Betamon and Cyberdramon were eyeing each other carefully. The air was thick with tension, and sweat was pouring down both combatant's foreheads.
The green amphibian squinted his eyes, while the cyborg dragon gritted his teeth.
Betamon then ducked his head... and Cyberdramon reacted instinctively:
"DESOLATION CLAW!"
The burst of data-erasing energy shot out of the dragon Digimon's hands and headed towards the evil Rookie.
Betamon simply rolled sidewards to dodge the incoming beam and watched Cyberdramon carefully. He then huffed. "I don't have any time for the likes of you," he grumbled. His gaze wandered over to Impmon and Ai. "Mark my words, this isn't over, not by long. Sooner or later, you will join us, you don't have a choice. It's destiny!"
He then turned around to leave.
"Stay where you are!" Ryo shouted. "Cyberdramon, get him!"
With a roar, his partner charged at the green little Rookie, but before he could hit him, Betamon was gone.
Cyberdramon stopped in confusion and looked around. His gaze then fell down to the small hole in the ground, which was buried by small, but very sharp claws.
"He got away..." he snarled.
----
Betamon was quickly digging through the earth. His supernatural senses were telling him the right way back to his master's lair. Every once in a while, he stopped to heap up some earth behind him, so no one would be able to follow his trail.
"Well, the Second One was more resistant than I thought..." he muttered to himself. "But it's just a matter of time. The Seventh One is still young... and young ones are easy to influence." He cackled evilly. "And when we have the Seventh One on our side, our friend Impmon just won't be able to do anything else but to act in our interests... and when he starts killing for us, he will have to embrace his dark side, once again!
Oh yes, and as soon as Youkomon succeeds with converting the Fourth One and the Sixth One, then no one will get in our way... we will rule again!"
And his maniacal laughter echoed through the tunnel.
----
Ceratomon and BlueCeratomon both groaned, as the fist of the powerful Champion warrior threw both of them back on the ground.
Takato rubbed his jaw. "Ow... you didn't have to hurt us that hard, you know?"
Leomon looked at him from the other side of the dojo. "Unlike me, other Digimon won't just wait until you get back on your feet, Takato. You have to sharpen your skills and your mind. A good warrior is prepared for everything!"
"True, but I wasn't even able to fight a few days ago," Takato pointed out while he and his brother picked themselves up from the ground.
Jeri was standing at the sidelines in her Cubmon form and looked at her friends in pity. "Poor Takato..." her sock puppet said.
Leomon looked over to his daughter. "You are next, Jeri."
"Awww..." Cubmon whined. "Do I have to? That looks like it really hurts, you know?"
"Real attacks from wild Digimon will hurt much more, remember that well! And I want my daughter to be prepared for everything that might wait for her in the Digital World."
"You COULD take it a little easy on her, dear," Jeri's mother remarked as she entered the dojo.
Leomon seemed to give it some thought, but then he shook his head. "No. I'm sorry, but I cannot. Now that Jeri and the others have decided to fight alongside their Digimon partners, they will have to hone their new abilities. All Digimon learn how to fight when they're still In-Training. Jeri and Takato didn't get that chance... and so someone has to teach them everything."
"I know that," his wife retorted. "But still..."
"Hey, it's all right," Ceratomon sighed. "You know what they say, no pain, no gain, right?"
"You can talk..." BlueCeratomon groaned. "You're not a newbie fighter, after all..."
Shizue sighed, then turned around to face her daughter. "Jeri... you'll be careful, right?"
Jeri looked up at her mother and nodded. "I will! Don't you worry! Besides, we're just going to meet Azulongmon... That doesn't sound like it will be a very dangerous mission, does it? And Takato's there to watch my back, right?"
Takato blushed nervously when Jeri smiled at him.
Finally, her mother nodded. "Well, okay. I suppose you might understand I'm still a little... nervous, whenever you go to the Digital World."
"Mom, Dad has been there quite often too, right?"
Shizue smiled. "Oh, I've been pretty nervous back then, too. I just didn't show it to my children."
Suddenly, the phone rang. "Excuse me," Shizue said and left the dojo.
Leomon put his massive paw on his daughter's shoulder. "Well, shall we?"
Cubmon sighed. "I suppose so... but please try not to hit me as hard as the boys, okay?"
"Why not?" Ceratomon asked with a sly grin. "I'm all for sexual equality."
Jeri stuck out her tongue at the orange, armored dinosaur boy. "For your information, girls are much more fragile than boys. Even if I'm a fighter now, you should always consider that."
Leomon frowned upon hearing that. "The Digimon in the wild won't consider it, Jeri."
"Oh, come now, Dad... Surely you don't want to hit your own daughter?" She looked up pleadingly at him.
Her father sighed. Somehow, his little girl always won the arguments...
Shizue then came back into the dojo. "Takato? Rika's on the phone. Your mother told her you were here, and she wanted to talk to you about the trip."
"Oh, okay! I'm coming!"
BlueCeratomon concentrated and turned back into his human form. Takato then ran past Mrs. Katou, to the phone.
"Hello? Rika?"
"Hey, goggle-head! How's training?"
Takato was glad to hear that Rika was once again treating him as usual, in her own way of saying 'Hey buddy!'.
He sighed. "Terrible! Leomon is almost like a harsh drill sergeant. And of course Jeri abuses her position as his daughter to get off lightly."
Rika chuckled. She then got serious. "Takato... I wanna apologize for everything I said. I know I was a little harsh, and of course you couldn't know what would happen when using that game. And I... I really appreciate your gesture."
Takato blinked. "Well, good to hear that... but what gesture do you mean?"
There was a short pause. "I mean that you turned yourself into a Hybrid as well. I mean, you practically gave up your position as 'game master', right? And I have to say, that was a very considerate move of you."
Takato scratched his ear in embarrassment. He wasn't used to any form of praise, especially not from Rika. "Well, to tell you the truth: I actually turned myself into BlueCeratomon because, well... Because I envied you and the others."
"You ENVIED us?" Rika asked with disbelief.
"Yeah, well, you see... After I realized that everything I did, all of those changes, turned out to be realized by that program, I was a little bit stunned. But after I got used to the new reality a little bit, I looked at your new forms and thought: Wow! If only I could look as cool as them!"
Hesitation was evident in Rika's voice when she spoke: "You think... you think I look cool, when..."
"When you turn into Kitsumon? Yeah, sure! I mean, I designed that form by myself, but I would have never imagined you would look so cool in battle."
He could almost hear her smirk through the phone. "Well, they say the real thing is always more impressive than any image on the screen. I guess I'll just take that as a compliment. Oh yeah, what I really wanted to ask you: Do you already have an idea how we're gonna reach the Digital World this time?"
"Um, yeah... I already made some arrangements. Well, Kai did."
"Kai? Why did your cousin..." She stopped in mid-sentence. "Wait a minute... you two didn't... tell me you didn't..."
Takato laughed sheepishly. "Well, looks like there will be a cab waiting for us tomorrow, to take us along into the Digital World."
"Don't tell me you created a CAB SERVICE for trips into the Digital World?"
"Hey, it was Kai's idea. And besides, it's the last major change we're gonna do for now... we just thought about it and decided it isn't such a bad idea... I mean, c'mon, it has never been easy to travel between worlds, right? Now the only thing you need is a Digimon Cruise Ticket and a Digital Passport."
Rika groaned. "And I suppose you already have 'declared' us all to official owners of such passports, right?"
"Hey, we are half Digimon, right?" Takato grinned.
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(Posted Mon, 12 Mar 2007 11:57)
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