Makino RukiÆs mind was a bit of a mess at the moment. Worst of all, she could not afford herself any time to organize her thoughts.
She knew, however, that she would have to kick HirokazuÆs and KentaÆs asses at some point in the near future.
She allowed herself to let a few Digimon make it past her expecting those two to take care of them. There was a keyword there: ætake careÆ! Two words, for that matter! And by ætake careÆ she definitely did not mean ælet them throughÆ!
For the godsÆ sake, isnÆt Marine Angemon an Ultimate!?
ôRuki, youÆll get a headacheàö
I already have a headache!
She still remembered the twoÆs determined, serious expressions when they showed up, claiming they had ôcome to help herö.
It took everything she had not to smash their faces on the spot.
Fortunately, real help had arrived in the form of Beelzebumon Blast Mode, and SaintGalgomon made it a minute or so later. With them, the tide of the confrontation quickly changed, to be point that Ruki allowed herself to leave the strong manly men to take care of the Digimon tide to correct KazuÆs and KentaÆs failure.
Well, the flash of light and subsequent explosion from the schoolÆs rooftop was just as much a reason, admittedly.
As she approached, she could only see several shapes ganging up on a lone figure. By the time she categorized the multiple shapes as Goburimon plus one Fuugamon and the single shape as Matsuda Takato, the poor boy had been already batted across the rooftop by a humongous club.
Ruki thought she could feel her heart crawling up her throat and an unsettling feeling crawling down her right side; she could not begin to imagine how much that must have hurt.
And then the piece of the metal wire fence Takato was leaning on began to tilt outwards, seamlessly separating from the whole it belonged to.
Only a tiny whimper escaped SakuyamonÆs throat as she willed herself to fly faster, no matter how hopeless it seemed.
There was no way she could reach him. Not even her special powers had enough range.
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FuugamonÆs strike had been strong enough, but Takato was a boy who liked certainty. Swallowing down the pain on his back and his right side, he pushed the fence with his left elbow, and the wire mesh began to lean outwards and downwards. His trembling right hand let go of Kurenaimaruùat this point, a melee weapon was useless to him; he was not even sure he could use his right hand anymore.
It was his own weight which further pushed the piece of fence downwards. Making sure he did not cut at the way to the bottom ensured the fence did not fall several floors down to the schoolyard.
Thus, it was with a strained smile that Takato saw the Goburimon leaping at him...and then over him, tracing a parabolic arc in the air before entering free fall. He doubted the fall would kill them, but it would take them out of the fight for several valuable minutes.
ôNice,ö Takato uttered before reaching for his D-Arc with his trembling right handùthe device almost slipped past his feeble fingers, which would have spelt his deathùand gripping it with his mouth. He needed one hand to grab the fence and the other to reach for the card he had placed at the top of his deck and scan it.
ôKawh Hwah!ö ThatÆs what æCard SlashÆ sounds like with a D-Arc stuffed in your mouth.
It was hard to climb his way back with a single arm available, as his left had transformed into a weapon. He relied mostly on his legs to push himself upwards; thanking the gods which ensured his right arm maintained a decent grip on the wire mesh. Most unfortunately, making his way back to solid ground obviously put him in a disadvantageous position.
ôEvil Hurricane!ö
Were he not in tremendous pain already, Takato would have seen the humor in been blown away by ferocious winds the moment he set foot on the rooftop and whined in frustration. What he did see was that he was about to join the Goburimon on ground floor, and he doubted his body was nearly as sturdy as a DigimonÆs.
Desperate situations demanded desperateùand awesomeùmeasures.
Willing his right arm to change as well, he stretched his left arm away from the rooftop, in the same direction he had been thrown at.
ôGaruru Cannon!ö
The energy weapon that is OmegamonÆs left arm fired a beam of blazing blue and white. NewtonÆs Third Law ensured TakatoÆs body was blown in the opposite direction; that is, back to the rooftop. The powerful blade that is OmegamonÆs right arm ensured that the subsequent impact with Fuugamon ended with the Virus-type split like a watermelon in summer.
Regrettably enough, no law of physics or piece of digitalized weaponry ensured TakatoÆs harmless landing.
After spearing his way through Fuugamon and reducing it to scattered data bits, Takato struck the floor on his already battered right side and slid across the floor like an airplane during a bad landing. The sliding eventually changed into harsh rolling until his body struck the pile of rubble he had earlier created with the Positron Cannon, but by that point his cheek was already a bleeding mess, having lost most of its skin barrier to the rough surface of the rooftop floor. The only reason his right arm did not suffer the same fate was because it was still in the form of the Grey Sword. Not for much longer after that, though.
Sakuyamon landed by his side exactly two seconds later.
ôTakato,ö she cried, hurriedly turning the boy face up. Ruki cringed at the sight of half of his face turned into a red blot. ôTakato, damn it! Answer me!ö
The boy weakly opened his eyes, only to close them shut when blood seeped into his right eye cavity.
ôRukiàö his smile looked awkward on his marred face. ôMade itàright on timeàö
She almost hit him for that. She did not, but she allowed herself to chuckle.
The sound made TakatoÆs misshape smile a little wider.
ôRuàkiàö
ôWhat? What is ità?ö
ôGoburimonàon groundùô
ôI know!ö the female Digimon cried out, as if outraged by Takato thinking of something like that at this moment. ôDonÆt worry about thatàö
While the God (Wo)Man Digimon showed little emotion, Ruki was struggling against her trembling jaw and shaking hands.
She did not cry: she did not allow herself to cry. There was no way in hell she would cry.
But, he was so broken, and there was bloodà
Blood.
They claimed to have fought so hard, but, they did not bleed.
They fought, they suffered, they criedàbut they had never bled.
Somehow, the presence of blood gave a whole new dimension to RukiÆs perception of TakatoÆs suffering.
ôDamn it, Takato, why did you do thisà!?ö
Takato had neither the time nor the intention to explain that he had no other choice since the purpose of all these Realized Digimon was to hunt him down. He was in the mood to fall unconscious, after all. If he had time, he would have scolded Ruki for making him lay on his backùit was all burnt, and it hurt, damn it!
However, he believed Ruki (and Renamon) deserved at least an answer. Any answer.
ôSorry, RukiàcanÆtàhelp itàö
His attempt at a chuckle only horrified his young girl friend when he choked on his own blood, which poured out of his mouth as a bright red, opaque veil.
Aahàso my lung was pierced after allà
It mattered not.
As long as the only sacrificed piece was his, nothing else mattered.
ôThis isàmyàprideàö
As he slowly closed his eyes, and Sakuyamon urged him to remain conscious, neither noticed the Digital Field dissipating around them.
Takato was safe.
The world was safe.
She knew, however, that she would have to kick HirokazuÆs and KentaÆs asses at some point in the near future.
She allowed herself to let a few Digimon make it past her expecting those two to take care of them. There was a keyword there: ætake careÆ! Two words, for that matter! And by ætake careÆ she definitely did not mean ælet them throughÆ!
For the godsÆ sake, isnÆt Marine Angemon an Ultimate!?
ôRuki, youÆll get a headacheàö
I already have a headache!
She still remembered the twoÆs determined, serious expressions when they showed up, claiming they had ôcome to help herö.
It took everything she had not to smash their faces on the spot.
Fortunately, real help had arrived in the form of Beelzebumon Blast Mode, and SaintGalgomon made it a minute or so later. With them, the tide of the confrontation quickly changed, to be point that Ruki allowed herself to leave the strong manly men to take care of the Digimon tide to correct KazuÆs and KentaÆs failure.
Well, the flash of light and subsequent explosion from the schoolÆs rooftop was just as much a reason, admittedly.
As she approached, she could only see several shapes ganging up on a lone figure. By the time she categorized the multiple shapes as Goburimon plus one Fuugamon and the single shape as Matsuda Takato, the poor boy had been already batted across the rooftop by a humongous club.
Ruki thought she could feel her heart crawling up her throat and an unsettling feeling crawling down her right side; she could not begin to imagine how much that must have hurt.
And then the piece of the metal wire fence Takato was leaning on began to tilt outwards, seamlessly separating from the whole it belonged to.
Only a tiny whimper escaped SakuyamonÆs throat as she willed herself to fly faster, no matter how hopeless it seemed.
There was no way she could reach him. Not even her special powers had enough range.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FuugamonÆs strike had been strong enough, but Takato was a boy who liked certainty. Swallowing down the pain on his back and his right side, he pushed the fence with his left elbow, and the wire mesh began to lean outwards and downwards. His trembling right hand let go of Kurenaimaruùat this point, a melee weapon was useless to him; he was not even sure he could use his right hand anymore.
It was his own weight which further pushed the piece of fence downwards. Making sure he did not cut at the way to the bottom ensured the fence did not fall several floors down to the schoolyard.
Thus, it was with a strained smile that Takato saw the Goburimon leaping at him...and then over him, tracing a parabolic arc in the air before entering free fall. He doubted the fall would kill them, but it would take them out of the fight for several valuable minutes.
ôNice,ö Takato uttered before reaching for his D-Arc with his trembling right handùthe device almost slipped past his feeble fingers, which would have spelt his deathùand gripping it with his mouth. He needed one hand to grab the fence and the other to reach for the card he had placed at the top of his deck and scan it.
ôKawh Hwah!ö ThatÆs what æCard SlashÆ sounds like with a D-Arc stuffed in your mouth.
It was hard to climb his way back with a single arm available, as his left had transformed into a weapon. He relied mostly on his legs to push himself upwards; thanking the gods which ensured his right arm maintained a decent grip on the wire mesh. Most unfortunately, making his way back to solid ground obviously put him in a disadvantageous position.
ôEvil Hurricane!ö
Were he not in tremendous pain already, Takato would have seen the humor in been blown away by ferocious winds the moment he set foot on the rooftop and whined in frustration. What he did see was that he was about to join the Goburimon on ground floor, and he doubted his body was nearly as sturdy as a DigimonÆs.
Desperate situations demanded desperateùand awesomeùmeasures.
Willing his right arm to change as well, he stretched his left arm away from the rooftop, in the same direction he had been thrown at.
ôGaruru Cannon!ö
The energy weapon that is OmegamonÆs left arm fired a beam of blazing blue and white. NewtonÆs Third Law ensured TakatoÆs body was blown in the opposite direction; that is, back to the rooftop. The powerful blade that is OmegamonÆs right arm ensured that the subsequent impact with Fuugamon ended with the Virus-type split like a watermelon in summer.
Regrettably enough, no law of physics or piece of digitalized weaponry ensured TakatoÆs harmless landing.
After spearing his way through Fuugamon and reducing it to scattered data bits, Takato struck the floor on his already battered right side and slid across the floor like an airplane during a bad landing. The sliding eventually changed into harsh rolling until his body struck the pile of rubble he had earlier created with the Positron Cannon, but by that point his cheek was already a bleeding mess, having lost most of its skin barrier to the rough surface of the rooftop floor. The only reason his right arm did not suffer the same fate was because it was still in the form of the Grey Sword. Not for much longer after that, though.
Sakuyamon landed by his side exactly two seconds later.
ôTakato,ö she cried, hurriedly turning the boy face up. Ruki cringed at the sight of half of his face turned into a red blot. ôTakato, damn it! Answer me!ö
The boy weakly opened his eyes, only to close them shut when blood seeped into his right eye cavity.
ôRukiàö his smile looked awkward on his marred face. ôMade itàright on timeàö
She almost hit him for that. She did not, but she allowed herself to chuckle.
The sound made TakatoÆs misshape smile a little wider.
ôRuàkiàö
ôWhat? What is ità?ö
ôGoburimonàon groundùô
ôI know!ö the female Digimon cried out, as if outraged by Takato thinking of something like that at this moment. ôDonÆt worry about thatàö
While the God (Wo)Man Digimon showed little emotion, Ruki was struggling against her trembling jaw and shaking hands.
She did not cry: she did not allow herself to cry. There was no way in hell she would cry.
But, he was so broken, and there was bloodà
Blood.
They claimed to have fought so hard, but, they did not bleed.
They fought, they suffered, they criedàbut they had never bled.
Somehow, the presence of blood gave a whole new dimension to RukiÆs perception of TakatoÆs suffering.
ôDamn it, Takato, why did you do thisà!?ö
Takato had neither the time nor the intention to explain that he had no other choice since the purpose of all these Realized Digimon was to hunt him down. He was in the mood to fall unconscious, after all. If he had time, he would have scolded Ruki for making him lay on his backùit was all burnt, and it hurt, damn it!
However, he believed Ruki (and Renamon) deserved at least an answer. Any answer.
ôSorry, RukiàcanÆtàhelp itàö
His attempt at a chuckle only horrified his young girl friend when he choked on his own blood, which poured out of his mouth as a bright red, opaque veil.
Aahàso my lung was pierced after allà
It mattered not.
As long as the only sacrificed piece was his, nothing else mattered.
ôThis isàmyàprideàö
As he slowly closed his eyes, and Sakuyamon urged him to remain conscious, neither noticed the Digital Field dissipating around them.
Takato was safe.
The world was safe.
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