Chapter 4: Alastair Harrison
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Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon, just the OCs found within.
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The one big disadvantage to going to the gym in a larger university would have to be the amount of traffic. At a smaller university, the number of people in the locker room at the same time tends to be one or two or sometimes none. At Victory City University, on the other hand, there tend to be at least several people there getting dressed at the same time, though the tradeoff is that the locker room is quite a bit bigger than at a smaller college.
Of course, Alastair didn't go to any other school in his six years since graduating from High School, so he just had the gym he went to before to compare it to. It was busier, somehow. Still, he would sit down, face the locker, and change. The first thing he did was take off his shoes so he could change his pants. Unfortunately for him, just as he was about to unbuckle his belt, his phone went off, causing him to scramble and grab it from his large, red duffle bag. He pressed the green button on the touchscreen after seeing that it was his father.
"Hi, dad, how's it going?" he asked, looking forward and into his locker.
"Good afternoon. I guess I have a couple of jobs for you to do. The first is Ms. Weasley who has another bug problem in her backyard…"
"Ms. Weasley? Her again?" Alastair asked, dumbfounded that she would request him yet again after what had happened the last time.
"Yeah, she wanted you, personally, to deal with your pest problem. Is something wrong?" Alastair's father asked, concerned.
"Uh, yeah, I think she… wants me, you know?" Alastair responded, his eyes shifting. "I really don't trust that lady."
"She wants you? What?"
"The last time I was there, she made me really uncomfortable. I sprayed for bugs in her basement and then came upstairs only to find her wearing a bathrobe. In the middle of the day. She invited me to sit down and have some coffee and then undid her bathrobe."
"Oh…, did you say no?" his father asked, concerned and terrified at what the answer was.
"Yes, I told her I wasn't interested. Then she put her hand on my leg, so I ran out the door with the check which she so conveniently left on the table." Alastair shuddered at the memory. "Yeah, that didn't go over so well, so you can tell why I don't want to go back to her, at least alone."
"Okay, I'll go and I'll take your mother with me as company in case she tries something," his father replied.
"Alright, dad, that's great. So, what was the other job?" Alastair asked, reaching for his socks from the locker in front of him.
"Well, a rich investor, one of the Giorno family no doubt, wanted you to clear an amusement park of fombras," his father explained, reading off the list. "I'm not sure why he asked for you specifically, but he did."
"A Giorno? Which one?" Alastair inquired in confusion, putting his phone between his shoulder and head and freeing his hand to put on one of his socks.
"Timothy, apparently. I didn't even know he was in town, but apparently he is and he wants to spend part of his trust fund fixing up an old amusement park. I don't even know how long it's been closed."
"Awesome. I guess I'll come by the house to pick up some fombra traps and then I'll get over there," Alastair responded. "See you later, dad."
"Alright. Did you have a good first day, at least?" his dad asked.
"Yeah. I saw this girl I thought was kind of cute but she had a diamond engagement ring on. Oh well. There was also some redhead that was trying to make small talk with me about my project for you. He kind of put me on edge for some reason."
"Maybe he's just being friendly," his father suggested. "You can't keep on reading motives into everyone. You have to have faith in them more."
"Yeah, maybe. It's just that there was just something off about him, I guess. Like he was hiding something. I don't know what. Maybe I'll find out later." Alastair finished putting on his shoes and then zipped up his duffle bag. "Well, see you around, dad. I better get going."
"Alright, see you when you get home later," his father said in goodbye and Alastair pressed the red button on his phone's screen, hanging it up. He then made his way out of the locker room and out of the rec center, toward his truck which was actually on the other side of the campus closer to the majority of his classes. He walked over to the old, blue pick-up and opened it up, plopping his bag on top of his backpack, sitting down, shutting the door and buckling his seatbelt. Then he pulled his phone out and connected it to the car's speaker via Bluetooth, putting on a satellite station playing music that would be best described as an alternative rock track that used mainly violins and cellos instead of a guitar with a female vocalist singing operatically.
It was at about that point that Alastair noticed the device on his dashboard just in front of his speedometer, a red smartphone-like gadget with yellow buttons. This confused him, since there hadn't been anybody else in his car for months, just him. He just pocketed the device, deciding to find out who it belonged to later. Right now he had a job to do.
"Okay, Car, go to 12732 South Kipling," he ordered his car's self-driving apparatus, causing it to pull out of the parking space he was in and drive. He was glad he invested in such a device, even though he could drive. It helped him out when he didn't feel like driving. So, while it was taking him to the amusement park, he started getting some readings done for his General History class.
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When Slade arrived at the old amusement park, he found that it was definitely in a state of disrepair. He didn't even have to climb a fence to get in since the entrance was so rusted and just entered. What he saw inside wasn't much better. Many weeds, local and transplanted, were covering the various rides, some of which looked on the verge of collapse. One, a Ferris wheel had actually toppled over. Slade wondered why nobody had torn the place down and built something new in its place. Heck, even if they simply replaced it with yet another housing development it would be better than this.
He pulled out his digivice and let Hawkmon out. "Oh my, what is this place?" the bird asked, covering his beak in astonishment.
"An amusement park that's been abandoned for thirty years," the redhead answered. "Makes me wish I could do some investing or something. I'm sure that if I asked for the money, I could get it."
"You humans actually let this happen?" Hawkmon inquired, surprised.
"It's not like we could actually prevent it. There was an economic downturn a number of years ago and it's things like that that cause this," Slade answered. He saw something out of the corner of his eye and flinched. "Did you see that?"
"I see nothing but examples of urban decay," the bird answered. "That's kind of funny. From the looks of it, we're quite a ways away from the city center."
Slade grabbed his digivice instinctively and then turned in another direction as soon as he saw movement coming from there. They were standing next to the fallen Ferris wheel. "Anybody out there?" he called out.
"What are you expecting? Squatters?" Hawkmon asked, somewhat jokingly.
"That would be the least of my worries. Now, if only I had that one fat guy around. He's an exterminator. Also reminds me of my friend Travis for some reason." Slade gritted his teeth. "They both had curly hair."
"Had?"
Something came out of the house of mirrors. Slade glanced over there but didn't see what it was. Then he realized he wasn't looking for the right thing. Something was hiding in the shadows, something furry. He looked around again and saw other furry… things on the ground, some of which were flattened against it, others moving in strange ways.
"Hawkmon, get ready to attack," Slade ordered.
"Attack? What? I don't see any other digimon around here," the bird objected.
"Not digimon, fombras. Tons of them. We're surrounded."
"Are you sure?"
"For crying out loud! They're an invasive species! Like rabbits in New Zealand."
"New Zealand? I'm afraid I don't know where that is. Is that another one of those planets you've been telling me about?"
It was at about that time that the duo noticed someone running around screaming, chased by more fombras. "Oh, crap, somebody else is here? I hope it's not that Alastair chick."
It wasn't. Instead, it was a large, red bug that was flying away from a number of fombras which were jumping quite high up in the air. Hawkmon just rolled his eyes and grabbed his feather. "Feather Strike!" he yelled, throwing his feather at some of the fombras and striking a number of them in a row, killing them. Hawkmon was more than a bit grossed out by the sight. "That is just plain disgusting! What is that green stuff coming out of them? At least digimon don't do that when they're deleted."
"That's blood. Theirs is copper-based if I remember right," Slade answered the digimon, shuddering at the thought. In reality, the entire thing grossed him out as much as his digimon.
Still, the fombras kept on coming, though at least the giant ladybug, or whatever the new digimon was, was starting to fight back with an electrical attack. While Hawkmon kept on striking with his feather strike attack, Slade looked on his digivice for a way of identify the digimon or at least find a way to fight back on his own, but only found the former. Immediately he brought up data on the giant beetle.
Tentomon, Insect Digimon, Vaccine Attribute. Attacks: Super Shocker, Talon.
"Tentomon? He doesn't look like a tent," Slade remarked. Unfortunately, he was caught guard when a fombra jumped onto him, bearing its teeth. The alien animal was spineless and had four bony limbs connected to a central jaw structure toward the front, giving it. The limbs, in turn, were connected by thick skin, giving it the appearance of a furry, land-based stingray or a crawling carpet. However, it had no eyes and was almost completely covered in hair.
Hawkmon knocked the fombra off of his partner, impaling it with his feather. Thankfully, none of its copper blood got on Slade, much to the redhead's relief.
"You've got to be kidding me!" Slade exclaimed. "That was more than a bit freaky."
"Super Shocker!" Tentomon yelled out, electrocuting a few more of the invasive alien creatures. "Oh, how glad I am to find someone that isn't trying to kill me, unlike these things!" the hovering beetle exclaimed in relief.
"There's one behind you!" Slade exclaimed and the beetle turned around, zapping another fombra. Slade then kicked away a small one that threatened to nibble at his leg. He had no idea how he was going to get out of this mess. It made him wish he had brought a baseball bat or something, which he was going to file away and buy as soon as they got out of this mess.
The only alternative was to digivolve Hawkmon, though that tended to take a few seconds. It wasn't like the fombras were going to wait.
As if on cue, something was tossed just behind Tentomon, causing a small cloud of brown dust to form. Whatever it was, it caused the fombras to go after it and gather around it, feeding on the substance. After a few seconds, though, a number of fombras went limp, forming a pile of shaggy carpet aliens.
Slade glanced over to see the heavy guy who sat next to him in Beginning Programming and Physics, wearing a tan jumpsuit and shaking his head. "You know, the one thing fombras find irresistible is chocolate, so all you need to do next time you come across some carnivorous ones is give them candy. It… uh… also kills them since their biochemistry isn't, uh, compatible or anything."
"Thanks for the tip," Slade answered. Hawkmon just froze at the sight of the heavyset man, who just took the bird for a stuffed animal. Then he laid eyes on Tentomon. "What the..? That, uh, insect thing is floating."
"My name is Tentomon, thank you very much. Of course, you just saved us from those… things that were trying to make a meal out of me."
The heavy guy's eyes widened. "It can talk… Oh, man, I've just been abducted by aliens or something."
"No, you're still on Lincoln. These are just digimon, that's all," Slade answered him. "Though, yeah, that's still kind of weird."
"Okay, what kind of drugs was I slipped? Some dude slapped a patch to my neck while I was at the gym, didn't they?" the heavy guy shuddered.
"No, they're real. Take this guy for instance. This is Hawkmon." Slade then picked his partner up, putting the bird on edge as he came face to face with the curly-haired guy, who then touched him.
"Okay, that's pretty real. Yeah. Slater, right?"
"Slade," the redhead corrected for what must have been the tenth time that week. "You're Alastair."
"Yeah, that's me, alright," Alastair responded before clenching his teeth. Then he poked Hawkmon again. "This is definitely real."
"Yeah, it is. I'm part of a group that's trying to deal with any digimon that come from their world that want to cause havoc," Slade explained. "I guess you've been recruited with the giant bug as your partner."
"Uh huh," Alastair replied, not quite believing what was going on. "And here I was just here to do a job for one of the Families. This is more than a little weird, you know?"
"Yeah, it definitely is," Slade almost asked what Family Alastair was talking about but decided not to.
"And my job's extermination. Ho boy," the heavy guy replied. "Sounds like what you're doing."
"So, you want to help out?" the redhead asked with a smile.
Alastair just stood there, not really knowing what to say.
"To be honest, I don't really want to be a tamed digimon, either," Tentomon said. "I was just biding my time, working in a colony and minding my own business when I was suddenly knocked out. Then I found myself here, surrounded by… those things." The large, red beetle motioned towards the dead fombas. "This is not how I planned my life. I'm not a digidestined's partner."
"I guess it's mutual," Alastair responded. "I'll be going now, uh. Yeah. See you in school, uh, Slade."
"Alright, see you around," the redhead replied.
"What?" Hawkmon asked, dumbfounded. "You're just going to let him go?"
"Um, yeah, that's exactly it," Slade replied as Alastair walked away, towards another part of the park to deal with more fombras.
"But he's a digidestined. He was chosen for this," Hawkmon objected. "Did you ever hear about the digidestined?"
Slade shook his head. "Hey, he doesn't want to help us out. That's okay."
"But the original digidestined were summoned to battle the evil Mentiramon all those centuries ago. It was their destiny," Hawkmon added.
"Yeah? What happened to them?" Slade asked, folding his arms together.
"Oh, I've heard about that," Tentomon responded. "They were summoned into the Digital World but then they went into the Human World after one of Mentiramon's minions, uh, Mistymon, if I remember correctly, they were never heard from again."
"Exactly," Hawkmon added, "and from the stories, a short time later, the Digital World was nearly destroyed. There were other worlds in the sky where a number of digimon fled after Mentiramon continued her domination of the Digital World, but those were destroyed. My forbearers survived only by going through the rifts caused by their destruction."
"Ugh, that's pretty bad, man. You know what happened to the original digidestined or whatever?" Slade asked.
"Nobody knows," Hawkmon responded. "Like I said, nobody had any contact with them after they went through the gateway after Mistymon."
"What about what planet they lived on?" Slade asked. "Anything?"
"Nothing," the bird answered.
Slade noticed that Alastair was walking his way. "So, you know what to say?" asked Hawkmon, whispering into his partner's ear.
"Yeah, sure," the redhead responded with a smile. Alastair walked up.
"So, uh, that was easy," the heavyset guy told him, still nervous. "I, uh, found a few hiding spots where there were fombras, but other than that there wasn't much here. I certainly hope that Giorno guy's going to pay me well for this."
"A Giorno?" Slade asked, genuinely shocked. "Did the sisters decide to turn this into a fashion-themed amusement park or something?"
"No, it was the brother, uh, Timothy's his name. I think. Either that or Thomas," Alastair remarked. "Oh well, he better pay well. You know, I think this place really needs a better amusement park, though I don't know anything about that guy. It would, uh, definitely make some jobs."
"That's impossible!" Slade exclaimed, absolutely flabbergasted by the concept.
"How, Slade, could that be impossible?" Hawkmon asked.
"Well, uh, because Timothy Giorno has no interest in amusement parks," the redhead responded. "Plus, why would he invest in Victory City. He lives in Union City, after all."
"You know, that's pretty funny you'd say that," Alastair replied. "I was wondering the exact same thing. Well, uh, see you tomorrow." Alastair patted Slade on the back and walked away.
"What about me? Do you have a way of sending me back to the digital world?" Tentomon asked.
"Uh, no, I'm afraid I don't," the redhead replied.
"Ah, drats, that's not what I was hoping to hear," the beetle replied.
All the sudden, Slade's digivice started going off. "What the heck?" he asked as he pulled the object out of his pocket.
"Excuse me, Slade, I believe we may have some company," Hawkmon told him, pointing at a sphere to the redhead's right, a wormhole. And out of the wormhole came a large, red dinosaur.
###
Victory University, Rec Center
Just as he was about to sign into the rec center to work out, Doctor Barrowman's phone started to vibrate in his pocket. He pulled it out, irritated at the prospect of his stress reliever being taken away. He grumbled as he answered it, turning around and walking in the opposite direction of the check-in desk. "Hello?" he greeted as he walked through the doors and toward the commuter parking lot that he used.
"Director, I believe we may have detected some more negative-massed particles," his second in command, a red-haired woman, responded on the other line.
"Okay, where is it this time?" he inquired as he stepped onto the asphalt parking lot, inching more and more toward his car.
"At an abandoned amusement park on Kipling. It's about twenty miles from the university," his subordinate answered.
"Ugh, just great. Funny, I remember going to that amusement park as a kid. I wonder what happened to it," Barrowman mused.
"It was closed down thirty years ago," his subordinate replied. "We're trying to access any cameras nearby, but unfortunately there aren't any close enough to see what is happening."
Doctor Barrowman rubbed his temple in annoyance. "Okay, I'll make a call. I'm assuming the cops aren't willing to help this time?"
"No, I'm afraid not," the woman on the other line responded.
Barrowman nodded. "I'll be at the particle accelerator as soon as possible. See you then."
"Good bye, director," the subordinate replied before hanging up.
Barrowman got in his sports car and set it to drive to the Particle Accelerator. While it did that, he got on the phone with Garrett Giorno. "Good afternoon, Mr. Giorno."
"What's going on? Any more incursions?" the blond man asked.
"Oh, yeah, this is incursion number three," Barrowman informed him. "Unfortunately, there are no cameras we can access. Is there any way you can access a GPS satellite or something?"
"I did invest in a GPS company a while back. I'll give you the access codes. I always leave a back door just in case."
"Thank you very much. I need to repay you somehow," the heavy, grey-haired man replied.
"Your work is repayment enough. Now, I'm going to be in town starting next week to have a closer watch over what's happening," the blond man informed him.
"Alright, I'll see you then," Barrowman responded, doing well to conceal his dislike of that prospect. He had always distrusted the Families, especially with some of the rumors.
He had hoped for publically available rejuvenation by his age, especially since they had some nanotechnology available that was used in the medical field, but he knew that they were blocking that somehow. A company in charge of rejuvenation research had been mysteriously raided about ten years before when they were about to reach a breakthrough. Barrowman had a strong suspicion the Families were involved.
Then there was the space program, which hadn't expanded past putting satellites in orbit. He was definitely not looking forward to working with one of the people responsible for stifling such progress especially with the amount of resources available on other planets in the system.
###
Penelope had no idea what all the commotion was for when she arrived at the Particle Accelerator that afternoon. She quickly made her way to the IT department, where she asked her supervisor what was happening.
"It's classified, I'm afraid. You need higher level clearance to know about it," he replied.
"Oh, okay. So, uh, what do you want me to do for you today?" she inquired.
"Penetration testing. I need you to check the forms in our systems for cross-site scripting vulnerabilities," he ordered, walking her to her cubicle.
"Okay, thanks," she replied as she sat down, logging into her account. Even as she worked, her mind could not turn away from what the commotion was upstairs.
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Amusement Park
The red tyrannosaurus appeared from the wormhole and ran toward the duo. Slade immediately pulled his digivice out and willed digivolution to happen.
"Hawkmon digivolve to… Aquilamon!" the bird exclaimed before flying in the air and aiming at the digimon with his horns.
As his partner was headed toward the digimon, Slade looked up data on the newcomer. "Tyrannomon, Champion Level, Data Attribute. Okay, I'm going to need my partner to explain this whole attribute thing to me."
"Do you, uh, always talk to yourself?" Alastair asked.
"No, just when I'm working things out in my head," Slade replied, grinning uneasily.
"This is definitely not my idea of an afternoon," Tentomon complained. "I'm just glad I'm not out there fighting."
"Don't worry; you shouldn't have to fight," the redhead replied with a smile.
"So, why are these digimon coming from the other side?" Alastair inquired.
"I'm not sure, exactly," Slade answered. "I guess they might be after Hawkmon, but I can't really confirm that. I guess he got in trouble with the local government just for being intelligent."
"What? Why?" Alastair asked, dumbfounded.
"The dictator of his country wanted a Marxist agrarian society of sorts, kind of like Pol Pot."
Alastair scratched his head. "I don't… uh… know who that is."
"A dictator in the late twentieth century, he killed more than a million people," Slade responded. "He ruled Cambodia, if I remember right."
"Yeah, I… uh… never heard of him," the heavyset man said. "The only dictator I know about from the twentieth century was Hitler."
"To be honest, I've never heard of either of them," Tentomon responded.
###
Aquilamon charged his horns, aiming at the massive red dinosaur he was up against, ready to strike. Unfortunately for him, he was attacked from the side by an unknown party, knocking him into a nearby Ferris wheel.
The entity that had attacked him then went for Tyrannomon and grabbed onto his back. "Touch of Evil!" he yelled. He was clad in all black and had arms that were far too long along with a pair of horns and glowing red eyes which the dinosaur had in common now. "Well, Aquilamon, this is an interesting situation," the new enemy commented.
"Devimon…" the bird muttered under his breath, flying upwards before opening his mouth and launching a series of rings from his mouth. "Blast Ring!"
Devimon dodged with ease. "Now, go after the boy with the bug," he ordered Tyrannomon, and the dinosaur complied. He then turned toward the giant eagle with a devious smile. "You are my opponent, Aquilamon."
"Where did you come from?" The bird asked, annoyed as he aimed his horns at the tall virus. "You just came out of nowhere! Grand Horn!"
To the eagle's surprise, Devimon just grabbed the horns and flung him into a large, wooden roller coaster, causing it to collapse. "Oops. It's not as if anyone was going to be riding that thing anyway," the black-clad digimon said with a shrug. "It has most likely been at least partially devoured by termites or the local equivalent."
Aquilamon came up from the wreckage and spread his wings before flying upwards.
###
"Devimon, Champion Level, Virus Attribute?" Slade read from his digivice. "Where did this guy come from?"
"He's… uh… not the one I'm worried about," Alastair remarked, shakenly, tapping Slade on the shoulder and pointing at the dinosaur charging at them. He didn't notice a slight flicker around the spot he poked.
"Oh, crap!" Slade exclaimed, "Run!" he yelled and the duo ran in opposite directions. Tyrannomon ran after Alastair and Tentomon, though, ignoring the redhead, who just stopped and turned around as soon as he figured out what was happening. "Oh, sure, go after the fat guy," he muttered under his breath. "I'm a little too stringy, huh? I have more meat on my bones than it looks like."
###
Alastair ran, worried about his lack of cardiovascular strength. "And I was going to go work out too," he remarked quietly. "There are times when I really hate that you're my boss, dad."
"Who in the world are you talking to?" Tentomon asked as he continued following his partner, who ran around the nearest corner he could, realizing that there was no way he was going to outrun the giant dinosaur trailing him.
"Nobody, just myself. Good lord, how much work does it take to get away from the Jason the Dinosaur reject?" he asked, running around several corners before stopping to catch his breath. "I… definitely need to get… on the exercise bike… more often," he remarked.
"I'm not sure how that would help in this situation. You'd be stuck in one place, going nowhere," Tentomon commented.
Alastair scoffed at the giant beetle. "How do you know what an exercise bike is, anyway? I thought you were a bug?" he asked between pants.
"Oh, they have cardio equipment in my work. They're mainly for the flightless bugs, but… anyway. Oh dear!" Tentomon huddled next to Alastair as Tyrannomon moved behind the wall they were in front of, sniffing around.
"Now this reminds me of an old dinosaur movie," the heavyset guy remarked. "I think they resurrected an extinct species on this planet that resembled dinosaurs. Yeah, it didn't go so well."
"Oh my," Tentomon gasped.
"Can't you, you know, turn into a bigger bug like Slade's bird?" Alastair inquired.
"No, to be honest, I'm not even sure how Slade got his partner to do that," Tentomon responded. Just then, the T-Rex turned around the corner. "He's back!"
"Okay, run again!" Alastair yelled, running as quickly as he could, past a house of mirrors which he briefly considered hiding in before tossing that idea out with the thought that Tyrannomon could just step on him and it would be all over. He then had another idea to go to his car so he made a sharp turn, running toward the park entrance with Tentomon trailing behind him.
"What are you doing?" the insect asked as Alastair got in his car and turned the ignition switch. It wouldn't budge.
"Trying to get out of here? You want out too?" the heavyset guy asked.
"Oh, yes, I so do!" the beetle exclaimed. "Wait, is that even starting?"
"No, the transmission's kind of bad in it," Alastair responded.
Tentomon's eyes bugged as Tyrannomon just crushed the front gate. "Oh dear, he's here!" he exclaimed.
Alastair just sat there, frozen. "Is there anything you can do?" he asked his digimon loudly.
"I guess I could try something," Tentomon replied, flying forward. "Super Shocker!" he yelled as he created a burst of electricity in between his wings. The attack had barely any effect on the enemy digimon, who just shrugged it off and kept on moving.
Alastair knew this was going to be the end. To think that he could trust the digimon to… His thought process was interrupted when he felt his hand graze against the digivice that he found in his car earlier. His eyes lit up as he remembered when Slade used his to help his partner digivolve.
So he grabbed it, got out of the car as Tyrannomon lumbered toward him, and held it out. He was in danger, but at the same time, he wanted to believe that he could stop this tyrannosaur that was heading toward him by helping the beetle in front of him change into a stronger form.
So he did.
Tentomon felt the energy start welling up inside of him as he was struck by a blast of light from the digivice. Maybe Alastair could do something after all.
"Tentomon digivolve to… Kabuterimon!"
Alastair was disturbed by the sight of the digimon in front of him, a large, powerful, blue beetle with two sets of wings and three sets of teeth underneath an eyeless, helmeted head. "What the…?" He reminded himself that Kabuterimon was on his side and took a breath before smiling. "Go get him!" he yelled.
"Electro Shocker!" the large insect shouted, creating a ball of electricity with his hands that struck the tyrannosaur, launching him backwards.
###
Devimon smiled as he kept Aquilamon busy. "Well, what do you know? It looks like he actually digivolved," he remarked, dodging another grand horn attack from his opponent.
"Yeah? That makes you happy because?" the eagle asked, flying toward Devimon, who he had corned against a wall.
"Well, I can finally leave for one," the black-clad digimon remarked, disappearing into the wall just as Aquilamon launched another blast rings at him, destroying the wall in the process.
Slade ran into the area just as Aquilamon did that. "Okay, where that horned moron go?" the redhead asked.
"He disappeared. It seems that getting Tentomon to digivolve was part of his plans for some reason," Aquilamon answered, flying downwards.
"You know, we could probably help Al finish his battle," Slade suggested.
"Good idea," the bird remarked. "I'll come and pick you up when I'm done."
Slade gave him a disappointed face as the digimon left.
###
Kabuterimon really didn't like to fight other digimon. For one thing, there was the part about him living in a relatively peaceful society that only resorted to violence in self-defense and only if all peaceful alternatives were used up.
So that was part of what made the battle he was locked in so hard. "Electro Shocker!" he yelled, launching a blast of electrical energy straight at the red, lumbering dinosaur he was locked in a battle with. It was only out of defense of him and the human he was with and he tried his best to move the battle away from Alastair.
"Fire Blast!" Tyrannomon yelled, launching a fireball at the large beetle, missing narrowly.
"Blast Rings!" Aquilamon shouted out, striking the dinosaur and causing him to fall to the side.
"Wow, thanks for showing up!" Kabuterimon exclaimed.
"No problem. We just have to finish him," the eagle told his fellow digimon.
"I'll do that! Electro Shocker!" the beetle shouted, launching another attack straight at Tyrannomon, causing him to disintegrate before turning into an egg.
Alastair got up out of the car after seeing that and walked over to the egg. He crouched down as he examined it, looking it over and running his hands over it. "So, when you die, you just turn into one of these things?" he asked.
"Yeah, we sure do," Kabuterimon remarked, reverting to Tentomon.
"I believe it's time I took that." It was a new voice, one that Alastair hadn't heard before. He looked behind to see a man with long, blond hair and a mask.
"What? Where are you, uh, taking it?" Alastair asked, hesitant to give the egg up.
"Back to the digital world," the man answered. "You should know, the digimon that are coming through from the other side are criminals. This way they'll get justice."
"Criminals?" Aquilamon asked, confused about that part. "Even that SandYanmamon I fought?"
"No, he was an advance agent from the Avian Duchy, patrolling the desert you were in. His disappearance probably raised a few questions, though."
Slade finally reached the area where Alastair, Tentomon and his partner were at. "Finally," he said with a bit of shortness of breath. "Prior?"
"I'm back," the blond said. "I was telling your mate what your purpose was and how there was a new faction coming from the other side."
"That Devimon?" Slade asked, receiving a nod. Just then, Aquilamon devolved back into Hawkmon.
"He seems to be their leader."
"Then why was he intent on seeing Tentomon digivolve into Kabuterimon?" Hawkmon questioned.
Prior thought about that for a second. "That is a troubling development. I don't know, actually."
Slade nodded. "Oh, okay. That's pretty bizarre."
Alastair glanced at Slade and then at Prior. "So, uh, you're saying that our job with the Digimon is to help them change into, uh, higher forms and, uh, deal with whatever digimon come from the other side."
"Exactly. Now, to take this egg away," Prior replied, grabbing the egg. "We wouldn't want this to fall in the wrong hands."
Alastair nodded.
Then Slade thought of something else. "So, do you have a partner of your own?" he asked.
"Yes, I do. However, he's not strong enough on his own to confront these rogue digimon. That's why I need a team," Prior responded.
"And what does that have to do with changing the world for the better?" Slade asked.
"By dealing with these digimon, you will be able to ease contact between the two worlds so that it can go smoothly," Prior replied. "No, if you'll excuse me, I must leave."
Slade nodded as Prior left, walking around the corner.
"That guy's pretty weird. Did you notice he, uh, called you and me mates?" Alastair asked, confused.
"I don't get that either," Slade replied. "There's something he's keeping from us. At the same time, what choice do we have?"
"What?" Alastair asked, confused.
"Simple, if we don't do anything about the Digimon coming into our world, then they would just destroy everything," Slade replied.
Alastair nodded. "So, did that Prior guy choose us?"
Slade nodded. "I think so."
###
"So far, all we've got are blurry images of the creatures from another world," Doctor Barrowman explained to Garrett Giorno via an internet phone service. "As far as the kids they're partnered with, all we know is that one has brown hair. The other one was also blurry."
"Strange. That would imply that the monsters are being shrouded by hologram or something," Garrett responded, scratching his chin. "Anything else?"
"We think they're dealing with other monsters from the other world," Barrowman replied. "I guess that means that they could be on our side."
"I still wouldn't take any chances," Garrett told him. "Since conventional weapons don't work on them, we'll have to find another way of dealing with them."
"Get someone with a monster on our side," the heavyset man deduced, sitting back in his chair.
"Easier said than done," the blond man remarked.
"Okay, I guess we'll just keep on monitoring them," Barrowman suggested.
"And for that, you'll need more funding to hire people to monitor these incursions," Garrett Giorno realized. "Okay, I'll give you a few million dollars more."
Lyle Barrowman nodded.
###
Union City
Gene Hernandez wasn't a very tall man, about 5'7" according to the old system of measurement and weighing about 200 lbs. He had black hair and had a noticeable circle-beard around his mouth. Still, he was friendly and talked to most people he came across.
However, if any of them knew his profession, they would probably not want to deal with him. He drove up to the gate in his red sports car and was let into the mansion's grounds where he pulled up to the front. A valet opened the door for him and he tipped him before walking up to the front.
He wasn't a member of any of the Families, though he did work for them, particularly for some aspiring Families that wanted to get to the top. Plus, he got some of the benefits of working for them, notably the occasional rejuvenations which he was about halfway between, giving him the appearance of someone in his late thirties.
When the door opened up, the butler that answered it let him in and led him to the dining room where the Giorno sisters were waiting for him. "Oh, hey, how's it going?" he greeted before sitting down and slicing into the meat of a local bird.
"We have a job for you, Gene," the older of the duo, Annette, told him, eating some of her own dinner.
"Oh, I just got done with a job. Some heir was hiding over in Deseret," he told her as he put a bite into his mouth.
"Oh? We heard about that one," the younger, darker Claudia replied. "Very clever making it look like a home invasion. Anyway, we intercepted a phone call about our brother. Apparently he's hiding in Victory City and he just had someone clean up an amusement park for him."
"Wow, and here I thought that Tim kid was smarter than that," Gene told the girl. "At least that Workman heir I just dealt with was hiding in a dormitory at Smithtown College."
"Yeah, it wasn't very bright on his part," Annette told Gene. "Still, I would suggest going there and dealing with him. That way, if something happened to Daddy, we would be the sole heirs to the Giorno family name and its resources."
Gene grinned before he was passed a check for nearly a million dollars. "You'll get more when you get back," Claudia said seductively and with a smile.
"Thanks," Gene told them. "And hey, if I just happen to find another heir, I'll just kill him too. I have a list of fifty to get rid of."
"Thanks, sweetie!" Claudia told him, making him shudder.
###
A/N: I have to apologize for my lack of updates for this thing lately. Things have been a bit busy, unfortunately, and with school starting up again next Tuesday (my last semester!), it's probably going to get crazy again. Still, I have part of the next chapter written.