A/N: Yes, I know. I can't believe it either. An update just over a week from the last one. It's either a miracle or the world is ending.
Anyway, I was really pumped about this chapter. It's special because it has some things that can help break up the monotony that finding and explaining things to people has cause in my other chapters. Hopefully I made them interesting and different enough for all of my readers. This chapter will be quite different (well, this chapter and the next since they were originally meant to be one).
A FEW THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW BEFORE CONTINUING!
1). I am the least familiar with the Savers world, therefore I may get certain information about the world or characters wrong. If I do, please let me know. Understand that I have seen Savers, I just haven't seen it as much as the others.
2). I have taken some liberties with how things work. You already (or should already if you read my authors notes) know that I like to make things as realistic as possible. This has lead me to completely discarding the Epilogue of Adventure 02. The Epilogue for Savers very well could remain intact, but I have decided that a few things needed to happen, because I don't see it any other way. You'll find out what I mean when you read.
3). Finally, I've taken some liberties with the way the digital world works and the whole idea of different dimensions. This will be most evident in the next chapter. You may also note that I have decided to go into a little bit more detail on travel through the gates. I wanted it to be realistic and I like to play around with things that could have been delved into so much more. My ideas on how things happened or might actually be are my own and doubtfully how the creators actually intended. I just wanted you all to be aware of that.
PS. There is minor cursing in this chapter. I thought it fit. I think there's like two words maybe three. This shouldn't be a problem. I am trying to make things realistic. If it bothers you, though I apologize in advance and recommend not watching the Japanese versions, because they curse (in all of them), though only a little bit.
Now then, onto the disclaimer and then the chapter!
Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon Adventure, Adventure 02, Tamers, Frontier, Savers, or Fusion or any of their plot and characters. They are the property of Toei Animation and Akiyoshi Hongo. This was made purely for entertainment and does not receive any profit.
Chapter 5: Enter Masaru! The Boy with Passionate Fists! (Part I)
Takuya stared at the brilliant blue sky. The sun was somewhere behind him and he could see a few stray clouds in the periphery of his vision, but otherwise all he saw was blue. It felt all-encompassing and appeared to extend on into infinity. He felt he could lose himself in the blue expanse. Just him and the blueness. Nothing need bother him. But, alas, his strange new desire was not meant to be. Two thoughts crossed over into his consciousness, destroying the grip of his new blue reality.
"Where am I?" and "How did I get here?"
And suddenly it all came back to him like a great tsunami crashing into the shore. He blinked breaking the daze that had settled over him before jerking into a seated position. He quickly regretted the action when his stomach churned. For a moment he thought he was going to lose his lunch, but after a minute or two his stomach settled and he was able to look around.
They were in the digital world, just as Kuroku had said they would be, but it was very different than his own digital world. The colors were so vibrant, they almost seemed unreal. Little bits of data could be seen every once in a while, shimmering like light had passed over them. It was an effect that he had always imagined seeing if he were to ever be sucked into a computer (and he had thought of that happening more times than he cared to admit). The rest of the Chosen Children were scattered around him in varying states of consciousness. Despite the warning and their previous experiences, they obviously hadn't been prepared for this journey. He supposed this was why Kuroku had been unwilling to use the method before, though he wondered if there was another reason aside from showing up in the digital world unconscious and confused.
"Takuya!" he heard someone call from behind him. He turned around and saw Tomoki making his way towards him.
"Tomoki, are you alright?" he asked before frowning, "Why are you crawling?"
Tomoki gave him a grin. "I'm fine. I thought I was too dizzy to stand yet," he said with a shrug.
"Yeah, good idea," Takuya said, remembering his dizzy spell when he had woken up.
He rolled his shoulders and winced when they cracked, before taking a better look around. As he scanned the group he noticed that most of them were already recovering from the dimensional travel. They were all spread out at random and he and Tomoki were sitting only a few feet away from Daisuke and his friend, Ken. They were talking and Takuya decided to lay back and let their conversation flow over him. He knew he shouldn't eaves drop, but he would have heard them anyway, since he was pretty sure he couldn't move without falling over the minute he tried to stand.
"This is ridiculous," he heard Daisuke whine. "Is it too much to ask that we stay conscious, together, and completely in control of our senses?"
"Apparently." Ken's voice was amused. Takuya supposed he was used to the way Daisuke acted, as most people might have been irritated with the complaining. "Poor Jou, I don't know if his heart can handle it."
Takuya couldn't help but agree. He had met Jou, though only briefly before they had jumped worlds, and he had to say that he was a nervous wreck. He worried about things more than Bokomon had worried about Seraphimon's egg. It was a bit ridiculous. He had been surprised when Takeru had told him that Jou had actually been worse when they had first gone to the Digital World. Takuya thought Ken was right to worry about a heart attack.
Daisuke snickered at his friends words. "This must be how he became so laid back in the future. Instead of kill or be killed it was chill or be killed."
Takuya snorted. He was definitely going to get along with Daisuke. The two friends lapsed into silence and he decided it was probably time to get up and find his friends. Everyone seemed to be getting better and looking for their friends as well, and it wasn't long before he and Tomoki ran into them. Once the groups were back together, they seemed to come to some sort of subconscious agreement and moved to stand together and faced Kuroku.
"As you can see, we are now in the digital world," he said cheerfully before becoming a little more serious. "This makes things both easier and more difficult. Easier, because we have stayed together and we can make a rendezvous point. More difficult, because not all of the ones we are looking for are in the Digital world."
There was some murmuring from the group. They weren't quite sure how to take this. They would need to find a way into the human world, which could prove to be difficult, especially since most of their own digital worlds didn't have a convenient form of transportation. Only the second generation of Chosen Children were able to travel freely between their worlds and even then, it was only if they were near a Gate.
"Not all…" Sora mumbled with a frown. "Does that mean that some of them are here?"
"One," he corrected. "And we will need his help to go to the human world and to recruit his team. That is, of course, only after we have found him."
"Oh, naturally. And how do we do that?" Ryo asked. It figured everything had to be difficult. Couldn't they just have an easy cut and dry mission for once?
"The same way that you have found the others," Kuroku said simply.
"Sheer dumb luck?" Jou asked in a high voice. "We can't survive off of sheer dumb luck!"
"That's how you've been doing it?" Koji asked incredulously before turning narrowed eyes onto Kuroku. "You came here without any way to help find who you were looking for?"
"The digital world is a mysterious thing," Kuroku said, as if that cleared everything up.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Miyako hissed. She was sick and tired of having no direction and the old man being of absolutely no help. Everyone in the group was in complete agreement with her.
Before another word could be uttered, a great crash was heard. It sounded as if the ground had been split. There was a slight rumbling in the earth below them, which made several of the group stumble. They all whipped their heads in the direction of the commotion. The leaders rushed forward as one before anyone could really process what was happening. Once the rest of them realized what was going on they ran after the four boys.
The large group was forced to stop abruptly when they made it to their destination due of the shock of what they saw. There were several small groups of digimon forming a rather large perimeter around two figures. One of the figures was easily recognizable as the massive black and red form of DarkTyrannomon. The other was much smaller and, from what they could tell, decidedly human shaped. Somehow they knew that the figure wasn't just human shaped, but was in fact human despite the fact that he was clearly fighting hand to claw with the powerful Champion.
The fight didn't last long and the boy, who they could now tell was round Ryo's age, had come out as the winner. The large group was shocked by the outcome and what they had witnessed. In fact, they were so lost in their amazement that they didn't notice when the other digimon who had been watching the fight turned their attention on them. They did, however, notice when the boy spotted them and reacted much in the way that they were reacting to the scene – as if he had never seen anything more alien than humans in the Digital World.
He recovered much faster from his shock than any of the travelers and his eyes narrowed dangerously in their direction. "Who the hell are you!?" he demanded as he stalked towards them. Some of the digimon joined him, while the others watched from a distance.
This seemed to finally snap the group out of their stupor and Kuroku stepped forward to explain. "My name is Kuroku and these children and digimon behind me are Chosen Children and their partners."
"Partners?" the boy, whose name was Masaru, asked in disbelief. "That's not possible."
"I can assure you that it is very possible," Kuroku said easily, though it wasn't very convincing.
"The Digital World is closed to anyone in the human world!" Masaru argued.
Masaru remembered how difficult a choice it had been, choosing the digital world and Agumon over the human world and his family there. He was sure, of course, that one day he would return to them when the digital world was settled. He hadn't really wanted to leave, but he knew deep down that the digital world needed him more. He knew that if he hadn't stayed in the digital world, he would never have seen any of the digimon again.
That being said, the digital world was closed from the inside out. The gate in the human world was under heavy guard, sure, but there was no chance of someone accidentally entering the digital world and those who would do so purposefully were too honest and loyal to go back on their word or put the human world in any more danger. It was the digimon who had always found ways into the human world, and the D.A.T.S. team had made sure that only a legitimate gate, like the one at Merukimon's Palace could be used. Masaru, Agumon, and the partners of the other D.A.T.S. members guarded that gate personally while trusting other's to guard the other gates they had found since being stuck in the digital world.
Therefore, Masaru knew it was impossible for humans to be in the digital world. And yet he himself could see them there quite clearly and there was nothing else they could be other than human. How had they gotten there?
"Perhaps from your world," Kuroku conceded. "However we did not travel from your human world, but from another. You see these children are from multiple other dimensions."
Masaru had not been expecting that. "What? There's no way that's possible!"
One of the digimon, who turned out to be an Agumon with red belt like accessories on his claws, stepped forward. "Yeah! Do you think we're stupid!?"
"You should listen to my story. Perhaps you will change your mind," Kuroku said.
Masaru narrowed his eyes in thought. He didn't really think that he would change his mind, but it certainly couldn't hurt to listen, he supposed. "Alright, fine. I'll listen," he said before he plopped to the ground crisscross style.
The other Chosen Children and Kuroku also decided to sit. First Kuroku went through the arduous task of introductions, before he began his tale. It was strange for most of the group to hear the tale, even though some of them had heard it many times before. For some it was tiresome to hear it once again, but for others it was still amazing that they had even believed such a ludicrous story in the first place. There were many who wouldn't have been surprised if Masaru had dismissed them all as a bunch of loons and found a way to kick them out of the digital world.
When Kuroku finished his tale, there was a ringing silence between the two groups. Masaru appeared to be in deep thought along with the digimon surrounding him. The dimensional travelers waited for his verdict – some impatient and fidgety and others with calm acceptance that it might be a while before Masaru spoke. When he finally did, though, everyone was relieved at his response.
"Hmm," he hummed, making the first sound in fifteen minutes. "It sounds unbelievable… but I get the feeling you're telling the truth."
"Does that mean you'll help?" Daisuke asked when he failed to say anything else.
Masaru stared at him intently and looked over the rest of the group before letting a large smirk spread across his face. "Of course! We are so going to kick this digimon's ass!"
"Wonderful! We'll need your help to convince the others of your team," Kuroku told him.
"Right," he agreed before giving a warning. "But you can't all go. That won't go down well."
"Of course not," Kuroku agreed knowingly. "I believe the leaders of the different dimensions should be the ones to go. That will keep the number travelling to the human world manageable and it will give you all time to get used to each other, as you will be spending quite a bit of time together once we reach my dimension."
"That's cool with me," Masaru said and the other leaders nodded their heads in acceptance.
"It will be best if you leave immediately. The sooner we make it back to my dimension, the more time you'll have to prepare for the battle ahead." Kuroku's voice was grave and caused a sense of urgency to rise in all those present.
"Right," The five leaders answered determinedly, before following Masaru, who would lead them to the gate at Merukimon's Palace.
Hikari watched them leave with a worried expression. She couldn't help but feel a little restless – a little useless. She was always sitting on the sidelines in one situation or another. In a battle it was staying out of the way for protection while Gatomon fought. In other instances it was like this time, staying behind while her friends went off on a possibly dangerous journey. Sometimes she felt like the only thing she could do was wait – wait for the battle to come, wait for it to be over, wait for something bad to happen, and wait for the solution to arise. She was always waiting and never doing.
She understood in some instances she could help. Gatomon wouldn't be able to fight if it wasn't for her. She also realized that compared with her brother and the other older kids during the last year, she was "doing". They had truly been in a situation where they were forced to rely on others to take care of the enemy. She also realized that sometimes it was necessary for someone to hold down the fort. Waiting was sometimes just as important as doing. But even knowing this, she couldn't help that her heart constricted with helplessness.
"Hikari? Are you alright?" Gatomon asked as she watched the emotions race across her partners face.
Hikari jolted and blinked before looking down at her partner and giving a smile. "I'm fine Gatomon. I'm just worried," she said before turning to stare pensively once again in the direction the leaders had gone. "Kuroku said that the human world was dangerous and Masaru seemed a little concerned with too many of us going."
Gatomon was silent for a moment as she stared at her partner. She knew it wasn't the only thing on Hikari's mind, though it was likely the most prominent. She hadn't been the girl's partner for so long and not know the way she thought. That being said, Gatomon also knew there was nothing she would be able to say to help Hikari if she was unwilling to tell her what was wrong. Gatomon had her suspicions, but she would let Hikari come to her or go to one of their friends at her own pace.
"Agumon won't let anyone hurt Taichi and Chibimon will evolve back into Veemon if something threatens Daisuke," she said, hoping to assuage at least one of her partner's worries. "I'm sure the other three will be fine, too."
Hikari nodded distractedly. "You're right, of course. I just can't help it." She knew that Gatomon was trying to help her and she was grateful, but she didn't think she would be happy until everyone was back together again.
Gatomon sighed and decided to change tactics. "I think you should be worrying about someone else, instead," She said. If she couldn't keep Hikari from worrying, she could at least switch her focus to someone who her partner could actually help.
"Miyako," Hikari said looking over to the figure of her friend and Hawkmon, who were sitting alone at the edge of the large group.
Gatomon nodded. "Hawkmon's worried about her too, but he won't tell me what's wrong. He said that it was for her to tell when she was ready."
Hikari hummed thoughtfully before turning and striding towards her Jogress partner determinedly. "Then perhaps we should convince her that it's time to talk to us."
D.A.T.S. headquarters was silent and still just as it had been for the previous six months since all travel to and from the digital world had been closed. Masaru was preforming his duty of keeping the Digimon in their own world admirably and there hadn't been a single incident of Digimon activity since. Despite this, the D.A.T.S. headquarters had remained in operation through the use of a "skeleton crew". Hashima Satoshi of the Confidentiality Ministry and the Official who oversaw the D.A.T.S. program knew that, despite all evidence to the contrary, the digital world would never be completely blocked off from the human world. He decided that it would be within the world's best interest to continue monitoring the Digital World's activities.
To that end, Captain Satsuma Rentaro and a select group of other non-field agents, were present in the control room which housed the monitoring stations as well as the gate to the Digital World. It was mind numbingly boring work and more often than not most of the members of the "skeleton crew" could be caught sleeping on the job or goofing off. One such member was Kurosaki Miki, a tall violet-haired woman who had been partnered to a black PawnChessmon. She was one of the Operations personnel and was often one of the earliest to see signs of Digimon activity before they had lost contact. Now she simply sat at the monitors, wishing her best friend Shirakawa Megumi could be with her and doing anything that could keep her occupied until her shift ended.
Miki had been having a completely normal day when it happened. She was alone with Captain Satsuma, the rest of their personnel having found something else to do outside of the control room. She had tried to talk to the captain at first, tried to coerce him into some form of communication, but he was resistant and while he didn't ignore her, most of his answers were direct and used as few words as possible. After about half an hour of awkward conversation, she decided that awkward silence would be less painful and took to painting her nails and playing with her make up. She was putting a the third color of polish on her nails when it happened.
A faint beeping from one of the monitors caught her attention. She blinked in surprise. She hadn't heard any kind of beeping or alarm or anything at all from the monitors for six months. She looked at the screen, being careful to move her nail polish aside. What she saw made her gape like a fish.
The Digimon Detection Program was showing that something was coming through into the real world and based off of the readings, it was coming from Merukimon's Digital Gate. Another beeping caught her attention and she turned to see that the Biological Data Retrieval systems were showing several digimon coming through along with several humans. To make things even more phenomenal Daimon Masaru and his partner Agumon were among those coming from the digital world.
"What's going on?" A stern, deep voice demanded.
Miki glanced behind her where Captain Satsuma had come to stand, before looking back at the screen. "A group of digimon are materializing in the park. But… there are several humans with them. Among the group are Masaru and Agumon."
Satsuma's eyes narrowed in thought. He was just as shocked by the news that there was activity from the digital world, though he hid it well. He knew he needed to be calm and rational. There was no telling what was happening. The fact that Masaru and Agumon were with the group was some comfort. On the other hand, there were humans with them, not just digimon, which should have been impossible. It was Satsuma's job to be the first responder in situations regarding the digital world and his first priority was to make sure that they weren't a threat.
"Sir? What are we going to do?" Miki asked, easily slipping back into her professional role.
"Call in Shirakawa and then contact Yoshino and Tohma," Satsuma ordered. "Have them bring in Ikuto and Suguru. I'm going to send some officers to collect the group and then contact Hashima."
"Yes sir. Do you want me to inform you when they arrive?"
"Yes. I'll brief them personally. I also want confirmation when the officers have secured the group and when they make it to base."
"Understood."
With that, Satsuma turned and made his way to his office.
Daisuke blinked to clear his sight as he materialized in the human world. Despite his recent foray into temporal and dimensional travel, Daisuke didn't think that anything could top travelling to and from the digital world. It was true that traveling between dimensions was more physically taxing and certainly left much to be desired, but travelling via Digital Gate was very disconcerting. Feeling the body break down into itty bitty pieces and then change its very make up wasn't something he would ever recommend. He supposed, though, that it was at least better than back in his dimension.
Back in his own world, Daisuke and the others were forced to watch themselves get pulled into a computer or television screen as their bodies were slowly digitize and broken apart to fit. It was creepy and left a very strange tingling all over their bodies and a tickling in their stomachs that was usually reserved for going very fast down a big hill. Worse still, was when their bodies were reconfigured as they exited the computer. The only good thing was that the process didn't hurt, at least not until they were people (or a digital people at the case may be) again and hit the ground outside of the TV or computer monitor.
Daisuke looked down at his partner who had devolved back into Chibimon once they were in the human world. He was looking around the small clearing they had found themselves in in interest. He looked around too, and wasn't at all surprised to see that they were in some kind of park. There was a walkway and a few benches, but there weren't any people. That last part didn't surprise him either, because usually there weren't any people around when they showed up some place. There was a plausible reason for it this time, though, as the sun was quite low in the sky and the air was chilly. Daisuke supposed it was getting close to winter in this world and was wishing that he hadn't left his winter clothes in one of the previous dimensions.
"Is there a reason you keep devolving and evolving?" Takuya asked when he noticed Chibimon was there instead of Veemon.
"It's because I'm in the human world. I change back to my in-training form here," Chibimon explained.
"Why?" Takato asked.
"I don't know," he said with a shrug.
"Come on. This way," Masaru called as he started leading them down the path. "It's late enough. There won't be too many people around to spot us."
"Kuroku said something about this world being dangerous. It's why we went straight to the digital world. Do you know what he meant?" Taichi was curious and a little worried. Since when had the digital world been considered safer than the human world? It was slightly uncomfortable to think about.
Masaru seemed to agree as he frowned a little, waiting a moment before he answered. "Well, it's not so much that it's dangerous but…" He trailed off for a moment, trying to figure out the best way to describe the situation. "It's not necessarily the best place for digimon to be." He settled on that explanation, not sure how else to explain it.
"The government knows about them," Takato said. It wasn't a question, but a statement. He knew what was going on.
The definite tone he used surprised Masaru. "How did you…?"
Takato looked intensely towards Guillmon, who was walking a little ahead talking to the other digimon. "It's the same in my world," He explained. "At least for one section of the government." Takato looked back to Masaru and his expression eased. "They've come to an understanding, though, so it's not as bad as it was."
"The only understanding our government has for the digimon is for the ones who work for it," Masaru said, though he wished it was different. If it had been, he wouldn't have had to choose between the two worlds.
"So you're a member of the government?" Takuya asked, surprised. It was weird to think of someone so young being in the government, never mind that he was a Chosen Child.
"Yeah," he confirmed. "It's called D.A.T.S. – Digimon Accident Tactics Squad. They're not always right, but most of the digimon that came through before caused a lot of problems. Plus, the only way Agumon and I could have stayed together was to join them. They would have turned him into a digi-egg and sent him back to the digital world."
Everyone was shocked at the revelation. "What!?" Daisuke yelled in outrage.
Turning a digimon into a digi-egg was the equivalent of killing them. Digimon didn't technically die, since they were reborn, but there was always the chance that one wouldn't be. Whether it was because their data was too corrupt, the will of the digital world, or their own will, some digimon weren't reborn. It was a truth that Elecmon had told them during their reconstruction of the digital world after BelialVamdemon's defeat.
"Yeah, I know," Masaru said in understanding. "I learned a lot in the six months that I was in the digital world. I was just as outraged as you guys when I found out the implications. Not that I felt guilty about the digimon who were hurting people. There wasn't any other choice, but for the digimon like Agumon who never did anything…"
Masaru trailed off and there was silence between the boys as they walked. Each one was lost in their own thoughts about what they had heard. On one hand it made sense. If digimon were causing trouble in the real world, it would be a problem. Even a generally benign digimon could hurt someone, so that too, could be excused to an extent, even if it wasn't there intention. On the other hand, not all digimon were out to cause trouble and hurt people. They were intelligent beings and should be given rights as such. The fact that the D.A.T.S. group killed all digimon, even if all of them to this point had been turned into digi-eggs, was disconcerting.
They continued for a while longer before they made it to the edge of the park. No one was around, that they could see, and the sun had mostly faded leaving a grey sky and long dark shadows across the ground courtesy of the trees behind them. The digimon stopped their conversation and went to stand by their partners. Now that they were out of the seclusion and safety of the trees, everyone had become a little uneasy. Masaru in particular was tense, knowing that they had been in the human world for about twenty minutes. He wasn't sure how things were on this side of the gate for the last six months, but he was sure that the government hadn't completely stopped monitoring digimon activity.
His unease proved to be well founded, as no sooner had they reached the edge of the street, three large black vans skidded to a stop in front of them. The doors opened and four men dressed in black army fatigues came from each vehicle. They ran towards the boys, who were stunned by the sudden event, and surrounded them. The digimon stayed close to their partners and glared (and growled in Guillmon's case) at the strange men, who they had decided were definitely a threat. The only ones who weren't surprised, though still ill at ease, were Masaru and his Agumon.
"You five are coming with us!" one of the men said, stepping forward.
"Yeah? Who says!?" Takuya yelled defiantly. He didn't have a partner to protect him, but he was confident he could get away if he needed to. He hadn't spent months in the digital world fighting as a digimon only to forget what he had learned, simply because he was now human.
"That's none of your business." He said with a glare.
"Uh, if you're trying to kidnap us, that is our business," Taichi said and Agumon stepped up threateningly.
The men obviously had short fuses and perhaps were a little jumpy with the growling angry digimon focusing on them, because they didn't waste any time or any more breath with talking and rushed in to attack. Some of the men pulled out strange gun like devices, which crackled with digi-soul energy. Others had long poles with wire hoops at the end, like what dog catchers used. These two groups, were obviously meant to take care of the digimon. The rest of the men were unarmed, or at least didn't have any weapons drawn and went after the Chosen Children.
It was pure chaos with the men in black trying their best to catch the digimon and humans and the Chosen Children and their partners defending themselves and not making it easy for their would be kidnappers. Masaru, who had some idea of what was going on, was trying to get everyone to stop fighting and calm down. He was a bad diplomat, though, because he usually used his fists to talk, and ended up just dodging the people he knew must have been sent by D.A.T.S.
Fortunately, there wasn't any actual physical contact between the two sides, even from Masaru who was really trying not to hurt anyone. At least, that was the case until one of the men in black grabbed Daisuke's arm and tried to pull him none too gently towards one of the vans.
"Daisuke!" Chibimon yelled as his partner was dragged away. He dodged one of the men and charged forward.
"Ow! Let go!" Daisuke cried out angrily as the man squeezed his arm a little too hard.
Hearing the distress and slight pain in his partner's voice was the last straw for Chibimon. He didn't care if the men were human or that he was in the human world. He was going to protect his partner no matter who or what the threat was. With these thoughts in mind, Chibimon started to evolve. A bright light shone forth from Daisuke's D-3, which was attached at his hip. The man who held him shielded his eyes, but his grip didn't loosen. When the lights from the digivice and Chibimon disappeared, Veemon wasted no time in charging and attacking the man holding Daisuke with a V-head-butt.
This action caused several events to happen in tandem. The man let go of Daisuke, who scrambled away, the other men stopped their assault to stare at the scene with shock, and the other Chosen Children and digimon regrouped to face the men head on. Masaru decided at this point he really needed to let his voice be heard, because fighting like they were wasn't getting them anywhere. He had at least learned some patience during his time with D.A.T.S. and he was certain that they wouldn't be willing to help if their men were beaten to unconsciousness.
"All right!" he yelled to get everyone's attention. "Stop attacking us and let's talk!"
He gave them a look to show that he meant business, but when one of the men didn't seem to get the message and stepped forward anyway, Agumon stepped in. He shot a Pepper Breath attack at the man's feet, far enough away not to hurt him, but close enough to show they were very serious.
"The boss said stop!" He said with a glare. When no one looked ready to make another move or speak, Agumon nodded his head in satisfaction and turned to Masaru.
Masaru looked at the men intently before he started speaking. "You guys must be new, or just stupid, but you don't attack digimon with dag catching equipment and digi-soul powered weapons. I'm also pretty sure that Captain Satsuma didn't order us to be captured and treated like criminals." Masaru watched as the men looked at each other a little guiltily. "If you had waited for a few minutes and let me explain what was going on, we would have gone willingly."
Masaru shot one more glare at the group, ignoring the fact that he was probably the most hot-headed person there and that he would have probably done the same thing, before he turned to look at his new friends. "Guys, they're a part of D.A.T.S. The technology they use probably told them that we were coming through the Digital Gate. Captain Satsuma would have sent them to collect us. It'll be easier if we go with them, since I was taking you to headquarters anyway."
"You want us to go willingly with the guys who just attacked us?" Takuya asked in disbelief.
"I don't trust them!" Veemon huffed sending the group a glare. The other digimon nodded in agreement.
"I don't either," Takato said with a frown. "But it will get us to where we need to go faster right? The sooner we gather Masaru's team the sooner we can protect our worlds."
"I agree with Takato. We should go with them. We don't want to cause a scene and we do need to hurry," Taichi said.
Everyone else was reluctant, but they understood that they didn't have a choice, and so they told the men in black that they would go with them. The group split into two with each of them going into a separate van. They were too large to all fit into one. Veemon and Daisuke made sure to take one of the van's that didn't have the guy who had grabbed Daisuke. They thought it was a disaster waiting to happen. Takuya, Takato, and Guillmon went with them. That left Masaru and Taichi and their partners to the other van. It didn't take that long for them to become situated and a few minutes later they were headed toward the D.A.T.S headquarters.
A/N: Okie doki! That's a wrap! I hope you all enjoyed it. Please let me know about Masaru's characterization. I know it's not quite where it needs to be and I really want it to be better for next time.
I hope you liked what I did with D.A.T.S. I just couldn't see the government shutting down a program like that completely. It wouldn't make any sense in case something happened again.
I also hope the last part was to your liking and didn't seem bogged down with useless information and that the situations seemed realistic and not over the top.
I will work on getting the next chapter up in a timely manner. It probably won't be up as fast as this one (seriously, this was likely a one-time deal, but we'll see), however it certainly won't take as long as it usually does.
Hope you enjoyed and have a wonderful day!