Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon or anything associated/attributed to it.
Chapter 4: Irony is at it again
I can say I've never actually been robbed before. People have tried, but I've hardwired my body to reach my hand back and touch my wallet every time my arms swing. So by the time they reach their hand in, and try to pull it out, I've already felt their hand in my pocket. Which immediately triggers the defensive motion of a spinning punch to any potential thief's face.
This time was exactly the same.
My left hand, upon being informed of a threat to my wallet, spun with my body and lunged at the closest person behind me. Except this time the perpetrator had already ducked, and was turning to run.
Roguemon apparently noticed the actions right after I turned around. "What's going on?" he said in confusion.
I didn't dare advert my eyes from my escaping assailant. It was too easy to lose someone here. Especially since there was an abnormally high amount of people around for some reason. "Catch that guy!" I said pointing.
Roguemon immediately began dashing after him with me bringing up the rear. The thief was shoving people away as he made his way to an alleyway judging by his direction. If he made it there, it was a straight shot to the next street and an ample chance for him to lose us.
My luck was laughing at me. I was in deadlock with the crowd, (because I hate shoving people) and I was going to be of no use. By the time I would get close to getting out of the crowd, the thief would have surely made his escape. Which meant Roguemon was my only hope.
Luckily, he was making better progress that I was. However, he was still in the same predicament I was. Great.
This was a perfect time to test my digivice. Thankfully, I had brought my digivice with me, along with a few choice cards which I pulled from my front pockets. I rapidly found the one I wanted, and slashed it through the reader, which awkwardly gave of a few red flashes of light.
I yelled, "Roguemon, jump out of this crowd and chase him down!"
He leaped into the air amid much gasping from the crowd, and landed gracefully kneeling in front of the alleyway. "Oh yeah, feel that power," he said to no one in particular. Quickly locating the retreating thief, he used the speed from the card to close the distance in just seconds. He tackled the thief to the ground, ripping the thief's sweatshirt in the process. He pinned the thief, and stared at him from behind the mask.
The thief replied from his somehow-still-attached sunglasses, "H...H...How did you…do that?"
"What? Oh, you mean catching your sorry behind?" he said in confidence.
I finally broke through the crowd, and sighed my relief as I saw Roguemon pinning the assailant. I ran over with digivice still in hand.
The thief somehow freed a hand, and used Roguemon's brief moment of surprise to rip the mask from Roguemon's face. His eyes widened as he processes what he was seeing. Then he glanced at me, and his eyes settled on my digivice.
"No…it can't be. You're a…a…" he stuttered.
Roguemon smiled as he said, "Digimon."
I threw my arms into the air and sighed. "Great." I retrieved my wallet from the thief's now-slack hands. He was obviously in complete shock from the realization that Digimon were real. I didn't blame him. I felt the same way last night, only my experience was a little more painful than his.
Roguemon removed his grip, reapplied his mask, and stood over the thief.
We endured silence for a few moments, and I finally registered the thief's features. He looked to be the same height as me, only skinnier and even less muscular (which didn't leave him with much but a frail looking body). His black hair was much thicker and unrulier than mine, and his hazel eyes still were wide in shock. His clothing gave away his poverty; they were in complete tatters and had faded too much to have any color. I almost felt sorry for him.
I was fed up with waiting. With Roguemon being an intimidator, I proceeded to interrogate him. "Why did you try to steal my wallet?" I said with anger in my voice.
He finally returned to reality, and his face took on a condescending look. "Isn't it obvious?"
"Where do you live?"
He quickly replied, "That's an odd question, but if you must know, I don't live anywhere in particular. The street is my home."
Ahh, great. Now pity conflicted with my feelings of resentment, and unfortunately, pity was winning. "What's your name, thief?"
He cautiously said, "Troy."
Pity struck the final blow. "Well, Troy, how about I bribe you with some lunch?" I asked, extending my hand to help him up.
Troy anxiously looked at the frowning Roguemon, and grabbed my hand. "Did pity play in my favor?" he asked with a grin on his face as I helped him up.
I just laughed.
Ronald spit his coffee out dramatically. "You can't be serious, Sonya! This is madness!"
Sonya rubbed her temples from the headache she was getting. "This is REALITY!" she said chuckling, getting a frown from Ronald. She continued, "Sorry, I couldn't help myself. But really sir, this footage isn't doctored. I got it from the server log directly."
Ronald slowly took another sip of coffee. Setting his cup back on his desk, and depositing his hands back in his lap, he said, "Even so, there's no way this is possible. Someone must have hacked it. I mean, look at the situation, Sonya. Isn't it mysterious that only one server survived, and that this one server had a lone computer connected to the game on it?"
Sonya leaned forward. "Which is precisely why I am going to go to his house after work."
Ronald sighed in frustration. "I'm telling you, they aren't real. But fine, go ahead. Make a fool of yourself."
Sonya rose and turned to exit Ronald's office.
Ronald finished, "Get me another coffee would you? I need all the caffeine I can get before I go see the higher-ups."
Sonya sighed. She needed another break.
Roguemon was in paradise. All the smells of the food court threatened to overload his nostrils with their sweet scent. Everywhere he looked contained some kind of new food that looked so good. He could barely restrain himself from running to the nearest stall like a madman and gorging himself.
But he had no money, so he would have to wait for Seth and this "Troy" person to pick a stall.
Seth started, "How about some Chinese?"
Troy shrugged as he smiled an oddly mischievous smile. "Beggars can't be choosers."
Seth caught the pun. "Chinese it is then."
Roguemon forced himself to remain calm while he anxiously waited to place his order. Seth had gotten a plate of rice and something called "General Tso's Chicken" while Troy ordered noodles alongside a few somethings called "Eggrolls", but none of their orders even touched upon the best smelling stuff. Which Roguemon proceeded to choose for his meal. He ordered "Sweet and Sour Chicken, Teriyaki Steak, and Bourbon Chicken" with some rice.
Seth paid for the meal, and they all sat down to eat. Roguemon lifted his mask ever so slightly, and eyed the food. The steaming plate of food glistened in the glare of the lights making it even more appealing. Savoring one last whiff of the lovely food, he began stuffing himself.
The moment the taste reached his brain, he swooned. He'd never tasted anything as good as this ever before. Nothing even came close. Which made him eat even faster.
Seth smiled at these actions. "Good?"
Roguemon grunted his approval. Talk could wait.
It was food time.
While Roguemon was busy chowing down, I tried for a conversation with Troy. "So...uhh...how do you know about digimon if you're…uhh…"
Troy's hand cut me off. "I do not mind. Reality shouldn't be ignored. To answer your question, let me start at the beginning. I resided in an orphanage for the first 13 years of my meager life. Next door to the orphanage was a library which I have spent innumerable hours studying in. The library was my only connection to the outside world because the orphanage's managers apparently did not believe in trying to educate us."
I cut in, "So, how did you learn about digimon from a library?"
He tilted his head and replied, "Interruptions ruin conversations you know."
I waved my hands in defense. "Sorry, sorry, I'll shut up."
He leaned back in his chair. "Many thanks. The library was equipped with the internet around 5 years ago, and I continued my studies from there. Which included Japanese anime. I have laid out your answer. Now, would you consider informing me about Roguemon here?"
So while we ate our meals, I proceeded to explain the events leading up to Roguemon appearing in the real world. He cautiously picked at his salad, as if he didn't trust it, while still looking interested the entire time. By the time I had finished, everyone was done eating (including Roguemon who was rubbing his stomach in satisfaction.).
Troy responded, "Well now that I've made your acquaintances, I do believe I will accompany you from now on."
This guy really needed to stop reading the dictionary. "So we're friends then?" I asked, extending a hand across the table.
He accepted the gesture, saying, "Something similar to that, yes."
I was confused. "What do you mean by 'similar'?"
He looked towards the floor, and his hair shadowed his eyes. "My home exists on the streets of the mall, and I am certain that you will not want to be seen with the likes of a disgraceful thief." He looked up and sighed. "Alas, 'tis my fate to find a digimon tamer, and be forced to part from them..."
This guy was good at playing the pity card. Scary good. Unfortunately, that happened to be one of my weaknesses... "I'll tell you what. How about you come home with me and Roguemon till Sunday?"
His face lit up like a child who was watching a magic show for only a brief moment, but he quickly reverted to his normal, apathetic state. "What of your parents? Surly they won't like the idea of a homeless person in their home."
I smiled devilously, "They're out of town for the week."
Troy mirrored my grin.
With the completion of our meal and coversation came the next event for the day. The Circle Center mall was huge and contained numerous stores, a movie theater, and the thing that I brought Roguemon here for. The arcade.
On the top floor of the mall, nestled into an almost-hidden spot, was the arcade that I blew most of my money that I allotted for recreation. (I budgeted my spending money like a good teenager.) The arcade took up a good portion of the area above the food court, but for some reason was a lot smaller than it looked.
It contained your average stuff you'd expect in the arcade: A DDR machine, a handful of fighter games, a whole row of zombie shooting games, basketball games, ski ball, and claw games amongst other games. However, unlike most other arcades, it contained 6 racing machines that were fashioned like NASCAR cars which were all interlinked. Still, it wasn't what I'd consider amazing, but it would do for Roguemon's first time. I just hoped he would like playing games…
"Come on guys, time to hit up the arcade," I announced, getting up from the table.
Roguemon asked, tilting his head, 'What's an arcade?"
I said in reply, "A place where people pay to play arcade machines."
He asked again, "What's an arcade machine?"
Finally, Sonya was able to relax.
She would always come here when she needed to just get away from her problems. And a heaping plate of problems were just dropped on her plate, so here she was. At the arcade in Circle Center mall.
She always sat in a dark corner of the arcade playing pinball, and today was no different. She just sat there, chipping away at the difference between her score and the high score. Her focus on the machine was quickly becoming complete.
Then she heard the word that she really didn't want to hear right now.
"…Roguemon."
She flinched at the word, and with her focus temporarily leaving her, the pinball dropped slid neatly between her flippers. Now annoyed, she diverted her attention towards the source of her distraction.
"How do you play?" said a man dressed in a baggy running outfit that seemed to large for him. He had a hoodie on, and the hood covered his head. His face, oddly enough, was covered by a hockey mask.
This struck Sonya as odd, considering that wearing a mask in public usually meant you were up to no good. She listened on.
"You must aim this gun at an infected person, and constrict the trigger to shoot them," said a black haired teenager, handing the masked man the gun.
Apparently, Sonya was hearing things. With no further mention of "Roguemon", she started to turn back to her machine. However, she did a double take when she saw the third teenager standing next to the masked person. Her mouth hung open as she realized that she had seen his face before…
It had to be Seth.
She stared long at his visage, trying to unconvinced herself that it was him. However, her suspicion was confirmed when she saw the faint red "X" cut in his forehead.
So her problem had found her before she had a chance to go looking for it.
But why was he with this masked person, and who was the black hair kid? She had no idea as to the answer to the second question, but her first guess at the first made her wish she hadn't.
The only thing that came to mind was that under that mask might be the face of a digimon.
She tried to dismiss the thought as hard as she could, but curiosity was getting the best of her. She began inching towards the group as sneakily as she could. Her heart beat faster, and her breathing increased as she crept behind the masked person. She finally found herself within arms reach of him, and she hadn't yet been noticed by any of them.
Her hand trembled as it reached for the corner of the mask. Still no one noticed her as they played their zombie game.
Her fingers closed on the plastic mask, and she ripped it to the ground.
The now-unmasked man turned, and Sonya gasped even though she half knew what to expect.
Standing before her, was the face of a humanoid raccoon.
"Sir, I am sorry to report that the 38th squad has been annihilated," said Flamedramon, kneeling out of respect.
"It seems the darkness approaches faster than I anticipated," replied Magnangemon.
"Then we need to move the 26th squad to the 18th outpost for extra protection," commented Leomon.
"No, Leomon, that would leave the Dawn Mountain pass more vulnerable," countered Magnangemon.
Flamdramon stood and asked, "What are we going to do then sir? The enemy will march to our doorsteps if we let them continue like this."
Magnangemon's gaze turned from Flamdramon to the floor. He knew that all too well, but there was nothing they could do to stop them. Every squad and battalion they had was deployed along the numerous routes to Root City. If they moved even one squad, they were sending the enemy an open invitation to come inhabit the outlying towns. Magnangemon would not allow anymore of his people to be subjected to the dark menace that encroached along their borders. Not even one person.
But his strategy of enforcing every square inch of the entire border was failing. The enemy had already overrun an eighth of the towns forcing him to deploy more and more troops in places that weren't strategically advantageous.
Suddenly, a Ninjamon came bursting through the doors yelling, "Sir Magnangemon! We've located the human Lucemon attacked!" He ran over to Magnangemon's chair, handed him a paper, and kneeled before him, panting.
Mangangemon inspected the writing on the page, and commanded, "Bring me Seth Davis!"
Chaotic's Notes:
Definitely not your average Monday. Seth skates 12 or so miles to a bus stop, gets robbed, buys his thief lunch, and is ordered to be tracked down (without his knowledge of course). But as unrealistic such events may seem, deal with it. It's a story. I'm trying to build a little suspense along with the plot, and it may take a few chapters longer than other people can do it in. I'm not the best writer in the world.
I'm not entirely sure why I had Seth and Roguemon go to the mall, but I winged it anyway. That's how I write. By winging things. I really don't know how to outline a plot effectively, so if someone wants to help me….(I'm always open for any kind of help)
I had two other ideas for this chapter. But I won't tell you what they are. That would ruin what little foreshadowing I have.
So until next chapter, "You need to calm down."
