Ben10 & Digimon Tamers

Heroes and Humanity

Part 02: Humanity and Heroes

The Beginning – Chapter 08

Originally Written: Saturday, June 1, 2015 239AM to 448AM

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"I do believe you two owe me fifty dollars each." Hugh looked at Fridge and Swamps with a smug, overconfident smile on his face. Now that they had confirmed this 'Jen's' identity, they could make themselves scarce so as to not get caught. At the moment they lounged on a couch in a small rest area on the apartment's first floor.

"Is that Earth currency or…?" Fridge examined his blue nails once more, frowning at the chipped paint. Unlike the others, he set his ID mask so there were some things that daily activities would affect. The setting was easy to change, but Fridge discovered something entertaining about painting his nails.

"I am privy to US dollars or the Euro. If not, G-Galvan currency works." Hugh puffed out his chest.

"Oh screw you, Humphrey!" Swamps threw his arms up, the green cushions shifting on the forest print couch as he did so. "No way in the null void you're profiting off a bet as dumb as this."

"D-Don't be a cheapskate, Sean." Hugh folded his arms, "Besides the bet w-was your idea in the first place."

"Yea, yea." Swamps frowned. "How'd you figure that out anyway?" All three members of the current group, thanks to Albedo, were aware that due to the advanced technologies Galvan were capable of creating, Galvan tech was worth a good penny across the universe, much more than earth currency in fact. Giving Hugh Galvan currency would have allowed him to buy and sell tech at a good profit.

Hugh held up a finger as he curled up on the couch, leaning on some cushions. "I did a bit of research."

Swamps openly glared at him.

"Jen is a nickname for Jenrya, a male Japanese translation of a Chinese name, Jianliang."

Swamp's look turned into one of disbelief.

"Jen or Jenrya isn't even his real name; it's Henry."

"What?" Fridge looked at Hugh, ignoring his nails completely. "How did you even…? You cheat!"

"You went through Albedo's doohickey!" Swamps called out, motioning his human fingers as though they were stiffly typing on a smart phone's keyboard.

"I-It's called a D-Terminal," Hugh folded his arms, "and I did not."

"You know what?" Swamps wagged a finger at him, "I'm not paying you shit."

"Sean!" Hugh lowered his arms and clenched his fists.

"Nope!" Swamps waved a hand as though he were dismissing Hugh. "You can't trick me like we're playing poker, admit to it, and then expect me to pay you."

"Cheapskate!"

"Not a dime!"

"Hustler!"

"Lying obsessive cheat!"

Fridge scooted away from the duo as they shouted at each other. He covered his face with his hands as Swamps replied, "Go get your money from Frank. He's nicer than me."

"Are you really?"

"Hm?" Fridge uncovered his face and looked down at Terriermon. The digimon looked up at him with innocent black beady eyes. His eyes widened. He jerked back and Terriermon continued looking up at him. He rested his hands on his human thighs and leaned forward. "I have never seen a creature like you before."

"No?" The digimon tilted his head, ears flopping to the side.

"No." Fridge replied, voice soft.

"Well, I'm a Terriermon." He spoke cheerfully. Then it got this crazed look in it's shining beady eyes as it grinned and Fridge just knew Albedo was going to tear him a new one. "And you just told me one of two things: either you've been living underground for like 10 years or you're not human." Terriermon grinned and scampered off as quickly and quietly as it had appeared in front of Fridge.

Fridge quickly stood up to follow. "Hey! Wait!" He took a few steps forwards, shoes clacking loudly against the tiled floor.

"Frank?" Hugh questioned standing up.

Swamps held a hand out, "What are you doing?"

"How did you not notice it?" Fridge replied, turning back around. He pointed behind him, at the hall Terriermon ran down at apparently breakneck speeds. "The white and green thing that couldn't decide if it was an earth dog or earth bunny…," he pressed a finger to his chin, "or is it hare?"

Swamps stood and walked towards the hall. He took a few steps down it, looking around. "I don't see anything."

"Neither do I." Hugh looked out the window.

"It called itself Terriermon." Fridge dropped his arms at his sides.

"Aww man..." Swamps looked at him, sighing. "You didn't say anything to it did you?"

"Can I answer that with a no?" Fridge looked down while folding his arms behind his back.

"I-I feel like we're a strike away from Albedo beating us with a baseball bat." Hugh moped.

"I wish that's all he'd do," Swamps spat. "Albedo's gonna be pissed."

"We'll make a scene for sure if we chase it." Fridge looked up as he slunk over to one of the couches and slumped down in the seat and cushions. "It just caught me off guard. Stupid beady eyes."

"We've r-really got to h-help make things better for A-Albedo."

Fridge sat next to Hugh.

Swamps raised an eyebrow, "You said that weird." He walked back to the other. "He's not dying is he?"

"I'm pretty sure if he was, he'd tell us." Fridge rolled his eyes, "He's private, but not that private. We've all seen him after those cursed nightmares of his."

"T-that's exactly why we need to help him out more." Hugh shuffled around his backpage, and pulled out his tablet. Fridge and Swamps crowded around him. Hugh murmured to himself as he tapped on the screen navigating through pages, "Ah! H-here it is." He flipped the tablet around as he spoke. "I-I managed to decrypt a portion of that section of Albedo's plumber database file." He scrolled down the page, "H-he had a run in w-with a C-Cassiopeian D-Dream E-Eater."

Fridge visibly shuddered and held his head in his hands, "Not Albedo."

"That the one that causes nightmares?" Swamps questioned.

"Mhm." Hugh said as Fridge nodded.

"All night long?"

"All night long until a hundred years later," Fridge replied.

Swamps took a seat next to Fridge. "Well, shit. How the hell did it come to that?"

"I-I'm not sure yet." Hugh spoke up, placing the tablet on his lap screen side up. "But it's pretty clear h-he's having a n-negative impact f-from it."

Fridge muttered incoherently to himself.

Swamps swore he heard the word insanity, but that was probably his whole disbelief of the situation kicking in. "He seemed calmer around that Jen guy." He mused to himself, focusing on nothing in particular ahead of him. "Think coming to Japan was a good idea?"

"It-it's apparent he has more friends than us here." Hugh looked down at his tablet, reading through the decrypted sections of the file. "It's possible they could be helpful." He narrowed his eyes, "b-but I want to know why that part of the file was encrypted. What else are the plumbers hiding?"

Swaps rolled his eyes, "They're plumbers. The only thing they're missing are the Incursean's violent tendencies and who knows if I'm wrong about that too."

"Would you stop bashing law enforcement?" Fridge snapped.

Swamps gestured to Hugh's tablet, "Exhibit A. You just looked at it."

"Law enforcement can't air all the facts about what they do. It would be like telling your opponent where you are going to strike next in a war." Fridge glared at Swamps. "It could put all their lives in danger."

"Or they could be hiding something nice and wicked while making sure nice guys like you keep drinking that ice cold drink known as corruption and lies told so well they seem like the truth."

Fridge folded his arms, "And I bet you're drinking the whole truth and nothing but, right? Or however it's said."

"That's all I drink, buddy." Swamps rested an elbow on the back of the couch.

"Oh please." Fridge rolled his eyes, "That's exactly why you stuck around after you found out what Albedo was really up to, right?"

" 'One, he wasn't technically breaking any laws, especially earth ones. Two, if you have such a problem with that, why are you still here?" Swamps pointed to Fridge.

The necrofriggian disguised as a human opened and closed his mouth a few times, "Hmph!" He clenched his hands around his biceps and shrunk into himself, "That's different!"

"Uh huh." Swamps looked away, focusing his gaze down the hall. "Whatever you say, smart guy."

Hugh focused on his tablet, lost in his search. Fridge murmured to himself, glaring at the floor.

. . . . .

A/N: I'm a bit sad that Swamp's law enforcement jab is more relevant five plus years after writing this chapter...