Disclaimer: I do not own the song "Operation Ground and Pound" by Dragonforce, it's just awesome. I do not own the character Jean or David, he is owned by Lan Kai Kai.
Rika Nonaka could never have guessed that she'd marry a politician. Of course, no one could ever had guessed that her mother could have persuaded her enough to join the fashion industry and become one of the people she despised the most - a model. And in complete honesty, she hated it, but at the end of the day - it did bring in a nice amount of cash.
"I'm home." Said politician made no point in explaining himself as he walked inside the house, secluding himself to his office, the room next door to the bedroom, where Rika Nonaka laid. Of course, Takato was stressed. A year ago he was also persuaded into beoming a politician, representing the Digital World. The United Nations had no idea who should represent the Digital World, so they put the man that was on the front line of the fight against D-Reaper, on the front line in politics. And if anything, he hated his job as much as Rika hated hers. But like her aswell - it did bring a nice amount of cash.
"How was work?" Rika asked, half-heartedly as she walked out of the room and into the office, leaning against the wall and facing Takato.
"Terrible." Takato sighed, banging his head on the table repeatedly.
"Guilmon, go get him some asprin!" Rika yelled down the hallway, to the small dinosaur who was helping himself to the pantry.
"Muhmoothiffubl!" Was the reply Rika got, from the engorged digimon.
"Fine, Renamon, please go get Takato some aspirin!" Rika called, as the tall, yellow, humanoid fox appeared from apparently thin air, handing the aspirin, and a glass of water to Takato. He stood up, tossed away his jacket, leaving him in his white collar shirt, and black pants, and drank the water and the aspirin in one gulp.
"Thanks Renamon." Takato nodded to the Digimon, who disappeared once again. The 23-year-old, was not feeling youthful. He was stressed, tired, and felt like he was going to faint. His brown hair was in a mess, and his eyes were blood shot. His wife on the other hand was the figure of youthfullness, only a little shorter than Takato, long brown hair, fair skin and a thin complexion.
"Get over it." His wife commanded.
"What?" Takato asked, facing his wife.
"You heard me, get over it!" She said, smacking him on the face.
"That really hurt!" Takato said, rubbing his cheek.
"Pain is love." She smiled, kissing him on the exact spot she slapped. He was about to retaliate with some witty comment of his own when his phone rang.
"Hello?" He asked, and listened intently. The person on the other end of the line obviously had little time, explaining everything he could as fast as possible. Takato said a short goodbye, ending the short conversation, and pocketed the phone, with a solemn look on his face.
"Who was it?" Rika, seeing the look on her husband's face knew something was wrong.
"It was Henry." Takato said. "He wants to speak with us. Now."
Glutton For Punishment
Chapter 2 : Operation
"Watch you die, I watch you die inside, While fear controls your life"
Takato and Rika arrived at the Hypnos headquarters as fast as they could, with Guilmon and Renamon following closely behind. They walked into the main room, one they had been in many times, and they saw six familiar faces, all full of gloom and doom, and who could blame them? They all had been pulled out of their normal and happy lives for this, something that could change everything. Again.
He smiled as he thought of all his friends in the room and the unexpected paths they took. Henry sat at the front of the room, leaning on the giant TV joining Hypnos and taking over Yamaki's position, while Ryo sat at the table, the one who chose to stay in the Digital World to be its protector. Kazu, now sporting a beanie, headphones around his neck and black and white clothing lent against a wall,now a DJ, because according to him 'DJ's get all the chicks'. Kenta sat quietly by himself, inspecting his glasses, dressed in a casual shirt and shorts, he took an expected path, become a doctor. There was also two others he didn't expect to see - Jeri and Alice. Jeri paced around the table annoyed, while Alice kept to herself, dressed in a black dress. Surrounding them were their respective digimon, Jeri and Alice still had theirs, as their digi-eggs hatched years ago.
"Hi." Takato had to admit, it was a crappy icebreaker. "Henry, I believe you called us here." Takato said, as Henry sprang to life, looking over to everybody.
"Yes, yes I did." Henry nodded, as all the faces in the room turned to him, waiting for a reason as to why they were there. "The Digital World is worse than expected." Henry cleared his throat, he could feel their stares bore holes into his skin, and the fact that he was nervous did not help at all. They were his friends, so he had no idea why he felt so scared speaking to them. "There is a new force of digimon trying to invade the digital world, and frankly, we can't do anything about it. We do not know who they are. We do not know where they came from. We do not know how to stop them."
"So, what do we do?" Kazu was the first to speak, removing himself from the wall, facing Henry.
"The Sovereigns are disappointed with us." Ryo spoke this time, the attention of everyone in the room now on him. "They have decided to take it into their own hands."
"Isn't that good?" Kazu said, "Now we're not involved!"
"We're always involved Kazu, anything to do with the Digital World, we are involved." Takato spoke this time. "I don't like the idea of the Sovereigns taking things into their own hands. The last time they did they almost killed me, Rika and Henry."
"You're right." Henry confirmed. "They are recruiting new Tamers. They have accepted the fact that you have all gone off with your lives, and have decided that nothing can be done about it."
"What? Bringing more children into this?" Kenta surprised everyone with his yelling. "They should've asked us, otherwise we would have offered to help straight away!"
"Would you?" Ryo raised an eyebrow, "Would you seriously consider dropping everything in your life again? Giving it all up, one more time?"
"No. You have a girlfriend, a job, a house, bills to pay, things to do! We all do Kenta! We have lives!" Henry said, angry with himself. "And that's why we're not adequete enough. And that's why Makoto and Suzie are out there fighting. I know it doesn't seem right to rob these kids of their lives like they did to us, but it's the only option. I guess that's why kids are usually the ideal Tamers."
"There's only two of them. There were eight of us! How could the Sovereigns expect for the two of them to finish everything?" Kazu laid his face in his hands.
"And that's why there's going to be new Tamers." Ryo confirmed, sitting down. Silence filled the room, as they all contemplated the past conversation. The silence was interrupted by a very annoying crazy frog.
"Sorry, that's me." Henry said, answering the phone. "It's Makoto."
"Put it on speaker." Takato said, to which Henry did, answering the phone and placing it on the table so everyone could here. A loud breathing could be heard in the background, Mako was running.
"Why didn't you tell us?" Mako said through the phone.
"Hello? What?" Henry asked.
"Why didn't you tell us?!" Mako repeated.
"What do you mean?" Henry asked, as all the old Tamers leaned in to hear what he had to say.
"Tell me what you know about IceDevimon?"
"He's an Ice Devil digimon, that's all we have on him, few of them are left. Why?" Henry pressed on, getting no answers to his questions.
"Tell me what you know about the invasion?" Mako asked.
"Corrupted Digimon are trying to take over the digital world, what does this have to do with anything Mako? Is IceDevimon the leader?" Henry asked, still getting no answers for his questions.
"Tell me, what you know about the others." Mako repeated his first question.
"What others?" Henry asked.
"The other Tamers." Mako said, as a shocked look came around the circle of Tamers.
"We don't have any other Tamers!" Henry replied, in complete honesty. "Only you guys, and the old group."
"Don't lie to me now Henry, me and Suzie know." Mako said. "I need what you know now, or in a couple of minutes, those other Tamers of yours will be gone!"
"Mako!" Takato yelled down the phone this time, to which Mako answered.
"Takato, is that you?"
"Yes. Those other Tamers, who told you about them?" Takato said, he knew that if anyone could get answers out of Mako, it was him.
"An Evilmon that attacked me and Suzie, those realizations were a diversion! A trap so they could also attack the other Tamers while we were distracted!"
"Those other Tamers, they were sent by the Sovereign Mako! We need you to save them as fast as possible." Takato said, waiting for a long 10 seconds before Mako replied. "Use your D-Ark to track them, okay?"
"Okay." And then Mako hung up.
- -
"And I end this match with an attack from BlackWarGreymon, bringing my Data Points up to 7,500." The teenager declared, as he won the match. He collected the card he won, and quietly walked away, leaving the distraught opponent without his best card.
"Rematch?" The opponent asked hopefully, to which he was answered with cold, blue eyes, behind a pair of glasses. "C'mon Jean, just one more?"
"I don't think you have any other cards worth betting on, do you?" Jean ignored the pleading and decided to walk off. He ran a hand through his red hair, staring at the card he just won - a Justimon. He casually walked home, and everyone that looked his way could tell he was a man of wealth - even though he wasn't. Jean was tall, 5'9", dressed in a grey shirt, tucked into black shorts, with an emblem on the breastpocket, showing he was part of one of the most expensive private schools in Japan. His father had left their family with nothing during the divorce, and his mother sacrificed all the money they had left so that he and his brother could go to a top school, as she valued education over anything else. He was snapped out of his thoughts by a phone call, to which he answered immediately.
"Hello?" He asked.
"Jean, it's David. Come home quick! It's mother." Jean was going to ask his little brother more questions, but his phone started breaking up before he could speak.
"Cheap ass phone..." Jean growled, hanging up. He looked up, the clouds became dark, and he couldn't see much with the tress surrounding him. Deciding he wouldn't want to get wet if it rained, he ran quickly. But of course, getting wet would be the least of his problems. He turned around as a shining light emmited from the trees behind him. The shining light grew bigger, until it looked like a large hole in the air. Jean declared to himself that it was a portal, but curiosity got the best of him,as he wanted to see whatever was inside. The saying curiosity killed the cat immediately came to mind as Jean saw what came out. It was the ugliest thing Jean had ever seen. It looked like a giant, black dog, with four red eyes, and large wings.
"Wait... You're, a digimon?" Jean instantly recognised it as Devidramon, one of the Nightmare Soldiers.
He quickly doubted his sanity and figured that either someone was playing tricks on him or that he was hallucinating. He decided to sprint away, on his path home, but he was confronted by another portal.
"This can't be happening..." He thought to himself, as he ran to his left, but yet again - another portal. His last option to his right, was blocked by another portal. It took little brains to realize that he was surrounded by four Devidramons. "Great." He stared at the first Devidramon, who just stared back. "Well, what are you waiting for? Bring it on!" If this was a hallucination, he was going to go through it right till the end.
His phone decided it was a good time to start rattling in his pocket. It glowed brightly as he took it out, and engulfed itself into a yellow ball. He watched as the ball reshaped itself into what looked like a modified Tamagotchi, white, with a screen in the middle, and a silver circle around the screen.
He had little time to study the device further, as the first Devidramon fired a laser beam from its eyes. He barely managed to dodge, as the Devidramon behind him slammed him into a tree with its giant claw. For the first time in a while, Jean tasted his own blood, and he did not like it. Spitting it aside, he looked over to his left, and another portal appeared next to him. He quickly backed off, but seeing the reaction of the Devidramon, it was not their friend. And anything that wasn't a friend of these Digimon, was a friend of his.
"Crimson Nail!" A third Devidramon called, its claw shining a blood red color. Its attack was interrupted by whatever came out of the portal, because it stopped in mid attack, and was tossed into another tree.
"Fist of the Beast King!" The newly arrived Digimon, who Jean identified as Leomon, punched in the direction of Devidramon, sending a lion-head shaped beam straight at it.
"Who are you?" Jean asked.
"I am Leomon, and I am here to protect you - master." Leomon said, to which Jean grinned. He had his own digimon. He remembered watching TV during the D-Reaper attack, and seeing the other digimon fight it, but now that he had his own, he felt good. "Will you help me?" Leomon asked.
"How?"
"Swipe a card through your D-Ark, it should give me a powerup." Leomon said. "Once you have the card, you will know what to do." Jean nodded, searching through his deck for a suitable card. His deck was built for Nightmare Soldiers, so it would be hard to find something compatible for Leomon. Jean search frantically as Leomon defended himself against the four dark digimon. Leomon's main objection was to protect his tamer, which was proving to be a difficult task.
The four Devidramon circled high above Leomon, where the lion-man digimon couldn't reach. He watched hopelessly as their eyes glowed a red colour, preparing to fire at Leomon and Jean.
"Quickly, we have to either run, or you swipe that card!" Leomon said, as Jean took out the first card that came to his mind.
"RED EYE!" The four Devidramon called in unison, as 16 beams shot from their eyes.
"Digi-Modify!" Jean called, swiping his card through. "Black-Gear Power-up, Activate!" Two black gears came out of Jean's digivice, attaching itself to Leomon. They sank into his skin, turning him a dark brown colour, and increasing his size, engorging his muscles. A red glint came to his eyes as he prepared his attack.
"Fist of the Beast King!" the Dark Leomon called, sending a black beam shaped like a lion's head from his fist, plowing through the beams from the Devidramon, and attacking them, sending them spiraling to the ground. "Destroy..." The Dark Leomon whispered. One of the Devidramon flew straight down at Leomon, who tossed it to the side, into a tree. He blocked another Devidramon's claw, punching it straight in the chest. "Fist of the Beast King!" the Dark Leomon said again, hitting the other two Devidramon away. "Destroy..." The Dark Leomon repeatedly whispered, stalking its prey.
"No you don't!" Suzie finally arrived at the area, as Wendigomon stepped in front of the Dark Leomon. Both were the same size, and were playing a game of who would back down first. They stared each other down, as if challenging the other to attack.
"Who are you?" Jean asked, for the second time of the day.
"Friends. The other Tamers." Mako, with Impmon on his shoulder finally arrived behind Suzie. "We don't destroy Digimon around here, we send them back to the Digiworld. Transfer Process, Activate!" Mako pointed his digivice to the Devidramon, sending them back to where they came from."
"Why?" Jean asked. "Won't they just come back later on?"
"That's a good question, but everything will be explained later. But for now, come with us, we'll take you back to our headquarters." Suzie said, as Jean shook his head.
"Hell no." Jean replied. "I'm not joining some team. I'm not gonna do what you guys say. Leomon is my Digimon, and we do whatever we want. And we want to go home." Dark Leomon growled in response.
"I'm sorry, but I can't let you do that." Suzie said, to which Jean raised and eyebrow.
"Leomon, attack her." Jean commanded, cold as ice.
"Wendigomon, defend!" Wendigomon and Leomon locked hands, both the same size and strength.
"Use your sword!" Jean called, as Leomon let go of Wendigomon, who almost lost his balance. He withdrew his sword, but Leomon stopped suddenly. "Leomon? What's going on?!" Leomon glowed, returning to his normal form, and then to the form of a small tiger.
"He ran out of energy. Too much fighting for one day." Mako said lazily, yawning loudly as if nothing had happened.
"Leormon," Jean said, using Leomon's rookie form name. "Come with me, we're going home." Jean turned around and left, with Leormon following closely behind.
"Asshole." Suzie cursed, walking away.
"Wait, Suzie!" Mako called after her. "I have a plan!"
"Is it really worth all the trouble?" Impmon asked, to which Mako nodded.
- -
"David, mom, I'm home!" Jean called, as Leormon hid in his bag. Jean's house was average, two bedrooms, a bathroom, living room and an extra room with a backyard. For someone who people thought was rich, he really wasn't. His skinny brother immediately rushed to Jean, wearing black shorts and a red shirt. He looked like he just got out of bed, with his messy brown hair.
"Jean, come quick, mom needs help!" Jean immediately rushed over to his mom, who was lying on the couch. Jean couldn't see what was wrong with her, until she spoke.
"Hello Jean." She said, staring at the ceiling.
"Mom, did it happen again? Can you still move?" Jean asked, to which his mother mouthed a 'No'. Jean couldn't do anything about it, calling an ambulance or a doctor would result in her being stated as too sick to take care of Jean and his brother, thus sending them both of to a foster home, or even worse - their father.
"I'm alright Jean, don't worry about me." His mother tried to smile, but Jean knew he was helpless. His mother wanted to stay with Jean and David as much as they did, so all three of them knew they couldn't say anything. Their moment of silence was interrupted by a loud knock on the door.
"I'll get it." David ran to the door, to see a man dressed in a black suit, next to a brown haired teenager. "Yes?"
"We'd like to speak to Jean." The teenager said, to which Jean immediately recognised his voice. Jean rushed to the door, staring at the boy who earlier had interrupted his battle with the Devidramon.
"How do you know my name, and where I live?" Jean asked, shifting his glance between the two of them.
"We didn't get a proper introduction, so I had to search on you. I'm Makoto, and this guy over here is Henry, he's the leader of Hypnos." Mako said, extending a hand, to which Jean avoided. "We were able to track down your D-Ark, that device you had, and it led us to your home."
"What do you want?" Jean asked.
"A simple proposition." Henry said, to which Jean nodded. "We hire a caretaker, a maid of sorts. She will take care of the house, your mom, cook, clean do everything for you guys, making sure you can still stay with your mom."
"Nothing's wrong with my mother." Jean said uncertainly.
"Jean, we know. She can't move in there can she? I can call a doctor for her, once we have the caretaker of course." Henry said.
"What's the catch?"
"I think you know." Mako added in. "Just join us. We're not evil or anything."
"Fine." Jean said, finally taking Makoto's extended hand and shaking.
A/N : That's the second chapter, over the next chapters I will be introducing all the good Tamers, except Jean is on the fence for this one, he could be either good or evil... The evil tamers will make appearances, but not such a major role yet. So far, including Jean, I have recieved pm's and reviews with 6 OC's, both good and evil, so keep them coming.