I'm swamped in extremely boring schoolwork. It's evil how much boring stuff they can pile on us. Still, I got some written for this story too.
I bet you're all waiting to see what happens at the Kamiya residence, aren't you? I bet you're dying to see what awesomeness will be coming up, right? Guess what. You're going to have to wait. We're checking in on the tamer universe. (Evil laughter from the writer) Sorry, couldn't resist letting you dangle a little longer on the coming events at the Tai's home. But there is some action to start this chapter off and we get to check in on one of our poor tamers.
Enjoy this and let me know what you think.
"Why did I agree to ask the next digimon?" cried Kenta as he swam through the digital water.
"Pu-pii pi," his partner answered as he fired bright pink bubbles at the aggressive MarineDevimon.
"Oh yeah, the 'confidence' thing," the boy groaned, dodging one of the creature's huge tentacles. "This is really encouraging me."
"Hold still," hissed the viral ultimate.
"No, thank you. I don't want to die yet," Kenta replied, selecting a card from his deck. "Digi-Modify! Power Activate!"
His tiny pink mega blinked at the larger digimon before announcing, "Kahuna Wave!"
The heart-shaped bubble, enlarged by the card's effect, struck MarineDevimon dead on. The giant aquatic monster roared in pain and outrage at the impact. Glaring evilly at the fairy-like digimon and the glasses-wearing human, the ultimate relented and sank out of sight into the murky depths.
"Pi pii pu-puh pi?" asked MarineAngemon, staring at where the virus had vanished.
Panting, Kenta answered, "I think he's gone. I hope so anyway. What were we thinking? That was one of the scariest aquatic digimon we could pick to ask for directions."
A hand shot out of thin air (or thin water in this case) and yanked at the tamer. The firm grip pulled the boy away from his pink partner and caused both the human digimon to cry out in surprise. Kenta felt his body being pulled through some kind of soft membrane and he realized that he was no longer in the water. He was lying on a smooth, curved surface. And he wasn't alone.
Standing beside him, pulling a panicked mega through the same clear wall that she'd pulled Kenta through, was the cloaked figure of Destiny. Somehow, the idea that she would show up in the vast ocean in the digital world to the exact spot where he and MarineAngemon were floating and she was standing inside a clear bubble wasn't nearly as surprising as the boy thought it should be. It made too much twisted sense that their personal time-space-and-reality-traveling, both-extremely-young-and-about-his-age-at-the-same-time, really pretty, really mysterious prophetess would randomly show up.
"Kenta vanish," commented his partner. "Pii pi-pi."
"So she grabbed me and then I disappeared?" he asked, trying to clarify the mega's assertion. "Since when did she get that power?"
The pair was interrupted as the area of ocean they previously occupied was abruptly by the still-aggressive shape of MarineDevimon. The viral digimon's reappearance caused the glasses-wearing tamer to scream in surprise, but the dangerous ultimate did not seem to notice.
"Calm yourself," Destiny instructed. "He cannot see, hear, or sense our presence. This sphere conceals us from those outside. Your hunter will see nothing but the empty ocean."
Kenta nodded after a moment, "Which is why when you yanked me inside it looked like I disappeared to MarineAngemon. And why we didn't see you show up."
"Precisely," she answered. "I've come to lead you back to where the final confrontation will take place and…"
"Wait, back up," interrupted the tamer. "What do you mean 'confrontation'? I thought this was supposed to be a simple rescue mission. You even said something about there being no threat to both worlds this time."
"I said at that moment," she reminded. "Conditions have changed and a dangerous threat is coming. But I will provide you with the power to combat that threat."
Groaning slightly, the dark-haired boy remarked, "Why me? Trapped in a digital ocean, nearly eaten by a sea monster, and now I find out the worst is yet to come? Can you just drop me off at school and let Kazu play hero for a while?"
"Pu-puh pi-pii pu-pii," MarineAngemon scolded.
"I know, I know," the tamer sighed. "He'd never let me live it down if I chicken out of whatever is coming. After all, I'm the 'fearless leader.' Just write it off as wishful thinking." Sneaking a look at the hooded figure he'd developed a crush on (at least, when she was a prophetess near his own age rather than the four year old version), he asked, "What exactly do you have in store for us, Destiny?"
"A surprising enemy you would not expect," she replied solemnly. "And can only be stopped by the correct human and digimon pair. But any can combat the foe until they are ready. You shall soon face a threat wearing a face you know. A face you've seen before. And you must be prepared to battle that threat."
Kenta glanced at his small partner. They were not the greatest offensive team, but they seemed to have no choice. It sounded like they needed a more aggressive style to handle the coming situation. Otherwise, she'd likely have said anyone could "delay the foe" rather than anyone could "combat the foe." The only way to gain more offensive abilities for the pink mega was either thought the use of multiple cards or trying to Biomerge again. Either way, it depended on his ability as a tamer. Kenta took a deep breath.
"What do I need to do?"
The cloaked figure answered by handing him a white rectangle dangling from a thin gold chain, "Take this. It will serve you well."
Staring at the offered object, the boy asked, "What is it and is it going to have any unexpected side effects like those 'red card' things the Monster Makers invented?"
"No harm will come from these items," she assured. "This is merely a tool to help unlock a power you already possess within yourself."
"… If you say so," sighed the glasses-wearing tamer, accepting the card-shaped rectangle. "But I still want to know what it is before I do anything with it."
"Very well," the prophetess nodded in acknowledgement. "What you hold in your hand is familiar to you in function, if not in this form. You would know it as a 'crest'."
For some reason, Kenta knew he should be nearly hyperventilating with excitement. He, instead, was trying to simply break free from a state of pure shock. It seemed like his mind wanted to shut down. The impossiblity that was his current life was overloading his abilty to react properly.
"I'm sorry, did you say a 'crest'? Like a crest 'crest'? From the show? With Courage, Knowledge, Hope, Light, and all of them? Have you told Kazu this yet?"
Chuckling softly, she responded, "In order of your questions: yes; yes, but yours are different than those of the show; no, you will gain a different trait; and yes, I've informed him and he reacted even more strongly."
"Do I get a hint, then? Of what my crest is?" he asked, studying the blank object with renewed interest.
"Only that you've already began begun to cultivate this trait before I came to you here," answered the prophetess. "Continue to strive for what you believe in, even when everything seems to be against you, and you will be certain to unlock your true power."
"Kazu would complain about your extreme vagueness," he remarked. "But I think you also mentioned getting out of this digital ocean, right?"
Every member of the Monster Makers, the tired Tally and Riley, and the scattered assortment of parents that didn't seem to be able to leave the only connection they had to find their children smiled as Mei and Takehiro Matsuki came in with a large load of delicious treats from their bakery. The brown-haired technician seemed especially happy to see the food from her favorite location. Demonstrating their quickly spreading fame, their special Guilmon Bread was the first to be snatched up.
"Thanks," Mr. Wong nodded as he accepted one of the few remaining examples of the digimon-shaped snacks.
"No trouble at all," the goggle-head's mother replied. "Any news on the children yet?"
Looking slightly embarrassed, he answered, "We briefly detected Kazu's signal on the main level, but we aren't certain how reliable that result was. It was highly sporadic in its movements and at an extremely high speed. We're blaming the equipment for those results. Beyond that, we're still looking."
The parent felt unsurprised by those results. Whenever digimon were involved, things were never easy to handle. The only source of comfort was the knowledge that the children had experience in this matter and could deal with whatever stood in their way. It was still only a small comfort, however. The basic instinct to protect their young was still present in the adults as they spoke.
Glancing up, she spotted Kokoro Olkowski and her exhausted-looking husband re-entered the room. Both grasped their cups of coffee like the source of caffeine in their hands was the only reason they were upright still. The bakery owner handed them a pair of bagels, producing relieved grins as the married couple collapsed into empty chairs.
"Mrs. Matsuki, I just remembered," exclaimed Riley, interrupting her thoughts. "You were asking about the victims of the accident yesterday. The ones killed in the explosion prior to the tamers' disappearances. I finally have a list of names."
"Thank you," she replied, taking the sheet of paper from the technician. "If we recognize any of the names, we need to send our consolidations. Its only right."
As she scanned the list, her eyes narrowed on a particular pair of names. The surname of two of the deceased seemed vaguely familiar, though she couldn't recall where. Mei was fairly certain that "Minoru and Jade Wakahisa" weren't among her regular customers. Maybe she'd heard their name from someone else.
"Did you know a 'Minoru or Jade Wakahisa'?" she asked Janyu, hoping someone would be able to spark a memory of them.
It wasn't the Monster Maker who answered, however. Another parent reacted to the names, glancing up from her cup of coffee towards the speaker.
"Yeah, we know them," Kokoro answered. "They moved into the neighborhood not too long ago. Minoru moved here with his family for business reasons. His wife, Jade, is from America. They met in college and fell in love. They have a daughter around Ai and Mako's age…" The woman paused as her tired mind caught up with the conversation and Mei's word choice. "Did you say 'did you know' instead 'do you know'? Are you saying…?"
"I'm afraid so," she sighed, handing over the list of victims. "They were caught in the explosion."
The twins' parents looked horrified at the revelation. Someone they'd known, whose child played with theirs, had been dead since yesterday and none of them had even known. They felt guilty at their ignorance of the event.
"Poor people," murmured Kokoro. "Poor Destiny. Their daughter must be heartbroken."
The third name caused further reactions of recognition from the parents gathered. Mei finally recalled her son mentioning the girl a couple times in the last month. Janyu stiffened as his mind remembered where he'd heard the name before.
"Destiny Wakahisa was one of the children Suzie invited to her party. She never showed up," he slowly stated.
"Well, her name isn't on the list of identified victims," remarked Riley.
"So the question is," Kokoro whispered, "what happened to her?"
Ms. Asaji sighed as her students worked on their math problems. She was distracted from her lesson because of four empty seats. Takato, Kazu, Kenta, and Jeri were absent and a call to the principal's office made by the troublesome Shioda's parent revealed the reason early in the day. Of course, she could have guessed it considering who was missing. The three boys, especially a certain one who wore a blue hoodie, were not surprising to be missing. They courted tardiness on a regular basis. Jeri, though, was usual on time and in her seat long before the bell rang. Four students, all tamers, could only mean one thing.
They were gone to the digital world again.
And if the phone call and the identities of those missing wasn't enough, Ayaka and Miki added to their own reports to this earlier evidence. They had attended a birthday party with these children and saw at least Kazu and Kenta vanish right before their eyes into thin air after some rather strange circumstances. They were definitely gone to another world.
She remembered when she received their supposed punishment papers only to find they were good-bye letters as they vanished into a world that she'd assumed belonged only on television and video games. It was unnerving to discover their plan and to realize they might never return. Now, they were gone again. She couldn't help but feel concerned for her students. Even if the boys call her unfair at times, she still wanted to protect them.
Checking with another teacher earlier in the day, she learned that Henry Wong, another tamer, was absent as well. She held the sneaking suspicion that if she was to do more investigation, she would find that most, if not all, of the other tamers in Shinjuku were currently missing in action.
It didn't seem right for children to be placed in danger again and again, but there wasn't much she could do to stop them. She could try to keep them in class and safe, but if a digimon arrived on Earth… she would be trapped between protecting them by preventing them from leaving or letting them go to help protect even more people. And she would be forced to make that choice someday. When they came back to school, that is.
"Two more minutes," she announced, causing the students to frantically hurry.
Apparently feeling vaguely abandoned by Destiny, Kazu glanced at his partner, "So what now?"
"We prepare ourselves to battle our coming foe honorably and heroically," the robotic champion stated.
"But we don't know where or when we'll run into them," he pointed out. "And there's no one in sight except you, me, and psycho bike."
The demonic vehicle refrained from commenting at the at the boy's accusation of being psychotic. After all, why should it deny the truth? Instead of revving its engine and causing the human to have another panic attack, it simply sat there waiting. Eventually it would have its chance. It would either find its way back to its master, Beelzemon, or the boy would become over-confident again. Regardless of which one occurred, Behemoth would have some fun.
The tamer was correct about the lack of company, however. Nothing else was in sight, save the three of them and the pink data streams moving quickly across the landscape. The wasteland was completely boring.
"Did she not imply that the miscreant would find us?" Guardromon asked.
The boy shook his head, "No, she just said some mumbo-jumbo gibberish about unexpected foes and my nature and choices and other stuff. I was too excited about the fact that I have a crest!"
The sentient bike would have rolled its eyes if it possessed a pair. The human seemed oblivious. Behemoth heard every word the cloaked figure spoke and the being she'd addressed could barely recall key words.
At least the digimon tried to listen, "I believe she said that 'an enemy is rising and you shall find yourself facing someone unexpected.' Should we be concerned about the nature of our foe if we are to be challenged by something we cannot expect?"
"Relax, it's a prophecy,' he instructed. "Since we can't expect it, we shouldn't try to. And we'll likely run into it no matter our direction. That's why she didn't tell us where to go before vanishing."
Behemoth began to feel distracted from the conversation between the partners. What had its attention now, specifically, was the data stream headed directly for them. The human and digimon didn't seem to notice the pink light's approach. The bike began revving its engine, trying to get the pair's attention.
At the motorcycle's interruption, Kazu jumped in fright before glaring at the demonic vehicle, "No, I am not riding again. In fact, I am never, ever leaving the safe ground unless it's on Guardromon. I'll just spend the rest of my days as a pedestrian."
Behemoth revved its engine again, angrily. The data stream was still headed for them and neither of them seemed to be willing to look behind them. Even if they really were friends of Beelzemon, it wanted to run over their heads in frustration of their stupidity.
"You're not changing my mind," the boy continued, still completely misunderstanding the motorcycle's intentions. "Do you actually think I'm stupid?"
Its engine growling in aggravation, the bike wanted to scream that yes, you are stupid and it would be nice if you would pay attention to the bright pink light behind you. Unfortunately, the best Behemoth could do was try one last time to get its point across by gunning the engine.
"I don't know what you're so worked up ab-aah!" he shrieked as he finally caught sight of the data stream.
Unfortunately, he only spotted the pink light seconds before it swept over the three of them. Both Guardromon and Kazu reacted with shock and concern as they vanished from the landscape. The demonic bike was simply resigned to the fact it would not be escaping their company just yet as the data stream engulfed it.
It is way too fun to write from the view of a motorcycle. Especially one stuck with Kazu for company. I couldn't resist it. I also gave Destiny a last name and some more info on her family prior to her "prophetess days." And yes, I had some of Takato's classmates at the party. I even vaguely mentioned Ayaka back at the time. Hope you liked it.
Don't worry about things. Next chapter will finally reveal who is on the other side of the Kamiya's door. I hope to hear your views of the story. Feedback is highly appreciated. Thanks.