A/N: Don't ask me how it happened, but I got really hyped to continue this story and have been writing the entire day. My fingers are going to ache for days after this! *Shudders*. Anyway, before we get into this there is something I want to adress and that is the characters' ages.
I write this story on the basis that Davis was 6-7 years old when he first entered the Digital World and that Kari and TK were 8-9 years old at the time of Adventure 01 (putting the two events with 2 years apart from each other, as they are the same age in the present day). In the present day, Davis, Kari and TK are 12 years old, running on 13. Izzy is two years older than them, meaning he is around 15 years old at the start of the story, and he is in turn 1 year younger than Tai, Sora, Matt and Mimi, which puts them at 16 years old (the second year of High School, at least where I live).
Hopefully, that cleared it up somewhat for you. If you got any questions, feel free to ask them and I'll answer as best I can without spoiling the future plot. Now, go ahead and enjoy the second chapter!
Disclaimer: I don't own the Digimon Franchise. If I did, you wouldn't be reading this here. You would've watched it as the second season of Digimon.
Chapter Two: Digital Once Again
"Hey Kari, you in there? You'll never guess who..."
Taichi Kamiya froze on the doorstep to his little sister's room. There, sitting opposite to Kari on the girl's bed, was her best friend Davis Motomiya. While that in itself wasn't a problem, it was more the fact that Tai himself was carrying Kari's Digimon Partner, Gatomon, in his arms that made him freeze up. When he had run into the little feline digimon on his way back home after his first day back in High School, he had become so estatic and happy for his little sister that he hadn't even considered the risk that there might be someone with her that shouldn't know about the Digital World. He had been careless.
To his surprise however, Davis didn't seem surprised at the appearence of the strange creature in Tai's arms. He blinked a few times as he looked at it, before he turned to glance at Kari from out of the corner of his eye. As always when he was thinking, Tai felt like he could practically hear the gears turning in that brilliant child prodigy brain of his. What he said next however, would forever be imprinted into Tai's memory.
"I take it that the Gatomon over there is your partner, Kari?" Davis asked the girl sitting opposite to him.
Tai felt like someone had kneed him in his mid-section and caused him to lose his breath. He slowly turned to stare at his sister with disbelieving eyes. After having kept it a secret for all this time, even after his and Sora's constant warnings not to tell Davis (well, not to tell anyone at all, but Davis had been the only one Kari had really wanted to tell) anything about their adventures in the Digital World...
"You told him?!"
The sound of his voice seemed to snap Kari out of whatever state she had been put in by the sudden re-appearence of her partner. She shook her head wildly as her mind processed what her big brother was accusing her off.
"No Tai, it's not what it looks like! I didn't tell him anything, Davis figured it out on his own! He's a digidestined, just like us! Look, he's got his own Digivice!" Kari said and lifted Davis' hand into the air to show Tai the gray and blue object.
It took a few seconds before Tai's mind caught up with what Kari had said, but once it did his eyes immediately travelled to the device that his young friend was holding. Like his sister just a few minutes before him, he quickly came to the same conclussion that even if it did look a little different from the ones he and his friends had received during their first adventure, there was no doubt that it was a digivice.
Two mental shocks in the span of just one hour. That was almost too much, even for someone as headstrong as Tai. Feeling as if someone had hit him atop his head with a really hard soccerball, Tai sat down on the floor to keep himself from fainting.
"Davis is a digidestined?" he repeated, dumbfonded by this new turn of events.
While Tai and Davis stared at each other, the feline that the older boy had been holding on to had wrestled its way loose from his grip and run over to her partner. Kari's cry of joy at being reunited with Gatomon was however lost on the two boys who had both thought that they knew pretty much anything there was to know about the other. They had been as close as brothers, and yet they had both been keeping something like this from each other?
Davis felt a headache building up behind his forehead. This was just all too much. Kari was one thing, but Tai as well? How come everyone he knew suddenly had a Digimon and on top of that seemed to have known about the Digital World for quite some time? Groaning at the broader implications this held, he broke eye contact with his older brother-figure and pinched the bridge of his nose.
This was no coincidence.
If there was anything that had been beaten into his head during his previous adventure in the Digital World, it was that any contact a human had with a Digimon was not coincidential. There was always a reason as to why that particular human had met that particular Digimon at that particular point in time. When he had first been pulled into the Digital World, the first Digimon he had come across was Veemon, the digimon that would go on to become his partner and he knew that the same had applied to both Ken and Ryo. If both Tai and Kari were Digidestined, they had been made that for a reason.
"Wait, what happened to your tailring?!" Kari's voice brought the two boys out of their stupor.
Frowning, Davis looked over to his side, where Kari and Gatomon had broken up their joyful embrace. His eyes immediately darted to the feline's tail and noticed that, indeed, it was lacking its trademark Holy Ring. While he was in no way an expert on different digimon and their abilities and traits (that was more Ken's area. He had always been the most observant out of the three of them), he knew that a digimon that was in possession of a Holy Ring tended to be severely weakened if they lost it.
One look at Gatomon's face was all the answer he needed to know that the same applied to this one. Her ears slumped and the happy smile that had graced its face at being reunited with her partner disappeared to be replaced with sad expression that let Davis know that something wasn't right. Something told him that they were in for a long explanation about what was wrong, and if his instincts were correct, he wouldn't like it.
-:TCD:-
"So this Digimon Emperor just came out of nowhere and began enslaving digimon left and right?" Tai scratched his chin in thought.
They were currently seated in the Kamiya Family's living room, with Kari sitting on the couch with Gatomon in her lap while Tai and Davis occupied the sofa. The distress in Gatomon's expression had been enough to calm the questions that burned within both the Kamiya siblings, and their arguably best friend, at least for the time being. As soon as they had settled down, Gatomon had went on to tell them about the Digimon Emperor and how he appeared seemingly out of thin air and began enslaving digimon by using these Dark Rings.
"That's right. And he's also built a lot of these tower-like things called Control Spires, that transmits some kind of energy field across the area where they're located that keeps digimon from digivolving any further." Gatomon went on to explain.
"But that's horrible! We've got to do something!" Kari exclaimed, before turning to her older brother. "We can do something, right Tai?"
Tai was quiet for a few minutes. Kari was right, they had to do something. However, there was one thing that could, or rather would, become a problem for them. They had no way to transport themselves to the Digital World at this point in time. Everytime they had gone there in the past, they had been summoned by Gennai for one reason or another, and then he had opened the gate for them. They had no idea how to open a gate of their own.
"I wish we could, but how are we gonna get there?" he asked miserably.
Kari just stared at her brother's troubled face as if she didn't want to believe what he had just said, before she realized that he was right. She felt her heart sink in her chest and she bit her lip in frustration as she thought about all the poor digimon that had been enslaved by the Emperor. It made her feel so helpless to know what was happening in the Digital World at this very moment, yet not being able to do anything about it.
Davis had been quiet throughout Gatomon's tale. The way the feline described the Digital World as a peaceful place had seemed odd to him, but he had refrained from commenting on it, as to not draw any attention to himself and his previous adventure. However, something had struck him as even more odd than that and that was the fact that as Gatomon explained about the state the Digital World was in right now, both Kari and Tai had seemed... distressed. It was as if they wanted to go there.
As he studied the faces of his two best friends, he soon realized why that was. They both still had friends there. Both of their partners and probably the rest of their group's partners were still alive! Thinking back to the way he himself had acted before Veemon's death, he realized that if his friends had survived that final clash with Milleniummon, he probably would've been more eager to go back there and help as well. Regardless of how he felt now, the Digital World had brought him some of the greatest joys of his life. It wasn't until he lost Veemon, Wormmon, Monodramon and Ryo that he had developed the mindset that the two worlds should remain separated.
He clenched his fist in frustration. Tai and Kari might not have a way to get to the Digital World, but he did. When he had been transported there the first time, it had been through his dad's computer screen after he had picked up a strange S.O.S email that contained a gateway to the Digital World. The gate had closed itself once he had returned there since the dimensional barrier had been repaired after he gave up his Crest of Miracles to restore the worlds to their original state, but that's what the mysterious stranger from that morning had been trying to say.
"Your worlds have been connected."
He had been trying to tell Davis that the barrier had become unstable again, enough so to create a gateway between the Real World and the Digital World. Even though it had been 6 years since then, Davis still had the portal downloaded on his computer. If he just tapped into it and modified it slightly, he felt confident that he would be able to tear it open by force if the barrier really had become unstable.
"But there must be something we can do!" Kari's voice brought Davis out of his thoughts.
The girl had rose out of her seat and clenched her fist in frustration, though her frustration was obviously for another reason than her best friend. Despite that, she was looking at her older brother with determination clearly evident in her otherwise soft brown eyes. As Davis gazed into her eyes, he felt himself caught between a rock and a hard place. Kari wanted so badly to go help her partner fight in the Digital World, and he had the key to fulfill that desire.
On one hand, he could help his best friend and tear open a gateway to the Digital World to allow her the chance to save her friends. The problem with that was, he himself didn't want to open a gate to that place. His last adventure had left him with a wish to never ever return to that place, and he wanted even less to risk putting Kari of all people in harms way by sending her there.
On the other hand, seeing the desperation in his friend's eyes he wanted so badly to put her fears to rest. Kari meant the world to him, and to see her like this made him feel horrible when he knew that he might be able to do something about it. If he were to be honest, Kari was probably the only reason he had even managed to stay remotely sane after he had returned from the Digital World, traumatized and paranoid as he had become. Those first weeks back in the Real World he had barely been able to keep it together, but Kari's unwavering friendship had shone to him like a light at the end of a dark cave.
"When hard times approach, there is always a choice. The choice between doing what is right, and what is easy."
When Lord Azulongmon had first spoken those words to him all those years ago, he hadn't understood exactly what he meant. But as he was torn between granting his best friend her wish to go to the Digital World, and his own desire to stay away from that place, he felt like he finally understood the meaning behind those words. It was about having the courage to do what he knew he had to do, rather than what he wanted to do. He was going to end up doing something he didn't want to do regardless of what he chose, and if that was the case then he'd rather help his friend.
"Guys." he spoke up quietly, feeling his heart waver in his chest in response to what he was about to do. "I think I might know of a way to open a gate to the Digital World."
At this, three pairs of eyes quickly turned to stare at him. However, Davis sole focus was directed at Kari, and what he saw made his chest ease up a little. Seeing the desperation slowly disappear from her eyes to be replaced by hope, he felt a strange warmness spread throughout his entire body, knowing that he had been the one to light that hope in his best friend's eyes. He knew that he had made the right choice.
-:TCD:-
Barely half an hour later, a small group of children had gathered together in the Odaiba Elementary School Computer lab. In the short time that had passed, Tai had managed to get ahold of Izzy and TK, and as soon as the two of them had heard what was going on they had come rushing to meet up with the two Kamiya siblings and their best friend. While Tai would've preferred to have gathered the entire team, the others were busy with Tennis Practice, rehearsing and additional medical studies respectively (not to mention that one of them were living on the other side of the globe) so a group of 5 would have to do.
Davis was rapidly tapping away at his computer, while Izzy was watching his every move with interest and fascination. As Izzy was a year younger than Tai, Sora and Matt, and Davis had been moved up two years in his education a few years back, the two of them had shared classes for a while and knew each other from group study projects. They had both been equally stunned to find out that the other was a Digidestined as well, but after the revealation that his two best friends had known about the Digital World all along, Davis had just shrugged it off and muttered something about "the irony of fate".
As he quickly solved the advanced equations that were ingrained in the sealed Digital Portal, Davis began to grow anxious. He was really going back. After all this time of hating the place for what it had done to him, one sad look from Kari had been enough to persuade him to come back to the Digital World once more. Quite frankly, it scared him a little that Kari seemed to hold such a high influence over him, but what scared him even more was the thought of what could happen once they arrived. When Tai had briefed TK and Izzy on the situation, Davis had picked up enough of their conversation to figure out that all of them still had their partners, so they would probably be okay. He however, didn't have a partner anymore. Once they arrived, he would be like a sitting duck.
"Alright, here goes nothing." he said out loud as he put the finishing touches to his work.
As if on cue, all 5 of the Digidestined that had gathered unhooked their Digivices from their belts. A quick glance at them showed Davis that they all had the same model as Kari and Tai, the same one that he had once had. Taking a deep breath, he stood up from his seat and backed away so that they all could see what they were dealing with.
"Here's how it'll work. I'm going to use my Digivice to tear open a rift in the Dimensional Barrier. Normally, this would be impossible but the barrier have become unstable enough so that I've been able to establish a connection between our world, and the Digital World through this computer. Once the rift has opened, you guys should be able to use your Digivices to follow after me."
He then turned to Izzy specifically.
"However, meddling with the Dimensional Barrier is risky and there is a chance that I'll either be stuck on the other side, or get stuck in between the worlds. If that happens to any of us, the barrier will most likely close itself up again. Therefore, I want you to remain here until the others have made it through so if something happens, you'll be able to tear it re-establish the connection. You remembered how to, right?"
The older boy nodded, his eyes the very embodyment of determination. He knew perfectly well that meddling with the barrier could be dangerous and the way Davis had explained it to him while he worked, he had understood that what they were doing now was not a natural procedure. If something happened, they would need an anchor here in the Real World in case they needed to be pulled back. While he was a little put off that he wouldn't get to go, he understood the importance of the task he would be shouldering.
"You guys better make sure Tentomon is alright for me." he said to no one in particular, but his gaze lingered on Tai specifically as he said it.
"Of course." the old leader said and put a hand firmly on his friend's shoulder. "I'd rather die than let one of our friends get hurt. You know that, Izzy."
Over where she stood with TK, Kari twisted uncomfortably at the firmness of her brother's voice. There was no doubt in her mind that he meant every one of those words and that if it came down to it he wouldn't hesitate to sacrifice himself to keep the others safe, and the thought of it unnerved her greatly.
"Let's hope it doesn't come to that." TK spoke up as he noticed how uncomfortable Kari had become. "We'll just get in there, make sure our friends are all right, and then come right back. As much as I hate to admit it, we don't have neither the time, nor the strength to save the entire world right now so we shouldn't linger too long, especially not if the portal is as unstable as Davis says."
Davis, who had been watching the group's interaction with slight envy, nodded. He had forgotten what it felt like to be part of a team. After their last adventure, he and Ken had kind of just drifted apart, each too caught up in their own grieving to care about the other. As he watched this group of friends, that had been through so much together, he silently swore that no matter what happened, he wouldn't let the Digital World tear this group apart the way it had tore his own group apart.
With that resolve in mind, he turned towards the screen and held out his Digivice. He took a deep breath and focused on the power within him, the power he knew had been resting inside him since their defeat of Milleniummon. As he felt the familiar and intimidating aura rise in his chest, a certain spot on his neck began to burn fiercly and he had to bite his jaws tightly together to keep himself from reacting to it. He hated the thought of using this power, but it was the only way to tear the gate open.
"Well, what're we waiting for? Let's go!" he said firmly and held out his Digivice. "Digi-Port open!"
Just as the words left his lips, a blue light erupted from the screen and engulfed him. As Kari, Tai and TK mirrored Davis and held out their Digivices towards the screen, the light grew to engulf them as well and a second later, they were being sucked into the computer. Izzy had to resist the urge to pull out his own Digivice, but he managed to keep his arms firmly by his sides. As the light faded, he stared at the spot where his friends had been just a second ago, before he let out a sigh and pulled up a chair so he could monitor the state of the portal.
"Good luck, guys." he said. "I'm counting on you."
-:TCD:-
The first thing that Davis noticed as they landed in the Digital World was a throbbing pain in his neck. Unable to contain it, he let out a loud curse and grabbed his neck with his left hand, where the burning sensation was emanating from. However, it only took a second before the pain faded and he could breathe a sigh of relief.
'Dammit.' he though as he managed the spot with his hand. 'I knew it would hurt, but why did it have to be the neck?'
However, he soon got other things to think about as the sound of a loud beeping broke him out of his thoughts. Beside him, both TK and Tai had stood up with their Digivices in their hands, and the beeping seemed to come from them. The devices were reacting to the physical prescence of their partners, a prescence they hadn't felt for such a long time. It wasn't as flashy as it had been when Gatomon had crossed over to the Real World (Davis assumed that was the reason Kari's Digivice had lit up in the locker earlier) but it was still the last proof he needed to know that their partners were still alive and unharmed.
"Wow, I can't believe we're really back!" TK exclaimed excitedly, before he began turning his Digivice around to try and determine in which direction his partner was located.
"Yeah, it's been 4 years." Tai said as he mirrored TK's actions.
Carefully, Davis stood up and looked around. They were in a clearing of some sort, surrounded by lots and lots of strangely bent trees. It all looked so familiar to him, like the first time he had entered the Digital World. There wasn't even a sign of Milleniummon's Rampage, it was as if the fearsome Composition Digimon had never existed. Seeing this kind of serenity in the Digital World again, Davis had a hard time identifying this as the same place as the scorched wasteland that it had been reduced to after his last adventure here.
"Hey, Davis? Are you okay?"
Shaking his head to clear it of those depressing thoughts, Davis spun around to find Kari looking at him with a worried expression. Beside her, Gatomon was looking around with suspicion, as if she expected something to jump out at her at any given moment. Which, given her retelling of the recent events, wouldn't be too farfetched of a suspicion to be honest.
"I'm fine. I just didn't expect..." he froze half way through his sentence as his instincts suddenly went highwire and gave him a second's warning that something was coming their way. "Look out!"
Acting on instinct, he grabbed Kari and pulled her to the ground with him. The girl let out a surprised cry, that drew the attention of the remaining two members of their small group, and just in time too.
"Volcanic Strike!" a guttural voice echoed through the clearing, as a rain of fireballs flew out of the bushes a few feet away from them and just barely missed the 4 children.
Tai and TK followed Davis example and threw themselves to the ground as another round of fireballs rained down at them. Cursing loudly, Davis wasted no time in pulling Kari to her feet again as soon as the fireballs had stopped raining down on them. If they wanted to get out of this alive, they would need to be on their feet so they could react to the threat at a moments notice. If they were on the ground, they were literally just sitting ducks.
"Is everyone alright?" he asked as his eyes darted to the spot where the attack had come from.
As he received a collective "I think so" from the other three, a Monochromon walked into the area, wearing a Dark Ring around its abdomen. Davis felt adrenaline pump through his veins at the sight of the Digital Monster. He grit his teeth as his eyes quickly scanned through the area for any additional threats. The attack from earlier had set the grass in the clearing on fire, so they would have to move out as soon as possible, but the Monochromon was blocking the only exit that wasn't covered in flames.
"Lightning Paw!" a shout was heard as Gatomon descended on the offending digimon and slashed at its face. It barely had any effect, if any at all, and the Monochromon didn't hesitate to retaliate by swinging its head around and knock Gatomon back towards the group. The feline digimon cried out in pain as she hit the ground hard a few feet ahead of the group and rolled over, obviously unconcious.
"Gatomon!" Kari cried and ran over to her partner.
The world seemed to slow down around him as Davis mind processed what had just happened, and what this meant. And one look at the Monochromon's glowing red eyes told him that he wasn't the only one who had realized what this meant. As if in slow motion, he darted forward at the same time as the Monochromon and dove towards his friend, just barely missing one of the Monochromon's huge feet as he grabbed her and rolled out of the way from the offending digimon.
"Kari!" both Tai and TK screamed in fear as they watched how the Monochromon just barely missed her and Davis with its charge.
'Gee, thanks for caring about me, guys.' Davis thought bitterly as he scooped Kari and Gatomon up into his arms and jumped out of the way as the Monochromon charged again. Just like before, he just barely missed the beast as it ran past them, but thankfully the speed at which it had charged this time drove it further away from them before it could turn around and it gave Davis and Kari a chance to get away.
Now, they were faced with another problem though. That little struggle had put Kari and Davis on the opposite end of the clearing from the other two, with the Monochromon in the middle. If they wanted to, they could run away now but that would mean leaving Tai and TK to their fate at the hands of a berserk dinosaur, which Davis knew wasn't really an option. If they could somehow lure the Monochromon into following after them instead of their cornered friends however, then they might just get out of this.
"Alright, I got an idea." Davis said as he put Kari down on the ground, Gatomon still resting in the girl's arms. "I'll try to draw its attention away from the others, so get ready to run for your life."
He didn't wait for Kari to reply. If she valued her own and Gatomon's lives, which he knew she did, she would run regardless of how she felt about the plan. Seeing that the Monochromon seemed hesistant about which pair of humans it should go after, Davis took a step forward and whistled at it to gain its attention.
"Hey lizardboy! Over here, you big ugly jurassic reject!" he called, hoping the insult would enrage it enough to go after them, rather than their friends.
It did.
With a furious roar, the Monochromon rounded on Davis and Kari and charged them at full speeds. Kari shrieked at the sight of the approaching dinosaur and quickly turned tails and ran, Davis not far behind her. Davis could hear Tai and TK call after them, but couldn't quite make out what they were saying. He didn't like the idea of splitting their little group up, especially not so early on, but it was definetely the lesser of two evils when compared to being burned alive.
"We need to get this thing off our backs once we get far enough away from the clearing that he won't go back and bother the others again." he called to Kari over the rush of wind that was created from their running. "At my signal, we'll dive into the forest! Monochromon is too large to hunt us effectively in there."
Kari, who was already out of breath from the running, nodded in response to show that she had understood the plan. Her heart was beating painfully in her chest as they ran further and further away from the clearing they had first appeared in, but she knew that she couldn't slow down or they'd get caught.
"Now!" Davis screamed and grabbed Kari's hand to pull her into the vegetation.
As expected, the Monochromon ran right past them. It was too heavy and clumsy to make such sharp turns and the few seconds it bought them was enough to hide themselves from view before it came back. As soon as they had made it a few feet away from the path, Davis had hidden them behind a tree and covered Kari's mouth with his hand to keep her panting from giving them away. He knew that there was a huge gap in the plan and that if the Monochromon thought they were still close by, it could try and force them out of hiding by setting the vegetation on fire.
Thankfully, the sounds of the monster's heavy footsteps getting further and further away could be heard after just a few seconds. Chancing a glance, Davis stuck his head out from behind the thick tree trunk and saw the beast walking away from them. Once it was out of sight, he drew a sigh of relief and let go of Kari, who fell to the ground and started coughing from her lack of air. But despite that, they could both feel the adrenaline fade from their system as they sat down on the ground and drew a sigh of relief. They had made it.
-:TCD:-
I took them about 20 minutes to find Tai and TK again. They had gotten out of the clearing as soon as the Monochromon was out of sight, and had met up with their partners while they were trying to follow the direction they had seen Kari and Davis take off in. Tai gave Davis a brotherly pound on the back for his quick thinking and the effectiveness of his plan. However, there was someone else who wasn't quite as happy with the plan...
"What in the world were you thinking?!" TK exclaimed angrily as he grit his teeth and glanced at Kari, who was still recovering from their tussle with Monochromon and the following chase. "You could've hurt yourself, or even worse, you could've hurt Kari!"
Davis felt his patience with the boy wearing thin as they followed Tai's partner, an Agumon, towards a cave where he had said he had found something interesting. He could understand that TK was worried about Kari's well-being, but there really hadn't been any other option. It had been either that or wait around for the fire to take hold and consume them alive, and that was if not Monochromon had gotten ahold of them before that.
"Listen, buddy!" he growled as he rounded on the hat-wearing boy. "I didn't like the plan either, but I was given a chance to get us all out of there in one piece and I took it! Yes, the details of the plan weren't ideal but I'd rather die trying to excecute a half-good plan than waiting for a "perfect" opportunity that might never have come!"
The two boys glared at each other for a few seconds before they turned away from each other. TK clenched his fists in frustration. It wasn't as much what Davis had done that was aggravating him as it was the fact that he himself had been unable to do anything. The last time he had been here, he had just been a little kid who couldn't look after himself, but now he was the same age as Tai and the others had been last time they were here. He had thought he would be able to help protect the others this time instead of being the one who was protected and yet Davis, someone who hadn't even been around last time, had been forced to pull them out of that situation.
"That still doesn't excuse the fact that you put Kari, as well as yourself, in harms way!" he countered, still not looking Davis in the eye.
Davis felt his hand twitch dangerously at that, as if it longed to just close around the other boy's throat and squeeze the life out of him. The pulsating in his neck from earlier returned ever so slightly as he turned back towards TK.
"Are you accusing me of not looking out for my best friend?" his voice was barely more than a whisper, but the chill behind it was enough to make the others shudder involuntarily, including TK who knew he was on the recieving end of that anger. However, he steeled his nerves and held his ground.
"All I'm saying is that I think your plan was reckless, Davis. You shouldn't have..."
"ENOUGH!"
Kari's voice seemed to cut through the argument like a newly sharpened knife through a piece of bread. Both boys turned to look at the girl in question, who was glaring back at both of them. It was evident that she was disappointed in both of them.
"I went along with the plan because I wanted to! I'm not some damsel in distress who have to be protected by everyone, I'm as much a digidestined as any of you guys!" she said, angry that they were both talking about her as if she was some kind of glass ornament that had to be handled gently or it'd break.
That seemed to difuse the situation. Tai and the digimon breathed a sigh of relief as the two boys seemed to deflate from being pierced by Kari's fierce gaze. For a moment there, it had almost looked like they had been ready to come to blows over the matter.
Davis drew a deep breath and forced himself to calm down. Slowly, the pain in his neck began to recede again and his hand fell limp by his side. TK was just worried about Kari, he couldn't fault him for that. He would probably be the same if it had been the other way around. And Kari was right, they shouldn't fight amongst themselves. If they were divided, they would never work as a group and that was just asking for trouble.
"Look! There it is!" Agumon called from up ahead, drawing the attention of the group back forward.
The cave opening was simply a crack in a mountainsside, but it got bigger the further into it they got. The argument between Davis and TK momentarily forgotten, the group gathered around the object that Agumon had wanted to show them: a digiegg with a flame pattern on it, and a spike sticking out of the top.
"It has the Crest of Courage on it!" Tai gasped as he recognized the strange, sun-like symbol that was imprinted on the egg's front.
At the mention of "Crest", Davis head perked up. These guys had Crests as well? Tai had explained to him earlier that their group consisted of 8 people so if one of them had a Crest, then that would most likely mean that the remaining 8 Crests that Lord Azulongmon had told them about belonged to Tai's and Kari's group. If Davis remembered correctly, there were 11 Crests in total, 3 of which had belonged to Davis and his friends; the Crest of Miracles for him, the Crest of Kindness for Ken and the Crest of Destiny for Ryo. That would leave the Crests of Courage, Friendship, Knowledge, Reliability, Sincerety, Love, Hope and Light to be divided between Kari and her friends.
"I've never seen an egg with a spike in it." Patamon commented as he landed in front of the egg and poked at it, as if he expected it to react in some way to the poke.
"I'd hate to be the chicken that laid that egg." Gatomon muttered from her spot beside Kari's leg.
While the others tried to find a way to get the egg to move, Davis took a few steps away and closed his eyes. There was something about this place... something special. There was something in this cave, or rather someone. He had felt its prescence the moment they had entered the final chamber of the cave. But it couldn't be, could it? His partner had died 6 years ago, right in front of his face! So why was he sensing that same prescence that had always accompanied his energic blue friend now?
He opened his eyes slowly as his senses managed to pinpoint where the prescence was coming from. It was coming from somewhere underneath that strange egg. He felt his heartbeat rise in his chest as he watched the others try and fail to move the Digiegg. A small glimmer of hope had been lit in his chest. He didn't dare believe it, but if that egg was somehow connected to his old friend...
"Hey, let me try it!" he said as he walked up to the others.
As he bent down over the Digiegg and grabbed it with both hands, he felt his fingertips tingle with anticipation. He couldn't breathe properly, he couldn't think straight. What if he was wrong and he was just imagining it? It wouldn't be the first time he had thought he had seen Veemon out of the corner of his eye and it just turned out to be a stray dog or a kid in a blue shirt. But this feeling... it couldn't be anything else.
Gritting his teeth, he tightened his grip on the egg and lifted it off the ground. The moment it left the ground, a pillar of red light erupted from the spot on the ground where the egg had previous rested. He yelped in surprise and took a step back, half expecting something to jump out and attack them. The pillar grew until it was thick enough to cover an fully grown human, before a shape began to appear in the center of it. And it was a shape that Davis recognized!
"Veemon?" he whispered, his eyes tearing up as the familiar silhouette of his deceased partner came into view and the pillar faded from existance. The little blue digimon fell to the ground and landed swiftly on his feet. However, he only stood in place for a few seconds before his eyes fell on the one who had moved the Digiegg of Courage and he bounced at his friend in happiness.
"Davis! It's you!" he cried happily, throwing himself at the boy.
It took Davis mind a few seconds to process it. Veemon was alive. Veemon was alive! His mind tried to tell him that it was impossible, but the feeling of his partner hanging on to him for dear life was not an illusion. He was really here! As soon as the realization hit home, the tears that had gathered in Davis eyes began to run freely down his cheeks as he returned the embrace from his partner.
"Veemon... I-it's really you, I don't b-believe it..." he trembled with emotion as the memories of their last fight came back to his mind, those fateful moments when Veemon had gathered up every ounce of strength he had left after having been fighting for 3 days straight and unleashed it all in an explosion that tore what remained of the Digital World in half.
He didn't understand how this was possible. By all means, it shouldn't have been. Veemon had literally forced every bit of being into that last attack, there shouldn't have been anything left of him to reform. But right then, right there, it didn't matter to him. It didn't matter that it shouldn't have been possible, or how it had happened. What was important was that it had happened. Veemon was back!
Over by the others, Kari watched the tearful reunion with a strange feeling building in her chest. She was happy for Davis. Whoever that little blue digimon was, he was obviously important to Davis and she was glad that they had gotten the chance to be reunited. However, there was also a feeling of dread building in her chest as her mind processed the implications of this. Davis wasn't a very emotional person. He was cheerful and out-going, but he rarely wore his emotions on a sleeve for everyone to see. She had never seen him like this before, and the implications it brought to mind unnerved her greatly.
Beside Kari, TK had also picked up on the implications of the relationship between Davis and the digimon that he guessed was his partner. The haunted look in Davis' eyes when he laid eyes on his partner... he knew that look, he had experienced it himself. It might not be obvious to Kari or Tai, but to him it was frighteningly obvious as to what must've happened the last time Davis and Veemon saw each other. Suddenly, he felt bad about having argued with Davis earlier. As much as he hated to admit it, they were the same.
The group was brought out of their respective thoughts by the sound of a loud beeping from Davis' Digivice. As soon as they had come, the tears on Davis' cheeks were dried away and the boy in question had stood up, Veemon by his side. The look in his eyes however, was entirerly different from before. A fire had been lit in them upon reuniting with his partner, and it didn't falter even though the sound of a reptilian roar echoed through the cave, making the others flinch in surprise.
"We need to get out of here. If they catch us here, we'll be caught like a mouse in a corner." Davis said as he began to move towards the exit with Veemon in toe.
The sudden change of tone shocked Kari and made her look twice at her best friend. The difference from before was so obvious, it was almost as if he was an entirerly new human being. He seemed confident and sure of himself, a strange contrast to the reluctant and fearful expression he had worn when they first got here. Without questioning his logic, the others followed him out of the cave.
As the roar had implied, the Monochromon from earlier seemed to have managed to track them down again. However, it was not alone. A herde of at least 10 Monochromon, all wearing Dark Rings, were waiting for them. The sight made Kari tense with anticipation, and she felt a slight sting of fear. They had been having trouble with 1 Monochromon earlier, how were they supposed to handle 10 of them?
"Looks like the "jurassic reject" have brought some company." Tai gulped as their partner digimon took up formation around the humans, in case one of the Monochromon charged. The only exception to this was Veemon, who instead took a step forward and cracked his knuckles.
"It doesn't matter how many of them there are. 10 times 0 is still 0!" he said confidently, before turning his head slightly to glance at his partner. "Davis, open the Digiegg so I can digivolve! All you need to do is say "Digi-Armor Energize!"."
At the mention of the Digiegg, Davis glanced down to find that he was still holding it in his hand. He had completely forgotten about it, with all the emotional turmoil he had felt upon seeing Veemon again. He had originally intended to try and figure out an escape plan, Gatomon's warning about the Digivolution Block still fresh in mind, but perhaps Veemon knew something about the Digiegg that he didn't? Well, it wasn't like he had anything to lose by trying.
"Digi-Armor Energize!"
The egg lit up with an orange glow and grew to engulf Veemon. Davis had to cover his eyes as to not be blinded by the light, but he could practically feel the power radiating from the egg. After a second, the egg slipped from his grip and flew over to Veemon, where it seemed to fuse with the glowing silhouette of the little blue digimon.
"Veemon Armor-Digivolve tooooooo... Flamedramon! The Fire of Courage!"
As the light faded, a new digimon stood in place of Veemon, one that even Davis had never seen before. It looked like a taller version of his partner, with flame patterned armor covering his face, chest, hands, knees and feet. At the back of his chest armor, Davis recognized the Crest of Courage and a horn was growing out of his head, similar to the "spike" that had been growing out of the Digiegg.
All 4 humans, as well as the 3 remaining Digimon partners, stared wide-eyed at the tall figure that stood in front of them. Flamedramon grinned confidently as he eyed the herd of Monochromon, who had also frozen in place by the unexpected digivolution. Without warning, the Armor-Digimon charged forward, his right claw alight with fire.
"Knuckle Fire!" he called as he slammed his burning claw in the closest Monochromon, knocking it back several feet and causing it to be engulfed in flames, as the fire spread from Flamedramon's claw.
The Monochromon howled in pain, and that seemed to alert the rest of the herd to the fact that they were being attacked. The humans and the rookie digimon completely forgotten, they charged towards Flamedramon, who had landed a few feet away from the herd. Before they could reach him however, he had used his long legs like a pair of springs and launched himself high into the air.
Davis watched his partner deal with the Monochromon with a mesmerized look in his eyes. It had been so long since he had seen his partner, and he followed the Armor-Digimon's every move with awe. He had forgotten how exciting it could be to see his friend do battle with another digimon. The whole concept that fighting could actually be any kind of enjoyable had been lost on him somewhere between achieving Veemon's Ultimate Form and having the fate of all worlds dumped harshly on his shoulders.
As Flamedramon descended on the herd again, he lit his fist again and made a punching motion to unleash a rain of fireballs on his opponents. He was lucky they weren't too close to the forest, or he was sure he would've set it aflame. The fireballs hit home and dealt a fair amount of damage to the entire herde, something the Monochromon let them know by roaring in pain as they were hit by his attack.
"Flamedramon! Destroy the Dark Rings!" Gatomon cried out.
Immediately picking up on what Gatomon was talking about, Flamedramon narrowed his eyes as he located the Dark Rings. There were 9 rings left to destroy, as the first Monochromon had already collapsed from the single strike it had received earlier, its ring having been burnt away by the flames. Taking a deep breath, he engulfed himsef in an aura of fire and dove towards the closest target.
"Fire Rocket!" he bellowed as he struck the Dark Ring around the Monochromon's belly, earning himself a roar from the creature in question as the ring was instantly destroyed.
The rookie digimon cheered for him as he destroyed a second ring and Flamedramon couldn't help the grin that spread across his lips. He had been locked up for over 1000 years now, and it felt good to finally be able to flex his muscles a little. Not wasting any time, he ignited his fist again and struck out at a Monochromon that had come up behind him in an attempt to get the jump on him. Just 7 more rings to go.
Over by the others, Davis had snapped out of the trance-like state he had entered upon seeing Veemon fight again and had began to try and determine how strong this new form was in comparison to Veemon's regular Digivolution line. To his disappointment, Flamedramon wasn't even close to Veedramon when it came to pure strength, but he was by far more agile and flexible. Also, his smaller size would make it easier to fight in closed spaces, as opposed to his Champion Form, which had always been a hindrance rather than a strength when they fought in small areas.
"Fire Rocket!" Flamedramon called as he covered himself in flames again and shot off towards the only remaining Monochromon. The dinosaur met his charge midway, but missed his target as Flamedramon swiftly jumped over his head and dove straight for the Dark Ring. He might enjoy a good fight once in a while, but he didn't want to be unnescesarily brutal if he could avoid it and he felt like he had already had enough fun for one day.
As the last Dark Ring disintegrated, Flamedramon was covered in an orange light again and turned back into Veemon, while the Digiegg of Courage went back to Davis and reformed into a new strange device, a D-Terminal. Davis studied the foreign object for a few seconds, but eventually put it back in his pocket. He could examine that thing once they got back home.
"So what do you think? Pretty neat, huh?" Veemon's childish voice brought the stunned group of humans out of their stupor.
Seeing his partner scratch the back of his head sheepishly, Davis couldn't help but smile at the familiar gesture. Beside him, Kari mirrored his amused expression. That sheepish expression reminded her heavily of Davis when he was either embarrassed or tried to apologize about something. She didn't know who had picked it up from the other, but the similarities between the two partners were striking.
"Yeah, it was. There's just one thing that bothers me, though." Davis said mischievously, drawing the attention of the others. Even Veemon blinked in surprise at that and glanced up at his partner with an unsure look on his childish face. He could tell that his partner was a bit different to how he used to be, but he didn't think he had done anything that would bother him too much. However, as Davis grin grew wider, he realized that his partner was having them on, before he had even opened his mouth.
"When did you learn multiplication?"
-:TCD:-
As the group made their way back towards the spot where they had first arrived, Kari was too engrossed in her thoughts to notice what the others were talking about. The digimon seemed to be discussing why Veemon had been able to Digivolve to Flamedramon when the rest of them hadn't been able to Digivolve at all, and Tai was having a conversation with TK about calling the entire old group together to discuss what they should do about this new threat, now that they had some intel on how the Dark Rings worked. Both those topics, as interesting as they were, wasn't what had caught Kari's attention however.
She gazed at the back of her best friend, walking a few feet in front of her. Up until today, she had thought she knew everything there was to know about him. They had known each other since they were 5 years old, and that friendship had been essential to her being able to re-accustom to life without Gatomon. She liked to think that they were as close as friends could be, but now he felt like a stranger to her.
And she didn't like it.
The way Davis had acted today had been unlike anything she had ever seen him do before. He had been tense and on guard constantly and had seemed reluctant to open the Gateway to the Digital World. It wasn't obvious, but Kari could see it in how stiff his movements had been while he worked on the coding for the portal to open. When they had appeared in the Digital World, he had appeared to be in pain and had reacted instinctively and impulsively to the threats, like an animal, only to do a 180 degrees turn around when Veemon had appeared. It was all just so weird, so unlike the calm, collected and cheerful boy she had thought she knew.
Her gaze turned towards Veemon, who had left the other digimon and walked up to Davis. It was obvious that something had happened in the past that involved Veemon that had sharpened Davis into who he was while he was in the Digital World. But she couldn't for the life of her figure out what could've happened.
"Alright, we're here!" Davis declared as the entered the clearing.
The grass had been singed badly be the fire that had been lit by Monochromon's Volcanic Strikes, but the fire had thankfully not spread to the forest that surrounded the area. As they approached the area where they had first entered, Davis pulled out his Digivice.
"Okay, we should probably not return all at once or we'll just end up in a pile of twisted limbs. I'll wait on this side until the rest of you guys have made it through, to make sure the Gate is closed correctly. We don't want any random digimon to accidently trigger the rift and appear in our world now, do we?"
Everyone shook their head at that, and they each pulled out their Digivices. Tai went ahead and pushed the button that Davis instructed him to use first, causing him to become engulfed in digital code and disappear into thin air. Kari made to follow her older brother, but stopped herself as she noticed TK staring at Davis where he stood. Their earlier argument fresh in mind, she hesitated to leave them behind by themselves.
"Go on. I want to talk to Davis about something." TK said when he noticed her hesitation. "I promise, I won't fight with him."
Kari still hesitated for a second, but gave in when she noticed Davis nod discreetly at her. Taking a deep breath and praying that her two best friends wouldn't tear each other to pieces behind her back, she pressed the button and was engulfed in digital code, before she too disappeared.
Silence hung in the air in the clearing, as TK and Davis stared at each other. Agumon, Patamon and Veemon had taken a few steps back, apparently sensing that this was a private conversation, and Gatomon had went back to the Real World along with Kari. For a few seconds, none of them said anything and just studied the other's face, as if sizing the other up. Then, Davis broke the silence.
"So? What did you want to talk about?" he asked.
TK took a deep breath and steeled himself. He knew that he was playing with fire right now.
"It's almost unbearable, isn't it?" he said quietly. "The pain of losing your partner in battle. I saw the way you and Veemon looked at each other earlier and I know that pain all too well. I've been there."
He bit his lip, not sure how to proceed from there. It felt like it had been so long ago now, that he had lost Patamon during their clash with Devimon on File Island, yet he remembered it as if it was just yesterday. He had never talked about it with anyone, not even Matt. At the time, he had just done his best to try and forget that it ever happened, but with time he had come to realize that the scar that had been left in his heart after that battle would never heal. It would always be there, tormenting him whenever they faced a strong opponent.
Davis stared at the other boy, his mouth moving but not able to make any sound. Of all the things he had expected the boy to say, this certainly wasn't one of them. He closed his mouth and glanced over towards Patamon. The little Mammal Digimon looked so carefree, talking with Agumon and Veemon and making avid motions with his arms, as if he was trying to describe something.
"I guess what I'm trying to say is, I'm sorry about earlier. I shouldn't have snapped at you. It's just, I care for Kari so much and when I saw Monochromon chase after you guys I was so scared that she would end up like Patamon, just that she wouldn't be reborn."
Silence fell over the pair as they both thought back to the losses they had each suffered during their respective adventure, more specifically the losses of their partners. While TK couldn't imagine how painful it would be if they lost Kari and she didn't come back, Davis had a pretty good idea. Up until today, he had been convinced that he had lost Veemon forever, and he knew exactly how it would feel to lose the one person he cared about above anything else.
"When you put it like that, I guess I can't fault you for getting angry with me." Davis said at least, breaking the silence. "It was a reckless plan, and I would've probably reacted the same way, had it been me left behind back there." 'Probably even worse.' he thought. "Just know that whatever I do, I do with the group's best interests at heart. No one in this group will get hurt, as long as I have any say in it."
The two boys studied each others' faces for any sign, any hint, that what they had said was insincere. However, neither of them found any. Seeing the determination in Davis eyes, TK felt his heart ease up a little and he felt a little better about the new addition to their group. He knew that as long as Davis was still around, no harm would come to Kari or any of their other friends. That much was certain.
"Thank you."
A/N: Phew! I can't believe I actually wrote like 9k words in one day! I seriously need to get a life... Just kidding.
Jokes aside, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. If you did, please leave a review to tell me what you thought about it. Actually, leave a review even if there were something about the chapter you didn't like. I can't better myself if no1 tells me what I do wrong. That being said, I'll see you next time!
