A/N: Sorry for the delay. Here's an extra-long chapter.
At five o'clock the next evening, everyone returned to BlackGargomon's house to continue discussing The Heartbreaker and how to stop him.
"He's been striking fear into our hearts for long enough," Vladimir had said. "It's time for us to show him what happens when you get an entire town to hate you!"
Everyone agreed, and Taomon walked up next to Vladimir. "I have a plan. Why don't we have a stakeout early in the morning near Heartbreaker's Alley? We could watch for The Heartbreaker, and then when he leaves, we could have a team rush in and retrieve the stolen items while the rest of us go and detain The Heartbreaker."
"I'm down with that," Vademon said.
"Me too," Biyomon said. "And if you need someone to fly up and get stuff, I can help."
Everyone present agreed that the plan was a good one...everyone except for Dati, that is.
"Wait!" he said.
BlackGargomon looked at Dati. "Is something wrong, Dati?"
"Yeah." Dati looked at everyone and asked the one question on his mind. "Does The Heartbreaker live in Heartbreaker's Alley, or does he just keep his loot there?"
Everyone paused for a moment.
"Hmm..." Vladimir said. "That's a very good question, Dati. I know that he kept his loot in a separate hideout last time. But would he do it again this time, or would he live in the hideout with his loot?"
WereGarurumon stood up. "Well, if you ask me, he probably doesn't live there. I mean, think about it. If he lived in the same place where he kept his loot, all that someone would have to do to stop him would be to watch him carry the stuff he stole. Then, not only would everyone know about where he kept his loot, but they'd also know where he lives. If he kept his stuff in a different hideout, then everyone would have to not only find out where he kept his loot, but where he's hiding out as well."
"So you're saying he'd just leave his loot unguarded?" Flamedramon asked. "That's not a very smart thing for a thief to do. Now, on the other hand, if he lived in Heartbreaker's Alley, he'd be able to guard the loot in case anyone tried to take it back. Besides, where else would he live?"
"Ooh!" Vademon raised his hand. "What if he's got hidden security cameras at Heartbreaker's Alley? Then he could know when someone broke into his hideout!"
"Only one store in town sells security cameras," BlackGargomon said.
Vladimir nodded. "And I already told the management not to sell to The Heartbreaker because he's a wanted criminal."
"Heh, I wonder what ToyAgumon and ClearAgumon would do to keep him out," Hovis laughed. He pictured the scene in his head.
A smal tyrannosaurus made out of building blocks was sitting at the checkout counter of a store, waiting for customers. In walked a sinister-looking teddy bear, skulking his way to the back of the store.
"Hey, Heartbreaker?" the dinosaur asked.
"What?" the teddy bear replied.
In that instant, he froze. He really shouldn't have responded...
"Get out," a second dinosaur responded. He looked similar to the first one, except for looking more transparent.
The Heartbreaker thought quickly and-
"Hovis?"
"Eh?" Hovis stopped daydreaming and looked at Vladimir.
"What do you think? Do you think The Heartbreaker lives in Heartbreaker's Alley?" Vladimir asked.
Hovis shrugged. "You know, we could speculate about this all night long. If you ask me, it'd be better to actually find out the answer."
"Well, yeah, but how are we gonna do that?" PunkMyotismon asked. "You want us to, like, break into his hideout or something?"
"If he doesn't live in Heartbreaker's Alley, we'll at least be able to retrieve the stolen objects," Sheepmon said. "But then again, he could just steal them right back from us..."
"Yeah, and if we do get the stuff back, it doesn't mean our problems are over," BlackGargomon said. "We have to take the fight to The Heartbreaker himself and either apprehend him or scare him off."
"I have an idea," Renamon said. "Early in the morning, I'll teleport to his hideout. He would presumably be asleep at the time, and so I'll be able to sneak around without bothering him. My eyes can see very well in the dark, so I won't need to turn on any lights."
Dati gave Renamon a confused look. "You can teleport?"
Renamon nodded. "All Renamon can teleport, but some can teleport more easily than others. Since I'm not a fighter by nature, I have to concentrate very hard in order to teleport. That's why I didn't teleport back to the trailer the other day; my leg was in so much pain that I couldn't concentrate."
"Oh. Okay."
So, they refined the plan further: at around four in the morning, Renamon would teleport into Heartbreaker's Alley and look through the buildings to see if The Heartbreaker lived there. If he didn't live there, they were going to split into two teams; one would retrieve the stolen goods, while the other would hide near Heartbreaker's Alley and ambush him when he came back. But if he did live there, the plan would remain mostly the same, except the ambushing team would covertly follow him while he was out. If they caught him trying to steal from someone, they would ambush him and hopefully beat him into submission.
"I'm just wondering about one more thing," Andromon said. "If Renamon's going to be going around the buildings anyway, do you think he could snag some of our items?"
"That's a risky maneuver," Renamon said. "It would probably involve me rummaging through lots of things, and the noise could alert The Heartbreaker to my presence. I'll only do it if he doesn't live there."
"Good call," Biyomon said.
Everyone discussed the plan further until it was time to go home. Tomorrow, they were going to decide who would form the two teams.
But in the middle of the night, when Dati was sleeping...
His body met the grass before he understood what was going on. As he moved to push himself upwards so he could stand, he could feel his muscles protesting with pain. Once he stood up, a very fatigued feeling washed over him, and it felt like the world was spinning. For a brief moment, he started thinking about how he would get out of here. But before he could think very hard about his options, a blast of some sort knocked him off of the nearby cliff. He felt himself falling very far, and out of the corner of his eye, he thought he could see two other digimon falling with him. There was something down below-was it a river?-and he was scared that he might not make it. He was a mile away from the ground when-
Gasp! Dati woke up, panting heavily. His stomach felt like it dropped several inches. It took him a short bit to realize it was just a nightmare.
That was disturbing! For a while, I thought I was actually falling...why was I dreaming about that?
He let out a groan and tried to relax in bed. As his sight wandered through the room, he noticed the nearby clock. Its numbers read 4:24.
Wait...didn't Renamon say he was going to go to Heartbreaker's Alley? I wonder if he's back yet...
A few minutes passed, and then Dati began hearing voices from the other room. He couldn't make out what they were saying, but the voices sounded like BlackGargomon, Vladimir, and Renamon discussing something. Eventually, it ended, and Dati was alone with his thoughts once more. But a minute afterwards, he could hear footsteps coming closer into his room, and he was wondering what was up.
"Hmm?" he grunted as the digimon passed by his bed.
"Oh, were you awake?" the digimon asked.
Dati recognized the voice. "BlackGargomon?"
"Yeah. I came here to leave this note for you. But you were already awake, huh?"
"I had a nightmare and I've been trying to get back to sleep."
"Sorry if I'm bothering you. But I wanted you to know that Renamon came back from the investigation."
"Okay, what'd he find out?"
"It turns out that Heartbreaker's Alley is, in fact, where The Heartbreaker lives. So this evening, we're going to have one last meeting to perfect our plan, and then the morning after that, we're going to put our plan into action. I don't know about you, but I'm getting really sick of having to deal with The Heartbreaker. The sooner we stop him, the better."
"Yeah."
BlackGargomon walked towards the door. "So why don't you try and get a little more sleep while it's still dark outside? You don't want to sleep through the meeting, do you?"
"I can try to sleep. Good night."
"Good night."
"Okay, everyone, this is our last meeting before we take on The Heartbreaker," Vladimir said. "Renamon, why don't you tell us what you learned last night?"
"Gladly," Renamon said as he walked up next to Vladimir. "As I was walking through the buildings, I saw that The Heartbreaker was sleeping in one of the rooms. So he does live in Heartbreaker's Alley."
WereGarurumon glared at Flamedramon. "Don't say a word."
"Hey, did I say anything?" Flamedramon asked.
"So now that we know where The Heartbreaker lives, it's time to divide ourselves into teams," BlackGargomon said. He pointed to opposite ends of the room as he spoke. "Who wants to fight The Heartbreaker, and who wants to take back the stuff he stole?"
"I think it goes without saying that I'll join the retrieval team," Renamon said, walking to one side. "After all, the last time I confronted The Heartbreaker didn't end well for me, as I'm sure you all know."
"Yeah, I think I wanna help Renamon, too," Dati said. "What about you, Hovis?"
Hovis followed them. "I'm with you guys."
"Me, too." Biyomon flew over to them.
Flamedramon got up and walked to the opposite side of the room. "Well, I have a bone to pick with The Heartbreaker. Sign me up for the fighters' team."
"I agree with Flamedramon," Andromon said, following Flamedramon. "What about you, Gururumon?"
"Actually, I'd rather join the other team," Gururumon said, walking towards the Rookies. "I'm sure I'd be able to carry a lot of things for them. And not to make them sound weak, but I think they could use some extra defense if The Heartbreaker catches them."
Andromon nodded. "That makes sense."
BlackGargomon noticed that the other three members of Castle in the Air were huddled together and discussing something. "Hey guys, what are you thinking?"
The three nodded, and Antylamon looked at BlackGargomon. "We all wanna join the fighters."
"Go ahead, no one's stopping you," BlackGargomon said, and the three band members joined Flamedramon and Andromon. "That leaves me, Taomon, Vladimir, Sheepmon, and Vademon. What do you all wanna do?"
Taomon looked at BlackGargomon. "If you don't mind, I'd like to join the fighters."
"Me too." Sheepmon said.
"Sure, go for it," BlackGargomon said as they joined the fighters.
"Well, I don't like to fight, so I think I'll help the others," Vademon said, moving over to their side. "Maybe I can help Biyomon get some stuff that's hard to reach."
"And just to help you guys out, I'm joining the retrievers," BlackGargomon said. "Just so you have more reinforcements."
"And I shall join the fighters," Vladimir said, walking over to their side. "He may take my glasses, but he can never take my pride away!"
BlackGargomon looked over the teams and wrote things down. "So it's settled: the retriever team consists of me, Vademon, Gururumon, Hovis, Dati, Renamon, and Biyomon."
"And the fighting team consists of me, Taomon, WereGarurumon, PunkMyotismon, Antylamon, Flamedramon, Andromon, and Sheepmon," Vladimir added. "Would anybody like to change teams?"
Everyone either shook their heads or said no.
"Great, now let's continue planning our attack," Vladimir said.
So they continued discussing the plan, and everything started coming together. They decided that BlackGargomon and Taomon would each take a walkie-talkie so that they could relay information to each other. Taomon's group would lie in wait near Heartbreaker's Alley and wait for The Heartbreaker to leave. Once the coast was clear, BlackGargomon's group would break into Heartbreaker's Alley and search for all the things he stole. When they found all the objects, they would return them to BlackGargomon's house. Meanwhile, Taomon's group would secretly follow The Heartbreaker around town. If they caught him doing something illicit, they would try to beat him into submission once and for all. But if he was behaving himself, they would all confront him once he returned to Heartbreaker's Alley. After all, he still needed to do some time for stealing everyone's things.
"Think about it, guys," Hovis said. "By this time tomorrow, we'll have driven The Heartbreaker out of town!"
Vademon threw a fist into the air. "Awesome! I can't wait to surf on my favorite board again!"
Sheepmon looked at Biyomon. "And we'll, quite literally, be back in business."
"So will we!" WereGarurumon said with a grin.
"And we can finally have our race, too!" Flamedramon said.
And I can finally give Taomon her present, BlackGargomon thought.
"And I'll be able to see again," Vladimir said.
"So, how's about it?" Hovis said. "Tomorrow morning, we'll all come here at five and light this candle!"
"What?" WereGarurumon's eyes widened. "Who gets up that early?"
He felt someone tapping him on the shoulder, and saw that it was PunkMyotismon.
"I don't like getting up that early, either," PunkMyotismon said. "But it's only for tomorrow. After that, we can keep sleeping in as much as we want. Besides, look at it this way: we're gonna get your microphone back."
"I'll be glad when that happens!" WereGarurumon said.
"That's the spirit!" Gururumon said.
Hovis looked at the clock. "It looks like the meeting is over now. Thanks for helping us stop The Heartbreaker, and see you all tomorrow!"
There was an excited chatter as the guests left the house.
"Well, it's just the five of us again," Hovis said, closing the door. "Hey, Dati, I noticed you haven't been speaking up much in these meetings. Is something wrong?"
"Yeah," Dati said, taking a seat on the couch. "I've been thinking...what if this plan doesn't work?"
"Simple: we'll just keep trying!" BlackGargomon said.
"Yeah, well, we promised everyone that things would be back to normal by tomorrow night," Dati said. "I don't want to let anyone down."
"Remember, this is a team effort," Vladimir said as he took a seat next to Dati. "It would be one thing if the five of us were the only ones working, but we have ten other digimon on our side, and half of them are Ultimates. What's The Heartbreaker going to do against fifteen of us? Everyone in Ursa Town teamed up to help stop him last time, and the only reason he isn't in custody is because he somehow managed to escape before we could take him anywhere. What I'm saying is that if everyone does their part, the plan should work."
"Okay." Dati hoped that he would be able to do his part, as well.
Hovis ran into Dati's room. "Wakey-wakey, Dati!"
Dati groaned, opening his eyes. It was still dark outside. "What's going on?"
"BlackGargomon's making breakfast. Come on!" Hovis ripped Dati's blanket away.
"Brrr!" Dati curled up, trying to stay warm.
Hovis snickered and grabbed one of Dati's leaf hands. "If you're gonna keep resisting like that, then don't come crying to me when you get really hungry at Heartbreaker's Alley!"
"Okay, okay..." Reluctantly, Dati got out of bed, and he and Hovis walked to the dining room. A lovely smell was wafting nearby, and it seemed to wake Dati up a bit.
"I'm making some noodle soup!" BlackGargomon said. "Have some rolls while you wait!"
"But don't eat too many," Taomon said as Dati and Hovis each grabbed a roll. "You don't want to get so full that you don't want to do anything."
Before long, the soup was done. As everyone ate their soup, Hovis noticed that Dati was a little tentative in eating his soup.
"Something bugging you, Dati?" he asked.
"Yeah," Dati said, taking a sip of milk. "It's just, after we defeat The Heartbreaker, I might have to leave. I remember what Biyomon, Sheepmon, and Isis said about Mesozoic Isle being in danger, and something tells me I should go help everyone out there. But I don't really like to say goodbyes..."
"You know, Dati, if it makes you feel any better, Vlad and I will probably have to leave, too, when this is over," Hovis said. "Whether it's to attend The Heartbreaker's trial or to continue chasing after him. We can't stop until he's brought to justice."
"And the three of you are always welcome here after what you've done to help us," BlackGargomon said. "Right, Taomon?"
"Mm-hmm."
After a minute, there was a knock on the door.
"I'll get it!" BlackGargomon said, leaving the table. He opened the door, and he saw Vademon, Sheepmon, and Biyomon standing there.
"Hey, man!" Vademon said. "Can we come in?"
"Of course!" BlackGargomon said, and the three digimon walked inside.
Biyomon's very keen sense of smell was telling her about something, and she decided to investigate. "What's that smell?"
"It's noodle soup. But I only made enough for the five of us who were already here." BlackGargomon gave a nervous laugh. "Sorry...I should've made more, huh?"
"Oh, no, it's all right," Sheepmon said. "Before we came here, we had some muffins, donuts, and coffee at the store."
"We may technically be eating our profits, but desperate times call for desperate measures," Biyomon said. "Besides, we can always make some more."
BlackGargomon nodded. "If it's all right, I need to finish my breakfast, okay?"
"Go ahead, bro," Vademon said. "It's your house, isn't it?"
As BlackGargomon left the room, he said, "We'll enact the plan when the others get here."
So Vademon, Biyomon, and Sheepmon talked about random things with each other as the others finished their breakfast.
"And that's why I love watching the sunrise every morning," Vademon said. "What about you two? Why do you get up so early?"
"It's out of necessity," Biyomon said. "If Sheepmon and I get to the store early enough, we can have freshly-baked goods ready by the time the store opens. And lots of digimon like to eat baked goods for breakfast."
Someone else knocked at the door.
"I got this!" Vademon said. He opened the door, and there was Flamedramon, Andromon, Gururumon (who was wearing saddle bags), and Castle in the Air. "Come on in, dudes! We're just hanging out right now."
"I can't believe the sun's not even up yet," WereGarurumon said as they all walked inside. "But if it's what I gotta do to get my microphone back..."
Flamedramon walked up to WereGarurumon. "You wouldn't last a minute in my job, then. I get up with the sunrise, eat a light breakfast, and go to work."
"And you like it?"
"Eh, I'm an early riser. Might as well get a job that works with that."
They continued in their respective discussions until the clock read 5:00.
"All right, everybody!" BlackGargomon said. "You ready to stop The Heartbreaker?"
"Yeah!" everyone said.
Taomon walked over to the door. "Come with me if you're on the fighting team. If you're not, then stay here until I radio BlackGargomon."
The members of Taomon's team joined her at the door, and Vladimir said, "We're going to hide out near Heartbreaker's Alley and wait until The Heartbreaker leaves. We'll let you know when the coast is clear for you to break into Heartbreaker's Alley. Just remember to stay quiet; we don't want The Heartbreaker to catch on to us too early."
"Got it," Hovis and Dati said.
"We'd better get there in a hurry," Taomon said. "We don't want to get there only to find that he's already left."
"Yeah, you wouldn't want that, would you?" Hovis said. "Good luck, guys!"
"Thank you," Vladimir said, and the fighters soon left.
"Well, what do you guys wanna do while we wait?" Biyomon asked.
Vademon hopped up. "Ooh! Is there a window where I can watch the sunrise?"
"It's in the kitchen, above the sink," BlackGargomon said.
"Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!" Vademon cheered, bouncing to the kitchen.
"Hey, BlackGargomon?" Dati said. "When we go to get the stuff, are we gonna split into two groups to cover more ground in the buildings, or are we all going together?"
"We're all going together," BlackGargomon said. "It's just easier that way. We don't have to worry about 'Did you find this and this and that?' between each other. Besides, seven digimon can easily go through lots of ground in one building. Easier than three or four, at least."
"That makes sense."
"Hopefully, everyone's doing okay," Renamon said.
"My racer has a first name, it's F-L-A-M-E!" WereGarurumon quietly sang as they walked through town. "My racer has a second name, it's A-N-D-R-O!"
Flamedramon sighed. "You think you can save this for later, when we're not sneaking through town?"
"But why?" WereGarurumon asked. "Don't you want someone to lighten the mood a little? Stress is bad for you, you know!"
"Says the guy who freaks out whenever someone interrupts his music time," PunkMyotismon said.
"Well, wouldn't you get upset if someone kept bugging you while you were trying to listen to your favorite jams?"
"There's a difference between that and trying to catch a crook, you know," Taomon said.
WereGarurumon sighed. "Figures. You try to lighten the mood in this day and age...it's like everyone wants to be serious all the time!"
"Hey," Sheepmon said, pointing her hoof. "Is that Heartbreaker's Alley over there?"
Taomon looked at the two decrepit buildings and the fence surrounding them. "If what Hovis said is true, then yes, that is Heartbreaker's Alley!"
"Quick, let's hide behind this building!" Antylamon said, and the eight digimon hid behind the nearby building. By peeking out from behind the building, Taomon could see Heartbreaker's Alley across the road.
"Now, we wait," Taomon said.
Vladimir leaned against the building and thought about things. He had had to go without glasses for over a week now, and it was starting to get annoying. Sure, he could use his other senses to guide himself, but he preferred being able to see. Maybe, he thought, he should invest in contact lenses sometime; those would be much harder to steal right off his face, especially if he was crying really hard...
"He's coming out!" Taomon whispered. Seven digimon immediately gave her their full attention. They all carefully looked around the building and saw The Heartbreaker leaving through a hole in the fence and walking down the street towards the city.
"Is everyone ready to tail him?" Vladimir asked.
"Just let me tell the other team," Taomon said, and pulled out her walkie-talkie.
BlackGargomon heard noises coming from his walkie-talkie and quickly snatched it up. "What happened? Did you see him?"
Hovis, Renamon, and Gururumon paid close attention to BlackGargomon; Dati, meanwhile, rushed into the kitchen and dragged out Vademon. Everyone listened to BlackGargomon's side of the conversation with Taomon. When he was done, he turned to everyone.
"Time to go to Heartbreaker's Alley," he said. "And Taomon says that if we see The Heartbreaker, we should hide."
"Right!" Hovis said, and they all headed out.
"Just follow me," BlackGargomon said. "I know a secluded path."
As they all walked, Dati felt a little nervous. They were finally gonna strike back against The Heartbreaker...hopefully, they would be able to find everything he stole. The team did bring a checklist, so at least they could tell what they had and hadn't gotten.
But seriously, when I decided to be a hero, I thought I was just gonna do odd jobs for a month or two before actually stopping evil digimon. I never thought I'd do something big right away...but then again, if the Digidestined could handle something much bigger than this, then maybe I could-
"Hey, bro!"
Dati jumped a little and looked at Vademon. "I'm sorry?"
"We're here," Hovis said, pointing at the buildings.
The team made their way through a hole in the fence and looked up at the nearest building.
"Ready?" BlackGargomon asked.
"Yeah," everyone said.
They shoved open the door to the building and ran inside.
I hope you're having a good time at the Island of Balance. Love, Togemogumon.
She finished her email, sent it, and leaned back in her chair. Eteman had left for vacation a few days ago; while it was a little tricky for Togemogumon to have to do everything herself at first, she found that she had gotten used to it after a while. Hopefully, when Eteman returned, he'd be much less desperate to make a sale, and much less mean to the customers.
I hope he calms down...the Eteman I fell in love with was a funny guy, not a bully...I don't know what caused him to change. Hopefully, he's getting the rest he needs.
A jingling bell from outside the office caught her attention. Since the store wasn't open yet, she needed to tell the customer to come back later.
But I thought I locked the door, and I'm pretty sure we have our hours on a sign out front, so who...?
She left the office and saw a huge grey teddy bear walking inside, carrying an empty bag.
"Um, hello, sir," Togemogumon said. "What's going on?"
"I want some videos," the teddy bear said.
Togemogumon got on top of her desk to more easily talk to him. "I'm sorry, sir, but we're not open yet. Can you check back in a few hours?"
The teddy bear glared at her. "Evidently you didn't hear me." He picked her up and held her a few inches from his face. "I. Want. Some videos."
Togemogumon gulped loudly. "Um, okay, w-which ones do you want?"
He set her back down on the desk. "Hmm..."
She watched him as he walked over to the shelves and opened his bag before taking several tapes.
"I want that one, and that one, and that one..." he said. "I already have this one, but I want it. And all these, and this one, and I don't like this movie, but I want it anyway..."
"Excuse me," Togemogumon said.
"What?"
"You're gonna pay the rental fees for all those tapes, right?"
"I don't wanna."
Togemogumon got off of the desk and walked towards the teddy bear. "But you have to. It's official store policy. If you don't, we won't be able to get new tapes."
"I don't care. I want these tapes."
"Why?"
"Because I do!"
All of a sudden, something clicked with Togemogumon. "Wait a minute..." She remembered the flyer that the kids gave to her. The guy she was confronting looked suspiciously like... "Are you The Heartbreaker?"
"That's my name, don't wear it out," he said with a smirk. "If you do, I'm gonna shout Heartbreak Attack!"
He launched a black bubble towards Togemogumon, who instinctively curled up into a spiky ball. But the bubble still engulfed her and popped; she uncurled herself and started wailing on the floor.
"Like shooting fish in a barrel," The Heartbreaker said. He picked up the sack and looked at the shelves. "What should I do after this...?"
Ding!
"I have an idea."
The Heartbreaker gasped and looked at the door. Taomon was standing there, looking very displeased.
"Put the bag down," Taomon said. "Put it down and walk away. Get out of our city, and don't come back until you promise not to steal anything anymore."
The Heartbreaker noticed that the rest of Taomon's team was standing at the door.
"We're getting really, really sick of your tricks," WereGarurumon said.
"Why can't you be an honest digimon and purchase things with your own money like the rest of us?" Sheepmon asked. "Is it really that hard?"
"Or do you just like seeing people squirm?" Flamedramon asked.
Vladimir walked through the group. "You can't hide from the law forever, Heartbreaker. No matter how many Heartbreak Attacks you fire, no matter how many things you steal, no matter how many digimon you inconvenience. I hope you realize that you're now an enemy of two cities. Do you want to turn the whole Digital World against you one day? Do you really think you can handle that?"
The Heartbreaker glared at the team. "Well, if no one wants to play fair with me, why should I play fair with them? You want me to leave? Make me!"
Flamedramon growled. "Fire Rocket!" He engulfed himself in flames and launched himself at The Heartbreaker.
"Lightning Blade!" Andromon jumped in and started hacking and slashing.
Taomon quickly left the video store and took out her walkie-talkie.
BlackGargomon's team stood at the top floor of the building.
"Ugh! We've turned this building upside down and there's no sign of anything!" Hovis said.
"Wanna look in the other building?" Dati asked.
BlackGargomon heard noises coming from his walkie-talkie and pulled it out. "Hello? Yeah. What's up? What? The Heartbreaker's at File City Videos? Oh. Okay then. No, we haven't found anything yet. We're gonna look in the other building. Okay. Bye!"
He put his walkie-talkie away and looked at the others. "The Heartbreaker tried to steal from the video store. But the others caught him in the act, and now they're fighting him."
"I hope Vlad's okay," Hovis said.
"I'm sure they're all okay," Gururumon said. "Why don't we go to the other building now?"
"Sure!" BlackGargomon said.
The seven digimon ran downstairs until they reached the front room and left the building. They ran to the other building and barged right in.
"If the loot isn't in here..." BlackGargomon growled.
"It has to be around here somewhere," Hovis said. "The Heartbreaker never just throws away his loot."
Renamon ran to the stairs. "Why don't we go up to his bedroom and go from there? I think it'd make sense for him to keep his loot that close."
"It's worth a shot," Biyomon said. Everyone climbed the stairs to the top floor of the building and entered the bedroom.
"Uh, I don't see anything," Vademon said.
"What about the closet? Or under the bed?" Dati asked. "Maybe the stuff's hidden where not many people would think to look."
"Let me look in the closet," BlackGargomon said. He opened the door, and was greeted with a few bags of things. He peeked in one, and his eyes widened. "Hey, Gururumon?"
"Yes?"
"I found your hurdles."
"Great! Put them in here!" Gururumon reached back and pointed towards one of the saddle bags he was wearing.
BlackGargomon looked confused. "Are they even gonna fit?"
Gururumon nodded. "I got the expandable saddle bags."
As BlackGargomon shoved the hurdles inside a bag, something in the closet caught Biyomon's eye. She flew over and inspected three sacks which were sitting in the closet.
"Flour...sugar...brown sugar...hey! This is the stuff I sent Sheepmon to get!" she said. "Can I put it all in one of the bags?"
"Sure you can!" Gururumon said. "I can carry lots of things!"
Meanwhile, Renamon, Hovis, and Dati were looking under the bed from different sides. Renamon reached underneath the bed and his hand hit something hard.
"I found something!" he said.
"What is it? I wanna see!" Hovis said.
Slowly, Renamon pulled out the item he had found. It turned out to be a surfboard with a pink, blue, and green pattern.
"A surfboard?" Dati asked. "Hey, Vade-"
"You found my board!" Vademon cheered, coming over and taking it in his hands. "Thanks, guys! I owe you one! I really do!"
"Wanna put it in the bag?" Gururumon asked.
"Nah, I think I'll just carry it! Thanks, though!"
"I see more things under the bed," Renamon said. "Dati, can you help me grab them?"
"Sure," Dati said, firing some vines underneath the bed. "Nemesis Ivy!"
"Hey, Hovis?" BlackGargomon said from in the closet.
"What?" Hovis said, walking up to him.
BlackGargomon held out a pair of red-framed glasses. "Do these look like Vladimir's glasses to you?"
"They sure do! Give 'em here!"
Meanwhile, Dati pulled out a couple of objects from underneath the bed. "Anything else?"
Renamon scanned the area one more time. "No, I think you got it all."
"What did you find?" Gururumon asked.
"I found this microphone and this velvet box," Dati said, holding out the items.
"I'll take the microphone," Renamon said.
"And let me see that box," BlackGargomon said, taking it from Dati. He took a peek inside and quickly closed it. "Still there! Good!"
"What's still there?" Biyomon asked.
"My present for Taomon," BlackGargomon said. "It's a secret for now."
"I think we got everything," Gururumon said, walking towards the stairs. "Let's get out of here and get these items somewhere safe."
"Yeah," Dati said.
As they went downstairs, BlackGargomon radioed Taomon.
The fight with The Heartbreaker had been taken outside long ago, and Togemogumon was still in the video store, currently reshelving the videos. Everyone else was out in the street, beating down The Heartbreaker, who was putting up a huge fight.
"Gatling Missile!"
"Wool Grenade!"
The Heartbreaker leaped out of the way, Sheepmon's attack just barely nicking him. But he had to keep running, as Andromon had fired homing missiles. And these homing missiles had a nasty surprise: they were able to fire bullets.
"Your projectiles shoot projectiles?" The Heartbreaker yelled as he ran. "You don't fight fair!"
"Oh look, Mr. Heartbreak-Attack-Out-of-Nowhere is complaining that we're not fair!" Flamedramon said. "It's not so funny when the tables are turned, is it?"
Taomon paused her walkie-talkie discussion to do something important. "Thousand Spells!" Several talismans wrapped themselves around The Heartbreaker's body, and he couldn't move. The missiles detonated as soon as they hit, and Taomon detonated the talismans after that. With that, she returned to her walkie-talkie conversation.
"PunkMyotismon! Look out!" Antylamon pointed upwards.
PunkMyotismon looked up.
"Bear Claw!" The Heartbreaker came down on him with a swipe, and knocked him to the ground.
"Two can play at this game!" PunkMyotismon said. "Crimson Lightning!"
He projected a red energy whip from his wrist and swung it at The Heartbreaker like it was going out of style. Back and forth and back and forth...
"Gah!" The Heartbreaker knocked everyone away with several swings of his paws.
Everyone fell to the ground, panting heavily.
The Heartbreaker stood before them, also panting heavily.
Then, with a smirk, he charged up his energy...
"Heartbreak Attack!"
Instead of firing one bubble, he fired several. They engulfed all the digimon currently there, and after the bubbles popped, those digimon were all bawling their eyes out.
The Heartbreaker chuckled at the sight. Just seeing those seven digimon being all...
...wait.
Seven?
He counted them up: Taomon, Sheepmon, Castle in the Air, the runners...
"Heartbreaker."
He turned.
He saw Vladimir standing near a building, now with his glasses on his face. Hovis and Dati were standing on either side.
"Give it up, Heartbreaker," Vladimir said. "We've been chasing you for the longest time. It's time for this to end."
Although The Heartbreaker was physically exhausted, he still had one more trick up his sleeve.
"You'll have to catch me first!"
He turned tail and ran towards the beach.
"After him!" Vladimir said. Hovis and Dati joined Vladimir in the chase.
Although his muscles were screaming right now, The Heartbreaker kept on running. When he reached the beach, he frantically looked around for what he had seen before. The thing that would give him freedom...
Then his eyes fell on that very thing: a sign reading "Syakomon's Jetski Rentals".
"Yes!" he cried out. He nabbed a jetski from the selection, got on it, and started it up.
"Hey! Where you going with that?" Syakomon (a pink clam) asked from behind the stand.
But The Heartbreaker didn't answer. Laughing maniacally, he sped off in the water towards the horizon.
"You have to pay for that, you know!" Syakomon called out.
Vladimir ran up to the stand. "What happened?"
"That guy just stole one of my jetskis!" Syakomon said.
"We're gonna need to chase after him," Vladimir said, taking out some money. "May I rent a jetski?"
"Sure!" Syakomon said, looking at the money. "Um...this is enough for two."
Vladimir nodded. "To pay for the one he stole."
Hovis looked at Dati. "Well, Dati, I think Vlad and I have to say good-bye for now. As long as The Heartbreaker's running loose, we have to chase him and make sure he doesn't steal from anyone else. He still needs to do time for what he did in Ursa Town, to say nothing of what he did here!"
"Okay," Dati said, looking at the ground.
Hovis took his leaf hand. "Hey, thanks for helping us drive him out of town, at least. You were really helpful out there!"
"And thank you for helping everyone," Dati said.
Vladimir got on the jet ski. "Come on, Hovis!"
"Whoop, we gotta leave now. Bye!" Hovis ran over to Vladimir, got on the jetski with him, and sped off into the distance.
"Bye..." Dati said, watching them leave. He stood there, staring at the ocean for a short while. Before long, he heard someone walking up to him.
"Dati?"
"Huh?" He turned and saw that Gururumon was walking towards him. "Oh, hello."
"What happened to The Heartbreaker?"
"He stole a jetski and got away. Vladimir and Hovis are chasing after him. I'm not sure when they'll come back...or if they'll come back."
"Oh...well, I have good news. Everyone has their things back. Not only that, but we're thinking of having a party this evening to celebrate our victory over The Heartbreaker."
Dati hesitated. "That sounds fun, but..."
"But...?"
"It doesn't feel right to celebrate without Vladimir and Hovis. I mean, they led the mission, didn't they?"
"WereGarurumon said that we can celebrate again next time they're in town, but for now, we deserve a break before returning to our regular lives."
"Okay."
The party that evening was a rousing success. Biyomon and Sheepmon were so excited about getting their supplies back that they baked lots of treats for the occasion. Castle in the Air performed lots of songs; some were their own songs, and others were covers of popular Earth songs. Flamedramon and Andromon took over the dance floor, and proved to be just as competitive there as they usually were on the track. Taomon was wearing her new yin-yang earrings, which were BlackGargomon's surprise present for her. Vademon was being Vademon, jumping up and down, headbanging, and doing air guitar to Castle in the Air's music. And Dati was sitting with Togemogumon and talking with her.
"So Eteman's on vacation?" he said.
"Yep. I sent him to the Island of Balance. He had been really crazy for the past month, and in my eyes, when he accused you and Hovis of lying to him, it was the last straw. I thought that he was stressed out from the lack of customers, so I sent him on vacation. Hopefully, he's doing well."
"Yeah."
"Well, I'm gonna go get something to drink. Be right back."
As Togemogumon left, Dati looked up at the sky. Tomorrow, he was going to travel to Mesozoic Isle and see who needed help there.
But for now, he was just going to enjoy the party.
A/N: Phew! That was a mouthful! Next chapter's gonna be shorter than this, I guarantee it!