Missy looked over and started giggling. "Oh, right… she could turn into a Digimon. I wonder why she does that rather than having a partner. It doesn't matter, she's so cute like that."
"And awesome," I said. "She can shoot katanas from her mouth."
Missy gave me a look.
"I'm not kidding. She did it on the Dokugumon."
"How?" Missy shook her head.
"Missy, we're from a city that has Kaiser," I said. "Metal from nowhere makes some sense."
Missy giggled again. "But I don't think his comes from his mouth."
"What, have you fought him?" I asked, a little fearful of the answer I'd receive.
"Pfft. No. Like they'd let me." Missy gestured at herself. "I joined this year, and so far, the only action I've seen were a couple muggers who I got to run in circles until the cops picked them up."
"Circles." I pictured what the muggers must have felt like, and then realized that I shouldn't really care. They were muggers, after all. Still, that had to be pretty impressive to look at. "Awesome."
Missy sighed. "But I don't have my powers anymore."
"You might get them back," I said. "We've barely been here a day. There's just so mu—"
A roar echoed through the town, cutting me off, and I looked where it came from. Standing on top of a building was a simian-shaped Digimon with a large bone club strapped to its back. It had a green scale armband over its right arm, and it had red-tipped feathers sticking out of its blonde fur. It bellowed out another roar, beating its chest, and its eyes glowed an ominous red color.
Instantly I pulled out my digivice. I wasn't entirely sure what I could do, but I could do something.
"What the…" Missy asked. She fingered the visor she had at her waist, but she copied me with her digivice. "That doesn't look too friendly."
"Dorumon, Katia, heads up!" I called out to the Digimon. I needn't have bothered, Dorumon had already lowered herself into a guarding position, the fur on her head standing up. A dangerous look had come to her eyes.
Katia looked similar. Her teeth were bared, and her tail was stretched out as far as it could go. She very much was a dragon right now, ferally looking at the enemy and protecting her charges.
"What is that?" Missy asked, and I glanced to my digivice as information started to pop up.
"Apemon," I said. "It's on the same level as the spider we saw. It probably knows how to use that club on its back."
"What's it doing here?"
Apemon roared again, jumping from the top of the building to near the other Digimon, but I swear, it looked right at Missy and I. Its glowing red eyes couldn't be a natural occurrence or whatever passed for natural around here.
"Bone strike!" Apemon said, pulling the bone off its back to swing at a nearby Upamon.
"Katana attack!" Ryudamon snapped her head back and launched a katana at the bone, and it was joined quickly by Dorumon's metal sphere. The attacks struck true, knocking it off course and into the ground, kicking up dust. "Taylor, the Upamon!"
I ran forward to the nearest Upamon, Missy close behind me, and I scooped it up. "Come on, Upamon. All you Upamon, come on!"
"This would be so much…" Missy seemed to be talking to herself, making motions with her hands. She hadn't stopped following me, so this was less concerning.
"Magical Monkey Fist!" Apemon called and slammed its fist forward. Energy blasted out from its outstretched hand, hurtling across the square toward us. The Upamon near me scattered, and I dove for cover.
"Chicchimon!" Missy shouted, scooping up her partner and tumbling forward out of the way of Apemon's attack. She glared up at Apemon from where she was on the ground, and her stance shifted. I wasn't looking at Missy Biron anymore, even without the mask, there was no doubt in my mind that this was Vista. "You! What's the big idea anyway?"
Apemon snarled, but Vista didn't care.
"You come here, you attack. For what?" Vista patted Chicchimon on the head. "To hurt? To kill? No. I won't let you."
[Initiating Digital Link]
Dorumon and Ryudamon circled around Apemon's back, as I climbed to my feet. I locked eyes with my partner and nodded to Katia. Vista held her partner tightly as she stepped between the Upamon and Apemon.
"We won't let you," Katia echoed from behind the Apemon.
"ANGRY SPIKE!" Apemon reared back the bone to slash or something like it at Vista, but Dorumon and Katia were ready. Both dragon Digimon leaped onto Apemon's back and bit down on the club, side-by-side. They used their feet as leverage to hold the club in place.
"Powers or no powers," Vista said, glancing in my direction as I slid over to the side to get a better view of the battlefield. "You need to get stopped here!"
[D-Link established. Execution.
White light emitted from Vista's digivice, and Chicchimon leaped out of her hands. The bird-ball was enveloped in the same light.
"Chicchimon evolve to…" Chicchimon's voice changed, as it grew larger. Legs and wing like arms poked out its side, and the feather plume it had tied itself into a form of top-knot. An honest-to-God sword appeared on its back, and it pulled it out of its sheath to pose with it. It looked like a hatched chick samurai with shell armor. "Hyokomon."
Vista blinked. "Hyokomon?"
"Missy," said the new Rookie. "Let's back those words up."
Apemon snarled, and shook the dragons off the bone, sending the two of them flying into a building. Immediately I was running to my partner's side, but that required me to go past Apemon. It sneered as I got close.
"Bone Strike!" Apemon reared back, and without Dorumon or Ryudamon to weigh it down, it would be free to swing just fine. I tried to keep moving, but there was no way I'd be faster than this Digimon. The first strike nailed the ground barely next to my ankle as I lifted it out of the way. The second, on the other hand… I couldn't really tell. I felt the wind from its follow-up, but no strike. No hurt. I still needed to make sure Dorumon and Katia were all right, but this bit didn't make any sense.
Then I turned and saw the reason I didn't get hurt. The area between Apemon and I was like looking in one of those funhouse mirrors. The distortion didn't seem to be digital in nature. It was… different.
"Hyokomon, close the distance between Taylor and Dorumon," Vista ordered.
"Aye!" Hyokomon dashed toward me and the space between my partner and I warped, becoming a stone's throw away. I stepped across it, and the distance snapped back in an instant. I knew what these were, it just confused me a little. How was this even possible?
Vista's powers. In the hands of a Digimon. Her Digimon.
And now they were ready to kick some monkey butt.
Did I mention before how cool this world was?