"Well, looks like I've found myself in a sticky situation." I spoke in the false voice I'd used on Andrew. With any luck I'd be able to get back into the network without Francis figuring out who I…
"Gabi, you can stop, Francis knows everything." Roxie cut in, stopping me in place. I looked at Francis who looked completely lost.
"Doesn't look like he knows what's going on," Francis jumped back as Pagumon spoke. She pointed one of her ears at him and narrowed her eyes. "See, if he knew everything, why is he surprised by me."
"I thought I was still looking at a video game or something…" he trailed off before looking back at the laptop. I let out a sigh and placed Pagumon on the bed before taking off my helmet. I set it down on the table and stood in front of Roxie.
"So you feel like explaining what happened?"
"Okay last me start by saying that the choice was either Francis figuring it out, or your cousin," and with that, I found it that much harder to stay mad at her. Between those two choices… it was a no brainer.
"I don't know, from where I stand, the two are pretty interchangeable," Pagumon pointed out from where she…
"Are you standing? Looks more like sitting to me." I pointed out as I sat down next to her. "Useless questions aside, trust me I would rather have Francis know all about this a thousand times over then Laura."
"Good to know I made the right choice then," Roxie sat back and crossed her arms. "Might as well tell the full story then. So it all started right after you left…"
"Let's just… start up the program," I sat down in front of the laptop and pressed the button. I sat back as the portal opened and watched as Gabi was pulled in. I cracked my knuckles and got to work firing up the email program. I set it up as I watched Gabi through the satellite.
A couple of minutes later, I was watching as they were wrapped into the email.
"Okay are you guys ready?" I didn't have to wait for long.
"Punch it!" He yelled through the connection as I calmly pressed the enter key, sending the email through the internet. From there I sat back and got ready to watch as Rebel's 1 and 2 started the infiltration.
It was weirdly entertaining, like I was watching some sort of weird first person sci fi tv show. I also finally got a good look at pagumon's larger form. As the pair went along, I tried to imagine myself hugging and cuddling with the much larger Gazimon instead.
Honestly, considering that her personality seemed to stay the same between the two forms, I would probably go for it. She seemed just as cuddly, and I finally knew why Gabi sometimes called her a 'cat rabbit'.
I watched as Gabi and Gazimon met up with some sort of weird black dinosaur, when I heard someone slam the door open. I shut the laptop screen and got the headphones off my ears.
"Hey loser, your better friend is…" Laura burst into the room without a knock, scanning the room before finding me. "Ugh, it's you."
"You sure know how to make a guest feel welcome," I rolled my eyes as Francis walked in from behind her. My arms dropped to the side as I took a sharp breath. Why was he here?
"Oh Roxie, didn't think I'd see you here," he awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. "I figured I'd do what you said and talk to Gabi…" Did he have to take me up on my advice right away?
"So where's Gabriel?" Laura asked as she started looking around the room. It only took a second for her to lock onto the laptop in front of me. A highly-punchable smile spread across her face, "Oh my god, are you going through his stuff while he's not here?"
"He said it was fine and he's going to be right back anyway." I crossed my arms and glared at her, hoping it would be enough to snake her back off. Instead she smiled even more and walked into the room, placing a single finger on the laptop as I fought back a gulp.
"Well I'm sure he'd appreciate it if I stuck around to keep an eye on his stuff until he got back," She smirked before sitting down on his bed. "You know, just to make sure nothing happened to it."
I felt a vein pop as the prissy little princess called me a thief. My hands were shaking and it took several deep breaths until I was calm again.
"Okay fine then, I don't care," I lied as I glanced back at the laptop. So long as Laura was here, I wouldn't be able to help Gabi out by acting as his emergency escape. His only hope was blind luck for now.
"Well if Gabi's not here… I'll just…" Francis stuttered as he tried to shuffle back out of the room. "I'll come back when he's around. Just give me the heads up when…"
"No stay." I was surprised to hear another voice match my own. I turned around and met eyes with an equally surprised Laura. What was she planning? I knew why I wanted Francis around, I needed him to hold me in back in case I gave in and tried to cave Laura's face in. But what did she want?
Francis gulped before coming back into the room and awkwardly leaning against the wall.
"So Francis, you're family's friends with the O'neils right? Have you heard anything about what's going on with them?" She was not! She was not sitting here and asking about this now. I gave Francis a careful eye, making sure I wasn't the one who would need to get pulled off her.
"They're… fine," he said through his grit teeth, "they're thinking about pulling Jason out after… what happened and sending him to military school."
"Oh wow, I guess that makes sense." Laura hummed before quickly going into another inane conversation.
What followed was maybe the most stressful couple of minutes of my entire life. Laura kept talking, mostly to Francis with me adding in a one word answer every now and again. Every moment she spent yapping, was another moment Gabi and Gazimon could be in danger and waiting for me to bring them back.
After what felt like eternity, Laura got a call on her phone. She froze mid-sentence and slowly reached down for it. She unlocked her phone and made a… complicated face towards the screen.
"Knew I was forgetting something," she mumbled before getting to her feet and turning to me, "alright scram."
"Excuse me?" I clenched my fist under the table. Maybe Francis would have to hold me back after all. "What do you mean scram?"
"I mean that unlike my cousin I actually have real friends who are coming to pick me up in a few minutes. And I can't go out shopping with them and leave you here alone until Gabi comes back. Heck I barely trust the two of you here alone by yourselves."
"Are you for real? He's going to be right back. Just go on your dumb shopping trip!" I growled at her as she smirked at me.
"Yeah no, I'm going to need you to head out right now… unless…" I did not like the look she was giving me or the laptop. "I could call my friends and tell them I'm too busy to go out because I need to keep an eye on you… if you open up that laptop and let me see just what my cousin has been keeping secret this last month."
Oh this was bad. There was no way I could trust Laura to keep all this 'digital rebel' thing under wraps. There had to be some way out of this.
"Maybe I could stay instead?" We both blinked and slowly turned to Francis who looked like he'd wished he'd never spoken at all. Despite that, he kept going. "You could go on that shopping trip with your friends and I'll stay here and keep an eye on Roxie. I mean, you call me Gabi's better friend for a reason right?"
Francis and I shared glances, his eyes begging for an apology. He didn't even need to bother. As long as it got Laura out of here, I didn't care.
"Well you are from one of the good families… and you're on… nevermind that last part," she pretended to be embarrassed about that last part before recovering like she'd never said it, "we're going to need to get around to finding something new. Maybe baseball, people like baseball…" was… was she actually thinking about this right now? I did a fake cough, getting her attention.
"So what do you think?" I asked once her head was out of the clouds. "Francis stays here to 'keep an eye on me' and you go on that shopping trip of yours."
"Fine by me," she shrugged her shoulders and started walking out. "Just make sure to check her purse and pockets before she leaves Francis. If my mom finds out about this, I'll be grounded till I'm 30."
"Oh I hate her so much." I breathed out as we heard the far off sounds of a car speeding away. "Thanks for the help Francis."
"Don't worry about it," he said as he walked up to me and looked down at the laptop, "so… what's on here that's so important anyway?"
"Ugh…" Oh right, Gabi could be in terrible danger right now and counting on me to get him out. I reached for the laptop and flew it open, not caring that Francis was right next to me. I opened the satellite program as my mind raced of all the possibilities. Would the two of them be bruised and bloody? Would they be dead? Would they just be… gone? A mystery, never to be seen again.
The window opened to reveal… a sad Gazimon hugging Gabi's arm while the two leaned back into the side of a tube.
"Sorry for yelling at you," I heard Gazimon mutter through the speakers as Francis and I stood there silently. I felt a bit of sweat go down my back as I listened in on a conversation I had no right to listen in on.
"And then I closed the window so you could talk alone and waited for your email." My eyes widened at the blatant lie. I looked over at Gabi and the strange furry creature to see if either of them picked up on anything… no it didn't look like it.
The truth of the matter was that we'd listened in on the whole thing. Roxie had taken the time to explain the bare gist of what was going on in between their pauses.
I probably should have felt angry, or upset over what I learned. This entire 'digital rebel' thing. It was the reason why the town was simmering pot ready to boil over instead of the peaceful community it used to be. But after what I'd seen…
Another thought plagued my mind instead.
"Well good to know you kept Laura out of this… but maybe not the best introduction for Francis," Gabi chuckled nervously as I took another look at his ridiculous outfit. I mean… it worked for what I was pretty sure he was trying to do, but…
Why all the purple?
"Francis?" I blinked as I suddenly noticed that Gabi was right in front of me. "Hey listen… Can we talk for a bit? Just after, you know, I switch to something more normal?"
"Sure thing man." I told him as he gripped the side of his weird long jacket thing. A few minutes of awkwardly standing outside his room with Roxie and… I think they were calling… her Pagumon now, later and I was standing in front of a normally dressed Gabi.
"So… I want to say I'm sorry for saying… what I said," he awkwardly looked away for a second before biting his lip and looking me in the eye instead.
"And I'm sorry for the things I said," Despite the citation, a small laugh left my lips. "I guess we both got… a little heated. I've had a few days to think about what kind of position you were in and… you really didn't have any other good choice, did you?"
"True, but what I said about your dad was still way out of line," he frowned as I clapped his shoulder.
"Hey by that point, we were pretty much just yelling at each other. I'm willing to say you got lost in the anger if you are." We both shared a small smile as I put my hand back down. "But I have to say, this is going a lot smoother than I thought it would."
"Let's just say I had a bit of an eye-opening conversation with a friend about our fight," he admitted as a single… person came to mind.
"You mean… Gazimon?" I guessed that was the right name.
"Yeah… well Pagumon right now, but she was Gazimon at the time," he chuckled as I felt my brain breaking. "It takes a while to get used to. I'll explain it later. But I think you two would get along once you get to know each other. She's a good friend."
Right friend.
The two of us emerged from his room to find Roxie sitting in the living room with Pagumon in her arms. The furry… person… was watching Roxie carefully.
"Are you sure you're alright?" She asked as Roxie nervously laughed.
"Yeah I'm totally fine," She locked onto us and sprang up, matching across the room as fast as possible and depositing Pagumon into Gabi's arms. "So, you two friends again?"
"Yeah, looks like we are," GHabi smirked as he looked down at Pagumon. "After everything with SkullGreymon… I kind of realized you were right about last conversations."
"Well of course I am… but we might have a new problem." Pagumon frowned before pointing at Roxie with… was that an ear? "Roxie is refusing to give me the fluffing and affection I deserve. She hasn't even brought up the idea of giving me food once. I think there's something bothering her."
"Well that is unusual. Maybe she's finally caught on that you're a spoiled little monster." He pointed out as Pagumon switched her glare to him.
"I am not spoiled, I get exactly as much as I deserve," She smirked as Gabi reached down and petted the top of her head.
"Well if Roxie's not up for it, you'll just have to settle with me," he smirked as Pagumon froze up. I couldn't see her face, but I had to wonder…
We were interrupted from a low growl which spread across the room.
"Enough pets," Pagumon loudly declared. "I demanded food, performing Justice works up an appetite, and your walking about that english breakfast thing didn't help."
"As you wish my lady, let's see what your faithful servant can scrounge up," he placed Pagumon down on a table before performing an exaggerated bow. This time I could see Pagumon's face and cheeks were red enough to be seen through her fur. Before I could say a thing, he'd picked her up again and had made his way to the kitchen.
Roxie and I stood there in silence for several minutes as we listened in on the apir going through the process of making sandwiches for the four of us. We turned to each other as the same silent question appeared in both our faces.
"You don't think…?" She was the first to break the silence.
"But she's like… a ball… of fur," I pointed out in a whisper.
"Yeah but she's not like an animal, she acts… like a person," she argued back.
"But this is Gabi… he doesn't… do things like this. Remember that one girl from last year, the one who wanted him because she thought he was a 'badboy'?"
"Yeah he didn't notice until we pointed it out months later," she looked back at the kitchen and gulped. "But that's the thing. I don't think he's noticed."
"Again? But… the bow and…"
"I think he's just joking and… acting smooth on accident?" She peaked her voice, like she couldn't believe what she was saying either. "And I think… she likes it?"
There was another pause as we looked at the two people in question. Gabi was holding a knife and explaining the difference between mayo and mustard to a thoroughly invested Pagumon. It may have been the least romantic conversation I'd ever heard two people say.
"Or maybe we're just overthinking things and they're just friends." I finally added as Roxie and I locked eyes again.
"Maybe," She said as Pagumon picked the mayo. "And maybe it's best we just don't think about it."
I nodded as the food came out. Roxie and I ate while keeping a careful eye on the pair, despite how our own conversation had ended.