21: So I decided I would upload this story even though it's a little out of order. (If you haven't read any of the D0 Trilogy, please read that first. At least that will explain who George Helltower is...)
Sponsor: why would you do something stupid like that?
21: To show the good peoples that I haven't been slacking off the entire summer.
George: Will I be in this story?
21: Of course, but there are a few...changes shall we say, to your character.
George: Like what?
21: For one, you're a little battier. For another, you now wear a trench coat...the list goes on.
George: I see, and will these changes be explained?
21: Yes, but if anybody doesn't understand/wants an explanation for something that isn't explained here in the chapters I will upload today, PM me and I'll either give you an answer or suggest that you wait for one if it will be forthcoming.
Sponsor: and what if someone doesn't like the changes you've made?
21: They can PM me too (no flames though...) and hopefully I'll be able to explain why I did what I did and make them feel a little better about it.
George: Well, you're the author. I trust your decisions with regard to my character.
21: That's good to hear.
Sponsor: Can we get on with this already?
21: You're the one holding up the works...
Sponsor: Fine! The21stMartian doesn't own Digimon, or it would look something like this...
Digimon Season 2: Revised
Episode 1: The Return of Courage
TK: "A lot has happened in the years following our latest adventure in the Digital World with George. Unfortunately, chief among the events is that the DigiPorts have once again closed, and (despite Izzy's best efforts) have refused to open again. We've changed a lot as well. The older Digidestined are now in high school, and have settled into their weekly activities. Tai is the captain of the men's varsity soccer team, and Sora's keeping him busy as the captain of the women's varsity soccer team. My brother Matt is trying to be a rock star, while Izzy's the president of the school's computer club. Mimi and her parents have moved to New York, and Joe is still trying to become a doctor…But for Kari and me, a new adventure was about to unfold…"
"Run for your lives it's the evil Digimon Emperor!"
The cry echoed throughout the forest as its denizens tried in vain to escape.
From whom, you might ask. From the Digimon Emperor of course!
Clad in blue pants with metallic cuffs and silver pockets. A black belt with a gold buckle circled around his waist, and his shirt had a pattern to match his pants. His sleeves were blue on top and grayish white on the bottom, and he wore black gloves covering his hands. On his right wrist was a simple cuff, but his left cuff was actually a hidden control panel that could relay his orders to his slaves. He wore a dark blue cape, covered at the shoulders with golden shoulder pads. He wore dark gray boots with black stripes, and his messy dark blue hair was parted over his left eye. Finally, he wore golden framed sunglasses with dark purple lenses. This was the self-proclaimed ruler of the Digital World, and he was just a mere child.
The Emperor pushed a button on his control panel, and suddenly, several black colored rings flew into the air searching for victims. A black obelisk could be seen in the background.
The rings chased after the forest's inhabitants and encircled them. For a few brief seconds, mysterious symbols appeared on the rings, then, as the symbols disappeared, the victim would stand, same as before except for a few small differences. First off, the ring was now attached to the victim, second, the eyes were now glowing a deep red color, and third, the victim was now a mindless slave of the Digimon Emperor…no big deal really. Such was the effect of the Emperor's Dark Rings.
Among those newly enslaved was a Unimon, his normally bluish green visor was now glowing red as he received his first order. Find any digimon who have not been captured…and destroy them!
One of the lucky few who had managed to remain free was a white feline with large pointed ear that had purple bristles on top. Her front paws ended in three sharp claws each. She wore yellow gloves, and her tail was alternatively striped white and purple ending in purple points just like her ears. On her tail was a golden cylinder with indecipherable writing going completely around it.
How had she managed to remain free? Well, it was all thanks to her tail ring.
The feline had been running through the forest, exactly like the other inhabitants, pursued by one of the rings, but when the black ring got too close, her tail ring glowed brightly, and she smashed it into the evil device, which promptly deactivated and shattered. She was taking a breather, when she heard a rustling coming from the bushes. She looked up in time to see the red glare of the enslaved Unimon's visor as he charged up for an attack.
The trench coat clad warrior swore as he flew towards the forest. Rumor had it his nemesis was there enslaving more digimon…including those of his friends the Odaiba Digidestined's partners. For several weeks…or was it months, the warrior had been trying to defeat the villain and restore balance to the world that meant a lot to him…the world he had spent millennia trying to defend.
"I can't let him violate this world any longer," he thought as he flew.
The feline digimon quickly dodged the unicorn's first assault, but Unimon wasn't finished yet. He reared up on his hind legs and attempted to trample the tiny fur ball, who barely managed to dodge the right hoof as it came down…scratch that, she didn't manage to dodge. Her tail ring was caught under the enraged equine's hoof as she rolled away. With a sickening crunch, the unicorn crushed the golden cylinder even as the feline digimon scampered away. As she ran from her pursuer, she was yanked into the bushes by a pair of orange arms.
For a few tense seconds, Unimon looked around for any sign of his query, then shrugged (A/N: can a unicorn shrug?), and wandered off.
The Digimon in the bushes breathed a sigh of relief as she looked upon her saviors. The first was a tiny orange dinosaur with bright green eyes, and the second was an orange and white flying pig.
"Agumon! Patamon!" she exclaimed, "It's nice to see you again!"
"It's nice to see you too Gatomon," said Agumon smiling,
"Where are the others?" asked Gatomon.
"…Gabumon, Gomamon, and Palmon went into hiding, and I haven't heard from them since," replied Agumon.
"What about Biyomon and Tentomon?" asked Gatomon.
Agumon's eyes looked downwards as he relayed the bad news.
"They've been captured and enslaved by the Emperor," he said.
Gatomon's ears angled behind her head and her eyes narrowed in a look of rage, as she asked her next question. "How?"
Patamon began to recount the events of the day before.
The day before had seen Patamon reuniting with Biyomon and Tentomon. They had been eating berries in a nearby forest when suddenly they heard a buzzing.
Out of the trees popped an enslaved Snimon, the three Rookie digimon did their best to flee, but the Champion was too fast.
"Twin Sickles!"
The attack knocked down Biyomon and Tentomon. Patamon wanted to help his friends, but knew he couldn't do anything alone, he faked left, and flew right to observe their fate.
Snimon signaled the Emperor, who sent two Dark Rings to capture his friends. As Patamon watched in horror, the rings enclosed themselves around his friends' bodies, making them mindless slaves of the Emperor.
"After that, I just flew around aimlessly for a while before bumping into Agumon," finished Patamon.
Gatomon hissed, "I'll make that Emperor pay for what he's done!"
"In the meantime, it's not safe to be out here," said Agumon, "I know of a nearby cave where we can take refuge."
The three old friends quickly and cautiously navigated their way through the forest towards the cave.
Not five minutes after the three digimon had left, another being wandered into the area. The trench-coated figure put on a pair of sunglasses, which, unlike the Emperor's, had red frames and yellow-green lenses; they were also fairly worn and beat up.
The digivice application was pulled up on the lenses, and the warrior began scanning the area. The scan turned up two sources of energy, one good and one evil, both were coming from the same clearing, so the figure went to take a look.
Upon arriving, he found the sources were the shattered Dark Ring, and Gatomon's broken tail ring. He picked up a small piece of the Dark Ring and knelt to examine the tail ring closer. A few seconds later, he swore.
"Curse my slowness," he exclaimed, "Gatomon needed my help and I wasn't here. For all I know she could be…No! I can't think like that! The Odaiba Digidestined's partners became my responsibility when they had to leave the Digital World, so I must protect them no matter what!"
His loud cursing had attracted the attention of Unimon, who came to find the source. Upon seeing the figure, Unimon began to charge up for an attack.
The figure pocketed Gatomon's tail ring, and stood up facing his attacker.
"So, it's a fight you want?" he asked, "Well it's a fight you'll get."
"Horn Blaster!"
"TK, hurry up or you'll be late for you first day of school!"
"Alright mom, I was just leaving!" replied TK.
TK had certainly grown up a lot the past few years. Gone was his green hat, only to be replaced by a simple white one. He wore a green and yellow shirt, and grayish green shorts. His hair though, was as golden colored as ever and his eyes were still a piercing blue. Recently, his mom decided it would be a good idea to move back to Odaiba so TK could be closer to his father and brother, and they had only really finished unpacking yesterday.
TK pulled on his backpack and headed out the door thinking about school and the new friends he'd make.
As the elevator doors opened, two people glanced out. The first was tall and lanky with long lavender hair that had a blue bandana tied in it. Her eyes were brown, and she wore a red dress with a dull orange vest. Her socks were purple, and her shoes were orange.
The second individual was much shorter and had brown hair shaped like an upside down bowl, and his eyes were green. He wore a collarless purple shirt and khaki pants along with brown boots.
"How's it going?" asked TK, "My name is TK."
"Oh," said the lavender haired girl, "you must be the new kid! I'm Yolei, and this is Cody."
Cody's face remained stoic as he extended his hand, "welcome to the building TK."
TK accepted the handshake, and the three were off to school.
As they walked toward the schoolhouse, Yolei asked, "so TK, what class are you in?"
"I'm in seventh grade class A," came the reply.
"I see," said the lavender haired girl, "I'm in 8B, and Cody here's in 4A."
Saying his name appeared to break Cody out of a deep meditative state.
"Oh, by the way Yolei," he said, "could you come over after school to fix my computer again?"
"Only if your mom bakes those brownies I love," she said smirking.
"Fine," came the reply, short and to the point.
At this time the trio had entered the schoolyard, to find a bunch of people playing soccer. Light reflected off the goggles of one of the players.
"…wait a sec. Goggles?" thought TK, as he did a double take.
For a second, TK looked at the soccer player in confusion.
A blue shirt, spiky brown hair, and goggles to him added up to Tai Kamiya, an old friend of TK's. Then TK looked again and noticed that the hair wasn't nearly poufy enough, the goggles had rectangular lenses, and, as TK reminded himself, Tai would be in high school now.
Suddenly, the ball was kicked towards the advancing trio. It nearly missed Yolei's head and landed in TK's hands.
As the goggled soccer player approached, Yolei shouted "Watch where you're aiming Davis!"
"Yeesh, sorry," said Davis sarcastically. Under his breath he mumbled, "I won't miss next time."
"I heard that!" yelled Yolei.
TK chucked the ball back to Davis, and said, "you remind me of someone…must be the goggles."
Davis looked at him quizzically for a moment before the other players yelled at him for holding up the game.
A few minutes later, the bell rang and they all headed for class. Yolei pointed TK in the right direction as she headed to room 8B, and soon, TK found himself looking at the sign to room 7A. He sighed and headed in.
He saw Davis talking to a girl with short brown hair and amber eyes. The girl was wearing a sleeveless pink and white shirt with a camera hanging from a strap around her neck. She wore yellow shorts with a brown belt, and pink fingerless gloves that went almost up to her shoulders. Her socks were white, and her shoes were pink and white.
Davis had grinned when he had seen the girl and immediately had taken a desk next to her.
"How's it going Kari?" he had asked, for the girl was indeed Kari Kamiya, and the two had started chatting about their summers…which brings us back to TK's entrance.
The teacher brought TK to the front of the class and introduced him.
"Everyone, this is TK, a new student. Let's all welcome him into our community," he said in a droning voice.
"It's nice to meet you," said TK, as he eyed his classmates.
"TK, please take a seat next to the girl with the camera around her neck," said the teacher.
TK obliged as the teacher left to get him a book. The girl looked over at him with a hint of recognition.
"Excuse me, but you wouldn't happen to be TK Takaishi would you," she said grinning (more as a statement than a question.)
TK's brain took a couple of seconds to connect two and two, but suddenly, he smiled widely.
"How've you been Kari?" he asked.
As the two continued to catch up, Davis fumed. Here he had gotten to know Kari for the past three years and this weirdo shows up and within minutes they're talking like they've known each other for ages. He resolved to take up his issues with TQ…er TV after school.
The trench-coated figure merely backhanded the Unimon's attack, sending it flying right back at its sender, who promptly dodged.
"Ouch," thought the figure as he examined his left hand, "that technique is just getting more and more useless. I'll need to be more careful, I'm not what I once was…"
The Unimon meanwhile had decided to go for a physical assault, and was now charging at the warrior, who jumped, and landed right on Unimon's back.
"This might sting a bit," he said before launching an energy blast pointblank at the enslaved Unimon's Dark Ring.
On contact, the ring disintegrated, freeing the Unimon from the Emperor's slavery.
After a few moments of dishevelment, the Unimon regained his senses and saw the figure standing before him.
"George," said the Unimon, "I'm glad I found you."
"Actually, I found you, old friend. What's up?" asked the figure.
"There's a cave nearby that I think you should investigate," replied the Unimon, "I'll escort you."
"No," said George, "You'll give me directions, and then you'll get out of here. The Emperor is gunning for me, and anyone caught with me is deleted by his minions."
Unimon nodded and gave George the directions; he then flew as far away from the forest as his wings could take him. George meanwhile started walking toward the cave…
School had ended, and Kari was going to take TK to see Izzy and Tai. They were at their cubbies exchanging school shoes for regular shoes when Davis stormed in looking none too happy.
"Alright TJ," he said, "Nobody makes a move on my girl and gets away with it!"
TK looked rather confused, "what are you talking about?" he asked.
"He's referring to me," said Kari angrily, "and for the last time Davis, I'm not your girl!"
"TS and I have a disagreement, and I'd like to settle it," snarled Davis.
The goggled soccer star began advancing toward TK, when a familiar voice said, "What seems to be the problem this time Davis?"
The voice was followed by a wild mop of brown hair that spiked and poufed all over the place. Although he was wearing the green jacket, white oxford, gray pants, and blue tie of a high school student, there was no denial that this was TK's old friend and Kari's older brother, Tai Kamiya (the circular goggles he wore in his hair also was a dead giveaway).
"Tai!" said Davis a little nervously, "I was just trying to defend your sister's honor from—"
Davis trailed off as Tai walked over to TK and smiled.
"I heard through the grapevine you were back in town," he said, "I have to admit though; it took me a few seconds to recognize you. You've really grown up!"
"It's good to see you again too Tai!" said TK, "We're on our way to see Izzy in the computer lab, you in?"
"Sure," said Tai as he, TK, and Kari wandered in the direction of the Middle School-High School junction (junction HM), and the computer lab nearby.
Davis silently fumed as he followed them.
"He knows Tai! How could he know Tai? It's not fair!"
George cautiously walked into the cave. He looked around and noticed that someone had been here recently. Putting it down to Unimon, he continued walking, when suddenly, he was ambushed by three digimon.
"Hold it!" said Agumon.
"We've got you surrounded!" said Gatomon.
"Don't move, or we'll attack!" said Patamon.
When he was first surrounded, George had automatically whipped out a glowing white sword from under his trench coat. Then, all four beings paused for a few seconds and looked at each other, and smiled.
They all sat down next to a roaring fire (started by Agumon), and George pulled out one of his 'special sodas' and started drinking deeply.
"You have no idea how good it is to see you three again," said George, "I thought for sure the Emperor had gotten you by now."
"C'mon George, you know we're craftier than that," said Agumon.
"It's not really a matter of craftiness at this point, it's a matter of hiding skills," remarked George, pulling off his trench coat.
At this point, Gatomon noticed his darkened crest.
"Your crest," she said pointing.
The human sighed and took another deep gulp of his beverage, "I know. The same thing that's been happening to you digimon has been happening to me as well. This crest just won't ignite anymore…it's almost like it's been sapped of power…which reminds me, guess what I found?"
"Some food?" asked Patamon.
"Nope, I found Gatomon's tail ring. When I saw it smashed I feared the worst," said the warrior, pulling out the smashed ring. As he leaned in to show Gatomon, his tag and crest bounced off the strange looking medallion he also wore around his neck. The design appeared to be a pentagram that had a chunk missing.
"Still haven't found the last piece to that pendant of yours?" asked Agumon.
"Nope," replied George, "even if it was in this time and space, the Emperor is making sure I don't have any free time to go looking for it…"
Gatomon examined her ring. It was almost cracked in half, with several smaller cracks appearing across the cylindrical surface. It was sparking and would probably shock her if she tried to wear it. The feline digimon sighed, it was useless now. Despite the sentimental value, she'd have to get rid of it.
As Gatomon threw down the ring, tears welled up in her eyes and she ran further into the cave to cover her sadness. George cocked his head, picked up the sparking ring, and wordlessly pocketed it again.
Suddenly, Gatomon cried, "you guys have got to see this!"
Remembering the reason he'd cone to the cave in the first place, George leapt up and dashed towards Gatomon's voice.
In a few moments, he and the two Rookies found themselves in a vault of some sort. The room was semispherical and had a hole in the apex of the roof. From that hole a ray of light fell on an object that was sitting on a pedestal.
The object in question was egg shaped and decorated with orange, red, and yellow flames. A giant spike jutted out from the top, and a circular pattern on the front resembled the sun.
"That looks like Tai's Crest of Courage," said Agumon.
"Then this must be another DigiEgg," said George, "I found one a while ago, but I'm still not sure what it does."
"Well, maybe you should take this one too," said Patamon.
"I dunno," said George, "that's Tai's crest, not mine. I may not be able to lift it like I did the other…"
"You've got to try!" exclaimed Gatomon, "I don't know how, but I feel like these eggs are the key to defeating the Emperor."
George nodded and moved forward to pick up the egg. As soon as he touched it however, three rays of light flew upwards, and out of the hole in the cave's roof.
The four stood transfixed for a few minutes, and were rudely brought back to reality by the ground shaking.
George swore, "Those lights must have alerted the Emperor to our presence."
"What do we do?" asked Gatomon.
"We fight," said Agumon.
"No, that's suicide!" said George, "I won't allow you to be captured!"
"Well what do you propose we do then?" asked Patamon belligerently.
"You three stay deep in the cave, I'll go out and greet our guests," said the former Warrior of Power, "I'll return when I'm through with them, in the meantime, please stay here."
With that, he ran back into the front room, grabbing his trench coat as he went.
A few minutes later, shouting and blasting could be heard. As the three digimon in the cave listened, the sounds grew fainter and fainter.
Izzy Izumi sat grumbling in the computer lab. His mind was hard at work trying to find ways to contact George or Gennai in the Digital World, and he was having no luck. All he could do was make the DigiPort program appear, and every time it was closed. It was as though something…or someone was barring him from the Digital World, and he didn't like it.
Short for a high-school student, Izzy had red hair and brown eyes. He too wore the high school uniform although if he hadn't it would have been easy to mistake him for a 7th grader, but his intellect was unmatched by anyone…at least in Odaiba High anyways.
The boy genius looked up as the door to the computer room opened, and he smiled when he saw his old friends Tai and Kari, along with Davis Motamiya and someone tantalizingly familiar. (Izzy and Davis had been introduced by Tai.)
"Hey Izzy," said the blond haired stranger, "it's nice to see you again."
Izzy blinked, and it all came back to him, "TK," he said as his smile widened, "welcome back to Odaiba!"
"So," said Tai, "you still trying to get back into the Digital World?"
Izzy wordlessly glanced at Davis, who was still grumbling to himself.
"Oh," said Tai casually, "Davis already knows about the Digital World."
"How?" asked Izzy incredulously.
"…I kinda…told him about it," said Tai sheepishly.
"Tai, that was a very irresponsible, negligent, and careless thing to do," said the boy genius, "not to mention stupid!"
"Soorrry, geez," said Tai, "now can we get back to the topic at hand?"
Izzy sighed, "Yes I'm still trying to contact the Digital World, and no I'm still not having any luck—"
The redhead was cut off as three beams of light, one blue, one red, and one yellow, shot out of the DigiPort program he had opened on the computer.
The blue beam went straight for Davis, knocking him over.
"What the hell was that?" asked Davis.
Izzy knelt to examine the device that had emerged from the beam, it was fist shaped and had a small screen. Next to the screen were arrow shaped buttons, and under the screen was a button and slider similar to the main buttons on an iPod. A small antenna poke out from the top of the device, and it had two blue sidebars. Although it was different than the ones Izzy was used to, there could be no doubt that this was a digivice.
"Still think you're having no luck?" chuckled Kari.
"Incredible," said Izzy, "it's a digivice…perhaps an upgraded model of ours."
At the mention of digivices, TK, Kari, and Tai all took out theirs.
"…and if the DigiWorld is sending out digivices," said Izzy turning slowly back to the computer, "then…YES! The gate is open!"
Tai smiled his goofy smile, "DigiWorld here we come!" he exclaimed.
Without further thought, Tai held his digivice up to the computer screen and promptly vanished. Kari and TK followed suit.
Davis stared openmouthed as he watched his mentor, his crush, and his arch nemesis vanish into the computer.
"It's your turn," said Izzy, "unless you're scared."
Davis shook his head to get rid of his jitters, "I'm there!" he exclaimed holding up his digivice as well. When he vanished, a giant beam of light appeared from the computer.
As Izzy examined his digivice, and began to hold it up, someone came charging into the room…someone with lavender hair and a short temper.
"What's going on in here Izzy?" demanded Yolei.
"Oh, uh, hey Yolei, I uh, wasn't expecting to see you until tomorrow," Izzy stammered as he quickly fumbled with his digivice and put it into his pocket.
Yolei was Izzy's assistant for all things computer club related. Despite her temper, Yolei was almost as good with computers and programming as he was.
"What was that giant flash of light?" she demanded.
"Uh…there must have been a…umm, malfunction with one of the uh…computers," stammered the boy genius, "I'll ummm, get right onto fixing it."
Yolei looked at the computer in question and saw the strange program. At the top was a bar that read "Digital World".
"Then what's that strange program?" she asked.
"Ummm, it must be some kind of, uhh…computer game left on by someone," said Izzy, not altogether the craftiest Digidestined in the crayon box.
"Liar!" shouted Yolei, "there was no one here today except you!"
Izzy didn't respond, though he still looked rather nervous, and was relieved when she decided to change the subject.
"Anyways," she said calmly, "I was just on my way to ask you about something."
Anxious to get away from the topic of the incriminating program on the computer, Izzy said, "What can I help you with?"
"…It's kind of difficult to explain," said Yolei, "Cody and I were walking out of the building, when suddenly, we were hit by two beams of light. When the light faded, we had these." At that, she pulled out a digivice that was just like Davis's except with red sidebars instead of blue ones.
Izzy was shocked, so that's who received the other two digivices.
"Could I impose on you two to stay here for a little while longer?" he asked, "there's something important you must know."
In the hallway, Cody had picked up the payphone and called home.
"Yolei and I are going to be home a little late mom," he said, "we have to stay after school for computer class, but since you already made the brownies I'll stop by to pick them up."
He hung up and briskly began the quick trip home. In his hand could be seen another digivice, this one with yellow sidebars.
Davis looked around in shock. He had just been in the computer room not a minute ago, and now he was in some kind of forest. Surely this was impossible.
As he continued to examine his surroundings, his gaze fell upon his clothing, and his jaw dropped.
Instead of his blue T-shirt he was now wearing a white T-shirt with a blue Bomber jacket decorated with red and orange flames. He now had yellow gloves and olive green shorts as well as orange and white boots that went up beyond his ankle. When he looked at everyone else, he noticed that their clothes hadn't changed at all.
"Meh," he thought, "that must mean I'm special…"
Suddenly, an orange mark appeared on his digivice, which promptly began buzzing.
"Huh?" he said looking at the device.
Tai, TK, and Kari all leaned in for a closer look, and Tai gasped. He knew that symbol! It was the symbol of the Crest of Courage…his crest.
"Davis, we need to find what's causing that mark to appear," said Tai, and the other two nodded.
"I smell Tai!" said Agumon suddenly, "and TK and Kari too!"
"Where?" asked Gatomon and Patamon eagerly.
Agumon sniffed again, "nearby…maybe a few miles away."
The very thought of reuniting with his partner cause Agumon to head towards the exit.
"Hold it!" said Gatomon, "George told us to wait here. As tempting as it is to go see Kari again, we can't rush into this."
"We haven't heard any sounds of scuffling in a while," reasoned Patamon, "and George didn't know our partners would be back."
Gatomon's feeble resistance crumbled, as she dashed from the cave along with Agumon and Patamon.
Tai, TK, and Kari were walking towards the signal, when suddenly Davis stopped.
"Huh," said Tai's protégé, "what's a vending machine doing out here?"
After a few seconds he realized he didn't really care, but he was kinda thirsty.
"I'm getting a drink, anybody else want one?" he asked.
"Uh…Davis, I wouldn't touch that if I were –" began Tai.
He was cut off by a scream of terror as a bunch of slimy blob-like digimon came out from the vending machine's shoot. They were green and purple, and their eyes sat on two stalks that were connected to the main body, if that's what it could be called. The only other distinguishing feature was the mouth, the big mouth with the giant slimy tongue and the big yellowing teeth.
Within seconds, Davis was overrun by these creatures, and he lay screaming on the ground until the stampede was finally done. He stood up to find the others laughing at his predicament and he scowled.
"Let's keep moving," said Tai, trying to conceal his smirk.
After a few moments, Davis plucked up the courage to ask, "so those were digimon?"
"Yep," said TK, "but not all digimon are like that. Some are friendlier, and others are scarier."
"…do they all come out of vending machines?" asked Davis.
Before he could get the sarcastic answer forming in Tai's brain, the four travelers came into a clearing. On the other side of the clearing three digimon, an orange dinosaur, a white feline, and a flying pig, were approaching.
Davis, being cautious, readied himself for the worst and casually picked up a broken branch. To his eternal surprise, the three creatures threw themselves at his companions, not with maliciousness, but rather with love.
"Agumon!" said Tai, hugging the orange dinosaur, "it's good to see you again!"
"Tai," said Agumon, "I've missed you so much!"
"TK!" said Patamon flying at the blond haired boy.
"Patamon!" TK yelled happily embracing the flying pig, "see I told you we'd meet again someday."
Gatomon leapt into Kari's arms, something she had been unable to do the last time they had seen each other.
"My how you've grown," laughed the white feline as Kari hugged her.
"It's good to see you again too Gatomon," laughed Kari…and then she noticed Gatomon's tail, "where's your tail ring?"
Gatomon sighed, "it's a long story, and we're not safe out here. We should return to the cave."
The Digidestined nodded and followed the three digimon into the cave, with Davis trailing behind looking both shocked and confused.
George recalled the good old days when he could have easily taken on the three Champion level digimon that confronted him. Drimogemon, Mojyamon, and Snimon were their names, and their servitude to the Emperor was displayed by their blood red eyes and the Dark Rings on their bodies.
"Twin Sickles!"
"Drill Spin!"
"Boomerang Bone!"
Having succeeded in drawing his foes far away from the cave, nobody saw the explosion that rocked the canyons.
"And that's what happened to my tail ring," finished Gatomon.
"But, why was Unimon chasing you?" asked Kari, concerned for her friend.
"He was under the control of the Digimon Emperor," replied Agumon.
"…say what now?" asked Tai, "did you just say 'Digimon Emperor'?"
"...you mean you haven't heard of him?" asked Patamon, "then why are you here?"
"The DigiPort finally opened, so we decided to drop by," said TK.
"So who is the Digimon Emperor?" asked Tai.
"A few months ago an evil human appeared in the Digital World. He claimed to be the Digimon Emperor and started conquering the Digital World by enslaving digimon with his Dark Rings. He carries with him a strange dark digivice that prevents any digimon not under his control from digivolving," said Gatomon.
At this point, unbeknownst to anyone, a Dark Ring flew into the room. The images were relayed to the Emperor in his control room.
"Digimon Emperor," he heard Tai say, "I'd like to slap a Dark Ring on him!"
"An interesting idea Kamiya, too bad you'll never get to do it," laughed the Emperor.
The tyrant scanned through his forces to see who he should send to destroy the Digidestined.
"I know!" he exclaimed, "I'll send in Unimon!"
But as he continued scrolling, he saw that Unimon's name was not on his roster, someone had freed him, and he had a good idea as to who had done it.
"Helltower!" he yelled, but quickly regained composure, "alright, no matter, I'll just send Monocromon instead!"
The Emperor hit a button on his control panel, and Monocromon was sent in.
"Since the Emperor's arrival, many of us have been fighting him, including our old friend George Helltower. Apparently he and the Emperor have a history, but whenever we ask him about it, he changes the subject," continued Patamon.
The digimon and humans were walking towards the back of the cave. Agumon had insisted Tai see something that was back there.
"If George is fighting, how come the Emperor's still around?" asked Tai, "shouldn't he be able to take out the Emperor's servants no problem?"
Gatomon recalled George's dark crest from their conversation earlier and shook her head. "Unfortunately, he's been just as affected by the power drain as us digimon have…" said Gatomon, "his crest won't even glow anymore."
"Who's George?" asked Davis.
"A friend," replied TK.
"The best kind of friend to have," added Tai, thoughtfully.
"If even George is being drained, I don't see how we can be of any help," he thought.
Just then, he saw the egg with the Crest of Courage emblazoned on it.
"…wait a sec," said Tai, "that's the Crest of Courage…"
"Yeah," said Agumon, "and George couldn't lift it."
"Well maybe I can," said Tai, but try as he might, the egg wouldn't budge.
TK tried next, with the same results, and then Kari stepped forward.
"Step aside," she said, "this needs a woman's touch," but even she couldn't move the egg.
"Too bad we don't have a woman here to help," said Tai smirking, earning himself an elbow to the ribs.
At this point Davis stepped forwards, "right, lemme try!"
"Who're you anyways?" asked Gatomon suspiciously.
"He's a new Digidestined," said Kari, "you can trust him."
At this point Davis went up to the Digiegg and pulled. It came up with no resistance, and he nearly poked out his eye with the egg's spike.
Suddenly, a blue light appeared from where the egg had been. Within the light, a solid shape formed, eventually becoming a bipedal lizard with blue skin on the outside, and a white underbelly and mouth. He had a short horn for his nose, and big brown eyes. His ears and tail were short semi-folded structures that sort of resembled lightning bolts. On his forehead was a yellow marking shaped like a V.
This strange creature jumped from the light and shouted, "Yahoo! Free at last!"
He went up to Davis and extended his hand, "my name is Veemon, but you can call me Veemon, and you're my partner!"
"Huh?" said Davis, stunned.
"Hey, I've heard of Veemon," said Agumon, "supposedly he's a fun loving adventure seeking digimon that's supposed to bring you good luck, but I thought he was just a legend."
"Nope, I'm real alright," said Veemon, "and I'm very happy to meet you Davish!"
Davis didn't recall telling this creature his name.
"Alright buddy," said Davis, "who are you and how do you know my name?"
"I'm your partner Davish," repeated Veemon, "you were the one who was able to move the Digiegg of Courage, so that means you're the one I've been waiting for."
Tai was certainly confused, "but the Crest of Courage is mine," he thought.
His thoughts were cut short as the enslaved Monocromon smashed through the roof of the cave, glaring angrily at the Digidestined.
"What's that," asked a horrified Davis, "a monster?"
"No, that's a Digimon," said Kari.
"A Monocromon," explained TK, "his shell is harder than diamonds, and his Volcanic Strike launches fireballs at his enemies."
Davis gulped, they were in trouble now.
"Volcanic Strike!"
As the fireballs began to charge in the Monocromon's mouth, Tai made an executive decision.
"Run!" he shouted.
The Digidestined ran out of the cave with Davis and Veemon bringing up the rear. Veemon pulled on Davis's pant leg.
"You've got to open the Digiegg Davish," he said.
"What the hell does that mean?" asked Davis, as he and Veemon finally reached daylight, with Monocromon right on their heals. He tried to catch his breath, but Tai ran towards him from below.
"Davis, get down here it's not safe!" he shouted.
At that moment, Monocromon emerged from the cave. Blinking in the sudden daylight, he didn't see Davis as he charged forwards…and knocked the poor boy into the air. Davis landed in front of Tai with a dull thud, as Veemon slid down the slope to join him, concern in his big brown eyes.
"Davish tell me, what hurts?"
Davis slowly sat up, his goggles had broken in the fall.
"Everything but my earlobes," he replied.
"I can digivolve if you open the egg, but you have to have courage to do it," said Veemon.
At that moment, Monocromon recovered from the dizziness that had ensued after he crashed into Davis.
"Volcanic Strike!"
The attack was aimed straight at Kari, who tried to run away, but tripped over a root. Sudden panic appeared in her eyes as the fireball drew ever closer.
Something snapped in Davis. He had come into a new world, been assaulted by slimy green digimon that lived in a vending machine, heard tales of the Digimon Emperor, met Veemon, been chased by a Monocromon, and now Kari was going to die? No! He'd had enough!
"I won't let the Emperor hurt Kari," he said, and the Digiegg glowed.
"That's it!" said Veemon, "now say 'DigiArmor Energize'."
"DigiArmor Energize!" yelled Davis.
"Veemon Armor Digivolve to—Flamedramon: the Fires of Courage!"
Veemon had fused with the DigiEgg to become something totally new. He grew much taller. The armor covered his feet and gave him three claws per foot. Then it fused with his hands and gave him three clawed fingers. Another piece of the egg fused and became a chest plate, and the final piece became a helmet, with the gigantic spike sticking out of it.
The new creature dashed at the impending fireball, and snuffed it out with one of his armored hands.
Davis pointed, "That's not Veemon," he said.
"Right you are Davis," said Flamedramon in a much deeper voice, "As Veemon I used the DigiEgg of Courage to digivolve to Flamedramon. My Fire Rocket and Flaming Fist attacks will charbroil my enemies like a well done steak."
Davis's expression of shock changed to one of sheer delight.
"Go get 'em Flamedramon!" he shouted.
The Digimon Emperor was not as exuberant as Davis was about Flamedramon's appearance. He looked at his digivice and at the sector the Digidestined were in…his amplifier was still there.
"With my dark digivice," he said, "there should be no way they could digivolve. The Digidestined are more resourceful than I thought…"
To improve his mood, he checked his other monitor. On it, a certain trench coat clad warrior was being pinned to the canyon wall by a Snimon while a Drimogemon, drill whirling, advanced.
"Good," said the Emperor, "at least I'll finally be rid of him…"
Monocromon launched another wave of fireballs. Flamedramon just snuffed them out again.
Monocromon glared and charged. Flamedramon caught the beast and flipped him like a giant sack of potatoes. As Monocromon righted himself, he head butted Flamedramon and flicked him into the air.
Flamedramon righted himself and began to burn. Flames leapt up and surrounded him, as he fell toward the enslaved digimon. Only his horn remained uncovered by flames.
"Fire Rocket!"
Gatomon watched the lizard fall and pumped her fist.
"Barbecue that Dark Ring Flamedramon," she yelled.
Flamedramon dropped right onto the Dark Ring, it cracked and broke, freeing the Monocromon, even as Flamedramon dedigivolved back into Veemon.
A light representing the egg went into Davis's pocket, and he pulled out a mini computer. On the computer's tiny screen was a digital picture of the DigiEgg of Courage showing that one of the computer's functions was a storage place for the collected DigiEggs. Other functions would be revealed after an investigation.
Davis looked over at the newly freed Monocromon, who was being petted by Kari. It wasn't such a bad digimon after all.
Davis felt a hand on his shoulder, he looked up to see his mentor, Tai, smiling.
"That was some good work," he said, "armor digivolution is pretty cool stuff."
Agumon nodded, "even though we older digimon can't armor digivolve, I know we can count on you new guys to thrash the Emperor for us."
"Meh, leave it to me," said Veemon confidently.
"I'm totally psyched!" said Davis, "this DigiWorld is even cooler than I thought!"
"Just remember," said Tai, "you have to roll with the punches. You win some you lose some. Don't get disheartened or discouraged should things get more challenging."
"Yeah, whatever," said Davis casually, "Veemon and I can handle anything!"
"Really?" thought the Emperor, having heard Davis's last statement, well let's see how you like my next ingenious plan!"
The Emperor set his security defenses and decided to retire for the evening, but before he left, he decided he'd check on Helltower. Despite the three-on-one, the former Warrior of Power had managed to keep the fight going for several hours, but now, all was deathly quiet.
The Emperor checked his slave pool and found Snimon, Drimogemon, and Mojyamon to be missing from the roster; Helltower had freed them!
"Hmmm, so the cheater managed to hack his way out of that trap too," the Emperor said, "well, his luck can only hold for so long…"
He'd find a way to crush those kids and Helltower once and for all…
As he left, a pair of soulful blue eyes watched him sadly.
"Listen Davis," said Tai, "I noticed you broke your goggles when you fell."
Tai slowly (and somewhat reluctantly) took off his goggles and held them out.
"…and as we all know," he continued, "the leader of the Digidestined just wouldn't look right without them…so here, you can have mine."
Davis thought for a moment, sure it would be a great honor to wear his mentor's goggles…but it just wouldn't be right seeing Tai without them.
"Nah, that's okay Tai," said Davis, "I appreciate it and everything, but without your goggles, you just wouldn't be you."
Kari, Agumon, and TK laughed.
"It's true," admitted Kari.
Their laughter was cut short by a sigh of relief from Patamon.
"Good, the sun's going down," he exclaimed, "now we can relax."
"Why?" asked TK.
"The Emperor never shows up during the nighttime," replied Agumon.
With Monocromon as an escort, the Digidestined and their partners made their way towards the nearest portal to the real world…which was shaped like a TV, and on that TV…were Yolei, Cody, and Izzy.
Izzy chomped down on another brownie.
"Mmmm, these are the best things I've ever tasted," he exclaimed.
The boy genius had spent the last few hours explaining the Digital World to Yolei and Cody, which was challenging, but certainly worth the brownies.
"Hey Izzy," said Yolei, "what does it mean when that light on the computer turns green?"
"What light?" asked Izzy.
"The light on that thing you pulled up on the compter," said Yolei turning to get a better look, and almost spitting out her brownie in the process.
Staring at her on the other side of the screen…was Davis.
"Hey guys, let me in," he shouted, "it's Davis!"
Suddenly, a light came out of the TV and sucked in the Digidestined. The digimon looked on in shock as their partners reappeared on the other end…in a dog pile.
"You don't see that everyday," commented Agumon.
Izzy, Yolei, and Cody didn't have time to react before the others flew out of the computer and onto them. Izzy fared the worst, with Tai landing on him.
"Get off," he exclaimed, "you're crushing my brownie!"
The one known as George Helltower returned to the cave. Although he limped a little and had a few nasty gashes, he appeared for the most part to be alright. Agumon, Gatomon, and Patamon were there along with another digimon that George had never seen before. The four of them were sleeping peacefully by the cave's entrance when George approached. Gatomon's keen ears, alert for the slightest sound, heard the bushes rustling. She woke up and quickly roused the others.
"Someone's coming," she whispered, "let's hide."
They had barely managed to conceal themselves when the trench-coated warrior emerged from the foliage. He glanced around a couple of times as though looking for something.
Veemon was frightened; to him another human could mean only one thing.
"Is he the Digimon Emperor?" whispered Veemon.
"No," said Gatomon, "he's a friend."
"Another Digidestined?" asked Veemon.
"Yep," said Gatomon, as she, Agumon, and Patamon came out of hiding.
George smiled, "there you are!" he said. Then he noticed Veemon.
"Who's the new guy?" he asked.
"Veemon," replied Gatomon.
"Hey George, guess what?" said Agumon, "Tai, TK, and Kari came back today! Isn't that great?"
George momentarily stiffened at the thought of the other's return, but he recovered quickly and said, "yeah Agumon that's great!"
He appeared to be in deep thought for a moment, but then he continued.
"Tell you what," he said, "I can escort you to a safe haven, and then I'll pay the others a visit…they need to understand what…or more accurately who they're up against."
Narrator: What is the Digimon Emperor's next plan, and will the new Digidestined be up to the challenge of defeating him? A new adventure has just begun on Digimon: Digital Monsters!
21: Not bad for a first chapter eh?
Sponsor: It's a little longer than your other stories' normal chapters wouldn't you say?
21: The funny thing is, this chapter's actually one of the shorter ones. Episode 5 (which I'm currently working on) is set to be longer than any of these chapters so far.
George: ...is there any reason these chapters are going to be longer?
21: Yeah, there's a lot more going on in this story than in my other stories.
George: that makes sense...
21: One last thing. I had a little difficulty with the spacers (horizontal rulers) in this chapter, so some of them may appear where they shouldn't...it's not a big deal though.
Sponsor: can we go now?
21: Yes, but we'll be back in a bit with chapter 2!
Sponsor: Oh joy...