I don't own digimon.

Story 39

Special Delivery

BlackGatomon Uver scanned the rooftops one more time. Yep. This was the place. Hard to believe how little had actually changed in that time. Yes, some of the buildings were most definitely rebuilt since he had last been down here, but that was expected after two world-ending threats and everything that had occurred between them.

"Can't hide from me." he thought and craned his neck upwards. A couple times, Zoey had claimed that there would be flying people in some capacity. He would have to laugh. Yes, mail planes were very much a thing. Beyond that, he couldn't think of a reason why humans would need to fly in the first place. Getting to places was nice, but that was the purpose of digi-ports. Just a matter of technology catching up with people's needs. Perhaps that was the reason for him being sent down. "Just you wait, Zoey."

Shifting his bag, a smile formed the delivery feline digimon's face. Jumping down from his perch, he landed with the grace expected of a digimon with his nature. No one wanted a wrecked and destroyed package. Not even the digimon who revel in destruction. Those were the absolutely worst deliveries. If anything, it would be far better if they just got the package themselves rather than have him or one of his fellow BlackGatomon Uver. That kind of thought never crossed their minds before making their orders. Thankfully, this order was not anywhere close to that. He had all the time in the world. But the sooner he got this to its recipient, the sooner he could get to Zoey. Unless his partner was also right nearby whoever the package was going too. BlackGatomon doubted it. Black cats were rarely that lucky. Nowhere close to seven years, but he had heard horror stories of month-long stints of bad luck. Here in the human world, that probably wouldn't happen.

Dusting himself off, BlackGatomon took a moment to examine his surroundings. Compared to the rooftops above, the streets were relatively wide. Everything felt like someone had taken the time to actually space it all out to prevent any bottlenecks for emergency services and mail to reach their destinations. Didn't explain the complete lack of people. At this hour, the sidewalks should be abuzz with chatter and children playing while parents watched from afar.

"Is there anyone here?" the delivery feline digimon announced as his gaze bounced about in search of anyone here. But all he found was empty space. Almost as if they were mocking him at this moment. "Please! I have a package for someone!"

Words echoing about the walls, BlackGatomon let out a sigh. He could work with this. A major setback, but one that could be worked through if given enough time. For now, he headed forward. Looking about the buildings and street, he was met with closed windows and locked doors. Even if they weren't locked, there probably wasn't anything within that could get him closer to his goal. At least, in an obvious way. No, he needed to look for a more subtle clue. One that would only cross his mind and no one else's.

Coming to a stop, BlackGatomon sniffed the air. The faint smell of gasoline hung in the air, reminiscent of a motor. Looking about one more time, he found it coming from the north direction. Turning that way, he could just make out the faded gray smoke. But no sound, oddly. What kind of dark magic was at work here? Most motors in the digital world made some kind of noise. That way, all the machine and vehicle digimon couldn't just sneak up on you and steal your cargo. The last things his fellow couriers needed was one more obstacle in between them and delivering their packages.

"I can't be that far behind." he thought and shifted the package on his back. Bolting off, BlackGatomon took care to look around for any sign of people and/or other vehicles. Someone had a reason for being in an abandoned place like this. Perhaps they were using this to test something? He could see that. But how that involved a vehicle remained an enigma to his mind… unless the thing tested was the vehicle or some part of it. Whatever it was, that still didn't tell who he was delivering this package too. But BlackGatomon pushed that thought away for now. Not much use in dwelling on speculation when the answers were not that far aw-

Coming to a stop, BlackGatomon rubbed his paws in front of his eyes. A variety of mannequins dressed in plain clothes had been placed about the sidewalks and street. A mix of sizes, ages and genders, the delivery feline digimon did his best to avert his gaze. Why had someone gone through the trouble of setting those all up? Was this some kind of test for the vehicle? If it was, BlackGatomon couldn't see what exactly they would be testing for. Accident avoidance? Weaving through difficult obstacles? Some mix between those two challenges? He wasn't sure.

"Everything all right, sir?" he announced to the nearest mannequin and walked over. Dressed in one of those tropical shirts with a matching pair of pants, sandals had been placed on their feet. While he wasn't expecting a response back, it would be kind of co-

"Howdy pardner, nice weather we're having." the mannequin announced and BlackGatomon stepped back. Why did the voice of a cowboy come out from this mannequin's voice box? An odd juxtaposition, but one he could maybe dwell on his continued quest to find this elusive vehicle. Yeah, that was probably for the best.

Shifting his attention away from the mannequin, BlackGatomon sniffed the air. Still on the right track, he shot off down the sidewalk. Avoiding the divider between the various blocks of concrete, the scent seemed to get stronger. Were they using more fuel after that strange obstacle? Or had a leak sprung by way of the testing. Hopefully it wasn't the latter. Those were an absolute pain in the ass to put out. At least according to the handful of Meramon who told him after delivering some packages to them. He was inclined to believe the fire person digimon.

Pushing that tangent away, his gaze shifted to the road. There, a trail of clear liquid had begun to form. Just one more way to track his target. Heck, this was even better than having just the smell to go off of. Though, he would've preferred for the liquid to be colored. Made it a lot easier to see when set against the asphalt used for most roads. But beggars couldn't be choosers in times like this.

Before stepping onto the road, BlackGatomon took a moment to look both ways. Even with the mannequins and the single vehicle he knew was here, that didn't mean he could avoid following the rules of the road. Regardless of his size making him on par with the liquid to see.

"They had to have noticed the leak in their gas tank." the delivery feline digimon thought as he took care not to step into the trail of gasoline. As part of his job, he was required to maintain a certain level of cleanliness regardless of the recipient. A couple times that had been nearly impossible to do. Numemon were the absolute worst. Between the poop strewn about and the trail of sludge every which way, one could only hope that there were enough clean spots to get the package over to them and then get back out. Compared to that, not stepping into a trail of gasoline was a piece of cake. "Unless that was the experiment…"

Shaking his head, BlackGatomon followed the gasoline trail. Going on for quite a number of blocks, his thoughts turned to his partner. The last time he had saw her, she had been preparing for something called 'Science Camp'. From his little knowledge on camping, that would imply she was going to a place that involved doing experiments while being out in nature. What exactly those experiments entailed. At the rate that she was growing, Zoey was likely the tallest girl around with little in the way of competition. Heck, she was even taller than most rookie and some champion digimon. Perhaps it would be a good idea for him to look around for something tall to stand on. Beyond that, there was also the matter of him somehow fitting into her life. Whatever force that sent him down did not care about his partner. Or at least, tried to not come across as such. But why bundle a delivery in with this? Were they trying to make a point to him or her in the process? If so, why go about it this way? There were bound to be simpler methods to get whatever it was that they wanted to get their point across. But this was also supposedly the same force that was not above possessing people for the sake of making things worse. Made it all the harder to decipher the meaning of this. For now, he pushed that thought back and continued on. At the rate this vehicle was losing gasoline, it was only a matter of time before they would need to make a pit stop. Most definitely to check the fuel tank, fix it and then fill it back up to continue whatever it is they were testing. Would be ironic if it turned out to be something like fuel efficiency. The leak was more than enough to throw off all of their findings and force the team to redo all of their tests. Once the necessary fixes had been made and tested, of course. Nobody wanted a repeat of this to happen.

"I have to be close at this point." BlackGatomon muttered and shifted his package. Tempted as the delivery feline digimon was to reach in and see what he was carrying, he shook those feelings out. Part of the oath that he took upon getting this job was to not peek, regardless of the circumstances. Even if that sometimes meant not having all the information of who this was being delivered too or why they needed someone like him to deliver him. Kind of like right now. Minus having to follow a trail of gasoline. "Hey! I have a package for one of you!"

Waiting a moment to see if anyone heard his message, he was met with the sound of an engine. Relatively close, it managed to be just loud enough to cancel out his announcement. Pissed as he wanted to be, BlackGatomon was willing to look past it. At least for a little bit longer. Once a proper explanation had been given, then there would be no 'Mr Nice Kitty'. Or however that analogy went when it came to feline digimon like him. He had never heard anyone say that in his life beyond the one time that Zoey had said it in regards to someone taking her toy cars. Whether or not his partner had actually gone all the way, he couldn't remember. But he chalked it up to it occurring right as he was whisked back to the digital world. Looking back on that, that was a sick move. There had been nothing that day to even suggest that digimon would even be sent back in the first place. No, it came up with little warning and without time to call out for help from their human or someone close to them. Not that they could've done anything in the way of preventing them from being sent back.

Shaking his head, BlackGatomon looked back to the trail of gasoline. A lot thinner than when he started, the end of the line wasn't much further. Which left the question of what kind of vehicle that was being used here. Couldn't be a truck. Those all took diesel fuel. This was clearly gasoline. Or something similar. Beyond that, it was also loud and fast enough to avoid him up until now. While he was by no means the speediest digimon around, that didn't stop him from keeping up with the best of them. No, they were obviously taking advantage of something here. The exact advantage remained out of reach to him, but he pushed that thought out.

"Is that a cat?" a voice called out and BlackGatomon froze. Had he finally been spotted? Most likely. No use in attempting to escape. Instead, he would approach and see if his beloved Zoey was part of the group. Hopefully she wasn't.

"Yes. I think I have a package for you!" the package delivery digimon announced and reached for the package. Pulling it off of his back, he held it above his head. Out in the distance, two people were heading his way. The one on the left appeared to be a man. Dressed in a labcoat covered in stains with a pair of pants, BlackGatomon already found his attention shifting away from him and over to the woman. Compared to her companion, she had gone for a long sleeved striped shirt and a pair of jeans. Black curly hair went all about from her head, while a set of brown eyes had found their way over to him. All the more reason for him to do the same. Just without dropping the package in the process. After everything he had just been through, this was a remarkably easy task. "Zoey, how have you been?"

Zoey came to a stop and brought a hand below her chin. Taking a moment to think her answer over, that provided her companion more than enough time to catch up to her. Once he had, the pair approached BlackGatomon.

"Pretty good, all things considered." Zoey explained and picked the package up. Lifting up the top, she carefully reached in. Out came a roll of duct tape. Handing it off to her companion, it was back over to her partner. "Wait. How did you know?"

BlackGatomon let out a chuckle.

"I followed my nose." the delivery feline digimon announced and was met with a look from Zoey's assistant. "Hey! It's true!"

Zoey nodded and let out a giggle. Picking BlackGatomon up, she pulled him in for a cuddle. He had been due for some time off. Definitely the best way to take it.