The Digital Protection Society?
Class 1-B was seated along with the rest of West Shinjuku High in the school hall. A sea of students were in matching uniforms, who's only distinguishing features between them were their different coloured ties and bows, signifying what year they were in at the school. Even though they have a ceremony at the start and end of every term this particular event will always be a special occasion, since it was the Entrance Ceremony for welcoming new students into the cohort.
Yet while there were eager eyes and anxious faces as the Deputy Head, a stern looking woman wearing strict attire, addressed the school about the year ahead, a small group of students had a certain revelation on their minds which occurred only moments before.
Miss Asaji's our teacher…
Kenta was looking at the stage but his eyes were glazed over, as the Deputy Head took her leave in place of the Headmaster, a kind-looking older man who had a round face and a magnificent long, straight moustache. He began to speak but the Tamer was stuck in his own world, recalling every detention he had with his old elementary school teacher.
Miss Asaji's our teacher…
Kazu was subtly rocking back and forth, which would have looked very strange to the rest of the students had he not been surrounded by the other Tamers. He couldn't believe he had to endure another year of her, and who knows what sort of punishments she can dish out now they're in high school!
Miss Asaji's our teacher…
The headmaster had finished his speech and was rewarded with a warm applause, followed by a very attractive second-year who began to speak to the rest of her peers. All of this was missed by Takato, who was fidgeting nervously the cuffs of his blazer and shirt, trying to straighten out his uniform in hopes of getting into his homeroom teacher's good books early, before he does anything stupid that could get him in trouble.
Miss Asaji's our teacher…
Jeri was having a pleasant time during the ceremony, completely oblivious to the woes of the three boys next to her and utterly engrossed in the speeches, taking each word to heart that all the speakers have said about the upcoming year, and about the friendships and impact that they will make along the way.
With a short bow the second-year finished her speech and was greeted with a greater applause than the headmaster, and thus was the end of the Entrance Ceremony. As the second year walked off the stage the homeroom teachers lined across the hall walls took that as their cue to collect their classes and bring them back to their respective rooms. After a little nudge from Jeri the Tamer group began walking back with their class, with Miss Asaji leading the way.
"She honestly wasn't that bad," Jeri repeated, split between hilarity and anxiety at her 3 elementary school class mates, with Rika and Henry following soon behind. "I honestly think you just remembered the worst parts of her."
"Probably because that's all there were!" Kazu reasoned, with Kenta and Takato nodding profusely behind him.
"I remember she was always really helpful when we needed a favour from her," Jeri recalled as they walked across to the classroom buildings, "And we could always ask her for help, even if it's not school related!"
"Every time she taught my class she seemed nice enough, even if she seemed a little bit nonchalant," Henry pointed out.
Kazu just shook his head, "You mark my words, this year will be full of trouble for us and it'll all be because of her. She's the Devil's wife! She's evil incarnate! She's…she's…"
"…Actually she's not that bad." Kazu surmised as Jeri rolled her eyes. The three boys were amazed at how normal Miss Asaji was, and though she carried the air of a firm, sophisticated woman she didn't seem at all tyrannical as they imagined her to be. After the Entrance Ceremony Miss Asaji had simply brought her class back to their room, where each of the students took turns to stand up and say a few words about themselves, after which they broke up for lunch. After reconvening Miss Asaji just laid out some of the rules of the school and how their week will generally be.
"And finally," Miss Asaji began, after she finished explaining how the school week works, "The rest of the afternoon will be free of lessons." This broke out a small murmuring before Miss Asaji raised her hands to call for some silence. "It is a tradition in high school that students should join a club. Whether you join one or twenty, these clubs promote teamwork and extra-curricular activities which could be used or talked about when applying for jobs or universities later in your lives. Even though your studies should be your top priority while you're here, we at West Shinjuku High wish to encourage whatever ideas or hobbies you wish to take up, and so for the rest of the day there will be a club fair held throughout the school." She started handing out stacks of booklets on each of the front row desks and asked them to pass them back. "Here are the locations for each of the clubs running a display. Normal school days start tomorrow, but there will still be an hour after each day to visit the clubs around here, and trust me there are a lot. Sometimes I wish I had some of these clubs back in my school… Anyway, once you have decided which club or clubs you want to join submit the form at the back of the booklet to me by Friday at the latest next week. This will allow me to put you down for any club related activities such as notices from the school or trips. Have a good afternoon."
As the class broke into small groups and began to leave the classroom Miss Asaji unexpectedly approached Takato, who managed to stop himself before colliding with her.
"Takato, I would like you and the other Tamers to go up to Room 44. Believe it or not I've got some paperwork to fill out but I'll get to you soon enough. Everything will be explained once you arrive."
"Er, s-sure thing Miss Asa- wait, did you say Tamers?" Takato did a double-take, but Miss Asaji was already gone, heading towards the teacher's lounge. "How strange…" he said to himself as he turned to face the others, "Hey guys, Miss Asaji wants us to go to Room 44."
"Did she give a reason?" Rika asked, but Takato just shrugged. "Well there's no harm in going there, and we have the rest of the day off anyway."
The little Tamer troop made their way to the East wing of the building, passing by the colourful signs and posters of the various clubs, each one enticing the wary student to try out, and eventually sign up for, their club and all the wonders it has to offer.
"I wonder why Asaji wants us all the way out here," Kazu started to complain as they went further along, the number of clubs and their displays slowly dying out as they walked down the corridors. "Does she want us to do clear storage from some room?"
"Or maybe she wants to start her own club?" Kenta offered, as they turned down a corridor, with Room 44 in sight.
"Whatever it could be, it can't be too interesting if none of the clubs use these parts of the building." Kazu concluded, before opening the door.
Inside the room stood a reasonable sized table, a few couches and several computers, with a view looking out onto the playground outside. Though those things weren't what made Kenta's and Kazu's jaws drop. That involuntary response came from the person standing in front of them.
A voluptuous and breathtakingly stunning woman stood in front of them. She wore the exact same uniform that Jeri and Rika did except with a blue bow. She had a kind face with a smile that never seemed to fade, and had an unusual shade of purple hair flowing down her back, with two ribbons tied to locks of hair either side of her face.
"Why hello there," she said turning to the Tamers, "Are you well?"
"I, well, um, you see….yes." Kazu finally managed to splutter out after several false starts.
"That's wonderful! Tea is almost ready, please take a seat," she said, showing the table before them. As they moved into the room around the table they noticed that something was very familiar about her.
"Hey wait a sec," Kazu started, "Have we met before?"
"Of course we have," Rika chimed in, filling in the blanks for everyone else. "She's Konoka Oba. Our student body President? We literally saw her make a speech to us earlier today."
"Right on target, though Konoka would be fine for me." She said as she brought over a tray of cups, each holding delicious smelling tea. "I hope that was alright, it was my first speech since being elected. Suffice to say I was a bit nervous."
"N-no, you were perfect up there!" Kenta complimented, blushing slightly when Konoka gave a light chuckle at the praise. "I would never have guessed that I would be having tea with a third-year on my first day of high school."
"Oh you are too kind," She said as she passed a cup round to each of the people at the table, "But I'm actually in my second-year at West Shinjuku High."
"Really?!" Kazu said surprised, to which she nodded politely before turning her attention to something behind her. Kazu leaned over to Kenta to have a private conversation. "Only a year older and with a body like that…" Kenta nodded at Kazu's revelation. Jeri looked over anxiously at Takato, but his eyes weren't transfixed on the purple-haired beauty. Instead it was on something much smaller.
"Hey, is that a Digimon?" Takato spoke up. The creature in question looked definitely like a Digimon: a green sprite with what looked like a pink napkin covering half of its body, with a small sprout out of the top of its head was floating towards the table. At the moment it was carrying a tray with the remaining cups of tea.
"Yes, this is my Partner, Lalamon." Konoka introduced to the Tamers, before turning to her. "Are you sure you're okay carrying the tray, dear? It's not too heavy for you is it?"
"Not a problem, Miss Konoka," responded the Digimon, as it managed to place the tray down and began to pick up the cups and pass them to the remaining Tamers.
Henry was more confused than before. "So does that mean that you're a Tamer too?" he enquired Konoka.
"Yes," she replied, looking at her watch. "I was hoping the others would be here by now, but I suppose they don't need to be here just yet." With that she proceeded over to one of the computers and opened up a program. Soon a small light turned on at the top of the monitor, and a window opened…
Ever since the Locomon Incident that occurred in Shinjuku 3 years ago, Mitsuo Yamaki decided that he needed a plan. He needed some form of failsafe to counteract any Digimon that chose to Bio-Emerge and cause havoc amongst his city. He also knew that though Hypnos has gained enough manpower to keep the Digimon at bay he still needed a team to drive them away. And so, after they cleared up the incident and explained Locomon's appearance away to the media, Yamaki approached the Tamers a few days later and proposed an idea.
"Think of it as part-time employment," Yamaki explained, after gathering all the Tamers and their parents to a nearby restaurant hall. "While we're still developing new techniques to suppress them should they get out of hand, Digimon who Bio-Emerge into the real world can still pose a threat that we can't handle alone. We will always offer them amnesty should they remain peaceful during their stay here, but we would also like an insurance policy to be on standby should they choose to fight their way through. We all found that you are the best hope we have against the tougher Digimon who refuse to cooperate with us. If you wish we can compensate your time with monetary means, but we should only be calling you up for cases that we truly can't handle."
And with that the Tamers, after a short discussion with their parents, agreed to work with Yamaki and, to a certain extent, Hypnos. Henry initially found it strange that, only half a year before, he was fighting against Hypnos and their Juggernaut program. Now, three years down the line, he and the others have been on countless missions for Hypnos around the city, helping to take down unruly and extremely stubborn Digimon.
It's funny how everything works out in the end, Henry thought to himself, as he faced his employer in the computer monitor, who was in a shirt and trousers but wearing his customary sunglasses.
"Good afternoon, Tamers," Yamaki's deep tone came through to them as they looked on from the table. It felt like a conference call to some big corporate company than a bunch of high school students talking to their part-time boss. "I hope you've had a good first day of school."
"Not bad at all," Jeri said happily, "How's Riley, is she doing okay?"
"Oh, I'm great," said a voice off screen, and into view came a woman with light brunette hair, dressed in casual clothes. She looked happier than she was letting on, as she sat beside Yamaki on their couch, "Better than great actually!" as she raised her left hand, showing a series of sparkling diamonds attached to a golden band.
"That's amazing!" Jeri exclaimed, while all around everyone gave their congratulations to Yamaki and Riley on their engagement. The brunette beamed while Yamaki blushed, a rare sign of emotion that no one but his closest friends would see. Yet even amongst the jubilation the Hypnos leader still saw a 1000 yen note exchanged from Kazu to Kenta.
"Er, Kazu, what was that?" He asked, and Kazu returned a mischievous grin.
"Oh nothing. We were just having a little wager to see if I would have a chance with Riley before you FINALLY popped the question."
"So how did he finally do it?" Rika asked Riley, and she smirked as she looked over to her new fiancée.
"It was really sweet. Just in a nice, cosy restaurant where he rented out an entire balcony for us to eat." She recalled fondly, as she absent-mindedly stroked his head. "But you should have seen his lighter. He was flicking it open and closed like it was going out of style, he was so nervous!"
"Oh great, the happy couple are cosying up on the couch." Another voice came through, and popping onto the screen came the other Hypnos system operator, a woman with shorter blonde hair called Tally Onodera.
"Don't worry, we're on a business call right now." Riley said to her best friend as she came to sit on the couch next to the couple.
"Yeah, yeah," Tally just waved that aside and heaved a massive sigh, "You know, I remember when coming over to Riley Ohtori's apartment used to be a safe haven for single women like me to complain and work out all our man troubles. Look how you changed the dynamic, Yamaki!"
"Don't worry about it, we can still work it out when we hit the bar later." The Tamers turned around and saw Miss Asaji walk in, closing the door behind her and letting her hair down. "That is if we're still on for tonight?" to which Tally vehemently nodded. She acknowledged the others before turning to Yamaki, "He's just sent me a text, and he's on his way."
"Good," Yamaki nodded at Miss Asaji before turning to the table of Tamers, "Now I'm guessing by now that you suspect there are a few things in the school that are more than just coincidences, so I'm here to explain what's happening around West Shinjuku High.
"First of all, it was no coincidence that you were all put in the same class," Rika and Henry exchanged glances at this, both having their suspicions confirmed, "Nor was it a coincidence that Miss Asaji is you're homeroom teacher. She has kindly agreed to teach high school at West Shinjuku High, while I managed to pull some strings to have you all assigned to her class."
"Also being given enough money for a trip to Maui helped with his request." Miss Asaji added before Yamaki continued.
"We also arranged for all the Tamers to meet here today because we are forming a new branch of operations. This would look like an ordinary high school club to the outside, but it will allow us to access you more easily should a Digimon suddenly Bio-Emerge during school hours. Miss Asaji also volunteered to be the faculty sponsor for the club and will be able to cover for you should you need to leave. Naturally we'll try to take care of it ourselves but we'll need to be able to contact you should the situation get out of our control. Currently Suzy, Ai and Mako are too young to take on the Digimon on their own, even if their Partners are strong."
"So what's this club gonna be called? The Digital Protection Society?" Takato asked Yamaki.
The Hypnos leader shrugged, "I really don't mind what you call it. You can obviously join other clubs, after all this is high school and you should enjoy it while you can. But I would like you to keep in mind that, should we call for your help you will be able to drop what you're doing and aid us. We'll use this room as our base of operations since it is in the older part of the school, so not many people will come here.
"And, as an added bonus, we can do this." As if on cue a door, which had previously been concealed, was thrown open, revealing Ryo Akiyama. He was also wearing the same uniform as the boys, but like Konoka he wore a blue tie instead of green. What was more significant were the creatures behind him, as 3 blurs of green, red and white came jumping out from behind him.
"HENRY!"
"TAKATO!"
"JERI!"
Terriermon, Guilmon and Calumon all jumped at their respective partners, with Guilmon knocking Takato out of his chair. As Ryo came through so did all the other Partners for the other Tamers.
"I found them at the park," Ryo explained, as the Partners welcomed back their Digimon, "Those 3 looked utterly exhausted by the time I got there," he said, nodding to the bunny, the dinosaur and the sprite.
"It was horrible!" Terriermon said to Henry. He looked like he was on the verge of tears. "Renamon's surprise? It was work! Exercise! Pain! She said we needed to stay in shape, and made us do ten laps of the park. Ten!" The other two were relaying similar stories to Takato and Jeri, in equally dramatic fashion.
Henry bit back some laughter as he comforted his Partner. "Surely it wasn't that bad, was it?"
"Ten laps, Henry, Ten! Of course MarineAngemon can do it because he can float, and Guardromon is literally a MACHINE. And Renamon is a TELEPORTER! The only Digimon who felt my pain were Guilmon and Calumon, since we had to run on our own two feet!"
"But Lopmon doesn't seem out of breath, and she's the same size as you."
"Yeah, but she was a former Deva, she was used to this!" Lopmon just shook her head with a hand in her face muttering "Oh Terriermon…"
"Renamon…" Rika gave her own Partner a concerned look. "What?" the fox Digimon replied innocently, "I didn't think it was too hard."
Yamaki waited for them to settle down a bit before continuing further. "Since we can use this as our 'club room' the Digimon can stay in here if they so choose instead of wondering around the park, though I'm sure by now they know how to keep out of sight of the general public.
"Anyway, that's all that I had to say. I hope you enjoy the rest of this week, and I'll contact you when I next need your assistance." With a final wave Tally, Riley and Yamaki all signed off, and Konoka shut down the computer and returned to the table.
"I have to go supervise the first years, making sure they get round okay," Miss Asaji said, as she got up to leave through the main entrance, "I'll see you bright and early tomorrow."
After the door closed the Tamers turned to Konoka, the only person they still had questions for.
"So how did you come to know about us then?" Henry started off.
"I became a Tamer around 3 years ago," She explained, drawing from her bag a magenta and white D-Power, the same design as the others'. "Lalamon came to me while I was looking out onto my family's front garden. It was actually quite a serene moment. Naturally I was surprised at first, I barely even knew about Digimon. But once I got to know her and her world I picked everything up in my stride and we've been together ever since. I met Ryo in my first year since we were in the same class, and we're still together in our second year. We were approached by Yamaki when he found out you were all accepted here and that's when he proposed we formed this little club."
"Hold on a minute," Rika noted, "If you became a Tamer 3 years ago were you around for the D-Reaper attack?"
"Unfortunately not," Konoka replied, remember what happened that day, "At the time I was abroad. Though I did hear and watch it on the news, and I'm amazed by all your efforts, but also at how easily Hypnos managed to cover everything up. Lalamon explained the truth to me though, so I knew what really happened."
At that point a small little alarm bell sounded, and Konoka took out her phone to put it to sleep. "I'm so sorry," she apologised, "I have to run off to a student council meeting, feel free to stay and have as much tea as you like, there should still be some left in the pot. Lalamon I'll come by to collect you later!" With a quick bow to her new friends she hurried off, as was the ever busy life of the student President. Kenta pretty much summed up the groups' feelings about meeting this new Tamer.
"To think, someone as cool as her is one of us…"
Once in a rare blue moon did all six of the Wongs eat together, eight if you include Lopmon and Terriermon. Though Ryan and Jamie were around for now, soon they would be heading to university, so Mayumi made sure they had a big feast to tempt them home every so often. Once Janyu, Henry and Suzy explained what Digimon are to the other half of the family Lopmon and Terriermon were accepted in with open arms, and therefore had their own seat at the table. As Terriermon stuffed himself with his 6th helping of everything, Janyu turned the conversation towards school, "How was your first day of high school?"
"Not too bad." Henry replied, "There were a lot of clubs to try out, and we're all in the same class, but the surprise came at the end when this club we all ended up joining became our front for our part-time job."
Suzy puffed out her cheeks, "It's not fair. How come Terriermon gets to play with you while Lopmon has to sit outside until I'm done with school?"
"It's not like he gets to go with me around school," Henry clarified, "He just gets to be in a room in my school. And I'll show you how to hold Lopmon so she looks like a stuffed toy, and then you can take her on school trips with you."
"Besides," Lopmon said as she patted her brother on her back after he attempted, and failed, to eat a particularly large dumpling, "I'll always be there to greet you after you finish school, just like today." These two things cheered Suzy up significantly for the rest of the night.
After washing up and preparing for bed, Henry lied awake for a few more minutes, just staring at his ceiling. Terriermon was already fast asleep by the time he got in, but a lot has happened today that just kept him awake.
I was right about one thing, he thought to himself, thinking about what could possibly be in store for them, this is definitely going to be an interesting year.
A/N: Delivered as promised :)
Back in Chapter 2, I hinted at the relationship between Yamaki and the Tamers. They shared an interesting dynamic between each other in Runaway Locomon, so I figured to expand on that.
Ryan and Jamie are actually my westernised names for Henry's older brother and sister, who only made very brief appearances in the anime. I reasoned it would be weird for Janyu and Mayumi to give only half their children Western names, so I adapted it accordingly.
Finally I got to introduce my first original character, Konoka Oba, and with it comes another small competition. I created her name based on a character from an anime released in both 2005 and 2006. Leave in a review once you've found out who she is and where she comes from, shouldn't be too hard to find, and you will win my appraisal :P
Hopefully I'll be able to update soon, so see you then!