Takato's Hatchling
Takato's Hatchling
By milesprower06
Chapter 4 – A New Friend
SHINJUKU MIDDLE SCHOOL
MONDAY – 10:45 AM
"Takato, for the last time, would you please pay attention?"
Takato snapped into focus once again, startled only slightly, as this had been his third offense this morning.
"Huh? Oh, I'm sorry, Ms. Asaji." Takato apologized, with some scattered snickering from the class. Even Jeri gave him a look; he wasn't known for letting his mind wander this much during lessons.
"If I have to tell you again, you will stay after school and write an essay on the importance of paying attention."
Takato nodded, and put all of his energy into focusing on what Ms. Asaji was teaching today. After all, he couldn't help but worry about Guilmon back home. He wanted to get back to him, and didn't want to write an essay before doing so. In order to get back to his partner as soon as he could, he had to put him in the back of his mind for now, which certainly wasn't an easy task. He had managed to focus enough on Ms. Asaji's lessons for another hour before the lunch bell rang. Lunch, the best period of the entire school day, where one could just relax, eat, and think.
After standing in the line for ten minutes for what appeared to be some kind of meatloaf, peas, and mashed potatoes, Takato sat down at one of the tables, and was just about to begin eating when he noticed another boy walk past with a tray of his own. It wasn't the tray he took notice of, though. It was the green-trimmed Digivice clipped to one of the boy's belt loops.
He had short blue hair, brown full-length pants, and an orange cloth vest zipped over a matching t-shirt.
"Psst." Takato said to him, in an attempt to get his attention.
"Hmm?" the boy turned. Takato flashed his own Digivice he had kept in his pocket for the day. Now interested, the boy walked over to Takato's table and took a seat across from him.
"I don't think I've seen you before. You're a Digimon Tamer too?"
He still didn't fully understand what 'Digimon Tamer' meant, but figured that Guilmon had been giving him a crash course in 'taming' for the past two days.
"Yeah. I'm Takato. Nice to meet you."
"Henry Wong. Likewise." he replied, the two of them shaking hands across the table.
"So who's your Digimon?"
"Terriermon, currently home with my little sister, getting the 'Princess Prettypants' treatment." Henry said, suppressing a snicker.
"Your little sister knows about him?"
"Not exactly. Whenever anyone else is around, he acts like he's a doll. He's actually gotten quite good at it. So who's your Digimon?" he asked Takato.
"Guilmon."
"Guilmon…? Huh, never heard of him."
"No, I don't suppose you have. I made him up. You see, I drew some pictures, and wrote down some stats, scanned them through this slot here." he said, holding up his Digivice, pointing to the slot on the right end.
"You put some drawings and stats through the Modify Slot? Huh, who would've known what that could do? So how'd it happen?"
"An egg appeared on the screen, and Saturday afternoon, I tracked it to downtown, and it just appeared. I brought it home, and it hatched."
"So what does he look like?"
Takato leaned down, reached into his backpack, and took out his drawings, banded together. He took out the first one and put it on the table in front of Henry.
"Heh, he's kinda cute."
There was that word again, 'cute'.
"Even more so in person. Wanna come by and see him after school?"
"Sure. We'd just have to stop by my place first so I can pick up Terriermon. If I leave him with Suzie for too long, he'll never let me hear the end of it."
The two of them got to talking about what areas of the Digimon franchises they liked the most. Takato was mostly into the TV show and the card game, while Henry was more interested in the videogames. Before they knew it, the bell had rung, they took their trays over to the conveyor belt, agreed to meet out by the soccer field after school, and with that, they went back to their respective classes.
When Takato arrived back in class, Ms. Asaji called him over to her desk while everyone else found their seats, some taking longer than others.
"Yes, Ms. Asaji?"
"Takato, I made a brief phone call to your parents before heading out to lunch. I told your mother that you were having a little more trouble paying attention than usual, and asked if there was any particular reason for that."
Takato's blood froze, and Ms. Asaji continued.
"She said there was a reason, that you had a situation at home, and told me to tell you, 'he's fine'."
Ms. Asaji noticed the relief wash over her student.
"Well, I didn't have a clue as to what she was getting at, but I can certainly tell that you do. Now, I won't make you stay after, but do you think you can save me the headache and pay attention for the rest of class?"
Takato smiled and gave a short bow.
"Yes, Ms. Asaji. Thank you."
Takato found his seat, and got through the rest of the class without being told to pay attention. When the final bell rang, he quickly gathered up his things, and was one of the first out, despite being seated furthest from the door. When he got out to the soccer field, he had to stand and wait for Henry for about five minutes, thus he wondered why he rushed out in the first place. But soon enough, Takato picked his new friend out of the crowd of departing students. Takato waved to him, and he ran over to him.
"Sorry I took so long. I got held up. Ready to go?"
"Yeah. I can't wait to get home and see how he's doing."
With that, they started towards Henry's apartment. Takato realized that it wasn't exactly in the opposite direction of the bakery; it was more like the long route. They entered the lobby of the building, and it was a short elevator ride up to the seventh floor. Standing by the door to his apartment, Henry turned to Takato.
"I know you want to get home to Guilmon, so wait out here. I'll only be a minute." Henry said. Takato nodded, and Henry slid his key in the door, turned the knob, and went inside. Barely a minute later, he returned out to the hallway, with what looked like a cross between a dog and a rabbit in his arms. Takato instantly recognized him as Terriermon.
"Whew. Thank goodness for short attention spans." the Digimon muttered. It was then that he noticed Takato, and froze, realizing that he may have just blown his Tamer's cover.
"Relax, Terriermon. He already knows."
"Is he a Digimon Tamer too?"
Takato nodded.
"Yeah. Guilmon's at home with my parents."
"Your parents know about your Digimon? And they didn't freak?"
Henry scolded his Digimon for being so forward.
"Don't be rude." Henry told him, but Takato honestly didn't seem to mind.
"They did at first, but then I explained the situation, asked them for their help, and they agreed. This is his first day without me, so I want to get home to see him."
"So let's not keep you waiting any longer. Off we go." Henry said. They got back in the elevator, rode to the ground floor, and returned outside, where Terriermon had to resume his 'doll' guise. It made Takato think of what methods he might've had to resort to had he not told his parents. Guilmon couldn't really be passed off as a doll, as Terriermon could. It just now dawned on him just how lucky he was that his mom and dad had agreed to help him.
It was another fifteen-minute walk back to his bakery. There didn't seem to be much of a customer presence right now, but Takato took Henry around back to the side door, his usual entrance.
"Mom! Dad! I'm home!" Takato greeted when he got in the door. The two of them removed their shoes and placed them next to the doormat, and Takato went right to the kitchen, Henry behind him. Clouds of flour occupied the air above and around the center counter. His dad was over by the ovens in the front left corner.
And there, on the counter in the back left corner, out of customer view, was Guilmon in his shoebox. His ears were already perked up from hearing Takato come home, and upon laying eyes on him, he instantly got excited, and tried to get out of the box. His dad had to quickly take the tray out of the oven, and set it on top in order to get over to Guilmon before he stumbled out of the box and wander into customer view. He picked him up and brought him over to Takato.
"Thanks," Takato said, taking Guilmon into his arms.
"I hope he wasn't a whole lot of trouble."
"Not really. I just had to keep him occupied. By occupied, I mean fed. The little guy has really taken a liking to peanut butter."
"That explains what you've got on your nose." Takato said to Guilmon, taking his finger and wiped off a bit of peanut butter on his partner's snout, and Guilmon then licked it off. Takahiro then noticed Henry in the doorway.
"Who's this?"
"This is Henry. He's a friend from school, who's…also…uh…"
Terriermon gave a small wave.
"Ah. I see." Takahiro said.
Takato went back over to Henry.
"You're right. He is cute."
"Come on, let's go up to my room."
The two boys, with their Digimon in their arms, went up the stairs just outside of the kitchen, and Takato slid open the second door on the right, and entered the room. Takato set Guilmon down on the floor, and Terriermon hopped out of Henry's arms to join him. Henry pointed his Digivice at Guilmon and activated the Analyzer function.
"Hmm. He's a little small to be a Rookie. I mean, these data levels seem really low."
"Well, that's how he came out of the egg." Takato said, pointing to the shell pieces on the desk.
"And he didn't go through any Fresh or In-Training levels?"
"Nope. I mean, I only wrote down Rookie level stats."
Henry contemplated this.
"Hmm. Well, I guess the Digivice just took what you wrote down…and…just stuck in an egg, for lack of a better description."
Henry continued looking at the Analyzer. There was no name, no attacks…just the size and type.
"Virus-type? That's unusual. But then again, so was the manner in which he was created." he concluded, not giving it much thought. Guilmon began to sniff around the front of Takato's bed, looking for his box.
"Oh, I left his box downstairs. I'll go get it. Be right back." Takato said, and he left the room, while Guilmon began poking around a pile of junk under his bed. A few moments later, Takato returned with Guilmon's shoebox.
"Looks like he found something under there." Henry said, pointing to Guilmon, who had discovered a pair of yellow goggles, and was holding them with the black elastic strap in his mouth.
"Heh. I forgot I had those." Takato said. He bent down, took them from Guilmon, and strapped them around his head.
"What d'ya think?" he asked, Terriermon immediately suppressing a laugh. Henry glared at him.
"Ooooh" Guilmon said.
"I wonder how long it'll be before you start to talk, boy."
"I wouldn't rush it from my experience." Henry said, giving Terriermon a nudge with his foot.
"Oh, where would you be without me?" Terriermon said, climbing up to his shoulder.
"I often wonder." his Tamer replied with a hint of sarcasm.
"Well, we better get going. Gotta be home for dinner. Thanks for having me."
"No problem. Come by anytime."
Takato saw his new friend to the door downstairs, and no later than when he was gone, Takato turned, and saw a familiar face come in from the front.
"Uh, Jeri! Uh, what are you doing here?"