Hey everybody. I was excited to get the next chapter out so I went to work on this one and got it done in fairly quick. I thank you for the critique you've given me, so keep sending it so I can improve. I have also taken some of the OCs I have received. If you would like to submit one, follow the submission rules at the bottom of the prologue for a chance to get in. I will be introducing the first OC in this chapter and more will come to follow later. Now, let's get to the chapter!
Chapter rating T: Minor language
Disclaimer: I do NOT own Digimon. I own the OCs, the story here and the idea of the story.
Bold- PA Systems/Message Bulletins
Bold Italic- Radio/TV/
Italic-Thoughts/Letters/Flashbacks/
Kyle was lying on his bed and looking at his newly acquired Digivice that he received from Yamaki hours before. Shortly after scanning BlackGuilmon's card, the screen on his Digivice illuminated to show a lone black egg in the center of it. When he first looked at it, it reminded him of those weird digital pets that were popular back when he was a kid. But if what Yamaki told him, Bobby and Mikayla was true, then the egg on the screen would eventually hatch and bio-emerge somewhere nearby.
"I still can't believe it," Kyle muttered to himself as he stared at the screen.
"Hey, come on man. Go to bed," Bobby muttered as he looked at him through half lidded eyes.
"Sorry. I've just been thinking."
"You've been thinking? Does it hurt?"
"Shut up. I've been thinking about the egg on my screen here."
Bobby said nothing and Kyle turned to look at him from his bed. He saw Bobby now looked more awake as a serious look came to his face. Bobby's hand went into the pillowcase and he pulled out his own Digivice. The screen on his was the same with the green egg slowly expanding and shrinking.
"Yeah, I've been thinking about that too," Bobby replied as he looked at the screen. "It's hard to believe that these things will hatch into real beings."
"I know," Kyle replied. "If it weren't for the D-Reaper incident all those years ago, I would have thought Yamaki was full of it."
"Same here. I can't say I expected something like this to happen in my lifetime."
Bobby sighed and tucked his Digivice back into his pillowcase. He rolled over to his back and stared at the ceiling.
"You know, I should have asked how long it would take for the eggs to hatch," Kyle said as he set his Digivice in his pillowcase.
"Well, hopefully it happens when we get back home," Bobby answered as he closed his eyes. "The last thing we want to do is go on a goose chase for them here in New York."
"No kidding."
"All right, I'm going to sleep. See you in the morning."
"Yeah."
Kyle lay in silence as he allowed Bobby to drift off. His thoughts shifted to how Takato and Guilmon interacted. Although he just met them, Kyle could tell their bond was very strong. He could not help but wonder what his relationship would be like with BlackGuilmon when he eventually met him. Guilmon seemed so cheerful and relaxed and just wanted to play.
"Man, if BlackGuilmon is like that I have a lot to look forward to," Kyle thought as he shut his eyes.
Takato rolled over and sat upright on his bed. He found himself unable to sleep and decided it would be worth it to grab some fresh air. He yawned and stood up as he walked to the balcony of the suite. He stopped outside of the sliding door and peered inside the room to his left. He could see Guilmon sleeping on the floor with Renamon close by leaning on the wall.
A small smile spread across his lips as he watched his two friends sleeping peacefully, silently envying that they were able to do so. He sighed and opened the door to the balcony and stepped outside. The cool night air felt welcoming as he stepped on to the balcony. The sound of wind, traffic and car horns filled the night as he stared up at the star filled sky. He was so lost in thought that he did not even notice the other occupant sitting in the chair beside him.
"What are you doing up?" Rika asked.
Takato jumped in surprise at hearing her voice and scratched the back of his head sheepishly.
"I couldn't sleep, so I came out for some air," Takato replied. "What about you?"
"I'm always up late," Rika replied with a shrug as she leaned back in the chair.
Takato walked over to the empty chair beside her and sat down. They sat there for a moment in silence before it was broken.
"You know something?" Takato said as he leaned back in chair.
"What?" Rika replied.
"I think this next adventure we're getting into might be even greater than the last one."
"What makes you say that?"
"It's just a feeling."
"If this is your idea of small talk you're terrible at it."
Takato shifted a bit in embarrassment when Rika said that. It wasn't that he was terrible at small talk, but he often times just had no idea how to have a one on one conversation with her. Usually he had Henry, Terriermon, Renamon and Guilmon around in the conversation to make it easier for him. He opened his mouth to try and say something, but no words came out. He turned to look at Rika and saw her looking back at him with a smirk on her face.
"You're making fun of me, aren't you?" Takato smirked back.
"Maybe I am, Gogglehead," Rika replied.
The two of them shared a laugh. Takato relaxed after Rika answered his question. He felt a lot more at ease when he figured out Rika was just giving him a hard time, but not in the way she used to all those years ago. The way she was messing with him this time was that of a playful manner. It was almost hard to believe that five years ago he could barely get her to open up and talk without saying some snide comment to him, but she had come a long way. He still remembered what she did for him a little over a year ago.
"Hey, Rika, can I ask you something?" Takato asked.
"Sure, just don't have it be stupid," Rika replied as she turned her gaze back to the sky.
Takato rolled his eyes before staring back at the sky too. After debating on how to ask her his question, he finally turned back to her.
"Do you remember what you did for me a couple of years ago?" Takato asked.
"Besides save your butt over and over again?" Rika smirked back. "Get specific, Takato."
"I was referring to what happened with Jeri."
The smirk on Rika's face quickly vanished and was replaced with a more serious expression. She still remembered the incident that Takato had with Jeri. Two years after the incident with the D-Reaper, Takato and Jeri started going out with each other. She remembered how happy the two of them looked when they were together and she herself had to admit that it was a cute sight. However, things began to take a turn into the second year of their relationship. The two of them were not able to spend as much time together with Takato still being part of the Digidestined as well as working for Yamaki when Seeker began to make themselves known. With each passing day, the two of them began to drift apart and argue with one another over the smallest things. Although Jeri had a Digivice, she no longer had a partner and was not able to contribute to them as a tamer when an issue occurred. One day, during one of their arguments in front of their friends, Jeri gave Takato the biggest ultimatum he had to face in his life. Jeri's words rang through Rika's head to this day.
"Takato, you have to choose what you want," Jeri said through her tears. "I know how much being a tamer means to you and I know that you want this relationship with me to work, but… You can't have both! I want a boyfriend who I can spend time with and with you it's just not possible anymore. You can either be with me, or you can stay a tamer, but I'll be gone."
Rika had never seen Takato look so torn between a decision in his life as he had been one to always make a decision and go with it. She remembered that Takato was quiet for about five minutes before he answered Jeri by saying that he wanted to be with her, but his job with Yamaki and being a tamer took priority as it had greater consequences. Jeri only shed tears after he answered her and then left after saying goodbye. It did not take long for Takato to spiral into a pit of depression and he had all but become a shell of his former self. He did not smile, laugh, and he barely hung out with his friends or played with Guilmon. It got so bad that Takato's mind was not properly fit and during a mission against Seeker, he made a call that almost got them killed. The mission ended up being a failure and Yamaki had put him on leave until further notice.
Two weeks after that mission, Rika went to Takato's house after not seeing him since the mission. She ended up finding him crying and it honestly hurt her to see her friend so broken, of course she wouldn't admit it. She had to be her tough love self and she knew that was the only way she would be able to get him out of his funk. She successfully managed to pull him out of his house and walked around with him all day, all the while getting him to open up about how he was feeling. Once Takato said what he had to say, Rika finally answered and did not hold back with what she had to say.
"Gogglehead, I'm only going to say this once, so listen good," Rika said as she crossed her arms and glared at him. "Get over it! So you broke up with your dream girl! It's not the end of the world and here you are acting like a pathetic sack, moping around and not taking any steps to move on!"
"Easy for you to say!" Takato snapped back. "You didn't have to make a decision between the two things you loved most in your life!"
"You're right, I didn't, you got me there. But all of us are tired of seeing you so down in the dumps about this! I mean, do you have any idea how angry I am seeing you acting like a shell of who you used to be? The Takato Matsuki I know would have recovered from this and bounced back because that's who he is!"
"This is different!"
Rika, having had enough of Takato's bickering decided to up her game, which was going to be a make or break point in her goal of getting Takato back to his old self. She unclenched her fist and gave the hardest slap she could. The slap was so loud that people who weren't already eavesdropping on their conversation turned to see it. A large red mark began to form on Takato's shocked face. He gently touched his face and then looked back at Rika who appeared to be barely holding back from screaming.
"Takato, my patience with you is wearing thin," Rika said as calmly as she could. "Yamaki, Ryo, Henry and I want you back and we need you, but if this is how you are going to be from now on, I think I'll have to do what Jeri did with you now."
"What are you talking about?" Takato replied as he rubbed his stinging cheek.
"I'm going to give you a choice that will either make you come to your senses or change you completely."
"And what would that be?"
"You have two choices. The first is to pull yourself together, take your goggles back and come back as the leader of our group. The second is you can continue to mope around like you are now and lose all your friends, even Guilmon. Now if I know you like I think I do, you'll make the right decision."
Takato looked to be at a loss for words. He already lost Jeri and that was hard enough. If he were to lose the rest of his friends or Guilmon, that would be too much for him. He stayed quiet as his eyes looked at Rika's outstretched hand that was holding his goggles and then back up at her. Her face was stern, but her eyes were filled with worry. His fists clenched and he reached up and took back his goggles before pulling them over his head.
"Welcome back," Rika said with a small smile.
Rika was surprised when Takato wrapped his arms around her in a hug. This was the first time she had an intimate moment with Takato.
"Thanks, Rika," said Takato.
"I'll let this one slide," Rika replied as she gave a quick hug and patted his back. "But, if you tell anyone that we hugged, I'll send you to dream world permanently."
Takato quickly released his hold on Rika as his face reddened. He sheepishly rubbed the back of his head as he stammered out an apology which made Rika smirk. She was happy that she was able to cheer up her friend.
"Come on, let's go get some ice cream," Rika said as she turned and started walking down the street.
"Hey, wait up!" Takato hollered as he hurried after her.
Rika noticed that Takato was looking at her from his chair and blinked. She ended up zoning out and completely forgot to answer his question.
"Yeah, I remember," Rika replied. "Why did you bring that up all of a sudden?"
"I just wanted to thank you again for doing that." Takato smiled. "That was the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me."
"You don't need to keep thanking me. You hit me with a lot of those after that day."
"I know, but I want to. Rika, you're one of my best friends and the fact you went so far to help me meant a lot."
Rika's cheeks turned a light pink after Takato said that. Not being able to come back with a response she turned away to stare back up at the starry sky.
"Don't mention it," she finally answered.
"Well, I'm going back to bed," Takato said as he stood up and stepped into the doorway. "Goodnight, Rika."
Takato vanished inside and Rika could hear him rustling around in his bed. A small smile came to her face as she glanced over her shoulder to the doorway where her friend was standing seconds ago.
"Goodnight, Takato," Rika whispered.
Henry Wong and Ryo Akiyama had stood in the shadows of the room as they watched the last round of the night for the card tournament taking place. They had followed through with Yamaki's request by attending card tournaments around the world in hopes to find people who had the potential to be a tamer. However, the idea sounded crazy to the both of them. There was no way that a person could just become a tamer.
"This is ridiculous," Ryo said with a sigh as he rubbed his tired eyes.
"You're telling me," Henry agreed with a nod. "I don't question Yamaki's decisions, but this one… I don't know."
"You think he's finally starting to lose it?"
"Not likely. Maybe he's just stressed now that he has a kid on the way."
"Soon there will be a Yamaki Junior running around."
Henry smirked at Ryo's joke. He and the rest of the gang were surprised when they found out Yamaki was having a kid, but when they found out who the mother was, they were not as surprised. All the tamers had the belief that Yamaki and Riley had something between them and it was only proven when Takato, Rika and Henry happened to bump into them one night at a department store when they were shopping for baby products.
"One Yamaki is bad enough, but two?" Terriermon quipped as he climbed on top of Henry's head. "That's a scary thought."
"Terriermon, that wasn't very nice," Henry chided.
"Momentai."
Henry rolled his eyes and yawned. He was exhausted and he was starting to lose his focus on the tournament before him. He was not even sure if he may have missed potential candidates. He, Ryo, Terriermon and Cyberdramon had arrived in Florida just over an hour ago and the jet lag was kicking in. At this rate, they would be lucky if they stayed awake for the rest of the tournament. Henry's eyes began to droop as he leaned against the pillar, but he was jarred awake by the sound of a man's voice echoing on the microphone.
"All right everyone, that's the final match of the night!" The man shouted. "Tomorrow we'll finish off the tournament with the last three rounds starting at noon!"
"Good," Ryo said with a yawn. "That gives us…"
"Eight hours of sleep," Henry finished with a nod.
Ryo and Henry pushed themselves off of the pillar they were hiding on and made their way over to the large bracket that was in place. There were now only eight contestants left in the tournament, but there was one that caught the eye of the two tamers. From what they had seen, there was one player that was doing a decent job, and that was Nasrin Hamidi. As they looked at her name on the board, they took a quick look around and they finally spotted her.
The girl was very short, barely standing over five feet tall. Her loose clothes covered most of her figure and her wavy, black hair was hidden under a black hijab. She was walking in their direction which gave them the opportunity to make their move. Ryo was the first to make the move as he walked up to Nasrin with a smile. Henry and Terriermon spared each other a glance as they stood behind their friend.
"Are you Nasrin Hamidi?" Ryo asked.
"Maybe I am, maybe I'm not," Nasrin replied. "Are you a stalker?"
"Only if you want me to be."
"I have mace in my pocket."
"Okay, okay, no need to get so testy. I'm just asking because me and my friend there want to talk to you about something."
Nasrin's hand disappeared under the hem of her tunic and rested near her waistline. If what she said about the mace was true, that was what she was reaching for.
"What do you want to talk to me about?" Nasrin asked.
"It's something we have to discuss in private," Ryo replied.
"So you expect me to come with you and your friend there, out of sight and into some random spot where you can talk about this private issue? Do you want me to spray you with mace now and call for help?"
"What the heck? No, that's not it at all!"
Ryo looked back at Henry and Terriermon for help. Henry sighed and walked over to his flustered friend. He then looked at Nasrin who turned her gaze to meet his.
"Look, we're both tired and we want to go to bed. We're only asking you this as a request from our boss," Henry replied as he rubbed his eyes.
"Well you're going to have to tell me what this is about before I even consider going with you two creepers," Nasrin answered.
"Oh for the love of… Terriermon, can you handle this?"
Terriermon giggled and peered over Henry's shoulder as Nasrin. Nasrin looked a little surprised at his sudden appearance and he laughed again.
"Momentai, Henry," Terriermon said as he looked at Nasrin. "She's just giving you a hard time."
"How do you know that?" Henry replied.
"I mess with you all the time. Trust me. She's just messing with you."
"Finally! Someone who can speak my language!" Nasrin smirked. "The only way I'm talking to either of you is if can trust you. So if you can find a way for me to trust you, maybe I'll give you a good thirty seconds of my time."
With that Nasrin gave them a cheeky smile and strode off into the crowds. Henry and Ryo blinked and then looked at each other, completely confused about what just happened. Terriermon only giggled as he saw through Nasrin's retort. He smirked when Henry looked at him for the answer.
"She's just giving us a hard time, huh?" Henry mocked. "How the heck are we going to get her to talk to us?"
"Ah, you already know what to do," Terriermon said in a teasing tone.
"No, I don't. I'm tired and I want to go to bed, so tell me the answer."
"You're being a killjoy right now. If you really need to know, all you have to do is show up and watch her game tomorrow. That way she'll know you guys want to talk to her because if you were just creepers as she called you, you wouldn't come back."
Henry sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. He was not sure how his partner was able to pick up on the subtle hints that Nasrin gave him, but he was glad he did. If sarcasm and wit had a company, Terriermon and Nasrin would be the chairman and CEO . The thought alone made Henry shake his head. To him, that was a scary thought as anyone caught in that web would have to be insane.
"I don't know about you two, but I'm going to bed," Ryo said as he started walking for the exit.
"No, I'm done too," Henry replied as he walked beside him. "I need to have all my energy back if I want to deal with that girl tomorrow."
"No kidding."
"So how do you think Takato and Rika are doing in New York with their search?"
"I have no idea. Yamaki probably emailed us an update, but I'm not checking that till tomorrow."
Kyle awoke with a start as he felt something hit him in the face. The hit made his hands swipe at the object that hit him and he pulled the pillow off. He sat upright and looked at the pillow he was holding and then back at Bobby who was looking down at his Digivice. The look on his face was one of excitement as he stared down at his screen.
"It hatched, man!" Bobby grinned. "Terriermon hatched!"
"Really? When did that happen?" Kyle asked as he rubbed his eyes.
"I'm not sure. I just woke up and looked at the screen and saw the egg was broken."
Kyle's face scrunched up as he thought about what Bobby said. He looked at the clock on the bedside table and saw it wasn't even six o'clock yet. He, Bobby and Mikayla scanned their cards around three o'clock yesterday which gave the egg almost fifteen hours to hatch. He was broken from his thoughts when he heard rapid knocking coming from their door. Bobby hurried over and opened it and Mikayla burst through with a large smile on her face. She held up her Digivice and her screen showed the blue egg split in half indicating a hatch.
"Veemon hatched!" Mikayla said, barely able to contain her excitement.
"Sweet! Terriermon hatched from mine not long ago!" Bobby replied.
"Nice!"
Mikayla wrapped Bobby up in a hug, completely forgetting she was still in her pajamas. Kyle smirked as Bobby's face turned ten different shades of red within five seconds. He knew of Bobby's feelings towards Mikayla and after getting a hug from her while she was in her pajamas consisting of boyshorts and a tank top, his mind went into overload. Bobby lightly returned her hug.
"Okay, okay, get off me," Bobby replied after letting go.
"Hey, don't be a jerk," Mikayla replied, slapping his shoulder. "Wait a minute. Kyle…"
Mikayla's face became curious as she turned back to Kyle and put her hands on her hips.
"What about you? Did your egg hatch?"
Kyle had been so transfixed on Bobby's and Mikayla's excitement that he completely forgot about his egg. He reached into the pillowcase he tucked his Digivice under and pulled it out. He turned the device over in his hand and looked at the screen. His egg also hatched, meaning that all of them would soon bio-emerge if they had not already.
"Mine hatched too," Kyle said as he looked up at them. "We need to go find them."
"Yeah, you're right," Mikayla replied.
"Do you think they bio-emerged yet?" Bobby asked as he started rummaging for clothes to wear.
"I'm not sure, but Takato said that the Digivice would act as a compass to lead us to them."
Kyle's thumb pressed the right scroll button and his screen changed to the next one, but it was blank. He pressed down three more times before he came to a new screen. This time his screen lit up and came to life. A red arrow emerged in the center before shooting to the top and spinning around the blue circle of the screen. The arrow stopped and was pointing to the west. Kyle turned in the direction of the arrow and his Digivice began to give off a humming beep.
"Press the scroll buttons on your Digivices," Kyle said as he turned back to them. "It will take you to the compass screen."
Bobby and Mikayla both scrolled through the screens and finally came to the compass. They waited for the direction the arrow began to point towards and then they turned around to face the east.
"So what do we do?" Mikayla asked.
"We should go find our partners before they start causing trouble," Kyle replied. "You and Bobby can go east since you're both in that direction. I'll go on my own to find BlackGuilmon."
"Are you going to be okay?"
"I'll be fine. I can navigate and I'm fast. If anything, I'll meet BlackGuilmon and find you guys shortly after that."
"Okay. I'll go get dressed and meet you both downstairs."
Mikayla hurried out of the room leaving Bobby and Kyle to change. It did not take the trio long before they were all ready to go. Mikayla entered the lobby of the hotel a minute after Kyle and Bobby and they walked outside. As the stepped outside, they saw that the sun was now up and that the streets were starting to get its first round of traffic. Kyle nodded to himself and then turned back to Bobby and Mikayla.
"Do you both have your cell phones?" Kyle asked.
"What kind of question was that? Of course we do!" Bobby replied.
"Good. Here's the plan. We got get our Digimon and then we come back here and call Yamaki to let him know we have then. If any of us run into trouble or are not back by eight, we will use the cell phones to call each other."
"Sounds good to me. Be careful, Kyle. Call us if you run into trouble."
"I will. Let's get going!"
With that, Bobby and Mikayla turned around and ran to the east as fast as they could. Kyle continued to watch his friends until they vanished from view. Turning around, Kyle looked down at his Digivice and watched as the arrow pointed straight ahead of him. He looked up and realized that his compass was going to be leading him in the direction of Central Park. He adjusted his hat and started to run down the empty sidewalk towards the park, all the while keeping a close eye on his compass.
"Here we go," Kyle thought as he picked up the pace.
And that's the first chapter! So we shed some light on the original tamers, Takato, Rika, Henry and Ryo as well as introduce the first OC Nasrin Hamidi. To top it off, our new trio goes in search of their hatched Digimon. Stay tuned to see what happens next. Make sure to review so I can get feedback to improve this story! Before I leave you, check out below for OC information. See you all next time.- Captain
New OC introduced:
Nasrin Hamidi: (wisdom-jewel)