AN: This was meant to be uploaded on Valentine's Day, not because of any shipping worth mentioning, but because my current girlfriend is one of the key reasons I'm even writing this particular fic in the first place. For context, Digimon Re: Adventure was too raunchy for my girlfriend to want to read, so I decided to make a lot less raunchy of a Digimon fic in the form of Digimon Re: Tamers, even if admittedly this fic has its own different flavor of not entirely kid friendly stuff.
Digimon Re: Tamers Chapter 3:
Jeri's train of thoughts are numb the moment she allows her eyes to focus on Takato, mere feet away from her, as Takato's decision to move forward to greet her takes her further by surprise. Gulping a bit in nervousness, Jeri tries to hide her blush as Takato holds his hand out to her.
"My name is Takato, what's yours?" Takato asks, rather innocently, as Jeri was pushed by Ruki to have her hand take his; her face flushing entirely red as she nervously shakes his hand.
"M-My name is J-Jeri…" Jeri introduces as best as she can, as Takato smiles warmly at her. Ryo couldn't help but snicker as to Jeri's shyness, but a glare from Ruki kept him too quiet for either Jeri or Takato to hear. Speaking of Takato, he didn't exactly notice Jeri's rather obvious embarrassment.
"Jeri, are you alright?" Takato asks, as Jeri nods, as both of them return their hands to their sides, all the while Impmon looks around Takato rather suspiciously; he had seen the boy before in the courtyard, and he simply fled from the encounter between himself and Vilemon, with no Digimon of his own to be found anywhere.
'So then why is he here if he doesn't even have a Digimon?' Impmon thought to himself, as notices Henry and Rapidmon moving out of the way of the exit as Ryo gestures for Takato to lead Jeri back out.
"Remember, the password for getting back in is 'Decode', alright Jeri?" Ruki tells Jeri, as Jeri nods.
"Alright, I'll be sure to remember." Jeri says to Ruki, as she turns her head to notice Takato already making his leave up the flight of stairs, as Jeri quickly follows behind him while dragging Impmon with her. Before they're both out the door, Rapidmon puts the coat and hat back onto Impmon as he walks out. Once they're out, Henry moves to lock the door again and head back down to the others.
"Do you think we should've told her about Guilmon?" Henry asks, as Ryo and Ruki have a glance at each other.
"Nah; Guilmon's a puppy in mentality; even with his own Digital Hazard, he wouldn't hurt a fly unless you angered Takato first." Ruki says to Henry confidently, as Ryo nods.
"She's right; we've all seen Guilmon's behavior, so I highly doubt he's the mysterious carrier of the Digital Hazard we've been hearing rumors about." Ryo says to Henry, as Henry raises an eye.
"Last I recall, not everyone knows Takato even has a Digimon, so what makes us think these rumors aren't just sightings mistaking Guilmon as a threat to society?" Henry asks, as the lights began to flicker after he closes his mouth, as everyone looks around the room as the lights suddenly turn off entirely.
The sound of static flickering in and out is heard throughout the room; everyone's digivices activate and give off a warning signal, as Rapidmon and Cyberdramon get into a battle ready stance as something appears in the middle of the room in the dark. The lights turn back on, as the intruder reveals itself.
"…"
A lone, floating sphere of sorts appears in the middle of the room; as it is glowing with an intense light of a red color, with a hazardous insignia contained within it, manifests in the room as it gives off a whirring, mechanical heartbeat of sorts as Cyberdramon and Rapidmon suddenly lunge at it. The sphere vanishes, and Cyberdramon and Rapidmon resort to attacking each other blindly as the power comes back on in full. Jumping back from each other, Rapidmon's hands and legs begin to manifest a large, green triangle, as Cyberdramon charges a red, electrical current in his hands.
"Enough!" Ruki says as she, slowly, walks in the way of the two Ultimate Level Digimon's sights, as Henry and Ryo's eyes widen as Rapidmon and Cyberdramon simply glare each other down, before both of them store their own energy back into themselves and calm down upon seeing Ruki's harsh glare towards both of them. "Even if Renamon isn't here, that doesn't mean I'm not going to have to babysit you two even if by all accounts I shouldn't be mandated to!"
Ruki's breathing seems dry; her voice sounds like it's beginning to crack a little, as Ruki pants quietly as she moves back over towards the counter. Taking a drink from her can of soda, Ruki lays her head down on the counter as she groans.
Takato is casually walking through the hallways back in school, with Jeri staying very close to him, and Impmon dressed up again to hide from the others. Jeri, awkwardly blushing as she tries to remain calm while walking alongside Takato, notices how unusually calm Takato is until she notices a small, minor detail one wouldn't notice right away.
"Takato? Why is your hand twitching?" Jeri asks, innocently, as Takato looks back at her; both of his hands and lower arms were twitching a bit, but at a regular glance it would look like they were barely moving at all.
"W-What do you mean, J-Jeri?" Takato asks; a slight, luminescent blush appearing on his face in the process. Jeri, taking notice of this, quickly looks away as to not face Takato directly; Takato, doing the same, nervously chuckles as to the situation.
"Um, could we perhaps get back to class?" Takato asks, as Jeri nods.
"I guess. I've got some studying I need to do, so I'll see you after school?" Jeri asks Takato, to which Takato flinches in place, looking back at her as to not be rude.
"A-Are y-you a-asking m-m-me o-out?" Takato asks, to which Jeri blinks; some students nearby have their attention now focused on the two teenagers before them.
'Oh dear, what do I tell him?' Jeri thinks to herself, as she waits to try and see what Takato will say next. Before she has a chance to speak, the first bell indicating class would begin in a few minutes goes off, taking Jeri and Takato by surprise.
"I'll meet you by the entrance after school, right now I have to hurry to class! See you later, Jeri." Takato spoke rather quickly compared to his normal, mellower tone of speaking. Jeri, nodding, moves to wave goodbye for the time being as she hurries up to get to her own class as well.
Impmon, knowing he's not going to be allowed into Jeri's class no matter what, decides to head off in a different direction, as he quickly looks around for a specific room.
"Bathroom! Where's the bathroom?!" Impmon yelps as he scurries across the floor, looking like the tiniest person in the hallways as Impmon hastily sees a men's room sign up ahead, and immediately takes a sharp turn into the restroom and quickly enters a stall and locks it shut.
"Phew... talk about a close call there…" Impmon says, as Impmon soon hears someone else enter the restroom. Normally, not a big ordeal, except the footsteps sounded heavier than the other students; even heavier when compared to the few adults Impmon could readily compare the footsteps to.
"W-Why are we in here?! Why'd you bring me here, Mr. Janitor guy?!" Vilemon's voice can be heard, as Impmon's eyes widen as he moves to peek out from within his stall to check out what was going on.
The janitor appears before his sights immediately; a greasy, overweight old man, sunglasses covering his eyes, and every time Impmon could see the man open his mouth he can see very sharp, almost metallic in appearance, rusted teeth, with a bizarre, glowing one standing out before the others; a runic blue when compared to the rusted brown on the others.
"Listen here, Evilmon-"
"Vilemon."
"Whatever, you sick- nope, not saying that word around the kids here."
"Teens you mean?" Vilemon tries to correct the janitor again, only to be thrown against the wall with a loud, cracking sound being heard upon impact with the tiled wall.
"I say, well I SAY, correct me again and I'm tearing the smug grin off of your stupid face! GOT IT?!"
"Look, Big G, is it? You've gotta believe me when I say it's just any other Virus Digimon outbreak! You can't blame us for that! We're just going about our business as Virus Digimon! We're not murderous outright!" Vilemon begs pathetically, as the janitor stomps forward with the entire room shaking with each step he takes.
"BOI! Listen to me and listen well before you open that yap of yours again!" The janitor yells as his giant hand forcefully keeps Vilemon's mouth shut, as the janitor looks around as his sunglasses are still on.
"Impmon." The janitor asks, towards the stall where Impmon is, but Impmon stays quiet out of fright.
"… Beelzebumon."
"IT'S BEELZEMON YA JERK!" Impmon says as he opens the stall, the toilet flushing behind him as Impmon looks on to the janitor with a stern look. Only after a few seconds did his newfound confidence turn to regretting his decision to make himself known. Before he could run, however, the janitor grabs him too quickly for him to escape.
"Ya know if Raiga was dun going to let you slip through here through a bluff, ya honestly could've just asked to come here." The janitor asks, as Impmon and Vilemon both give each other glares as the man holds them both in place.
"… I see what's going on here; two Virus Digimon getting into a fight because of the other intruder on the premises as of late, which to be fair, is at least expected from a tamer like yours, Impmon." The janitor says, as Impmon glares at him.
"What about Jeri now?!" Impmon raises his voice, but the janitor secures his grip on Impmon and slams him face first into the wall.
"No seriously both of you! Shut up and listen closely!" The janitor says to both Virus Digimon as Vilemon and Impmon could practically see through the wall they were both being held against; Vilemon growls with what he sees, as Impmon raises an eye in confusion.
"So you'll be there tomorrow night as always?" A women's voice speaks over someone's phone.
"Positive, Ms. Makino. I wouldn't worry so badly over your joyful beast that is me, right?"
"Oh, thank you Eire, you're the best! I'll try my best to make sure Ruki comes home tonight and-"
"What does that man think he is flirting with some cougar?" Vilemon asks, as Impmon glares.
"So this is the prick that causes Renamon to lash out at me; his words make me sick already." Impmon says.
"Baby why is it you want the kid to interrupt a wonderful night like tonight? I thought you said you wanted me over for more adult matters, am I right?"
"Yes- well, yes, very true, but-"
"So there's nothing to worry about; just arrange for your kid to be out of the house, give her something for a movie perhaps with her friends, and we'll have the whole house to ourselves, some drinks, and a nice, warm, comfortable-"
"Okay I think you two get the picture now; that's the idiot who is apparently causing mischief among some of the locals. Grade A New Yorker looking to get into a woman's pants and nothing more, I'd say." The janitor speaks up after moving Vilemon and Impmon away from the wall and setting them down.
"So what does that have to do with us?" Vilemon asks, as Impmon looks at Vilemon with a grin.
"Odd you say that when you consider the rampaging, violent Renamon we have going own around the neighborhood at night and dawn, isn't it?" Impmon says to Vilemon, as Vilemon gasps.
"We're sitting ducks! We need to run and hide before she gets us!" Vilemon yelps out, all the while the janitor moves to kick him right out the door very literally as he growls a bit in frustration.
"YOU HAD ONE CHANCE, VILEMON; ONE. CHANCE." The janitor yells, as Impmon stares in confusion, before developing a bit of a grin of his own; after a moment, he quickly realizes that the man in the other room is the new boyfriend for Ruki's mother he heard about; that itself was unusual, though, since he didn't even see a trace of a digivice on the man at all. In fact, now that he realizes it, neither does the janitor from what he can see.
"HEY! Big guy! Mind I ask why are you getting yourself involved in all of this? You don't even have a Digimon yet alone-" Impmon's words were simply bouncing off of the janitor as he moves to leave, as Impmon lets sink in something the janitor said twice already about Impmon's own past.
"Hold on; Beelzebumon, Raiga, as in, myself and that Royal Knight from a day ago?!" Impmon asks himself, thankful that nobody else is around to hear him.
"I've got to think fast; the local enforcers are on to me already, and I'm not letting them take me away from Jeri by any means!" Impmon says as he moves to grab his coat and giant hat, before promptly leaving the room and noticing the school bell ringing again; Impmon looks at the clock and notices something strange.
"Odd… 4:00 PM already? We haven't even been here a full hour yet!" Impmon says as he quickly finds himself being summoned away along with his coat and hat, Impmon freaking out as to what was going on before he notices himself materializing right next to Jeri; Jeri, having used a command on her digivice to summon Impmon to her side, looks at him before patting his head reassuringly.
"Don't get lost like that again, alright?" Jeri tells Impmon, as Impmon sighs and nods.
"I didn't try to, but regardless, where's goggle boy?" Impmon asks, as he notices Takato at the entrance with Jeri looking over towards him with a bright, luminescent blush on her face; trying to hide it as she approaches Takato slowly, Takato can hear her footsteps drawing close. Impmon realizes something now from his prior remark; Takato wasn't even wearing his goggles he had earlier.
"Oh, h-hey Jeri, I didn't know you're still here." Takato speaks to Jeri, sounding nervous in tone a tad bit, as Jeri walks up to him; trying her best to hide her blush. The sunset causing the light to appear hazy on everything only made things easier, especially since Takato also begins to blush at the sight of Jeri.
"So, about what the others are wanting me to do to help you, Jeri. I'm not sure if I'm ready yet, in all honesty." Takato says to Jeri, as Jeri blinks.
"What do you mean, Takato?" Jeri asks, to which Takato sighs as he pulls out his own digivice and materializes besides him a rather large, theropod Digimon wearing metallic armor and reinforcements, to which Jeri took her digivice to scan it.
"WarGrowlmon, Ultimate Level. I still don't see what makes you think I'm not ready or-"
"Drop the pretenses, Jeri; look at Impmon and look at WarGrowlmon, and tell me something that both of them have different from each other!" Takato's voice, more harsh now, catches Jeri off guard as Jeri trembles a bit in place as she tries to think.
"Let's see, um… they're both Virus Attribute, they're both… um… We are talking similarities here, right?"
"No, Jeri; I'm talking differences. True, they're both Virus Digimon, but you don't understand something about WarGrowlmon nor do you understand something that very few tamers at this school even remotely understand about him or myself for that matter." Takato tells Jeri, as his hands are shaking right now as he looks ready to cry.
"T-Takato?" Jeri asks in a quiet, subdued tone, as she did not expect Takato to suddenly grab hold of her shoulders as Takato's eyes pierce directly into her own.
"Guilmon, Growlmon, WarGrowlmon; it doesn't matter which form my friend is in; he has the Digital Hazard in him by an unfortunate chain of luck, and it's no longer a card or video game anymore with that in mind; my Digimon, my friend, can easily kill you in the blink of an eye." Takato tells Jeri as he seems out of breath, as Jeri's eyes widen as Takato's expression saddens more.
"… A-And, it's my own entire fault as to why he even exists; I'm the one who created him from scratch." Takato admits to Jeri openly, as Jeri blinks as she doesn't understand why this is such a big deal.
"Takato, I don't understand; why are you bringing this up? Nobody seems to hate you for any of this." Jeri tells Takato, based off of what she heard from the others earlier that day.
"Then you're probably wondering why Terriermon and Monodramon were both digivolved into Ultimate, correct?" Takato asks Jeri, to which Jeri tilts her head, "They were both preparing to execute WarGrowlmon in case I had one more screw up as a tamer. Ruki has been going out of her way to vouch for me claiming I'm innocent and so is Guilmon, but Cyberdramon has been slowly trying to convince everyone else that I'm to blame for the Virus Digimon outbreak as of late." Takato says, as he pulls out a photograph from his pocket.
"And I'd like you to see for yourself if you agree with them or not." Takato asks, to which Jeri looks at the photograph and sees it to be security footage, from right outside of Ruki's house from what she could recognize. Takato and WarGrowlmon, both appeared right outside of Ruki's household in frame, but both of them appeared to be focused on something.
There was an unseen combatant just outside of frame.
"I want to ask you before you accept my help with the mission; are you sure you want to go through with this, knowing you have only your own decision as to why you could be put in severe danger?" Takato asks, to which Jeri looks at the photograph, before facing Takato in the eye and nodding.
"I'll still do it; you're being blamed for something you didn't do." Jeri asks, as Takato moves to get something from his backpack and move to take his goggles out, and then putting them onto Jeri's forehead as Jeri blushes immensely as to what Takato is implying.
"You know what you have to do next, Jeri; you have to get Impmon to digivolve to Champion before we even remotely start this mission, otherwise the chances of you getting hurt, if not killed, will be at their peak."