Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon or Adrian, who belongs to Little Indigo. I also don't own Tera, who belongs to Tiger Lily (a very nice reviewer, and a Jenshiro fan!!!!!^^) Haffa nice day, and don't sue me, pleaz!!!!
Jenashu: Yes, hello!!!! Last chapter, the Odaiba High students made a shocking discovery; they had been accused of cheating by their peers!!! Also, the war between Izzy and Garu still rages on, but now Jen has some idea of what's going on, and she is trying to tell Garu that she will always love him...as a friend, of course. Although she finds that something is holding her back. Plus, Jen and Izzy have been together for almost three months now, and guess what? They haven't kissed yet?! Kind of a slow-moving relationship, isn't it??? And, we met the members of Matt's band: Kakeyu, the trouble-maker, Yaten, the drunk, Mitz, the shy, and Adrian, the...uh...borrowed!!!Today's Events: The Soccer Challenge!!!!!
******************************************************************************
Tai's Big Find
Voices. Vaugely familiar, yet too far off to be recongnized. Although she didn't know exactly who the voices belonged to, she knew what they were trying to say; get your butt out of bed, NOW!!!
"I don't want to go to school today..." Jen mumbled as she rolled over in her bed, only half-awake.
"I don't care! Besides, we're not going to school; we're going to breakfast!" one of the voices said harsely. That worked. Jen sat up immediately and stared at Lulu.
"Why didn't you wake me up earlier?!" Jen asked groggily as she hopped out of bed.
"We did; two times, in fact. You said you were getting up," Sora said with a sigh. Jen blinked at her.
"And you believed me?" she asked. Sora rolled her eyes and sighed again.
"I'm starved; hurry up already," Lulu demanded. Jen thanked herself for taking a shower the night before as she reached for some clean clothes.
*************
"Finally!" Matt said when Sora and Jen jogged towards his table. Jen sank into the seat next to Izzy and blushed.
"Umm, actually...It was my fault that we were late," she admitted. Izzy smiled and put an arm around her waist.
"Maybe you should have brought an alarm clock," he teased. Jen gawked at him.
"How did you know that I slept in?!" she asked. Izzy just smiled at her again. "Well, anyway...Tai, today's your day to shine, oh my cousin!"
"Yeah, and we can't be accused of cheating for this. It's all physical," Matt said. Tai frowned at him.
"No, it's 90% mental and 10% physical," he corrected. Izzy sighed.
"That's baseball..." he pointed out.
"Yeah, if it were that way, Izzy would be good at it, not you," Matt said. Tai shrugged and walked up to the table for a third serving. "He sure eats a lot."
"He's filling up because it's so much better than what he gets at home. Trust me, my Aunt can't cook," Jen said, shaking her head. "You should try her fungus surprise."
"What's the surprise?" Izzy asked, sounding disgusted. Jen looked at him.
"Trust me, you don't want to know!"
***********
"Oh! It's actually kind of chilly out here," Jen said as a cool breeze blew around her. "Tai, you're not in the first game, right?"
"No, I'm not," Tai said. Jen smiled.
"Great. Then I can go get a sweater," she said.
"I'll come with you," Izzy said, remembering what Matt said about staying with Jen as much as he could. Jen smiled and started walking towards the hotel.
"Hurry up, you two," Sora called.
************
"Okay, here we are..." Jen said as she opened the door to her room. She walked towards her bag and pulled out a white sweater and a grey one. Jen held them up for Izzy to see. "Which one do you think would look better?" Izzy looked at her blankly. "Oh, I guess I shouldn't ask a guy, huh?" Jen asked, laughing a little. Izzy shook his head.
"No, that's not it...It's just that...It doesn't matter to me which one you wear because you always look beautiful to me," he said after a slight pause. Jen blushed and slowly put the sweaters down on her bag.
"Really?" she asked. Izzy nodded. "T-thank you..."
"I..." Izzy started. Suddenly his eyes locked with Jen's, and he forgot what he was going to say. He couldn't look away, and his feet moved by themselves until he stood right in front of her.
This...is just like a romance Manga...Jen thought to herself as she closed her eyes and leaned close to Izzy. Even though she couldn't see, Jen knew that her lips were mere centimeters from Izzy's; she could feel his warm breath on her face.
The two teens jumped when the door to Jen's hotel room opened. I can't win!!! Izzy thought as he jumped back in surprise. As fate would have it, Garu stood in the doorway with a look of shock etched across his handsome face.
"Garu, I-I would trouble you...to knock first," Jen said after a very long, awkward pause. Garu looked as if he still hadn't recovered from his shock.
"I...I'm sorry if I interrupted anything," he said, glaring at Izzy with a deeper loathsome look in his eyes than ever. "Jen, I just wanted to know if you...oh, never mind...see you." Jen and Izzy could hear his retreating footsteps as he walked down the hall.
"He just can't comprehend the situation, can he?" Izzy asked after another pause. Jen sighed.
"I think he knew exactly what was about to happen," she said.
"No, I mean...He can't take a hint," Izzy clairified. Jen gave him a confused look. "He's much too persistant. I don't see why he can't understand that we...I...you..."
"That he's my friend and nothing more," Jen offered. Izzy nodded. "Well, I can imagine how he feels, I suppose. If you had a crush on someone else in the beginning, then I wouldn't want to give up on you, because...you can't erase a feeling from your heart in an instant. That goes double when it comes to love...I wish Garu hadn't developed feelings for me...I feel...like I'm hurting him...and I don't want to do that. He looked so upset...I couldn't help seeing the big, sad eyes that he gave me whenever I had to go home after spending the day over his house to play eight years ago..."After yet another pause, Izzy cleared his throat.
"We should go back," he said. Jen nodded and put her hand on the doorknob.
"You know Izzy," she said suddenly, "that was really just like a comic book. Kind of funny, isn't it?" Izzy gave her a look and sighed.
***********
"We're back," Izzy called as he and Jen ran towards Matt, Tai, and Sora. Matt gave them a look.
"About time," he said. Jen shrugged and buttoned up her sweater.
"At least I'm warm now. Anyway, what have we missed?"
"Well, only part of the first game. Currently, Germany is in the lead. After them, it's Japan and Korea," Sora said. Tai looked slightly pale.
"You'll do great, Tai," Jen assured him. Tai sighed and started bouncing a soccer ball from knee to knee.
***********
"GO TAI! GO!!!" Jen shouted as Tai raced down the soccer field. Finally, when in posistion, he kicked the ball right past the goalie. "YES!!!"
"You rule, Tai!" Jen chirped from the sidelines as he ran past her. He turned around and smiled at her. All of the players lined up in the center of the field.
What happened next passed so quickly that the spectaters could hardly catch it. One moment the ball was being passed from the center of the field to a Korein player, and the next moment someone had rammed into Tai. Jen saw his ankle twist sharply as he hit the ground.
"Tai! Tai! Somebody call a time-out!" Jen cried as she watched her cousin slowly sit up. A loud whistle sounded through the air, and all of the players sat down. Jen ran onto the feild as soon as she heard the referee's shrill whistle. "Are you okay?" she asked him as she kneeled by his side.
"I...I think my ankle's sprained," he responded, clutching his injury.
"Move your hand," Jen said. Tai reluctantly released his ankle, and Jen saw that it already had swelled signifigantly. "I've been here before, Tai. Remember in second grade? I sprained my ankle during gym glass. You have to take your shoe and sock off; your ankle is swelling."
"You don't think it's broken?" Tai asked.
"No, it's not."
"Then I'll be able to play again?"
"Not for a week or so."
"Oh, no...the Soccer Challenge will be over by then!" Tai said miserably.
"I'm sorry, Tai..." Jen responded gently. Their conversation ended there; a nurse came onto the feild and helped Tai limp to the first-aid building.
************
When Tai was settled in a white bed and the nurse had finally stopped fussing over him, he noticed that someone else was in the room with him. She had long, brown hair and bright green eyes, and she was clutching her head as if she had a migraine.
"Hello," Tai said to her. She looked up at him.
"Hey," she responded weakly. Tai looked concerned.
"What's wrong?" he asked. The girl smiled nervously.
"Well...I...um...collasped," she said.
"Really? Why?"
"Well...my friends locked me in the janitor's closet."
"Did a bucket fall on your head and knock you out or something?"
The girl laughed; again, Tai noticed some nervousness. "No, not exactly."
"Then why...?"
"...My name's Tera. Who are you?" the girl said, ignoring Tai's question.
"I'm Tai. Taichi Yagami."
"Hmm...What happened to you?"
"I sprained my ankle playing soccer."
"Ouch. Bummer, huh?"
"Yeah, definately. This was only my first game in the Soccer Challenge, too..."
"Ouch. I've never played soccer before. Is it fun?"
"What?! Never?! Tera, as soon as we're both feeling better, I'm going to teach you how to play," Tai declaired. Why am I being so friendly with her? Tai wondered. Maybe it's because the hair makes her look like Jen...only...shorter (and with green eyes).
"Really?...Thank you, Tai. So, where should we meet?" Tera asked. Tai found himself blushing.
"Umm, anywhere is fine with me," he said. Tera smiled at him, and Tai felt his face turning an even darker shade of red.
**********
The loss of their MVP (A/N: That's most valuable player, for all you people who are not well versed in sport terms [as if I am *sweatdrop*]) left Tai's team befuddled. The humongous hole in their offense meant that they couldn't score another goal. To make matters worse, the Korein team had scored three goals.
"That was the most painful game I have ever had to watch," Matt said as he rubbed his temples, trying to push away his headache.
"Tell me about it...we got totally creamed," Jen said with a sigh. "I don't want to have to tell Tai about this, but," she started as she stood up, "who's coming with me?"
**********
When the Digidestineds walked into Tai's room, they were surprised to see him talking to a girl as if she had been a life-long friend of his. A sly smile slowly formed across Matt's face as he read Tai's expression; he recongnized the symptoms.
"Hey Tai, who's this cutie?" Matt asked, nodding in Tera's direction.
"Don't worry, he's always like that," Jen whispered to Tera (who looked quite bewildered).
"Her name is Tera," Tai said, trying to sound as natural as possible.
"Are you alright?" Sora asked of Tera. She smiled and nodded.
"I'm feeling much better now," Tera said with a quick glance at Tai. Everyone missed it but Jen and Matt.
"Do you feel any better, Tai?" Izzy asked.
"Well, my ankle still kinda hurts, but yeah, I'm okay," Tai said.
"That's great!" Jen said.
"Is the game over? How did we do?" Tai asked. Matt, Sora, and Izzy all gave Jen looks that said, quite plainly "you tell him".
"Umm...well...you see...we lost," Jen said after a long pause. Tai hung his head a bit. "It's not your fault, Tai! You didn't mean to get hurt."
"I shouldn't have let my gaurd down. It's all my fault..." he said dejectedly. Matt looked down at him.
"Hey Tai...?" he asked.
"Yeah?" Tai responded miserably, looking up. Matt pulled his fist back, but hesitated.
"Damn." Matt said. "If you weren't hurt, then I would've pounded you for that." Tai gave him a wry smile. A look of understanding passed between the two friends.
"Alright, alright," Tai said. (A/N: Did you see that episode? It's in Digimon Adventures 2. It's like my all-time favorite moment in Digimon.).
"Well, we should probably get going before that nurse kicks us out. I swear she gave us the evil eye when we asked to visit you. 'That boy needs rest!' Sheesh." Matt said, walking towards the door. "See ya, Tiger," he added with a wink at Tai and a nodd at Tera. Tai glared at him, but nodded in return. Matt gave him a sly smile before walking out the door.
*****************************************************************************
Well, there you go! There's something that's been bugging me ever since I started this chapter...I'm not trying to make any racial slurs here. I want America to win the challenge just as much as you (probably) do. But then, we don't want Izzy and Jen-Chan and the rest to loose, either. So, that being said, I'm not trying to insult any race!
Next chapter: The Digidestinds hit town! Also, more on The Teenage Wolves and Tai's girlfriend!!!! (if I get permission to continue writing about her, that is...). To learn more about Tera, read Tiger Lily's story (something about The Crest of Virtue). To learn more about Adrian...well, unless Little Indigo has been posting behind my back, I don't think she has a story about him yet. But trust me, she's working on it, so check on her sometimes! See you!
Jenashu: Yes, hello!!!! Last chapter, the Odaiba High students made a shocking discovery; they had been accused of cheating by their peers!!! Also, the war between Izzy and Garu still rages on, but now Jen has some idea of what's going on, and she is trying to tell Garu that she will always love him...as a friend, of course. Although she finds that something is holding her back. Plus, Jen and Izzy have been together for almost three months now, and guess what? They haven't kissed yet?! Kind of a slow-moving relationship, isn't it??? And, we met the members of Matt's band: Kakeyu, the trouble-maker, Yaten, the drunk, Mitz, the shy, and Adrian, the...uh...borrowed!!!Today's Events: The Soccer Challenge!!!!!
******************************************************************************
Tai's Big Find
Voices. Vaugely familiar, yet too far off to be recongnized. Although she didn't know exactly who the voices belonged to, she knew what they were trying to say; get your butt out of bed, NOW!!!
"I don't want to go to school today..." Jen mumbled as she rolled over in her bed, only half-awake.
"I don't care! Besides, we're not going to school; we're going to breakfast!" one of the voices said harsely. That worked. Jen sat up immediately and stared at Lulu.
"Why didn't you wake me up earlier?!" Jen asked groggily as she hopped out of bed.
"We did; two times, in fact. You said you were getting up," Sora said with a sigh. Jen blinked at her.
"And you believed me?" she asked. Sora rolled her eyes and sighed again.
"I'm starved; hurry up already," Lulu demanded. Jen thanked herself for taking a shower the night before as she reached for some clean clothes.
*************
"Finally!" Matt said when Sora and Jen jogged towards his table. Jen sank into the seat next to Izzy and blushed.
"Umm, actually...It was my fault that we were late," she admitted. Izzy smiled and put an arm around her waist.
"Maybe you should have brought an alarm clock," he teased. Jen gawked at him.
"How did you know that I slept in?!" she asked. Izzy just smiled at her again. "Well, anyway...Tai, today's your day to shine, oh my cousin!"
"Yeah, and we can't be accused of cheating for this. It's all physical," Matt said. Tai frowned at him.
"No, it's 90% mental and 10% physical," he corrected. Izzy sighed.
"That's baseball..." he pointed out.
"Yeah, if it were that way, Izzy would be good at it, not you," Matt said. Tai shrugged and walked up to the table for a third serving. "He sure eats a lot."
"He's filling up because it's so much better than what he gets at home. Trust me, my Aunt can't cook," Jen said, shaking her head. "You should try her fungus surprise."
"What's the surprise?" Izzy asked, sounding disgusted. Jen looked at him.
"Trust me, you don't want to know!"
***********
"Oh! It's actually kind of chilly out here," Jen said as a cool breeze blew around her. "Tai, you're not in the first game, right?"
"No, I'm not," Tai said. Jen smiled.
"Great. Then I can go get a sweater," she said.
"I'll come with you," Izzy said, remembering what Matt said about staying with Jen as much as he could. Jen smiled and started walking towards the hotel.
"Hurry up, you two," Sora called.
************
"Okay, here we are..." Jen said as she opened the door to her room. She walked towards her bag and pulled out a white sweater and a grey one. Jen held them up for Izzy to see. "Which one do you think would look better?" Izzy looked at her blankly. "Oh, I guess I shouldn't ask a guy, huh?" Jen asked, laughing a little. Izzy shook his head.
"No, that's not it...It's just that...It doesn't matter to me which one you wear because you always look beautiful to me," he said after a slight pause. Jen blushed and slowly put the sweaters down on her bag.
"Really?" she asked. Izzy nodded. "T-thank you..."
"I..." Izzy started. Suddenly his eyes locked with Jen's, and he forgot what he was going to say. He couldn't look away, and his feet moved by themselves until he stood right in front of her.
This...is just like a romance Manga...Jen thought to herself as she closed her eyes and leaned close to Izzy. Even though she couldn't see, Jen knew that her lips were mere centimeters from Izzy's; she could feel his warm breath on her face.
The two teens jumped when the door to Jen's hotel room opened. I can't win!!! Izzy thought as he jumped back in surprise. As fate would have it, Garu stood in the doorway with a look of shock etched across his handsome face.
"Garu, I-I would trouble you...to knock first," Jen said after a very long, awkward pause. Garu looked as if he still hadn't recovered from his shock.
"I...I'm sorry if I interrupted anything," he said, glaring at Izzy with a deeper loathsome look in his eyes than ever. "Jen, I just wanted to know if you...oh, never mind...see you." Jen and Izzy could hear his retreating footsteps as he walked down the hall.
"He just can't comprehend the situation, can he?" Izzy asked after another pause. Jen sighed.
"I think he knew exactly what was about to happen," she said.
"No, I mean...He can't take a hint," Izzy clairified. Jen gave him a confused look. "He's much too persistant. I don't see why he can't understand that we...I...you..."
"That he's my friend and nothing more," Jen offered. Izzy nodded. "Well, I can imagine how he feels, I suppose. If you had a crush on someone else in the beginning, then I wouldn't want to give up on you, because...you can't erase a feeling from your heart in an instant. That goes double when it comes to love...I wish Garu hadn't developed feelings for me...I feel...like I'm hurting him...and I don't want to do that. He looked so upset...I couldn't help seeing the big, sad eyes that he gave me whenever I had to go home after spending the day over his house to play eight years ago..."After yet another pause, Izzy cleared his throat.
"We should go back," he said. Jen nodded and put her hand on the doorknob.
"You know Izzy," she said suddenly, "that was really just like a comic book. Kind of funny, isn't it?" Izzy gave her a look and sighed.
***********
"We're back," Izzy called as he and Jen ran towards Matt, Tai, and Sora. Matt gave them a look.
"About time," he said. Jen shrugged and buttoned up her sweater.
"At least I'm warm now. Anyway, what have we missed?"
"Well, only part of the first game. Currently, Germany is in the lead. After them, it's Japan and Korea," Sora said. Tai looked slightly pale.
"You'll do great, Tai," Jen assured him. Tai sighed and started bouncing a soccer ball from knee to knee.
***********
"GO TAI! GO!!!" Jen shouted as Tai raced down the soccer field. Finally, when in posistion, he kicked the ball right past the goalie. "YES!!!"
"You rule, Tai!" Jen chirped from the sidelines as he ran past her. He turned around and smiled at her. All of the players lined up in the center of the field.
What happened next passed so quickly that the spectaters could hardly catch it. One moment the ball was being passed from the center of the field to a Korein player, and the next moment someone had rammed into Tai. Jen saw his ankle twist sharply as he hit the ground.
"Tai! Tai! Somebody call a time-out!" Jen cried as she watched her cousin slowly sit up. A loud whistle sounded through the air, and all of the players sat down. Jen ran onto the feild as soon as she heard the referee's shrill whistle. "Are you okay?" she asked him as she kneeled by his side.
"I...I think my ankle's sprained," he responded, clutching his injury.
"Move your hand," Jen said. Tai reluctantly released his ankle, and Jen saw that it already had swelled signifigantly. "I've been here before, Tai. Remember in second grade? I sprained my ankle during gym glass. You have to take your shoe and sock off; your ankle is swelling."
"You don't think it's broken?" Tai asked.
"No, it's not."
"Then I'll be able to play again?"
"Not for a week or so."
"Oh, no...the Soccer Challenge will be over by then!" Tai said miserably.
"I'm sorry, Tai..." Jen responded gently. Their conversation ended there; a nurse came onto the feild and helped Tai limp to the first-aid building.
************
When Tai was settled in a white bed and the nurse had finally stopped fussing over him, he noticed that someone else was in the room with him. She had long, brown hair and bright green eyes, and she was clutching her head as if she had a migraine.
"Hello," Tai said to her. She looked up at him.
"Hey," she responded weakly. Tai looked concerned.
"What's wrong?" he asked. The girl smiled nervously.
"Well...I...um...collasped," she said.
"Really? Why?"
"Well...my friends locked me in the janitor's closet."
"Did a bucket fall on your head and knock you out or something?"
The girl laughed; again, Tai noticed some nervousness. "No, not exactly."
"Then why...?"
"...My name's Tera. Who are you?" the girl said, ignoring Tai's question.
"I'm Tai. Taichi Yagami."
"Hmm...What happened to you?"
"I sprained my ankle playing soccer."
"Ouch. Bummer, huh?"
"Yeah, definately. This was only my first game in the Soccer Challenge, too..."
"Ouch. I've never played soccer before. Is it fun?"
"What?! Never?! Tera, as soon as we're both feeling better, I'm going to teach you how to play," Tai declaired. Why am I being so friendly with her? Tai wondered. Maybe it's because the hair makes her look like Jen...only...shorter (and with green eyes).
"Really?...Thank you, Tai. So, where should we meet?" Tera asked. Tai found himself blushing.
"Umm, anywhere is fine with me," he said. Tera smiled at him, and Tai felt his face turning an even darker shade of red.
**********
The loss of their MVP (A/N: That's most valuable player, for all you people who are not well versed in sport terms [as if I am *sweatdrop*]) left Tai's team befuddled. The humongous hole in their offense meant that they couldn't score another goal. To make matters worse, the Korein team had scored three goals.
"That was the most painful game I have ever had to watch," Matt said as he rubbed his temples, trying to push away his headache.
"Tell me about it...we got totally creamed," Jen said with a sigh. "I don't want to have to tell Tai about this, but," she started as she stood up, "who's coming with me?"
**********
When the Digidestineds walked into Tai's room, they were surprised to see him talking to a girl as if she had been a life-long friend of his. A sly smile slowly formed across Matt's face as he read Tai's expression; he recongnized the symptoms.
"Hey Tai, who's this cutie?" Matt asked, nodding in Tera's direction.
"Don't worry, he's always like that," Jen whispered to Tera (who looked quite bewildered).
"Her name is Tera," Tai said, trying to sound as natural as possible.
"Are you alright?" Sora asked of Tera. She smiled and nodded.
"I'm feeling much better now," Tera said with a quick glance at Tai. Everyone missed it but Jen and Matt.
"Do you feel any better, Tai?" Izzy asked.
"Well, my ankle still kinda hurts, but yeah, I'm okay," Tai said.
"That's great!" Jen said.
"Is the game over? How did we do?" Tai asked. Matt, Sora, and Izzy all gave Jen looks that said, quite plainly "you tell him".
"Umm...well...you see...we lost," Jen said after a long pause. Tai hung his head a bit. "It's not your fault, Tai! You didn't mean to get hurt."
"I shouldn't have let my gaurd down. It's all my fault..." he said dejectedly. Matt looked down at him.
"Hey Tai...?" he asked.
"Yeah?" Tai responded miserably, looking up. Matt pulled his fist back, but hesitated.
"Damn." Matt said. "If you weren't hurt, then I would've pounded you for that." Tai gave him a wry smile. A look of understanding passed between the two friends.
"Alright, alright," Tai said. (A/N: Did you see that episode? It's in Digimon Adventures 2. It's like my all-time favorite moment in Digimon.).
"Well, we should probably get going before that nurse kicks us out. I swear she gave us the evil eye when we asked to visit you. 'That boy needs rest!' Sheesh." Matt said, walking towards the door. "See ya, Tiger," he added with a wink at Tai and a nodd at Tera. Tai glared at him, but nodded in return. Matt gave him a sly smile before walking out the door.
*****************************************************************************
Well, there you go! There's something that's been bugging me ever since I started this chapter...I'm not trying to make any racial slurs here. I want America to win the challenge just as much as you (probably) do. But then, we don't want Izzy and Jen-Chan and the rest to loose, either. So, that being said, I'm not trying to insult any race!
Next chapter: The Digidestinds hit town! Also, more on The Teenage Wolves and Tai's girlfriend!!!! (if I get permission to continue writing about her, that is...). To learn more about Tera, read Tiger Lily's story (something about The Crest of Virtue). To learn more about Adrian...well, unless Little Indigo has been posting behind my back, I don't think she has a story about him yet. But trust me, she's working on it, so check on her sometimes! See you!