A Game of Risk, a digimon fanfic

After a tough Friday at school, the oldest of the Digidestined lazed around the soccer field, discussing their weekend plans. As usual, none of them had any.

"So you're telling me no movies are out?" Mimi asked, leaning on Joe.

"None that we'd all agree on," Tai shrugged. "We could go bowling…" Izzy rolled his eyes outrageously and yawned, and Tai muttered, "or not… why don't we all just meet over at my place?"

"That sounds good. Should we get the others to come, too?" Matt asked.

"I guess. Let's all go now. I'll call Davis, Yolie, and Ken. T.K. is with Kari at home, and I'm sure Yolie can tell Cody." Tai flipped out his blue Nokia and dialed up the numbers while they all meandered down the sidewalk like some herd of extremely bored ungulates.

As it turned out, Cody had Kendo practice and Yolie had babysitting duty. Tai, Matt, Sora, Izzy, T.K., Kari, Mimi, Davis, Ken, and Joe all lounged around in one of the larger rooms of the house, still utterly bored.

"Well, what now?" Sora asked, toying idly with the fringe of the carpet she was sitting on.

"We could play a game," Matt suggested.

"We just bought Risk, remember Tai?" Kari said, looking towards the game cabinet.

"That's only 6 players," Tai replied.

"We could form teams…" Matt suggested, looking up at Tai with a grin.

"Ooh, I'll be Joe's partner!" Mimi squealed, throwing her arms around the aforementioned young man. Joe flushed slightly, but put his arm around Mimi.

"Who saw that one coming…" Izzy said, rolling his eyes again.

"Well, there's ten of us, so that makes…" Tai narrowed his eyes in concentration, trying to divide the number mentally.

"It comes out to four teams and two people alone," Izzy said promptly.

"…thanks Izz…" Tai muttered sullenly.

"You're quite welcome. I'll be on my own team, since I need no one to conquer you all."

"Kari and I'll be a team," T.K. smiled, glancing up at Tai's sister.

"Yeah, and we'll take the silver pieces," Kari grinned, removing one plastic case from the game box.

"Joe and I'll take blue!" Mimi said, snatching the box from Kari and removing another plastic case.

"I'll team with Tai," Matt said quickly, avoiding the inviting look from Sora.

"Red, d'you think?" Tai asked, nervously eyeing Sora, who was glaring daggers at him.

"…I think I'll be on Davis's team…" Ken gulped, scooting away from Sora, who was now fuming.

"Yeah! Let's be green!" Davis said, oblivious to Sora's glares.

"I'd like the yellow pieces, please," Izzy asked politely, and Ken handed them to him before passing the box to Sora, quickly, like it would burn him.

Ironically enough, the black pieces were the only ones left, and their color suited Sora's dark glares. "Let's get playing," she snapped, shoving her way in between Mimi and Izzy.

"The rules say here that we each have 25 armies to start with; that's the little plastic men; and we take turns placing them one at a time in unoccupied territories until everything's taken. After that we re-enforce our positions with whatever of the 25 pieces we have left, then the game starts," Tai said, reading the instructions aloud.

"I'm assuming we roll to see who goes first?" Izzy asked, taking one of the blood-red attack dice in his hand.

"Yeah. Everyone roll."

As it turned out, Sora's roll was the highest: a six. She glanced across the board quickly and set her first army down in Venezuela, giggling evilly. Everyone else edged away a little further, nervously, eyeing Sora like she was possessed.

"I think it's your turn, Izz…" Kari said. "We're going in a clockwise direction."

Izzy had set his piece down in Indonesia after much deliberation when an argument broke out between Mimi and Davis.

"But I want Japan!" Davis growled, narrowing his eyes.

"Yes, but if you take Japan, you'll be the first on my 'kill list'," Mimi smiled innocently.

"Come on! You can have… Afghanistan or something!"

"Eew, Afghanistan? It's so dusty there!" Mimi said, wrinkling her nose.

"Guess what," Tai said, smiling disarmingly at them both, "Matt and I just claimed Japan for our own conquests."

"Why you…" Mimi growled under her breath. Joe nervously tried to calm her as T.K. and Kari put an army in Greenland.

"Nice move Teek," Matt muttered under his breath.

"You'll never hold Japan," T.K. muttered back, half-grinning at his brother, "not with Mimi and Davis against you."

"Oh, we'll do alright," Tai whispered back as Ken put an army in Great Britain. Mimi and Joe took North Africa, and it was back to Sora, who put another army in Peru. It went on like that for a while, Mimi and Davis surrounding Tai and Matt, who had put the rest of their armies in other places throughout Asia. Sora cleverly conquered all of South America, and somehow T.K. and Kari took North America before anyone could stop them. Africa was divided between Mimi and Izzy, Ken had taken nearly all of Europe, and Asia was a patchwork of red, blue, and green armies.

"Everything's taken," Tai commented. "We'll take turns putting armies in areas we occupy." While Tai said this, Matt put another army in Japan, and Davis and Mimi countered by putting their armies in Mongolia (Mimi) and Kamchatka (Davis). T.K. and Kari reinforced their position, Sora bottled herself up in South America, and Izzy fortified his African provinces when no one else was looking. When they all finally finished with their 20 armies, Sora took the red attack dice in one hand and smiled, pseudo-sweetly, at Joe, who leaned away from her fearfully. "I believe I'll take North Africa," She smiled, shaking the dice in one hand. "My 10 armies against your two."

It was a bloody, quick battle. Sora lost a single army, while Mimi and Joe were demolished. Sora moved 6 armies into North Africa, assessing Izzy's strength cautiously. "Your turn, Izzy."

Izzy looked alarmed at Sora's new conquest, but rather than attempt to weaken her, he turned towards Mimi and Joe's single unit in Madagascar. He easily took it. Joe's face showed consternation, but Mimi looked only towards Japan.

Surprisingly vicious for the two 'angels' of the Digidestined group, T.K. and Kari stole Iceland from Ken and Davis. The former-Kaizer-turned-good resumed some of that evil, brooding gleam in his eye, and his right hand clenched around an invisible whip. Davis glared at T.K., who didn't seem to care in the least.

However, rather than re-claim Iceland, Ken and Davis assaulted Japan (which had the most armies in it than any other area on the board), and failed miserably. Tai and Matt leered evilly at the decimated armies in Kamchatka, and then at Mimi and Joe, who had taken up the red dice against them. Once again the might of Tai and Matt prevailed, and Mongolia held a single army, like Kamchatka.

Sora took her five armies, placing 3 in North Africa and 2 in Venezuela, and viciously attacked the least-protected of Izzy's areas, the Congo. She didn't conquer it, but did manage to make his armies smaller, much to his annoyance. He retaliated and won North Africa. She snarled under her breath and plotted another assault.

It went on like that for a while, Mimi and Davis pounding Japan while their partners attempted to keep some areas held. Tai and Matt craftily stole Siberia, Ural, India, and China, creeping slowly towards Izzy's fortification in Australia. Joe barricaded the Middle East and Ukraine, desperately wishing Mimi would stop her war on Japan. Ken cracked his knuckles ominously and looked towards North America, while Sora and Izzy squabbled over Africa.

"Looks like Joe's creeping up on us," Tai muttered, eyeing Joe's amassed armies in the two countries.

"Yeah, looks like Joe's creeping up on Mimi, too," Yamato laughed. Mimi grinned back and Joe, who was kneeling behind and to the left of her, and said, "Comfy, are we?"

"Quite," He replied, kissing her.

"Enough," Ken snapped. "Get a room or quit the mushiness. This is war, not Chef's Love Shack!"

"You watch Southpark??" Tai asked, disturbed. "You're only, what, 12?"

"13, goggles, and yes," Ken growled back.

"I don't think even I'm old enough for that show," Matt said, equally disturbed.

            "Yeah, well, in a minute everyone's going to look at me and say 'Oh my God, she killed Tai!', because your holding the game up!" Sora snapped.

            Tai gulped nervously and began a successful attack on Kamchatka, kicking Mimi and Joe once and for all out of their borders.

            Izzy and Sora spoke loudly of an alliance and stopped squabbling over Africa, and Izzy exchanged his yellow pieces for black ones. Now the black armies, amassed in both Africa and Australia, began to move inward on Asia and across Europe. The Izzy-Sora agreement owned all of Africa, Australia, and South America, and parts of Asia and Europe as well. The only place untouched was North America, because Kari and T.K. had barricaded themselves in the country with three cannons at every entrance.

            "Jeeze, Izz, why'd you wimp out on us like that?" Matt asked, taking stock of the massive armies in the southern half of the board.

            "It was a logical military decision," He answered offhandedly.

            "What happened to 'I need no one to conquer you all'?" Davis asked mockingly.

            "A mild error," Izzy answered. "But for that comment, I think I'll attack you next. What d'you say, Sora?"

            Sora nodded, and Izzy attacked Southern Europe (one of Ken and Davis's provinces), knocking out the ten armies there with his thirty.

            Within a few more turns, Joe and Mimi were completely out of the game, their blue pieces defeated utterly by either Black or Red. Ken took Europe back and now held all of it, and Kari and T.K. now had all of the Americas. The game began to get bloody.

            "I'll take Alaska now, thank you," Matt said sweetly to his brother, indicating his 50 armies poised to destroy his brother.

            "No, you won't," T.K. said fiercely. "Not if the Angels of Hope and Light have anything to say about it."

            It was a bloody, fearsome war that left many dead on both sides, but Matt and Tai finally broke through to Alaska. Kari glowered evilly.

            "You will pay," she growled.

            Ken snatched Southern Europe back and took Afghanistan in one swipe, but Matt and Tai took Indonesia. After a few rounds, they had all of Asia and Australia.

            "This looks bad," Izzy whispered.

            "Yeah," Sora nodded in agreement. "What do we do?"

            "Let's take part of South America," He whispered back.

            The angels of Hope and Light were failing fast. With two enemies breaking in through their borders, all they could do was retreat slowly into Mexico. Eventually they, too, lost.

            "Well, let's go join Mi and Joe in the audience…" T.K. sighed.

            "Umm… they're not really watching…" Kari said, trying hard not to laugh. Mimi was on top of Joe and they looked quite busy to the others. Ken snapped.

            "GET A ROOM!" He snarled, hurling a pillow at them.

            "Maybe we should…" Mimi smiled archly.

            "Not my room," Tai said quickly, "I just made the bed!"

            "Nor mine, for the same reason, and that's creepy!" Kari shuddered.

            "Aww, they ruined our fun…" Mimi pouted.

            "We can have more fun later, Mi-chan," Jyou grinned.

            "Enough…" Ken growled. "Sora, you and me, in Northern Africa, NOW!!"

            Rather freaked by the former Kaizer's attitude, Sora was crushed. Izzy was angry. "We're losing!"

            And indeed they were. Their last stronghold, Africa, was slowly crushed by the Kaizer. Davis was just a bystander. Now sora and Izzy existed only tenuously in South America, bordered by the might of Matt and Tai, and the Kaizer. Sora went out with a warcry, attacking Mexico on a suicide run and dying a bloody, noble death. Izzy had long since fled.

            "It's you against us," Tai said, leering at Ken. "We beat you once and we'll do it again."

            Ken laughed evilly, his eyes shining with dark humor. "You'll do no such thing, fools. For I have a dark secret…" Ken laughed, revealing five Risk Card. "That's fifty extra armies! Kimeramon reincarnated!"

            Matt and Tai threw up their hands, surrendering. "That's it; we can't win," they sighed.

            "Yes! I finally beat you all! MUAHAHAHA…aha... umm…" Ken looked around at everyone staring at him, and gulped. "Just kidding…"

            "Well, that was fun," Sora yawned, "now time to get going home. I'm sure Joe and Mimi want their… umm… privacy…"

            Tai and Kari shoed everyone else out the door, then turned to the messy game pieces.

            "Well," Tai said, It's time for bed! G'night Kari!"

            "No, Tai," She snapped, "You'll help me clean!"

            "Let's play again, and loser cleans up!"

            "Your on, goggle-boy!"

THE END