AN:
Italics = thoughts
"Quotes" = dialogue
bold = 'Master's' words and thoughts
underlined = reading something that is written
Disclaimer: I do not own digimon or any of its characters. I do however claim ownership of any original characters introduced.
Digimon Tamers 2
Chapter 1: A New Adventure Begins
Silence. Is there anything more maddening? A boy sat on the concrete steps in front of a small hut, peering out over the treetops, the worn yellow goggles on his head glinting in the rays of the setting sun. He rests his head on his knees, pulled up to his chin, his face contorted into an odd mix of boredom and sadness.
A red saurian creature walks out of the hut and plops himself next to the boy. "Takotomon? What are you thinking about?" he asks in a childish voice. The boy sighs and turns his gaze toward the saurian. "Nothing, Guilmon. It's not important." He turns his gaze back to the treetops ahead. "Well it must be important if it's got you looking all sad…" Guilmon replied innocently. A smile crosses the boy's face for a slight moment. Guilmon nuzzles his snout into the boy's cheek and he laughs. "Guilmon!" he exclaims cheerfully, still chuckling. He hugs the red dino and says, "I'm just a little preoccupied. It's been almost a year since those parasimon attacked and we haven't seen any digimon since." Guilmon cocks his head at this. "Is that bad?" The boy lowers his head. "Well, no… I suppose I should be grateful that Shinjuku isn't being threatened on almost a daily basis, but it's just so quiet that I don't know what to do with myself."
"You could try just enjoying the summer!" The boy's head shoots up to see a young, blue-haired boy walking up the steps, a green and cream colored rabbit-like creature on his head. "You going to sit here on your butt all day and mope, Takato?" the bunny asks, a smile blooming on his face. "Terriermon…" the blue haired boy says, racking the bunny on the head. "What did we say about tact?" Laughing, Terriermon replies with his signature, "Momentai, Henry." Takato and Henry both laugh.
Sitting down next to his friend, Henry asks, "So what's on your mind?" Takato shrugs and replies, "Just thinking about how boring and quiet it is." Henry shakes his head. "That can't be all. You never let boredom get the best of you before." Takato smiled at this. "Come on. You can tell me."
"Well, without any digimon to fight, we almost never see the others. Ryo… Rika…"
"Jeri…" Henry adds. Takato blushes immediately but nods. Ever since the D-Reaper incident, Jeri hadn't been the same. Her father decided to move to Odaiba not long after the parasimon incident and so it was rare for them to see her.
Terriermon jumps down from his tamer's head. "Momentai already!"
"Yea! Mom-mer-rai!" Guilmon shouts cheerfully. They all break out laughing.
Henry stands and extends a hand to Takato. Takato smiles and takes it, allowing his friend to pull him to his feet. "Maybe it's time we planned a formal get-together with all the tamers. We never did throw a proper welcome home party for the digimon." Takato's face brightened at this. "Yea! I could make a bunch of bread for a picnic!" Henry nodded, smiling. "Thanks, Henry. I don't know what I'd do without you?"
"Run off a cliff?" Terriermon chimed in.
"Terriermon!"
"Momentai!"
Henry and Terriermon waved goodbye as Takato and Guilmon ran off towards the park edge. Henry sighed and walked into the concrete hut that once served as Guilmon's home. He peered down into the pit which Guilmon had dug to find the digiportal that had brought the tamers to the Digital World on their search for the adorable Calumon after he had been kidnapped. The portal had since deactivated and concrete pebbles and metal bars lay strewn about the hut, around and inside the deep pit. Bits of concrete still jut out from the mostly dirt wall from when Hypnos tried to seal it up. "Whatcha thinking Hen-ry?" Terriermon asked in a teasing manner. "Don't start, Terriermon," Henry replied simply. "Well you're staring at a hole and ignoring me. I think that qualifies as rude."
"Terriermon…"
"Momentai, Henry. We should be heading home anyway. Your parents are probably waiting on us to start dinner."
"Yea, I know. It's just… I don't know if I want to go home right now…"
"You'd rather stare at a hole?"
"No, it's just… I was thinking that… never mind."
"C'mon Henry. Don't leave me hanging. What are you thinking about?"
Henry scratched at the back of his head. "Just something Takato had said. How we haven't had any bio-emergences in almost a year."
"What, are you complaining? I thought you didn't like fighting."
"No, it's not that. There has to be a reason that digimon stopped coming. I just wonder what it is. I mean, we practically get an invasion of parasimon and then suddenly nothing?"
Terriermon dropped to Henry's shoulder, wrapping an ear around to hold himself up. "Momentai. If any more digimon come out, we'll handle them. If they don't, then we have nothing to be concerned about."
"Maybe…" Henry's face was contorted in thought.
"Yo! What's up bro!" an annoying voice echoed through the concrete hut. Startled, Terriermon fell off his partner's shoulder. "Kazu, do you have to be so loud?" Henry asks, turning to see a boy with spiked up brown hair and a visor standing in the gateway. He shrugs and replies, "That's as quiet as I get, amigo." A boy with black hair and glasses ran up behind him. On his shoulder, a little pink creature sat, chirping in his ear. "We were looking for Takato. You seen him?" Kazu asks.
"You just missed him. He went home," Henry replied.
"Maybe Henry can help us?" the boy with glasses suggested.
"Maybe. What do you say Henry? Wanna help your pals Kazu and Kenta out?"
Henry smiles and answers, "Why not?"
"Henry!" Terriermon pipes in. "Aren't we supposed to head home for dinner?"
Taking out a cell phone, Henry answers, "I'll just call and tell them to start without us."
"No fair! I'm hungry!" Terriermon said, placing his paws on his hips and pouting.
"Alright, then go home and eat," Henry said shrugging.
Terriermon scurries up his friend's leg to his shoulder. "No way am I missing whatever the dimwit duo is up to!"
"Hey, I resent that remark. It's bad enough Rika rips on us. We don't need you doing it too."
"Alright," Henry intercedes, making a placating gesture. "What is it you two need help with?"
"No way! No way am I going through with this!"
They were standing outside of the house of one Rika Nonaka. "Aww c'mon chumly," Kazu pleads. "All you gotta do is talk to her!"
"If she's mad at you two, I want no part of it!" Henry says, raising his hands. "But I really need my baseball back!" Kazu added. "And every time I try to go in, she has Renamon chase me back out. She likes you. She's bound to be willing to give it to you if you ask." Henry shakes his head. "Rika doesn't like anyone. She just tolerates us." He looks them top to bottom. "Some of us more than others."
"This is why we wanted Takato!" Kazu whines, throwing his arms up in the air. At least he's not afraid of her."
Before Henry could respond, Renamon materialized behind Kazu and Kenta. "Maybe if you boys asked for your ball instead of trying to sneak in and take it, she would be more open to returning it." Henry lets out a small chuckle. "She has a point, guys."
"But we can't just ask! That'd be admitting she's superior!"
"She is." Henry, Terriermon, and Renamon say in unison.
"Piu piu piu piu," the pink creature, known as MarineAngemon, chirped from Kenta's shoulder. "I know, buddy. Maybe this time he'll listen.
Renamon tosses a baseball to Henry. "Rika is tired of being disturbed by these two, so take it and go." Before Henry could respond, she disappeared. Henry tosses Kazu the ball. "Don't lose it in her yard again." Kazu places a hand on the back of his head, grinning sheepishly. "C'mon Kenta. It's getting late. We should head home. I know Guardromon is waiting for me." Kazu turns and runs off. Kenta nods and runs off after his friend.
Henry turns and walks the other direction towards his family's apartment. Unknown to him, a pair of green eyes watches him from a nearby tree.
"Humans… they never cease to amaze me wit their stupidity," the purple critter known as Impmon states, chuckling to himself. "Shouldn't you be heading home to your tamers?" Renamon asks, stepping out of the shadows onto a branch. "Impmon jumps to his feet and turns to face her. "Maybe I should, toots. What's it to you?" Renamon's expression remained passive and she continued to stare him down. "What was those numbskulls' ball doing in your tamer's yard anyway?" he asks, doing his best to look uninterested. "Apparently Kenta dared Kazu to toss it into the yard and then fetch it," she answered matter-of-factly. Impmon shrugs. "Eh, ba-boom. Nothing exciting happens anymore."
"Are you actually looking for a fight?" Renamon asks in a cool voice. Impmon sighs. I wouldn't mind stretching my legs a bit. Nothing has happened since those stupid parasimon tried to invade."
"I agree. It's been too quiet. Even Rika has grown restless."
"She has?" Impmon asks, his curiosity clearly showing.
Renamon smirks at him. "You should really worry about your tamers and less about mine. "Alright! Sheesh! What are you? My mudda!? I'm going already!" With that, he jumped from the branch and out of sight. With a light chuckle, Renamon turned and phased back into her tamer's room.
Rika was sitting on the floor neat her futon, arranging her digimon cards and trading some in and out of her battle deck. "I gave them the ball back and chased away Impmon," Renamon stated nonchalantly, taking a seat next to her tamer. Rika's only response was a slight grunt as she remained focused on arranging her cards. "Hopefully those bozos won't come back anytime soon," she says after a couple seconds. She tossed the extra cards into a metal tin and placed her deck in its usual leather pouch on her belt. "It's been awhile since you've spent time with the others, Rika. Is everything alright?" Renamon asks. Rika was caught off guard by this, but quickly regained her composure and shrugged it off. "There hasn't been any digimon and there's no other reason for me to hang out with them. Besides, I doubt they want me hanging around. The only one who ever calls is goggle-head and I can hardly stand to spend time with him." Renamon said nothing as her tamer rose to her feet and walked to her closet. She placed the card tin inside and slid the door closed. Walking back to her futon, she allowed her eyes to wander to a picture sitting on her night table. It was the one of her, Takato, and Henry when they went to Okinawa. "Stupid gogglehead," she muttered while smiling to herself.
The Wongs were in the middle of dinner when Henry walked through the door. "Henwy, there you are!" his younger sister, Suzie, exclaimed, snickering at her own pronunciation of her brother's name. Henry gave her a smile before taking his seat at the table. "So where have you been?" his father, Janyuu, asked. Henry ignored him and picked up his chopsticks, eating his dinner in silence. Janyuu frowned and returned his attention to his own plate. Suzie rose from her seat and carried her plate into the kitchen. She returned with two rice balls, one for her partner, Lopmon, and one for Terriermon who salivated upon seeing it. "Here you go," she said tossing them to the digimon. Terriermon scarfed his down quickly before letting out a small belch. "Terriermon…" Henry warned. "Momentai! How else am I supposed to express how delicious that was?" Lopmon nibbled on her own riceball as she leered at her counterpart. "So Henry," his father started up again. "Maybe tomorrow we can go to the park and play catch, like old times?" Henry shifted uncomfortably before replying, "I don't know dad… I have a lot of homework to do over summer break. Janyuu frowned again and rose from his seat. "Henry, can we talk on the porch?" Henry laid down his chopsticks and rose to follow his dad. Terriermon went to follow but Henry's mother, Mayumi, blocked his path. "I think we should let those two talk alone," she stated calmly. Before he could respond, Suzie scooped him up into her arms. "C'mon 'Tewwiermon'. Let Dad and Henry talk. You can come watch some TV with me and Lopmon." Terriermon sighed but allowed Suzie to carry him to the couch.
As they stepped out onto the porch, Janyuu slid the door closed and turned on his heel. "How long are you going to hold this grudge against me?" he asks in as calm a voice as he can manage. "Dad, you sent our digimon away. You lied to my friends and me and made us say goodbye to our best friends."
"Henry, I didn't have a choice! The D-Reaper had to be stopped…"
"I know that, but maybe we could have found another way…."
Janyuu drooped his head. "That's exactly why I didn't tell you. I didn't want to make it harder on you…"
Henry remained silent, his back still to his father.
"It all worked out in the end, didn't it? You have Terriermon back now and…"
"That's only because Takato as stubborn as a donkey and refused to give up…" Henry interrupted him.
Janyuu allowed himself a slight smile. "I agree that your friend is a remarkable young man."
A smile came to Henry's face but he quickly suppressed it. "I need more time dad."
"Henry, all I want is your forgiveness. I'm so sorry. I just want us to be a family again, like we were before this whole mess." Henry lowered his head.
Suddenly, a boom echoed in the distance. Both Wongs jerked their heads in the direction of the noise. "That doesn't sound good!" Henry yelled out, pulling open the glass door. He ran to the front door, where Terriermon was already waiting. "Hurry up Henry!" he shouted jumping up and down. "We don't want Guilmon and Takato to have all the fun!" Henry grabbed his partner and threw him over his shoulder before pulling the door open and running into the hall, his sister following close in tow.