A/N: And thus begins my third chapter. Reviews would be nice if possible to those that are reading- yes, I know you're out there…somewhere…Anyway, a bit more humor actually does happen in this chapter (I promise) and as things begin to progress. Read, review, and enjoy!
Rise of the Tamers
Chapter 3: What a crazy world this is…
4:52 p.m.
Vernon Hills, Illinois, United States of America
"What exactly is this place?" Catherine asked a bit quizzically, ducking underneath a branch as the Tamers made their way off a path in the park.
"A bit of park that's hardly visited by anyone," Ani explained from the front, sliding past a bush. "Quiet, private, and most of all, relatively secret. Exactly what we need for figuring some things out."
"Ani, Christie, and I would come here every now and then to get away from everything," Devon elaborated as he bowed low enough to get past the branch Catherine had ducked a moment earlier.
Tigramon, unimpeded by such trivial matters as branches, bounded through the low-lying brush with ease, enjoying the sights and scents of the Real World. "Hey Devon, isn't this fun? All these trees, and bushes, and shrubs, and- OW!" Tigramon then discovered what tree trunks were by meeting one face first. Devon sighed and sweatdropped at the sight of his energetic partner.
"Might want to watch out for those," Daniel quipped from in front of Catherine. "They tend to hurt a bit if you run into them."
"Shud ub!" Tigramon responded, rubbing his sore nose in his paws. "Stubid twees," he mumbled, trying to massage out the pain from his sensitive nose. Devon rolled his eyes, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth as he observed his partner's antics.
The other partners had mixed responses to their initial interactions with their partners. Salamon was laughing at Tigramon's red and sore nose as they walked along with their partners, while Tierramon puffed up his feathers at the display and waddled along like penguins do. Ani was, unsuccessfully thus far, trying to engage Kotemon in conversation, which seemed to be a doomed venture as Kotemon had yet to respond to any such attempts. Christie and Crabmon were chuckling along with Ani's well-meaning, but ultimately useless, tries to converse with his partner, sharing a few insights between themselves on the matter.
The group made their way past another set of low-lying branches, while Tigramon managed to trip over a large root in his excitement, flying into a set of bramble bushes, and coming out the other side into a clearing half-covered in thorns and other assorted barbs and pricklers.
"Ow! Devon, what are these things?" Tigramon asked, struggling to remove a prickler from his side.
"Pricklers," Devon replied, pulling it off the twisting cub.
"Stupid pricklers," Tigramon muttered again, plucking another from his paw. Devon merely rolled his eyes.
"Anyway, here we are," he said to the others, gesturing to take in the clearing they stood in. Strands of light filtered through the trees, poking through where branches and leaves swayed in the gentle breezes of fall. Around the edges of the break of trees were several logs that showed uses previously as makeshift benches and other furniture. Just past the trees on one side of the clearing was the muffled sound of a creek passing through the park, dividing the more industrial areas they had fled from against the residential areas they now resided closer to.
"Not bad," Daniel said, nodding in appreciation. "Definitely quiet and out of the way."
"I think it's really pretty here," Catherine commented, taking in the shifting rays of sunlight and waving branches of brush as their partners began to settle down into the slightly-worn grass of the clearing, with the exception of Tigramon, who was still trying to remove the sharp objects from his fur.
Ani shrugged, smiling a bit. "We aim to please."
"Alright, so let's focus on what we have to discuss here first before we head back home." Devon cut in, going for focus on the purpose of the impromptu meeting as they all took seats amongst the trees and shrubs of the small clearing.
"First things first, I think we have to figure out what we're going to tell our parents when they ask about the attack," Christie pointed out. "The first thing they're going to ask when we walk in is where we were when that happened."
"And," Ani added, "If they end up talking to each other and getting different stories, we're in deep trouble."
"There are the carnival galleries in town for the end of summer celebration," Christie suggested. "Lots of people there and plenty out of the way from the theaters."
"Plus, that can explain the Digimon," Catherine offered. "We can say we won them as part of the carnivals."
"Can they pull off the stuffed animal charade though?" Devon asked, gesturing to Tigramon, who was tugging the last thorn out of his leg, his tongue stuck in concentration. After a moment of pulling and glaring, he pulled the offending object out of his leg with a look of glee.
"What?" He asked, looking up to see everyone staring at him. "What did I do?"
Devon sweatdropped. "This'll take some work I guess…"
"They'll get better as we go," Daniel said. "We don't really have much of a choice otherwise really."
"Right…which brings us to the next thing," Devon said, rubbing around his eye, thinking about the task that faced them. "With Digimon coming through to the Real World, we're probably going to have to keep our partners nearby a lot of the time."
The others nodded in agreement, some more grudging than others. "No offense to these guys," Ani said, gesturing to the partners present, "But it's not going to be easy to do things and keep our partners around without blowing our cover. The last thing we need is a bunch after our Digimon for thinking they're the ones doing the damage."
"We don't really much other choice though," Catherine countered. "Unless you'd prefer another beating like today from Snimon."
"I'll pass on that, thank you much." Daniel put in his two cents before Ani could respond. "My ears are still ringing a bit from my little jaunt into that stop sign."
"True…though we're going to have figure some better plans than just stuffed animals if we're going to do this."
"We'll come up with things as we go," Devon conceded. Taking a quick glance at his watch, he stood from the log he had been resting on. "I've got to be getting back home- last thing I need is my parents worrying about me being at the theater and being late."
"Yeah, same here," Christie added, stretching as she got to her feet. "We all probably should get going."
"Alright then," Daniel said with gusto. "As crazy as this all sounds, this is going to be fun- think about it; fighting monsters, defending the world from dangers it doesn't even know about, and most important of all, making sure our parents don't ground us for coming home late after nearly getting killed."
The others laughed off the situation, even though Devon in particular still remembered how close he'd been to being a Digital shish kabob earlier today. Slowly, they began to make their way out of the brush, Tigramon taking extra care this time to avoid roots, bramble bushes, and tree trunks. Eventually, they broke off as Daniel went his way to his house, while the other four continued along the path back towards the street of their subdivision.
What a crazy world this is, Devon thought, his hands in his pockets. Who would have thought though- a partner Digimon of my very own. What are things going to be like from now on? Devon stumbled across another thought then in his processes. How am I going to keep Tigramon hidden from my family? Can I tell them? He dismissed that thought milliseconds after it formed. His parents would be scared to let him take steps out of the house if he told them the whole story- and they'd want the whole story. Besides, he could fool them…for a while at least. His sister…well she was a different story…
"Hey Devon?"
"Hmm?" Devon looked up from the concrete in front of him, turning his head towards the source of the interruption of his thoughts. Ani walked next to him, while Catherine and Christie were a few steps in front of them, talking about something or another. At least it's good to see they're getting along- we'll all have to in the next few months to say the least.
"Interesting day huh?" His best friend commented. "One minute, it's Pirates of the Caribbean; the next, we're being attacked by a preying mantis on steroids. And then we meet the guy who practically started being a Digimon Tamer. Not too shabby for being on the job for about 5 hours I'd say."
Devon snorted. "Considering that we almost didn't live past 10 minutes on it, anything so far is progress."
"True," Ani conceded, staying quiet for a moment after. "The only thing I remember going through my head was how I couldn't just run away. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'd jump into any sort of mess for you, but when a bug the size of a Mack truck comes out of nowhere and starts blowing things up, the first response you have is 'get the hell out of here!'"
"I know. It's a natural reaction after all, trying to stay alive and all," Devon replied, doing his best to joke about a moment that still replayed itself vividly after several hours. "Thanks for sticking around though."
"What else could I have done?" Ani responded. "Besides, if I didn't bring your sorry carcass home, your parents would have fricasseed me."
"If my sister didn't get to you first," Devon retorted with a grin before the two them shared a chuckle. "Still…I'm glad we're in this together."
"Likewise, Devon," Ani said. "All of us though. And something tells me things will only get harder for here."
"You know I hate it when you say that."
"Only because I'm usually right," he pointed out.
"Like the time I had to bail you out from that Anderson guy in 6th grade."
"Hey! It's not my fault he found out that I was the one who put jell-o in his gym socks."
"'Nothing can go wrong, Devon'" Devon continued on, ignoring Ani's protest. "'He'll never found it was me anyway.' Man, you should have seen your face when you took off running out of the school building," he reminisced, smiling as the memory took hold.
"Well…I don't think I've ever run that fast since."
"For good reason- he was ready to string you up from your toe nails for that."
"Yeah, yeah…so I make mistakes now and then," Ani said, shrugging in a 'well, yeah…' way.
"I just hope you're wrong about it getting harder though."
"Me too, Devon."
Devon quietly closed the front door, holding Tigramon like a stuffed animal. With a bit of luck, maybe he could get upstairs before…
"Devon?"
He sighed. Of course, it wouldn't be that easy. "Hi, mom."
"I'm glad you're home- there was something on the news about an explosion at the theater earlier."
"Oh, really?" Devon asked, playing the fool. "I was at the summer celebration with some friends the whole afternoon."
"Oh, good. I'm just glad you weren't around that when it happened."
Devon sweatdropped. "Of course mom, you know me. Wouldn't even think about it."
"What's that in your arm though?"
"This?" Devon responded. "Oh, I won it at the carnival. I'm going to dump my stuff upstairs though."
"Okay honey- dinner's in an hour."
"Gotcha mom," Devon said as he turned to go up the stairs of his house.
"It?" Tigramon asked, sounding hurt.
"Humans don't exactly think of stuffed animals as he or she, Tigramon. Technically, Digimon aren't either…"
"Well, I don't know about some of the others, but I'm pretty sure what I am."
"Alright, alright- I'm sorry. It's just not that easy with-"
"Who are you talking to?" Came the voice of Kaio, Devon's younger sister. She was sitting in the computer room, the family tabby cat- Leo- sitting in her lap as she turned the computer chair around to face the door.
Damn… "Um…ah, no one." Devon responded, trying to sound innocent.
"Sure?" She asked, giving him a glance that more than suggested he was crazy. "I'm pretty sure I heard talking."
"Probably just your imagination, Kaio. It'll play tricks on you after staring at the computer all day," Devon managed to come back, diverting attention from the original topic.
"Meh…only a few hours today." She got up a moment later, a quizzical look on her face. "What's this?" Kaio asked, bending over to look at the "stuffed animal" in Devon's arm.
"Just a stuffed animal," Devon answered, hoping Tigramon didn't have to itch…
"Hmmmm…" The young girl glared at Tigramon, coming only a few inches from his nose. After a tense minute of silence, she stood up from the impromptu staring contest. "He looks real though."
"Yep," Devon said, trying to hurry her up. "Amazing how lifelike stuffed animals can look nowadays."
"Whatever," Kaio shrugged and went back to the chair, while Leo started sniffing the new arrival.
"ACHOO!"
Kaio whipped back around, glaring at her brother, who was smiling sheepishly with his finger underneath his nose, rubbing it.
"Um, bless me?"
Kaio just glared and hmphed. "Gesundheit."
And with that, Devon ducked down the hallway and into his room. Putting Tigramon down on the bed and closing his door after Leo snuck in, he gave his partner a look.
"What? I really, really had to sneeze!"
"You're just lucky Kaio didn't see you."
"Yeah, yeah…" Tigramon stretched out on the bed as Leo jumped up on it. "What do you want?"
"Reow!" Leo replied.
"Oh, fine, you can have some bed too…"
Devon rolled his eyes as he put his bag down at the foot of his bed. "Okay, ground rules- if you're here while I'm at school, you can't go out of my room. My mom subs only some days."
"Subs?"
"Substitute teaches. Sometimes she works at my sister's school, while dad works for a big entertainment group. Kind of like Sony."
"Sony?"
"Nevermind…anyway, back to the point- you can't go out of my room while I'm gone."
"But Devon! Do you have any idea how boring that'll be?"
"Leo'll keep you company- won't you Leo?" The cat in question rolled over onto his side, purring. "See, problem solved."
"Devoooon…" Tigramon whined, pawing at his arm.
The Tamer sighed. "Okay…I suppose you can go out now and then- but only when my parents are both out of the house."
"Yay!" Tigramon bounced to his paws, making Leo look up at the disruptor of his rest. "Whoa! Why's he only got one eye?"
"Oh, Leo?" Devon sat down next to the pet, rubbing the back of his ears. "He originally came in from outside. Apparently, he got into a fight with something and got his eye clawed. Ever since, we've had him inside."
"Nice to meet you, Leo," Tigramon said, sticking out his paw. Leo replied by rubbing against it, still purring. "So what's happening for the rest of the night? Anything fun planned?"
"Well, my sister's going to some sort of thing with her friends after dinner. My parents are probably going to be in the living room for a bit, and then they head to sleep around 10 or so. I usually call it quits about the same time for school. Maybe after dinner we can get out for a bit. Though, it would have to be with a leash."
"A leash?"
"People don't often take cats outside anyway- I'll try and figure something better out," Devon said. "Sorry."
"A leash…crazy humans…" Tigramon muttered.
"I think I can get you some meatloaf for dinner though," Devon pointed out.
"Cool!...uh, Devon? What's meatloaf?" Devon sighed. This was going was to be an adventure, that was for sure…
Time: 8:13 p.m. Central Daylight Savings
Location: Unknown
"Arise my minion."
"Yes, master," The Digimon, cloaked in shadow, rose from his knee to stand at a bow.
"You know why I have summoned you. You also know that cannot fail me."
"I will not, m'lord. The Tamers will not know what hit them by the time I'm finished with them."
"Although your methods are quite a bit…unorthodox…I have faith that you will not fail me as Snimon did. You must first break their will to fight and divide them against each other- then you can finish them off one at a time."
"Of course, my master. I will not fail you this time."
Alrighty then- another chapter finished and completed. I kept my promise about more humor in this one, and hope everyone likes it. Please read and review. I know you're reading this. Yes, you, with the glasses. And I'm not forgetting you over there with the funky t-shirt either. It's not that fun to write if I don't get feedback from you (the readers). Plus, it makes the story better if I know what I'm not doing so fantastic on- so please review. Clicky the button and make me happy.
In the Next Chapter of Rise of the Tamers…As the Tamers try to adjust to life with their Digimon and protecting the world (while balancing all of the other things they have to worry about), a new enemy threatens to drive them apart before they can even come together. As the new Tamers deal with their inner demons about fighting and what they're actually trying to save, forces in the shadows conspire to destroy the only line of defense the Real World has with…showtunes? Find out in the next chapter of Rise of the Tamers!
