-x-
Chapter Twelve
Odaiba-Day
2003
"Happy Odaiba-Day, everyone!" Tai yawned joining the rest of the crew in front of the TV-Station.
"You know full well, why we are meeting today!" Kari snapped at him.
"Yeah..." Tai said taken aback, "I usually tease her with this" he added, towards Matt and TK, "Never made her that mad before – wait! Have you been talking about – Gatomon?" he added shielding his mouth with his hand from her, and merely whispering the last word, so she wouldn't hear it.
"Uh, Tai?" Izzy said, and when he had his attention he nodded towards the spot – where Wizardmon was hovering.
"Oh" Tai said, "That explains a lot. 'Sup, Wizardmon?"
"Hey..." Wizardmon said plainly.
Tai looked at him, puzzled, so Izzy explained:
"Yeah, he is kind of stuck here, until my processing is done. So, to kill time, I'm telling him about that time when we had to work with the rookies."
"Right" Tai said grim, "Our golden age..."
"On that note, you're late precisely one year, this time. This is a new record, right?"
"What are you talking about? I was with you last Odaiba-Day!"
("Stop it!" Kari groaned annoyed.)
"Correct" Izzy said, "But that's where we are in the story right now, so, technically, it's true."
Izzy paused.
"Right" he said, looking at Wizardmon, "Odaiba-Day..."
("God dammit..." Kari muttered.)
"Well, there's still quite a bit to talk about here." Izzy figured.
1 Year earlier
"Okay, guys!" the captain of Davis' soccer team, a thin tall boy with blond hair, said with a (clearly forced) smile, "I know, most of you are a tad unmotivated, considering who we are going up against today -"
The team grumbled collectively. They were about to engage in a match with another team from their school. In their locker room, the teams captain tried his best to rile up the rest of them.
"But you know what I say to that?" he continued doing his best, ignoring the teams moody reply, "The bigger the challenge, the sweeter the victory!"
The team did not look convinced.
"Also, let's be real; they only have one genius on their team - we've got eleven!" he added with a nervous laugh - before glancing at Davis, "O-okay, maybe ten... On that note, Davis: you do what you do, okay? No thinking! Just - do what you're told, alright?"
"Gotcha!" Davis said excited (he was pretty much the only one in the room, who wasn't pessimistic about the upcoming match).
"I sure hope, you do..." the captain sighed.
One of Davis' team mates raised their hand.
"Yes!" the captain said, "Saburo!"
"Your motivational speeches suck..." Saburo said grumpy.
"... Clearly..." the captain said, "But honestly, that attitude of yours doesn't help."
"You're supposed to make it better with your speech!" Saburo argued, "At this rate Davis is better at motivating us!"
"I can try, if you want!" Davis said eagerly.
"No!" the team said in unison.
"Okay, guys" the captain said, somewhat somber, "Get ready, we're almost out of time..."
Saburo stood up and went to pick up a bottle water from his locker next to the captain, when the latter leaned over to him.
"Is it just me..." he mumbled, "...Or is Davis getting dumber by the day?"
"Beats me" Saburo shrugged, "It's weird lately: Some days, I talk to him, and I feel like it's about time for him to repeat first grade."
"Yeah" the captain sighed softly, making it almost sound like a mere quick exhale, nodding with a grave expression on his face.
"And on others, he seems fine – well, I mean... not fine but... I don't know – normal dumb?"
"Let's just..." the captain said, facepalming, "...get out there... get this over with..."
"Is that our new motto?" Saburo mocked, "Catchy!"
"Oh, shut it, Saburo..."
"By the way, where's Coach Matsumoto?"
"Oh, who the hell knows..."
The following year
"That" Wizardmon said visibly confused, "Was oddly detailed... were you in the room with them?"
"Ever pressed Brainiac for details of any given event? If you can get him to focus, that kid can talk... a lot..."
"But they were whispering in the last part!" Wizardmon argued, "It seemed like Davis couldn't hear them."
"Oh, he did" Izzy said nodding, "But he misheard the captain saying his name as David."
Izzy paused and looked at Wizardmon, sighing:
"So he wisely assumed, they were talking about somebody else..."
"Oh... of course..."
"Found it interesting enough to listen to the rest, though. Apparently his hearing is amazing. Well, and then he ended up feeling pretty bad for David..."
"But still what about all those bits about the Emperor?" Wizardmon asked, "None of you were present for any of those!"
"Oh, don't worry" Izzy said dismissively, "I'll tell you, how I got to know all that, soon enough."
"Okay..." Wizardmon said awkwardly, "So, was this scene with the team important?"
"Eh, probably not." Izzy shrugged, "But it's a fun little anecdote. Plus, it excellently sets the mood for the upcoming match."
"Why?" Wizardmon asked flat, "Is that important?"
"It has its moments."
12 months prior
Out on the stands of the soccer court, Izzy was already sitting on one of the benches in the back row, working on his laptop.
"Yo!"
Izzy looked over his shoulder to see that Tai had joined him.
"Oh, hey" Izzy said in passing, "Chips?" he asked, offering Tai an opened bag, without looking up, "This should be entertaining..."
"You mean as entertaining as all the bullshit, that happened to my sister, yesterday?" Tai asked vexed.
"You know, I was hoping it would take at least a little longer for you to find out..." Izzy said dry.
"She came home hugging me, as if she was convinced she would never see me again" Tai said equally dry, "Wasn't hard to figure that one out. Eh, okay, had to grill her for like three hours, until she finally told me what happened – well – Gatomon told me most of it, now that I think about it... Anyway not cool, man... I gotta know when my little sister is in trouble!"
"Well, to be fair your lifeless corpse wouldn't have been much help to us..."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Tai asked somewhat aggressive.
"Oh, I thought that was clear. You probably would have died many times over, out of sheer fear for your sisters life."
"Oh... yeah, that's fair..."
Tai sighed.
"Gotta tell you, though: Thanks for getting her out of there." he added, "I owe you, man."
"Technically you have for years, but - eh, that'd be splitting hairs. Don't worry about it."
"Thanks... I think..."
"Hey, guys!" Kari said, when she, TK, Cody and Yolei joined them.
"Kari" Izzy said, "You doing okay?"
"Yeah, thanks to you guys." she said with a smile.
"Glad to hear it." Izzy said.
"What was going on yesterday, anyway?" Yolei asked.
"Okay, gather 'round, rookies!" Izzy commanded, "I'm not gonna tell this twice."
"But" Yolei said hesitantly, "Davis needs to know, too"
"Shit, for some reason I overlooked that..." Izzy muttered, but then he looked at Upamon, who Cody carried in his arms.
"This could be fun..." he commented with a smirk before continuing, "Upamon, I want you to pay extra close attention, because your job will be to fill in Davis and DemiVeemon about what happened yesterday."
"Aweso-!" she yelped, but Cody was quick to put his hand over her mouth, so no one would notice her talking out loud.
"You're supposed to be a stuffed animal, remember?" he said quietly, removing his hand from her mouth since she had stopped shouting.
"Oops, sorry" she whispered, "Awesome...!" she added in that same whispered tone.
"You're just always excited no matter what task we give you, aren't you?" Izzy said shaking his head, albeit with a slight smile.
"Yeah..." Upamon said, "I get bored pretty easily"
"That's what worries me. You better put her and Poromon down behind the bench, so nobody can see them" Izzy suggested, "You know just in case..."
"Aw, man!" Upamon complained, once Cody placed her in her hiding spot behind Izzy and Tai, "I can't see anything from here!"
"Which is convenient, since you only have to listen..." Izzy said calmly.
"Right!" Upamon said surprisingly serious; she really seemed to take her new task to heart.
"Hit me with the facts!" she demanded.
"Sure" Izzy chuckled.
"Yo, what's with the hat, TK?" Tai asked, while Izzy brought the rookies up to speed.
TK wore a white bucket hat on his head.
"Oh, that" TK said reaching up to it, "Yeah, I got nostalgic... I mean, the anniversary and everything..."
"You got nostalgic" Tai repeated in disbelief, "...over the feeling of wearing that ugly-ass hat?"
"What?" TK said now touching his hat in confusion, "What's wrong with it?"
"No, not that one – the one you had in ninety-nine" Tai clarified quickly, "This one beats it – no contest! But your old hat... yeesh..."
"But why didn't you ever say anything, if you hated it so much?"
"Well, I wanted to... wanted to ask you, whether they stole your Dragon Ball, and if that's why you had to replace it with that stupid blue orb."
"Thanks for the feedback, man..." TK growled, "Means a lot in hindsight!"
"Sorry, man, but – you were a real cry baby back then. I didn't know how to say it without being mean and making you cry."
"The fuck?" TK laughed, "You were always mean to me!"
"Only, if I knew it wouldn't make you cry"
TK paused.
"Yeah... now that you mention it... but, then what? You just stopped caring?"
"Pretty much" Tai said leaning back in his seat, "Obviously, there was nothing I could have done, so I chose to let it go. It wasn't bugging me that much. Minimal effort, you know. It resolved itself eventually."
"Yeah, about a year later!"
"True." Tai said nodding, "But it did."
TK sighed.
"Lazy Tai, as he lives and breaths..."
"Never go the extra mile." Tai whispered solemnly.
"Plus, you were always too busy bitching about Sora's hat 24/7"
"Oh, don't get me started on that thing!" Tai said annoyed, "That hat confuses the hell out of me! I saw her wash and fold that thing, before. But Joe says he used it as a drum for some weird ritual, to weaken the Bakemon! What the – is it a beanie or a fucking helmet?"
"Nah, man, I saw her scoop up water from a river with that thing, before. Looked like a solid bowl."
"Dude, I payed attention after they told us about the drum thing: she kept folding it up! I'm calling bullshit on that ritual story, anyways."
"Why?"
"Because they said Joe came up with the idea, and knew exactly what they needed to do so it would work. Joe! The only thing he cares about is numbers! What the hell would he now about supernatural crap like that?"
"Oh, Joe is superstitious as fuck" TK said, "One time I accidentally knocked Mimi's hand mirror out of her hand, and Joe told us not to move the shards, and only sweep them up after seven hours... In the fucking desert!"
"That was shortly before you guys split up when I was in the real world for a while, right?" Tai wondered.
"About an hour before that, yeah... also, maybe an hour after you disappeared..."
"I had a feeling..." Tai sighed, "Good point though... Right! He put salt around his bag in Devimon's mansion! I always thought somebody pulled a prank him or something... it all makes sense now!"
"Izzy-Senpai, I can tell them the story, too." Yolei said, somewhat meekly, "My memory is really good!"
"Why do you keep treating these situations like some sort of death-battle for my approval?" Izzy asked annoyed, "You really don't see the potential in letting her do the retelling? Really?"
"To be fair" Cody said, "I think Yolei could tell them more accurately what happened."
"Huh?" Upamon said upset, "You don't believe in me Cody?" she asked with watery eyes.
"N-no!" Cody stuttered, "That's not it, at all!"
Upamon laughed.
"I'm just messing with you!" she grinned, before whispering enthusiastically: "Have faith!"
"How did Izzy bring TK and the others to the Dark Ocean?" Cody asked dry.
"Oh, that's easy!" Upamon said confidently, "He hacked them there!"
After the group paused for a moment, to let that statement sink in, Izzy said:
"I mean... the details would probably just end up confusing Davis, anyway..."
"But, I think it would be better, if -" she began, but was cut short by Tai:
"Hey guys, shut up!" he hushed them, "Match is about to start. I really wanna see Brainiac getting destroyed!"
Davis' team had entered the court. The other team joined them just a few moments later. Front and center was Ken Ichijouji, the aforementioned genius of the team.
"Oh..." Yolei said anxious, "I don't know who to root for! Davis is our team mate, but he's going up against Ken-kun! What should I do?"
"Just root for Ken" Tai said uninterested, "Would be rooting for the winning team, anyways."
"Why do you hate Davis so much?" Cody asked puzzled.
Tai's reply was instantaneous:
"He keeps drooling over my sister, he has my goggles, he's the biggest moron I've ever met -"
"That's saying something, by the way..." Izzy chimed in.
"- he's been copycatting me, even before we met -"
"Sure, I got you..." Cody muttered.
"The list goes on, by the way"
"It's okay..."
"You know what, screw it!" Yolei said, who had apparently made up her mind, "I'm rooting for Davis! GO DAVIS! WOOOOO!"
Both Davis and Ken looked up to them.
"OH, MY GOSH, KEN! YOU ARE AMAZING! YOU CAN DO IT!"
"That took about as long as expected..." Izzy said plugging his ears.
Down on the soccer field, Ken turned to Davis and smirked.
"Nice friends you got there, Davis" he mocked quietly.
"Oh, yeah?" Davis asked challenging, "I don't see your friends anywhere!"
"Funny, considering how yours just turned on you, in like three seconds...", Ken said, and despite the fact, that he was very soft spoken (he was close to mumbling, yet still clearly understandable), his counter seemed to have hit its target:
"Well..." Davis stuttered, apparently caught off guard, "Uh, we'll still win, though!"
"Way to show him, Davis..." Saburo mumbled, "Bet he's just shitting his pants, right now..."
Ken giggled.
"Yeah, you're not gonna win..." he said condescending.
"We'll see about that!"
Davis' team got annihilated.
"Eleven to one" Tai said to Davis, when he joined them on the stands, "That was closer, than I thought."
"Please stop..." Davis sighed; he looked completely broken.
"No can do!" Tai said with the biggest grin.
"Okay, Brainiac" Izzy said, "go and get your partner. We're pretty much good to go."
The rookie walked off to get DemiVeemon, meanwhile Gatomon and Patamon quietly joined them. They had been hiding under one of the benches nearby.
"What about Sora and Matt?" Kari asked.
"They texted me that they would meet us there." Izzy explained.
"They're showing up together?" Tai asked.
"Possibly."
"That's weird..." Tai said, "Since when do they hang out together?"
"Why are you asking me?" Izzy said puzzled, "Ask them, once we see them."
A little while later, the crew was closing in on Odaiba's TV-Station.
Upamon was still busy, filling in Davis and DemiVeemon on the events that had transpired the day before:
"So anyway, then Magnamon showed up and -"
"MagnaAngemon..." the group corrected her sighing – it had been her seventeenth glaring mistake so far.
"Gimme a break! I'm bad with names!" she pouted.
"Proud of your creation?" Tai asked Izzy, eyebrows raised.
"Actually, yeah!" Izzy said, "It works flawlessly! The mistakes she makes are so laughably obvious, that basically everyone in the crew can correct her! I barely have to say anything!"
"Well" Tai sighed, "Enjoy this while you can, because let me tell you, in about a week you'll either have us rioting, or Brainiac walking ass first to his death, because he got the plan literally backwards – and on second thought, we should keep it going, see where this leads..."
"Oh, don't be ridiculous" Izzy said dismissive, "Of course I'll intervene, if she says something ludicrously wrong"
(Said thing had happened twice during the retelling.)
"And then he totally punched a hole in the border between the ocean and the Digital World! – And then they could all walk through and leave." she closed merrily.
DemiVeemon, who was poking his head out of Davis' backpack, shot Izzy a skeptical look (for the twenty-fourth time since Upamon had started explaining.)
"Eh" Izzy shrugged, "Close enough. The details here aren't terribly important."
"At least it beats 'then Izzy hacked them to the Dark Ocean, so they could save her'..." DemiVeemon said rolling his eyes.
"Probably" Izzy said relaxed, "Although I couldn't really tell you which one is more accurate... or – inaccurate for that-"
"Hey! Since when do you two hang out together?!" Tai interrupted loudly, when they reached the TV-Station. Sora and Matt were already there, waiting for them. Sora carried both Yokomon and Tanemon in her arms (the In-Training forms of Biyomon and Palmon respectively) and Matt was holding Tsunomon, Gabumon's In-Training counterpart.
"Geez..." Izzy said rubbing his ear, "You are really eager to find out the answer to that one, huh?"
Matt just frowned and ignored them. Sora on the other hand replied:
"Well, let's see..." she contemplated, putting a finger on her chin, "Since about... what was it? Oh, that's right: None of your business, since then, I'd say."
"Nice comeback..." Tai sighed.
"I thought you two made up, again?" Kari asked her brother quietly.
"Uh, she accepted my apology, and said she'd come here today... Dammit, I knew there was something off! She did sound like she was patronizing me, at the end there... Guess, it was enough for her to come here, but not enough to make her stop hating my guts..."
"Oh, whatever gave you that idea, Yagami..." Sora sneered, "Hey, Kari!" she added with a bright smile, and embraced the younger girl.
"Hey, Sora" Kari said awkwardly, clearly unhappy with her new position between her brother and her friend.
"You did that on purpose, didn't you?" Tai muttered.
"When was the last time, you gave someone a long hug, by accident?" Sora said facetiously.
"I said, I was sorry!" Tai said defensive.
"Oh, did you? For what?"
"You know, I have no idea! Why the fuck won't you just tell me?"
"I would, if it wasn't child's play, to figure it out on your own, when you think about it for like two seconds!"
"Oh, would you just look at the time!" Tai said dramatically, looking at his wrist, despite him not wearing a watch, "Nap time. Gotta be at home on the couch!"
He tried to leave, but Izzy grabbed his arm.
"You're going nowhere!" the redhead said sternly, "If I have to suffer through this, so do you!"
"Suffer? It's just Matt and So-" (Izzy turned his head towards the rookies) "- oh! That's right... I get it..."
"Um..." Yolei said timidly, "I thought we were going to one of the festivities around town..."
The Square in front of the TV-Station was as empty, as could be.
"That's our secret" Tai said dry, "We celebrate Odaiba-Day, where nobody else does..."
"Oh, wait!" Upamon said suddenly, "Is this where you first went to the Digital World?"
"Close, but not quite." Izzy said, before looking at the old crew, "So, who wants to be the storyteller?"
Nobody stepped forward.
"You got this, Izzy" TK said with a grin, "This is right up your alley!"
"Ugh, you know what? Why not... having a reliable narrator is probably for the best, anyway..."
He cleared his throat.
"This" he said moving his arm around, pointing out the general area and the TV-station, specifically, "is where we killed Myotismon"
"Oh!" the rookies and their partners said.
"- Twice..." Izzy added grumpy.
"Wait, what?" DemiVeemon asked confused, "Aren't Digimon who die here, like... dead dead? Although, he's that vampire-dude, right? Still... can he do that? I mean, rising from the dead and shit."
"Well, right after we killed him the first time -"
"My kill, by the way" Gatomon said grim.
"That's right, she gets really defensive, about that one..."
"Only because I didn't get to kill him the second time around..." Gatomon growled.
"Anyway, right after she killed him – what do you know - Gennai contacted us, and informed us, about a prophecy, that involved Myotismon, rising from the dead, stronger than ever." Izzy said, sounding like he was still holding a massive grudge, against Gennai for what happened back then, "That's right, he told us that, after we had already triggered, what was foretold in the prophecy!"
"Oh, boy... here we go..." Tai sighed.
"But..." Izzy said, clearly holding back his frustration, "I'm not gonna go on another rant about Gennai. I think it should be pretty clear, what my point is..."
"It is?" Davis asked, but Yolei jabbed him in the side, "I mean - it is!" he added awkwardly, "Crystal clear..."
"But yeah." Izzy said, ignoring Davis, as usual, "That is pretty much all of our past adventures in a nutshell..."
Clearly he was triggered, by the mere memory of Gennai.
"And nowadays, he wont even reply to my e-mails... quite frankly I have no idea whether I prefer it this way or not... It's like a conundrum of uselessness!"
"By the way, that's why he's always pissed off, if we don't tell him something important, right away" TK chimed in, "Sometimes I think, working with Gennai fucking traumatized him."
"My guess would be some sort of PTSD" Izzy said contemplating, "Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night, because I have night terrors of recent missions. It always ends with Gennai telling us, that we did something we really shouldn't have, and that we are all fucked because of that..."
"Oh, my gosh..." Yolei said compassionately, "I never knew -"
"Well, anyway" Izzy deflected quickly, "It's not all bad - I mean, we really should have known all of that beforehand, but still... at least, we reached the Mega-Level... that was helpful." he closed shrugging.
"Yeah" Tai said smirking, "And my soccer training for Agumon finally payed off! Hey, Upamon" he added pointing at the enormous sphere, that was the most prominent feature of the TV-station, "See that giant sphere, up there? Agumon evolved to WarGreymon, and kicked the whole damn thing right into VenomMyotismon's face!"
"Whoa!" Upamon said, wide-eyed.
"Gross exaggeration..." Izzy said unfazed.
"What? No it's not!"
"It is, because you called it pay off, for at least two or three months of trying to teach Agumon how to play soccer. If it really was, he would have done something a little more impressive, than kicking that thing once..."
"It's a giant ball of glass and steel!" Tai exclaimed, "How is that not impressive?"
"Considering WarGreymon's natural strength, it really isn't."
"Oh, fuck off!"
"Holy crap! That's amazing!" Upamon squealed, ignoring the back and forth, "Hey Cody, can I do that, sometime, too?"
"No!" Cody said taken aback, "Don't destroy anything here! We just rebuilt after the last battle here!"
"Coming to think of it" Sora said, "they rebuilt all of this fast! It's been only three years - and we nearly leveled this area!"
"So?" Izzy said dismissively, "Starting in the fifties, Tokyo had Kaiju-attacks nearly every other year. That's why no one remembers VenomMyotismon. He's insignificant in the grand scheme of things. Honestly, we had a really quiet childhood, all things considered..."
"Well, apart from - '95..." Tai pointed out.
"You mean the incident, you completely forgot, four years later?" Matt said snarky.
"Hey, I wasn't the only one who forgot, asshole!"
"True, but you were the only one who forgot, his sister got caught up in the middle of a freaking Kaiju-fight!"
"What the fuck?" DemiVeemon laughed, "How do you forget something like that? Aren't you normally losing your shit, if she gets a papercut, or something?"
"Hey, I didn't forget, okay?" Tai fired back, "I just didn't want her to join a crew full of assholes, who fear for their lives on a daily basis!"
"Yes" Izzy said with a grim smile, turning to face the rookies, "And that, kids, is why he kept it from all of us - right up until Myotismon tried to kill her. Wait, no... that means he never told us..."
"What a leader!" Matt huffed.
"You guys are so predictable" a voice behind them said.
They turned to look.
"Joe?" Kari said wide eyed, "Oh, my god – we did it! We got the whole -"
"Uh, Mimi?" Tai interrupted, knowing exactly, what his sister was about to say.
"Dang it!" Kari said disappointed, "We were so close!"
"Funny" Izzy said dry, "I never considered six-thousand miles to be especially close. I mean, maybe on an astronomical scale – but in that case we'd be in a constant state of 'so close', so…"
"Please, just stop…" Kari said downcast.
"What's she so upset about?" Matt asked visibly confused, "What about Mimi?"
"Ah, she just wanted to have the gang back together for today" Tai explained.
"Yeah!" Matt spluttered, "Good luck with that! Like, that's ever gonna happen!"
"Can you guys lay off?" Gatomon asked annoyed, "Kari has put in a shit ton of work for this crew! What did you do lately?"
"Uh, hello?" Matt said grumpy, "Thanks to me, we know Izzy can remotely evolve our partners!"
"I fail to see, how that is your achievement…" Izzy said, "You literally handed me your Digivice, and watched me, do all the work. But speaking of bringing the gang together..." he added sitting down and opening his laptop, "One sec... Tentomon? We're all here."
"Happy Anniversary, everybody!" Tentomon said cheery, out of the laptop's speakers.
"Hey, Tentomon" the crew replied with varying levels of excitement (with Joe capping out the lower end of the spectrum).
"How are things on your end?" Izzy asked.
"Quiet" Tentomon replied simply, "I keep avoiding the areas with lots of surveillance cameras, like you said."
"Good, just don't let your guard down, okay?"
"Don't worry I found an old, dusty cloak. No one can recognize me when I'm wearing that."
"Uh, hey, can we get back on track here?" Joe asked annoyed.
"Yeah!" a voice said, from inside the bag, Joe carried. The boy shot the bag a glance, his eyebrows furrowed, then he opened it up, causing Gomamon to pop out, like a Jack-in-the-box:
"Pay attention to us!" he exclaimed, overly dramatic.
"Thank you, Gomamon..." Joe sighed, "I'll take it from here..."
"Gomamon!" Tentomon said excited, "Long time no see!"
"Yeah, I uh... still can't see you, so... that hasn't changed, huh?" Gomamon said uncertain.
"Yeah... kinda awkward..." Tentomon agreed.
"Still good to hear from you!" Gomamon added quickly.
"Same here!"
"Yeah, feeling better Gomamon?" Kari asked.
"Oh, yeah" Gomamon said relaxed, "I ate a lot at Joe's place, so I'm great, now!"
"Oh, I'm glad!" Yolei said with a smile.
Gomamon, looked at her, quickly blinking a few times.
"Wait, who are you, again?" he asked, tilting his head.
"Oh, my god…" Izzy said irritated, "Kari, you're in charge of introductions, from now on"
"Come on, now!" Joe said, "I wasn't planning on spending the rest of the day here!"
"My apologies Joe," Izzy said, "That wasn't very polite of us. Now, why would you think we are predictable?"
"Uh, because you're here?" Joe said, raising an eyebrow, "On August first? I'm serious, by the way; this is literally the first spot, I went to, looking for you. Now, can we move past the bullshit, and have a talk?"
"Past the bullshit, it is" Izzy said, "What do you want?"
"Uh, to um... to offer you my support" Joe said, clearly unhappy to say that out loud,.
Everyone stared at him in disbelief.
"Man, look at that!" TK said suddenly, "Joe Goldblum is back!"
"What?" Yolei asked puzzled.
"Oh right, you only met him when he was worked up" TK realized, "Well, when he's chill he talks like Jeff Goldblum – no, wait... I guess when he's nervous..." he added contemplating, "Yeah, that sounds about right... he's always kind of anxious, so it's hard to tell if he's nervous Joe or normal Joe – anyways, it's amazing! And hey..." he said quietly leaning forwards to whisper to the rookies, "My favorite game is trying to goat him into quoting Jeff Goldblum without realizing it. Tricky. But doable, watch..."
He turned to face Joe.
"Hey, Joe. Say we had something like an asteroid hitting Earth and nearly all life is wiped out. Now, the chances of life ever recovering are slim for some reason. What would you say-"
"TK, I am not quoting 'Jurassic Park'" Joe cut him off.
Defeated, TK turned back to the rookies, who all giggled at his failed attempt.
"Oh, shut up!" TK said annoyed, "You try getting a 'life finds a way' out of him if you think you're so smart... Damn it... I got cocky, okay? Went for the frigging holy grail as an example..."
"So" Izzy said to Joe, "Why the sudden change of heart?"
"Remember the uh.. the last update, you sent me?" Joe asked.
"I'm honestly surprised, you read those."
"Well, since you told me, some shit is going down at – uh… that other place" Joe said, not even trying to hide his undying hatred for the Digital World, "I figured it would be in my best interest, if I was um... in the loop..."
"Okay, so what about my last one tipped you off?"
"Uh, try Kari getting sucked into another dimension, none of us had even heard of yet" Joe said, "If bullshit like that is happening lately, I wouldn't be surprised, if someone from over there, decided to invade Tokyo next week"
"Since when do you care about that sort of thing?" Sora asked skeptically.
"I live here! Of course I care about that! And before you say anything: No, moving wouldn't help, because let's be real, whoever decided to come here, they would probably decide to take over the entire planet, anyway!"
"Sound logic" Izzy commented, "I mean, right now, it doesn't look like that's gonna happen, but you never know…"
"Exactly" Joe nodded.
"Well… in that case…" Tai said hesitantly, before shrugging, "Welcome back? …I guess? Is it just me, or does this feel way too ea-"
"Uh, I have terms" Joe said stern.
"Of course you do…" Izzy sighed, "Okay then, let's hear them"
"No trips to the Digital World and no combat unless it's absolutely necessary"
"Simple enough" Izzy confirmed.
"Hey, I like combat, though!" Gomamon said disappointed.
"I said I'll handle this, Gomamon" Joe said, "Oh, and full access to the fuck-up-jar. That includes my payment, by the way. I'll just take it from the jar, whenever I need it."
"Yo, what the fuck?" Tai said outraged, "Screw that! That's our money!"
"Tai, you never contributed to that." Izzy pointed out, "Not once…"
"Wanna say that again, in about two days?" Tai asked dead-panned.
"Where was that self-awareness, back when you were the leader…" Izzy asked, "But Joe, you got yourself a deal."
"Great" Joe said calm, extending his hand towards Izzy to seal the deal.
"However" Izzy said, not taking his hand, just yet, "We will have a ledger for the box. I wanna know exactly what goes in and out."
"Hehe, in and out…" Davis giggled.
"Fair…" Joe sighed, and shook the redhead's hand, "Oh, and before I forget: Not only are you predictable, you have gotten sloppy, too."
"Care to elaborate?" Izzy asked.
"Really? Not even you noticed?" Joe asked raising an eyebrow, "You're being tailed." He added nodding to a spot a few hundred feet behind the group.
They followed his gaze. There was a tall girl with spiky reddish brown hair.
As soon as they turned to look at her, Jun spun around, so that her back was turned to them.
"Oh, god! It's her!" Matt said suddenly, turning away and shielding his face with his hand.
"I know, right?" Davis said, mimicking Matt.
"Huh?" Tai said confused, looking at Matt, "What's your deal? Wait, is she blackmailing you, too?" he added with a chuckle.
"No, I think she's stalking me!" Matt explained upset, "For the last two weeks or so, I keep seeing her everywhere! She tried to talk to me once, and it was really awkward, so I made up an excuse and booked it. Now, every time, I go grocery shopping, whenever I look over my shoulder she'll be there! For some reason, it's even scarier, if I don't see her, though…"
"Uh, guys, I can't see you right now, so..." Tentomon said awkwardly, "Who are you talking about?"
"Brainiac's sister" Ta said.
"Ah... her..."
"For the record, I knew, that she was tailing us ever since we left the school grounds..." Izzy clarified, "I was actually waiting for her, to approach us."
"Let me get this straight" Joe said, visibly puzzled, "She's stalking you?" he added pointing at Matt, "And blackmailing you?" he finished, pointing at Tai.
"Uh – no she's blackmailing all of us" Tai clarified.
Joe sighed.
"Of course…"
"Hey, don't look at me!" Tai said, "It's all Brainiac's fault!"
"Yeah…" Davis said quietly, "Sorry, guys…"
"You know um, taking the rest of the crew into account, that's a really shitty nickname…" Joe pointed out.
"It'll make more sense once you get to know him b-"
"I'm gonna stop you, right there" Joe said stern, "I refuse, to get to know him better."
"Eh, fair enough" Tai shrugged.
"It's not all his fault, though!" Cody intervened, "DemiVeemon is just as much to blame."
"Yeah!" Upamon agreed loudly.
"Hey, at least I tried to fix it!" DemiVeemon fired back.
"Well, to be fair, none of you is doing a good job right now, to keep this under the radar" Izzy growled, "Could you at least try to pretend to be stuffed animals? Shouldn't our company alone be enough, so you can silently enjoy yourselves?"
"Your company?" Gatomon said unimpressed, "Try your absence…"
"Shut up and sit down" Izzy commanded, "No one will buy, that a cat can walk on two legs"
Gatomon hissed at him, but then she complied with a quick eye roll.
"Okay, so what, does she know about uh… What's his face?" Joe inquired.
"It's DemiVeemon, dick!" DemiVeemon said vexed.
"Okay, then what's my name, smart ass?"
"It's uh… um… uh, something with 'J' hang on… wait! It's Jay, right? Am I close?"
"Oh, great. Looks like I'm all out of reasons to talk to you… Back on topic, okay?"
"That's a lost cause…" Izzy muttered but Joe ignored him:
"What's her deal?"
"She's the reason we have the fuck-up-jar" TK explained.
"How much for her silence?"
"Thirty bucks" Izzy said, "Although, she only asked for money once, so far. It's only been a few days."
"Let me handle this real quick." Joe sighed before turning around and walking off toward her.
"Wait, what?" Tai asked puzzled.
"You want me to take care of your finances, don't you?" Joe asked over his shoulder and walked up to Jun.
"You really wanna trust him with our money?" Tai asked worried.
"Are you joking?" Izzy scoffed, "Next to paying Brainiac's sister off, the fuck-up-box was mainly designed to be bait for Joe"
"You know, at this point I should really stop questioning your plans…" Tai admitted, "Feels like, every time, I come up with a plan, you have like fifty reasons why we should do the opposite…"
"Might feel that way to you" Izzy said, "but to be fair, if that actually was always the case, I think even our team would have realized, making you the leader may have been a shitty judgment call"
"You sure this is gonna work?" Sora questioned, worriedly watching Joe talk to Jun, "Didn't it take him months, until he could talk to me and Mimi, without having a nervous breakdown?"
"I don't know…" Izzy contemplated, "Look at him, he isn't even sweating that much. I guess social anxiety and his business mentality don't go together that well…"
"Matt!" a gruff voice called out, from the direction of the TV-station.
They looked and saw that it was Matt and TK's father, who worked in the building. He was a tall blonde man in his forties. Looking at his face made it easy for everyone to see, that Matt was related to him. He joined the group while lighting up a cigarette.
"Hey, Dad" the brothers replied.
"TK!" Mr. Ishida said enthusiastic, "Come here, kid!"
He walked up to him and put him in a headlock.
"Dad! No!" TK said struggling, "Stop it!"
"What?" his father said, "I thought you said it was funny!"
"Yeah, once!" TK said pushing him off, "Lay off…"
"Fine… whatever…" Mr. Ishida said, and petted his son on the head instead, (the girls giggled at the sight, making TK blush), "What's with the hat by the way? I mean, beats the one you had before, I guess…"
"Ha!" Tai laughed, "I said the exact same thing!"
"Tai! My man!" Mr. Ishida said grinning, pointing at him, "How is it going?"
"Pretty chill. What's cracking?"
"Hiding from my colleagues. Picked a good spot apparently. The sweet sound of street noise..." he said before closing his eyes as if listening intently, yet relaxed at the same time, "Compared to what I had to hear in there today, it's heaven... There should be limit to how many girlish screams an employee legally has to endure, on a single day of work – Hey, do you know any ghost-hunters, by any chance? I guess a psychiatrist should do the trick, too"
"Nah, sorry man" Tai said shrugging.
"Yeah… I figured…" Mr. Ishida said, and lit up another cigarette.
"Wait a minute" Yolei said confused, "Didn't you just do that, like, half a minute ago?"
Mr. Ishida took a long pull on his cigarette, almost burning it down halfway.
"Do what?" he asked, exhaling a big cloud of smoke.
"He's a really fast smoker" Matt explained simply.
"Man, I didn't even know you were down to two puffs, by now!" TK said impressed, "That's pretty rad!"
"Yeah…" Matt muttered, rolling his eyes, "Way to go, Dad…"
"Look, I have a five minute smoking break, and I have to make the most of it. Especially today!" Mr. Ishida said while putting on another cigarette.
"What's going on today, anyway?" Matt asked.
Before Mr. Ishida could answer him, the door to the TV-Station opened. Mr. Ishida quickly turned away from the building, and then immediately dropped to his knees in the middle of the group.
"Ishida!" a man coming out of the TV-Station called out.
"Don't tell him, I'm here!" Matt's father hissed, past the cigarette in his mouth.
"What are you doing?" Matt asked incredulously.
"Blending in!" Mr. Ishida explained quietly, "All of you are basically half my size – now, act natural!"
"'Kay…" Matt sighed.
"Ishida, I can see the smoke over your head..." the co-worker said dead-panned, "I know that's you, and not a kid."
"Dammit..." Mr. Ishida whispered, lightly punching his forehead, cursing himself, "Idiot... Fine, you got me" he added, stood up and joined his co-worker.
"Who are these kids, anyway?" the colleague asked, "They look familiar..."
"My sons and their friends. What is it, Sakurada?"
"I wonder what's going on with them" TK said, "Never heard Dad ask for ghost-hunters before..."
"I'm back" Joe said rejoining the group.
"How'd it go?" Tai asked.
A smirk formed on Joe's face, and he chuckled.
"Once, I knew how to play her, her price dropped faster than the stock market on 9/11." he said with a laugh – then he saw the look on everyone's faces:
The girls all avoided eye-contact with him, with Yolei and Kari looking particularly unsettled, both looking at the floor, with expressions of shock and sorrow respectively. The boys mostly just stared at him, some, like Tai, with widened eyes. By far the most normal look he was given, came from Izzy, who simply raised an eyebrow – albeit with a subtle hint of disgust on his face.
Joe nervously cleared his throat.
"So, yeah..." he said, "In other words, uh.. it went great..."
"Dude..." Tai said slowly shaking his head, "Too soon..."
"What's 9/11?" Upamon asked chipper.
"Anyway" Joe said quickly, "I negotiated down from her original three-thousand-yen-plus whenever she pleases, to only one thousand, and only up to twice a month, with at least a week in between two payments. Oh, and by the way, she was gonna ask for more money today, that's why she was following you, but – I guess, then she saw Matt and it all went downhill from there."
"Wait" Tai said, "What do you mean three-thousand-plus?"
"Hate to break it to you" Joe said dry, "but she wasn't gonna stop at three thousand... uh, and apparently not at five thousand, either."
"But that's it?" Tai asked incredulously, "After that fucked up 9/11 joke, I expected a big, fat zero! Not a lousy twenty bucks a month!"
"Compared to possibly hundreds a week?" Joe said raising an eyebrow, "I'd say you got a pretty good deal there. Although, coming to think of it, it does paint a picture about her feelings for Matt..."
"W-wai- what?" Matt stuttered now suddenly very tense, "What was that about her feelings for me?"
"Right" Joe sighed, "Didn't know how to bring this up, um... Well, can't be helped; her condition for the price drop, was that you would date her."
Matt froze. All color drained from his face.
He looked over his shoulder, as if hoping, somebody stood behind him, who Joe was actually talking to.
"Who?" he croaked.
"Sorry, but..." Joe said, placing a hand on his shoulder, "Someone's gotta pay for her silence."
"Except we all are!" Tai exclaimed, "Still!"
"Oh, god! Where'd she go?" Matt suddenly exclaimed, panicking, "Seriously, where the fuck is she?" he added, frantically looking around.
"Matt, calm down" Joe said.
"Calm down?" Matt asked incredulously, "She's like Michael fucking Myers! Do you have any idea how many times I briefly looked away, only to find that she's gone when I look – Oh, fuck! She's behind me, isn't she?" he continued, spinning around, only to find, that there was no one there – then he immediately turned back around, as if to see, if she was behind him, now.
"No – I mean - calm down, she's gone." Joe clarified, "I send her home."
"How can you be sure, she actually went!?"
"It's a noble sacrifice your making" Joe deflected, patting Matt on the shoulder again.
"You motherfucker, Joe!" Sora shouted.
Joe took a step back, blinking at her in surprise.
"Wha- where is this coming from?" he said taken aback, by her sudden outburst.
"This is so fucking typical of you!" she continued, "All you ever care about is yourself!"
"I am fucking helping you!" Joe said slowly and clearly, "In case you missed that part!"
"I meant, you keep throwing us under the bus, to solve any kind of problem!" Sora said,
"Uh – come on now, I mean..." Joe said nervously, "Name one time, I did that!"
"You offered me to the Bakemon on File Island, as a human sacrifice, to save your own ass!"
"I uh... Sure, but in my defense, I really hated your guts back then."
"How is that a good defense?"
"Never said, it was good one..." Joe mumbled, his face turning red in embarrassment.
"You took our money to buy train tickets for all of us – and then you fucking ditched us!"
"Only because, none of your Digimon would shut the hell up! They constantly threatened to blow our cover! Especially you!" he added, sternly pointing at Yokomon who was sitting in Sora's arms – but then he looked like he was second-guessing himself, "Uh... Po...yomon?"
"Yokomon!" Sora and Yokomon said angry.
"Right! Yokomon!" Joe said quickly, "I mean, uh... I was kind of close..."
"Great..." Sora said, now threateningly quiet, "Go ahead, throw our partners under the bus, as well... Especially mine!"
"No, for real, though" Gomamon said, "He was legit mad at all of you. Why do you think, I didn't make a freaking sound on that train?"
"Unbelievable..." Sora said shaking her head, "This isn't even the first time you screwed over Matt, like this!"
"Clearly... we just went over that subway story..."
"No, I mean him specifically! He did basically all of the kitchen work in Digitamamon's Restaurant, while you kicked up your feet, after doing five minutes worth of paperwork for them!"
"Uh, excuse me, but it was one hours worth of paperwork – very important paperwork, too."
Sora glared at him.
"C-come now!" Joe stuttered, "Remember, how they made it look like, I smashed half a dozen dishes, by walking around alone? Imagine what that would have looked like, if I helped out in the kitchen, too! Also, why are you suddenly so protective of him?"
Sora froze.
"Of who?"
"Matt!" Joe said, pointing at him, "Everything you complained about, involved either him, you, or both of you! Why are you so upset on his behalf?"
"Because, you can't just force him to date some random chick!" Sora spat angry, "Who is also stalking him, I might add! Honestly, he shouldn't date anyone right now other than m-" she stopped herself.
Everyone looked at her.
"...mature... girls..." she finished her sentence, blushing.
"Why did you phrase it like that?" Tai whispered horrified.
"I don't know!" Sora said, cringing so hard, that it almost looked like she was about to cry.
"Yeah..." Joe said stone-faced, "I'm piecing this together..."
"Are you?" Sora hissed threateningly, before swiftly moving up to Joe, so close, their faces were inches away from one another.
He was quite a bit taller than her, so she nearly had to stand on her toes, to achieve that effect. However, this did little to quell the sheer terror, she inspired in everyone present.
"Go on..." she said, while staring daggers at him, "Spill it!"
"Uh... uh-that you clearly uh..." Joe fumbled with his words, "...are the crew's mom"
"That's what I thought, bitch" she whispered, so only he could hear it.
"Wait, what?" Gomamon butted in, poking his head out again, "But I thought, Sora was in-"
"Gomamon..." Sora said in a friendly, yet uncanny sounding tone, "For your own good..." she continued, but her smile disappeared, "Stay out of this!" she closed cold.
"Yes, ma'am" Gomamon nervous and retreated into the bag.
Joe cleared his throat.
"Well, Izzy, I tried." he said shaking his head and walking back over to the redhead, "But hey" he added patting him on the back, "That Fuck-up-jar is probably the best concept to cover the expenses."
"Whoa whoa whoa, slow down, okay?" Izzy said quickly, than he looked at Matt, "Matt... It's a noble sacrifice your making."
"Fuck this!"
"Look, just fake-date her!" Izzy suggested, "Tell her that you're shy, you wanna take things slowly, and then you just hold her hand for a few months until she gets bored of you, and moves on."
"Moves on over my dead body!"
"That won't happen! We keep an eye on her for you, too. Okay?"
"No. Fucking. Way!" Matt said stubborn, "You can't boss me around! You're not the leader!"
"Good point" Izzy said and turned around to look at DemiVeemon who was idly sitting on a bench, "Well, leader?"
"Wha- me?" DemiVeemon said surprised, "Ah, yeah. Date her. You know, we're fucked otherwise, right?"
"I can't date her!" Matt shouted, "I'll end up dead, in the trunk of a car, abandoned somewhere in the mountains, by the end of the month!"
"Why would they abandon the car...?" Tai wondered quietly.
"Come on Matt" Izzy insisted, "Take one for the team! Be positive about it! I mean, with some luck, she might be one of the nice stalkers."
"Oh, god..." Matt moaned.
"You know, the ones who actually do just helpful things. Like, bringing your mail to your bedside, in the morning. Or washing your laundry, and returning it, in the evening. All dry, and neatly folded."
"Shit!" Matt cussed.
"Dude, your on fire, lately" Tai said, grinning at Izzy from the side.
"I haven't even started..." Izzy said uninterested.
"Matt" Joe said earnest, putting a hand on his shoulder again, looking him straight in the eyes, "I believe in you"
"Urgh!" Sora exclaimed, disgusted.
"You can do this!"
Sora made another gagging sound.
"If there's someone, who can pull this off, it is you!"
More gagging noises.
"In fact..." Joe said, now clearly holding back his anger, over the background noises (Sora now sounded like she was throwing up), "You are the only one who ca- oh, for crying out loud, Sora! Would you cut that shit out!?"
"I'm sorry, I'm feeling really sick..." she said and sounded legitimately shaky.
Everyone stopped to look at her.
"Sora?" Kari said worried taking a few steps toward her.
"Fucking leeches make me wanna throw up!" Sora hissed through her fake sickness.
"Oh, my god!" Joe said rolling his eyes, before returning to Matt, "Look, real talk"
"Don't say that..." Matt mumbled cringing.
"I know, you feel like you've been dealt a bad hand." Joe continued unfazed, "But at the end of the day, it's all about what you make of it! You can make the best of this! I know that. For a fact."
But despite his efforts, his facial expression still told the story of a father, who had just learned that his son had been accepted into the cheer-leading squad, instead of the football team – just barely unable to hide the fact, that it didn't matter to him what his son wanted to do.
Needless to say, Matt picked up on that.
"Thanks!" Matt growled through gritted teeth, furiously glaring at Joe, "Now I feel so much better about this whole thing!"
"This is ridiculous!" Sora groaned angry, "You can't just force him to go along with -!"
"Hey!" someone shouted.
They looked, and saw that it was Mr. Ishida's co-worker, Sakurada. He was a man in his thirties with a round face, glasses, and short black hair. He slowly approached the group, as if he was unsure whether they were the people he was thinking of.
"You are the kids, who helped us out three years ago, right?" he said uncertain, "When we were held hostage by those ghosts? Shortly before the Kaiju-attack, that year?"
They also noticed Matt's father trying to stop him:
"Sakurada, don't... stop this... leave the kids alone"
"Yep" Tai said, "That would be us. I was the kid, who beat some of them up."
"I still don't buy that story..." Matt muttered.
"Is that so!" Sakurada said almost relieved, "Look, I think we're having another ghost problem, right now."
("Sakurada, stop.")
"Really?" Izzy said intrigued.
"Yes!" Sakurada said shaken ("Don't drag them into this!"), "Well, their not – like the ghosts that were floating around here in ninety-nine. It's in our system! We keep seeing those ghostly – shadowy figures on our screens. But the weird thing is, even though it's appearing on our screens, broadcast footage is fine. We already tried the Sutra you showed us – you know with chanting and the drums, but it's no use."
"You seriously didn't know, what those were called?" TK said quietly, glancing at Tai, eyes narrowed.
"You didn't either" Tai said relaxed, not even looking at him, "Otherwise you would have corrected me."
"Dammit!" TK cussed, fumbling with his ear for some reason, "Good call..."
"If broadcast footage is fine, the problem is most likely local..." Izzy contemplated, "Considering the date... I might have an inkling what this could be. Looking at you, Phantomon... where ever you are... probably floating around somewhere behind TK."
"No, he's upside-down, babbling nonsense in my ear." TK said flat, and made a hand motion, like he was trying to wave away a fly, buzzing around somewhere near his ear, "It's so annoying, I can't even punch him... On that note, I'm gonna go pace around for bit."
"You really think, it could be something like that?" Yolei asked, she also sounded very intrigued.
"Either that, or it's a bug in their system..." Izzy mumbled, "Can I take a look at your system? If it's just a bug, I shouldn't have much trouble helping, since I know a thing or two about that sort of issue. If it is what I suspect it to be, I might just be the only guy you could possibly turn to, to help you. Whether or not I can actually fix it, in that case, is a different story, but I think it's save to say, I'm your only hope."
"Fantastic!" Sakurada exclaimed, relieved, "I'm on board, what do you say, Ishida?"
"I already said it" Mr. Ishida sighed, "I think, ten times..."
"Wonderful!" Sakurada deflected, "Follow me Mr. …"
"Izumi" Izzy said calmly, "They can come too, right?" he added pointing his thumb over his shoulder at the others.
"Uh, yes." Sakurada said, "I guess that could work"
"Why us, too?" Tai asked.
"Because, it could be the ghost of another Digimon!" Izzy said annoyed, "Don't you think it could be advantageous for us, to know, what the Digimon we killed three years ago, are up to, if they apparently linger in this world as ghosts?"
"Come on guys!" Gomamon said enthusiastically, "It's a ghost hunt!"
"Eh, fine..." Tai sighed, "But y'all know that this is just gonna be Izzy working on a computer for like half an hour, while we twiddle our thumbs, right?"
"And you have a problem with that, because...?" Izzy wondered.
"Touché."
"Well," Joe said straightening his glasses, "you probably won't be needing your treasurer for this, am I right?"
"Yes, I think a post mission update should be enough in your case." Izzy said nodding.
"Don't just let him off the hook, like that!" Sora protested.
Joe didn't care. He turned around on his heels ("Wait, what?" Gomamon said in confusion), and walked away.
He smugly waved them goodbye over his shoulder and taunted:
"Have fun, 'Mystery Inc.'!"
But suddenly Gomamon gasped loudly:
"Nonononono! Joe, come on! It's a ghost hunt!" he pleaded, "I wanna see the ghost, too! Pleasepleasepleaseplease..."
And one more time, Joe turned around on his heels.
"What?" TK chuckled, "Just like that?"
"Trust me," Joe said, begrudgingly making his way back to the group, "trying to get him to shut up in this state, is insanity inducing. Hanging out with you guys, a little longer, will give me a headache at worst. Make it quick, Izzy."
While the office Mr. Ishida and his colleagues worked in was mostly crammed, there was some space, near the entrance, where the group could comfortably hang around, while Izzy sat at one of the desks trying to figure out what was happening here.
"There! You're seeing this?" one of the employees said, pointing at the row of TV's in the back of the office. A roughly triangular shape popped up on one of the screens, like a black shadow, obscuring a large portion of the screen. It looked like there was two spike like shapes horizontally peaking out roughly two thirds up its height - or at least that's what they had been able to make out when the image briefly flashed over one of the monitors.
"Whoa, look at it go!" the same co-worker said, and now suddenly the shadow flashed over three additional TV's, "Normally we see it like once or twice in a row - this is nuts!"
"Hmm..." Izzy said sitting down at the main desk, "Let's see if there's feedback from your system regarding these flashes..."
"I can't believe you're just going with his plan, Izzy!" Sora said angry.
"You talk to me, as if I was the leader or something..." Izzy said calm, not even looking up from his work.
"Well, who's giving the speeches, to rile everyone up, lately?"
"That was once." Izzy muttered annoyed.
"You sure about that?" DemiVeemon giggled.
"Instead of siding with them" Izzy suggested, turning the chair to face them, "How about, you act like a leader for once? Settle this." he concluded, turning back around.
"Yes!" Sora said indignant, "This plan is awful!"
"What do you want me to do?" DemiVeemon said defiantly, "It's a good plan, keeps us from going bankrupt! You don't like it emo-kid? Though life, we all gotta bite the bullet sometimes!"
"But this is fucked up!" Matt said furious.
"Okay, fine! Let's have a vote then!" DemiVeemon said fed up, and jumped on the desk next to Izzy's.
"Listen up people!" he announced, "Looks like some of you are a little butt hurt, because of the plan for Jun. So let's have a nice democratic vote, to see if we should go for it or not. Fair?"
The others agreed.
"Good, so now, if you are in favor of one option you raise your hand -"
He glanced at Koromon.
"Or ears..."
He looked over at Tsunomon.
"Or just – stretch your body, I don't know... and uh, Tentomon you just say 'aye' when your vote comes up."
"You got it" Tentomon said.
"Ready?"
The crew nodded – and Tentomon said: "Aye"
"Everyone in favor -"
Tai, Joe and Gatomon immediately raised a hand each.
"...of not going with the Jun-plan" he added smirking, and the three dropped her hands again, rolling their eyes, "raise your hand or whatever"
This time Sora, Matt, their partners Yolei and Cody were quick to raise their hands, shortly followed by Kari (earning her a side-eye from her brother, who was standing next to her), TK and Patamon, and finally Upamon perked up an ear, albeit somewhat hesitantly.
DemiVeemon quickly counted their votes.
"Okay, that's ten." he said, "Now, everyone actually in favor of the plan."
The three who had voted for the plan before were now slowly joined by Izzy, DemiVeemon, Davis, Koromon, Gomamon, and surprisingly Tanemon and Poromon.
"Poromon, what are you doing?" Yolei asked perplexed.
"I'm sorry, Yolei..." Poromon sighed, "but I feel like, this whole thing will go horribly wrong, if we don't do something about Jun..."
Yolei opened her mouth, yet shut it again, a second later.
"Um... I don't what everyone's voting for, but I say: Aye" Tentomon chimed in.
Finally the last vote came from -
"Uh, Upamon?" DemiVeemon said taken aback, "You voted twice there..."
"Yeah, I know, scratch the first one." she said quickly, "No! Wait... maybe...?"
"Well, which is it?" DemiVeemon asked impatiently.
"I don't know!" Upamon said torn, "They're both solid plans..."
"What?" Cody said startled, "No they're not!"
"He's right, you know?" DemiVeemon said nodding, "Wanna know why? Because we don't have two plans! We have a plan and a non-plan at best. So pick one, and let's move on!"
"Stop hustling!" she said stressed, "Give me moment..."
She rolled over in Cody's arms, so that she was upside down, and stared ahead, weighing both options.
"Hmm..." she said quietly.
"Upamon, listen" Sora said insistently, "There's only one right answer here! I mean, did you even listen to us?"
"I did!" Upamon said annoyed, "I heard everything! That's why I'm so on the fence about this! Just – don't talk to me right now, I know what you said, alright?"
"Sorry, Upamon" Cody said, "But after your last retelling, I have my doubts..."
"Come on!" Upamon whined, "There was a lot of confusing details in that one – also, you guys kept saying each others names a bunch, so I'm good on that front!"
"Who is Joe?" Cody sighed.
"That guy!" she replied confidently, pointing one of her ears – at Matt.
Joe, Matt and especially Sora all stared daggers at Upamon.
"Is that your final answer?" Sora asked threateningly.
"Nah, just kidding" Upamon giggled, and pointed her ear at Matt again, "He's Matt," she added, before pointing her other ear at Joe, "he's Joe," she continued, and finally pointed both ears at Sora, "and you're Mimi!"
Matt and Joe just looked at her, blinking slowly.
Sora on the other hand, face palmed, and said:
"You know what? You're just too precious, so I'll just – stop being mad at you... It's pointless, anyway..."
"Why? Did I get it wrong?" Upamon asked perplexed.
"Okay, we don't have time for this" DemiVeemon said (also face palming), "I counted the votes, and excluding hers, we have eleven votes for the plan, and nine against it. Sorry, Upamon, but no matter which side you pick, nothing will change."
"Fuck!" Sora and Matt cussed in unison.
"Ah, that's okay" Upamon said rolling right side up again, "Can't make good decisions under pressure, anyways." she closed, and if she had shoulders, she most likely would have shrugged.
"There you go" DemiVeemon said smug, facing Izzy, "Problem solved"
"Proud of you, DemiVeemon..." Izzy said unimpressed.
"So, uh... How's your project coming along?"
"Pretty good" Izzy said confidently, "I've identified a pattern in there system... I think, I've also managed to make whatever it is respond to my inputs. Maybe it's trying to tell me something... but I can't really decode it, yet..."
"Why? Is it like a cryptogram?"
Izzy paused briefly and shot him a look.
"How much do you know about coding?" he asked skeptically, "Or computers in general?"
"Dude, from what you've told me, I basically live in these things." DemiVeemon said, "I don't know Jack shit!"
"I thought so" Izzy nodded, "Well, in that case, it would take to long to explain it to you in detail, but the bottom line is, your approach to this, is way to simple."
But then he paused.
"However..." he said contemplating, "Simple might actually be a very good approach."
"So what, which is it? Am I smart, or am I dumb?" DemiVeemon asked taken aback.
"It's situational..."
"Thanks, buddy..."
"Right know" Izzy said, clicking away on the computer, "You're being smart."
Suddenly, he stopped.
"I figured." he said with a satisfied smirk, "I was monitoring the computer's RAM. It was having strange peaks every once in a while, even though I made sure there were no unnecessary programs running. I kept trying to find the source but it's hidden... but, thinking of a more simple solution, I figured, I should look for what it does instead. Especially if it's trying to communicate with me. And what do you know, a hidden audio channel. All I have to do now, is un-mute it."
"Hey, guys! Shut it!" DemiVeemon shouted (Joe, Matt and Sora were still bickering in the background), "Izzy found uh... I don't know a hidden message or something..."
"Close enough - quiet, people. This could be it." Izzy added.
When Izzy turned on the sound, they didn't hear anything but white noise for a few moments. They all listened carefully, when suddenly, a fairly distinct sound broke through.
A voice, faintly saying:
"...oh..."
"Guys..." Sakurada said pale, pointing at the TV in the middle of the row, displaying the shadow again, slowly fading in, "I've never seen it so long..." he said frightened.
"... ah... ...oh..."
"What's it saying?" Yolei whispered.
"I can't tell..." Izzy said turning up the volume slightly, "But I think it's getting clearer..."
He was right, but not only did the audio clear up very slowly, the shape on the screen, became less and less distorted, too.
"...ahtoh... o..."
"Wait!" Gatomon said all over sudden, her eyes growing wide as they were glued to the screen, that she now slowly approached, "Is that -?"
52 Weeks later
"I mean..." Izzy said, before pausing and looking at Wizardmon again, "We all know what happens next."
"Pretty much" Wizardmon said.
"So... we might as well skip it." Izzy suggested.
"Good idea" Wizardmon agreed nodding, "No need to repeat it"
So anyway, here is what happened
"W-Wizardmon?" Gatomon asked incredulously, as the shape on the screens suddenly grew clear: It was the shape of a person wearing a witches hat.
Suddenly, the building lost power; the lights, computers and other electronics turned off, except for the TV displaying, what looked like, Wizardmon.
"Well, thank fuck I'm on a laptop..." Izzy muttered.
The TV's screen had now turned white, and it shone far into the room, with its brightness intensifying slowly. Finally, the ghostly apparition of Wizardmon materialized in the beam of light, emitted by the screen.
"Gatomon" he said, and although his mouth was obscured, in his eyes, they could clearly see, that he was smiling.
Gatomon stared at him, and shook her head in disbelief.
"Where the hell have you been?" she asked, trying to sound smug, but her voice kept cracking.
"I'm sorry" Wizardmon said, "But I don't have much time. I don't know, how long I can keep this up." he added somewhat strained, and sometimes it looked like his image moved out of focus.
"I have an important message for all of you." he continued, "I don't know what it means, but I know exactly what it says. Listen closely"
As soon as Wizardmon mentioned the message, Izzy had started typing and clicking frantically, but know that he was about to deliver it, he waited in tense silence, like the rest of them.
"As the third lord passes through the tattered veil, the gathering of the marked children shall begin." Wizardmon said, "But they are not his own. They are the offspring of the one who aspires to take his place. When the marked children reunite with their father, beyond the border, his revival will be inevitable. As well as the darkness that follows him."
Immediately after he finished Tai shot Izzy an extremely confused look, but the latter just placed a finger on his lips signaling him to stay quiet.
"Damn it -" Wizardmon said wincing, as he suddenly turned very blurry, for a brief moment, "I can't hold it – I wish we had more time... Gatomon, I'm sorry... I... I missed you..."
Gatomon chuckled, but it sounded like it was covering a sob.
"I guess, I know the feeling..." she said tearing up.
Wizardmon went out of focus again, only this time it wasn't momentarily.
"I'm fading..." he said, his voice now fading fast, too, "Gatomon... try to..." he continued, but he was cut off as he had faded completely.
"Try to what?" Gatomon asked frantically, now not even trying to hide the fact that she was crying, anymore, "Nononono! Wait! Don't go!"
But the TV turned off, and the office's power turned back on.
Gatomon lowered her head, tears streaming down her face. She stood there for a moment, trying to compose herself.
She wiped her eyes, while the others stood in silence, too.
"Can you guys..." she said, with a lump in her throat, "mind your own fucking business?"
"So, Izzy!" Tai said, quickly turning away from Gatomon, "What the hell is that message supposed to mean?"
"Tai, I recorded it, and I'm listening to it as we speak, shut up."
In the meantime, Kari slowly approached Gatomon.
"Mind, if I stay?" she said softly.
Gatomon looked up and saw that she had tears in her eyes, as well.
"No, you're okay..." Gatomon said quietly, and didn't even protest, as the girl sat down next to her, and pulled her into a hug.
A few minutes later, as Gatomon had regained her composure, Izzy went to discuss with the crew, what he thought Wizardmon's warning could have meant:
"I have no idea" he said shrugging.
The kids looked at him, baffled.
"I'm starting to think you were waaay smarter, back when I first met you..." Tai said, his eyes narrowed.
"As of now, we just don't have enough information!" Izzy said annoyed, "We don't know who the third lord is, we don't know who the marked children are, and we especially don't know, who the hell their father is! I mean don't get me wrong it feels so fucking good to have a prophecy delivered to us on time, for once, but still... We need more intel..."
"Uh, yeah, about that" DemiVeemon said, "if we're doing this, let me and Gatomon take care of that."
"What?" Gatomon said, skeptically.
"Separately, I mean..." DemiVeemon added annoyed, "Because, from what I've seen from you; you can make people talk! And so can I, so we should be the intel crew."
Gatomon shrugged.
"Okay, sounds fair." she said.
"Why not us?" Upamon butted in.
"Because you all suck at gathering intel, especially you, Upamon!" DemiVeemon fired back.
She glared at him for a moment, then she looked at the floor pouting.
"Fine!" she said, "No need to be a dick about it..."
"Uh, guys" Tentomon said, "I don't mean to interrupt, but I just arrived in Temp City and... well there's a surveillance camera here, right next to me. So... see for yourselves..."
They all gathered around Izzy's laptop as the latter hacked into the surveillance camera.
What the CCTV showed was utter devastation: While the buildings in the foreground looked mostly undamaged, a large portion of the city, maybe a mile away from the camera, was on fire.
The kids watched in shock as a large creature in the distance flew threw the smoke. Since it was completely engulfed by the smoke, they could only see its silhouette: It was a dragon like creature with four arms, and multiple wings. They saw bright beams flashing out of the creature's mouth, setting additional houses on fire.
Soon after the creature began to disappear in the smoke, something that looked like a massive rock floated into view. Also obscured by the smoke, the rock flew over the city, following the creature at a slow pace.
"I just flew higher up to get a better view" Tentomon reported, "Holy crap! It looks like that thing wiped out the entire northern half of the city! The outskirts are completely flattened!"
"Oh, my gosh!" Yolei said horrified.
"Wait a minute" Gatomon said quickly, "The outskirts in the north, you say?"
"Yes, what about it?"
"I don't know, I've been there recently..." she said contemplating, "I feel like I've forgotten something there-ah, shit, they're still in the building!"
