109 Digimon ( I let you choose :-P)
Prompt 109: Life is a highway, and I’m always drunk. So I’m not driving.” | Featuring Taichi, Koushiro, and Jou.
This was so hard to write at first because I literally didn’t know who to write and how to write it. It quickly turned into one of the silliest things I’ve ever created. So please have this one-shot, in which Koushiro gets poisoned but not really. Also I know my medical testing knowledge is off, please just roll with it.
Battling Digimon in the human world was not all that it was cracked up to be, Taichi realized, hiding behind an empty car that was missing its passenger side door. In the Digital World, the only people the Chosen needed to worry about were themselves, but in the streets of Odaiba, there were pedestrians, families, children that needed to be corralled to safety before they dared to launch attacks. This opening gave the lost Digimon extra time to rampage, knocking down street lights, blasting buildings, and wreaking general havoc in its path. But Taichi knew that the value of human life far outweighed a little property damage.
Okay, maybe not a little. More like a lot.
The Digimon that he, Koushiro, Greymon, and Kabuterimon were trying to subdue was some sort of hybrid avain-insectoid that they’d never seen before. Its feather wings shimmered in the sunlight, buzzing like a hummingbird’s, and while its body was more in the shape of a bird, its head was that of a beetle, with long fuzzy antennae, sharp pincers, and giant white orbs for eyes. The problem with this Digimon was that it was fast, zipping around Greymon like a missile. Greymon was powerful but not agile. The good news was that it was intent on flying the same loop with no particular clue as to where it wanted to be instead of attacking them.
“Taichi, it’s just confused,” Greymon said, swiping up with his claw and missing the Digimon by a mile. “It thinks the buildings are a maze that it can’t fly out from.”
“I’ve got all civilians outside a three-block radius,” Koushiro said through the Bluetooth speaker in Taichi’s ear. “Kabuterimon and I are coming over to you now, and then I’ll open a gate. We just have to contain the Digimon until then.”
“Easier said than done,” Taichi mumbled.
Greymon attempted to capture the Digimon each time it flew within reach but was seconds too slow, catching nothing but air. It zoomed past Greymon, blasting through a tour bus in its frenzy, reducing the vehicle to rubble. Then, it went down the nearest side street to complete its loop again.
“Alright, change of plans,” Taichi said to both Greymon and Koushiro. “Can you open a gate on the move? We’re going to try to force the Digimon to come your way, and then Kabuterimon should be fast enough to grab it and throw it inside.”
Koushiro agreed to the plan, and Taichi and Greymon positioned themselves at a street corner. On cue, the Digimon attempted to turn the way they were blocking, and before Greymon could make contact, it changed direction and flew straight.
“You don’t have to yell,” Koushiro said. “I can hear you crystal clear through the speakers.”
Taichi motioned for Greymon to follow him down the street in case the Digimon decided to turn around. It wasn’t going to get away from them this time, but to be on the safe side, Taichi pulled out his smartphone digivice and pulled up a second gate. The phone was bathed in an orange light, vibrating against Taichi’s hand. He had to admit, when it came to technology, Koushiro didn’t hold back. Being able to send Digimon back to their world with their phones was so much easier than lugging laptops around.
Taichi and Greymon stopped. They were about one hundred meters away from Koushiro, and Kabuterimon was nowhere to be seen. The Digimon buzzed between them, bouncing back and forth. After sizing up Greymon, it sped towards Koushiro, who held up his smartphone, emitting a purple light. The Digimon stopped on a dime and as it spun around in the air, Kabuterimon dived down from above, tackling it to the ground.
The Digimon screeched, struggling to break Kabuterimon’s hold. It had nearly wiggled free until Greymon entered the fray, finally able to make use of his brute strength.
“I’m coming,” Koushiro called. “Hold him there.”
Taichi also made his way closer to the heap of Digimons as backup. It became clear that they had underestimated the bird-bug Digimon’s strength because it was beginning to break its hold. Both Greymon and Kabuterimon were strained, struggling to keep it down. Koushiro marched forward, holding his phone up.
Greymon and Kabuterimon released their grips, the former jumping back and the latter flying up overhead. The purple light enveloped Koushiro and the Digimon in a wide dome, so that Taichi couldn’t see anything inside. It was so bright that Taichi held his arm over his eyes. Finally. With any luck, he’d be able to make it to his next class on time. The smile soon deformed when he heard a painful shriek through the Bluetooth.
The light dissipated, and the Digimon was gone. Both Greymon and Kabuterimon devolved, hovering over Koushiro. Taichi bolted.
Koushiro cradled his arm against his chest, trembling. Two large pricks were visible on each side, clean through his shirt sleeve. Taichi knelt down next to him, swallowing a lump in his throat and rolling up his friend’s shirt sleeve as if his arm would fall off if Taichi was too rough. The pricks went through Koushiro’s skin, making two identical tiny holes, but instead of blood dripping out, there was only an ugly green circle around each.
“Interesting,” Koushiro mused, wiggling his fingers and examining his arm with Taichi.
“I think I might have been poisoned,” came out in a slur.
Taichi turned his attention to Koushiro himself, the lump dropping down to his stomach. Koushiro’s eyes were bloodshot and glassy, and his head bobbed up and down like it was too heavy for him to hold up. Taichi flapped a hand in front of his face. Koushiro blinked five seconds later. Then he waved back at Taichi. So much for making it to class.
“You two keep him sitting up, don’t let him fall,” Taichi said to child Digimon. He pulled out his phone and scrolled through the contacts, hovering over the emergency number Jou had given everyone. It would connect directly to his hospital line, but You had made them all swear that they would only use it to contact him in the most dire circumstances. Even Taichi had been too intimidated by Jou’s threatening glare to prank call the number. And now, he was still hesitant to ring it, but with Koushiro quivering in the street wearing a ditzy grin, Taichi considered their situation dire.
It barely rang once. Good ol’ Jou.
“It’s Koushiro. We were sending a Digimon back through the gate but it bit him in the arm. There’s no blood but he thinks he might have been poisoned. He’s acting weird.”
“Jou?” Koushiro called. “Is that Jou? Hi, Jou! Taichi, tell him I say hi.”
“How far away are you from the clinic?” Jou asked.
“Bring him over, I’ll meet you outside the reception area.”
Koushiro was still begging to say hello to You when Taichi ended the call. What the heck was wrong with him?
“Come on,” Taichi said, holding out his hand. “We’re going to go see Jou.”
Koushiro clasped it. “Great! I can tell him hi.”
Taichi pulled him up, but after taking two wobbly steps, Koushiro began leaning over to one side. Taichi grabbed his shirt collar and steadied him, but it was like Koushiro had forgotten how to walk. If he hadn’t maybe just been poisoned, Taichi would have slugged him.
“We don’t have time for this,” he groaned, squatting down to the ground. “Get on.”
“Help me,” Taichi begged Agumon and Tentomon. The two nudged Koushiro over and knocked him into Taichi’s back. The older boy wasted no time in standing up.
“Weeeee,” Koushiro called, flailing his arms.
“Wrap your arms around my neck before I fall over!”
Koushiro obeyed and Taichi managed to stabilize the two of them.
“Is he going to be okay?” Tentomon asked.
“Don’t worry, Jou will fix him up,” Taichi said, more to comfort himself. “But you two probably shouldn’t come to the clinic with us. Can you get back to the office?”
“I know where he hides the spare key,” Tentomon said. “Send updates to Koushiro’s Facebook. He always forgets to logout.”
Taichi waved goodbye to the Digimon, then set off on a power-walking pace. This wasn’t like giving Hikari piggy back rides when she was a child. Koushiro was an actual adult, only a few inches shorter than Taichi. They must have looked ridiculous. He partially wanted to die from sheer embarrassment, and partially focused on getting Koushiro to the clinic as fast as possible.
At least Koushiro offered plenty of interesting tidbits.
“Taichi, your hair. It’s so...poof.”
“Taichi, I can’t feel my face.”
“Taichi, are we there yet?”
“Taichi, you’re really strong.”
“Taichi, all I can feel is my face.”
“Taichi, how am I moving? Where are my legs?”
“Oh, right, you’re carrying me.”
For ten whole minutes. Whatever poison was coursing through Koushiro’s body, Taichi wanted some.
By the time he made it to the clinic, Taichi was red in the face and dripping sweat. His back and legs ached. And Koushiro was spinning in circles.
“If I do one more, I’m going to throw up!” he said.
“Nope,” Taichi said, pulling him through the sliding doors.
True to his word, Jou was waiting for them in a sparkling clean set of doctors’ scrubs. As Koushiro proceeded to say hi a dozen times, You came around to support the younger boy’s other side, and the three of them hobbled to an open room. Jou pulled off Koushiro’s shirt to get the best look at his arm, then conducted a quick examination. Koushiro giggled and tried covering himself up.
“Jou, please, a little modesty.”
“He’s broken,” Taichi whined.
“I’m going to take a blood sample. I don’t know what the results will be since it was a Digimon bite and not something like a spider or snake. On the plus side, if it was any type of serious poison, Koushiro would be in much worse shape. He’s showing mild symptoms that could be poison but could be other things. Overall he seems pretty lucid.”
“Okay, Koushiro, you’re going to feel a quick pinch and then it’ll be over. We’ll try to get you home as soon as possible.”
“Life is a highway,” he replied, “and I’m always drunk. So I’m not driving.”
Jou tilted his head, looking thoughtful.
“He’s been saying weird stuff,” Taichi explained.
“Wait a second,” Jou said. He punched the syringe in Koushiro’s good arm and drew a vial of blood, while Koushiro squirmed and mumbled something incoherent about vampires. “Listen, Taichi,” Jou continued, “I’ll be back in five minutes. I think I know what we’re looking for.”
“Wait, don’t leave me in here with him,” Taichi called, but You had already rushed out of the room. “How do I know if he’s going to be okay?” he yelled down the hallway.
“Is he going to give my blood to Vamdemon?” Koushiro asked.
Taichi stifled a laugh and turned around to find Koushiro was dead serious in his question. Then he pinched the bridge of his nose. Thankfully the time went by fast, as Koushiro was more interested in studying the pictures of various human body systems plastered on the walls.
“The knee bone is connected to the...skull bone.”
Jou came back in as much of a hurry as he left, flinging himself to the desktop computer. He entered what seemed like password after password until a couple colorful charts and graphs appeared on the screen.
“See these?” he asked. He was calmer than Taichi expected. In tense situations, Jou tended to emit stress and anxiety.
“You know I can’t read those,” Taichi said.
“This,” Jou said, pointing to a red bar, far longer than the other ones in the graph, “is the level of opiates present in Koushiro’s blood.” He was snickering.
“Plastered. Gone. His head is so far up in space that Yamato’s jealous.”
Jou shook his head. “I don’t know exactly. I’d have to study the Digimon that caused it. Koushiro could probably even explain it after he comes down. I imagine that the venom would have caused serious harm to another Digimon. But you were in the human world, where Koushiro is flesh and blood. Whatever poison entered his system, must have been broken down by his immune system into something safer, in this case, a pretty potent opiate.”
Taichi turned to Koushiro, who was at that moment, drawing his finger along the picture of the central nervous system, angry that “there are so many lines to follow, I don’t know which path is the right one.” Okay, so being high didn’t sound too crazy. Taichi breathed a sigh of relief and hugged Koushiro from behind.
“What do we do now?” Taichi asked.
“My shift gets out at 9 tonight. Why don’t you two crash in the waiting room? I’m not comfortable releasing him to the world. He’s mostly a risk to himself. Could you stay with him and make sure he stays out of trouble? By then, he should be back to normal. I’ll give you each a lift back home.”
“I don’t want to go home,” Koushiro pouted. “Can’t Taichi and I have a sleepover?”
He pulled out the saddest face in his arsenal, making such puppy dog eyes and looking so not like Koushiro that Taichi didn’t know whether to pinch his nose again or laugh.
“That’s fine, Jou, thanks. And yeah, a sleepover sounds good, Koushiro. It’ll be like we’re kids again.” Aside to Jou, he added, “He should not be left alone tonight.”
Jou laughed. “I’ll show you guys to the waiting room. And Taichi, make sure to properly document this experience for everyone.”
The older boy raised his eyebrows. “Take pictures, record videos, write down quotes. The rest of us deserve to know who high Koushiro is. I doubt we’ll get an opportunity like this again. I mean, it literally fell into your lap. Don’t let us down.”
Koushiro would remember nothing, but the Chosen each had a different picture of him that they treasured. Koushiro only pieced together what had happened when he came back into his office, and Tentomon had changed the background of his computer to one of him lying face down on the hospital clinic floor with every single couch and chair cushion stacked on top of him.
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