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"Nice place," commented Ellen as the four children and their partners stood before the Arwall house.
"Big place," Snow Agumon added, getting in an eyeful.
"Has to be," replied Joan. "Colette's got a big family. Anyway, better announce we're here." She stepped forward and pushed the doorbell. A minute later the door swung open, revealing a little boy about four or so years old. His eyes lit up at seeing Joan and he waved brightly to her.
"Hey, little guy! Good to see you," the brunette greeted him, making symbols with her hands at the same time. "Is everyone upstairs already?"
The boy nodded, pointing up the stairway at the front of the house.
Joan smiled. "Great. Thanks, Maurice. C'mon guys"
She walked into the house, Elecmon behind her. Looking
at each other, the other three and their partners
followed.
"Who was that?" asked Rene.
"Colette's younger brother, Maurice," his sister answered. "He's deaf."
"Oh," the younger children chorused.
----------
Rose Diaries - Paris Adventure 04 By Lady Iapetus
Entry 3: All You'll Need to Know
----------
"Really? She said that?" Catherine gasped in surprise. "Wow. She must be angry."
Colette nodded, pinching some M&Ms from the bowl on her dresser. "Oh, she is, trust me. She threatened to let Palmon evolve and go after him."
"How'd you find out so much?" asked Gerard. "I
thought that Koushiro told Tony and Angela to keep
the argument off the message board and to themselves,
especially after Hank and Jessica's little 'outburst.'"
"Angie forwards what he says to me, then b.c.c.'s her replies to my e-mail," the dirty blonde-haired girl admitted sheepishly.
"Good thing they weren't at the wedding," Paul commented. "I doubt Hikari and Takeru would have appreciated any bloodshed."
A knock sounded on the door and Colette called out,
"Come in!" It opened revealing Joan, Rene, Ellen,
Genevieve and their partners. "Hi, guys. You're
right on time."
Catherine rose and crossed the room. "Hello, nice to meet you. My name is Catherine Ducharme, and this is my partner Floramon." The other members of the team introduced themselves, save for Joan who already knew the trio well enough.
"I'm Rene LaSalle, and this is my partner Snow Agumon," Rene introduced himself.
Snow Agumon waved a claw in greeting. "Hi!"
"Ellen Belvoir, and this is Hawkmon," Ellen said.
Hawkmon inclined her head.
Genevieve gave a little curtsy. "Pleased to meet you. My name is Genevieve Riveare, and this is my partner Lopmon." Lopmon gave a little bow of her own, floppy ears brushing the ground.
"Well now that the introductions are out of the way,
we can start the meeting," Gerard said. "Do any of
you have any questions?"
"Yeah, I've got one," Ellen spoke up. "Just why were we the ones picked to do this? Why not some other kids?"
Paul whistled. "One of the toughies, right off the bat."
"No one really knows why one child is chosen over another to become Digi-destined," answered the other boy. "Usually its someone between the ages of seven to thirteen who has seen or otherwise encountered a Digimon at one time in their lives."
"Like during Christmas two years ago!" Genevieve burst out. "I saw Joan with a bunch of other kids riding a double-decker bus that night!"
Gerard nodded. "Exactly."
Ellen nodded, as if to say she'd buy that. "Okay. But why were we chosen? Weren't you guys doing a good enough job, or did someone die?"
The room fell silent, save for a sharp intake of breath
from Colette. Finally Catherine growled, "Don't ever,
ever joke about something like that again!"
Ellen cringed, realize that she'd just done worse than put her foot in her mouth.
"We're not sure yet why you three were activated," Paul hastened to answer. "The five of us were activated three years ago to fight against Hell Angemon, but since we defeated him all we've done lately is peace-keeping."
Rene tried to salvage the question and answer session.
"Yesterday Joan" Rene jerked his thumb in his sister's
direction "told us about some other Digi-destined teams
in other countries. Just how many of us are there?"
"Approximately two hundred and fifty, counting you three," Catherine replied, calming down. "There are a few dozen teams, with at least four of them in Europe counting ours."
"Four in Europe? Where are the other three?" asked Ellen.
Rene rolled his eyes. "There's a team in London, Ellen.
Where were you the other day when Joan was telling us
about this kind of stuff?"
"I was listening; I just wanted to make sure you were"
Ellen retaliated, her face flushing.
Genevieve shushed both of them, as Catherine was apparently waiting for the spat to finish.
"The other three teams are located in London, in Rome and in Berlin," the blonde answered. "We tend to work more closely with the Italian and German teams than the London one, even though Nina has worked with us occasionally."
"Who's Nina?" asked Genevieve.
"She's one of the Wandering Digi-destined, from Spain," Ellen replied, then shot a saccharine smile at Rene who had begun to answer the question before Ellen interrupted him.
Genevieve nervously broached the next subject. "Going back to an earlier topic...has someone died because they were Digi-destined?"
Paul ran a hand through his hair. "Yes, two people have.
There's one confirmed death in Brazil, two Christmases ago.
A Digi-destined named Carlos was hit by a stray attack.
His brother Pedro came through here about a year ago.
Poor guy; I really felt sorry for him." Paul shook his head
sadly.
"The other was a member of the London team," added Joan.
"Catherine's cousin, Susan died not quite six months ago,
sacrificing herself so that the other members of her team
could defeat a ressurected enemy. Catherine and Susan were
pretty close, so that one hit us kind of hard."
Everyone was silent as the three new Digi-destined digested this information. The possibility that they might not surive made them more than a little frightened.
The next question was asked by Rene. "Does anyone at all know about this Digi-destined thing--besides us, I mean?"
"We do have a couple of civilian allies--our support staff,
if you will," Gerard responded. "First and foremost there's
M. Takaishi. He helped two of the Odaiba Chosen rescue
Catherine in '02, and he's been an ally ever since. When
we can't meet here, he lets us meet over at his home."
"M. Takaishi is also the grandfather of two of the Odaiba Chosen," Catherine added. Three pairs of eyes widened.
"Don't forget Jeanette," Colette added. "She's my sister.
Basically she just keeps this whole thing a secret from
my parents so that we can have our meetings here."
Ellen looked at her. "What about your little brother Maurice?
Doesn't he know?"
Colette shook her head. "I told him we're just an after-school club. That's what I told everyone else in my family, anyway."
Genevieve happened to glance at the clock, and let out a small cry of alarm. "I've got to get home. I don't want Poppa to worry about me."
"It's about time we were getting home too," Joan chimed in,
motioning to Rene and herself.
"I might as well too," Ellen sighed, getting to her feet.
"I'm expecting an actual phone call from my mom from the States
sometime." Her attitude made the others think that she wasn't
exactly thrilled with that.
"Oh! Before you go," Gerard began as he started rifling
through his backpack. He pulled out three CD-ROM disks and
handed each one to the new Digi-destined "these have all the
information you'll need to know. Stuff about the other teams,
the different areas of the Digital World, evolution, etc."
"Thanks," Rene said as he accepted his. Joan, the three younger Digi-destined and their Digimon said their goodbyes as they left.
"Well, looks like that's it for the meeting," Paul remarked once they were gone. "Shorter than I thought it would be."
"Do you think the new kids will be able to handle it?" Colette asked as Catherine and Floramon headed for the door.
The other blonde stopped. "I hope so," she said. "They do seem capable. Gerard, you'll handle the official announcement?"
The bespectacled boy nodded. "No problem, Catherine."
"Very good. Well, until later everyone! Oh, and Colette?" Catherine threw her friend a wink. "Keep me updated on the Tony/Angela situation, would you please?"
Colette grinned. "Not a problem, Catherine."
----------------------
Gerard's Dossiers:
Ellen Belvoir Digidestined
Born: 1993 Received partner: 2004
Nationality: French Eyes: Hazel Hair: Black
Growing up in a broken home has given Ellen a thicker layer of skin than most kids her age. A lot of people view her as jaded, but Ellen could really care less about their opinions. Only when she gets really angry or frustrated will she react, and then aggressively. The divorce of Ellen's parents is a taboo topic among the Parisian Digi-Destined. She doesn't talk about it, so neither do her teammates.
Ellen is the only member of the French team who is fluent in English, so if the French team ever runs into another team that doesn't speak French but has a member that speaks relatively good English Ellen is automatically drafted as translator. Her skill with English comes from the inordinate amount of time she spends visiting her mother and step-family in Massachusetts.
Skills:
Fluent in English and French, learns languages easily.
Arguing.
Self-defense.
Special Powers: none
Digimon: Poromon - Hawkmon - Cockatrimon
----------------------
Author's Notes:
Any resemblance between this and entry 4 of Lord Archive's War Diaries series is purely accidental.
More information about the Paris team's earlier adventures will be revealed in future entries.
Tony and Angela are two members of the Rome (Italy) team,
which is currently unwritten for. Since the Paris team
works more closely with the Italian team (and possibly the
German team as well) than the London team, there will be
more references to and possibly a couple appearances of
the Italian Digi-destined in future entries.
Credit goes to Lord Archive for the idea that Susan of the London team and Catherine of the Paris team are distant cousins.
Upcoming Entry:
Rose Diaries - Entry 4: You've Met the Rest.
Set directly after Entry 3. Rene, Genevieve and Ellen
introduce themselves to the rest of the world's Digi-Destined
and Chosen via Koushiro's message board.