Previously on Digimon Genesis, Takumi had another strange dream about the men who gave him his powers to transform into a digital monster . . .

The next day, Takumi met a girl named Reina. But she wasn't just a girl to him. She was drop-dead beautiful . . . meanwhile, Naoki tried to find out more about a girl as well! No, no, no! It didn't have anything to do with a crush . . . but it did have something to do with the fate of the city! It turns out the girl, Yuka, could turn into a Digimon as well. Unfortunately, she had left her D-Monster device at home.

Naoki set up a plan and met up with all of the other digital humans at his house. But it turned out that it may be a problem to get them to work together . . . because it seems that some don't like each other that much . . .

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon. BUT, I do own a beanie baby named Frisbee! I bought him at the mall for $5.00! It's mine now! All mine! No one can take it away from me! BWAHAHA!

DIGIMON GENESIS
CHAPTER IX

CRIME AND CRIME AGAIN

"Get him away!" Miho shrieked, pointing at Shun Oshiro with a look of immense madness.

"Wh - what do you mean?" Takumi stammered, shocked.

"Takumi, you didn't tell me that she was a Digimon too!" Shun cried. "I can't believe that I'm stuck with her!"
Miho turned around and held her nose up high. "And I can't believe I'm stuck with you! Of all the miserable luck!"

Shun Oshiro also turned away from the troubled girl, and folded his arms with a look of regret on his plump, round face.

"H-how do you guys know each other?" Takumi asked, stepping in.

"Well, it just so happens that we were both in the eighth grade together. F-boy still is, though," Miho announced.

"At least I live with parents who care for me!" Shun shouted angrily.

At this, steam seemed to come from Shun's opponent. "Are you insulting my mother?" she said, through gritted teeth. "As a matter of fact, my mother does care for me. Your parents are trolls."
Shun cuffed his hands into fists. "I don't care if you're a girl, but I'll punch you if you insult my family again!"

"I'm not insulting anyone," was the reply. "I'm only telling the truth."
Suddenly, the temperature in Shun's body rose. He held his fist high into the air, then -

"Stop!" Takumi yelled, stopping Shun from hurting Miho, who ducked in fear.

Shun shook him off, but didn't continue to try and hurt the obnoxious girl. "That was only a warning. But I mean it, next time if you -" Shun did not know what to add, but if anything, his fists, which seemed to grow larger and larger, said all.

The door of Naoki's house suddenly opened and a small woman with short, gray hair appeared at the steps.

"Naoki," she said softly, "it's time for dinner. We're having fish tonight. Why don't you go ask your friends to come to the table?"
"Thank you, Mrs. -" Shun said politely -

"Reda. And your welcome. I'm happy to have you over." Her voice, however, indicated that she had mixed feelings of the guests that her son had brought to join them with dinner. She was not prepared to cook dinner for four additional people. It was strange - Naoki had never been the sort to hang around with kids older than he was. And older they were! That boy looked like he six years older than Naoki, she thought, and this was true, for the person she was thinking of was Shun Oshiro, the boy who had thanked her so politely, and he was fourteen years old. She was so concerned over these new arrivals that she spoke to her husband about it right away.

"Gideo," she began, setting his plate on the table, which consisted of fish and some carrots. "I'm beginning to worry about Naoki. Who are these kids that he was playing with anyway?"
Mr. Reda plunged into his fish and took a large bite. "Dunno," he replied, his mouth full of meat. "Those kids in the yard?"
"Yes," Mrs. Reda replied impatiently. "They're very strange - especially that boy and that girl - they had to be at least in high school. And that boy in the blue? He looks like he could really hurt Naoki if he wanted to!"
"Are they new to the neighborhood?" he asked, a bit more consciously, since his mouth was free of food.

"No!" she moaned, in a low voice, completely forgetting of her duties to serve dinner for her strange guests, "not that I know of, anyway. I mean, do their parents even know they're going to be here? I've never met them. I don't want to be held responsible for a bunch of kids who are here without permission. Now I feel like I have to cook dinner for them and act as host, while perhaps their parents are looking for them."
"Send them home," Mr. Reda returned simply, eager to drop the subject so that he could dive in to his plate and grab more of the delicious food.

"But Gideo, I'm afraid to!"
"What?" her husband replied, taking a sip of his soda, because he had swallowed a bit more food than he had liked to. "There isn't anything to it. Just ask them if their parents know where they are. If not, send them home. If they do, then I guess we'll just have to entertain them all for a while."
Mrs. Reda looked up at the ceiling hopefully, as if it held some kind of answer that would help her situation. "I suppose."

"Chieri, I really think you're looking too much into this," Mr. Reda said to his wife, putting his plate aside (he had decided that he wasn't going to eat anymore after some fish went down the wrong way), "we haven't even met them before. Just because they're much older than Naoki doesn't mean they'll do harm to him."

Chieri Reda still continued to look up at the ceiling in hope, before she said:
"I know, but I - I - I mean, what if they are a distraction from his school work!?"
"Aw, hun, I really don't think we need to go that far. Naoki has friends, and he's doing well in school, right?"
"I know," his wife replied, "but he's so young and impressionable . . ."
"Yeah," Mr. Reda yawned in agreement, then strode over to the cabinet to find some dessert (he later produced a tasty sundae), while his wife continued to stare at the ceiling, thinking of the teenagers.

Mr. Reda was about to eat the cherry on top that he favored, when suddenly his wife burst out:
"Gideo! What if they're a gang!? What if they're doing drugs!?"
Instead of answering, Gideo put the cherry in his mouth, chewed it up, and swallowed it with satisfaction.

"Well?" his wife demanded impatiently.

Mr. Reda let out a hearty laugh and said, "Honey, I really think you're looking too much into this. I mean, so they're teenagers, so they're much bigger than Naoki, it doesn't mean they're a gang."
"But, dear, what if - what if - what if they're the ones doing the murders?!"

At this, Mr. Reda almost choked with laughter.

"Oh, honey, they're just kids. And there was a robot committing the murders. Showed up yesterday on television."
"You really believe that, dear? I don't think it was a robot. I mean, really, how are - I mean, how is a robot supposed to be behind all this?"

Her husband continued to laugh, then said:
"Honey, if those kids really are doing the murders, you can hang me on the ceiling with a rope and hit me with a stick."

Meanwhile, Takumi was thinking of Naoki's parents, and how they would handle their company. "You didn't have to have us over for dinner," he kept repeating, "I mean, we could have done this in the afternoon -"

Naoki shook his head regretfully. "No, I'm afraid we can't do what I want to do during the day."
"What did you call us over here for?" Ryota asked. Naoki was about to reply, but Mrs. Reda called:
"Time for dinner!"
The five kids hastened over to the table, and found four extra chairs pulled up for their use.

After dinner was served, the Redas engaged their guests in conversation.

"So, what's your name?" Mr. Reda asked, indicating Takumi.

"Takumi," the respective boy answered.

"And how old are you?"

"I'm twelve."

"Play any sports?" Mr. Reda asked heartily.

Takumi paused at this question. "No," he replied. "Not really . . ." He was not very tall and couldn't dribble a basketball, didn't have any coordination, so he couldn't hit a baseball, he couldn't kick a soccer ball very well, and Takumi just wasn't built for football (or any other sport for that matter).

"How about you?" he asked, indicating Ryota.

"I'm twelve," he replied, not looking up from his plate.

"Same age as Takumi."
"Yeah," Ryota replied. "We, uh, go to the same school and all . . ."

"Oh," Mr. Reda said. "What school do you go to?"
"East Yokohama."
"Middle?"
"Yes."
Mr. Reda exchanged glances with his wife. That was the same school that the boy who had been murdered had attended.

"Pardon this question," he said, "but did you know the boy who was killed?"
"Yeah. He was stupid."
"Oh," Mr. Reda said, again exchanging glances with Mrs. Reda. Ryota didn't notice, he was too busy trying to get some fish off his fork and into his mouth.

"And how about you?" he asked, indicating Miho.

"What about me?" she replied with her mouth full.

"How old you are."
"Oh, I'm fourteen."

"And you?" Mr. Reda asked, pointing at Shun.

"I'm fourteen," he said politely. "This dinner is great, Mrs. Reda. Did you cook this yourself?"
"Why, yes," she returned warmly.

"Do you go to the same school together?" her husband asked Shun. "N-no," he replied, staring at Miho with a look of dread on his plump face. This was the question he had been fearing. Luckily, Miho didn't say a word, though she didn't look too nice at Shun, but this was no change.

Mrs. Reda was about to ask how they all had met Naoki and what their plans were for the evening, but thought the better of it. This was quite fortunate for the kids, for they had not thought of an excuse. Mrs. Reda also noticed how they almost never spoke to each other. Could this be to hide whatever it was they had been discussing outside? But they didn't seem like a gang, not even murderers. The boy, Shun Oshiro, was indeed polite. The concerned parent tried to convince herself that these children were not involved in any criminal acts, but she couldn't help thinking of her son, the boy that, although she forced him to study, she loved so dearly.

The table was in silence for a bit, until the last person finished his dinner (which was Takumi). Mrs. Reda excused them from the table, watching Naoki from the corner of his eye as he left the house, going outside with his newly-found friends. She sighed, then finished her dinner.

"Don't worry about him, Chieri," her husband coaxed. "He'll turn out fine."

The worried mother didn't reply.

Outside, the digital humans gathered and Naoki explained why he had brought them over to his house in the first place.

"There are two things I want to discuss," he began, looking around at the group. "First, I have a theory." For some reason, he waited before he spoke his next sentence. "Have you two ever transformed ever since we found you were Digimon?" He gestured at Miho Sugiyama and Shun Oshiro.

"No," they both replied, and to their disgust, at the same time.

"Well," Naoki said softly, "I want you to transform. Not right now of course - come on, let's go to the woods in the back of my house - out in the open - this is the only way I can test my theory."

The others nodded in agreement and talked quietly as they made their way to the forest.

"Wonder what he turns into . . ." Miho muttered, speaking of Shun.

"Hey, I heard that!" Shun cried. "I turn into -"
"An ugly robot with one eye," Ryota jeered, not smiling. "Half killed me, the stupid thing . . ."
Miho giggled. "Is that right, Shun?" she teased, however, it was not the friendly tease, but a rival-like tease. "You turn into a robot!?"
"So?" Shun countered. "It's not - I don't care!"
"F-boy doesn't care about anything," Ryota said darkly.

"Well, duh!" Miho cried.

Shun "F-boy" Oshiro put his head down and sighed. Takumi took a quick glance at him. Poor Shun, he thought. Always loathed just because he has a reputation to make poor grades . . . and he makes those poor grades only because he's interested in something else - art. He's a wonderful artist - and I can tell that he hasn't shared his work with anyone else. No one knows the real Shun, everyone jumps to conclusions. Kids like Ryota hate him, and soon that hate spreads to every other person in the school - then Shun is hated by everyone. And it's not his fault . . . Ryota, Miho . . . they were being jerks. Ryota obviously followed all the popular kids, and they hated Shun, and given him a nickname, F-boy. I don't know the deal with Miho, who was in his class last year, maybe they just couldn't stand each other. Takumi wished he could do something to help Shun, but couldn't pluck up the courage because he was afraid that if he befriended the poor student, Takumi would be loathed and hated as well.

Soon the group arrived in the heart of the woods, where there was a small clearing.

"Alright," Naoki said smiling, like he always did, "let's begin."
Everyone nodded.

"Miho, Shun, transform!" he cried.

The two fourteen-year olds pressed the top button on their D-Monster digivice, then transformed into Mekanorimon and Jikimon, the respective forms of Shun and Miho.

"So it's true!" the plant Digimon cried gleefully when she saw Mekanorimon. "You really do transform into a robot!"
Mekanorimon, which lacked a face, could not express his anger, but instead hummed irritably.

"Notice anything different?" Naoki shouted to Jikimon, as the Venus fly-trap monster was very large.

"What do you mean?" Jikimon rasped back.

"Like, anything different than last time you transformed!"
To everyone's surprise, leaves on Jikimon's back began to flap, faster and faster, until the plant Digimon could fly in the air.

Down below, everyone gasped in amazement.

"She wasn't able to fly before!" Takumi stated.

Suddenly, Jikimon burst into song:

"I can fly!
Like a fly!
I have wings!
Like a king - I mean queen!
Yeah, yeah!"

"Men-tal," Mekanorimon hummed.

"Do you feel any different, Shun?" Naoki asked.

"No, but I believe that I have more control over the functions of my body due to the power of the device."

"Good, then my theory has been proved," Naoki announced. "You can transform back into humans now."
Shun was eager to transform back into a regular human, he thought if he remained in his Digimon mode everyone would start to laugh at him. This order, however, did not appeal to Miho, who was disappointed that humans weren't built with wings. Therefore, she pleaded she stay as Jikimon, but Naoki shook his head now, it was too risky to be a Digimon if not needed, even though they were probably safe in the woods. After the two transformed back into their human forms, which Shun seemed much more comfortable in, Naoki announced why he had brought them over to his house in the first place. They all sat on the ground while the little boy told his story. The ground was covered with pine needles and pinecones. Miho refused to sit in the dirt at first, and instead decided to pirch herself on a large tree. But when it was discovered that the tree was home to hundreds of ants, the girl took the lesser of two evils and was forced to sit on the ground, and throughout Naoki's story she complained that the pine needles were stabbing her.

Naoki told the story of how he had met up with Yuka, how he had found that she was a Digimon, how she was going on a camping trip that weekend. Then, he seemed to reach what he had been waiting to say all evening. "We are all going to have to go to Yuka's house and steal the device from her home. Got it?"
Everyone stared. It was Takumi who broke the silence.

"But - who's going to go?" he asked.

"All of us," Naoki replied. He wasn't smiling. "This is a team effort. This will require all of us. And we need to get along with each other." He glared at Shun and Miho. "If we can't, then I know we'll never be able to save this city."

Ryota looked at Shun, and was about to open his mouth to say something, but thought the better of it.

"Takumi and Shun," Naoki ordered, "you are to enter Yuka's house. In order to do that -" he gestured to Ryota - "you need to pry open the windows. Chances are, the windows and doors of the house are locked."
This time, Ryota spoke. "But - what if someone sees us?"
"That's where I came in," was the reply from the boy of eight, "I'll be on the watch. If anyone does see us, I'll create an Amnesia Charm." He then turned to Miho - "and you will keep a watch on where Takumi and Shun are. You can help them find the device and bring it back safely."
Miho nodded, although she was rather disappointed that this activity would not require flying.

"All right, everything settled?" Naoki asked, confident that his mission would be successful, but with something in his voice which told everyone that this was going to be extremely dangerous.

"Yeah!" Takumi cried. "Now where is this Yuka's house?"
Naoki dug in his pocket, took out his D-Monster, but it was not this that he used to find the young girl's house, but a school directory that he had in his pocket that he must have retrieved from his own home early on, and he later retrieved a map from it as well, which he must have also smuggled out.

"It's a couple of miles from here," said Naoki, after alternating from viewing the map or the phone book. "Don't worry, I've been to her house before, I know exactly where it's located."
"And why have you been to her house?" said Miho sarcastically, but there was no reply from Naoki.

Within a few minutes, the group agreed that they didn't have time to walk the miles required to walk in order to get to Yuka's house, so they found a new source of transportation - Takumi and Ryota. Takumi was to transform into Hiamon and Ryota into Kibamon. The former was to ride with Shun on his back, the latter carrying Naoki and Miho (it was originally planned that Naoki was to ride on Hiamon, but Shun and Miho were arguing so much that it was eventually decided that they would go separately. Miho exclaimed that she was happy she was not to be riding with F-boy, but she was most disappointed when specifically asked by Naoki not to transform into her Digimon mode and fly).

After Naoki had told Takumi the location of the little girl's house, the expedition began, and the two groups separated. Shun was impressed with the dragon-like Hiamon, and he held up his arms excitedly as they flew over the trees (Takumi did not want to attract suspicion if anyone happened to look up at the sky that evening). Miho, on the other hand, was further angered when her face was whipped by an exceptionally large branch while riding on Kibamon. Whether the snow leopard Digimon did this on purpose or not remains a mystery.

Hiamon spread his great wings and felt the rush of the air against his tender, reptile-like face. Takumi had never realized that this was one of the most joyous moments of his life, flying high in the air as a dragon. When he had flew on past times, there had always been something bothering him, something that he was worried about or afraid of. But today he flew carefree, except for the fact that they needed to retrieve the device. However, the pressure was not as great this time. Not as great as the time that he had just murdered a second person, Mr. Felters. It hadn't been his fault - at the time, he had been unable to control himself. Takumi was afraid that a group of kids had seen the murder - and they had, but thanks to Naoki and his Amnesia Charms, they forgot the incident. But Takumi could still remember those awful moments before he had learned of the spell - of how he had transformed back into his Digimon mode and flew home, thinking of the truth that his mother would soon learn . . .

"Hey, Takumi!" a voice called.

Hiamon opened his eyes. "Huh?" he grunted, and he realized that the voice was coming from Shun, who was still riding on his back. He was the one who had interrupted the daydream.

"You still there?" he teased.

"Yeah," Hiamon growled.

"Listen," Shun explained, "We've got to be careful in this. We'll both help each other, right?"
Hiamon grunted in agreement.

"Good," Shun said triumphantly. "I'm confident that we can do this!"

Hiamon almost flew back in fear when he saw a short stretch of road in front of him, but luckily avoided being spotted by anyone, for it was not a busy street. But here he saw Kibamon, running on the paved road. At least he knew he was on the right track. He followed the snow leopard Digimon until they came to the forest again, but the woods became more tame and eventually he could see small houses on the ground below. Hiamon glided lower and lower, trying to get out of view of anyone who could be watching, then sank to the ground with a hard thud.

"Whoa!" Shun gasped, as he had almost fallen off the dragon's back.

"Sorry," Hiamon growled, and after his companion had gotten off his back, he transformed back into a human. The world seemed much bigger to Takumi now that he was a human and not a large, menacing beast.

"We're here!" Takumi heard a familiar voice announce. Kibamon appeared in a clearing, then stopped short, allowing Naoki, and (with reluctance), Miho to jump off.

"Glad you made it!" Naoki said cheerfully. His face turned serious. "No one saw you, did they?"

"Nope," Takumi said. "But - a dragon is hard to miss!"
"F-boy is also hard to miss," Miho muttered, but not soft enough, for Shun seemed to hear her. He didn't counter her sentence, though.

"So, this is her house," Takumi said, putting his hands in his pockets and staring at the back of the yellow, cheery-looking house. There were no lights on, but some blinds were open. A beautiful garden was visible through the trees, containing many roses.

"What a dump," Kibamon commented, some of Ryota's cold tone in his voice. He curled his lip at the long rows of flowers.

"Alright, Kibamon," Naoki said enthusiastically. "Open the window. I'm positive it'll be locked, but you can open it with your fangs, can't you?"

The snow leopard Digimon looked quite surly and annoyed at his task, but he didn't complain. He half-ran, half-glided over to the blue house, then went near a window. He jumped at it, then, surprisingly, managed to open it with his strong paws. "It's open," he growled, looking back at the perplexed looks on the rest of the group's faces.

"Alright then," Naoki said, quite surprised. "Takumi, Shun, I know you can do this. Just go in there, find the device, and get out as quickly as possible."
Takumi looked at the open window with a lost, deep expression on his smooth face. Suddenly, it occurred to him that Naoki may have overlooked a few things.

"But Naoki, what if they have a burglar alarm?"
"Don't worry, we can escape if they do. And just to make sure -" Naoki brought his D-Monster from his pocket and pushed the top button, transforming himself into the wizard Digimon, Sorcerimon.

"I'm counting on you," Naoki said, nodding towards his companions.

Suddenly, Takumi felt that his fate was in good hands. Naoki, although young, was smart - was brave. And he felt safe in the hands of the kid, even if they were four years younger than his own. He was remarkable - strong, independent, confident - something he would never be.

Takumi nodded back and along with Shun, climbed up the wall and up to the open window. Kibamon retreated to the rest of the group, who hid among the bushes, watching their work.

"Who's going first?" Shun asked, and Takumi thanked Naoki for choosing two people to go into the house, he wouldn't be able to do this all alone . . .

"I will," Takumi offered. With extreme caution, he climbed through the window and soon found himself inside Yuka's house. He felt extremely uncomfortable, being in someone else's home, but he kept assuring himself that this was for a good purpose, that even though this was a crime, it would stop an even greater crime. To his relief, no burglar alarm sounded. Everything would go fine. He and Shun would just have to find Yuka's device. Takumi helped Shun up through the window. His landing was not as good as Takumi's however, and he fell on his back on the floor. However, the floor was soft and he received no injury. Shun got up, then was back to normal, and looked around the house.

"Let's get out of here soon," he said, and he made a motion like he was cold.

"ARE YOU THERE!?"
Takumi jumped. "Who -" Then he realized it was Naoki's voice, coming through his D-Monster device. He had been so paralyzed with fear in the strange little house that the slightest sound made him jump. He was relieved when he found out that it was a friendly voice.

"Loud and clear," Takumi replied, as Shun gazed over his shoulder. "Naoki, what should we do?"
"I'm picking up a signal from her device," was the reply. "It should be upstairs. There you will get further instructions."
"Roger," Takumi said into his device playfully, and he motioned for Shun to climb the stairs with him. When he got to the top, he looked around. All the doors were closed.

"Ready to hear instructions," Takumi said into his device. Shortly after he heard:
"Take a right. You should see a bathroom."
"Yes -"
"The room next to it seems to be Yuka's room. That's where the device's signal is coming from. Get it."
"Right," Takumi replied, and, overcome with excitement, entered the room that Naoki had indicated.

Takumi looked around, along with Shun. Suddenly, the latter let out a cry of excitement:
"Look over there!"

There, lying on the bedside table, was the little girl's D-Monster Digivice, brown in color.

"We've found it!" Takumi said, but not to his own device.

Shun snatched it.

"Come on, let's go," he said, but Takumi was already out the door and hastening door the steps.

"Wait up!" Shun told Takumi, and followed him. The stairs felt longer than ever, but Takumi was excited. Finally, he would get out of the house, return the digivice, and return home, everything fine - perhaps even better than fine.

Meanwhile, Miho, Naoki, and Ryota (still in his Digimon mode), talked in silence.

"D'ya think they'll make it?" Miho asked when it had been a few minutes since they had entered the house.

"They'll be fine," Naoki coaxed, looking at his device again. They had already picked up the device and heading out the door.

"Naoki, you're so cool -" Miho said. "- I mean, for a little kid. You're like a little brother!"
Naoki blushed shyly. "Thanks," he muttered, not knowing exactly what to say. And it was only then that it dawned on him -

"Oh no!" he exclaimed, with a look of extreme fright on his normally calm and cheerful face.

"What's wrong?" Kibamon grunted.

"Yuka's baby brother!" Naoki said suddenly.

His friends looked confused.

Back in the house, Takumi was finding his way out of the window. He jumped, then felt solid earth.

"Here's the device," whispered Shun, throwing the device down at him, as well as his own.

Takumi caught it and put them in his pocket, with his own D-Monster digivice.

"Takumi!"

It was Naoki's voice again.

"What?" he said.

"Get out of that house now!" Naoki shouted through the device.

"What'dya mean?" Takumi asked, but just a second later he saw something that made him jump in fright. "Shun, get out!" he whispered.

"What?" Shun said, but it was too late, Takumi ran back through the woods to find his friends.

Shun shrugged and almost managed to get out of the house, but a figure at the top of the stairs stopped him:
"OH NO YOU DON'T! THIEF! I'LL CALL THE POLICE ON YOU!"
Shun whipped around. Coming down the stairs frantically was a tall woman with bushes of dirty-blonde hair.

Next time on Digimon Genesis!

Shun Oshiro, AKA "F-boy" has been caught with "attempted robbery"! Even his many, many enemies will have to feel sorry for him as he faces court, and perhaps even juvenile hall! But the thing that worries Takumi, Ryota, Naoki, and Miho is - will he reveal the secrets of the transformations? Find out in Chapter 10 of Digimon Genesis:

"SACRIFICES"