Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

Less than Human

Chapter: 1/ Reflections

Light shown down through the hole of the dinosaur hut that sat in the playground of Shinjuku Park, illuminating Jeri Katou's face as she looked up at the sky, calmly lost in thought. The sound of a bird chirping penetrated the stillness and within a second, a tree branch visible through the huts hole rustled, and a sparrow took to the air. Jeri smiled at it, her eyes following its path until she was no longer able to do so, the bird quickly becoming obscured by the hut's walls that surrounded her. Still smiling, Jeri turned her gaze away from the portal to the outside world and returned her attention to her two friends that sat in the hut with her, locked in that most brutal and demanding struggle of life and death…a digimon card game.

As Jeri watched, the dark haired, bespectacled friend of hers that sat to her left drew a card from a deck and combined it with those held in his hand and winced. Actually there wasn't much about this particular match that was anything close to being brutal or even a struggle. Not really, except for the fact that it was very one-sided as far as Kenta Kitagawa was concerned. There were times that she felt bad for the boy. Try as hard as he might, his skills at the card game left much to be admired. Though he had improved quite a bit over the many months that he had been a Digimon Tamer, and had become partnered with the pink fairy, Mega known as MarineAngemon (who was presently poking his head over the boys shoulder, looking at the cards that he held), he was still lacking in skill when compared to the others such as Ryo, Rika, Henry… or his companion that he was currently battling against, Kazu Shiota. Perhaps, she surmised, that it was because he wasn't exactly the most aggressive person that she had ever met, and rarely went out of his way to try and look good in front of others, or even boast. Some would say that was because he never had much to brag about, but Jeri was more certain that it was just how Kenta was, and one of the reasons why he was partnered with a digimon like MarineAngemon who in comparison to others of his level didn't appear to be all that threatening and wasn't a big fan of fighting.

Not that she would have it any other way of course. Everyone had something about them that made them different and special, and in a group such as theirs it provided just the right amount of balance that they needed to be friends with each other.

Something even Rika could attest to, even if she didn't admit it often.

"Hey," said the visor wearing boy known as Kazu Shiota from his spot just off to Jeri's right. "Cheer up Kenta. You should know that there's no shame in basking in the light of my victory, even if you're the one who's getting defeated."

Jeri raised an eyebrow as she looked at Kazu.

"You're a real humble guy, you know that?" She joked; lightly giggling as Kenta made a moaning sound that usually came from those who have been absolutely crushed by fate.

"Eh? What're you talking about Jeri? Seriously, both you and Takato have made that remark about me now. I'm one for sarcasm but that's starting to…"
"Oh, Kazu. Can't you just take a joke?" Jeri said, covering her mouth as she tried to suppress the giggles that continued to erupt from her mouth. A faint blush appeared on her face as she thought of Takato being in the exact same situation that she was now, commenting on Kazu's boasting. "You boys take this game way too seriously…"

"But of course," spoke up a voice from just outside the hut's entrance. "After all, they must pursue the study of this game so that they can always be prepared for whatever dangers may arise in the future."

"Thank you, Guardromon," said Kazu as he threw his hands up in the air, glad that someone here agreed with him.

"Well…okay," said Jeri having finally gotten control of her giggles. "But even before you found out that digimon were real you were really into this game."

Kazu huffed and crossed his arms.

"Yeah. I remember you and Miki laughing at Kenta, Chumley, and me about it. I believe our exact response involved telling you girls that at least we had a hobby…which by the way, all those comments about how we acted like kids? Need I remind you that we are kids?"

"Only when it suits you," said Jeri, giggling lightly once again. "Every time Ms. Asagi or an adult gets on your case you say differently…"

Kazu chuckled at that and rubbed the back of his head nervously.

"Well…we aren't exactly normal kids, are we? Anyways, you up for another game Kenta? Hey! Earth to Kenta! Hello! Anybody home?"

"Hmmm?" Kenta looked up at the visor-wearing boy, blinking in surprise. "Oh. Sorry. I was just thinking about Takato, you know? I was wondering how he was doing since he left to visit his cousin in Okinawa."

The mood in the dinosaur hut now became sullen as the three children turned their thoughts to the friend who had left yesterday to go on vacation in order to recuperate from recent, and fairly traumatic events. The memories of that time from three weeks ago, when Takato's digimon partner and friend, Guilmon, had been deleted by the wild digimon known as Lucemon, still hung heavily in their minds. Although the government agency of Hypnos had been able to gather the shattered remnants of Guilmon's data via a modified Juggernaut program and reformat it into a digi-egg, the scars from that time had remained, and of all of them Takato had been the most affected. A fact that had been driven home when, in a desperate attempt to bring back the Guilmon that he knew, Takato had rescanned his drawings and created a dark version of his partner that didn't recognize the difference between friend or foe. The realization that Takato had about how his own pain and anger had been responsible for bringing the BlackGuilmon into existence was something that had shaken Takato, and though he had showed signs of trying to move past on it was clear that he needed to be somewhere where he could rest. Somewhere that would take him away from being having to be a Tamer for a while and recuperate. Especially now that he had Guilmon's egg to care for.

Jeri could understand the need to do that, and she felt that it was smart thinking of his parents to send him off to visit his cousin. She hadn't been to Okinawa or met Kai, but from what she had heard from Henry, Terriermon, Rika, and Renamon when they met him last year it sounded like the right place to be if you wanted to relax.

"I'm sure that he's going to be fine, Kenta," said Kazu after a few moments of silence. "He's just got some stuff that he's got to work out, that's all. Chumley's tough. I know I don't say it often and I rag on him a lot, I know that he'll get through this."

Jeri smiled at Kazu upon hearing that.

"That's good to hear from you."

The three children sat in the dinosaur, not saying anything for a few seconds, instead letting the silence speak for all of them, and how they felt in regards to their goggle-wearing friend. Kenta furrowed his brow in deep thought as he rolled everything that had happened, and what Kazu had just said in his mind. Sure, he knew that Kazu was right in his estimation of Takato's mettle. Heck, he had proven it enough times in the past that it was almost an accepted fact of life now, but that still didn't mean that they couldn't worry about him. That was what being a friend was all about after all.

Behind the dark haired boy, MarineAngemon looked back and forth with a worried gaze, wondering about the silence that hung in the air, but unsure as to what to do about it. Humans could be so strange sometimes…

"Well," said Kazu as he quickly snapped out of his silence and began to gather up his cards. "I don't know about you guys, but I need to do something. I think that I'll go stop by Chumley's place and see what's going on there." Kazu looked up at Kenta with a small glint in his eyes. "What do ya say, Kenta? You with me?"

"Huh? What am I, you're sidekick?"

"Kentaaaa… I thought that we had already discussed this! Don't tell me that you forgot this quickly!"

Kenta just cocked his head to one side in confusion.

"What are you tal…?" Kenta stopped as the light bulb clicked on upstairs; understanding and recognition dawning in his eyes. "Ohhh…"

Jeri looked back and forth between the two boys, one eyebrow raised suspiciously as a memory from yesterday flitted through her mind.

"Does this have anything to do with what you two told Takato yesterday about 'you two taking care of things at the bakery'?"

Kazu looked at Jeri with an expression of innocence, which to Jeri's mind didn't look all that innocent.

"Uhhh…whatever gave you that idea Jeri? Hooo…oh my, look at the time. C'mon Kenta! We'd better get going. We've got a lot of stuff to do today. Later Jeri!"

Before Jeri could even say anything else, the two Tamers that Rika had dubbed as the moron twins, grabbed their things and jumped down off of the hut's ledge towards and took off, the rust colored robot digimon known as Guardromon swiftly following after them. Kenta paused long enough to give Jeri an apologetic look before pursuing his friend. Jeri shook her head in resignation, wondering just what it was exactly that was going through their minds, but not sure if that was a matter that she wanted to pursue just yet. Looking back out through the porthole Jeri looked back up at the sky for a few second before leaving the dinosaur hut herself. There were a few people that she wanted to check up on today.

As Jeri made her way through the playground, smiling at the children who were racing about or pausing to gawk at the Guardromon that was flying through the air after his errant partner, her mind went over each of her friends. They hadn't really had a chance to all get together since the unfortunate business with Lucemon and Takato's finding out about Guilmon being reformatted. Some of this had to do with the amount of damage that had been done to the city due to the fighting that had gone on, both with Lucemon and the strange Triceramon that had shown up a week ago. The power outages at school, various roads that had been closed, and the personal parts of their lives that kept coming up caused enough difficulty in the Tamers getting together. Up until yesterday when they had shown up at the airport to see Takato off they hadn't all been together. Sure, these things happened and it wasn't always necessary for them all to be together and know what was going on in each others lives ever second of the day, but Jeri felt that it was important that they all keep in touch, especially during a time when they had all been affected greatly by something.

There had been a change in some of her friends Jeri had noted on the few occasions that she had seen them. Something akin to a growing distance; nothing serious she felt, but it was something that left her worried. One of them, Impmon, she hadn't seen much of at all, and the same went for the Legendary Tamer, Ryo Akiyama. Of course, those two tended to go their own way in life, though Impmon to a far lesser extent than the latter (or even claimed she felt, a small smile growing on her face as she thought of the impish digimon that she called her friend), so it wasn't much of a surprise. But between the two of them Impmon worried her the most. Before Guilmon had been reborn as an egg he had gone to great lengths to visit Takato on a regular basis. Closed roads weren't really much of a barrier to him, or any of them for that matter, but for Impmon they might as well not exist. But after Guilmon had returned, Takato had reported his visits as declining.

A part of her wondered if Guilmon's rebirth was reminding Impmon of Leomon, and the finality of the lion digimon's fate when he had killed him.

Jeri's face softened as she left the playground, her hand reflexively touching one of her pockets, and the note that it contained therein. Though it had nothing to do with Impmon, it was something of a comfort to her.

It was, after all, from Calumon; letting her know his intentions of joining Takato on his trip to Okinawa, written (more like scribbled, but Jeri had taught him a little about how to write during his time at her home, and had come to read the little creampuff's crude kanji) in blue crayon and a smiley face left as his personal signature. Jeri smiled as she remembered what it said, and felt determination enter her heart.

Since Calumon is going to help Takato and I can't be there with him, the least I can do is help out our friends when they too are down.

With that in mind, Jeri set off, her mind already making its way through her memories as she tried to recall where Impmon's Tamer's lived.

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