"Stop! Thief!"
The middle school had erupted into chatter and confusion as a sole character raced down the hallway, carrying a small box under his arm. Argent hair whipped against his face as he tore down the corridor, thankful for the masses of students to hide within. Another individual, garbed in a black uniform, charged after him, slowly gaining. Hitting the stairway, he slid down the railing, and broke into another run as he reached the ground floor.
He came to the faculty parking lot, and was almost at the first car, when, out of nowhere, a third boy flew down and landed on the car, generating an explosion of glass and debris. The boy froze stiff as the silhouette rose, demonic against the rising smoke from the utterly destroyed… thing that had once been a Toyota, Cresta model.
The pursuer ground to a halt as the obscured boy slowly stepped from the wreckage, shook himself off and smiled pleasantly. Turning to the silver-haired boy, he copped a smart mock salute.
"Hi, there! Am I right in believing you've got something that doesn't belong to you?"
The thief held the package behind his body, holding his free arm over it, and shook his head defiantly.
"Not much for talking, are you? Fine with me!" The mysterious boy smiled again, walking slowly forward.
"Look, we can make this go one of two ways. Either we can do what I want, where you give that back, and no one gets hurt. Or, we can do what your friend over there wants…," here, the boy who came out of the "car crash" pointed over the thief's shoulder at the high school student in black, "… and let him beat the spit out of you and then take it. Your choice."
The snowy haired boy looked briefly over his shoulder at the lean student in black, and than back at the boy in front of him. The first was lithe of figure, and somewhat svelte, also possessed of an athletic gait, and slightly longer legs than most of that age. The second student, an athletic seventh-grader, was of a slightly stockier build, but not short in any way, with solid limbs. Considering his options, he moved slowly toward the boy by the car heap, held out the package, the size of a breadbox. The boy smiled once again, but gave a small yelp of surprise when the bandit used the rubble of the vehicle to reposition himself in midair, and then took off running in a different direction.
The argent-haired adolescent ran away as fast as he could, but, once again from out of nowhere, the athlete ran and caught up with him, using a slide tackle to halt his forward momentum.
"Last chance, hot shot. Give it up!" Apparently, the sixth-grader was a capable sportsman, and was only pleasant until crossed.
As the original chaser, the shadow, caught up with the thief, the teenager held out his hand for the package.
"Give back the box, or I will hurt you. Badly."
The thief could not react to this statement, arms being pinned underneath him. The athlete, who had landed on top of the boy, turned towards the third figure, and began to shout back.
"Hey! I got it, you don't have to worry! No need to beat him up."
"He stole from the Ankoku. He's judgment lies with us."
The thief paled visibly. The Ankokuwas an organization of yakuza spread throughout the district. Dealing in loan-sharking, protection, with their claws in multiple official authority-centric offices and other dubious professions, crossing them usually meant an untimely revenge on a large scale.
"Well, what's so important about this… box?" The athlete stretched over to where the package had skidded, easily plucking the box from the ground. He examined it, turning it over in his hands as he noted its ordinary appearance. White, no larger than a shoebox, and holding something noticeably heavy, it didn't really strike his fancy as an object of worth. Maybe it wasn't the box that was valuable…
"I suggest you don't lift up that lid any further, if you want to stay on the organization's good side."
The athlete immediately removed his hand from the incriminating object, scratching the back of his head with it. He grinned goofily, chuckling. "Sorry, curiosity got the better of me. Here you go!"
The thief's eyes widened in shock as the package passed hands. No! He had worked hard to get that! Realizing there was nothing that he could do, the thief stood up slowly and sighed. He turned away, and began to walk slowly towards the school, into the waiting arms of the campus police. With the elementary, middle, and high school so close to one another, the district allowed the high school police full jurisdiction in each area. A dubious bureaucratic decision, to be sure.
"Wait a moment, boy."
The thief turned and gulped as the gangster advanced on him. Arm raised high, the resulting punch would've easily hospitalized the boy if it hadn't been checked by the arm of the athlete.
"Hey, hey! Chotto matte! No need to be rough. You've got your package, and he's going to get his punishment. No need to make things worse," the athlete warned. The mobster looked fiercely at the unflinching sportsman, and then turned away slowly.
"Better watch yourself… Motomiya."
The thug pulled his cap low over his eyes, and walked away with the package tucked under his arm. The athlete watched him go, huffing a little, and then turned back to the thief who was ambling away quietly.
"JING!" A brunette girl screamed, tearing into the arms of the silver haired thief. Snuggling him a little, she looked at him, and with a sob, began to babble incoherently.
"Are you okay! I was so worried that you would be hurt. You are okay, aren't you? No injuries?"
Pushing the girl away from him, the thief, apparently named Jing, gave her a stern look, and began his march anew.
"Oy!" The athlete grunted. "She's worried about you! Say something to her!"
Jing threw him a scathing look, grunted at the girl, and began to march away again, this time at a faster pace.
Walking up to the girl, the athlete put his hand on her shoulder. She sniffed a little, rubbing her eyes, and then smiled happily.
"Sorry about Jing. He's a bit rough around the edges."
The sportsman smiled. "Aren't we all? My name's…"
"Daisuke!"
Responding to the call, the boy looked up to where the new voice had come from. His five friends were motioning to him, each with a similar expression: disbelief, incredulity, shock, surprise, and overall confusion.
He waved and smiled at them, turning back to the girl, only to realize that she wasn't there. Looking around a bit, and then giving up, Daisuke grinned and waved happily to his friends.
"Hey all! How ya doin'?"
"How ya' doin'!" screeched Miyako, a loud, exuberant girl with waist-length lavender hair and trademark coke-bottle glasses. "Look at that!" Following the direction of his friend's stabbing finger, Daisuke saw the debris of the expensive vehicle.
"Eh… I didn't like that teacher much, anyway," he called back up to the second floor.
Ken sighed in exasperation, and then chuckled a little. Being best friends with the daredevil Daisuke, the blue-haired boy found himself constantly amazed at the numerous talents that displayed themselves each day.
Iori watched the scene calmly, being respectably calmer than the others, he merely shrugged it off as a freak accident, but with Daisuke, you could never be sure.
Takeru gaped, openmouthed, as the spiky-haired soccer player smiled up cheerfully. There could have been NO WAY that he could've survived that. But, surveying the ruins that were once the fanciest car in the faculty lot, he couldn't help but snigger at his colleague's antics.
Hikari giggled a little at the whole scene Daisuke caused. The unpopular teacher in question, Takara-sensei, 12th grade physics teacher, was screaming at the boy from the high school across the joint lot. Daisuke was doing a little jig, satisfied with himself, and generally reveling in the laughter that emanated from the halls of the middle school, and from across the way, the laughter of the elder high school students. It really was true that no one liked Takara, even Hikari, universally kind and accepting Hikari, felt no remorse for the man. Even the staff was laughing!
Smiling, Daisuke began to walk up the stairs to the second floor, noticeably satisfied with himself. He liked being the center of attention, even though he sometimes overdid it, even in his own mind. He took out his watch, 11:26. 4th period had started ten minutes ago, but even his algebra teacher hadn't noticed in the confusion caused by the star soccer player on the middle school team.
The rest of the school day passed rather uneventfully, apart with a paper airplane being thrown, which in turn, knocked off the horribly fake rug of the principal. Daisuke was grateful to be out of the school building.
As the other members of his close group of friends joined him on the walk to the local park, everyone was joking about the event.
"… and it went up with a BOOM!"
"How it happened I'll never know."
"I'm amazed he's still standing!"
"He's a surprise! Something new, every day!"
"…Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"
The resounding laughter echoed for a distance, when Takeru decided to add something.
"So, are you invincible, or what?"
Daisuke shrugged, "No clue! Just lucky, I guess."
Takeru gave him a hard look. "Just lucky? Daisuke, you jumped from 18 feet above the ground, crushed a giant metal car, and come out untouched? I don't think so."
"Hey, I don't know what happened! "
"You jumped as if you knew you would survive."
"I was acting on impulse! I wanted to slow him down enough to stop him!"
"Oh, I'm sure!"
"Okay, that's enough!" Stepping between the two, Hikari's elder brother, Taichi, put his hands up, and held the two back from physically maiming each other. It was quite an effort, to be true.
Eventually, the two tired of the struggle, and silently resolved to ignore the other during the walk. Hikari sighed in exasperation; for two people who were very close friends, they could be stubborn beyond belief! Heck, they were fighting like they did back at the beginning of their adventure a few months ago, when Daisuke got jealous easily, over the slightest thing, too!
She turned to see Daisuke, who was hanging back and looking over the avenue at something. She followed his gaze, seeing Jun, Daisuke's college level sister. Jun was an enigma in her own right, similar to, and at the same time, entirely different from her little brother. Daisuke smiled, waved and beckoned.
Jun trotted over to the group, smiling happily, gave each of them a small hello (Yamato decided to hind behind Taichi's eratic hair), grabbed her brother's arm, and yanked him away. Hikari, being as curious as the infamously dead cat, strained her ears, only managing to catch snatches of the conversation.
"…is that?"
"…no clue! Looks like…"
"…ask somebody?"
"…family expert on weird stuff."
"Hey!"
Daisuke's small outburst had caught the attention of the group, and Hikari was glad for the excuse to ask, "What's that?"
Hikari pointed to the strange object in Daisuke's hands. It looked like a thick bracelet, but a section of the item elongated about half a foot. A strange gem was set in the center of the device, and small hemispheres of a similar material surrounded it. Nobody had any clue what it was, and so Koushirou's interest was perked.
"May I see it?"
Jun shrugged and tossed it into his hands. Instantly, he tried to press a few of the gems, getting no results. Turning the device over, he passed it to Miyako, who tried and failed to get a reaction. It was passed in turn, each of the group trying and failing to get a result.
"It seems it's just a fancy trinket."
Jun nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah, but watch this." Tapping a few of the small gems, and then sliding her fingers over the larger one, a small light show was activated, bathing the assembly in iridescent illumination.
Jun removed her fingers, and the lights suddenly disappeared. Koushirou grabbed the voice (ignoring the "Hey!" from Daisuke), and pressed the same buttons in sequence. Nothing.
Snatching the device back, Daisuke handed it back to Jun, muttering "Rude."
Hikari paused in wonder. Maybe…
Takeru voiced her thoughts. "So, does that mean that Jun's one of us now?"
"Oh no!" Yamato groaned. Jun stuck her tongue out at him cutely before turning back to the device in her hand.
"…But, didn't you just defeat that huge, evil vampire thing, and then the weird giant scorpion? Why would I need to be one? You have this save the world thing pretty much down, right?"
"We like to think so, Jun!" Taichi smiled.
"Don't encourage her!" Yamato hissed. Taichi bopped him lightly on the head, giving him the patented Yagami Cute Smile that he and Hikari were famous for. Sora giggled a little. Jun smiled softly.
She slid the device down her hand, where it fit snuggly around her wrist. Admiring her new fashion statement, she slung her bag over her shoulder, and followed somewhat timidly, noticing that she had at least two years on everyone else, not that it made a whole lot of difference in their line of work.
"So… now what?" Jun, like Daisuke, was an icebreaker, as too much silence could get to the both of them really easily.
Daisuke shrugged. Then his face lit up like a kid who had just been given free rein of a candy store.
"How about…" he voiced his ideas loud enough for the others to hear. "…we take that thing out for a little test drive?"
"I'm not sure, Daisuke. We don't know what that thing can do. Jun doesn't even have her own partner, yet," Koushirou reprimanded him.
"So what? We go and look for one. From what I remember, not one of you got your status and partner at the same time, either." Jun wasn't sure whether to back Koushirou's wisdom, or Daisuke's ideals, although she was kind of excited by the thought of her own monster friend.
"I say we do it." Jun yelped in surprise as a large white cat, with disproportionately huge, but very pretty, blue eyes, popped out of Hikari's shoulder bag. Hikari shrugged at the idea, with a small "Why not?"
"Well…" Taichi was voicing his concerns, oddly enough. But then, he caught Yamato's eye, and grinned sinisterly. "Really, why not? We can all go!"
Yamato paled and then looked at Taichi darkly.
"What are you getting so uptight for, Ishida? She's not interested in you anymore."
Pausing for a moment, Yamato shrugged in defeat. Sora smiled at Jun, giving her a thumbs up.
"Besides, we could use the chance to see our friends, right? Even Koushirou needs to see Tentomon."
"But, even if we do go, who'll monitor the connection?"
"I'll do it."
Everyone turned in shock to Daisuke, whose hand was raised in self-volunteering. Even Hikari couldn't hide her surprise.
"Why not? It's Jun's moment, and all of you can see your partners, right?"
Ken looked at Daisuke for a moment, and then voiced his support for his idea, soon followed by other voices of encouragement. It was decided.
After a brief training on what the symbols on the screen meant (Daisuke paid extra hard attention; he didn't want to be responsible for any screw-ups from the outside end), the vast majority of the group had disappeared into the screen. Daisuke, left alone with his thoughts, began to whistle cheerfully, awaiting the story upon the return of his friends.
Well, he was, at least, until a hand placed itself on his shoulder.
"Hello again, Motomiya."