Okay-Chapter 4 is now up. Huggles all around to the people who reviewed! Thank you so much!!!! Luv ya! Standard disclaimer-I don't own Digimon-please don't sue! I only write for fun! (And I have no money anyway---sigh.) BTW-I had the idea of the guardians before last Saturday's Digimon came out-so I know the names I have aren't the ones the show has-do you have any idea how weird it was to see a similar concept show up on TV a couple of days after you post something?
Also-I know that form that Wormmon has in the real world is Minomon, but I couldn't remember what the little guy was called when I first started writing-besides, I like the way Leafmon looks better-he's too cute! Also-major angst warning! (I love writing this stuff!)
"Good morning!" Yolei said as Lynn joined TK, Cody and Yolei on the way to school."
"How can you possibly be this cheerful so early?" Lynn yawned. "There ought to be a law against it."
"I think it's the pot of coffee she drinks in the morning." TK laughed.
"It's not a whole pot-only around 4 cups or so. Besides, it's Friday! The weekend is finally here." Yolei said, defensively.
"Coffee? Maybe I should give it a try." Lynn said, yawning again. Cody yawned too.
"Late night?" Lynn asked.
"Yeah. I was too worked up after kendo practice to fall asleep. I tossed and turned all night."
"Patamon kept snoring last night-so I didn't get much sleep either." TK laughed.
"Who?" Lynn asked. TK realized his slip-up. Cody and Yolei froze.
"Patamon is my...um...my aunt's dog. We're watching him until he gets back from vacation." TK blundered.
"Weird name for a dog."
"Yeah, well-my aunt's a little strange." TK laughed nervously.
"So, tonight's the night that you audition for Matt's band, huh?" Yolei asked, quickly changing the subject.
"That was a close one." Cody whispered to TK.
"Sorry, it just slipped out. I keep forgetting she's not one of us."
"Yeah. Matt tells me not to worry about it, but I'm kinda nervous. Having other people decide if you're good enough to join them."
"If you are half as good as Matt says-you'll be fine." TK offered encouragement. "He's not one to brag about other people's skills that much. So you must have impressed him." Lynn blushed.
"Thanks. But it's not completely up to him-is it? I was wondering if you would come and listen tonight? I'd feel better if someone was there rooting me on."
"I'd love to. Hey, look-there's Davis playing soccer. Let's go watch, Lynn." Yolei ran towards the school.
"Davis is pretty good." Lynn said as she watched him run down the field. "I never was very good at sports."
"Don't let him hear you say that you think he's good-his ego's big enough as it is." Yolei laughed and TK snickered.
"I thought you were friends." Lynn asked.
"We are. We just tease each other a lot. A lot." TK said.
"Davis scored a goal. I can guarantee that's all he's going to talk about a lunch." Cody shook his head as the goggled boy noticed them and waved.
"I was wondering when you guys were going to show up." Davis said. Just then the bell rang.
"Better hurry, or we'll be late." Cody said-running towards the front doors.
The day was pretty uneventful-except for a pop quiz in History-which luckily Lynn had studied for. She found it somewhat hard to concentrate in some of the classes though. Ken hadn't stopped by since that first night. She didn't know why that bothered her so much. It had only been a couple of days-but it felt like weeks. Matt had volunteered as a tutor-so she was never alone. The gang always stopped by around dinner time-so she had friends to do things with, but the fact that Ken seemed to be avoiding her weighed heavily on her mind. "It's stupid. I only just met him. Dad was right, I've got to get over people not liking me." Lynn sighed as she tried to turn her focus back to the class. Quadratic equations-ugh. The bell finally rang and Lynn grabbed her bag-thankful to go to lunch with her friends. Lynn ran down the steps to the cafeteria-scouring the sea of faces looking for her friends.
"Guess who?" A voice from behind her said as hands slipped over her eyes.
"Um...Brad Pitt?"
"Hardly."
"Well, I'm sorry...if it isn't Brad Pitt-I really don't want to know."
"Very funny." Matt said-letting go of her. "Were you looking for someone?"
"Yeah-Yolei, Kari, TK, Davis, Cody, Izzy, Tai or Sora."
"Not me?" Matt's eyes opened in surprise.
"I figured you would probably find me." Lynn smiled. "There's Izzy and Cody." Lynn said walking to where their table. They both stopped talking as she approached.
"Hey, Matt. I don't usually see you in the cafeteria. You're usually surrounded by your fan club." Izzy teased.
"Very funny, Izzy." Matt said, sitting down next to Lynn.
"Big bro!" TK gave Matt a friendly hit on the back. "What brings you here? Was the daily Matt Fan Club meeting cancelled today?"
"Ha. Ha." Matt was starting to blush.
"Just a warning-if you have Mr. Midorikawa for history-you're going to have a pop quiz." Lynn said-biting into her sandwich.
"Of course. The one subject I didn't study last night." Yolei wailed.
"It's not too bad." Lynn laughed. "I hate to eat and run, but Mr. Tachikawa wanted to see me in his office to see how my first week went. I'll see you guys later?"
"You bet!" The group said.
"Oh, Yolei. Before I forget, do you know Ken's phone number? I haven't seen him in a while and I just wanted to make sure he was okay."
"Um, sure. Let me write it down for you." Yolei quickly jotted the number down and handed it over to Lynn. Matt shifted uncomfortably. Why was she worried about Ken?
"I'll see you later, Matt." Lynn waved and left.
"What is up with Ken, anyway?" Davis asked-taking a sip of soda. "He's been acting really strange. Usually he jumps at the chance of hanging out with us after coming back from the Digital World-now he just goes straight home."
"I'm more concerned about the fact that the pillar of light hasn't re-appeared. We've had every digimon that we're friends with trying to find out where that thing came from. We're getting no where with this." Izzy sighed.
"Izzy and I have gone over every possible angle-we just can't think of what was different that might cause that kind of reaction in the Digital World. Or why Davis was the only one who could touch the light."
"Yeah, I even wore the same socks just in case that was it." Davis said.
"Eww, that was more information than I wanted." Kari said-making a face.
"Hey! I washed them out!" Davis said defensively.
"What pillar of light? Remember, I'm out of the loop now, guys." Matt asked.
"Well...it's a long story..."Izzy began explaining."
"So you think it's one of the four guardians of the digital world? Too weird." Matt said, scratching his head. "And you say it hasn't come back? Maybe it was all some kind of a fluke."
"Perhaps. I just know there's some variable out there that we're not finding." Izzy said-taking out a notebook. "I've written some theories down, but they're all hard to prove."
"Aliens?" Yolei said, reading over his shoulder. Izzy blushed.
"It was just an idea."
"Mr. Ishida, Ms. Morgan. May I see you?" Ms. Yamaguchi asked, pulling them aside after chorus.
"Yes, ma'am?"
"I have some very exciting news for you two. Mr. Ishida is familiar with the spring festival, but I'm sure you don't know much about it, Ms. Morgan." Ms. Yamaguchi said-a strange smile on her face.
"No, ma'am. I haven't heard talk of it."
"Well, each year for the cherry blossom season, all of the schools in the area get together and put on a presentation. Over the past few years, it's grown quite popular. Thus, the budget has been increased substantially over the years. This year we have had quite a large donation given to do a particular production. A rather famous Broadway director and producer want to put on a presentation of "Phantom of the Opera" using promising students. Sort of a recruitment drive for performance arts colleges. I would like you two to audition. I think you two have the best chance of representing Odaiba High. Well?"
Lynn and Matt just stood there. "Um, I don't know how to act." Matt said. "I just sing."
"That's no problem. They're mostly looking for voices."
"Phantom of the Opera. As in ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER?" Lynn's eyes sparkled when Ms. Yamaguchi nodded. "I'm in!"
"Well, I can't let you do this alone." Matt grinned at her. "Sure. I'm in."
"Great. Auditions are being held here tomorrow at 8 a.m. sharp. Be prepared to stay here for most of the day-casting decisions will be made the same day and there will be an initial read through that night.
"Um, it's kind of presumptuous that we're going to get cast, isn't it?" Matt asked.
"Trust me on this one. I may act like a jealous witch, but I know true talent when I see it. You'll get cast or I'll show up at school on Monday in a chicken costume." With that, Ms. Yamaguchi picked up her purse and left the auditorium.
"Gee, it's almost tempting to mess up just to see her in that outfit." Lynn laughed.
"I know what you mean." Matt chuckled. "Well, come on-I'll treat you to ice cream before your audition."
"You know that dairy products are bad for your vocal chords?"
"Really? Okay-then how about we pick up a copy of the script for "Phantom" so that we can practice?" Matt offered his arm to Lynn.
"You're too slick for your own good." Lynn rolled her eyes, putting her arm through his.
"It's just my natural charm." Matt laughed as he opened the door for Lynn.
"Nope. Nothing here." Kari sighed as she pushed aside a huge leaf from her path.
"I really don't think scouring the country side is going to help us find that digi-egg." Gatomon sighed.
"We really don't have much choice." Armadillomon said, pushing over a rotted out tree log.
"But this is getting us nowhere." Yolei said, kicking a mushroom. "How can something as brilliant as that light just disappear and never show itself again. Was it all just some joke?"
"What exactly happened again? I wasn't here, remember?" Ken sighed as he looked under a rather large flower.
"It's just like we told you. As soon as we got close to Primary Village this huge column of light appeared. And no one could touch it but Davis." Cody said, wiping dirt off of his hands.
"Maybe it was just an illusion?" Hawkmon said.
"An illusion that can hurt you? I don't think so." TK said. "The blister I got from that light is just now going away-I don't think I could have imagined that."
"There's just got to be something that we're missing." Veemon crossed his arms and closed his eyes in concentration. "All this thinking is just making my head hurt."
"I know what you mean, buddy. I've gone over that day a thousand times in my head and I just can't think of what was different." Davis scratched his head.
"Anyway, I'd better be getting back. I promised Lynn that I'd watch her practice with Matt's band tonight. She's pretty nervous."
"I'd forgotten about that." Kari said. "I'd like to listen. From what Matt says-she's got a great voice."
"You're coming with us, right?" Cody asked Ken.
"I'm not so sure." Ken moved some dirt around with the toe of his shoe. Wormmon sighed. Ken had confided in him that he liked Lynn, but she seemed to be taken with Matt. It was easier just to avoid her. Wormmon tried to convince him to not give up so easily. His advice fell upon deaf ears.
"Oh, get over whatever needs to be gotten over, Ken." Yolei said, crossing her arms. "This whole pity party you've thrown for yourself is starting to get annoying."
"Yolei..." Hawkmon pleaded. The digidestined of Sincerity still had a tendency to speak her mind when it wasn't totally appropriate.
"No. This has been going on for almost a week now. If something is bothering you-tell us!" Yolei stamped her foot.
"It's nothing-really." Ken mumbled. He turned and walked out of the jungle area they were in to the waiting digiport. "Well, I don't want you guys to be late." He said, opening up the digiport.
"Not again!" Izzy groaned as they all fell on top of him. "Next time, some warning, please!"
"Oh, Ken. You're home early." Ken's mother said as he came in the front door.
"Yeah, the other's had someplace they had to go." Ken said, as he took off his shoes.
"Did you have a good day?" His father asked, putting down the newspaper he was reading.
"Pretty good."
"A girl called for you. Really sweet girl-we had a nice little chat. She wants to know if you're free for dinner tonight."
Ken groaned. It wasn't the first time a girl from school had called here wanting to go out on a date. "Who was it this time? Mei? Nanami?"
"No, dear. Lynn Morgan. You know, she speaks Japanese very well for an American." Ken's mother said. "She told me how much she appreciated your help the other night with helping her study. I didn't know you had made a friend from America."
"What did she say?" Ken's heart was pounding.
"Just that she had some sort of rehearsal tonight and she wanted to see if you wanted to go somewhere afterwards. She was concerned that you weren't feeling too well."
"Really?" Ken blushed.
"Oh, and this note came from Mr. Nakayama." Mrs. Ichijouji said, handing Ken a folded up piece of paper. Ken opened it and read the contents. His eyes widened. "What is it, dear?"
"He wants me to audition for a musical for the spring festival. Phantom of the Opera."
"Sounds like fun! I know how much you enjoyed the book."
"Yeah. It might be just the thing..." Ken said to himself. He had always had a fascination with the story from the first time he read it. The Phantom was somewhat like himself when he was the Digimon Emperor-a monster, but underneath a confused heart and soul who just wanted love and acceptance.
"So. Are you going to go?"
"Yeah, a play might be fun."
"No, dear. To dinner?" Ken's mother's eyes were dancing.
"Did she say if anyone else was going?"
"No-she didn't mention it. Just that if you were interested, to meet her at the Watanabe Youth Center around 8:00. She said that's when rehearsal should be over."
Ken looked at his watch. It was only 6:00. Practice was just starting. Did he really want to watch her singing with Matt? "I have to think about it. I'll be in my room." Ken said walking to his room.
"My baby's growing up." Mrs. Ichijouji said to her husband, tears of happiness in her eyes.
"See? I told you not to give up on her so quickly. You've got a date with Lynn!" Leafmon practically bounced around the room after Ken opened his backpack.
"I wouldn't call it a date, Leafmon." Ken smiled at his digimon's antics. "I don't know if the others will be there or not."
"Well, at least she made a point of calling you to invite you. That's a good sign isn't it?"
"I suppose."
"You deserve some happiness. If spending time with Lynn brings that to you, why deny yourself that."
"I'm not exactly the right kind of material for someone as-well, as great as she is."
"Ken, I'm usually pretty supportive when you're in one of your moods, but I'm going to pull a Yolei. Get over it and go get her!"
"Leafmon?" Ken stared in shock at his digimon. Leafmon hardly ever lost his temper.
"You're not the type of person to just roll over and play dead when something you want may be a little out of your grasp. How can you gain her affection if you're never around? Don't get me wrong-I like Matt and everything, but if you really want to have Lynn as your girlfriend-you're going to have to take him out of the picture. And the only way you are going to do that is by spending time with her! Now, get your act together and go watch that practice! Worst-case scenario-you have a new friend. Best case scenario-you have a girlfriend."
"Have I really been that bad?" Ken wondered aloud.
"Yes! Now go and have a good time, or I'll send an e-mail to Davis's sister saying that you like her."
"You wouldn't dare!"
"Hey, desperate times call for desperate measures."
"Okay, I'm going-I'm going." Ken laughed as he left the room.
"Please, let everything go well tonight." Leafmon said a quick prayer.
"Ken! You made it!" Yolei waved at him.
"Leafmon blackmailed me." Ken said, running up to them. "He threatened to send an e-mail to Davis's sister saying that I had a crush on her."
"Maybe I should have thought of that." Yolei laughed.
"At least you don't have to live with her." Davis sighed. "I mean, I love her and all-but she has a major problem."
"Yeah, putting up with you." TK teased.
"Very funny, TJ."
"Now, Davis. You know we wouldn't tease you if we didn't care about you." Kari smiled.
"Really? You care?" Davis's eyes sparkled.
"Of course. I care for all of my friends." Kari said. "Come on, TK." Kari grabbed TK's arm and steered him into the youth center.
"Denied again, huh?" Izzy laughed.
"One day-one day..." Davis muttered to himself.
"Now he's talking to himself." Cody said, shaking his head. "I think he's officially lost his mind."
"Look! There's Lynn!" Yolei waved. Lynn smiled and ran over to them.
"I'm so glad you guys could make it! Thanks for coming, everyone." Lynn's smile widened when she saw Ken in the background. "Hey, stranger. I guess you got my message."
"Yeah." Ken smiled back. Leafmon was right-he was being stupid by avoiding her.
"Looks like we have an audience." Matt said, coming up behind her. He put his hands on Lynn's shoulder. Ken's smile quickly disappeared from his face. "We're going to run through a couple of our established songs and then you'll be up, okay?"
"Sure thing." Lynn grinned as Matt made his way up onto the stage. "Go ahead and take a seat, everyone. I'll be there in a minute." The others moved to sit down in front of the stage. Lynn grabbed Ken's arm as he passed. "Ken, I hope you didn't mind me calling you. I wanted to make sure that you hadn't fallen off the face of the earth."
"No problem. I'm glad you called. I was going to be spending an exciting night of playing cards with my mom before that."
"So everything's okay?" Lynn looked worried.
"Yeah. So, who's coming with us afterwards?" Ken felt like someone was burning a whole in him. He glanced towards the stage and saw Matt glaring at him.
"Oh. You thought it was a group thing?" Lynn looked a little disappointed. "I was kinda thinking that maybe it would be just the two of us. I mean, I see everyone at school every day-and if things pan out tonight and tomorrow I'll be spending a lot more time with Matt, but this is the first time we'll have gotten together in a while."
"Just the two of us?" Ken couldn't believe his luck.
"Unless you want the others to come."
"No, I wouldn't mind it just being the two of us." Ken smiled.
"Good. I have so much to tell you about this week!" Lynn said, finding a seat to watch the band warm-up.
Lynn took a deep breath and turned to the members of the band. They all gave her a re-assuring smile. She had a chance to talk to them before their manager had shown up. Yushiro who played the drums was thrilled at the chance of having a new band member. Makoto who played the keyboard seemed a little cautious, but only because he didn't like change too much, Matt explained. Hajime, the bass guitarist didn't say much, but nodded his approval at the songs she had chosen to audition with. Now it seemed the only one she had to prove herself to was Mr. Watanabe-the band's sponsor and the owner of the youth center that they were practicing in. Matt told her that he was one of the wealthiest men in Tokyo. He owned a chain of ultra-popular and ultra-expensive restaurants as well as many buildings. Mr. Watanabe liked to dabble in a bit of everything from music to theater to charity. He didn't look all that pleased that someone was trying to change the status quo.
Lynn bowed to Mr. Watanabe and gave a signal to the band. She decided to sing in English-the last thing she needed was to flub the words-they could come later. What was important now was to hit the notes. She started out with Dido's "Here with Me"; Annie Lennox's "Cold"; Britney Spears' "Oops, I did it again"; Alanna Myles "Black Velvet"; then "Nobody wants to be Lonely" a duet she did with Matt. She had wanted to show her range as a singer and felt that they were completely different song styles. When her set was done, she breathed a sigh of relief. Ken and the others erupted into applause. She glanced over at Mr. Watanabe and her heart sunk. He was just staring at her-the expression on his face never changing. He slowly stood up.
"Matt, you do realize that you are going to have to work harder to match this young ladies vocal talents?"
"Yes, sir." Matt said, nervously setting his guitar down.
"Well, Lynn. If the others are willing to have you, you're more than welcome to come on board." Finally, Mr. Watanabe smiled. Lynn anxiously turned back to the other band members. They were all smiling and gave her a "thumbs-up".
"I would love to!" Lynn jumped up and down. Matt grabbed her and pulled her into a hug-then he picked her up and began twirling her around. He set her down and the other band members came up and gave her hugs. The digidestined kids ran up on the stage and gathered around Lynn.
"Nice to have a decent voice in the group." Makoto laughed.
"Keep singing like that, and we'll have a record deal in no time." Hajime smiled.
"Poor, Matt. He may be singing back-up." Yushiro playfully punched Matt's arm.
"How about we all go out and celebrate?" Mr. Watanabe asked. "My treat, of course."
"Sounds great!" Matt said.
"I guess we're official groupies now." TK said, giving Lynn a hug. "Just think about it-you already have seven dedicated fans!"
"I would love to go out with all of you, Mr. Watanabe, but I already made plans. I'm sorry." Lynn said regretfully.
"They can't be as important as this, can they?" Yolei said, gesturing to the guys in the band. "It's time to bond with your new band members!"
"Well, yeah...but..." Lynn bit her lip and looked at Ken.
"Hey, don't worry about it. Some other time." Ken saw the look on Lynn's face while she sang. She loved every second of it. Who was he to deny her this moment? It was so well deserved.
"Are you absolutely sure?" Lynn asked, obviously torn between wanting to go out with the band and keeping her dinner date with Ken.
"I said, don't worry about it." Ken shrugged.
"Okay." Lynn sighed with relief. "Where to?"
"There's this new place that sells great eel burgers..." Mr. Watanabe started saying but was drowned out by the digidestined group's laughter. "What's so funny?"
"Unless you want Lynn to turn green, don't mention eel." Cody said, doubled over in laughter. The group quickly explained what had happened. Ken felt like an outsider-they others already had so many shared memories.
"I must find out exactly what that shade was. I've never seen anyone turn green before." Izzy teased.
"Very funny everyone." Lynn stuck her tongue out at them.
"Okay, how about my restaurant down the road?" Mr. Watanabe asked.
"The one with the year long waiting list?" Davis asked excitedly. "I am so in!"
"Me too." Kari said.
"Okay, let's go then."
"Will you sit next to me, Ken?" Lynn asked as they left the center's auditorium. "At least we can play catch up."
"Sure." Ken smiled. Okay, so it wasn't the evening he had planned to spend, but at least he was with his friends.
"So? How did it go?" Leafmon asked as Ken came into his room.
"Lynn's got an absolutely amazing voice. She got into the group-of course."
"That's not what I meant!" Leafmon pouted.
"The band's sponsor Mr. Watanabe took us all out to eat afterwards."
"Get to the good stuff already!" Leafmon jumped up and down. "Um, there was some good stuff, right?"
"She did want to go out just the two of us to talk, but the plans got changed." Ken sighed, as he changed into his pajamas.
"Well, that's a good sign, isn't it?"
"Yeah. She made a point of having me sit next to her at dinner. But of course, Matt sat on the other side of her."
"At least she's treating you both the same." Leafmon said hopefully.
"I suppose so, Leafmon. You should have seen the look on her face when she was singing. She was just so happy. I wish I could put that look on her face."
"I'm sure you'll get the chance, Ken." Leafmon said, yawning. "You just can't rush these things."
"I guess you're right, Leafmon." Ken sighed. "I just wish we could do something that didn't involve the others."
That night Ken dreamt strange dreams. A pillar of light scolded him for having been the Digimon Emperor and told him that he'd better not hurt "her" but never told him who "she" was. The voice told him that if he ever needed to find "her" to go to where life begins-"she" would be waiting there for him. Inside the pillar he swore he saw a phoenix looking digimon-but couldn't tell. The shape kept changing-becoming humanoid, then more bird-like. Ken woke up with a start-heart pounding. "What was that?" he muttered, then lay back down and slept without any more dreams.
"No way! Ken, what are you doing here?" Lynn hugged him as he entered the auditorium at Odaiba High.
"I'm auditioning for the spring festival play. My drama and chorus teacher said I'd be a pretty good candidate." Ken said, finding a seat near the back.
"Same with me!" Lynn beamed. "Matt, too."
"Oh."
"Wouldn't it be great if we were all chosen to be in the play? The three musketeers-or something like that." Lynn grinned. "Any idea what part you want?"
"Anything would be fine. I get extra credit for this, so as long I get cast."
"Same here. Oh, who am I kidding? I really would love to be Christine. Matt and I practiced some last night. He's trying to get the Phantom. I think he would be so great!"
"Yeah, he would be." Ken couldn't deny the fact that Matt would be good as the Phantom.
"Morning, Ken. I didn't know you were into this sort of thing." Matt said as he sat next to them. "Looks like a pretty big turn-out." Matt said, looking at the almost packed auditorium. "Some pretty stiff competition, too."
"I don't think you two have anything to worry about. You've got two of the best voices I've heard."
"Flatterer." Lynn laughed.
"Good morning, everyone. Thank you for coming out so early on the weekend. This shows us how important this is to all of you. I am Mrs. Kuroda-assistant director in this production. Your teachers have already submitted your names and all necessary information. We will be taking you off in groups of about 30 at a time to test your vocal range. After that, a break as we compare notes on vocal quality. From there we will separate into groups based upon characters. Then another break: followed by a session of seeing who works well together. After this, the director, producer and others will discuss casting. As this is a rather elaborate production, we want to get started as soon as possible. So there will be a read-through of the script right after the casting decisions are made. Rehearsal schedules will be given out afterwards. Any questions? No? Good. Let's get started."
Lynn was called in the first group. Ken and Matt watched from the back-beaming with pride. "She's really good." Ken whispered.
"She's got it in here genes. Her mother was a professional opera singer."
"I didn't know that."
"Yeah, we talked about it on the way home one day."
Lynn's group finished up. Matt's group was up next.
"You were great." Ken said as she sat down next to him.
"Thanks. I was pretty nervous." Lynn smiled.
"I couldn't tell."
"That's sweet, Ken." Lynn blushed a little. She then turned her attention to Matt. Ken watched her face as she listened to Matt's part of the audition. She looked so blissfully happy. He was up next. "Good luck." Lynn gave his hand a re-assuring squeeze.
Matt sat down next to Lynn. "You so nailed that." She said, giving Matt a hug.
"I hope so."
Ken's name was called out of the group. He took a deep breath and began singing the section assigned to him from "Music of the Night." He knew he had a pretty good singing voice-he just never shared the talent with anyone beyond his drama class. He was what his chorus teacher called "a closeted talent". He just never had the proper motivation to do this sort of thing, but he knew the best way to get Lynn's attention was through music.
"That was amazing!" Lynn said, giving him a hug as he came back.
"I never knew you could sing like that!" Matt looked genuinely impressed. "How come we're just finding this out?"
"I know it sounds pretty stuck-up of me, but I never really found something that I thought was worthwhile to devote this much time to, but I really love the story-so it's worth "outing" myself as a singer."
"If I knew you had this much talent, I would've recruited you for the band a long time ago." Matt smiled.
"Thanks, but no thanks. I don't have the patience for the fans."
"That's the last group. Why don't you all take a break? We'll meet back here in 45 minutes." The assistant director said, as the last group left the stage.
"Okay-so how do we kill 45 minutes?" Lynn asked standing up and heading towards the front doors.
"We could always go back to your apartment complex. TK and the others should be awake by now." Matt suggested.
"Not a bad idea. I was so nervous this morning: I couldn't eat anything. You guys want to come back to my place for brunch?"
"Sure." Ken shrugged.
"Do you think your father will be home?" Matt asked.
"Probably-just promise me that you won't get into another discussion about music. It's like listening to two mechanics talk shop-boring!"
"I thought you liked music."
"I do-I just don't live, breath, and eat it like you two do." Lynn laughed. "Besides, he'll keep us there too long."
Ken walked silently behind them as they chatted away like old friends. So, Matt had already met Lynn's father. And from what it sounded like, he liked Matt. Great, just peachy.
"You're awfully quite, Ken." Lynn said as they boarded the elevator.
"I'm trying to save my voice." Ken lied. He actually didn't feel he had much to contribute to the conversation.
"Not a bad idea." Matt nodded thoughtfully. "Especially if the audition process gets pretty drawn out."
"Does that mean you'll actually be quiet?" Lynn's eyes shone with laughter.
"Very funny, Lynn." Matt stuck his tongue out at her.
"Better be careful or your face will freeze like that." Ken semi-laughed.
"It'd be an improvement." Lynn teased.
"What is this? Pick on Matt day?"
"Yes." Ken and Lynn said at the same time. They looked at each other and dissolved into giggles.
"That's a sound I like to hear first thing in the morning." Lynn's father said as he opened the door. "How's it going?"
"Pretty good, Dad. There's some pretty good competition, but I think both Matt and Ken are guaranteed a part."
"Ah, so this is Ken. It's nice to finally meet you." Mr. Morgan extended his hand out for Ken to shake. Ken took his hand.
"It's good to meet you too, sir."
"We've got about 30 minutes before we need to head back. I wanted to grab something to eat real quick-I skipped breakfast." Lynn said, as she rummaged around her refrigerator. "Any requests, guys?"
"I'm not too terribly hungry. I guess an apple or something like that." Ken said-walking over to the kitchen.
"Same here."
"Here we go." Lynn pulled out several bags containing oranges, apples, pears and grapes. "Knock yourselves out." Lynn said, taking an orange out of the bag.
"Thanks." Ken said, grabbing an apple and going to the sink to wash it. He overheard Matt and Mr. Morgan talking.
"So, how'd my little girl do last night, Matt? She tends to leave out details."
"You'd have been very proud of her, Mr. Morgan. She was amazing!"
"And you over exaggerate." Lynn sighed-sitting down next to her father at the kitchen table.
"No, he's not. She really was amazing, Mr. Morgan." Ken said. "She just doesn't give herself enough credit." Ken smiled at Lynn as he sat down at the table.
"Lynn has a tendency to do that-I think she gets it from her mother."
"Hello? Please stop talking like I'm not here." Lynn said, throwing an orange peel at her father, who caught it and threw it back at her.
"If you would just tell me about these things, I wouldn't have to go behind your back now would I?" Mr. Morgan laughed.
"Very funny, Dad."
"By the way, Yolei came by earlier today. She said she wanted to take you to all the tourist spots in Tokyo today. I told her that if things went well, you wouldn't be able to with them. She seemed a little disappointed, but then said she had somewhere else that she sort of had to go today anyway."
"I'll have to make it up to Yolei tomorrow. She's been dying to play tour guide." Lynn laughed.
"She'll drag you all over the place." Ken shook his head. "There's nothing Yolei likes more than showing off her knowledge of the city. Besides, she likes visiting the tourist sites also-now she has an excuse."
"We'd better start heading back. I don't want to run the risk of making the casting people mad at us." Matt said, picking up the remains of the orange he had eaten.
"I guess so." Lynn said, doing the same. "Here Ken, I'll throw that away for you." Lynn said, reaching for the remains of Ken's apple core. Ken had reached for it at the same time-so they're hands met on top of the apple core. Ken blushed furiously and removed his hand quickly.
"Thank you." Ken quietly said.
"It was nice meeting you, Ken." Mr. Morgan bowed to Ken. Ken bowed back. "I hope that I get to see you again."
"If things go the way I hope they do today, you will definitely be seeing me again." Ken smiled.
"Break a leg!" Mr. Morgan hollered as they left. He smiled as he put the fruit back in the refrigerator. "If only your mother was here, she'd be so proud of you."
"Welcome back. I hope you all had a nice break. After careful deliberation we have narrowed the field on those who will be cast. If I call your name, come up on the stage. Haruto Kazumi...." Lynn held her breath as the names were read. "Matt Ishida..."
"Yes!" Matt gave a victory sign as he went up the aisle to the stage.
"Way to go, Matt!" Lynn yelled after him.
"Lynn Morgan..."
"Alright!" Ken clapped as Lynn grinned and made her way to the stage. Several more names were read off. Ken felt himself becoming more and more anxious. What if he wasn't cast? Matt and Lynn were already spending a lot of time together. If he didn't get in this play-he would have an even harder time of getting the chance to see her.
"Ken Ichijouji..." Ken sat there for a minute. Lynn was jumping up and down and Matt flashed him the "V" for victory sign.
"Yesssss!" Ken thought as he ran up the aisle.
"The rest of you, thank you very much for auditioning. This does not mean that you will not be a part of the play. There are many important back stage positions. We will be in contact with you." There were several loud sighs from the remaining students as they left.
"Congratulations, everyone!" A voice came down from the balcony. "I'm the director, Jordan Hamilton. I look forward to working with all of you." There was a flash of recognition in Lynn's eyes. Jordan Hamilton had directed several of the operas that she had seen with her mother. This was going to be interesting.
"Mrs. Kuroda will be splitting you up into groups in which you will be playing several different parts. I just want to see how you interact and look with each other. The parts you read for really have no bearing on final casting decisions-so if you are hoping to be the Phantom and are singing for Raoul-don't worry. It doesn't mean anything. Okay, let phase 2 begin!"
Lynn felt like the next few hours were a whirlwind. Practically every combination of casting was made-so everyone had a chance to perform with everyone else. She was paired up with numerous talented partners-but felt no chemistry with any of them. Finally, she was paired with Matt for "All I Ask of You." When they were done, there was polite applause from the other students.
"Very good. Ms. Morgan, I just want to pair you up with one last person. Mr. Ichijouji-please." Ken winked at Lynn as he went to stand next to her. "I want you to sing the same song please." Mrs. Kuroda nodded towards them. Ken took a deep breath.
"Here goes everything." He thought as the music started. When they finished, the same polite applause followed.
"Thank you all very much, I know you've been working very hard. We will have the casting decision in an hour and a half. During that time, our costume designer will be measuring all of you for your costumes. So please, don't leave the auditorium." Mr. Hamilton's booming voice came from the balcony.
"I don't know about you guys, but I am all sung out." Lynn said, plopping down on the stage.
"No kidding. I'm not used to this sort of thing." Ken said, sitting down next to her.
"I guess we're definitely in the play." Matt said, sitting down also. "That's pretty cool. Now it's just a matter of waiting for who we're playing."
"I think I know who Christine is going to be." Ken winked at Lynn, who blushed.
"Please, you're going to give me an ego the size of Davis' appetite."
"Mr. Ishida? I need to get your measurements." A rather plump woman beckoned him over.
"Be back." Matt said, groaning as he stood. "I'm getting too old for this." He grinned as he walked over.
"You were really good up there." Lynn said, tilting her head to look at Ken.
"I had a good partner." Ken laughed.
"That's not what I meant, silly. You have a commanding stage presence. Almost like you were an emperor or something." Ken's heart dropped. He thought he had gotten rid of any last vestiges of the Digimon Emperor's presence. Did he still act like him sometimes? "I think you'd make a great Phantom."
"You think so?" Ken asked, quietly. Yeah, the monster-that's me, he thought.
"Ms. Morgan-you're next."
"Be right back." Lynn said, going over to where Matt was, leaving Ken to ponder what she had just said. Would the stigma of the Digimon Emperor ever go away?
"Mr. Ichijouji?"
"Coming." Ken walked over to the end of the stage.
"Thank you all for being so patient." Jordan Hamilton said, smiling at the students. "As you can see, I've decided to come down from my bird's eye view-but that's the best place to see things sometimes. If I can feel your energy and your chemistry from the back of the auditorium, then I know that you've got something special. I'm so excited about this production. From what I have been told this is the most ambitious undertaking that the spring school festival has done. I hope that I can count on 200% effort from all of you, because I'll be giving you 300%. Okay, here we go. First, the role of Meg...Mei Shirato!" Many names were read off as they went through all of the minor characters. Matt, Lynn and Ken were all getting more nervous. They're names hadn't been called yet-was this to be taken as a good sign-or a bad one?
"Okay, we're down to the last three. Our leads. The rest of you whose name I did not call will be in the chorus-we need strong voices in the background so don't feel bad about not getting a speaking role. First, our Raoul-Matt Ishida!" Lynn hugged Matt as he stood up to get his script. "Next, our outstanding Christine-Lynn Morgan." Lynn's mouth dropped open.
"Are you sure?" She asked Mr. Hamilton as she took the script from him with a shaky hand.
"Absolutely." He then whispered in her ear. "I knew it was you the second I heard you open your mouth." Lynn blushed furiously and went back to where she was sitting. Ken's heart was pounding about a million miles a minute. Of course he was happy for Matt and Lynn, but where did that leave him? Matt and Lynn were going to be playing lovers. His worse fear come to life.
"And last, but certainly not least. Our Phantom-Ken Ichijouji!" Lynn let out an enthusiastic shriek as she hugged him.
"Ken, that's so awesome! All three of us will be working together! Isn't that great?"
"Y...yeah." Ken smiled awkwardly. His emotions were torn. He was thrilled about getting the lead, but would he always play the part of the monster?
"This is even better than I thought it could be!" Lynn said as they sat down to do the first read through of the script. "I get to be in a great musical with the two coolest guys I know."
"You may not have the same feelings after seeing us everyday for the next few months." Matt laughed, taking a seat next to her.
"Well, if we can survive this, we can survive anything-right, Ken?" Lynn said, turning an absolutely beaming face to him.
"Right." Ken said, sitting on the other side of her. "All I know is that make-up is going to take some getting used to." Ken said. He had seen the initial sketches of the prosthetic he was going to have to wear. It didn't look comfortable.
"All great artists must suffer." Matt said dramatically. "For the good of the play."
"Get over yourself." Lynn laughed.
"Okay, everyone. Let's get this thing started. It's been a long day and I'm sure some of you would like to enjoy the rest of the weekend. We'll have a day off tomorrow. Please start memorizing your scripts. Schedules will be passed out after the read through." Mrs. Kuroda said, sitting down at the piano they had rolled in to accompany the singers.
"Let's get this show on the road!" Jordan Hamilton said-opening the copy of the script he had.
"You guys go on ahead. They have to take a face print of me so they can start making the Phantom face." Ken said after rehearsal was over.
"You sure?" Lynn asked.
"I don't know how long it's going to take. It's been a long day. No reason for you to wait around."
"Well, if Yolei doesn't want to play tour guide tomorrow, do you want to get together tomorrow and go over lines?" Lynn asked her two cast mates.
"I'd love to, but I've got to get a school project done." Matt said, regretfully. "I may be a star, but try telling that to my mom!"
"Here Ken, let me give you my phone number. That way you can call me and let me know, okay?" Lynn took a business card out of her purse and handed it to him. "It's Dad's card, but it has our home number on it."
"Yeah, I'll be in touch." Ken put the card in his pocket. "I'll see you guys later." Ken said as he walked off with the make-up artist who was going to make the mask of his face.
"Have fun." Matt yelled after him. "Poor guy. I don't envy that make-up job."
"Really. But he's going to be so good in the role. He's just got that regal presence, you know?"
"Yeah."
The two walked back to the apartment complex. "I guess I'll see you Monday, then." Matt said as they came to her door.
"Yeah. Poor Matt, it looks like your going to be spending a lot of time with me." Lynn smiled as she opened her door.
"That's not such a bad thing." Matt grinned as he leaned against the wall.
"You haven't seen me stressed out yet." Lynn laughed. "Oh, damn! I just remembered something. I meant to stop by my locker-I left one of my English textbooks."
"Well, if we hurry maybe we can get back before they lock up for the night."
"I would lose my head if it wasn't attatched to my body." Lynn sighed as they ran back towards the school.
Ken rubbed his face. He had gotten a bad itch while he was encased in plaster and he had almost lost his cool. As he was walking out the door of the dressing room where they had taken the face mold, he noticed a strange light coming from the computer lab. "That's weird. I didn't know that the guys were going to the digital world today." Ken walked into the room and found Izzy staring at the monitor.
"Hey, Izzy. Where you here all day too?" Ken asked. Izzy jumped. "We thought everyone had left. We're trying to find out more information about that pillar of light that formed earlier in the week. Wormmon is with them, if you want to go get him." Izzy said, pointing to the screen.
"Poor little guy, I sort of neglected him today." Ken smiled.
"He told us about the Phantom auditions. How'd it go?"
"Matt, Lynn and I all got the leads." Ken grinned.
"That's great!" Izzy said as he opened the digiport. "Hop on in. I know Wormmon will be happy to see you."
"Sure thing."
"Ken! You came!" Wormmon said, running over to his partner. "I got bored waiting at home, so I decided to come here and try and do some good."
"I don't blame you. I'd go stir crazy too if I was stuck in one room all day long." Ken grinned warmly at his digimon. Just then, a bright flash of light filled the sky-the digidestined looked to the sky and saw the column of light again.
"Look there it is!" Yolei shouted, on Aquillamon's back.
"But what caused it to appear?" Cody pondered.
"It has to be Ken." TK said.
"But Ken's been here plenty of times. Why would the column appear now?" Patamon questioned.
"Let's go towards the light. Maybe there will be a clue there." Kari said, riding on Nephertimon.
"This is more confusing than my math homework." Davis said, shaking his head. "Just more and more unanswered questions."
"Um, has anyone noticed that the light seems to be coming towards us?" Veemon asked worridly. "And it's moving REALLY fast!"
"Let's get out of here!" Armadillomon yelled to Cody. They started running away. They ran into a nearby forest and made their way through the underbrush. Wormmon tripped over a root.
"Wormmon!" Ken yelled, as he ran back for his digimon.
"No, Ken! Keep running!" Wormmon begged. "Leave me!"
"There's no way I'm doing that!" Ken shouted back as he hopped over a fallen tree branch. "I lost you once, I'm not losing you again!" Ken grabbed the fallen Wormmon and starting running again. The light was moving even faster now. The digidestined found themselves in a clearing-they were completely blocked off from going back into the forest by a large gathering of digimon.
"Um, guys. There's this really big pillar of light coming this way-can you please move!" Davis yelled at the mob of digimon. They didn't respond. "Great, just great." Davis groaned as he turned his attention to the encroaching light. The light came through the forest and engulfed Ken.
"What's going on?" Ken stared in wonder at the digi-egg inside the light.
"How come Ken can touch the light?" Cody wondered.
"I'll go get him." Davis said bravely as he stepped towards the light. He reached out a hand to grab Ken. "Ouch!"
"What happened?" Veemon asked, concerned about his friend.
"It was like getting zapped by a ton of static electricity." Davis said, putting his throbbing finger in his mouth.
"What was different before? There has got to be some sort of rational explanation for all of this." Cody said, eyeing Ken. "Ken, can you think of anything different about you today?"
"Nothing." Ken shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine."
"This is just too strange." Yolei said, sitting down on the ground.
TK's D-Terminal beeped. "It's from Izzy. Are you sure you don't have anything on you that you normally don't carry? Something that Davis might have also?"
"I really can't think of anything." Ken said in frustration, thrusting his hands into his pockets. A flash of realization came over his face.
"Did you think of something?" Wormmon asked.
"This. Lynn gave me this today. It's her father's business card."
"You don't think..." Cody stared at the card in wonder.
"That's it! Now I remember, I had Lynn's Japanese dictionary in my pocket the day that the pillar of light appeared that first time. I didn't even think anything about it." Davis said clapping his hands together.
"You just now remembered that?" TK asked, amazed at Davis' lack of memory skills.
"Give me a break! I can't remember every little detail, TR!"
"That means..." Ken stared in disbelief at the card.
"She's one of us! She's a digidestined! We have to get her to the digital world as soon as possible!" Gatomon jumped up and down. "You were right, Hawkmon! You said you sensed something special about her. She's going to bring the guardian of the heart back to the Digital World!"
"Now the question is, how do we explain this to her." Kari murmed.
"Did you find it?" Matt said, as they stood in the darkened hallway.
"I think this is it. It would be better if we could find the lights." Lynn squinted into her locker. Just then a bright light came out of a room down the hall. "Did you see that?" Lynn turned to Matt.
"It was probably just a computer screen-that's the computer lab." Matt said, trying to divert her attention away. "If that's Izzy and the rest of them, they're going to have a hard time explaining this one away." He thought.
"I think I hear Izzy." Lynn said. "Come on-let's go check it out."
"I don't know if that's such a good idea..." Matt said, trying to discourage her from going down the hallway.
"Don't be such a chicken, Matt." Lynn said as she entered the doorway. She stopped in her tracks when she saw the group piled on top of each other-the digimon protesting loudly at being squished.
"Lynn!" They all shouted at once. Lynn just stared at them. Then, Ken stood up-Leafmon in his arms.
"Hi, Lynn." Ken said sheepishly.
"Is that...a...a...digimon?" Lynn stared at Leafmon, tears streaming down her face.
"How do you know about digimon?" Matt asked her.
"I...I have to go..." Lynn said, turning to leave.
"Wait!" Yolei grabbed her arm. "If you know about digimon, then you must know about the Digital World. We need you to come with us..."
"No!" Lynn shouted, panicked-pulling her arm away from Yolei. Tears streamed down her face as she turned anquished eyes to them. "Please, please don't make me go back! I can't face what happened. It's...it's all my fault! Please, just forget what I said."
"What's all your fault?" Ken asked, concern shining in his eyes.
"I...I...I let her die! Please, just leave me alone!" Lynn gripped her schoolbooks tightly to her chest and ran down the hallway.
"Lynn, wait!" Matt turned to run after her, but a brilliant light filled the room-blinding them all. A gentle voice came out of the computer.
"Please, go find her. She needs to know it wasn't her fault. Please, bring her back to me. No one here blames her. Tell her, I was reborn. Remind her about the feather...."
"Who are you?" Izzy said-squinting at the light.
"I'm her digimon." The voice and the light faded. Ken's eyes widened. That was the same voice he heard in his dream
"But who are you?" Cody said, placing both hands on the side of the monitor. No reply came.
"We have to find her!" Kari said frantically "She has to know that her digimon is alright."
"But where do we start?" Yolei said, panicky. "I've never seen her like that-she could be running anywhere!"
"Let's split up! We'll have a better chance of finding her that way." TK said, running out the door.
"I'll check the school!" Izzy said.
"D-mail everyone if you find her!" Kari said, running down the stairs.
All of the digidestined ran off in different directions. Lynn's frantic words rang in Ken's mind. He stopped running for a minute. "The voice. The voice in my dream said if I ever needed to find "her" to go where life began."
"Who's "her"?" Leafmon asked.
"I think she may have been referring to Lynn. Life began in the ocean-I bet Lynn's gone to the beach. The closest one is almost next to Odaiba High!" Ken changed direction and ran as fast as his legs could carry him. He reached the Odaiba pier and saw a solitary figure at the end. "Lynn!" He shouted. The figure flinched. He ran down the pier, Leafmon bouncing in his arms.
"How did you know I was going to be here?" Lynn stared at him, her face tearstained.
"Believe it or not, your digimon told me." Ken smiled tenderly, placing Leafmon down on a bench and taking her into his arms.
"That's impossible. She's dead!" Lynn sobbed into his chest.
"Digimon don't die, Lynn. They just get re-born. One of the perks to being digital information." Leafmon said, reassuringly.
"Re-born?" Lynn stared at Leafmon. "How is that possible? I saw her get destroyed!"
"It happened to me." Leafmon spoke gently. "I died defending Ken. I was reborn in Primary Village."
"You mean, I've wasted all this time?" Lynn wiped the tears from her eyes. "She must hate me!" She sunk down onto the ground. Ken sat down next to her and took her into his arms.
"She doesn't hate you. She said something about remembering a feather..." Ken said, stroking her hair.
"The feather? It's something she gave me so that I could always have a part of her with me."
"See? Why would she say something like that if she was mad at you?" Leafmon said, jumping off the bench and landing on Lynn's lap.
"Are you sure it's really her? I mean, I was with her when she died. I should have been there for her, but I was so selfish and refused to help her that day. I was such a fool! I was depressed about my mother's death and didn't want to be around anyone. I knew she needed my help to digivolve but I made her go into that battle by herself!"
"What battle?" Ken asked.
"The one against Chimeramon-the freak of nature that the jerk the Digimon Emperor made and lost control of. She was defending a village that he was attacking and was killed I tried to find the idiot, but he disappeared shortly after that. Good riddance. He's partly responsible for why my mom died. We had a huge fight earlier that day-over something stupid. I left for the digital world to knock over some control spires and she came in to check on me. When she saw I wasn't in my room, she was sure I'd run away. She was so preoccupied with looking for me that she didn't see the drunk driver swerving on the road ahead of her until it was too late. After that, I never wanted to step foot back in the Digital World again."
Ken felt like his heart would stop beating. She was in the digital world because of his control spires. Chimeramon. His Frankenstein monster. He was responsible for the death of her digimon and her mother. "Oh, God." Ken thought. "What am I going to do? There's no way she would forgive me."
"Ken?" Lynn turned to face him.
"Yeah?" Ken was panicking.
"I know this is probably inappropriate. But I'm glad you're the one who found me." Lynn blushed.
"Well, don't thank me just yet." Ken sighed.
"Can we stay here for a while? I don't feel like facing the others yet."
"Sure." Ken close his eyes. Here she was, in his arms, like he had dreamed about-and yet he knew it couldn't possibly last. He had to tell her the truth. "There's something I need to tell you." Ken swallowed. He looked at his digimon for support. Leafmon frantically shook his head no.
"What is it?" Lynn asked.
"Nothing that can't wait." Ken let out a huge sigh. Lynn turned to face him.
"You're crying." Lynn stared at him in wonder.
"You just scared me, running off like that." Well, it wasn't a total lie-he thought.
"I'm sorry. I seem to be good at causing people pain." Lynn sighed. "I had my dad really worried for a while after my mom's death. Then everything got worse after Harumon died." Lynn closed her eyes and placed her head on Ken's chest. Ken felt his heart breaking. He was the cause of all of her pain.
"Ken?"
"Yeah?"
"Thanks for listening to me."
"You're welcome."
"My dad's probably worried about me. I'd better get home." Lynn said, standing up, brushing the remaining tears off her face.
"Let me tell the others that I found you." Ken said, taking out his D-terminal. "Okay, let me walk you home."
"Just one last thing." Lynn walked up to him.
"What?" Ken asked nervously as Lynn moved in towards him.
"This." Lynn cupped his face in her hand and kissed his tears away. Neither of them noticed Matt at the end of the pier-watching them.
Man, these things keep getting longer and longer. More action next time! I promise!
Also-I know that form that Wormmon has in the real world is Minomon, but I couldn't remember what the little guy was called when I first started writing-besides, I like the way Leafmon looks better-he's too cute! Also-major angst warning! (I love writing this stuff!)
"Good morning!" Yolei said as Lynn joined TK, Cody and Yolei on the way to school."
"How can you possibly be this cheerful so early?" Lynn yawned. "There ought to be a law against it."
"I think it's the pot of coffee she drinks in the morning." TK laughed.
"It's not a whole pot-only around 4 cups or so. Besides, it's Friday! The weekend is finally here." Yolei said, defensively.
"Coffee? Maybe I should give it a try." Lynn said, yawning again. Cody yawned too.
"Late night?" Lynn asked.
"Yeah. I was too worked up after kendo practice to fall asleep. I tossed and turned all night."
"Patamon kept snoring last night-so I didn't get much sleep either." TK laughed.
"Who?" Lynn asked. TK realized his slip-up. Cody and Yolei froze.
"Patamon is my...um...my aunt's dog. We're watching him until he gets back from vacation." TK blundered.
"Weird name for a dog."
"Yeah, well-my aunt's a little strange." TK laughed nervously.
"So, tonight's the night that you audition for Matt's band, huh?" Yolei asked, quickly changing the subject.
"That was a close one." Cody whispered to TK.
"Sorry, it just slipped out. I keep forgetting she's not one of us."
"Yeah. Matt tells me not to worry about it, but I'm kinda nervous. Having other people decide if you're good enough to join them."
"If you are half as good as Matt says-you'll be fine." TK offered encouragement. "He's not one to brag about other people's skills that much. So you must have impressed him." Lynn blushed.
"Thanks. But it's not completely up to him-is it? I was wondering if you would come and listen tonight? I'd feel better if someone was there rooting me on."
"I'd love to. Hey, look-there's Davis playing soccer. Let's go watch, Lynn." Yolei ran towards the school.
"Davis is pretty good." Lynn said as she watched him run down the field. "I never was very good at sports."
"Don't let him hear you say that you think he's good-his ego's big enough as it is." Yolei laughed and TK snickered.
"I thought you were friends." Lynn asked.
"We are. We just tease each other a lot. A lot." TK said.
"Davis scored a goal. I can guarantee that's all he's going to talk about a lunch." Cody shook his head as the goggled boy noticed them and waved.
"I was wondering when you guys were going to show up." Davis said. Just then the bell rang.
"Better hurry, or we'll be late." Cody said-running towards the front doors.
The day was pretty uneventful-except for a pop quiz in History-which luckily Lynn had studied for. She found it somewhat hard to concentrate in some of the classes though. Ken hadn't stopped by since that first night. She didn't know why that bothered her so much. It had only been a couple of days-but it felt like weeks. Matt had volunteered as a tutor-so she was never alone. The gang always stopped by around dinner time-so she had friends to do things with, but the fact that Ken seemed to be avoiding her weighed heavily on her mind. "It's stupid. I only just met him. Dad was right, I've got to get over people not liking me." Lynn sighed as she tried to turn her focus back to the class. Quadratic equations-ugh. The bell finally rang and Lynn grabbed her bag-thankful to go to lunch with her friends. Lynn ran down the steps to the cafeteria-scouring the sea of faces looking for her friends.
"Guess who?" A voice from behind her said as hands slipped over her eyes.
"Um...Brad Pitt?"
"Hardly."
"Well, I'm sorry...if it isn't Brad Pitt-I really don't want to know."
"Very funny." Matt said-letting go of her. "Were you looking for someone?"
"Yeah-Yolei, Kari, TK, Davis, Cody, Izzy, Tai or Sora."
"Not me?" Matt's eyes opened in surprise.
"I figured you would probably find me." Lynn smiled. "There's Izzy and Cody." Lynn said walking to where their table. They both stopped talking as she approached.
"Hey, Matt. I don't usually see you in the cafeteria. You're usually surrounded by your fan club." Izzy teased.
"Very funny, Izzy." Matt said, sitting down next to Lynn.
"Big bro!" TK gave Matt a friendly hit on the back. "What brings you here? Was the daily Matt Fan Club meeting cancelled today?"
"Ha. Ha." Matt was starting to blush.
"Just a warning-if you have Mr. Midorikawa for history-you're going to have a pop quiz." Lynn said-biting into her sandwich.
"Of course. The one subject I didn't study last night." Yolei wailed.
"It's not too bad." Lynn laughed. "I hate to eat and run, but Mr. Tachikawa wanted to see me in his office to see how my first week went. I'll see you guys later?"
"You bet!" The group said.
"Oh, Yolei. Before I forget, do you know Ken's phone number? I haven't seen him in a while and I just wanted to make sure he was okay."
"Um, sure. Let me write it down for you." Yolei quickly jotted the number down and handed it over to Lynn. Matt shifted uncomfortably. Why was she worried about Ken?
"I'll see you later, Matt." Lynn waved and left.
"What is up with Ken, anyway?" Davis asked-taking a sip of soda. "He's been acting really strange. Usually he jumps at the chance of hanging out with us after coming back from the Digital World-now he just goes straight home."
"I'm more concerned about the fact that the pillar of light hasn't re-appeared. We've had every digimon that we're friends with trying to find out where that thing came from. We're getting no where with this." Izzy sighed.
"Izzy and I have gone over every possible angle-we just can't think of what was different that might cause that kind of reaction in the Digital World. Or why Davis was the only one who could touch the light."
"Yeah, I even wore the same socks just in case that was it." Davis said.
"Eww, that was more information than I wanted." Kari said-making a face.
"Hey! I washed them out!" Davis said defensively.
"What pillar of light? Remember, I'm out of the loop now, guys." Matt asked.
"Well...it's a long story..."Izzy began explaining."
"So you think it's one of the four guardians of the digital world? Too weird." Matt said, scratching his head. "And you say it hasn't come back? Maybe it was all some kind of a fluke."
"Perhaps. I just know there's some variable out there that we're not finding." Izzy said-taking out a notebook. "I've written some theories down, but they're all hard to prove."
"Aliens?" Yolei said, reading over his shoulder. Izzy blushed.
"It was just an idea."
"Mr. Ishida, Ms. Morgan. May I see you?" Ms. Yamaguchi asked, pulling them aside after chorus.
"Yes, ma'am?"
"I have some very exciting news for you two. Mr. Ishida is familiar with the spring festival, but I'm sure you don't know much about it, Ms. Morgan." Ms. Yamaguchi said-a strange smile on her face.
"No, ma'am. I haven't heard talk of it."
"Well, each year for the cherry blossom season, all of the schools in the area get together and put on a presentation. Over the past few years, it's grown quite popular. Thus, the budget has been increased substantially over the years. This year we have had quite a large donation given to do a particular production. A rather famous Broadway director and producer want to put on a presentation of "Phantom of the Opera" using promising students. Sort of a recruitment drive for performance arts colleges. I would like you two to audition. I think you two have the best chance of representing Odaiba High. Well?"
Lynn and Matt just stood there. "Um, I don't know how to act." Matt said. "I just sing."
"That's no problem. They're mostly looking for voices."
"Phantom of the Opera. As in ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER?" Lynn's eyes sparkled when Ms. Yamaguchi nodded. "I'm in!"
"Well, I can't let you do this alone." Matt grinned at her. "Sure. I'm in."
"Great. Auditions are being held here tomorrow at 8 a.m. sharp. Be prepared to stay here for most of the day-casting decisions will be made the same day and there will be an initial read through that night.
"Um, it's kind of presumptuous that we're going to get cast, isn't it?" Matt asked.
"Trust me on this one. I may act like a jealous witch, but I know true talent when I see it. You'll get cast or I'll show up at school on Monday in a chicken costume." With that, Ms. Yamaguchi picked up her purse and left the auditorium.
"Gee, it's almost tempting to mess up just to see her in that outfit." Lynn laughed.
"I know what you mean." Matt chuckled. "Well, come on-I'll treat you to ice cream before your audition."
"You know that dairy products are bad for your vocal chords?"
"Really? Okay-then how about we pick up a copy of the script for "Phantom" so that we can practice?" Matt offered his arm to Lynn.
"You're too slick for your own good." Lynn rolled her eyes, putting her arm through his.
"It's just my natural charm." Matt laughed as he opened the door for Lynn.
"Nope. Nothing here." Kari sighed as she pushed aside a huge leaf from her path.
"I really don't think scouring the country side is going to help us find that digi-egg." Gatomon sighed.
"We really don't have much choice." Armadillomon said, pushing over a rotted out tree log.
"But this is getting us nowhere." Yolei said, kicking a mushroom. "How can something as brilliant as that light just disappear and never show itself again. Was it all just some joke?"
"What exactly happened again? I wasn't here, remember?" Ken sighed as he looked under a rather large flower.
"It's just like we told you. As soon as we got close to Primary Village this huge column of light appeared. And no one could touch it but Davis." Cody said, wiping dirt off of his hands.
"Maybe it was just an illusion?" Hawkmon said.
"An illusion that can hurt you? I don't think so." TK said. "The blister I got from that light is just now going away-I don't think I could have imagined that."
"There's just got to be something that we're missing." Veemon crossed his arms and closed his eyes in concentration. "All this thinking is just making my head hurt."
"I know what you mean, buddy. I've gone over that day a thousand times in my head and I just can't think of what was different." Davis scratched his head.
"Anyway, I'd better be getting back. I promised Lynn that I'd watch her practice with Matt's band tonight. She's pretty nervous."
"I'd forgotten about that." Kari said. "I'd like to listen. From what Matt says-she's got a great voice."
"You're coming with us, right?" Cody asked Ken.
"I'm not so sure." Ken moved some dirt around with the toe of his shoe. Wormmon sighed. Ken had confided in him that he liked Lynn, but she seemed to be taken with Matt. It was easier just to avoid her. Wormmon tried to convince him to not give up so easily. His advice fell upon deaf ears.
"Oh, get over whatever needs to be gotten over, Ken." Yolei said, crossing her arms. "This whole pity party you've thrown for yourself is starting to get annoying."
"Yolei..." Hawkmon pleaded. The digidestined of Sincerity still had a tendency to speak her mind when it wasn't totally appropriate.
"No. This has been going on for almost a week now. If something is bothering you-tell us!" Yolei stamped her foot.
"It's nothing-really." Ken mumbled. He turned and walked out of the jungle area they were in to the waiting digiport. "Well, I don't want you guys to be late." He said, opening up the digiport.
"Not again!" Izzy groaned as they all fell on top of him. "Next time, some warning, please!"
"Oh, Ken. You're home early." Ken's mother said as he came in the front door.
"Yeah, the other's had someplace they had to go." Ken said, as he took off his shoes.
"Did you have a good day?" His father asked, putting down the newspaper he was reading.
"Pretty good."
"A girl called for you. Really sweet girl-we had a nice little chat. She wants to know if you're free for dinner tonight."
Ken groaned. It wasn't the first time a girl from school had called here wanting to go out on a date. "Who was it this time? Mei? Nanami?"
"No, dear. Lynn Morgan. You know, she speaks Japanese very well for an American." Ken's mother said. "She told me how much she appreciated your help the other night with helping her study. I didn't know you had made a friend from America."
"What did she say?" Ken's heart was pounding.
"Just that she had some sort of rehearsal tonight and she wanted to see if you wanted to go somewhere afterwards. She was concerned that you weren't feeling too well."
"Really?" Ken blushed.
"Oh, and this note came from Mr. Nakayama." Mrs. Ichijouji said, handing Ken a folded up piece of paper. Ken opened it and read the contents. His eyes widened. "What is it, dear?"
"He wants me to audition for a musical for the spring festival. Phantom of the Opera."
"Sounds like fun! I know how much you enjoyed the book."
"Yeah. It might be just the thing..." Ken said to himself. He had always had a fascination with the story from the first time he read it. The Phantom was somewhat like himself when he was the Digimon Emperor-a monster, but underneath a confused heart and soul who just wanted love and acceptance.
"So. Are you going to go?"
"Yeah, a play might be fun."
"No, dear. To dinner?" Ken's mother's eyes were dancing.
"Did she say if anyone else was going?"
"No-she didn't mention it. Just that if you were interested, to meet her at the Watanabe Youth Center around 8:00. She said that's when rehearsal should be over."
Ken looked at his watch. It was only 6:00. Practice was just starting. Did he really want to watch her singing with Matt? "I have to think about it. I'll be in my room." Ken said walking to his room.
"My baby's growing up." Mrs. Ichijouji said to her husband, tears of happiness in her eyes.
"See? I told you not to give up on her so quickly. You've got a date with Lynn!" Leafmon practically bounced around the room after Ken opened his backpack.
"I wouldn't call it a date, Leafmon." Ken smiled at his digimon's antics. "I don't know if the others will be there or not."
"Well, at least she made a point of calling you to invite you. That's a good sign isn't it?"
"I suppose."
"You deserve some happiness. If spending time with Lynn brings that to you, why deny yourself that."
"I'm not exactly the right kind of material for someone as-well, as great as she is."
"Ken, I'm usually pretty supportive when you're in one of your moods, but I'm going to pull a Yolei. Get over it and go get her!"
"Leafmon?" Ken stared in shock at his digimon. Leafmon hardly ever lost his temper.
"You're not the type of person to just roll over and play dead when something you want may be a little out of your grasp. How can you gain her affection if you're never around? Don't get me wrong-I like Matt and everything, but if you really want to have Lynn as your girlfriend-you're going to have to take him out of the picture. And the only way you are going to do that is by spending time with her! Now, get your act together and go watch that practice! Worst-case scenario-you have a new friend. Best case scenario-you have a girlfriend."
"Have I really been that bad?" Ken wondered aloud.
"Yes! Now go and have a good time, or I'll send an e-mail to Davis's sister saying that you like her."
"You wouldn't dare!"
"Hey, desperate times call for desperate measures."
"Okay, I'm going-I'm going." Ken laughed as he left the room.
"Please, let everything go well tonight." Leafmon said a quick prayer.
"Ken! You made it!" Yolei waved at him.
"Leafmon blackmailed me." Ken said, running up to them. "He threatened to send an e-mail to Davis's sister saying that I had a crush on her."
"Maybe I should have thought of that." Yolei laughed.
"At least you don't have to live with her." Davis sighed. "I mean, I love her and all-but she has a major problem."
"Yeah, putting up with you." TK teased.
"Very funny, TJ."
"Now, Davis. You know we wouldn't tease you if we didn't care about you." Kari smiled.
"Really? You care?" Davis's eyes sparkled.
"Of course. I care for all of my friends." Kari said. "Come on, TK." Kari grabbed TK's arm and steered him into the youth center.
"Denied again, huh?" Izzy laughed.
"One day-one day..." Davis muttered to himself.
"Now he's talking to himself." Cody said, shaking his head. "I think he's officially lost his mind."
"Look! There's Lynn!" Yolei waved. Lynn smiled and ran over to them.
"I'm so glad you guys could make it! Thanks for coming, everyone." Lynn's smile widened when she saw Ken in the background. "Hey, stranger. I guess you got my message."
"Yeah." Ken smiled back. Leafmon was right-he was being stupid by avoiding her.
"Looks like we have an audience." Matt said, coming up behind her. He put his hands on Lynn's shoulder. Ken's smile quickly disappeared from his face. "We're going to run through a couple of our established songs and then you'll be up, okay?"
"Sure thing." Lynn grinned as Matt made his way up onto the stage. "Go ahead and take a seat, everyone. I'll be there in a minute." The others moved to sit down in front of the stage. Lynn grabbed Ken's arm as he passed. "Ken, I hope you didn't mind me calling you. I wanted to make sure that you hadn't fallen off the face of the earth."
"No problem. I'm glad you called. I was going to be spending an exciting night of playing cards with my mom before that."
"So everything's okay?" Lynn looked worried.
"Yeah. So, who's coming with us afterwards?" Ken felt like someone was burning a whole in him. He glanced towards the stage and saw Matt glaring at him.
"Oh. You thought it was a group thing?" Lynn looked a little disappointed. "I was kinda thinking that maybe it would be just the two of us. I mean, I see everyone at school every day-and if things pan out tonight and tomorrow I'll be spending a lot more time with Matt, but this is the first time we'll have gotten together in a while."
"Just the two of us?" Ken couldn't believe his luck.
"Unless you want the others to come."
"No, I wouldn't mind it just being the two of us." Ken smiled.
"Good. I have so much to tell you about this week!" Lynn said, finding a seat to watch the band warm-up.
Lynn took a deep breath and turned to the members of the band. They all gave her a re-assuring smile. She had a chance to talk to them before their manager had shown up. Yushiro who played the drums was thrilled at the chance of having a new band member. Makoto who played the keyboard seemed a little cautious, but only because he didn't like change too much, Matt explained. Hajime, the bass guitarist didn't say much, but nodded his approval at the songs she had chosen to audition with. Now it seemed the only one she had to prove herself to was Mr. Watanabe-the band's sponsor and the owner of the youth center that they were practicing in. Matt told her that he was one of the wealthiest men in Tokyo. He owned a chain of ultra-popular and ultra-expensive restaurants as well as many buildings. Mr. Watanabe liked to dabble in a bit of everything from music to theater to charity. He didn't look all that pleased that someone was trying to change the status quo.
Lynn bowed to Mr. Watanabe and gave a signal to the band. She decided to sing in English-the last thing she needed was to flub the words-they could come later. What was important now was to hit the notes. She started out with Dido's "Here with Me"; Annie Lennox's "Cold"; Britney Spears' "Oops, I did it again"; Alanna Myles "Black Velvet"; then "Nobody wants to be Lonely" a duet she did with Matt. She had wanted to show her range as a singer and felt that they were completely different song styles. When her set was done, she breathed a sigh of relief. Ken and the others erupted into applause. She glanced over at Mr. Watanabe and her heart sunk. He was just staring at her-the expression on his face never changing. He slowly stood up.
"Matt, you do realize that you are going to have to work harder to match this young ladies vocal talents?"
"Yes, sir." Matt said, nervously setting his guitar down.
"Well, Lynn. If the others are willing to have you, you're more than welcome to come on board." Finally, Mr. Watanabe smiled. Lynn anxiously turned back to the other band members. They were all smiling and gave her a "thumbs-up".
"I would love to!" Lynn jumped up and down. Matt grabbed her and pulled her into a hug-then he picked her up and began twirling her around. He set her down and the other band members came up and gave her hugs. The digidestined kids ran up on the stage and gathered around Lynn.
"Nice to have a decent voice in the group." Makoto laughed.
"Keep singing like that, and we'll have a record deal in no time." Hajime smiled.
"Poor, Matt. He may be singing back-up." Yushiro playfully punched Matt's arm.
"How about we all go out and celebrate?" Mr. Watanabe asked. "My treat, of course."
"Sounds great!" Matt said.
"I guess we're official groupies now." TK said, giving Lynn a hug. "Just think about it-you already have seven dedicated fans!"
"I would love to go out with all of you, Mr. Watanabe, but I already made plans. I'm sorry." Lynn said regretfully.
"They can't be as important as this, can they?" Yolei said, gesturing to the guys in the band. "It's time to bond with your new band members!"
"Well, yeah...but..." Lynn bit her lip and looked at Ken.
"Hey, don't worry about it. Some other time." Ken saw the look on Lynn's face while she sang. She loved every second of it. Who was he to deny her this moment? It was so well deserved.
"Are you absolutely sure?" Lynn asked, obviously torn between wanting to go out with the band and keeping her dinner date with Ken.
"I said, don't worry about it." Ken shrugged.
"Okay." Lynn sighed with relief. "Where to?"
"There's this new place that sells great eel burgers..." Mr. Watanabe started saying but was drowned out by the digidestined group's laughter. "What's so funny?"
"Unless you want Lynn to turn green, don't mention eel." Cody said, doubled over in laughter. The group quickly explained what had happened. Ken felt like an outsider-they others already had so many shared memories.
"I must find out exactly what that shade was. I've never seen anyone turn green before." Izzy teased.
"Very funny everyone." Lynn stuck her tongue out at them.
"Okay, how about my restaurant down the road?" Mr. Watanabe asked.
"The one with the year long waiting list?" Davis asked excitedly. "I am so in!"
"Me too." Kari said.
"Okay, let's go then."
"Will you sit next to me, Ken?" Lynn asked as they left the center's auditorium. "At least we can play catch up."
"Sure." Ken smiled. Okay, so it wasn't the evening he had planned to spend, but at least he was with his friends.
"So? How did it go?" Leafmon asked as Ken came into his room.
"Lynn's got an absolutely amazing voice. She got into the group-of course."
"That's not what I meant!" Leafmon pouted.
"The band's sponsor Mr. Watanabe took us all out to eat afterwards."
"Get to the good stuff already!" Leafmon jumped up and down. "Um, there was some good stuff, right?"
"She did want to go out just the two of us to talk, but the plans got changed." Ken sighed, as he changed into his pajamas.
"Well, that's a good sign, isn't it?"
"Yeah. She made a point of having me sit next to her at dinner. But of course, Matt sat on the other side of her."
"At least she's treating you both the same." Leafmon said hopefully.
"I suppose so, Leafmon. You should have seen the look on her face when she was singing. She was just so happy. I wish I could put that look on her face."
"I'm sure you'll get the chance, Ken." Leafmon said, yawning. "You just can't rush these things."
"I guess you're right, Leafmon." Ken sighed. "I just wish we could do something that didn't involve the others."
That night Ken dreamt strange dreams. A pillar of light scolded him for having been the Digimon Emperor and told him that he'd better not hurt "her" but never told him who "she" was. The voice told him that if he ever needed to find "her" to go to where life begins-"she" would be waiting there for him. Inside the pillar he swore he saw a phoenix looking digimon-but couldn't tell. The shape kept changing-becoming humanoid, then more bird-like. Ken woke up with a start-heart pounding. "What was that?" he muttered, then lay back down and slept without any more dreams.
"No way! Ken, what are you doing here?" Lynn hugged him as he entered the auditorium at Odaiba High.
"I'm auditioning for the spring festival play. My drama and chorus teacher said I'd be a pretty good candidate." Ken said, finding a seat near the back.
"Same with me!" Lynn beamed. "Matt, too."
"Oh."
"Wouldn't it be great if we were all chosen to be in the play? The three musketeers-or something like that." Lynn grinned. "Any idea what part you want?"
"Anything would be fine. I get extra credit for this, so as long I get cast."
"Same here. Oh, who am I kidding? I really would love to be Christine. Matt and I practiced some last night. He's trying to get the Phantom. I think he would be so great!"
"Yeah, he would be." Ken couldn't deny the fact that Matt would be good as the Phantom.
"Morning, Ken. I didn't know you were into this sort of thing." Matt said as he sat next to them. "Looks like a pretty big turn-out." Matt said, looking at the almost packed auditorium. "Some pretty stiff competition, too."
"I don't think you two have anything to worry about. You've got two of the best voices I've heard."
"Flatterer." Lynn laughed.
"Good morning, everyone. Thank you for coming out so early on the weekend. This shows us how important this is to all of you. I am Mrs. Kuroda-assistant director in this production. Your teachers have already submitted your names and all necessary information. We will be taking you off in groups of about 30 at a time to test your vocal range. After that, a break as we compare notes on vocal quality. From there we will separate into groups based upon characters. Then another break: followed by a session of seeing who works well together. After this, the director, producer and others will discuss casting. As this is a rather elaborate production, we want to get started as soon as possible. So there will be a read-through of the script right after the casting decisions are made. Rehearsal schedules will be given out afterwards. Any questions? No? Good. Let's get started."
Lynn was called in the first group. Ken and Matt watched from the back-beaming with pride. "She's really good." Ken whispered.
"She's got it in here genes. Her mother was a professional opera singer."
"I didn't know that."
"Yeah, we talked about it on the way home one day."
Lynn's group finished up. Matt's group was up next.
"You were great." Ken said as she sat down next to him.
"Thanks. I was pretty nervous." Lynn smiled.
"I couldn't tell."
"That's sweet, Ken." Lynn blushed a little. She then turned her attention to Matt. Ken watched her face as she listened to Matt's part of the audition. She looked so blissfully happy. He was up next. "Good luck." Lynn gave his hand a re-assuring squeeze.
Matt sat down next to Lynn. "You so nailed that." She said, giving Matt a hug.
"I hope so."
Ken's name was called out of the group. He took a deep breath and began singing the section assigned to him from "Music of the Night." He knew he had a pretty good singing voice-he just never shared the talent with anyone beyond his drama class. He was what his chorus teacher called "a closeted talent". He just never had the proper motivation to do this sort of thing, but he knew the best way to get Lynn's attention was through music.
"That was amazing!" Lynn said, giving him a hug as he came back.
"I never knew you could sing like that!" Matt looked genuinely impressed. "How come we're just finding this out?"
"I know it sounds pretty stuck-up of me, but I never really found something that I thought was worthwhile to devote this much time to, but I really love the story-so it's worth "outing" myself as a singer."
"If I knew you had this much talent, I would've recruited you for the band a long time ago." Matt smiled.
"Thanks, but no thanks. I don't have the patience for the fans."
"That's the last group. Why don't you all take a break? We'll meet back here in 45 minutes." The assistant director said, as the last group left the stage.
"Okay-so how do we kill 45 minutes?" Lynn asked standing up and heading towards the front doors.
"We could always go back to your apartment complex. TK and the others should be awake by now." Matt suggested.
"Not a bad idea. I was so nervous this morning: I couldn't eat anything. You guys want to come back to my place for brunch?"
"Sure." Ken shrugged.
"Do you think your father will be home?" Matt asked.
"Probably-just promise me that you won't get into another discussion about music. It's like listening to two mechanics talk shop-boring!"
"I thought you liked music."
"I do-I just don't live, breath, and eat it like you two do." Lynn laughed. "Besides, he'll keep us there too long."
Ken walked silently behind them as they chatted away like old friends. So, Matt had already met Lynn's father. And from what it sounded like, he liked Matt. Great, just peachy.
"You're awfully quite, Ken." Lynn said as they boarded the elevator.
"I'm trying to save my voice." Ken lied. He actually didn't feel he had much to contribute to the conversation.
"Not a bad idea." Matt nodded thoughtfully. "Especially if the audition process gets pretty drawn out."
"Does that mean you'll actually be quiet?" Lynn's eyes shone with laughter.
"Very funny, Lynn." Matt stuck his tongue out at her.
"Better be careful or your face will freeze like that." Ken semi-laughed.
"It'd be an improvement." Lynn teased.
"What is this? Pick on Matt day?"
"Yes." Ken and Lynn said at the same time. They looked at each other and dissolved into giggles.
"That's a sound I like to hear first thing in the morning." Lynn's father said as he opened the door. "How's it going?"
"Pretty good, Dad. There's some pretty good competition, but I think both Matt and Ken are guaranteed a part."
"Ah, so this is Ken. It's nice to finally meet you." Mr. Morgan extended his hand out for Ken to shake. Ken took his hand.
"It's good to meet you too, sir."
"We've got about 30 minutes before we need to head back. I wanted to grab something to eat real quick-I skipped breakfast." Lynn said, as she rummaged around her refrigerator. "Any requests, guys?"
"I'm not too terribly hungry. I guess an apple or something like that." Ken said-walking over to the kitchen.
"Same here."
"Here we go." Lynn pulled out several bags containing oranges, apples, pears and grapes. "Knock yourselves out." Lynn said, taking an orange out of the bag.
"Thanks." Ken said, grabbing an apple and going to the sink to wash it. He overheard Matt and Mr. Morgan talking.
"So, how'd my little girl do last night, Matt? She tends to leave out details."
"You'd have been very proud of her, Mr. Morgan. She was amazing!"
"And you over exaggerate." Lynn sighed-sitting down next to her father at the kitchen table.
"No, he's not. She really was amazing, Mr. Morgan." Ken said. "She just doesn't give herself enough credit." Ken smiled at Lynn as he sat down at the table.
"Lynn has a tendency to do that-I think she gets it from her mother."
"Hello? Please stop talking like I'm not here." Lynn said, throwing an orange peel at her father, who caught it and threw it back at her.
"If you would just tell me about these things, I wouldn't have to go behind your back now would I?" Mr. Morgan laughed.
"Very funny, Dad."
"By the way, Yolei came by earlier today. She said she wanted to take you to all the tourist spots in Tokyo today. I told her that if things went well, you wouldn't be able to with them. She seemed a little disappointed, but then said she had somewhere else that she sort of had to go today anyway."
"I'll have to make it up to Yolei tomorrow. She's been dying to play tour guide." Lynn laughed.
"She'll drag you all over the place." Ken shook his head. "There's nothing Yolei likes more than showing off her knowledge of the city. Besides, she likes visiting the tourist sites also-now she has an excuse."
"We'd better start heading back. I don't want to run the risk of making the casting people mad at us." Matt said, picking up the remains of the orange he had eaten.
"I guess so." Lynn said, doing the same. "Here Ken, I'll throw that away for you." Lynn said, reaching for the remains of Ken's apple core. Ken had reached for it at the same time-so they're hands met on top of the apple core. Ken blushed furiously and removed his hand quickly.
"Thank you." Ken quietly said.
"It was nice meeting you, Ken." Mr. Morgan bowed to Ken. Ken bowed back. "I hope that I get to see you again."
"If things go the way I hope they do today, you will definitely be seeing me again." Ken smiled.
"Break a leg!" Mr. Morgan hollered as they left. He smiled as he put the fruit back in the refrigerator. "If only your mother was here, she'd be so proud of you."
"Welcome back. I hope you all had a nice break. After careful deliberation we have narrowed the field on those who will be cast. If I call your name, come up on the stage. Haruto Kazumi...." Lynn held her breath as the names were read. "Matt Ishida..."
"Yes!" Matt gave a victory sign as he went up the aisle to the stage.
"Way to go, Matt!" Lynn yelled after him.
"Lynn Morgan..."
"Alright!" Ken clapped as Lynn grinned and made her way to the stage. Several more names were read off. Ken felt himself becoming more and more anxious. What if he wasn't cast? Matt and Lynn were already spending a lot of time together. If he didn't get in this play-he would have an even harder time of getting the chance to see her.
"Ken Ichijouji..." Ken sat there for a minute. Lynn was jumping up and down and Matt flashed him the "V" for victory sign.
"Yesssss!" Ken thought as he ran up the aisle.
"The rest of you, thank you very much for auditioning. This does not mean that you will not be a part of the play. There are many important back stage positions. We will be in contact with you." There were several loud sighs from the remaining students as they left.
"Congratulations, everyone!" A voice came down from the balcony. "I'm the director, Jordan Hamilton. I look forward to working with all of you." There was a flash of recognition in Lynn's eyes. Jordan Hamilton had directed several of the operas that she had seen with her mother. This was going to be interesting.
"Mrs. Kuroda will be splitting you up into groups in which you will be playing several different parts. I just want to see how you interact and look with each other. The parts you read for really have no bearing on final casting decisions-so if you are hoping to be the Phantom and are singing for Raoul-don't worry. It doesn't mean anything. Okay, let phase 2 begin!"
Lynn felt like the next few hours were a whirlwind. Practically every combination of casting was made-so everyone had a chance to perform with everyone else. She was paired up with numerous talented partners-but felt no chemistry with any of them. Finally, she was paired with Matt for "All I Ask of You." When they were done, there was polite applause from the other students.
"Very good. Ms. Morgan, I just want to pair you up with one last person. Mr. Ichijouji-please." Ken winked at Lynn as he went to stand next to her. "I want you to sing the same song please." Mrs. Kuroda nodded towards them. Ken took a deep breath.
"Here goes everything." He thought as the music started. When they finished, the same polite applause followed.
"Thank you all very much, I know you've been working very hard. We will have the casting decision in an hour and a half. During that time, our costume designer will be measuring all of you for your costumes. So please, don't leave the auditorium." Mr. Hamilton's booming voice came from the balcony.
"I don't know about you guys, but I am all sung out." Lynn said, plopping down on the stage.
"No kidding. I'm not used to this sort of thing." Ken said, sitting down next to her.
"I guess we're definitely in the play." Matt said, sitting down also. "That's pretty cool. Now it's just a matter of waiting for who we're playing."
"I think I know who Christine is going to be." Ken winked at Lynn, who blushed.
"Please, you're going to give me an ego the size of Davis' appetite."
"Mr. Ishida? I need to get your measurements." A rather plump woman beckoned him over.
"Be back." Matt said, groaning as he stood. "I'm getting too old for this." He grinned as he walked over.
"You were really good up there." Lynn said, tilting her head to look at Ken.
"I had a good partner." Ken laughed.
"That's not what I meant, silly. You have a commanding stage presence. Almost like you were an emperor or something." Ken's heart dropped. He thought he had gotten rid of any last vestiges of the Digimon Emperor's presence. Did he still act like him sometimes? "I think you'd make a great Phantom."
"You think so?" Ken asked, quietly. Yeah, the monster-that's me, he thought.
"Ms. Morgan-you're next."
"Be right back." Lynn said, going over to where Matt was, leaving Ken to ponder what she had just said. Would the stigma of the Digimon Emperor ever go away?
"Mr. Ichijouji?"
"Coming." Ken walked over to the end of the stage.
"Thank you all for being so patient." Jordan Hamilton said, smiling at the students. "As you can see, I've decided to come down from my bird's eye view-but that's the best place to see things sometimes. If I can feel your energy and your chemistry from the back of the auditorium, then I know that you've got something special. I'm so excited about this production. From what I have been told this is the most ambitious undertaking that the spring school festival has done. I hope that I can count on 200% effort from all of you, because I'll be giving you 300%. Okay, here we go. First, the role of Meg...Mei Shirato!" Many names were read off as they went through all of the minor characters. Matt, Lynn and Ken were all getting more nervous. They're names hadn't been called yet-was this to be taken as a good sign-or a bad one?
"Okay, we're down to the last three. Our leads. The rest of you whose name I did not call will be in the chorus-we need strong voices in the background so don't feel bad about not getting a speaking role. First, our Raoul-Matt Ishida!" Lynn hugged Matt as he stood up to get his script. "Next, our outstanding Christine-Lynn Morgan." Lynn's mouth dropped open.
"Are you sure?" She asked Mr. Hamilton as she took the script from him with a shaky hand.
"Absolutely." He then whispered in her ear. "I knew it was you the second I heard you open your mouth." Lynn blushed furiously and went back to where she was sitting. Ken's heart was pounding about a million miles a minute. Of course he was happy for Matt and Lynn, but where did that leave him? Matt and Lynn were going to be playing lovers. His worse fear come to life.
"And last, but certainly not least. Our Phantom-Ken Ichijouji!" Lynn let out an enthusiastic shriek as she hugged him.
"Ken, that's so awesome! All three of us will be working together! Isn't that great?"
"Y...yeah." Ken smiled awkwardly. His emotions were torn. He was thrilled about getting the lead, but would he always play the part of the monster?
"This is even better than I thought it could be!" Lynn said as they sat down to do the first read through of the script. "I get to be in a great musical with the two coolest guys I know."
"You may not have the same feelings after seeing us everyday for the next few months." Matt laughed, taking a seat next to her.
"Well, if we can survive this, we can survive anything-right, Ken?" Lynn said, turning an absolutely beaming face to him.
"Right." Ken said, sitting on the other side of her. "All I know is that make-up is going to take some getting used to." Ken said. He had seen the initial sketches of the prosthetic he was going to have to wear. It didn't look comfortable.
"All great artists must suffer." Matt said dramatically. "For the good of the play."
"Get over yourself." Lynn laughed.
"Okay, everyone. Let's get this thing started. It's been a long day and I'm sure some of you would like to enjoy the rest of the weekend. We'll have a day off tomorrow. Please start memorizing your scripts. Schedules will be passed out after the read through." Mrs. Kuroda said, sitting down at the piano they had rolled in to accompany the singers.
"Let's get this show on the road!" Jordan Hamilton said-opening the copy of the script he had.
"You guys go on ahead. They have to take a face print of me so they can start making the Phantom face." Ken said after rehearsal was over.
"You sure?" Lynn asked.
"I don't know how long it's going to take. It's been a long day. No reason for you to wait around."
"Well, if Yolei doesn't want to play tour guide tomorrow, do you want to get together tomorrow and go over lines?" Lynn asked her two cast mates.
"I'd love to, but I've got to get a school project done." Matt said, regretfully. "I may be a star, but try telling that to my mom!"
"Here Ken, let me give you my phone number. That way you can call me and let me know, okay?" Lynn took a business card out of her purse and handed it to him. "It's Dad's card, but it has our home number on it."
"Yeah, I'll be in touch." Ken put the card in his pocket. "I'll see you guys later." Ken said as he walked off with the make-up artist who was going to make the mask of his face.
"Have fun." Matt yelled after him. "Poor guy. I don't envy that make-up job."
"Really. But he's going to be so good in the role. He's just got that regal presence, you know?"
"Yeah."
The two walked back to the apartment complex. "I guess I'll see you Monday, then." Matt said as they came to her door.
"Yeah. Poor Matt, it looks like your going to be spending a lot of time with me." Lynn smiled as she opened her door.
"That's not such a bad thing." Matt grinned as he leaned against the wall.
"You haven't seen me stressed out yet." Lynn laughed. "Oh, damn! I just remembered something. I meant to stop by my locker-I left one of my English textbooks."
"Well, if we hurry maybe we can get back before they lock up for the night."
"I would lose my head if it wasn't attatched to my body." Lynn sighed as they ran back towards the school.
Ken rubbed his face. He had gotten a bad itch while he was encased in plaster and he had almost lost his cool. As he was walking out the door of the dressing room where they had taken the face mold, he noticed a strange light coming from the computer lab. "That's weird. I didn't know that the guys were going to the digital world today." Ken walked into the room and found Izzy staring at the monitor.
"Hey, Izzy. Where you here all day too?" Ken asked. Izzy jumped. "We thought everyone had left. We're trying to find out more information about that pillar of light that formed earlier in the week. Wormmon is with them, if you want to go get him." Izzy said, pointing to the screen.
"Poor little guy, I sort of neglected him today." Ken smiled.
"He told us about the Phantom auditions. How'd it go?"
"Matt, Lynn and I all got the leads." Ken grinned.
"That's great!" Izzy said as he opened the digiport. "Hop on in. I know Wormmon will be happy to see you."
"Sure thing."
"Ken! You came!" Wormmon said, running over to his partner. "I got bored waiting at home, so I decided to come here and try and do some good."
"I don't blame you. I'd go stir crazy too if I was stuck in one room all day long." Ken grinned warmly at his digimon. Just then, a bright flash of light filled the sky-the digidestined looked to the sky and saw the column of light again.
"Look there it is!" Yolei shouted, on Aquillamon's back.
"But what caused it to appear?" Cody pondered.
"It has to be Ken." TK said.
"But Ken's been here plenty of times. Why would the column appear now?" Patamon questioned.
"Let's go towards the light. Maybe there will be a clue there." Kari said, riding on Nephertimon.
"This is more confusing than my math homework." Davis said, shaking his head. "Just more and more unanswered questions."
"Um, has anyone noticed that the light seems to be coming towards us?" Veemon asked worridly. "And it's moving REALLY fast!"
"Let's get out of here!" Armadillomon yelled to Cody. They started running away. They ran into a nearby forest and made their way through the underbrush. Wormmon tripped over a root.
"Wormmon!" Ken yelled, as he ran back for his digimon.
"No, Ken! Keep running!" Wormmon begged. "Leave me!"
"There's no way I'm doing that!" Ken shouted back as he hopped over a fallen tree branch. "I lost you once, I'm not losing you again!" Ken grabbed the fallen Wormmon and starting running again. The light was moving even faster now. The digidestined found themselves in a clearing-they were completely blocked off from going back into the forest by a large gathering of digimon.
"Um, guys. There's this really big pillar of light coming this way-can you please move!" Davis yelled at the mob of digimon. They didn't respond. "Great, just great." Davis groaned as he turned his attention to the encroaching light. The light came through the forest and engulfed Ken.
"What's going on?" Ken stared in wonder at the digi-egg inside the light.
"How come Ken can touch the light?" Cody wondered.
"I'll go get him." Davis said bravely as he stepped towards the light. He reached out a hand to grab Ken. "Ouch!"
"What happened?" Veemon asked, concerned about his friend.
"It was like getting zapped by a ton of static electricity." Davis said, putting his throbbing finger in his mouth.
"What was different before? There has got to be some sort of rational explanation for all of this." Cody said, eyeing Ken. "Ken, can you think of anything different about you today?"
"Nothing." Ken shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine."
"This is just too strange." Yolei said, sitting down on the ground.
TK's D-Terminal beeped. "It's from Izzy. Are you sure you don't have anything on you that you normally don't carry? Something that Davis might have also?"
"I really can't think of anything." Ken said in frustration, thrusting his hands into his pockets. A flash of realization came over his face.
"Did you think of something?" Wormmon asked.
"This. Lynn gave me this today. It's her father's business card."
"You don't think..." Cody stared at the card in wonder.
"That's it! Now I remember, I had Lynn's Japanese dictionary in my pocket the day that the pillar of light appeared that first time. I didn't even think anything about it." Davis said clapping his hands together.
"You just now remembered that?" TK asked, amazed at Davis' lack of memory skills.
"Give me a break! I can't remember every little detail, TR!"
"That means..." Ken stared in disbelief at the card.
"She's one of us! She's a digidestined! We have to get her to the digital world as soon as possible!" Gatomon jumped up and down. "You were right, Hawkmon! You said you sensed something special about her. She's going to bring the guardian of the heart back to the Digital World!"
"Now the question is, how do we explain this to her." Kari murmed.
"Did you find it?" Matt said, as they stood in the darkened hallway.
"I think this is it. It would be better if we could find the lights." Lynn squinted into her locker. Just then a bright light came out of a room down the hall. "Did you see that?" Lynn turned to Matt.
"It was probably just a computer screen-that's the computer lab." Matt said, trying to divert her attention away. "If that's Izzy and the rest of them, they're going to have a hard time explaining this one away." He thought.
"I think I hear Izzy." Lynn said. "Come on-let's go check it out."
"I don't know if that's such a good idea..." Matt said, trying to discourage her from going down the hallway.
"Don't be such a chicken, Matt." Lynn said as she entered the doorway. She stopped in her tracks when she saw the group piled on top of each other-the digimon protesting loudly at being squished.
"Lynn!" They all shouted at once. Lynn just stared at them. Then, Ken stood up-Leafmon in his arms.
"Hi, Lynn." Ken said sheepishly.
"Is that...a...a...digimon?" Lynn stared at Leafmon, tears streaming down her face.
"How do you know about digimon?" Matt asked her.
"I...I have to go..." Lynn said, turning to leave.
"Wait!" Yolei grabbed her arm. "If you know about digimon, then you must know about the Digital World. We need you to come with us..."
"No!" Lynn shouted, panicked-pulling her arm away from Yolei. Tears streamed down her face as she turned anquished eyes to them. "Please, please don't make me go back! I can't face what happened. It's...it's all my fault! Please, just forget what I said."
"What's all your fault?" Ken asked, concern shining in his eyes.
"I...I...I let her die! Please, just leave me alone!" Lynn gripped her schoolbooks tightly to her chest and ran down the hallway.
"Lynn, wait!" Matt turned to run after her, but a brilliant light filled the room-blinding them all. A gentle voice came out of the computer.
"Please, go find her. She needs to know it wasn't her fault. Please, bring her back to me. No one here blames her. Tell her, I was reborn. Remind her about the feather...."
"Who are you?" Izzy said-squinting at the light.
"I'm her digimon." The voice and the light faded. Ken's eyes widened. That was the same voice he heard in his dream
"But who are you?" Cody said, placing both hands on the side of the monitor. No reply came.
"We have to find her!" Kari said frantically "She has to know that her digimon is alright."
"But where do we start?" Yolei said, panicky. "I've never seen her like that-she could be running anywhere!"
"Let's split up! We'll have a better chance of finding her that way." TK said, running out the door.
"I'll check the school!" Izzy said.
"D-mail everyone if you find her!" Kari said, running down the stairs.
All of the digidestined ran off in different directions. Lynn's frantic words rang in Ken's mind. He stopped running for a minute. "The voice. The voice in my dream said if I ever needed to find "her" to go where life began."
"Who's "her"?" Leafmon asked.
"I think she may have been referring to Lynn. Life began in the ocean-I bet Lynn's gone to the beach. The closest one is almost next to Odaiba High!" Ken changed direction and ran as fast as his legs could carry him. He reached the Odaiba pier and saw a solitary figure at the end. "Lynn!" He shouted. The figure flinched. He ran down the pier, Leafmon bouncing in his arms.
"How did you know I was going to be here?" Lynn stared at him, her face tearstained.
"Believe it or not, your digimon told me." Ken smiled tenderly, placing Leafmon down on a bench and taking her into his arms.
"That's impossible. She's dead!" Lynn sobbed into his chest.
"Digimon don't die, Lynn. They just get re-born. One of the perks to being digital information." Leafmon said, reassuringly.
"Re-born?" Lynn stared at Leafmon. "How is that possible? I saw her get destroyed!"
"It happened to me." Leafmon spoke gently. "I died defending Ken. I was reborn in Primary Village."
"You mean, I've wasted all this time?" Lynn wiped the tears from her eyes. "She must hate me!" She sunk down onto the ground. Ken sat down next to her and took her into his arms.
"She doesn't hate you. She said something about remembering a feather..." Ken said, stroking her hair.
"The feather? It's something she gave me so that I could always have a part of her with me."
"See? Why would she say something like that if she was mad at you?" Leafmon said, jumping off the bench and landing on Lynn's lap.
"Are you sure it's really her? I mean, I was with her when she died. I should have been there for her, but I was so selfish and refused to help her that day. I was such a fool! I was depressed about my mother's death and didn't want to be around anyone. I knew she needed my help to digivolve but I made her go into that battle by herself!"
"What battle?" Ken asked.
"The one against Chimeramon-the freak of nature that the jerk the Digimon Emperor made and lost control of. She was defending a village that he was attacking and was killed I tried to find the idiot, but he disappeared shortly after that. Good riddance. He's partly responsible for why my mom died. We had a huge fight earlier that day-over something stupid. I left for the digital world to knock over some control spires and she came in to check on me. When she saw I wasn't in my room, she was sure I'd run away. She was so preoccupied with looking for me that she didn't see the drunk driver swerving on the road ahead of her until it was too late. After that, I never wanted to step foot back in the Digital World again."
Ken felt like his heart would stop beating. She was in the digital world because of his control spires. Chimeramon. His Frankenstein monster. He was responsible for the death of her digimon and her mother. "Oh, God." Ken thought. "What am I going to do? There's no way she would forgive me."
"Ken?" Lynn turned to face him.
"Yeah?" Ken was panicking.
"I know this is probably inappropriate. But I'm glad you're the one who found me." Lynn blushed.
"Well, don't thank me just yet." Ken sighed.
"Can we stay here for a while? I don't feel like facing the others yet."
"Sure." Ken close his eyes. Here she was, in his arms, like he had dreamed about-and yet he knew it couldn't possibly last. He had to tell her the truth. "There's something I need to tell you." Ken swallowed. He looked at his digimon for support. Leafmon frantically shook his head no.
"What is it?" Lynn asked.
"Nothing that can't wait." Ken let out a huge sigh. Lynn turned to face him.
"You're crying." Lynn stared at him in wonder.
"You just scared me, running off like that." Well, it wasn't a total lie-he thought.
"I'm sorry. I seem to be good at causing people pain." Lynn sighed. "I had my dad really worried for a while after my mom's death. Then everything got worse after Harumon died." Lynn closed her eyes and placed her head on Ken's chest. Ken felt his heart breaking. He was the cause of all of her pain.
"Ken?"
"Yeah?"
"Thanks for listening to me."
"You're welcome."
"My dad's probably worried about me. I'd better get home." Lynn said, standing up, brushing the remaining tears off her face.
"Let me tell the others that I found you." Ken said, taking out his D-terminal. "Okay, let me walk you home."
"Just one last thing." Lynn walked up to him.
"What?" Ken asked nervously as Lynn moved in towards him.
"This." Lynn cupped his face in her hand and kissed his tears away. Neither of them noticed Matt at the end of the pier-watching them.
Man, these things keep getting longer and longer. More action next time! I promise!