Iterum Chapter 10, a digimon fanfic

Chapter Ten

True to her word, Zwitter was gone the next morning, leaving young Caleb on his own again. He awoke at dawn and lay awake for hours on the musty cot, staring up at the sagging ceiling. His mind was working furiously, going over the best events, categorizing, re-examining them, and having several epiphanies. Like, for instance, yesterday he really did run away from home…

No more of mom's cooking…

His lips twitched at the thought of that being the first, trivial thing he'd miss. The lip twitch turned into a little smile and a hand came up to rub his face, trying to chase the last remnants of slumber away. That hand slowly arched away from his face along with its brethren to turn into a stretch before he finally rolled out of bed.

His brown hair was already a spiky, untamable mess thanks to his dad but now it was worse. Going to bed with wet hair never did anything to chase away permanent bed head. Slowly his fingers flicked through the strands, pushing it away from his face before he shuffled toward the kitchen. Time to make use of that last meal before setting out on his way.

The food left behind had turned out to be little more than cold eggs and bacon, possibly cooked that morning by his would be helper. He ate it all, feeling surprisingly starved despite last night's food. Growing boy and all that, he supposed.

Finishing off his meal he got dressed and took one last cursory glance around the abandoned apartment. He could clearly remember Zwitter sitting there on the couch, simply talking to him. Asking him strange questions…

At one point in the evening, she'd even asked how his Uncle Cyrus was doing.

Caleb rolled his shoulders before grabbing up his stuff and heading out the door. He didn't bother to close the door behind him; what was the point? The building itself was abandoned and he was sure there wasn't anything worth taking.

The floor creaked under his feet and the thread bare carpet did little to muffle his footfalls. He moved past water stained walls and pealing wallpaper, idly picking at each as he went. Down the stairs and through the decrepit lobby doors he went. Outside, he took a deep breath, closing his green eyes against the blaze of the sun above.

It had very nearly blinded him and he couldn't believe that he'd stepped out onto the same street he'd been on last night. The buildings that had loomed over head like monsters were now brightly lit and gleaming. He was on the edge of the rough downtown and the industrial downtown, he realized. Which made his next plan surprisingly easier to accomplish.

He turned and started to walk down the sidewalk. He was leaving this town behind and he was going to get to the next one. If he knew anything about the police, it was that they were probably going to start small, searching around the neighborhood and his school. Probably go to a few of his favorite haunts. Then they would spread out, searching the entire city. He needed to be gone before they did that.

The next town wasn't technically a new town; just a break off of the large city, kind of like a township. All the urban areas around here were more or less break offs of larger cities. It was like a spider web of roads with great dew drops of cities at different intervals.

If he remembered his geography right, he could just follow this road to the highway and the highway to the next city. There he could find a place to stay until the police broadened their search to outside the city. Then he'd probably have to hitch a ride somewhere else…

I'll have to find a job eventually. This money won't last long…

He sucked in a deep breath and cast a glance around the surrounding city. A few of the buildings were familiar, even here in this part of town. Sixteen years was not a long time for a human life; for a city, however, it was comparative to more like thirty years. The thing about cities was that they were changing constantly, growing, expanding, adding in…

… and Caleb realized he wouldn't be around this town much longer to see any more of its renovations. His lips twisted into a frown and he chased away the sudden home sickness; he hadn't even left home yet.

"Iko! Ugh! I hate traffic!"

A pale young woman leaned back in her seat, her foot on the brake while the cars in front of her, yet again, stalled. She'd been trying to get back home from her teacher's workshop for the last hour but apparently a pile up had stalled things a bit. Her hands still rested on the steering wheel and she couldn't help but impatiently tap her forefinger on it.

The young woman was definitely of Asian descent, if her eyes and the shape of her face were anything to go by but a large amount of European or various western ethnicities had drowned it a bit. She sucked in a sharp breath and flipped a long, lavender lock over her petite shoulders while her blue eyes idly scanned the surrounding road for any type of break out. She growled as she saw none.

"Mo ii-yo!"

She slapped the steering wheel and leaned forward, pressing her forehead against the top of it. The woman sat there, staring down. Her eyes locked on a picture of a dark haired man with a sailor's cap on. He stared back at her with a small smile and warm brown eyes and, despite her agitation with the traffic conditions, she couldn't help but smile back at him. A hand drifted down from the top of the steering wheel before coming to rest in the center, on the picture. A delicate, pale finger stroked the pale features of the man before drawing away.

She sucked in a breath and sat up in time to see a boy weaving in and out of the stalled traffic. He looked young, no older than his teen years, and he had an awful lot of bags on him. She frowned and continued to hold her break as she shifted into park. She grasped her car door handle and pushed it open, stepping out onto the asphalt.

Her black boots clacked across the road as she moved between the cars. Her instincts told her this boy wasn't meant to be here; he was meant to be at home eating breakfast with family. She huffed and wrapped her coat tighter around her. She vaguely remembered a story on the news about missing children. One of them had been a boy but he had been presumed to have run away.

Perhaps he's that boy…

"Hey!"

She hurried passed the last cars and grabbed his arm. He turned a nasty glare on her, clearly irritated. She was unfazed, however, and simply frowned back at him. "What are you doing?"she said in her best sharp teacher voice. "Com'on."

She began to pull him through the cars back to her own parked car. "What would you have done if they started moving suddenly?"she asked, glancing back at him. "Where are your parents anyway?"

"It's none of your business," growled the boy but she ignored him. He was one of those types; the ones that caused trouble just for the attention. Well, he'd be damned if he got it from her. Instead she opened her passenger side door and nodded her head.

He stood there, staring blankly, and the woman rolled her eyes. "Get in the car," she said, her voice exasperated. She leaned forward and pushed him into the passenger seat. Quickly she shuffled around to the other side of the car and slid into the driver's seat. She was just in time to shift the gear back into drive as traffic crept forward.

"Ohh, thank goodness," she said pleasantly, a smile creeping up onto her face. "Traffic has been sitting here for hours… I'm Hikari by the way; what's your name?" Her soft blue eyes drifted to the boy's startlingly green ones.

The boy narrowed his own eyes toward the thirty something year old woman and answered tersely, "Caleb…" He shifted and gripped his bag tightly, looking out the window, missing how Hikari's smile transformed into a frown.

"You know, I'm giving you a ride," she said, mildly put out. "The least you could do was be a little polite about this whole ordeal. Where you heading, anyway?"

"Just to the next town. I didn't need a ride anyway!"

He flashed her an irritated look but it was mostly to mask the feeling of worry niggling in his gut. If she got really suspicious, she might call the cops and he'd be back at home with his mom and step dad again. He really didn't want that…

"If you don't need a ride, feel free to open the door and jump out," Hikari groused back. "I'm going seventy miles an hour though and I'm not slowing down 'til I get into the next town that you're so lucky to find I'm heading to."

Caleb's lip curled and his eyes hardened even more. He didn't grace her with a response though and simply twisted away from her, pointedly ignoring her. Hikari smirked and continued to drive, pleased at having won.

They were thirty minutes from town when Hikari decided to break the silence. The pair had fallen eerily silent for the majority of the ride, Caleb mostly given her the cold shoulder and Hikari unconcerned how he felt about her. She was a teacher and had been for a good fifteen; if she stopped to care about what every punk thought of her, she'd be a basket case by now. Instead, she let him mope. That would eat him up inside more than her making a big deal out of it.

But it had come time to sort out a few things, preferably before they got into the hustle and bustle of town.

"Where are you going to go?" she asked, glancing at him out of the corner of her blue eyes. She saw him shrug slightly and her bottom lip scrunched up into a thoughtful grimace. There were ideas in her head but she wasn't sure what good they were. The main one was offering to let Caleb stay with her.

The corner of her mouth twisted to one side and her eyes fell to half mast. The idea was far from appetizing. The kid was definitely a brat. And a brat was just child that would do anything to get any attention. However, if he did stay with her, she could attempt to get some kind of information about his parents out of him and, consequently, get this child back at home where he belonged.

Not only that, she thought a little selfishly, but his company would be a welcome relief… Ethan is gone so much it would be nice to just have someone to talk to.

She hated herself but she asked all the same.

"Why don't you stay with me?"

Silence rang in the path cut by her words and she glanced over after a few seconds to see what Caleb's reaction was. He, however, hadn't even looked toward her, eyes still gazing outside. She could see from here that his lips were thinned and the metaphorical cogs in that head of his were turning, picking at the pros and cons. Then they ground to a halt as he came to his decision, nodding.

"Okay… but only for a short time."

Hikari's home was simple and placed in a quiet suburb that seemed to be mostly inhabited by elderly couples or newly weds. Seeing a fellow kid or teenager was a rare treat, Caleb was noticing. Most of the houses he passed by were yards full of blooming, multicolored pansies and tulips and wooden panels of pale yellow or off white. The whole neighborhood could be called quaint.

The pair walked up the wooden steps of a large front porch, with Hikari leading the way. She pulled out a set of keys and unlocked the front door with ease. Shoving it open, she allowed Caleb to enter. "Make yourself at home," she said happily. "Ethan, my husband is away on work right now so it'll be just you and me."

She pulled off her coat and hung it on the rack before turning to take Caleb's and do the same. The boy's backpack was on the floor by the door along with his laptop case. Hikari nodded to them and then pointed toward a hall absently. "The spare bedroom is that way on the left,"she said. "Please take your things in there."

Feeling more cooperative than he had on the road, Caleb obliged and grabbed the bags up. He shuffled down the hall, leaving Hikari to do whatever she'd planned to do. Being in a new place had him feeling awkward and out of place. It wasn't as if the place was bad… it just wasn't home.

For example, the hallway he passed through wasn't littered with framed family photos. There weren't pictures of a little boy missing his two front teeth or a smiling mom and her new baby girl. There were no photos of a family during happier times and no pictures of a new man.

Instead, Hikari's wall had pictures of her in college, her bangs blue and her face flushed as a man with warm, honey brown eyes held her close and kissed her cheek. Pictures of students she'd taught over the years and had seen grow into successful adults. Pictures of the same warm, honey brown eyed man in a naval uniform and hat, saluting the camera. Even pictures of nieces and nephews from beloved brothers.

There were none of Hikari with kids of her own which left Caleb to ponder if she simply never wanted any of her own or never had time to… or if things were wrong somewhere in what appeared to be a perfect little life.

Caleb pulled his thoughts away from such depressing things and instead moved toward the room Hikari had mentioned. It was the only one on the left so her vague instructions made sense. Inside, was a simple guest bedroom, completely with the gaudy, flowery comfort set that all house wives seemed to save specifically for the guest rooms. The walls were painted a creamy color with white base boards and off gray carpet. Against the wall was a queen sized bed and opposite from it was a generic dresser.

A vanity took up much of the last wall, leading Caleb to believe that generally it was women who were Hikari's primary guests. Taking up a lot of the area above the vanity, a large mirror reflected back at Caleb. He could see himself in it and he paused to look himself over.

A lot had happened in just the spans of two days… but he didn't look any different. He was still a pale kid with spiky, messy brown hair and green eyes that were painfully similar to his father's. In the last day, he'd run away from home, stayed in a foreign part of town, met a strange person, and made it clear to the next town with the help of a complete stranger…

… and also been told that Claire and Kaoru's disappearances had been linked.

What was so special about them?

He chased the wayward thoughts away and moved toward the living room. It was already getting close to lunch and he could hear Hikari moving about in the kitchen and moved to check in on what she was doing. On her counter tops, she had already pulled out plates and there were slices of bread on them.

"What kind of jelly do you like on your PB&J's, Caleb?" she asked warmly, sliding a jar of peanut butter onto the counter and moving to the fridge.

"Uh... Strawberry."

"Oh~ That's my favorite too!"

Hikari sent him a wide grin and grabbed the jar of strawberry. "My husband prefers grape," she said. "But we keep a wide variety for the sake of change." She pulled out four slices of bread and spread them out on the bare counter. Two got a healthy smearing of peanut butter while their siblings got a treatment of strawberry jelly.

Hikari licked the back of the spoon she'd used for the jelly before dropping into into the sink. She passed him one of them and slid the other over to her, taking a healthy bite out of it. The duo ate in peaceable silence until they were each about half way through their sandwiches.

That was when the woman swallowed her bite and eyed Caleb with quiet interest. She placed the sandwich down on the counter and hummed. "So…" she finally said. "Why did you run away?"

Caleb tensed and his mouth thinned to a hard line. He turned his eyes on Hikari and thought back to the pictures of nieces and nephews but the lonely, childless pictures of Hikari and her husband. The bitter words were tumbling from Caleb's mouth before he could stop them, tasting like bile and bringing a whole knew meaning to the phrase diarrhea of the mouth. "Why don't you tell me why you don't have any kids of your own?" he spat and quickly wished he could take them back; he'd seen the hurt that his words caused flash through Hikari's eyes. The flavor of peanut butter and warm strawberry jelly suddenly had the flavor of wet ash.

An apology was on the tip of his tongue but Hikari interrupted him. "We tried to have kids," she said softly placing her sandwich down. Idly her finger flicked at a bit of crumbs left on the counter.

"We tried for several years after we'd got set up… they just… wouldn't come… I wanted kids… Ethan wanted kids… but I couldn't conceive…"

She shrugged a little. "I've contented myself with teaching now and keeping my nieces and nephews whenever possible," she said. Then her pale, blue eyed gaze zeroed in on Caleb. "And bringing in strays every now and again."

Her final words were sharp and they ended conversation for the rest of the meal. The two of them finished their sandwiches and went their separate ways, Hikari moving around the kitchen and cleaning up the nonexistent mess and Caleb looking over his already thoroughly examined room.

Despite the lunch incident, Hikari's company had been… nice to say the least. She was funny and warm and Caleb liked to be around her. Plus, she wasn't a bad cook. Almost better than his mom's.

And to think you were worrying about mom's cooking, he thought to himself later that night as they were settling down on the comfortable couch in the living room after dinner. After lunch earlier that day, things had progressed rather easily, starting with Hikari going around her house and watering the many potted plants around her house.

She seemed to take particular care with one that was purple and blue with thick green leaves and a lively look about it. The species of it was one that Caleb didn't recognize but Hikari fondly told him it was a Bow flower. He didn't think of it much and instead let her work while flipping idly through the TV channels. Pointedly, he avoided the news channels; while he was sure Hikari knew he was a run away, he didn't want her to know people were still looking for him.

After that, Hikari had coaxed Caleb into playing a few board games with her. She didn't have any of the new systems for them to play on and her older Wii system's games were mainly consisted of exercise and dance games. Hardly Caleb's style. The board game was fun though and Caleb found himself laughing more than he ever had.

Now, after a delectable dinner of hearty stew and warm bread, they were again on the couch watching TV in a comfortable, tired silence. Caleb found it odd how, in one day, he felt closer to Hikari than he'd ever felt to anyone in his family…

… well, at one time he felt this close to both his parents but… circumstances had distanced them. His lips thinned at the thoughts and he quickly derailed them, refusing to ruin this warm happiness he'd fallen into. He leaned against the arm rest and felt his eyes get heavy.

He felt a pop on his PJ clad thigh and he jerked up, looking toward Hikari's smiling face. "Get to bed soon, kiddo,"she said, before standing up and stretching. "I'm heading to bed though. 'Night." She passed him the remote and ruffled his hair before disappearing down the hall. Caleb watched her go before turning back to the TV screen.

His eye lids drooped, even as he changed the channel to Adult Swim. He sat in a dazed silence, watching the flicker of stoner cartoons before they were reduced to light past his eye lids. Quickly he was dozing off, sleeping through the way the TV screen suddenly turned to snow and the remote hanging so loosely from his hand had started to move…

Bow had been a wonderful mode of transportation even if Kaoru missed her usually chipper conversation; the whipping of air past her ears had pretty much drowned out anything the Aquilamon had to say, much to her chagrin. Her flying was superbly smooth, however, and her landing was just as good. She had brought them to land in front of tall building in the midst of an even larger city. All around Kaoru there was the bustle of Digimon denizens going about their daily lives in unadulterated bliss and ignorance. The building themselves stretched high into the mother board-like sky. In some ways, it made Kaoru homesick.

In her arms, Athanas squirmed before jumping down. A white light enveloped the Tsunomon and before her he became the Uni she once knew. He stretched and groaned before inclining a head toward Bow.

"Thank you," he said easily. "We appreciate the ride greatly; it definitely put us here on time."

Kaoru smiled and bowed, voicing her agreement and own thanks with an exuberant,"Hai! Arigatou! Merci beaucoup!"

Bow smiled, or came as close as possible with her orange beak, and returned Kaoru's bow with her wings spread wide. "You're both very welcome," she said graciously. "I wish I could stay and chat longer but my girls enjoy causing too much trouble for me to stay behind. Goodbye for now you two." Again, she flashed them another smile before giving her large wings a good hard flap. She soared into the air and quickly became a speck against the endless sky.

From the ground, Kaoru waved to her until she was sure Bow could see her no more. Then he attention shifted to Uni. "Are we going to inside?" she asked curiously, looking toward the building. The Black Gabumon inclined his head in assent before leading the way toward the large building.

"Uni~ Carry me! You didn't say there'd be stairs!"

Claire looked up from her Mark II. She had taken up a seat on the couch in the living room for the day, waiting until Karel rose from his slumber. What she hadn't expected was to hear a painfully familiar voiced just outside. Her heart jumped into her throat and she felt a dizziness hit her like a freight train.

"We're already here, you can walk the rest of the way."

Claire stumbled to her feet, nearly tripping over the coffee table in her haste. Her heart was vibrating somewhere between her stomach and her throat. It didn't stop the breathless, "Kaoru!" as she threw open her apartment door.

And there, standing in all her perfect, pink beauty, stood Kaoru. She felt light headed and dizzy as her eyes darted over that tanned face, those gorgeous mismatched eyes and that perfectly soft, curly auburn hair. Claire's eyes felt wet even as she lurched forward and dragged the girl, this wonderful girl, into a hug. She held her tightly and breathed in a smell she recognized only as Kaoru. The only thing missing was her usual sprinkle of Zephyr but even that didn't dash the bone crunching realization that this was her Kaoru in all her wonder and splendor.

Kaoru, meanwhile, had little time to really translate anything over yet. She stood stock still as tight strong arms wrapped around her and dragged her close to a body that, arms beguiling, was definitely feminine. And then thing sped up, moving in fast motion, and Kaoru was hugging Claire back. Fat tears watered her eyes and she sobbed out, "Claire! I missed you so much!"

Off to the side, Athanas watched on with confusion bristling in his magenta eyes before it coalesced into understanding; this must be Claire. He'd seen her file before he met Kaoru and vaguely remembered a part about them being friends. He kept his silence, allowing the two to have their moment, even as the world seemed to disappear around them.

Minutes passed but it didn't matter to the two best friends whom had just had the whole spans of dimensions and earths and planes of existence seemingly converge in on them and funnel down into a singular moment of utter rightness. Time was meaningless when they had each other. Perhaps that was what lead to the next events. Perhaps it was the shield cast up to hide from reality.

Whatever it was didn't matter.

As Claire slowly pulled away, her hand took Kaoru's face, wet from tears, and held her gently, carefully. She could be strong, she could be deadly… but she didn't need to be. Kaoru trembled, uncertain as to what was happening but didn't pull away. She trusted Claire more than anyone else. So when Claire's lips brushed her so subtly, so nervously, she eagerly pressed back, heart thundering somewhere in her skull and officially booting out her brain.

The flawless moment was shattered by the lazy voice that Claire had come to know.

"Well. I didn't know you swung that way, giraffe."

"Karel."

Claire jerked away, breathless and flushed in part from embarrassment but also from exhilaration. She stepped back, feeling awkward and clunky before turning to look at the, now, two Digimon that had invaded into hers and Kaoru's quiet moment. Kaoru, for the most part, was simply pink and fiddling with the tips of her fingers. She, however, was the first to speak up.

"U-um, Claire," she said moving over to Athanas's side. Her tanned hands landed on the Black Gabumon's shoulders and she steered him over. "This is Uni… er… Athanas. He's my partner… Uni, this is Claire."

The Gabumon kept the fact that he was fairly versed in Claire and who she was… and who, most importantly, her parents were. Instead he held his paw out to her. "It's nice to meet you, Claire," he said politely. "I see you got stuck with Karel… Sorry."

"Oi! Shut up," Karel growled, playfully, while Claire shook Athanas's hand. She felt utterly drained and numbed, still drifting back to that perfect, sweet moment between she and Kaoru. Where did that leave them now?

"I'ts nice to meet you… Uh… you two can come in here and sit for a while… If you like."

The three of the four were quickly seated in Claire's apartment. Karel had curled up in the squishy arm chair while Kaoru and Athanas has taken the couch. Claire emerged from the kitchen, carrying drinks for everyone. She passed Kaoru's to her first, knowing the girl's favorite without even asking(root beer with no ice but cooled in the fridge previously). Plus the pleasant way her heart fluttered when their finger tips brushed had her feeling a little bit dizzy.

She passed everyone else their drinks as well before settling on the couch on Kaoru's opposite side. The silence hung, mildly awkward for a moment, until Karel had finished drinking deeply from his saucer of milk. Having no apposable thumbs sucked ass, he realized…

"So… We're here… and man, we made good time," he said feeling pretty good. "Azulongmon's story isn't until tomorrow. The old bastard likes to arrive a day early so he can rest from his flutter down from heaven."

Athanas nodded, placing his drink down untouched. He wasn't extremely thirsty, not yet anyway, and he seemed more interested in the conversation at hand. His paws came on his lap and he shook his head at Karel's words.

"We aren't all here," he said. "There's still one more tamer on his or her way… Enid, remember?"

By the grimace on Karel's face, the two girls were left to assume that Enid was far from a likable character. All the same, Kaoru sat at more attention and edged forward. "There's going to be another human?" she asked tentatively.

"Who?" Claire said, breaking her vow of silence. She wanted to know who she'd have to share Kaoru's attention with…

"Dunno," Karel said with a shrug. "We'll just have to wait and find out."

Claire let out a huff of frustration before leaning back. Kaoru smiled a little before turning to her best friend-or were they more now…?

"For now, let me tell you about my adventures!"

Claire gave a small smile, prepared to say that sounded like a good idea when there was a loud knock at the door followed by a breathless voice, "Is he here yet!"

The voice was female sounded bubbly around the pants. It was with little suspicion that Claire approached the door, prepared to tell whoever it was that they had the wrong address. She never got the opportunity to do that either as something winged and greenish-blue flung itself through the door, all frantic excitement and nervous energy.

"Is my tamer here yet or did I miss him?"

Two Mark IIs flashed, reading off information on what appeared to be a baby dragon with a cream colored chest and belly and coarse green scales for the rest of her. Her bright read wings worked hard to keep her aloft, even though they seemed too small to really do so. In fact, now that she'd come to stand in Claire's living room, the trio would realize that it had only been the momentum of her jump keeping her a flight; her feet now were firmly planted on the ground while the red limbs flapped uselessly.

Species: Dracomon

Level: Child

Type: Dragon

Attribution: Data

Field: Dragon's Roar

While the two tamers in the room seemed to shocked to speak, Karel was well ahead of them, an ear flicked back. "Enid," he grunted out. "Your tamer hasn't arrived. Don't be stupid..." On the couch, Athanas rubbed his face, a headache growing.

Enid, the Dracomon, whirled around. "Eh? He's not! But-but! He's supposed to!" she yelped, not even phased by Karel's sharp remark on her intelligence. "He's supposed to be here... what..." Her eyes began to water and Kaoru was going toward the dejected dragon, dragging her into a hug.

"Aww! Don't cry, ne?" she said soothingly. "He'll be here soon, I'm sure!"

Both of Karel's ears were back as he said, "If he's lucky, he won't ever show up..."

Enid's reaction to his words instantly brought a loud sob from her scaly mouth, quickly followed by a hiccuped fireball. Kaoru yelped, backing up quickly from the sudden burst of flames while Enid continued to wail loudly.

"Karel!" she screeched. "You're so mean!"

Everyone in the room quickly covered their ears and the dragon's voice only grew in pitch, echoing around. Claire quickly moved around the room to Karel's chair and elbowed the top of his head. "Apologize, dammit! "she hissed, her eyes narrowed into a dangerous glare. Karel hissed right back, tail splayed and claws gripping the cloth of his chair.

However, he did turn his head and growl out, "I'm sorry! Shut. Up."

Thomas reclined in the booth at the tavern and nibbled at his fries idly. He and his partners had made it to the Digital World in record time, thanks in part to the excellent mapping skills of Min and Emer's skills of stealth; they'd managed to take the shortest route possible while still avoiding any dangerous encounters. Now they were sittin' back, eating a meal of greasy burgers and french fries. Or at least, everyone but Min who had opted for a spaghetti of some type; it looked like the noodles were made out of movie tape and the sauce from ones and zeros. He was enjoying it though.

In his lap, Berk shifted and Thomas slid a French fry down to him. Hungrily, puppy scarfed it up, wiggling happily where he was. The Plotmon had attacked himself permanently to Thomas's side apparently; he'd even taken to spunkily calling him boss. It was a good feeling for the human and he really enjoyed Berk's company; he made him feel welcome.

The other two hadn't been rude… simply untalkative. Min was especially quiet, always staring ahead with a blank look on his face. Then he would randomly garble out some mathematical equations that Emer would decipher. He was brilliant, really, able to calculate their latitude and longitude better than the DSL and even able to reconfigure said device to the correct setting. He could tell the time by the way the shadows moved and he could come up with the odds for them being attacked…

Thomas was extremely impressed with him.

Emer, her talents were subtler. Everything about her was subtler. She moved like a veil, like water did around a rock; it was beautiful and scary at the same time. She was but a whisper in their group, keeping to the trees and the shadows that Min read so well.

Really Berk was the only to not have shown a specialty in anything yet. But that was fine. His company was more than enough make up for his lack of specialty. He stroked the Plotmon's soft head again before humming.

"So what's on our agenda now, baby sitters, guards, and partners?"

The three Digimon focused on him, their six eyes startling different from his own pair. He took it in strides though grinning at them. "I mean… there has to be a reason we headed straight for the Digital World,"he said with a mild shrug. Another French fry disappeared into his mouth.

Min grabbed his napkin and delicately wiped his wide mouth before speaking; the perfect gentlemen. "You did pay attention to the phone calls, human?" he asked, his voice thick with an African accent. He reminded Thomas sharply of those sarcastic, snobbish scientists that studied the barbarian tribes. The human, again, took it in strides though and swallowed his food.

"I did but they never mentioned how these three other kids tied into me coming to the Digital City,"he said with a slight shrug. His orange eyes shifted to Emer who had coughed and looked out the window. Large, round paws suddenly propped themselves on the edge of the table.

"Well, as stuff and annoying and repetitive as those bastards can be, its no wonder you zoned them out at least once."

Berk grinned despite the now sharp looks his older companions were giving him. He continued, undaunted. "They wanted you try and stop them here," he said. "All three, foolishly, will be coming here to see Azulongmon's story, right? After that, we have stop them and be the heroes of the Digital World! Isn't that great, boss?"

Heroes, huh… I was never big into the hero business; being a hero is a thankless job…

"I see… "he said instead, not wanting to dampen Berk's blinding spirit. "So… I'm supposed to listen to this story too? I mean… Insomnia was just a human right? How bad could she have been?"

Min's mouth shrunk and again, Emer went to staring out the window, her own petite mouth curled into a thin line. Berk's mouth was a small frown and he looked up at Thomas with big green eyes. "Idiot boy," Min said softly, blue, blank eyes burrowing into Thomas's. "Insomnia warped the Digital world to the point it was unrecognizable as a world at all. She was a selfish child who forced herself into our home and twisted it into something grotesque. She-"

"-must never be allowed to happen again."

Emer's cool voice sliced through Min's monologue cleanly and she turned her own blue eyes to stare at Thomas. "We don't expect you to understand the full extent of the scars left in Insomnia's wake, Thomas," she said. "But we expect you to respect our world's history and the fact that there are those scars…"

Thomas was quiet a moment before nodding. "Of course. I'm sorry," he said softly, smiling apologetically. Berk was unusually quiet and Thomas reached down to scratch behind the pup's ears. "Perhaps it's a good thing we're here then,"he continued. "I need to pick up a history lesson… Is there a library around here?"

"Library? What! No, boss!"

"Hush, Berk."There was a ruffle of movement and Emer's tail was disappearing; her slim form was moving toward the door and after one last quick bite of his spaghetti, Min followed. Thomas took that to mean they were leading the way and he quickly tossed down some money. He followed after them, his arms around the small puppy Digimon. Berk seemed less than enthused but Thomas was somewhat interested.

When he had started getting anonymous phone calls from staticy voices on the phone, he'd just rolled with it. But they were pompous and arrogant and had an annoying way of talking complete and utter babble. The things they spoke could never be true. Digital Worlds and monsters from said worlds. Listening to those phone calls every day about the same time became an endless source of amusement.

And then they actually dragged him here. He'd only been here approximately a day and everything was blisteringly real. The world was real, the monsters were real, even the history was real… and it had been covered up so completely. How did that work? There had been hundreds of kids all over the world to go missing and it had to have been for days. How did something like that get covered up?

As they approached a large building with massive columns out front, Thomas had already made it his mission to find out. Azulongmon but be telling him tomorrow… but he wanted to be ahead of the game today.

Caleb was shaken awake by a jerking sensation at his arm. His green eyes opened just in time to see the remote get a firmer grip before he was dragged through the screen of the television. He was sent whirling through a vortex where he couldn't breath, feeling the whole of time and space compress in on his chest. He must have blacked out because the next thing he knew, he was spat out into a hard black floor.

He groaned and felt his head pulse with an aching pain. There was a fluttering sound somewhere in his ears and it took a moment to realize that it was just from the rush of arrival. There was a shadow cast over him and as he looked up it was with a startled yelp, his body already darting back to get away from the orange fuzzy creature. His retreat was stopped, however by a strong, familiar hand landing on his shoulder.

"Slow down, Caleb."

The boy's head jerked up a the sound of the voice and he was met with the familiar blue orbs and murky blackness of Zwitter's hood. He felt some ease come to him and he slowly pushed himself to wobbly feet and looked around. As far as he could tell, he was in some kind of console room…

"Zwitter, what's going on…?"

"Hmph, you didn't tell him?" griped the creature that had originally startled him. Caleb felt mildly mortified that he'd ever been afraid of it but his assessment was cut short by Zwitter's dry response.

"If you'll remember, Seph, I had very little time to really tell him much of anything. Some flying guinea pig didn't put me anywhere near the intended target at all…"

Seph's cheeks colored and he looked away. "Still!" he huffed soaring away and landing on one of the large control panels. "Now we're behind schedule even worse than before! I mean, it was bad enough when he decided to run away! But you didn't even tell him about the Digital World."

"Halt den Mund," she hissed sharply. "It won't take that long to catch him up. Besides, the girls can catch him up." The tall figure turned back to Caleb and the blue eyes softened. "I'm sorry, mein freund but we really don't have time to tell you everything… Seph will e-mail the details to you later but for now, just know that we're called Digimon and you have a partner waiting for you on earth."

Caleb frowned, not at all comfortable with being in the dark like this. He nodded, however, trusting Zwitter. While he couldn't see the expression, he could feel it, even as she lead him over to a circular pad on the floor. "We're going to send you down to the Digital World now,"she explained. "Luckily Seph has the bugs worked out this time…"

A/N: Chapter Ten in all its glory; not only is it the longest but it is also my best work. A lot of things are happening in this chapter, a lot of important things are coming together, such as the four children finally-finally- being in the same area. Thomas and his crew got a lot of development here and the nice thing about this chapter is that it includes every main character. :3 Anyway… this chapter comes in at 16 pages nicely. It, hopefully, makes up for the lack lust 8 and 9. With this chapter, I encourage anybody out there to please, please post your thoughts, you criticism, you honest opinion. I'd also like to see who the reader favorites are. Who is your favorite character, both human and Digimon? When I find out, I may right a short break chapter centering around them. Maybe even have them narrate it, I don't know.