Is Shi Okay?! (Shi/Dante)

Dante and Wormmon enter the room. "Oh my Goddess, it really is true! Shi, what happened to you? Is he going to be alright?!" Wormmon walks over and looks at Shi with a puzzled look on her face. "This is just, so strange. Seeing someone so powerful and full of life... just laying there." "Yuudai, Yasuo, what happened? Who did this to him?!" The fact that the twins could have been responsible didn't even cross Dante's mind for a second. He could see that his question made them uncomfortable, but he never would have dreamed a Digimon could be responsible for attacking their own Tamer, to such a severe degree.

"I can't believe it. Shi, please wake up! I brought apples. Apples!" Wormmon just stares down at Shi, completely motionless. "This is terrible! Why couldn't I have been there to stop this?" On his journeys, Dante had put himself in harm's way far too many times, and always worried about what could happen if things went horribly wrong. Humans are not meant to withstand the power of Digimon. And now he was staring at his worst nightmare. A Tamer, incapacitated in battle. "I don't know what to say. You two must feel awful." More awful than Dante realized.

However, Dante wasn't the only visitor expecting to see Shi today. Dante's 'frienemy' Shirou has heard about Shi's accident from an informant. After hearing one of DATS's highest ranking members had been incapacitated, Shirou has decided to use Shi's misfortune to his advantage. Only someone as sick and twisted as Shirou would use someone's near death experience for their own personal gain.

Dante realized he had put his foot in his mouth, and had egg all over his face having said what he said. Dark evolution? He had heard about this only in passing, but never imagined this could be the end result. "I'm so sorry for what you have been through. I don't think it's your fault. Knowing Shi, he wouldn't want you two to feel bad." This was quite different than the misadventures Dante had been stumbling into recently. Sure, his life was chaotic, but this had become a matter of life and death. "Dark evolution, huh? Dante, did you know about this?" "Not really. The only thing close to this was when Revan put his own life at risk to try and force his partner to digivolve."

"Oh ya, I remember that. Sure glad we don't have to worry about that guy any more." Wormmon's expression changes from relieved to concerned. "Still, to think that there's a kind of digivolution that can be this destructive." Wormmon's change of attitude caught Dante off guard. Wormmon has always been antiauthority, and played by their own rules. What was going through the Worm King's head seeing Shi incapacitated? "Do you know when he's going to get better? It must be awfully depressing waiting here the whole time." Dante takes a seat. Wormmon just stands there, looking at Shi. Dante can tell by the look in their eyes that Wormmon was doing some real soul searching. The normally braggadocios Digimon was acting different.

Meanwhile, Shirou's limo pulls up to the hospital. (Thinking) "Is this the right thing to do? Or should I be more careful? I doubt anybody will recognize me. Nonetheless, I should be on guard." Shirou opens up a file on the computer installed inside his limo. He takes out a small earpiece and puts it in. "I'm going in. I want you to monitor the doors, and alert me if anyone suspicious looking enters." He hides the earpiece underneath his shaggy hair. Shirou opens up the door and steps outside. He adjusts his white collared shirt and goes inside. If he wasn't so worked up about not being recognized, he would have noticed Dante's filthy car sitting there in the parking lot. But alas, the limo had tinted windows, and had pulled up close to the door. A rare oversight from the 'genius'.

Shirou walks up to the same receptionist Dante went to. "Hi, are you here for an appointment?" "No, I'm here to see a friend." "Oh, you look really pale. What's their name?" "Shi." "And what's their last name?" "Shi, *negerah*." Shirou gives a fake name that's hard to make out, pulling a page out of George Costanza's playbook. "Yes, there is a Shi up in Room 324. You're not the first visitor he's had today." "Oh? What did they look like?" "I just saw a boy with red hair, and a girl with green hair ask to see Shi." "Okay, thank you." Shirou heads over to the elevator.

(Thinking) "Boy with red hair? That must be Dante! But who is this girl? I've never heard Dante mention Shi before. Is it possible he's already here?" Shirou goes up to the floor and approaches Shi's room. He leans over next to the door to listen in. (Thinking) "I hear a few people in there. How am I going to get them to leave the room? That definitely sounds like Dante. Hmm... One thing I know for sure about Dante is that he never goes long without smoking a cigarette. At some point, he's going to have to go back down through the lobby, and step outside for a smoke. That's where I make my next move. Oh Dante, you predictable fool!" Shirou heads back down to wait for Dante.

Back in the room, Dante and Wormmon are sitting down, waiting to see if Shi's condition improves. Time seems to pass by slowly. The buzz and beeps from all the machines starts to wear on Dante's nerves. And that smell Wormmon noticed earlier seemed to fill the entire hospital. (Thinking) "Come on, Shi... fight through this!" There isn't much to do, but sit and wait for any sign of improvement, or maybe some good news from one of the doctors. "I just wish I could have been there. Shi's done so much for me, and now I might never be able to repay him. What were you doing when this happened?"

Dante nods. "Yeah, maybe you're right. But I would have wanted to be there. We can wait a while longer to see if his condition approves. I'm just going to go outside to smoke a cigarette." Dante gets up and heads to the elevator. Wormmon opens up the bag of apples and takes a large bite out of one. "Mmm, juicy." Dante exits the elevator and walks through the lobby. Shirou is waiting there, and sees Dante walking out. (Thinking) "Now's my chance." Shirou gets up and walks over to Dante.

"Hey, buddy! I didn't expect to see you here today." "Shirou?! What are you doing here?" "I'm visiting my grandmother. She just had an operation." "Oh, that's terrible! You know, I've never heard you talk about your family before." Shirou takes off his glasses and wipes the lenses off with the bottom of his shirt. "Yes, well with good reason." (Thinking) "Uh oh, did I put my foot in my mouth again? I better not bring it up again." Dante clears his throat. "I am here visiting a friend. Just stepping outside for a smoke." "Yes, I understand they frown on that sort of thing here." Dante and Shirou exit the hospital and go around at back.

Dante takes out two cigarettes, and the frienemies light up. (Thinking) "Can I trust Shirou? No, of course I can't. But he really did seem concerned about his grandmother. Shirou has trouble reading other people's emotions. There's no way he could fake expressing grief." Dante takes a drag off his cigarette. "So, your grandmother, right? You're not up to anything naughty?" Shirou frowns. "No, I'm not much in the mood for fun and games. She's going to be alright, I'm just worried about her." "Sorry to hear that." "Hey, do you wanna get something to eat? I saw a great sushi place on the way here."

"We're in Japan, Shirou. There's great sushi everywhere." "Right, I know. I just wanted to do something to take my mind off of things." "Hmm, ya I suppose we could grab a bite to eat. I'd have to check with the others." "Oh, you're with friends? Where's Wommon?" Shirou doesn't know about Wormmon's holo suit, so Dante decides to play a trick on him, as payback for all the mind games so far. "Wormmon's, at home right now. Probably playing video games, messing up my rosters." "Ahh, well ya, you should ask if the others want to grab a bite to eat." "Alright. I'll ask if they want to go." The two of them put out their cigarette butts and go back inside. Dante heads back to Shi's room, while Shirou goes off to visit his grandmother, but in actuality is waiting for Dante to lure the others out of the room.

Dante nods his head. "Yep. The only down side is that smoking one cigarette makes me wanna smoke more. Oh, I ran into a friend. He asked if you wanted to go get something to eat at this sushi place." Wormmon looks up, the apple hanging out of her mouth. *Muffled* "Food?!" "It's up to you guys. I figured you would want something to eat by now. We can come right back." Dante wasn't sure when Shi would wake up, or if he would still be out of it the next couple of days. But he still wanted to come back and spend the rest of the day here, in case they got any good news.

Shirou waits outside, crouching behind a fake plant. (Thinking) "Come on, take the bait. Delicious sushi..." He knows it would only take a minute to download whatever he can off of Shi's digivice. What sort of files and upgrades did DATS install? Surely, there would be something that he could use to his advantage. Restricted technology that only members had access to. But he had to get everyone to leave the room first. Who were these people? And what is Dante doing walking around with some green haired girl? Did Dante have a girlfriend he didn't tell Shirou about?

Yuudai, Dante, and Wormmon leave the room and head down to the lobby. Shirou sees them walking out, and not knowing how many there were inside, decides to make his move. He nonchalantly walks over to Shi's room and steps inside. He's shocked to see someone still there. (Thinking) "Oh, damn!" Had Shirou's plan failed already? "Oh, hey there. I was just looking for a friend." How was Shirou going to download the data off the digivices if someone was still here? Could he talk his way out of this one?

The rest of the group gets in the elevator and rides down. "We just got to wait for my friend to get back. He should be in the lobby by now." "Ooh, which friend is it? Is it Rob?! Oh, I haven't seen Cornette in a while. What's Raziya up to? Am I close, Dante?" "Well, here's the thing. The person I ran into earlier is Shirou." Wormmon is livid. "What?! We're going out for sushi with that narcissistic sociopath?!" Wormmon had ample reason to be irate. "Don't worry, he's not up to any funny business. He was just visiting his grandmother." "Right... Well if he pisses me off, the first thing I'm doing is blasting him in the face with my energy cannon!" "Relax, buddy. He doesn't know about the holosuits. I figured we could have some fun playing a trick on him." Dante could tell Yuudai didn't know who they were talking about. "Oh, you'll see what we mean when we meet up with Shirou."