A/N: This will be the last chapter I'll upload before college. After that, I don't think I'll have the time or will to write anymore. Don't worry, I'm not abandoning this fic. This isn't my first short hiatus either. Before I started college in May, I started writing (but didn't upload) this story and Davis: LFAW. Then when my first semester started I set them aside completely. I didn't continue until my semester break started. Days at home gave me countless ideas for my stories, but life in college will get in the way. I might continue writing if I have the time, but until then, it's a short break for me.
My IELTS Speaking test is tomorrow and I'm still working on this. There goes my life… Anyway, I hope you don't mind a history lesson.
Enjoy!
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon but I own the plot of this AU, a ton of other inventions and a few original characters.
CHAPTER 4: RISE OF THE SHADOW KINGHT
In his office, Principal Genji sighed. He had to take off his mask for an emergency meeting earlier. The Board had demanded explanations regarding the chaos that had happened yesterday. He couldn't exactly explain to them that the incident had been a Digimon attack.
DATS Commander Richard Sampson had said that the government wanted no word leaked about Digimon appearing in the real world, and the DATS agents had personally made sure that nobody else knew about Ogremon.
The Digimon Accidents Tactics Squad, simply known as DATS, was a secret government organisation that kept Digimon appearances hushed up. They were responsible for cleaning up the Myotismon incident, and they wiped the invasion from the memories of the people.
Anyway, the Board had reluctantly accepted the 'gas explosion' explanation, but unanimously decided that only Genji's pay would be deducted by 30% to pay for the repairs. The Board were dirt-bags that way.
So Genji had requested that he take leave for a few months because he had some private business to do. He entrusted Vice Principal Abe to direct the Academia in his absence. The reason he had to do so was to assume the position of Gennai, in order to prepare the Digidestined to save the Digital World.
Next to the silver briefcase which contained the D3s was a black briefcase. He opened it and looked at the 6 First Edition Digivices. He had given Tai's back to him and sent him to the Digital World, but what troubled him was the last one. Originally white, the Digivice was now a shade of stone grey. It wouldn't activate no matter what. He had an idea what had happened but he couldn't be sure.
He put his documents aside, grabbed his cloak and the briefcases, pocketed his pass card and turned off the lights. Walking out of the door and locking it, he stood there and waited. His watch said 1.35pm, which meant the boy and the girl would be arriving soon since classes ended at 1.40pm.
Might as well get myself a coffee, Gennai mused.
Daisuke hurried to the meet up point that he and Yolei had decided this morning during their walk, which was at the elevator to the top floor where the Grand Principal's office was. He felt bad for ditching TK and Kari again, but it couldn't be helped. He promised them that he would explain later.
The burgundy haired boy recalled the morning:
Just after the toilet incident…
"Let me out at the window on the second floor. I know my way from there," Demiveemon told Daisuke.
"Just don't get into trouble. Meet me outside the Principal's Office after the last bell. Don't get caught and don't raid the cafeteria again."
"I make no promises about the raid. See you later!" And he jumped out of the window and disappeared down a ventilation shaft.
"That little prick…" Daisuke muttered.
He found Yolei waiting there. "Hey Yolei. How was classes? I'm so flunking algebra."
The tall girl smiled, "It was fine. Now are we ready to go?" Daisuke nodded.
The elevator music was terrible. It didn't help that they had to stop on every floor for people to come and go.
After what seemed like ages, they finally reached the top floor. They found the hooded man, Gennai leaning against the wall, coffee in one hand and cell phone in another. He looked up as they approached him. "Ah, you're here. Let's take a seat in this room, shall we?" He opened the door to a room that had leather sofas and a marble coffee table, on which sat two briefcases.
"Make yourself comfortable," he gestured. Daisuke and Yolei sat down next to each other.
Gennai locked the door from the inside and sipped his coffee before sitting down opposite the kids. "Didn't you bring your Digimon with you?"
Daisuke shifted in his seat. "Um… Vee was supposed to meet me outside but he's nowhere in sight."
"Down here, Davis." The boy looked down and almost jumped when he saw Demiveemon peeking up at him from underneath the sofa. "What're you— How did you—"
"I told you I know my way around. I even brought my friends. Come out, everybody!" Demiveemon jumped on the seat and hollered. The Baby Digimon crawled out from their hiding spots. They gathered on the vacant sofa and chirped delightfully.
"I'm Minomon!" The green bug in a shell said.
"I'm Poromon!" The pink ball of a bird flapped around Yolei's head happily.
"I'm Tokomon!" The white pig-like creature grinned toothily.
"I'm Upamon!" The dough ball with three pairs of ear flaps said.
"I am Salamon, nice to meet you," the small beige puppy-like Digimon said shyly.
"Oh my! How lovely you all look." Yolei got up and hugged them. They liked her immediately.
Gennai was stunned by the sudden appearance of so many Digimon, but he cleared his throat. "Wow, there are so many of you. How did you gather here?" And how could all of you have slipped past my nose?
"That's our secret!" The Digimon said in unison before bursting into giggles.
Putting his face in his hands, Gennai sighed. "Very well. Just don't make a mess of the place." He addressed the two children. "Before we start, may I know your names?"
"I'm Yolei Inoue."
"I'm Dai—Davis. Davis Kamiya." Close call, thought Daisuke. I really need to be careful.
When Daisuke identified himself as a Kamiya, Gennai stared at him for a while before speaking, "I'm Gennai, as you already know. I think you're wondering why I called you here, and it's not for a chat. There is some explaining that I need to do regarding the appearances of creatures known as Digimon." He gestured at the Digimon who were happily wrestling with each other on the ground.
"You see, many years ago we realised that we were not alone in the universe. We discovered a parallel world, created by a group of college students called the Monster Makers. They were intending to make a complex game, but then scrapped the project because they all grew up and became busy with life.
What they didn't know, was that they had brought life to this world. The pieces of data they created, had evolved into creatures that were known as the Primals. They were the first generation of Digimon, but they were as their name suggests, primitive. One of the Monster Makers who had felt nostalgic at the time, dug up some data from his old files and was surprised to find that the simplistic one-dimensional characters had suddenly received an upgrade."
Daisuke and Yolei sat silently, captivated by the story. Even the Digimon had stopped playing in favour of a tale.
He contacted the other Makers, and they decided to commercialise their project. It was then, that their dreams began to come true. They didn't know what happened, but the data had somehow changed on its own. The first generation of Tamagotchis and Virtual Pets were actually Primals captured and stored in small devices, for humans to play with and take care of.
However, years later something else occurred. A Maker named Shibumi noticed that the Primals were dying out. They were being replaced by a new era of digital creatures, which could change forms if taken care of properly. These creatures were the first of the Digimon we know today. Shibumi didn't think that anything was off, but he was unsettled by the alarming speed of which the Digimon had advanced. After casual observations, he realised that the world the Digimon lived in was upgrading itself automatically, due to the fact that technology was improving.
"One day, the Tamagotchi toy of a young boy went blank. Pollock the Parrot, as he called it, had mysteriously vanished, turning the Tamagotchi into an empty device. The next day, the Tamagotchi of another boy faced the same problem. Soon, all the Tamagotchis around Japan went dead and the Monster Makers had to shut their company down." Gennai coughed a bit at the end of his sentence, for his throat was dry. Sipping his coffee, he continued.
"Then we come to our fateful night, 1st August 1995. The incident of a Parrotmon fighting a Greymon outside Highton View Terrace. Incidentally, it was the very same Pollock that had disappeared from the Tamagotchi of the boy I mentioned earlier. Try to guess who the Greymon belonged to."
"Um… You?" Daisuke guessed.
Gennai chuckled. "Very funny, but no. The owner of the Greymon was none other than Taichi 'Tai' Kamiya."
The impending silence was heavy. Daisuke swallowed as the information sank in.
"So… You're saying that Taichi, my… brother, was involved in this somehow? Is that why he's in the Digital World?"
Gennai stared at him. "How did you know he was in the Digital World?"
"Vee told me."
Demiveemon waved his stubby hands. "I met Tai! I did, I did."
"… Very well. Yes, he is in the Digital World. Anyway, back to the story. The Greymon and Parrotmon disappeared after the fight, presumably sucked back into the Digital World. The Japanese government cleaned up the battlefield and wiped any memory of that incident from the residents, yours and Tai's included. But we knew, and so did the Monster Makers from then on that we were not the only sentient beings in the universe.
"The government then tried to contact the other world, finally managing to open a portal to the other side. I was part of an expedition team to explore the unknown world, and it was fun albeit dangerous," Gennai said wistfully. "But it was a peaceful first contact anyhow. However, one man wanted to make use of Digimon. His name was Akihiro Kurata.
Kurata invaded the Digital World and began collecting the life energy and data of Digimon. His plans were unknown, but it backfired on him. The energies accumulated formed a single collective conscience and became Yggdrasil, the god of the Digital World. With the help of four Powerful Primals called the Sovereigns, Yggdrasil banished Kurata to dimension where space and time is irrelevant, and was never seen again. The Sovereigns then became guardians of the Digital Realm, watching over the world with Yggdrasil, swearing not to meddle with Digimon affairs."
"Wow… That's awesome. But how does this relate to us?" Yolei questioned. She stroked the Poromon on her lap. The pink bird had grown attached to her and wanted her close company.
"I'm getting to that. So the human invasion left the Digimon scared of humans, and all contact ceased, but that was until a devil Digimon, Devimon, wanted to fill the Digital World with darkness. Unable to be involved directly, Yggdrasil forcefully brought 8 young human children to the Digital Realm, believing that the prophecy of eight would be fulfilled and the Digimon World would be saved. And fulfilled it was. The 8 kids had their adventures but that's a story for another time.
"Let's skip to the part where they found out Myotismon, a vampire Digimon was preparing to invade the Human World. They failed to stop him from coming here, but they finally destroyed him after a tense battle. But the damage had been done. The Japanese central government knew that Digimon could actually wreck the Earth, so they set up a few secret organisations to monitor Digimon activity. We have Hypnos in Shinjuku, DATS branches here and there and some others that I don't know of. They keep Digimon cases silent, and nobody remembers them. Even the 8 children had their memories wiped and their Digivices confiscated," Gennai took a deep breath.
"Still not related to us yet."
"Patience, boy. We're almost there. Now, something seems to have gone wrong with Yggdrasil. It has defected and is now creating chaos in the Digital World. We didn't think that the power of the Original 8 was enough to stop him, so we had to bring in reinforcements.
A few scientists and I had been studying the structure and system of the Digivices and we managed to create 5 new models, the D3s which stand for Digimon, Detect and Discover." Gennai explained. He pulled the silver briefcase towards him and opened it, spinning it around for Davis and Yolei to see. The D3s were red, yellow, pink, and green respectively.
"These D3s can evolve, or as the Digimon say, digivolve the Digimon into their higher forms temporary if the bonds between human and partner Digimon are strong enough. The D3s only activate when a true bond has been formed."
Demiveemon jumped excitedly. "I know how it feels like! When Davis and I bonded, I felt an energy build inside me. It was like… a warm feeling that exploded. It was, it was!" The other Digimon gathered around him, eager to hear more about forming a bond.
Gennai shrugged. "That made no sense to me, but yes, when a true bond is formed I believe you'll know what it's like. But anyway, the Digital World is in jeopardy and it has to be saved again. Digimon appearances around Japan are becoming increasingly frequent and it is getting out of hand.
Somebody needs to stop Yggdrasil, so I sent Tai ahead – yes, Tai was one of the 8 kids that saved the Digital World – to know what is going on. There will be four more new kids to join the Digidestined, as we call the eight, but we don't know who yet. These guys over here," Gennai jerked a thumb at the Digimon who were still listening to Demiveemon brag about digivolution, "might be potential partners for the new Digidestined so you better keep an eye on them."
Gennai opened the other black briefcase and pocket one of the contents. He spun the case around like he did with the silver one. "Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to locate all the old and new Digidestined and gather them. After that, I'll brief you on your next task."
Yolei held out her hands defensively. "Wait a second, we came here to get information, not to sign up for a task," she retorted.
"And information, you have gotten. You have already heard what's going on and what you're supposed to do. What else do you want to know?"
Daisuke answered this time, "Why us?"
"Because it was meant to be. Fate chose you out of so many people to handle this task, so you are the one who has the power to get the job done."
Daisuke thought for a moment. "And if we say no?"
"Then we'll continue waiting till the next Digidestined appears, which might be tomorrow, or it might be next month, while the Digital World continues to suffer. Tai is in a dangerous world over there. Surely you don't want this to happen, right?"
Yolei clenched her fists. "That's not fair. We aren't really given a choice," she said angrily.
"Oh no, Yolei. YOU have a choice. Davis is the one who doesn't."
Yolei rounded on her friend. "You can't be seriously thinking of accepting this, right? This is madness, and we don't even know if we can trust this guy."
To her surprise, Davis closed the cases and took their handles. "I accept."
Yolei's voice died in her throat. "But- You- You can't just-"
"I have to, Yolei. I have decided that I will bear this task," Daisuke said in a low tone. He looked at her and grinned lopsidedly. "Besides, I get to be leader since I am the one who gathers them all."
The girl sighed. There was no talking him out of this one. "Fine, I'm in. You can't get things done without messing up anyway."
"Hey, how do you know that? You haven't even seen me in action!" Daisuke defended.
Yolei rolled her eyes. "Because you're a boy, and boys always mess things up."
"Why you-"
"Guys, please. You have your task, so please get to work. The Digital World needs your assistance, and so does the real world." Gennai smiled. "But you'll do fine. Now if we're done here, I need to be somewhere else." He stood up and headed for the door. He opened it and left, leaving two primary school students and a group of overactive Digimon.
"Man, that was weird," Daisuke commented. He glanced at the cases and back at Yolei. "So what do we do now?"
Yolei shrugged. "We have to find whoever these Digivices belong to, I guess. I'll come over to your house for a while again, and we'll figure out what to do."
"Yeah sure. Demiveemon, we're going now."
Demiveemon stopped struggling with the Minomon. "Do we have to?" he whined.
"Can we come with you? We're bored of staying in this place," Poromon asked hopefully.
"Yeah, we know every single corner of the whole Academia. You won't believe the number of secret passages they have," Salamon chimed in.
"Can we, please?" They all chorused, looking at Daisuke and Yolei pleadingly. Even Demiveemon did his best puppy dog expression.
Daisuke slapped his forehead, sighing in resignation. "Alright, alright. You can come with us, as long as you're not discovered. Demiveemon, lead them back to our house." The Digimon cheered and whooped.
"Stay in the shadows and don't get caught," warned Yolei.
Demiveemon rolled his eyes, "Now you're sounding exactly like Davis. You two are so alike." Yolei blushed lightly but Daisuke looked completely oblivious to his partner's statement.
Getting up, the boy said, "We'll meet you back at the house. See you."
"Okay!" The Digimon scurried away and disappeared.
"That was quick," Yolei commented as she took a briefcase from Daisuke. "Let's go before trouble arrives."
Daisuke and Yolei made their way back to the apartment building, but they had the misfortune of being spotted by TK and Kari.
The latter duo were in a nearby café doing their homework. They saw Daisuke and Yolei stroll past them outside the glass pane where their table was and quickly went outside. Kari dragged Daisuke into the café by his ear while TK ushered the lavender haired girl inside. The customers inside gave them strange looks before minding their own businesses.
"Kari, not the ear! Ouch!" Daisuke whimpered.
"Shut up, Davis. It's high time you sat down and gave us the explanation you owe us," Kari snapped at him.
"Owie… Alright, alright! I'll talk! Can't we go somewhere more private?"
"No, we're doing this here and now." Kari let go of his ear.
Daisuke sat down and gingerly touched his throbbing ear. Yolei took a seat next to him while TK and Kari sat opposite him.
"So what do you want to know?"
"Everything! First you're hospitalized for a freak incident, then you have amnesia and act all weird. Recently you even ditched me and Kari and run off without saying anything. What's going on with you?" TK exploded. A waiter came up to him and asked him to lower his voice.
Daisuke frowned. "What do you mean by acting weird? I certainly have not acted out of the ordinary. As for ditching you two, I had something important to do."
"Important enough to leave your friends hanging?" Kari countered.
Yolei and Daisuke shared an incredulous look. "Should we tell them?" Yolei asked.
Daisuke pondered for a moment before saying, "Yeah, they deserve to know." Turning to his other friends, he shortened the story as much as possible. "I met a little blue monster called a Digimon. His name is Vee, short for Veemon. I left him in school the other day so I left you guys to go back and get him. Then a green troll called Ogremon attacked us and almost crushed me but Yolei pulled me out of the way. Then Veemon Digivolved into a larger dragon with wings (he was so cool) and destroyed the Ogremon.
A man gave me something called a Digivice," Daisuke brought out his blue D3 for them to see. "Then I went with Yolei just now to find him and he told us an epic story about the Digital World where all Digimon live. Oh, and Tai got himself stuck in the Digital World somehow."
TK whistled and clapped his hands sardonically while Kari narrowed her eyes. "I expected better of you, Davis. First you ditch us, now you spin a tale as an excuse, using a toy as evidence. I'm hurt, Davis. I really am." She packed her things and left.
"Aww come on Kari. Where are you going?" The others got up and followed the apoplectic girl.
"I'm going home."
TK left enough money on the table to pay for their drinks. He hurried after Daisuke and Yolei who were trying to convince Kari that they weren't lying.
"Really, Kari. We're telling the truth. In this briefcases are more of those Digivices. I'll introduce you to Vee when we get back later," Daisuke pleaded.
"And why should I believe you?" Kari shot back, walking faster to get away.
He didn't get to answer because suddenly TK spotted a fireball hurtling towards Kari.
TK lunged at Kari and dragged her out of harm's way. The fireball missed but hit a car nearby which exploded. Daisuke and Yolei were thrown back slightly by the explosion, dazed but otherwise unharmed.
Kari looked up. "What just happened?"
TK released her and looked around dizzily. His ears were ringing from the explosion. People screamed and ran for cover. The blonde spotted an eight foot tall humanoid figure whose body was made entirely of fire walking in their direction.
Daisuke groaned painfully and propped himself using his elbows. Yolei stirred beside him. "My head…" the girl choked out, coughing from the smoke.
"I don't know, but I think he might be the cause of it." Daisuke pointed to the Meramon approaching them.
The two of them scrambled to their feet and went to help TK and Kari. The brunette was at a loss for words. "I—you said—Monsters… It's true?" She said bleakly.
Daisuke grinned, "Yeah, I wouldn't lie about stuff like this. Wait till you meet Vee." He stood up straight and surveyed the damage. "Too bad he isn't with us, or we could take this guy down."
And at that precise moment…
"Davis!" something blue leapt from a building and landed on a car, denting the hood. "Are you okay?" Vee had become Veemon somehow.
"Speak of the devil. Vee, you're here! I thought you and the others were at home. And how come you're Veemon again?"
Veemon shook his head. "I had a feeling you were in danger. I took detour and came here instead. Digimon can sense it when other Digimon are around. When i sense a fight, I can Digivolve to a Rookie."
"And where are the others?"
"I told them how to get to your apartment. They'll be hiding in the lobby."
Handing his briefcase to Yolei, he instructed. "Alright. Yolei, get TK and Kari to safety. Meet me at the lobby of my apartment, find Poromon and the others there. Veemon, it's time to Digivolve!" Yolei gave Daisuke a concerned look, but she obeyed and went with TK and Kari. Kari gave Daisuke a worried look but he flashed his trademark grin and a thumbs-up.
"Veemon digivolve to… Exveemon!" The light of Digivolution faded and Veemon reappeared as a larger blue dragon with wings who took to the air.
"An Exveemon! So what the Emperor suspected was true. There are remnants of the Veemon clan. It will bring me great honour to destroy you!" Meramon mused in a surprisingly female voice. When Daisuke looked closely he could see the feminine features more clearly. "Fire Ball!" She began throwing spheres of flames at Exveemon.
The blue dragon manoeuvred around the attacks and dived in for an attack. He punched the Meramon in the face and she took a few steps back. "Is this how you treat a woman?" she mocked.
Exveemon snarled, "I see no woman here, only an enemy who threatens me and my friends!" He went for another few physical attacks. Vee bit down on Meramon's arm but the flaming Champion level Digimon lit her palm on fire and slapped it down on his neck. Exveemon screamed in pain and let go of his bite. Meramon kick him in the stomach and he crashed into the sidewalk.
"Roaring Fire!" Meramon spat a stream of fire from her mouth at Exveemon who got up and flew upward. Daisuke had to roll to the side to avoid getting roasted alive.
"Come on, Vee! What are you playing at? Finish her off already," Daisuke shouted.
Exveemon grunted as he flew around the Fire Balls shot at him. "I'm trying to, Davis, but I can't hit her without getting burned."
Meramon hurled another Fire Ball at him. "That's right, you should know better than to play with fire. Time to get burned!"
With a powerful swing of his tail, Exveemon deflected the fireball in another direction. Unfortunately it was headed straight towards a young boy. "Oh no!"
The boy could only stare in shock as the flame shot towards him at a high speed. At the last second a figure in black and green armour appeared and struck the fireball with his palm. The fire dissipated, leaving nothing but heat.
"Are you alright?" the armoured figure asked. The boy nodded, still in woozy from his near-death experience.
The newcomer walked up to Daisuke without taking his eyes off the Meramon. Daisuke took the chance to study his dark green, military coloured armour. Beneath the armour was a smooth, black skin-tight suit. The chest plate was made of what looked like metal, whereas the limb joints had carbon fibre pieces covering them. He also had a dome-shaped pack on his back. Gauntlets wrapped his forearms. On the right wrist, there was a countdown timer, decreasing from 8 minutes to 7.59, 7.58, 7.56…
The legs were clad with green armour as well. The helmet had an interesting design that looked like a bee. It did not have two eyes, but a single visor instead.
Daisuke gaped in awe. "Dude, this is so cool! Where can I get one of those?"
Of course, he was ignored.
The newcomer grabbed two dagger hilts from his belt and dashed towards the Meramon at inhumane speeds. The flaming humanoid swiped at him but he sidestepped easily. With lightning-quick reflexes, he slashed, stabbed and hacked at Meramon, making her shriek in pain.
However, he wasn't quick enough because Meramon managed to launch a kick at his torso, kicking him back. The armour clad person threw something from his belt at the Digimon which exploded upon impact but the smoke disappeared and Meramon appeared to grow taller.
Daisuke grumbled, "Not even explosions work against her? How do we win?"
"If only we had lots of water to spray at her…" Exveemon thought out loud.
Eyes widening at his partner's words, he snapped his fingers. "That's it! We need water. But where can we get lots…" He spotted a fire hydrant behind the Meramon. "I got it. Hey, green-armour-mysterious-stranger!" He hollered at the green combatant and pointed at the fire hydrant.
He caught on immediately for he nodded and crouched before jumping into the air. He tried to bring a chopping motion down on Meramon who stepped back to avoid the hit. She unknowingly stepped over the fire hydrant. When he landed, he flung a bomb at the fire hydrant, blowing it to bits and spraying water at the Meramon.
"No!" she cried as her fires were put out, making her shrink. "I can't be losing to you!"
Daisuke grinned. "Looks like you are. Exveemon, now's our chance!"
"Vee-Laser!" A blast of light shot at the weakened Meramon from Exveemon's torso. The enemy Champion disintegrated into data which was again absorbed by Exveemon.
Daisuke pumped a fist in victory. He went forward to meet the stranger. "Hey, that was awesome. I'm Daisuke. What's your name?" He held out a hand.
The other person merely looked at his hand, not shaking it. He turned to leave, causing Daisuke to yell, "Oh come on, at least show some courtesy."
Pausing, the person turned his head slightly. "I am the Shadow Knight." He looked at his watch, which was counting backwards for 3 minutes. Jumping onto a car, he launched himself into the air, grabbed hold of an edge of a building before scaling to the top and disappearing from sight.
Exveemon dedigivolved into Demiveemon. The boy Shadow Knight saved approached Daisuke. "Just now… That was a Digimon battle wasn't it?"
Daisuke looked at him in surprise. He didn't think that there would be others who knew about Digimon. "Who are you?"
The boy met Daisuke's eyes. He didn't look much younger than Davis, probably a couple of years at most. He also had a bowl haircut and soft brown eyes. "My name is Cody Hida, please to meet you. Do you mind if I come with you to ask some questions?"
Daisuke picked Demiveemon up and nodded. Seems like I'm getting to know more people because of Digimon.
"Okay, let's move. We have to get away before the police get here." Neither of them noticed the flash of a camera around the corner.
A/N: Two updates in one day? Man, I rock. But sadly, this means I won't updating for a while… I would like to thank BreakingWays for indirectly giving me the idea of using a female Meramon.
I wonder how many of you picked up the little hints I dropped in here. Anyway, thanks for reading and I hope you leave a review. I love reading your opinions. See you around!