Chapter 2: Starting the Team
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Disclaimer: I don't own digimon or any of the characters in this chapter.
Thanks to CrazyEight for betaing this story.
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"So, what are you going to do today?" Coronamon asked whimsically as Tadashi slipped into a set of clothes. The blond also had his backpack with his finished homework on the bed. He was amazed that he had actually gotten it done, especially since he had Coronamon to deal with all night.
"Today, I'm going to school," Tadashi said as he pulled his shirt over his head. His room was sparse and contained only a bed, a window to the outside, a dresser and a desk.
"So, can I come to this school place or am I just going to have to stay home?" Coronamon asked with a knowing look on his face as his Tamer gave him a sorrowful expression.
"Sorry, but you're going to have to stay here. I'm not sure what my classmates would think of me having a partner, especially since some other Tamers in my class disappeared without warning."
"Ah, you're no fun!" the lion exclaimed, lying back on the bed bummed out.
"Also, my brother has practice today for a game on Saturday so he won't be around until around dinner," Tadashi explained. "Still, maybe we can do something after school."
"That would be great! So, can I go into the rest of the apartment while you're at school?" the lion asked.
"Sure. We have a TV and there's plenty of food. Just go back inside before two or if you hear the door start opening," the blond cautioned.
"Alright! That sounds good to me!" the digimon exclaimed, smiling at his partner.
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Arriving at school, Tadashi grabbed books from his locker, headed to his classroom and sat down at his seat. Looking around, he noticed Miki, Ayaka, Jeri and another girl talking about something and also saw that none of his friends were there yet. That confused him. Usually the guys weren't late. He wondered what was holding them, but then he told himself that this was Yuji and that the guy was probably pulling off some scheme or another to get more cash. He sighed at the thought.
What surprised him next was Jeri walking over to his desk as he started to pull out his work to turn in. Tadashi usually got along with the girl, but it surprised him to see her suddenly do that. The girl smiled before speaking. "So, I hear you got a partner."
Tadashi was dumbstruck. "Wait, did Beelzemon tell you?" he asked, surprised that the mega would do such a thing, but the girl shook her head and giggled a little.
"No, Calumon told me he saw a boy with a digimon that looked like you."
"Oh," the blond said simply, a look of surprise coming across his face.
"So, you have a digivice?" she asked and Tadashi nodded, pulling his out.
"I've been messing with it since last night, but I only understand a little bit about it. Do you know anything more about how it works?" the blond boy asked, hoping for some information. Then again, as one of the few original Tamers around, Jeri would be a good person to learn from, even if she was a Tamer for only a little bit.
"Well, if you press this a couple times, you can see what your digimon sees," she said, pointing at the required button. "Press it again, and you get a radar screen." Tadashi did so, causing a screen to appear with a couple dots on it.
"Are those… Other digivices?" he asked and the brunette pulled hers out, giving him a smile while doing so.
"I have one and so does Ayaka," she said, glancing toward the pig-tailed blonde girl with the striped shirt. This fact startled Tadashi.
"What? She's a Tamer?" the blond boy exclaimed, getting a concerned glance from the girl he was talking about. He covered his mouth as soon as he realized he said something.
"Yeah, but she doesn't do any fighting. She became one a couple weeks ago after Beelzemon found a digimon that didn't go on a rampage, so he asked me if I knew of anyone who could take care of her. So, I told him about Ayaka. Her parents still think she's a stuffed animal, though," Jeri explained as Tadashi nodded.
"That's pretty interesting. So, you think she can help me reach my goal of going to the digital world to find the others?" Tadashi inquired, showing a bit of an uneasy smile. He knew that others would probably think he was an overly idealistic kid for having such a goal in mind, which made him nervous about declaring it.
"The thing is… she doesn't want to fight. I keep telling her that she might have to, but she refuses," the brunette responded.
"Alright… That'll make things complicated," Tadashi responded. He noticed that even after that long conversation, his two buddies were still not there. He wondered what was taking them.
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"This was a bad idea, man!" Taizou exclaimed as the two boys and rookie digimon ran away through the park from a large digimon.
"Yeah? Well I don't see you coming up with a way to stop this thing!" Yuji complained. Instead of finding a rookie digimon to be Taizou's partner, they had run into a large, red dinosaur digimon of the Champion Level: Tyrannomon.
"Dude! We're totally late for school!" the buzz-cut boy said back.
"Well, duh! You knew this was going to happen! Come on, there was always a chance you were going to be late to school. Do you want a partner digimon or not?" the long-haired teen asked before hearing the sounds of an attack.
"Double Impact!" Looking behind at their savior, Yuji immediately decided to continue running with Taizou. There was no way they were going to deal with Beelzemon.
The mega saw the boys continue running and just shrugged. "Great, there's another Tamer here," Beelzemon mumbled under his breath. He recognized the duo from when Takato and Guilmon played with his friends in the park, just like Tadashi. Unfortunately, he also noticed the Commandramon with them. Great, so that digimon is his partner, huh? The mega thought.
He was going to have to tell Yamaki about this.
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Yuji and Taizou arrived in class about fifteen minutes later than they should have. When they arrived, the teacher glared at them. "What excuse do you have this time?" the balding man asked, his eyes narrowed and his mouth curved into a frown.
"Uh…" Yuji started to say, already having the class's attention. Thinking about it for a second, he realized that telling the truth could mean good publicity, which caused his look of concern to change into a smile. "Well, teach, it turns out that I'm a Digimon Tamer!" he declared, showing the class his white digivice with a gold ring around the display screen. The class oohed in amazement.
Wait, when did he get a partner? Tadashi asked himself silently, a look of confusion on his face. He knew something was up. Something was always up with Yuji. For all he knew, the long-haired boy was going to use this to fuel some scam of his. Tadashi was not impressed.
"Well, you're going to need to get a note from Hypnos that allows you to leave class for this kind of thing," the teacher explained. "But, for now I'll let you off the hook. Next time, though, you need that note."
"Uh… okay," Yuji said, smiling and sitting down.
"And you, Taizou?" the teacher inquired.
"Um, I went with him because he's supposed to get me a partner," the buzz-cut boy explained, somewhat irritated.
"Yeah, he's my Tamer-in-training," Yuji joked, sitting back in his seat and relaxing. The brown-haired boy looked over to his friend, Tadashi, who was looking at him as if he was crazy. In response, Yuji's smile got wider as the teacher continued his lecture.
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"Okay, in order to get the teacher's permission to leave class, we're going to have to have a note from Hypnos. So, how about we go do that ourselves. It'll give us some legitimacy and we'll have their backing in case anything goes wrong," suggested Tadashi to Ayaka during lunch. The other two boys were nowhere to be found, so the blond felt free to talk about Digimon.
"I don't know…" Ayaka replied.
"Didn't you see that sexy director at Hypnos. He's totally hot!" Miki exclaimed.
"Yeah, but isn't he really old or something," the blonde inquired, looking over to Jeri.
"He's in his thirties," the brunette said. "Not to mention, he just got engaged to Riley last month, so he's already taken."
Tadashi took a deep breath. "Listen, somehow I have a bad feeling about Yuji having a partner. Something about it puts me on edge, especially with all his ridiculous schemes and whatnot."
"His schemes aren't that ridiculous," Miki objected.
"But for some reason, I get the feeling that the guy might do something with digimon to get more money. Also, if we let Hypnos know about us, they'll be able to back us up if we ever go to the digital world," the blond boy continued.
"You… have a point," Ayaka conceded. "But, I don't really want to fight or anything."
"I'm sure you won't have to," Tadashi said, meaning that she wouldn't have to fight Yuji.
"Hypnos already knows about Ayaka and her partner. She just hasn't made her partnership with them official yet," Jeri explained to Tadashi.
"That's what I thought. You want to come along, Ayaka?" the blond boy asked. "We can do this after school if you want. Maybe we could even pick up our partners beforehand."
Ayaka nodded nervously. "Okay, I'll do this. Just don't pressure me into dealing with bioemergences, okay?"
"Don't worry about it," Tadashi said with a bit of a smile.
"Besides, since you don't like fighting so much, you might make a good diplomat," Jeri remarked, hoping to encourage her friend a little.
Ayaka gave the group a look of determination.
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Coronamon was surprised to see his partner so soon after school. "Hey, Coronamon, want to go for a little walk?" the blond asked his partner as soon as he walked into his bedroom. The lion greeted his partner with a smile.
"Sure, that would be great! Definitely better than being cooped up in here all day!" the digimon exclaimed.
"Okay, I'll just need to sneak you out somehow. My mom's home," Tadashi told his partner, before looking around while trying to think up a ruse.
Then he spotted a suitcase, causing him to smile. A few seconds later, the duo was out of the bedroom and Coronamon was in the suitcase. When Tadashi's mom asked him what he was doing, he claimed that he was off to give the suitcase to Taizou for a trip that weekend.
After the boy and his partner were out of his mother's sight, Tadashi let the lion out of his suitcase. "I guess we'll need a place to stash this for the time being," the blond said as they hurried down the stairs nervously. The blond hoped that he didn't have to lie to his parents ever again. He absolutely hated it.
"Okay, then we'll do that. Hey, I know, we can use that shed in the park that you talked about!" Coronamon suggested.
"That's a great idea! Thanks Coronamon!" Tadashi said as the two headed toward the park.
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After their little detour, the two reached the Hypnos building where Ayaka was waiting with a small, dog-like digimon, Salamon. "Hey, you made it!" the blonde girl exclaimed with a smile, hoping and failing to cover the nervousness that was permeating her body.
"Yeah, we did," Tadashi responded. "Sorry I'm a little late. I snuck Coronamon out of the apartment using a suitcase and we had to stash it somewhere on the way."
"No problem. I've got all afternoon. I did all my homework in class today, anyway," Ayaka said before the two entered into the high-rise building.
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"So, how's it going, Salamon?" Coronamon asked the dog as Tadashi asked a receptionist for the floor that Hypnos was on.
The dog shrugged shyly. She was definitely nervous around strangers.
"You like being partnered with Ayaka?" the lion asked, smiling like crazy.
"I love it! She's a nice girl," Salamon replied.
"That's good. So, what do you digivolve into?" Coronamon inquired, causing the dog to turn beet red.
"I… I haven't digivolved yet. I want to but my partner's too afraid that something bad will happen if I get into a battle," Salamon explained nervously before taking a deep breath. "I heard about the other Tamers that disappeared and I want to help them, but my partner…"
"We can change that. Don't worry!" Coronamon cheered, grinning.
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So, this is Hypnos, Tadashi thought as the teens and their partners exited the elevator and into the floor for the government agency. The blond boy felt nervous walking around there, even though he had a name badge. He guessed that part of his apprehension had to deal with how the receptionist let Yamaki know they were coming.
He took a deep breath as the two kids walked into the other room. Looking to his right, he noticed that Ayaka looked even more nervous than he did. In fact, the blonde girl looked positively terrified.
Tadashi had to wonder why.
Entering the meeting room, the two Tamers saw Yamaki facing away from them, looking out the window at the Tokyo skyline. The blond man turned around and smiled at the duo and their partners congenially. Tadashi wondered if the man ever took those sunglasses off.
"Please sit down," the man said after a few seconds. Tadashi and Ayaka did so.
The blond boy was unnerved by the whole situation. Meeting new people made him nervous, and that was even with having a friend with him. He hoped that this meeting went well, but Yamaki's intimidating nature made him afraid that it wouldn't.
Looking over to the side, he could see that Ayaka was actually doing better than he was. Or at least, she wasn't sweating.
"So, you're the newest Tamers. Which district are you from?" Yamaki asked, sitting down himself and organizing his papers.
"Shinjuku," Tadashi stuttered out.
"Just like Takato's team…" the Hypnos director stated matter-of-factly.
"Yeah, I'm actually one of Takato's friends from school," the blond boy said. Yamaki simply nodded before talking again.
"Just so you know, you're not a replacement for him or his team."
"I knew that. One of my goals as a Tamer is to find the others," Tadashi stated, an uneasy smile forming on his face.
Yamaki just looked at him dumbstruck. "What's the highest level your partner digimon has reached?" he asked, not buying that this kid could go and find them in his current state.
"Uh… I haven't even digivolved yet," Coronamon said in his partner's place. "I hope to do so soon."
Yamaki stood, frowning. "There is no way I am going to send you to find the others until you have reached the Ultimate level, at least. We hope to eventually send a team, though the Americans are probably going to send one before us since they have a larger number of Tamers."
Tadashi nodded. "I understand."
"Now, I would assume that that means that you are going to be working for Hypnos. There's a going rate of about 10000 yen for each rookie you delete, 20000 for each champion, 50000 for each Ultimate, and 100000 for each Mega. You will also get an additional 25% if the digimon that emerges doesn't require deletion. There are a number of additional rules for you to consider as well that are included in the contract that you make with us. For instance, you may not fight another Tamer, Hypnos or otherwise, unless the Tamer involved is a rogue. Do you understand?"
Both Tamers and their partners nodded.
"Okay, now another thing: there are three shifts. While I'm ultimately the head director, I currently work the day shift. The night shift from five pm. To one a.m. is governed by Gorou Mizuno and the graveyard shift from one to nine a.m. by Rentarou Satsuma. We're also hoping to recruit some more supervisors, eventually. Any questions?"
"When do we start?" Salamon asked.
"Salamon, we weren't going to do any fighting, remember?" Ayaka told her partner.
"Ayaka, you want to help the others, don't you?" the dog asked her partner.
Then Tadashi spoke. "Ayaka, think about it. What would Jeri do? Heck, she's probably more timid than either of us and she still went to the digital world."
The blonde thought about it for a second, trying to get past her apprehension toward this. Still, she couldn't do this, even though she wanted to help the others. "I'll… think about it."
"By the way, rescuing the others isn't going to be a simple trip to the digital world," Yamaki said, hating what he was about to say. "We've been trying to keep their disappearance under wraps with the media, partially because their last known location was just beyond the known digital world, where the D-Reaper came up into it. Now, after several months, the D-Reaper should be microscopic, however, we don't know what lies beyond its realm. There were theories about another world that the D-Reaper came into contact with, however it's a given that there would be nothing left alive in that place."
Tadashi and Ayaka looked at Yamaki in complete shock. "You mean… there's no way we'll be able to save them?" the blond boy asked.
Yamaki's eye twitched. "That's not what I said. When you go ahead and save them, you will have to go into the unknown."
"Well, what are we waiting for? If the D-Reaper is no longer down there, we have nothing to worry about, right?" Coronamon declared.
"No, whatever took the others was capable of defeating Megas," Ayaka stated.
"On the contrary, the Tamers never had the chance to reach their Mega forms when the digimon that took them emerged," Yamaki corrected. "The digimon, whatever it was, used some unknown means to put them to sleep as soon as they entered the digital field. It was a trap."
"Then we do stand a chance. We'll just need to reach the Ultimate level as soon as we can as well as gather a team," Tadashi concluded, standing up. "Let's get this over with!"
"Okay, the forms are right here, Tadashi. Take your time. I'm here until five," Yamaki said, pushing the papers toward the two new Tamers. "Also, look for a Tamer that has a Commandramon for a partner. Apparently Beelzemon saw him running away from a battle this morning."
"Wait, did you say Commandramon?" Coronamon asked, a little bit of both fear and anger coming into his voice.
"Yes. A boy with long, brown hair was seen with a digivice," Yamaki added.
"Yuji," Tadashi figured out, putting everything together.
"Wait, that's a friend of yours from school, right?" Coronamon asked, trying to remember everything he knew about his partner's friends.
"Yeah, he told everyone that he was a Tamer in class today," the blond boy said.
Yamaki reacted by placing his palm on his forehead. "You have got to be kidding me. What I try to tell every new Tamer that comes here is to not publicize their status. There are already anti-digimon groups out there that could prey on you if you're not careful."
"So, we're going to have to deal with Yuji. Great," Ayaka said sarcastically.
"Sooner or later, yeah," Tadashi concluded. "Well, let's get this over with."
The next little bit involved finishing off the various forms and contracts the two of them had to fill out.
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As the two left the room, they ran into Riley. Tadashi correctly concluded that she was the one engaged to Yamaki since she had a diamond ring on her left ring finger. The brunette woman smiled at the two in front of her before speaking.
"Just so you know, there are special programs here at Hypnos for Digimon Tamers and their partners. For instance, if your parents don't approve of you having a partner or if you're afraid that they won't, you can keep them here for the time being," the woman explained.
"That sounds like a great idea, Tadashi!" Coronamon exclaimed. "If I stay here, then you won't have to worry about your parents finding out about me."
"If you say so," the blond boy said, not so sure about that one. "I guess we could try it. Anything else?"
Riley responded with a smile. "There's also a program that we have for Tamers to learn English. It's using a course designed for diplomats who go to America, but we've had success in teaching a few members of Takato's team some of the basics. You will also work with a certified linguist to polish your accent."
"I'm not sure what use that would be here in Japan, but it wouldn't hurt. When can I start?" Tadashi asked.
"You can start as soon as next Monday, if you'd like," the brunette responded. "How about you, Ayaka? Would you like to learn some English?"
"I know a little from school and playing video games in the language, but I'm sure I need to improve a bunch of things. Sure, that sounds like a good idea. It is free, right?"
"Absolutely," Riley replied with an even wider smile.
Tadashi could already tell that the beginnings were being laid for a good time as a Tamer.
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Tadashi approached the door, afraid of what might lie on the other side. He knew that Yamaki had told his parents that he was a Tamer and he feared their reaction, especially his father's.
He turned the knob, remembering the other times he had gotten in trouble. He hoped this wouldn't be as bad as those times, but he had no guarantee. He pushed the door open and peaked inside. His parents and older brother were at the table, talking. It didn't seem as if anything was different. So, he shut the door, which made far too much noise for his liking.
"Tadashi! You're home. Come over to the table for dinner," his mother called out to him in her foreign accent.
The blond walked over to the table and sat down, plopping his backpack on the ground next to him. He glanced at his father's face and could tell from the neutral expression that the man was thinking. The very thought that he could know made Tadashi sweat. His father wasn't a very big man, and age was starting to do a number on his hair, causing him to go bald, though it still had a ways to go.
His mother wasn't Japanese and both Tadashi and his brother had somehow inherited her brown hair and her slightly heavy body type. The European woman smiled at him.
"So, how long were you going to wait to tell us?" Tadashi's father said, getting straight to the point.
"Uh, I have no idea what you're talking about," Tadashi said, scratching the back of his head. The smile was gone from his mother's face, replaced by surprise at her husband's abruptness.
"He just got home. Let him eat before we talk about that," she said.
"I want to talk about it now. Okay, Tadashi, how long have you had a Digimon?" the father asked, looking at his son and hoping for a quick answer.
The blond boy blurted everything out nervously. "Since yesterday. I met him and then brought him home. I'm sorry I didn't tell you, I really am."
Surprisingly, Tadashi's mother spoke next. "Well, you should have him come in. I'm sure Digimon need food too."
"He's at Hypnos right now. I… I didn't know how you'd react," Tadashi responded.
"Tadashi, listen," his father started to say before pausing for breath. "I don't want you going out and fighting monsters. It's too dangerous. Something could happen to you. You could be hurt or…"
Tadashi would have none of it. "Dad! Some friends of mine were kidnapped and taken to the digital world. I want to go and save them. You can't say that…"
The man was absolutely livid. "Tadashi!" he yelled, "Don't interrupt me like that!" The man's voice calmed slightly upon seeing his son's frightened expression. "You know, hearing about your friends disappearing… Okay, I'll admit, it's great that you want to go and save them, but… It's way too dangerous. You saw how that giant pig destroyed a large part of Shinjuku. Heck, my offices were down there so I saw the whole thing."
"Dad, here's the thing, I'm one of only five Tamers here in Shinjuku that can defend from evil digimon like that," Tadashi said. "And I want to. There's no way you can stop me from defending this town, even if I have to direct my partner from my room using my digivice."
The man faltered for a second. "Okay, you can do that. But you can't go there yourself to deal with these guys. It's too dangerous."
"So, what about your partner?" Kurita asked, finally speaking. "Are you just going to leave him at Hypnos or are you going to bring him here?"
"If it's alright with you guys, I'll bring him here," the blond boy said. At least he knew his brother was on his side. He looked to his father, who was thinking. "Can I, dad?"
The man remained silent for a couple minutes. "I'll think about it."
###
"Honey, I think he really wants this," Tadashi's mother said, lying in bed in her pajamas, reading. "I think he really wants to help his friends."
"The proper authorities are there to do that. They'll help save his friends eventually," his father said from the master bathroom, flossing his teeth in the mirror. "In fact, he needs to know that you can't save everyone. We're all very limited in what we can do."
The mother nodded. "I can't blame you for being scared, but what can Hypnos do to save his friends if they don't have Tamers to help out."
The man looked at his wife. "They do. He said there were five in Shinjuku, but he didn't mention the other districts. For all we know, there is a ton in Shibuya, Koto or Musashino. Watch, there might even be some in Osaka or Yokohama. I do have to say that it's pretty funny that he's jumping at the call so quickly."
"He's always been that way. I think part of it is his fear of failure. At the same time, he cares what others think, sometimes too much." The woman shut her book as her husband walked over towards the bed.
"You remember when he first started school, right?" she asked. "He had the hardest time making friends because of his shyness. Then one day a certain Takato Matsuki invited him to his house along with Kazu and Kenta. Now they're all gone."
"It's not like Tadashi hasn't returned the favor. He's had them over numerous times," the father said, getting in bed.
His wife smiled. "Yes, he did. He also appreciated how they helped save the city from the D-Reaper. He can't repay the favor for that unless you let him."
The man looked at his wife. After that, he shut off his lamp and then sunk into bed. "Good night, babe. I'll think about all this."
She smiled before turning off her light.
###
"So, how'd it go?" Jeri asked Tadashi over the phone sometime after dinner. He was surprised that the brunette had called him.
"Alright. Unfortunately, my parents now know and Coronamon is now staying at Hypnos until my parents let him stay here. That could take a while," Tadashi responded, sitting down at his desk in the middle of doing homework.
"Oh, that's good. It's better than keeping him in a shed for the time being. Sorry about your parents," Jeri responded.
"Yeah, like what Takato did? There's no way I could do that. Still, I heard the going rate for working with Hypnos. Yuji would probably go berserk if he heard about that," the blond said, going over his homework. He also had a book to read for his lit class, though it was safe to say that a part of him dreaded reading it and then going over the supposed themes of the book in his homework for that.
"I can't blame you. Can you imagine how cold that place would have gotten in the winter time?" the brunette mentioned. "Well, I hope this works out for you. Anything else going on?"
"Well, my brother's got a game this Saturday. Other than that, I can't think of anything. Oh, and I'm going to take some courses for English at Hypnos," the blond said, causing Jeri to gasp.
"You're taking those courses, huh? Kazu dropped out after a week because they're so intensive," the girl explained.
"Alright, I'll keep that in mind. Do you know anything else about them?" Tadashi asked out of curiosity, trying to push away the fear going through his mind about the courses he was about to take.
"Just that they last fifty lessons. You also learn tons of vocabulary through flashcards, about fifty words a lesson that you go over after each lesson."
"All at once?" the blond asked, surprised.
"No, not all at once. They use some sort of spaced-repetition algorithm to sort the words. You go over the words you already learned in previous lessons and then you go over the new words. You also do some reading to improve your grasp of the vocabulary," Jeri explained some more. "Rika somehow got through the whole course and so did Henry and Kenta, though Henry already knew pretty good English, so it was probably very easy for him.
"What about Takato?" Tadashi asked.
"I don't know. He didn't talk about it that much. I guess he took the course. I don't know. But I'd try it if I were you and I'd start, I don't know, listening to music or something to help your motivation."
Tadashi nodded. "Alright, I'll do that. So, any ideas on how to deal with Yuji? I was going to try and talk to him, but I don't want him to know I'm a Tamer yet."
The brunette shrugged on the other line. "I guess you could do that. Try to do that as soon as possible and don't let him avoid you."
The blond nodded. "Gotcha." The truth of the matter was that he was very nervous about talking to his friend. Plus there was the case with Commandramon being his own partner's enemy. "Well, good night."
"Good night. Say hi to your family for me," the brunette said in her cheery voice.
"Alright, I will. Bye." He hung up his new cell phone that he got standard issue from Hypnos.
He had no idea how he was going to talk to his friend and he felt his nervousness increase as the seconds continued.
Be courageous, Tadashi. You can do this; he thought through clenched teeth and balled up fists.
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Next Chapter: Overcoming Fears
