Disclaimer! I do not own any of this with the exception of the American digidestined and their partners!
Everything else belongs to Saban
Hope you enjoy!
A/N: This was one of my favorite chapters to write in the story so far, so I hope you guys enjoy!
Try Chapter 21
THREE WEEKS AFTER MATT AND MICHAEL FIND DIGITAMMAMON'S DINER
Michael quietly shook Luke awake while it was still dark. "Remember," He whispered. "We can't run the risk of being seen by Digitammamon or that bat digimon." "Yep. I'm awake." Luke moved silently and picked up Ravenmon, who was still fast asleep. "Normal place?" He asked Michael. "Yep. It's the best view of the diner." Michael nodded and woke up Chinchilmon. "Be quiet now. Matt and Joe sleep by the window." The small group moved quickly to a small clearing near the back of the diner. "Here we are. Everything still in place?" Ravenmon woke up sleepily. "Yep." Michael began cleaning up the clearing, left messy by the windy nights and dew off of the lake.
The clearing itself was simple enough, but the viewing areas to watch the diner were masterfully hidden, just in case of any angry digimon. Luke slipped into the bushes to watch the diner. He looked out of the bush towards the diner and was surprised to see the lights on. "Ravenmon, come here." He beckoned his partner. "Digitammamon has them up early today." He whispered. "Yeah… The sun hasn't even started rising yet. I hope this isn't a new trend." Ravenmon let the branches of the bush fall behind him as he stepped into the hollowed out area of the bush. Luke glanced around inside the bush to make sure that it was still stable. It was one of Michael's experiments, taking after Tiffany. He had used his knife to cut off all of the branches on the back of the bush to create a pseudo-hunting blind, where Luke and Michael could still see out the front of the bush without being assaulted by the bush itself.
"Be careful, Chinchilmon. Everything was clear when we got here, but I couldn't see in the trees. You'll have to check them out." Michael ducked underneath a tree branch and began shifting through the lower branches. "The far right viewing tree looks clear." The chinchilla-like digimon began rustling through the trees. "The middle trees are clear." Chinchilmon called quietly and Michael turned to the left. "There's something over there. Hiding places now." He ducked behind a tree and crawled into the hiding place at the base of the tree that was covered by a thin pile of leaves as Chinchilmon curled into a ball at the far right viewing tree. 'Now, let's hope that Luke and Ravenmon stay in the bush.' Michael thought to himself, keeping an eye on the left side of the clearing.
Chinchilmon watched the trees rustle as a small figure stepped into the clearing. "Hehehe… Those digidestined brats will be stuck here forever at this rate!" DemiDevimon cackled evilly, not knowing that the clearing was occupied. Chinchilmon watched the evil digimon snigger and fly up into a tree, staring intently at the sky. 'I wonder what he's looking at…' Chinchilmon crept closer to DemiDevimon and overheard some part of the conversation he was seemingly having with himself. "Yes, Master, I will do my best to keep those two brats here. Digitammamon knows what he has to do." DemiDevimon put on a grin. "In fact, I know exactly what I'm going to do to get them to distrust each other… Neaaaaahahahahahahahaha!" The digimon erupted into evil giggles, but snapped back into focus. "Sorry master, yes, I should know better…" DemiDevimon began to fly away, causing Chinchilmon to scamper down the tree to find Michael.
"Michael, he's leaving. It's the bat digimon. We've got to follow him." The small digimon whispered to Michael. "Let's get Luke too." Michael nodded and Chinchilmon dashed off to the bush where Luke and Ravenmon were watching the diner. Chinchilmon quickly relayed the information, and Luke slowly extracted himself from the bush with Ravenmon close behind. He glanced at Michael and nodded. "Stay beneath the trees but keep an eye on that digimon at all times." He directed Ravenmon, who nodded. "Chinchilmon, stay with me. We don't know how strong it is." The two humans and their digimon partners headed off into the woods in pursuit of DemiDevimon.
"Be quiet and quick." Michael told the other three as they followed DemiDevimon's trajectory. Michael pulled out DemiDevimon's feather from his bag, and, looking at it closely, sighed. "I think we've found our bad guy." He sped up, making the others work to keep up. "He lived on the streets and was used to running for a time… This is… Hard work… For me…" Luke panted, but was determined to keep up. "He's pulling ahead." Chinchilmon noticed that DemiDevimon was flying between the trees ahead of them, but kept losing sight of the tricky digimon. "If we lose him, we lose him, and that's that. We're only doing what we can." Ravenmon reminded Chinchilmon. "That's exactly right. However, I think we found something completely different than what we thought we were looking for." Michael had stopped just up ahead and was pointing to a massive cave entrance.
"What in the world is that?" Chinchilmon's eyes widened. "It looks like a giant cave." Luke commented casually, dodging the smack from Ravenmon's wing. "Hey there, watch where you're flying that thing!" He laughed. "This could give us a major break as to where Tai is, or a better look into the history of this world." Michael walked closer to the entrance. "But what about that digimon?" Chinchilmon asked. "It can wait. There's something down there…" Michael began walking into the cave. "Uh… Wait for me!" Chinchilmon ran after his partner. "Something's definitely fishy about this… I only hope we aren't walking into a trap." Luke sighed and followed his friend, Ravenmon flying above his head.
"That's strange… It's not really that dark in here." Michael felt the walls, looking for the source of the light. "This cave is giving me the heebie-jeebies." Chinchilmon declared. "There's something looking for something in here…" Michael stopped in his tracks. "What is it?" Luke asked him, concern and worry palpable in his voice. "Michael doesn't normally act like this…" Ravenmon whispered to Chinchilmon. "What are you thinking is happening?" Michael's partner whispered to the bird digimon. "This is a trap… Or something like that." Ravenmon theorized and Chinchilmon nodded. "The sooner that we're out of here, the better."
"Michael, what are you looking for?" Luke asked the boy. "There's something calling for someone… It's weird, but I can hear it in my mind." Michael looked up. "Can you not hear it?" He asked Luke. "No… You're the only one of us four that can hear it." Luke responded, now truly worried for Michael. "It's calling out for help, and I guess it thinks that I can help it." Michael smiled softly and a chill ran up Chinchilmon's spine. 'Oh no… The last time this happened, Datamon struck and Sora was kidnapped. I've got to be on the lookout.' "Okay Michael, we'll keep going, but you've got to promise me that you'll be careful and let me check everything out first." Chinchilmon piped up and ran up onto his shoulder. "It'll be fine buddy. It's probably just a little in-training digimon that's hurt and lost." Michael laughed a little bit, and Ravenmon heard the voice as well.
'That's right… Come this way, human… I need help… I'm so lost, and lonely, and hurt…' Ravenmon stiffened, and turned around. "That voice… It's disturbed!" Right as he spoke, the voice disappeared and Michael turned around and glared at Ravenmon. "You scared it!" He snapped and turned around again, only to see a new tunnel branching off from the main tunnel. "It was coming from there." He pointed at the tunnel. "Now, wait a second, Michael. We don't even know what this voice is. For all we know, this could be a trap set up by our new enemy here on Server." Luke was patient with Michael and kept his voice level. The younger boy turned around and glared at Luke. "Can you not hear it? This poor thing is terrified and frightened to death, and all it wants is a hug." Chinchilmon frowned and glanced at Michael, and then back at Luke. 'Oh dear… This can't end well…' The tiny digimon sniffled and nuzzled his partner, who picked him up. "No worries buddy, okay? If it's not what I think it is, we'll head right back out of this place." Michael smiled gently at his partner, a completely 180 from his previous attitude. Luke and Ravenmon exchanged glances and shrugged.
"Here! The voice says it's right behind the door." Michael pointed to the intimidating door. "Are you sure that this is a good idea?" Luke asked, again confused as to why he had allowed himself to be talked into this. "It's a hurt digimon. No creature should be alone and hurting, especially in a world such as this, where if you're hurt, you're practically dead." Michael snapped again, and Luke realized with a gasp why Michael was being so pushy about this. He picked Ravenmon up and began whispering intently into his ear. Michael noticed the two talking, and the expression of doubt on Chinchilmon's face, and frowned. "Um…" Chinchilmon noticed the frown and quickly put on a smile to ease Michael's mind. "No worries! Let's go help that digimon." Chinchilmon smiled, but couldn't shake the sinking feeling of dread in his stomach. "Here goes nothing." Michael began opening the door right as Luke and Ravenmon called his name. "MICHAEL, WAIT!" The door opened and a blur jumped out.
"FREE AT LAST!" The digimon, most definitely not an in-training, crowed. "I must thank you quite a bit! I have been stuck in that blasted door for so long!" The digimon brushed itself off. "Um… Who are you?" Michael asked, now thoroughly confused. "Funny you should ask! I am Kyukimon, and I am the Digimon of the Door!" Kyukimon cheerfully exclaimed and began to stretch. The digimon was primarily pink, and stood on two legs, slouched over. There were intricate red designs all over its body, and its arms were more like scythes than actual arms. Its regal blue mane and tail were very long and both lay on the ground, while its yellow whiskers curled up at the end. The blue four point star on Kyukimon's forehead forced Michael to look at the digimon, and into her eyes. "Woah…" He murmured quietly. "Yeah. This is what happens when you're forced to be inside of a door for thousands of years." Kyukimon smiled faintly. "What's up with the door?" Chinchilmon asked, now very nervous.
"The door is my prison. They trapped me there thousands of years ago as punishment for supporting the other side, and cursed the door to reside in a location where only the Digital Mother could allow others to pass. " Kyukimon smiled mournfully at the door. "Is? You're out of the door now." Luke pointed out. "For now, I am. This door is cursed. I am forever bound to it unless…" The digimon looked away from the four. "Unless what?" Michael asked, eager to know. "You're an eager one." The human-like Kyukimon giggled softly. "Unless someone else takes my place in the door." Kyukimon glanced hopefully at the quartet, none of whom were moving. "So you can't leave this door?" Ravenmon asked. "Yes, that's correct. I was hoping that the Digital Mother had finally allowed someone to set me free…" Kyukimon gazed into Michael's eyes, her own flashing purple quickly before changing back to blue. "Well, I hate to break it to you, but we can't really do that for you. You see, we're supposed to be helping a group of children save the world, and we can't really do that if we're trapped inside of a door." Luke explained rapidly and turned around to leave. "Wait! You're leaving so soon?" Kyukimon gasped and ran towards the group as Michael was turning around. "We have to. We've spent too much time in this cave already." Ravenmon explained, as Chinchilmon began pushing Michael away as well as the tiny digimon could.
"Oh… Well… I guess I'll just have to make you stay then!" Kyukimon jumped onto the wall of the cave and back down in front of Michael. "BLADE TWISTER! GRAH!" The enraged digimon began to spin directly in front of the boy, who stared in shock at the digimon in front of him. "MICHAEL MOVE!" Chinchilmon yelled as time seemed to slow down for the group. Kyukimon began to run at Michael, screaming angrily at him, while Ravenmon and Luke were shouting at him to move. "What?" Michael asked, questioningly. He didn't recognize the danger in front of him until it was too late. "GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Kyukimon slammed into Michael at full speed and slashed her scythe-like arms against his chest in the shape of an x. "NOW YOU HAVE TO STAY WITH ME!" She growled, slowly turning insane as the attack appeared on Michael's chest.
Time sped up, and Michael fell backwards, his eyes widened and his mouth gaping open as he stared at his tattered and soaked with blood shirt. "MICHAEL!" Chinchilmon screamed as Kyukimon turned towards the other three. "WHO'S NEXT?" The digimon growled and Chinchilmon glared at the digimon. "CHINCHILMON DIGIVOLVE TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO TRILEPTIMON!" The champion level digimon howled angrily as his partner lay on the floor, slowly dying from the powerful attack. "I remember this one now." Ravenmon spoke quickly. "She is Kyukimon, the Bewitching Digimon from days of Old! She's an ultimate level digimon who is said to have attempted to convince the Digital Mother to make her a Digital Sovereign, hence why only the Digital Mother is allowed to see her and the door! Her Blade Twister attack is so powerful that the recipient is said not to feel the attack until it's over!" Ravenmon squawked and flew towards Kyukimon as well. "RAVENMON DIGIVOLVE TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO TOUCAMON!" The two champion digimon glared at Kyukimon while Luke tried to edge around the digimon and get to Michael.
"GRRRR! ASTIRE SLASH!" Trileptimon fired off an attack at Kyukimon, who took the hit without breaking a sweat. "FIERY WING!" Toucamon struck Kyukimon as well, who simply smiled and took the hit. "Is that all you've got?" She asked, tauntingly. "WHY DID YOU ATTACK HIM?" Trileptimon growled, the anger in his voice making Kyukimon step back. "Woah there, big doggy. He's the one who was most likely to set me free, so now he's going to be the one in the door." Kyukimon explained calmly despite the sudden fear in her eyes. "That's what you think. The only one in that door will be you!" Toucamon declared, glaring at the insane digimon. "Oh dear me! I'm ever so frightened!" The digimon declared, trying to make it seem as though she wasn't worried. "NOW!" Luke yelled as he reached Michael, and Trileptimon and Toucamon sprung into action.
"ASTIRE SLASH!" "FIERY WING!" The two attacks collided and struck Kyukimon, blinding her momentarily and allowing Luke to slowly begin moving Michael out of the field of battle. "Michael, can you hear me? It's me, Luke. I'm right here, and you're going to be okay. I have my first aid kit here, you see?" Luke began talking to him quietly, trying to keep Michael awake. "Oh… God… What have I done…" Michael panted, breaths irregular as Luke tore off the remains of his shirt. "Oh dear God… This is worse than I expected." He pulled out his medical kit from his bag and began applying what first aid he could. "Hang in there Michael, I'm doing my best…" Luke worriedly spoke and pulled out his bandages. "You guys have got to take care of that beast so we can get some real treatment for Michael!" He yelled to Trileptimon and Toucamon. "We're doing our best!" Toucamon called back, dodging an attack from Kyukimon.
"HAH! There's no way that you'll be able to defeat me. There are only two of you, and I am a digimon from the creation of the Digital World!" Kyukimon growled and glared at the two champion level digimon. "We can always try! ASTIRE SLASH!" Trileptimon tried to catch Kyukimon off-guard, but failed, as she dodged the attack, allowing it to hit the wall. "Be careful! You might send the ceiling of the cave down on us!" Luke reminded the two digimon. "FIERY WING!" Toucamon successfully hit Kyukimon, who accepted the hit in return for firing off an attack of her own. "GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! SANRENSEI!" The beast-like digimon's four-point star on her forehead began to shine and three large blue stars appeared in the air and fired the stars at Trileptimon and Toucamon. "AGH!" Two of the stars hit Toucamon and the bird digimon fell to the ground, shocked by the power behind the attack. The third star struck Trileptimon at full speed, who shakily stayed standing, but looked intimidated as Kyukimon slowly walked up to him.
"So, big doggy… You want to help your master?" Kyukimon taunted. "I will always protect my friend." Trileptimon growled angrily as he defiantly stared into Kyukimon's eyes. "Well, aren't you a brave one! Why don't you try to help him now?" Kyukimon moved to the right slightly to give Trileptimon a better view of Michael and Luke. "Bewitchment…" She muttered under her breath, giving Trileptimon's eyes a glazed look. "Michael…" In Trileptimon's mind, Luke bent over Michael, shutting his eyes slowly. "MICHAEL!" The digimon cried plaintively. "He's gone." Kyukimon told Trileptimon, grinning cruelly. "No…" Trileptimon fell to the ground and closed his eyes, remembering their adventures so far.
In Trileptimon's mind, he watched from the sky as he saw himself as Frenmon jumping out of the bushes in an attempt to save Michael from Digmon. Trileptimon saw his first digivolution with Michael into Chinchilmon, and watched as he and Michael went with Ally and Tiffany to find the rest of the digidestined. He remembered the first argument with Jacob, and began whimpering softly as he heard Michael's emotional voice again, pouring his soul into the song that he was playing. Trileptimon saw Michael crying on the rock after the song, and he saw Michael telling Chinchilmon about his past. "Michael…" He croaked out, watching Luke stand up and turn towards Kyukimon, tears in his eyes. "No…"
Trileptimon saw Michael's life flash before his eyes as he stood in the face of near-certain death before Ranetsumon saved him. He saw Michael and himself being blasted back by Dark Antylamon, and the journey they undertook to return to the mountain and save Tiffany and Azuremon. He saw the argument between Michael and Jacob on whether they went to Server or not, the concern that Michael always held for Ally, the love and hope in his eyes when he learned that Ally was finally beginning to learn how to survive on her own, the desperate sadness that resonated through his entire soul when Ally left to follow Sora, and the hard lifestyle that he had been forced to live again for the past few months. "Michael… My friend…" Trileptimon cried out again, seeing Michael's smiling face in his mind, and thinking that it was gone forever.
Outside of Trileptimon's mind, Luke was still trying to administer first aid to Michael. However, the boy suddenly sat up. "Michael! Are you okay?" Luke asked. "Antylamon… Saved me." The boy muttered, and stared at his chest, which, though still heavily wounded, was no longer life-threatening. 'He was saved through I, the Digital Mother, sending the ghost of Antylamon to heal him. He shall not die today.' Luke heard the message loud and clear, and helped Michael sit up. "Be careful. You're still very hurt." Michael ignored him and began to try to stand up. "Trileptimon… He's in trouble. He needs my help." Luke turned to look and saw Kyukimon standing over Trileptimon, her scythe arms aimed at his neck, prepared to give the killing blow at any second. "TRILEPTIMON!" Michael yelled, and the digimon looked up briefly.
Trileptimon was forcibly snapped out of Kyukimon's trance when he heard his name being called. "MICHAEL?!" He looked up and saw his friend and partner standing, looking directly at him. "NO!" Kyukimon screamed as they locked eyes. "MY FRIEND! DO IT FOR ME!" Michael yelled, making sure that Trileptimon felt the emotion in his voice. "MY FRIEND IS ALIVE! MICHAEL!" Trileptimon began glowing. "TRILEPTIMON!" Michael yelled as best he could as his Crest and Digivice began to glow. "Trileptimon is digivolving into his Ultimate form!" Luke realized in shock as he watched the exchange take place.
"TRILEPTIMON!" Trileptimon's cream tails turned to a scarlet color and merged back together into only four tails. His brown fur also lightened up and became a dirty red color, creating a dazzling light with the six orbs surrounding his midsection. The orbs also changed, pressing themselves into Trileptimon's body and becoming royal blue circle markings. "DIGIVOLVE TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Trileptimon's eyes changed from their sharp blue to match the royal blue markings on his midsection. He also gained a saddle on his back that held two scarlet spheres, matching the color of his tails. "GRAH!" The ground around Trileptimon shifted and shined with a royal blue light, contrasting beautifully with his fur and tails. "ENIGMON!" Enigmon growled deeply and stared directly at Kyukimon, who now was terrified, and rightfully so. Enigmon was angry. "You messed up." Luke commented shortly as he watched the digivolution before turning to Michael. "Now sit, we're getting you fixed up."
"GRAH!" Enigmon easily dodged Kyukimon's powerful Sanrensei attack. "What?!" The Bewitching digimon gasped as the markings on Enigmon and the orbs on his back began to glow their respective colors. "HIYAH! BLAST ENERGO!" The orbs and markings created balls of energy that merged together into a multicolor ball of energy that struck Kyukimon at full speed, sending her flying backwards into the cave wall, where she was quickly deleted. "GRAAH!" Enigmon declared victoriously before dedigivolving into Frenmon. "Whew! I'm tired now!" The in-training digimon hopped over to the now dedigivolved Ravenmon, who brought him to Michael. "Thank you… Frenmon… You saved my life." He smiled softly. "Well… You're my friend! It's what friends do, right?" Frenmon giggled softly and Michael smiled. "That's right buddy, that's right."
"Be careful, this might sting." Luke warned Michael before he applied the antiseptic. "YEP! That stings a lot." Michael tensed up, and forced himself to relax. "There. We're good. That wasn't too bad. Now, we've just got to get the bandages on." Luke pulled out the gauze wrap that he would use as a first layer. "We'll have to change this every night for a while until we know it won't start bleeding again, so get used to this." He told Michael. "Alright, it's not like I have much else to do." Michael laughed softly, and muttered something quietly. "What was that?" Luke asked him. "It hurts to laugh." He smiled ruefully. "Well that sucks. It's good that you're laughing though, so keep it up." Frenmon smiled at his partner, who picked the in-training digimon up to cuddle with him.
"Let's head back to the diner now, shall we?" The quartet began heading back the way they came, watching Kyukimon's door disappear behind them. 'Thank you… For finally ridding the world of that demonic digimon.' The Digital Mother put a message in their heads. "Digital Mother, we only do as you tell us to." Michael bowed slightly, despite not being able to see the Digital Mother. "That's right. We do the best we can. It is you that help us." Ravenmon nodded and flapped his wings as they walked out of the cave and into the sunlight.
"How many days were we down there?" Michael asked Luke. "Um… Unless time passes differently there, it's only been one day." He told Michael. "Let's hope that nothing's changed so far…" Michael, now worried about the diner, hurried up and began to make his way through the forest. "He never changes…" Frenmon smiled softly. "But I wouldn't have it any other way." The digimon began to follow his partner and best friend through the forest.
FUN FACT! In the original version of this chapter, Michael was going to die and Trileptimon was going to digivolve into an evil digimon and bring him back to life before destroying Kyukimon. I'm much happier with the current version, however, as it's always very difficult to kill off a character for me.