Chapter Ten:

A Tale of Three Knights

"Abre los ojos," the voice said. "Michael… open your eyes."

With a groan, Michael opened his eyes and rolled off his side and onto his back. He winced, blinking away tears as pain shot through his body.

"He's okay!" he heard Betamon cheer.

"Not so loud, please," he groaned as he got to his feet. Ángel, who had knelt next to him, urging him awake, rose with him and steadied him as he stood. "My head is killing me. What happened, Ángel?"

"We crashed, obviously," Jin answered. Michael looked around and found that they now stood inside one of the small, dome-like structures from Sky City. He remembered now, remembered the awful drop and the feeling of plunging uncontrollably downward, the howling wind and cold terror of thinking he was about to die. He did not, however, remember hitting the ground. He supposed he must have passed out on the way down, or maybe the impact had knocked him out. Whatever the case, he had hit his head in the crash and he felt a large lump there now. Jin stood outside the door, which was now on its side. They must have landed at angle.

"We're lucky to be alive," Jin said. "I'm not sure how we survived the fall."

That was a good point; the fall should have killed them from that altitude. Then Michael vaguely recalled how the fall had seemed somewhat jerky. At the time, all that had mattered was that he was falling. Now he had an idea.

"Maybe it was those hover-things on the bottom of the Sky City structures. They might have slowed us down, even if they couldn't hold us up."

"That makes sense," Ángel agreed, offering Jin a smile. "Maybe that means that the girls will be okay too."

Michael stiffened at the sudden remembrance of the other members of their party. Nearly knocking Ángel down, he scrambled to the lopsided door and climbed out. He scanned the area with panicked eyes and saw that they had landed on a mountainside, rock and piles of dirt everywhere, but no sign of whom he was looking for. Desperate for some sign of her well-being, he called out her name: "Mimi! Mimi, where are you?"

There was no response except his own voice echoing back to him.

He grew more fearful at the lack of a reply and shouted again at the top of his lungs. "Mimi! Mimi, if you can hear me, please—"

"Hey, shut up!" Jin growled. "We already - ow! - we tried that and we couldn't find anyone."

"It won't hurt to try again!" Michael shot back.

"First of all, you're going to give me a headache or scream yourself hoarse if you keep that up and, secondly, you don't need to worry about it because we sent Muchomon to get a bird's eye view of the area. He's flying around right now looking for them, so shut up!"

Michael sighed with relief. "Okay, I'll save my breath."

"Lucky us," Jin commented, rolling his eyes. "I should say 'lucky you,' though. You've got a bump on your head and a skinned arm from the crash. I dislocated my shoulder and probably broke my nose. Or didn't you notice?"

Michael hadn't noticed. He looked down and saw that his shirt had been torn and he had a large scrape on his arm. He examined it tenderly, wincing now that he'd realized his injury. He then looked to Jin and instantly felt guilty about his minor scrape. Jin was clutching his shoulder and had placed a Band-Aid on the bridge of his nose, which only covered up the cut and did little for the fractured bone.

"Figures," Jin grunted. "Why should you notice that anyone else was hurt? After all, you were just howling for Mimi a second ago."

"So?"

"So, what about Amanda? You didn't mention her, only Mimi." He grinned bitterly. "Do you even care if Amanda's okay, or is it only the really gorgeous girls you worry about?"

"Hey!" Michael said, flustered, trying not to blush and doing a lousy job of it. "I… I was going to call for her in a minute, but then you stopped me."

"Yeah, right, whatever," Jin sneered. Michael caught him muttering something about "baka amerikajin" and he was positive he heard the equivalent of "melodramatic" mixed in with it.

"If you have something to say, don't bother whispering it, even if it's in Japanese. Why don't you say it to my face?"

"Oh no," Betamon sighed. "Here we go again."

"I say Jin can still beat him, even with only one working arm!" Scarmon exclaimed.

"Could not!"

"Wanna wager your share of dinner tonight?"

"That's enough!" Ángel said sternly, coming upon them all. "We cannot keep fighting if we are going to find the girls. And everyone needs to eat, Scarmon, in case one of you need to digivolve."

Recognizing good sense when they heard it, the group fell silent, although the two pairs continued scowling at each other. In the sudden quiet, they could now hear the flapping of wings. They all looked up and saw Muchomon descending.

"Muchomon!" Ángel said, pleased to see his partner return safely. "Did you find the girls?"

"Sí, but…"

"Are they okay?" Michael asked. Jin pressed forward, in spite of himself, every bit as eager for an answer.

"I don't know," he admitted. "I saw some smoke coming from the other side of the next mountain. Maybe they crashed there."

"Didn't you check to see if it was them?" Ángel asked.

"It was too far and the wind currents were rough that high up. It was too risky to fly there."

"Then we'll have to walk over there and check it out," Jin said. He turned to begin walking, then grasped his shoulder when the movement reminded him of its dislocation. "But first," he added, gritting his teeth, "who wants to pop my shoulder back into place?"

Ángel and Michael exchanged glances.

"Well… I once saw my father's chiropractor do it when he tried to do a movie stunt and made a mistake, so maybe I could give it a try." He cracked his knuckles in preparation. "Lie down, Jin."

Jin did what he was told, eyeing Michael untrustingly as the younger boy took hold of the offending arm in one hand and braced his hand on his shoulder with the other.

"Ready?" Michael asked.

"Ready."

Jin wasn't sure exactly what happened and Ángel turned away as Michael made his attempt. All that was certain was that there was a sickening pop, Jin's eyes went wide and he then screamed loud enough to be heard for miles.


After a brief exchange of words following Michael's unskilled attempt at chiropractics, the six of them began the trek from one mountain to another. Once they reached a high enough vantage point, they all saw the smoke, but it seemed to have weakened, which might mean that the fire that caused it wasn't serious, which was good news if it really did come from the girls' crash site.

In the meantime, they had to make it over there, and that wasn't going to be easy. According to Muchomon, both mountainsides were very steep and climbing down one and then up the other would be next to impossible, given their lack of any climbing equipment and the fact than none of them except Muchomon could fly, and it was too risky to let him go on his own. The only realistic way to make it from one to the other, in fact, was through a narrow canyon that connected the two. It wasn't an easy trip either, but it could be done. They would probably make it there by nightfall if they found some clear paths and kept a steady pace. And no one seemed to want to keep a steady pace more than Michael.

"Come on you guys!" he urged them, charging down the hillside and into the canyon. "We need to keep going if we're going to find them soon!"

"I might be able to brace myself against the cliffside a little better," Jin snarled, "if someone hadn't nearly ripped my arm off because he thought he could yank it back into place. Or maybe if someone wasn't such a wimp and could carry some of the bigger packs instead of sticking me with them—"

"Both of you be quiet," Ángel commanded them, an edge in his voice, his normal calmness noticeably lessened. "Michael, if you keep going that fast, you will be too tired to keep going when we have to go back up the other mountain. You are already sweating, so take a break and have some water before you faint. And Jin, you should be happy that we still have our things. We have all the food we will need for a while, and you should not be mad at Michael just because you can carry more. Okay?"

Jin and Michael growled at each other, then reluctantly agreed to their second truce of the day and continued on their way. Ángel gave an exasperated sigh.

They made their way through the canyon, looking with admiration at the high walls surrounding them on both sides. Large pillars of rock dotted the canyon floor, the layers of ancient rock piled on top of each other in bands of colors. The physical beauty of this place wasn't lost on any of them, but something else did manage to bring them out of their silent awe of it.

"What is that smell?" Scarmon demanded, wrinkling his nose and placing his forefeet over his snout. "Hey, frog-boy, did you let one?"

"No!" Betamon exclaimed, offended by accusation. "Maybe it was your partner!"

"Not me," Jin said. Then he caught the scent as well. He became tense and alert at it, looking around cautiously. "Hold on, I recognize that smell. That's sulfur."

Now the others who had avoided the scent joined him in sniffing the air.

"It smells like rotten eggs," Ángel said, making a face.

"I remember that smell when my father and I went on a hike through the volcanic regions of Costa Rica," Michael remarked.

"We don't need your life story, preppy. Just look for where it's coming from. If it's from a geyser, then we need to watch out. Once I almost got boiled alive by one of those things in the badlands of File Island and I don't want to risk it again."

"We don't need your life story-"

"Drop it," Ángel interjected irratably.

"Wait a minute," Scarmon said, his voice intense. "There's someone else here. I can hear him. He's watching us, and I just heard him laugh."

Now very uneasy, the six of them scanned the area and finally found the unseen observer. The other five nearly jumped out of their skin when Muchomon shouted, "Alla! There he is! Up there!"

They cast their eyes upwards and at first, saw nothing. There was only a large pile of rocks at the top of one of the canyon walls, the form silhouetted against the bright midday sun. However, when they stared at it longer, they saw two yellow eyes staring back at them. Once they all noticed it, the form ceased to pretend that it was a mere rock pile. It stood, casting a huge shadow that enveloped them all. It gave a simple hop forward and came down into the canyon with them, the ground shaking as his tremendous form smashed into the ground like a meteor.

"You little worms are nothing!" it laughed, its voice like a cannon. "I could have come down and finished you all off while you were still looking for me! You weaklings can't be the Digidestined! I wanted a good fight, but it looks like killing you will be easier than I thought! Now, prepare yourselves for humiliation, because I'm bringin' the pain, and there's plenty to spare!"

They all looked to each other. No one looked particularly terrified. The creature's booming voice had an ingratiating harshness to it, but he sounded like a professional wrestler wannabe.

Still, they knew that this was someone to take seriously. Even if he was a loud-mouthed bragart, he had the appearance of a one-man army. He was gigantic, at least 40 feet tall, almost as tall as the walls of the canyon themselves. On his legs he wore what looked like army fatigues and combat boots that seemed to barely contain his gargantuan muscles. His upper body was bulky and muscular and covered with strong metal plating. He had fingers that were each almost the size of the Digidestined themselves. His lower jaw was also plated and had huge iron studs protruding from it. He had yellow teeth and glowing eyes to match as they stared out from his dark face. A dark blue wrap worn around his head was inscribed with the letter V. Most noticeable about him was the gigantic structure protruding from his back. With its conical shape and smoking top, it was unmistakable: it was a volcano.

The stench of sulfur was overpowering.

"Who are you?" Betamon asked. "And have you heard of deodorant?"

"You miserable little toad!" he roared in reply. "I am Volcanomon! I am the mightiest of the Eight Gods and I will reduce you to ash! I will kill you and all your friends for your insult! I will crush the breath from your lungs and hurt you so badly you'll be reborn dizzy in Primary Village!"

"Well, if he's one of the Eight Gods," Scarmon said, unperturbed by this little speech, "then let's just digivolve as high as we can and finish him like we did his buddies!"

Volcanomon folded his arms, unconcerned as they all digivolved. He supposed he could have tried to stop them, but he was confident that there was no way they could beat him. Only two others had ever beaten him in a fight and there was no chance that they were that strong.

Quemamon assumed a fighting stance. "You guys had better keep your distance," he told the three children behind him. "There isn't a lot of room in this canyon, so try not to get in our way."

"We'll handle this and then we can get moving," Seadramon agreed.

"You think you can beat me?" Volcanomon cried in disbelief. "I can take anything you've got!"

Quemamon stepped forward. "Then take this! Scorched Earth!"

The wall of fire hit Volcanomon full force. His plating protected him from most of the blast, but the gaps in his armor left him somewhat vulnerable and the hot plasma burned him underneath it. He let out a roar of pain and surprise.

"Couldn't handle it?" Quemamon asked. "If you give up and give us some useful information, maybe we won't have to finish you off."

"I'll rip you apart!" he bellowed, ignoring this offer. "Big Bang Voice!"

At the shout of his attack, the volcano on his back rumbled and blasted a gigantic cloud of lava, hot ash and rock into the air. Quemamon tried to dodge it, but had no way to avoid the veritable rain of fire that came down. He simply knelt and covered his face to the best of his ability, the burning hot lava scalding his exposed back. Seadramon wasn't so lucky. He simply lacked the speed to react and the lava seared and burned away at his vulnerable serpentine body. Even as Seadramon writhed in pain, screaming as he tried to shake the molten rock off of him, Michael ran forward in a fit of panic to aid his injured partner. It took Ángel and Jin together to restrain him until he calmed down.

"You sorry excuse for a digimon! I'll teach you to insult the ultimate Ultimate!" Volcanomon seized Seadramon's tail and began to lash him like a whip on the ground pitilessly. Again and again he raised him and whipped him headfirst into the canyon floor. Then, as if bored with hurting him that way, he grabbed him by the throat and squeezed him in his oversized fist. "How long do you think I'll have to strangle you until your head pops off? Let's find out!" Volcanomon guffawed.

Quemamon wasn't about to stand by, however. As soon as he mustered the energy to ignore his own injuries, he ran at Volcanomon and leapt into the air, trying to land a flying kick to his back. He landed the kick, but it did little to faze the giant. Quemamon felt like he'd just kicked an unmovable wall and fell lamely to the ground.

"You can't hurt me like that! I'm unstoppable!" Volcanomon laughed. He threw Seadramon savagely to the ground and picked up Quemamon in his place, throwing him against the opposite wall of the canyon. Then he charged forward, clotheslining him with an outstretched arm, bringing him down again. He cracked his massive knuckles as, head lolling, Quemamon wearily got to his feet. However, he was too stunned to react to his approaching foe. Volcanomon simply punched him twice in the face and once in the stomach, making him double over in pain. "You're worthless!" Volcanomon spat. "Big Bang Tackle!"

At that, Volcanomon shot forward like a bullet, the speed amazing for such a large creature. He slammed into Quemamon like a freight train, driving him deep into the rock, sending debris everywhere. When Volcanomon stepped back, Scarmon and Muchomon tumbled out onto the ground, both barely conscious, barely breathing.

Volcanomon wasn't finished yet, however. He then took up the two Rookies and held them in one hand like they were toys. "Like I said, worthless. I've seen tissue paper tougher than you!"

"Ice Blast!" Seadramon attacked, summoning the last of his strength. The blast coated his back with ice. Volcanomon didn't even flinch. The volcano on his back rumbled and the ice melted away as smoke billowed out from it. Seadramon realized his mistake immediately. He could feel the heat emanating from the volcano from where he stood.

Volcanomon said nothing this time. He raised one foot high over Seadramon and simply stomped on his head, grinding it into the ground. He lifted it as Seadramon de-digivolved and picked up his third and final victim.

"Don't hurt them!" Michael cried, rushing forward, breaking free of the grasps of the other two. Jin hesitated only a moment, then followed suit and ran for Volcanomon, not caring about the danger, only that his friend was in danger. Ángel was hot on his heels.

"I could grind insects like you into dust," Volcanomon addressed his captives with a laugh. "But instead, I'll send you back to your babysitters." With that, he threw the three digimon at the approaching children, knocking them all backwards from the force of the throw. Volcanomon laughed harder, the contempt in his voice at its peak. "What sort of sorry excuses for heroes are you supposed to be? I'm sorry I've left you alive!" He thought that over a moment. "Well, I might as well take care of that now."

He took one menacing step forward, when he heard the sound of rocks cracking and grinding against each other. He looked confusedly at the spot of impact in the canyon wall where he'd landed his Big Bang Tackle. To his surprise, the wall suddenly gave away and fell outward in an avalanche. He jumped back, out of the way as the avalanche kicked up a large cloud of dust, blocking his view of his victims. Coughing and sputtering, he waited for it to clear.

"Now is our chance!" Ángel cried. "Run for it!"

The other two followed his lead and gathered up their partners and ran back the way they came. Even though they knew they were safe, all of them shivered when they heard Volcanomon's enraged shouting from behind them, swearing that next time he would show no mercy.


Back on the mountainside, the three of them all collapsed and caught their breath when they were sure they were safe. Once they'd had a moment to recover, however, things quickly turned ugly.

"Well that was just fantastic!" Jin yelled. "We're lucky he didn't just toast us on the spot!" He glared at Michael, who was still catching his breath. "And we could have beat him if it wasn't for your digimon!" he added, pointing a finger at Betamon.

"Hey!" Betamon exclaimed.

"Leave Betamon alone!" Michael said. "I didn't see Quemamon doing any better! And I didn't hear any brilliant ideas coming from you either!"

"Well, maybe if we had more to work with I could have thought of something. Quemamon's a DNA-digivolved Ultimate, so he's as tough as he'll get. Seadramon's just a Champion! Maybe if you toughened up, you'd have figured out how you two can get stronger and start pulling your weight around here, you rich, whiny wuss!"

"I'm getting really tired of listening to your insults, Jin!" Michael straightened himself and walked up to Jin, staring fiercely back at him.

"Stop being a weakling and maybe I'll ease up on you!"

At this, Ángel walked forward. His face was like stone, but his hands were shaking. "Perdóname," he said.

"Yes?" Michael hissed, glaring at Ángel as well.

Before Michael realized what was happening, he found Ángel's fist planted right in his stomach, the force of the punch knocking the air out of him.

Jin laughed. "I guess we know whose side Ángel's on, right Ánge—oof!"

To both their astonishments, Ángel had simply brought his elbow back and jammed it into Jin's abdomen as well. Jin took the hit better than Michael, but even he was clearly in pain and both looked at Ángel with a mixture of confusion and anger. They both wanted an explanation or they might turn on him next. To their surprise, the tranquility they usually saw in his face was absent. In its place was a twisted mask of rage so different from the face they knew that he seemed like a complete stranger to them.

"I cannot watch this any more!" he screamed angrily. "I have seen you two fighting since I met you and I thought that when Jin and I helped Scarmon and Muchomon DNA-digivolve that I'd convinced him not to fight." He looked at Jin. "But you are still fighting with Michael."

"So why," Michael groaned, "did you hit me?"

"Because he wouldn't fight you if you didn't pick a lot of the fights!" Ángel shouted, losing his temper. "You insult him even when he's trying to be nice! I had to break up two fights between you earlier and now you almost fought again! You two are on the same team, but you fight so much that even your digimon fight with each other! And now you've gone too far… you are both blaming each other's digimon when they are trying their best to protect us! We won't beat Volcanomon if we're fighting each other, and if we cannot beat him, we will never defeat our Enemy!"

He took a deep breath, now mad at himself for losing his temper, tears coming to his eyes. "I hate this! I hate fighting!" he said, mostly to himself as he walked a short distance from them. He heaved a deep sigh. "Why is it so hard for you to get along? I don't understand…" He hung his head and rubbed it as if he was suffering a horrible headache. "People can be so awful… I don't think I can take this…"

Jin stood straight and folded his arms, looking away. He rolled his eyes and looked to be bracing himself for something embarrassing. When he finally spoke, he said, "Sorry Betamon. Sorry Mike."

Michael nodded. "Yeah." He swallowed. "I'm sorry too. Muchomon, Scarmon," he braced himself, "Jin."

Their apologies finished, both looked calmer, although neither one's pride would let them look the other in the eyes.

"Well, I… I'm sorry I lost my temper," Ángel said. "And I am sorry I hit you. It is just that… well…"

"Not important now," Jin said, eager to move on to less emotional matters. "Right now, let's think about a way to defeat the jerk with the flaming 'backne,' okay? He's guarding the only realistic way to get to the other mountain without wasting three days, so we have to defeat him."

"Sounds good," Scarmon said, supporting his partner. "But how do we beat him? He's a lot tougher than any of us together and even when we digivolved Muchomon and I couldn't hurt him."

"I don't know," Jin admitted. "SuperStarmon was tough, but Amanda figured out a way to beat him." He scratched his head, thinking to himself that he never would have thought the odd little pervert girl capable of a good battle strategy.

"Well Amanda isn't here," Michael said, "so we'll have to come up with something by ourselves. It can't be too hard to outsmart Volcanomon. Just listening to him, he sounds like a thug: all brawn and no brains." He mentally checked himself from adding a comment about Jin. "If we can figure out a way to trick him somehow, we can win!"

"Well, how can we beat him even if we're not as strong as he is?" Betamon asked. "I mean, I'm glad Jin apologized, but he's right about me only being a Champion. That's as far as I can digivolve and I don't think I can hurt him much that way."

"We'll think of something," Michael said, offering his partner an encouraging smile. "Maybe if we had some kind of attack or weapon that could get around his armor."

Jin had a look as if he'd just had an idea. "You know, I've been to areas like this before… maybe, if I can find the right ingredients, I could make a decent weapon."

"But would it be powerful enough to stop Volcanomon?" Muchomon asked. "I am still hurting from when Scarmon and I fought as Quemamon."

"It would probably be able to blow a crater 10 feet across in the rock of this mountain. It would need to be ignited and it wouldn't damage his armor, but it might stun him, unless we could find a weak spot on him."

Michael asked him a few more questions about this weapon and then a plan began to form.

"Okay, I think I've got it," he said. "He's very tall, so those long legs make him fast, but I've seen Venomon move faster. And he uses fire attacks, which FlareLizamon could withstand better than anyone here. And he's not very smart, so Seadramon might be able to outmaneuver him."

"What about a DNA-digivolve?" Scarmon asked.

"This is the risky part," Michael said. "This time, we have to beat a powerful Ultimate with all of you at only the Champion level."

They listened to him as a plan formed, a strategy that would hopefully turn things back in their favor.


That night, Michael found himself gazing up at the stars. Here in the Digital World, there were few cities and therefore no city lights to obscure the view. The number of stars in the sky was awe-inspiring. He normally enjoyed looking at them, thinking things over, or just relaxing before he went to sleep. Now, however, he was preoccupied. The confrontation with Volcanomon had slowed them down and it wouldn't be until tomorrow that they made it to their destination… if his plan worked.

Many things troubled him. He still felt guilty after Ángel's outburst earlier that day. It was true, he was partially responsible for the fighting that had gone on and he had said things he didn't mean and regretted now. But the guilt he felt was nothing compared to his worries about Mimi.

With each moment, he considered a new scenario. He wanted to stop thinking about it and relax long enough to enjoy the stars as best he could and maybe get some sleep, but still the idea of Mimi being lost and maybe injured weighed heavily on him. Of course he was worried about Amanda too, no matter what Jin had said, but he had to admit that he was much more worried about Mimi. He pictured Mimi cornered, terrified and staring death in the face as a fiend like Volcanomon closed in on her. Or maybe she was tossing and turning in her sleep, her stomach rumbling because she hadn't been able to find food and because the rations were all in the hands of his group. Or… or maybe she was already dead, the injuries from the crash too bad to survive, and Amanda had been forced to bury her in this lonely place, none of her friends nearby and he never had the chance to say goodbye and he had never let her know how much she meant to him—

"Stop…" he whispered to his persistent mind.

"Is something bothering you?" Ángel asked, coming up behind him. The two of them sat near a campfire. There was an empty can of beans they'd cracked open with a rock (as the girls had the packs with the can opener) lying close by. The three digimon were asleep. They'd all spent most of the day hunting for the ingredients to Jin's weapon, helping him mix ingredients and put it together, and now Jin was out alone looking for the last one. No one was particularly worried about him being alone. The only thing they supposed he had to fear was Volcanomon, who would be easy to detect with his signature stench and the fact that it would be easy to hear something so large coming a mile away. Volcanomon would simply wait for them in the canyon, since they had no other choice but to fight him. In any case, only Michael and Ángel were awake around the campfire, which was now dying away to its last smoldering embers, letting a chill set on the group.

"I'm just thinking," Michael replied.

"You are thinking about the girls," Ángel said.

Michael nodded.

"I'm worried too. I hope we find them tomorrow." Then brightening a bit, he said, "I think things are better for us now, though."

"Why do you say that?" Michael asked.

Ángel pointed in the direction of the sleeping digimon. Michael stifled a chuckle as he saw that Scarmon and Betamon had snuggled up next to one another, along with Muchomon to keep warm.

"They don't let things bother them like we humans do," Ángel said. "That is a good way to be."

Michael nodded absently, looking back to the stars.

"You're thinking about Mimi."

Michael gasped and nearly went into a coughing fit at that. "No!" he said. "I mean I was, but… I…." He looked at Ángel, who was looking at him knowingly. He knew then that there was no point in denying it. "All right, I was."

"I know."

"Are you always this nosy?" Michael snapped.

"What?" Ángel asked, puzzled by Michael's reaction.

"I don't like the idea that... well, there's no other way to say it: you can read my thoughts." He glared at him. "They're private and I know you can read them, even though you avoid talking about it. I don't need you to tell me what I'm thinking about."

"I'm sorry," he apologized, "I was only—"

"Can you read my thoughts now?" Michael asked, raising an eyebrow.

Ángel gulped. "I am glad you don't swear like that out loud."

"I will do more than swear if you read my mind without my permission again," Michael told him.

"I'm sorry," Ángel said again. "I know I have a problem with minding my own business, but I am only trying to help. To tell the truth, I can't always control it very well. I'm trying my best to keep it in touch, but I don't want to just sit and do nothing when I think I can help."

Michael softened a bit. "Well, thank you, but I don't see how knowing that I was thinking of Mimi would help me."

"Well, I wanted to make sure that now was a good time to talk to you about it," Ángel said. "You think about Mimi a lot."

Michael turned bright red. "How… uh, how much of my thoughts did you read?"

Ángel laughed. "I don't need to read your mind to know that you care very much for her. I see the way you look at her and I noticed how you get angry with Jin or make fun of him when he is spending time with her. You're not very happy, Michael. I see that you are sad, and angry, and you get jealous easily."

"I do not!" Michael protested.

Ángel looked at him knowingly again. "You are also a bad liar. That's why Jin, Amanda, and I already know that you have these feelings for Mimi."

Michael swallowed hard. "All of them know?" he asked quietly.

"Yes. But Mimi doesn't."

Michael looked relieved, then moved in close to ask him a question. "If you know so much, how does she feel about me?"

Ángel looked uncomfortable with the question. "I didn't read her mind about you, and I couldn't share that even if I found out accidentally. It would not be right. But... I think you can figure out how she feels just the way I did: by watching her."

Michael sank. He knew what that meant. Mimi never treated him like anything more than a friend. She liked him, of course, but as a friend, and not the same way Michael felt about her.

"Mimi is a very special person," Ángel said. "I can see why you feel the way you do. But that isn't what I wanted to talk to you about."

"Then, what did you want?"

"I want you to stop being jealous of Jin," Ángel said. "Maybe you two won't ever be good friends, but there is no reason for you to treat Jin the way you do."

Michael made a face. "He starts it," he said simply.

"Sometimes he does," Ángel granted him, "but sometimes it is you. Why do you hate him so much?"

"Because he's a big, dumb oaf, he thinks he's so smart just because he knows how to survive in the Digital World, oh, and then there's the fact that he once tried to kill me. And does Mimi care about any of that? Oh no, she thinks he's great! In fact—" He stopped himself, realizing what he'd just said.

"I think you have only one reason for not liking Jin," Ángel said with a smirk. "You want Mimi to admire you the way she admires Jin. Those two, they are very close, because they are both Japanese, both have survived a while in the Digital World, and they have each saved each other before. Making fun of him doesn't make you look better. Even if it does work, and she likes Jin less than you, she would be settling for you if she chose you for her boyfriend." He leaned in closely. "And Mimi is very nice and very pretty, so she will not settle for anyone."

Michael hung his head. "I guess you're right," he said. "But I don't understand why she gets along with Jin. He's not like her or me. He's a… a…"

"A poor little punk from the street?" Ángel asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Exactly!" Michael agreed, then clapped his hand over his mouth. He remembered Ángel's village, how poor the people had been. "No, I... I'm sorry, I didn't mean that. I didn't mean to sound so shallow."

"I know. But you do act that way sometimes," Ángel said. "Still, I accept your apology. You know, when I was a little boy, I would see the children of rich families in town. Many were American tourists, but some were méxicanos, and they would see me dirty from working in the fields and they would laugh or look away and pretend not to see me. I would ask an adult a question about the weather or if something was going on in town that day, and the rich ones would always stop me and say, 'Go away, I don't have anything for you!' They treated me like a beggar, even though my family and I work hard for what we earn. I used to hate the rich people, but then I realized that not all rich people were bad and some of the ones that thought I was a beggar wanted to give me money, to help me. I realized that it was unfair to judge the rich just like it was wrong for them to judge the poor. So we all judge people wrongly sometimes. But it is important to try to make things right. That is why, even though I know that you have money and go to a nice school in New York, I do not hate you. You are a nice person."

Michael smiled.

"But you still treat Jin like a criminal. You think of Jin as an enemy and you focus on what is different about you. You only see that Jin is from the streets and knows about the wilderness and physical things, while you have a mansion and know about society and the arts. You pretend like these things matter, but if you cannot see past this lie," Ángel said, his face grave, "then you may not be able to see past the lies of the Ancient Enemy."

Michael took a deep breath. "Okay," he acknowledged. "I'm sorry. I'll try not to be too judgmental of Jin anymore."

"Oh, and don't wait too long to tell Mimi how you feel," Ángel said, giving a sly grin, "or I will ask her out first!"

Michael laughed, relaxing a little more. The two of them sat together until they heard approaching footsteps and saw Jin coming upon the campsite.

"Ángel," Jin called, "come here. I need to talk to you in private."

Ángel nodded and left Michael alone to speak with Jin. "What is it, Jin?" he asked, once out of earshot from Michael.

"What were you two talking about?" Jin asked.

"I was just giving Michael some advice," Ángel told him.

Jin shook his head. "You do that a lot," he said, sounding annoyed.

"I… I guess I do," Ángel admitted. "But I just want to help."

"Look," Jin sighed, "I appreciate the help you gave me and you probably told Michael something he needed to hear, but you've got to stop doing things like this."

"What things?"

"Things like earlier today," Jin said. "Stepping in between Michael and I. Punching the two of us and getting mixed up in something that wasn't your business."

"But—"

"I know, I know, you just want to help, right? Well, take it from someone who's seen some really bad fights at the juvenile hall: the worst fights break out when someone sticks their neck out at the wrong time."

"What did I do wrong?" Ángel asked.

Jin smiled. Ángel sensed Jin's peculiar mood, but realized too late what he was planning. He braced himself as well as he could, but was still knocked back as Jin's fist slammed into his stomach like a battering ram. Crumpling to his knees, he held himself and gasped for air.

"What you did wrong was take up a fight that wasn't yours," Jin answered, "and treat it like it was your mission to help us poor misguided folks become all nice and pure. You already talked to me and you probably said something to Michael about it too. But instead of letting us work things out for ourselves, you got in the middle of it. Now, you're pretty strong, but I'm still a lot stronger than you. I'll bet I hit you about as hard as you hit me earlier, and I could have hit you much, much harder if I wanted to. Maybe you needed to get involved today, but maybe not. My point is that you shouldn't make the rest of the team's problems into your problems. Because if you're busy protecting us, you won't be looking out for yourself. And one of these days you might get caught in the crossfire with someone much stronger than you can handle. Got it?"

Ángel nodded. Jin offered his hand and helped him up.

"I promised your Mom I'd look out for you," Jin told him, giving him reconciliatory handshake. "Just do me a favor and don't get yourself killed by pleading to one of the Eight Gods to give peace a chance."

Ángel nodded. "I understand," he said.

"Good. Now let's talk with Michael and the digimon. We need to make sure we have our parts in Michael's plan right if we're going to take out Volcanomon tomorrow."


Emerging from the darkness, Michael found himself in a clearing in the middle of the forest. He saw Amanda kneeling in a pale beam of moonlight and went to her. "Amanda!" he said. "Thank goodness you're all right."

She turned to look up at him, her eyes taking on a strange quality that was both unfocused and piercing. "It's too late," she said, her voice grating and ethereal.

Michael looked down to see what she was kneeling next to. It was Mimi. She was staring up at the sky, her skin pale, and he saw that she was wounded, as a pool of blood was gathering around her, slowly soaking into the earth.

"Mimi!" he cried. "Oh my god, Mimi, what happened?"

Her voice was barely a whisper as she slowly turned her head. Her breathing was ragged and wheezing as she reached for his hand. "I... was waiting for you..."

He watched in disbelief as her hand dropped lifelessly to the ground and her eyes shut for the final time, and he knew instinctively that she was gone.

"No..." he breathed, his eyes filling with tears. "No, no, no, oh god, oh please..." he grasped her hand desperately as he sobbed uncontrollably.

"Hey!" a voice called. "Hey, wake up!"

He opened his eyes and saw the starry sky, the image swimming and distorted. He realized his eyes were filled with tears and he wiped them away. It was only a dream. He turned to face whoever had awakened him and was surprised to see that it was Jin.

"You were calling Mimi's name in your sleep and, uh... the crying was getting on my nerves."

Michael took a deep breath. "I... I'm sorry, it was a nightmare. I just... thanks for bringing me out of it."

"Pretty bad, eh?"

Michael didn't reply, but hugged his knees to his chest. He was breathing hard, trying to shake the awful feeling that lingered.

Jin grumbled something.

"What's that?" Michael asked.

"I, uh, I said I couldn't sleep either."

Michael didn't reply at first. "What about Ángel?"

"Heh. The guy's fast asleep. Good thing too, I don't think I'd ever hear the end of whatever touchy-feely speech he'd want to give us for... well, bottom line is, yeah, I'm worried too. But we need to get back to bed so we can be alert to try out this plan of yours."

"I'll sleep in a little while," he replied.

Jin sighed and, rolling his eyes gave him a quick pat on the back. "It'll be fine," he said. "Mimi's tougher than she looks and the brat's smart. We just need to find them."

Michael smiled. "You're right. All right, I'll try to sleep."

Jin grunted something that might have been "Good," or "Good night." Either way, Michael curled back up in his sleeping bag and nodded off before too long.

Neither he nor Jin heard Ángel when he stirred and awoke, rubbing his face. "Amanda... sé segura."


Volcanomon tapped his foot impatiently. The sound of it echoed off the walls of the canyon, which only served to infuriate him further.

"Where are they?" he roared at last. He had been waiting for those Digidestined wimps to show up, but there had been no sign of them. He wondered if they had been so cowardly that they would have rather faced climbing down the steep mountainside than chance another battle with him. The thought of them chickening out before him made him feel better, but the thought of missing his chance to eliminate them brought back the anger.

And the fear, of course. The boss had told them to eliminate the Digidestined and not let them escape. He had no chance of chasing them; he was just too big and unwieldy to scale the mountains after them and hope to catch them. Fortunately, he was blocking their escape route, which meant that they had to show up sooner or later. Preferably, it would be sooner. Not only because he wanted another good fight, but because the boss had said to act quickly, and he didn't want to find out what punishment a delay would bring.

Then, even as he was focusing on what he'd do when they showed up, they were there.

Actually, it was just one of them. Venomon stood before him. The large reptilian creature was so stealthy that Volcanomon hadn't even noticed him until now.

"Back for more?" Volcanomon snickered. "Where are all your friends?"

"They sent me to see if you were still here," Venomon replied coolly. "We could all smell you, but I wanted to make sure it was you and not a raw sewage plant!"

Volcanomon clenched his fists, smoke rising from the crater of the volcano on his back. "You… you…" he stammered.

"Yyyyeeeeessss?" Venomon pressed, baring his teeth in a taunting smile.

"You die!" Volcanomon bellowed, charging for him. Venomon had anticipated this, however, and easily dashed away, Volcanomon in hot pursuit.

Well, I got him to chase me, Venomon thought. I hope the others are ready for the rest of the plan.


Ángel stood on top of an outcropping at the side of the canyon. He could see a cloud of dust being kicked up in the distance and knew it had to be Venomon and Volcanomon running along the canyon floor. He gave a nod to Jin, who was a little farther up the path through the canyon, who in turn nodded to Michael.

"Are you ready, Seadramon?" he asked his partner.

Seadramon was hidden behind a large pillar of rock jutting high out of the ground. Across from him was another pillar near the opposite wall. He hoped he was hidden well enough. A lot of the plan hinged on him being able to surprise Volcanomon.

"If this signal thing works, then I'll be ready!" he replied.

The three of them prepared, all that remained was for them to wait for Venomon.

Venomon was moving as fast as he could, keeping him just ahead of Volcanomon, whose long legs did indeed help him run very fast. If Venomon ran out of steam or tripped, Volcanomon would have him. He was barely able to keep ahead of him as it was, but he just needed to get past those pillars.

"You can't get away, you shrimp!" Volcanomon shouted.

When Venomon cleared the pillars, Ángel gave the signal, a wave of his hand, which was relayed to Jin, which then went to Michael, and finally to Seadramon. The slender digimon nimbly wrapped his tail around one pillar, anchoring himself, then darted the length to the other pillar and wrapped his neck around it.

Volcanomon did see this move, but not in time. He had no way to stop with his forward momentum and no time to jump. He caught his foot on Seadramon's extended body like a taut wire and tripped, falling like a felled tree onto his face.

"You'll pay for that!" Volcanomon snarled, raising his head, preparing to stand.

He looked up to see Venomon standing just ahead of him.

"Lights out, Old Smokey," Venomon chuckled. "Venom Spit!" he attacked, spitting a glob of the caustic green venom into his eyes.

Volcanomon let out a howl of agony, blinded by the attack and flailing about wildly, smashing rock and missing his opponents. "I'LL KILL YOU!" he screamed, clawing at his eyes.

FlareLizamon, who'd stood on top of the canyon wall, held something in his hand. The outer shell was that of a large nut native to the Digital World the size of a coconut, but it had been hollowed out. Inside were ingredients from a variety of plants and minerals combined into a highly potent explosive, sealed with a gooey substance that would melt away in heat. FlareLizamon had been careful not to let his flaming body heat up the object before it was time. This homemade bomb of Jin's was their secret weapon and FlareLizamon had to make sure that he got it to the exact right spot. It had taken almost an entire day to make it, and they only had one. Seeing Volcanomon almost totally helpless, he decided it was now or never and leapt off the canyon wall.

He landed on Volcanomon's back taking hold of the miniature volcano to steady himself. Volcanomon gave a shout of protest, but couldn't reach his attacker with his bulky arms. FlareLizamon reeled back, the bomb in hand, and plunged his arm down into the crater on Volcanomon's back, his own flames shielding him from the burning hot lava, letting go of the bomb and letting it sink into the magma deep inside his body. Knowing there were only a few seconds before the magma burned through and ignited the explosives, he leapt off Volcanomon's back and hoped that Jin knew what he was doing.

Volcanomon, meanwhile, managed to clear the venom from his eyes. He squinted and blinked away tears, seeing the vague forms of his foes before him. "Now, I've got you!" he laughed. "I'll teach you to pull a cheap trick like that!"

"That bomb should have gone off by now," Jin murmured.

"You think it was a dud?" Michael asked fearfully, seeing the murderous glint in Volcanomon's eyes.

"This time, I won't let you off so easy," Volcanomon said. "Big Bang—"

The attack was cut off, however, as the conical volcano on his back exploded, a deafening shockwave radiating out and echoing through the narrow canyon. The explosion sent bits of rock, lava, and metal plates from Volcanomon's back flying in a gigantic cloud. A massive plume of black smoke began to rise from what was left of his back.

Volcanomon himself was still standing, although his knees were shaking and he had a look of absolute horror on his face, the sweat pouring off him as his body coped with the shock of having a bomb exploding within him, tearing through his insides. With astonished eyes, his jaw dropped open, letting out a whiff of black smoke to match the one coming from his back. Staring through the blinding pain, he spoke his last words, softly, almost a whisper:

"Ow."

That said, he closed his eyes and tipped backwards, shattering into data before he even hit the ground.

The six of them all gave a triumphant cheer as the three Champions reverted to their Rookie forms, running over to accept congratulations from their partners.

"Great job, Betamon!" Michael congratulated him.

"It's a good thing he wasn't going any faster; I almost snapped like a rubber band!" Betamon said, breathing a sigh of relief.

"I'm very proud of you, Muchomon," Ángel said. "You were very brave."

"I'm just glad you taught me how to play basketball back home!" Muchomon said. "I got that grenade right in there."

"Yeah, that worked great!" Scarmon laughed. "That guy went up like Mount Saint Harvey!"

"Helens," Jin laughed. "And thanks for acting as bait," he added.

"Yeah, you two were great," Michael told the pair.

Jin and Scarmon stared at him. Jin's look of confusion gave way to one of satisfaction.

"Well, it was part of your plan." He wasn't sure what was more odd: that the two of them were complimenting each other, or that they were doing it willingly.

"Hey, we can't keep standing around like this," Betamon spoke up.

"He's right, we have to try and find the girls," Michael said, leading the rest of them. "We can give the digimon a break and carry them the rest of the way, but we can't waste any more time!"

When we find Mimi, I can't wait to tell her this story, Michael thought. All this time, I've been trying to be a knight in shining armor for her, but really I've just been posturing. This time, with the others, I really feel like one, taking down a monster like that. Just wait, Mimi, Amanda, we'll be there soon!


The three of them stared at the contraption. It was a familiar scene. The little section of Sky City had crash-landed here as well, leaving some wreckage, although it had ceased to give off smoke by now. There was only one problem.

"Where are they?" Betamon asked.

"Looks like they're gone," Jin said, frowning. "I think I can make out some footprints here, though. Maybe we can track them."

Scarmon sniffed the ground, and then sniffed the air. "I think I've got something," he said, sniffing the air again. "I think it's—"

"Mimi's perfume," Jin and Michael said in unison. Only Ángel seemed to notice, but he decided not to dwell on it; there were more important things to do.

They were about to start following the trail when Jin stopped them.

"Hey, before we go, are all you digimon feeling okay? Do you have enough energy to keep going… maybe even fight again?"

"Why do you ask?" Betamon asked.

"Because," Jin explained, "if the girls and their digimon went off alone, there should be four prints here." He looked up uneasily. "I'm counting five."

To be continued…

(Next time: the boys have had their story, but what about the girls? Mimi and Amanda's tale is up next!)

(P.S. Testosterone! Male bonding! Explosions! Are you not entertained? Well, then, a review would be nice. ^^)