The children at the kindergarten stared in surprise at the taller girl that strode past them. She was still a child, still she seemed much older than previously. A few of them were just awestruck, others looked at her with envy.
MarineAngemon looked at her with a stern look on his face, but he didn't say anything yet. Behind him, a little TinyDevimon was hiding. Mako didn't want to show it, but he was scared of his sister, even though he could not say why. How was he supposed to know that it was an instinctive reaction of his species. Devil Digimon barely had any chance against higher leveled Angel Digimon... especially not against one of a rank as high as Lucemon's.
Ai stood in front of MarineAngemon. She didn't smile.
"I have come for my disciple," she stated. "Where is he?"
MarineAngemon did not reply at once. As an Angel Digimon of almost equal rank, he wasn't as easily impressed as Ai's mother.
"Just look at you, Ai..." he said softly. "Listen to your talk... you barely resemble yourself anymore. Why do you want to keep up with this? What will your parents say?"
"I am not here to talk about this," she shot back. "I am here because one of my angels has been captured."
"I didn't know about that... and if that's true, he certainly isn't here."
"Oh, but he will be here, I presume," Ai said. "Oh, I suppose that would be them now..."
They all could hear footsteps approaching through the open door that Ai had just walked through. And then, a couple of dragon Digimon entered, a female adult and a boy.
"Ryo?" MarineAngemon asked in surprise. "What happened?"
As soon as they had entered the room, both Ryo and his mother had noticed Ai standing among the other children. They looked at her closely, then Fafnimon pulled the little angel boy she had been carrying in front of her.
"I take it this one belongs to you," she said.
Keisuke struggled against his bonds. "Ai! Tell them to let me go."
Ai narrowed her eyes. "You heard him. Let him go!"
"No," Ryo proclaimed.
Ai stepped up closer to him. "And why not?"
Ryo stepped up to her himself. His Hybrid body was slightly bigger than Ai's Lucemon body, so his muzzle hovered slightly over Ai's own nose. "Because we came here so he'll be returned to normal... so he can live a normal child's life again."
"You'd be robbing him of the gift I have bestowed upon him," Ai frowned.
"Well, too bad!" Ryo grumbled and pushed Keisuke in front of MarineAngemon. "Well, can you undo this?"
"I... I can try," MarineAngemon said hesitantly. He was a Mega Digimon, meaning he was on a much higher level than Ai. Then again, she was Lucemon...
Ai turned around to face him again. "Release him and I'll reward you. Turn him back to normal, and you will be my enemy."
"Ai..." Mako murmured. "Why are you talking so strangely...?"
"She is scary..." a girl whispered.
"No, she's beautiful," her friend protested.
"Think she'll give us cool wings like that if we go with her?"
"But my Mom told me not to go with strangers..."
"But that's Ai, not a stranger."
"Well, she is strange..."
"I'm not going with her, my parents say they do bad things."
Ai ignored her brother and the other children. "Well?" she asked MarineAngemon. "What do you do?"
"The only thing I can do," he replied and the red sign on his chest lit up. He spat a single, gleaming heart out of his mouth which soared through the air and landed on Keisuke's own chest.
With a twinkle of light, Keisuke's wings disappeared and his clothes turned back to normal. Ryo noticed that the wand he had been carrying under his belt had also vanished.
"Awww..." Keisuke whined. "Oh well, it has been fun..."
Ai glared at MarineAngemon. She wasn't too sure if what she felt was hatred, but she certainly was not amused. "That was a mistake, MarineAngemon!"
"Ai, I won't support you and your silly little agenda just because you feel like it. What you and your followers are doing is endangering other people. Keep in mind that I will do this to any of your so-called 'disciples' as soon as I meet them."
Ai's eyes and wings shone up in a golden light. "YOU WILL OBEY!" she said in her authoritarian voice. The power of her will forced everyone in the room down to their knees, even Ryo and Fafnimon. MarineAngemon winced a little, but except for that, he was unaffected.
There was no sign of any reaction on Mako.
"You may be able to do this with your mother and other people, Ai," MarineAngemon stated. "But I am a Mega Angel Digimon... I won't surrender so quickly to you, even if you are Lucemon."
"He will come back with me," Ai said, although her voice sounded a bit indecisive when she looked at Keisuke.
MarineAngemon crossed his short arms. "No."
For a while, the two angels just stared at each other. Then Mako came floating towards his sister, hesitantly and confused. "A... ai?" he asked. "Can you come home now? I'm missing you... and Phascomon as well."
Ai glanced in his direction. For a while, Ryo believed to see a glint of sadness in her eyes, but then she glared at him.
"You are... a devil!" she stated. "We do not associate with your kind!"
Mako gasped. Ai's words had stung his fragile little heart like a knife. His lips trembled and his eyes became teary. Sobbing loudly, he then turned around and flew away, out of the window.
MarineAngemon would have wished to follow him, but as long as Ai was around, he couldn't let his guard down... and the other still had to stay on the ground because of her presence.
"I will be back," she finally said before turning around and leaving the room.
MarineAngemon let out a sigh of relief. Ryo suddenly noticed how he was able to move again. He, along with his mother and the other children, stood up from the ground.
"Ryo... I thank you for bringing him here," MarineAngemon said and took off Keisuke's bonds. "Keisuke... please go and play with the others... and stay out of trouble, okay?"
"Um, sure..." the little ex-angel said. He had been pretty disappointed that Ai left him behind, so for now, he didn't protest.
"I will make sure to protect these children... but I can't promise to take care of every child in town," the little Mega Digimon said sadly. "I have to ask for assistance... pleas excuse me, I have to go and look after Mako..." He then flew out of the window, after Mako.
Ryo and his mother looked at each other for a while.
"So... what do we do now?" Fafnimon asked.
She looked down when one of the younger girls tugged at her tail gently... it was a little Yokomon.
"Mrs. Dragon, can you tell us a story, please?" she asked.
"Oh yes," the other kids chorused. "A story about dragons."
Fafnimon smiled. "Aw, you're too cute... Did you know I wanted to be a caretaker for Baby Digimon before I decided to become a sky-diver, Ryo?"
Ryo smirked. "No, you never mentioned that. Listen, will you be okay by yourself? I need to inform Rika and the others..."
"Oh, I think we'll be just fine," Fafnimon smiled as she sat down on a pile of pillows and instantly got surrounded by little children and In-Training Digimon.
"Story time! Story time!" they shouted.
"Well, where shall I start...?" the dragon woman muttered. "It was a beautiful day and a little Veemon was outside, enjoying the nice weather..."
"Okay, that's it!" Kei grumbled. "I tried to give her a chance, but enough is enough. If she still doesn't listen to reason after having talked to her mother, I will have to get serious."
"It isn't her fault, Kei," HolyCalumon explained. "Bio is changing reality again so that her Lucemon data is becoming more and more prominent by the hour... if we don't do anything soon, it will be too late."
"Then there's no time to lose... I will have to create a new scenario AND dungeon on my own BEFORE Bio does so. Did you take care of our other problems, Holy?"
"Yes," she nodded. "The three bank robbers are all adapting to their new roles. The ballerina girl has attended a dancing school, the monkey has become an intelligent Apemon, and the hydrant, well... a Hydrantmon. I had to turn the hydrant he fell in love with into a Hydrantmon as well, though, so he wouldn't be heartbroken..."
"And the parents of the missing children?" Kei asked.
"They are still upset, but I made sure they won't do anything too drastic."
"Good," Kei said. "I don't want that anything happens to them like to that woman who became a Labramon... or Mai's parents. Okay, if Ai refuses to listen to d'Arcmon, she will return into the Digital World and..."
"Um... Kei?"
Kei looked sidewards to where her brother was sitting on another chair. "Yes?"
Stingmon frowned. "Aren't you taking this a bit... too serious?"
"I thought you of all people would understand, Stingmon! You are a special ops soldier, aren't you? You should know that at times, drastic measures are the only solution."
"Well... it's just that since we've come here, you've been sitting at that computer and worried about nothing else but that game and this 'BioCalumon'."
"That's because he is a menace and I don't want him to get back to his full powers... do you have any idea what he'd be able to do?"
"That's not it," Stingmon protested. "To me, it just sounds like you, well... kinda fired up about this whole mess. I'm just a bit worried about you, you know? I mean, you are my sister..."
"Half-sister, actually," Kei pointed out.
"That doesn't change anything. You aren't really an adult, no matter what you look like at the moment. I don't like the fact that you have to bear all of these responsibilities."
"I don't like it either," Kei grumbled. "But I'm the only one who can do it... I'm the Game Master, remember? Or would you want us to rely on Eiko?"
Just at that moment, Eiko came out of the kitchen with a big smile on her pale face. "Oh Stiiingmoooon..." she said in a singing voice. "I've made some teeaaaaa... would you like some?"
"Um... sure, I'll take a cup."
Eiko's smile turned into a huge grin. "Great!" the LadyVampimon said. "It'll be ready in a minute..." She turned around to go back into the kitchen, but promptly walked into the doorframe. "Oopsie!" she giggled. "Silly me..."
Just seconds later, they heard a loud crash coming from inside the kitchen. "Nothing happened!" Eiko shouted.
Stingmon sweatdropped. "Um, no, I guess that wouldn't be wise."
"I agree..." Kei murmured. "Say, Holy... I noticed that Eiko is actually able to handle kitchen work... is that another part of the change?"
"Well, she wasn't changed to adapt to this new reality, so the change wasn't made directly by the game... but you have to remember that the angel girl's harp attack altered your minds a bit... not as drastically as the mind of those bank robbers, but still enough so you could be actually mistake for real adults. And that includes knowing how to handle the housework."
Another crash from the kitchen. "Ouch!" they heard Eiko's voice. "Damn, that pot's hot!"
Kei narrowed her eyes and Holy sweatdropped. "Well, I didn't say she was handling it good..."
Kei shook her head. "Okay, time to get back to work," she sighed. "Stingmon, you are a Digimon soldier... what can you tell me about... Digimon airships?"
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(Posted Wed, 23 Apr 2008 16:25)
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