Felidae: Hello again … if there's anyone actually reading this …
Genkimon: Yeah … this is the only one of your fics with zero reviews …
Felidae: Yeah, I know. It's depressing …
Genkimon: But I know something even more depressing …
Feldiae: sigh Me too … I don't own it …
Title: Tamer Chronicles #1: Boarding School Chronicles
Chapter: Information
Hogosha lay on her back, inspecting the cards she held in her heands. "What exactly are we supposed to do with these?" she had asked Ms Callway after she had been given them.
The older woman had smiled and explained. The cards were to help their Digimon to become stronger, faster, and anything inbetween. All that was needed was for the humans to swipe the cards in their mew D-Arcs and say "Digimodify", whatever the card or attack or weapon was, and "activate".
"They're not going to do anything, you know," BlackTailmon said irritably.
Hogosha peered over at the Digimon and then met Himeko's eyes. "Do I look like I care?"
"I think we should try this out," Himeko said. She smiled at Genkimon. "What do you think, Genkimon?"
The cat-Digimon grinned at his partner. "I'm game if you are?"
Himeko pushed herself to her feet and searched through her pack of cards. She pulled the card for spped out of the pack. "Ready?"
"Whenever you are."
"Here goes." Himeko set the end of the card near the slot. "Digimondify, Speed Activate!" The card slid through the device as a symbol appeared on the screen.
Genkimon glowed white for a moment and then shot off. He ran quickly around the small group a few times.
"Well … that worked," Hogosha said, raising an eyebrow.
"Ms Callaway said that it would." Himeko reached out and snagged Genkimon's collar before sitting down. "Now that I have seen it for myself, I believe her."
"Hey, quit!" a voice reached Hogosha's ears. She turned and saw Josh Newman being restrained by another boy while Nezumi Taishi taunted him.
"Hey, Himeko, look. " Hogosha pointed over to the boys. "Looks like Nezumi's at it again."
Himeko glanced over. "It does appear so. Should we go help his victim?"
"We should." Hogosha pushed herself to her feet. "BlackTailmon and Genkimon should stay here and hide while we take care of him."
"Good, I don't want to become intrenched in human squabbles," BlackTailmon said.
Himeko and Hogosha pushed through the crowd of boys to reach Taichi. Their eyes were drawn to the D-Arc Taishi was taunting Josh with.
"Hey, Nezumi!" Hogosha stomped up to the burly boy and snatched the D-Arc out of his hand.
"Give that back, Shiyama," Taishi growled.
"I t does not belong to you," Himeko informed him, absently playing with her lighter.
"And how do you know that, bitch?"
"I have a very strong hunch that the device belongs to Josh." She moved her lighter close to the boy who was holding Josh back. The boy jumped back, letting go of Josh. "Let us go, shall we?"
"Thanks, Nezumi," Hogosha said, grabbing Himeko's arm. "See ya."
"Here's your D-Arc." Hogosh held out the device to Josh.
"D-Arc? That's what it's called?" Josh asked, looking at it.
"Yeah, we each have one, too," Himeko told him. "You would not happen to have a Digimon would you?"
"Um … yeah, Agumon."
"I'll go get BlackTailmon and Genkimon then," Hogosha told Himeko. "We'll meet back in our room, kay?"
'Okay." Himeko nodded.
"Only one problem," Josh said, "Agumon's at my house and they don't let us off-campus till school's over for the day."
"Doesn't excuse me from getting BlackTailmon and Genkimon!" Hogosha shouted over her shoulder.
Himeko sighed heavily. "I guess we should go to Hogosha's and my room, for a meeting of sorts."
"Oooookay, lead the way," Josh said.
"Tamer, huh?" Josh asked. "And what exactly are we supposed to do?"
"Save the world from rampaging Digimon, apparently," Hogosha explained. "We should probably take him to see Ms Callaway, huh, Himeko-chan?"
A bell rang, signalling the end of the free period. Himeko stood and stretched upward. Hogosha's eyes followed the movement, taking in her roommate's shape. She sighed softly, thinking on how fortunate she was that Himeko hadn't yet noticed her crush.
"We should get going, or we will be late."
Hogosha mentally shook herself. "Yeah. All right." Her eyes turned to Josh. "Try not to get into trouble, kay?"
"Yeah." Josh left then, feeling suddenly like he'd found somewhere to belong.
Amanda peered across the room at the two Tamers. He hand absently stroked the top of Terriermon's head, running through her short fur. The two girls looked as if they were close, too close. Well, she would just have to fix that, wouldn't she.
"Amanda!" the teacher's sharp voice brought Amanda out of her revere.
"Yes, Mr Rans?" Amanda replied sweetly.
"What is a buildungsroman?"
"A story that lessons can be learned from, Mr Rans."
"Correct." Mr Rans turned away from his student.
Hogosha leaned over to whisper to Himeko. "Why does Chiko-san always carry around that stuffed-animal? It's kinda ugly."
Himeko looked over at the "stuffed animal". "I do not know, but it feels as if it is watching us."
"Yeah, that thing is creepy. Anyway, what'd you put down for number six?"
"Reiha!" Hogosha dragged Himeko towards Reiha and Miho's group of friends.
Reiha turned to see them coming towards her. "Give me a minute, guys," she said to her friends. She turned to Himeko and Hogosha and dragged them aside. "What!"
"What's got you so crabby?" Hogosha asked, taken aback.
Reiha sighed. "No offence, but my friends don't exactly like the group of people you guys fit into."
"Oh." Hogosha grinned sheepishly. "Gomen nasai, sorry."
"It's okay, you didn't know. What did you want?"
"There is a new Tamer," Himeko told her. "His name is Josh Newman."
"And he's a bully magnet," Hogosha added, "and throughly incapable of protecting himself."
Reiha nodded. "All right, I'll tell Miho and the boys. In the meantime, go to your councillor and show her your D-Arcs. She'll take you down to see Ms Callaway. Got it?"
"Do we have to?" Hogosha whined.
Himeko put a hand on Hogosha's arm. "Tahnk you very much, Reiha." She proceeded to drag Hogosha away. "I simply do not see why you need to be so stubborn. The councilor is there to help you."
Hogosha wrenched her arm out of Himeko's grip. "Yeah, except that they think that everyone on earth is straight, and I'm not! She keeps trying to convince me that I'm straight."
"Well, we are not going there to talk, you will live."
"I'm still not happy about this …"
"Excuse me, Mrs Keener, could Hogosha and I have a word with you?"
Mrs Keener, the school councilor, looked up from her paperwork. "Yes, of course, come in. Hogosha, dear, close the door behind you. Now, what can I do for you, ladies?"
"We were told to show you these," Himeko held out her D-Arc to Mrs Keener. Hogosha reluctantly copied the motion, keeping her eyes anywhere but Mrs Keener.
The older woman did a double-take and then leaned back in her chair. "I would like to warn you girls that the people with whom you will be working only care about getting data on there so-called 'anonolies'. I would get out while I could if I were you."
"Thank you for the warning, Mrs Keener, but if you could just take us to see Ms Callaway, we would be very grateful."
Mrs Keener sighed and pushed herself out of her chair. "If I must, I must. Follow me, ladies."
"She's such a bitch," Hogosha whispered to Himeko. "'I would get out while I could if I were you.' Puh-lease. She needs to get the fuck off of whatever she's on and -"
"Hogosha, please," Himeko said, rolling her eyes. "Mrs Keener is just doing her job, advising us. It is up to us whether or not to take that advice."
"Abazureon'na."
Mrs Keener spun around suddenly. "Miss Shiyama, contrary to popular belief, I do know what that means."
Hogosha smirked. "I am so not sorry."
"Hogosha!" Himeko hissed.
"No, no, Miss Sorano, let her vent, maybe it will do her personality good." Mrs Keener spun back around and began walking again.
Mrs Keener led the girls to a familiar hidden elevator. "I'm only going to say this once, the code to get to the lower levels is three seven eight two."
"Thank you, Mra Keener," Himeko said, flashing a smile. She punched the numbers on a hidden keypad. A wall panel slid back, revealing the elevator. The girls stepped inside just before the panel slid back into place.
"This place is turning out to be the most wacked place I've even been," Hogosha commented.
"I believe you have said that before," Himeko replied. "I think I am beginning to agree with you."
The elevator came to a stop and the door slid open. Ms Callaway stood just outside the elevator.
"Ladies, to what do I owe this pleasure?" the woman asked, raising an eyebrow.
"There's a new Tamer," Hogosha informed her. "His name is Josh Newman."
"I suspected as much. How are the two of you faring?"
"There have not been any rogue digimon as of yet," Himeko said. "I guess the Digimon are doing okay as well."
Ms Callaway nodded. "Now, I'm sure you will want to know what caused the fire the other day."
The girls looked at each other and shrugged. Ms Callaway led them to the meeting room where they saw that the projection table had been dissected. Wires a nd components littered the balck-tiled floor.
"According to out specialists, there was nothing internally that could have caused the fir. Our security cameras tell us that no one, besides the other Tamers and us were in the room before the fire happened. We did, however, receive some startling footage of fire leaping from Sorano-san's finger to the apparatus."
"Th-that is not possible," Himeko stuttered, one of her hands flying to her mouth.
"Sorano-san, I would very much like to believe you, but -"
"She didn't do it, Ms Callaway," Hogosha snapped, her crimson eyes blazing.
"Not on purpose, no." Ms Callaway held up a hand to silence another indignant cry from Hogosha. "Listen to me, both of you. Sometimes, Tamers, like yourselves, gain a few extra abilities or else your current abilities are enhanced. A few examples of this being Yuki's enhanced strength and agaility and Amber Callahan's ability to breathe underwater. There are those who can create and manipulate certain elements and energies. I think that perhaps Himeko had the ability to create and manipulate fire. As your power is new to you, Sorano-san, you cannot be blamed for the fire caused."
Himeko stared at her hands in wonder, her eyes large. "I have the power to create and manipulate fire?"
"That's what we think. We can try it out now, if you'd like."
"Uh oh, the girl's going to go around setting things on fire just for the sake of fire," Hogosha commented, grinning at her friend.
"I will not," Himeko retorted, hands going to her hips. "I may be a pyromaniac but I will not go setting things on fire just to see the flames." She turned back to Ms Callaway. "Show me how to make it happen again, please."
Ms Callway smiled softly. "Cup your hands for me, then."
"Like this?"
"Like that. Now, you have to envision fire in the bowl you've created. If you want it badly enough, the flames will come to you."
Himeko's eyes fastened on her hands, wanting them to be filled with fire. Flames leapt on Himeko's palms, feeding on only oxygen. Himeko's eyes widened and sparkled with joy and amazement. "I did it!"
"That's … that's awesome, Himeko-chan," Hogosha whispered.
Himeko clapped her hands together suddenly, making the fire die out. "Okay, so we know that I was the one who set the fire, on accidnet. But what do we do if we happen to run into a rogue digimon?"
"The only way we know of to get rid of the rogue digimon is to fight them and destroy them," Ms Callaway said.
"Hold on a second, we have to kill the rogue digimon?" Hogosha asked.
"I'm afraid so. But it's not you that's killing them, it's your digimon."
"It's still killing!"
"It's the only way to take care of the rogue digimon. I'm sorry."
"There's no way I'm killing anything!" Hogosha stormed out of the room, heading towards the elevator.
"Hogosha!" Himeko ran after her.
Felidae: Woot! I finally got it done!
Genkimon: Why don't us digimon show up more?
Felidae: I haven't gotten to that part yet … and I may not if people don't REVIEW!
Genkimon: You mean you won't write if people don't review you?
Felidae: Well … maybe … but seriously … this is my only fic without ANY REVIEWS! It's annoying me!
Genkimon: You heard her folks, Review or risk the end of the series …
PS: Felidae: I'm looking for a Beta reader, if anyone wants to help me out, email me.