Disclaimer: None of the characters, human or Digimon, belong to me, the writer.
Author's Warning: The following fanfic features gruesome character death, both of the human and Digimon kind, violence of varying levels, some profane language, and some suggestive situations. Please do not read this fanfic if you're underage or feel that you cannot handle any of said features.
The mansion of East Antarctican Representative Jindra Maseroon, 10:35 am EST
"Blizzard-like conditions are still glaringly apparent as you can see," stated the blonde-haired television reporter. "The storm stumps all scientific logic, as it has been hovering over the capital city of Zan Konolchuck for nearly 12 hours now and shows no signs of letting up or moving off. Communications are impossible within a 10-mile radius of the city center... in fact, I'm lucky enough to be able to get this report through given I'm only a few hundred feet outside of that range.
"East Antarctican forces from the cities of Suzuhara and New Tanzu have been gathering for the past few hours, assessing the situation and preparing to go in to check on both the country's central government and its officials. Many of the regional government branches are on high alert and planning for the worst-case scenario, though there is no reason to believe that the President and his staff have a lack of functionability at this time.
"Also unconfirmed are rumblings that this is not a natural phenomenon, but instead someone is purposefully pinning down the central government. There is no proof to back up that claim, and the government officials who made it aren't elaborating on it at this time. But we do know that less than three hours ago, East Antarctica had announced it had declared war on the United States. The surprising thing about that is that no official has confirmed or denied that declaration. Despite the current situation of Zan Konolchuck and the central government, you'd think such a statement would be clarified..."
Red, Blue, Yellow, Gizamon, Betamon, and Mushroommon were all watching the report on TV, amazed at what was happening and stumped as to what this had to do with their master plan.
"So you made it snow in East Antarctica?" Yellow asked. "What's so special about that?"
Red answered his query. "It's because even in Zan Konolchuck at this time of year, snowstorms this big are unnatural. Apparently, our great leader had wanted to pin down the East Antarctica government for awhile."
"Yes," confirmed White. "My intention was to disable the country's leaders in order to leave them vulnerable to an attack."
Red blinked his eyes, somewhat confused. "An... attack?"
"So that would explain why you're asking us about air-to-surface missiles," Blue smirked slyly. "You planning on blowing the place to kingdom come?"
White stared at Blue for a second or two, smiled, then laughed maniacally. Red and Yellow both gasped in shock.
"This is what you've been planning all along?" Red asked, freaked out.
"I knew we were fighting for justice, but this..." Yellow stated, quaking in his shoes.
"I'm not sure I can condemn the lives of so many innocent people," growled Mushroommon.
"Is this really necessary?" Betamon asked, looking up at his partner.
"This isn't what you promised us!" Gizamon exclaimed.
"I agree!" Red spoke up. "I thought the purpose of our plan was to achieve the means through peaceful resolution, using extreme force only as a last resort!"
Blue snickered. "Then you obviously don't know our boss real well, do you?"
"Then you mean... all of the people and Digimon we've killed so far..."
"No," interjected White. "They weren't all planned. Most, but not all. Despite that, every single one of those lives were necessary to get us to this point. And now we're ready to make the ultimate coup d'etat...
"By ensuring the destruction of East Antarctica!"
Episode Twenty-One - Caught! (07.06.06)
"Why your homeland?" Red asked. "Why do you want to destroy your own people?"
"I want to destroy them for what they did to me! For what... they made me become..."
Reaching up to his forehead, White began to tug at his skin. Slowly but surely, it began to peel away as if it were a rubber mask. The whole gang cringed in fear, not knowing what to expect as the elastic faceplate gave way to their leader's true self...
"You're..." Yellow gasped, "You're an alien!"
"Unbelievable," Red and Gizamon remarked simultaneously.
The group was staring at their commander and his aquamarine-colored skin. Seeing their shock, White smiled and slipped his 'human skin' back on.
"It shouldn't be... remember, the East Antarcticans originate from Neptune. And breeding on Earth has been limited to partners within our own race... with very rare exceptions here and there."
"But that doesn't answer the question," prodded Red again. "Why do you want to destroy your own people?"
"He already answered that, dipwad!" exclaimed Blue.
"You see, Honda... when the Neptunians came to Earth in 2015, they wanted the transition to go as smooth as possible. Both for us and all the residents of Earth.
"As part of the negotiations with many of the world powers for establishing a habitat on this planet, our leaders were forced to mask our identities from the general populace. The idea was to generally ease the citizens of Earth into the fact that we, as outsiders to their way of life, could reside peacefully with them despite our... looks. That, and the fact that humans have a tendency to be fearful of that which they do not understand. But as hard as it was for our race to keep our identities a secret, it was even harder for the governments of the world to figure out a way to reveal our existence without upsetting them too much.
"As you know, that reveal came just a few years ago, in 2024. Before that, we Neptunians were forbidden to travel to anywhere on Earth but East Antarctica, for fear of giving away our true selves before the planet was ready to accept us for what we were. Surprisingly, after the initial shock, the people of Earth seemed very welcoming. Sure, there were the occasional country or two that developed a prejudice against us. But the big revelation went over a lot better than our leaders had predicted beforehand.
"Still, in order to keep our people safe when present in a city not in the Antarctican confines, we are required to wear these plaster faces in order to mask our true identities. But I ask you... why must we hide our faces in order to feel accepted by the people of Earth? Our existence is practically acknowledged by every developed country on the planet! So why must we keep our cultures and beliefs to ourselves when no such restrictions are placed upon anyone else? Even worse, those restrictions were applied upon us by our own government officials! Do they not believe in the goodness of Earth's hearts? Of our hearts?"
"So you're basically fighting for the right to walk around as you please," Yellow asked, "without the need to hide in fear, as your own government would lead you to believe?"
White smirked. "Isn't that what we all want in life... to be accepted by everyone? Or... at least by everyone that wants to accept us?"
"We didn't come to Earth just to isolate ourselves from everyone else!" Blue announced. "We want to be a part of this planet just like the people who lived here for centuries! But our country's leader..."
"He sees no need to trust the people of Earth, despite the willingness of other countries to learn to accept the presence of peaceful alien races such as ours."
"You're still not making any sense!" objected Red.
"Despite his shortcomings about everything we've done so far..." Yellow interjected, "I have to agree with Red. Suddenly, all of our actions seem radical and unneeded. I fail to see how convincing your own government the error of their ways couldn't have been done through peaceful means."
"They don't listen to reason!" yelled Blue angrily.
"Somehow, I find that hard to believe."
"I agree," added Red.
"So... you two are now against us?" Blue asked.
"Nothing we've done over the course of this past day feels justified!" Red exclaimed. "Our hands are bloodied with the stains of hundreds of innocents!"
"Stop babbling your nonsense!"
"Nonsense?" queried Yellow, coming to Red's defense. "The lies you two have been feeding us since the beginning come to a stop here and now! I no longer wish to take part in such a heartless cause. You two are free to continue this useless crusade if you so desire. It's not my place to stop you."
"What?" Red questioned. "But... they're about to kill more innocents..."
"Maybe so, my friend... but that's no longer my concern."
"So you're still condoning their deaths even though you refuse to have a hand in it?"
"I'm not condoning anything, Honda, as long as I'm not part of the plot."
"Don't you get what Red's saying, Yellow?" Blue yelled again. "You know about our true plans... that fact cannot be changed, regardless of whether either of you continue on with us or not. But you must also realize that if you attempt to stop us by means of informing the authorities, you implicate yourselves in everything that's already happened."
Honda and Yellow gasped in dismay. The Digimon seemed confused and, at the same time, frightened, as they didn't know where their allegiance at this point stood.
"Blue is right," White told them. "Divulging our plan now may stop us from carrying out our true intentions. But you two have been involved up to this point... and you're responsible for your roles in everything that we've done."
"But that's not fair!" objected Honda. "We never had the intention of killing so many innocents."
Yellow placed a hand over Honda's mouth to stop him. "The fact of the matter is, our 'boss' is telling the truth. It wasn't part of our plan, but it happened. We may stop Mr. Jindra's plot from reaching its goal... but we will spend the rest of our lives in jail. And that's if we're lucky."
Mr. Jindra, uh, White, shook his head. "If you know what awaits you by following that route, then why go through with it? See my plan through to the end, and I assure you... I'll make sure that all the charges are dropped. None of you will ever be implicated in the fall of the East Antarctican government!"
"Is that even possible?"
"Oh, it's possible, Mr. Honda. And all you have to do is agree to see the plan to the end."
"Can we even trust these losers anymore?" Blue asked. "Why don't we just kill them right now? It's the only way to assure our plan goes off without a hitch."
Yellow smiled. "Don't underestimate us."
He then glanced over towards his Digimon partner.
"Mushroommon, defensive position!"
Mushroommon nodded, then took his place in front of his master. Honda glanced over at his partner and motioned him to do the same.
"To me, Gizamon!"
In response to seeing his fellow brethren take sides with their partners, Betamon instinctively goes to Blue's side to protect him.
"We'll take you both out if we have to!" shouted Yellow, to Honda's surprise.
"But..."
Yellow looked to Honda. "We have no choice! Unless we want to rot in prison for the rest of our lives, our only other option is to get rid of the rest of the team! Once they're finished, we go our separate ways and hide in solitude. No one ever has to know of what we've done or what we were planning to do.
"It's the only way we'll have a future."
Honda wasn't happy of the conclusion Yellow had come to, but by the second he became aware that not only was Yellow telling the truth, but that he was serious about going through with his declaration.
"As much as it pains me... you're right. And this shouldn't matter... their lives aren't exactly innocent, you know?"
"Oh, I'm so scared," Blue responded in fright. Mock fright, apparently, as he frowned at his two ex-teammates. "Don't you know who you're dealing with?"
"Electric Stun Blast!"
One flash of light later, Honda and Yellow were on the receiving end of a paralyzing shock, courtesy of a Gazimon. Jindra's Gazimon.
"He's here?" winced Yellow.
"What kind of fool do you take me for, gentlemen?" laughed Jindra as he saw his Gazimon walk in from the doorway.
"We're not done yet! Mushroomon, Fungus Crusher!"
Mushroommon launched his attack at Gazimon, but then he suddenly turned about and aimed right at Yellow. Too close to even attempt a dodge, Yellow was knocked clear across the room. He was knocked out instantly upon hitting the opposing wall.
"Yellow!" Red jumped, wanting to run over and help his fallen comrade. Unfortunately, Gizamon was standing in his way.
"I'm sorry," Gizamon said apologetically, eyes focused on his former partner. "But don't move or I'll be forced to hurt you."
"Gizamon..." gasped Honda, teary-eyed.
"Mr. Jindra gave these Digimon to us, remember?" reminded Blue. "None of us raised them at all! They all listen to his orders! They supersede any directives you might give them!"
"S... say it isn't so."
"If you're smart, you'll stop your foolishness while you have the chance."
Gizamon, Gazimon, Mushroomon, and Betamon surrounded Honda, all ready to attack him at a moment's notice. Honda was cornered, and there was nothing he could do about it.
Digital World's Northern Quadrant, Sector 7.20
"Well, the trail ends here," noted Patamon.
Sure enough, Patamon, Gatomon, and Veemon had reached the 'deep end' of Sector 7, a mountain range where there were no direct paths to any other part of the Digital World. Other than the way they had come in, of course. Deciding that they had wandered aimlessly for several hours now with still no way of getting to the real world, the trio plopped down onto the ground to take a good, long break.
"Why can't we find an open Digi-port anywhere?" cried Gatomon.
"It's very strange!" commented Veemon. "I've never known to be this long without contact with Davish. At least, not in a situations such as this."
"It's times like these that made me wish this part of the Digiworld wasn't so underdeveloped," Patamon said, referring to the grassy, yet barren land about them. "You'd think there'd be a map seller or something like that around here."
"I really hate to say it," Gatomon said with worry, "but Kari and the others must be in a whole lot of trouble. For them not to be in contact with us for so long..."
Patamon shook his head in dismay. "No way! I refuse to believe they're gone! The Digidestined have never fallen in times of need!"
"I've fallen and I can't get up!"
Gomamon fell to the ground in exhaustion, pooped from all of the walking he had done. Palmon sat down on the ground to his left, massaging her worn out paws with her own vines.
"My corns are killing me!" cried Palmon.
"Come on, guys!" urged Agumon. "You know how important it is that we find Patamon and the others! We gotta let 'em know what's going on and get back to the real world to help Tai and the gang!"
"But what if they've already found a portal back and we just don't know about it? We haven't been in contact with the others since we got here!"
"They're here somewhere, I just know it!" Agumon clinched his fists in determination. "Tell you what... you two rest here for a few minutes. We're on the 'deep end' of Sector 7, and the path we came in on is the only way in or out. If I don't see them, we'll just double back and regroup."
"No arguments here!" Gomamon said.
"Just be careful, okay?" Palmon added.
Agumon nodded, then ran off, unaware that he was much closer to Patamon and the others than he knew.
United Nations Building, Second Floor
Stacy Compton pounded her desk in frustration, with index cards from her rolodex strewn all over it and on the floor. With East Antarctica's declaration of war on the United States, this morning had been anything but normal for the assistant to the UN representative of Japan.
And it seemed as if the problems continued to stockpile...
"How hard can it be to find one of the Big Apple's most famous chefs?" she asked herself aloud. "It's like Mimi Tachikawa disappeared off the face of the Earth! Her husband hasn't seen her in a few hours, and she said she was off to work, yet the TV studio said she never showed up! I called all the places she's known to hang out, but no dice either! To make matters worse, I can't get in touch with any of the Digidestined! Do they all turn off their D-3s during the day or what?"
Suddenly, the phone began to ring. Stacy reached over and answered it, knocking a few stray cards out of the way in the process.
"You've reached the office of Tai Kamiya, representative of Japan to the United Nations! This is Stacy, how may I direct your call?"
"Stacy, it's me!" she heard Tai yell at her. "Any progress on Mimi?"
"No, sir. It's like she vanished!"
She heard Tai grumble on the other hand. "She knows we're in a crisis... could she have been that dumb to have gone out without her D-3?"
"Maybe we should call the police. If she's gone missing..."
"Not yet, Stacy! We can't be sure this is foul play as of yet. Let's leave this between us for the time being."
"Okay..."
"In the meantime, can you connect me to my house?"
Stacy blinked, confused. "B-but... couldn't you directly call them from your phone?"
"Don't ask questions, JUST DO IT!"
"Yes, sir, right away, sir!"
"And follow standard procedure number five, okay?"
"Of course!"
Stacy complied with her boss' orders without a second thought. Seconds later, she was ready as she dialed up the number to the Kamiya household...
A phone was seen ringing loudly in a suburban Jersey household. The sound of someone in high heels running towards it filled the air. A hand reached over and finally brought the ringing to halt by picking up the receiver.
"H-hello?" stammered a female voice.
"Honey?"
The voice cried out with jubilation. It was Tai's brunette wife, Peg. "Tai, it's you! Thank goodness!"
"Everything alright?"
"Yes... but was sending all of these cops over completely necessary? Jake and I are completely frightened with all of them wandering around!"
Suddenly, Jake came running into the room, making 'whoosh' and 'grrrr' noises as he held a red dragon action figure in one hand and what looked to be a Barbie doll in the other.
"Help me, oh please!" cried 'Barbie.'
"Don't cry, my sweet flower!" exclaimed the dragon. "Your man, the NY Drag is up in this house, yo!"
Jake then ran out, with more 'whoosh' accompanying him.
"Okay," Peg said apologetically. "I'm completely frightened with all of the cops around."
"It's just a safety precaution, Peg. All of the other Digidestined are doing the same... we're just looking out for our loved ones."
"If it's so dangerous... then maybe we should be taken somewhere else. Like one of those safe houses?"
"I assure you, you're better off in a place that you're familiar with. Besides, you can trust New York's finest to do their job."
Suddenly, Peg heard a bunch of screams, immediately followed by the sound of something crashing through the front door.
"It's a Digimon!" one of the police officers shouted. "What do we do?"
"Shoot first, ask questions later!" Peg heard another yelled.
Several gunshots rang out. In a panic, Peg dropped the receiver and ran off to go find her son, Jake. The line was still connected, and Tai could hear everything from the other end.
"Peg? Peg? Peg, can you hear me?" Tai shouted. He knew he could hear voices on the other end, but they were heavily muffled.
Tai suddenly began hearing the gunshots in the background. Then he heard a loud growling sound and the thrashing about of a wooden table.
"What is that? There's something... something's in my house, and it's attacking my family!"
In the Digiworld, Agumon was getting ever so close to the edge of the world. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he spotted three Digimon resting nearby. Noticing the glare off of a tail ring among them, he knew he had found what he had been looking for.
"Patamon! Gatomon! Veemon!" Agumon yelled as he ran towards them.
Hearing the familiar voice, the three rose from their nap and saw the dinosaur-like Digimon running towards them. Smiles crept across their faces, relieved to see a familiar sight at last.
"Agumon!" they shouted in unison.
Getting to their feet, they greeted Agumon with praise.
"How'd you guys get here?" he asked the trio.
"We're trying to find a way back to the real world," noted Gatomon. "Kari and the others left us behind to chase that guy in the red shirt. We were still checking for any other injured Digimon and were expecting them to come back for us."
"But we haven't heard from Davish or any of them for hours!" Veemon added.
Agumon lowered his head. "Guys... there's some bad news..."
"What?" Patamon wondered, not really prepared for what Agumon was about to say.
"TK and Davis... they were both hurt really badly when somebody tried to run them over with their car."
"Run them over?" Patamon asked again.
"Why would someone want to do that?" Veemon added.
"Wait, wait..." Gatomon cut in. "You just mentioned the guys. What about Kari? She was with them... right?"
Agumon just stood there silently, unable to mutter anything. The trio glanced oddly at them, trying to get a grasp of why Agumon wasn't talking.
Then, Gatomon gasped, finally getting it.
"No..." she started to weep. "She can't be..."
Patamon and Veemon then got it, and started to cry. Agumon looked saddened as the three Digimon balled their eyes out.
"Kari... no, not you! Why did they have to take you?"
More than a thousand miles south of New York City, a Latina-American women in her late thirties was sitting out on the balcony of her beach house. Dressed in a white flowing dress, she had a cup half full of tea in one hand and a cell phone in the other. She was in the midst of conversation with someone, as the wind breezed through her long, flowing locks of hair.
"Uh huh," she uttered. "You were right all along. She was a target. I got her out of there just in time."
She put her teacup down and reached across the table for another object... a D-3.
"It's not often I pick up women, you know," she half-joked. "She's a whole lot more beautiful than I remember. Huh? I know, I know, she's already spoken for. So am I, okay? It's just... I would think she would've changed more than that in nine years."
She started punching buttons onto her D-3, bringing up the activity from the last time it was used. It read 'Origin: New York City,' and then below it, 'Destination: Miami.'
"Don't worry," she continued. "Centarumon and I are ready to move her again if need be. We won't let these guys get her. Hmmm... where is she now? Why, the poor soul's resting on the outdoor bed in my gazebo."
Glance over at said gazebo, and there we saw who was indeed resting in the women's bed.
One exhausted Mimi Tachikawa.
Author's Notes:
A little surprised, huh? Having White/Jindra actually be a citizen of East Antarctica and thusly being one born on Neptune was planned from the start. Having Blue/Mitchell, though, was added at the last minute, though it ends up greatly making his pull towards the 'boss' more definitive.
Remember Tai's wife, Peg? You've seen her before... back at the 15th Anniversary Digidestined Celebration, back in Episode 11 of this series. Here's her first appearance at present day, with their son, Jake. Oh, by the way, points for you if you guessed he was named after the title character of the Disney series "American Dragon: Jake Long." Then again, the 'figures' he was playing with was a helpful giveaway.
Speaking of giveaways... the Latina in the last scene has appeared in the TV show, she's not an original character. Instantly there's enough clues about her that you should be able to figure out her identity.
If not... well, you're gonna have to wait a couple of months. I'm taking a break from this fanfic, as I need to get my notes together and figure out how I want to end this fanfic. Okay, actually, I do know how it's going to end, it's just all the stuff in-between that's unclear.
The final five episodes will appear sometime this fall. Wait for it, k?
Next Episode - 22
Things really get serious! Jindra Maseroon prepares to put his master plan into full motion. Does it have involve harming Tai's wife and son? Did it involve getting rid of Mimi? Can Honda stop him? In fact, can anyone? Plus, Sora pulls a Sydney, hair wig and all! Really!