"AAAAAAAHHH!" BioCalumon yelled furiously as he flew circles around the rooftops. "I could KILL that little piece of weed! I'll turn her into a Numemon! I'll turn her parents into Sukamon! I'll..."
"What are you talking about?"
BioCalumon froze when he heard the voice. He turned around and saw Eiko floating behind him. The little ChibiBakemon must have followed him.
He chuckled. "Eheheheheh, nothing... nothing to worry about! I was just angry at someone..."
"Really?" Eiko flew up to him and suddenly smirked impishly. "You want me to help you get back at him?"
BioCalumon contemplated that, but quickly realized that Eiko would recognize her friend Kei. "Aw, that's all right... I'll take care of her by myself."
'Her?' Eiko thought and scratched her head. She shrugged. If Bio didn't want to talk about it...
"Why did you run off like that anyway?" she asked. "You're really strange, you know that? At first, you were so looking forward to play on the seesaws... and then you suddenly fly off like a Missimon!"
BioCalumon didn't want to tell her the truth, of course: As the creator of the RPG Reality game, he knew what happened to him. Kei must have used it to affect his own actions, and since his host body is a character in the game, it can affect him to a certain extent. Thus turning him into the host of several playground-based mini-games.
'Very clever, little weed!' he thought to himself. 'But not clever enough...'
"BioCalumon?" Eiko asked and came closer. "Are you okay?"
"O-of course I'm okay!" he stuttered. "What's with the stupid question? Let's rather think about how we can play pranks on more people..."
"Um, I would like to, but..." Eiko looked at the sun which was slowly descending. "It's getting dark, and I'm not allowed to be outside this late... Mom will get mad enough when she finds out that I've left. I should probably go back home until she sees that I'm gone. But maybe we can meet again tomorrow?"
'Checkmate...' Bio thought sourly. 'That little plant bitch actually hindered me from causing trouble for a whole day... okay, if that's how you wanna play, I gladly accept your challenge!'
"Fine, fine!" he sighed. "I'll come by tomorrow morning and see if I can pick you up."
"You'll have to wait until the afternoon," Eiko said apologetically. "I have to go to kindergarten in the morning."
'Curse that little girl!' BioCalumon seethed. 'At this rate, I'll never be able to convince her to do the really nasty stuff.'
"Well, can't I visit you at kindergarten?"
Eiko instantly cheered up. "You would do that? Great, than I can introduce you to Mako!"
Bio grinned. 'Perfect!' he thought. 'Maybe I'll be able to convert Ai's brother as well...'
"Okay then, it's a promise!" he said.
"Great! And, um, Bio?"
"Yeah, what is it?"
Eiko gave him the cutest pout she could master. "Please turn my sister back to normal before Mommy comes back home, okay?"
"Awww, you're no fun!"
"Eiko? Yui?"
The middle-aged mother called for her children as she entered their apartment. She put down her purse and took off her coat. "Children, I'm back home!"
There was no response. She frowned. "Strange... where could the girls be?"
She walked into Yui's room... there was nobody there. Strange indeed! Normally, she usually could find Yui lying on her bed at this hour, reading in her magazines, listening to pop music or - she frowned when she recalled that day - looking at a framed picture of Renamon.
She went over to Eiko's room, opened the door... and looked at a truly absurd scene: Her oldest daughter Yui was curled up in a big cardboard box, one of those in which Eiko usually kept her toys, with the toys all scattered across the room, and was sucking on a pacifier.
Her mother let out a groan of desperation. "Oh, Yui... why can't you be normal like any girl your age?"
Her mother's voice pulled Yui out of her slumber. She blinked, tried to shuffle around and murmured: "Matcha mawking aboub, Mom?"
Her mother shook her head. "Really, Yui! It's perfectly all right if you have such... juvenile urges. Heck, I'll even buy you a bag of teenage-sized diapers if you like. But did you have to do this in Eiko's room?"
Yui finally realized what she was doing and spit out the pacifier. "Whaaaa... No, Mom, it's not what it looks like... yaaaaah!" She screamed as the box she was jammed in tilted to the side and sent her stumbling over the floor. She yelped when she landed on a hard plastic toy.
"Oh, Yui..." her mother covered her eyes in embarrassment and shook her head. "Whatever shall I do with you?"
"Rumiko, this has gone on for long enough! We can't let our daughters risk their lives by battling such dangerous Digimon?"
"IF YOU ARE SO CONCERNED ABOUT ME, WHY DID YOU STAY AWAY FROM ME ALL OF MY LIFE?"
"Rika, calm down! Roshi... she has a point, you know? You could have come for a visit much more often..."
"You KNOW I have a full-time job, and defending our country from evil Digimon takes up much time, you know that!"
"If I remember correctly, you weren't able to handle either D-Reaper nor the Demon Lords."
"Damn right!! And do you know who had to do your job? US!!"
Rumiko's mother sighed as she was forced to watch the heated brawl/discussion between her daughter, her two granddaughters and her former son-in-law. That's what she had been afraid of during all the years. All that pent-up depression within Rika's heart... she really was impressed that Renamon had been able to deal with it much better than her younger sister.
Rumiko looked sternly at her ex-husband. "Roshi, I already told you: Rika and Renamon are none of your concern anymore! I allowed them to do this because I know they have to! If you can't realize the same, I don't want you to go near them anymore!"
"But don't you see, Rumiko?" Taomon almost pleaded. "Even if I would agree with you, I just CAN'T ignore what they are doing. Fighting rogue Digimons by yourself is called vigilante justice... and therefore, against the law! True, they are still underage..."
"I'M MUCH MATURE THAN YOU THINK!" Rika yelled.
Taomon decided to ignore her outburst for now. "But that doesn't change the fact that they will have to be taken responsible for what they did, if they keep up with it. We are in the human world here, we have to follow human code of law... and it clearly says that only the police - meaning in this case, the Digimon Squad - has to take care of such things."
"You don't get it, do you?" Renamon snarled angrily. Her fur was already bristling. "Law has nothing to do with this. Neither the army nor the police - and certainly not your oh-so-special Digimon Squad - can do anything against the Demon Lords! You can be glad that we managed to contain Betamon and DemiDevimon!"
"Oh, that's great!" Taomon huffed. "That's really great! We have to imprison a pair of Rookies that are barely out of kindergarten! Do you even know what the people would say if they find out that we had to arrest two young children?"
"This... is so pointless..." Renamon grumbled, turning away from her father.
Taomon had never felt this helpless before in his life. Didn't they see the danger? Didn't they see his responsibility? He was their father, wasn't he? It was his duty to keep them away from harm!
Renamon was standing with her back towards him. Rumiko was still looking at him as coldly as ever. And Rika...
To his surprise, her anger had left her face and she started sobbing. "Why, Dad?" she cried. "Why can't you make up your mind? Why can't you let us live our own lives? Why did you have to stay away for such a long time and only come back now? Why?"
"Rika, I... I already told you, I had no time..."
"DON'T GIVE ME THAT CRAP!" Rika bellowed in a volume that made her mother and grandmother wonder if there were any neighbors left that still hadn't heard it.
"She is right," Renamon grumbled without turning back around. "You could have over the weekend, or you could always take a vacation. You'll have to give us a better reason than that, if you still want us to forgive you..."
It never occurred to Renamon that she was talking to Taomon as if he had been her father for all of her life, even though she knew clearly that it was just the cause of the RPG Maker. But the fact that he made her Tamer - and current sister - this upset was more than enough for her to treat him like this.
"I... I..." Taomon stuttered and sighed. "You wouldn't understand..."
"Roshi, dear..." Rumiko's mother suddenly spoke up in a soft voice. "Maybe you should tell them..."
Taomon winced. "I... do you know what you are demanding?"
"I'm not demanding anything," Rika's grandmother said. "But I'm certain it would help not only your daughters, but also yourself. Tell them already! Share your sorrow, as they say!"
He sighed. "Maybe... maybe you're right..."
Rika looked at her grandmother in confusion, then at her mother. "Mom? Mom, what are they talking about?"
Rumiko still glared at her ex-husband. "Tell them already, dammit!" she snapped. "Don't you even have the spine to tell your daughters the truth?"
Roshi sighed in defeat. "Okay, okay... Rika... Renamon... you know, there is a reason why I never wanted you to go back to the Digital World OR battling other Digimon. And it's the same reason why I was always so scared for your lives when I saw you fighting... and I suppose it was also the same reason why I never came for a visit... I was too afraid..."
"Afraid from WHAT, Dad?" Rika asked sharply.
"Afraid that he... he might do it again..." Taomon groaned.
"Who? Do what?" Renamon asked.
"MY FATHER!" Taomon yelled. "Barbamon! He killed... he killed my mother!"
Stunned silence.
"What did you just say?" Renamon murmured.
"My mother..." Taomon whimpered. "Your other grandmother... he killed her when I was your age, Rika," Taomon explained. "I can remember her... she looked so much like you, Renamon! The most beautiful and gentle Sakuyamon you can imagine! And she always had been so kind to me... but... but the moment she found out my father was the Lord of Greed... she told me about it. And when he came back home, he... he somehow knew. He knew that she knew his secret... and he killed her!"
"No..." Rika murmured as her knees gave away and she stumbled down to the floor. "No..."
"Why... why did you never tell us?" Renamon asked, horrified.
Taomon closed his eyes. "I... never wanted you to learn about your grandfather. I always was afraid he would kill anyone who knew his secret... and so I swore to myself I would never, ever let my daughters travel into the Digital World OR fight other Digimon." He gritted his teeth. "Do you... do you now realize how horrible it was for me when I saw you on TV, fighting the D-Reaper? I was... I was so terrified..."
Renamon understood. When he saw how she and Rika, merged as Sakuyamon, fought the D-Reaper, he was remembered of his own mother, and how she died. She wanted to say something, but then she looked down at her sister. "Rika? What...?"
Rika was still crouching there, shaking like a leaf and stuttering "No... no... no..." again and again.
"RIKA!" Rumiko yelled and knelt down next to her. "What... what's wrong with you?"
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(Posted Sat, 22 Sep 2007 16:12)
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