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Chapter Two: The Heroes
Now, Ruki prided herself on being smart. She was a strategist. She was, once she calmed down, able to keep cool, and aware of her surroundings. Thus, it was only natural for her to not squeal like an idiot (or worse, a Takato) at the realization that those anime characters she had seen on tv for ages were actually real. Or at least two of them were. It wasn't much of a stretch for all of them to be, in her imagination. So her entire world has just been flipped over.
So, the reaction of almost dropping her cards after paying for them and running out the door to scream for every bystander to hear seemed perfectly fine, right? Of course she didn't actually do that, but still. She came very, very close. Was this what Takato had felt like when he first found Guilmon?
Motomiya Daisuke, (seriously the others were going to flip out, Kenta would probably faint), for his part, looked surprised for a few seconds before his big grin widened even more. "Man, Ken, am I good or what?"
Ken smiled a little, but Ruki could tell from here it was to contain laughter. "Yes, Daisuke-kun, you are the best there is."
"Oh come on, don't go that far.. You'll make me blush!" He turned back to her to prove that yes, she still had his attention. Then he went to pay for his cards. "So you're one of the people who saved this place, huh? Who are you? We didn't get many details before being told to fly like our little tails depended on it!" The redhead just stared even more, which was, well, slightly uncomfortable. But he could deal. he'd had worse staring him in the face before. And worse trying to kill him. Lucky him that she wasn't trying to do that yet.
She broke out of her stupor at the mention of it. "Makino Ruki. My friends and I worked together on all of that. It wasn't just me." Boy was it nice to say that and mean it. Daisuke beamed at her to destroy any potential awkwardness (really, Ken was enough!).
"Awesome! It must have been real tough, huh?"
His voice made the obvious seem well, extraordinary. Ruki looked away from him as he counted slips from his wallet. It was almost like Takato in this endearing 'no, really' sort of way. Of course it had been hard. They'd had to fight all sorts of creatures, some not even Digimon, and in the end, their partners had had to go home. There had been an unknown number of casualties and everything. Daisuke and his friends got to stay with their partners in the end, to a point. It wasn't the same thing.
But he still took whatever tribulations they were going through pretty seriously.
It's probably because he's an earnest kind of guy, Ruki thought, forcing herself to look at her new cards. Maybe it's some kind of disease from the plastic in goggles.
… Man that was a dumb thought. I need new friends.
"Something like that," she finally said, sounding out the words before she realized it.
Daisuke frowned at her. "What kind of wishy-washy answer is that?"
Her eye twitched. "What."
Ken let out a sigh.
"Daisuke's kinda hopeless, huh?" V-mon commented, ignorant to the stares of passing people.
Wormmon tried very hard not to roll his eyes.
Being back in the human world, even if it was a different world than his home, made Ryo very claustrophobic.
What memories he had of the old digital world were rich and expansive and the new one, though in smaller zones, had stretched far and wide, beyond his eyes. Never beyond Cyberdramon's snout, of course not. Tat would be insulting, but it was enough distance to let his partner roam and only occasionally lose his mind to battle.
It was all so peaceful… and dull.
He could never admit this out loud, of course. That was ungrateful. They all had to miss it though, the fun, and the glory and the fighting. Ryo wasn't entirely sure he missed it exactly (fights were surprisingly easy to come by in this world.) but the lack of it drove his mind into a frenzy of a constant prickling at the back of his neck. Only Cyberdramon had been more aware than his own instincts and lacking it, even as his friendly Monodramon self. It was getting to be a little ridiculous.
He couldn't even sleep at night anymore. He was eleven, not fifty-three. He didn't need insomnia on top of everything else.
You could always see a doctor, his head reminded him in its usual cheerful sarcasm. A doctor? More like four, if one was also a hacker as a side-hobby. Maybe he could see Shibumi…
No wait that guy kept himself in a self-medicated coma to spirit travel to the digital world, there was no reason to ever trust him. Nope. Nada. Zilch.
… Maybe he could take up boxing.
He rolled his eyes at himself. Did he have to be this obviously out of his mind? It was bad for the friends he rarely ever hung out with.
Ryo laughed at himself and started to walk a bit faster. The sooner he got home, the sooner he could take a nice nap in front of his fan and get rid of these stupid, useless thoughts. That sounded real nice.
Then… just to ruin that very nice thought, a chill went down his back. It was his usual warning signal for 'hey buddy, your carefree life is over!' so of course he listened to it. It was hardly ever wrong. Ryo stopped walking and turned around. The playful smart remark died in his throat as he took a look at who was looking at him. Lanky in body, blue hair that fell at his ears, not bunched up like a messy chew toy. The same eyes, these a little rounder. Less of the chubby baby fat. No expression contorted with pain. Just a wary, curious frown that was shifting too fast into a smile of relief.
"Ken…?" He managed to say, not even attempting to look at Ruki behind him, or the other boy next to her. They were so busy arguing that they weren't even paying attention to the look on his face.
Ken smiled a little wider, expression sheepish. "Hi, Ryo-san. I, uh, we need your help again."
Of course they did.