Chapter 3: Gaining Courage
###
Disclaimer: I don't own digimon.
Special thanks for CrazyEight for his input and beta-reading.
###
Ayaka hadn't expected this. She knew that Yamaki was going to tell her parents that she was a Tamer, but she didn't realize that they'd be so accepting.
Still, she wasn't going to go out there to fight any digimon if she had her way. Of course, she realized that she would have to if they were to go to the digital world to save the others eventually. Looking up at her dad, she listened to what he had to say.
"I think this will be great, Ayaka. In fact, tomorrow, you should go with your mom to open up a savings account," he said, smiling. He was in his late thirties and was sporting a moustache. Ayaka looked back, frightened at the prospect of going out and dealing with bioemergences.
Her mother spoke next. "And the idea of taking English courses is great as well. I know you took some courses in school, but those weren't enough to give you a firm grounding in the language."
Her sister, on the other hand, was less than enthusiastic. "I can't believe you're supporting her like this! I mean, seriously, you're letting her take one of those beasts into our house! Ugh!" the girl yelled, hating the concept of Salamon being there. Ayaka felt a twinge of anger come up into her mind, something that she quickly quashed. Now a part of her wanted to be a strong Tamer just to get back at her sister.
"Noriko, that's no way to talk to your sister," the father said, irritated at his older daughter and giving her a dirty look before turning back to Ayaka. "Now, Ayaka, what are you so afraid of?"
"Well… I hate to talk about it. You're probably going to think I'm stupid for saying it," she said nervously, shaking.
"Don't worry, Ayaka," her mother said, smiling warmly. "We'll listen to you no matter what it is." Ayaka loved how supportive her parents were, all despite her older sister's rebelliousness and anger. She smiled, knowing that she could turn to them for anything and loved how supportive they could be.
"I… I'm afraid that Salamon will get hurt and that I'll let everyone down," she finally said, glad to get that off her chest. Her parents stood there in silence for a few seconds before her father finally spoke up.
"Ayaka, don't worry. You'll be fine. The other Tamers of Shinjuku were and they had far more to deal with than you ever will. Just take it slowly. You won't disappoint us." The man smiled. "You're careful. Don't worry about it. Just make sure you get out of there if it gets too dangerous."
"Watch, she'll get killed by the first bio-emergence she fights," Noriko said, doing her make-up.
"Noriko!" their mother snapped. "Don't say stuff like that!"
"Come on, you know it will happen sooner or later," the older daughter replied.
Ayaka tried her best to suppress all feelings of apprehension toward her new job. She looked down at Salamon, who smiled back. They were going to be a good match.
###
At about three in the morning, the blonde girl woke up suddenly to the sound of her digivice beeping. Getting up, she walked over to her desk to try and turn it off, but ended up accessing a compass on the thing instead. The next thing she heard was her partner speaking.
"Are we going to go and get it?" Salamon asked, hopeful that her partner would be able to do this. Ayaka looked down at her partner and smiled. She knew she would have to deal with this fear sooner or later.
Remember, everyone is still alive. Noriko was just being crabby, like always, the blonde thought to herself before changing her clothes. "Yes, Salamon, we're going."
The digimon smiled in response. "We'll do great, Ayaka." Soon the two were headed out of the building and into the city. Ayaka ran down the street, hoping to get rid of her growing apprehension toward this job, but to no avail. She tried thinking of ways to deal with this.
Just think of it like one of your video games, she thought, heading along with her partner straight into the digital field that had formed.
The digimon that had appeared was a large crustacean digimon: MoriShellmon, a Data Type. After checking her digivice, Ayaka inched toward it, hoping that it was friendly.
It jerked its head toward her and screeched, lifting its body to aim the top of its shell at her and her partner. She ran out of the way just as a powerful water attack hit.
"You're not going to die!" the blonde told her and her partner.
"Don't worry, I'll take care of this guy!" Salamon said, jumping out of her arms, startling Ayaka.
"Wait!" she stood there for a second and then reached down for her cards, instantly realizing that she forgot to grab them in the rush. No…
MoriShellmon screamed again as Salamon unleashed an ineffective Puppy Howling at it. The attack merely stung a little and the large shellfish jerked toward the Rookie in front of him, causing Salamon to jump back.
"Puppy Howling!" she yelled again, unleashing a small volley of sound waves on the enemy digimon, who shrugged them off. "Ayaka, do something!"
"I'm trying!" she responded. In reality, she was just standing there. Maybe I'm not cut out to be a Tamer after all…
Then something struck back in her mind. Don't give up!
Her eyes opened to see one of MoriShellmon's tentacles picking up Salamon and pulling her toward its mouth. "Salamon!" she yelled out, heading toward her partner, ready to attack the enemy digimon herself.
"Watch, she'll get killed on her first mission," Noriko's stinging words flew through the girl's mind. She wasn't going to let that happen. At the same time, she wasn't going to let her partner get killed because of her own incompetence. So she ran toward the enemy digimon.
And her digivice exploded in light.
DIGIVOLUTION_
"Salamon digivolve to…" The new form was an entirely unexpected one for Ayaka, who had been expecting Gatomon to show up. Instead, the form was that of a masked angel with a large, golden sword and a red hat. "… D'Arcmon!"
"D'Arcmon?" she asked, before she grabbed her digivice to see what info there was on this new form, which she misheard as Darkmon. Thinking that that couldn't be the name of an angel, she was relieved when she saw the Romanization of the name. She would have to check the etymology of it once she got home, provided she could remember.
D'Arcmon sliced through the tentacles that bound her and then faced her opponent. "MoriShellmon, your reaction to our presence shows you are unfit for this world. La Pucelle!" she exclaimed, unsheathing her sword and heading straight for the head of the enemy digimon. MoriShellmon dodged, but barely. Then, it unleashed another water attack at D'Arcmon, striking her.
"D'Arcmon!" Ayaka yelled. The Angel wasn't defeated, though, and she got up, her wings soaking wet. She then lunged forward, launching another attack on the enemy, striking it in the head. The enemy digimon was deleted almost instantly, its data floating through the air and past Ayaka and her partner.
"Beautiful…" the blonde commented on her partner's new form, smiling brightly, her fear mostly gone. At least it was until she heard another voice and turned around.
"I wasn't expecting anyone else here," the man said. He was tall and broad shouldered, wearing a standard black suit like one at Hypnos was expected to wear. The man was also wearing sunglasses in the middle of the night, just like Yamaki, however, his presence was far more imposing. To the right of him was a large, fox-like digimon.
"Who are you?" Ayaka asked, shocked to see an adult with a digimon alongside him. She got on the defensive, prepared to deal with him.
The man smiled in response. "My name is Rentarou Satsuma. I am the director at Hypnos this time of night instead of Yamaki. This is my partner, Reppamon."
###
They talked for a little bit. Ayaka told him that she was already registered at Hypnos and he told her about how he got partnered on accident shortly after starting work there. He didn't expect being partnered, figuring he was far too old for it.
"As it turns out, I was a detective before getting this job, though my computer skills are still adequate, if only for paperwork," he explained.
Still, there was one thing on Ayaka's mind. "How on earth did you end up partnered, though? You're…"
"… An adult? Yes, it was… an interesting situation." The man cleared his throat before speaking some more. "Reppamon emerged in his rookie form of Kudamon. He was a calm, docile digimon who didn't attack the Tamers and so they brought him to Hypnos to see if we could bring him back."
"Yes, it was quite the story," Reppamon said, sitting down next to his partner. "You see, I started loitering around Inspector Satsuma while he worked. We got along well and got to know each other. Then one day, a digivice appeared from out of mid-air."
"You should have seen the look on my wife's face when I brought him home. She thought he was a pet," Satsuma said before laughing a little bit at his own history.
"Thankfully, she sees me as a member of the family," Reppamon told the girl.
The tall man glanced at his watch. "Anyway, I guess we had better get back to headquarters. Keep in mind that I usually get bioemergences in the middle of the night so you don't have to get up to get them. Well, unless you don't have school in the morning or something."
Ayaka smiled. "Well, it was good talking to you, Mr. Satsuma."
The tall man nodded and turned away, about to get on the back of his partner. "Likewise, Ayaka. Until we meet again."
"Yeah, bye."
"So, how are we going to deal with sleeping arrangements tonight?" D'Arcmon asked her partner, causing the blonde to face her as Reppamon rode off.
"Good question. You know… Where do you want to sleep?"
"Well, I'm a bit tall to walk around your apartment, so I guess the most practical solution would be for me to sleep on the roof until I devolve back into my Rookie form," she said, causing Ayaka to gasp. She did not want her partner to sleep up there.
"Are you sure. I'm sure you could duck while walking through my house," the blonde suggested, hoping to make her partner at least comfortable.
"Unfortunately, it would be rather uncomfortable," D'Arcmon remarked. She didn't like cramped spaces one bit.
Ayaka didn't want to get out of her partner's comfort zone, even though they would probably be doing a lot of things that weren't exactly what she would consider comfortable. "Still, it's dirty up there. Are you sure you don't want to find an alternative?"
"I'm a digimon. I'm used to less than ideal living conditions. After all, I did have to live through the D-Reaper invasion." The angel didn't like to dredge of memories of that time, however she would use it to prove a point.
The blonde girl nodded. "Okay, then, shall we go home?"
"Sure. I will drop you off on your balcony if that's alright?" the angel asked, wanting to be a good partner for her Tamer. Ayaka agreed.
"That's a good idea."
###
The next morning, Ayaka went up to the roof after eating breakfast and getting dressed to find her partner still in her Champion form. She was sitting cross-legged, sleeping. Is this how angels sleep? The blonde asked herself before rousing her partner. D'Arcmon looked up at her, slightly startled.
"I'm still at this level?" she asked, surprised.
"Well, at least that means you can take me to school. If you want, of course. You also don't have to hang around my apartment, either." Ayaka was trying to see the bright side to all of this. She was a Tamer, her partner was one of the first of the new team to digivolve, and she was, for the most part, past her fears of battle. She kept on telling herself that it was just like playing a video game, even though it could have life-or-death situations. She hoped that she wouldn't have to deal with any for a while.
"That is true. However, I kind of wish we would have asked Satsuma if there was a way to reverse digivolution," the angel responded. "Perhaps after dropping you off at school, I can do that. You'll just have to direct me to your school in the meantime."
Ayaka nodded. "Okay, I'll tell you while we fly."
###
After dropping Ayaka off, D'Arcmon decided to pay Hypnos a visit, heading straight for the twin-towered building in the middle of Shinjuku. She landed on the roof and found a Hypnos agent waiting for her.
"Hello, on behalf of Yamaki, I am to ask what you are doing here," the agent asked, decked in a black suit and black sunglasses. Hypnos had spotted the digimon from far away and the agent had been sent up to investigate and make sure that the digimon was friendly.
"I would like to see Yamaki," D'Arcmon responded. "I am currently stuck at the Champion Level and I would like to know if there is a way to revert to Rookie."
The agent nodded. "Come with me," he said, guiding the angel into the elevator. She had to duck a little bit, something which was a bit uncomfortable for her; however she was willing to endure it. She also felt a little cramped inside the building. Maybe this form wasn't meant for indoor use.
The agent led her to a room where Yamaki was helping monitor the barriers between worlds. D'Arcmon felt a bit less cramped inside this room, since it was larger, and was relieved when the blond man finally turned toward her.
"Hello, how may I help you?" Yamaki asked, somewhat paranoid of a digimon in the building that didn't have a partner with her.
"I am Ayaka's partner digimon. What I would like to know is if there is any way for me to revert back to my Rookie form," the angel responded. The blond man nodded in understanding.
"Generally the first few times a partner digimon digivolves, it takes a while to revert. Currently, there is no way to alleviate this problem, though apparently a friend of Mizuno's is trying to figure out a way past it. You should ask him when you get the chance."
"Who should I ask? Mizuno or his friend?" the digimon inquired, slightly confused about Yamaki's word choice.
"Mizuno. From what I know, his friend lives thousands of miles away from here, but he is working on an upgrade to the digivice's operating system," the blond man explained, hoping he made his point clear. "He should be in a little bit later. Usually he comes into work a few hours early to test out some programs he's cooked up."
D'Arcmon nodded. "Understood. Do you mind if I wait here for a little bit until Ayaka gets off school?"
"That's fine. There's also a cafeteria nearby if you're interested," the director explained.
###
"So, how did your parents react to you being a Tamer?" Ayaka looked to see Tadashi asking her the question. They were in the cafeteria at lunch.
"They were completely fine with it. I was surprised," she responded. "My sister, on the other hand…"
"Do you and your sister not get along or something?" the blond asked. He was somewhat curious, since he never had a sister and he had always gotten along with his brother. They had their disagreements every so often, but it was never anything major.
"She's just going through a phase," Ayaka responded. Yuji and Taizou showed up as she said that last one.
"Man, is it just me or is your sister always going through a phase," Yuji asked, grinning slightly.
The blonde glared at him. "She can be nice… sometimes."
Then the long-haired boy sat down, smiling widely. "Oh, by the way, I have a deal for you guys. How would you guys like partners?" he offered. "Just a mere 1000 yen per digimon, if you'd like."
Tadashi looked with disgust at the idea. "You're selling digimon?"
Yuji shook his head. "Nah, I'm just selling you guys reserve spots for partners."
"Yeah, think of this as a pre-order," Taizou responded, trying to sport a grin, but only making it slightly. In reality, he was really uncomfortable with this as well, especially since Yuji hasn't quite delivered in getting him his partner. "You know, like for video games."
Yuji continued to push his offer. "Come on, think about it! We can be some of the only Tamers in school. Wouldn't that be sweet?"
Her dislike of their offer made Ayaka glad she had a good reply. "No, I've already got a partner," she said, rejecting the offer with a bit of a smile.
"What? How come you haven't told anyone else?" Yuji asked in serious confusion. He really wasn't prepared for that response. "You're lying."
"Nope. I even digivolved her to Champion," the blonde girl boasted, not intending it to come out in such a way.
"What do you have?" Taizou inquired. He wondered what a girl like Ayaka could possibly have.
"I have a Salamon," Ayaka responded.
"Salamon?" Yuji asked, disgusted. "Man, and she digivolves into Gatomon, too, doesn't she? I hate cats! They're so lazy and useless."
Ayaka glared at the long-haired boy. "You're lazy and useless!" she exclaimed, getting up. "And by the way, she becomes D'Arcmon, an angel, not Gatomon. Got it?"
Yuji nodded, slightly afraid of incurring the wrath of the girl.
The blonde sat back down as Jeri came by. "So, what's going on?" the brunette asked Tadashi.
"Oh, Yuji just trying to sell digimon to us," the blond boy responded.
Jeri gasped in shock at that. "What? That's horrible!"
"Come on, Jeri, you lost your partner a few months ago. What would you think of getting a new one?" the long-haired boy asked, smiling with the face of a car salesman.
"No, that… I loved Leomon and nothing you give me could replace him," she told him, glaring at him.
"Yeah, that was pretty insensitive, Yuji," Tadashi said, siding with Jeri on this matter.
"Dude, I totally agree with Tadashi and Jeri. That was pretty low," Taizou added. "That would be like telling your grandma you can set her up on a blind date a few months after your grandpa died."
"Okay, okay, I'm sorry. You know, forget this whole thing." Yuji did have a heart under all that greed and he could usually tell when he had gone too far by the reactions of his friends.
"Besides, what would Hypnos think of this?" Tadashi asked the group.
"I can't see them thinking too highly of Yuji's business practices," Ayaka responded. "You know anything, Jeri?"
The brunette shook her head. "Not really. I don't think Yamaki would like to hear about this, though. You know, why don't you go register at Hypnos?"
Yuji sat back and shrugged. "Are you kidding me? I don't need no government regulation." Then, before any of the others could mention the salary, he got up. "Anyway, I've got something I need to do. See you guys around."
The guy walked away as Tadashi decided to ask Taizou a question. "Hey, where's Jeremy?"
The guy with the short, brown hair shrugged. "I don't know. He decided to bail on us because he felt uncomfortable about selling digimon. You know, I feel the same way. I'm just worried that Yuji will do something to get himself killed if I don't stay with him."
Tadashi nodded, understanding Taizou's reasons despite not exactly agreeing with them. "Okay, I understand. Well, keep an eye on him. You didn't buy from him did you?"
Taizou shook his head. "Are you kidding? Like I would. He actually promised that I would get a free partner just for working with him. Unfortunately, he hasn't given me a partner yet, even though we found a digimon that was nice the other day. That digimon ended up going to some blond jerk named Kiriha or something."
The three others nodded in understanding. "That figures," Tadashi said, his eyes narrowing at his long-haired friend who was across the cafeteria, getting food.
"Yeah, I might end up attempting to partner myself with the next digimon we encounter or something. He said that I would get a partner, so I might as well." Really Taizou was starting to approach the limit of how much he could stand his best friend.
Just then, the bell rang. "Well, see you guys back in class," Tadashi said, getting up to go to his locker.
"Alright, see you later!" Taizou exclaimed.
"See ya!" both Ayaka and Jeri said, getting up as well.
###
"So, since you've digivolved to Champion, does that mean that you're over your fears?" Tadashi asked Ayaka as they walked out of the building. Ayaka hadn't really thought about that much since the night before, though.
"I guess we'll have to wait and see," she said. "I don't want to end up in a position where either me or my partner will get hurt, but it's kind of inevitable dealing with all these wild digimon."
Tadashi nodded. "Well, at least your parents are supportive. Mine won't let me go out with my partner to fight enemy digimon." Really, he was somewhat willing to go along with that, though there were bound to be times when it would be hard to obey that rule. At least he could watch the battle through his partner's eyes using the digivice.
"Yeah?" Ayaka noticed a figure in the distance. "Here she comes!"
D'Arcmon landed in front of her partner and her friend, amazing Tadashi. "This is your partner's Champion form, huh? Awesome!"
"So, any luck at Hypnos?" Ayaka asked hopeful but not holding her breath.
"They said that I won't be able to control it for the first few digivolutions. Also, apparently Mizuno has a friend that is working on a solution." D'Arcmon was a little disappointed by the news, and so was Ayaka, however, the blonde girl nodded in understanding.
"Well, maybe we should go see Mizuno later on, then. What do you think, Tadashi?" Ayaka asked her friend, smiling at him.
"That would be great. Great, this is starting to remind me a lot of yesterday," he said, putting his arms behind his head in a stretching position.
"If you want, I can fly you there," D'Arcmon offered.
"Sure!" Tadashi exclaimed as the angel picked the two of them up and flew them to the Tokyo Metropolitan Building. Upon landing, however, something unexpected happened: D'Arcmon reverted back to her Rookie form of Salamon.
"Wow, that definitely took a while," Ayaka commented, surprised that it would happen so suddenly after the digimon let them down. She was both relieved that her partner could finally devolve and bummed that she now had to find another way home.
"I know. I almost need a nap," the small dog said groggily.
"I bet," Tadashi said. "So, to Mizuno, right? Hey, didn't Yamaki say something about his shift starting at five?"
"He told me earlier that he comes here early a lot to test new programs out," the blond girl replied as the two entered the elevator shaft.
###
After exiting the elevator, the duo headed toward the mainframe. On the way there, however, they came across a certain digimon. "Tadashi! You made it!" Coronamon exclaimed, running for his partner and hugging the chubby boy.
"Yeah, I did, didn't I?" the blond boy replied, happy to see his partner.
"So, what's the scoop with home and everything?" the lion asked, as Tadashi continued to head toward the mainframe.
"My dad said he'd think about having you stay with us. He also said that I can't go out with you to fight bio-emergences," Tadashi explained, hoping the lion-like digimon got the gist.
"What? That's lame!" The digimon exclaimed. "I can't believe that guy would keep you home like that! I mean, come on!"
"He wants to keep me safe," the blond responded. "And I can't blame him. It's dangerous out there."
The group finally reached the mainframe. There, they spotted a red-haired man at one of the computer terminals, working on a new program while near-simultaneously conversing with someone through a messenger client. The two humans guessed that the man was Mizuno, also known as Shibumi, though his hair was far shorter than in the pictures. Maybe he had to cut it in order to get his current job.
"Excuse me, you're Mr. Mizuno, right?" Ayaka asked, not wanting to interrupt his work. He turned around to face them, smiling.
"Yes, that would be me. You must be Ayaka and Tadashi, correct?" the man asked. Tadashi was surprised at the man's receding hairline. He also looked over at the messenger program and could make out a few of the words on it, though not much, since it was in English and he had forgotten most of it since learning some in Elementary School. That was yet another reason to take up those classes.
"Yeah, that's us," Tadashi responded, smiling widely.
"We understand you've been working on a way to de-digivolve our partners using our digivices, right?" the blonde girl asked, receiving a nod from Shibumi.
"Actually, a friend of mine is working on an entire upgrade to the digivice's operating system, though there have been some delays due to some family problems coming up," the man said, turning toward the screen. "I actually have some of the source code for the new operating system on here, though only my friend has the complete files."
"Is your friend also a Tamer?" Tadashi asked, not knowing what to expect.
"Yes, he is. One of his motivations involves his partner digimon, who had been stuck at the champion level for quite a while," Mizuno responded. "Unfortunately, a few of the other features are still a little bit buggy. He also might end up having to release it without the application feature that he had been working on for the time being."
"And he's an adult?" the blond boy asked, surprised and not sure what to think about it.
"So is Satsuma, the other director here," Ayaka explained.
"But, an adult? How did that happen? Besides, it's not like we can have a team with a mix of kids and adults. There's something about that that doesn't seem right. I don't know why." Really, the whole concept of having an adult there telling them what to do while they're in the digital world really didn't sit well with Tadashi.
"Well, anyway, my friend has had to shoulder some unexpected familial responsibilities while balancing that out with this. It has been a difficult few months. Still, something could be coming soon. I'll let you know when something comes up."
"That sounds good," Tadashi replied, looking forward to it.
###
Returning home, Ayaka plopped down on the couch with an exhausted Salamon. She was glad that most of the day was finally over. Still, she felt a bit apprehensive. She was still afraid of potentially getting hurt in a digimon battle, despite having a partner with the ability to digivolve to the Champion level.
Feeling a little bit of trepidation, she hoped that the fear went away eventually, the more times she fought an enemy digimon. She remembered how when she first got Salamon, she fell in love instantly. Then came the fear of losing her, much like her friend Jeri lost her partner.
She wouldn't let that happen.
So, as she watched TV, she thought to herself that she would be cautious as she dealt with whatever forces she encountered and would try her best to be the best Tamer she could be while preventing her partner from getting deleted.
###
A/N: For some reason, the last scene of this chapter was kind of hard to put together. For the most part, the previous parts were put together over a period of a few nights and then I finally finished the last part about a week later. I need to work on my timing.
This is the third part of a five part arc, the Formation arc. Part four involves Taizou and five involves Yuji. Then there will probably be a couple of chapters (one of which involves Miki getting a partner), before the second arc begins (character six appears briefly in the intro to that. He also appeared in one of my other fics, in case you're wondering, though in a far, far different role).
Also, yes, Rentarou Satsuma is a canon character, though imported from Digimon Savers (known in the US as Richard Sampson. Of course, being in Japan, he has to have a western name).