This chapter should be fairly good sized, but it happens in a short space of time. Mostly, I'll work on some group interactions, a few events that I've always wanted to see happen, and a chance to hint at some things to come. I hope you enjoy the chapter and there should be a surprise near the end that should add some excitement to the story (as if there wasn't enough going on back in the tamers' universe…) and I would love your feedback on it.
Rather than trying to head for the digital world and find Gennai before nightfall, the Digidestined had suggested they wait for the morning before they begin. And the tamers agreed to this plan, especially considering the stamina of their youngest members. Now, they were arguing on how to divide up because there was no way possible for all of them could stay at one home comfortably.
Sora, having her tennis tournament to leave for first thing in the morning and having to pack still, and Biyomon had already left. She also warned her friends that they better not get into trouble while she was gone or she would make them sorry.
Kari grabbed Destiny's arm and dragged the blue-eyed girl into her room. The Digidestined of Light and her partner proceeded to inform her that she couldn't keep walking around in a cloak.
"Why would you want to?" asked Gatomon as Kari dug through her closet.
"It seems silly, but it was all…" began the prophetess, but she stopped as she remembered that they didn't know about Fate yet.
"All what?" the short-haired girl asked from where she flipped through her clothes.
"Never mind. Cloaks just seem to work well with the job. No one would take me serious in a pair of jeans," explained Destiny, opening a dresser drawer.
"Too bad, because that's what I have. Though I'm more of a shorts girl, myself," Kari smiled, handing over a selected outfit. "Hope they fit."
The dark-haired girl smiled back, before handing the Digidestined a small object. "Here. This was in your drawer and I think you might want to bring it tomorrow. And no, I don't know why yet. Just trust me."
As the girl started trying on the shirt, Kari noticed two things. One, Destiny wore a white dress under the cloak. A simple thing that somehow appeared elegant and pure. Two, the object in her hand was a whistle. The same one that once hung around her neck all the time. She hadn't really thought about it in years, but Destiny thought it was important. Kari placed it in her pocket for now.
Gatomon muttered softly to her partner, "You might want to find her some shoes too."
"Hi," the youngest boy greeted.
"Hi?" answered Agumon nervously.
He grinned at the orange reptile, "My name's Mako and this is my sister, Ai. Sorry Impmon scared you."
"I wasn't scared," explained the rookie stubbornly. "He just threw a fireball at Tai and Sora."
The girl nodded, "He likes to play tricks sometimes, but he wouldn't hurt anybody. Except when Terriermon annoys him and he throws a fireball at his ear. But only a little one," she assured.
"If you say so," the digimon sighed. "So, how did you know to digivolve him at that distance?"
The pair blinked and Ai looked at the object around her neck. It looked a little like a D-3, only evolved. This one was purple and white with a strange slot on the side. She wore it like an oversized necklace.
"We didn't do anything," she answered. "Impmon can turn into Beelzemon all by himself."
"How?"
Mako shrugged, "He just can. And it's awesome because he'll take us flying sometimes. Plus, he can beat all the bad guys."
Agumon shook his head in amazement. This new group of "tamers" as Destiny called them seemed to have several tricks up their sleeves. Not only did at least one member have the ability to reach the mega level, he could do it on his own. Then there was the strange digivices. What all could those do? He looked over at his partner who was deep in discussion with Izzy. Maybe he could find some answers.
The Digidestined of Courage groaned, "How long does it take to decide how to divide up?
While it had been established that only Tai's, Izzy's, and Ken's houses had room to spare, which of the newcomers would be at each house was still being argued by the "tamers." For some reason, the boy named Takato insisted on staying here.
"It's a new environment," explained Izzy. "Dividing their forces is a difficult decision. Besides, the logistics behind each possibility must be considered."
"I think it's mostly just trying to keep the troublemaker apart," pointed out Tai, "and keeping track of who refuses to stay near whom."
He meant specifically Terriermon and Impmon, who he had already observed in the park a certain amount of intolerance. Izzy smiled slightly.
"Well, used to be we couldn't leave you and Matt alone," pointed out Tentomon. "Or T.K. and Davis."
"I guess," grinned Tai, reflecting back to the good old days in the digital world. "I just wish we knew more about them. After all, they know all about us. From a television show, no less."
Tentomon shook his head, "That is a little hard to accept."
"And the rest is any easier?" the spiky-haired youth asked.
"Well, I can't tell you anything about these 'tamers,' I could look up their digimon," suggested Izzy, opening his laptop.
"Great idea," the boy grinned. "Let's see… We're already familiar with Leomon and the younger guys told us about Willis' Terriermon. Start with the fox then."
"Okay," the Digidestined of Knowledge muttered, pulling up the correct program. The computer hummed, taking several minutes to identify the strange digimon. Finally, as the youth glared at the machine, a picture and information appeared. "Guess she's not that common around here. According to this, she's 'Renamon, a data type rookie. With her Diamond Storm and Power Paw, she can hold her own against most opponents.'"
Tai looked at where the yellow digimon stood near her partner. They seemed confident enough to fulfill Izzy's prediction of Renamon's power. Near them, Takato rubbed his reptilian creature's head as the tamers continued to talk.
"What about Guilmon? He should be interesting," smiled the original Goggle-head.
Izzy tried to find him. His laptop hummed and the screen flashed. After several minutes, a defeated beeping sounded and a message reading "unknown" appeared. The boy gaped in amazement at the complete lack of information.
"That is so strange," he shook his head. "Nothing?"
Tentomon nodded. Ever since Izzy got this program, there had never been a digimon that had been unidentifiable. The absence was concerning. Even with his harmless-seeming personality, Guilmon's unknown status could be a problem.
Tai sighed, "Guess we'll have to get to know him the old-fashion way."
He glanced over towards the others again. Patamon, DemiVeemon, and Terriermon were having some kind of bragging contest while T.K. and Ken watched. Agumon was speaking to the youngest two children. His sister, Kari, had gone with Gatomon and Destiny into the other room. Davis seemed to be in deep discussion with the purple rookie from earlier. Tai frowned.
"What about Impmon?"
Izzy tried his laptop again, this time with better results. "'Impmon, a virus type rookie. Known for his mischievous nature, his Badda Boom attack is likely to cause chaos for those around him.' That doesn't sound promising; other than Wormmon, there aren't a lot of virus type partners. And Wormmon doesn't act like a virus."
"They said he isn't actually that bad," pointed out the Digidestined of Courage, trying to forget that every actually evil digimon had been a virus. Not that all viruses were necessarily evil, but there had been his scary mega form to consider too. "Izzy, could you check out a digimon named Beelzemon for me too? That was his mega level."
The reddish-brown haired boy raised an eyebrow in silent questioning, but proceeded to tap a few keys on the computer. A picture of a digimon appeared, but Tai spotted several key differences between the image and the being he had observed earlier that day. The computer version lacked wings of any kind. His emerald eyes were ruby red in the picture. And while there were two smaller guns in his hands, he lacked the giant one that encased his arm in the park. But the biggest difference was the digimon's expression. Even as a tiny image, the blood-red gaze seemed crazed and violent.
"'Beelzemon, a mega level digimon. One of a group called the Demon Lords. Specifically, the Demon Lord of Gluttony. His attacks include Darkness Claw and Double Impact.' Wow," read Izzy.
"'Demon Lord'? 'Gluttony'? Care to explain?" asked a confused Tai. "Demon Lord does not sound promising, though."
Izzy selected another file on his computer, specifically dealing with legends and myths of the digital world. "There was apparently seven super-powerful, super evil digimon known collectively as the Seven Demon Lords. Each one was associated with a specific sin that they essentially personified. And, according to this, he was gluttony."
Tai glanced back towards the others. Destiny, Kari, and Gatomon had returned to the room, the former now in a pair of simple jeans and a plain lavender t-shirt. Davis was now trying to talk to the red-haired girl. Guilmon kept eyeing the kitchen as his partner seemed to be pleading with Henry about the sleepover arrangements.
"If gluttony means what I think it does," Tai smiled, "it seems more likely that Guilmon is in charge of that."
Izzy shook his head," While gluttony means literally an overindulgence of food and drink to sickeningly extreme measures, it can be taken to mean other kinds of excesses too. You've heard the phrase 'a glutton for punishment,' haven't you? It could be for power, destruction, chaos, or almost anything."
The Digidestined of Courage sighed. He hadn't really been leader in a while. Sure, all the old team would say he was still theirs and the younger kids would listen to him, but Davis more or less took care of the actual "lead the group into battle" nowadays. Even though he and Matt tried to help against Armageddemon, it ended up being Imperialdramon that saved the day. And before that, Davis resisted MaloMyotismon's dreams. The younger Digidestined was the real leader now. But Tai could still make some important decisions for the team when needed.
"Let's keep this quiet for now. Besides, the Beelzemon I saw was different than the one on your computer. But, we'll keep an eye on him just in case. Between him and Guilmon, we may be in for some surprises."
"Devimon," announced Patamon. "Mister Tall, Dark, and Evil."
"Please," Terriermon rolled his eyes. "IceDevimon. Just as evil, but colder. Really had a thing for Rika."
T.K. and Ken simply watched as the two rookies and DemiVeemon compared bad guys. Minomon remained in the dark-haired boy's arms. It was interesting to see the bragging escalate as they chose more difficult opponents.
DemiVeemon suggested, "Myotismon: normal, Venom, or Malo."
"You only faced the last one," pointed out Patamon.
"So?"
"Mephistomon. He dragged us into some weird world and Growlmon squashed him with a boat. But he wouldn't stay dead," grinned the rabbit. "Until he digivolved into Gulfmon and we blasted him to smithereens."
"Dark Masters. Four guys out to get us," the orange rookie submitted.
Terriermon shook his head, chuckling, "Four? Try twelve Devas. Well, eleven since Antylamon joined our team and is back home."
"Digimon Emperor. Sorry Ken," apologized DemiVeemon, "but you were pretty impressive as a bad guy."
"Yamaki. Head of Hypnos, the 'destroy all digimon' agency," the white and green digimon shot back.
The Digidestined of Kindness frowned slightly as the small, blue in-training digimon reminded the boy of his past. His actions as the Digimon Emperor still haunted him, even if it was the Dark Spore influencing his thoughts at the time. But DemiVeemon didn't mean to make him feel guilty. And ever since his MaloMyotismon-induced dream, Ken knew it was wrong to keep blaming him. Patamon continued their game.
"Try BlackWarGreymon. All he wanted to do was fight and was always looking for the next challenge to pound into the dirt."
"We ticked off a Sovereign! And we fought him and lived," boasted Terriermon.
"A what?" Ken asked.
The rookie closed his eyes, trying to remember any of the odd discussions between Takato, Kazu, and Kenta, along with the occasional rerun he caught when Suzie had dragged him around like a doll.
"I think you call them the 'Four Harmonious Ones'?"
Both humans and digimon blinked at this statement. They had only met Azulongmon, but he didn't seem like the sort to be "ticked off" nor the type would you want to.
"Why did you tick him off?" asked T.K.
"Zhuqiaomon isn't really that big a fan of humans," the rabbit shrugged.
"We took on Apocalymon. Really big, really powerful, really evil," Patamon bragged. "And we faced Diaboromon, the recurring virus-infected internet-crawling digimon that not only tried to blow everybody up years ago, but also showed his ugly face again just a few months ago with thousands of his lower levels invading the city."
"Top that," grinned DemiVeemon.
The long-eared rookie shook his head again, his expression patronizingly, "We saved two worlds, twice, from the destruction of the D-reaper."
"The what?" Ken narrowed his eyes in confusion.
"A computer program designed to 'delete programs that exceed their boundaries.' Then it decided that digimon, and later humans, counted as 'too evolved' and 'too illogical' to exist and tried to destroy everyone. The thing deleted anything it touched practically," explained Terriermon. "And even after we used super program cooked up by a bunch of egg-heads and destroyed the thing, and being separated from our partners in the process because Henry's dad can't come up with a better solution, it still found a way to send 'zombie digimon' after us." He ended by muttering, "Stupid pink goo."
"…You win," DemiVeemon squeaked finally.
The rabbit digimon then took a triumphant pose. "Victory is mine."
Impmon sighed, watching the large group of children and digimon, bored. His tamers were talking to the orange pineapple-head knock-off, so he was left to his own devices. Anyone who knew him, even remotely, knew that a bored Impmon means trouble.
In addition to his usual Goggle-head, there was a new boy with goggles on. This guy was teamed up with a tiny blue digimon that was similar in size to Calumon, minus the expando-ears. That particular creature was over near Terriermon and an orange, flying creature with bat-wings on his head. The new goggle-wearing, short-and-spiky-haired kid was near the purple rookie, staring off towards where the girl with the cat, Kari, had vanished with Destiny and the feline. Obviously, he liked Kari, if the goofy expression was anything to go on. And, just as obviously, the kid had almost no chance and knew it.
Impmon grinned as an idea formed.
"Hey Hedgehog-hair, you like the chick with the mangy cat, don't you?" he asked suddenly.
"Huh? What?" the boy responded, reminding the virus type of Takato even more strongly.
"Not that hard to understand. You. Like. Her. And you have a better chance of getting her attention than for Guilmon to give up on eating bread willingly," Impmon explained. "I've seen losers like you fall flat on your face trying to get a girl to notice you're alive. So, Hedgehog…"
"My name's Davis," the boy interrupted.
"Good for you," dismissed the digimon. "As I was saying, I know how you can your 'darling sweetheart' to pay attention to you. It's actually fairly easy."
The goggle-wearing blinked in surprise. "I've been telling her she should be my girlfriend for ages. And you have a solution? What's the catch?"
Impmon gave a grin any of the tamers would recognize as trouble. Davis didn't have experience with that look. Poor Goggle-head.
"It's simple. Make her jealous."
"How?"
"…You're kidding? No wonder you have a problem. Act like you're head over heels for some other girl and suddenly she's interested in you. Then the pair of you digi-dorks can ride off into the sunset or whatever. Understand now, genius?"
The boy nodded slowly, "Alright, but where do I find a girl to get Kari jealous with? The girl with the green dress seems nice…"
As much as he loved a joke, Impmon didn't want to involve Jeri in this. Besides, he already had the target picked out. One perfect for his plan.
"Sorry, she already has one Goggle-head drooling over her. You'd have better results with the red-head with fox-face. She's more likely to… respond to your attempts. Just go over, wait for you girl to look your way, and then put your arm around Rika or kiss her or whatever," he advised. "Good luck, Hedgehog."
The purple rookie grinned as Kari, Gatomon, and a now cloak-less Destiny re-entered the room. As soon as the kid spotted his crush, he headed towards Rika. Or, as Impmon was currently thinking evilly to himself, the boy's impending Doom.
He stepped over to the sliding door to the balcony. Sitting there, his attention switching between the gathering inside the building and the sunset-painted skyline outside, was the leonine champion of the group. Even after all that had occurred since Leomon's revival, the virus type was still uncomfortable around him. Really, how do you act to someone you once brutally murdered? But the pair had come to a silent understanding. It had arisen from various circumstances where only one of the two digimon was present.
When Jeri had been in danger from the D-reaper, and later Kiwimon, Impmon had tried to help her as best he could. At the time, Leomon couldn't protect her, so the rookie more or less fulfilled the role of partner. And when Polydromon squeezed him from existence, Impmon asked the lion to protect Ai and Mako. Leomon agreed to it. So now, the two digimon sort of represented a secondary partner to the other's tamers if needed. Basically, if the situation arose, they would protect the other's partners as if they were his own.
Leomon stared at Impmon for a moment, clearly having heard the virus' exchange with Davis. He raised his eyebrow questioningly. The purple rookie shrugged, grinning slightly. After a moment, the troublemaker jerked his head towards those inside, silently asking the champion. Leomon glanced through the open door towards the youngest pair. The leonine warrior nodded, agreeing to the request.
With the favor agreed to, Impmon turned his attention back inside. He didn't want to miss the show after all.
"Come on, I'll never get another chance like this! Just let me stay," begged Takato.
"We need to be logical about this," Henry sighed. "Leomon is the most noticeable and least portable member of the group. The easiest thing would be for Jeri and him to stay here."
"And we're not leaving you here anyway," Rika smirked. "You'll be drooling after Tai more than Kazu and Kenta used to over…" She paused. "Anyway, you'd be better off away from your idol."
"I don't mind staying here," Jeri smiled. "Rika, are you and Renamon staying here too?"
She shrugged," Might as well. Just don't expect a huge slumber party or something."
"Alright, Izzy said he could only have about two of our pairs," Henry continued. "I'd like to talk to him, so I guess Terriermon and I could stay there."
"What about the twins? We can't leave them with strangers," pointed out Jeri.
"They can stay with Henry and then me and Guilmon can stay here," Takato suggested.
Rika glared slightly, "No. We are not having Terriermon and Impmon together."
"Takato, why do you want to stay here so bad? They don't have much food left," asked Guilmon.
The boy rubbed the reptile's head and chuckled, "Because you already ate most of it."
"I was hungry," the red rookie muttered.
"You're always hungry."
"So?"
He laughed slightly, "Some things never change, do they?"
"Nope," grinned Guilmon. "So why do you want to stay here?"
"Well, Tai is kind of… a role model for me," the tamer tried to explain.
"The original Goggle-head," muttered Rika, smiling at the idea.
Guilmon blinked in confusion, "But we just met him. How is he your 'role model'? And what's a role model?"
"Someone you look up to," Renamon explained. "A role model is someone you try to act like because they represent what you wish to be like."
"Can bread be a role model? Because I'd like to be yummy. Then I could eat me," smile the naïve creature.
Takato laughed, "It doesn't quite work like that. But I sort of do know Tai. Kind of. Not really know him, but…"
"Goggle-head, you're going to confuse him worse," sighed Rika, noticing that Kari, Destiny, and Gatomon were rejoining the rest of the crowd.
"He saw him on television," Henry tried to explain. "Remember what Destiny said about that earlier?"
The digimon frowned slightly, "When she talks funny, it makes my head hurt."
"If it makes you feel better, so does mine," Davis assured the rookie, coming towards them. He stepped over to stand near Rika, causing her to raise an eyebrow. "Weird things like this always seem to happen though."
"Come on, there has to be a way for me to hang out here," Takato begged Henry.
"Takato, it makes more sense for me and you to take our partners to Izzy's house," the boy sighed.
"And the twins can stay here with me, Leomon, Rika, and Renamon," suggested Jeri. The girl frowned then. "But what about Destiny?"
"Ken did say he had room for one, but it wouldn't be fair to automatically put her by herself," sighed Takato, eyeing his partner who's attention was once more on the kitchen.
"She has quite a bit of experience alone," Rika pointed out, but nodded. "I don't care one way or another. I'll ask if she wants to stay here instead."
Davis, glancing over at where Kari stood, leaned close to the red-haired girl. "You're so nice. Thinking of others first."
This statement would have caused Terriermon to die laughing if he wasn't busy declaring his victory over Patamon and DemiVeemon. It only got better from there.
With all the subtlety of a parade, the boy started to slip his arm around her and his face leaned close to hers. In his mind, he was emulating any main character from a movie that was always getting girls falling for them. Or even Willis when he kissed the girls while the Digidestined had been in America to tick off Davis. His chosen target was not nearly as receptive.
Even if Renamon could have handled the pest if asked, Rika took pleasure in her self-reliance. So, the girl quickly elbowed the boy hard in the stomach, knocking the air out of him. Then, the tamer spun around and punched his chest. Unbalanced and out of breath, Davis fell as she finished with a slap to the face.
"Are you naturally stupid or are the goggles cutting off the air to your brain?" she screamed, drawing the attention of every human and digimon in the room. "Honestly, at what point did it seem like a good idea to… to hug me or kiss me or whatever was going on in your head?! I barely know you! Even Ry… no one does this kind of thing." Her eyes burned dangerously at the boy at her feet. "Come on, even idiots like Kazu and Kenta have some form of logic and survival instinct. Where's yours?"
"I… I…" babbled the boy.
Two voices were laughing hysterically at this point. Terriermon was cracking up at the sight while Impmon was struggling to stand at his position near the sliding door, holding his sides as he laughed. Rika shot both an evil look.
"Are you alright, Davis?" his diminutive blue partner asked, concerned.
The red-head snarled, "Why? Where did you get such a crazy idea like that?"
"It… It… It was… It wasn't my idea," he stuttered, staring at his possible death. "He… He told… told me…" The boy was pointing towards the purple rookie, unable to finish a sentence.
But the tamer understood his intent. Rika spun to face Impmon. Her expression only caused him further enjoyment. The digimon didn't seem to realize his danger yet.
"You!" she hissed, her voice soft and dangerous. "You're behind this, you little monster."
"You got it, toots," he smiled. "Rather impressive display too."
"You have exactly five seconds," she growled.
Impmon was already dashing out to the balcony. "Be good for Jeri and Leomon, munchkins," he called back as he vanished into the city.
"He is so dead when he gets back," muttered Terriermon, "but he'll die famous for that one."
The most basic form of Guardian was already on-line and was being tested. This was essentially her initial program that she had presented to her superiors. There were no fancy scanners, screenings, or selection of targeted digimon. It was essentially an invisible shield. Any digimon that came in contact with it would be destroyed. Fortunately, or unfortunately, the shield form was being used in a weak form that existed only a small distance.
It served well as a security system. DADP needed to keep digimon away from the floor. From what Mizutani had calculated, a circle around the entire seventeenth floor of the building would prevent any of those monsters from getting inside. Beyond that was a layer of "discouragement." It would subtly force the so-called "domestic" digimon to avoid the area without drawing attention by destroying digimon randomly. Not that she wouldn't mind a few less of those creatures.
Mizutani checked the energy levels of the program, ensuring that it was operating correctly. Right now, it was little more than an oversized bug zapper, only instead of attracting the prey, it repelled them. Still, someday it would be more. And all these problems about digimon, digidestined, the digital world…
She took a calming breath. She hated the fuzzy feeling from her medicine, but if she avoided it too long, she started having the dreams and strange emotions. The delusions, according to her parents and doctors, would try to return. They started a decade ago, and only got worse until she started the medication. Now, she couldn't even recall the dreams themselves. Too many years of the fog in her mind had erased the details of the delusions, clouding them, but they still fuzzily returned when she skipped. But the emotions connected to them always remained. Anger, frustration, longing, loss, and sorrow filled her dreams. She may not remember the topic of her delusions anymore, but the emotions always remained under the medicine. But the medicine still helped.
She yanked open her drawer, two objects of importance resting inside. The pill bottle was what kept her attention. She stared, wanting to touch it. Ten years of delusions, eight years of medication-induced fuzz. It kept her calm and hid her delusions, but she didn't want that. She wanted a clear mind for what was to come. The final product of her work, the final form of Guardian, deserved to be appreciated completely. Until then, she could deal with the rest.
She slammed the drawer again and pulled up her programming for Guardian.
Enjoying the story so far? I've always wanted to have Davis get attacked by Rika. I also enjoyed having the "boasting contest." And I laying a few clues of what is to come in this chapter. And I got to have the ultimate prank by Impmon. In case you didn't notice, this is more or less, happening simultaneously. I tried to make this clear though. All in all, I enjoyed this chapter immensely. Let me know what you think. And thanks for reading.