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The Lull
Kenta kept a vice grip on each of his knees, which was all he could do to keep them from shaking. He felt as though he had been on edge all afternoon, and even arriving in the Tamers' common area in Hypnos' basement hadn't done much to change that. He looked to MarineAngemon floating by his side, who seemed calmer than he was, but there was worry in the Digimon's eyes all the same.
Hypnos calling for all of the Tamers to show up for a single bio-emergence should have been the first clue that something was wrong, though the severity still managed to go over Kenta's head. Even the explicit confirmation that they were dealing with a Mega had felt mundane after all these years, and the urgency wasn't felt when he arrived at the agreed meeting point. Kenta had been the first to arrive, though Ai, Mako, and Impmon arrived only a couple minutes after. With Takato and the rest confirming that they weren't far behind, the coming fight was looking to be a standard affair.
That was until MarineAngemon and Impmon sensed a disturbance in the direction of the digital field. The field apparently kept them from picking apart the specifics, but they knew a fight when they felt one, so the group had run on ahead, and it was good that they did.
By the time they had arrived, the digital field had dissipated and Kazu and Guardromon looked like they were in a bad state, so letting the wild Digimon go free in favor of getting their friends back to Hypnos and their medical staff had seemed like an easy decision to make.
Things fell into step pretty quickly after that. Kenta had been pushed out the exam room with assurances that both Kazu and Guardromon would be fine. Kazu's parents had arrived shortly after that, leading the Tamers to move down the hall to the common area for the time being.
Kenta looked up and around the room, to where Takato and Rika were standing. Neither they nor Guilmon and Renamon had sat down since jogging into Hypnos right behind Kenta's group, though Kenta could clearly tell that their worries were different from his.
"Did anyone catch which direction Diaboromon took off in?" Rika asked, arms crossed and fingers tapping against them.
"Not specifically," Takato answered, pausing to scratch the back of his head. "I think they were more worried about Kazu."
"I could try to see if I can smell him," Guilmon suggested, looking around the group for a reply.
"Might be our best option." Renamon nodded and looked to Takato. "Unless Hypnos surveillance has yielded anything new."
Takato shook his head. "They came up empty. Riley said they'd double check though."
Kenta's hands tightened around his knees, stumped in figuring out how his friends' remained so calm, so focused on their duties. MarineAngemon fluttered closer to him, trying to be supportive, though Kenta didn't feel any less uneasy.
"I just don't get how the field disappeared so fast, especially for a Mega," Rika said, frustration subtle but there. "It's not like Renamon and I were kicking our feet. You?"
Takato shrugged. "I mean, I had to stop by home to pick up Guilmon, but we went straight to the meeting point after that."
"Then how did we miss it?"
"Faster materialization rates aren't unheard of," Renamon offered. "Devidramon breached their field before we arrived, while IceDevimon and Makuramon seemed to have been moving about freely long before we discovered them."
"Yeah, I remember…" Rika rolled her eyes before turning to Takato, who was staring off into space. "Takato?"
"I don't know…" Takato hesitated before looking up at the rest of them. "Yamaki called this attack coordinated."
Renamon crossed her arms. "Then the question becomes who would put this much care into their bio-emergence?"
"Could be a new player," Rika put forward.
"Definitely can't rule that out." Takato placed a hand on his chin. "I just can't shake the feeling-"
"Does it matter?" Kenta asked, not shouting though loudly enough that everyone turned towards him.
The rest of the room was quiet at first, awkward glances being exchanged before attention was returned his way. Even just a few hours ago, Kenta would have cracked and folded under this kind of microscope. Not now, though, as too much had happened in that span of time. He caught a glance of MarineAngemon in the corner of his eye, watching him, at a loss for words for the first time that Kenta could remember.
"A little bit," Takato replied nervously. "We need to know what we're facing."
"Takato, our friend almost died," Kenta said through his teeth.
Takato's eyes fell to floor, guilt all over them and the rest of his face. Part of Kenta felt bad himself for putting his friend on the spot, but he also knew it needed to be said.
"I thought Kazu was okay," Guilmon said uncertainly as he stepped forward.
"And he almost wasn't!" Kenta snapped as he jumped to his feet.
To an extent, Kenta could see where his friends were coming from. They had lost people, comrades who fell in battle right in front of them, which made any fight they walked away from small victories. Leomon and Ryo's deaths, however, did not make Kazu's injuries insignificant.
"I just don't get how you can all act like nothing happened," Kenta concluded, his fists still clenched at his sides.
"You need to calm down," Rika instructed, slowly and calmly, like she had been when discussing Diaboromon.
"Why?" Kenta shot back instinctively.
"Because even if we're being insensitive, you're not making things better by telling us how we're supposed to feel." Rika paused to pinch the bridge of her nose. "Look, I'm sorry if my way of coping seems wrong to you, but someone has to work the problem. That way, no one else gets hurt like Kazu did, or worse."
Her voice and demeanor were even and diplomatic, a far cry from the girl that Kenta had gotten lost in the Digital World with. She very clearly still wanted him to just shut his mouth, but now she cared enough to try to be understanding and meet in the middle. It was enough of a gesture that Kenta found himself taking a deep breath and a step back. He was still upset, but he was able to tell himself that staying mad at his friends wasn't helping.
"Right," Kenta said as he sat back down. "Sorry…"
"Don't worry about it." Rika sat herself down on a nearby couch. "We're gonna figure this out."
As MarineAngemon hovered over to Kenta's side, Takato moved to sit down next to Rika. Though the room was suddenly a lot calmer, Kenta couldn't bring himself to believe that the most difficult part of their day was over.
Two scanners separated the Hypnos lobby from the rest of the building. One for humans, the other for Digimon, and both meant to scan for weapons, viruses, and whatever else was considered too dangerous to gain access to the facility. Passing through them was usually simple, yet Terriermon quickly realized he was the only one to do so.
Looking over his shoulder and through the opposite scanner, he found Henry looking over his own shoulder. Behind him, Suzie stood with her phone in her hand, in the middle of typing a text message.
"Everything okay?" Henry asked.
"Just texting Jeri." Suzie set her phone down in a tray being held out by a guard. "She says she's two minutes behind us."
Henry said nothing and stepped through his scanner. He was trying to hide it, but Terriermon could see the stress in his eyes. As for the source of his partner's stress, Terriermon had one or two guesses besides what happened to Kazu, and everyone seemed like they were a bit stressed out since Henry and Suzie walked into the apartment with news of a Mega appearing in Shinjuku Park.
"Sheesh, extra grouchy today?" Terriermon jabbed in Henry's direction, partially because he knew his role, which was to keep a sense of normalcy when things got rough.
"Now's not the time," Henry replied as he retrieved his phone from the guard.
Terriermon snorted. "No kidding?"
"We're in a tense situation," Lopmon offered as she hopped through the scanner.
"Because Kazu got beat up?"
"Terriermon…" Henry warned.
"It was bound to happen eventually," Suzie commented as she passed inside.
Lopmon sighed. "Suzie…"
An odd quiet seemed to fall over them, one that Terriermon wasn't quite sure how to break. Said quiet ended up lasting until they made it to the elevator and Henry pushed the call button.
"Look," Henry began delicately as he looked to his sister. "I know he upset you-"
"I'm over it," Suzie said quickly and confidently.
The chime of the elevator rang out and the doors parted. The four of them didn't waste another second before stepping inside.
Henry raised an eyebrow as he hit the button to take them downstairs. "Just like that?"
"Eh." Suzie shrugged. "Kazu either has the self awareness to understand he was wrong or he doesn't, in which case we'll be back here the next time he picks a fight he can't win."
"That sounds a little callus, Suzie," Lopmon said, looking up at her partner with just a tiny bit of disapproval.
"Because it is," Henry pointed out, less subtle about his disapproval.
"No, it isn't." Suzie stayed focused on the door in front of her. "Callous would be if he died and I made those comment. Instead, he finally learned a lesson."
"Makes sense to me," Terriermon added.
"See?" Suzie looked up at her brother through the corner of her eye.
Henry shook his head. "He's not a moral authority."
Terriermon crossed his arms. "I'm just saying, I bet Rika would agree with her too."
"Please stop talking." Suzie glared down at Terriermon.
Henry sighed and looked forward. "You're both incorrigible."
The elevator door slid open on cue, letting them step out just as quickly as they had entered. The Tamers' common area wasn't more than a few seconds walk from there, though they paused before entering as another trio approached from the opposite direction. Coming from what Terriermon assumed was the bathroom, Ai, Mako, and Impmon walked at a casual pace, though Ai seemed to pick up speed a bit upon noticing them.
"Suzie!" Ai called out, quickly composing herself and bowing when she made it to the door. "Hello, Henry."
Her face seemed to turn red with her greeting, leaving Terriermon scratching his head a bit. He also could have swore he heard Suzie growl under her breath.
"Hey," Henry responded, probably not able to see her face from that angle. He looked to the others. "You guys doing okay over here?"
"I guess so," Mako answered with a shrug, seeming to be unaffected by the afternoon's events.
"Meh," Impmon spat out. His arms were crossed and his attention was focused on the floor in front of him.
"What's wrong with you?" Lopmon ended up being the first to ask.
"That Diaboromon chickened out on us."
"You think that's odd?" Henry asked.
Impmon finally looked up. "The last ones we ran into wanted to gut me, so yeah."
Henry crossed his own arms, pausing and considering for a split second. "It could have been a different Diaboromon."
Terriermon grinned. "Yeah, not everything's about you."
"Somethin' smells off." Impmon quickly refocused forward before Terriermon could say what came to his mind. "No comments."
By this point, the lounge door opened, Takato and Rika stepping out with Guilmon and Renamon just a step behind. They held there for a moment, a subtle signal they wanted to discuss something.
Ai confidently looked upwards. "Well, now that you're here, Henry, I'm sure we'll work this out."
"That's the hope," Henry replied with a friendly and oblivious smile.
"Let's go have a seat," Suzie said through her teeth as she grabbed Ai by the arm.
Ai looked frantically between her and Henry. "Wait, Suzie-"
Suzie gave a gentle yet still firm tug, dragging Ai into the common area with Mako and their partners in tow. Still curious, Terriermon couldn't help but raise and ear as the door closed behind them.
"When are you going to stop this?" Suzie hissed.
"Love is a game of patience, Suzie," Ai replied in kind. "I'll stop when I've won."
"I really don't get either of you," Mako commented as the closed door muffled them further.
"I think the six of us should take the lead on this one," Rika suddenly put forward, clearly not in the mood for any nonsense.
"Don't we always?" Terriermon asked as he looked forward, deciding to file away the younger Tamers' conversation for a later time.
"We work the field, quickly and efficiently," Rika continued without even looking in his direction. "In the off chance the fight comes this way, I think Beelzemon and Antylamon can hold their own against a single Diaboromon."
"Is that the entirety of our plan?" Renamon asked, mainly towards Henry.
"I'm workshopping an idea or two in case Guilmon can't pick up a scent," Henry confirmed.
"And after we track our prey?"
No responses were immediately given, though all eyes had turned to Takato. Even if they didn't always label him as the leader, Takato was at the very least their group's moral compass. As much fun as Terriermon had fun giving him grief, he trusted the boy to steer them in the right direction.
"Business as usual," Takato said, with both somberness and conviction. "With what Diaboromon did to Kazu and Guardromon, we shouldn't bet on them being willing to talk this out."
"Perfect," Rika concluded with a nod. "Since we're all on the same page…"
Rika's thought seemed to trail off, her attention wandering back towards the elevator. Curious, Terriermon turned right around, instantly finding the reason for the sudden silence.
Jeri stood there waiting, patiently and politely. For whatever reason, though, no one seemed interested in picking their conversation back up. It took Terriermon a couple seconds to realize he was in the same boat, almost as though the energy drifting between the humans was keeping him from figuring out how to break the silence.
"Sorry, am I interrupting?" Jeri asked, beating all of them to the punch.
"No, we're just wrapping up," Henry answered, keeping a neutral tone in his voice.
Another pause followed, with Terriermon staying quiet on purpose this time. Knowing that he was missing some context, the best he could do was watch for clues as to why everyone was walking on eggshells. Then he would feel a little better about speaking his mind.
"How's Kazu?" Jeri asked calmly, as she would have with any normal conversation.
"We haven't seen him yet," Takato replied. "Doctor said he should be fine, though."
Jeri waited a second, then took a step forward. "Good, then I'll head inside and-"
"Wait, Jeri, are you okay?" Takato asked urgently, stepping into her path.
Jeri sighed before smiling. "Peachy."
Takato nervously scratched the back of his head. "Sorry, but you've seemed a little off lately."
"Must be all the extra hours I'm putting in at the tavern," Jeri suggested with a shrug.
"It's just…" Takato averted his eyes briefly before locking his vision forward again. "You know we're here if you need someone to talk to, right?"
Almost instantly, Jeri covered her face with her right hand, followed by the sound of air coming out of her nose. Terriermon zeroed in on her, trying figure out what emotion she was hiding. Jeri moved her hand eventually, not only revealing no tears in her eyes, but also that she was smiling and failing to hold in laughter.
"I guess we missed the joke," Terriermon commented, looking to Guilmon and Renamon for help, though they seemed just as focused forward as everyone else.
"I'm sorry, but it is a little funny," Jeri said as she started to compose herself. "Remind me, how often have each of you turned down the same offer from me?"
"The problem is it's a double standard with you," Rika stated defiantly. "You always want to talk about us, but you stonewall us whenever we ask about you."
Jeri frowned. "I'm not exactly sure what you guys want from me."
"Nothing from you," Takato cut in, making his usual effort to play the diplomat. "Just for you to know that you're not alone."
"Well, I feel alone."
A different kind of silence followed, like someone had gone out of their way to stomp on the eggshells that everyone had been walking around. Varying degrees of guilt, concern, and shock seemed to be washing over the group. Given her wide eyes, Jeri had also been surprised by the words coming out of her mouth.
Takato stretched a hand out to her. "Jeri-"
"I know I'm not, for the record, but I have to tell myself so every morning for it to stick." Jeri hesitated, latching her right hand onto her left elbow. "Because there are some days I don't feel whole, and if I stopped to talk about my own feelings every time I felt a little sad, my day would stop."
Terriermon didn't need that specific context explained for that instant. They had all been present when Jeri had lost Leomon, and for as much as she kept close to the chest, she had been more open about her mother's death in recent years. As much as Terriermon wanted to lighten the mood, telling Jeri to moumentai felt too dismissive, even by his standards.
"Sorry if you were expecting some big reveal, or even something you guys could instantly fix," Jeri continued softly. "I'm dealing with this stuff on my own time though, so you don't have to worry."
"And you want us to just ignore you?" Takato asked, the explanation seeming to have made him more upset. "I'm sorry, Jeri, but after what just happened with Kazu-"
"Takato, you don't want to go down this road." All vulnerability seemed to drain from Jeri's face, her eyes suddenly becoming more stern. "When was the last time you actually let yourself get upset?"
Takato's demeanor seemed to crack. "I, uh…"
"You're afraid of your own emotions. Afraid that something or someone will break if you let yourself get mad at any of us." Jeri paused and shook her head. "My point is that you're not really in a position to tell me how I should express myself."
"He's just trying to understand and help," Henry said defensively, having been quiet a lot longer than Terriermon had expected him to be.
"Understand or control?" Jeri turned to Henry with a raised eyebrow. "Then again, being a control freak is more your area, isn't it, Henry? The way your tunnel vision is, I'm genuinely worried about the day you learn that you can't fix all the world's problems on your own."
Terriermon looked back up at his partner, who looked like he was biting his tongue. The worst part was that Terriermon couldn't bring himself to disagree with any of Jeri's words, all concerns he'd had at one point or another over the years he had spent at Henry's side.
"That's enough, Jeri," Rika ordered as she stepped forward, though Jeri seemed unfazed.
"And Rika, who's two for two when it comes to picking fights with herself when the multiverse starts acting up. Should we shift this conversation to you and how worried I am that you might hate yourself?"
The longer the silence between them lasted, the more off his game Terriermon felt. Any other day he would have been able to ask a question or make some kind of comment to distract the group. Eventually, he ran out of time to come up with either.
"You're right, though." Jeri spoke more gently than before, almost apologetically. "Me bottling everything up and expecting the opposite from you is a double standard. Maybe that's all the more reason to try giving each other space more often."
Jeri clenched her fists together and marched through the middle of the group, passing the common area and rounding the next corner she came across. By the time Terriermon finally figured out what to say, her footsteps were out of earshot.
By the time she had turned a second corner, Jeri had to stop, sitting herself down next to the first doorway she came across and pulling her knees up to her chest. Just due to her head spinning and racing, she wasn't positive where she had stopped herself. She didn't consider this section of the Hypnos headquarters a maze by any stretch, but it was also not a place she spent a lot of time in.
Jeri's mind held on that thought, wondering if that was part of the reason she had been so upset with her friends. For obvious reasons, she didn't receive the same notifications of wild Digimon that the rest of the Tamers did, usually learning about them either long after the fact or through more public announcements of larger threats. This would have been fine, except that only Suzie had thought to let her know about what had happened to Kazu, which didn't help the feelings of isolation that Jeri felt from the others sometimes.
In their defense, Jeri knew they thought they were protecting her, but the idea that she was being coddled almost made everything worse. The fact was she had been taking steps to address her recent feelings and behavior, so not only was Takato ambushing her like he had unnecessary, but also a little insulting.
Of course, she also knew that she had been in the wrong with the way she had just spoken to her friends. Jeri was committed to apologizing to them once she found the courage, though that came with another uncomfortable thought. With how overprotective they could be, she worried that they would try apologizing to her, and that could potentially be enough to start the whole cycle again.
The whole scenario felt less upsetting and more frustrating, so much so that Jeri's first instincts were to lash out. Balling her fist, she swung it backwards and slammed it into the door she was sitting next to.
The sound of the impact wasn't met with any kind of response, or at least not at first. After a couple seconds, shuffling noises came from within the room. As the door opened, Jeri was almost too embarrassed to turn to see who she had disturbed. She did turn, however, being greeted by a pair of black jeans, which she followed upwards past a shirt of the same color to find blue eyes staring down at her.
"It's not locked," Alice pointed out, casually gesturing towards the door.
"My bad…" Jeri replied, at a loss for a more appropriate response.
At first, Alice said nothing, taking a moment to scratch her temple while not taking her eyes off Jeri. In the few interactions they had, Alice didn't typically give off a lot of obvious emotion, making her a bit difficult to read. That said, Jeri was getting the sense that the girl was less annoyed and more curious.
"So the whole gang got called in for this one?" Alice asked as she sat down next to Jeri, stretching out one of her legs while lifting up her other knee to rest her arm on.
"I guess so," Jeri answered, deciding to humor the conversation. "You?"
Alice nodded. "Henry asked me to come."
"I guess he would…" Jeri replied awkwardly, her previous feelings of isolation from her friends coming up again. She knew Alice had become an asset to the team, so she tried not take Henry's choice personally.
"I still look to my right sometimes."
"Come again?" Jeri raised an eyebrow, almost wondering if she had dozed off and missed the context of the statement.
"For Dobermon." Alice looked to the opposite wall. "Even after all these years, there are small moments that I catch myself expecting him to be there."
The intention for their current conversation finally clicked for Jeri. Again, the two of them didn't talk much, but they knew enough about each other to recognize the one thing they had in common, which Alice was clearly trying to make use of now.
"Part of me hoped that feeling would go away," Jeri confessed, not seeing the point in denying it.
"So far, seems like getting used to it is the best we can do." Alice paused, then looked back to Jeri. "Maybe that's for the best, though. It means we haven't forgotten."
Jeri nodded. As much as she went out of her way to circumvent her own emotions, the last thing she wanted to do was forget her lost loved ones.
"Basically, the way forward is a work in progress," Jeri summarized.
"Well, I do know one thing." Alice spoke louder and clearer, like she was finally getting to her point. "A lot of people won't understand you, but you've got friends who at least make the effort to try."
"And what if I'm punishing them for trying?" Jeri asked, unable to shake her guilty conscience.
"Well, if you're just looking to avoid uncomfortable conversations, moving to a different continent is a way to go." Alice's deadpan made it difficult to tell whether she was joking or completely serious. "I doubt things are actually that bad, though, so I would see what your friends think before you commit to a move."
Jeri smirked, regardless of what Alice's intent had been. She meant to thank her, but almost like she sensed the intent, Alice instantly stood back up.
"Anyway, I'm gonna have to finish sorting through this scrap if we want to find that Diaboromon." Alice stepped back through the door and gently closed it behind her.
Jeri made a mental note to ask Henry what best way to thank Alice was. In the meantime, she wanted to see to her other friendships, and she had a good idea as to where to start.
Upon arriving at the infirmary, Jeri made the decision to wait a couple minutes before entering. This choice payed off, with the resident doctor stepping out with Kazu's parents just behind. Having gotten the best moment she was going to get, Jeri pushed through the door.
Once inside, Guardromon was the first occupant she took notice of. Tucked in a corner of the room without much in the way of traditional medical equipment, he seemed to be sleeping soundly. Jeri wasn't so surprised by this, knowing that Digimon recovered from injuries differently from humans, plus Guardromon's body being made of some Digital World metal meant there wasn't much to be done for him once he stabilized.
Kazu sat opposite his partner in a nearby bed, left leg in a cast and elevated by a harness. He was conscious, with Jeri struggling to decide whether that added to or took away from her relief. He eventually noticed her approaching, greeting her wide and surprised eyes.
"You feeling any better?" Jeri asked, stopping at but not sitting in a chair at the foot of the bed.
"Doc say my leg's not broken, so there's that," Kazu answered nervously. "Get the feeling that walking's gonna be a bitch for a little while, though."
"At least that's something…" Jeri replied awkwardly, realizing that she hadn't put much planning into what she was actually supposed to say.
Apologizing was not her intent, as she had already done so as much as she was going to in their last conversation. She supposed damage control was more her goal, to see how repairable their friendship was and make the effort to get things back to normal. Again, though, she was kind of winging it in regards to what that entailed.
"I don't like you." Kazu's words snapped her back to the present.
Jeri's expression sank. "I guess you wouldn't…"
"W-Wait, n-no, that's not what my stupid mouth meant to say!" Kazu's eyes got wider as he started flailing his arms about. "What I meant is I don't like like you."
"Good?" Jeri tilted her head, confused though not necessarily upset by the direction this conversation was heading in.
Kazu collected himself, little by little. "Look, I've been denying a lot of stuff lately, and I was taking some of that out on you, which led to me acting… well, you know."
"Insecure, stubborn, and kinda like a pig."
"Okay, ouch." Kazu crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. "Just because it's true doesn't mean it doesn't sting a bit."
"Sorry…" Jeri anxiously fiddled with her fingers and briefly averted her eyes. "I'm still coming down off the high of telling off the others."
"No kidding," Kazu commented, interest piqued. "How'd that go?"
Jeri counted on her fingers. "I told Takato he's emotionally repressed, called Henry a control freak, and accused Rika of hating herself."
Kazu snorted. "Eh, well, I'm sure they'll forgive you."
"So I keep hearing…"
"Speaking of…" Kazu hesitated, then looked directly at her. "I'm sorry. Sorry for putting you in that position, and sorry for how I treated you afterwards."
"Kazu-"
"And if you can forgive me, I'd really like to go back to being friends."
A pause followed, with Kazu very clearly on the edge of his seat as he waited for a response. Taking a couple more seconds to think on it, Jeri could think of only one way to do so. She frowned and averted her eyes, and in the most dignified way she could, finally sat down.
"I'll have to think about it." Jeri held her pose for a little longer, before looking at him through the corner of her eye and putting on a gentle smile.
"Yeah, yeah…" Kazu rolled his eyes, then gestured to the end table at the foot of the bed, on which was what looked like a thin, wooden back scratcher. "Can you pass me that? It feels like a family of lice is having a rave inside my cast."
Jeri pinched the bridge of her nose. "For the record, that is the grossest way you could have phrased that."
"Please, that's not even the grossest way I thought of just now."
Quickly and accurately, Jeri grabbed the stick and whipped it in Kazu's direction. As she had absolutely predicted, he caught just before it hit his face. With that, she leaned back, deciding to let normal patterns find their way back from there.
Author's Note:
Looking very intently at that "Humor" tag I attached to this fic so long ago. While I wouldn't claim that the remaining chapters are angst-free, we should be through the thickest parts of it. The current plan is for things to lighten up a bit as the gang gets back to work.
Also, friendly reminder that I cross-post all my stories on AO3. While my intent is to continue to post here, this site's fluctuating functionality might take that decision away from me one day, so wanted to make alternatives known just in case.