Standard Disclaimer: Pass the ketchup. I do not own Digimon! (munch) Mmm…sandwichy…
Author's Notes: Only four chapters, and I've already gotten more reviews than NDE ever got. Dang.
Heh. An author is ALWAYS his own worst critic…I felt that the last chapter was rather iffy IMHO…I thought it wouldn't be that well received. Geez…am I too harsh? Ah well…
Oh, I have to reply to a review from Zero 2 – not because the particular reviewer is more special or anything – because of a subject he brought up that I have to clarify.
ReaverOfFate: Time paradox, eh? Well here's how I look at it: imagine a piece of paper the size of the universe (and any other universes beyond our own). At the very beginning of that paper is a dot. It represents the beginning of time. Almost immediately, numerous lines branch off from the dot. All of those lines represent different timelines, where different things happen. As time continues to advance, more and more of these timelines grow 'branches' that represent new timelines. Every single possibility of an event happens; as for which one occurs, it depends on what timeline you're in (for instance, in one timeline Einstein might've been or dunderhead instead of a genius; in a different one, he might've founded the NFL, and so on).
Take Shaun for example. In his original timeline, he freed Demon, who then proceeded to kill all of the Odaiba Digidestined. Shaun wants to change this. He uses Gennai's time machine to travel back in time. However, the MOMENT he emerges in the past, a NEW timeline is created, because he WASN'T THERE originally. But now that he IS there, the only thing that can be done to compensate is for the creation of a new timeline to occur. You could say the original Season 02 was the timeline Shaun came from…but the new timeline he inadvertently created is the Zero 2 timeline. Which brings me to my main point; if you all think all that changed in the future was that the Digidestined would still survive, you're wrong. ALL of my stories from this point on (this one included) were not part of the original timeline. Shaun's return to the past, however, wrought these changes. Hope that clarifies some things.
Begin!
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Chapter 5: Operation Snack Attack!
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/Living Room, Inoue Apartment, Odaiba, 11:30 PM/
Sasuke scratched his head lazily as Subaru glanced at Davis, Jun, and Mantarou. The former Motomiyas both sat on the couch, while Mantarou stood. The other three Inoue girls – Yolei, Momoe, and Chizuru – were already asleep after the initial ruckus. Subaru calmly said, "So the bunk beds just fell apart?"
Mantarou nodded.
"And why did you buy the rickety wooden set?" asked Mrs. Inoue.
Mantarou casually shrugged. "Guy I bought the frames from said the metal frames were too unreliable. Told me to get the wooden ones."
"Was he wearing a red suit?" asked Sasuke.
Mantarou nodded.
Subaru's frowned went lower. "And did he happen to have a silly black bow tie and a golden molar?"
Mantarou nodded again.
Sasuke and Subaru both sweatdropped. "I knew it…Winston," muttered Sasuke.
Both Davis and Jun were clueless. Mantarou, however, suddenly looked flabbergasted. "You mean…HIM? Oh man, he said his name was WESton! GAH!"
"Who the heck is Winston?" asked Davis.
Subaru grimaced as she rubbed her temples. She wore red pajamas, whilst Sasuke wore dark blue pajamas. "Winston…you could say he's the king of con artists," said Subaru with a distasteful tone. "He's a master at misleading the consumers and then swindling them…"
"You sound like you know him," interjected Jun.
Sasuke grumbled, "Yeah. He came into town about two years ago. He thrives on taking business away from the other stores in the area. He always switches his pitch though; one day he might be selling fake fruit, and the next he'll be selling rickety bed frames."
Mantarou's head sagged in response to that comment. "Man…should've gone to the furniture store. But his deal looked, well…PERFECT!"
"He has a knack for doing that," muttered Subaru. She had a particular distaste for salesmen like Winston; they solicited in front of established stores and took customers away, only to swindle them.
"Well, no use worrying about it now," said Jun. "Davis and I will just sleep in the living room until this mess is cleared up tomorrow."
Mantarou looked at them and asked, "You sure about this? Momoe and I could easily sleep in here again."
"No thanks. Momoe's already asleep, and you've already done it once. Davis and I don't mind. Right?"
"…"
"Right?"
"…"
"RIGHT?"
"…zzz…"
Jun glanced over at Davis…and found that he had fallen asleep already. Heh…how cute.
Sasuke yawned as he stretched his limbs. "Well, it's too late to say anymore. We'll just head to sleep now. Tomorrow, Mantarou will get new bunk beds…and they'll be METAL. Right?"
"Right," annoyingly replied Mantarou as both of his parents nudged him in the side. As the three left the living room, Subaru turned off the lights.
Jun sighed as she got in the chair; since Davis had already fallen asleep on the couch, it was out of the question. Oh well…the chair can't be that bad.
Five minutes later, she discovered that the chair wasn't ideal for sleeping. Oh well. I'll manage.
After one minute passed, she finally managed to fall asleep.
Silence.
Cue the troublemakers!
"Are they asleep?"
"Ssh. Quiet Demiveemon."
"Sorry."
The two In-Trainings quietly tiptoed around…well, Poromon actually flew…so it was only Demiveemon that tiptoed…never mind, I'm rambling again. Moving on!
Poromon glanced down at an air conditioning vent cover in the floor. "Perfect." He turned around and flew off for the kitchen.
Demiveemon frowned. "Darn…I want to help."
Poromon flew back moments later, a screwdriver in his beak. He spat it out on the floor and whispered, "Okay. Unscrew the screws."
Demiveemon held the screwdriver awkwardly in his tiny hands, but he managed to insert it right into the screw's grooves. After a minute of turning it, he managed to pull it out. "Yay!"
"Ssh."
"Sorry."
"Okay. Three more to go."
Four minutes later, the last three screws were lying on the floor beside the first one. "Now what?"
Poromon wedged his beak into the crack between the vent lid. With one thrust, he pushed the vent cover away. Since they were In-Trainings, they were small enough to fit. "Okay. Down the hatch!" Poromon hopped down into the vent, using his wings to slow his fall.
Demiveemon looked down. Then he shrugged. "Okay." He happily jumped up, silently yelling (is that even possible?), "Banzai!" Davis' partner then jumped down.
THUMP.
"Ow…"
"Sorry Poromon."
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/Inoue Convenience Store, Odaiba, 11:50 PM/
Thump.
A dull metallic thump echoed through the still air of the convenience store.
Thump. Thump.
It sounded eerie…and strangely chilling in the silence of night. Something was about to break out.
Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.
The air conditioning vent in the ceiling suddenly burst open; both Demiveemon and Poromon fell down, landing in a heap on the floor.
Poromon grimaced as he shook himself off. "Ow…should've gone second."
"So you've done this before?" asked Demiveemon.
Poromon nodded. "Only once…I had to be careful though; Yolei's mom and dad were wondering why part of their inventory was missing. Now here's the deal; we just can't take everything from one spot. We have to spread it out, or else the others will get really suspicious. Got that?"
No answer.
"Hello?"
Still no answer.
Poromon angrily turned around, only to find Demiveemon walking around in a daze. "It's like heaven…without any lights…"
Poromon facefaulted. With a grimace on his face, the Digimon said, "Eh…he'll be fine." With that said, Poromon grabbed the nearest bag of chips and ripped it open with his beak. "Mmm…sour cream n' onion!"
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/Inoue Convenience Store, Odaiba, Friday, November 5th, 12:04 AM/
Demiveemon sighed blissfully as he sucked on a grape lollipop. "Mmm…grape…"
This was the life. So many snacks, so much candy…no wonder Yolei had always brought so many snacks! This place was a treasure trove! And now they lived here… "Ah…this is the life."
Crunch.
After chewing off the rest of the lollipop, Demiveemon moved away from the pile of candy bar and lollipop wrappers – which stood at one foot tall – to look for a new source of sustenance.
Then a yellow package caught his eye. The image of brown belly was on it, and it said in bold white letters, 'Yummy Wummy Chocolate Tummies'.
"Hmm…those sound good…" Demiveemon immediately grabbed a package and ripped it open, revealing chocolates fashioned into the shape of human bellies, belly buttons and all. He chomped into one…and smiled. There was a gooey red center inside it. "Mmm…gooey…"
As Demiveemon tore into the chocolates, he missed the large warning label on the side.
'WARNING: EXTREME SUGAR CONTAINS DOSE. DO NOT CHILDREN FEED'
And no, that's not a typo. Ever heard of Engrish?
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/Inoue Convenience Store, Odaiba, 12:12 AM/
Poromon sighed as he ate the last of a chocolate bar. He had eaten a well-balanced snack of chips, chocolate, and candy. "Mmm…exquisite!"
He then frowned. He hadn't heard from Demiveemon in a while. He must be several aisles over… "Oh, I'm worrying too much. He's fine…"
"WAHOO!"
Poromon yelped as Demiveemon suddenly charged through the aisle, his eyes wide with energy and excitement. "What the?"
"YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYSOMUCHCHOCOLATESOMUCHSUGARIFEELFUNNYBUTITFEELSSOGOODWOOWOOWOOWOOIFEELGREATWAHOOYOUSHOULDTRYEATINGTUMMIESPOROMONOOHLOOKSODA!"
Demiveemon yelled all of that in the two seconds it took him to traverse the aisle to the freezers that held the drinks. Poromon sweatdropped out of utter confusion. "…huh…?"
Then he realized it.
Sugar rush. "Oh boy…"
Demiveemon wedged his tiny hand into the crack at the bottom of the freezer door, wedging it open. He immediately jumped inside, grabbed a plastic 20-oz. Bottle of Pepsi, and began shaking. "FIZZYFIZZYFIZZYWAHOOIWANTTOMAKEITSPARKLE!"
"Demiveemon! What the heck are you doing?" exclaimed Poromon.
After most of the liquid became fizz, Demiveemon opened it.
CHOOM!
The bottle cap went flying towards the front windows… slammed into one of the two glass doors…and flew straight through it. Cracks splintered off from the hole in a web-like pattern. The pressure within the bottle sent it flying backwards into the freezer rack, causing a large number of soda bottles to fall. Pressure built up within them as well…and the bottle caps exploded outward, flying about and ricocheting throughout the store, knocking items off of their positions on the racks. Soda leaked onto the floor, staining it in a myriad of colors.
In a matter of seconds, everything had gone from calm to utter disaster.
Then, alarms began blaring.
Poromon was open-mouthed out of utter shock.
Demiveemon was silent.
Then he smiled. "OOHOOHOOHLOOKYLOOKYSHINYGLASSISITCANDYIWANNATOUCH!"
Poromon immediately facefaulted before roaring, "YOU IDIOT!"
Then a sound echoed in from outside.
Poromon froze. Police sirens. …oh…perfect…
Demiveemon, meanwhile, was licking the soda off the floor.
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/Living Room, Inoue Apartment, Odaiba, 12:16 AM/
Davis and Jun immediately got to their feet at the sound of the alarms.
Jun yelled, "What the?"
Davis muttered, "Who what where when why how wha?"
At that moment, six figures came walking into the living room and towards the door.
Sasuke. Subaru. Chizuru. Mantarou. Momoe. Yolei.
With the exception of Chizuru – who knew TaeKwonDo – they all carried baseball bats.
"Kids. Behind me," said Sasuke as he unlocked the door that led to the stairs.
"Hey, what gives?" asked Davis.
"Standard procedure," calmly answered Chizuru. "If the alarm goes off, we wake up, we go in, and we beat up the intruders. Simple."
Davis sweatdropped in response. "Okay…"
Nevertheless, both Jun and Davis followed the other Inoues down the stairs.
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/Outside Inoue Convenience Store, Odaiba, 12:17 AM/
Two police cars sat outside the convenience store in silence. Out of the cars came four men.
Three of them were black-haired Junsas; rookie policemen of the Odaiba Police Department.
And the last one was a Junsa-bucho: a police sergeant. His face was tanned, but it was lined with small wrinkles around the eyes and the cheeks. His blue eyes, however, were still keen and focused. In his hands was a Winchester Model 9417 Legacy rifle; an import from America, and his weapon of personal choice. In his belt holster was a black pistol, and clipped to the opposite side of his belt was a strange weapon that looked like a blue boomerang that had had its prongs bent inward. It was the energy rifle; during the Odaiba War, a group of Digimon calling themselves the Forbidden City militia had come to the Real World to help the humans drive back the Dark Digimon under the command of Demon, UmbraDevimon, and the Gravemon. Ackerson had been given a weapon to use…and its battery had still yet to deplete. However it was made, it had a lot of juice left in it.
Ackerson sighed as he walked towards the closed store. Even though it was only several feet away, he felt like he was walking in slow motion. He always felt that way now.
After the Odaiba War had ended, Ackerson had felt…strange. He didn't know why…he just did. That's why he had asked Inspector Macarthur to let him work on the late, late shift; so he could work in the calm of night. It soothed him, in a way.
Of course, it hadn't explained why he had begun feeling so strange in the first place.
Ackerson remained quiet as one of the Junsas quickly glanced at the hole in the door. The Junsa then used his boot-covered foot to create a bigger hole. This way, he could reach inside and unlock the doors.
The four policemen moved inside. Ackerson held his Legacy rifle silently while the three Junsas searched for the lights…and for the potential burglars.
Click.
The white lights of the convenience store flickered on. The three Junsas held their pistols tightly as they searched. Ackerson remained at the front doors. "Don't fire on anything without my permission otherwise."
Then…
"Sir! Look!"
The other three moved toward the Junsa that had shouted out. He was currently standing in one of the aisles, pistol aimed at two small creatures that were stock-still with terror…well, the pink, feathery one was; the blue one was digging into a bag of cheddar chips.
Ackerson suddenly frowned as he stared at the creatures. Digimon…
He suddenly had an answer for his strange feelings: the Digimon. Digimon had been the ones responsible for starting the Odaiba War. Digimon had been responsible for all of the destruction. Digimon had been responsible for all of the deaths. Even the Digimon that had been part of the Forbidden City – those that had helped humanity ward off the invaders – were now living in the Real World. They were aliens…and they were consumers of Earth's resources…Earth belonged under the dominion of man, NOT creatures of data!
Ackerson forced himself to calm down. He was being too harsh; even though most of the Digimon he had encountered thus far had been bad, there were good apples in the bunch; the same applied to humanity. Calm down old man…don't let emotions interfere with your job. Having regained his composure, he looked down at the two In-Trainings. "Mind telling me why you broke into this convenience store?"
Poromon gulped. "Well…technically we didn't break in…we were uh…just coming down for a midnight snack?"
Ackerson didn't buy it.
One of the Junsas scoffed. "Let's just shoot them now. Saves us trouble in the long run."
"No, don't! The sergeant told us not to fire!" exclaimed another Junsa.
The third one was busy trying to pry Demiveemon out of the bag of chips. "Rrr…get out of there, you little rascal…!"
Ka-chik.
That was the sound of a key opening a lock. The four policemen turned to see the entire Inoue family come out through the back door.
Sasuke blinked. "Uh…hi officers." At the mention of that word, Subaru, Momoe, and Yolei lowered their baseball bats.
Ackerson sighed as he said, "We were nearby. Got wind of the alarm…and we found these two rummaging through your wares." One of the Junsas held up Poromon, while the other tried to hold the sugar-happy Demiveemon in place.
Yolei's eyes narrowed. "Poromon…"
Poromon sweatdropped; a result of the weight behind Yolei's withering glare. "Heh heh…hi."
Yolei stomped over and snatched Poromon out of the Junsa's hands. "WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING DOWN HERE? AND HOW THE HECK DID YOU GET DOWN HERE ANYWAY?"
"I think that would be the answer," said Chizuru pointed up at the open vent.
Poromon gulped as he nervously said, "Well…uh…"
Demiveemon suddenly wriggled out of the two Junsas' grasp and ran around in circles happily. "YIPPEEYIPPEEYIPPEEWECAMEDOWNTOEATANDDRINKANDNOWWE'REFULLANDIFEELFUNNYFUNFUNWAHOOLOOKATMELOOKATMEICANRUNFASTERTHANSONOCOMONYAHOOI'MFLYING!" Demiveemon then rushed through the legs of the Inoues and up the stairs towards the apartment.
Everyone sweatdropped. Jun then commented, "Wow. That's one big sugar rush."
"GAH! He'll probably raid the kitchen!" yelped Mantarou and Momoe as the two ran upstairs. Chizuru sighed as she started walking up. "Well, better go help out. It'll take more than two to stop him."
Subaru harshly glared at Poromon, who remained silent in Yolei's grip. Then she snatched Poromon away. "Time to prepare another batch of 'Torture-Cola' for the two troublemakers.:
"NO! HAVE MERCY!" squealed Poromon as Subaru dragged her upstairs. This left Sasuke, Yolei, Jun, and Davis to speak to the policemen.
Ackerson sighed. "Are you sure you want them to stay here? We'll be glad to take them down to the station."
"No. They're getting punished," replied Yolei.
"And you don't have to worry about the door. Insurance will take care of that," interjected Sasuke.
One of the Junsa's whispered, "God, you idiots…"
Jun's ears twitched. "I HEARD that."
The Junsa shrugged. "I'm just saying…" With an angry huff, Jun whirled around and walked upstairs, muttering something impolite about the indignant Junsa.
"Look…are you sure you want them to stay?" asked Ackerson. "Keeping them around might not be a good idea…"
"Sir."
Ackerson blinked as Davis walked up to him, staring into his blue eyes with brown eyes that seemed surprisingly mature for his age. "They may cause some problems…but we'll handle it. They're our friends…and they aren't perfect: no one is. So please…just go. We'll be fine."
Ackerson was silent. Those eyes… For a twelve-year-old, those brown eyes were surprisingly deep. They carried determination and courage on the surface…but Ackerson could detect hints of sadness…and deeper within, anguish. So young to have experienced so much to make his eyes like that…it's sad…
Finally, he relented. "Fine. Men. Let's go…we're done here." With that said, the four policemen left. Moments later, the two police cars drove off into the night.
Yolei sighed as she stared at the mess caused by the two Digimon. "Man…what a mess…"
"Who's going to clean it up?" asked Davis to no one in particular.
Then, Sasuke handed two mops to them. "You two of course."
Davis and Yolei blanched. "But…WHY?"
"Those two partners of yours caused this mess. They can't clean it up themselves – seeing as to how tiny they are – so they're getting Torture-Cola as punishment. So to fill in, you two will have to clean this mess up," said Sasuke.
Davis and Yolei paled. They simultaneously mumbled, "Bu-bu-bu-but-but!"
"No buts! Get to work Chore-Boy! You too Chore-Girl!" With that said, Sasuke walked around and went back upstairs, leaving Davis and Yolei alone.
The Child of Miracles and the Child of Caring turned around and gazed at the mess. Soda covered an entire aisle. Glass shards littered the floor around the front door. Bags and wrappers adorned numerous areas in the store. Fallen items and bottle caps littered the entire area.
Both of them – still wearing their pajamas – let their heads sag as they sighed out of tired aggravation.
"I'll get this side…" listlessly muttered Davis as he held his mop and walked toward the front of the store.
"Fine. I'll take this one," dully murmured Yolei as she immediately began picking up wrappers around her feet.
Oh well. At least they were suffering together.
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To be continued…
Next time…
Chapter 6: Costume Contest (Part 1)
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Author's Notes: Yar…the stomach of a Digimon knows no limits!
And for those of you reading FFX-3…the hiatus is over… ;)
See you soon, and please review!