DM: Digital Mutants: Series 02: Part 4

DM: Digital Mutants: Series 02: Part 4

[A/N: And now, starting classes and finding truth.]

[Disclaimer: I don't own.]

Cody was emerged in thought as Kari and Gatomon strode down the hall and disappeared beyond a corner. So that's what had all happened before…

But when he stepped into the room, eleven other boys of different ages ran to him with hopeful faces. All their questions were about what had happened.

"Why is that so important to you?" he asked in confusion. One boy named Tony Lega stepped forwards. He was taller than Cody, and had light blue hair with purple eyes.

"I have one of Shinji-sensei's classes." he explained, "And one day, a few weeks ago, she stopped in the middle of the lesson, and just ran from the room!" "Why?" Cody asked. "No one knows!" another boy, called Jan said with an evil grin, "Rumor says that she ran off to a date she forgot about!" Cody scowled angrily. "Don't say things like that." he whispered.

"Say, do we have a pint-sized nobleman here?" another boy called Kei asked. The whole room roared with laughter. "Hey, shut up!" Tony ordered, "If someone hears you bakas stirring up this storm, they'll report us all to Shinji-sensei, and I personally don't want any trouble!" The laughter died down, but there were still some low chuckling and cackles.

"Don't worry about these guys." Tony apologized, "They like to fool around with new guys, especially the little ones." Tony had a kind smile, and Cody smiled back.

"C'mon," the thirteen-year-old boy said, "I'll show you to your bed." Cody nodded and followed Tony.

There was another room where the boys slept, and they slept in bunks. "Yours is right below mine." Tony confided, "So if you need anyone to talk with at night, or anything else, just tap on the boards and whisper." Cody smiled and sat on the bunk. It was surprisingly soft, and would be perfect to sleep in.

"By the way, why did you stick up for Shinji-sensei back there?" Tony finally asked, swinging himself up onto the top bunk, "I don't think many people would." "I don't see why they wouldn't." Cody muttered, "I'm pretty sure she saved my life."

"Oh?" his friend asked. "Yeah, my grandpa and I were downtown and were getting mugged." Cody explained, "But she had been following us from this restaurant Grandpa took me to, and got rid of the guy." Tony chuckled.

"You know, there's another rumor flying around about Shinji-sensei." he muttered. "No, I don't want to hear anything bad about her!" Cody said quickly. "This isn't anything bad." Tony replied, "It's just something really interesting." Cody uncovered his ears and looked up.

"Word has it that Shinji-sensei has a door leading to some hidden place that no one's seen." his friend said in a low whisper, "No one knows what's there. Some people say it's a place of nothing, and some people say that it's a doorway to a realm where everything is perfect. Heck, the teachers don't even know. They haven't even been inside her room, let alone seen the door."

"So how do you know about it?" Cody challenged. "One day, one of the seer girls had a weird dream, and it just showed a door inside of a small room, inside Shinji-sensei's room." Tony continued, "So that's one of the biggest mysteries here. The other is Shinji-sensei's supposed partner." Cody raised an eyebrow, and Tony chuckled.

"You know how the other teachers have those digimon partners, right?" he asked. Cody nodded and Tony kept going. "Well, as the story goes, there were nine Digi-destined." he said, "Shinji-sensei was the Ninth. And Davis and Yolei-sensei are the later ones that came in a while back. So where is Shinji-sensei's partner? What do they look like? I asked one of the teachers a while back, but they said that they hadn't seen him in a long time, and forgotten."

"So the rumors fit together like this." he continued, "Some other people say that Shinji-sensei's partner stays in that room. That disagrees with the other rumors though. Anyway, I don't think anyone will see the inside of that room, or Shinji-sensei's partner." He pulled back from the edge of the bunk and settled on the mattress. A few seconds later, Tony was fast asleep.

Cody was left to ponder what he had been told. But after thinking for an unbelievably long time, Cody grew tired, lay back, and fell asleep.

Hida woke to someone shaking him. He opened his green eyes and looked around to see the smiling face of Tony. "C'mon, squirt." his friend whispered, "You should get ready and get a routine started for school." "But I don't even have a schedule." Cody whispered back. Tony pointed to the foot of Cody's bed, where a schedule and clean clothes lay. The green-eyed ten-year-old blinked.

"Do you always get up this early?" Cody asked. He had seen a clock, and it said 5:25AM. "Yeah, I can avoid the rush of the other guys." Tony grinned, "Besides, I like to get to class quick so I'm not tardy." Cody blinked at his friend again.

As the two friends got ready together, Tony told him who the teachers on Cody's schedule were. First he had language with Kari, next was gym with Tai, then world studies with Mimi, after that was lunch, then math with Izzy, afterwards was a Kendo session, next was science with Joe, and finally there was a spot that read: "TRAINING". "Oh, that's just Shinji-sensei." Tony said, pulling on his shoes, "She teaches us how to hone our powers." After a quick breakfast, and directions to each class, Tony and Cody parted ways and headed to class.

"Cody, you're here early!" Kari said with a little surprise. Cody remained silent and looked at his feet. "Nervous?" Kari teased. Cody jerked and concentrated on his shoelaces. His teacher's words just made his stomach grow tighter.

"Don't worry about it." Kari said, smiling and waving her hand, "There are kids your age here, and the classes shouldn't be TOO hard." Cody laughed weakly as the knot in his stomach loosened.

Kari told the truth, and the classes that Cody went to were challenging, but not too hard. He made another friend, a girl by the name of Reya Tsun. She had all his classes, and the power of telekinesis.

"So how's your first day here going?" Reya asked during lunch. Cody had a small smile on his face and sighed. "It's not as creepy as I thought it would be." he confided. "Why would you think that?" Reya inquired. "No reason." Cody replied quickly, "By the way, what's training like?" Reya smiled and said, "Well, it's pretty hard, but once you understand how everything works, you'll have no problems at all!"

Reya and Cody were the first to reach the training class. It was outside, due to some people's powers, in the back of the school, in a forest-like area. Reya guided Cody to a clearing close by, where a tall figure in black stood. Cody was about to say hello, but Reya quieted him quickly. She pointed her hands at a medium-sized rock and concentrated hard. Slowly and silently, the rock floated into the air.

Reya grinned, and sent the rock flying at Shinji. Cody was about to say something again, but the teacher turned, as if on air, and held up a hand. The rock burst into pieces and fell to the ground.

"Very nice, Reya…" Shinji said slowly and with a grin, "If Cody hadn't been thinking so loudly, you probably would have hit me this time." Reya grinned. Shinji turned to Cody and asked, "So, how goes your day?" Cody smiled sheepishly and replied, "Fine."

"Great, just make sure not to make Jin angry during training." the twenty-six-year-old said easily. "Why not?" Cody asked. Reya was about to answer, when the rest of the class appeared from the forestry.

"All right." Shinji started as soon as the class had settled, "Now I'm sure you've all heard of the new student, Cody Hida." There were a few murmurs of consent and the teacher continued, "Well, I want one of you to come here and give him a demonstration of your ability." She stopped pacing, faced the class, and grinned.

"Fight me." she ordered.

Reya gasped softly. Suddenly, a boy with gray hair stood up and strode quickly to face the teacher. They couldn't see, but he was scowling at the teacher. "How kind of you, Jin." the teacher said with a smirk, "Tell Cody what your ability is." With a growl, Jin threw his fist forwards faster than Cody could see. He was positive that it would hit Shinji, but the teacher's form wavered and she was gone.

"Very nice show of your speed, Jin." Shinji taunted from up in a tree beside Jin, "Now show him the rest." With another growl, Jin leapt up, and was launched higher than the limb. He brought forwards his fist as he fell, aiming for the teacher again.

Then, in the split second before Jin's punch landed, Shinji jumped up and grabbed a higher branch, folding her body upwards as Jin's punch snapped the limb below.

"You aren't really trying, are you?" the teacher laughed from above. Jin let out a roar and sprang at the limb. He succeeded in snapping it and making the teacher fall, but Shinji twisted her body and landed on her feet. Jin scowled and leapt to the ground as well.

"You see Cody, when there are people that have Jin's sort of powers, I have them train against me." Shinji explained, "That way, no one else will get hurt. However, when it comes to training your friend, Reya, there isn't a way that she can hurt people unless she wants to."

But once the class had gotten underway, Cody had no clue of what to do. Shinji strode over to him, knelt, and spoke quietly. "You have a strange gift indeed." she whispered, "I've spoken with Izzy, and even he doesn't know what it is. What feeling do you have deep inside, what do you feel throughout you?" "Well, I don't know." Cody replied.

"You don't have a distinct feeling?" the teacher asked, "Nothing at all?" Cody shook his head. "This IS a strange occurrence." Shinji muttered, "Every mutant has a distinct feeling deep inside of their power…"

"Well, I feel normal." Cody confessed, "I don't feel any distinct thing." The teacher paused in thought for a moment. Then a strange evil feeling shot through Cody's mind. Everything felt cold, and he shivered. Shinji's eyes opened wide and she turned her view to the sky. A black shadow blocked the sun for a short while, but quickly passed.

Cody shivered at the coldness spreading through his body. His skin became pale, and he collapsed to the ground. "CODY!" Shinji yelled. The ten-year-old shivered until it appeared he was vibrating, and began to cry. "Cody, what's wrong?" the teacher asked. Cody couldn't answer. All he could see was his grandfather lying in a pool of his own blood, and all he could hear was his own screaming.

In truth, Cody was screaming, his eyes pure white and his skin pale. "Cody-kun?" Reya whimpered, walking up behind Shinji. As if on cue, the final bell rang. Most of the students took no notice of the screaming and crying Cody as they ran back to the school. When Shinji tried to pull him into a sitting position, Cody saw the shadowy figure of his grandfather's murderer, and tried hard to punch the person.

Shinji was too quick for Cody, and held his little fists tight. "Stop hallucinating!" she ordered. Cody wouldn't stop seeing and hearing what he did, so the teacher passed a hand over his eyes. The frightened boy passed out.

Reya tried to step forwards, but Shinji took Cody in arm and stood. "Reya, get back to the school. Now." the teacher ordered. Reya nodded jerkily and ran towards the school. Shinji held Cody easily and started back to the school as well.

"You mean he had a seizure?" Kari asked a little skeptically. "It wasn't any medical condition." Kari's superior replied, "He sensed something." "What?" Kari asked, "If he sensed something, you surely must have!" Shinji held her hand over her mouth, her eyes narrowed. Did she dare say it…?

"No, I wasn't concentrating." she whispered, "I didn't sense a thing." Kari eyed the blue-eyed woman suspiciously. "OK, I'll fix Cody up." she agreed, "Just make sure he stops getting hurt." Shinji nodded and left the room swiftly.

Kari sighed and rubbed her warm palm against Cody's cold forehead. "She's closed up quite a bit after bringing you in." she muttered to the unconscious boy, "I wonder what you stirred up…"

Shinji strode through a darkened hallway to her room. It was a small room, much different from any of the other teacher's rooms. All that was in the room was a bath, a chest of drawers, and a couch. But there was also a door on the farthest, most shadowy wall of the room. She half-ran to the door and wrenched it open. Immediately, she ran through the doorframe, and slammed the door shut behind her.

If someone had been standing behind the teacher, however, they would have seen the door lead to a room that appeared like a gym. But after Shinji had ran into it, the room disappeared into blackness…