Chapter three: Welcome to Digimon Academy!
Clara wake up rather roughly as the limousine came into a sudden stop, almost throwing her off to the floor if she didn't catch herself in time. Beelzemon didn't suffer the same problem as he was in the opposite side, but he has waked up too. Clara blinked, did they got into their destination? She looks at the door curiously. It's still locked, so that can't be it.
Instead, she heard some conversation. To her disappointment, it was too distant to be heard. She frowned, displeased. She want to know what's going on outside. The atmosphere inside the limousine is already tense enough. They're unable to joke around as they're too worried about their situation. Beelzemon fidgeted, obviously annoyed at the whole situation. Being helpless is not something he liked.
Beelzemon has been stuck at the gate (or door, it didn't matter) at the darkness for the longest he knew. He was frustrated that he can't remember anything. Clara had been the only one who tried to help him so far (Then again, she is the first human he saw). With the added fact that she was now his partner (He's still confused at the whole concept of 'partnering'), and currently was being kidnapped along with her annoys him greatly; he is, needless to say, in a bad mood.
The conversation seems to end as Clara can't hear anything anymore. Then, the sound of a gate opening could be heard from outside. They're entering something, she was sure of that. The limousine started to move again. Not long after, they heard the sound of the gate closing.
"What do you think is that?" Beelzemon asked, looking curiously at where the voice came from. Clara just shrugged, "A gate, probably. Maybe we're close to our destination." She said. Beelzemon looked a bit pleased hearing that, "The sooner we get out here, the better." He said. Clara can't help but to agree with him.
Beelzemon huffed, tapping his foot impatiently. Noticing this, Clara can't help but to be reminded of her father, who has the same habit when bored.
'Father….' Her mind wandered off to her family. Do they know about this? What are they doing now? Did they notice she was gone? Remembering that her brother is in Digimon Academy, she can't help but to feel thorn by the idea of meeting him. On one side, even if there is the fact that he have a Royal Knight as partner, resulting him to overshadow her greatly, making many people tend to forgot her, the normal ordinary, partner less child, Ryo is still her brother, and she misses him. Maybe not that much, but still, being a student of Digimon Academy, you were provided a home there, so Ryo rarely comes to his real home. Not only that, he mentions that you need special permission too to go out (If you have partner). Of course, there is an option of the whole family moving to the city near the academy, an option that their parents have refused.
On the other side, there is Beelzemon. It's not like he did anything wrong; it's just that her brother despites Demon Lords. She still remembers that during their childhood, they often argued about Demon Lords being good or evil (A strange thing to argue, more strange as they're still a child back then. Maybe it's some short of sign? No, that would be silly). She, of course, insisted that Demon Lords are good. Now that you mention it, it was kind of ironic that a Demon Lord has become her partner. On any case, she doubted that her brother just going to shrug it off as nothing. Rather, she was sure there is at least 80 percent chance that he would freak out. On second thought, make that 100 percent.
The limousine stopped again. This time, she was prepared, so she didn't lose her balance. They stared to the door, which had made a click sound. The door then opened revealing the man from before. He looked annoyed as he glared at them before making a 'get out' motion rather rudely. Their response was interesting.
Clara stared with a blank look, while Beelzemon got a tick mark on his face. Just who does he think he is? Kidnapping them without explaining the situation (Except the fact that they're going to Digimon Academy) and is now ordering them to do something? Unacceptable, at least that's what Beelzemon though. Clara, on the other hand, didn't want to get out and face whatever what may come. So they both stayed inside, unmoving. Clara with a blank look and is looking away, while Beelzemon is glaring angrily at the man.
The man narrowed his eyes as he realized that none of them followed his orders; Clara because she didn't want to, and Beelzemon because he didn't like being ordered around. The man scoffed, "So you want to play it the hard way? Sure, go ahead. I'll make you regret it." He mentions his partner, Knightmon, to do something, making an odd hand sign while doing so.
The limousine suddenly shook before being lift in the air, making both Clara and Beelzemon has to cling at the seat to prevent themselves from falling down. Before they could comprehend what was happening, the limousine started to shake from left to right. They both clung at their seat, trying so hard to keep themselves from being thrown out from the limousine. Briefly, Clara mused that their situation was pretty much like a milkshake being made in a shaker. Beelzemon, on the other hand, were not pleased at all. He looks like he would burst (Or snap) in any moment, probably because he was too annoyed.
The pace has become faster, so fast that Clara suddenly felt sick in the stomach. Unable to hold it anymore, she let go, and was thrown out the car. The landing weren't too hard, but it wasn't soft either. Not long after, Beelzemon followed, he look like he was considering murdering someone, probably a certain Knightmon who has put down the limousine.
Immediately, she covered her mouth with her hand, suddenly feeling unwell after the whole event. She took a glance at Beelzemon. He didn't seem to feel sick. If anything, he looks annoyed (Maybe pissed off seem to describe it better…), it makes Clara envied him a bit.
Beelzemon immediately stood up and glared at the man and the Knightmon. "What's your deal?!" he shouted, clearly annoyed.
The man just huffed, "Don't say I didn't warn you." He narrowed his eyes, "Come now, before I did something worse than you just experienced." With that, he turned his back and started to walk away. Beelzemon, still glaring at the retreating man's back, muttered venomously to himself, "I am very tempted to disobey him just for the heck of it." Clara, who has nearly recovered from the sudden sickness, heard it.
Of course, she disagreed, "If we do that, we'll never move on from this place and probably stuck here forever without help. As much as I hate to obey his orders, he's our only hope to finding out what's going on here." For once, she looked annoyed herself.
Beelzemon clenched his hand, "Dammit…." He hated the fact that she was right. "Dammit too." Clara replied, "Now let's go." She started to walk-run to the direction where the man had gone.
Beelzemon stared at his 'partner' for a few seconds before sighing, deciding that being stubborn wouldn't help the situation, and started to run after her. Entering the majestic building in front of him (Why hasn't he noticed that before? Wait, that's probably because he was too busy being angry).
The hall…is very impressive. Rather than a building, it's more like a castle. The beautiful, jaw-dropping structure is otherworldly. Even Clara and Beelzemon found themselves staring too long at it. This, of course, had been noticed by the man, who they have caught up with. He raised an eyebrow, "What are you freaks standing around here for? I don't have time for this." He said.
"Why don't you? Your job is only to bring me here, which you have completed." Clara pointed out. The man twitched a bit, he then muttered, 'Is not my fault that I got demoted…' it went unheard by everyone except one, who was really pleased hearing it.
Beelzemon, of course, isn't letting him off that easily, "You got demoted?" he said in a teasing tone. He was answered by a full blown angry glare. Beelzemon raised an eyebrow, "Someone need anger management." If only look could kill, Beelzemon would probably death by several times now.
Clara sweatdropped at the scene, 'And someone else need revenge management…is that even exist, though?' She ponders about this, if anger management exists, why not revenge? Oh well, no use thinking it, it's not like it's her problem anyway.
It was then that Clara suddenly felt a shift in the air (Which crept her out, because something like this had never happen before) as they were approaching a rather normal looking door with a sign that says 'Headmaster's office'. Just below the sign is a smaller sign that has different handwriting and says, 'Enter at your own risk.' Beelzemon were too busy being angry and teasing the man to notice the shift in air or that she is feeling very uncomfortable.
'For some reason I know that I'm going to face a very bad thing or a very big problem by entering this door.' She sarcastically though, 'And seriously? 'Enter at your own risk'? Like this place couldn't get any weirder.'
The man stopped in front of the door. For once, he looked nervous himself. ('Uh oh' Clara though, 'I know that there's something wrong with whatever behind that door.') He turned to them and cleared his throat. "This is the Headmaster office-", "We can see that." Beelzemon cut off, staring at the sign. Clara sharply elbowed him, earning a 'what?' look from him.
The man cleared his throat again, though this time he was less nervous and was glaring angrily at both of them ('Why me too?' Clara can't help but whine). "As I was saying, this is the headmaster office. You shall enter and finished this whole fiasco." ("Weren't you the reason of it?" Beelzemon muttered, Clara elbowed him again, "Shhh!" she said.)
In a one shift movement, the man turned around and knocked the door. Then, without waiting for reply, he opened the door and pushed them in. They both didn't even have time to blink when the door closed with a 'blam' behind them. It took some time for them to snap out from their moment of utter confusion. Clara looks at the door, 'Did he really fear the headmaster that much that he didn't even want to hear his voice?' she frowned, 'Was he really that scary?'
A shuffle of paper caught their attention back to the room. There, at the opposite of the door, is a desk full of papers. In fact, it was so full that they could barely see anything behind it. The shuffle of paper was heard again, and it was then that they realized that there is someone there behind the stack of papers. Considering of who does this room belongs to, it was easy to figure out who is the one behind the stack of papers.
Silence fell into the room. The only thing that was heard is the shuffle of papers in front of them. They both stared at the headmaster, expecting him to do something. But the headmaster didn't do anything. The silence continued for a few more moments before Beelzemon snapped.
He pointed at the stack of papers, or more specifically, the headmaster, "You there! Said something, dammit!" If it wasn't the fact that she wants to get this over quickly, she would've frowned at him for disrespecting the superior, even though they weren't working to him or something like that.
The headmaster seems to have heard him as the shuffling stopped. Even though they can't see him, they could image him looking up (On the other hand, could he see them?). He (seemed) to raise his eyebrow as he began to speak, "How did you get here?" Needless to say, it raises a reaction from both of them; Clara sweat dropped, while Beelzemon give a look full of disbelieve.
"We've been here for minutes! Didn't you hear that someone knocked the door?" Beelzemon said, annoyed. Clara, still sweat dropping, muttered, "He must've really focused to his work that he failed to notice us entering…"
"…Oh!" The headmaster exclaimed, as if remembering something. "You must be Clara Triste". ("He could see us trough that stacks of paper?" Beelzemon said in disbelieve, "Some things are better left unknown…" Clara replied.) On any case, the headmaster had completely discarded Beelzemon's question (To tell you the truth, it doesn't matter anymore at this point) to stare at her (At least she though so)
"And you're with your partner already. That's good, less paperwork to deal with. So, how are you feeling right now?" The question was unmistakably directed to Clara.
"Errr…" She was unsure how to answer that question, "…Confused?" she asked, although it was directed mostly to herself. Beelzemon just stared at them, feeling left out all of the sudden.
Suddenly, the headmaster laughed, making both Clara and Beelzemon stared at him like he was insane (Even though there's still the problem that they can't actually see him…). "Hahahaha, yes, yes, I expected that coming from you." He said. "You probably confused of the whole chaos that happen around you." ("Damn right." She muttered) He turned his attention to Beelzemon, "Although it's only a prediction of some sort, one that even I wasn't so sure of being right, I didn't really expected you to actually be partnered to a Demon Lord." He laughed again, "And to think that it was at the very same time we decide to take action!"
"…" Clara and Beelzemon were left baffled by the exclamation. "Prediction?" Clara said, "What do you mean by 'the very same time we took action'?!" Beelzemon continued. They both were staring hardly at the headmaster, expecting their question to be answered. Well, they weren't disappointed.
"Well, the truth is…we've been monitoring you for quite a time." He said, "We only do this towards people who might have change to be partnered with extraordinary Digimon such as Holy Angels, Royal Knights, and Demon Lords." He continued, "Then, we waited until it was decided that they became partners and requited them immediately to the Digimon Academy."
"However, things changed now." His tone became grim, "The Digital World has faced some sort of crisis. This very same crisis prevented some people to meet with their partners." He sighed, "Also, since all extraordinary Digimon has been found, excluding Beelzemon, we have to take drastic measure to ensure that the last one to be found." He chuckled, "Alas, it seems that I was too late, or maybe right in time, as you became partner with Beelzemon."
Beelzemon paused, taking all in, "Last one?" he asked. The headmaster nodded, "Yes, you are the last one among the 'extraordinary' Digimon that came here. All others have already enrolled into the school." For some reason, the whole thing seems to be a bit weird, as if there is a detail that they're missing. Was it because of the so called problem that the Digital World is facing? The man (Now that she think about it, she didn't get his name) has mentioned it, but she didn't get any more details after Beelzemon and Knightmon incident, which led Clara and Beelzemon to be 'kidnapped' by them. But wait, could Beelzemon's memory loss be connected with the fact that he was the last one to 'wake up'? And what about the strange gate that they've seen? There are just too many questions with no answer.
Before she could question him about that, he has started to speak again, "Well, I guess that means all extraordinary Digimon has been found. Less work to do for me. Finding people like you is such a hard work! Oh right, I have to tell you that you should stay with your brother. Even though we provide home for people with partners, siblings and family have to stay together. Even though I had to say that it would be quite a problem since your brother's partner is a Royal Knight." He mused, "Ah, the chaos that would happen!"
'Talk about true.' She mused, momentary forgot about the questions she about to ask, 'I've been bashing myself over the same question several times.' she continued to think. Beelzemon on the other hand, can't help but think, 'What's so bad about the Royal Knights? Did something happen between them and the Demon lords or something? Why is it bad for me to stay with a Royal Knight?' Let's not forget here that the Demon Lord have suffered a bad case of memory-loss and technically never met a Royal Knight.
"Since all have been said and done. It's time for me to say greetings. So anyway, welcome to Digimon Academy! You'll be enrolling here from now on. I've called the teacher of your class to come and escorted you to your class." He said ("When did he did that?" Beelzemon whispered, "…I…don't know…" Clara replied, looking baffled herself), "In the meantime, I'll explain the general things about the school."
He cleared his throat, "Alright. Let's begin with history. This school has been standing for a long time, so long that it has been forgotten when did the school was build at first place. The builder of this place, a human with a Digimon as his partner, built this place to give and share their knowledge to everyone. You could see the statue of them at the center of the garden in front of this building. The school then started to grow, and eventually, it became a crucial place to study for humans with Digimon partner."
"The Academy was split into different buildings. Each represents an element. In total there are eight elements with three additional buildings. The eight elements are; Holy, Dark, Dragon, Beast, Aquan, Bird, Machine, and Insect-Plant. Every elemental class was divided to four more class based on the level of the Digimon, Rookie and below class, Champion class, Ultimate class, and Mega class. The three additional buildings were specifically made for extraordinary Digimon, the Holy Angels, the Royal Knights, and the Demon Lords. Each building were scattered in different parts of academy. At the very center of the academy is this building. This building is called 'The main building'. The canteen is here, so most student spend time chatting and eating in this building during breaks."
"As for the problem about Digimon being too oversized, we got it covered. We have developed a shrinking device that allows oversized Digimons to at least come to a size of a human. Of course, we had taken precaution in case something bad happened then the Digivice will activate and return the Digimon back to their original size." He said, "Since Beelzemon is not oversized like Belphemon or Leviamon are, there is no need to use such device on you."
He smiled, "Well, I think that covered the most basic things. I really hope that you'll enjoy the Academy." Suddenly, for some reason, he seems amused, "Though I suggested of changing clothes first. While the school didn't have a uniform, pajamas are hardly anything good for first impression since it was never meant to be wore during the day."
Clara was silent, processing what he said. She mused about how organized the Academy is, and feeling a bit anticipation building inside her, before suddenly realizing what he meant by his last sentence. She looked down at her clothes.
Light blue pajamas with blue flower pattern.
She felt herself blush in embarrassment. How could she miss that? She didn't have enough time to change clothes when the man has 'kidnapped' them. And all of that time, she had been wearing her pajamas out in the open. Thankfully, the only one who had seen this are Beelzemon (Who couldn't care less), the man and his partner, Knightmon (She curses them with all kind of languages she knows), and the headmaster (Who seems to be more amused than anything else)
"…But then again, I couldn't blame you. Tanaka ("So that was his name!" Beelzemon exclaimed.) probably didn't give you a chance to change your clothes." He mused, "That is one of the reason he got demoted." The headmaster sighed, "Despite the fact that he is strong and respectable in some aspects, it's just that his hatred towards Demon Lords is far too severe. One could say that his view on justice is wrong." He continued, "If only he fixed that part of him, he probably got promoted instead of demoted."
Beelzemon frowned, 'Again with this Demon Lord thing. Just what did I do….?' He though. His mind wandered off to his lost memories. He still can't recall anything, even after Clara explained everything to him. 'This makes me feel annoyed.'
Clara, still blushing, stammered, "T-That's not the problem now! I refuse to go out with such clothing!" covering her face with her hands, she continued, "What would people think of me if I wear pajamas on school?!" she screamed. The mental image of what will happen already make her shudder in horror.
"If you want to." The headmaster began, "There are some clothes I could lend you, even though it actually means for a basic school uniform. Not many people agreed to the idea of having a uniform and rejected the idea that was submitted. The reason behind it? No idea." He said, "Although I have a suspicion that it was because they thought that wearing uniform is far too troublesome. On any case, the Academy didn't have uniform thanks to the students rejecting the idea. So you want it or not?"
"Yes!" She screamed, "Anything to get out from this pajama!" the desperation she held in her voice surprises Beelzemon a bit. Beelzemon stared at her, "What's so bad about it?" His reply is a glare full of embarrassment. If it was possible, her face becomes redder, "I won't answer that question, I refuse to." She said, still blushing.
The headmaster chuckled at the exchange, finding it very humorous, "The closet is just right there." He gestured to a door at the left side of the room ("Why didn't I notice that before?" Beelzemon said to himself, "And why did the headmaster's office have a closet?" he continued, of course no one answer him). "You could take your time-"Before the headmaster could finish his sentence, Clara had already rushed to the door, opening and closing it in an instant. A 'click' could be heard from the door not soon after. Beelzemon stared at his partner, finding it shocking that she was able to move that fast.
"-to change." He finished, then raised an eyebrow in amusement, "My, that sure is fast. She must be really embarrassed." He looks back at his paperwork, "Well, back to work I suppose. And note to self; punish Tanaka for his wrongdoing." He huffed, "Not explaining anything and not letting a girl change her clothes, added with the fact that he practically kidnapped them has crossed the line too far." He sighed, "I just hope that her parents will forgive me for this…" he though about it for a moment, "They're probably going to sue me...and there's also her brother to deal with. Ah, the work ahead..." that said, he went back to work.
Beelzemon stared at the door that leads to closet, then at the stack of paper that has started to make shuffling noise again. He frowned, "…Why do I feel forgotten?" he muttered, "And what am I supposed to do now?"
"You wait." The headmaster said without looking up from behind the papers.
Silence (With exception of the shuffling of papers that's just keep coming one after another. Seeing the stacks, one could only wonder if it could be finished or not)
Beelzemon frowned harder.