Chapter 6 : Tokyo (2/2)

“Enough, you guys,” Yamato said, annoyed. At this point, he didn’t know what they were chasing these guys for anyway.

Several empty plots of land like this surfaced after j.a.pan’s bubble economy had burst. Only walls of sheet iron separated it from the building next door. Construction materials were carelessly piled up within the vacant lot, providing a place for them to sit down and rest.

“Yamato. I want ice cream too.”

“Later,” he was about to say, when a chill wind made Yamato turn around.

“It’s Lord Vamdemon.”

There was no time to decide whether the two Digimon could be trusted or not. The boys and Gab.u.mon ran further into the vacant lot, flitting behind some sewer pipes that were stacked up high.

“Pumpmon, Gotsumon.”

“No, not yet…”

There was no need for them to reply. He knew everything. They could tell so by the sound of his voice.

Pumpmon and Gotsumon knew what was coming for them next.

Even as he spoke, Vamdemon approached, revealing himself from within the fog. The mask he wore over his eyes seemed to glow a brighter red, which was not completely because of the neon lights that fell upon him.

As he slowly extended out his cape, a large flock of bats burst out.

Despite his appearance, Pumpmon was a Perfect level and his offense ability was not at all weak. The pumpkin which he summoned through strange technique had both the ma.s.s and the toughness to crush most of his enemies flat in a single blow.

Flying back in the opposite direction, they dove into the pumpkin with their mouths wide, stopping it in its descent. The pumpkin was soon covered in bats, becoming a black ma.s.s that gradually grew smaller. The bats were eating up the entire pumpkin with their boundless appet.i.te.

“Angry Rock!”

The bats finished eating the pumpkin above his head and flew down upon Pumpmon and Gotsumon. The two of them disappeared behind a black ma.s.s of writhing bats.

Yamato, who had been watching the entire thing, covered Takeru’s head with his arms. He never dreamed that Vamdemon would lay a hand on his subordinates like this so easily. They wouldn’t make it in time to save Pumpmon and Gotsumon.

The sound of bat wings gradually faded into quiet.

“I know you’re there, Chosen Children.”

Yamato pushed Takeru away as he spoke.

Tears were falling from his eyes as he looked up.

Taking in Yamato’s feelings, the gauge of his Digivice shot up to its highest point.

The bright light of evolution made Vamdemon shut his eyes.

“Fox Fire!”

“It was only for a little while, but those guys were our friends.”

“Garurumon!” Yamato screamed.

Garurumon’s entire body became wrapped in light. His shape changed in mid-air.

The giant wolf turned into a werewolf wearing jeans, and he made a wide kick into the air before the light surrounding him had time to fade.

That kick was still too far away to reach its target. However, a shockwave born out of it in the shape of a crescent moon flew towards Vamdemon.

The shockwaves flew about where they stood, making silent explosions.

The street lights smashed to pieces and the gla.s.s windows of buildings scattered everywhere.

Kous.h.i.+ro and Tentomon rode the condo elevator up to stand in front of the door with the nameplate “Yagami” on it.

“Taichi-san said once that he had a little sister, didn’t he…? Is she…?”

Hesitant to ring the intercom switch at this time of night, Kous.h.i.+ro decided to return to his room and call up Taichi instead.

The plaza in front of s.h.i.+buya station, where the Hachiko statue lay, was a famous spot for people to meet up since a very long time ago. Patamon must have heard that information somewhere because he was there, looking down from the trees above.

But how was he to find Takeru and the others now? He wasn’t sure if waiting here would help to find them again, but he could think of no other options.

He heard the sound of people murmuring. Far away, there was the sound of an explosion. When he turned to look in its direction, the neon lights within the city were being smashed up one after the other. Vamdemon and WereGarurumon’s fierce fight was on the move.

“b.l.o.o.d.y Stream!”

After leaping through the air to land on the wall of “Tokyu Hands,”[20] WereGarurumon dug his nails in and made a vertical cartwheel to avoid it. The electric whip smacked into the wall where he had once stood.

“Kaiser Nail!”

Vamdemon, floating in the air beneath him, raised up both arms to block it. However, the force of the impact pushed him backwards into and through the wall of a building behind him.

WereGarurumon used his arms and legs to shake off the bats. He could not dodge the red electric whip that came towards him from within the storm of bats.

Vamdemon descended towards him with a triumphant smirk. Twin red electric whips slowly fell down towards him from both hands.

Yamato and Takeru, looking up at them from below, were helpless. Takeru screamed within his own heart.

“Someone, help! Patamon!”

His scream reached Patamon, who was flying through the park. The gauge of Takeru’s Digivice shot up.

The people in the park, who had been taken aback by the neon explosions, were even further shocked when they witnessed a glittering angel soar over their heads.

Vandemon could feel the light, the power of holy good, approaching him from behind.

Angemon moved faster than he had expected, and it took all that Vamdemon had to dodge the blow of the golden rod that came towards him.

“Angemon!” Takeru cried out. His voice was happy, but with a touch of fear. He had only seen Angemon once before, and that time…

Angemon, without letting his guard down, stood poised before Vamdemon as he spoke to WereGarurumon behind him.

“Yeah, I’ll manage.”

If the one with holy powers has arrived, then it would not be a smart move to stay here long. Vamdemon remembered that he still had yet to finish his supper.

“Kaiser Nail!”

They unleashed both a wave of hollow air and golden light.

Vamdemon unleashed his bats and, at the same time, shot out his red whip of lightning.

“b.l.o.o.d.y Stream!”

The powers of light and darkness collided into each other in s.h.i.+buya’s skies. As the impact changed color, it expanded large enough to cover the entire city. The glaringly lit city suffered a blackout for the next 15 minutes.

Vamdemon had fled while they were distracted.

“Patamon.”

Takeru hugged Patamon carefully. He didn’t die this time, he thought. Thank goodness, he thought.

Instead of returning to his baby form Tsunomon, WereGarurumon had returned to Gab.u.mon.

④ Encounter

“What’s wrong, Kous.h.i.+ro? Why are you calling me so late?”

“You must listen to me really carefully, Taichi-san. You have your Digivice on you, correct? Look into the screen and tell me how many dots you see.”

Kous.h.i.+ro’s next words were the biggest shock of his life.

As Taichi walked back to his room, still unable to believe what he’d heard, he saw an even greater surprise.

“Taichi!” Agumon cried out to him, sounding as if he didn’t know what to do.

“Tailmon!”

Hikari smiled at him and said, “Oh, brother. This is Tailmon, my Digimon.”

He didn’t know what else to say.

“She’s my partner. Just like you and Koromon.”

However, Taichi wasn’t the only one who was troubled.

Whatever effects his words contained, they began to bring back bit by bit Tailmon’s forgotten memories.

“Yes, I was always waiting.

I woke up in an unfamiliar place

And waited

And kept waiting.

It was a very long wait.

During that time, I even forgot that I was waiting.

I learned to survive on my own and evolved little by little.

If I didn’t evolve, I would die,

Even though I knew that, in truth, I was supposed to evolve with someone else by my side.

I searched for the person I was waiting for.

I couldn’t find her.

At what point did I start working for him?

By then, I had already given up waiting.

But the truth was,

Even before I was born, I was waiting.

For my partner.

For Hikari.”

“Hikari.”

“When you say that this– that Tailmon is your Digimon, is it…?”

Tailmon understood the meaning of this girl’s gentle look into her eyes.

From that word alone, Wizarmon understood.

“Yes. Hikari is my… dearest partner. The one I had been waiting for all this time was Hikari.”

“Then Hikari really is the eighth child…”

“Oh, this? I found it when you came back home that one time, but then it disappeared. I found it again on the veranda a few moments ago.”

After he and MetalGreymon had been sucked into Etemon’s black hole, it may not have been a coincidence that instead of the campgrounds and Hikarigaoka, they had come to Odaiba instead. This thought would occur to Taichi much, much later, after he recalled these events.

“It’s dangerous for her to have that Digivice,” Wizarmon said to Taichi. “Vamdemon has ordered us all to find that Digivice, from responses to these.”

“Is that Hikari’s Crest?”

Tailmon’s eyes grew sharp. “We must take it back. We must take back Hikari’s Crest from Vamdemon.”

“It’s too risky. We’re going with you, too. Right, Agumon?”

“Of course, Taichi.”

“Taichi, are you still awake? You have a phone call from Is.h.i.+da-kun.”

“Oh, I’ll be right there.”

“c.r.a.p…”

Tailmon and Wizarmon slipped quietly through the night’s darkness.

Unluckily for them, PicoDevimon caught sight of the two leaving Odaiba. He had been following Yamato at s.h.i.+buya under Vamdemon’s orders, and had just arrived from Sangenjaya with Yamato back to Odaiba.

⑤ Two Crests

Vamdemon’s coffin lay in the underground of Hikarigaoka. It was protected by a magic barrier that made normal humans unconsciously avoid moving closer to that area. Even looking in that direction, all that could be seen was dim darkness.

When he’d managed to undo the final seal, he opened the box to take out the real Crest. There were two of them inside, the ones that Sora had missed when she’d retrieved the Crests from the storehouse. Silently, they tucked both of them away.

But by the time they arrived back in Odaiba, it was almost dawn.

“You’re late. The morning is almost upon us.”

“Those eyes. Eyes that never lose hope, no matter the circ.u.mstances. Eyes that believe in tomorrow. They are what I hate the most,” Vamdemon said, his lips curled into a smile.

His eyes narrowed.

“Give this to Hikari.”

“Tailmon!”

Wizarmon raised his staff into the air and chanted a spell. Dark clouds appeared above his head at once.

Lightning fell down towards Vamdemon. It would have been a direct hit.

“Night Raid!”

“Ah! The Crest!” PicoDevimon cried out fretfully.

Vamdemon picked up the unconscious Tailmon.

“No need to rush. Let us wait for tomorrow evening. Gather up all of the others here by then,” Vamdemon ordered PicoDevimon, and boarded his carriage.

The carriage without a horse clattered into the mist and disappeared. The mist floated away.

Wizarmon sank into the ocean.

In his tight fist, he held the two Crests.

To be continued…

FOOTNOTES

[20] Tokyu Hands

[21] Parco

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