(fanfic100) Digimon Adventure - Taichi Yagami - 025. Strangers
Title: The Room
Fandoms: Digimon Adventure, Pokemon anime
Characters: Tai (dub), Ash
Prompt: 025. Strangers
Word Count: 1189
Rating: G
Summary: "[...] if you put Tai from Digimon and Ash from Pokemon in a room, [...] neither is about to call the mouse on the floor a Rattata, especially Tai."
Author's Notes: I'm not sure how I got this idea out of a rant about Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy. Warnings for one weak swear-word, liberal fourth-wall breaking, and a plot dreamt up at 1 AM. Dub names are retained for both canons, although Tai mentions some stuff which was never translated. Finally, the "couple of kids" are meant to be Takato + Henry, because Takuya + Koji don't really giggle.
Tai stared at the wall. As far as walls went, it was quite interesting in a very limited way. It had a complete set of dents and scratches, a line of paint chips that snaked halfway round its outside before stopping abruptly, an ancient mousehole at its base which probably had a life of its own, and several suspicious grey patches here and there.
...Who was he trying to kid? It was boring. The whole room was boring; it didn't really reach the astounding levels of boring that had been the latter half of 02, but it was definitely a close contender.
Of course he'd complained, he reflected for what must have been the millionth time since he'd been thrown in here. Who in their right minds would take something like that lying down? How could you not complain when somebody had dragged you rudely out of bed, informed you that your entire life had been nothing but two seasons of a barely entertaining children's TV show, and - this was the killer - refused to let you back for the third one?
Seriously. That kid Davis had whined a bit as well, and he'd been allowed a couple of cameos afterwards. Matt had simply sulked until he and Gabumon were signed up for their very own CD. What Tai had to look forward to, on the other hand: a co-starring role in yet another movie, a decent haircut, and a comfortable high-position job in the realm of politics. But except for that, he had nothing.
The others? They'd all just listened carefully, nodded, walked back home without as much as a word. As if not being a real, living person any more wasn't that much of an issue. And he'd just been marched here, where they could leave him to his own angst.
The door squeaked open. Tai turned to look at it. It wasn't often that people came to check up on him any more. None of the others ever visited. He'd spotted two boys he didn't recognise a couple of times before, peering through the bars and giggling. They'd both looked younger than him, and one of them had even had the nerve to be wearing goggles. His goggles! He'd given them away a while ago, yes, and the ones the kid outside had been wearing were a different colour entirely, but as far as Tai was concerned, goggles were still his.
To his vague surprise, somebody else was being marched in today. Another boy. He looked even younger than the stalkers outside had been. The second thing Tai noticed about him was that he was wearing the kind of baseball cap that had gone out of fashion about five years ago. The first thing was that he was shrieking incoherently like a little girl.
"Get off! Hey! I'm not just a - I'm gonna - let me go! Even if - hey - I only - when I get my - get off me!"
Whoever had led the newcomer here obviously didn't understand what he was saying either, because a few seconds later the door was slammed shut. The young boy sank to the ground as the crunching sound of footsteps outside faded away.
Tai found that he was grinning, despite his own situation. But that was unfair - the friendliest thing would be to extend some hospitality now and mock the hell out of that dramatic entrance later.
"How's it going?" he asked, as casually as he could manage.
The kid spun round, seeing Tai for the first time. "They told me they didn't need me!" he said angrily. "They told me I was just a fick- fig- I wasn't real, and they called me a Gary Stu and I said I couldn't be because Gary has brown hair, and then they said - they said -"
"Yeah, yeah. Heard most of that before. Takes some getting used to."
"They told me I didn't look like I would get any more development in the next two hundred episodes and I wasn't getting older so they could just replace me with a robot and everything would be fine!"
"Well -" Tai shifted awkwardly. "I hadn't heard that one before -"
The boy eyed him suspiciously for a moment, then seemed to decide there wasn't much else he could rant about. He sat down and leaned back against the door. "Anyway, my name's Ash. You've probably heard of me."
He was wearing green fingerless gloves, Tai noticed. A ridiculous cap, and fingerless gloves. Where was the sense in that? Although, he supposed the Ash kid could say the same about his own goggles, if he'd still been wearing them instead of Davis.
"Name's Tai Kamiya," he said, "and no, I haven't."
Ash looked puzzled for a moment, but then his expression cleared. He didn't look like the kind of person to let mere lack of recognition get in his way. "So, do you know anything about this place at all?"
"Nope."
"Seriously? In most of the places I've been to, the people are always so full of information..."
"Hey, that's kind of harsh. For example, I know that two plus two equals four and how to fake a really bad French accent."
Again, confusion flitted across Ash's face. Tai's oft-neglected conscience gave him a nudge. Picking on smaller kids wasn't a good thing to do, even if they did sound like little girls. It would be better to save his supplies of irony for the next time the goggled idiot and his blue-haired friend showed up.
"You know," he said, a generous impulse welling up inside him, "you don't have to sit on the floor. There's a bench." He pointed at this, in case Ash was a bit slow.
Ash looked more surprised than grateful, but did say "Oh. Uh. Thanks."
They sat on opposite ends of the bench for several long minutes.
Presently, a small grey furry thing poked its twitching nose out of the hole in the bottom of the wall. Ash stood up suddenly and backed away, looking mortified.
Tai looked sideways at him. "What exactly are you doing?"
"What - what's that?"
"It's only a m-"
"I've never seen one of those before!" He sounded as if he was about to burst into hysterics again.
"You do know what a mouse is, right?"
By now, the mouse had left its hole and was busy sniffing the air in a preoccupied way. Ash's gaze flickered from it to his feet several times. Then he looked up, assuming the empty expression of somebody who has decided they're going to be cunning but isn't all that experienced at it. Tai recognised it. Mr. Fujiyama had used it a lot.
"Huh, 'course I know what that is," he said. "It's just a mutant Rattata."
"...'Rattata'?"
"Obviously," said Ash, having reasserted his air of authority. "Everyone knows that Rattata are purple. Grey isn't a healthy colour for them."
"It's a mouse," Tai repeated. What was this kid going on about now?
Ash waved a hand dismissively. "No, no. It's all clear now. There must be someone bad out there - okay, probably Team Rocket, that explains where Pikachu went - and they're creating these mutant Rattata, because they're bad! Thank you very much for your help, but now..." He adjusted his cap and struck a pose. "I'm needed to save the day!"
He sprinted impressively towards the door. There was a noise. It sounded a bit like bong and a lot like crunch. The mouse twitched at the sound, shuffled over to the opposite wall and started nibbling industriously at a fallen piece of plaster.
Tai sagged on his end of the bench. "Yeah. 'Rattata'," he muttered. "It's a 'Rattata'. That explains a whole lot. Izzy could take lessons from that."
He looked up. Two faces on the other side of the iron bars looked back at him. "And you can just go away," he added.
Fandoms: Digimon Adventure, Pokemon anime
Characters: Tai (dub), Ash
Prompt: 025. Strangers
Word Count: 1189
Rating: G
Summary: "[...] if you put Tai from Digimon and Ash from Pokemon in a room, [...] neither is about to call the mouse on the floor a Rattata, especially Tai."
Author's Notes: I'm not sure how I got this idea out of a rant about Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy. Warnings for one weak swear-word, liberal fourth-wall breaking, and a plot dreamt up at 1 AM. Dub names are retained for both canons, although Tai mentions some stuff which was never translated. Finally, the "couple of kids" are meant to be Takato + Henry, because Takuya + Koji don't really giggle.
Tai stared at the wall. As far as walls went, it was quite interesting in a very limited way. It had a complete set of dents and scratches, a line of paint chips that snaked halfway round its outside before stopping abruptly, an ancient mousehole at its base which probably had a life of its own, and several suspicious grey patches here and there.
...Who was he trying to kid? It was boring. The whole room was boring; it didn't really reach the astounding levels of boring that had been the latter half of 02, but it was definitely a close contender.
Of course he'd complained, he reflected for what must have been the millionth time since he'd been thrown in here. Who in their right minds would take something like that lying down? How could you not complain when somebody had dragged you rudely out of bed, informed you that your entire life had been nothing but two seasons of a barely entertaining children's TV show, and - this was the killer - refused to let you back for the third one?
Seriously. That kid Davis had whined a bit as well, and he'd been allowed a couple of cameos afterwards. Matt had simply sulked until he and Gabumon were signed up for their very own CD. What Tai had to look forward to, on the other hand: a co-starring role in yet another movie, a decent haircut, and a comfortable high-position job in the realm of politics. But except for that, he had nothing.
The others? They'd all just listened carefully, nodded, walked back home without as much as a word. As if not being a real, living person any more wasn't that much of an issue. And he'd just been marched here, where they could leave him to his own angst.
The door squeaked open. Tai turned to look at it. It wasn't often that people came to check up on him any more. None of the others ever visited. He'd spotted two boys he didn't recognise a couple of times before, peering through the bars and giggling. They'd both looked younger than him, and one of them had even had the nerve to be wearing goggles. His goggles! He'd given them away a while ago, yes, and the ones the kid outside had been wearing were a different colour entirely, but as far as Tai was concerned, goggles were still his.
To his vague surprise, somebody else was being marched in today. Another boy. He looked even younger than the stalkers outside had been. The second thing Tai noticed about him was that he was wearing the kind of baseball cap that had gone out of fashion about five years ago. The first thing was that he was shrieking incoherently like a little girl.
"Get off! Hey! I'm not just a - I'm gonna - let me go! Even if - hey - I only - when I get my - get off me!"
Whoever had led the newcomer here obviously didn't understand what he was saying either, because a few seconds later the door was slammed shut. The young boy sank to the ground as the crunching sound of footsteps outside faded away.
Tai found that he was grinning, despite his own situation. But that was unfair - the friendliest thing would be to extend some hospitality now and mock the hell out of that dramatic entrance later.
"How's it going?" he asked, as casually as he could manage.
The kid spun round, seeing Tai for the first time. "They told me they didn't need me!" he said angrily. "They told me I was just a fick- fig- I wasn't real, and they called me a Gary Stu and I said I couldn't be because Gary has brown hair, and then they said - they said -"
"Yeah, yeah. Heard most of that before. Takes some getting used to."
"They told me I didn't look like I would get any more development in the next two hundred episodes and I wasn't getting older so they could just replace me with a robot and everything would be fine!"
"Well -" Tai shifted awkwardly. "I hadn't heard that one before -"
The boy eyed him suspiciously for a moment, then seemed to decide there wasn't much else he could rant about. He sat down and leaned back against the door. "Anyway, my name's Ash. You've probably heard of me."
He was wearing green fingerless gloves, Tai noticed. A ridiculous cap, and fingerless gloves. Where was the sense in that? Although, he supposed the Ash kid could say the same about his own goggles, if he'd still been wearing them instead of Davis.
"Name's Tai Kamiya," he said, "and no, I haven't."
Ash looked puzzled for a moment, but then his expression cleared. He didn't look like the kind of person to let mere lack of recognition get in his way. "So, do you know anything about this place at all?"
"Nope."
"Seriously? In most of the places I've been to, the people are always so full of information..."
"Hey, that's kind of harsh. For example, I know that two plus two equals four and how to fake a really bad French accent."
Again, confusion flitted across Ash's face. Tai's oft-neglected conscience gave him a nudge. Picking on smaller kids wasn't a good thing to do, even if they did sound like little girls. It would be better to save his supplies of irony for the next time the goggled idiot and his blue-haired friend showed up.
"You know," he said, a generous impulse welling up inside him, "you don't have to sit on the floor. There's a bench." He pointed at this, in case Ash was a bit slow.
Ash looked more surprised than grateful, but did say "Oh. Uh. Thanks."
They sat on opposite ends of the bench for several long minutes.
Presently, a small grey furry thing poked its twitching nose out of the hole in the bottom of the wall. Ash stood up suddenly and backed away, looking mortified.
Tai looked sideways at him. "What exactly are you doing?"
"What - what's that?"
"It's only a m-"
"I've never seen one of those before!" He sounded as if he was about to burst into hysterics again.
"You do know what a mouse is, right?"
By now, the mouse had left its hole and was busy sniffing the air in a preoccupied way. Ash's gaze flickered from it to his feet several times. Then he looked up, assuming the empty expression of somebody who has decided they're going to be cunning but isn't all that experienced at it. Tai recognised it. Mr. Fujiyama had used it a lot.
"Huh, 'course I know what that is," he said. "It's just a mutant Rattata."
"...'Rattata'?"
"Obviously," said Ash, having reasserted his air of authority. "Everyone knows that Rattata are purple. Grey isn't a healthy colour for them."
"It's a mouse," Tai repeated. What was this kid going on about now?
Ash waved a hand dismissively. "No, no. It's all clear now. There must be someone bad out there - okay, probably Team Rocket, that explains where Pikachu went - and they're creating these mutant Rattata, because they're bad! Thank you very much for your help, but now..." He adjusted his cap and struck a pose. "I'm needed to save the day!"
He sprinted impressively towards the door. There was a noise. It sounded a bit like bong and a lot like crunch. The mouse twitched at the sound, shuffled over to the opposite wall and started nibbling industriously at a fallen piece of plaster.
Tai sagged on his end of the bench. "Yeah. 'Rattata'," he muttered. "It's a 'Rattata'. That explains a whole lot. Izzy could take lessons from that."
He looked up. Two faces on the other side of the iron bars looked back at him. "And you can just go away," he added.