Tamers West

First Day

Alice McCoy slowly awoke to the constant droning of her digital alarm clock. Groggily she extended her arm and slapped the alarm off.

With surprising ease she slipped out of bed and put on her school clothes which consisted of Black shoes dark blue pants and a white button-up shirt.

She went to the mirror to put her blonde hair in it's traditional pigtails with a pair of blue ribbons.

After checking herself in the mirror to make sure she looked presentable, she headed downstairs for breakfast.

Her father and grandfather were already at the table, each reading a different section of the local newspaper. Her mother and grandmother were in the kitchen putting the finishing touches on breakfast.

Before they moved the adults had unanimously decided to live under the same roof to keep the family closer together.

"Good Morning", Alice greeted.

The two men looked up from their reading, "Good morning", they chorused.

Alice moved to the table and sat down, her mother instantly putting an omelette in front of her. Alice sighed and began eating.

"You must be exited Alice", her grandmother said as she came from the kitchen with the rest of breakfast. "Your first day at your new school."

Alice looked downcast, replying only with silence.

"Your grandfather's starting a new chapter in his life too. He starts his new job today."

Alice merely nodded in response. Truth be told she wasn't particularly thrilled about going to a new school.

At her temporary school in Japan everyone had shunned her. The girls because of her looks, they boys because she had refused them. 'Maybe that's why is was so easy to become friends with Dobermon', she thought. 'Maybe that's why it hurts so much that he's gone.'

She finished off her breakfast and left the table, "I'm going to go get ready."

Her mother watched her go sadly.

"Don't worry dear", her mother-in-law told her. "Once she makes some new friends, she'll come around."

She nodded, "I hope you're right."

A short while later Alice was waiting by the door with her school bag.

Dolphin came up to her and asked, "Are you ready to go?"

Alice simply nodded in response.

Resisting the urge to sigh Dolphin opened the door for her then followed her out to the car on the driveway.

The car was a brand new wine coloured Chevrolet Malibu LTZ. Dolphin's new bosses had given it to him.

He got into the drivers seat and Alice took the seat next to him, her school bag on her lap.

Wordlessly he turned on the car, backed it out of the driveway and drove off.

Alice was thankful that on of the car's selling points was it's quiet ride, but her expression saddened as memories of her last school surfaced in her mind.

She felt the car stop and looked out her window to see a large two story building with stucco walls and large glass doors. Her new school.

"Now be sure to be open Alice and you'll make lots of new friends. There are a lot of nice people around here."

Alice nodded and got out of the car, "Thanks for the ride."

"Sure honey. Have a good day."

Alice watched him drive away, and suddenly felt very alone. She turned around, took a deep breath and marched towards the school.

Most of the activity seemed to be coming from the east side of the school where the buses dropped off their loads of children coming to school. She didn't mind, she liked the peace and quiet.

"Hi There!"

Alice was forcibly drawn out of her inner thoughts back to reality as a girl walked up to her.

"Hi there", she repeated, "I'm Elle."

Elle had short light brown hair that reached her ear lobes an vibrant green eyes. She wore a light pink T-shirt and a plaid skirt with an odd colour pattern. Finally she wore a pair of white running shoes on her feet and a warm smile on her face.

Alice resisted the strong urge to clear her throat. "I'm Alice McCoy."

Elle's smile briefly vanished as she heard Alice say her last name, and Alice noted that she looked slightly embarrassed.

"Uh, right I'm Elle Kowalchuck."

Alice realized that Elle must have felt embarrassed about not fully introducing herself.

"Uh, anyway", Elle continued, "I haven't seen you before, you must be new."

Alice sighed and nodded, "Yeah, just moved here."

Elle's expression turned serious. "Then you better stick with me, the local… undesirables like to prey on lone newbies."

Alice felt her gut clench, "Thank you."

Elle shrugged, "No biggie. Now come on or we'll be late."

Alice once again took a deep breath then followed Elle through the large glass doors.

Dolphin drove his car up to the security gates just past a sign that read "CFB Winnipeg". After a brief showing of his security ID to the guard he drove through.

He drove down several avenues before finally coming a large grey building with one sided mirrors as windows.

He took his briefcase and walked through one of the solid doors.

Immediately after going through the doors he was intercepted by a bald man slightly shorter than he and wearing a blue suite.

"Rob McCoy?"

Dolphin's fists clenched reflexively, he was getting tired of this, even Hypnos hadn't been so "In-Your-Face" as these Colonel Flagg wannabees. "Yes", he replied, trying to avoid showing any irritation in his voice.

"Follow me", the man said simply.

Somewhat reluctantly Dolphin followed the man.

They first entered a small hallway and Dolphin's "guide" swiped a card through a slot beside the door. They passed through the door and went down several flights of stairs before passing through another door into another hallway.

Finally they entered a large room filled with many cubicles and a large table at the end of the room.

"This one is yours", the man said to Dolphin.

Dolphin simply nodded in response and entered the surprisingly expansive office space, complete with a generously large desk with shelves, computer, printer/scanner and a small box filled with paper clips and tacks.

"You have several meetings today", the man continued, "The first of which is about ten minutes from now. Someone will come and get you." Without another word he left. Not soon enough for Dolphin's taste.

He sat his briefcase on the desk beside the computer monitor and plopped down in his chair. It was going to be a long day.

"Charming isn't he."

Dolphin looked up to see a man with jet black hair and hazel eyes peering over the wall of his cubicle.

"I think he went to the US Marines school of hospitality."

Dolphin grinned, "I'd believe it."

The man reached out his hand, "Eric Mackenzie"

Dolphin returned the gesture, "Rob McCoy."

Eric's eyebrows raised, "Really, my son's a big fan of your early work. Your Trojan killer program especially."

Dolphin laughed, "Gee, I didn't think anyone would remember me for that."

"Yeah, If this whole thing wasn't so secret I'd be exited to tell him we're working together. But the whole reason that's a secret in the first place is bad news.

Dolphin nodded sadly, "Unfortunately so."

Alice sat in her desk as the teacher talked on about course outlines and her expectations for the year.

She noticed many of the students glancing up at the large analog clock hanging up behind the teacher above the white boards, silently pleading for the lunch break to come sooner.

She glanced over at Elle who sat in the desk to her right. She appeared to be drawing a kind of patter of small simple shapes.

Before Alice could attempt to decipher the image the bell rang and Elle slipped it into her binder then slammed it shut.

Alice got up and followed Elle into the hallway to their locker. Since there weren't enough lockers for everyone they had to share and Elle had graciously volunteered to share with her.

When they got to their locker to retrieve their packed lunches Elle asked her a question, "do you wanna have lunch with my fiends and I?"

Alice looked at her stunned, her eyes wide with shock, "But you just met me. Are you sure your friends won't mind?"

Elle gave a small laugh, "Of course not."

Alice looked thoughtful; It would be kind of awkward, though she supposed she had nothing to loose and her family had encouraged her to try to make new friends. Elle seemed nice and if her friends were as nice as she was then everything would be fine.

Finally Alice answered, "Sure."

Elle looked delighted, "Great, follow me."

Alice almost had to run as Elle led her through some of the less crowded hallways to the west side of the school. She was relieved when Elle finally slowed down at a pair of solid doors with small Plexiglas windows.

Elle opened the doors and led her across an open space that had little grass but was instead covered in brown earth, unusual for the region she noted, and there were only a few tufts of grass here and there.

Elle led her to a cluster of trees where the grass started to grow again. A few people sat in the shade of the trees, all boys she noticed.

One sat against the tree, facing them. He had light brown hair, almost blonde and looked like he had hazel brown eyes. He addressed Elle immediately.

"Hey Berserkette, who's your friend?"

"Hello Solicitor. Everyone this is Alice McCoy. Alice this is Jeffery "Solicitor" Sheridan. She gestured to the boy further to the right with dark brown almost black hair and hazel blue eyes, "Michael "Mortar" O'Malley." Finally she turned to a boy who sat beside where she stood with brown hair and hazel green eyes, "Xander "Director" Mackenzie.

Alice nodded to each of them in greeting though was a little confused by the nicknames and they each nodded in return.

Elle sat beside Jeffery while Alice sat to her right, closer to Xander, and they all dug into their packed lunches.

Xander turned to Alice. "So, just move here?"

Alice nodded, "Last week."

Jeff raised an eyebrow, "Not a lot of time to get used to a new neighbourhood."

Alice shrugged, "Seems okay."

Jeff nodded, "A nice school and no bullies. Just people who get under your skin like a bad tattoo."

Alice winced and nodded, "Thanks."

Xander looked at Elle's skirt. "Wearing your patriot skirt I see."

Elle smiled, "First day of school seemed like a special enough occasion."

Alice looked at her confused.

Elle noticed and spoke. "The pattern of my skirt is the same as the kilts worn by the Canadian Forces Pipers."

Alice was surprised, "Bagpipes?"

Elle nodded, "Yep, daddy was a piper before his lung got punctured in former Yugoslavia."

"Oh", Alice responded sympathetically.

Elle smiled at her, "Don't worry he's okay now. He's the assistant manager at a cement company."

Xander grinned, "Our Elle is quite the seamstress. She made the whole thing herself for a Home Ec project."

Jeff nodded, "Yes our Elle is going to make a good wife to some lucky guy someday", he said patting Elle's cheek with the back of his hand affectionately.

Xander smirked, "You wish you could be so lucky."

Jeff shot his friend a good natured glare.

"Boys boys please", Elle said spreading her hands between them, "I'm hardly worth fighting over."

Alice raised an eyebrow suspiciously at the girl, seeing a blush on her cheeks.

Michael laughed, "You wish they'd go that far."

Elle huffed and tossed one of her empty lunch containers at him as he laughed.

Alice couldn't stop herself from showing a tiny smile at the scene.

Elle and her friends talked about a multitude of things, most of which she couldn't begin to understand though they tried to include her in their conversations. Soon enough though the warning bell to indicate the end of the lunch break was almost upon them sounded through the air.

"Jeff stood up, "Well guess we'll see you later."

Elle nodded, "Yeah, see ya."

Elle and Alice watched the boys run across the dirt covered ground into the school almost running into the door on the way in.

Elle smiled, amused at their antics and turned to Alice, "Well we better get going."

Alice nodded and followed Elle back into the school, pleasantly running the events of the past hour through her mind.

School was now over for the day and Alice was walking out of the south entrance of the school, the same way she'd come in this morning. With school behind her both figuratively and literally her mind felt less cluttered and more clear.

She and Elle had become friends, which lifted many yet another burden from her heart and she was grateful for it.

Yet almost as soon as she and Elle had confirmed each other as friends just before they parted for the day she felt a kind of presence. Unfamiliar but she felt as though she should know who or what is was.

A car horn startled her from her thoughts and she looked up to see her grandfather I the car waving at her.

With surprising energy she ran over to him. She slid into the car, put her bag on her lap and fastened her seatbelt.

She looked at her grandfather who was smiling broadly at her. "Well you seem pretty energetic so I guess that means your day went pretty well."

Alice nodded, "How did you day go", she asked as Dolphin drove the car out of the loop and onto the street?

He sighed, "About as well as could be expected. Some of the people I'll be working with seem good though."

Not knowing what else to say Alice only nodded in response as they drove home and reflected on her day, especially about that presence."

Xander stepped out the doors and immediately moved to the edge of the wide concrete walk path on the south side of the school where most parents and carpoolers dropped off and picked up their kids.

He walked along the edge of the path before stopping near a dense cluster of trees right beside the path.

He heard a brief and quiet whoosh as the air was displaced on a limb of one of the trees. 'Hope you weren't too bored sitting on the roof all day.'

Technowizardmon from his current hiding place in the tree replied. 'Not really, I was able to keep myself entertained.'

Xander nodded. The daybreak following their eventful meeting they had developed a telepathic link. The boundaries of which they had yet to discover having only experimented with short distances. 'Sorry you have to stay up there, but with all the digimon I thought it best to keep you close.'

Since they met they had dispatched two other digimon and Xander didn't foresee them stopping their appearances anytime soon.

'I understand the reasons', The digimon replied, 'It doesn't bother me.'

'Well once everyone settles into their school routines you should be able to explore the school grounds at least.'

Though he wasn't looking at his partner for fear of drawing the attention of people who would wonder what he was looking at, her could sense him nodding.

'There's something I should probably mention.'

'What is it', Xander asked in a worried tone?

'Just after the last bell rang I sensed something, a presence of some kind, I think it sensed me too.'

'A digimon', his tamer asked, his worried tone replaced with one of professional concern?

'I don't think so', his digimon replied thoughtfully, ' think it was one of the students.'

Xanders eyes widened in alarm, 'a digimon disguised as a student?'

'No I'm pretty sure it was human.'

Xander took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down. 'Is there a way you can find out who it is?'

'Yes the sense will become stronger the closer I-or through our telepathic link you are to him or her.'

Xander nodded, 'Then tomorrow we try and find our who it is. Now let's go home.' Xander started walking and Technowizardmon teleported to a pre determined location along the route home.


This chapter done and next chapter coming soon. Stay tuned.