I've been neglecting this story for some time because I lost motivation. It wasn't writer's block, I knew exactly what to write, I just felt too unmotivated to do anything really. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter because I put half my heart and soul into it (Until the second half, at least). I don't know what's gotten into me. Leave a review… And Happy Holidays!
-X-
October 31: DigiQuartz Hikarigaoka Cemetery – 9:30 PM
"Tsuwamon! MirageGaogamon! Digi-Xros!" Yuu shouted, raising his X-Loader.
There was golden burst of light as the ninja Digimon and the wolf Digimon fused together. There wasn't much of a change in Tsuwamon's appearance but there was a bursting blue energy surrounding him. He also carried two massive lunar scythes with morning stars chained to the ends of both. His clothing became harder, much more metallic, a suitable armor for combat. And the most prevalent change was his size, he seemed to take on his counterpart's massive frame in this form.
"Xros-Up! Tsuwamon Burst Mode!"
"Tsuwamon Burst Mode?" SkullBaluchimon roared.
"Tsuwamon Burst Mode?" a large majority of the Chosen Children repeated.
"Tsuwamon… Burst Mode…," Marcus whispered.
"I can feel a vast amount of power emanating from this new Digimon," Yuu breathed.
"That's because we combined two of the strongest combatants on this field," Thomas told him. "Gaomon wasn't always with me, not for five years now. But when we first met, we succeeded in countless missions, he's my irreplaceable partner. We've fought Digimon for years, so if you young Hunters believe that you have us beat in terms of experience, you're sorely mistaken." Thomas then pointed a finger to SkullBaluchimon. "And if you believe that it's impossible for us to defeat you, then you're the most incorrect one here!"
Marcus noticed it. Out of the corner of Thomas's eye, he was being watched. Because he was wrong too. The Demon Lords can still be defeated because together… "Nothing is impossible" Marcus and Thomas said in perfect unison.
"Not for us anyway," Yoshino shrugged.
"Then let's prove it to him," Thomas chuckled. "Let's do this Tsuwamon!"
Yuu nodded. "Let's give him a taste of our new power!"
Tsuwamon used his newfound God-like speed to quickly vanish and reappear in front of SkullBaluchimon, swinging his massive sickles but SkullBaluchimon was still swift enough to block them with his solid bony claws.
It seemed to be a fight with bony arms against glowing sickles and neither Digimon seemed to be budging in their efforts to defeat the other. The bystanders could all feel the sheer power with every clash of their attacks, sending shockwaves through the air.
"Even with this much more power, we still can't beat him?" Mimi gaped.
"It's because Tsuwamon doesn't have the capacity to take that much power in him," Armadillomon said.
Cody glanced at his partner, as did everyone else while the fierce battle continued in the background. Thomas and Yuu were the only ones keeping their eyes on the match but they kept their ears tuned into the other DigiDestined behind them.
"What do you mean?" Cody asked.
"I feel it as a type of energy whenever I'm merged with Angemon," Armadillomon explained. "The two of us have to keep our power levels in check because if one is far more powerful than the other, there will be an imbalance and we won't have as much control over our form as Shakkoumon. But I can see that in this fusion, Tsuwamon is the base, so he needs a lot of power in order to maintain his form but MirageGaogamon is far too powerful for him to keep under wraps like that."
"But in a Digi-Xros, we usually just need two consenting Digimon," Airu pointed out. "There's nothing about power involved there. Right?"
Ren shrugged. "I don't know much about how Digi-Xros works, I just know they do. But Armadillomon may have a point. Just look! Tsuwamon seems to be flickering on parts of his body."
"No, Airu is right, that isn't how a Digi-Xros works," Opossumon argued. "But it's not that it works with consenting Digimon either. Tsuwamon and MirageGaogamon can mesh perfectly well together because they both have the same mindset and the same amount of heart put into this battle. However, there is another force that Tsuwamon cannot control."
"The Burst Mode," Sampson concluded. "It makes sense. After all, without a complete understanding of the Digi-Soul, you will access a very different part of the Burst Mode, otherwise known as Ruin Mode." Marcus flinched upon hearing those two words. "Tsuwamon is somewhat able to control it thanks to MirageGaogamon's experience but my guess is that their form won't be able to hold for much longer."
"That's too bad," Airu muttered. "I was hoping to Xros Cho-Hakkaimon and Rosemon. She's so beautiful and graceful!"
"Thank you for the compliment but this is neither the time nor the place for it," Rosemon replied.
"But if it can hold for a few moments, it should be enough to defeat SkullBaluchimon!" said Yoshino.
"Opossumon is much too weak for another Xros right now, let alone a Super Digivolution," Ren reminded them.
"Tsuwamon!" Thomas and Yuu shouted together as their unified partner crashed into the dirt in front of them.
"They couldn't hold their form for any longer," Izzy grimaced. "As soon as they split, SkullBaluchimon smashed the two of them into the ground."
SkullBaluchimon laughed hideously as he eyed the nervous Chosen Children and their Digimon. The latter was still not yet ready to stand down to this foe just yet. "I already told you that you cannot defeat me. Although I will admit that your little Digi-Xros made me a little nervous for a second. But it was only for a second. But now that I've defeated those two, I should get rid of the rest of you."
"This guy is strong and it's not good, not good at all," Damemon groaned as Yuu lifted him into his lap.
"I'm sorry sir, we tried our hardest but it would appear that it just wasn't enough," Gaomon moaned as Thomas helped him up.
SkullBaluchimon seemed to have grown even larger in their fearful eyes as he drifted towards them at a kilometer an hour. He was obviously trying to create tension in them and it was like a test to see if they would run away from him. They all felt like they should make some tactical retreat from this skeletal beast but where would they go? He would only follow them and try to destroy them there. How could they defeat him?
ShineGreymon, Rosemon, and Arresterdramon stood firmly in front of the humans but none of them made a move to attack. But staring at their backs, a sudden thought struck Marcus as he looked between the two dragon Digimon.
"Wait," Marcus said as he looked to his partner. "What about a Digimon with some experience with the Ruin Mode?" He directed his next question to the commander of DATS. "Would they have better control over it? Or at least maintain that form for a little longer?"
"You would still need a stronger base though," said Yuu.
Tagiru grinned and grasped onto his X-Loader a little tighter. "Then leave it to Arresterdramon and me!" He turned to his fellow DigiDestined leader. "Marcus! Do you think you're willing to let our partners combine their powers together?"
Marcus gave a firm nod. "Go for it."
"Right, first!" Tagiru raised his digivice and brought his partner into Superior Mode. "Arresterdramon Superior Mode! ShineGreymon Burst Mode! Digi-Xros!"
Arresterdramon and ShineGreymon became one entity as their data merged together. The former was still the base so they still retained his color scheme but his wings became vibrant, flaming crimson. His tail was enveloped in the same hot energy and he held the blazing sword and shield in each of his hands. But the Xros was taking a long time, much too long.
"Do you really think I'll let you go through with that again?" SkullBaluchimon growled as he launched a large ball of black energy at them.
Rosemon got in the way of the attack. "Not if I have any say in it! Jewel of Heart!" She launched her counterattack but it only succeeded in slowing down the black blast. It connected with Rosemon who took the rest of the blow.
"Lalamon!" Yoshino gasped as her partner dropped from the air. "You did a great job."
"It's up to you now," Marcus breathed when the Digi-Xros was completed. "Arresterdramon Superior Burst Mode…"
October 31: Unknown Area – 9:30 PM
"Tch," Kurosaki grimaced as he stared at his computer screen. "Still not enough?" He bit his thumbnail as he watched a number gradually increasing on his screen but it just seemed to be a number; that was all. "Maybe I should increase the production rate. They won't be as powerful but there will at least be more."
"You're a busy man now aren't you?" a voice asked from behind him.
"After the embarrassment my own students put me through, I just want to have them destroyed as soon as possible," Kurosaki replied without turning around in his seat. Not that he would've seen the owner of this voice anyway. The speaker was hidden in the shadows.
"I thought you wanted to toy with them?" the voice smirked.
"Don't pester me!" the former high school teacher snapped. "I know what I said but things have changed. I realized that you were right about them. They're much stronger than we thought they were so we should destroy them as soon as possible."
The figure actually stepped out of the shadows but it was hard to tell who it was as he wore a large, dark purple cloak. He was even wearing sunglasses to hide his eyes despite how dark the room was. He leaned forward on the computer desk and stared at the screen. Reflected upon his shades was the number 42,364,094.
"And you want to make certain that not a single one is left," the cloaked male sighed. "You do realize how many that would take right?"
"I know that!" Kurosaki grumbled. "I'm hoping to increase their numbers by fifty percent. He began typing some codes into his computer and suddenly, the numbers started to increase a lot faster. A smug smile appeared on the man's face. "That should do it."
"When are you going to set this plan into motion?"
"November twenty-eighth should be an appropriate date."
"Seems almost random if you ask me but I won't question it."
"I thought you wanted them for yourself as a gift for Christmas."
The cloaked man got up and walked back into the shadows, and without turning around, addressed Kurosaki. "Masamune, you don't seem to understand my intentions at all. By Christmas was when the firewall was estimated to have been brought down. That is the approximate time when the Demon Lords will finally be able to fit through the gaping holes. However, I would like it if those pesky children were eliminated as soon as possible, just like you. I don't care what the methods are, so long as it's done."
Kurosaki stared at the back of his boss for a while before looking back at the screen. "Alright then, I'll take that as my permission to do this."
"You're the teacher and I'm significantly younger than you," the other male chuckled. "I didn't think you'd need my permission."
"I quit teaching and you're the one who enlisted my help," Kurosaki smirked in response. "So don't get smart with me and I won't get smart with you."
"Too late for that now, don't you think?"
"Yes, I do think so."
The cloaked figured was about to take his leave when another thought occurred to him. "One more thing, be sure to keep Experiment D-1 alive. I will give you the freedom to do what you will but please follow that one basic order next time."
"I had forgotten in my fury," Kurosaki scoffed. "I'll remember."
"Good. See to it that you do."
October 31: DigiQuartz Hikarigaoka Cemetery – 9:35 PM
Arresterdramon flew straight for SkullBaluchimon and grabbing onto his skull, attempted to push him back. The dragon Digimon clashed his flaming weapon at the monster's forearms but they did nothing but heat them up.
"He still looks like he's having a hard time controlling that form!" Sora huffed.
"A better time than Tsuwamon did though," Tommy pointed out.
Arresterdramon used his tail to wrap around SkullBaluchimon's claw and was able to lift him into the sky. The dragon was strong enough to bring him several kilometers into the air before dropping him. "Mach Burst Flicker!" While bending both of his arms, he sent down high-speed flaming punches at SkullBaluchimon, sending the skeleton rocketing to the graves at seven times the rate he was going before.
A heavy crash and tremors left the DigiDestined in a shaky state but they all gave small cheers at seeing their foe fallen even for a moment. It was certainly better than how things were going before, when they were being pummeled to bloody pulps.
"You insolent lizard!" SkullBaluchimon snarled.
"Shining Shredder!" Arresterdramon continued his onslaught of attacks no matter how tired it would make him. He began rotating at mach speed, allowing his tail anchor to crash into his opponent's skull several times over.
"Enough!" SkullBaluchimon barked. "Grave Bone!" He charged forward just as Arresterdramon prepared one last attack.
"Final Burst: Prism Gallet!"
Arresterdramon became countless revolutions of golden light, passing right through his foe who continued his charge and cleaving him apart. The two fighters paused there, facing away from each other before SkullBaluchimon burst into thousands of data particles, leaving behind a fractal code as well.
Tommy was the only Warrior there so he purified the data. After that, the data reassembled itself into Tagiru's X-Loader.
Tommy stared at the screen on his D-Tector. "Guys! Look at this!"
Everyone crowded around the twelve year-old but they all realized that it would be impossible so only a few were close enough to see the screen.
"Barbamon!" Marcus gritted his teeth when he saw the elderly Digimon's face on the little screen.
"This is the corrupted data I took from SkullBaluchimon," the Warrior told them.
"Marcus… There's still a lot of explaining you need to do concerning the Demon Lords," Sampson reminded his subordinate.
Marcus glanced back at his chief. "How much time do we have?"
November 5: Yagami High Class 1-B – 8:02 AM
They had all received a strange explanation over what was happening as of recently. There has been a war going on in the Digital World for the last few months and the Demon Lords are the ones behind it. The Hunters were the newest addition and it just added more worries since they were able to piece together the fact that it meant more enemies to face in the near future.
The most shocking news was the revelation that Kurosaki-sensei was on the enemies' side and that they were all being spied on the entire time from the DigiQuartz. The Hunters had gone to take them all down but noticed that there were Kuramon spying on them as well. Unfortunately, one of them wouldn't be destroyed and it just ended up clinging to Ryouma who decided to take him in temporarily until they could return the Digimon back to their world.
At the Welcome Festival on Halloween night, Nene made a surprise announcement that she was going to be attending their school starting on this day to continue her education. Nearly the whole school erupted in cheers and some of the diehard fans were practically in tears. Henry, Ken, and Kouichi were all dubbed the co-First-Year Princes but of course, that announcement was left largely ignored after the revelation that an idol was going to be attending their humble educational institution.
Currently, in room 1-B, everyone was trying to get to know Nene and they felt very jealous of those sitting next to her. Rika was able to scare them off since she was one of the people sitting by her. Zoey later joined them so that they could all get to know each other better.
"Nene-san!" someone shouted angrily as he shot into the room.
"Oh, Zenjirou-kun," Nene smiled before she acknowledged his tone. "What's wrong? Are you not happy to see me?"
"It's not that!" he shook his head. "I'm always happy to see you." He then pulled up a laptop and opened it up; it was on a celebrity gossip site. On screen was a photo of Nene and a blond boy together in front of an American mall in New York. In big bold letters, it said that this was Nene and her new boyfriend, the head of the Aonuma group. "But I am upset about this! Please explain what is going on here!"
Nene blinked as she stared at the screen and then looked back up at Zenjirou. "I was just in America for my international tour and Kiriha just happened to drop by so we decided to hang out together. The paparazzi must've taken that photo of us and claimed that we were dating."
"You're being annoying as usual, you know," Akari sighed as she closed the laptop.
"But everyone is talking about it!" Zenjirou shouted, still moody. "I just know it! Kiriha wants to take you and leave you impure! I can't allow someone like that to take away your purity, Nene-san!"
"Geez, you're as annoying as ever," a familiar voice grumbled as he stepped into the classroom.
Zenjirou froze up as he slowly turned to the owner of the voice. "Ki… Kiriha! What are you doing here?"
"Me?" the blond said back calmly as he took an empty seat. Zenjirou fumed when he noticed how many of the girls in the class had suddenly directed their attention to him. "I'm attending Yagami High School starting today."
"What?!"
"You're going to be going to school here?" Nene blinked.
As soon as those words were out, Kiriha was surrounded by girls but just like what happened with a certain someone on the first day of school, he was able to scare them off with an icy, blizzard inducing glare.
"Why does he remind me of someone?" Zoey sighed.
"What?" Kouji blinked when his teammate stared at him.
"They're going to get along just fine," Jeri giggled.
November 5: Yagami High Class 1-A – 8:03 AM
"Why did he want to kill me?" Henry murmured to himself.
He just couldn't understand why his former teacher would want him murdered. If he was a danger to the DigiDestined and Kurosaki was the enemy, then why would Henry need to be eliminated? What troubled him most was the fact that he was claimed to be a danger to his own friends in the first place.
Henry could feel his mind running backwards back to a day that he could never bury deep enough to forget about. It was the first time he had physically hurt someone with his own hands. He had told Takato and Rika about this event after they had asked him why he was a pacifist. And he told them about the time when he got so angry that he beat up a friend in his old neighborhood. What Henry left out was the condition he left the boy in.
Henry remembered punching, kicking, and using just about everything he had learned in tai chi at the time. He didn't remember the reason, hell; he didn't even remember the boy's name. But he did remember that the other kids had run off screaming in fear. Henry could hear them but in his rage, he couldn't process that they were afraid. They were afraid of him.
It wasn't long for his victim's mother to come running down the street, completely hysterical. She had pushed Henry off of her son and started screaming for help. The boy was in a bloody mess and completely unconscious.
Henry had realized what he had done as he looked at the crimson color washed over his body. He was trembling violently, only vaguely hearing the woman screaming at him, calling him a murderer, a monster, every name she could think of that was synonymous to either of those.
Neighbors were running out now and someone had already called for an ambulance. Another family had called Henry's parents who were rushing to get him.
The blue-haired boy panicked and ran off. He didn't remember what happened next. He just knew that he woke up with Rinchei sitting on the floor, his back to the bed. He could hear Jaarin in the other room arguing with her parents, something about moving.
"What happened?" Henry asked groggily. His head pounded against his skull like a sledgehammer.
"Well, the entire neighborhood pretty much hates us and all of the other kids your age are scared of you," his older brother replied like he was talking about the weather. "You really screwed up this time, kid. But don't try to defend yourself; you're only going to make things worse for you."
Rinchei wasn't bitter towards Henry, he sounded sympathetic. It was his older sister who glared daggers at him when she passed by his room.
Janyu entered the room after Jaarin was far enough away not to hear. "Henry, I can't believe you did that."
Henry felt like he disappointed his father, he hated that feeling. "I know, I'm really sorry. I don't really know what came over me."
"Well, we can't really leave you off the hook after you do something like that," Janyu sighed. "Just know that you're grounded after we move to Shinjuku next week." Janyu could understand the look on his son's face easily. "Don't worry; this isn't just because of you. We've had our eyes on an apartment there for a while now, we just didn't think we'd be moving this soon. Your sister is taking it pretty badly right now but she'll come around soon, trust me on that. She's like your mother in that way."
"I guess so…," Henry muttered.
Janyu left after that to have his youngest son think about his actions that day but Rinchei stayed in the room. The elder son had his sketchbook out and was drawing random shounen characters onto the blank pages.
"Nii-san…," Henry muttered. "Aren't you upset that we're leaving? You're going to be away from your friends."
Rinchei glanced at his little brother and patted his head. "It'll be fine kid. Shinjuku isn't that far from Ikebukuro, I can always visit if I miss my friends that badly. Besides, I can always make new friends in Shinjuku. I don't get along too well with all of my current ones anyway."
Henry wondered if his older brother said these things just to make him feel better. After all, no one else in the family seemed as connected to him as Rinchei did.
"What about me? Do you think I'll be able to make new friends? What if I end up hurting them too? I don't want to hurt anyone ever again," Henry murmured but still loud enough for Rinchei to hear.
Rinchei placed his sketchbook down and ended up pulling Henry into a hug. "You know, for a brat, you're awfully cute," Rinchei chuckled, knowing that it would make Henry feel flustered and attempt to pull away. "I'm sure that you'll make plenty of great friends one day. Probably not immediately but you'll find friends who will take you at your stormiest moments."
"What kind of people should I become friends with?"
His older brother rubbed his chin in thought. "Hm… I guess, people who share the same interests as you for one thing. Or maybe someone that's like me. You know, an artist is pretty patient with most things in life so they'll probably give you time to vent whenever you need to."
Henry blinked. Takato isn't the least bit patient although he is an artist like his older brother. It made Henry feel a little happier that things have changed so much since then.
That's right. He won't return to that uncontrollable part of him that relished in destruction and harm. So long as he kept his friends nearby, he wouldn't ever revert to that part of him. He knows that it will never go away but that doesn't mean he'll ever lose control of it.
But there was another thing bothering him. Henry glanced over to Kristy who was rubbing the back of her neck as if something was supposed to be there. Four days ago, she was depressed because she felt that all of her academic achievements were because of the Dark Spore prototype. Takuya and Sora had similar worries over their athletic feats.
Ken claimed that there was a point when the spore lost its effect and his grades started dropping but he picked them up by working hard because he wanted to, not because of some spore. Kari mentioned how her immune system had gotten stronger too so that must've been when the spore lost its effect on her. Sora later remembered a time when she struggled with trying to keep up with her teammates so they all figured that the spores had long lost their effects and that they had just worked harder to try and bring their skills back up to how they were before.
But that never happened to Henry. As far as he knew, he had always been proficient in academics and athletics. He just never tried to show off these skills more than he needed to. But it was incredibly concerning to him; did this mean the spore still had a hold on him?
"Is something wrong?" Ken asked, snapping him out of his second trance.
"Huh? Oh, I'm fine," Henry lied. "But, I was wondering. Why did you choose not to kill me?"
Ken gave him a long stare. "You're kidding, right? I wasn't going to trust Kurosaki's words when he said you were dangerous. The fact is, Rika and Takato trust you and according to them, they would trust you with their lives. Besides, you don't present any hostility or imminent danger as far as I can tell."
"But what if I did?" Henry asked.
"I'd subdue and detain you," Ken answered with ease. "But I would never kill you."
"I see… Thanks," Henry breathed.
"There's no reason to thank me," Ken chuckled. "I have a feeling you'd do the same if our roles had been switched."
"Still…," Henry smiled.
Just then, homeroom ended and it was just another school day like every other.
November 28: Wong Residence – 11:13 AM
Rinchei yawned as he left his room. Did he really wake up this late? Then again, he did stay up all night trying to finish his manuscript. The deadline just had to be today at three. He gathered up his pages and walked into his brother's room. He froze.
"That's right, it was taken to the shop to get fixed up," Rinchei groaned before glancing over to the computer table. "The scanner is out too? Terriermon should really stop playing around with the technology in this house. First the microwave, then the toaster, and now these two."
Rinchei started scrambling around the room but he couldn't find any other way to send his manuscript to his editor other than manually. He quickly got changed, put on a fleece sweater and grabbed his keys, remembering to leave a note for his mother if she returns from grocery shopping. He walked down each flight of his apartment building, greeting people as he passed by them. They all knew him to be a friendly young man and he was determined to maintain this title.
Rinchei got into his car and drove off to Marukawa Publishing Company; it had been long time since he was there in person. Not since he had to sign his five-year contract with them, he believed. That sure was an exciting day for him.
He was there two minutes before noon and as the automatic doors opened to the building, he was stopped by an old classmate.
"Rinchei-kun!" a rather outgoing girl called, running up to him. "I thought it was you! Hey, do you remember me?"
It was hard to forget. "Motomiya Jun, right?" Rinchei nodded with a smile. "We were in the same class during our first year at Yagami High. And besides, we'll probably see more of each other. Both of our brothers are involved in the same dangerous game after all."
"Yeah, no kidding," Jun sighed. "Davis is going to not come home for more than a few hours and mom will panic like crazy."
"Pretty much the same with my own mother," Rinchei chuckled. "So, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in school right now?"
"I've already finished up with all my morning classes and I don't have any more except modern literature which is in about another hour. So I decided to take a stroll and do some window shopping. I never expected to see you here though," she giggled as she fluttered her eyelids flirtatiously.
Unlike his younger brother, Rinchei wasn't that oblivious when it came to women but he wasn't the type to fall for their brand of seduction. "Ah, I see. Well, I have to get inside and deliver my manuscript to them. The deadline is today so…"
Jun smacked the side of her head as if she couldn't believe she had forgotten something so simple. "I forgot that you were a manga author now!" she smiled. "You're signed with Marukawa? They publish some of my favorite manga!"
"I didn't know you read manga."
"I didn't but I got bored one day and decided to pick up one of Davis's and I got hooked!"
Rinchei knew enough from Henry's descriptions to know enough about Davis. "Out of curiosity, what kind of manga do you read?"
"One Piece, Fairy Tail, Naruto, and Bleach," she replied.
"Typical shounen, I thought so," Rinchei ended up saying out loud.
"What was that?"
"Nothing… I was just talking to myself."
"Oh," Jun nodded. She felt like this was going absolutely nowhere so she decided to stop beating around the bush and be blunt about what she really wanted. "Anyway, when you're done with delivering your manuscript, I was wondering if you'd like to get lunch with me. Like, perhaps on a date? I mean, to be honest, I've kind of had a crush on you since we were in high school but I was too shy to actually step forward."
Rinchei knew this already and he also knew that she definitely wasn't shy. She was always the loudest girl in school and definitely the most outgoing. She's like her brother in that way although the two of them would probably hurl if they were told that they shared certain traits. Particularly one that they both say is annoying about the other.
"Sorry…," Rinchei said. "I… I don't really think I can go on a date with you because I sort of have feelings for someone else already. It wouldn't be fair to you." He noticed how downcast her expression became once he said that so he tried to continue. "But I don't mind having lunch as friends."
Before Jun could reply though, another former schoolmate of theirs suddenly came up to them from behind Rinchei. He came riding in on his bike with a paper bag from Matsuki Bakery written on it; he was apparently acting as delivery boy but stopped when he saw his seniors ahead of him.
"Rin-senpai!" he greeted happily.
Rinchei recognized the voice immediately and he instantly felt happier when he saw the younger boy. "Tai, hey, it's been a while since I saw you. How's working at the bakery been?"
"A lot more enjoyable whenever I get feeding duty for the red dinosaur in the park," Tai chuckled. "But what are you doing here? I was with Henry a couple days ago and I asked him how you were. He said that you were pretty much a shut-in lately. What are you doing out here?"
Rinchei held up his manuscript in a manila envelope. "My fax machine and my scanner are broken so I have to bring this to my editor the old-fashioned way. Usually at this time, Henry is right; I am a shut-in who barely gets any sunlight."
"That's not good, you need to get more vitamin D," Tai chuckled. "Maybe I should head to your home more often and drag you out."
Jun simply watched this lengthy exchange between the two of them and automatically, her head started thinking about certain scenarios. She had sort of lied to Rinchei about the types of manga she read, it's true that she was into the typical shounen but her teenage girl hormones still raged as powerfully as ever. She ended up missing a large part of their exchange until Rinchei suddenly addressed her.
"Jun, do you want to join Tai and me for lunch?"
She must've missed the part about Tai saying how he was going on his lunch break after this delivery.
Jun shook her head with a knowing smile. She had an impeccable ability to read a person's thoughts and she assumed she did it well considering the time she was able to see through Matt's blatant lie about Davis four years ago. "No, I think I'll pass. You guys go on ahead."
"Are you sure?" Rinchei asked. "I thought you wanted to have lunch with…"
"It's fine," she smiled before putting a hand on Rinchei's shoulder. "And just so you know, I will support you until the end of time. Good luck on your future romantic endeavors, I hope everything works out for you." Jun turned and ran off after stating her farewells dramatically.
"What was that about?" Tai questioned.
"I'm not sure," Rinchei said in response although he had some idea, it probably would be best to keep it to himself. "Anyway, I've got to deliver this manuscript and you've got to deliver your bread so we'll meet back here in about… twenty minutes?"
"Sounds like a plan," Tai nodded as he got back onto his bike. "I'll see you in twenty."
Tai ended up biking past Jun who was having some rather impure thoughts about the two she had just left. As she was walking though, her phone started to ring and she picked it up, thinking it was one of her friends wanting to meet up or something.
"Hello!" Jun answered cheerfully but the only response was static. "Hello?"
Something about this call felt eerily familiar to her but she couldn't quite place her finger on it. She was going to chalk it up to a wrong number and hang up when a deep and creepy voice echoed from her phone. She knew that voice and knew what it meant when she noticed that one by one, every other phone in the vicinity started ringing.
"Nobody answer those phones!" she shouted just as the static on her phone stopped.
November 28: Marukawa Publishing – 12:10 PM
"Sorry for causing you to worry Onodera-san," Rincehi bowed to his editor. "I just ran into some technical issues."
"It's not a problem," Onodera replied. "It's something that happens all the time with our writers, especially here in the Emerald Department. As the deadline approaches, we all start to panic but in our hearts, we know that our artists will come through for us in the end."
"You have a lot of faith in your writers, huh," Rinchei smiled.
"We have to," Onodera replied before glancing at the clock. "It looks like it's lunch already; do you want to join me so that we can talk a little about your chapter?"
Rinchei wanted to but it felt wrong to cancel the plans he had just made with his former underclassman mere moments ago. "I'm sorry, but I have to decline your offer. We can talk about it later but today, I promised a former kohai of mine that I'd be joining him for lunch."
"Ah, I see," Onodera nodded understandingly. "Then I guess I'll call you later to tell you what I thought."
"That would be great, thank you," Rinchei sighed in relief. "I'll talk to you then! Bye!"
"Later!"
Rinchei walked himself to the elevator and was lucky enough to get in as soon as he reached the doors. He ended up face to face with the company's leading man in the sales department, Yokozawa. A pretty terrifying man when you first meet him but rumors have been circulating that he's mellowed out recently though no one seems to know why.
"Yokozawa-san!" Rinchei quickly bowed respectfully. "It's an honor to see you again!"
"An honor?" Yokozawa blinked. "You're… Rinchei Wong, one of Onodera Ritsu's writers, correct?"
"Ah, yes!" the younger male nodded. "I'm the author of Little Diamonds."
Yokozawa rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I remember that new manga, it broke many of our sales records." The man gave Rinchei one of his rare smiles to show that he had already taken a liking to him. "It was rather impressive for a debut author in the world of manga. And if you know me, then you should know that I don't give away these compliments lightly. I expect more from you in the future."
Rinchei had heard many compliments about his manga recently but to hear it from this guy just made him feel ecstatic. "Thank you so much sir! That means so much coming from you! I promise that I will not disappoint you."
"I hope not."
The elevator began moving at this point and Rinchei remembered about his plans to meet Tai for lunch. He figured that it wouldn't hurt to just send him a quick text to let him know that he was going to be there sooner than expected. But just as he reached for his cell phone, it started ringing and not two seconds later, so did Yokozawa's phone.
The two of them picked up at around the same time. First came the static, and then came the voice.
"What the–?!" Yokozawa yelled when a smiling face slowly popped out of his phone.
"A Keramon?!" Rinchei gasped just as another one started coming out of his own phone. He wasn't much of a fan of Digimon but he spent enough time with his family to know what these creepy virus Digimon were.
Years of martial arts had been drilled into Rinchei so despite the time he had taken off from it; he still instinctively kicked the Keramon from Yokozawa's phone into the elevator doors. He then swung his arm around and pressed the Keramon from his own phone against the opposite wall with his forearm. He wasn't as good at tai chi as his siblings or his father were but he knew enough to take care of these low-level monsters.
"Where did you come from and what do you want?" Rinchei asked angrily.
The Keramon didn't respond, it just started twisting around like it was in desperate need of an exorcist but its smile never once disappeared.
At that moment, the elevator doors opened to the second floor, the one Yokozawa needed to get off but he just stayed there. As soon as the doors opened though, their ears were met with screams and ringing phones as the office was filled with Digimon. Not just Keramon, but Kuramon, Tsumemon, Kurisarimon, and even two Infermon.
"This is bad…," Rinchei muttered as he nabbed his phone and dialed his brother's number. "Everyone get out of here!"
November 28: TV Tokyo Station – 12:15 PM
Hiroaki could hear all the calls coming into the offices saying that there were monsters appearing all over the world. It didn't help when the entire station was in panic and monsters were starting to jump out of the computers and mobile phones.
"I can't believe this is happening again," he groaned as he dialed his son's number although there wasn't much point. Chances were, both Matt and TK already knew about the situation and were attempting to deal with it. "And this is why I thought it would be better if the world still remembered Digimon! At least then, the world would be in less of a frenzy! At least I think it would be…"
-X-
Whoa, so it looks the Hunters have found a new method of helping out even though it probably isn't the best for long battles. Speaking of battles, things are getting pretty chaotic on an international level now. Were the various evolutions of Kuramon what Kurosaki had been planning? If so, that's over sixty millions problems worldwide to deal with. Can the Chosen Children really win this fight? Find out on the next Digimon: Children of the Present!
Sorry for the wait but you know; life. So I want to wish you all a Happy Holidays and a very Happy New Year. My New Year's resolution is to get more chapters going but not to have the quality suck. Let's hope I can achieve this! Hope you had a fun holiday and don't forget to leave me a Christmas gift in the form of a review! I can't wait to see you guys next year!