Hi-hi! This is chapter nine of Jeri's Trust. And sorry for the inconvenience when the last chapter came out. I had missed something when naming it, and I went back to fix it. That being to first time I had to do that, I did a very stupid thing. I moved that name to another chapter. I fixed it, but before it was completely fixed, it came onto the story board, and people told me about it. So, I'm sorry Bookworm Gal. I'll be careful when uploading this chapter, heh heh.
The sandstorm raged. This place was seeming more and more like Jeri remembered it. She hugged Elecmon to her chest, scared that if she put him down, he'd get blown away.
Mimi made her complaint of third complaint of the day.
"Oh. How far do we have to walk?"
"Until Etemon can't follow us anymore." Joe told her simply.
"I don't think there is such a place." Mimi complained, again. It was getting on Jeri's last nerves. The old world was much worse than this. Random Digimon attacking for your data. The twelve Deva's, who were Ultimate, if she might add. Much worse than Etemon, who was only Champion. Jeri didn't want to snap at anyone though, so she kept her mouth zipped shut.
"We certainly can't stop here in the middle of nowhere. For one thing, if we were attacked, there'd be no where for us to run too." Matt agreed with Jeri's unspoken words. Everyone but Jeri and Tai stopped.
"Hey. Come on you guys. Why'd you stop?" He asked the other six as Jeri stood beside him, looking around the premises for any oncoming danger. "Why's everyone so scared? After all, we do have the crest you know." Tai said, holding up his tag that contained the Crest of Courage.
"That's mighty dandy, but don't you think we should take this somewhere that isn't out in the open? It's dangerous." Jeri told him hotly.
"Jeri's right. And do we really know that the crest will help Agumon to digivolve?" Matt asked, siding with Jeri.
"Of course. Right Agumon?" He told them, looking at Agumon who stood next to him.
"Hmm?" He looked frightened as he turned towards his partner.
"Come on buddy. This is your big chance. Don't let me down." Tai told the orange dinosaur. With newly lit fire in his eyes, he geared up and got ready to take action. "You're the only one that can digivolve further, so either you try to get to the next level and save us from Etemon, or I'll go and get myself a new Digimon!" Tai told him angrily.
"Tai! That's not nice. Apologize." Jeri said, stepping between the two. She could hear Agumon whimpering behind her, and a moment later, crying. She turned to the dinosaur and tried to stop his tears. "It's ok. He didn't mean it." She told him, shooting a glare and the brown haired boy. He may have been older than her, but she didn't like how he was treating Agumon. "And you can't get a new Digimon. You have this one, and you can't get another." She pushed Agumon over to Matt, so that Gabumon could try to cheer him up.
"I just want him to digivolve." Tai told her hotly. 'Why was a ten year old telling him what to do?'
"It isn't right to force Digimon to digivolve. It ends in horrible results. Results that can destroy everything in it's path." She glared at their "leader".
"Tai. Just apologize. Gosh, your so childish." Matt yelled at him, trying to help Gabumon cheer Agumon up. Tai took one look at his partner, and softened. He walked over to Agumon and put his hands on the Digimon's shoulders.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean it." Tai apologized. Jeri sighed in relief. "How are we suppose to use the crest anyway?" He asked Izzy, refusing to look at Jeri.
"From what we've seen so far, from the other digivolution, it takes a lot of energy, for example they can't digivolve if their hungry. And Calumon of course." he said, looking fondly at the energetic in-training.
"But since it's a higher form of Digivolving, an even higher form of energy is needed, so we'll provide the food, and Calumon will provide the digivolution." He looked at Calumon sternly, who was atop Jeri's head. His ears shrunk and he hid behind Jeri's head. Jeri glowered at Tai.
"You also have to believe that they can do it. And put trust in your Digimon. This isn't just some math test, where you can calculate the results, it's real life. And you need to learn that. This place holds danger, and if you don't know what your doing, you'll wind up killing someone, or getting separated from the others. Or something horrible. Me and my friends learned that the hard way, and the Digital World wasn't even this nice back then. Digimon just attacked you because they wanted power, and it was life and death. We didn't have Primary Village, there was no way for Digimon to come back, back then." She glowered at all of them, spitting the last words with acid in her voice. "You have it easy. If you guys acted like this back then, you wouldn't have survived a minute." She spat at them.
Calumon's head popped up sadly. "Itwas scary back then, everyone was kidnapping me and the Deva's were scary."
"It was a bad world. And I don't like saying this, but Jeri's right. We had to stick together, and couldn't afford to make mistakes. And if we did, we immediately made up for them. I grew up in that world, and fighting was the only thing I knew before I met her." Elecmon said sadly.
"But we need to try. And learn from our mistakes." Matt told her.
"I know, but I just want to prevent those mistakes, so you don't have to go through the hurt like we did." Jeri told him, allowing a single tear to fall down her cheek. Sora put her arm around the girl.
"We know. But we won't know our mistakes, until we make them. What did you guys use to get to ultimate?" She suddenly asked her.
"We used cards. Like these." She pulled out a few cards from the stack she had in her pocket. "We slide them through this slot. Although, that was just to give the Digimon the advantage, like another's move, for one attack only though, and more energy, speed, and stamina. If you wanted to digivolve, you needed a blue card, which chose its own time to show up." She passed the cards around, letting them gape over this new discovery. Izzy was the funniest to watch. He finally looked up from the Mammothmon card he had received.
"Do you think these are scanable? I'd like to take a look of them on my computer." Jeri laughed.
"I think so. They are used in a computer game. And they scan right through our Digivices. Try it. Um…but when we're not out in the open like this. Kay?" Izzy nodded and thanked her. He gave the card back, and they moved on their way. The argument not forgotten.
Jeri had to admit this was funny. Even though she new it wasn't the way to have him digivolve, she decided to let them make mistakes, even if it ended in total chaos. It was the best way to learn after all. Tai was currently stuffing Agumon's face with food.
"Guilmon could eat ten times this much food." she commented. It worked, while Izzy asked who Guilmon was, Agumon busied himself with stuffing as much food as he could into his mouth.
"Guilmon is the partner of Takato. He's also a bottomless pit. But he's adorable too. He's so innocent." She smiled at the memory of when she first met Guilmon. She had just overheard Kazu and Kenta telling Takato that they didn't like his joke that he had pulled on them the other day. But the looks on their faces said that they didn't think it was a joke. Jeri had asked if she could see Guilmon. She sighed. How she'd give to be at home with them right now. She frowned.
"How long to do think we've been here?" She asked them.
"Hmm. I don't know, I think we've been here for a month. I'd have to check." Izzy told her, busily scanning one of the Digimon cards that Jeri had loaned him. So far, mountains of data had appeared. Izzy had a look of content on his face as he happily read through the report. She talked a bit more with Izzy, who didn't seem to mind her talking, as long as she let him keep looking at her cards. She turned to the others when Joe exclaimed that his tag was glowing.
"That means that your crest is nearby!" Jeri sang happily. But she frowned soon after that. She took a glance at Tai then sighed. 'The crest changed Tai, will it change Joe?' Jeri hoped not.
"Hey look! There's something out there. It looks like a big building or something." Tai notified them, looking through his telescope. Jeri stood up as Izzy sadly closed his computer and stood up too, handing the card back. Jeri shook her head.
"You can keep it. I've got tons more." And she pulled out her gigantic stack, that took two hands to hold, so they didn't fall into the sand. Izzy smiled happily and thanked her. Joe started to run down the dune.
"That must be where my crest is." Jeri groaned. It looked like it was defiantly going to change Joe. That was sad. Jeri liked Joe how he was. You could rely on him for someone to talk to. Joe suddenly tripped, uprooting a black cord.
Gomamon slid up to him, using his slippers as sand boards. "What's a cable doing out in the middle of nowhere. Jeri didn't like this one bit.
They stood in the middle of the stadium. Seats all around them.
"Wow." she whispered. "It's just like the concert Rika took me too. Except there are seats. Amazing." Jeri swirled in circles, looking at everything.
"It's looks more like the Roman Coliseum." Izzy said smartly.
"What's the Roman Coliseum?" Tentomon asked.
"Well Tentomon. It's an ancient arena." Tai answered.
"But the ancient one didn't have didn't have big screen." Mimi followed up.
"Or a soccer goal." Sora finished eyeing the soccer goal with envy. Jeri could just see that she wished she had a ball to play with.
"Ok guys. Lets all split up and look for the crest." Tai demanded.
"Oh." Agumon fell on his butt. "I can't move anymore. Let me rest." he groaned, clutching his very round stomach. He laid down to go to sleep.
"Come on. Get up. You can do it!" Tai roared.
"I can't." Agumon countered tiredly.
"Give him a rest Tai." Joe told him before Jeri could open her mouth to yell at him. Joe looked at her wearily before continuing. "The only clue we have is my tag." He pulled the tag out. "So Gomamon and I will search for the crest. You guys relax for a while." he ran out. "Later."
"Wait! I'll go with you. Tai gave chase. They disappeared. A soccer ball rolled out from behind the wall.
"A soccer ball!" Sora cheered, her face lighting up. "Hey, anybody up for a game?" She asked the group. They all chanted yes.
"The Digimon team with play against the human team." Matt said.
"What on earth is soccer?" Tentomon inquired.
"It's a fun game. I see kids play it all the time when I'm up in the tree." Calumon cheered. He still dreamed of being the best player ever. "I made up different rules though, cause the others were boring." He somersaulted in midair.
"Yeah. Destroyed the field while you were at it." Jeri grumbled. She wasn't a big fan of soccer, but she didn't like that the principal had made everyone of them a suspect.
"Err. Right." Sora sweat dropped. "It's easy. You use your feet to try to get this ball into the goal. You can also use your chest or your head." She head butted it to Gabumon.
He laughed. "Here I come." He kicked it and it hit Biyomon in the face. Palmon caught it with her hands.
"That's really using your head." Palmon joked.
"OH. And I forgot to tell you. You can't use your hands."
"Unless you're the goal keeper. Then you can touch the ball with your hands." T.K. piped.
"Yeah. You should be the goalie for your team Palmon." Matt told her. Palmon threw it up and Tai suddenly came out and kicked it. It flew over to the other side.
"I can't believe your playing soccer at a time like this. The sooner Joe finds the crest the sooner we can leave." Tai lectured them. They all hung their heads, except Calumon who went to find the ball. Maniac laughing suddenly appeared and two hands were clapping on the big screen. Etemon appeared on the screen.
"Who's the king?"
"Ah!" Mimi screamed, running away. "He's here. Etemon's here." They all followed her.
"Wait! What about Calumon?" Jeri yelled. They didn't hear. She turned the other way and ran after Calumon. Elecmon ran after her. A sudden slamming came. The others were trapped in the goal! Agumon, who had been too slow, was on the ground.
"Elecmon, go help Agumon. I'll get Calumon then come back." She ordered. Elecmon looked like he wanted to argue, but the look Jeri gave him made him do otherwise. He ran to Agumon, while Jeri went in search of Calumon. As Jeri reached the stairs that Calumon had went down, a crumbling noise made her look back. A Greymon had crushed the wall. But Agumon was still Agumon. A different Greymon! Jeri was caught between going back to help, or going to get Calumon so they could leave quicker.
"Well, Agumon's full of food. He can digivolve if he needs too. And if worse comes to worse, I can contact Elecmon through my D-Ark." With that, Jeri ran down the stairs. She found a Gazimon pinning Calumon down, the soccer ball forgotten in the corner. "Calumon!" She ran over to the pair, and smacked the Gazimon on the head. "Let go of him!"
She grabbed the Gazimon by the shoulders and swung him to the other side of the room. She huffed and stared at her hands. 'Did I really just do that?' She a look of determination slid onto her face. Calumon jumped up to her shoulder, clinging to her neck. The Gazimon looked up at her in fright. Jeri glowered at her. "Don't you EVER attack Calumon again. He can't defend himself, so if you fight him, your nothing but a coward." Jeri stalked over the cowering Digimon and knelt beside him. "And your lucky you didn't meet my full wrath." she whispered in his ear. She stood, glared at him, and walked up the stairs and back into the arena, clutching Calumon to her chest.
She came up to see two Greymon going head to head. "Elecmon!" she cried, for she could not find the rookie Digimon.
"I'm over here Jeri." Elecmon called from his hiding place off to the right. Jeri rushed over to him.
"Are you ok?" She asked, setting Calumon down and picking Elecmon up and looking him over. An electric charge shot up in the air and Jeri turned her attention to the battle at hand. She heard Tai telling Greymon that he had to digivolve. They were all trapped in a goal net, and from the looks of it, it was very shocking. Jeri ran up to them and tried to find a way to free them.
"One of the humans are in their cage? Gazimon! Come take care of this pesky human." Etemon ordered from the T.V. screen. Jeri turned to the entrance that she had come out of, to see and stumbling Gazimon, who was bent over from being slammed against the wall. "Now Gazimon, get rid of her." Etemon commanded. Gazimon got a look of fear in his eyes when he saw who he was suppose to beat. Jeri glared at him and held up her fist. Gazimon ran for it. Jeri smirked, and turned her attention to the bigger thing--the battle.
"Digivolve Greymon. You've got to!" Tai commanded from his prison. Greymon head butted the other, and fell down. The others started stomping on Greymon. "What's he waiting for? Why won't he digivolve to the next level?" Tai asked angrily. He glared at the two fighters.
"It's not working Tai. The crest isn't reacting at all. Maybe we gave him too much to eat." Izzy countered.
"Maybe he can't digivolve." Matt said to himself.
"Oh course he can. Come on Greymon, you can do it. Believe in your power and you can digivolve." Greymon continued to get the crap beat out of him.
"You can do it Greymon, believe in yourself! I know you can!" Jeri told him, niceness in her voice. Greymon smacked the other with his tail, and got up.
"Way to go Greymon."
"Nova Blast." Greymon's attack failed.
"He ate to much! He can't react fast enough!" Jeri screamed as Greymon got pulled by his tail.
"Get up and fight!" Tai ordered hotly. Jeri looked at him frightened. Greymon got smashed into the wall. Greymon was being held in a headlock, as the other ran with him, letting go at the last second and Tai's Greymon smashed into another wall.
"We really need help. Marching Fishes!" Water shot out of the three mouths of the ugly rock ladies, and fish jumped in the water. They attacked the other Greymon and stopped his attack for a minute. The other Greymon smacked at the fished, but missed. They started to fly away and the other Greymon gave chase. They gave one more attack and disappeared.
"Thank you fish!" Sora called to them. "Now, what are we going to do to get out of here." She asked them. She looked longingly at Jeri, who was the only one of the humans outside the net.
"We can dig a hole and tunnel our way out." Izzy suggested. They all agreed. Jeri, Elecmon, and Calumon worked on the outside, while the others worked from inside. They came up with a problem. A black cable and rock that couldn't be moved. Joe's tag glowed brighter. Jeri came as close to the net as she dared.
"What if this rock, is the crest we've been looking for." Joe stated. Jeri got a look at it. It looked like the symbol that Kazu had on all his shirts.
"The Crest of Reliability." She muttered. It was a cross with four triangles at the concaves. Joe set his tag down on the rock and it glowed even brighter. He was left with a crest inside his tag. The floor underneath the seven caved in. "Guys! Are you ok?" she called to them, expecting them to be in the hole.
"Jeri! Over here." They called from behind her. Jeri gasped and ran over to them.
Greymon was getting pummeled. "Greymon, you could win if you only digivolved." Jeri didn't like where this was going. "GREYMON!" Tai screamed. Tai started to climb over the wall.
"Tai don't." Sora tried to pull him back while Jeri pushed. He wouldn't budge.
"Don't stop me. This is my chance to make him digivolve to the next level. Please mind your own business you two." He told them.
"NO! You'll regret it later if you force him to digivolve." Jeri grunted as she pushed harder.
"I won't." Tai jumped over Jeri and ran to where the battle was.
"Tai! Stop!" Jeri ran after him. The other Greymon shot a Nova Blast at Tai's Greymon.
"Stop!" Tai yelled. The Nova Blast missed and hit the statue above Greymon. "I'm not afraid of a big fake like you. Ok fire breath, come and get me." Tai teased. Jeri grabbed his arm and pulled, trying to get him out of harms way.
"Tai, your acting crazy!" Jeri cried hysterically.
"Go away Jeri!" Tai slapped her arm, keeping his eyes on the advancing Greymon.
"No! Your going to get yourself killed! And Greymon's going to Dark Digivolve! Do you want that? For Greymon to turn evil?" She asked quietly. Tai paid no attention to her words. From behind her, she heard Biyomon and Gabumon digivolve. Garurumon jumped beside them as Jeri continued to pull on Tai's arm. She moved down to the bottom of his shirt. "Tai! Don't be an idiot! Greymon will digivolve when the time comes!"
"The time is NOW!" He roared. He seemed like a monster to Jeri. She let go of him and backed away.
"If you think that, then FINE! See if I care if you lose Agumon! It'll be your own fault and you won't have anyone to blame but yourself! And let me tell you, it hurts to lose your partner. Especially if you know he won't come back!" Jeri's face was covered in tears.
"Greymon! Digivolve!" Tai forced. Jeri sobbed. He wasn't listening to her. He was going to lose his friend, and it hurt her.
"Am I suppose to let him make this mistake?!" she bawled at the sky. Tai's digivice and crest glowed orange. "No." she whimpered. "NO!" Jeri shrieked. The crest had turned black. Calumon screamed in pain. Tai's Greymon glowed orange, then black. When the light cleared, there stood SkullGreymon. Greymon had Dark Digivolved.
"I told you! Look what you did! You did this!" Jeri screamed at Tai. She fell to the ground, and remembered Guilmon's own Dark Digivolution.
Megidramon stood there. Jeri was still shocked from Leomon's death, but cried harder at the evilness of this new Digimon. It stood of Beezlemon. It pinned him to the ground. It drooled acid on the Demon Lord.
Jeri screamed at the memory. She buried her face in her hands and wept. Jeri heard the Digimon fleeing. He's a monster kept running through her mind. She made no attempt to move.
"Jeri! You have to move!" Tai yelled at her.
"Let him squash me." She mumbled. Explosions surrounded her. She felt Tai pulling her arm, but didn't move. Tai left her alone for the moment. He turned to the Dark Mega.
"Listen SkullGreymon. If your really the digivolved form of Greymon, then you can't hurt me." Tai told the bones. Jeri felt the earth shake. SkullGreymon's foot had landed right beside her. Jeri screamed. Tai had ran away, leaving her alone, but ran back and pulled her up. Grabbing her hand, he dragged her over to the others. As they reached them, Tentomon digivolved.
Tentomon digivolve to…Kabuterimon!
Jeri refused to let go of Tai's hand. She had stopped crying, for the shock of almost getting stomped had stopped that. SkullGreymon threw the goal at them. They scattered, Jeri sticking with Tai. Everyone attacked the Mega, but it did no good.
"Do something Takato!" Jeri screamed at Tai. Jeri's hand that wasn't holding Tai's went up to her mouth. She had seen the other goggle boy in Tai, just now. Tai looked at her strange, then looked back at the fleeing SkullGreymon. He was running away! Black smoke came from his feet. They ran to catch up.
"His energy's run out." Jeri whooped. He was dedigivolving! Koromon laid in the sand, damaged and bruised. Tai's hand slipped out of hers and picked up the pink Digimon.
"Are you alright?" Tai asked him.
"Yeah, but. I've done some horrible, terrible things." Koromon whimpered. "I savagely attacked you and my fellow Digimons'.
"It wasn't your fault." Jeri said softly, kneeling down beside the pair. "It was an accident. Like when my little brother wets the bed. You didn't mean to." Jeri amended.
"I'm really sorry I didn't live up to your expectations of me." Koromon cried.
"It's not your fault. I know who's to blame." Matt scorned, running up behind them.
"I know. It's all my fault. I'm really sorry Koromon." He turned to Jeri. "And I'm sorry I didn't listen to you. You were right all along." Jeri nodded, standing up too. He apologized to the rest. They all told him it was all right. They didn't blame him…mostly.
As they got ready for bed, Tai came up to Jeri. "Jeri, what you called me earlier. Who's Takato?" He asked.
Jeri blushed. Well…he's the leader of our group. He wears goggles just like you and had brown hair. The only difference is that he had crimson eyes, and his hair isn't so wild. His own Digimon Dark Digivolved. Right after Leomon died. He was so angry at Beezlemon for hurting me, he forced WarGrowlmon to digivolve to Mega. And it had horrible results. Megidramon was a monster, and would've destroyed the whole Digital World if the others hadn't stopped him. And we were able to digivolve to Ultimate. Well…most of us." Jeri grinned at him, trying to lighten the mood.
"So…its true then. Leomon died." Tai sat down next to her. Jeri nodded. "And you didn't think he would ever come back?" he asked, bewildered.
"We didn't have Primary Village back then. If a Digimon died, they were gone for good." Jeri told him sadly. "And, what happened after that, I'll never forget." Jeri let a tear slip down her cheek. The D-Reaper had taken over her body. She had felt so depressed after Leomon died, she didn't even care. It had promised to end the pain. To make her not feel anything. To make her forget. She had agreed. And it had done none of those things.
Tai nodded, understanding that she didn't want to talk about it. A idea came to him. "So…you think I'm the leader." He grinned, pointing a finger at his face. Jeri smacked him on the head, laughing.
"Why not. You do have the goggles." She grinned.
"All right!" he cheered. Jeri smiled. 'Rika would so kill me for this.' Jeri laughed at the thought.
Well, I hope I didn't confuse anyone with the two Greymons. When I said the other Greymon, I meant the one the Etemon had recruited. And SkullGreymon is a Mega, not an ultimate. Incase anyone was thinking that, I just wanted to clear that up. And no, Tai and Jeri will not be getting together. Jeri will not get with anyone. She is TEN! No pairings for anyone. I will put in little moments that will make you go "AWW!" and "She's totally going to end up with him." I hope that's what your thoughts were when you read the little Tai/Takato/Jeri moment. And…a new goggle head is made. Dun, dun, DUN! Rika will kill Jeri if she ever does find out. I just had to put in the moment when Tai became the official leader, if only the Jeri. Well, I am tired, I have school tomorrow, and I'm going to bed. It is 9:20 p.m. here, and I'm going to bed.
This is Tamara Caitlyn, signing off.