Chapter 3:
In an unknown location, a group of digimons were talking about their most recent attempt at capturing the Keeper of Miracles. "How could you let them escape!" roared a big digimon with living cannons on his shoulders and grey and dark blue armor.
"Their digimons were stronger than when we first fought with them. Even with our power boost we're still on equal grounds with those annoyances" Peidmon hissed, not liking that he could not defeat the Digidestind's digimons.
"That's why we need the Millennium Crystal! With it everything we'll become ours!" said a demon with two large demonic wings.
"But how are we going to get the key? They know that we're after her, thus they'll be with her no matter what" a black knight with an axe for one of his arms wielding a red dual lance pointed out.
"Troublesome indeed, I guess we'll have to keep watching them while sending expendable minions to see if there are any weaknesses in their defenses" an blond boy with eight angel wing on his back and two on his head mused.
"I don't care what it takes or how long I'll have to wait; I will have my revenge on Courage and Friendship for deleting me!" roared a giant insect-like purple creature.
"Then it's settle gentlemen, I will have my Gizumon XT ready to invade Odaiba" said a demon with ten demonic wings, chains on his arms and a face on his chest.
Back in the city of Odaiba at Tai and Kari's apartment, Daisuke was sleeping on Tai's bed in their shared bedroom. "She's sleeping soundly in there" Kari said as she walks into the living room where Tai, the other leaders, Thomas, Izzy, Henry and their digimons are in.
"That's good" Tai said, smiling at his sister before turning his attention back to everyone else in the room. "Now let's talk about what we're going to do next" he said with a serious tone.
"Right now we know that we're fighting all our old enemies that had somehow came back to life and their after the Millennium Crystal, which Dais is the only person that can lead them there" Izzy concluded, typing on his laptop.
"That means we have to keep the bad guys as far away from Dais as possible" Takuya said as he leans back on the chair he is sitting on with his hands behind his head.
"It's not going to be easy if not only your old enemies are back" Henry sighed. "Every group has fought their fair share of enemies and if our ones also came back, then we're in trouble" he said with a solemn look on his face.
"What do you think we should do?" Taiki asks, sitting on the couch next to his protégé Tagiru.
"I suggest that some of us keep a close eye on Dais. Currently there are no other ways that lead to the Millennium Crystal, which means that they'll come after her for it while the rest of us try to find the crystal ourselves" Thomas said.
"That's a great idea Nerd-stein! That way we can keep Dais safe and make sure the bad guys don't get the Millennium Crystal!" said Marcus as he pumps his fist in the air.
"So who takes care of Dais, while the rest of us go find that thing?" Tagiru said.
"I don't know… Since there are ten of us here how about we split into two even groups? Half go with everyone else to find the Millennium Crystal while the other half sits here and babysits Dais?" Tai suggested.
"Sounds fair enough" Takato said while petting his partner.
"Then how about Marcus, Takato, Takuya, Thomas and I stay here with our digimons while you guys go find the crystal? Takato and I can biomerge to Gallantmon and MegaGargomon while Takuya can fusion evolve to Aldamon. As for Thomas and Marcus, they can burst evolve Goamon and Agumon to MirageGaogamon Burst Mode and ShineGreymon Burst Mode while Marcus can defeat any digimon with his fists" Henry said as his partner, Terriermon sits on his usual spot, which was his head.
"That's a good idea! It'll make sure there's more than enough firepower to keep Dais safe!" Tai agreed wholeheartedly to the idea before he and the others that were not going to take care of Daisuke get up and leave the apartment.
Meanwhile in Tai and Kari's bedroom, the girl in question was twisting and turning from a dream she is having.
In her dream, Daisuke was standing on the same barren land from her previous dream staring at the giant monster that destroying everything. But unlike the dreams she normally has, this time she could hear a whisper among the agonizing screams. The whisper was calling for her, demanding her to follow it. The brunet walks past slowly dissolving digimons and explosions that were devastating the land, to arrive in front of a cave that was untouched by the battle around her.
"Why is it unharmed?" Daisuke asks even though there was no one that was still alive to answer her. The brunet walks into the cave and at first it was pitch black but after a while, a strange light appeared in the distance. As she came closer to the light, she began hearing a voice but it was not the same voice that called her to the cave. At a point, the voice became much clearer and the Keeper of Miracles notices that it was a lullaby being sung by a young voice.
Soon, she arrives at the source of the light and saw the purple crystal but this time it was smaller, about half her height. In front of the stone was a little girl staring at it with a smile on her face as she continues to sing the lullaby from earlier. "Hey, it's not safe to be near that thing" Daisuke warned, pulling the little girl away from the shining crystal.
"But he said he was lonely and wanted to play" said the little girl as she turns towards the brunet. The Keeper of Miracles gasps when she saw the younger girl face because she looked like a younger version of her.
"You look like me" she whispered, shocked by seeing her younger self.
"Of course silly, we're the same person" the younger brunet giggled.
"W-We are?".
"Yeah, he said so!" young Daisuke said, pointing at the crystal in front of them.
"You can hear him?" the older asks as they walk closer to the glowing stone.
"Of course! And he says you can too!" cheered the little girl.
"I can?" Daisuke blinked, staring at the crystal. She closed her eyes and tried focusing her mind at the stone before she started hearing faint whispers all around her.
'Can you hear me?' whispered a hoarse deep voice that caused the Keeper of Miracles to snap her eyes open.
"Who said that?" she said quickly looking around her for the source.
'I did' the voice said causing the brunet to turn to the only source for it to come from, the crystal. Inside the stone, Daisuke could see the purple creature staring at her with its dual heads observing her every movement.
"What are you?" she asks as she lifts her younger self closer to her.
'You already know who I am' it said in an amused tone as one of its heads turns towards the younger brunet while the other remained on the older.
"The Millennium Crystal…" Daisuke trailed off, unsure about the whole situation.
'Correct. Now show me your power' it said before both brunets raised their hand and black flames appeared above them with the older having a larger flame than the younger. 'Touch me if you wish to leave this land' the creature suddenly said, its gaze still focus on the duo. Following its orders the brunets reach out and touched it with their still burning hand before a bright light filled the cave and Daisuke woke up.
"Where am I?" she asks no one in particular as she gets off the bed. The brunet makes her way to the bedroom door and gets out, seeing some of her friends relaxing in the living room. "Hey guys, what's up? Where am I?" Daisuke asks as she sits down on the couch.
"Hey you're awake. That's good, and we're at Tai's house" Takuya said, smiling at the female leader.
"Why are we at Tai and Kari's house? What happened to Thomas' family mansion?" she asks, wondering how she got to the city all of a sudden.
"It got attacked by the Dark Masters and this creature called Gizumon XT. We escaped through tunnels that were built under the mansion since we knew those guys were after you" Henry explained.
"An underground escape? That's kind of cliché Thomas" Daisuke said to the blond prodigy.
"It may be cliché but thanks to that tunnel we manage to get out unscathed" he countered.
"Whatever super genius" she said sarcastically while rolling her eyes before getting up to get something to eat. A moment later, Daisuke comes out of the kitchen with something that was eatable in her hand, which was a miracle considering what was normally found inside the Kamiya refrigerator.
Suddenly beeping started filling the air before Takato and Henry takes out their D-Power and pulls out a compass. "Guys, I'm getting a large number of digimon readings on my D-Power and their coming this way!" the half-Chinese said as his partner jumps onto his head.
Everyone quickly ran out of the apartment and got down stairs in time to see several Megadramon, Devidramon, MetalTyrannomon and IceDevimon arriving. In front of the massive group of digimons was a metal monkey wearing shades. "The name's MetalEtemon and I'm here to take the key back to my boss, so I can have my tour of both the Digital World and the Human World!" he sang as he flex his muscles.
"That dude has issues" Daisuke commented as the group sweatdropped at the monkey's antics.
"Now which one of you is the key?" MetalEtemon said, examining the group from a far.
"He doesn't know?" Takato blinked.
"I think the real bad guys are using him as a hired gun to weaken us and catch Dais" Henry concluded.
"Well if they think monkey boy and his little army are going to weaken us, then they're going to need more henchmen! Cause it's fighting time!" Marcus yelled as he charged at MetalEtemon, who did not expected the sudden attack and punched him so hard, he flew for several feet.
"Y-You ruined my perfect face!" the ultimate yelled after getting to his feet, causing the group to fall on the ground anime style.
"Is this guy for real?" Takuya said as everyone get off the floor.
"I said it before and I'll say it again, this guy has issues" Daisuke groaned.
"I'll get you back for that! Men attack!" MetalEtemon ordered before charging at Marcus to get revenge for the earlier punch.
Meanwhile at the unknown location, the mysterious group was watching the fight through a giant crystal ball hovering above them. "Are you sure it was a good idea to send that idiot monkey to get us the key Peidmon?" MaloMyotismon said as he saw the group digivolved their digimons to their highest forms.
"Yes I'm sure. If he wins, he'll bring us the key and if he loses, we'll get valuable data on their defensive strategies. It's a win-win for us" the digimon clown reasoned, watching how ShineGreymon and Aldamon used their fire attacks to defeat the IceDevimons.
"A good strategy, I just wished that you would use a less annoying pawn" Kurata said.
"He was the best idiot I could find at such short notice" Peidmon shrugged just as Marcus and ExVeemon work together to fight of MetalEtemon.
"Their fighting style is near flawless, especially those three" DarkKnightmon said pointing his lance at Gallantmon, Aldamon and Marcus. "Their powers are quite high and their speed is admirable at best. I would've liked to have a dual with that Royal Knight" he said as he watches the said knight used his Shield of the Just to destroy some Megadramons.
"What's this I hear? Is it jealousy that a knight who uses a lance like you do is better than you?" Lucemon mused flying above everyone until he was at eye-level with the crystal.
The dark knight ignored the angel's words and watched as MetalEtemon knocks ExVeemon to the side and was now fighting one-on-one with Marcus.
"The idiot is doing a better job than we thought" MetalSeadramon commented, seeing at how ruthless the ultimate was fighting against the fighter.
"I heard that his like that when you insult him or damage his so-called good looks" Peidmon said as a few MetalTyrannomon get destroyed.
"Looks like monkey brains is finally getting somewhere" Puppetmon said, watching MetalEtemon managing to knock Marcus down.
"Peidmon, does this idiot knows who he has to bring to us?" MaloMyotismon asks.
"Not really, I only told him to look for a person with a pair of goofy goggle and the ability to use the power of Miracles. Truthfully I didn't think he'd make it this far" Peidmon said sounding slightly amused.
Then they saw Daisuke ran to her unconscious and de-digivolved partner and lift him in her arms. MetalEtemon notices this and attacks the duo but it was blocked by the barrier that the brunet summoned.
"Bingo" the digimon clown smirked as the metal monkey continues to attack the barrier, wearing it down with each punch. Suddenly Daisuke's fist glowed black and dark purple instead of golden and punch straight through MetalEtemon's chest leaving a gaping hole. The ultimate stares at the girl in front of him, speechless before dissolving into data particles.
'She has both the power of light and darkness like I do. Congratulations Keeper of Miracles, you've caught my interests' Lucemon smirked watching Daisuke very closely.
"Seems like your dummy had done its part, with this data we come one step closer to getting the key" Kurata said as the crystal stopped showing the battle.
While the villains were planning on their next attack, Lucemon had thought up an ingenious plan of his own that he was going to do without the others knowing of it.