A shadow suddenly appeared overhead, pulling Goburimon's data into itself as he dropped to the ground. Takato yelped and darted behind Guilmon.

"Do you recognize them?" a female voice asked.

The shadow stepped into the light; a Renamon. "No, I don't."

A teenage girl appeared from behind the fox woman. Takato's mouth dropped open. "Ruki Makino?"

"You know me?" she asked.

"O-of course!" he gasped, "You're the Digimon card champion! I was at the arcade earlier!"

Ruki studied him with cold blue eyes. "I don't know you," she said, "We were hunting Goburimon. Why didn't you load his data?"

"Why didn't I what?" he asked.

She rolled her eyes. "A newbie, huh? When you defeat a digimon, your partner can take their data, making themselves stronger." She smirked, "As Renamon is about to do to your partner."

"What?" Takato gasped as Renamon stepped forward. He turned to Guilmon and back again. "Why? What did we do to you?"

"Nothing," Ruki shrugged.

Takato waited for more but when he did not get it, he said, "But we're not bad!" He pointed at Guilmon, "He's not a bad Digimon!"

Renamon studied the dinosaur, who was busy investigating a butterfly on a nearby flower. "He is a Virus."

Takato blinked. "W-what?" He stared at his partner. "How did you…" He shook his head. "I-it doesn't matter! He's not a bad Digimon!"

Ruki snorted. "What does that have to do with anything? Virus or Vaccine, Digimon are just tools made of data. If you want to get stronger, you fight other Tamers and load their digimon's data." She smirked, "You wanna be a Tamer? That's what you're gonna have to do."

Takato blinked and stared at his feet. "Tamers just fight," he whispered, "What about the First Tamers?"

Renamon hissed. "Ruki, Hunters!"

"Shit," the orange-haired girl grumbled, "Well, you've got a reprieve for now." She darted back into the shadows while Renamon vanished.

The Legacy of Courage

Chapter 2

Recluse-Ruki Makino

Ruki continued through the park, keeping to the shadows as best she could. Once she made it to the center of the web of walkways, she dropped onto one of the benches. She closed her eyes and breathed deep to still her racing heart. She wiped the sweat from her head and looked over her shoulders. "Renamon."

The fox woman appeared behind her. "Yes, Ruki?"

"I hate running," she said, "You need to get stronger to face a Hunter."

"Yes, Ruki, of course." She hissed, "Another Hunter is coming."

"Hide," she ordered, "Far away."

Renamon vanished while Ruki forced herself to remain calm, scanning her surroundings until focusing on a young man walking up the path. He wore a blue and white uniform with a metal plate over the bottom part of his face and a head band allowing hints of blond to poke out. "Good evening, miss."

She snorted; he did not seem that much older than her. "Yeah, evening."

"I'm an agent of the Japanese government and I'm investigating reports of a rabid animal loose around here. Have you seen anything?"

She shook her head. "No."

He nodded. "Well, please contact the police if you see anything."

She nodded and he continued on his way. She went over the checklist in her mind of rumors she heard from other Tamers; blond hair, polite, this had to be Hinkon, while the one with the big mouth was Nimrod. Another rumor she had been able to validate, whatever scanners the Hunters used could not detect partner Digimon except at close range. Renamon was good at obeying her orders, as all digimon should.

"Sir?"

Yamaki groaned and opened his eyes, feeling the sunlight streaming onto his face. He sat up in his desk chair and rubbed his forehead. "What time is it?"

"6 am," his secretary answered, waving away the smoke wafting up from the ashtray "I'm sorry to wake you, but you have that meeting at ten."

He rubbed his eyes. "Yes, okay."

She placed a mug on his desk. "I've got another pot brewing, sir."

Yamaki downed the coffee in one gulp. "Thanks, Yuko. What would I do without you?"

She smiled. "Let's hope we never find out, sir."

Ruki walked past the other girls as she exited the school grounds. Kameko, a girl with braided hair called out to her. "Hey, Makino! Tsuruchi bailed on us, you wanna join us at the ramen shop down the street."

Shiori, a girl with dyed blond hair snorted. "Don't bother. You'd be lucky to get two words out of her."

"Yeah," Kameko continued, "But it's been a month since she moved here, maybe she's still shy. We should try to friendly to her."

Ruki ignored them and continued down the sidewalk. Had it been a month already?

The Goblimon cried as his data vanished from Renamon's attack. Ruki frowned. "This is getting to be too easy."

"Yes, Ruki," Renamon nodded, "I have to agree."

That night, Ruki scanned the various sites online; reports of strange creatures in Tokyo, humans with strange powers that fought those creatures. Digimon and Digital Hunters. She marched into her mother's office, interrupting her conference call.

"Ruki!" she barked, "I'm in the middle of…"

"I want to move to Tokyo," she said.

"What? Why?"

"Reasons."

After the discussions, her mother related. "Fine. You can stay with your grandmother, but you need to find the school you want to transfer to, got it?"

Ruki frowned. She was good at school, but why was she still bothering? She was making enough money in the digimon card tournaments. Why not drop out and offer herself as a mercenary? There were other supposed Tamers doing that online.

She walked into her house and her grandmother stepped out of the kitchen. "Oh, hello, Ruki. How was school?"

"Fine," she replied, kicking off her shoes before walking to her room. She changed out of her uniform into her jeans and blue t-shirt before walking out again. Her grandmother was still leaning against the kitchen door.

"By the way, your mother called early. You should call her later to let her know how you're doing. She's worried about you."

"Yeah, I'll try." She pulled on her shoes.

Her grandmother hesitated. "Are you meeting some friends?"

"No."

The elderly woman sighed. "Oh, okay. I'll see you later then."

Ruki grunted in reply and marched back out the door.

"Renamon."

Her partner appeared behind her. "Yes, Ruki. What's the plan for today?"

"Hunting." she grinned, "The more we duel and load the data, the stronger we'll be."

"Of course," the digimon replied before vanishing again.

Ruki pushed her way through the people on the sidewalk, her grandmother's words in her mind. A month living with her grandmother and now her mother called for her? Too busy prancing around on stage in some skimpy outfit, no doubt.

Ruki had no idea how many Tamers were in the city, she doubted anyone did, but partner-less digimon crossed over every day. Despite what even Renamon said, she was not ready to believe in some fantasy 'Digital World,' where Digimon lived. They were just A.I. computer programs from the Internet, nothing more.

She felt the whoosh behind her. "Ruki, I smell a digimon to the right."

The orange-haired girl nodded and walked into the empty building lot. She scanned her surroundings; an i-beam skeleton of a two story building, piles of steel girders, massive rolls of industrial tape and four parked construction vehicles. "Stay on your guard," she whispered to her partner, "There are too many places to hide. They could be anywhere."

The girders clanged and Ruki twisted around. She caught sight of a figure leaping from the top of the pile and landing in front of them. A Yuki Agumon, but was he alone?

Ruki heard the sound of feet running along the ground. She watched as a human ran from behind the pile and stood beside the white digimon. "You've come to challenge us? Great." He pulled out his digivice and a stack of cards. "My name's Yuudai! Let's duel."

The orange-haired girl gapped, dumbfounded. He gave away his position, rushed out here like an overactive child. It made her want to laugh…well, maybe not; she hadn't laughed in years. "All right, fine." She snapped her fingers and Renamon appeared beside her.

"Wow!" YukiAgumon gasped, "How'd you do that? Did you teleport here or were you, like, invisible or something?"

Renamon's face dropped into the same dumbfounded expression Ruki knew had been on her face only moments before. She quickly regained her composure and said,"My abilities are my own."

The white dinosaur almost frowned but before he could say anything, Yuudai gasped, "Is that a new model or something?"

Ruki blinked. "What?"

He held up his digivice; a rectangle with a small screen at the top. Her device looked like a slightly bloated triangle with a circular screen in the center. "Yeah, something like that." She narrowed her eyes slightly. "Enough talking."

Yuudai's face grew serious, almost like he realized he was supposed to look serious. "R-right. YukiAgumon, go!"

The white digimon nodded and charged, exhaling a blast of snowflakes. "Little Blizzard!"

Renamon leaped into the air over Ruki and fired her Fox Leaf Arrowheads. The razor leaves tore through the snowflakes, dissipating YukiAgumon's attack, before exploding into the ground in front of YukiAgumon. The dinosaur cried out and darted backward. "Are you okay?" Yuudai cried.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

Yuudai growled at Ruki and the orange-haired girl smirked. Maybe now he'd get serious?

The boy whipped a card from his deck and ran in through a slot on the side of his digivice. "Card Slash! Just a Little Metal Enhancement!"

YukiAgumon hissed as a sheet of metal appeared over his leathery skin. "Oh yeah! Uh-huh huh!"

Ruki groaned to herself; the Option Card Yuudai used had that damn MetalEtemon on it! Well, she wasn't going to listen to YukiAgumon act like that stupid monkey! She yanked a card from her own deck and slid it through her digivice's slot. "Card Slash! Iron Claw!"

Renamon was stoic as the claws on her hands and feet turned to iron that gleamed in the starlight. YukiAgumon charged with his claws crackling with ice. "Snow Claw! Uh-huh huh!"

Renamon spun into a tight whirlwind. "Fox Combo Kick!"

The snow digimon swiped his ice-covered claw but Renamon's spinning attack was faster. She unleashed a barrage of kicks with her iron claws, knocking aside YukiAgumon's claw before slamming into the dinosaur with blinding speed. YukiAgumon's metal skin shattered into flecks of data before he dropped to the ground.

Ruki stared at the moaning digimon, stoic and stern. "Renamon, finish him."

"No!" the boy cried, "You can't! He's my partner!"

Ruki scowled. "Grow a pair! We're Tamers, we fight to the end. If you can't handle that, you have no business being here!"

The boy shook his head. "But Yuki Agumon is my friend!"

"Friend?" Digimon were weapons to be used by their Tamers, nothing more. "Renamon!"

"Yes, Ruki," the fox replied, firing our razor leaves, "Fox Leaf Arrowheads!"

Ruki watched as Yuki Agumon was torn apart by Renamon's attack and then as Renamon absorbed the scattered data into herself. All that remained of the white digimon was a multicolored digiegg.

She huffed. "Well, looks like he was strong enough to survive after all."

Any respect she had vanished as he started sobbing. She rolled her eyes, , memories of herself crying as her father walked out the door for the last time. "Friends…family, they're just weaknesses, they'll all betray you in the end. All that matters is yourself. The strength of a Tamer is how well their partner obeys them."

She walked away from him and said over her shoulder, "Remember that the next time you want to challenge someone stronger than you."

Ruki pressed the colored squares on the screen before pressing her thumb against the white square in the corner. The overweight man in the rear of the street restaurant studied the monitor over the grill before pouring batter onto the flattop.

While she waited, her mind wandered back to Yuudai and his Yuki Agumon. This, in turn, brought her back to the day she met Renamon, the day she knew her father would never be part of her life.

An hour. That was how long she waited at the train station near his apartment in Nagano before she realized he was not coming to get her. It was another hour of her staring at her phone, waiting for some explanation but none came. She finally called him and received the same message as the last three times. "Oh, sorry, Ruki, I just lost track of time. Um, you can still come over if you want, but I've got a business meeting to…"

She bit back her tears and threw the phone back into her pocket.

She rode back to her mother's house, ignoring the vibrating phone in her pocket. He had promised this time, promised that he would be there, that they could spend the weakened together, promised that he would be there for her.

And he broke that promise.

The train lurched and she lost her grip on the handrail, sending her crashing into the old man in front of her. Her backpack fell to the ground, spilling her cards onto the floor. "I'm sorry, miss," he said, kneeling down and gathering the cards into a small pile.

She snatched the cards and shoved them back into her bag. "Yeah, thanks," she muttered.

He studied her for a moment before chuckling. "You remind me of someone."

"Yeah, who?" she snapped, "Your daughter?"

"No," he said, "Just a friend."

He continued to stare at her with an almost faraway look in his eyes, as if he was reaching deep into his memories.

She jumped off the train at the next stop and continued to glance over her shoulder as she walked home.

She marched into the house, the memories of abandonment still wracking her mind. She imagined her mother's face, imagined her mother reading the look of pain on her face. Tears were starting to push at the back of her eyes and, above all, she imagined crying those tears into her mother's shoulder.

Her mother was in her office, talking to her agent on the phone. "Oh, hi, Ruki," she said to her daughter standing in the doorway, "How was your father's?"

Ruki stared, mouth gaping. Her mother did not see the look of anguish on Ruki's face not did she even realize what day it was. She was too in shock to say more than, "G-good."

Her mother nodded and continued her conversation. Ruki wandered into her room and slowly shut the door.

Her mother was too focused on her career to treat Ruki as more than a younger roommate. That was still better than her father, who put her out of his mind completely. She dried her eyes and her quivering lip tightened. If she stopped depending on others, if she stopped believing in others, then she would never need to feel this broken again.

She threw her backpack to the ground and it thumped as it hit the floor. She blinked; her phone was in her pocket, so what…?

She dropped to the ground and gently removed her deck before tossing her clothes out in a mad furry. At the bottom was a device, mostly in the shape of a circle, although one side bulged out. This was a digivice!

She studied the strange device in her hands. The screen blinked and to her embarrassment, she yelped, dropping it to the floor. It bounced twice before touching the wall on which her television hung. The device's screen shot out a blast of light and the television turned itself on.

Ruki watched, unmoving, as the television displayed images of shadowy creatures that she recognized at once; Digimon!

"Tame me," one said.

"No, tame me!" said another.

"I wish to fight!" a third said.

Despite herself, she stumbled backwards, heart thudding against her chest. "No…no!"

Another digimon appeared on screen, a golden fox that stood like a human. "Will you tame me?" it asked.

The fox's voice was softer than the others, more comforting. "I…"

"Please forgive me," the fox said, "My name is Renamon. You wish to Tame me?"

Ruki thought of the stories she heard of the First Tamers, the Chosen and the battles they fought, the power they had. With a Digimon, she would be strong, she would never have to be weak, never have to feel so broken again.

Ruki picked up the digivice and smirked. "Let's do it."

"Order up!"

Ruki blinked, her mind returning to the present. She took the cardboard box from the vendor and handed him the yen. She marched to the park bench, empty because of the broken street lamp above it. She whispered over her shoulder. "Renamon."

The fox appeared behind her and snatched the okonomiyaki from Ruki's box. As the redhead ate, she heard Renamon munching quietly in the shadows behind her. She thought about the boy with the Yuki Agumon. No, there was nothing weak about feeding your digimon; they needed to eat too.

"Ruki," Renamon whispered, "I smell a digimon."

She blinked. "What? Where?"

Renamon hesitated. "No, I apologize. It's a digimon mixed with human."

"A Tamer?"

Another pause. "Yes, I believe that's what it is."

Ruki shifted her eyes at the crowd walking the street. She focused on a boy with shaggy brown hair and a pair of goggles. "It's that boy from last night," she said, a grin forming on her face, "Where's he running off to?"

Takato panted as he met Hirokazu and Kenta at the last lamp on the path before the forested part of the park. "Sorry," he grinned, "Mom made me help clean up the dishes from the day."

"Yeah, sure," Hirokazu said, "Why did you want to see us in the middle of nowhere like this?"

Takato grinned, he had been planning this all day. "I've got a digimon partner. I'm a Tamer."

Kenta stared while Hirokazu groaned. "Oh, come on! Do you really think I'm gonna fall for that?"

Takato's face fell. "B-but it's not a trick. I really have a partner." He shifted the bags in his hand and pulled the D-arc from his pocket. "Here! See?"

Kenta studied the device. "Is that the newest Digital pet? I didn't think it was out yet."

"It's not a…" he groaned, shaking his head, "It's my digivice! Just like it says in the stories, a digivice connects a human and a digimon."

"No, it's a Digital pet," Hirokazu said, "I'm not falling for this."

Takato groaned, why didn't he realize this was going to happen? "It's not a prank." He gestured to the bags in his hands, "Why do you think I'm bringing the day-old bread from the bakery? Because I have to feed Guilmon."

"Oh, Guilmon?" Hirokazu smirked, "If you're gonna make up a digimon, you should at least think of a cooler name than that."

He blinked. "What's wrong with Guilmon?" He shook his head, "He's not made up! He's real!"

"Then what's he doing out here?" Hirokazu snorted, "Why isn't he at your house?"

Takato winced. "He was," he admitted, "It took forever to get him into my room without my parents knowing last night and then I had to lure him out with my broiled fish breakfast to keep him from going into the bakery." He slouched, "He's too big to keep at my house."

"So you just left him wandering out here alone?" Kenta asked, "What about those Digital Hunters?"

"Kenta!" Hirokazu barked, "You're actually buying into this?"

"I…I…"

Takato smiled as he answered, "There's an old building in the older part of the park. No one goes there, so I figured that was the best place." He shifted the bags, "He's probably starving."

Hirokazu groaned and rubbed his forehead. "You're not fooling anyone, and you're not gonna get me." He started walking off, "Later."

"H-hey!" Kenta cried, running after him, "Wait up!"

Takato watched his friends leave. "Hey, wait, I…"

They vanished into the shadows and he slouched before continuing through the thick trees. He reached the small concrete building and opened the metal door. "Hey, Guilmon! I brought dinner."

The red dinosaur tackled him into the ground, red tongue slobbering across his face. "Hey, hey!"

"Takatomon!" he cried, "Where did you go all day? I had nothing to do except sleep."

No wonder he had so much energy. Thankfully he stayed in the building.

Guilmon sniffed. "You have food?"

Takato dumped the loaves onto the floor. "My parents run a bakery, so we usually have a lot of old bread. It's not really bad, it's just kind of stale, so we don't like to sell it and…"

His mouth dropped. The pile of bread was gone. He looked at Guilmon, who licked his lips. "That was good, Takatomon. Can we go out and play?"

Takato rubbed Guilmon's head. "Well, since I'm a Tamer now, I guess we need to go protect the world, huh?"

He started out the door but stopped. "Ruki?"

The girl stood before them with her arms crossed. "Found you." She held up her D-arc. Takato gasped and pulled out his.

"I've got the same one."

She blinked. "Where did you get that? I thought I had the only one."

"What? Why?"

She shook her head. "Most Tamers don't have this model of digivice."

Takato studied the orange digivice again. "Really? It's that special?"

Ruki was silent as she pointed her device towards Guilmon. The lights blinked and a 3D image of Guilmon appeared over the screen, along with a line of question marks. "Unknown. Beware, Renamon."

The fox woman appeared beside her. "Yes, Ruki, of course. Fox Leaf Arrowheads!"

"Ahh!" Takato cried, leaping to the side as Renamon's projectiles struck the ground. "What are you doing?"

"I told you yesterday," Ruki replied, "Tamers fight and digimon absorb data to grow stronger."

"We don't want to fight you!" Takato protested.

Guilmon blinked. "We don't?"

"No!" he exclaimed, "Aren't we here to fight the digimon that are hurting people and damaging buildings and stuff?"

She stared at him with cold, unwavering eyes. "I don't see a difference. Fighting digimon and winning is the only way to grow stronger. Now, stop whining like a little kid and fight!"

Renamon unleashed another Fox Leaf Arrowhead which Guilmon countered with his Fireball. The two attacks exploded on contact and Renamon used the smoke as cover to slam her foot into the side of the dinosaur's jaw.

"Guilmon!" Takato cried, "Are you okay?"

His partner snarled and tackled Renamon into the ground, his jaw clamped down on her shoulder.

Takato shouted as he shook his head. "I don't want to do this!"

"If you want to surrender then fine," Ruki replied, "Though I'd rather defeat you before Renamon loads your partner's data."

"You're not taking his data you…you ice witch!"

Ruki smirked. "You don't even have the balls to call me a bitch, do you?"

Takato growled, her smirk making his blood boil. "Guilmon! Fight back!"

The red dragon snarled, his anger matching Takato's. "Fireball!"

The ball of flame spewed from his mouth faster than Takato could blink. It was so fast that even Renamon was caught off guard. She twisted aside, Guilmon's fireball narrowly missing a direct strike to her head. The fireball smashed into the brick walkway and vanished into smoke.

Renamon twisted back, revealing a streak of singed fur along her face. Takato gasped and even Ruki seemed to quiver. "What? Renamon-?"

The fox grunted. "It won't happen again, Ruki. Fox Spin Kick!"

Takato blinked as Renamon launched towards Guilmon, a blur of yellow. "Guilmon!"

His partner snarled again but Renamon was too fast. She smashed into Guilmon with a barrage of whirlwind kicks into Guilmon's stomach. The force sent him flying through the door of the concrete building and into the wall, which splintered into a web of cracks.

"Guilmon!" Takato screamed again. He turned to Ruki, hate dripping from his eyes.

"Hey!" a voice cut through the silence, "What's going on here?"

A boy with short black hair ran towards them down the path. "Who the hell are you?" Ruki demanded.

"My name doesn't matter," he answered, holding up a green D-Arc, "But your battle is going to start drawing attention."

"Another Tamer!" Takato gasped. How many were there really in the city?

Ruki raised her eyebrow. "And another D-Arc. Where did you get that?"

"That doesn't matter," he answered, "Just break it up."

A Terrerimon jumped onto his shoulder. "Yeah, or you'll be sorry!"

Ruki snorted and then laughed. "Whatever. Let's go, Renamon. I'm getting bored."

"Of course, Ruki," she replied, vanishing as the orange-haired girl ran down the forest path.

Ruki kicked off her sneakers as she let the front door slam. "Ruki, is that you?" her grandmother asked, "I made your favorite for dinner…."

"I already ate!" she barked, stomping over the wooden floors. Once in the safety of her room, she summoned her partner.

"I don't mean to speak out of turn," Renamon said, "But you should treat your grandmother better. I watch her sometimes while she cooks and…"

"I didn't ask for your opinion!" she snapped, "What happened before? You should have been able to take that weakling dinosaur."

"I apologize again," she bowed, "But he is an unknown type. I must confess that I've never heard of a Guilmon before."

"Whatever," Ruki sighed, "We'll settle the score with those two later."

Renamon bowed and vanished again. Ruki started to get ready for her bath, but she thought of her grandmother, remembering crying into her shoulder while her partners argued in the other room. She sighed and made her way to the living room. Seiko Hata sat in her recliner, watching a news reporter of a supposed monster sighting.

"H-hey, Grandma," she said, "M-maybe I am kind of hungry…"

Seiko smiled. "Sure. I'll just heat it up for you."

Next:

Chapter 3: Solitude-Hikari Yagami

Did you enjoy it? Any criticisms or suggestions?

Hope you enjoyed the first chapter and please don't forget to review.

Author's note: I'm pleased to announce that I have a book scheduled to be published. If you're a fan of my fics here, please consider following my facebook page BCCharles46/