Stardashcircle---------------------Chapter 14!

Sup peoples?

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Kouzumi93

black peeches

ProdigiousDiscourse

Rael-Lirdu

Tremble Wolf

Your support is what keeps me going! Thanks for sticking with me, even though I take so long to update! You are the best!

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Disclaimer: I don't own nothing to do with Digimon.

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"Emily, wake up."

Rem frowned, groaned, and then snapped her eyes open. David was leaning over her with a worried expression. "David?" she asked. "Why are you calling me Emily?"

"Cause I always call you Emily at home," he offered a faint chuckle of relief to see that she was awake. "I could call you Remaline if you like."

"No," Rem snapped. She took a deep breath. "I like being called Emily better." She tried to sit up, but couldn't even move an inch. Instantly she frowned again. What was holding her down? "David, what's going on?" she demanded. "Let me go!"

"I can't." David shrugged. "Look…..your arm got cut off, and Dad had a doctor come and make you a replacement. And you can't move or else you could find yourself in serious pain."

"Wonderful," Rem rolled her eyes. "What about those digidestined?"

"They're somewhere. They all were given rooms, and now they're probably all meeting in Tai's room again. They don't know what to think, and they're really confused." David grinned widely. "You didn't tell them you were a princess, did you?"

"No." Rem snorted. "That's going to make me look even stupider in their eyes. No way I'm going to tell them that!"

"Well, they know it now. Thanks to Bronc."

Rem sighed. "Bronc….." she groaned, annoyed. Bronc was their butler and head of their security team. He just loved to tell people what Rem didn't want them to hear. Rem sighed and closed her eyes, trying to think through the situation she found herself in. She was a princess, unfortunately, and her entire family were bounty hunters. Usually they lived on another planet, but for their own safety, they had moved to Earth. They lived in a mansion in Ireland, which had over a hundred rooms, and had such an advanced security system that it would take a miracle for the NW to find them. Which was a good thing. This was their hideout, where no one located them. It was the perfect hideout for the digidestined as well, and Rem couldn't help being relieved they had listened to her and come.

Remaline Calay, or just Emily, as she preferred to be called when she was at home, was still under training to become a bounty hunter. Technically, she wasn't supposed to be doing missions of any sort, or even leaving the house, but that never stopped her. Of course, she always seemed to end up in some kind of trouble…like this, for instance. Though this by far took the cake.

"I have to get up," she declared finally, feeling agitated by her lack of activity. "I need to talk to the digidestined!"

"Can't letcha do that, Em. It's the doctor's orders."

"I don't care, I want to get up!" She was panicking now. She hated not moving…hated it with a passion… "DAVID LET ME GO!"

Her brother looked scared for a moment, but before he could say anything, he was roughly pushed aside by a tall, older man Rem knew well. Trainer, the doctor in question, lifted a syringe and injected it into her arm. "Calm down," he ordered. "You're going to be okay."

Rem felt her senses dull, and her body grow heavy. She let out a strangled sigh and closed her eyes.

"You'll be okay…"

It all blurred away into nothing.

Izzy shivered uncontrollably. It wasn't because he was cold, or because he was in pain. No, it was because he was scared. He knew that this entire situation was his fault, and that if it hadn't been for him, the NW would have never discovered the digital world. And now, he was captured by them, strapped in an interrogation chair, waiting till that moment when they would force him to help them out. But he wouldn't do it…not for anything…he'd refuse! This was his fault…and he would have to be the one to set it right.

It was just his luck that a small party of NW decided to enter the interrogation room at that moment. Two guards, plus the gunman who had captured Izzy, and a tall man who looked like he was in charge of the situation. He was followed by two people in white uniforms, wearing gloves. They were either doctors or specialists of a kind Izzy would rather not know about.

The one who looked like he was in charge gave Izzy a pleased smirk. "Welcome to our little operation," he said mildly. "I hope we didn't keep you waiting long?"

His optimism only caused Izzy more fear, which caused more shivering. Izzy clamped his mouth shut, determined not to say anything at all.

"Well, no matter," the man sighed. He seated himself at a chair across from Izzy, and laced his fingers together with a thoughtful look. "Let's start with introductions, shall we? My name is General McDowen, and I'll be the one you answer to. I'm the one everyone here answers to, actually. And you, I understand, are Koushiro Izumi, sometimes referred to as Izzy. Correct?"

Izzy glared at him…or tried to. He dropped it halfway through the motion of making it, since he felt too freaked out. Where was this going, anyway?

"You must know why you're here," the General continued, his smirk widening. "I believe it is you we have to thank for all our progress here. Without you, this might never have happened."

Don't I know it,Izzy groaned inwardly. He hung his head and tried not to sigh in despair.

"Which brings me to why you are here," McDowen stated, losing his casual tone and taking on a more military one. "We have been having some trouble working through the code we have scanned. We don't understand it, and we need someone who does. You, according to our research, know everything about it. So we want you to analyze it and compile it for us. It would make our jobs so much easier."

Izzy lifted his head, and this time managed to glare quite darkly. "I'll never help you," he whispered. "And you can't make me."

"I'm afraid we can, Izumi. I know for a fact you don't want to test us." His eyes narrowed. "Now I'm going to ask you nicely to do what we tell you to. If you do not do as instructed, to the letter, then I'm going to have to take a more drastic approach. You don't want that, I assure you."

"I don't," Izzy agreed cautiously, "But I know that I don't want to help you more than I don't want those drastic measures." He gulped and his own boldness, wondering where it had come from.

"Perhaps," McDowen couldn't help smiling slightly. The look in his eyes seemed to imply that he appreciated Izzy's insight, and also his dedication. "But I'm sure that we could change your mind." He stood up from his chair, and held out his hand. Someone handed him a laptop, which he set on the table in front of Izzy. Next he walked over and unbolted Izzy's wrists from their clasps. "Now," he instructed, his tone threatening and edged with authority, "Take the file that is open, and categorize the data. That's all I'm asking you to do…for now."

Izzy's body shook, as he struggled to remain calm. He stared at the file, noticing a familiar code stored inside it. The code was data, from digimon that had been scanned, and most of it was scrambled together from people's attempts to dissect it and use it. Something was wrong with it though, as if someone had tampered with it to make it unusable. And for Izzy to compile it, he would not only solve their problem, but make them able to use the digimon's data to create a weapon of mass destruction.

"No," he growled, surprised at his own animosity. He turned away so he didn't have to look at the screen. "I wont do it. You can't make me."

"I'm afraid we can," McDowen snapped. "Compile that data, Izumi. NOW!"

"No," Izzy insisted, more weakly this time.

"Last chance," McDowen threatened. He lifted a hand and pointed at the computer. "Do it, or suffer. And trust me, you wont be the only one suffering for your lack of cooperation. The rest of our captives will suffer too."

Izzy shuddered, squeezing his eyes shut. He couldn't! He couldn't do it! No matter the cost…

He heard the General sigh. He could feel the tension in the room. "So be it," McDowen hissed. And with that, he exited the room.

Izzy opened his eyes, gulping, and watched as the gunman who had captured him gave him a disapproving-yet-sympathetic look, before following the General out. The two doctors closed the door and turned upon their captive.

"So," one of them stated dryly. "Where should we start?"

Izzy wondered if it was too late to hope for mercy.

Tai banged his head against the wall, over and over and over and over and…

"TAI STOP IT!" Someone grabbed his shoulders from behind and dragged him backwards, twisting him and tossing him onto a couch. "You want to kill yourself?"

Tai looked up weakly, finding himself staring at Matt. He sighed and covered his face with his hands. "Matt," he cried. "Matt why? Why did this have to happen? Why did Izzy have to get captured? Why did these NW have to come and ruin our lives? WHY? WHY COULDN'T I DO ANYTHING TO STOP IT?"

Matt stepped forward, wondering if he was going to have to restrain Tai from doing something stupid, but then sighed and joined his friend on the couch. "Tai," he said slowly, "I feel just as lost and upset as you do. But…there wasn't anything you could do back there. It happened."

"That's not GOOD ENOUGH," Tai growled. "There has to be something I can do! I wont sit back and watch this all happen!"

"I wasn't finished," Matt snapped. "Yeah there was nothing you could do back there at the time. But that doesn't mean you can't do anything now. We WILL get Izzy back. And Davis, and everyone else. We're not going to let them stay there. We have a new base now, remember? They can't find us, can't get us here. We can strike back now. We can stop them. Okay? So stop hurting yourself and do something productive! These digidestined are lost and confused. They need direction! And you're the one everyone is looking up to."

"Why me?" Tai sighed in frustration. "Why not you?"

"Cause you're the leading type," Matt smiled faintly. "You've got that charismatic personality that makes people want to follow you. You have a natural instinct to make decisions and follow through on them. People need that, look for it, admire it. They can't help looking to you to guide them." He shrugged and gave Tai's shoulder an encouraging squeeze. "But you know, just because you're the leader doesn't mean you have to lead alone. The rest of us are here behind you, ready to support you, help you think things through. Whatever it is you need, we'll be here for you. We just need you to keep going. Don't give up yet."

Tai nodded vaguely, not really looking like he felt encouraged. "I can't help feeling like we're going to fail," he whispered. "Like it's all my fault that we weren't prepared for something like this. How can I make good decisions if I don't even have a clue what to do?"

Matt shrugged. He didn't know. "I'm sure that we'll think of something," he said quietly.

Tai gave him a helpless look. "Like what?"

"Hey…um…Tai? That is your name, right?"

Tai and Matt looked up to see the kid called Kenta looking at them hesitantly. "Yeah, that's me," Tai sighed.

"Well, that Butler guy named Bronc…" Kenta tried to explain, "He says that the one called Midias is being held prisoner, and that the doctor—I think his name is Trainer?—anyway, the doctor put him under sedation and truth serum, and he's answering questions. Apparently, you're supposed to ask him stuff right away before it wears off and he becomes immune to it. So…"

Tai pulled himself up from the couch and nodded. "I don't like it," he stated angrily. "I don't like it at all. It's too much like…like a war I don't want to have. But…" he followed Kenta out the door, Matt following quietly. "But I'll do what needs to be done to save our friends…to save our world…and the digital world."

Matt placed a hand on his shoulder. "That's why you're the leader," he whispered.

Tai hoped Matt was right.

Seraphimon stood still as Tommy rushed toward him, then skidded to a stop two feet away. He just waited, silent, as Tommy caught his breath.

"I need to ask you something," Tommy blurted, his words tumbling over each other in his haste to speak them. "Something about what we can do here!"

Seraphimon nodded. "Let's hear it," he sighed.

"While we're here," Tommy began, "It seems that the enemy can no longer scan the world. That's just my observation, and I think it's because the digital world has to change in order to support humans. The enemy's scanners can no longer process the data. But there has to be something else we can do while we're here!"

"Like what?" Seraphimon asked tiredly. "I do not know if there is anything possible for you to do. There might not even be partners for you."

"That's okay," Tommy said quickly, trying not to get depressed about Kumamon. "But what I mean is something else. Something more substantial."

Seraphimon seemed to frown thoughtfully. "What do you mean?" he demanded.

"It's like this:" Tommy seated paced back and forth, trying to put his thoughts into words. "Digidestined have always seemed to have the ability to grant power to their digimon partners. Without us, they can't digivolve fully, and when they have lost energy and can't go on any further, we are able to give them energy, seemingly out of nowhere. It seems to grow out of us naturally. It doesn't quite make sense, but the way I see it, our emotions grant power to digimon."

"Go on," Seraphimon insisted, growing more interested with each word.

"Something Shinya said gave me an idea," Tommy continued. "He said that maybe we could lend energy to digimon, and I thought that he might have something going there. What if we could lend energy? What if we could help rebuild the digital world, or create some kind of shield that protects it better than the protection we give it just by being here?"

"It's worth a try," Seraphimon shrugged. "Anything is, really. But I don't know how you'd do that."

"That's okay," Tommy smiled confidently. "Shinya will be able to think of something."

"Why do you say that?"

"Cause he's Takuya's brother! And somehow, determination and willingness to keep going even when it's not clear how to do that makes things happen that wouldn't normally be possible, especially here in the digital world. I have a feeling that he'll be the one to get us to do the impossible. Plus, he's frustrated like heck. That usually gets him motivated."

"Then get out there and explain your theory."

"I will," Tommy grinned. He dashed out just as quickly as he had come, leaving Seraphimon to shake his head and sigh.

"This is why we need them," he thought to himself. "Because they can believe the impossible into being."

"RENAMON!"

"LOBOMON!"

"RENAMON!"

"LOBOMON!"

"RANAMON!"

"LOBO…" Kouji paused and made a face. "Takuya, you just said 'Ranamon'."

"No I didn't," Takuya mumbled.

"Yes you did."

"No, I said Renamon, you just heard me wrong."

"No, you said Ranamon."

"Kouji, I think I know what I said. And I said..."

"...Ranamon."

"Did not!"

"Did too."

"Oh yeah wul..."

"Will you two shut up?"

Kouji stopped arguing, and turned to find Renamon walking towards them out of the fog. She looked angry and agitated, and her fur was standing on end. Argument instantly forgotten, Kouji ran forward and stopped in front of her. "Renamon, something's happened!" he stated, scowling. "Rika's been captured by IceDevimon!"

Renamon's eyes narrowed dangerously, and something about the way she trembled with the desire to destroy something scared Kouji. "I know," she growled. "I can feel it. But I can't find her. That's why I came to find you. I heard you calling. If you hadn't called, I would have still been lost."

Kouji nodded slowly. "We don't know where she is either."

"Hey wait," Takuya interrupted. "I think I know how to find her!"

"How?" Kouji glared at him, annoyed. How come Takuya was suddenly coming up with all these good ideas? It was annoying!

"I have my D-tector. I'll search for her that way. Meanwhile, we'll walk around and try to feel where IceDevimon is. It's always colder around him. It'll be like playing Hot-and-Cold, only opposite," Takuya grinned. "Course, you guys are going to have to be the ones to tell if it's cold or not. All I can feel is a burning fire in my chest…"

"Thanks for letting us know," Kouji rolled his eyes. He tried to come up with a better idea, but he couldn't deny this was a good one. "Just get your D-tector out and start scanning. Let's walk."

Renamon followed the two of them as they did just that, looking back and forth anxiously. She would be the one to tell where Rika was located, as she could sense her Tamer, so they had to pay close attention to her. Takuya' D-tector seemed to be working just fine, and began to point out whenever a digimon was nearby.

Presently, they decided to stop and ask questions of the digimon they found. Once or twice the digimon would be coherent enough to answer, but for the most part, they had no idea where Icedevimon went. And most of them were too shocked and confused to offer more than complaints or wails of hopelessness. So the group kept moving, searching, hoping to find someone who knew what they were looking for. But it was beginning to feel hopeless.

"I wish we'd find someone who's actually helpful," Kouji mumbled, stuffing his hands in his pockets and shivered. "It's cold, and I'm tired of this nonsense."

Takuya and Renamon both stopped abruptly. "What did you say?" Takuya demanded.

Kouji gave him a weird look. "I said it's…" his eyes widened. "…cold!" he looked around him earnestly. "It's cold," he repeated. "Can't…can't you guys feel that?"

Renamon scowled. "No," she said darkly. "But you are a human. You are more susceptible to cold."

"I can't tell," Takuya repeated earnestly. "Kouji, I think you're the only one who can. That means you have to lead us to Rika."

Kouji blinked, surprised, but offered a simple nod. For a brief moment he felt relieved, like he was actually useful again, but then he grew serious and focused on the feeling of cold. For a while, he wandered around in a circular direction, trying to figure out which way was colder. After several circles, he shivered and shrank away from something that felt like an icy wind. He nodded in that direction. "That way," he stated.

They hurried in that direction, Kouji leading, Renamon following, and Takuya taking up the read. They were getting close…close to finding Icedevimon.

And the cold intensified. Shivering like mad, Kouji clamped his arms around his chest and tried to keep going. But it grew harder, like the ice digimon knew they were coming, and was trying to stop them. Each step grew slower and slower, each breath harder and harder…until Kouji's eyes threatened to close. He toppled over, too cold to continue. "I'm….freezing…" he tried to say.

The last thing he felt was a warm hand on his shoulder, and someone yelling out his name.

That was probably Takuya. Takuya was always yelling when he got intense…

Dann lifted his head from the table as the door opened, and someone walked in. He actually breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh praise God," he declared. "What took you so long?"

The man stared at him in momentary shock, as if he couldn't believe what was just said. But it quickly passed, and he took a seat across from his captive. "Dannflorr Donajin Albrite," the man said, clearing his throat. "Do you know why you're here?"

"No freakin way," Dann hissed. "And I hope you're going to tell me because frankly, I am sick of NOT KNOWING!"

The man couldn't help cracking a smile. "Well this is interesting," he stated. "You honestly don't know?"

"Not a clue." Dann glared at him. Tapped his fingers. Huffed in annoyance. Finally he let out an annoyed sigh. "Aren't you going to tell me?"

"Perhaps."

"Look, either tell me why I'm here, or just question me already. I probably can't answer anything, cause I sure as heck don't know anything, but just do SOMETHING cause I'm sick of waiting around!"

"That certainly makes my job easier," the man shrugged. "Very well then, you're here because of who you are. Because you pose a possible threat to me and my mission."

"What the heck…" Dann groaned and dropped his head to the table again. "Not that again…please, for heaven's sake, I don't know what that means! I don't know who you think I am, but I am no threat to you! I can't do anything to you, don't know anything that might hinder you, and never had any intention of getting into trouble! Why have you guys been chasing me down all my life? If you were worried I might do something in the future, you should have just IGNORED ME! All you've done is made me angry, and BECAUSE you keep harassing me, I'd probably want to be a threat."

The man waited, apparently satisfied to just let Dann rant.

Dann had no trouble obliging. All his life he'd wanted to yell at these people. Now he was getting his chance. "Look," he snapped, raising his head and glaring. "You have no reason to hold me here, or capture me in the first place. But now that you've captured me, I've got a reason to fight back. NOW I'm a threat, whereas I wasn't before! Not that I actually know anything of value, nor can I actually do anything against you. You've just done one more thing to make me mad. You should have just left me well enough alone!"

The man nodded thoughtfully. "Finished?" he mocked. Dann glared at him hatefully. "Good. Now it's my turn." He leaned forward and placed his hands on the table, lacing his fingers together. "We've brought you here because you are the descendant of our greatest enemy. That doesn't mean that we hold anything against you personally, it just means that we don't want you to suddenly become a problem to us. Now, we're not going to do anything to you, we just want to keep you out of the way. Does that make sense?"

"What does it matter?" Dann scoffed. "You'll do it anyway."

"Precisely." The man stood. "I am General McDowen, and I'm in charge here. You are because we are eliminating all of our blind spots, our weak links, or whatever else you want to call it. I haven't decided what I want to ask you, and I haven't decided what I'm going to do with you yet. But I am sure that when the time comes, you'll cooperate, wont you?" he narrowed his eyes dangerously at his captive.

Dann simply glared back at him. "We'll see," he snapped. "Maybe if you stop treating me like I'm the bad guy, and get me out of these chains, I'll help. But not if all you're going to do is force me to talk about something I know nothing about."

"That's not for you to decide."

"Then look at it this way: I'll cooperate if you stop terrorizing me. If locking me up is what you want, fine. Just lock me up in a room, not a chair."

"You're saying you'll cooperate?"

"Look, I don't know what you want me to cooperate with, and neither do you. So how can I know? I just know that I'd be more willing if you stopped being so…" he sighed and shook his head. "Who am I kidding? You're still going to treat me like a spy or prisoner of war. So why bother? It's like I'm talking to myself!"

The General seemed to think about it for a moment, before turning and walking toward the door. "Listen Dannflorr…" he paused. "Can I call you Dann?"

Dann rolled his eyes. "I greatly prefer it," he snapped. Seriously, who's idea was it to name him Dannflorr? What kind of stupid name was that?

"Dann, then. Listen closely. I may be in charge here, but I also answer to people. That means I can't just let you go, or lock you in a cell. I still have to question you, though I have no doubt I've learned everything I'm going to learn already. I want to make this easier for all of us, but I can't do that without proper authorization. So why don't you just sit tight, and I'll be back to settle this." He left the room, not giving his captive any time to answer.

Dann dropped his head back to the table in frustration. Great. So if his ploy to cooperate wasn't going to work…how the heck was he going to escape? What was REALLY going on here? Whatever it is, he thought, clenching his fingers into fists, I'll stop it. I'll ruin their lives, just as they've ruined mine.

And….That's all. What do you think?

Sorry for the intenseness of this story and all. It's pretty heavy. I hope you can handle it. And I'm also sorry it's so short. But it's the best I can do right now. So...there you have it.

Thanks for bearing with me in this story, and for reading and reviewing it! You guys are all so kind! I know that huge adventure stories like this can sometimes get boring to read, but I am so amazed that you are still with me and supporting me. I am so happy! So I'll just tell you that soon this story will be finished, and you wont have to put up with it any longer. Though I do appreciate all your support!

Please continue to review this story! It is very helpful, not to mention it makes me so happy! So, God bless, and see you next time!

--rika195