Chapter 16:
Conflict
When Yuka and Lopmon finally made it back to the clearing, they were met with a strange sight – an agitated Tian and Kei, exhausted little Digimon, and three angry kids.
“Yuka!” Tian exclaimed with difficulty, being caught between Jun and Mana and trying to keep them from clawing at each other. “Did something happen? You’re out of breath!”
“Where’s Akira?” Kei spat out, trying hard not to get into a shouting match with a mad Seita.
“She’s in trouble…” Yuka started to say, but then she realized that hardly anyone was paying attention to her.
Something in her snapped, and she took a deep breath, stomped her foot, and shouted.
“HEY!”
A shocked silence fell over them.
Seita stared at Yuka in surprise, and shook his head slowly, as if he was just waking up.
Jun and Mana blinked, looked at her, then looked at each other in confusion. Tian collapsed in relief.
“Wow…” Kei breathed out in amazement. “I never thought you could be that loud!”
“No one was listening, and it was an emergency!” Yuka said urgently, “Lopmon and I had to get help, and when we got here…” She remembered just how mad her brother, Jun, and Mana were and frowned. “What happened?”
“We don’t know,” Tian replied, “but something happened. It felt weird, and all of a sudden they started arguing.”
“But, is Akira…?” Kei asked fearfully.
Yuka shook her head. “I don’t know.”
“What are you all so worried about?” Seita asked skeptically.
Kei nearly screamed with frustration and stomped on his foot. “Did you take a bottle of stupid pills this morning?” she exploded, “Look around you! Guess who’s missing!”
Seita did so, and the shock was evident on his face when he realized it. “Akira and Kodamon,” he said faintly.
Yuka nodded. “We were talking together for a little bit, and then all of a sudden a strange red Digimon jumped out and started attacking us. Akira told the two of us to get away and find you all.” She pouted. “I hope they’re all right…”
Suddenly, they were startled by a faint thump and a cry in the distance.
“Akira!” Yuka cried.
Seita didn’t wait another second. He just got up and ran.
“Kodamon! Wake up!” Akira shouted, shaking her roughly. “Kodamon!” But Kodamon was out cold from a direct shot.
“She won't wake up for a while,” Rion said quietly.
“The others will come for us soon,” Akira shot back, glancing in the direction Yuka escaped to. “You’ll be outnumbered!”
“No, they won’t,” Rion answered. “I thought it’d be fun to play with their heads, so I set up lots of traps. Mind traps, ground traps, whatever! The little friends that you sent away probably found that out already.” He smirked at Akira’s frustration, and closed his eyes. “If I’m right, they would start hitting the rest of them right about… now!”
“Whoa!”
Seita turned around at Kei’s shout. “What is it?” he asked hurriedly.
Kei had stopped suddenly, her arms and legs spread out as if to balance herself. “I felt like I was going to fall…” She took a tentative step, and wobbled violently. “Waaahhh!” she shouted, toppling over Terriermon and Lopmon and grabbing Yuka for support. They hit the ground… and disappeared.
“Hey!” Jun ran over to the spot where they used to be… and collided with a wall of nothing. The impact blasted him back. “Ow!”
“What’s going on?” Mana wailed, clutching at Jun’s hand. Patamon and Salamon attacked the invisible wall, but their attacks bounced and ricocheted off trees, rocks, and other invisible walls.
“Watch it!” Jun shouted, pushing the three of them away from a stray shot. The next step he took made them all disappear.
A bright light surrounded Tian and Renamon. Tian snapped her head toward Seita and Gazimon. “Get out of here! Go find Akira!”
“But, you two-” Seita stammered. He ran toward them, but another invisible wall stopped him.
“Forget about it!” Tian shot back, squinting through the light. “Just find Akira! If anything happens to her and you’re not there, I’ll never forgive you!”
Seita bristled, then nodded. He turned around and ran, an evolving Gazimon at his side. The closer Seita got to where Akira was, the stranger he felt. He could sense her anger, directed at some unknown entity. Who or what this was, he couldn’t tell. The anger shifted to other feelings as well… remorse, fear… and pain. He didn’t know if they had already passed or would occur sometime soon.
Seita swallowed hard and ran faster, hoping he could reach her before something worse happened. He could almost feel her screaming…
Akira trembled with anger. “What is it you want with us?” she exploded.
Rion laughed. “So many things. You probably won't live long enough to understand!” He looked directly at her. “I’m going to get rid of each and every one of the Chosen Children and Digimon, starting with you two!”
He closed his eyes and looked up, thinking. “And after you two, who should I deal with next? Your friend? That guy you like – or don’t like?” He snickered. “Or maybe your little sister?”
Akira snapped. She lunged at him, swinging her fist, but Rion caught it in his hand. Even though his hand was smaller than hers, it was stronger, and it was so cold! In the split second when they stared into each other’s eyes and Akira saw the deep, darkened black Rion’s had become, a thought came to her. This was no ordinary kid.
After that, she was suddenly and unceremoniously blasted away by a force coming from Rion’s hand. She slowly and weakly tried to get up, but was met with Guilmon’s claws pointing at her throat.
“Stay right there,” Rion ordered coldly, “One false move and Guilmon will rip your throat.”
Akira sat up slightly, shivering and staring at Rion in shock. She glanced at Guilmon, and saw the reluctance in his eyes. She felt a little sorry for him.
“I could finish you off right now, if I wanted to,” Rion said calmly, “but since you’re so persistent, I might as well tell you what I remember, so you’d actually know something before you die…” he laughed mockingly. “I remember lots of things.”
He smiled, eyes narrowed. “I even remember that night, a year ago, when you came back from the Digital World and caused an 'international incident,'” He emphasized the last two words in a mocking tone.
A memory came to Akira, suddenly.
Rion was standing inside a small, glass chamber. Akira, Kodamon, and Guilmon stood outside it. Guilmon waved to Rion sadly, and Rion did the same. Akira was in front of a console, pressing buttons. She looked up at Rion and said a few words, and Rion nodded, fingering the black crest around his neck with one hand. Akira said something else, gave him a thumbs-up, and pressed one final button. The glass chamber shimmered, and Rion disappeared.
Many hours later, that same room was engulfed in flames. Akira ran over to the glass chamber, coughing and weak. She shut herself in, and watched as everything shimmered again. Before she lost consciousness, she could see a flash of golden light and feel a blast of searing heat...
Akira spoke up again. “You couldn't have seen that...” she said slowly, “You weren't there!”
“Of course I was,” Rion replied, “You sent me back first, but I stuck around long enough to find out what happened to you!”
“What...?” Akira asked slowly.
“Yeah...” Rion said, “I saw everything. You came back, 24 hours after me, and boy, did you come back with a bang!” He laughed harshly. “Kaboom! Half the street in flames! Some of the neighbors thought it was some sort of terrorist attack and that a bomb went off, but I knew it wasn’t that. The explosion was in the shape of a sphere.”
Akira breathed in sharply, shocked. A sphere... she thought frantically. That sounds like Helamon's Solar Expulsion! But why would she- Her thoughts were interrupted as Rion continued.
“I was hiding at the time, but I was still close enough to the damage to see you. You didn't look very good yourself,” he continued, “Nothing should have survived that blast. I really did think you were dead. But then, someone ran over to you and checked your pulse, and it turned out you weren't. I watched as the paramedics finally came and took you away to the hospital.” He looked up at her with an unreadable expression. “After that…”
Akira closed her eyes tightly and lowered her head, trying to process everything she'd just heard. It was hard to think straight.
“After that,” Rion continued in a shaky voice, “nothing good ever happened to me again!” His eyes flashed.
Akira's head suddenly snapped up. “I don't understand!” she shouted in frustration, “What did I ever do to you to make you so angry?”
“What did you do?” Rion asked, half laughing. “You really want to know?”
Akira stared at him in despair.
“You…” Rion’s mocking expression turned ugly. “You forgot about me!” he shouted, making Akira flinch.
“I don’t know what those doctors did to you in the hospital,” he continued quietly, “but you changed after you got out of there. I saw you a couple of times, here and there, but you never recognized me. Never smiled, never said hello… it was like you died and someone else took your place!”
At that, something about Rion changed. His anger was still there, but for that one moment, his eyes changed from the dark jet black they were before to a lighter, soft brown. Akira could see pain, fear, and loneliness reflected in them. For that moment, Rion was speaking from his heart, temporarily free from his dark influence and not realizing it one bit.
“It hurt to be ignored like that, Akira,” Rion continued, “I was already feeling bad about what happened, and no one was around to help. My dad and my brother were overseas, and busy with work and school, my mom was busy managing things at home and working at her job, and no one else seemed to care! And here you come, my best friend, the only person I could talk to about anything, and you ignore me!”
Rion’s eyes changed to black again, and the anger came back full force. “And for that, I’ll never forgive you!”
He walked closer to her until he was less than two feet away from her. He took the black crest from his neck and pushed it through the top slot of his Digivice. The Digivice came to life.
And Akira was hit with fear greater than anything she had felt in a long while. She could almost feel the waves of darkness coming from him. It was almost as if she was faced with pure evil itself.
“This isn’t you, Rion!” she yelled, “I don’t know how I know this, but this isn’t the real you!”
“That other girl I talked to said the same thing,” Rion shouted, “But it sounds a million times worse coming from you!” He raised the Digivice and pointed it at Akira. A dark beam shot out of it and enveloped her.
Akira sank to the ground, scared out of her wits and feeling deathly cold. Pain exploded in her head and her chest.
I’m going to die, she thought feverishly. He’s going to kill me right here and now. Where is everyone? Why won’t anyone come? Her thoughts were fading quickly. Someone help me, please… Kodamon… Seita… Her eyes closed.
Then, a bright light flashed around Akira, and warmth flowed through her. The pain and fatigue lessened. She opened her eyes and saw her Digivice and the Crest of Courage glowing. She blinked, and without even thinking she took the Crest and slotted it into the Digivice. The light pulsed, and with renewed energy, Akira thrust the powered-up Digivice toward Rion. He didn’t see it coming.
“Ooof!” Rion was hit with a blast of blue and orange light. When he got up, he saw Akira standing there, eyes dull and glazed over. She was holding out her Digivice and crest, and in addition to the light coming from them, a strange blue light shined over her heart. A faint star-shaped outline was visible for a couple of seconds, then disappeared as the light faded away.
Rion was enraged. “Why, you- how did you-“ he stammered angrily. He gripped his own Digivice and called out to Guilmon. “Guilmon! Evolve!”
Guilmon started glowing, and his form flickered as Growmon for a few seconds. As he tried to become MegaloGrowmon, something went wrong. His image crackled and reverted to Guilmon, and Rion’s Digivice short-circuited.
Rion grimaced in pain and dropped it. “Not again!” he shouted, “You evolved higher before! Why not now?” He glared at Akira, who was still standing there, not making a move. “Never mind!” he growled, “I’ll take care of her myself!” He snatched up his still-crackling Digivice…
“Lion Whirlwind Kick!”
…only to have it viciously knocked out of his hand.
Rion yelped and clutched his hand. He whipped around and was met with a very angry GrapLeomon threatening him with a clawed hand as big as his head.
“Well.” Rion said calmly, unfazed. “This isn’t good.”
“What kind of twisted kid are you, attacking helpless people like that?” GrapLeomon growled.
“A kid who will always beat you, no matter how many of you there are!” Rion shot back.
“You expect to fight a ten-foot-tall lion, just as you are, and live? Quit kidding yourself!” Seita appeared out of the shadows and approached Rion, not stopping until he towered over the boy. “And let me tell you this,” he said, grabbing Rion by the collar, “If you ever, ever come near Akira again,” he continued softly, voice quivering with rage, “you will have to deal with me!”
Rion glared painfully and wriggled out of Seita’s grasp. “Fine!” he spat, “Fine then, I’ll just deal with you later!” He turned around and started walking away, motioning Guilmon to follow. “Don’t think you’ve seen the last of me, though. You haven’t won. You’ll get what’s coming to you!”
GrapLeomon fired a shot, but they jumped away, disappearing in mid-air.
“Good riddance!” Seita said angrily, “the next time that kid comes back, I’m going to let him have it!” He clenched and unclenched his fists.
GrapLeomon de-evolved to Gazimon, and ran over to Kodamon, who was just beginning to stir.
“Is Kodamon okay?” Seita called out.
“Yeah,” Gazimon answered, “She's just a little woozy, that's all.”
Seita nodded. He then felt Akira staring at him, and he turned around slowly, afraid of what he would find. When he finally did see her, his heart nearly stopped. She was as pale as a ghost, and the old, dead look had returned to her eyes.
“...Akira?” Seita asked, hesitant. His mind was raging, fearfully wondering what she had been through. Something had happened that affected her deeply, but Seita didn’t know what. And somehow, that creepy kid was responsible. Seita’s anger grew, and he cursed himself for not coming sooner.
Akira didn't say a word. She just stared at him with that familiar, unemotional look. For a second, Seita was afraid she would turn around and walk away, like she did many times before. Instead, she did something completely different.
She slowly walked over to him... and hugged him. She didn't smile or frown, and she didn't cry. She just stood there, hugging him.
Seita was shocked. “H-hey...” he started to say, but stopped. He didn't know whether to shout for joy or scream. He smiled, a little sadly, and hugged her back.
“You're going to be okay now...” he said to her softly.
But was she really going to be okay? Seita didn’t know. As he stood there hugging her, and the dark clouds in the sky turned to rain, he tried to convince himself of that.