I had hoped to post this for Odaiba Day with my other 3 digimon fan fics, but that didn't work out so... yeah. Here it is though a day later! :D Enjoy! :)
Chapter 3: DATS
When Tailmon woke up later that evening, the Aoko girl and Kuroba boy were gone and Saguru was out of his bed sitting at the wooden thing he'd called a desk.
"I'd wondered where you'd gotten off to." He smiled at her when she jumped up onto the wooden surface to join him.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
"Paperwork," the sick human huffed, nose still sounding stuffed. "I have to do it after every Kid heist."
"You and that Kuroba boy talked about Kid. What's a Kid?"
While he worked, Saguru told her about the eccentric thief called the Kaitou Kid and the human group call the Kid Task Force. Saguru apparently worked with this group and they were a division of police – which was what the human guardians in this world were called in general. Then he started to explain what a detective was and what he did as a detective, and that snowballed and started a lecture on the various occupations and professions the humans did and what they were called. Tailmon absorbed as much of the information as she could get, finding it all fascinating. She also realized that her new human friend was smart. Very smart even by human standards, surely.
The human lectures continued well after Saguru was done with his paper work and even during the boy's evening meal (more of that broth and some crackers) that was brought up by Baaya. Tailmon ate whatever Saguru didn't eat (which was half of the meal) and some treats (something called a granola bar) that Saguru had stashed away in his school bag for when he was out on cases and couldn't be bothered to get anything else to eat. When the boy finally seemed to tire of explaining things about his world, he pulled up that video with the girl and the spirit bathhouse on his laptop computer again, started it over, and watched it with her, explaining things she hadn't known the first time she'd started watching it.
Afterwards they fell asleep on the warm nest-bed.
Saguru woke up the next morning with a sore throat and a stuffy nose, but determined that he wasn't as ill as he had been yesterday. Though staying up to talk to Tailmon about his world probably hadn't been a wise choice in regards to his recovery. He still had a bit of a fever, though, so Baaya wasn't allowing him up out of bed again. She was allowing him to have more than her special broth, however. This morning's breakfast was porridge and some fresh fruit; lunch was more broth, but with a ham sandwich; and supper was a grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup.
The next day was more of the same.
When Tailmon wasn't hiding under his bed from Baaya, his father, or Kuroba and Aoko when they came by to give him his missed schoolwork, she was with him on the bed or at his desk learning more about his world. He started teaching her the alphabets (both English and Japanese) so that she could read and use his laptop while he rested. She was a quick study and was learning both languages quickly. English was a little trickier for her, but by the end of their third day together she could read English text fairly well.
It figured that by the time Saguru was deemed well enough by Baaya to leave his rooms it would be Sunday and there was no school. Saguru decided to take advantage of the day though and went out to tour around town with Tailmon so that she could experience the world for herself. It took a little disguising, considering how odd she looked compared to normal cats, but with a little white face makeup paint and powder he was able to blend and hide the purple in her fur and slick down the tufts on her ears and tail. He was relieved to see that her gloves actually came off. There was nothing he could really do about the claws, but she solved that by retracting them. Now she looked like a (mostly) normal – if not large – house cat.
He enjoyed watching Tailmon absorb everything, eyeing the kids that played in the streets, narrowing her eyes and wrinkling her nose at the men sitting out in front of parlors and bars smoking, and subtly trying to sniff so that she could smell the various foods at the vending stalls in the market. Saguru was enjoying being out of his house but was glad that they didn't run into anybody he knew when they were making their way through and out of Ekoda so that he didn't have to explain Tailmon.
They were walking along the docks in Urayasu when Tailmon tensed where she was perched on Saguru's shoulder – a favorite spot of hers apparently.
"What is it?" He asked.
"It's that Digimon again," Tailmon hissed. "It's here!"
"Where?" Saguru asked.
"This way!" she cried, jumping off his shoulder and darted down to the warehouse sector.
Saguru followed, relieved that there didn't appear to be anybody in the area, though he could have sworn that he'd seen a squad car with flashing lights drive through the area behind him somewhere.
When Tailmon stopped at one of the warehouses and peered around the corner, Saguru did the same and stared wide-eyed at the creature he'd seen down in the sewers. It still reeked, but the wind was carrying the smell out to the ocean, which explained why he hadn't smelled it sooner. It looked even bigger than it had last time, though and Saguru wasn't sure what they were supposed to do now that they'd found it.
"What now?" he asked, more to himself than anything.
"We fight it," Tailmon hissed, tensing up as if to spring. "Give me my gloves back."
Saguru was reluctant to do so. She was so tiny compared to that monstrosity.
"There it is!" a girl's voice suddenly cried out.
Both Tailmon and Saguru stared in amazement as a girl in a dark pink uniform of some kind came onto the scene with a floating soccer ball sized bellflower.
"Lalamon, we can't let it get away this time!" the girl was saying. "He's surfaced now so lets take him out!"
"Right!" the flower thing nodded – Lalamon, Saguru assumed. "Nuts Shoot!"
Saguru stared as the tiny little Digimon pelted small projectiles (nuts if the attack called out was anything to go by) at the large sewer blob monster. It didn't appear to be having any effect. The poor thing was forced to retreat when Sewer Breath spat acid sludge at it.
"That idiot is going to get herself killed," Tailmon scoffed. "I can't watch this."
"Tailmon, wait!" Saguru gasped, but it was too late.
Tailmon ran out and knocked the Lalamon aside to avoid another sludge attack, and punched the sewer creature back while she was at it, landing to a boxing fight-ready stance in front of it. The two creatures went at it with Lalamon firing the occasional shot when it was getting too close to Tailmon. The two were actually making quite a team even though they weren't doing much damage.
One stray sludge attack went flying towards the human girl, however, so Saguru darted out and knocked her out of the way and behind some cover.
"Standing out in the open like that is kind of stupid with their ranged attacks," he admonished her as he peeked out behind the crates they'd taken shelter behind.
"Thanks," the girl grunted, then seemed to realize that he'd implied that she was stupid. "Hey! And just who are you? DATS had this area evacuated."
"DATS?" Saguru frowned, having only heard of that particular task force division mentioned once or twice in passing. Everything they dealt with was classified, so Saguru didn't know much about them, but he found it hard to believe that this girl – who looked to be only a year or two older than him at most – was a member of that select unit of police.
"I'm Fujieda Yoshino from DATS," she scowled, pulling out an official looking badge with her credentials. She was 18 according to her info. "This is an official matter. Who are you and what are you doing here?"
"…Hakuba Saguru," he said, pulling out his own official badge and credentials that had been given to him as a kind of joke for his seventeenth birthday from Nakamori-keibu and the Kid Task Force after serving with them for over a year. "I'm a high school detective that consults with the Kid Task Force. As for what I'm doing here…"
Saguru trailed off and turned his attention back to Tailmon and her fight with the sewer creature.
"That thing appeared in an alleyway after a Kid heist three nights ago after Tailmon. She said it must have followed her from the Digital World when she accidentally came through to ours. We tracked it down into the sewers, but were unprepared to face it when it attacked."
"Tailmon? You mean that cat?" Fujieda asked. "And how do you know about the Digital World?"
"Does that look like a normal cat to you?" Saguru asked, glancing at her in amusement. By now Tailmon's purple stripes and patches of fur were showing through the makeup. "And where do you think I found out about the Digital World? Tailmon told me. She's been staying at my house while I recovered from a cold these last few days."
Fujieda scowled at him again.
"You've been harboring a Digimon?"
"Says the girl with a Digimon friend of her own," Saguru shot back, unimpressed. "And I hardly think that right now is the time to be interrogating me. Our Digimon friends don't appear to be fairing well against that thing."
Fujieda shut up and returned her attention to the fight as well. Tailmon and Lalamon were doing a great job of tag-teaming the sewer monster, but their attacks still didn't appear to be having any effect other than making it mad.
"You're right," Fujieda nodded, standing up and leaving their shelter behind the crates. "Stay back. DATS will take over from here. Lalamon! Time to evolve!"
She pulled out a rectangular device of some kind and thrust it out in front of her before pulling it back in, holding her other hand up as if to cup something in it. A pink pixilated-looking light suddenly appeared in the palm of her empty hand. She took the light and clapped it down on top of the device she held in her other hand saying, "Digisoul Charge!" and thrust her clasped hands and the device forward, the screen glowing brightly. She spun around dramatically before thrusting the glowing device out towards Lalamon, a beam of light hitting it and engulfing the flower creature in the same light.
"Lalamon shinkaaa… Sunflowmon!"
Saguru started in amazed bewilderment as the tiny bellflower Digimon turned into an even bigger flower creature with a reptilian body, a sunflower for a head, and four large leaves that sprouted out of it's back like wings. Saguru could see that they were wings when it took to the sky. This Digimon was definitely bigger and hopefully stronger than the tiny Lalamon had been.
"Sunshine Beam!" the newly evolved Sunflowmon cried, its whole face glowing before shooting a strong blast of light at the sewer creature.
It staggered back, howling angrily, but it was obviously injured. The three Digimon went back at it, Tailmon now acting as the distraction so that the stronger Sunflowmon could keep getting in those devastating attacks, but even with the power up, things still seemed to be even.
"Just what is that thing?" Saguru asked.
"It's a Raremon," Fujieda answered, crouching back behind the crates to avoid spray from another acid sludge attack. "And it's been giving DATS the slip for the last three days. This is the fourth time my partner and I've fought it."
"Partner?" Saguru repeated.
"That's right. Together we make up one of DATS' field teams."
"I take it that your job is to track down and contain any Digimon that find their way into our world."
"…Yeah," she sighed.
"Don't feel bad," Saguru chuckled. "I'm a detective. I wouldn't be a very good one if I couldn't put the pieces together after living with a Digimon for three days. I figured that the government had to have some kind of task force assigned to keeping the existence of Digimon a secret."
"I suppose… Sunflowmon!"
"Fujieda-kun, wait!" Saguru cried out, but was too late to stop the young woman from charging back out from behind the crates when Raremon got in a lucky shot and sent the flower Digimon flying into a warehouse. Tailmon was doing her best to divert its attention, but she was quickly swatted aside as well. Saguru waited to make sure that Raremon was focused on going after Sunflowmon and Fujieda before leaving the shelter of the creates to see if his friend was all right.
"Tailmon!"
"Saguru…" the cat Digimon huffed, struggling to her feet. "You should stay back. This thing could hurt you."
"Take it easy," Saguru scolded, picking her up. "You're the one that's hurt."
"I can take it," Tailmon said, trying to wriggle out of his hold. "Let me go."
"No! You can't fight it as you are now. Fighting it head on like that will only result in more of the same!"
"Then what do you suggest?" Tailmon snapped.
Saguru pursed his lips and watched Sunflowmon shoot another of its beam attacks at Raremon from the warehouse it'd crashed into before flying off to put Fujieda somewhere she could remain safe during the fight. Saguru took in their surroundings before he noticed the docking crane holding up one of those metal storage containers. It didn't appear to have anyone operating it right now.
"Think you can convince Sunflowmon to help you lure that thing over there?" he asked, nodding over to the crane.
"Count on it," Tailmon smirked, catching on fast.
Saguru nodded, letting her go before hurrying over to the crane. He climbed up into the operations cab and found the keys inside the door. After turning on the machinery he tested the controls of the crane, making sure he knew how to operate it before it became necessary.
Tailmon and Sunflowmon were herding Raremon over to him and he waited nervously for the monster to get into position. It took a few well-aimed punches from Tailmon, but Raremon's head finally got in range and Saguru dropped the storage container. It hit the thing hard, crushing it to the ground. Saguru sighed in relief, exiting the cab. Hopefully that had knocked the bloody thing out for a while.
Just as he was climbing down from the cab, however, Raremon reared back up, roaring angrily before blasting the crane with its acid sludge.
"Look out!"
Saguru was knocked back and off the crane's stepladder seconds before the machine was reduced to melted scrap. He landed hard on his back, however, and had to roll away to avoid more sludge and falling debris from the crane. Tailmon fell into a defensive crouch in front of him while he recovered and Sunflowmon started blasting at Raremon to regain its attention.
"Are you alright?" Tailmon asked.
"I've been better," Saguru grunted, regaining his breath and ignoring the sing he felt from his newly scraped knees and palms where the concrete had bit into his skin when he'd rolled. "I just wish that there was something more that I could do to help you."
When he looked down at one of his palms, Saguru blinked, wondering if that fall had dazed him or something because there was an electrical pixilated kind of light dancing over the scrapes, making his skin feel tingly (or maybe that was just his injuries).
"What… is this?" he whispered.
"Looks like Sunflowmon could use some help," an elder man's voice spoke up.
Jumping in shock, Saguru and Tailmon turned around and saw an old man wearing Harry Potter glasses, a straw hat, and fishing gear.
"Who are you?" Saguru asked, wondering how the man knew Fujieda's partner's name.
"Use this," the man said, ignoring the question and throwing Saguru a device that looked like the one that Fujieda had used, only this one was white and icy blue instead of white and pink.
"What is it?" he asked.
"That's a digivice. Use the Digisoul in your hand to charge it. Once you do that, you can make your Tailmon evolve."
"Evolve? What do you mean?" Did he mean what Fujieda did to Lalamon to get her to become Sunflowmon?
"Your power will revive Tailmon's energy and allow her to evolve to the next level," the old man told him.
Saguru frowned and looked from the digivice to his hand. He could still feel it tingling with the energy of that light. Digisoul, the old man had said. What was that? While he still had a lot of questions, Saguru decided to just go with it and repeated the actions he'd seen Fujieda do with her device. He concentrated on the feeling of that light and flicked his hand out, turning his palm upwards, watching as the pixilated light reappeared and flare out like fire over his hand.
"Digisoul Charge!" he said as he tilted the top part of the digivice towards the palm of his glowing hand and brought them together. The device glowed and he thrust it forward towards Tailmon. The beam of light that came from it hit her and she began to glow.
"Tailmon shinkaaa… D'Arcmon!"
When the light dispersed it revealed a woman standing there wearing a golden facemask that covered the upper half of her face, matching golden armor arm guards, boots, breastplate, and knee and shoulder plates. She had a red turban with a winged egg pin on the front on top of her head over long blond hair. Black belts crisscrossed over her abdomen and held up a loin cloth skirt that covered her front and backside. She had duel swords cross-sheathed across her lower back and she held a wooden staff topped with a winged egg. But what really caught Saguru's attention was the four wings that she had sprouting out of her back. She looked like a fearsome avenging angel as she stood before him looking battle ready.
"Now this is more like it!" D'Arcmon grinned, whirling her staff experimentally in her grip. "Wait here, Saguru. I'll take care of this slime."
D'Arcmon took off, flitting to Sunflowmon's side, thrusting her staff forward. "Lumière Brillante (Brilliant Light)!"
A bright light shone from the egg atop her staff and blinded the Raremon, allowing the two female Digimon to pull back. D'Arcmon whirled her staff again and this time it disappeared, freeing her hands and allowing her to draw her two swords. Together the two attacked. Sunflowmon used another Sunshine Beam to pin Raremon to the side of a warehouse.
"La Pucelle (The Maiden)!" D'Arcmon shouted, slashing her swords in a complicated series of maneuvers that slashed Raremon apart, shattering it into pieces that reformed as an egg.
"This was the worst," Fujieda groaned as she came out from where she'd taken cover and collected the egg. "But at least we defeated him this time."
"Yes," Sunflowmon nodded before turning to D'Arcmon and Saguru. "Thank you for your help."
"You're welcome," D'Arcmon nodded before both Digimon began to glow and shrank back down to Lalamon and Tailmon. Tailmon ran back and jumped up onto Saguru's shoulder. "We make a pretty good team."
"So we do," Saguru smiled at her before looking down at the digivice the old man – who was nowhere to be seen now – had given him.
"Where did you get that digivice?" Fujieda demanded.
"An elderly man gave it to me," Saguru frowned. "He just told me what to do and disappeared while my attention was on D'Arcmon."
Fujieda frowned, arms crossed over her chest in indecision before her Bluetooth earpiece beeped.
"This is Yoshino," she said after depressing a button. "What?! …Yes, he has a digivice… An old man gave it to him, he said. …All right, I'll bring him in." She turned to address Saguru. "The Captain would like to speak with you two. I'd appreciate it if you came with me."
Saguru nodded after a moment's consideration. He had an idea of what this girl's superior wanted with him – he knew about Digimon after all and had just helped one evolve – so he went with her willingly enough. He followed her to her squad car and she drove them to a modern looking building near the docks and into an underground parking garage.
Inside she led them down a gleaming corridor to an elevator that took them up to what Saguru assumed was the top floor. Everything in this base was metallic and practically screamed Sci-fi Futuristic Base. The space they entered didn't do anything to deter that notion. Complex and high tech looking computer banks lined the walls and filled a large portion of the command center. A large circular desk occupied the middle of the large room where a man wearing sunglasses indoors stood in a decorated navy blue uniform that indicated that he was an officer of high rank. There was also a Digimon curled around the back of his neck. It reminded Saguru of a ferret or something of that nature. It was white with a gold collar around its neck and golden metallic plates that seemed to be a part of its fur.
"Welcome, Hakuba Saguru, consultant detective attached to the Kid Task Force and son of Division Two's Superintendent, Hakuba Akira. I am Captain Satsuma Rentarou, Agent Fujieda Yoshino's superior. I oversee all DATS operations from this base."
"Sir," Saguru nodded, shaking the Captain's hand.
"I have to say, it's an honor to meet you in person," Captain Satsuma smiled. "I'd been hoping to recruit you into DATS when you first came to Japan, but your father placed you with the Kid Task Force before I had the chance."
"Wait… this is a recruitment?" Fujieda asked.
Saguru tried to reign in his own surprise with his reply.
"I'm afraid that was at my own request. I'd originally come to Japan to test my skill as a detective against the Kaitou Kid."
"And you're one of few that have nearly succeeded. I think you hold the record for coming the closest most often," the Captain said.
Saguru shrugged.
"Your record in academics is equally impressive," the Captain continued, looking at one of the screens in front of him. "You received a Bachelors in Criminology from Cambridge three years ago at the age of fourteen, and your mother's family had connections within the British government that allowed you to work with Scotland Yard. You were there again just a few months ago to receive your Bachelors in Forensic Science after taking a year and a half of online classes to finish the degree. You're currently working on your Masters in both majors, I presume."
"…Correct," Saguru nodded.
"And yet you are attending high school in Ekoda as an ordinary high school student when you're not working your own cases or consulting with the Task Force. May I ask why?"
"To blend in better," Hakuba sighed. "It's not like I'll be hired by the police force here and even if I was hired, few would take me seriously because of my age. Even the Task Force that I've been working with for almost two years now still talk down to me from time to time even though I've already proven myself. That was a problem I had back with Scotland Yard. It's why I'm a high school detective."
"Pity. Would you care to change that?"
Saguru narrowed his eyes.
"I have a proposition for you," Captain Satsuma said. "I know that you are enrolled at Ekoda High with half of your last year left to go, and are a detective that already has obligations to the Kid Task Force, but how would you and Tailmon like to consult for DATS as well?"
"…You want me to join DATS?" Saguru asked.
"Yes. You are more than qualified and already have a partner Digimon. My Commander has been keeping an eye on you ever since she came to stay at your house while Yoshino and Lalamon tracked Raremon. Thank you for assisting in the rouge Digimon's capture by the way."
"You're welcome, but why was I being watched?"
"Because of Tailmon," the Digimon on Captain Satsuma's shoulder responded. "It is a crime to shelter a rogue Digimon, so you needed to be watched while one of our operatives waited for an opportunity to apprehend her and erase your memory of her. As a rogue Digimon she cannot remain here in the human world and needs to be returned to the Digital World."
Saguru frowned and Tailmon tensed on his shoulder. He reached up and placed his hand on her flank in an attempt to calm her. He had no intention of letting DATS send her back to the Digital World unless she wanted to go.
"Which is why I'm offering you a position with us," Captain Satsuma cut in, seeing their tension. "As members of DATS, Tailmon will be allowed to remain here with you in our world. I'm afraid that there are no exceptions."
"…Very well," Saguru nodded after sharing a glance with Tailmon. She didn't look like she wanted to go, and hadn't mentioned being homesick once during the three days they had been together. "And what is it you want me to do?"
"Tracking and assisting in the containment of rouge Digimon, like Raremon. But for now, continue as you have been," Satsuma smiled. "Rogue Digimon are rare, so for two Digimon to emerge at the same time like Tailmon and Raremon did, it caught us by surprise and in the confusion left Raremon to his own devices for too long. Before you leave we'll issue you a Bluetooth work phone, synched to your digivice. It's what we'll call you on when we need your assistance to contain rouge Digimon. As I said, I just want you to consult for now, but you're free to come and go here at headquarters whether you're on assignment or not. If you'd like, Yoshino can show you around. I'd give you a tour myself, but I have a dockyard to arrange clean up for. I'm sure you have a lot of questions, but I have faith that Yoshino can answer them."
Saguru nodded and allowed the man to get back to work. Fujieda huffed before waving him back over to the elevator.
"Come on, I'll show you around."
So that's chapter 3. It's a little longer than the previous chapters, but I don't think that that's a bad thing. So now Hakuba is consulting for DATS. We'll find out more about what he'll be doing and who he'll be working with next chapter, but at least we got to meet Yoshino and Satsuma! Don't worry, Tohma will be next. :) We'll also get back to Detective Conan and Magic Kaito characters next chapter as well.
I hope you guys don't mind me messing around with Tailmon's evolution line. I know that it's Salamon and not Tailmon that has the option to digivolve into D'Arcmon instead of Tailmon, but I made Tailmon a Rookie in this fic in place of Salamon, so... Yeah. Angewomon and Ophanimon are still her Ultimate and Mega levels though, so don't worry about a completely changed evolution line. :) Hope you enjoyed the chapter.