Digimon Tamers Zero Two

by MasterCaedus

Tasuke, or Taj, was raised by his 'Uncle' Henry Wong, ever since his parents left when he was very young. In that time, Taj has come to hate his parents and anything related to them. Especially Digimon, the fictional creatures his parents had loved when they were around. But when he gets a real Digimon, Taj must fight Digi-agents of other countries for a chance to find his parents.

18. Mouthy Digimon:Rock and a Hard Place

AN: Hey everyone! I've finally moved but, yet again, I am in a hotel. Only this time, there's not even any other new hires to hang out with. So I was able to do this pretty fast. I do finally move in to my apartment in a week, so that'll be a lot of fun when it happens. Other than having no furniture, but I'll fix that fast.

Now, I hope you enjoy this chapter, and I'll see you as soon as I can.

Episode 18: Mouthy Digimon:Rock and a Hard Place

Koromon knew his partner very well. Adrian was calm and collected, with a devotion to the idea of a Graecian hero. He was honorable, courageous, and devoted. Similarly, however, he was also willing to destroy any he fought that were unwilling to engage in that same kind of honor, to the point of cruelty at times. He was not a 'good' person, in his own eyes. Koromon had seen him help the poor and decapitate an enemy in a single day. But he had never seen him act like this.

Adrian Chiros was afraid, staring out of the room's curtains and glancing around. He looked like he was being careful, but he would have taken a break if that was the case. He crossed his arms and glanced back at his partner and their allies. "You've been checking for an enemy that is not there for a quarter hour, Adrian," Koromon finally spoke up as their eyes met. "Tell us what you found."

Adrian sighed and stepped away from the window. He smelled of soot and adrenaline, and he looked exhausted. "The Digimon belongs to Tasuke," he said, his words shaking. He was scared, too, then. Adrian held his hands up and tried to grasp words in them, failing as he opened his mouth. He turned to the nearby chair and plopped down in it, leaning back and shutting his eyes. After another few moments: "What is it that we all believe is true about Digidestined? Real Digidestined?"

"Kids," Jennifer pointed out. She looked up from her computer, where she was grading coding projects. "At least at the start, if Tasuke's parents are anything to go by."

Cadetmon piped up next. He was standing atop the table, his tiny stubs crossed over his chest. "And they tend to be pure of heart when they become Digidestined as well. Heroic, even. Though even that is not a long term guarantee, as we have seen with Agent Estevez. His past is likely something that would horrify the child who received his Digimon."

"Even that is heroism of its own kind," Koromon explained, drawing a confused look from Jen and Cadetmon. "A hero is someone who struggles to do what they believe is right, yes? Perhaps what he does is for what he believes is 'Good.'" His ears flapped on the last word, a poor attempt at air quotes.

Silence was the response to that philosophical idea. After a few moments, it was broken by Adrian. "And their Digimon?"

"Good. Most of them are like the ones from the shows. A lot of small dragons, now that I think about it," Cadetmon muttered. He shook his head. "Mostly Data and Vaccine, but there are a few Virus. But even those are naive and good to the point of... stupidity."

Koromon supplied, "And they complement their partner. A brash Digidestined who leads others into danger might have a brash Digimon who follows them without a thought. They drive change in one another."

"Digimon and Digidestined always turn up dead." Everyone's eyes turned to Jen, who glanced up and shrugged. "There's a reason nobody has managed to get more than two at a time before now."

"Morbid, but true," Cadetmon finally agreed with his partner. He turned to Adrian. "But what does this have to do with anything?"

"BlackGuilmon isn't anything like other Digimon linked to a Digidestined. He enjoys hunting, be his prey human or Digimon. He is cruel and hungry. Predatory. And all of this without the influence of a Digimon like Reapmon," Adrian explained hollowly. He leaned forward and clasped his hands. "If Digimon and Digidestined have... 'complementary' personalities, then I shudder to think what exists in the heart of the boy. Now that he is an agent he will do terrible things, and I expect doing so will awaken what dark impulses there are. If they haven't already."

"If it was that bad, why are you okay?" Cadetmon inquired quietly.

Chiros shut his eyes. "The eyes of the creature were... shark like. Only prey can be seen by eyes like that. Worse still, he toyed with me when he had the upper hand." He slowly opened his eyes and locked them on Cadetmon and Jen. "I think the boy is a danger as well. One we should deal with."

Jennifer sighed, closing her computer and putting it on the table. "Not unless there's no other choice."

"It is my belief he will become a killer regardless of if we remove BlackGuilmon. We would be saving lives."

"No."

Chiros smirked at her and shook his head. "Protective of your students already, Ms. Jennings?"

She took a half step towards him. "I don't like what you're implying."

Cadetmon could see all of this spiraling out of control and knew he had to do something to stop it. He quickly jumped from the table, landing between them and shouted to get their attention. "None of this matters if we can't destroy BlackGuilmon. We cross that bridge if -" he turned his pointed gaze on the Greek soldier in the chain "- if it comes to it."

Chiros was silent, but he nodded in deference to Cadetmon. Cadetmon turned to Koromon and Jen. "Now, how do we go about that?"

Jen slowly smiled as she looked over at her computer, "You know... I might have an idea about that." She glared down at Adrian. "They know you're alive, right? Then let's use it."

X X X

Things had just started to go insane. We had been worried about the Greek guy showing up for a while now, but I for one had almost thought he'd left with how long it had been since we'd heard from him. And then, out of nowhere, he broke into the warehouse and everything was dangerous again. The next night, Dorimon had reported a Digimon was close to May's house at the middle of the night. We got Davis to install an alarm for our team on all our houses that night. Then someone broke in while she and her family were out. Davis had had the house cleaned as soon as the alarm was tripped, trying to make sure there were no traps left over. Twelve were removed from the house. It got to the point where there was an armed guard at May's house 24/7 just to keep watch for the Graecian. So far they hadn't seen anything, but we all knew it wouldn't do much if he came with his Sagittarimon already Digivolved.

So, in the interest of making sure that May didn't go completely insane, I had managed to drag her, Davis, and all our Digimon out for another excursion. May needed it, and her screaming at our football team for being down by three in the fourth quarter. I was glad she was enjoying herself, but I'm not going to lie and say she was the only reason I planned this field trip. My gaze turned to BlackGuilmon, who had distanced himself from me while he snarled at our team's defense for failing to tackle the opposing quarterback. I hoped that doing this could fix something between us. Hopefully somewhere around ten percent of something, at least. That would get us around where we were before, which would be a good start.

But it wasn't doing anything. He wouldn't apologize, he wouldn't talk... hell, he barely cast a glare in my direction. It felt like we would never make up. But I knew that I wasn't going to just charge after him, acting desperate. And we had bigger things to worry about besides that. "So, what are we going to do?" I asked Davis while May and my Digimon shouted at the field.

Dorimon's ears flicked towards us and she bounded over to listen. "Yeah, G-Man, May's in danger and I can't keep her safe alone!"

Huckmon climbed over Davis' back, his metal body nearly crushing Davis. "Don't worry, Davis already has an answer for that." He climbed all the way over, then plopped down in Davis' lap, causing him to hiss in pain. "Whoops!"

"You did that on purpose!" Davis hissed in retort.

Huckmon blinked innocently. "Never! Not even if you missed running with me this morning!"

Davis glared at him. "You're a brat." He shoved Huckmon off his legs, and the Digimon tumbled through the dirt, tearing out clumps of earth as he went. Davis turned back to Dorimon. "But he's right. I'll be sticking close to her whenever I can. The Director got my mother accepted into a management course so she'll be out at night for the next month or so. I'll be able to watch the house at night, too."

"Alone? I don't even think you could manage a month of sleepless nights," I told him. "Unless... you aren't a government experiment, are you?"

"Ha ha," Davis muttered dryly. "No. I'll set up an RV nearby and sleep in that. The alarms we already have set up will be enough to wake me in time for SaviorHuckmon to get there and handle anything."

"Might as well be dating her, if you're that close," I said dryly, and Davis choked on spit, surprised I would say that. "Hey! Not really, G-Man. My cousin's off limits!"

"You talking about me?" May snapped, stomping morosely towards us. Oh, the team was losing still, apparently.

I rolled my eyes. "Calm down, Superfan, nothing bad."

"He's just saying I'm not allowed to date you," Davis explained, coughing from his near bout with death by his own spit.

May glared at the both of us. "Sure. That's what you were talking about. Not the guy who's trying to kidnap me and take me to Greece."

I shrugged. "I mean, we were talking about that, too," I admitted. I pointed at her. "You're in danger, and we're not letting you get hurt. I don't care about your silly pride, May."

"But now he knows about BlackGuilmon, too! He'll be looking for you just as much as he's looking for me," May reasoned.

"A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush," Huckmon said, drawing weird looks from everyone. "What? It's a saying!"

"Not one I've heard anyone in real life use," Dorimon said dryly, mocking Huckmon with a smirk.

Huckmon scoffed. "You're four months old. What do you know? You're a baby!"

"Hey!" Dorimon shouted indignantly.

May, Davis, and I couldn't help but laugh at that. "Hey!" Dorimon snapped at us now.

"What? You are only four months old," May pointed out. She bent down and picked up her partner in both hands. "But you're my baby!" She snuggled her tight, ignoring Dorimon's pleas for freedom, then turned on her heel when a whistle blew. "GET THEM!"

"HELP ME, DUUU-UUU-UU-MMMM-YYY!" Dorimon shouted when May started waving her Digimon above her head from the left to right.

I chuckled and enjoyed the image of a Digidestined and their partner enjoying each other's company. It almost didn't make me jealous. But it did, as evidence by the fact my laughter cut off when I saw BlackGuilmon glaring at me. Stupid May and Dorimon, making me jealous. Why couldn't I be the one whose Digimon liked him?

"What!?" BlackGuilmon snapped angrily.

"What yourself!" I snapped back, too tired of his garbage attitude to stop myself. He began to growl, the noise starting low and quiet but growing progressively louder.

Davis sighed as our argument began and stood up, moving up beside May. "So, this is how the season ends?" May wondered. She still cared about the game? "An interception for a touchdow -"

She immediately screamed in joy, throwing her hands up and sending a shrieking Dorimon tumbling straight up into the air a good eight feet. Dorimon kept shrieking even when she landed in May's arms again. "FUMBLE! I don't know how but... FUMBLE!"

Davis frowned and crossed his arms. That had been very odd. Almost impossible. He just... dropped the ball with no one around. And now he failed to grab it, with one of our school's players picking it up and running, almost unobstructed, for a touchdown.

"Stop shouting, Hag!" BlackGuilmon growled.

"Hey, shut up, Troll!"

He turned on me. "What did you call me?" he growled. His eyes narrowed dangerously and smoke began to rise from his nostrils. "No, it doesn't matter. You're prey, just like everyone else. Your opinion doesn't matter."

I surged to my feet and glared down at him. "Prey? If you can't treat us right even when you're a Rookie, maybe you shouldn't Digivolve at all!" I snapped before I realized what I was saying.

He breathed heavily, but I could see he was holding it back. His pupils were almost round right now, his lower jaw quivering. He... he looked like he was about to cry. Instead, he said, "Then good luck finding your parents." Then he bolted at full speed, running away.

"Wait! BlackGumilmon, I –" Triumphant music began to play from the football field, a sign that our team had won. I just glared after my partner, growing angrier and angrier. I knew he didn't mean it, not really. He was stupid, and I'd said what I'd said. To him, and his stunted, stupid brain, they were the same thing. Hell, since I needed him to Digivolve they were the same thing. And it was... everything to him. Just like my parents were everything to me. Shit.

The others glanced between one another. "Shit," I groaned. "Shit."

X X X

"Sukamon!" BlackGuilmon growled at himself as he laid in the darkness of his old lair, the park where he had first run after meeting Tasuke. "Sukamon!"

He'd been cursing for an hour now, originally directing them at his idiotic partner and what he had said. Hoping BlackGuilmon would never Digivolve? That was crossing the line! And then BlackGuilmon eventually started thinking something else. Something new and confusing. Something he'd never thought before. Did I push him to this? Is it kind of my fault I can't Digivolve? It sounded insane, yes, but... what if? What if the problem wasn't only Tasuke? And then he started to wonder if him being mean to Tasuke and his friends had caused their relationship to fray?

BlackGuilmon glared into the darkness. "Sukamon," he growled again, conjuring the disgusting, poop shaped Digimon to mind once more. He took a deep breath and spat it out with a huff. "I shouldn't feel bad – I don't feel bad. Feeling bad is what Prey does, and I'm not Prey!"

BlackGuilmon growled at the treacherous thought in his mind that told him he didn't sound very convincing. He shut his eyes and growled louder, scaring a family of bunnies off with the noise he was using to drown his thoughts out. They just started getting louder and more obnoxious, unfortunately. So BlackGuilmon put his front claws over his ears and groaned sadly. "Please stop..."

You hurt Tasuke.

"He hurt me first," BlackGuilmon retorted. "Besides, I don't care about him."

Then why is what he said hurting you?

"I... because!"

Why?

"What? Because!"

So you wouldn't care if he vanished.

"..."

Why not get rid of him and find someone who will make you strong?

"He will!" BlackGuilmon snapped at his own thoughts. "He's my friend, so he'll help me!" The thoughts grew quiet at that, as if they had been waiting for him to say that.

BlackGuilmon looked around, embarrassed. Thankfully, no one had heard him. He laid back down and shivered as a cold wind blew over him. "... Sukamon." It was going to be a long, cold while before Tasuke came and he could say sorry to the human. He never thought he'd miss the warehouse, but at least it was warm.

X X X

"How much further!?" Rika shouted from beside Renamon and Calumon, her husband standing on the massive, cyborg shoulder of his Digivolved partner, WarGrowlmon.

Takato leaned forward, clutching his partner carefully, and made a visor with his hand. "What do you think, Boy?" he asked the massive Digimon. "We close?"

"I can smell him right up there, Takato!" the still childlike voice replied. "He'll be so excited when we tell him we heard from Henry!"

"He says -"

"I can hear him from here, Gogglehead," Rika shouted, annoyed he'd repeat something she could obviously hear. She put her hands on her hips and glared up at him. "You didn't draw him quiet, you know."

"I didn't know you could draw something loud, Takato," WarGrowlmon muttered as he brought a razor sharp hand up to his chin. "How did you do that?"

Takato sighed and shook his head. "I don't think that's what she meant, Boy."

WarGrowlmon nodded and brought his hand over to Takato, resting it flat. Takato hopped over and let himself be slowly lowered to the ground, at which point the massive Digimon glowed for a moment and began to shrink back into Guilmon. "Then what did she mean, Takato?"

"So, Terriermon is nearby?" Renamon asked, mercifully cutting in to save Takato from Rika's semi good natured joking on one side and Guilmon's honest confusion on the other. "We were lucky to hear rumors of him."

"It's been so long since we all got separated," Takato said with a sigh. "I hope Ryo is trying to help the others out, too."

"Yeah. Because that sounds like him," Rika remarked dryly. "He loves sticking around."

"... I'm sorry I wasted the message!" Takato repeated for the thousandth time.

Rika just huffed and turned away from him. Yeah, that sounded about right. "Let's just hope it connects to your D-Power next time," he supplied meekly.

"Gogglehead," she sighed, but she turned back to him and nodded at the distance. "Well, let's go get the annoying little – friend."

"That's the spirit, Rika!" Calumon shouted, floating up to her shoulder and laughing excitedly. "Yeah, let's go get our friend!" Takato laughed at Calumon's oblivious joy. Obviously, Calumon hadn't noticed Rika had nearly called Terriermon something far less friendly.

Rika turned her glare back to Takato, though her annoyance wasn't aimed at him this time. "I can go alone if you want. I bet Terriermon won't exactly be... charming after so long."

Rika raised an eyebrow. "You're not in that much trouble, Gogglehead. Besides, I can handle it you know," she pointed out. She gave him a light shove and smirked. "Are you implying I've gone soft?"

Takato, still as oblivious as when they were kids, threw his hands up. "W-wait! No, I -"

"I'm kidding, Gogglehead," Rika laughed, disarming his stuttering. She shook her head and looked off towards the forest within which they believed Terriermon was hiding. "What else did you smell in there, Guilmon?"

"Lots of Digimon."

Takato chuckled. "I think she meant more specifically, Boy."

"Oh... More than five."

"I... guess that's more specific," Takato muttered, amused but unsurprised at his partner's honest reply.

"Renamon." Rika turned to her partner.

"Of course," the fox Digimon replied with a bow of her head. Rika smiled and raised her Digivice, swiping a Digivolution card with practiced ease. Renamon vanished and reappeared in a white glow that slowly disappeared, revealing a car sized, quadruped Kitsune. Kyubimon. Another card was slashed a moment later, a hyper-speed. Takato grimaced. This wasn't going to be fun.

"Hop on," Rika said as she easily climbed up on Kyubimon's back. Takato nodded and turned to his own partner, holding out his Digivice.

"Yay! I get to be small again!" Guilmon shouted as a white light enveloped him and he slowly shrank, turning into a four legged red ball with wing shaped ears and a red tail tipped in black. He had a tiny black triangle under each eye. His voice came out with a lisp now as he excitedly shouted, "I'm Gigimon again!"

"Yay, small friend!" Calumon laughed, rushing over and bouncing around with the now giggling Gigimon.

"Aww..." Takato said. Rika said it on the inside. He thought so, at least. He let them play for a moment, then reached down and picked up both the tiny Digimon before clambering up onto Kyubimon, much less gracefully than his wife had. As soon as he was sitting behind Rika, Kyubimon took off at full speed.

They arrived just a few minutes later, stopping at the edge of the forest in a sudden blur. Rika and the tiny Digimon were grinning widely, excited and laughing from the speed they'd just reached without even a hair out of place. Takato, however, looked unlike them. His hair was everywhere and he looked shell shocked, as one should feel after going so fast. Gigimon and Calumon bounced around on Kyubimon's back chanting, "Again! Again!"

"No!" Takato shouted, drawing a surprised look from everyone, even Kyubimon. "I... ahem... We need to find Terriermon." He grabbed Gigimon and hurried off of Kyubimon. He hit the ground and placed his partner on the ground, getting him to Digivolve back to Guilmon.

"Yay! Normal sized friend!" Calumon shouted, leaping from Kyubimon and landing on Guilmon's head.

"Lead the way, Boy," Takato said as Rika helped her own partner return to Rookie level as well.

"Okay," Guilmon said with a determined nod. He turned towards the forest and lifted his nose, sniffing past his Calumon hat. Then he took off, leaving everyone behind to follow him.

It was a quiet trip through the Digital forest. Between their travels and the legends of who they were – Takato knew Rika loved the stories of the Warrior Priestess and her Crimson Knight even more than he did – most Digimon knew to avoid any humans traveling through their territory. At this point, it was only Digimon who were little more than angry animals or the occasional power hungry Ultimate or Mega that ever tried anything. Or Digimon that they interrupted in the middle of snacking, Takato remembered as they moved through the forest and into the clearing. "Guys, Momentai! I didn't mean to call you smelly, ugly idiots, but that doesn't mean I was wrong!"

Yeah, that was Terriermon, currently held up by his ears by a Gorillamon, flanked by two more of his buddies. Terriermon shrugged with his hands up. "Come on, you really can't be afraid of a little guy like me! Fight me one at a time, huh!"

The Gorillamon glanced at one another, then leaned in close and growled at Terriermon. "Oh... can't blame me for –' he slowly drifted, turning midair until he caught sight of the figures who had just entered the clearing. "Guys! I can't believe you found me! Let's take care of these smelly, ugly idiots and we can go take a nap."

Upon hearing him call them smell, ugly idiots – again – the Gorillamon all screamed and raised their blaster fists towards him.

"Ugh... Renamon," Rika sighed, raising her Digivice and a Blue Card.

"Of course," Renamon said before charging the Gorillamon. There was a bright flash of light as Rika swiped the card, and Renamon vanished, replaced with a tall fox dressed in white robes and purple hakama, a black priest hat rising above her fox-mask like face. She had three toes on each foot and three fingers on each hand, gripped around a massive calligraphy brush. There was a Yin-Yang symbol on her chest, and one on each of the large vertical pads on her shoulders. "Renamon Matrix Digivolve to... Taomon!"

The Gorillamon stared at her as she twirled. As Takato knew, though, Gorillamon were unrepentant cowards when it came to fighting a Digimon stronger than they. So they threw Terriermon at Taomon as hard as they could and bolted, swinging up and through the trees.

"What!? Cowards! Come back here and take your punishment, we won't kill you!" Rika ordered the quickly retreating primates.

"Jeez, Rika, you aren't even going to ask if I'm okay?" Terriermon asked dryly from on top of Taomon's hat. "Momentai! This is the Digital world, we'll have plenty of fights to go. Unless Henry really has figured out how to get us out of here."

"He can call us on the Digivices now!" Guilmon explained excitedly.

Terriermon blinked, clearly surprised that even Henry had managed to do something like that through the Firewall the Tamers had made. "Wow. Don't tell him how impressed I am, 'cause it'll go right to his head if Henry learns I know how smart he is. Then there'd be no living with him!"

"You couldn't handle someone else with too big an ego around when you already do the job?" Rika smirked at Terriermon.

"In your dreams!" Terriermon scoffed, turning his head and waving his hand dismissively. He stopped suddenly and turned to her. "Speaking of Dreams, Dream Girl -"

Takato chuckled as Rika began chasing Terriermon down, threatening to kill him. He was glad that even after years apart, they were both still such good friends. Besides, he noted as Rika caught Terriermon and tied his ears around his feet to turn him into an odd looking backpack, the Digimon knew what he had been getting into and he still did it. Henry had given her the go ahead years ago, after all.

X X X

I glared at my hands, replaying the events of the night in my head for maybe the ten thousandth time, growing angrier and angrier. At the field my first instinct had been to try to apologize, but he had already run away. I'd rushed to the warehouse to find him, but he wasn't there. That was when I began my spiral. He'd run away, left me, because I'd had the gall to call him out. This entire thing was his fault, but he'd decided to blame me? To punish me? My hands clenched into fists. I was glad I didn't have my Digivice. If he was going to deprive me of any chance at advancing my own goal, then I'd gladly do the same to him..!

If it weren't for the fact that his goal was just part of mine. My hands unclenched, but I was as angry as ever. I bet he was laughing at me, reveling in the fact I couldn't do anything to retaliate. I needed him, I always came to him to try and get him to open up. To become better. And this is what I got for it. A cruel Digimon partner who refused to even pretend to behave like a friend. Well, let's see how he liked it. May couldn't reach Ultimate, so it's not like him Digivolving would make getting to the Digital World any faster. I could afford to wait until he decided to pretend.

I shoved off my bed with a huff and paced around. Henry still had my phone slash Digivice, which basically eliminated doing anything on that. And I knew better than to think I could actually get better at Mortal Kombat after so much time trying and failing. And now that my final automatic crossbow design was complete, I wasn't sure what I wanted to make next. I was bored out of my mind, and restless, and I hated BlackGuilmon! I needed something new to distract me from everything that was going on. And so, before I even knew what I was doing, I had pulled out something old and placed it on my bed.

My old box of cards, toy Digivices, and things my parents had given me before disappearing more than ten years ago. I felt calm just looking at it, seeing the messy pile of blue and green backed paper, the silvery and dust covered toy Digivices. Whereas once the box and everything in it made me angry enough to hide it away, never to be seen again, now that I knew the truth it felt good just to touch it. These were the closest things I had to real memories of my parents, along with the goggles on my head. I could barely remember them after so long, aside from my recurring nightmare of when they left. I couldn't even remember their faces.

I shook off those thoughts and reached in to the box, rummaging around for a moment. I'd grabbed a few good cards I'd left in my deck after I'd abandoned it, but I was wondering what all was in the 'collection' that might work differently in real life versus the game. I sat down beside the box and pulled out a handful of Sukamon cards. With how little the box had moved over the years, everything was pretty much exactly how I'd dumped it in after tearing them out of the card binder I'd put them in, the pages arranged by in universe lore. These Sukamon cards weren't even all the ones I used to have if I remembered; I'd thrown plenty away when it became clear they were as cool as the Digimon printed on them. And now I had a partner who was even worse than a Sukamon. I tossed the cards on the bed and reached in again for another semi-organized pile. This handful was of an interesting Digimon that had never shown up in a show while I was watching. It was the Rookie and Champion stages of a Digimon called Commandramon, a little soldier like dinosaur with an M16. It was a pretty cool design that really should be used for the show. If he were orange and didn't have a gun, he'd have been a Digidestined Digimon for sure by now. The next card was his Champion form, Sealsdramon, which was a larger, cyborg version with a combat knife. Again, more than cool enough to be a main character's Digimon partner. But again, not an orange or red dragon.

Speaking of which... what was that? I leaned over the box and reached in, grabbing hold of an old, faded drawing and pulling it out. The thing was messy, but with hints of talent, something drawn by a child. I remembered Henry had mentioned Dad used to draw his own Digimon. Guilmon, specifically, which meant... This was his drawing. My dad's drawing. It was of a large, red dinosaur with a shaggy mane of white hair, and its appearance sent a pang of familiarity running through my mind. I looked down at the messy handwriting and frowned. Japanese. I could still read it, but not as fast as English after ten years of not having to read it. "Growlmon," I read aloud. That word was the big, red Romanji at the top of the page. I moved on to the others and noticed they were mainly unimportant measurements. Greymon sized. I moved on to the drawing in more detail. There were black triangles on his red body that looked very similar to the red ones on my own idiot partner's and I realized what this was. A Digivolution of Guilmon. I stood up and held it in front of me, then slowly moved over to my drawing desk. I felt this need to update this for today, to imagine what BlackGuilmon could become.

I stopped and glanced into the box again, and slowly reached in. There, once again, was the card I had never seen before. It was a simple design, even if it made no sense. On one side, red with a greed 'D' made of pixels with a monster roaring out of it. I turned it over and frowned. A simple, black design. Four identical, equilateral triangles. Three of them were placed tip to tip with the one in the center, itself circumscribed by a circle. I'd seen this symbol so often lately I hadn't even thought about it. The Digital Hazard. I glanced down at the drawing again and saw that the hazard wasn't on the Growlmon's chest, then turned back to the card. I froze. In my hand was nothing more than a simple Digivolution card. I stared at the card for a while, then shook my head and tossed it back into the box. "Stupid BG. Everything makes me think of him now." I moved over to my desk and picked up my favorite sketching pencil. "BlackGrowlmon, though... that I can get behind." I traced the overall design of the Dragon-Dinosaur, even adding the familiar symbol to his shoulders, right where I thought – no, knew it would be.

As I continued drawing, I felt my heart growing heavier and heavier, my anger slowly floating away with every line. Finally, it was gone, and I stared at the completed drawing. BlackGrowlmon, a Greymon sized Digimon. He was deep black with rusty, crimson lines and triangles covering his body, as well as the tips of his new horns and the massive blades growing from his powerful forearms. His claws had grown significantly from BlackGuilmon's, and were now tipped with deep black edges. The white mane of hair cascaded down his back, wilder and angrier than even the old drawing's had been. I stared at the new drawing for a while, then calmly picked both it and the old one up, folding them over one another and putting them back in the box.

I knew that, even though BlackGuilmon was being unreasonable, I couldn't afford to wait anymore. I was being stubborn and stupid. I needed him to Digivolve to BlackGrowlmon and beyond. And besides, I wasn't being entirely fair. BlackGuilmon was, kind of at least, trying. He would do things with us and he tried not to be the absolute worst all the time. Just close. Hey, compared to when he threatened to kill and eat Dorimon when we first met him, that was improvement... right?

This was the last time I would be the bigger man, I lied to myself. The last time!

X X X

Wow, Not-Me-Guilmon isn't the only grumpy one. Taka – I mean, Tasuke, sorry! Tasuke is just as grumpy as Not-Me-Guilmon. Maybe even more grumpy. But I guess that makes sense. If Rika is his mom, then he must be as grumpy as she is sometimes. And Takato – hey, I did it right that time! Yay! – And Takato is his dad, so he can probably get really angry. I hope he doesn't get as angry as Takato can get or that could be bad, especially since Not-Me-Guilmon isn't nice like I am! If he turned into a big, scary dragon, it would probably be bad.

But at least we found Terriermon. Once we have Henry, all of Takato's and my best friends will be together again! And then we can help keep Tasuke safe... as long as that Cadetmon and his partner don't hurt Taka – oh no, I messed it up again!

Oh... well, I hope I don't mess it up on the next Digimon: Digital Monsters!