Chapter Four: Tsukishima High School

The sound of a screeching alarm greeted Steph at five past seven the next morning. Cracking one eye open, she glared at the source of the noise; a Hello Kitty alarm clock perched precariously on the edge of Becky's nightstand. Her cousin's bed was conspicuously empty …

Since when was Becky a morning person?

With a groan, Steph kicked off the blankets and stumbled across the room, grappling for the irritating device and mashing her hand down on the alarm button. The ringing ceased, followed by a moment of peaceful silence before…

"Good morning!" a voice chirped from beneath the covers, making Steph jump. The blankets shifted and Patamon poked her head out from underneath, looking rested and recovered from last night's battle.

After they'd sent the last Kuwagamon through the distortions, Agent Himekawa had driven them home with Mimi in tow, much to the boys' surprise. Apparently Mimi had been keeping it a secret from them that she was moving back to Japan for good!

Typical Mimi wanting everyone to make a fuss over her, Steph thought, glancing fondly over at the photo frame on her dresser. As the smiling faces of a young Digidestined team grinned back at her, a troubling thought occurred to Steph - What were the chances that a new threat from the Digital World presented itself just as soon as all ten chosen were reunited in Japan?

"Steph?" Patamon's voice was sounded far away as the Digimon bounced on the bed anxiously and looking relieved when she finally got her partner's attention. "Guess you're still not a morning person, huh?" she sighed.

Steph smiled, reaching down to ruffle the Digimon's fur. "Not even a little bit," she admitted. "Come on, let's get ready for school."

She dressed quickly in her school uniform and they headed for the kitchen, dodging past the stack of moving boxes in the hallway and making a bee-line for the coffee maker. Becky was sitting at the kitchen counter, a cup of coffee clutched in one hand while she shared bits of her toast with Salamon and Freya [1].

"You know, some people like to unpack their stuff when they get home," Steph told her cousin pointedly as she poured fresh beans into the coffee hopper. No matter how many times a day she refilled it, she always found it empty the next time she made a cup …

Becky shrugged, dropping a piece of toast for Freya. "I unpacked the important things."

"Uh - huh," Steph mused, punching the start button on the machine and watching the coffee fill her cup. She knew that Becky would make a point of avoiding the task of unpacking for as long as she was able - which usually meant a great deal of Steph's things were 'borrowed' in the interim.

"That's why my toothbrush is missing…"

"Maybe you should ask one of your new government friends to investigate that for you?" Daisy Summers remarked as she entered the kitchen and greeted both Digimon by ruffling their fur affectionately.

Daisy had only been a teenager when Myotismon had come looking for the tenth child and was entirely accustomed to the presence of Digimon in her kitchen, so much so that she automatically added an extra few slices of bread to the toaster as she made her breakfast.

As she waited for her coffee to cool, Steph raised an eyebrow at her cousin expectantly. "You told her?"

Becky just shrugged, as if to say; What else was I supposed to do?

"She didn't have to," her sister said as she reached for the TV remote to adjust the volume and drawing Steph's attention to the news report. On the screen was footage of Daibacho Ground, where Tai was supposed to have played his soccer match the day prior …

Oh, Steph thought, her stomach sinking. Of course she should have expected their exploits to have made the news - half the city had been affected by the power outages while they'd struggled to round up the Kuwagamon.

"It's been all over the news this morning," Becky explained as the footage rolled. A newscaster spoke over the footage.

"The unidentified creatures that appeared yesterday have caused serious damage to the city and the airport. No serious injuries have been reported, but the closure of the airport and the cancellation of flights in and out is having a wide ranging ripple effect on travel plans throughout the region …"

The footage on the screen switched abruptly to a live feed from Haneda Airport. In broad daylight, the collateral damage to the airport was impossible to ignore. The Digimon's attacks had caused damage to the taxiway similar to that of an earthquake and a significant portion of the terminal had been crushed when Kabuterimon and Birdramon had tried to forced one of the Kuwagamon through a distortion.

"These are believed to be the same creatures that have caused damage to the city in the past, only the appearance of so many creatures at once meant that the destruction was more extensive than ever …"

The broadcast cut abruptly to a live feed where a news reporter was interviewing one of the civilian witnesses and Steph couldn't help but notice how the cameraman had strategically framed the shot to include the damaged overpass near the soccer pitch.

"I'm worried that those monsters could come back at any time," the civilian said.

Becky scowled at the television, ignoring the toaster when it popped, projecting fresh toast onto the kitchen bench. "They're almost making it sound as if we caused all that damage on purpose."

Salamon's ears drooped. "But we didn't …"

"We were just trying to help stop the Kuwagamon from wrecking everything," Patamon added.

"We know that," Daisy reminded them gently as she fussed over the toast. "I'm just not sure that ordinary people are going to see it that way." She placed the slices on two plates and served them to the two eager Digimon, who mumbled their thanks through mouthfuls of food.

"Speaking of ordinary people," Daisy added as an afterthought, grabbing the last slice of toast and placing it in front of Steph. "You should probably text Mama and Papa before they see the news. You know what Mama is like…"

Steph winced but figured Daisy was probably right. Rome was seven hours behind Tokyo so her parents would likely be asleep. It occurred to Steph that unless she wanted a frantic call from her overly worrisome mother in the middle of class, she figured she should at least text her parents and update them on the situation.

"I'll text her later," she said, pointedly ignoring the slice of toast Daisy shoved towards her. Then something else occurred to her. "We should let Davis's team know what's going on though - if they're seeing this, they're going to be worried."

Himekawa and her team had done a decent job of rounding up all of their original team, save for Joe, but the second generation kids and their Digimon had been entirely absent from the incident.

Perhaps the government isn't aware of Davis and the other's are also Digidestined, Steph realised, deciding then and there that uncovering how much this organisation knew about the Digiworld would have to be made a priority for their team.

"Izzy emailed them this morning," Becky told her. "Didn't you get his text?"

Seeing the blank look on her cousin's face, she sighed impatiently. "Did you forget to charge your phone again?"

Steph checked her phone and saw only a white lightning bolt on a blank screen indicating that the device was indeed dead. "Whoops," she muttered, hunting beneath a pile of Becky's school books for her charger. The device buzzed to life when she plugged it in, and immediately a series of notifications flashed up on her screen. She suspected Izzy had likely been up most of the night investigating the distortions.

"These agents," Daisy enquired. " Did they say what department of the government they worked for?"

Steph racked her brain for the name Himekawa had used. "I think it was the National Data Processing Bureau." The name didn't exactly roll off the tongue easily. "Ever heard of it?"

Daisy shook her head. Patamon, who had finished the breakfast she had prepared, was now eyeing off the toast on Steph's plate. "Are you going to eat that?" the Digimon wondered curiously. Ignoring her sister's disapproving scowl, Steph slid the plate towards her partner.

"Didn't Tai say the driver that brought him to the airport was Mr Nishijima?" Becky reminded them. "Maybe he might have some answers for us."

"Nishijima," Daisy repeated, looking to Steph for clarification. "Your homeroom teacher?"

Steph nodded. If Nishijima was a secret agent, that would certainly explain his recent absences from school, and perhaps why he was a no show for his meeting with Tai. "I wonder if he'll be at school today."

She glanced back to the TV, where the newcaster was wrapping up her report.

"Traffic and network disruptions are expected to cause public transport chaos in the coming days. Commuters are urged to allow for longer than normal travel times and Tokyo Metro will be providing certificates of delays for all passengers affected."

Daisy checked her watch and frowned. "I'm going to be late," she decided, gathering up her suitcase and her keys. "I'll be back in a couple of days."

"Wait - you're still going to Kyoto with all this?" Becky exclaimed, her coffee cup clinking loudly against the bench as she put it down. Usually Daisy avoided travelling out of town while their parents were away, but this weekend was an exception; her fiance, Hiro, would be presenting some important archeological research at Kyoto University this weekend.

"I was going to take the Shinkansen anyway," Daisy replied. "Don't forget to walk Freya while I'm gone."

Freya's ears pricked up at the sound of her name and she wagged her tail as Daisy patted her on the head on her way out, the door clicking shut softly behind her.

"Is it just me, or did she seem a bit too chill about the whole giant monsters trampling half of Tokyo thing?" Becky mused.

Steph rolled her eyes. "You make the Kuwagamon sound like a Digital version of Godzilla," she remarked dryly, watching Patamon inhale the last bite of toast.

"What's a Godzilla?" Salamon queried, prompting Becky to roll her eyes. Sometimes it was easy to forget that their Digimon hadn't grown up in this world and whilst their Mega forms had faced some of the most powerful Digimon and won, Becky clearly didn't think it wise to fill the Rookie's heads with thoughts of radioactive dinosaurs.

"We should get going too," Steph told her cousin, knowing that if they missed their train, they'd have to walk the entire journey to the mainland - and likely be late for class because of it.

"We can't come with you?" Patamon's voice betrayed her immense disappointment.

Steph shook her head. "You'll draw too much attention at school," she reminded them. "Besides - you'll have much more fun here; there's food in the fridge and cartoons to watch on TV."

The two Digimon remained unconvinced, their ears drooping further to the floor, so Steph tried another tactic. She pointed to the clock on the wall - the one her mother had brought all the way from an antique shop in Paris on one of her trips. "See the hands on the clock?" she asked them and they both nodded. "We'll be back when the hands are pointing at the twelve and the four, okay?"

"Okay!" the Digimon answered in unison.

"Stay out of trouble," she told them unnecessarily as she unplugged her phone and, without bothering to checking the notifications, tossed it into her school bag along with her lunch.

"And don't feed Freya too many snacks," Becky added as an afterthought as she led the way to the door.

Sliding the lock in place with her key, Steph jiggled the door nob just to be sure the Digimon were safely secured. They would only be at school for eight hours, she reminded herself apprehensively, and there was absolutely no reason for the two Digimon to leave the apartment for any reason … right?