Digimon Frontier: The Warrior's Return

Chapter 18: Then the Butt-Kicking Happened

Chapter 18: Then the Butt-Kicking Happened

You and Junpei walked along the dark alleys, heading back the way you had run from. Inside you were fretting worse than ever over your impending doom. Again you felt a twinge of desire to run, but Junpei knew better than Kouichi did and had a hold on your hand to lead you along. After a few feeble tugs you gave up - Junpei wasn't going to let you go.

He was looking all around, probably for the others, and you were too (though for a different reason). When you two neared the wide road where you had left Kouichi, you started to tense up involuntarily.

But as you rounded the corner and saw the road empty except for a few Digimon talking, you relaxed again and sighed. Total relief washed over you only to be replaced by worry after half a second.

Then you felt a squeeze on your hand and you looked up at Junpei. Even though he hadn't been happy about you ditching his friends he was giving you a grin. Briefly you wondered why - and then you glared up at him.

"Don't laugh at my anxiety!" you snapped.

"I'm not," he replied, but the chuckle in his voice betrayed him. "Though it is cute how you think that my friends are going to beat you up."

"They'll beat me up?!" you gasped. You suddenly started pulling away hard, trying to escape.

"Hey, hey!" With absurdly ridiculous strength Junpei held you still. "I was kidding, okay?!"

"Didn't sound like it!"

An abrupt change in the volume around you distracted you for a moment and you looked in the direction of the rising noise. From uphill rushed a wave of little pinkish Digimon, all chattering nonsense at the tops of their voices. They flowed around you like a river, and to your surprise you felt yourself being carried away.

"Wah!" you shouted, unable to resist the relentless tugging.

Being bigger and sturdier than you, Junpei was able to stay in place and he snagged your hand before you were swept away altogether. "I gotcha!" he said. The tide of Digimon pulled at you until both your arm and Junpei's were stretched out to their full extent.

Then, just as suddenly as they had appeared, the Digimon were gone. You moved closer to Junpei and started laughing. "Oh man, I totally felt like I was gonna go downstream there! Thanks for the save, dude!"

Junpei grinned widely at you. "No problem - lightweight."

You gave him the look that you gave him an average of twenty times a day - narrowed eyes, knit brows, and a slight frown - and growled. "Don't push it, Captain Overconfident."

He started to laugh and your glare dissolved into a smile. A part of you noticed just then that Junpei was still holding onto your hand. You could tell that he didn't mean anything by it; he had probably just forgotten for the moment. As transparent as he was with Izumi, there was no way he would be subtle with you.

"Oi, Junpei!"

The distant shout caught you off-guard. Without thinking about it you pulled away from Junpei and turned towards the direction it had come from. That is, until you saw the rest of the group heading towards you; then you leaped to put Junpei in front of you. Takuya looked disturbingly irritated.

"Oh boy," Junpei muttered to you. "We're in for it now."

"No, probably just me," you said. You peeked around Junpei's arm and ducked back quickly.

"You know I can see you, Ally!" Takuya shouted. "So get out here and explain what you were doing!"

"Frying eggs," you answered. "What do you mean?"

"He means, why did you run off," Izumi said.

You shrugged. "I don't know. My brain told me to."

"Why'd you run off the second time?" Kouichi asked next. He looked kind of hurt so you stepped anxiously around Junpei to reassure him.

"Seriously, you've gotta knock that off," Takuya scolded. "This world is dangerous for humans. You can't ditch us when we've only got like two spirits. What's wrong with you?"

That was it, the one question that you couldn't stand. It never failed to piss you off, mostly because you could never answer it. Forgetting your usual timidity, you straightened up and glared at Takuya.

"Back off!" you snarled.

~Kouichi POV~

I had seen Ally lose her temper before and she was dangerously close right now. Takuya might be upset, but his aggressiveness was making her defensive and aggressive too.

I was about to step forward, to warn Takuya or at least get him to back off, but what happened next stopped me cold. She didn't do anything physically, but suddenly Dramon appeared. Dramon was faint and sort of... see-through.

'Is this how Ally sees the souls?' I wondered immediately. Dramon was either standing behind Ally or else she was overlapping her - I couldn't tell.

Dramon was also glaring daggers at Takuya and a collective gasp from the others made me realize that they could see her too. As we watched, darkness swirled up around Dramon, her eyes went blank, and she bared her sharp teeth like a wolf about to strike.

Junpei was the only one who didn't see; Ally was behind him and to one side, and he was focused on Takuya. "Chill out, Takky," he said. "It's not like anything bad happened. Stop taking out your disappointment on Ally!"

That seemed to break whatever was holding Ally. The darkness around her burst like a bubble, and the ghostly image of Dramon dissolved too. "Exactly!" she said loudly. "I like to do things my own way!"

~Your POV~

Seriously, didn't Takuya get that? You knew he was thickheaded, but really!

And what was the deal with everyone? Just a second ago they had all been wearing varying expressions of anger, but all of a sudden they had looked shocked. Even now they were still staring at you in the strangest way...

"What?" you asked self-consciously. "Did I sprout horns or something?" You patted your hair gingerly.

Takuya recovered first. "No, you just have 'little troublemaker' written on your forehead," he replied harshly.

All that did was confuse you, and you gave Takuya the most confused face you knew how to make. "What??"

He seemed to struggle to come up with another insult until Izumi stepped in. "Shut up, Takuya."

"What?! But -"

"Shut up, Takuya!"

"But what about -"

"Yeah, knock it off," Junpei added.

Finally Takuya subsided, though he kept up a stream of grumbling under his breath. All you were able to catch were the words, "Dramon" and "see it again."

"So whose spirit was it this time?" Izumi asked, ignoring Takuya.

You stared at her for a second and smacked your forehead with your palm when you remembered. "Oh, fish! That's right! It was Loweemon." You reached for your D-Tector, looking around to see who the lucky person was this time.

Kouichi's vaguely troubled expression shifted into a smile and he pulled his D-Tector out too. The two of you made the transfer and as you put your D-Tector away you caught sight of Kouichi's fond gaze. It was directed at the screen of his device, not at you, but you still thought it was pretty cute.