Chapter 9: The Awkward Date
Davis:
Davis stared, not for the first time, at Kari's body in the mirror. For once, he was not happy with what he saw.
"I look like a clown."
Kari had a makeup kit. The former boy had attempted to use it… to less than satisfying results.
"She doesn't need makeup anyway."
He just washed it all off.
Jun had suggested they dress up their own bodies before the date. "Who knows better than us what we'll like for it?" It sounded like a great idea… unfortunately, Davis hadn't counted on not knowing the first thing about how to beautify a female body.
"Maybe I can get Jun to show me later? She has to have questions about being a guy I can answer in return, right?"
It seemed like something he'd have to do if he was staying in this body for life.
He looked again at his unmade face.
"It doesn't matter now. Kari doesn't need make up. I don't need makeup. I'm good looking enough without it."
It wasn't as though his new body was completely unbeautified; he was wearing the best dress in Kari's old wardrobe, really nice shoes too. They weren't heels, but Kari didn't have any of those, and Davis knew he wouldn't be able to walk in them anyway. That had relieved him, but it was still kind of a disappointment.
"Don't worry about it." He told himself. "Heels and makeup or not, you're still dating Kari now. Isn't that a HUGE step up from before."
"I would be if weren't actually JUN you were dating." Part of him replied. With no good counterargument he decided to ignore it.
He stepped out of the bathroom. Veemon was there to greet him
"Looking good partner!' the new cat said. "Is that how you're going out?"
Veemon's approval made him feel better.
"I think so, thanks."
"I'm kind of jealous." The former dragon continued. "I wish I got to date Gatomon's body."
"Sorry bro." Davis replied. "For what it's worth, I've still got mixed feelings about this date right now."
"Because of switching into Matt's body?" his partner asked "I can see why becoming TK's brother would bother you.
"That's actually not the bad part. Well… it's not the worst part." He said. "I was kind of miffed about that at first, but end the end I decided that I didn't need to think of it that way. If marriage makes new families, shouldn't divorce unmake them?"
From the look on Veemon's face it was clear he didn't understand that. He decided to move on.
"The worst part isn't being Matt; it's dating Jun. She might be in Kari's body, but she's still… my sister."
His partner shrugged. "I don't know anything about brothers or sisters, to be honest. They're not something most digimon have. It sounds like literally not being related anymore ought to unmake sibling bonds a lot more than divorce, though."
"It should," Davis agreed "But somehow it's a lot harder for me to accept…"
Veemon was about to reply when Kari's phone started ringing. Taking it out Davis could see it was Matt's phone calling, in other words, Jun.
"Sorry buddy, I've got to take this." He answered the phone. "I take it this means you're ready?"
"I am." Jun replied. "The cab should be here any minute."
Matt had owned a car Jun could have used to pick her date up. Jun, however, had insisted on Matt's body picking her up, and neither of them trusted Davis to drive.
"Why couldn't the rings have left driving skills behind instead of languages?" He had reflected on this before. "Maybe I can convince Ken to upgrade them like that."
His next thought was "Don't kiss up to the Digimon Emperor more than you have to." It was hard to argue against.
"I guess I'll come pick you up then." He now said. "See you in a minute."
He pulled a gold "gemed" ring out, their latest from Ken, and slipped it on his finger...
Once again the scenery around Davis went black for a moment, and once again new scenery appeared as sight returned to him.
"This must be Matt's house." He said the words out loud. They did not sound like he remembered Matt's voice to sound, but they definitely didn't sound like Kari's either. Without question he was once again male.
The restored boy looked around. He had never seen Matt's room before, but this looked about what he'd have guessed it would look like. Not a lot different from Tai's or his own, albeit with a lot more CD's and a few musical instruments lying about. There was one thing out of place though, the large full body mirror looking almost exactly like the one Jun had in her old room. While it did seem weird in Matt's possession, it did confirm this was indeed his room. Davis could see the older boy's body reflected in the mirror… it kind of impressed him. Jun had clearly gotten Matt's body much more presentable than he had Kari's. The former gogglehead was a lot better dressed than he was just before, decked out in a full tuxedo. It also looked to him like Matt's face might have even been slightly made up.
"If Jun does have questions about being a guy, dressing up as one isn't one of them."
Davis kind of… admired his new reflection, in a way he never had a guy's image before. He wasn't sure what to think about that.
"You're here to date Kari's body not Matt's" He told himself. Thinking back to her reflection it wasn't hard to appreciate that. She was still more beautiful in his mind than Matt, even if not as much so as he would like. Still…
"Some time out of Kari's body will be good for me." That thought calmed several of his worries.
His train of thought was interrupted by the sound of a car horn from outside.
"That must be the cab."
He stepped out of Matt's room; the hallway left only one logical guess which way the living-room was. Going there he saw two men talked in the doorway. He guessed the one inside was Matt's dad and the other the cab driver. The supposed father turned around.
"There's the lady killer." He said. "You sure you don't want any help paying for this? Last time you went to that restaurant you begged me for more allowance for months.
"I'm fine, thanks." Davis replied. Jun had explicitly told him not to accept help of that sort.
"It's not like it's my money anyway."
Mr. Ishiada stepped out of the way to allow his perceived son by. "Tell Jun I said hi." He said.
"Jun?" How does he know that's who I'm dating?" the former gogglehead thought. If he did he ought to have a very different reaction… "Wait, he probably just thinks I'm going out with her body." He could only imagine Jun would advertise she was married to Matt whenever she could, or, as his father would perceive it, "Matt" would announce he was dating "Jun."
"Um, will do."
He followed the driver to the cab.
When the cab arrived at his new house, Davis went up to the door to get his sist.. date! Jun was waiting at the door.
"What took you so long?" She said as he opened the door.
Before he could answer, Tai's voice came from behind her "Hey Matt, where's TK?"
Davis had been hoping Tai would not notice him leave for the date. It seemed that would no longer be possible. Even without a guy at the doorstep it wasn't hard to guess "Kari's" intent by her clothes.
"TK isn't here." The restored boy replied. "It's just me."
"What?" Tai asked turing toward Jun. "You're dating Matt? I thought you liked TK."
"Way to add insult to injury" Davis thought.
"I would settle for TK." Jun said "But there's not guy on Earth I'd rather date than Mattikens." It seemed to be 100% honest, not a stretch of the truth at all.
Even though it was the first time Davis had been referred to by that pet name, he was already beginning to see why it annoyed Matt.
"I'm going to have to play along with that when I get Kari's body back aren't I?" Was this next thought.
"Eh, it was pretty close to what I would have BSed anyway..." No part of this train of thought pleased him.
"I… um," Tai stuttered "I did not not see that coming. Um, have fun I guess?"
"Will do big brother." Jun said cutely. She grabbed her date's hand. "You ready to go?"
"I'm as ready as I'll ever be."
"That wasn't very romantic" She pouted.
Davis ignored that and began walking her toward the cab. Glancing back at the doorway he saw Tai bring his fingers to his eyes. "I'm watching you." He signed.
"I guess old rivalries die harder than we thought."
The former gogglehead sighed. His idol's suspicions were jarring after so much positive attention from him. He glanced back at his date, at the body he was already missing.
"Hopefully I can avoid Tai until we switch back." Davis thought, the cruel irony not missed on him. "At least then, it will be Jun's problem, not mine."
They sat down in the cab.
"Morilali's please." Jun said to the driver.
They departed.
As they drove toward the restaurant, they keep exchanging looks. It was the second time tonight Davis was disappointed by "Kari's" appearance.
"It's the opposite of what happened as DemiVeemon."
Being significantly smaller than Kari during his first swap had made her seem much prettier, much more mature. Now being significantly larger instead was having the reverse effect.
And that was before he remembered who was in that body and things got even worse in his mind.
"Why did I agree to this again?"
Jun:
Jun stared at her date. It was her first time seeing Matt's body from any such an angle… it was already a bit of a disappointment. As she had expected, the larger relative size made Matt's body seem more manly… but somehow the gain from that seemed overshadowed by a similar loss of his bishounen charm. That wasn't the worst part, though.
"Why am I so much shorter than Davis!?" Part of her screamed "I am the older sibling here. This is humiliating!"
"We're NOT siblings." The rest of Jun roared back internally. It still made her a bit uncomfortable.
"It's only temporary." That did not completely remove the discomfort, but it did improve the situation. Now she was able to appreciate the new perspective of Matt's body more for what it was. Bara had its own appeal as well… of course this fell short of that too...
"Be back in two hours." The driver said, letting them off at the restaurant.
Entering, they were quickly shown to their table.
"Have a seat here, sir and madam." The waiter said. "I will back here shortly with menus and appetizers."
"Dang," Davis said shortly there after, "When you told me this place was fancy you weren't kidding."
"I never kid." Jun responded. "Besides, I could have nothing less for a date with Matt. You get to have it with Kari now too. You're welcome."
"Eh… I'd have just taken her to a KFC." He responded. "It's romantic enough and it's cheaper."
Jun stuttered for several seconds before she could articulate a response. "I… what? What is wrong with you?"
"Nothing, I'm just practical."
All Jun could think of now was Matt taking her to a KFC for a date and calling it "practical."
"I need to change the subject."
Luckily for her the waiter returned then with their menus.
"Thank you sir." Jun said, seizing the opportunity. She didn't need to review the menu to decide.
"I'll have the shrimp scampi" It was the same meal she had eaten on her date here with the real Matt. Anything to hearken back to that was appreciated.
Davis took a bit much longer to decide, seemingly looking over every page. After reaching the end, he finally said "Can I just have a hamburger and fries?"
He very obviously had different ideas on how this should go than she did.
"Right away, sir and madam." The waiter took their menus and left.
Awkward silence followed for several minutes after that.
"What's up with this gem?" Davis eventually asked. His hand was on the blue gem of her wedding ring with Matt. "It won't turn anymore."
"Exactly." Jun replied as a matter-or-fact. "I super-glued it into that position."
"Why?"
"Isn't it obvious? I can't afford to accidentally nudge it the other way while I sleep and let a switch happen. What if I woke up in my old body?"
"Huh, that actually is clever." Davis complemented. "Maybe I'll do that with Veemon's ring before I paint it… hmm, need to remember to do that..."
"Veemon's ring? Why not yours?" Jun asked. "Ken gave them to you, didn't he?"
"Eh, he has more use for it that I do. He's the one who gets powered up by wearing it."
"Aren't you sad to give up your wedding ring, though?"
Jun had never seen Davis wear his ring in Kari's body like she had hers in Matt's. She had just assumed a kid his age was more reluctant to advertise his marriage. Was this the real reason?
The boy rolled his eyes. His words seemed sincere though.
"Veemon has his marriage too, you know. He had a huge crush on Gatomon before this happened, at least as big as mine on Kari. Shouldn't he get to display it?"
Somehow even the romantic one would never have guessed the digimon had a crush. The thought of his kind loving seemed… alien to her.
"I guess they have to reproduce somehow, don't they?" She thought.
Somehow the former dragon seemed almost congenial to her now.
"I guess he does." She said. "Good for him."
Either way, it was a convenient transition to what she wanted to talked about next.
"Speaking of the rings," she began "what were you planing to do with your new one?"
"Um… I honestly hadn't thought much of it." Davis said. He looked down at it on his other hand. "Switch back with you tomorrow?"
"Well yes, but what about after that?"
"No plans?"
"Great! can I have it then?"
"You want both rings?" Davis asked. "What for?"
Jun avoided answering the question.
"Does it matter?" She asked. "If you let Veemon have his own, my not me?"
"You already have one." He replied, touching the blue gemed ring again.
"I mean… a pair of them." The restored girl answered. "You can get a set any time by just BSing Ken. I can't do that."
"Honestly, I still kind of want to avoid doing that." Davis replied. "I don't want to give him information that could hurt the digital world."
"That's why you give him false information."
"You mean like you did last time?"
It appeared the white cat had let itself out of the bag in more ways than one...
"I did that to save your life." Jun said. "Would you rather me have not?"
The restored boy was silent for a moment.
"Sir and madam, I have your orders." The waiter said returning.
"Thank you very much." Jun responded and he put them on the table.
"There's no dipping sauce for my fries." Davis complained. "Could I get some ketchup?"
"I will be back with some momentarily." The waiter said. He did not wait for the return to begin eating them, however, instead taking the bun off of his burger and sliding a fry through the cheese and sauce on the patty.
Jun was disgusted. "This… this is not like dating Matt was."
"It's only temporary." Part of her still said. "Just until the real Matt comes around."
"How about this?" Davis eventually said. "I'll let you have this pair of rings, but I need you to go to the digital world for me as Kari."
"What!" Jun spat. "You want me to go there… to where the digimon are?"
"I keep telling you they aren't all evil. It's not my fault if you don't believe me." Davis said. "I have a duty to protect them, and can't do that as well without Kari's D3. As long as you have it, you need to use it like that."
The prospect terrified her.
"What about that horrible portal?" She whimpered.
"I promise you the school portal isn't like that. That was the Dark Ocean. I don't think any portal to the true digital world is like that." Davis answered "Besides, if we keep doing this, you'll have to anyway. Skipping one trip to the digital world tomorrow would have been one thing, but I couldn't do that all the time."
"I… I couldn't bare to keep going there." Jun whined.
"Honestly, I think it would be good for you." Her date responded. "I'll compromise again; go tomorrow and I'll give you this pair of rings, go next time we switch and I'll give you the next pair of rings, and so on. You only have to go as many times as you want rings."
It did seem fair to her. "Could I get a better deal anyway?" She did not think so.
"Alright," she finally, reluctantly said. "I'll go on your trip tomorrow."
"Thank you." Davis said. "I know this will be hard for you, but you and the digital world will be better off for it."
"You should be thanking me, brat! I'm doing your 'duty' for you," his date thought. She did not say it, though. She was dreading the next day like she hadn't in years.
"That just means I need to enjoy tonight all the more."
The waiter returned then with ketchup and Davis began eating normally. It helped greatly. Once again she could take in the more manly Matt she was dating while she ate her own meal.
And yet, it did not feel like a date with Matt. Even when Davis did not speak, when there was no way tell it was him in that body and not her real husband, it did not feel like eating with Matt like her last date had. It felt like she was eating with Davis, with her brother, like she had almost every day before the swap.
"Why is this not working!?" She whined internally.
She wouldn't admit it, but even as it was conceived in her head Jun was a bit uneasy with the idea of the date. She knew it had amazing potential, but she also knew this might happen. When Davis had turned her down at first it had been a relief as well as a disappointment… now… now disappointment was all she could get out of it, that and disgust, disgust with Davis yes… but also with herself.
"No! I can't let it end like this!' She thought. She had to salvage something out of this date.
They finished their meals at about the same time.
"So… do I just pay for this now?" Davis asked.
"You do." Jun said. "But first, there is one more one more thing you need to do to make this date complete."
She leaned forward toward him. Great as her date with the real Matt had been, it had one short coming. Matt had not been ready to let her kiss him like a real date should. She'd been waiting for that sacred first kiss with him before that, and then even more after. If Davis could provide that experience for her…
"Jun, what are you doing?" He asked.
"Shut up and kiss me." She replied. Surely contact with that body would let her forget who was in it… as long as he kept quiet.
She grabbed his head and pulled it toward her. She could tell Davis was not pleased, but he did not resist her.
"He wants this too." She decided. It pleased her. "He wants his first kiss with Kari, and I can provide it here."
They locked lips. For a split second, everything was perfect. The kiss of her dreams, of both their dreams, had finally come.
Then her mouth filled with vomit.
They both pulled away as the out of place meal Davis had just eaten came out his mouth. Half of it filled Jun's mouth, the other landed on the table as his reached away. The half meal in her mouth then came out to rejoin the other, along with the scampi Jun had eaten as it left her stomach.
"Jun… I… I'm sorry." Davis stuttered.
"Are you okay, sir and madam?" The waiter interjected, rushing back.
"Ugh," Jun gaped. "Just pay him while I wash up." She went of to the women's room while Davis handled him.
"That was… the most disgusting thing ever..."
Looking in the bathroom mirror she unsurprisingly saw Kari's reflection. It did surprise her how much she missed Matt's reflection already. Though, perhaps after that, it shouldn't have.
"It's like he left me." She thought. "And after that, he should have."
"I'm sorry Matt.' She said and cried for several minutes.
After calming down a bit she wiped the tears away. It seemed some of the vomit had found its way into Kari's dress, so she tried to wash it out as best she could.
Davis was at the door when she left the bathroom.
"I went ahead and called the cab back early." He said. "I don't want to stay here the full two hours."
"For once, I can't agree with you more." Jun replied.
"I.. don't want to do this again either." Her… brother continued.
"I don't want to talk about this again." She said. "Let's never do that."
"I agree." Davis replied.
There was one exception she had to make, though.
"I owe it to Matt after what I did to him tonight." She thought.
"I still want the new rings."
Davis sighed. "If you want them, come to Matt's place and get them tomorrow… After the trip to the digital world.
Jun sighed too. "If I'm never getting a chance like this again, I can't let this one slip away."
"A deal's a deal." She she whined.
Matt:
"Ms Motomiya," the teacher asked "How does one reverse derive a logarithm?"
Matt did not understand what the question even meant.
"I don't know." He said plainly.
The teacher almost looked shocked.
"We covered that the other day. Are you alright? This isn't like you."
"I'm... fine." He lied.
The teacher asked another student who answered correctly.
The musician had been an average student in his old body; in Jun's he was struggling. Yesterday he had a test in this class... he would be amazed if he even came remotely close to passing.
"Why do I care?" He had thought. "Jun can fail all her classes."
"You know why." Part of him had responded. "If you don't get you're body back you're stuck with the failure."
"I AM getting my body back." It was all he would allow himself to willingly think, even if he could not escape his unwilling doubts.
"That's the spirit!" Another part of him had added. "Screw with her reputation while you're at it. Let everyone know Jun as the freak she is!"
That was a step father than the former boy was willing to go. He wanted to do it, but he did not want to deal with the consequences while he was still in this body. If he knew exactly when he was getting his own back, he'd do it in the days before... but as it stood he didn't know when that would be... or if it would be.
He sighed.
The bell range shortly there after.
"One class down." He thought. "Six more to go..."
His next class was the only one he wasn't struggling in… not that it made him feel much better.
"Jun," the teacher eventually asked him "Which verbs use 'être' as their auxiliary as opposed to 'avoir'?"
"The Dr. Mrs. Vandertramp verbs," Matt answered "devonir, revenir, monter, rester, sortir, passer, venir, aller, naître, descendre, entrer, rentrer, tomber, retourner, arriver, mourir, and partir."
"Très Bein!"
Before, the only French Matt had know were the lyrics to that "Frère Jacques" song his grandpa made him sing. Now he could almost carry out a basic conversation. The only explanation he could think of was that the relevant knowledge had been left behind when Jun's mind left her body.
"That or I was French in a previous life and I'm starting to remember it."
Somehow the former seemed much more likely.
"Why couldn't the rest of her AP knowledge have been left behind too?"
On the one hand, it pleased him to have something he was seemingly still good at. On the other hand, that this was that thing kind of offended him.
"Did Jun learn this language because she found out I had a French grandpa, or did the Francophile fall for me in the first place because of him?"
It was small potatoes to stealing his body. Heck, it was small potatoes to blackmailing him into dating her, but it was a nice cherry on top of the proverbial sundae.
He was happy when that class was over too.
A familiar face greeted him him as he walked into his next class."
"Hey Jun!" Monoe said.
"Hey." Matt replied, taking his seat next to her.
Matt was barely acquainted with the girl he knew to be Yolie's sister before he became her best friend, but he had grown to appreciate her greatly since. He had come to his morning classes unprepared the first day, not knowing where Jun's locker was, let alone how to open it. He was sure Jun had tried to reveal as much to him the texts she'd sent since the switch. Quite a bit of practical advice seemed to be buried amid the ramblings about their supposed marriage. Unfortunately, Matt could not bare to sift through the former enough to find the latter for more than the first dozen texts or so. By now he had given up reading them. Luckily, her friend formed a nice alternative. Monoe's locker happened to be right next to Jun's. She had wanted to talk with him as they left this class that day, and he had walked with her there. All he then had to say was that he "forgot" his combination and she was happy to "remind" him.
"You look happy." Matt said to his new friend. "Anything good happen to you?"
"You won't believe it but, Matt came over and talked to me the other day!" She almost sang. "He told me Akira had a crush on me! He said he'll help me get a date with him!"
That ramifications of that immediately dawned on him.
"They're at it again." He thought. "They're going to swap her with Akira."
It was the logical next step in what they were doing. Davis had let his sister steal her crush's body after he took his. Now Jun was giving her friend that same gift.
"Before long this is going to happen to the whole band!"
Would she do it? Monoe had seemed nice enough, but so had Davis. At this point he wasn't feeling very trusting.
"You, you wouldn't do that would you?" He asked. "Take, his body?"
"Well, not on the first date. That would be taking to pretty fast." Yolie's sister said. She chuckled. "Isn't four dates the rule?"
"Does she not know or is she playing coy?" Matt questioned internally. It didn't seem like she was lying… "If she did know it would be really dumb for her to tell me this..."
"You're sure it was Matt that said that, not… um, someone else." He asked.
"Um… yes?" Monoe answered. "I don't know who else it would have been."
"She doesn't know." Matt thought. "That or she's a better liar than any of the other body thieves." Still, not knowing and not be willing were totally different things.
"You wouldn't, erm, take him out if he didn't want to, would you?" He asked.
"Um, of course I wouldn't?" She replied. "Jun, are you alright? You're being really weird right now."
"I'm sorry." Matt said. "Please promise me one thing though, if Matt offers you a ring, no matter what he says, DO NOT accept it, and especially don't put it on."
"You're still being weird Jun." Monoe replied. "Do you want to talk about something else?"
"Yes actually," Matt said. "But first I need you to make that promise, please. Please, please, please, please."
The bespectacled girl stared at him for a moment.
"Alright." She finally said. "I promise I won't accept a ring from Matt or put one on."
"Thank you." The former boy replied. "Thank you very much."
The bell rang before they could say anything else and the teacher called for attention.
Matt could not focus on the lecture, even if he believed he would understand it. He kept thinking back to exchange he'd just had. Monoe's promise had been relieving, but it wasn't enough.
"She's going to do it again." He whined internally. "Even if it isn't Monoe she's going to help some other pervert steal someone else's life! I have to stop her. I have to confront her."
He knew it would be futile; he had know it from that start. Perverts like her just didn't listen to reason. With this much at stake, though, he had to try.
"I'll confront her on her way to my next class."
He stared at the clock. The minutes could not pass quickly enough. The teacher could not draw his attention away from it. Eventually, however, something else did.
"What, what is this?"
It was a pain he had never experienced before, coming from his lower body. He grabbed at his navel and realized the source of the pain was lower. His hand continued to slide down, and then suddenly, it was wet. Lifting up his hand he saw a dark spot forming on the crotch of his uniform.
"Oh my god!" He screamed in his head "Oh my god, no!"
It was clear he was having a period.
"Damn you Jun!"
"Jun, what's wrong?" The teacher called out.
"I… I…" he stuttered.
The girl next to him, on the opposite side as Monoe, looked over and then burst out laughing.
"Looks like someone forgot a tampon!" She chucked. The rest of the class then blurted out a mixture of their own laughter and "ew."
"Please go see the counselor." The teacher sighed.
Jun:
Jun was in a chapel in her old body, dressed up for her wedding. Matt was waiting for her at the altar, wearing his tuxedo. She walked down the aisle and took him in hand. Ken was in front of them dressed in a priest's robes.
"Do you take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband?" He asked.
"I do." Jun happily replied.
"And do you take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife?" Ken asked him.
"I do." Matt echoed.
"If anyone has any reason these two should not be wed, speak now or forever hold your peace."
No one objected.
Ken smiled. "Then I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride."
Jun looked over to her new husband ready to embrace him, but instead of Matt standing there it was Davis.
"'Till death do us part." Her brother said. He then leaned forward to kiss her on the mouth.
"NOOO!"
"Ms Kamiya!"
Jun was in Kari's classroom, the teacher looking angrily at her.
She thought on her feet. "Um, no they aren't equal, because you didn't put in the absolute values." She recognized the trick on the board. "The square root of a number can be positive or negative. If it weren't, you could say all numbers were equal."
"Very good Hikari." The teacher replied. "Please be more subtle next time."
If going back a single grade level had made classes boring, going all the way back to middle school had made them unbearable. It was the first time Jun could remember falling asleep in class.
"At least it's almost over." She thought looking at the clock. "Of course, then I have another chore I need to do..."
To say Jun was not looking forward to her promised trip to the digital world was a very large understatement.
"It's for Matt." She told herself. "When I have those rings, I'll be able to help him like never before."
The last bell rang shortly after that. It was time. With dread in her heart Jun walked toward her old computer lab.
When she arrived there, she saw a girl she recognized as Monoe's sister. "Hey, erm, Yolie." She said.
"Hey Kari."
With the girl was... a digimon. It wasn't the worst thing she'd seen of their kind, but it was still a legless, headless bird with a face on its body. She decided to try to ignore it.
"Hey Kari." It said to her as well.
"Um... hey." She responded. Already things weren't going well.
It was then that something even creepier flew in the window.
"Hey guys." It said. Jun just stared at it, unable to respond.
"You okay, Kari?" It asked.
"She's fine Patamon." Veemon said, climbing in the window behind it. "She um... just saw a really scary movie last night. She might be a bit jumpy."
"Yeah," Jun finally said, taking the line. "That's it."
TK was the next to arrive. After him was a boy Jun had never seen before. He released from his bookbag a disembodied head. Jun had to restrain herself to not scream.
"You okay Kari?" The monster repeated.
Veemon stepped between them and repeated the same story as before. His current partner just nodded in agreement.
Kari was the last to arrive. She released what Jun knew to be the original Gatomon. She recognized the description Davis had given for DemiVeemon.
"Dragon isn't the first word I'd use to describe it." She thought. "Maybe weird anime lizard? I guess it isn't quite as scary as I would have expected..."
"Hey... DemiVeemon." Next to the head this thing was easy to look at.
"Hey... Kari." Jun got the impression it didn't really want to talk with her either. She didn't dwell on that and counted her blessings.
"Are we ready to go?" She asked the group.
Kari sighed. "As much as we'll ever be at this point." She held a digivice up to the computer as Jun had seen Ken do. "Digiport open!" Davis's body shrank and Kari was sucked into the screen along with her partner. Yolie and TK went next along with their digimon.
The small boy motioned for Jun to go through as well.
"Let's get this over with." She thought. She held up her digivice and found herself pulled into the screen as well.
Unlike the dark gate this trip seemed… almost peaceful? It didn't feel like a decent into hell, just like going through a door. For once, it seemed her brother was right. On the other side, she found herself in a forest.
Cody came through the portal right behind her. She saw in him the opposite of what she'd seen before, a person growing as they came out of the screen. Right behind him came... an armadillo? Jun stared at it for a second.
"Uh, Kari, you're kind of creeping me out." It said.
"Hey, you've been creeping me out this whole time; turnabout's fair play." is what Jun thought. She did not say it; it wasn't as true anymore anyway. Compared to what it had been before, the armadillo almost felt relieving now.
"Um, sorry." She said and turned away. Looking around she saw some of the other digimon had changed too. The bird with Yolie was also a lot less frightening, looking like a bird should. Veemon looked the same, but by now she had gotten used to him. She was feeling a bit better due to them.
On the other hand, Jun did not know what she thought about the form Gatomon had taken. It was... not as bizarre. "Veemon" was less of caricature than "DemiVeemon" had been, though she didn't know how to feel about a lizard standing upright. She did not even know if she'd still call it a lizard. "Dragon" was beginning to look a lot more accurate, though she wouldn't call it that either. It was.. Veemon... and it was still hard to look at it. The last digimon in the group... she still did not want to look at it at all. Why couldn't it have changed too?
Turning her attention away from the digimon the newly made digidestined noticed that the rest of her group was now wearing different clothes. Looking down she found that she was too. She was about to examine her new garb in detail but stopped herself.
"They're already asking you to many questions." She thought.
"Hey guys!" Yolie blurted out "I think there might be a digiegg in this area."
She was holding another strange device. She had found one like it before in Kari's bookbag as well as Matt's before it, but she assumed it was a handheld game. When the other digidestined pulled their own, Jun decided to do the same.
Opening it up, she saw a beeping red light at the edge of the screen with an arrow pointing toward it.
"A new digiegg? Awesome!" Veemon exclaimed.
The only "digiegg" Jun knew of was the one Davis said he found his partner underneath.
"Another one, great!" Jun thought "Hopefully it will at least be like Veemon."
"That is awesome." Kari said. "Let's go get it." She began walking off in the direction the arrow pointed. The others quickly began to follow her. Jun went along as well.
They walked... and walked... and walked...
"Umm, are we sure the egg is in this area?" TK eventually asked. "It seems like we've been walking a long time."
"Over an hour." The small boy said. "We really will be in the next area pretty soon."
They had come to a hill, Yolie had just reached the top as he complained.
"Hey guys." She said. "Look at this."
The rest of the group went up toward her and saw a lake on the other side of the hill. On the shore next to it was an elegant looking building.
"Definitely not something I expected to see here." Jun thought.
"What do you think that place is?" Kari asked the group.
"I don't know." TK responded. "It does look strangely familiar though..."
"Do you think we'll find the digiegg there?" Yolie asked.
"It seems likely to me." The youngest boy said. "Unless the D-Terminals work between areas, there's not many other places it could be in."
"Sounds like we ought to check it out then." Monoe's sister noted.
"I agree." Kari said, and with her approval the group marched over to it.
Approaching the building, it became obvious that it was a restaurant. A big sign was over the entrance and smaller signs were outside. The large sign simply said "Egg Diner."
"I can read that?" Jun asked herself. She had never seen characters like what were written here, but somehow she knew they were transcribed Japanese. These word "digcode" came to her mind... "That must be what they're caled... I guess Kari could read them, and I've inherited that." The rings did that. "Weird, but kind of cool."
"Egg Diner!" Veemon read, half gasping.
"I wonder what it is they sell." Yolie joked.
"Sounds like an appropriate place for a digiegg." Kari noted.
They entered the restaurant. In front of them was a counter maned by... a giant egg with red eyes seen through a hole in its shell.
"Hello, welcome to Egg Diner." It said. "Menus are preset on the tables."
"I guess the name is pretty literal." The bespectacled girl said chuckling.
Jun was less amused by the monster before her.
"Do you know if there is a digiegg in here?" Kari asked.
"I'm afraid I haven't seen a digiegg since I left primary village." It replied. "I have plenty of regular eggs though; I get them from the orchard right over in the next area."
"An orchard for eggs?" Yolie asked. Jun was glad she was not to only one to find that weird.
"Welcome to the digital world." Patamon said, chuckling as well now. It conjured images in her mind of movie villains laughing maniacally.
"If the egg isn't here, we should probably move on." The smallest boy said.
"I'm not convinced it isn't here." Monoe's sister replied. "You said just a minute ago that there weren't many other places for it to be."
"True..."
"I say we investigate further." his armadillo said.
"No loitering!" The egg monster interjected. "If you want to stay here order food."
"I wouldn't mind eating here." Kari said. "Does anyone object?"
"I object!" Jun screamed in her head. She stayed silent, however. When no one else objected, the group walked toward the tables.
Jun sat down at a booth, and Veemon sat next to her. Kari went to the one behind them with her partner. TK stood next to them for a few moments, as if trying to make a decision. He looked at the table Kari was in and stuttered... then he looked at the one Jun was in a cringed...
"That is interesting." Jun thought. It was plain he did not appreciate "Kari" or "Davis." The restored girl was vaguely aware of the animosity between TK and her brother, but she had no idea it extended to Kari was well.
"Did he always dislike her, or did Davis mistreat him in Kari's body?"
Either way he wound up sitting with the smaller boy in front of them.
Yolie sat with her. And they both opened up their menu. It, like the signs, was written in digicode, but also like the signs, she could read it.
"Beef Ramen, Egg Lo Mein, Scrimp Scampi, Numemon's Delight… most of this stuff seems pretty normal." She had half been expecting grass salads with bugs or some other revolting alien meals to dominate the menu. If anything the scampi almost felt like the most revolting thing on the menu after what had happened last night.
"Damnit Davis!"
Then again, the menu was not totally devoid of strange entrees.
"Hawkmon, do you want the birdseed cake or the worm spaghetti?"
"I'm a hawkmon, not a sparrowmon." The bird replied. "What kid of meat do they have?"
The human girl turned the page and began listing off assorted meats to her digimon. It asked her questions of several items. "What does that come with?" "What kind of sauce again?" ext. The menu was laid out on the table were both of them could see it, but only the human seemed to be able to understand it.
"Can the bird not read?" Jun asked herself. She looked over at her current partner and found him plainly reading the foods of to himself in a whisper.
"Sausage pizza, chicken alfredo, lasagna..."
From the cat's tone Jun got the impression he was really enjoying himself.
"Is he really hungry or what?"
Either way, the newcomer had just learned Veemon could read and Hawkmon could not.
"Is the bird just stupid, or is this world like one of those poor countries where half the population is illiterate?"
Curious, she tried to listen to the table behind her. She could barely hear Kari and her partner whispering.
"Kari, is there any seafood on the menu?" Gatomon asked.
"I'm looking at a whole section for it now." The human replied. "What's wrong, can't you see it?"
"I… can see it, but… um... I can't read it."
"What? How can you not read it it? What's wrong."
"I… don't know why, but I can't." The digimon said sadly. "I… don't remember what any of the characters say."
That was interesting. Jun once again recalled that the rings left linguistic knowledge behind in a switch. If Veemon had not known how to read before and Gatomon did, that would be reversed now. Suddenly the latter's excitement about reading the menu made sense; he was experiencing that ability for the first time. She could only begin to guess how that must be making the new cat feel… and for that matter how it made the former cat feel…
It was the first time she actually experienced pity for a digimon.
"Kari, you want to split a pizza?" Veemon asked her. "I want one, but I don't think I could eat the whole thing myself."
"Sure." Jun replied. She decided the alien dishes in the menu were enough for her not to want to look through it after all. This seemed like a good compromise. The fact that her current partner could do it for her was a boon to both of them, even if it wasn't for Gatomon.
"Eh, he probably deserves it more." She thought. "Just no toppings please." She said. The human did not trust them here.
The egg monster came by shortly there after and took their orders. As they waited for it to cook them, Yolie and Jun made a bit of small talk.
"You know, I've been meaning to ask you veteran digidestined." The bespectacled girl said at one point "How come the digimon have their own writing system but they just speak Japanese? Why would they have their own writing, but not their own spoken language to go with it?"
It was a very good question, and one Jun had no idea how to answer.
"Um… I don't know." She answered truthfully.
"Darn," Yolie responded. "I asked Hawkmon before, but he didn't know either. Sadly you don't learn much history growing up under a digiegg."
"Sad but true," the bird said. "Sorry."
"Hey, don't be." its partner replied. She turned to Veemon. "Don't suppose you know, Gatomon? You didn't grow up like that."
"I… I don't know either." He answered. "I guess history was never my best subject."
"Maybe it's like how we took kanji from the Chinese, but kind of backwards?" Yolie guessed. "They took a foreign spoken language from humans but kept their old script?"
Adapting a writing system when you didn't have one made a lot more sense than borrowing a spoken language… Besides, Davis had told her that the digimon were trying to avoid contact with humans besides his group. This explanation seemed very unlikely.
"That's a better guess than anything I've got." She still truthfully said.
"Maybe Ken imposed spoken Japanese on them and he never got a chance to change out all of their papers?" She thought. "No… if that were the case Yolie ought to know it."
Their food was brought out then, distracting them from the question. Jun half expected the pizza to taste horrible like the alien aberrations listed on the menu must, but it didn't. It was just like any other cheese pizza she had ever eaten...
When they were done, Yolie went up to pay the egg creature.
"This covers it, right?" She asked.
"Are you kidding me?" He asked. "This money is worthless now that the Dark Masters are dead."
"This is all we have, can't your take it anyway?"
"I will only accept the new digi-dollars." The egg maintained. "Pay up, or go work off the bill washing dishes."
"I think I remember something like this before..." TK thought aloud.
"Come on!" Yolie yelled. "We'll pay you back next time."
"There will not be a next time! Pay now or never come here again!"
"Don't worry, maybe I can help!"
The group turned around and saw new arrivals to the restaurant, two humans, a boy and girl about Matt's age, and... dear god... the two digimon with them were as monstrous as Patamon...
"Mimi!" Yolie cried out, oblivious to her companion's disgust. "Great to see you here, who's your friend?"
"Great to see you all too!" "Mimi" responded "This is Micheal, everyone say hi."
Jun looked at the boy who had just come in. Maybe it was because the monsters she had just been looking at were so frightening, but he was a huge relief to look at, almost infatuatingly so.
"Damn," the restored girl thought "If weren't already married to Matt, he'd be a great husband."
It was obvious the pale blond boy was not Japanese. That made him more interesting. He was the first westerner she had ever seen in person.
"I wonder where he's from." She thought. Thinking back to his accent she couldn't quite place it... Where had she heard that before?
"Hello there." Jun said along with the others.
"Pleased to meet you," Micheal replied.
"How are you here?" Kari asked. "Only digidestined can get to the digital world."
"Conveniently, I am a digidestined."
He pulled out a digivice, the same model that Matt had.
Most of the group gasped. Jun did her best to feign being surprised as well.
"That doesn't make sense though." Kari added. "Were you chosen? The rest of us saw digimon before hand, when they attacked Highton View Terrace eight years ago."
"They attacked Highton View Terrace too!?" Jun screamed in her mind.
Yolie chuckled. "Feeling congenial Davis? The first digidestined saw that; I just sent e-mails when Diaboromon tired to destroy the internet. What was your deal? Being held captive by Bakemon?"
"Destroy the internet" was the first set of words that stuck out of that statement to Jun. "held captive by Bakemon" was the second. She did not know the name of the ghosts before, but she gathered it from the context. Neither set of words conjured happy thoughts in her mind.
"Um, yeah, that's right." Was all Kari said in response.
"That sounds more interesting than my deal. I just saw a gorillamon climb the Empire State Building." Micheal said. "Nothing we haven't all seen in the movies."
"The Empire State Building? Like in New York City?" Jun asked.
"Born and raised." He replied.
An "American" accent to her mostly meant "the dialect spoken in Hollywood movies" that didn't seem like what Micheal was speaking
"I guess Americans don't actually speak like that." She thought. "Maybe it's like how Japanese people don't talk like anime characters..."
"That's all very nice, but what about my payment!?" the egg once more interjected.
"Wait a minute," TK blurted out "I do remember you! You're Digitamamon! You worked for Myotismon! You practically enslaved Joe and Matt when they couldn't pay you!"
"Matt!" Jun blurted out "What did you do to him!?"
"I..." the monster looked down and stuttered a bit before continuing "I did what I had to do. You didn't cross Myotismon, not in those days."
"You didn't answer my question." The restored girl pressed. "What did you do to Matt?"
"All I did was have him work off his debt. I have to make a living."
"You made him work off a lot more than that!" TK added. "He we hadn't fought back, you'd have had him working here forever!"
"I did what I had to do." The accused repeated. "I'm sorry, really I am. I swear I'm not like that anymore."
"Yeah right!" Yolie shouted. "I knew you were a bad egg! Were you born bad or what?"
"He couldn't have been." Mimi said. She walked up to the monster. "Nobody is born bad. If Digitamamon says he's turned over a new leaf, I believe him."
"Is she insane?" Jun thought "Why is she doing to for that... thing?"
"Thank you." It said. "You know what, forget about the bill. You're right; the others more than covered it. Heck, have some more if you want, all on me."
Jun couldn't believe what she was hearing. Yolie seemed to share her doubts. "Are we really going to believe that?" She asked.
"Why not?" Mimi asked. "If he wants to be our friend, why shouldn't we let him?"
"Friend?" It asked. "Would you really consider me that?"
"Of course."
Digitamamon flustered. "Thank you, friend." It said.
"Mimi, you always bring out the best in people." Micheal said. "I really like that in you."
They didn't have time to dwell on it before a loud roar filled the air. Then the restaurant shook.
"What's going on!" June yelled
The group ran out the door. On the other side of the lake terrible new digimon was screaming incoherently at them, a giant gorilla with a cannon for an arm.
"A gorillamon!" Micheal cried out.
"And it's got a dark spiral!" Kari added.
"I thought those were only for ultimate level digimon!" Cody said in confusion.
"It seems not." TK replied.
The new monster did not wait any longer for them to contemplate this. "Energy Cannon!" It roared, and a blast came from its arm straight at them.
"Look out!" Digitamamon yelled, leaping into the other digimon's attack. He intercepted the blast and went flying behind the restaurant.
"We need to break the dark spiral now!" Kari commanded.
"I'll handle it, if you don't mind." The American volunteered. He pulled out his digivice "Betamon?"
"Ready!" his partner answered, running toward the lake. The digivice began to glow, then so did the monster. It jumped into the lake still glowing.
"Betamon digivolve to Seadramon!"
What could only be described as the serpentine head of giant sea dragon erupted from the water.
"Oh my god!" Jun gulped.
It was frightening; something like that had to be, but somehow "Seadramon" was almost a relief in its own way. A sea serpent was at least something she had a concept of before. She still could not guess what "Betamon" was.
She wasn't the only one surprised it seemed.
"Seadramon is your digimon?" TK spouted. "I'm kind of impressed."
"You'll be very impressed soon." Micheal responded. "There's no way he can loose in the water."
The sea serpent lunged at Gorillamon, grappling it with its mouth and dragging it below the surface. The signs of struggle became apparent from the trashing ripples on the surface and the occasional energy beam to shoot through.
"Seems like Seadramon could use some help." Mimi began. "You up for it, Palamon?"
"As always." It responded. Mimi's digivice glew like her friend's. "Palamon digivolve to Togemon!"
"T.. Togemon."
The thing Palamon became... like Seadramon, it ought to have been an aberration, but also like Seadramon, it wasn't; it wasn't even scary at all. It was stranger than the sea serpent, but it also was... familiar? It was almost comforting...
"Have I seen you before?" Jun thought.
She had not thought long before Gorillamon was sent flying up from beneath the lake, seemingly by an attack of Seadramon's. The familiar cactus was ready to intercept.
"Needle Spray!" It... no, she said. The needles facing the ape shot out and struck the invader. It landed in front of Togemon, struggling to move.
The plant moved in to finish it. "Light Speed Jabbing!"
She landed a punch on the dark spiral and it shattered.
"Way to go Togemon!" Mimi yelled. The others, including Jun, joined in. Somehow she was enthusiastic about it.
"You saved me." Jun suddenly said, memory returning to her. "You saved all of us."
"I know right!" Mimi yelled. "Togemon is the best."
"Of course," Micheal added. "But don't forget Seadramon's help either."
"I wouldn't dream of it." His friend replied.
It wasn't what Jun was referring too. Four years ago that plant had saved her. She had saved her, her family, and everyone else the ghosts had captured... A digimon had saved her. For the first time the ramifications of that began to dawn on her. She had learned to trust Veemon already, now with this digimon too...
"I... I've been a jerk haven't I?" She thought. "Maybe these guys aren't so bad after all..."
"Ugh," the gorrillamon said beginning to get up. "Wha.. what happened?"
"You were under the control of the Digimon Emperor." Mimi answered. "He put a dark spiral on you and made you attack us."
"Attack you?" the ape whined. "I... I'm sorry. Can I make it up to you?"
"Don't worry about it." Kari said. "It was the emperor's fault not yours."
"He's really evil, that Digimon Emperor." Micheal added. "Why would he do something like this?"
This was beginning to dawn on Jun now as well. Her brother had made certain she was aware of Ken's slaving, but somehow it had seemed to distant for her to care about. Slavery itself as a fairly abstract concept to her, even without far-fetched things like mind control involved. Combine that with the fact that the emperor's victims were digimon, and the whole ordeal seemed like a non-issue before. Now... she was beginning to regret telling him what she had.
"No, I had to do that to save Davis." She thought, brushing the regret aside. "Still... next time I'll think of a lie."
She decided she would talk to Davis about what to say later. She knew she need his experience to make a convincing lie, and, knowing Davis, he'd probably need her help too.
The ape left then and Togemon and Seadramon regressed to their previous forms. Somehow, they didn't frighten her anymore. Looking around she didn't think Gatomon or Hawkmon did either. Patamon was still a bit creepy, but not enough so to be hard to look at anymore.
"Where is Digitamamon?" Kari asked, calling Jun back to the here-and-now.
"He jumped in front of Gorrillamon's attack and went flying." The small boy who's name Jun still did not know answered. "He probably saved us doing it."
That too was just now beginning to register in Jun's head now that he mentioned it. Even the greedy egg that badgered them about payment had a heart it seemed.
"Yeah, I've really been a jerk..." She thought.
"Yeah... he did save us." Yolie said softly. It was plain she was having similar thoughts. Jun found herself relating to her friend's sister once more.
"If I were her age instead of Monoe's, would she be my best friend?" That Jun was technically Yolie's age now was her next thought.
"We have to find him then." TK said. "Pegususmon and I can search in the air."
"Sounds like a good idea to me." Kari replied.
Awkwardly taking her approval, TK pulled out his digivice and yelled "Digiarmor Energize!" His partner responded "Patamon armor digivolve to Pegususmon, Flying Hope!" The winged horse did not frighten her at all.
As TK began to mount his partner, the youngest boy tuned to Jun and said "You should go to on Nefertimon. She works well with Pegusumon."
TK did not seem pleased by that, though his partner did. Before either of them could respond, though, Veemon interjected.
"I don't think that's a good idea. Kari um..." He stuttered for a moment seemingly thinking of what to say.
Jun knew what he was trying to do. A few minutes ago the thought to flying on a digimon's back would have horrified her, and he was trying to spare her from that.
"It's okay Gatomon." She said. "I'm up for it."
The white cat turned around and looked surprised at her. "Really?" he asked. "Are you sure?"
"I am" his current partner said, pulling out her digivice.
"What did TK say to make this work?" she asked herself internally.
"Um," she stuttered. "Digiarmor energize?"
The new digidestined did not know to describe the feeling that overcame her then. It was as if a part of had come out of her new body and into her D3. The device then began to glow, as did the D Terminal in her bag.
"Gatomon armor digivolve to Nefertimon, the Angel of Light"
Somehow, Jun could almost feel that part of her inside the Nefertimon. She did not hesitate to mount her new partner.
Looking over it was clear Kari and Gatomon were not pleased by this development either, but neither they nor TK made any attempt to stop them as they took off.
Jun remembered the first time she had been on a plane and how amazing it had been to see the world though its window. She'd flown enough times by now for that childhood excitement to fade into mundanity when she looked out a plane window these days. Now, flying over this forest close up instead of from 30 thousand feet seemed like a whole new experience all over again. All the fear she had for this world seemed to melt away as that old excitement came back to replace it.
"Yahoo!" She cried as Veemon picked up speed.
"Glad to hear you enjoying this," He said to her, "but do remember to look for Digitamamon."
Caught up as she was Jun realized then she had forgotten that.
"Sorry." She said and began looking in earnest. Even dampened by that responsibility, the view was still nice.
The search did not go on long before a flash of green light from the direction they had came caught the group's attention.
"What was that?" Jun asked.
"Armor-digivolution," Her mount responded. "and back where the others are. I doubt that means anything good."
Without her input the sphinx began flying toward the flash. Looking over the restored girl could see Pegususmon doing the same.
Before long they had returned to the field outside the restaurant. Digitamamon was there fighting what Jun recognized as her brother's description of Flamedramon… and long with two other digimon she did not recognize, a giant bug with drill hands and… a ninja with giant shuriken for hands?
"I can see the dark spiral!" The ninja said. "It is inside his shell. Pegususmon, Nefertimon, help me!"
"Hold on tight." Veemon whispered. He then yelled out along with the pegusus "Golden Noose!"
Golden chains formed between the digimon's feet. They grappled the egg's feet with them and held him in the air upside down.
"What are you doing!? Let me down!" Digitamamon yelled
It was the ninja that responded. "Double Star!" The shuriken at the end of his arms launched off and into the hole in the egg's shell. Then coughing out through the hole came the rubble of a dark spiral.
"Ugh… what happened?" Digitamamon groaned.
Their mounts landed and released him.
"You were controlled by the digimon emperor and Yolie freed you!" Mimi said.
"Don't forget our help." Jun thought. She did not say it, though.
"Thank you." The egg replied. "After all I've done, I can't thank you enough."
All of their digimon regressed to their previous level.
"Don't mention it." Yolie replied. "I want to apologize for all the bad things I said about you before. I promise to be more honest with people now, especially myself."
"If anything, I am the one who should be apologizing."
Jun surveyed the digimon around her. As much as she now hated to admit it, some of their higher forms had still creeped her out a bit.
"I'll get over it." She told herself. "I really do need to… They deserve it."
"Hey MIMI!" a cry came. "If we aren't judging by appearances anymore, wanna go out on a date?"
Mimi's fist quickly sent the strange blob flying.
"Okay," Jun thought. "Most of them deserve it."
Davis:
"Ring! Ring!"
Davis looked at the clock as he heard Matt's doorbell ring.
"That must be Jun." He thought. "She's a little early, but hey, less time before I get back to my body is good."
That he thought of Kari's body that way was not lost to him. He decided not to dwell on it and went down to open the door.
Opening the door he saw Jun, or rather her old body. For a split second he wondered if she had gotten cold feet and started giving bodies back. The thought was quickly disproved, however.
"Jun, you sociopath! What are you doing now!?"
The person he was talking to was obviously Matt in his sister's body.
"Time for my best Jun impersonation." He thought. Letting Matt know who he was, and especially why he was that way, was the last thing he wanted to do.
"Mattikens! You're finally here!" He said. "Are you ready for our honeymoon?"
"Honeymoon? What are you talking about!?"
"Our marriage of course." The former gogglehead replied. "We're one now, united in body and soul!"
"That again!" Matt grumbled. "Jun, we are not married. You stole my body."
"Of course I did. How else were you going to agree to this?"
"You… you're disgusting." Matt continued. "Is that what you're doing with Akira and Monoe too, marrying them off?"
Davis's first thought was "Who?" He vaguely recognized the name of Yolie's sister, but "Akira" was strange to him besides an old movie villain.
His thought second was "Jun you sociopath, what are you doing?"
It didn't matter. He'd sort that out with Jun when she got here. In the mean time he had to deal with his guest.
"Of course Mattikens," he said "Their love needs to be realized, just like ours!"
"Stop calling me that!" "Mattikens" practically yelled. "I do not love you, and you do not love me. If you did you wouldn't have stolen my life!"
"You do love me, you just don't know it yet."
The former musician stared at him. The look of hatred on his face was the purest Davis had ever seen.
"Listen to me, right now." He began. "What you're doing to me, don't you dare do it to Akira too. Don't you do it to anyone else. I won't let you!"
Davis grinned. "What exactly do you plan to do to stop me?"
Matt sighed. "I don't know. I don't know how to stop you, but I promise I will figure it out. I promise I will figure out how to get my body back, and more than anything, I promise that when I do you will suffer for this! Do you hear me Jun? I swear, when I get my body back you will wish you were never born!"
It was the first time Davis felt… afraid of the older boy.
Brushing it off, he said "You're cute when you're angry, you know?"
Before the former leader could react Matt's fist was in his face. It stopped just shy of contact, though.
"I can't even hurt you now, can I?" he asked. "Not without hurting my own body too… Just wait Jun. I promised that you would suffer. I promised that you would wish you were never born. I keep my promises."
He did not wait for a response. Matt just stormed off, leaving Davis to ponder his threat.
Despite his best efforts to brush it off again, it still creeped him out.
"He can't ever come back here." Davis thought. "I can't let him have this body back. I shouldn't even let him talk to Jun!"
That stakes had gotten that much higher.
Eventually, the real Jun arrived.
"Jun, what are you planning to do with Akira and Monoe?" Her brother immediately asked
"How do you know about that?" Jun asked in response.
"I have my sources." Davis responded. "What are you doing with them?"
"Right now, I'm just match making." His sister admitted. "I was going to switch them if that didn't work out."
"Don't! Switch too many people and you're going to get us exposed."
"That's preposterous." Jun replied. "No one in their right mind is going to believe they switched bodies."
"You believed Kari and I switched just from the note." Davis countered. "Did you just admit you aren't in your right mind?"
"Okay, maybe some people will believe it," Jun conceded "but it's still not very likely."
"And that's why you can't just swap people willy-nilly. Sooner or later you run out of luck."
"Surely by then they'll be happy in their marriage and it won't matter anymore."
This was going nowhere.
"I'm not going to give you my ring if you're going to gamble with it like that." Davis eventually said.
"No fair!" Jun countered. "You said I could have this pair!"
"That was before I knew you were being this reckless with it!" The former gogglehead spat. "Swear to me you aren't switching Monoe and Akira and I'll give it to you."
"That is BS!" Jun groaned. "Fine, I won't switch them. Give me my ring!"
Davis extended his pinky finger. "Promise it."
Jun complied. She shook his finger and said "I promise I won't switch Monoe and Akira."
"Alright," He said pulling his ring out of his pocket. "Are we switching back now or what?"
"Now is not soon enough." Jun answered pulling her ring out of Kari's bag.
They both slipped on the rings, and, after another familiar dark moment, Davis was back in Kari's body.
"Home sweet home." He thought.
His sister was less subtle. She warped her arms around her new body as if to hug it.
"Mattikens, I'm sorry I left you." She purred. "Don't be sad. I promise I wouldn't ever leave you again."
Her brother rolled his eyes. He slipped off his ring and threw it at her.
"Ouch" she whined as it bounced off her chest. "What was that for?"
"For putting our secret in danger." He replied.
"Whatever." Jun bawked, rolling her eyes as she picked the ring up. "I said I wasn't switching Monoe and Akira. Leave me alone."
He did not have to be told twice, and stormed off without a goodbye.
It did not occur to him until he was most of the way home that Monoe and Akira were the only people she had promised not to switch. Everyone else was still on the table.
"Why did she have to be my sister." Davis thought. As much as he wanted to he couldn't escape it. Blood or not they were stuck together as family. If anything he and Jun were closer together now than ever before, forced to keep the same secret together and, as seemed inevitable now, forced to work together to keep their new lives.
He sighed as he finally reached his new apartment.
"I'll worry about that latter," he thought as he opened the door. "Tonight I'll spend with the family I chose."
Tai was there as he walked into the living room. Seeing him there, he was proud of his choice
"Hey there, big brother."