I'm torn. I want to put more action in, but I also want to slow down and develop relationships more. At the same time I don't want to bore you all by slowing too much. We'll see how the balance goes.
A Second Chance
Chapter 11
Takeru's head was reeling. How was it possible he was signed up so quickly? Had his father already sent in the forums before he talked to his mom? Why was Mimi's father going to supervise him? So many questions ran through Takeru's head he almost forgot he was with Daisuke and Hikari, standing in front of the school.
"But you listen here," Daisuke held his hand up to Takeru, leaning in. "you're gonna be under my team, so you are gonna start following my rules. No backtalk. We may be a digimon specialty division, but we're still part of the army."
Takeru frowned. "We're going to be late for class, Daisuke. You might be able to get out of trouble with your credentials, but I'm not part of your group yet, and Hikari isn't a part of it at all. Let's at least discuss this later."
Daisuke's face twisted, but he nodded. "Yeah, you're right."
They walked to their class together, Daisuke walking alongside Hikari. Takeru trailed back, his mind still lost in thought. It seemed his choice on the matter was no longer an option. He sat through his classes on autopilot, taking down notes due to habit, and twice he didn't notice when the teachers changed and they were onto a different subject. By the time lunch came around, Takeru was exhausted mentally. He knew the talk with Daisuke was coming, and he was dreading it.
He still didn't particularly care for Daisuke. Despite mostly leaving Takeru alone when he deemed him harmless, the aggressive encounter when they first met still lingered in his mind. He felt himself stiffen whenever he got too close in proximity and dreaded anything involving the possibility of them doing anything together.
That would become more frequent now. He knew keeping the small grudge against Daisuke was unfair. Perhaps he was wrong about him. He had an attitude that didn't mesh well with Takeru, but he could still see Daisuke cared. Everything he did was high energy and emotive. He didn't do anything half way unless it came to something he really wasn't interested in. In a way, Takeru admired that. Still, his general attitude and egotism was something prominent, and he could only wish that it would subside after they started working together.
Thinking about this gave Takeru a bit of energy as Daisuke approached him. Takeru pulled out his lunch box. Daisuke pulled up a chair and straddled it. He rested his arms against the back of the chair and stared intently at Takeru. He raised his eyebrow at the brunet.
"What, are you expecting me to talk first?" Takeru asked, picking up his chopsticks.
"Something like that." Daisuke said. "I'm mostly curious why Mr. Tachikawa is so interested in you."
Takeru shrugged. "I don't know. I was only thinking about joining to be with my family. But I changed my mind. It can't be helped if my dad signed me up for it after all."
"That doesn't explain much." Daisuke grumbled.
"Maybe because I met him a few months ago." Takeru shrugged. "He recognized my name, probably. I did tell him who my dad and brother were. How am I supposed to know?"
"Well, even if Mr. Tachikawa is interested in you, that doesn't mean you're gonna be staying with my group. We're the top group." Daisuke said, sounding almost like he was boasting. "You're an athletic guy, but that won't completely saving you from training. Just a heads up."
Takeru wondered if it was his imagination that he detected a gleefully sinister undertone to his words. Still, it was a much better encounter than Takeru had been dreading all morning. After school, his father's car was parked out front, the man leaning against the driver door with his arms and legs crossed. Hesitantly, Takeru walked over.
"We're not going to waste much time." His father said, walking around and opening the passenger door for Takeru. "You can go in your uniform, they won't mind the first day."
Takeru slipped into the car, the sensation of being in a strange vehicle unnerving him more than going back to Shinbashi did, if only for the moment. They were mostly silent on the drive across the rainbow bridge, which didn't help matters in the least. Takeru looked out the car window, watching the buildings and people pass by.
"When did you sign me up?" He asked finally, his voice low and nearly inaudible.
"This morning." Hiroaki said, his voice gravelly, like he hadn't spoken much today. "I was also surprised how fast they sorted you. But it seems like someone took a shine to you."
"You mean Keisuke Tachikawa?" Takeru looked over at his dad, who merely nodded. "But why? Why is he so interested in me?"
"It's possible he saw something in you." He said. "He could also want to test out how fast you can recover from your traumatic experiences. Who knows."
They arrived at the building. Even though it was a while ago, Takeru still recognized it as the building he took a trip to and met Tachikawa in front of. He followed his father meekly into the building, hunching his shoulders. There was paperwork to be filled out, and a lot of small talk. Thankfully most of the social aspect was filled in by his father. Takeru didn't know if he was capable of feeling talkative right now.
It wasn't long before Keisuke himself appeared. "Ah, Mr. Ishida. Very nice to meet you in person at last."
"Mr. Tachikawa. It's a pleasure. This is my son, Takeru."
Keisuke looked down at Takeru, smiling and held out his hand. "Yes, we've met before. Do you remember?"
"I remember." Takeru said, hesitantly taking his hand and shaking it.
"Good, good." Keisuke said, a kind smile appearing on his face. "If it's alright with you, I'm excited to get started. Shall I show you around and introduce you to your new team?"
"Um," Takeru looked up at his father, silently pleading that perhaps there was more left to do.
"I think it would be more interesting than him sticking around here." He said. "What do you think?"
"Yes. Please, show me around." Takeru said, trying not to sound awkward. He followed Keisuke down the hallway.
"The facility here is big, but it shouldn't be that hard to find your way around. Many of the rooms you'll not have to bother with." Keisuke explained, as they walked swiftly into the middle of the building. "It will be in the training arena where you'll spend most of your time. There are bed rooms here, in case you want to rest, aren't feeling good or want to spend the night. Of course since you're a high school student I wouldn't expect you to be that dedicated to us just yet." He laughed.
Takeru gave a weak smile. "N-no, not yet."
"You know my daughter is only a few years older than you. Graduating this year."
"Oh?" Takeru tried to sound curious, already knowing a lot about Mimi personally.
"She's not all that interested in these kinds of things of course. You'll likely not see her around. Ah, here are the medical rooms. And just over here are the showers." They entered a large dome-like structure, with the hallway splitting into two, railings reaching past the chest and beyond was a large expanse three floors to the training arena below. Takeru stopped and stared, gripping the bars tightly.
"We have an extensive arena for all kinds of training, and can fit many people in here if need be. This place is sturdy, and can be an emergency shelter if the area is lost temporarily. However, I doubt it will come to that. The bottom floor contains most of the supplies you'll be using, as well as some digimon we've captured."
"You keep digimon in here?" Takeru asked.
"Yes, for experiments and training." Keisuke said. "They're heavily guarded, so there's no need to worry."
Did he say that because of what his father told him about Takeru's past? He turned to Keisuke. "Mr. Tachikawa... why did you- why choose me specifically?"
Keisuke scratched his head, and walked over to stand beside Takeru, leaning against the rail. "Well, partially because your father is a friend and respected member of the Eradication Program. It would also be beneficial to better study the effects of digimon trauma on youths to combat it. But also... I felt something in you, Takeru. There was a certain fire in your eyes; a determination. I felt you were perfect for our program. So when your father suggested you, I wanted you in."
"What exactly will I be doing here that will be so different from everyone else?" Takeru asked. He saw what must have been Daisuke and his group walk out of a room at the bottom, weapons in hand. Daisuke had a towel around his neck.
"You won't be doing anything all that different from your group. But the group as a whole will focus more on my experiments than others." Keisuke said. "The more I research the Digital World, the more I'm finding, and the more ideas I come up with to stopping digimon. Even though I see someone else is starting to research, it won't stop me."
Takeru turned to him. "Someone else?"
"Yes, recently there has been someone else who is looking at the general code to the Digital World. Though I don't know who they are or where. I can only hope they're on our side. But they must be incredibly intelligent to do all that. In truth, it was't until a few days ago that I discovered them."
Takeru bit his lip. He must have been talking about Koushiro's research. He wondered how Keisuke would handle being told that a teenage boy was discovering most of his research was flawed.
He left the rail and beckoned Takeru to follow. He obliged. "So, Takeru, would you be willing to tell me a little about yourself?" Keisuke asked. "Your thoughts and feelings on all of this, perhaps?"
"Well, it's a little overwhelming to be honest." Takeru said. "I never thought I'd actually end up here."
"You were visiting a few months ago, so I assumed you already had an interest."
"I did. Not very big. But I was at least thinking about it at one..." Takeru trailed off when he looked up at a pair of men in white lab coats passing by. One of them was Jou. Takeru stiffened when Jou stopped, and looked right at him. His heart began to race and he could feel his palms sweat. Jou had seen his true face only a couple of days ago after the fight with Shellmon. He was going to be called out.
Jou frowned, looking at Takeru and over at Keisuke. "Someone new?"
"Yes, he just joined us today." Keisuke said.
Jou turned back to Takeru. "Have you had a proper medical examination?"
"A proper wh-no. No. I haven't." Takeru stuttered, confused. Jou sighed bowing to Keisuke.
"I apologize, Keisuke. But all new recruits should have a physical before officially joining. I thought you knew this. If you would be gracious enough to excuse my intrusion I'm going to steal your recruit for a little while."
"Ah, pardon me, Mr. Kido. In my enthusiasm, I must have let proper protocol slip my mind. It's very unlike me." He let Jou take Takeru by the arm and lead him with purpose back to the medical wing. Takeru followed, unsure what was happening.
Jou opened the door to an empty room and pulled Takeru in, locking the door behind them. He backed away from the older man, still feeling stiff.
"Well, I didn't think someone like you would ever show up here, and in broad daylight next to Keisuke Tachikawa of all people." Jou said. He turned around. "You seem to be in a complicated mess."
"You could say that." Takeru said. He sat when Jou gestured for Takeru to sit down. "My father recruited me all on his own. Now despite everything, here I am. I didn't expect to see you here. I thought you were going to call me out."
"I wouldn't do such a thing." Jou said, starting his examinations. "You were worried for your friends, and if it hadn't been for Gomamon, I would never have known you were a part of that group. It's not my place to say what you feel or believe in."
"Do you... still visit Gomamon?" Takeru asked hesitantly. "Is he doing alright?"
"I haven't had the time. Though if I am to be honest, I am not sure if I would. He saved my life, and I'm grateful for that. But he's still a digimon. My feelings are still mixed whenever I think about my stance. My feelings of being able to help people is my main concern."
Takeru nodded, and silently performed what Jou needed to. He was glad that he didn't call Takeru out as a traitor, or tell the military where to find Gomamon after they left.
"Tell me..." Jou said, sitting back down on the table and writing something down. "What's it like being in your group?"
"Uh, well we're small." Takeru said. "There's only about four of us, really. Humans, that is. There's quite a few digimon that are in our group, though they stay in the Digital World."
"The Digital World? You go there frequently?"
"Yes."
Jou was silent for a moment, and even stopped writing. "I would have thought it would be too toxic to go there regularly. But from this basic examination you seem fine. Your lung capacity is above average."
"The Digital World isn't toxic." Takeru said. "It has air, just like our world. It is in a bad state though. We mostly try and make the Digital World a better place for the digimon to live."
"I wonder how their world got like that. Mr. Tachikawa's research team brought back photos of a desolate world. They couldn't stay very long without breathing masks."
"I can assure you, Jou, you don't need breathing masks. You could even come see for yourself."
"You had invited me before." Jou nodded. "Somewhere near Shibuya, correct?"
"Yeah. If you tell me a day, I'll meet you."
"I'm off in three days. I'll come meet you in the morning. Ah- well, maybe I should wait until after you're done with school. Unless you tell the other two."
"I could. But I'm not sure if I'll be able to see them much now." Takeru said. Jou shrugged.
"I can wait for the afternoon. It would be a good idea for me to get groceries and other chores anyway. I've been busy myself lately." He gestured for Takeru to stand. "Well, you look like you're in good health. You can go back to Keisuke now. Tell him I'm sorry again for making him wait."
Takeru thanked Jou and walked out, walking back to where they left Keisuke. However, he was gone. A note was left where they last stood, taped onto the railway. He needed to do important work and apologized for leaving before Takeru returned. But he told Takeru to feel free to wander. Takeru sighed, pocketing the note just in case he'd potentially get in trouble.
He supposed he could get a good layout of the building. It could be useful. Likely Keisuke kept a store of his inventions in here. He wandered around the ring of the arena and branched out. It was a circular building with the middle being the massive arena. But everything in between the arena and the outer wall seemed to be a maze. Most of the rooms seemed to be offices or living quarters with a few medical rooms in between. Once or twice Takeru stumbled on a kitchen or recreation room. He supposed the latter was for breaks or if an employee chose to mostly live in the building. It could also be an extra living space, or entertainment if the building needed to house civilians.
The second floor seemed to be more for research purposes. He found a couple store rooms containing rows upon rows of shelves fitted with various boxes and other things. There seemed to be a few computer labs, both for more general work and for what looked to be specific digimon research. One door opened to a dark room with red lights. He poked his head in, hoping no one would yell at him. No one seemed to be in the room, other than a lone woman.
She was standing next to a cage, which was producing most of the light in the room. She was bent down at the knee, clipboard in hand. She seemed to be muttering to herself. Upon closer inspection, Takeru could see a pink bird-like digimon in the containment field. He craned his neck, and accidentally opened the door wider. It creaked loudly, causing the woman to stand up abruptly and whirl around.
"Who are you?" She demanded. She looked up and down at Takeru, her eyes narrowing. "This place is off limits to Juniors like you. Where is your uniform?"
"I just started today." Takeru said, stepping fully into the room. He held his hands up, letting the door close with a bang behind him. "Keisuke Tachikawa gave me a note saying I was allowed to explore. He didn't say anything about restricted areas. I'm sorry."
The woman glared at him suspiciously. Takeru dug in his back pocket for the note and held it up. She gestured for him to come closer. He carefully made his way down the steel grate steps and cautiously walked over to her. He couldn't help but stare at the pink digimon.
The woman inspected the paper. "Well, Takeru Takaishi, this is definitely Tachikawa's handwriting."
She put the paper down on a table and put her hands on her hips. Takeru was bent down looking at the Biyomon. It stared at him, feathers slightly ruffled with indignance, as though to say 'how dare you look at me'. He smiled.
"That's a specimen we're using for non-lethal experiments." The woman said. "Our team for this room isn't very large, so usually it's just me down here after peak hours. My name is Sora Takenouchi, by the way."
"Oh, sorry." Takeru gave her a small bow. "It's nice to meet you."
Sora sighed, shaking her head. "Well, I suppose if Tachikawa allows you in here, you can look around. But don't touch anything. That was the digimon we caught a few months ago in Odaiba."
"I was there." Takeru said, bending down and staring at the bird. "I watched the whole thing."
"Did you?" Sora placed her notes on the table beside Takeru's paper and walked back to him. "So you live in Odaiba?"
"I moved there recently to be closer to my brother and father. They work in the military. Dad is stationed at one of the Odaiba camps. I think my brother is stationed in Ariake."
"So your family is separated." Sora said. "I'm sorry to hear that."
Takeru glanced over at Sora. "Were you... talking to Biyomon earlier?"
Sora stiffened, her back straightening. "It can get maddening in here. I talk at it to help with the solitude."
"Does... does it talk back?" He waited tentatively for the answer. He watched Sora's expression carefully. She stared at Biyomon, who had turned it's attention toward Sora after she came over, and rarely took its eyes off her since. Around Sora, Takeru was invisible to it.
"...Sometimes." Sora said finally. "I didn't think digimon could talk, or would talk to us. But I guess confiding in it... I don't know."
She turned away, and walked back over to the table, sitting in the chair. Her eyes stared at the Biyomon with heavy lids. Under the strange light, it didn't look like she was sleeping well. She looked like she had something on her mind. Takeru didn't think it was his place to pry.
"I'll go now." Takeru said. "It was nice meeting you."
He took his paper and made his way toward the grated steps. "Wait." Takeru turned around. "I would appreciate it if you didn't... mention any of this to anyone. About talking to-around Biyomon. Some people might get the wrong impression."
Takeru gave her a smile. "Don't worry. There's nothing wrong with talking. I won't say anything."
He left Sora with a smile on her face, and continued his exploration, tucking his note back in his pocket. Eventually he made it to the last floor. Many of the doors were locked here, and Takeru suspected this was because of the weapons technology. The kitchen was larger on this floor, as was the rec room. They were also significantly messier. He was sure he saw Daisuke's jacket on one of the chairs.
"Who let you wander on your own?" Takeru jumped, whirling around to see Daisuke with three boys behind him. Two of them Takeru saw before when they were fighting Bitmon. He put a hand to his chest.
"You scared me."
"If something like that scares you, you're going to have a hard time here." Daisuke said. He walked over to his jacket, pulling it off the chair.
"So you're the new recruit." The boy with the neatly cropped hair said. He inspected Takeru. "I must say I do agree with Daisuke that you don't look army material. Then again, neither did I. My name's Ken Ichijouji. This over here is Iori Hida."
"Hello." Iori said.
"Hello." Takeru said. "Um, forgive me but... aren't you a little young to be in the military?"
"I'm unofficially a member." Iori said. "I help out with things while my mother works."
"I see." Takeru looked to the last member, the only one he had never seen before. "And you are?"
"I'm Aoi Minemura." He said. Aoi had short cropped black hair, and was easily the most well muscled out of all of them. He hung back from the rest of them. "I go to Ken's school."
"So, Tachikawa wanted you and then left? I wouldn't think he'd just leave you to wander around." Daisuke said. "I would have thought you'd at least come greet your new teammates. Rather rude of you."
Takeru frowned. "It took me a while to find the stairs. Besides, there's nothing wrong with learning the layout of this place."
"I suppose not. So, you up for a spar?" Daisuke glanced at the two older friends, smirking. They smirked back.
"Spar?" Takeru frowned. "You mean fight? Here?"
"In the arena, dummy." Daisuke rolled his eyes. "I wanna see how you far in battle."
"I'll go get Kairi, Minami and Satoru." Aoi said, disappearing out into the hallway.
"Is it just me or is he taking some sadistic pleasure at the idea of this?" Takeru murmured under his breath.
He wasn't even sure he wanted to spar with Daisuke. He had no training. He didn't know how to fight. It became clearer to him as they approached the arena they might be setting him up in some kind of trap. Hazing? No matter. Takeru wouldn't easily let Daisuke get the best of him.
They walked out into the arena and already Takeru's body was pumping with adrenaline. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Aoi with another boy and two girls. They were on the sidelines, soon joined by Iori and Ken. He turned his attention fully to Daisuke, who once again took his jacket off.
"We'll go with just our fists. Then if you're still conscious we'll see how well you are with a weapon." His voice was dripping with superiority. The hair on Takeru's neck stood up.
He was going to go at him for real. He tried to keep his fidgety body from shaking. If they didn't start moving soon, his body might move on it's own. Daisuke on the other hand seemed to be enjoying how nervous Takeru was.
Daisuke jumped at him and Takeru dodged. Daisuke swung his arm, barely missing Takeru's head. He ducked, balling his fist and aiming for Daisuke's chest. He caught Takeru's fist, pushing it to the side and held on to keep him from escaping. Takeru felt a powerful blow to his chest as Daisuke kicked him right in the chest. The force of the blow sent him back, stretching his arm at the shoulder joint. Daisuke wrapped his other arm around Takeru's neck, restricting his air.
Takeru cried out, and dropped to his knees. Daisuke let go of his neck and arm, which he held, rubbing tenderly. He glared at Daisuke.
"Is that all you've got? I thought you'd be stronger than that." Daisuke taunted. With a growl, Takeru leaped at Daisuke, tackling him to the ground. He managed to land two punches to the face before Daisuke threw him off. Takeru landed roughly on the ground, barely missing landing directly on his sore shoulder.
"Don't rough him up too badly, Daisuke!" One of the girls called. "We still need to break him in!"
Daisuke recovered faster and ran at Takeru, who was scrambling to get into a defensive position. He grabbed Takeru by the scruff of the shirt, throwing him back onto the ground. Takeru got up, running at Daisuke. He got behind Takeru, grabbing him around the neck again, and forced his arm painfully behind his back. He let go, and Takeru whirled around, attempting to punch at Daisuke again. He dodged, pushing Takeru's hand down and swung his hand, landing the hit on Takeru's throat.
He sank to the floor, coughing and held his throat. Daisuke towered over Takeru, a smug smirk on his lips. "I am breaking him in, Kairi."
"You're such a showoff." Takeru choked through strained breaths. Daisuke shrugged.
"Maybe, but at least I know when I'm gonna shine." He bent over to help Takeru up. He struggled out of Daisuke's grasp. "Whoa, whoa, feisty. I'm calling the match. I might have hit you a bit too hard. Don't want to injure you for real, y'know."
"I can stand on my own." Takeru growled. "You didn't hurt me that bad."
"No, but I could've."
"Just what is your pr-oughblem?" Takeru tried to yell at Daisuke, only to find himself in another small coughing fit when trying to raise his voice. "I've never fought before. You-"
"I'm breaking you in." Daisuke said. "Testing to see what you've got already. You have stamina, and you're stubborn. I'll give you that, but I know just how little skill you have and what you have to work on. I'm not going to deny it, I thoroughly enjoyed kicking your butt. What, you think that just because you're Keisuke's favourite we're going to go easy on you? You think the digimon will go easy on you? You have to train like the rest of us and it's going to be hard."
Daisuke walked away, leaving Ken and the two girls with Takeru. The rest them followed Daisuke back to the rec room.
"He is right, Takeru." Ken said, giving him an apologetic smile. "I don't exactly know why he's being as cocky as he is, but it was a good idea for us to test how much we have to teach you, and your skill picking stuff up."
"Yeah? Some teacher he didn't even tell me how well I did."
"I think you did well." The short haired brunette said. "Daisuke's one of the best though, so you really didn't stand a chance."
"Wow, thanks." Takeru said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
"I'm being serious, though. Once you learn the basics, I'm sure you'll pick it up quickly. Do you need a drink?"
"Y-Yeah. Thanks."
"I'm Kairi Mogami, by the way."
"And I'm Minami Endo." The other girl, who had shoulder length black hair said.
They entered the kitchen to get water. Takeru sat down, leaning back against the chair. From the room next door, he heard Daisuke yelling.
"ABSOLUTELY NOT!" He screamed. "He's just a trainee, and that's experimental technology you're talking about! You'll kill him!"
"Calm down!" Aoi's voice said, sounding annoyed. "If we train him up a bit first he won't be that much of a rookie. Come on, Daisuke. Where's your sense of fun?"
Thanking Kairi for the glass of water, Takeru gulped it down and walked over to the rec room. The four boys looked over at Takeru when he entered. Curious to what the commotion was, the rest of their group followed.
"What's going on?" Ken asked. Daisuke folded his arms across his chest, glaring at Aoi. Aoi was leaning against a couch, his arms also folded. He rolled his eyes and let out a loud, exasperated sigh.
"This idiot thinks it's a bright idea to make Takeru go up against a Champion for his official initiation."
"What? No!" Minami cried. "How could you think that's a good idea? Satoru!"
"What?" Satoru asked. "I think it's fair, Minami."
"What? That's crazy, Aoi. We don't even deal with Champions." Ken scolded.
"Yeah, but if we use Keisuke's new weapons it shouldn't be too hard." Aoi said. "We all have to learn how to use them eventually anyway. Why not use it as an opportunity to have Takeru show us what he's capable of?"
"I'll do it." Takeru said. "But I want to be trained properly first. Don't just send me in like you did with that fight out there."
"Of course not." Daisuke huffed. "Fine. But you have to be on standby in case something goes wrong. And you," He walked over to Takeru. "I want you properly trained. I want you nearly as good as me. I don't want you dead under my watch."
"Yes, sir." Takeru made a mock salute. Daisuke slapped his hand away.
"Stop that, I'm serious."
"So am I. If you're going to train me, we need to at least get along a little better."
Daisuke's expression softened. "Good."
