I am Jack's repetitive disclaimer...first you have to know, not fear,
KNOW...that I do not own Digimon.
THE STORY THUS FAR...
Kari and the other Digidestined were surprised to find that T.K. was forced to move away, due to his mother accepting a better job elsewhere. The kids found that without T.K., they were more incomplete than they thought...they found that they were unable to function properly as a team when the Digimon Emperor decided to launch a surprise attack on them. What's worse, the Emperor, taking advantage of the team's moment of weakness, managed to capture Kari and Gatomon. Informed of the situation, T.K. vowed to come to the rescue and help his friends.
Kari's Missing Hope - Chapter 10
"Bakemon! I command you!" the Digimon Emperor hollered over the monitor. "Take them! I'll decide what to do with those two later!"
As soon as the words were out of his mouth, the screen (as well as the others) vanished in the blink of an eye. But Kari wasn't going to give up that easily. She tried to dodge the oncoming Bakemon, and swiftly pulled out her digivice.
"That so called 'Emperor' isn't gonna get away with this! I still have one ace up my sleeve!"
"I'm ready, Kari!" yelled Gatomon desperately trying to slash at Bakemon left and right.
"DIGI-ARMOR ENER-...hey!"
Before she'd gotten the words out, one of the Bakemon rammed into her and Kari winced in pain, and not too surprisingly...dropped her digivice.
"Oh, no! Kari!" Gatomon tried to get over to where Kari was, but it was already too late. The Bakemon had caught the small feline by the arms and firmly held her in place.
"Hey! Lemme go!"
"Gatomon! Ahh!" Less than five seconds went by before the Bakemon got Kari, too.
The two of them tried to wrestle out the Bakemons' ghostly grip, but it was useless.
*********************
"There's no doubt about it, T.K.! Kari's in trouble!" Izzy noted.
"All of them are, it seems! Okay, Izzy, I'm going in!"
Izzy nodded, but frowned again. "Uh-oh...we have another problem!"
"What is it?"
"I'm having trouble opening up the gate into the Digital World!"
"Ken's up to his tricks again?"
"Undoubtedly so. He's somehow created an energy field which blocks the entrance!"
"Well, can't you bypass it?!?" asked a clearly impatient T.K.
Izzy slowly scratched his chin, and stared at the computer screen long and hard. "I...well, possibly...but it may take some time-"
"Do it!" T.K. declared. "I'd do anything to save my friends, but I can't do it from here!"
"Understood, T.K. I'll see what I can do."
*********************
Meanwhile back on the battlefield, to say things weren't going very well for the Digidestined and (their digimon) was an understatement. For one thing, not only were the digimon fighting for their lives, but (literally) so were the kids! There seemed to be almost no end to the army of Elecmon inhibiting the area, and no end to the fighting. (At least, not anytime soon.)
Flamedramon, Halsemon, and Digmon were doing (or trying to do) nothing short of the best of their abilities to win this fight. But their sense of hope was slowly draining and fading. Davis and Cody were practically backed up against an old tree, surrounded.
"Man," Davis panicked. "We sure could use T.K. right about now!"
"Definitely!" Cody almost yelled. "This is too much! Ahh!"
The two boys' leapt out of the way as a dozen (or so) Elecmon attempted to pounce on them, but instead rammed into the tree.
"Whew, that was a close call, no doubt! You okay, Cody?"
"Yeah, fine! But that's more than I say for the digimon! Look!"
Turning his head in the direction to which Cody was pointing, Davis saw that his little buddy was right. Flamedramon wasn't exactly having a ball; half the time he was wrestling with Shellmon, and the other half was dedicated to the Elecmon army.
Halsemon was also trying to contend with his outnumbered situation. Making great multiple swoops from the sky, he managed to take out plenty of the Elecmon (and make fast scratches on that gigantic Tyrannomon), but it was no easy task, as Halsemon quickly began to tire.
Yolei wasn't to far away, trying to give her digimon as much moral support as she could muster, the boys caught on to what she was doing, and let out a sigh of relief that she was all right...for now, anyway.
"GO, HALSEMON!" she yelled. "HIT 'EM HARD!"
"Well, at least Yolei's using that big mouth of hers for SOMETHING," Davis noted.
"Hmm..." Cody went skimming through the battlefield for any sort of tactical advantage. But suddenly his eye caught something.
"Watcha lookin' at, Cody?" Davis asked.
"Of course!" he exclaimed, slapping his fist into the palm of his other hand. "Why didn't we think of this before?!"
Cody called out to Yolei, and she turned her head in his direction.
"What is it ?" she yelled.
Instead of shouting himself hoarse, Cody pointed to the tall, dark spire in the distance. Yolei caught on to what he meant, and signaled to Halsemon.
Halsemon nodded and tried to fly close enough to blast it. Unfortunately, before Halsemon could even get close enough, he was sent flying back in utter (physical) pain, from some kind of force field surrounding the spire.
"Hey! What gives?" Davis sputtered.
"An energy shield protecting the spire?! No way!" yelled a surprised Cody.
"Boy, that Digimon Emperor planned for everything this time!" Davis commented.
"No kidding!" Yolei agreed. "Well, hold on, guys! We just have to hang in there!"
Easier said than done, they all thought.
*********************
Izzy tapped furiously and feverishly on the keyboard, and tinkered with the mouse, but to no avail.
"I don't understand it! I just can't break through!"
"Don't give up yet, Izzy!" T.K. replied. "You and your computer skills have gotten the Digidestined out of worse cases than this! Keep your hope up!"
Izzy wiped his sweaty forehead, took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "You're right, T.K.! I CAN do this! Now stand back, Emperor! This (temporary) hacker is coming through!...huh?!?"
Suddenly the entire screen went dark. The computer deactivated.
"Hey, what happened???" asked T.K. "May, did you see what-"
But Izzy and T.K. froze as they saw May standing there, the computer's main plug in her hand.
*********************
"Hey! Easy on the fur!" Gatomon yelled at the Bakemon as they threw her and Kari into an old rusted dungeon.
"Oof!" went Kari as she hit the ground inside.
Gatomon glared at their captors as the prison gates slammed shut.
Kari moaned in partial pain as she rubbed her bruised arm.
"Kari! You okay?" asked Gatomon. Moving near her friend, she noticed a small bruise on Kari's arm.
"Yeah...it's nothing, really. Just scratched my arm when I got thrown in here."
"Well, don't worry. They'll get theirs. All I need to do is digivolve, and-"
"Sorry, Gatomon...no can do. I lost my digivice when the Bakemon grabbed me. We'll have to find another way out of here. Now, first we'll need to- "
But Kari stopped talking when her ears picked up a sniffling sound. Kari turned to see her digimon partner on the verge of tears. She rushed over to find out was wrong.
"Gatomon...what's wrong?"
"I...I was such a fool...I can't believe I fell for such a stupid trick..."
Kari felt like crying too, for multiple reasons. But she knew that this really wasn't the time to cry.
"Hey...c'mon, Gatomon...it's not your fault-"
"YES IT IS! If it hadn't been for me, I wouldn't have persuaded you to come along, and we wouldn't be in this mess..."
"Gatomon, stop it! I wasn't trying to put all the blame on you...I'm responsible...I mean, I was fooled too."
"But...but..."
"That's enough! I admit, that rotten Digimon Emperor had us totally fooled. But the REAL Wizardmon wouldn't want us to sit here, sulking the minutes away. He'd want us to keep on fighting and especially to keep on hoping!"
Gatomon sniffed and Kari then realized that she was partially handling this the wrong way. Kari crawled over to where Gatomon was and took the little kitty in her arms. She hugged her firmly, and rocked her back and forth, similar to the way Yolei did when she heard about Kari's recent predicament.
"Hey...it's okay, Gatomon...you can cry."
Kari found herself sniffling, and a tear or two rolled down her cheek. "Sniff...see, Gatomon...I'm crying, too."
Gatomon and Kari looked at each with their tear-stained expressions, and suddenly, the two broke into laughter. The feline digimon brushed the last few tears away and finally smiled.
"You're right, Kari. We have to keep on fighting."
"That's the spirit. Now, I've found that the dirt in this prison cell is pretty soft. So let's see if there's any way we can dig our way out. Those claws should come in real handy."
Gatomon nodded and took a deep breath. "All right, Kari...let's get to work."
*********************
T.K. looked upon his newest friend with wide, disbelieving eyes.
"MAY, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?!?"
"While you two buffoons were arguing, I pulled the plug."
"Yeah, I can see that! What the heck for?!"
"Izzy seemed to be having trouble with opening the gate to Digital World, so I've decided to help."
"How can what you just did be considered 'HELP'???"
"Well, you two were crowding by the computer, and you didn't seem to notice me very much, so...my dad once told me, 'When in doubt...reboot'."
T.K. wasn't at all what she was really up to, but suddenly all the clues attempted to fit together in his mind. Her somewhat mysterious nature appeared to T.K. as too strange, too beyond belief.
(Whatever that means.)
He didn't have concrete evidence to back up the growing theory inside his brain, but how else could he explain what had happened recently. He didn't want to believe it and wanted so much to believe that May was just an ordinary girl. The other thought had to be impossible. But if it wasn't, he knew that as a Digidestined, he couldn't take that risk. Rage and possible realization rose, as did the length of his eyes.
"THAT'S IT!"
"Huh???" May asked.
T.K. sharply pointed right at May.
"It's you! You're the one who's behind this whole thing! Behind EVERYTHING!!!"
"Whoa...whoa, T.K. I think you better just calm down, 'cause that brain's operating on the wrong wavelength!"
"No way! I know what I'm talking about! You're the reason Kari and the others couldn't win against Digimon Emperor recently and why I couldn't speak to Kari last night or whatever!"
"Hey! Watch it, buster! I never knew about this 'Digital World' until you told me! I swear! I'm just a regular young girl!"
"T.K., are you sure about this?" asked Izzy.
"What other explanation is there? I mean, last night I saw some weird sparkle in your eye when you were watching me from my own window!"
"Oh, you saw that?" May asked in a completely casual voice, shrugging. "Those were my new contacts. Must have been a trick of the light or something...they're designed to do stuff like that."
"But I thought you said that you didn't wear contacts! They made your eyes itch!"
"I know, but my mom just got me these new ones! She said they didn't cause itching! I put 'em on after you ran out after Kari!"
T.K.'s rage began to rapidly deflate. Like emptying all the air out of a balloon.
"But after you bumped into me at the diner, you said you knew that we'd see each other again!"
"So I made a lucky guess! What else is new?"
"But...I couldn't make myself talk to Kari...!"
"Did it ever occur to you that maybe (at that moment,) you just got SHY?!?"
"I...that is... well..."
"T.K., you really need to sit down for a sec. I think you're under more stress than you'd like to admit."
May pushed T.K. down into a chair, and once again held up the plug that was in her hand.
"Well...now that I have your attention...let's try to crack this case, shall we?"
Izzy smiled and nodded. "Do you know anything about computers, May?"
"DO I?!? Are you kidding? My dad's a computer whiz! It was one his goals in life to make sure he had a apprentice."
"Apprentice?" T.K. asked.
"Yeah, y'know...someone to whom he could teach everything he knows."
"Well, have a seat then!" Izzy declared. "Any fellow computer whiz is a friend of mine!"
Oh, yeah! By the way, back in the Digital World...
"Oof!" went Davis, falling to the ground. Not only had the Elecmon went after the Digidestined's digimon, but their human partners, too. The spiky- haired, goggle-wearing boy fell (literally) to the combined force of five (possessed) Elecmon. Cody struggled to helped him up.
"Th...thanks, Cody."
"You all right?!" the younger boy asked him.
"Y-yeah, I guess...but I'll tell you one thing...those things can hit as hard as a kick of a mule!"
"You guys!" Yolei shouted, running in their direction. "I've examined the control spire in this area. My digivice detected high levels of unusual energy radiating from it!"
"What does that mean?" Cody asked.
"Why do I get the feeling that this isn't good news?" Davis almost whined.
Yolei ignored Davis's (almost) whining, and continued.
"It means, guys, that if I'm right, our digimon won't be able to get near it! That control spire somehow resists - and repels - any high powered digimon!"
"Great," Davis muttered.
"It gets worse," Yolei added on. "I've lost communication with Izzy!"
"Well, what can we do now?" Cody worriedly asked.
"I don't know," Yolei said, sighing and shaking her head. "But one thing's for sure - we have to keep fighting!"
"You're right, Yolei!" Cody declared with fire in his voice. "We can't let the Digimon Emperor win!"
"Then we all agree to stay and fight?" Yolei asked, looking straight into the eyes of her friends.
The three Digidestined looked at each other serious looks on their faces and said...
"LET'S FIGHT!"
*********************
"Okay," said May. "Now we just reboot the commands, input the codes..."
T.K. and Izzy watched in partial amazement as May skillfully worked her way around the school computer. It looked as if she was right...she did know quite a bit. Even though it wasn't something that comes up in casual conversation, T.K. found it a little strange that May here never mentioned that she was good with computers.
"...and there we go!"
Izzy looked on with wide eyes at May's accomplishment. "I don't believe it, you did it! It's all up and running! I gotta hand it to you, May...I'm impressed!"
"Hey...it was nothing, all I did was-"
"I'm sorry to interrupt you, May...but my friends are still in danger!" T.K. stated.
"Oh...right, sorry. Now the stage is yours, Izzy."
Izzy nodded and now he began his skills. He typed furiously on the keyboard, and continuously clicked the mouse. Finally, after agonizing seconds, he turned to T.K.
"Okay, T.K., I think I have it."
T.K. nodded in acknowledgement, and gestured for Izzy to continue.
"All right, we've managed to bypass the energy field-"
"That's great! Patamon, let's go!" T.K. said, waking up the little digimon inside his backpack.
"Not so fast, T.K.!" Izzy cautioned. "Listen to me...I was going to say that we've bypassed the energy field...to a point."
"Whaddya mean?!" he said, impatiently.
"Well, it comes down to this - we can get you in-"
"But we'll definitely have trouble getting you and your friends out," May finished.
T.K. took a deep breath, and Patamon stared at him strangely.
"I don't care...I understand the risks, but I HAVE to save my friends!"
Izzy and May stared at T.K. long and hard. They nodded.
"Okay," he said, picking up Patamon. "I'm ready."
Izzy turned back to the computer screen typed for barely two seconds, and then turned back to T.K.
"So is the gate."
Slowly, T.K. picked up his digivice and held it out to the computer screen.
"Digiport open!"
And in a brilliant flash of light, he and Patamon were gone.
*********************
It was starting to get dark by the time T.K. and his digimon arrived.
"Boy, it's almost nighttime here! Guess that means the others hogged all the fun already!" Patamon joked.
"Quit the clowning, Patamon!" T.K. scolded. "Try to get serious! We gotta find the others!"
"Okay, okay! Geez!"
T.K. pulled his digivice out of his pocket, and checked it for other digivice signals.
"Okay...I'm getting three signals from this direction," he said, pointing.
"Then let's go!" Patamon announced.
*********************
Screams were heard on the battlefield, both from the good guys and the bad guys. But for different reasons.
The Digidestined were surrounded. They weren't exactly scared, but this situation went beyond any simple nightmare that any one of these three kids had.
"Any famous last words, Yolei?" asked Davis.
"I...I...I..." was all the pale-purple haired girl could get out.
"I think that's her way of saying 'I'm terrified', Davis. And to be honest...I can't say I blame her," Cody stated.
"Hold on Davis, I'm coming!" Flamedramon yelled from across the battlefield. But he knew that he was partially lying, for he still had to deal with the Elecmon, while Halsemon and Digmon wrestled with Shellmon and Tyrannomon.
By now (for the children), Hope had seemed to treat itself to an impromptu vacation, and it didn't look like it was coming home anytime soon.
But little did they know that they were about to be proved dead wrong.
T.K. was running down the path, followed by his flying Patamon.
"We're almost there!" he said. "Patamon, fly straight ahead and scope out the situation!"
"You got it, T.K.!" the little digimon replied.
T.K. couldn't resist sitting down and catching his breath. Then the sounds of good and evil forces clashing with each other reached his ears. More specifically, screams, punches and explosions. He couldn't figure out why he hadn't heard it before. Before he fully realized it, Patamon had returned.
"T.K.! We gotta move!"
"Patamon, what's going on?"
"I saw the others! They're practically at their knees!"
"Huh?!?"
"There's a big, BIG battle going on just over the hill!"
T.K. eyes went wide with alert and determination as he ran along the path Patamon had indicated. He was shocked at the sight that greeted his eyes.
The others' digimon were doing their best duking it out with an evil Shellmon and Tyrannomon, while Davis, Yolei, and Cody were hopelessly surrounded by an army of Elecmon. This wasn't exactly how T.K. envisioned his visit with his friends, but it was better than not seeing them at all.
"WHOA! You weren't kidding, Patamon!" T.K. exclaimed.
"Have I ever?"
"C'mon, let's head down there and give them a hand!"
The three newer Digidestined were literally holding onto each other, teeth chattering. The first of the Elecmon flashed its sharp teeth and prepared to make the first kill leap-
"BOOM BUBBLE!!!"
Davis was surprised as a huge blast of air hit the Elecmon that was leaping at them, which fell to the ground, stunned.
"Good going, Patamon! But keep it up and do your best! The others are counting on us!"
Patamon nodded confidently and "kept it up", repeatedly blasting the surrounding Elecmon.
Yolei looked upward and saw T.K. standing on top of a small hill above them. She immediately smiled warmly.
"T.K.!!! IT'S YOU! YOU'RE BACK!" she shouted, with pure relief in her voice.
"Need some help, you guys?" he asked, also smiling now.
"You bet!" Cody happily replied.
With just a few bubbles booms, a good portion of the Elecmon were down for the count.
T.K. looked around and was surprised to see that the usual dark spire was still up. Of course, he didn't know what was going on.
"Hey, what's all this?" he asked, indicating the dark spire with his thumb.
"Don't look so smug," an exhausted Davis replied. "That Emperor put up a special force field that protects it from high-energy attacks. Meaning, our digivolved digimon can't get near it."
"Well then, we'll have to find a way to-WHOA!"
Out of nowhere, yet another Elecmon jumped out of (next to) nowhere and attacked T.K. Unfortunately, it only knicked his hand, causing him to drop his digivice.
"Hey! My digivice!"
"BOOM BUBBLE!"
In less than a second, that Elecmon was unconscious. Unfortunately, T.K. now couldn't find his digivice. Suddenly, he got an idea.
"What a minute! If our high-level digimon can't get near that spire, then maybe a low-level one can!" T.K. exclaimed.
"What do you mean?" Yolei asked.
T.K. shook his head. "I'll explain later, Yolei. I just need to know something...are your digimon strong enough to hold some of those Elecmon over there?"
"Well...sure, but-"
"Great! Do it! Let's go, Patamon!"
T.K. and Patamon ran towards the spire, all the while taunting the Elecmon.
"C'mon, you slowpokes! You're so slow you couldn't catch a cold!"
"Oh, T.K., that's so lame!"
"Just follow my lead, Patamon!"
Patamon did as he was told. He made faces at the oncoming Elecmon, while the two slowly moved back...and back...into the spire!
The two friends looked at each other, and smirked. Unfortunately, the others underestimated how tired their armor-digivolved buddies were and they fell pretty fast. To make matters worse, T.K. was oblivious to the Tyrannomon that was closing in on him. But Yolei saw and tried to warn T.K.
"T.K., WATCH OUT!!!"
"Huh?!?"
But the last thing he saw before squeezing his eyes shut...was Tyrannomon's gigantic fist.
TO BE CONTINUED...
WHEW!!! Finally done with this immense chapter! I apologize for not getting this up sooner, my little bro (Fezzik, that's his pen name) was repeatedly pestering me to help with HIS fanfic! Oh, if any of you are Pokèmon fans, check out his work (including his original short story, he's desperate, lol). Well, send in those reviews now! What will happen to T.K. and the others, you ask? Only one way to find out! Later!
THE STORY THUS FAR...
Kari and the other Digidestined were surprised to find that T.K. was forced to move away, due to his mother accepting a better job elsewhere. The kids found that without T.K., they were more incomplete than they thought...they found that they were unable to function properly as a team when the Digimon Emperor decided to launch a surprise attack on them. What's worse, the Emperor, taking advantage of the team's moment of weakness, managed to capture Kari and Gatomon. Informed of the situation, T.K. vowed to come to the rescue and help his friends.
Kari's Missing Hope - Chapter 10
"Bakemon! I command you!" the Digimon Emperor hollered over the monitor. "Take them! I'll decide what to do with those two later!"
As soon as the words were out of his mouth, the screen (as well as the others) vanished in the blink of an eye. But Kari wasn't going to give up that easily. She tried to dodge the oncoming Bakemon, and swiftly pulled out her digivice.
"That so called 'Emperor' isn't gonna get away with this! I still have one ace up my sleeve!"
"I'm ready, Kari!" yelled Gatomon desperately trying to slash at Bakemon left and right.
"DIGI-ARMOR ENER-...hey!"
Before she'd gotten the words out, one of the Bakemon rammed into her and Kari winced in pain, and not too surprisingly...dropped her digivice.
"Oh, no! Kari!" Gatomon tried to get over to where Kari was, but it was already too late. The Bakemon had caught the small feline by the arms and firmly held her in place.
"Hey! Lemme go!"
"Gatomon! Ahh!" Less than five seconds went by before the Bakemon got Kari, too.
The two of them tried to wrestle out the Bakemons' ghostly grip, but it was useless.
*********************
"There's no doubt about it, T.K.! Kari's in trouble!" Izzy noted.
"All of them are, it seems! Okay, Izzy, I'm going in!"
Izzy nodded, but frowned again. "Uh-oh...we have another problem!"
"What is it?"
"I'm having trouble opening up the gate into the Digital World!"
"Ken's up to his tricks again?"
"Undoubtedly so. He's somehow created an energy field which blocks the entrance!"
"Well, can't you bypass it?!?" asked a clearly impatient T.K.
Izzy slowly scratched his chin, and stared at the computer screen long and hard. "I...well, possibly...but it may take some time-"
"Do it!" T.K. declared. "I'd do anything to save my friends, but I can't do it from here!"
"Understood, T.K. I'll see what I can do."
*********************
Meanwhile back on the battlefield, to say things weren't going very well for the Digidestined and (their digimon) was an understatement. For one thing, not only were the digimon fighting for their lives, but (literally) so were the kids! There seemed to be almost no end to the army of Elecmon inhibiting the area, and no end to the fighting. (At least, not anytime soon.)
Flamedramon, Halsemon, and Digmon were doing (or trying to do) nothing short of the best of their abilities to win this fight. But their sense of hope was slowly draining and fading. Davis and Cody were practically backed up against an old tree, surrounded.
"Man," Davis panicked. "We sure could use T.K. right about now!"
"Definitely!" Cody almost yelled. "This is too much! Ahh!"
The two boys' leapt out of the way as a dozen (or so) Elecmon attempted to pounce on them, but instead rammed into the tree.
"Whew, that was a close call, no doubt! You okay, Cody?"
"Yeah, fine! But that's more than I say for the digimon! Look!"
Turning his head in the direction to which Cody was pointing, Davis saw that his little buddy was right. Flamedramon wasn't exactly having a ball; half the time he was wrestling with Shellmon, and the other half was dedicated to the Elecmon army.
Halsemon was also trying to contend with his outnumbered situation. Making great multiple swoops from the sky, he managed to take out plenty of the Elecmon (and make fast scratches on that gigantic Tyrannomon), but it was no easy task, as Halsemon quickly began to tire.
Yolei wasn't to far away, trying to give her digimon as much moral support as she could muster, the boys caught on to what she was doing, and let out a sigh of relief that she was all right...for now, anyway.
"GO, HALSEMON!" she yelled. "HIT 'EM HARD!"
"Well, at least Yolei's using that big mouth of hers for SOMETHING," Davis noted.
"Hmm..." Cody went skimming through the battlefield for any sort of tactical advantage. But suddenly his eye caught something.
"Watcha lookin' at, Cody?" Davis asked.
"Of course!" he exclaimed, slapping his fist into the palm of his other hand. "Why didn't we think of this before?!"
Cody called out to Yolei, and she turned her head in his direction.
"What is it ?" she yelled.
Instead of shouting himself hoarse, Cody pointed to the tall, dark spire in the distance. Yolei caught on to what he meant, and signaled to Halsemon.
Halsemon nodded and tried to fly close enough to blast it. Unfortunately, before Halsemon could even get close enough, he was sent flying back in utter (physical) pain, from some kind of force field surrounding the spire.
"Hey! What gives?" Davis sputtered.
"An energy shield protecting the spire?! No way!" yelled a surprised Cody.
"Boy, that Digimon Emperor planned for everything this time!" Davis commented.
"No kidding!" Yolei agreed. "Well, hold on, guys! We just have to hang in there!"
Easier said than done, they all thought.
*********************
Izzy tapped furiously and feverishly on the keyboard, and tinkered with the mouse, but to no avail.
"I don't understand it! I just can't break through!"
"Don't give up yet, Izzy!" T.K. replied. "You and your computer skills have gotten the Digidestined out of worse cases than this! Keep your hope up!"
Izzy wiped his sweaty forehead, took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "You're right, T.K.! I CAN do this! Now stand back, Emperor! This (temporary) hacker is coming through!...huh?!?"
Suddenly the entire screen went dark. The computer deactivated.
"Hey, what happened???" asked T.K. "May, did you see what-"
But Izzy and T.K. froze as they saw May standing there, the computer's main plug in her hand.
*********************
"Hey! Easy on the fur!" Gatomon yelled at the Bakemon as they threw her and Kari into an old rusted dungeon.
"Oof!" went Kari as she hit the ground inside.
Gatomon glared at their captors as the prison gates slammed shut.
Kari moaned in partial pain as she rubbed her bruised arm.
"Kari! You okay?" asked Gatomon. Moving near her friend, she noticed a small bruise on Kari's arm.
"Yeah...it's nothing, really. Just scratched my arm when I got thrown in here."
"Well, don't worry. They'll get theirs. All I need to do is digivolve, and-"
"Sorry, Gatomon...no can do. I lost my digivice when the Bakemon grabbed me. We'll have to find another way out of here. Now, first we'll need to- "
But Kari stopped talking when her ears picked up a sniffling sound. Kari turned to see her digimon partner on the verge of tears. She rushed over to find out was wrong.
"Gatomon...what's wrong?"
"I...I was such a fool...I can't believe I fell for such a stupid trick..."
Kari felt like crying too, for multiple reasons. But she knew that this really wasn't the time to cry.
"Hey...c'mon, Gatomon...it's not your fault-"
"YES IT IS! If it hadn't been for me, I wouldn't have persuaded you to come along, and we wouldn't be in this mess..."
"Gatomon, stop it! I wasn't trying to put all the blame on you...I'm responsible...I mean, I was fooled too."
"But...but..."
"That's enough! I admit, that rotten Digimon Emperor had us totally fooled. But the REAL Wizardmon wouldn't want us to sit here, sulking the minutes away. He'd want us to keep on fighting and especially to keep on hoping!"
Gatomon sniffed and Kari then realized that she was partially handling this the wrong way. Kari crawled over to where Gatomon was and took the little kitty in her arms. She hugged her firmly, and rocked her back and forth, similar to the way Yolei did when she heard about Kari's recent predicament.
"Hey...it's okay, Gatomon...you can cry."
Kari found herself sniffling, and a tear or two rolled down her cheek. "Sniff...see, Gatomon...I'm crying, too."
Gatomon and Kari looked at each with their tear-stained expressions, and suddenly, the two broke into laughter. The feline digimon brushed the last few tears away and finally smiled.
"You're right, Kari. We have to keep on fighting."
"That's the spirit. Now, I've found that the dirt in this prison cell is pretty soft. So let's see if there's any way we can dig our way out. Those claws should come in real handy."
Gatomon nodded and took a deep breath. "All right, Kari...let's get to work."
*********************
T.K. looked upon his newest friend with wide, disbelieving eyes.
"MAY, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?!?"
"While you two buffoons were arguing, I pulled the plug."
"Yeah, I can see that! What the heck for?!"
"Izzy seemed to be having trouble with opening the gate to Digital World, so I've decided to help."
"How can what you just did be considered 'HELP'???"
"Well, you two were crowding by the computer, and you didn't seem to notice me very much, so...my dad once told me, 'When in doubt...reboot'."
T.K. wasn't at all what she was really up to, but suddenly all the clues attempted to fit together in his mind. Her somewhat mysterious nature appeared to T.K. as too strange, too beyond belief.
(Whatever that means.)
He didn't have concrete evidence to back up the growing theory inside his brain, but how else could he explain what had happened recently. He didn't want to believe it and wanted so much to believe that May was just an ordinary girl. The other thought had to be impossible. But if it wasn't, he knew that as a Digidestined, he couldn't take that risk. Rage and possible realization rose, as did the length of his eyes.
"THAT'S IT!"
"Huh???" May asked.
T.K. sharply pointed right at May.
"It's you! You're the one who's behind this whole thing! Behind EVERYTHING!!!"
"Whoa...whoa, T.K. I think you better just calm down, 'cause that brain's operating on the wrong wavelength!"
"No way! I know what I'm talking about! You're the reason Kari and the others couldn't win against Digimon Emperor recently and why I couldn't speak to Kari last night or whatever!"
"Hey! Watch it, buster! I never knew about this 'Digital World' until you told me! I swear! I'm just a regular young girl!"
"T.K., are you sure about this?" asked Izzy.
"What other explanation is there? I mean, last night I saw some weird sparkle in your eye when you were watching me from my own window!"
"Oh, you saw that?" May asked in a completely casual voice, shrugging. "Those were my new contacts. Must have been a trick of the light or something...they're designed to do stuff like that."
"But I thought you said that you didn't wear contacts! They made your eyes itch!"
"I know, but my mom just got me these new ones! She said they didn't cause itching! I put 'em on after you ran out after Kari!"
T.K.'s rage began to rapidly deflate. Like emptying all the air out of a balloon.
"But after you bumped into me at the diner, you said you knew that we'd see each other again!"
"So I made a lucky guess! What else is new?"
"But...I couldn't make myself talk to Kari...!"
"Did it ever occur to you that maybe (at that moment,) you just got SHY?!?"
"I...that is... well..."
"T.K., you really need to sit down for a sec. I think you're under more stress than you'd like to admit."
May pushed T.K. down into a chair, and once again held up the plug that was in her hand.
"Well...now that I have your attention...let's try to crack this case, shall we?"
Izzy smiled and nodded. "Do you know anything about computers, May?"
"DO I?!? Are you kidding? My dad's a computer whiz! It was one his goals in life to make sure he had a apprentice."
"Apprentice?" T.K. asked.
"Yeah, y'know...someone to whom he could teach everything he knows."
"Well, have a seat then!" Izzy declared. "Any fellow computer whiz is a friend of mine!"
Oh, yeah! By the way, back in the Digital World...
"Oof!" went Davis, falling to the ground. Not only had the Elecmon went after the Digidestined's digimon, but their human partners, too. The spiky- haired, goggle-wearing boy fell (literally) to the combined force of five (possessed) Elecmon. Cody struggled to helped him up.
"Th...thanks, Cody."
"You all right?!" the younger boy asked him.
"Y-yeah, I guess...but I'll tell you one thing...those things can hit as hard as a kick of a mule!"
"You guys!" Yolei shouted, running in their direction. "I've examined the control spire in this area. My digivice detected high levels of unusual energy radiating from it!"
"What does that mean?" Cody asked.
"Why do I get the feeling that this isn't good news?" Davis almost whined.
Yolei ignored Davis's (almost) whining, and continued.
"It means, guys, that if I'm right, our digimon won't be able to get near it! That control spire somehow resists - and repels - any high powered digimon!"
"Great," Davis muttered.
"It gets worse," Yolei added on. "I've lost communication with Izzy!"
"Well, what can we do now?" Cody worriedly asked.
"I don't know," Yolei said, sighing and shaking her head. "But one thing's for sure - we have to keep fighting!"
"You're right, Yolei!" Cody declared with fire in his voice. "We can't let the Digimon Emperor win!"
"Then we all agree to stay and fight?" Yolei asked, looking straight into the eyes of her friends.
The three Digidestined looked at each other serious looks on their faces and said...
"LET'S FIGHT!"
*********************
"Okay," said May. "Now we just reboot the commands, input the codes..."
T.K. and Izzy watched in partial amazement as May skillfully worked her way around the school computer. It looked as if she was right...she did know quite a bit. Even though it wasn't something that comes up in casual conversation, T.K. found it a little strange that May here never mentioned that she was good with computers.
"...and there we go!"
Izzy looked on with wide eyes at May's accomplishment. "I don't believe it, you did it! It's all up and running! I gotta hand it to you, May...I'm impressed!"
"Hey...it was nothing, all I did was-"
"I'm sorry to interrupt you, May...but my friends are still in danger!" T.K. stated.
"Oh...right, sorry. Now the stage is yours, Izzy."
Izzy nodded and now he began his skills. He typed furiously on the keyboard, and continuously clicked the mouse. Finally, after agonizing seconds, he turned to T.K.
"Okay, T.K., I think I have it."
T.K. nodded in acknowledgement, and gestured for Izzy to continue.
"All right, we've managed to bypass the energy field-"
"That's great! Patamon, let's go!" T.K. said, waking up the little digimon inside his backpack.
"Not so fast, T.K.!" Izzy cautioned. "Listen to me...I was going to say that we've bypassed the energy field...to a point."
"Whaddya mean?!" he said, impatiently.
"Well, it comes down to this - we can get you in-"
"But we'll definitely have trouble getting you and your friends out," May finished.
T.K. took a deep breath, and Patamon stared at him strangely.
"I don't care...I understand the risks, but I HAVE to save my friends!"
Izzy and May stared at T.K. long and hard. They nodded.
"Okay," he said, picking up Patamon. "I'm ready."
Izzy turned back to the computer screen typed for barely two seconds, and then turned back to T.K.
"So is the gate."
Slowly, T.K. picked up his digivice and held it out to the computer screen.
"Digiport open!"
And in a brilliant flash of light, he and Patamon were gone.
*********************
It was starting to get dark by the time T.K. and his digimon arrived.
"Boy, it's almost nighttime here! Guess that means the others hogged all the fun already!" Patamon joked.
"Quit the clowning, Patamon!" T.K. scolded. "Try to get serious! We gotta find the others!"
"Okay, okay! Geez!"
T.K. pulled his digivice out of his pocket, and checked it for other digivice signals.
"Okay...I'm getting three signals from this direction," he said, pointing.
"Then let's go!" Patamon announced.
*********************
Screams were heard on the battlefield, both from the good guys and the bad guys. But for different reasons.
The Digidestined were surrounded. They weren't exactly scared, but this situation went beyond any simple nightmare that any one of these three kids had.
"Any famous last words, Yolei?" asked Davis.
"I...I...I..." was all the pale-purple haired girl could get out.
"I think that's her way of saying 'I'm terrified', Davis. And to be honest...I can't say I blame her," Cody stated.
"Hold on Davis, I'm coming!" Flamedramon yelled from across the battlefield. But he knew that he was partially lying, for he still had to deal with the Elecmon, while Halsemon and Digmon wrestled with Shellmon and Tyrannomon.
By now (for the children), Hope had seemed to treat itself to an impromptu vacation, and it didn't look like it was coming home anytime soon.
But little did they know that they were about to be proved dead wrong.
T.K. was running down the path, followed by his flying Patamon.
"We're almost there!" he said. "Patamon, fly straight ahead and scope out the situation!"
"You got it, T.K.!" the little digimon replied.
T.K. couldn't resist sitting down and catching his breath. Then the sounds of good and evil forces clashing with each other reached his ears. More specifically, screams, punches and explosions. He couldn't figure out why he hadn't heard it before. Before he fully realized it, Patamon had returned.
"T.K.! We gotta move!"
"Patamon, what's going on?"
"I saw the others! They're practically at their knees!"
"Huh?!?"
"There's a big, BIG battle going on just over the hill!"
T.K. eyes went wide with alert and determination as he ran along the path Patamon had indicated. He was shocked at the sight that greeted his eyes.
The others' digimon were doing their best duking it out with an evil Shellmon and Tyrannomon, while Davis, Yolei, and Cody were hopelessly surrounded by an army of Elecmon. This wasn't exactly how T.K. envisioned his visit with his friends, but it was better than not seeing them at all.
"WHOA! You weren't kidding, Patamon!" T.K. exclaimed.
"Have I ever?"
"C'mon, let's head down there and give them a hand!"
The three newer Digidestined were literally holding onto each other, teeth chattering. The first of the Elecmon flashed its sharp teeth and prepared to make the first kill leap-
"BOOM BUBBLE!!!"
Davis was surprised as a huge blast of air hit the Elecmon that was leaping at them, which fell to the ground, stunned.
"Good going, Patamon! But keep it up and do your best! The others are counting on us!"
Patamon nodded confidently and "kept it up", repeatedly blasting the surrounding Elecmon.
Yolei looked upward and saw T.K. standing on top of a small hill above them. She immediately smiled warmly.
"T.K.!!! IT'S YOU! YOU'RE BACK!" she shouted, with pure relief in her voice.
"Need some help, you guys?" he asked, also smiling now.
"You bet!" Cody happily replied.
With just a few bubbles booms, a good portion of the Elecmon were down for the count.
T.K. looked around and was surprised to see that the usual dark spire was still up. Of course, he didn't know what was going on.
"Hey, what's all this?" he asked, indicating the dark spire with his thumb.
"Don't look so smug," an exhausted Davis replied. "That Emperor put up a special force field that protects it from high-energy attacks. Meaning, our digivolved digimon can't get near it."
"Well then, we'll have to find a way to-WHOA!"
Out of nowhere, yet another Elecmon jumped out of (next to) nowhere and attacked T.K. Unfortunately, it only knicked his hand, causing him to drop his digivice.
"Hey! My digivice!"
"BOOM BUBBLE!"
In less than a second, that Elecmon was unconscious. Unfortunately, T.K. now couldn't find his digivice. Suddenly, he got an idea.
"What a minute! If our high-level digimon can't get near that spire, then maybe a low-level one can!" T.K. exclaimed.
"What do you mean?" Yolei asked.
T.K. shook his head. "I'll explain later, Yolei. I just need to know something...are your digimon strong enough to hold some of those Elecmon over there?"
"Well...sure, but-"
"Great! Do it! Let's go, Patamon!"
T.K. and Patamon ran towards the spire, all the while taunting the Elecmon.
"C'mon, you slowpokes! You're so slow you couldn't catch a cold!"
"Oh, T.K., that's so lame!"
"Just follow my lead, Patamon!"
Patamon did as he was told. He made faces at the oncoming Elecmon, while the two slowly moved back...and back...into the spire!
The two friends looked at each other, and smirked. Unfortunately, the others underestimated how tired their armor-digivolved buddies were and they fell pretty fast. To make matters worse, T.K. was oblivious to the Tyrannomon that was closing in on him. But Yolei saw and tried to warn T.K.
"T.K., WATCH OUT!!!"
"Huh?!?"
But the last thing he saw before squeezing his eyes shut...was Tyrannomon's gigantic fist.
TO BE CONTINUED...
WHEW!!! Finally done with this immense chapter! I apologize for not getting this up sooner, my little bro (Fezzik, that's his pen name) was repeatedly pestering me to help with HIS fanfic! Oh, if any of you are Pokèmon fans, check out his work (including his original short story, he's desperate, lol). Well, send in those reviews now! What will happen to T.K. and the others, you ask? Only one way to find out! Later!