Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Blue Card Diaries ❯ For Better And For Worse ( Chapter 2 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

The city’s tall buildings make New York a scenic world from the outside. Tourists visit the various canyons of buildings all lined up, usually to shop and do business within them. However, those that manage to get a good enough view can enjoy one of the most complex arrangements of buildings man has ever made. Only single structures like the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty that overlooks the city, remain more majestic than the city itself.
However, those same tall buildings tend to hide things that no one, tourist or resident, would ever want to see. It’s not abnormal for the most gruesome crimes to the most petty of indiscretions. For each crime that’s caught, one also goes unnoticed. The city has several surveillance cameras across it, but even they can’t catch everything, nor react in time to the disturbance.
In one of these alleys, a boy slammed down hard into the pavement. Several more boys stood over him, laughing at just how pathetic he looked. “What do you want?” the fallen boy asked, picking up his glasses from where they fell onto the ground.  In comparison to the young boy, the boys looked like hulks. The third one towered over the first two, apparently older than them.
“JR, think he’s had enough?” the oldest one said, his face showing he was hoping that answer was ‘no’.
“Nah, Adam. He can take a few more licks. Keep him in his place. We know you miss this kind of thing,” the one next to him said.
Adam shook his head. “The real fun one is Brad, but he’s too chicken shit to come out of his own home right now.”
“I remember him. Goth looking guy, obsessed with some chick that disappeared years ago? That guy’s still around?” JR asked.
“Yeah, and he hasn’t changed,” Adam told them. “More fun for us when you guys get to high school. “
“Hey, guys,” A fourth voice that hadn’t been noticed before. The boys turned around looking at David. Not necessarily an imposing figure, but enough to warrant their attention. “There something interesting going on over there?”
“How much did you see?” Adam demanded, glaring at the potential witness.
“See what? I didn’t see anything,” David defended weakly, only now realizing Stan had been attacked. He took a step back, holding his arms up in defense.
“Don’t fuck with me,” Adam said, rearing a fist back as he was about to slam it down into the boy.
At that moment, something rushed out and ran through the bully's legs, forcing him to stumble. David caught Adam before he hit the ground. “Woah, you okay, man? You suddenly tripped there.” Just great, V-mon was going to get him killed.
Adam looked confused before glaring angrily. “You tripped me up! Didn’t you?!” he demanded, standing straight up.
“What are you talking about? You tripped and nearly knocked me down,” David returned, praying V-mon didn't do anything to piss the bully off any more.
“Like Hell I...” Adam was interrupted as he suddenly hit the pavement.
JR and Evan looked down at Adam, not sure what was going on, but Adam believed David did that intentionally. That was good enough for them. The two bullies stormed towards him only for something to rush underneath them as well, landing head first into the ground.
David just looked down not letting himself smirk at the scene V-mon just created. “You guys are all trippin’. I’d rather be around Stan over there than you the rate things are going,” he said, walking over the boys. He stepped on a hand, causing Adam to cry out in pain. He stumbled forward in surprise and kicked JR in the head as he tripped forward, barely standing up.  A smirk escaped his lips as he got his own little revenge on them. “Sorry, guys, but you’re all rubbing off on me. C’mon, Stan. We better get outta here before their clumsiness becomes a plague.”
Stan looked up at David in total disbelief at what he just saw. He stood up as David helped him. He continued walking away and making sure he was out of earshot of the boys behind him. “Your digimon, where did he go?”
“My what?” David asked, pure confusion showing on his face. Stan looked like he wanted to push further, only to be stopped by the honest look in his eyes.
“I think he’s talking about me,” V-mon said from above them, sitting on a light fixture.  “It’s what all of my kind are called.”
“No way! A real life V-mon?” Stan asked.
“In the flesh,” V-mon said, suddenly dropping down onto the ground and looking up the two. “Hey, David. I really like this guy. Can we keep him?”
“He’s got his own family, V-mon,” David said. “So...someone mind explaining what I’ve been missing for the past week or so?”
Stan shook his head. “You hang out with a V-mon and you don’t know anything? Man, if you got nothing to do, you should come with me. I’ve got something to show you.”
“Sure, guess we got nothing better to do. You okay with that, V-mon?” David asked.
V-mon smirked at this. “Sure, this should be interesting…”
Blue Card Diaries
Entry 02: For Better And For Worse
Author: Izumi Ryu
Tamers Diaries Concept: Lord Archive
Disclaimer: Digimon belongs to TOEI animation.
David was trying not to facepalm at what he was watching on screen. He sat in Stan’s bedroom with V-mon; much of the room was filled with various anime figures and scrolls. What he was watching on TV made him shake his head in disbelief. This story was about several kids getting washed up by a random tidal wave at summer camp and ending up in another world filled with Digimon, the same type of creature V-mon said he was. David wanted to moan at the concept. Though, considering what he experienced a week or so ago on his own roof, he thought he’d better give the writers a benefit of a doubt. He wondered why Stan followed such an old show that was obviously geared towards elementary school kids in the first place.
David glanced over at the room’s other occupants. V-mon watched on both in amusement and nostalgia. The world the show portrayed, it was his home, or at least something like his home. Stan seemed distracted with some cards in hand for some collectible game it looked like. He just shook his head and turned his attention back to the show just as he saw the kids plummet off a piece of broken earth into the water below.
Between the episodes, David finally asked, “What are you messing with?”
Stan looked up. “Just tossing a deck together you might find interesting.”
“Don’t even know how to play. Never got those games really,” David admitted.
“They can be fun, and this one is a little easier than most. I’ll show you in a moment,” Stan told him, shuffling the deck before taking another one out. “In fact, I’m done. Here,” Stan handed David the deck. When David looked at it, the first card he saw was V-mon’s. He couldn’t understand what any of the stats meant on the card, but he couldn’t help but think the picture was fitting.
“Wow, nice shot of me,” V-mon spoke up, glancing at the card while leaning over David’s shoulder.
“So, what were you expecting me to do?” David asked, flipping through the cards, which showed various other creatures, all of them seem related to either V-mon or the other forms down the line.
“I’ll show you how to play. Strategy is relatively simple with this, but there are still a few rules to go over,“ Stan told him.
David just nodded then found a holofoil card that was almost nothing but blue. No text appeared on it, but there was an image of a pixilated D and what looked like a dinosaur or dragon stepping out of it.  “Okay, what is this for?”
V-mon remained silent, not quite sure what the card was, but something about it seemed familiar. Stan was confused. “I know I didn’t put that in there. In fact, I don’t remember having a card like that.” Stan tossed him a small device, which looked like a small calculator with a slot along the side. “Swipe it through that slot. It’ll give us a reading on it.”
David caught it and looked at it for a while. He carefully slid the card through the slot before it flashed random numbers on the small LCD screen. David didn’t think much of it, thinking that was supposed to happen. Then a flash of light came from it. All three of the room’s occupants covered their eyes in reaction. However, David felt the device in his hand change shape, become larger and somewhat rounder.
When David looked at the device in his hand, he saw a white oblong device, slightly ridged out. A square LCD screen in the middle was surrounded by a navy blue ring.  A strap of the same color hung onto it. “What the Hell?” he asked.
“No way, is that some kind of…digivice?” Stan asked.
“This is way too big to be that little trinket,” David told him.
Stan shook his head. “There are different models to match the power needs,” Stan told him. “I have no clue what this one is, but there’s gotta be a different function. I mean, it even has a card reader built into it.”
David looked to see Stan was right. The card reader remained. Then, David looked around, noticing the card he was holding earlier was gone. “Where’d that card go?”
“I have no clue,” Stan said, looking around himself. “That…was too cool.”
David just looked at it in consideration. He pressed the button on it a few times, noticing the display screen was shifting, but the panels were empty. “Here,” David said, tossing it back to Stan.  Stan caught it, and then gave David a confused expression. “This belongs to you.”
“But you’re the one partnered to V-mon,” Stan said.
David looked at V-mon, who shrugged. “As much as I’d like to agree, that device belonged to you to begin with. For all I know, I was just the lucky guy that caught his interest and you were the one meant to be partnered to him.”
Stan was about to argue against that point before the doorbell rang. David looked at him for a moment. Stan had a wide-eyed expression when he realized who it was. He got up and ran out of the room to the door. David didn’t move, thinking it wasn’t important, but he overheard the conversation in the other room. He thought he recognized the girl’s voice. V-mon dove underneath the bed, figuring it would be best to hide. At that sound, David looked down and saw the lizard’s tail sticking out from underneath the bed. The boy facepalmed at how ridiculous that looked.
When Stan led the new guest into the room, David looked surprised to see Jessa walk through the door. She stopped as soon as she entered the bedroom, looking just as surprised. “I didn’t know you had a guest,” Jessa said, not removing her line of sight from David.
“I just met David and V-mon today,” Stan explained.
David tensed at Stan mentioning V-mon. The child digimon started scrambling out from under the bed when he heard his name.
“V-mon? You’re kidding me.” Jessa stared at the boy in disbelief, wondering what wild otaku fantasy Stan had cooked up.
“He’s not,” V-mon said as he picked himself off the ground, looking up at the teen girl.
The girl gawked at V-mon for a short while before she finally spoke. “Oh…my…god…he’s so cute!” Jessa said before squeezing V-mon in a bear hug. His arms and legs flailed in the air as he was picked up off the ground, his face shoved into the girl’s chest and his nose covered by the developing breasts.
Stan leaned over to David. “Is it sad that V-mon’s getting more boobage than we’ll ever get?” he asked.
David shrugged in response. To say he hadn’t been curious about having a girlfriend or anything remotely intimate would be a lie, but he hadn’t seriously considered or pursued it. He then turned his attention back towards Jessa and cleared his throat to get her attention. “Jessa, you may want to let him breathe,” he warned her.
Jessa looked up with a sheepish look and dropped the reptilian digimon. V-mon landed on his feet, breathing hard. “I would’ve enjoyed that if I wasn’t suffocating,” the lizard remarked.
“Sorry, V-mon,” Jessa apologized, then turned to Stan and asked, “So, were you doing something important? Do you still want to go out this evening?”
Stan stood up. “We can still go out this evening. We can take them along if they don’t mind.”
David held up his hands. “I’m not getting in the middle of a date here, am I? Because I have no problem leaving you alone.”
Jessa couldn’t help but giggle at David’s reaction. “No, it’s not that.” she said. “Stan and I are just friends. We just hang out once in a while, mostly to get him out of the house.”
Stan shook his head. “Really, David. Did you really think someone like me could land a girl like Jessa as a girlfriend?”
“Stranger things have happened,” David said, jerking his thumb at V-mon as if proving his point.
“So, David. Want to come with us?” she offered.
“Sure, I don’t have much to do and my father’s almost never home, so it’s not like I have plans,” he replied.
“Man, that’s enviable apathy,” Stan looked at David with his eyes wide open.
“It’s not all that it’s cracked up to be,” David told him, looking away from the two, not liking talking about home life much.
“So, where exactly are we going?” David asked as the three teens walked through the city’s streets. He took a quick glance to see that V-mon was following them out of sight, crawling along the buildings above them.
“Well, can’t stay out too late. Got work tomorrow, but I figured we’d run by the park today. Some guys are showing off some Parkour stunts there today,” She spoke up. “Figured it’s somewhere V-mon can join us.”
“Parkour?” Stan asked. “What on earth is that?”
“Good question,” David said, looking at the girl.
Jessa gave a thoughtful expression. “It’s kinda hard to describe, so you’re just gonna have to watch and see it.” She smiled at the boys. “You’ll enjoy this.”
“You work at that Italian restaurant, right?” David asked. “I thought I saw you there awhile back.”
“Yes, I do,” Jessa said. “Thanks for the tip, by the way.”
“Hey, you did a good job. That bitch had no business getting up in your face,” he replied. “Though, think I won’t return because of her.”
“I probably wouldn’t want anyone of my friends going there. My mother would chase them off anyway,” she said, looking away for a moment, then back up as they approached the park.
When the three entered the park, they heard the tree nearby rustle harshly. David looked up to see V-mon having landed in the tree to stay hidden. “Sorry,” V-mon said quietly. The boy waved it off as V-mon jumped from tree to tree to follow them.
When the trio came to a clearing they noticed what could only be described as a makeshift obstacle course. Several young men and women were going through them with various stunts, whether they were trying to clear large gaps or hurdle over large walls. Some of them were even using the trees to do backflips off of them.
“Wow,” Stan said, as he looked on.
“Heh, you think that’s impressive?” V-mon asked from above. “Give me a few minutes out there and I’ll make them look pathetic.”
“No, V-mon,” David said. “Not now.”
“Why not?” V-mon asked.
“I’d rather not find you used as a guinea pig in some government experiment,” David told him. “Which will happen if you show yourself in public like this.”
“Point,” V-mon sulked, sitting on the branch he was hiding on.
“Hey, Jessa! See you brought a couple of guys from the reject brigade out,” one of the freerunners said as he walked toward them.
Stan protested the reject label, but Jessa just looked at the young man. “Have problems with the people I choose to hang out with, Jared?” she asked.  
David remembered the boy when Jessa mentioned his name, someone he had in a few classes himself. Jared was toned, seeing just enough muscle to do what he needs in this sport, where speed and strength are both crucial.
“Not really. I’m always glad to get more people into this. I’m actually more surprised that the lone wolf over here finally decided to join the pack,” Jared nodded his head towards David at that.
“Well, the ‘pack’ hadn’t exactly invited me in until now,” David said with a shrug.
Jared just shook his head and smiled. “You just have to join. No invite necessary,” he told him. “So like what you guys see so far?”
“It’s impressive, if a bit showy,” David said.
“That’s half the point of it, to show off,” Jared said.
“And what’s the other?” David asked.
“Take a run through the city one day and you’ll see,” Jared told him. “So you guys want to try this out?”
“No way,” Stan said. “I’d break something for sure.”
“No problem. I can teach you. I taught a couple of these guys the basics. You’ll be fine,” Jared tried to convince Stan. “Besides, if you think it’s cool watching this stuff, doing it is different.”
“I’ll consider taking you up on your offer,” David said.
Jared looked at David. “Really?”
“Yeah, I’d like to explore more. You said you teach beginners. If I can get your number, I’ll call you when I make my decision,” David said.
“Sure, I’ll get it to you in a while. For now just enjoy the show,” Jared said running back into the mini-obstacle course.
After watching the various acrobatics of the freerunners, Jessa said she had to head home and get sleep before work the next morning. She ran off at this. Jared hung around for a short time after he left, talking more about what it was like doing the various stunts. However, even he had to run. Stan just looked around for a moment before offering to get something to eat.
“We better get something we can take home,” David said, jerking his thumb up towards V-mon.
“Oh, yeah. Sorry about that. I even brought these so I could show you how to play,” Stan said, showing David the device and cards from earlier.
“You brought those with us? Have you figured out what that device is anyway?” David asked.
“It’s called a D-Arc,” V-mon told them from his hiding spot. “I heard it’s a device Tamers used to help empower their partner digimon. The cards could invoke modifications or even evolution through something called Card Slash and that device converts the card into the respective power.”
David looked at the digimon. “How do you know about this?”
“Tamers kinda fell into legend in the digital world. Or infamy depending on who you spoke to,” V-mon said. “I don’t know the details, but Tamers can kind of give a digimon an unfair advantage in battle with that power.”
“Why would we need to battle?” David asked.
The question went unanswered as several voices screamed in surprise as a thick mist started to form on the city block. Stan and David stood on guard, but David recognized this mist as what happened before V-mon showed up on his apartment’s roof. “Again?” David asked.
“What do we do?” Stan asked, knowing something was not right.
“Hope like mad what comes out of there is friendly,” David said. Then V-mon rushed into the mist. “V-mon! Wait!” He felt compelled to follow the blue lizard.
Stan followed immediately. The two boys had to push through a crowd running away from the mist as they looked for the child digimon and whatever came out of the middle of it.
When the crowd thinned out, the boys had to look around as the mist cleared. Stragglers spread throughout the block watched the scene unfold in front of them. V-mon stood in the middle of the street staring down something several times his size, and about twice the boys’. A green skinned humanoid creature stood in the middle with his mouth gaping open, showing off his teeth. A brown loin cloth covered his groins, but that was it as far as clothing. In one hand, it held a spiked club.
“An Ogremon!” Stan called out in surprise. At that, Ogremon swung his club down at the blue lizard. V-mon dove to the side to avoid getting hit, the impact of the club on the pavement left a crater in the asphalt. “And he’s definitely not friendly!” The child digimon skidded across the asphalt on his feet as he came to a stop, widening the gap.
“That’s right, keep your distance from him,” David said as he watched.
“No good, he’s got a ranged attack, too,” Stan shot back.
David looked at Stan. “What?”
Purple energy started to form at Ogremon’s fist before he swung at V-mon, the ball of energy shooting right at the lizard. V-mon jumped straight up, letting the attack hit the ground where he stood before. “My turn!” the lizard yelled as he landed, then shifted to charge at the Adult level digimon. “V-mon Head!” The child digimon launched head first straight at the giant ogre, landing the attack square into his abdomen with enough force to actually cause his larger foe to slide across the pavement without losing his footing.
“No good,” David muttered as V-mon landed, jumping back immediately to avoid getting clubbed to death.
As V-mon tried to evade the larger opponent, Stan had taken out the D-Arc and started swiping one of his cards through it, repeatedly. David noticed this and asked, “What are you doing?”
“You heard what V-mon said. This thing is supposed to help us in battle,” Stan told him. “And the damned thing isn’t reacting.”
“Is it broken?” David asked.
“It hasn’t activated once since you gave it back to me this afternoon.” Stan sighed. “So much for being a Tamer.”
“Here, let me see it,” David said, holding his hand out.  Stan looked at him and reluctantly handed it over. The moment he handed it over to David, the screen activated, producing a projected holographic screen. The image was V-mon’s view of Ogremon with all its stats, its level at Adult, its attributes, even its attacks. “And what am I supposed to do with this information?”
Ogremon suddenly turned around towards David, noticing the activated D-Arc in hand. “Tamer…” he growled. The boy took a step back from the look he got from the digimon. He didn’t know why he suddenly got the enemy digimon’s attention, but now he knew he had a target on his back.
Stan handed David a card. “Use this,” Stan said. “It should help V-mon finish this guy off.”
David grabbed the card and immediately slid it through, trying to get it to read in the D-Arc. Once he did, the device, still on its present displays, failed to react or change in any way. With Ogremon storming towards him, he had to figure out how to use this properly fast. He switched the card around and tried again, that failed, too.
David tripped and landed on his back as Ogremon was standing over him, raising his club to finish the boy off. “Don’t think so!” V-mon said, slamming into the ogre head first and launching him towards the sidewalks and some bystanders. Most of them had scattered but as Ogremon landed, a girl started to scream. The ogre looked around for the source of the sound, hating the screeching noise in his ears. He finally found a girl lying on the ground, pinned underneath him. He looked at the girl with annoyance. He raised his arm, hand curled into a fist and intending to stop the sound once and for all.
“No!” David said, rushing towards the digimon, but Ogremon didn’t pay any attention. With a hammer like strike, the screaming stopped, blood painting the concrete and walls red. David stopped in his tracks, looking at the reality of death more clear than ever. V-mon charged, jumping over a car and landing a flying kick to the ogre’s head. David’s anger at the disregard for life that Ogremon showed started to boil, tension tightened throughout his body. He gripped hard at both the D-Arc and the card in his hands.
“All right, you bastard! You’re finished!” David started to slide the card through the D-Arc’s card reader. “Card Slash!!” David said, the sudden burst of frustration and anger flooding the D-Arc with energy. “Stingmon’s Spiking Finish!” The D-Arc flashed a light that reached out to V-mon.  On his arm, a bracer of some kind formed, extending a fuchsia energy spike.
Getting to his feet, Ogremon swung down at V-mon, only for the blue lizard to slice the club in two with the new beam weapon, causing it to disperse into data. At that, he lunged forward, aiming the spike right through his enemy’s abdomen. He impaled the ogre’s through his stomach and through his core, and out the other side. Ogremon stood, wide-eyed as he too dispersed into data. V-mon immediately absorbed it, adding the ogre’s power to his own.
David and V-mon didn’t have time to celebrate their victory. Stan had already ran to the girl Ogremon had hit, seeing the girl’s body lying prone with her head completely caved in. Digimon and Tamer stopped right next to him. “Damn it,” David cursed.
“Let’s go. We’re gonna be asked questions we’re not going to be able to answer truthfully,” Stan said.
David nodded as the boys fled with V-mon climbing to the buildings above them. “Let’s go to your home,” Stan said. “I really don’t feel like answering to my folks right now.”
“Sure,” David said, not even looking towards Stan. He was just focused on getting away from the scene while he was lost in his thoughts over what happened.
“Thanks, David,” Stan said as he set food on the table for dinner. David shrugged it off. He was just trying to focus on something else instead of the battle that just occurred.
In the background, the TV set was going. David had set it to the news channel, seeing if there would be any coverage of the battle. The last thing he needed to be was reminded of what happened, but he also didn’t want his face plastered all over the media.
“David, it wasn’t your fault,” Stan said. “There was nothing anyone could’ve done.”
“I could’ve acted faster. I could’ve figured out that Card Slash ability sooner. I could’ve accepted the D-Arc in the first place and not waste everyone’s time,” David started listing off faults.
“Don’t get started with that. You did well. Sure, that girl had died, but if you hadn’t finished him off then more people would be dead. Hell, we’d be dead,” Stan told him. “Don’t you dare forget about that.”
David shook his head. “At least one of us has faith in me,” he said.
“Make that two,” V-mon said. “You’re my Tamer, David.”
David sighed. “I remember something. Ogremon didn’t start going after me until I held the D-Arc and it activated. Why?”
“Because we both sensed my link to you. He knew you were my Tamer. Until then, he didn’t know I even had one and was focused on killing me,” the child digimon explained.
“And why was he trying to kill you?” the Tamer asked.
“Because I was the only digimon in the area?” V-mon suggested. “Besides that, I have no clue, but once you were recognized as my Tamer, I became more of a threat to him. He had to get rid of you. On top of that, he may have hated Tamers.”
“Relax, David. We’re safe now. Just enjoy the evening,” Stan told him. “Besides, I’m yet to teach you that game.”
“You’re persistent on that,” David said annoyed.
“Well, you should learn strategy if you’re going to be a Tamer now,” Stan suggested.
David sighed, no argument against it. While the boys enjoyed dinner, the news started. While no one in the room paid attention, the anchorwoman went on about a terrorist attack in town, showing footage of the wreckage from their battle and reporting only one death. Since no mention of the word ‘monster’ was uttered, none of the boys even thought to listen or watch, ignorant of the cover up happening behind their backs.