The Piedmon Piper of Tokyo
Guess who? That's right, it's me yet again, typing out another Digi-
Yuri with my favorite couple, Rika and Renamon. This time I really
break from the established series, which means I guess this is my first
long descent into an AU, or at the very least an alternate storyline.
Crazed conservative guy: It's the devil!
Gabriel: What in the hell?
Crazed conservative guy: It must be destroyed!
Gabriel: You don't have to be here. If you don't like it then just go
away.
Crazed conservative guy: I will crush you like a... oof! <Gabumon and
Gatomon klonk the nut on the head with sticks>
Gabriel: <As they drag his stunned body off to somewhere> Thanks you
two. I'll be sure to write something cute about the two of you.
What do you think of all this? Write to me. Flamers: Please, spare me.
MSTers: Sure, I guess. Just ask me first. Regular commenters: Feel
free.
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It was an ordinary night in Tokyo. The moon was out, the stars were
shining, and a strange fog had appeared in a back alley. But this was
no ordinary fog; this was a digital field, where a Digimon was
preparing to bio-emerge. Three children ran towards the fog, each one
determined to get there first. Behind them race three digimon, two
determined to absorb the data of the digimon in the field, the other
just wanting a fight. "What's your hurry, goggle-head? It's just one
digimon." Rika Nonaka looked disdainfully over at Takato, something she
did a lot.
"You're running just as fast as I am."
"That's different. Renamon wants some entertainment and I have to be
there to back her up with modify cards."
"This isn't some game. This is real."
"I'm aware of that. But life is more than just seriousness. We all need
our hobbies. And Renamon just happens to enjoy destroying emerging
Digimon." Rika put on an extra burst of speed, Renamon leaping to her
side, both of them penetrating the digital field a few steps ahead of
the other two tamers. When Takato and Henry finally got through the
fog, they found Renamon and Rika looking around confused.
"What's the matter? Did you destroy the Digimon already?" Henry readied
his modify cards while Terriermon hopped to the center of the field.
"That's the thing, when we got in here there was no Digimon. It was
completely empty."
"What? Empty? That's impossible!" Takato punched his palm in
frustration.
"True, it really shouldn't happen, but it has." Henry looked thoughtful
and examined the area.
"Actually, when I first entered I could hear a few weird notes that
sounded like a squeaky flute played out of tune." Renamon stepped
forward with that news.
"Yea, I heard something like that before I got in here, sorta soft."
Terriermon hopped atop Henry's head.
"A flute huh? That's weird. What Digimon plays a flute?" Rika walked
over to Renamon and softly stroked her tail, Renamon's favorite non-
erotic stroking area.
"I don't know. But whatever it is it's still here. The digital field is
still here." Almost as soon as Takato said that the fog began to
dissipate.
"That's unusual. An empty digital field, a few flute notes, and then
nothing. Probably just a fluke. Even the best system has a few bugs in
it. Could have been a false alarm." Henry started out of the alley with
a yawn.
"You might be right. But I don't know about it..." Rika took Renamon's
hand in hers and leaned against her side and the two of them walked
away.
"What we do now, Takatomon?" Gillmon nudged against Takato's arm
lightly.
"I guess... we go home."
"We get some bread first?"
"Ahhh, Gillmon! Are you hungry again?"
"I can't help it, Takatomon. I hungry all the time."
"Ok, ok, I guess I can get you a few loaves... I just hope my parents
don't wonder where all the bread is going."
The next day, all three tamers received a signal from their Digivices,
alerting them to a newly bio-emerging Digimon. Without hesitation they
took off from different locations towards the digital field. However,
Rika and Renamon had the advantage, since they were closer, and had a
greater desire to get there. "I may have missed a fight last night, but
I won't today." Renamon ran swiftly ahead of Rika, eager to plunge into
the digital field.
"Don't be so rash, Renamon. Let's try to keep a level head about
this." Rika put on an extra bust of speed, and passed into the Digital
field well behind Renamon.
This time, the field wasn't empty. When Renamon entered the field she
found a Demidevimon. At least, it looked like one. Its back was to her.
"Come on and fight me." But the small creature did nothing. That's when
Renamon realized she was hearing the strange flute again, this time
more clearly and for a longer time. The Demidevimon turned around
slowly, revealing a painted face. The entire thing had been covered in
while, while dark streaks had been placed under it's eyes.
"Please... help... me..." The little creature whined pitifully before
twitching horribly and then going still. The music abruptly stopped and
the painted Demidevimon flew into the air right at Renamon. She took a
swipe at it and caught the thing in the face with the side of her hand.
She looked down at her hand, seeing a smear of white where she had hit
it. She looked up and saw a matching smudge on the Demidevimons face.
But then something strange happened. The area turned white again, and
the Demidevimons eyes turned cold, utterly dead in appearance. With no
more word or deed the creature flew out of the Digital field. The
entire exchange took only a small amount of time. But Rika saw none of
it. She only noticed that the field started to vanish as she entered
it.
"Excellent. I guess you destroyed whatever it was. What was it,
anyhow?"
"It was a Demidevimon. But its face had been painted while, while the
areas under its eyes were black. I didn't actually fight it. All it did
was say "Please help me" and then took off. I heard that strange music
again, though, and that music stopped as soon as the Demidevimon
stopped resisting it. Like it was a means of control."
"Interesting. Our own Pied Piper. And it's kidnapping digimon, before
anyone else can get to the digital field, which means that this person
has some knowledge of where the Digimon will bio-emerge. Strange thing
about the painted face, though. What did it look like to you?"
"Like some attempt to make him look unhealthy and emaciated, pale from
lack of sunlight, sunken eyes from starvation, and after full control
was established, it just looked... dead."
"Let's keep this to ourselves. No need for the other two to know about
any of this." Rika turned away from the alley, walking slowly towards
home with her hands in her pockets. Renamon, however, stood still,
perking her ears a little to try and hear something that wasn't there.
"Renamon? What are you doing?"
"Huh? Oh, I was... trying to pick up on the trail of the kidnapper. I
thought he'd be playing the flute again, or something..." Renamon
shrugged, following along behind Rika again, but stayed more in the
shadows than usual.
The next day everything was back to normal. Rika off at school, and
Renamon hiding out. However, Renamon wasn't hiding around the school,
waiting or the chance to speak with Rika. Rather, she was in Rika's
room, the doors closed, the windows covered, leaving the inside of the
room awash in all the darkness that could be made during the day. She
lay upon Rika's sleeping mat, sprawled out with her hands on her head,
giving the occasional twitch. "Why? What is this?" She shook her head
and squinched her eyes shut tight. Through her brain the fragment of
melody she heard last night played and played. Layered into the music
was something. Her mind pulled words from the music, "darkness",
"pale", "disconnected". And over and over the refrain went, at the end
of the song bit, "End it, end it, end it. Surrender." "What does it
mean? What does it mean?" Renamon whispered, confused and in some
unexplainable pain. Each time she got the desire to leave the room, to
walk in the sun, to visit Rika, to be anywhere but there, she cringed
in some strange new instinct. "Can't bear the light..." she found
herself saying.
She leaped to her feet without knowing why, looking around the room
confused. "Powder. I need powder and some soot..." Only understanding
half of what was happening to her, she vanished, in search of powder
and soot, or something.
"Renamon! Renamon, I'm home!" Rika slid open her doors, quite expecting
to find Renamon waiting for her, either laying out on her sleeping mat
or reading quietly in the corner. But she wasn't prepared for what she
found. The entire room was disheveled, as though it had been ransacked
and then put back in place hastily. Along the walls there were streaks
of white, like someone had dipped their fingers in something white and
placed them against the wall while walking.
"Hello there, Heartbreaker..." Renamon's voice, lower than usual,
whispered in Rika's ear. Rika turned immediately, startled. Renamon was
standing right behind her, looking fairly normal. But her facial fur
was wet, and some little bits of white were faintly visible here and
there. Though she smiled, it was somewhat hollow, and there was no
happy spark in her eye, like there usually was when she greeted Rika at
her room.
"Renamon, w-what happened here?" Rika backed away from Renamon
slightly, not entirely comfortable near her, what with all the unusual
things.
"I just... was looking for something. Just wanted to try something that
I'd seen before." Renamons smile slowly faded, leaving her looking
neutral, like she sometimes looked. "There's nothing to be afraid of,
Rika. Everything is just fine." Rika nodded a little bit, and then
walked around Renamon, towards the door.
"Ok. Well, I've gotta go and... get something to eat. I'll be right
back." She slid the doors open and scooted out faster than she
intended. After closing them again she leaned back against them, trying
to make sense of the situation. Everything was confusing, but one thing
stuck in her mind most of all. "She didn't call me Heartbreaker..."
Later on in the evening Rika had to excuse herself from the house,
because her Digivice started to flash and beep, informing her of a new
Digimon preparing to bio-emerge. She headed out towards a small side
street with Renamon running full-tilt ahead of her. "She's really
eager. Guess things are finally back to normal..." Rika though, as
Renamon left her further and further behind. Finally, Renamon was out
of sight, and Rika had to follow her Digivice to the digital field. She
was so far behind that by the time she got to the digital field Renamon
was already inside. "She couldn't even wait. I hope she doesn't get
herself hurt."
"Hey!" A voice from somewhere in the shadows made Rika stop abruptly,
and look around.
"Me?"
"Yes, you. I've got a question for you. Do you know what happens when
someone gets the end of a message but misses the start?"
"What are you talking about?"
"I'll tell you what happens. The person gets confused. Especially if
the message is something for them to do. They do their best to follow
the instructions received, but without the start of the message there's
no rhyme or reason to it, causing a good deal of indecision and chaos.
Only receiving the entire thing can cure that, wouldn't you agree?"
"Who are you, and what is this all about?"
"I'm just here to bring up a few points. Don't worry. Yet." Then the
voice was silent, and no matter what Rika said, there was no answer.
That was when she noticed that the digital field was dissipating. Rika
saw Renamon standing at the center of where the field had been, smiling
brightly.
"Renamon!"
Renamon turned to smile at Rika, finally looking like her normal self.
"Yes Heartbreaker?"
Rika smiled and gave Renamon a hug. "Did you get whatever it was?"
Renamons' hand softly stroked down Rika's back, caressing her while her
eyes flashed darkly.
"Oh yes. I really got it good."
The next day was a Friday, so after school Rika took the very long way
home, just meandering happily. "Strange thing about Renamon. Something
sure was wrong with her, but I guess the fight last night set her
straight again." Rika sighed softly and looked around. The street was
quite full of people, walking from somewhere to somewhere else, mostly
ignoring the others on the street. Nothing special about... Renamon?
For just the briefest second, Rika thought she had seen Renamon
entering a building. She quickly pulled out her Digivice and checked
the area. Renamon was nearby, just a little ahead and to the left. Rika
checked out the building the Digivice indicated. "Utterly
impossible..." Rika proclaimed. It was a tiny little Goth club,
something new that America had given to Japan, perhaps because America
had too many. Rika figured one was too many for anywhere. Taking a look
around the entrance she stepped in, trying not to be seen.
The place was dark, even just inside the entrance. A black curtain hung
across the entrance, currently watched by no one. Rika gave her
Digivice another check, confirmed that Renamon was inside, and parted
the curtain a bit, to take a peek inside. The inside was just about as
dark at the foyer, perhaps a bit darker, the only light coming from
purplish black lights. Scattered around were a few small tables, each
with three chairs. At those tables sat older teenagers, dressed all in
black from head to toe, some of them with piercing or tattoos, and a
few with their faces covered in white powder, with dark circles under
their eyes. "Just like the Demidevimon Renamon saw..." Rika thought.
The mood was subdued. Almost no one spoke. Those that did tended to
whisper or mumble. A few were reading books to themselves, or were
drinking something probably rather high in alcohol. Then Rika looked in
a particularly dark corner, and saw Renamon. Most others wouldn't even
notice her, but Rika saw her immediately. Her body was darker than
usual, black clothing covering her; her face was pale like some of the
others in the room, dark circles deepening her pretty blue eyes. Rika
gasped softly, justifiably shocked by the sight of her love like this.
Renamon was busy watching the others in the room, carefully noting how
they acted, but when Rika gasped, her head snapped up and glared right
at her. Then she was suddenly gone, vanishing, as she was wont to do.
"Hey, kid!" A man appeared from behind her, tapping her on the
shoulder. "I know you wanna get into here. But you gotta be an adult
first. Rules are rules kid." Rika backed away from the curtain, rather
angry at the implication.
"I have no desire to go into that... cave! I just saw my l... friend
come in here, and was looking to see what she was up to." Rika glared
venomously at the man, just wanting to head right for home, where she
knew Renamon would be.
"Ok! Ok! No need to get nasty. Just clear out before someone sees
you." Rika did that with great pleasure, immediately checking her
Digivice while running down the sidewalk.
"Just as I thought. She is home... But the signal is very weak..." That
prompted Rika to pour on the speed, running full tilt for home despite
the throng of people.
Rika ran straight to her room, taking the most direct route possible
once she got inside of her house, thought she did glance around and
then down to her Digivice every so often to see if Renamon was around,
and if the signal was still weak. Once at the doors to her room she
reached out to open them, but Renamon immediately appeared before her.
She was still dressed entirely in black, and her face was still covered
in white with the dark circles under her eyes. But now those eyes were
without spark or vitality. Dead eyes... "Renamon! What's wrong?"
"Foolish human child. You know nothing of the darkness that swims in
me. The pure and terrible hopelessness that has become a part of my
being. Renamon is dead now. There is nothing here but Angstmon!"
Angstmon made as if to lunge at Rika, but instead vanished as she was
about to make contact. Rika could only shiver in horror, opening her
doors quickly and looking around the inside. The room was a shambles.
Things were tossed about; her sleeping pad was thrown against the wall
and left lying on the ground where it landed. Her books were scattered
all over; her clothes lay over everything, her favorite broken heart
shirt bunched up and stuffed in a corner. A scrap of paper lay near the
door, written in a jerky handwriting, which still was recognizable as
Renamons'. "My last hope is a poem. Don't let me go into the darkness
without a fight, Heartbreaker. Just find it on the wall." Rika then
noticed a piece of paper stuck on the wall with twisted paper clips,
looking like a page ripped out of one of her books. "Stolen child" the
title said. "By William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)" it continued.
"Come away oh human child
to the waters and the wild
with a faery hand in hand
For the world's more full of weeping
than you can understand."
Beneath that poem was scrawled a message. "Please save me,
heartbreaker" was what it said, but the writing was erratic, as though
Renamon was barely in control. The 'r' looked deformed but was
readable. However, below that that was a message that chilled Rika to
the bone. The lettering was perfect, as though order had been
reestablished. "Stay away human. There is nothing but Angstmon now."
Then Rika remembered how Renamon had stared through her, her eyes as
dead as a corpse. The makeup hardly seemed fake. She had insisted on
her new name without exception. Whatever had happened to her, the
change was real. Renamon had become Angstmon truly and fully. "But she
said don't leave her. And I won't." Rika looked down at her Digivice,
determined to follow it to the ends of the earth. Renamons' signal was
very weak, overpowered by Angstmon, but obviously still there somewhere
within. Stopping only long enough to slip into her favorite fighting
outfit, she took off again, running with her eyes on the Digivice,
quite prepared to run over people who dared get in her way.
The faint signal of Renamon led Rika to a large, seemingly abandoned
warehouse in one of the grimier parts of Tokyo. The front door was
locked and chained, but Rika still furiously shook it and kicked at it.
"Let me in!" Rika screamed and kicked until she was exhausted. But the
door stayed tightly closed, with not even the slightest hint of a sound
behind it. Rika pounded on the door softly as she slowly slid down to
her knees. "Re-na-mon..." she sobbed, punctuating each syllable with a
weak pound on the door. She kneeled there a moment longer, before she
rose to her feet. Wiping the tears from her eyes she stared hard at the
door. "I can't break down now. Renamon is in there somewhere, and I'm
the only one who can save her..." For a moment her thoughts traveled to
the other tamers. "I'm the only one who should save her. If I can't do
it, then I was never worthy of her in the first place..." Rika looked
around the area more carefully, finally noticing that the fence to the
back of the warehouse was partially broken, and could be crawled
through.
The back of the warehouse looked almost exactly like the front, except
that here there were no large doors, just small ones, and none of them
looked locked, or too strong. Rika checked the door closest to her, her
body pressed firmly to it to hear anything on the other side. The knob
was sticky, but it did turn, eventually letting Rika push open the door
with a loud, drawn-out squeak. She didn't care too much about that; she
just walked inside the warehouse and had a look around. From where she
was standing she could see that most of the space in the warehouse was
taken up by a lot of electronic equipment, and all of it was perfectly
cleaned and in fine working order, very out of place in the decrepit
warehouse. Most of the monitors on the equipment displayed lines of
code, or spiking electrical graphs, but one of them read, "Angstmon
viral data: Perfected. Test subject fully transformed." Rika took a few
steps more into the warehouse, checking for anyone else besides her.
The signal on her digivice told her that Renamon was around somewhere,
wrapped tightly in Angstmons viral embrace.
"Lethargy ray!" Rika jumped to the side as a thin black beam struck the
ground where she had been standing. She quickly looked for the origin
of the beam, and found herself staring at a Demidevimon with a white
face and black circles around his eyes.
"It's that Demidevimon Renamon saw..." Rika thought, running off to
seek shelter behind a large machine. "I'm in the right place, but
there's no sign of the one who did this."
"Apathy beam!" A large ray of inky blackness struck near the machine,
nearly touching Rika, but likely aimed away to protect the machine. Or
to serve as a warning shot. Rika looked up to see where this new attack
had come from, and saw Angstmon standing on one of the beams in the
rafters. "I told you to stay away from here, human." Angstmon leaped
down from her beam and landed soundlessly on the floor near Rika.
Angstmon had increased her dark appearance by adding a cape to her
black ensemble. Also, she now sported a tall top hat with a wide brim,
which narrowed in the middle and flared out at the top. "Now you will
pay the price..." Angstmon drew her hand back, dark energy crackling in
her palm.
"Angstmon! That's enough. Please, don't be rude to our guest." A soft,
silky voice floated across Rika's ears, sounding very cool and in
control.
"Whatever..." Angstmon said, giving a dismissive wave before skulking
off to a corner.
"Please forgive Angstmons mood swing. She is supposed to be as you see
her right now, moody and quiet. Unfortunately there is a slight
imperfection in her data. There is still some bit of Renamon left in
her, and that bit bothers her to no end. So she wants to destroy you
when the Renamon portion becomes overpowering, because that will
finally silence Renamon." From around the machine Rika was hiding
behind stepped a man. He was dressed in brightly colored clothing, with
a bandana covering half his face, eyeholes cut out in it. He looked
oddly familiar...
"Who are you, and what have you done to Renamon?"
"You have to ask? I would think you'd know it, or at least have a close
guess. I am Neopiedmon!"
"Yea, right. You're nothing by a human with a lot of time and maybe a
few screws loose upstairs."
"Really? Check your digivice."
"Why not? Might be worth a laugh..." Rika looked down at her Digivice,
which she was pointing at Neopiedmon. "What? This can't be right." It
told her that Neopiedmon was indeed a digimon, merely an unknown type.
"But this looks a bit off. There's too much digital concentration in
your head."
"Well, I can't account for all the shortcomings of that device there."
"It's not important if you want to think you're a Digimon. What is
important is that you've infected my beloved with a virus and turned
her into some kind of sideshow attraction. I want the anti-viral data
and the means to use it. Now." Rika glared coldly at Neopiedmon, back
in a cold and determined state of mind, like she once was before
Renamons' admission of love.
"I'm afraid that's not possible. While I did develop an anti-virus, I
have no intention of using it. However, I will show you the little
gadget that let me create my minions." Neopiedmon reached behind his
cape, and pulled out a long metal device. It was about two feet long
and a few inches thick. It was round and dull silver in color. At its
middle it ran right through a cube-shaped metal device, with numerous
buttons on it's surface and digital readout on the top. "This is my
Digital Transfer Flute. It works by being programmed with a specific
data packet, then transforming that data into sound waves. I've been
told it sounds rather like a modem dialing out. I developed it to
transfer my Angstmon virus into Digimon. My first few projects resulted
in Demiangstmon, that small thing that resembled a Demidevimon. The
others are out searching for bio-emerging or bio-emerged Digimon. If
they find one, they can drain it's energy with their Lethargy Ray, then
bring it back here.
"I thought I'd never succeed in perfecting the Angstmon virus, until
Renamon accidentally picked up on a strain of the yet-imperfect
Angstmon viral data. The piece of it started affecting her, making her
curious about this darkness that now consumes her. It didn't do
anything permanent, as you saw, but it did mess with her mind. I saw
that, and used that strain as a starting point, refining it into a
perfect virus. The night one of my Demiangstmon stopped you outside the
Digital field, I was inside infecting Renamon with the perfected virus.
As you can see, it worked quite well. The perfect virus does not modify
the entire body, as it did with the Demiangstmon, it just alters the
coloration, and the mental processes. Now, Angstmon isn't quite
perfect, but that's because Renamon still has a hold on the body. I was
amazed she held out as long as she did. My computer models estimated a
maximum full infection time of three hours. She's remarkably willful
and strong. You trained her well."
"I did nothing. Renamon is her own Digimon. Our love is what makes us
both the strong and willful beings that we are. Even as a rookie,
Renamon is incredibly strong. She probably won't be as strong as
Angstmon."
"Actually, give her a look with your Digivice. The Angstmon virus
altered her into a Champion."
"Impossible!" Rika leveled her Digivice at Angstmon and read what was
spelled out. "Angstmon. Champion level Depression type Digimon. It's
Apathy beam can suck the energy out of a target, reducing it to near
death in one shot, as breathing and moving become pointlessly energy
wasting."
"The perfect virus is made to bring the Digimon up to Champion level,
while maintaining the form. Is there anything else you can think of to
possibly say?" Rika was utterly silent, staring at Angstmon with a tear
in her eye.
"Why?" Was the only thing that fell from Rika's lips, barely a whisper
of a sound.
"Why? You ask why? I should think it would be obvious. I want to
conquer the Real world, and the Digital world. It's a devilishly clever
scheme I've worked out. The first step is the final perfection of the
Angstmon virus, which I have done. The second step is to gather a good
amount of Demiangstmon, and Angstmon, and with my perfected virus that
shouldn't be a problem. The third step involves actually sending my
Demiangstmon and Angstmon out into the world to conquer. With their
ability to drain energy it really shouldn't be too much trouble. The
fourth step is to tweak my viral data a bit, until it becomes able to
totally infect the Digital world, turning every Digimon there into a
minion under my control. As you can see, I've got it all figured out."
"That all makes sense, which is quite frightening, but I wonder, why
the hell did you choose something as frightening as that..." And she
pointed at Angstmon. "Plus, I'd think that an army of depressed and
lethargic creatures wouldn't do you much good."
"Ahhh, that's there you are wrong. Their lethargy and depression are to
my advantage. They will not rise up, as it would take too much effort
to revolt against me. And, if I ever need them to act, my flute is
programmed with a protocol that makes them ignore their lethargy and
obey my attack commands. As for why, well, you said it yourself. They
are frightening. Scary because of how they look, and how they think.
Staring into their faces is like staring into the face of bad choices.
Wrong moves, broken dreams, dashed hopes, completely giving in to
hopelessness and despair. Imagine an army of such creatures, each one a
fragment of your worst nightmare of failure. No one would stand in my
way long." Neopiedmon laughed darkly, placing his flute to the side.
"Now, little girl, I really think you should go. Otherwise, Angstmon
might flare up again and come after you."
"Never. I made a promise to Renamon that I would never break her heart.
I can see that Renamon is still in there somewhere, drowning in viral
darkness, but she's in there. And as long as there is one bit of
Renamon remaining in this world, I will be with her, and save her, or
try to until my very last drop of blood has seeped from my body." Rika
kept her Digivice aimed at Angstmon, continually noting the faint but
steady trace of Renamon within.
Somewhere deep inside the viral sea of Angstmon, the last remaining
piece of Renamon struggled against the dark confinement. She was
chained securely to a solid surface, which was being tossed about the
dark waves like it was nothing. She kneeled with her wrists shackled to
either side of her body, arms pulled tight. Her ankles were also
tightly secured to the ground, along with her legs. But her head was
free to shake about as she struggled. And her mouth was free to scream,
to cry out in her rage, defying the loud howling of the wind. "Let me
go! You can't do this to me! This is my life! You have no right to
destroy it now that I've finally found someone to be happy with!"
"Silence!" The wind howled back, the unmistakable voice of Angstmon.
"You should not even exist. The darkness should have swallowed you. But
no matter. You are just as helpless chained up and unable to do
anything." Angstmon laughed at Renamon's helplessness. Renamon just
continued to struggle. She was getting weaker, her strength flowing out
of her as she fought the powerful emptiness of Angstmon. What was worse
was that she could hear the outside world, hear what Neopiedmon was
planning to do to the world. It just seemed like such a good idea to
slide away, to end it all and cease the tiring struggle against the
blackness lapping at the corners of her hunk of stability. Then she
heard Rika declare to fight to her absolute death to try and save her
from this darkness.
"Heartbreaker..." Renamon whispered into the storm. Renamon closed her
eyes and drew upon some reserve of energy from within, straining her
chains, the sound of metal under stress reaching Angstmon, even through
the crying of the storm.
"Impossible! Illogical! There is no way for you to be doing that!"
"I'm in love, and just crazy enough to spend the last ounce of strength
I've got to break these chains, just to make sure I prove I have as
much sheer determination as my Heartbreaker!" Renamon continued to
strain against the chains that kept her in check. As Angstmon roared
all around her, Renamon focused on Rika and how much she cared about
the young human girl.
"Make things easy on yourself and just go home, little girl. You're in
way over your head." Neopiedmon smiled at Rika, the gesture highly
unnerving. Rika didn't move, she merely noted that Renamon's signal had
gotten weaker for a moment, then started to surge. Neopiedmon chuckled
softly, picking up his flute again. "Well, I'm sorry then. I'm afraid
that I must give Angstmon the attack command. Nothing personal, you
understand. But you just wouldn't listen to reason." Neopiedmon slowly
lifted the flute to his lips, for effect, and prepared to push one of
the buttons. Just like the night Rika saved Renamon from Harpymon, Rika
was dashing up to Neopiedmon. He barely had time to react before Rika
was upon him. He managed to push the button, and the room filled with
the screeching music of data made sound. Rika didn't care about that;
all she was concentrating on was Neopiedmon. She grabbed the opposite
end of the flute from Neopiedmons' mouth and yanked hard. Neopiedmons'
grip wasn't as secure as it should have been. Rika wheeled around with
the flute in her hand, the heavy metal object smacking forcefully
against the side of Neopiedmons face, his body twisting around as he
fell with a groan of pain. He hit the floor with a dull thud, blood
flowing from his mouth and nose. The digital command had finished, and
Rika turned to face Angstmon...
While Rika was standing in defiance of Neopiedmon, Renamon strained
against her chains, defying the impotent rage of Angstmon. One chain
snapped as Neopiedmon brought the flute up. "Scream all you like. You
can't do anything. The apathy you embrace is too great." Another chain
snapped as Neopiedmon prepared to play. "You are truly hopeless, and
truly pathetic." Using her freed hands, Renamon shoved against the
ground, as Neopiedmon played the attack melody. Renamon shattered the
last of her chains, triumphantly crying as she stood proud and tall.
Angstmon made ready to carry out the command of Neopiedmon, despite the
fact that by that time he was bleeding on the ground. Renamon leaped up
into the fury of the swirling storm, right to where the heart of the
viral infection was.
Before her, floating in the dark calm in the eye of the storm, was
Angstmon, looking exactly as she did on the outside, clothed in black
with a cape and a top hat. Her expression, however, was fearful. "Now
this ends. You will not darken my life or the lives of anyone else
anymore." Renamon stepped in quickly, landing a devastating punch to
Angstmons face, then a quick roundhouse kick to her side, finally
ending with a elbow smash directly in her gut. Angstmon gave a shrill
shriek as Renamon’s heavy blows crushed her fragile body. Then she lay
still, her fallen body breaking up into bits of data and vanishing into
nothingness. The rest of the darkness around her also began breaking
into pieces, vanishing into nothing. And as it vanished, Renamon became
stronger, and began to take control of her body again.
Rika saw Angstmon raise her hand, and saw her start to gather her dark
energy. But then a jerk passed through her body, as though she had been
jabbed with an electric prod on the side of her body. She stopped cold,
the energy dissipating, her face fixed in a grimace of determination.
Without warning, she threw her head back and gave a horrendous screech,
arms tossed out to the side as though someone was tugging her in two
directions at once. Finally, however, she simply collapsed onto the
floor, her face rubbing against her arm. Rika slowly walked over to
Angstmons prone form, still holding the slightly bloodied flute. She
reached down with the flute, poking at the still form of Angstmon.
Angstmon groaned softly and lifted her head, giving it a good shake to
clear out the cobwebs. Rika got a look at Angstmons arm, and saw a
smear of powder, then looked at her face and saw the smear was matched
on her cheek. It was no longer a natural color. It was Renamon there on
the ground. Rika dropped the flute and then dropped down to her knees,
embracing Renamon tightly, though she still wore the dark clothing she
had donned as Angstmon. "Renamon! You're all right!"
"Heartbreaker... What happened to Neopiedmon?" Renamon looked over at
Neopiedmons' body, still lying out on the floor.
"Right as he was about to hit the attack button I rushed him, grabbed
the flute and wheeled around. I wasn't trying to hit him where I did,
but it looks like it was effective." Rika held tight to Renamon a
moment longer, before she pulled away a little and started to remove
the dark clothing Renamon still had on. Renamon smiled softly and
helped Rika along, finally ending up in her natural nude state. She
used the shirt to wipe her face, getting a good portion of the powder
and soot off of her face, but still needing a good bath.
"Think you could help me get clean? A nice bath would probably help us
both..." Renamon smiled widely at Rika, the sparkle back in her eye.
"Sure." Rika smiled back, picturing the two of them in a tub of warm
water, softly scrubbing each other, maybe kissing ever now and again.
But never more than kissing. Not in the tub. No, that was saved for
very special times, late at night, in Rika's room or the by the koi
pond. "But first, I have to see something..." Rika rose and walked over
to Neopiedmon, watching his chest rise and fall for a moment, so she
was certain that he was still alive. Then she checked his face,
especially where she had hit him. Half of his bandana was torn off,
revealing a metal surface with many tiny electronic paths. That too was
partially broken. She had very likely broken his jaw, but that's not
fatal. "I knew it. He ran a false digital signal through the metal
plating under his bandana, imitating a Digimon's digital signal, but
with most of it concentrated in the head. I knew something wasn't quite
right. He's just a guy who fancied himself a ruler..." She shook her
head and returned to Renamon, picking up the flute from the ground.
"Let's smash this place up and make sure he can't do anything like this
again." Rika lifted the flute and brought it down hard on one of the
machines, making dents in both.
Renamon and Rika went to work on the makeshift lab, Rika bashing
consoles and tearing up notes, while Renamon showered them with Diamond
Storm after Diamond Storm, both of them succeeding in demolishing the
machinery and reducing the notes to confused jumbles of paper. "That
felt good. Far better than it should have..." Renamon mused.
"It was very well justified. Don't feel bad. Let's just call the
paramedics and get to that bath."
"What about the Demiangstmon?"
"Without Neopiedmon to lead them, they'll be too lethargic to do
anything bad, I guess."
"That's true... Now that that's settled, let's go and take that bath. I
think I'm really going to want my back and tail worked on..."
"Renamon, you always say that. And you know I always do it..." Rika
smiled and took Renamon's hand in hers, squeezing it tight as the two
of them left the warehouse together, both knowing that the over loved
them without question or exception.
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