"The Circle of the Digidestined," written by Freedom Fighter

Disclaimer: None of the characters, human or Digimon, belong to me, the writer.

Author's Warning: The following fanfic features gruesome character death, both of the human
and Digimon kind, violence of varying levels, some profane language, and some suggestive
situations. Please do not read this fanfic if you're underage or feel that you cannot handle
any of said features.

This particular episode features suggestive dialogue and a word of profanity.

======


A portal appears in the middle of an oasis somewhere in the Digiworld. It opens up in the
pond, but very close to the shoreline. Suddenly, one foot steps out and into the pond, then
the other. Then the rest of Mimi's body comes out, with her modified Digivice in hand.

It was then that Mimi realized she was standing ankle-deep in water, enough to cover up her
pink fuzzy slippers.

"My favorite pair of slippers!" Mimi cried. "They're ruined!"

She hops out and takes a seat on the nearby grass. She takes the slippers off of her now wet
feet and starts shaking them in an attempt to speed up the drying process.

"Those slippers cost seventy dollars! Izzy's gonna hear from me the next time I see him!"

Mimi then began to hear voices. Several of them. She got up from the ground and looked
around to see where they were coming from. It doesn't take her long to spot five men and
their Digimon walking over a nearby sand dune and heading in the direction of the oasis.

"I wonder if they might know anything," Mimi thought.

She slides her feet back into her soggy slippers and starts waving her hands in the air, as if
she was trying to get their attention. But just as she opened her mouth to yell, a bunch of
vines appear out of nowhere and wrap themselves around Mimi's arms and legs.

And just as quickly as they appeared, the vines pull Mimi into some nearby bushes, making it
rustle slightly before going dead silent.


***** Episode Two - Not an Ordinary Day (10.22.02) *****


In the canyon where three innocent researchers lost their lives to a Jagamon stampede, several
soldiers had gone back through the portal to the lab. They had done so to get some stretchers
for the mutilated bodies of their fellow workers.

Izzy knew there had to be a reason for the Jagamon to stampede like that. Especially for so
many to be involved. He watched as the military leader could only bow his head out of
respect. There was nothing they could do.

One of the soldiers who had stayed behind with them then runs up, holding a walkie talkie in
his hand.

"Sir, there's been a report of several hundred Jagamon stampeding through Sectors 3.20 and
3.21."

"Any casualties, human or Digimon?"

"None to report in 3.20. But 3.21 was full of both humans and Digimon at the time, sir. I
don't have exact numbers, but a number of Digimon have been deleted and several humans injured.
Some fatally, I'm afraid."

"What's going on? Jagamon usually have enough sense to avoid other humans and Digimon when
they stampede."

"That's right," Izzy interrupted, prompting the leader and the soldier to look at him. "The
stampedes are never this big. Nor do they kill that many humans or Digimon. Usually, the
deaths are by Digimon who couldn't get out of the way. Rarely do humans get caught in the
melee, but it has happened before."

"Just nothing on this big of a scale, Izzy. There had to be a reason for so many Digimon to
gather and then stampede like this."

"We'd better take some safety measures. Get all of the Digiworld portal monitors in Japan to
evacuate all humans from the entire sector."

"The entire sector? Do you realize how long that will take?"

"It's the only way we can minimalize the number of future casualities. And if possible, try
to round up any Digimon and have them evacuated as well."

"And what about all of the Jagamon?"

"The easiest way to get them to stop stampeding is to break them up. And for that to happen,
we need humans and Digimon willingly to risk their lives to do so."

"You mean..."

"Yes. Contact the other Digidestined."


======


Back at the oasis, Mimi found herself staring at the Digimon who had used her vines to ensnare
her. And in this situation, Mimi was relieved, yet frightened at the same time.

"Palmon!"

"Long time no see, Mimi!"

"Don't do that! I was afraid... I was afraid... ewww, you don't even want to know why I was
afraid! Just don't ever do that again!"

"Sorry," Palmon, the plant-like Digimon, apologized. "Didn't realize you were that sensitive
to my vines."

"Don't say 'sensitive' and 'vines' in the same sentence!" Mimi then crosses her arms over her
chest and grabs her shoulders with her hands. She then shuddered. "Just the thought of it
all gives me goosebumps!"

"I don't see what's so bad about those two words."

"Ever seen a movie when plants attack humans?"

"No. What are they like?"

Mimi freaked out, releasing her grip on herself in the process. "I can't tell you that!"

"Why not?"

"Because I can't, alright?"

"Sorry."

"Stupid Michael," Mimi thought. "Why did I have to marry a guy who could only get aroused by
watching adult films?"

Mimi then remembered the group of men and Digimon that were heading their way. She peered back
out of the bushes and saw that they were only a few hundred yards or so away now. She is about
to jump back out again, but Palmon uses her vines to keep her down. Palmon even uses a few to
clamp Mimi's mouth shut.

Mimi tries to break free, but Palmon's too strong for her. She can only watch as the five men
and their Digimon enter the oasis and immediately make a beeline for the pond.

"Hey, there's a Digiport here!" one of them pointed out.

Mimi's eyes became as big as saucers. She had forgotten to close the portal and now it was
wide open for these strangers to use if they wanted to. She knew that if they went through
and discovered that it led to her mansion in New York, they might be tempted to steal some
valuables.

Luckily, Palmon knew that as well, as she had been there in the bushes when the portal opened
originally. Using her last free vine, Palmon reaches for Mimi's Digivice and presses a button
on it. Instantly, the Digiport disappears just as the other men caught up to him.

"What Digiport?" a second man asked.

"There's nothing here," the third stated matter-of-factly.

"Doofus!" came the insult from the fourth, slapping the first upside the head.

"But it was right there," the first claimed, pointing to where the Digiport had been.

"Stop goofing around."

Mimi and Palmon directed their attention to the fifth and final man, who was the leader of the
bunch. They could tell because of his unshaven chin and slightly wrinkled features,
signifying that he was the oldest member of the group.

"We have to get out of here before those soldiers find us here!"

Mimi blinked. "Why would they be worried about that?" she asked herself.

"Fuck that!" the second cursed. "They don't suspect a thing!"

"Let's just kick back and go for a little swim," the first suggested.

Before anyone knew it, those first two had stripped down completely so that they were wearing
absolutely nothing. Upon seeing this, Mimi's eyes became as big as saucers once again, but for
a completely different reason. That would only last a second or two though, as the two men
wade into the pond.

"We don't have time for a swim!" the leader yelled at the top of his lungs.

The leader then pulls out a D-3 of his own, this one a beige brown. He starts pressing a few
buttons on it, resulting in the opening of another Digiport.

"If those scientists realize that we're the ones who started that stampede, we'll get busted
for sure! Now, let's get back to the real world before someone traces our portal's location!"

The two still-dressed henchmen jump into the portal immediately. All of the Digimon, none of
which Mimi or Palmon can make out because of the monk suits they were wearing, head in next.
The two that had gone into the water come running out, stark naked and again in plain view of
Mimi's eyes. They grab their clothes and start to get dressed, but the leader yells at them
again.

"Move it! Get dressed AFTER you go through the portal!"

The two nod, grab all of their clothes, and head into the portal.

"And if you two imbeciles drip water on my brand new 13th-century carpet..."

The leader walks in, still yelling at the duo as the portal closes behind him.

With the portal gone, Palmon releases her grip on Mimi's limbs. Mimi turns around and starts
yelling at Palmon again.

"I told you not to do that ever again!"

"I didn't want to risk getting caught by those guys! They're bad!"

"You didn't have to go that far! Geese, if Michael ever finds out about this, he won't talk
to me for a week!"

Suddenly, Palmon has two vines grab a hold of the fabric of Mimi's nightgown. One vine each
wrapped itself around a breast, giving them a light squeeze.

"Rock solid? Someone must be feeling a little excitement..."

"Palmon!" Mimi cried, grabbing the two vines and pulling them off of her.

"Looks like there hasn't been much between you and Michael recently," Palmon smiled. "When
they're that hard, that means you haven't done in at least a week..."

"What goes on between him and I is our business! Now, let's find out what stampede those guys
were talking about."

Mimi stood up and started walking out of the oasis, in the direction where the group of men
and their Digimon had come from. Palmon is walking beside her.

"It's nice to see you again, Mimi."

"Wrap me in those vines one more time, and there won't be a next time, Palmon!"


======


Back in the real world... specifically, the Odaiba district of Tokyo, the DPA were in the
process of contacting the twelve individuals that made up the Japanese Digidestined. There
was no need to get in touch with three of them, for obvious reasons, so they just had to get
a hold of the other nine.

One of them was typing away at a computer inside his own apartment. On both sides of the
computer monitor lay several magazines, all opened up to different articles.

"I would have never pictured myself write an article on this!" the typist exclaimed as he put
the finishing touches on his report. It was titled 'Watching TV Shortens Your Life Span.'
"If all of this is true, then I must have lost two or three years of my life alone by the time
we defeated MaloMyotismon!"

36-year old Takeru Takashi, or TK for short, pressed the 'print' button on his keyboard and
then leaned back in his chair, propping his legs on top of his desk. The laser printer came
to life, sitting on a table all the way on the other side of the room. It beeped everytime
a section of the page was transferred to paper. TK knew that equated to about a beep per
second or so.

But then another beeping sound filled the room. It was coming from TK's cell phone. Reaching
down to his belt clip, he takes the phone out and presses the answer button.

"TK Takashi, freelance reporter!" he introduced himself as. But his joyful state was quickly
replaced with one of seriousness. "I'm on it!"

TK hangs the phone up and hops out of his seat. The printer continues to sound off as TK runs
past and out of the room. He heads to the mini-safe that sat next to 14" TV on the nightstand
beside his bed in his own sleeping quarters. He turns the combination dial left, right, and
left again. TK pulls on the handle and opens the safe.

Inside are several pieces of paper, as well as other memorabilia that TK had collected over
the years. The most valuable of it, anyway. And buried under all of that is the object that
he is searching for. His lime green D-3, of course.

TK grabs it, closes the safe, and then runs back to the room where he was typing. He sits
down and tries to log on to the Internet. After about a minute, he's online and already
looking up the link to the real world/digital world composite map. Finding it, he clicks on
the link and the page uploads immediately.

"Let's see..." TK began to run a finger across the screen, searching for the right coordinates
to open a Digiport to.

"Okay, Odaiba, Travel Port 2 to Digital World, West Quadrant, Sector 3.23."

Typing in the coordinates, the screen begins to glow white. TK holds up his D-3 to the
monitor and prepares to be sucked in.

"Here goes nothing!"

He is sucked into his monitor, disappearing just as the printer stops beeping, signifying that
all of his report had finished printing.


======


In a matter of seconds, TK arrives at his destination. It's another desert area, although a
forest and a babbling brook are both visible off in the distance to the east. Other than that,
TK could see absolutely nothing.

"Where is everybody? Gee, I didn't know the situation was that bad! It really is a barren
desert out here."

TK then spots another portal opening a few feet in front of him. He steps back as several
figures exit from it. But not human figures... Digimon figures.

"Patamon!"

"TK!"

Digidestined and Digimon reunited once again for the first time in quite awhile. TK bent down
to catch his friend in his arms as the two shared a mutual hug. But Patamon wasn't the only
that had come through the portal. Veemon, Hawkmon, Gatomon, Armadillomon, and Wormmon were
all there.

"Howdy!" Armadillomon greeted.

"It's nice to see you again," Hawkmon smiled.

"If you're all here," TK looked at them, "then the others must be on the way."

Sure enough, two more portals opened up in front of TK as the one that had spewed out the
Digimon closed up. Out of the left one exits Ken, dressed in a trench coat. And out of the
right came Yolei, wearing an apron over her clothes.

"Coming from home, I take it."

"You sure do know me well, TK!" Yolei exclaimed, flashing a thumbs-up happily.

"You left the kids alone?" Ken asked, a bit worried as he turns towards his wife.

"I ran next door and got Mr. Moto to watch them."

Hawkmon runs over to Yolei and flies up to her shoulder.

"I see you still have that job as a housewife," Hawkmon said.

"I'm happy to see you too," Yolei smiled back, ignoring Hawkmon's comment and opting to hug
him instead.

"Ready to go?" Wormmon asked Ken.

"Whenever you are, buddy."

Just as another portal opens to the left of Yolei, the ground begins to shake heavily.

"That must be it!" TK yelled. "The stampede that we're supposed to break up!"

"You mean I got away from playing with the kids for this?"

"Coming through!" shouted a voice from inside the portal.

Yolei instantly identified the voice and stepped out of the way of the portal instinctively.
Sure enough, Davis comes flying through, right past Yolei, and right into Ken, knocking them
both down to the ground.

"It's nice to see you too," Ken joked, now lying underneath Davis as he looked up to him, "but
could you get off?"

Davis hops off of Ken and then extends his hand to pull Ken off the ground.

"Davish! Davish!"

Veemon ran up and started jumping up and down in front of his Digidestined partner.

"Veemon! How's the Digiworld been treating you?"

"Same as usual! It's been great!"

"Can we finish our reunion later?" TK interrupted. "We've got some Jagamon to take care of!"

"But Cody's not here yet," Armadillomon stated.

"Neither is Kari," Gatomon added.

"Yeah!" Davis exclaimed. "We can't do this without Kari!"

TK sighed. "I can't believe you're still thinking about Kari! She's been married 20 years
already and you're still in love with her?"

"You're one to talk, TK! I bet you still miss her as much as I do!"

"Dang," TK thought, "when he's right, he's right. No matter how rarely he is."

"Jagamon at twelve o'clock!" Ken exclaimed.

The four humans and six Digimon got into a ready position as they watched the Jagamon appear
in the distance. The line of Jagamon stretches a half a mile wide and several rows deep.
TK gets his bearings straight and raises his D-3 into the air. Davis, Yolei, and Ken follow
suit.

"Digivolution time!" TK yelled.

Patamon, Veemon, Hawkmon, and Wormmon all begin to digivolve to their champion-level forms.

"Patamon digivolve to... Angemon!"

"Veemon digivolve to... ExVeemon!"

"Hawkmon digivolve to... Aquilamon!"

"Wormmon digivolve to... Stingmon!"

The four complete the digivolution process and now stand ready to battle.

"Remember, we just want to break them up. Not delete them."

"You got it, TK!"

Angemon led the charge, with Aquilamon and Stingmon flying behind him and ExVeemon running
through on the ground.

"You two better help as well," Yolei told Gatomon and Armadillomon.

Without hesitation, the champion and the rookie run after ExVeemon, ready to battle. The
four humans look on, hoping that things turn out for the best.


======


Back at the first stampede site, the number of soldiers and scientists had tripled in the
past few minutes. They had all come through the portal to inspect the scene for themselves.
But the sight of the three trampled bodies didn't please them at all. All of the scientists
were very close, so they were in disbelief when they discovered that these comrades were no
longer with them.

The portal leading back to the lab was still open as several soldiers entered with stretchers
and blankets in hand. And entering the scene on foot at the same time were Mimi and Palmon.

"What's with all of the scientists and soldiers?" Palmon asked her partner.

"Beats me," Mimi replied. "Maybe it's one of those exercises that they do for practice. I
think."

A few of the scientists turn around and notice that Mimi and Palmon were standing there. Izzy
also turns around. His face turns a bright red as he quickly runs over.

"Mimi!"

"Izzy? Is that you?"

"Zip up your jacket! Why are you even dressed like that?"

Mimi then remembered that her windbreaker was unzipped, meaning that her nightgown was visible
by everyone in the area. She turns around and zips it up, blushing as she does so.

"Just the person I wanted to see!" Mimi exclaimed, turning back around.

"You aren't safe here," Izzy told her, trying to push her out of the area. "You should be
with the others, stopping that Jagamon stampede. They're over in 3.23."

"Stampede? You mean the ones those guys were talking about?"

Izzy stopped pushing for a second and instead stared Mimi right in the face. "What guys?"

"The ones over by the oasis," Palmon told him, pointing over the hill.

"I had a feeling something was wrong, so I digi-ported here from home. And then I nearly ran
into those guys. One of them said they didn't want some scientists to realize that they
started the stampede. They then used a Digiport to escape to the real world."

"How many were there, Mimi? Tell me!"

"Calm down! There were ten altogether. Five men and five Digimon."

"I knew there was something suspicious about that stampede."

"You think they did it on purpose? Did something happen?"

"Well..."

Suddenly, cries of sorrow can be heard from the small crowd of scientists as the first
stretcher makes it way towards the portal. The two soldiers pushing the stretcher already had
a blanket draped over the body.

"Oh my God," Mimi gasped. "You mean..."

"Yes," Izzy nodded sadly. "Three of my best scientists, trampled to death by Jagamon."

Izzy then took a breath before continuing.

"And one of them was Joe."

That made both Mimi and Palmon do a double take. "Say what?"

"Joe. He was one of the scientists."

"Joe? Joe Kido? Poor Joe... he's..."

"Dead. And it's my fault."

Upon hearing thought, Mimi's feelings quickly changed from sadness to anger. She grabs Izzy
by the collar and starts shaking him furiously.

"Your fault? You mean you killed him?"

"I didn't kill him!" Izzy exclaimed, as Mimi stops shaking him. "I just... couldn't get him
out of harm's way in time. I was distracted."

"Distracted? Distracted by what, Izzy Izumi? You turn your head away for one minute, your
best friend dies, and you blame it on a simple distraction?"

"Chiharu had wandered into the lab! They closed her school down because someone set off the
sprinklers. I was trying to figure out what to do with her when it all unfolded."

Tears started to flow freely from Mimi's eyes. "You liar!"

"I'm not lying!"

"You killed him! You killed him, you bastard!"

Izzy couldn't believe that Mimi didn't believe his story. After all, it was true. But now he
was more concerned about Mimi, who had fallen to her knees and was starting to cry into her
arms.

"Mimi, I'm sorry. I really am."

"I wish you were the one who was killed instead of Joe! Maybe then you'd learn more about
responsibility!"

Mimi leaped up, trying to tackle Izzy to the ground. But she doesn't reach him, as someone
had wrapped his arms around her from behind. That happened to be the military leader.

"I've got her, boss."

"No," Izzy sighed, putting his hand up. "Let her go. Whatever she's going to do to me, I
deserve it."

Without objection, the man does release Mimi. And as expected, she runs over and punches
Izzy in the face. He falls to the ground, slightly dazed and with his nose now bleeding, but
is otherwise okay. The squad leader runs over to help Izzy to his feet and provide a
handkerchief to help stop the bleeding. But Izzy turns down both offers.

"Go ahead, Mimi! Beat me to death if you want! Yes, if I wasn't distracted, I could have
saved Joe and the others. But I'm telling the truth about Chiharu running in. And I won't
deny that I should've paid more attention out here than to her. But killing me won't bring
Joe back! Nothing can! He's gone, Mimi. He's gone..."

Those last two words were enough to calm Mimi down. She starts wailing loudly again as she
runs over to Izzy again. Only this time, she leans into Izzy's chest and starts crying into
it. Izzy wraps his arms around her and starts rubbing her back reassuredly.

"I'm sorry."

Palmon walked up and wrapped her arms around Izzy's left leg, seeking comfort as she tried to
keep from crying as well.

"I don't mean to interrupt," the leader jumped in, "but I just got a report that the
Digidestined were successful in bringing an end to the stampede."

"Tell them to stay put," Izzy told him. "I'll be there in a few minutes."

The leader nods, then walks back over to the canyon to help out his men. Izzy continues to
stand there as Mimi continues to cry into his shirt and Palmon hangs on to his leg.


======


Paris, back in the real world...

The sun had risen over the horizon just minutes ago, yet the streets were already filled with
motorists, cyclists, and pedestrians, all trying to get to work or school before traffic got
really bad.

In a penthouse suite inside a local four-star hotel, 39-year old Sora Takenouchi was already
up and about, dressed in a business suit and leafing through a binder full of preliminary
designs for kimonos, crop tops, pleated skirts, and other articles of clothing.

But her browsing is interrupted when she hears the sound of someone knocking on the door. Sora
puts the binder down on a nearby table and walks over to the door, her dark blue high heels
clicking all the way there. She opens the door and sees the face of Catherine Bouveaux.
Formerly the Digidestined of France, she now serves as Sora's booking agent for fashion shows
in Europe and Western Asia.

"Bonjour!" Catherine greeted happily. She was wearing an orange square neck short sleeve
shirt and an ankle-length yellow skirt.

"Bonjour, Catherine. Happy this morning, I see."

"I'm more than happy! I'm elated! Francois asked me to marry him this morning!"

"Got over Jean-Pierre that quickly, huh?"

"Jean-Pierre's been over me! He already got married to some woman named Marie-Antoinette.
Three days after we broke up!"

"I remember you telling me that. He wasn't the right guy for you anyway."

"That's why I'm happy about Francois today! He's a perfect gentleman! I've never met anyone
like him!"

"I'm glad to hear that. Don't forget to invite Matt and me to your wedding! Once he gets
back from living on the space station, that is."

"Oh, I could never forget you! I don't know where I'd be without you!"

"That makes two of us," Sora agreed.

Sora then ushers Catherine in before closing the door behind her. The two then walk over to
the suite's living quarters, where Sora picks her binder up from the table.

"Everything ready for the show tonight?" Sora asked.

"Models, clothing, seating arrangements... all taken care of! You don't have a thing to
worry about!"

Suddenly, both woman hear a loud roar from outside. They run right to the window and look in
the direction of the Arc de Triomphe. There, they see a large Digiport open up.

And out of it come two DarkTyrannomon, who begin to start causing chaos in the immediate area.

"Catherine... we may have something to worry about after all."



Additional Author's Notes for this Episode:
I think it's self-explanatory what Mimi meant about being afraid of vines. At least all of
the adults, who should be the only ones reading this in the first place, should understand.

In that same scene was a Gunsmith Cats reference. In the very first scene of the very first
issue of the 'Gunsmith Cats' manga, Rally, the lead character, is in the middle of target
practice in her shooting range. All of a sudden, Minnie May, who is smaller than Rally, enters
out of nowhere, grabs Rally's breasts with her hands, and remarks, 'Gee Rally, do I feel a
little excitement here?' In this episode, a closely matching scene with Mimi and Palmon.

And unlike my fanfic "The Detectives Kamiya," Sora and Catherine work together and are good
friends here. But in that fic, they work together yet hate each other's guts. Just because
Catherine slept with Tai before Sora did. Wondering what the connection between those two
ladies and Tai is this time around? Stay tuned...


***** Next Episode - An American Digidestined in Paris *****
The Digidestined are stunned by the news of Joe's death as they try to figure out why it had to
happen. Meanwhile, on her way back to New York to get Tai, Mimi finds out about the rampaging
Digimon in Paris! Will Tai and Mimi get there in time to lend Sora and Catherine a hand?