Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ The Shadow War ❯ Chapter 2
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: moose_of_doom 
Anime/Manga: Digimon Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Action / Adventure / Romance | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 07.31.2005 | Pages: 10 | Words: 3.6K | Visits: 268 | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: Digimon Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Action / Adventure / Romance | Type: Other | Uploaded On: 07.31.2005 | Pages: 10 | Words: 3.6K | Visits: 268 | Status: Completed
Chapter 2:
********
“Bullshit, sir!”
“Mr Motomiya, you will refrain from using that sort of language in this room.”
Davis turned to cast a malevolent look at the chairman. The small conference room in which he was now sitting had been used by many people in the past. Presidents, Prime ministers, Ambassadors, but never before had it been used to decide the fate of an entire world. And now he was sitting in the small room in a nondescript British building, deciding that fate.
“Mr Chairman, I am not an official member of the UN. I am not a Diplomat. What I am is someone who was elected to lead a group of free individuals to whatever ends that may require.”
Across the table from Davis, one of the American ambassadors snorted. Davis turned back to look at him.
“Have you got something to say Mr Johnson?”
The man stood, and smirked at Davis.
“Mr Chairman, my friend across the table says he has been elected the leader of a group of free individuals. Need I remind everyone here that most of those “Free Individuals…”
The mocking tone in his voice was apparent. Davis could sense where this was going.
“…Are merely a group of animals? Are we really going to allow ourselves to be talked to by a bunch of small creatures?”
Davis calmed himself. He couldn’t get angry, not now. That would make him vulnerable, and he couldn’t allow that.
“I don’t think many of the Digimon population would appreciate being called ‘Small Creatures’, Mr Ambassador. In fact, I can think of some who would be positively offended by it.”
The Ambassador smirked at him.
“Give me a break, Mr Motomiya. We’re talking about a bunch of dumb animals here!”
The Chairman, seated at the head of the table, fixed Johnson with a steely gaze.
“Tell that, Mr Johnson to the Digimon who beat me at chess last night, the one partnered to my daughter. It’s the first time I’ve been beaten in eight years.”
Johnson looked momentarily taken aback.
“Well, all I’m trying to say is…”
The second American Ambassador, who was seated on Davis’s side of the table, stood.
“What you’re trying to say, Mr Johnson, is that if they look different to us, they shouldn’t have the same rights as us. Am I right?”
“I…”
“Am I right, Mr Johnson?”
Johnson didn’t speak again, but sat, an expression of deep anger crossing his face. Denton, the second ambassador, nodded at Davis, and also sat. Davis turned to the chairman once more.
“Mr Chairman, I came to this place, at invitation, to make a request. I ask for military aid against in the problem of the Shadowmon, from all of the countries whose representatives currently sit around this table.
I don’t ask for aid, unless it is drastically needed, and I know that your countries would be reluctant to give aid to the digital world. But allow me to paint a worst case scenario picture.”
He turned, and nodded at TK, who had been sitting quietly throughout the exchange, a bemused look on his face.
“Mr Takaishi here has been managing affairs in the digital world whilst I’ve been out here. He has some news to give you all.”
TK stood, and took a controller from his pocket, activating the projector that was mounted on the table. He pressed the button, and the first slide appeared on the screen. It was a blown up picture of a Shadowmon.
“A Shadowmon. I’m presuming you all read the briefing package on these guys, so I wont linger here, but needless to say, as we all know, they are strong, fast, and there are damn near an infinite amount of them.”
The next slide appeared on the screen, a top down map of the digital world.
“The digital world currently has a fighting force of approximately one hundred and fifty former NIDF troopers. The Shadowmon population has been increasing rapidly. Our troops have dealt with approximately a thousand of them in the last three months. Even better, it now appears that someone is mustering them. A general, if you will. We don’t know what, and we doubt we’ll be able to find out any time soon.”
The British ambassador, Jack Torrance, put up his hand.
“Why wont you be able to find out?”
“Because, as TK said, we are severely limited when it comes to manpower. The surface of the digital world is just that, the surface. There is a huge network of tunnels that extends underneath the entire world.” Davis answered.
Torrance nodded.
“That would make it difficult.”
TK continued.
“We are currently taking some measures to protect digiworld citizens at the moment.”
He indicated a city on the edge of the ocean. Another click on the controller brought up a close in view of the town.
“This is Coast Town. We’ve been fortifying it for the past two months. In the near future, all of the digiworld citizens will fall back to coast town, where we can easily defend ourselves, or if it boils down to it, evacuate over the ocean.”
The chairman had been leaning forward intently.
“A sound strategy. What do you need our help for?”
Davis answered once more.
“Well, again it boils down to manpower. We have one hundred and fifty men to cover approximately eight miles of wall. It can’t be done to any standard, so we need help.”
The lights came back on, and the chairman sat back, looking at the speculatively.
“An interesting proposition, Mr Motomiya, but tell us this, why should we involve our military forces in your conflict?”
Davis glanced at TK, who nodded. He looked down the length of the table.
“Because if we don’t stop the Shadowmon at coast town, then they will have free access to the twelve portals that connect the digital world to this one. And there will be no limit to their numbers.”
=============================================================
“Well, how do you think I did?”
TK grinned across at Davis.
“Personally, I think you scared the living hell out of them. They were torn between their greed for using the digital world and the fact that they could be seriously screwed.”
Davis grinned back at him.
“Thanks. Your speech gets more eloquent with every minute.”
“Comes from spending time with you. C’mon, let’s got get the rest of the guys.”
They carried on walking to where Ken and Cody were waiting.
“How’d it go?” asked Ken.
Davis shook his head.
“We’ll know in an hour. Until then, I say we get some lunch.”
DemiVeemon, who until that moment had appeared to be sleeping on a bench, opened an eye.
“Did someone say lunch?”
Patomon fixed him with a baleful look.
“Is that ALL you think about?”
DemiVeemon grinned. Cody shook his head in despair at the pair of them, and turned back to Davis.
“By the way, I found what you were looking for.”
“Seriously?”
Cody nodded.
“It’s not far from somewhere we can get lunch. C’mon.”
=============================================================
The digital world troopers marched into the camp, looking weary, battered, and unhappy. Most of them broke apart from the main group almost immediately, and went to find somewhere to lose consciousness for a couple of hours. Liam Dillon however, had other plans in mind.
Walking away from his troops, he looked around for the medical tent. Finally he located the structure, and pushed through the flap. Inside, the first person he saw was Jun Motomiya. Davis’s sister had received her doctorate earlier in the year, and now spent the majority of her time in the digital world, patching up Digidestined and Liam’s men. Right now she was crouched next to a young child, and the concentration on her face gave her a knife-edge beauty that an observer would only notice after the event. As she finished up, she turned to look at him.
“Oh, it’s you. I wont even bother.”
“Well thankyou Jun, I love you too.”
She grinned at him.
“How are you doing, Liam?”
He sank gratefully into one of the chairs. All of the aches and pains of the last week catching up on him.
“I’m holding together. I’m looking forward to when we’re ensconced in coast town though. Yourself.”
“Pretty much the same. Until Davis gets back, I’m stuck doing medicals in a tent, so…”
They sat in companionable silence for a minute, and then Liam stood.
“Well, I’m gonna go get some food. I’ve been on rations for the past three days. Would ya be knowing where Mimi is?”
“I think she’s already over in the food hall. I’ll catch up with you later.”
“Alright. See ya.”
He left the tent, and trudged over to the long canvas covering that sheltered the food hall. He ducked underneath the covering, and walked over to the counter.
“Two pints of lager, and a packet of crisps, please.”
Mimi glanced round at the sound of his voice, and grinned.
“Hi Liam! When did you get in?”
“About ten minutes ago.”
“And you didn’t come straight here? I’m disappointed.”
Sora’s voice came from below the counter.
“Oh, give it a rest you two. What’ll it be, Liam?”
“Just some food, thanks love.”
She poured some soup into a bowl, and passed it over to him. He glanced down at it, then up at her again.
“Supplies getting low?”
“No, I just thought you could stand to lose some weight.”
He gave her a withering glare, and went to a table. A couple of minutes later, Mimi was sitting opposite him.
“I’m gonna ask you a question, Liam, and I want a straight answer.”
“If it’s “Does this apron make me look fat,” we’ve done that joke.”
She kicked him under the table, and he grinned. Then her face turned serious.
“Tell me, how bad is it getting out there?”
He looked up from his soup, into her deep brown eyes. He saw that she wouldn’t brook any opposition, and he chose not to offer any.
“It’s bad. We’re under armed, undermanned, and I’ve got a bad feeling that we’re gonna be fighting a running battle all the way to coast town. That’s how bad it is.”
She gave a small, tense grin.
“What’s the upside?”
“The face that if they come after us, we can kick their arses.”
“That works.”
Liam paused only to eat some more of his dinner.
“So how’s everyone here holding up? I know Jun’s looking forward to getting to coast town.”
Mimi grinned again.
“Yeah, but that’s because Tai’s there, organising for the siege. I’m looking forward to it too. Palmon’s waiting for me there.”
Lima grimaced.
“Seems everyone’s looking forward to being on the run. I’m just dreading what will wait us when we come back out again.”
But Mimi wasn’t looking at him anymore. She was staring over his shoulder, at a point behind him.
“That cant be…”
Liam turned, and saw a blonde-headed man duck into the tent. He grinned as he slung a duffel bag onto the floor. Mimi suddenly ran past him, and leapt into the stranger’s arms. She hugged him like an old friend, and Liam felt a spike of Jealously erupt, unbidden in his stomach. It shocked him, for the most part.
The pair came over to where he was sitting. Mimi’s face had lit up like a Christmas tree.
“Liam, this is Michael.”
=============================================================
Tai stood on one of the walls of coast town, looking out at the expansive meadow in front of him. He looked up as Matt lent on the wall beside him.
“Looks so peaceful.” The blonde man said.
Tai nodded.
“Hard to think of it as a battlefield.”
He turned to his friend.
“How are we for supplies? Davis sent me an email asking for an update.”
Matt grinned.
“I’m amazed he found the time. He’s got so much on his plate at the moment.”
Tai’s face didn’t mirror the grin.
“You have no idea. He’s got dignitaries ganging up on him. We’ve got some of the Americans on our side, but not enough to count, along with the British, Irish and Canadians, but other than that, we’re not gonna get much help.”
“Figures. Anyway, the warehouses are nearly full. I’ve moved all the supplies down to the waterfront warehouses. Far as possible from any battle situation. I left Tasha handling it for the moment.”
“TK will be impressed by that.”
“Heh. Oh, and by the way, I’ve got another surprise for you.”
“What?”
“Tai!”
The older Digidestined spun around. Kari was walking up the stairs towards him, a grin on her face. Tai grinned back at her.
“Hey, what are you doing here?”
“I got tired of sitting on my ass, so I decided to come and help. I’m gonna be in here anyways, once Davis gets back.”
Tai nodded. His little sister came and leaned on the wall at his other side. Gatomon leapt up beside her, and stared down.
“So, this is the place, huh?”
“Yup. I have a feeling we’re all gonna be spending a lot of time on these walls.”
“Well, unless we have any nasty surprises, I think we’ll win.”
“It’s the nasty surprises I’m worried about…”
=============================================================
The Jewellers was a small place, discrete and tidy. Just the kind of place Davis had been looking for. He turned to Cody.
“You did good, man. Maybe you guys should go back to the UN building and wait, huh? Me and TK can handle it from here.”
Ken looked confused.
“You drag us out here and then tell us to… ah.”
He had caught the slight grin on Davis’s face. Then he turned to and Cody.
“I bet those reports from coast town are in. I could use a hand sorting them?”
“What? Oh, yeah. Right.”
The two of them disappeared into the crowd. TK grinned at Davis.
“SO you’re actually going through with this?”
Davis grinned right back at his friend.
“Oh yeah. Nothing I’ve ever wanted to do more.”
They entered the small shop. Davis glanced around. There were various clocks in a case off to the sides of the shop. A young man sat behind the counter, reading a newspaper, which he hastily put away when they entered.
“Can I help you guys?” he asked.
The youth had sandy-coloured hair, and was pulling off a pair of glasses that he obviously used for close work. When he gazed at them, there was a slight smile on his face, as if he found the whole world slightly amusing. His green-blue eyes studied them intently.
“Erm… I need to buy a ring.” Said Davis.
The boy nodded.
“Any particular kind of ring?” he asked.
Davis smiled, and blushed deeply.
“…An engagement ring.”
The smile on the youth’s face quirked a little wider, and he stood, pulling a tray of rings out from their nestling place under the counter.
“Well sir, we have a wide selection here, as you can see. What design were you thinking?”
Davis looked momentarily taken aback, before he stepped forward to look at the rings in the tray. TK stepped forward with him. He grinned at the boy.
“You’ll have to forgive him. It’s his first time doing this.”
He glanced at Davis.
“Any ideas?”
Davis nodded, and pointed at a ring in the centre of the tray. It was a gold band, with a small emerald jewel set in the middle.
“That one.”
The youth nodded, and placed the ring in a box. Davis handed over his credit card.
“They actually let you have one of those things?” TK asked.
“Hey, I’m not the one who blew three-hundred bucks on dates in a month.”
“What can I say, I’m a romantic.”
The boy turned back to them, handing them a receipt and a small bag. Davis grinned at him.
“Thankyou. Thankyou very much.”
The youth’s grin broadened again.
“Your welcome.”
They turned to go, but TK turned back, frowning.
“Do I know you from somewhere? You seem familiar.”
The boy shook his head.
“No, I’d probably remember you two.”
They laughed, and left the shop.
=============================================================
As they walked through the crowd, Davis looked at his friend.
“You know, he did seem familiar.”
TK nodded.
“Hey, his name should be on the receipt, right?”
Davis glanced down at the piece of paper in his hand.
“’Ben Myatt.’ Weird name.”
“Huh.”
The two friends walked away.
===========================================================
********
“Bullshit, sir!”
“Mr Motomiya, you will refrain from using that sort of language in this room.”
Davis turned to cast a malevolent look at the chairman. The small conference room in which he was now sitting had been used by many people in the past. Presidents, Prime ministers, Ambassadors, but never before had it been used to decide the fate of an entire world. And now he was sitting in the small room in a nondescript British building, deciding that fate.
“Mr Chairman, I am not an official member of the UN. I am not a Diplomat. What I am is someone who was elected to lead a group of free individuals to whatever ends that may require.”
Across the table from Davis, one of the American ambassadors snorted. Davis turned back to look at him.
“Have you got something to say Mr Johnson?”
The man stood, and smirked at Davis.
“Mr Chairman, my friend across the table says he has been elected the leader of a group of free individuals. Need I remind everyone here that most of those “Free Individuals…”
The mocking tone in his voice was apparent. Davis could sense where this was going.
“…Are merely a group of animals? Are we really going to allow ourselves to be talked to by a bunch of small creatures?”
Davis calmed himself. He couldn’t get angry, not now. That would make him vulnerable, and he couldn’t allow that.
“I don’t think many of the Digimon population would appreciate being called ‘Small Creatures’, Mr Ambassador. In fact, I can think of some who would be positively offended by it.”
The Ambassador smirked at him.
“Give me a break, Mr Motomiya. We’re talking about a bunch of dumb animals here!”
The Chairman, seated at the head of the table, fixed Johnson with a steely gaze.
“Tell that, Mr Johnson to the Digimon who beat me at chess last night, the one partnered to my daughter. It’s the first time I’ve been beaten in eight years.”
Johnson looked momentarily taken aback.
“Well, all I’m trying to say is…”
The second American Ambassador, who was seated on Davis’s side of the table, stood.
“What you’re trying to say, Mr Johnson, is that if they look different to us, they shouldn’t have the same rights as us. Am I right?”
“I…”
“Am I right, Mr Johnson?”
Johnson didn’t speak again, but sat, an expression of deep anger crossing his face. Denton, the second ambassador, nodded at Davis, and also sat. Davis turned to the chairman once more.
“Mr Chairman, I came to this place, at invitation, to make a request. I ask for military aid against in the problem of the Shadowmon, from all of the countries whose representatives currently sit around this table.
I don’t ask for aid, unless it is drastically needed, and I know that your countries would be reluctant to give aid to the digital world. But allow me to paint a worst case scenario picture.”
He turned, and nodded at TK, who had been sitting quietly throughout the exchange, a bemused look on his face.
“Mr Takaishi here has been managing affairs in the digital world whilst I’ve been out here. He has some news to give you all.”
TK stood, and took a controller from his pocket, activating the projector that was mounted on the table. He pressed the button, and the first slide appeared on the screen. It was a blown up picture of a Shadowmon.
“A Shadowmon. I’m presuming you all read the briefing package on these guys, so I wont linger here, but needless to say, as we all know, they are strong, fast, and there are damn near an infinite amount of them.”
The next slide appeared on the screen, a top down map of the digital world.
“The digital world currently has a fighting force of approximately one hundred and fifty former NIDF troopers. The Shadowmon population has been increasing rapidly. Our troops have dealt with approximately a thousand of them in the last three months. Even better, it now appears that someone is mustering them. A general, if you will. We don’t know what, and we doubt we’ll be able to find out any time soon.”
The British ambassador, Jack Torrance, put up his hand.
“Why wont you be able to find out?”
“Because, as TK said, we are severely limited when it comes to manpower. The surface of the digital world is just that, the surface. There is a huge network of tunnels that extends underneath the entire world.” Davis answered.
Torrance nodded.
“That would make it difficult.”
TK continued.
“We are currently taking some measures to protect digiworld citizens at the moment.”
He indicated a city on the edge of the ocean. Another click on the controller brought up a close in view of the town.
“This is Coast Town. We’ve been fortifying it for the past two months. In the near future, all of the digiworld citizens will fall back to coast town, where we can easily defend ourselves, or if it boils down to it, evacuate over the ocean.”
The chairman had been leaning forward intently.
“A sound strategy. What do you need our help for?”
Davis answered once more.
“Well, again it boils down to manpower. We have one hundred and fifty men to cover approximately eight miles of wall. It can’t be done to any standard, so we need help.”
The lights came back on, and the chairman sat back, looking at the speculatively.
“An interesting proposition, Mr Motomiya, but tell us this, why should we involve our military forces in your conflict?”
Davis glanced at TK, who nodded. He looked down the length of the table.
“Because if we don’t stop the Shadowmon at coast town, then they will have free access to the twelve portals that connect the digital world to this one. And there will be no limit to their numbers.”
=============================================================
“Well, how do you think I did?”
TK grinned across at Davis.
“Personally, I think you scared the living hell out of them. They were torn between their greed for using the digital world and the fact that they could be seriously screwed.”
Davis grinned back at him.
“Thanks. Your speech gets more eloquent with every minute.”
“Comes from spending time with you. C’mon, let’s got get the rest of the guys.”
They carried on walking to where Ken and Cody were waiting.
“How’d it go?” asked Ken.
Davis shook his head.
“We’ll know in an hour. Until then, I say we get some lunch.”
DemiVeemon, who until that moment had appeared to be sleeping on a bench, opened an eye.
“Did someone say lunch?”
Patomon fixed him with a baleful look.
“Is that ALL you think about?”
DemiVeemon grinned. Cody shook his head in despair at the pair of them, and turned back to Davis.
“By the way, I found what you were looking for.”
“Seriously?”
Cody nodded.
“It’s not far from somewhere we can get lunch. C’mon.”
=============================================================
The digital world troopers marched into the camp, looking weary, battered, and unhappy. Most of them broke apart from the main group almost immediately, and went to find somewhere to lose consciousness for a couple of hours. Liam Dillon however, had other plans in mind.
Walking away from his troops, he looked around for the medical tent. Finally he located the structure, and pushed through the flap. Inside, the first person he saw was Jun Motomiya. Davis’s sister had received her doctorate earlier in the year, and now spent the majority of her time in the digital world, patching up Digidestined and Liam’s men. Right now she was crouched next to a young child, and the concentration on her face gave her a knife-edge beauty that an observer would only notice after the event. As she finished up, she turned to look at him.
“Oh, it’s you. I wont even bother.”
“Well thankyou Jun, I love you too.”
She grinned at him.
“How are you doing, Liam?”
He sank gratefully into one of the chairs. All of the aches and pains of the last week catching up on him.
“I’m holding together. I’m looking forward to when we’re ensconced in coast town though. Yourself.”
“Pretty much the same. Until Davis gets back, I’m stuck doing medicals in a tent, so…”
They sat in companionable silence for a minute, and then Liam stood.
“Well, I’m gonna go get some food. I’ve been on rations for the past three days. Would ya be knowing where Mimi is?”
“I think she’s already over in the food hall. I’ll catch up with you later.”
“Alright. See ya.”
He left the tent, and trudged over to the long canvas covering that sheltered the food hall. He ducked underneath the covering, and walked over to the counter.
“Two pints of lager, and a packet of crisps, please.”
Mimi glanced round at the sound of his voice, and grinned.
“Hi Liam! When did you get in?”
“About ten minutes ago.”
“And you didn’t come straight here? I’m disappointed.”
Sora’s voice came from below the counter.
“Oh, give it a rest you two. What’ll it be, Liam?”
“Just some food, thanks love.”
She poured some soup into a bowl, and passed it over to him. He glanced down at it, then up at her again.
“Supplies getting low?”
“No, I just thought you could stand to lose some weight.”
He gave her a withering glare, and went to a table. A couple of minutes later, Mimi was sitting opposite him.
“I’m gonna ask you a question, Liam, and I want a straight answer.”
“If it’s “Does this apron make me look fat,” we’ve done that joke.”
She kicked him under the table, and he grinned. Then her face turned serious.
“Tell me, how bad is it getting out there?”
He looked up from his soup, into her deep brown eyes. He saw that she wouldn’t brook any opposition, and he chose not to offer any.
“It’s bad. We’re under armed, undermanned, and I’ve got a bad feeling that we’re gonna be fighting a running battle all the way to coast town. That’s how bad it is.”
She gave a small, tense grin.
“What’s the upside?”
“The face that if they come after us, we can kick their arses.”
“That works.”
Liam paused only to eat some more of his dinner.
“So how’s everyone here holding up? I know Jun’s looking forward to getting to coast town.”
Mimi grinned again.
“Yeah, but that’s because Tai’s there, organising for the siege. I’m looking forward to it too. Palmon’s waiting for me there.”
Lima grimaced.
“Seems everyone’s looking forward to being on the run. I’m just dreading what will wait us when we come back out again.”
But Mimi wasn’t looking at him anymore. She was staring over his shoulder, at a point behind him.
“That cant be…”
Liam turned, and saw a blonde-headed man duck into the tent. He grinned as he slung a duffel bag onto the floor. Mimi suddenly ran past him, and leapt into the stranger’s arms. She hugged him like an old friend, and Liam felt a spike of Jealously erupt, unbidden in his stomach. It shocked him, for the most part.
The pair came over to where he was sitting. Mimi’s face had lit up like a Christmas tree.
“Liam, this is Michael.”
=============================================================
Tai stood on one of the walls of coast town, looking out at the expansive meadow in front of him. He looked up as Matt lent on the wall beside him.
“Looks so peaceful.” The blonde man said.
Tai nodded.
“Hard to think of it as a battlefield.”
He turned to his friend.
“How are we for supplies? Davis sent me an email asking for an update.”
Matt grinned.
“I’m amazed he found the time. He’s got so much on his plate at the moment.”
Tai’s face didn’t mirror the grin.
“You have no idea. He’s got dignitaries ganging up on him. We’ve got some of the Americans on our side, but not enough to count, along with the British, Irish and Canadians, but other than that, we’re not gonna get much help.”
“Figures. Anyway, the warehouses are nearly full. I’ve moved all the supplies down to the waterfront warehouses. Far as possible from any battle situation. I left Tasha handling it for the moment.”
“TK will be impressed by that.”
“Heh. Oh, and by the way, I’ve got another surprise for you.”
“What?”
“Tai!”
The older Digidestined spun around. Kari was walking up the stairs towards him, a grin on her face. Tai grinned back at her.
“Hey, what are you doing here?”
“I got tired of sitting on my ass, so I decided to come and help. I’m gonna be in here anyways, once Davis gets back.”
Tai nodded. His little sister came and leaned on the wall at his other side. Gatomon leapt up beside her, and stared down.
“So, this is the place, huh?”
“Yup. I have a feeling we’re all gonna be spending a lot of time on these walls.”
“Well, unless we have any nasty surprises, I think we’ll win.”
“It’s the nasty surprises I’m worried about…”
=============================================================
The Jewellers was a small place, discrete and tidy. Just the kind of place Davis had been looking for. He turned to Cody.
“You did good, man. Maybe you guys should go back to the UN building and wait, huh? Me and TK can handle it from here.”
Ken looked confused.
“You drag us out here and then tell us to… ah.”
He had caught the slight grin on Davis’s face. Then he turned to and Cody.
“I bet those reports from coast town are in. I could use a hand sorting them?”
“What? Oh, yeah. Right.”
The two of them disappeared into the crowd. TK grinned at Davis.
“SO you’re actually going through with this?”
Davis grinned right back at his friend.
“Oh yeah. Nothing I’ve ever wanted to do more.”
They entered the small shop. Davis glanced around. There were various clocks in a case off to the sides of the shop. A young man sat behind the counter, reading a newspaper, which he hastily put away when they entered.
“Can I help you guys?” he asked.
The youth had sandy-coloured hair, and was pulling off a pair of glasses that he obviously used for close work. When he gazed at them, there was a slight smile on his face, as if he found the whole world slightly amusing. His green-blue eyes studied them intently.
“Erm… I need to buy a ring.” Said Davis.
The boy nodded.
“Any particular kind of ring?” he asked.
Davis smiled, and blushed deeply.
“…An engagement ring.”
The smile on the youth’s face quirked a little wider, and he stood, pulling a tray of rings out from their nestling place under the counter.
“Well sir, we have a wide selection here, as you can see. What design were you thinking?”
Davis looked momentarily taken aback, before he stepped forward to look at the rings in the tray. TK stepped forward with him. He grinned at the boy.
“You’ll have to forgive him. It’s his first time doing this.”
He glanced at Davis.
“Any ideas?”
Davis nodded, and pointed at a ring in the centre of the tray. It was a gold band, with a small emerald jewel set in the middle.
“That one.”
The youth nodded, and placed the ring in a box. Davis handed over his credit card.
“They actually let you have one of those things?” TK asked.
“Hey, I’m not the one who blew three-hundred bucks on dates in a month.”
“What can I say, I’m a romantic.”
The boy turned back to them, handing them a receipt and a small bag. Davis grinned at him.
“Thankyou. Thankyou very much.”
The youth’s grin broadened again.
“Your welcome.”
They turned to go, but TK turned back, frowning.
“Do I know you from somewhere? You seem familiar.”
The boy shook his head.
“No, I’d probably remember you two.”
They laughed, and left the shop.
=============================================================
As they walked through the crowd, Davis looked at his friend.
“You know, he did seem familiar.”
TK nodded.
“Hey, his name should be on the receipt, right?”
Davis glanced down at the piece of paper in his hand.
“’Ben Myatt.’ Weird name.”
“Huh.”
The two friends walked away.
===========================================================