Flip City

Flip City

By spam and Cybra

Cybra's A/N: Heh, heh, heh. Get ready to be freaked out! I saw this one thing on The Scariest Places on Earth, and we just had to use it! Enjoy!

spam's A/N: Still along for the ride eh? Hold on to your bums, it gets freaky from this point on! Also look for Flip City Artwork soon! I'm working on it!

Disclaimer: Digimon = not Cybra or spam's. Lucas = spam's. Go sue someone else.

Case #3: Give Me Five Good Reasons to Believe

Saturdays are always the day of the week that people of all ages look forward to. It's that first day of the weekend that you can use to either kick back and relax or get a little extra work done.

Lucas Wolenczak sat in his room (originally, it was the guestroom in the Izumi apartment) as he looked over some new information for his little "hobby". Lucas enjoyed researching about the paranormal. He grinned as he remembered his last two encounters.

At the present moment, he had convinced the famous soccer player and genius Ken Ichijouji that the paranormal did happen. However, there was still one unbeliever left…

"Lucas, shouldn't you be doing your homework so you don't have to rush on Sunday night?" Koushiro "Izzy" Izumi asked, raising an eyebrow questioningly.

…And that unbeliever shared the same apartment with him.

Izzy was the son of Lucas' host family and one of the few teenagers that actually admitted to associating with him. It had been a difficult struggle for both boys to even begin to get used to each other's habits. Looking exasperated, Lucas declared, "Izzy. I've been here two and a half months! You should know that homework is for homeroom by now! Come one, man! You're slow, but not that slow!"

"And you wonder why you only have a C average," Izzy commented, taking a sip from his glass of water.

It was fairly close to noon, and both anticipated the arrival of their friend Ken from Tamachi. Ken hadn't answered the phone when they had called at nine o'clock that morning, but they assumed that he must've stepped out for the moment and left a message on the machine. Hopefully, he would see it. Just to be sure, Izzy had sent an e-mail to the youngest of the three via the D-terminals that the team of Digidestined had. Even though their adventures in the Digiworld had come to an end, they still kept and used that piece of equipment. (They also kept their Digivices – and Ken's Crest of Kindness – as momentos.)

A buzzing reached Lucas' ears as he opened his mouth to reply. He gave a sudden shriek as Tentomon flew into his room and landed next to the redhead. He gripped his chest dramatically. "Give me a heart attack, why don't you?!"

The beetle Digimon and the American hadn't gotten off on the right foot. Tentomon had been helping Izzy finish straightening up the guestroom when Lucas had arrived, and the American had decided to go directly to his room. The first thing he had seen what he described as a "freakin' huge bug", and it took ten minutes for the Izumi family to calm him down.

"What's the matter?" the redhead teased. "Does Tento scare the big bad American senior?"

The senior wanted to pound the sophomore's smirk into the ground. "At least the big bad American senior isn't a shrimpy, girly-looking sophomore!"

Just as Izzy gave Lucas a raspberry, Ken walked in the door. Neither the sophomore nor the senior had heard the doorbell ring and Mrs. Izumi answering the door.

The blue-haired teen raised an eyebrow. "That was mature."

"What took you so long?" Izzy asked.

"Soccer game."

The two other teens nodded in understanding. Ken was the captain of his soccer team and had led his team to victory on many occasions. The soccer season was one of the busiest times in his year…not that he minded of course. Playing soccer was one of Ken's favorite things to do.

"He was checking out, Yolei," Lucas teased, smirking as he earned a glare from the blue-haired genius.

"Was not! Believe it or not, I have no desire to have a romantic relationship with anyone at this moment in time. Besides, Yolei's just my friend," Ken said, crossing his arms.

"Uh...huh...sssssuuuuuuuurrrreeeeeeee!"

"I am not interested in her! I would don't want to date her!" Ken gave a sudden, sly smile. "Besides, I know who Izzy has a crush on…"

"Shut up, soccer brain…" the redhead growled.

"Duh," Lucas stated. "It's obvious!"

"I don't have a crush on anyone!" the Digidestined of Knowledge protested.

"Oh, really?" Ken asked, smiling knowingly.

"Pshaw!" Lucas said, waving a hand as if to deflect Izzy's denials.

"I don't!!!"

"Me thinks the boy denies too much," the blue-haired teen commented, grinning from ear to ear.

"And your Crest is Kindness…" Izzy grumbled under his breath. More loudly, he asked, "Purposely misquoting Shakespeare?"

Giving his red-haired friend a wink, the younger teen said, "I'll sink to it."

"Oi. Girls, girls, you're both pretty," Lucas said, interrupting Izzy and Ken's banter. He paused, then grinned. "Boy! This is convenient! You two look like girls! Ha ha!"

Ignoring Lucas, Ken raised a hand dramatically, holding one of Lucas' necklaces (a thick hemp necklace with a small pewter skull) in his hand. "Alas! Poor Yorick! I knew him well!" He grinned. "We used to go bowling on Thursdays!" He lowered his hand and looked at the small skull. "He was a little thing."

"Ken, shut up," Izzy ordered. "Lucas, you, too. And, Lucas, you die in your sleep tonight."

"Ooh…I'm scared. Really. Frightened. I'm shaking," was the sarcastic response.

"I have the key to your room. Remember that."

"Who said I'll be in my room?"

"Our apartment's not that large. There's not many places you can hide."

"I never said I'd be hiding!"

"Where're you planning on going?"

"Nowhere. I'll be your room performing a demon-calling ritual so you have Yolei following you around everywhere...you, too, Ken!"

The two older teens were shocked when they heard a small, pathetic squeak escape their younger friend's lips as he hid behind Izzy.

Never one to miss an opportunity for comic relief, Lucas proclaimed, "Fear me as you should! Muahahaha!"

The redhead looked over his shoulder at his blue-haired friend. "…And yet, you're so brave on our little 'missions'."

"Yolei scares me," Ken stated. "Especially when it's 'that time of month' or she's going guy crazy."

"Spirits don't scare you but Yolei does? Dude..." The American was in awe of how much power the purple-haired girl, which he had only met once or twice before, held over the Ichijouji teen. Then, his wandering mind snapped back to what he wanted to tell the pair of younger teens. "Dude! That reminds me!"

Tentomon tilted his head to one side. "How can Yolei being able to scare Ken remind you of something?"

Lucas gave a nervous glance to the beetle. "Uh…Ten-Tenta-Tento-uh…hey, Bug…"

Izzy slapped his hand to his forehead. He'd been trying to teach Lucas to pronounce Tentomon's name for weeks now, and the American still hadn't gotten it right. Perhaps it was a bit of payback from Lucas' "Lucas Fate Gods" since he couldn't pronounce Lucas' last name of "Wolenczak".

The American shot the redheaded Japanese teen a withering glare before he refocused his attention on the Digimon before him. "Do you think you could go…I don't know…do something somewhere else? You're freakin' me out, man…"

Tentomon exchanged a look with his partner before buzzing out to locate Mrs. Izumi. Perhaps she would give him something to do.

The senior breathed a sigh of relief. "I still haven't met your Digimon yet, Ken. What's he…she…it like?"

"Wormmon's pretty cool. And he's kinda cute…as several people have told him," Ken answered, smiling.

At the name "Wormmon", Lucas immediately envisioned a gigantic earthworm. "How can a worm be cute?"

"No, he's actually a green caterpillar."

A pause.

"And his name's 'Wormmon'?"

"Yeah."

"…Why…?"

The Digidestined of Kindness shrugged. "I dunno. I just don't question Digimon names anymore. The reasons behind some of them are pretty bizarre."

"Oh. Anyways, I was readin' something really interesting the other day. It was an article about this town…heehee…its surrounded by cemeteries!"

Izzy immediately interrupted, protesting, "Of for cryin'…Mmph!"

The blue-haired teen had quickly covered Izzy's mouth with his hand, silencing the redhead quite effectively. He leaned over the shorter – yet older – teen's shoulder. "Ignore him," Ken told Lucas. "I wanna hear this!"

His excitement growing, Lucas told his audience, "Some people claim that they have seen and been attacked by spirits!"

"We're there!" Ken shouted, his smile wide with excitement.

"Mmph?!" was Izzy's response.

"They're intrigued! Excellent!" Lucas said, putting a hand to his chin and purposely mimicking a Dell commercial he had recently seen.

"All right!" the blue-haired teen shouted, releasing Izzy's mouth in order to pump a fist enthusiastically into the air.

After his first two encounters, Lucas had found Ken to become a kindred spirit in investigating all things paranormal. This aided in the voting on whether or not to go ghost hunting. Izzy was always outnumbered two to one.

"Don't I get a say in this?!" Izzy exclaimed.

"So...when do you have a free weekend?" the American asked Ken, ignoring the teen he shared the apartment with.

"Let me think. Uh...hmm...I think I may need to double check my calendar, but I think I have a free weekend two weeks from now," Ken answered.

"This is going to be so cool! Right, Izzy?"

The redhead crossed his arms and glared at the older teen. "Give me one good reason to agree to this."

"I know Kari's phone number," Ken reminded him, his voice practically purring.

Picking up on Ken's threat, Lucas added, "And I do a wonderful impression of you!"

The soccer player of the group smiled devilishly as his redheaded friend paled. It was obvious that the Izumi teen knew the threat they posed to his personal life.

Izzy quickly clapped his hands together, smiling as brightly as possible. "Okay! Let's do this, shall we?!"

The Ichijouji boy gave Izzy a slow, satisfied smile. "I knew you'd see things our way…"

~@~

On the Friday two weeks later, Izzy and Lucas sat in the stands at Odaiba's soccer field. As the players passed, blocked, weaved, and ran up and down the field, the stadium was abuzz with the fans excited shouts. The game between rivals Obaiba and Tamachi was tied with six minutes left on the clock. Down on the field, the Obaiba right forward side-tackled Kyo, Tamachi's back-up striker, knocking the ball out of bounds.

"Oh yeah! It's out on Obaiba! Booya! Good call!" Standing on his seat and doing the "stupid" dance, the tall American then turned to one of his neighbors, trying to get them to do the "wave".

Izzy sat in his seat, pretending he didn't know the loud person standing next to him. "Hey, Lucas. Sit down! For crying out loud! You're going to get us in trouble!" he hissed, glancing around to see if there were any stadium attendants lurking about.

The older teen smirked and plopped down into the bleachers again. Three minutes were left on the clock and Ken was coming strong up the field.

"GO, KEN!" the pair shouted together.

They watched eagerly as Ken faked a kick into the goal and passed the ball. Seiji smacked the ball past the goalie and scored.

"YEAH! GO, TAMACHI!"

The Tamachi side of the stadium stood up in a roar of shouts and screams. For the rest of the game the Tamachi team, spurred on by their fans, held Obaiba at bay.

After the game, the redheaded teen and his older friend picked their way through the stands to the field. There they were to meet Ken's parents, who wanted to meet Lucas. As the pair walked up, the younger teen was talking to his parents as they were handing him his bags. Lucas had planned on leaving after the game so they could stay longer at this haunted town.

"Great game, Ken!" Izzy beamed as he congratulated his younger friend.

"Dude." Shooting the blue-haired teen a thumbs-up, Lucas smirked.

"Thanks, guys." Ken smiled. Then turning to his parents, "This is Lucas. He's going to drive us over to the town!"

Lucas bowed slightly and extended a hand. "Nice to actually meet you, when it's not raining in your apartment!"

"Nice to meet you, Lucas." The Ichijouji's replied. "So, you're a good driver?"

"Oh yeah! I'm a really, really, really good driver!" Grinning from ear to ear, Lucas only hoped that Izzy wouldn't say anything.

"Yep," affirmed Izzy, casting a sidelong glance at the older teen.

"Okay…Well, Ken, here's some phone numbers in case you need us!" Mrs. Ichijouji leaned over and kissed Ken's forehead. "Be safe."

"Aw, Mama! I will! I will! OK!?" Slightly red, Ken turned back to his friends. "Let's go!"

~@~

It was a four-hour drive from Tamachi to the town of Mugen, Lucas passed the time by reading road signs out loud and counting cars.

"2,468…2,469…Come to Burger King, where the Whopper is King!...2,470…2,471…."

Ken glanced up from the road map, he had called shotgun, "Turn here…"

"Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz"

Ken turned around and discovered that Izzy had fallen asleep in the back seat. "I don't believe it…he fell asleep!"

"2,488…2,48—What? He's asleep! Hahaha!" Lucas smirked…then looked annoyed. "Damn. Lost count."

It was about ten thirty when they pulled into Mugen. Ken, by this time, had become quite bored and fiddled with a pencil, drawing lines from here to there and then erasing the lines. Izzy had woken up in the back seat and was re-reading the information they had collected on Mugen's hauntings, using a penlight to read the words on the pages. Lucas was singing "99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall" for the first time after singing other equally annoying car songs.

As Ken's pencil idly traced patterns between cities, he couldn't help noticing the strange way that the five cemeteries were positioned around the town. Curiosity peaked, he drew lines between the different cities, forming a pentagon around the city. Then, he began drawing other lines, connecting cemeteries that were across and diagonal from each other. When finished, he stopped and stared.

Izzy glanced up as he heard a small gulp from his blue-haired friend. "What's wrong with you? Getting car sick?"

"Out the window! Puke out the window!" Lucas ordered, eyes wide but still focused on the road ahead as he searched for the Comfort Inn they would be spending the next two nights in.

"I'm not car sick…" the Ichijouji teen muttered.

"Oh. Okay."

"What's wrong?" the redhead asked, leaning over Ken's shoulder and stretching his seatbelt to the max.

Ken paused before holding up the map of Mugen for Izzy to see. Izzy clicked his penlight on and studied the map.

The lines Ken had drawn formed a perfect pentagram.

~@~

The American had hotly protested against sharing a bed with either of the two Japanese teens. He demanded his own bed out of the two twin beds that occupied the room. Ken and Izzy didn't argue with Lucas since they really didn't mind, but Izzy did mutter a few jeering remarks in Lucas' direction before he fell asleep.

The next morning, the three teens planned out how they would go about their ghost hunting. They had called ahead to the caretaker of an old asylum that was supposed to be haunted and also to the head of the college that was also supposed to be haunted so they didn't have to go through the hassle of gaining permission.

Late that afternoon, they arrived at the old asylum. Lucas shivered but not with cold. Izzy and Ken gave him strange looks, but said nothing.

The caretaker opened her mouth to explain about the old asylum, but Izzy cut her off. "We've already done a background check, ma'am. There's no need to tell us."

The caretaker merely smiled. "Well, I'll be accompanying you boys to make sure you don't hurt yourselves in here."

She reached to turn on the lights, but Lucas stopped her. "We've got flashlights."

"'We have flashlights'," Izzy corrected.

As the American stuck his tongue out at the redhead, the Ichijouji boy added, "And the little camera has a light on it. Besides, maybe the darkness will attract something."

Izzy merely rolled his eyes at this remark, to which Ken merely smirked. The redhead sighed and said, "Let's move out, troops."

Together, the four of them began to walk through the halls of the old asylum.

In many rooms, rusted chains still clung to the walls, giving silent testimony to the many inmates that had been locked up there in the past. The wood floors creaked with age as the three ghost hunters and the adult accompanying them stepped on them. The wind blew across an old chimney, creating a low, eerie moaning sound.

Izzy – flashlight in hand – was the first to descend the stairs to the basement. "Now entering the ancient realms of 'Dr. Lobotomy'."

"Ha ha. Funny, Izzy," Lucas commented, trying not to show off how scared he was.

"Seriously. If you'd been listening to what I told you earlier, you'd know this."

"Huh?"

The caretaker explained, "'Dr. Lobotomy' was the name given to a doctor that would visit here from time to time. He was given that nickname due to the fact that he gave lobotomies by shoving an ice pick into a patient's head and swirling it around, effectively destroying the frontal lobes. He could do about twenty lobotomies a day."

Lucas paled, feeling nauseous. The thought of how much blood that most likely came from those lobotomies made him want to pass out. "Okay! Can we go off on happier topics?!"

"How about the story about the missing female inmate?" Ken asked, raising an eyebrow that was blocked from view by the camera hiding most of his face.

"Does this story involve blood?" the American asked.

As they ascended a new flight of stairs to the attic, the blue-haired teen said in an eerie voice, "When they were clearing this place out, they couldn't find this one woman inmate. They searched the asylum from top to bottom, but couldn't find her. After a few days, they gave up, thinking she was dead." He smiled as Lucas glanced back at him. "A few people on the street saw her a few weeks later in the attic window. She was obviously stuck inside. Instead of waving for help, she undressed herself, folded up her clothes, and set them on the windowsill."

"What a pleasant thought, Ken. I bet you enjoyed this story," Lucas commented, smirking.

They reached the attic and began to explore. Izzy stopped over one spot, staring in disbelief. None of his three companions noticed as Ken continued the story.

"Well, when they went up to get her, she had already laid down on the floor and died. When they pulled her up, she left this really weird mark."

"Like, what kind of really weird mark?" Lucas asked, unimpressed.

"Like maybe this one?" the redhead squeaked out.

"Eh?" the two other teenagers asked, walking over to their friend.

Ken's eyes widened as he stared at the human-shaped mark on the floor. "Yeah. Like that one."

The senior's eyes almost popped out of his head as he stared at the mark. Against the dark colored floor, the white mark that clearly showed a human's head, hands, arms, body, legs, and feet practically leaped out at him. He commented, "Well. There's something you don't see everyday."

"Wh-whatever, Lucas," Izzy stuttered, his eyes never leaving the mark on the floor.

Despite Izzy's skepticism, the mark on the floor defied all logic and all possible explanation. It was obvious that the mark had not been burned into the floor, and he could figure out no other way to explain away the mark. His skepticism took a serious beating in that moment.

Ken glanced at his red-haired friend, but the redhead refused to make eye contact with anything but the mark on the floor. Quietly, he suggested, "I think we better head over to the college and take a look at that dorm room. Thank you for your help, ma'am."

"My pleasure, boys. Have fun!"

~@~

"So what's the story with the college again?" Ken asked. "Refresh my memory."

"Okay, there's actually two stories. One of those stories ties in with that mark." Izzy shivered at the memory. "Supposedly, a bunch of college students went to the asylum, and one of them – a girl – touched the mark. According to a note she left, the ghost of the inmate followed her back to her dorm room and was haunting her. They found her a few days after she had returned from the asylum. She'd killed herself."

"Narsty," was the American's comment.

"The other story has to do with another girl. She supposedly performed black magic in her dorm room. On one night, everything started moving on its own, and the other students heard strange chants and stuff from her dorm room. They thought she was conjuring up a demon. They went into her dorm room about three days later to check on her and found that she'd committed suicide. She wrote some pretty weird symbols on the wall in her own blood."

"Holy – "

"Lucas, nothing of that sort is holy. Don't bother finishing the phrase."

"Fine!" This was accompanied by a raspberry.

"Anyway, they cleaned up the dorm room and painted over the symbols with several coats of paint. However, the symbols came back, actually bleeding through the paint. No matter how many times they tried to cover up the blood stains, the symbols kept bleeding through."

"And this is the part where I start pukin' my guts out," Lucas commented, gripping his stomach dramatically.

"Scared of blood?" Ken teased.

"Sorta…"

"Majorly," Izzy said, smirking. "He can't stand the sight of it. Even if it's just giving blood at the blood bank and there's no threat to his life."

"I hate giving blood," Lucas grumbled. "I have to close my eyes. And I always get a cute lady nurse, and then they think I'm a wuss."

The only resident of Tamachi quickly filed away this new information in his mind. It was the perfect fodder for future attacks on Lucas' ego. However, it didn't mean that he wouldn't use this newfound information at the present moment. "Wimpy Lucas. Can't take it?"

Pride insulted, Lucas attempted to make himself appear a bit more important. "Listen, pal, I'll have you know that there's a Lucas County in Ohio!"

"It's probably barely big enough to hold your ego," the redhead stated, laughing as Lucas fumed. "Anyway, the story didn't end there. On the door in the wood grain, you're supposed to see a demon's face. You can see the eyes and the horns." He lowered his voice. "Well, with the blood seeping through the paint and everything – and "everything" includes several strange, unexplainable noises – nobody wanted that dorm room anymore. So they ripped out the wall – it was the only way to get rid of the bloody signs – and turned the dorm room into a boiler room."

"We don't get to see the bloody symbols?" Lucas asked.

"Nope."

"Good. That wouldn't make my day. But the demon face thing sounds interesting. Did they change the door?"

"Nope. Still the same door."

"Cool."

The three teenagers met up with the dean and soon stood outside of the dorm room-turned-boiler room. Izzy shone his flashlight on the door.

The blue-haired teen sucked in a quick breath of surprise as the redhead whispered, "Get a shot of that."

Two cameras focused their complete attention on Izzy and the door. Four black marks on the door held the teens' attention. The top two curled up like a pair of horns. But it was the bottom two marks that chilled the teens to the bone. These two black marks were actually a pair of demonic eyes. Just like the mark at the asylum, there was no way that these marks could've been burned into the door. The marks were a part of the wood grain itself.

Izzy began to point and trace the different marks as he said, "There's the two horns. And there're the demon's eyes…"

"Jesus Christ…" Lucas swore. He paused. "Sorry, Jesus."

The dean allowed them to enter the boiler room. The normal noises that accompanied a boiler room reached their ears in seconds. They walked further and further into the room.

"This is where the wall was," the dean stated, motioning with his hand.

Slam!

"What was that?!" the blue-haired teen asked.

"The door just slammed shut!" the foreign exchange student told him.

"I'm suddenly reminded of the Yakatori…" Ken moaned.

A loud bang that had absolutely nothing to do with the boiler caused them all to jump.

The redhead of the group trembled and stated, "We leave. Now."

"I second that!" Lucas added as they began to hurry towards the door.

"Can't we put on some 'Relax-O-Vision'?" Ken whimpered.

As the four continued towards the door, Lucas – who was in the lead – froze, causing the others to run into him.

"What's the hold-up?!" Izzy demanded.

"She's right here…" the senior stated, speaking in a voice that proved he had indeed seen Poltergeist.

In an attempt to lighten the mood, the Digidestined of Kindness stated, "Quiet, Lucas! You sound like someone from a co-authored fanfic!"

"I'm serious, man…"

This was too much for the Izumi teenager as he shoved his two friends out the door, the dean just behind him. The redhead glanced back for a moment as the dean shut the door, locking it. His eyes briefly lighted on the demonic face in the wood grain.

The inevitable had happened.

Koushiro Izumi was a skeptic no more.