One Hell of a Ride

( Meow, Leopardmoon here, still determined to actually finish something I start. Sorry for the delay! I'll see if I can't make it up to you guys later, but no promises, okay? I'd also like to thank izzis and The Herobrine Hunter and DDoJ for favoriting! I don't even think that's a word...but you get the point. And as to your review, fanakatsuki, well, you'll just have to wait and see won't you? And, haha, creepy! Oh, she'd just love to hear you say that. *sarcasm* I'll see what I can do Adventure DigiDestined-wise. Mwhaaha.

As always, please enjoy the ride, and I'm more than open to your ideas, comments, and critiques. Thank you. )

"Friends are the people you can count on to always have your back, no matter what. They're the best thing a guy could ever ask for - and not just to hook you up with a pretty girl, or give you presents on your birthday when you've forgotten about it yourself. A true friend is like family, only without the blood connection. The real thing holding you together is mutual trust and...affection. Yeah, yeah, that's sappier than The Notebook, but there's not really a manly way to put it, okay? Just choose your friends wisely and you're set for life."

Chapter II: Is This Real Life?

If you've ever had to ask yourself the question, 'Is this real life?' so far it's either been the worst day of your life, or the best one. Koji was pretty sure that the jury was still out on that one.

The raven-haired teen shifted in his seat restlessly, first sitting one way, and then the other, before moving back into his original position. He was trying his best to tune out the small talk circling around the table, mostly because he was tired of playing nice, but also because he'd much rather hear more about how exactly the entire Earth was in jeopardy of being the playground of evil Digimon. Instead, the conversation roamed from small talk about the weather to how delicious the tea and sandwiches were. Like- who even cared?! At least, he wasn't the only one looking vaguely uncomfortable...she was sharing in his misery too. And there was nothing that misery loved more than company.

He had nicknamed her 'the annoying brunette' because that was what she was: annoying, and she had brown hair. Even when he did learn her name, which he undoubtedly would have to, he wasn't sure he would stop privately referring to her in the same manner. That quite simply wouldn't be any fun.

Speaking of the annoying brunette, she had finally stopped staring into her teacup. Oh, was she going to- ? He could feel his jaw clench as their eyes met for the briefest of moments, electricity surging through his veins, and then the moment passed. Sugar. She wanted the sugar. Not to make snarky, rude remarks at him.

He followed the movement of her hands with his dark eyes only because it was better than staring out the window and at an excellent view of a shadowy alleyway like one out of a movie. Yes, staring at the girl with brown hair and brown eyes had to be a bazillion times better than peering out at dumpsters and trash cans. It didn't help that she was seated directly in front of him with her friend to her right, and his twin to his left...Koichi had really thought this arrangement through. Two empty seats waiting for bodies to fill them completed their little 'war council' table. Oh, and did he mention how they were at a café? Because they were. Of all places.

Koji would have preferred to have the redhead seated across from him, but the green-eyed girl still refused to meet his gaze head-on. He didn't get what her problem was, not when she talked so animatedly with Koichi. It wasn't like he put off this cold aura that made people– oh. Okay, maybe he should try to be more pleasant, or whatever the hell it was his parents tried to instill in him, but still. He wasn't that scary.

The sharp clinking sound of fine china drew his attention back to the annoying brunette. "Could you not?" The words were out of his mouth before he could stop himself and all he got was an icy glare in return. Jeez, was this how most people felt when he looked at them? If so, he could understand why the other girl didn't want to sit across from him now. "I could...but I won't."

Oh, no she didn't. He grit his teeth as hard as he could in order to stop himself from stalking away from the table right there and then. What a cheeky, annoying, hissy...bitch. It brought him back to earlier, to her sarcastic first words, and the way she had shrugged off his own as if they were nothing.

After his initial shock had worn off – and he had stopped his totally embarrassing imitation of a goldfish – the brunette had impatiently dragged him along to the gymnasium. He'd told himself that he didn't want to hurt the girl's feelings by shoving her off again, but truth be told, she had such a vice-like grip on his wrist that it had gone numb after a short period of time.

When she had finally let go, he'd immediately begun to rub at it in an attempt to revive all feeling in his wrist. He hadn't missed the roll of her eyes, nor her whole hands-on-the-hips posture saying, 'Don't be such a baby.' Koji simply glowered in reply while continuing to nurse his sore wrist. Jeez, maybe Koichi was right, and he needed to start taking Karate or something again if a girl could so easily get the drop on him. Never mind that this girl clearly was not a human being, because girls were supposed to be sweet and pleasant, and admiring of his good looks. This one was the total opposite.

She began whispering something to her red-haired companion, who nodded once, before heading in the direction of a pair of practicing kendoka. They were just one of many pairs in the large gym, but Koji knew something that they didn't; he had something of a twin sense with his brother, and could easily tell that the slightly shorter one of the pair was Koichi. Somehow, the green-eyed girl knew that too. But how? He was even more curious as to how the shy foreign girl was able to convince the instructor to let Koichi go early.

There had to be more to the red-haired teenager than her frail form and placid stare. Much more. After all, she looked like a fragile baby bird in comparison to the intimidating eagle of an instructor, easily broken in the man's capable hands, or at the end of his shinai, but she had stood tall and came successfully away with Koichi seconds later. "That's my girl," the brunette had noted cheerfully before heading back outside. He could only follow along, a bunch of unanswered questions left floating through his mind.

The four of them had found a small café on the east side of town to wait out the arrival of two more of their number, not far from the school. Both Koichi and Koji alike had attempted to fish out answers from their two mysterious escorts, but neither had deigned to spill the details until their fellow had arrived with another DigiDestined in tow.

"You could at least tell me your name, ya know. It's kind of rude that you know mine, but I don't know yours." The brunette appeared to actually consider this as she set down her teacup, gently. "I suppose that's fair." She fiddled with her headband for a second, before prodding her friend in the shoulder. "Hey. Introduction time."

"But don't you think that pistachio looks so-" The annoying brunette tried again, coughing loudly this time, interrupting her friend who didn't appear to be annoyed in the least to find herself cut off mid-sentence. "What's up?"

"I suppose telling them a little bit about us wouldn't ruin anything, so, go on." The girl's green eyes lit up like fireworks on the fourth of July as soon as she got the go-ahead. "Really? Awesome! I mean, I kind of accidently almost told Koichi like fifty different times already about this or that." The brunette inhaled deeply at her friend's admission, her eyes automatically finding Koji's as if to tell him, 'Can you believe that? You see what I have to deal with everyday?' For one brief moment, he could feel his lips curl upwards in return. 'Yeah, I can believe that...I've got the same problem with this idiot over here.' But then they both remembered that they didn't actually know each other, and so far, didn't like each other's attitude at all. He quickly averted his eyes in order to focus on the girl with red hair as the brunette did the same.

"My name is Morgan Ross, and I'm from beautiful North Carolina! Oh, that's in America, since you probably don't know your states and all...anyway, I became a DigiDestined about three years ago, and my Spirit is D'Arcmon. My favorite color is yellow, I'm a pretty good volleyball player, um, I have three wonderful dogs including this-"

"Morgan," the brunette interrupted again, though in a soft tone that Koji was sure he would never hear used on him. "I think that's enough for now." Morgan reddened a little at that, and it wasn't hard to notice that Koichi had this big cheesy grin on his face. No way...did Koichi think the American girl was cute? My god, he totally did! How adorable.

"It's nice to meet you again, Miss Morgan." Koichi was still grinning like an idiot, which was a total image-ruiner. Despite the guy's many accomplishments, he couldn't do cool. Not unless he was intently focused on organizing the school festival, or dodging a hit to his shoulder in a match, then he was cool. Otherwise...not cool Koichi.

"Yeah, it's nice to meet you too." A little lame, but the gi- Morgan, was still not really looking at him anyway. Her attention was always on her friend, then Koichi, and finally her teacup – or really just anywhere but him. That was one way to hurt a guy's feelings, heh.

Now was the witch's turn.

"Cool, so I'm Lea Wu, also from America...California if you really want to get specific. I've been a DigiDestined for...er, six years? Seven? More than you, anyway." Ouch. "What else..." The brune-err, Lea, suddenly turned on her friend. "Morgan! You already told them about your Spirit!" The other girl stared down at her lap, unwilling to meet her friend's eyes for once. "Sorry, Lea. I kind of...forgot?" Meanwhile, Koji and Koichi exchanged looks. By Spirit, did they mean...?

"Whatever: my Spirit is Witchmon. I'm the dark to Morgan's light, much like you, Koichi, to Koji and vice versa."

Koji was seriously kidding about the whole witch thing; well, sort of. It was difficult not to make some snide comment on how her Digimon form accurately matched her personality, however.

"No way...Koji, look over there!" He yelped in surprise, brushing off his brother's hands where they had tugged on his black jacket, pulling him closer to Koichi. "What?" he snapped out as he straightened, turning around to look behind him only to see nothing of interest. The older twin simply shook his head when he saw that Koji was looking in the wrong direction, sending several strands of shaggy black hair into his eyes. "No, no, not over there, over there!" This time he pointed.

Koji was ready to growl at his brother again until he found the words caught in his throat as his eyes settled on the one person that could get under his skin more than any girl with brown hair ever could: Takuya. His former best friend. The guy he had proudly called their leader, while arguing with him all the same, and gotten into all sorts of trouble with during their adventures in the Digital World. The same guy who had decided it was all a game they had played as children. There were just way too many emotions, too many thoughts, too much...stuff that was flooding his head right now. Way too much.

Koji swallowed, hard, struggling to compose himself as Takuya was led by a blonde guy over to their table. "Hey guys," the stranger said with a small wave of his hand, seating himself next to Morgan comfortably. "Sorry for the wait – took a bit more convincing than I had originally thought."

Takuya was strangely quiet as he took the seat next to Koichi, which was not like his usual self at all. Koji found himself staring at his ex-best friend in an increasing state of alarm, trying in vain to work out what the problem was.

Besides the sudden bout of silence, Takuya looked to be doing well. He might have gone through another growth spurt judging by his height, and his brown hair was as pointy as ever, peeking out from under a red snapback that he had attached his goggles to. There were no dark circles under his eyes, no obvious injuries, or anything like that to wonder about. Koji wasn't exactly sure what he was looking for, but whatever it was, Takuya seemed just fine.

Lea broke the awkward silence at last. "So, how 'bout another round of introductions then?" Morgan leaped at the chance – not that anyone was surprised.

"I'm Morgan Ross, sixteen, from the USA, and I have the Spirit of D'Arcmon!"

"Koichi Kimura, seventeen, from Japan, and I have the Spirit of Darkness: Loweemon."

"Lea Wu...seventeen...USA...Witchmon." Everyone stared as she yawned loudly, stretching her arms up to the ceiling in a cat-like manner. "Sorry." She didn't sound very sorry...oh wait, was it his turn?

"Koji Minamoto, also seventeen, from Japan, and the Spirit of Light: Lobomon." Don't look at Takuya, don't look at Takuya, he chanted silently to himself.

"And I'm Bradley Anderson from the UK - England specifically – eighteen years old, and Depthmon is my Spirit. Koichi, Koji, it's a pleasure to meet both of you." This Bradley guy had to be friends with Morgan and Lea; probably knew all the details about the Digimon World War as well. He seemed friendly enough, and Koji supposed he was the kind of guy most girls fawned over what with the celebrity styled blonde hair, bright blue eyes, and had-to-be-bleached white smile.

"I'm...Takuya Kanbara. Seventeen, Japanese, and my...I mean my, uh..." The goggle wearing teenager noticeably struggled to form the words referring to his Spirit. Bradley hesitantly began to rise from his chair, but was stopped by Koichi who rested a hand on Takuya's shoulder. Koji couldn't help but feel that he should have been the one helping Takuya calm down, but he wasn't the one sitting next to the guy.

"Sorry, it's just...I gave up waiting around for the Digital World. I had to forget, move on, or I don't think I would have been able to go on like everything was normal, ya know?" Takuya's admission sent shivers down Koji's spine because he knew exactly what the other guy meant. The waiting game was, no, had been painful. Sometimes, he had almost lost hope, had decided to follow after his friends, but then some part of him had said no. I am a DigiDestined.

Takuya's dark chocolate brown eyes found his. "Koji, I am especially sorry to you. I guess I kind of just left you hanging, huh? And you kept at it while I lost faith...tch, some leader I am. I just hope we can still be friends." The little bubble of hope that had sat in Koji's heart for years finally burst.

"Takuya, you idiot!" If not for Koichi being in his way, he might have done something embarrassing like hug the goggle-wearing moron. "I don't want to be friends with you," he didn't miss the way the light started to flicker out of the idiot's eyes, "I want to be best friends again. Like the good old days."

A broad grin stretched across Takuya's face as he struggled to hold back tears. What a sap. No, it wasn't like Koji's own eyes were watering, that was...he just got some salt in his eyes, okay? And what big matching grin?

"Okay, so this is real touching and all, but now that everyone is here...we can answer all those questions you were bugging us about earlier." Lea had a way of shoving into other people's business, and boy was she proud of it.

"Seriously, I'm getting all these romantic novel reunion feels. It makes my skin crawl."

"Lea, don't be like that," Morgan anxiously told her friend as Bradley simply snickered, not bothering to disguise his amusement at all.

"Okay, but one question...what about Tommy, Zoe, and J.P.? Aren't we waiting for them?" Takuya was the one to voice this question, a question that Koji honestly hadn't even considered. Wow, what a great friend he was.

"I can answer that." Bradley's cheerful demeanor became a little more serious as he leaned forward to give the three of them the scoop. "Zoe's in Italy, so she's a no go for this meeting. Junpei - or J.P. - is also out of Japan, studying abroad in America. And Tommy, believe it or not, has been an active DigiDestined for the past five months. He doesn't need to be caught up on any of this."

Well, that was news. Way to go Tommy!

...he was so not jealous of the little brat.

( Alright, corrections to chapter two made. I was going to redo the whole thing, but I felt that the information it contained was necessary after all. Just prepare for another sceneskip after this. Woooo! )