Maelstrom

Chapter One: Darkening of Dusk

Disclaimer: If you're under the delusion that I own either Digimon or Power Rangers, I advise you to go see a psychiatrist. But the annoyed flight attendant - she's all mine!

The flight attendant swallowed as she addressed the crowd of people facing her. She didn't have stage fright at all - no, she had done this speech many times. She could probably recite it in her sleep. No, she was scared of the six teenagers lounging around in front of her that looked as if they'd murder the person that the flight would be delayed.

"Ladies and gentlemen," she began, wearing her normal, strained, flight-attendant smile, "I regret-"

"Get on with it, lady!" a brown-haired kid wearing a baseball cap and goggles (Odd combination, she thought as she observed him) yelled as he lounged upside-down in his seat. "We don't have all day!"

The blond-haired girl sitting next to him punched him on the shoulder with a sharp scolding. The boy groaned and shifted to a more appropriate position, mumbling to himself all the while. The attendant couldn't help but notice that the girl wore a hat as well - lavender, oddly shaped with fox ears, as she said in a louder voice, "Takuya! Be quiet unless you want me to throw you out!"

That got the boy's - Takuya's - attention. He sat straight up, looking at the girl fearfully. "But, Zoe . . . we're a thousand feet off the ground!"

"Exactly," 'Zoe' retorted. "So sit down and shut up or get a parachute."

He gulped. "Um . . . could I just be BurningGreymon again?"

"Nope."

The flight attendant raised her voice to speak over the bickering coming from the two sixteen-year-olds. "I regret to inform you that the flight is just a tiny bit delayed! We'll be arriving in just a few more minutes!"

Another boy, a different one this time, chose that moment to speak up. He looked older than the other five sitting in the - as she like to call it - "forbidden aisle", about seventeen. "And in normal people talk, not the flight attendant language, 'a few more minutes' becomes . . . ?"

The boy sitting behind him, with his long black hair in a ponytail and tucked into a bandana, snorted, "You don't want to know."

The attendant jumped as another boy, identical to the last one to the last degree, spoke up, "Probably another six hours. Honestly, only a girl and a flight attendant can turn 'a few more minutes' into 'a few more hours'."

The girl, Zoe, turned around and glared at him hard enough to make the five boys sitting with her recoil in fright. "You were saying, Kouichi?"

Kouichi gulped. "Uh . . . who, me? I didn't say anything, right, Tommy?"

The smallest boy, who was wearing a large, floppy orange hat, squeaked in fright. "Don't drag me into this!"

The flight attendant sighed and turned to go. Hopefully, the next time she would see this group of teenage hellions would be when she announced that the plane was landing at Reefside airport . . .

Her head snapped up as the boy wearing the goggles, Takuya, she reminded herself, shot his hand up into the air, as if he were in school. "Ooh! Ooh! Where's the food?"

Zoe rolled her eyes. "Only you could think of food in a time like-"

She was cut off by a gigantic rumbling audible by even the flight attendant. The six teenagers were silent for a second.

Then the five boys burst out laughing. "Hypocrite!"

The flight attendant sighed and rubbed her temples, groaning in dismay. This was going to be a long day . . .

"I don't get you, Kira. Who likes coconut-banana when there are smoothies that are so much more delicious, like raspberry?"

"Said the boy who's drinking a melted banana split."

"It tastes better when slurped."

"Um . . . no comment."

"Hey, Ethan agrees, don't you, Ethan? Ethan?"

Haley smiled as she glanced over to the little table in the corner of her cybercafé, where four teenagers she knew very well were sitting. The circumstances she had met them under had been, perhaps, less-than-welcoming . . . but the four of them loved Haley, and she greatly enjoyed their company. For most of the time.

Right now, Connor was currently waving his hand in front of Ethan's face, trying to get him to snap out of his electronically-induced trance. Haley smiled to herself - she wished him good luck. She recognized the "Ethan trance" personally, and knew that if Connor managed waking him up, he was probably going to have his head bitten off in the process.

She looked up as the bells that she'd hung over the door to the café tinkled, and smiled when she saw her newest visitor. "Hey, Tommy," she greeted. "I was expecting you ages ago."

Dr. Tommy Oliver shrugged and took a seat at the bar, glancing over the menu. "Got held up at the school," he explained. "Six foreign transfer students are coming next week, and guess who's going to have to be their mentor?"

Haley winced. "Where are they from?"

"Japan. But apparently, they speak English pretty well, which is some consolation. According to the school director, they stick together 'like cheese on a pizza'. Their parents all got relocated to Reefside, and they'll be starting school on Monday."

Haley smiled and handed a strawberry smoothie to the waiter-on-duty, a nice boy named Devin, who shared shifts with Trent. "Hey, what are their names? It's possible I've seen them around town."

"It'd be a miracle if you have, because their flight is scheduled to land tonight, and, of course, as their oh-so-sacred mentor, I have to pick them up."

She rolled her eyes. "All right, I like to be informed, and now you've just got me curious. So who are they?"

Dr. O ticked off on his hands. "Takuya Kanbara, Kouji Minamoto, Tommy Himi, JP Shibayama, Zoe Orimoto, and Kouichi Kimura. Four of them are sixteen, JP is seventeen, and Tommy is fourteen, but he's almost fifteen."

Haley whistled. "Well, looks like you have a job ahead of you, Tommy. Six kids at once?"

He shrugged. "Well, you have to admit, after the whole Mesagog thing, things have been pretty dull around here. It'll be nice to have a couple new kids around here to shake things up."

"Well, don't forget to bring them to the cybercafé after you pick them up. These kids sound interesting."

Dr. O yawned and stretched out. "Yeah . . . I could use a cappuccino myself, wake myself up."

Haley glanced at her watch and grinned wickedly. "Speaking of 'waking up,' shouldn't you get going?"

Tommy glanced at the clock hanging on the wall and indulged in a few choice swearwords as he ran out of the café and jumped in his jeep, kicking it into gear and racing off into the airport. Haley laughed as she watched him, then went back to mixing up six cups of espresso and six of decaf for the college students poring over their books in a futile attempt to cram for midterms.

Trent had walked up to the counter to get another split for Connor and was regarding Haley oddly. "Was that Dr. O?"

Haley just laughed and popped a cherry on top of the ice cream. "You'll see soon enough."

Kouji sighed and stared boredly out the window. Much to the flight attendant's relief, the hyperactivity had worn off after another two hours on the plane and the teenagers had settled for quiet conversation and gentle argument. Yeah. Eight hours on a plane flying more than halfway across the world would do that to you.

Tommy shifted uncomfortably in his seat and glanced out the window to the East, back where they had come from, for about the thousandth time that day. As always, JP asked, "Tommy, is something wrong?"

Tommy shrugged and leaned back in his seat, just as he always did. And then, unexpectedly, he asked, "What do you think Reefside's going to be like? Heck, what do you think America's going to be like?"

Zoe shrugged wistfully. "Like nothing we've ever seen before, that's for sure," she said softly.

Takuya reclined in his seat and looked at Tommy upside-down. "Hey, we made it this far. We can get through anything together."

Kouichi frowned and closed his eyes, his face pressed against the window and looking as though he were about to fall asleep. "Yeah . . . "

Kouji blinked. "What are you thinking about, Kouichi?"

Kouichi's eyes blinked open and he shrugged noncommitally, "Isn't it weird how all our parents got transferred to the same place at the same time? Like . . . something manipulated us into being here."

Takuya blinked. "I dunno. I guess so . . . maybe it's just destiny, that the digidestined stick together. And who am I to challenge destiny?"

"Takuya Kanbara," Kouji mumbled, not looking at him. "You can do anything . . . at least, that's what your overinflated ego seems to think."

The five teenagers that were not turning steadily red with anger laughed, incensing Takuya even more. "Says the schizophrenic," he muttered.

Kouji sat up, smirking at Takuya dangerously. "What did you say, pyromaniac?"

"Exactly what I meant, narcissist," Takuya retorted, coming dangerously close to invading Kouji's personal space.

"Guys! Guys!" Zoe intervened, pulling the two boys apart by the collars of their shirts. She knew full well she had come close to witnessing another legendary Kouji versus Takuya fight . . . and after what had happened the last time, she was not going to take any chances. "At least wait until we get off the plane! I don't think the pilot will be very happy when the lights all go out and his controls are suddenly on fire!"

Kouji scowled and slumped in his chair. "Fine . . . but no interference when we get off."

"I second that," Takuya endorsed.

"Under the condition that you let some of us get some peace and quiet right now," came Kouichi's muffled voice near the window, looking as though he hadn't slept for a week straight. Dark crescents curved under his eyes and his face was deathly pale.

Kouji turned to him, concerned, and studied him for a second. "Kouichi, are you feeling all right? You look awful . . . you've looked awful for the past month."

"Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence, Kouji," Kouichi replied dryly. "I'm fine. I'm just not in the mood for a ten-hour flight today. I didn't sleep well last night . . . that's all there is to it."

"You haven't slept well for the past month, Kouichi," Zoe said, her face mirroring Kouji's concern.

Kouichi shot a death glare at Zoe, who scowled at him in reply. "I'm. Fine. Really."

Kouji opened him mouth to make further inquiry but, luckily for Kouichi, the stewardess came on the intercom, blaring, "We're now approaching Reefside. We should be arriving in five minutes. Please gather your cargo and be prepared to disembark."

Kouji shot his brother a glare that told him that this discussion was clearly not over as the other four digidestined cheered loudly and yanked their bags and purse from the cargo hold. They yawned and stretched, cheering once more when the plane finally touched down and they were given the all-clear to get down.

The flight attendant had to jump out of the way as the six teenagers came rushing past her, looking as if they were having a race to see who could get out of them, as the youngest one so eloquently put it, "stuffy, hot, crowded, agonizing torture cell" without breaking airport regulations. She sighed, put on her happy face for the benefits of the rest of the fliers, and thought to herself, This is why I never became a teacher.

Takuya yawned widely as he stretched out, ignoring the furious stares of the other digidestined as he missed his luggage . . . for the eighth time. To add to their annoyance, it was now seven forty-five and no one had come to pick them up - heck, they were fairly sure they were going to have to stay overnight, as they didn't know the lay of the town.

Or the streets.

Or their own addresses.

"Since when are goggle-heads so dense?" mumbled Kouji as Takuya dived for his red baggage once again, and failed once again.

"Shut up, lightboy," Takuya growled, finally managing to grasp onto the handle of his baggage. He lugged it out and sat it on the floor, panting heavily. A devilish grin lit his face as he remembered what he had so been looking forward to once he got off the plane.

"That reminds me . . . "

Kouji turned around just in time to grab Takuya's outstretched arm and flip him over his head. Takuya landed on his hands and swept his leg across the floor, trying to knock Kouji off-balance, but Kouji neatly jumped aside and punched him in the shoulder as he scrambled up.

Takuya staggered backwards and immediately lashed out at Kouji with a kick aimed for his head; Kouji neatly dodged it and returned with his own kick, one that narrowly missed Takuya. He caught Takuya's punch, wrenching his arm in the process, and tried to throw Takuya backwards, but only succeeded in causing him to stumble. He kicked Kouji in the stomach and pushed him backwards, forcing Kouji to block the blows with his arms. They sparred back and forth, the upper hand passing from one to another.

Not unexpectedly, after about five minutes of sparring, a little flame flickered up near the ceiling. No one except six teenagers noticed it.

The lights flickered slightly. No one except six teenagers attributed it to the two fighting near the luggage retrieval.

Kouichi, Zoe, JP, and Tommy only stood back and watched, half-amused, half-concerned. They had promised no interference, for the sake of their lives . . . and now were sorely regretting it.

None of them saw the jeep pulling up to the parking lot. Or the man that ran out of it, spotted the fight, and immediately ran over there.

Or the laughing glint in his eyes as he recognized the familiarity of the two boys trying to beat the crap out of each other.

Tommy cursed to himself as he pulled up to the airport and ran inside, cursing to himself all the while. First, I get held up twenty minutes, thanks to Haley's double cappuccino. Then I get stuck in traffic for another twenty minutes, and, of course, the flight the transfer students are on actually has to be on time for once! Can this get any worse?

"Narcissist!"

"Pyromaniac!"

"Who exploded all the lights in the school?"

"Hey! Who set it on fire?!"

"An accident!"

"So was nearly killing four kids, right, Takuya? So was leading a bunch of kids into battle against a deranged angel!"

"I said sorry!"

"And who has actually forgiven you?"

Tommy groaned as he entered the holding area and saw two of his charges having it out with each other in the middle of a crowded holding area. That was just awesome. He had to break up a fight, leash six unruly kids into his jeep and chauffeur them home . . . and school hadn't even started yet!

He noticed the other four students watching their friends with a mixture of weariness and interest. He jogged up to them, startling them all by saying, "Shouldn't we break them up?"

All four of them jumped and spun around, relaxing when they saw it was just a lone man, unarmed and looking genuinely concerned. Tommy wondered what had happened to them to make them this wary.

"Normally, I would," replied a blond-haired girl, "but we swore we wouldn't interfere with their fight once they got off the plane to prevent them from starting this on the plane."

"And get them to shut up," mumbled a black-haired boy.

Tommy raised an eyebrow. "Does this happen often in Japan?"

The tallest, oldest boy considered that. "For Japan, no. For us, yes."

Tommy took a minute to observe his charges. Yes, there were six of them - they were all here. He glanced from face to face, from the younger, brown-haired boy wearing a floppy orange hat to the only girl of the group, her blond hair covered with a fox-eared skullcap, to the oldest boy, looking as though he was torn between a desire to protect his friends from the stranger and the excitement of the fight going on in the center of the room, to the pale, black-haired boy with light, electrically-blue eyes and a dark blue cap pulled low over his brow.

He paused for a minute over the last boy, taking in the dark rings around his eyes and his pale, sick complexion. Tommy felt a pang of concern in his stomach - the boy looked exactly as Trent had when he'd been under the control of the white dino-gem and when he'd been suffering nightmares from the aftershock: pale, sick, as though he hadn't been getting enough sleep.

He passed it over for the moment and glanced at the boys battling, feeling a jolt as he realized one of them looked exactly the same as the sickly-looking boy. His hair was longer, tied back in a ponytail and covered by a bandana, and his eyes were a darker shade of blue, but other than that, they were exactly identical. He groaned as the thought came to mind: Brothers, probably twins. That's great. That's just great. Like he needed the confusion of trying to tell one from the other during all of this.

The other boy was easier to recognize, especially by the cap and goggles perched on his head, but was otherwise nondescript. Ordinary red shirt and jeans, ordinary brown hair, ordinary brown eyes. But the way he held himself - the same way Jason had held himself, the same way Connor held himself, the same way Tommy had once held himself. He was the leader, and although he sometimes - often - made stupid decision, the team would stick with him, and most likely fall apart without him. Tommy took a look at their fighting style - specifically, the one of the boy wearing goggles - and felt a smile of recognition come to his face.

He was fairly sure that the other had been trained in martial arts, considering the stiff, inflexible stances, but he moved with a fluidity that was beyond teaching. But the goggle-boy - to an outsider, it would have looked as though he had learned martial arts at a dojo or a temple as well, but Tommy knew better. He fought the way rangers who had no previous knowledge of battle fought. He fought the way people who were forced to learn this fought. And from their familiarity of the tactics, the styles, the form of fighting, it had saved their lives many times.

Unfortunately, as much as he would have loved to let it go on, see who would win, it was his job as a mentor to intervene.

Sighing, he waded out into the battlefield and hoped for the best.

Takuya had only just been getting into the swing of things when his fight was rudely interrupted by a man who decisively pulled the two of them apart. He gave up on resisting when it was clear the man's grip was not going to relax anytime soon, and looked up, expecting to see the face of a security guard come to throw them out.

Instead, he was met by the rather amused expression of a young-looking man.

"Hey," Takuya scowled. "Get your hands off of me! I could charge for assault!"

The man raised an eyebrow. "Unfortunately, that wouldn't work. I am the mentor your high school assigned to get you adjusted here, and I am just acting as a responsible grown-up and breaking up a fight."

Kouji and Takuya eyed each other for a second. Then they immediately pointed at each other and said in unison, "He started it!"

The man laughed and offered his hand. "I'm Dr. Oliver, the science teacher at Reefside High, and the school has assigned me to be your mentor and show you around . . . "

Takuya nudged Zoe sharply in the side, grinning, "How much you wanna bet that he'll turn out to be a bloodsucking vampire-slash-digimon-slash-android who's out to kill us?"

Zoe responded by elbowing Takuya in the ribs and giving him her best death glare, which effectively shut him up.

Dr. Oliver finished his speech by saying, "Oh, and you can call me Dr. O," and leading them into the parking lot, and for a second, all was right with the world. Takuya and JP grinned at each other - finally, another teacher to psych out by making passing references to the digital world - and Zoe, noticing their devious looks, promptly smacked both of them in the back of their heads.

Kouji, scowling at the both of them, stepped forward. "I'm Kouji, the goggle-head is Takuya, the oldest is JP, the youngest is Tommy, my brother is Kouichi and the girl is Zoe, which should be pretty obvious . . . ow!" He clutched his shoulder in pain.

Tommy observed them from his rearview mirror, the way they stuck together, and smiled to himself. They reminded him of his teams in their closeness, their familiarity with each other. He could see all the characteristics of trial and tribulation in their relationships, but instead of estranging them, it just brought them closer together. Like a family. Like the rangers.

Well, this was going to be . . . interesting.

See that little purple button in the corner? Press the arrow. Then type a review. It would make me very happy!

Okay, thanks to helenw713 for beta'ing this messed up piece of work and thanks to bunnyprincess101 for the plot idea! This was just the starter chapter, I'm going to be turning up the heat from here on out. Suspicions will rise . . . distrust will build . . . and lots and lots of Kouichi and Trent angst will get off my chest! MWAHAHAHAHA!

Next time on Maelstrom: The Digidestined meet the Dino Thunder! Who knows what will happen? And what are Kouichi's dreams all about? Find out next time on: Maelstrom!