Digimon 03: A Darker Beginning
A/N/: Thanks again for the lovely reviews, but I had to comment on a few of them:
- "Hirokazu is acting too much like a smug asshole for my tastes. Tone him down a bit please. Show us what made him such a friendly character in the anime."
Trust me, you'll get to see some of the nicer Hirokazu later in the story. He was just attacking that way due to Takato's rude behavior towards him, I didn't just do that to make him look like the bad guy. Besides at the start of Tamers, Hirokazu did act like a smug asshole a few times. ^_^;;;
And for people who are wondering, YES, Takato has a normal digivice now, he is no longer a Tamer, he's a digidestined! Sheesh, and here I thought that was obvious! -_-"
And about two people who commented on mistakes they though were made, they're really not mistakes at all ^_^ In the original version of Tamers all the kids (other than Lee's sister) are ten, and also in the original version Growlmon IS spelt Growmon.
Chapter Three: Unexpected Discoveries
******
"What did that goggle-head mean!" She yelled angrily to herself, taking both her backpack and jacket out of her locker, before slamming it shut. Behind her she heard the giggling of girls her age, and she spun around to face them.
What do you want?" She asked the girls, her response filled with venom.
She knew all three of them from different classes, each one was stuck up, ignorant, and boy crazy. In Ruki's book: snobs.
"Oh," The oldest of the three stepped up to her. "We just heard that you have boy troubles, has Ruki finally developed a crush?" The other two snickered.
Ruki sent then a glare. The girls were unfazed. "Is that really any of your business?" She asked coldly. The other girls just smirked in return.
"We just thought you might like a little bit of he-"
Ruki had cut her off, "Look," She snapped. "When I need your help, I'll ask for it. Until then: Bug. Off." With these last words she pushed past them and was gone before they got another chance to speak.
A cool breeze wash over her as she walked home, the words from the mysterious 'Tamer' kept on repeating in her head….
"Digimon aren't just data, they're living things."
"Digimon aren't just Data? That can't be right..." Ruki she muttered, still heading for home. "Why couldn't my stupid D-arc work and tell me what his Digimon was!?"
Anyone who was in Ruki's way either moved out of her way, or just plain was shoved away. Ruki was in no mood to deal with people, especially after her joyful meeting at school. The only thing she wanted was to know who was the arrogant "tamer" who refused to battle and berated her of all people on what Digimon were.
She was the Digimon Queen, and the Greatest Digimon Card player in all Japan. No one should know more about Digimon then her, and yet… And yet this one boy… *Tamer,* She corrected herself mentally. But wait… Was he even that?
The only thing he had held in his hand was one of those season one digivices, but those were just cheap toys! They'd been out for at least 5 years now, (she had bought one of her own) and after a while, kids started getting bored of them like they usually did. She doubted the company even sold them any more!
She then thought back to that battle… *He hadn't slashed a card through out the whole battle!*
"No… He couldn't be a Digidestined... That's only make-believe… It's only a T.V. anime…" Still, she had to wonder…
She didn't even realize the fact that she was home, she'd been too deep of thought.
"Damn you goggle-boy! Who the hell are you!?"
******
The final bell rang out sharply, giving the dismissing the students for the day. Takato got out of his seat and heads out the door and Jen followed closely behind him, quickening his pace to keep up him.
Takato ignored the Jenrya, and headed for the locker had been given that day. He opened it before finally looking up. "What?" He asked sharply.
Jen was slightly startled at Takato's reaction to him, but wasn't going to give up in his attempt of friendship. "Hi, I'm Jenrya, I guess your new here," He spoke, slightly nervous, as Takato's eyes bore into his.
Takato looked away, starting to react into his locker for his things, "Yeah? So?"
"Well I just thought that since your new and all, I could show you around, that sorta thing," Really Jen felt sorry for the kid, not only did he have no friends but he seemed to have gained enemies over the day as well. Hirokazu didn't seem to be the most forgive person, but still… He didn't know what Takato had done in the first place to receive this treatment.
"No thanks," Takato replied, but he didn't seem angry. By now he'd taken out the books he'd need for homework that night, as well as his backpack, and he slammed his locker door shut. "Don't you have to get your stuff from your locker?" He asked Jenrya.
"Well… Not really, I already have it," He pointed to the backpack he had on his back, and frowned inwardly, it was almost as if the boy was try to get rid of him.
Takato looked almost disappointed, and Jen clued in that he'd been right, he had been trying to get rid of him. "Whatever."
He was out the door before Jenrya had a chance to protest, and heading home. Jen sighed before following, *What is with this guy?* He wondered to himself, *He acts as if he'd rather do the buckets again then talk to me…* He could tell that Takato knew he was being following, because he could see how he glanced back at him every few minutes or so. *He seems worried about something…*
Still… He wasn't interested in letting this boy out of his sight, something drew him to this boy, and he was quite interested in finding out what it was… Needless to say, he followed closely behind him.
******
Takato was indeed worried about something, and that something was big, red, and had many sharp teeth and claws. *Guilmon, I sure hope your smart enough to know you should stay hidden…* Takato could hear him breathing softly in the bushes next to him, but what if he didn't know about Jenrya? Guilmon was well known for his enthusiasm, but what if he jumped out with usually, 'TAKATOMON!' type greeting? Jenrya was bound to ask questions… Either that or run off screaming…
He decided to slow down to let the boy catch up with him, *Well if he's so eager to learn about me…*
Jenrya looked confused at this action until Takato spoke, "Well since you want to know so much about me…" He sighed, "Come on."
He got lucky, Guilmon had obviously sensed Jenrya's presents and still hid in the bushes, and the two walked side-by-side now.
They reached what looked to be Takato's house within a matter a minutes, and Henry gapped at it. Takato knew it wasn't exactly a pretty sight, two of the windows were broken, one of them being his bedroom window, and most of the paint was peeling. It didn't look like anyone had been living there for years now, and Jenrya seemed to think the same thing.
"Whoa, what happened to this place?"
Takato shrugged, not interested in explaining, "You wouldn't believe me if I told you Jenrya."
"Look Takato," Jenrya looked him in the eye. "All I want to know is the truth… No matter how odd it sounds."
Takato's eyes widened briefly, and then a smile came to his face, the one that had been seen only by Guilmon for about five years now. "You know Jen, since I came back here your the first one not to judge me." Takato's eyes seemed to darken, and a faint red aura seemed to float around him. Takato didn't seem to notice, nor care. "My parents died five years ago… A digimon killed them both." He looked up sharply and saw the looked that Jenrya was giving him.
"What do you take me for Takato...a fool? Digimon are a card game, it's not real." Still… He didn't sound to sure himself.
By now the red aura seemed to have faded, and if left them both to wonder if it had been there to begin with. A kinder look appeared on Takato's face. "Guilmon," He called. "You can come out now."
Jenrya looked dubious; surely this boy couldn't have a digimon as well… That's when a voice came from the bushes.
"Are you sure Takatomon?" There was the sound of leaves rustling, "You did tell me to stay hidden…"
Takato almost laughed at how naïve his digimon was, and the looked on Jen's face. Almost.
"Yes," He replied, "I'm sure."
"Well okay… If you say so." Guilmon stuck his head out from the bush next to Takato's place, and Jen got a good look at Takato's rather large dinosaur digimon.
******
Jen had been shocked enough for one day, and "Guilmon" didn't help matters. He was like no digimon he'd ever seen before. The first thing that came to mind when he saw him was dinosaur, because that's exactly what he looked like. He was red in color, with a white belly that seemed to have the black marking of the digital hazard sign. He also had a black strip on each arm and leg, and one on his tail to match.
He watched the digimon in awe as it came over to Takato and sat down beside him "So are you a Digimon Tamer?" It seemed to be the only question that could come to mind now that he knew the boy had a digimon like him.
Takato frowned slightly, "What's that?"
Jens eyes widened considerably, "You don't know what a Tamer is? Don't you have a D-arc?"
Takato looked as confused as ever, and Guilmon's emotions seemed to match his own "Not exactly… And what's a D-Arc?"
He dug in to his pocket, searching for his own D-Arc. *Where is it…?* Finally he found it, and showed it to Takato. It was a white device with a green rim around it. "This is it. Don't you have one like it?"
"No, sorry." Takato shook his head, before pulling something out of his own pocket, "I only have this." It was a digivice, much like the ones from season one on the digimon TV show, the only difference was that it was black in color.
"Hmm…" He looked over the digivice, before holding out his hand. "Can I see it?" Takato looked dubious but handed it to him. Jenrya took his time in examining it, before handing it back to him, "I've seen things like that before," He commented. "They sold them a few years back didn't they? I remember my dad getting me one."
Takato had gone back to being defensive, "It's not a toy!" With speed he managed to grab it from Jenrya's hand and snatch it up into his own.
"Calm, down!" Jen spoke, a frown on his face, "I didn't say it was one."
"Well you implied it." Was the only response he got in return.
He sighed, "Forget it, we ne-"
He was interrupted by the voice of another digimon, "Jen!" Terriermon was seen running down the street towards him, and in one swift movement he managed to jump from the sidewalk into his partners arms. "Terriermon!" Jenrya shouted in surprise. Takato and Guilmon just watched the two.
"Where were you!?" Terriermon asked him sounding more than a little annoyed. "I waited for over 15 minutes!"
"Sorry Terriermon," He looked sheepish, "I guess I sorta lost track of time."
But Terriermon didn't seem to notice his response as he continued on, "And THEN, I saw you walking home with HIM!" He pointed to Takato, "Does the words, human and digimon relationship mean nothing to you!?"
"Hey! I said I was sorry!"
Terriermon pretended to be hurt, "Nevermind, I can see that doesn't. I'm sorry to say our friendship is over. I'm sad it had to end this way."
Henry rolled his eyes, "Sheesh, talk about being dramatic."
Takato finally spoke, "I'm guessing you two are partners?"
Terriermon spoke up for both of them, "Sad, but true!"
He rolled his eyes again, "What he said."
Terriermon seemed to have noticed Guilmon by now, "Well, hello… I seem to remember meeting you earlier today." He commented.
Guilmon cocked his head to one side, clearly not remembering.
Terriermon looked at him funny, "Oh come on! Don't tell me you can't remember!"
Guilmon still looked clueless, which Takato looked angry. "Guilmon, I told you to make sure you weren't seen!"
Another clueless expression. "Sorry Takatomon… I forgot?"
Takato shook his head, "Don't worry about it, there's nothing we can do about it now."
Jenrya was still frowning at Terriermon, "How come you didn't tell me you saw a digimon!?"
"Well you didn't exactly ask…" Terriermon trailed off.
******
"Where am I...? Culu."
*Everything is so new and different, I just wanna sing, and shout, and bounce around! This new world is soooooo exciting! Nothing like my world! There they only have big, mean, ugly monsters trying to eat you all the time, or turn you into tiny bits of data! I like this place much better! But where were all the digimon?*
I got to my feet slowly and looked around… There was no one here! "Hello!?" I called out loudly, "Anyone there!?"
No answer…
*It was pretty here, and big tree and bushes stood around me, green everywhere! But where was everyone…? Slowly I walked over to the bushes, maybe someone in there could help me?* I heard the slight rustling of leaves…
"Hello?" I asked again, cautious this time, "Is anything in there? Culu?" I leaned over slightly, trying to look through the big, green, leaves. And someone grabbed on of my ears! "Culu! You big meanie! Let go! Let go! Let go! Let go!!!!!" I tugged really hard, and eventually that big, old, mean thing let go of me.
I feel over, still clutching my ear, and the thing in the bush laughed. "Culu, now why'd you go and do that?" I asked, a slight whimper in my voice.
A head popped out of the bushes... It was fury and had floppy ears.... A tiny Garurumon? It was white with black spots...
"Hi! I'm Culumon... What's your name?" I asked, trying to be nice to the new friend I seemed to have found. The garurumon-look alike cocked its head to the side looking at me in confusion. Then it attacked me! Fury Lick? That's sorta like what it felt like…
I pat it on the head, this time I'm the one feeling confused… "Boy you're a strange digimon, aren't you?" It's barks once in response, and I jump back and fall over in my surprise. "Hey! Culu!"
The ruffmon(?) just looked up at me again, a smile on his face this time. I started to turn and walk away, I didn't want to play with him anymore! He let me leave, sitting down and wagging his tail.
That's when I heard a noise! A digimon? It sure didn't sound like one!
"Yasha?!" I heard the voice again, and it sounded like it was coming closer! "Yasha, where are you?!" The Ruffmon still sat there, tail waging.
A young girl came out of the bushes to the left, and I jumped up in surprise, she scared me! But did seem to notice me either… "Yasha, there you are! You're not supposed to run off like that!" I was confused… Why was she yelling at Ruffmon? He hadn't done anything bad!
"Hey!" I flew over to her and sat on her shoulder, "Why are you yelling at him?" I think she noticed me this time because her eyes got really big! Sorta like dinner plates! After that she looked sorta funny,,, Maybe she wasn't feeling well? "Are you okay, culu?" I asked.
She turned a funny white sorta color, and then her eyes rolled up into the back of her head! That's when she sorta fell! I tried to catch her but she was was too heavy! She almost turned me into a pancake!
I struggled to get out from beneath her before turning to look at Ruffmon, he watched both of us, still wagging his tail. *What a weird digimon…* I though before nudging the girl with one of my toes. "Culu, are you okay?" She didn't answer me.
Then Ruffmon began barking again! What an awful sound! I covered my ears but could still hear it! "Culu, I don't like you any more!"
I extended my ears and took to the air, these people were to weird for my tastes! "Culu, what else is there to see…"
******
"Ow! Damn that kid, what was that for?" I sat in the "Clubhouse" that both Kenta and I had found a little over a year ago. Kenta was by my side with a fresh ice pack. I pulled out a card from my Supreme ultimate Titan Deck, it was the treasure of that deck a Rare ImperialDramon Paladin mode. *I couldn't remember the kid I got it from... I remembered him acting like a totally loser though! Wait? Wasn't it Takato? Na, he never had THAT good of a card.*
My stomach suddenly felt odd as I realized that it WAS his card. Those areas he hit seem to sting at my sudden realization…
"Hey Hirokazu?" Kenta snapped me out of it. "You okay?"
I nodded, "I'm fine."
Kenta looked doubtful but I ignored him for the moment.
*Na,* I told myself, *I won it fair and square, he was being the whiny little baby trying to get it back... And it didn't help when accused me of cheating...* I frowned as I remembered his futile attempts to try and get his cards back.
I pulled out the other cards I had in storage from him... They were in a Shoebox I kept here. But out of all of the cards I had won, five of them baffled me to this day.
Growmon, Meglo Growmon, Megidramon, Dukemon and a strange Blue Card.
"Wait, I don't remember a blue card in any boosters… Still I don't remember those other cards either..."
Kenta frowned, "I haven't seen any of them before… Hey," He suggested, "why don't you try slashing in through your card reader?"
I shrugged, "If you say so…" I took out my card reader, and picked up the strange blue card.
I pulled out my Card Reader...
As I picked up the Blue Card I felt a calmness enter me. It was weird… Still, I held the card in hand firmly, and finally slashed it. Strangely it felt as if I were almost being rejected, my entire body seemed to be on fire and it burned painfully. I tried to drop it but I just couldn't it was almost as if we were being connected, and then… It just stopped. Kenta was watching me with worry now, but I was too interested now it what had happened to my card reader. My card reader's data was completely scrambled! "Damn it Takato," I mumbled under my breath, "you're still annoying me even when you not here…"
Kenta rolled his eyes from his spot beside me, "Honestly Hirokazu, you don't really think he's to blame for wreaking your card reader?"
"Well it was his card!" I retorted.
"Which you cheated from him!" He shot back.
As we bickered, I failed to notice the fact that my card reader was starting to glow…
"Hirokazu-" Kenta had noticed it though, and pointed to it. It WAS glowing a bright, white light that seemed to get brighter with every second that went by. That's when it started to change shape, molding itself into something completely different…
When the light cleared, both Kenta and me where amazing to find a copper rimmed, white device had replaced my card reader.
"Whoa… Sweet!" I looked the device over.
"What is it?" Kenta asked, reaching over to touch it.
"Hey!" I cried, "Get your own!"
"Well, sorry." He huffed, "I just wanted to hold it for a second."
"Whatever," I threw the device over to him, and he caught it in both hands.
"This is so cool!" He exclaimed, "I wonder what it does!"
I shrugged, "How should I know, I only got it just now."
"Hirokazu…" He trailed off, "I think it's broken…"
I looked at him in alarm before snatching the device away, "What did you do to it Kenta?!"
"Hey!" He protested, "I didn't do anything! It was like that when you gave it to me!"
"Yeah right," I commented, staring at the screen of the device, it was grey with static, almost like a broken T.V.
I sighed, "Look," I said, "I have to be getting home, so we'll worry about this tomorrow, okay?"
He nodded, "So are you going to take it home with you?"
"Of course I am! What, you think I'm just going to leave it sitting here for someone to take it!? "I was picking up the rest of my cards and stuffing them into my box now, but for some reason I couldn't find the blue card… It had vanished! I shrugged it off for now, maybe I'd find it later…
He shrugged, "I don't know, give it to me?" He suggested weakly.
I sent him a look, "Not on your life, it came from my card and my card reader, so it's mine!"
"Just a suggestion…"
After that we went our separate ways, him heading for his house and me heading for mine.
"Hey!" I cried out as I opened the front door to my place, "I'm home!"
There was no answer, and I knew that both of my parents were going to be busy with work and stuff for the next little while, they probably wouldn't be home until tomorrow morning at least… The device in my pocket forgotten, I laid down on the couch, I was asleep in seconds…
******