Rides, Games and Cotton Candy

[Impmon]

The weekend had hit, and it was a pleasant, sunny day. Perfect time for a trip to Tokyo's favorite theme park. As a special treat, their parents had taken Mako and Ai to the place for the day, and the mischievous duo couldn't be having a better day. Well, maybe if they weren't fighting over what ride to go on.

"I want to go on the Merry-go-round!" Ai wailed at her brother. "No! We're going on the ferris wheel!" "Merry-Go-Round!" "ferris wheel!" The two bickered back and forth relentlessly. Clearly neither of them would come to a compromise without some sort of intervention. Unfortunately their parents had slipped into the restroom for a moment, leaving them on their own.

Well, to their parents' knowledge, alone. Impmon however, wasn't going to miss an opportunity like this. He was standing on the roof of one of the concession stands, looking around the area, keeping an eye on the things around him. When his two tamers started arguing though, he had to shift his gaze down to them. Merry-go-round and ferris wheel. Mako and Ai had described numerous rides. The merry go round was a right that had fake horses that went around and circles while bobbing up and down, and the ferris wheel was a wheel that had numerous seats on it that spun around real fast.

It didn't take him long to locate both rides. The ferris wheel was pretty big, and it went very fast by the look of it. However, when he watched the line go in to board the ride, he saw that most of the kids around Ai and Mako's height were not being allowed on the ride. The merry-go-round however, was a slower ride, but they weren't turning anyone down.

The best choice was obviously in Ai's favor. "Hey guys?" He called down to Mako and Ai, who promptly halted their argument to shift their attention to their digimon. "It doesn't look like the guy running the ferris wheel is letting kids your size on the ride. How about you guys hit the Merry-go-round first. Then Mako can pick the next ride." He suggested.

Mako looked a bit glum when informed that he couldn't go on the ferris wheel, but when assured he'd get his choice after they went on the merry-go-round. Soon their parents came out of the restrooms, and they headed off towards their chosen ride, with Impmon following them inconspicuously. Mako and Ai had given him their saved allowance, which he had gotten his own tickets with. Fortunately it wasn't difficult to convince people that he was a human in costume.

Once they finished their ride on the merry-go-round, they continued walking through the park, heading off towards the bumper cars.

[Kaze]

Jeri had no idea if this would even work. In fact, she had been certain that many had already figured out her game. Besides, who would actually believe that a girl would really take a small puppy out for a walk, at an amusment park? For one thing, she had read the sign saying that dogs weren't allowed, but, she also knew that Salamon was way too jumpy to just hold in her arms. So, at least this way, she was free to walk on her own, but now they had to avoid security as much as possible.

Not that she wasn't already doing that anyway. The only reason she was here, was to see if this would be another hot spot for digimon activity. So far, she had figured out that the park and school were two of the areas with the most appearances of digi-ports. But, she had to search this place as well, due to the fact that both Sangloupmon and Salamon arrived from the digital world from here.

"Salamon! Slow down! I can barely keep up!"

Jeri, wearing a pair of star sunglasses, her black jacket,completely buttoned up, walked quickly behind the leashed digimon as she appeared to be on the trail of some digimon. Though, the girl really hoped the small digimon was just looking for food.

For one thing, a fight in a crowded area was out of the question. Not the mention, she didn't want any sort of conflict to happen at all. She really didn't even want to wear this very warm disguise. But, due to the reports of what happened a few days back, she couldn't allow herself to be connected to what had happened, even if she was there for it.

"Salamon...Wai- Omph!"

Jeri then triped forwards, landing on the ground for a moment, her shades now on the tip of her nose as she looked up towards the Salamon as she stood over her. The girl then whispered gently in her ear.

"You can't move so fast here. We have to stick together...ok?"

The small puppy nodded as she then waited for Jeri to rise once again to her feet and proceed to following her partner while it followed the unknown scent.

[Impmon]

"Ack!" Impmon shouted as Mako rammed his bumper car into the back of his own. The digimon turned around to see his tamer laughing at him childishly. "I'll give ya something to laugh at!" He jeered playfully, slamming his foot on the forward pedal, crashing his car into Mako's, who was sent backward a few feet. Fun, competitive, and no one really got hurt. This had to be Impmon's favorite ride in the park.

The game continued, the trio crashing into each other as well as the other players. The game didn't last too long though. The ending bell soon went off, and the cars all rolled to a stop. "Aww come on, we didn't get that long!" Impmon complained, removing his seat belt and getting off the ride. While Mako and Ai headed off to rejoin their parents, Impmon wandered off elsewhere. A particular scent had caught his attention.

A digimon scent. But there couldn't be one here could there? If there was trouble, the people around him wouldn't just be ignoring it. Then again, if it wasn't causing noticeable trouble, they probably wouldn't notice. After all, no one seemed too suspicious of him, though they probably would flee if he started ba booming the place, as he might have done a long long time ago. It could be trouble, it might not be. He definitely couldn't spot the tell tale fog that indicated a bio-emerging digimon.

He wormed his way through the crowd of people, trying to keep track of the digimon scent among the lingering stench of trash and food. It wasn't long though, until he spotted the culprit. A rather excited Salamon, on a leash. Back when his opinion of tamers was less than good, this might have taken the cake. A digimon? On a leash? Fortunately his opinion had changed considerably since then, and in a crowd of humans that were blissfully ignorant of the presence of digimon, disguising her as a dog was probably the best idea to avoid attention.

Looking to the human holding the leash, he wasn't quite sure he recognized her. A double take though, allowed him to recognize her through the disguise, and the appearance of her made him freeze up, and overwhelming guilt took over him. Jeri! He thought. He'd never regret the terrible things he'd done to her. Nor, that even after that, she still spared his life. Gallantmon could have killed him. At the end of it all, she still forgave him. He screwed up big time, she paid the price for it.

The past was the past though. The guilt may haunt him for the rest of his days, but lingering on it didn't help. He could never make it up to her completely. But the Salamon... What was she doing there? New partner? Watching the puppy like digimon's rushing cause Jeri to trip, he wasn't sure if he approved. Well, maybe it was just hanging around with her. Could a tamer even get a new partner if their previous one died? After all, Jeri's D-Power came from Leomon. Could it respond to a different digimon?

Impmon decided to finally step forward, shoving his misgivings for the Salamon to the back of his mind. "Hey." He greeted shyly -- a bit unusual for him, but something he couldn't help while around her. "Things going okay for you lately?" He asked conversationally.

[Kaze]

Jeri continued to move within the crowd, unsure of where she should even start. For now, she had to trust that Salamon knew where she was going. But, her doubts were quickly pushed aside as she heard a familar voice coming from the side of her. Turning quickly, she looked down at the Impmon with a mixed expression of shock and concern.

While she knew that Impmon wasn't the same as he had been back then, she too couldn't forget all that had happened. Yet, she knew mostly that the blame laid on her for not being a better tamer. Not only that, but how could she hate someone who had tried so hard to rescue her?

"Impmon...."

As she slowly took off her sunglasses to look at him, Salamon quickly ran up the rookie digimon and began eying him with interest. This was definatly the digimon her nose was leading her too. Though, she was expecting someone alittle bigger.. and alot more scary.

"Um....You do realize you smell like cotton candy right?"

Jeri quickly looked at Salamon, giggling as she knelt down to the Impmon's level. Smiling at him as she could tell he was little nervous in speaking to her.So, she did her best to try and make it easier on him.

"I've been ok...Though some weird things have been happening since digimon have been able to come back to the real world..."

[Impmon]

Once actually into the conversation, it was easier to relax, and his tension quickly left him. He stared down at the Salamon. Cotton Candy? Riiiight. He thought, deciding not to respond, instead turning his attention to Jeri. Weird things happening. "Wierd things? You can say that again." said Impmon, scratching the back of his head. The fact that they were able to return to the human world was weird enough. So far he knew himself, Lopmon and now this Salamon had made it to the human world, when they had been sealed off for two long years. Why did it suddenly decide to start letting digimon through now?

More disturbing though, was that it wasn't just the tamer's digimon coming to the digital world. That Raremon he encountered at the beach certainly wasn't looking for no tamer. "A night or so ago I came upon some Raremon looking for Calumon." said Impmon, pondering. It seemed a bit suspicious at the time. Then again though, who wouldn't be looking for him? With the power to make digimon digivolve, he was incredibly valuable to any digimon. Still didn't make hunting down the squirt any less wrong though.

[Kaze]

Jeri was silent as a concerned expression emerged over her face. She had already gone over this with Takato, but she still couldn't help but be worried. This was the second digimon that she knew of that was looking for Calumon, which meant something big was happening.

"Who would want Calumon so badly? I mean, I know he has the power to cause Digi-volution...But I thought that all the digimon that wanted that power were gone..."

As Jeri looked to the side of her, she noticed that Salamon had completely blanked out of the conversation, and was now sleeping next to her leg. She wondered if all digimon started out so care free? She was pretty sure they did, but then alot of other digimon were quite the opposite, like Renamon for one.

"Another digimon came to Yosuba Land two nights ago looking for Calumon as well. But, another tamer and I stopped him...."

Jeri then smiled as she shook her head towards her own statement.

"No...he and his partner stopped him. I only got in the way..."

While saying this, she looked down towards her bandaged wrist, rubbing it gently as she sighed. Though she knew she really couldn't have done anything before, she now had Salamon there to help her..

[Impmon]

Impmon gave a light snort. "There will probably always be digimon out looking for power." he said darkly. He didn't really have much of a doubt of that really. He knew what it was like to yearn for such power, to chase selfishly after such dreams. He also knew the consequences, and the truth of it all. Leomon was right, having power wasn't the same as being strong, but it was a lesson most evil digimon would never learn, and they would be constant trouble for them all.

Then Jeri spoke of another digimon attack, in this very park, of all places. He instantly felt a pang of regret for not being there to defend her, but shoved the thought aside. At least someone else was there to help her, and by the sounds of it, it happened the same time he was occupied with the Raremon anyways. What she said next though, was painful to hear, and the resulting guilt made his ears droop. "Don't say that." Impmon muttered, a bit higher pitched than usual. "You're support is as important as any fighting digimon." Where were they if they had no one to pick them up when things began to look hopeless. "and you got this Salamon now don't you?"

[Kaze]

Jeri looked towards the ground, listening to the Impmon as he said this. Coming from him, it meant alot, considering he was always ready to fight. But, in a way, she was worried. Not more so about Salamon, but about herself. What if she allowed something to happen....something terrible? Could she really be a tamer again?

The girl looked up towards the imp, a small smile appearing on her face as she then stood up and nodded.

"Yea...You're right..."

Jeri then giggled as she was amazed by how much the fiesty little digimon had grown. It made her wonder if it was possible for all digimon to begin to think like this...Maybe then, the fighting and the death could stop at last.

[[NPC]admin]

Not very far away, a dense fog would suddenly begin to settle. Of course, this was no ordinary fog, for within it lurked a digimon, constrained to this fog as his data would begin to be converted into proteins to give him a true form. Suddenly, the lights in all of Yosuba Park, as well as all electronics, would shut off. This was, without a doubt, the interference of a Digimon. Only those lucky enough to have access to a Digivice would know the whereabouts of the new Digimon being formed.

"Where am I?" The Digimon asked as he began to explore his surroundings. There was nothing around him other than grass. He was in a clearing, although about a mile away he could just barely make out a ferris wheel through the fog.

The Digimon walked around the clearing exploring, although it seemed to be nothing like the rumors he had heard of the human world. He wondered if he had made it all the way there, or if he was somehow still in the Digital World. It was very difficult to tell. In any case, he had his own reasons for being in the Human World. All he needed to do was wait for the Digital Field to clear so that he could begin his exploration.

[Impmon]

Impmon's ears perked up a bit when Jeri giggled. It was an awkward meeting, he was glad to hear her laugh. The thought of the damage he had done made him feel sick. But at least seeing her happy lifted that feeling slightly. Then his ears perked up even more, though not for the same reason. In unison with his reaction, he could hear Jeri's d-power go off as well. "Digimon nearby." He grumbled. "I'll take care of it you go-- erm." Impmon paused, half way telling her to run to safety. But she had her own digimon now, so she had just as much right to hunt down the loose digimon as he was. "Well, come or go. Do what you like." He corrected himself, before running off.

"Impmon, something is wrong with the digivice. It keeps beeping and this arrow appeared." came Ai's voice as he was running. "Yeah, there's a digimon nearby. Stay with your parents though, and keep an eye out. If you see fighting digimon, run! Oh, and be prepared to swipe a few cards if I need it." Impmon instructed. He ducked under a ferris wheel and ducked through some bushes to a clearing, completely surrounded by fog. In the middle of that clearing was something that made Impmon freeze. No, it couldn't be, it was impossible. It couldn't possibly be... "Leomon!?" he squeaked, unable to hide the fear in his voice.