Jeri was giving her a knowing look just before she went to check on the goggle headed tamer. But she simply shrugged it off before reaching the top of the stairs.
After alerting the others, it didn't take long to get them all into Takato's room. Naturally, Guilmon, in his excitement, charged ahead and nearly knocked his currently bed-ridden tamer back over, if Renamon hadn't managed to get a hold of him and convince him to calm down. He whimpered in apology and sat back on his haunches, watching as the others gathered around his tamer.
While waiting, Takato simply leaned against the wall at the end of his bed, with his eyes half shut, attempting to speak to Dante. 'Dante? Are you still there?'
"Yes, Takato, I am here. Although it seems my weapon no longer appears to be with you. You'll have to ask the others what happened, because I lost contact with the outside world when you passed out."
This had Takato slightly worried, but managed to hide it from the others as they entered. He was grateful for Renamon stopping his partner from rushing him. He couldn't deal with the overly happy saurian just yet. Once everyone was gathered, he attempted to gather his thoughts for what would be a VERY long explanation.
"Before I answer anything, you guys know what happened to that...sword that I had from the fight with Mihiramon?" Asked Takato, who was looking around his room for any sign of it.
"Check the top card of your deck, goggles. I hope you plan on explaining that as well," came a reply from Rika, who was leaning against the now closed bedroom door. Henry, who was sat next to Takato's cards, quickly took the top card to pass to him, but not before checking it for himself. He then handed the card to its owner, a confused expression on his face.
Takato took the card and was surprised to see the image of the sword from that night on it, along with the title 'Zanpakutou: Dante'. 'Well, at least we know where the sword disappeared to.'
"Indeed, though I have no idea on how this came to be just yet. I'll have to think about this," came Dante's reply. "Now, I think it's time to explain what you can to your friends. For now, just tell them most of what I told you. That will probably cover most of the questions they will likely have, if not all of them."
Takato simply nodded in reply before looking at his friends and fellow tamers. "I know I have a lot of explaining to do. This is gonna take a while, so please, try and wait till I'm finished before you bury me alive with the various questions you'll probably find."
After everyone nodded in agreement, Takato began giving the same explanation about hollows and Shinigami that Dante had given him when they first met. He was amazed that no one asked while questions, even Kazu and Kenta stayed quiet. Although, there were a couple of times when they opened their mouths to say something, but they were quickly shut when Rika noticed and clapped them round the back of the head, since they were sat near her during the explanation (Think of the dreaded Gibbs Slap from NCIS).
It took about half an hour to get through the explanation, since there were a few times when Dante had to remind him of a few details. But by the time he was finished, everyone, including Rika, was looking at him with the biggest WTF faces he'd seen. He couldn't help but chuckle at their faces, but it was enough to snap them out of it, before Rika managed to say something.
"So, you mean to tell us that you did…what you did a few nights ago because the Digital world has somehow been linked with a world that is full of evil soul eating creatures, which just so happens to be considered Hell for another earth that has no clue about Digimon in any way. While you, have somehow gained the power of a…soul reaper, which in a way is like the guardian angels of that worlds heaven. And the sword that you used is basically a part of your soul but separate, and it's pretty much alive?" she asked with an incredulous expression on her face, while Takato simply nodded in confirmation.
Henry looked to be deep in thought at what had been said, while Jeri was looking at Takato with wide eyes. Kazu and Kenta simply looked stupefied, their mouths hanging wide open as if their jaws were about to fall off. Renamon, from her perch by the window, merely looked at Takato with an unreadable expression, while Guilmon simply watched what was happening with a half lidded gaze. All of the talking had bored him. Naturally, it was Terriermon who broke the thick silence in the room.
"Geez Takato, how many paint chips have you eaten these past few months?" This got him a scolding from Henry, a few chuckles from Kazu and Kenta, a giggle from Jeri and a smirk from Rika.
"Then do you have any better explanations, Terriermon?" came the reply from Renamon, speaking for the first time since her arrival as she levelled her gaze on him. He opened his mouth as if to answer, but he simply stayed quiet and shook his head. "I thought so."
"That may explain what that...thing was that attacked us and how you were able to stop it, but there's one thing you didn't explain." Everyone looked towards Henry, who was now looking between Takato and his digimon. "How did you end up so...synchronised with Guilmon like that? I mean, you two seemed to move like you were the same person, you felt the blows he felt and whatever you said back there, he acted as if he could hear you from the top of the Hypnos building, which should be impossible!"
At this point, Kazu, Kenta and Jeri were looking at Henry Wide eyed, since they had arrived after the battle with Mihiramon. Rika and the other digimon simply looked at Takato curiously, as they recalled what happened after Growlmon fought with the tiger digimon.
Takato simply sighed and closed his eyes. 'How do I explain that one?'
"I don't know Takatomon." Takato's eyes snapped open as he looked towards his partner with the others, confused expressions on their faces. "Guilmon, I didn't say anything."
"Yes you did. You asked 'How do I explain that one?'" That had Takato's eyes widen to the size of dinner plates.
"Guilmon...I didn't say that. I THOUGHT that."
At that point, you could have heard a mouse crap on cotton in Takato's Bedroom.
"You...thought that?" asked a now gobsmacked Rika. "How is that possible? I can't do that with Renamon, and I can sure as hell guess that Henry and his rabbit can't either (Terriermon shouted an indignant "HEY!" in protest and puffed his cheeks), so how are you able to do it?" On the outside, she only appeared shocked, but inside she was also angry that Takato had AGAIN beaten her to something that she couldn't do as a Tamer. She prided herself on being the strongest and that image was being shot to hell after the battle at Hypnos by the weakest tamer of the group.
"I think that knightmon said something about us having a strong bond," came the childish reply, prompting a raised eyebrow from Rika and a curious look from Henry and the others. Takato simply face palmed.
"He wasn't a Mon, Guilmon. But yeah, he did say something about us having a strong bond, even though we'd been partners for the shortest amount of time." Takato tapped his chin in thought. "Maybe it's because I actually created you..."
"Wait, you CREATED Guilmon?" Came the shocked question from Henry, while the others looked at Takato wide eyed. Even Rika looked a little shocked by that.
"Well...yeah. Didn't you wonder why you could never get any data from him on your D-arcs? Mine's probably the only one that'll give anything on him." Henry merely nodded slightly in agreement, while Rika simply rolled her eyes
"And I thought you were weird before goggle boy. What's next, you're gonna tell us that you dream of skating on sausages and eating nothing but bread like Guilmon?" Takato narrowed his eyes at this and actually glared at Rika.
"Rika, I can tell you're angry about this, but DON'T knock it. If it wasn't for this...bond, I wouldn't be here right now!"
"What do you mean by..." Rika's reply was cut as off as Takato swiftly drew a finger across his neck, making the meaning behind his statement clear as day. "If you remember, I'd actually stopped breathing during that little 'light show' I was giving, as you called it."
Rika nodded her head as she recalled the events from that night. Suddenly, Kazu's brain had finally started working well enough to ask a question.
"Wait, you make it sound like all of those guys you mentioned were ghosts, so...does that mean you're a ghost as well?" Kenta looked a little scared, thinking he was talking to a ghost of his friend, while the others looked at Takato wondering the same thing.
"If I was a ghost, you would have seen 2 copies of me back there, one of which would have been on the ground looking dead," he replied. "I'm still alive, though Dante-my Zanpakutou-has no idea how or why I'm still alive and able to use him like I did. He's still thinking about how he even exists with me."
Kazu and Kenta relaxed upon hearing that Takato was alive, while Jeri looked relived that her friend was still alive. Henry, however, still looked like he was thinking about something.
"Hey Takato, do you think Dante knows if any of us will be able to get zanpakutous?" Everyone looked at Henry like he was crazy before turning to Takato. You could practically see Kazu and Kenta dreaming of having powers like that.
Takato simply repeated the question to Dante. "They may do, but they may never learn the name of their sword, so they wouldn't be able to do much. But I very highly doubt that any of them will develop a zanpakutou-unless they want to experience death first hand and see what happens."
Takato relayed the reply to the others. Kazu and Kenta paled at what was needed and immediately decided they preferred to live. Jeri was wide eyed, but remembered what Takato said earlier about how he got his sword. Henry and Rika merely glanced at their partners.
While they thought it could help, they remembered that for some reason, they weren't as bonded with their partner's as Takato was with Guilmon, so if something happened there was no guarantee of surviving. Takato had survived through sheer luck, something that they didn't have as much of for some reason.
"Well, it was worth asking Brainiac," said Rika, as she stood up from leaning on the wall. "But personally, I'd rather not die. Anyway, I'd stay longer, but my Grandma wants me home shortly. I'll see you guys later."
"Bye Rika, Bye Renamon," waved Guilmon as Rika walked out the door, while Renamon phased out.
"We should probably leave to. You still look a little tired pal," said Henry as he stood up, Terriermon still perched on his shoulder. Jeri stood up with him, while Kazu and Kenta looked as if they wanted to stay. Takato, however, simply yawned very loudly.
"Thanks Henry. I'll see you guys later, ok?" He said as he lay back down, eyes already starting to shut.
"See ya later, Chumley," said Kenta as he and Kazu headed towards the door. Jeri also said goodbye before she headed out the door. Henry was the last to leave, but Terriermon managed to shout "Remember, no fighting evil monsters for the next few days!" This got a light chuckle from the 2 boys, before Henry finally left. Takato lay back down, noticing that Guilmon had curled up and was already snoring.
He chuckled and thought to himself, 'I have a feeling that things are going to get very hectic soon,' before shutting his eyes and going back to sleep.
(Scene Change)
The next few days were amazingly quiet, considering everything that had happened to the tamers. Takato was able to move about the day after he'd explained everything he could to his friends. He didn't try to swipe his new card straight away He didn't know what would happen after all and didn't want to risk something bad happening.
He was curious about Calumon though, since Dante had explained what he'd seen that night while Takato was sleeping. The thought that he was responsible for all of their partner's digivolutions sounded impossible, yet he had been at nearly all of their battles when that happened, including the battle with Mihiramon when Takato got the Blue card, allowing Growlmon to reach his ultimate level for the first time.
'Just when I thought things couldn't get any weirder with us,' thought Takato with a sigh, as he looked at his partner. Takato was currently sitting in Guilmon's shed, watching his partner play with Calumon, who decided to visit not long ago. He'd contacted the others about hanging out, but they all had other plans for the day. So he decided to go to the park anyway. He enjoyed watching the two digimon playing together, but he still felt slightly anxious. He kept feeling like there was someone else watching him. He looked around but saw nobody there, so he passed it off as paranoia.
As he was about to stand up, he heard several people approaching the shed. He looked out of the door to see Kazu, Kenta and Jeri heading towards the shed, along with a couple of their other friends. Takato walked up to them and waved to them. "What are you guys doing out here? I thought you said you were gonna be busy."
"Well..." started Jeri, "after everything you and the others have done, we wanted to surprise you all. But it looks like the others aren't here."
"Yeah, they all had other stuff to do with their families today," replied Takato, who could see the others looking at Guilmon and Calumon in awe. He couldn't help but smile at their reactions towards the large saurian and the little cream puff sitting on his head.
"Oh well, do you mind if we spend the day with you guys anyway? You could probably do with a day off?" asked Jeri.
"Yeah, come on, Chumley," said Kenta, as he put an arm around Takato's shoulder, "take a load off your shoulders." Takato simply shook his head in amusement as he looked at the people around him. "Sure, I got nothing else going on today."
The others laughed and cheered as they headed further into the park, with Takato and the 2 digimon following. None of them noticed the pair of teal eyes hidden in the nearby trees watching them carefully, especially the goggle wearing member of the group.
(Scene Change)
On the other side of town, Rika was sitting in a theatre with her Grandma, watching a bizarre play. She couldn't remember what it was called, and for all intents and purposes, she was grateful for that. The play was awful. She would have preferred to hang out with Takato and the others in the park rather than watch the rest of this, but she had promised to see this with her Grandma a while ago. She hadn't done much with her elder relative since Renamon became her partner.
She sighed as she looked around the theatre in an attempt to stay awake. There wasn't much to look at, but she noticed someone who stood out for some reason. He appeared to be around her age, but, strangely, his hair was white as snow. His teal eyes showed the same boredom that she felt, but when she looked in his direction, she could have sworn his eyes moved away, as if he had been looking at her. Rika simply shook it off and looked back towards the stage. She still couldn't shake the feeling that she was being watched though.
The play finished not long after she'd spotted the boy and the relief was easily seen on her face as she left the theatre with her grandmother.
"Well, that wasn't so bad, was it Rika?" asked Seiko, who watched as her granddaughter gave a slight shrug in response. She chuckled slightly. While she may have found the play more entertaining than Rika, she still enjoyed spending time with her granddaughter, even if they didn't say much to each other.
The walk to the subway station was quiet, but Rika still couldn't shake the feeling she was being watched. It was similar to the time before being taken by IceDevimon a couple of months ago, but at the same time, it didn't feel as...creepy, as that had been. She looked around and saw nothing, but could have sworn she caught a glimpse of white hair among the crowds on the street.
It was as they reached the bottom of the steps in the subway station that Rika's D-Arc suddenly started beeping as the station filled with what appeared to be smoke.
'A Digital Field!' thought Rika as she checked her D-Arc, while Seiko looked around to see who had started smoking. It wasn't long before a hissing sound was heard from the tunnel. As Rika looked towards it, a pair of red eyes glowed from the darkness as they came speeding towards the stop. Renamon quickly phased in next to her, just out of sight of the elder Nonaka.
"Renamon, we need to get these people out of here."
"Right," replied the Kitsune. She spotted a nearby fire alarm and set it off, prompting all of the people to head back to the stairs in a rush. Seiko was caught up in the crowd.
"Rika!"
"I'll be fine grandma, I'll catch up," replied the red head as she headed towards the edge of the station, D-Arc in hand. Seiko barely had a chance to respond before a security officer helped move her up the stairs back to street level.
A second later, a large Cobra like digimon sped past, not paying any attention to the pair. Rika didn't realise this, as she was busy trying to bring up information on her D-Arc. However, as with Mihiramon, the screen remained blank.
"Oh great, that's all I need, another Mihiramon! Urgh, these things are useless!" However, she quickly stopped grumbling to herself and grabbed a card from her deck holder. "Renamon, you ready?"
"Always."
"Then let's get him. Digi-Modify!" She shouted, swiping the card through her D-Arc "Digivolution Activate!"
"Renamon digivolve to…" Renamon's form began to change, growing larger and switching from bipedal to quadrupedal. A large decorated bow shaped collar formed around her neck, with 8 more tails forming behind her.
"Kyuubimon!"
Rika quickly hopped onto her partner's back as the snake digimon carried on down the subway tunnel. "After him!"
Kyuubimon quickly gave chase. While large, the snake was extremely fast, something which Rika quickly noticed, causing her to swipe a Hyper Speed card through her D-Arc, allowing Kyuubimon to move faster.
It wasn't long until they were out of sight of the platform, leaving no one to notice a white haired teenager watching after them, before quickly disappearing, as if he hadn't been there.
(Scene Change)
Henry sighed as he sat on the train home with Terriermon. They'd decided to spend the day in town, which was code for Terriermon had nagged Henry into taking him out of the house before he was subjected to any more tea parties as 'Princess Pretty Pants' by his little sister, Suzie. While usually, it wouldn't have bothered him, Terriermon was…kind enough, to remind him of a little piece of information that he knew and Henry didn't want the others to know, especially Takato! So he took Terriermon to town on the subway system. It actually turned out to be a good idea, as Henry was able to visit some of the Digimon Card Shops and get some much needed recovery cards. If any of the new digimon to arrive were like Mihiramon then those would definitely be a big help to the tamers.
The peace was quickly disturbed by the rapid beeping of his D-Arc. He quickly retrieved it and was surprised to see it indicating a digimon coming towards the train. He looked out the window and paled when he saw a large white cobra with a purple hood and a green kind of vest not far below the head. He wasn't the only one to notice it, since the echoing hisses had caught the attention of everyone else on the train. This was definitely not a good thing as, at the sight of the large reptilian digimon, most began to panic and hyperventilate. Luckily, the train had just reached the next stop.
'Oh great, just when I thought it'd be a peaceful day,' thought Henry as he picked up Terriermon, so he wouldn't get caught in the approaching stampede.
Everyone rushed through the doors as they opened, just as the digimon roared, the energy release causing the train to break into data. Henry would have digivolved Terriermon there and then, but a shout of "My Baby!" caught his attention. He turned and saw a small child sat in the isle, and the crowd prevented his mother from reaching the child.
Unfortunately, the digimon noticed this easy prey as well! Everyone heard the snake's roar of "VENOM AXE" as it launched an axe from its mouth towards the child.
Henry was just about to swipe a 'WarGreymon's Shield' through his D-arc when a tall Strawberry-Blonde haired teen suddenly pushed past, grabbed the kid and leapt back quickly just before the axe reached them. Henry barely saw the guy move, but stayed quiet as he passed the boy back to his mother who thanked him before running out of the station with her son. Henry went to thank him as well, but the teen simply glanced at him before moving with the rest of the crowd, hiding him from sight.
'Who was that?' before Henry could look back, the snake continued its trip down the tunnel as the train finished dissolving. As soon as the snake was gone Henry made his way to the steps, intent on chase the reptilian digimon on foot via the surface but, before he could get up the steps, he heard something else rapidly approaching from the tunnel the snake had come from. He went to grab a card, but was relieved when he saw Kyuubimon with Rika riding on her back. Before he could say anything, Rika yelled at him as she passed him by.
"Call Goggle head now! We're gonna need his help to take this guy down!" Henry wasn't given time to reply as Kyuubimon continued down the tunnel after the digimon.
Terriermon simply jumped onto his partners shoulder. "You think she could've asked us for help? But no, she asked us to call her boyfriend!"
"Terriermon! Relax, she just asked us to call for backup. She did say that we would need his help, right?"
"You're right. Doesn't mean I can't say anything about this later. I wonder how he'd react…"
"I'm not cleaning up whatever's left of you when Rika and Renamon finish," Henry replied as he started dialling Takato's number. It was a good thing that he remembered to bring his mobile with him. The phone only rang a couple of times before someone answered.
"Hello, Matsuki Bakery. How can I help," came the voice of Takehiro Matsuki, Takato's father. Not the man Henry was looking for, but it was a start.
"Mr Matsuki, its Henry Wong, Takato's friend. Is Takato around?" asked the blue haired teen as he started to head up to street level in hopes of catching up with Rika and the latest enemy to appear.
"Sorry, Henry he's not here. I think he's at the park with his friends. He mentioned something about heading there today."
Henry nearly face palmed as he remembered that Takato had tried to get him and Rika to hang out today but they'd both had other plans. Henry would have been babysitting if his mum hadn't cancelled her plans for the afternoon to spend time with Suzie.
"Okay, thanks Mr Matsuki. Do you know if he has his phone with him? Ok, I'll try calling him on his mobile then. Thanks." Henry hung up and promptly dialled Takato's number, thankful he'd memorised it. Unfortunately, Takato didn't pick up the phone.
"Dammit. Why is it whenever we need someone, we can never get a hold of them," grumbled Henry as he ran down the street, Terriermon clinging to his head.
"Momentai, Henry. Maybe we won't need him. Although having a massive dinosaur on your side is reassuring…"
"Gee, you think Terriermon," snarked Henry, who received a blank look from Terriermon although he couldn't see it. Somehow he sensed it though and he sighed before explaining. "It was sarcasm Terriermon. You know, when someone states the blatantly obvious!"
"So that's what that was. You don't need to teach me that Henry."
"I never noticed," replied Henry, who re-checked his D-Arc to make sure they were headed in the right direction. He bolted down the next set of stairs leading to the next subway station, never noticing the Strawberry-blonde teen that had been following him with a small child on his back, or the white haired teen joining him. They simply nodded to each other before vanishing at speeds that wouldn't be considered…human.
(Scene Change)
Meanwhile in the park, Takato was having a blast with his friends. It had been a long time since they'd simply acted like kids running around and pushing each other in a shopping trolley that one of the teens had found. Hell, even the digimon were taking turns being pushed in the trolley. Everyone was having a great time.
However, this still didn't keep Takato from feeling like he was being watched by someone. A couple of times, he could've sworn he saw something in the trees, but whatever may have been there disappeared when he looked. While he was still having fun with his friends, it did make him feel just a little uneasy.
Eventually he stopped and looked around, something that didn't go unnoticed by the rest of the people with him.
"What's bugging you Chummly?"
"I keep feeling like someone's been watching us for a while now. It's making me feel a little…uneasy."
"Pfft, you're imagining things, Takato. You're just feeling too wound up after everything that happened. Just relax!"
"Uh…maybe your right, Kazu," replied the Goggle headed tamer, but not before one last glance at the bushes. He thought he saw something move, but there was nothing there.
'Did you see that Dante?'
"Yes, but it wasn't a hollow. Keep your eyes open, we definitely aren't alone out here.'
But before he could head back to the others, he heard a voice that he REALLY didn't want to hear.
"Wow, you guys are really pathetic you know that." Takato and the others turned to see what looked like a small child dressed as an imp sat up in the trees. It was Impmon, a rookie digimon that loved nothing more than to cause trouble for everyone he came across and never knew when to stop
Takato merely groaned. "What are you doing here Impmon? Isn't there someone else that you could be annoying right now?"
"Well I'd annoy your other lousy tamer friends but they're a little busy trying not to get eaten by a massive snake Digimon that's causing trouble in the subways. If you weren't too busy goofing around like a bunch of babies, you would have picked him up by now!"
"What?" Takato took out his D-Arc and found that, to his surprise, it was indicating that a digimon was nearby. In fact, it seemed to be directly below them. This was quickly confirmed when Guilmon started growling as he entered into his 'viral' state.
"One problem Chumley. How are you gonna get down to the others from here? The nearest subway entrance is about 10 minutes from here, and that's by car. That's too far!" Came the exclamation from Kazu, who looked slightly nervous about the situation.
"I think I have something that can help with that. Guilmon, you ready?" Guilmon simply nodded to his partner. On that, Takato grabbed a card from his deck and swiped it through his D-Arc.
"Digi-modify! Digmon's Drill Activate!"
Guilmon's claws glowed before suddenly changed, becoming a pair of drills. As soon as the change was completed, Guilmon started drilling straight down.
"I'll be back soon guys. Try and stay out of trouble." With that, Takato jumped into the hole after his partner, the calls of good luck from his friends following him. No one noticed the Teal eyes that had been watching them all day vanish, or the smaller digital field appearing among the trees behind the children.
(Scene Change)
Down in the subway, things were looking grim. Despite having digivolved their partner's to champion level, the snake digimon was easily holding his own, if not winning the fight. Henry had, thankfully, managed to catch up to the large snake at the next subway point. Somehow Rika and Kyuubimon had managed to slow the snake just enough for Henry to meet them at the next platform. Now the two champion level digimon were trying desperately to fight off the large reptilian digimon.
"This is just great. Nothing we do seems to faze him. Where the hell is that blasted Gogglehead. We need Growlmon!"
"I tried to get a hold of him when you passed us, but he wasn't home and he didn't answer his phone. His folks said he was down in the park with the others."
Rika growled as she re-checked her D-Arc. They'd only just managed to get some information on their opponent, and didn't exactly fill her with confidence.
Name: Sandiramon
Level: Ultimate
Attribute: Data
Type: Holy Beast
Attacks: Venom Axe, Treasure Halberd
Typical. First Takato turns out to be some kind of…spirit warrior thing that can fight creatures that devour souls and now they have to deal with another ultimate, possibly stronger than Mihiramon and may have more of those Hollow things with it. Just when things seemed to be normal, this happened. At least they'd only been dealing with a digimon so far.
None of their cards seemed to make a difference. Kyuubimon and Gargomon just didn't have the power needed to bring him down. As much as Rika hated to admit it, they really needed Takato's help. Of course, you know about the saying 'ask and ye shall receive'.
No sooner had she thought this, the roof above the large snake collapsed, the rubble landing on top of Sandiramon's head, stunning him. The rubble was quickly followed by Takato and Guilmon who ran straight towards their friends upon catching sight of them. While Guilmon was greeted with thankful glances and yells from the group, Takato was greeted by a smack round the head from Rika.
"What took you so long goggles? We've been trying to contact you for ages! Do you ever answer your damn phone!"
"Really?" Takato took out his phone, only to find that it was dead. He chuckled nervously, while Henry face palmed and Rika whacked him again for not having his phone charged in case of a situation like this.
"Rika, you can deal with Takato later. Right now we need Guilmon to digivolve to help take care of this guy"
"Fine. But we WILL talk about this later, goggles," came Rika's reply. Takato simply chuckled nervously as he took a card from his deck holder and swiped it.
"Digi-Modify! Digivolution Activate."
"Guilmon digivolve to…"
Guilmon's form was wrapped in a cocoon of data, his body becoming much larger and blades emerging from his arms. He snorted flames as he emerged from the cocoon.
"Growlmon!"
"Anything I need to know about this guy?" asked Takato, determined to find out what exactly what they were dealing with. He knew he'd messed up; he should have had his phone charged in case of an emergency. Rika shared the info they had, it wasn't exactly what Takato was hoping to hear. Kyuubimon and Gargomon had struggled against this guy and they were strong compared with most champion level digimon. He wasn't sure if Growlmon would be enough to even the odds in terms of power.
'Wait a minute. Power! I knew this would be a good idea!'
Takato quickly looked through his deck, grabbing three cards and sharing them out. "Kazu gave me these earlier, didn't know we'd need these so soon!"
Rika and Henry looked at the cards, and couldn't help but smile. "Wow. Looks like one of those dorks actually helped out for once." Henry nodded in agreement, but before he could say anything, he heard his partner shout, "you guys gonna help us, or are you gonna stand their yapping away like old women and slapping Takato for getting here late!"
While the others had been talking, Gargomon and the others had been facing off against Sandiramon. Growlmon's strength had helped to even the playing field a little but the snake was keeping then at a distance with a Halberd wielded with its tail.
"Don't worry Gargomon, help's on the way. You guys ready?" Upon receiving nods from Takato and Rika, all 3 swiped their card through their D-Arc at the same time.
"Digi-Modify! Power Activate!" The moment the cards were swiped, all 3 of their partners perked up as they felt the extra power enter their bodies.
"Oh yeah, baby! That's what I'm talking about. Now let's make some snake skin boots out of this guy! GARGO LASER!"
"FOX TAIL INFERNO!"
"PYRO BLASTER"
Thanks to the power boost the attacks had doubled in strength, at the very least, and as they hurtled towards Sandiramon the snake tried to retreat but the tunnel was too narrow. An explosion rocked the subway as the attacks collided with the Ultimate level digimon. When the smoke cleared Sandiramon was down and looked ready to turn into data. What worried them was that he was laughing.
"Fools! You may have defeated me but we are the 12 Devas. My brother's will avenge me, and they will tear this world apart!"
"WHAT! You mean there's 10 more of you psycho's on the way?" asked a shocked Gargomon, a feeling shared by the other two digimon and all three tamers. Rika made a note to find the man they had all ran into when this whole thing started and 'thank' him and his 'Juggernaut' program for starting this whole mess. Though her attention was quickly drawn by the still chuckling snake whom was starting to break apart.
"Kukuku…you needn't worry, vermin. Our pets will kill you long before we take this world, starting with your friends…" with that Sandiramon fully dissipated into a cloud of data that was quick absorbed by Gargomon and Kyuubimon, who were smarting slightly after that battle.
Takato's eyes widened as he took in what Sandiramon said and started running towards the hole on the ceiling. "Growlmon! Get us up there, NOW!"
When Rika and Henry didn't follow, Takato looked at them as Growlmon picked him up. "Sandiramon mentioned pets! What happened when Mihiramon mentioned his 'pet'?"
Their eyes widened in understanding as realisation hit. They quickly ran to their partners who then followed Growlmon and Takato up the hole. They just hoped that they weren't too late.
(Scene Change)
Thankfully their hurried ascent to the surface was unneeded. As they emerged they were greeted by the sight of three humanoid creatures on the ground, steadily dissolving like the lizard-like hollow had done when defeated by Takato and Guilmon. As Takato's eyes swept the area he caught sight of his friends, all huddled together. As he refocused on what was in front of him he realised exactly why this was so. It wasn't due to the creatures that were slowly decomposing and as he took in exactly who, and what, they were his eyes widened.
There, in front of him stood a group of 5 people. The smallest was a young girl, about Suzie's age. She was wearing a green t-shirt and jeans with plain sandals. Her hair was teal in colour and on top of that sat a white mask which he thought was reminiscent of a goat's skull. It was the other members of the group that caught his attention though.
The tallest boy had strawberry-blonde hair and brown eyes, with what looked like a permanent frown on his face, while the boy next to him and snow white hair and teal eyes. Both were wearing black hakama and a kosode like top tied with a white obi. Each teenager also sported a pair of white socks and zori on their feet, the same outfit Takato had worn when he used his Zanpakutou. Although the white haired teen wore a white haori over his outfit, a little like a jacket that had no buttons or zips to close it and no sleeves. Also, while the smaller of the two carried a simple katana on his back, the taller had what looked like a large meat cleaver in his hand, with bandages wrapped around the handle.
Next to them were 2 digimon that looked familiar, like he'd seen them before but at the same time they were different to anything the group had previously seen. One looked like an Agumon, but it was pitch black, with a red Crescent moon on its forehead, golden eyes with black where it should have been white and pale blue claws.
The other looked like Renamon but its fur was blue instead of yellow and silver rather than white with teal eyes similar to the snowy haired teen. While Renamon was generally a female digimon this one seemed different. The build wasn't quite as feminine, giving the group reason to believe that it was a male.
Rika and Henry couldn't help but recognise the teens.
"That's the kid that saved a boy when Sandiramon was headed towards us back in the subway."
"And I saw that kid at the theatre when I was with Grams."
Takato looked at them curiously. "You know these guys?"
"Never saw them till today and we never introduced ourselves. We didn't even talk to each other," replied Henry, who was trying to figure out what had happened, while Rika finally noticed what the teens were wearing.
"Aren't those the same things you had on when you used that freaky sword, Gogglehead?" Takato simply nodded and looked back at them.
"Maybe they can help us figure out just what the heck is happening here…"
"Well that would be the point of us being here instead of letting you fight the hollows by yourselves."
The tamers blinked and looked at the taller teen whom was now standing in front of them. They'd been so busy talking they hadn't noticed the new group approaching. The other teens had joined them as well but were standing with the tamers between them and the sword carrying teens and their digimon. Everyone seemed a little tense but that was changed when they heard a happy shout. Everyone looked to see Calumon playing with the little girl that had previously been standing by the two Shinigami and their digimon.
The shorter Shinigami looked back to the group and spoke up, "How about we try this again, I'm sure no one wants another fight to break out."
This got a light snort from the taller teen, making the shorter sigh. He really didn't know how Kurosaki could be so different from Kenpachi, yet so similar at the same time. It was quite unnerving. Regardless, he introduced his group. "I am Toshiro Hitsugaya, captain of Squad 10 of the 13 Court Guard Squads of the Seireitei. This is my…partner for lack of a better word while I am here, Ichigo Kurosaki. The digimon you see are IceRenamon and LunarAgumon The little girl you see is Nel, a friend of Kurosaki's"
This got a few looks of confusion and a raised eyebrow from Rika and Henry, who were more focused on the new digimon than the Shinigami. Takato couldn't help but sigh to himself. 'Why do I have the feeling things are about change even more, and not for the better?' It was going to be a looonnggg week for the Tamers and their new acquaintances, and this was just the beginning.
AAAAANNNNDDD...CUT! Okay, again I am REALLY sorry for how long this took. I only just got the writing mind back not long ago after working on assignments. It's scary how fast they pile up in the second year of a degree! Still, I'm happy with myself, this is the most I've written for a single chapter! Hopefully you don't find it too boring.
Anyway, the guests from the end of the last chapter have been revealed! Be honest, how many were expecting that? Thanks to MG Mirani for this idea. I would really have struggled without her help on this-you're an awesome co-author!
Hopefully you all enjoyed it. Not sure when the next chapter will be up, as my friend and co-author Magician Girl Mirani has kindly agreed to do the majority of the next chapter, since she is the Bleach expert between us, and I am the Digimon specialist. Hopefully it won't be as long as it took for this-if so, her fault this time!
Anyway, hope you all enjoyed it, and as always please review. Any and all flames will be used to Spit Roast Taylor Lautner!
Till next time folks, Ja Ne!