It was 8:00 in the morning and all was quiet, except for Amara, who was playing with a balled up cigarette carton and the sound of music pouring from Lauren's stereo speakers. Everyone but the frisky kitten was asleep.
Lauren, who was sleeping lightly, awoke to the sounds of Amara knocking things off her table as the kitten batted at the dragon beanie baby, knocking that off along with everything else.
"Amara! Mara, get down!" Lauren snapped as she sat up.
Lauren pushed Amara off the table. The pesky kitten leapt up on the bed, pouncing on the girl's foot.
"Ow! Stupid cat! Get off!"
Amara leapt down from the bed and took off for Alena's room.
"Bratty little kitty. Just had to wake me up!" Lauren grumbled as she picked up the fallen objects from the floor and set them back on the table. She turned off her radio as she exited the room. Looking down the hallway to her sister's room, saw Amara sprawled out on her side on the pillow.
Lauren shook her head and went into the living room, sitting down in the empty seat. Bart walked over and leapt up on her lap.
Lauren absently stroked his fur as he made himself comfortable and dropped off to sleep. She looked over at Beelzemon, who was tangled up in the sheet from tossing about in his sleep. He was sleeping on his side with his head in the crook of his arm to shield his face from the sunlight pouring in from the window.
Lauren put her cheek in her hand as she rested her elbow on the arm of the chair. Against her will, her eyelids began to droop. After only a few moments of fighting it, her eyes finally closed.
Several moments later, Lauren and Bart were startled awake by a knock at the door.
Lauren hurried to the door, avoiding Beelzemon's boots as he stretched and turned to his other side, emitting a small grunt and a sigh. She opened the wooden door and was surprised to see her friend, Anjelica Gorrell standing in the doorway. "Anje? What are you doin' here?"
"Decided to drop by, that's all. What're you up to?"
"Nothin' much." Lauren replied, casting a glance at the viral, hoping he would not awaken.
Anjelica stepped through the doorway. She looked down at the Digimon with a mixture of surprise and confusion. "What is that?"
"Um, that is…er…."
The sound of the screen door swinging shut made Beelzemon jump awake. "Huh, what the hell?!" He looked around wildly. Spotting the girls, he relaxed. "Oh."
Anjelica's eyes widened in fear. "Oh my god!" Without warning, she fainted.
"Anje!" Lauren gasped. She knelt beside her unconscious friend.
Beelzemon rolled his eyes. "Humans!" he muttered. He untangled himself from the sheet and covered back up with it.
It took several minutes and a cup of water for Anjelica to come to. She sat up and looked up at Lauren, who was watching her worriedly. "Wh-what happened?"
Lauren breathed a sigh of relief. "You fainted."
"I did? So I did." She sat upright and froze when she saw the white lump in the chair.
Lauren looked up at it as well. "Oh, don't worry about that. Let's go to my room."
Anjelica nodded and stood up, following Lauren into her room. They sat on the bed and conversed.
Ten or so minutes later, there was a second knock at the door, louder than the first.
Lauren hurried to answer the door. Opening it, she was greeted by the sight of Cassandra Eversole. "Hi, Cassie."
"Hey, Lauren!"
"Shh!."
"Oh, did I wake you?"
Lauren shook her head. "No, but you'll wake up everyone else."
"Oh, whoops. Sorry."
"Well, come on in. Anje's already here."
"She is? Well, where is she?"
"My room."
"Well, let's go see what she's up to."
The two started off towards Lauren's room.
Amara came bounding down the hallway towards the living room, having caught sight of the sheet twitch. She pounced on the sheet, causing the snoozing viral to leap up with pain as the kitten's claws dug into his side.
"Owowowow! Stupid freagin' fur ball!"
Lauren and Cassie jumped violently, and Cassie screamed. Anjelica ran out of the room, attracted by the scream.
Beelzemon looked up at Cassie, eyes narrowing dangerously. "Shut yer yap! Loud-mouthed little critter."
Seeing the Digimon only made Cassie scream again, louder.
Lauren tried desperately to silence her frightened friend, since Anjelica was equally frightened. "Cassie, calm down, please! You'll wake up Mom! Oh, for God's sake girl, shut up!"
Irritated by the grating noise, Beelzemon stood up, flexing his claws. "Better do as she says, or I'll rip out your throat!" he growled.
Cassie clamped her hands over her mouth.
Beelzemon folded his arms across his chest, still glaring at her. "That's better. I got a big enough head-ache with you screamin' in my ear."
"Sorry."
"If your head hurts that bad, I can get you some Excedrin."
"Nah, I don't need that. It ain't that bad."
"Alright. Come on you two, back to my room. And try to keep quieter-Mom and Lena are still asleep…hopefully."
Luckily for them, both were still asleep, it was only a couple hours later Alena awoke of her own accord.
She walked towards the kitchen, rubbing sleep from her eyes. She paused when she saw Beelzemon. "Oh, yer still here. Great…." She continued on her way to the kitchen in search of breakfast.
Beelzemon shook his head and went back to flipping through the 69 channels, grumbling about nothing being on.
The four kids and Beelzemon were outside playing in the snow in the front yard throwing snowballs at one another.
Beth was sitting in her room listening to both the TV and the delighted yells of the others outside. "Lucky kids. It's far too cold for me outside."
The four had decided to team up against Beelzemon on the spur of the moment. The startled Digimon yelped as he was bombarded by a hoard of snowballs. No sooner did they stop throwing than he began retaliating.
The girls screamed as the hard-thrown snowballs slammed into them. One snowball nailed Alena in the face, knocking her flat upon her back. Lauren, Anjelica, and Cassandra rushed to her side.
"Nena! Sis, you Ok?" Lauren asked, kneeling beside her sister.
"Put peanut butter and Oreos in my casket…." Alena said in a dramatically wavering voice as she closed her eyes.
Beelzemon walked over to stand beside Anjelica. "She dead?" he asked casually, putting his thumbs in the belts about his waist.
"Doh, I'm dead!" Alena said in a humorous imitation of Munch from Munch's Odyssey.
"There's our answer."
Beelzemon chuckled.
"I'll be right back!" Lauren said as she ran towards the trailer.
The others watched her disappear through the doorway.
"What's she doin'?" Beelzemon asked.
The other two shrugged.
Lauren opened the glass cookie jar, pulling out several cookies.
"Stay outta the cookies!" Beth called.
"They ain't for me!" Lauren replied as she headed for the front door. "It's an emergency!"
Beth's brow furrowed in puzzlement. "Huh?" She got up and headed towards the living room after she heard the door close, announcing Lauren was gone. She went to the screen door and looked out.
Lauren knelt beside Alena. She waved one cookie under her sister's nose.
Alena took two whiffs of the cookie and sprang to life, startling everyone. "Cookie!" She snatched the cookie from Lauren and crammed it in her mouth, chewing happily.
"Yay! She's back to normal! Can we keep playing now?"
"Sure," Lauren replied as she handed the rest of the cookies to her sister. "But I think Alena should sit this one out. There's a small bump on your face."
As Alena passed by Beelzemon, she stuck her tongue out at him.
His jaw dropped slightly. "You little brat!"
Alena merely scoffed and walked into the trailer.
Beelzemon, shaking with rage, turned to Lauren. "Yer sister's sucha pain the-!"
"I know, I know!" Lauren interjected.
Anjelica picked up a snowball. "Can we play now?"
Lauren grinned. "Sure!"
They continued with their snowball fight.
Alena and Beth were inside making cups of hot chocolate and pulling out leftovers for lunch.
Beth went to the front door to watch the four still playing Opening the screen door, she walked out onto the front stoop. "Kids!" They didn't seem to hear her so she walked down the steps to the edge of the patio and called to them again. "Kids! Time for-Hey!" A stray snowball had smacked her right in the face.
Everyone froze when and looked at Beth.
"Whoops." Cassandra said.
"Who threw that?!" Beth demanded as she wiped water from her face, looking at each in turn, stopping at Lauren.
Her daughter shrugged, tossing her snowball from hand-to-hand to keep her hands from getting too cold.
"Fine then," Beth bent down and picked up a handful of snow, packing it into a ball. "Looks like I'll have to get all of you!"
"Oh crap! Take cover!" Lauren cried, dropping her snowball and bolting for the side of the trailer.
Anjelica and Cassandra quickly followed.
Beelzemon merely looked at them, then at Beth. "What the matter with them? A snowball don't hurt, unless I throw it 'o' course!" He grinned.
"We'll just see about that!" Beth hurled the snowball at him.
The ball of snow hit Beelzemon square in the jaw. "Yeowch! That hurt!"
"That's the point." Beth said as she gathered up snow for another snowball.
Beelzemon took the hint and dashed off after the others. "Wait fer me!"
Beth watched him disappear around the corner, chuckling to herself. She dropped the snowball and rubbed her hands together to warm them. "Brrr. It's cold out here! I'd better make them come in. Lauren!"
Lauren poked her head around the corner. "Yes, Momma?"
"Come on, sweetheart. It's time for everyone to come in."
"Kay. Comin'! Come on guys, it's safe." Lauren said as she started running towards Beth.
"You sure? Alright…." Cassandra followed Anjelica as she walked after Lauren.
Just as Lauren was reaching her mother, she slipped on a patch of slushy snow and fell flat on her face.
Her friends hurried to help her, both giggling.
"Lauren you Ok?"
"That must've hurt."
Lauren giggled as she stood up, wiping snow from her clothes and face. "Only a bit."
"Alright you guys, it's time for lunch." Beth said as she walked up to the front door.
Everyone went inside and gathered round the kitchen table. Anjelica, Cassandra, Lauren, and Beelzemon sat sipping cups of hot chocolate while their lunch was being heated and served to them.
"I think that's the most fun I've had that didn't really haveta do with battlin'." Beelzemon said thoughtfully after he swallowed a bite of food.
"Yeah. There isn't much to do around here."
"Except football!" Cassandra cried, throwing her arms in the air.
"Good fer you." Lauren said dully.
Beth walked up to the table. "Now, Lauren. Be nice. Just because you don't like sports you shouldn't have that tone with your friend."
Lauren ducked her head shamefully. "Sorry."
Beth smiled. "That's better."
While everyone talked, Alena swiped Beelzemon's plate as she walked to her room.
Beelzemon caught her out of the corner of his eyes. "Hey!" he cried. "That's mine!"
"So? Mine now."
Beelzemon frowned. "She's cruel."
"Remind you of somebody?" Lauren asked, putting her chin in her hand.
Beelzemon folded his arms and leaned back, looking up at the ceiling. "Hm, lemme think. Mean, back talks. I'd say she's a lot like Rika." He looked at Lauren, as if wanting to confirm his statement.
"Sounds about right ta me. I used to be a lot like that, except for some of the back talking. But we seemed to have switched personalities I'm the nicer more talkative person and Nena…well you've seen. There are days that she's nicer though. Mom, what's your schedule?"
"It's on the fridge. It's 4 to 9, just like it's been."
"That's what I thought. Can Cassie stay the night? Her mom already said she could."
"Well," Beth paused, looking thoughtful. "I guess so…."
"Yay! Thanks Mom!"
"But where will she sleep?"
"She can sleep…in the other chair if it won't bother her. Or she can have my bed." Lauren suggested.
"Then where will you sleep?"
"The couch."
"But it's messed up."
"Oh, I don't mind. I've slept on it before."
"Hm, I don't know…Where would you like to stay, Cassie?" Beth asked, turning to the girl in question.
"It doesn't matter to me. I'm just happy I get to stay!"
"Alright. You can sleep in the other chair."
Anjelica looked up at Beelzemon. "Do you have different forms?"
Beelzemon looked over at her and smirked. "Yeah."
"Can we see?!" Cassandra asked excitedly.
"Sure. Up or down?"
"Up!"
The viral grinned. "Kay, but we gotta go outside. No wing room."
Cassandra and Anjelica looked at each other, puzzled. "Wing room?"
The three girls followed Beelzemon outside.
He stopped near the edge of the patio, looking up at the sky. He turned to them. "Ready?"
The three teenagers nodded. Lauren already knew what to expect, so she wasn't surprised when Beelzemon Digivolved to Blast Mode, gaining two sets of black wings, emerald green eyes, a positron cannon on his left arm up to his elbow, and his the color of his outfit turned grey and every bit of metal turned silver.
Anjelica and Cassandra gasped. "Wow!"
Beelzemon grinned smugly. "Like it? This is my fave form."
"Yeah!"
"It's a lot cooler than on TV, that's for sure!"
Beelzemon's grin widened and a light blush crept to his cheeks, pleased with the compliment. Suddenly his whole body was engulfed in a golden light. When it dispersed, a two-foot tall dark purple furred creature with a white mask-like design on his face, large emerald green eyes, and an evil sharp-toothed smiley on his stomach stood in Beelzemon's place. He wore a red bandana and three fingered red gloves.
The creature looked at himself and groaned. "Crap! Ran outta energy. Crap!" Suddenly he paused and his eyes grew big. "Cold!" he yelped, leaping up.
The three teenagers laughed as they watched him dance around for a few moments before leaping into Lauren's arms.
"Alright you guys, let's get back inside before Impmon freezes his tail off."
They went inside to warm up. Lauren allowed Impmon to sit beside her in the chair while everyone watched TV. The Rookie was soon snoring against Lauren's side.
"Oh, that's so cute!" Cassandra cooed.
Lauren put a finger to her lips, signaling silence.
Cassandra clasped a hand across her mouth and turned back to the TV.
A little while later Beth took Anjelica home. Then everyone sat down for dinner. Because of how small he was, Impmon was allowed to sit on the table.
Everyone was amazed at how much he ate, shoveling away four platefuls of sirloin steak, mashed potatoes, corn, macaroni and cheese, and rolls at top speed.
Lauren looked at Alena, open-jawed. "And I thought you ate a lot! He could probably enter an eating contest against one of Brian Jacques' hares from his books!"
Alena nodded. "No kiddin'!"
"Wow, he sure can put it away!" Cassandra said, equally stunned.
Impmon paused his eating long enough to say with his mouth half-full. "Dis is da best I've ever had!" Then he went back to eating.
When dinner was finished, Impmon was lying on the table, holding his swollen stomach and moaning softly.
Lauren giggled. "Ate too much, didn't ya?"
"But it was good!" Impmon sobbed.
"Awww, that's just too bad!" Alena said as she walked out.
Lauren smiled sympathetically. "Oh, it's alright, Impmon. You just have to digest," she said as she gently massaged his swollen stomach.
Impmon moaned. "Ohhhhhh…It ain't fair."
"You want to carry you to the chair."
"Whatever…."
"Maybe I shouldn't try to carry you. Poor Impmon. Maybe this will teach you not to overeat."
"No kiddin'."
Lauren sat down in the chair. She stayed and talked to him, rubbing his stomach and ruffling his ears.
Impmon was thoroughly enjoying all the attention. He was more willing to take it in his Rookie form than his Mega. It had something to do with his pride and Ego. As well as the fact that Ai and Mako gave him a lot of attention and affection as Impmon. He ended up falling asleep.
Lauren carried the snoozing Digimon into the living room to the green chair and carefully and gently laid him down. She pulled the white sheet from atop the chair and covered him with it.
Cassandra up to Lauren. "So, I sleep in the other chair?" she asked in a whisper.
"Yes. The footrest comes out, that'll make it more comfortable."
"Okie-Dokie." She walked to the chair and sat down.
Lauren went to her room and got ready for bed.