"That was the third time this week, Damien! Can't you ever get along with your bosses?" Damien's mother asked him as he burst through the door. Another part-time job he'd been fired from.
"Enough, Mom! I have enough trouble as it is without you adding... sorry, Mom." Damien relented. He hated snapping at anyone, much less his own family. Luckily, his mother understood better than anyone.
"When your father is done with his investigation... I think he wants a word with you." Damien's mother told him. Damien illustrated his boring face with a smile and headed to the bathroom. He unzipped his duffel bag and pulled out the scarlet dye, to keep his hair in its current, artificial state. After doing this, Damien headed to his bedroom and pulled out his plain paper pad from the desk. He doodled for a while, looking for an idea that could follow up the manga drawings he had pinned to his wall... with a marked heading of 'MANGA'.
He put pencil to paper and began doodling away.
--xxx--
Damien walked into his father's study, where his father was filing paperwork related to his private investigation business. His father's name was Steve, after the famous, late Australian Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin. Steve was also a workhorse and was always thrilled by the prospect of an investigation.
Wish I had his enthusiasm, Damien thought to himself as Steve put the last of the papers away.
"Damien! Son, take a seat, mate!" Steve offered. Damien cracked a smile and pulled the chair out, parking his backside onto the comfy computer chair.
"Mom said you wanted to talk to me once you were done?" Damien inquired.
"Yeah, yeah, mate. I just wanted to tell you that Dr. Coughman is heading round the house in about a week, and he may be able to solve your little dilemma about working." Steve replied.
Damien sighed: "Its not that I have a problem working... I just hate having to be told to work. My bosses are all jerks who I've never met before in my life."
"Nevertheless, he wants to chat with you. He has an offer that may sound appealing to you since you both got acquainted before, mate." Steve persisted.
"If you're asking me to do this... then I'll do it for you. It can't be any worse than having to handle shiitake mushrooms part-time at the Bistro Le Salle anyway." Damien nodded as he got up to leave.
Steve threw up an eyebrow: "What is it with you and shiitake anyway?"
"I HATE SHIITAKE!" Damien yelled as he left the study. His most hated meal.
"Mom! If you're cooking supper, don't add shiitake!" Damien shouted to the downstairs.
Damien's mother smiled in the kitchen: "Oh, I don't know, Damien... I think my mushroom spoon is slipping!"
Damien poked his head through the doorway: "Normally, I'd tackle you for making a joke like that... but you're my mother and a lady, so I can't do that."
"My friends at the hairdressers were talking about yaoi manga today. Do you know what that is?" She said, changing the subject.
Damien rolled his eyes: "A really disturbing form of art that you need not know about. I'm going out for some exercise so I'll see you later."
--xxx--
Damien looked around him as the lively city was lit up. He had an hour, so he thought it'd be nice to go sightseeing. Granted, he'd seen those sights a thousand times before... but it was his hometown, so there was nothing to worry about.
I may as well go see what's going on, Damien thought, stating the blatant obvious to himself. He ran into town where the freshly-baked smell of Etemon's Baguette store caught his nostrils. He was able to smile at this. But then he turned and saw a group of girls his age and began to stutter. He uneasily slipped away from them and made his way into the center of town.
"Damien!" A digimon said. He recognised this one as Lopmon, but he had nicknamed the Lopmon in question 'Koko'.
"Koko, what's up, buddy?" Damien asked of the chocolate-colored brown bunny creature.
"Not a lot, Damien. The digimon and their human friends are staging a pie-eating contest while my friends are over selling newspapers as usual." Koko explained.
"Somebody who likes to eat a lot is going to be happy then." Damien grinned.
"Remember when you first met me... when I was shining shoes?" Koko asked. Damien nodded in response.
"Selling newspapers may look like a step up, but it feels much worse to me. Not a lot of people like to read the news." Koko continued, his words becoming sadder at each stroke of voice.
"I'm sorry, Koko... I wish I could help you. I mean, for the first time in a long time, you were my best friend during a time I didn't really have any. If something comes up that is beneficial for the both of us, I'll come to see you first." Damien responded, trying to cheer Koko up. He paused for a second, hoping his attempt worked.
Success: "Thanks, Damien. You really lift me up high when I'm down low. You're a true friend."
With that, Koko skipped off happily with Damien's words of encouragement following his every step. Damien grinned and turned to walk off, when he noticed something going around the corner into the alleyways.
All he could hear was, "You're going to pay for that!" and "Let's gut him!"
Damien knew something was up so he slowly made his way to the alleyways, parking himself round the corner. He peered, seeing a Terriermon being ganged upon by two Growlmon. He felt disgusted that two of their size was needed to attack something of Terriermon's stature, so as the Growlmon made their move, Damien leapt into the air, vaulting off the walls. He smashed the Growlmon on the left in the face before catching the one on the right with a big bicycle kick to the arm. They both flinched, but the Growlmon would not give up their standing.
"Cowards! Attacking a small digimon with your massive frames? That's not fair!" Damien argued.
"He is a leech! He must be destroyed!" A Growlmon growled.
"Leave Zero alone!" A voice said. Into the alleyway came a WereGarurumon, driving off the pair of Growlmon in a rage. While this went on, Damien turned to the Terriermon.
"Are you okay?" Damien asked in concern.
Terriermon nodded: "Thank you. You don't know me at all... and yet, you come to my aid almost immediately."
"If anybody's in danger, I usually want to be there. Plus, I love to finish a fight I didn't start. My name's Damien." Damien introduced.
"I'm Terriermon, but everybody calls me Zero. And that's Damage, a BlackGabumon." Terriermon replied, pointing to the BlackGabumon entering the alley.
"It's okay, Zero; just a couple of Guilmon pranksters who got high on digivolving way too much. Who's he?" Damage asked, motioning towards Damien.
"My name's Damien... and you must be Damage, right? Pleasure to meet you." Damien answered, shaking Damage's paw.
"I'd love to sit and chat with you, Damien, but me and Zero have got some business to tend to." Damage said. He and Zero went to leave.
"If you guys ever need a tour of my city, just let me know." Damien offered. Damage and Zero waved as they finally left.
--xxx--
Damien made it home in time for supper. Luckily for him, there weren't any Shiitake mushrooms in his food. But what caught his attention was that Dr. Coughman had come like his father said he would. And he didn't come alone: he had brought an IceLeomon with him as well as a girl Damien never saw before in his life.
After gulping down the last of his food and being lectured on indigestion, Damien went up to his father's study to wait for the doc. While waiting for the doc, Damien pulled out his drawing pad and continued on the drawings he didn't finish earlier. Out of nowhere, a voice made him jump.
"Great drawing." The girl said. Damien began to sweat.
"T-thanks. My name's Damien." Damien introduced uneasily.
The girl smiled: "Aurora. Dr. Coughman gave me the lowdown on you before we ended up here."
"H-he d-did?" Damien stuttered nervously.
Dr. Coughman entered the study: "That I did. Its a pleasure to see you again, Damien."
"Hey, Doc." Damien replied, relief pulsing all over his face. IceLeomon followed the Doctor into the room, but he had to duck or risk taking the doorframe with him. He had a sleeping Dorumon on his shoulder.
"My father said you wanted to see me... said something about you wanting to solve my little dilemma." Damien inquired.
"Something like that. As Aurora could tell you, I am the leader of a great human-digimon task force known as Team Night Wolf. There are currently four teams. Now I'm still in recruiting stages, and your parents told me quite a bit about your unwillingness to stay in a part-time job more than a day." Coughman began.
Damien rolled his eyes: "Its not that I hate working... its just taking orders from complete jerks."
"I concur. That's why I want you to join Team Night Wolf and lead your own troupe of Digimon. There will be tournaments and plenty of time to bond with those Digimon. A lot of new people to meet and you won't ever have to take a jerk's orders again... unless you consider me a jerk." Coughman continued. Damien shook his head rapidly.
"Hell no! I wouldn't say anything of the sort! You never wronged me, Doc, so what's the point of saying something like that?" Damien panicked. Aurora put a hand on Damien's shoulder to calm him down. It worked.
"You have four Digimon in your team; three to go into battle and the fourth to be a Navi-Digimon, so you know where you're going. I've already arranged for Falcomon a.k.a Raven to be apart of your team... but do you know any other Digimon who would be interested in following you?" Coughman asked.
Damien's eyes lit up: "I think I do."
--xxx--
"You want me to what?" Koko asked.
"I'm joining a digimon task force known as Night Wolf. We're going to be travelling a lot and I thought that since you aren't exactly happy selling newspapers for peanuts... you'd come with me." Damien replied.
"You said you'd come to me if there was anything worthwhile for the both of us... but I thought you were doing it to lift my spirits. I didn't think you meant it." Koko said.
Damien smiled: "Would I lie to you?"
Koko grinned back: "Let me shut down the shop. I'm in."
"We're in too!" A familiar voice yelled. Damien turned to see Damage and Zero, the digimon he had befriended earlier in the day.
"We want in... because it makes it easier for us to travel." Damage continued.
"Well, that... and it solves my problem of finding two other digimon. Welcome aboard, fellas." Damien responded.
--xxx--
Damien had Zero, Damage & Koko set up camp in his room. Tomorrow would be the big day Damien gets officially inducted into Team Night Wolf. He glanced over to his wardrobe to see a jacket with 'NIGHTWOLF' inscribed on the back hanging on the wall.
"So, is any of you a good cook?" Damien asked randomly.
Damage spoke up: "Zero. When you travel, somebody has to cook. Last time he cooked, he made this great dish of Shiitake mushrooms. It was amazing."
Upon the mention of that dreaded dish, Damien tackled Damage to the ground and comically pounded him. Zero & Koko giggled at this.
--xxx--
Dear Mom & Dad,
Damien here. Everything's going great at Team Night Wolf. Me, Koko, Damage, Zero & Raven completed our first mission, getting rid of some Numemon. I've made some great new friends, but I do wish the Doc would give us a break about our mistakes during the mission. Yes, everybody was following me and I trailed off, right into the heart of the Numemon, but we still got it done. If he yells again, I just might snap... eh, maybe not. He's not like my old bosses.
The girl that came to our house with Dr. Coughman, Aurora, is pretty and I have kind of a thing for her, but I don't know how to say it. She has been nice to me the whole time since she met me and I cannot stop with that damn STUTTERING!
So far, everything has worked out. I hope to be seeing you again soon, but I just wanted to let you know that I'm enjoying myself.
Later
Damien.
P.S. Don't add shiitake.
--xxx--
A/N: DJ here and this is a short story of how Damien Lyonne became involved in the Team Night Wolf, of Cassidy Stormchaser's Digital World XD fanfic, with appearances from her characters Doctor Coughman and Aurora with IceLeomon & Dorumon. Basically, just something to explain his journey into the team.
Later.
This is a presentation of DJ Diddy Dog - KIVA FORM.
Fist On! Release the chains of destiny!
P.S. I had intended to introduce a minor concept in this story, where some Digimon become addicted to digivolving ("Some Guilmon pranksters getting high on digivolving too much"). Its an idea I had on the fly, so if becomes useful to anyone else's stories, let me know. You don't need my permission, but a heads-up would be nice.
