Twisting Paths of Twilight

I don't own Digimon

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"Talking"

'Thoughts'

"Partner and Tamer talking within the sphere"

)-( Scene change

(--) Different point of view

(-:-) Flash back

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Chapter 10

They stare up at the monstrous Digimon before them; she shivers as she looks at where their partners are laying. "Kari!" A familiar voice shouts and a familiar attack hits Kimeramon in the chest, oddly enough, the ultimate roars in pain from Guilmon's Pryo Sphere. "Takato!" She shouts out in relief.

Kimeramon use Heat Viper, Guilmon is sent flying but the red rookie picks himself up. "Digimodify! Power activate!" Takato says once he finishes swiping a card. "Pryo Sphere!" Guilmon says and the attack knocks Kimeramon off balance. Guilmon follows that attack up with his Rock Breaker attack. They snap out of it and grab their partners and backed away. They were surprised at that Guilmon's able to battle the missed matched Digimon without Digivolving.

All around them were ruin buildings; they stood about eight feet behind Takato before the yellow goggle wearing preteen calls Guilmon back. Guilmon lets go of Kimeramon's bony arm and trots behind them as they head out of the city. They turn back after running for about five minutes, it appears that the ultimate Digimon is departing they ruined city as well.

"I thought he'd be stronger…" Takato mutters to himself. Guilmon hums his agreement and they just shake their heads. "So that was Digimodifying?" Davis asks, she blinks as she remembers that it's the new members' first time witnessing Takato swiping a card through his D-Ark. 'It's on thing to be told about it and another to witness it.' She muses as they continue to trek onwards. "Yea, that's what Digimodifying is." Takato says which is answering Davis's early question as they continue to move through the undergrowth.

"So you're with us from now on?" TK asks. "Actually, we couldn't get a hold of you guys so I kind of ended up being volunteered to get you to safety." Takato admits. "Who would volunteer you?" Cody asks, they were all confused as well. "Guilmon auctioned off his and mine services for three donuts, a case of soda, and for a whole week Matt making him his 'special' curry." Takato sighs and they all open their mouths, but nothing came out. "I like spicy food." Guilmon says simply and Takato sighs. "Only because Matt made it for supper last night and topped it off with peanut butter." Takato murmurs.

They all made faces at the idea of curry topped off with peanut butter. "Take sounds good." Veemon pipes in, revealing that he's now awake. "Digimon have stomachs of steel, I think at times." Takato remarks. "I tried eating steel once, I couldn't take bite a chunk off." Guilmon says thoughtfully. "Who made that suggestion?" Takato asks in a calm voice. "Impmon asked if I could eat the bars of my cage. That was before the Devas appeared though." Guilmon replies and Takato's head slumps over forward. "I should have known." Takato says in an exhausted sounding voice.

They all chuckle at that, until Veemon asks, "You meet you can't eat metal?" They all look at the blue dragon Digimon and stare at the rookie, making the dragon type uncomfortable. "Um, sorry?" Veemon asks, clearly nervous about all the attention he's receiving. They all shake their heads and continue on their way towards the spot where a TV is located.

They stop before the TV and she gives Takato and Guilmon a hug, she then returns to where her partner is standing and Yolei asks, "What was the reason you guys were trying to get a hold of us, by the way?" "You each received a long E-Mail that Izzy sent; you just didn't have the alert on. Mostly, some of the other Digimon are planning to get the floating base to crash somewhere and you need to be at those coordinates to sneak onto the base while Ken's busy trying to get it back into the air." Takato tells them and then Guilmon and him disappear in a beam of light.

They sigh and then they each take out their D-Terminals and check their index. She smiles as she reads the E-Mail that Izzy sent them, pretty much what Takato had summarized to them. Patamon gasps and they look around and find some cooked fish under some plastic paper. There's a note telling them that they deserve a break. She touches the camera around her neck, then taking a firm hold of it; she snaps a picture of the fish and a few more later on at the other Digidestine interacting with their partners. She wonders whether Ken as a Digimon partner and how that partner must feel about what Ken's been up too…

(-Takato-)

He glances down at the water, his fishing pole resting besides him lure and all. He's nervous, a part of him wants him to march into the Digital World and save Wormmon from sacrificing his life so that Magnamon has the power to defeat Kimeramon, but another part points out that Wormmon has to be allowed to do that, to help open Ken's eyes. 'To open his heart…' He sighs and lies on his back, staring up into the sky, cursing the fact that he was sent to this reality, to grow up with the real life characters of his favourite cartoon show of all times.

He watches the clouds float gently by, knowing that despite the fact he knows that this will prepare them to face off against their future enemies, he would rather change the course of events then to let them harm Kari, Tai, TK, and the others. "What you looking at?" Calumon asks, he turns his head in that direction and finds Calumon standing a bit away from his head. "Just the clouds, Calumon, just the clouds." He tells the in-training Digimon.

Calumon sits down and he returns to staring up into the sky. "Where's Guilmon?" He asks after a few minutes. "Sleeping." Calumon says simply. "I guess he's out of his sugar rush then." He says, not wanting to even think about a hyper active Guilmon on a sugar high. Calumon hums his agreement. "I miss the others, Takato. When will we see them again?" Calumon asks. He blinks slightly out of surprise and answers, "In two year's time. When I'm fourteen."

"I never knew humans Digivolve so oddly." Calumon says innocently. He chuckles and can picture Henry and Rika's reaction to that statement. "We humans call it growing up." He says in an amused tone. "I never knew you humans changed so like over time, you really are different then Digimon, huh?" Calumon asks. He almost chokes on that and asks, "You're just beginning to realise this now?" "Well, yea." Calumon admits and he howls with laughter.

"What's so funny?" Izzy asks as he comes walking towards the spot. "Calumon just admitted that he just realised that humans are very different then Digimon." He manages to get out before erupting in gales of laughter. Izzy just groans and says, "I spent hours explaining the differences and he just gets it now?" He nods, not being able to say anything at the moment. "What's so funny about that?" Calumon asks, totally clueless. He just waves his hand, trying to dismiss the question from the air as if it was written and could be erased by waving his hand at it. "I still don't get it." Calumon mutters before lying on the ground face first, soon he can hear soft snorts coming from the catalyst of Digivolution for his home dimension.

He gets up and gently picks up the Digimon once he's done laughing. He smiles at the in-training Digimon, looking at the lake once more. Izzy left before he gained control over his laughter. "Thanks for lightening my mood, Calumon." He says softly, eyes flickering down at the Digimon and then back at the lake.

(-TK-)

He puts a comforting arm around Kari's shoulders as they watch Ken mourn for his partner, Wormmon. Soon Ken picks himself up and just before the preteen leaves, Davis walks forward and tells Ken something, they were to far to hear what and Davis might have said it softly too. Ken nods slightly and then continues to walk away. He glances at the base, suddenly has this killer urge to destroy it.

He shakes his head, telling himself that now that Ken's not the Digimon Emperor, the base will disappear on its own. After a few minutes, they too head off in search of a TV that will teleport them to the camp site. For once, they didn't land in a dog pile and Izzy says, "I guess Gennai did fix it. I just thought that Takato's a special case since he has a D-Ark instead of a D-3."

Tai asks, "Don't want to talk about it? We did bring some extra sleeping begs, they're by the van. I'll go get them." Matt goes to help Tai with retrieving them. He looks around and notices that his dad, Takato, Calumon, and Guilmon weren't around. He finds the ones that Tai and them must have been using.

He picks one and finds some shade and uses it like a pillow. Patamon settles on his chest and he closes his eyes. Exhaustion overtakes him and he falls into a dreamless sleep.

)-(

He blinks as he and gets up as he notices how dark it is. He looks to where Patamon is and then stands up once he spots a camp fire. He looks around and finds the other Digidestine were still fast asleep. His stomach growls and he puts a hand over it and looks sheepishly, wondering where Takato and the others were.

He sits down and blinks as Guilmon comes into the clearing with more wood in his arms. Takato walking behind the big rookie and once the goggle wearing preteen notices him, he says, "Hey TK, sleep well?" He smiles and nods as he says, "Yea, it was pretty intense." Takato and Guilmon put the wood in their arms on the ground and sit down. "Where's my dad and them?" He asks. "Trying to catch supper, they don't seem to be having any luck though." Takato says in amusement and Guilmon nods.

After a few minutes, he asks, "Is Calumon helping them?" Takato chuckles and then replies, "He's trying to tickle them to put the hooks into their open mouths." He raises an eyebrow and asks, "Then what are we eating if they don't catch any fish?" "I called for take out." Takato tells him. "They'll be showing up in forty minutes or it's free." Takato adds lightly. "What did you order?" He asks. "Lets see I believe I ordered three buckets of KFC chicken, two salads, four boxes of French fries, three 2 litre Pepsi, and five of their McCain desserts." The other preteen says and he whistles at how much food that Takato ordered. "That's a lot, how much did it come out to?" He asks. Takato just shrugs and says, "I don't think you want to know."

He doesn't say anything and after a while, the other Digidestine wake and joins them around the camp fire. As the Digimon wake, his dad and the others come crashing towards them, he smiles widely as he notices that Matt and his dad were soaked. "I saved the fishes!" Calumon says proudly as the white Digimon comes their way, the others just shot the in-training Digimon dirty looks, his brother moves his hand through his wet hair, trying to spike it in his usual way.

"Well our plans for supper are shot." Tai sighs. "What are we going to eat? I'm hungry?" DemiVeemon asks. "I don't know." His dad says and just as the others were about to make suggestions, a car pull up and the man comes towards them and asks, "Is there a Takato Kamiya here?" "That's me." Takato says and gets up, a credit card in hand. The driver looks relieved and Takato walks over, the driver ignores their partners and soon the food is paid for, Davis and him get up and help Takato bring the food to the picnic table.

"Geeze, you think you bought enough?" Davis asks as they put the paper bags onto the table. "Food!" DemiVeemon and Calumon shout as they come running up to the table, rearing to eat. They battle the hungry Digimon as they open the bags with Tai and Izzy bring cups, plates, and plastic forks and knives. The Digimon pile a lot of fried chicken as they can on their plates, most of them Digivolved into their rookie forms so they can get their plate full, which kind of leaves the salads, some of the chicken, and the fries for their human partners, though Guilmon did take off with a box of fries.

Soon all of the meal was gone, leaving the deserts that Takato had ordered for them to eat. Yolei took charge and fiercely slapped hungry hands from touching the chocolate deserts with a spoon. Soon they're all cut and Kari helps by handing them out while Yolei continues to defend the rest of the deserts, Gatomon glared challenges at any Digimon that looked ready to take the plates from Kari, the others had backed off, though Guilmon only sent pleading look at the young preteen and received his before any of the Digimon had, Gatomon had been second.

Soon they all received their portions, though the Digimon got larger portions then their human partners. Once more they sat around the fire, Cody and Izzy clearing up the garbage. His dad poking the fire and adding wood to the fire when needed, he stares into the fire, remembering another fire, a fire light by a fire ball and located on a rocky island. He remembers the feel of Gabumon's fur and later the sound of his brother's harmonica. He smiles at those memories of other nights spent around other fires, in that alien world known as the Digital World.

"I miss this." He says. "Miss what?" Matt asks. "I missed just sitting around a fire with my friends." He explains. "Oh…" Matt and Tai said at the same time. He looks around the group before he glances to where Patamon and the other Digimon were. Matt puts a comforting hand on his shoulder and squeezes it slightly. He smiles at his brother, happy just to be sitting with Matt and spending time with him.

Soon they began to drift off, collecting their sleeping bags and taking them into the cabin. He watches as Takato and Kari headed off together, his eyes staring at the back of Kari's head. Takato turns around and grins as the preteen notices that he's staring, he blushes and looks away. His brother chuckles and after a few minutes says, "Night, kiddo. And for the record, I think the two of you will make a great couple." He blushes even harder as Matt walks away, his father looking amused as well.

"You know son, I do believe I agree with your brother on this." His dad says and Davis nods in agreement, which startled him. "She likes you too, man. I mean, you just seem to complete her." Davis says. He almost had a heart attack. "Takato didn't put you up to this, did he?" He asks. Davis's eyes flash in amusement. "Takato isn't the type to do that, you should know that." Davis replies and he just sighs. He didn't really know what to say or processed. He gets up and nods to his dad and to Davis before leaving the campfire. He takes a sleeping bag and heads off to where Matt went, he finds Matt, Izzy, and Tai sleeping within a certain feet of each other and then he lies down about four feet away from Matt's feet. He opens up the sleeping bag and crawls between the coverings. He moves onto his side and after about five minutes, he finally fell asleep.

(-Tai-)

He shakes his head as Jun, Davis's older sister, pulls Matt away from the van. The van changes gears and they're soon on the road, leaving the musical inclined blond to take the bus with Jun. He glances around at the others; it seems that Davis is already nodding off while TK seems to gazing off into space, clearly lost in his own thoughts. Izzy talking in low tones with Cody and Yolei and finally his two siblings weren't doing much, just looking out the window closest to them.

He turns back to the road; he's sitting in the front seat, by Matt and TK's dad. Oddly enough, Calumon's with him, resting on his lap and he kind of wished it was Koromon sitting there. Calumon's currently humming along with the song on the radio, looking out the front window. He glances out the window to his right, wondering just who they had to face now that Ken's no longer calling himself the Digimon Emperor. He just sighs and decides that it didn't matter right now, he just happy that they didn't have to worry about Control Spires, dark rings, and control spirals. He settles in and lets the motion of the van lulu him to sleep.

(-Takato-)

He kicks a rock off the sidewalk. He glances around casually, studying his surrounds as best as he could without alerting his stalker. It's December and he has known about his stalker since BlackWarGreymon came into existence. He frowns and stares off into space, images of the mega's demise playing through his mind's eye.

'That's a coming up though, in January.' He thinks to himself, trying to find comfort that those events are not happening anytime soon. The events of the Destiny Stones were over, but that means that the World Tour is coming up, within four more days to be exact. He wonders if he should help round up those stray Digimon or stick around and follow the man possessed by Myotismon, Owikawa.

He pause and glance to his right, he frowns and begins to wonder if he should have taken Gatomon up on her offer of help. He glances around, once he's satisfied, he says in a low voice, "Come out, you've been following me for some time now. I want to know who it is I'm dealing with." The dense bare bushes rustle and out steps a small child Digimon that's commonly known as Petitmamon. He notices the staff and realises this one is a male.

The rookie virus glances around and then says, "I don't know what's so special about you! I don't see why Lord GranDracmon would even want you! I can see why he would want your partner though…" He raises an eyebrow at that for he's surprised that the rookie thought so little of him. "I'm sure your master would enjoy hearing that. Why don't you go and report your opinion of the solution then?" He says in a sceptical tone. The rookie flinches, most likely imagining his master's reaction of what would happen to him.

"I thought as much. Now, why don't you run along home? I've known you've been following me since the creation of BlackWarGreymon." He notices how the little rookie flinched at the fact he had known the little rookie had been stalking him. "So there really isn't a reason for you to be here." He finishes. "Then I'll just have to take you in myself! You don't have your partner around to protect you!" The virus shouts as he points a finger at him.

He sighs and dodges the Petitmamon's attempts of tackling him. Then the rookie tries to use his staff by trying to whack his legs with it. He does something really uncharacteristic of him, he punches the Digimon on the head, not too hard but hard enough to leave a bump. "You might be a Digimon, but I am taller then you and experienced enough to evade your attacks. So why don't you just walk away from this encounter? I doubt you want to confront with any of mine and my friend's partners and you will, if you keep following me around. I'm sure that you can't get into too much trouble, after all, I'm the human that GranDracmon thinks is special, it's not your job to capture me." He tells the rookie as the little Digimon rubs his bump.

The Digimon ponders this and then shouts as he points an accusatory finger at him, "Ha! You're just afraid that I'll learn your weakness and that I'd report it to my master!" The Digimon crosses his arms in front of his chest and says stubbornly, "You can't get rid of me that easy!" He sighs and mutters, "You remind me a little too much of Impmon." Then he says in a louder voice, "Fine, I'll ask the Digimon not to attack you on sight, but if you attack them, they have every right to defend themselves. So consider yourself warned." He then turns away from the little Digimon and walks away, knowing that in a bit, the rookie will once more be stalking him. He wonders just how much like Impmon that Petitmamon will turn out to be. He sighs and runs a hand through his hair, wondering what Gigimon's reaction will be to Petitmamon's presence. 'I hope that Petitmamon doesn't try to take Gigimon, I just know that will end badly for the little guy.' He thinks as he heads to the mall to do some last minute shopping, after all, just because the little guy is working for the enemy doesn't mean that he feels comfortable about letting that rookie freeze in this weather.

(-Kari-)

"You know, he stopped making an effort to hide himself." She tells Takato as they walk through the streets to Ken's party. "I know, but he's so determined to continue following me." Her adopted brother says. "You would have gotten rid of him sooner if you hadn't given him that sweater and toque to help him stay warm." Gatomon says from her jacket, her head poking out of the zipper. "I just couldn't let him freeze." Takato says defensively. She nods in agreement with her adopted brother's reasoning. Gatomon just sighs and shakes her head, clearly not liking the fact that Takato had asked the Digimon not to delete the small humanoid virus Digimon that works for GranDracmon, the mega who wants Takato for some odd reason.

She really did agree with Takato's decision to let the rookie be, for the little Petitmamon hadn't really attacked anyone or their partners. Tai and Matt were all for offing the Digimon, if only to buy them time from a battle that most likely will happen once GranDracmon's minions receive enough information to plan an ambush to capture her adopted brother. The others kind of trusted Takato's handling of the problem and that's that, for they have a lot on their plate and they don't know what's next now that BlackWarGreymon isn't going after Destiny Stones.

They soon reached the apartments that Ken's family lived in. They didn't even need to knock as the door opened within a second they stood before it, Mrs Ichijouji shooed them into the living room, taking their coats as they took off their shoes. They found the others sitting around, playing cards with hot coco at hand. "Hey, Kari! Takato!" Davis says as they sit down, her adopted brother sitting between Davis and TK as she sits between TK and Cody. Her DNA Digivolving partner nods at her and the present that Takato brought lies against the wall. She glances at it, knowing that Ken will like what Takato brought.

Soon they're included into the Go Fish; Ken had to add another deck of cards so they have enough cards to play with. After 7:30, Takato got up and handed the slim gift to the Digidestine of Kindness. Ken protested but the others wanted to know what Takato had wrapped up. Ken reluctantly unwraps the gift and looks startled at the picture that's framed. "I thought you'd like it, I thought this one is slightly more to your tastes then that other one I drew." The yellow goggle wearing preteen says. Ken nods and shows the others by flipping it.

The picture was of Ken staring up into the night sky with Wormmon by his side and a hand draped on the green rookie's back. The moon is bright and Ken's covered in moonlight, the location was on a cliff with some trees behind the pair. You can make out Stingmon in the rocks that the pair are sitting on, if you know what to look for though. The others congratulate Takato for making it; she had to admit that Takato has gotten better at using an airbrush.

"I don't know what to say, it's a really great picture." Ken says softly. Takato just smiles and replies, "Thanks; I'm really getting a handle on using that airbrush. I think Izzy wants me to learn how to use Photo Shop so I can post my pictures on the Internet." Before they could settle down and continue playing Go Fish, Mrs Ichijouji appears telling them that someone's on the phone for Takato and her. Takato looks out the window as she gets up to take the phone from Ken's mother.

(-TK-)

He sighs as he looks around the street; Tai seems impatient for his grandfather to arrive. Agumon and Patamon were content to wait patiently by their sides. He still can't believe that the unknown master of those two ultimates, Mummymon and Arukenimon, could open up so many gate ways around the world within a course of a night.

None of them had liked leaving Takato behind, not with the prospect of those minions of GranDracmon could use this event to try and capture his friend. Takato had informed them that they wouldn't be any real help, since Guilmon could go feral and accidentally delete the Digimon that they were suppose to be rounding up. They kind of had to agree, since that's what Takato and Guilmon use to do, they're responsible for defending the real world against rogue Digimon that enter into the real world. So Takato and Guilmon wished them luck as they were beamed into the plateform on Imperialdramon's back.

He perks as he hears a sound of a motor coming their way. "Grandpa." He says as his grandfather stops before them. "TK! Good to see you again. Come, let us go." His grandfather says, passing out helmets to Tai and him. He climbs on behind his grandfather as Tai climbs into the side car with Agumon and Patamon. Soon they're on their way, riding off towards the Control Spire.

(-Takato-)

He sighs as he notices how effective the pair of ultimates were at recruiting those children that were destine to carry those clone spores. They only grab the exact number that he remember them grabbing during the cartoon show. He had to shake his head, he wondered how the pair could miss the fact that they're been followed by not just by Gigimon and him, but by Petitmamon.

'Well it's official, they suck at detecting stalkers. Or they don't expect to be stalked now that the Digidestine are busy.' He thinks as he sits on the top of some jungle gym bars. Gigimon hiding in his jacket's hood, he's checking his D-Ark as the little virus attempts to swing on the swings. He sighs and wonders if GranDracmon's minions will join in the free for all that's going to be happening by tomorrow night.

As he observes Petitmamon, he doubts that the rookie's reported anything to his superiors since the little guy's obviously trying to find his weak spot by keeping a non-stop watch on him. 'He's determined, I'll give him that.' He thinks to himself as he pockets his D-Ark. "Takatomon, can we eat now?" Gigimon asks, the little guy's stomach growls, echoing his statement. He smiles and says, "Ok, we'll find you something to eat. How's a sandwich sound?" Gigimon cheers and he swings down off the bars. He heads off in the direction he spotted a grocery store, Petitmamon following about four feet behind him, a new record since the virus usually follow about six feet behind him.

He buys a few sandwiches, knowing that Gigimon will get hungry before they head home. He also buys something for himself as well. As he's about to pay, Petitmamon tugs at his jacket holding a chocolate bar, looking at him with puppy dog eyes. He sighs and takes the bar from the rookie and adds it to his items. Once outside, he hands it back and says, "You know, you really aren't cut out for working for this GranDracmon."

The little Digimon puffs up and asks, "Well, what do you know!" He chuckles and he replies, "One might consider taking things from one's victim is a form of bribery." Petitmamon shifts uncomfortably, clearly out of his depths. "Nobody's ever been …" Petitmamon trails off. "Nice?" He supplies and the rookie nods in agreement.

He looks thoughtful before asking, "You can go to my home world, right?" Petitmamon nods, unsure what he's going to ask of him. "Could you possibly take something to my real parents? I just want to reassure them that I'm fine." He tells the rookie, Petitmamon looks stunned at his request. Then the rookie nods after thinking it over, finished devouring the chocolate bar. He smiles in relief and says, "Thank you, Petitmamon. It really means a lot to me."

They head off to the library; he had a pad of paper with him. It doesn't take long for him to finish his letter. He folds it and then hands it to the rookie virus. "Thanks for doing this, Petitmamon. I hope you don't get into too much trouble for doing this." He says and Petitmamon just waves off his concerns. "Maybe I was wrong, back when I said you won't special." Was what Petitmamon says before disappearing in a swirl of black wind. He sighs and hopes that Petitmamon doesn't regret taking that letter to his parents. 'Be careful, Petitmamon. I don't want you to get into trouble on my behalf.' He thinks as he walks out of the library with Gigimon resting in his hood.

To be continued …