"And you just injected it into her without even a second thought?" MagnaAngemon gasped. "You… Don't you know what this stuff does?"
Drew scratched her head. "I can guess…" She said, remembering Devidramon's rampage the day before. She leaned on one of the many marble columns lining MagnaAngemon's quartz foyer. "But it all worked out in the end, right?"
"Yeah, sir!" Barbra added. "You should have seen BlackGatomon, though! She just jumped up and ripped Devidramon's throat out! Data went everywhere!" She chuckled eerily. "Heh… That was awesome…"
MagnaAngemon pinched the bridge of his nose. He looked over to BlackGatomon, who was being checked over by two Patamon. A third Patamon was examining the black syringe Drew had recovered from Toy Town. "What is the report?"
"Just as we feared, Lord MagnaAngemon." The examining Patamon squeaked. "Black Digitron."
"What's that?" BlackGatomon asked. "Is it bad?"
"Black Digitron is a mysterious substance that brings out immense power within a Digimon, but can also corrupt and corrode them." MagnaAngemon explained.
Drew's mouth felt dry. "I-is BlackGatomon going to be corrupted?"
"If she was, it would have happened by now." Another Patamon chimed in. "Strangely, BlackGatomon is completely normal… well, besides the dark fur."
Barbra raised an eyebrow. "What'cha got against dark fur?" She muttered under her breath.
"We'll just have to deal with it then." Kudamon spoke up. "Can't undo it now."
Drew nodded. "Are we done here, sir? School's gonna start in a bit, and we've already missed the bus."
"Of course. I'll see you girls later then." MagnaAngemon waved his hands, forming a portal behind him. "Come back and do more good work, and I'll be able to show you all something quite interesting."
"Is-Is he coming onto us?" Barbra whispered to her friend. Drew responded to a sharp elbow to the ribs.
…
Drew and Barbra went to Akiyoshi High School, a large, two-building school in Houston, Texas. Although nothing really stood out about the school at first glance, it stood out due to the large amount of foreign students that went there. Almost thirty percent of the student who went there were from outside the U.S.
Drew herself had little knowledge of her heritage, as she was born in Texas, while Barbra had her roots in Greece. Their friends, Nate and Rui, were also from out of state, Nate being from Ottawa, Canada, and Rui being from Chiba, Japan.
However, the origin of herself and her friends was the furthest thing from Drew's mind at the moment. She was far too occupied by the intense burning of her lungs as she sprinted through her school's halls, Barbra following a ways away.
"Crap, crap, crap!" She panted as she turned a corner. She heard Salamon yelping at being thrown around in her purse by her sudden movements. Sorry, little one, she thought. I'll make this up to you later.
She spotted the open door to her first period. She took a sharp breath, and dashed through the doorway as fast as her legs would allow.
"Made it…" Drew threw herself into her seat, seconds before the first bell. Barbra leaped through the door a bit after.
"Barbra di Angelo, tardy." Their Science teacher said without looking up from his grade book.
"Damn it…" The blonde grumbled as she took a seat next to Drew. "How the hell did you even get here first?"
Kudamon whispered from her hoodie. "She didn't stop at the supermarket for ten minutes to buy a breakfast burrito."
"Well, excuse me for being hungry." She glared at Drew cutely. "Think you're so kawaii 'cause you got to run to school with toast in you mouth today."
Drew grinned triumphantly as she sat back into her seat, wiping a bit of jelly from the corner of her lip.
…
"Ms. Di Angelo… Ms. Di Angelo…"
Barbra jumped in her seat. "Wha… Yes, sir…?" She babbled.
"Ms. Di Angelo." Her teacher grumbled. He was stocky and wore a brown blazer. "Do you know the answer?"
Barbra shook her head. She noticed one of her classmates gesturing to her with three fingers.
"Three…?" She said as she wiped her eyes.
Her teacher raised an eyebrow. "Um, no. Shakespeare's most famous play was not 'three', Ms. Di Angelo."
The students around chuckled loudly. Barbra flipped the bird at the boy who tricked her. The boy returned it.
After Science and Algebra (their second period), Barbra and Drew went their separate ways for third. While they both had History, they didn't share the same teacher, something Barbra believed to be unfair for a number of reasons. Not only could she not be with her best friend, but Drew's teacher was a short, sweet old lady that quite lenient on classwork. Barbra was stuck with Mr. Norris, a boring old fart that gave homework every other day.
Surprisingly, Barbra's immediate reaction of hearing her teacher begin his daily history lesson is burying her head in her satchel and drifting off to sleep.
The blonde slumped in her chair. She was having a wonderful dream about Kudamon evolving to the Mega Level, and riding him off to a land of pancake hills and syrup waterfalls. Barbra's stomach growled. The burrito she ate earlier did nothing but rouse her hunger even more.
"Great. Not only am I starving, but I'm also pissed…" Barbra murmured to herself. "Man, Kudamon. Can't you just pop a cap in these guys or what?"
"I will not be popping anyone's caps." Kudamon whispered from the blonde's hood. "It's not worth putting us, and potentially the Digital World in more hot water."
"I know… It's just…" Barbra's tired eyes surveyed the classroom. They stopped on one of the students in the front row that she'd never seen before. A red beanie covering short blue hair. "Hey… Who's that?"
One of her neighboring classmates heard her. "How long were you asleep? That's the new kid that Teach introduced at the start of class! Um, Charle… or other."
"Barbra, do you think…B-Barbra?" Kudamon squeaked, but Barbra wasn't listening. She had already drifted back to Breakfast Land.
…
"So what's going on in Digimon Online?" Rui poked his head over Drew's shoulder, curiosity brimming in his large blue eyes.
"Huh? Oh." Drew was barely paying attention to her surroundings as she read through the news articles on the Digimon Online website. "Um, says here that they're going to release the new X-Antibody expansion today."
"Oooh!" The petite boy cooed. "I'd love to pick up one of those! Some of my favorite Digimon are X-Antibody types!"
"Yeah, they are pretty cool." The plump teen adjusted in her seat. "My fav's gotta be Dorumon!"
"Oh, I just noticed." Rui pointed out. "You're not wearing your glasses today. Did you get your contacts back?"
"Yeah, actually." Drew responded. "Did you like my glasses?"
"Um, well, they did make you look cute!" Rui said timidly while scratching around his headband. "But you're cute without them, too."
"Th-thanks… Ru-ru." Drew replied.
Although he was a bit out there, Rui was always a very positive and nice person. He really liked playing Digimon as well, despite not having his own account for Digimon Online. He enjoyed it so much that lately, during Computer Science class, he would coddle up to Drew to learn more about it. Drew really liked how much the boy enjoyed her lectures about Digimon Elements and Attributes, or her speculations of the possibilities of Super Ultimate Digimon.
Snickers from some nearby classmates made Drew crinkle her eyebrows. She glanced at the other students, catching the eyes of a couple, looking at her condescendingly. She scoffed. She simply didn't understand why some people couldn't mind their own business. Not that it mattered, as long as no one right out made it their goal to bother her, they could think whatever they-
"Oh, well, looky here." A voice said rudely. "Yo, nerds, whatcha doing?"
Speak of the devil.
Drew turned her head to see a teenage girl with tan skin and blonde hair. Her makeup was gaudy, with white eye shadow and light pink lipstick. She wore a white dress shirt with red edging on the sleeves and collar, and white shorts. Pink and white striped knee socks and pink sneakers completed her outfit. The newcomer pushed Rui out of the way and took his place over Drew's shoulder.
Drew grimaced. Kazaki Morimoto, also known as Akiyoshi's Number One Delinquent, was a loud and obnoxious tenth grader who dressed in ganguro fashion. Like many students, she was born on foreign soil. Osaka, Japan, to be exact. She was more or less like a gang leader, except for the fact that no one was brave (or stupid) enough to stand with her. The last one who did join her made a terrible mistake, and was never seen since.
Drew hated her. Mostly for her 'I don't understand this, so I deem it to be dumb and childish' type of mentality.
"Digimon, huh?" The strange girl grinned. "Goodness, what a fossil. Man, I remember when I used to watch that as a kid."
Drew sighed. "Yes, that's nice. Walk down memory lane somewhere else, please." She wanted to punch her. Not really though, as she quite enjoyed her legs not being bent into a fleshy pretzel.
The girl chuckled. "Naw, I'm all about the future, baby. Can't be wasting time with kiddie games." She turned her head towards Rui. "Any who, Rui-chan. I was wondering if you needed any help. Since you're so weak and defenseless, I was thinking of being your bodyguard. For a price, of course."
A black shadow skimmed across Drew's computer screen. Drew barely caught a glimpse of it before she began to feel unusually irritable.
"But I don't have any enemies…" Rui stammered.
Kazaki's eyes turned dark. "Oh, really? 'Cause you're just about to make one."
"H-he doesn't need it." Drew spoke up.
"Huh? What was that, nerd?" Kazaki clasped Drew's shoulder. "Why don't you get back to playing you lame ass game and leave the adults to their affairs?"
"He doesn't need it." Drew repeated, louder this time. "He's a man, and he can protect himself. Now if you don't mind, get off me. Your spray on tan might stain my shirt."
Kazaki raised an eyebrow in irritation. "Oh, really now?" She cracked her knuckles. "How 'bout I stain that shirt of yours with your own blood?" Drew tensed. Despite her lithe body, Kazaki hid immense strength, something she learned when Barbra had dragged her to a martial arts tournament at school earlier in the year. The tan girl sent almost every one of her opponents to the hospital.
"Beat it, Kazaki! I… don't need your protection! You're a meanie, a bully, and… You stink of perfume!" Rui stuck out his tongue. With his face scarlet from annoyance, Drew had to stifle a laugh from watching the effeminate boy blowing raspberries.
The tan-skinned blonde sneered. "Back off, Rui. I don't hit girls." She then leered at Drew. "Cows, on the other hand…"
Drew stood up. "You wanna say that again?" She shouted uncharacteristically. Salamon growled from inside her purse.
"Ms. Inkling. Ms. Morimoto. Mr. Naega." The Computer Science teacher spoke up. "Quiet down and return to your seats. Bell's ringing in five."
Kazaki, with a final death glance at Drew, turned to walk to her seat. The dark teen brushed hair from her face and sat down as well. Rui followed suit.
"That was scary…" Rui whispered. "Sorry…"
"What are you apologizing for?" Drew groaned. "Kazaki's a total chode. She's got as much class as a cartoon school bully." She adjusted her black bowtie. "Probably has the same amount of intelligence, too."
Rui laughed. "Yeah." He paused for a moment. "Drew, you're really cool, you know? You're like a big sister or something."
The dark haired teen responded by patting the boy's head. The strange anger she had felt was beginning to ebb. "Thanks. That means a bunch."
"Are we still on for after school?"
"Of course. You wanted to grab a V-Pet at All Nippon, right?"
Rui nodded happily. "Yep! And now that the X-Antibody expansion is out, I know what I want now!"
"Yeah…" Drew said, glancing briefly to where Kazaki was sitting. She was staring back at her, with a smirk on her face. She took her thumb and slid in quickly past her throat. Drew noticed another black shadow skimming across the girl's computer.
Drew swallowed. "Um, let's go as soon as school ends, 'kay?"
"Yeah…" was Rui's timid response.
…
Drew sat down of a wooden bench. Normally, she sat in the indoor cafeteria for lunch, but with Salamon being so restless, she couldn't leave her inside her purse much longer.
The outdoor courtyard was filled with lots of open space and foliage, the latter courtesy of the agriculture club. It was perfect for letting the hyperactive pup run around in.
Drew looked around for Barbra to come up and glomp her. She actually went to English for once. Drew chuckled to herself. She did say she didn't get much sleep last night.
"Come on! Can I come out now?" Salamon squeaked from the girl's purse.
"Okay, okay." She said as she opened her bag. "You can play around here for a while. Just make sure to stay out of sight."
"Yay!" Salamon darted out of the black purse and into a bushel of tall grass. "It tickles!" She yapped.
"Shush!" Drew hissed. "Other people are around here. You don't want to-"
"Oh, hey, Drew!" Someone called. "Funny seeing you here."
The teen turned to see Nate and Rui, each carrying lunch trays. Nate continued, "I usually only see you eat in the back of the cafeteria."
"Well, I just needed a change of pace, is all." Drew lied. "Care to join me?"
The two boys nodded. They sat on either side of Drew, making her feel a bit self-conscious.
"Rui was telling me about what happened in third." Nate asked. "Care to elaborate?"
"It's nothing." Drew said as she rummaged through her purse for her lunch. "I just got a bit heated, is all." She was lying again; she had no idea what came over her.
"I've… never heard you raise your voice before…" Rui bit his lip. "It was scary…"
Drew felt a hand clench his heart. "S-sorry… I didn't mean to scare you." The boy's timorous face made her blush.
Nate reddened as well. "Well, it's in the past now. No need to talk about it." He opened a bag of chips and began chowing down. "So, anything else going on with you, Drew?"
"Not really…" The teen muttered. She still was rummaging for the peanut butter sandwich she made for lunch. "Oh, Nate. Rui and I are going to All Nippon after school. Wanna come along?"
"Wh-wh-wh-what!" Now it was Rui's turn to blush. "Nate's coming?"
The redheaded boy smiled. "Sure, why not?"
Drew felt Rui's temperature skyrocket. The boy's face was as red as a tomato. "D-Drew! Speak over here!" He pulled the girl by the arm and behind a nearby tree.
"What?" Drew asked. "You don't want Nate to come with us?"
Rui twiddled his fingers. "Well, it's just… Remember how Nate lost his V-Pet on the bus a while back?"
"Yeah…"
"Well, it was only because I was distracting him… If it wasn't for me, he wouldn't have lost his poor little SaberLeomon…"
"Little…?" Drew remembered when she ever battled Nate and his SaberLeomon on Digimon Online. The thing gave her nightmares. "Nevermind. Point is, it wasn't your fault that he left it."
"… Even so, I wanted to get him a new V-Pet. To make up for it…" Rui finished. "So that way, we can both get a brand new start on Digimon Online together."
"Aw, well, aren't you sweet!" Drew patted the boy's head. "I think he'd like that a lot!"
Rui smiled. "You think so? Great!"
"Are you two done? Getting kinda lonely over here!" Nate called over to the teens, who quickly came to sit back down.
"So yeah, the three of us will go to All Nippon right after school. Maybe Barbra, if she's not busy." Drew said as she opened her purse to root through it again. "Found it!" She said as she felt something plastic. She pulled out a zipper storage bag, which was empty, save for a few peanut butter smears and crumbs.
"Damn it, Salamon!" She barked. "You ate my sandwich!"
Nate and Rui looked at her strangely. "Salamon?" Nate repeated. "Like the-"
"What! No!" Drew stammered. "I said… Solomon…? He's my... gerbil?..."
"A gerbil ate your sandwich?" Rui raised an eyebrow.
"He's a big gerbil." As the words left her mouth, Drew began mentally beating herself with a stick. Dumbass! A gerbil? Are you freaking stupid?
"Oh, hey, Drew!" Drew sighed with relief as a monitoring teacher called to her, drawing the boys' attention. The voice came from a thin and young woman, with short black hair with red streaks. Her clothing consisted of a black athletic shirt, tattered jeans, and a white smock splattered with paint. She also wore a pair of red converses, which were also stained with paint and clay. Her skin was pale white, but her arms were covered with various tattoos.
"Ms. Thalia, hey!" Drew greeted art teacher happily. Ms. Thalia Serene was by far Drew's favorite teacher. With her ecstatic yet clueless nature, she was more like a student than a teacher, which might be attributed to the fact she finished college only a couple of years ago. "Didn't know you supervised fifth lunch!"
"Haven't seen you here either. Half the year's gone, and you've come out here once? Damn, kid, what took ya so long?" The teacher sat on the ground with her legs crossed. "So, who're your friends? They new? I, like, never see you with anyone 'sides Babs."
"Nate and Rui. We're pretty tight." Drew said as she pointed to the boys.
"Cool." Thalia waved. She then smiled at Rui. "Man, never thought you'd make friends with such a cute girl. Props."
"I-I'm a boy…" Rui said quietly as he broke into a nervous sweat.
Thalia cuffed her ear with her hand. "Huh? Speak up, sweetie. Ten years of rock blaring through headphone does a number on the ears."
"Rui's a dude, Ms. Thalia." Drew spoke up. "Got the hardware and everything."
"Don't word it like that!" Rui squealed.
Nate, who was looking awfully red, cleared his throat. "Enough, enough." He said. "Rui is quite the manly individual, you know."
"Y-yeah!" The blonde responded. "Just yesterday, I ate a whole pickled plum!"
Drew and Thalia both imagined the boy's mouth puckering up from eating the sour fruit. They both busted out laughing.
"Hey, what's so funny?" Rui puffed up his cheeks. "Nate, I can't believe these-" He stopped when he say that Nate trying desperately from holding back laughed.
Rui yelped, his eyes misty. "You guys are the meanest!"
…
"So what's on your mind?" Barbra asked.
"What? No, it's nothing…" Drew mumbled.
"No it isn't. I know when you're lying."
"And you must also know that I find that creepy."
The two girls chuckled quietly to each other, as to not disturb any of the other students in their Art Class. Barbra had noticed that in their previous class, Child Development, Drew was acting a bit jumpy. She had decided that she'd ask the teen about her jittery behavior when they were in a more quiet place, such as the table in the back of the Art Room.
"I sort of… messed up today…" Drew said finally. "I may have accidently pissed off Kazaki Morimoto, and she may be after my head."
"Seriously?" Barbra turned pale. "The one time you decide to grow a backbone and tell someone off, you just had to do it to the person who can bench press a bus?"
"Yeah, I know. I'm an idiot. You should know that by now!"
Barbra noticed that Drew was visibly shaking. The dark haired girl continued. "I… I just don't know what happened. I just felt so angry all of a sudden."
"I also have had some strange feelings today." Kudamon whispered from Barbra's hood. "I think a Digimon might be spying on us."
"There's nothing we can do now." Salamon was next to speak up. "No fighting in the Real World. Right, Drew?"
The teen nodded. "We can't have people finding out about you guys. Could be dangerous."
"No fun, as always." Barbra scoffed.
"Regardless, attention is something we'll want to avoid, dangerous or not." Kudamon knocked on the blonde's head. "We aren't celebrities. We're heroes."
"Hey, get down. Ms. Thalia's coming this way." Drew motioned. Quickly, the two Digimon tucked themselves back into their hiding places, just as the young teacher neared the group.
"What's up with you guys?" Thalia slumped down at the table. "Jeez, I need a smoke…"
"Remember what happened last time." Barbra chided. "Almost got your ass suspended."
The teacher retorted by slugging the girl in the arm playfully. "Yeah, I know. Shut up about it." She glanced over to Drew. "Man, you look pale. You know, more than usual."
Barbra smirked. "She's all scared 'cause Morimoto's gonna turn her doughy butt into a potsticker. No biggie."
"Morimoto?" Thalia gasped. "She'll kill you! I went to college with her older sister. She broke some dude's back for trying to cop a feel on her!"
Drew began sweating nervously. "Y-you don't say…"
"Yeah, but she's pretty cool when you get to know her." Ms. Thalia's eyes drifted. "We had some good times honestly. We once broke into an amusement park and completely wrecked the hall of mirrors they had there. Oh, and this one time, we promised some nerds we'd go out with them, but instead we stripped them and threw them into the girl's dorm!" The woman bust out with laughter. "Damn, that was good…"
"Not helping." Drew narrowed her eyes at the woman.
"Speak for yourself, these are good!" Barbra pulled out a pen and paper. "I assume you also experimented with illegal drugs, as well as your sexuality?"
Thalia laughed again. "At the same time."
Barbra began to beam. "Teach me, o wise one!"
"Babs! Seriously! Kazaki's gonna waste me!" Drew shouted.
"Then just go home as soon as you can." Barbra replied. "Kazaki usually doesn't hold any grudges after a day. Some people think it's the mochi ice cream down at All Nippon that gets her to calm down."
"Shoot! That's right. I'm going to All Nippon with Rui and Nate today."
"Well, then hope that she wants that mochi more than she wants to pummel your face." Thalia added.
"Still not helping!" Drew slumped in her chair. "This is seriously not cool…"
"Hope you still aren't tired from running to class today, then." Barbra patted the plump girl's head. "Because you're gonna have to put some pep in your step if you wanna stay pale and fluffy!"
"Heh, Drew? Running?" Thalia shook her head. "That's probably the funniest thing ever!"
"Don't you have a job to do?" Drew fumed. "God!"
…
As soon as the last school bell rang, Drew and Barbra leapt out of their classroom and began their plan to escape school without encountering Kazaki, a plan Barbra lovingly dubbed, 'Operation: School's Out.' The blonde opted to find a back exit, as the main school entrance was, although the most straightforward, already being blocked by rambunctious students who couldn't wait to leave.
"This way!" Drew led Barbra through a short hallway leading into the school gym. Inside was an exit near the back that lead to the school's parking lot. "We're home free going this way!"
"Cool! Let's- Stop!" Barbra tackled Drew to the ground. A large, white volleyball zoomed over their heads, and implanted itself into the nearby wall.
Kazaki appeared before them, another volleyball under her arm. "Where do you think you're going, Inkling? You didn't forget our little discussion in third, did you?"
"Good freaking job, Drew." Barbra growled. "Ten outta ten."
"Oh, my!" Kazaki jokingly gasped. "But where's that little transvestite friend of yours? Well, I guess its fine since you found another one?"
"Is Barbra going to have to choke a bitch?" The blonde girl stood up, her anger beginning to rise.
Kazaki smirked. "Oh, did I strike a nerve? That's all right, Ru-ru can wait. I've got all the time in the world to grind you into bean paste."
"Drew, get ready to run." Barbra whispered. She then stepped towards the tan skinned teen. "Aight, Kazaki, I'll play your game. Bring it on!"
"Your funeral!" Kazaki leaped at the smaller girl, lobbing her volleyball at breakneck speeds. Barbra jumped back, dodging the projectile, and pulled on her hood.
"Kudamon!" She yelled. The little Rookie quickly slipped out of Barbra's hoodie and glowed.
"Blinding Ray!" A brilliant light covered the hall. Kazaki shielded her eyes and fell to the ground. Barbra, in the commotion, grabbed Drew's arm and ran past the tan girl and out of the gym.
"Damn it! What was that?" Kazaki roared. She realized too late that her targets had already disappeared. She ran out the exit door and looked around the parking lot, but the girls were long gone.
Kazaki roared, "I'll get you, Di Angelo! You're on my hit list! Don't think you can escape my justice!" She raced out of the parking lot, blood roaring in her ears. The wild girl was so caught up in her rage, she had failed to notice a small black shadow slip into her pack as she raced away.
