I don't own digimon.
Story -22
Where the hell have you been? (Non-Canon)
Worrmmon considered himself to be a patient person. To a point, of course. He had learned his lesson after the whole emperor mess and didn't want a repeat of that. Sadly, the forces of someone unknown had wanted that and unleashed a whole new emperor on both worlds. That didn't explain why he sounded kind of like TK (according to Ken at least). Once more, he and Ken needed to rebuild their reputation. Hopefully this time will be far easier than the last. For now, he had other things to do. More specifically, Wormmon wished to make some chocolate chip cookies. Of course, that meant going to the kitchen and seeing if they had any of the ingredients to make chocolate chip cookies in the first place.
"Yolei, could I get some help here?" he announced, doing his best to get off of his back. He had been sleeping on his back right before Ken had to leave for school. While Wormmon had hoped to get rolled, that was sadly not the case. No matter. He would just need to improvise.
Silk Thread!
Shooting a strand of web out, Wormmon was pulled up to the ceiling. From here, he could make out a variety of furniture with knick-knacks. Some recent purchases after the whole kidnapping, some stuff coming from Osamu. Long out of the picture, something about him still hung about within this room. Maybe it was on the weird-looking figurine that Ken claimed looked like Stingmon. He had seen that figure a handful of times. Personally, the big digimon couldn't quite decide if that was the case or not. Nor did it matter in the slightest. Looking in the direction of the doorway, he could see right through into the rest of the apartment. He had asked Ken where his parents went, but all that got him was 'somewhere'. Surely he was still making an effort to keep in touch with them. Beyond the point.
Stepping out into the hall, the bug digimon navigated his way into the kitchen. From up here, he made the short walk into the kitchen. Which brought with it a new problem - getting down. Wormmon was no cat, but would the same principle apply here?
Worm Hang!
Releasing his grip on the ceiling, The next couple seconds of free-falling were absolutely terrifying. How the heck were felines (and feline digimon) do this on a daily basis. Dusting himself off of any drywall powder that might have gotten on him in the process of walking on the ceiling. Hopefully neither Ken or Miyako would notice that. If they did, hopefully they wouldn't make a big fuss about that. Especially once they see the cookies he had made for them. Now where was the recipe book?
Looking about the kitchen, he came upon the cookbook. Decorated with a bunch of macarons, the book was one that Mr Santa had gotten him for Christmas. At least, that was what the bug digimon assumed. Surely Ken wouldn't try to deceive him on that grand of a scale. No, he would just claim that in the face of Hoeiosho delivering presents to their residence. But those were thoughts for later in the year. Right now, he needed to get to the cookbook to check the recipe.
Heading over to the counter's side, Wormmon did a short hop. Hopefully that would be enough in order to make contact with the surface.
Worm Hang!
Gripping the vertical surface to the best of his abilities, Wormmon slowly walked up. Unlike the trip on the ceiling, Miyako would definitely notice that. If he had time after baking the cookies, a bit of cleanup would most definitely be in order.
Walking over to the cookbook, Wormmon carefully pulled the cover away. Flipping through the pages, he came upon the recipe in question - chocolate chip cookies. When was the last time he had baked this? Had to have been some time right before Ken was kidnapped for the second time. Hopefully that wouldn't be an omen for things to come today. If it was, the only person Wormmon had to blame was himself.
"Would you like some help with that?" a voice called out and Wormmon spun around. There was no way that he heard who he thought he did. Obviously someone wished to play a prank on him. Why someone would go through the trouble was beyond him. Had to be better people to mess with. For now, probably best to play along with this mystery person.
"Yes, actually." Wormmon answered, turning around to face whoever was talking to him. Standing before him was a man with kind of spiky brown hair. Dark blue eyes stare in the direction of the bug digimon, doing little to prevent Wormmon's gaze from shifting to the large metal gauntlet on his right arm. Sort of complimenting the tan gloves on his hands, the faded olive shirt not so much. Black shorts with green leggings covered the lower part of his body and led right into a pair of pristine white sneakers. A mason jar hung by his side, a black organism banged about within its tiny prison. "Ryo?"
The man nodded and held his hand out. Wormmon made his way over to reach Ryo's hand. But the best he could do was hold out one of his little legs. The shake that followed looked more like him getting shaken about than an actual handshake.
"What about me? Don't you want to shake my hand as well?!" the creature within the jar announced and banged the glass a couple times. Ryo rolled his eyes and focused on Wormmon. Muttering something under his breath, he got a look from his friend.
"Just ignore him." the chosen explained and Wormmon nodded. Glad as he probably was to see him again, the bug digimon most definitely didn't trust him. Not that he really really trusted himself in most situations. Especially the ones that involve his partner… being his truly wonderful self. "So you're going to make some cookies. Mind if I landed a hand?"
Wormmon looked away, debating his options. The extra set of hands (literal in this case), would be an absolute help in making sure everything ran smoothly while leaving enough time for him to clean up to the best of his abilities. Could he really guarantee Ryo actually staying the entire time and not getting sucked away to some other place because a digital entity needed him to do something but had only thought up of the way there and no way back. He honestly wasn't completely sure what was the right call. Nor did he want to ruin the surprise by calling Ken and Miyako. They had enough on their plate without adding Ryo Arkiyama to it. So he let out a deep breath and turned back around.
"Yes, but you need to stay for the whole thing. Am I clear?" Wormmon announced and got a nod in return. Even as the creature in the glass began banging against his prison. Chuckling echoed out from the glass, Ryo ignoring it to the best of his abilities.
"Aw… he really thinks that you'll actually be able to stay. How cute." the creature announced as he looked in Wormmon's direction. Getting a confused look from the bug digimon, he raised what looked to be a large cannon up. Firing a shot off, the only thing he managed to accomplish was hitting himself. "You've just guaranteed that he won't stay the entire time."
Ryo rolled his eyes and pulled the jar off his belt. Giving it a couple shakes, back onto the belt it goes. Then it's back over to Wormmon.
"Where do I start?" the chosen inquired, Wormmon looking in the direction of the oven. Ryo made his way over, doing his best to split his focus between the bug digimon and his destination. A western-style stove, it provided for the perfect appliance to make cookies. Why Ken's parents had been so insistent on having one imported in the first place was beyond him. Not that the bug digimon would look a gift horse in the mouth.
"Set the oven 190 Degrees, Celsius." Wormmon announced and looked over to Ryo. Getting a nod, he watched his assistant punch in the temperature. Or at least make an honest attempt at doing it.
"Idiot. You need to press the bake button before putting in the temperature." the creature announced and got a glare from Ryo. Still took full advantage of that advice and actually did what that thing suggested. Once he had done that, Ryo's gaze returned to Wormmon. Flashing a thumbs-up, he got a smile from the bug digimon.
"Then what?" Ryo announced as he made his way back over. Wormmon turned back to the cookbook. Looking over the instructions a couple times, it was clear what they needed to do next - actually get all the ingredients out.
"See if we have eggs and milk in the fridge." Wormmon explained and made his way over to a nearby cupboard. Try as he might to reach it, his pincer and feet were not quite enough to reach out for the box.
Silk Thread!
Ascending up to the ceiling, Wormmon pulled the cabinet open. Peering within, the only thing he was able to find was a bunch of bowls and plates. A far cry from the necessary ingredients he needed in order to make the cookies. Walking over to the next cabinet, he carefully opened that one up. Unlike the last one, this one had a bunch of baking ingredients. He hoped that this stuff was baking ingredients at least.
Silk Thread!
Shooting more thread out, Wormmon grabbed hold of a bag of flour. Doing the same with a bag of sugar, he took a moment to check on Ryo's progress. Having managed to open the fridge, he was currently staring into it.
"Ryo, you idiot! At least ask him what you need to grab out of there instead of looking into here like it's a tasty cut of meat." the creature shouted, Ryo's gaze swiveling to meet that of Wormmon's.
"Uh… what should I be grabbing again?" Ryo announced and watched Wormmon bring a leg to his head. He had very clearly told the chosen what he needed to grab from the fridge. How had Ryo managed to forget something simple like grabbing milk and eggs? Or was there something else at play here? He honestly wasn't sure.
"You need to grab the milk and eggs." Wormmon answered as he carefully lowered the flour and sugar down onto the counter. Watching Ryo nod, his attention returned to the cupboard. Only a few more things that he needed to grab here. Grabbing the brown sugar, now it was time to look for some vanilla. Hopefully neither Miyako or Ken had used up the last of it for one reason or another. If they had, these cookies would be nowhere close to the potential that they could reach. Would they even be cookies in the first place? Probably would be, just no one would want to eat them. But he pushed those thoughts out of his head for now. "There we go."
Grabbing the little bottle of vanilla, now came the hard part - getting this stuff down. While he could just do a worm hang, that still left the possibility of accidentally dropping something and having it spill all over the kitchen. Miyako wouldn't be happy if he did that. Neither would Ken be for that matter.
Worm Hang!
Silk Thread!
Shooting more thread out, Wormmon let go of the ceiling. Swinging down, he took care to hold onto the ingredients for dear life. Thankfully, this descent was a lot more graceful than his previous one. Landing comfortably on the counter, Wormmon set the brown sugar and vanilla with the other ingredients. Which now included the milk and eggs.
"I'm guessing the next step is to mix the dry ingredients together?" Ryo inquired, Wormmon taking the opportunity to look at his cookbook. Looking over the next set of instructions, he double-checked the words. Just in case. Last thing they needed was to mess this up and ruin a bunch of ingredients.
"Correct." the bug digimon announced and watched Ryo open the bag of flour up in anticipation of pouring it into the bag of sugar. "Into a bowl."
Ryo looked down at the impending catastrophe he was about to cause. Looking at the cabinets, he opened one up and pulled a bowl out. Dumping some amount of flour and sugar in. Then came the brown sugar for good measure. All well and good, but it was nowhere close to being mixed. No, this was more of a pile of dry ingredients. Thankfully, Wormmon dragged over a whisk for our chosen to use.
"Thanks, Wormmon." Ryo announced and watched the bug digimon's cheeks glow pink. Turning back to the bowl, he got to mixing. Doing his best, he tried to make sure that none of the ingredients went out of the bowl. "How has Ken been? The last thing I heard was that he and Osamu were having a bit of a rough spot in their relationship."
Wormmon stared down at the countertop. Had Ryo disappeared right before the accident? He wasn't completely sure here. For all he knew, Ryo could just be testing him to see what exactly he knew in the case of accidentally getting whisked away by forces unknown. That, or he legitimately didn't know and didn't want to ask Ken for one reason or another. Whatever the case, it fell on his shoulders to bear the news to Ryo. Anyone else would be a better choice, but the luxury of that option was sadly unavailable currently.
"There have been good days and bad days, but we've managed." Wormmon explained and watched Ryo's gaze lock onto him. Nonetheless, Wormmon let out a sigh. No matter what he said next, this was going to hurt. "Not that long after you left, Osamu died. Then Ken became the Digimon Kaiser. Even with my best efforts, I was unable to keep him in check."
His words spilled out, Ryo carefully reaching out to the bug digimon. A careful hug followed. Then it's right back over to mixing everything up.
"Then what?" Ryo continued and Wormmon composed himself. While the worst of the memories had been spoken, there was still quite a bit left to talk about.
"Once a friend of Ken snapped him out of it, things got better until he was kidnapped for the dark spore thing that had been implanted in him." Wormmon continued and was treated to a laugh from the creature. Wormmon looked in their direction, doing his best to push the sound out and focus on telling this story. "He got rescued, but a bunch of kids were then used to open a gateway into some trippy place and it turned out that Myotismon was behind everything. Somehow."
Ryo tried his best to hold the laughter in. He was very unsuccessful here. Not that Wormmon really minded. Especially as he handed a second bowl over to the bug digimon.
"Then things were good for a bit. Diaboromon showed up, we kicked his ass. But then Ken and his friends got kidnapped." Wormmon announced and the creature began chuckling once more. "You know, you've been quite a dick here."
Jumping right for the jar, Wormmon grabbed hold. Shaking the jar about, both he and the creature tumbling right to the floor. Or should've, if not for everything freezing in place… only to reverse back a couple seconds later.
"Why thank you. I'm quite proud of my dickish behavior that only a Millenimummon could accomplish." the creature announced and pumped his chest out. But all that got him was a look from Ryo. "Speaking of which, aren't they here by now?"
Wormmon's gaze shot out of the kitchen and over to the entranceway. The door handle currently in the process of being turned, he was too late on the cookie front. Not that there was any real use in stopping now. Better to finish up now than leave something half finished.
"Wormmon, we're home!" Ken called out, Wormmon's focus returning to the cookbook. Giving it one more look, he turned his attention to the ingredients. Cracking the eggs into a second bowl, the milk came after.
"What's next?" Ryo whispered and watched Wormmon pull the second bowl over to the first. The chosen grabbed hold of the bowl and poured the mixture into the first. A bunch of milk came right after and then more mixing. Taking care to make sure nothing got out, the sound of footsteps only grew closer. "Has the oven gone off yet?"
Wormmon looked over to the oven. While very much on, they were still nowhere close to it being up to temperature. Of course it wasn't. Every step of this process, something went wrong. Just his luck.
"No, Ryo." he announced as Ken and Miyako entered the kitchen. Gazing right to Wormmon for the briefest moment, his partner's focus shifted over to Ryo.
"Where the hell have you been?" Ken screeched as he pulled the chosen in for a hug. Ryo accepted the gesture. Even as Miyako's focus shifted over to Wormmon.
"Uh… is there something that I should know?" she inquired and Wormmon peered down to the ground. Where could he even begin with this? Probably at the beginning.
"This whole mess started when Ken got his digivice…" the bug digimon announced and made sure his focus was fully on Miyako. It was the least he could do here.
Notes:
Something for Odiaba Day. Even if I am cutting it close at the time of writing.
Though, I suspect we'll be checking in on the actual chosen children in the future. But only time will tell.