A group of furry orange Digimon pushed through the snow as the Digimon Emperor behind them whipped them again and again. The blizzard was not letting up making it even worse of the orange Digimon.
"Where this, it's cold." Wormmon said, walking up and clutching a coat between two of his purple pincers. The Digimon Emperor scowled.
"Leave me alone!" He shouted, kicking Wormmon. He went back to torturing the orange Digimon. One fell over, completely exhausted from all the manual labor, "Get up!" He shouted, whipping it as the others of its kind crowded around.
"Hey quit it!" A white and purple Digimon with an orange main had grabbed the whip between his two flipper-like claws, "They're all tired and need rest. Maybe someone should use this whip on you, you big bully."
"Number one- don't ever talk to me without calling me 'sir'. Number two- don't ever talk to me." The Digimon Emperor snapped, pulling his whip back so quickly it knocked the white and purple Digimon over, "Whoever among you can defeat this creature will win a surprise package. The rest of you will get some lovely parting gifts. So who's up for the challenge?" The squat orange Digimon growled as they encircled Gomamon.
"I know all about Gizamon." The Digimon Emperor told Gomamon, "They're amphibian Digimon. Their fins cut through the water like knives."
"They won't attack me." Gomamon said. But he was incorrect. At that exact moment, the Gizamon leapt into the air and curled into wheels. Spinning at an enormous clip, they ran into Gomamon. He fell on his back into the ice, bruises blooming all over his small body.
"That was way too easy." The Emperor said, standing over Gomamon. Wormmon stepped in front of him.
"Now they've defeated him, Master. Now give them their reward."
"Right." The Digimon Emperor said with a smile. He drew his whip back into his handle and watched as dark rings swarmed into the air and collared the Gizamon.
"Here is your reward," He told them, standing in front of the now mind-washed Gizamon, "You get to be my slaves. Now get back to work building the prison!" The Gizamon hopped away to do their bidding.
"Move it, Workman," The Emperor snapped, "I want you to make me a hot chocolate."
"But Gomamon..."
"Let him freeze." They left the battered Digimon lying in the snow. Once the coast was clear, he opened his eyes and struggled to get on his belly. When that was done, he began crawling across the ice.
"Just got to climb up this little hill...Okay, maybe it's not such a little hill after all." After a lot of struggling, he made it to the top where the winds and snow flew around even more forcefully. Half-way covered in the snow was a TV set, "Huh? What's that?" He crawled towards and then, his strength gone, he wrapped his arms around it and moaned, "Joe..."
A tall boy with long-ish navy blue hair and glasses gasped as the Digivice on his belt loop began to flash red and beep.
"Gomamon!" Joe gasped.
"So are you guys ready for that big anatomy test today?" One of the boys he had been talking to asked.
"Yeah, I spent the hold night studying," The other said, "How about you Joe?"
"Uh...I just remembered that forgot to remember something. Gotta go." Joe rushed off leaving the two boys behind him very confused.
The bell at the middle school rang, signaling the end of another day. Dakota and Mimi were walking down the stairs when Austin called to them.
"Hey Dakota! Mimi" Austin shouted. Dakota turned around.
"Oh, hi guys. What's up?" He asked.
"What's up?" Austin repeated, "Are you crazy? Where ya going?"
"We're going home. We've got Kendo practice this afternoon."
"What? Practice later! The Digi-World is in danger!" Austin said, jumping up and down frantically.
"Sorry, Austin." Dakota apologized, "My grandfather is the teacher. He'd be very disappointed if I missed a lesson."
"Besides, you don't need us little kids tagging along." Mimi said, still sore about the conversation they had had a few nights ago.
"See ya." Dakota said, bowing his head. The two younger kids turned around and walked away.
"Yeah, but..." Austin called after them to avail. Kari and Bethany happened to walk up.
"What's the matter with you?" Kari asked. Austin instantly cheered up.
"Kari, great! I'm going to the computer room. Why don't you come with me?"
"Sure." Kari said, "Let's go."
"Really? You and I together alone in the dangerous Digital World? Finally, it'll be my dream come true."
"Excuse me? We're both coming, Austin." Kari said. Austin looked up and noticed Bethany. He squinted at her for a minute.
"Oh, that's right...who are you again?" Bethany turned a light shade of pink and Kari gave Austin a suspicious look.
"This is Bethany. She's a Digi-Destined now, remember?" Austin didn't look like he did, but went on to say:
"O-Oh yeah. That's right. Besides, I said, 'I'm studying French...Par Le Vou?'"
If Austin had been disappointed when he'd found out Bethany was coming with Kari and him, it was nothing compared to the disappointment he felt when they made it and found TK, Megan, Jeanna, Kitty, and Tiffany already there working with the computer.
"I just can't win." He mumbled, hanging his head as Kari walked fully into the room. Bethany lingered for a moment and then followed.
"What's going on?" Kari asked, immediately sensing that something was amiss.
"We just got a message from the Digital World," TK explained, "It's a distress call from one of the Digimon."
"Who?" Kari and Bethany together.
"We're not sure." Kitty said.
"I've got it." Megan said, "The signal is coming from one of the black areas controlled by the Digimon Emperor and it's a lot farther than any area we've been to."
"Well, this should add to our frequent flyer miles." Kari joked.
"Oh, did we get a free to trip to California after this?" Kitty asked.
"According to this map the Digimon Emperor's area is getting longer." Megan said.
"His ego is, too." Jeanna said, "They're probably proportional."
"It won't be long before he controls the entire Digital World," Austin growled.
"And every single Digimon is in danger..." Kari said, looking on the verge of tears. This, of course, caused Austin to go into "hero mode".
"All right, I've had enough of this clown. Let's all head to the Digital World."
"Yeah, we're gonna find Bethany's Digimon today." Tiffany said, giving her sister and fond noogie.
"Tiffany..." Bethany said in a strangled voice.
"Wait! We have to wait for Dakota!" Oompamon said in a high pitched voice while he bounced up and down on one of the chairs.
"And Mimi!" Rishumon added, doing the same.
"They aren't coming." Austin snapped.
"What are they doing?" Rishumon and Oompamon chorused.
"They say they have kendo practice," Austin said with a sigh.
"One question...what's kendo?" Oompamon asked. Austin slapped each of them with a rolled up magazine. Oompamon flew into a furry and shouted:
"What ya hit us for?"
"You wanted to know what kendo is."
Mimi had taken off her face mask and was sitting on the floor. Sweat covered her now pink face and every once and awhile she would take a few swallows from the water bottle beside her.
Dakota was still in session. He and his grandfather had come to a standstill and you could hear Dakota's heavy breathing in the silent room. He took a faltering step forward and was beaten by his opponent. Soon, they had taken their armor off and were sitting in a circle with Mimi.
"Let's take a break." Dakota's grandfather announced, "What is the matter with you today, Dakota? You just don't seem to be concentrating enough." Dakota bowed his head.
"I'm sorry, grandfather." His grandfather stood up and turned has back on the two children.
"You have not lost interest in the martial arts, have you? Or hanging out with your old grandpa?"
"Of course not!" Dakota said.
"Yeah, we love this class!" Mimi said.
"I can read faces. Something is troubling you both deep inside. Dakota, your father acted the same way when he was a boy. I have been to many lands and met many people and in all my travels I have found only one thing I can count on: PRUNE JUICE!" Dakota and Mimi reacted in different ways. Mimi fell over and Dakota's facial expression twisted.
"Yeah, take two big glasses! You'll be fine!" He continued, "You want some?" Mimi sat up and both kids looked at him with straight faces.
"No thank you," Dakota said as Mimi shook her head, "My problem is a bit too big for prune juice. There are others who are counting on me and I'm afraid I'm going to let them down."
"And I'm upset that they won't let me help because I'm too young." Mimi said in explanation of her own problem.
"I once told Dakota's father that people only rely on you to the extent that you rely upon yourself." Dakota's grandfather said sagely, "Trust in yourself and you will not let anyone down. As for you, Mimi, just do what you think is right and they'll trust you in the end."
"Right. We got to go, Grandpa!" Dakota said, "Come on Mimi!" Mimi started and then quickly began to gather up her things and follow Dakota out, "Thanks for the advice." They ran out the door. They bowed at the door and told him good bye.
"No problem is too big for prune juice." Dakota's grandpa said after they had left.
"Oh boy!" Oompamon screamed at the top of his tiny lungs, "I knew Dakota and Mimi would show up!"
"It's not Dakota or Mimi, now everybody hide!" Austin said. The room was in a panic for a few seconds as everyone grabbed their Digimon and ran about in circles. The door slid open and everyone stopped.
"It's Joe!" Kari said.
"Thanks for the update." Jeanna said sarcastically.
"Hi, guys." Joe said, holding up a hand to the room. Rishumon and Oompamon looked dejected, "Wow, even though Tai and Tiffany told me about it, it's strange seeing the Digimon here in the real world."
"This is Joe," TK said, introducing him to Austin, Megan, and Bethany, "He's the old friend we told you about."
"Oh, the doctor." Austin said. Demiveemon leapt out of his arms as Austin waved, "That's really cool."
"Would you mind looking at my tonsils for me?" Megan asked, hugging Poromon closer to her body.
"Nice to meet you. Tiffany has told me a lot about you," Bethany said.
"Joe, this is Megan and Austin." Kari told him.
"And this is my little sister, Bethany," Tiffany told him.
"Joe isn't really a doctor yet." Kitty said.
"Good to finally meet you Bethany." Joe said, shaking her hand.
"I'm glad you're here," TK said, suddenly turning serious, "We got a distress call from the Digi-World."
"I know. It's from Gomamon."
"So your digivice was triggered, too? That's why you came." TK said.
"Candy!" Demiveemon said as he tugged on the plastic sack in Joe's hand. Joe lifted it up and the little Digimon started jumping up and down in an attempt to get a hold of it.
"Hey, these are supplies for an emergency," Joe said with a laugh.
"Do you plan on coming to the Digital World with us, Joe?" Kari asked, "We could really use your help."
"Absolutely. I'm worried about Gomamon. Besides, you think I'm going to let Tiffany have all the fun? No way!" Tiffany stuck her tongue out at him in a playful manner and Kitty and Bethany laughed.
"These are the digivices of the new Dig destined," TK said, showing Joe his green one, "They're the only things that can open the gate to the Digital World."
"Yeah, Izzy gave me a heads up about them. And he also told me about this jerk that calls himself the Digimon Emperor."
"All right," Megan said, "Let's open the gate." They each held their digivices up the screen.
"What about us?" Dakota chose that exact moment to come bursting into the room dramatically, Mimi behind and not looking nearly as worried.
"Dakota! You made it, you made it, you made it, you made it, you made it, you made it!" Rishumon gave her own greetings to Mimi and joined Oompamon in repeating "You made it!" for several more minutes.
"You'll have to excuse them. They're hyperactive." Dakota said apologetically to Joe.
"Okay everybody. The gate is open!" Austin announced.
"Come on, let's go!" Megan exclaimed.
They landed on the top of a snowy mountain lined with pine trees. Austin immediately began to shiver and hug his arms to his chest.
"Great, I hate the cold." He slouched over to Kari.
"Kari, are you okay?" Kari nodded a yes. Joe was off to the side, digging through his plastic sack.
"I'm sorry, we weren't properly introduced before we took our trip," Dakota said as he and Mimi walked up to him, "My name is Dakota and this is my friend Mimi." Mimi gave a shy smile and bobbed her head.
"Hey, I'm freezing my butt off over here and you're introducing yourselves? Let's get going!" Austin snapped.
"Aren't you cold, Jeanna?" Kitty asked.
"Nope. I thought you'd be cold with your shorts, Kitty." Bethany answered.
"I guess Austin is just sensitive to the cold." Tiffany laughed. Joe took something out of his bag and handed one to Dakota and another to Mimi.
"Here you can use these. They're hand warmers." He passed them out to the rest of the group. Kari and Kitty chorused a thank you.
"Leave it to you," TK said with a grin after taking his, "Good old reliable Joe."
"M-hm!" Tiffany agreed.
"I watch all those survival shows on TV." Joe said in explanation to Bethany's half-way amused, half-way wondering look. Megan, meanwhile, was desperately attempting to rip hers open.
"It won't open!" She complained. The packet flew out of her hands and lay in the snow, where it started to steam. She bent down to pick it up and noticed that where it had melted the snow, a closed eye could be seen, "Joe, look!" Joe rushed over.
"Whoa! Gomamon!" He leaned down and frantically began digging his friend out. When the rest of them realized what was going on, they joined in, too. Eventually they managed to get all of him out, "Gomamon, speak to me!" Gomamon sat up a bit and looked blearily at Joe.
"Joe?"
"What day of the week is it?"
"It's Saturday."
"Actually, it's Thursday. But you never did know the days of the week, so you're back to your old self."
"I heard from Tentamon we could use that TV to contact you when we were in trouble."
"Boy, looks like you're going to wipe out my whole first aid kit."
"I always get sappy at reunions," Armadillomon remarked, "I think I'm actually going to cry."
"Don't, your tears will turn to icecicle," Gatomon warned.
"You look terrible, Gomamon," Joe said as he stroked the side of Gomamon's face, "But I mean that in a nice way."
"I picked a fight with the wrong guy: the Digimon Emperor." Gomamon explained. Just then, the Digivices started to beep again. Instinctively, everyone but Joe and Bethany held them up to get a look at it. The other two quickly caught on and did the same.
"I'm getting a Digi-Egg reading somewhere to the left," Kitty announced, pointing in a general direction.
"Me, too." Mimi said.
"Well, nothing to do but look for it," Jeanna said with a grin, "That's probably where we'll find Bethany's Digi-egg."
"What are we waiting for?" Tiffany asked, "Let's go!" They began to travel towards the place their digivices were indicating. About twenty minutes later, they found two nearly buried in the snow. Tiffany bent down and brushed the ice off of each of them.
"The Crest of Harmony?" Kari asked, looking at the one on the left.
"And another new Crest." Jeanna said, looking at the one on the right. Tiffany stood up and looked at her sister.
"Well, give it a shot." She said, gesturing towards the Digi-Egg of Harmony.
"Why should I pick that one up if it has your Crest on it?" Bethany asked, looking a bit confused.
"Tai couldn't pick of the Digi-Egg of Courage. Only Austin could." Tiffany said, "Look, I can't pick it up." She walked over, braced herself, and then tried to pick of the egg. To her surprise, it lifted straight up and since Tiffany had really put some muscle into it, she fell over onto her back, "...Ouch."
"Tiffany, you got a Digi-Egg!" Mimi exclaimed, pointing at as though no one else had noticed.
"I did?" She sat up and looked at the Digi-Egg beside her, "I mean...I did!"
"I can Armor Digivolve now!" Nekomon said, doing a happy little dance.
"Okay, Bethany, you know that what that means!" Tiffany said, holding her egg out to show Bethany.
"What does that mean?"
"That the other one is yours!" Bethany backed up a few paces.
"I'm...I'm not sure, Tiffany."
"Aw, come on!" Bethany shook her head, "For me?" She still shook her head. Tiffany walked up to Bethany and made her eyes big and pouted, "Pwease?" Bethany looked at her, quickly looked away, and then tapped her foot impatiently.
"Fine. But it's not going to get unstuck for me." She sighed dejectedly and walked up to it. She bent down, picked up, and showed to the others, "See? It didn't move." But they weren't paying attention. Right where the Digi-Egg had been a few moments before, blue light was flashing, "What are you guys staring at?" They pointed and Bethany looked around too.
An ice blew something tore out of the light and ran straight into Bethany's legs. Everyone bent over to look at it. It grinned and righted itself.
"Hello. I'm puppymon. It's a pleasure to meet you all." Puppymon looked like an ice blue puppy with floppy ears and a purple color that held a gold tag. She looked around the circle for a moment until her gaze fell upon Bethany, "You must be my partner."
"Me?" Bethany asked, pointing to herself.
"Yup! You and me!" Puppymon announced. Bethany paused, stunned for a moment, and then picked Puppymon up.
"I'm Bethany. I'm so glad to meet you!"
"Great...just what we need. A dog." Nekomon groaned.
They went back to their original mission of destroying the control spire. When they spotted it, Austin ran to the top of a snowy hill and turned to face the group.
"He's built another control spire here, too!"
"We already knew that." Kitty pointed out, "Megan told us before we even came here."
"What's that?" Joe asked.
"A control spire." Jeanna answered.
"It's the Digimon Emperor's secret weapon," Kari explained to him.
"He captures these Digimon and puts dark rings on them, turning them into his slaves." said TK.
"Sort of like the Black Gears from when we were younger," Kitty said.
"The control spires are the power source for the rings," TK continued.
"And no one can digivolve." Kari finished.
"Dude! I'm gonna rip it down!" Austin said.
"But we're going to have to cross this ice if we want to destroy it," Kari warned.
"Now I know what Matt means when he says I'm walking on thin ice," said TK.
"Did you bring any skates?" Megan asked Joe, "We need several pairs."
"Sorry, I'm all out."
"Hey Joe...you have any rope?" Austin asked.
"Yeah."
They began the task of chopping down the trees. The Digimon grouped together to help each other cut down the trees as quickly as possible. Pretty soon they had enough lumber to make a small make-ship raft/sleigh. Using the rope they borrowed from Joe, they tied the logs together. Austin stood up and wiped the sweat off of his brow.
"Well, that's done."
"It's beautiful!" Bethany said.
"Now all we have to do is ride!" They tied the Digimon (minus the injured Gomamon) to the sled with Puppymon at the front.
"That's easy for you to say," Armadillomon said, "We're pulling."
"Leave it us!" Puppymon said. Bethany smiled.
"Come on guys." Dakota said, "We're counting on you!"
"Okay!" Patamon said cheerfully. The humans and Gomamon boarded the sleigh and the Digimon turned to face the direction they were pulling.
"Now mush!" Austin called.
"So they're here?" The Digimon Emperor snapped, turning around and looking away from the work he had been overseeing, "And they brought another one?"
"M-hm." Wormmon said with a nod.
The Digimon were tearing through the snow and the children riding were laughing as the sleigh they had built flew across the ice.
"Go Veemon!" Austin cheered.
"What a way to travel!" Megan called.
"Uh-Oh." Patamon said, "We've got visitors." As the Control Spire neared, a line of Frigimon came into view.
"Oh look," Megan said, "Snowmen! How cute."
"Yeah...not so much." Kitty said, "They've got a dark ring around their legs!"
"Attack!" The Digimon Emperor commanded from his vantage point. Each Frigimon punched forward and sent out ice towards the kids. The Digimon frantically tried to avoid all the attack and the sleigh lurched heavily back and forth with their movements.
"I think I'm getting snow-sick!" Jeanna said.
"Forget about the Frigimon. They aren't very fast and we can out run them!" Joe told the Digimon.
"What?" Austin asked.
"Our mission is to destroy the Control Spire, right? So it's better to keep going than to waste time fighting!"
"But they're attacking us!" Austin protested.
"Joe's right!" TK told him, "Run pass them!"
