'We've all grown up a lot since that summer in the Digital World. Tai's in charge of a football club, Matt's joined a band, Sora's switched football for tennis, Izzy's still on top of everything computer related, Mimi's gotten into cooking and Joe's decided to become a doctor, but on his own terms, Kari's gotten into photography and I'm moving back to Odiaba, so I'll be able to meet up with everyone more often! But little did any of us know, what happened three years ago, was just the beginning.
"Run for your lives, it's the evil Digimon Emperor!" At the sound of that frantic cry, every single one of the Digimon in the area panicked, and a human boy standing on a hill chuckled darkly. He had messy, two-toned blue hair, and wore glasses with a yellow frame and purple lenses. The human had a dark blue cape with yellow shoulder pads on, beneath which he wore a blue and white jumpsuit. His hands were covered by black gloves, and in his right hand he carried a thick leather whip. This human was the aforementioned Digimon Emperor, and all the Digimon in the area had a valid reason to run in terror from this unassuming boy whom they could all take down with ease.
The Digimon Emperor cracked the whip on the ground and a huge black obelisk rose up behind him. The whip was cracked again, and hundreds of large black rings flew out from the recently arisen tower. They chased after the hastily fleeing Digimon and a brief moment of hesitance was all the flying devices needed to ensnare themselves around the unfortunate souls. A large grey rabbit with a white belly was trapped when he glanced back at the floating ring, a short and stocky man made of stone was unlucky enough to trip up on a tree root and was rewarded for his clumsiness by the sound of a ring clicking itself around his waist and a winged unicorn wearing a red mask had a ring wrap itself around his neck when he dived to avoid another ring.
Red writing flashed around each of the rings, and all the Digimon screamed with pain when it did so. When the writing disappeared, all of the unfortunate Digimon's eyes had turned red and feral, and they fired attacks at any of their brethren nearby who had escaped the assault, which gave the rings time enough to wrap themselves round those Digimon too.
In the midst of all this was a white cat Digimon wearing yellow gloves on her hands and a golden ring on her blue-striped tail. She ran frantically from the area, desperately attempting to ensure her safety. The cat Digimon knew of a time when an uppity boy such as this would not have even fazed her and her friends, but those days were long gone, and she was filled with shame that she had been reduced to running from her foe. She glanced back, and saw a ring rapidly closing the gap between them. She panicked, and tried to go even faster, but she was already pushing herself to her limits. Just as the cat Digimon was about to be trapped, the ring on her tail glowed, causing the flying device to lose all power, and it fell harmlessly to the ground beside her.
"That was close." The cat murmured, as she stared at the gold band on her tail. Her moment of respite was interrupted by the recently trapped winged unicorn emerging from the shadows and opening its mouth,
"Horn Blaster!" It formed a blue-ish white sphere in its mouth, and fired it at the cat.
The female cat had no time to even attempt to dodge and so took the attack full on. She was sent flying backwards several feet and groaned with pain. But the cat was a seasoned battler, and knew that she could waste no time licking her wounds, and so jumped out of the way of another energy orb.
"Unimon, I'm sorry. But you've been captured, and if one human can get here, so can others, and I'll be damned if I don't get to see Kari again." The cat hissed sorrowfully at the Unimon, but didn't let the winged beast get in another attack by launching herself at him.
"Lightning Paw!" The cat landed a sharp blow to the side of its face, stunning the Unimon.
"Lightning Kick! Wild Scratch! Lightning Paw!" The cat followed her initial attack up by throwing punches, kicks and scratches across the entire body of the Unimon, and the winged unicorn was unable to fight back, each blow stunning him enough that it couldn't launch an attack of its own.
The Unimon couldn't survive the relentless assault, and not long after it began, the winged beast slumped into unconsciousness. The cat glanced once at the pegasus' beaten body, but wasted no time in continuing her escape from the area, eager to avoid capture by the floating black rings, only sorry that she didn't have to time to free the fallen beast.
It was a beautiful morning in Odiaba, Japan. The sun was shining, the air was filled with birds singing and-
"You're going to be late for school TK, hurry up and finish your breakfast!" And the sound of a mother making sure her son would be on time for his first day at a new school.
"New school, new apartment, but the same old lumpy oatmeal." The boy sighed, and pushed his bowl away from him. He had messy blonde hair, and wore a green and yellow shirt with darker green shorts. "I'm done mom, I'm leaving!"
"I'm sorry I can't drive you to school on your first day, but I have to finish this article before the deadline." His mother apologised to him, but the boy knew she needed to get this done.
"It's okay, I'll walk." And with that, he grabbed his black bag, shoved his favourite hat, a white fishing one, on his head and left their apartment with a cry of "See you later!"
Not long after he called for the lift, it came down to his level. Inside was a lavender haired girl around his age, wearing glasses and pink cardigan covering a red shirt, and a much younger brown haired boy wearing a purple shirt. The girl made a surprised noise, and both turned to look at him.
"How's it going?" The boy greeted them causally.
"Fine, thank you." The girl nodded her head at him and replied politely.
"Great!" The blonde boy smiled. "My name's TK, and my mom and I just moved into the building. I'm in seventh grade, class A, nice to meet you."
The girl brightened instantly. "Oh hi! My name is Yolei. Would you like to walk to school with us? We can talk as we walk, so we'll be able to get to know each other better. It'll be fun" Yolei gestured to the boy next to her. "Oh, and this is Cody."
"Welcome to the building TK, now come on - we don't want to be late on our first day." Cody smiled back at the older boy.
"Let's do it." TK nodded at the both of them, and the lift closed behind him and carried on down towards the ground floor of the building.
"Hey Yolei, can you come over after school and fix my computer again?" Cody asked the lavender haired girl as they neared the school gates.
"Only if I get some of your mom's brownies, you know how much I love them!" Yolei bartered, always ready to jump on a chance for some of his mom's delicious brownies.
"Sure, she always makes extra anyway." Cody grinned. She didn't really, but he'd already asked her to make some for Yolei, having guessed what his friend would want in exchange for her services.
As the trio walked through the gate, they heard the sounds of a football game being played. TK glanced at the players briefly, but stopped dead when he saw sunlight glittering on a player's forehead - more specifically, on a player's goggles.
'Tai?' TK stared at the goggle-wearing football player. Goggles sure, but the hair was much shorter and a different shade of brown. 'Besides, he's in high school now. I'm seeing things.'
"Here you go Davis!" One of the other players called out, but that player's aim was VERY poor, and instead of going to the Tai-wannabe, it went sailing over his head, and TK hadn't caught it, it would've gone out into the road.
"Thanks. Great catch." Davis walked up to TK, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.
"You look familiar." TK smiled, and tossed the ball to the football player. "Must be the goggles." And with that TK walked away laughing softly to himself, shaking his head thinking to himself 'How could I ever have mistaken that kid for Tai? Tai's in high school now'.
Davis stood there in shock for several seconds, until he was yelled at for holding up the game. Then he snapped out of it, and booted the ball again.
Just as the bell was ringing for the first class of the day, Davis walked into his classroom. He sighed with relief when he saw his crush was still in the same class as him.
"What luck, you're in my class again Kari!" He called out to her as he went to sit down on the desk to her right. His crush stood and turned to face him. She hadn't changed much over the holiday, still wearing pink and yellow, and still wearing the camera around her neck
Kari smiled at him. "I wouldn't call that luck." And she sat down at her desk, eager to start the lesson for some reason.
"Hey, the weirdest thing just happened. This new kid said I reminded him of someone. Probably thinks I'm a movie star." Davis grinned at the brown haired girl in front of him, but she just cocked her head and made a "huh" noise.
An orange dinosaur fell to the floor and grunted with pain. He had been running all day, and was out of energy. He staggered back to his feet and started to try and run again, but just fell over once more.
"Tai help!" The dinosaur cried out for his best friend. He hadn't seen him in over a year, but he knew if he could come he would. "TAI!" Even as he cried, he could see black rings flying above him. It wasn't safe here, he had to keep moving.
Even as he got back to his feet, in a completely different world, a LED screen flashed red, and its owner, a high schooler with big, bushy brown hair stared at in horror.
'Agumon' The boy thought sadly. 'What's happening to you buddy?'
"I'm Mr. Hamisaki, I'll be your teacher." Davis slumped in his desk as the teacher droned on. Why did he have to be in the class with the BORING teacher?
'Well, at least I'm in Kari's class.' He consoled himself.
"And I'd like you all to welcome a new student." Wait what? Davis was suddenly at attention, staring at the blonde boy who thought he had looked familiar earlier.
"It's nice to meet you. I'm TK." The blonde boy introduced himself, smiling at the class.
"Please take a seat next to the girl with the camera around her neck." As the teacher directed TK, Davis looked around rapidly and groaned. Just his luck, blondie would have to sit next to Kari.
Kari turned and smiled at TK as he sat next to her. That was normal for Kari, she smiled at everyone. The surprise came for Davis when the boy opened his mouth and talked to Kari.
"Together again, huh Kari?" As he greeted her, Davis' mind screeched violently to a halt. And he got another shock when she replied.
"Just like old times." Kari AGREED with this... this... DOOFUS!
'I don't believe it, a rival for Kari's affections! And she knows him. ARGGH! I've got to talk to that TS or TJ or whatever.' Davis glared at the blonde boy, even as he and Kari got on with the work.
Back in Digital World, three very different creatures were flying as fast as they could go through a forest. One of the creatures was a large ladybug with yellow antennae, another was a pink bird with what looked like red claws at the end of her wings and the last one was an orange pig with bat wings for ears. They were chased by a huge preying mantis with scythes for arms and a black ring wrapped around his torso.
"Hurry!" The ladybug shrieked. "Don't let Snimon catch us!"
"Twin Sickles!" The ladybug had warned his compatriots too late, however, and even before he'd finished speaking, the Snimon had fired waves of pink energy from its scythes, and they collided with the pink bird and the ladybug, sending them tumbling to the ground, where black rings waited to ensnare more Digimon. Only the bat pig had avoided the attack, and he hid in a tree to avoid more attacks from the larger creature.
"Biyomon and Tentomon!" The bat pig murmured as he hid. Two more of his friends were gone. But he knew he couldn't waste time, and flew away from his fallen friends, crying softly to himself.
Close by, the orange dinosaur had fallen over again, but this time he was helped to his feet by a human boy. The dinosaur looked up at him and despite the fact that he was taller and wearing different clothes, he knew who it was. The goggles and wild hair kind of gave it away.
"TAI! You're here!" The dinosaur cried happily. He knew he'd be able to fight back now his best friend was here.
"AGUMON!" Tai stared at his Digimon in shock. He looked more worn out than he had when they had faced the Dark Masters. He growled and raised his Digivice high into the air. "You've got to Digivolve." His device vibrated twice, but otherwise did nothing. Tai stared at it in horror. This had never happened before. He looked back at his worn out best friend and growled. His friend needed him, and Tai never let down his friends.
The image of an orange sun began to glow on Tai's shirt and his Digivice vibrated again, but this time it shot out a beam of orange light. This rose up high into the air, and shot down to cover Agumon.
The orange dinosaur felt re-energized by this power, and felt something he hadn't felt in a long time: the power to Digivolve.
"Agumon Digivolve to… Greymon!"
Back in his base, the Digimon Emperor fell backwards in shock.
'How did they Digivolve? As long as I hold the Black Digivice, it should be impossible for them to do so.' He stared pensively at the screen. 'This must be looked into.'
Snimon bore down on his target, an orange bat-big. He readied his Twin Sickles attack, eager to please his master by knocking another Digimon down to get ensnared, but was interrupted.
"Nova Blast!" A huge fireball burst out of the forest, and collided with the preying mantis, who snarled with pain as the attack it hit, but continued with his quest to attack the bat pig. However, what the Snimon hadn't anticipated was an orange Tyrannosaurus-Rex charging at him the second he did so, throwing its huge body weight at him to tackle him to the floor.
Immediately after the tackle, the dinosaur was consumed by yellow light, and turned into a much smaller dinosaur. The Snimon hissed in delight, and tried to attack the weakened Agumon. But before he could even begin to raise his scythes, a white cat leapt out from the trees, flying at the Snimon.
"Lightning Paw!" The cat thrust her paw into the preying mantis' face, and he roared with pain, but the cat had no mercy, and slammed her paw again and again into his face, only leaping off when the insect fell to the ground, unconscious. The cat turned to the bat-pig.
"Are you alright Patamon?" The cat helped Agumon to his feet even as she asked this.
"I'm fine Gatomon, but Tentomon and Biyomon have been captured." The flying pig, Patamon, replied.
"Agumon!" Gatomon and Patamon turned to look at the new arrival. Like Agumon, they both recognized him instantly.
"TAI?" They both yelled, shocked that he was here. The cat quickly shook her head as he opened his mouth to talk to them.
"Explain later. It's not safe out here. There's a cave this way." Gatomon snapped at the human, and started to lead the group through the forest. Patamon and Tai followed close behind, with Tai carrying Agumon on his back.
Once they got inside the cave, Tai set Agumon down and took out his mobile phone. "We're definitely going to need more help. I'd better send a message to the others."
Guys,
Come to the Digital World right away! The Digimon need our help.
Tai Kamiya.
And Tai sent the message to the phones of everyone he had been in the Digital World with before. Things don't always go according to plan in the Digital World however, and instead of going to their phones, it went to the computer he used to gain access to the Digital World.
"Huh. What's this?" Yolei stared at the message that had just come up on her screen. "'Come to the Digital World right away?' Must be a link to an online game." She scrolled down on the email. "From 'Tai Kamiya'?" Why does that sound familiar?" Yolei stared at the name for a few seconds before it hit her. "Of course! There's a girl in the class next to mine with the same last name, the message must be for her!"
"So TK, how does your mom like the new apartment?" Kari asked her best friend as she put her bag into her locker.
"She hasn't seen it yet, she's been on the computer the whole time." TK laughed, doing the same thing. Before they could delve any further into idle chit chat, Davis turned the corner of the hallway, panting incredibly hard.
"Hey buddy!" Davis glared angrily right at the hat wearing boy. Kari and TK stared at him, confused as to why he was so angry with TK.
"What's wrong Davis?" Kari turned to him, concern written all over her face.
"What's wrong, I'll tell you what's wrong! That new kid knows you, and no-one else knows him, so fess up blondie!" Davis marched past Kari and stared right at TKs face. "How do you know Kari?"
TK looked shocked. "How do I know her?" He tilted his head back and laughed. "There's a long story."
Davis looked ready to throw a punch, but was stopped by the sound of footsteps behind him. A purple-haired girl holding a folded sheet of paper turned the corner Davis had turned not a long time ago and yelled "HEY!"
TK recognized her instantly. "Oh, hi Yolei."
"You're Kari Kamiya, aren't you?" Yolei asked as she walked up to Kari.
"That's right. Why do you ask" Kari replied, looking puzzled as to why she was being asked who she was by a girl TK knew.
"Well," Yolei started, then opened the piece of paper. "Are you related to Tai? He sent this to my computer." Kari and TK stared in shock for a moment at the text on the page, then they hardened their expressions and took of running to the computer room, leaving Davis and Yolei behind to stare after them in confusion, before they chased after the two; Yolei to see what the Digital World was and Davis because he wanted to know what blondie knew that he didn't.
When they reached the hallway that had the computer room on it, all they could see was an open door and a red headed boy in a high school uniform rushing up the nearby stairs. Yolei stopped to stare at him in shock.
"Hey, aren't you Koushiro Izu-"
"No time! Talk later!" The high schooler interrupted her and ran into the computer room. Inside TK and Kari were trying to do something on Yolei's computer. Koushiro shoved them aside with a sharp "Let me!" and started to type wildly. A strange program came up on the computer but the red head continued to type. TK and Kari looked on, worried, while Yolei and Davis were just confused.
In the Digital World, Tai's phone finally vibrated. When he opened it, a message popped across his screen.
Tai,
On way now. Got TK and Kari.
Izzy.
Tai sighed in relief. "It's from Izzy guys," he yelled at the Digimon. "He's got Kari and TK and they're on their way to help out!"
"Tai, get over here!" Tai looked up at the cry from his weakened Digimon partner.
"So, what's the Digital World? Is it some kind of new game?" Yolei innocently questioned the three people in the room who seemed to know what was going on. She was very surprised when all three of them ignored her, seemingly entranced by whatever Koushiro was doing on the screen.
Davis looked thoughtful. "I overheard Tai talking about it once to some red headed chick. He shut up the second he saw me, but I heard something about Digimon too, whatever they are."
"You know this Tai person too?" Yolei asked Davis.
Davis nodded. "Yeah, he's the coach of my football team."
Still, the other three occupants of the room did not look up from the screen, and Yolei was starting to get a little exasperated. "Urgh, I've got to go. I need to help Cody fix his computer. I'll try to get TK to tell me what it is later." With that said, she walked out of the room, hurrying to make sure she'd meet Cody on time.
Davis looked at the others. "I'm not going anywhere till I'm told what's going on!"
The high schooler murmured to the other two. "If Tai's there, then the gate must be open."
Tai walked deeper into the cave, following the sounds that the three Digimon made. When he reached them, he was struck dumb. On a plinth, in the centre of a circular cavern, was a sphere with a spike coming out of the top. The sphere was red and yellow, and just below the spike was an emblem of a sun.
'The Crest of Courage. My crest.' Tai stared at it for several seconds, before shrugging. 'If it has the Crest of Courage emblazoned on it, then it's probably mine. And who knows? We might be able to use it against the Emperor.' When Tai tried to lift the egg, it glowed brightly, and shot out three different coloured beams of energy – a blue beam, a red beam and a yellow beam. The beams all flung themselves out of the cave and Tai didn't see any possible way to follow them, the speed they were going at. He turned back to the egg, and tried to lift it again, but this time had no success at all.
As they walked down the school hallways, Yolei told her much younger friend about the mysterious email she had gotten, and the resulting reactions it had caused.
Cody looked thoughtfully at the girl next to him. "As interesting as this 'Digital World' thing is, my mom's expecting us back at mine soon, so you can fix the computer."
"I know, I know." Yolei sighed. "I just really want to know what got those three so worked up though."
Back in the computer room, Davis glared at the three people huddled over the screen, but was taken aback when they all stepped back, with a strange program covering all of the screen space. Kari nodded at the weird red headed boy, and then raised a strange tamagotchi-lookalike thing to the screen. Davis' jaw dropped when a white light came out from the computer and covered Kari. When it was gone, Kari was nowhere to be seen. The blonde boy followed suit, and like Kari, he disappeared.
Before Koushiro could do the same, three bright lights erupted from the computer screen. A blue one shot right into his hand, and a red and a yellow one flew out of the window, following an unseen map.
The red head looked at him in astonishment, then began to inspect what the light had left. "Hmm, bulkier than ours, and it's already got colour on it. Still, no denying it's a Digivice." He stood and smiled at Davis, who was thrown by the rapid change in the boy's mood. "We'll explain everything later, right now, we just need you to hold your Digivice up to the screen."
Davis looked at him in shock for a moment, then shrugged. 'If it takes me where Kari's gone, I'm there!' He raised his new gadget up to the screen, and was very surprised when the world around him began to disappear. The last thing he saw was the high schooler smiling at him, before his world turned to black.
Izzy was about to follow his fellow DigiDestined when the closed door swung open, and a familiar looking lavender haired girl stood there with a unfamiliar looking young boy.
The girl growled at him "Since you were so unreceptive earlier, I want payback for you ignoring me!" Izzy's eyes widened, and he realised what he, Kari and TK had done in their single minded determination to regain access to the Digital World.
'We're very lucky.' Izzy thought. 'If that kid hadn't gotten a Digivice, we'd have accidentally revealed a world to someone who shouldn't know of its existence.' Izzy turned to the computer screen and realised the Digital Gate program was still open. 'Oh no, they can't be allowed to see this!' Izzy made a lunge to close the program, but the girl managed to tackle him, foiling his attempt to turn it off.
"Oh no you don't, Koushiro. You owe me, and I want to know what's on that computer, and what these things are!" The girl shoved a red version of the Digivice Davis got in his face, and he realised that this was also a new DigiDestined. Izzy looked at the boy who came in with her and saw he was carrying a yellow version.
Izzy sighed in relief. 'The Digital World won't be revealed to someone it shouldn't be today then. I best acquiesce to their demands, it'll make things easier in the long run.'
"I think we need to start over." He smiled at the lavender haired girl. "If you get off me I'll explain everything you want to know."
The girl frowned at him. "As long as you don't try any funny stuff, got it?"
Davis slowly opened his eyes, and stared at the brunette and the blonde standing above him. He certainly wasn't in school anymore, as the blue sky rolled high above him, and there were no forests this thick near to school.
"Welcome to the team!" Davis turned his gaze to the blonde boy standing over him, who was now holding out a hand. The football player growled and took it grudgingly, and let go the second he was on his feet.
"We'll get Izzy to explain it later. Found Tai yet Kari?" TK turned to his friend and she nodded once before she walked into the trees, following a signal on her Digivice. "Keep up with us Davis. We'll explain everything later." TK flashed one more smile at the goggle adorned boy, before following Kari.
Davis just stood there for a few seconds, before sprinting after his classmates, yelling "Hey! Wait up!"
The Emperor raised an eyebrow at what he saw on his monitor. 'More DigiDestined have come to my garden. I best keep an eye on them; maybe the older boy will explain how he got his partner to Digivolve.'
"Tai's close." The brunette girl continued to follow the signal her Digivice gave off, occasionally looking around her for more physical signs of Tai's presence. Behind her stood TK and Davis, Davis staring at everything with a wide-eyed expression and TK looking about for signs of his partner.
"So this is the Digital World, huh? It doesn't seem too dangerous." Davis gave a closer inspection to his surroundings. Everything seemed more vibrant than it did back home, and the tree's bark was incredibly smooth.
As his eyes darted left and right, he eventually saw a vending machine for drinks. He shrugged. 'I am pretty thirsty' Davis thought, and walked away from the others to get a drink
TK and Kari didn't notice he'd left the party until they hear a high pitched shriek of fear behind them. When they turned, they saw Davis sprawled across the ground, with what appeared to be green sludge moving around him. Neither of them could help it, and they started to laugh.
Once the sludge had disappeared, Davis stood and glared at them. "That wasn't funny! They might've tried to steal my brain, or probe me, or something."
Kari shook her head dismissively. "The Numemon wouldn't do that, you just scared them is all."
"You know those things Kari?" Davis looked at his crush in shock.
"Not those ones in particular, but I have a few friends who are Numemon." Kari smiled at the football player. "You'll make friends with Digimon too soon."
Davis opened his mouth to ask a question, but was prevented from asking a question by the sight of his coach showing up, accompanied by a dinosaur, a cat and a flying pig thing.
"TK!" Patamon gave a loud yell, and flew toward his partner. TK ran forward and met him halfway, gripping his friend to his chest and spinning him round. "Boy am I glad to see you."
Kari and Gatomon's reunion was much more subdued, with Kari simply reaching down to give her partner a hug.
Davis stared in disbelief at the two of them, but shook his head, and waved energetically at Tai. "Hey coach."
Tai stared at Davis and was about to ask what he was doing there when Kari gave of a horrified cry. She had looked up to greet Agumon and had noticed the condition he was in.
Kari turned to her brother. "Tell us what happened."
He shook his head. "Not here, it's not safe. There's a cave not too far away, I'll explain everything then."
When they got inside the cave, Agumon began to explain everything. "One day this bossy human appeared and began making Digimon into his slaves-"
"A human? You mean, someone comes here besides us?" TK interrupted, staring in shock at the dinosaur.
Agumon nodded. "Yeah. He has this strange new Dark Digivice; it makes us unable to Digivolve."
Kari turned to Davis. "Show them yours." She urged. The newbie looked taken aback for a moment, but shrugged and held it out for the Digimon to see. The second they saw it, they all got into battle positions and snarled at him.
"That's his Digivice! You must work for the Digimon Emperor!" The cat growled, preparing herself for a battle.
"WHAT!" Davis protested loudly. "I don't work for nobody! Besides, this thing ain't dark, it just came to me out of a computer!"
Tai looked at his pupil, momentarily surprised, but quickly caught on. 'So that's what came out of that sphere when I touched it! Three new Digivices! But why did Davis get one? What's his purpose in the Digital World? And more importantly, who got the other two Digivices?'
"You see, the very fact you have these means you're DigiDestined. We're a group of people who are capable of traveling to different worlds, and it's our duty to destroy anything that might disturb the harmony that keeps the worlds separated. With me so far?" Izzy looked at Yolei and Cody, sighing as he explained this again. 'And when the others get back, I'll be explaining this to that other new kid too.' The two newest DigiDestined nodded. Izzy nodded too, and continued with introducing the new kids into what they were now a part of.
While everyone was distracted by Gatomon and Davis' disagreement, a floating black ring entered the cave unseen, a camera inserted into it.
"He uses these floating black rings, what he calls Dark Rings, on Digimon. Once one is around you, you lose all thought, and become nothing more than an extension of the Emperors will." Agumon looked down, growling. All of the humans gasped with horror, even Davis. They couldn't believe what he was doing to the Digimon.
Davis looked down at the floor. 'This Emperor gut sounds like a real jerk.' He turned to look at Agumon. 'I mean, this guy seems perfectly nice, but he's completely worn out from avoiding the Emperor for ages.'
Tai growled angrily. "Digimon Emperor! Hah! The second Agumon recovers enough, we'll dethrone him like the fraud he is, right Agumon?"
Agumon nodded in agreement. "Right!"
The Digimon Emperor was growing bored with this conversation. 'If they won't talk about how the bushy haired one could get his Digimon to Digivolve then I'll just destroy them!' A floating keyboard appeared before him, and as he entered in combinations, he gave a sadistic grin. 'That Agumon is too worn out to Digivolve again, and even if that Patamon CAN Digivolve, they won't be able to beat the combined force of Monochromon and Unimon.'
Tai showed the others the weird thing with the Crest of Courage on it. "I tried to lift it out, and I was able to release the new Digivices on my first go, but I couldn't do anything at all on my second try. You guys want to try?"
Both TK and Kari shook their heads. "Courage is yours Tai, and if you can't pick it up, what chance do me and TK have?"
Tai nodded at the two of them. "I figured you'd say that. Well that leaves us with one contender." All of them turned to face Davis. He stared back at them uncomprehending what they wanted him to do. They gestured at the sphere, and mimed picking it up.
Understanding shone in Davis' eyes. "Oh, I get it!" He exclaimed, and ran over to the sphere, clamped both hands tightly around it, and yanked on it as hard as he could. He was very surprised when it just moved with him, and he went flying back to the ground. An orange light burst from the plinth where the sphere had been, and inside something was forming.
The light suddenly flashed, and everyone had to cover their eyes. When they could see again, the plinth had disappeared, and in its place stood a short, blue reptilian creature. It had red eyes, and a white underbelly. Its nose ended on a spike, and in the middle of its forehead was a yellow V.
The creature looked confused for several moments before it began to jump around wildly. "Free at last, free at last." It chanted. When it stopped, it stopped in front of Davis, and stuck his hand out towards him. "My name's Veemon, nice to meet'cha!"
Davis just blinked at him for several seconds, before remembering his manners, and grasped the blue lizards hand with his own. "Hi. I'm Davis."
"I know of Veemon!" Everyone turned to look at Patamon. "Supposedly he's an adventure seeking, fun-loving Digimon who brings good luck! But I thought he was just a legend."
Veemon grinned at his description, happy to still be known of even after all these years. "Nope, I'm real alright, and I've waited a very long time to meet'cha Davish!"
Davis stared at him in bewilderment. "Uh, I think you have the wrong guy buddy."
Veemon shook his head. "Nope, you're the one alright. You were able to move the Digi-Egg of Courage, and that makes us partners."
Tai frowned. 'Veemon's right. Even though I have the Crest of Courage, I couldn't budge it, but Davis could.'
A huge tremor filled the cavern, and one of the walls collapsed. Behind the rubble stood a red masked unicorn-pegasus hybrid with a Dark Ring around his neck and a single-honed dinosaur with spikes running down his back and his Dark Ring around his middle.
Davis freaked. "Wha… What're they!"
"A Unimon and a Monochromon!" Kari yelled frantically. "The Emperor is using them to attack us!"
Gatomon shook her head and leapt in between the two slaves and her friends. "They won't get to you if I have anything to say about it."
"Be careful Gatomon!" Agumon called, getting ready to get out of there.
The cat nodded. "I will. Now get out of here!" Tai, Agumon, Kari, Davis and Veemon all turned tail and ran, but TK and Patamon stayed behind.
"We can't let you face this alone Gatomon!" Patamon cried, worried for his friend.
TK nodded in agreement. "We know you're strong, but you're exhausted from evading the Emperor." He looked at the slaves, who just stood there, awaiting orders.
A brainwave hit Patamon. "TK! Tai could get Agumon to Digivolve by using his crest! If you do the same, I can back Gatomon up!"
The Emperor frowned. 'What do they mean by crest?' He shook his head. 'No matter, I'll pry the secret out of them before long.' The bluenette turned back to his screen. 'I best send in another Digimon, just to make sure the job gets done.' His sadistic smirk was back on his face. 'And I know just who to send.'
"Unimon, Monochromon, attack!"
The pegasus and the dinosaur began to move. TK turned, and sprinted for the exit to the cave, but held his Digivice up behind him as he ran, and what appeared to be a yellow exclamation mark appeared on his chest. A yellow beam came out from the blonds Digivice and consumed his partner. The last thing he heard before the sounds of a battle drowned everything out was the sound of Digivolution.
"Patamon Digivolve to… Angemon!" And he knew that a six-winged angel wearing a helmet and carrying a yellow staff was now occupying the space that Patamon had just been in.
The cat and the six winged angel leapt into action, eager to defend their friends and free these poor souls from the Emperors control. Gatomon leapt at the Unimon and Angemon turned to the Monochromon, and the battle begun.
"Volcanic Strike!" The Monochromon opened it's mouth wide, and spat a volley of fireballs at the angel Digimon.
Angemon flew forward and batted his staff at any fireball that came close to him, deflecting them towards the walls of the cave. The angel flew out of the hole that the slaves had made, and slammed his staff against the Dark Ring as he flew past the Monochromon, but the Emperor had made his enslaving devices very well, and it survived his first attack. Angemon was prevented by making another attack by the dinosaur slamming his side into the angel. The force from the impact knocked Angemon away from the Ring, but the angel was not deterred, and readied his strongest attack.
"Volcanic Strike!" The Monochromon saw this, and attempted to stop the attack by firing another volley of fireballs at Angemon, but it was too late.
"Hand of Fate!" The angel shouted, and a beam of orange light shot out from his hand. It tore through the fireballs as though they weren't there, and hit the Monochromon hard. The dinosaur roared with pain and slumped to the ground, but Angemon had no time to pause to show his regret, and flew over the Dark Ring again. He slammed his staff into the evil object, which started to crack.
Sparks shot out from the Ring, and the electric knockback flung the angel into the sky, and paralyzed the Monochromon, who roared with pain. Angemon wasted no time, and his hand began to glow with light again.
"Hand of Fate!" The angel cried, and the beam of light flew from his right fist, and collided with the mind-controlling device below him. It broke instantly, and the dinosaur Digimon it had enslaved collapsed to the ground, unconscious.
When the Monochromon had released his volley, Gatomon flung herself at the Unimon, hoping that her earlier strategy would work again. "Spread Neigh!" This Unimon was ready for her however, and he fired a shockwave from his horn at the cat Digimon. His foe leapt backwards to avoid the attack and he charged forward, trying to impale Gatomon on his horn.
His attempt was thwarted by the agile cat leaping backwards again to avoid his charging assault. When he opened his mouth to fire his Horn Blaster, she smirked and stared right into the Unimon's eyes.
"Cat's Eye Hypnotism!" Gatomon intoned, and the pegasus/unicorn hybrid stopped his attack and slumped to the ground asleep allowing the cat to jump onto the back of her fellow vaccine-type.
"Lightning Paw!" With that cry, Gatomon began to slam her paws into the pseudo-collar wrapped around the Unimon's neck.
After several hits, it cracked, and the electric blast it gave of woke up the winged beast and shocked Gatomon. The blast was unexpected, but she was able to stay on the back of the enslaved Digimon. Said slave roared with anger and started to buck, attempting to throw the cat Digimon off his back.
The cat clung on, and stared right at the sparking Ring. "Cat's Eye Beam!" A beam of pink energy shot out of each eye, and they continued what her original attacks had begun. About a minute later, the ring released another electric blast, and this time it flung the cat from the Unimon's back. The electric it released paralysed the Digimon it enslaved, and with it unmoving, Gatomon walked right up to her target.
"Wild Scratch!" One last slash from her claws, and the Dark Ring broke apart, freeing the pegasus from the Emperor's control.
"There are 3 different attributes a Digimon can have: Data, Vaccine and Virus." Tai had decided that they shouldn't spend their wait for Angemon and Gatomon by worrying about them and had decided to give Davis a lesson on Digimon and about being a DigiDestined to pass the time. "Data-types are strong against Vaccine-types, who are strong against Virus-types, who are strong against Data-types."
"So, it's like Grass – Water – Fire in Pokémon?" Davis interrupted; trying to make sure he understood everything his hero was telling him.
Tai nodded. "Not quite as drastic, but yeah. There are 6 different stages to a Digimon's lifecycle: Baby, In-Training, Rookie, Champion, Ultimate and Mega. They all vary in size and strength but the general thing is thing is that they're all a lot stronger than the stage before it. Veemon, Agumon and Patamon are Rookies, while Gatomon, Monochromon and Unimon are Champions."
"That little kitty cat's as strong as that fire-breathing dinosaur and that unicorn... pegasus... thing?" Davis asked, incredulous, before shaking his head. "Hold up, if Patamon's only a Rookie, then why is it him and the cat, versus two Champions?"
Tai grinned. "Ah. You've reached the 'Being a DigiDestined' part of this lesson. Each DigiDestined has a partner Digimon, in my case Agumon, and in yours, Veemon. The device you got, your Digivice, is a tool that you can use on your Digimon to give it a power boost if it needs it, and to shoot it an evolutionary stage if the problem's too big for a Rookie to handle. TK used his to Digivolve Patamon into his Champion form, Angemon."
Davis nodded his head. "So instead of being outclassed, the fight's even?" He frowned. "Hold up, that sounded like Angel Mon, is that just a weird name or did that thing actually turn into an angel?"
"More or less," Tai agreed with his first question. "Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that part, when some Digimon evolve to the next stage, they can look nothing like their previous form. Like Patamon turning into an angel, or Gatomon's Rookie form is a dog, but Gatomon herself is a cat. But most of the time there's at least some correlation, like insects turning into insects, or birds into birds." He was about to say more when they all heard a familiar voice.
"We're back!" They all looked up, where an angel was carrying a cat in his arms. Kari and TK laughed with delight and waved at them, calling for their respective partner.
"Electro Shocker!" The happy moment was ruined by the returning friends being hit with a huge orb of electricity. Angemon and Gatomon were already tired, having been shocked by the Dark Rings, and so were unable to avoid the attack. When the attack it, it sent the angel plummeting down to earth, with which they collided with a sickening thud, unconscious. Angemon was covered with a yellow light, and shrank rapidly, turning back into Patamon.
TK and Kari attempted to run to their partners, but a huge foot blocked their path. A huge, four armed, blue and grey rhinoceros beetle with a Dark Ring around his upper left arm was blocking had landed in their way. Tai, TK, Kari and Agumon stared at him in horror, unable to believe what they were seeing.
"Kab... Kabu... Kabuterimon?" Kari whispered, hoping that it wasn't their friend.
The beetle turned to her and roared. He raised his foot and brought it smashing down towards her. Davis rushed forward and tackled the frozen girl, moving her out from under the foot.
"Kari, now's not a good time to freeze. Tai, TK, help me out here!" But when he turned to them for help, he found that they were frozen stiff too. He looked up at the huge beetle and gulped.
'Okay, what did Tai tell you? Considering he took out the angel and the cat, I think it's safe to assume he's a Champion level too.' He turned to Veemon. 'And Veemon's only a Rookie, the insect thing would win, no contest. But didn't Tai say something about we can sometimes make them go to the next level if the problem's too big for a Rookie to handle? Well, I think this qualifies.' Davis reached into his pocket and pulled out his Digivice. 'Hope this works.' He raised it high into the air, and yelled loudly. "VEEMON EVOLVE!"
Several things happened at once. Firstly, Tai, TK and Kari unfroze. Second, the thing he pulled out of the ground glowed brightly in his pocket, and turned into a beam of orange light that went straight into the device he held high above his head. Thirdly, Patamon and Gatomon woke up.
Veemon nodded once and leapt up into the air, declaring "Veemon Armour Digivolve to..." Davis' Digivice vibrated, and the orange beam that had gone into it shot out of it and consumed Veemon.
"WHAT?" Kabuterimon snarled, and tried to attack, but froze midway through moving it's hand to smash the evolving being back down to the ground.
"Flamedramon, the Fire of Courage!" The orange light disappeared, and where Veemon had been, something new had taken his place. It was easily three times as tall as Veemon, with hands that were covered in thick armour that had three claws coming out, a chest piece with the Crest of Courage on the back, a helmet with the spike, knee guards and his feet were covered by something similar to the armour that covered his hands.
The three veteran DigiDestined gawked. 'Armour... Digivolve?' All three thought in unison.
Their partners were similarly taken aback. 'But that's been lost since the ancient times!' Gatomon thought, before she shook her head. 'Questions later, right now, help out!' "Destroy the Dark Ring and set him free Flamedramon!" The cat shouted at the newly evolved being, who nodded at her and raised his fists.
"Flame Fist!" Flamedramon roared, and fired dozens fireballs right at the Dark Ring. Kabuterimon was unable to regain function of his body to avoid the attack and all of them collided with their target, which shattered, the pieces falling harmlessly to the floor.
The huge beetle was consumed with the same light Angemon had, and was replaced by a small red ladybug, which groaned and began to speak in a sluggish voice. "Ooh, what's happening?"
Agumon laughed dryly. "I'll explain later Tentomon."
"GATOMON!"
"PATAMON!" Two voices cried out and TK and Kari ran over to their partners, and tenderly picked them up.
Flamedramon was suddenly covered in an orange light, which leapt off of his body and back into Davis' Digivice and Veemon stood where he had been standing.
Veemon sighed. "Aw, I'm back to plain old Veemon. Ah well." He turned to his new partner. "Nice working with you Davish, let's do it again sometime."
Davis nodded. "Sure. Sounds like fun."
"That was pretty cool Davis!" Tai walked up to the two of them and clapped them both on the back. '"You saved our skins, thanks."
"Yeah, thanks Davis!" TK called from where he was fussing over Patamon.
Kari smiled at him. "I'd be squashed if it wasn't for you, thanks."
Davis rubbed the back of his neck and blushed. "No problem. But why'd you guys freeze up like that?"
"Because he's a friend when he's not under the control of a Dark Ring, and we were really shocked when he showed up. But-" Tai broke off and rounded on the freed ladybug. "Tentomon! How many of the others does he have?"
Tentomon shook his head sadly. "Everyone else Tai, he has everyone else." Tai, TK, Kari and their Digimon stared at him in horror.
Davis frowned. "Hey, new guy over here! What does he mean by-"
"He has the Digimon partners of our friends!" Kari interrupted, wide-eyed.
TK put a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, we'll free them. After all, we do have three Champions on our side, and whatever Flamedramon is."
Davis looked on with jealously, and steamed when he heard the end of TKs sentence. "Whaddya mean 'Whatever Flamedramon is' huh? Isn't he a Champion too?"
Tai shook his head. "Most likely, I mean, he could destroy a Dark Ring, but Kabuterimon was frozen, and he didn't just Digivolve, he Armour Digivolved, and that's the first we've heard of it, so we don't know what level he is."
Gatomon cleared her throat. "I know what it is. It's an ancient form of Digivolving, from when even getting to Champion was almost impossible without assistance. Armour Digivolving was developed to be that assistance. Armour Digimon aren't as strong as Champions, but they're pretty close to it, and can take a fair beating from a Champion too."
Kari looked at her partner in disbelief. "How'd you know something like that Gatomon?"
"I'm older than everyone else, and I've travelled a fair bit more too. You tend to pick up odd little things like that." The cat Digimon shrugged.
'Best bring details of this 'Armour Digivolving' thing to Izzy, especially as whatever makes us need our Crests to make our Digimon get to Champion doesn't seem to affect it.' Tai thought, already planning a meeting of the original eight of the DigiDestined.
In his base the Digimon Emperor growled angrily. 'Not only can those meddlesome fools circumvent my Evolution Prohibition, they freed three of my slaves too!' He slammed has fists against his armrests. 'No matter, all I have to do is capture one of the humans and their Digimon and wrest the answer out of them. Now which one will be the best target?'
The bluenette sat there for a few minutes, contemplating his options. 'The girl and her Gatomon are out, I don't know if the girl can make her partner Digivolve. That leaves those three boys. The blond boy he's out too, his partner can fly, and could get away with his human from whatever I send to capture them. So either the bushy haired one or what seems to be the new one.' The Emperor realised then that the answer was obvious. 'Of course, the new one! His Digimon won't have as much battle experience as the others, and he himself won't be able to get away from whomever I send as easily. But who to send?' The Emperor thought deeply about which team of slaves would be the most suitable for this mission. Musing on who he was going to choose, The Emperor stood up and left his control room, a smirk across his face.
The sun setting made for a lovely sight, and it especially cheered the Digimon up.
"Night's coming! We can relax now!" Patamon exclaimed happily.
"Why? What's so good about the night?" TK looked quizzically at his partner, but it was Gatomon who answered his question.
"The Digimon Emperor never comes out at night, which means we have time to rest." The white cat explained.
Agumon turned to look at Tai. "Not that I don't enjoy seeing you again Tai, but it IS getting late. Don't you guys need to get home soon?"
Tai nodded at his Digimon. "We sure do, but I'm not even sure we can get home." He turned to Davis. "Be careful, never stay here too long. If you do, you might be unable to leave."
"Wow Izzy, that was really informative! Can we go to the Digital World now?" As the four humans and their Digimon, Tentomon having gone to look for information about the location of their enslaved friends, trudged back to the spot where they had entered the Digital World from, they heard a human girl's voice, one that TK recognised.
"Hey, that's Yolei! But, didn't she say she wasn't in the Digital World? If so, why can we hear her?" TK frowned, puzzled.
Kari's eyes widened. "Maybe we can hear her through the gate!"
"The gate might close, it's not safe." All of them recognised that voice.
Tai grinned. "Izzy! Come on guys, let's go home!"
Back in the computer lab, Yolei and Cody stared imploringly at the red-headed high schooler, who had told them to call him Izzy.
"Surely a quick look wouldn't hurt?" Cody asked, eager to go in and see this new world.
Izzy shook his head. "The gate could close the moment after you go through, and anyway, it's getting late, and you two should be getting home!"
Yolei was persistent in her wheedling however. "PLEASE? We won't be long, I swear!"
"NO!" Izzy continued to deny her.
At the exact spot where they had entered the world sat a TV. The screen showed an image of the computer lab, and they could see and hear Izzy, Yolei and Cody on it.
"Okay, now what" Davis turned to the three more experienced people, but they shook his heads at him.
"Sorry Davis, but we don't know. We usually go through pools of white light, and before that we left we used a trolley car, and the time before that, a magic gate. TVs are new to us too." Tai apologized to the newest DigiDestined.
Davis growled. "Ugh, stupid thing!" And then he slammed his fist down on the top of the TV. "Take us home!"
To his and everyone else's surprise, the TV sent out a white light, which consumed the four humans and sucked them into the screen.
"You don't see that every day." Agumon remarked, staring at the TV in shock. The other Digimon nodded in agreement.
Izzy was in the middle of telling Yolei no again, when the computer screen began to glow.
"GET AWAY!" He yelled at the other two people in the room, and stunned, they did exactly as he told them to. It was a good thing he had done so, as four people game zooming out of the screen, and landed unceremoniously in a heap where they had been sitting.
