The 2nd Digi-Phase

Chapter 6: Small Steps


"Well, here we are." said Mr. Morgan to his two children as he parked the car in the parking lot of many nearby apartment buildings, "What do you think?"
"It's so cool! I hope there are some neighborhood kids!" shouted Samantha jumping out of the car.
"What do you think, Charlie?" asked Mr. Morgan looking over at his son in the passenger seat. Charlie looked over at the apartments and then back to his father saying, "I can't belive you moved us from Sacramento, California to this over-populated island they call Japan."
"You'll get used to it." said Mr. Morgan getting out of the car, "I've lived here before. It's not too bad. You might like it."
"Yeah, and plants can talk." Charlie muttered sarcasticly, getting out to help unpack.

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

"Jinji, do you want to color?" asked Ken pulling out some pictures of the Digimon out of his drawer, as well as some crayons.
"Yeah!" exclaimed Jinji sitting down at Ken's desk as Ken handed him the darwings and crayons. Their parents were out working and since it was Spring break, they were allowed to stay home as long as Ken watched Jinji. Wormmon was sleeping on Ken's bed so Jinji wouldn't see him.
"Are you hungry, Jin?" asked Ken.
"Just a little." said Jinji looking up.
"Okay, I'll call Davis and have him come over so we can try his noodles. He say's he's making good progress, but considering Davis, that could be a good thing or a bad thing." replied Ken in a slight chuckle and walking out of the room and towards the phone.
While Ken was off talking on the phone Jinji finished up coloring a picture he had been working on for a while. Jinji fliped through the drawings but didn't see anything else that he hadn't colored in already.
What happened to all my coloring pages? Jinji asked himself and he began to look for more pages to color in the Ken's desk drawers. The first drawer he opened had some old news papers. He picked one up and looked at the picture on the front page. There was a boy in the picture about the age of 12 and he was talking to an important looking man. Jinji began to read the writing that was cut out along with the picture and this is what is read:

He's done it again! 12 year old Ken Ichijouji has actually made his own computer program that could actually brush your teeth for you. Young Ichijouji has amazed us again with another of his wonderful talents. Ken hasn't only been in the computer buisness, he's also a black belt in Judo, a chess champion and is on the highest scoring soccer team in the league, most of the goals scored by Ken Ichijouji himself.

Whoa! That's Ken? I would've never guessed.... thought Jinji as he began to search through the drawer once more. He found many old newpaper clippings that told of how well Ken was doing and many people calling him a genius. Things like this wouldn't have naturally surprised Jinji but the pictures were the only things that really bothered him. They really didn't seem to be Ken at all, it was like he was totally different in the pictures than he was now.
As he began to reach the bottom of the drawer, he noticed the clipping had stoped talking about how smart Ken was and started to talk about him running away from home.
Jinji continued looking through all of Ken's desk drawers. He had forgotten the real reason of him snooping, but was extremly interested in what else he might find about his older brother. Jinji opened another drawer and the first thing there was, was a picture of a boy with spikey purple hair, blue eyes, and glasses. Jinji pushed this picture to the side and looked at the small brown box that had been under it. The box was a small 4 by 4 in. cardboard box but what would Ken need such a small box for?
Jinji began to lift the lid up off the box and, for some strange reason, it felt like what was inside was trying to push itself out! He lifted the lid off the box completely but he wasn't sure about what he saw. It looked like a small piece of laverder colored plastic with a flower shape on it.
"What's this?" Jinji asked aloud, picking the strange object up out of the box. Suddenly, the small object began to glow! Jinji let out a yell and threw the object but it stopped a few feet in front of him and stayed suspended in the air. At the sound of Jinji's yell, Ken came running into the room with the phone still in this hand.
"Ken, w-what's th-that?" asked Jinji pointing to Ken's crest which was the small plastic object. Ken bit his bottom lip, trying to think of a way to avoid telling his brother about the Digimon when the strangest thing happened. Jinji began to glow just like the crest of Kindness.
"Wha---?" asked Ken as he began to approach the bright light that seemed to be emiting from one of Jinji's pants pockets. Ken reached out and helped pull Jinji up and grabbing the crest of Kindness in the other hand(he had dropped the phone now that it was useless with it having had the cord pulled out of the socket).
"Ken, what's happening?" asked Jinji who was now white as a ghost.
"Jinji, can you let me see what is in your pocket." said Ken calmly. Jinji reached one shaky hand into his pocket and pulled out a glowing object about the size of his palm. Slowly, both the crest of Kindness and the object in his hand dimmed and soon stopped glowing completely. Ken gasped at what he was in Jinji's hand. A Digivice!

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

"Why do you think Ken called us here?" asked Sora leaning up against a tree in the Digital World, "Do you think he found a new Digidestined already?"
"It's a possibility." said Izzy
"Hey, look! I see him!" shouted Gatomon pointing and jumping up and down excitedly, "Someone else is with him too!"
"Davis, isn't that Jinji?" asked T.K.
"You're right! It is Jinji!" shouted Davis excitedly the turned to Veemon, "Maybe he's your new Digidestined, Veemon! Oh, that'd be so cool!"
"You don't want me, Davis?" asked Veemon sadly.
"No way, Veemon! You're my best friend but if you're Jinji's Digimon, I'll be able to see you as often as I want too and that's nearly everyday!"
"Hey, guys. Whatcha' talking about?" asked Ken as he walked up.
"Who's this?" asked Matt smiling at the shy boy trying to hide behind Ken.
"This my brother, Jinji." said Ken pulling Jinji out from behind him. He smiled proudly as he added, "He's a new Digidestined."
"So, is he Wormmon's new Digidestined?" asked Kari smiling at Jinij who was blushing shyly.
"Nope." said Wormmon flatly.
"How can you tell?" asked Megumi holding Gomamon against her.
"A Digimon can tell." said Gomamon, "It's instinct." Gomamon closed his eyes and smiled to himself thinking back, "I remember when I first saw Joe. He was unconsious and when I woke him up," Gomamon snickered, "He screamed louder than a hungry baby Digimon. From then on, I knew he was my Digidestined; I knew just by the sound of his voice and his feelings I felt." Megumi was about to asked Gomamon what he meant about feeling Joe's feelings but Davis nearly knocked her over when he ran up and held Veemon up to Jinji.
"Do you think he's Veemon's new Digidestined? You know, the best Digimon should go to the best new Digidestined." said Davis but Veemon sighed and shook his head. "Nope. He's not mine."
"Do you really think I'm a Digidestined, Ken?" asked Jinji looking up at his brother. Ken smiled down at Jinji and replied, "Of course you are. You have a Digivice. You're a Digidestined."
"Then, who's his Digimon?" asked Tentomon, "He's not mine."
"He's mine! Mine!" yelled Patamon jumping off T.K's head and flying over to Jinji, "Oh! You remind me of T.K. when he was a little kid! We had so many adventures in the Digital World together! Now, I get to be with you! Isn't it great?"
Jinji blinked for a couple seconds, shocked, and looked over at T.K.. T.K. was smiling but he had a hint of sadness in his eyes. Jinji looked up at the little brown Digimon and smiled.
"What's your name?" asked Jinji taking Patamon in his arms as he flew lower.
"Patamon." answered Patamon smiling back.
"Well, I'm glad you want to be my Digimon but...," said Jinji was he walked past all the other Digidestined and Digimon until he reached a surprised T.K, "... I just can't take you away from T.K."
"It's alright, Jinji." said T.K. making himself kneel down to where he was Jinji's height. He smiled at Jinji and said, "I don't have time to be a digidestined anymore. That's why he's Digi-Phasing. Just take out your Digivice and we'll finish it." T.K. could tell by the look on Jinji's face that he wasn't understanding the 'Digi-Phasing' thing but he knew this is how it was supposed to be.
Jinji slowly took his Digivice and just as he did so, a beam from T.K's Digivice shot into his. He watch, amazed, as his little grey digivice turned into, what looked like a green D-3 with 2 small Patamon ears coming out of the top.
"Oh, wow! That Digivice looks just like mine!" exclaimed Megumi happily as she pulled out her's.
"It looks like this team is going to be a good one." said Tai smiling at the two new Digidestined, "But we still need the rest, and a leader for them."
"We already got a leader for them." said Davis smiling and taking off his goggles.
"Davis, you don't possibley think that Jinji is the new leader of the Digidestined, do you?" asked Ken shocked.
"Of course, he is! He one of the bravest little kids I know and he deserves this resposibility." said Davis putting the goggles on Jinji. Jinji's hair spiked out a lot more with the goggles on and they were a tad too big. Jinji looked up at Davis, trying to think of a time Davis hadn't worn his goggles but he could think of anytime....
"Well, Davis was right about one thing." said T.K, "The best Digimon for the best New Digidestined...." T.K. smiled as he watched Jinji begin to play around with Patamon, Gomamon and Megumi but when he looked over to Ken, his smile melted away. Ken looked a little upset, "Ken is something wrong?"
"T.K, to be a Digidestined, someone has to see a Digimon themselves, right?" asked Ken. T.K. nodded and Ken continued, "And the last time a Digimon was seen was 10 year ago, correct?"
"Yes, but what does that have to do with anything?" asked T.K. but he suddenly knew what Ken was about to say when he only had half the sentance out of his mouth.
"Well, the problem is, Jinji isn't 10. He's only 8...."

To be continued....