Ben10 & Digimon Tamers

Heroes and Humanity

Part 02: Humanity and Heroes

The Beginning – Chapter 20

Originally Written: Wednesday, July 1, 2015 1229PM to Thursday, July 2, 2015 359AM

. . . . .

"What's that you got there?" Jenrya took a seat next to Albedo at the living room table.

Albedo had laid an old sheet out on the floor, and sat a plethora of electronic equipment and devices on it around him. "Mr. Nakamura gave me some parts he retrieved from Micho and P'Goro. I am going through to see what is salvageable." He picked up an alarm clock sized device and set it on the table. A moderately sized cardboard box sat off to the side, partly filled with more electronics than the average person would even know to begin figuring out what to do with.

"Oh yea, I remember that." Jenrya leaned up against the table. "Those two are always ordering various shipments of various things. I never see them use any of it though..." He tapped his finger against the table.

"I assure you, they are." Albedo held in a smirk of amusement.

"I'm sure. You know everyone here better than me." Jenrya nudged him playfully.

Albedo looked at him and he flashed a half hearted smile.

"This stuff looks so advanced, I don't recognize any of it. That one over there looks like a router or something though." Jenrya nodded as he pointed to a dusty black box.

"Hm," Albedo looked at the box. His red eyes lit up, "It's a transmitter." He lowered his voice, "The alien kind."

Jenrya looked at him surprised, "Really now?"

Albedo nodded as he picked up the box. "There's material here I could use for constructing more D-Terminals, but getting them to communicate with each other has been a challenge."

"What? Like text messaging?"

"Correct." He brushed some dust off the piece of equipment. "Creating the Terminals required technology that is a bit advanced. Earth's wireless facilities aren't quite capable of keeping up with them. It's why when you activate certain features on it, the device's wireless capabilities, even connecting to the internet with those Ethernet cable things, breaks."

"You mean it goes down?" Jenrya furrowed his eyebrows.

"No, it breaks. It only looks like it went down temporarily because I've purposely made those features deactivate themselves after a certain amount of time. Like a parental time limit. This way you won't forget you activated them and come running to me about a broken D-Terminal or an inadequate provider, as true as that may be."

"You think of everything." Jenrya took his D-Terminal from his zipper hoodie pocket. "That's why that timer occasionally shows up."

"Precisely. If I could build a device to convert the signal the D-Terminals require to something the wireless facilities could better use, it would resolve the issue. Adding the technology to the D-Terminal would be even better, but as they say, one step at a time, hm." Albedo set the device on the table.

It went unspoken that Albedo's own actions are what prevented him from creating the means for the Terminals to communicate easier in the first place. Personally Albedo couldn't be happier at the thought that Jenrya didn't bring it up or look at him with those scolding, disappointed eyes. For sure, the only thing worse than Jenrya's disappointed gaze was Tennyson's psychotic, power hungry green eyes that plagued his dreams.

"There's also the issue of doing this while keeping the Terminal's compatibility with the D-Arcs." Albedo continued. He set the transmitter on a pile on the table featuring other usable items. As he filtered through the items. Jenrya watched him, silent.

Albedo looked at him, while holding a pile of what appears to be circuit boards. "Would you like to assist me?"

Jenrya's eyes widened, and he shook his head as he held his hands up, "Oh no. I'd probably break all this advanced technology."

"It's already broken." Albedo gave him a blank look. "These are items made of high quality material as well. It's unlikely you or I could break them further."

"Michio and P'Goro are ordering broken things? On purpose?" Jenrya tilted his head in confusion. "What are they doing with all this stuff?"

"It's likely it's used to fuel those silly firework shows they tend to display." Albedo remarked as he set the blue boards on the table.

"You can make fireworks out of scrap metal?"

"I would not know for sure. You'd have to ask them." Albedo reached back in the box. A good sized pile of salvageable material sat in wait on the table and on the blanket on the floor next to said table. Still, salvageable items or material had no use for outnumbered anything else found so far in the cardboard box. "Hmm..." He rested on his knees next to the box. He rested his hands on the top edge.

"What's up?"

"You are distant from me, Jenrya." He looked in the box at nothing in particular.

"I've spent quite a bit of time with you since you came back."

"But there is something different about that time." Albedo looked at him.

"Ohhh, I'm not shocking you anymore." Jenrya wiggled his fingers, "I've gotten that under better control."

Albedo looked down, "That's not quite..." He turned to the apartment door, hearing keys in the lock. He stayed stationary, silent as Swamps and Hugh entered the apartment.

Hugh looked tired and annoyed as Terriermon flapped his ears like a wild digimon as he sat on the human morphed vaxasaurian's head.

Swamps held an odd looking tiny tree-like plant in his hands. A huge smile graced his face, as though nothing could remove it, even the universe ending.

"Hey, Albedo!" Terriermon called, giddy. "Crazy Sean brought a bonsai tree. We're gonna watch it die, right?" He grinned, flapping his ears about.

"You've never seen me around plants, bunny. I'm a natural!" Swamps held the small plant close to him as he headed to the kitchen.

Albedo heard another door close. He looked at where Jenrya had been and sighed softly enough only he noticed he had, or so that was the plan. He looked at Hugh and Terriermon, "Isn't it mind boggling how penniless people seem to always be purchasing things not vital to their survival?"

Terriermon cackled and Hugh smiled a timid smile as Albedo stood and walked to Jenrya's room. He opened the door without a care, and slipped inside. He caught sight of the tamer laying on the bed as he closed the door behind him.

"You used to be able to read me." Jenrya flopped an arm over his eyes.

"I still can." He quickly replied.

"Hm." Jenrya frowned, "it's not the same."

"I suppose not." He sat on the bed. Tennyson had a hard time reading people, from what he could tell. Maybe more of the inadequate human's DNA was taking hold of and overcoming his own. 'Would this be easier if I could read his thoughts?' he wondered as he laid down next to Jenrya. He watched the male stiffen for a long while. "Were you hoping I wouldn't join you here?" He looked up at the ceiling.

"I'm just not used to it." Jenrya spoke after some time. He didn't relax in the slightest.

"Then why did you request those other times?" Albedo stood up. He watched the male's shoulder's relax, slumping, from no longer bearing any weight.

"A bed would do you better than a foldout cot, or the floor."

Albedo rubbed his eyes, a deep frustration burning in his stomach. "Why must you be like this?" He held his arms out to the side glaring at Jenrya's back.

"I'm not being any kind of way. Having a lot on my mind doesn't mean I've changed."

"But it means your regular actions have." Albedo lowered his head, "What have I done to earn your ire?"

"I'm not angry at you." Jenrya's voice filled the room, equally full of confusion.

"You are angry that I left Japan." Albedo looked at him.

Jenrya shook his head. "That's not on my mind." Jenrya looked down at the wrinkled sheets. "It's good that you came back..."

"You're not acting like it..."

"What do you want me to do!?" Jenrya snapped, gripping the sheets and glaring at him, "Throw you a party!?"

"That's not what I meant." He leaned up against the door. "Not even close."

"I can't sit in this apartment watching you socialize, Albedo." Jenrya frowned, "I've got a lot to deal with. A life to live."

"What could be so important to have you go to Hypnos and consistently return a wreck?" Albedo studied the wooden floorboards. Their sheen from initial care had long since dwindled, he noted.

Jenrya sighed.

Albedo thought for a few moments, "Juggernaut." He spoke softly. He dropped his arms. "Is it troubling you?"

Jenrya remained silent.

"A short while ago you told me you had gotten Juggernaut under some kind of control." Portions of his nightmares dared to make themselves known. He saw the odd mix of Jenrya and Juggernaut watching him face off against Tennyson's arsenal. He saw the being waiting to see what he would do, how he would react. He watched it lock dull, silvery blue eyes with his own red ones as Tennyson killed him over and over again. It always stood idle, almost in the way but more of a hindrance to him than Tennyson, as the omnitrix wielding terror lost his marbles and grew tired of Albedo working endlessly to expose him for the monster he was. He could only hope that should the entity enter Jenrya's own reams, that it didn't just watch it's host die or fall to torture. Better yet, he hoped Jenrya's dreams never wound up like his own nightmares.

Jenrya looked down at the sheets, eyes roaming across the fabric's pattern and stitching. He said not one word as Albedo watched him.

Albedo stood for a time, lost for words as the feeling of wanting to be alone, and to end this conversation crept upon his person. He persevered however, and sat on the bed. He wiped his sweaty palms on his jeans, and wished that for a few moments he didn't see flashes of his nightmares in his mind as he tried to think.

He was certain that by now he would have said much more than the little he had, as he wracked his mind. Jeri Katou's face came to his mind, amid the onslaught that was Ben Tennyson and an idea soon formed in his mind.

His heart raced for no reason he could think of and the corner of the room seemed quite appealing, as though he were stuck in that odd place these nightmares left him upon his waking. He ran his fingers over his earlobe, feeling the thin scabs one such event left behind. He remained grateful that no one noticed, or if they did, didn't ask. He was not the right person to explain a Cassiopean Dream Eater to one who didn't already know of its existence. He didn't want to be the right individual to explain such either.

As he refined his idea, he watched Jenrya sit silent, as though the blue haired male had retreated deep within himself. The only signs he wasn't sleeping were his moving, blinking eyes, to a person better suited than Albedo, orbs to his soul and his feelings. The only sign he was not falling prey to some quick anxiety fall out that'd result in him passing out or worse were his deep even breaths.

Albedo made a mental note to repay whatever debt he had to Hugh, Fridge and Swamps, as breaking him out of that cell had, for him, done him better than putting him in there in the first place. He had more to do than stare at the wall and obsess over the nightmares he should not.

Yes, there was the key he looked for. A currency he thought of easier when he hadn't been around Jenrya. Looking back on it, though the plan had been a good one, flawless until Tennyson showed up to further ruin his existence, the whole thing left him feeling a bit silly. If it had been carried out by anyone but him, they actually would be silly. Here, he had Tennyson's faulty primitive genes to blame.

"I am the star of Ben Ten Live. Frank, Humphrey and Sean are actors I hired."

Jenrya raised his head, "What?"

"I-"

"-I know what you said." Jenrya blinked a few times. "It's just...what?" He pressed a hand to his forehead. Albedo looked at him, waiting for the male to continue. "You? Starring in a Ben Ten show?"

Albedo nodded, "Yes."

"What for? Why? You hate Ben Tennyson. I mean... Your acting was good enough to make it a popular play. Kazu and Kenta are huge fans somehow." Jenrya rolled his eyes. "Just…The Gwenettes? Seriously?"

Albedo only stood up as Jenrya fired questions at him. He faced Jenrya, sure of his resolve. "That's two." His face warmed in embarrassment. Looking back on it, that probably wasn't his best idea.

Jenrya fell silent and looked at him, face scrunched up in confusion.

"I said, that's two." Albedo scratched an itch on his side, "And one of them isn't even all mine." He continued.

"Hmm...You're getting the hang of it."

"It is easier when you actually have the currency to use." Albedo waited for Jenrya to speak, but the male fell as silent as he had. "I will leave you to your thoughts then." Albedo exited the room, closing the door behind him.

A/N: The Gwenettes are exactly as ridiculous as they sound, yet they still manage to work in the show better than the hot mess of an Omniverse episode "The Most Dangerous Game Show". What the hell was Yuri Lowenthal thinking writing that?