Ryo was standing in a secluded back alley and watched the skies.
'He must come any minute now...' he thought.
And indeed, just a few minutes later, his friend and partner, Cyberdramon, came descending from the skies and landed next to him.
Ryo walked up to him. "Well, any news yet?"
Cyberdramon shook his helmeted head. "No..." he grumbled. "I've been searching the whole district, without any further clues to their whereabouts. It's almost as if our trail ends here abruptly..."
Ryo angrily smacked his fist into the palm of his left hand. "Dangit..." he muttered. "And we were so close... you couldn't smell anything either?"
Cyberdramon snarled. "How could I? The cars and factories in this district make it impossible to smell anything but this horrible industrial stench! I'm getting sick of this search, I'm telling you... I want a strong opponent! Now!"
"Now calm down there!" Ryo frowned. "You don't want to lose control over your instincts again, do you?"
Cyberdramon groaned. "No... of course not..."
Ryo nodded. "Good. Now, let's ask around if anyone has seen the children we are looking for. If they have actually come through this district, some people must have seen something. Our clues are all leading in this area... there has GOT to be something here."
Suddenly, Cyberdramon perked up. "Wait a minute, Ryo..." he murmured. "I smell something..." He sniffed the air. "Something else than factory stench, I mean... I smell... Digimon!"
"So what? I bet there are several machine or mutant Digimon working around here."
"No, I mean... familiar smells! I smell... MarineAngemon! And Guardromon!"
Ryo frowned. "Now what could those two be doing around here?"
"Well, maybe this is where Guardromon is working..."
But Ryo shook his head. "No, I know where that is... Guardromon's working place is a few blocks further south."
And then, they could hear their voices.
"Are you sure this is the right way, Guardromon?" a familiar voice spoke up.
"Positive!" Guardromon's voice replied. "My scanners are making out traces of several Digimon that have been around here, and the ones we're looking for are very faint, so it has been some time he has come this way... but those are definitely Tako's digital signs."
"Well, then let's hope we find him soon," another familiar voice sighed. "We've been walking around for hours..."
"It wasn't that long, Kenta!" MarineAngemon spoke up. "Besides, I promised his mother we would follow the clues."
"It's the dynamic duo, all right," Ryo sighed. "And it looks they are after the same thing we are looking for."
"You wanna send them back?" Cyberdramon grumbled.
But Ryo shook his head. "No, we could use some help... it's not that I don't trust your fighting powers," he quickly added when he saw how his partner was gritting his teeth. "But you know what they say, six pairs of eyes are better than two."
He stepped out of the alley and waved. "Hey there, guys! What are you doing here?"
"Hey, it's Ryo!" Kenta grinned. "Long time no see, buddy!"
"And Cyberdramon!" Kazu added. "How're you doing, big fella?"
Cyberdramon just grunted something. Kenta and Kazu assumed that this was supposed to be a greeting.
"I knew it was your voices I heard," Ryo smiled as he stepped up to them. "You looking for anything in particular?"
"Actually, we do," MarineAngemon nodded and produced a small, red bandana. "This belongs to one of the children I'm always watching in kindergarten, Tako Futsuki... he's been missing for weeks now, and his mother is so worried that she asked me to look for him. She found this close to the Hypnos Building and, well... Guardromon was able to pick up faint, digital signs that proved that Tako has been there before."
"Tako is a Digimon?" Ryo asked.
MarineAngemon nodded. "Yes, a little DemiDevimon... a real troublemaker, I'm telling you! But staying away from home for such a long time... it isn't really like him! Now, we all know by now Yamacus has employed several Rookies..."
"I see..." Ryo frowned. "You think Tako might have become one of his minions..."
"That is true," Guardromon said. "My scanners have been able to find multiple traces of a DemiDevimon, and since we have no other clue, we decided to follow them. They are all leading here, into this district."
"Means he has gotta be around here somewhere, right?" Kazu asked.
Ryo scratched his head. "Well, what a coincidence... as luck would have it, we are searching for several missing children as well... and the clues we gathered all indicate that they all have disappeared when they were around this area..."
"Missing children?" Kenta wondered. "Wow, Ryo... since when have you become a detective?"
Ryo smirked. "It was all on the news, you see? And knowing that Takato and the others would probably busy enough, with Yamacus and all, we decided that we could take care of this problem by ourselves."
"How many children are you looking for exactly?" MarineAngemon asked.
"Including your DemiDevimon, I'd say three," Ryo said. "All of them Rookie Digimon, and they all have been gone for some time now."
"And what do you know about them?" Kazu asked.
"Well, I've talked to the parents of Phascomon," Ryo explained.
"Phas-what?" Kenta asked in confusion.
"Phascomon!" Guardromon explained. "Small, brown Rookie Digimon, looks almost like a koala!"
"Ah, I see," Kenta nodded. "Sorry, Ryo, go on!"
"Well, what they told me was kinda confusing... they said that their child has been kidnapped a few years ago, but... they didn't report his missing until a few days ago. I have the feeling that they didn't report his disappearance because of some special reason..."
"But why wouldn't they report it earlier?" MarineAngemon.
Ryo shrugged. "I don't know... I can only guess that something happened that has changed their mind."
"And the other one?" Kazu asked.
"Well, I haven't spoken to his parents up to now... but I found out that he's the son of a homeless Digimon that is living on the streets, a poor beggar that often hangs around in this area."
"Well, we should try and find that guy then, should we?"
"We already tried to find him, but strangely enough, Cyberdramon couldn't find a single trace of that guy."
"Aw, too bad," Kazu sighed. "Say, what kind of Digimon is that second child you're looking for?"
Ryo crossed his arms. "It is... a Betamon!"
Kenta, Kazu and their Digimon looked at each other.
'Betamon...' MarineAngemon thought. 'Impmon told me about a Betamon... could it be...?'
"So... nothing too unusual, eh?" Kenta asked.
Ryo rubbed his chin. "I don't know... something about this seems very weird..."
"What's so weird?" Kenta asked. "I mean, except for the fact that they are missing children?"
"Think about it: A DemiDevimon... a Phascomon... and a Betamon! Do you know what kind of Digimon they could become when they digivolve?"
"Sure!" Kazu nodded and grinned. He was always glad when he could show his knowledge about Digimon. "Betamon becomes Seadramon, DemiDevimon becomes Devimon..."
"No, I mean if they digivolve even further! Up to their Mega Level!"
Kazu and Kenta thought about it for a while. But suddenly, MarineAngemon paled.
"DemiDevimon... Daemon!" he mumbled. "Betamon... Leviamon! Phascomon... Belphemon!"
The others gasped. "What?" Kenta shouted. "Are you saying those children we are looking for are actually...?"
"I can't say for sure, but it's a possibility," Ryo nodded grimly. "Those children... might have become three of the Seven Demon Lords!"
Belphemon looked around the room Mako and Ai were showing him. "This is a very nice house..." he said in a quiet voice. "Almost like my old home..."
"Where do you come from?" Mako asked.
Mini-Belphemon sighed as he sat down in a corner of the room. "I don't want to talk about it..."
"Why?" Ai asked. "Don't you have a Mommy or a Daddy you want to go back to?"
Belphemon groaned. "I... I have..." he finally said. "But I... I can't go back to them!"
"But... but why not?" Ai asked as she sat down next to her new friend.
The shining angel wings gave Belphemon a feeling of security. "Well, I... I've ran away from home when I was still a Rookie... My father, he... he already knew what would become of me, and he always treated me like... like a stranger, not his son! Mom wanted to protect me, but deep within, she must have known what I would become as soon as I reach this level."
Impmon was confused. "Wait a minute... then how did you end up as Yamaki's toy?"
Belphemon winced. He really didn't want to tell the others that story...
Ai hugged him. "It's okay..." she whispered. "Don't worry, we're your friends! We'll understand!"
"Yeah, please tell us!" Mako said impatiently.
Belphemon sighed. "After I ran away..." he mumbled. "A powerful Digimon approached me. His name was Barbamon... He asked me if I wanted to become more powerful. If I wanted to get back at my parents who never really accepted me. I knew what he was going to do with me and I refused. He got angry! He wanted to force me into his services, so I ran away again! I escaped into the human world, but that caught the attention of the Digimon Sovereigns..."
He gulped, as if what followed would be especially hard to say. "They... they all caught up with me. My mother wanted me to return! The Deva wanted to imprison me! Barbamon wanted me to become his follower! My father..." He sobbed. "My father... called me an abomination... and a slob! Something within me snapped... and I digivolved! I digivolved right into my Mega form... and I became Belphemon, Lord of Sloth! I just wanted to go to sleep and ignore everyone, but my despair threw me into my rage mode... I couldn't stop myself and I went on a rampage. The Deva fought hardly, and only with the intervention of Zhuqiaomon himself were they able to seal me in my sleeping form with magical chains... and they also locked me away in that cave. Yamacus found me... and put this Mind Control Device on me, so I had to obey his commands..."
He buried his face in his paws. "I have become what I was afraid of for all those years... a killing machine!" He now cried uncontrollably.
Ai soothingly patted his backside and looked at Impmon helplessly.
'Now I understand...' Impmon thought grimly. 'The only one who wants the Demon Lords to control everything... is Barbamon himself! And to reach his goal, he's going to use all those guys for his own purpose...'
He snarled. 'Including Ai, me and this little guy... but I swear, I won't let that happen! No way!'
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(Posted Sun, 26 Aug 2007 12:31)
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