Chapter 1: Night Visitors
Ken awoke to a loud knocking on his door. When he looked at the alarm clock on his bed, he saw that it was 4:03 AM. Ken only knew of one person who would be knocking on his apartment door at this hour. Grudgingly, Ken got up. He saw that his Digimon partner, the caterpillar like Wormmon, was also awakened by the knocking of this nighttime visitor. The knocking continued as Ken walked into the living room. When Ken opened the door, he saw that it was his best friend and fellow DigiDestined, Davis, and his Digimon partner, Veemon. Ken was not surprised to see Davis at this hour, for he had made a few of these nocturnal visits before.
"Kari threw you out again, didn't she?" Ken asked his friend. Davis nodded, though he didn't need to. Ken could see that Davis was carrying a suitcase in his left hand, something he usually had when he dropped by Ken's at that hour. Davis had more stuff this time though, for he also had a backpack on, loaded with enough stuff that one might think that Davis was going camping. Veemon was also carrying a bag full of what looked like cloths that was as big as a small boulder. The little green and white dragon Digimon looked like he was going to be crushed. Ken also noticed that Davis had a black eye on the right side of his face. With a mild note of irritation in his voice, Ken said, "Well, come on in."
Once Davis and Veemon entered the apartment, Ken slowly closed the door behind them so as not to wake up the neighbors. This was not the first time that Davis and Veemon had come over to stay at Ken's place. Davis's live-in girlfriend and fellow DigiDestined, Kari, had thrown Davis out of their apartment before. Most of the fights were over little things. Ken remembered that the last fight seemed to be about who was supposed to do the laundry. All of these fights would end the same way though. Davis would stay at Ken's place for a couple of days, and than, realizing how much of an idiot he was, would go back, apologize to Kari, and move back into her apartment. This seemed to happen a couple of times a month. Ken also seemed to note how Davis would always show up at about three or four o'clock in the morning in this cycle. This time seemed a bit different though, as Davis had more of his belongings with him., and also had that black eye.
"So how'd you get the black eye?" Ken asked as Davis plopped himself down on the couch. Davis glanced over at Ken and replied, "Kari punched me in the face."
Ken was a bit surprised. In all of the fights that Kari and Davis had, Ken never recalled Kari punching Davis like that. Ken started to think that this fight was more serious than others.
"So what was the fight about this time?" Ken asked. Davis looked at Ken and began with, "Well, there was this girl..."
Ken suddenly did not like where this conversation was going.
"I met her a couple of weeks ago while I was working my shift at the video store," Davis continued, "I helped her find this movie she was looking for. We ended up talking for awhile and hitting it off. We also ended up running into each other a lot. One thing led to another and... now I'm here."
Ken didn't know how to react at that moment. He thought about yelling at Davis for being such an idiot, but he couldn't do that while his friend was in such a vulnerable state. Besides, he was tired and wanted to go back to bed.
"Well, you can stay here for awhile," Ken told his friend, "Do you want a beverage or something?"
Davis shook his head at the offer. Ken went out to the kitchen anyway to get a glass of water before going to bed. As Ken ran the faucet, he glanced out the window and saw someone standing under a street light across the street. Ken could tell that the person seemed to be a young man about his age, maybe a little older. The person had brown hair and was wearing a black trench coat, and seemed to be staring into Ken's window. As Ken looked at this mysterious watcher, he thought that he seemed familiar. Than it dawned on Ken that this person looked like his old friend, Ryo Akiyama. That was impossible though, as Ryo had died several years ago. Although Ken never gave up hope that Ryo might still be alive.
"Ken, on second thought, I think I'll have a soda. Veemon wants one too," Davis yelled from the living room. Ken turned his head back towards the living room and replied, "Okay, just a minute."
When Ken turned his head back to the window, the mysterious figure had vanished. Ken wondered if he was seeing things. After all, it was about four in the morning. Ken got Davis and Veemon their sodas and went back to bed, deciding that what he saw outside was his imagination, but in the back of his mind, he wondered if Ryo really had come back.
