Author's Note: Hey guys, I have been so preoccupied lately that I completely forgot about this story. I am hoping to spend a few weeks now writing up a series of chapters for this fic, so I can just update them as I go along. Sorry for the three month wait, I hope everyone had a good Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Dedications: Thank you to the following: Kamen Rider Heisei, LucienCeasar, Th3 0ne, Mike's Girl Gaia Jackson, Goldenemu, Eadane and Aeroza for adding this story to their favourites/alerts. Appreciate it.
I don't own Digimon. But I do own any original characters that are of my own design.
Title: Expect the Unexpected
Summary: Kimiko is the estranged daughter of Mitsuo Yamaki. For her fifteenth birthday she acquires the Digimon: Labramon and becomes the fourth Digimon Tamer.
Chapter Twenty-One: A Wish To Protect
"Another channel one earthquake report."
Kimiko looked up from her homework as the news anchor shuffled his papers. She had felt the earthquake only moments ago, but since massive Digimon roamed the city on a daily basis she hadn't paid it much attention, and she knew it couldn't have been a Digimon this time as her D-Power was silent and so was Labramon. The dog-like Digimon was usually able to sense a Digimon bio-emerging from a hundred yards away.
"The recent earthquake was measured at a magnitude of 4.0. Seismologists are having trouble pinpointing the epicenter citing strange readings."
"Kimiko?" Labramon asked wandering into the living room with Calumon perched on her back.
"Do you sense a Digimon?" Kimiko asked, looking back at her homework.
"No, but that doesn't mean there isn't one," Labramon said.
Kimiko paused, put down her pen, and reached for her D-Power that was in her backpack. She took out the device, turned it over in her hands, and pressed a couple of buttons on the screen. The holographic image of a blue square appeared, hovering above the device, but it showed no readings of a Digimon encounter.
"Are you sure, Labramon?" Kimiko asked. "My dad's going to freak out if I leave before completing this assignment."
"You're listening to your dad now?" Labramon asked.
Kimiko sighed. She and her dad hadn't spoken since the incident involving the juggernaut program and Mihiramon's bio-emergence, and the hit to the face hadn't made their relationship any steadier, either. But, for some strange reason, Kimiko felt that if she could get back into her father's good books, he'd be more immersive to listen to her. She knew it was a long shot, but she needed to do something that would make her feel useful again.
Since the other tamers had found out about her connection to Yamaki, they had held her at arm's length. Even though she was still part of the team, she didn't feel like it. The constant whispers and glances were enough to tell her that they didn't trust her enough to include her, possibly in fear that she'd run back and tell her father.
It hurt to know that the only friends she had, didn't trust her.
The worst was Henry. The same boy that had made her feel so welcome was now the one pushing her away. It hurt Kimiko more because of the intense feelings she had gained for Henry over time, but she could definitely understand why he was doing it too. He didn't mean to hurt her, but she had hurt him by keeping her father a secret. She would've felt the same if the situation had been reversed, and Henry had kept a big secret, such as her own, from her.
Kimiko just hoped that there was still time to save her friendship with Henry, even if the chance of being any more than friends had been lost. She could deal with being just his friend. But only time would tell.
"Kimiko?" Labramon asked, breaking her partner out of her thoughts.
Kimiko sighed. "Alright," she said, caving. She gathered up her assignments and secured them inside her folder, before sliding it into her backpack. "We'll check out the disturbance. If it's not a Digimon, and is something more natural, we're coming home, alright?"
"Alright," Labramon said.
~*Expect the Unexpected*~
"Looks like I win again," Kazu cheered, slapping down a Digi-card much to Kenta's displeasure. "I rule."
"Oh man, I want a real Digimon," Kenta whined, looking towards Guilmon as he watched from the bushes.
"Yeah, me too," Kazu said. "Then I'd really rule, and I've been practicing, look." He stood up, causing his friends to look round at him. "OK, Digi-modify," he held up a blue card and then crossed his arms over themselves. "Matrix Digivolution activate!" He finished with both arms and one leg raised into the air. "What do ya say guys, impressive, huh?"
His friends stared at him blankly.
"Guys?" Kazu asked blinking and lowering his limbs back to the ground. When no one spoke, he sighed and sank to the floor.
"So tell me something," Kenta said, looking up at Takato. "Why do you think you get to have a Digimon but the rest of us don't?"
"Hm, I guess the Digimon could just tell I'm superior," Takato said.
"You wish," Kenta scoffed.
"Hey, I bet there are tons of Digimon like Leomon," Takato said, "and the more they keep showing up the better chance there is that one of them will pick you as a partner."
"That would be really cool," Kenta breathed. "I mean, if he didn't just leave like Leomon."
"Yeah, but it'd be cool to have one even for a little while," Kazu said.
"Uh-oh," Takato said, as he spotted Jeri over Kazu's shoulder. "Hey, huh, Jeri..."
Kazu and Kenta paused and glanced around. The girl in question was standing less than a fifty yards away from them looking upset, and like she was about to burst into tears any second.
"Come over already, don't be shy," Kazu said.
A flicker of determination flashed across Jeri's face and she stormed towards the group. "I want to learn how to play the card game," she said, "now who's going to teach me how to use these?" she dug into her pocket and pulled out a deck of Digimon cards.
"Whoa," Kenta gasped.
"Jeri," Kazu gaped.
"What's wrong, don't I have enough cards or something?" Jeri asked.
"I'd say you got plenty," Kenta said.
"Wow, what did you do?" Kazu asked. "Go out and spend your whole allowance?"
"Yeah, and somebody else's too, it looks like," Kenta said.
Taking the deck from Jeri, Kazu flipped through them, stopping on one in particular. "Hey, I've been looking for this one forever," he said, showing it to Kenta as he leaned in to see.
"Careful they're alphabetized," Jeri said, watching the two carefully.
"Jeri, why don't you trade me this card for three of mine, OK?" Kazu asked, hoping to get one good card for three lousy ones.
"Three cards? I'll give you five of mine," Kenta said, finding another card he didn't have.
"I don't want to trade; I want to learn how to play," Jeri said.
"I'll throw in three free lessons," said Kazu. "What do you say?"
"Me too," Kenta encouraged.
"You may want to learn from someone who can really play," Kimiko said, appearing through the bushes concealing the footpath. "Not someone who's big on power and lacks compassion."
"Ouch," Kazu said, feigning injury.
"You're going to teach her?" Kenta asked.
Kimiko rolled her eyes. "Obviously not," she said. "There are only two people I know that can really teach her how to play, and one of them has been MIA for a while. But Rika is known as the Digimon Queen, I don't see why she won't give you a few pointers, Jeri, all you have to do is ask."
Jeri's face lit up with excitement. "You really think she'll help me?" she asked.
"She's coming now," Kimiko said, pointing over her shoulder. "Why don't you ask?"
The bushes parted again and Henry and Rika appeared.
"Hey, Red, Jeri's wondering if you'll teach her to play the card game," Kimiko said, turning to face the pair. It hurt a bit to see Henry with Rika, but she swallowed her pain and forced herself to stay on point.
"Sure thing," Rika said, beckoning Jeri over.
"Really? Thanks, Rika," Jeri said, taking her cards back from the boys. "I don't know what to say."
"I'm sure you'll think of something," Rika said, settling down on the steps with Jeri. She began explaining about all the cards, leaving Kazu and Kenta to glare at Kimiko. The blonde smiled and shrugged as she finally noticed the chart in Henry's hands.
Kimiko frowned and pointed. "What's that?" she asked.
"Does this remind you guys of anything?" Henry asked, laying out the chart on the floor for the others to see.
"Um, a petting zoo?" Terriermon asked.
"It's the Chinese horoscope," Takato said.
Peering closer, Kimiko gasped as realization dawned. "Oh! I'm surprised I didn't see it before," she said. "Of course! It's so obvious!"
"What?" Takato asked. "What's so obvious?"
"The deva's," Kimiko replied. "They're digital data but they've taken on an animal form. The only world parallel to their own is ours; therefore they've used our animals for inspiration in their creation. Look..." she pointed at each animal on the chart. "Mihiramon - Tiger, Sandiramon - Snake, Sinduramon - Rooster, Pajiramon - Sheep, Vajramon - Ox, Kumbhiramon - Rat, Indramon - Horse."
"So we've still got to deal with a rabbit, a dragon, a monkey, a dog, and a pig," Rika said, pulling herself away from her lesson with Jeri and approaching her friends.
"There are five more of those things, how are you guys going to beat them all?" Kenta asked.
"Yeah, it's too bad we all don't have Digimon that can fight," Kazu said. He sighed and then shook his head. "OK, I'm making myself depressed, and it's getting late, I'm out of here."
"Yeah, we'll figure out how we can beat those Devas tomorrow," Kenta agreed, stretching. "Hey, wait a minute," he added, staring hard at the shadows of each of the group. He frowned and counted them individually. There were eight human shadows and four Digimon shadows, but there were only seven humans in the group. How was the extra shadow possible?
"What is it, Kenta?" Kazu asked, staring at his friend.
"I don't really know, it's just... doesn't it seem like there's something really weird going on around here?" Kenta asked, pointing at each shadow again. "Something that's not quite right?"
"You mean the way you're pointing at everyone?"
"Duh, I was counting."
"You have you use your finger to read too?"
"No! Well, yes, but that's not what I meant," Kenta argued.
Jeri froze as she too realised what Kenta was trying to get at. She turned slowly on the spot and found herself face to face with a strange looking boy. "Huh, guys," she called weakly. "Does this count as weird?"
"It's that kid again," Takato said, as the others gathered around Jeri. Rika pulled her away from the strange boy, as he turned his attention now onto Kimiko. Instinctively, Henry took a protective stand in front of the blonde, as she stepped backwards in alarm.
"He defines weird!" Kazu said.
"Why's he staring at Kimiko?" Takato asked.
"Looks like it's not just the Digimon she attracts," Kenta teased.
Kimiko shot him a dark look.
"What are you doing here anyway, and do you want?" Takato asked.
The boy remained silently staring. Kimiko shuddered as a cold brush of air swept through her, freezing her to the core. There was something about the boys eyes that didn't sit right with her; the way they stared, almost like they weren't staring at her, but rather through her and at something else. Something behind her.
Glancing over her shoulder, Kimiko spotted Labramon and Calumon. She frowned and looked back at the strange boy. Why would he be interested in her Digimon?
A small smile slithered onto the boy's face as Kimiko turned back to meet his gaze, he them opened his mouth and let out a high pitched scream. One that made each of the humans clasped their hands over their ears.
"That hurts more than Kenta's singing," Calumon said, lowering his tiny hands from his ears.
Jumping up, the boy took off running, disappearing down the park path.
"That kid's a freak with a capital F," Kazu said.
"Why don't we just try talking to him, guys," Jeri suggested. "He probably just wants to be friends."
"I don't think that's on his mind, Jeri," Kimiko said, still confused as to why the strange boy would be interested in either Labramon or Calumon.
"Jeri, wait a minute," Takato called, but the girl had already run off after the stranger. "We gotta stop her!"
"Then what are we waiting for?" Rika asked, following after the brunette.
Kazu sighed. "Don't we have enough friends already?" he asked. He grumbled when no one replied, and quickly followed them as they took off after Jeri and Rika.
~*Expect the Unexpected*~
As they followed the strange boy into the city, Henry glanced at Kimiko as she ran beside him. He was still hurt by her keeping the secret of her father from him, but he still couldn't bring himself to shun her any longer. She meant too much to him both as a friend and sometimes more.
"You why do you think that he doesn't want to be friends?" Henry asked.
"Because he wasn't staring at me," Kimiko replied. "The look in his eyes, it was cold and unseeing, almost like he was staring right through me. If I'm honest, I think he was staring at Calumon or Labramon, I just don't know why."
"That could explain why you always seem to be a target to devas," Henry said. "Calumon's always with you, and we don't really know anything about the little guy, but maybe this kid does."
"We'll add it to the long list of questions we have when we catch him," Kimiko said.
"If we catch him," Takato called over his shoulder. "First we have to catch Jeri before she gets hurt."
Suddenly the ground started to shake; Jeri tripped and hit the ground with a thud, as Labramon and Guilmon started to growl.
"Huh," the tamers gasped, stopping in their tracks.
"Kimiko," Calumon whined, flying up into the blonde's arms and burying himself into her chest.
Kimiko held him close and looked towards the skies. It was burning with a mixture of fiery red and orange, but there was no sign of a digital field. "What's happening?" she asked, looking around at her friends.
"It's an earthquake," Takato said, as the ground shifted again. He looked around for Jeri, and hurried forward to help her off the floor. "Are you alright?" he asked with genuine concern.
"Yeah, but that boy got away," Jeri said, pointing at the deserted street ahead.
"Good, who knows where he was leading us," Takato muttered.
"Why now?" Kenta asked. "Why earthquakes now? I mean, we've never had earthquakes before now. Are they Digimon related or not?"
"Maybe," Henry said, folding his arms in thought.
Kimiko felt a brush of fur against the back of her legs and looked down in time to see Labramon bounding down the road, away from the group. A second later Guilmon followed with Terriermon latching onto the dinosaur as he passed.
"Hey, where are you going?" Takato shouted.
"Now it's a Digimon," Terriermon called back.
"Well, wait up!" Henry yelled.
"If we wait for you we'll be too old to fight it," Renamon said, appearing on top of a parked car in the street.
"Hey," Henry whined, but Renamon had disappeared again.
"We can't help them if we're not there," Rika said.
Kimiko nodded in agreement.
"Let's go," Henry said, following the rapidly disappearing Digimon.
The chase led them towards the children's park on the otherside of town, when the tamers arrived they found their Digimon staring into space, but no digital field or Digimon was present.
"I don't understand," Kazu said. "Where's the Digimon?"
"Jeez, give it a second..." Terriermon said, looking up.
No sooner had he spoken did a Digital field explode out around the team. The humans covered their eyes, each one blinded by the mist. Digging into her pocket, Kimiko pulled out her glasses, they were regular reading glasses, but tinted silver to accommodate the data inside a digital field.
"It's going to be big," Labramon said.
"How can you tell?" Henry asked.
"We're looking up, aren't we?" Renamon asked, as if it were an obvious answer.
As the digital field faded a huge hide of dense brown fur was left in its wake. It looked like a giant mountain except it had a snout and tusks, as well as teeth and eyes.
"That's one seriously big pig," Takato said, his mouth falling open in awe and fear.
~*Expect the Unexpected*~
"There's our pig deva," Kimiko said, holding up her digivice. The holographic radar appeared and a pig image reflected back at her. "Vikaralamon. Ultimate level."
"Check out the sky," Kazu said, pointing at a flicker of light leading from the burning inferno and linking to the deva.
"What are those sparkles?" Takato asked.
"It looks like the digital bits Growlmon threw off the first time he turned back into Guilmon," Henry said.
Turning to face downtown, the pig deva moved sluggishly away from the group of kids and their Digimon.
"It's on the move!" Kenta yelled.
"Yeah, but where's it headed?" Rika asked.
Screams of terror echoed back from the city, as people ran for their lives at the appearance of the giant Digimon lumbering towards them.
"We gotta stop it," Takato said.
"At least we miss it," Henry said, pointing out the sheer size of the beast.
"Yeah, and I thought Takato needed a haircut," Kazu teased.
"Hey, you know I've been trying to get one for weeks but we've been busy," Takato defended.
"So not the point or time, guys," Kimiko said. "If we don't do something, and fast, that thing will destroy the whole city."
"She's right, we have to act now," Rika agreed.
"We're with you," Henry said.
"Me too," Takato agreed. "Kazu, Kenta, I have a job for you too. It's up to you to make sure that Jeri stays safe, alright?"
"Go run and hide, you got it!" Kazu said.
"Stomp on that oinker!" Kenta grinned.
Kimiko turned to Jeri. "Can you do me a big favour?" she asked, holding out the small white Digimon in her arms. "Look after him for me?"
Jeri smiled and nodded, taking Calumon from the blonde. "You got it," she said.
Calumon stared at Kimiko, his eyes wide as the red triangle on top of his head glowed red.
"Let's do it," Takato said.
"Digi-modify!" the four tamers called, each one sliding a card through their Digivice. "Digivolution activate!"
Digivolution.
"Terriermon digivolve to... Gargomon."
"Renamon digivolve to... Kyubimon."
"Guilmon digivolve to... Growlmon."
"Labramon digivolve to... Seasramon."
"That thing is worse than an earthquake," Takato said, running after it as the Digimon charged ahead. "It's an earthquake with an attitude."
The ground shuddered as the deva continued its rampage through the city streets, nothing, it seemed, was able to stop or slow it down. It ploughed through street lights and buildings, including the bridge separating the city from the urban neighborhoods.
"The whole city will be rubble if we don't stop it!" Henry shouted, as a street light smashed a window as it fell into a building.
"What are you two? The obvious brothers," Rika said.
Kimiko looked up towards the skies at the sound of whirring propellers. In the distance she could see the black specks of helicopters flying in. "The army, they have no idea what they're up against," she said. "It's Indramon all over again."
"Let's send this porker packing," Kyubimon said, jumping into the air. She tucked her head between her front paws and spun quickly. "Dragon wheel!" her body became a blazing blue flame as a dragon erupted from it, its jaws opened wide and it the hide of the pig, but it had no effect.
"Gargo-lasers!" Gargomon shouted, holding up his gauntlets and opening fire with tiny green pellets.
"Pyro Blaster!" Growlmon yelled, opening his jaws and blasting the pig with a fireball.
"Tee Dia!" Seasramon growled, floating into the air and unleashing an unlimited amount of golden arrows into the pig. But each attack didn't even phase the deva, and it kept on ploughing through the city.
The tamers gasped.
"He didn't even flinch!" Rika yelled.
Hovering in the air above the tamers, Seasramon looked down on Kimiko. "We need help," she said.
"I know," Kimiko said, distractedly. "But I can't think of anything... or anyone... that'd be helpful right now."
"There's got to be something," Rika said.
"Maybe if we could digivolve to ultimate too," Kyubimon said, landing beside Rika along with Gargomon and Growlmon.
"But we need blue cards, and they don't just grow on trees," Takato reminded the fox.
"But everyone is depending on us to save what is left of the city," Henry said, looking around at the full scale destruction. "We're the last hope."
"You need to study once in a while, Takato!" Takato sighed as the voice of his mother yelling at him earlier, echoed inside his head. "I bet she's worried about me or yelling about me," he murmured.
"We got to prove we care," Henry said, thinking back on his encounter with Suzie earlier that afternoon. "She probably thinks I hate her."
"Look, mother, I've got plans with my friends, OK?" Rika lowered her gaze as her own last interaction with her mother flickered to the forefront of her mind. "I guess... she really does care," she said.
Kimiko paused as her gaze flickered towards the Hypnos building in the distance. The argument with her father the previous evening echoed loudly inside her head. "You already cost me the trust of my friends, what more do you want me to lose?" she turned her gaze back at the pig. "He's only wants what's best for me," she sighed.
"I wish I had some kind of idea of what to do!" Takato said, stamping his foot into the ground.
"Actually, wishing's not a bad idea," Henry said, holding up a Digimon card and closing his eyes. "I want to protect my sister." The card in his hand glowed and turned blue.
Rika looked down at her own card and closed her eyes. "I want to protect my family," she wished. Her card also turned blue.
"I want to protect my father," Kimiko breathed, closing her eyes. The card in her hands glowed a vibrant blue. Even though her father was partly the cause of the destruction of everything that had happened so far, she still didn't want to lose him to a Digimon.
"I want to protect the whole darn city!" Takato said, closing his eyes and holding up a card. It glowed blue, just like the rest.
"Oh! It actually worked!" the Digimon gasped.
"Let's do it!" the tamers agreed, looking up at one another. "Digi-modify! Matrix Digivolution Activate!"
Matrix Digivolution.
"Gargomon matrix digivolve to... Rapidmon!"
"Kyubimon matrix digivolve to... Taomon!"
"Growlmon matrix digivolve to... WarGrowlmon!"
"Seasarmon matrix digivolve to... Cerberumon!"
With more power on their side, the four Digimon headed for the front of the pig. If they couldn't slow it down from behind, then maybe seeing them in ultimate form would stop it in surprise. Their intentions were proven true with the pig growled at their appearance.
"Not so confident now are ya, Mr. big pig?" Rapidmon asked, hovering to the left of the Deva.
"Wait, look," Rika said pointing towards the Hypnos building as a flicker of green light caught her attention. At the top of the two towers a pair of cylinder lights had formed and shot into the skies. "It's the Juggernaut program!"
"You're fathers at it again," Takato yelled at Kimiko.
Kimiko ignored him, her eyes trained on the Hypnos building. Even though she had wanted to protect him, her father had disappointed her again. "Dad," she murmured. "What have you done?"
Copyrighted ©
Chapter written by xXxKaraBeckerCutterxXx
Chapter updated Sunday, 17 January 2016 at 4:28pm