Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Digimon characters and I'm not making any money off of this ((But I sure wish I were)) I own Hazel and ask if you wish to borrow her. ((Ages for the kids: Tai, Matt, Hazel, Mimi, Sora and Izzy=12, Joe=13, Kari and TK=8))
Hazel comes calling
By
Day Dreamer
Copyright. © Day Dreamer2001, all rights reserved.
Hazel washed her hands that were caked with resin. She picked up her tee shirt and tied it around her waist. She glared daggers at the uneven bars she had been training hard for years now and she still couldn't get some of the jumps just right, she could twirl herself around both bars at Mach 3 keep perfect balance on the bars do all sorts of stunts. Hazel threw the yellow towel she had been using at the bench with a frustrated sigh. Something fell off the bench she picked it up it looked like some sort of Tamagotchi, as she touched it the screen lit up with a dark green light and Hazel felt a tremendous wind kick up and she was pulled up wards.
"Hey everyone! An E-mail from Gennai he's probably replying about that tag and crest we discovered!" Izzy cried out, the other seven Digidestined and their Digimon gathered round. Tai held on tight to the Crest they had found.
"Well my friends! It seems you have found the Crest of Determination and even as we speak the ninth Digidestined is being transported here," Gennai said. The eight looked up as there was a great flash and besides them landed a very dazed girl.
"Uuuh! I feel as though someone's shoved a block of resin in my head!" The girl groaned. TK and Kari giggled making the girl look up. The girl stood up rather shakily and the gang got their first good look at her, she had blue eyes and thick brown hair pulled in to a tight ponytail with a light blue band, she had gold framed glasses on as well, she was wearing a purple sports bra and jean shorts around her waist there was a light green tee shirt, she had a light purple backpack and on her feet there were a pair of worn out black Reebok trainers. Tai stepped forward to introduce himself when suddenly the girl turned around and ran upon seeing the Digimon, she shrieked in fright.
"It's all right they're Digimon: Digital Monsters" Joe said trying to calm the girl, apparently this was too much for the girl and she fainted. Matt tutted and helped Joe drag her over to the campsite, which was a large sandy clearing by one of the many lakes in this forest they were in.
"That could have gone better!" Mimi said a little disgusted as she observed the girl.
"Well I guess we did freak her out a bit" Sora answered fairly. Izzy as usual was typing away on his computer.
"Prodigious!" Izzy called the others looked to him "It says here in these old documents I found that the new evil that Gennai mentioned a while back can only be defeated if Knowledge and Determination become one!" Izzy continued. Joe groaned,
"And that's a good thing?" Joe asked. Izzy didn't get to answer before the new girl screamed she was sitting up and yelling at a little brown, spiky, furry thing in front of her.
"That's Hedgemon a good Digimon in it's In-training stage" Tentomon informed them. Tai ran over to her and shook her shoulders.
"It's ok! That little things not going to harm you!!" Tai told her. Hedgemon jumped on to the frightened girl's knee and started speaking
"Hi I'm Hedgemon what's your name?" The little Digimon asked it's voice sounding a little like Motimon's.
"Hazel though most people call me Haze" Hazel said shakily and started biting her nails nervously. She looked at the group of children and 'Digimon' that had surrounded her and for some reason hugged Hedgemon close.
"Where am I? This sure doesn't look like the gym in London!" Hazel said. TK sensed the girl's fear and picked a yellow flower besides him he handed it to the girl.
"You're in the Digiworld!" TK answered as she took the flower and placed it behind her left ear. Tai being the leader stepped forward and introduced everyone. After the intros were over and most things had been explained, Tai handed her the tag and Crest.
"I'm not going to pretend I have the slightest idea what's going on" Hazel said to Matt as she put the necklace on it hung just over her heart "But if I'm stuck here like you say I guess I'll have to live with it" She picked up the Digivice, as her new found friends called it, and attached it to her shorts waistband. She then with out a word walked over to the lake they were camping by and dived, fully clothed, into the clear water.
"She's nuts! She'll freeze to death later!" Mimi muttered to Kari. When Hazel surfaced her hair had been taken down and everyone could see it was easily past her shoulders and very curly, almost in ringlets.
"Hey…um Sora!! Are these things water proof??" Hazel yelled holding up her Digivice.
"Well it's a bit late now so they have to be won't they?" Sora called back. The girl laughed and swam back to the edge of the lake the bank was quite high and she had difficulty getting out, in fact on her first try she fell back in the lake. A roar of laughter came up from the group and when Hazel imerged she was very red-faced. Izzy, knowing what it was like to be embarrassed, offered his hand to help her up. She took it and looked like she was about to haul herself out when instead she jerked her hand back quickly pulling Izzy in to the water. The group laughed even louder as Izzy dunked Hazel to get her back, they started splashing each other and the others felt left out, one by one they all jumped in the lake, having the time of their lives unaware that someone was watching them with disgust.
When they finally got out they were all drenched to the bone, Hazel was shivering like mad her exposed skin had goose pimples all over it. Tai turned to Agumon and pointed to their died out fire.
"We need some Pepper breath so we can warm up and besides it will be getting dark soon!" Tai told the little orange dinosaur, the orange Digimon complied and Hazel moved close to the flickering fire still shivering. The group split as usual to look for food and Matt, Gabumon, TK, Patamon, Mimi and Palamon stayed behind and started making the beds out of moss and leaves.
"How do you like your bed?" Matt asked Hazel.
"Soft" Hazel answered cuddling Hedgemon close, she seemed deep in thought her eyes staring off in to space.
"She reminds me of Izzy" TK told his older brother.
"I doubt it, she doesn't confuse us with long words" Mimi overheard and adding her two cents. The rest came back carrying armloads of food. Kari offered Hazel some peach coloured apple like fruits and Hazel took them with out a word feeding her Digimon before herself cradling it like it was a baby and she had to protect it.
"I think I'll have first watch tonight" Joe offered "Who's after me?" He continued.
"I'll go on watch if you want me to" Hazel offered quietly turning away from the fire's heat.
"We couldn't ask you to watch on your first night here" Sora answered the girl.
"And besides extreme fatigue may set in rendering you useless in substantial danger" Izzy added his eyes not leaving the computer screen. The others just groaned and waited for the new girl to claim she didn't understand a thing. Instead she smirked.
"But the lack of domesticity and facilities will prevent the transaction of sleep from taking place any way" Hazel answered in a smooth voice. Every mouth there dropped to the ground, Izzy turned from his computer screen and looked at the girl who had a triumphant grin on her face, his eyes as wide as saucers.
"Pretty impressive" He said. Hazel just grinned even more greatly resembling a Cheshire cat.
"Right back at ya! I'm not just a pretty face!" Hazel added merrily.
"Nope you're just a face!" Izzy remarked with a grin. Hazel took a running jump and with one flowing movement she had Izzy in a loose headlock and was about to give him a rough noogie when Tentomon shocked her. She yelled in surprise and pain and turned to the Digimon.
"Why you over sized bug! I'll…" Hazel started after Tentomon intent on pulling his antennae off but Tai and Matt held her back by the arms. Izzy looked confused and dazed, as did everyone. Hazel who had stopped threatening the bug like Digimon with Raid turned to them. Hazel helped Izzy up from where she had thrown him. The others looked over to Matt and Tai who were looking at Hazel's almost bare back it had large electrical scorch marks. TK walked over and touched them, Hazel flinched a little. No one said anything, Izzy went for a walk with Tentomon for a little talk about playfulness and Joe began to bandage Hazel's back.
"Hazel stay still! How can I bandage your back when you're moving so much?" Joe asked irritably.
"I'm a gymnast I've broken my left arm in two places before and I've broken my right leg before and I am still not used to pain" Hazel said. Hedgemon didn't look too happy that he hadn't of stopped Tentomon hurting his human but Hazel didn't seem too hurt. Hazel made sure that every one was back at camp before she lay down and drifted to sleep.
Matt woke up to Joe's face hovering above him. With out a word he got up and went over to the watch rock as he called it. He took out his harmonica and began to play a slow tune that he had made up, out of the corner of his eye her saw Hazel get up and begin to walk from the clearing he stopped playing abruptly.
"Where are you going Haze?" Matt asked using Hazel's nickname.
"Just going for a walk won't be long" Hazel answered him giving him her now famous grin. Matt nodded putting his lips back to his harmonica, he only got to play two notes before some thing big roared, everyone woke up to see Tyrannomon looking down on them hate in his eyes. They started to run from it but TK tripped and fell the Tyrannomon saw this and picked him up with a huge claw.
"TK!!!!" Matt yelled starting to run back.
"Put the boy down prehistoric breath!!" A voice from the trees said. They looked to see Hazel standing on a branch a vine in her hand, her other hand in her mouth as she bit her nails again. With one swift move and a very deep breath she jumped from the branch and swung towards the Digimon swiping TK from the monster's claws as she past. She landed on a tree to the other side of it where she put TK down on the branch.
"Stay there!" Hazel ordered as she climbed higher in the tree "I must be mad!" She muttered. The gang and the enemy Digimon watched mesmerised as Hazel began to swing on a branch building up her momentum until, wham!!, she hit the Tyrannomon straight in the nose with her feet. The Tyrannomon was startled but he lifted his claw to hit Hazel. Hedgemon looked on and felt something start bubbling with in him.
"Hedgemon digivole to….. Needlemon!!!" The newly digvolved Digimon stood with the other 8 as they prepared to fight. He looked more like a porcupine now with his pines all sticking forward looking a little like knives as they glinted in the sun.
"Pepper Breath!"
"Poison Ivy!"
"Boom Bubble!"
"Marching Fishes!"
"Blue Blaster!"
"Lightning Claw!"
"Spiral Twister!"
"Super Shocker!"
"Pine Blast!" They all yelled, Tyrannomon roared as all the attacks hit him in the back. He ran off defeatedly in the same direction he came. The kids yelled in joy and Hazel helped TK down the tree.
"Wow Hazel that was some really cool moves!" Mimi said with admiration.
"Been doing it for 6 years they had better be cool!" Hazel answered with a good-natured grin though her breathing was very hard. Still Kari couldn't help but notice behind that bright smile there was an unhappy glint in her eyes. Tai decided it wasn't too safe to stay in the same place after they had been attacked and they started walking. After about an hour of walking Hazel was ready to drop, she was giving Needlemon a ride on her shoulder because he couldn't handle all the vegetation and she walked besides Izzy.
"Is he always such a slave driver?" Hazel asked. Izzy didn't answer he was busy typing furiously on his laptop. Sora laughed at Hazel's very miffed face.
"Don't be offended he does it to everybody!" Sora said.
"Yeah nothing can get him out of that trance once he's gone in" Joe added. Hazel smiled a sly smile.
"I know one way that gets any boy's attention" She leaned forward close to Izzy's ear and said in a sexy, husky voice "Why don't you put that computer down? you sexy red headed stud muffin" Izzy jumped three metres high and when he came back down, Hazel, Sora, Joe and their respective Digimon were in fits of laughter. Izzy smiled a little at the joke.
"Maybe I should listen to you next time when you want something," He said glaring a lot at Hazel who was still choking back laughter.
"Alright stop everyone! We'll stay here for the rest of the night!" Tai called from the front. Hazel sighed as she collapsed gratefully against a rock the coolness of it felt sharp against her skin. Matt curled up next to his brother TK and Tai curled up next to Kari. Izzy continued typing on his computer again much to Hazel's annoyance who was trying to sleep.
"Can't you type any quieter?" She asked him angrily. Izzy stopped typing and gave her an innocent smile from his perch on a large boulder.
"Just researching on our new enemy" He responded. Hazel sighed, clambered up there and sat next to him looking at what he had on his screen.
"Tell me honestly nine times out of ten the stuff you research isn't any use to the others am I right?" She asked looking at Izzy with understanding in her eyes.
"Well….yeah but how am I supposed to know what's going to be useful or not? I'm no psychic" Izzy replied closing his laptop and putting it away, shuffling himself so he faced Hazel their knees almost touching.
"Yeah I know that! But being an athlete has taught me if ya train for too long you do more bad than good and that if I train for two hours three times a week, it means I have enough time to relax and stuff" Hazel explained her theory. Izzy thought for a while about this, his eyes glazing over.
"But physical activity and mental activity aren't necessarily the same things" Izzy reasoned, shaking his head softly.
"They are a little, imagine this you've had a breakthrough on one of your projects you do in your free time and you've spent all night following up leads on it, well say the next day you met a really big puzzle that would decide between life and death and you were too tired to figure it out cos you had been up all night," Hazel elaborated. Izzy thought harder about this, Hazel couldn't help but smile he looked so cute when he was thinking hard you could almost see the anecdote playing out on his features.
"Yes that would never do, so what do you think I should do?" Izzy asked her.
"Cut down you free time surfing to a set time, about 45 minutes a night" Hazel suggested. Izzy nodded Hazel smiled brightly at him.
"You have sad eyes, a big smile, but sad eyes" Izzy observed, Hazel drooped her face her smile fading "Do you wanna talk about it?" He asked leaning forward. Hazel looked into Izzy's eyes as two sparkling teardrops fell down her face they landed on Izzy's knee.
"No!" She muttered hastily wiping her eyes. She got up quickly and walked back over to where Needlemon was sleeping curling up besides him, Izzy just watched her and wondered what could have upset her so much 'Maybe I can work on that when my computer time is up' Izzy thought laying backwards his head on his lap top.
Joe yawned and stretched slowly and stood up, usually he was the first one up and was surprised when he saw Hazel doing some sort of exercise on a fallen down tree about 15 yards from the leafy clearing they had made camp in, she took a run and did a cartwheel and four consecutive somersaults all on the tiny width of the fallen tree. Joe then saw her bend over back wards touching the bark behind her with her hands before flipping her feet up, once there she did a most flexible pretzel shape that it made Joe wince. She jumped down off of the tree and wiped her forehead with her tee-shirt, she then began to make her way back towards the camp, Joe turned around and saw that most of his friends were up now and that most of his friends had seen him staring at Hazel. After breakfast TK and Kari turned to Hazel.
"We saw you on that tree this morning what were you doing?" They asked curiously, Hazel smiled.
"I was training so that I would be able to do things like I did yesterday to save you" Hazel answered ruffling TK's hair. Izzy perked up at the word training.
"I thought you said last night that you train for two hours three times a week?" Izzy asked.
"I do" Hazel replied.
"But if you were finishing as Joe got up…" Mimi started.
"And Joe gets up at 6…" Sora continued
"You must have got up at 4!!!" Matt finished. Hazel just nodded and finished her food despite the weird glances she was getting.
"Aren't you tired especially with you and Izzy talking for so long last night?" Tai asked. Hazel looked surprised and she started biting her nails "I couldn't sleep and I saw you guys talking couldn't hear ya but hey it had to be interesting it got Izzy off his lap top!" Tai continued. Hazel breathed a sigh of relief only one person knew she had a secret, but she still bit at what little nails she had. Tai saw the sigh and wondered about it, but he shrugged and went to go get breakfast. Hazel didn't look at Izzy as she walked down to the canal that was near by and splashed her face she then searched in her back pack taking out a small cloth which she used to clean her glasses. Tentomon saw his friend staring at Hazel, he slowly buzzed his way over,
"Are you still mad at me?" Tentomon asked Hazel warily. Hazel smiled at the bug like Digimon.
"No, I was just a little shocked, in more ways than one!" Hazel joked, she reached over and hugged the Digimon making him a little hot under the collar. Joe laughed at the face his Digimon had on,
"I can't believe you're making me betray my fish friends!!" Gomamon moaned as he used his 'Marching Fishes' attack to make the fishes fly out of the water. Joe picked up the fish and started walking back to the camp, he tripped over a sleepy Needlemon and began to fall, something caught him, and he looked in to a pair of blue eyes.
"Don't trip it gets you down!" Hazel laughed as she helped Joe to stand. He blushed a deep red as Hazel walked away towards Sora who was trying to sort out a little fight between Kari and TK.
"What's up?" Hazel asked, before Sora could answer TK yelled.
"Kari thinks Angewomon is better than Angemon but I say she isn't!!" Kari nodded at the summary.
"Well I bet if both of them were fighting on their own that neither of them would win, cos working as a team is better than working separately and besides winning isn't always everything I learnt that the hard way" Hazel answered kneeling down besides the two kids, her smile seemed to fade at the end of that sentence noticed only by Izzy who's eyes hadn't left her yet. Mimi walked over to him and waved her hand in front of his face.
"You're worse even when you're not on the computer!!" Mimi chuckled when Izzy finally snapped out of it. Izzy didn't answer her but Mimi was sure she saw him redden just a little.
"Right Tai! Where are we going to day?" Matt asked.
"Well I think we should keep going North!" He said.
"No! That's the same way that Tyrannomon came!!" Matt argued standing up to challenge him.
"Exactly! The quicker we find that evil Digimon and beat it the quicker we can go home!" Tai argued back getting ready to raise his fists. They both stopped for some reason and looked around their friends were walking away from them led by Hazel who was trying to cut through the thick rain forest type vines. Tai was annoyed as he ran to catch up with them he was about to yell at Hazel when she smiled at him.
"Sorry about that! But you two didn't look like you were going to stop so I thought we'd get a head start!" Hazel took a step back letting him lead again, for once Tai was lost for words as he watched Hazel drop back in to the pack out of the corner of his eye.
"Well Hazel seems to be making a good impression she's charmed nearly every boy in the group" Mimi commented with a twinge of envy.
"She hasn't charmed Matt yet," Sora added. The girls turned around at TK's hysterical laughter, Hazel was carrying him but she was tickling him with no mercy.
"Help me big bro!!" TK yelled laughing like crazy. Matt just chuckled at him.
"You wanted to be carried you said you'd pay any price!" Matt, suddenly, burst out laughing at his little brother's face. Hazel stopped tickling him and let him ride on her shoulders. Matt's normally unreadable eyes showed a great deal of respect for Hazel as she carried his little brother like he was her own. Tai gave a shout of surprise from ahead and they saw the huge figure of Orgemon jump down from a cliff and start charging at them. The Digimon all stood ready for battle as Orgemon got closer and closer. The flying Digimon attacked first since they had a clearer shot, Biyomon's Spiral Twister failed to do much as did Patamon's Boom Bubble, Tentomon's Super Shocker startled Orgemon but he still kept coming. Needlemon tried his Pine Blast but Orgemon knocked him away before he could fire.
"Needlemon!!!" Hazel yelled as she began to run to him, Orgemon threw his bone club at the cliff above them dislodging a rock fall. Hazel looked up with fear in her eyes, she dropped to the floor and put TK under her body, she braced herself as the rocks completely covered the two of them.
"Hazel!!!" Needlemon yelled then he began to glow "Needlemon digivole to…….. Pinememon!!" They other kids stood still as a towering hedgehog Digimon with long sharp claws stood in front of Orgemon. His face and underbelly had a plastic looking shield over it to protect himself.
"Claw slash!!!" Pinememon yelled lifting both his paws, Orgemon went hurtling backwards and he growled at them then ran. The kids ran to the rock pile and started digging frantically, Pinememon reached down a clawed hand and removed a large rock revealing the familiar green of her tee-shirt, they helped the two out and saw that TK was fine but Hazel's back was horrific with bruises and cuts her tee-shirt had blood seeping through it. She stood shakily leaning against Izzy for support he put an arm around her waist to steady her. Her eyes then rolled up in to her head as she fainted.
Hazel felt one by one each of her nerves coming awake. She could hear the crackling of the fire and she could smell water near by. She opened her eyes with a small groan and she tried to roll over on to her back but two pairs of hands held her in place, one on her arm and the other on her legs.
"Stay still Haze! You're back is pretty messed up you need to rest" Joe whispered she felt the second pair of hands were actually flippers and she knew Gomamon was there. She finally found her voice.
"Everyone ok?" She managed to croak out. Joe chuckled,
"Yeah TK and Needlemon didn't want to go to sleep until they knew you were going to be ok but Izzy and Tai convinced them to" Joe answered.
"That Needlemon digivoles in to one mean hedgehog!" Gomamon added trying to cheer her up. Hazel chuckled remembering the tingling sensation in her Digivice as she fought to keep her body up to prevent the rocks from crushing TK. She gasped as she felt something against her lips but soon realised Joe was offering her a drink, she sipped it eagerly, Joe holding her head up slightly so she didn't choke. She then registered the sound of Izzy's typing.
"How long has he been on the laptop?" Hazel asked.
"About 45 minutes" Joe answered, Izzy then closed his laptop and walked across the small cave they had found in the cliff it even had a small pool in it towards the two of them, his eyes brightened visibly when he saw Hazel was awake. Hazel smiled at him before reluctantly drifting back to sleep. Izzy looked at Joe,
"I know why she has the Crest of Determination…" Izzy started to say,
"I know, her spirit seems unbreakable" Joe interrupted.
"But she's sad…" A small voice joined the conversation and they looked up to see Kari had silently crept over towards them after hearing Hazel voice.
"Her eyes give it away" Izzy agreed. Joe looked at his watch.
"My shift's over now you two should get some sleep" Joe suggested as he moved over to Matt.
Hazel giggled as the other Digidestined tried repeatedly to wake up Palamon who was still sleeping.
"Here let me try!" Hazel offered standing up and walking over with a profound limp and a few winces, ignoring the disapproving looks she was getting from everyone she knelt down besides Palamon and whispered.
"All I need is just one more Palamon to finish my garden" The others repressed giggles as Palamon shot up like a rocket and headed behind the nearest rock to hide.
"What with you knowing how to get Izzy off of his laptop, Matt and me to stop fighting AND wake up Palamon you are proving more than useful" Tai remarked cheerily helping Hazel to sit down again properly. TK and Kari came bursting into the cave carrying a big bouquet of flowers, they struggled with the weight as the placed it in front of Hazel.
"Just to say thanks for saving me," TK said shyly.
"TWICE!!" Kari added reminding him. Hazel was speechless with delight as she pulled out two flowers putting one behind Kari's ear and one behind her own. She gave them both a hard hug and a kiss on the forehead. TK protested but you could tell he liked it.
"I think we should have a day of rest today I mean we are all tired and Hazel needs to get over her injury" Sora suggested.
"I kinda had the feeling I wouldn't be swinging from the trees today," Hazel added with a groan. The others seemed eager to having the day off. Mimi and Palamon went out of the cave and in to the woods a little for their 'girl talk', TK, Kari and their Digimon went off to have a game of chase, Matt and Joe started talking about something or other near the pool and Tai and Sora went off on their own (I'll give you two guesses). That left Hazel on her own with Izzy, Hazel had Needlemon on her lap and was stroking him softly.
"Well now Mr. Bond it is time for you to die" Hazel imitating from one of the James Bond movies. Izzy grinned at her, he then decided to tell her about what he had found out about their new enemy.
"Guess what I found out last night?" Izzy asked "I found out that Megamaniacmon is the new evil around now and that he has the power to sense people's deepest darkest secrets and use them against them, he can also sense his foes worst fear. Knowing my luck he'd find out mine is heights and hold me up high in a cage or something!" Izzy told her.
"Or he'd find out mine was spiders and set a load of tarantulas on me" Hazel answered. Izzy saw Hazel wince and he saw that their was no way that she could get comfortable because her back was totally covered in bruises. He took his laptop out of his backpack and pulled her forward he then lent over her, so close that he could smell her hair and he put the backpack against the rock. He sat back down.
"There now you should be a little more comfortable," He said softly. Hazel smiled at him,
"Thank you Izzy you are a really sweet guy" She whispered, she then leaned forward and kissed him quickly on the cheek. Izzy's face went beetroot red right up to his ears and you could almost feel the heat radiating off of him.
"Phew!!! Go Izzy!!" "Never knew you had it in you!" The two looked in horror at Matt and Joe who were watching them and whopping. Hazel blushed almost as deeply as Izzy and she whispered to him.
"Do we kill them now or save it for later?" Hazel asked quite seriously.
"Later, revenge is best when it is well thought out and planned" Izzy whispered back. Hazel cackled with laughter which made Matt and Joe look at each other in fear, you could almost see the 'We're in trouble!' looks flash over their faces.
"Run in fear for Witch Hazel and her assistant Dizzy will crush you!!" Hazel yelled to them cackling again.
"Assistant?! Dizzy?!? No way!" Izzy muttered loudly in disbelief shaking his head slowly.
"Ok then! Run in fear for the Witch Hazel and the evil genius Izzy will crush you!!" Hazel tried again this time Izzy joined her in the insane cackle. Matt looked at Joe,
"They've gone nuts!" He said, Joe just nodded but a large smile played on both their lips.
A few hours later Matt and Joe were walking back to cave with their Digimon after going foraging for berries. Gabumon suddenly stopped.
"Wait Matt!" Gabumon told his friend "Trouble is around!" He said, suddenly the two boys heard some one shriek in fright.
"Hazel!!" The two boys realised recognising the voice, they headed towards the sound as they reached a small clearing both went head over heels and landed in a pile of sticky moss and leaves, they looked up to see Izzy and Hazel laughing their heads off.
"We got 'em good!" Hazel laughed uncontrollably.
"We sure did!!" Izzy replied giving her a high five dropping the piece of rope they had used to trip them. They helped the two sticky boys up who looked at each other with a nod then started chasing them. Izzy and Hazel ran back to cave as fast as they could and stopped in shock, no one was in sight, and they had all disappeared. Matt and Joe came running up to them and they stopped in shock too.
"Where is everyone?" Matt asked. Hazel looked around for Needlemon and Izzy looked for Tentomon.
"Our Digimon have gone too!" Izzy said. The four of them looked sadly at each other.
"How are we going to find them?" Joe asked.
"I don't know how all I know is we must!" Hazel stated, at this grim determination her Crest began to glow and it sent a beam of light down on the ground the four of them studied the weird outlines on the smooth granite floor.
"It's a map of the forest!!" Izzy yelled he grabbed his laptop and copied down the map on to his computer.
"Hey look there is a strong hold a few miles south of here, that might be where they are!" Matt pointed, he turned to his Digimon partner "We need some transport feel like Digivolving?" Gabumon nodded and Matt's Digivice began to glow.
"Gabumon digivolve to……..Garurumon!" The Digimon yelled. Joe nodded to Gomamon and got him to digivolve too,
"Gomamon digivolve to……Ikkaumon" Gomamon yelled growing vastly in size. Joe clambered on and helped Hazel up, Matt helped Izzy up on to his Digimon. The ride was bumpy and Hazel never said a word she just hoped her friends were all right. Izzy kept shouting reassuring words to her. Matt heard it and couldn't help but smile he looked over to Joe.
"After this is over we just have to set those two up" Matt mouthed, Joe nodded eagerly. They arrived at the strong hold and Garurumon de-digvolved back in to Gabumon and Ikkaumon back to Gomamon. Hazel ran up to the heavy oak door and found it unlocked as the six of them walked down the dark corridor they soon got nervous, Hazel started to bite her nails.
"Does any one have a power station? Maybe we could get some light in here" Joe tried to joke nervously, they all gasped as the hall they were standing was filled with mysterious light. To the left of them was a cage full of their friends and Digimon and to the right there was a Digimon that looked like a cross between Devimon, Etemon and Myotismon, It had a monkey's head and vampire fangs, a devils wings and he was dressed in an elegant suit and held a bouquet of wilted roses. It cackled evilly at the four children then he pointed at Hazel.
"Tell me girl, does the name 'Max' mean anything to you?" Megamaniacmon asked her. Hazel stiffened and she took a few steps forwards towards him her fists clenched.
"How do you know about my brother Max?" She asked trying to keep the shake out of her voice.
"I know everything about each and everyone of you, I know what you love and what you hate, what you desire and what you fear!" Megamaniacmon started to cackle and gestured to all the Digidestined.
"Did you children know you had been travelling with a murderer? That the keeper of the Crest of Determination killed her own brother?" He yelled. Hazel felt all their eyes on her, her Crest glowed as she fought hard not to break down in sobs, she suddenly felt as though someone was ripping her mind apart and she collapsed to the ground clutching her head.
When Hazel fell to the ground Sora thought she had been killed, a screen lit up in front of the Digidestined and they found themselves looking at a gym.
"It's Hazel's memories!!" Izzy discovered when the eyes they were looking through found a mirror although the child was younger the bright smile was unmistakable. An older man in a tracksuit walked up to her and slipped her something in a tissue.
"Take this it will make you better on the uneven bars" He whispered.
"Ok Coach!" The little girl said back innocently. The memories suddenly went in to fast forward and the gang could pick out Hazel taking some sort of pill and every time she went on the bars she seemed stronger and stronger.
"Steroids" Izzy whispered to himself in disbelief it was all becoming clear. The screen stopped and they saw a little boy about 4 in a hospital bed a doctor approached the two adults and young girl standing near the boy.
"The tests show that your son somehow got a hold of some steroid tablets" The doctor announced looking over at Hazel, the screen fast forwarded again to a funeral and a tiny coffin being lowered in to the ground, Hazel was crying her eyes out it was hard for the Digidestined to see through the tears. The screen turned off and all eyes went back to Hazel she sat up slowly tears streaming down her face. She stood up shakily and glared at Megamaniacmon.
"I didn't mean it! My coach said they would make me stronger! Help me win! Max found them in my bag and took them! I didn't mean to kill him!" Hazel yelled her voice shaking on every word. Megamaniacmon looked down at her from his great height.
"But the fact still remains you took them from your coach!" He bellowed.
"No!" Hazel whispered tears pouring from her eyes.
"You left those pills in your bag!" Megamaniacmon yelled even louder throwing the wilted flowers on the ground.
"No!" Hazel yelled.
"You killed your little brother!" Megamaniacmon stated with finality.
"NO!" Hazel screamed falling to her knees. Megamaniacmon turned to the Digidestined in the cage and beside it.
"I make you a deal Digidestined, I will let you leave alive if you give me the keeper of Determination" Megamaniacmon offered. Tai narrowed his eyes at him.
"And if we refuse?" He questioned, he had no intent on handing Hazel over no matter what her secrets.
"Simple I will just kill you all!" Megamaniacmon answered then he started to cackle Hazel slid back over to where her friends were, instead of the harsh glares she had expected there were looks of pity and in Izzy's eyes something more, love? Understanding? Izzy took Hazel's hand gently and gave it the now familiar reassuring squeeze. Megamaniacmon looked down on them with distaste.
"I see you have made your decision I should have know you would never abandon one of your number even if it was a murderer!" He raised his hand with claw like fingers and everyone could see a tremendous energy building up in the centre of the palm. Suddenly Hazel and Izzy's Crests began to glow the two of them were staring at Megamaniacmon with no fear in their eyes. The more the evil Digimon's hand glowed, the Crests matched it until the two groups simultaneously yelled.
"ELIMINATION!!!" The echo was deafening as a pure bolt of white light met with the pure bolt of black light. Everyone could see the strain on Hazel and Izzy's faces as they fought to keep up the barrier suddenly everyone's Crests began to glow and beams of light landed on the two figures braving the evil force. It was Megamaniacmon's turn to sweat as all the Digidestined lent their energy to the combined force of Knowledge and Determination the white bolt began to get the upper hand it drove the evil back in to it's master and the white light engulfed him quickly. Megamaniacmon's final scream rattled the bones of everyone there. The white light suddenly dropped as the two exhausted figures fell to their knees still holding each other's hand.
"Uh could someone like, get us out of here?" Mimi complained, Matt and Joe turned to the lock and together they broke it. Tentomon and Needlemon flew to their partners' sides and began to help them up.
"Are you all right?" Needlemon asked concerned, Hazel smiled.
"Yeah just very, very tired" Hazel answered.
"Beating evil Digimon warlords does make one extremely weary" Izzy added, Hazel just looked at him, her breathing still racing.
"Izzy shut up! I don't have the energy to talk complicated with you!" Hazel moaned. Joe looked at everyone and decided to ask the question they all wanted to know.
"Hazel what Megamaniacmon showed us, was it true?" Hazel looked them all in the eye in turn then turned away from them hugging her arms around herself.
"Your asking about a 6 year old kid that just wanted to be the best, her coach gave her the means to be. She began winning, her dreams were coming true but the cost was too great for her to imagine, one day, after 3 years, her 4 year old brother finds her pills and thinking they were sweets takes them all, he dies leaving his older sister with a shot for the Olympics but minus a baby brother" She told them in story format to prevent herself from breaking down she lifted her hand to her mouth and began o chew on the stubs she had for nails. Matt approached her slowly.
"Then what happened?" He asked, each child was feeling very sorry for the lost lonely girl standing in front of them.
"The coach was exposed and put in jail, I went back to gymnastics after a few months but I now have to take a test every month to see if I'm using steroids I now am earning medals and trophies on my own I just wish I could have know that before Max died" Hazel turned back round to them tears rimming her eye which were red and puffy from crying before. Before he knew what he was doing, Izzy ran up to her and put his arms around her laying her head on his shoulder.
"It's ok you didn't kill him, your coach did. You trusted him because you thought he was just making you strong like you wanted. You never knew that what you were doing was wrong" Izzy was whispering swaying her from side to side. He motioned with his hand to the others that they should leave and he slowly tightened his hold around Hazel's body.
Outside the strong hold Matt had all the Digidestined except TK, Kari, Izzy and Hazel in a huddle.
"Right I think I'm speaking for everyone when I say this, I think we should play match maker for Hazel and Izzy" Matt announced, the rest agreed.
"So how are we going to do this?" Tai asked.
"Actually I have an idea!" Joe piped up, they all listened in "Well here's what we do…."
Hazel hauled herself up on to the thin ledge she turned on her heels and helped Izzy up.
"I can't believe a flying Digimon stole my computer and your glasses and hid them all the way up here!" Izzy complained. Hazel wiped her forehead and let out an exhausted sigh.
"Yeah I know! Weird kinda Digimon to do that! Come on Izzy almost there!" Hazel encouraged resuming her climb among the alpine plants. They finally reached the top and there laying before them was their belongings. Hazel replaced her glasses and looked around, the view was spectacular for miles around there was lush green land, patches of water here and there and if you looked far enough you could see that start of a desert all this was bathed in a rich red light as the sun went down somewhere. Izzy was admiring it too, he looked over at Hazel the splendour of the view acting out her face, she then looked at him and Izzy could see the longing in her eyes that he guessed was in his eyes also.
"Hazel, I…" Izzy started to say, suddenly started to blush.
"Izzy, I just w….." Hazel tried to start too. Both laughed and they both started to close the gap between them. Their lips getting closer, bit by bit, then they almost met and both pulled away embarrassed, they heard loud protests from below they looked down and saw Tai, Sora, Mimi, Matt and Joe all yelling.
"I told you it wouldn't work!" Sora yelled. Tai looked back in to his mini telescope then dropped it.
"Ack they've seen us! Run!" Tai yelled and the five of them high tailed it in to the forest. Hazel turned to Izzy a warm smile on her face.
"Do we kill them now or save it for later?" She asked.
"Later, cos we are busy now!" Izzy answered pulling her over to look at more of the scenery.