This is the fourth chapter of the original version of the Ultimate Gathering of the DigiDestined. Again, there are only 6 of these chapters and most of the story line is the same. The only significant difference in these chapters is that the Adventure 01 cast is in it. Enjoy.
I DO NOT OWN DIGIMON ADVENTURE, 02, TAMERS, FRONTIER OR ANY OF ITS CHARACTERS.
Chapter 4: The Sticky Reunion and Burning Determination
The Digital World Location: The Forest Cavern
While Joe and the others were being unfrozen by Flamedramon, Mimi and Yolei were waking in the middle of a small clearing in the middle of a forest.
"Mmm," Mimi mumbled as she sat up. "Where are we?"
Yolei looked around at the dense foliage all around them, noting that instead of a sky, there was a cave ceiling.
"Definitely not the park," she said, cleaning her glasses.
There was a rustling in the brush on their left and they jumped to their feet.
"Oh good," a familiar voice said. "You're awake. We were worried."
"Palmon?" Mimi gasped as her Digimon partner emerged from the forest.
She was with a bird Digimon with white and reddish-brown feathers wearing a band on it's head with a feather sticking up in the back.
"And Hawkmon!" Yolei cried as she ran to embrace him.
"Yes, it's good to see you too Yolei," Hawkmon gasped, "But your crushing my wings! Besides, we need to get moving. Something else is in here with us!"
Mimi and Yolei immediately became serious. They were in unknown territory and who knew what kind of evil Digimon lurked in these woods. They moved quickly into the forest and followed Palmon who insisted that she had an idea of how to get out of the cavern.
"Kyaa!" a voice screamed. "Somebody help me!"
"This way," Mimi said as she took off in the direction of the call for help.
Yolei followed, but she had a sinking suspicion it was a trap. It was no use talking Mimi out of anything because if someone was in need, Mimi was that selfless person who'd go out of her way to help.
They ended up in another clearing where Mimi swore that was where the voice came from, but no one was there.
"Help!" the voice cried again, loud and clear. It was a girl's voice. "Up here!"
Mimi and Yolei looked up and gasped.
A blond girl in purple was stuck in a large spiders web high up off the ground.
"Please help me," she begged, wriggling in the web, but getting nowhere.
Mimi and Yolei weren't the only ones who had responded to the girl's desperate call. There was a rustling on the opposite side of the clearing where Mimi and Yolei stood. A boy around Yolei's age with a small girl in tow had come too.
"Hen-wry," the little girl giggled. "That lady stuck in air."
"Suzie don't be rude," the boy softly scolded. "She needs help."
Two Digimon emerged from behind them. Both looked like a cross between a dog and rabbit. One was a creamy color with one horn on his forehead, two green horizontal stripes on his long ears, green tipped ears, hands, feet, and a green marking around his neck. The other one looked the same, but had different colors. It was light brown with pink markings and it had three horns on its forehead instead of one.
Yolei gasped, pointing at the cream and green colored one.
"They have a Terriermon!"
The boy reacted, finally noticing Yolei and Mimi for the first time.
"How do you know that's what he's called?" he asked.
"Because I've met one before," Yolei answered. "Our friend Willace has one."
"This is Lopmon!" the little girl squealed delightedly as she hugged the brown and pink one.
"Hello," Mimi smiled. "I'm Mimi and this is Yolei, my partner Palmon, and Yolei's partner Hawkmon."
The boy gave a curt bow.
"I'm Henry and this is my little sister Suzie."
"Heh-low!" the girl beamed.
"And I'm Zoe, so now that introductions are over can someone please get me out of here!" the girl in the web cried out incredulously. After all, how could they just stand there chatting when she was in need of serious help?
"Oh dear," Mimi mumbled. "Just how are we going to do that?"
Zoe sighed. "I don't care how. Just get me out!"
"She noisy," Suzie complained to her brother.
Henry looked up to the cavern ceiling, praying the ground would just swallow him again. He knew Suzie was only five years old, but he wished she knew just a little bit of tact.
"How are you going to get her down?" a voice called out. "Well why don't we start by getting you all up there first!"
Suddenly all eight of them were hoisted into the air by invisible threads. Then the four children were thrown into the web with Zoe, and the four Digimon were thrown into a separate net hanging from a nearby tree. A vicious cackling filled the air and a large spider with gaping jaws and pincers hovered above her web.
"It's a Dokugumon!" Mimi gasped.
The spider Digimon cackled again.
"Ah, what sweet specimens I now have to eat," she sighed. "It will all be over soon. Just relax!"
She opened her gaping jaws and a gas flowed toward the helpless DigiDestined as its affects knocked them out one by one, but before Yolei lost consciousness she managed to dig out her D-Terminal and type an S.O.S. She only hoped someone was within range to receive it.
The Digital World Location: The Ice Cavern
Once completely free of the ice, Joe was inspecting Izzi because after Davis told him what had happened, he insisted on making sure his friend was all right. There was a reason he was going to medical school after all. After he was sure Izzi was in no danger, he checked Cody, Kenta, and Tommy over just to be sure they were fine after their little ice escapade.
His younger self was watching him tentatively, as if he wanted to talk, but wasn't sure how to start the conversation. Joe smiled. He remembered how useless and how much of an annoyance he'd once felt like.
"Yes?" Joe smiled, encouraging him.
"Ah! Um…" young Joe spluttered. "I was just wondering… well, why are we – you – going to be a doctor?"
"Ah," Joe mused. Yes, if he were this younger self he'd wonder that as well.
"Well," he started, "I suppose it's because I wanted to be needed. It was something that I was already prepared for and whether Dad had wanted it or not, I realized that as a doctor I could be much more help to the gang. Someone should have medical knowledge if we're going to be in strange worlds where little is known. I've even toyed with the idea of becoming the first Digimon doctor."
"Really?" young Joe asked.
"Yup!" Joe smiled. "I'm an intern at the medical clinic in Odaiba and I've already helped out with a lot of surgical procedures as well as normal check ups."
"Wow," the youth whispered. He was just entering his teens, yet this older self had recently graduated and was well on his way to becoming a doctor like their father.
It was quiet until a sudden beeping sound echoed around the chamber. Both Izzi's were confused because the sound wasn't coming from either of their computers.
"Oh!" Davis exclaimed. "It's me. I'm receiving a message."
He pulled out his D-Terminal just as Cody's and the older Joe's and Izzi's went off as well.
"It's from Yolei," Cody announced. "It looks like she's in trouble. All it says is 'S.O.S.'"
"Then we better hurry," Izzi agreed. "Guardromon, can you run another life forms scan?"
The robot nodded and expanded the range of search.
"Got it," Izzi muttered as he focused on the area where Guardromon had picked up nine new life form readings. It was too far away to get a digivice reading, but Izzi was positive that that was where they'd find Yolei and whoever was with her. The D-Terminals could only send messages to each other over certain distance. He inputted the shortest route to the area and got directions quickly.
Veemon was too tired to Armor Digivolve again so soon, but luckily Cody also had a Digimon who could Armor Digivolve.
"Cody, we need Digmon," Izzi announced as he led the group to the wall that would put them in the shortest tunnel that led to Yolei's location.
The boy nodded and pulled out his D-Terminal and D-3.
"Digi-Armor Energize!" he cried in his soft voice.
Armadillomon glowed like Veemon had when he Armor Digivolved.
"Armadillomon Armor Digivolve to…"
He was then replaced with a tall yellow and purple beetle looking Digimon with a drill for a nose, and drills for pincers on each "hand". The crest on Knowledge was scrawled on his back in purple with a bunch of other markings.
"Digmon! The Drill of Knowledge!"
Again, this different form of Digivolving stunned the others.
"Drill right here," Izzi said, marking the spot on the wall with a black marker.
Digmon nodded. "Stand back! Rock Cracking!"
The Digimon dove face first, with arms extended, and began to drill speedily through the icy wall. Once he was done drilling and everyone made it through the hole he'd made, they all followed the older Izzi. When they got closer to the other cluster on Guardromon's life form readings the two Izzi's computers went off, indicating that there were one yellow, one orange, two blue and one red digivice readings. This encouraged the group to hurry up even more and soon they reached the end of the tunnel and entered the underground forest.
"Whoa," little T.K. and Kari gasped.
"You said it," Matt agreed.
"Only in Digi-world," young Joe sighed.
"Mimi!" a voice called out.
Mimi squeaked with fear and looked at her Digimon.
"What is it Palmon?"
"But, Mimi, that wasn't me," Palmon shivered. "It sure did sound like me though."
"This way!" older Izzi cried.
The all rushed into a clearing where Izzi was getting the digivice readings, but no one was there.
"It's Izzi and Joe!" the other Palmon's voice cried from above.
"Davis and Cody too!" hooted another voice.
"Kazu and Kenta!" another two voices chorused.
Everyone looked up and they were shocked to see the prone bodies of their friends limp in the spider's web. In a nearby tree the other Palmon, Hawkmon, Terriermon and Lopmon were hanging in a net made of web.
"What happened here Palmon?" older Joe asked.
Palmon and Hawkmon went into a rapid explanation, wasting no time.
"Hurry," Palmon implored. "You have to get us out of here before Dokugumon returns!"
The web was too high up for anyone to do anything for their friends just yet, but they were able to get the Digimon out of the net.
"We have to wake them up," older Izzi sighed as he looked up at Mimi and Yolei. "If they were awake then it'd be easier to facilitate a rescue. Unfortunately whatever method we use will alert Dokugumon and give us only minutes to get them down. We need a plan."
"I have an idea if anyone wants to hear it," Tai said. "Our Digimon blast the web loose. If we wake your friends with a loud noise of some kind we can tell them to brace themselves for the fall. Then in mid fall we catch them."
"Sounds simple enough Tai," the older Izzi agreed. "And simple is usually best in these types of situations"
His younger counterpart nodded.
"We can use this net that the Digimon were trapped in," he said. "It's the same material as the web, which seems to be holding pretty well. I say we cut them out of one web and catch them in another."
"Sounds perfect," older Joe agreed. "But now how are we going to wake them up?"
"Yeah," Kari agreed. "I don't have my whistle anymore."
"Whistle?" Tommy repeated. "Oh!"
Everyone looked at the little boy.
"What is it Tommy?" J.P. asked.
Tommy reached down into his shirt and pulled out a whistle Takuya had given him for his birthday. He grinned.
"All right Tommy!" Kazu yipped. "Go for it man!"
Tommy nodded then took a deep breath and blew as hard as he could into the whistle. The ringing sound rang throughout the entire forest and continued ringing in everyone's ears long after Tommy stopped blowing. They waited with baited breath to see if Tommy's efforts had been worth it. Finally they saw movement. The Mimi stuck in the web moaned and Yolei grunted as she tried to stretch. Suzie started crying when she realized that she couldn't move and Henry tried to comfort her, but he couldn't move either. Zoe yawned then started to squirm, but made as much progress as the others.
"Hey girls and Henry!" Kazu yelled up. "We're going to cut you loose and catch you guys in this net! Brace yourselves."
The captives barely had time to register the information Kazu had just supplied them before the attempts to cut the net began.
"Feather Strike!" Hawkmon cried as he threw his head-feather like a boomerang near Yolei.
"Pepper Breathe!" Agumon cried before spitting out fireballs at the far corners of the web that were far from anyone.
"Blue-Blaster!" Gabumon cried, helping Agumon with the corners.
"Spiral Twister!" Biyomon crowed, hitting a section near Zoe.
"Boom Bubble…pah!" Patamon huffed, spitting an air bubble at a section of net by Suzie and Henry.
"Bunny Blast!" Terriermon spat, helping Patamon free his partner.
"Blazing Ice!" Lopmon cried before spitting fine ice crystals up at the web and marking the final blow before it all came crashing down.
The waiting DigiDestined below pulled out the net as far as it would go and caught their friends with ease. It was getting them unstuck that was the problem. It took agonizingly long minutes, minutes that brought Dokugumon closer.
"Aww, my hair!" Mimi, Yolei, and Zoe cried in unison once unstuck.
Suddenly there was a cackle and Dokugumon was back.
"I've had just about enough of her!" Yolei growled. "Hawkmon!"
"I'm ready Yolei!" her Digimon replied.
"Wait!" the older Izzi cried and grabbed Yolei's arm. "Have him Armor Digivolve! Normal Digivolving is impossible right now."
Yolei didn't ask for an explanation. "Alright."
"Get in there and help him out, Digmon!" Cody told his partner.
"You too Veemon!" Davis said.
"Right!" both Digimon agreed.
Yolei and Davis looked at each other as they drew their Digivices.
"Digi-Armor Energize!" they cried.
Hawkmon and Veemon glowed bright gold before changing.
"Hawkmon Armor Digivolve to…!"
"Veemon Armor Digivolve to…!"
Hawkmon came down on four legs like a mutant bird fused with a dog. The upper half of his face down over his neck was covered with a long helmet that had the crest of Love on the forehead and wings sprouting from the sides.
"Halsemon, the Wings of Love!"
Veemon was changing into his other Armor DigiVolution form. He came down on all fours and was covered in black grey armor from the front shoulders down to his rear, leaving his blue tail exposed. He had a black grey facemask that covered the top portion of his face with a lightening blot shaped horn coming out of his forehead. The crest of Friendship was painted on his chest.
"Raidramon, the Storm of Friendship!"
The three Armor Digimon attacked together to fend off Dokugumon.
"Thunder Blast!" Raidramon growled, spitting out a bolt of blue lightening.
"Tempest Wing!" Halsemon cried, as he spun so fast a tornado formed.
"Gold Rush!" Digmon cried before launching his drills like rockets.
The spider Digimon let out a shriek of pain and anger as she came crashing down onto the forest floor and disintegrated into tiny bits of data.
"Alright!" Davis, Cody and Yolei cheered.
Once everyone was reintroduced, the Mimi's began a cross examination of each other. Comparing notes and asking each other questions. It was a comedic sight. Older Izzi was catching Yolei and Henry on what was going on while Kenta kept little Suzie busy. Kazu was telling Guardromon to run another life forms scan to see if anymore friends were nearby.
Zoe found herself sneaking off to the side to sit between J.P. and Tommy. She knew that their absence of a Digimon partner had not gone unnoticed and she wanted to find out what had been said to explain that.
"Nothing has been explained," J.P. muttered so that only Zoe and Tommy could hear. "Izzi, the older one, tried to ask me when we met but then he got sidetracked by digivice readings."
"Why don't we just tell them?" Tommy suggested.
"Too many questions that are hard to explain," Zoe said. "We should be focusing on finding our other friends anyways. I'm hoping we won't have to answer any questions until we find Takuya, Koji and Koichi."
J.P. nodded. "Taki and Koji have an even better understanding of our situation then we do. I say we just kick back and let Izzi track down our friends. Then we'll talk." Taki was just a nickname that J.P. had come up with for Takuya.
"What's going on?" Tommy asked as everyone started to gather around the Izzi's again.
"Maybe they found more of our friends!" Zoe exclaimed.
"All right everyone!" the older Izzi was saying. "I want to know how many others we should be looking for. My group is missing six: Tai, Matt, T.K, Kari, Ken, and Willace."
"We're missing six as well," Henry said, speaking for his group. "Takato, Rika, Ryo, Jeri, Ai and Mako."
"We're only missing three," J.P. said, speaking up before Zoe could. "Takuya, Koji and Koichi."
Izzi nodded as he typed the data into his computer.
"There is another chamber up ahead with massive amounts of heat readings," Izzi explained. "I'm unable to register if readings are human or not, but I am going on the assumption that some are. We can't take the chance that they aren't. When we get closer we'll hopefully get a reading on any digivices. Let's go."
Everyone sighed but followed him once again. Many were tired and wanted to take a longer rest, but they knew that finding their missing friends was their number one priority. There was the possibility that some Digimon worse then Dokugumon was out there. It had already been a close call with Mimi, Yolei, Zoe, Henry and Suzie.
After leaving the forest the air was hot like an oven. Suzie wouldn't stop crying because her feet were hurting and she was all sweaty, so Henry picked her up and gave her a piggyback ride. No one was in a talking mood after that. Many felt sorry for the little girl. She was only five after all. They felt even more sorry for Henry because it couldn't have been easy to take care of one so small and irrational. Matt and Tai sympathized with him the most. Because they had little siblings too, but T.K. and Kari were old enough to fend for themselves to a point, whereas Suzie was helpless and needy.
They finally reached the chamber and looked inside it's sandy contents…
The Digital World Location: The Heat Chamber
Sora had no idea what to do. She was alone with Biyomon in what could only be described as a sauna. She was dripping with sweat and hated how her clothes clung uncomfortably to her skin.
"Hello!" she called out. "Is anyone else out there?"
"Sora," Biyomon whined tiredly, dying in the heat under her feathers. "Let's get out of here. We have to find the others."
Sora sighed. Biyomon was right. The two of them had been searching the chamber forever and now they were reaching their limits in this underground desert.
"Hello!" she called out desperately one more time.
"He…llo!" a soft voice called out. "Is …someone there?"
Biyomon's eyes widened.
Sora grinned and ran in the direction of the voice. "Yes! Hello! Is anybody out there?"
"Please!" the voice cried. "I need help!"
This made Sora hurry even faster. Biyomon was pressed to keep up with her. They finally found another girl collapsed on the ground with damp hair and a sweat soaked dress.
"Are you alright?" Sora asked softly as she helped the girl into a sitting position.
The girl smiled tiredly. "I am now. I thought no one would find me. It was so hot…"
"Can you stand?" Sora asked. "We have to get out of here."
She nodded weakly and allowed Sora to help her to her feet.
"I'm Jeri," she said, smiling.
"Sora," Sora smiled back. "And this is my Digimon partner Biyomon."
The girl's smile turned sad.
"I used to have a partner," she mumbled. "But he died…"
Sora's heart ached for Jeri. She couldn't imagine loosing Biyomon.
"Don't be too sad Jeri," Sora smiled, trying to cheer the girl up. "Digimon don't ever really die. They just get reconfigured into data again. That's all."
"Really?" Jeri asked, hope shining in her eyes.
"Yes," Sora smiled. "I'm sure you'll meet him again someday. Who knows? Maybe he's looking for you right now."
Jeri smiled and with renewed hope, began to walk with as little help from Sora as possible. They wandered for hours following the long walls until they came to the top of a hill. On the other side of that hill came a cool breeze from a tunnel that lead out of their nightmare.
"We made it!" Jeri cried, tears streaming down her dusty face.
"Yeah," Sora sighed. "We did."
"Look!" Biyomon cried, pointing one feathered arm towards their exit.
Sora squinted, but she could just make out a large group of people and Digimon.
"Hey!" she called out hoarsely. "Over here!"
Davis knew that there was no way that anybody was willing to go in. He was about to suggest that only a small search group go when he heard a voice call out.
"Hey… over here!"
"Someone's out there on that hill!" he cried after spotting the dark figures.
Older Izzi used the zoom function on his laptop's camera to get a better view of the hill Davis pointed at and gasped.
"It's Sora, Biyomon and another girl!"
"That's Jeri!" Kenta cried. "She looks awful! She could be hurt!"
"I'll get them," Davis cried, hopping on Raidramon's back.
"I'll come with you," Yolei stated, hopping astride Halsemon.
"Be careful!" Izzi called out after them as their Digimon took off across the desert like plain.
Davis was the first to reach them and quickly help Jeri from Sora's side and up onto Halsemon's back when Yolei arrived. Sora and Biyomon got on Raidramon right behind Davis and clung tight onto him as Raidramon took off back across the sands. Joe had water bottles waiting for them when they arrived. He looked them over and treated them accordingly to the best of his abilities. Kenta and Kazu looked after Jeri while Sora as filled in by Joe, who had heard Izzi's explanation so many times he almost completely understood what was going on.
Neither Izzi was picking up anymore digivice signals from the desert area before them so they turned the group around and headed for cooler tunnels. They found one with a few chambers with hot springs so they took the opportunity to take a quick rest, the girls immediately relived to get clean. The boys took a quick bath as well, and a half an hour later they were all off again.
Sora was soon in deep conversation with her younger self as the ever-growing group moved onwards, mostly talking about how well she got along with her mother after that first adventure in the Digital World. No one knew where to look next because there were no more digivice or life form readings in the immediate area. All they could do was wander through the tunnels hoping that they'd wander in the right direction.
They wandered for hours and still had no readings. Finally the older DigiDestined, Izzi, Joe, Mimi, Sora, and Michael decided that it was time to camp. All of the tunnels looked alike so one spot was just as good as another. Guardromon was given a break and entered sleep mode. A lot of the younger kids like T.K, Kari, Cody, Tommy and Suzie, fell asleep instantly, while older kids, mainly Tai and Matt, arranged a watch guard schedule. It was decided that the older DigiDestined from the future would stand guard with three to four of the younger children.
Mimi and Michael were in charge of the first watch with young Mimi, Zoe and Henry. Joe had second shift with young Joe, Matt, and Kenta. Izzi had the third watch with young Izzi, Tai, J.P. and Kazu. Sora had the final shift with young Sora, Yolei, Davis, and Jeri. The watches were only a precaution, but it turned out to be a good idea when in the final shift Davis thought he heard a voice.
He looked around trying to pinpoint where it had come from. Everyone was fast asleep aside from him and the rest of his guard group, but none of them seemed to have heard. He strained his hearing, trying to pick up any sound that was out of place. Then he heard it. A small scream, almost too far away to hear, but these tunnels had decent acoustics.
"Sora," Davis called out as softly as possible, but still ended up rousing a few of the others that were sleeping near his position.
The both red heads looked up.
Davis sighed. Something was going to have to be done if all of the original DigiDestined were going to stick around their "mini-me."
"Older Sora," he called over.
"What is it Davis?" she asked as she made her way over to him.
"Listen," he whispered.
Sora listened hard for a few minutes until she finally heard what Davis had heard. Her eyes widened. Then she hurried over to the sleeping Guardromon and woke him.
"Yes?" the robot wheezed as his body restarted.
"I need you to run a life forms scan," Sora said quickly. "Hurry!"
The robot Digimon's body whirred as it processed this new command and ran the scan.
"Detecting nine new life forms!" he chirped as the older Izzi's laptop began to beep with the faint traces of a digivice reading.
Izzi was awake instantly, tapping away to get a fix on the fresh readings.
"One yellow, two orange, one blue, and one red Digivice readings," he said, answering Sora and Davis's question before they could ask.
The other members of Sora and Davis's guard went around rousing everyone else awake, while Izzi tried to find the best route to get to the newly found DigiDestined. It took a while, but soon they were on the move again and headed in the direction of the voice that had alerted Davis.
"T.K!" the voice called out.
Davis's heart jumped into his mouth. That was Kari's voice and she sounded distressed. Something was wrong. He jumped onto Raidramon's back and took off ahead of everyone.
"Davis, come back!" older Joe yelled after him.
"I'll go with him," Yolei said, jumping onto Halsemon and taking off as well before anyone could stop her.
Young Tai hadn't missed the significance of the moment. He had recognized the voice as Kari's as well and had instinctively wanted to race off like Davis had even though he knew that his sister was right next to him. Matt had noticed as well.
Everyone else picked up the pace and raced after Davis and Yolei because Davis had Raidramon flying down the tunnel. Yolei and Halsemon where barely on their heels, but they somehow managed to keep up.
The tunnel entered a wide cavern that made the two come up short, allowing their Digimon to rest briefly. It was amazingly bright inside, so bright it was almost blinding after the dim tunnel light.
"Koji!" a girls voice called out. "Hang in there!"
"T.K!" Kari's voice echoed around the chamber. "T.K! Please answer us!"
"T.K!" Matt's voice now came out clearly. "Common, wake up!"
Yolei and Davis gave each other a concerned look. The others had caught up to them in time to hear Matt's cry.
Davis braced himself and charged into the brightly lit room with Yolei and the others were right behind them.