The signal from Rika's digivice lead the two of them onward as
they ran down the quiet side street. Keeping right beside her Renamon
bounded along a low wall, her eyes dark and intense. "Have you heard
any news from Hypnos Central?" the golden furred fox woman asked as
she leapt down to keep pace beside Rika.
Rika touched her earpiece and listened for a few moments, "Not
much. They know it's a viral type bio-emergence, and they're concerned
it's a 'champion' level."
Renamon gave her a easy grin as she murmured, "I'm certain
that we can handle whatever is coming."
Rika had to smile back at her. When Yamaki had first
approached her and Renamon about helping deal with the occasional
viral Digimon, she had been more than a bit nervous. But talking to
Henry and Takato had reassured her about the motives of the new
Hypnos, and the monster makers had prepared her pretty well.
Rika reached down to touch her belt pouch of Digimon cards and
gave an almost feral grin. The monster makers had created a series of
new cards for her and Renamon, designed to enhance her partner's
abilities. The only problem was these cards were still untested, and
they didn't know what, exactly, they might do.
A bank of fog appeared just ahead of the two of them as
Renamon remarked, "There's the digital field, as expected."
Rika slid her sunglasses down over her eyes. "Well, let's go
inside," Rika said crisply as they ran forward into the mists. It was
hard to see as they plowed through the cloud bank together, the odd
feeling of the mist making Rika's skin tingle slightly. They broke
into the clear center, only to be met with a wall of flame.
"Look out, Rika!" Renamon tackled her, the two rolling away
from the fireball.
Looking around them wildly the two ducked behind a wall even
as flames roared by over their heads. "Did you get a good look at it?"
Rika asked as she tried to catch her breath.
"Sorry, love," Renamon shrugged slightly, wincing a bit as she
noticed that she had been tagged by the flames a bit.
"You're hurt," Rika knelt down beside her, looking as the
light burn.
"I've had worse," Renamon smiled back at her gently.
"Maybe so," Rika looked down at the wound with a great
intensity, "but I don't have to like it much." Another burst of fire
made them duck down a bit lower as she asked, "Any preferences on how
we handle this?"
Renamon smiled slightly. From the tone of her lover's voice
she rather thought that Rika had an idea. "Not really, no. You have a
suggestion?" she prompted.
Rika grinned, knowing that Renamon could read her very well.
"I was thinking we could try this," she held up one of the new monster
maker Digimon cards. "Should protect you from the flames as well as
give you a power boost," she added.
"Lets try it," Renamon quietly agreed. She moved a bit away
from Rika, just in case her transformation had any unexpected effects.
Rika held the card as she loudly declared, "Digi-modify!" The
card swiped through the digivice's reader as she read out it's name,
"Metal armor, activate!"
In a flare of light Renamon's arm guards and leggings
dissolved into shining bits of light, quickly reforming as steely
gauntlets and a matching pair of boots. A half helm materialized over
her head, and large metallic shoulder mounts appeared. Even as she
grew nearly a foot taller, twin thrusters flowed down her back, taking
the place of her tail.
"MetalRenamon," she declared, feeling the new power coursing
through her body.
"Wow," Rika murmured softly. If it was possible, Renamon
looked even tougher than usual in that form. "Are you all right?" she
asked.
"Never better," MetalRenamon grinned, her eyes hidden beneath
the helmet.
"Then let's stop this thing before it does any more damage,"
Rika nodded to her firmly.
Right on cue a flame bolt sizzled through the air towards
MetalRenamon, but she simply blocked it with her gauntlets. She leapt
straight up, the thrusters on her back providing a boost as she gazed
down at the fiery center of the street.
"Diamond," MetalRenamon began to say as the thrusters snapped
into place on her shoulders and gave off an eerie white glow,
"tornado!" She suddenly exploded in a wave of light and power as a
true storm of diamond shards swept down at the fiery Digimon.
Once the smoke finally cleared only a rising stream of shining
particles of data remained of the viral Digimon
MetalRenamon glowed brightly, swiftly reverting to her Renamon
form as she dropped down to stand by Rika. "I only was trying to stun
him," she murmured softly, a bit pleasantly surprised to find the burn
from before gone.
"I didn't realize that the card would boost your powers so
much," Rika admitted. She knew the Digimon would be reborn in a
digi-egg in the digital realm, but still...
"I think before we use any more of those new cards in battle,"
Renamon said seriously, "we're going to try them out a bit, first."
"Sounds like a plan," Rika agreed. She listened to her
earpiece a moment, "Hypnos says there's a police car on it's way.
Apparently we drew some attention."
"Shapechange?" Renamon prompted.
"Good idea. Digi-modify," Rika repeated as she swiped another
card, "Renamon, shapechanging sorceress activate!"
Renamon shrank, glowing softly as she shifted to her 'human'
form. The blonde young woman smiled slightly, "Now let's get out of
here before someone decides to ask us questions we don't want to have
to answer."
The two young women were able to slip away from the crowds
fairly quietly, moving mostly unnoticed out of the neighborhood. They
walked along together, Rika slipping her fingers into Renamon's and
getting a gentle smile in return.
"Hey," Rika noticed with a smile, "we're not that far from
Gogglehead's bakery."
Renamon just had to chuckle softly, "You still call Takato
that?"
"Every chance I get," Rika agreed cheerfully, "it keeps him
humble. Do you want to stop in, maybe grab us a snack?"
Renamon's stomach grumbled softly into the silence. She smiled
a bit sheepishly as she agreed, "Yes, that might be a good idea."
The bell on top of the door rang, and the redish brown haired
young man looked up with a smile. "Hey Rika, Renamon, how ya doing?"
he asked. Takato was dressed in apron and cooking gear, though oddly
he was still wearing his goggles.
"Hey Gogglehead," Rika grinned, and Takato rolled his eyes
dramatically. She chuckled, "So are you running this place now?"
"I alternate running it with my parents," Takato admitted.
"Renamon!" Growlmon's dinosaur like head popped up to beam at
them happily.
"Hey," Rika reached out to scratch his nose.
"You seem happy," Renamon smiled slightly at Takato.
"Yeah, well," Takato blushed slightly. More quietly he
confided to her, "I'm excited because I'm taking Jeri out on a date
tonight."
"Date?" Renamon looked questioningly at Rika.
"Like when you and I went out to the Locket," Rika explained.
Renamon nodded thoughtfully. "Does that mean they'll be doing
what we did upstairs?" she asked Rika curiously.
Rika paled a bit and slapped a hand over Renamon's mouth. She
gave Takato a fierce look, "Pretend you didn't just hear that."
"Right," the fiercely blushing Takato managed.
"What's wrong?" Renamon blinked as Rika took her hand away.
"I'll explain it later," Rika's cheeks went red.
"I wonder if I'll ever understand humans," Renamon quietly
remarked to Growlmon, who just smiled up at her happily.
Author's Note: Inspired by a piece of Digimon art I saw, of Renamon in
the Metal form. Sadly, I can't seem to recall the artist's name right
now.. ^_^; Anyway, I'm glad I wrote this additional chapter, if only
for the end scene with the Digimon and their tamers.
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