I don't own digimon.

Session 77

Letters to us

"Let's see what we got." Alice whispered and looked over the large wicker box she had picked. It had been marked 'The Tanaka's + Prickle', but the penmanship of the label seemed to vary with each letter, with some actually looking like cursive letters, while others seemed to be more like scribblings then an actual letters.

"I don't remember mom and dad's handwriting being that messy…" Suiko remarked as she poked her entire body out of Alice, watching the gambler pull the box out and dump the contents onto the floor. Yet all they found were stacks of unopened envelopes, organized into orderly stacks and held together by thick twine. A couple cardboard boxes were mixed right in, on the off chance that the letters weren't enough.

"Let's see…" Alice started as she carefully untied the knot on the first stack, opening up the top envelope of the stack. But as she examined the first letter, the gambler did a double take.

Dear Alice,

Hi! I'm hoping that this letter somehow reaches you, but the odds of that happening seem quite slim since your last letter. I've been doing much better in school, actually managing to make quite a number of friends in the process. Your advice has been big confidence boost and I hope to meet you one day. Maybe then, I can pay you back...

With lots of love,

-Elena Yuliana

"Uh… I don't remember getting such a letter." Alice whispered and focused in on Elena. "Elena, do you think you can come over?"
Elena was currently rifling through what seemed to be the 'misc' bin, but seemed to have coming up empty.

"Coming." the gale corsair called out and ran over. "What do you need?"

Alice cracked a smile as she turned to face her partner, possibly wondering if the gale corsair had an explanation for this. Even if she hadn't, she kind of wanted to see how Elena would

"Uh…" Elena started as Alice handed her the paper. "Do you think you can help me with this?"

"Of course." the gambler answered, only for the duo to sit themselves down. "What part are you having trouble with?"

Elena pointed to the words on the paper.

*Wait, you can't read?* Suiko added and watched the gale corsair shake her head. "Oh, that isn't the problem."

"While this looks like my handwriting, I think I would have a better memory of sending something like this." Elena answered as she handed the letter back to Alice. "Though, I'm not quite sure what the odds of this just being a wrong delivery."

"It isn't."

Their gazes had focused on Fatemon, who was currently rifling through his and Chacha's basket with Aaron's help. And by help, I mean giving the mending detective some sort of planner to keep him busy. It was a win-win solution.

"To put it in a way that you sluts would understand, that letter is genuine." Fatemon explained and got a trio of confused glances. "But at the same time, fake."

"Really?" Lily inquired as she and the rest of both Alice and Elena's digimon rolled their eyes. "That's the explanation you give to us? I think you can do better…"

She then winked, getting no response from the harem mage.

"Make of it what you will." he remarked and returned his attention to his box. "If you believe I'm blowing on your maiden bodies, find that cactus and as-"

Just as Fatemon was about to finish his sentence, a bell rang. After the initial ring, it rang four more times.

*Prickle has been eliminated, leaving you almost at the halfway point! It'll truly be sweet once I crush you all.* the timekeeper announced and began to telepathically laugh. "Happy hunting, bozos!"

"Speak of the devil." Fatemon whispered and returned his attention to his box, dumping it out onto the floor. Of course, two wicker boxes popped out of that.

"Do you think there will be anything for me?" Chacha inquired and didn't get a response from Fatemon. "Fine then, jerk."

She then sat herself down at what she had guessed was her respective box and sat the container on its side. At first, it had seemed that the odds of getting something were far lower than the vamproid digimon had though, finding just a bunch of bills for things that she didn't remember doing, followed by a bunch of letters from people she had long left behind.

"Come on…" she whispered and started to shake the box about, only for a teddy bear dressed in a makeshift maid outfit to fall out. The plush had seen better days, judging from the amount of dust and dirt in the clothes and it looked just about ready to fall into a million pieces. Yet, a faint scent of garlic seemed to still hang on after all that time, leaving a familiar feeling within Chacha. "Figures."

She picked the teddy bear up, finding a large carabiner clip and yellowed note.

Chacha,

Let this be my final gift to you. While you're so far away, I believe that you're doing the best for mahora and the world. I don't have much long, so I hope this bear gets to you. Never forget everything we fought through.

-Eva

"Idiot." Chacha whispered as tears began to roll down her face. "I won't let you down."

Very carefully, she snapped the clip onto her dress and found where the bear needed to be attached. What followed, was a couple failed attempts of getting the two object to somehow connect. It wasn't until Polly noticed what Chacha was even doing that the teddy bear was finally reunited with someone it knew.

"Thank you." Chacha whispered and watched Polly return to her drawer. "Find anything?"

Polly took a deep breath and held up what appeared to be another letter. Unlike the previous two letters, this one looked like it had been made in a batch on a computer, judging from the faded printer ink and what appeared to be handmade toner ink.

"Uh… I don't remember any of that toner leaving Alternis v2." Officer EMT announced as both Polly and Aaron gave the troll 'mecha' a confused glance. "It's a long story."

Yeah, it's probably best to leave it at that.

Polly returned her attention to the paper, giving it her gaze.

Dear Mister Gostelow,

We regret to inform you that our tests have revealed that you and your wife have been rendered infertile by the experiments you two conducted with Mister Averruncus and Miss Chacha. While we're not what exactly what exactly the point of your 'experiment' was, but it seems to have not had the intended result you were looking for.

Sucks to be you fuckers!

-Julie Enoshima

"Uh…" the monk magi whispered and shoved the note into a pocket of her outfit. "I'm not sure what to say…"

Her gaze focused in on Joey, who was currently struggling to get his drawer open.

"Need some help?" Polly inquired and watched the shadow scientist give a nod. She walked over, taking a deep breath in the process.

Mermaid's Droplet!

Of course, sometimes the help you get sometimes manages to makes what you were attempting to do even more. One could easily call having part of the cabinet in the ceiling as bad, but the drawer was at least accessible for him. He quickly got to work removing what he could, finding an envelope taped to a package. Carefully, he removed the letter from the attachment, opening it up in the process.

Joey,

I fucked up. I wish I could be in person to tell you those words instead of me having to tell you in the after with this letter. For that, I say sorry. Though, I imagine that my words will sound completely hollow, having already seen my coming end. After so long, my mask is no more. For that, I grant upon you two things. The first, is my life's work. The second is my main lab in Odaiba. Finally, I ask of you to kick Julie's ass on my behalf. No telling she's helped herself to what isn't nailed to the ground.

Your foster dad,

Shade 'Evil Izzy' Alkruz

Joey held the paper to the chest and slipped it into his pocket. Afterwards, he turned his attention to the box. This time, the shadow scientist decided that he would attempt to open the container without anyone's help. Of course, his foster dad had decided that duct tape would be the best option for this sort of package.

Shadow Neko Strike!

A pair of cat claws appeared and batted the box around quite happily. Yet, this was somehow not enough to open it.

"Elena?" he inquired as the claws disappeared, leaving behind a quite battered box. "Do you think you can open this for me?"

"Sure." Elena answered and brought over the two boxes that they found in the tanaka's box. She then pulled her kris out, making quick work of the protective tape of all three boxes. "Now, let's see…"

They started with the smallest box, which Alice had taken an interest in for some reason.

"Let's see what we got." the lucky gambler whispered and stuck her hand inside, only to pull out a pair of kris. They kind of looked like the ones Elena used, but had a cat paw-shaped 'hilt' along with what appeared to be peridots embedded inside. "Uh… Happy birthday? Or would it that pre-wedding gift?"

Elena gave a smile as Alice handed the blades over. She then slipped her new blades into her pocket as the rest of the party gave them a mix between a confused and interested glance.

"So you're actually going to do it, huh?" Gentleman asked and both gals gave a nod. "Oh my. Aren't you two a little young to get married?"

"As long as you have permission, it's alright." Alice added as Elena stuck her hand into the second box, pulling out what appeared to be a piece of leather attached to a pair of elastic cords attached to a y-shaped metal rod.

"I'm guess this is for Aaron." Elena remarked and handed the weapon over to the mending detective. "Which just leaves Joey's box."

Their gazes then focused in on Joey, who decided to take a deep breath before digging into the box. At first, he seemed to come up to empty. But on his fifth attempt, he managed to grab hold of an oval-shaped object and pulled it out. Of course, a bright light then appeared for a fraction of a second, fading as quickly as it appeared.

The shadow scientist then made a glance down at the object in his hand, only to do a double take.

It was a blue and silver D-3, similar to the ones carried by everyone's favorite group of digidestined. Yet, something about it seemed different. Maybe it was the surge of energy that Joey could feel while it was in his hands. Or perhaps it was the fact that this sort of gift seemed too good to be true. Almost all the other digivices in this multiverse were toys at best, useless junk at worst. While an amazing find, it wasn't anything that interesting unless it somehow did something spectacular.

"Hey!" Joey shouted as the rest of delta headed towards the exit, with him bringing up the rear…

.

Further on, Victoria's group had found themselves in a hall of wax figures. While most of them warranted no glance from her, one of them in particular had caught her gaze.

It was that of a young girl with a gatomon, walking through a field.

What could've been

As tempted as the black cat was to smash the statue into a million pieces, she instead chose to turn her attention back to the hallway…

Notes:

Yeah, this was fun to write. Even if it's just one long set-up chapter for the next couple arcs.

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Next Time: A flashback with a certain black cat...