Digimon Mentors: A Digimon of My Very Own
Title: Digimon Mentors
Author: x_eleven
Rating: PG-13 (Rough language)
Genre: Magical Realism
Summary:
This is an "alternative universe" treatment of Season Three: Digimon Tamers. I changed the title because I need one that's distinctive, and because I never liked the original title anyway: we're not dealing with wild animals in need of domestication, but rather foreign visitors who need to learn the ways of their new home. What the "Tamers" were really doing is mentoring. I suppose, given the age demographic, "mentor" would have been a BIG WORD they wouldn't have understood.
Legal Schtuffs: I do not own Digimon; Bandai and Toei Animation do.
Digimon Mentors
1) A Digimon of My Very Own
It was a perfect spring day, the sun was shining, the birds were singing, the occasional cotton ball cloud drifted across a clear blue sky. Takato Matsuki would have rather been elsewhere -- anywhere -- than where he was: Fifth Grade, Class 2. His teacher, Nami Asaji, was droning on and on about something. Fortunately for Takato, school work came easily to him. As Ms. Asaji looked away, Takato pulled out a small notebook, flicked about half way through the pages, and pretended to take notes.
"Even though he's a Rookie, he should be almost as powerful as a Mega", he wrote. "He's a Virus type. Even though most Viruses are evil, he'll be a good Virus; that'll add to the uniqueness". For Takato, playing Digimon Battle Cards was no longer enough. He wanted to design his own digimon character. He gave it considerable thought: his new character would be a dinosaurian, like Augomon, but better. He sketched out the shape, similar to Augomon's, but with a different color scheme: dark red with black markings and a white underside. Other details followed until half the pages of the small notebook were filled with character descriptions, sketches of various markings, attacks, and battle scenes. He vaguely wondered if there might be career possibilities here: professional game designer.
Satisfied, Takato flipped to the first page. Above the crudely drawn sketch (art was definitely not Takato's forte) he carefully printed a name: Guilmon. One problem finally solved, another loomed ahead. Could he convince his friends, Kazu Shioda and Kenta Kitagawa, to play Digimon Battle Cards with his new character? Would they go for his introduction of a non-canonical character? He decided that he'd wait for a good opportunity, perhaps when they had gotten a bit bored with the game as they usually played it. Takato looked out the window and sighed. In the park near the school, in a small dinosaur-shaped shelter, his Digimon Battle Card game awaited, but the final bell would not ring for hours yet.
"C'mon! We'll be late for school!" Kenta called out. Takato and his friends had started their school day as they usually did, playing the game before heading to Homeroom. They had lost track of time, and played longer than they should have. Being late meant staying after school, writing letters of self-examination as a punishment. Takato swept up the lay-out and his cards, but knocked the box where he kept them to the ground. "Not now!" he said as he jumped to the ground to gather up the cards. As he was putting the lid on the box, he noticed something very odd: a featureless blue card. The unusual sight crowded out any thought of being late for school. He swiped the unfamiliar card through his score keeper, watched as the hex digits scrolled by. "Did I break it?" he wondered to himself.
"C'MON! Takato! What's keeping you!" Kazu called out, literally bouncing from one foot to the other. Snapped back to reality, Takato stashed his box and ran off to join his classmates. Whatever that blue card was, it would have to wait. They ran to the school as a bell rung, ran through the halls while hoping they were not caught as running in the halls was against the rules. Takato stepped into the classroom just as the final morning bell sounded.
"That's cutting it pretty close, Mr. Matsuki", his teacher reprimanded.
"Yes, Ms. Asaji", he replied contritely.
"Do make more of an effort to be on time".
"Yes, Ms. Asaji".
"Take your seat".
"Yes, Ms. Asaji".
He made his way to his seat to the sound of soft titters from classmates that were cut off by a glare from Ms. Asaji.
Takato was thankful he'd narrowly avoided another letter of self-examination. He'd written more than enough this school year. No possibility any school work would get done this day: Takato wondered about that blue card, which he was certain had never been part of his extensive card collection, and worried about his score keeper. He most definitely did not want to lose his score.
After the hours had crept by much too slowly to suit him, Takato arrived at the park, and retrieved the box of cards. He looked inside, but the score keeper wasn't there. He picked up something else, and weighed it in his hand. "A digivice?", the thing sure did look authentic. "How can this be? These don't really exist". There was no denying the solidity of what he held. "Where's that blue card?", he asked. He looked through all the cards, looked inside the shelter, and around the shelter. He was certain he'd put it back in the box, but maybe he hadn't. Maybe it had fallen to the ground and someone else picked it up? It was gone now. He'd wanted to give it a closer look.
He ran home, ran past his parents with but the most cursory of greetings, and up to his room. He took out the digivice and turned it on. The LCD screen lit, but showed no data at all. He clicked the keys, but brought up one blank screen after another. This was a big disappointment, as it meant the digivice was useless. Maybe he could show it to his friends to impress them? What else was it good for? He sat at his desk, pondering the useless digivice. "What if..."
Takato pulled out his notebook. He tore off the first page and slid it through the card reader slot along the side of the digivice. He slid every page through the slot, even though the digivice didn't react at all. He was beginning to feel a bit foolish about this, but was interrupted by his mother.
"Takato! Take a bath before supper!" she called up from the ground floor of their bakery. He swiped the last page through the digivice, bound the loose pages with a rubber band, and left everything on the desk as he left his room to ready himself for dinner.
Later that evening, Takato checked on the digivice. The screen was no longer blank: it was filled with a white oval covered with red splotches. He recognized it instantly: "A digiegg", he announced to the empty bedroom. There was nothing more to do but wait until it hatched. Next Saturday morning, he checked again, still no joy. He spent the rest of the day helping his father manage the bakery, doing routine chores, and finally going to the park. Should he tell Kenta and Kazu? He thought better of it: no way would they take him seriously. Takato lost, as he wasn't really concentrating.
"You played lousy", Kenta remarked. "Something bothering you?", he asked.
"Nothing, really". Kenta didn't believe him, but decided not to press the matter any further.
Sunday morning: no joy.
It wasn't until mid afternoon that Takato could check on the digiegg. This time, the image on the screen had changed. The digiegg was in two pieces. It had hatched. What to do next? He didn't know since his digivice didn't come with instructions. He tried various keys until he got something: a holographic display that seemed to hover just above the device, white ring with a red arrow against a blue background. It looked like a compass, and he tried turning the digivice. The red arrow kept pointing in the same direction. It was a direction finder.
"I'm going out for awhile", he called past his mother.
"Don't be gone too long, don't be late for supper".
"I won't".
Takato walked the streets of Shinjuku, following the red arrow as best he could. The rate at which the red arrow swung around increased, so he knew he was getting closer. He made his way to a construction site, probably another office building or mini-mall or something like that. Being a Sunday, there was no one around, not even a watchman, and for that, Takato was grateful. He entered the site, ignoring the "Keep Out" signs he passed. He came to a sort of tunnel, heavy steel plates covering a concrete trough that heavy machinery could roll over. It was a tight fit, and quite nasty as the floor of the tunnel was thick with oil and grease. At the other end, he stood besides a deep, circular excavation awaiting the pouring of a massive concrete piling that would form part of the foundation once the building was complete. He walked to the edge and looked down. He noticed a small pin point of light.
A klaxon sounded within the depths of the Hypnos facility: "Anomaly detected within the 'Net", one of the operators of the monitors reported. Hypnos was a government facility whose existence was barely acknowledged to the public. Its purpose was to monitor the 'Net for any signs of illegal activities, cyber attacks, to look for unusual patterns of trading on the stock, commodity, and options markets. It also monitored activities within the Digital World, whose existence was known to but a very few computer science professionals, or suspected by the most highly talented of other IT professionals and amateur hackers. A bit didn't flip on the 'Net without Hypnos' knowing about it. Every advanced country, and many not-so-advanced countries, had an equivalent. In the United States, it was called "Echelon".
"Is it a Wild One?", chief Yamaki asked, as he flipped the lid of his Zippo lighter: Click, click... click, click... click, click -- it was a highly annoying habit to his co-workers and underlings. In the sensitive areas of Hypnos, smoking was forbidden, lest the tars and particulates clog air filters, or contaminate circuit boards. This didn't prevent Mitsuo Yamaki from wanting to light up. That would have to wait until he could retire to his office on the top floor. There, he could smoke as much as he wanted. That's where he longed to be right now, but there was this business of Wild Ones breaking out of the Digital World. So long as Digimon stuck to the Digital World, they were a very low priority -- mostly kids playing on-line video games.
"Yes, and it looks like a big one. Unusual amounts of data are gathering. Should I launch a tracer?"
"Forget the tracer; try to predict the realization".
"Got it: on the edge of downtown, a construction site for a new government office tower. It's realizing now".
Nothing more to do about this, except to log another realization, to get some idea as to the size and scope of the emigration from the Digital World. "Enjoy it while you can, Digital Monsters", Yamaki thought to himself, "it won't last much longer". Mitsuo Yamaki had plans in the works for dealing with these "Digital Monsters".
Looking around, Takato discovered a steel staircase that led to the bottom of the pit. This was another lucky break. By the time he'd reached the bottom, the pin point had expanded into a large glowing circle of light. The whole pit filled with white vapour, and a dark figure appeared within it. Takato flattened himself against the wall. As he watched, the dark figure filled in, taking shape, adding detail.
The light and vapour disappeared, leaving a large red "dinosaur" standing where the light had first appeared. Could it be? The "dinosaur" looked around with its yellow eyes, not noticing the motionless Takato. There was a slight scratching sound, and the red head whipped around. Takato followed with his eyes, instantly spotting a rat.
"Pyrosphere!", Guilmon called out as he belched forth a mass of glowing plasma that left a gaping hole in the steel former, the edge still glowing red, where the rat had been.
"Good God!", Takato gasped at the disproportionate attack. Instantly the dinosaurian head swung around. Guilmon uttered low growling sounds, his nostrils flared, as he slowly advanced on the terrified ten year old. Images raced through his imagination: his parents' growing concern as Takato missed supper, the increasing worry, the frantic call to the police to report a missing child. The police officer at the door of the bakery with the sad news that Takato's charred bones, burned beyond recognition, had been discovered by workmen at a construction site. His parents weeping and inconsolable at his funeral. How many times had he thought how cool it would be to have a real, live digimon? He was beginning to doubt the wisdom of that desire.
"What have I done?", he asked himself.
He needed to do something, and do it fast: "Don't, Guilmon. Don't you know who I am? I'm Takato; I designed you. Guilmon! Don't!"
The expected attack didn't come. Instead, the red "dinosaur" sniffed, and gave an affectionate nuzzle with his nose.
"You do recognize me! Of course you do! Guilmon..."
"Where Guilmon be?"
"This is Shinjuku"
"Shin... Shin... Shinjuki?"
"No, Guilmon, Shin... ju... ku"
"Shin... juku?"
"Yes, Shinjuku"
"Where Shinjuku be?"
"This is Japan"
"Where Japan be?"
"What do you mean? It's on Earth...", Takato finally realized what Guilmon was asking. "This is the material world. It's where humans like me live".
"This not Digital World?"
"That's right. This is the Material World".
"Guilmon no unnerstan".
"It's OK, you will. How about we get out of here? Would you like to come home with me?"
Guilmon eagerly followed, but Takato had another couple of problems. There was no way they could leave the same way Takato arrived. Secondly, he knew he'd need to somehow get Guilmon up to his room without his parents' knowledge. Takato thought to himself that, had he known his digimon character would actually come into existence, he would have chosen a more convenient digimon, something smaller, like Veemon or Patamon.
Takato reoriented himself, and left the construction site via another route that didn't involve small tunnels. The second problem he solved when he found a large box discarded in an alley. Upon nearing the rear of the bakery, Takato put the box over Guilmon, using a hand-hold as a peep hole.
"Keep quiet, say nothing, and keep moving. This way, I can get you to my room, and hopefully no one will be any the wiser. Understand?"
"Guilmon unnerstan".
With that, Takato pretended to be dragging in the large box: "What have you got there?", Takato's father asked.
"It's nothing, really, just a box. For a fort", Takato explained.
"Really, Takato, must you be bringing home more junk you pick up off the street? We really don't have room for everything you drag home". This was true: Takato's bedroom was crammed full of all sorts of clutter. There was barely enough floor space to stand. His parents tolerated this because, well, he was a ten year old boy.
His idea had worked. Up in his room, Takato took off the box. Guilmon stood there, sniffing the air. "This is where I live", Takato explained. The first thing Guilmon did was sweep everything off the top of Takato's desk. "Do be more careful, and don't make so much noise".
"I try Takatomon", he replied in a louder voice than Takato wanted to hear.
"Keep it down willya? It's Takato, not Takatomon".
"Takatomon", he insisted.
"No, Guilmon, I'm not a digimon. I'm a human. Look", Takato said, as he went searching through another junk box. He pulled out a pair of swim goggles with blue lenses. Another bit of flotsam for which he really had no use, but couldn't pass up. He put on the goggles, and turned to Guilmon: "I'm your Mentor", he explained, hoping that imitating a certain character from an old program featuring Digimon might help Guilmon understand.
"I'm your Mentor, and you are my partner".
"What you say, Takatomon, I fine with".
"No: Ta... ka... to: I'm Takato. I'm a human, not a digimon".
"Takato", he repeated. Perhaps there was hope after all. Takato was beginning to suspect that he'd made a critical error: he'd been so concerned with Guilmon's brawn that he'd neglected his brain. Takato was afraid that his partner was a nit-wit.
"What're you doing up there?" his mother called out.
"Uhhh... Nothing", he replied.
"I thought I heard voices".
"You did: it's a program on the radio".
"Guilmon: you really do have to be more quiet".
"Why Guilmon not meet other humans?"
"You mean my parents? They wouldn't understand -- the grown-ups wouldn't understand. They would be too scared of you, might try to take you away so that we couldn't be together. Besides, I'm not allowed to have pets".
"What mean 'parents'?"
"They are the big people who take care of me. I have to do what they say, or else..."
"If they hurt Takato, Guilmon protect".
"No, Guilmon", Takato had an image flash through his imagination: Guilmon incinerating his folks with a Pyrosphere, "Don't. You will just have to trust me on this. Someday, you will understand, but for now, just trust me and do as I say".
"Guilmon need unnerstan lots, no?"
"Yes".
That night, Guilmon slept with Takato. During the night, Takato's father looked in on his sleeping son without disturbing him. He saw nothing out of the ordinary as the room was very dark. However, he caught the definite scent of something animal. He would have to have a talk to Takato about this tomorrow, he decided. It was unfortunate that Takato was an only child. It was unfortunate that the family could not, at this time, afford better accommodations, accommodations that would allow Takato to have a pet for companionship.
The next morning, Takato was up extra early. He needed to make pre-school preparations. One of these was to gather up as much of yesterday's unsold bread as he could. The other was to make certain that Guilmon was to climb out the window, but only when Takato called him. He couldn't pull the box trick again, and especially not before going to school. He hoped he could get out without too much parental notice.
"Takato", his mother called out as he was collecting the bread. "Shit!", Takato thought to himself. "Do you remember when you picked up that stray cat?"
"I didn't pick it up; some lady at the park gave it to me".
"That's not important. We run a bakery, and there are health and sanitation regulations. We can't keep pets, so I want you to take whatever you brought in yesterday afternoon back to where you found it".
"I don't know what you're talking about. I gotta get going. 'Bye", he said as he ran out the back door. Hopefully, his parents would be too busy with setting up for opening to notice what he was about to do.
"Guilmon", he called out. Fortunately, Guilmon did as he was told, and appeared at the open window. He didn't climb down, but rather jumped. Though it was two stories up, Guilmon made the leap easily.
"Guilmon, I want you to pay close attention. I have to go to school..."
"What school?"
"It's something I have to do. If I don't, I'll get in trouble".
"School sound not good". Yeah, did he ever get that right.
"It's something I have to do now so we can play later, understand?"
Takato stacked up cardboard boxes to make a hiding place at the end of a blind alley. Hopefully, no one would come down here, and he could think of no reason why anyone should. Also, the alley was deep, Guilmon well away from the street and sidewalk. If Guilmon did as he was asked, kept quiet and out of sight, there was a very good possibility that no one would notice him, or even suspect anything. It was strictly make-shift, but would be just fine for this one day. From the street, the alley looked perfectly normal, just a bunch of old boxes discarded way in the back. After school, Takato would find Guilmon a better, more permanent, hiding place.
"I can't be with you all the time, so you will have to wait here until I come back, then we can play all you want. It is very important that you stay here and avoid trouble -- the kind of trouble that could separate us forever, and then you will never be able to play with me. Understand?"
"Guilmon unnerstan."
"Good. Meanwhile, I brought you this", as he unloaded the bread.
"What this?"
"You eat it. It's yummy". Takato took a bite. "See? Yummy". He figured that the newly realized digimon must be getting hungry. Guilmon picked up a roll, sniffed, and tried it. He seemed to enjoy it. "Now remember: wait for me. I'll be back before you know it".
That was about the best he could do, Takato figured. He was beginning to curse his bad timing: he didn't have time for school with a large, naive digimon to take care of. Nor could he ditch school as his parents would be notified, and he'd have explaining to do when there was no explanation that would satisfy his parents. "Damn! Why couldn't he have waited for a few more weeks?", Takato thought to himself.
What happened next made him wish he had ditched. It was during PE. Takato and his class were doing track and field events outdoors. "Oh shit! It can't be!", he thought to himself as he caught a glimpse of a large cardboard box moving by itself. "I told him to stay put!"
Guilmon had grown bored, and had followed Takato's scent straight to his school. Remembering how Takato had sneaked him into his bedroom, he put a large box over himself. He followed Takato's scent into the main school building, looking for Takato. He found the school's head master instead. The headmaster figured that this was one of the students, pulling some sort of kid prank, just another example of youthful misbehaviour.
"Excuse me, young man, but why aren't you in class? And take that box off your head".
"Huh?" Guilmon replied.
"What's your name?"
"Guilmon, what yours?"
"Seiji Kurakawa, but you can call me 'Headmaster Kurakawa' or 'Mr. Kurakawa' -- and take that stupid box off your head!"
"Wanna play Headmaster?"
"No, I don't, and you're just making your situation worse with that attitude and your continuing disobedience. Didn't I tell you to take that box off?"
"Where's Takato?"
"I don't know any 'Takato'", with that, Mr. Kurakawa pulled off the box. What he saw wasn't what he expected.
"Play with me", the grinning red dinosaur said.
Kurakawa was speechless and terrified. He did the first thing that occurred to him: he set off a fire alarm.
"Class, stay right here while I check this out", Takato's PE instructor said as he left the field.
As soon as he was out of sight, Takato said: "Cover for me" to his classmate and "girl friend": Jeri Katou. He didn't wait for an answer. His first stop was the main building, since that was the most likely place for a fire alarm.
"I swear I saw it. I even spoke with it", the headmaster was insisting to a group of faculty.
One student at the outer fringe of the group saw Takato, and stuck up his thumb and made a drinking gesture. "I thought drunks were supposed to see pink elephants, not red dinosaurs", he joked. Takato split off from the group, and headed down the hall, away from any crowds. He couldn't afford for Guilmon to follow him into a crowd. It was one thing for everyone to believe the headmaster was a little bit off. It was another for a mass sighting that couldn't be easily forgotten, and certainly not explained away. He ran past knots of students, all of them mentioning the "monster".
Outside, he ran past the small outbuilding that served as the cafeteria kitchen. Here, he over heard the staff talking about missing bread. This was just one more straw to the camel's back.
"Guilmon, why did you come to school?", he called out in frustration to no one in particular. Or so he thought.
"Guilmon?" Takato turned, startled. Partially concealed, the student Takato had not noticed until now leaned against a wall in a doorway. Takato knew he went to the school, had seen him around, but couldn't recall his name as he was a Class 1. Class 1's followed a different schedule, went to class at different times, and so there wasn't much opportunity for socializing. "I heard you say 'Guilmon'. Is that some sort of digimon? I don't think I've heard of that one".
Oh well, what was yet another thing going wrong on a day when nothing went right: "Yes, Guilmon is a digimon", he replied.
This is when he got the surprise of his life. A small figure stepped into sight from behind the student: "Is he the one responsible for this clusterfuck?", the small figure asked clearly, but with a peculiar, high-pitched accent.
"That... that... that... that's... Terriermon!", Takato gasped. Now he remembered: Henry. The kid who was always catching flak for carrying around a stuffed animal doll well past the age where that was considered normal. The kid who was always getting beat up, but never fought back. For the first time, he noticed the digivice clipped to his belt. Takato had not considered that he might not be the only one with a digimon partner. How many were there, he wondered.
"He's not competent enough to be a Digimon Mentor unless he can keep track of his own digimon", Terriermon said.
"That wasn't very nice", Henry reprimanded.
"Moumentai".
"I'm afraid Terriermon's right. I'm no good at this". Before Henry could say anything else, Takato ran off. He didn't want Henry to see that he was on the verge of tears of frustration. He ran down a path, not even knowing where he was going, or what he was going to do next. About a block from the school, Takato suddenly stopped. He was standing by a parking garage. He sensed something. He took the elevator to the upper most level. There, he found Guilmon. Takato was angry, and planning to give his partner a real tongue lashing. However, when Guilmon saw him, he called out, "Takato!", ran to him, and gave him a playful flying tackle that sent him to the floor. Guilmon gave him a big, wet, sloppy, dinosaur "kiss". Takato's anger melted away.
"We play now?", Guilmon asked.
"I need you to keep hiding right here until school's out. This time, stay here, and I will be back for you".
"Then we play?"
"Yes, then we play"
Takato made it back to school before the confusion ended. He'd gotten away with it: neither his PE instructor, nor any other member of the faculty, knew of his running off, or of his absence from the field. Finally, one thing went Takato's way.
Guilmon was beginning to figure out the mess he made, the problems he'd caused for his partner. Guilmon stayed on the parking garage roof, and made certain to duck out of sight upon hearing an approaching car. He resolved to himself that he would pay closer attention to what Takato told him. There was much he needed to understand about this world of Takato's.
Takato took Guilmon to Shinjuku Central Park as it was a good place to play, and large enough to have secluded areas. That way, he could solve both problems. After playing, it was time to take care of business.
"There must be some place here, somewhere that people don't usually go where you can stay by yourself without being seen", Takato explained as they walked one of the nature trails. "Ummm... let me see". So far, so good: they had seen no one.
Takato and Guilmon were following a chain link fence surrounding a soccer field. Luckily, there was no one playing that he could see, apparently no one around, so he figured that it would be alright, though lacking in cover. There were thick woods on the other side of the field that Takato wanted to check out for a suitable hiding place.
"What the fuck!" He'd caught the slightest glimpse of something large and yellow, moving at great speed. It had slammed into Guilmon, sending him flying into the fence with enough force to almost knock it over.
"Get lost, kid: this is a digibattle". Takato turned to face a girl his own age. She was wearing blue jeans, a T-shirt with a broken heart emblazoned on it. Her golden-brown hair pulled back into a tight pony tail. she stood, feet apart, arms crossed, a very determined look on her face.
"Hellsamatter with you!"
"Renamon wants to battle!", he looked to where he'd seen her eyes flick. There, crouched on a low tree branch, was the familiar figure of Renamon. She was motionless, a dispassionate expression on her face, her unblinking, sapphire blue eyes emotionless. She said nothing. Takato got an impression he'd seen this girl somewhere before.
"Who the HELL do you think you are?! Why don't you mind your own goddamn business?!"
"You're a Mentor, aren't you? So let's settle this quickly before someone sees us as we aren't inside a digiwarp field". Renamon leaped from her temporary perch, and stood side-by-side with her Mentor. She still betrayed no emotion, nothing of her intentions.
"How could you do such a despicable thing? Guilmon hasn't done anything to you. Besides, he's only just been born..."
"Are you saying he's an In-Training, or something?"
"Well, no, he's a Rookie..."
"Enough of your nonsense". With that, she turned to her digimon: "Renamon, you know what to do".
The tall yellow vixen advanced towards them: "Back off!", Takato half-ordered, and half-pleaded. Renamon ignored Takato. It wasn't that she had anything against Guilmon, who had, indeed, done nothing to her. However, if her Mentor wanted this battle, then it was her duty to fight to the best of her ability, to win, or die trying.
"You're a Mentor, aren't you? You do know that digimon were born to battle, don't you?"
"No! Please..."
It was too late. Renamon leaped impossibly high, crossed her arms in front of her chest. A green glowing reticule appeared: "Diamond Storm!" she called out. Flinging her arms outwards, hundreds of clear, jagged, crystals burst forth, heading straight for Guilmon.
"Look out Guilmon!" Fortunately, nothing happened. Guilmon's tough hide deflected the crystals, one of which grazed Takato's arm.
"Goddamnit! Goddamnit! Goddamnit!", as he grabbed the injury. He held up a bloody hand: "See what you've done?" The girl smiled at him.
Guilmon's normally large, round pupils contracted into thin vertical slits. He emitted a low growl. As Renamon was landing on another tree branch: "Pyrosphere!" The blast of plasma nearly connected with its intended target, but Renamon was just a bit faster. She dodged as the fireball blew off the top twenty feet of the tree which hit the ground with a dull thud.
She threw herself at him, front paws forward, rear legs and tail trailing behind, in a very vulpine gesture as she hissed at him. Guilmon launched himself at her, catching her as they both crashed to the ground. They grappled and wrestled. "Oh, Yuggg...", as Guilmon's powerful jaws clamped down hard on Renamon's arm, as she tried to claw his eyes.
Meanwhile, Rika pulled out her digivice and ran its "Ident" function: "No data?", she asked herself, "What kind of digimon is that anyway?" Oh well, it didn't matter. "Renamon: you're being humiliated, and I won't allow that".
"A Digimon Battle Card!", Takato gasped as Rika pulled out the familiar card from a carrier she wore on her belt.
Rika ran the card through the card reader of her digivice.
Heavy metal: digimodify!
There appeared a white glow around Renamon's free hand. Her paw changed: "An impact hammer!", Takato realized. It was a version of industrial equipment: a pneumatically driven impact hammer that could easily crack the toughest concrete piling -- or crush even the toughest digimon head like a ripe melon.
"Guilmon! Stay away from that thing!", Takato called out in desperation. He didn't want to lose Guilmon so soon, and especially over nothing more than a fight that made no sense to him whatsoever. "Guilmon! Why aren't you listening to me!", he called out as Renamon aimed the hammer at Guilmon's head. At the very last possible moment, Guilmon jerked his head back. The hammer missed, its recoil throwing Renamon backwards, and away from Guilmon. Perhaps he wasn't as stupid as Takato feared?
Guilmon ran to Takato: "It's OK now", he reassured.
Rika had other ideas: "Renamon: now's your chance. I refuse to allow you to lose a single battle". Renamon ran towards a distracted Guilmon, leaped, and was intending to bring the impact hammer to bear. Too late did she realize that, because she'd missed the first time, the hammer's piston had slammed into the top of the cylinder with full force, cracking the piston. It was jammed up tight. Useless. Renamon knew, even though Guilmon was a naive Rookie, not much of a fighter, he was sure to cut loose with a Pyrosphere, too close for her to dodge. Despite the Rookie nature, she knew she could not survive a hit from that.
"I'm sorry, Rika, it looks like I've lost this one", she thought to herself.
"This stops right now!"
Renamon dropped to the ground, the defective impact hammer still stuck to her paw. It was Henry, from school, and Terriermon. The small digimon ran up to Renamon: "I bet you're strong? Have you won many battles? Can you digivolve?" he fired questions at the yellow vixen.
"Digimon? I didn't know there were so many", Rika said to herself.
"Terriermon, why are you asking such questions?", Henry asked.
"No reason. Moumentai", Terriermon lied. He'd realized that he'd, once again, broached a forbidden subject.
"Why do you make them fight like that? Why do you make them fight between partners?", Henry asked the unpleasant girl.
"What are you talking about? It's because they're digimon".
"How could you take these digimon...", Terriermon jumped to Henry's shoulder, wrapped one of his long ears around Henry's neck. As Henry affectionately stroked Terriermon: "...and use them for battle like that when they care so much for us?"
"What. Ever. Renamon: we're leaving". With that, Renamon and her nasty partner walked off.
Prologue
Ch 1
Ch 2
Ch 3
Ch 4
Ch 5
Ch 6
Ch 7
Ch 8
Ch 9
Ch 10
Ch 11
Ch 12
Ch 13
Ch 14
Ch 15
Ch 16
Ch 17
Ch 18
Ch 19
Ch 20
Epi