Well this is my first seasonal story, and it's a Digimon one at that. Isn't that wonderful? I also find it interesting that this is my first official humour story. I didn't realize that I was overly serious when it came to writing! Well to those of you who do not know, I do have a witty sense of humour...usually.

My primary motive for writing this little ditty is because it's actually a Christmas present to one of my good buds on FF.net, Cracker. It's rather scary how the two of us are so similar to each other (laziness for life!).

The story will be a Takari (perhaps cliché at times, but I do like adding my personal flavour to this favourite couple), but I will also insert myself and Cracker into the story - thus giving it an original flair a lot of times. Two wacky Torontonians placed in Japan equals hilarity that is bound to ensue! We've kept our real names secret (although my name is not so secret) mostly for comedic purposes. We shall still be referred to as our respective pennames.

...and yes, we can be wacky! You'll see!

Disclaimer: My New Years resolution will be to make all of my subsequent disclaimers about me not owning Digimon actually funny. Yeah right, like that will happen!

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Painting the Town Red...and Green

It was a frigid December 21 in Toronto, Ontario. This Saturday experienced a hefty snowfall in the waking hours of the morning. The sub-zero wind that blew violently caused the temperature of -17°C to feel like -37°C. In other words, it was a typical Canadian winter day.

In the house of a quiet Scarborough neighbourhood, a groggy, 18-year-old, young man awoke from his hibernation. He was tall - about 6'3" - and had tanned brown skin. He squinted his deep brown eyes as he adjusted to the sunlight shining in his bedroom window. He ran his hand through his short, spiky, black and brown hair, which he noticed had flattened on the left side due to the fact that he usually kept his head very firmly on the pillow for an over-extended period of time. He inwardly cursed at this. He looked out of his window to see how much snow had fallen overnight. Much to his dismay, it was a lot.

"Looks like I'm going to have to clean the driveway." He muttered to himself. "How I hate winter."

After getting dressed and ready for the day, the young man noticed that it was already 2PM. As usual, he had overslept. As he walked down the stairs, as if on cue his father came in through the garage door dressed in a large, winter coat, and handed him a shovel. He dejectedly took the tool and got his coat.

After the laborious task was complete, the young man trudged back into the house and went to the nearest sink to defrost his icy fingers. He temporarily bothered his younger sister by logging her off of her MSN account so he could check his email. The young teenage girl yelled some obscenities at him for severing her conversation with her countless friends, but he disregarded the slanderous remarks.

The young man quickly grabbed the car keys to the family's black Toyota Camry in the kitchen after having a quick meal. Today he was heading to the mall to make some late gift purchases. His parents had warned him about late shopping numerous amounts of times, but being the exceptionally lazy person that he is, the young man waits until almost the last minute to do virtually anything.

The garage door started sticking as he opened it. He rolled his eyes. He began fidgeting with the button so that it would jerk farther open with every push. After winning the gradual, minute-long battle with the door, he headed out to the car. As he got inside, his hands froze up again as he placed them on the steering wheel. He started the car, and allowed it to warm up a few minutes before heading out to the mall.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The Scarborough Town Centre proved to be packed beyond usual capacity. The young man made his way through the mass, as he started to admonish himself for buying presents so late. As he came out of one of the big department stores, he saw a huge crowd gathered around a kiosk with several posters of Japan decorating it. He curiously made his way to the stand. At the booth there were two Japanese lottery wheels where several people were drawing balls.

He was intrigued by this, being a fan of anime and Japanese culture, so he decided to enter - even though he was unaware of the prize. He filled out a card, but decided to use his common nickname, Ominous, when he filled in the name. He didn't think he was going to win, so it didn't matter that much to him.

Ominous handed the card to one of the dressed-up operators and got a weird look from the man when he inspected the name. The operator shrugged and spun the wheel a few times. After it stopped, Ominous reached in and pulled out a ball. When he unclasped his fist, a shiny, gold ball was present. The crowd's eyes went wide, as did the eyes of the operator. Ominous was still clueless.

"What? Did I win something?" Ominous asked, indifferently. The operator rang a bell.

"Attention everyone!" He shouted. "We have ourselves the first winner!" He read the card and sighed. "Congratulations...Ominous..."

"Really? Wow! What did I win?" Ominous asked, perking up.

"You won the grand prize, sir." The older man stated. "An all-expenses paid, 5-day trip to Japan!"

"WHAT?!?!" Ominous exclaimed.

"That's right!" Said the operator. "You'll be staying at a four-star hotel in the heart of Odaiba, complete with a first class, round-trip ticket. You will be travelling alongside the second winner of the draw."

Ominous was completely stupefied. He was about to faint, but he heard the bell ring from the second stand.

"We have our second winner!" The other official announced. "Congratulations...Cracker..."

Ominous' eyes went wide once more. There was only one person in all of Toronto that he knew had that nickname, and would have the nerve to use it here. He rushed over to the other side to see who he expected. She was short with fair skin, and medium-length black hair - Ominous' online pal, and author partner in crime.

"So it is you, Cracker!" Ominous called out. Cracker looked at Ominous and displayed the golden ball that she pulled from the drum.

"Looks like I'm coming with you to Japan!" She smiled. They shared a brief, friendly hug mostly out of excitement for one another's luck.

"What are you doing here in Scarborough?" Ominous asked. "This is a bit out of your way."

"Well I heard about this draw for some time now." She answered. "Didn't you?" Ominous shook his head.

"I just saw it as I came in, so I thought I'd give it a try." Ominous responded. "Who knew it would pay off? And here I was thinking it was going to be another dull day today."

"Tell me about it." Cracker added. "I'd hate to think about how I did in my calculus exam."

"Don't remind me." Ominous shuddered.

"Here are your tickets, you two." The official interrupted. "I suggest you both get packing. Your flight is tomorrow afternoon." Cracker and Ominous quickly did a double-take and blinked.

"Tomorrow?!" They yelped in unison.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The following afternoon at Pearson International Airport, the two friends met up at their flight gate. They put their hand-luggage down and took a seat by the window.

"So what did you parents think about the prize?" Ominous first asked.

"They were in disbelief to say the least." Cracker replied. "I had told them about the contest, but they didn't expect me to win. Luckily my mom and my sister were able to get me packed in a hurry. What about you?"

"Well, like I said, I had no clue about the contest." Ominous answered. "It took a bit of convincing on my part for my mom to be alright with it. She tends to be very overprotective." Cracker chuckled at this. "Thankfully though, she allowed me to go, since she knew that this was a rare opportunity, but she still made me feel guilty about missing Christmas with my family."

"Typical mom, huh!" Cracker joked. Ominous smiled and nodded.

"I'm completely dependent on my mom when it comes to packing." Ominous added. "Thankfully she's done it so many times, it barely took her any effort. I still find her ability to pack so much into so little a space to be a mystery. It boggles the mind."

"Attention. Air Canada Flight 482 to Odaiba, Japan is now ready for pre-boarding." Said the woman on the intercom. "All first-class ticket holders and those with small children or those who require help will be asked to board at this time..."

"Well it looks like we're ready to go." Cracker motioned as the two got up from their seats.

"This should be an interesting experience." Ominous stated. "Remember that you're supposed to drive on the left-hand side of the road over there!" Cracker and Ominous had joked several times about their...eccentric driving behaviour, so they found this rather funny.

"I'm not making any promises, Om, remember that!" Cracker jested. "Now let's go before they leave without us." Ominous nodded.

"So what do you want to do for the eighteen hours that we're on the plane?" Ominous inquired.

"I don't know, but I call the window seat!" Cracker announced as she rushed off to board.

"HEY!" Ominous shouted as he started running after her. "I wanted the window seat!"

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To be continued...

So far, this is just the introduction of me and Cracker, as well as the reason why we are heading to the land of the rising sun. In the next chapter, you shall see some familiar characters that our delirious duo are going to run into during their vacation. The madness continues later on!

As always, review and share your thoughts.