Author's Note: Sorry for taking so long to update this story. I lost all the files I had of season 3 episodes, and couldn't find any decent links online. Now I have found it on Netflix so I'm rather happy.
Dedications: Chapter dedicated to the following: Kari-Senju, Truesparks and WhiteTigerMisty, I see you see, BlackAngel1234, Terra1993, Goldenemu, Asuka Serekia, Haruka Kimira, Jacob2119, Kingdom Cure, ZabuzaGirl, XxXTwilight-SinXxX and SnowKi for adding this story and/or me to their alerts. Appreciate it.
I don't own Digimon. But I do own any original characters that are of my own design.
Title: Expect the Unexpected
Summary: Kimiko is the estranged daughter of Mitsuo Yamaki. For her fifteenth birthday she acquires the Digimon: Labramon and becomes the fourth Digimon Tamer.
Chapter Ten: It's All About Teamwork
"I can't seem to secure a tracer lock on the anomalies data," Tally said from the chairs high above the office.
"We won't make it in time," Riley said. "It's going to Bio-emerge."
"Use Yuggoth," Yamaki shouted. "Stop that thing."
"It's too late, sir, it's already begun," Riley explained. "Breach estimated in sixty seconds, at this rate the application of the Yuggoth programmer could be extremely dangerous."
"Don't question me! Circumvent the security grid and release the programmer now. That wild one is a ticking time bomb. Apply!" Yamaki shouted.
On the blue screens above, a three-pronged red tracer chased a green symbol across the digital field. The green symbol was the 'wild one', a Digimon that was trying to bio-emerge into the real world from the Digital World.
"Confirmed, Yuggoth has found the wild one," Riley said from her computer.
"Make sure it's completely destroyed, I want nothing left," Yamaki said.
"Yes, sir," Riley nodded, closing in on the bio-emerging Digimon.
The computers all around the room beeped as the Yuggoth programmer zeroed in on the wild one, terminating him on sight.
The 'wild one' as her father called it, was displayed on the screen as a green symbol, a symbol that was being chased by a three-pronged red tracer.
"Termination of wild one is confirmed," Riley said.
"Tally, get me an analyse of the impact on the real world," Yamaki ordered. "Plus all the data you've got on the point of termination. No matter how the play at being living creatures, they're nothing more than just trash on the internet to me."
Kimiko, who had once again been roped into spending the day with her father at the office, had frozen as she made her way up the steps to the auditorium. She had been doing her homework in her father's office when she had noticed the digital field growing outside of the windows.
"Dad?" Kimiko called, carefully climbing the last set of steps and standing at the top. Her father stood not a hundred feet away from her, his sunglasses covered his eyes and his well-maintained business suit stood him out from the rest of his underlings.
"Kimiko, I told you after last time to never come up here," Yamaki snapped.
Kimiko flinched and involuntarily stepped back. "I thought something was wrong," she said. "There was this mist outside the window."
"It has been dealt with," Yamaki said. He wasn't buying the 'innocent' act that his daughter was feigning. He was well aware that she knew all about the wild ones, even going as far as to own one herself. The number of times he had thought about taking the blasted dog away from his daughter and destroying it like he did all the other 'vermin'.
"Oh," Kimiko said, nodding. "I've finished my homework. I'm just gonna go home now."
"Remember your curfew," Yamaki warned her.
"I've been pretty good the last few nights," Kimiko replied. "Why do you still doubt me?"
"Just be home before 10pm," Yamaki said, not wanting to get into another dispute with his daughter.
"Fine, whatever," Kimiko replied, rolling her eyes and turning back to the stairs. She stopped short as an eerie, disembodied voice echoed around Hypnos. Chilling her to the bone.
"I...will...have...my...revenge..."
~*Expect the Unexpected*~
Kimiko laughed as she opened the front door to her father's apartment and called out to Labramon. The great shaggy blonde dog came bounding out of the bedroom and pounced on her tamer, lapping at her face excitedly. Kimiko tried to push her off, but the dog was relentless. It was almost like they hadn't seen one another in months, not hours.
"Alright, girl," Kimiko said, scratching Labramon's ear. "You're gonna have to let me up eventually."
"How was bonding time with your father?" Labramon asked.
"Boring. As per usual I was in his office finishing homework and he was upstairs."
"Sounds fun."
Kimiko smiled and kicked off her shoes by the door. It was late afternoon and after the digital field that had started to brew earlier, followed by the disembodied voice, Kimiko didn't believe that she would be able to concentrate on anything 'work' related until tomorrow. Deciding to run herself a bath, and prepare dinner, the sixteen year old set around to make herself comfortable.
"As anyone called for me?" Kimiko asked. She was hoping to hear from her mother today. Sasha had promised her daughter that she would phone closer to the date when she was coming home. She had already called Yamaki to explain that she was going to be with her parents for longer than the designated week, but hadn't called again since that to say that she would be home soon.
Labramon shook her head. "Nope," she replied. "I'm not sure if you're talking phone has picked up anything."
Kimiko giggled as she realised that Labramon was talking about the answer phone. The first time Labramon had heard the answer phone, she had assumed that the phone was talking to her, hence the reason to call it a 'talking phone'. Reaching for the cordless that sat near the door, Kimiko dialed the voicemail number and listened.
There was one new message. But it wasn't from Sasha Watanabe. It was from the cabinet secretary looking for her father. Kimiko quickly jotted down the number that was left, deleted the message and left the piece of paper with the number on the side beside the phone. Her father would get it when he returned home from work... whenever that was.
Labramon cocked her head to the side as she watched her tamer. There was something wrong, she could sense it. "What is it, Kimiko?" she asked.
"Nothing," Kimiko replied.
Labramon followed her human into the living room and sat at the edge of the chair which Kimiko had slumped into. The human sighed and stared at the dog. "Fine," she caved. "There was an incident at Hypnos today. Did you see the Digital field?"
"I sensed it, yes," Labramon nodded.
"Well, my father eliminated the problem," Kimiko said.
"And that's a bad thing?"
Kimiko shrugged. "I dunno," she said. "But, that's not the strange thing. The strange thing is, after the 'wild one' had been deleted, a creepy voice was heard throughout the room."
"What did it say?"
"That it would have its revenge," Kimiko said.
"What do you think it means?"
"I don't know," Kimiko sighed. "That's why it is weird."
"Is that why you asked if anyone had called?"
"Partly. I was hoping Mum had called to say she would be home soon," Kimiko admitted. "But then I also hoped that maybe Henry or Takato had called. I want to know if myself and those at Hypnos were the only people to hear the voice."
Labramon looked thoughtful. "For what it is worth," she said. Nudging her tamer's hand with her snout. "I didn't hear anything, and I am a Digimon."
Kimiko smiled patiently, and slumped back against the chair, staring at the far wall and becoming lost in her own thoughts. Labramon lay down on her stomach at the base of the chair and rested her head in her paws. She knew it was going to be a long night, especially since Kimiko didn't show signs of tiring any time soon.
~*Expect the Unexpected*~
While Kimiko pondered her thoughts in the apartment beneath him, Henry was standing on the balcony of his own home. He took a long draught of milk before spluttering as Renamon curved her body into a circle as she jumped into view. The look in her golden eyes, and the way she moved give Henry the impression that she wanted him to follow her.
Hurrying back into his home, Henry squeezed the milk carton and tossed it into the trash. "I'm going to get more milk," he told his mother and older sister. "I'll be right back." He then grabbed his coat and headed for the door. He rushed down the stairs, hesitated on the corridor that led to Kimiko's home, and then carried on his way outside. Given the time, Kimiko was probably asleep.
Grabbing his bike from the downstairs storage room, Henry followed Renamon through the darkened streets of towards the play park. He halted abruptly, abandoned his bike and made a beeline for the drinking fountain. After peddling hard, harder than normal to keep up with the runaway Digimon, the cool water was a welcome.
As he drank, Henry couldn't help but reflect on his conversation with Terriermon earlier that same day. For some reason Terriermon feels that he as to fight, but why would I purposely put my friend in danger? Henry asked himself. He just doesn't understand that if anything ever happened to him because of me, I would never forgive myself.
"Until recently I only thought my purpose here in the real world was to fight and download the data of those I had defeated," Renamon said, from her perch on top of a swing set. "Digivolving and vanquishing my enemies were the only things that made me feel worthy, and Rika's only attachment to me was as a tamer could make me stronger. But now, I'm not so sure."
She looked down at the human boy beneath her.
"There's got to be a bigger reason why me and my friends were chosen to be Digimon Tamers in the first place," Henry said, thinking out loud.
Renamon folded her arms, stood up and turned her back on Henry.
"It would help both of us if we could just figure that out," Henry said. But Renamon was no longer listening; instead she was staring intently at the full moon, glowing down on the city from above.
~*Expect the Unexpected*~
The next day at school was uneventful.
Kimiko was still waiting to hear back about her results she had taken over a week ago, but every time she asked the headmaster about it, he would reply with the same answer. 'I will summon you when they arrive'. She wasn't sure when that was, but the time waiting and the not knowing whether she had passed or not was making her anxious. Why were they taking so long?
Leaving the school, Kimiko bumped into Henry in the yard. He was staring without seeing, and seemed lost in his own thoughts.
"Hello?" Kimiko called, waving her hand in front of his face. "Hi, anyone home?"
Henry blinked, shook his head and turned to his new friend. "Sorry," he apologized.
"It's OK. Where were you then?" Kimiko asked.
"Just thinking."
"I could see that. Thinking about what?"
"I talked with Renamon last night."
Kimiko's eyes widened. It had been less than 48 hours since Renamon and Rika had broken off their agreement to be tamer and Digimon; Kimiko couldn't very well call them friends, because she wasn't completely sure that they were. Rika was, as people called her, the 'Ice Queen' and she didn't seem to want friends, much less have any. "What did she want?" she asked Henry.
"To follow her."
"And you did...?"
Henry nodded. "I followed her to the park, she told me that she wasn't sure what she was meant to do now in this world," he explained.
"Meaning?"
"I dunno. She believes her soul purpose was to fight, and that's what Rika made her do. Now, without Rika, she has no reason to be here."
"Conditioning."
Henry frowned at Kimiko. "Excuse me?" he asked.
"Renamon, she's conditioned herself to believe that her only purpose is to fight," Kimiko explained. "Until she realises that is not true, then she won't be able to stop herself... with or without Rika."
"Then how do we help?"
Kimiko bit her lip and shrugged half-heartedly. "I don't know," she said. "I could try and talk to Rika, but I doubt it'll help much. Rika and Renamon are just as stubborn as each other, and, well, I don't actually know here Rika lives or even where she goes to school. Do you?"
Henry shook his head.
"What's up with you two?"
Henry and Kimiko turned to see Takato walking towards them.
"You taken up bird watching or something?"
"We were talking about Rika and Renamon," Kimiko answered. "You wouldn't happen to know where Rika lives, would you?"
"Uh, yeah, I know where she lives," Takato said. "Why? What's going on?"
"Henry followed Renamon last night."
"You did?" Takato asked, staring at Henry imploringly. "What happened?"
"She's confused," Henry said. "She doesn't know what her true meaning in this world is anymore. I'm afraid she might do something stupid and end up getting deleted."
Takato nodded and looked back at Kimiko. "Why do you want to know where Rika lives?" he asked.
"I was hoping to try and talk to her," Kimiko replied.
"And tell her what? That Digimon are our friend," Takato said. "We already tried that, remember? She doesn't want to listen."
"But maybe now she's had a change of heart?" Kimiko asked, optimistically. "I mean, when IceDevimon's was ready to delete Renamon, Rika did defend her and call her a friend. Renamon wouldn't have been able to Digivolve if she hadn't."
"Yeah, and then she went back to her cold nature straight after it," Takato said. "Besides, if they team up again, what's to say that they're not going to go straight back to just deleting Digimon and downloading their data?"
Kimiko sighed and looked away.
"Look, I know your heart is in the right place, Kimiko, but maybe this is a good thing," Takato said. "Rika's made it obvious that she doesn't want to be a tamer anymore. Maybe we should just stay out of it?"
"I bet you'd be singing a different tune if it were you and Guilmon," Kimiko said, hotly. "Don't worry, Takato, I'll find out where she lives for myself." She turned and walked away, almost walking into Kazu and Kenta as they came to find Kenta.
Takato sighed as Kimiko disappeared out of the school gates. "Girls' are weird," he complained.
"Maybe," Henry said, half-agreeing. "But maybe she has a point. I mean, you said it yourself, Rika and Renamon are supposed to be friends. See you later, Takato."
~*Expect the Unexpected*~
Henry sighed as he walked through the centre of Tokyo with Terriermon on his head. The rabbit-Digimon had insisted on coming looking for Kimiko and Labramon in order to get away from Henry's little sister Susie. Susie, unaware that Terriermon was a real-life animal, always enjoyed dressing the rabbit up in dresses and playing many different games.
"People are giving me weird looks," Henry said, as two women passed, glancing back over their shoulders at him. "You shouldn't have come."
"I had to," Terriermon said, climbing down onto Henry's shoulders. "Susie would have had me in tights and that tutu by now. It's embarrassing and painful."
"Whoa, check it out," a random stranger called, leaning over the side of the barrier bridge and pointing out into the middle of the road. "There's some kind of strange fog coming over the Westgate Bridge."
"My, the weather changes fast here," a woman said.
"Here they come," Henry said with a sigh.
"Digimon," Terriermon agreed, his ears held high. "I realise how nice the view is from up here, but how long do you think it'll stay this way if we don't check it out?" he added, jumping off Henry's shoulders and running towards the steps.
Henry rushed after him, catching him by the ear and holding him back.
"Hey, that hurts," Terriermon said, struggling against his tamer.
"We've got to go home now," Henry insisted.
"What?"
"We're going home."
"Wait a minute. Please don't tell me you changed your mind about Susie and that tutu, 'cause I won't do it," Terriermon argued. He tried to run off again, but Henry held on fast. "Henry, let me go, I want to see it!"
"Terriermon, how many times do I have to tell you?" Henry argued. He let the rabbit go and picked him up off the side. "Will you stop? Why don't we let someone else handle this for a change?"
"Like Kimiko or Takato?" Terriermon asked.
"Takato can handle one Digimon on his own," Henry said. "As for Kimiko, she's -"
"Wondering what you're still doing up here."
Henry jumped and looked around to see Kimiko standing behind him. "Where'd you come from?" he asked. "I've been looking everywhere for you."
"I was heading to my father's office when this went off," Kimiko said, holding up her D-Power. "I wasn't far from home so I went back to get Labramon and came here. Why are you still up here? I thought you'd be down there trying to help."
Henry sighed and looked down. "Is this all we're ever going to be doing?" he asked. "Fighting?"
"Well, I dunno," Kimiko said with a shrug. "We can't let these wild ones rampage on Tokyo, and if we're the only ones with the means to destroy them, we can't ignore that, can we?"
"I guess not," Henry said. "But what if -?"
"We run the risk of losing our own Digimon every day," Kimiko said. "Look, I don't want to lose Labramon anymore than you want to lose Terriermon, but I also know that they want to fight to protect us. As much as we want to pretend that they're domesticated pets, we have to realise that they aren't."
"I know, and I wouldn't want him to be, but -"
Kimiko nodded knowingly. "I know, Henry, but when you think about it, in some misguided and twisted way, Rika's right," she said. "Digimon are meant to fight. We can't force them to fight, and we can't withhold them from a battle either. After all, it is what they were created to do."
"Fight for survival, yes, not for sport."
"This isn't sport," Kimiko said. "This is survival. For us and them."
Henry groaned. Somewhere, deep inside, he knew Kimiko was right, but he couldn't bring himself to admit it.
"Kimiko!" Labramon barked. She was up on the side of the bridge steps, looking over the side and watching the fog. A little girl had just run out into the middle of the street, chasing a red balloon as it drifted into the digital field.
"Oh no!" Kimiko breathed. "Wait, stop! Come back!" she yelled, but the little girl was too far away to hear. "Come on, Labramon!" she added, jumping down the last few steps of the bridge and running towards the digital field. She reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out sunglasses, sliding them onto her face as she disappeared from sight.
"Henry..." Terriermon said, pleadingly.
Henry groaned again. "Come on!" he said, letting go of Terriermon. The rabbit-Digimon shot off like a bullet, Henry following him at a fast pace.
~*Expect the Unexpected*~
Inside the digital field, Kimiko quickly found the little girl and rushed to her side. "There are you!" she said, kneeling beside her. "Are you OK?"
"Why did it fly away?" the little girl asked.
"I don't know," Kimiko said. "I'm sure we can get you a new one. But we have to get out of here first."
"Kimiko, look out!"
Kimiko looked up at the sound of Henry's voice. But it wasn't Henry she saw making his way towards her; it was the Digimon that her D-Power had recognised as Musyamon. He was a Samurai-like Digimon with a deadly attack called Ninja Blade.
"RetrieverG!" Labramon barked, firing off a spiral of energy at Musyamon. The Samurai cut through it with his sword, and sliced at Labramon. The dog jumped back, harrowingly missing the sharp blade.
"Labramon!" Kimiko yelled, jumping to her feet. She stood between the Samurai and the little girl, but also wanted to help her Digimon. Reaching into her pocket, Kimiko's fingers trembled as she fumbled with her cards, dropping them onto the floor.
"Henry, help me!" Takato said, looking through his cards. If he didn't so something, and soon, both Kimiko and the innocent toddler behind her would be turned into sushi.
But Henry had frozen. "I don't think I can talk us out of this one," he said, shaking his head.
"Goodbye, humans," Musyamon said, staring down at Kimiko. The little girl behind Kimiko screamed, clinging to the tamers leg tightly. Kimiko could feel her trembling in fear.
"Labramon!"
"RetrieverG!" Labramon barked again. But the spiral had very little effect on the Samurai.
Musyamon raised his sword above his head, ready to strike Kimiko down where she stood.
"We got to stop him," Henry said.
"Well, it's about time," Terriermon sighed, jumping down from Henry's head.
Reaching for his cards and D-Power, Henry swiped a card and called out: "Digi modify! Hypersonic activate!"
"Time to teach this bad boy it's not safe to play with knives!" Terriermon said, running towards Musyamon. He jumped through the air and head-butted him, knocking him away from Kimiko and the younger girl.
"Finish the job," Henry called, rushing to Kimiko's side. She was still trembling and jumped when he touched her shoulder.
"Kimiko!" Labramon barked, running over.
Kimiko petted the dogs head and quickly collected her cards. Sliding them into her pocket along with her D-Power.
Digivolution.
"Terriermon, Digivolve too... Gargomon!"
Musyamon growled, lifted his sword and rushed at the now digivolved rabbit.
"Bow, he'll never learn," Gargomon chuckled, raising his gauntlets and firing small green pellets at the Samurai.
The Samurai deflected the attacks and lunged at Gargomon, narrowly missing him. Zipping around, Musyamon jumped into the air and swung his sword down. "Shogun Sword!" he shouted.
"Charge!" Gargomon yelled, running forward and firing his gauntlets again. The two Digimon collided, with Gargomon punching Musyamon in the face and destroying him with his 'Gargo Laser' attack.
Musyamon disappeared into specks of red digital data. That turned blue as Gargomon downloaded them.
"Great job, Gargomon," Guilmon said as he floated above them. He was holding the little girl's balloon in his claw. As the wings on his back disappeared, his eyes widened and he plummeted towards the floor, wincing as he landed with a hard crunch.
Takato, Henry and Kimiko seethed at the impact, but Guilmon merely shook his head, sat up and offered the balloon back to the little girl.
"Wow! Thank you," she said, petting Guilmon's nose.
Labramon barked again as the digital field started to clear. "Guys, we better get her back before anyone notices she's gone," she said.
"Labramon's right," Henry agreed.
Guilmon crouched down so that he was level with the little girl, and Kimiko helped her up onto his back. "Hold on," the dinosaur said, putting his arms behind him to hold her in place.
"Let's go," Henry urged the others.
"I'm going! I'm going!" Gargomon whined, following his friends across the road. They dropped the little girl off near her mother and took off again into the crowd.
Everyone was too busy wondering what the weird fog had been to notice three teenagers and their Digimon run past them.
~*Expect the Unexpected*~
Having run the short distance from the Westgate Bridge to the park, Kimiko, Henry and Takato slowed to a halt, each one out of breath from both the running and the panic of being caught by an adult. Neither of them had ever thought about what they would say if someone questioned them about their Digimon.
Granted Labramon could pass for a domesticated dog and, in his normal state, Terriermon could pass as a stuffed animal, but Guilmon was a dinosaur, and almost as tall as a fully grown teenager, there was no way they could pass him off as anything other than a real-life dinosaur.
"Are you OK with all this Henry?" Gargomon asked, turning to his partner. He knew that Henry was worried about him Digivolving, and he needed to be sure that the human was alright with everything that had happened.
"Yeah. I guess," Henry said with a sigh. "I mean, there really was no other choice. I guess you were right, Kimiko, sometimes you just have to fight."
Kimiko smiled. "What's it going to take for you guys to call me 'Kimmie'?" she asked. "It feels strange hearing my full name."
"It feels strange calling you 'Kimmie'," Takato said. "Does everyone really call you 'Kimmie'?"
"Only my Mum," Kimiko said. "It used to be 'Kimmie-bear'. But as I got older she dropped the bear part."
Takato laughed causing Kimiko to stick her tongue out at him.
Henry rolled his eyes at his friends and turned his attention back to his partner. "Terriermon - I mean, Gargomon, I owe you an apology. There are some battles worth fighting."
"Yup," Gargomon nodded in agreement.
"Now that we're working together as partners, I guess I need to learn more about taming," Henry continued.
"Momentie," Gargomon said, cheerfully.
"Hey, Guilmon, I owe you an apology, too," Takato said pushing off of the wall he had been leaning against. "I really messed up today. I just kept swiping one card after another, I didn't even think about what might happen to you."
"No problem, I kind of liked flying, anyway," Guilmon said, happily.
"If it makes you guys feel any better," Kimiko said, looking between Takato and Henry. "You're not the only ones that still have a lot to learn. I mean, I don't know what happened back there, but I froze. If it hadn't been for you and Gargomon, Henry, things could've ended a lot differently for me and that little girl. I'm sorry."
Henry smiled and shook his head. "Like you said... we've all got a lot to learn," he said. "So don't worry about it."
"Yeah, tomemine!" Guilmon laughed.
"Momentie?" Gargomon asked, leaning over.
"Momentie? Momentie!" Takato said, his face breaking out into a huge cheesy grin.
With a bark, Labramon caught Kimiko's sleeve between her teeth and tugged her down the street.
Kimiko giggled and chased after her partner. "Come on, slowpokes!" she called over her shoulder. "Come and catch us!"
"I'll show you 'slowpoke', Kimmie-bear!" Takato yelled, chasing after her.
"Whatever you say, Takatomon!" Kimiko said teased, turning the corner and disappearing from sight.
Copyrighted ©
If there is anyone left following this story, please leave me a review and I'll get the next chapter out as soon as possible.
Will Kimiko find Rika? Will she, Henry and Takato learn what it means to be true tamers? How far is Yamaki willing to go to stop the Digimon from coming through, and his Labramon safe from her partner's father? All will be revealed.
Chapter written by xXxKaraBeckerCutterxXx
Chapter updated 1st February, 2015 at 10:11pm