Hey people out in cyber-space! I received some nice feedback on the last chapter and most people seem to like the new mode. I wish to state that all the new crest modes are my invention, but you are welcome to borrow to write about them and/or draw them. Just let me know first.
And while I know you're all dying to see Sakuyamon Trust Mode beating the snot out of Marsmon, I have other ideas first. We'll be checking in with another few characters.
Izzy felt relieved that Impmon was where he left him. He half expected to come back to an empty alleyway. Instead, the viral rookie seemed to have amused himself by forming small fireballs and tossing them from hand to hand like a juggler while the boy was gone. The lack of panicked screams clearly told the youth that the purple digimon actually kept his word on remaining out of trouble.
When the Digidestined of Knowledge turned into the alley, the emerald eyes glanced over boredly. Impmon extinguished the flames and nodded acknowledgement at his presence. Stretching his arms above his head, the digimon gave every impression of not caring what the boy had found out during recon.
"Don't bother boring me yet, Techno-Geek," the virus ordered. "Wait until the Goggle-head can ask a bunch of stupid questions. Trust me, they'll bug you to death and it's easier to get it all taken care of in one try. I'll meet you there."
Without waiting for an answer, Impmon vanished up the side of the building and out of the boy's view. Izzy shook his head at the rookie. This particular digimon was going to take some getting used to.
The game was going fairly well. Tai completely out-classed Takato at soccer, due to his experience at the sport and by being older. But neither goggle-head seemed to be the type to give in without a fight, so the younger boy kept running as they kicked the black and white sphere down the field. Guilmon, surprisingly, made an effective goalie, regardless of how easily distracted he seemed. He was fast on his feet and his larger body could defend his goal more easily than Agumon. And the red reptile could deflect the ball back at high speed by swinging his tail like a bat.
Jeri, running beside the competing boys, kept score as the game progressed. Her tall partner leaned against a tree trunk, watching the humans and dinosaurs in amusement. Tentomon was further up in the branches of the tree. The insect was partially watching the game and partially keeping an eye out for anyone who might wander onto their gathering.
Of course, Tentomon was watching the ground. So he was as surprised as anyone else when a purple shape shot out of another tree and stole the ball from Tai.
"Hey!" the Digidestined shouted in surprise.
"Playtime's over, Hairball," Impmon smirked. "Techno-Geek'll be here soon. Generally, it's good to listen to the results of recon. Or you could go pick-up some refreshments for us instead."
At this point, the insect spotted his partner jogging towards them, his precious laptop tucked under his arm. Though he would never win any athletic contests, anyone who dealt with digimon learned to move quickly. Whether the occasion called for running towards the threat or away, all the Digidestined could cover ground in a hurry. And Izzy was demonstrating that skill.
"You couldn't wait for me?" the youth panted.
"You couldn't keep up?" shot back the virus. "You snooze, you lose."
"I just needed to try to pull up a few things on my laptop as I moved," Izzy explained, opening his computer again as the humans and digimon gathered around. The Digidestined sat down against the same tree Tentomon currently occupied. The insect flew down from his perch to join his partner. "And what I found is extremely concerning."
"What? Do they advertise on their website 'evil, digimon-haters work here' or something?" Tai asked.
"Not exactly, but there are some hints that things aren't exactly right," replied the boy. "First off, the name of the group who work in the 'building of doom' is Digital Anomaly Detection and Processing. They seem to be some kind of computer protection company at first glance. The front desk guard even said they deal with viruses and spam in the internet. But when I run a search on them, almost nothing comes up. In fact, the only real piece of information I could find was that they hired a contractor to completely remodel the building to very specific requirements and to have the work finished in a month."
"That's pretty fast," Jeri commented. "It took quite a while to fix all the damage to the city after the D-reaper incident. Especially the Hypnos building."
"Well, they hired the contractor in early January," continued the Digidestined. "Shortly after the public learned about digimon."
"It seems Gennai and Impmon's concerns about the threat from the group is well founded," remarked Leomon.
"I thought we agreed on that when I told you the building tried to fry me like a bug-zapper," the purple digimon mumbled, but with a slightly more respectful tone than Tentomon had heard him use with anyone else. "The place should come with a warning label. 'Warning, don't touch.' Please tell me that we know more than the building is dangerous."
"We have a name with little information for it," Tentomon summarized. "It's not much, but it is still more than we had this morning."
"So, what's the plan?" Takato asked, glancing over at the Digidestined of Courage expectantly.
Tai shrugged slightly. Everyone of the original group that still saw the teenager on a regular basis could see the change in his personality. The fire that once burned in his eyes had dimmed to a mere flicker. Matt would have been the best to figure out what was wrong with him and snap Tai out of it, but the blond musician spent so much time with the band that he seemed to be oblivious to the shift in behavior. Izzy didn't know what to do and Tentomon had no advice to offer. Even Agumon wasn't sure what Tai needed to do in order to regain his old personality.
After a moment, the spiky-haired youth suggested, "We should call my mom and check on the little kids. Next, we should send out an e-mail to the various digidestined to see if the name Digital Anomaly Detection and Processing is familiar to them."
"If we can't find it on the web, do you really think that they'll let the digidestined know about it?" asked Izzy.
"You never know and it might work," Tai defended. "Unless you'd rather try the old-fashhion 'storm the castle' routine?"
"It would be nice to hear you suggest it," the insect digimon mumbled to himself. What happened to the boy who found a way to enter the internet by sheer force of will to help his partner become Omnimon? Where was the determined teen who would rather risk fighting his partner than leave Agumon enslaved? What happened to the Tai who ran risks and was willing to try to face threats head on? "Where's the old Tai?"
"Fine, if you're calling your house," Izzy remarked to the spiky-haired boy, "you better remind the twins not to eat anything your mother offers. They're too young to die. Especially from her cooking."
"I'll put it on speaker so you can warn them about the jerky shakes yourself," he grinned, pulling out his cell phone.
Mizutani felt like pulling her blond hair out in frustration. The two young children had abruptly begun arguing at a screaming level and did not stop even after their faces turned red. One of her four standard-issue, brainless goons, his patience evidently wearing thin more quickly than hers, tried to stomp over and stop the noise, but the woman intercepted him and sent him back to his corner with a harsh glare. They were just kids, after all. It wasn't their fault they were tangled up in all of this. It was these digimon.
She left the white and purple object around the girl's neck. Common sense and everything she'd learned told her she should take it away from the twins. It served as part of the dangerous connection to the digimon, "Impmon." But, for some reason, Mizutani couldn't bring herself to take it. The thought of taking away the small object was nearly sickening and she couldn't explain why.
And the girl's question about how she knew that digimon could only lead to pain was dwelling on her mind. Before this moment, the blond-haired woman never even paused to consider it. As soon as she learned what a digimon was, she simply knew that the creatures must be hated. In the same way, she felt that she couldn't trust digimon, she now felt that she couldn't take away the small object around the child's neck.
The young children, accusing each other various "crimes," refused to tell their last name, didn't know their address or phone number, and ended up calling one of the pushier DADP employees a "smelly, yucky Numemon." Mrs. Kamiya offered little more information on the pair, stating they were new friends of her children and that she didn't know anything else. The lack of knowledge was troubling, but they would work around it. It was more important that they help the kids than to know every detail of their life. Do firefighters pause to request someone's age while rescuing them from a burning building?
"Could someone shut the brats up?" growled the frustrated man by the sliding door.
Tamiko Mizutani narrowed her eyes at him, "They are children. They fight. Get over it. You will leave them alone or you'll deal with me. We're here to help them."
"Would you like something to eat?" Mrs. Kamiya asked; her voice sharp even as she offered politely. Even as her hostess instincts kicked in, the mother let the group know her displeasure with them. "I have some cookies still and the cake is baking."
The dark-haired man guarding the front door raised his hand in silent request. A frown never leaving her face, the brunette woman passed him the snack. Mizutani could understand her feelings at the intruders of her home, but she did wish the mother knew why they were doing this.
It was at that point that the phone began to ring, catching everyone off guard. Mrs. Kamiya glanced between the phone and the blond-haired woman.
"You can answer," Mizutani nodded. "Just watch what you say. Don't make this harder than it has to be."
The mother glared angrily at her, likely thinking that Mizutani was essentially threatening to harm her and the arguing pair of children. But the blond woman would never allow that. She was here to help those who needed it the most. She wouldn't hurt them. All she wanted to do was free them from the digimon attached to them. It was for their own good.
Tai kept his word and put his cell phone on speaker so the entire group could hear and speak to his mother and the twins. After a few rings, the other line was answered by Mrs. Kamiya. Her voice seemed a little strained, but she didn't immediately say anything out of the ordinary.
"Hello, this is the Kamiya residence," she greeted.
"Hey, Mom," the spiky-haired boy answered cheerfully. "How's everything back home? You're on speaker, so say 'hi'."
"Hello, Tai," sighed his parent, sounding strangely unhappy to hear him. "Everything is under control here."
Jeri, listening not just to the words, could tell something was wrong. Not only was the tone wrong, but there was another pair of voices shrieking in the background. She never heard Ai and Mako scream at each other like that. The brown-haired tamer wondered what could have sparked off the fight.
Glancing at their partner, she could tell she wasn't the only one who noticed the twins' behavior. Impmon's eyes stared at the phone, completely stunned at their voices coming out.
"Well, we wanted to check in on…" continued the Digidestined, but someone snatched the cell phone out of his hand.
"Hey, toots, could you put the munchkins on for a second?" Impmon asked.
There was a pause on the other end and a mumble as Tai glanced between the rookie and his now empty hand. Likely, Mrs. Kamiya was telling the young pair to behave. Her instructions were apparently ignored.
Ai's voice shrieked harshly over the speaker, "Impmon, Mako's been a bad boy."
"What?" her brother shouted. "You stole my crayon first. It's not my fault."
"You're just being a big baby. You still shouldn't have broken my doll last week."
"The head goes back on," Mako reminded. "And I'm not a baby."
His sister screamed, "It was still a mean thing to do. And you didn't even say you were sorry when you did it either."
"Well, you didn't ask to use the crayon either. That makes you bad too," shouted the young boy. "You need to be punished."
"And you need to be punished more than I do," she snapped. If Jeri was any judge on the matter, it sounded like the child was on the verge of frustrated tears. "You're going to be in big trouble with Mommy and Impmon. They'll make you sorry. Tell him, Impmon."
Throughout the pair's argument, the purple rookie's expression ran through a series of different emotions. First, he looked deeply confused and hurt by their shrill shrieks. Then, Jeri could see realization cross his face. Finally, his pale features twisted into pure fury. In fact, his anger was a little frightening to observe up close.
His voice, however, was very controlled and calm. Anyone who knew him would realize that he was rarely this perfectly calm-sounding without a hint of sarcasm, especially when he looked like he wanted to rip something apart.
"Don't worry about it, munchkins. I'll take care of everything."
Rather than passing the cell phone back to Tai as calmly as he was currently speaking, Impmon hurled the small object at the boy with surprising force. Snarling softly, the virus type actually punched the tree in frustrated anger.
"…I got to go," Tai stated slowly into the phone, distracted by the purple rookie. "Bye."
After the boy turned the phone off, Impmon actually glared at the Digidestined, or at least the object in his hand, with enough rage that the human took a step back. Takato glanced between the older goggle-head and the ticked off rookie.
"Impmon, could you please tell us why you look like you're about to kill someone?"
"Because I'm seriously considering it," he answered sharply.
"Just because the twins were arguing on the phone?" Agumon asked.
"No, Pumpkin-head," the purple rookie snapped harshly. "Look, you idiots just don't get it."
"Then explain," requested Jeri.
Rather than lashing out at her like everyone else who spoke to him, he took a breath and focused on the confused humans and digimon rather than the target of his anger. He was still furious, but the digimon was no longer acting like he was about to storm off immediately.
"Fine, I'll explain it slow enough that even Pineapple-head at his most dense could get it," sighed Impmon, earning a hurt expression from Guilmon. "They were arguing and those two wouldn't do that. Especially if I could hear them."
"They're just kids," reminded Tai. 'Me and Kari didn't always get along perfectly growing up."
"They're afraid that if they fight with each other, I'll leave them," explained the viral rookie.
"Why would they think that?" Izzy asked.
"Because I did once," he replied tensely. "Getting away from the point. They knew I could hear them. So, use your tiny minds and consider what possible reason they would do that. Why would they do something they're terrified would make me abandon them?"
As he continued to talk, the digimon's voice rose in volume and he regained his tone of fury. As the Digidestined, tamers, and partners exchanged looks, Jeri felt the pieces fall into place.
"To protect you," she answered. "To keep you from coming back there. It's a trap."
Nodding curtly, Impmon finished, "Exactly. Someone is in that apartment with my tamers and the lack of citywide destruction means it's probably a human problem. Either way, someone is going to pay."
"Wait, you think these Digital Anomaly creeps are holding my mom and the little kids hostage and are waiting to grab us on our return?" asked Tai. "And we're just standing around here?"
"Give the Hairball a prize," snarled the purple virus type. "Now that we're caught up, I have some damage to do."
The rookie shifted to his mega level, raven-black wings sprouting from his back and a large cannon forming on his arm. Even as Beelzemon, his emerald eyes burned with anger at the idea of the twins in danger. Before he could take flight, Takato interrupted.
"Wait, isn't all of this," he gestured at the multiple weapons and larger shape of the virus, "a little much?"
Beelzemon sighed, rolled his eyes, and finally muttered, "Fine. No cannon." With a swift movement, he pulled his arm free of the oversized weapon and tossed it at Takato. "Catch."
The boy, panicking slightly at the heavy object about to collide with him, ended up catching a small toy gun. He blinked in surprise at the piece of plastic in his hands.
"Don't lose it," growled the mega.
As he spread his wings again, Jeri called out, "Hold on, you're not going alone."
"She's right," Tai announced. "My mom's being held captive too. You're not launching a rescue without Agumon and me for back-up."
"Without all of us," corrected Leomon. "If you haven't learned by now, you should pay attention to this fact. We do not turn our backs on any of our friends or allies. Your partners included. We'll help you to get them back and keep you from doing something impulsive and dangerous."
"A plan would be helpful, then," Izzy remarked.
Takato grinned, "And I think I have one. Just one question, Tai. How good is the insurance for your apartment building?"
I hope that you enjoyed this chapter. A certain amount of destruction is in the future. Reviews are truly appreciated. The next update may be a little slower. I have a few papers coming up for school, but I'll work on this in my spare time. Wish me luck.