If Guilmon would enter his own lair in the park, he wouldn't recognize it. Gone was the small, gloomy cave... in its place, a long hallways with white marble pillars. A golden, pleasant light shone through the hall, and at its end, a wide arch opened and welcomed the visitors in an even bigger room with a smooth marble floor...
The room was big enough to take in at least three Tankdramons, and in the middle, an artistic gravure of a small angel child was decorating the floor. Everyone who was currently present in this room who this picture was representing... Ai, the current Lucemon!
Two giant angel statues (an Angemon and an Angewomon) were placed next to the golden throne that was standing at the back wall, on top of white marble stairs. Both of the statues were in a kneeling position, to show that even the adult angels couldn't mean any harm to the one who was sitting on the throne... Ai!
Behind her throne, a smaller corridor was leading to the 'fun rooms' of the fellowship... there, the children could play and have fun, far away from any adults that told them what to do. The back area was strictly off-limits for all kinds of adults.
Still, in the main hall, which doubled as the arrival hall for everyone who wanted to pay his respects to Lucemon, even adults were welcome.
Such as the thin woman that was currently kneeling on front of the stairs leading up to Ai's throne. Her hands were down on the floor, and a look of despair was on her face while she was lowering her head in front of Lucemon.
All around her, the TinyAngemon and ChibiAngewomons of Ai's fellowship were watching her curiously. By now, more than twenty children have joined their ranks.
Ai sat on a red velvet cushion, her arms on the sides of her throne, and looked down at the woman with an expression of benevolence and tranquility.
"You may speak," she finally said.
"Please..." the young mother in front of her sobbed. "Ai, you have to give me back my Hana! She needs her mother, she..."
On Ai's behalf, one of the older TinyAngemon's stepped forth. "How are you talking to our leader?" he asked. "Only her closest friends and members of her fellowship can call her Ai. For everyone else, including all adults, she is to be addressed with 'my Lady Lucemon'!"
"Please forgive me!" The young woman threw herself even deeper to the floor. "My Lady Lucemon... please, allow Hana to come back home! She needs her mother, she can't just stay away from home all the time..."
Ai stood up. "First of all, no one that willingly joins my fellowship needs anyone who doesn't agree with our ways. Second, did you even ask Hana if coming home is truly what she wants?"
"Of course she wants to come back!" Hana's mother shouted, looking up at Ai. "She's my little baby, I have to..."
Ai raised her hand. "Enough!" That single word was enough to make the woman hush. Ai then smiled at one of her followers, a ChibiAngewomon with a yellow ribbon in her hair. "Hana... you heard your mother. Do you really wish to go back with her?"
Blushing, Hana stepped forth. Her eyes wandered back and forth between her mother and her leader. "I... I want to stay," she finally said.
Ai smiled. "See? It's her own decision. And if she wants to stay, there is nothing I can do for you. She will stay here with me, and you... you will have to go back home without her."
"But... but you can't just take her away from me!" Hana's mother protested. "I have no one left... her father left me last year... please, she's all the world to me."
"Is that true?" Ai asked. Pondering, she tapped her finger against her chin. "Well, a child's decision is worth more than an adult's... but let's see what I can do. After all, I'm not one to punish somebody for something he cannot change... it is not your fault that you are an adult." She smiled. "Well, there is the possibility that you could stay here... provided that Hana is okay with this. Hana, do you want your mother to stay?"
Hana looked at her mother with bright eyes and nodded. "Y-yes... I want Mommy to stay. M-maybe she will understand... that everything we do is to help others."
Murmurs of astonishment were going through the ranks of Ai's followers.
"But Ai," another girl spoke up. "Didn't you say that adults can't join our fellowship?"
"Yeah," a boy nodded. "She would take away all our fun."
"That is true," Ai admitted. "That's exactly why we have to make some... adjustments. Toshi, step forth!"
One of the TinyAngemons stepped out of the crowd. "Yes, Ai?"
Ai pointed at him and Hana. "You will help Hana to make her mother welcome... she is not an adult, so we have to change that. Also, since she did not join us quite willingly, we have to... demote her. You know what to do?"
Toshi nodded. "Yes, Ai!"
Hana nodded as well, with a nervous blush. "Y-yes, Ai..." But there was also a happy smile on her face.
Hana and Toshi positioned themselves on both sides of Hana's confused mother.
"Wh-what are you doing? Hana? Honey? What are you doing to me?"
"Don't worry, Mommy!" Hana smiled. "You will like it. I will take good care of you... we're gonna have so much fun."
Ai spread her arms. "You may begin."
Toshi raised his wand and Hana started strumming on her harp. She also hummed a nice tune which her mother recognized at once... it was the same melody she always hummed to her daughter as a lullaby.
"From old to young," Ai chanted. "From human to Digimon... and from loving mother to adoring servant."
Toshi's rings of light and Hana's calm music started to reshape the woman's body and mind. She shrunk down to her daughter's size, and her womanly attributes vanished inside her body. Instead, her ears and mouth grew longer, until a pair of floppy ears hang down her head and a cute snout was in the middle of her face. A bushy tail appeared on her buttocks, and the very instant soft fur began to spread across her whole body, the clothes she had worn vanished into thin air.
When the little, yellow-furred dog-girl was crouching on the floor, a happy grin appeared on her muzzle and she started to pant. Her tail wagged happily as she crawled up to Hana and nuzzled her affectionally.
Ai made a gesture with her right hand, and a shiny collar appeared around her neck. A golden chain that was attached to it, was lying in Hana's hands.
"Welcome as a protector of the fellowship, Labramon!" Ai said. "Hana, make sure to care for her, she will need lots of affection... but in dire need, she will do anything for our cause. She is your personal guardian, so make sure she stays out of trouble.
"Yes, Ai!" Hana said and bowed. "Thank you for this gift." She smiled and gently tugged on the end of her leash. "Come along, Mommy! I'm gonna show you the fun rooms."
Labramon yipped happily and bounded after her daughter and mistress... on all fours.
"This is how we will make everyone happy," Ai proclaimed. "I promise you that very soon, everyone will be happy and content... and all we have to do is to play and have fun!"
"Yaaaaayyyyy!" her followers cheered. "Long live Ai! Long live Lucemon!"
"AI! AI!"
Ai frowned when a pair of messengers came flying into the big hall, out of breath and their wings ruffled.
"What is it?" she asked. "You seem worried... I don't want my friends to be worried."
"Ai, it's Keisuke," panted one of the two angels standing in front of her, a girl. "We saw how he... he was being teased by a big kid and an adult woman."
The frown on Ai's face deepened. "Were they humans or Digimon?"
"Digimon. They kinda looked like dragons..."
"I think they looked more like geckos..." the boy next to her murmured.
His female friend glared at him. "Geckos don't have wings! They were dragons!"
"Yes, but why didn't Keisuke use his gift? We want to make sure that everyone who does bad things is being punished. Why didn't he use his wand?"
"He... he was going to," the ChibiAngewomon explained. "But the big boy took it away from her... and then he tied him up. And the adult helped him. And now... they want to bring him to kindergarten!"
The other angel kids gasped. "No! Not to kindergarten!"
"They always tell us what to do there!"
"True, but they always knew fun games..."
"Stupid! That was just to make us do what they want!"
"Silence!" Ai shouted. "Without his wand, Keisuke couldn't have done anything, that's true... so, I have to bring him back. Which kindergarten did they bring him to?"
"Um... I don't know the name," the ChibiAngewomon admitted.
Ai sighed. Her friends could be scatterbrained at times... "Do you know it?" she asked the TinyAngemon.
The boy shook his head. "Well, all I remember is that they called the teacher MarineAngemon..."
Ai smiled. "That's all I need to know! I should have known... okay, now I HAVE to go there. You probably wouldn't be able to do anything when MarineAngemon is there. I'll talk to him. Don't you worry, our dear friend Keisuke will be with us again soon enough."
"And what about those mean Hybrids?" Manami whined. "They beat up my little Miko..."
"If I meet them, I will give them the chance to help us make this world a better place. If they refuse..." She shrugged. "Well, then whatever happens is going to be their own fault!"
Not knowing that below his feet, dozens of angel kids were planning a conspiracy to overthrow the reign of the adults, Reppamon was lying spread out on a bench in the park.
He sighed.
"It's no use..." he muttered to himself. "I can't find any clue to these weird kids, and I can't stop thinking about Renamon. What could I do to apologize to her...?"
He put his front paws on his muzzle and whined. "I've been such a doofus, such a blokehead, such a fool! What a way to end your first date... make the girl you love cry! Smooth move, Reppamon!"
For a while, he just lay there and pitied himself.
But then, he heard something like a faint swoosh, then a small thud. When he opened his eyes, he saw a small, brown-furred rabbit with long ears and three tiny horns standing in front of him.
"Excuse me..." the girl said in a very polite tone of voice. "Is this place taken? I couldn't help but hear your sorrow..."
Reppamon blinked. "Say, aren't you that girl that lives with the Wongs? The one that once worked for Zhuqiaomon? What was it again... Hopmon or something like that?"
"Close," she chuckled. "My name is Lopmon... and may I know the name of my conversational partner?"
Taken aback by Lopmon's formal way of speech, Reppamon stuttered: "Um, I mean... s-sure. I'm Reppamon... I work for the Digimon Police Squad."
"Ah, I see," Lopmon nodded. The warriors of justice that the father of Rika and Renamon is working for. Reppamon, I am pleased to make your acquaintance."
"Likewise, I think... um... shouldn't you be at school?"
Lopmon sighed and sat down next to the fox Champion. "Even though I am a Rookie, I am in no way a child. My natural form was Antylamon... back when I still was a Deva. I wasn't quite an adult, either... I am what you humans call a 'teenager', I think."
"Still, shouldn't you at least be in high school? I mean..."
"I have special privileges because of my status as the last servant of the Sovereigns," Lopmon explained. "Not counting the two groups of Champions, of course..." She sighed. "Still, being in such a special position, and the partner of a Digimon Tamer at the same time, doesn't help much when you are troubled the same way we are, my friend..."
"Wait a minute... are you saying that...?"
She looked at him and nodded. "Yes, my heart is aching as is yours... even though we love a different person. Ever since I met him, I was in love with the only Digimon that was similar to me... and yet, I don't feel a return of his affection. He sees me as a teammate, a comrade... but nothing more. On top of that, I believe he has his sights on somebody else..."
"And... may I ask who that is?" Reppamon tactfully spoke up.
"You may. It is none other... than his own Tamer. I can see it, since I am living in the same house. I tried everything to gain his attention, I even made use of the human custom and sent him flowers... but he never made any attempt to show me if he cared for me at all..."
"You poor girl..." Reppamon murmured. He sighed. "Looks like we're a pair of heart-broken Digimon with no idea how to fix their problems, huh?"
"It seems like it," Lopmon nodded. "The sister of my Tamer informed me about what happened that evening when you invited Renamon... do you wish to talk about it?"
"Thanks for the offer, but no thanks! I... I guess I already know that I made a big mistake. I'd like to go to her and apologize, but..." he sighed. "I don't know how to do it..."
"Well, maybe you should make use of the same custom as I did," Lopmon smiled. "If it doesn't work for me, maybe it will work for you. Send her a few flowers and write her a card, a declaration of your love... and ask her to forgive you."
Reppamon sat up on his haunches. "That... that might just work," he muttered. "Why didn't I think of this myself? I really was a fool... instead of wailing in self-pity, I should have taken some action." He grinned. "Thanks, Lopmon! I guess I needed that."
"It was my pleasure," Lopmon replied. "Maybe I should try to take heart and talk to my beloved one... and even if he loves somebody else, at least we can talk about our feelings."
"That's the spirit!" Reppamon grinned.
Suddenly, both of them saw a luminous, winged form flying over the treetops. It was a female figure, an Angel Digimon with a resolute expression on her face.
"Now what's going on?" Reppamon wondered.
"Oh my," Lopmon murmured. "Wasn't that... High Angel d'Arcmon? The mother of young Ai? I wonder where she is going in such a hurry..."
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(Posted Sun, 13 Apr 2008 17:23)
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