Chapter Eight of "Ryan's Downfall: The Story"
By Melinda Cadarette
I have found Ken at last
I have to warn him now
Time is running out for us
But danger is just ahead.
"Remember to take off your shoes when you enter," Ken instructed me. I stood behind him as he knocked on the door. A woman appeared at the door. I recognized her immediately as his mother. I heard him say "Okaasan" (Mother) and spoke a few more words to her. She smiled and replied back to him. He then moved out of the way so she could get a good look at me. I still had Butterflymon on my right shoulder. I turned a bit red in my face and tried not to look down.
"Say 'Hajimeshite'" Ken told me.
"Pardon?" I replied.
"It means 'Pleased to meet you" Ken explained.
"Okay" I said. I looked at his mother. "Hajimeshite." She smiled at me and said something back. I turned to my interpreter.
"She said 'Ogenki deska?' It means 'how are you?' or rather 'how's your health?' Say 'Hai, okagesama de.' That is the positive response," Ken informed me.
"Hai, okagesama de" I responded to his mother. His mother nodded. She spoke some more words. Oh how I wish I could understand her!
"Come in" Ken said. "Mother is always happy when I bring someone to our home." I nodded. I went with Ken into the apartment.
I had only a vague recollection of Ken's place from the show. It was actually quite small. I removed my shoes and went into the living room. It was ordinary, with a TV and a sofa and a low table. Ken's mother placed down a tray containing treats and poured a cup of tea that she had apparently already prepared for me. I don't like normal tea so I wasn't sure whether to taste it but I decided to be a good guest. So I picked up the cup and sipped it slowly.
"I still don't think we can trust this guy" I heard Butterflymon whisper into my ears. I felt annoyed.
"Listen Butterflymon, I think he is the least of our worries. He is not one of the followers of the Dark One. Instead of distrusting him, we should make him part of our group. After all, the Dark One is interested in him for a purpose," I told her in a low voice.
"I don't know" Butteflymon said. She reminded me of Cody. She hasn't let go of the past. "I still have vivid memories of him in that ugly purple costume of his. I cannot think of him without thinking about that. Or the Dark Rings that he used to enslave us."
I sighed. "Butterflymon, it's not Ken that you should be worried about. It is me that you should be concerned about. I am not happy with you and I would like for you to remember John Mark's plan. Ken is a target of the Dark One. We have to warn him about the Dark One."
"Excuse me" Ken said. It was then that I realized that he was listening. "But who is the Dark One? Why do you have to warn me about him and what does he want from me?" I decided to tell him now.
"You may find it hard to believe but I have come from another dimension to help you. My three friends are trying to find the other Digi-Destineds. My Digimon, Butterflymon, and I were sent to find you and tell you about the Dark One and his plan. It is very important that you know because the Dark One wants you and have recruited kids to find and capture you for him" I told him.
"But why does he want me? Not that I cannot guess at his motivation" Ken questioned.
"He does not want you yourself. He wants your digivice," I told him.
"That explains the kid," Wormmon said. "The boy tried to grab Ken's digivice but I managed to use my Sticky Thread attack or at least attempted to. He left but said he'll be back."
"What did this kid look like?" I asked.
"He had brown hair and blue eyes like you but his hair was straight. He wore a brown shirt and red pants. I think he's twelve years old. He looks like it anyway" Ken told me.
Uh-oh.
"That's Ryan!" Butterflymon exclaimed.
"Did he say his name?" I asked. Ken shook his head.
"He said nothing about his identity. He only told me that I should go to the dark dimension with him. When I replied negatively, he tired to attack me. Fortunately Wormmon stopped him and when he persisted I had to show him a few moves myself" Ken told me. At first I had no idea what he meant. It was then that I realized he knew self-defense.
At that time Ken's mother gave me more treats (I had already eaten most of the last ones when Ken and Wormmon were talking to me) and she also had poured a fresh cup of tea (not that I had completely drank the last one) for me. I thought about Ryan. What was he doing now? I could imagine him telling the Dark One where we are now. Maybe Ryan was going to return. I didn't know what would happen next. We could be in great trouble just by staying here.
I was about to open my mouth to tell Ken about this when he opened his D-Terminal. I could not read what was on the screen since it was in Japanese. He then looked at me.
"Do you know anyone named Celine?" he asked.
"Yes I do! She is one of my friends! She has a Digimon named Roachmon" I told him. He closed the D-Terminal and got up.
"I think we should go" Ken said. "Takeru, one of my friends, and Celine's brother are at Takeru's brother Yamato's school. Takeru wants all of the Digi-Destineds to be there. We should go now before my mother finished supper." I nodded at him. He talked to his mother who seemed to understand. He went back to me. "She said we could go. We can go on Stingmon. That is the quickest way to go to the school."
After saying "Arigatou" (Thank you) to Ken's mother for the treats and also "Shitsure shimashita" (said when someone is leaving someone's place), which Ken told me to say, and after Ken explained to me what his mother meant when she said "Itterasshai" (said when someone else is leaving), and what he meant when he said "Ittekimasu" (said when someone leaves his or her place), we left the apartment. Wormmon was in Ken's hands and Butterflymon was on my shoulder as we went down the elevator. I felt a bit excited. This was going a bit fast. I just hoped everything was alright with Sebastien and Celine. I wondered about Cole. I didn't know the truth so I thought he might still be wandering. I looked at my digivice. I wondered how I could contact him. Maybe John Mark could help me.
We went out of the apartment building and were about to get Wormmon to digivolve when we saw a group of kids in front of us. They had various nasty-looking Digimon with them.
"What the-?" I said. Ken was surprised as well. Wormmon looked defensive on the ground. I went right beside them.
"Hello there Mel" a blonde-haired girl said. She was dressed in a blue and white-checkered dress. I see you have the boy. You don't mind giving him over to us hmm?"
There was only one thing I could say. "Sydney?!"
A plan is going to be made
The Digi-Destineds have been found
Now there is going to be a meeting
Let there be a way to stop this.
The car skidded to a halt as a brown-haired girl bolted out of the car, screaming her head off. Another brown-haired girl with glasses came out with her feathered Digimon. The car then went to the parking lot and parked. A brown-haired woman, her blond-haired son and his winged Digimon, a younger boy and his shelled Digimon and finally a roach-looking Digimon came out of the car. The Digimon followed the girls into the school.
"Mom, make sure that Roachmon won't torment Celine or anybody else for that matter" the blond-haired boy said. "I am going to contact the others and tell them we reached Matt's school."
"I will try my best" Nancy said. She then went inside the school. It was then that she realized she had no idea where to go. She then heard Celine scream again. Nancy quickly walked down the hallway and went to her left. She opened the gym doors.
She saw a complete mess.
At one end of the gym there was a sheep-looking Digimon playing the drums and at the other end were his oldest son and some boys that she assumed were his band members. She then saw a blond-haired boy who was speaking in French to Celine. She was on the floor having what appears to be a nervous breakdown. She cried as Roachmon, obviously worried, tried to calm her down by reciting more poetry. He then stopped when he realized it wasn't doing any good. He went to singing instead. She cried even louder. The blond-haired boy was still speaking to her. Her crying, though, drowned him out. Cody and Yolei stood nearby.
"What is going on?" Nancy asked. Matt looked dumbfounded.
"I wish I knew, Mom" he answered. "First, Sebastien- that's the boy- came in with his Digimon who proceeded to go to the drums and play them. My band members are threatening to leave the band. Then when they are about to leave, this girl that Sebastien recognized came in and then Miyako came in and then this Roachmon came and the girl screamed and fell to the floor crying." He then looked at her. "I think she has gone insane."
"I see" Nancy said. It was then that T.K. entered.
"Is Roachmon bothering her?" T.K. asked. He then saw Matt. "Hello big brother."
"Hey brother, can you explain how you find her, I mean the crying girl?" Matt questioned.
"I can tell you later, when everyone gets here" T.K. answered.
"Is anyone else is coming?" Matt asked.
"I just received a message from Ken. He is coming and told me that he is bringing a girl with him. It could be Sebastien and Celine's friend" T.K. said.
"In any case what are we going to do about Celine?" Nancy asked.
"I have no idea," T.K. answered.
It was then that Sebastien shouted "Baamon!" The Digimon stopped beating the drums and looked at his partner. Sebastien then shouted some words in French. Baamon left the drums. The Digimon then went to Roachmon and spoke to him. Roachmon then backed away from Celine. All were amazed by this.
"How did Baamon convince him to stop?" Baamon asked.
"I don't know" T.K. answered. Nancy tried not to smile.
By now things have calmed down. The members of Matt's band talked quietly to one another. Celine talked to Sebastien, ignoring Roachmon entirely. T.K. talked to Matt. It was then that T.K. opened his D-Terminal.
"Ken just sent me another message. He said that he and Mel- I assume that's the girl who he is with- had a problem but they are coming now" T.K. told everyone that could understand him. He sat down and typed on the D-Terminal. "I am going to send Koushiro a message. He said that he'll be here but I want to tell him that we got the new Chosen Children at his school." He typed for a few more seconds. "That should do it."
Matt looked at his band members. "Practice is over. I think we have to leave the drums here but the rest of you can get your instruments and go." All the band members except for the drummer did as he said. The drummer decided to retrieve his drums but Baamon, sensing that he was going to take the drums away, left Sebastien and went to the drums. The drummer tried to push him away. Baamon of course did not like this and tried to do what the drummer did to him. Matt and Sebastien both had to go and tried to separate them. Without Sebastien or Baamon around, Roachmon took the opportunity to recite more poems to Celine who started crying again. The situation returned to chaos.
"Koushiro Izumi is here!" a short brown-haired boy with an Insect Digimon announced, appearing at the doors. He wore the same green school uniform that Matt did. In his hands there was his laptop.
"Hey there Koushiro! I assume you got my message?" T.K. asked. Izzy nodded.
"I sure did. So new Chosen Children are warning us of a danger from the dark dimension? I just had to come" Izzy said.
"Do you know if anybody else is coming Koushiro?" T.K. questioned.
"Taichi and Hikari should be coming. Sora too. I am not sure about Jou. He is very busy with his studies. Daisuke would probably be coming too," Izzy said as he looked at his laptop. "I haven't got a message from him. But he's probably coming as well. After all, Hikari is going to come so I know he wants to be there."
"Er yeah. Anyway, I think we need to talk about a few things. Celine talked on the phone with my grandfather in France. My mother then talked to him so she knows more than I do about what Celine said to my grandfather but I do know that we are in danger from the dark dimension" T.K. told him.
"I like to talk to your mother for a moment" Izzy said to him. T.K. nodded.
"Hey Mom! Koushiro wants to talk to you!" T.K. yelled. Celine then slapped Roachmon and ran out of the gym. The Insect Digimon ran after her. Eveyone heard a scream and another loud slap.
"Are they supposed to be partners or something?" Izzy asked.
"I think so. Though I don't think it is going well," T.K. answered.
"I think I should find them. I don't like them being too far from us" Tentomon said. Izzy nodded.
"Do that please. Try at least to make them come back. We need them here," Izzy said. He opened the door and Tentomon got out of the gym.
All of a sudden, there was a huge boom. T.K., Nancy, Izzy, Yolei and Cody looked where Matt, Sebastien, Baamon and the drummer were. The drummer had just crashed into the drums, making a big hole in the middle of the big drum.
"I can pay for that!" Sebastien told him. However, the drummer couldn't understand French. Even if he could, he was too upset now.
"My drums!" the drummer exclaimed. He then turned at Baamon. "This is your fault! Do you know how expensive is it to buy a set of drums?" Baamon looked at him sheepishly (pun not intended.)
"We can buy another set of drums. Please go or there might be another instance," Matt told him. The drummer grumbled about Baamon but obeyed the leader of the band and left. So Matt, T.K., Izzy, Nancy, Yolei, Cody, Sebastien, Patamon, Hawkmon, Armadillomon and Baamon were the only ones left in the gym.
"I want to know what is exactly happening. Why are these new Chosen Children here? Who are we facing against? And what exactly is our new enemy's goal?" Izzy questioned. He turned to Nancy.
"From what I was told, Celine said that a being- she didn't say it was a Digimon- had sent kids from her dimension to our dimension trying to find all of you Chosen Children. She said that the enemy seemed to be interested in Ken's digivice."
"What for?" Izzy asked, intrigued.
"Excuse me but we suspect it has to do with the Dark World. Remember when Ken-kun sealed the Dark Gate to the Dark World? Whoever this enemy is, it is possible he thinks that Ken's digivice can unseal it for him" T.K. said.
"Ken wouldn't do that, not intentionally" Izzy responded.
"I know but the enemy has kids out to find Ken. He could be in great danger. I already told him about the new Chosen Children. I just hope that him and the girl can arrive here safely," T.K. said.
"Everybody but Jou should be coming" Izzy said. "We should expect more of us to show up soon. All we need to do is to make a plan to help the new Chosen Children."
"You don't suppose that Gennai can help us as well?" T.K. asked him.
"Gennai! I almost forgot about him! I wonder why he didn't tell us!" Izzy exclaimed.
"Maybe he doesn't know what is going on or for some reason he can't contact us," T.K. said. "As soon as everyone that is going to come arrives, we should all make a plan based on what the new Chosen Children tell us. I just hope that Ken and the new girl can arrive safely."
"If they don't arrive soon, we might have search for them" Izzy said. "Fortunately, I can track them down with our terminals."
Just then the gym doors opened. In came Celine, Tai, Sora, Kari and Davis and their respective Digimons. Tentomon was also there. Celine had red eyes, no doubt from crying. All of them were breathing heavily.
"I see that Celine and Roachmon has returned. And we got almost everybody too" Izzy said. "So how did you manage to get them back here?" He turned to Tai.
"When we were trying to get here, we saw a Roachmon chasing a girl from the school. Of course we tried to help but it was apparent that Roachmon thought she was having a, ahem, female problem, so he was trying to comfort her" Tai explained, feeling a little uncomfortable now. He then looked at Celine, then at Roachmon. "Though I don't think it helped."
"Female problem?" Izzy asked, not sure if he wants to know.
"Her brother said she had a female problem so I was trying to comfort her," Roachmon said, trying to defend himself, pointing at Sebastien. Sebastien went red in his face. Celine fumed inside.
"Let's forget about that, okay?" Izzy said, hoping that everyone would comply. "We should talk about a plan once Ken and the other new Chosen Child arrives here. We will be able to hear the story from all their mouths and then we can decide what to do to defeat the enemy."
"That sounds good to me" Davis spoke, nodding. "This dark dude sounds suspicious."
"It's the Dark One, not the Dark Dude" T.K. corrected.
"I wasn't saying his name" Davis retorted. T.K. looked at him darkly but said nothing.
"Are you okay my sister?" Sebastien asked Celine.
"I am not talking to you my brother!" Celine shouted back, obviously pissed. "Roachmon went after me because of what you told him. I am going to get you for what you did to me. And I do not have a female problem!"
"Are you sure you don't have one now?" Sebastien said to himself. He dared not to say it out loud for fear Celine will eat him alive.
"I am going to send another message to Ken and tell him that almost everybody had made it. Nobody expects Jou to come" Izzy said. He went on the floor and typed on the laptop. "Now that is done, all we have to do is wait and hope that Ken and the girl is going to get here safely." Silence ensued for a few minutes.
"While we wait, I have a sonnet called 'For The Love of Celine' that I made when we were still searching-" Roachmon was interrupted by a scream made by a charging Celine. The next thing that was heard was a loud crash of cymbals clattering on the floor.
"My drums!" Baamon cried out.
"Wow Celine" Sebastien said in awe. "I didn't know you could throw that far."
"Thank you" Celine responded smugly.
End of Chapter Nine
I like to thank everyone for his or her patience. I am doing a bunch of stories and so this was delayed. I plan from Chapter Nine on to do a shorter chapter with a character profile for my original characters and respond to questions and comments that I got. Digimon is the property of Toei Animation. Mel, Cole, Ryan and the other original characters were created by Melinda Cadarette. The Japanese phrases and translations are from a webpage called "Japanese 1101" by Dot Warner (http:). It is a very useful guide for writing anime/manga fanfiction. I decided to incorporate my side-story "A True Child of Darkness" into this story but I am almost finished with it so if anyone wants to see the story form e-mail me and I would send it to you via attachment. However, I must warn you it contains heavy spoilers. The next chapter of this fic will be entitled "The Advent of Monarchmon And The First Battle" and yes there will be a Digimon battle. And do not forget to review!