Chapter 3: Big Ideas, Little Brains
Rika felt strange…she'd been used to having a room all to herself to sulk in, but, now, she was the roommate of a girl she'd never seen before. There was a strong resemblance to Yolei from season 2, but Rika didn't bother to ask the name of this girl. Also, she knew that it wasn't Yolei from the girl's digimon partner: Yolei had a Hawkmon as her digimon, while this girl had a digimon she'd never seen before.
Another thing: Rika was used to sulking for no reason. Now, she had a pretty good reason: there was a good chance that she'd never see her family again. That plus the fact that there were bloodthirsty monsters roaming the streets made her feel uneasy at best. But there was something else that was getting to her---maybe it was because she was still tired from her overexertion. It had only been three days since she had overworked herself without food, so it was possible that she was still shaking off the effects. She asked Joe, the local medic, about her condition. He said that, if she still felt rotten, then she should rest up for a while before reporting for duty.
"Duty?"
"Yeah. You're a Digidestined from your universe, right?"
"I guess so…sort of…"
"Then you'll probably be on Seek Patrol."
"What's that?"
"Basically you go out and look for people to take here. They have a better chance of surviving if they're here because---for some reason---the menace machines never go anywhere near the nuke plant."
"So I heard."
Rika walked back to her room and sat down in her bed. She sighed.
"What's got you so glum?" her roommate asked.
"Oh, just that I'm sick, I'll never see my family again, and there are man-eating robots prowling the streets."
"Seems like there's an epidemic of that going around."
"Humph."
"So…is what you have contagious?"
"No," Rika answered, pulling her legs into her bunk and crawling into the blanket. She said it in a tone that made it clear that she was done talking.
You can tell Tina that you're done talking, but you can't make her accept it. "So what do you have?"
"Overexertion," Rika spat in another rude tone.
"Hmm. That bites, but at least it's not a germ. I know what it's like to get injured like that. (Well, kind of injured, I mean.) Once, during the Olympic games, I was swimming, and I was going so fast that I hit my head on the wall twice and it was enough concussion to knock me out. I almost drowned."
"Hmph."
Youngdramon laughed. "So we learn that it's a bad idea to go fast during a race?"
"Basically. And it was absent-minded of me to forget to breathe while I was unconscious."
"Man, that wasn't an up-day for you mentally, was it?"
"SHUT UP!!!" Rika screamed, pulling the covers over her head.
Youngdramon and Tina weren't sure how to react. They left the room and shut the door behind them. "Man, that girl was uptight!" Youngdramon remarked.
"You're telling me! I don't think I've ever met such a grouch!"
"What do you think it is that turns people into grouches?"
"Maybe she was dropped as a baby?"
"Could be, but since we don't have her family to ask, I don't think we'll ever know."
"Why not ask her?" Tina asked.
Youngdramon stared blankly at Tina. Then the two broke out laughing. "I'd hate to think what she'd do to us if we did that!"
"So…what are we going to do today?"
"You say that like there's no work to do!" Izzy cut in as he walked up to them.
"Work, huh?" Tina asked.
"There are thousands of man-eaters stalking the length and breadth of Japan, and you don't think that there is work to do? Man! If I ever have kids, I'll raise them to be smart!"
"You're saying Mom didn't do that with me?"
Izzy frowned. "Quit smart-mouthing me, Tina! Not that I expect you to know the meaning of the word, but this is serious." He pulled a clipboard out from under his arm and showed it to her. "These are the jobs that there are to do. Pick one."
Tina looked over the schedule. "What do you think, Youngdramon?"
"I think that Joe must've written it! Look at that handwriting!"
"If you can read it, it's good enough," Izzy spat.
" 'Orphanage Supervisor?' What's that?"
"Basically, you'd be one of the supervisors in the orphanage."
"I could see that. What does the job involve?"
"Supervisors look after kids in the orphanage. They pass out food at mealtimes, stop fights, put kids to bed, and things like that."
"Hmm…" Tina looked over the other choices, and couldn't find a better one than "orphanage supervisor". She looked at Youngdramon. "Let's see…the opportunity to be a role model to children?"
"Pass on notions of ethical behavior and speech?"
"How to act maturely?"
"Show them refinement and good taste?"
"Sounds like fun! Sign us up for that one, chief!"
Izzy rolled his eyes and wrote her name under the supervisors list. I'm going to regret this, Izzy thought to himself.
Tina didn't enjoy the job as much as she thought she would: the children weren't very happy with their environment. A dome of plain, gray lead surrounded them on all sides, like a sky on a rainy day. There were no toys or games inside…not even one ball for them to play with. Most of the children were lying motionless on whatever they had to sleep on, be it a blanket somebody found or a jacket they brought with them when they first arrived in the orphanage. They only ever left the reactor to use the bathroom, and, each time, Tina had to take them by the hand and lead them there and back. There was no activity, only the occasional echoing sound of crying. Most of the children were extremely timid, and wouldn't say one word to Tina. They seemed broken and afraid of everything, and each new noise under the dome received a dozen terrified stares.
After a few hours, Kari walked into the reactor and said to Tina, "You're relieved."
"No, I'm not!"
"You're…not?"
"I don't feel very relieved to see a whole bunch of sad children!"
"…What I meant was that I'm here to relieve you of duty. Your shift is over; I'm taking over the job of 'supervisor' now."
"…Oh, that relieved."
Youngdramon couldn't help but snicker. "Feel 'relieved' to know a new word, Tina?" she asked.
"Ha-ha-ha. That puts you one point above me; I have to make an under-creative wisecrack about you to even the score out, now. C'mon," Tina said, walking towards her room.
"So…now what?"
"It's off to the electronics store!"
"Why?"
"Those kids need something to keep themselves busy. I'm not going to just sit around while they're suffering in there!"
"…So what're we going to get them, and how are we going to bring it here?"
"Oh, I'm sure the store has a forklift out back that we can borrow…"
AUTHOR'S NOTES:
Isn't that ironic? Me rooming Tina and Rika together? In this story, Rika is a grouch who either can't or won't make a friend, has boogers made of C4, the personality of a dyspeptic wood chipper, and the outlook on life of a rabid snapping turtle. On the other hand, Tina is a regular ray of sunshine---albeit one loaded down with UVB. This should turn out to be interesting---and I was afraid that this segment of MON: 2028 would end up being boring!
When I told one of my publishers that I was combining more than one anime show into this fic, he warned me that there would be way too many characters. But there's a simple solution to that: focus on a few of them and have the rest be outside characters. The good ones are the crew from season 2, Rika, Tina, and maybe a few of the more obnoxious characters from Monster Rancher and Pokémon. I'm not sure where the plot will go from here, but I have a rough idea how Salvage Earth will end.
...Something completely different!