Beep... Beep... Beep.... That was all Eric could hear as he focused on the slumbering girl before him. It had been a week since the encounter with Ice Devimon. The results of that battle though had tainted him with the fact that he hated him so much, that he wanted to kill him. Several times over in fact. Which brought up another disturbing concept. He could hate that hard, so much in fact that he was willing to kill. The thought of killing hadn’t crossed his mind until Jullie lay there, the mocking laughter of Ice Devimon ringing in his ears. The smell of fresh flowers, roses, Jullie’s favorite wafted over him as he placed the rose bunch in the vase next to her. He took a seat and folded his hands, resting his chin on them. The doctors had moved Jullie to the children’s wing of the U of A Hospital, and Eric came to visit every day. Even though she seemed perfectly healthy, she did not want to wake. The doctors diagnosed her being in a coma, but Bones and Carter had come the day she was out of intensive care and scanned her. ‘She’s fighting the viral infection,’ Bones had said as he finished his scans. ‘There’s no designated time when she would come out of her mind since all her power is going to fight the viral data.’ Eric clasped his hand around hers as the machines monitored her life support. “It’s my fault. I should have acted faster.” “It’s no one’s fault,” Carter said from the door. Eric looked up. “Can’t you do anything?” “Besides attempting a Vulcan Mind Meld, which by the way, I’ve tried, I can’t do anything.” Carter sat down beside him. “You care about her, right?” Eric jerked. “No... not really.” Carter made a rude sound. “Yeah right, that’s why you’re moping around the Hospital almost 24-7.” Eric sighed. “Maybe....” <><><> Digital Diaries : Adventures 2003 written by Shaun Garin authorized by Lord Archive, set in his Digimon Series, Red Digivice Diaries/War Diaries <><><> File 07 : Unknown Hunter “That Ice Devimon was certainly not in the plan,” the first figure complained. “Yes. He was always a thorn in our sides. The fact that he crossed over was bad enough, but the chosen kids took care of him, saving us the time and power to do so.” “What are you doing now?” the first asked. “I hear there’s a nice mall that could use a digital field.” With that, he left. <><><> “I don’t wanna be here,” Eric remarked. “I should be watching Jullie, in case she wakes up.” “Likewise, I have classes to study for,” Bones said as he paged through a Card Captor Sakura comic. “But it can’t be helped. Hikaru and Renamon want everyone to cheer up and a trip to West Ed is the best thing to do.” Eric shrugged as he moved a few shirts aside as he, Bones and Lopmon browsed the Comic King. Lopmon sat in a nook of the store as he read a X-men comic. “Wow, this is really cool stuff.” Bones sighed as he put down a Sonic Comic. “C’mon, lets get our stuff. The guy at the counter is waiting.” <><><> “Aaahhh...” Carter said, resting on the inner tube as he drifted across the wave pool. “Aaaaahhhh....” Penguinmon sighed deeper as he floated without an inner tube. “This is relaxing,” Carter remarked. “Yeah... simply relaxing.” “I’m enjoying this,” Sharmamon remarked as he floated beside them. Lee emerged from the waters depths. “Hey, did you hear that?” “Hear what?” the three chorused. Suddenly, a wave rose up and crashed over the quartet as they stood up, hacking and coughing. “I should have remembered that,” Carter said, wiping water from his face. “Glad you don’t forget easily,” Penguinmon said, still floating on the surface of the water easily as Sharmamon thrashed for his inner tube and Lee shook his head. “Sharmamon, stand up.” The digimon paused in mid thrash as he stood up. “Oh.” <><><> BLAM BLAM BLAM Hikaru lowered the Glock as she reloaded it. Beside her, Renamon took aim and pulled the trigger, sending a staccato burst of bullets at the target. “How can those two play with guns like that?” Labramon asked curiously as she was held by Raine like she was a stuffed toy. A rather big stuffed toy but a toy nonetheless. Raine shook her head. “I don’t know. Renamon is good though.” “I’m rooting for Hikaru myself,” Labramon said. The pair giggled as the muted sounds of gunfire were heard. Through the windows, Hikaru lowered her gun and put it on the table before her. Walking out, she entered the waiting room of the Shooting Gallery and removed her ear muffs. “You should try this, it’s really relaxing.” “I dunno, I’m not supposed to play with guns,” Raine said. “It’s fun,” Hikaru replied. “It helps vent frustration. And at least here, we can also go play in Playdium after Renamon and I finish shooting.” “I can’t believe that they don’t notice a five and a half foot yellow fox in a trenchcoat,” Raine said, shaking her head in amazement. “It’s part of her charm. People tend to ignore the weird stuff, and frankly, unless you’re a potential chosen or digi-destined, you won’t remember anything unless you have prolonged exposure with a digimon like our parents do.” Hikaru shrugged. “In a way, the trenchcoats still work rather well.” Raine giggled. “I see.” Hikaru nodded, putting on her ear muffs. “I’ve got quarter of a box left. I’ll be done soon.” Labramon nodded from her place in Raine’s arms. “Have a good time.” <><><> “Argh!” Renamon fought the urge to pound the game console as she swiped her card once more. “Okay, one more time!” “She’s really into that Star Wars Racer, isn’t she?” Lopmon commented from atop Eric’s head. “Yeah. Hey, check out Raine and Labramon!” There was a substantial group gathered around Raine and Labramon who had taken up a game of Dance Dance Revolution. The pair were doing rather well, moving in intricate moves, their feet seeming like they were hovering over the pads. Well, Labramon had a slightly easier time since she had all fours on the arrows. But Raine was C-walking, a fact that didn’t go unnoticed by Lee who watched carefully. “I didn’t know Raine knew how to C-walk,” Lee commented to Eric who watched with him. Sharmamon was off at the fighting games area as the trio wandered around, playing games. “Oh yeah, she’s got a natural sense of rhythm,” Eric said. “That looks like fun,” Lopmon said, jumping down from Eric’s head. “I wanna try.” “Well, there’s an empty game over there,” Eric said. “We can try it together.” After a few minutes of fumbling around, Eric swiped his card once more. “Okay, one more time! We’ve got this song down for sure!” Lee smiled as Raine joined him, her brow glistening with sweat. Labramon panted at her side as she said, “Eric is trying DDR?” “Yep. And failing at it miserably.” Lee took a look at his watch. “The others should be done with their games since it’s four. We need to meet them at the front entrance of Playdium.” “Okay. Once Eric fumbles this, we’ll get going.” A second later, the fire alarm went off as Eric and Lopmon stumbled to a halt. “What’s going on?” he asked. Sean came running in a moment later, gasping for air. “Digital field,” he gasped. “Ice rink.” The three nodded as they rushed out, their digimon following them. A substantial crowd had grown around the unnatural fog instead of evacuating the area like they were supposed to. The security officers were moving from person to person, assuring them that there was no fire, but they should evacuate quickly and quietly. “It’s a field all right,” Lee said, switching his glasses for sunglasses. “Lets get moving.” Eric lowered his goggles as Raine switched her own glasses and Sean put on his sunglasses as well. No sooner than they had wandered into the fog that Eric lifted a foot, his shoe squelching water. “Man, something’s melting the ice!” “Do you see it?” Raine asked as she sloshed through the water. “Not yet....” Eric’s pupils dilated. “Get down!” No sooner than they had ducked then a blue fireball arced overhead, melting ice as it went. “Damn, is fire a common theme these days?” Lee cried, ducking. “Blazing Ice!” Lopmon’s attack tore through the fog. No sooner than it happened then a chain lashed out. “Heat Chain!” Lopmon dodged it, returning fire. “Everyone, evolve!” Sean called out. “Lopmon evolve!” The small dog digimon flared into a grid as he was reshaped into a red ape like creature. “Wendigomon!” “Sharmamon evolve!” He shortened in size as the grid reformed him into a squat ninja. “Ninjamon!” “Labramon evolve!” Labramon became larger and more robust as she exploded into a white and gold digimon. “Shiisamon!” “Destroyed Voice!” Wendigomon cried, his weapon pods revealing themselves as they blasted into the mists. “Tiidiya!” The torrent of spirits sped through the fog as Ninjamon added his own attack. “Iga Style Shurinken Throw!” A long silence passed. And then, a flash of light and a sound like a thunderclap was heard. “What was that?” Eric asked. “Did we get him?” “Look, the fog is lifting. We must have.” Lee said. As the fog totally lifted, Sean shook his head. “Nope, you missed.” He pointed to the blue spirit fire scorch marks, the ninja stars imbedded in the wall and a portion of partially bullet riddled wall. “Something else got it.” “Maybe Hikaru or Carter?” Raine ventured. “It wasn’t us,” Renamon said, appearing out of nowhere as Hikaru ran up, Carter holding onto Penguinmon. “We were caught up in the rush to exit the mall.” “Did you get a look at the attacker?” Hikaru asked. “Nope. Just a metal chain and a blue fireball,” Labramon said, shaking her head. Carter pulled out a small PDA and scrolled through it. “That narrows down the search.. ah ha.” “What was it?” Eric asked as Carter pulled out his Tricorder and scanned the area. “Yep, signs of extreme heat and there are chain marks that have burn marks in the same area.” He put both away. “That was a Skull Meramon. A perfection digimon. You were lucky to take him out.” “We didn’t,” Sharmamon said, pointing at the remains of their attacks. “Something else took it out.” Carter frowned as he scanned the area again. “Yep, definite signs of another energy. But without any other data, I can’t lock down the digimon or whoever did it.” Across the way, one of the two digimon scowled. “Man, they beat our forces again!” The second shrugged. “You win some, you loose some. Our mission is to weaken the barrier by constantly opening digital fields in the real world. By the time we’re done, no one can stop our master.” The first scowled. “I hope so.” “Patience,” the second said. “All will come in time.” “I hate waiting, you do know that.” <><><> Authors notes : gets weirder and weirder, doesn’t it? Seems to follow a specific pattern when I write fanfics, doesn’t it?