Chapter 42: Huh, Boy!
"You know," Ghenki said as he collapsed on the couch next to Davis, "I feel kinda…useless around here."
"Why do you say that?" Davis asked, not taking his eyes off the TV for a second.
"Well…all you Digidestined, pokémon trainers, and tamers…you guys can help other creatures out, but I don't see how I can help anyone else…not even myself. In fact, I wouldn't be able to fight at all if Cleaver hadn't given me one of those gremlin's weapons."
"Relax," Davis said.
Looking at Davis's slouched position and the fact that he was watching TV, Ghenki asked, "Is that your answer for everything?"
"Not quite everything. For one thing---" Davis's sentence trailed off as he noticed Takato walking past them just then. "Hold on a sec," Davis said. "Veemon?"
"What??" Veemon asked, just waking up.
"I need to get up from this couch and leave the room."
"Okay…" Veemon climbed onto Davis's back and covered Davis's eyes with his hands. Davis got up and walked to Yolei's office.
"Say Yolei?" Davis asked.
"What is it?"
"How do you like being head of this bunch?"
"Well, it's a hassle…I wouldn't give you that job unless I was sadistic."
"Why did you volunteer to be leader, anyways?"
"…I guess it's because I like a little peace and quiet every now and again. I mean, it's fun enough DNA digivolving and blowing up stuff with Anserimon, but doing paperwork and assigning people to different jobs can sometimes be a relief."
"Wouldn't be to me," Davis murmured. "Reason I ask is…Takato had a talk with Henry, my roommate, about you and you being in charge…he said you weren't a good leader. And it was almost as if he was trying to make you look bad deliberately."
"Huh?"
"It's like he's trying to rebel."
"…Weird."
"That's what I thought."
"Should I have a talk with him?"
"Nah, I'll talk to him." After a few minutes, Davis came back.
"What's the scoop?" Yolei asked.
"He said he'd think about what I told him."
"What did you tell him?"
"That you knew what you were doing and that you had more years under your belt than he did."
"Hey! Watchit!"
"…Oh, come on! Even if you were ninety years old before this time-thing changed you, you're a kid now. I wouldn't be worried about age if I were you."
Yolei waved him off. "Don't you have seek patrol, or something?"
"Not for another two hours."
"Well, quit hanging around here!"
******
"Incoming, sir."
"Can you decode it?"
"As easily as the other samples, sir."
"Good."
"These will be decoded at the expected rate, assuming the situation will continue to be as it is now."
"Hmm…see what you can do about speeding it up. But be careful, or I will have to have you terminated---should a delay arise."
"I understand. There is one other thing…an idea one of our other underlings had."
"Do tell."
******
"Some promotion this is," June spat. She tightened the hood strings of her poncho. "Lookout duty in the freezing rain!"
"Mom said that we needed lookouts. Those menace machines came within five hundred meters of the plant before, and they'll do it again if we aren't careful."
"Why would they do that?"
"I don't know…before, it was to kidnap one of our guys. He made it back, but his digimon didn't."
"You'd think they'd at least find us a dry spot to watch from," June muttered.
"Not today," Tina thought aloud as she strolled to the other side of the roof. "Besides, we---!"
"What?"
"There's no rain over here!"
"What?"
"It just---stops raining on this side of the roof!"
"That's weird…but good!" June raced to that side of the roof and breathed a sigh of relief. "That's better."
"No kidding."
"One question…are all these time anomalies freaking you out?"
"Not really. None of them ever turned out to be dangerous."
"What about the one in the girl's room?"
"That qualifies and 'annoying', not 'dangerous'," Youngdramon cut in.
"Speak for yourself! I can't think straight, knowing that, at any minute, a boy could come barging in!"
"Personally, I'd only be scared if that boy was Davis," Tibemon cut in.
"Why Doofus?" Tina asked. "I mean---hello! New issue!"
"What is it?"
"Catamarines as twelve o'clock!" It was no lie. There were three huge, lava-spouting lions, ready to attack the plant.
"Time to do our thing!"
"Youngdramon, digivolve to…Ikudramon!"
"Tibemon, digivolve to…Savamon!"
"Ikudramon!"
"Savamon!"
"DNA digivolve to…Mermon!"
"I don't think Mermon can take those things alone," Tina insisted. "We need more fighters!"
Mermon picked June and Tina up and then flew down to the sidewalk below the building and set them down. "You two sound the warning; I'll hold them off until help arrives!"
"Right!" Tina and June raced into the nuke plant and yelled, "We have a situation! Catamarines attacking!"
"Uh-oh! …Veemon, I need to get away from the television set, again!" Veemon climbed onto Davis's back and covered his eyes. The two of them raced away from the lounge and skidded to a halt, just outside the nuke plant. Davis held up the digi-egg of friendship and yelled, "Digi-armor, energize!"
"Veemon, armor-digivolve to…Raidramon, the storm on friendship!"
Ash, Tracy, and Misty weren't far behind. "Kingler, Bulbasaur, Blastoise, Pidgeot, Snorlax, Totodile! Go!"
"Starmie, Staryu, Golduck, go!"
"Scizor, Venonat, Azumarill, go!"
"This is gonna get ugly," Ash cautioned himself.