I don't own digimon.

Story 4

Ya Boi

Keith scanned the room one more time. As important meetings went, this was one of the most important in his life. Never had so much been at stake in a time no business person could ever imagine. The digital world was an opportunity unlike any other. To be one of the first businesses to have a location on the other side, they would be well ahead of the competition for some amount of years if this went through.

"When is the representative for the digimon going to appear?" the businessman inquired and was treated to a look from his assistant. Even with twenty minutes left to go, their scout had not uttered a peep over their communication device nor anything in the way of an actual visual on who the digimon of the area were having to represent them. Even with ample time given, the matter of crossing over in the right place remained to be seen. Let alone achieved.

"Patience." his secretary remarked, placing her hand next to his. Much as Keith preferred her to not do that, he let it slide. Just this once. Any other time and the implication that they were somehow a couple would spread throughout the office. He was married for starters. Secondly, his significant other would be absolutely pissed. "They should be coming over any second."

Keith nodded, focusing back on the laptop. Damn near everything was usable as a digiport these days, under the right circumstances and with the right clearances from the government. Both of which his company had. Still a long way to go before everything could move to civilian use. If at all. Exceptions existed, but those were

"Come on. It can't be mu-"

Keith didn't get to finish that thought, light erupting forth from the laptop. He and his secretary stepped back, a large humanoid figure making their entrance. Of all the digimon those fuckers could've picked, it had to be him. Maybe the rumors about the ruler of the digital world being an absolute mad bastard. The sort that took sick pleasure in the suffering of those beneath them.

"It's ya boi, Beelzemon!" the figure announced and looked at Keith. Smile forming on his face, they found a chair hurled their way. "Man, I would think that you would be a lot more receptive to my retu-"

A fist made short work of whatever statement, Beelzemon not even flinching. Instead, he grabbed hold of his opponent's hand and pulled it down. A perfect opportunity to place him back

"Don't you ever give me that attitude again. Is that clear?!" the mega screeched and slammed the laptop's lid down. His subject rolled their eyes, already reaching for his phone. Of course Beelzemon would show up. Always boastful and threatening, the very reason that he tried to stay far away from conflict. Tried to compromise when the need arises, all that stuff. All to have it come crashing down right before his very eyes, thrown into a fire with too much in the way of oxygen. How the fuck was he going to get out of this situation? Better yet, could he even contain the storm that would erupt from his coming actions? Or would this be the day he got the boot?

"You can shove it." Keith countered, hands raised back up. In a business environment, to take this lying down would be an insult to everything he had worked for. His employees would just need to understand that this was as important as the business deal itself. Okay, probably not as high on the chopping block, the point still stands. "I didn't not come all this way, working my ass off just to even get to this point. I will not let you belittle me or my employees."

His opponent rolled his eyes, putting up a gun. Pointing it around the room, quite a number of bystanders deciding now was a good time to duck under the meeting table. Maybe wait this whole thing out and see who's left standing. Hopefully.

"What? Afraid that you'll fall right into the same trap your dear old daddy fell into?" Beelzemon countered and squeezed the trigger. The blast shot out of the weapon, bouncing about the walls and coming very close to the people hiding under the table.

"What if I am?" Keith answered and picked his briefcase up. Flinging it at his partner, the projectile was met by another blast. Thankfully, the briefcase won out in this fight and knocked the gun to the ground. "I didn't build this business from the ground-up just so that you could remind me of my failures."

Closing his eyes, memories of long before this day flooded back into his head. Of all the times that everything he did amounted to nothing in the face of those above him. The scars that never healed right and the wounds that he could still feel after all those years. All for it to burst open.

"Then you shouldn't have be-"

Beezlbemon was unable to finish that sentence, a large metal hand smashing through the wall and grabbing hold. Pulling the mega digimon back out, the now much larger hole found use by a different hand.

"Lunch." the source of both hands announced, a lunch box dropping onto the table. The second hand pulled out, a large red eye staring through taking the place of it. Keith made his way over, waving once he got there.

"Uh… that's my digimon partner, Ophani." Keith remarked and watched the eye pull back. A strange look followed, their focus turning to the Beelzbemon. "You're allowed to play with him, just don't kill him. Once you're done, take him back home."

Ophani nodded, making sure to wave as she headed off. Then it's right back to his secretary. How was he going to explain this? 'Oh yeah. My husband has an Ophanimon Falldown Mode. She's docile and likes to watch Magical Girl shows.' How many of his own employees would think he was crazy? All of them. This was going to be his last day at the very business he had built up.

"Wait. You had a digimon partner?" his secretary remarked and got a nod from her boss. Letting out a deep breath, she watched him gingerly pull it back open. Making sure that he hadn't broken it, his focus returned to her.

"I still do." Keith answered, looking over to the overturned chair. At this point, could the deal even be salvaged? He just let the representative for the digimon be carried off for a pitiful attempt at revenge. No way this situation could be turned aro-

"Is this the meeting spot?" a voice called out, a large green gourd-looking thing with durians for hands poking their head above the table.

"Yep." Keith answered and flipped the thrown chair back around. Watching the digimon sit down, he made his way back over to his chair. "Welcome to the headquarters of Arctic Knife Company. Feel free to speak freely about any objections on our proposal?"

The gourd nodded, one of their durians reaching out for his hand. Meeting partway, the pair shook on it. So much for the fear of missing out.

Notes:

For those of you drawing a blank on who Ophani is, she's from the initial run of Returned in AWC. And yes, that chapter will be coming to Tales of the Returned.