Rika once again felt the same odd chill that she had felt several
times in the past few hours. Her breath was visible for a second before
she retreated to the safety of her room. Breathing heavily, she called for
Renamon. As always, the fox digimon appeared immediately.
"Yes, Rika?" Renamon asked, fading into sight. She was worried about Rika; Rika seemed to feel something was watching her lately.
"Go and see what's out there, okay?" Rika requested, her voice shakier than ever.
"As you wish," her digimon responded, opening the door and looking out. She saw nothing and went back inside the room. This was getting worse.
"Well, who was it?" Rika demanded.
"No one," Renamon told her. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, save Rika's behavior of late.
"Don't lie to me!" Rika said, raising her voice to an accusing level. "I know something's out there."
Renamon paused, hurt at the suggestion that she would lie to Rika.
Rika lowered her eyes, asking, "What's that look for?"
"Don't worry," Renamon assured her. "I'll do everything I can to protect you."
"You don't need to protect me," Rika said angrily, rising to her feet in front of Renamon. "I don't know why you even say stuff like that!"
"Because, Rika, I'm your partner," Renamon tried to explain, despite the fact she didn't fully know how to be a good partner.
"Let's get this straight, I don't buy all this stuff about partners and feelings," Rika said, her words cutting through to Renamon's heart. The hurt look on Renamon's face said more than her words could.
Rika seemed to falter before Renamon's hurt expression. "Uhh. I don't need you. I don't need anybody."
With those words, she left the room, leaving Renamon alone with her pain. She paused a moment before she vanished once again, reappearing on the roof of the house. For the next several hours, she walked through the night across power lines and telephone lines. She settled down on top of a nearby building to think.
"Terriermon and his Tamer - their relationship is so different from mine and Rika's. I wonder. If I acted more human, would she accept me? Would she finally let me get close to her?"
"More than that, if I was human, would I be able to be closer to her?"
"An interesting desire," a voice near her said. Renamon jumped to her feet, trying to discover who had been listening in. She suspected that little pest Impmon.
"No, I am not Impmon," the voice said, seeming to read her mind. "I am merely a third party observer. However, I am not without my power. Shall we explore this desire to be human? Let us see what will unfold."
Renamon felt herself being lifted into the air. The external layer of data that served as her flesh and fur separated from her core, not unlike when she was digivolving. Her hands passed in front of her vision, and she watched as three clawed fingers split into five skinnier peach- colored fingers, tipped with much smaller claws.
Her legs straightened out, her feet shortening and flattening out, becoming the same peach color as her new hands. Her face compressed, her ears shortening and moving to the sides of her newly rounded head. Renamon's tail detached from her body, forming into long strands of golden hair, tipped in white. The hair attached itself to the top of her head.
Renamon's midsection grew larger, decreasing the difference between it and her hips, as her thighs grew more slender. The rest of the data from her body reformed into more peach flesh, which settled around her torso. In the space of less than a heart beat, Renamon the digimon became Renamon the woman, kneeling on the roof of the building.
"A most intriguing development, wouldn't you say? Although, some clothes would be appropriate."
With a start, Renamon realized that her new human body was nude, save a pair of familiar long purple gloves, the only thing linking this new form to her old one. She shivered in the chill of the night air briefly, before more data formed warm clothes about her new body. She looked over her new attire. A long yellow dress down to just below her knees covered her now soft flesh. A shock of fur on the neck of her dress represented Renamon's mane of white hair. Long white boots covered her feet, with black stripes on the toe representing her former claws.
"Much better. Now, I release you to explore the freedom offered by this new body. Be warned however, some things will not be the same.." The voice faded into nothingness, leaving Renamon alone to look over her new body. She approved of it; it was different, yet it still suited her.
"I must find Rika, show her my new self. She will be pleased." Renamon concentrated, willing herself to Rika as she had done plenty of times in the past. The only result of her effort was a headache.
'.some things will not be the same..'
The mysterious voice echoed in Renamon's head. This must have been what it had meant. Renamon decided to test out her new abilities, see what this body could do. She found that her jumping ability was greatly reduced, as was her speed. There was one major benefit to the change however; she was able to walk through the streets, garnering no more looks than any other normal human. She wouldn't have to hide herself.
As she made her way through the crowd, Renamon heard talk about strange ice that had appeared at the top of a building.
'That has to be a digital field. And where there's a field, there's a digimon, and likely Rika too."
This thought was enough to send her running towards where she heard about the building. It wasn't hard to find, as the top part of it was encased in solid ice. A fire escape led up to the top, which Renamon sprinted up. Even in her warm clothing, she shivered in the cold.
She emerged to an odd scene. A large white digimon was holding on to Rika with abnormally long arms. Henry, Takato and their digimon were facing off against him. Renamon could just hear their conversation.
"Ice Devimon. Woah. A champion fallen-angel digimon," Henry read off of his digivice.
"And I thought you didn't have any friends," the digimon holding Rika, Ice Devimon according to the digivice, responded.
"Let her go now!" Takato demanded. Takato's bravado often got in the way of his better judgement, Renamon remembered.
"My new Tamer and I were just getting acquainted," Ice Devimon told him.
'His new Tamer? But, Rika's my Tamer,' Renamon thought.
"She's not your Tamer, Rika has Renamon," Takato told the fallen-angel.
"Yeah, you tell him Takato," Renamon said to herself.
"I think it's time for a little upgrade, don't you?" Ice Devimon replied.
"Let me go you frozen freak!" Rika yelled, struggling to free herself from Ice Devimon's cold grip.
"What are we going to do?" Takato asked, turning to Henry. Henry was ever the logical one, no matter how much trouble it got him into.
"This is not going to be easy," Henry said, thinking. "He's much stronger than any digimon we've ever defeated before. What we really need is an effective strategy to deal with him."
"Like a kick in the pants," Terriermon put in.
"I wish it were that easy. Hmm."
"Ready Guilmon?" Takato asked his digimon. Guilmon nodded. "Go get him!"
"Ready, set, and go!" Guilmon dashed after the evil digimon.
"Here's your chance, Terriermon," Henry told his partner.
"It's about time."
Together, Guilmon and Terriermon took off running towards Ice Devimon.
"Goody, goody, time to fight," Ice Devimon said, firing off a powerful ice beam from his eyes towards the two. They were frozen in place incased in a solid lump of ice.
"Guilmon, no!" Takato cried.
"Terriermon!" Henry yelled.
'I've got to help them!' Renamon decided. 'But I don't know if or how I can.'
Renamon tried to run out and help the closest things to friends she had, but she was stuck to the spot.
Ice Devimon laughed maliciously, one hand still clutching Rika.
"This doesn't look good, not good at all," Calumon said, coming from nowhere.
Henry and Takato picked up whatever they could find and tried to break the block of ice.
"Got to.. get them.. out of there," Takato grunted, smashing at the ice with a cement block
"I hear one becomes quite warm just before freezing," Ice Devimon gloated.
"You're so twisted it's scary," Henry told him, pulling out his digivice and a card. He slid the card through the slot. "Digimodify! Heat Activate!" he cried, giving Terriermon the fiery body of a Meramon.
"Uhh," Henry said, disappointed at the failure of his plan.
Takato continued trying to chip away at the ice block, Renamon silently cheering him on from the shadows. If she couldn't help, she knew one of those two most certainly could.
"I don't get it, where's Renamon?" Henry asked.
Renamon wanted to cry out that she was here, that she was watching, but she couldn't.
"Renamon's gone," Rika said sadly, remembering her ill treatment of Renamon earlier that day. "Even if I called her, she wouldn't come."
Renamon struggled to call out to her Tamer, tell Rika that she was already there.
"But, Rika, why not?" Takato asked.
Rika continued to struggle to get away from Ice Devimon.
"Come on Rika, fess up, did you two have a fight?" Ice Devimon taunted. "Just proves she's too weak to handle a special Tamer like you."
Rika finally freed herself from Ice Devimon's clutches, but she knew Renamon wasn't going to save her.
"You need a partner who understands you, who appreciates you, and who craves your cold strength."
Rika gasped. It was true, everything the digimon had said was true. Renamon didn't care for her, or she would have shown up. Renamon, watching from a distance still could not move to help.
"Embrace the future I offer you!"
"Renamon," Rika said faintly, but nothing happened. Renamon didn't show up to save her. Now, there was only one way to gain the strength she coveted.
"I will. I wish to be your Tamer!"
"Rika! You can't mean that!" Takato gasped. Renamon wanted to scream in pain at her loss, to run to Rika, maybe slap some sense into her, but she still couldn't move. Could it be fear that was holding her back?
"I can, and I do! Ice Devimon simply told me what I already knew, that strength is everything. The fact that Renamon abandoned me proves that feelings have no place for a Tamer," Rika told them, even as she wanted to throw up at what she was saying. If she just kept telling herself that, it wouldn't hurt so much
"And the first order of business as your partner is to take care of these nuisances," Ice Devimon said, grinning evilly, as he advanced towards Henry, Takato and the two frozen digimon.
"No," Rika said, not loudly, but firmly.
"Oh come on, don't tell me you've gone soft on me already?"
"There's no point to absorbing their data. More trouble than it's worth."
"Very well," Ice Devimon relented, placing a hand on Rika's shoulder. Before everyone's eyes, the duo disappeared. Renamon felt that she could move if she wanted to. She didn't want to.
"Come on Takato, we've got to get these guys out before we do anything. I've got an idea," Henry said, pulling out another card.
"Digimodify! Expansion Activate!" he called out, slashing another card through his digivice. Terriermon inflated quickly, breaking out of the ice before reverting to normal size.
"Rika.. can't have meant it! How could she abandon Renamon like that?"
"Maybe," Henry suggested, "Renamon abandoned her first?"
'NO!' Renamon screamed in her head. 'I didn't leave her, I could never do that to her! I love her!'
'I love her.' the thought had come out of nowhere and caught her by surprise.
"I love her," she said softly to herself. "But she thinks I deserted her. Maybe I did. Rika." she faded into silence, and her body was racked with sobs. Soon, tears were flowing down her face, and she was powerless to stop them.
"That can't be it," Takato said. "Renamon would never do anything like that."
Suddenly, Guilmon's ears perked up, and he began sniffing the air.
"What is it, boy?" Takato asked him. "Is there another digimon nearby? Maybe it's Renamon!"
"No, it's not a digimon, but it is nearby. There!"
Guilmon pointed with a claw in Renamon's direction.
"Come on!" Takato said, running where Guilmon pointed.
"Haven't we done enough running today?" Terriermon protested.
"Quiet, Terriermon," Henry told the talkative little digimon. "There!"
The quartet of humans and digimon came upon a strange sight. A young lady was seated against the wall. She had her legs pulled into her chest, and she was crying her eyes out.
"Who are you?" Henry asked. Renamon heard that, and looked up at them, her eyes bloodshot from crying for so long.
"Ohhh, what's wrong? Why are you crying?" Guilmon asked, a sad look coming over his face. He was always the emphatic type, constantly channeling the emotions of others.
Renamon sprang to her feet and sprinted away from them, running off into the night, still crying. The other Tamers gave chase, but Renamon managed to elude them.
"She's. too fast," Henry gasped. "Did she look familiar to you?"
"No, but she did look cute to me," Takato told him.
"It's getting late. We'd better head home before our parents sends out the military to look for us," Henry said, picking up Terriermon and running back home.
"Come on Guilmon, let's go," Takato said.
"But, Takato, what about Renamon?" Guilmon wondered.
"I'm sure wherever she is, she's fine," Takato told him, as much to reassure his digimon as to reassure himself. "I'll see you tomorrow, Guilmon."
Takato walked back towards his parent's bakery where they lived, Guilmon heading back to his 'cave'. Renamon watched them go from the shadow of an alleyway. She ran off into the night, tears still streaming down her face, obscuring her vision. She ended up literally running into a group of rough looking men.
"Lookit what we gots here," the lead man drawled, alcohol stinking his breath. "A pretty little thing all alone in the night. It's not safe out here, you know."
Renamon curled her lip, revealing rounded teeth instead of the sharp ones she had as a digimon. It didn't have as much effect.
"And she's a feisty one too. I likes 'em feisty," the man told her, signaling to his boys. They each grabbed an arm and held on tight. Renamon struggled but she couldn't get free. The man reached up with one hand to brush the side of her face, and she tried to bite him.
"But not too feisty," he amended, moving his hand across and down the neckline of her dress. Renamon pushed backward trying to get away from his hand, but the men holding her arms squeezed harder, and she grunted in pain. The lead man got in closer, and Renamon could smell his breath.
The man brought his mouth closer to Renamon's, and adrenaline kicked in. She brought her knees up, putting her feet together. She flipped backwards in the men's grasp, bringing her feet up under the lead man's chin. His head snapped back, and he stumbled, tripping and landing hard. Renamon continued the flip, her feet touching the ground behind the two men, her arms twisting free. She shoved the men forward, sending them falling to the ground beside the leader.
The men got up, nursing bruises. They refused to give up, circling around her.
"You're going to pay for that, you little.." The lead man spat as he said that. He charged at Renamon, head first. She sidestepped, and he ran into a wall. The other two advanced on her, swinging wildly. She ducked their arms, responding with an uppercut to one, sending him crashing into the ground. The other man tried to shove his foot through Renamon's chest, but she cut his leg, and swept the other out from under him. He fell, smacking the back of his head hard against the pavement. All three men were laid out, either unconscious or close to it.
She went over to the lead man's prone form, and raised her foot to finish him off and load his data. She paused as she heard herself think that. She wasn't a digimon, and neither was the man. She walked away as the adrenaline left her body, leaving her shaken. She had almost killed the man, as she had done with countless digimon in the past. As she crossed into a patch of woods, she realized that there was a fine line between self- defense and murder that she had very nearly crossed. Did she cross it when she fought other digimon with Rika?
The thought of Rika brought the tears back to her eyes. She found that she was very tired. She curled up into a ball on the forest floor, shivering as she fell into a dream filled sleep. In her dreams, the multitude of digimon whose data she had absorbed haunted her, accusing her of their murder. She tossed and turned all through the night, until morning came the next day.
"Yes, Rika?" Renamon asked, fading into sight. She was worried about Rika; Rika seemed to feel something was watching her lately.
"Go and see what's out there, okay?" Rika requested, her voice shakier than ever.
"As you wish," her digimon responded, opening the door and looking out. She saw nothing and went back inside the room. This was getting worse.
"Well, who was it?" Rika demanded.
"No one," Renamon told her. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, save Rika's behavior of late.
"Don't lie to me!" Rika said, raising her voice to an accusing level. "I know something's out there."
Renamon paused, hurt at the suggestion that she would lie to Rika.
Rika lowered her eyes, asking, "What's that look for?"
"Don't worry," Renamon assured her. "I'll do everything I can to protect you."
"You don't need to protect me," Rika said angrily, rising to her feet in front of Renamon. "I don't know why you even say stuff like that!"
"Because, Rika, I'm your partner," Renamon tried to explain, despite the fact she didn't fully know how to be a good partner.
"Let's get this straight, I don't buy all this stuff about partners and feelings," Rika said, her words cutting through to Renamon's heart. The hurt look on Renamon's face said more than her words could.
Rika seemed to falter before Renamon's hurt expression. "Uhh. I don't need you. I don't need anybody."
With those words, she left the room, leaving Renamon alone with her pain. She paused a moment before she vanished once again, reappearing on the roof of the house. For the next several hours, she walked through the night across power lines and telephone lines. She settled down on top of a nearby building to think.
"Terriermon and his Tamer - their relationship is so different from mine and Rika's. I wonder. If I acted more human, would she accept me? Would she finally let me get close to her?"
"More than that, if I was human, would I be able to be closer to her?"
"An interesting desire," a voice near her said. Renamon jumped to her feet, trying to discover who had been listening in. She suspected that little pest Impmon.
"No, I am not Impmon," the voice said, seeming to read her mind. "I am merely a third party observer. However, I am not without my power. Shall we explore this desire to be human? Let us see what will unfold."
Renamon felt herself being lifted into the air. The external layer of data that served as her flesh and fur separated from her core, not unlike when she was digivolving. Her hands passed in front of her vision, and she watched as three clawed fingers split into five skinnier peach- colored fingers, tipped with much smaller claws.
Her legs straightened out, her feet shortening and flattening out, becoming the same peach color as her new hands. Her face compressed, her ears shortening and moving to the sides of her newly rounded head. Renamon's tail detached from her body, forming into long strands of golden hair, tipped in white. The hair attached itself to the top of her head.
Renamon's midsection grew larger, decreasing the difference between it and her hips, as her thighs grew more slender. The rest of the data from her body reformed into more peach flesh, which settled around her torso. In the space of less than a heart beat, Renamon the digimon became Renamon the woman, kneeling on the roof of the building.
"A most intriguing development, wouldn't you say? Although, some clothes would be appropriate."
With a start, Renamon realized that her new human body was nude, save a pair of familiar long purple gloves, the only thing linking this new form to her old one. She shivered in the chill of the night air briefly, before more data formed warm clothes about her new body. She looked over her new attire. A long yellow dress down to just below her knees covered her now soft flesh. A shock of fur on the neck of her dress represented Renamon's mane of white hair. Long white boots covered her feet, with black stripes on the toe representing her former claws.
"Much better. Now, I release you to explore the freedom offered by this new body. Be warned however, some things will not be the same.." The voice faded into nothingness, leaving Renamon alone to look over her new body. She approved of it; it was different, yet it still suited her.
"I must find Rika, show her my new self. She will be pleased." Renamon concentrated, willing herself to Rika as she had done plenty of times in the past. The only result of her effort was a headache.
'.some things will not be the same..'
The mysterious voice echoed in Renamon's head. This must have been what it had meant. Renamon decided to test out her new abilities, see what this body could do. She found that her jumping ability was greatly reduced, as was her speed. There was one major benefit to the change however; she was able to walk through the streets, garnering no more looks than any other normal human. She wouldn't have to hide herself.
As she made her way through the crowd, Renamon heard talk about strange ice that had appeared at the top of a building.
'That has to be a digital field. And where there's a field, there's a digimon, and likely Rika too."
This thought was enough to send her running towards where she heard about the building. It wasn't hard to find, as the top part of it was encased in solid ice. A fire escape led up to the top, which Renamon sprinted up. Even in her warm clothing, she shivered in the cold.
She emerged to an odd scene. A large white digimon was holding on to Rika with abnormally long arms. Henry, Takato and their digimon were facing off against him. Renamon could just hear their conversation.
"Ice Devimon. Woah. A champion fallen-angel digimon," Henry read off of his digivice.
"And I thought you didn't have any friends," the digimon holding Rika, Ice Devimon according to the digivice, responded.
"Let her go now!" Takato demanded. Takato's bravado often got in the way of his better judgement, Renamon remembered.
"My new Tamer and I were just getting acquainted," Ice Devimon told him.
'His new Tamer? But, Rika's my Tamer,' Renamon thought.
"She's not your Tamer, Rika has Renamon," Takato told the fallen-angel.
"Yeah, you tell him Takato," Renamon said to herself.
"I think it's time for a little upgrade, don't you?" Ice Devimon replied.
"Let me go you frozen freak!" Rika yelled, struggling to free herself from Ice Devimon's cold grip.
"What are we going to do?" Takato asked, turning to Henry. Henry was ever the logical one, no matter how much trouble it got him into.
"This is not going to be easy," Henry said, thinking. "He's much stronger than any digimon we've ever defeated before. What we really need is an effective strategy to deal with him."
"Like a kick in the pants," Terriermon put in.
"I wish it were that easy. Hmm."
"Ready Guilmon?" Takato asked his digimon. Guilmon nodded. "Go get him!"
"Ready, set, and go!" Guilmon dashed after the evil digimon.
"Here's your chance, Terriermon," Henry told his partner.
"It's about time."
Together, Guilmon and Terriermon took off running towards Ice Devimon.
"Goody, goody, time to fight," Ice Devimon said, firing off a powerful ice beam from his eyes towards the two. They were frozen in place incased in a solid lump of ice.
"Guilmon, no!" Takato cried.
"Terriermon!" Henry yelled.
'I've got to help them!' Renamon decided. 'But I don't know if or how I can.'
Renamon tried to run out and help the closest things to friends she had, but she was stuck to the spot.
Ice Devimon laughed maliciously, one hand still clutching Rika.
"This doesn't look good, not good at all," Calumon said, coming from nowhere.
Henry and Takato picked up whatever they could find and tried to break the block of ice.
"Got to.. get them.. out of there," Takato grunted, smashing at the ice with a cement block
"I hear one becomes quite warm just before freezing," Ice Devimon gloated.
"You're so twisted it's scary," Henry told him, pulling out his digivice and a card. He slid the card through the slot. "Digimodify! Heat Activate!" he cried, giving Terriermon the fiery body of a Meramon.
"Uhh," Henry said, disappointed at the failure of his plan.
Takato continued trying to chip away at the ice block, Renamon silently cheering him on from the shadows. If she couldn't help, she knew one of those two most certainly could.
"I don't get it, where's Renamon?" Henry asked.
Renamon wanted to cry out that she was here, that she was watching, but she couldn't.
"Renamon's gone," Rika said sadly, remembering her ill treatment of Renamon earlier that day. "Even if I called her, she wouldn't come."
Renamon struggled to call out to her Tamer, tell Rika that she was already there.
"But, Rika, why not?" Takato asked.
Rika continued to struggle to get away from Ice Devimon.
"Come on Rika, fess up, did you two have a fight?" Ice Devimon taunted. "Just proves she's too weak to handle a special Tamer like you."
Rika finally freed herself from Ice Devimon's clutches, but she knew Renamon wasn't going to save her.
"You need a partner who understands you, who appreciates you, and who craves your cold strength."
Rika gasped. It was true, everything the digimon had said was true. Renamon didn't care for her, or she would have shown up. Renamon, watching from a distance still could not move to help.
"Embrace the future I offer you!"
"Renamon," Rika said faintly, but nothing happened. Renamon didn't show up to save her. Now, there was only one way to gain the strength she coveted.
"I will. I wish to be your Tamer!"
"Rika! You can't mean that!" Takato gasped. Renamon wanted to scream in pain at her loss, to run to Rika, maybe slap some sense into her, but she still couldn't move. Could it be fear that was holding her back?
"I can, and I do! Ice Devimon simply told me what I already knew, that strength is everything. The fact that Renamon abandoned me proves that feelings have no place for a Tamer," Rika told them, even as she wanted to throw up at what she was saying. If she just kept telling herself that, it wouldn't hurt so much
"And the first order of business as your partner is to take care of these nuisances," Ice Devimon said, grinning evilly, as he advanced towards Henry, Takato and the two frozen digimon.
"No," Rika said, not loudly, but firmly.
"Oh come on, don't tell me you've gone soft on me already?"
"There's no point to absorbing their data. More trouble than it's worth."
"Very well," Ice Devimon relented, placing a hand on Rika's shoulder. Before everyone's eyes, the duo disappeared. Renamon felt that she could move if she wanted to. She didn't want to.
"Come on Takato, we've got to get these guys out before we do anything. I've got an idea," Henry said, pulling out another card.
"Digimodify! Expansion Activate!" he called out, slashing another card through his digivice. Terriermon inflated quickly, breaking out of the ice before reverting to normal size.
"Rika.. can't have meant it! How could she abandon Renamon like that?"
"Maybe," Henry suggested, "Renamon abandoned her first?"
'NO!' Renamon screamed in her head. 'I didn't leave her, I could never do that to her! I love her!'
'I love her.' the thought had come out of nowhere and caught her by surprise.
"I love her," she said softly to herself. "But she thinks I deserted her. Maybe I did. Rika." she faded into silence, and her body was racked with sobs. Soon, tears were flowing down her face, and she was powerless to stop them.
"That can't be it," Takato said. "Renamon would never do anything like that."
Suddenly, Guilmon's ears perked up, and he began sniffing the air.
"What is it, boy?" Takato asked him. "Is there another digimon nearby? Maybe it's Renamon!"
"No, it's not a digimon, but it is nearby. There!"
Guilmon pointed with a claw in Renamon's direction.
"Come on!" Takato said, running where Guilmon pointed.
"Haven't we done enough running today?" Terriermon protested.
"Quiet, Terriermon," Henry told the talkative little digimon. "There!"
The quartet of humans and digimon came upon a strange sight. A young lady was seated against the wall. She had her legs pulled into her chest, and she was crying her eyes out.
"Who are you?" Henry asked. Renamon heard that, and looked up at them, her eyes bloodshot from crying for so long.
"Ohhh, what's wrong? Why are you crying?" Guilmon asked, a sad look coming over his face. He was always the emphatic type, constantly channeling the emotions of others.
Renamon sprang to her feet and sprinted away from them, running off into the night, still crying. The other Tamers gave chase, but Renamon managed to elude them.
"She's. too fast," Henry gasped. "Did she look familiar to you?"
"No, but she did look cute to me," Takato told him.
"It's getting late. We'd better head home before our parents sends out the military to look for us," Henry said, picking up Terriermon and running back home.
"Come on Guilmon, let's go," Takato said.
"But, Takato, what about Renamon?" Guilmon wondered.
"I'm sure wherever she is, she's fine," Takato told him, as much to reassure his digimon as to reassure himself. "I'll see you tomorrow, Guilmon."
Takato walked back towards his parent's bakery where they lived, Guilmon heading back to his 'cave'. Renamon watched them go from the shadow of an alleyway. She ran off into the night, tears still streaming down her face, obscuring her vision. She ended up literally running into a group of rough looking men.
"Lookit what we gots here," the lead man drawled, alcohol stinking his breath. "A pretty little thing all alone in the night. It's not safe out here, you know."
Renamon curled her lip, revealing rounded teeth instead of the sharp ones she had as a digimon. It didn't have as much effect.
"And she's a feisty one too. I likes 'em feisty," the man told her, signaling to his boys. They each grabbed an arm and held on tight. Renamon struggled but she couldn't get free. The man reached up with one hand to brush the side of her face, and she tried to bite him.
"But not too feisty," he amended, moving his hand across and down the neckline of her dress. Renamon pushed backward trying to get away from his hand, but the men holding her arms squeezed harder, and she grunted in pain. The lead man got in closer, and Renamon could smell his breath.
The man brought his mouth closer to Renamon's, and adrenaline kicked in. She brought her knees up, putting her feet together. She flipped backwards in the men's grasp, bringing her feet up under the lead man's chin. His head snapped back, and he stumbled, tripping and landing hard. Renamon continued the flip, her feet touching the ground behind the two men, her arms twisting free. She shoved the men forward, sending them falling to the ground beside the leader.
The men got up, nursing bruises. They refused to give up, circling around her.
"You're going to pay for that, you little.." The lead man spat as he said that. He charged at Renamon, head first. She sidestepped, and he ran into a wall. The other two advanced on her, swinging wildly. She ducked their arms, responding with an uppercut to one, sending him crashing into the ground. The other man tried to shove his foot through Renamon's chest, but she cut his leg, and swept the other out from under him. He fell, smacking the back of his head hard against the pavement. All three men were laid out, either unconscious or close to it.
She went over to the lead man's prone form, and raised her foot to finish him off and load his data. She paused as she heard herself think that. She wasn't a digimon, and neither was the man. She walked away as the adrenaline left her body, leaving her shaken. She had almost killed the man, as she had done with countless digimon in the past. As she crossed into a patch of woods, she realized that there was a fine line between self- defense and murder that she had very nearly crossed. Did she cross it when she fought other digimon with Rika?
The thought of Rika brought the tears back to her eyes. She found that she was very tired. She curled up into a ball on the forest floor, shivering as she fell into a dream filled sleep. In her dreams, the multitude of digimon whose data she had absorbed haunted her, accusing her of their murder. She tossed and turned all through the night, until morning came the next day.