Flip City

Flip City

By Cybra and spam

Cybra's A/N: Hey, y'all! Having fun? Have we frightened anyone yet? ^^ No? Well, this one should creep you out a little! Heh heh heh… Also, send lots of reviews, Lucas fans! October 31st was Lucas' birthday! Be nice and humor the new 18 year-old by sending belated birthday wishes and nice reviews. Also, here's a link to spam's manga Flesh and Blood! If you like Lucas, you'll like her manga since he's the star!!

spam's A/N: Yo, peoplies! Enjoying the ride so far? Well, if you're here reading this you must like parts of it! XD Don't forget to review, Cybra may not need the advice but as far as writing goes I suck! Have fun, peace!

Disclaimer: Digimon is not ours, nothing, not the story idea or the characters or all the money that these people are making off us. HOWEVER! spam does have her claim to fame, Lucas! Don't steal, or rabid squirrels will fester under your bed. (Oh yeah, I bet you can tell who wrote this disclaimer.)

Case #4: Paris, the City of Fear

The musty, dank smell of the catacombs rushed out to greet the three teenagers as their guide opened the door. Lucas wrinkled his nose but said nothing. Ken, on the other hand, voiced his opinion on the matter.

"How long are we going to be down there? That is one nasty smell!"

"You're talking again, that's a bad habit," retorted the Izumi teen.

The redhead was not too particularly happy about being dragged halfway around the world to go see more dead people. After the Mugen experience Izzy had dropped some of his skepticism, but still had a healthy amount of it remaining, on several of their "adventures" after Mugen so he kept the other two teens in line. In the short span of three weeks between Mugen and Paris – where they were at the moment – the trio had seen and investigated several unexplainable events.

Ken looked at the checklist. "Batteries?"

"Check."

"Helmets?"

"Check."

"Camera?"

"Check."

"Spines?"

"Lucas!" Ken looked slightly annoyed at the American's interruption to his checklist while Izzy merely shook his head.

"Looks like we're all set. Thanks," the redhead said cordially to the guide.

With that, the guide vanished back upstairs leaving the teens alone at the entrance. Glancing at the sign above the doorway Ken morbidly noted the translation: "STOP – This is the Empire of Death."

"La time is la wasting!"

"That's not French, Lucas." grumbled Izzy.

"Heh. Of course it's le French. Are you stupid or something?" Imitating his favorite movie, Lucas continued on, "Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries! Okay!?"

"This…is going to be the longest night of my life…"

~@~

"I'd never thought I'd be in a cave crawling through dead people."

"We're not in a cave, Lucas," Ken pointed out.

While the American brushed off the comment, the blue-haired teen turned and looked back at Izzy. His older friend flashed him a grim smirk, reassuring Ken that Izzy wasn't going to let them have an adventure without him. Besides, Izzy had always said that the other teens needed someone on the team who "still had their head attached". Several minutes later, they stepped out into an open cavern. It was one of the mass grave sites, one that was not shown to the public.

"Finally! My back is killing me!" the soccer player complained.

Izzy rubbed his equally sore back as Lucas fussed with a map.

"Bloody map…unfold! Ah…there we go…" muttered the American. "Ah…HERE!"

The room echoed with Lucas's sudden outburst, causing his two younger friends to jerk around.

"Must you always do that?" Izzy asked, exasperated.

"What?"

"Oh, nevermind. Here what?"

"Oh, yeah." Grinning ear to ear, he continued, "This is where everybody says the dude was heading, at least that's what he told his buddies."

"Dude…heh heh." Ken snickered at Lucas's abuse of the language.

Izzy, however, wanted to get straight to the point, and get out of there. "What 'dude'?"

"I dunno…but maybe we'll find something!"

"Lucas…we're going through this little trip without a guide and totally ignorant as to why exactly we're here?!"

"That's about the size of it."

The redhead flexed his fingers threateningly, looking pointedly at the American's throat. "I'm going…to kill you…"

As the eldest of the three took a step back and away from the sophomore, the soccer player cut in, "You coulda just asked me, ya know."

The two older teens turned and stared.

Taking this as a cue to go on, the Ichijouji teen shrugged and stated, "Who do you think looked this one up? It wasn't you, Lucas, and it definitely wasn't you, Izzy."

The senior and the sophomore looked at each other. Neither was amused.

"So, who's the dude that that guide was telling us about?!" Lucas demanded.

As Ken checked the map Lucas held, he explained, "Some tourist came down here and got lost in the catacombs. Nobody ever found him. The only proof he ever existed is the video tape from the camera he dropped when he suddenly started running."

"Fantastic. Now, we might have the pleasure of joining him!" Izzy snapped.

The blue-haired teen ignored this as he slowly grinned, holding one of the flashlights beneath his chin to eerily light up his face. "Some people say that here in the catacombs is the gate to Hell. Maybe that guy found it."

Izzy snatched the flashlight from Ken's hand and shown it on the map. "Use it or you're gonna lose it."

"That's my flashlight!" was the childish protest.

Within five minutes, the trio began to walk further into the catacombs. The reason they had no guide was now very clear to Lucas and Izzy. No guide would accept the job with the amount of money they had been willing to pay. Now, they had to go solo through the catacombs.

The catacombs of Paris are actually quite famous. They go down several hundred feet below street level. Another thing that the catacombs are famous for is that the skeletons of millions of people had been dumped into them. Exposed skeletons filled quite a few of the tunnels, especially in the lower levels.

The three intrepid (or stupid, however you want to look at it) explorers had only the clues off of the missing person's tape to guide them in hopes of finding the missing man. A bizarre drawing on the wall that sort of represented a human and bones pointing in the shapes of arrows were primarily what they were looking for. Armed only with flashlights, enough batteries to last them for several hours, and a map, the trio continued onward and downward, going deeper and deeper into the catacombs of Paris.

~@~

Walking in silence for a very long time, the trio picked their way slowly through the winding dank tunnels of the catacomb. Izzy was at the head (since he had determined that Lucas could not read the map) with the soccer player walking behind him. Lucas hung behind and remained surprisingly quiet. This, of course, worried Ken because the problem was always getting Lucas to shut up.

The youngest teen caught up with redheaded leader. "I'm worried."

"Why? We have enough batteries and we have a map and – "

"No! Not about that…it's just. Lucas has been awfully quiet, you know?"

"Yeah."

"And I – Hey!" Ken stopped short and pointed to the ground.

Izzy followed his friend's finger to some bones on the ground. Someone had placed them in the shape of an arrow. The younger teens looked at each other in surprise.

"Wassup?" called the eldest teenager. He sauntered up to the pair. "Oh! How quaint! My Grandma had one of those in her front yard to scare away solicitors."

Izzy raised an eyebrow, "Really!?"

"Yes. And she had a black talking cat, rode around on a broomstick, and ate small children."

"Har har, Lucas."

"Ok…I'm serious about the eating kids part."

Izzy shook his head in dismay.

Ken was perking back up and shouted, "Let's go this way then!"

In silence, the three explorers followed Ken down another corridor. The eldest of the three following the other two more slowly as time went on, becoming more and more reluctant to continue.

~@~

"Check it out!"

Ken pointed a flashlight at the wall and the drawing while Izzy went up for a closer look. The crudely drawn figure looked hastily painted, with what Izzy could not say. The paint – if that was what it was – was a full moon white color and looked as if it had been there for ages. Lucas stepped up next to Izzy, but was looking in another direction; down. A black, gaping hole was about twenty feet to the left of the drawing.

"Is that on the map, Ken?" called Lucas.

"Is what on the map?" was the annoyed response.

"That hole."

"Uh…I don't know! Come here and hold the flashlight! I only have two hands you know!"

A moment later, Ken gave Lucas an answer, "Um…As far as I can tell, it's part of the catacombs that is supposed to be sealed up."

"Should we investigate?" asked Izzy, returning from his examination.

"Might as well."

The two younger teens started for the hole.

"I'm not going."

Startled the pair turned back toward Lucas.

Ken raised his eyebrows in alarm. "You're not going? You're the one who's usually first!"

"I'm not going down….there." Lucas sat down next to his backpack. "Come back in thirty minutes, if you're going down there, ok?"

The pair was stunned for a moment. Lucas missing out on a paranormal investigation? The universe had truly come to an end.

"Thirty minutes, gotcha."

With that the two younger teens disappeared into the dark abyss.

~@~

"I don't like this…" the blue-haired teenager muttered.

The hairs on the back of the soccer player's neck had bristled as the seconds had slowly ticked by. It almost felt as though someone were watching or following. However, each time he turned to look, nobody was in sight.

Finally, he shouted behind them, his voice echoing in the dark hallway, "Lucas, this isn't funny!"

Silence answered the younger of the two computer geniuses.

Izzy gave Ken a worried look. "Don't tell me that you're about to crack."

The younger teen gave his older friend an incredulous look. Could it be that Izzy didn't feel that weird sensation that comes when you think you're being followed?

The redhead tried to keep himself calm. In reality, he had that bizarre feeling that they were being followed as well. He tried not to shiver as a sudden cold chill flew up his spine, but there was no breeze in the catacombs to cause such a chill. It was unearthly, unnatural…

Clomp, clomp, clomp, clomp! Heavy, running footsteps echoed throughout the hallway. The steps grew louder and louder. The source was coming closer…

The two teenagers whirled as the steps grew so loud that it seemed as if the source were right behind them…

Nothing.

The footsteps reached their highest volume as they passed Izzy and Ken. Then, the running footsteps began to fade away into the darkness.

The two members of the Digidestined turned to face each other, white-faced.

The one who held the Crest of Kindness held up a finger as he stated, "I think this is the part where we go running back to our starting point screaming in terror."

"Yup!" was the slightly high-pitched reply.

Two screams of terror echoed down the hallway as the two teenagers fled back to the third member of their group.

~@~

Gasping as they came out of the hole, Izzy and Ken looked around the chamber where they had left Lucas earlier. He wasn't there.

"Lucas!?" the redhead shouted in fear.

Izzy, first out of the hole, shone his flashlight about the room. All he saw was the older teenager's old, beat-up backpack. He dashed to the backpack and hunted around in it. All of Lucas' gear was still in its place…including Lucas' flashlight.

'This is not good,' he thought. Lucas didn't have a flashlight or a map. Where could he be? And more importantly, why did he leave?

Ken clamored up next. "Where's Lucas?"

"I dunno!"

Ken stooped down to Lucas's abused backpack; his jacket was gone but everything else was still there. "He's…gone? Just like the tourist?" The blue-haired teen was shocked.

"We have to find him!"

Running footsteps echoed from somewhere farther down the corridor. Immediately, the two teens assumed it was their missing friend.

"Lucas, wait!" Izzy hollered, sprinting down the hallway while awkwardly carrying the older teen's backpack in one hand and his flashlight in the other.

Ken had earned his nickname "Rocket", and he proved it by dashing ahead of Izzy, leading the way. Once in a while, he would stumble over a bone or two, but he continued his mad dash to catch the footsteps. He trusted his older friend to be able to follow him.

Two hearts pounded in two different chests. Adrenaline coursed through the veins of the two teenagers as they continued their run. Sweat dripped from their foreheads despite the unnatural chill in the air.

They knew this feeling. It was the feeling that you were not alone, and that to whatever was with you, you were simply prey. The adventures they had had in the Digital World had taught them the feeling of being hunted. Now, the feeling had returned, and they ran not only for their own lives but also for the life of their missing friend.

~@~

Pursuing the distant footsteps, Ken and Izzy slowed their pace. They had been running for almost forty-five minutes straight, and Lucas just kept going. The redhead had to stop, his legs were screaming for a break.

"K-Ken…hff…Wait a…minute."

The soccer player stopped and turned back around. His older friend was bent over, hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath. Ken then noticed that Izzy's labored breathing was the only sound in the dark chamber; Lucas, it seemed, had stopped as well.

"Izzy, come on! Lucas stopped, too! Maybe we can catch up with him and get the heck out of here!"

The redhead took in another gasp of air and nodded. The pair was off running again and the footsteps resumed once more. The computer geniuses continued on like this for an hour and a half before Izzy officially called it quits; he flopped down on the ground.

The younger teen stopped again. "Izzy?"

"Ken…I can't run like this…anymore!" the redhead had pushed himself past his limits. He silently swore, 'Lucas, if we ever find you, I'm going to kill you!'

Ken shuffled around in his backpack, looking for more batteries. "Izzy…we have a problem."

"Now what?"

"This is the last pair of batteries."

"Man, I wish Lucas was here so he could swear for us."

The soccer player held out a hand for his older friend. Pulling Izzy to his feet, Ken shined his flashlight down yet another dark corridor.

"Just a little farther, Izzy, you can do it. We don't have to run."

"I guess so."

They headed down the corridor where they heard Lucas last. Straining his ears, Izzy looked grim. He couldn't hear Lucas running anymore. Both teens had another chill run down their spines. They were still being watched by someone; someone who didn't want them here…

The two Digidestined walked into a small chamber where an altar had been set up to consecrate the dead and their mass burial ground. Twin beams of light shone from the flashlights as they looked around.

"Woah. They sure buried a lot of people down here!" Izzy was reading the plaque on the altar. "Seven million! Geez!"

"Lucas!" Ken shouted in surprise.

Contained within the circle of light from Ken's flashlight was their missing friend. Lucas was sprawled on the floor, unconscious. The concerned blue haired teen rushed over and grabbed the American's hand. Izzy had also rushed over just as Ken jerked his hand away from the unconscious teen.

"What's wrong Ken?"

"He's…he's so cold!"

The redhead furrowed his eyebrows together in deep concern. Quickly checking for a pulse, Izzy, with a sigh of relief, found one. Now all they had to do was to wake Lucas up and get out of there.

"Let's try and wake him up."

The Digidestined of Kindness nodded and gently shook the eldest teen's shoulder.

The American moaned slightly and began to stir. "Oh man..."

"Lucas!" The redhead tried to contain his concern for his older friend but failed. "Are you alright!?"

"Yeah, if you'd get that damn flashlight out of my face!"

Ken couldn't help but chuckle. Lucas, no matter what the situation, always kept his sarcasm. As the older teen got to his feet, Ken noticed that he was very pale and had a few scratches on his face, but otherwise was fine.

"Where the hell am I!?"

Izzy raised an eyebrow. "Well, as close to Hell as you can get."

"A comforting thought, Izzy," muttered Ken.

"How'd you find me all the out here?"

"We heard you running, Lucas." was the matter-of-fact reply from the Digidestined of Knowledge.

A bewildered look passed over the American's face. "I took off about ten minutes after you guys left."

A pause.

"We didn't get back up to where we left you until about forty minutes after we left," the soccer player informed Lucas.

Izzy pondered the new information. "So…if that wasn't you who was running…then who was it?"

The foreign exchange student looked grim, "It was the tourist."

Silence filled the small chamber once again as the three teenagers mulled over that last thought. Izzy was the first to speak again.

"Well, we can think about this later. The flashlights only have 2 to 4 hours of power left and we still have to find a way out of here."

Lucas grabbed his backpack from Izzy and slung it over his shoulder, while Ken handed him the other flashlight. They set out again.

~@~

"This is so not happening…" Ken moaned.

Lucas and Izzy exchanged a worried look. They were presently standing under a manhole cover that led from the street into the catacombs. Ken was on the ladder in order to open up the manhole.

Ever the comedian, Lucas asked, "What's your malfunction?"

"It's sealed up."

That simple sentence caused Lucas to become even paler than he already was. Izzy was suddenly reminded of the Bakemon that the vampire Digimon Myotismon had employed to do his bidding in the real world. The American's face was a perfect match for the color of the Bakemon's bodies.

"Lucas, I think you should sit down…" the redhead stated, easing his friend to the floor.

The blue-haired teen on the ladder glared up at the sealed manhole. In frustration, he clenched his hand into a fist and gave the manhole cover a punch before he could realize exactly what he was doing. The pain centers of his brain quickly informed him of how much pain he'd just caused himself, his reaction being a string of highly imaginative curses that left all three teenagers present to wonder if half of those things were even possible.

"You can't be serious," Izzy stated, eyes wide.

Lucas' jaw dropped. "That's just…wrong…Cats…and dogs…doing that?!"

"I wasn't exactly referring to that sentence, but I guess it would work for that, too," the redhead said, still staring at his younger friend.

The Ichijouji teen shook his hand in an attempt to ease the pain. "I haven't swore like that since…you know, Izzy."

The Digidestined of Knowledge did indeed know. Ken Ichijouji hadn't always been a nice guy. Before becoming a Digidestined, he had been the evil Digimon Emperor. He'd enslaved and killed Digimon – thinking that they weren't really alive – before the death of Wormmon had brought him back to his senses. Fortunately for Ken, Wormmon had been reborn in Primary Village soon afterward.

"I think I'll ask about this later," the only non-Digidestined of the group stated.

The redhead sighed and said, "We're wasting time, and wasting time means we're wasting battery power. And if we waste all of our battery power down here…"

"…We can kiss our chances of getting out of here 'goodbye'," Ken finished, beginning to climb down from the ladder.

"I just love it when you two get technical," the American grumbled as he began to rise to his feet once more. "How do you techno-geeks know so much about survival?"

"Try surviving several months in a Digital World," the two Digidestined replied as one, causing their friend to blink.

"Well, let's shove off…"

~@~

After three more hours in the closest thing to Hell a human can get to on Earth, the trio of teens – dirty, tired, and more than a little spooked – had finally managed to find a way out. They had been quiet the entire time they spent searching for a computer. After Ken opened the Digiport with his D3, they had entered the Digiworld in order to take a quick jump back to Japan. (Not only was traveling this way easier, but it was cheaper, too. After a few tries, they had discovered that if Lucas held on to one or both of the Digidestined teens, he could pass through the Digiport as well. After all, whatever they had carried from the real world into the Digiworld in the past had made it.)

Despite the fact that the trio was now four thousand miles from Paris they were still freaked out by the whole experience. Once inside the safety of Izzy's apartment, the American flung his backpack and flashlight on the couch. He grabbed the keys to the Camry off of the kitchen counter.

"Come on, man, I'll drive you home."

"No, no! I can take the train!" the Digidestined of Kindness waved off his friend's offer. To Ken, Lucas still looked very pale and not in any condition to drive.

"The train? At two AM in the friggin' morning!? Do you know what kind of psychos ride the train during the day? Just think of all the weirdos at night!!"

The taller teen yanked the soccer player out the door and turned back to Izzy, "I'll be back. Don't tell mum that I took the Camry."

"Lucas, chill. We have an alternative method." The redhead walked into his bedroom and looked to his bed. Just like normal, his partner was lying asleep at the foot of the bed like some bizarre sort of dog. "Tento?"

The beetle Digimon looked up at his exhausted partner. "Yes, Izzy?"

"I know it's late, but Ken needs a ride home. Lucas shouldn't be driving…"

"I heard that!" the American hissed.

"…Because he's too tired, but he's right about the crazies who ride the train at night. Still, Ken needs to be heading home. I'm not sure if he's awake enough anymore in order to program the D3 to take him home after he goes back through the Digiport."

"I understand, Izzy. I'll gladly do it!"

The redhead gave his inhuman friend a smile. He could always count on Tentomon to do something he asked.

Together, the human and Digimon walked back out into the living room.

Ken only glanced at the Digimon before saying, "The roof it is."

~@~

"Any particular reason why we're on the roof?" Lucas asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes." Izzy held his Digivice in his right hand. "This little baby's gonna get Ken home with Tentomon's help."

"What's the bug gonna do? Fly Ken home?"

"Exactly."

The American gave his Japanese friend an odd look. "You're more tired than I thought. Physics just won't allow the bug to do that. Even I know that!"

"Watch." He paused then added, "Oh, yeah. And stand back."

Lucas had obviously seen the Digivice activating for a purpose but had not seen another use for the device. Quizzically raising an eyebrow, he complied with his younger friend's order.

The Digivice began to beep and glow…

"Tentomon digivolve to…Kabuterimon!"

"Ye-aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!!!"

Where Tentomon had once stood, a large purple insect with a horn stood. The large insect – none other than Kabuterimon – looked down at the panicking American who was now hiding behind the two Japanese teens.

"Lucas, chill," Izzy ordered.

"Chill?" Lucas' teeth were chattering. "Man, I'm an ice cube!"

Ken smiled and turned to the American. "Thanks anyway, Lucas."

"No problems, man. Don't worry about." Lucas looked up at Kabuterimon again. "Where's my Raid…?"

"Raid?"

"Nevermind..."

As Izzy walked over to Kabuterimon to make sure the insect knew where he was going, there was an awkward pause between the other two teens.

"Just freaking ask me the freaking question already!" the American suddenly demanded, breaking the silence.

"Uh…well. Why'd you run off when you said you'd stay and wait for us?" the blue-haired Digidestined of Kindness asked while rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.

"Well that's an easy one! Because something came at me and whatever it was…I dunno. It scared the hell outta me! So I just ran and ran until I collapsed. I figured you guys would never find me."

"Looks to me as if the tourist was helping you, Lucas. Maybe he suffered the same fate?"

"Yeah…maybe."

Another awkward pause as Ken began to walk towards Kabuterimon. Lucas warily followed.

"Lucas…" Ken began.

"Yeah?"

"Are you really all right?"

"Friggin' A, man! Ask me that again and I'll pop that silly hairstyle right off of your head!"

"Ok! Ok! Geez! Sorry I asked!" Ken sighed, "I just wanted to make sure. Izzy was really worried when we found you, not that he'll admit it…"

"Yeah, yeah. I know. It's just that…I…I dunno. Nevermind. Just don't worry about me. I'll just slap a band-aid on at home and go to sleep…If I can go to sleep. Oh the joys of being an insomniac!"

"Lucas, you're rambling again."

"Ken, you're about two seconds from being publicly flogged, man."

"And flogging hurts, right?"

"Oh yeah. A lot."

The former Digimon Emperor grabbed hold of Kabuterimon and pulled himself up onto the insect's back. Within moments, Kabuterimon was in the air and flying towards Tamachi. Izzy sat next to Ken in silence. Since he was Kabuterimon's partner, Izzy had to come along to make sure that the Digimon of Knowledge wouldn't de-digivolve in mid-flight.

About twenty minutes later the blue-haired teen watched his older friend leave. Ken couldn't help but wonder about the strange and freaky events that occurred in Paris. He then wondered what they had really gotten themselves into.

The next day marked the beginning of Geist Investigators Inc. and even more strange and unexplainable events.