Yes, I know this is Chapter 1.4. And you're wondering what happened to 1.3? Well, since it's a chat-based factor, I wasn't allowed to post it on this site.
I will post a link to it once the rewrite has been completed, but until then you will have to make due with the section underneath titled "The Story So Far..."
Yeah, this is the big reunion thing. I decided I'm not gonna rewrite it. Make small dotted corrections here and there, but otherwise no rewrite. Remember, this chapter is based on my writing skills from over a year ago, so please don't mind the decrease in quality. Also, you might notice that it isn't such a big or overly exciting chapter, even though it does focus on an important part of this story.
Well, enjoy.
THE STORY SO FAR...
Takuya, Izumi, and Kouji reunited with Tomoki and Junpei when the two coincidentally joined the same chatroom that the other three were in. They talked together casually for quite a while until Takuya alerted the others that his phone was ringing. Ophanimon, the first Digimon they had ever come into voice contact with last year, was the one calling him, notifying him of a new reborn conflict in the Digital World, and telling him and the other Chosen Children to meet at the mall and receive further briefing from there.
CHAPTER I:
Truth and Reconciliation
Chapter 1, Factor 4: " Chosen Child Number 7"
March 9, 2003 – 7:52 PM – In front of the Video Game Store
Tomoki was the first to arrive at the store. He looked around, and when he saw that no one had arrived, he went inside.
Takuya arrived shortly after Tomoki had come. He looked inside the window, and saw Tomoki standing at the counter, exchanging money for a video game.
Tomoki turned around, and when he spotted Takuya looking through the glass at him, he grabbed the game, quickly thanked the cashier, ran out of the store and was pulled into a tight hug.
"Takuya, I haven't seen you for ages!" Tomoki said happily.
"Tomoki, you've grown," Takuya said, letting go of him.
"Not by much."
"About maybe…what? Three inches?"
"Yeah, about that much."
"Well that's still pretty good."
"I guess…"
"Hey, Takuya!" someone called from further down the sidewalk. It was Izumi.
"Hey Izumi!" Takuya said.
"Izumi-chan!" Tomoki called. Izumi ran up and pulled Tomoki into another tight hug. She lifted him off the ground.
"It's so good to see you Tomoki!" she said happily
"Whoa, whoa. Feet on the ground please." She put him back down. "It's nice to see you too, Izumi."
"It's been too long!"
"Yeah, I know."
"Hey guys" yelled the voice of Kouji, who was running down the path. Everyone called for him. He greeted everyone in a less enthusiastic way, but he was still happy to see them.
"Now all we need is Junpei to get here," Izumi reminded.
"I am here," said a voice. It was Junpei He was leaning against a car in the parking lot, his hand holding a bag of candy from the Sweet Factory. He was wearing a big smile on his face.
"Junpei!" Takuya exclaimed. Junpei slowly walked up to them, and he nodded to each.
"It's nice to see you guys again," he said calmly. "Haven't seen you guys in a year."
"Yeah, I know," Takuya replied. "You all have your Digivices?" Everyone nodded, then they pulled them out. The screens all started glowing, and Ophanimon's voice fluttered out from Takuya's device.
"Takuya Kanbara," she said.
"I'm right here," Takuya said.
"Good. Please listen carefully. The Digital World is under another peril. I require your assistance once again."
"Again?"
"Yes, again. There is someone you need to find first, however. A young boy, he goes by the name of Jakuza Miyami."
"Jakuza..." thought Junpei out loud. "Is that a name?"
"I believe he is the last of the Chosen Children," continued Ophanimon. "It is time we bring him into action. We need him, and he is one of the Digital World's last hopes."
"We will find him, Ophanimon, don't worry," Takuya said reassuringly.
"I trust you can find him by the end of tomorrow. Good day to you." There was a click, and her voice disappeared.
"Huh, Jakuza…" said Tomoki. "That rings a bell."
"Yeah," agreed Kouji. "I've heard that name before."
"How are we going to find one boy amongst a whole world of people?" Junpei complained. "That's impossible!"
"Not if we work quickly," Takuya said. "I'm gonna go home and I'll think of ways to find out who this 'Jakuza' kid is."
Takuya was sitting in his chair back at home. He was examining his Digivice. Suddenly, it began to ring. Out popped Tomoki's voice on the Digivice.
"Takuya, I just remembered! Jakuza Miyami goes to my school!"
"WHAT?!" Takuya said out loud, jumping out of his seat. "Are you serious?!"
"Dead serious, Takuya. I saw him at lunch once; he really is hard to spot though. He's in the same grade as me."
"Good work, Tomoki," replied Takuya. "We'll be ready for him soon." Tomoki hung up, but Takuya didn't need to wait much longer for another reply, this time from Kouji.
"Takuya, I know Jakuza," he said. Takuya sighed.
"Yeah, so does Tomoki," he replied. "Where'd you meet him?"
"He's in my Tae-Kwon-Do class. He managed to earn himself a junior black belt in three years."
"Well now we know a little more about him," said Takuya. He called up Tomoki again.
"Try to find a way to get him after school, okay Tomoki?" said Takuya.
"Okay, you got it Takuya. Oh, and another thing."
"Yeah?"
"That thing about me getting beat up kinda worked in retrospect. First it grabs Junpei's attention, and now it's gotten me a day out of school. I can meet up with you at around noon.
"Don't forget, we still have school-"
"You have a minimum day."
"Oh yeah," said Takuya, remembering that tomorrow all secondary schools countrywide had parent-teacher progress conferences after school, meaning shortened days to prepare for the conferences. That meant that Izumi and the others could follow Takuya out of school to find Jakuza. "Well, okay. I'll gather everyone up. We gotta think up a place nice and quiet for us to meet up for lunch and prepare though."
"How about a quiet sushi restaurant? There's one only a block away from my neighborhood, which is next to the school."
"Good idea. I'll call everyone up, and I'll see you then, all right?"
"Okay, later Takuya." He closed the line, and Takuya told the rest about what they were going to do tomorrow. Then, he ate dinner with his family and went to bed.
AUTHOR'S NOTES
Yes, it was indeed quite an abrupt end to the factor. But remember, it was a year ago...
I apologize for anyone lost on the storyline either because my writing skills were somewhat worse when I wrote this (I'm not saying they're good now, but yeah), or because of the missing third factor. I will post a link to it soon, don't worry; until then, you will need to make due with what you have now.
(Added on 9/25/04) Another note. Jakuza isn't pronounced "jah-KOO-ZAH". That's just ridiculous. The second syllable's got more of an "a" sort of accent, and it's spoken a lot faster. Saying it naturally will kinda sound like you're saying "JAK-au-ZAH", or something like that. And yes, he's gonna have a nickname, sort of Tomoki/Tommy-esque. (Note: In those pronounciations, lowercased letters mean faster-spoken syllables, and vice versa with uppercased symbols.)
Thanks to one of my reviewers (Scarred Dragonia), I was notified of a smattering of translation mistakes. In an attempt to find something that could help me from making the same mistake, I discovered Microsoft Word's "Find and Replace" feature, also available in Dreamweaver, so I'll probably have less trouble switching things around. Yeah, I'm a computer noob.
While I was going over the factor, I noticed a couple more plot mistakes, for example Tomoki having minimum day and saying Jakuza was gonna stay behind and help teachers. That didn't coordinate with the events of the next factor, so therefore I decided to leave the whole minimum day thing with Takuya and the rest of the middle-schoolers while just removing Tomoki from school for the factor. It worked, and now the plot runs smoothly. Now you know why I'm rewriting this stuff.
