Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon
Chapter One
Disintegration
Hawong glared at them.
In the last six months, the Digidestined had essentially been forced into his service. Since then, all fourteen of them had at one time or another done something they hadn't wanted to do, or had been forced to act against their natures. Most of them were grouchy, and Hawong was using them to carry out his schemes across Japan, doing everything from defusing potentially lethal stations to ending hostage crises. However, his control of the group had prevented them from mounting an effective search for the remaining four members of the Eighteen, reducing their effectiveness. While that happened, evil's power was apparently growing in the Digital World. As a result, the Sovereigns were becoming grouchy, and the Digidestined even more so. Tension had spread between the group, and there was tension even between the four relationships. Tempers were high, and most of them certainly didn't trust the Prime Minister, as his motives were unclear and his use of them rankled a lot, as they were not used to reporting to people.
"You want us to bust out criminals?" Davis demanded angrily.
Hawong nodded grimly.
"Criminals or not, the Chinese have no business arresting them if the offences are committed in our waters." he pointed out.
Kari sighed,
"Prime Minister, the Chinese have legitimate complaints. Cant w just let them have them? They are criminals." she said grumpily.
Hawong shook his head stubbornly.
"No. They are Japanese citizens, and if it got out what you said, things could be very unfortunate for you…." Hawong threatened.
Ken rolled his eyes. Hawong liked to use the possibility of doing them for treason to get to them. It nearly immediately brought about a lot of bowing and scraping that infuriated Ken, but had to be done to keep Hawong on side. After all, he did control them personally, and had allowed them to be paid wages for what they did, even if it did hamper their Digidestined activities.
"With all due respect Prime Minister, we have our own work to do!" Cody proclaimed boldly.
Hawong smiled smugly.
"Oh yes. This imaginary war of yours. When I see proof of this war, I may believe you. However, until then you must forgive my scepticism. Until I see proof of this so-called war, I will not allow you to be free of my service. It's most likely an attempt to get out of doing what you are required to by the elected government." Hawong hissed.
Davis narrowed his eyes. The fact that they had been an independent group outside the control of the government had upset Hawong, so much so that he had brought them under his firm, individual control. Hawong considered them nothing more than self appointed vigilantes, who caused more damage than the ones they were actually fighting managed to cause. What was more, their recent brush with extinction had also been used by Hawong's propaganda experts to try and undermine the Digidestined's position. While it hadn't worked so far, TK and others thought it was only a matter of time. And the fact that Hawong didn't believe about the prophecy, despite all fourteen members of the group telling him about it didn't help them much either, and many of them, Tai, Davis and Rana, being the leaders, were getting tired of it.
Their parents had formed a pressure group to try and force Hawong to release them from his control, but the Diet had blocked it, apparently without Hawong's backing. Despite this, their parents were still pressing to free them, but as Hawong and the Diet were both thoroughly anti-Digidestined, they didn't have much chance of doing so.
Davis sighed, knowing that arguing the point would be pointless.
"Where are these criminals that we're to spring?" he asked.
"On board a Chinese patrol frigate." Hawong answered, steepling his fingers.
"You cant be serious. The Chinese will shoot us down." Yolei said worriedly.
"Then you will have to be careful so as to avoid getting shot wont you. Dismissed." Hawong said, returning to his paperwork.
Davis swept from the office, taking the rest of the group with him.
"Oh I so want to punch him. First he takes us under his control, then he gets us to be his dogsbodies and then he alienates us as well, and now he's having us risk our lives!" TK shouted angrily.
"Shh! Keep your voice down. We don't know who is reporting to him and who isn't." Kari said, though she did admit she was tired of the political manoeuvring that Hawong was doing.
Yolei sighed.
"How did we get involved in politics?" she asked irritably.
"By defeating Diaboromon and not getting killed in the process." Cody grumbled.
The group walked down the stairs of the government building in Odaiba, which Hawong had moved to to boost the area's economy apparently. However, Izzy and Joe had grumbled that he had only done it to be able to keep a closer eye on the Digidestined who so thoroughly detested him.
"Have the others made any headway?" Yolei asked.
"No. They've been searching all the government records, one of the few perks this job has, but nothing." Cody said sadly.
Ken sighed.
"They can hardly expect to make progress with him calling them away every few hours." He moaned.
Yolei, who obviously thought the grumble was directed at her, turned and glared at him.
"I wasn't being impatient! I know we cant to much while we're in his thrall!" she hissed, and stormed outside.
Ken rolled his eyes grumpily and slammed the door to the bathroom.
"What is going on with them?" Davis asked.
Kari shrugged.
"Your his best friend, you found out. Rana and I have asked Yolei but she's saying nothing." She said sadly.
"Well whatever it is it's dangerous. Remember what Ghoulmon nearly did to us when we were at each other's throats? With the Ultimate Evil, and Hawong, getting stronger we cant afford not to be united." TK said darkly.
Cody sighed.
"I know. Right, let's go. The sooner we go the sooner we're back." Cody said.
Kari took TK's arm as they set off, and Ken walked past them and ignored Yolei as he passed, who stuck her nose in the air in response.
"Honey...I have a really bad feeling about this." She moaned.
TK's brow furrowed in concern.
"About everything in general, or just this mission?" he asked.
"Both. Something's...happening. Something isn't right. There's a lot more going on here than we know. And it's making me uneasy." She said.
TK looked apprehensive.
"I know. I think there's more going on here. Hawong taking control just doesn't quite fit. It's weird. And with the others all getting ready for their final exams..."
"We're left to pick up the slack. I've never known Tai so grumpy." She said, taking his hand as they walked to the pier so Armadillomon could digivolve.
"He does need them to get into uni. So does Mimi, Sora and Matt. And Rana, Izzy and Sam's exams are important too." He said.
She nodded.
"About time. Now isn't the time for a romantic stroll." Davis said grumpily.
"Oh stop whining, just because Rana is dating someone in her class and not you." Cody said irritably.
Davis spluttered, and Kari rolled her eyes. It was common knowledge that Davis fancied Rana, and he had been incredibly bad tempered when he had found out she had started dating the captain of the hockey team.
Ken whistled, and the Digimon, who weren't allowed into the building on Hawong's orders, as he believed they may be spying for the government in the Digital World, appeared, looking grumpy.
"What took you so long? You do realise your exams start next week? We cant keep running errands for Hawong." Hawkmon grumbled.
"We know. Now let's go. Apparently this frigate we're meant to be catching is already going home." Cody said.
"Whoa, frigate? As in an armed war vessel?" Armadillomon demanded.
"Yes." Yolei said uncertainly.
"He's lost all sense of reason! You're kids!" Gatomon squeaked.
"We've been fighting for years Gato. This is nothing new." Kari said wistfully.
"Yes it is. Now he's having us fight other humans, ones who may kill you! This is wrong!"
"We know. But we have no choice. Now let's go quickly so I can do some Chemistry revision when I get back." TK said.
The Digimon looked unhappy, but complied.
"Veemon armour digivolve to...Raidramon, the Storm of Friendship!"
"Hawkmon armour digivolve to...Halsemon, the Wings of Love!"
"Armadillomon armour digivolve to...Submarimon, the Vessel of Reliability!"
"Patamon armour digivolve to...Pegasusmon, the Flying Hope!"
"Gatomon armour digivolve to...Nefertimon, the Angel of Light!"
"Wormmon digivolve to...Stingmon!"
The Digimon then set off, bound for their mission.
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Hawong watched as the team of six set off. Everything was going according to plan, and soon events would be in motion.
"Well done Hawong."
Hawong leapt about a foot in the air as a tall, dark figure with long arms materialised.
"Must you do that every time?" Hawong asked irritably, smoothing his suit down.
"What can I say, it's fun." The figure said, then looked out at the vanishing kids.
"Dont worry, they suspect nothing." Hawong assured him.
"Remember our deal Hawong. Keep them occupied as long as possible. The longer they cant look for the Eighteen's remaining members, the better off my allies and I will be." He said.
"I am, and provided you have kept your part of the bargain up my friend, soon they will be up to their ears in problems." Hawong assured his ally as he sat down.
This shadowy figure was the one who had ensured Hawong would become Prime Minister during the election. Their mutual hatred of the Digidestined made them natural allies. However, while Hawong only wanted them controlled, his shadowy counterpart wanted something much more.
"We have. I thought I would give you a heads up by the way. Daemon will soon be here."
Hawong groaned. Yet more damage.
"Must he?"
"Yes. But fear not, he will deal with the Digidestined."
Hawong sniffed. He had promised the same about Diaoboromon before the blasted spider had gone out of control and had nearly destroyed the world.
"If you say so. You couldn't delay him a bit though could you? The kids are starting their exams soon, and I don't want them moaning at me when I call them because they've been dealing with one of you lot."
The shadowy figure grinned wickedly.
"I doubt it, but I will ask him."
"Thank you." Hawong said.
The shadowy figure smiled.
"Our time is upon us. A while more....and then we shall know victory. And you shall know power." He promised, and vanished.
Hawong smiled. All was going according to plan.
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"Davis, you do know that your relationship with the Chinese is bad as it is?" Raidramon asked as he galloped across the water.
"Yeah. And this will only make it worse. But Hawong wants it done sadly."
Raidramon growled as they sped over the ocean. And then finally, they saw their quarry.
The Jiangwei class frigate was headed back to China. It was a long, silver vessel, narrow and armed with heavy guns. Attacking it wouldn't be good, but they had to do it.
"We shouldn't be here." Cody said sadly.
"Agreed. But we need to do it, or we get thrown in the nick." Davis grumbled.
Kari gave a disgruntled sigh.
"Good luck. Dont get killed." She said, and they attacked.
"Thunder Blast!" Raidramon yelled, and electricity smashed into the frigate, grinding it to a halt as it's circuits fried up.
"Oxygen Torpedo!" Submarimon said, and his attack smashed into their engines, bringing them to a dead stop.
"Star Shower!" Pegasusmon said, scattering the defending troops on the deck.
The soldiers on the ship were gesturing up at the attacking Digimon, and raising their weapons.
"Rosetta Stone!" Nfertimon yelled, and the slab crashed into the deck, sending them scurrying for cover.
"Tempest Wing!" Halsemon boomed, knocking some troops off of the higher levels.
"Submarimon, let's go before they recover!" Cody said from inside his friend.
"Oxygen Torpedo!"
A hole was blown in the side of the frigate, and as bullets started to ring out, Stingmon flew in and deposited Ken, then kept watch as Ken undid the door.
"You're here for us? Why?" a man asked.
Ken scowled.
"Because Hawong wanted us to bust you out. God knows why. How many of you are there?"
"There's four of us." The man said.
"Good. Stingmon, we'll take one, so can Yolei, TK and Kari." He said as the men left their cell.
"Ken, this is all very good, but can we go? We have company!" Stingmon shouted as three soldiers came down the stairs, guns ready.
The team of five dropped to the floor as bullets rang throughout the metal corridor.
"Spiking Strike!" Stingmon snarled.
The purple beam knocked them off their feet, as Nefertimon, Pegasusmon and Halsemon arrived. A man climbed onto each Digimon, and another held onto Stingmon as he flew away from the frigate.
Outside, a full battle was raging. Machine guns mounted on the railings were blaring away, trying to hit the kids as they made off with the prisoners. Heavy shells then started thudding from the guns, narrowly missing Submarimon, who swore.
"Time to go." He said, swimming for the shore.
"If we get out of range, we'll be safe." Cody said.
"Yeah, they cant go anywhere." Raidramon said, turning tail as bullets zinged past him.
The six of them made their escape, the bullets missing them as the soldiers ran out of range. However, there was then a whooshing sound, and Kari screamed in alarm.
The Chinese had fired a rocket.
It sped towards them, menacingly approaching ever closer.
"If that hits us they wont find the bits!" Ken yelled as Stingmon flew faster.
The Digimon flew faster, and they breathed a sigh of relief as the missile started to plummet. It then exploded.
The shockwave hit Nefertimon, who was last in the line and knocked her for six. Kari was jerked off, as was the one she was rescuing.
"KARI!" TK screamed in panic.
Gatomon screamed as she fell, then it occurred to her she could do something about it.
"Gatomon warp digivolve to...Magnadramon!"
The pink dragon dove and caught Kari and the man on her back. TK sighed in relief as Magnadramon flew upwards.
"Thanks pal." Kari breathed heavily, scratching the dragon's ear.
"Hermit Fog!"
Fog appeared and allowed them to flee unharrased any further.
"They haven't the foggiest idea of how to catch us." Pegasusmon said cheerfully.
Magnadramon groaned in despair at the bad joke as they flew for home.
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Hawong eyed them dangerously.
"When I gave you the mission, I assumed you would do a stealth job, not try and blow up the damned boat!" he shouted angrily.
"They tried to blow up us!" Kari growled angrily.
"What?" Hawong demanded, thrown by this information.
"They had missiles on their ship." Davis supplied, looking angry.
"Really? They shouldn't be doing that, they aren't meant to have heavy weapons when in Japanese waters. This may help us save some face." He said, sitting down.
"And does it really matter how we did it? We got your men off their ship didn't we?" TK demanded, his arm protectively around Kari.
Hawong sighed in exasperation.
"That is your problem! You achieve the end, but the means leave a trail of wreckage! And there's a diplomatic incident on top of all of this too to go with it!" he yelled.
They all glared at one another.
"Then why didn't you just leave them alone? The Chinese had legitimate reason to arrest them, and we interfered on your orders." Cody said darkly.
Hawong narrowed his eyes in dislike.
"Mind your tone boy. I can make you disappear remember." He said menacingly.
Davis stood in front of Cody, flanked by Ken.
"Remember, you get rid of any of us, we all go." Davis said, scowling.
"Indeed? I shall remember that." Hawong said in a sickly voice, grinning evilly.
The door then banged open, revealing a furious Tai and Matt.
"I figured you two would show up." Hawong said disdainfully.
"You sent them against an armed frigate?" Tai demanded furiously.
"Tai..." Kari said, trying to take his arm, but he jerked her off.
"You sent them into a situation where they might be killed!" Matt roared angrily.
Hawong rose to his feet, steeling himself for a fight. Then, both of TK's parents entered, stony faced, as did Kari's, and then all the others arrived too, all clamouring at Hawong. Hawong cursed, and waved his hand in dismissal to the Digidestined who made good their escape.
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At the end of the day, all of the Digidestined assembled in Tai's apartment for some much needed r and r. They were all clutching drinks, and the couples were wrapped around each other, Sora resting on Matt's side as he lay on the couch, Kari sitting with her arms around TK as she sat on his lap, Mimi sitting with her head against Joe's shoulder on the seat and Sam was lying across Izzy's lap.
"Well, I went back two hours ago to drop off the files we had and your parents were still in giving it lalldy." Joe said smugly.
"Hawong's gone too far this time. He'll have to back down, and free us from his dumb service." Sora grumbled.
"Sora, do you really think Hawong will back down? I thought you weren't as naive as that. Hawong will not back down, not when he has the support of the anti-Digidestined Diet. He's got us and there's nothing we can do." Rana said.
Tai nodded grimly.
"She's right. We're stuck with it." He complained.
Agumon sighed.
"And we cant search for the other members of the Eighteen because he's enslaved you! The Ultimate Evil is only getting stronger, and we're having to waste time doing his bidding." He growled.
"Agreed. And the Sovereigns are getting cranky. They don't think you're doing enough." Wizardmon said from the side of the room.
Gatomon hissed.
"Well they're partly to blame anyway. If they'd told us before hand we wouldn't be in this mess." She said.
"True." Wizardmon conceded.
"And we cant run around after them all the time. They can look occasionally too rather than just getting us to do it! We need to report to Hawong, and they all have exams!" Biyomon chirped angrily.
"We know, we know. And Gennai is trying to talk them down." Arukenimon said as she washed some dishes for Tai.
Silence emanated for a bit, until Sam spoke up.
"What do you think the Chinese will do?" she asked curiously.
TK frowned.
"Impose sanctions as the very least. You do realise we're going to get the blame? Not Hawong, or his government, us, on our own." He said tonelessly.
"But why? People know you were acting on his orders." Mimi said in confusion.
"Yeah, but do you think Hawong is going to let that out? Even if he did, he'd just say he expected us to use stealth, and we'd still be in the doghouse." Ken moaned.
"And if we called him on it he'd call us liars. After all, who's the public going to believe? Him or us?" Cody asked mournfully.
"Hawong has done very well at turning the public against us." Izzy scowled.
Tentomon shook his head.
"This was always going to happen I think. Diaboromon nearly wiping us out again was going to turn people against you anyway as we took so long to stop him. He's not stupid. He's just building on resentment that was already there." He said.
"My worry is that he got you to risk your lives for this one. Fair enough, the hostage situation in the shopping mall last month could have gotten deadly, but there was little chance of things getting that out of hand. This was different, he was sending you to bust people from the grip of armed, trained soldiers." Candlemon said worriedly.
"He's right. His demands get more unreasonable each time." Veemon said.
"We're stuck with them sadly." Palmon said hopelessly.
"Yeah. He's been making us do some weird things. Shutting down that pressure group? Isnt that a violation of their rights?" Armadillomon said.
"It is. And they were pacifists, not going to harm anyone. So why get rid of them?" Matt asked rhetorically.
"And sending us to arrest that opposition MP? Isnt that overkill?" Joe asked, waving his hand.
"Just a bit." Gomamon said.
Davis narrowed his eyes.
"Something's going on here. Something beyond all of us."
"I reckon you're right. His turning you into a private army and then making you public pariahs...it doesn't make sense. There's more going on here I fear." Mummymon said as he dried the dishes.
"Exactly. There's a whole lot more. This was never about us. He wants something else." Rana said worriedly.
"Yeah...but what?" Patamon asked.
"I don't know. He's a politician. You can trust them. Him especially." Tai said.
"What do we do?" Tsukimon asked.
Ken sighed.
"We cant do anything, until we find out his motives for all this."
Tai looked around at them all darkly, looking exhausted.
"Then we had better do it fast."
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Daemon smiled as he viewed the shimmering portal before him, showing him the tired, drawn and wan Digidestined. Their stress levels were high, and things weren't going to get any better any time soon. In fact, he smiled, they were going to get a whole lot worse.
"Are we ready at last?" LadyDevimon asked.
"Yes. Prepare the army." Daemon ordered happily.
"Revenge will be ours Digidestined!" WaruSeadramon hissed delightedly.
"Indeed. Bring everyone my dear." Daemon said to LadyDevimon as she left.
"And this time, they will not escape through lucky chance." Parrotmon squawked happily.
Daemon nodded, then raised his hands to the air.
"Hear this Digidestined! I, Daemon, the Demon Lord of Wrath, will unleash my vengeance upon you and destroy you! My time has come! Let my revenge begin!"
He then started laughing madly, and the Triad joined him as he did so.
We are back!
Digimon has begun once again, and it is Daemon who is our enemy this time, along with a resurrected Triad! What will this mean for the Digidestined?
This story is going to be a little different from the others, as much of it depends on things in the real world, as you may have guessed, in relation to Hawong's scheming. But, it is all necessary for the final story, so please bear with me!
Hawong, despite his hatred of them, is working with an evil Digimon. And, I've decided to reveal him next time, as he is relatively important with what Daemon has planned, so stay tuned for that!
Next time, we also meet two new members of the Eighteen! You may even recognise one.
Yolei and Ken's problems will be revealed later also, I promise you.
What are Hawong's ulterior motives? What has his shadowy ally promised him? And what interest do they have in it?
A lot more scheming is to come as Daemon launches his attack next time! There is romance, new allies, new (sort of) enemies, scheming, and fighting and a surprise later on! Old friends return and new things are revealed!
So, please read, review and enjoy, and this story should be longer than the other ones, not as long as Covenant Strikes Back, but certainly longer than the others we've had recently!
So, thanks for reading and please read and review! Until next time!
