For The Love of a Gatomon
Chapter 9: Venom of a Lizard
Agumon and Tai were in his room playing video games. Tai barely seemed to be playing; his eyes were crusty with sleep and baggy beneath them from lack thereof. Agumon stared up at Tai after crushing his fighter flawlessly.
"Tai? Are you okay?" he asked.
"Oh my God," said Tai, as if to say, "I just realized that Agumon's getting more than I am."
"Tai??"
"Oh my God," he repeated, this time as if to say, "I can't believe I've lost so much sleep over my digimon doing adult activities with Lillymon." A beat. "OH MY GOD!" he said, as if to say, "Oh jeez! There I go again!"
"You know, Tai," said Agumon, figuring it out, "I was just kidding about the whole Lillymon and me thing." Tai's face crinkled up.
"Huh?? You what???"
"I lied. I was sleepy. Can we play for real now?" Agumon asked.
"You kept me awake for over 24 hours because of that stupid lie!!" yelled Tai, gripping Agumon by the neck.
"Take it easy!" yelled Agumon. Tai's grasp on him got weak suddenly as Tai fell into a deep sleep. Agumon rolled his eyes and patted Tai's head.
"Great. Now what do I do?" he asked no one. A few seconds passed. Agumon shrugged and fell asleep too.
Before he could get comfy on the floor and sleep deeply, he heard the front door close. His eyes popped open and he crawled away from Tai. Agumon peered around the corner of the room and stared down the hall at the front door. Gatomon was walking towards him, not really noticing him.
"Hi Gatomon," he said, "How'd your date with Veemon go?"
"Didn't go out with Veemon. Went out with Patamon," she stated.
"It's okay; Kari had to make a quick run to Yolei's store for some food."
"I really did go out with Patamon," she said, blankly walking past him.
"Huh? Why?" he asked, tagging along as she headed for the kitchen. Gatomon sneered as she got some juice from the refrigerator.
"Because that little jerk lied to me!" she said. "I guess I wasn't good enough for him since I didn't put out."
"You didn't? I mean! Why not? I mean! What does that have to do with anything?" he asked.
"Know what that creep did? He tried to take advantage of Kari." Agumon stared at her, wide eyed.
"We're talking about Veemon, here, right?" he asked.
"Well, who else would we be talking about?!" she snapped. Agumon took a step back. Gatomon clenched her paw into a fist and took a few deep breaths, calming down somewhat. "That's right," she said, "Patamon came and told me all about it. Kari told him personally. I never want to see that cretin again." Gatomon scowled and poured her juice. She continued to grimace as her glass over flooded with juice and spilled all over the counter. Not looking, she chucked the now-empty juice carton behind her, missing the garbage can. It landed unceremoniously in a pool of its own fluids like a dead corpse. Agumon gulped, worried that he'd look the same way if he got her riled up.
"Well, what exactly did Patamon say?" Agumon asked, choosing his words carefully.
"What I just told you," she said, getting a bit testy again, "Veemon tried to molest Kari and then he lied to me about it."
"What did Veemon say?" asked Agumon.
"..... Well, he didn't actually LIE, he just didn't say anything about it," said Gatomon, annoyed that Agumon could find fault in her anger placement.
"Well, if Veemon didn't lie to you, don't you think you might be being a bit unfair? Maybe he just didn't know how to react to that sort of accusation. You know he's not very fast on his feet."
"Look, I don't want to talk about it, alright?!" she yelled.
"Okay okay! Sorry," he said, walking out. Agumon headed back towards Tai's room, obviously not wanted. Before he reached the door, the hallway phone wrung.
"Who could be calling at this hour?" he thought, jumping up to snatch the receiver.
"Hello?" he asked.
"Agumon? This is Veemon. Is Gatomon there?" asked Veemon on the other end, sniffling a bit after getting over another crying spree.
"She is," whispered Agumon, "But she nearly took my head off just for ASKING about what YOU did. I have a feeling you shouldn't talk to her right now."
"Who's on the phone, Agumon?!" yelled Gatomon from the kitchen.
"Just Veemon!" he called back.
"Tell him he can take his apologies and shove 'em straight up his tight blue a..!" Agumon plugged his other hear with his finger and turned his attention back to the phone. "See what I mean?" he whispered back to the receiver.
"But I need to talk to her," said Veemon, sniffling.
"Dude, what could you possibly say to her that won't wind up getting you killed in the end?"
"...I'm sorry?" asked Veemon, not having given this much thought.
"Begging for her forgiveness on hand and knee would be better. You really need to plan stuff like this out, Veemon."
"But I didn't do anything!" said Veemon, "This is all a mistake!"
"You really think she's gonna believe YOU?" asked Agumon.
"Well, I guess not, but what else could I do?"
"Hmm...... Look, I hate to hear a fellow digimon of courage suffering like this, so I tell you what. I'll take care of everything, okay?"
"......What are you gonna do?" asked Veemon, suspiciously.
"Just relax," said Agumon, "Agumon's on the case!"
"But..!" said Veemon, getting hung up on.
"When in doubt, fight fire with fire!" said Agumon, punching in a new number, "And no one knows more about fire than yours truly." He waited for a little bit and finally Biyomon picked up.
"I'm sorry, but we're not in right now," she said, "Please leave your message.."
"Hi Biyomon, it's Agumon," said Agumon.
"Oh thank God!" she said, "I'm sick of pretending to be an answering machine."
"It's still not fixed?" asked Agumon.
"Nope. So, what's up?" she asked.
"Well, I've got some interesting gossip I thought I'd tell you about," he said, craftily.
"Gossip???" she asked, excitedly, "UH! Uhm... not that I care, ... but what's it about??"
"Well, did you know that Gatomon and Veemon were going steady?" he asked.
"Old news," she said, "What else ya got?"
"Well, I know why Veemon dumped Gatomon!" said Agumon.
"..Wait, VEEmon dumped GATOmon??" she asked, confused.
"That's right, he told me himself. And if you think THAT'S strange, wait until you hear WHY he dumped her."
******Back in the kitchen******
Can after can of alphabet soup had been poured upon the counter. Gatomon was separating all of the 'V' and 'E' pieces and taking great pleasure in smashing them individually.
"I can't believe he had the NERVE," she said, squashing a letter as she said 'nerve', "to call!" She looked at a 'V' that was close to two 'E's. Her ranting slowed down a bit. She straightened them up so they properly spelled 'VEE'. She frowned, remembering how much she used to like him. Her frown quickly turned back to a sneer, however, as she smashed his name in one blow. "Table's lucky I'm not wearing my tail ring," she muttered.
"Oh Gatomon!" called, Agumon from the hallway, "Biyomon's on the phone for you!" Gatomon sighed to herself. A phone call from a girlfriend might be exactly what she needed.
******In the hallway******
Gatomon walked in and took the phone from him. Agumon zipped away and listened in from behind a corner.
"Hi, Biyomon!" said Gatomon, happily.
"You should be ashamed of yourself!!" yelled Biyomon on the other end.
"Huh?".
"I can't believe you did that to poor Veemon!"
"What I did to VEEmon???" said Gatomon, incredulously.
"You know darn well he doesn't know much about being romantic," Biyomon lectured, "so coming on that strongly to him was just plain cruel."
"I never came on to him!!!" yelled Gatomon.
"Yeah, I'll bet," said Biyomon, "What a horrible thing to do. What on Earth possessed you to try to force him into having sex with you, you hussy?!"
"WHAT???!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" yelled Gatomon at the top of her lungs, "How DARE you accuse me of that!!"
"Looks like not much has really changed from when you were with Myotismon, Gatomon," said Biyomon, "You're still a villain at heart." That said, Biyomon hung up. Gatomon's teeth clenched tightly in sheer anger. Her cheeks puffed out and her lips tightened as tears collected at her eyes. Leaving the phone off the hook, she went back into the kitchen, sobbing all the way. Agumon smacked his head.
"Biyomon, you didn't have to bite her head off!" he said to no one.
******In the kitchen******
Gatomon was weeping in a corner of the kitchen. Agumon poked his head in, carefully.
"Oh man, this wasn't what I wanted to have happen," he said to himself, "Um Gatomon?"
"*sniff* what? *sniff*"
"Are you okay?"
"Just peachy!" she cried.
"Uhmmmm.... look, this is all my fault. I.. uh.. I lied to Biyomon and told her to tell you about that rumor," he admitted.
"S-s-stop trying to cover for Veemon," she said, wiping her eyes.
"..Uh.. Well.. maybe he sorta did that because you jumped to conclusions?" suggested Agumon, timidly.
"What do you mean?" she asked, a bit of shakiness still in her voice.
"Well, you never really gave him a chance to explain himself. Maybe this is just.. uh.. his way of retaliating..."
"Well, two wrongs don't make a right!" she snapped.
"Sorry, sorry," said Agumon, truly sorry.
"Fine then," she said, sternly, "If Veemon wants to play rough, so will I!"
"Huh?"
"I'm gonna give him a taste of his own medicine!" she said, smiling wickedly.
"What about that whole, 'two wrongs don't make a right' thing?" asked Agumon. Gatomon glared at him, shutting him up.
******At the Motomiya's******
Veemon stared at himself in Davis's bedroom mirror. He had taken a shower and had borrowed some of Davis's dad's cologne. He brushed his ears back in an attempt to look different, but gave up. He also tried not to pay attention to the small, candle-lit shrine that Davis had constructed for 'the cucumber' he had rescued from the trash.
"Well, if an apology won't work, maybe these will!" he said, holding a box of candy and some flowers. "These are for you, my love!" he said, holding them out to his reflection. Davis snickered from the closet. "What??" said Veemon, staring off at him.
"You're not really gonna say that, are you?"
"What's wrong with that?"
"It's so corny," said Davis, sticking his head out of the closet with a chocolate bar in his mouth.
"Well, if you're such a master of dating, why are you here and not out blackmailing OOPS I mean, DATEing Kari?" asked Veemon, sarcastically.
"For your information," said Davis, "I'm still working up the courage and second of all I can't go out on any date without a little sugar boost."
"Well, all I know is that I've got my flowers and candy and I'm ready for action!" he said, optimistically.
"......Say, where did you get those anyway?"
"I got the flowers from your mom," said Veemon.
"What about the candy?" asked Davis.
"Davis!!" yelled Jun, heading toward them from the hallway. "Have you seen the chocolates I was gonna give to Matt??" Davis gave 'the look' to Veemon who shrugged. Davis sighed and smeared his chocolate bar around his face while Veemon hid the candy.
"You owe me for this," said Davis, walking out into the hall. A faint, 'What chocolates?' could be heard before Jun started yelling at him. Veemon cringed as he heard Davis being dragged away.
"Well, looks like I'm off the hook there," he thought, "Now how can I come up with a good reason to visit her?"
Just then, the phone wrung. Veemon picked it off of it's receiver.
"Hello?" he said.
"Veemon? This is Agumon. Listen up and listen up real good! Gatomon is gonna give you a call in about 10 minutes to invite you over. When she does, say you'll be here soon and get over here real fast."
"Really?? She wants me over??" asked Veemon.
"Yeah, but there's something you absolutely NEED to do once you get here. If you do it, I can guarantee you that you'll not only get back in her heart, but maybe even take your relationship a 'step further' if you catch my drift."
"Um.. okay, what do I do?" asked Veemon.
"Easy, just act like a complete pig."
"What??? Are you sure??" asked Veemon.
"Dude, just trust me, okay?"
"Alright, thanks.. uh.. dude." Veemon hanged the phone back up and shrugged as he waited for Gatomon's call.
******Outside the Inoue's shop, 20 minutes later******
"Thanks for the milk, Mr. Inoue!" Kari called out as she left the store. "I really wish they had their store a bit more organized; I had to search for the milk for over an hour." She heard a small singing as she started walking home. Kari turned to look behind her and saw Veemon skipping along, singing.
"I've got rhythm! I've got music!" he sang. Veemon came to an abrupt stop when he saw who was in front of him. Kari gave him a quick dirty glance and turned her head away.
"Oh, hello, Kari," said Veemon, equally annoyed.
"What's THAT supposed to mean?" she asked, upset.
"I'm not speaking to you," he said, "Not after you sicked Patamon on me like that." Veemon continued to walk along, his good mood ruined.
"Wah?" said Kari, catching up with him, "What are you talking about?"
"Oh gee, how about the fact that you told Patamon to lie to Gatomon and say that I tried to take advantage of you?!" said Veemon, getting more upset.
"What?!" said Kari, angrily, "I never told him to do that!"
"Well, HE said you did and Gatomon sure believed him! You know, it would have been just a LITTLE nicer if you had just told me yourself instead of embarrassing me in front of a bunch of strangers. Now if you don't mind, I'm going off to patch things up. Excuse me."
"Now hold on just a second," said Kari, moving a bit faster, "I told Patamon the truth because I wanted him to prevent T.K. from hearing about it. I never told him to talk to Gatomon at all!"
"Yeah? Well, he did. Now she thinks I'm a lying creep." Veemon moved ahead, leaving Kari standing behind him. After a little bit, she ran back up to him.
"Veemon, wait," she said, catching up again.
"What?"
"Look, I know I've been a bit unreasonable about all this," she said, "but I honestly never told Patamon to do that." Veemon didn't reply. "I.. well.. I guess I should sorta.. be thanking you," she admitted. "You stopped me in the nick of time. I almost did something I'd really regret." Veemon cracked a little smile.
"Heh.. I guess I should have figured out you weren't cut since you weren't bleeding though."
"Well, only Davis's digimon could make that mistake," she snickered.
"You've got a point there," said Veemon, "Oh! That reminds me. Just for future knowledge that I think you'll need pretty soon, Davis made a shrine out of that particular cucumber." Kari cracked up, almost dropping her milk.
"What??" she laughed, "Are you serious???"
"Yup," said Veemon, "He's got candles around it and bows to it and everything."
"Hahahahaha!!! Oh BROTHER," she laughed.
"Um.. so, are we friends again?" asked Veemon after she had quieted down.
"Sure," she said, "C'mon, I'll walk you back to our place."
"Thanks!" he said, "So, is it okay, if I keep going out with Gatomon?"
"..Oh why not," she shrugged, "But let's try not to meet that way again, alright?"
"Deal," he said, happily skipping alongside her.
To be continued...