Flip City
by Cybra and spam
Cybra's A/N: This story is based off of an account I saw on Unsolved Mysteries.
spam's A/N: Herro peoplies…This is the first time that I have written something (although…I technically didn't write on my own…I'll just…take the credit for the idea…^_^) and definitely the first time that I have done a collaboration of sorts with anyone. We'll see how this turns out and, if it doesn't blow up in our faces, we might continue writing this crazy, bizarre stuff for you peoplies. Eat it up, it's good for you!
Disclaimer: Don't own Digimon. Lucas is owned by spam. Let's move on.
Case #1: Rainmaker
Ken Ichijouji was hosting a party at his family's apartment in Tamachi in honor of his soccer team winning the championship tournament. Party music filled the apartment, barely quiet enough to keep from disturbing the peace. Teenagers danced along to the music and munched on the assorted snack foods. Ken's parents were more than happy to help their son run the party smoothly.
A fellow team member of Ken's sat down in an upholstered recliner, staring off into space. That day, he had been barely able to make in time for the soccer game due to the funeral for his grandfather. Unknown to his teammates, his grandfather had abused him from age 7.
"Hey, Seiji! C'mon! Let's party!" another teammate urged him, grinning from ear to ear.
Manni shivered at the way Seiji looked at him. It was not like how someone normally looked at you. It seemed that Seiji was looking at him, but did not know he was there. Manni made a hasty retreat back into the center of the party.
Ken – the captain of this soccer team – grinned. Everything was running smoothly. He had originally planned to hold the party as a celebration for at least making it to the championships, but now it had changed to a victory party.
Plip.
A drop of water landed on his hand.
Plip…Plip.
He glanced up at the ceiling and noticed more water starting to fall. A voice caught his attention.
"Hey, Ken! I think something's leaking!" Mamoru – his striker – shouted to him.
Water slowly dripped down the walls. Ken's eyes grew wide as more and more water began to fall from the ceiling. Soon, it was a rainstorm in the middle of the Ichijouji living room. The entire team was drenched in only a few seconds.
Mr. Ichijouji strolled into the living room to see water falling from the ceiling and dripping down the walls. A foggy haze soon began to cover the living room. He too was drenched in a matter of seconds.
"Somebody must've left their water on above us!" Mrs. Ichijouji reasoned, running into the kitchen to grab a phone.
During all of the commotion, Seiji still sat in his chair. He was in a trance-like state, seemingly unaware of the unexpected, indoor rainstorm. He was as soaked as the other soccer players, but did not seem to notice or care.
Mrs. Ichijouji reached the kitchen to find that not a drop of water had landed in the kitchen. She noticed that the adjoining dining room was also bone dry. Temporarily forgetting about the phone, she walked around the entire apartment.
Not one of the other rooms was being drenched with water.
She returned to the kitchen where several members of her son's soccer team had gone for shelter from all the water. Her son was also taking charge of the phone.
"Ms. Hakubi, this is Ken Ichijouji in the apartment below you…Yes, it's nice to talk to you, too, but we have a little situation down here. Do you have any water running?…Could you check?…Okay, I'll wait." Ken covered the mouthpiece with his hand, still holding the ear piece to his ear, and reported to his teammates, "She's going to check."
Wormmon crawled in from Ken's bedroom, taking a detour through the hallway and the dining room. Nobody present was startled when the small Rookie Digimon arrived. The fact that Digimon were living with a select few was well known.
The green caterpillar gazed up at the group of huddled young teens and asked his partner, "Ken, why are you guys all wet?"
"Water's coming from all over the place in the living room, Wormmon."
"It's not in any other part of the house, Ken."
The young teen blinked, then turned his attention back to the phone. "Yes, I'm still here…You don't?…You're sure?…Thank you. I'm sorry to have bothered you. Goodbye." He hung up the phone.
"Well?" Manni demanded.
"Ms. Hakubi says that she doesn't have any water running at the moment. Besides, the last time she flooded out her apartment, our whole apartment got soaked. It wasn't just in one room." Decisively, Ken picked up the phone once more and began to dial.
"Who are you calling now?" another player – this time the goalie – asked him.
"I'm calling a friend of mine. I think he'd like to see this."
Ken's mother spoke up, "Ken, are you sure that's a good idea?"
"Mom, I would love to see the look on Izzy's face. Besides, I'm sure that there's a rational explanation for all this. Maybe he has an idea of what that rational explanation is."
"…All right, honey, but I'm calling the police when you're finished."
"Yes, ma'am."
~*~
Lucas Wolenczak studied his cards intently, grinning from ear to ear. His opponent did not stand a chance against his hand. He laid down a card in front of him.
His opponent – none other than Koushiro Izumi or "Izzy" to friends – laid down his own card. It matched the first card, but in a different suit.
"War!" the pair shouted, each flipping three cards in front of them, all upside down.
Lucas grinned as he laid down his fourth card, this one face up. That grin turned into a look of absolute horror. "A 2 of clubs?!"
Izzy laughed as he placed his fourth card down, face up. A 9 of diamonds. "Looks like I win this war."
"Let's see what I lost…" the older teen grumbled, looking at the three cards he would have to surrender to the son of his host family. Lucas was a 17 year-old foreign exchange student from America who would be living with the Izumis for a full year.
"Aw man," Lucas sighed. "I lost my two aces and a king!" He gazed up at the sky, raising his fist in a threatening manner. "I hate you, Lucas Fate Gods!"
Izzy stared at him and blinked. Then, he opened his mouth to say something when the phone interrupted further conversation. On the second ring, his mother answered it. A moment later, she poked her head into Izzy's room.
"Izzy, it's your friend Ken. He says he needs to talk to you, and it's an emergency," Mrs. Izumi told her son.
"I'll take it in here, Mom. Thanks," Izzy said, reaching for the cordless in his room. Hitting the talk button, he greeted, "Hey, Ken! What's the big emergency?…You want me to go to Tamachi. Ken, Davis didn't dare you to pull some kind of prank on me, did he?…Good. I'm still kinda annoyed with the last one. What's going on?…I have to see it to believe it. Right." Izzy sighed. "Okay, I bite. I'll have to ask my parents for some money for the train – "
Lucas cheerily chimed in loudly enough for Ken to hear it and to nearly destroy Izzy's eardrums, "I can drive!"
" – Or Lucas can drive," Izzy added, rubbing one of his ears in pain. "Who's Lucas? I'll explain later…I'll be over there ASAP. By the way, is it raining in Tamachi? I keep hearing rain from your end…All right! All right! I'll be there in twenty minutes! See ya!"
Lucas leaned forward. He asked, eyes sparkling, "Can we take the Camry?"
"I'll ask, but I think the answer's gonna be no."
~*~
"Why'd we get stuck with the crappy car?"
"Because my parents don't trust you with the Camry?" Izzy suggested.
"I'm a good driver!" Lucas protested. The person in front of them slammed on his brakes. "YAAAAAAAAH!"
Lucas slammed on his brakes in order to avoid creating a third seat in the trunk of the car ahead of them.
After some jostling around during the hasty stop, Izzy asked calmly, "You were saying?"
"Shut up. So where is this place anyway?"
"Across the river in Tamachi."
"…Okay! Give me a big, broad target to hit, and I can find anything!" Lucas said, voice dripping with sarcasm.
"First we'll get to Tamachi and then I'll give you directions."
"Well, that's like saying, 'Well, the shop is somewhere in New York City, but I'll tell you when we get there!' Like finding an eyelash in a haystack. A big, freaking huge haystack!" Lucas growled.
"All right! All right! Touchy!"
A brief beat of silence passed followed by the sound of a speeding car.
"Some of these drivers are crazier than the ones in New York City! YAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
~*~
The redhead in the car was more than happy when they arrived in front of the apartment in one piece.
"So what exactly is going on around here?" the older teen asked.
"I dunno. Ken didn't tell me. He just said that I had to see it to believe it."
"Oy vey."
Izzy knocked on the Ichijouji apartment door. He thought he heard the sound of…rain?…coming from inside the apartment.
"Is it raining in there or is it just my imagination?" Lucas wondered aloud.
"I have no clue."
Ken answered the door, dripping wet. The two drier teenagers blinked in amazement.
"Is that some kind of Japanese custom to take a bath with your clothes on?" Lucas asked before he received Izzy's elbow in his stomach. "Ow! Just kidding!"
"Not quite," Ken replied. "C'mon inside."
As they stepped inside, they were met with water pouring from all over the place. Within seconds, the two newcomers were soaked to the bone.
Lucas blinked. "Uh…dude."
The redhead turned to Ken. "Are your pipes broken?"
"No…That was one of the things I thought of before. I even called the lady upstairs to see if she'd left her water running, but she said no. Besides, it's just this room that's getting soaked."
As Lucas began to wander the living room of the apartment, Izzy asked Ken, "You're sure it's just this room?"
"No, I'm not sure," Ken answered sarcastically. He paused, calmly taking a deep breath, then shouted, "It's raining out of my floor! And it's not just my floor either! It's the walls and the ceiling! Would you care to explain?!"
Even as Ken said this, a small jet of water flew between them from one wall to the other. Both teenagers followed it with their gaze. Then returned to look at each other, blinking in amazement.
Izzy wiped a little water off of his brow…that was instantaneously replaced by more water. "Okay, I admit. That's a little…hard to explain."
"Hard? Try impossible!"
As the pair continued to argue, Lucas found Seiji sitting in an upholstered chair. He poked the soccer player. "Are you still alive, man?" When Seiji did not move, Lucas hmphed. "He looks stoned out of his gourd." Lucas' pale, ice blue eyes lit up. "Paranormal activity…Man, I wish I had my tome! This calls for…my crucifix!" He whipped out the crucifix that hung around his neck for just such an emergency. He started to place the crucifix in Seiji's hand, saying, "Here! Hold this for a second! I have to find my portable pocket tome!"
The second the crucifix touched Seiji's hand, the soccer player yelped in pain, dropping it to the floor. Smoke curled upwards from a new burn on his hand. He shouted in protest, "You idiot! That burns!"
The older teen blinked and slowly picked up his crucifix. It was still warm in his hand.
Ken and Izzy were forcefully jerked out of their argument when Lucas' voice rang out, "Satan's spawn! Satan's spawn! AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!"
The redhead ran over to him. "Lucas, calm down."
"No!" Lucas shouted. "The crucifix burned him! He's…he's…evil!" He whipped out his pocket tome. "I have to figure out what it is!"
Izzy sweatdropped and nearly fell over. "Lucas, the crucifix couldn't have burned Seiji."
Lucas stopped flipping through the tome and glared at Izzy. "I'll prove it." He slid the crucifix over Seiji's head and around Seiji's neck. He leaned forward in anticipation.
No sooner had the crucifix touched the skin of Seiji's neck than Seiji let out an agonizing cry. He grabbed at the chain, carefully avoiding the cross itself, and held it away from his skin.
"See?! See?! See?! What did I tell you?! Who's da man?! Who's da man?! Who's your daddy?! I'm your daddy! I own you, you sons of a silly person! I'm on top of this! It's all comin' together!" Lucas shouted in English.
Every Japanese-speaking person in the near vicinity stared at him. Izzy slapped a hand to his forehead.
"What?" the American asked.
"Speak Japanese," Izzy stated.
"Oh. Riiiggghhhtttt…." nodded Lucas, stupidly. He quickly returned to flipping through the well-worn pages of his pocket tome, searching for answers.
"Won't your precious tome get wet, Lucas?"
"Why no, silly! I've had this baby water-proofed for years now!"
Izzy yet again smacked his forehead in utter disbelief. He then turned his attention back to the pale Ken, who now looked as if he had just licked a car battery.
"Are you alright?" Izzy asked, concerned for his younger friend's sanity.
"…Yeah…" replied a small voice.
Both teens focused their attention on the whimpering Seiji, who was holding a tissue against his neck.
"Could you get this…this thing off me?" growled the wounded Seiji, still holding Lucas's crucifix away from his skin. Disposing of a now reddened tissue he grabbed for another, revealing scratch marks that had appeared on his neck.
Izzy gulped, "How…how'd you hurt your neck, Seiji?"
A cold, lifeless stare was the young teen's only answer.
Ken slowly backed away from his fellow teammate, muttering, "This is…so weird…This can't be happening…"
Seiji lost his patience with the dumbfounded pair of geniuses that stood before him.
Ker-pop! The chain that had held the crucifix around his neck snapped as Seiji viciously yanked it away from himself. It landed by the feet of its original owner, causing Lucas to look up from his studies.
"Hey, man. That's an expensive chain!"
"Now…it's a broken one."
Lucas calmly put the tome back into one of the cargo pockets of his pants and sighed. Then he lunged at Seiji, both Izzy and Ken had to keep him from doing the soccer player any bodily harm.
"You…You jerk!!! Leggo of me, Izzy! I won't hurt him…much. Let. Me. Go. NOW."
"No way, Lucas…" said Izzy, shaking his head in dismay at his friend's outburst. "Just calm down, ok? Take deep breaths and everything will be ok…Don't worry."
Ken just looked at Seiji, wanting to disbelieve everything he just saw. But Seiji's hollow eyes stared right back at him. Now Ken really knew that there was something wrong – something terribly wrong – with his teammate and he wanted to know why and how Seiji was doing this.
"What's a matter, Ken?" Seiji's unnaturally cool voice pierced the silence between the two soccer players.
Ken jerked in surprise. "How are you doing this, Seiji? How?" Ken asked, his voice pleading.
"It's not me that's doing this, Ken."
"…Then…who?"
"He's doing this…and he just won't leave me alone!"
~*~
All the soccer players, including Seiji, quickly vacated the party, and they all left before the police arrived. The police, apparently, wouldn't even touch the case and left quickly afterwards. Soon the Ichijoujis, Izzy, and Lucas were the only ones left in the apartment. It was past 10:30 and Izzy's concerned parents had just called, moments before, to make sure that the pair was all right. Now Izzy and Lucas stood in Ken's bedroom.
Lucas glanced around noting – much to his dismay – the apparent lack of decorating skills of the 13 year-old. Seeing no particular object to focus his attention to, the oldest teen in the group twiddled with the broken chain idly.
The redhead poked him in the ribs. "What are you doing?"
"Eh? Don't poke me, twerp."
"Don't call me a twerp!"
"Don't poke me in the side!"
"Fine! I guess we're even then!"
A now dry Ken returned from the bathroom wearing a new change of clothes. He looked the clock and then to his friends. "Well, it's getting late…"
"It is, isn't it, Captain Obvious?" smirked the foreign exchange student, who received a jab in the arm from Izzy.
"Ignore him, Ken," Izzy stated as Lucas pretended to be offended by the remark. "Are you going to be ok?"
"Oh yeah, just as long as I never invite Seiji to another party again, I'll be fine!" chuckled Ken. Suddenly, the soccer star found his hand being shaken by Lucas's hand.
"I don't believe that we were ever properly introduced. Izzy was so rude and completely forgot to introduce me! I'm Wolenczak Lucas. I'm a foreign exchange student from New York and you are?"
"Ichijouji Ken. Nice to meet you." Ken said nervously, fearing that the over-exuberant exchange student was close to shaking his arm off.
Izzy patted Lucas's arm. "Ok, take the death grip off of Ken's hand, grasshopper."
"Right, Yoda." Lucas dropped Ken hand who was grateful to have it back.
Ken just laughed, a nervous laugh at first due to all of the earlier commotion, but it soon turned into a good humored laugh that the others joined in on.
After a few minutes, Lucas was the first one to pipe up, "What…are…we…laughing about?"
"Grasshopper? Yoda…? I don't know why that's so funny to me!" whooped Ken between fits of laughter.
"Maybe it's because Izzy is just the right size to be Yoda," remarked Lucas. Izzy jabbed his ribs once again. Lucas jumped and whirled on his smaller companion, holding up his hands to fend off any future rib-attacks. "Nnnoooo touchy! No touch. No touchy!"
"…Right…" the redhead said, shaking his head. "Okay, grasshopper, if you know so much about this weird stuff going on, what's the next step?"
"I say we exorcise that chain-breaking son of a – !"
"Lucas!"
"Sorry…" the older teen apologized, pretending to be dejected. He lightly smacked himself on the cheek and, smiling, stated, "Bad Lucas."
"All right. So we call an exorcist – " Ken began.
"That would be a Catholic priest," Lucas interrupted. He paused for a minute. "Do you guys even have Catholic churches over here?"
"I wasn't talking about Catholic priests!" the Tamachi soccer player snapped. "I was talking about Shinto priests!"
Lucas raised an eyebrow, shrugged, and stated, "Same dif."
The two Japanese teenagers both sighed. The American teenager smiled smugly.
"Okay, we call a exorcist, and since this is Japan…" Izzy began, glaring at Lucas, "…we'll call a Shinto priest."
"Fat lot of good an exorcist is going to do for us if Seiji doesn't agree to this," Ken stated.
Lucas slammed a fist into his other hand. "I could punch him until he agrees to do it!"
"Gee. Let's think about that for a second. No."
"Aw…That takes all the fun out of it." Lucas' demeanor turned shockingly serious in an instant. "Did Seiji say anything about how he was doing all that crazy water magic or why he was doing it?"
"Uh…Let's see…He said he wasn't doing it, but somebody else was. And that somebody else wouldn't leave him alone."
"Hmph." The oldest teen whipped out his tome once again.
"Find anything useful in that book?" Izzy sarcastically asked.
Silence from Lucas until… "A-ha!" Lucas shouted, thoroughly scaring both Ken and Izzy out of six years' growth.
"'A-ha' what?" Ken asked, placing a hand over his wildly beating heart.
"A-hmm…Ah, yes. Here it is."
"Here what is?" Izzy inquired, growing annoyed at the American.
"Would you stop interrupting me?!"
"Sorry," both Japanese teenagers apologized.
"As I was saying, he shows typical signs of possession. He's being possessed by…hmph…perhaps by someone he knew. Did someone in his family die recently?"
"Yes!" the youngest teen answered. "He was almost late to the soccer game today because he had to go to his grandfather's funeral."
"Interesting…This requires further research!" Lucas snapped the tiny tome closed. He turned to his housemate. "We have to get home!"
Ken sweatdropped as Izzy sighed, but both them knew that there was no arguing with the older teen.
"Well, good night, Ken," the redhead stated.
"See you two tomorrow," the blue-haired teen said, leading them out of his apartment.
The American was too busy babbling to himself to hear their farewells to one another and jerked Izzy off to the car to go back to the Izumi apartment and sleep.
~*~
"Izzy…Izzy…" a voice called from somewhere outside the redhead's dreamland.
The Japanese teen rolled over, mumbling something unintelligible.
"Izzy!" the voice shouted suddenly, annoyed.
"YAAAAH!!!" was soon followed by a pronounced thud.
Izzy landed on the ground, gasping for breath and trying to slow his heart rate to something at least close to normal. He glared up at the smirking Lucas with his coal black eyes. In a surprisingly calm voice, Izzy stated, "If you had asked Tentomon, you would've known that I do not particularly appreciate such rude awakenings."
"Cry me a river, baby. Should I call the Waaambulance?" the American mocked.
"What time is it?" the redhead demanded.
"Time for you to get a watch."
Izzy glanced at the digital clock on his desk. The time read as "5:30 AM". He raised an eyebrow at Lucas. "Any particular reason that you're waking me up early?"
"Um…Actually, yes."
"I'd love to hear it."
"I need to talk to Ken about what's-his-name's problem."
"The kid's name is 'Seiji'."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whatever."
"If I leave him an e-mail, would that be satisfactory?"
"No! I have to talk to him now! This is important!"
"Then will you tell me what's going on?!"
"Okay, by studying star charts and such this morning before I woke you up, I have determined that he has been possessed by his grandfather with 99% accuracy."
The Izumi teenager merely stared. "You woke me up this early to tell me that?!"
"Uh huh!" Lucas cheerfully stated, grinning from ear to ear.
Grabbing the largest star chart book in reach, Izzy threw it at the exchange student's head, shouting, "Go back to sleep!"
Lucas toppled over. "No…touchy…"
The room fell silent once more.
~*~
The afternoon of that same day (when Izzy was in a more benevolent mood), Lucas called Ken up and began to explain what his star charts had told him.
The Ichijouji teenager had listened to every word. At first, he admitted to the American that he was indeed skeptical of such mysticism, but after seeing the events of the day before, he was ready to believe practically anything. If Lucas had announced to the blue-haired teen that he was indeed God, Ken would have almost believed it. Almost.
"Okay, so you think that his grandfather is possessing him?" Ken asked, waving off his mother who was throwing him disbelieving looks.
"Just ask him about his grandfather at soccer practice," Lucas ordered the blue-haired teen excitedly. "If I'm right – and I know I am since I am the Almighty, Omnipotent…"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Ken stated, cutting the caller off in the middle of his self-praise. "I'll ask him about it." He glanced at the clock. "Listen, Lucas. I've gotta hang up. If I don't get changed and get to the soccer field in fifteen minutes, Coach'll have my head."
"And we like your head just where it is with that girly haircut!" Lucas sneered.
"I like my haircut, thank you! And it is not girly!"
"You shoulda heard what Izzy said that his friend TK said a while ago."
"What was that?"
"TK said that your haircut made you look like Kari, Tai's little sister."
Ken stared at the phone, annoyed. "I'll kill them both. I gotta go now, Lucas."
"Okay! Call if anything weird happens!"
"Right, right. I'll have my cell phone. Bye!"
"Bye!"
Click!
As Ken walked into his room to change into his Tamachi soccer uniform, he glanced at the Black Digivice that belonged to him. It was unique because of its color and because it was the first D3 ever.
He sighed. If something happened at the soccer field, he really wanted to have Stingmon with him but realized that not only would that be overkill, but it would also mean putting a Digimon versus a human. Of course, the outcome would always be Digimon in that fight.
Picking up his duffel bag, he quickly checked to see if his cell phone was stowed inside. As an after thought, he tossed in his D-terminal – a portable e-mailing system – in as well.
Bidding his partner Digimon goodbye, Ken walked to the soccer field.
~*~
"Now I understand why you woke me up like that," Izzy muttered after Lucas finished making his phone call.
Lucas rubbed the bruise where the book had hit him in the head. "Remind me to never do that again."
"I'm a creature of habit. Interrupt my habits, and there'll be consequences."
"Spoken like a real human." He paused, mock gasping in surprise. "And a real human is not what I expected you to be!"
The redhead shot the American a withering glare. Lucas, as if to spite him, merely grinned at him.
Silently fuming, Izzy asked, "What next, Oh Great One? Do we ask an Ouiji board?"
The older teenager paused, ice blue eyes lighting up. "Great idea! Do you have one?!"
"Yeah, it's in the hall clos – Hey, wait a second! I was being sarcastic!"
Lucas froze just as he reached the door. He sadly turned around and asked, "You don't have an Ouiji board?"
"No…we have one. I was being sarcastic about asking an Ouiji board for help."
"Well, I'm being serious! I shall return!" Dramatically, Lucas threw open Izzy's bedroom door and stepped into the hallway as Izzy began to seriously consider beating his head against a wall.
~*~
Ken noticed the way Seiji did not seem to be responding to any of his teammates. After dressing out in his soccer uniform, he had sat down on a bench in the locker room while staring blankly ahead. The team captain glanced at his team who urged him to snap Seiji out of it.
The Ichijouji teen leaned forward and asked, "Seiji, you okay?"
Seiji gazed into his captain's blue eyes. "He's here."
Those same blue eyes blinked. "What?"
"He's here. He's going to hurt me again."
By this time, the rest of the team was slowly making their way out of the locker room. Each of them could feel that something was about to happen.
Seiji sat rigidly still, not moving a muscle.
Plip!
A drop of water landed on the top of Ken's head.
Plip…plip-plip-plip!
As the seconds passed, more rain began to fall.
However, there was more than just rain this time.
Right before Ken's eyes, Seiji was lifted from the bench by some unseen force. Ken gave a cry of surprise while Seiji gave a cry of pain as he was thrown bodily into the lockers.
The Tamachi team captain stared for another few seconds before dashing to his duffel bag. He immediately grabbed the first device he could lay his hands on: the D-terminal. With well-practiced hands, Ken typed out a message and sent it on its way.
That done, he whipped out his cell phone to call the nearest Shinto shrine.
~*~
Izzy heard a familiar tone signaling he had mail. He pulled out his D-terminal as Lucas began to set up the Ouiji board.
"Lucas, forget the Ouiji board! We're needed in Tamachi!" he told the older teen.
The American blinked and stared. In an almost whiny voice he asked, "Why?"
"Read this!"
Lucas found the screen of the D-terminal shoved in front of his vision. On the screen was a hastily typed – and slightly misspelled with some bad grammar – message. Obviously, the message had been typed in a great hurry and sent on its way before it had been double-checked.
"Izzy! Lucus! Ritin as fast as I can! Rain in Tamachi socker field's locker roooms! Get over here quik! Seiji's hurt! Tossed into lockers by invisible force! Callin Shinto preest now! – Ken."
"'Lucus'?" Lucas asked, disgusted. "He spelled your name right, but he misspelled mine!"
"It could be worse," Izzy stated, grabbing Lucas' arm and leading him quickly towards the door. "He could've replaced the 'u' with an 'o', changed the 'a' to a 'u', and accidentally added a 't' to the end of your name."
"How could that be worse?"
"Then you'd be 'Locust'."
"The horror…"
~*~
A half-hour later, the Shinto priest had finished his work. The rain had finally stopped, and it appeared that everything would be fine. Everything returned to normal afterwards.
This return normalcy would not last.
About three weeks later, Seiji had that look about him once more as he sat in the locker room of the Tamachi team.
Ken stepped up to him, concerned. "Seiji, you okay?"
"I can do something you can't."
The blue-haired teen blinked as he stared at his teammate. "What?"
"I can make it rain."
The Tamachi team captain gaped. "Show me."
Seiji held up his left hand, his forefinger and middle finger close together. His ring finger and pinky finger were curled downward, forming half a fist. His thumb began to rub against his forefinger and middle finger.
Within moments, the rain had returned. Instead of starting with a simple plip, it began in its usual torrent.
"Seiji, stop!" Ken ordered.
His teammate merely smirked. "You're just scared because I can do it and you can't."
"Not really…"
A strange odor filled the room. It was not earthy nor wet nor spicy nor anything else Ken could think of. Within moments, Ken realized that this smell could not be of this world.
"Seiji, stay here. I'll be back in a moment," the star athlete ordered calmly.
"I'm not going anywhere."
The Ichijouji teen calmly walked into the coach's office and began dialing on the telephone. He waited patiently as the phone on the other end began to ring.
~*~
Izzy picked up the ringing phone, hitting the talk button. "Izumi residence."
"Izzy, it's happening again!" Ken screeched into the phone, losing his earlier calm.
The redhead jerked the phone away from his ear. "Ken…?"
"I'm in my team's locker room. The rain's come back! Only this time, Seiji can control it! Not only that, but there's this really weird smell in here!"
By now Izzy had switched to the speakerphone, allowing Lucas to hear the conversation as well.
The American raised both of his eyebrows in surprise. "I guess the Shinto priest could only pull off a temporary fix." Lucas grinned. "Don't worry! I know what to do! We'll be over there before you drown!" That said, Lucas ended the phone conversation.
Izzy watched as his housemate ran out of the room into the American's own room. The redhead followed cautiously to see the older teen digging through his things for something the Japanese teenager could only guess at.
"Lucas, what are you doing?" the redhead asked.
"I'm looking for my…Eureka!" The American held up a rather large canteen. "My holy water from Jerusalem!"
The Japanese teenager almost fell over in disbelief. "You can't be serious!"
"Let's go, Izzy!"
~*~
"Do you even know how to do this?" Ken asked as he led Lucas and Izzy into the locker room.
"Not a clue!" the American cheerfully told the two Japanese teens. "But I've seen it done on TV!"
The redheaded teen and the blue-haired teen exchanged long-suffering looks. Simultaneously they said, "We're doomed."
"All I've gotta do is sprinkle this holy water and pray and…What the heck is that smell?!"
The Ichijouji teenager sighed. "That would be the smell I told you two about."
"It's nasty! The Devil's gotta be here…" Lucas looked around suspiciously as if Satan would leap out of the shadows and try to swallow his soul.
"Can the melodrama," the Izumi teenager snapped, "and get to work, Lucas!"
"Oh. Riiiiightttt…"
Upon reaching the possessed soccer player, the American set to work sprinkling holy water and praying with Seiji. Ken and Izzy stood nearby and merely watched, knowing when to just step out of the way. Lucas sprinkled the holy water and prayed with Seiji even after the rain had stopped and the smell had faded away.
"I think that's enough, Lucas," the redheaded Japanese teenager told him.
"I know, I know already! Jeez! Lay off…I just wanted to be sure." Lucas turned to Seiji once more. "You're gonna be okay. Just don't let any other abusive relatives come back and possess you!"
The three Japanese teenagers sweatdropped as Seiji stated, "I'll remember to keep that in mind…"
~*~
Weeks passed, and things truly had returned to normal for Seiji. The spirit of his abusive grandfather tormented him no more. He also could no longer create rain on his own.
However, things would never be the same for Izzy, Ken, and Lucas. The incident with the "Rainmaker" was only the beginning. After this bizarre incident, they began noticing more and more of these paranormal occurrences. As time went on, they would be called upon to investigate these occurrences over and over.
But these incidents are entirely different stories that will be revealed in time.
