Part 3 - Southern Exposure
This was potentially a bad idea.
Oh who am I kidding. This is a really bad idea.
I knew Jeri would be pissed the moment she found out that I was here, in Shinjuku Park, hold Takato's green card, Impmon overhead playing with a fireball, and Ai standing nervously over to my right. I'd never actually met Takato, but we'd talked online a few times, and Impmon said he was a good guy.
Given Henry's situation, being Jeri's girlfriend, the official cover story was that Impmon stole it from him. In reality he'd given it to Susie, who had given it to me.
I don't have much contact with Jeri, on account of how she hates Impmon's guts, and that's just weird. How anyone could hate someone as cool as Impmon was beyond me. Sure Impmon and I, and Ai of course, had had our share fights, most of them when we were little, but we were really good friends now. After all, we'd forgiven each other. Impmon had forgiven us for being jerks, and we'd forgiven him for what he'd done when we weren't around.
Which is what Jeri can't seem to do.
Henry and Terriermon were really cool. and Susie too I guess, but Jeri just couldn't seem to forget the past.
But all that was beside the point. The fact that I we might get in trouble with the older kids was beside the point, I was used to being in trouble with the teachers at school anyways, and this couldn't be much different right?
No.
This was about only one thing. This was about meeting the one and only. This was all about meeting the great Davis Motomiya.
A digital field exploded around us, and Impmon leapt form the tree he'd been relaxing on, banishing the fireball he'd been playing with. Reality seemed to swirl together at one point, and then the area flushed green, and corrected itself, opening a green hole in space. And out popped a brown haired guy about six years older than me. He stood there for a moment looking around, before a shoe came out and kicked him, sending him sprawling.
"Oww! Rika."
"Move it, Gogglehead. Other people have to get through too."
Impmon and I started laughing as Takato got up, rubbing his butt, where she'd kicked him.
When I didn't recognize the digimon that came through, I raised my D-Ark and read it's stats.
^^^^^^^^^^^^
BlackGuilmon
Level: Rookie Type: Virus/Vaccine Class: Dark Dragon
Attacks: Fireball Rock Smasher
This digimon has a pleasant personality despite his appearance, and the only thing worse than his Fireball is his appetite. ^^^^^^^^^^^^
So that's the famous BlackGuilmon, huh?
I looked over at Impmon.
"You can take BlackGuilmon, right?"
He looked back, and darted his eyes back and forth.
"Uh. sure."
I sighed. That was Impmon-speak for 'I'm not sure'.
Oh well, if he's got to be outclassed by someone, at least it's someone famous.
Other people and digimon came out behind Rika and Renamon. Tai and Sora with Agumon and Biyomon, Jun and Matt Ishida with Gabumon, Mimi and Izzy Izumi with Tentomon and Palmon, and lastly, Davis Motomiya and Veemon. Veemon grinned and ran over to us.
"Hey, Impmon, long time no shee!"
Impmon grinned right back.
"Yeah. This'll be great. These are my tamers, Mako and Ai."
Takato walked over and looked down.
"So you're Mako and Ai?"
I nodded slowly. This was so cool my hair was standing on end. Literally. I could never get it to stay down.
"Yeah."
Ai just blushed and nodded. She's shy around new people. Takato just smiled at us, and kept talking.
"Anywhere we should avoid?"
"Huh?"
He laughed a little.
"What I meant was: where's Jeri? It's probably a good idea to avoid her until I have a chance to talk to her one on one."
Oh. that.
"Uhhh. I'm not sure where they are."
I looked at Impmon, and he shrugged helplessly. Neither of us had paid much attention to Henry after he had told us what to do. Ai groaned next to me, her disapproval apparent.
"If you two ever took the wax out of your ears you might actually have known! They're in the mall today."
She blushed talking to Takato still, but at least she had words coming out of her mouth.
Hey.
I looked up at everyone.
"You know, we should drop by the convention center!"
The Digidestined were talking amongst themselves, but some of them had stepped over to hear what the plan was. Davis smiled at me, and it was like a dream come true.
"Why? What's going on?"
I grinned.
"A digimon convention!"
Izzy's eyes lit up.
"Prodigious!"
He ran over to the steps. Or at least he tried to, but Mimi held him back.
"I think we should get settled in first, dear. You can go tomorrow."
He stopped struggling at this point and scratched behind his head.
"Oh. Right."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My butt was still a little sore from where Rika had kicked me, but that was okay. Mako was certainly a character though. He and Impmon seemed well matched. I wondered about Ai, though. Except for that one berating comment, she hadn't said much.
I was thinking as we were walking down the stairs to the street when a black van with some interesting gadgets on top screeched to a halt in front of us, interrupting said thoughts.
The van's engine quieted, and the doors opened. I recognized one of the three people who got out.
Oh boy. not good.
Yamaki took in the group of us as we stood there. Rika shoved her way to the front. He glared at her.
"We picked up an extremely large amount of data coming out of a rather stable digital gate. Care to explain Ms. Nonaka?"
Well, at least my technique is getting better.
Rika smiled sweetly, and I knew something was up.
"Of course. Takato.?"
When I hesitated, she grabbed my arm and shoved me forward. I stumbled a bit, but managed to keep myself from tripping as I caught myself about a foot from falling into Yamaki. I grinned nervously.
"Uh, hi Mr. Yamaki. sir."
I could almost see his eye twitch underneath his shades.
"Matsuki?! Aren't you supposed to be dead?!"
I scratched the back of my head nervously.
"Um. yes? Five years now is it?"
He nodded. Slowly. Very slowly.
This isn't working well.
"But obviously I'm not really dead, you see. of course you can see. You see, I spent some time with some, um, friends. who, well, um. and anyways we just came for, well, you see. a vacation?"
Yamaki's hand kept clenching and unclenching like a nervous tic.
"A vacation?"
I nodded.
"You've actually been alive all this time?"
I nodded some more.
"You're just letting me in on this now?"
More nodding, and he groaned.
"Okay, I'm just going to accept that, but you're all going to have to come with me back to Hypnos to confirm that and answer some other questions."
One of the two women behind him cleared her throat.
"What Talley?"
"Um, all of them sir?"
He looked at us.
"Fine. Matsuki, you and one of these other unknowns come with us."
I looked back at the Digidestined. They looked at each other for a moment, then they all shoved Izzy forward. He looked back at Mimi who only smiled and waved. He started mumbling under his breath.
"What's that?"
Yamaki appeared to have caught Izzy off guard.
"Uh, I guess I'm coming along. Though Tai should really be doing this."
He turned back to glare at Tai, who shrugged and smirked. Rika proceeded to grin at me.
"See you later, Goggles. Meet me at my mom's!"
It's gonna be a long day.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is a little weird.
I was beginning to regret coming down here. Government officials in black vans investigating digital things was not good. Takato, on the other hand was peering through the tinted glass and frowning.
"Uh, Mr. Yamaki?"
"Yes Matsuki?"
"Um, if I'm not mistaken, sir, aren't those twin tower things in the other direction?"
I could see Yamaki grimace in the rear view mirror.
"I guess you weren't here for it. After the D-Reaper ate the original Hypnos building, budget cuts forced us to abandon the property and move to another, smaller location."
"With a lower staff too."
Yamaki glowered at the one who had introduced herself as Riley once we had gotten started. She just stared back, as if daring him to do something about it. Surprisingly, he backed down. He addressed us while turning into a small parking garage, beside a small office building.
"Never work with your girlfriend."
Riley whacked him on the back of the head. Takato and I shuddered in unison. We exited the van and the three of us shared a look for a moment, most likely sharing the exact same thought.
Women.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You could actually see the drool coming out of Izzy's mouth as he looked at the domed computers, the chair and everything else. I was a little impressed, but Izzy.
Yamaki grunted.
"Talley, get to work. Riley, set up the machines. Let's run some tests."
The moment the orders were given, Izzy ran over to Talley and started bugging her.
Oh boy.
Two hours later, the tests had been done, and Yamaki had listened to my story.
"."
"."
"And I'm supposed to believe that?"
"Um, yes?"
He sighed.
"Fine. You both check out. I'll accept it as one of the oddities of the digital world."
We heard something over to our left and looked. Izzy had hooked his laptop into the computers and was looking around. Talley had spotted him from the lift chair.
"Um, Mr. Izumi, sir? I don't think you should be doing that."
He sighed and disconnected the computers.
I turned to Yamaki.
"You do know we're gonna need a crowbar to get him out of here, right?"
"Surely it isn't that difficult."
We looked sharply left again as a scream was heard.
Izzy was now hanging over the top of the lift chair, examining the controls. Yamaki looked at me.
"Do what you have to."
"Yes, sir."
I walked over to the telephone, and dialed.
"Hello?"
[Nonaka residence.]
"Rika? It's Takato."
[Oh, hi Goggles. What's up?]
"Uh, I need a favor. Where's Mimi?"
[Talking to mom about the downsides of modeling. Ugh.]
"Well, could you get her for me? I need a little help."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"KOUSHIRO IZUMI!!!!"
I looked up from my precarious position. and promptly fell off with a loud clatter that neatly drowned out my groan of pain.
Half of the domed computer screen overhead was covered with Mimi's face over what I absentmindedly noted to be a high power web cam.
"Uh, heh heh, hi Mimi."
"Don't you hi me, Izzy! You come back here this instant!"
I was on my feet in an instant, nearly saluting.
"Yes, ma'am!"
I grabbed my computer in one hand and Takato in the other and peeled out of the room pronto.
You don't make Mimi mad. Ever.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I smiled contentedly to myself as I walked down the hallway.
Rika's certainly made a lot of friends since she went off with that boy.
Which was good for her. Rika needed friends whether she knew it or not. It was still good to have her home though, even though that's where all of her friends were. I had missed her.
But at least she's happy.
I sat down and smiled at the sounds of a full house. It seemed more comfortable with a lot of people here. Not empty like it usually was.
My musings were interrupted by a loud thump coming from Rika's room.
Fearing something to be wrong, I sped down the hallway and opened the door, placing my hand over my mouth to cover my smile at the scene.
Takato was on the floor on his back, Rika in the process of yanking off his shirt, he only had one sleeve still in it, and he was looking a little dazed. Rika looked up at me and glared.
"MOM! Can't a girl make-out with her boyfriend in peace?!"
I hurried out the door, closing, retreating to my own room before collapsing in laughter.
This was potentially a bad idea.
Oh who am I kidding. This is a really bad idea.
I knew Jeri would be pissed the moment she found out that I was here, in Shinjuku Park, hold Takato's green card, Impmon overhead playing with a fireball, and Ai standing nervously over to my right. I'd never actually met Takato, but we'd talked online a few times, and Impmon said he was a good guy.
Given Henry's situation, being Jeri's girlfriend, the official cover story was that Impmon stole it from him. In reality he'd given it to Susie, who had given it to me.
I don't have much contact with Jeri, on account of how she hates Impmon's guts, and that's just weird. How anyone could hate someone as cool as Impmon was beyond me. Sure Impmon and I, and Ai of course, had had our share fights, most of them when we were little, but we were really good friends now. After all, we'd forgiven each other. Impmon had forgiven us for being jerks, and we'd forgiven him for what he'd done when we weren't around.
Which is what Jeri can't seem to do.
Henry and Terriermon were really cool. and Susie too I guess, but Jeri just couldn't seem to forget the past.
But all that was beside the point. The fact that I we might get in trouble with the older kids was beside the point, I was used to being in trouble with the teachers at school anyways, and this couldn't be much different right?
No.
This was about only one thing. This was about meeting the one and only. This was all about meeting the great Davis Motomiya.
A digital field exploded around us, and Impmon leapt form the tree he'd been relaxing on, banishing the fireball he'd been playing with. Reality seemed to swirl together at one point, and then the area flushed green, and corrected itself, opening a green hole in space. And out popped a brown haired guy about six years older than me. He stood there for a moment looking around, before a shoe came out and kicked him, sending him sprawling.
"Oww! Rika."
"Move it, Gogglehead. Other people have to get through too."
Impmon and I started laughing as Takato got up, rubbing his butt, where she'd kicked him.
When I didn't recognize the digimon that came through, I raised my D-Ark and read it's stats.
^^^^^^^^^^^^
BlackGuilmon
Level: Rookie Type: Virus/Vaccine Class: Dark Dragon
Attacks: Fireball Rock Smasher
This digimon has a pleasant personality despite his appearance, and the only thing worse than his Fireball is his appetite. ^^^^^^^^^^^^
So that's the famous BlackGuilmon, huh?
I looked over at Impmon.
"You can take BlackGuilmon, right?"
He looked back, and darted his eyes back and forth.
"Uh. sure."
I sighed. That was Impmon-speak for 'I'm not sure'.
Oh well, if he's got to be outclassed by someone, at least it's someone famous.
Other people and digimon came out behind Rika and Renamon. Tai and Sora with Agumon and Biyomon, Jun and Matt Ishida with Gabumon, Mimi and Izzy Izumi with Tentomon and Palmon, and lastly, Davis Motomiya and Veemon. Veemon grinned and ran over to us.
"Hey, Impmon, long time no shee!"
Impmon grinned right back.
"Yeah. This'll be great. These are my tamers, Mako and Ai."
Takato walked over and looked down.
"So you're Mako and Ai?"
I nodded slowly. This was so cool my hair was standing on end. Literally. I could never get it to stay down.
"Yeah."
Ai just blushed and nodded. She's shy around new people. Takato just smiled at us, and kept talking.
"Anywhere we should avoid?"
"Huh?"
He laughed a little.
"What I meant was: where's Jeri? It's probably a good idea to avoid her until I have a chance to talk to her one on one."
Oh. that.
"Uhhh. I'm not sure where they are."
I looked at Impmon, and he shrugged helplessly. Neither of us had paid much attention to Henry after he had told us what to do. Ai groaned next to me, her disapproval apparent.
"If you two ever took the wax out of your ears you might actually have known! They're in the mall today."
She blushed talking to Takato still, but at least she had words coming out of her mouth.
Hey.
I looked up at everyone.
"You know, we should drop by the convention center!"
The Digidestined were talking amongst themselves, but some of them had stepped over to hear what the plan was. Davis smiled at me, and it was like a dream come true.
"Why? What's going on?"
I grinned.
"A digimon convention!"
Izzy's eyes lit up.
"Prodigious!"
He ran over to the steps. Or at least he tried to, but Mimi held him back.
"I think we should get settled in first, dear. You can go tomorrow."
He stopped struggling at this point and scratched behind his head.
"Oh. Right."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My butt was still a little sore from where Rika had kicked me, but that was okay. Mako was certainly a character though. He and Impmon seemed well matched. I wondered about Ai, though. Except for that one berating comment, she hadn't said much.
I was thinking as we were walking down the stairs to the street when a black van with some interesting gadgets on top screeched to a halt in front of us, interrupting said thoughts.
The van's engine quieted, and the doors opened. I recognized one of the three people who got out.
Oh boy. not good.
Yamaki took in the group of us as we stood there. Rika shoved her way to the front. He glared at her.
"We picked up an extremely large amount of data coming out of a rather stable digital gate. Care to explain Ms. Nonaka?"
Well, at least my technique is getting better.
Rika smiled sweetly, and I knew something was up.
"Of course. Takato.?"
When I hesitated, she grabbed my arm and shoved me forward. I stumbled a bit, but managed to keep myself from tripping as I caught myself about a foot from falling into Yamaki. I grinned nervously.
"Uh, hi Mr. Yamaki. sir."
I could almost see his eye twitch underneath his shades.
"Matsuki?! Aren't you supposed to be dead?!"
I scratched the back of my head nervously.
"Um. yes? Five years now is it?"
He nodded. Slowly. Very slowly.
This isn't working well.
"But obviously I'm not really dead, you see. of course you can see. You see, I spent some time with some, um, friends. who, well, um. and anyways we just came for, well, you see. a vacation?"
Yamaki's hand kept clenching and unclenching like a nervous tic.
"A vacation?"
I nodded.
"You've actually been alive all this time?"
I nodded some more.
"You're just letting me in on this now?"
More nodding, and he groaned.
"Okay, I'm just going to accept that, but you're all going to have to come with me back to Hypnos to confirm that and answer some other questions."
One of the two women behind him cleared her throat.
"What Talley?"
"Um, all of them sir?"
He looked at us.
"Fine. Matsuki, you and one of these other unknowns come with us."
I looked back at the Digidestined. They looked at each other for a moment, then they all shoved Izzy forward. He looked back at Mimi who only smiled and waved. He started mumbling under his breath.
"What's that?"
Yamaki appeared to have caught Izzy off guard.
"Uh, I guess I'm coming along. Though Tai should really be doing this."
He turned back to glare at Tai, who shrugged and smirked. Rika proceeded to grin at me.
"See you later, Goggles. Meet me at my mom's!"
It's gonna be a long day.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is a little weird.
I was beginning to regret coming down here. Government officials in black vans investigating digital things was not good. Takato, on the other hand was peering through the tinted glass and frowning.
"Uh, Mr. Yamaki?"
"Yes Matsuki?"
"Um, if I'm not mistaken, sir, aren't those twin tower things in the other direction?"
I could see Yamaki grimace in the rear view mirror.
"I guess you weren't here for it. After the D-Reaper ate the original Hypnos building, budget cuts forced us to abandon the property and move to another, smaller location."
"With a lower staff too."
Yamaki glowered at the one who had introduced herself as Riley once we had gotten started. She just stared back, as if daring him to do something about it. Surprisingly, he backed down. He addressed us while turning into a small parking garage, beside a small office building.
"Never work with your girlfriend."
Riley whacked him on the back of the head. Takato and I shuddered in unison. We exited the van and the three of us shared a look for a moment, most likely sharing the exact same thought.
Women.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You could actually see the drool coming out of Izzy's mouth as he looked at the domed computers, the chair and everything else. I was a little impressed, but Izzy.
Yamaki grunted.
"Talley, get to work. Riley, set up the machines. Let's run some tests."
The moment the orders were given, Izzy ran over to Talley and started bugging her.
Oh boy.
Two hours later, the tests had been done, and Yamaki had listened to my story.
"."
"."
"And I'm supposed to believe that?"
"Um, yes?"
He sighed.
"Fine. You both check out. I'll accept it as one of the oddities of the digital world."
We heard something over to our left and looked. Izzy had hooked his laptop into the computers and was looking around. Talley had spotted him from the lift chair.
"Um, Mr. Izumi, sir? I don't think you should be doing that."
He sighed and disconnected the computers.
I turned to Yamaki.
"You do know we're gonna need a crowbar to get him out of here, right?"
"Surely it isn't that difficult."
We looked sharply left again as a scream was heard.
Izzy was now hanging over the top of the lift chair, examining the controls. Yamaki looked at me.
"Do what you have to."
"Yes, sir."
I walked over to the telephone, and dialed.
"Hello?"
[Nonaka residence.]
"Rika? It's Takato."
[Oh, hi Goggles. What's up?]
"Uh, I need a favor. Where's Mimi?"
[Talking to mom about the downsides of modeling. Ugh.]
"Well, could you get her for me? I need a little help."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"KOUSHIRO IZUMI!!!!"
I looked up from my precarious position. and promptly fell off with a loud clatter that neatly drowned out my groan of pain.
Half of the domed computer screen overhead was covered with Mimi's face over what I absentmindedly noted to be a high power web cam.
"Uh, heh heh, hi Mimi."
"Don't you hi me, Izzy! You come back here this instant!"
I was on my feet in an instant, nearly saluting.
"Yes, ma'am!"
I grabbed my computer in one hand and Takato in the other and peeled out of the room pronto.
You don't make Mimi mad. Ever.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I smiled contentedly to myself as I walked down the hallway.
Rika's certainly made a lot of friends since she went off with that boy.
Which was good for her. Rika needed friends whether she knew it or not. It was still good to have her home though, even though that's where all of her friends were. I had missed her.
But at least she's happy.
I sat down and smiled at the sounds of a full house. It seemed more comfortable with a lot of people here. Not empty like it usually was.
My musings were interrupted by a loud thump coming from Rika's room.
Fearing something to be wrong, I sped down the hallway and opened the door, placing my hand over my mouth to cover my smile at the scene.
Takato was on the floor on his back, Rika in the process of yanking off his shirt, he only had one sleeve still in it, and he was looking a little dazed. Rika looked up at me and glared.
"MOM! Can't a girl make-out with her boyfriend in peace?!"
I hurried out the door, closing, retreating to my own room before collapsing in laughter.