Digital Monsters, Digital Adventure

“Dad, why are you making breakfast?”

Angie looked almost frightened at the thought, and Ari agreed with her fully.

“Mikey said something about being too busy to make breakfast today.”

“And mommy?”

“She’s talking with Master Splinter. Is my cooking really that bad?”

He noticed the blank look on her face…

“Okay, but that doesn’t mean I can't make scrambled eggs.”

“…Dad, the eggs are burning.”

“SHELL-!”

Koromon almost laughed from little Ari’s arms, since it seemed comical to see the older turtle staring down at the burned food…

“I’ll take care of breakfast.” Angie offered, taking out another pan and carton of eggs.

Light was prancing around her legs, begging for a happy pat or a kind word, which Angie was happy to give.

“Are you sure, Angie?”

Leo seemed to remember her NOT knowing how to cook…

“I’ll be fine. At least it’ll be edible.” She teased.

“Fearless ain’t cookin’? Hallelujah!”

As the blue-masked father glared at his brother, the regrouping children giggled.

The Digimon were kept in Angie and Ari’s room, so they had each other and a room to explore.

The young turtles felt vulnerable without their partners, and were fidgeting nervously as breakfast was made.

Artemis smiled, seeing that almost everyone was already gathered.

“That smells GREAT. Good thing Leo’s not cooking…”

Cough…

“…Not that you cook BAD, love…It’s just…I got food poisoning last time…”

“You have to keep reminding me, don’t you?”

“I was sick for three days!”

Angie smiled a bit, missing her parents banter and not noticing Light had gone off somewhere…

“Are you feeling better, sweetie?” Artemis wondered, touching her palm to Ari’s forehead.

A smile crossed her face.

“Cool as a cucumber.”

“I feel much better, mommy!”

“I’m glad you are.”

Balancing plates on her arms and head, the sky-masked turtle headed over to the table.

“Be careful!”

“I’m fine, dad.” She assured, distributing the filled plates to the people already seated.

She had made enough for everyone in the family, not to mention the Digimon, so she wasn’t worried about running out.

The news was turned on, and Don and Mikey, joining them in the kitchen alcove that’s doorway FACED the TVs, tensed.

It was on the two Digimon battles from the day before…

The fork stopped halfway to Elie’s mouth, and she stared in awe at the video footage of Birdramon’s and Mammothmon’s fight…

Z paused when she saw Ikkakumon…

“This might be dangerous.” Leo stated, snapping the children out of their daze.

“Why, bro?” Mikey wondered, trying to appear unperturbed.

“If there are giant monsters fighting in the city, you shouldn’t leave the lair.”

“But dad-.”

“There’s no discussion.”

Artemis looked between her mate and her eldest daughter, saw the frustration and the almost-defeat that she’d often felt in herself.

“Love, don’t be so hard on them. The sewers should be safe, at least. Don’t coop them up.”

“Love, don’t try to change my decision.”

“But it doesn’t seem very fair. Do you really think they’d get caught up in a battle between two giant monsters?”

A flash of guilt, then nothing.

Angie already felt guilty about not saying anything about her partner to her parents, but they TRUSTED them not to go fight Digimon…

What was she supposed to do?

Let them destroy the city?

Her HOME?

Izzy dropped her fork, standing up suddenly and walking out.

“…What’s up her shell?” Chi wondered.

Raph’s eyes narrowed, leaning back as he thought.

The crimson-masked turtle wasn’t known to abruptly leave meals unless something was bothering her…

He summed it up to lack of freedom, but there was a strange feeling in his gut that made him think it was something more…

Kasai was more of an inquisitive parent, and she followed her daughter out of the room.

The she-turtle went into her older cousin’s room, and Tsunomon jumped into her arms.

The Digimon had heard the whole thing…

“What are we going to do, Izzy?”

“We’ll thin’ ‘a somethin’, buddy…Don’t worry…”

Patamon shared worried glances with Biyomon before settling back on the bed.

“Do you think we’ll ever find the eighth child?”

“We will…bet they’re closer than we thought.”

The door closed, and gold eyes snapped up to meet the warmer pair of her mother’s…

“…Don’t worry, honey.” Kasai assured, sitting down beside her daughter on the floor…

“I won’t tell your father…”

Carefully, she pat Tsunomon’s head, smiling a bit.

“…Now what’s going on here?”

“…It’s a lon’ story…”

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“LIGHT? LIGHT, WHERE ARE YOU?!”

Angie sighed, tapping her foot impatiently.

With her father refusing to let them go topside, she’d been ordered to give the husky a bath.

Of course, not being ordered around for quite a while, she bit back some choice retorts before storming off.

This, in its own way, surprised the adults to no end.

All the children seemed so DIFFERENT, and they were beginning to suspect something had happened on their trip to the comic convention…

Angie had specifically told them nothing had happened, that they were just changing.

It was the point of being a teenager, wasn’t it?

To grow and change and become adults?

Well, adults don’t usually take orders from other adults.

With this answer said, she’d gone to find the mysteriously-wayward dog that was her friend.

This left Leo to wonder what the SHELL had made his daughter so rebellious all of a sudden…

When he’d demanded answers, she’d shot back that nothing was wrong and that he should just trust her.

He found it hard to do that…

She seemed so secretive, agitated, but he felt, at least, that she must have the best of reasons.

His own daughter wouldn’t withhold anything important…

Gabriel and Don were holed up in the lab with Tentomon, while Rosie and Elie had gone off with Ari to play secretly with their Digimon.

Izzy was still with her mother, talking, while Lily was with Palmon in her own room.

Peeking her head into the lab, Angie spotted father and son talking excitedly.

“Hey, guys!”

They paused, waiting for her question…

“Have you guys seen Light? I can’t seem to find her anywhere.”

“Maybe she went out into the tunnels.” Gabe suggested.

“She would’ve been back by now…” The sky-masked turtle muttered.

“Never mind. You can go back to whatever you’re working on. I’ll just go look for her in the sewers.”

Artemis watched her daughter head out into the sewer, and managed to stop her mate from doing the same.

“Don’t. It’s…I think she just wants some freedom, love.”

Reluctantly, he pulled himself back into his seat. Mizu and Chi shared a glance, sighing…

“I’ll go check on Lily…”

“Where’s Z? I ‘aven’t seen ‘er…”

As the two mothers headed off, they left only three siblings to talk this over.

Chi found her eldest daughter in her room, and she smirked knowingly.

‘Guess I was right…They ain’t toys…’

Her Earthbending gave her the ability to sense heartbeats, and had known since the kids walked in that their ‘stuffed animals’ were real.

Knocking, she waited a moment before opening the door.

“’Ey, Z. ‘Ey, Gomamon.”

The blue-eyed Earthbender shot up straight as Gomamon jumped onto her shoulder.

“’Ow did ya…?”

“I could feel ‘is ‘eartbeat.” Chi explained, closing the door.

Z seemed to be cursing her bad memory as her mother sat beside her, a hand on Gomamon’s head…

“…Why don’t ya tell me all ‘bout it?”

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“Lily?”

There was a loud shuffling, and Mizu opened the door to see a nervous Lily standing in front of her closet.

“…Lily, what are you hiding?”

“Nothing!” The violet-masked she-turtle insisted.

“…Step away from the door.”

Lily couldn’t seem to step away…

“Lily Hamato.”

The tone was a direct order, and the young Waterbender tentatively stepped away.

Mizu opened the door, and was met with a sheepishly-smiling Palmon.

“…Lily?”

“Please don’t tell, mom!”

Lily took her partner into her arms in a hug, looking pleading.

“We’re not supposed to tell!”

“…It’s alright, honey…”

The elder Waterbender smiled reassuringly.

“I trust you.”

Lily relaxed, standing up with Palmon held against her plastron…

“Thanks, mom…”

“All I want to know is what’s been going on.”

“Well…I’ll tell you. But don’t be surprised if you don’t believe me at first.”

Mizu smiled.

“Trust me, I’ve seen plenty of weird things in my time.”

“Here it goes…”

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“Angie?”

“Oh, hey Ari…”

The little turtle seemed worried at the tired look on her sister’s face, holding Koromon close…

“Sorry…I’ve just been looking for Light for so long…I hope nothing happened to her…”

A thought came to her…

“Ari, do you remember what happened when we were little?”

“With the monsters? Yup! Koromon Digivolved into Greymon and fought that giant bird!”

“…Do you have a Digivice?”

A confused look…

“You mean that thing you were mad at?”

“Yeah…”

“Nope. I’d never seen it before.”

Angie seemed a bit disappointed…

“Oh, it’s okay…Don’t be worried about it.”

Ari smiled as her sister patted her head in a way that would have ruffled her hair…

If she had any.

“Go to sleep. Koromon can keep you company tonight.”

Angie smiled, pulling back the covers on her sister’s bed.

“He’ll scare all the bad dreams away. I promise.”

Settling onto the mattress with Koromon tucked under her arm, Ari looked up at her sister with innocent brown eyes…

“Angie…If something bad took me away, would you come save me?”

“Of course I would.”

The sky-masked turtle smiled reassuringly, tucking both of them in.

“I’d never let anything bad happen to you, Ari. I swear.”

“…What would you do?”

There was this strange fear in her eyes, and the crimson-eyed turtle remembered her sibling’s future-sight.

It didn’t seem to have been a powerful vision, but the little gold-banded turtle seemed frightened of something…

“I’d do anything, Ari. You’re my little imouto, and I love you.”

Seeming a bit eased and even, strangely enough, uncomfortable with that information, the younger turtle fell asleep…

‘I wonder what’s got her so worried…’

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Gabe sighed, rubbing his eyes…

It was a late night, and even his father had already gone to bed…

He just couldn’t sleep.

He felt something was going to happen, and he’d need to investigate his laptop.

Going through the attachments Gennai had added in, he smiled a bit as Tentomon’s snoring reached him.

The Digimon had gone to sleep, after a midnight snack, on the cot made in the lab.

Trying not to disturb his partner, he’d turned off all the lights except for the one coming from his screen.

Clicking on one, a map of New York came onto the screen with a mini-Gennai.

“Huh?”

There was a red dot near the river, and he clicked on it to get closer in…

“There’s an unidentified Digimon lurking in the harbor! You’re the only one that’s still awake!”

Startled, Gabriel felt his heart beat faster as he realized Gennai was right…

“TENTO!”

The Digimon was troubled from his sleep with a start as his partner grabbed his jacket.

“We need to go!”

“Go WHERE, Gabe?”

“There’s a Digimon in the harbor! We’re the only one who can stop it!”

“WHAT?”

Tentomon was panicking now, jumping around wildly as his partner grabbed his Digivice, crest tapping against his plastron.

“Come ON!”

Grabbing the Digimon’s hand, he started running for the door.

He hardly noticed his grandfather looking out of his bedroom at his grandson…

Turning into the sewers, Gabriel was trying to make it to the harbor without going topside…

“Tento, can you keep up?”

“Of course!”

Flying now, the bug Digimon managed to match his partner’s speed.

They came out of an open pipe overlooking the river, and Gabriel led them up the cliff to the edge.

“This is the right place…Where-?”

A horrible stench filled his nose, and the he-turtle choked and coughed.

“What IS that?”

“It’s Raremon!”

Looking up at the slimy Digimon, he almost backed up.

Then a beeping caught his attention…

“My Digivice is responding to something…”

Looking at the screen, his eyes widened.

“It’s the eighth child!”

“Whoa, bad timing! We need to keep that signal!”

Gabriel nodded, mind racing for a solution…

“You find the eighth child while I hold off old Sewer Breath. I just hope his stench isn’t contagious.”

“Go get him, Tento!”

“Tentomon, Digivolve to…KABUTERIMON!!”

They parted ways, Gabriel trying desperately to follow the quickly-fading signal…

‘Come on…Come ON!’

The signal was almost gone, and the turtle sped up his pace.

‘NO! I can’t lose it! NOT NOW!’

He could hear his partner fighting as his feet stung from broken glass among the warehouses…

‘I can’t make all this for nothing! I CAN’T!’

His heart pounded, his legs burned, and bloody three-toed footprints followed him in a near streak of red…

‘The others are counting on me!’

The signal vanished, and he stumbled upon Demidevimon in his haste to stop.

“Breath of Decay!”

Gabriel was trying to backpedal, a leg buckling under him as his nerves registered the pain…

Demidevimon had a tag and crest around his ankle, the latter the lightest pink he’d ever seen.

‘It must be the eighth child’s crest…Or a copy.’

“What do we have here? A wayward Digidestined?”

Gabriel drew his Bo staff, which he’d found once returning to the lair, brandishing it threateningly.

“Don’t even try it, Demidevimon!”

“And what are you gonna do?”

“Don’t push me!”

Truthfully, he couldn’t DO anything.

Without a good footing, thanks to the slick blood and stabbing pain, he wouldn’t be able to make a sturdy enough stand to even defeat Demidevimon.

‘Kabuterimon…I need you!’

“You’re buddy’s not here to save you this time!”

“I wouldn’t be so sure of that!”

A grin spread across Gabriel’s face…

“Kabuterimon!”

Demidevimon flew away in fear, and Kabuterimon scooped up his partner before taking flight…

The police and reporters were coming now that Raremon was defeated.

“We need to get back, Kabuterimon! I think the eighth child is still nearby! We need to tell the others!”

“Right!”

‘I just hope we find them in time…’

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“Angie, what was worrying Gabe so much?”

“I don’t know…I just saw him run out of the lair with Tentomon…”

Angie narrowed her eyes against the wind, trying to find her single male cousin.

Ari was beside her, Koromon on her lap, as the two sat atop a warehouse very close to the lair.

Kabuterimon soon came into view, and the sky-masked she-turtle relaxed as he landed near them.

“Hey, you two. Something happen?”

“We need to talk.” Gabriel insisted, jumping down before his partner Dedigivolved.

“Come on, then. We’ll talk in the lair.”

As the two started their discussion, the youngest turtle looked up at the diamond-covered sky…

A pink light, like a star, was moving across the darkness…

“A shooting star!”

Quickly making a wish, she jumped when Angie put a hand on her shoulder.

“Come on, Ari. It’s time to go inside.”

“Okay!”

Standing, she cuddled Koromon closer.

Smiling, she followed her sister.

The In-Training Digimon smiled, cuddling against her plastron.

The little turtle’s sweetness had caught the hearts of the Digimon rather quickly, and, seeing how the others obviously cared about her very much, had sworn to protect her.

Koromon especially.

He’d seen them together, seen how she loved her sister, and had promised his partner he’d never let anything happen to her.

He just hoped nothing WOULD...