A/N: "Takato Wong" soars again with the seventh episode in this unbelievable coaster trekking across earth and beyond. The plot's now thickening so much you can cut it with a knife....Just who invented that phrase, and what does that ever mean? Tajeri Lynn doesn't know, but let's move on now to letters from fellow reviewers.

To Java86: Extremo Luchadore admits it; I don't really have a good notion of how Calumon acts. I never actually saw the entire Tamers storyline, so all I really know is the Deva Saga towards the D-Reaper battle. I suppose Calumon has greater roles to play before then, so that may account for the OOC touch you're talking about. Not to worry, though; Calumon may not have a huge role in the series as will anyone else.

Tajeri Lynn loves Jeri; she's the best character in the Tamers universe, but I have too much respect for her that I fear I'll mess up her character. Anybody care to help me with a few pointers on her?

One other thing; Insanity, you say? I remember WWE's The Rock speaking in 3rd person in every wrestling show he attends. Are you saying The Rock's insane as well?

To Devidramon: Didn't you read Chapter 6, by the by? It had Jarvis and a little touch of CCW in a park.

Takato/Nami....Heh heh...Tajeri Lynn is wondering who'll ever get that done again, since Nami's not a listed character in the options. Only fellow with the balls turns out to be a lemon writer. (Don't remember his name).

To anyone: In case you haven't known, this story isn't restricted to the children alone; the adults get to have some roles so fill me in on Mitsuo Yamaki and Reika's character's whenever possible. This is why Janyuu's accordingly second main character in the fic, or is it Susie? I normally would've picked Terriermon, since he's got an awfully huge pop for this series. This brings up my next comment.

WHY, OH WHY, AREN'T THE DIGIMON THEMSELVES LISTED IN THE CHARACTER'S SECTIONS?!

Um-hmm, well no one will have to worry about that in Digimon 04...or will they?

Takato Wong

Phase G: Into the Mist

Takato laid still on a small stretcher with his blue tee and gray slacks intact. All he noticed when he woke up was the sterile whiteness of the minute hospital room. The shadows were about the only marks accentuating the numerous doctoring paraphernalia arranged anywhere he turned that bandaged head of his.

Bandaged? There was something new. Takato pressed a hand to his head. Yup, a long, cotton strap was applied there, and it sure had an icky hospital smell that would've demanded Takato to catch some Z's for an extra hour.

Then his magenta eyes caught the hand signals, the ones performed by the ever-ominous clock, friend to none and enemy to all, his true father once told him. The clock read the time; 6:30pm. For heave's sake, he had a date with Asaji 90 minutes from now, and regardless whether she was his elementary school teacher or a Playmate of the Year, Asaji would be unsatisfied for a student of hers to break a promise. Good thing graduated students are exempt from detention.

"Takato?"

"Hi, Janyuu....J-J-Janyuu?!" Takato's magenta eyes widened and his face rose up to the man standing before him.

It was Janyuu Wong. The blue-haired scientitst with the unmistakable squarish facade was looking down quite seriously at his stepson, though it was of a concern that would normally go beyond a bad brawl against teenage anarchists. His eyes were half-closed, as if there was a most awkward business that was in his place to rectify. And since they still remained half-closed, the business had not been rectified yet.

"Janyuu, er, Dad, what's happened? I mean, aside from me getting beat up back at the park? You don't feel well..."

"Just take a while to relax, Takato," Janyuu put a hand on Takato's sweaty brow. "You just got yourself a concussion. Luckily, your friends kept the bullies from making it any worse."

"Gee, I'd salute to them if I wasn't resting," Takato was oddly deep in thought. "Where's everybody, anyway?"

"Everybody took a hard fall trying to get you out, Takato. There was a ditch in the park and no one saw it coming, not even Henry and Susie. Too bad you were the one out of it. I bet you could've guided them away from it."

"True, true....So everyone's...?"

"At the front entrance, a few bandages around places but nothing serious. Henry told me about your date with Nami," Janyuu smiled in a parental tease of pride. "That'll be quite interesting."

"Ahh! He told you?! Gah, Embarassment City..." a sweatdropped Takato conceded in a moan. There was no use in hiding anything from Janyuu after all.

"Don't fret, Takato, you're more grown up than most youths your age. After seeing what the Digital World can do, I don't get surprised easily anymore...."

"Oh, these bandages are so tight," Takato complained as he lightly tried a relaxation on the straining bandages applied to his brow. "Just where am I?"

"W-West Shinjuku Hospital, the nearest there is," Janyuu replied with a slight jitter in his voice, a sign of reluctance. Though there was purpose in concealing the wherabouts, there was little use in doing so. By now, Takato would be too active not to leave the hospital without ever noticing it.

"West Shinjuku? Hey, this is where Yamaki's being treated," Takato planted the small of his back against the bed's vertical side, sighing calmly as this had been his first time sitting up. His eyes lit up. "Hey, that reminds me....How's the old man doing? Didn't have to get a straitjacket on, did he?" Takato chuckled half-heartedly, realizing halfway out of impulse that he had just poked fun at a serious topic.

"Takato..." Janyuu began as he swiveled an arm uneasily, as if trying to grasp the best point. "What's happening to Yamaki should not be too important.." He knelt his face below focus of Takato, rapidly hesitant as to the best words to speak. "It's....it's...."

"Why?" Takato looked at Janyuu. "Janyuu, did something happen to Yamaki. Something bad?"

Janyuu smiled nervously. "6:40, Takato. If you're ready to go, you should dress up for that cafe you had in plan. Wouldn't want to keep Asaji waiting, cause she's always concerned of deadlines."

"Dad, you're changing the subject, that's just not you." Takato replied. "What's happened to Yamaki? If I don't know now, I'll know later, anyway. I'm more than prepared for the truth right now, I've got plenty of time. Like you said, 6:40." His eyes glowed of anticipation and scared Janyuu, not because they were fierce, but because they couldn't know of the bad news that erupted from seemingly nowhere.

Janyuu knew there was little recourse.

"Takato, because you're a strong and honest employee in Hypnos, I'll let you know if you want to...." He gave a gentle squeeze on Takato's shoulder, sensing an ever-ready sturdiness in his son. His voice was so soft that it could never budge a particle of dust. "Takato, about half an hour before you came here, Mitsuo Yamaki disappeared from his designated room."

Takato this time thrust newfound energy to his legs, levelling his knees down on the cotton stretcher with a slam of bewilderment. The stretcher now felt like a prison. "WHAT!? Yamaki disappeared? HOW?"

Janyuu removed his glasses and clutched his shut eyes ostensibly. "It's too complex, Takato. Remember when I've said nothing could surprise me anymore? Well, just not this one." He gasped a bit, this outpour of news was too overbearing.

"And no one saw him disappear? I can't believe it. Did he break a window or something? Was he paranoid?"

"Takato, don't just jump out of the stretcher....To answer your question, we don't think paranoia was involved. But the window opposite Yamaki's room had a perfectly circular hole, like someone carved an exit. We have reason to believe Yamaki's been kidnapped, Takato, though the contrivance done to the window only theorizes how, not really why. Yamaki's made a lot of enemies in the government, surely he has, but why would someone carve a window just to hold him down from us? It's impractical.

"Well, look at your father...I'm talking so much, I think my hair's getting white," Janyuu softly chuckled, pulling a lone white strand from his head. He straightened his teal plaid collar just a notch in case some kind of heat remained tingling his fears. "But you're young, Takato, no need to get white hair for now. Listen, son, this is a very important matter, but I've called Reika and we've agreed to it that news of Yamaki's disappearance be left to private investigation. No one's allowed to go in, but I'll have to stay here till the investigative branch comes this way. My hands are tied up for the time being, but not yours, Takato. You ready for your date?"

The sudden change of subject yet again shook Takato, so he stood up. "Janyuu, what'll this do to Operation Rebirth? I mean, just when we got so close to bringing back all the digimon to the real world..."

"It's not too serious, as far as what we know. Reika's a very strong woman, so she'll continue the Operation for us, provided that the Board approves of her. We just hope we find Yamaki and learn why he would be kidnapped. My friends always say Yamaki was a man of conspiracy, and my doubts are being thrown out the window, no pun intended."

"Gosh, I hope Yamaki comes back in a lightning flash....Ur...I think my head's aching worse than ever." Takato squeezed his ears until a cold wet towel flopped on his head. He gave his noggin a comforting rub and watched the towel-giver find a perfect opportunity to change the subject.

"Granted. Well, before your head aches worse, take the chance of enjoying life, not fearing for it. Last time to answer the billion-dollar question, Takato. Are you ready for your date?"

"You bet, Janyuu," Takato smiled, pulling himself off the stretcher. "Hopefully getting along with Asaji will make my head feel better."

"Don't bet on it, Takato. Who knows? By next morning, your headache may actually get bigger, but you'll be proud of what you do."

"I don't get it."

"You'll find out when you're old enough," Janyuu smiled, and he carried the boy up to his shoes.

******************************************************************************

"Takato?"

The boy gifted with cinnamon brown hair had stumbled his sneakers back into the front entrance. Close to is was where Henry, Susie and Jarvis were idling by a lone shale bench beside a gratuitous magazine section.

Henry had busily idled his time flippping about the gist on PS6 video games. The thrills of magazine publishing had become especially addictive to the crowd of 30 and under. Each page of the magazine contained a digitized commercial filled with gun noises, growling narration and brutal back-and-forth slobberknocking, the fruits of video game advertising. By this era of V.G.s, the PS6 had enabled fighting game engines in which you could literally knock the stuffing out of an opponent as long as you and he shared a phone line. Laws of using the PS6 had mentioned clearly that it was the players' responsibility whenever someone had a broken arm during the midst of such virtual play. In one word, wicked.

Susie read about cute household pets, and loved watching cute kitty cats and grunting hedgehogs skitter about 2-D floors of gravel. She reached out her hand on the corner of one page, and the kitties and hedgehogs all began scurrying towards her hand in the hopes of being comforted. Susie made it well-known to her family that upon ownership of a house she'd be womankind's Noah, keeping two of every pet and letting their cute little selves roaming nicely. And if she ever got a million bucks, she'd hire Henry to be the household janitor.

Last but not least, Jarvis was reading about the latest stars of "Raw Is Wan", a magazine biting against the currently desperate wrestling show, WWE "Raw is War". The show had long fallen to rating numbers compared to his promotion's fast-rising hit, CCW "Extremity", which gained a high interest thanks to tapping plenty of talent from audience members (a concept which, by the by, was inspired by Takato's stint in the ring). "Raw is War" was now coming up with a story about HTA, Hot Transvestite Action, and the crowd interest noticeably was the opposite of high. Every page that featured clips from a match, loud voices coming from beyond the ring rang, "Bullshit! Bullshit!"

"With language like that, I'm wondering how this magazine got to this hospital in the first place," Jarvis pondered. "Hmm," he shrugged his shoulders and inserted the mag back to an angular plastic shelf. Normally, Jarvis would try and get his reading skills furnished via another edition of "Voluptuous Vixens", but he was afraid the moans from the digitized women may compel him to squeeze his midsection from growing as hard as a sequoia.

"Takato, my bro, we were getting worried about you, thought you had to go under the knife," Henry spoke as he hugged Takato, even taking the liberty to ruffle the mushroom-top hair formed by laying down for a while.

"Ah, quit feeling sorry, Henry, stop acting like we're that close," Takato whacked Henry's arm off his hair, though never offensively.

"Hewwo, Takato!" Susie kissed the pretty animals in the magazine good-bye and closed it gently. She jumped onto her brother's front.

"Hello, Susie. How many boo-boos you got?"

Susie's index finger was expert at pointing. "Well, there's one here in the leg and here in the arms, and here in the other leg. Look everyone, bandages all over. I'm a mummy!" Not exactly was Shuichon a mummy, but her bandages weren't the tiny over-the-counter cheapies a kid could purchase with lunch money. They were sizeable straps, making her resemble to Takato and Jarvis as more like a prize fighter....or do you call her prize fightress? They didn't know grammar too well.

"Now now, Susie," Henry chided. "We don't want to make a big deal out of mommies right now. It's a good thing Dad won't talk about this to Mom. I sure hope Terriermon doesn't."

"Hey," Takato began. "That reminds me. Where's the little fella been roving to?"

"Nowhere," replied Jarvis nonchalantly. "Come on kids, let's go. I see Janyuu's given Taka a yellow receipt. Must be for that one-day tux, ain't it, Taka?"

"I don't know...I don't remember whether it was a casual event or not."

"Casual smasual, Taka. Play it safe, unlike me. Go for the tux, have yourselves a little din din, and maybe Nami'll like a piece of your salami-OW! Hey, what the!"

Henry had laid a powerful palm against Jarvis' shoulder. His face was bent towards chiding. "Jarvis, this isn't time to think about...it, especially in front of...the kids."

"Hey, you calling me a kid again, Henry?!" Susie bellowed. "I'm not a kid! I've seen not so kiddy stuff, you know!"

"Yeah," Henry chuckled, "that's true, if wrestling shows and car chases qualify as not kiddy stuff."

"Guys, guys, can we just go?"

"Sure, Taka, just one teeny minute," Janyuu rose up an index finger to fingerspell the number one. Jarvis walked over to a finely lit hallway leading up to a day care center, where children were frolicking over a quaking doll that curiously stood by the corner. Being a digital being in the flesh, Jarvis merely entered himself through the computer-activated lock and noticed the doll sprawling right in front of him. The children had left all other toys unattended for back at their plastic benches, for they were now in favor of the living, breathing toy whom Jarvis had imprisoned by them. Jarvis smiled a wicked set of gleaming teeth. "Okay, Terriermon. How's it feel?"

"Like revisiting my childhood a hundred times an hour. GASP, GASP! They're killing me, Jarvis, all of them want to hug me every single hour. Please, please, PLEASE pull me out! I can't take it any more!"

Jarvis began watching his left and his right to catch sight of the whippersnappers, recognizing a familiar aura hanging around this room. An aura of children sending toys rollicking across their permitted vicinity, an aura smelling of candies and other sweet laurels to savor. Ultimately, he came up to a conclusion. He spoke like an employer who was very jaded with his choice of laborers. "Your request has been...denied."

"WHAT?! What you mean, denied?!"

Jarvis pouted his lip several times as if in sympathy of someone, then smiled again in his irritating show of bright teeth. "Think about the children, Terriermon. They're all laughing, smiling, and their parents will feel this day care center's been so wonderful once you came here. I feel we should extend your prison term another day. Like I said, think about the children!"

Terriermon's flabby ears shot up in such a degree of astonishment that now he looked like a vulgar rabbit. "WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THINKING ABOUT ME?!"

"We're giving you a vacation from such thought. Think too much, and your brains will scramble. Later," and with that, Jarvis dashed out of the computer-coded door, which had been child-proof enough to be Terriermon-proof.

"NOOOOOOOOOO!" Before Terriermon can leap onto the door, Jarvis swung his way through it and Terriermon went splat to the door, smearing sweat against the plexi-glass and down to his imminent doom. Upon the digimon's bad date with the door, screaming little tykes scavenged across the floor for their sole prey. At least Terriermon was too dazed to know what torture they were venturing to wreak.

"Okay, Taka," Jarvis held up both Susie and Henry off the benches, "let's head over to your tux shop and fit you up."

Takato despised casual wear. "I didn't remember being tagged along for this date...."

"Better you need that than not, Takato," said Henry. "Those Crazers probably won't back off from another fight, so we'll have to protect you."

"Maybe you should be protecting yourself. Last time I remember, all of you fell down a ditch."

"Yeah, trying to save you. Please don't get knocked off your socks again, Taka. I think it did injustice to my hair." Jarvis pointed at his ruffled tresses, which had been contorted asunder into jagged spirals. His hands seemed to deliberately swirl the hair even more pointlessly so, until he yelled, "Reset!" Upon Jarvis' bidding, his tresses were back to their normal light curves.

"You can do that?" Takato's jaw collapsed right below his Adam's Apple. His sister Susie closed it shut tight before she can catch whatever unbrushed spinach was stuck between his molars.

"Digital makeover. I'm technically a program, you know. Programs get reboots."

"That's not fair, Jarvis!" Takato frowned. "Now I feel like a total loser over here!"

To Be Continued....

I took a month vacation from true-blue writing, so here's the return of "Takato Wong", amigos! Tajeri Lynn will continue through as he has college to fulfill and friends to consort with. I've also been posting reviews on wrestling videos, particularly ECW. If you want to check out the best of ECW on VHS, check out www.geocities.com/anarchydroolz/ECW_Home_Video.htm for some great, great suggestions.