Tamer Encounters 2

She might take Lapis' advice to heart and punch him in the nose if he had the nerve to approach her.

((And this is why we thank Azulongmon Lapis didn't end up being Charity’s partner))

AbnormallyNice: Ryan had managed to cover his tracks well enough yesterday. He returned to class after his cat-nap and the teacher just seemed to think that his tour had ended. When he was asked where Charity was, he just made up an excuse that she didn't feel well and hoped no-one would ask more. Lucky for him, the rest of the day went off without a hitch. Got homework, went to the Dorm, had dinner, finished homework and slept. Rika had texted him saying that she was working on a project at her university and wouldn't see him until the next day probably. That suited him. He didn't feel like discussing the day's events anyway.

Now he was heading down the school hall, ducking past the other students just to get to his desk.

Turning into the classroom, there were already a few kids around, talking and gossiping since the bell hadn't rung yet. But what he feared had happened. Charity was there before him. Here he was hoping to avoid any awkward interactions...

Avoiding her eye contact, he sat in the seat right in front of hers, where the teacher had suggested he take a seat the day before.

He placed the bag next to the desk and noticed some pages in front of him. Shuffling through them, he recognized the handwriting from the previous day. He couldn't believe that Charity actually gave him the notes she promised. Now he really felt like shit.

He mustered up the courage to turn around and at least thank her, but before he could do so the bell rang and the teacher entered the room.

Beeku: You know you're completely antisocial when you can completely ignore the outside world even if the object of your ire was making it obvious he was observing you? Charity had mastered that art, and didn't even react to Ryan's entrance. Instead she had pulled out a sketchbook and started sketching out ideas for her next doujin. Admittedly she wouldn't be hailed as a widely popular artist online, but at least she got a few requests here and there in the school. Soon the lines started to take shape as she drew a potential love interest. It took a moment for Charity to realize she had drawn Ryan's shaggy hair without realizing it.

She scoffed at how pathetic she was being. True Ryan had nice hair, and it looked soft, and she wanted to play with it...but he was a jerk! Charity ripped out the sketch page and tore it to shreds before stuffing it in her bag. With a groan Charity slammed her head against her desk. Today was going to be a long day

AbnormallyNice: The class dragged on and Ryan tried to keep up as best he could, seeing as he still struggled with the Japanese. After a while, he gave up and decided for his growing headache to pass before he attempted any more concentrating.

From behind him, he thought he heard the distinctive sound of scribbling. Did Charity like to draw as well?

A few minutes later, she tore a page and tore it up. And then a facedesk. Now he was really curious...

He still wanted to thank her for the notes. He could have waited until after class surely, but he was sick of feeling so guilty about everything.

He flipped to a clean page of his notebook and started to doodle. He made a little chibi-styled drawing of himself, holding the notes in the air. To contrast his actual self, he made the drawing smile wide and look almost too happy. It was easier to portray happy feelings on paper than in real life apparently. And just to show that he was learning, he wrote 'Thank you' in Japanese.

When he finished, he quietly tore the picture from his book. He leaned back, stretching his arms behind his head and dropped the little, folded-up paper on her desk.

Beeku: Charity felt the piece of paper fall on her head. *I will probably regret this forever*. She plucked the scrap out of her hair before discreetly unfolding it, careful not to make noise to alert the teacher. The smile that greeted her was almost sickening. It was so like the irritating ones people of the Morrigans clan wore like a mask when she was around. She gripped her pencil hard as she 'edited over' the chibi drawing of Ryan to have the scowl he was wearing yesterday.

"Don't bother faking it. I don't need to score any more brownie points, or for you to pity me" she responded in a speech bubble leading to a chibi of herself. Her drawing self looked unimpressed, the lips were sadly curled downwards. She didn't even bother trying to be nice about it. She didn't like his attitude yesterday, but didn't think he'd actually care how upset she was. No one cared. Maybe Zeke, but he was a digimon, he had to make sure she was around. No one would give him cake otherwise.

AbnormallyNice: Ryan opened the paper and wasn't completely surprised by her reaction, to be honest. Although he didn't expect the harshness of it. She had a point though, since the smile did probably seem fake. It wasn't, at least not for him. He was thankful and hoped he could show it in a way he can't in real life. Perhaps being subtle would be better...

The boy drew a new chibi looking a little nervous, with an apologetic smile. In a speech bubble, he wrote: "I'm not faking. I really am grateful...and sorry about yesterday...honest!"

He folded the paper again and passed it back, keeping an eye on the teacher.

Beeku: "Sorry your princess is in another castle" Came the reply from a well drawn Toad pooping out from a treasure chest. She wasn't going to make this easy for him. She spotted a spelling error in his reply and corrected it, writing the correct Japanese kanji over it. She didn't even return the note right away, rather she waited to see if the boy would squirm in his seat. A rather devious grin grew on her face, one that proved without a shadow of a doubt that she could be just as playful as Faith was.

She spent five minutes jotting down notes from the lecture. The hassle of struggling to do homework later was just not worth the delicious revenge spite she was giving Ryan. Actually all this anger was starting to collect in her stomach, and now it felt like a heavy rock had been growing in there. Charity knew if this wasn't resolved before lunch she wouldn't really make it to the rooftop before the dumb jocks found her. With a sigh she slipped the note- down the back of Ryan's shirt.

AbnormallyNice: Ryan waited for the page to be returned. When it didn't, he started to rap his fingers on his desk. A minute later, he caught himself and thought: "What am I doing?"

Why should he be so anxious over a note? She's got stuff to do. He's got stuff to do. Yeah.

He tried to push the doodle war out of his mind and concentrated on the lecture. Just as he wanted to write a note down, he felt something tickle his back.

"AIIEEE!" he screeched and jumped up from his seat.

He froze as he realized the whole class was staring at him, the teacher looking peeved and confused. A few girls giggled at his outburst.

"Is there a problem, Ryan-kun?" the teacher inquired. She used his name only because his last name was hard to pronounce.

Ryan's face ran red. "Uh...n-no. I um...uh..." he mumbled.

Some other kids started to giggle.

"If there's no problem. Sit." the teacher ordered and Ryan sat without hesitation. After getting everyone's attention again, she continued the lecture.

Ryan reached into his shirt and pulled out the damned piece of paper.

The reply was not worth the humiliation he just went through. And now he knew she was a gamer too. Great.

An assortment of possible replies ran through his mind, the most tempting to just not reply at all. But he decided to just draw how he felt at that moment. He draw his chibi self, facedesking and blushing wildly.

After he handed the paper back, he did exactly what he just drew.

Beeku: Charity was thoroughly surprised. Never in a million years would she expect the emo kid to actually be that sensitive. Charity filed away the information that he was ticklish for later, like when she needed to torture him. Suddenly feeling inspired she searched in her pencil case for that one pen she had that had the fuzzy end. When she found it Ryan had already replied to her note, and was resting his head on his desk. Poor kid. Charity softly smiled at him. He was totally a jerk, a stupid grumpy foul mouthed jerk. Then again he was a boy, they they were made to be repulsive, so for once she would cut him a little slack. She didn't need to write a reply back, hopefully he would get the message. She dug a small chocolate kiss out of her bag before tossing it at his head. After all you were supposed to kiss and make up.

AbnormallyNice: Ryan felt something hit his head and he lazily turned to face what landed on his desk, his face still hugging the table's surface.

He blinked a few times when he realized what had been passed to him as a piece of chocolate. He picked it up and stared at it.

He gave a quick look around the class to see if it came from somewhere else, because there couldn't be anyway it came from Charity, could it?

He scratched his head, trying to figure it out. Maybe...this was her way of saying it was okay? She definitely wasn't like any other girls he'd ever met. Admittedly...he was intrigued.

He turned his head back a bit, giving a hint of a smile. He didn't look at her but hoped she at least saw that he was fine with it.

Ryan put the chocolate in his bag, as he didn't want to risk eating in class, then continued to work.

Chiwamon was snoozing soundly in Ryan's bag, until something dropped onto his head. He caught the odd object and sniffed it.

Oooh! Smells good! he thought and gobbled the item up, foil and all.

Hmmm~ And tasty~~ he commented to himself before sleeping again.

Beeku: Charity saw that smile. She stuck out her tongue in response, and that was that. She kept up her notes from the class not wanting to fall behind. At lunch she was quick to gather her things and bolt for her locker. Unlike Ryan, Charity had left her digimon in there all alone. She knocked on the door just to make sure Zeke wouldn't move before she opened the door to gather him up. "Hi Zeke. I missed you" she cooed softly to her partner. There was a sweet side to her, she wasn't a total monster. Zeke returned her smile and waited for Charity to grab the lunch Faith packed for them today. Charity headed up to where few students choose to eat: the roof.

AbnormallyNice: As the bell rang, Ryan gathered his things and slung his backpack over his shoulder. Turning around, he was surprised to see that Charity was gone. He scoffed. He should have expected her to bolt.

As he entered the hall, he looked around to try and decide where to have lunch. He happened to catch a glimpse of Charity heading up the stairs and wondered if he should follow her.

"No..."he softly said to himself. "I'm not a stalker. That would be weird."

But looking around, Ryan didn't want to spend lunch alone and get marked as the lonely weirdo. And making another friend would be too much effort...and what if he picked another golden ticket like the goth girl. More headache he didn't need.

So he took a deep breath and followed Charity to the roof.

Beeku: Charity was in a 'good' mood, for a goth anyways. She had her sketchbook open on her lap. Her drawing stuff was scattered all around her. She had ear buds in her ears as she listened to her music. She paused mid stroke to nod at Ryan so he knew she saw him, and that they were ok now. Zeke on the other hand was eating Charity's bento. He had saved the cake from the cafe for later, but now that friends were here she was planning on letting Chiwamon have a bite. Zeke scrambled to his feet and ran circles around Ryan. If he had his vocal chords he would be yipping, excitedly calling out to his friend.

AbnormallyNice: Ryan carefully tried to step around Zeke as he ran around him.

"Okay! Hey, look out! Chiwamon, get out here before I accidentally squish your friend." he chuckled-warned as he opened his backpack.

Chiwamon floated out and down towards Zeke, waving his arms. "Hello again my friend!" his greeting was less than enthusiastic than yesterday and he seemed a shade lighter blue. Still, he was happy to see the fox Digimon.

Ryan let the Digimon catch up as he sat down a few feet next to Charity. Not too close to say they were best buds and not to far to say they were strangers.

Whilst taking out his lunch, he waved a hand in front of her face to get her attention from her music and drawing.

"You draw?" he simply asked, trying to start conversation.

Beeku: Charity pulled out one earbud to hear Ryan better. "Noooo all the doodles you saw were just copy and pasted from the internet" that was a stupid question he saw her drawing. She held up the sketch book to show...oh my. Charity was working on a Yaoi doujin. How she managed to learn the male anatomy without freaking out is a mystery indeed.

"OnO?" Zeke tilted his head curiously. There -was- something wrong, yet he couldn't quite place his finger on it. He carefully nudged over the slice of cake. He whistled and pointed between the cake to Chiwamon. He wanted Chiwamon to have the first bite. The cake was great.

AbnormallyNice: Ryan was about to snap back when he just saw boy love flash before his eyes. He looked away and clapped his eyes shut.

"Dammit woman! Discretion! Do you have no shame?" he scolded, whilst trying to erase what he saw from memory forever.

Chiwamon looked at the cake and grinned. "Oh wow, that does look delicious. Thank you!" he said cheerfully but then slowly drifted to the floor, sitting down. "I don't think it's a good idea today though....I feel rather funny. I've never felt this way, which is strange." the Digimon said and his ears seemed to droop a bit.

Beeku: "Pffft hahaha. I thought you swing that way since you clearly aren't attracted to girls. Guess you're more of a sponge, weirdo" Charity snorted. "Hey I wonder what happens when I draw you making out with the captain of the baseball team. I bet girls would pay to see that" yup she was talking about selling doujins. Exploiting hormonal girls.

Slymon seemed concerned. He hobbled closer before extending his tongue to press against Chiwamon's forehead.

"Ewww Zeke! It's not cute when Lapis does it, it's not even remotely sanitary if you do it! Quit it before you get Chiwamon all sticky ****" Charity muttered something in German as she pulled her digimon off of Chiwamon. "Hey are you alright? Zeke didn't infect you with anything did he?" she asked concerned.

{Fever} Zeke tapped his tail against Charity's thigh in Morse code.

AbnormallyNice: "Argh! No!" Ryan wanted to freak but quickly shut up, not wanting to give Charity the satisfaction.

"Hey, I can draw too. Maybe I should draw you kissing the captain of the baseball team. He looks just your type~" he sneered and chuckled.

When attention was directed at Chiwamon, Ryan noticed how down Chiwamon looked. Literally. The Digimon looked like it was going to sink into a puddle. Without hesitation, Ryan reached other and gingerly picked the creature up. "H-hey, what's wrong? Why do you look so weird?" he asked, a slight worry to his tone. Ryan was new to this 'Tamer' business so he didn't know if this was something worth worrying about.

"I feel...puffy..." Chiwamon said and suddenly turned a shade of pink.

"Aah!" Ryan gasped. He knew that had to be bad. "What happened!?" the boy quickly turned to Charity, seeking guidance.

Beeku: Charity grew red. Her and Masato? Man he was cute, but then again widely popular. He had so many girls fawn over him, he didn't even need to bring his own lunches to school anymore because they would fight over who got to make his bento. She had no chance unless she was the cutest of the cute. Ryan already told her she wasn't cute. That was a disaster. "Excuse me? Leave Sato out of this!" Charity shrieked "That hell goes on in that tofu brain of yours?" She continued on ranting in German, and half of those sounded like not pleasant things. It was obvious she had a crush.

{I think, digiworld, now} It was faster to Zeke to use incomplete phrases like texting when communicating. Right now time was off the essence.

"We should go to the digital world. There's a medical bay in Astra. Shit Chiwa, did you eat something bad? Remind me not to eat anything Ryan offers me" Zeke held out the leaves for everyone to turn invisible again.

AbnormallyNice: Ryan took the leaf from Zeke and then thought about what Charity had said.

"Wait..." Ryan said to himself as he quickly ruffled through his bag with one hand, the other holding Chiwamon against his chest.

"Where's the chocolate...?" he asked, knowing the answer full well.

"Chiwamon, did you eat the chocolate? The one I threw in my bag?" he asked his Digimon, shaking him slightly.

"Oh, is that...what that was?...So good..." Chiwamon grinned and smiled stupidly.

"Ugh, that was it!? I didn't know Digimon can't eat chocolate!" he gave a panicked yell. He was on the brink of freaking out.

Beeku: Charity listened in on what happened before she face palmed. "How asshat, Chiwamon is a dog digimon. Even Labramon can't eat chocolate, Gabumon might, but not it's evolved form- my god Chocolate is poisonous to dogs!" Charity grabbed his hand and started dragging Ryan though the school, abandoning all her stuff on the roof. "We'll be fine, just fine" if only there was a faster way to get to the the gates in Astra. If only if only she had a portal gun or was able to teleport.

Once they were in the safe zone, Charity managed to hail a taxi- or more like she ran in the middle of the road to stop it from ignoring her. Her heart never raced quite as fast as it was now. Though she had poor attitude towards anyone, Charity never really liked to see people suffer. She knew if Ryan lost his partner now, it would be devastating. She opened the door and pushed Ryan in before climbing into the cab beside him. "You!" She jabbed her finger at the driver. "You need to take us to (Address of the campus here) it's an emergency" she told the driver. The cabbie nodded and started driving.

"Ryan, when we get there, go through the gates." Here was the tricky part. Charity absolutely could not talk about digimon in front of the driver. "I'll handle the cab fare. You need to go to the 'astra wing' of the campus. Go look for someone named Lapis. You can't miss him, he's a big guy. Um, he's probably napping. Tell him I sent you" Charity hoped that Ryan could decipher her instructions.

AbnormallyNice: As they drove on, Ryan tried his best to listen to Charity as she kept instructing him what to do. But never once did he take his eyes of Chiwamon, who was wrapped in his school jacket for cover. The Digimon became pinker by the minute, and his Tamer felt like he was sinking into himself by every shade. He had no idea about the chocolate or that dogs could get sick by it. He never had a dog, how was he to know?

"Is he going to die?" came the question in barely a whisper. It was aimed at Charity but he didn't look up to catch her gaze. His hair hung over his eyes so it was hard to see what his expression was.

"I'm horrible. I've been a Tamer for only a few months and already I fucked up..." he clenched his teeth so he could hold back his emotions.

Beeku: Charity herself wasn't doing so well. She felt incredibly guilty for giving him chocolate now. It was her fault for Chiwamon's condition. "Don't-" She hissed at him. "Shut the fuck up. Stop talking about it like she's dead already" because if Chiwamon did die then Charity will never forgive herself. She was aware the diver glancing into his rear view mirror to check on them so she restrained herself. "You're going to make it. Lapis and his partner are Veterans" Charity emphasized. "They've been together for two years now. As long as we get to them they can help" not to mention digimon who die in the digital world can respawn at Primary Village.

"We're here miss" the taxi cab pulled up at the campus. Charity leaned over Ryan and opened his door, right before planting her boot firmly at his side and forcefully ejecting him from the vehicle. "You can mope all you want or keep moving forward. That wasn't a metaphor by the way. Get your sorry ass up before you really fuck up" Charity got out of the cab to go pay the dude. Then she remembered-

all her stuff was still on the school roof. Including her wallet. "...fuck"

"Are you paying with cash or credit?" the cab driver was starting to look peeved.

"Credit!" At least Charity managed to memorize Faith's credit card number after she stole it. Faith was probably going to kill her later, but hey it was for a good cause. "Ryan, go look for Lapis!"

AbnormallyNice: Ryan was vaguely aware of the words the other Tamer spoke as he sunk more into his self-loathing. All her words got really clear when he was suddenly booted from the cab. It was a decent wake-up call, that was for sure. He fucked up, sure, but now he had to do something about it.

The boy gave an affirming nod and hit the ground running. He had time to scream a 'thank you' before he headed into the campus building.

He ran past dozens of other Tamers and Digimon, heading straight for the gate. In hindsight, he could have probably stopped and asked for help from one of them, or even called his sister. She surely had experience in this.

No. Anyone could be a new Tamer and Rika was at school. It would take to long. He trusted Charity's judgement and flew through the digital gate and into the Digital world, a lot of people yelling at him from either side.

He kept going forward, spotting a clubhouse close-by. Finally, Ryan stopped to catch his breath but still held Chiwamon close to him, making sure he was safely tucked away in his jacket.

"..La-...Lapis...!" he panted.

Fearing it was too soft, he took a deep breath and yelled: "Lapis! Hello!? LAPIS!"

Beeku: "God dammit if ya gots a complaint call mah tamer. I ain't fixin SHIT all" a deep gravelly voice came from on top of the roof. Lapis peered over the edge to see someone he had never seen before. Usually he didn't bother to learn anyone's face, but literally, this kid... His pupils constricted form their relaxed state into small slits. Lapis hopped off, landing without a sound on all fours. He made eye contact with the boy as he circled downwind of his, exactly the same way a lion would hunt it's prey. "You..." His raised his nose up to the air to catch Ryan's scent. "Ya gots Charity's scent on you, dragon breath too. S’far as I know, Delgamon never met small human. Da hell do ya want?" Lapis finally sat on his haunches, his tail moved for pouncing position to swishing contentedly. He noted Ryan giving him a weird look. "Wut? Just 'cuz mah human gave meh a name ya think I'm a human too? Should she have added a 'mon' to it like dat reptile does?" Lapis grunted but rolled his eyes. His fellow digimon was in a situation. Now wasn't the time to really push the issue. He finally got up on his feet and approached Ryan. "Heh yer just as short as Charity" he grinned. "Alright let's see why da small human wants meh ta help ya" he scooped up the pink digimon in his large paws, and noted how she was burning up. "Oh man I've seen dis before. Kiddo stay here" How many times were young-lings going to eat something they shouldn't? Baby digimon (and yes to 48 year old Lapis you are a baby Chiwamon) were highly curious and barely knew restraint- that's why there were always guardians to look after them in primary village. Digimon never really had parents, but they were usually raised in a community so they could be taught what was safe and what was not safe.

"You sit, stay." Lapis commanded Ryan as if he were the dog. "Imma take this pup 'ere fer a walk. When we git back he'll be better" Lapis knew it would be best that Ryan didn't see this. Because then Ryan would only get in the way of Lapis' 'treatment' "Next time ya see somethin', ask yer human if it's ok ta eat. I just hope ya didn't swallow toilet cleaner mutt" he mumbled to Chiwamon as he took him to the forest. Once the trees and shrubs hid him from Ryan's view he placed Chiwamon on a stump. "Count ta 10" he told the small digimon. "One....two...10" he punched her squarely in the gut so Chiwamon would cough out the thing that he ate.

Charity soon appeared through the gates after sorting out the money issue with the taxi driver. "Hey asshat!" She called out to Ryan and marched up to him. Her clothes have changed when she went through the gate. "How'd Lapis treat you?" She looked him over to make sure he still had all his limbs in tact. "Impressive, you managed to avoid getting mauled by one of the most aggressive digimon here"

AbnormallyNice: Ryan turned to see Charity headed towards him. He was happy to see a familiar face. Not the first expression Charity saw from him though.

"That...blue cat thing just took Chiwamon and left! What kind of Digimon orders you to-wait...did you say 'most aggressive'....?" Ryan pieced her word together then glared at her, giving a slight pout. "What did you lead us into?"

He didn't think they were in any danger, but it was clear Charity left out some details about this 'Lapis'.

Chiwamon's eyes bulged like a stress toy and gave a loud burp and cough. The piece of candy came flying out of Chiwamon's mouth, still covered in foil. It was covered in some sort of purple saliva that made a splat where it hit a tree.

The Digimon almost instantly turned blue again and flew up and in circles.

"Owie! Owie! Owwww!" he rubbed his tummy and then realized he could speak again. "Oh! I'm better! I'm better! Ryan loo-"

But upon realizing his Tamer was nowhere to be seen, the Digimon went directly into search mode. He sniffed the air and picked up his Tamer's scent close by. Without even look back at Lapis, Chiwamon raced back to his Tamer's side.

"RYAN!" the little body managed to squeal out.

"Huh? Chiwamo-! MPH!" Ryan greeted his seemingly cured partner as the Digimon flew straight into his face, holding him tight by his ears.

Beeku: "You seriously are the new kid" Charity turned Ryan around and pointed to a bulletin board that was right by the gates. Beside that was a HUGE wooden sign of warnings. Basically it was like survival tips for new trainers left behind by older tamers. Co incidentally there was a picture of Bietimon and in big bold letters it read "WARNING: do NOT approach under any circumstance. " under that was a reminder that Astra had a medical wing just in case digimon were sick and you couldn't take them to see a doctor in the real world.

Zeke saw the sign and pointed to the section about the medical wing, looking at Ryan as is to ask if he took Chiwamon there. The fact that his 'commander' had his friends didn't bode well. The old grump was probably not going to be gentle.

AbnormallyNice: Ryan peeled the Digimon off of his face and looked at Charity skeptically. "And neither of those suggestions came to mind to you when we were in the cab? Just 'find Lapis'?..."

Chiwamon floated over to Charity and hugged her under her chin. "Thank you thank you thank you for helping Ryan get me help! He seemed so worried and I couldn't do anything!" he thanked her and then floated over to Zeke.

"Zeke? Is that you? It smells like you! Look! I'm better! And it's thanks to you for warning the Tamers, my friend!" he quickly said and hugged his Digimon, flying into his chest.

"Well, he looks good as new..." Ryan commented as he watched his Digimon return to his usual self. "I guess whatever that Lapis did, worked...?" he scratched his head.

Beeku: "I live with him dumbass. He's my cousin's digimon. I forgot he's bitey and does dismemberment" she was exaggerating of course. Lapis hasn't caused any human fatalities, or loss of limbs yet. YET being keyword. "It's mostly dumbass kids who think "ohh a kitty" and try to pet him that provokes an attack" Charity shrugged "I figured since you're more worried about your partner you wouldn't do something too retarded or I'd question how you function" Charity smiled sincerely when Chiwamon hugged her and cooed softly while petting him.

Zeke nodded and turned around for Chiwamon to see. He even had hands now to hold things instead of using his mouth and toes. He looked at Chiwamon as if to ask what his rookie form was like.

Lapis made his way back walking silently on all fours. He lazily eyes the humans with disinterested. "Small human" he greeted Charity who looked like she wanted to throw her book at him. "Racconmon. You staying fer da rest of da day? Dun ya have school ta babysit 'er with?"

"Fuck, this is the second time we skipped"

AbnormallyNice: Ryan moaned. "Shit...you're right...I guess the school won't understand a 'Digimon emergency'...." Ryan replied, wondering if there was any way they could get out of this.

Chiwamon spotted Lapis and greeted him from alongside Zeke. "Hello there! I'm sorry I rushed off like that after you helped. At least, I hear you're the one who helped since I can't recall anything before the chocolate was dislodged. Still, thank you!" Chiwamon strung his story together.

Ryan saw Zeke in his new Digimon form and put his hands in his pockets. "Huh, look at you. All big and stuff."

Beeku: "hey Lapis bail me out here" Charity plastered on the sweet yet fake smile "Pretty please? Talk to Faith? For me?" Lapis pretty much gave her a glare. "I'll bring home two slices of carrot cake for you. Extra frosting" she cut straight to business. If there was anything she knew about Lapis, food would probably get him to be more agreeable.

"I'll tell Fai something like Primary Village got attacked, and ya came over when ya heard da news." Lapis shrugged. School was dumb in his opinion. It didn't really teach people important life skills, like how to fish. It didn't teach people how to make a fire to warm yourself even when it rains and sticks were wet. School just made humans dumber and made them forget how to survive.

"Sweet" Charity grinned before turning to Ryan "What about you? Your family is going to flip out.

Zeke was average sized for a rookie. He was even visibly smaller than Lapis standing side by side. A compliment was a compliment though and Zeke smiled at Ryan and gave him a thumbs up as a thank you.

"Uuuug another wun" Lapis' long tail wrapped around Chiwamon, specifically covering his mouth to keep him from talking. "Another little brat not even weaned off before partnerin' up with a human. God they talk to much" he complained while ignoring Chiwamon.

AbnormallyNice: Chiwamon proceeded to try and free his mouth, but was unable since he was still a little weak from being sick earlier.

"Hey now! Let me go! That's horribly rude! I am merely trying to thank my fellow Digimon!" is what he would have said...but it just came out as mumbles at this point.

Ryan waved off the worry. "I'll be fine. As long as my sister doesn't find out. She's my guardian at this point but I doubt she'll tell my parents. And she'll never find out~" Ryan grinned, confident that he was going to get off scott-free.

"Laaaapiissssmoooooon!" an all too familiar voice came from where the Digital portal was...and it was getting closer.

"Oh no..." Ryan's confident stance quickly shifted to a slouch.

"Oh no..." Chiwamon groaned and hid behind Zeke.

Beeku: "Oh no" Lapis grew pale for a different reason "Da faq" He tried to hide behind Charity, but A) he was too wide to hide behind her stick like frame, and B) his ears towered over Charity's head. "Hide meh"

"I didn't know you were scared of someone"

"It's da pest dat never goes away"

"What do we do Ryan?" Charity gently shook his shoulder to snap him out of it.

AbnormallyNice: Ryan quickly moved behind Lapis who was hiding behind Charity. "You hide me too! Shit...if she's here then-"

Delgamon happily hopped over, looking everywhere for the unfortunate 'Lapismon' so she can play with him.

Unfortunately, Lapis' brilliant hiding spot wasn't fooling her.

"Hah! Found you!" she cheerily announced and stopped in front of Charity. "Sorry to bother you, but could I see my friend please?" she asked the girl looking up at her sweetly.

Beeku: "Wow you guys are terrible at hide and seek" Charity rolled her eyes. She stepped aside letting Lapis fall flat on his face.

"Off! Charity ya damn traitor. Kiss yer fackin' alibi goodbye"

"O^O" Zeke chirped giving Lapis an idea.

"Hey Delgamon? You met my brother yet? He was born in da same lab as I wuz" Lapis shoved the raccoon digimon in front of him. "Go on tell him a joke. We're trying ta git him ta laugh really loudly. Poor guy hasn't said a word in weeks.

">: O" Zeke gave Lapis a dirty glare.

AbnormallyNice: Delgamon was caught off guard by the sudden shift in attention, but she fell for it nonetheless.

"Oh...hi! I'm Delgamon~ " she introduced herself to the potential new friend even sticking out her claw to shake hands.

Ryan took this opportunity to try and hide behind Charity once more, since she was the closest thing that was relatively his size.

"You gotta get Delgamon outta here." he whispered from behind her. "That's my sister's Digimon. If she blabs to Rika we're all in trouble."

Chiwamon still hid behind Zeke, even as he was dragged in front of the orange dragon. He clung to the raccoon's fur and tried to remain still. But from inside his little body he could feel an slowly energy grow...like digivolution was imminent.

Beeku: Zeke made the trilling noise as he reached out to shake hands with Delgamon with a smile on his face. He was programmed to make ALL the friends, so he was going to do just that. Fortunately Delgamon was the type who made herself your friend, whether you liked it or not. He gestured to his throat as if to signal he could not talk, but he was a great listener. If Delgamon wanted to talk about anything he was all ears.

"What do you want me to do? Bring out magical digimon catnip to distract her with? Pull out fucking digimon repellent?" Charity retorted. She was more cooperative after hearing that even her cover would be blown. "Hey Delgamon um I just got called over to primary village with my partner. Do you mind escorting him and I there?"

AbnormallyNice: Delgamon faced Charity, a curious look on her face. "Huh? Your partner? Oh!" she smiled and looked back at Zeke. "You and her are partners? Cool!" she stepped back from Zeke to take a better look at the two.

"I'd introduce my Tamer too but she's at school today. And if she was here, she could help you better with the escort because she knows where Primary Village is. I don't." she gave a little guilty chuckle as she scratched the back of her neck. "Sorry."

Chiwamon started lightly poking Zeke in the back, trying to warn him that he was going to digivolve and completely blow their cover.

Ryan looked over at Lapis and whispered urgently: "You like cake? I'll buy you cake every week for the next two weeks if you get her outta here! Pleeeeaassseee." he pleaded, pulling his mouth into a thin line as he said the magic word.

Beeku: "Yeah" Charity gave a nice smile "Nice to meet you" Charity did something that she picked up from living with the snob aristocrats in the Morrigans. Delicately pinching the hems of her dress Charity dipped her head as her knees bent. She tucked her left ankle behind the right one as she completed the curtsy. "I hope to see you more in the future" Zeke knew this was merely a distraction, so he quickly devolved and slipped a magic leaf over their heads and made them invisible.

"Human, if ya go back on yer word, know that I will hunt ya down." Lapis' eyes glared suspiciously at Ryan. He memorized Ryan's scent now, as well as Chiwamon's. Not to mention Zeke, the expert tracker was under his command thanks to their virus cores. He begrudgingly tackled Delgamon.

"Tag" He called out boredly to her. "Can't catch me" Lapis actually ran off while occasionally looking over to see if Delamon was following.

AbnormallyNice: That curtsy was so fake, Ryan could tell. It was even worse since he had to move with Charity to keep Delgamon from seeing him. He managed to make an awkward looking bow behind her.

A second of surprise crossed Delgamon's face as Lapis tagged her, but it was quickly replaced with joy. "Ahahaha! Yes I can!" she hopped up, ready to give chase.

"Bye, guys! Nice to meet ya!" she quickly greeted before going into speed more. She lifted her body into the air so her arms could move freely underneath her. She was significantly faster in this state, and she set off after Lapis like a cheetah. "Here I coooome!" she laughed, having the most fun she'd had in a while.

In his invisible state, Chiwamon digivolved to Hachimon, dropping to the floor. Fortunately, Delgamon was long gone.

"That was very close..." the hound commented.

Ryan fell back and landed on his butt. "I'll say..." he sighed, relieved that it was over.

Beeku: "Ryan you better be good on your deal" Charity winced as Lapis took a bullet for the team like a champ. "Digimon never forget. Also Lapis has the hunting skills of a bloodhound" Charity warned him.

Slymon sighed in relief. That was close, but he did beam up proudly at his friend. As far as Slymon knew, this was his first time evolving.

AbnormallyNice: Ryan finally relaxed. "Don't worry, I'll remember. I still owed him for helping Chiwamon earlier anyway. I'll take this cake as payment for that as well."

Hachimon looked at Slymon, now realizing how tiny he looked. "Thank you for the save, Zeke. I would have hated for our Tamers to get in trouble just because of something that was my fault to begin with." he thanked his friend and smiled back.

Beeku: "Great now that that's-" Charity caught sight of the CUTEST digimon ever. Fangirl mode activated. She let out a long squee of being in Hachimon's cuteness proximity while bouncing on the balls of her feet. "Mien gott you're adorable!" She dropped to her knee to get a closer look. Charity WOULD have reached over to pet Hachimon, but she DID happen to live with Lapis. Something like that quickly teaches you to respect a monster's personal bubble "Can I pet you pleasepleasepleaseplease?" Charity asked with wide eyes and pouty lips. Unlike her fake act earlier, this was a genuine face of Charity's. One that only happened around dogs.

"OnO!!" Zeke noticed that he was quickly being replaced on Charity's list of digimon she adored. Squeaking in protest he tried to get her attention by tugging on the hem of her skirt. {You can pet me anytime you like Charity!!}

AbnormallyNice: Hachimon jumped at the sudden spark of girliness coming from Charity, but he wasn't one to turn down an innocent request.

"Um...of course, Charity! If it will make you happy." he calmly agreed, his tail wagging slightly.

"Charity. Hello? Miss Goth?...huh." Ryan took in the strange sight before him. This was new..and something tells him it wasn't fake either. No-one can imitate that level and squealing enthusiasm. Ryan made a mental note of this incident for future reference. Today has been a learning experience indeed.

He noticed Slymon's worried look and scooted over to him, petting him on the head. "Leave her, Zeke. She's looong gone."

Beeku: Charity grinned and patted Hachimon, paying extra attention to that area behind the ears that dogs seem to love. "You're so adorable and handsome. I'm so glad I got to meet you today" Charity continued to coo compliments to Hachimon. Somehow the dog like digimon managed to take away any bad mood she might have had from that panic attack earlier. It almost made rushing into the middle of traffic worth it.

{Why QuQ} Zeke seemed to feel left out.