Chapter 33 - Ghost of a Chance (Pt.1)

"And here we go!" A mouse glided over the screen and clicked on the play button. A clip of a man in a safari hat being attacked by a small bird was reflected in a man's glasses, "Awesome! My new TV show "When Parakeets Attack" will be a smash hit!"
"Yeah, whatever." Said the surly looking man that was in charge of the computer, "Did you check the camera before you filmed this footage?"
"Of course!" The director guy said, sitting up in his chair, "I'm a professional."
"Okay, then what the heck is that shadow?" A dark shape was in the top right corner. It appeared to have two eyes and was fading in and out of existance, but the man on the screen didn't seem to notice it.

The light in the computer room flashed as once again the Digi-Destined tumbled back into the real world. Once they were uprighted and had got themselves situated, Veemon jumped and said:
"Time for a snack!"
"I agree!" Ririmon said, waggling her ears.
"Is that all you can think about?" Kari giggled, "Food?"
"Good thing I have a lot of food at home." Ashlee said. Yolei huffed, but Ashlee ignored her.
"Traveling to and from the Digital World can work up quite an appetite!" Chibimon said.
"She's right!" said TK, "We need to celebrate our latest victory over the Digimon Emperor!"
"Pizza!" Yolei suggested, "I heard there's a rad new place down by the beach! Let's get a large!"
"We're going to need more than one large to feed us all." Emi said, silently counting the group.
"Yeah! Half anchovies, half mustard!" Davis exclaimed.
"Anchovies! Yum!" Ashlyn said, licking her lips.
"She always did have weird taste in food." Azukia sighed.
"Cody- what's the matter?" Ashi asked.
"Nothing. I'm just not sure it's time to celebrate when we don't know what the Digimon Emperor is up to."
"Maybe Cody is right." said TK, "We should hold off on the pizza until we can figure out our next plan of attack."
"Come on, TK! You know we can't fight him on an empty stomach!" Davis protested!
"And the dude is toast anyway!" Tara said with a wink, "We deserve a break!"
"Yeah! Yeah!" Yolei cheered.
"Starting tomorrow, we won't be able to use this classroom." Cody said.
"What?!" Azukia said, looking around wildy, probably at the thought of having someone mess with her Digital World Gate.
"Oh yeah." said Ashlee, "That's right. The detention room has been moved here and all the bad kids will be put in the computer lab."
"Hey!" snapped Davis, "We're not all bad."
"That's right." Tara said, "I'm in detention sometimes and I'm not bad."
"How can we go tomorrow if we can't access the computer lab?" Yolei asked.
"I hate to admit it, but she's got a point." Emi sighed.
"Wait a sec-" said TK, "We can't go in the Digital World tomorrow anyway. I almost forgot we've got big plans.
"What plans?" Davis demanded, "What do you mean we?"
"He means plans with me, Davis." Kari said.
"WHAT?!" Davis shouted.
"Relax." Emi said, shaking her head, "I'm going. Tara, Casey, and Azukia, too."
"Tomorrow is the anniversary of when the Digi-Destined defeated Myotismon." Casey explained.
"Oh yeah!" Azukia squealed, "I almost forgot that was tomorrow!"
"Oh, can I come, too, Onee-Chan?" Ashlyn asked, looking nearly as excited as Puppymon. Afterall, there had barely a day gone by when she hadn't heard Azukia's tale.
"Sure!" Azukia said, "And you can come, too, if you want, Davis."

"I can't believe it's already been four years since we went to the Digital World." TK mused.
"I can't belive it's been four years since I remembered I fought Myotismon." Tara said, "I missed three years of anniversaries." Chibimon giggled, "Don't laugh! It's your fault!"
"Sorry, Tara!" Chibimon said between peals of laughter, "It's just that you looked so upset it was funny!"
"I can't imagine being in summer camp one second and another dimension the next." said Cody, "That sure beats canoeing and archery any day."
"Yeah. It was weird," Azukia said, remembering how she had been sitting next to Tai on the steps to her cabin when it had suddenly began to snow, "Really weird."
"Wish I could have been there." Ashlee sighed, giving Ririmon a squeeze.
"You didn't even want to be a Digi-Destined at first!" TK said.
"Yeah, but then I would have found Ririmon sooner!" Ashlee said. Ririmon smiled up at her partner.
"I was sick, so I missed camp that summer." Kari said. They were all sitting on short black walls that doubled as benches and each had their digimon in their lap. Azukia and Casey were out of their uniforms for once. Azukia was wearing a bright orange shirt and denim skirt, reminsent of what she had wore on her first adventure. Casey was in a white jersey shirt with navey blue trim and khaki bermuda shorts. Her shirt had the number 63 printed on it in pale gold.
"I almost forgot," said Casey, "You weren't there when we first saw all the weird stuff."
"Hey," said Patamon, "You guys looked pretty weird to us, too, you know."
"And Emi was in a panic to find Matt!" Sunmon said in his high pitched voice, "'Matt! Matt! Where are you?! MATT!'"
"Sunmon..." Emi muttered, turning bright red while the rest of the group laughed.
"Hey!"
"Look! It's Tai and the rest of the gang!" Davis exclaimed. The rest of the gang was indeed on top of a grassy hill. They, too, were out of their uniforms. Tai was wearing a blue and yellow soccor jersey over a grey shirt. He was also wearing grey pants. Sora was wearing a short red skirt and a bright pink t-shirt. Joe was wearing what he wore when they had found Cody's Digi-Egg: A buttoned-up navey-blue dress shirt and cream colored pants. Meanwhile, Matt was wearing a black shirt on top of dark purple pants. Izzy was wearing an un-buttoned green shirt that revealed an orange t-shirt with thin black lines. His shorts were olive colored. Mimi was wearing...well, with Mimi it was hard to tell. She was wearing her familiar pink cowboy hat, but she was also wearing an off-white American Indian style dress and her hair was bushy and orange.
"Happy anniversary, guys!" Tai called.
"Mimi!" Yolei cried with delight when the group was closer.
"Hi!" Mimi said.
"Mimi!" Casey said, running towards her cousin. The two girls embraced.
"Casey! It's so good to see you again!" Mimi said.
"Same here!" said Casey.
"Wow, some reunion." Joe remarked.
"It has been a long time since we've all been together." said Sora.
"No kidding!" Cody said.
"Yeah, we could make nearly two soccor teams with all of us here together!" said Emi.

"So you see, not all the corrupted digimon we encountered were that bad." Tai explained. They had relocated to the park and now the entire company was stretched out comfortably in the shade of an enormous tree, "They were just under the influence of the evil Black Gears."
"But we found out we could destroy the Black Gears with our digivices and free them for their spells." Sora said.
"Well, it was our digimon that did it really." Azukia said. Nyamon nuzzled her.
"But they needed us to digivolve. Otherwise the other digimon would have been too strong." Casey added.
"They became good friends and eventually helped us defeat the Four Dark Masters." Sora finished.
"Wow..." Ashlyn sighed. She was laying in the grass with Puppymon sitting on her belly.
"Geeze. Those Dark Masters sounds like math teacher." Davis said.
"Much worse." Tara said, shaking her head.
"They should make a movie out of this story." said Yolei.
"I hope these grass stains come out of my clothes." Cody said, "Otherwise my mom will ground me."
"You guys have to stick together." said Tai, "No matter what. Remember that friendship is the key or you'll all be toast."
"That's Matt's line." said Emi, "Afterall, he's the Digi-Destined of Friendship!"
"And I am doing a perfectly good job of keeping the team together!" Azukia said indignantly.

The man about to be attacked by a parakeet was being shown again. Suddnely, a black shadow darted across the screen, "There it is!" The man backed up as the tape was rewound. He moved forward again and the shadow flasheda cross the scene, but this time in an entirely different place, "There it is again! This is absolutely impossible. I've watched this stupid tape fifty times and every time that shadow does something completely different. I give up."
"And this was my first time as a director." The director sighed, squeezing his cheeks. They walked into the main room.
"Take a look at those monitors." The assisstant said, "It's not just us; that creepy shadow is on every program on this TV station."
"And you've checked for technical diffculties?"
"This isn't technical, boss."
"Then what is it, smart guy?"
"A ghost."
"Huh? How am I supposed to tell my boss that I can't get my show on the air because of a ghost?! He'll can me for sure. I should have listend to my mom and gone to accounting school."

It was sunset now and they were in front of a lake. A fairy boat gently drifeed by as they finished their meeting.
"That's an incredible story." Cody said.
"Yeah, thanks for sharing it with us!" Ashi piped up.
"I must admit, I'm a little afraid we can't live up to the achievements of you original Digi-Destined." Ashlyn said.
"We wouldn't be here if we couldn't handle it." said Yolei, sqeezing Poromon against her chest.
"What she said." said Davis, "I'm ready to fight right now.'
"Davis, you're so brace." said Sora.
"Besides, with Azukia and Casey there, we can't go wrong!" Tara said.
"That's the spirit you two!" said Tai, "Take no prisoners!"
"Can the rest of you handle it?" Matt asked.
"Matt!" Emi said, sticking her tongue out at her big brother, "Look who you're talking to! TK and I can handle anything!"
"I'm not sure." Ashlee sighed.
"Just follow Davis." Joe said, pushing Davis in the back. Davis had to flail wildly to keep himself from tumbling over the fence and into the lake.

"I haven't been here in awhile." TK said as he rounded the corner into his dad and Matt's apartment, "It's...exactly the same. Including the smell of your socks."
"What do you expect?" Emi giggled, "Matt and dad are slobs."
"And you're so much better." Matt said, mussing up Emi's hair, "Anyway, what are you talking about? I just finished cleaning the place."
"I see." TK said, placing Patamon on the floor and kneeling next to a pile of clothing next to the kitchen table, "How long have these been here?"
"You know...I think those were there when I moved out." Emi said, sweatdropping.
"Quit nit-picking, TK." Matt said, snatching the clothes out of TK's hands, "Dad's been putting a lot of hours at the TV station I've been rehearsing with my band."
"Oh. Sorry. I almost forgot. It's just you two guys."
"Don't worry about it. You're right; this place does have a distinct odor to it. Those dishes are so filthy I think I'd rather face the Dark Master's again then clean them."
"Yeah, forgive me if I'd rather NOT be a keychain again." Emi said, shaking her head.
"If mom lived with me, she'd never let this mess happen. She always kept us in line." Matt said.
"Yeah...she cracks the whip on me." said TK.
"Anyway, I'm starving. What do you guys want to eat?" Matt asked, turning back to his younger siblings.
"Yay!" Emi said, looking incredibly excited, "I get to eat Matt's cooking again!"
"Don't get excited. I don't think we've gone grocery shopping in quite awhile."
"Anything will be fine." TK said with a shrug.
"Okay, but I warned you." Matt said as Patamon and TK groaned, "First I'll take a little stroll over to our old refridgerator and take a peek at what's...not expired."
"Uh, I have an idea." TK said, "How about we just order a pizza? I'll buy."
Matt grinned at TK and Emi over the refridgerator door.
"I've got an idea. A hot one."
"Uh-oh." said Emi, "That's not good."

TK gasped as he dropped his spoon and it clattered into the green-streaked bowl. Sweating, he lifted his glass to his mouth and began gulping water down. Matt was laughing uproariously and Emi was snickering.
"Quit laughing!" TK snapped, "You need to call 9-1-1! Or the poison center! I'm gonna pass out."
"I thought we told you." Matt said.
"Eat at your own risk!" Emi chided, still grinning.
"Now I remember why I hate eating with you both at the same time!" TK moaned, "Are you crazy? What is this stuff?"
"It's a secret, but I'll tell you." said Matt, "A little bit of hot sauce, a bit of wasabi. And a mytery meat I found in the refridgerator covered in green fuzz."
"I'm used to it. Actually, it's one my favorites!" Emi said.
"I never thought cooking could actually make you dizzy." TK groaned, head in his hands."
The sound of a door opening and shutting caused TK and Emi to look up.
"Oh. Dad must be home." said TK, "Hey dad!"
"Hey TK. Hey Matt." Their dad said in a tired voice, "And Emi's here too. What a surprise. Sorry I'm late again."
"Another tough day at the TV station?" Matt asked.
"It's always tought. But lately it's been just brutal." He took out his chair and sat down at the table, heaving a huge sigh as he got settled. None of the Ishida children looked much like their dad. He had short dark brown hair for one thing, and he had brown eyes.
"Dad- what's the matter?" Asked TK. Emi looked worried but didn't say anything. She rarely actually spoke to her parents.
"Oh, I don't even know how to explain it."
"Don't tell me. Myotismon destroyed the station?" Matt groaned. Matt, TK, and Emi's dad actually knew about Digimon.
"I almost wish. At least then I would have an answer for what's going on. My staff is quitting every hour, saying they're seeing strange things and I don't blame them. I must be losing my mind."
"What's happening, dad?" Matt persisted.
"Okay," Their dad said, getting up from the table and shuffling past them, "One second you're walking down the hall and you see something moving out of the corner of your eye."
"That doesn't sound too crazy so far." said TK.
"Right. But when you turn to look," Their dad leaped back to where he had been standing before he had walked past the table, "There's not a trace of anyone or anything. Just an empty hallway."
"So what?" Matt inquired.
"It might sound crazy, but I've come to a conclusion." He turned to look at them all, "The station is haunted." Emi raised one eyebrow skeptically.
"Are you sure you're not just tired? You have been putting in a lot of hours lately." TK pointed out.
"You're right. But it's more than that. For instance, there's this dark shadow. It keep appearing on every monitor on the station, but it's different every single time."
"I bet it's just the equipment." Matt said, "It probably just needs to be cleaned." Emi nodded.
"I know. I thought of that."
"Wow." TK said, "Well that's pretty weird."
"You're telling me." Their dad shook his head, "Maybe it is stress."
"Well, what are you gonna do?"
"I don't know. Maybe I'll just go on a vacation. I heard the Arctic is a nice place to visit. I haven't taken one in 15 years."
"What's up with the CD player?" Matt asked, refering to the black one his dad had placed on the table.
"It's a soothing recording of buffalo's mirgating."
"Buffalo?" Emi actually joined her brother's in repeating what her dad had said.
"Yeah, I heard these recordings help with stress. At this point, I'm willing to try anything." He wedged the headphones into his ear, "I'm a happy little buffalo."
Emi busted out laughing and Matt said, "You've flipped your lid."
"Huh?" Matt could be seen walking out of the kitchen.
"Don't worry dad," said Emi, "Matt's just not a happy little buffalo." The twins jogged out after Matt. Their dad heaved another sigh and sat back at the table.
"Boy, am I hungry." He took a big spoonful of Matt's mystery gunk and stuffed it in his mouth. He turned a bright, vibrant red, and screamed, "Somebody call the fire department!"

"Okay, it's the moment of truth." The funny director guy and his assisstant were watching "When Parakeets attack" again. In fact, they were watching the exact same scene again, "So far so good."
"Ahh!" They both exclaimed as the shadow once again flew across the screen, "Not again!" The assistant turned the computer off and spun in his chair to face the director.
"Look, boss." He said, "There's no way we're gonna finish at this rate. We're definitely gonna need more time."
"Are you crazy?!" The director demanded, getting out of his chair, "This is suppose to go on the air TOMORROW!"
"Oh, that's just great. What are we gonna do?"
The director began sobbing, "All my career finished! I'll only be known as the Haunted Director!"
"We got the sound track back," Another man in a pink suit walked into the room, carrying a CD player, "But it's weird."
"This is the very worst day of my entire life." The director groaned.
"What do you mean by weird?" The assistant asked, "Play the darn tape."
"Here goes." The chubby pink-shirted man said as he pressed the play button.
There was nothing but a few pulses of static.
"Hey wait a minute. I don't hear anything. Where's the music?"
"That's the thing. We recorded the music, but it plays back this voice."
There certainly was some sort of voice within the static, but it was too indistinct to be able to tell what it was saying.
"I didn't sign up for this!"
"It's the ghost! And it doesn't sound happy and I bet it's coming for us!"

You are not authorized to comment here. Your must be registered and logged in to comment