Woohoo for long-overdue chapters! What? No, I'm not easily distracted—hey, look, a dog! The short version on the lack of updates is that I was in the middle of looking for a new home to move this story to (some of the decisions made by the staff of this site are really, really turning me away), when my computer needed to be reformatted, so I lost a whole pile of work. Bleh.
-N
Jeri stopped jogging when she realized Kazu wasn't beside her. Still running in place, she turned to see that he had stopped half a block back, resting against a mailbox, breathing heavily. She headed back towards him, not slowing her pace.
She'd suggested that he join her for a run. Apparently, it wasn't his specialty.
"Come on, soldier." She ordered as she jogged circles around him. "Move!"
She saw a flash of irritation on his face before he changed his expression to that of complete innocence.
"Why are you yelling at me?"
Of course, his question resulted in exactly what he wanted—several people on the streets looking at Jeri as if she was insane.
Damn you, Kazu.
She grabbed him by the arm and tugged him away. But he pulled his arm back to himself like a pouting child—still walking, but a defiant declaration that he was not in the mood to run anymore.
"I don't wanna play anymore." He muttered breathlessly.
"Wuss." She taunted him.
"Or maybe you're on drugs. Steroids, that kind of thing. I bet you actually deal them, too." Kazu accused her thoughtfully. "Jogging-enhancing needles, is that it?"
"You caught me." She sighed, putting on her guiltiest pout. "I'm really the empress of an underground drug syndicate."
Again, she'd played right into Kazu's plot—more than a few people were staring at her.
"I'm not actually." She protested when a young couple started to point and whisper.
She grabbed Kazu's arm and started making him walk again.
It had been two days since the accident that cost a driver his life, and Will his arm. Will had been moved home, though nobody except Ryo and Kazu had seen him. He'd become reclusive—it was all so upsetting, for everyone. Will would only talk to Kazu, though Kazu wouldn't ever say about what, other than that Will was okay. Kazu was house-hopping. Since he'd concurrently walked out and was kicked out of his home, he'd spent a night at Ryo and Will's place, and two at Jeri's.
An announcement had been made at the school about the car accident. Jeri'd gotten a few phone calls from some of her friends, asking if it was 'that guy she was with sometimes'. Ryo was pretty popular, so Will was well-known by association, even if few of the students actually knew his name.
On that morning, the Tamers had a meeting with Yamaki—they were to go back to the digital world and take care of the Destroyer. Of course, Hypnos made it sound so much simpler than it really was…but Jeri knew it was the Tamers' own fault for hiding so much from them.
Hypnos had been told that the Destroyer existed—that was all. Not that it had taken residence in Henry's body, and not that Cronus had absorbed a great deal of the digital world's power to go fight it. They had no idea what to expect when they went back, and Jeri suspected that even Hypnos wouldn't be prepared to deal with what they were about to. Jeri just had a really bad feeling about everything.
Her thoughts were cut short by her phone ringing. Kazu seemed appreciative when she stopped walking to answer it.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Jeri."
"Oh, hi, Rika." Jeri said, brightening. "What's up?"
"Uh," Rika sounded nervous. "How did you go about telling your dad and your stepmom that we'd be going back to the digital world?"
She winced. "Just kind of told them, I guess."
Jeri paused. She came very close to instinctively asking Kazu how he told his parents—which, obviously, he hadn't.
Might have told his sister, though.
"Hey, how did you tell Aya we're heading back?" Jeri asked him, still holding the phone to her ear.
He looked down guiltily, and Jeri knew the answer.
"The verdict is that goodbyes are awkward." Jeri reported to Rika, suddenly wishing she hadn't used the word 'goodbyes'—it made it sound so much more…depressing
She silently cursed herself for making everyone glum.
"Hey, we should all do something fun tonight." Jeri perked up, saying it into the phone while giving Kazu a playful kick to the leg to get his attention as well.
"Like?" Kazu and Rika both countered suspiciously.
"Let's go dancing, or rock climbing or something." Jeri was perking up more. "I've got all this energy pent up."
"I've noticed." Kazu muttered, still catching his breath from their run.
"You know, count me in." Rika said thoughtfully. "But I should probably start going through with this. I'll talk to you later, and we can figure out the details."
"Okay, see ya." Jeri replied, but Rika had already hung up.
She was glad that the whole communication channels were opening up so much between Rika and her mom. Things were pretty good in her own home, too. At least two of the Tamers' family lives were healthy. The others, though…
As far as she knew, Kazu didn't have any plans long-term about what he'd do when the mission was over. She really doubted he'd ever go back home—and Jeri was glad for that. She could see it when nobody else could—how angry he was sometimes. He hid it well, though, she'd give him that. She made a mental note to nag him to telling Aya what was happening, though. Kazu's younger sister was such a little sweetheart. Besides, she didn't want Kazu feeling like he didn't have anything to come back to the real world to.
Jeri was actually unsure how Takato's family was holding up. She knew they were getting increasingly worried about him. He'd stopped being so obvious that he was obsessing about Cronus twenty-three hours in the day, but they'd told her they knew he was hiding something. Jeri figured it was that Takato had no idea what to do once they got back. She'd had to talk him into admitting that much to her.
Jeri classified Henry's family as 'breaking', though they just didn't know it. She found it motivating, actually—it made saving Henry all the more important. She'd wanted to tell Henry's father, Janyu, but the others disagreed. Jeri thought that he might be able to come up with a way to help, but she understood the others' point—he shouldn't have to know about the horrible things his son had been doing—had been forced into doing.
As far as Ryo and Will went—Jeri really had no idea. She just hoped that they could work through it, because the last thing either of them needed was to suffer more than they already had.
"You really should talk to Aya before we go…" Jeri trailed off, wishing she had a better lead-in to the conversation.
"—incase we don't make it back?" Kazu finished glumly.
It really hadn't been what she was thinking. That is, it had been in the back of her mind, but it still wasn't the motivator that made her suggest that to him.
"Er, incase she worries herself sick wondering about her big brother." She corrected him.
"Ah." Kazu scratched his head guiltily. "She'll be fine, she knows I'm not one for that."
It was his call, and Jeri decided not to push it any more.
She gave Kazu a poke. "Dancing tonight. Yes or no?"
Jeri knew that rock climbing had been mentioned too, but she really did love to dance. And even though Takato never wanted to go, he always had fun when she made him. He was a typical boy—nervous about dancing. Cronus always enjoyed it—though he really wasn't modest enough to not have fun when dancing.
"Mmm." Kazu eyeballed her suspiciously. "I'm not dancing without a beer in my hand."
Jeri tilted her head. "That's pretty rhetorical. Got a fake?"
"Of course." He snorted.
"Then go for it. Just don't get too bad." She warned him. "If you're hung over and the transit to the digital world makes you hurl on me, then the uncontrollable rage brought on my addiction to cardio-enhancing steroids will be at the forefront of your problems."
"You're leaving again?" Rumiko asked finally.
Rika gave her mom a reassuring smile. "Yeah."
Within the two seconds that had passed, Rika knew that her mother was handling it better than she had a few years before. Mostly from the fact that she wasn't weeping.
Still, it wasn't fun for Rika to see her mom look so upset. Rika struggled to think of something convincing to say that might have made the atmosphere lighter.
Since the accident, Rika hadn't seen much of Ryo. She felt conflicted—when she wasn't around him, she felt like she was abandoning him in some way. But when she was around him, she felt like she was getting in the way of him and Will getting over their fight. Even though she hadn't seen Ryo much since then, they made up for it by talking on the phone. They'd actually talked from one in the morning for two hours just that morning.
Ryo wasn't doing great. He didn't know what to do, and Rika didn't know what to tell him. She made it clear that she was there for them both, whatever they needed, though.
Things were difficult for everyone, it seemed. Telling her mom they'd be going back—Rika had been putting it off since they even got back from the digital world. But it wasn't something that she could procrastinate any further—for one, there was no time left, and secondly, it wasn't fair to her mom.
After Rika had gotten off of the phone with Jeri, she'd headed down to the kitchen to sit down with her mom. They each had a cup of some herbal tea Rika's grandmother bought and talked about some things—most recently, Will's surgery, to which Rika confessed she didn't know how he was doing. She'd given Rika some gifts to take over, which she still had yet to do.
Eventually, Rika had gotten the guts to just blurt out that they'd be leaving the next day. She wished that she'd been able to use some tact in bringing it up—but unfortunately, that just wasn't the case.
It was strange, the way Rika knew they both felt. Like a perfectly healthy, normal family. Sure, things between them hadn't been horrible in the last year, but they had so few heart-to-heart discussions that whenever one did happen, Rika certainly remembered it. Most recently, her mom giving Rika boyfriend advice about Ryo.
"I know you don't like me going off on my own like this, but I—" Rika started quietly.
"—I'm not worried." She cut her off.
"What…?" Rika wasn't sure if she'd misheard that.
She never doubted that her mom loved her, but worrying when Rika went off on these things was something her mother did very consistently. The idea of her not worrying at a time like that was—
"I'm not worried, because—" her mother stammered, struggling for the right words.
A few seconds passed, and as awkward as they were, Rika didn't rush her mother, who looked monumentally thoughtful throughout the time. Finally, her mother met her eye.
"Because you're not on your own, sweetheart. You have all those amazing friends."
Rika had never been more impressed with her mother. Just less than two years before, Rika's mom had been blaming Rika's friends for the fact that her daughter wasn't 'normal'. But there she was—not only ready to let Rika go and fight who-knows-what, but trusting Rika's friends, too.
By the time that Rika realized she'd stood up and walked to the other side of the table, she was already hugging her mom fiercely.
"I'm so proud of you, Rika." Her mom said quietly.
Rika was proud of her mom, too, but she was too overwhelmed to say anything. Her mom was hugging her back, and Rika could smell her perfume from her sweater.
Eventually she let go and sat back down at the table, a little embarrassed from her overt display of emotion.
Hey, at least I didn't cry.
"Are you and your friends going to celebrate before you leave?" her mom asked with a smile. "You should do something special."
Read our minds.
"Yeah." Rika nodded. "Some of us are going dancing tonight."
Rika paused for a second, realizing that there was still one thing she wasn't prepared for. She looked to her mom.
"Can you help me find an outfit?"
Takato hated driving. And parking, for that matter.
At least it's not parallel.
He had that to be thankful for. Cronus used to tease him about his hatred of driving frequently—actually, most of his friends did, except Jeri. Cronus just did it the most, since they were together so frequently. Takato never thought he'd actually miss that.
"Makes you wonder how people can drive buses." A voice called from the passenger seat. Cronus. "Or limos, or those big transport trucks…when driving a car is such a pain itself, I mean."
He wasn't real. Takato knew even before he looked over. But he did still look, and sure enough, Cronus was sitting in the passenger seat, seatbelt on.
"Practice makes perfect." Takato quoted, not allowing himself to take his eyes off of his hallucination.
Cronus looked just how he had the last time Takato had seen him—red leather suit, black straps all over him, holding knives to his arms and legs. Actually, it wasn't how Cronus looked the last time Takato'd seen him…then, Cronus had just absorbed the Guardian, and even his eyes couldn't be seen past the light.
The worst part was that it wasn't the first time Takato had imagined him. It was just the first time that Takato had let himself speak to his delusion.
"That's true." Cronus answered with a nod.
"Where—are you…?" Takato asked, knowing he wouldn't get any new information.
Cronus laughed. "Right now? Probably the digital world, still. This me is all in your head, you know that."
Right. I'm crazy. Forgot about that.
"So why am I seeing you?" he asked, giving into his clearly under-rested mind.
"Maybe it's stress." Cronus answered thoughtfully. "Or guilt?"
Takato was almost too afraid to ask.
"And what am I feeling guilty about?"
"Well, you brought me into this world, so to speak." The image of Cronus shrugged. "Maybe you feel guilty that I'm putting everyone in danger?"
Takato stared at him, wishing it really was Cronus. It was actually something Takato had actively been trying not to think about—what Cronus had done. They still had no idea what affect claiming the power of the Guardian would have on the rest of the digital world.
"Or maybe it's that you don't know what to do with me when you find me." Cronus went on. The image of him shimmered into a familiarly bloody one—with a shallow cut on his neck. It was how Cronus had looked during their fight in the Destroyer's base, when Cronus had tried to get Takato to kill him.
"I could never kill you." Takato said flatly, determined.
Cronus looked back at him before changing into someone else. A girl, who he'd only met once.
"I don't know, you've had to make some tough calls." Adrie sighed. "Dr. Nonaka, Noria, me…? I was a tough call to make, right?" she added hopefully.
Of course she had been. Reed had given Takato the gun. Cronus had taken it from Takato. There hadn't been any alternative to what had happened to her…it hadn't been a choice, but—but if Takato had done it, then Cronus wouldn't have had to…
He didn't let himself answer, and he didn't respond when he started to see the blood drip from the familiar bullet-hole that appeared in the image.
"Or maybe it's that you're just worried about me."
His hallucination changed to Reed, who looked—better-groomed than he usually did whenever Takato saw him in the digital world. Clean-shaven—none of that chronic five o' clock shadow stuff.
Takato smirked to himself.
"I don't like you enough to be worried about you."
It wasn't entirely true, but it wasn't entirely false, either. Takato just didn't know how to feel about Reed. Even though he'd been manipulating many of the events from the beginning, he'd also gone to some extreme lengths to achieve his own goals. Torturing Takato and Cronus, putting Rika, Ryo, and Will in danger, nearly having Kazu killed…
But Takato couldn't help but empathize with Reed, even after everything he'd done. Reed had killed dozens, maybe even hundreds—thousands—of digimon with his own hand…he might have even killed humans, too. The part that Takato hated the most, though, was that he'd have done the same thing himself. Reed was doing everything for Carter. Takato would have done the same for Cronus.
"Yeah, but I've told you before how I used to be just like you." Reed recalled. "The whole optimistic-dreamer crap."
About ten seconds before you started torturing me. Wait, no, while you were torturing me.
"But maybe that's not true anymore, though." Reed went on. "I mean, you're getting pretty single-minded now. You know Cronus and Henry both have to be stopped, no matter what. Maybe, now, it's you who is just like me? Maybe that's why you hate me. Because you see yourself in me."
Apparently, Takato's subconscious wasn't going to demand any response to that one.
"I mean, no matter how many people we have around us, we're both really alone…we both had digimon partners that were—special…" Reed contemplated. "We both have been lying to the girlfriends—"
"—I haven't been lying to Jeri." Takato retorted.
Not surprisingly, the image turned into Jeri. She looked at him lovingly.
"Takato, I'm really glad you're okay. And I know you are, because if you really loved me, you'd tell me that you barely sleep anymore, right?"
A rush of guilt forced its way through him.
I don't want to worry you.
"Because we're a team, and—"
Jeri changed to someone else.
"—we'll always be friends, right?" Henry finished. "And friends don't give up on each other, not ever. I mean, I'd never give up on you…"
Whenever anyone asked Takato, he'd always answer that they'd save Henry. But as much as he didn't want to admit it, he knew that at least part of him had given up on his longtime friend. At least part of Takato believed that there really wasn't anything left of Henry other than his body. It was something he could never say. Not to his friends, not to Jeri, and definitely not to Mala.
The way Takato saw it, was that the Henry Wong that he loved as a brother had died the minute the Destroyer took him over. And the Destroyer would suffer for it. Takato would see to that himself.
The image changed back to Cronus.
"Woah, that one was harsh." Cronus shook his head with disapproval. "You know, it's funny…all those times I asked you what—"
Takato had had enough…and he pressed his thumb down on the steering wheel for a half-second. Even though it was intentional, the horn still startled him, but the surprise had made him pull himself together enough that the voices all shut up and went away.
He blocked out the memory of what had just happened, and he blocked out the guilt that had been associated with it. It took a few tries, but he parked his parents' car in the underground lot beneath Ryo and Will's apartment building.
Even though he was running late, the voices had been right about one thing—he needed a nap. So he took one.
"Help!" a voice called.
Ryo wasn't paying much attention at first. He could see a pair of people far below him, one attempting to carry another. Was he flying…?
It's a dream, dumbass.
He was in one of those moods where any dream was better than reality, so he just sort of went with it. The ground looked bare—no grass, trees…the dirt didn't look soft, though. Ryo could tell from the way the cracks spread everywhere that it was dry, almost rock-like. Probably uneven, too, seeing as how the two people stumbled around.
"Please, somebody!" the voice called out urgently. Ryo was watching, and there was clearly nobody around. This guy was wasting his time. "Is anybody there?"
Ryo was too far away to be able to see either of their faces, but they both looked pretty young. They were both guys, one with brown hair, one with red.
He squinted.
Correction—there was one with brown hair, and the other who was a bloody mess.
Takato…?
After Takato had been injured by Reed, Cronus had carried him on his back to Jeri and the others. Was that what Ryo was seeing…? No, it couldn't be—this was the other way around. The person with brown hair is—
"He won't stop—"
Wait a second...that's me.
"TK won't stop bleeding!" the young Ryo screamed out desperately.
Ryo snapped awake, and almost smashed his head on the wall of the shower.
Falling asleep in the shower. Real smart.
He was more concerned with what he'd just seen. It was most likely just a dream…but it could have been a memory. Maybe whatever happened to make him forget wasn't permanent after all? Maybe more would come back, and Ryo could learn about what happened back then? Maybe—
Maybe you should stop driving up your utility bills?
Ryo shut the water off and clumsily reached for the towel he'd hung on the rack.
The water pressure had been crappy that day. Usually, Ryo didn't mind when that happened, but even though it was the middle of winter, the apartment was a little overheated, so people got sweaty and gross faster than they expected to. The result—frequent showers.
He dabbed the towel at his face, getting the water out of his eyes. He blinked twice, and the mild stinging sensation faded quickly. He dried himself as he stepped out of the shower, running his hand in a line across the mirror to clear the moisture from it.
Ryo barely recognized the face that stared back at him. Sure, there was some water dripping down the mirror leaving distorted streaks, but still. Maybe it was the sleep deprivation. Or the guilt. Or the stress. Or the fact that he needed a haircut. Or maybe that he was just old. His birthday was coming up shortly.
Or maybe it was that he hadn't actually looked at himself in a few days—because he didn't want to. The accident had happened two days earlier. Just before that, Ryo had told Will the truth about everything.
He remembered it all so clearly. Ryo had tried to hug him. Will slipped his arm out of his cast and pushed him back—Ryo'd been surprised. And when his brother headed out the door, Ryo could have gone after him, but he didn't.
After that, he'd paced around the apartment for a little bit deciding what to do—while Will was being injured, Ryo had no idea. Hell, he probably still wouldn't have known, if Ryo hadn't decided to go to Hypnos. He met up with Jeri, Takato, Kazu, and Rika…they'd seen a crowd. People swore they saw what could only be described as a portal a few hours earlier. A portal, that had thrown Will's driver off guard, and soon after, off the road. Their one clue as to what happened was a dark-orange D-Arc they'd found near the accident site.
The only people that knew Will was a Tamer were Ryo, Takato, and Reed…so while Jeri, Rika, and Kazu had been surprised to see a D-Arc they didn't recognize, they didn't share Ryo's horror when he realized something had happened to Will.
Sitting in the waiting room was torturous. Ryo would have actually much rather preferred being tortured over being in that room for another second. But hedid have to continue waiting, because even after Will woke up, he didn't want to speak to Ryo—he wanted to talk to Kazu. Ryo had never felt more betrayed in his life. He didn't blame Kazu, but he was jealous, even if he didn't want to be.
And when Will finally agreed to hear Ryo out, he said nothing.
Amputated. Fifteen years old, sweetest kid Ryo's ever known, and he'd lost his goddamn arm.
With everything that had happened in the last year—learning the truth about Rika's dad, Takato's supposed death, leaving Rika, Jeri's gunshot wound, Miriam, Adrie, Henry—Ryo had come to accept how horrible of a place the world was—it motivated him. To make the world a better place…and he'd become emotionally strong because of it, without becoming distant.
But when he'd seen Will, Ryo had come apart. The way he looked at him—Ryo'd lost it, and he'd cried. It had been ages since he'd shed a tear, but he shed several that night.
Will had complained to the doctors enough that they let him go home. He was still obviously in an intense healing stage, and they gave Ryo an insane amount of antibiotics and painkillers. Will had, of course, spent the majority of his time home in bed in his room. Ryo brought him his meals, and though he could tell he didn't want to answer, Will always said 'thank you'.
But Will hadn't spoken to him other than that. He'd said a few words, but only when prompted by Ryo, and they were the absolute shortest responses possible. Ryo'd given up trying to get him to communicate—well, 'given up' wasn't the best way to describe it, but he'd decided to back off, and give Will some space.
Still, it was painful. Earlier that day, when Ryo was trying to catch up on some of his homework, he'd heard a glass break. When he left his room, he saw that Will had broken one when pouring a glass of water. When Ryo tried to help Will clean it up, he earned himself a bitter 'I can do it myself' from Will.
Ryo didn't know if it was the hate, the medication, or the fact that Will didn't like asking for help, but he let Will clean it up himself, as he wanted to.
Kazu had been over a few times, which Ryo was grateful for, even if he was jealous. He had no idea what they talked about, but Kazu was the only one Will would speak with—Takato, Jeri, Rika—they'd all come by to see him, but he just said he wasn't feeling well enough.
Ryo would have lost it if it hadn't been for Rika. Ryo typically hated talking on the phone, but he'd been talking to her for hours at a time lately—she was basically his only contact to the world outside the apartment.
Ryo didn't bother signing onto the instant messenger on his computer. He'd made the mistake about it the day before, and had to deflect questions about it to the point that he was ready to throw his laptop out the window. He figured that only his real friends knew the number at the apartment, and there had been a few calls from people offering their best wishes. Takato's parents, Mala—even Yamaki.
Then again, Yamaki's call doubled as an opportunity to arrange Ryo's appointment at Hypnos. Everyone was being briefed separately, since they all had things to do at different times. They were leaving for the digital world in a day's time. Ryo didn't want to leave—he wasn't going to go back to the digital world. But Yamaki had insisted he at least go to the meeting, to which Ryo agreed. Shortly after that, Yamaki said that some of the best-trained doctors and personal care agents would be sent over to keep an eye on Will while Ryo was gone. As much as Ryo didn't like the idea of leaving Will with a bunch of strangers, but he would be safe with them. And it was clear he didn't want Ryo around anyways.
His appointment was soon. Takato was on his way over to keep an eye on things while Ryo was out.
So maybe you should stop acting as if the mirror is going to do something useful for you.
Maybe, it was that Ryo just wanted to look different than he did.
After drying his hair a little bit, Ryo wrapped the towel around his waist and headed out of the bathroom towards his room.
He really didn't want to go to the meeting. Or back to the digital world, even. But he would. He was tired of fighting, and tired of watching people die, but he'd go back. Cronus and Henry were still out there—that, and Ryo had already promised Takato he'd go—even if he was drunk out of his mind when he'd declared it.
Two knocks at the door.
"It's open." Ryo called instinctively.
Fuck.
He'd forgotten that he wasn't even dressed. He grabbed hold of the towel to make sure it was secure as the door opened.
Rika looked at him with a raised eyebrow as she stepped in.
"Uh, hey." Ryo murmured.
"Bad time?" Rika asked carefully.
"Eh, good as any." Ryo replied as he scurried towards his room. He closed the door over partly—he was getting dressed behind the door itself, so he didn't really have anything to worry about. "What's up?"
"My mom's apparently all for me going back to the digital world." Rika said. "She said she's not worried because, and I quote, 'I have all those wonderful friends'."
He quickly found and put on a pair of boxers and some black jeans. He grabbed a white hooded sweater off his bed which he slipped on as he stepped out the door back to the living room.
"That's great." Ryo smiled to her.
"Yeah." Rika smiled back.
Ryo ruffled his hand through his hair, hoping it didn't look ridiculous.
"I'm really glad for you." Ryo flashed a smile.
He was able to find some comfort in the fact that at least one of them had a relatively healthy family. After all that had happened with her father, she certainly deserved it.
Rika didn't smile back, though. Instead, she took a few steps forward, and slowly hugged Ryo. He was actually slightly confused that she hadn't even made eye contact while she was moving forward, and it took him a few seconds to hug her back. But he was scared to ask what was wrong.
"How is he?" she asked finally.
Ryo sighed into her shoulder. The answer he wanted to give was somewhere between 'bad' and 'I have no idea, because he won't talk to me'. Just another thing to throw onto the guilt, really. Not only did Ryo's brother hate him for lying for so long, but Ryo couldn't even tell the people he cared about if Will was alright or not.
"I don't know." He admitted, however much of a mumble it came out as.
"Are you okay?" Rika asked next, though they still held each other.
Miserable as ever.
"Yeah, I'm fine." He lied. When she said nothing and felt her pull away slightly, he knew that she didn't believe him. "I just—we've all got a lot to deal with right now."
There'd never been truer words…Henry, Cronus, the Destroyer, Will, Reed, Carter…
He smiled weakly as he stared into Rika's eyes, which he could tell were dissecting him. Ryo was a good enough liar to piss his brother off 'til the end of time, but some things were too obvious to hide, even for Ryo.
"What are you doing tonight?" Ryo asked, trying to change the subject.
Even though they'd been talking more than usual, Ryo still missed seeing Rika. Yeah, he wanted Will to have some space, but—but it probably wastheir last night on earth, right?
Rika bit her lip, and Ryo's heart sank as he realized she already had plans.
"I'm supposed to go out with Jeri." Rika said guiltily. There was a very short pause before she went on. "But if you're free I'd rather—"
"—No…" Ryo cut her off, wishing he'd been less blunt. "Er, sorry, that didn't really come out right. What I meant was, I think you should go out. Have some fun, it's not something we get to do enough."
He still had a hand on each side of her waist, which probably helped him communicate that he wasn't mad or anything. He did want to spend some more time with her, but he was just—he would be selfish to ask her to stay.
Of course, he knew Rika well enough to notice when she was reading him. As much as they fought, they generally had a decent understanding of what the other was thinking.
Rika looked a little guilty again. "If you need me, just call, okay?"
Ryo nodded, flashing a smile. "Yeah, I will."
Rika closed the door on her way out, but she took a few steps down the hallway before she leaned against the wall, closed her eyes, and sighed.
It wasn't her responsibility to try and fix things between those two. It wasn't her place to try and fix things between those two. But she wanted to be there for Ryo, and he wasn't letting her. She'd just told him to call if he needed her—she knew he wouldn't. Maybe feeling the way she was was being selfish, but she couldn't help it.
She'd wanted him to ask her to stay. She couldn't invite herself to; that would have been inappropriate. She knew she was reading into it more than she should have, thinking more of it than was logical, but she just—she just wanted him to ask her to stay.
But why on earth would he ever ask me that?
Takato had only been asleep for fifteen minutes. He felt surprisingly refreshed, but he also felt like a jerk because it meant he was going to be late. He could probably have just napped on the couch in Ryo's apartment.
Trying to fix his hair, he locked the doors, and grabbed all the bags from the backseats before clumsily hobbling to the elevator.
When Ryo called earlier that day, Takato was eager to do what he could to help the two out—and to help take his mind off of Cronus, of course. Ryo had some errands to run in the city before meeting with some of the people at Hypnos, so Takato was supposed to just be around the apartment incase Will needed something. Not exactly what he'd been expecting would be defined as 'helping', but he couldn't say no. He hadn't seen Will since the accident. And as little as Will was speaking to Ryo, Ryo did tell Takato that his brother hadn't taken those goggles off.
Takato'd been flattered. But he'd also felt incredibly guilty. Takato had known the same information that had made Will so furious with Ryo—he'd known the truth about their mother, and about Will's D-Arc. Takato deserved to be on Will's bad side just as much as Ryo did.
All the Tamers in the group had had their individual briefings at Hypnos—except Ryo and Will. Mostly, the discussions were for removing any legal liabilities from Hypnos in the event that everyone died. Still, it made sense.
He wasn't sure what Will was supposed to be doing during the mission. Takato assumed that would be explained to Ryo at his meeting. Takato actually had a meeting with Yamaki scheduled later that day, so he'd make sure to ask. As the 'leader', he was allowed to be nosey.
Takato suddenly decided against the elevator—remembering that it was always really slow, and some of the people he'd had to share it with before smelled really, really bad. He didn't care if he had to carry all the gift boxes and bags—he'd take the stairs. At the very least, it gave him some time to think about what he'd say to Will.
Like you'll actually come up with anything.
The phone in his pocket rang, echoing in the stairwell.
"Damn it." Takato grumbled, realizing he had to set everything down. He sat on a stair, looking at the caller ID—it was Jeri. His mood lifted.
"Hello?"
"Hey, you up for some dancing tonight?" Jeri asked. "Celebrate before we had back out into the field?"
He winced.
"No can do." Takato answered guiltily. "I'll be in a meeting at Hypnos from about eight 'til midnight, and I have to keep my self-respect."
"Ah, damn it." Jeri pouted. "And here I was all set to get you dancing and then sneak off so it looks like you're crazy and by yourself."
"Yeah, that would have been great…" He couldn't help but smirk before he spoke seriously. "I'm sorry."
"No, don't be." Jeri assured him. "Expecting to get anything out of the meeting?"
Takato didn't have to think about it—it was mostly all he'd been thinking about since he'd heard it was scheduled. "Yamaki's gonna go over the new equipment…I'm hoping for another high-end scanner we can get Will to change to track Cronus down. The sooner we find him, the better."
There was still that whole apocalypse thing to deal with, but Takato couldn't quite explain it. He had to find Cronus first—even if it was for Takato's own sake.
"Do you still have someone to go with?" Takato asked suddenly. "Dancing, I mean?"
"Kazu and Rika so far."
Good.
He felt comforted by that. Kazu could look out for her—and hey, Rika could look for Kazu. Everyone knew that with her temper, she was the scariest one of them.
"Anyways…" Jeri murmured. It took Takato a second to realize that he'd been so distracted being grateful that she had people to go with that he hadn't actually said anything. "Call me when your meeting's done to tell me how it went, okay? My phone'll be on."
He nodded, though she clearly couldn't see him. "Yep. Will do. Have fun."
"I'll do my best." Jeri replied confidently. "Love you."
Takato couldn't help but feel a little better. "I love you too."
He gathered his things and continued to climb the stairs. He hoped Ryo wouldn't be pissed that he was running late. Then again, the only call he'd gotten on his phone was from Jeri—Ryo would have probably called if he was getting impatient.
Takato knocked on the door to the apartment twice, but walked in immediately after. He was there often—well, not lately, but before everything. Ryo and Will had both insisted to him on several occasions to not even bother knocking.
He set the bags down on the couch as Ryo came out of his room, evidently not ready from the fact that he wasn't wearing socks and his hair was still wet.
"Hey." Ryo said with a nod, hurrying into the kitchen and grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge.
"Hey." Takato replied. "Sorry I'm late."
Ryo flashed a smirk as he resumed his hectic running-around-the-apartment.
"You should be." Ryo sighed. "Because I'm clearly so ready, and everything."
"I know. I'm such an asshole." Takato frowned before his tone changed. "Since when are you late for anything?"
"Fell asleep in the shower. You?"
Ah.
"Fell asleep in the parking lot." Takato answered truthfully.
"Aren't we the healthiest bunch in the world?" Ryo murmured spiritlessly, picking his wallet up from the coffee table in the living room. He turned to Takato suddenly, worried. "I don't have to get dressed up for this, do I?"
Takato winced. He knew that Yamaki didn't care what they were wearing, but he also knew that the secretary was particularly resentful to young people—probably because the Tamers were a quarter her age and liked more by Yamaki than she ever would be.
"Something with a collar wouldn't hurt." Takato admitted.
He barely heard Ryo mutter something as he scurried back to his room. Takato silently wondered how many cups of coffee Ryo had powered through since falling asleep in the shower.
"Recap me on what I'm not allowed to talk about?" Ryo called from his room.
"Henry's cover story is that he was out of the city when the Destroyer attacked, and is MIA. Cronus wasn't in the same room as the rest of us when Yamaki pulled us out." Takato answered.
An affirmative mumble came from Ryo's room. "Okay. Anything else?"
"Nope, that's it."
Ryo seemed—energetic. And it didn't seem to be entirely from the caffeine, either. Takato knew Ryo better than most people did, and what he was noticing was that it was a different kind of energetic. Pretty similar to the way Ryo got when he was angry, actually…
Granted, he must be pretty frustrated with everything right now…
"Actually," Takato went on, suddenly, hurrying over to the couch where he'd left the gift bags. He didn't need to rummage through them—the one he was looking for was at the very top of the navy blue bag...well, it had been at the top of the bag, except it was small, and had apparently slid down one of the sides. It took a few seconds, and Takato was able to feel what he was looking for as Ryo reentered the room. Granted, if both bags had been emptied out on the floor, Takato would still be able to pick the gift out—it was the little one wrapped in newspaper, and not very well. Takato was very talented. Just not at wrapping presents.
He tossed the small object to Ryo, who fumbled to catch it twice before he finally got a grip on it. The blue-eyed Tamer looked back at Takato, confused.
"I know the birthday's not for another few days, but there ya go." Takato explained.
He saw Ryo stifle a smile. "You really didn't have to get me anything."
Takato shrugged.
Ryo picked at the paper, and Takato noticed the conscious effort on Ryo's part not to tease Takato about the amount of tape he was struggling with. When he finally managed to tear it open. He pulled out the small metal object-a navy blue Zippo lighter, the logo of the National Sarcasm Society on one side, the motto on the other.
Ryo was grinning. "Where'd you find something like this?"
"It wasn't any trouble." Takato flashed a smile.
It actually had been trouble...Takato'd ordered it online, since he couldn't think of anything local that Ryo might like. He'd actually been pretty proud of himself for thinking of it, too. Hey, it wasn't like he'd have many opportunities to find something like that in the digital world.
"Thanks, buddy."
Ryo finished getting ready, while Takato quickly briefed him on what kind of things to expect from Yamaki. Communications, equipment, priorities...anything that might make the meeting go smoother. The idea of the separate meetings made Takato a little nervous. He knew his friends could keep the story straight, but what made Takato anxious was that he began to wonder if Yamaki suspected something was up. Either that Henry was in deeper than they thought, or that Cronus wasn't who they said he was.
"Anyways," Ryo said eventually. "I'll be back in a few hours."
"Yeah, see you." Takato murmured as he watched Ryo start towards the door. He had the door halfway open before he looked back at Takato, and then at the pile of gifts he'd brought with him.
"Those might not be the best idea..." Ryo warned carefully, before giving a sigh, and continuing out the door.
Might not be a good idea?
Takato didn't get it. Ryo had no idea what any of the things were—hell, even Takato didn't know what most of them were. Was Ryo worried that Will wouldn't like something? Takato was certain everyone'd been sensitive enough to keep the accident in mind...
He started moving the bags towards the door to Will's room. Takato felt grateful that he could do it in two trips after having to carry it all in one a few minutes earlier. As he stared at the door, his mind raced. What was he supposed to say?
Just play it by ear.
As lame yet effective of a plan as ever. After taking a deep breath, Takato knocked on Will's door.
"It's open." Will called from inside. Takato stepped in. Will was on his computer, of course. He wore a pair of green shorts that went just past his knees, and a white and blue dress shirt—though the right sleeve was tied off.
He turned briefly to Takato before looking back at his monitor.
"Hello." Will said, less lively than he'd ever greeted Takato.
"Hey." Takato replied. He smiled inwardly, noticing that Will wore Takato's goggles around his neck. "I wasn't sure if you'd like 'em." He said, pointing at them.
Will looked down, and then back up, a faint smile on his face. "Oh—yes. It was very thoughtful. Thank you."
Takato was almost confused with how Will was speaking. Almost formally, like Takato was a stranger. He was being as polite as ever, just—different.
"Um—" Takato stammered. "I brought over some stuff that everyone picked up for you."
Takato tilted his head towards the doorway which remained open, the stack of presents clearly visible. Will too glanced at it, but just for a second. The boy sighed as he turned back to the computer, closing the Internet browser, turning the monitor off, and facing Takato.
"No thank you." He said simply, approaching the bookshelf, looking around carefully for something.
No?
"Th—they want you to have them…" Takato murmured, confused.
Will had been in the process of taking a book from the shelf, but he shoved it back in place hard, quickly walking to the closet. He opened it, and Takato saw what was inside. Presents. Absolutely stuffed with them—and all entirely unopened. There were more presents there than there ever was in Takato's parents' closet at Christmas.
"Then just throw them onto the pile." Will ordered quietly.
"Wow." Takato exclaimed to himself, still staring at 'the pile'.
"From people at school." Will explained. "Never heard of half of them, never been spoken to from the other half. But everyone wants to be nice to the guy who lost his arm, right?"
Will spoke bitterly, his face twisted in contempt as he spoke. "I'm not some charity case. There are plenty of people out there who could use this crap more than I could, and it would serve a much better purpose helping out someone who actually needs it, rather than for providing self-gratification to the people who don't know anything about me other than what was announced at school."
The boy slammed the closet shut, taking a step towards Takato.
"Pity's something I don't want or need." He finished dryly.
Takato was stunned. "Will, we care about you."
Will closed his eyes and inhaled slowly, before exhaled sharply. When he opened his eyes, he seemed more like himself.
"I know." He admitted, meeting Takato's eye. "I'm sorry. These meds make me crabby. I'm grateful, too—I really am. But I don't need anything. Just pass all that stuff on to someone who does, okay?"
Takato felt like he was looking at an entirely different person. But he knew it wasn't the accident that had changed Will—it was Ryo telling him the truth.
"Will…" Takato started, trailing off after just the one word. Ryo had had the courage to tell Will the truth—the least Takato could do was the same. "About what Ryo told you—I already knew."
Will didn't seem surprised. "It's okay."
Well, that was easy.
But Takato was still doubtful. "Ryo said you've barely said two words to him…"
Will looked at Takato, a glance of understanding.
"It's okay." He repeated. "I get it. You were just being a friend to him. I respect that."
Takato felt a surge of guilt that he was getting such a good deal himself, while his best friend was taking the worst of it. "I've known Ryo for years—he's not a bad person…you know that. So just—"
"—please." Will interrupted him, holding his hand up. "Please don't. If you keep going this'll turn into an argument so just—please…"
Takato nodded solemnly. He could tell—Will was trying not to hate Ryo. It just wasn't working. As much as Takato cared about both of them, it was for them to work out themselves. If Will chose not to forgive Ryo, then, well, that was his decision to make. All Takato could do was to be there for them both as best as he could. And he could start by helping Will take his mind off of it.
"So what are you working on?"
Will exhaled with relief, before sitting down at the computer chair and opening up an internet browser. He loaded up a page, while Takato sat himself down on the side of Will's bed.
"Okay, so Reed told us this all started just over five years ago." Will started, meeting Takato's eye. "But you said a digimon told you this all started thirteen years ago, right?"
Takato nodded. "Yeah. A Kudamon told me that when Cronus and I were looking for the Sovereign."
Will clicked on something else, which pulled up a map.
"Okay, I can't be positive, but I think that was when the Guardian first gave up his power and turned into Angemon, or Patamon, or whatever." He pointed out a few different city sectors before Takato could ask why he was making the assumption. "I looked through some old news reports, and twelve years ago, there was a report of what I think is about human children seen cooperating with digimon. Of course, it doesn't refer to the digimon by name, but given the description they gave, I think that's what they were."
Takato didn't want to be disappointed, but he couldn't help but be hopeful. "Where?"
Will pointed slowly. "Here."
Takato recognized it immediately.
"Obaida." He said aloud. Will nodded.
"That's right." Will replied. "And assuming Reed's about twenty-two now, that would make him eight or nine when that happened—which is how old he'd told Jeri he was when he first went to the digital world."
"So those kids would be him and his friends, then." Takato finished for him. "The ones that we saw in that recording."
"We can't be sure, but that's what I suspect, yes." Will nodded.
Takato finally let himself feel hopeful. If they could find Reed, or his brother, or their friends—maybe the Tamers would be able to make it through everything after all.
"Can we look at the recording again?" Takato asked. "If we look closer, we might be able to see what digimon were involved in the battle—or maybe even some clue about the kids."
The recording had been stored on a small white pearl-sized object. Takato remembered that Ryo had snagged it on their way out of the digital world's core.
But Will shook his head.
"No." He answered. "As far as I can tell, it can only be accessed from the digital world—and it might not even work there anymore, after being converted from data into—into whatever it's made of now."
Takato frowned.
"But listen to this." Will said, moving the computer's cursor to go back to the page he was on before the map. "If digimon were involved in this, it was obviously kept out of the news as much as possible—but ironically enough, the whole thing took place at a television station. The Fuji network."
Takato was catching on. "You think someone there covered it up."
Will gave a guilty shrug. "Hypnos kept your guys' names out of the news during the D-Reaper thing, right?"
True.
"Hypnos wasn't founded yet at that time." Takato countered.
"That's true," Will admitted. "But it still means hiding the names of people involved in something so big is still possible, right?"
Takato thought about it. The incident in Obaida occurred years before he even found Guilmon. Then again, that could have been what sparked the need for Hypnos's very creation—the digital 'threat'. Hell—more than just Hypnos's creation—that was probably what got Yamaki, Dr. Valn, and Dr. Nonaka involved in their research in the first place.
"So where do we go from here, then?" Takato asked. It was a lead, but his pessimism took him over—they still had no idea what to do about that.
"I'm not sure." Will admitted.
Takato frowned at their mutual disappointment, apparently, they each had been hoping the other would know what to do next. They could try to trace any financial links between Hypnos and Fuji, but that would probably take ages…
"What about employee records?" Takato asked hopefully. "Salaries and stuff—names. Might help give us some clues on the cover-up…see how many people left the station at that time."
Will looked thoughtful before he nodded.
"Okay." The boy agreed. "I can get on that later, it'll be easier to snoop around their records once they're not being used."
Fair enough.
Takato still had something on his mind, though. It wasn't about the apocalypse, or even about Cronus, though. It was about Will, and Giz.
They were partners—Takato and Ryo had both known it for some time, and the others were just finding out about it, including Will himself. But the question that was burning in Takato's mind, that he just couldn't help to think about, was—
"—Have you talked to Giz yet?" he blurted out.
Will looked understandably surprised. But after he looked away, Takato knew that he hadn't. It was obviously a strange situation—all the other Tamers had had their D-Arcs appear directly to them. But since Henry—since the Destroyer managed to get ahold of it before Will did…Takato knew that even the digital partners didn't always know they were connected to their human counterpart. Leomon and Guardromon were a testament to that.
"No." Will said finally. He shook his head. "I wouldn't know what to say."
Takato raised an eyebrow.
"What do you mean?" Takato said. "Just show him the D-Arc and explain to him what it means."
"I don't know what that means." Will countered immediately.
Takato had never found it a difficult thing to comprehend until he tried to explain it.
"It just means you're partners." Takato said simply, wishing he could be clearer.
"Yeah, but what does that mean other than that we can use cards?" Will asked, frustrated. "What difference can it really make?"
Takato didn't answer right away, silently debating what he knew was the right thing to do.
"Let's go find out."
Kazu snooped around Jeri's desk for a pen, but he couldn't find one that was actually for writing—several glittery gel ones, markers, pencil crayons—he made a mental note to make fun of Jeri for being a closeted scrapbooker. Settling on a navy blue pencil gel pen, he grabbed a piece of paper which rested in her printer, and sat down on the bed, sticking a textbook behind the paper to make it easier to write on.
Jeri was in the shower, and Kazu was making himself at home, as he'd been instructed. He had been living there for a few days, anyways—since he'd finally lost it with both of his parents and left. He was grateful that Jeri had been there for him, which in turn made him feel guilty—he wished he could repay the favor, but that could only happen if something bad happened to her, too, and he didn't want that, not ever. She was probably his best friend, though he never thought about the term much. He hadn't heard from Kenta in what seemed like ages—though part of that might be because Kazu had spent so much time in the digital world. When Kenta had left, it was for a vacation, as Kazu had been told. A phone call a few weeks after revealed that it was to visit a relative, and a week after that—well, the communication sort of stopped after that. Kazu had tried not to wonder if Kenta was actually ever coming back.
Granted, he's better off not mixed up in all this end-of-the-world stuff.
He stared at the paper, which—no matter how hard he glared at it—wouldn't write on itself.
Jeri had planted the guilt on their jog earlier—he hadn't told his sister he'd be leaving again. Kazu really just didn't want to worry her. But he knew he should at least leave her a note, just incase.
Odds for survival aren't looking that great.
Adrie had died because life was just as easy to lose in the digital world as it was in the real world. It had very nearly been Kazu that it had happened to...if Ryo hadn't warned him not to absorb the data...and Henry, well, Kazu had his doubts they'd be able to save him, though he didn't want to admit it out loud. If the Destroyer's influence was that deeply-rooted in Adrie after just a few hours, how would it even be possible to restore Henry to who he's supposed to be?
Hey Aya,
I'm sure you've heard of the recent spat with the parentals, since I
haven't been around for a while. (What? You didn't notice? Oh well.)
Anyways, I just wanted to let you know that I'm gonna be heading
out of town again (yeah, that way-way-way kind of out-of-town). So,
be good, eat your vegetables, and don't do drugs. If you need me for
anything in the next few days, Will Connors and Mala Emmerich from
school will be able to get ahold of me. Anytime after that, Mala or
Yamaki over at Hypnos. If he gives you any sass, threaten a lawsuit
or something. Take care of yourself, and feel free to get really good
at my video games while I'm gone, because let's face it, taking out
hoards of aliens is a lot easier when your partner doesn't get stuck
running in a corner. Seriously. You need improvement there.
Kazu
He grumbled as the ink smudged in the l's and t's, but it was still legible enough. There was more that he wanted to say, but he chickened out. He didn't feel it would be entirely appropriate to include a, "incase I'm killed horribly, I love you". All the more reason to make it through this alive.
Takato slowly escorted Will to the part of the building the digimon were being kept in. As they stepped in, they were given a slight nod from the guard, who was obviously trying not to stare at Will's sleeve, tied at its end.
Through a large window, Takato could see Giz, sitting in the middle of a smaller room staring intently at a pop-up book. Will stopped in his tracks.
"I don't think I can do this." He said quietly.
Takato gently pat him on the back. "Everything's gonna be alright. Just talk to him."
Will glanced at Takato nervously for a second before he nodded, pulled his D-Arc from his pocket, and fumbled with the doorknob before he entered the smaller room. Takato watched on as Giz rushed to Will excitedly, and then suddenly stopping in place, looking at the boy curiously.
Takato turned to go wait outside, thinking it might be rude to watch their conversation. Or maybe he was worried that it might just have been too upsetting to watch. He was two steps into the hallway when he bumped into someone.
"Sorr—" Takato mumbled. He was staring face-to-face with Ryo. "Ryo? I thought you were in the meeting?"
"We're taking a ten-minute break, I was on my way to see Cyberdramon." Ryo was staring at Takato hard. "Where's Will?"
Damn it.
"He's in there, talking to Giz."
Takato was seeing some more of that angry-frustrated-energy on Ryo again.
"And he's not at home resting because…?"
Takato felt horrible, but he struggled with his justification. "I thought it would help him deal with—with everything." He said finally.
"Takato, he's not even supposed to be out of the hospital right now." Ryo challenged in disbelief. "What's wrong with you?"
"I was careful." Takato said defensively, while Ryo still stared at him. "But he said he wanted to see Giz, and we both know that he hasn't been entirely good with the whole emotionally-stable thing, and I thought it would be good for him. And I'll take him right back home after."
Ryo didn't say anything, but he walked past Takato and back out the way he'd come. Takato knew he was pissed, but Takato also wasn't convinced that bringing Will to see Giz was entirely wrong. Ryo was right that Will probably shouldn't be out of the hospital, but the fact that he was out of the hospital meant that he might as well work on recovering from all that crippling emotional damage, which couldn't be done at the apartment. Will was going to be unsupervised for an hour anyways when Takato was going into his meeting while Ryo was coming from his own. He'd driven safely, and—and it sunk in that Ryo had at least been in part, mad that he couldn't go in and even ask Will politely to return home and rest, because Will would never hear it.
Takato pushed the door open to where all the digimon were, though Will and Giz were still in the smaller room. A glance through the window told Takato that the two were talking, but he couldn't read lips, and since Gazimon didn't exactly have lips, it wouldn't have helped anyways.
"Trouble in the ranks?" a cool female voice asked. Takato didn't have to look to know that Renamon was beside him.
"Something like that." Takato admitted, feeling guilty he'd made Ryo mad.
"I think that you are the only one I've never seen him squabble with." Renamon noted thoughtfully.
Takato knew that Ryo and Renamon had had more than a few arguments, most recently when Ryo was put in charge of Hyperion's army, and Renamon didn't agree with some of Ryo's tactics. Of course, there was already tension between the two regarding their importance in Rika's life, but Takato tried not to get involved. At least the whole Hyperion-thing had worked out—until Cronus happened, anyways.
He suddenly wondered what Renamon would do to Cronus if given the chance, but decided he'd rather not think about it. Renamon didn't like Cronus since he'd been turned human, and after absorbing the Guardian's power—along with who-knows-how-much of the digital world itself, Cronus probably wasn't earning himself points on that relationship.
"Excited to get back into the field?" Takato asked casually, putting Ryo and Cronus out of his mind.
The fox nodded. "We've got a great deal of work ahead of us."
Of course, the end steps in the Tamers plan were 'Save Henry and Cronus', but Renamon was right—there were about a million things to do that would lead up to that. Find out how to save them would be nice, preferably before they killed each other. How to get the Destroyer out of Henry without killing him, or how to get all that energy out of Cronus without making him explode. Find Reed, check in on Hyperion, see if any members of the Circle were still alive—well, there was at least one. Renamon had accepted the fifth seat as a leader of Hyperion, but that was before it was attacked. They had no idea what happened to the city after the Tamers were pulled out.
"Yeah." Takato murmured. "No rest for people like us, huh?"
Kazu had timed his visit home to be at a time when nobody would be around. His parents were at the top of the avoid-list from general bitterness, but he didn't want things to get emotional, which they would if he ran into Aya. She knew about the digital world, since Guardromon was around during the D-Reaper incident, and she'd come to understand that the digital world wasn't an entirely safe, friendly place, so he knew she'd be worried.
He wound up putting the note in her pillowcase, where she'd be the only one to notice it. Kazu then headed towards his own room to see if there was anything he might want to bring with him to the digital world, and he wasn't entirely surprised to find mostly everything on the floor. Either his parents were trying to find some clue to where he might be, or they'd given his little brother free reign over Kazu's room.
Whatever.
He poked through the piles. Pictures, clothes, some CD's. He knew all the Tamers were trying to travel light, only a few changes of clothes each. He scooped up a black denim jacket which he slipped on. There didn't seem to be much else of interest in the room, and he didn't bother doublechecking. He had enough things to live off of in the bag he'd left at Jeri's house, and he'd probably only be bringing half of that to the digital world.
Kazu walked out through the front door to where Jeri was waiting.
"Were you detected, Agent Kazu?" she asked in a deep voice.
"Psh. Who do you think you're talking to?" Kazu scoffed. "Where to now?"
The redhead paused. "Let's head to the bakery. I wanna say goodbye to Takato's parents. Then we'll go get Rika and head out?"
"You're the boss, Boss." Kazu confirmed. "Is Takato coming?"
Jeri shook her head. "Meeting all evening." she frowned, before brightening. "Anyone harasses me, you have to beat them up—and anyone who harasses you, Rika beats up. I think that's the plan, anyways."
"No communicator this time?" Takato asked, concerned. Yamaki had just finished describing the dart guns the Tamers had already used before. Though the serum was new. They would still be non-lethal, but carried a few more shots a piece. But Takato was doubtful Yamaki didn't want to keep an eye on the Tamers at all times.
Yamaki turned back to his desk and hit a button on the intercom.
"Come on in." he said before turning back to Takato. "We've developed a more compact version, actually. Won't be as troublesome to carry around as the last one."
Takato didn't exactly find the last one particularly heavy, but he decided to just let Yamaki have his fun obsessing. The man had turned back to his desk to open black briefcase, and presented Takato with a small object no bigger than a cell phone. But since it was so small, it didn't have what Takato expected.
"Sleek." Takato admitted. "But the last one we knew how to use…the interface on this thing doesn't look anything like the last one, and we don't have another week for you to show me how to use it. Is this really the best idea? I mean, how'll I know how to use this?"
"You just ask for a little help, is all." A young woman's voice answered him before he finished asking.
Takato turned to see Mala, dressed in a navy blue outfit. Her brown hair was tied back, and a pair of reading glasses hung over a button on her blouse.
Yamaki nodded to her as she entered the room. "I believe you're familiar with Ms. Emmerich?"
"Yeah, I think I remember her." Takato teased.
Mala smiled and glanced to the floor as if embarrassed, seeming to wait for Yamaki to elaborate on her presence.
"The technology we used to develop this model is substantially more efficient than what was used in our last model." Yamaki explained, indicating the phone-like object in Takato's hand. "It's based off of some of Janyu's old research that was modified by Henry last summer."
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Mala shift the weight from her left foot to her right.
"Once activated, this device will hold an extremely small portal that can be sustained for large amounts of time." Yamaki went on, as if Takato was expected to understand why that would be more useful.
"It lets sound waves pass through without imploding on itself." The brown-haired girl to Takato's left finished the thought. "Communication will be a lot easier, a lot clearer, and much more efficient."
"Oh. Thanks." Takato smirked to Yamaki, as if he'd been the one to make it clear. So, the idea was to scrap the idea of a low-grade scanner and have the Tamers rely on Hypnos's machines. Takato was surprised that Yamaki would take that kind of liability. He knew that Yamaki trusted the Tamers, but that he also preferred a 'don't-ask don't-tell' set-up.
Takato wasn't so sure it was the best news, actually…it meant that Hypnos would have a closer eye on them. Even with Mala working to save Henry and Cronus, she wouldn't be able to keep every employee in the building from listening in, too—especially not Yamaki.
Takato jumped at the sound of his phone ringing. Yamaki glared at him. It was the same look that his teachers gave students when they forgot to turn it off in class.
"Sorry." Takato murmured, fumbling to get it out of his pocket.
"That really shouldn't be on while we're—"
A second ring, and Yamaki's own phone started ringing. Takato grinned to himself, and he wasn't positive, but there might have been part of a smile on Yamaki's face, too.
"Nevermind." He muttered.
Takato opened his phone up, holding it to his ear. "Hello?"
"Takato? It's Will." The boy said quickly.
"Something wrong?" Takato became nervous at the boy's tone.
"Yes—well, no, but I—" he stammered. "The thing is, I mean—"
"Deep breaths, kiddo." Takato ordered.
He actually heard Will do as he said.
"Right." Will sounded more collected. "I just got the copies of what we were looking for—the records of employees who worked at the Fuji television station at the time of the attack. Guess what the name of one of the people in charge was?"
Takato hated guessing games. "No?"
"What? N—no? No…" Will sounded confused. "Hiroaki Ishida."
Ishida.
"You're kidding." Takato blurted out in disbelief.
It was a common name, but Takato knew that that man could be their lead. He might be able to point them to Matt, and Reed—TK. He might be able to point them to answers about Carter—and Cronus.
He shifted as Yamaki gave him a look, and Takato reminded himself to finish the discussion later—he wouldn't be able to speak freely with Yamaki so close.
"Erm, I'm actually in a meeting right now…" Takato changed his tone. "We can talk about dinner later?"
Yamaki seemed to have stopped paying attention, so he probably didn't need the lie—but better safe than sorry.
"Y—yes, of course." Will answered awkwardly, as if someone was listening in on him, too.
Takato simply smiled to himself and turned his phone off. He took a few slow strides around the room as he waited for Yamaki to finish up his own phone call. Mala had slipped out of the room, leaving Takato nobody to talk to as Yamaki finished up his call. When the man finally did, he looked at the tamer curiously when Takato's phone began to ring again, and in the most teacher-like voice, asked him, "Is there somewhere you'd rather be?"
The music was so cheesy that it was great. It was some sort of techno remix, but the constant telephone operator voiceovers made it nearly impossible to determine what the original song was. Jeri didn't want to guess it out loud since Kazu would make fun of her, but she was pretty sure it was the main theme to 'Free Willy'.
She was having fun. And so was Rika. Neither of them was having as much fun as Kazu, however. When they got there, he'd been a little reserved. Three beers later, he'd loosened up enough to dance with Jeri and Rika. But as it turned out, having two attractive redheads dance with you was the key to getting more girls. Earlier, he'd said he wouldn't dance without a beer in hand. Last time Jeri saw him, someone had bought him one for the other hand as well. He'd since drifted around, leaving Jeri and Rika dancing together. Rika had called him a 'dance-slut' the last time he came to check up on them.
The club's dance floor was in levels—different size and shaped stages raised at different heights. Made for a very impressive look, and Jeri and Rika—being probably the only two sober people in the room—enjoyed watching the drunks stumble around.
"Hey, check it out." Rika said suddenly, as she stopped dancing and pointed to something behind Jeri.
Jeri turned around, expecting to see someone walk into a wall or yell at the fog machine. She didn't notice anything.
"What am I checking out?" Jeri asked carefully, still trying to pick through the crowd with her eyes.
Rika reached over Jeri's shoulder from behind, pointing.
"Them."
It was a couple, making out furiously on the dance floor.
Jeri shook her head to herself as she watched the two. "Public displays of affection are so—holycrapit'sKazu."
She didn't quite believe it, even after she'd said it. But after looking for another second, she recognized the girl as one of the very attractive blondes he was dancing with earlier.
"Is this blackmail material?" Rika asked with a laugh as she pulled a camera from her purse and snapped a picture. Snickering to herself, Jeri turned back around and resumed her dancing.
"You kidding?" Jeri scoffed. "She's gorgeous."
"I know that." Rika confirmed. "I mean that he's gonna want a copy."
Even though Jeri was having fun, she missed Takato. She hoped his meeting wasn't being too boring, and that they really were making progress on finding Cronus and saving Henry.
The song changed. Fortunately for Jeri, it happened at a time when she wasn't talking—for the last two songs, she'd been yelling mid-sentence trying to speak to Rika over the music, and sounding like a jackass when everyone ended up hearing her.
"Incoming." Rika said with a smirk as she leant in.
Jeri was afraid to turn around. Earlier in the evening, there was a skuzzy-looking guy that had started dancing up against Rika. To both of their surprises, Kazu had saved her—he'd actually squeezed between Rika and the guy, and started dancing with Rika himself. The guy backed off, and while Jeri had half-expected Rika to kick Kazu's ass for putting his arms around her, he slipped back to the bar before returning to his pack of girls—who, much to Jeri's amusement, gave some really nasty glares to Rika and Jeri.
When Jeri felt some hands on her hips from behind she nearly cringed. But before she could, the person spoke.
"Boo." Takato said as she turned around. Her spirits rose even heigher than they were, and she threw her arms around him before giving him a kiss.
"Yeah," Rika scoffed. "Public displays of affection really are so—blah."
Jeri didn't even care that her own words were being thrown back at her—it made her even happier to see Takato then than it usually did. She probably wouldn't even make him try to dance.
"I thought you were at your meeting?" she asked, letting herself feel guilty again.
Takato shrugged. "Playing hooky. I'm sure I can expect some wicked detention from Yamaki when we get back."
Jeri hugged him again, grateful he'd come.
"Oh!" she exclaimed. "Check out what Rika found."
Jeri scanned the crowd again to find Kazu and that girl, but she couldn't find them. "Damn it, they were just there."
She saw Takato glance to Rika out of the corner of her eye, probably since Jeri wasn't offering much of an explanation.
"Kazu's apparently a whore, and has now been abducted by a surprisingly attractive blonde." she explained simply.
"Yow." Takato raised his brow. "Lucky boy."
Jeri jabbed a finger into Takato's ribs. "Hey." she pouted. Well, tried to pout. Usually she was a pro, but even with everything, Jeri couldn't hide her smile. Because just incase it it was her last night on earth, she was at least having a damn good time.
Ryo usually tossed his keys onto either the counter or the coffee table whenever he got back into the apartment, but he restrained himself, as Will had things scattered about. He was sitting on the floor between the couch and coffee table, his sketchbook open. He paid Ryo no attention.
"They're opening the portal tomorrow morning." Ryo said. "Yamaki's gonna send over some equipment for you, he wants you to keep an eye on us if you're up for it."
To Ryo's surprise, he got a response.
"That's fine."
It wasn't exactly friendly, but it wasn't dripping with hate, so it was certainly an improvement.
"You're supposed to come meet us in the digital world in a few days time…" Ryo went on. "It's when the most crucial healing phases are supposed to take place. After that, the rest can be treated in the digital world, so you won't have to worry about any antibiotics or anything when you get there."
Will nodded. Ryo wasn't close enough to see any details, but he knew Will was drawing. But Ryo was scared to ask how it was going—Will had been right handed before the accident.
His unasked question was answered by the sound of a page being ripped out and being crumpled. Will stood up, walked within a few feet of Ryo, and threw it in the garbage before turning back.
"Will, wait…" Ryo blurted out, taking a half step forward.
Will stopped, and turned back to him. For a moment Ryo thought that Will was going to yell at him again, but there was no anger in his expression. No hate, and no sadness. Then again, there was also none of the light Ryo used to always see in his expression. Will had always been so eager to hear anything Ryo had to say, so interested, however meaningless Ryo's stories had been. Perhaps that was the best way to describe the expression Ryo saw then—Will looked bored.
He looked back at Ryo, his head moving in a way to indicate Ryo to hurry up and say whatever he had to say.
"Are we ever going to be able to be friends again?" Ryo asked simply.
Will looked down thoughtfully for a moment, and then back up at Ryo.
"There are more important things to deal with right now." He answered finally.
"Not to me, there isn't." Ryo countered immediately, approaching his brother, who didn't back away. "I need to know that we—"
He paused. Ryo had his moments with words, occasionally. When he could express his thoughts and feelings clearly. That wasn't one of them—Ryo was at an absolute loss.
"Will, I wish knew what to do here, but I…" Ryo sighed, defeated.
"Forget it, Ryo." Will cut him off, pausing, before tilting his head upwards ever so slightly. As if indicating to Ryo to just move elsewhere. "Go save the world."
Oh, so I'm insane, and I posted two stories between the last chapter and now, and am now in way over my head. Good going, me. But I still like you guys best, so this story'll still get the most attention. The fact that I don't get to write Cronus for another ten chapters is sort of disheartening, though.
One is the Power Player story I mentioned a while back, that's set five/six years before this, and is about TK dealing with Matt and Sora's teenage pregnancy. Heh, amusing fact—the majority of the people who reviewed/signed up for alerts/PM'd me about that story are TK/Kari fans who I really doubt follow Code Carter, and therefore are likely to get pissed with me when TK's personality eventually does a 180 and he starts going around absorbing Sovereigns and torturing people. Ba-zing! Actually, I think that story's only gonna work if it ends at Carter's birth since I don't want to re-write the stuff where Reed's hanging out with Ryo and Max in the digital world. I'll probably just end up epilogue-ing Carter's abduction.
The other is Cipher, and is not set in this series, and is about the Tamers (well, Jeri and subsequently, Takato) being labeled as terrorists after being blamed for the D-Reaper. Henry, Rika, Ryo, Kazu, and Kenta join up with them to protect them. I have a remotely interesting grand plan for this one, but for now I think it's something different, and it's probably got some potential. Pairings are Takato and Jeri of course, as well as Rika and Ryo.
I also highly recommend Jared Head's 'The Silent Project', which you can get to through my favorites. It's a really solid read, and extra-enjoyable since it's already finished so you don't have to wait for updates. So give it a look and I'll love you even more than I already do.
-N