A/N: Been a while, huh? I'm trying to get back into the writing habit after a lovely hiatus, so there may be more of these now. Wish me luck.

Part one of two, and based very loosely off of something that happened to me at work. Takes place during the Borderline era or later... likely a bit later. Gomamon is respectful of Joe's important stuff.

Izzy and Cody were trying to teach themselves how to play some digimon version of mahjong when Joe burst into the room, breathing hard and looking flustered.

"Have you guys seen my old Biochem lecture notes?" he panted. "The ones I had to take by hand and then made more notes on when I visited the Rejulmon lab?"

The two boys looked at each other.

"Weren't those from like, two years ago?" Cody commented.

"By Digiworld standards, yes," Joe nodded, grimacing. "But there's an exam that I need to study for and that material's on it. Plus Rejulmon asked if I still had those notes."

Izzy felt a bit sorry for his friend. He understood where Joe was coming from, but somehow he wasn't surprised that the normally organized young man had lost them. After all, two years and very large numbers of notes became buried rather quickly.

"Where did you last see them?" he asked.

Joe made a resigned face. "In the file cabinet next to my desk. I usually put old notes there, but I already checked the entire thing, they're not in there. They're not in my desk either, or stuffed in any of my notebooks from my classes. I also checked the other cabinets in the labs, my spot in the library, anywhere I would keep notes, Gomamon doesn't touch them when he pranks, I don't know where they would be..."

Cody turned over a mahjong piece, apparently making some decision on something so he wouldn't lose his train of thought on the game. "Well if it's important, then I'm sure you'll find it safely somewhere," he answered empathetically. "It's not like there's been a lot of destruction around the house lately."

"Good point," Joe sighed. "Well, I'll just keep looking. Hope Rejulmon can hold off for a while… and I can always email a classmate I guess."

He shrugged and waved as he turned to leave. "Thanks though. Sorry for the intrusion."

"It's nothing to worry about," Izzy replied, waving back. "We're not quite sure if we're doing this correctly or not anyway."

Joe chuckled. "Well, good luck on figuring it out. It's for that mission at the Vairek underworld, right?"

Both boys cringed.

"Diplomacy down there at its finest," Izzy shook his head. "Violence and gambling via old games of strategy."

"We all have the violence part down at least," Joe said helpfully. Izzy just rubbed his head. "Well, have fun… let me know how that goes."

Cody gave a weak laugh. "All right. And good luck on finding your notes. Keep us updated."

"Will do," Joe called as he slid out the door.

Izzy picked up the piece of paper they had been using as a guide for their game, hoping that Joe had more luck than they did. At least his situation seemed much safer than theirs…