Disclaimer: I didn't own Digimon or Digimon World 2 last chapter, and guess what? I still don't own either of them! Don't die of shock, now! Heheh^^ Haffa nice day, and don't sue me!
Jen: Hello, everyone! It's been a while!
Yama: Hey.
Jen: I had a nice vacation, but now I'm back! And for all of you who want to keep up with the happenings of Jen-land-
Yama: -in other words, those of you who have, for some unknown reason, been forced into extreme boredom or insanity-
Jen: -YAMA! Rule #1! Never insult my readers!
Yama: I was insulting you, lame brain....
Jen: Yeah, well, that's Rule #2! Anyway! You guys should check out my profile, because I've changed it. Oh, and I've finally completed My Boyfriend's Boxers, which is a HILARIOUS fic that I highly recommend. ^^
Yama: Whatever. I hope you guys are all sitting in comfy seats, because this chapter is ungodly long.
Jen: Well, this is a very special chapter! Why? Because I wrote it during the car ride to the Outer Banks, and by the ocean, and by the poolside, and on the deck...*sigh*
Yama: While she's daydreaming about the beach, I'll start the fic (hopefully before she starts talking again!). Enjoy, people.
****************************************************************************
A Day in the Life
"Guard Tamers Jenashu Hino and Koushiro Izumi, here is your first mission...as a team. As you know, new Gold Hawk Tamers receive our mascot, Agumon, as their first Digimon. We need some more. Jenashu Hino, your Digi-Beetle will be updated to a team unit. Your EP will be boosted by 100, and your HP will be booted by 800. Your server will be able to carry 4 more Digimon. Oh, you'll get another seat as well. This will take about 4 hours. I suggest that you get better acquainted."
Izzy and Jen shared quick, unsure glances. Clearly they weren't quite comfortable with each other. They turned to Vandar as one and saluted him before heading for the door.
"Oh, Pro Tamer Jenashu!" the Leader called before Jen closed the door behind her. She poked her head back into the room.
"Sir?' she asked respectfully.
"Do a type-casting on Koushiro Izumi during the mission.
"Yes sir," Jen replied. She retreated to the hallway, gently shutting the door behind her.
"The Tamer's Club?" Izzy suggested.
"The Tamer's Club," Jen agreed.
**********
"Will someone please tell me what happened?" Mantis demanded as he hovered over Jen and Izzy's table.
"I'm not so sure myself," Izzy said with a sigh. He looked seriously at Jen. "Why did you do it?"
"Do what?!" Mantis cried. Jen opened her mouth to go off about the Blood Knights, but caught herself just in time. She searched her mind for something to tell him, but drew a blank. Her lame excuse was that she 'had her reasons'.
"Such as?" Izzy persisted.
"What did she do?" Mantis interjected.
"Look, it didn't seem fair for you to not become a Tamer because of someone messing with your exams. I just wanted to help you out."
"WHAT are you talking about?" Mantis asked frantically.
"What do you mean? Do you think you know who sabotaged the Digi-Beetle I used today?"
"HELLO?! Mantis to Jen! I am alive here! WHAT HAPPENED?!"
Suddenly, a new voice entered the argument. "Could you three keep it down? I can't hear myself sing!" a Palmon shouted from a stage in the corner of the Tamer's Club. She was there all day everyday, just singing and dancing.
"Alright," Jen said, lowering her tone. She turned to the Tentomon to finally acknowledge him. "Mantis, we're a team now."
"We've always been a team," Mantis pointed out.
"No," Jen corrected, nodding her head towards Izzy, "I meant him and me." Mantis stared at her for a moment before falling from the air and crashing into the table.
"EXCUSE me!" the Palmon demanded indignantly.
"Gomen!" Izzy apologized. The plant-like Digimon gave him a dirty look before returning to her song. With a sigh, Izzy slid his eyes from her to Jen. Where they supposed to stare at each other for four hours?
Jen looked a little worried, too. She shifted awkwardly in her seat as Mantis picked himself up from the table. Izzy cleared his throat loudly. Silence fell over them.
"Humans," Mantis complained. "One moment they're shouting at each other, and the next they're annoyingly quiet."
Izzy looked a little insulted, and Jen hastened to explain that her Digimon's manners were a little sub-par. There was another silence after Mantis snorted indignantly.
"Um, look," Jen started, "how about I introduce you to my other Digimon?"
Izzy perked up immediately. "You have more?" he asked.
"Of course! I'd be Digi-food with just Mantis around to back me up."
"I resent that!" Mantis cried as the humans stood up and pushed their chairs in. He followed them grudgingly, loudly counting all of the times that he had pulled Jen's fat out of the fryer.
********
"How about this?" Jen asked as she and Izzy paused outside of the Gold Hawk's HQ. "I'll give you the grand tour."
With that, Jen stepped towards the large, revolving glass door that led into her HQ. It was constantly spinning as people entered and left the building. Mantis sighed deeply; the door was his worst enemy.
"Today," he muttered under his breath, "you are not going to get the best of me, door." Jen laughed, but Izzy looked confused.
"Go on then, Mantis," Jen encouraged her Digimon. After taking a deep breath, the Tentomon flew towards the door.
'Not too fast, now' he thought as he came nearer. 'Don't want to slam into the glass in front of you.' As soon as Mantis saw an opening, he bravely flew into it and tried to hover at just the right speed as the door spun. 'Not too fast, not too fast,' he reminded himself. 'Not-'
"Too slow," Jen grimaced as the glass panel from behind slammed into her Digimon, who slid down it with a loud squeaking sound. Izzy stared.
"A lot of flying Digimon have trouble with that door-HEY! Watch it!" shouted Jen as someone nearly stepped on Mantis.
"Teach your Digimon how to fly right," the person teased as he bent over to pick the Tentomon up. "Eventually we'll be scraping him off the glass with a spatula."
"Oh yeah?" Jen cried, searching her mind for an insult to throw back. "Well, you'd better not put on so much hair gel, or it'll mutate into a freakish, spiky, yellow monster!"
The boy carrying Mantis frowned and consciously reached up to touch his crazy blonde hair. "Whatever. Is that the thanks I get for rescuing your bug?"
"What are you doing in the Gold Hawks HQ? You're a Blue Falcon, Ishida!" Jen pointed out as the blonde boy deposited Mantis into her arms.
"I'm aware of that," he said coolly. "Some of the Blue Falcon Patamon have disappeared. I was asked to help put up posters with pictures of them, and I was supposed to put a few in there." The Ishida boy jerked his spiky head towards the Gold Hawks HQ.
Jen's face flushed from embarrassment. "Oh, I'm sorry...."
"Whatever," the boy replied. He took a few steps away before turning around again with a sly grin on his handsome face. "Oh, and you'd better be ready to lose at the tournament on Saturday, Pig Tail!" Jen frowned and touched her long plait.
""It's a braid, Yamatrocious!" Jen shouted to his retreating back.
"And we'll kick your sorry excuse for a wig all the way to File Island on Saturday!" Mantis added.
"Hah! Just make sure you get through the door alright!" the blonde called before disappearing around a corner down the street. There was a silence as Jen and Mantis stared after him, breathing deeply.
"Charming boy," Izzy noted with sarcasm gently woven into his words. Both Mantis and his Tamer gave identical snorts of irritation.
"Who is he?" Izzy asked as he carefully walked through the revolving door.
"The biggest jerk in the world," Mantis declared from the safety of Jen's arms. He cast a nervous glance over her shoulder at the glass. "I hate this door...."
"I've picked up on that," Izzy replied as he stepped into the Entrance Hall. Jen joined him a moment later and dragged him away from the door so they could talk.
"He's Yamato Ishida, or Matt. Or Yama, if I'm in a good mood," she said, answering Izzy's question.
"Or Yamatrocious if he's being an idiot," Mantis added. Jen grinned.
"Actually, sometimes he's really cool," Jen allowed. "He tells great jokes, and he plays a mean harmonica, but when I'm around he's usually all attitude."
"Jen's got a cousin called Tai," Mantis continued, "and Matt is his friend (although they've had some nasty arguments before)."
"I see," Izzy said. "This Matt certainly seems to treat you like his friend's little sister, or his cousin in this case."
"Well, we're rivals. Don't look so surprised, everyone who enters tournaments regularly has a rival. If you don't choose one yourself, the people who make the programs give you one to make more money. Anyway...I'm supposed to be giving you a tour. C'mon."
With that, Jen started pointing out and explaining everything. There were four hallways in the Entrance Hall, and three were directly in front of them as the entered. The one to the left led to a Digivolution Center, where DNA Digivolution could take place. The middle hallway led to Vandar's room. Finally, the room to the right led to a comfy sort of room where Gold Hawk Tamers could mingle.
There were a few item vendors in the Entrance Hall and a desk with Sakura behind it, waiting to answer any questions. And, of course, the Guard stood ready at the door, watching for suspicious and unknown individuals. Jen wondered for a moment if he had given Matt a hard time a few minutes ago. Also, a slightly undersized Agumon was walking around and trying to catch bits of information as Tamers conversed all around him.
"That's Hawk, our mascot," Jen explained quietly to Izzy. "He always wants to know what's going on. I know that he'd much rather be at a Domain with a Tamer than prowling around here all day. Poor little guy...."
Jen led Izzy to the fourth hallway and stepped into it. There were many, many doors up and down it, and the hall was very wide and long. Jen pointed to the first large door to her right.
"This leads to a small Digimon hospital. I bet you know about the huge Digimon hospital nearby-this is Digital City, after all-but this one is strictly for Gold Hawk Digimon."
A boy with navy hair and glasses suddenly opened the very door that Jen was pointing at and entered the hallway. His hands were full of paper work. He looked stressed.
"Hi Joe!" Jen called to him with a smile. He barely paused to look up at her.
"Good afternoon," he replied, sounding distracted. Joe continued down the hallway. Izzy stared.
"Is he always so distant?" he asked when Joe was out of earshot. Jen frowned darkly.
"No. I bet he's exhausted. There have been a lot of weird...accidents concerning Gold Hawk Digimon lately. I feel bad for him," she replied. Izzy's eyebrows elevated as Jen and Mantis shared significant looks.
"Why is that?" the redhead inquired.
"Never mind," Jen said. "You wouldn't believe me anyway." Izzy opened his mouth to protest, but Jen cut him off by continuing the tour.
"That room that Joe just went into has got binders upon binders full of information about every Gold Hawk Tamer and Digimon. Health records, tournament results, test results, everything. That one is full of all kinds of supplies, I think. You need a key to get in, so.... There are a few training rooms, and you used to be able to use them at any time, but they same people kept getting up early and staying there all day. Now you have to reserve them, and the waiting lists are horrendous. There's a special training gym on the Gold Hawk's Grounds, which are outside this building, but you have to be at least an Elite Tamer to use them." Jen paused a moment to sigh. "Needless to say, that one's not very busy."
"Aren't you a Rank 4 Pro Tamer?" Izzy asked. Jen nodded. "I thought I heard Vandar address you with that title. Elite Tamers are Rank 7. You're nearly there!"
"Koushiro," Mantis said, sounding exasperated, "you've no idea how hard it is to win an Official Tournament." Izzy looked insulted again, so Jen resumed her tour to take his mind off of it.
"There are also apartments in a separate building where high-ranking Guard Tamers (that's Rank 7 and up) live in times of emergency so that they'll always be at hand. There's also a Digi-Beetle repair shop on the Grounds. Oh, and there are a few meeting rooms in here, and there's another building with handsome rooms where certain events and fundraisers-you know, dinners, dances-are held."
Jen came to a stop in front of one of the doors. "And now I want you to meet my Digimon," she said as she opened it. Izzy gasped in delight.
A gargantuan computer took up almost the entire room, leaving only enough space for about six people to stand. Izzy ran up to it excitedly and whispered, "Wow!" under his breath. Mantis and Jen shared glances.
"Don't you want to see my Digimon?" Jen asked. "You'll have to move. You're blocking the controls."
Izzy blinked at her. "Huh?" he asked. Mantis rolled his eyes.
"My Digimon," Jen repeated.
"Oh," Izzy murmured, not taking his eyes off of the huge monitor. "Yes." He stepped aside, allowing Jen to reach the keys. She rapidly pressed a series of buttons before stopping and announcing that she was done. Izzy looked around.
"Um, where...?" he asked.
Mantis sighed and Jen smiled. "I take it you've never seen a Whamon," she said.
"You've got a Whamon?" Izzy asked, his eyes widening.
"No," Mantis buzzed in his funny accent. "It's a figure of speech. She's trying to say that it wouldn't be smart to upload Digimon into this room. We'd be squished. They're outside."
"Ah," Izzy muttered, feeling very stupid. The sight of the magnificent computer had slowed down his thinking process significantly. "So, um, let's move on, shall we?"
"Indeed," Mantis replied, clearly unimpressed with the redhead's apparent lack of critical thinking skills. Izzy turned away in embarrassment, but made a promise to himself to prove his genius to the Vaccine Digimon.
Jen led the others out into the hallway and opened a door at its end. She smiled as she ushered Izzy through the doorway and into the daylight, eager to see his reaction to her Digimon. She wasn't disappointed.
Four Digimon were grouped together under an ancient weeping willow, beaming at the sight of their Tamer. Izzy stared at them, one at a time, with an amazed look on his face. His eyes first came to rest on a Digimon that was built like a human and stood about eight inches taller than Izzy. It was clad in a strange hat, a dark cloak, a yellow jumpsuit, and brown gloves and boots. It carried a long wooden staff. This was clearly Wizardmon, a Champion-level Data Digimon. Next, Izzy noticed a Piximon, a cute pink pom pom with wings. The short redhead knew that Piximon was an Ultimate Data-type. Soon, another less welcome Digital Monster caught Koushiro's attention.
"Etemon," he said darkly. "A Virus Digimon."
"Gotta problem with that, Small Stuff?" the Etemon demanded. Izzy frowned and turned to Jen.
"What happened to fighting for justice?" he asked. Jen's face darkened.
"Virus Digimon are not evil. I've seen as many corrupted Data and Vaccine Digimon as I have Virus ones," she stated. Izzy didn't look convinced at all.
"We do tend to have some nasty attitudes, though, Carrot Top," Etemon informed him, chuckling as though he was proud of that fact.
Izzy didn't reply to him. Instead, he stared at the fourth Digimon and gasped. He had never seen a Digimon like it before. At first glance it resembled a floating pink dolphin, sleek and shiny. If you looked at it longer, however, you'd notice the leafy fins and the flowery 'ears'. It hovered about four feet from the ground, making mysterious, bell-like noises from within its 'ears' every time it moved.
A moment later, Izzy realized that Jen was explaining his presence to her Digimon. He tore his eyes away from the unknown Digimon to listen to her speech. "This is Koushiro Izumi, everyone. He's...." Jen paused nervously. "He's my partner now."
There was an uproar. The dolphin-like Digimon made a series of high-pitched squeaking sounds, which were totally impossible for Izzy to understand. The Etemon was shouting about not wanting to work with a "Virus-hating Carroty Shrimp," and the Piximon was excitedly talking about a training routine for Izzy to undergo. Only the Wizardmon remained silent, although his surprise was plainly evident.
Jen was sighing and she looked like she had expected this reaction. The noise continued for a solid three minutes before the Pro Tamer pulled a whistle out of her pocket and put it to her lips. She took a long, deep breath and Izzy hastily covered his ears, but he didn't hear a thing as Jen blew into it as hard as she could.
The Digimon, however, crammed their fingers (if the possessed any) into their ears and winced heavily. Clearly it was a whistle that only Digimon could hear. When Jen ran out of air and lowered the little noise-maker from her lips, silence had been completely restored.
"Now," Jen started as if she had never been interrupted, "I'll explain the whole thing later. Right now I think we should have some introductions."
There was a pause. Jen gently elbowed Izzy to make him begin. "Oh! Well," he nervously said as the Digimon stared at him, "um...." Suddenly he remembered his promise to prove himself to his new teammates, especially Mantis and Jen, and his voice strengthened. "My name is Koushiro Izumi. Please call me Izzy. I'm twelve years old, and-"
Jen gasped loudly. She thought that Izzy was ten tops, given his height. The short person in question ignored her and continued his speech.
"And I hope...we can make a prodigious team." Izzy distinctly heard Etemon give a disgusted snort. The Digimon didn't look too impressed with him. Jen cast a worried look at them.
Just when Izzy was sure that none of them were going to respond, the Wizardmon spoke up for the first time. "I am Revien," he said. "It's a pleasure."
Jen gave him a pleased look, and he gave a small nod in return as the Piximon flew in front of Izzy's face. "I'm Puru! Puru Puru! We'll get along just fine, yep yep...after some training!" he said energetically.
"Training...?"
"Yes, training! Cleaning floors, washing windows, untangling balls of yarn-"
A sharp, high-pitched squeak cut Puru off. The Dolphin Digimon was attempting to speak, but all that came out were squeals and squeaks, which were joined by the jingling of several bells whenever she moved.
"She's says 'I'm Galemon'," Mantis translated. Izzy looked confused.
"I've never seen-" he started. Jen waved her hand to silence him.
"She's a unique Digimon. I'm pretty sure that he's the only one of her kind," she explained.
"Digimon understand her, and Jen does too. But most humans don't seem to quite catch what she's saying," Mantis added. "Her name's Tochiko."
The Etemon, who had remained silent since his last outburst, could contain himself no longer. "Why do we have to work with a stunted dwarf?!" he demanded.
"Elvis!" Jen scolded. "Be nice to Izzy!"
"Why?! He obviously has no skills as a Tamer. I can tell he's a newbie, and he's tiny, too," Elvis protested. "I bet he wants to leech off of us like a puny little parasite!"
"That's enough, Elvis!" Jen said commandingly. She could practically see steam rising from Izzy's ears, giving her the impression that his head was on fire.
"Alright everyone," the Pro Tamer started. "We're all acquainted, so now we can get serious."
Izzy noticed that the five Digimon had formed a ring around their Tamer, assuring her safety. They all seemed to be carefully absorbing every word she said, and the redhead could tell that her orders had saved at least one of the Digimon's lives at some point. It was then that the new Tamer realized that he had disturbed this team. From what he could tell, they all cared about each other, including the temperamental Elvis. The Digimon were happy as they were and they didn't need or want him around. Jen's voice brought him back from his reverie.
"...so now you know about that. Anyway, Vandar's given us a mission. It's...well, it's depressingly simple."
"That would be his fault," Elvis said coolly, nodding jerkily towards Izzy. "The Big Boss didn't wanna overwhelm the little newbie, so now we're stuck doing a baby mission. Thank you, thank you very much for wasting our time, kiddy."
"Elvis!" Jen cried sharply. "Cut the cracks!" The Etemon cringed slightly and fell silent, although he continued giving Izzy dirty and malicious looks. "As I was saying, we have to get some Agumon to give to new Gold Hawk Guard Tamers."
"That's it?" Elvis asked. "We're just gonna beat up on some weakling Rookies? That's it! The King is leaving the building!"
"You don't have to come if you don't want to," Jen said with a sigh. "I need as much room on my server as I can get, anyway. The more Agumon we bring Vandar, the more we get paid."
Izzy watched Elvis stalk angrily towards the Gold Hawks Entrance Hall with relief. He definitely didn't need a nasty Virus Digimon breathing down his neck during his first mission. "C'mon," Jen said to the redhead. "We've gotta go to the Main Gate."
***********
"Hey, Chief Carol!" Jen called as the blonde woman came into view. "How's my Digi-Beetle? We're a little early."
"Oh, it's all ready," replied Carol. "The mechanics always pull through for Tamers that they bet on!" She stared at Izzy but said nothing.
"What's this about betting?" Izzy asked.
"She means in the tournaments. You know, people bet on the Tamer that they think will win the tournament. It's kinda like how people bet on Unimon races," Mantis supplied.
"Right! Saturday's a tourney day! We'll have to train, yep yep!" Puru Puru pointed out.
"Is it an Official Tournament?" Izzy inquired. Whoever won an Official Tournament got a raise of rank. Unofficial Tournaments were fought for prizes and rich rewards.
"Nah, it's just a regular one," Jen replied.
"We never miss an opportunity to teach Yamato Ishida a lesson, yep yep!" Puru gleefully said. Jen laughed, clearly agreeing with him. Carol cleared her throat.
"You are here to go on a mission, right?" she asked. Jen blinked at her.
"Oh! Oh, yeah! Where's my Digi-Beetle?" Carol pointed to a red-and-purple Digi-Beetle. "Right. Thanks chief!"
Jen ran to her vehicle and smiled as she stopped in front of it. Her expression soon changed as she saw the new seat that had been installed. Izzy understood; the extra seat was physical proof that her career as a Guard Tamer had dramatically changed. Jen got over it quickly. Soon she was climbing into the driver's seat and turning the key in the ignition. Her Digi-Beetle instantly sprang to life. Its headlights flashed and eyes appeared in them, and it honked in a friendly way. Izzy realized with a start that the Digi-Beetle was greeting its owner.
"How do you feel, Quest?" Jen asked. "Different?" The vehicle's headlights flickered as if it was saying "Yes!"
"This is my new partner, Izzy Izumi," Jen said, pointing towards him. The car turned to face the person in question before honking hello.
"H-hi," Izzy shakily replied. He knew that Digi-Beetles were practically alive, but this was more than he had bargained for!
"Hop in!" Jen suggested with a smile. "It's time for our first mission!"
"Right," Izzy agreed a he climbed (with some difficulty due to his height) into the seat besides Jen.
"Revien." Jen simply stated as she held her finger above a button. The Wizardmon nodded, and she pressed the button, causing a flap to open near the front of the Digi-Beetle. Izzy gasped as Revien's form turned into a graph of sorts. In a flash of green light, Revien disappeared.
"I downloaded him into Quest's server," Jen explained to him, laughing at his shocked expression. "I don't download Tochiko, Mantis, and Puru because they can fly. Well, so can Revien, but he gets tired after a while, so...."
Jen looked down at Quest. "Okay, buddy! We're going to the SCSI Domain! Let's hit the road!" The Digi-Beetle started rolling out of the Main Gate's large entrance with no help from Jen. Izzy stared. Was the steering wheel just for show?
"Why not drive it?" he asked as Quest cruised onto the road.
"I can't drive it outside of Domains until I've got my driver's license," Jen replied dully as the wind whipped her hair around. "Until then it's got its own navigation program. They say a Digi-Beetle using the program will never get lost or crash."
The two Tamers traveled together aboard Quest in casual conversation. Soon, however, the weather and the latest news had been picked apart and a silence feel between them. Jen suppressed a loud sigh with difficulty and wished that she had some idea of what to talk about. She was very relieved when Quest rolled off of the road and headed down the familiar wild path to the SCSI Domain.
This Domain was underground, so Quest rolled onto the warp panel that would take them to the top level. Izzy seemed very excited as he looked around the dungeon-like interior. "Remember the most important rule of going to Domains," Jen advised him. "NEVER get off your Digi-Beetle under ANY circumstances. There are all sorts of traps that could blow you up...or worse. The ancients who built the Domains sure knew what they were doing."
Izzy nodded, and something immediately caught his eye. He nudged Jen and pointed to a Biyomon. "We'll leave it be unless it attacks us," Jen whispered. "We're after Agumon."
Jen looked down at a counter by the control panel. "Look at this," she said. "We've started draining EP, our energy points. We need to use the auto pilot if we're about to run out of EP, or else we'll have to cough up 1,000 bits for a new engine. The same goes for Quest's HP, or health points."
Jen and Izzy traveled in the Domain in silence. Jen had taken the wheel and was steering Quest down narrow hallways that opened into large rooms surrounded by stone walls and floors. Izzy felt his excitement and his nervousness welling up inside him as they turned every corner. He was a Tamer on a mission. A simple mission, but what the heck.
"Oh!" he cried as an orange tail caught his eye. No less than six Agumon were crowded together. Jen grabbed a blue gun that was attached to the front of Quest and started loading what looked like CD players into it.
"This is a shooter gun!" Jen explained as she took aim. The Agumon were charging at her, but her Digimon weren't retaliating yet. "Release Revien for me, Izzy!" Izzy did as he was told while trying to watch Jen shoot a CD player at each Agumon in turn. The Agumon all caught their CD players, and expressions of delight passed their orange faces. Now Jen's Digimon attacked.
"Thunder ball!" Revien shouted. An orange orb materialized in his hand, and he threw it at the nearest Agumon. His fellow teammates were attacking as well.
"Psy bomb!" Puru cried.
"Super shocker!" Mantis attacked. Tochiko did a quick spin in mid-air, and cherry blossom petals sliced into an Agumon like small knives. Jen watched the battle calmly, but Izzy looked tense, even though he knew six rookies couldn't dream of taking on Puru, an Ultimate Digimon, let alone a Champion and two Rookies as well.
Fire and lightening flashed through the air, aided by bombs and petals, unleashing deafening exploding sounds and raising dust from the floor. Izzy was unable to keep up with what was happening, but a moment later all was still. The six Agumon were sprawled out on the floor, and Jen's Digimon returned to their post behind the Digi-Beetle. Slowly the largest Agumon, who was consequently the leader, rose to its clawed feet and walked cautiously up to Quest.
Izzy stared at it. "Why is it coming near?" he asked.
"This was on the test, Izzy," Jen reminded him.
"Yes," Izzy replied, "but seeing it in action is a little different."
Jen sighed. "Well," she said, "the first thing you have to do is give them a gift to interest them. After they get the gift, they want to fight you. I'm not really sure why, but they do. Next, you have to impress them with your Digimon's strength. Wild Digimon fight for their positions, so it's natural that they give in to the stronger warrior. So, now these Agumon want to join my team."
With that, Jen hit the button that opened the panel that Wizardmon had gone into earlier. All six Agumon were transported inside it to Quest's server in a flash on green light. "I've got room for ten Digimon in Quest's server after that upgrade it got earlier. I need to save some room for Revien, so I can hold three more Agumon. So, let's go find them!"
Jen pointed to the corner of the room. "Look, a warp panel," she pointed out. A large white panel was positioned where the Pro Tamer was indicating, giving off a faint blue glow. "If we drive onto that, we'll be transported to the next level."
She turned the steering wheel in her hands, and Quest moved towards the warp panel. It had barely moved three feet, however, when a loud explosion sounded from beneath its tires. Izzy and Jen were nearly thrown off of the car as it rocked violently. When the cloud of dust that had risen finally fell, Izzy slowly released his tight grip on the handle bar in front of him.
"A land mine?" he asked. Jen nodded grimly.
"It must have been powerful. My trap locater didn't pick it up," she said. Izzy glanced at the HP counter and gasped.
"We've lost half of our health," he reported uneasily. "Are you alright, Quest?" The Digi-Beetle honked its horn feebly. "Maybe we should use the auto pilot...."
"No," Jen replied. "We're still alright. Now let's find three more Agumon."
Izzy wasn't sure about the logic of continuing, but he didn't argue the point with his partner. Quest stepped onto the warp, and they descended to the next level down. The first thing that caught Izzy's attention was a large, yellow pillar. The next thing he noticed was a section of yellow...stuff on the floor in a corner.
"So that's what an electro-spore looks like!" Izzy stated. "If you touch those, damage is dealt to your Digi-Beetle, right?"
"Right. But if they're in the way, they can be destroyed with magnetic missiles," Jen replied. "And see that yellow stuff on the floor? It's acid. Don't drive over it unless you've bought special tires. Also, I bet you didn't see that black spot on the floor."
"Is that a bug nest?" Izzy asked. Jen nodded. "Can you tell what kind it is?"
"Nope. Could be the kind that steals a Digi-Beetles health or energy, or it may attack Digimon. It's best not to find out."
Eventually Jen and Izzy got three more Agumon, and they would've continued to search the Domain, but....
"Look! A treasure chest!" Jen cried gleefully. "Let's open it." An arm extended from the side of the Digi-Beetle and it reached for the chest. "That arm tries to disarm any traps that are on the treasure chest."
A moment later the chest popped open, but it unleashed an explosion on Quest. Izzy was thrown from his seat. Revien luckily caught him before he touched the dungeon floor.
"Izzy," Jen said as Revien lowered him into his seat, "are you alright? Good. Listen, we've only got 100 HP left after that. We've gotta use the auto pilot. Let's get out of here."
**********
Izzy and Jen walked into Vandar's room a half hour later and saluted him respectfully. "Sir," Jen started as she stepped forward, "we've brought back nine Agumon."
"Nine?" Vandar asked. "Impressive. Now, I believe that your expenses were 250 Bits per Digimon for the CD players you undoubtedly used. I believe that totals 2,250 Bits. Am I correct?"
"Yes, sir," Izzy immediately replied.
"Alright then," Vandar said. "Your payment will be 5,000 Bits."
"Thank you, sir," Jen said as Vandar gave her the payment.
"Have you fulfilled your second mission yet?" he asked her quietly.
"No, sir," Jen whispered. "I need more time to get to know him."
"Very well, but do decide quickly. Good day."
The partners saluted him and exited his room. Jen turned to Izzy. "So," she said, "I get 2,250 Bits to pay for the CD players. That leaves...uh...."
"2,750 Bits. That means we each get 1,375 Bits," Izzy informed her, holding out his hands to accept his reward.
"That's not as much as it seemed like it'd be," Jen said with a sigh.
"I can't complain," Izzy responded. "I never realized how much money was involved in this." Jen shrugged.
"Once you start upgrading your Digi-Beetle, you begin to wish that Vandar had given you a lot more than what you got," Mantis buzzed. "It's not cheap."
"Amen," Jen muttered. There was another silence.
"Well," Izzy started.
"Yes, I guess we're done for the day," Jen finished. "Um, I'll need your address...and your e-mail...and you're phone number," she added awkwardly. Izzy obliged her.
"So," he said when they were finished.
"Yeah, see ya," Jen replied, walking towards the revolving door. The Tentomon gave another brave attempt at conquering it. "Mantis-Mantis, be carefu-oooh, that must've hurt-"
As Jen made her way home (carrying an unconscious Tentomon), an unpleasant thought found its way into her head. 'My parents aren't gonna be happy when I tell them that my new partner is some guy that I've never met....'
'Darn Blood Knights, getting me into so much trouble...!'
****************************************************************************
Jen: Ooooh, I don't think I'll ever be able to feel my butt again!
Yama: Once again, too much info!
Jen: *sigh* I'm sorry if it got kinda dumb towards the end. I was so eager to just finish the darn chapter that I kinda rushed the last few pages. Guess what? According to the typing program I'm using, if I printed this out it'd be 16 pages long! That's gotta be a record (for me, at least)!!!!!!!
Yama: Wonderful.
Jen: Well, guess what everyone? Next chapter the story finally gets interesting! You've all made it through the boring explanatory chapters! Yahoo! In the next chapter, four more years pass and, um...let me check my notes...
Yama: *holds up a sign that says "Be right back"*
Jen: Ah, the next chapter won't be as long, which is good for me! Um, the Blood Knights turn up in the flesh in the next chapter, which is titled Return of the Blood Knights! The storyline has been introduced, and now the fun begins! So stick with me, everyone! Till later days!
Jen: Hello, everyone! It's been a while!
Yama: Hey.
Jen: I had a nice vacation, but now I'm back! And for all of you who want to keep up with the happenings of Jen-land-
Yama: -in other words, those of you who have, for some unknown reason, been forced into extreme boredom or insanity-
Jen: -YAMA! Rule #1! Never insult my readers!
Yama: I was insulting you, lame brain....
Jen: Yeah, well, that's Rule #2! Anyway! You guys should check out my profile, because I've changed it. Oh, and I've finally completed My Boyfriend's Boxers, which is a HILARIOUS fic that I highly recommend. ^^
Yama: Whatever. I hope you guys are all sitting in comfy seats, because this chapter is ungodly long.
Jen: Well, this is a very special chapter! Why? Because I wrote it during the car ride to the Outer Banks, and by the ocean, and by the poolside, and on the deck...*sigh*
Yama: While she's daydreaming about the beach, I'll start the fic (hopefully before she starts talking again!). Enjoy, people.
****************************************************************************
A Day in the Life
"Guard Tamers Jenashu Hino and Koushiro Izumi, here is your first mission...as a team. As you know, new Gold Hawk Tamers receive our mascot, Agumon, as their first Digimon. We need some more. Jenashu Hino, your Digi-Beetle will be updated to a team unit. Your EP will be boosted by 100, and your HP will be booted by 800. Your server will be able to carry 4 more Digimon. Oh, you'll get another seat as well. This will take about 4 hours. I suggest that you get better acquainted."
Izzy and Jen shared quick, unsure glances. Clearly they weren't quite comfortable with each other. They turned to Vandar as one and saluted him before heading for the door.
"Oh, Pro Tamer Jenashu!" the Leader called before Jen closed the door behind her. She poked her head back into the room.
"Sir?' she asked respectfully.
"Do a type-casting on Koushiro Izumi during the mission.
"Yes sir," Jen replied. She retreated to the hallway, gently shutting the door behind her.
"The Tamer's Club?" Izzy suggested.
"The Tamer's Club," Jen agreed.
**********
"Will someone please tell me what happened?" Mantis demanded as he hovered over Jen and Izzy's table.
"I'm not so sure myself," Izzy said with a sigh. He looked seriously at Jen. "Why did you do it?"
"Do what?!" Mantis cried. Jen opened her mouth to go off about the Blood Knights, but caught herself just in time. She searched her mind for something to tell him, but drew a blank. Her lame excuse was that she 'had her reasons'.
"Such as?" Izzy persisted.
"What did she do?" Mantis interjected.
"Look, it didn't seem fair for you to not become a Tamer because of someone messing with your exams. I just wanted to help you out."
"WHAT are you talking about?" Mantis asked frantically.
"What do you mean? Do you think you know who sabotaged the Digi-Beetle I used today?"
"HELLO?! Mantis to Jen! I am alive here! WHAT HAPPENED?!"
Suddenly, a new voice entered the argument. "Could you three keep it down? I can't hear myself sing!" a Palmon shouted from a stage in the corner of the Tamer's Club. She was there all day everyday, just singing and dancing.
"Alright," Jen said, lowering her tone. She turned to the Tentomon to finally acknowledge him. "Mantis, we're a team now."
"We've always been a team," Mantis pointed out.
"No," Jen corrected, nodding her head towards Izzy, "I meant him and me." Mantis stared at her for a moment before falling from the air and crashing into the table.
"EXCUSE me!" the Palmon demanded indignantly.
"Gomen!" Izzy apologized. The plant-like Digimon gave him a dirty look before returning to her song. With a sigh, Izzy slid his eyes from her to Jen. Where they supposed to stare at each other for four hours?
Jen looked a little worried, too. She shifted awkwardly in her seat as Mantis picked himself up from the table. Izzy cleared his throat loudly. Silence fell over them.
"Humans," Mantis complained. "One moment they're shouting at each other, and the next they're annoyingly quiet."
Izzy looked a little insulted, and Jen hastened to explain that her Digimon's manners were a little sub-par. There was another silence after Mantis snorted indignantly.
"Um, look," Jen started, "how about I introduce you to my other Digimon?"
Izzy perked up immediately. "You have more?" he asked.
"Of course! I'd be Digi-food with just Mantis around to back me up."
"I resent that!" Mantis cried as the humans stood up and pushed their chairs in. He followed them grudgingly, loudly counting all of the times that he had pulled Jen's fat out of the fryer.
********
"How about this?" Jen asked as she and Izzy paused outside of the Gold Hawk's HQ. "I'll give you the grand tour."
With that, Jen stepped towards the large, revolving glass door that led into her HQ. It was constantly spinning as people entered and left the building. Mantis sighed deeply; the door was his worst enemy.
"Today," he muttered under his breath, "you are not going to get the best of me, door." Jen laughed, but Izzy looked confused.
"Go on then, Mantis," Jen encouraged her Digimon. After taking a deep breath, the Tentomon flew towards the door.
'Not too fast, now' he thought as he came nearer. 'Don't want to slam into the glass in front of you.' As soon as Mantis saw an opening, he bravely flew into it and tried to hover at just the right speed as the door spun. 'Not too fast, not too fast,' he reminded himself. 'Not-'
"Too slow," Jen grimaced as the glass panel from behind slammed into her Digimon, who slid down it with a loud squeaking sound. Izzy stared.
"A lot of flying Digimon have trouble with that door-HEY! Watch it!" shouted Jen as someone nearly stepped on Mantis.
"Teach your Digimon how to fly right," the person teased as he bent over to pick the Tentomon up. "Eventually we'll be scraping him off the glass with a spatula."
"Oh yeah?" Jen cried, searching her mind for an insult to throw back. "Well, you'd better not put on so much hair gel, or it'll mutate into a freakish, spiky, yellow monster!"
The boy carrying Mantis frowned and consciously reached up to touch his crazy blonde hair. "Whatever. Is that the thanks I get for rescuing your bug?"
"What are you doing in the Gold Hawks HQ? You're a Blue Falcon, Ishida!" Jen pointed out as the blonde boy deposited Mantis into her arms.
"I'm aware of that," he said coolly. "Some of the Blue Falcon Patamon have disappeared. I was asked to help put up posters with pictures of them, and I was supposed to put a few in there." The Ishida boy jerked his spiky head towards the Gold Hawks HQ.
Jen's face flushed from embarrassment. "Oh, I'm sorry...."
"Whatever," the boy replied. He took a few steps away before turning around again with a sly grin on his handsome face. "Oh, and you'd better be ready to lose at the tournament on Saturday, Pig Tail!" Jen frowned and touched her long plait.
""It's a braid, Yamatrocious!" Jen shouted to his retreating back.
"And we'll kick your sorry excuse for a wig all the way to File Island on Saturday!" Mantis added.
"Hah! Just make sure you get through the door alright!" the blonde called before disappearing around a corner down the street. There was a silence as Jen and Mantis stared after him, breathing deeply.
"Charming boy," Izzy noted with sarcasm gently woven into his words. Both Mantis and his Tamer gave identical snorts of irritation.
"Who is he?" Izzy asked as he carefully walked through the revolving door.
"The biggest jerk in the world," Mantis declared from the safety of Jen's arms. He cast a nervous glance over her shoulder at the glass. "I hate this door...."
"I've picked up on that," Izzy replied as he stepped into the Entrance Hall. Jen joined him a moment later and dragged him away from the door so they could talk.
"He's Yamato Ishida, or Matt. Or Yama, if I'm in a good mood," she said, answering Izzy's question.
"Or Yamatrocious if he's being an idiot," Mantis added. Jen grinned.
"Actually, sometimes he's really cool," Jen allowed. "He tells great jokes, and he plays a mean harmonica, but when I'm around he's usually all attitude."
"Jen's got a cousin called Tai," Mantis continued, "and Matt is his friend (although they've had some nasty arguments before)."
"I see," Izzy said. "This Matt certainly seems to treat you like his friend's little sister, or his cousin in this case."
"Well, we're rivals. Don't look so surprised, everyone who enters tournaments regularly has a rival. If you don't choose one yourself, the people who make the programs give you one to make more money. Anyway...I'm supposed to be giving you a tour. C'mon."
With that, Jen started pointing out and explaining everything. There were four hallways in the Entrance Hall, and three were directly in front of them as the entered. The one to the left led to a Digivolution Center, where DNA Digivolution could take place. The middle hallway led to Vandar's room. Finally, the room to the right led to a comfy sort of room where Gold Hawk Tamers could mingle.
There were a few item vendors in the Entrance Hall and a desk with Sakura behind it, waiting to answer any questions. And, of course, the Guard stood ready at the door, watching for suspicious and unknown individuals. Jen wondered for a moment if he had given Matt a hard time a few minutes ago. Also, a slightly undersized Agumon was walking around and trying to catch bits of information as Tamers conversed all around him.
"That's Hawk, our mascot," Jen explained quietly to Izzy. "He always wants to know what's going on. I know that he'd much rather be at a Domain with a Tamer than prowling around here all day. Poor little guy...."
Jen led Izzy to the fourth hallway and stepped into it. There were many, many doors up and down it, and the hall was very wide and long. Jen pointed to the first large door to her right.
"This leads to a small Digimon hospital. I bet you know about the huge Digimon hospital nearby-this is Digital City, after all-but this one is strictly for Gold Hawk Digimon."
A boy with navy hair and glasses suddenly opened the very door that Jen was pointing at and entered the hallway. His hands were full of paper work. He looked stressed.
"Hi Joe!" Jen called to him with a smile. He barely paused to look up at her.
"Good afternoon," he replied, sounding distracted. Joe continued down the hallway. Izzy stared.
"Is he always so distant?" he asked when Joe was out of earshot. Jen frowned darkly.
"No. I bet he's exhausted. There have been a lot of weird...accidents concerning Gold Hawk Digimon lately. I feel bad for him," she replied. Izzy's eyebrows elevated as Jen and Mantis shared significant looks.
"Why is that?" the redhead inquired.
"Never mind," Jen said. "You wouldn't believe me anyway." Izzy opened his mouth to protest, but Jen cut him off by continuing the tour.
"That room that Joe just went into has got binders upon binders full of information about every Gold Hawk Tamer and Digimon. Health records, tournament results, test results, everything. That one is full of all kinds of supplies, I think. You need a key to get in, so.... There are a few training rooms, and you used to be able to use them at any time, but they same people kept getting up early and staying there all day. Now you have to reserve them, and the waiting lists are horrendous. There's a special training gym on the Gold Hawk's Grounds, which are outside this building, but you have to be at least an Elite Tamer to use them." Jen paused a moment to sigh. "Needless to say, that one's not very busy."
"Aren't you a Rank 4 Pro Tamer?" Izzy asked. Jen nodded. "I thought I heard Vandar address you with that title. Elite Tamers are Rank 7. You're nearly there!"
"Koushiro," Mantis said, sounding exasperated, "you've no idea how hard it is to win an Official Tournament." Izzy looked insulted again, so Jen resumed her tour to take his mind off of it.
"There are also apartments in a separate building where high-ranking Guard Tamers (that's Rank 7 and up) live in times of emergency so that they'll always be at hand. There's also a Digi-Beetle repair shop on the Grounds. Oh, and there are a few meeting rooms in here, and there's another building with handsome rooms where certain events and fundraisers-you know, dinners, dances-are held."
Jen came to a stop in front of one of the doors. "And now I want you to meet my Digimon," she said as she opened it. Izzy gasped in delight.
A gargantuan computer took up almost the entire room, leaving only enough space for about six people to stand. Izzy ran up to it excitedly and whispered, "Wow!" under his breath. Mantis and Jen shared glances.
"Don't you want to see my Digimon?" Jen asked. "You'll have to move. You're blocking the controls."
Izzy blinked at her. "Huh?" he asked. Mantis rolled his eyes.
"My Digimon," Jen repeated.
"Oh," Izzy murmured, not taking his eyes off of the huge monitor. "Yes." He stepped aside, allowing Jen to reach the keys. She rapidly pressed a series of buttons before stopping and announcing that she was done. Izzy looked around.
"Um, where...?" he asked.
Mantis sighed and Jen smiled. "I take it you've never seen a Whamon," she said.
"You've got a Whamon?" Izzy asked, his eyes widening.
"No," Mantis buzzed in his funny accent. "It's a figure of speech. She's trying to say that it wouldn't be smart to upload Digimon into this room. We'd be squished. They're outside."
"Ah," Izzy muttered, feeling very stupid. The sight of the magnificent computer had slowed down his thinking process significantly. "So, um, let's move on, shall we?"
"Indeed," Mantis replied, clearly unimpressed with the redhead's apparent lack of critical thinking skills. Izzy turned away in embarrassment, but made a promise to himself to prove his genius to the Vaccine Digimon.
Jen led the others out into the hallway and opened a door at its end. She smiled as she ushered Izzy through the doorway and into the daylight, eager to see his reaction to her Digimon. She wasn't disappointed.
Four Digimon were grouped together under an ancient weeping willow, beaming at the sight of their Tamer. Izzy stared at them, one at a time, with an amazed look on his face. His eyes first came to rest on a Digimon that was built like a human and stood about eight inches taller than Izzy. It was clad in a strange hat, a dark cloak, a yellow jumpsuit, and brown gloves and boots. It carried a long wooden staff. This was clearly Wizardmon, a Champion-level Data Digimon. Next, Izzy noticed a Piximon, a cute pink pom pom with wings. The short redhead knew that Piximon was an Ultimate Data-type. Soon, another less welcome Digital Monster caught Koushiro's attention.
"Etemon," he said darkly. "A Virus Digimon."
"Gotta problem with that, Small Stuff?" the Etemon demanded. Izzy frowned and turned to Jen.
"What happened to fighting for justice?" he asked. Jen's face darkened.
"Virus Digimon are not evil. I've seen as many corrupted Data and Vaccine Digimon as I have Virus ones," she stated. Izzy didn't look convinced at all.
"We do tend to have some nasty attitudes, though, Carrot Top," Etemon informed him, chuckling as though he was proud of that fact.
Izzy didn't reply to him. Instead, he stared at the fourth Digimon and gasped. He had never seen a Digimon like it before. At first glance it resembled a floating pink dolphin, sleek and shiny. If you looked at it longer, however, you'd notice the leafy fins and the flowery 'ears'. It hovered about four feet from the ground, making mysterious, bell-like noises from within its 'ears' every time it moved.
A moment later, Izzy realized that Jen was explaining his presence to her Digimon. He tore his eyes away from the unknown Digimon to listen to her speech. "This is Koushiro Izumi, everyone. He's...." Jen paused nervously. "He's my partner now."
There was an uproar. The dolphin-like Digimon made a series of high-pitched squeaking sounds, which were totally impossible for Izzy to understand. The Etemon was shouting about not wanting to work with a "Virus-hating Carroty Shrimp," and the Piximon was excitedly talking about a training routine for Izzy to undergo. Only the Wizardmon remained silent, although his surprise was plainly evident.
Jen was sighing and she looked like she had expected this reaction. The noise continued for a solid three minutes before the Pro Tamer pulled a whistle out of her pocket and put it to her lips. She took a long, deep breath and Izzy hastily covered his ears, but he didn't hear a thing as Jen blew into it as hard as she could.
The Digimon, however, crammed their fingers (if the possessed any) into their ears and winced heavily. Clearly it was a whistle that only Digimon could hear. When Jen ran out of air and lowered the little noise-maker from her lips, silence had been completely restored.
"Now," Jen started as if she had never been interrupted, "I'll explain the whole thing later. Right now I think we should have some introductions."
There was a pause. Jen gently elbowed Izzy to make him begin. "Oh! Well," he nervously said as the Digimon stared at him, "um...." Suddenly he remembered his promise to prove himself to his new teammates, especially Mantis and Jen, and his voice strengthened. "My name is Koushiro Izumi. Please call me Izzy. I'm twelve years old, and-"
Jen gasped loudly. She thought that Izzy was ten tops, given his height. The short person in question ignored her and continued his speech.
"And I hope...we can make a prodigious team." Izzy distinctly heard Etemon give a disgusted snort. The Digimon didn't look too impressed with him. Jen cast a worried look at them.
Just when Izzy was sure that none of them were going to respond, the Wizardmon spoke up for the first time. "I am Revien," he said. "It's a pleasure."
Jen gave him a pleased look, and he gave a small nod in return as the Piximon flew in front of Izzy's face. "I'm Puru! Puru Puru! We'll get along just fine, yep yep...after some training!" he said energetically.
"Training...?"
"Yes, training! Cleaning floors, washing windows, untangling balls of yarn-"
A sharp, high-pitched squeak cut Puru off. The Dolphin Digimon was attempting to speak, but all that came out were squeals and squeaks, which were joined by the jingling of several bells whenever she moved.
"She's says 'I'm Galemon'," Mantis translated. Izzy looked confused.
"I've never seen-" he started. Jen waved her hand to silence him.
"She's a unique Digimon. I'm pretty sure that he's the only one of her kind," she explained.
"Digimon understand her, and Jen does too. But most humans don't seem to quite catch what she's saying," Mantis added. "Her name's Tochiko."
The Etemon, who had remained silent since his last outburst, could contain himself no longer. "Why do we have to work with a stunted dwarf?!" he demanded.
"Elvis!" Jen scolded. "Be nice to Izzy!"
"Why?! He obviously has no skills as a Tamer. I can tell he's a newbie, and he's tiny, too," Elvis protested. "I bet he wants to leech off of us like a puny little parasite!"
"That's enough, Elvis!" Jen said commandingly. She could practically see steam rising from Izzy's ears, giving her the impression that his head was on fire.
"Alright everyone," the Pro Tamer started. "We're all acquainted, so now we can get serious."
Izzy noticed that the five Digimon had formed a ring around their Tamer, assuring her safety. They all seemed to be carefully absorbing every word she said, and the redhead could tell that her orders had saved at least one of the Digimon's lives at some point. It was then that the new Tamer realized that he had disturbed this team. From what he could tell, they all cared about each other, including the temperamental Elvis. The Digimon were happy as they were and they didn't need or want him around. Jen's voice brought him back from his reverie.
"...so now you know about that. Anyway, Vandar's given us a mission. It's...well, it's depressingly simple."
"That would be his fault," Elvis said coolly, nodding jerkily towards Izzy. "The Big Boss didn't wanna overwhelm the little newbie, so now we're stuck doing a baby mission. Thank you, thank you very much for wasting our time, kiddy."
"Elvis!" Jen cried sharply. "Cut the cracks!" The Etemon cringed slightly and fell silent, although he continued giving Izzy dirty and malicious looks. "As I was saying, we have to get some Agumon to give to new Gold Hawk Guard Tamers."
"That's it?" Elvis asked. "We're just gonna beat up on some weakling Rookies? That's it! The King is leaving the building!"
"You don't have to come if you don't want to," Jen said with a sigh. "I need as much room on my server as I can get, anyway. The more Agumon we bring Vandar, the more we get paid."
Izzy watched Elvis stalk angrily towards the Gold Hawks Entrance Hall with relief. He definitely didn't need a nasty Virus Digimon breathing down his neck during his first mission. "C'mon," Jen said to the redhead. "We've gotta go to the Main Gate."
***********
"Hey, Chief Carol!" Jen called as the blonde woman came into view. "How's my Digi-Beetle? We're a little early."
"Oh, it's all ready," replied Carol. "The mechanics always pull through for Tamers that they bet on!" She stared at Izzy but said nothing.
"What's this about betting?" Izzy asked.
"She means in the tournaments. You know, people bet on the Tamer that they think will win the tournament. It's kinda like how people bet on Unimon races," Mantis supplied.
"Right! Saturday's a tourney day! We'll have to train, yep yep!" Puru Puru pointed out.
"Is it an Official Tournament?" Izzy inquired. Whoever won an Official Tournament got a raise of rank. Unofficial Tournaments were fought for prizes and rich rewards.
"Nah, it's just a regular one," Jen replied.
"We never miss an opportunity to teach Yamato Ishida a lesson, yep yep!" Puru gleefully said. Jen laughed, clearly agreeing with him. Carol cleared her throat.
"You are here to go on a mission, right?" she asked. Jen blinked at her.
"Oh! Oh, yeah! Where's my Digi-Beetle?" Carol pointed to a red-and-purple Digi-Beetle. "Right. Thanks chief!"
Jen ran to her vehicle and smiled as she stopped in front of it. Her expression soon changed as she saw the new seat that had been installed. Izzy understood; the extra seat was physical proof that her career as a Guard Tamer had dramatically changed. Jen got over it quickly. Soon she was climbing into the driver's seat and turning the key in the ignition. Her Digi-Beetle instantly sprang to life. Its headlights flashed and eyes appeared in them, and it honked in a friendly way. Izzy realized with a start that the Digi-Beetle was greeting its owner.
"How do you feel, Quest?" Jen asked. "Different?" The vehicle's headlights flickered as if it was saying "Yes!"
"This is my new partner, Izzy Izumi," Jen said, pointing towards him. The car turned to face the person in question before honking hello.
"H-hi," Izzy shakily replied. He knew that Digi-Beetles were practically alive, but this was more than he had bargained for!
"Hop in!" Jen suggested with a smile. "It's time for our first mission!"
"Right," Izzy agreed a he climbed (with some difficulty due to his height) into the seat besides Jen.
"Revien." Jen simply stated as she held her finger above a button. The Wizardmon nodded, and she pressed the button, causing a flap to open near the front of the Digi-Beetle. Izzy gasped as Revien's form turned into a graph of sorts. In a flash of green light, Revien disappeared.
"I downloaded him into Quest's server," Jen explained to him, laughing at his shocked expression. "I don't download Tochiko, Mantis, and Puru because they can fly. Well, so can Revien, but he gets tired after a while, so...."
Jen looked down at Quest. "Okay, buddy! We're going to the SCSI Domain! Let's hit the road!" The Digi-Beetle started rolling out of the Main Gate's large entrance with no help from Jen. Izzy stared. Was the steering wheel just for show?
"Why not drive it?" he asked as Quest cruised onto the road.
"I can't drive it outside of Domains until I've got my driver's license," Jen replied dully as the wind whipped her hair around. "Until then it's got its own navigation program. They say a Digi-Beetle using the program will never get lost or crash."
The two Tamers traveled together aboard Quest in casual conversation. Soon, however, the weather and the latest news had been picked apart and a silence feel between them. Jen suppressed a loud sigh with difficulty and wished that she had some idea of what to talk about. She was very relieved when Quest rolled off of the road and headed down the familiar wild path to the SCSI Domain.
This Domain was underground, so Quest rolled onto the warp panel that would take them to the top level. Izzy seemed very excited as he looked around the dungeon-like interior. "Remember the most important rule of going to Domains," Jen advised him. "NEVER get off your Digi-Beetle under ANY circumstances. There are all sorts of traps that could blow you up...or worse. The ancients who built the Domains sure knew what they were doing."
Izzy nodded, and something immediately caught his eye. He nudged Jen and pointed to a Biyomon. "We'll leave it be unless it attacks us," Jen whispered. "We're after Agumon."
Jen looked down at a counter by the control panel. "Look at this," she said. "We've started draining EP, our energy points. We need to use the auto pilot if we're about to run out of EP, or else we'll have to cough up 1,000 bits for a new engine. The same goes for Quest's HP, or health points."
Jen and Izzy traveled in the Domain in silence. Jen had taken the wheel and was steering Quest down narrow hallways that opened into large rooms surrounded by stone walls and floors. Izzy felt his excitement and his nervousness welling up inside him as they turned every corner. He was a Tamer on a mission. A simple mission, but what the heck.
"Oh!" he cried as an orange tail caught his eye. No less than six Agumon were crowded together. Jen grabbed a blue gun that was attached to the front of Quest and started loading what looked like CD players into it.
"This is a shooter gun!" Jen explained as she took aim. The Agumon were charging at her, but her Digimon weren't retaliating yet. "Release Revien for me, Izzy!" Izzy did as he was told while trying to watch Jen shoot a CD player at each Agumon in turn. The Agumon all caught their CD players, and expressions of delight passed their orange faces. Now Jen's Digimon attacked.
"Thunder ball!" Revien shouted. An orange orb materialized in his hand, and he threw it at the nearest Agumon. His fellow teammates were attacking as well.
"Psy bomb!" Puru cried.
"Super shocker!" Mantis attacked. Tochiko did a quick spin in mid-air, and cherry blossom petals sliced into an Agumon like small knives. Jen watched the battle calmly, but Izzy looked tense, even though he knew six rookies couldn't dream of taking on Puru, an Ultimate Digimon, let alone a Champion and two Rookies as well.
Fire and lightening flashed through the air, aided by bombs and petals, unleashing deafening exploding sounds and raising dust from the floor. Izzy was unable to keep up with what was happening, but a moment later all was still. The six Agumon were sprawled out on the floor, and Jen's Digimon returned to their post behind the Digi-Beetle. Slowly the largest Agumon, who was consequently the leader, rose to its clawed feet and walked cautiously up to Quest.
Izzy stared at it. "Why is it coming near?" he asked.
"This was on the test, Izzy," Jen reminded him.
"Yes," Izzy replied, "but seeing it in action is a little different."
Jen sighed. "Well," she said, "the first thing you have to do is give them a gift to interest them. After they get the gift, they want to fight you. I'm not really sure why, but they do. Next, you have to impress them with your Digimon's strength. Wild Digimon fight for their positions, so it's natural that they give in to the stronger warrior. So, now these Agumon want to join my team."
With that, Jen hit the button that opened the panel that Wizardmon had gone into earlier. All six Agumon were transported inside it to Quest's server in a flash on green light. "I've got room for ten Digimon in Quest's server after that upgrade it got earlier. I need to save some room for Revien, so I can hold three more Agumon. So, let's go find them!"
Jen pointed to the corner of the room. "Look, a warp panel," she pointed out. A large white panel was positioned where the Pro Tamer was indicating, giving off a faint blue glow. "If we drive onto that, we'll be transported to the next level."
She turned the steering wheel in her hands, and Quest moved towards the warp panel. It had barely moved three feet, however, when a loud explosion sounded from beneath its tires. Izzy and Jen were nearly thrown off of the car as it rocked violently. When the cloud of dust that had risen finally fell, Izzy slowly released his tight grip on the handle bar in front of him.
"A land mine?" he asked. Jen nodded grimly.
"It must have been powerful. My trap locater didn't pick it up," she said. Izzy glanced at the HP counter and gasped.
"We've lost half of our health," he reported uneasily. "Are you alright, Quest?" The Digi-Beetle honked its horn feebly. "Maybe we should use the auto pilot...."
"No," Jen replied. "We're still alright. Now let's find three more Agumon."
Izzy wasn't sure about the logic of continuing, but he didn't argue the point with his partner. Quest stepped onto the warp, and they descended to the next level down. The first thing that caught Izzy's attention was a large, yellow pillar. The next thing he noticed was a section of yellow...stuff on the floor in a corner.
"So that's what an electro-spore looks like!" Izzy stated. "If you touch those, damage is dealt to your Digi-Beetle, right?"
"Right. But if they're in the way, they can be destroyed with magnetic missiles," Jen replied. "And see that yellow stuff on the floor? It's acid. Don't drive over it unless you've bought special tires. Also, I bet you didn't see that black spot on the floor."
"Is that a bug nest?" Izzy asked. Jen nodded. "Can you tell what kind it is?"
"Nope. Could be the kind that steals a Digi-Beetles health or energy, or it may attack Digimon. It's best not to find out."
Eventually Jen and Izzy got three more Agumon, and they would've continued to search the Domain, but....
"Look! A treasure chest!" Jen cried gleefully. "Let's open it." An arm extended from the side of the Digi-Beetle and it reached for the chest. "That arm tries to disarm any traps that are on the treasure chest."
A moment later the chest popped open, but it unleashed an explosion on Quest. Izzy was thrown from his seat. Revien luckily caught him before he touched the dungeon floor.
"Izzy," Jen said as Revien lowered him into his seat, "are you alright? Good. Listen, we've only got 100 HP left after that. We've gotta use the auto pilot. Let's get out of here."
**********
Izzy and Jen walked into Vandar's room a half hour later and saluted him respectfully. "Sir," Jen started as she stepped forward, "we've brought back nine Agumon."
"Nine?" Vandar asked. "Impressive. Now, I believe that your expenses were 250 Bits per Digimon for the CD players you undoubtedly used. I believe that totals 2,250 Bits. Am I correct?"
"Yes, sir," Izzy immediately replied.
"Alright then," Vandar said. "Your payment will be 5,000 Bits."
"Thank you, sir," Jen said as Vandar gave her the payment.
"Have you fulfilled your second mission yet?" he asked her quietly.
"No, sir," Jen whispered. "I need more time to get to know him."
"Very well, but do decide quickly. Good day."
The partners saluted him and exited his room. Jen turned to Izzy. "So," she said, "I get 2,250 Bits to pay for the CD players. That leaves...uh...."
"2,750 Bits. That means we each get 1,375 Bits," Izzy informed her, holding out his hands to accept his reward.
"That's not as much as it seemed like it'd be," Jen said with a sigh.
"I can't complain," Izzy responded. "I never realized how much money was involved in this." Jen shrugged.
"Once you start upgrading your Digi-Beetle, you begin to wish that Vandar had given you a lot more than what you got," Mantis buzzed. "It's not cheap."
"Amen," Jen muttered. There was another silence.
"Well," Izzy started.
"Yes, I guess we're done for the day," Jen finished. "Um, I'll need your address...and your e-mail...and you're phone number," she added awkwardly. Izzy obliged her.
"So," he said when they were finished.
"Yeah, see ya," Jen replied, walking towards the revolving door. The Tentomon gave another brave attempt at conquering it. "Mantis-Mantis, be carefu-oooh, that must've hurt-"
As Jen made her way home (carrying an unconscious Tentomon), an unpleasant thought found its way into her head. 'My parents aren't gonna be happy when I tell them that my new partner is some guy that I've never met....'
'Darn Blood Knights, getting me into so much trouble...!'
****************************************************************************
Jen: Ooooh, I don't think I'll ever be able to feel my butt again!
Yama: Once again, too much info!
Jen: *sigh* I'm sorry if it got kinda dumb towards the end. I was so eager to just finish the darn chapter that I kinda rushed the last few pages. Guess what? According to the typing program I'm using, if I printed this out it'd be 16 pages long! That's gotta be a record (for me, at least)!!!!!!!
Yama: Wonderful.
Jen: Well, guess what everyone? Next chapter the story finally gets interesting! You've all made it through the boring explanatory chapters! Yahoo! In the next chapter, four more years pass and, um...let me check my notes...
Yama: *holds up a sign that says "Be right back"*
Jen: Ah, the next chapter won't be as long, which is good for me! Um, the Blood Knights turn up in the flesh in the next chapter, which is titled Return of the Blood Knights! The storyline has been introduced, and now the fun begins! So stick with me, everyone! Till later days!