I am extremely sorry that I took so gratuitously long in updating. The first month or two of school is always a tiring time for me, emotionally and physically. I can't say how often I'll be updating during the upcoming months, but I'll try my best.

While I'm at it- All reviewers Awesome!

Chapter Fifteen

Digital Visitor

When he felt safe, Raul slowed down, and looked at what he'd taken for the first time. There were six coins of various sizes, but they were all foreign. Why hadn't he thought of that? Two of the coins were stuck together by some brown substance. Also in his pocket had been an odd, green and white electric toy. This was the sort of stuff you'd expect to find in a little kid's pocket, not a grown man's. Raul's opinion of the man, already low, dropped another few brackets.

Out of a vague curiosity, he pressed one of the three buttons. The yellow screen flickered some text, faster than Raul could read, beeping slowly a few times. Then it turned off. Nonplussed, Raul dropped it in his own pocket.

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The evening's search hadn't gone well. Kim's computer was indeed slow, and it was all Gen could do not to fall asleep, much less refrain from calling it a piece of trash. They discovered nothing.

So he was in a bad mood when he left for home. Atriamon, still not de-Digivolved, offered to give Gen a ride, and that made him feel a bit better. Atriamon was gentle this time, and the ride was pleasant. For once, he started to think that Digimon could be a good thing, in the absence of any psycho attacks. He wanted to ask more about this Sunset World of the wolf's, as it was obviously important; but all of Atriamon's answers were as unsatisfactory as the first; he skimmed over many things as if they were well known, and lingered on other, seemingly superfluous details as if they weren't. They had returned to the house at the crossroads before Gen could ask again.

Gen's mom sobbed theatrically, and probably on purpose, when she saw her son. She cried about how scared she had been for him, and had looked all over for him when they'd found him gone. She'd chastised him for missing dinner the day before, too, and missing school that morning. Gen noticed how similar her reaction was to Kim's dad's.

He told his mom he'd been at a friend's, though he still wasn't sure if he considered Kim a friend. He was still sore from his goodbye with Arata, the best friend he'd ever had, and was sure he'd feel guilty if he replaced him so quickly.

His mom wouldn't let him out of her sight. When his own dad got home, he didn't even get to put the groceries down before Mom told him to lecture Gen. He got to a half-hearted start, which eventually devolved into laughter between both of them after a few jokes. Mom whined something about having no discipline in the family anymore.

She perked up by miles with Dad's news, though. " A friend of yours happened to run into me on the way home. He's brought that plant you asked him to take care of. I took him here with me. "

Mom threw her hands joyously into the air, just as a man about her age stumbled backwards through the door. His arms were full with a large plant in a red pot. Both its long leaves and bright pink flower the size of a plate were wrinkly and droopy, and the stem bulged gigantically just below the bloom. The flower radiated an odor possibly thicker than the air itself, and not so much bad as overpowering. On the whole, the plant looked as if it had been imported illegally from some remote rainforest. Dad slumped on the couch, fanning himself with a package of frozen beef.

The head of the man himself was hidden by the flower. He was wearing a light brown, threadbare coat, dark blue pants, and reddish shoes in the process of falling apart. With serious effort, he craned his neck to look out of the foliage. His face was round and cheerful, with dark brown eyes and a wide mouth, and the beginning of a beard. His hair, about the same color as his eyes, was long and stuck out naturally, in a way Kim had probably been trying to achieve. It was Daisuke, just one of his mom's many weird friends. She'd once explained how, as a joke, she'd based the cast of the Digimon show off of them. After what he'd experienced in the past two days, Gen half expected this visitor to be accompanied by Veemon.

As he thought this, Gen's Digivice began to beep. He panicked for a second, quickly shoving it into his pocket and smothering it with one hand. To his relief, no one seemed to really notice, though his dad checked his cell phone.

" Oh, you came! I'm so happy! " Mom cried, throwing her arms around the plant and lifting it seemingly effortlessly out of Daisuke's arms.

" Does your husband know you're having an affair with your potted plant? " Daisuke smirked.

Mom cradled the plant like a baby, stroking its leaves. " Don't listen to the mean man, Kusabana-sama, " she crooned. Then she laughed, seeming satisfied with the point she'd made, and set the plant gently down in the corner. " I'm happy to see you too, Daisuke-kun. Would you like something to drink? "

" Anything hot, thank you, " Daisuke shifted his weight uncomfortably. " I suppose you're wondering the real reason I'm here… "

Gen's interest was sparked, but, as usual when his mom had visitors, he tried to pretend he wasn't listening. Mom raised an eyebrow. She sighed, resting her cheek on two pensive fingers. " And here I thought you just wanted to return my precious flower. All right, what is it, Daisuke-kun? "

Daisuke hesitated. He glanced quickly right and left. Gen tried his best to look neutral, as he usually did when Mom had company, and Dad seemed occupied with ignoring the plant's smell. " A… gate… opened," he began tentatively. "Near my neighborhood. I wasn't there when it happened, but since it was in the middle of a road, the emerging Digimon caused a crash. The local news caught the gate on film without realizing it."

Mom's eyes widened. " I can't believe it… after so long, it's happening again? "

" Last time I checked, the gate was still active, meaning the Digimon are still at large. "

Gen was startled. Mom, naturally, would talk about Digimon with otherwise sane adults, but never as objectively as this. They even sounded like they knew something about the gates… But this was only the tip of the iceberg, he was sure.

Mom threw her arms around Daisuke's waist. " You must be so happy! " she squeaked.

" Choking! " gasped Daisuke. Quickly, mom let go. He took a deep breath. Shamelessly ignoring the statement, he rubbed his sides with a preoccupied expression. " Don't be so… exuberant, Mimi-san. Your new neighbors might get ideas. "

" You're no fun, you old man! " Mom taunted, puckering her lips.

" I haven't even finished. I visited the road itself, but discovered nothing new. But once I got home, I found something in the laundry! "

" It must not have been from anyone you know, then, unless they wanted to wait months for you to find it, " Mom sneered.

" Mimi-san, please, can you be serious for just five minutes! " Daisuke sighed, long suffering.

Mom held up her hands in mock defeat. " All right, all right. What was it you found, Old Man-san? "

Daisuke must have thought it wasn't worth responding to the last taunt. And, knowing his mom, Gen suspected it wouldn't have gotten mattered if he did, either. " I'm not sure exactly what it was, but it resembled a Digivice. "

" One of the Digimon might have taken it through the gate, then? " It must have been Mom who said this, but the voice seemed a bit off. Gen had had this feeling before.

" I don't know. " Daisuke scratched his head sheepishly. " But while I was looking for you, some punk stole it. He jumped out of nowhere and attacked me… "

"Hah! That wouldn't have happened to Mimi! " There was the odd voice again- and this time, Gen was sure it belonged to an unseen speaker. There was no other logical reason for his Mom to refer to herself in the third person. She nodded as this was said.

" If Veemon was still here, we might have caught the crook, too! " Daisuke countered hotly, sending chills down Gen's spine.

" But seriously, then, " spoke Mom thoughtfully. " Do you think the man who robbed you was working for someone? Someone who doesn't want us to have that object? "

" You mean someone like Myotismon? Or… Apocalymon? I'd thought about that, too. But we know too little to jump to conclusions. That's why I wanted to come here in the first place- If Digimon are in the Real World again, it might not be safe for any of us to be alone. "

" So you must not have come by yourself, either? " Mom probed, leaning forward with one long fingernail to her lips.

" Miyako-chan and Hawkmon-san are here, too. " Daisuke squirmed under Mom's scrutiny. " Actually… Miyako-chan is the one paying for all this… "

Mom straightened back up triumphantly. " Aha! And I'll bet this was all her idea, too! "

" Everyone agreed… " Daisuke moaned like a little boy, grimacing. He paused, blinking, and tried to regain a little dignity. " Eh… I can't stay long, got to make hotel arrangements and stuff… I'll be back."

Mom grabbed him by the arm. "You'll do no such thing, Daisuke-kun! We have plenty of room to spare- and staying at our house will be much safer, if you're right! "

" Yeah, it's the least we can do! " chimed the third voice.

Daisuke hesitated, his hand on the door. " No, you must be going through enough trouble with moving and all… Oh, all right! "

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…Night. Nagainamon, having De-digivolved around sundown, still claims the bed, sleeping with her entire body under the covers. Kim curled up on the floor, pulling the beanbag chair over herself like a heavy blanket. Her Digivice lay nearby, wrapped lovingly in a red scarf.

Some time after they had both gone to sleep, a glow lit up outside the window, casting upside-down shadows on the one, over trimmed backyard tree. In response, the Digivice screen began to glow with a lively light. Though the device had no visible speakers, a voice issued tentatively from it.

The voice said, "Nagainamon does not desire to admit it, but the shape she took today is not her natural Digivolution. She has had a life long before she met you. If you care about her, you will learn more about it."

And then it was quiet again.

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