Escape
Shadow- "Hello again! Sorry for taking an extra day to write this chapter. (I got a chain letter as a review in my other story, and I wanted to adress that.)"
Renamon- "I still can't believe someone sent you that..."
Shadow- "I know... how gullible do people think I am?"
Renamon- "I think that's a question better left unanswered... just the sam, though, Shadow doe not own digimon."
Shadow- "And please remember to R&R!"
phone records
"He-llo, this is Tai."
"Hello Tai..."
"Kari? Is that you?"
"Listen closely. If you ever want to get your Kari back, you will meet us in the central desert of the digital world."
"Kari? Can you hear me? You've got to fight it!"
"Heh... you're too late... she's lost her battle with the rings..."
click.
"Kari? Kari!"
central desert
The sand-blasted, lonesome portal sat idly in the sand, unused, forgotten. The screen flickered hopefully on. After a moment, five humans and five digimon fell out of the portal.
Tai stood up, shaking the sand out of his hair. "Well, that was easy. Good thing this is here."
Izzy shook his head. "You know, I always wondered why there was a portal in this place..."
Ken shrugged. "Why not? They're everywhere else..."
Agumon looked around. "Wow, that's a lot of sand..."
"Way to state the obvious..." Sora sighed. "Speaking of obvious, why isn't Mimi coming?"
Tai yawned. "More like oblivious. She yelled something like, 'Do you have any idea what time it is?' and hung up."
Yolie nodded. "Well, I guess we'll just do without her... big loss. So... where are we supposed to meet them, exactly?"
"Right here works." said a voice from behind them. The digidestined turned, and saw Matt, TK, Kari, Davis, and Cody with dark rings around their arms. Their digimon stood next to them, their eyes glowing red due to the black rings attached to them.
Matt grinned. "Foolish digidestined... Are you actually willing to attack your friends?"
Tai took out his digivice. The others followed suit. "Matt, listen, that thing is-"
Mat cut him of with a laugh. "You idiot! Don't you get it yet? The dark rings take over their minds. There is no escape."
"Well, then we'll just have to knock them off you!" Tai yelled.
DIGIVOLUTION
"Agumon... digivolve to... Greymon!"
"Tentomon... digivolve to... Kabuterimon!"
"Biyomon... digivolve to... Birdramon!"
"Hawkmon... digivolve to... Aquilamon!"
"Wormon... digivolve to... Stingmon!"
Kari smirked. "That's it? Well then... I guess we'll just have to finish this quickly... shame."
Black light flowed out of the controlled digidestineds' digivices.
TAINTED DIGIVOLUTION
"Gatomon... digivolve to... Blackangewomon!"
"Gabumon... warp digivolve to... Skullgarurumon!"
"Patamon... digivolve to... Blackangemon! Blackangemon... digivolve to... Blackmagnangemon!"
"Veemon... digivolve to... Skullveemon!"
"Armadillomon... digivolve to... Skullankylomon!"
"Devil's Arrow!" "Darkness Wolf Strike!" "Tainted Blade!" "Skull Cracker!" "Club Whip!"
The five attacks slammed into Greymon and the others. Greymon was knocked end over end, landed in a heap, and de-digivolved. The others fared slightly better. But only slightly.
Matt laughed, showing razor sharp canine teeth. "You idiots! You can't hurt us! Even if you could bring yourself to attack your friends-"
"Just shut up!" Tai yelled, his digivice glowing.
DIGIVOLUTION
"Agumon... warp digivolve to... Wargreymon!"
"Kabuterimon... digivolve to... Megakabuterimon!"
"Birdramon... digivolve to... Garudamon!"
"Terror Force!" Wargreymon's ball of energy slammed into Skullgarurumon, knocking him back. The skull-faced wolf gnashed its teeth and howled in pain.
The other digimon also attacked, rushing their now-evil counterparts. Wargreymon slashed at Skullgarurumon, knocking off his bony head. The wolf snatched it back up, clicked it into place, and growled "You're gonna pay for that!"
Blackangewomon slipped behind Megakabuterimon, and put him in a choke hold. "What now, buggy?" she whispered. In response, Megakabuterimon zapped a jolt of electricity through his body, shocking Blackangewomon.
Garudamon yelled "Wing Blaze!" and a fiery outline shot at Blackmagnangemon. The dark digimon whirled its sword in a circle. "Gate of the Apocalypse!" A black portal appeared, swallowing the attack whole.
Skullveemon roared, and bit Aquilamon in the wing joint. The feathered digimon screeched in pain, and began pecking furiously at the skull atop its foe's shoulders.
Stingmon's violet sword extended from his arm. He lunged at Skullankylomon, but was repelled by a swing of the armored digimon's tail. The two digimon began circling each other, looking for an opening.
Surprisingly, the digidestined got a lucky break. The five tainted digimon suddenly de-digivolved, leaving looks of confusion on everyones' faces. Fortunately, the good digimon acted quickly. In a few attacks, they knocked the dark rings off the digimon, freeing them from their evil influence.
"Umm... what just happened?" Ken asked.
Tai grinned. "It's just like with Skullgreymon! He used up too much power, and de-digivolved!"
"Please don't mention that..." Agumon groaned.
Izzy frowned. "I wonder if the darkness itself causes the rapid weakening... or if there's something else going on..."
"Who cares?" Sora said. "We won!"
Gabumon nodded. "Now Matt, it's your turn. Let's get that thing off you so we can all go home. Blue Blaster!"
Matt turned, shielding his upper arm, and took the attack in the small of his back. He grunted in pain, then laughed. "Too bad. I guess it's not over yet." He grinned again. "You'll never get these rings off us! Every time you try, we'll just take the damage elsewhere, until you give up... or your friends are dead!"
The five still-controlled digidestined laughed. Tai tried appealing to the good inside again. "Kari! Listen to me! You've got to get free! If you can just-"
Laughter in the air cut him off. "You should listen to your friends... they're right. You'll never free them! Not as long as I hold them!"
The laughter continued. Gatomon's eyes narrowed. "Wait a minute... I know that laugh..."