#『 muse check // miyako 』

[detectiveichijouji]

Case 2 - The thundering sound at Amanogawa High last floor

[AO3 version]

Hikari had joined the school journal staff just for fun, she wanted to take photos and write articles helping Chosen Children in her school to take care of their digimon partners and vice-versa. But this ability became more and more important for the shocking story ready to unfold. 

“Hey, Yagami-san” a boy came to talk to her, “Can you take a photo of something peculiar for me?”

“A photo of something peculiar? I think I can, but what do you want me to photograph for you?”

“So some senior year students reported that there’s a wild thunder sound coming from the last floor in this building at midnight. Some said to have seen a monster’s silhouette too.”

“A monster?” She raised an eyebrow, “Maybe someone’s digimon partner?”

“They said it wasn’t a digimon of any of the students to have here…”

“Hm…” the girl mused…

“... And then this was what he said” She reported to the other five members of the now ‘formed’ Team 02.

“Interesting… A ghost story…” Armadimon commented.

“Hm, could it be just a lost digimon residing at Hikari-san’s school?” Iori mused. The others seemed to be doing the same.

Except Daisuke. His face had a crooked smile, like if he was trying to hide his true reaction.

“Huh, what’s wrong Daisuke?” Miyako and Ken asked together, looking at the boy.

“N-nothing… I just ate a sour candy before coming here… It was… too… sour…”

“But you like sour candy!” V-mon babbled, “I mean, you like anything to eat. Sour, Salted, Bitter, Sweet…”

“Aren’t you afraid of a ghost story, right?” Patamon asked innocently.

“... I’m fine! Ghosts don’t exist after all!”

“Anyway, maybe we could investigate this…” Hikari interrupted them.

“I agree with Daisuke, though” Tailmon looked at them, “Ghosts don’t exist, there might be a lost digimon, like Iori pointed out.”

“Bakemon on the other hand is clearly an undead digimon” Hawkmon added, “But that shouldn’t be a big deal, don’t worry Daisuke-san.”

“Yeah, l-like I said” Daisuke’s voice was wavering.

“Daisuke doesn’t like Bakemons” V-mon clarified, “I think it’s because of that time Ken psychologically tortured him--”

“... I’m still sorry about that” Ken frowned.

“No biggie” Daisuke pouted, “Well, you didn’t know me that well before…”

“Is there a reason behind this behavior though?” Iori raised an eyebrow, “Could it be…”

“Yeah, Sherlock” Daisuke sighed and gave up on hiding it, “It’s because of that day, when everyone at Odaiba got captured by Vamdemon. It’s not like I have fear of them, just… Heck, it gave me bad memories. But like I said, it’s no biggie.”

“On the other hand if it is a real spirit he might scream,” V-mon added.

“Yeah if it is-- H-Hey, of course not!”

“Anyway… let’s check it out” Ken interrupted the imminent bickering between Daisuke and V-mon, in order to bring back the main subject, “If it is a lost digimon we must send it back to the Digital World. If not, it might be just someone pulling a prank on Hikari-san’s school.”

“Gah, I lost one of my Digimentals!!” Daisuke gasped while the rest kept discussing doing it next night. The truth is, he wasn’t interested in that convo anymore. V-mon and Daisuke were arguing about the missing Digimental now.

The group went back to Hikari-Takeru-and-Daisuke’s school after the classes and extra activities were over. Daisuke went because Hikari herself had convinced him there wouldn’t be ghosts. (Daisuke: “I’m NOT afraid of ghosts!”) -- They waited on the ground floor inspecting the place, looking for clues like a good detective team. Daisuke managed to get a broom and was holding it like a lance (Miyako: “What will you do? Sweep the ghost away with the broom?”) and stood closer to Iori.

V-mon, however, was checking the trash bin from the corridor. Hawkmon blinked:

“What do you expect to find there…?”

“The ghost so I can punch it with my forehead and help Daisuke to calm down.”

“Oh…”

“Maybe we should split up and check the floors” Ken suggested, and then Daisuke muttered something that sounded like:

 “Shoot, not the classic ‘spread out to cover up more clues’ line!!”

“If you’re scared you can stay here” Takeru said innocently with a grin.

“W-WHO SAID I’M SCARED!? MAN, I’M READY TO FIGHT THE UNKNOWN WITH THIS BROOM!”

“I will help!” V-mon punched the palm of his other hand, “I will make a ghost pudding and take a photo with Daisuke’s phone! Hikari and Tailmon will love it!!”

“Huh, what will Hikari and I love?”

Daisuke bonked V-mon in the head with the boom, “NOTHING! HE SAID NOTHING!” and laughed nervously.

Tailmon raised an eyebrow, “okay…?”

The group split up through the floors -- The building only had three floors, so each jogress partner went to it -- Daisuke and Ken in the 1st floor, Takeru and Iori in the 2nd and then, Hikari and Miyako in the 3rd. Each pair would even split up through the corridors, which made Daisuke himself not very happy with it.

“Ken-chan,” Wormmon looked at Ken, who was carrying him inside in a backpack, “Do you think it’s a good idea to leave Daisuke-san and V-mon all alone…?”

“Daisuke got a broom besides V-mon. We all saw what he’s able to do before, remember? We rolled down a cliff when I was the Kaiser. He’s fine.”

“Um… But if they call for help, evolve me into Stingmon so we can reach them faster.”

“Alright.”

“Nice idea, Ken” Daisuke couldn’t stop his complaints. He walked in the corridor with the broom ready to hit anything that comes into his direction first, “Let’s split up! It will be fine! If there’s a digimon here and a higher level than our partners, one of us’ gonna die!”

“Are you still scared?” V-mon asked, also walking carefully by watching every single angle he could. Yes, he was doing little twirls as well, to cover his own back and to keep watching Daisuke’s footsteps.

“I’m not scared, V-mon! I’ve watched enough movies and TV shows to know what’s coming next! First, the group spread up to search for clues. And then next one of them, the most unluckiest of the group gets attacked by the monster or villain or SOMETHING UNEXPLAINED!”

“Yeah, at this point we’re the unluckiest ones.”

“D-DON’T JINX IT!”

“Don’t Jinx what?”

Suddenly they heard a strong noise at the end of the corridor, and then Daisuke gulped. Yes, he’s the unluckiest out of the six right now. The perfect victim, but he wouldn’t let a ‘spirit-or-whatever-this-thing-is’ frighten him! He held the broom like a sword, ready to slay any obstacle in front, and he and V-mon started to run to the end of the corridor… Screaming.

The screams reached Ken, who felt his heart skip a beat. The screams were spreading through the building and making the other two pairs alerted. The yell of bravery turned into a scream of horror, and when Ken ran to find Daisuke and V-mon… They kept running and throwing anything they could find against that shadow. But the chaser just vanished the moment it met Ken, escaping through the stairs to the next floor.

Ken and Wormmon looked behind to only find a panicked Daisuke on the floor, who had stumbled on his own foot. V-mon kept running and hit the head on the wall.

“Daisuke!” Ken called the other, a little concerned, “Are you--”

“THAT THING TRIED TO CATCH ME! A-A-A CREATURE WITH WINGS! V-MON CAN’T DEAL WITH THAT THING ALL ALONE, BRO!” he yelled, then he looked around and got up, “V-mon…? D-did the thing catch V-mon!?”

“... He’s right there” Wormmon pointed at the digimon who had reverted back to Chibimon, fainted next to the wall.

“AAAaah!! V-mon!!” Daisuke grabbed the baby dragon from the floor, “Don’t make me worried!”

“What was that thing?” Wormmon asked Daisuke, frowning.

“I… I don’t know, I don’t even know what happened! But this is why! we! don’t! split up! in these! cases!”

“Bird…” Chibimon babbled while unconscious “Thunder…”

“Bird, thunder?” Daisuke repeated vaguely… Then he glanced at Ken, “That’s it! It was a bird! A big bird! Not that big to not fit inside the building, but the size of a horse!”

“Can a horse fit inside the school facility?” Wormmon asked Ken.

“Probably, It went upstairs--”

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!” they heard Miyako’s scream. Ken’s eyes widened and he dashed to the last floor immediately with Stingmon carrying him in his arms. Daisuke went behind them, holding Chibimon and running as fast as he could get.

On the way, he regrouped with Takeru and Iori, then finally with Hikari. On the 3rd and last floor, Miyako was running away with Hawkmon coming next to her from a very very loud bird digimon. Why didn't Miyako evolve Hawkmon? She was surprised by it and the only thing she could think to do was to run.

She found the group and finally they were all together. The bird digimon fled to the roof, and the group of amateur detectives followed it there. The moonlight revealed a digimon with a helmet resembling Lighdramon’s armor headpiece; it was blue with some thunder-like accents in gold, and its wing-claws were in the shape of a thunder. Its talons have special armor also in the shape of a thunder. None of those kids had seen that kind of digimon before…!!

“Bird… Thunder…” Ken muttered, and then the words gathered into one, “No, Chibimon meant ‘Thunderbird’... Thunderbirdmon?!”

“So that’s a digimon, haha! See there’s no ghosts in town!” Daisuke laughed with triumph, but deep down it was only for himself that commentary.

“Thunderbirdmon?” The other three repeated.

“So, if ‘thunder’ is its element… We need to counterattack with ground attacks!” Daisuke stared at the group.

“You’re applying video-game logic into this conversation right?” Miyako rolled her eyes.

“We can try to calm it down,” Hikari suggested.

“So, cool it off!” V-mon punched the palm of his other hand.

“Not that kind of cool off, V-mon” Tailmon clarified, “Hikari, evolve me into Angewomon, I can handle this.”

Tailmon then evolved into the beautiful and holy angel-like digimon and used her warm and kind aura on the digimon. Somehow things went better for a moment, EXCEPT! They heard the voice of a little child telling them to backoff. When the kids and their partners looked for the sound of the voice, Armadimon spotted a tiny Puwamon coming in their way.

“Don’t hurt her!” Puwamon shouted, “She’s just protecting me!”

“Huh?” the kids and their partners tilted their heads.

“Floramon is stuck in this form, she does not want to hurt anyone!”

“But she tried to catch Daisuke and Miyako!!” Patamon said.

“Uh no, she scared Miyako-san and I but didn’t seem to be after us”

“... Daisuke, can I see your D-Terminal?” Ken asked, with everyone looking at the goggle boy.

“H-Huh? What��? D-do you think this is my fault?” he frowned, then handed his D-terminal to Ken.

The group gathered behind Ken and they opened Daisuke’s Digimental store program to only find… one Digimental. And this made sense now -- Daisuke’s Digimental went missing… And it got activated on this Armor-like digimon in front of them.

“W-what!?” Daisuke panicked, “I-is it my fault!?”

“That explains why she attacked Daisuke,” Ken mused, “Because he’s the original owner of the Digimental.”

“...!! I’m sorry Floramon!” Daisuke bowed his head a good amount of times, “We will release you from this form…! Angewomon, please?”

“Alright,” Angewomon nodded, and then used her holy powers to undo the armor evolution on Floramon. Thunderbirdmon glowed in a cyan light and then the Digimental left Floramon’s body, returning immediately to Daisuke’s D-Terminal. Angewomon caught Floramon in her arms and put the digimon on the floor. Angewomon healed the digimon’s wounds and Floramon woke up.

“Huh… wha-- Oh it’s you…!” she got up and looked at Daisuke, “You, you were in my head this whole time!”

“H-huh??” Daisuke blinked.

“I found a Digimental and then it activated in me… And I felt I had to find the owner of it, but I couldn’t undo this form…”

“This makes me curious about how you lost that Digimental,” Iori said.

“A digimon enemy knocked it off while V-mon was in the middle of Armor evolving” he said with a deadpan face.

“Oh…” yep, that was the reaction of everyone but Dai-Vee.

They opened the Digital Gate for Floramon and Puwamon, who thanked the 02 group and dived into the portal. Mystery solved, and the kids went back home.

Except someone was watching them in the shadows.

[ladyofthecastleproject]

The Awakening Of The Hurricane Sincerity

[AO3 version]

Summary:

The 02 group start searching for Daisuke and V-mon, who had disappeared suddenly from the last battle against Ranamon and Frostmon. Palmon mentions seeing Fladramon and a mysterious human-sized hooded creature in a village and led them and Mimi there. But... The place had been taken by the vile DarkSuperstarmon and his troops. In the heat of the battle, Miyako's pure desire to help those digimon and her friends grants her a wish.

[Note: this takes place in 2008]

It had been a while since the group went to the Digital World to help Mimi and Palmon. Koushiro and the 02 group had planned carefully all the details of such an adventure beforehand: Him, Taichi and Yamato had used the ol’ excuse of camping with the group to justify why a bunch of teenagers would pass a few weeks in the Digital World. But now, the golden trio being young adults could take responsibility for them. Well, the only non-adult in the meanwhile was Koushiro, but next year he will hit his 20s.

Anyway… Mimi had met the kids quickly and explained to them what had happened before. Ken Hadn’t been familiar with Gummymon and vice-versa, but that hadn’t been a problem at all.

Though, there had been a question in Ken’s head:

“When we tried to open the gate after Daisuke disappeared… It was locked. But we were able to come here in the end.”

“Uh… Maybe it was a malfunction?” Palmon replied.

“Or someone had unblocked it,” Iori mused, stroking his chin, “Maybe… Daisuke-san?”

“Hmm… Before the D-3 being created, the gate only opened at random occasions” Tailmon mused, “Maybe something blocked the D-3’s signal...”

“You think that could be the reason...?” Patamon asked.

“Whatever is the reason…” Miyako whispered, but due to the silence they all heard if  “It’s my fault Daisuke disappeared” and she avoided looking at the rest of the group, she kept sitting with them, inside Palmon’s house, looking at the teacup. Hawkmon frowned, and then said:

“It’s not your or Hikari-san’s fault. We got caught off guard… Sorry.”

“I’m sure he’s fine” Mimi tried to cheer Miyako and Hikari up, those two were completely engulfed in regrets at the moment “We just need to find him.”

“I have sent him a message since we came here,” Hikari said with an annoyed tone, “But he didn’t respond to it.”

They all frowned. If it weren’t for Mimi there, they could start feeling the weight of not having a leader. Not that Daisuke is a lead by nature, he just managed to keep them all together and… Sane? Determined? Ken seemed cool, but deep down he was… Worried? Scared? Not even himself knew.

“What should we do now?” Iori had a deadpan face.

“We get out and look for Daisuke-kun?” Takeru replied, “Or we should check if there’s some enemy around?”

“No, let’s focus on searching for Daisuke-kun” Hikari’s voice was serious, she finally set her foot on this, she wanted so badly to find him first “He was a target, remember? If he’s alone… He will need our help.”

“Then it’s settled. Let’s find Daisuke first, dagya.”

After leaving Palmon’s house, the group started planning a route to take and start their search. During their walk to the closest village, Mimi heard someone’s voice and waited for the best moment to leave the group and meet…

“Ah you’re around…!”

… A mysterious figure with a Lighdramon-esque armor. Except said armor details were cold colors instead of the yellow and red tones.

“Have you discovered something?” Mimi chatted with the stranger, while Palmon watched around to make sure no one would find them “Ah I see… No idea where Wallace is…”

“Mimi-san?” Miyako’s voice was heard.

“O-oh, I need to go…!! Please be careful!!” and she walked back to where the 02 group were, “I’m fine don’t worry Palmon thought she had heard something but it was just a fruit falling on the ground.”

“It’s not good to separate from the group” Miyako commented, “If you disappear too we’ll feel worried and panicked.”

 “It’s okay, it’s okay” she giggled, “Ah, there’s a town in this direction. We can ask the digimon if they saw Daisuke-kun or Wallace.”

“Yes, I noticed it by the D-terminal map Koushiro-san sent to us,” Ken pointed at the device on his other hand, “I didn’t get any message from Daisuke though.”

“The digivice has no reaction either” Iori added, “He’s not in this area… Or left it already.”

“Huh strange… I was sure I saw something moving around” Hikari raised an eyebrow, “Could it be Daisuke-kun but…”

“Maybe he’s in the village?” Wormmon wondered.

“Let’s go then” Palmon replied with a nod, “I will take you there, follow me!”

“Good, they’re moving” the masked shadow said, then looked back as if he was looking at someone “We need to move now.”

“Hurry up!!” he heard from a distance “The next village must be conquered at all costs!!”

“... We got one more thing to do here, I guess” and he and his ally left in the direction of the mysterious voice.

They followed in the opposite direction of the kids, going farther from there reaching a new area and town, which was under the eyes of this digimon army’s general, Frostmon.

“Ugh… stupid lizards” she wasn’t having a great time, seeing the Tyrannomon troops moving slowly “Can’t you walk more fast!?”

“You know, Tyrannomon species are not fast runners” she heard a voice.

“W-who’s there!?” and Frostmon looked around “Show yourself!!”

He jumped from the tree branches and landed in front of her. He was smaller than Frostmon and the Tyrannomon army, quite the size of a human teenager. But None of those digimon had much contact with humans so… They couldn’t tell the difference.

“Who are you!?” Frostmon interrogated him, “Why are you spying on us!?”

“I’m just a digimon passing by, relax” he chuckled, “besides… The town you’re trying to take control of has a guardian and a curse.”

“A… A curse?” The army looked at each other, and you could hear them rambling something.

“What kind of curse?” Frostmon squinted her eyes, “I never heard of it before.”

“You know, anyone who tries to take the town’s control is smashed by the town’s guardian” he shrugged, “I’d rather not risk facing said guardian. But you do you.”

More noise was heard by the troops, and he could see Frostmon’s face grimacing at that information. While none of them could see his face, he was smirking.

“That’s nonsense, soldiers! Let’s move on, don’t listen to a pipsqueak digimon and those fairy tales!”

“Who are you calling pipsqu-- *AHEM* sure let’s go with that”

“Hmph, stupid child level” and the army proceeded their march.

“It didn’t work…” he muttered, annoyed.

A small shadow was visible in the branches, but not a face except for two big red eyes.

“I know you’re going to say” the armored digimon sighed, “I should be more careful…” and then he looked at the town’s direction “Can you be a convincing god-like guardian, buddy? We will need that right now.”

But… This wasn’t only the mysterious masked digimon’s problem. In the meantime…

Mimi’s group had arrived in a destroyed village. None of them expected it to happen and Palmon even remembered that two strangers had helped them to save villagers and beat Cyberdramon.

“But now it seems… No one’s here, dagya” Armadimon frowned, and the group started examining the area.

“Strange…” Palmon frowned, “It was saved from the invaders…”

“Huh, someone was here?” Hikari blinked.

“Yes, and I saw Fladramon and a hooded human-size creature.”

The group’s eyes widened, “Fladramon and a hooded creature!?”

“Then… this means Daisuke was here before” Miyako said, “If he and V-mon were here, they’re alive and fine…? Or in danger, if Daisuke was wearing a hood…”

“Don’t be afraid, Miyako-san, everyone” Hawkmon called their attention “He’s with V-mon at least. It’s only a matter of time until we find them.”

“Hawkmon is right,” Ken said, but his eyes were focused on something he just found on the ground, “Daisuke is with V-mon and we know that idiot can survive alone.”

“What’s this Ken-chan?” Wormmon pointed at Ken’s hand, which had something looking like…

“Seems like a Starmon was here. This is a fragment from the Meteor Squall’s meteorites.”

“Wow! Sharp eyes, Ichijouji-kun” Mimi exclaimed, impressed.

“So whoever attacked this village might not be that far from here” Tailmon mused.

“Let’s be cautious,” Takeru added with a serious tone, “the residents of this village might be captured and hidden somewhere in this area.”

“In this case, what if we slip up?” Miyako suggested, “We keep contact via phones and D-terminals. Once we find either of them, we gather everyone again.”

“It’s a good idea,” Iori nodded, then picked Armadimon from the floor, “Armadimon and I will check this direction. If we don’t find anything, let’s meet here again and come with a backup plan.”

They went to different directions, to find the prisoners and the bad guys quickly. But… One by one, the group were captured, somehow. All they remembered was about a black hole popping out from somewhere and sending them to… Somewhere.

“Miyako-san” Hawkmon called her, and then looked behind him but saw nothing. So he looked back at her “Are you feeling okay?”

“Huh, why do you ask?” she babbled “Ken-kun’s right Daisuke can--”

“You seem nervous, is it because of Ranamon? It wasn’t your fault, Tailmon and I didn’t expect her to appear from nowhere and capture you two.”

“Argh, okay I’m worried!” she threw her hands up in the air. She could not think straight right now and Hawkmon was pretty aware of it, “We know Daisuke had been chased by Ranamon and that blue bird-like digimon! We let our guards down and it happened! Now… Now he’s missing and while you say it’s not my fault, not even Daisuke appears in front of me and says that will make me feel less guilty!”

Hawkmon frowned, he approached her quietly. He was about to say something but it got lost because he saw a black hole appearing in mid air. Then, he jumped on Miyako and both ducked on the floor, having the black hole pass through their heads.

“W-what’s that!?” she babbled.

“Hoho, you’re tough human girl” a digimon that looked like a Starmon, but with a darker color and wearing sunglasses appeared in front of them, “Can’t say much about your friends.” He showed the digivices of the group to her and Hawkmon, to make sure they couldn’t call for help.

“M-My friends!? T-those are...!!” Miyako gulped. Was her idea and now…

“I won’t let you guilt-trip her!” Hawkmon got up from the floor and threw his Feather against DarkSuperstarmon. But it didn’t work, and the villain hit him with a punch “GUH!” which followed by Hawkmon falling on the floor.

“H-Hawkmon!!” Miyako screamed, “I… I won’t let you hurt anyone anymore!”

“Miyako-san…” he got up from the floor, “Please, lend me your strength.”

“OK!” she grabbed her digivice, “Love Digimental Up!!”

Hawkmon armor-evolved to Horusmon and stood in front of DarkSuperstarmon with an intimidating glare at him. The enemy didn’t feel much intimidated though, but acknowledged the girl and digimon were tough opponents.

“Very well, then let’s get this party started” And the black star digimon attacked Horusmon, but now the hawk-like digimon had gotten more speed and dodged. Then, Horusmon spinned his body to generate a tornado, forcing DarkSuperstarmon to step back.

“This digimon seems stronger than a regular Starmon… ” Miyako mused, “Uh… don’t underestimate him, Horusmon!”

That battle was still on a draw, with just dodging from both ends. The enemy was tough, but willing to play dirty. DarkSuperstarmon opened a black hole right behind Miyako and she was swallowed by it. Luckily, he couldn’t steal her digivice due to Horusmon blocking his way.

“M-Miyako-san!!” Horusmon stared at him “What did you do to her!?”

“She’s with her friends now, and you… You will be dead soon.”

“OOF!" She fell on the floor and the digivice slipped from her hands, hitting someone “A-ah, I’m sorry!!” She got up and went to retrieve the slippery D-3.

“That’s okay” it was Ken!? “I guess we’re unable to leave this place now…” he laughed nervously, but stopped and handed her the red D-3 back.

“Horusmon is fighting! I need to help him but… how!?”

“He got our digivices...” and she heard Hikari’s voice; Iori, Takeru and Mimi were also there alongside their digimon and more residents from the town, “We can’t escape.”

“W-where are we?” Miyako asked.

“This is still inside the town” and now a digimon appeared, it was a Muchomon “One of the abandoned buildings. I was hoping for someone to save us again but… Our hopes are gone now…”

“Don’t lose your hope!” Mimi looked at the digimon and clenched her fists, “We still have a chance!”

 “... If… If I could do something else but I’m useless!” Miyako shouted, “I only commit mistakes! I want to help fix them! I want to help Horusmon and this entire town!!”

The digivice in her hands beeped and turned on the screen, which sent a light from it. The Digimental of Sincerity appeared in front of her and its form mutated to a big Shuriken like the one on Shurimon’s back. The only difference from Shurimon’s was the Crest of Sincerity being engraved on its surface.

“What is this??” other villagers, and the group exclaimed, watching Miyako hold it with her other hand.

“I… I don’t know!?” she babbled, “But… maybe this is the answer to my dilemma.”

“Uh, isn’t it very dangerous using that here” Patamon asked.

“Miyako-san please… Don’t do something dan--” But Takeru was interrupted by Miyako throwing the shuriken at the bars blocking their way.

… It definitely cut the jail bars. It surprised everyone, since they didn’t know if it wouldn’t reflect the shuriken against them.

“Whoohoo, I knew it would work!” she chirped and looked back “So, everyone go out and let’s take down those bullies.”

“Miyako-chan is scary sometimes…” Mimi whispered to the others, who nodded sagely.

The troops hadn’t yet arrived, so the mysterious Lighdramon-esque armored digimon managed to reach the town quickly and talk with the digimon living there. Despite doubting him at first, one of the residents of the town confirmed the masked-mon’s information.

And then… They gladly accepted his plan. The hooded digimon with him shrugged in disapproval, but couldn’t do much. Also, this cape made a ton of villagers curious about the digimon’s appearance.

“You can’t talk, just do some screams” the armored digimon said to the small one, “Like, unleash your inner beast!”

They were in the front of a temple, the perfect spot to bring this story into reality. The villagers were hiding in a safe part of the town. He was so sure this would work with no actual bloodbath that it felt like a harmless kid’s prank. The partner-in-crime wasn’t too confident about this though… But if no one might see the prank but the soldiers and Frostmon…

“Shush, get ready. Show your best AncientGreymon’s impersonation.”

The other sighed, and tried to roar but it didn’t feel intimidating…

“No, no you need to scare them! Focus on being like a terrifying Qinglongmon who hates everyone stepping on their yard!”

“The troops are coming,” the smaller digimon said, “I can sense them. Do you think this will work?”

“Don’t worry, bud. It will work.”

Horusmon was on the ground being stepped on by DarkSuperstarmon, who was laughing and toss juggling the digivices. While distracted, he didn’t see the Chosen Children approaching, or Tailmon jumping behind him and grabbing all digivices in midair.

“HEY, YOU STUPID POINTY HEAD!”  

“Huh!? Who’s calling my pointy hea--”

Miyako threw the giant shuriken against DarkSuperstarmon, hitting him and making him fall on the floor.

“GAH!”

Horusmon escaped from the enemy and met them. Miyako hugged him tightly and whispered “I’m sorry Horusmon… I won’t let them catch me again!”

“Ugh, you agai-- Wait how did you escape-- It doesn’t matter, without these you can’t--”

The group showed their digivices and angry faces. They were ready to fight. DarkSuperstar screeched and then snapped fingers summoning a group of DarkTyrannomon, “TROOPS, GET THEM!!” and flew away.

“Miyako-san” Iori said, “Go after him. We will take care of his lackeys.”

“Ok! Let’s go Horusmon!” and she looked at him “Are you okay though?”

“I’m fine, get on Miyako-san.”

She got on his back and they flew after the troop’s leader. The enemy wasn’t that fast as they thought and it was easier to watch it after all. Horusmon shot laser beams from his eyes (Red Sun) and hit the running star. But it didn’t work because the enemy's body was indeed resistant.

They stopped on a dead end and faced each other.

“Look, we can negotiate--”

“No, we can’t!” Miyako snapped, pointed at him and continued “You took control of this town, captured its people and later captured my friends! I have no time to make a deal with you!”

“Very well, then--”

“Horusmon, let’s go!” She pointed the digivice at her partner and its form changed to a bipedal hawk, with wings sprouting from his back and Egyptian God motifs -- Fauermon.

“W-wait, have mercy I will leave!!”

“... Will you really leave?” she asked.

“I will don’t worry!” he nodded, “But can we shake hands to make it a deal?”

“Fine, I guess.” she was still mad though, and approached calmly, until that shuriken appeared in her hands and she used it as a blade to slash DarkSuperstarmon in the face. Fauermon was holding her to not fall on the black hole that vile digimon had done.

“W-what!? How did you!?”

“I noticed you set a trap right when we cornered you!” she said angrily “You’re a vile monster!”

Horusmon then put Miyako away and summoned his rod, “Red Sunburst!”

DarkSuperstarmon screamed and then got destroyed by the laser beam coming from the sphere at the top of the rod.

“Miyako-san” Fauermon glanced at her, “I’m sorry I had to--”

“It’s okay. He wouldn’t stop anyway… And he can be reborn I hope so” then she looked at the shuriken in her hand “But… Where did this come from? And why did the Digimental of Sincerity turn into a weapon…?”

“Beats me…” he devolved to Hawkmon form, then looked at the others coming in “Everyone, are you okay?”

“Yeah, we managed to beat all the troops in town,” Tailmon said, “Now we can leave.”

“But where should we go now?” Miyako asked.

Meanwhile, Frostmon’s troops invaded a deserted town with the exception of a hooded digimon. Said digimon made sure to be seen by the enemies and ran away. The soldiers and Frostmon chased them and when the invaders found them in front of the temple…

… A wild wall of fire ignited from the floor, preventing them from reaching the creature, and a bigger one appeared through the flames roaring loudly and throwing fire against the Tyrannomon army.

An eerie voice came from the wall of flames, “I’m the great Ancient Digimon who protects this town. LEAVE OR PERISH”

The enemies panicked and ran away, including Frostmon. So the strange child level digimon she had met previously was right!? Better not mess with that town then. Their screams were heard until they faded in the distance.

The fire stopped and then the digimon from the flames turned small and covered himself with a cape thrown by the mysterious masked one.

“Did you see their faces!!?” and this armored digimon was delighted by the prank, “They were so scared that I guess they might not return here that early hehe~”

“Sigh, get the villagers back and let’s get out of here.”

“Fine fine~ At least laugh a bit… You used to find funny those pranks…”

“I’m busy now!” the hooded one growled, “no time for pranks!!”

“... Oh. You’re right.” he blinked. Behind the helmet he had a deadpan face “Let’s do it…”

Once they got the entire villagers out, the mayor of the town shook hands with the masked one.

“My young’mon,” Sorcerimon the mayor said, “We will be eternally grateful for your help. I have absolutely no idea what you and your friend did, but we’re thankful that it worked.”

“H-Haha, it was… a dumb thing I learned from human’s videos” he chuckled nervously and scratched the back of his helmet.

“What does that deity digimon look like?” a young Blucomon asked, “We will draw it and spread through the town, and write stories about it to keep mean spirited digimon from invading us.”

“Oh, that’s a good idea!” he said, “Let’s see… It's a flame element digimon, looks like Fladramon but with wings, and got hair, big terrifying claws and wonderful fangs! Maybe… AncientFladramon feels like a good name? What do you think, bud?” and he looked at the hooded digimon.

“Yeah, let’s go with that” and the small one shrugged.

“Cool!” Blucomon and more child level digimon around exclaimed, “Thank you mr. uh…”

The masked digimon then posed like a tokusatsu hero and said:

“I’m the warrior of the night, the silent knight… Lightnimon!”

The villagers' reactions were full of “ooooh!!” and some applause and cheers.

The hooded digimon shook his head.

“But I need to go now, more of those bad guys are coming and more towns, cities and villagers need me and… uh… Buddymon.”

“Alright, thank you Lightnimon and Buddymon” Socerimon and the villagers thanked them once again.

“Heheh~” Lightnimon grabbed Buddymon and ran away, leaving the town quickly.

Who’re that mysterious digimon duo and would they be a menace to the Chosen Children?

[koushirouizumi]

{Index} KoushirouIzumi's DigiAdvs Things

(Img's in general, extra not-O.T.P A.M.V.s, etc. KouTai O.T.P stuff etc....!)

{Note: I am always adding to this. New works may be added sporadically. If you Interact on any of my works, please read my F.A.Q to see if I've already answered a question.}

{+on taggings methods: What’s the deal with the variations in spellings for Ko[u]shiro[u]’s [+Jo{u}’s] Japanese names?} [x]

(for conveniences’ sake, I use the US version, “Koushiro” which has also been used in some official merch/usages on the J.P.N side. (Most obvious example being Tri {Saikai}) Please respect my choice and understand instead of bothering me to or demanding I change it, because I won't, thank you) {As I have made close to 50+ postings (likely now 100+) about Koushiro it would be difficult to go back and edit any particular posting with any particular spelling, and I’m most used to the US version’s way from his full name; “Koushiro ‘Izzy’ Izumi”.} (I do leave out ‘Izzy’ when I’m indicating the J.P.N version specifically. I note it can be ���Koushiro[u]’ when listing out characters included/etc.)

{Taishiro / KouTai OTP}

My A.O.3 : Hikari @ A.O.3 {"Novel/Story Route"} Fic Index: [x] Other KouTai A.M.V.s Index: [x] (Any other tagged charas/ship's may also appear if briefly)

KouTai A.M.V.s - REPEAT?_Verse [x] {"Music Route"} KouTai F.S.Ts (Fan Sound-tracks) F.S.T #1 - READY?_ [x] F.S.T #2 - BEGIN [x] (To be Completed)

Main Index: “izzyizumi taishiro gifs” tag (Chronological Postings) [x]

KouTai{/shiro} O.T.P of O.T.Ps Compilation (with Moments across all medias) [x] Our War Game {/“Children’s War Game”} [x] 02!Taishiro [x] [x] Tri!Taishiro [x] [x] [x] 2020!Taishiro [x] [x] [x] [x] {This section to be Completed} (Very out-dated Index, check chronological postings above!)

JouxMi / JouMimi {Jou & Mimi} {JouMi Challenge} [x] [x] [x] (etc) [x] Michi / TaiMimi {Taichi & Mimi} [x] [x] [x] Soraxto / YamaSora {Yamato & Sora} [x] [x] [x] KouxMi / KouMimi {Koushiro & Mimi} [x] [x] Mimaxto / YamaMimi {Yamato & Mimi} [x] [x] [x] So{ra}Mi{Mi} / MimiSora {Sora & Mimi} [x] [x] [x] [x] Joushiro / Jyoushiro {Jou & Koushiro} [x] Taixora / TaiSora {Taichi & Sora} [x]

{Familial & Etc. Friendships} Yagami{s} (Duo) [x] Yagami Family [x] [x] Sora & Mrs. Toshiko Takenouchi [x] Koushiro’s "American" Friend? Info + {Lore/Tri musings/refs} [x]* [*Note: Planning to revise/Update]

Adventure 02 Daisuke Motomiya [x] Daixkari / DaiHika {Daisuke & Hikari} [x] [x] [x] [x] Kenxyako / KenMiya {Ken & Miyako} [x] Kensuke / KenDai {Ken & Daisuke} [x] [x] Miyaxkari / MiyaHika {Miyako & Hikari} [x] [x] [x] Miyakeru / TakeMiya {Miyako & Takeru} [x] [x] Kou+Miya Friendship {Miyako & Koushiro} [x] Bi!Miyako [x]

Tri Meixchi / TaiMei {Taichi & Meiko} [x] [x] [x] [x] [x] MiMei {Mimi & Meiko} [x] [x] [x] [x] SoMiMei {Sora & Mimi & Meiko} [x] [x] SoMei {Sora & Meiko} [x] [x] [x] Tri!Hikari’s Storyline Explanation / Parallels with 02!Hikari’s Storyline [x]

Kizuna Kizuna!Koushiro & Novels Kizuna!Koushiro {+Taichi; Tentomon; Menoa} [x] KouMeno {Koushiro & Menoa} [x] KouTaiMeno {Koushiro & Taichi & Menoa} [x] [x] (Note: TaiMeno in general may appear as an aside to anything listed above.) Adventure: (2020) 2020!Soraxto / YamaSora {Yamato & Sora} [x]

Poly-ships:

Ship Compilations: - MxF [x] - MxM & FxF [x] (+2020)!TaiKouMi [x] [x] YamaKouTai [x] TaiJouMi [x] YamaxJouMi [x] YamaxJouraMi [x] {Tri/BNM spoilers} KenDaiHika [x]

Other A.M.Vs: Older A.M.Vs (Made during my childhood/pre-tumblr days) I’ll Turn My Courage Into Wings {Adv-02 Taichi-centric/Taichi & Friends} [x] Walk on the Edge {Adv-02 Yamato/Yamato & Friends [+bonus YamaxJou} [x]

Newer A.M.Vs: Ashita wa Motto [Tomorrow I’ll Be] {Adv-02 Sora-centric & Soraxto} [x] She Said {So[ra]Mi} [x] Numb {Meiko & BNM!/Tri!Taichi} [x] Encore (Adv+Tri!Chosen & Meiko Positive) {Gen} [x]

Warriors {Frontier} [x] A.M.Vs Index for the Rest: [x]

[dxgitalmxnsters]

@kenichijoujiofkindness got Miyako!!

『 “Hey Ken!!” She shouted as she flew on the back of Halsemon. She was in the Digital World for a bit of relaxation - the real world was becoming stressful for a young girl. Alighting down to the ground she slipped off her Digimon, who then de-digivolved back into Hawkmon. 』

[demon-blood-youths]

HELP! Our House is Haunted, Part 1 || A Halloween Drabble

Here’s a Halloween drabble for my friend @the-silver-peahen-residence. This drabble is inspired by ghost movies and the movie franchise The Conjuring. Features major crossovers regarding the haunting.  

Featuring:

My muses ( from me )

( The demon possessed ) - Taz Hellion.

Peahen-Mun’s muses: 

Yuuka ( Peahen-Mun’s OC )

(Atsushi, Dazai and Ranpo ) - Armed Detective Agency (Bungou Stray Dogs )

Midoriya ( My Hero Academia )

Rin Okumura and Yukio Okumura ( Ao no Exorcist )

Gogo, Fushigoro, Yuji Itadori and Sukuna  (Jujustu Kaisen )

Machida Miyako

Now let the spooky and comedy madness begin! 

--------

The team was staying in a house through Aerobnb to relax after their great battles. So far, they got to do amazing things they wanted to do in Japan. Yuuka came back since Japan is safe and she wants to thank them by showing them around before they leave. Go to onsen, do some sightseeing, buy some anime figurines, go to Arcades. Everything went well so far until Taz brought a doll from Kyoto. 

Then strange things go on about. They didn’t understand at first. They thought some of their own teammates play tricks on them until they see writings in Japanese on the wall which is actually scaring them. Yuuka and Oblivion translates it and it disturbs them. 

One day, Midoriya came around to visit and see how everyone is doing especially Ink. Ink told him the strange happenings in the house so the green hero is going to help the DBT out. He brought along his friends, Bakugo and Todortoro. So Midoriya walks around the house. For some reason, he senses a perscene but nobody is here. He’s down in the basement and checks a closet. Midoriya sees nothing but floorboards. Nothing here-hm?

He sees a hole in the wall. Hm? He checks it out and suddenly Midoriya heard a door shut behind him. “What the? Ink? Yuuka?” And then he hears a groan. He turns around to see a long hallway. What the? Where did that come from?! Midoriya became confused and ventures down the dark hallway. Is this a quirk? Can’t be? Where’s the user?! 

Then he sees glowing orange eyes staring at him and soon the doll emerges making Midoriya widen his eyes. What the?

Then the DBT hears screaming! It’s coming from the basement. 

“Deku?! Midoriya!” Ink grabs the handle and proceeds to pull it to open. Rust goes to help and it wouldn’t budge!

“OUT OF THE WAY!” The explosive hero is ready to blast the door off. 

“Bakugo, no! You’re going to hurt him if  you use your damn quirk!” Navarro argued.

“Got any better ideas?!” Bakugo growled.

“Let me do something.” Shoto freezes the door and then Ink kicks it, breaking the door into pieces. “Midoriya!” Ink sees the green hero and grabs him out of the closet, making him gasp as he is breathing in and out.

“Midoriya! Are you okay?!” Ink asked, kneeling right aside him. 

“Deku! The fuck?!” Bakugo shouted.

“Midoriya! What’s wrong?!” Shoto asked. 

“The doll was here! There is something behind it! It’s a monster.” Midoriya shaking point at the doll inside the closet. Everyone became disturbed. When did the doll moved? Wasn’t it in the bedroom with Taz.

“What?! The doll was with Taz.” Said Shoto. Then they see the walls had letters craved into them. 

‘YOUR SOULS!’

----- Yokohoma -----

“We need holy water, a bible, a freakin exorcism, rosemary, call the Vatican, call the Warrens, call the Winchester brothers and hell call The Mystery Incorporated. Cause there is a godamn Annabella  running godamn loose!” Navarro yelled and he pants loudly after saying this to the bewildered Armed Detective Agency.

Then there’s an exasperated sigh is heard from Kunkida  Doppo as he pushes his glasses up, hearing the short teen’s demands. “Young man, this is a detective agency, not a paranormal agency. We don’t deal with...demons and spirits. We deal with reality.” 

“What?” Navarro stared at Kunkida as if he’s joking. “Did you not heard what I said to you?! You think this is a game?! This isn’t a prank, damnit!” 

Kunkida sighed while Dazai chuckles.

“So you’re saying that there’s a ghost in your house? Are you sure it’s not a quirk or ability?” Dazai looks intrigued by this.

“Yes! I’m sure! Deku told us that he saw something down in the freakin basement and he’s the one saying that’s no quirk he never seen before! Plus...we don’t know whose doing it and we’re trying to figure that shit out!”

“Ha! Ghosts aren’t real!” Said Ranpo laughing this off as he eats his snacks at his desk. “Let me check this house out. I assure you, it must be someone with an ability behind this!”

------ Back at the haunted house ----

Little did they know....the moment that Ranpo pulls his glasses on and ‘activates’ his quirk., it reveals something disturbing. He narrows his eyes as he explores the house. 

“Ranpo?” Dazai asked as Atsushi looks concerned, never see the expression like that before. 

“Hey...did this house belong to someone?” Ranpo asked before looking at the doll before exploring the house. 

“Uhh...some guy named Kido Jurou?” Fosh asked. “He got it from the listing and it’s pretty cheap for a big place like this.”

“Please call him because I think something bad happened in this house.” Said Ranpo as he looks at the doll. Atsushi goes off to investigate and sees Taz in the room sitting alone. Atsushi goes to comfort her as he heard that she’s having nightmares. 

“We tried that.....when strange things happening....” Fosh begins to speak

“And?”

“Well.....we couldn’t contact him and his phone is dead. And then....we look up where he is and ask around then we found out Kido Juroro died years ago.”

‘Then who gave you the house?” Dazai raised a eyebrow. 

“Some guy claiming he’s Kido Jurou. He assumed someone else’s identity.” Said Shdwkyz. “Anyway....you look like you found something found out.”

“Indeed. Something terrible happened in this house.” Ranpo said, tilting his head down as he continues to invesigate. “I can’t explain it and I don’t want to believe it.”

Dazai sighs. “I guess we really do need to call in the experts if this is a haunted house. Lucky for me, I think I know some people....” He chuckles as he got an idea. But the moment he took eyes off Ranpo, There is a scream downstairs. 

----- Somewhere in the cafe, Tokyo  ------

“So let me understand this. You have a doll that is cursed and you believe the house is haunted because the man who own it died years ago?” A man with brown hair as he wears glasses and is dressed looking between a priest and solider. Next to him, it’s his brother with blue hair and has a tail, carrying a katana sheathed at his waist. 

“Yes. The doll is moving by itself and then Taz is starting to act weird, seeing visions, having constant nightmares and acting irrationally we can’t explain ever we took the house.” Taz picked it up from the store.” Said Yuuka as she is with Hellmare regarding this. 

“We believe it’s a demonic possession or a curse.” Hellmare asked. 

“Well...demons don’t possess things.” Yukio informs them. “They possess living things and the natural forces. Humans, animals, elementals, corpses and plants. Sometimes...they possess the very dust particle in the air. Based on our experience....they use objects as conduits to communicate or do things.” Yukio explains. 

“But to do this, we need proof so we can get permission to do exorcise the house first and do something about the doll. Once we do, we have to go through the channels to approve the exorcise and-well...that takes time..”

“How long does that take?” Yuuka asked.

“Roughly...weeks.” Yukio sighed making the girls upset. “But! My brother, Rin would accompany you and will be observing this situation.” He told the girls. 

“Leave it to me!” Rin grinned. “Also I think I know a guy who knows about curses.” 

Yukio raises an eyebrow. “You do?”

“Sure, he’s a first-year but he has friends who knows more than him!” Rin said.

----- A fast food place ------

“Yo! Itadori!” Rin waves a hand at Yuki Itadori, a student of Jujustu Academy, a school that trains jujustu socerers  or curse sorcerers that specializes in dealing with cursed spirits and objects. He’s with two other classmates. Megumi Fushigoro and Kugisaki Nobara.

The True Cross Academy is rivals with Tokyo Jujutsu High since both schools fought evil spirits such as curses and demons and trained their students on how to combat them. Of course, the students from both schools hate each other because of their beliefs and how they do things. But Okumura Rin and Yuji Itadori became fast friends and bonded due to their special circumstances. How they met is they run into each other on a mission that had demons and curses in one sitting which they managed to accomplish when they worked together. 

“Hey Rin! What’s up?” Yuji Itadori greets the other with a smile, high-fiving each other before sitting down. Rin goes to explain the case to them.

“So a doll is cursed and a house is haunted inhabiated by an evil spirit. It sounds like your case, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah...well....the church needs proof and my little brother is handling another case. So I got to give them proof plus there are twelve people living in that house and it ain’t a quirk they said.”

“So what’s special about this?”

"Well a famous detective named Ranpo from Yokohoma finds out that there are disappearances around the house for many years ago and he suspected that they're dead and they are haunting the house. Also he found instances of scratches on the floorboards from many years ago and dried black stains in the basement. Also a pro-hero went into the closet and suddenly, he is in a hallway and sees a doll and a monster behind it." Rin explained.

"A domain expansion. With such disappearances, the spirits that didn’t move on does bring out negative energy leading to cursed energy and it's  amatter of time people who will get caught in it." Fushigoro answered.

"Bingo." Rin said. "Plus there is another thing."

"Which is..." Nobara raised a eyebrow.

“Well...do you know the guys who took down Iron Titan and Blazing Blitz, the corrupt anti pro heroes?" Rin asked.

The three blinked.

“You’re joking....” Itadori blinked. "Those guys are still here?! I thought they left after all what happened in Tokyo."

"Yeah I didn't believe it either!" Rin saw the battles and he has to admit. The teenage vigilante Van Ink The Dragon kicks serious ass. She looks like a demon which is pretty admiring he has to say. “Those guys, the DBT are living in that house.”

“You gotta be kidding me! I swear whenever things happened and I mean BIG things, it’s always those guys!” Nobara asked. 

"I heard rumors that the masked guy...what's his name. Phantom Slasher? He's interesting..." Megumi hums.

"Forget that! I have to ask those girls like Oblivion and Hellmare where they get their clothes from here." Nobara looks excited.

"Hey, hey. Don't forget. Hellmare and another person, Yuuka wants this to keep a low profile. My brother says so since he owe one of those detective guys back in Yokohoma a favor."

"Then we should inform our teacher then." Fushigoro tells him as he wants to tell Gogo about this. Gogo is going to be curious about this. 

‐----- At the haunted house ----

"Dazai! How many people are you bringing?!" Navarro yelled as Jujustu sorcerer came in along with an exorcist, Rin.

"You said bring whoever. Although, it is surprise to hear that Yukio’s bib brother Rin here knows students from Jujustu. Hahahahahah!" Dazai laughs. Navarro twitched an eye. He swears to god this is just a damn prank but if it isn’t, they need all the help they can get.

"So this is Navarro the Bomber. I thought he will be shorter." Fushigoro said.

"Who the fucks say that?!" Navarro yelled. Ink greets them with a happy which makes the four blink while Rust is holding Navarro back from chewing Fushigoro out. "Hi. Name's Ink! Thanks for coming by." Ink said. 

"Woah." Rin said, she looks amazing in person. "Name's Rin Okumaru! I'm a big fan! I saw the way you took down Iron Titan. That's amazing!"

"Oh thanks! I glad uh...you like it!" Ink is still not used to having fans. Midoriya noticed, making him chuckle a little. "Anyway..thank you for helping us. We really need your help! I never thought exorcist are real." Midoriya said. 

"Heh. We know how to get a job done.." Rin smirked.

"If it's a demon." Fushigoro said. "Hello my name is Megumi Fushigoro, these are my classmates, Yuji Iadtori and Kugisaki Nobara. We are Jujutsu Sorcerers that combats cursed spirits, in this case in your house. We’re here to investigate and it seems like you do have cursed spirits lingering here.”

“Wait...so you’re saying...” Navarro stops himself as he heard this. 

“Yes, the house you Airbnb’ed is haunted.” Fushigoro answered. 

----- Minutes later ------

“So can you explain to us about this doll you acquired?” Fushigoro asked as Jaron sets down drinks for the four to drink. Ranpo and Fosh are working on the case in the kitchen. Midoriya and Ink are listening to this. 

“Yes....well Taz brought it from a store in Kyoto when we were sightseeing.” Hellmare answers. The doll is question is a Japanese doll wearing traditional, a Ichimatsu but has these kawaii style to it with the eyes and blush. Plus it had cat ears. It’s sitting in the chair as the four looks at it with wary eyes.  “We spilt up to explore the shrines. She came across a man in a store that was selling in a stall. That’s when she got it.” Hellmare asked. “When I asked her again when the strange things happened, she suddenly can’t recall.” 

“And when did it started? Rin here provide us the details but the doll is cursed.”

“Like three days ago and it starts to increases. First, it’s just footsteps and things being moved. then we get disturbed in sleep and we’re seeing visions or memories we do not have of other people.” Hellmare said. 

He sighs. “Then you’re going in and out of domain expansion. This is worse than we expected.” Rubbing his forehead, tyring to figure out.

“I think it’s better if we leave the house.” Oblivion said.  

“You can’t. The spirits are already attached to you guys.” Rin said, seeing it now. “My little brother said that hauntings are hard to get of, like a gum under the bottom of your shoe. But what’s more...is that kid...uh Taz, right? Something is behind her most of the time.”

This got the teens alarmed. “And what’s behind her?” Ophelia asked worriedly.

“A demon....most likely or what they said....cursed spirit.” Rin said. 

“Okay how do we get rid of it?” Midoriya asked. 

Itadori looks over to Rin. “I can blessed you guys with holy water and do some stuff. These guys can exorcise them.” Rin said. “Once we get proof of it.’ 

“Huh? Uh...no offense but when it comes to spirits. Don’t we have to find...well...uh bodies of the victims so they can be found and be buried.” Jaron asked. The four looks at Jaron. “Uh....just an opinion but the guy who lived in this house is a murderer and response for their deaths. Then we gotta do something.” 

“Well....it might appease the spirits but if a demon is responsible then they’re keeping the spirits here and corrupting them.” Fushigoro said to which Rin nods at this. 

“Then let’s do it! Let’s spilt up!” Ink said. “The exorcist team can find the cursed spirits and we find the bodies...” Ink suggested. Everyone blinked at her suggestion. “I mean we have to.” 

“Huh?! Why?” Navarro asked. “Do you have any idea what you’re asking Ink?”

“What are you trying to say? Do you understand how dangerous this is?” Fushigoro is curious and looks hesitant to leave this to someone untrained. 

“Well...I seen a lot of horror movies with Shdwkyz and he might agree with this.”

“I do?” Shdwkyz became curious. 

“I mean.....the people who went missing need to go to back home even if they are dead. They have people who cared about them.” Ink said, making her team blinked and so did the others. After what the team been through in Japan like dealing with Iron Titan, Blazing Blitz, Nagawasa, Cobin and the all the rest. It made sense. Dazai listened to this attentively with his eyes close. 

Atsushi listened and agrees with this. “Ink is right. I understand what she’s saying. The bodies have to be found so they can be laid to rest. I don’t like people dying but the spirits here, they have to move on. I can help out by smelling anything out.” 

“Me too! Even if heroes didn’t save those who died, I believe we can help the people who are still here who have missing loved ones. I want to help out too.” Said Midoriya. 

“Huh?” Nobara can’t believe what she’s hearing. “I don’t know what you seen in the movies but it ain’t like the movies here. This isn’t a show!” She exclaimed firmly, crossing her arms. Ink frowns a little.

“Indeed...we can’t put non-jujustu sorcerers in danger even if your fraction is know in dealing with danger.”

“Still....we live in this house and we gotta help somehow! If someone needs help whether they’re dead or alive, I’m going to help out!” Ink said. “And no cursed spirits or demon will stop me! This isn’t just about the spirits, but Taz too! She needs us!”

“Knowing Taz, she’s so scared...we need to stay by her.” Said Shdwkyz.

Itadori listened to what Ink said and nods. Proper deaths. He recalled what grandpa was. 

“She’s right, guygs. I agree with her.” Itadori is in agreement, “I mean....the people who went missing who didn’t have proper deaths needs a proper burial. Their families deserved it, they have to know what happened to them even if they’re death. It’s better than nothing..” His classmates sighed but didn’t argue. Itadori is that kind of person who believes in proper death. 

Rin crosses his arms and nods at this, “Yeah...I gotta agree. But bro is going to hate me for this but he understands where you guys are coming from. We have to get these spirits out of here so they can move on. We need to find the demon, kick its ass and free the spirits.”

“Looks like we have a plan now.” Dazai chuckles, liking what he’s seeing so far. The teens looked pumped up, ready to do this.

Hellmare nods. ‘Don’t worry, Taz! We will help you. We will save you.’

To be continue....

[seventeenlovesthree]

“Shall we go together?” (5/24) | A Taishirou Christmas drabble countdown

Just a little Taishirou-centric Christmas fic I’ve been meaning to write all year long, so here we are. The plan was to post 12-24 drabbles to complete telling the story and the Christmas spirit succeeded in the end.

🧡💜

Chapters: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24]

Characters: Taichi Yagami, Hikari Yagami (mentions of other Chosen Children)

Main POV: Hikari Yagami

Genre: Friendship (& romance)

Rating: K

Wordcount: 934

December 24th, 10:44 AM

 ~

“Say, why are you so moody today?”

 Taichi, still peeking into a box of eggs to check whether none of them were broken, turned around to his sister right next to him, blinking at her.

 “Am I moody?”

 “Yeah, plus, you’ve been rather quiet”, Hikari elaborated, also grabbing a box to check its contents. “I know you like to pretend as if this isn’t literally the best time of the year-“

 “Oh, come on”, Taichi interrupted, mouth turned into a crooked smile as if to attempt to soothe her, but Hikari didn’t let him go on. Instead, she put the egg box down to look at him with intent eyes.

 He knew that look. He didn’t like it. She was way too skilled at looking through him.

 “But this is unusual, even for you. Something’s on your mind, right? And it’s not about those disturbances. At least… Not completely.” She put an encouraging hand on his arm. “If you rather have me stay away from Koushirou-san’s and your date, I will-“

 “It’s not a date”, he interrupted again, harshly this time. “We’ve been doing this for years. It’s a tradition by now. Nothing’s changed. It was always him, Sora and me, going to watch Yamato’s concert together and either anyone else joined or not. Simple as that. Why do you keep bringing him up anyway?”

 Hikari’s hand still hadn’t left Taichi’s arm, and now she squeezed it a little bit more tightly. Him getting this defensive was never a good sign, so she had to make use of her secret weapons.

 Putting emphasis on ‘secret’.

 “… Ointment and a book on advanced neuroscience? Really?” This time, it was her turn to smile mischievously at him – the widened eyes and the pink cheeks a clear indicator that she had hit the jackpot. “Didn’t know you were into that stuff.”

 Obviously trying to process what he just heard, Taichi opened his mouth to say something – and closed it again. Hikari already assumed that she had gone too far, expecting a more disregarding response to come… But to her astonishment, her brother gave in.

 “… How do you know about that?”

 “Onii-chan.” Her smile softened. “You’ve been doing this for years. It’s a tradition by now. Nothing’s changed. If you don’t want me to find your presents, you should probably stop storing them beneath your bed. I know you just wrapped them this morning, but they were definitely still unpacked last night when you came over.”

 Upon rolling his eyes – trying to distract from the scarlet colour his face had turned into –, he proceeded to inspect more egg boxes. Hikari knew he could act like a wounded animal when dragged into a corner, so after all these years of trying out different strategies, she was always keen to find a solid middle ground between playful teasing and gentleness to get him out of that state. It didn’t always work, but he did seem a little bit less aloof this time.

 “… He’s been trying to find that book for a while now”, he mumbled quietly, face buried in the box, which basically made him look like a little boy again. An endearing sight, Hikari thought.

 “Yes, I know”, she answered reassuringly. “Miyako-san has been mentioning it too. Ken-kun helped to find it, didn’t he?”

 Her eyes were seeking his and actually found them – he returned the gaze almost shyly. An even more endearing sight, she mused.

 “It’s nothing special, really.”

 He finally put a box into his bag, causing her to chuckle.

 “The Christmas spirit really got you bad, huh? Where’s that braggy attitude of yours, people might think you’re a big, observant softie who pays attention to his friends all the time. Oh, that’s the truth, I forgot.” She didn’t know when exactly Taichi had begun to try and hide his kindness behind a mask of coolness, but she had always preferred him being a loving dork and showing that side openly. “I’m sure he’ll love it, Onii-chan. That you pay attention to his interests and that you’re worried about potentially sore wrists. From typing, I mean.”

 “… Can you stop implying things, please?”

 “No need to be embarrassed, really.” Again, it didn’t always work, so when the teasing got too much, the gentleness had to take over. “You do know I wish you all the happiness in the world, right? So… I’d say go for it.”

 Hikari had always sensed that her brother felt a very special kind of fondness towards Koushirou in his heart. Whether it was still on the verge of “friendship” or already “more than that”, she wasn’t fully able to tell. Previous attempts of denying it had always sounded half-baked to her – “It’s not a date, why do you keep bringing him up, can you stop implying things?” –, as if he was still fighting his inner demons. Which she couldn’t even blame him for. She herself wasn’t much better at allowing her own feelings to properly bloom all the time, but she was willing to learn.

 And if it took Christmas for him to finally start to learn as well, she’d do what she could to be a catalysator for that.

 “Easier said than done”, he eventually admitted. Also half-baked, but it was a start she could work with.

 “I believe in that courageous heart of yours. Always have, always will. You’ll never know if you don’t try.”

 “Hrm…”

 “Maybe spending some time baking together will give you some clarity, mh?”

 He scoffed at that – but with a smile on his lips at least.

[digitalgate02]

Summer Memory Weekend

WARNING: KIZUNA SPOILERS (kinda)

Wallace meets Daisuke in New York 7 years later. for @golden-digimental-up​

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

August 2010 Meeting

“It had been a while since I met those kids…” Wallace mused, checking the Chosen Children Network from his phone. A year later from that encounter he had met a girl named Mimi and she had passed an email from her friend Koushiro. He hadn’t known those two had a connection with Daisuke and the others, and only had learned that later by chatting with Mimi.

Gummymon (in Terriermon form) and Chocomon (in Lopmon form) were standing next to him and eating a candy Wallace just bought for them. Within that short time period, the boy had a few flashbacks of the time he had met Daisuke, Miyako, Iori, Takeru and Hikari. He was more acquainted with the former three than the latter two, but deep down he felt they were friends now.

“I wonder when we will meet again…”

It was when he noticed a message in his inbox. He opened the inbox and it was Daisuke's. He blinked, Wait did I not see this until now?? -- he thought.

He opened the message and it was an audio. Oh nice, he had forgotten his phones at home and he was in the middle of his errands. The noisy city couldn’t allow him to listen to the message.

“Wallace” Gummymon called his attention.

“What’s it, Gummymon?” and he looked down at him.

“He’s coming.”

“Huh? Who’s ‘he’ you’re talking abou--”

And from the crowd a wild person with a chibimon riding on his head came at full speed screaming…

“YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOU!!”

Wallace looked to the direction Gummymon was pointing out and…

“Oh, it’s indeed him.”

Daisuke stopped in front of them, hands on his hips and tapping his feet. Incredible, he looked like a certain video game character with that pose.

“YOU!”

“Oh, you’re here” Wallace looked at him unfazed.

“You didn’t know I was coming!!”

“No, I didn’t.”

“I sent you a message weeks ago!”

“Sorry, what? If you send me audio messages I can’t listen to them until I’m home.”

“How can you not listen to my audio for a whole week!?”

“We were busy travelling...” Chocomon responded shyly.

“So that’s what the message meant…” Wallace looked back to his phone.

“That’s not important, you will come with me.”

“Huh?” The digimon frowned while Wallace just tilted his head.

   “It had been a while since we met Chibimon,” Gummymon was chatting with Chibimon who was now walking next to him and Chocomon.

“I know right!? Ah nice to see you’re okay now Chocomon!”

“I’m… I’m sorry for that time…”

“It was a long time ago, don’t worry~~”

“Where are we going?” Wallace asked.

“To the hotel we all are staying in” and the other responded “I told you via that voice message, the one you didn’t listen to for a whole week!”

“Are you still angry?” he chuckled nervously, “I didn’t expect you to be too organized, the last time we met you were wandering around with no idea what to do until you called Mimi-san and she invited me to come with her to meet you.”

“Y-You!! No, that was Miyako. She made me reminders every night to contact you. But I’m busy too so I passed to Iori, who passed back to me. Takeru and Hikari-chan didn’t know you that well so couldn’t call you, and Ken does not know you even exist!”

“Oh… So you sent the message…” and Wallace glanced at the time stamp “A few minutes ago huh? A ‘whole week’ right?”

“Ghn…!! LOOK, it’s not my fault! They all wanted to see you!” and he muttered something like I got hella worried with you too, idiot.

“Is it a special meeting? My birthday had passed already, unless it’s a belated birthday party--”

“No, it’s not a party!” he stopped, “We were worried about you!”

“H-huh?!”

“You were attacked by a digimon named Eosmon right!? Koushiro-san said you suddenly vanished from his contacts! So something bad happened to you and--”

“Oh… That …”

The twin digimon looked at each other, Chibimon raised an eyebrow: “What, don’t tell us you three…”

“Haha, sorry sorry my phone fell in the water and I had to send it to the lab for repairs!”

“You… You what!?” Chibimon and Daisuke said in unison.

“Yeah, I explained to Koushiro-san that later. I was travelling around, I went offline until I got it back..”

“SO YOU WEREN’T AFFECTED BY EOSMON!?” the duo shouted.

“What’s ‘Eosmon’ ?” Wallace, Gummymon and Chocomon blinked.

“I can’t believe we all came here for nothing!” Daisuke growled, “We were worried so bad we tracked your digivice to find you here!”

“Oh…? You were worried because I went offline for a few weeks?” Wallace smiled, and that face only made Daisuke more and more mad inside “You missed me? Wait, Miyako-san missed me??”

“Oh my god, you haven’t changed anything!”

“Let’s meet the others, I missed them too.” 

“Ghn…!!” he heard Daisuke making the famous ‘Daisuke (angry) noises’ all over again. Yes, Daisuke was about to explode.

“... Did you miss me, Daisuke?”

“...”

Suddenly, his rage faded out until he just… Was completely confused. Sure, he was angry because he had utterly concerns with Wallace’s wellbeing. But now he learned Wallace wasn’t in danger at all because of a dead phone battery and he felt the worries were in vain.

Daisuke rarely overthinks or gets worried. This was one of those cases.

“Did you?”

“...” Daisuke frowned, “I… Yeah I did, so what?”

“You’re so tsundere~”

“I’m n-not!!”

“Let’s meet with the others. If I made them all worried like you, I think they would be relieved to know I wasn’t attacked by whatever was this Eosmon-thing.”

[lynneshobbydomain]

Picture Confessions (KomaHinaNanami Week Day 2)

(Thank you for those who left me likes on my last post!)

Prompt: Talentswap AU

Rating: G

Summary: Chiaki requested Nagito to do a photoshoot with her and Hajime, the Ultimate Prince. Nagito is more than happy to comply, but the Supreme Leader has more up her sleeve than just pictures.

Nagito lowered his camera as he looked at the scene with a critical eye. Chiaki and Hajime were posing underneath the Sakura trees, nearby the rushing river. The Ultimate Prince decided to dress in his military garb, making bystanders double-take when they walked by him. His white gloves were as pristine as the white jacket that Chiaki adorned. To compliment Hajime’s blues, Chiaki went with a simple white dress with a black cape that clasped around her neck. Both of them wore their combat boots instead of casual footwear, which was good thinking on their part, considering it had just rained not too long ago. Chiaki’s cap was slipping off of her head, going over one of her eyes, and she was hastily trying to adjust it between takes.

Hajime finally reached and gently pushed her bangs back and tucking them under the hat and adjusting it accordingly. “Why do you have a hat that doesn’t fit you anyway?”

“It was a spare,” Chiaki puffed her cheeks, a little annoyed. “I think Miyako took the one that fits. I’m not sure what she plans to do with it. I think she said something about wanting to scare people.”

“If I may ask, isn’t that Shuffle?” Nagito questioned. “She’s the one with the pigtails, right?”

“Yep. She’s my second in command. I’m glad you remembered.” Chiaki smiled as she pressed a hand to her chest, a gentle smile gracing her features. It made Nagito’s heart flip a few times. “Are you done with the pictures, Nagito?”

“No, I’m still trying to get this one shot to come out.” Nagito shook his head, pressing the camera back to his face. “Unfortunately, I’m not sure what is…” He trailed off, looking at the camera as though he never has seen it. An idea danced, but Nagito wasn’t sure if it would work or not.

The three of them had been friends for such a long time, Nagito knew that this would break many different kinds of boundaries. He was aware of Hajime’s crush on Chiaki, it was as clear as Sonia loving Gundham despite the differences between talents. The hope that everyone had was so bright and beautiful, and he wanted nothing more than to capture that hope.

Having two leaders of nefarious backgrounds would’ve given his pictures the boost, but there was a spark missing. “You know, I think I know what it is. Hajime, why don’t you get close to Chiaki?”

“How close are we talking?” Hajime asked as he stood a little closer.

Nagito shook his head. He walked over to the couple and forced Chiaki to face Hajime. “Stand on your tiptoes.” He instructed, and Chiaki obeyed without a second thought. Hajime already was holding onto her, trying to keep her steady, but Nagito didn’t like the hold. It was too impersonal. He gently removed Hajime’s hands from her shoulders to go around her waist and pushing her closer towards him, like they were about to lean for a kiss. He had Hajime hold onto Chiaki’s free hand with his own, and he went back to the camera.

He took a few shots, and Hajime brought Chiaki closer and swung her into a dip. The moment only lasted a moment, but it was long enough for Nagito to take a shot regardless. Chiaki giggled as Hajime lightly brought her back to her feet and made her spin. Another shot. Nagito felt the inspiration, the hope, reignite as he watched the two forget that Nagito was behind the camera. As he was supposed to be forgotten.

When Hajime leaned and kissed Chiaki on the cheek, Nagito’s heart both soar and broke all at once. “Hmm.” Chikai frowned thoughtfully. “We’re missing something still, I think.”

“Still?” Hajime and Nagito asked together, flabbergasted. 

“Yep.” Chiaki looked over at Nagito, and he felt his heart pick up speed. “Can your camera use a timer?”

“Yes, it can.”

“Set the timer and come over here. Both of you on either side of me.” Chiaki ordered calmly. Unable to deny the Supreme Leader’s wishes, Nagito set a fifteen-second timer and quickly made his way over towards the two.

“Kiss me on the cheek both of you; however, you’d like to,” Chiaki told them simply. They didn’t have much time to debate amongst each other, nor talk. Nagito felt his hands shake as he took hers into his, and he pressed a delicate kiss against her cheek. He could smell the faint scent of her strawberry shampoo in his nose, and her hands were small and tiny compared to his hands. Her grip was assuring and grounding as she squeezed with just her fingertips alone, as though she was scared of hurting him.

The camera flashed a few times, and Nagito let her go. Hajime also taking a step back, both of them flushed a bright red and Nagito felt his embarrassment climb up his neck. “I should...check the photos.” He stammered as he quickly went back to the camera.

What could any of that mean? His heart raced as he looked at the pictures that were just shot. Hajime had mirrored the same poes Nagito did, and all three of them had their eyes closed, enjoying the moment. All of them flushed, with timid smiles on their faces. They were happy together. Nagito’s heart sped up.

“I think we make a good team together,” Chiaki spoke up shyly, breaking through Nagito’s train of thought. He looked over at her, and she was twirling a piece of her hair, looking away with a mischievous yet sincere smile on her face. She looked...gorgeous. She looked as though she had been planning that for quite some time.

In fact, she might’ve. Nagito was only asked to do the photoshoot not too long ago. He had no idea what the outcome of it was going to be. The leader merely requested it, and Hajime being the man that he was going along with it. Nagito didn’t have a reason to deny them, considering that it was an excellent way to spread hope. 

Now he was wondering whose hope he was spreading. It certainly wasn’t theirs to the world. “You really want to bring me into this? I should feel honored, but I’m nothing compared to you two.” Nagito quickly denied. “You both deserve-”

“If you call yourself scum or worthless, I’m tossing you in a river. You’re not worthless, Nagito. We were talking about it before we even thought of the shoot.” Hajime admitted.

“I’m sorry, what?” Nagito blinked. What?

Chiaki adjusted her hat so that she was hiding under it, making herself look smaller than she was. “We’re asking you to be our third player. If you want to.”

“What she said. And don’t mention that you’re not worth this because of your status as a commoner. My family doesn’t care about blood and marriages so long as I’m happy.” Hajime immediately rejected all of the objections Nagito had that lingered on his tongue. 

“My group wouldn’t care who I date so long as I love them, I think.” Chiaki mused thoughtfully. “Otherwise, they’re not very good subordinates, but I trust them.” 

“I…” Nagito swallowed thickly. “There’s really nothing I can say against this...I want both of you too. If you’ll let me. I wasn’t expecting you two to bring hope to me!”

“God, the hope thing, I’m going to have to get used to the hope thing.” Hajime sighed before he gently brought his arms out. “Group hug?”

Hajime wasn’t prepared for the sudden dogpile that was on top of him, laughter echoing around them. 

[thetakenpokemon]

Act 2 - To Leave the Isle

[Time: 1 Day From Present Time] [Location: Unknown Isle] [PoV: Iniko]

“So... Although I know of what our main goal is, I don’t believe you’ve informed us on where exactly we’re going.” I point out to Zenoclio as I walk down the forest path, said Primarina currently floating through the air aside me.

Currently the two of us are heading to the meeting place again, since Miyako told earlier me earlier that Yinomi managed to find Orabelle and drag her back to said place where we will be gathering.

“Hmmm, it seems I did neglect to mention that...” Zenoclio hums to herself, twirling her hair with a clawed finger. “The landmass you will be heading to is called Separatia, I believe that you have been there before.”

The name makes me cock an eyebrow at her. “Separatia? As in the giant landmass that’s separated into two countries? Progria and Evolutia, right?”

She nods her head. “You would be correct, although it has definitely changed since the last time you and Quintoria visited there. Currently Pokemon and Humans have completely segregated themselves now, so I can guarantee you won’t find any Humans in Evolutia or vice versa.”

I hum thoughtfully. “Which country will we be going to?”

“Evolutia, thankfully.” She responds. “It would be immensely difficult if the location of the breach was in Progria, but that won’t be the case.” A smile forms on her lips, causing some of her fangs to poke out. “The location in question is in the northeast of Evolutia. I still haven’t pinpointed the location of it, but I’m betting it’s near a town called Richfield.”

“Northeast? If my memory serves me right, there were no settlements within that part of Evolutia at the time of my first visit.” I muse to myself. “So if you say that there’s a town called Richfield there, then it means that the Pokemon must have extended their civilization pretty far.” A giggle escapes me. “It feels quite exciting to see how much of it has changed~”

“Don’t get your hopes up too much.” Zenoclio laughs. “After consulting with Xio, the towns located in that area seem to be more ‘traditional’. Compared to a lot of the bigger cities in the southern regions of Evolutia, these towns aren’t advanced in terms of technology.” Her deep pink eyes narrow as her smile turns into a smirk. “The chances of any of those towns having electricity is drastically low.”

I give her a deadpan look. “And that’s a bad thing? Clio, you do realize that we don’t have much in terms of ‘modern’ technology here, right?” I brush one of the long strands of my blue hair over my shoulder. “The best we have are a few generators that we got from the outside, and that’s only so we can power the few electronics we have.”

The Primarina turns to look at me, her smirk threatening to burst into a full-blown grin. “I’m saying this so you don’t get your hopes up. You think I don’t know that you’ve been wanting batteries for your stuff as of late~?”

Instantly I feel my face flush. “Hey! We all know that they run out of power fast!” I shout indignantly.

“They only burn through so quickly because your ‘little’ sessions last for several hours at a time~” She shoots back.

“It’s not my fault that I have yet to unlock the true ending...” I mutter to myself, averting my gaze.

The rest of the walk - or flight in Zenoclio’s case - was in relative silence, mostly due to my embarrassment. Thankfully we were already fairly close at that point, so we arrived to the gathering of willows in no time.

The sound of arguing voices become quite evident behind the wall of vegetation. After sharing a confused look with Zenoclio, we brushed the vines aside and stepped into the clearing within...

...only to see Orabelle and Yinomi arguing, with Miyako lounging on the large rock in the center - obviously enjoying the spectacle.

“-for the last time, we are not getting you a souvenir!” Yinomi growls.

“Hey, it’s the least you can do!” Orabelle shouts back, gritting her teeth. “I’m not allowed to go as it is, so I want you to get me a few things that I’m wanting as compensation!”

Although we only just arrived, it was a no-brainer to know what this argument was about. Looking at Zenoclio, I can quite clearly tell that she wants this spat to end just as much as I do.

“Both of you, enough!” Zenoclio yells, causing them both to look at her.

“But-” Orabelle starts, only for the Primarina to cut her off.

“This is not like one of those ‘errands’, Orabelle.” Zenoclio continues, her tone giving no room for argument. “This is an important task. A mission. Their job is to figure out the location of this portal and obtain any information on what came through.” She crosses her arms. “They won’t have any time for sightseeing or shopping for trinkets.”

From the corner of my eyes I notice Miyako perk up at this. She opens her mouth to protest, only to close it after looking conflicted.

“Alright alright, fine...” Orabelle relents, dejected.

Whatever conflictions Miyako had seemed to have settled, since said Lopunny decides to speak up now. “Uhh, Clio?” This causes said Primarina to turn and look at her.

The gaze of the Sister of Palkia causes Miyako to shrink back slightly, but she still pushes on. “After...we finish with the whole job and figure out that sort of stuff involving the portal, would we be able to at least get a few things before we return?”

At this Zenoclio looks thoughtful as she thinks over her response, only to let out a sigh in the end. “If you find everything that there is to know? I don’t see why not, I doubt Xiomara would object.”

With this answer, Miyako grins widely and turns to Orabelle. “You hear that? Once we get this thing over and done with, we’ll bring a few things back for you. Alright?”

The Gothitelle grins widely, her energy returning tenfold. “Totally!” She laughs, the two giving each other a fist-bump.

I can only raise an eyebrow at the two of them. Knowing Miyako, this definitely isn’t common behavior when it comes to interacting with Orabelle.

What is she up to?

Actually? Scratch that. Whatever it is, I doubt I want to know.

“Alright!” Zenoclio speaks up, drawing all of our attention back to her. “Any last questions? Any concerns? Otherwise, it is best for all of you to depart now.”

“I have an inquiry.” Yinomi speaks up, albeit hesitantly “Will we need some form of disguise during our time there?”

The Primarina chuckles. “Surprisingly? No. After discusing with Xiomara, it looks like none of you will need to hide your identity there. All knowledge of us is not widespread and is quite limited. If the locals do figure out who you are, it shouldn’t cause too much of an issue for us in the future.” She shrugs her shoulders. “It also helps that the chances of encountering a Human there is next to impossible, especially one who would cause any problems.”

Yinomi nods slowly, looking relieved. “To deceive is to go against my nature, so I’m glad to know that we won’t be doing such a thing.”

“If disguises were necessary, we wouldn’t have asked you to go along in the first place, Yinomi.” Zenoclio chuckles.

“I have a question too, where exactly will we be going?” Miyako asks the Primarina.

“That...I’ll leave to Iniko.” She responds back. “I already explained to her the general gist of it, so she’ll tell you about everything I told her.” Her gaze turns to Orabelle. “Assuming that’s it for questions, now’s the time.”

Understanding the message, Orabelle pulls off one of the gold rings that adorn her body. Said ring floats into the air and enlarges in size, becoming big enough for any of us to walk through without difficulty. Although the inside of the ring doesn’t look like anything, we know for a fact that the portal is already up.

“Too late to change your minds now!” Miyako shouts, laughing loudly as she practically dives through the ring, vanishing on the other side.

Yinomi rolls her eyes, however in the end she starts chuckling. “I’ll try to keep her under control~” She says before stepping through the portal.

Before I take my own turn, I look to Zenoclio. “I do have one last question, actually.” I voice. “To clarify, which times will Orabelle be checking in again?”

“Seventeen hundred, on the dot.” The Gothitelle-Hoopa hybrid answers before Zenoclio gets the chance. “Or Five PM, if you don’t understand the twenty-four hour schedule~”

“Yes...” The Primarina agrees slowly, before adding: “However if you find anything of importance or if you wish to contact us again sooner, we can arrange for additional meeting times when Orabelle reaches out to you.”

Satisfied with this, I nod my head and step through the portal. With that action, my surroundings change.

Or...at least, they changed slightly. Turns out we traded one forest for another, although this one mostly consists of pines. The air is also noticeably colder here, perhaps due to the fact that winter is coming soon.

Turning my gaze, I notice that Miyako is currently laying on the ground, nursing her head with a claw.

“That’s what you get for acting recklessly.” Yinomi purrs, unable to contain her smile as she stands over the Lopunny-Zekrom hybrid.

“Up yours, Yinomi.” Miyako merely growls in response.

Lifting my gaze, I notice that one of the pine trees has a rather large hole in its trunk. It didn’t take me long to put together the fact that Miyako slammed right into it head-first after she dove through the portal.

“Hopefully this won’t be a common thing...” I mutter to myself.

[rubygoldberg]

EMOTIONAL BAGGAGE.

bold whatever applies to your muse. italicize the things that only somewhat apply / are verse dependent. repost, don’t reblog!

tagged by stolen from: @cnigmyst​ tagging: @redxriiot​, @tximidity​, anyone who wants to do this (plz tag me so I can check out your blog!)

Doing this for all verses, so I’ll put it under the cut so as not to clog anyone’s dashes.

Quiet Classmate (Student AU)

been cheated on   /   been bullied   /   had your heart broken   /   broken someone’s heart   /   told a horrible lie  /   been betrayed   /   been framed or set-up   /   stolen something of value   /   overdosed on drugs   /   been drunk    /   cheated   /   bullied   /  been publicly humiliated   /   punched someone in the face   /  been beaten up   /    broken a bone   /   been admitted to a hospital   /   put someone in the hospital   /   had a near - death experience   /   been drugged   /   done drugs  /   smoked   /   been arrested   /  been homeless   /   been forced to commit a crime  /  died and came back to life   /    kissed someone you weren’t attracted to   /   bled severely   /   killed someone   /   been forced to kill someone   /   had an attempt on your life   /   made an attempt on your own life   /   lost someone   /   loved someone   /  watched a loved one die  /   failed to save / help a loved one   /   felt helpless  /   watched your world die , disappear   /   had your life’s work stolen or destroyed

gone without food for over three days   /   gone without sleep for over three days  /   been tortured , questioned   /   been shot   /   been stabbed   /   been poisoned   /   been held prisoner   /   been trapped  /   been buried alive   /   been held hostage   /   held someone hostage   /   been stuck in a different world, universe, time   /    been abused by someone who should have loved , appreciated , valued you  /  had a panic attack /   had night terrors   /   been in a car accident {note: Miyako was born in a car accident}  /   lost your job   /   lost a fight   /   had s*x with a stranger   /   been divorced   /   been abandoned   /   passed out from pain   /   cried yourself to sleep  /   spent a whole day in bed   /   hurt yourself  /   taken your anger out on yourself   /   taken your anger out on someone you love   /   been used   /   been manipulated  /   felt used   /   manipulated someone else   /   had your memories , mind wiped , stolen or tampered with   /   been taken over by a hostile force   /   been terrified   /   played a cruel game on someone   /   been forced to smile   /   felt too many things at once   /   laughed when you felt like crying   /   been in denial   /   been denied   /   faced your demons

The RNG Hero (Pro Hero AU)

been cheated on   /   been bullied   /   had your heart broken   /   broken someone’s heart   /   told a horrible lie  /   been betrayed   /   been framed or set-up   /   stolen something of value   /   overdosed on drugs   /   been drunk    /   cheated   /   bullied   /  been publicly humiliated   /   punched someone in the face   /  been beaten up   /    broken a bone   /   been admitted to a hospital   /   put someone in the hospital   /   had a near - death experience   /   been drugged   /   done drugs  /   smoked   /   been arrested   /  been homeless   /   been forced to commit a crime  /  died and came back to life   /    kissed someone you weren’t attracted to   /   bled severely   /   killed someone   /   been forced to kill someone   /   had an attempt on your life   /   made an attempt on your own life   /   lost someone   /   loved someone   /  watched a loved one die  /   failed to save / help a loved one   /   felt helpless  /   watched your world die , disappear   /   had your life’s work stolen or destroyed

gone without food for over three days   /   gone without sleep for over three days /   been tortured , questioned   /   been shot   /   been stabbed   /   been poisoned   /   been held prisoner   /   been trapped /   been buried alive   /   been held hostage   /   held someone hostage   /   been stuck in a different world, universe, time   /    been abused by someone who should have loved , appreciated , valued you /  had a panic attack /   had night terrors   /   been in a car accident  /   lost your job   /   lost a fight  /   had s*x with a stranger   /   been divorced   /   been abandoned   /   passed out from pain   /   cried yourself to sleep /   spent a whole day in bed   /   hurt yourself /   taken your anger out on yourself   /   taken your anger out on someone you love   /   been used   /   been manipulated  /   felt used   /   manipulated someone else   /   had your memories , mind wiped , stolen or tampered with   /   been taken over by a hostile force   /   been terrified   /   played a cruel game on someone   /   been forced to smile   /   felt too many things at once   /   laughed when you felt like crying   /   been in denial   /   been denied   /   faced your demons

Coin Flip Chaos (Villain AU)

been cheated on   /   been bullied   /   had your heart broken   /   broken someone’s heart   /   told a horrible lie  /   been betrayed   /   been framed or set-up   /   stolen something of value   /   overdosed on drugs   /   been drunk    /   cheated   /   bullied   /  been publicly humiliated   /   punched someone in the face   /  been beaten up   /    broken a bone   /   been admitted to a hospital   /   put someone in the hospital   /   had a near - death experience   /   been drugged   /   done drugs  /   smoked   /   been arrested   /  been homeless   /   been forced to commit a crime  /  died and came back to life   /    kissed someone you weren’t attracted to   /   bled severely   /   killed someone   /   been forced to kill someone   /   had an attempt on your life   /   made an attempt on your own life   /   lost someone   /   loved someone   /  watched a loved one die  /   failed to save / help a loved one   /   felt helpless  /   watched your world die , disappear   /   had your life’s work stolen or destroyed

gone without food for over three days   /   gone without sleep for over three days /   been tortured , questioned   /   been shot   /   been stabbed   /   been poisoned   /   been held prisoner   /   been trapped /   been buried alive   /   been held hostage   /   held someone hostage   /   been stuck in a different world, universe, time   /    been abused by someone who should have loved , appreciated , valued you /  had a panic attack /   had night terrors   /   been in a car accident  /   lost your job   /   lost a fight  /   had s*x with a stranger   /   been divorced   /   been abandoned   /   passed out from pain   /   cried yourself to sleep /   spent a whole day in bed   /   hurt yourself /   taken your anger out on yourself   /   taken your anger out on someone you love   /   been used   /   been manipulated  /   felt used   /   manipulated someone else   /   had your memories , mind wiped , stolen or tampered with   /   been taken over by a hostile force   /   been terrified   /   played a cruel game on someone   /   been forced to smile   /   felt too many things at once   /   laughed when you felt like crying   /   been in denial   /   been denied   /   faced your demons

A Tiny Reaction (Child AU)

been cheated on   /   been bullied   /   had your heart broken   /   broken someone’s heart   /   told a horrible lie  /   been betrayed   /   been framed or set-up   /   stolen something of value   /   overdosed on drugs   /   been drunk    /   cheated   /   bullied   /  been publicly humiliated   /   punched someone in the face   /  been beaten up   /    broken a bone   /   been admitted to a hospital   /   put someone in the hospital   /   had a near - death experience   /   been drugged   /   done drugs  /   smoked   /   been arrested   /  been homeless   /   been forced to commit a crime  /  died and came back to life   /    kissed someone you weren’t attracted to   /   bled severely   /   killed someone   /   been forced to kill someone   /   had an attempt on your life   /   made an attempt on your own life   /   lost someone   /   loved someone   /  watched a loved one die  /   failed to save / help a loved one   /   felt helpless  /   watched your world die , disappear   /   had your life’s work stolen or destroyed

gone without food for over three days   /   gone without sleep for over three days /   been tortured , questioned   /   been shot   /   been stabbed   /   been poisoned   /   been held prisoner   /   been trapped /   been buried alive   /   been held hostage   /   held someone hostage   /   been stuck in a different world, universe, time   /    been abused by someone who should have loved , appreciated , valued you /  had a panic attack /   had night terrors   /   been in a car accident  /   lost your job   /   lost a fight  /   had s*x with a stranger   /   been divorced   /   been abandoned   /   passed out from pain   /   cried yourself to sleep /   spent a whole day in bed   /   hurt yourself /   taken your anger out on yourself   /   taken your anger out on someone you love   /   been used   /   been manipulated  /   felt used   /   manipulated someone else   /   had your memories , mind wiped , stolen or tampered with   /   been taken over by a hostile force   /   been terrified   /   played a cruel game on someone   /   been forced to smile   /   felt too many things at once   /   laughed when you felt like crying   /   been in denial   /   been denied   /   faced your demons

Miss Fortune Maker

been cheated on   /   been bullied   /   had your heart broken   /   broken someone’s heart   /   told a horrible lie  /   been betrayed   /   been framed or set-up   /   stolen something of value   /   overdosed on drugs   /   been drunk    /   cheated   /   bullied   /  been publicly humiliated   /   punched someone in the face   /  been beaten up   /    broken a bone   /   been admitted to a hospital   /   put someone in the hospital   /   had a near - death experience   /   been drugged   /   done drugs  /   smoked   /   been arrested   /  been homeless   /   been forced to commit a crime  /  DIED AND COME BACK TO LIFE   /    kissed someone you weren’t attracted to   /   bled severely   /   killed someone   /   been forced to kill someone   /   had an attempt on your life   /   made an attempt on your own life   /   lost someone   /   loved someone   /  watched a loved one die  /   failed to save / help a loved one   /   felt helpless  /   watched your world die , disappear   /   had your life’s work stolen or destroyed

gone without food for over three days   /   gone without sleep for over three days /   been tortured , questioned   /   been shot   /   been stabbed   /   been poisoned   /   been held prisoner   /   been trapped /   been buried alive   /   been held hostage   /   held someone hostage   /   been stuck in a different world, universe, time   /    been abused by someone who should have loved , appreciated , valued you /  had a panic attack /   had night terrors   /   been in a car accident  /   lost your job   /   lost a fight  /   had s*x with a stranger   /   been divorced   /   been abandoned   /   passed out from pain   /   cried yourself to sleep /   spent a whole day in bed   /   hurt yourself /   taken your anger out on yourself   /   taken your anger out on someone you love   /   been used   /   been manipulated  /   felt used   /   manipulated someone else   /   had your memories , mind wiped , stolen or tampered with   /   been taken over by a hostile force   /   been terrified   /   played a cruel game on someone   /   been forced to smile   /   felt too many things at once   /   laughed when you felt like crying   /   been in denial   /   been denied   /   faced your demons

[detectiveichijouji]

Case 30 - The Digi-Villain Who Stole The Christmas

[AO3 version]

CW: It's a Christmas themed case! So if you have any triggering experiences with Christmas holiday, this chapter is not for you.

-----------------------//-----------------------

The kids were on winter vacation now. Miyako was still thinking about what Noel told them previously…

“We’re investigating everyone next to you guys. I suggested Ichijouji-san do the same, and I will keep looking for anything and anyone suspicious.”

Someone closer or next to them was the fake Kaiser… Noel’s suggestions to trying to check their schools’ databases and trying to check each student made her feel afraid of one of her school friends being the same coldhearted person wearing a mask and treating human and digimon beings like toys in order to ‘keep the Chosen Children having a reason to exist’ or something like (she wasn’t present when Daisuke, Takeru and Hikari heard the mysterious Neo Digimon Kaiser saying that.)

“Who… would do something like this??” she mused. Hawkmon watched her walking in circles in her room, literally.

“Miyako-san, you need to take it easy--”

“Someone is hurting everyone with those shards… And for a dumb reason!” she frowned, “I can’t let my guard down…!”

“I know, but you can’t do anything if you don’t calm down. Do you want to talk with the others?”

“I would end up ruining their Christmas party-- OH NO, THE CHRISTMAS PARTY!!”

She ran to her closet and started digging inside it, rambling something very quickly enough to make Hawkmon not understand, only a few words -- like ‘present’ - ‘Ken-kun’ - ‘Cake’

“Do you need help?” Hawkmon asked from his spot. He was sitting on Miyako’s bed. He was quite concerned about her right now, and wondering if he should intervene and try to make her calm down.

“YES, I FOUND IT!” she emerged from the pile of clothes with a book, “Oh thank goodness I left it in the same place…!!”

“Hm? What’s that?” Hawkmon approached by flying.

“Oh, it’s a book of a few recipes. I want to bake a few cookies for everyone and then bring a cake for Ken-kun. He was feeling a little down with all of that story of Digimental shards and someone pretending to be his old self…”

“Ah I see.”

“Sooo, let’s cook!!” and then she managed to trip over the clothes on the floor, the same ones she threw around the room, “OOF!”

“I think you need to clean your room first…” Hawkmon sighed.

Soleil and Lune were too busy to celebrate the Holidays, and they kept investigating what Étoile asked them to look for. They were looking at the school records from Amanogawa High and trying to connect the victims from the previous cases.

“The victims involved before were close to Motomiya-kun, right?” Lune mused, checking the database, “Or at least from his group of close friends…”

“Huh, I didn’t expect them to be that pop…” Lunamon commented with a giggle.

“They’re famous because of saving the world,” Coronamon said, nonchalantly.

“Takaishi was also a victim of those buffoons too,” Soleil added, “Can you access the other schools’ recordings from here?”

“I’m not a hacker expert though” Lune replied with a frown, “But I will try my best.”

“Why hacking?” Coronamon asked, out of curiosity.

“If you’re not part of a school you can’t get permission to access the school’s recordings” his human partner explained. 

“We’re not cops, detectives or high ups who can access those info legally, I see!” Lunamon commented with glee.

“How about Étoile?” Lune asked, “Have he discovered something already?”

“Miss Espimon is doing her best,” Lunamon said, “Noel left this in her hands! No worries, she got this!”

“He’s still investigating too,” Soleil added, “I think Motomiya and the others are in contact with him and cooperating with us.”

“As long they don’t mess with our part, they are welcome,” Lune wasn’t happy with that, but maybe it wasn’t about Noel’s being a friendly around the Chosen Children and yes more because of her running into walls while trying to hack the servers from other schools, all from her laptop. She bit her lips.

“What’s wrong?” Coronamon asked this time, “Did you--”

“Ugh, I hate doing this kind of job… Étoile is our technician…!!”

“You don’t want to lose to that pesky Inoue Miyako, right Mizuki??” Lunamon gasped; she tried using her own digital code on the screen to try to hack the website, “Here, I’ll help you!!” Then she ran her paw on the screen and tried to decode the password permissions and firewalls.

The digimon are able to do that, of course. This is how those kids managed to do a few… ‘illegal’ stuff before. This kinda caught Arsenemon’s attention and then they became friends -- because they all were doing questionable stuff in order to help others. No actual mean spirited intentions, just trying to work for the sake of justice.

They’re different from the 02 group though, they’re the kind to be avengers than heroes. But deep down the 02 group wasn’t into the idea of being the popular ones, so they left this part to their seniors mostly. So they’re working as some sort of detective club rather than a super great and cool league of heroes.

The password wall is beaten by Lunamon’s hacking skills. The bun digimon cheers, and then gives a high five with Lune.

“Yay!”

“What are we looking for there, Youta?” Coronamon looked at the boy. Soleil was stroking his chin, looking at the results on screen.

“Anything leading us to the Digimon Kaiser,” the boy answered.

“Do you think they will find something?” the eyepatched Impmon asked, as they watched Soleil and Lune being broadcasted on Unryuuji Naito’s computer, by using Dracumon’s spared eye to spy on the kids.

“Hmmm, would we do something about this?” Then, Naito looked at the other human who definitely was supposed to be the faux Kaiser.

“I think not, and if they discover something… It might lead them to Ichijouji Ken, not to me.”

“Should we do something today?” Impmon asked the humans and Dracmon, “It would be fun~”

“You want to have fun, huh… Then, go ahead and enjoy the season,” then, the faux Kaiser tossed a shard to Impmon.

“YAY!!”

“Merry Christmas!!”  

A wild festive Daisuke popped on Iori’s doorstep. Iori was not sure what Daisuke was doing wearing a red, white and green version of his Digital World outfit. Or rather where did he get those.

“Daisuke-san, what are you--”

“C’mon! It’s Christmas! You can’t go to a party without getting into the spirit of it!!”

“... Sorry, I do not understand your point.”

“We want to cheer everyone up!” V-mon added, he was wearing a reindeer red nose and antlers, “You know what this means right??”

“No we don’t, dagya” Armadimon had a tired expression on his face. Same as Iori.

“Then, we’re goin’ to help ya~” Daisuke chuckled.

“...”

“...”

Iori closes the door on Daisuke and V-mon’s faces.

“C’MON IORI, IT’S CHRISTMAS!!” Daisuke shouted outside.

“Why does he have to do that every single year , sigh” Iori growled.

“Maybe he just wanted us to have fun after all the awful things happening to us?” Armadimon wondered.

“Hmm…”

“Hey, Iori what if we just…” then he whispered something in Iori's ear.

 “Oh, I’m not sure but we can try that.”

Outside, Daisuke and V-mon just gave up and left. They just pass by Takeru and Patamon.

“Daisuke-kun, V-mon-- Why the long faces?”

“Our faces are not that long…” V-mon pouted.

“He meant why we are sad,” Daisuke sighed, “Well, I think we should make something cooler for the party, to cheer everyone up.”

“Like what?” Patamon asked.

“Daisuke wanted everyone to feel the Christmas spirit!”

“You didn’t try to force Iori to do something he didn’t want to, did you?” Patamon blinked his eyes, while Takeru only sighed.

“Was it that bad?” V-mon frowned.

“No, we didn’t want him to do something like that!” Daisuke defended himself, “We just wanted… To have fun together, y’know, all of us…”

“You’re not planning to put a reindeer antler on him, or were you?” Takeru asked, then saw Daisuke and V-mon chuckling nervously, “Daisuke-kun…”

“W-what!? I don’t… I don’t mean antlers dude!!” and the goggle boy babbled, “M-maybe just a Santa hat…?”

“Daisuke(-kun)” Takeru and Patamon glanced at him with annoyed faces. 

“... S-sorry…” he gave up and sighed.

“Well, I’m up to the funsies!” Takeru smiled, “So you can give me those hats and antlers.”

“H-huh!?”

“What? Didn’t you say you wanted to raise everyone’s spirits?” Patamon crossed his paws on the top of Takeru’s head.

“But how do you raise spirits?” V-mon blinked.

“He meant to cheer everyone up,” Daisuke and Takeru explained.

“Yeah, I do but…” Daisuke blushed a little, being a bit embarrassed by this.

“Then, let’s do it!” Takeru grabbed his arm and dragged him to the elevator.

“W-what--”

“Hey wait for me!!” V-mon ran after them.

“I know you’re busy but you can’t just spend the holidays alone, Taichi!” HIkari pouted, she was with Taichi on the phone.

“Sorry, I got a cold… A-and I just moved out, I need to unpack stuff!!”

“Sigh, you will really do that to me!? And to everyone!? At least spend time with your family!!”

“... Oh no the call is getting cut by the elevator!! I can’t hear you--”

Then, he just hung up. Hikari was staring at the phone in her hand with a murderous gaze.

“What did he say?” Agumon asked Hikari.

“He said he can’t come” she shook her head, “What’s going on with him lately…!?”

“I hope this doesn’t mean he’s drifting away from us,” Tailmon shrugged, “I never saw Taichi being like this, or just leaving Agumon at home.”

“... Maybe he’s still ashamed of forcing Agumon to evolve with that shard?” Hikari mused, and Agumon just frowned by remembering what happened to him and Taichi previously.

“It wasn’t Taichi’s fault!” Agumon said, but he was pretty aware Hikari and Tailmon knew that already, “But I think we will have to leave him to heal at his own pace… Takeru suffered something like that too, didn’t he?”

“Yeah, he did,” Tailmon replied with a nod, “seeing Patamon evolve into a Devimon variation triggered him some panic attack with rage, according to him.”

“But… why would Taichi…”

“We don’t know” Hikari looked at Agumon, “But we know he will get over it soon. Anyway, do you want to come with us?”

“Hmm… Will everyone go?”

“We still got no answers from the others, only from Daisuke-kun, Miyako-san, Iori-kun, Ichijouji-kun, and Takeru-kun.”

“We hope they can jump in later,” Tailmon added.

“But weren’t they also attacked by the bad guys too?” Agumon had a point. Only Mimi and Koushiro managed to escape by sheer luck. Taichi, Yamato, Sora and Joe were attacked by those enemies… And some of them were fused into a digimon-form with their own digimon partners.

“True…” Hikari frowned.

“They might be still in shock, and have to recover too…” Agumon said; he and Tailmon sighed.

“A-anyway, we should get ready for the party…”

“Where will it be this time?” Tailmon looked at Hikari.

“They are too quiet…” Ken couldn’t stop thinking about the fake shards and the faux Digimon Kaiser. 

Pucchiemon was just having fun at the kitchen cooking with his mother for their little casual party for the group and hoping their seniors could just join them later. The idea came immediately from Miyako and he reinforced it as fast as he could. He wanted to make everyone -- Daisuke especially -- to stress relief. Maybe because of the heavy stupid thing Daisuke had told him. But little did he know that Miyako would be doing this too to cheer him up after all the awful things happening to him as well.

It doesn’t matter, Mrs. Ichijouji was happy to help and to offer their home for Ken’s small party.

“Quiet…?” Ah, Noel was there too. Maybe because Ken called him there, “You could take a day off from this case and just enjoy the moment. No news means good news sometimes.”

“Yes, I know. But they seem to be plotting something…”

“Did you discover something, mademoiselle Espimon?” Noel asked her by using a hologram coming from his wristwatch. 

“Hmmmmm” she took a moment to answer, “Not yet, but I think I detected a strong Digimental fragment energy right now…”

“Right now!?” Ken and Noel exclaimed.

“I guess you were right, Ichijouji-san, pardon moi …”

“It’s okay, you also had a point too… We need to stop whoever is going amok this time and relax.”

“Indeed… Shall we go, then.”

Ken’s message made everyone stop doing whatever they were doing and go to the coordinates in the text.

“HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!” the eyepatch Impmon was enjoying the chaos caused by their victim, who was evolved into…  “Yes, YES! RUN AWAY, BUT YOU CAN’T HIDE FROM DAIPENMON ’S FURY!!”

“STOP RIGHT THERE, IMPMON!!”

“Huh??” From the top of DaiPenmon, Impmon looked to the 02 group and Noel on the floor, “Meh, it’s you brats again!!”

“WHO THE HECK ARE YOU CALLING A BRAT, YOU BRAT!?” Daisuke snapped.

“What are you pathetic clowns wearing?? A circus attire?” Impmon yelled from there.

“Huh??” V-mon blinked, “What do ya mea--”

A quick look at each other could tell Miyako had no time to remove her apron and that she had chocolate batter on her face. Iori suspiciously was dressed all red and Armadimon had antlers and a red nose. Daisuke also had the same outfit from the time he talked with Iori, with antlers instead of the googles (the precious item was lying on his neck) this time, V-mon now had a red Santa hat, while Takeru had a winter hat with antlers and the red nose on plus a red coat over his periglacial blue shirt . Only Hikari, Ken and Noel seemed… normal.

“What were you guys doing…?” Ken blinked.

The suspicious ones started talking all together and no one was able to understand each other.

“THAT DOESN’T MATTER NOW!!” Tailmon hissed, “We have to save whoever was turned into a DaiPenmon!!”

“R-right (dagya)!!”

“Seriously, you’re a waste of time…” Impmon sighed.

“Say that to our faces, you creep!” Miyako shouted.

“DaiPenmon, turn them into Chosen Children flavored Ice Cream!”

“Non, tu ne le feras pas.” Noel said.

The child-level digimon evolved into their adult forms, and then jogressed with their other digimon Jogress components into Paildramon, Silphymon and Shakkoumon.

Except Paildramon had the Santa hat and Shakkoumon the antlers and red nose.

“YOU GOTTA BE JOKIN’ HERE, YOU INSECTS!!” Impmon growled, “DaiPenmon, ATTACK!!”

“This is one festive combination that happens once a year, you Scrooge/ungrateful!” Daisuke and Takeru complained, but Iori was quite silent though.

“This is NOT the right time to argue about that!!” Ken shouted, angrily.

“I agree… They should’ve removed those while evolving…” Iori muttered, uncomfortably.

DaiPenmon tried to smash the Jogress digimon trio, but its moves were too slow for them. Shakkmoumon was shielding the 02 team though, alongside Noel’s magician tricks.

“WHY ARE YOU NOT HITTING THEM, YOU FOOL!?” Impmon shouted again, “HIT THEM, NOW!!”

“Esgrima!!” Paildramon used their cables to immobilize DaiPenmon. Then, they looked at Silphymon, and their Stingmon side said, “Silphymon localize the shard and remove it, now!”

“Alright!” Silphymon used their visor to scan the giant Ice Maker Penguin.

“HEY HEY HEY, LET IT GO!!” Impmon complained in a growl, “YOU’RE RUINING MY FUN!!”

“Your fun is not allowed in this world!” Miyako snapped, “How dare you ruin my cookies and cake for our party!?”

“I don’t care!! I like causing a fuss, you old lady!!”

“What did you call me!?” Miyako’s eyes were turned into flames, she clenched her fists and had to be held by Ken and Takeru or else she would join the fight, climb DaiPenmon and unleash her ire on that pipsqueak digimon -- “LET ME GO, GUYS! LET ME GO!!”

“He’s-- He’s trying to provoke you, Miyako-san!” Takeru babbled.

“Don’t let him hit you,” Ken added, “P-Please.”

Meanwhile Silphymon had found the shard -- a green gem -- inside the giant red-pinkish ice held by the foe digimon.

“There!!” Silphymon (Tailmon side) exclaimed, pointing at the target.

“Shakkoumon, aim at the left ice cream!” Iori ordered.

“Roger,” Shakkoumon replied, and then aimed at the strawberry popsicle, “Aramitama.” And released the laser beams from their eyes.

“NO!!” Impmon screeched in panic!!

The popsicle melted and with this, the gem was also destroyed, making DaiPenmon revert back into a Penmon and her human partner. Impmon managed to jump to the top of a short building next to them and gritted their teeth.

“NO FUN, YOU RUINED MY WINTER HOLIDAY!!” Impmon yelled.

“Now all we need to do is catch you!!” Paildramon (XV-mon side) said as they fired their finger cables at Impmon, but the masked human with a Matadrmon appeared and repelled them.

“YOU AGAIN!?” Daisuke exclaimed.

“... Enjoy your night, we might get serious next time we meet.” and then he and the other two digimon vanished before they all could catch the enemy trio.

“DARN IT!” V-mon shouted in distress, “We almost ALMOST caught one of them!!”

“It’s okay V-mon,” Ken looked at the digimon, now in their usual level forms, “We will get them soon.”

“Ichijouji-san is right” Noel tried to comfort them all, “But, let’s say it wasn’t all lost.”

“? What do you mean?” Iori asked, and everyone was also curious.

“Hoho, I wasn’t just watching…” Noel chuckled, then showed them his wristwatch, “ Mademoiselle Espimon, you put the tracker on them right?”

“Aye, sir!”

“Wow, Noel-kun how did you--” Takeru exclaimed while everyone’s surprising reactions were either silent or just noises like ‘huh!!’

“Hehe, while Impmon was making fun of us, she sneaked in the battle field and put the nano-tracker on them, comme un professionnel~ ” 

“That’s great, Noel!” Daisuke gave him a noogie on the head.

“But our party will not be happening because… the cookies and cake…” Miyako dramatically cried.

“I can help you bake another batch,” Hikari offered help with a smile.

“Oh me too, me too!” Daisuke added.

“You could come too,” Takeru looked at Noel, “At least have a break today.”

“Oh, merci . But I’m… I’m used to having my own way to celebrate the holidays.”

“Like…?” Patamon asked.

“So um… I… Human World’s Christmas day is the time i actually turned into Arsenemon.”

“So that’s why you’re called ‘Noel’, huh…” Takeru commented.

“Huh? What do ya mean?” Daisuke blinked, “I thought it was a fancy French name…”

“Oh, it is a name too, but… ‘Nöel’ also means ‘Christmas’ in French“ Noel himself explained.

“Oh… Cool” Daisuke was indeed interested.

“Well, I have to go. Have fun at your party~” he chuckled, “Joyeux noël, mes amis~”

And then Noel just left.

As expected, none of their seniors came to their small party. But Hikari brought Agumon with her, and she and Daisuke helped Miyako to bake a new batch of cookies (the cake she just got from a store) -- and they just looked at Iori suspiciously still wearing full red outfits.

Ken went to talk to him, “You were acting a little odd today, what’s wrong?”

“Ah… Uh… It was Armadimon’s idea, but...”

“You can tell me, I won’t ruin the fun.”

“... Armadimon said Christmas parties should have a Santa, and…”

“You don’t need to do that if you don’t want to,” Ken smiled, “It’s okay.”

“I…”

“Hey watcha talkin’??” Daisuke popped in, “That’s not usual from ya’ll.”

“Actually I have an idea” Ken dragged Daisuke to his room.

“Huh, wait what… Where are we goin--”

“Just be quiet and come with me.”

Armadimon came in, and looked at Iori, “Did it work?”

Iori just giggled, “Probably.”

“What were you two planning?” Takeru and Patamon passed by.

“Nothing, nothing (dagya)” Iori and Armadimon replied with a chuckle.

Takeru and Patamon looked at each other.

“Ok, where’s Daisuke…” V-mon frowned.

“And Ken-chan?” Wormmon asked next.

Ken just left the room, cheerfully. Miyako just went to him and asked: “Why are you chuckling??”

“Well, Iori-kun said a Christmas party must have a Santa so…”

“??”

The door from Ken’s room opened with a “HO HO HO” echoing in the apartment. This dramatic entrance was pretty recognizable for everyone, but the digimon were still alarmed by the previous battle that they just jumped on Santa the moment he left the room.

Except Tailmon. Because Tailmon managed to figure things out.

“Wait everyone--” the cat-like digimon tried to stop them, but it was too late.

“--AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!”

The human partners were concerned about Daisuke right now. Spirals could be seen in his eyes… Ken and the others retrieved their digimon from the top of their unlucky friend (Hikari retrieved V-mon instead)

“Huh??” V-mon blinked, “What?”

“Ack!!” Daisuke got up from the ground “What’s wrong with y’all!?”

“He sounds like Daisuke,” Patamon blinked.

“You’re kiddin’ right?” Santa Daisuke pouted, “It’s me, but now that you attacked Santa you won’t get presents…”

“What!? No fair!!” the digimon (minus Tailmon) complained.

“... It’s what I would say, but you all saved someone’s life tonight so y’all are on the List of Nice Digimon.”

“YAY!!”

Miyako dragged Ken to the corridor of the apartment, to talk with him without interrupting the others. 

“You did it on purpose, right? You could’ve warned us…”

“Oh” Ken chuckled, “Iori-kun had that idea but couldn’t commit to it. I was only helping a friend~ And Besides… Daisuke is good with the digimon.”

They gave a glance at the confirmation of that -- He was enjoying playing with the digimon, alongside Hikari and Takeru. Iori and Tailmon were just watching them, with a smile on their faces.

“True, he’s perfect for this job. I wonder who told you that~”

“I’m glad he’s feeling better now, he said something… terrible weeks ago…”

“I know you’re worried about him, but how about you? You were also needing to cheer up a little.”

“... Thanks for the concern, I appreciate it.”

“Ho, Ho, Ho~ Santa Daisuke’s goin’ to eat all the cookies and cakes and fried chicken if you two don’t come~”

“H-HEY DON’T DARE TO EAT ALL OF THAT ALONE, DAISUKE!” She shouted and then went back to the party.

It ended up being a good night though… It’s all well when it ends well~

[ladyofthecastleproject]

The Rise Of The Whirlpool Reliability

[AO3 version]

Summary:

A bounty hunter appears and hunts down the 02 group and Mimi. Paired with Gummymon (Terriermon) and separated from Armadimon, Iori struggles to protect the small digimon and himself from the enemies. When they reach a dead end and are about to lose... A light comes from his digivice and protects them. What is this?? Another of those Digimental Weapons!?

[Note: this takes place in 2008]

Gummymon (in Terriermon form) was in danger, being held by Iori who was running away from the enemy. He got lost from the others and especially from Armadimon. He had no idea what to do, but he couldn’t fight against a tough digimon like that. Gummymon won’t evolve to Gargomon in any scenario, so this pair was unlucky.

After spending a good time just following the boy in silence, the bunny-like digimon whispered:

“I’m sorry…”

“No, it’s not your fault” Iori stopped running and hid behind a tree; he whispered back, “We were careless. I’m trying to contact the others but… My phone and D-terminal are not working.”

“That’s bad…” Gummymon frowned.

A roar was heard, and then, they had to leave quickly. Iori pocketed his devices, grabbed Gummymon from the floor and left the woods. They entered an ancient ruins area and stepped into one of the abandoned houses. He closed the door. A lion-like digimon -- Liamon -- passed by outside.

He tried to contact the others again. But no success. What should they do now?

“... If Wallace were with us, I could evolve and help you” the digimon was frowning.

“This is just an unfortunate incident. It’s okay,” Iori tried to comfort him, “We promised to take you back to Wallace-san and we will.”

“I know but… We need nowhere to run now. We’re stuck.”

Iori looked through the window, and saw Liamon was searching for them.

Outside, and watching the group split up by the bounty hunter Zamielmon and his Liamon lackeys, Lightnimon bit his lip (even if no one could see that thanks to the helmet) and Buddymon’s red eyes showed concern for those humans and digimon.

“You know we can’t do anything about this” Buddymon whispered, “Unless you want us to be discovered.”

“I know, and I’m not good at thinking,” he muttered back, “But I also hate to sit and watch…!”

“... Me too. Then, what should we do?”

“Attack from distance” he replied, "you’re good at long-ranged targets now right? We got to do this without being caught!"

“Alright! Leave it to me!”

Armadimon ended up with Ken and Wormmon. It was a bit of a surprise that Iori wasn’t with them, and this made the armadillo digimon a bit worried. Not that he doubted Iori’s abilities, but more that Iori would need his assistance and he’s not around to deliver it.

“Did they leave?” Wormmon asked Ken, clutching to the boy’s leg.

“Hmm… I hope so”

“Then, we should go seek for Iori, dagya”

“Not yet” Ken squinted his eyes, and saw a Liamon in the horizon  but was… distracted by something else? Ken, Wormmon and Armadimon tried to guess what was happening but all they saw was smoke. And then a quick light until the smoke vanished and there was no Liamon anymore. “Huh?”

“What was that (dagya)?” Wormmon and Armadimon said together.

“Could it be Daisuke?” Ken mused, “But…why?”

“It doesn’t seem to be Daisuke-san at all” Wormmon replied, “But now we can go find Iori-san”

“You’re right… He might need our help” Ken nodded and then grabbed his D-3 to check for a digivice’s signal. Strangely, there was a signal around them… But Another a bit far away “Hm? Well, the one closer might not be Iori-kun, so…”

“Ah, maybe he went in that direction!” Armadimon pointed at the visible ruins in the distance in the sky.

“Then, let’s go check there first.” Ken nodded and the trio left in the ruins’ direction.

Miyako and Hawkmon were alone, but managed to work together against the Liamon. With that mysterious weapon the Digimental of Sincerity took form, she felt able to aid in battles a little better. And, with her good abilities in games she could apply some of those techniques in real-life situations… At least now.

She aimed at the trees and hoped for the best, she waited Horusmon to paralyze the enemy with Udjat Gaze and threw the shuriken against the trees surrounding Liamon. The trees were cut and fell over the lion-like digimon. Since she wasn’t aiming to kill them, that was just to buy them time and escape.

However, she noticed something running like the wind over their heads and a fire blast sound was heard. She looked back and saw Liamon, who was almost breaking through the tree debris, being destroyed by it.

“What… H-How cruel…”

Horusmon stopped, “What was that…?”

They saw a human-sized silhouette at the distance. Daisuke wouldn’t be that cruel to destroy enemies if they’re not dark towers right? But then… He once had pointed out a valid reason as to why Imperialdramon had destroyed SkullSatamon…

“Did you see that?” Horusmon said, “It was… A human?”

“It’s not Daisuke though, if it were him he would’ve come to meet us” she sighed, “Well, let’s find the rest!”

“Ok!”

Iori and Gummymon were still stuck. The Liamon and now another Liamon were walking outside, and soon or later they would sense their presence and invade that house.

“What are you doing?” Gummymon asked, scratching his head with his ear.

“Trying to find something to use for defense” and the boy answered, inspecting the room.

“But… Can you do it?”

“I can try at least… I practice kendo,” he said, “I can try to use something to knock them out and we run away from here.”

“Oh. Then, I will help you find something” and the small digimon started examining the place with him.

“Thank you,” Iori smiled, then returned looking for something that could work as a kendo stick, or something to throw against the Liamon.

Mimi and Hikari were together, Palmon and Tailmon were right now facing the Liamon chasing them. Both of them didn’t want to hurt the wild beast, but were running out of options.

“Cat Punch!”

Tailmon punched Liamon, jumped back and looked at Palmon, “Now!”

Palmon used her vines to pull the trees down against Liamon, burying it. Tailmon looked at the girls, and said:

“Don’t worry, Liamon’s fine. This will give us a chance to escap--”

“Watch out!!” Palmon used her vines to catch Tailmon and throw her at the girls, then ran and ducked as some flames came from their heads, hitting the Liamon and destroying it.

The girls looked at the scene. This was indeed a horrible thing.

“What happened!?” Hikari babbled “L-Liamon is…”

Mimi saw a shadow at the top of the trees, and once noticed something in the mysterious figure, her blood boiled.

“Yes, but let’s not think about it for now,” Tailmon replied, “Let’s find the rest.”

“Ok!” the girls and Palmon said.

Takeru flew on Pegasusmon, trying to block Liamon’s way from catching them. Despite him and Patamon being able to fight, they feared more of those enemies coming. When they reached a dead end, Takeru held tightly on Pegasusmon.

“Silver Blaze!”

The digimon got hit and stepped back. But another one came from the edges and surprised them. Takeru closed his eyes waiting for the worst but a fire blast hit the Liamon, destroying it. He and Pegasmon opened their eyes and saw a human-sized creature fighting the remaining Liamon.

“H-huh?”

It had a spear-like in hands, but some smoke coming from the flames caused by the battle made Pegasusmon and Takeru's vision blurred. Suddenly a big shadow appeared, slicing Liamon with a claw. Liamon got destroyed and the two shadows vanished quickly.

“What happened?” Pegasusmon asked, “Takeru, are you OK?”

“Y-yeah…” the boy replied, “Did you see that? Two digimon appeared in the smoke…”

“I couldn’t see them very well, let’s find the others.”

“Roger.”

“Ah, can this work?” and Gummymon showed a broom he just found and grabbed with his ear.

“Yes, we can use it for something. Thank you Gummymon,” and Iori gently took it from his ear. The boy removed the head of the broomstick “Done, let’s get out of here.”

“Okay…” the digimon flew to the top of Iori’s head.

Iori opened the door slowly, gave a peek outside and slowly opened the door. He walked outside quietly trying to pass through the Liamons, and while this was working… Gummymon was unable to hold a sneeze.

The Liamon noticed them, and ran to attack. Iori used the broomstick to defend Gummymon and himself, aiming at the digimon’s head. He hit it with all of his strength, but it broke. Liamon tried to hit them with its paw…

“Blazing Fire!!”

Gummymon shot a tiny ball of energy on Liamon, which hit it and caused a little explosion on Liamon’s eye. The lion enemy stepped back, and gave Iori time to escape…

“Guh!”

… Only to be hit by the other Liamon in the area.

“I-Iori!” Gummymon said, getting up from the ground, “Are you okay?”

“I-I’m fine…” he responded, and then tried to find something else to protect himself and Gummymon from the next attack.

“W-watch out!!” the bunny-like digimon shouted.

Iori deeply wished for Armadimon to be there, but he had promised to help Gummymon find Wallace at all costs!

“I can’t… Die here…!” 

The digivice beeped, and a light came from it, hitting Liamon in the face and making it back off. The light stood in front of Iori, and he realized it was the Digimental of Reliability. The digimental changed its shape to a sword made by Submarimon’s harpoon. However, when Iori grabbed it, its spikes disappeared and he was able to repel Liamon’s next attempt at attacking them.

“What’s this?” Gummymon asked, “A sword?”

“I have no idea what it is, but… It will serve to protect us” He took Gummymon with one hand and stood on guard. Ready to repel any attack from the Liamon duo surrounding them.

The Liamons attacked, and Iori used that sword to repel their attacks. He was going well until he got cornered. Gummymon decided to charge a stronger and bigger energy ball but it wasn’t needed.

Fire came from the top of some ruins’ pillars and destroyed the Liamon. From the fire, the mysterious human-sized shadow stood in front of Iori, without realizing he was still there.

“That must be the last one” Lightnimon said, looking at the horizon “Now where did they go--”

Iori attacked him with the sword, thinking that digimon was one of the enemies. But Lightnimon was faster and dodged it quickly. The sword now was pointing at him, with Iori on a defensive stance.

“Ah, you’re there.”

“Who are you and why did you destroy those innocent lives?” Iori interrogated him, with a serious and casual tone.

“Oh… Those digimon might be reborn” Lightnimon shugged, “Take it easy.”

“Who are you and what are you doing here?”

“I’m just a digimon passing by” he chuckled, “Oh, I think your friends are coming. See you ~”

“W-wait a second--”

And Lightnimon ran away, but didn’t leave the abandoned town. He just hid behind a house and met Buddymon there.

“Iori!!” Armadimon was seen approaching from a distance. He was accompanied by Ken and Wormmon, who was in Ken’s arms.

“Armadimon, Ichijouji-san?” Iori blinked.

“I’m happy that you’re okay, dagya!”

“We’re glad that you’re fine too” Gummymon smiled, “huh where’s the rest?”

“Still lost I guess...” Wormmon said.

Suddenly, an arrow passed through their heads and hit the wall. When they all looked where it came from, they all met Zamielmon clapping his hands.

“Bravo.”

“You!” Armadimon growled, “Iori, evolve me!”

“Knowledge Digimental Up!”

Armadimon armor-evolved to Digmon and then he immediately had activated his upgraded form -- he became more of a rhino digimon, with still some bug details. DrillDigmon  dashed in the direction of Zamielmon with his drill claws spinning. Zamielmon dodged and tried to hit him with an arrow, but Stingmon surprisingly appeared from nowhere and caught him in time.

“ACK!”

DrillDigmon’s driller paw hit Zamielmon, though the opponent shot an arrow from his foot. Iori’s digimon stepped back. Stingmon stood in an offensive stance, ready for a new assault.

“Two against one is unfair.”

“You sent a ton of Liamons against us (dagya) !!” Stingmon and DrillDigmon shouted. Stingmon was stomping his foot on the floor and pointing at the enemy, while DrillDigmon snorted angrily.

“Tsc tsc, you were a bigger number, but now I can handle you two even if it is unfair.”

Zamielmon jumped and aimed his arrows at the kids and shot a blast of arrows at them. Iori reflected some with his sword, also DrillDigmon and Stingmon had to run and help him reflect those.

“Haha, you think you can beat m--!!!”

Horusmon’s Red Sun, Nefertimon’s Curse of Queen, and Pegasusmon’s Silver Blaze special attacks hit him and he was forced to cease his attack. Oh no, all of those people!? He can’t deal with them…!

“Surrender, Zamielmon” Nefertimon said with a serious voice, “Or else…”

“What will you do huh?”

And then this was when he realized he had committed a huge mistake. The rest of the digimon attacked him simultaneously, and then Nefertimon and Pegasusmon tied him in a pillar. The group left next, leaving him behind.

Hours later...

“... Sigh. I should’ve not picked that job…” Zamiel pouted. The sun was almost down and he was still trapped in that pillar.

Until a shadow appeared in front of him, and cut the golden rope tying him with a glaive.

“H-huh!?” the bounty hunter blinked, and looked at the mysterious shadow in front of him “Wh-why did you… Wait, who are you and why did you help me?”

“I’m not helping you” the silhouette responded coldly, “Actually, I’m doing you a favor. You were hunting my friends so I can’t let you run freely in this world.”

“Your friends?? Wait a second, you’re those humans’ friend!? So you are--”

“Buddymon.”

A bigger shadow appeared behind the human-sized one, and all Zamielmon could see was those red eyes shining in the dark.

“P-Please have mercy!”

But the terrifying silhouette raised those terrifying claws against him. Zamielmon tried to hit both of them with an arrow. The glaive repelled it to the side, and the shadow gritted his teeth.

“You think you can escape? Just for that attempt to kill us, I will have no mercy.”

“I… It s-slipped!! I s-swear it wasn't an attempt--!!”

Buddymon attacked him with his claw, slashing him and destroying him immediately with a fire blast. Zamielmon’s screams echoed through the area, but it wasn’t satisfying but rather upsetting. He really hated doing this.

“Let’s go.”

“Right, Lightnimon.”

They left before the kids or any enemy’s troops could find them.

Mimi and Palmon decided to keep on guard while the 02 team and Gummymon were asleep. As the oldest of them, she was a bit upset with what they had witnessed. It was borderline cruel and it bugged her badly.

It was when Palmon noticed something moving in the bushes and called her attention. Mimi immediately got up and went there, with Palmon next to her. Oh it was…

“You didn’t need to do that!” she muttered at someone, “We could handle this all alone, and without murdering those Liamon! Why did you do that!?”

The shadow was silent, and it was like that digimon-or-person wasn’t unable to talk.

“Don’t do that again!”

“... Sorry.”

That was all the mysterious uninvited guest said to her.

“Otherwise, thanks for caring about us” she added, “We’re about to move, did you find anything about Wallace?”

Palmon looked to the group sleeping in the distance, just to make sure they’re not caught talking with whoever was. And the moment she noticed Tailmon moving, she quickly warned Mimi and their friend (?) about this.

Mimi looked back at the group and then to the stranger, “Sorry about that but you have to get out of here now.”

And the shadow nodded in agreement, leaving as soon as possible from there. Mimi returned to the group, and pretended she didn’t leave her spot.

[baldwin-montclair]

End of an Era (Part 3)

Far from a happily-ever-after, the emergence of a new threat brings the next generation of the De Clermont family into a fight for the survival of all creatures, humans, their family and the future of the world.

SPOILERS: All Souls Trilogy & Time’s Convert

PART 1

PART 2

___

Rebecca watched Miyako’s shallow breath rise and fall, timing it on the large face of the WWII Era Pilot’s watch on her wrist. Her younger siblings had gone to bed hours ago with Marthe watching them.

Rebecca opted to stay with her cousin and grandmother whilst the others attended the third evening of meetings since Miyako’s return.

“I remember when Philippe presented Baldwin with that timepiece,” Ysabeau mused from the other side of the bed, “he left for the border the day after and didn’t return, not really.”

“How did you live with it, the anger?”

“I killed a lot of witches,” she confessed, “most had nothing to do with what happened to your grandfather. I regret that now.”

“I hate that vampire so much, I don’t know how to stop.”

“She’s dead now” Ysabeau replied with a sigh, “and I couldn’t be happier, the last thing I want is to lose you too.”

It was true, their nemesis was dead. But that did not fill her with the satisfaction she’d hoped it would.

Miyako’s eyes opened abruptly and she tried to sit.

“Rest, don’t try to move too quickly!” Rebecca placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Gallowglass, where is he?”

“Everyone’s at a meeting, they’ll be back soon.” Rebecca assured.

“We have to tell them.” Miyako sat up and moved to stand but Ysabeau blocked her path.

“Tell them what?” The vampire asked.

Miyako weighed up her options and, even at full health, taking on Ysabeau was not a wise decision.

She sat back on the bed instead, organising her thoughts.

“We were wrong about her, the masked vampire.”

“You saw her read the charges on the broadcast before they-“ Ysabeau reminded.

“Before they cut off my father’s head and burned his body? Yes, I saw that.” Miyako snapped.

“Why do you believe you were wrong, Miyako?” Rebecca asked.

“Because she didn’t read it, the witch did.” Miyako explained.

“She can’t speak, Jack said as much.”

“Because of what Benjamin Fox did to her,” Ysabeau agreed.

“But he would never have deprived his victim the ability to scream. To cry and to beg. He loved that sound too much.”

“So she could speak?”

“Her mind did what he would not, switched off speech and emotion, pain, fear, grief. At least until now”

“What changed?” Ysabeau asked.

“I don’t know but I’m not telling this story twice,” Miyako rolled her eyes and turned to Rebecca, “call your father, tell him that Catarina Cicogna was the masked vampire, and that she never betrayed the de Clermonts.“

“Matthew knows her?” Ysabeau asked doubtfully.

“He did and saving him from Benjamin’s plans put her on that monster’s radar.”

“How do you know all this Miyako?” Matthew challenged from his chair at the head of the table.

He had left the meeting, still in progress, to return with Diana.

“Because she gave me her blood, she let me feed from her memories.”

“Let’s take a step back, who are we talking about?” Diana asked.

“Her name was Catarina Galena Marcato, she was a daemon, and a spy for the de Clermonts.” Matthew told her.

“You recruited her.” Miyako pointed out.

“Baldwin ordered me to kill the girl’s father, which I did. After her mother died she became my responsibility so I sent her to Cicogna, the Doge of the time, for an education. She became an accomplished spy for the Doge so I recruited her for our family also. I did check on her, often, when my travels led me through Venice.”

“So what happened to her?” Rebecca asked.

“Evidence suggested she was killed by the Doge’s mistress, yet another spy, for the Bourbon’s this time. But that was clearly not the case.”

“Where did this evidence come from?” Diana prompted.

“Philippe. Several months with no news from Venice, he sent Gallowglass to investigate. It’s not his fault. I’m sure he found the trail Benjamin left for him to follow.”


”Benjamin turned her.” Diana’s nodded in grim understanding, she’d learned enough about Benjamin Fox to know what that meant.

“Not right away.” Miyako admitted.

The arm rest beneath Matthew’s grip splintered and Diana placed a hand on his arm to comfort and calm him.

“Catarina knew a lot of our secrets, how did she prevent him from finding them?” He asked no-one in particular, it was a mental exercise to stay calm.

“Her mother was a witch, she knew how to mix an elixir that would prevent a vampire learning secrets through blood lore, and disguise her scent from vampires.”

Matthew sighed as though remembering.

“Potions, tonics and elixirs. She could hide her nature from anyone, including myself. Catarina would seem like a human to any creature.”

“Is that even possible?” Rebecca frowned.

“If there was a witch so skilled, I never heard of it.” Ysabeau answered warily.

“It’s nothing I’ve heard of.” Diana admitted.

“She must have been talented, since you believed Catarina was just a daemon.” Miyako revealed.

“She...was just a daemon.” Matthew‘s brows knitted with confusion.

“What was her father?” Miyako challenged.

“Excuse me?”

“Why did my father order you to kill him?”

“He was drawing human attention to himself.”

“By?”

“He could heal the sick.”

“Uncle Baldwin ordered you to kill him because he was a doctor?” Rebecca frowned.

“He was no doctor, he used no implements, or tinctures. We never determined his method but he could bring back plague victims from the brink of death.”

“Calad Marcato was...something else, the last of his kind, or he was, until Catarina.” Miyako explained.

“She was a daemon!”

“No, she wasn’t. She could sing so beautifully it made men weep, she could play any instrument put into her hands although she preferred the violin you gave her as a gift. I think she saw you as a father figure, ironic considering.”

“Why would Benjamin want her?” Matthew asked.

“To hurt you?” Diana suggested.

“No, he would have wanted me to know he had her.”

“We received a credible threat from Venice,” Ysabeau spoke up, “Philippe was aware of Benjamin’s movements, not all of the time but when he emerged he left breadcrumbs. Benjamin had intended to spring a trap on you but it was foiled.”

“Because of Catarina?” Rebecca asked.

“Yes, I believe she sent it.” Ysabeau sighed.

“What,” Matthew stood, “she risked her life to save me and I was never told? I could have saved her!”

“You can’t save everyone Matthew.”

“Benjamin was my fault and Catarina was my responsibility.”

“Matthew, you weren’t...you at the time.” Ysabeau tried to explain.

“It happened when we time-walked,” he realised, “the ‘me’ from that time vanished.”

“I don’t even know how she discovered the plot.” Ysabeau admitted.

“I do,” Matthew shook his head with the ghost of a smile, “she could speak five languages and was a complete smartass in every one. But it meant that she understood the rumours she overheard. Cicogna was smart, he made her the Dancing Master of his court, everyone treated her like a novelty, the girl in the venetian mask-“

“The what?” Diana asked.

“It wasn’t the same one and until now it didn’t even occur to me to connect them, I thought she was dead. On balance, it would have much been better for her if the Doge’s mistress had simply cut her throat and dumped her in the grand canal!”

“Matthew,” Diana asked carefully, “where would you have been, had we not time-walked?”

“I don’t remember!” Matthew answered.

“You think you could have saved her!” She asked gently.

“Perhaps.”

“Then why don’t we?” Rebecca asked.

“Becca, we can’t go messing with time on a whim!” Matthew rebuked his daughter.

“But you did, and you didn’t know, it’s not your fault but she was in Venice when she was taken, we’re here right now, Pip and I could go back, grab her and make sure Benjamin doesn’t get her.”

“No!” Diana barked abruptly, surprising Matthew.

“Mum, they’re not going to just stop, they have a martyr now, they will come for us and we’ll fight, but what if we can stop it now?”

“Becca, I know how much you miss your Uncle, but he would not want this!”

“He loved this city,” Miyako countered, “he would not want its people to be harmed if it was avoidable.”

Matthew sighed.

“She was there, at his execution, she saw everything. More than we did!”

“Yes, she saw him die.” Miyako nodded solemnly.

“Then you did too.” Diana spoke softly.

“No, there were things I know she did not show me. She didn’t hate or blame us, she wanted to help. Believe me when I say that this is not an emotional appeal to save my father but a plan to save us, this city and all creatures. That’s what he would have wanted!”

Diana looked at her husband, expecting incredulous dismissal but saw only his pensive, analytical mind work through the possibilities.

“Matthew?”

“We can’t save her but we can stop him getting to her.” Matthew suggested.

“You mean kill her?” Rebecca stared in disbelief.

“Becca, we don’t even know if it’s possible to move someone into a future they don’t exist in.” Matthew argued.

“If we go back it has to before All Souls Night.” Diana pondered.

“It can’t be too soon before Benjamin took her,” Rebecca argued, “she still has to discover the plot and send the letter. It has to be Pip and I!”

“Not happening!” Matthew stated decisively.

“Dad, we don’t have a choice, if you go back too early you risk messing things up more and if you go too late you’ll wipe out everything you did the last time you went, including me and Philip!”

“Don’t be ridiculous, we would always have had you!” He countered.

“Not if Benjamin got to you or Mum back then.”

Rebecca noted the glance her parents shared.

“Your mother and I will discuss it, as a last minute solution.” Matthew answered.

“But-“

“You have our answer Becca!” Diana responded, making it clear that they were united.

“Yes Mum.”

“Miyako,” Matthew started, “what exactly happened with Catarina when you saw her?”

“I scaled the building, made my way inside and she was alone but waiting.”

“She had no guards?” Diana asked.

Miyako looked away, embarrassed.

“I suppose I should have realised they were hoping for an attempt on her life, she had outlived her usefulness, alive anyway.”

“The girl knew she was going to die.” Ysabeau observed.

“She did,” Miyako agreed, “it’s clear from what I saw that she planned to give whoever came for her this information, she knew about time-walking, she was trying to stop all this.”

“Why now, she was with them for three years, what changed?”

“I don’t know,” Miyako admitted, “it was clear there was something she was keeping from me.”

“Baldwin,” Diana suggested, “you said she kept his death from you, maybe there’s more we don’t know?”

“I don’t see why, she didn’t know him.” Matthew argued

“He was in Venice a lot, their paths never crossed?” Miyako asked him.

“If the Doge’s dancing master was having an affair with a de Clermont, believe me, there would have at least been rumours. Besides, he would have never gone against the covenant, not whilst Philippe was alive.”

Miyako nodded in agreement.

“He was afraid of no-one, except Grandfather. I never really understood that.”

“It’s not your fault,” Matthew gave her a sad smile, “daughters and grand-daughters got away with much more than sons-“

“Or grandsons,” Gallowglass interrupted as he entered and took a seat, “we’re reminiscing.”

He surveyed Miyako with concern.

“You look better.”

“And you look exhausted cousin.” She returned, making the vampire chuckle.

“Thank you.”

“Gallowglass, what is it?” Diana asked, sensing the heaviness of his aura.

“Miyako, Rebecca, upstairs please.” Matthew stated whilst leaving no room for debate.

Both left with minimal fuss and Diana placed a silence spell over the table in the event of eavesdropping.

“The witch, Jessica Brown, she has issued a warrant for Miyako which I obviously have no intention of complying with.” Gallowglass continued when his cousins had left the room.

“That won’t be the end of it.” Matthew observed.

“No.”

“What are you not telling us Erik?” Ysabeau prompted.

“They have given us a week to hand her over.”

“And when we do not?”

“They will take the city,” he shook his head, “I’m afraid we must again find a new home.”

“We have nowhere else to go that’s safe,” Ysabeau argued, “we might already be at that last minute solution.”

“What have I missed?” Gallowglass looked between them.

Matthew glanced at Diana and received her reluctant nod before proceeding.

“The masked vampire, thanks to Miyako, we know who she was.”

“Who?”

“Catarina Marcato, you investigated her supposed murder but really it was all Benjamin’s doing, he took her, did god knows what to her, but she was still loyal to the end, she was being controlled by the witch. Something broke that control, we don’t know what.” Matthew summarised.

“I do,” Gallowglass groaned, “Grandfather did not send me to Venice to investigate her murder. He sent me to bring her back to Sept-Tours.”

“Why?”

“Because she and Baldwin did know one another, would that be right?” Ysabeau asked her grandson.

“Yes, they did,” he confessed, “Grandfather was convinced that she-“

“She was Baldwin’s mate.” Diana finished for him.

Matthew stood stunned for a moment before turning and walking away from the table.

“Matthew?’ Diana called after him.

“I need a drink!” He called back.

[writer-and-artist27]

The Sea and Stars Ch 27 Preview

For @langwrites and @owlsofstarlight, since they’ve been checking in on me since my college went all online for finals and my last quarter of the year. I was thinking back to S&S again and remembered how Sakumo needed some time, so here we go.

Inspired by this scene from Gakkou Gurashi.

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

“Tomoko-chan?”

The call of my name barely registered in my head until a large hand rested gently on top of my hair, patting it. The feel immediately clued me in to how it wasn’t Papa, and I looked up. The silver hair was unmistakable. “Oh. Hi, Sakumo-jichan.”

“Hi, Tomoko-chan,” he said gently, and it was hard to miss how he was wearing his old White Fang uniform. White and red-tipped sleeve poking out of his Konoha flak jacket and all. The only thing he was missing was the signature tanto that gave him the White Fang name. But that weapon was with… 

Tomoko-chan. 

I shook my head and looked into Sakumo-jichan’s eyes.

Even with how foreboding the outfit looked, Sakumo-jichan had still taken the time to kneel to my height, a kind and tired smile on his face. “You’re waiting out by the gates again?”

I glanced towards the horizon past the entrance and exit that was my home village before nodding. “I… I don’t know when they’ll be back, Sakumo-jichan,” I confessed, feeling inadequate and worried and all the other bad things that came with thinking about Kannabi Bridge. “I was thinking that I should wait here, so that they could see someone familiar when they got home.”

Sakumo-jichan’s gaze bore into my head for at least a few minutes before he sighed. “Tomoko-chan, I—” he paused. Then he chuckled softly. “You really do love my son and his friends, don’t you?”

“It’s how I knew I wanted to help you, Sakumo-jichan.” I turned to him with a small smile of my own, even if it felt a little forced on my cheeks. “And being there for someone is the least I can do, right?”

I mean, it helped Kei and you and everyone else, didn’t it?

Sakumo-jichan blinked at me. I could see myself reflected in his eyes before he closed them and his hand wound around my shoulders. I wasn’t expecting the sudden hug. “You… you silly girl,” he mused above my hair. I was too frozen from the surprise to hug back. “Putting yourself out here like this, waiting...” Sakumo-jichan shook his head, his long ponytail brushing my cheek with the gesture before he pulled back from the hug, raising a hand. 

I wasn’t expecting him to gently flick my forehead.

“Kyah!”

“But, as your honorary uncle, I have to bring you home, Tomoko-chan.” Sakumo-jichan’s voice went a little stern, contrasting the hand that went up to smooth my bangs back from my forehead. The touch almost felt like he was feeling particularly regretful about flicking me. Huh? “Hikari and Miyako are waiting for you. And besides,” he stood back up, offering his other hand to me. “Hayate needs some company too, doesn’t he?”

I glanced back towards the gates one more time before considering. Haya-kun definitely would be missing his sister too, but knowing him…

I turned back to Sakumo-jichan with a shy smile. “Okay,” I said, taking his hand. “Let’s go home, Sakumo-jichan.”

Once we started walking, my thoughts turned back to them again.

Good luck, Team Minato.

[glmfic]

~ pairing: Ayako x Bou-san ~ word count: 4,434k ~ genre: holiday!fic

~ summary:  ❝Alls Ayako & Bou-san want to do is warm up…hey is that a contest to win a free vacation? It’s for couples only? Oh. <3 ❞

~ warnings: candy cane sweet fluff!…also, maybe some typos I didn’t catch ;) ~ note: the second in a series of 4 one-shots dedicated to my dear readers (happy holidays!)– enjoy! <3

Christmas Vacation

“That one,” Ayako spoke decisively.

“Finally...” Bou-san murmured under his breath as the Nissin employee marked the selected pine tree.

They were standing in a sea of them, a virtual forest miraculously populating an asphalt parking lot in the heart of Tokyo. Ayako had bet the monk she could find a living tree for the SPR office, and the monk had took that bet...and lost. He was thoroughly paying for it after spending forty-five minutes in 29 degree weather while the bet's victor selected the perfect one.

Following her selection, Ayako was given a ticket (there were people in line ahead of them), and was told that when their number was up, their tree would be wrapped and attached to the roof of her car.

Ayako accepted the ticket, satisfied with her purchase, but feeling the effects. She was cold. How many people were ahead of her? How long exactly were they going to have to wait? Glancing at the monk next to her, she could tell he wasn't doing a whole lot better. His shoulders hunched up, he shot her a look.

“What's the number on the ticket? I'm half frozen over here.”

“66,” Ayako answered, rubbing her arms and stomping her feet for warmth. The clouds overhead were thick and gray, it felt as if it could snow any second.

“Customer 35, your tree is ready! Customer 35!” a voice shouted from the wrapping station near the parked cards.

35?

Bou-san raised his eyebrows at Ayako in disbelief,

“That many idiots decided to spend their Saturday morning standing out in the freezing cold for a tree?”

Ayako grit her chattering teeth, not happy either.

“I told you we should have gotten here earlier.”

“Hey, I had a gig last night--”

Ayako waved an irritated hand, her eyes locking onto something,

“Oh never mind-- let's at least get something warm to drink while we wait.”

With the promise of something warm, Bou-san followed Ayako's lead, which brought them to the main street that ran past Nissin World Delicatessen. A Starbucks, in all it's glory, sat on the corner.

But Ayako let out a groan as they approached it. Apparently they weren't the only ones looking to take the chill off with a nice hot coffee. There was a line, which stretched down the sidewalk. The cold fueling her impatience, Ayako crossed her arms and made to turn back, but Bou-san caught her elbow before she could, hauling her a few feet along, placing them in line.

“At least we aren't thirty people behind,” the monk pointed out. Ayako yanked her elbow free, but grudgingly remained, grumbling about how busy Tokyo gets during the holiday season. Five minutes later, they had moved up by six people. The door to Starbucks was in sight. Happy customers exited with amazing smelling drinks in hand. Full delirium was kicking in for Ayako.

“It's seventy and sunny,” she chanted, her eyes squeezed shut against an icy wind that whipped down the street, “It's seventy and sunny.”

“Sure...in another six months,” Bou-san answered. Tenderly he touched at the tips of his ears, which were starting to go numb.

Not appreciating the reality check, Ayako opened her eyes and directed a glare at the monk.

“I can't wait another six months, I want the beach now.”

“Ah, the beach,” Bou-san mused with a touch of longing, “white sands between your toes, the smell of the salt air...”

“See, you can't wait either,” Ayako remarked, elbowing him. She didn't bother stepping back, deciding to hang close and leech whatever heat she could from him, “Just think of the blue waters and the warm rays on your skin...I could be laying out somewhere on the Mediterranean right now.”  

“Or the Caribbean,” Bou-san added, as Ayako hummed in approval, “Or heck, even Okinawa.”

“I'd kill to be drinking something tropical on Miyako island.” Ayako stood smiling at the thought.

“Yeah, but with what money?” Bou-san spoke, delivering a second dose of reality.

The wind blew colder. Ayako's smile dimmed. Spitefully (even though it did her no favors...) she stepped away from the monk, gazing out over the busy street. Noticing this, Bou-san slid up even closer to her than before, pressing against her side. When he spoke, his voice was in her ear,

“It may not be tropical, but I'll buy your drink. Look, we're nearly to the door now.”

But Ayako did not look.

“Hey,” he prodded, poking her at shoulder.

Ayako suddenly grabbed the offending hand and yanked.

“Oy,” Bou-san protested as he found himself being dragged out of line.

Ayako didn't pay him any attention, even as he was loudly demanding to know what she was doing (we were almost there!), his legs stumbling along as she pulled him to the nearest crosswalk. There they finally stopped and the monk tugged his hand free from hers with a frown.

“What has gotten into you?”

Ayako reached up and took Bou-san's face in her hands. Without explanation she, turned his head in the direction of the shop on the other side of the crosswalk. A large red banner hung out front that read: Want to get away? Enter for your chance to win a beach vacation! Contest today ONLY.

Bou-san looked back to Ayako with a grin,

“It's like Santa heard our whining.”

Ayako's eyes were bright, gleaming with possibility of sunshine and swimsuits,“Let's enter.”

“Yeah, let's-- but, ah, wait,” Bou-san objected, grabbing Ayako's wrists and holding her hands in place, “your hands are warmish and I'm finally starting to kind of feel my cheeks...”

The crosswalk sign changed, and rolling her eyes Ayako freed herself from the monk.

“You won't have to worry about that on a beach, come on.”

The sidewalk space outside the clothing store was crammed with people when Ayako and Bou-san approached a table set up with balloons.

A young woman looked up at them from behind the table, “Hi, can I help you?”

“We'd like to enter the contest,” Ayako announced, peeking at the forms laid out.

“Wonderful! So, it will be you two then?”

“Uh,” Ayako faltered, her eyes trailing down the form.

Printed there were the contest rules, and at the bottom scrawled inside a cute red heart, was the key component of the contest: just for couples!

Ayako cleared her throat, and moved to step back-- but found she had nowhere to go. Bou-san, reading over her shoulder, was standing right behind her. In Ayako's flustered silence, the monk answered the young woman,

“Of course! It says here we just have to be voted the cutest couple? I think we've got this in the bag, don't you?”

The woman running table gave an appeasing smile and handed over a set of clipboards, “Read and sign these. The top prize is a trip for two to Hawaii. Second and third runner up gets merchandise and gift card prizes. We'll begin soon, good luck!”

Ayako swiftly grabbed at the monk's coat and lead him a few steps away from the table. Her eyes were narrowed.

“What are you doing?”

Bou-san shrugged.

“Winning us a beach vacation.”

“You're serious?”

“What? You don't think we can?”

“It's not about that.”

“Oh, you mean the couple part?”

Here Bou-san took a step closer to the miko, lowering his voice surreptitiously,

“Just channel your inner Masako, and nobody will know we're not the real deal.”

Ayako slowly relaxed her grip on Bou-san's coat, chewing her lip, contemplating...

Reading the nerves on her face, the monk gave her a little room, his gaze softening.

“If you don't want to...”

Just then something whizzed past Ayako's head, catching at her hair. Startled, Ayako ducked and whipped around to see what had happened. Bou-san came forward at the same time, reaching out a hand to cover Ayako's head,

“Hey, what the..?”

The assailant turned out to be a selfie-stick, held by a woman wearing a skirt short enough to even make Ayako balk, especially in the arctic temperature. She was clinging onto the arm of a man, and seemingly hadn't noticed the fact that she had nearly clobbered someone.

“Hello everybody! It's Yoko and Ken, live streaming-- from downtown Tokyo!”

The woman giggled and waved into her cellphone, as the man next to her began speaking,

“Yes, and today's the day! It's the couple's contest we told you about on Twitter. Remember, if you're in the area, stop on by and vote for Yoko and I!”

“Not that we necessarily need it,” Yoko chimed in in a loud whisper, “I mean, what competition?”

Bou-san suddenly felt something pressed against his chest. It was Ayako's clipboard. The miko stared up at him with a honey-eyed look.

“Hey babe, will you turn these in? We don't want to miss the deadline.”

Recognizing the competitive fire lit beneath Ayako's demure facade, Bou-san smirked.

“Whatever you say, sweetheart.”

Officially entered into the contest, Bou-san and Ayako were gathered, along with the other couples, to wait for their turn, the necessity of having to link arms and appear “couple-ish” the least of their worries, as they were both still freezing and wouldn't be competing until the last round.

Huddled close, they watched the couples ahead of them, with a judgy and critical eye, as they passed through the stages of the contest, which consisted of having pictures taken of them modeling clothes from the store, enacting poses suggested by a photographer.

Fifteen minutes, and six couples later...it was finally Bou-san and Ayako's turn. They were going up in a head to head with none other than-- the YouTube couple. The four of them exchanged tight insincere smiles as they were lead inside the store. They were brought to a set of dressing rooms, and a quick and cramped change ensued, during which they were each handed various articles of winter clothing. Ayako stepped out in a white down jacket, brown boots, and matching earmuffs and a scarf. And of course, because this was a couple's contest...Bou-san walked out wearing exactly the same.

Reunited with the miko, Bou-san met her with a smirk,

“You look like a marshmallow.”

Ayako mirrored his smirk,

“Thanks, Frosty.”

But standing outside again, all teasing died away.

Recalling all of the photographer's suggestions for the other couples, Ayako began to second guess her decision play along with this facade.

What if he had them pose like the cover of some romance novel...?

But just then YouTube couple passed by, on their way to stand in front of their photographer, at their station. Yoko was grinning, holding her phone up.

“Just three photos away from our dream beach vacation!” she told her viewers with a confident wink.

Ayako set her jaw firmly. Potentially mortifying romantic scenarios, be damned. She was determined to give YouTube couple a run for their money. She hadn't froze head to toe for an hour and half for nothing. That beach vacation was theirs.

The crowd on the sidewalk swelled with onlookers as the contest entered it's final round. Bou-san and Ayako were directed to stand in the center of the background hanging behind them and face the camera, but as they did so, Bou-san was distracted by a shout from the crowd.

“Norio?”

The monk perked up, hearing his stage name, and looked around until he settled his gaze on a teenage girl beaming at him.

“Oh, it is you! I'm Suki. I was at your show last night.”

Bou-san waved and smiled back, “Hi there! I hope you liked it, it was really cold for you guys.”

Another teenage girl beside Suki shook her head, “No, not at all! Hey, what are you doing here? Are you apart of this contest?”

Before the miko could protest, Bou-san linked fingers with Ayako and raised their joined hand into the air,

“Yup, trying to win a vacation.”

The girls squealed and waved at a baffled Ayako,

“Norio's got a girlfriend!”

“See, I told you he was out your league-- look at how gorgeous his girlfriend is!”

“Well I guess you're right, anyways they're cute.”

Listening to the girls prattle and enjoying the gorgeous remark, Ayako managed a friendly smile and nod at both of them.

“Norio, you have to win-- we'll vote for you!” Suki declared brightly.

“Yeah, here I'll text the rest of the girls and tell them to come vote too-- they're close by.”

“Really? Wow, I really owe you...how about we talk after the contest? Maybe I can score you some free tickets to the next show?” the monk offered with a grateful thumbs up.

The girls squealed again and happily agreed.

“Ah, what nice kids,” Bou-san murmured, still turned towards the crowd.

“Hey, Norio.”

“Hm?”

“You're supposed to pick me up.”

“Huh?” Bou-san blinked, and looked to Ayako, attention snapping back to the situation at hand, “What? Pick you up? Why?”

“Because the photographer said so. Now hurry up, we're a step behind YouTube,” Ayako hissed out of the corner of her mouth.

Bou-san glanced over at the competition in time to see Ken scoop Yoko up, bridal style. Ayako hurriedly placed her hands on the monk's shoulders, readying herself, her disgruntled expression hidden from the photographer and the crowd-- when Bou-san surprised her by suddenly crouching down.

“What are you--” Ayako had to bite her tongue to stem the fiery words that wanted to come out, which would quickly demolish the sweet image they wanted to create.

Bou-san reached an arm back, bodily nudging her behind him, “We can't just copy them, that's too boring-- here, get on my back instead.”

“You're going to piggy back me—?” Ayako manage to sputter, but-- desperate to save face, she did as she was told, and threw herself on his back.

Bou-san grunted as he stood, and Ayako squeezed her arms around his neck a little tighter in revenge...but otherwise, from an outsider’s perspective-- they looked like a charming couple.

Snap. Snap. Snap.

The photographer took a series of photos. Bou-san and Ayako grinned frozen smiles. They were asked to give more variety and Ayako took perverse delight in messing with the monk's hair, and poking at his “adorable” cheeks.

In response to her antics, the miko was unceremoniously “dropped” by the monk when the photographer gave the signal to change poses. Privately, Ayako shot him a dirty look, but the next suggestion was being thrown out and they were mixed up in the charade again.

Holiday proposal.

In the next instant one of the photographer's assistants was suddenly handing Bou-san a bouquet of fake poinsettias and a velvet box with a ring inside. It was all Ayako could do not to blanch in horror.  

There were giddy cries from the crowd and it became apparent that at least some of YouTube couple's “fans” had come out to see them, and they were all tickled at the idea of a proposal. A quick look at Ken's unsteady hands as he got down on one knee in front of Yoko though, showed that he wasn't a big fan of the photographer's suggestion.

“We got 'em on the ropes with this one,” Bou-san murmured, following Ayako's gaze. The ice broken, and the big prize hanging over head-- Ayako closed her mouth and nodded,

“You're right, so make it count.”

Bou-san did. In a cheesy and dramatic fashion, he instigated a series of poses-- professing heartfelt love, handing Ayako the flowers, and even sliding on the ring...Ayako's red cheeks in the last few shots were chalked up the cold. She was not blushing.

Once relieved of the ring and flowers, the two couples waited anxiously for the final pose. And waited. The assistants had disappeared into the store. Bou-san and Ayako exchanged wondering looks with a frown, what was taking them so long...?

Finally the assistants emerged, each pushing a large prop. Wooden door frames on wheels. And hanging from them...mistletoe.

Ayako found herself suddenly wishing for the romance novel cover suggestion.

“Okay, it's the final act! Your theme will be: mistletoe kiss,” the photographer announced with a cheeky wink.

Like they had the last two times...Ayako and Bou-san stole quick glances at their competition, holding on to a frail hope that they wouldn't be comfortable with this suggestion either, but...

They were a real couple, and a YouTube couple at that. PDA was in their DNA. By the time their photographer was raising his camera ,Yoko and Ken were already going in for it...

Ayako wondered if the monk could hear her silent cursing as they looked back at each other. He didn't seem more any more confident, but clearing his throat-- he shrugged and his eyes seemed to say: we've come this far...

And they had. That had come this far. In the cold. Only three photos separated Ayako from her dream vacation. Why did it have to be mistletoe?

For the sake of keeping up appearances, Bou-san put his arm around Ayako's waist, pulling her close.

“How about this,” he whispered, stalling while pretending to fix her hair for the picture, “we do it just like the movies...the right angle-- and presto, it looks like we're kissing.”

Ayako's eyebrows lifted. The idea was so brilliant she could kiss him. Chiding herself, she pressed her hands to his icy cheeks, loudly thanking him for being such a doting boyfriend. Bou-san caught the hidden message: yes, let's do that.

And she planned on doing just that, right up through the monk adjusting their position, pulling her impossibly closer-- right through his large hand coming up to cup the back of her head, guiding her to tilt it just so...

It was the plan as they drew in, towards each other, their breaths mixing in puffy white clouds. It was the plan as she grew so near she could count the freckles across the bridge of Bou-san's nose, as-- to sell it better, his eyes fluttered shut...

It was what she planned to do right until she heard the shouts and wolf whistles. YouTube couple. Just a few feet away they were causing a real stir, their fans going crazy. A familiar fire was lit in Ayako's gut.

This was a contest. And she was going to win.

Ayako tossed the plan out the window as her lips connected with Bou-san's. It was an electric moment. She felt the monk's lips part in a surprised gasp, which she reacted to by only pressing harder, not wanting him to break the kiss and ruin everything.

Just follow my lead she telepathically tried to communicate. Bou-san must have understood, because his hand at the back of her head took up a better hold, he was suddenly returning the pressure of her kiss.

All thoughts of Ayako's suddenly narrowed to just the man against her. It was annoying, but she found his lips were actually soft (that barbarian actually has a winter skin care routine??), and the scent of sandalwood that always accompanied him, instead of being overwhelming, was strangely a comfort in this surreal moment (it's okay, it's just Bou-san...).

Most frustrating of all though, was the thought that she could do this all day long. Ayako was chilled to the bone...and the monk was warm, soft, and comfortable-- why stop?

Mentally, Ayako berated herself for even entertaining such an idea, and began to count herself down for pulling out of the kiss (just a few more seconds...she really was so cozy...), but before she could do it-- Bou-san broke it first.

Ayako stubbornly ignored the wave of disappointment that washed over her as a gulf of cold air came between herself and the monk.

“Not bad for a miko,” he murmured, as they both caught their breath.

Ayako gave him a shove and he grinned, stepping back. It was then that Ayako heard the clapping and cheering.

The competition was over.

Thank god.

The crowd filling the sidewalk formed lines to vote for their favorite couple. As Ayako and Bou-san were being brought back to the dressing rooms, Suki caught their attention-- waving with a group of girls behind her.

“We're going to vote for you Norio!”

“That was some kiss, you're going to win for sure!” another girl shouted.

Ayako ducked her head and slipped past the monk, hiding her red face.

Once outside, having (against her will) shed her coat, boots, ear muffs and scarf-- Ayako was more miserable than ever. The wind that blew through her thin clothes, carried light flakes of snow. She crossed her arms and stood shivering. Next to her, having also shed his winter gear, the monk's teeth were chattering. Absently, they leaned towards each other, searching for some kind of warmth as they waited for the results of the voting.

Finally, the young woman they had met at the registration table, came to stand in front of the store, holding a microphone.

“Attention, shoppers and contestants! It's what you've all been waiting for. We will announce our contest winners!”

“Ugh, none of this consolation prize crap for me. There's only one winner, and that person gets to sit on a beach,” Ayako muttered.

“Two winners actually, remember honey?” Bou-san quipped.

“How could I forget, dear.”

“In third place...” registration lady began, “earning ten percent of the vote was...”

“That kiss was not a ten percent kiss,” Bou-san asserted, frowning at even the possibility of third place.

“...Han-san and his wife, Keiko!”

There was polite applause. Across from them, Ayako spotted the YouTube couple mixing with their fans in the crowd, selfie-stick out again.

They think they've won.

“The Hans will win two gift cards to our store, enjoy! Now...on to the runner up!”

Ayako and Bou-san locked eyes with the YouTube couple. Bou-san grabbed Ayako's arm and wrapped it around his.

“This is it. Two hours in the cold traded for two weeks in the sun.”

“In second place, earning over forty perfect of the vote is...”

Ayako squeezed the monk's arm, “That was more than a forty percent kiss...”

“...Takigawa-san and Matsuzaki-san! You two will win merchandise, courtesy of our store! Enjoy!”

There was more polite applause, mixed with some booing. Suki and her group, disagreeing with the results.

“Which means...our winners are Yoko and Ken! Congratulations, you're going to Hawaii!”

The crowd erupted. The YouTube couple shouted in victory and threw themselves at each other.

Ayako pulled herself free of the monk, rubbing her arms-- she glanced around her.

“I wonder who is supposed to give us our prize...?” she asked.

Bou-san tilted his head at her, surprised at her demeanor. He was half expecting the miko to demand a recount of the votes. Somehow, her calm was...worse.

“Well, anyway-- I can't feel my fingers. Will you pick up our merchandise after you talk to the girls? I'm going to head back.”

And before the monk could protest, she traded places with Bou-san's fans who had just walked up.

“See, here they are. I'll meet you at the car.”

Ayako closed the car door with a slam. She had spent an extra five minutes standing in the cold explaining to a Nissin employee who had just gotten on shift that her ticket for order 66 had never been filled, even though they were now on order 70.

“I didn't get my coffee and we missed our turn. Stupid contest,” she grumbled sourly, adjusting the heat settings to full blast and turning on her seat warmer.

A few moments later the passenger car door opened and with it came a rush or arctic air.

“I see you got the tree attached,” Bou-san remarked, settling in, a light dusting of snow in his hair, “Hey, why isn't warmer in here? Don't you have the heat on?”

Ayako's eyes fixed on his hands in which a cup of Starbucks sat,

“You took the girls for coffee? You should be warm enough. Of course, the heat's on. Not that I can feel it. I must be frozen from the inside out. Only the heat of Hawaii can thaw me at this point...”

A small smile tugged at the corner of the monk's lips, but he was careful not to let the miko see it in her sensitive state, instead he held out the coffee towards her.

“How about the heat of this drink for starters, hm?”

Ayako accept the coffee from the monk with a wondering look, “It's for me..?”

“I said I'd treat you to Starbucks. I'm a man of my word. Drink up.”

More pleased than she let on, Ayako took a satisfying sip, feeling the warmth of the latte spread through her.

“And if that's not enough,” the monk continued reaching into a bag at his feet. It had the contest store's name on it, “try this out.”

Ayako nearly choked on her coffee as Bou-san leaned over the center console to wrap the scarf she wore in the photo shoot around her neck.

“When did you get this...?” she asked, bewildered, but grudgingly, she was feeling warmer...

“They were our prizes, I got the same one.”

“Oh.” Ayako took another sip of coffee, her eyes flashing with the bitterness of their loss.

Relieved to see her temper make an appearance, Bou-san smiled more freely and reached into the bag and pulled out a white envelope which he opened.

“And they also gave us these...”

Ayako peered over at what the monk was pulling out, and nearly choked again. Polaroids. Of their poses.

“They said the assistants took these, as a kind of souvenir for the contestants. Ah look, that one turned out cute...”

The miko watched as the monk cycled through the pictures, half mortified and half interested...until--

There they were. The two of them. Wrapped in each other's arms, their faces pressed together...

“Actually,” Bou-san spoke into the charged silence as they both stared down at the photographic evidence of their kiss, “if the coffee and the scarf aren't warm enough, I just got an idea for another way I can warm you up...”

Bou-san was staring up at her now, his eyes locked with hers. Suddenly the car was very warm for Ayako.

“What...what's that?” she spoke and was embarrassed to find she had glanced at his lips.

The monk grinned. Ayako stiffened, had he caught her looking...?!

“I'll take you to the bathhouse,” he finally answered, “No better way to get warm, hm?”

Ayako grinned back, despite herself.

“No better way I can think of...”

“Perfect, let's go.”

“Let's. We just have to deliver this tree first. Mai will kill me if I keep her waiting any longer.”

[starlitfaery]

ooc

this might be an unpoplar opinion so just keep scrolling, but honestly I have an uncontrollable urge to post it anyway

basically, i don’t like putting a label/name to whatever mental stuff my muses suffer from (also applies to myself tbh)

i know what they deal with, and i don’t see why they should tell me straight up what it is, or why they should bother telling anyone even ooc, because i know that whenever someone admits to not being neurotypical, they start being treated different than before, more fragile sometimes, and i know i hate the very thought that i would be treated different if a some rando knew my mental issues had a label, so i figure my muses would too

so i know that my Maleficent pretends not to care when she does that riku has a crashpad in another world and picks at his magically hidden scabs and scars chase is giving himself a guilt trip with every smile kimiko wishes she stopped imagining burns on her friends goro keeps trying not to freak out when it starts raining so much the streets flood akira tries to keep a handle on believing that the shadows of the metaverse aren’t real and it’s all just like a game ryou pretends he’s an idiot just to get some calm kouji holds himself back from checking for kouichi’s pulse every time they’re in the same room, not that he would believe a pulse to be real ken’s hesitant on bringing back the tools he made as the kaiser to help him feel normal, because they were the tools of the kaiser but they legit helped him to do more than exist miyako feels guilty for wanting to take care of herself malleus refuses to admit he’s got a thing about touching

i know what each of those mean for them, i just don’t see why i should put a name to it and write it for all to see, i don’t want someone to write with me just because they want to see This or That represented

write with me because the story’s good, no other reason allowed

if you notice my muses exhibit signs of some Thing you recognize, smile and keep going