Trade Up

I Don't Own Digimon or Naruto!

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'Thoughts'

"Speech"

-Merged Speech-

-(V)- New Point of View/Scene Change

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Ryo Akiyama

Tamer Digital World

"…" He couldn't find the right words to describe how unsettling it was to know that your best human friend had gone through a horrible childhood simply because he had the misfortune of being used to seal some kind of fox demon that's said to have nine tails.

As he lies on his back, staring up at what passes as the night sky; he couldn't help but review the hollowing conversation that had taken place a few hours ago. He could only imagine what Naruto had gone through before arriving in this alternate world from living a life of not only being an orphan whose parents were killed by the same demon but having that same demon sealed within your stomach. It likely didn't help that pretty much every adult hand known and despise you for it, but not even knowing about it until somebody hungry with power decides to ruin what's little of a life you got by betraying your trust and once they got what they wanted out of you, they tell you the reason why nobody wanted you around; bring your world crushing down around you as well as smashing what a bit of hope of acceptance you have too.

He hadn't known what to say after listening to Naruto talk about what his life had been like before the Digital world. In some ways, Daemon had done the blond a favour sending him away from that setting. He never really expected to find someone who had it worst then him, sure, there's that saying that there always somebody that had it worst but you never believe it until you meet them.

'And boy did I meet that 'somebody'.' He thinks privately to himself as he turns his head to glance at the blond Tamer sleeping next to his partner Digimon. He smiles slightly at the sight and wonders if he looked that innocent and young when he's asleep.

Truthfully though, he's just glad that Naruto would never have to return to that kind of setting now that he's aware of what had gone on with his blond friend and fellow Tamer. It also helped to explain why Naruto's in such good shape too, it sounded like a lot of people were eating right and keeping in shape. He rather not contemplate that they only did so that they could be in top shape to…

He shakes those thoughts out of his mind as best as he could. He rather focus on something else, like the probability of telling Naruto a bit about his own past. After all, it seems that they're kind of on a tic for tac system when it comes to their histories.

With that comforting thought, his exhaustion finally overrides his thoughts and with a sigh, he fells himself giving into the darkness that was sleep.

-(V)-

Henry Wong

Monday After School

He couldn't help but be keenly aware of the empty desk where once sat his blond friend. He had hoped that Naruto had just forgotten to call him to say that everything fine and that his phoned died and that's why he couldn't reach the energetic blond. But now, it seems that something really bad has happened to his friend and he felt guilty for not going after DK and Naruto on Saturday.

"You ok?" He blinks and looks to the side to find a pair of reddish hazel eyes giving him a concerned look. "Naruto… He hasn't shown up yet." He replies some what thickly despite his control. The owner of those reddish eyes gazes at the empty desk for a second before nodding in agreement.

"You're pretty good friends with him, guess he hasn't gotten around to talking with you, huh? Or did he…" The other trails off, not wanting to finish that sentence. "He said he'd be back soon, but… I can't help but feel that I should have followed them…" His gaze focuses inwards once more as he replayed that memory of finally seeing DK, Naruto's elusive friend, if only for a few seconds.

"I'm sure where ever he is, he's fine. I mean, he promised to returns and Naruto just kind of come across as somebody who keeps his word." The other boy says and he nods in agreement. "Thanks." He says after a few minutes and the other just smiles brightly as he nods.

"Don't mention it. I mean, I'm sure his uncle knows where he is. Have you tried talking to him?" The brunet asks and Henry feels better now that he's got something to grab onto. "I'll give him a try. Thanks." He says and a smile is his reward before Kazu calls for 'chumly' to it hurry up.

"Later!" The preteen calls out with a wave in his direction. He nods and holds up his own hand in response. Soon enough, 'clumly' was gone, leaving him alone to pack up his things, though he makes sure he's written tonight's homework down correctly before packing his things up.

He stops at the door way, his imagination putting the image of his blond friend sitting at the empty desk. With a sigh, he closes his eyes and turns away from the classroom. He's sure that he's written down Naruto's apartment number somewhere, so all he has to do it find it and he'll get the answers he seeks.

-(V)-

Naruto Uzumaki

Tamer Digital World

He studies the sandal tracks in the dirt; it's likely that Sasuke leaped away from the scene. After all, who'd believe a human can jump that high into the air let alone that far away. Although, considering they're dealing with Digimon who've never met a human before, let alone two of them at the same time, so he's not sure where these conceptions of what human's are able to do came from.

He then stands up right, while tracking might not have a subject that he had liked, since they hadn't spent more then on lesson. Although that traitor Mizuki had claimed to be able to read tracks so well that he could tell the differences between a stag and a doe, which he highly doubts, but he had gotten a few ideas for pranks from that sole lesson in tracking...

He shakes his head slightly, dispelling those thoughts since they would only make him depressed. He returns to the task at hand and tries to decide how far until they find the spot where Sasuke landed. While he's tempted to leap off like Sasuke, he decides to walk with the others until they find the next set of tracks.

After all, Dorumon would likely be the one that would be left behind and he didn't want that. "He's heading towards those rocks over there. We might not find any tracks since rocks are a great way of destroying your tracks." He tells the others, parroting what that back stabber Mizuki had told them during that lesson.

"I think I might have picked up his scent." Dorumon muses and he flashes his partner a grin. "I still can't believe he could jump this far from the last point. It's just so… abnormal." Ryo says as the older Tamer looks off in the direction of the rock formation.

"You can believe that I got a fox demon in my gut, but you draw the line at chakra infused jumps?" He asks his fellow Tamer. Ryo sighs as the teen scratches the side of his head, his face slightly flushed with embarrassment. "It's one thing to be told, it's another thing to see proof." The grey clothed Tamer states and he nods thoughtfully, getting what Ryo's saying, after all, he was never one for book work. He always preferred hands on lessons.

"Well," he checks his D-Ark to check the time before continuing, "we could always spend the night there, it's getting kind of late." Ryo checks his own Digivice, he could hear Ryo mutter something under his breath as the old Tamer takes the lead once more, Cyberdramon takes to the air, making a beeline for the rocky hill.

He shares a grin with his partner before falling into step behind Ryo. Dorumon brings up the rear of their group, which gives them some protection while the ultimate level dragon man flies off to scout the rocky hill like formation that's a few minutes walk from Sasuke's tracks. Silence hangs between them as they trail after the battle hungry Digimon.

This gives him time to reflect about what's been going on since Saturday morning when they arrived in the Digital world. 'I wonder how Henry's taken to this… extended leave of absence. For that matter, how's Yamaki, Riley, and Tally taking it? I mean, sure I haven't been in their lives for long but I kind of thought we had something going between us. Ok, so I know that at least Riley and Tally miss Dorumon since they did like to visit him on their days off so it goes without saying that they're likely to be missing me too.' He thinks, his focus is totally not on where he's going.

It takes him a while but he finally snaps out of his thoughts when he almost bumps into Ryo. He blinks dully for a few minutes before he realises that it's now night. "Well, looks like we might have to camp out in the open." The teenager muses and he shrugs as he says, "Seems so, DK, seems so."

He hears Ryo sigh in exasperation at being called by his nick name. "Whatever Hige, whatever." Ryo replies with an empathise of his designated nick name as Ryo slings his pack off his shoulders once the taller Tamer walks up to the rocky face of the hill. Cyberdramon keeps circling the large stone bolder that makes up the bulk of the hill.

As he slings his pack off his shoulders, he asks as he stares up into the sky, "You think he'll come down soon?" Ryo pauses to look up at the sky before shrugging as the older Tamer returns to taking some stuff out of his pack. "I don't think he'll leave, after all, he's pretty keen on fighting you, Hige." Ryo answers as Cyberdramon's Tamer seems to be deciding if he really wants to change out of his current set of cloths or not.

With a shrug, he puts his pack on the ground and begins to look through it to get his cell phone. He glances through the options to see if he got a message. "Oh well." He muses to before putting the phone back into his pack, his eyes drift to the MP3 player but just shakes his head, knowing that it won't work either so there's not any real point to give it a try.

"So, spot anything interesting?" He asks his purple coloured partner. "Nothing really and I doubt that Cyberdramon saw anything either." The rookie Digimon answers from a position on his left. "If he had, he would have tackled it head on." He agrees with Dorumon as he closes his purple pack, it takes him a moment to realize that Ryo headed off to change his cloths.

He looks down at his brown T-shirt and blue jeans. He picks at the chest part and takes an experimental sniff. Not smelling sweat, he shrugs as he lets the fabric go as he grabs his deck pouch and then take out the small collection that's lying in the bottom of his pack. He begins to go through the pouch and then through the cards that the Digi-Gnomes packed for him.

As he begins to switch out a few of his cards from his deck with the small collection that's within his pack, Ryo returns wearing a navy blue turtle neck shirt and is now wearing a pair of dark grey cargo pants. Ryo puts his T-shirt and jeans into his pack, considering he's got two other change of cloths in his pack, he guesses that Ryo's got the same for cloths as well.

"Switching out some card, huh?" Ryo asks once the other Tamer finishes with his pack and comes to bug him. "Yea, might as well. After all, you never know what you're going to encounter in this world." He replies and Ryo nods thoughtfully.

"So, after you're done, do you want to play a round?" The Tamer titled Digimon King asks and he just smirks as he nods slightly, as he answers, "If you feel like getting your ass kicked, sure." Ryo's flashes him a confident grin in reply.

-(V)-

Mitsuo Yamaki

Apartment

'The apartment feels so… empty without them around.' He muses to himself as he looks out the balcony window. His hands were behind his back, his shades lying on the table next to his laptop.

He snaps out of his musings when the apartment phone rings and he moves to answer it. "Yamaki here." He says into the phone. "Hi, I'm Henry Wong and I'm a friend of Naruto Uzumaki. I'm calling to see if he's in right now." Henry says over the phone, he couldn't help but frown on hearing the boy's last name.

"I'm sorry, but my nephew isn't in right now. An emergency situation has come up and Naruto's currently unavailable at this time." He informs the boy on the other end. He kind of surprised himself when he referred to the young Tamer as his nephew.

After all, there wasn't any real blood relation between them and he hadn't known where those records documenting such came from. He even had some blood work done on the younger blond's blood. The results pretty much confirm his thoughts on the matter which also makes him wonder where the young Tamer really originates from.

"I see. It's just that… I guess DK's with him, right?" Henry asks and he raises an eye brow on hearing Naruto's nick name for Ryo, the partner to Cyberdramon. "Yes, I expect that 'DK' will take good care of 'Hige.'" He says into the phone, his lips twitch in amusement as he recalls the first time he's hear Ryo and Naruto call each by their nick names for each other.

"Well, could you remind him to phone me when he gets back? I've been pretty worried about him since I haven't heard from him since he vanished on Saturday." Henry admits over the line. "I'm sure he had a lot on his mind and when he comes back, I'm sure one of the top things on his list is to call you." He assures the young preteen.

"Thanks, well, I must be going. It was nice talking to you Mr Yamaki. Bye." Henry says and he replies, "It was nice talking to you too, Henry. Bye." The line dies and he hangs the phone up.

He glances to a framed picture that had been taken during Christmas. It had the two Tamers, their Digimon, Riley, Tally, and himself in the lobby of Hypnos. It was the only picture he had of Naruto and himself being in the same picture. His eyes hover on the younger blond's image for a few seconds before flickering his eyes on the purple furred rookie sitting next to the kneeling blond, the Digimon had an arm around his neck.

'Bring him home, Dorumon, bring him home.' He thinks to the image of Dorumon before heading back to the couch to go back to working on his laptop.

-(V)-

Ryo Akiyama

Tamer Digital World

It's been about two hours since they have kind of set up camp at the base of this rocky hill. Like usual, Naruto keeps winning their matches, though he's made a valiant effort at keeping the blond Tamer at bay for longer periods of time. He almost won by default as Naruto was down to one card in his drawing pile, then the blond managed to overcome the stalemate they had for the last three rounds!

"There are times when I wonder if you cheat during our matches." He admits grumpily as he shuffles his card deck, Naruto's already done shuffling his deck. "Did I ever tell you what happened at the Hypnos Christmas party?" The young blond Tamer asks.

"You mentioned a poker game that happened by the end of it." He admits as he recalls what Naruto told him. Naruto hums slightly as the blond smiles as the other likely replays the memory in his head. "Well, you see, Yamaki got a little drunk so Riley took him away to get him some coffee, they never did come back." Naruto muses before continuing his story, "Tally also got a bit drunk and was busy flirting with some guys, so she wasn't keeping an eye on me. Dorumon was busy getting ogled by somebody's girlfriend who couldn't get enough of the silky feel of Dorumon's fur."

"Guess that shampoo paid off, huh Dorumon?" Naruto says in amusement while Dorumon seems to look down in embarrassment. If the rookie was blushing, he couldn't tell cause of the fur covering the purple Digimon's body. He shakes his head as a small smile grows on his face as he finishes shuffling the cards.

"Any way, about three hands into the game, this scientist had to go use the men's room, but they had already started the game. He didn't want to fold, so he began to look around for somebody to fill in. On seeing me watching, the guy asks if I'd mind holding his place at the table. I agreed and as the guy left, told me to just call." Naruto pauses to pick out some cards out of his draw pile.

"So I take a look at the guy's cards, he's got a pair of jacks in his hand. I also do what the guy advised and just called the bets. Time came and I discarded the other three cards." Naruto pauses as it's his turn to lay out some cards. "I get another jack and a pair to threes. On seeing it, I wonder if I should do the guy a favour and raise the bet. I did so, though a few of the other players jeered about it and I got kind of angry so I put it all in. Other then these two guys, everyone folded."

Once more the blond does his turn before continuing with the story. "By then, the guy who I was holding the place for shows up in time to see all of his chips gets put into the pot." Naruto says and chuckles slightly, more likely from the memory of the guy's reaction. "Oh boy was he pissed but it was too late as the others called the bet. The man was trying to rip out his hair as we laid down our hands. One of the players that stayed in showed off two pairs and the other had three of a kind with some queens."

Naruto picks up from his draw pile, the blond frowns at the sight of his cards and then looks at what he laid down. With a shrug, Naruto puts down a modify card to up the Digimon he had on his field's defence. "The guy with three of a kind begins to starting to raking in the pot when I ask, 'Ok, I got three jacks, but do these two threes mean I win?'" He shakes his head as he asks, "I take it that the guy was ready to pull his hair out while the guy you're holding the place for was ready to kiss you?"

"Sounds about right, it was also how I found out that my hand was call a full house. Well, I gave up my spot back to the guy but since they needed another player since one of those other guys were totally out of chips, the scientist have me a small stack of chips so I can play. About eight hands in, I began getting straights, four of a kinds, and more full houses. True, I lost a few minor hands and one big hand but the majority of hand played, I keep racking in the chips until everybody else decided to end the game." Naruto says and he nods slightly before returning to pay attention to his hand.

"So, how much did you end up winning?" He asks after he finishes his turn. "Does it really matter?" The young blond asks and he gives it some thought before shrugging. "Guess not." He admits and Naruto nods before studying the cards in his hand.

They remain silent for the rest of this game, though he could feel pressure on him to tell the blond his complete history, though he wonders where to start and how to approach the subject. "I'm surprised you haven't been bugging me for stories." He finally says and the blond Tamer gives him a grin as Naruto answers, "I'm willing to wait, DK, I'm willing to be patient since I know you'll tell me eventually."

Then Naruto adds as an afterthought with a mischievous grin, "I'm sure you're stewing in guilty and just bursting to tell me all your secrets." He rolls his eyes at how childish the blond Tamer acted for that moment but he knew that Naruto hit the nail on the head with that statement. "Real smooth, blondie, real smooth." He replies with a grin of his own.

Naruto chuckles and he sighs as he shakes his head, though he does feel a heck of a lot better. He's privately glad that Naruto's around, he could only guess what his life would be like without the younger Tamer around to liven things up. After all, even if something tore them apart during this mission, at least his life has been enriched just knowing the blond.

After few matches, they grew tired of playing the card game. They finish shuffling their cards before putting them back into their deck pouches. Dorumon had long since curled up and seems to be napping and Cyberdramon also seems to be taking a nap… standing up right, but then, it's hard to tell since the ultimate level Digimon's helmet blocks their view of Cyberdramon's eyes.

"Well, now what?" Naruto asks him as the blond gets up off the ground and begins to stretch before settling down next to Dorumon. It's not long before Naruto's head is lying on top of Dorumon's back as the purple Digimon sighs slightly and relaxes. He smiles at the scene before him; he wishes he had a camera to capture the moment.

He sighs as he, too, gets off the ground and walks around to get rid of some cramps. He gives Cyberdramon a passing look, trying to determine if his partner was awake or asleep. After walking for a few more seconds, he sits down next to Cyberdramon's right side. "Well then, I guess I've been stewing long enough, I think it's my turn to talk about my history." He muses and he could tell that perks Naruto enough that the blond sits up, causing Dorumon to wake up too.

"Huh? We getting attacked?" Dorumon asks sleepily and Naruto replies, "No, DK's going to spill the beans on his history is all." That wakes the rookie up even more as the purple furred dragon looking Digimon moves from his curled position to a sitting position, his ears perked right up with his eyes shining with a great deal of interest.

Naruto moves into a cross legged sitting position, leaning forward with his hand resting on his lap. Cyberdramon, too, seems to be more… energetic about this as well, more then likely curious of how he plans to tell of the great many events that happen in the course of his life in relation with the Digital world of Azulongmon's true quadrant; although it seems that the great dragon has yet to restore his headquarters in the Digidestine world and Digital world. But that's not important right now.

It takes him a few seconds to shake himself out of his thoughts and to begin his tale, after all, it likely hadn't been easy for Naruto to tell them his, so he owes it to the blond to tell the truth, though he doesn't plan on going into much detail over it, much like Naruto likely had with his tale. "It started when I was eleven years old, the power cut out and I was sent down into the basement to check the fuse box. Before I headed out of my room, something happened." He says, he shifts his gaze from Naruto and Dorumon to down to the ground as he replays within his mind how listened to that mysterious voice coming from his computer.

"A device appears out of my computer and when I touched it, I found myself in a forest and within seconds I met my first Digimon." He says, a slight bittersweet smile erupting on his face as he recalls Agumon and whose Agumon's partner is. "I met a large orange coloured rookie named Agumon, kind of the same one you've likely seen watching Digimon Adventures and Digimon zero two." He says as he looks at Naruto to catch the blond's reaction to the reference.

"I was summoned to take care of a mega level Digimon named Millenniummon who had taken a familiar group of children captive, a group that the Digimon Adventures are based around." He's pleased to see Naruto's blue eyes widen at what he's hinting at, even Dorumon seemed to be stunned as well. "You mean that show actually happened?" Dorumon asks, likely beating his Tamer in asking that question.

"Anyway, it seems that Millenniummon was a being that could manipulate time and brought back those that the Digidestine had defeated for example those were Devimon and Myotismon." He says, not answering Dorumon's question but moving the story along, even if it were parts he rather not go into detail over. "At first I thought I was dreaming, I mean, it sounded like something you expect from a nightmare or a kind of video game. But in the end, I had no choice but to help Agumon free those that were captured. I did make friends with a lot of different Digimon like Leomon and Piximon as I confronted those that were holding the Digidestine hostage."

He pauses as he tries not to think of the threats that were sent his way. "Soon all of them were free but Tai, Agumon's partner." He finally says and Naruto nods slightly while Dorumon cocks his head to the side, giving him an odd look. "Millenniummon was the one holding Tai captive but in the end, we succeeded and Agumon reunited with his partner, Tai. With my job done and over with, I said my farewells with the group and the Digimon I came to call friends, returning to my room, though that wasn't the end of it, oh no, it was just the first adventure that came my way." He says as his thoughts move onto his second encounter with the mega.

"We can stop now, if you want. It's late and you can pick it up tomorrow night." Naruto suggests and he blinks at the blond for a few seconds before realising that sounds like a good idea as he feels exhaustion after a long day of walking. "I guess it couldn't hurt to do it your way." He says with a slight smile on his face and the blond nods in agreement.

Dorumon sighs and once more curls up, though this time, the purple Digimon rests his head on Naruto's chest as the blond rests his arm over the purple Digimon's neck. He couldn't help but reflect at how those two seem to enjoy simple physical contact with one another. It was definitely different then what had gone on among the Digidestine group, though TK and Patamon came close but then, Patamon was kind of on the small side so it wasn't that hard for TK and Patamon to the same as what goes on between Dorumon and Naruto.

'I wonder if I'll met another pair like them.' He muses to himself as he himself getting more comfortable as he lies down on the sandy ground, looking up at the sky. He can't help but be a bit jealous of the pair since even before Monodramon hadn't been forced to DNA Digivolve with Millenniummon, they weren't that comfortable with each other, though he's willing to admit that he had been building a wall between them since he had felt pretty betrayed by the Digidestine and the rookie was the only one around to take it out on.

-(V)-

Naruto Uzumaki

He smiles as he strokes Dorumon's neck fur, he'll admit, sometime he expects to wake up and find out that this was all a dream and that he's in some kind of holding cell back in Hidden Leaf or maybe back at his apartment. As he stares at the purple Digimon that's not just his Digimon partner but best nonhuman friend, he felt a surge of pride that this rookie purple furred beast dragon Digimon decide to partner up with him.

In the cartoon show that he never watched before showing up in the Digital world, the characters already had their partners assigned to them, which seemed ok for them, but he rather try and work at a relationship then for it to be automatically handed to him. Not that what happened in the show was terrible, it's just not the right way for him to partner up. Which was why he cherishes his relationship with Dorumon even more since neither of them were selected to be partners from the start, it was by mutual agreement.

"Are you going to get up?" He asks softly to the rookie and his partner replies in a sleepy voice, "Depends, if I say no will you stop stroking my neck?" He grins at Dorumon's reply. "I doubt it." He replies to Dorumon's inquiry. "Then no, I won't get off of you until Ryo's awake." Dorumon says in a sleepily firm voice.

He lets his head fall to the ground as he chuckles lightly on hearing that. "You're a cruel tyrant, you know that?" He says in a teasing tone. "And you're a noisy minion." The rookie Digimon says in a mock grumpy voice as he continued to stroke the fine fur coat that his partner sports.

"So, what are you thinking about?" Dorumon asks after a few minutes of silence. "How lucky I am that you decided to partner up with me." He answers truthfully as his other hand snakes under his head to act like a pillow for his head.

Dorumon hums softly on hearing that. "I had my doubts back then, you know, but in the end, if I could, I would do it all again." The purple Digimon says and he says in agreement, "Me too, though I would have tried for more scrolls on ninjutsu and taijutsu." Dorumon chuckles at that and he pats Dorcumon on the back of the head lightly.

"You know, you two sound like a pair of star crossed lovers." Ryo says in bemusement as the older Tamer sits up right. He moves his head up as best as he could to give the other Tamer a dirty look, even though he couldn't help but privately agree with that reference. "Well then, when we marry we'll remember not to invite you to the wedding." He says and Dorumon finally moves his head off of his chest, allowing him to sit up right.

"Ah, then I'll just have to pass on sending you two a wedding present." Ryo says, playing along. Dorumon and him snort before chuckling as Ryo beams as the older Tamer gets to his feet. As Ryo walks to where their packs were, he gets to his feet as does Dorumon. Ryo tosses him his pack and they soon set out, already Cyberdramon is scouting for more tracks, likely started long before Dorumon and him woke up.

With that, they begin to trail off in the direction Ryo's Digivice is telling them to head towards.

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