Author's Notes: Quite a few people got the answer to the second question which was "rat". Pre-Juggernaut has the second vote to tie for first place with Post-Juggernaut. Remember to include your vote along with your answer or I won't count it at all and go to the next review!!! Next question is at the end of this chapter!!
Disclaimers: Digimon belongs to Fox, Saban and whoever else owns it. Star Trek belongs to Paramount. Don't sue!!!
Beyond The Other Side - V 2.3
"Guys, I saw something really strange. Just before Kyubimon destroyed Shimaunimon, I saw a small bit underneath its skin. It looked black and shiny, kind of like a small bit of a control spire. When we came to the digital world today, there was a control spire just hanging around the top of that mountain. Now it's gone!" The other Digidestined kids turned to look where Cody was pointing at. The tamers had just finished their discussion and joined them from behind. "What are you looking at?" asked Takato.
TK raised an eyebrow. "Henry, you said that only Ken could create control spire Digimon. But Cody just got attacked by one only a few moments ago. How is this possible?" The other boy crossed his arms. "I only said that it was a distinct possibility that Ken was using the control spires in another manner however that hypothesis seems to be incorrect."
"So what do we do now?" asked Yolei. Before anyone could answer, Davis came up with a suggestion. "We should try and find who's transforming control spires into Digimon. But if we do that, whoever it is may create more Digimon out of control spires and totally wreck the digital world. The best thing to do is to knock as many control spires down!!"
"Unbelievable. Davis actually made a logical suggestion," said Rika as she gave a mock gasp of surprise. Davis ignored that comment. "Well, we would have to start tomorrow after school. I gotta go help out at the convenience store," said Yolei. "I have kendo lessons with my grandfather," added Cody. "Alright!! I get the picture!! We'll start tomorrow." Davis pointed his D3 at the TV. "Digiport open!!"
A few moments later after the Digidestined had left with the tamers, Ken found the TV by which they left. "Damn!! I must have missed them!" Wormmon looked around the area. "The Primary Village must be having a renovation. There's tools everywhere!!" A look of regret came across the boy's face. "They're having the renovation because of me...we should help do some repairs while we're here."
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Arukenimon watched the television which had recorded the conservation between the Digidestined and the tamers. Mummymon felt himself go pale at the thought of what Davis had suggested. "They're going to destroy all of the control spires!! Our power comes from those spires!! What do we do?"
His partner did not respond. 'So far, we have used Icedevimon and Shimaunimon. Those two were some of the most powerful champion level Digimon in the digital world but they were easily beaten. Obviously, brute strength will not defeat our foes.'
"Hello? Mummymon to Arukenimon, are you there?" A scowl came across her face as she hit Mummymon. "Be quiet!!! I'm trying to think!! We need to infiltrate the Digidestined team somehow...and outsmart the new kids. Perhaps I should try a control spire Digimon from a different angle." She turned to face the gigantic dark tower. "Spirit Needle!!"
A flash of light came from the spire as it formed into a Digimon. When everything cleared up, Mummymon's jaw dropped at the sight of Arukenimon's new creation. "You're actually going to use this little pipsqueak to infiltrate the Digidestined group?!?! I do admit that he does look a little like one of their Digimon but what if they catch him?! His colour doesn't match that of the real thing!! If they decide to fight him, he won't stand a chance!! The guy's just a rookie!!"
The new Digimon shot a dangerous glare. "I may be a rookie but I can beat you in a battle of wits any time!!" Mummymon was seriously considering morphing into his battle form and teaching the small Digimon some respect when Arukenimon stopped him. "That's enough bickering. I've been refining my techniques when it came to creating Digimon and I may have just found the perfect solution. However I must test this first."
"Test what?" Arukenimon stroked her hair lightly. "Remember how our boss used his DNA to create the two of us? I've decided to take a similar approach and use my data not just to give life to a control spire but to give it artificial intelligence. There's a safety mechanism in the hair fibre that can dissipate the data if there is any danger. And if necessary, it can convert intelligence subroutines into additional data so that he can digivolve and defend himself."
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"Davis? I got something to ask you." Demiveemon hopped right beside Davis as he turned off the small lamp nearby before going to bed. "What's up, Demiveemon? Wait...don't tell me. You want me to bring a bag of snacks as a refreshment after your sparring match with Renamon. "
"Uh...that would be nice but that's not it. I want you to tell me about girls and how they are able to make guys fall in love with them. And what do we do when we are in that type of situation." Davis yawned before replying. "Why do you want to know?" Demiveemon was thankful that the room was dark so Davis couldn't see his blushing. "Just curious."
"Well, sometimes it's the way they look. Like when I look at Kari, I see nothing but pure silky skin, strawberry lips and eyes that are so gentle that any guy would give anything to look in them forever. Sometimes, the looks don't really count and you have to look further by the way they act. With Kari, she is so gentle and pure of heart. A girl with both beauty and soul is hard to find. Luckily for me, that search is over...." He gave a contented sigh before drifting off.
"Wait!! But what do we do when we realize that?? Davis!!" It was too late. The room had already gone silent except for the boy's snoring. Demiveemon tried to get some sleep but Renamon's image kept haunting him. 'She's always in my head!! This is totally weird!! If I keep thinking about her like this, she'll always pound me in our sparring matches!!'
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"Before we begin, no using cheap tactics!! Okay?" Renamon gave a chuckle. "Whatever you say, big boy." Flamedramon started to do a bit of stretching. The group had gathered before school to do a bit of talking. "Cheap tactics? Renamon, what did you do?" asked Rika. "All I did was distract Flamedramon a bit. He let his guard down and I took advantage of that," replied the fox Digimon.
"Hmmmm...I may know a way to make this match a bit more fair." She started rummaging through her cards and found one that confirmed her idea. 'Now to see whether goggle head or Einstein have the card I need...wait a minute. I should just borrow the Digiegg from Davis.' "Davis, can I see your Digiegg of Friendship for a moment?"
The boy blinked in confusion before summoning the Digiegg to materialize from above his D3 on the table. "Okay but I don't know why you want it." Rika gently took it in her hands. "I just want to borrow your Digiegg for a little experiment..." The fox Digimon went slightly pale. 'Is she going to...?' Rika said the activation sequence, confirming Renamon's suspicion. "Digi Armor Energize!!" Calumon's mark started to glow.
ARMOR DIGIVOLUTION....
"Renamon armor-digivolved to...Raidramon, the Storm of Friendship!!" Everybody except for Rika, Calumon, Guilmon and Terriermon immediately dropped their jaw when they saw Renamon armor-digivolve to Raidramon. Calumon looked at her in awe. "Hey, you look exactly like the Digimon who leapt into that cave a while back!!" Raidramon raised her head and gave an exasperated sigh. "This is your revenge for me laughing at your pretty girl outfit earlier this week, isn't it?" said the Digimon in her normal voice.
Rika gave a smirk. "Whatever do you mean? Now you have to fight on four legs and he won't get distracted so easily. I evened it out for him." Takato was the first to start stammering. "B-b-b-b-but how d-d-did you know?" Henry started scanning the new Raidramon. "Gotta calm down...here we go. Armored type Digimon, Thunder Blast attack...it says here that this Raidramon is a data type Digimon."
The girl gave a motion for a tamers only meeting. The two followed as the others started to look around at Raidramon. "You haven't answered my question earlier, Rika." Rika gently took a card out of her pocket. Takato's eyes went wide as he saw the card. "I don't believe it!!! A promotional card from the...the..."
"The Youth Division of the Digimon Card Game City Championship Tournament. I won this card as a consolation prize when I came in second place two years ago. I returned last year to play the guy who beat me but he never showed up. He must have chickened out at the last minute or something." In the small text box, it had as the digivolution requirements: Renamon and the Digiegg of Friendship.
The bell rang, snapping everyone back to reality. "Aw man!! I'm going to be late!! I'll see ya later!" Yolei ran off as did Cody to their first class. Once everyone had left, Raidramon gave a sigh. "I should have seen this coming, ever since I saw the card."
'Just when you think you know someone, they pull out a giant surprise.' "Ready?" Flamedramon blinked as he saw Raidramon waiting for him. "Yeah, yeah. I'm coming." The armored Digimon started leaping up towards the roof. "I always wondered who could win. Flamedramon or Raidramon. They're pretty strong guys!!" exclaimed Upamon. "Well, the first time I fought Flamedramon met in battle, I locked him down with the Training Grips," boasted Terriermon. The other Digimon groaned as Terriermon started bragging about his victory.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"Whoa!! Check out the test marks!! Ken flunked!!" "No way!! He's a genius!!" The other students gathered around the bulletin board to check out how they did on a test. Ken ignored the speculation and slowly made the walk to the exit. 'What's wrong with me? I used to know all this stuff but now I'm just plain old Ken. I can't focus right...I have to go to the digital world and find something to restore my concentration and help me become the person I was before I found the dark ocean and became the Digimon Emperor.'
"Ken!! You're home early! How was school, honey?" Ken placed his school bag on the ground. "It was okay. I'm having a bit of trouble focusing myself but I'll just take some extra tutorial or something." His mother gave a smile. "Don't stress yourself over one failure. You should get some rest and let some of the pressure come out of you." Ken nodded and headed straight for his room. Had anyone been observing, they would have noticed a flashing light through the small gap underneath his door.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"Golden Noose!!" Nefertimon and Pegasusmon dragged down a few control spires with their combination attack. Ankylomon whipped his heavy tail to knock down another control spire. "Tail Hammer!!" Exveemon powered up his attack. "Vee Laser!!" Halsemon fired a Tempest Wing on another spire.
Davis gave a grin. "Good work everyone!! Let's take a break!! Yolei brought some refreshments for you guys!!" The Digidestined Digimon immediately reverted back to their rookie forms (except for Gatomon of course) and charged towards the snack bag. Growlmon finished off another control spire with his Pyro Blaster. "Can I go eat, Takatomon?"
Takato laughed. "Sure. Just try not to go overboard or anything." The champion level Digimon started jogging to where the others were eating. Kyubimon continued to work while Gargomon begged Henry to let him go to the refreshment area. Calumon went to the snack bag for a treat.
"I'm going to fly around a bit. When the break's over, just let me know. I'll be around that area," said Patamon. TK smiled. "You got it." The little Digimon started flying towards one of the forest areas. When he got near one of the trees, he could have sworn he saw something. "Hello? Is anyone there?" He heard the leaves ruffle a bit and a shadow came from behind. Patamon turned around and gave a gasp of surprise. "You-" "Sonic Burst!!" (AN: the original Japanese name is Bad Message.)
A few minutes had passed. TK was starting to get worried. Patamon should have been back by now. "Hey, is there something wrong, TK?" asked Cody. TK looked at the forest where Patamon had flew off to. "I'm going to go find Patamon. He probably got lost or something. You can start without us. If I need a hand, I'll send a message through the D terminal."
"Hold up, TK. It's a big forest. I'll help search for Patamon," said Yolei firmly. TK hesitated before nodding. Yolei headed into another area of the forest with Hawkmon at her side. TK started running in the direction where he saw Patamon last. "Patamon!! Where are you? It's hard to see anything with this weird purple fog!!"
He saw a shape that looked like Patamon. "Patamon!! Is that you?" The Digimon gave a tiny wave. "Over here!!" TK raised an eyebrow. "Your voice...Patamon, do you have a sore throat or something?" He heard a small cough. "Yeah. Must be something that came from this purple fog." TK went further inside to get his friend. "I almost got you..." "Sonic Burst!!"
"They should be around here somewhere. The signals I'm getting told me they were here. Stupid purple fog," muttered Ken as he walked through the dense forest. He stopped as he heard a grunting noise on his right. Wormmon looked up at him. "Is something wrong?" Ken slowly walked to the area where he saw a knocked out TK being dragged by a little Digimon that looked like Patamon. The real Patamon lay unconscious by one of the trees. "Geez, I wish the boss could have gave me a little help. This guy's heavy!!"
"What's going on, Ken?" Ken placed a finger on his lips, signalling Wormmon to be quiet. "I'm not quite sure but TK and Patamon are out cold by a Digimon that looks like Patamon except he has purple skin where Patamon has orange and he has yellow eyes. We should sneak them out when he's not looking. Who knows what that Digimon has up his sleeve," whispered the boy.
When they saw the little Digimon fly away, they quietly went to grab TK and Patamon. "What do we have here?" They both whirled around to see the Patamon imposter glaring at them with his golden eyes. Wormmon gave a startled look. "We saw you fly away!! How did you know?" A smirk came across the Digimon's face. "You weren't whispering quietly enough. Now I'm going to have to get rid of you. Sonic Burst!!"
"What?" Kyubimon had just finished knocking down another control spire when she heard something. "What's wrong, Kyubimon?" The fox Digimon narrowed her eyes. "Trouble. It came from that direction." Rika took out her Digivice to see its compass was pointing in the same direction. "Let's go."
"Sticky Net!!" Wormmon shot a sticky fluid but his opponent flew overhead and shot another Sonic Burst. "I got them!! Let's get out of here!!" Wormmon shook off the attack and started his hasty retreat. But they didn't get very far, seeing how Yolei and Hawkmon were blocking their path. "What do you think you're doing, Ken?" Before Ken could answer, he was knocked down by a Sonic Burst. "Thanks for stalling them for me. As a reward, I'll make your death a quick one," grinned the little Digimon. "You mean, you knocked out TK and Patamon?" asked Hawkmon. The imposter gave a laugh. "That's right. Now hold still so I can finish you all in one shot."
Yolei knelt down before the dark haired boy. "You were trying to save them, Ken? My God, what have I done?" Hawkmon took a protective stance. The girl gave a fiery look at the other Digimon. "You're going down, buddy!! Hawkmon!!!" Her D3 started going off. "Hawkmon digivolved to...Aquilamon!!!!"
Rika and Kyubimon leapt in to see Aquilamon, Yolei and two unconscious Digidestined kids along with their partners. She pulled out her Digivice to check out the rookie Digimon. "Tsukaimon, a rookie level Digimon. Virus type. His Purple Fog blinds his enemies so that he can hit them hard with a Sonic Burst."
"This looks bad. I need a battle upgrade." Tsukaimon started to glow as the hair fibre started rewriting his digital code. Rika narrowed her eyes. "Is he digivolving?" Now instead of Tsukaimon, Ninjamon stood in his place. He started to take out something when Aquilamon attacked. "Blast Ring!!"
Ninjamon quickly dodged the attack. He concentrated to create multiple copies of himself. "Fox Tail Inferno!!" Nine fireballs came out from Kyubimon's tails to attack each copy. When the smoke cleared, only one Ninjamon was left. "Aquilamon!! It's a control spire Digimon!!" A small bit of a black shiny metal was showing underneath a cut. "Alright then!! Grand Horn!!!" Aquilamon dove in for the kill. Ninjamon had no time to react and dissipated into data when the attack connected.
"Ken!! Wake up!!" The boy stirred and opened his eyes. Most of the Digidestined stood above him to see if he was okay. Cody stood off in another area, preferring not to talk to Ken since he still felt that the former Emperor can not be trusted. "You tried to save my life. Thanks," said TK. "And that goes double for me," added Patamon.
"I just wanted to help. Excuse me but I need to talk with those three." He pointed a finger at Rika, Henry and Takato. The Digidestined decided to leave him alone with the tamers. Ken walked up to them, uncertain what to ask first. "What do you want?" asked Rika coldly.
"First, I want to say thank you for helping me see some things that I couldn't see before. If you didn't give me that speech, I would have probably winded up doing some more regrettable things." The two male tamers looked at Rika who just gave a 'whatever'. "You also seem to know a lot of stuff about me. I need to know what happened that changed me so drastically."
Henry was about to give the 'temporal prime directive' speech when Rika interrupted him. "Okay, genius. I guess you deserve to hear the truth. A few years ago, a little boy was jealous of his older brother, so jealous that he wished that his brother was dead. He got his wish and became even more miserable than ever to the point which he gave up all hope to live. A dark force took advantage of that and magnified it to the point where you turned into a diabolical evil genius. But the main fact was that he found it so easy. You never even put up a fight to remain who you were: a nice, decent person who represented the human element of Kindness in the digital world. That is what makes me sick. I can understand if you fought hard but lost in the end. Giving up before the battle has even begun is another matter." Ken remained shocked at what Rika had just told him. What shocked everyone in the group was what she did next.
"See this, genius?" She held up the Crest of Kindness. Takato and Henry gave each other startled looks. "This represents what you were before you went to the dark side. So far, you have not displayed any sort of genuine kindness to have this in your possession. Since you don't deserve it, this Crest is staying with me for safe keeping." With that said, she started to walk away. Ken fell down on his knees and slowly started crying. Wormmon crawled up to him. "The worst part is that she's right. I'm not worthy." He silently sobbed while Wormmon tried to comfort him.
Another chapter is done!! I may have to slow down my writing pace during the Christmas holidays since I have other things to do. Visiting family and friends, playing video games and just relaxing as the year 2001 is coming to an end. I introduced the new mechanic of the hair fibre actually being able to play around a bit with the control spire Digimon's code because I need to use it one more time in the next segment. Who's the feature Digimon? Just wait and find out!! Before I forget, here's my trivia question of the segment. Just fill in the blank. This one should be quite tricky.
On Tuesday October 29, 1929, the stock market crashed, signalling the start of the Great Depression. "Black Tuesday" occurred in the year of the (blank).
Please remember to write your answer AND your vote!! I can't stress that enough. I already have an idea for a sequel in my head. AAAUUUGGGHHH!!! So many ideas, so little time to get them all down in print!!
Disclaimers: Digimon belongs to Fox, Saban and whoever else owns it. Star Trek belongs to Paramount. Don't sue!!!
Beyond The Other Side - V 2.3
"Guys, I saw something really strange. Just before Kyubimon destroyed Shimaunimon, I saw a small bit underneath its skin. It looked black and shiny, kind of like a small bit of a control spire. When we came to the digital world today, there was a control spire just hanging around the top of that mountain. Now it's gone!" The other Digidestined kids turned to look where Cody was pointing at. The tamers had just finished their discussion and joined them from behind. "What are you looking at?" asked Takato.
TK raised an eyebrow. "Henry, you said that only Ken could create control spire Digimon. But Cody just got attacked by one only a few moments ago. How is this possible?" The other boy crossed his arms. "I only said that it was a distinct possibility that Ken was using the control spires in another manner however that hypothesis seems to be incorrect."
"So what do we do now?" asked Yolei. Before anyone could answer, Davis came up with a suggestion. "We should try and find who's transforming control spires into Digimon. But if we do that, whoever it is may create more Digimon out of control spires and totally wreck the digital world. The best thing to do is to knock as many control spires down!!"
"Unbelievable. Davis actually made a logical suggestion," said Rika as she gave a mock gasp of surprise. Davis ignored that comment. "Well, we would have to start tomorrow after school. I gotta go help out at the convenience store," said Yolei. "I have kendo lessons with my grandfather," added Cody. "Alright!! I get the picture!! We'll start tomorrow." Davis pointed his D3 at the TV. "Digiport open!!"
A few moments later after the Digidestined had left with the tamers, Ken found the TV by which they left. "Damn!! I must have missed them!" Wormmon looked around the area. "The Primary Village must be having a renovation. There's tools everywhere!!" A look of regret came across the boy's face. "They're having the renovation because of me...we should help do some repairs while we're here."
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Arukenimon watched the television which had recorded the conservation between the Digidestined and the tamers. Mummymon felt himself go pale at the thought of what Davis had suggested. "They're going to destroy all of the control spires!! Our power comes from those spires!! What do we do?"
His partner did not respond. 'So far, we have used Icedevimon and Shimaunimon. Those two were some of the most powerful champion level Digimon in the digital world but they were easily beaten. Obviously, brute strength will not defeat our foes.'
"Hello? Mummymon to Arukenimon, are you there?" A scowl came across her face as she hit Mummymon. "Be quiet!!! I'm trying to think!! We need to infiltrate the Digidestined team somehow...and outsmart the new kids. Perhaps I should try a control spire Digimon from a different angle." She turned to face the gigantic dark tower. "Spirit Needle!!"
A flash of light came from the spire as it formed into a Digimon. When everything cleared up, Mummymon's jaw dropped at the sight of Arukenimon's new creation. "You're actually going to use this little pipsqueak to infiltrate the Digidestined group?!?! I do admit that he does look a little like one of their Digimon but what if they catch him?! His colour doesn't match that of the real thing!! If they decide to fight him, he won't stand a chance!! The guy's just a rookie!!"
The new Digimon shot a dangerous glare. "I may be a rookie but I can beat you in a battle of wits any time!!" Mummymon was seriously considering morphing into his battle form and teaching the small Digimon some respect when Arukenimon stopped him. "That's enough bickering. I've been refining my techniques when it came to creating Digimon and I may have just found the perfect solution. However I must test this first."
"Test what?" Arukenimon stroked her hair lightly. "Remember how our boss used his DNA to create the two of us? I've decided to take a similar approach and use my data not just to give life to a control spire but to give it artificial intelligence. There's a safety mechanism in the hair fibre that can dissipate the data if there is any danger. And if necessary, it can convert intelligence subroutines into additional data so that he can digivolve and defend himself."
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"Davis? I got something to ask you." Demiveemon hopped right beside Davis as he turned off the small lamp nearby before going to bed. "What's up, Demiveemon? Wait...don't tell me. You want me to bring a bag of snacks as a refreshment after your sparring match with Renamon. "
"Uh...that would be nice but that's not it. I want you to tell me about girls and how they are able to make guys fall in love with them. And what do we do when we are in that type of situation." Davis yawned before replying. "Why do you want to know?" Demiveemon was thankful that the room was dark so Davis couldn't see his blushing. "Just curious."
"Well, sometimes it's the way they look. Like when I look at Kari, I see nothing but pure silky skin, strawberry lips and eyes that are so gentle that any guy would give anything to look in them forever. Sometimes, the looks don't really count and you have to look further by the way they act. With Kari, she is so gentle and pure of heart. A girl with both beauty and soul is hard to find. Luckily for me, that search is over...." He gave a contented sigh before drifting off.
"Wait!! But what do we do when we realize that?? Davis!!" It was too late. The room had already gone silent except for the boy's snoring. Demiveemon tried to get some sleep but Renamon's image kept haunting him. 'She's always in my head!! This is totally weird!! If I keep thinking about her like this, she'll always pound me in our sparring matches!!'
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"Before we begin, no using cheap tactics!! Okay?" Renamon gave a chuckle. "Whatever you say, big boy." Flamedramon started to do a bit of stretching. The group had gathered before school to do a bit of talking. "Cheap tactics? Renamon, what did you do?" asked Rika. "All I did was distract Flamedramon a bit. He let his guard down and I took advantage of that," replied the fox Digimon.
"Hmmmm...I may know a way to make this match a bit more fair." She started rummaging through her cards and found one that confirmed her idea. 'Now to see whether goggle head or Einstein have the card I need...wait a minute. I should just borrow the Digiegg from Davis.' "Davis, can I see your Digiegg of Friendship for a moment?"
The boy blinked in confusion before summoning the Digiegg to materialize from above his D3 on the table. "Okay but I don't know why you want it." Rika gently took it in her hands. "I just want to borrow your Digiegg for a little experiment..." The fox Digimon went slightly pale. 'Is she going to...?' Rika said the activation sequence, confirming Renamon's suspicion. "Digi Armor Energize!!" Calumon's mark started to glow.
ARMOR DIGIVOLUTION....
"Renamon armor-digivolved to...Raidramon, the Storm of Friendship!!" Everybody except for Rika, Calumon, Guilmon and Terriermon immediately dropped their jaw when they saw Renamon armor-digivolve to Raidramon. Calumon looked at her in awe. "Hey, you look exactly like the Digimon who leapt into that cave a while back!!" Raidramon raised her head and gave an exasperated sigh. "This is your revenge for me laughing at your pretty girl outfit earlier this week, isn't it?" said the Digimon in her normal voice.
Rika gave a smirk. "Whatever do you mean? Now you have to fight on four legs and he won't get distracted so easily. I evened it out for him." Takato was the first to start stammering. "B-b-b-b-but how d-d-did you know?" Henry started scanning the new Raidramon. "Gotta calm down...here we go. Armored type Digimon, Thunder Blast attack...it says here that this Raidramon is a data type Digimon."
The girl gave a motion for a tamers only meeting. The two followed as the others started to look around at Raidramon. "You haven't answered my question earlier, Rika." Rika gently took a card out of her pocket. Takato's eyes went wide as he saw the card. "I don't believe it!!! A promotional card from the...the..."
"The Youth Division of the Digimon Card Game City Championship Tournament. I won this card as a consolation prize when I came in second place two years ago. I returned last year to play the guy who beat me but he never showed up. He must have chickened out at the last minute or something." In the small text box, it had as the digivolution requirements: Renamon and the Digiegg of Friendship.
The bell rang, snapping everyone back to reality. "Aw man!! I'm going to be late!! I'll see ya later!" Yolei ran off as did Cody to their first class. Once everyone had left, Raidramon gave a sigh. "I should have seen this coming, ever since I saw the card."
'Just when you think you know someone, they pull out a giant surprise.' "Ready?" Flamedramon blinked as he saw Raidramon waiting for him. "Yeah, yeah. I'm coming." The armored Digimon started leaping up towards the roof. "I always wondered who could win. Flamedramon or Raidramon. They're pretty strong guys!!" exclaimed Upamon. "Well, the first time I fought Flamedramon met in battle, I locked him down with the Training Grips," boasted Terriermon. The other Digimon groaned as Terriermon started bragging about his victory.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"Whoa!! Check out the test marks!! Ken flunked!!" "No way!! He's a genius!!" The other students gathered around the bulletin board to check out how they did on a test. Ken ignored the speculation and slowly made the walk to the exit. 'What's wrong with me? I used to know all this stuff but now I'm just plain old Ken. I can't focus right...I have to go to the digital world and find something to restore my concentration and help me become the person I was before I found the dark ocean and became the Digimon Emperor.'
"Ken!! You're home early! How was school, honey?" Ken placed his school bag on the ground. "It was okay. I'm having a bit of trouble focusing myself but I'll just take some extra tutorial or something." His mother gave a smile. "Don't stress yourself over one failure. You should get some rest and let some of the pressure come out of you." Ken nodded and headed straight for his room. Had anyone been observing, they would have noticed a flashing light through the small gap underneath his door.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"Golden Noose!!" Nefertimon and Pegasusmon dragged down a few control spires with their combination attack. Ankylomon whipped his heavy tail to knock down another control spire. "Tail Hammer!!" Exveemon powered up his attack. "Vee Laser!!" Halsemon fired a Tempest Wing on another spire.
Davis gave a grin. "Good work everyone!! Let's take a break!! Yolei brought some refreshments for you guys!!" The Digidestined Digimon immediately reverted back to their rookie forms (except for Gatomon of course) and charged towards the snack bag. Growlmon finished off another control spire with his Pyro Blaster. "Can I go eat, Takatomon?"
Takato laughed. "Sure. Just try not to go overboard or anything." The champion level Digimon started jogging to where the others were eating. Kyubimon continued to work while Gargomon begged Henry to let him go to the refreshment area. Calumon went to the snack bag for a treat.
"I'm going to fly around a bit. When the break's over, just let me know. I'll be around that area," said Patamon. TK smiled. "You got it." The little Digimon started flying towards one of the forest areas. When he got near one of the trees, he could have sworn he saw something. "Hello? Is anyone there?" He heard the leaves ruffle a bit and a shadow came from behind. Patamon turned around and gave a gasp of surprise. "You-" "Sonic Burst!!" (AN: the original Japanese name is Bad Message.)
A few minutes had passed. TK was starting to get worried. Patamon should have been back by now. "Hey, is there something wrong, TK?" asked Cody. TK looked at the forest where Patamon had flew off to. "I'm going to go find Patamon. He probably got lost or something. You can start without us. If I need a hand, I'll send a message through the D terminal."
"Hold up, TK. It's a big forest. I'll help search for Patamon," said Yolei firmly. TK hesitated before nodding. Yolei headed into another area of the forest with Hawkmon at her side. TK started running in the direction where he saw Patamon last. "Patamon!! Where are you? It's hard to see anything with this weird purple fog!!"
He saw a shape that looked like Patamon. "Patamon!! Is that you?" The Digimon gave a tiny wave. "Over here!!" TK raised an eyebrow. "Your voice...Patamon, do you have a sore throat or something?" He heard a small cough. "Yeah. Must be something that came from this purple fog." TK went further inside to get his friend. "I almost got you..." "Sonic Burst!!"
"They should be around here somewhere. The signals I'm getting told me they were here. Stupid purple fog," muttered Ken as he walked through the dense forest. He stopped as he heard a grunting noise on his right. Wormmon looked up at him. "Is something wrong?" Ken slowly walked to the area where he saw a knocked out TK being dragged by a little Digimon that looked like Patamon. The real Patamon lay unconscious by one of the trees. "Geez, I wish the boss could have gave me a little help. This guy's heavy!!"
"What's going on, Ken?" Ken placed a finger on his lips, signalling Wormmon to be quiet. "I'm not quite sure but TK and Patamon are out cold by a Digimon that looks like Patamon except he has purple skin where Patamon has orange and he has yellow eyes. We should sneak them out when he's not looking. Who knows what that Digimon has up his sleeve," whispered the boy.
When they saw the little Digimon fly away, they quietly went to grab TK and Patamon. "What do we have here?" They both whirled around to see the Patamon imposter glaring at them with his golden eyes. Wormmon gave a startled look. "We saw you fly away!! How did you know?" A smirk came across the Digimon's face. "You weren't whispering quietly enough. Now I'm going to have to get rid of you. Sonic Burst!!"
"What?" Kyubimon had just finished knocking down another control spire when she heard something. "What's wrong, Kyubimon?" The fox Digimon narrowed her eyes. "Trouble. It came from that direction." Rika took out her Digivice to see its compass was pointing in the same direction. "Let's go."
"Sticky Net!!" Wormmon shot a sticky fluid but his opponent flew overhead and shot another Sonic Burst. "I got them!! Let's get out of here!!" Wormmon shook off the attack and started his hasty retreat. But they didn't get very far, seeing how Yolei and Hawkmon were blocking their path. "What do you think you're doing, Ken?" Before Ken could answer, he was knocked down by a Sonic Burst. "Thanks for stalling them for me. As a reward, I'll make your death a quick one," grinned the little Digimon. "You mean, you knocked out TK and Patamon?" asked Hawkmon. The imposter gave a laugh. "That's right. Now hold still so I can finish you all in one shot."
Yolei knelt down before the dark haired boy. "You were trying to save them, Ken? My God, what have I done?" Hawkmon took a protective stance. The girl gave a fiery look at the other Digimon. "You're going down, buddy!! Hawkmon!!!" Her D3 started going off. "Hawkmon digivolved to...Aquilamon!!!!"
Rika and Kyubimon leapt in to see Aquilamon, Yolei and two unconscious Digidestined kids along with their partners. She pulled out her Digivice to check out the rookie Digimon. "Tsukaimon, a rookie level Digimon. Virus type. His Purple Fog blinds his enemies so that he can hit them hard with a Sonic Burst."
"This looks bad. I need a battle upgrade." Tsukaimon started to glow as the hair fibre started rewriting his digital code. Rika narrowed her eyes. "Is he digivolving?" Now instead of Tsukaimon, Ninjamon stood in his place. He started to take out something when Aquilamon attacked. "Blast Ring!!"
Ninjamon quickly dodged the attack. He concentrated to create multiple copies of himself. "Fox Tail Inferno!!" Nine fireballs came out from Kyubimon's tails to attack each copy. When the smoke cleared, only one Ninjamon was left. "Aquilamon!! It's a control spire Digimon!!" A small bit of a black shiny metal was showing underneath a cut. "Alright then!! Grand Horn!!!" Aquilamon dove in for the kill. Ninjamon had no time to react and dissipated into data when the attack connected.
"Ken!! Wake up!!" The boy stirred and opened his eyes. Most of the Digidestined stood above him to see if he was okay. Cody stood off in another area, preferring not to talk to Ken since he still felt that the former Emperor can not be trusted. "You tried to save my life. Thanks," said TK. "And that goes double for me," added Patamon.
"I just wanted to help. Excuse me but I need to talk with those three." He pointed a finger at Rika, Henry and Takato. The Digidestined decided to leave him alone with the tamers. Ken walked up to them, uncertain what to ask first. "What do you want?" asked Rika coldly.
"First, I want to say thank you for helping me see some things that I couldn't see before. If you didn't give me that speech, I would have probably winded up doing some more regrettable things." The two male tamers looked at Rika who just gave a 'whatever'. "You also seem to know a lot of stuff about me. I need to know what happened that changed me so drastically."
Henry was about to give the 'temporal prime directive' speech when Rika interrupted him. "Okay, genius. I guess you deserve to hear the truth. A few years ago, a little boy was jealous of his older brother, so jealous that he wished that his brother was dead. He got his wish and became even more miserable than ever to the point which he gave up all hope to live. A dark force took advantage of that and magnified it to the point where you turned into a diabolical evil genius. But the main fact was that he found it so easy. You never even put up a fight to remain who you were: a nice, decent person who represented the human element of Kindness in the digital world. That is what makes me sick. I can understand if you fought hard but lost in the end. Giving up before the battle has even begun is another matter." Ken remained shocked at what Rika had just told him. What shocked everyone in the group was what she did next.
"See this, genius?" She held up the Crest of Kindness. Takato and Henry gave each other startled looks. "This represents what you were before you went to the dark side. So far, you have not displayed any sort of genuine kindness to have this in your possession. Since you don't deserve it, this Crest is staying with me for safe keeping." With that said, she started to walk away. Ken fell down on his knees and slowly started crying. Wormmon crawled up to him. "The worst part is that she's right. I'm not worthy." He silently sobbed while Wormmon tried to comfort him.
Another chapter is done!! I may have to slow down my writing pace during the Christmas holidays since I have other things to do. Visiting family and friends, playing video games and just relaxing as the year 2001 is coming to an end. I introduced the new mechanic of the hair fibre actually being able to play around a bit with the control spire Digimon's code because I need to use it one more time in the next segment. Who's the feature Digimon? Just wait and find out!! Before I forget, here's my trivia question of the segment. Just fill in the blank. This one should be quite tricky.
On Tuesday October 29, 1929, the stock market crashed, signalling the start of the Great Depression. "Black Tuesday" occurred in the year of the (blank).
Please remember to write your answer AND your vote!! I can't stress that enough. I already have an idea for a sequel in my head. AAAUUUGGGHHH!!! So many ideas, so little time to get them all down in print!!