Hi, yes I know this is late! This is what happens when you leave a paper to the last minute (stupid summer classes), but now that's all taken care of.
I'm sorry to say that Part IV is once again on hold. Re-posting these revised versions was supposed to buy me time, but I barely got two pages further. Once I have all my currently-posted fics up on Archive of Our Own and have replaced the ones with the edited and revised ones (I went over each fic before posting on my new account), this will be my next project, alongside 'Queen' Chapter 2. 'Uragirimono is almost finished, so close that I can almost taste it, and 'Recruitment' is close as well. However, as my new classes start on September 2nd, that will be my #1 priority.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon Frontier or any of its characters.
WORD COUNT: 1495
TOTAL: 8553
Wednesday, April 11th, 2007
Takuya watched as Juan was dragged away from them by his crazy mother. Seriously, that lady was the poster woman for the insanely overprotective. Detective Cortez hung back, instead of following his wife and son. He looked pretty uncomfortable with the whole situation. Takuya found this guy to be kinda cool for a dad who'd recently discovered that his son was destined to save the universe. He'd helped get the Tanemon to safety, and at least he didn't seem to have a problem with Juan being a part of the team. If only they could say the same for his wife.
"I'm sorry about Rosa," the man told them quietly. He took Juan's D-Scanner back from Tomoki. "I'll try to reason with her. Good luck." And with that, he left.
"You too!" Tomoki called back.
There was an awkward silence after that as they stared after him. Then Takuya, never one for awkward silences, turned back to the defeated Gizamon. "Alright, we'd better get this guy restrained before he wakes up," he declared, "The more we know about this 'Master' guy, the better, and we can't have our only info source running off now, can we?"
The others nodded seriously. "I'll take care of it," one Palmon volunteered, "POISON IVY!"
Gizamon woke only a minute after being tied up. "Hey!" he snapped, "Lemme go!"
"Answer a few questions, and we'll consider it," Kyōsuke replied coolly.
"You mentioned you had a 'Master' who wanted the Spirit," Shin'ya stated, "Who is it?"
Gizamon growled at them. "I ain't sayin' nothin'"
"Fine," Takuya countered, "I don't know about you guys, but I've got all day. I can wait."
"Me, too," Junpei added, sitting down and reclining against a nearby rock, "But I don't think the Palmon are all that happy with you. And we're not gonna stop 'em if they decide they wanna get you back."
"Actually," one Palmon piped up, "We Palmon aren't a violent race. We don't attack unless there's a direct threat to our home, friends, or family."
Junpei sweatdropped. "Okay, forget I said anything. Just start talking already."
"No."
Takuya was getting bored with this already. Maybe Det. Cortez should've stuck around. He probably had interrogation training. Takuya stretched his arms and took a moment to look at the destruction around them. "Well, while we're waiting," he suggested, "We might as well start fixing things up around here. This place is actually messier than my room."
"And here I thought that was impossible," Shin'ya commented.
Indeed, there was a lot of work needed to rebuild the village. Some of the inhabitants were already sifting through the debris, trying to figure out what could or could not be salvaged.
Just then, the bushes nearby started rustling. Takuya and the others tensed up, ready to Spirit Evolve if necessary. Suddenly, Neemon fell out with a loud "Owchie!" followed by Plotmon, Lopmon, and Bokomon. Patamon glided into the clearing after them, breathless.
"Oh, thank goodness!" Bokomon cried, "I was afraid we'd missed…" He looked around at the action-free scene before him. "…everything."
Patamon touched down rather ungracefully on the only hut left intact. "What happened?" he asked, gasping for breath, "We heard all the noise, and came here as fast as we could."
"Long story short, some Gizamon were attacking, we showed up, Juan Spirit Evolved, and we kicked their butts," Junpei said bluntly, "Then the kid and his parents went home. Oh, and we've captured the head Gizamon 'cuz we think he's working for the 'great evil' we'll obviously have to face at some point."
Bokomon did not look happy. "You mean… a new Spirit was found, and I MISSED IT?!" He began sputtering incomprehensible noises.
"Hey!" Kōji shouted all of a sudden, "He's getting away!"
Takuya turned to see Gizamon, having torn through his restraints while they weren't paying attention, dashing towards the forest. Shin'ya launched himself at the Digimon, but missed and only got a face full of grass. Kyōsuke took off after him, quickly vanishing into the woods. Were they ever going to get a break today? "Come on!" Takuya urged everyone else, "We've gotta catch him! Izumi, Junpei, get in the air, the rest of us will follow on foot!"
Kyōsuke sighed heavily as he entered his family's apartment. Gizamon had gotten away from them, circling around back to the shoreline and escaping via the water. Nymphmon, Blitzmon, and Fairimon had followed, but eventually lost sight of him.
"Welcome home," his sister Juri greeted him tiredly, giving Yōko a bottle in the kitchen. She had bags under her eyes that spoke of sleepless nights. "How was your day?"
"Frustrating," he admitted, "But productive." He knew she was too tired and preoccupied to pay much attention to what he was saying anyway. Nee-san just kept feeding her daughter, right before she would put the baby to bed.
It was for Nee-san's sake that he kept his adventures in the Digital World a secret. She was only ten months older than him, and a teen mom to boot. She had not only Yōko to worry about, but the stress of catching up with her studies so that she could graduate high school in March with him and the rest of her friends (she'd born just after the cut-off date and was thus in the same year as Kyōsuke). She didn't need to worry about him going off and risking his life in another dimension. Some secrets were best kept just that: secret.
Juan stared moodily at his bedroom ceiling. He supposed this was his own fault, bringing Mamà along. Papá seemed pretty cool about the Digital World, but Mamà was a completely different story.
A soft knock at the door. "Come in," he mumbled. He knew it wasn't Mamà, otherwise he would've shouted: 'Go away!' instead.
It was Papá. Juan sat up. To be honest, he still wasn't completely sure about Papá's opinion on today's developments. He seemed okay with it, but he hadn't said anything about it on the Trailmon, since Mamà had utterly refused to discuss that topic. Juan had no idea whose side Padre was really on.
Padre sat down on the edge of the bed. "I told your madre I'd try and talk some sense into you," he said.
Juan scowled and flopped back down. So Papá was on Mamà's side. Figures.
"She thinks it's far too dangerous for a child to get involved with, and that it would be better if we just went on like it never happened. But I don't agree with her." Huh? He didn't? "You handled yourself amazingly well back there against that… what was that Digimon called again?"
"Hanumon."
"And you aren't a child anymore. That's why I'm giving this back to you." Juan gasped when he realised Papá was holding out his D-Scanner.
"Seriously?" Just in case Papá was playing some kind of cruel trick, Juan took the precious device before it could be snatched away.
"Si. Just don't tell your Mamà, and watch yourself out there."
Juan grinned. "Thanks, Papá."
Gizamon trembled as he bowed low to the floor. Master was not pleased, not pleased at all. He found himself wishing he was back in the forest, still trying to ditch the Legendary Warriors. "I'm sorry, Master," he begged, "The Legendary Warriors are strong! I couldn't keep 'em all off it, and those flunkies Lord Incumon gave me were no help."
A growl. "You puny, ungrateful little-" The shadowy figure on Master's left started forward, but was stopped by a simple hand gesture from their all-powerful leader, who could easily wipe them out if he felt like it.
"Control yourself, Incumon," Lady Succumon snapped from Master's other side, "Master, perhaps a new strategy is in order."
Silence. Then Master spoke. "Explain."
"The Legendary Warriors are strong. Nine of them have each obtained a Spirit, and it is only a matter of time before the Warrior of Steel, the young one they call 'Shin'ya', does the same. Until then, he is the weak link. My suggestion is that we remove him before he and the others grow any stronger. Eliminate one, and the rest will swiftly follow."
"Yeah, that's what Lucemon thought when he took out the Warrior of Darkness," Incumon interrupted, "And look at what happened to him! Not only was he destroyed, he didn't even manage to get rid of the brat properly!"
"True, but I suggest a different approach. I assure you, Master, the boy's death will drive the Legendary Warriors to destroy each other from the inside!"
TO BE CONTINUED…
And that's all for now, I'm afraid. But here is a small rough-draft-version preview of Part IV:
"You could've killed him! If Junpei hadn't gotten to him in time, who knows what would've happened?! He can't even Spirit Evolve to get out of the way!:
At this, Shinya turned and started to walk away. "Hey, Shinya, where're you going?" Tomoki called after him.
"Home," Shinya replied over his shoulder, " All I'm really doing is getting in the way, anyway."
