Chapter Two
A Threat Revealed
After school, Davis rode the bus home again. It was a remotely casual routine now, since they'd been back in school for a few months. Once he got home, he did his homework. He sighed with relief when he finished his homework without one interruption. Today he didn't feel like practicing soccer, so he played videogames until his mom made dinner.
After dinner, he surfed the Internet. He nearly fell asleep in front of the computer before he climbed into bed at about ten thirty. Fridays were always the best because he could go to bed as late as he wanted. Davis had almost forgotten that Willis was coming tomorrow. His eyes blinked shut, and Davis fell asleep to dream sweet dreams about his Digimon.
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His eyes flared open the next morning when the phone rang. With a glance at the clock, Davis noticed it was only nine thirty in the morning. He normally slept until eleven on weekends! After sitting up in bed with a moan, he grabbed the phone.
"Hello?"
"Hi, Davis!"
He groaned. It was Auki Masuma.
"I was wondering if you were busy today. If not, could you and Ken give me those pointers you promised?"
"Sorry, we're busy," Davis mumbled.
"Really? What about tomorrow?"
"Probably busy then too." Davis flopped back onto his pillow.
"Okay. Maybe next weekend!"
She hung up.
Davis, his mouth hanging open, stared at the phone. This was crazy! Auki Masuma either was very strange by choice, or she wasn't playing with a full deck. After putting the phone back on the hook, he lay in bed and stared at the ceiling. Finally deciding he couldn't get back to sleep, he jumped out of bed and got dressed. He ate a quick bowl of cereal, and then went to surf the net on his computer.
Half an hour later, Kari called to ask if he wanted to go out with her and the others for lunch and ice cream.
"Shouldn't we do that when Willis gets here?"
"You've got a point. Maybe we can go out to dinner when he arrives, instead?"
"Sure. Talk to you later."
"Bye."
Davis played videogames until three. When he got board with the videogames, he decided maybe he'd go see a movie. The phone rang just as he was grabbing his wallet. Grumbling, Davis picked up the phone.
"Hello?"
"Hi, Davis!"
"What is it now?"
"I was wondering what you were busy doing?"
"I'm going to a movie."
Davis regretted these words almost immediately.
"Wow! Can I come? I'd love to go to a movie! I'll see you there, okay?"
She hung up.
Davis slammed the phone down. "You idiot!" Maybe he shouldn't go. He could just tell Auki that he didn't feel like going after all.
Kari had said she might be lonely, being the new girl and all. Maybe he should at least give her a chance. Davis headed for the front door. He paused with his hand on the door handle. But then again, she was the weirdest person he'd ever met!
"Maybe weird is good," Davis muttered as he locked the door behind him. "She's pretty unpredictable."
He reached the movie theater seven minutes later. Somebody tapped him on the shoulder, and he turned around to come face to face with Auki Masuma. Today she was wearing tight, black jeans and a white t-shirt with an orange X on the front. Her hair was in a side-ways ponytail.
Her clothing style was just an unpredictable as she was!
"Hi, Davis!" she said. Her glasses shone in the sunlight. "What movie are we going to watch?"
Davis moaned inwardly. It had been a horrible idea to tell her he was seeing a movie. She would probably criticize everything in the film. He'd just wanted some time alone, but with Auki calling him ten times a day, he couldn't get away from her. She was standing there, with that forever-smile on her face, waiting.
"You choose," Davis replied.
"Great! There's this one I've wanted to see, but it's a horror film. I'm a fool for watching them because I always shut my eyes at the scary parts!"
Wonderful! She'd be squinting her eyes shut every few seconds. At least she wouldn't be screaming out bad things about every other scene.
"Sounds okay." Davis shrugged.
"Come on! Let's get in line!"
Davis was suddenly jerked forward. Auki had grabbed him by the wrist. She was pulling him toward the end of the line. There weren't too many people in line; a few old couples and a few elementary school kids were waiting for tickets.
Was it really too much to ask for to give Auki a chance? She seemed pretty happy to be seeing a movie with someone. Maybe she rarely ever did.
"Do you go to movies often?" Davis questioned.
Auki's one-second-frown appeared, but then it was turned upside down into a smile again. "Nope, not usually. I normally wait for them to come out on video."
"Where's the fun in that?" Davis said as the line moved forward.
"I can enjoy the movie without anybody snorting and snoozing."
Davis suddenly realized that Auki hadn't let go of his wrist.
"I guess that makes sense..." Davis muttered.
"A whole lot of sense!" Auki nodded curtly. "Do you always come to movie theaters to watch movies?"
"Sometimes."
"Huh. We're next!" She bounced up and down a few times.
They got the tickets for the horror movie and went inside. Auki pulled Davis over to the refreshments counter. She pointed out all her favorite candies. Davis ordered a medium soda and some sour candy. He watched Auki pull some crumpled money from her pocket. She got two chocolate bars and a large soda.
Once they had their food, Auki dragged Davis into the theater. She chose a seat that was in the third row from the front. There was only one other person in the theater; a sort of freakish-looking nerd that was wearing a shirt with the movie title ballooned across the front sat in the very back row.
"This is so exciting!" Auki licked her lips and took a large sip of her soda. "I can't wait until it starts!"
Davis looked around at the door to see if anybody else was entering, but to his dismay, it looked like the only other person was the nerd. Maybe it wasn't so bad to be here with Auki when they were practically alone. The nerd would probably be so engrossed with the movie, he wouldn't notice they were here.
"It's starting!" Auki hissed, her fingers still around Davis's wrist.
What was he doing here? This was definitely not how Davis had thought he'd spend his Saturday afternoon. He'd get so much talk from T.K., he didn't want to think about it. First he showed her around the school, then she started calling him every ten minutes, and now this! People would start thinking they were dating!
The previews were over before he knew it. The movie started. It was some type of movie about a weird swamp monster that lurked in the waters of a giant man-made lake. There wasn't much plot to the story. Somebody wanted to drain the monster's lake, so the swamp monster went around killing off people because it was mad.
Davis hadn't realized it until now, but Auki's head had somehow found its way to his left shoulder. Her right hand fingers were entwined with his left, and every time the swamp monster appeared, she'd close her eyes tightly shut and squeeze his hand softly. He had no idea what to do about this, so he tried to ignore it. By the end of the movie, his left hand was feeling rather squished.
Auki had managed to eat her candy and drink her soda by the end of the movie. Davis had barely finished his own soda. She sure did have a large appetite for someone who was so skinny. They headed back out into the main entrance to throw away their trash.
"I don't see why we couldn't just leave our trash," Davis said as he dumped his soda away.
"It's only nice that we throw it away," Auki said firmly. "What are you going to do now?"
Davis glanced at his watch. It was only five thirty! He'd felt like he'd been in the movie theater all day. Shrugging, he said, "Go home, I guess."
"Why don't you come over to my house?" she suggested.
"Sorry. I have to go pick up someone from the airport," Davis replied. "He's arriving at seven."
That one-second frown appeared and disappeared again. "Maybe next weekend! You and Ken still need to give me some pointers, remember?"
"Uh, yeah." Davis glanced around. "See you around."
He left the movie theater with a strange knot in his stomach.
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The rest of the afternoon, Davis played videogames. It got boring after a while, but by then it was six thirty. Time to set off for the airport! T.K.'s dad would be driving the group to the airport with the Ishida family van. It was the biggest car they had between everyone. There was a knock on Davis's front door at six thirty-five, and he answered it to find Kari standing on the doorstep.
"We're ready. Come on!" she said.
"Right." Davis stepped outside and shut the door.
"Something wrong?" Kari looked at Davis worriedly. "You look a little put out."
"I'm fine!" Davis argued.
"If you say so." Kari grabbed his hand and tugged. "Let's go already!"
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They reached the airport by six fourty-seven. Now they could easily find the gate Willis would be coming through before he arrived.
A little while later, Davis held a sign that read Willis Ford in large, bold letters. No way would the genius be able to miss that sign.
Davis's eyes scanned the crowd of passengers as they walked in from the airway. His eyes landed on a tall teen with blonde hair and a duffle bag over his shoulder. At the same time, the blonde teen's eyes fell on the sign. Davis saw the blonde's eyes travel up to look at his face. Grins spread across both their faces. Willis shuffled over through the crowd with his dufflebag swaying.
"Long time no see, Davis!"
"Hey, Willis!" Davis grinned, hitting the blonde with the sign he was holding.
"Have a good flight, Willis?" Kari asked him.
"Hi, Kari! The flight was long." Willis gave her a quick hug. "How've you been?"
"Great!" Kari grinned.
"How's it going, Willis?" T.K. and Willis shook hands.
Cody only nodded a hello.
"Hi, Willis!" Yolei stepped forward and gave him a hug. "You haven't gotten into much trouble, have you?"
Willis shook his head.
"Willis, this is Ken Ichijouji!" Davis pointed at Ken. "Ken, this is Willis Ford!"
"Nice to meet you." Ken stepped forward, and the two shook hands briefly. "Davis told me that you're a genius, too."
Willis shrugged. "I don't like to brag."
Mr. and Mrs. Hidoba came through the crowd.
"Wow, a blondie!" Mrs. Hidoba exclaimed at the sight of Willis.
Willis's face turned a light shade of pink. "Are you Mr. and Mrs. Hidoba?"
"That's us," Mr. Hidoba chuckled.
The two seemed like pretty nice people to Davis. Willis would have no problem fitting in with them. Well, maybe it would be difficult having Mr. Hidoba there. Willis had never really had a father figure.
"Let's go find your bags. These young friends of yours thought it would be nice if we all went out to dinner," Mr. Hidoba told Willis.
"Really? I'm ravenous!" Willis rubbed his stomach.
"We'll take you to a great resturant not far from here," Mrs. Hidoba said.
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Once they found Willis's luggage, they all trooped out to the parking lot. Willis went with Mr. and Mrs. Hidoba, while the others all got back into Mr. Ishida's van.
They drove to a neat resturant only a few miles from the airport. Willis was excited as they went inside. Soon they were seated and passed menus, and Willis commented that everything looked good to him. In the end, he ordered a plate of white rice and sushi. The others finished up their orders and sat to talk and wait.
"What have you been doing lately, Willis?" Kari asked.
"Not much. Trying to get through high school, though I should be qualified to teach a college class on biology by now," Willis laughed.
"That must be hard." Cody thanked the waitress who had brought him the water he'd ordered.
"No, not really." Willis fiddled with his folded napkin. "It can be challenging to get from one class to the next without being ridiculed by other students for being so smart."
"I think it's awesome that you're a genius," Davis said.
"You must like having geniuses as friends, Davis," T.K. snorted. "What with your stupidity."
"You take that back!" Davis growled.
"T.K.! Davis!" Yolei interrupted. "I don't think that's really necessary right now!"
Davis slumped in his seat slightly.
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Once dinner was served, it was pretty much quiet as everybody ate. Willis kept saying he couldn't believe how delicious everything tasted, and that he'd never tasted a better sushi before.
"I think I'm going to like living here!" Willis grinned, wiping away some sauce from his mouth.
After dinner, they all got back into their separate cars and headed for the Hidoba residence. It was located on the third story of a fifteen story building, so there wasn't too far for Willis to go with his heavy luggage.
"Sheesh, Willis! What'd you pack in here? A load of bricks?" Davis panted as he dragged along another dufflebag.
"I'm going to be here for a long time, Davis," Willis laughed. "I'll leave on holidays to visit my mom."
"You did bring a load of bricks." Davis dropped the bag next to the door they'd stopped by.
Mr. Hidoba invited them all inside, and Mrs. Hidoba took Willis to see where he would be sleeping.
"This is our guest room. We didn't think that Omi would feel very up to sharing his room," she explained. "But this is just as comfortable. Besides, you can decorate it anyway you like."
"Thanks, Mrs. Hidoba." Willis placed his stuff on the bed.
"Call me Michiko, Willis," she told him with a soft smile. "Let's go out and talk with your friends some more before they have to leave."
They ventured back into the living room, where Mr. Hidoba was explaining why they'd wanted to enter their son in the exchange student program.
"It'll be an excellent experience for us and for Omika. He was really excited to go to New York and attend an American high school," Mr. Hidoba was saying.
"I'm sure he was," Mr. Ishida said.
"Hey, Willis, you wanna come over to my house next weekend?" Davis asked. "We can play videogames and stuff!"
"That sounds like fun. Is that okay?" Willis asked Michiko.
"That would be wonderful," she agreed.
"We'd better get going, or I'm going to have some angry parents yelling at me about why their kids aren't home." Mr. Ishida shook Mr. Hidoba and Mrs. Hidoba's hands. "We'll see you later."
"See you at school!" Willis told the others.
Davis waved good-bye as they headed outside.
As they climbed into the Ishida van, Davis realized that today had been a rather surprising day. He wondered what Willis's arrival would make of tomorrow.
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Davis awoke the next morning to the phone again. He reached for the phone and sleepily put it up to his ear. "What is it?" he mumbled.
"Hi, Davis!"
He sat up so quickly in bed that he nearly yanked the phone cord from the wall.
"Auki!"
"That's me!"
"What are you calling so early for?"
"It's ten in the morning, silly. Is that too early for you?" Auki sounded like she thought that was funny.
"Yes. What do you want?"
"You're a sleepy-head. I wanted to know if you still have plans today."
"I already told youI do," Davis grumbled.
"I was thinking we could get an ice cream or something." Auki ignored his response. "If that's okay with you!"
He'd already given her a chance, and she'd proven to be a nutcase by holding his hand and acting as if they were going out. It suddenly dawned on him that this actually was a date, disguised as something else. What would T.K. say if he saw that he was out getting ice cream with the new girl?
"I don't know..."
"Please?" her voice begged. "My dad's always working, and I'm always alone in the house. Besides, I barely know the area!"
She seemed to have found the movie theater pretty quickly the day before. Now what was he supposed to say? Should he say yes and not go? No, that was rude. Kari's words came back to him. Did you ever stop to think that she's probably just lonely? She is new, after all.
And here she was saying she was lonely because her dad was always working!
"What about your mom?"
"Don't have one."
This was the first time he had heard her voice sound so threatening. She sounded like someone he really didn't want to mess with when she was angry.
"I'd really like to show you something."
Her voice had returned to normal. Davis sighed.
"Fine, but not for long. My friends might call to ask if I want to hang out," Davis said.
"That's okay. I've got a lot of friends from a digital universe called the Internet." She laughed. "You don't think your friends would mind me hanging with them too, would they?"
"I have no idea," Davis answered.
"Okay. I'll give you the address to my house!" She rattled off her address, and Davis scribbled it down.
"See you in a few!"
She hung up.
Davis dropped the phone with a sigh. What was up with this girl? One minute she was overly ecstatic, then she was sad for a split second, and then she was angry for a millisecond! He wondered if she had some strange disability like multiple personalities or something similar.
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About ten minutes later, he looked upward at the tall building that was just like his own. Auki was supposed to be somewhere on the seventh story. Great, it would take him another five minutes just to walk up those stairs. Deciding it would be faster to take the elevator, he headed for the closed doors. He pushed the button a few times and waited.
The elevator doors opened up, and somebody jumped out at him. He started before realizing that it was Auki. Today, she was wearing a camouflage shirt with black pants and gloves. Her hair was up in pigtails. She grinned at him, glasses shining.
"Hiya, Davis!"
"Hi," Davis muttered.
"Come on, I want to show you something!" She grabbed his wrist and yanked him into the elevator. She pressed the seven button and didn't let go of his wrist the whole way up to the seventh floor. Once the doors clanged open, she darted out of them, pulling Davis along behind her.
They went down the long hallway past eight doors. Finally, they stopped at the ninth. "Here we are!"
Davis was greatful that she let go of his wrist. This was getting out of control. He watched as she dug into her pockets, searching for something.
"Now where did I put that key?" she demanded silently to herself, still searching.
While she was busy, Davis went and twisted the doorknob on the door. It opened, and he pushed it in.
"Auki..."
"Just a second, I know where it is..."
"Auki, the door was already open."
She looked up from her pockets, her mouth open slightly in surprise. "Well, huh. I guess it was. Come on."
What was this unusual behavior for? Davis was completely lost.
"Something wrong?" he asked when she shut the door behind them.
"Nothing!" She shook her head. "Come on."
They went past the kitchen, where dirty dishes were piled in the sink; past a messy office full of overflowing filing cabinets; and past a messy room that he thought must be her father's room. They stopped in the doorway of a half clean, half messy room. Davis felt his mouth fall open. Were his eyes decieving him?
This room was the strangest room he'd ever seen. The left side of the room was so messy you could barely see the floor because of all the stuff cluttered around. On the right side, everything was sparkling clean. He watched Auki sit on her bed, which was up against the opposite wall. The bed was situated right in between the line of clean and dirty.
"Like it?" she asked.
"What...?"
She pulled her knees up under her chin. "Yeah, don't criticize. I already know."
"Know what?"
"Ha ha. Very funny." She dropped her feet back to the floor. "Couldn't you tell?"
"Tell what?" Davis was getting irritated now.
Auki sighed. "I've been dropping you all hints. Digital hints."
"Digital?" Davis stared at her. "What are you talking about?"
Auki looked up at him, eyes ablaze. "I'm fighting her, Davis! I've fought her since the beginning. I watched helplessly as all those other kids found their dreams and broke the spell!"
Davis's mouth fluttered open and close. She couldn't be...it was impossible!
"Oh, yes. Yes, yes, yes. I'm the Digimon Empress, Davis. Except I don't control all the Digimon."
He shook his head. This couldn't be happening!
"Davis, I need help. She's starting to take complete control! That's why I've been so upbeat lately. She doesn't like it when I'm happy and ecstatic all the time."
"You're crazy!"
"No, I'm not," she said sternly. "You and your friends need to help me. The Dark Digimon in the Digital World have been secretly following her orders, away from my control. It's like I have a whole different person inside of me..."
"I need to call Kari and the others," Davis said.
"That's exactly what I want you to do!"
"Where's your phone?"
"In the kitchen."
Davis left her room and headed straight for the kitchen. Maybe he should just leave and never talk to her again. But he knew this was a Digimon problem, and Davis couldn't ignore a Digimon problem.
He called Kari first. The phone picked up after the fifth ring.
"Hello?"
"Hi, Kari."
"Oh, hi Davis! What is it?"
"Um, there's a problem. Can you call the others and meet me?" He told her the address.
"Sure, Davis. You aren't in any big trouble, are you?"
"No. I'm good."
"If you say so. See you in a few minutes."
"Okay, bye."
"Bye."
He hung up the phone and turned around. Auki was standing right behind him.
"Ahh!" he yelped. "Don't do that!"
"Sorry, Davis," She grinned at him. "The others are coming, right?"
"Yeah."
"Great! Want to go into the Digital World?"
"Not until they get here," Davis said.
Her face fell for a split second but then brightened again. "Okay, we can play cards or a board game or something!"
They went back into her room. She started rummaging around in the unclean side.
"I don't normally play cards or board games. It's always boring alone, you know?" She tossed aside a dirty pile of clothes.
"I guess so." He fidgeted in the doorway.
She stopped and looked over at him. "Do you have a question?"
"Why is your room half dirty and half clean?" he blurted.
Sighing, she started rummaging again. "The messy side is me. The clean side is her. The Empress likes to be tidy and neat. So, I compromised. That side is her room and this side is mine. She's always trying to get me to clean up my side."
"I don't get it."
"Never mind. Just think of it as me on this side, and her on that side. Aha!" She pulled a board game from underneath a stack of books. "Here we go. Let's go play in the living room."
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The doorbell rang about fifteen minutes later. Auki told Davis to go and get the door, and she'd clean up. He watched her as she put everything back neatly. Her brow was furrowed, as if she were in deep concentration.
"Don't worry," she said. "Just go answer the door."
Davis found everybody, including Willis, waiting outside the door.
"What's up, Davis?" T.K. asked. "Why're we here?"
Davis glared at him and let them all come inside.
"Hi, everybody!" Auki smiled.
T.K. looked at Davis with surprise in his eyes. "What are we doing here at her house?"
"I asked Davis for help," Auki explained. "And he was kind enough to call you."
T.K. turned a light shade of red, as if he were embarrassed.
"Who's this?" Auki's eyes landed on Willis.
"I'm Willis. I came here as an exchange student from America," Willis said.
She smiled, but Willis only smiled back.
"An exchange student, huh?" Auki giggled.
"He's a genius too," Kari added.
"Really?" Auki blinked. "So Davis is friends with two geniuses? That must be special. Maybe you can help me with my school work too, Willis."
"Sure," Willis said.
"What did you need help with?" Yolei demanded.
Auki fell silent, and her eyes shadowed over. "I'm...I'm..."
"She's the Digimon Empress," Davis blurted.
Everybody gasped, except Willis.
"What's the Digimon Empress?" Willis looked around for an explanation.
"Ken was the Digimon Emperor, but we helped him turn good again. An evil Digimon planted a Dark Spore in him and a bunch of other kids. Because of the Dark Spore, Ken is a genius and a soccer star," Kari tried to explain.
"Same with me." Auki looked up at them. "Except, I can partially control her. It's kind of like having two people in one body."
"Is that why you need our help?" Ken asked.
She nodded. "Dark Digimon have been secretly following her orders in the Digital World. I need your help to stop them."
"We've got to get to the Digital World!" Yolei cried.
"That was my plan," Auki said quietly. "I can use Kunemon to help you."
"Kunemon?" Cody wondered.
"She's my Digimon," Auki informed them. "She digivolves to Flymon."
"Let's go already!" Davis was totally up for a new Digimon adventure.
"Somebody is excited to go!" Willis said. "I can help, too. Terriermon and Lopmon will be a big help."
"I have the DigiPort on my computer. Come on." Auki stood and to the messy office.
"How do you work in here?" Kari asked, stepping over a plate with a week old slice of pizza on it.
"This is my dad's office. The messiness kind of runs in the family." Auki turned on the computer.
"Do you have a normal Digivice or a D-3?" Ken asked Auki.
Auki unlatched something from her belt. Davis couldn't believe he hadn't seen it before. It was a silver and black D-3. "I don't know. Is this what you all have?"
"That's a D-3," T.K. said. "Izzy named them that."
"Izzy?"
"Izzy Izumi is another Digidestened," Kari explained.
"Oh, right." Auki placed her D-3 back on her belt. "Do you want to do the honors, Davis?"
He took his D-3 from his pocket. Like the others, he always carried it around with him in case of an emergency.
"Ready? DigiPort open!" Davis shouted.
With a flash of light, they disappeared into the computer.
001001 End of Chapter 2 100100