Disclaimer: To this day I don't own Digimon.

The Four Seasons: Chapter 6

Tick!

Tick!

Tick!

Sarah withheld a groan of exasperation. The day was almost over but it didn't seem to be ending fast enough! She watched the second hand on the clock tick its way towards the end of the day while the teacher continued to blather on about… whatever it was that he was talking about. What subject was she in again? History? She couldn't really remember even though she had been to the class almost a thousand times. Pretty bad when you think about it, but then, Mr. Thompson had that affect on people. Thank God she was only exposed to him for about 72 minutes on a daily basis. Any more than that and she'd probably end up forgetting her own name to go along with everything else.

And just what is my name again?

Had Sarah been an anime character, this would be where she would have face faulted or something.

Sarah groaned once again as she slumped in her chair, trying desperately to hear the sounds of the clock over her history teacher.

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RIIIING!

Sarah waited outside of her school while the last of the students were filing out of the building, waiting for Mike to show up.

Only five more minutes, she thought. And then I'm taking off without him. Well… maybe I should give him a little bit more time than that. He is known for being chronically late for just about everythi…

"SARAH!" Called a boy approaching her. It was Mike. Sarah looked up, actually startled as the boy pulled up in front of her and halted, rubbing the back of his head and smiling.

" 'Bout time," Sarah grumbled. "I was just entertaining the thought that you wouldn't show up at all." Mike raised an eyebrow.

"Would I do that to a friend?"

Sarah smirked. "Yes. You would. Now come on. Let's go see if we can actually talk to Mark this time."

"Do you think that we'll need siege equipment? You know, like battering rams, grappling hooks, ladders, artillery…"

"Get serious Mike," said Sarah. "We only want to talk to him. If he doesn't want to see us we won't force him."

"Oh come on! You don't actually believe that do you? He's been hiding out at his home for three weeks! No one's seen him since, and just earlier today you were saying about how you weren't going to let anything stop you! You telling me now that you're going to back out of that now? That doesn't sound like you, Sarah."

Sarah grimaced. Okay, it was true that she was having some second thoughts about intruding on her friend's life now, but… no. Mike was right. Three weeks was way to long. She had to check up on him, no matter what his mother did or said. Sarah began walking off in the direction of Mark's house. Thank God that it was so close to the school. She stopped and turned to look back at Mike.

"Well? Are you coming or not?"

Mike restrained an eep and quickly fell into step next to her, and together the two headed off down the road.

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"So what's the plan?" Asked Mike as they approached the dwelling of the once famous Lord of Fantasy.

"Hmmm?"

"I said, what's the plan? I mean, you do have a plan in case Mark's mom decides to shut the door in our faces and threatens us with the cops or a restraining order, right?"

"Oh, uh… well… I actually haven't given it much thought," Sarah admitted, her face turning a slight shade of red from embarrassment.

"Oh, that's swell," said Mike. "You know, I find it hard to believe that you actually made it to Experienced status as an author for fan fiction. I've read some of your fics, and the plans that you come up with in them are pretty a-mazing. Yet, somehow it doesn't look like it translates very well to real life. Is that why you got an F on your book report for English yesterday?"

"Oh, shut up. I'm not in the mood for your antics, Mike."

"Sorry, I'm just sayin' that I don't like flying blind here."

"Well, why don't you strain some of your brain cells and come up with a plan yourself? Either that or be quiet so that I can think!"

"…"

"Sorry."

"Whatever."

As the two kids neared Mark's home, Mike noticed something and felt the need to bring it to Sarah's attention.

"Um… Sarah?"

"Oh for God's sake! What is it? I thought I told you to be quiet!"

"I know, but I just wanted you to take a look at something here."

"Well, what? What could possibly be so… oh."

For a moment they said nothing as their legs ground to a halt. Mike looked back and forth between Sarah and what he saw at the house. There appeared to be someone at the door already. Someone that he had never seen before. A boy, about their age, was talking to the mother of their friend Mark, and as expected she was shaking her head at him with a look on her face that could cause ice ages. Within seconds the door was slammed shut. Mike turned back to Sarah.

"Well, at least now we know that your plan to talk things out with Mark's mum wouldn't have panned out. Now what I'd like to know is, who's the kid?"

As Sarah watched, the boy shook his head and wandered away from the house until he was properly covered by the hedges that ran along its side, before ducking into them. Sarah's curiosity was peaked.

"I don't know, but I think we should check him out. What do you think?"

"I should probably get my head examined for this…" began Mike, but a quick look at Sarah's face quickly convinced him on a course of action. "…But I think that we should, as you say, check him out."

"Glad you agree," said Sarah turning back towards their mystery boy.

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He crouched down, studying the house, looking for some sign of his quarry. It wasn't starting out so good; if the lady of the house had let him in to see Mark then he wouldn't have to resort to this, but here he was anyway. He had to check this out and make sure that everything was all right, if only to ease his own sense of guilt. So far he wasn't having much luck since he had to stay carefully hidden so as not to be seen, but at present it was looking as if his best bet for where Mark would be was the window with the drawn curtains.

If I had my laptop then I could use my account's capabilities to make sure. Provided that is, that his account is also active or that there is something of his that I can follow. I remember hearing something about how he was banned off the net after what he did…

"Ahem!"

The boy spun around, a look of panic flashing across his face before he realized who it was that had snuck up on him. He recognized them, a boy and a girl. They were friends of Marks. Good friends. Maybe they could… hold that thought. Perhaps introductions and explanations would be the best way to start things off.

"Um… I'll bet you're probably wondering what it is that I'm doing here…"

"Start with your name first," said the boy who stood behind the girl. He couldn't remember his name but the girl…

"Never mind his name," said the girl who the boy immediately pegged as Sarah. It was rather easy, seeing as how she hung out with Mark almost daily. "I know who he is."

The boy froze, his eyes widening in shock. She knows? How?

You wanna tell us what you're doing here… Dean?"

Behind Sarah, the boy's mouth became an O while his eyes widened in surprise.

"No way…"

Looks like the cat is out of the bag…

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From up in the window, with a curtain now partially open, the once Lord of Fantasy watched this scene from his bird's vantage point with great interest.

So, the knight has come to pay his dues… well, maybe he'll be useful.

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"Was that really necessary?" Asked a voice from out of the shadows.

"Of course. That Tamer was about to rat out our plan. It would have put the entire FanFic Domain on high alert, and that would have upset our plans. Correction: your plan. The rest of us are just along for the ride. And as for the other one, you know that she had to come along to, otherwise she would have said something. This way, things stay quiet just a little bit longer."

"True, but we can't expect that they'll stay that way forever. Someone's going to notice something's wrong, so we may have to step up our plans a bit. Hmmm… those two are going to be an unknown variable in what we've set up. Their presence could ruin everything, just as the OC's did with the Lord of Fantasy from before."

"Yes, but this time we'll have the advantage. There will be no author's to interfere when all the chips are down. We can remove them as we please…"

"… But still within the rules that have been set up. We still have to follow the format as best we can, and you know that just by being there, OC's will upset things, again. I don't think that you've thought this through clearly. You should have waited…"

"Waited? Waited for what? For the others the FanFic community to become aware of what we're up to? Give me a break, pal."

"Well, I suppose it doesn't matter at this point. We'll still have to step up our time table though…"

"Don't worry. I have just the perfect plan, with the perfect opportunity. Everyone that we need, in one place, at the right moment. Our little project should be fully prepared by then. We won't fail."

"Good. Because you know what will happen if we do."

"Only if they catch us."

"True. True. All right. Continue with your part of the plan, and keep me informed. And do something about those OC's while you're at it. Or better yet, have our partner do something about them. He's been complaining about having nothing to do lately."

"With pleasure."

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Jane awoke with a start, her eyes catching the faint rays of a sunset in a lush jungle environment. Next to her lay her partner Munnimon. Sitting up with a groan, the dark haired girl scanned her surroundings, not at all recognizing where she had fallen.

Where the heck am I? She wondered.

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A/N: Sorry that this chapter is a little short, but I'm feeling a little extra tired tonight. I promise more will come ASAP, so stay tuned. -Crazyeight

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