Legal Crap (Disclaimer): Newsflash!!! I don't own Digimon or Digimon World 2! I own Jenashu, of course. And Galemon in all her forms! But other than that.... Anyways, haffa nice day, and don't sue me!
Jen: I know it's been forever. I've been horridly busy with school (I'm a freshman in high school now! I bet you thought I was older!) And now I'm in a play! So my updates will be few and far between. So sorry! You'll probably get sick of checking my bio, but I think author alert is a free service now!
Yama: You can always ask her to e-mail you in your review if you want her to do the honors.
Jen: Yeah, I'll do that. Anyway, I'm so glad that I'm doing this chapter. No more explaining stuff!
Yama: Except Japanese.
Jen: Oh, that's right. I'm introducing some Japanese stuff into the story now. After all, Anime is Japanese animation.
Yama: Not that this story takes place in Japan.
Jen: Well, no. I doubt that there's a Monitor Village and a Digital City in Japan. But I don't care. As far as I'm concerned, this story can be in Japan. Do you really care?
Yama: Anyway.
Jen: Right. I really want to post because it's been so long, so onto the story! Enjoy and R&R!!!!
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Return of the Blood Knights
Jen panted and gasped as she ran as fast as her feet would carry her towards her high school. She was a sophomore now, and she was determined to make it to school on time. Being late was not a great way to impress her teachers.
Like most Japanese schools, Jen's was fenced in. Her feet moved even faster as the entrance gate to Odaiba High came into view. Triumphantly, she ran through it, patting herself on the back for making it on time. She had only taken a few steps after that when a loud bell went off. It was followed by the sound of the heavy gate being pulled shut. Although she knew she was safe, Jen couldn't help looking over her shoulder to make sure that she was inside the fence.
The sixteen-year-old girl had to clamp her lips together to keep from laughing. A tall boy with eyes and hair that were the same chocolate color as Jen's was outside the gate and a teacher was reprimanding him in a loud, shrill voice. Jen could tell that he was tuning out and nodding his bushy head at appropriate intervals, probably wondering how he had managed to sleep through his alarm again. With a start Jen realized that she shouldn't be standing around watching him, so she gathered her remaining breath and headed towards the school building.
Jen walked into the genkan (A/N: Japanese people don't wear shoes inside. A genkan is a place where they take their shoes off and leave them until it's time to go. In a home it's a space right as you walk into the door, and it's a little bit lower than the rest of the floor. In a school, a genkan is a big room full of small shoe lockers. When they get to school they take off their outdoor shoes and wear the indoor shoes in the lockers. They change shoes again at the end of the day. I think there's a genkan in the first episode of the second Digimon series. TK and Kari are talking and Yolei brings Kari an e-mail or something) and paused a moment as if she was trying to remember something. She snapped her fingers when whatever she had forgotten came back to her, and she strode up to a section of small shoe lockers. Her fingers started to shake a little as she fished a note out of her pocket and brought it up to one of the three slits in the door of one of the lockers. The teenager faltered before she was able to push it through. With a sigh of frustration, she gathered her courage and tried again, but she lost her nerve.
The sophomore might have struggled with the note for quite a while if the door to the genkan hadn't slammed shut. Jen looked up in alarm and hurried quietly to her own locker as the boy who had been scolded at the gate walked in.
"Hey," he said as he caught sight of her. "Guess you just made it, huh?"
"Guess you just missed it, eh?" Jen replied. "Snoozed through your alarm again, oh my cousin?"
"That's about the size of it," the young man affirmed. "What are you still doing here, anyway?"
Jen scanned her mind for something to tell him. She grabbed the lock on the handle of her locker. "I forgot my combination." The boy laughed.
"We're so predictable. You can count on me to sleep through my wake-up call, and I can count on you to forget life's little details,"
"Stuff it, Tai," Jen said with a grin as she opened her lock. "Aha! I got it." She pulled open the door, pulled out her indoor shoes, and kicked off her sneakers.
"Alright," Tai said when she had put her indoor shoes on and placed the others away. "Let's hit our room." With that, the cousins power-walked to their classroom. Before they made it there, Tai got a good look at Jen's face. He frowned darkly.
"You okay? You look like you got hit by a bus," he commented.
"I'm kinda tired," Jen replied as she rubbed her eyes. Tai raised his eyebrows skeptically. "Fine, I'm exhausted." It was true. Jen had been working like crazy to perform her ever-increasing duties as a Tamer. "Vandar's been working my butt off."
"That's no good," Tai replied seriously as his fingers closed around the doorknob to their room. "You're gonna need that to sit down, you know." Jen sighed and whacked his head softly.
"Mr. Yagami, Miss Hino. You're late," pointed out the woman behind the desk.
"Mrs. Shisaki, I'm sorry," Tai apologized. "I was late, but Jen wasn't. She just forgot her locker combination for a while."
"Sorry, Ma'am," Jen added as a few people snickered.
"Make sure you write that down somewhere, Miss Zircona," Mrs. Shisaki advised curtly. Jen bowed and took her seat near the back of the room, and Tai collapsed into the one behind her. On Tai's right sat none other than Yamato Ishida, whom was staring at a pretty girl in the middle of the room named Sora Takenouchi. Sora was pretty, there could be no denying that, but the girl next to her was truly glamorous. Mimi Tachikawa was the jewel of the sophomore class. Izzy was there, too. He had nearly doubled his height over the last four years, but he was still rather short and was thus seated at the front of the room. His head was cushioned by his arm on the desk, and he looked like he was asleep. A humongous book that he was halfway through lay forgotten by his head as he tried to rest.
A girl with light brown hair and green eyes was seated to Izzy's left. She was flipping through papers in a folder labeled 'Tera'. On a sudden impulse, Tera looked over her shoulder at Jen. The Gold Hawk had changed a bit. She was taller and slimmer, with a perfectly straight smile thanks to the braces that she had worn a few years ago. She now wore contacts instead of glasses, and her hair had grown so that it reached down to lay about four inches above the butt that Vandar was working off of her. And of course, the straight body of a twelve-year-old had significantly evolved into the hour glassed shape of a sixteen-year-old.
Tera frowned when she saw that Jen's face was buried in her crossed arms. She looked from Jen to Izzy and realized why they were so drained. Undoubtedly they had been working diligently. Far too diligently. For now they made a magnificent team. Once they had gotten over their initial awkwardness they had become best friends. Jen's amiable nature allowed her to win the affections of the Digimon, and she made an excellent trainer because they did whatever she told them to. Izzy was a walking encyclopedia of knowledge, and he knew a lot about Digimon, despite his first impression. He was also skilled at battle strategies. Their teamwork allowed them to rise in the ranks, and Jen was now a Rank 8 Commander Tamer. Izzy had hit rank 7, Elite Tamer. Vandar had given him permission to separate from Jen and work on his own almost three years ago, but they got along so well that it seemed like a waste to drop their teamwork. Needless to say, Izzy had proven his genius to Jen and Mantis, just as he had vowed to.
Although the partners in question were drained, they had to raise their heads when Mrs. Shisaki left the classroom and their math teacher walked in (A/N: In Japan the teachers come to the students, who stay in the same room all day. How convenient for them. I have to go up four floors like four times a day.) He began his lesson in his dull voice, driving even the sharp-witted Izzy into a stupor. The redhead's mind was completely blank and his eyelids were unmercifully heavy. He fought valiantly to ward off the strong bout of lethargy that had overcome him, and he would have failed if a loud cracking sound hadn't jolted him back into the world around him.
The aged math teacher had rapped his ruler on Jen's desk because she had fallen asleep. Izzy turned around to see her slowly raise her head up. He watched the teacher do a double take when he saw Jen's exhausted expression. A rare grandfather-type look flashed across the instructor's face as he suggested to Jen that she should visit the health room.
"Sir," Tera said as she raised her hand, "I think Izzy should go to."
"Izzy?" the old man asked, blinking.
"Koushiro Izumi, sir," Tai explained, knowing that the old math teacher wouldn't be familiar with the nicknames of the students.
"Yes," he said when he saw Izzy's face. "Yes, you should both go." The two of them didn't have the strength to argue, so they headed out of the room together.
The nurse fussed over them at the health room. "Tsk! Children weren't meant to be worked like this! I strongly suggest that you put your school career over your Taming one. Don't look surprised, of course I know that you're Tamers. I saw you on TV Saturday. My little daughter is your biggest fan. She was jumping and shouting when you won, you know." Somehow the nurse was able to rant on and on without stopping for breath. She was obviously a talker. "Oh, my! When was the last time the two of you got a full night's sleep?"
Jen and Izzy shared quick glances. They admitted that they couldn't remember the last time that they had sleep a full eight hours.
"That's unforgivable! Mr. Izumi, you're starting a cold, I think. And you're on the verge of collapsing, Miss Hino. You two just lay down," the nurse pointed towards three futons in the corner of the room, "and get some rest. You need it."
Jen wasted no time in crawling into bed, but Izzy still had the presence of mind to wonder how many sick teens had rested there before him. His only comforts were health regulations and the fact that the nurse fussed over her charges so much. He too settled down in the mattress.
A loud hacking sound woke Izzy up a while later. A freshman was sitting in a seat a few feet away and making sounds like a seal as he coughed violently. Izzy rolled onto his other side to turn away from the sick student. Unfortunately, the nurse saw his movement.
"Oh, good," she said, "you're awake. How do you feel?"
"I'm confident that I'm capable of remaining alert for the rest of the day," Izzy assured her as he slowly got to his feet. He started to make the bed, but the nurse stopped him.
"I'll get that. You wake up Miss Hino. Your lunch period's about to start."
Izzy roused Jen, and they thanked the nurse before heading outside to eat and enjoy the nice weather. They hadn't gone far when they were hailed by a familiar voice.
"Hey, you two!" Matt called when Jen and Izzy came into his sight. The partners walked towards him and the group around him-Tai, Tera, Sora, and Mimi-so they could eat together.
"Feeling better?" the blonde asked teasingly. "Ol' Vandar keeping ya on your toes?" Jen inhaled deeply.
"Matt, I know we're rivals, but we're friends too," she pointed out. "Somehow."
"Oh, I know," Matt grinned.
"The more he likes you, the more he teases you," Sora explained. Matt snorted.
Tai rolled his eyes. "Seriously, though," he said, "how are you two feeling?"
"I'll live. Izzy?"
"I'm alright for now," he answered.
"Taming," Tera observed, "will be the death of you two."
"If falling asleep on a road or something isn't," Matt added with a smirk.
"Just shut up and eat, Yamatrocious," Jen scolded. Matt smirked and bit into a rice cracker.
When the bell that signaled the end of lunch rang, Jen and the others hurried back to their room. Jen heard a sudden clinking sound, and with a start she realized that she had dropped her portable digivolution ray/server, commonly known as a digivice. They were ungodly expensive, but Vandar had awarded a new model to Jen and Izzy after a highly complex and insanely difficult mission. This palm-sized piece of technology had the ability to actually store a Digimon inside, and it also produced a digivolution-inducing ray.
In her hurry to pick the digivice up before it got stepped on, Jen's skirt snagged on the corner of a desk, and the note that she had almost slipped inside someone's locker that morning jerked out of her pocket and fluttered to the floor. Izzy, being a gentleman, picked it up and offered it to her.
"Here," he said with a smile, "you dropped this." Jen stared at him, and her face turned a dark shade of red. Izzy gave her a puzzled look, and his gaze traveled over her shoulder. The redhead noticed that a guy was staring at Jen with an unpleasant smirk plastered on his lips. In a quick motion, Izzy unsnagged Jen's skirt. The boy frowned darkly at him.
Despite all of that, Jen's attention still seemed to be focused on the note. She reached out and tore it desperately from his hand before scurrying to her seat. The slightly undersized redhead stared after her with a baffled expression on his face.
The confusion that Izzy was suffering from was nothing compared to the pandemonium that broke out just a few moments later. Loud bells began to ring urgently, but they weren't signaling a fire drill. The piercing tones were called The Tamer Distress Signal. Thus, all of the Tamers that belonged to a Guard Team briskly stood up and rushed to the cafeteria, leaving their peers in anxious concern and fear.
"Are we all here?" the school's principal asked on a microphone as the Tamers assembled before him. "Stand still," he demanded as he proceeded to count heads. "Alright. Apparently Drive City is under attack by Digimon of unknown origins. Your Digi...whatsits...the car things..."
"Digi-Beetles, sir," Tai called. The headmaster nodded grimly.
"Digi-Beetles, then. They're on there way here with your strongest Digimon uploaded into them. As soon as they arrive, you are urged to depart to Drive City. Good luck, and be careful!" The last words of his speech had barely finished reverberating before everyone tried to get out of the cafeteria at once. "In an orderly fashion, if you will! Come on now, show some sense!"
The Guard Tamers ignored him and continued to wrestle each other to get out to the parking lot. Finally all of them made it to the blacktop; there weren't too many of them, after all. Being a Guard Tamer required more time, patience, dedication, effort, and energy than most teenagers possessed. Also, becoming a Guard Tamer meant being one for life, so many young people were hesitant to make the commitment (or their parents refused to allow them to.) There were, however, many regular Tamers who kept Digimon for their own purposes.
As it was, there were about thirty Guard Tamers gathered together on the parking lot. Jen gazed at the group and matched faces with names in an attempt to ward off the sense of dread that was overcoming her. As usual, she was one of the only ones who could remain calm during a crisis. She shook her head as a freshman close to her began to boast.
"I've been waiting for something like this to happen," he coolly explained to the other freshmen as he nodded his head knowingly. "I've been training my team. I'm glad for a chance to give them a challenge!"
"Then you're a fool," a smooth, low voice told him. The sexy voice's owner was a gorgeous blonde junior named Garu Sayoe. He had baby blue eyes and fine, soft hair.
"People are suffering right at this moment," he continued. "They're dying and losing everything. And you're glad that it's happening." Garu gave a disgusted snort and turned away. "You tarnish the name of Guard Tamers everywhere."
Jen tried to block out her friend as he scolded the idiotic boy. She hated to hear him when he was upset; his feelings flowed into her and became her own. She continued her mental attendance in an attempt to ignore him. Izzy's here, she thought. There's Tai, Tera, and Sora. The Gold Hawk sophomores. Good ol' Matt, he'll fight to the end, the jerk. There aren't many Blue Falcons like him. Then there are the freshmen.... Lily just became a Gold Hawk. We're cousins alright, Taming's in our blood. Matt's kid brother's a Blue Falcon, too. TK, right? And then there's that famous genius kid, Ken Ichi-something. I think that girl's name is Indy, and the short one is Ryn. She seems too nice to be a Black Sword, but Indy's got the traditional Black Sword sarcasm. There're two more freshmen left. Argh, who are they? Ah, umm.... Vi and Casey, Blue Falcons.
Before Jen could start categorizing the upper classmen, Quest pulled up to the sidewalk and honked loudly. Izzy and Jen waved good-bye to the remaining Tamers before hopping aboard. Izzy turned off the navigation program in order to put his new driver's license to use (A/N: No, I don't know the Japanese driver's license laws. Work with me.)
"Unknown origins my butt," Jen scoffed when Quest had rolled off of the parking lot.
"Still on about the Blood Knights?" Mantis asked as he hovered above Jen's head; Izzy had released him from his Digivice. Jen had given the cheeky Digimon to Izzy a few weeks after they had become partners because of Vandar's command to her. "Do a type-casting on Koushiro Izumi," he had ordered.
Type-casting was a complicated system that Vandar had invented after an Agumon turned on its Tamer. It was obvious then that many Guard Tamers could benefit from having a Digimon that suited their personality, especially for their first digital partner. Thus Tamers possessing large amounts of empathy were charged with the task of studying new Tamers and assigning them appropriate Digimon. This process worked wonders, but it was tedious. It wasn't used very often, and Jen had wondered about Vandar's decision to put it into practice on Izzy.
Mantis treated Izzy with respect and admiration, unlike Jen, whom he often picked on. Jen had expected this; she knew that the Tentomon preferred intelligent individuals who possessed never-ending curiosity. Jen was a very talented student, but her top grades were mainly due to hard work and a keen memory. She was really a happy and goofy type of person. Izzy, however, was an honest-to-goodness genius who thirsted for knowledge and learning.
"Yes," Jen answered, "I am." She sighed deeply. Everyone still laughed when she voiced her opinion on the Blood Knights, despite the fact that the signs were getting more and more prominent every day.
"Let's see if we can find out what's going on here," Izzy suggested before Mantis could say anything to Jen about her crazy theory. He flicked on the radio.
"...released dozens of crazed Digimon into Drive City. Buildings are being leveled, chaos, as you can hear, is ensuing-"
Izzy's face grew grave as a loud crashing sounded in the background. It was followed by several screams. Sirens were wailing noisily, and it was obvious that large, heavy objects were being totaled and toppled over. The poor reporter's voice was becoming more and more panicked.
"Tamers," he cried, "where are you? If something's not done soon-good he-" The microphone that the news caster was using gave a shrill feedback tone.
"He dropped it," Jen whispered. The mic was still on, however, and it was picking up cries of fear, which quickly evolved into shouts of pain and anguish. Jen gasped as a loud roar sounded. Then there was a crunch, and the radio fell silent.
For a long moment the three friends said nothing. Finally Izzy reached over and turned off the radio. Jen noticed that his hands were gripping the steering wheel abnormally tightly. She turned the navigation system back on.
"You're in no state to drive," she informed Izzy in an oddly calm voice.
"Forget driving!" Mantis screamed. "We're going too slowly! We need to get there NOW!"
"I agree," Izzy replied in the same tone of icy calmness that Jen had used. He felt so unreal. "Mantis, it's time to digivolve."
"Hold on!" Jen cried. "One of us has to stay with Quest! Anything could happen to it if we don't. I'm going! I've got four more years of experience!" Her calm quickly retreated at the thought of being left behind while her partner went to fight.
"We both deserve to go, but this time I'll be the one to-oh...." Izzy found that he was unable to continue when he saw the look on Jen's face.
"Please," she whispered, "I'll go mad not knowing. Anything could be happening. If you go on ahead, I won't know what's happening to you." Jen grabbed Izzy's hand as if she could hold him back from the dangers ahead.
"Stop being so dramatic!" Mantis cried. "Just Rosh ambo for it or something! Call the Digimon and let's get going!" Jen gave him an appalled look, but Izzy nodded and pulled over off of the road so he could release all of the Digimon from Quest's server.
Puru Puru, Elvis, and Tochiko materialized on the side of the road. Revien came forth from Jen's Digivice. Izzy had befriended two more Digimon of his own: a Gizamon named Tetsuke and a Ninjamon named Shinobi.
"I can't leave this to chance!" Jen hollered, ignoring the Digimon as they waved at her. "I know it's the Blood Knights! I've been dreaming of stopping them for four years! I told myself that I would. It was the only way that I could go on watching all of the terrible stuff on the news without feeling like I was sitting back and letting it happen. Training the Digimon was all I could do. Getting our team ready kept me from going mad." She turned to Revien. "P-people are hurting r-right now, and I'm safe and s-snug in a Digi-Beetle. How can I live with th-that?"
The Wizardmon felt her words move his heart. He didn't listen as Izzy explained that it was essential for one of them to remain behind.
"You're not thinking clearly, and with good reason," Izzy said compassionately. "If you proceed to the battle now, you'll get injured. Please, Jen, stay safe here."
Before Jen could counter him with an argument of her own, Revien spoke up with his mysterious voice. "Someone must watch over Quest," he pointed out, "and someone will. Me. Normally the police would pull over a Digi-Beetle with just a Digimon in it, but they will be far too busy now to notice me. You will fight."
Jen threw her arms around him. "Oh, I love you Revien! I love you!" she exclaimed as she lifted his funny hat and kissed his forehead. Indeed, she had always loved him like a kind older brother. Revien was infinitely sweeter to her than Juunchi was, after all. Cody, Jen's little brother, was the best kid sibling that she could ask for, and though she loved him dearly, he lacked the wisdom of a person who's lived longer than she had.
While Jen and Izzy had been arguing, the Digimon had digivolved. Puru Puru had become Gryphomon, Tochiko was Tenshicibimon, Elvis was Metaletemon, Shinobi was MetalMamemon, Mantis was Megakabuterimon, and Tetsuke was Gigadramon. Jen and Izzy climbed onto Mantis and took off. Elvis had to hitch a ride on Puru, and Shinobi was clinging to Tetsuke's back.
As Revien watched them grow smaller and smaller as they flew away, he slowly lowered his hat to cover his pink cheeks.
*********
Izzy's arms were wrapped around Megakabuterimon's horn. He didn't want to loose his balance, and neither, apparently, did Jen. She was clinging to his waist and looking straight ahead with a neutral expression on her face. Izzy knew better than to interrupt her distant train of thought, but he had to say something. A throng of Odaiba High students were riding their flying Digimon around them, but everyone was deathly silent.
"Jen," Izzy said just loud enough for her to hear him over the whoosh sounds and the buzzes that Mantis's wings produced as they moved through the air. "I know you're on the emotional side, and I'm aware of the fact that you're a bit sensitive."
"Am I?" Jen asked in a tone that suggested that her thoughts were far away.
"Yes. Jen...this will be difficult. The sooner we've completed this horrible task, the better. I've a feeling that we won't escape unscathed."
"Ugh! Your negativity is giving me chills," Mantis complained in his new, deep voice. "Are you saying that we're all gonna buy it?"
"Oh, no! For heaven's sake, what do you think I am? I was merely implying...that this is going to hurt us emotionally." The redhead turned to Jen to see her reaction, but she was staring into space again as if she hadn't even heard. "I think," Izzy muttered to Mantis, "that one of is already a little scarred."
Another long moment passed by as all the Tamers worried silently. Their insides were all wriggling, especially those of the younger and more emotional ones. Some, like Jen, had apparently detached themselves from reality in an attempt to stay calm, or as a result of the strange sense of calm that had already overcome them. Suddenly, Jen jerked out of her alternate world. "Aren't we nearly there? We need to go faster! Move your maroon tush, Mantis!" she demanded.
"I'm going as fast as I can, trust me," replied the huge Digimon.
"I see smoke," Izzy reported, pointing ahead of them. "That must be it. We're coming up on it." Soon all of the sounds that they had heard over the radio became faintly audible. Jen's grip tightened more and more around Izzy's waist to the point of discomfort, which soon came to the point of estrangement. "Please, Jen!" he gasped.
"I don't like this," Jen whispered as she loosened her grip. She closed her eyes and pressed her face against Izzy's shoulder in an attempt to block out all of the negative things that were going on around her. This only confirmed Izzy's opinion that she shouldn't have come, but he made no comments. Her nearness made him forget what was going on for a moment, despite the fact that they were right on top of it. An especially loud scream made Jen recoil and lift her head.
"I warned you," Izzy replied quietly. "But I understand that you needed to be here." Jen said nothing as they came closer. She could tell that Mantis was beginning his descent.
As he came closer and closer to landing, the scene around them became worse and worse. It seemed like everything was on fire. Sirens were wailing loudly and lights were flashing. Though the sun was brightly shining and the weather was nearly perfect except for a bit of a chill (which was warded off here by the blazing flames), and it seemed like a mockery. Jen gaped at it in horror. She saw mutated Digimon everywhere. They were obviously the result of unchecked DNA digivolution, and they weren't pretty. The Digimon were either wild or insane; there was something demonic about the delight that a Veedramon seemed to be taking in slowly chewing a disembodied human arm. Jen couldn't pull her eyes away as blood oozed from its jaws.
"I don't like the looks in their eyes," Mantis muttered. "They're not wild. I was wild once, too, and I was surrounded by other wild Digimon. None of us had gleams like that in our eyes...."
Jen realized that he was right. There was definitely something evil in the hearts of these Digimon. For a moment, she found herself wondering if there were even more victims than she had thought there were....
Izzy was giving the Digimon orders while Jen was staring transfixed at the smoldering ruins of Drive City. She watched as all kind of Digimon used their fire attacks on everything and didn't really hear her partner. "Mantis, wait here. Jen and I are going to search for survivors, and we'll bring them to you. You can transport the most people. We need you to come with us, Elvis. I want everyone else to split up and attack any wild Digimon that you see. They won't hesitate to destroy you, so don't hesitate to destroy them." As soon as the last words of Izzy's speech had been spoken, the Digimon scattered. Izzy led Jen into the search for living civilians.
However, the first thing they found was not a victim. "Look!" Jen cried as she pointed to a Digi-Beetle. "It's got a red body with black parts! Do you know what that means?!"
Izzy couldn't believe it. He did know what it meant. It meant that Jen had been right all along. "That's a Blood Knight Digi-Beetle," he whispered.
"You were right after all!" Elvis exclaimed. Jen's fists clenched tightly.
"Get it, Elvis," she said coldly. The Metaletemon nodded and took a step forward.
"No!" Izzy shouted. "We need you to protect us! I know it's hard, but you'll have to let it go!" Jen stared at him. Finally she frowned bitterly, admitting her defeat. "Alright," Izzy said grimly. "Let's get to work."
All that Jen really remembered about the whole thing after that was all the pain she saw. She and Izzy rescued people whose faces were so badly burned that even their families couldn't recognize them. They helped people who would be paralyzed for the rest of their lives. They saved victims with broken bones and wounded hearts. Sadly, there were many people that they could not save....
..."Look out!" Jen cried as a little girl with blonde curls stood crying in the path of a falling telephone poll. Jen raced towards her, but she had never been very fast... It was coming closer and closer-she wouldn't make it in time to push the girl away-
Jen gasped loudly as she awoke with sweat streaming from her forehead. She sighed loudly and rolled over in her bed. I knew I wouldn't sleep well, she thought. Izzy was right. Jen curled into a ball under the covers. She wondered how she could just go back to school tomorrow as if nothing had happened and everything was alright. The teenager realized with a start that tears were running silently down her cheeks. Izzy was right again, she told herself. I guess I am sensitive. She rubbed at her eyes to push away the image of the little girl's horrified face.
Jen turned over again to see how late it was. The glow of her electronic clock read 2:41. She knew that she wouldn't get any sleep, so she allowed her mind to replay the rest of the day. She had refused to leave until the last crazed Digimon was destroyed or captured. She wanted to stay to search for more survivors, but Izzy could tell that she was physically, mentally, and spiritually exhausted. He had ordered Mantis to take her home. Revien and Quest had arrived there. Jen didn't have the strength left to tell her family what had happened, so she immediately fell into her bed to vainly seek some rest.
It was them, Jen reminded herself. You were right. The Blood Knights have returned....
**********
More than a month had passed since the disaster at Drive City. People had stopped dwelling on it constantly. However, there were still matters to be taken care of. Jen and Izzy were apparently the only ones who saw the Blood Knight Digi-Beetle, because the government and the Guard Teams were still striving to figure out who was behind the attack. There was another problem, too.
"We need more money," Vandar reported bluntly to his audience. All the Gold Hawks were sitting before him. "Ms. Cecilia, Mr. Skull, and I met again yesterday. We all need to raise our funds. For all that we know, we could be in the midst of a Digimon war any day now, and we need all of the financial support that we can get. So we're going to have a festival." Vandar proceeded to describe the event to his troops.
"That sounds fun!" Jen said brightly as she and Izzy stepped out of the old revolving door that led to their HQ. "I hope I get a good job. I bet I'll get a boring one, though. Like selling takoyaki or something (A/N: takoyaki is some kind of octopus dish)." Jen made a face at the thought of spending the festival with chopped-up octopus pieces.
"Oh, don't worry," Mantis said as he as he sifted on the top of Izzy's head. "Vandar likes you; he'll get you something decent."
"I think Vandar will pass the task of assigning jobs to someone else," Izzy pointed out. Jen sighed.
"Well, it still sounds great. We get to wear kimonos or yukatas!" Jen smiled. "For once I get to look elegant!"
"Emphasis on 'for once'" Mantis stated. Jen frowned at him.
"Don't make me use my fly swatter," she warned. Izzy decided to say something to stop the argument, even though he knew that they were only teasing.
"Jen, do you have somewhere to be?" he asked. Jen shook her head. "Alright, then let's go to the Tamer's Club. Maybe a Blue Falcon or a Black Sword heard some more details about this festival than we did."
"That Palmon is always here!" Jen commented as she walked into the Tamer's Club. The first thing that she noticed was the familiar singing Palmon.
"She's mine!" a familiar voice exclaimed. Jen and Izzy turned around to see Mimi. They gaped at her.
"Why is she always here?" Jen asked after the shock had worn away a little.
"My Papa owns this place," Mimi replied happily. Jen and Izzy shared amazed looks.
"Why didn't you tell us?!" Izzy exclaimed. Mimi gave them a confused look.
"Well, you never asked," she answered. Izzy slapped his forehead.
"I'm not here much," Mimi continued in her high-pitched voice. "It's great, but I prefer the mall."
"...I...see..." Jen stammered. Izzy stared at Mimi with a shocked expression on his face.
Two familiar faces were watching Izzy and Mimi from across the room. "Hey," Tai said with a smirk as he nudged Matt. "Check those two out." He pointed to them. "Izzy's looking a little spaced out, huh?" Izzy did indeed have a strange look on his face, and Mimi was smiling back at him. From the angle of Matt and Tai, it was pretty easy to misinterpret the situation. As a matter of fact, it looked to them like...
"Izzy's got a little crush," Matt snickered in a sing-song voice.
"This'll be good," Tai agreed with an evil grin.
****************************************************************************
Jen: I seriously need a better chair. I can't tell you-
Yama: How much your butt hurts?
Jen: .....
Yama: You're very predictable.
Jen: Whatever. I'm so sorry this is taking so long, but I'm getting home at 6:30 every day because of play practice. By the time I eat, do homework, and get ready for bed.... Well, I only work on weekends, and those are usually really busy too. *sigh*
Yama: Excuses, excuses.
Jen: Hey, you always blame stuff on band practices. Anyway...I know the Drive City scene was a little lacking, but I had no idea how to describe it. Sorry! I hope you liked the chappy anyway! The next one will be lighter. Oh, and I'm working on a "Which Digidestined Are You?" quiz! I'll tell you when it's done!
Jen: I know it's been forever. I've been horridly busy with school (I'm a freshman in high school now! I bet you thought I was older!) And now I'm in a play! So my updates will be few and far between. So sorry! You'll probably get sick of checking my bio, but I think author alert is a free service now!
Yama: You can always ask her to e-mail you in your review if you want her to do the honors.
Jen: Yeah, I'll do that. Anyway, I'm so glad that I'm doing this chapter. No more explaining stuff!
Yama: Except Japanese.
Jen: Oh, that's right. I'm introducing some Japanese stuff into the story now. After all, Anime is Japanese animation.
Yama: Not that this story takes place in Japan.
Jen: Well, no. I doubt that there's a Monitor Village and a Digital City in Japan. But I don't care. As far as I'm concerned, this story can be in Japan. Do you really care?
Yama: Anyway.
Jen: Right. I really want to post because it's been so long, so onto the story! Enjoy and R&R!!!!
****************************************************************************
Return of the Blood Knights
Jen panted and gasped as she ran as fast as her feet would carry her towards her high school. She was a sophomore now, and she was determined to make it to school on time. Being late was not a great way to impress her teachers.
Like most Japanese schools, Jen's was fenced in. Her feet moved even faster as the entrance gate to Odaiba High came into view. Triumphantly, she ran through it, patting herself on the back for making it on time. She had only taken a few steps after that when a loud bell went off. It was followed by the sound of the heavy gate being pulled shut. Although she knew she was safe, Jen couldn't help looking over her shoulder to make sure that she was inside the fence.
The sixteen-year-old girl had to clamp her lips together to keep from laughing. A tall boy with eyes and hair that were the same chocolate color as Jen's was outside the gate and a teacher was reprimanding him in a loud, shrill voice. Jen could tell that he was tuning out and nodding his bushy head at appropriate intervals, probably wondering how he had managed to sleep through his alarm again. With a start Jen realized that she shouldn't be standing around watching him, so she gathered her remaining breath and headed towards the school building.
Jen walked into the genkan (A/N: Japanese people don't wear shoes inside. A genkan is a place where they take their shoes off and leave them until it's time to go. In a home it's a space right as you walk into the door, and it's a little bit lower than the rest of the floor. In a school, a genkan is a big room full of small shoe lockers. When they get to school they take off their outdoor shoes and wear the indoor shoes in the lockers. They change shoes again at the end of the day. I think there's a genkan in the first episode of the second Digimon series. TK and Kari are talking and Yolei brings Kari an e-mail or something) and paused a moment as if she was trying to remember something. She snapped her fingers when whatever she had forgotten came back to her, and she strode up to a section of small shoe lockers. Her fingers started to shake a little as she fished a note out of her pocket and brought it up to one of the three slits in the door of one of the lockers. The teenager faltered before she was able to push it through. With a sigh of frustration, she gathered her courage and tried again, but she lost her nerve.
The sophomore might have struggled with the note for quite a while if the door to the genkan hadn't slammed shut. Jen looked up in alarm and hurried quietly to her own locker as the boy who had been scolded at the gate walked in.
"Hey," he said as he caught sight of her. "Guess you just made it, huh?"
"Guess you just missed it, eh?" Jen replied. "Snoozed through your alarm again, oh my cousin?"
"That's about the size of it," the young man affirmed. "What are you still doing here, anyway?"
Jen scanned her mind for something to tell him. She grabbed the lock on the handle of her locker. "I forgot my combination." The boy laughed.
"We're so predictable. You can count on me to sleep through my wake-up call, and I can count on you to forget life's little details,"
"Stuff it, Tai," Jen said with a grin as she opened her lock. "Aha! I got it." She pulled open the door, pulled out her indoor shoes, and kicked off her sneakers.
"Alright," Tai said when she had put her indoor shoes on and placed the others away. "Let's hit our room." With that, the cousins power-walked to their classroom. Before they made it there, Tai got a good look at Jen's face. He frowned darkly.
"You okay? You look like you got hit by a bus," he commented.
"I'm kinda tired," Jen replied as she rubbed her eyes. Tai raised his eyebrows skeptically. "Fine, I'm exhausted." It was true. Jen had been working like crazy to perform her ever-increasing duties as a Tamer. "Vandar's been working my butt off."
"That's no good," Tai replied seriously as his fingers closed around the doorknob to their room. "You're gonna need that to sit down, you know." Jen sighed and whacked his head softly.
"Mr. Yagami, Miss Hino. You're late," pointed out the woman behind the desk.
"Mrs. Shisaki, I'm sorry," Tai apologized. "I was late, but Jen wasn't. She just forgot her locker combination for a while."
"Sorry, Ma'am," Jen added as a few people snickered.
"Make sure you write that down somewhere, Miss Zircona," Mrs. Shisaki advised curtly. Jen bowed and took her seat near the back of the room, and Tai collapsed into the one behind her. On Tai's right sat none other than Yamato Ishida, whom was staring at a pretty girl in the middle of the room named Sora Takenouchi. Sora was pretty, there could be no denying that, but the girl next to her was truly glamorous. Mimi Tachikawa was the jewel of the sophomore class. Izzy was there, too. He had nearly doubled his height over the last four years, but he was still rather short and was thus seated at the front of the room. His head was cushioned by his arm on the desk, and he looked like he was asleep. A humongous book that he was halfway through lay forgotten by his head as he tried to rest.
A girl with light brown hair and green eyes was seated to Izzy's left. She was flipping through papers in a folder labeled 'Tera'. On a sudden impulse, Tera looked over her shoulder at Jen. The Gold Hawk had changed a bit. She was taller and slimmer, with a perfectly straight smile thanks to the braces that she had worn a few years ago. She now wore contacts instead of glasses, and her hair had grown so that it reached down to lay about four inches above the butt that Vandar was working off of her. And of course, the straight body of a twelve-year-old had significantly evolved into the hour glassed shape of a sixteen-year-old.
Tera frowned when she saw that Jen's face was buried in her crossed arms. She looked from Jen to Izzy and realized why they were so drained. Undoubtedly they had been working diligently. Far too diligently. For now they made a magnificent team. Once they had gotten over their initial awkwardness they had become best friends. Jen's amiable nature allowed her to win the affections of the Digimon, and she made an excellent trainer because they did whatever she told them to. Izzy was a walking encyclopedia of knowledge, and he knew a lot about Digimon, despite his first impression. He was also skilled at battle strategies. Their teamwork allowed them to rise in the ranks, and Jen was now a Rank 8 Commander Tamer. Izzy had hit rank 7, Elite Tamer. Vandar had given him permission to separate from Jen and work on his own almost three years ago, but they got along so well that it seemed like a waste to drop their teamwork. Needless to say, Izzy had proven his genius to Jen and Mantis, just as he had vowed to.
Although the partners in question were drained, they had to raise their heads when Mrs. Shisaki left the classroom and their math teacher walked in (A/N: In Japan the teachers come to the students, who stay in the same room all day. How convenient for them. I have to go up four floors like four times a day.) He began his lesson in his dull voice, driving even the sharp-witted Izzy into a stupor. The redhead's mind was completely blank and his eyelids were unmercifully heavy. He fought valiantly to ward off the strong bout of lethargy that had overcome him, and he would have failed if a loud cracking sound hadn't jolted him back into the world around him.
The aged math teacher had rapped his ruler on Jen's desk because she had fallen asleep. Izzy turned around to see her slowly raise her head up. He watched the teacher do a double take when he saw Jen's exhausted expression. A rare grandfather-type look flashed across the instructor's face as he suggested to Jen that she should visit the health room.
"Sir," Tera said as she raised her hand, "I think Izzy should go to."
"Izzy?" the old man asked, blinking.
"Koushiro Izumi, sir," Tai explained, knowing that the old math teacher wouldn't be familiar with the nicknames of the students.
"Yes," he said when he saw Izzy's face. "Yes, you should both go." The two of them didn't have the strength to argue, so they headed out of the room together.
The nurse fussed over them at the health room. "Tsk! Children weren't meant to be worked like this! I strongly suggest that you put your school career over your Taming one. Don't look surprised, of course I know that you're Tamers. I saw you on TV Saturday. My little daughter is your biggest fan. She was jumping and shouting when you won, you know." Somehow the nurse was able to rant on and on without stopping for breath. She was obviously a talker. "Oh, my! When was the last time the two of you got a full night's sleep?"
Jen and Izzy shared quick glances. They admitted that they couldn't remember the last time that they had sleep a full eight hours.
"That's unforgivable! Mr. Izumi, you're starting a cold, I think. And you're on the verge of collapsing, Miss Hino. You two just lay down," the nurse pointed towards three futons in the corner of the room, "and get some rest. You need it."
Jen wasted no time in crawling into bed, but Izzy still had the presence of mind to wonder how many sick teens had rested there before him. His only comforts were health regulations and the fact that the nurse fussed over her charges so much. He too settled down in the mattress.
A loud hacking sound woke Izzy up a while later. A freshman was sitting in a seat a few feet away and making sounds like a seal as he coughed violently. Izzy rolled onto his other side to turn away from the sick student. Unfortunately, the nurse saw his movement.
"Oh, good," she said, "you're awake. How do you feel?"
"I'm confident that I'm capable of remaining alert for the rest of the day," Izzy assured her as he slowly got to his feet. He started to make the bed, but the nurse stopped him.
"I'll get that. You wake up Miss Hino. Your lunch period's about to start."
Izzy roused Jen, and they thanked the nurse before heading outside to eat and enjoy the nice weather. They hadn't gone far when they were hailed by a familiar voice.
"Hey, you two!" Matt called when Jen and Izzy came into his sight. The partners walked towards him and the group around him-Tai, Tera, Sora, and Mimi-so they could eat together.
"Feeling better?" the blonde asked teasingly. "Ol' Vandar keeping ya on your toes?" Jen inhaled deeply.
"Matt, I know we're rivals, but we're friends too," she pointed out. "Somehow."
"Oh, I know," Matt grinned.
"The more he likes you, the more he teases you," Sora explained. Matt snorted.
Tai rolled his eyes. "Seriously, though," he said, "how are you two feeling?"
"I'll live. Izzy?"
"I'm alright for now," he answered.
"Taming," Tera observed, "will be the death of you two."
"If falling asleep on a road or something isn't," Matt added with a smirk.
"Just shut up and eat, Yamatrocious," Jen scolded. Matt smirked and bit into a rice cracker.
When the bell that signaled the end of lunch rang, Jen and the others hurried back to their room. Jen heard a sudden clinking sound, and with a start she realized that she had dropped her portable digivolution ray/server, commonly known as a digivice. They were ungodly expensive, but Vandar had awarded a new model to Jen and Izzy after a highly complex and insanely difficult mission. This palm-sized piece of technology had the ability to actually store a Digimon inside, and it also produced a digivolution-inducing ray.
In her hurry to pick the digivice up before it got stepped on, Jen's skirt snagged on the corner of a desk, and the note that she had almost slipped inside someone's locker that morning jerked out of her pocket and fluttered to the floor. Izzy, being a gentleman, picked it up and offered it to her.
"Here," he said with a smile, "you dropped this." Jen stared at him, and her face turned a dark shade of red. Izzy gave her a puzzled look, and his gaze traveled over her shoulder. The redhead noticed that a guy was staring at Jen with an unpleasant smirk plastered on his lips. In a quick motion, Izzy unsnagged Jen's skirt. The boy frowned darkly at him.
Despite all of that, Jen's attention still seemed to be focused on the note. She reached out and tore it desperately from his hand before scurrying to her seat. The slightly undersized redhead stared after her with a baffled expression on his face.
The confusion that Izzy was suffering from was nothing compared to the pandemonium that broke out just a few moments later. Loud bells began to ring urgently, but they weren't signaling a fire drill. The piercing tones were called The Tamer Distress Signal. Thus, all of the Tamers that belonged to a Guard Team briskly stood up and rushed to the cafeteria, leaving their peers in anxious concern and fear.
"Are we all here?" the school's principal asked on a microphone as the Tamers assembled before him. "Stand still," he demanded as he proceeded to count heads. "Alright. Apparently Drive City is under attack by Digimon of unknown origins. Your Digi...whatsits...the car things..."
"Digi-Beetles, sir," Tai called. The headmaster nodded grimly.
"Digi-Beetles, then. They're on there way here with your strongest Digimon uploaded into them. As soon as they arrive, you are urged to depart to Drive City. Good luck, and be careful!" The last words of his speech had barely finished reverberating before everyone tried to get out of the cafeteria at once. "In an orderly fashion, if you will! Come on now, show some sense!"
The Guard Tamers ignored him and continued to wrestle each other to get out to the parking lot. Finally all of them made it to the blacktop; there weren't too many of them, after all. Being a Guard Tamer required more time, patience, dedication, effort, and energy than most teenagers possessed. Also, becoming a Guard Tamer meant being one for life, so many young people were hesitant to make the commitment (or their parents refused to allow them to.) There were, however, many regular Tamers who kept Digimon for their own purposes.
As it was, there were about thirty Guard Tamers gathered together on the parking lot. Jen gazed at the group and matched faces with names in an attempt to ward off the sense of dread that was overcoming her. As usual, she was one of the only ones who could remain calm during a crisis. She shook her head as a freshman close to her began to boast.
"I've been waiting for something like this to happen," he coolly explained to the other freshmen as he nodded his head knowingly. "I've been training my team. I'm glad for a chance to give them a challenge!"
"Then you're a fool," a smooth, low voice told him. The sexy voice's owner was a gorgeous blonde junior named Garu Sayoe. He had baby blue eyes and fine, soft hair.
"People are suffering right at this moment," he continued. "They're dying and losing everything. And you're glad that it's happening." Garu gave a disgusted snort and turned away. "You tarnish the name of Guard Tamers everywhere."
Jen tried to block out her friend as he scolded the idiotic boy. She hated to hear him when he was upset; his feelings flowed into her and became her own. She continued her mental attendance in an attempt to ignore him. Izzy's here, she thought. There's Tai, Tera, and Sora. The Gold Hawk sophomores. Good ol' Matt, he'll fight to the end, the jerk. There aren't many Blue Falcons like him. Then there are the freshmen.... Lily just became a Gold Hawk. We're cousins alright, Taming's in our blood. Matt's kid brother's a Blue Falcon, too. TK, right? And then there's that famous genius kid, Ken Ichi-something. I think that girl's name is Indy, and the short one is Ryn. She seems too nice to be a Black Sword, but Indy's got the traditional Black Sword sarcasm. There're two more freshmen left. Argh, who are they? Ah, umm.... Vi and Casey, Blue Falcons.
Before Jen could start categorizing the upper classmen, Quest pulled up to the sidewalk and honked loudly. Izzy and Jen waved good-bye to the remaining Tamers before hopping aboard. Izzy turned off the navigation program in order to put his new driver's license to use (A/N: No, I don't know the Japanese driver's license laws. Work with me.)
"Unknown origins my butt," Jen scoffed when Quest had rolled off of the parking lot.
"Still on about the Blood Knights?" Mantis asked as he hovered above Jen's head; Izzy had released him from his Digivice. Jen had given the cheeky Digimon to Izzy a few weeks after they had become partners because of Vandar's command to her. "Do a type-casting on Koushiro Izumi," he had ordered.
Type-casting was a complicated system that Vandar had invented after an Agumon turned on its Tamer. It was obvious then that many Guard Tamers could benefit from having a Digimon that suited their personality, especially for their first digital partner. Thus Tamers possessing large amounts of empathy were charged with the task of studying new Tamers and assigning them appropriate Digimon. This process worked wonders, but it was tedious. It wasn't used very often, and Jen had wondered about Vandar's decision to put it into practice on Izzy.
Mantis treated Izzy with respect and admiration, unlike Jen, whom he often picked on. Jen had expected this; she knew that the Tentomon preferred intelligent individuals who possessed never-ending curiosity. Jen was a very talented student, but her top grades were mainly due to hard work and a keen memory. She was really a happy and goofy type of person. Izzy, however, was an honest-to-goodness genius who thirsted for knowledge and learning.
"Yes," Jen answered, "I am." She sighed deeply. Everyone still laughed when she voiced her opinion on the Blood Knights, despite the fact that the signs were getting more and more prominent every day.
"Let's see if we can find out what's going on here," Izzy suggested before Mantis could say anything to Jen about her crazy theory. He flicked on the radio.
"...released dozens of crazed Digimon into Drive City. Buildings are being leveled, chaos, as you can hear, is ensuing-"
Izzy's face grew grave as a loud crashing sounded in the background. It was followed by several screams. Sirens were wailing noisily, and it was obvious that large, heavy objects were being totaled and toppled over. The poor reporter's voice was becoming more and more panicked.
"Tamers," he cried, "where are you? If something's not done soon-good he-" The microphone that the news caster was using gave a shrill feedback tone.
"He dropped it," Jen whispered. The mic was still on, however, and it was picking up cries of fear, which quickly evolved into shouts of pain and anguish. Jen gasped as a loud roar sounded. Then there was a crunch, and the radio fell silent.
For a long moment the three friends said nothing. Finally Izzy reached over and turned off the radio. Jen noticed that his hands were gripping the steering wheel abnormally tightly. She turned the navigation system back on.
"You're in no state to drive," she informed Izzy in an oddly calm voice.
"Forget driving!" Mantis screamed. "We're going too slowly! We need to get there NOW!"
"I agree," Izzy replied in the same tone of icy calmness that Jen had used. He felt so unreal. "Mantis, it's time to digivolve."
"Hold on!" Jen cried. "One of us has to stay with Quest! Anything could happen to it if we don't. I'm going! I've got four more years of experience!" Her calm quickly retreated at the thought of being left behind while her partner went to fight.
"We both deserve to go, but this time I'll be the one to-oh...." Izzy found that he was unable to continue when he saw the look on Jen's face.
"Please," she whispered, "I'll go mad not knowing. Anything could be happening. If you go on ahead, I won't know what's happening to you." Jen grabbed Izzy's hand as if she could hold him back from the dangers ahead.
"Stop being so dramatic!" Mantis cried. "Just Rosh ambo for it or something! Call the Digimon and let's get going!" Jen gave him an appalled look, but Izzy nodded and pulled over off of the road so he could release all of the Digimon from Quest's server.
Puru Puru, Elvis, and Tochiko materialized on the side of the road. Revien came forth from Jen's Digivice. Izzy had befriended two more Digimon of his own: a Gizamon named Tetsuke and a Ninjamon named Shinobi.
"I can't leave this to chance!" Jen hollered, ignoring the Digimon as they waved at her. "I know it's the Blood Knights! I've been dreaming of stopping them for four years! I told myself that I would. It was the only way that I could go on watching all of the terrible stuff on the news without feeling like I was sitting back and letting it happen. Training the Digimon was all I could do. Getting our team ready kept me from going mad." She turned to Revien. "P-people are hurting r-right now, and I'm safe and s-snug in a Digi-Beetle. How can I live with th-that?"
The Wizardmon felt her words move his heart. He didn't listen as Izzy explained that it was essential for one of them to remain behind.
"You're not thinking clearly, and with good reason," Izzy said compassionately. "If you proceed to the battle now, you'll get injured. Please, Jen, stay safe here."
Before Jen could counter him with an argument of her own, Revien spoke up with his mysterious voice. "Someone must watch over Quest," he pointed out, "and someone will. Me. Normally the police would pull over a Digi-Beetle with just a Digimon in it, but they will be far too busy now to notice me. You will fight."
Jen threw her arms around him. "Oh, I love you Revien! I love you!" she exclaimed as she lifted his funny hat and kissed his forehead. Indeed, she had always loved him like a kind older brother. Revien was infinitely sweeter to her than Juunchi was, after all. Cody, Jen's little brother, was the best kid sibling that she could ask for, and though she loved him dearly, he lacked the wisdom of a person who's lived longer than she had.
While Jen and Izzy had been arguing, the Digimon had digivolved. Puru Puru had become Gryphomon, Tochiko was Tenshicibimon, Elvis was Metaletemon, Shinobi was MetalMamemon, Mantis was Megakabuterimon, and Tetsuke was Gigadramon. Jen and Izzy climbed onto Mantis and took off. Elvis had to hitch a ride on Puru, and Shinobi was clinging to Tetsuke's back.
As Revien watched them grow smaller and smaller as they flew away, he slowly lowered his hat to cover his pink cheeks.
*********
Izzy's arms were wrapped around Megakabuterimon's horn. He didn't want to loose his balance, and neither, apparently, did Jen. She was clinging to his waist and looking straight ahead with a neutral expression on her face. Izzy knew better than to interrupt her distant train of thought, but he had to say something. A throng of Odaiba High students were riding their flying Digimon around them, but everyone was deathly silent.
"Jen," Izzy said just loud enough for her to hear him over the whoosh sounds and the buzzes that Mantis's wings produced as they moved through the air. "I know you're on the emotional side, and I'm aware of the fact that you're a bit sensitive."
"Am I?" Jen asked in a tone that suggested that her thoughts were far away.
"Yes. Jen...this will be difficult. The sooner we've completed this horrible task, the better. I've a feeling that we won't escape unscathed."
"Ugh! Your negativity is giving me chills," Mantis complained in his new, deep voice. "Are you saying that we're all gonna buy it?"
"Oh, no! For heaven's sake, what do you think I am? I was merely implying...that this is going to hurt us emotionally." The redhead turned to Jen to see her reaction, but she was staring into space again as if she hadn't even heard. "I think," Izzy muttered to Mantis, "that one of is already a little scarred."
Another long moment passed by as all the Tamers worried silently. Their insides were all wriggling, especially those of the younger and more emotional ones. Some, like Jen, had apparently detached themselves from reality in an attempt to stay calm, or as a result of the strange sense of calm that had already overcome them. Suddenly, Jen jerked out of her alternate world. "Aren't we nearly there? We need to go faster! Move your maroon tush, Mantis!" she demanded.
"I'm going as fast as I can, trust me," replied the huge Digimon.
"I see smoke," Izzy reported, pointing ahead of them. "That must be it. We're coming up on it." Soon all of the sounds that they had heard over the radio became faintly audible. Jen's grip tightened more and more around Izzy's waist to the point of discomfort, which soon came to the point of estrangement. "Please, Jen!" he gasped.
"I don't like this," Jen whispered as she loosened her grip. She closed her eyes and pressed her face against Izzy's shoulder in an attempt to block out all of the negative things that were going on around her. This only confirmed Izzy's opinion that she shouldn't have come, but he made no comments. Her nearness made him forget what was going on for a moment, despite the fact that they were right on top of it. An especially loud scream made Jen recoil and lift her head.
"I warned you," Izzy replied quietly. "But I understand that you needed to be here." Jen said nothing as they came closer. She could tell that Mantis was beginning his descent.
As he came closer and closer to landing, the scene around them became worse and worse. It seemed like everything was on fire. Sirens were wailing loudly and lights were flashing. Though the sun was brightly shining and the weather was nearly perfect except for a bit of a chill (which was warded off here by the blazing flames), and it seemed like a mockery. Jen gaped at it in horror. She saw mutated Digimon everywhere. They were obviously the result of unchecked DNA digivolution, and they weren't pretty. The Digimon were either wild or insane; there was something demonic about the delight that a Veedramon seemed to be taking in slowly chewing a disembodied human arm. Jen couldn't pull her eyes away as blood oozed from its jaws.
"I don't like the looks in their eyes," Mantis muttered. "They're not wild. I was wild once, too, and I was surrounded by other wild Digimon. None of us had gleams like that in our eyes...."
Jen realized that he was right. There was definitely something evil in the hearts of these Digimon. For a moment, she found herself wondering if there were even more victims than she had thought there were....
Izzy was giving the Digimon orders while Jen was staring transfixed at the smoldering ruins of Drive City. She watched as all kind of Digimon used their fire attacks on everything and didn't really hear her partner. "Mantis, wait here. Jen and I are going to search for survivors, and we'll bring them to you. You can transport the most people. We need you to come with us, Elvis. I want everyone else to split up and attack any wild Digimon that you see. They won't hesitate to destroy you, so don't hesitate to destroy them." As soon as the last words of Izzy's speech had been spoken, the Digimon scattered. Izzy led Jen into the search for living civilians.
However, the first thing they found was not a victim. "Look!" Jen cried as she pointed to a Digi-Beetle. "It's got a red body with black parts! Do you know what that means?!"
Izzy couldn't believe it. He did know what it meant. It meant that Jen had been right all along. "That's a Blood Knight Digi-Beetle," he whispered.
"You were right after all!" Elvis exclaimed. Jen's fists clenched tightly.
"Get it, Elvis," she said coldly. The Metaletemon nodded and took a step forward.
"No!" Izzy shouted. "We need you to protect us! I know it's hard, but you'll have to let it go!" Jen stared at him. Finally she frowned bitterly, admitting her defeat. "Alright," Izzy said grimly. "Let's get to work."
All that Jen really remembered about the whole thing after that was all the pain she saw. She and Izzy rescued people whose faces were so badly burned that even their families couldn't recognize them. They helped people who would be paralyzed for the rest of their lives. They saved victims with broken bones and wounded hearts. Sadly, there were many people that they could not save....
..."Look out!" Jen cried as a little girl with blonde curls stood crying in the path of a falling telephone poll. Jen raced towards her, but she had never been very fast... It was coming closer and closer-she wouldn't make it in time to push the girl away-
Jen gasped loudly as she awoke with sweat streaming from her forehead. She sighed loudly and rolled over in her bed. I knew I wouldn't sleep well, she thought. Izzy was right. Jen curled into a ball under the covers. She wondered how she could just go back to school tomorrow as if nothing had happened and everything was alright. The teenager realized with a start that tears were running silently down her cheeks. Izzy was right again, she told herself. I guess I am sensitive. She rubbed at her eyes to push away the image of the little girl's horrified face.
Jen turned over again to see how late it was. The glow of her electronic clock read 2:41. She knew that she wouldn't get any sleep, so she allowed her mind to replay the rest of the day. She had refused to leave until the last crazed Digimon was destroyed or captured. She wanted to stay to search for more survivors, but Izzy could tell that she was physically, mentally, and spiritually exhausted. He had ordered Mantis to take her home. Revien and Quest had arrived there. Jen didn't have the strength left to tell her family what had happened, so she immediately fell into her bed to vainly seek some rest.
It was them, Jen reminded herself. You were right. The Blood Knights have returned....
**********
More than a month had passed since the disaster at Drive City. People had stopped dwelling on it constantly. However, there were still matters to be taken care of. Jen and Izzy were apparently the only ones who saw the Blood Knight Digi-Beetle, because the government and the Guard Teams were still striving to figure out who was behind the attack. There was another problem, too.
"We need more money," Vandar reported bluntly to his audience. All the Gold Hawks were sitting before him. "Ms. Cecilia, Mr. Skull, and I met again yesterday. We all need to raise our funds. For all that we know, we could be in the midst of a Digimon war any day now, and we need all of the financial support that we can get. So we're going to have a festival." Vandar proceeded to describe the event to his troops.
"That sounds fun!" Jen said brightly as she and Izzy stepped out of the old revolving door that led to their HQ. "I hope I get a good job. I bet I'll get a boring one, though. Like selling takoyaki or something (A/N: takoyaki is some kind of octopus dish)." Jen made a face at the thought of spending the festival with chopped-up octopus pieces.
"Oh, don't worry," Mantis said as he as he sifted on the top of Izzy's head. "Vandar likes you; he'll get you something decent."
"I think Vandar will pass the task of assigning jobs to someone else," Izzy pointed out. Jen sighed.
"Well, it still sounds great. We get to wear kimonos or yukatas!" Jen smiled. "For once I get to look elegant!"
"Emphasis on 'for once'" Mantis stated. Jen frowned at him.
"Don't make me use my fly swatter," she warned. Izzy decided to say something to stop the argument, even though he knew that they were only teasing.
"Jen, do you have somewhere to be?" he asked. Jen shook her head. "Alright, then let's go to the Tamer's Club. Maybe a Blue Falcon or a Black Sword heard some more details about this festival than we did."
"That Palmon is always here!" Jen commented as she walked into the Tamer's Club. The first thing that she noticed was the familiar singing Palmon.
"She's mine!" a familiar voice exclaimed. Jen and Izzy turned around to see Mimi. They gaped at her.
"Why is she always here?" Jen asked after the shock had worn away a little.
"My Papa owns this place," Mimi replied happily. Jen and Izzy shared amazed looks.
"Why didn't you tell us?!" Izzy exclaimed. Mimi gave them a confused look.
"Well, you never asked," she answered. Izzy slapped his forehead.
"I'm not here much," Mimi continued in her high-pitched voice. "It's great, but I prefer the mall."
"...I...see..." Jen stammered. Izzy stared at Mimi with a shocked expression on his face.
Two familiar faces were watching Izzy and Mimi from across the room. "Hey," Tai said with a smirk as he nudged Matt. "Check those two out." He pointed to them. "Izzy's looking a little spaced out, huh?" Izzy did indeed have a strange look on his face, and Mimi was smiling back at him. From the angle of Matt and Tai, it was pretty easy to misinterpret the situation. As a matter of fact, it looked to them like...
"Izzy's got a little crush," Matt snickered in a sing-song voice.
"This'll be good," Tai agreed with an evil grin.
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Jen: I seriously need a better chair. I can't tell you-
Yama: How much your butt hurts?
Jen: .....
Yama: You're very predictable.
Jen: Whatever. I'm so sorry this is taking so long, but I'm getting home at 6:30 every day because of play practice. By the time I eat, do homework, and get ready for bed.... Well, I only work on weekends, and those are usually really busy too. *sigh*
Yama: Excuses, excuses.
Jen: Hey, you always blame stuff on band practices. Anyway...I know the Drive City scene was a little lacking, but I had no idea how to describe it. Sorry! I hope you liked the chappy anyway! The next one will be lighter. Oh, and I'm working on a "Which Digidestined Are You?" quiz! I'll tell you when it's done!