***
Standard Disclaimer Thingy #1: Digimon does not belong to me. That includes the characters, the plot, and the digimon. This story, however, is mine.
(Not so standard) Disclaimer Thingy #2: Be warned. This has a plot, but not much.
***
Hikari peered up at the ancient-looking building in front of her. "I'm not so sure about this," she admitted fearfully. "It looks sort of – scary."
"Don't be silly," Miyako chided. "It's just a hotel. If you don't want to walk all the way home tonight, we'll have to stay here."
"I wish we could fly home," the other girl sighed wistfully, but it was not to be. Both Hawkmon and Tailmon had been left at home, on the opposite side of town, and therefore unable to be of service.
"I feel kind of silly," Miyako admitted sheepishly as they entered the hotel. A small check-in desk was just inside, with a stoic looking receptionist.
"It's all right," Hikari assured her. "I didn't know the last train left an hour ago either." She glanced around the modest lobby. "I'd better call home and let them know I won't be coming in tonight."
"Are your parents even at home? I thought they were visiting someone this weekend."
"They are," Hikari replied. "Visiting my grandmother. But Taichi should be home, so he'll at least be able to reassure Tailmon."
Miyako stepped up to the check-in desk while Hikari made her way to the pay phones. "Yes, I need a room for the night," she stated cheerfully.
The receptionist answered in as stoic a voice as she'd expected as he named the price. The girl nearly fell over in shock. "Are you all right?" he questioned with a voice completely devoid of emotion.
"Yes, yes, I'm fine," Miyako waved his semi-concerned question aside as she began searching through her purse. "Good thing Mom and Dad gave me enough money for emergencies. This qualifies as an emergency."
Hikari returned from the phone a moment later. "Well, Taichi nearly had a heart attack. He's watching scary movies with Yamato, Daisuke, and Koushiro. The phone rang and he jumped out of his seat. Koushiro ended up answering the phone."
Miyako couldn't help but laugh as the stoic receptionist handed her the keys to the room. "Upstairs on your left."
"Well, he's certainly exciting," the purple-haired girl commented dryly in regards to the receptionist. "How'd Taichi take it?"
"Not bad, once he finally got on the phone. He said that as long as I'm with you I'll probably be okay. Daisuke seemed more worried, but Taichi said he'd calm him down."
Miyako shook her head slightly as she laughed. "Well, here's our room. Let's hope for the best." She inserted the key in the lock and the door opened.
"Not too bad," Hikari said as she looked around the room. There was a double bed, a small door that most likely led to a bathroom, and a phone on the night table. A modest looking television sat on a stand across from the bed.
Miyako snorted slightly. "Not really worth what I paid," she noted. "But we didn't have much of a choice."
Hikari opened the door leading to the bathroom and peered in. "Small, but clean," she noted. "I think I'll take a shower. I feel so grimy."
"Go ahead," Miyako replied. "I think I'll call home, too." She lifted the receiver from the phone. After a quick phone call home to assure her parents she was alive, she flipped through the television stations.
"Figures," she muttered. "Nothing on." She turned off the set and picked up the phone again. After a few short rings, a familiar voice came on the line.
"Hello, Ichijouji residence."
"Hi Ken-kun!" Miyako greeted cheerfully. "How's it going?"
"Hello, Miyako-san," he replied pleasantly. "Just finishing some math homework."
"I hope I'm not interrupting," she began. "But Hikari and I are stuck in this boring, cheap, expensive, falling apart hotel. There's nothing on television, I'm almost out of money, and I'm bored."
"Why are you in a hotel?"
"Long story," she replied. "Missed the last train."
"How can it be cheap and expensive at the same -?" Ken questioned again, but his voice cut off.
"Ken?" Miyako question. There was no reply. She hung up the phone and picked it up again. There was no dial tone. "Great," she muttered sarcastically. "The phone's dead." As if in response to the unspoken question of why the phone had gone dead, there was a flash of light, and thunder clapped outside.
"Sounds like the beginning to a bad horror movie," she grumbled, switching on the television in hopes of some sort of entertainment. The only thing on, however, was a late night news program. Miyako glanced half-heartedly at the clock the hotel had provided. It was only just after midnight.
'Gonna be a long night,' she sighed.
Just as the news was beginning what might possibly have been an interesting look at the current world economy, a high pitched scream came from the bathroom.
'Finally, some excitement,' Miyako thought as she knocked on the door. "Hikari? Are you okay?"
The bathroom door swung open and Hikari, a towel wrapped tightly around her, jumped out into the room, slamming the door behind her. "The water got so cold," she explained, her voice wavering. "And then, there were these – bugs!" She shuddered, partly from the chill and partly from the thought of the bugs."
"Bugs?" Miyako repeated. She opened the door partway and peered cautiously into the bathroom. A single ant skittered across the linoleum floor, which was enough to cause her to immediately slam the door again. "Let's just – stay out of there," she decided.
"Miyako – my clothes are still in there," Hikari reminded her. Miyako peered with some confusion at her, and was reminded that the younger girl was still clad only in a towel.
"Oh. Well, I guess we'll have to just – run for it." Miyako took a deep breath and dashed into the room. Hikari had left her clothes sitting on the toilet, and it took her only a matter of seconds to grab them and dash out again, slamming the door behind her.
"Thanks Miyako," Hikari said, grabbing her clothes. "I know it sounds kind of silly, but those bugs were just so – ." She trailed off, shuddering.
Miyako only nodded. "It's okay," she assured her Jogress partner. "I don't much like bugs, either."
"Unless they're paired with someone…cute," Hikari added in a conspiratorial voice as she began to change back into her clothes.
"I don't know what you mean," Miyako replied, but the tone of her voice indicated that she did. That, and the size of her smile combined to make Hikari laugh out loud.
Hikari was about to retort to this comment in a clever manner, but never got the chance, because at that moment exactly, they heard a strange noise.
It was a strange, wailing noise that at first sounded like the wind, but then became obvious it was not. It sounded more like someone singing – terribly off-key and to no particular melody, but very sadly. Then, as suddenly as it had begun, it stopped.
The witty comment died in Hikari's throat. She pulled the rest of her shirt over her head.
"What – was – that?" Miyako stammered.
"I don't know," the other confessed. "Maybe it was just…someone in the hotel. Or the wind."
"Uh-huh," Miyako replied. She looked quite disbelieving. "I wish the phone wasn't dead."
"The phone's dead?" Hikari looked slightly panicked now.
Miyako nodded, blushing slightly. "I called home, and then I called Ken and…the phone died in the middle of the conversation…"
Hikari shook her head, eyes wide and skin pale. "This – is not good. I don't like this at all."
"Well," Miyako tried to be cheerful. "At least we still have electricity. Let's just watch some television and then try to sleep."
"Miyako, it's almost one in the morning," Hikari reminded her. "There's absolutely nothing on television."
"Of course there is," Miyako replied. "I was watching this fascinating program on the world economy, come watch!"
Hikari was slightly less interested – in fact not at all interested – in the state of the world economy, but she allowed herself to be dragged to the bed and attempted to be interested in it while trying to dry her hair. It was almost dry – and the program nearly finished – when they heard the wailing noise again.
"All right, that does it!" Miyako declared, standing up and shutting off the television now that the show had ended. Hikari merely blinked at her.
"What does what?"
"That wailing. I feel like I'm in a bad movie! I'm going to go down stairs and demand of that…receptionist guy just what is causing that noise. And then I'm going to find a way to stop it, because it is not only creeping me out, it is also going to keep me awake all night!"
With that, she stormed out of the room. Hikari rushed after her, because she knew Miyako's bravado would give out after a few minutes, and because she didn't want to stay in the room alone.
A few minutes later, Miyako headed down the main staircase of the hotel. At the bottom, there were two double doors which led into the lobby. Behind the doors, there was no light.
"What?" Miyako demanded, moving to open the doors and finding them unmoving. "How can they be locked?"
Hikari peered up at a sign posted on the top of the door.
'Checkout time eleven am. No checkouts before eleven am.'
"Maybe that explains it?"
Miyako groaned. "They should still have the lobby open!" She kicked the door in frustration, and then sat down, her foot in pain and her exhaustion at the late hour beginning to show. Before Hikari could comment, the wailing/singing noise began again.
"That's it! I'm going after it!" Miyako stood up and dashed back up the stairs.
"Miyako – wait!" Hikari called, chasing after the overly-hyper girl. "You don't know where you're going!"
The hotel in question was only two stories tall, and so thankfully there weren't many stairs to run up. Miyako slammed open the doors at the second floor and waited for the sound to begin again. But all was silent.
Huffing and puffing slightly, Hikari entered a moment later. "Miyako – I don't think we're going to find out – what it is," she stated after she had caught her breath.
"No, we'll figure
it out," Miyako declared.
Hikari sighed. She knew there was no way to stop her when she got this
determined. "How? It's not even doing that – noise – any more."
Miyako pointed at the single hall this story possessed. "There's only one floor with rooms, right? So it must be coming from this hall. You go left and I'll go right. If you hear it, try and figure out where it's coming from." Without waiting for a reply, Miyako turned and headed in the indicated direction.
Deciding that she had no better alternative, Hikari sighed, shrugged, and headed to the left. There was only one hall, the top of the stairs in the center of it, but it was a long hall in both directions. Not quite certain what she was looking for, she strolled along the hall.
At the end of the long hall was a door with a single word marked on it: "Roof." Hikari examined the door, decided she really didn't want to go on the roof, and turned to walk in the opposite direction.
Then, that wailing sound happened again. And it seemed to be coming from behind that door. Cautiously, Hikari glanced down the hall to see if Miyako had heard it, but there was no sign of the lavender-haired girl. Confused, Hikari wondered if she should look for Miyako. Then the wailing began again, and she changed her mind.
Taking a deep breath, Hikari pushed on the door and was surprised to find that it opened without any problem. She climbed the long, steep, narrow staircase and opened the door at the top. All the while, the wailing, moaning noise began again.
It was cold on the roof, even though it was only three stories up, but thankfully it had stopped raining. Hikari regretted having left the thin sweatshirt she'd been wearing before in the hotel room, and wrapped her arms around her. She shivered slightly. As the cool wind blew past her, she heard that strange noise again, and then felt something behind her.
"Aahhhh…." the noise continued…
Hikari shuddered again. "Mi-Miyako?" she called, trying to feel braver than she really was. "Are you up here?"
There was no response from Miyako, but the noise was getting closer. And the wind was getting colder.
"Ohhhhhh…"
"If this is some sort of joke…," Hikari tried to sound menacing. She was afraid to turn around, but knew that she had to.
"Ahhhh, Ohhh," the noise howled.
"It's just the wind," she tired to reassure herself, but failed. There was a bang, and before she realized what she was doing, she spun around. The door had slammed shut, and right beside it…
"Uh…Boo?" the thing asked.
Hikari nearly jumped out of her skin in fright. Then she laughed.
A shabby, tattered looking ghost floated next to the door. "A Bakemon?" she asked, between giggles.
"Yeah, and you're supposed to be scared," it replied, sounding slightly insulted. "You're supposed to think I'm a ghost."
Hikari shook her head slightly. "How did you get up here?"
The ghost digimon shrugged as best it was able with no arms or shoulders. "I don't know," it replied. "The last thing I remember was scaring some Koromon in a dark and scary cave. And then I was here. And I've been here ever since."
"How long has that been?" Hikari wondered, concerned now.
"Um, I don't know. A long time?"
She nodded in understanding. "You probably got stuck here during Christmas a few years ago. I think I can send you home."
The Bakemon appeared genuinely pleased. "Really?" it asked.
The door to the stairs opened then, and Miyako flew out, looking winded (to say the least) from her hurried dash up the stairs. "Hikari – what happened?" she gasped, breathing heavily. "A - Bakemon?"
"He got lost here. I think during Christmas. Remember when Arachnemon and Mummymon opened those portals?" Hikari explained.
Miyako nodded. "That was two years ago. You've been here all that time?"
The Bakemon nodded. "Yup."
"Do you think we can send him back?" Hikari wondered.
"Sure," Miyako agreed. "But not from here, we have to have a computer."
Hikari sighed. "This may take a while."
***
The doorbell rang suddenly, and Taichi leapt from his seat on the couch, causing the other three boys in the room to laugh.
"Jump any higher and your head'll hit the ceiling!" Yamato joked, doubled over with laughter.
"Very funny," Taichi grumbled, in a rather unpleasant mood. He pushed the 'pause' button on the remote and went to the door. "Hi Ken, what brings you here?"
"Hey Ken," Daisuke waved from the couch between giggles. "Wanna watch scary movies with us?"
Ken shook his head. "Actually, I wanted to know if you'd heard from Hikari," he replied as he stepped into the room.
"Yeah, about an hour ago, why?" Taichi replied, glancing at the clock.
"Well, Miyako called me, and we were cut off in the middle of the conversation. It didn't worry me at first, but Wormmon's been concerned." From somewhere behind the boy, the small green digimon appeared to perch on his partner's shoulder.
"Hmm," Koushiro frowned and then opened his laptop.
"What are you doing now?" Yamato asked.
"I knew we should have made him leave that thing home," Daisuke grumbled, peering over his shoulder.
"I'm checking to see if there happened to be any phone or power outages in the area Hikari said she was staying," the redheaded boy replied, still glued to his screen. "So far I don't see anything."
Taichi frowned in thought, which worried Yamato for a moment. He poked his friend with his finger. "What?"
"I was just thinking," Taichi noted. "Sometimes when Digimon appear in the real world, they cause electronic screw-ups, don't they?"
"Yeah," Yamato replied. "Like when Vamdemon was here. He caused the weather to mess up, and the electricity, and everything went out of wack."
Daisuke looked slightly pale. "You think a digimon could have caused this?"
"Only one way to find out," Koushiro replied, shutting his laptop and placing it in its carrier. "I'll go get the digimon."
***
Hikari peered up at the stars, wrapping the blanket from the hotel room around her. "I hope they don't mind us bringing the blanket up here," she frowned slightly.
"Probably not," Miyako replied, the other half of the blanket wrapped around her. "It's not too cold, thankfully."
"Thanks for staying up here," the Bakemon said in as pleasant a voice as was possible for a ghost digimon. "I could have just waited another night."
Hikari shook her head. "That would be rude," she replied. "Leaving you up here in the cold for another night while we stayed down in the hotel"
"Besides, you're not a bad Bakemon," Miyako added with a grin. "Not like some others I've met."
There was silence for a few moments as they took in the stars, each lost in their own thoughts. Then, a beeping sound came from inside the blanket.
"What's that?" Miyako wondered. Hikari reached inside the small bag she'd brought with her.
"My digivice!" she realized. "There's a whole bunch – coming this way."
"Whole bunch of what?" the Bakemon questioned.
"Friends, probably," Miyako replied, peering at her own digivice, which had started to beep a second later.
***
"A stranded Bakemon?" Taichi repeated, blinking at the ghostly creature.
"I didn't know there were any left," Yamato agreed.
"We must have missed him," Agumon noted, yawning slightly. He and the others had been awakened from a nap and dragged across town for a simple stranded Bakemon. He sighed.
"Yeah," Gabumon yawned in agreement, nearly falling asleep on his friend. "Can't…get 'em all."
"He's been hiding out here on the roof all this time," Miyako explained.
"I told him we could send him back to the digital world," Hikari added.
"Won't be a problem," Koushiro replied, and a moment later his computer was set up.
"Thanks so much," the Bakemon said pleasantly before he was uploaded into the computer.
Taichi blinked. "That was about the most – polite Bakemon I've ever seen," he noted.
"He was very nice," Hikari agreed. "He was only scaring people because he didn't know what else to do."
"Well, I don't know why we didn't think of this before," Miyako noted. "Now that you guys are here, we can get a ride home and we don't have to spend any more time here!"
"Is it really that bad of a hotel?" Daisuke wondered. From the roof, it didn't look too bad.
"There were bugs in the bathroom," Hikari answered.
***