Chapter 4: Master and Commander
Max knocked on Jared's family's apartment door. He waited patiently for a moment. A rustle came to the doorknob, and a tall woman opened it. She had medium-length brown hair, a white apron, and a beige undershirt and pants. "Why, Max! What a pleasant surprise. Do you need anything?"
"Yes, Mrs. Kabumi," he responded, "can I talk to your son for a minute?"
"Sure, come on in," Mrs. Kabumi waved him in. "He's in his room, playing on the computer I think."
Max walked down the hall to a wooden door on his left. A red sign was hung on the front by a nail, "Digimon Crossing". Max sighed and opened the door rudely, without knocking.
"Hey, Jared," Max greeted him, but soon noticed something odd. Next to Jared's computer chair was a four-foot tall blue robotic insect. He had features of a beetle, with multiple eyes, a horn on his head, and red spikes protruding from his back. He had gigantic silver claws on each hand as well. "Uh… bug problem?"
Jared took Max's entrance by surprise and turned away from his computer. "Oh! H-hi there… uh… Max, right?"
"Don't tell me. You have a Digimon too?"
"Yeah… his name is KoKabuterimon. I saw you guys out in that Digital Field earlier this evening. Candlemon and Veemon are a cool team. Where are they anyway?"
"Candlemon's back in my room and Jen and Veemon went on their own path. Why didn't you say anything to us?"
"I thought I'd be weird if I did." He dug in one of the drawers in his computer desk and pulled out a cell phone, very similar to Max's. His device was lime green instead of red, though. "Did you get one of these, too? My Digimon V-Pet turned into it when I was playing online with my Numemon."
"Hehe. I think you were fighting my sister. Were you against a… Salmon, I think she said?"
"You probably mean Salamon. Yeah, that was my opponent. It was before KoKabuterimon showed up in my room… which was just a few moments ago!"
KoKabuterimon finally approached Max. He seemed intimidating, but he spoke quite contrarily in his childish voice. "Greetings. I've not acquainted with you yet. I'm KoKabuterimon, a Rookie Digimon." KoKabuterimon extended his claw for a shake, and Max grabbed onto one of his silver talons. He let KoKabuterimon do the shaking.
"He's pretty friendly."
Max smiled. "I noticed. Nice to meet ya!"
"You know… since you guys have Digimon too, maybe we should all hang out sometime. That park down by that high school sounds good, don't it?"
"Yeah. You go there?"
"Not till next year. I'm 13. Eight grade in middle school."
"Oh. Well, we get out of school at the same time, true? How about we hang out there after?"
"Sounds quite pleasing," KoKabuterimon nodded.
"Good with me," Jared gave a thumbs up.
- - -
Alexis heard a knock on the door. Sighing, she got up from her computer chair, her purple trimmed phone in her hand, and walked from her room to the front door. She opened it and stared at the older looking man and Jen next to him.
"My name is Commander Yamasaki. Is Max Miyotama here?" the man asked. He looked down at Alexis' hand, which was holding the purple trimmed cell phone. "And… is that your brother's phone?"
"Nope, it's mine," she responded calmly. "My brother's next door if you need him."
"Actually, you'll do."
Alexis had a questioned look on her face, but Jen winked at her. She held the door open for the Commander, Jen, and Veemon as they walked into the Miyotama's family room.
"My parents aren't home," Alexis warned them, "so try not to break anything." She pulled out her "new" cell phone and dialed a number. She was attempting to see if it worked by calling her brother's actual cell phone number.
"Hello… Max, there's someone at our house… Commander Yamaha I think?… He has Jen with her… No, he hasn't stolen anything… Okay. Bye." She flipped the phone closed. "I guess these things work, huh?"
As soon as Jen smiled back at her, Max entered the room with Jared and KoKabuterimon behind him. He said, "Hey, guys. What's going on?"
Jen and Alexis stared at the short, yet sturdy, bug monster behind Jared. "Is that… his Digimon?" Jen asked, pointing at KoKabuterimon.
"Yeah, he's KoKabuterimon," Jared patted the monster on his sharp back.
"Pleased to meet you all, Jen, Alexis, Commander…" KoKabuterimon bowed for them.
"He's pretty polite, eh?" Jen noted. "What do you need us for, erm… Commander?"
The Commander sat himself down on the living room couch, as did Jen, Veemon and Alexis. Jared and Max sat in chairs next to the brown leather couch, and KoKabuterimon stood.
"I notice you all have a D-Cell on you," Commander Yamasaki stated. "The D-Cell is a creation of my experimentation at the V-Pet factory. Sadly, the program had hit the Internet, unintentionally on my part, and its data was released to random computers around the city before I could stop it. Thank goodness it didn't spread around the world. That is why when you connected some electronic devices to your computers, they transformed abruptly. In some cases, as I gathered from Jen's word, it opened a portal for a Digimon to enter this world as well…"
"Yeah," Jen confirmed. "Max and I got our Digimon around the same time."
"I never got one…" Alexis frowned.
"Mine's in my room," Max stated. "Alexis, you were supposed to let him out."
"It's okay, Max, I have arms!" Candlemon's voice came from behind the couch and hovered over to Max's vicinity. "Sorry I'm… well, late, I suppose. I heard you guys talking."
"Good, good," Commander Yamasaki stroked his bushy beard. "Alexis, I'm sure yours will appear sometime soon. They all materialize in Digital Fields. I know you've encountered those, as Jen tells me. Those misty areas that normally contain a Digimon?"
They nodded.
"Those are breaks in the Digital World's barriers. With you guys and the power of the D-Cells, you may be able to defend this city from them!"
"Like superheroes?" Max exclaimed. "Cool! Digi Sentai Digiranger! Hiya!" Max pulled off a rather embarrassing kick move in his seat.
"Not exactly," Commander Yamasaki laughed. "Right now, there's a Digimon named Kimeramon spreading a disease-like virus around the DigiWorld. What I need is you guys to take a journey to the Digital World and stop it."
"How do you know so much about the Digital World?" Jen asked curiously.
Commander Yamasaki paused for a moment and hesitated with his next answer. "Because I've been there once before. I developed a gateway via my computer that can take you there."
"Sweet!" Jared exclaimed, but then clasped his mouth.
"So it IS possible for us to go to the Digital World?" Max wondered. "Weird."
"What's it like there?" Jared asked, but everyone looked at him strange.
"Well, there's mountains and cities and hills-"
"We know," Jen asserted. "But is it dangerous going there?"
Commander Yamasaki paused suspiciously. "Oh, it's no problem. It's a bit of a bumpy ride, you know… going through a bunch of, erm… data and all."
The kids shrugged. "Alright, are you guys with this?"
Max and Alexis nodded, and Jared smiled. He in particular seemed really excited.
"Okay then," Max stood up. "Let's go-"
"One last thing," Commander Yamasaki interrupted.
"What?"
"Don't tell your parents. I don't exactly have everything planned out yet… but I'll get back to you."
- - -
"Man, I can't wait!" Jared exclaimed, walking down the apartment steps with Jen, Veemon, Max, Candlemon, Alexis and KoKabuterimon. The Commander had left just before. "This is going to be extremely interesting!"
"Does anyone else get a weird vibe about this guy?" Jen wondered. "He seemed really slow when we asked him questions…"
"I think that's just because he's old," Alexis giggled.
Jen looked both ways at the head of the pack before crossing the street at an intersection. "I'm still not too sure about this. I just acted sure because I didn't want to let the poor old guy down."
Veemon stopped after they'd crossed the street. He pointed his spiked nose to the air and sniffed around. "I sense another Digital Field, Jen!"
Jen sighed. "Another one?!"
Candlemon and KoKabuterimon stopped as well and looked around. Like a magnet, the three Digimon pulled themselves down the street some more, toward Jen's apartment!
"Uh oh... it's not by my home, is it?"
The kids followed the three Digimon down the sidewalk for a while until they came to the apartment building Jen's family resided in. Nearby, as expected, was a massive glob of misty light. A Digital Field.
"I say we head in," Jen said just as they came to a stop.
"We don't know what could be in there this time, though…" Alexis worried.
"We never do. So I'm going in! Come on, Veemon!" Jen started into the field. Deciding they couldn't let their ally go in alone, Max, Candlemon, Jared, KoKabuterimon and Alexis entered as well.
Inside the field, Max quickly shielded his eyes, as did Alexis. Jared, wearing glasses, seemed to be doing fine. "Prescription lenses," he boasted. "They adjust to light."
Jen pulled her goggles over her eyes. In the field, which was in the apartment building's parking lot, they spotted a dinosaur Digimon nearby. He was blue, and on each arm, instead of a hand, was a lizard head. The one to his left was a skeletal cranium, while the other looked like it belonged to a mechanical lizard. The Digimon also had an odd-shaped white tipped snout.
Jen expected input from her D-Cell, and pulled it out and opened it like the flip phone it was. A holographic display appeared from the screen, and Jen read it off. "Deltamon, a Champion Digimon. His special attacks are Triple Forces and Serpent Bite!"
"That thing sure is useful," Max spoke his opinion before Deltamon turned his head to face the group. He had his skull head clasped shut, and the silence of the night was broken with the sound of light chirping. "What's that noise?"
"I don't know," Veemon said, "but his left hand's hiding something." Veemon got a running start before ramming his head into the head on Deltamon's left arm. "Vee Head Butt!"
Deltamon took this blow with surprise and opened his left hand. Out flew a small spherical Digimon with yellow feathered skin and a long fluff of orange hair sprouting from the top of it. Alexis ran in a hurry and caught the monster in her arms.
"Friend!" the small Digimon chirped.
A/N: I forgot to mention this last chapter, but Mr. Hiroshi has no relation to Hiroshi Yushima from Digimon Savers/Data Squad.
