Disclaimer: Digimon and the characters I use in this story don't belong to me. This story was written for pure fun and no money is made with it.

Genre: Drama/Angst

Rating: PG-13

E-mail: kaeerayahoo.de

Feedback: Always appreciated and constructive criticism is very welcome.

Summary: Daisuke is having a really bad day – everything that can go wrong, does go wrong. Not even Hikari, Takeru, Miyako, or Iori can change it – instead, they only make it worse, then disaster strikes…

Notes: Yep, after a long absence, I'm finally writing a Digimon fanfic again. And of course, it focuses on Daisuke – what else did you expect? This particular story, however, isn't as long and as angsty as 'Broken Wings', but I like it nonetheless. The idea hit me on a particular bad day…

I wanted to try out a new writing style, that's why I used a different POV in this story. Maybe you like it, maybe not. It was fun to write, and that's enough for me!

I guess everybody has already heard about Murphy's Law? If not, this story will help you to understand it a bit better. ::g::

Murphy's Law

by Kaeera

Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.
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Part One

There are some days in life that are truly horrible. They are days only made to prove that Murphy's law really does exist: Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. In my life, I've had many of those days, days on which everything goes wrong, beginning from the rotten eggs in the morning and ending with the full-scale family war in the evening. Everybody has known days like those to a certain extent; after all, they are part of life.

This particular day, however, proved to be far worse than anything I had ever experienced. It, so to speak, topped everything. But I'd better start at the beginning.

Actually, the morning started quite good. The weather was nice when I got up; I didn't quarrel with my sister (a rare occurrence indeed) and there were no rotten things in our fridge. I should have known beforehand that this was too good to be true, but clueless as I was, I went to school without expecting anything unusual to happen. I really thought that nothing could go wrong, and so it was no surprise that I was wearing a big smile when I entered the school building.

It started with my first class, chemistry. Our teacher gave us back a test we had taken three days ago, and I received a perfect 'F'. Well, that really got me down. You know, I'm not the best student, but I still care about my marks, and I try my best. I had studied hard for this particular test, so I had expected the results to be better than they were. The worst thing of all was that my friends had all done better than me; Hikari was happy with her 'B' and Takeru had even managed an 'A'. When I complained, he just shrugged it off. "You know, if you had studied more, your grade would have been better."

That, of course, annoyed me greatly. I really had studied, though nobody seemed to believe it. I even skipped soccer practise, and that said a lot for me. I remembered those dreadful hours studying, sitting at my desk staring at my books, and I sent Takeru an icy glare. "I did study!"

"Obviously not enough." was the blonde boy's reply.

I know that he didn't mean it that way, I know he didn't mean to annoy me, it was just his usual way of talking, but at that very moment, I couldn't help feel angry and hurt at his casual remark.

"Well sorry, not everybody can be as clever as you!" I snapped.

Takeru probably had an equally bad morning, because instead of replying with a joke or a light-hearted comment like he usually did, he glared at me and snapped back. "This is not a question of intelligence, but of laziness. Play less soccer and study more, and your grades will improve."

You see, normally I didn't care about comments like that – I am used to them. And if I would have been having a normal day, I would have laughed and shrugged it off, just like that. But I wasn't having a normal day, and that was the final straw – I exploded. "Excuse me for being who I am!" I shouted angrily. "Go and find yourself a smarter friend if I am too stupid for you!!" And with those words, I turned around and stormed away.

Takeru shouted something after me, but I didn't understand what he said – and to be quite honest, I really didn't want to.

That was the first thing. It would have been okay if the rest of the day had proven to be better, but my chain of bad luck had only just begun.

You can probably imagine that my mood wasn't very good when I went to my next class. A double period of art; we had to work with clay. I might add that Art is not my best subject, but one of my most favourite. To tell you the truth, I can't draw at all. Everything I draw resembles the drawings of a three-year-old, and even the teacher with his practised eye has problems identifying what I've drawn.

But Art class is usually very relaxed and you can do lots of silly things, that's why I like it.

Well, not on this particular day though. I gloomily stared at my heap of clay, wondering how the hell I could form a skull out of the bulky lump. I didn't have the slightest clue, so I simply started attacking it with my hands. Kneading the clay was somehow relieving, and I started imagining that I had Takeru's face in front of me. Pounding the clay was much more satisfactory that way!

Unfortunately, the satisfied feeling didn't last long. Mizuki, a girl I barely know, somehow managed to drop a potter's wheel directly on my left foot! I probably don't need to mention that those things weigh a lot, after all, they are made of metal!

It really, really hurt, and after I had stopped screaming, I was sent to the nurse's office by the teacher. The nurse examined my foot, occasionally ah-ing and oh-ing like a professional, then she finally wrapped a bandage around it, telling me that my ankle was probably sprained, and that I should see a real doctor as soon as possible. She also said I shouldn't put pressure on my ankle for the next two weeks.

Great. That meant no soccer practise for 14 days. Wonderful.

My mood had dropped to the cellar by the time I left the nurse's office. Scowling, I limped through the corridor on the way to my next class. I should have gone home, I really should have, but at the time, that thought never crossed my mind.

It was just perfect that I met Miyako in the corridor. She looked at me and then started laughing.

"What happened to you?" she chortled.

I glared at her, my old anger flaring up again. "I had an accident in Art class." I explained grumpily.

The lavender-haired girl shook her head and sighed in playful exasperation. "Oh Daisuke, that's so typical of you."

She didn't even ask how I felt. Just this sentence, that was it. No questions about my health, nothing like, 'How did it happen?' or 'Can I help you?' or maybe even, 'Does it hurt?'. Nothing.

I gritted my teeth. "Thank you for caring." I said sarcastically.

Miyako didn't notice my anger however, and flashed me a grin. "You're too clumsy for your own good, Davis."

"Well, then go and find another friend!" I snapped and stormed away, ignoring the pain in my ankle. Maybe you noticed already, I was particularly thin-skinned this morning.

The next two classes were sort of a break in the pattern; northing out of the ordinary happened and I tried to avoid the others as much as possible. I had the distinct feeling that too much talk could result in a bad confrontation given my current mood.

Once I saw Takeru whisper something in Hikari's ear and then they both glanced at me, but I couldn't care less. I was wallowing in my own little pit of misery.

Then lunch break started. My ankle still hurt when I walked down the stairs to the cafeteria, so I had to walk slower than normal. When I finally reached the cafeteria, nearly all tables were filled with students. I spotted Miyako sitting with Iori at a table, but Takeru and Hikari were already heading towards them, so I limped to a free table at the other end of the room.

They probably wondered why I didn't join them, since we had made a habit of meeting each other during the lunch break, but I didn't care. Miserably, I poked at my food, realizing I wasn't really hungry. That was indeed a rare occurrence.

Of course, given my bad luck, it was only a matter of time before something else happened. And so it happened that two of the most unfriendly people in school plopped down at my table. The two rowdies were famous for their bad behaviour, and they proved the rumours about them were true by insulting me from the very moment they sat down.

"Ah, sitting here on your own, you poor nerd? Don't ya have any friends?" One of them teased.

"I guess it's because he's so ugly that nobody wants to sit with him."

"Or maybe because hasn't got a brain – after all, he's the guy who plays with the soccer team!"

My eyebrow twitched and I clenched my fist. I knew I shouldn't listen to them, but it was proving to be really, really hard. I already was aggravated, and the two rowdies didn't make things any better.

"Oh, he won't say anything." Rowdie Number One grinned.

"Maybe he has lost his voice. "Rowdie Number Two suggested.

"Yeah, maybe he's afraid of us."

"Haha, everybody should be!"

I bit down on my tongue so I wouldn't say anything I'd regret and concentrated on eating instead. But they weren't satisfied by only teasing me; encouraged by my lack of response, one of them nudged me in the side. "Hey, come on, goggle boy, don't be so shy!"

"Leave me in peace." I whispered, my voice shaking with suppressed anger.

Rowdie Number Two laughed loudly. "Nerd-boy is afraid!"

His friend snickered. "Nerd-boy has no friends who can help him."

"I have friends!" I finally snapped, unable to stay silent any longer.

"Then why are you sitting here all alone?"

I didn't know how to reply to that, so I stared at my plate wishing lunch break – no, this entire day! – would end.

The two rowdies roared with laughter, and one of them slapped the back of my head with his palm. That was the last straw. My voice dangerously low, I growled. "Leave. Me. In. Peace."

"I don't see why we should nerd-boy…" I didn't hear the rest of his sentence. My fist collided with his jaw and he was thrown backwards by the force of the blow. His eyes widened and he stared at me with sudden respect in his eyes. I grinned satisfied, but the feeling didn't last long.

Behind me, a shadow appeared. "Detention, Motomiya." A stern voice ordered, and when I turned around, I saw one of my teachers.

Speaking of bad days. Sighing, I massaged my fist and wondered what I had done to deserve this.

After lunch, as I was on my way out of the cafeteria, I met Iori. "What happened with those two?" he wanted to know, so I told him.

I was still angry and my choice of words was a little bit harsher than usual. Iori, always unfazed by my anger, shook his head and sighed. "Daisuke, you really should try to control your temper. It's not good to explode like that; you leave yourself open to hurt and besides, it can be dangerous."

Well, Iori was right, of course, but at the time, I just couldn't deal with reason. "They deserved it." I stated with more conviction than I felt.

"Violence is never a good solution." Iori simply said and looked at me reproachfully.

I felt cornered. "Not everybody can be as cool as you." I grumbled. "I do have a hot temper, it runs in my family."

"But one day, you'll get hurt because of it. Those two rowdies certainly were stronger than you, don't you…"

"Stop it!" I snapped. "I don't want to hear any more. If you can't accept me as I am, then just leave me in peace, okay?"

I left him standing in the cafeteria and walked out of the room as fast as possible - but not fast enough. Hikari caught up with me. "Why didn't you join us for lunch?" she wanted to know, sending me a curious glance. "And why did you fight with those two morons? You know they are famous for making trouble!"

"They started it. And I didn't feel like joining you."

"You're awfully grumpy this morning." She observed.

"Oh yeah?" Bright, really bright. You know those moments when you are annoyed no matter what the other person says? Well, at that moment, it was like that for me. Hikari certainly meant it well – but I wasn't in the mood for it. "I have my reasons."

"Ah, come on, don't be so down!" She slapped me lightly on the shoulder. "We are not used to you being like that."

"Well, excuse me for having a bad day, or for being like a normal person as an exception!" I barked. "Be assured, the next time I will be my usual chipper self, then you won't have to be inconvenienced by my moods."

"Hey!" Hikari became angry, too – understandably, after all, she was, from her point of view, just trying to help me. "What's crawled up your ass? There's no need to yell at me!"

"Well, then leave me in peace!"

"Excuse me for caring! It bothers me to see you so depressed and lonely! It's not like you."

Deep in my heart, I knew she was worried about me and only wanted to help. Unfortunately, I don't listen to my heart when I'm in a foul mood, and my temper boiled over. "I don't need you to care, you don't care about the real me anyway!!" I shouted heatedly.

Hikari stopped dead in her tracks and looked at me, shock shining in her eyes. "What was that?"

I threw my hands in the air. "It's been like this the entire day. Daisuke don't do this, Daisuke do that. I'm too clumsy, I'm not intelligent enough, and when I'm not cheerful, nobody even bothers to ask me how I feel. I'm sick of it – why don't you find yourself a more perfect friend? Take Ken, he's definitely not clumsy, and he's very intelligent and nice."

She stared at me, her eyes widening in surprise and – what? Shock? Anger? Sadness? "We never…", she began, but I didn't even wait for her to finish.

"You know what?" I shook my head. "I'm going home. I've had enough for one day." And with those words, I took my backpack and left the building.

Hikari shouted for me to wait, but I didn't stop. They could all go to hell, my friends, everyone, I had enough of them – at least for today. With a head full of nasty thoughts, I limped through the streets.

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In my opinion, today had more than filled my share of bad luck for the next year. But Murphy's Law is always in effect, so my string of bad luck didn't stop when I left the school, it only continued. You can probably guess by now what happened next. No? Well, then think: a lonely boy on his way home from school. Boy can't walk very fast because of his swollen ankle. Boy is miserable. Boy has forgotten his jacket.

Well? Any ideas?

Yes, exactly. It started raining. It was so cliché that I couldn't believe it at first. I stared at the raindrops as they splashed against my face, and then I cursed, trying to walk faster. The rain wasn't bad at first, only a few drops here and there, but suddenly the clouds opened up and soon it was pouring like…like…I can't even find a proper comparison for it. Water was falling from the sky and within minutes, I was soaked completely through.

"Somebody up there must hate me!" I screamed in frustration while searching for a dry place. It took me about five minutes to find one, and by the time I had settled down in the doorway of a large apartment building, every part of me was dripping wet.

And that's where I am right now, sitting miserably in a puddle of water, waiting for the rain to stop. It's cold and I'm freezing; and while I sit here, I can't help but think about my day and how everything went so wrong. I realize that it's partly my fault, but that realization comes a little too late. The damage is done and the others are probably mad at me. Great, Daisuke, really great.

And to top it off, my ankle hurts even more than before.

Murphy's Law. It won't let you out of its clutches. Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. Things can and will always get worse. And you never run out of things that can go wrong. Hooray.

I really wonder what will happen next.

Oh no. I probably shouldn't wonder – or I may find myself in one of those scenes from a movie where horrible things happen to the main character, just because he said this one sentence. I hold my breath, but nothing happens, so I sigh in relief.

"This day should officially be named 'The-absolutely-rotten-and-miserable-day-of-Daisuke-Motomiya!'" I complain while sitting on the floor. Nobody answers me, but that's not a surprise because nobody is here. What a pity. I really could have used someone to talk with. But judging from my current mood, I probably would have only screamed at him.

Don't you just love days like this, days when you are in a foul mood and are irritated by things you usually don't give a damn about? It seems as if suddenly I'm thin-skinned and weak, although normally nothing can get me down. It annoys me.

"I want to go home." I look out the doorway. The rain has ceased a bit, but it hasn't stopped completely. "I want to sleep."

With my luck, it will continue to rain late into the evening, so I decide to continue my journey back home. I'm already wet, so it doesn't really matter.

The rain splatters in my face as I hurry through the streets, and I feel slightly envious of my friends who are sitting in dry classrooms right now. I won't turn back now, though, so I have no other choice than to walk through the rain and feel miserable. My ankle hurts, my fingers are frozen and I think I have caught a cold by now. Stupid weather. Stupid art class. Stupid accident. Stupid fight. Stupid DAY!

At least I will be safe now. Not much can happen to me while I am at home. Okay, I can always fight with my sister or drop a plate or have some other freak accident, but I can at least hide in my room from the rest of the world. That's all I want to do right now. Sneak into my bed and hide. Forget everything.

I'm so lost in thought that I don't even notice the car driving on the road – until it has reached me and…SPLASH, drives through a deep puddle. The water – of course, how else would it be? – splashes on me and soaks me even more, if that is at all possible. For a full minute, I just stand there, blinking, and try to recall exactly what happened. Then I scream. "ARGH!"

I stomp with my foot, unable to restrain my anger any longer. "Who do you think you are, you JERK!! You can't drive through puddles like that! You…GAH! What's wrong with this day? AM I being punished for something or what? Care to tell me? I am really clueless here! This day totally SUCKS!"

Cursing under my breath, I storm through the rain, my fists clenched so tightly that blood is dripping from where my nails have bit into my palms. I'm angry beyond measure, my blood is boiling. I want to beat someone, anything, I want to destroy something…As hard as I can, I kick a stone, and it hits the window of a nearby house, shattering it to pieces.

I groan and bury my face in my hands. Somebody curses and I have the sense to run away before I get into even more trouble. Really, this day should be cut out of my calendar.

Somebody shouts after me and I run as fast as my legs can carry me, which isn't very easy with my sprained ankle. With every step I make, a hot pain sears through it and I remember what the nurse told me: Don't put too much pressure on it.

I smile wryly. Well, it's obviously too late for that now. I guess I can forget about soccer training not only the next two, but four weeks.

I tire quickly so I look around to see if someone is chasing me. Since that doesn't seem to be the case, I slow down, only to see a car heading directly towards me – and I hear the sound of screeching brakes.

I can see the shocked face of the driver and I can see my own reflection in the windshield, a small, wet boy with a look of utter horror on his face. Everything seems to happen in slow motion, but I am unable to move – I am frozen. The car slides towards me, I open my mouth, want to scream, but it's already too late. Something hard hits my legs and suddenly I am sailing through the air, my arms flailing around as I helplessly try to find something to grab on to. Pain surges through my ankle, and then I can see the ground rushing towards me at an incredible speed. There's barely enough time to shield my face with my arms. I hear a loud THUD, feel the pain racing through my limbs and then everything becomes dark.

Murphy's Law. Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong, and the situation can always get worse.

What a lousy day.

----------------------

The next thing I know is that I'm suddenly somewhere else. It's really strange; I was just in front of that car – scared as hell, I might say – but now I am in an entirely different place. It's bright and I blink, trying to recognize my surroundings.

I realize suddenly, that I'm standing in a meadow, my bare feet touching the green grass. A soft wind is blowing past me, making the flowers gently sway. A blue sky stretches above me and the scenery is bathed in warm, golden sunlight. Everything seems peaceful, calm, undisturbed.

"Where am I?" I wonder. One moment, I was in front of a car and the next, I'm here, far away from the city and all my troubles. I have a nagging suspicion that something is not right, but I can't put my finger on it.

Suddenly, a voice interrupts my thoughts. "Hello," it chirps, "What are you doing?"

Glancing around, I see a small Digimon at my feet. "Hello," I reply, flabbergasted. Am I in the digiworld? But how? This is really strange!

"I'm not doing much, just wondering."

The Digimon – I believe it's a Pabumon, but I am not quite sure – tilts his head and looks at me.

"What are you wondering?"

"I don't know, where I am and why I am here." I admit sheepishly. "One moment, I was in the city and it was raining, and then I'm here, from one moment to the next." While I talk with the Digimon, I notice that my bad mood has vanished, just like that. I feel almost serene.

"That's strange." The Digimon agrees with me, frowning. "So, what's your name?"

"I'm Daisuke." I kneel down in front of the little creature so that we can talk better. "And you?"

"I'm Pabumon!" it squeals, and I feel delighted at the fact that I guessed its name correctly.

Looking around, I ask it a question. "Say, Pabumon, are there any other Digimon nearby?"

"Oh yes, there are many Digimon." Pabumon replies and jumps up and down. "When you walk over this hill, you will come to Primary Village where all Digimon are born. There you can meet many others like me!"

"All right, thank you." I rub my chin, pondering my current situation. Why did I find myself suddenly stranded in the digiworld? And why here? Close to Primary Village?

"Are you sad?" Pabumon inquires, worry shining in his eyes.

I blink, and then laugh. "A little bit, but not much. It's just that I have a few questions running around in my head – and I haven't got the answers."

"That must be horrible." The baby Digimon sympathizes. "Why don't you go and ask someone else? Maybe they'll know the answer!"

"Yeah, I might do that." I reply absently, my mind already wandering again. Let's start at the beginning…I had this really rotten day, I quarrelled with all of my friends with the exception of Ken (man, I'm glad that he doesn't attend the same school as me, otherwise I would have fought with him, too – horrible idea!), I walked home in the rain, I got soaked, I kicked a stone through a window, ran away and then…I turned around and saw a car in front of me.

I shudder as I remember that particular image. That hadn't been a pleasant sight, indeed. And after that? There is a huge gap in my memory. I couldn't have just disappeared right there on the street – especially since I remember getting hit by the car – and reappearing in the digiworld, can it?

Suddenly I feel cold. What if I was hit by the car – and died in the process? What if I am like Oikawa, a spirit in the digiworld? Unable to return to my normal life, my friends and my family?

"What if I am dead?" I whispered, my eyes widening at the horrible momentousness of this idea. "What if I died?"

I stare at my hands. They are solid, like hands should be. I can't be dead, can I? I mean, I would know if I was dead! You can't die without noticing, it's impossible! Okay, I've never died before, so I am not exactly sure, but still…

There has to be another reason why I'm here. Maybe it's another part of my totally rotten, horrible no-good day, a weird dream implanted in my mind, a hallucination…yeah, maybe I'm actually lying on the cold concrete, bleeding to death, and this is my last vision, a vision of the digiworld…

"Daisuke, you're thinking rubbish!" I scold myself and rub my forehead. But then again, it is a possibility, isn't it? It could be a dream, a hallucination, a product of my imagination. But…what if it was real?

There is only one way to find out the truth. Searching through my pockets, I pull out my digivice. For several minutes, I clutch the familiar device in my hand, simply staring at it. The surface is full of scratches, a sign of the many adventures we've had together. I miss Veemon; he probably could have told me what happened. And if not, at least I wouldn't be alone. But my blue partner is nowhere to be seen.

I wander around a while after saying goodbye to the helpful Pabumon, until I find a TV. Standing in front of it, I let out a resigned sigh and raise my hand with the digivice. "Digiport open!" I shout, but my voice lacks its usual confidence.

With a flashing light, the port opens, giving way to the normal world. One last time I glance back at the digiworld, and step through it.

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Murphy's Laws

1. Nothing is as easy as it looks.

2. Everything takes longer than you think.

3. Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.

4. If anything simply cannot go wrong, it will anyway.

5. Left to themselves, things tend to go from bad to worse.

6. If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlooked something.

7. Nature always sides with the hidden flaw.

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To be continued…

Reviews would be greatly appreciated :)