Gathering

Jorge and Victoria sat at the city bus stop in front of their school. They needed to catch an early bus to get to the skating rink up on the Northeast side of town. They left their digimon at home, letting them recover from their battle against Pail Dramon and his men. Besides, it would've been impossible to hide them in an unfamiliar place.

The bus finally arrived at the stop and opened the front door. The two children walked onto the bus and took out their school IDs, which had a sticker that acted as their bus pass. The showed their IDs to the bus driver and the driver pressed a few buttons to acknowledge the passes.

"551. Looper," the automated voice announced as they walked down the aisle. They sat down in some seats next to the rear exit of the bus.

Jorge looked at his sister, who seemed to be a little anxious. "You seem excited," Jorge remarked.

"We're finally getting out of the house and meeting the others. Why shouldn't I be excited?" the young girl replied.

Jorge rolled his eyes. He knew how this would end up for him. However, he truly didn't know what would happen, since Tapirmon and Rick acted differently than others. He wasn't used to being looked on as a friend. Most just simply avoided him.

"C'mon, hermano. Don't be a spoil-sport," Victoria told him. "Enjoy it."

I wish I could, Jorge thought.

A Ford pick-up truck pulled into the parking lot of the Randolph Park & Ride. Clint stepped out of the passenger side. He looked around, trying to find the others and saw Richard, Dwayne and Rita over on the bus platform.

"Are you going to be okay?" Mr. Reeves asked.

"Yes. There's two others that we're waiting on, since they have to take the bus from the south side," Clint replied.

"Well, I'll see you this evening, then."

Clint nodded as he walked towards the platform. He approached the trio, making sure he caught their attention. "Howdy," Clint greeted.

"Hey," Dwayne said. "I take it you're Clint."

Clint blinked. "How'd you know?"

"Well, I can think of several reasons why you wouldn't be Jorge," Richard remarked. "My name's Richard, this is Rita and Dwayne."

"It's good to meet you, Clint," Rita greeted.

"What's with Richard?" Clint asked, noticing the serious look on his face.

"Oh...he's just a dead pan," Dwayne said.

"Very funny..." Richard growled. "I'm not much for skating."

"Neither am I," Clint said with a smile.

A bus stopped right in front of the children. The bus opened its doors to let its passengers out. "I think that's their bus," Dwayne said.

"Late as usual," Richard added.

"It's not like we have an appointment," Rita told Richard, just as Jorge and Victoria stepped off the bus. They looked around, searching for the others.

"Jorge! Victoria! We're over here!" Clint called out, grabbing the attention of the two Hispanic children.

Victoria recognized the group and ran over to them. Jorge slowly followed his sister to the group. He began to look, as if studying them. The serious look on Richard's face caught his attention. He's trying to hide his emotions, but I can read them easily. They seem to be nice, otherwise, he thought.

"You okay?" Clint asked Jorge.

"I'm fine," Jorge replied.

Clint just shook his head. "City folk have it easy, they just make things more complicated."

"You don't know the half of it," Jorge said, walking towards the indoor skating rink. Clint looked at Jorge strangely. He just couldn't read this guy. He's kinda scary, Clint thought. I wonder what his problem is.

"Having problems, Rich?" Dwayne asked as he skated by. Dwayne had brought his own roller blades, as did Rita. The others just rented skates from the rink.

Richard had been clinging to the railing. He began to regret coming along. "Yeah, I can't skate well," Richard retorted. He finally stood up, letting go of the rail. He used the front stopper on his right skate to stay where he was. He sighed in relief as he manages to keep balance. Then, he pushed forward, thinking he had things down, but when he put the foot that pushed off down, his legs slowly started to spread apart. Richard panicked and eventually slipped onto his back.

Richard sat up and looked behind him as he heard laughter from that direction. Rita and Victoria stood behind them, Victoria holding onto the railing. Victoria had started laughing and Rita couldn't help but laugh as well, taking her cue from the younger girl. "Sorry, Richard. I guess we see why you were reluctant in coming here," Rita apologized.

"Looks like you need to learn from Rita," Victoria remarked. That remark caused Rita to blush, recalling her discussion with Jessica.

"Heh...cute..." Richard remarked as he started to drag himself towards the railing so he could get up. "I'll be fine."

Dwayne came up to Richard after making another lap around the rink. He grabbed Richard's arm and helped to lift Richard to his feet. "I don't think you are, Rich. C'mon. Don't use the stoppers to push off. Just push off with the wheels," Dwayne said.

Richard nodded and tried that, trying to use the wheels going in the same direction. "No! Not like...!!" Dwayne started before Richard started to slip and fall forward, dragging Dwayne with him. This caused even more laughter from the girls.

The laughter stopped as Jorge skated right by and made a quick u-turn. "Are you two having problems?" he asked as he stopped by the two boys.

Dwayne looked up at the younger boy. "Rich is the one having problems, I'm being dragged into it."

"Call it revenge," Richard replied, struggling to get up. Richard felt a hand grab him and pull him up. He looked to see Clint had picked him up off the ground. Clint appeared to be bruised up a bit. "Thanks," Richard replied.

"Your welcome," Clint said before he skated off. He nearly lost his balance, but recovered.

Rita and Victoria gawked at Jorge. "Didn't you say you and your brother never skated before?" Rita asked.

"Yes, I'd like to know how he learned how to skate quickly," the younger girl replied.

"Well, are you ready?" Rita asked, watching as Dwayne, Jorge, and Richard cleared out of their way. Dwayne was helping to get Richard off the rink.

Victoria nodded, a little nervous after seeing Dwayne and Richard fall. "Don't worry, I won't let you fall." Victoria finally let go of the bar, maintaining her balance. "Now, watch my feet," Rita said. She showed Victoria what to do, holding on to Victoria to get her used to moving on skates. She finally just skated off, continuing her lesson.

Richard sat at a table they had saved, watching the mass of people skate by. He had taken his skates off, seeing that it wasn't worth continuing. Clint had gotten off the rink and skated towards the table. "Quitting already?" Clint asked.

"It's not worth breaking something. I can't skate even if my life depended on it," Richard replied. "And can't fight well with broken limbs."

"I can see some logic in that. Though, I was injured when I first went to the Digital World."

"What happened?"

"Got crushed underneath a bigger guy playing football and landed on my shoulder."

"Ouch," Richard remarked, cringing. He just heard one of the reasons why he doesn't play football.

"I know. I kept landing on it throughout my time there."

Richard looked at Clint curiously. "You're pretty tough for a little guy, being able to keep going after all that punishment."

"Maybe you city folk are just soft," Clint remarked.

"Trust me, Clint. I've had my share of beatings."

It was Clint's turn to have a curious look on his face. However, he was not going to pry on any further.

"Hey, guys," Rita said, getting the two boys' attention. Victoria and she had gotten off the rink. The skaters on the rink had started to move at high speeds. A round of speed skating had begun.

Richard noticed that Dwayne and Jorge were missing. "Hey, where's..." Richard started. Then, he noticed Jorge whip right by with Dwayne following close behind, barely keeping up. Richard knew well that Dwayne was trying to beat Jorge in a race. Richard sighted. "Never mind."

"I'd still like to know how he got so good within such a short time," Victoria remarked.

"However he did, Dwayne's quite prideful and is trying to prove himself, seeing Jorge as a challenge," Richard explained.

"I could have guessed," Clint said.

"I guess we should wait on those two," Rita remarked.

"It won't take too long," Richard told them.

"What makes you say that?" Victoria asked.

"Watch what happens when Dwayne let's his pride get the best of him." Rita added.

Dwayne had started to speed up on the back straightaway, getting closer to Jorge. He was about to pass the younger boy, but Jorge started to curve towards the left. Richard and Rita both saw Dwayne's mistake. Dwayne was going too fast and couldn't make the turn. Dwayne held his arms forward to avoid a full impact with the railing. His hands came into contact with the rail and he cushioned the impact into it, and held on to prevent himself from falling.

"Looks like Jorge won that one," Richard remarked, watching Dwayne crawl through the railing. Jorge skated off through a gap in the railing. He went towards the table and sat down with the others.

Dwayne slowly approached the table, clutching where the railing impacted into him. He sat down, cringing a bit. "I warned you about your emotions getting the best of you," Richard told him.

"Oh, shut up," Dwayne grumbled.

"So, what are we going to do about this whole digital mess?" Jorge asked.

"You mean we have to go through all of that again?" Victoria asked.

"Vickie, it's our duty to protect our home," Rita said.

"I don't see why anyone has to fight. It's not like we go in and provoke them," Richard said. "Of course, which would you rather do...fight or die?"

Victoria looked down, knowing they were right. However, she didn't like the fact she was dragged into this. Victoria experienced battle for the first time, getting a feeling of hatred. When Golemon threatened to kill her brother, she couldn't think of anything else. She just wanted him dead.

"Not that that matters. They attacked us," Jorge said, those words surprising his sister. "We have the capabilities to take them on."

"And you were the one that freaked out during the last battle," Richard remarked.

Jorge didn't respond, but he never showed whether he was phased, only showing his normal poker face.

"Why don't we just go and check something out? I mean, we can just go into the Digital World for information," Dwayne suggested.

"That's actually a good idea. What about that town we went to with Hank?" Richard replied.

"Town?" Clint asked.

"We found a town that had been mostly abandoned. The only one left was a Nanimon. Unfortunately, we were ambushed by a swarm of Flymon and Revolmon," Dwayne explained.

"Well, what's such a big deal about this town?" Rita asked.

"Before it was abandoned, Pail Dramon had the civilians under their control. Until they massacred everyone in it," Dwayne said. "It still ticks me off when I think about it."

"Well, it's not like we have anywhere else to start until they start attacking us again," Richard remarked.

"Do you two still remember where it is?" Clint asked.

"Yeah, we'll be fine," Richard replied. "I should have the coordinates saved somewhere on my computer."

"We'll go into there sometime during the week, okay? The semester is almost over, and we don't exactly have any homework," Dwayne suggested.

"I agree," Jorge said. Everyone had their own reasons for wanting to go during the week.

"Dwayne, you're in command," Richard said.

"What?" Dwayne asked.

"Richard, are you sure? I'd feel you'd make a better leader," Rita said.

"I don't exactly have many leadership skills. Dwayne's already proven that he does. Of course, I'll still back him up to keep him from making boneheaded decisions," Richard explained. "A leader shouldn't think like I should, a leader should think with their heart." Richard then got up from the table. "I'll see y'all later," he said before walking towards the exit.

"Richard did have a point," Victoria said. "For some reason, I just feel better with Dwayne than Richard, something about Richard reminds me too much of my brother."

"Not exactly," Jorge muttered.

"I still don't get how you can show no emotion like that," Dwayne remarked.

"Years of practice," Jorge replied.

"Well, I guess I better leave as well," Clint said. "Hey, Jorge, Victoria. My father probably wouldn't mind taking you home. It beats riding the bus all the way down to the south side."

"I, really, don't want to bother you," Jorge said, trying to get out of the offer.

"It's no problem. My dad really didn't have anything to do," Clint said.

Jorge sighed. "I don't exactly live in the safest of neighborhoods."

"Well, neither do I," Clint responded.

Jorge couldn't think of anything to reply to that. "Fine," Jorge replied as Dwayne and Rita started to leave.

"I wonder what Richard saw in me. I mean he must have some reason why he suggested I should lead the group," Dwayne said. "And I could never look on everyone else as a lesser person."

"That's probably why Richard suggested you," Rita said. The two were sitting outside Dwayne's house, waiting on Rita's parents.

"What do you mean?" Dwayne asked.

"Well, you're the least likely guy to take full advantage of a role like that. Plus, you tend to think more about others. I'm sure even Clint, Jorge, and Victoria would feel better with someone like you leading them. Now, that I think about it, I probably would, too. Could you imagine Richard leading us?"

"I guess you got a point. Richard doesn't really have that good of a morale, even if I tried to boost it," Dwayne remarked.

Rita's parents finally drove up to the Wright's house and parked in the driveway. "I'll see you Monday, Dwayne," Rita said as she got up and walked towards the car.

Richard had just gotten home to find that no one was home. He knew his father had taken the girls to one of their friends' to stay the night, but he should've been back by now. Most likely, something came up at work. He picked up the phone and called his father's cell phone. "Hello. Dad? Just letting you know I'm home," Richard said, greeting his father. He waited a while, listening to his father. "Sure, I can nuke something." Richard got a bit of a frown on his face. "No problem. I understand. I'll see you later tonight, then...bye."

Richard sighed as he hung up the phone. Something came up at his office that he needed to take care of. At least, it gave him some solitude for the night, but it still bothered him to some extent. "Is something wrong?" Richard heard Hagurumon asked.

"Nothing, Hagurumon." Richard said, going to the freezer and picking out a TV Dinner. "Dad won't be home until late tonight."

"Richard, you gotta let him know about me sometime. I mean he does have the right to know," Hagurumon told him.

"I don't know. My dad's the kind of guy to get bull-headed about anything that isn't his way or his opinion. You know how that is. It's more important that I keep my role as a Destined child than lose it to let my father know about these things. Not to mention the fact that we're leasing the house," Richard explained.

"And what could happen, then?" Hagurumon asked.

"We could be forced to leave...and with you, not many people would agree to letting us lease another house," Richard told him, placing the TV dinner in the microwave. Richard then let the microwave go and he walked out of the kitchen.

"I've got something to do real quick," Richard said. He ascended the staircase and went into the computer room. He sat down at the computer and put in a CD that Hank had given him. He began to look up something in the Digimon database that was set up. The first file he pulled up was the file on Revolmon.

Patamon sat in the back seat of the truck between Victoria and Clint, enjoying Victoria petting him. Clint just shook his head. "He wanted to come along, eh?" Clint asked.

"He just sat around the house bored the whole time," Mr. Reeves said. Jorge sat in the passenger seat next to him to tell him where to go. "He seems to be quite close to you."

"Right now, he seems to be enjoying Vickie's company a bit more," Clint said.

"Can I help it if I'm cute?" Patamon asked.

Victoria started giggling. "I hate to say it, but Patamon is right," Victoria said. "I just like animals in general. You should see my stuffed animal collection."

"Maybe you could come up to the farm sometime. We have a lot of animals there," Clint said.

"That would work if we had a way to get there," Jorge said.

"We're taking you home, now, aren't we?" Mr. Reeves asked.

"Yes, and I thank you for it. But it's not as simple as it seems," Jorge explained.

"How hard can it be?"

"Turn here, the house is just down this street," Jorge said. The truck turned onto the street Jorge mentioned. "It's the fifth house on the right." As they approached the house, Jorge's fears were confirmed as the house came into view. Several young adults and teens dressed in random black clothing were right outside their house.

"What are those guys doing here?" Clint asked.

"Just go right by and drop us further down. We'll go from there," Jorge said.

"Why? Because of them? No...this is your home isn't it?" Mr. Reeves asked.

Jorge sighed, realizing Mr. Reeves' logic, but the guys they were about to deal with as the truck pulled into the driveway did not understand that logic. Jorge cringed as he saw the gang's attention turned towards the truck. They approached the truck and they seemed to mean business. "Here they come," Jorge said.

Mr. Reeves rolled down the window to see what the guys wanted. "What do you want?" Mr. Reeves asked.

"You do know you're trespassing on our turf, right?" the man in front of the crowd said.

"No because this isn't yours anything. This is their home," Mr. Reeves said, referring to Jorge and Victoria who are with them.

The leader looked at Jorge, who was sitting in front of him with his normal emotionless face staring at the young man. The gang leader picked up a pocket knife and held it to Jorge's face. Jorge didn't even flinch as the knife came within an half-inch of his face. "No one tries any funny stuff. This boy is coming with us. Do anything, and we'll kill him."

"They're going to do so anyway," Victoria whispered to Clint, worried for her elder brother. Clint reached for his knife, but Victoria grabbed his wrist, stopping him. "Don't, there's too many of them."

Clint looked at the younger girl, knowing she was just concerned. As much as she didn't want to see her brother die, she didn't want to see anyone else die either.

Then, Victoria and Clint looked down to see that Patamon was gone. "Where'd he go?" Clint asked silently.

"Open the door," the leader commanded.

"AIR SHOT!!!" A blast of air came down on the leader, knocking him down into the ground. He ended up losing grip on his knife up and out. The knife came down point first into the arm of another gangster.

The others looked up at Patamon, trying to see what attacked him. "What is that thing?" one boy asked.

"Does it matter? Shoot it!"

At that moment, the front door of the house flew open. Tapirmon and Terriermon charged out towards the gang. "Blazing Fire!!" Terriermon shouted as she fired a green ball of energy out of her mouth. That ball struck one of the men, burning him.

"Nightmare Syndrome!!" Tapirmon fired off a black wave at the gang, catching them in it and knocking them too the ground. They looked around, then started to get up and run. Whatever they saw, scared the pants off of them, as they went as far as trampling their own to get away.

They all got out of the truck, seeing the only gangsters left were those on the ground with various injuries. "I'll stay around and watch these guys. You go in and call an ambulance," Mr. Reeves told the children. "Jorge, I want to talk to you."

Clint and Victoria went in to call the ambulance as Jorge approached the middle-aged man. "I'm sorry about this. I didn't know," Mr. Reeves said.

"Don't worry about it. By now, we're used to it," Jorge said.

"Where are your folks?"

"My mom's at work. She probably won't be back until late tonight," Jorge replied.

"And your father?"

"He's dead. My mother wouldn't have to work, otherwise."

Mr. Reeves looked at the boy with curiosity. He couldn't believe how calm he was telling him all this. "Clint and I can stay with you two until your mother gets home if you'd like. It's just not safe for you two to be here alone."

"We've done it for the past 5 years. Why not?" Jorge asked. "Victoria and I already put you through too much trouble."

"I'm just concerned for you two. This isn't how children normally live," Clint's father told him.

"Hey, Dad," Clint said as he walked out of the house. "Is it okay if I just stay the night here?"

"Not a bad idea, but you'll have to see how their mother and yours will feel about that," Mr. Reeves replied. "If so, I'll pick you and Patamon up tomorrow evening."

Clint nodded as he ran back in to make a couple of more phone calls. "You really don't have to do this," Jorge said.

"Don't worry it. Just think of it as more time to get to know each other," Mr. Reeves said.

Clinton Reeves
Journal Entry
12-21-03

Yesterday, Jorge and Vickie actually got to interact with other children outside of school, and even had one of them over at their house for the first time. It definitely felt awkward being in a house in the city. Inside, there's no real difference, but you don't get as much territory outside. Their house is rather small like ours is, which is nothing like the houses up on the north side of the city.

Also, for the first time, I saw how hard some people had it in the city. Seeing those gangs threaten to kill Jorge, and hearing Vickie said they would do it anyway just totally changed my view of the city. Those two are harmless and unarmed, and I have no clue why those gangsters as they're called do something like this. They walk around the neighborhood as if they own the place, and just scare the people that really do own their lands.

It's not fair that Jorge and Vickie have to live like this.  I wish there was something that I could do for them, but I have no way to do anything. My father and mother agreed that I could visit them regularly, but the distance between us could cause some problems. I live 30 minutes Northeast of San Antonio, and they live on the other side of town. Isn't there an easier way that won't cost us a lot of money?

Dwayne Wright
Journal Entry
12-20-03

When Richard chose me to be leader of the team, two questions crossed my mind: What was he smoking and why wasn't he sharing? I mean, he knows I could get us all killed. Of course, I'm sure he has his reasons. I mean he's changed a lot since he moved to Missouri. He isn't the upbeat guy I know. I'm still curious as to what happened that changed him into such a pessimist. He knows he's not leader material or anything.

But me? What can I do? Sure, I'm a good basketball player. Somewhat good at art. And I could wail just about anyone at a fighting or sports game, but that's not any qualifications. Plus, Richard's not the kind of guy to decide this just because I'm his friend.