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Killin' Time

Trey got off the elevator and walked back into the suite with a yawn. Despite not doing anything too strenuous all day, he was feeling kind of drowsy. He probably had the jetlag to thank for that. He wanted nothing more than to change his clothes and hop onto the couch to take a nap.

Discarding his wet T-shirt & swimsuit and throwing them in the dryer, he then quickly hopped into the shower to rinse off. Once he was done, he came back out wearing a white tank top and black shorts. Trey then grabbed a bottle of water from the refrigerator, as well as a pear from one of the many fruit baskets and made his way to the living area.

"Let's see what's on Netflix..."

After scrolling through the movie listings, he settled on 'The Shining,' one of his favorite horror movies. He slumped back onto the couch and took a bite of his pear as the movie started.

"...mmrph..." Trey groaned as he sat back up. He looked at the TV screen to see it back on the Netflix homepage. He must have fallen asleep at some point during the movie. A quick look at his phone confirmed his suspicions, with it now reading 6:13pm.

He had been asleep for a full three hours; the Torrance family had been watching him instead of the other way around. Trey worked his way off of the couch and gave a quick stretch to try and wake himself up. He picked up the browning, half-eaten pear off of the table and walked into the kitchen to throw it away.

"...To show such disregard and disrespect to one of their own-!" Said an uneven, low voice.

Trey turned around, surprised, to see Gai and Hanbei walking through the door.

"I am very well aware, but please calm yourself, Hanbei." Gai said, with mild concern in his voice.

Hanbei was about to say more, but then saw the young Gaomon at the corner of his eye.

"...Good evening, Trey." And that was all the wartortle said before swiftly making his way to his room and closing the door behind him.

Gai looked over to his nephew. He started to open his mouth to say something, but was quickly silenced when Trey raised a hand.

"...I'll take you both being back early as explanation enough. If I need to know, I'm sure he'll tell me."

"...Thanks for understanding, boy." Gai replied.

The elder Gaioumon proceeded to then walk into the bar area, and pull a small glass and one of the numerous bottles from the shelf.

"And how was your day?" He queried.

"Nothing much happened. I went down to the pool and ended up chatting with this one girl, who is visiting Japan with her own family for a while." Trey shrugged.

"A girl?" Gai asked with a smile.

"You know it wouldn't be like that with me!" Trey said with a matching smile. "Oh, and I almost forgot! I ran into Bowser Koopa on the elevator-"

"...He's here?! RIGHT NOW?! Then maybe we could-!" Gai interupted

"Well, not anymore." Trey finished. "I overheard him say something about Paris. I didn't even know it was him until I heard the desk clerk say his name."

"Damn. It would have been nice to see him and catch up for a bit, if nothing else...ah, well. Have you eaten yet?" Gai asked, changing the subject.

"Nah, I was actually planning on ordering something just before you walked in."

"...Let's go out, instead. You've been cooped up here all day and I'm sure you'd like to go and see the city a bit."

"Alright, but what about...?"

"He'll be okay. He just really needs some time alone, right now." Gai interrupted.

The young Gaomon just shook his head as his uncle finished his drink. The duo then left to go explore the city a bit and get some dinner.

Gai took Trey on a walk around the city, and they stopped at a Cantonese-style restaurant a couple of blocks away for dinner. Being able to get his favorite dish of Chicken Stir-fry made him a very happy pup.

After dinner, they continued to walk around the city. They even took a ferry ride around the bay, all the while Gai was pointing out different buildings and structures, explaining what they were. Trey was more impressed, however, by the sunset and all of the city lights turning on as it grew dark out.

It was around 9:30 when they finally got back to the Hotel. They walked into the suite to see Hanbei tinkering with his Supernova.

"Are you feeling better, Hanbei?" Gai asked.

"...I will be fine." Hanbei replied. He was noticeably calmer compared to earlier. But the way the wartortle said it made the rather-analytical Gaomon doubtful that he really was. While it was true that he hadn't witnessed many different emotions from the Wartortle, the way Hanbei was currently acting just didn't sit right with him. And he bet that Gai felt the same.

"Well, I'm glad to hear that, at least. I stopped by and got one of your favorites, if you haven't eaten all ready." He said, placing a Styrofoam box in the refrigerator.

"Many thanks." Hanbei replied, not even looking up from his work. "Trey, I was actually about to test some of the new parts I have acquired and installed. You are free to observe, if you like."

"Sure." He replied still with a skeptical look on his face.

"Have fun you two, I'm going to get a bath in." Gai said walking into his bedroom.

Trey walked over to the Wartortle, who was screwing the casing back on one of the large arcade sticks.

"...That should improve the quality of gameplay. I still need to get some more parts for my custom-made stick, but this shall do for now. Go take a look at the games I have brought with me and select one you would like to play." Hanbei said getting up off of the ground.

"He's not even looking at me when he talks. Whatever happened today really must have affected him, as he usually is completely unreadable..." Trey thought as he shifted through the game cartridges, finally settling on Contra. "Here you go."

Hanbei wordlessly set the game up, and the two began playing. It was fairly quiet at first while Trey figured out the controls and kept dying in the attempt. After a while, much to Trey's pleasure, Hanbei began to open back up a bit. Offering compliments and tips every now and again.

The two continued playing for another hour until Trey's phone began to ring.

"...Be right back." He said, walking into his bedroom to take the call. "Hello?"

"Greetings, Gaowow!"

"Jojo! It's so good to hear your voice again!" Trey said with his tail starting to wag.

"And you, as well! I was calling to see how things are going so far with your first full day out East!" Jojo replied with a snicker.

"It's been interesting to say the least. It's only day one, so there isn't much to report yet. How are things going with you?"

"Well that's the other reason I wanted to talk to you. See...I've met someone rather interesting, and... we've decided to pursue a relationship." He said, with a bit of guilt in his voice with the last part.

"For such a good thing, you don't sound too happy about it, though..." Trey replied confused.

"It's just that...he reminds me quite a bit of you. And I can't help but feel a tad bit guilty about it."

"Oh, Jojo." He grinned to himself. "Jojo, it is fine! I'm just happy to hear that you've met someone!"

"Thank you Gaowow. And well, he is a very nice chap." Jojo replied with a bit more enthusiasm this time.

"Soooo, tell me more about him!"

"Well, I'm afraid I can only do but so much..."

"Why's that?" He said once again confused.

"First off, I'll spare you the details, but it comes down to the point that he is still in the closet.'On the downlow', as I think he calls it. While I'm trying to work him through such a bad habit, I still felt like I should tell you."

"Well, thank you for telling me Jojo! I'm just glad to hear that you've found some who can make you happy! And you got nothing to worry about from me."

"Thank you again. It's nice to know I have people in my life I can trust. I'm afraid I can't chat longer, I must get going!"

"Alright busy-cat! It was nice to hear from you, and I'll talk with you again soon!"

He put his cell phone back in his pocket, and stood there for another moment. "So Jojo has already met someone. I've gotta step my game up. Hopefully SOMETHING interesting will happen in my life soon."

"Oh, Trey?" Hanbei said walking into his bedroom.

"Yes?"

"Forgive me for interrupting, but I wanted to tell you that I am just going to turn in for the night. I think I am just far more tired than I originally anticipated." The wartortle said with a look of exhaustion on his face. "I have already turned off the unit, as well, as you will not have to worry about it."

"Alright, good night then. Hope you feel better, Hanbei."

After Hanbei left the room, Trey crawled into his bed and stared at the ceiling for a while. "My life is going to change from here on out, and I will make sure it is for the better..." he thought to himself before drifting off to sleep.

The next several months were a major turning point in Trey's life. After the group's business was done with in Tokyo, they began their travels around the country. This allowed the young Gaomon the opportunity to sample various aspects of the people and culture of Japan.

His knowledge of Japanese culture along with his knowledge of the language itself gradually increased, with help from Gai and Hanbei. Along with that, he was also learning to further open up to others, perhaps owing that to the conversation with that cheetah girl, Lizzy.

Hanbei and Gai were quite amazed with the youth's transformation. And not just his mental transformation either; over the course of their journey, Trey had developed himself into a talented martial artist in his own right. Despite his young age, he was now able to keep up with his older counter parts much easier than before, and was well on his way to learning far more advanced techniques.

After about eight months, Trey was now 16. And he was now confident and competent enough in his linguistic and self-defense skills, that if he wanted to go off sightseeing on his own, Gai would let him...within reason of course. To Gai's surprise however, Trey had less interest in spending time by himself, preferred to tag along with his uncle or Hanbei whenever they went out.

Their travels eventually took them out of Japan, temporarily, and to Hong-Kong. This enabled Gai and Hanbei to visit their 'other family' as they called them.

"Are you sure I can't come with you?" Trey asked, as he scratched his ear. His newly acquired piercing was a bit itchy.

"Not yet, Trey. It'll be a pleasure to introduce you someday, but this is one of those 'not until you're older' type of things!" Gai replied.

"Fiiine," he moaned sarcastically. "I'll find something to do around here. I'm expecting a call from Jojo anyway; he wanted me to listen to a few songs he's been working on a couple of days ago, and wants to know what I thought of them."

"Songs?" Gai asked somewhat confused.

"Didn't I tell you? Apparently he's becoming quite the popular DJ over at his school. I think the other students have taken to calling DJ Magickat or something. Not to mention that Hanbei SOMEHOW got him living in that nice apartment by himself now!"

"As I expected. He is flourishing just fine in his new environment..." Hanbei said walking into the room.

"Are you ready to go?" Gai asked his adoptive son.

"Yes."

"Alright, Trey, we shouldn't be back too late. If you decide to go somewhere, please let me know first."

"And if you should get bored?" Hanbei added. "I noticed an arcade down the street when we arrived."

"Ok, thanks Hanbei! I'll probably head over there after Jojo calls." BUZZ "Speak of the devil..." Trey said as his phone went off. "See you guys later."

The young Gaomon walked into his bedroom to answer his phone.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Gaowow~! How are you?"

"Fine, Jojo, how are things on your end?"

"Things are quite well over here, thank you for asking. Did you get a chance to listen to the songs I sent you?" Jojo queried.

"Yes I did, and they're really good, too! I'm sure your boy-toy will really like them." Trey snickered.

"So you were able to catch onto that eh?" Jojo chuckled.

"Heh, it doesn't take an expert to know that you wrote those songs for someone you care about." Trey laughed.

"You are correct! I did write them for him. We haven't been able to see much of each other recently, thanks to school, prepping for college and other things. I wanted to surprise him with a CD I made, I'm planning on giving it to him tomorrow after school."

"Well trust me when I say, he'll love it!" Trey reassured. "Have you had any luck trying to get him out of the closet, can I finally learn more about him?"

"Unfortunately, no. You should have seen how he reacted when I told him that I already told my Mum about "us", though. That was priceless~! But anyway, I'm hoping to talk with him about that tomorrow. I have a whole night planned!"

"He must really be special, for you to go to so much trouble. I hope the best for you two."

"Thank you, Gaowow. He does mean the world to me."

The two continued to talk for about another half an hour about other subjects. Eventually Jojo had to go so he could finish his homework for the night and burn off the CD. After their call ended, Trey lounged around the hotel suite for a while before deciding to head down to the arcade that Hanbei had mentioned.

He grabbed his wallet and checked how much cash he had on him. "Hmmm, about 390 HKD." He put his wallet into his pocket, grabbed his room key and made his way out of the suite.

He exited the hotel and gave his arms a stretch as he walked out into the midday sun. He made his way down the busy street for about a block before spotting the arcade. He was actually surprised at how he could have missed it on the way here, the building was huge.

The moment he opened the front door he was ambushed by the sounds of arcade games and children yelling and laughing. He wandered around aimlessly for a bit, looking at what different games the arcade had.

"Hey you!" a voice called over. Trey turned around to see a Scrafty in a yellow hoodie and obnoxious red Mohawk walking up to him. "I can tell you're new around here. Names Shuyin, let me personally welcome you to MY arcade, and collect the admission fee." He grinned down.

"Is this guy serious...?" He turned to walk away, but was stopped when the Scrafty grabbed his shoulder and spun him back around. This time with a more annoyed look on his face.

"Look here you little punk, no one walks away from me when I'm talkin' to 'em. Now hand over your cash and let's be done with this!" By this point, several other people had stopped playing their games and were gathering to see what was going on.

"Leave me alone." Trey said getting annoyed. "I'm not giving you anything, so just go away."

"Oh yeah we'll see about that!" Shuyin said making a fist. Trey's hand slowly went for his pocket.

"That's enough! Shuyin how many times do I deal with you and your shit?!" said a loud voice.

Both of them looked over to see an almost inhumanly tall, white and blue dragon walking their way.

"I'm done with you and your crap Shuyin, if I see you harassing my customers one more time, I'll call the police!" He said sternly.

"Tch, whatever." Shuyin scoffed before walking away. The crowd of kids dispersing and going back to their games.

The taller dragon let out a big sigh before turning to Trey.

"I'm terribly sorry about that, he didn't hurt you did he?" He asked with a look of concern.

"I'm fine." Trey replied, taking his hand out of his pocket.

"Good, my name is Kenji Elis. I run the arcade here. If you ever need anything, please just ask." He said with a smile.

"Thank you Mr. Elis." Trey replied with a quarter bow.

"And please, if you see young Shuyin bothering anyone, alert me immediately."

"Why don't you just ban him from the arcade all together? From what you said, he's been a pain before."

Kenji let out another deep sigh. "Believe me, if I could, I would have done so a long time ago. His father, my boss, owns the building you see... I have no choice in the matter; all I can do is try my best to keep him from bothering the others."

"Sounds rough..."

"It is what it is. Honestly, I love my job, but that kid is a real piece of work. Anyway, you shouldn't concern yourself with my problems, here." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small handful of game tokens. "Take these, and again, sorry for any trouble he may have caused."

"Thank you sir." Trey said, accepting the tokens.

"Mr. Kenji sir, one of the games ate my token!" Said a little Agumon child.

"Alright let's go see to that, shall we?" He said kneeling over with a smile. The two then leaving to go check on the game.

Trey walked around the arcade seeking out a game to play while casually rolling one of the tokens between his fingers. "What to play first?"

He stopped in his tracks when he saw several Guilty Gear consoles set along one of the walls. _"Couldn't hurt to practice a bit so I can beat Hanbei on his Supernova."_he thought.

He walked over to one of the available consoles and inserted his token. The first round was a little difficult for him because the controls weren't as finely cared for like with Hanbei's console, but he was soon able to get the hang of it.

After about twenty minutes of consecutive wins against the NPC's he started to get a little bored, and figured he'd go find another game to play.

"Wooow, you're really good." Said a young voice from behind him.

"Can we play too?" said another voice.

Trey turned around to see two identical Dracomon twins smiling up at him.