Author's note: I wrote this story 2 years ago for a fanfic contest on the With the Will forums. The conditions were to be under 2000 words and to be a story about friendship. I chose to write for Kazu and Kenta. My story was the winning favourite. I decided to upload it on here so more people can enjoy it (hopefully).
Back To Basics
It was yet another weekend at the park where Kazu and Kenta sat there wondering what to do with themselves. It had not been so long ago that the D-Reaper almost wiped out mankind from the face of the planet, but that felt like a lifetime ago, the only thing now that felt like it was in danger of extinction was their motivation. Kazu swayed back and forth on the swing slowly, making an ark like movement, kicking up dirt from the ground. Kenta stood on the swing, apparently tired of sitting on it.
"I can't believe there's nothing to do" Kazu whined. "Where's Takato when you need somebody to make fun of?"
"I think he sometimes works at his parents' bakery now" Kenta mumbled.
"Work eh? Didn't I tell him we don't have to work until our parents kick us out of home? I blame myself; I guess I didn't prepare that boy properly for the world ahead. I won't make the same mistake with you though." Kenta wasn't sure what he meant, but he knows that Kazu's mind doesn't operate the same way human beings minds do.
"Did you hear the Digimon tournament starts tomorrow?" Kazu asked.
"Oh, ah, it does? I didn't know that. I can't believe it's still popular anymore.'
"It's typical. Digimon tear down the city and everyone rushes to buy the cards."
It was true, despite the destruction Digital life forms had caused to the city, all of Japan and now even the rest of the world was hooked on Digimon. Every kid now hoped they'd get their own pet monster friend, or be able to see the Digital World with their own eyes.
"There really is no bad publicity anymore." Kenta frowned, now sitting down on the swing, with his legs on either side of the seat so he was facing Kazu.
"Do you ever regret giving up on the card game? I mean, all we ever did was play Digimon, but now…"
"I know what you mean, but it'll never be the same anymore. Guardromon wasn't just some card, he was real and he was my partner and together we were the ultimate threat to the D-Reaper! The game just isn't fun anymore." He had that look where he was the hero in his own strange fantasies.
"I wonder what they're doing now. The Digital World was damaged pretty badly. But I'm sure MarineAngemon is okay, I mean… I hope."
"He'll be fine. Guardromon will be there to protect him" he nodded, certain of himself. "Guardromon never stopped fighting to save the Gekomon and…"
"Hey!" Kenta interrupted. "MarineAngemon can take care of himself y'know?! He happens to be a mega Digimon, like Omnimon and Imperialdramon. Not weak like the Gekomon'!"
"Calm down dude, I'm just saying Guardromon is totally the coolest."
"Whatever" Kenta said, examining the dirt in his finger-nails. "So what did you do with your cards?"
"Hmm? Oh, I gave them away to some kid. Wouldn't be surprised if he wins the tournament tomorrow with that deck. That's a collection you can't beat. I'm certain I could've beaten Rika with it, not that it'd be hard… Ryo won against her, and me and Ryo are totally on the same level." He reminded himself of the battle with the ape like D-Reaper agent. "What did you do with yours; sell them to some blind kid?"
"Nuh uh. I uh, flushed them down the toilet." Kenta said, sounding not entirely convincing.
"Boy, there must be an alligator somewhere down in the sewers wondering what to do with the most useless collection of cards ever."
"Hey I had a few good cards!" Kenta shouted.
"Yeah the ones I gave you!"
"Look would you… oh never mind. Let's get back to whatever we were doing."
"You mean wondering what to do?"
"I was thinking maybe we could go to the arcade, or the mall. That's where all the cool people hang out."
"You know cool people besides me? How come you never tell me these things?"
* * *
The two boys walked through the shopping district, looking for someplace to hang out. They had no real hang out besides the park, but now that they no longer played Digimon they had no business there, it was more just out of habit that they were there.
They finally found an arcade, filled with plenty of other kids, some adults even. Kazu looked around for the cool people Kenta spoke of, but only saw nerds and the occasional girl, sticking out like black on a white wall.
"Hey Kazu, bet you can't out dance me" he motioned to the DDR machine.
"It's not that, it's just that your dancing scares people off." He had repressed his memories of the last event.
"See those girls over there?" he pointed to two girls, slightly younger than they are by about 1 year Kenta guessed, 4 by Kazu's but he always see's himself as being older than he is.
"No."
"Over there, by the UFO machine."
"Oh you mean them" he pointed.
"Don't point at them; if they see you pointing they'll think you're going to abduct them! Listen, hanging out at arcades isn't what cool people do, they get girlfriends who just hang around them and make them look cool!"
"Oh I think I've heard of this. And people will notice us with all these girls and then we'll be scouted for television or maybe become astronauts!" he glowed.
"Your face on the big screen? Godzilla won't know what hit him."
"Heck yeah, Godzilla, Superman, that robot from the future, they'll all crumble before the awesome visage of MightyMegaKentamon!"
"Visage? Okay, now you're crazy. When did you learn a new word?"
"At School."
"I can't remember the last time I learnt anything new at School."
"That's because you're rarely ever awake to learn anything."
"I need extra amounts of sleep per day because I'm tall and tall people sleep longer than short people."
"That explains why you have permanent bed hair' Kenta joked.
"Woah dude, never insult the do. This is a finely sculpted visage."
"Hey you're stealing my word!"
"As if, I say visage all the time you must've picked it up off me."
"Let's get back to business. If you really want to impress girls, you just have to go over there and be cool. Basically, don't be Kenta. They like it when you're confident."
"Okay I guess" he limped over to them as if he was trying to be casual but forgot how to walk properly. The red haired girl looked at him weird.
"Uh hi" he said cheerily. "Mynameskentawouldyouliketocomeoutonadatewithme?" he said, not so smoothly. The girl looked at him as if he had just farted.
"Who's this weird guy?" her brunette friend asked. "Did he just say something?"
"You'll have to forgive him" Kazu said walking over to them "He's been locked in a cupboard his whole life and he's still learning how to speak."
"And you are?" the brunette asked.
"I'm Kazu, and this here's my friend Kenta. Maybe you've seen us on TV before; we're real life Digimon Tamers!"
"No way?! Are you the one with the cool dinosaur Digimon?" She asked.
"No that's Takato" Kenta frowned.
"What about the cute white one?"
"No! Look, our partners are Gaurdromon and MarineAngemon!"
"Wow, Angemon! I like him"
"No, MarineAngemon! He's like ten times cooler" Kenta corrected her.
"Never heard of them, but they sound weird too" she laughed.
"Look" Kazu said, now frustrated. "We're offering you to go out on dates with real live tamers."
"No thanks, I'd only date cool tamers like Ryo Akiyama." Her friend nodded.
'Well I'm a good friend of Ryo's, and if you come out with us I… I promise I'll set you up with him' Kazu frowned realizing how stupid that sounded.
"Really?"
"Sure, he owes me a favour."
"Well then… I guess I could stomach it." She said.
"I'll tag along too" her friend added.
Kazu and Kenta both high-fived each other. "AWESOME!"
***
After the date was set, they headed off to an ice cream parlor. Kenta pulled out some cash "allow me" he said with an air of pompousness.
"Who the heck did you rob to get that?" Kazu asked in disbelief.
"I'm not a kid anymore. I have a steady income now." He looked as if he was part of the royal family in England now.
"Are you working for the Yakuza or something?"
'Nope, although that would be cool. I mow the lawn sometimes… I added this growth fertilizer so it would grow faster, which is why it needs a lot of mowing these days.' He started laughing at his own genius.
'Wow Kenta, that's the like the first not entirely stupid idea you've ever had. I should start charging you for the honour of hanging out with me.
Just then, Kazu noticed something familiar on the ground. It had the same green and blue design he was familiar with, a Digimon card lay upside down near the gutter. Kenta watched as Kazu bent down and picked something up.
"What'd you find?" Kenta queried, as his tall lanky friend stood there like he had found the Holy Grail and was having an epiphany.
"T-this is…" he couldn't speak, so Kenta walked over to look. He felt the same emotions rush over him that Kazu experienced. It was a Digimon card, and not only that, it was a rare Imperialdramon PM with gold foil.
"You just found this on the street?" Kenta gasped.
"Yeah"
"On the street?"
"It's like you say."
"Right there" he pointed at the ground. Kazu's moment of tranquility was cut off by Kenta's insistent questioning.
"Yes there, on the street!"
"Boy, this is like… ultra rare."
"Don't need to remind me"
"What are we gonna do with it?"
"Well… we don't play the Digimon game anymore, so…"
"Right, we stopped playing."
"Kenta, you take it' he said as if he was doing the most heroic act ever.
"What?"
"I owe you for the ice cream anyway. I can't live with myself knowing I owe you anything"
"Never mind that, I don't play, remember?"
"Well I suppose I'll just give it to that kid again."
"Yeah, what was his name?"
"Uhh… it escapes me right this moment"
"Yeah right you plan on keeping it! Give me that!" Kenta moved to grab it.
"I found it first!" Kazu reminded him.
They fought over the card, eventually grabbing both sides. The force of which ripped it in half, making them fall on their backsides.
"Nooo! It was mine!" Kazu cried.
"I guess we deserved that. Kenta sobbed "Look, let's just go home. We have that date tomorrow and…"
"Okay. You can keep your half of the card." Kazu winked.
"Thanks" he said, even though Kenta got the least interesting half that has the attacks written on it.
***
The next day, where the Digimon Tournament had started, and two friends found themselves back where they belonged.
"Junior Division First Stage battle XIII: Kazu VS Kenta!" the announcer shouted.
The two boys stood across the table grinning at each other.
"Knew you couldn't resist!" Kenta chuckled.
"Hey it's better than going out on a date with girls."
"Yeah, girls can't get in the way of Digimon… EVER."
"You got that right, Digimon never stopped being cool. I'll be reunited with Guardromon one day so I need to keep honing my skills. But just so you k now, you won't ever beat me with those cards"
"Oh no? Well Rika isn't into the game anymore, and she sold me some of her own personal cards."
"I bet you think you're clever, but as it turns out, I managed to get a hold of some of Ryo's."
"Well this'll be fun" they both beamed, ready for their ultimate battle.
The Announcer raised the microphone. "Begin!"
Across town, their dates waited impatiently for them to arrive. They never did.