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.
This particular episode features some violence and sensual situations.
Unnamed Secret Military Base, Arizona, USA, 11:59 am EST
"This is the last time I'm going to say it!" a solider yelled in Blue's direction. "Get down on that floor and spread 'em! NOW!"
"Or you'll do what?" Blue asked. "Shoot me? We've been going back and forth for five minutes, and I haven't seen any indication that one of you bastards have the guts to bust a cap!"
"Have you gotten in touch with the target city yet?" a second soldier yelled into his walkie talkie. For all we know, it may have hit it already!"
"We should know within a matter of moments!" came the reply from the other side.
"Heh," chuckled Blue, still standing upright by the control panel. "There's no way you'll be able to reach them, with that weather anomaly of a blizzard blanketing everything within a twenty-mile radius of that city!"
"Then how will the missiles make it through? Wouldn't the weather screw with the targeting enough to make it miss the intended target by a few miles?"
"Who do you think controls the anomaly, you fools? Besides, even if we were to allow that to happen, it would still hit close enough to result in a massive amount of casualties."
"Why are you doing this?" Red asked. "It's not too late to stop this! Don't you understand what this will do?"
"What kind of question is that? Of course I know what it'll do! And the genius of my plan is... it can still succeed without any further meddling on my part."
"What does that..."
"But before I go, I'm taking you with me! SO DIE!"
Blue pulled a small pistol out of his pocket and moved to fire a shot at Red. But upon seeing the weapon, the military soldiers opened fire without hesitation. In the blink of an eye, bullets started piercing through his body... through his skull, his heart, his hands, and his legs. Blood flied freely all over the nearby control panel and the floor as Blue, having already been killed after one of the first few bullets had pierced his brain, collapsed to the ground.
Upon impact with the ground, Blue's pistol discharged one bullet, which luckily struck the nearby wall without hitting anybody. A pool of blood quickly generated underneath his body as the soldiers had stopped firing and a couple were going over to check on him.
Michael, who was cowering in fear as he continued to lie shaking in fear face-down, quickly heard the gunshots replaced by yelling... some of which was directed at him.
"DON'T MOVE!" he heard one yell as he heard several pairs of footsteps clanking towards him. "KEEP YOUR HANDS WHERE WE CAN SEE THEM!"
Michael complied as he was quickly handcuffed and brought to his feet. Upon doing so, he looked at the now silent Red, who was also in the process of being cuffed by another set of soldiers. Michael then glanced to his right, where he tried to see where Blue was... only to have his view practically obscured by the soldiers examining him.
"He's definitely dead, sir!" one of the examiners stated aloud.
"Take these two and their Digimon to the brig!" the leader of the group ordered. "Put them all in separate cells! We'll deal with them later! In the meantime, get someone in here to clean this mess up!"
Red shot a glare in Michael's direction as the two were led out of the room. He also tried to take one last look at Blue's corpse, but he was already being pushed outside.
Episode Twenty-Five - One Ounce of Prevention... (12.14.06)
Osaka Harbor Detention Center, 1:55 am JST (roughly five minutes ago)
Izzy found himself fighting for his own survival as he was trapped on the ground, mustering all his strength to keep a knife from being plunged into his heart. On the other end of the weapon was his attacker, whom Izzy could barely make out in the dimly lit cell, trying desperately to finish off the Digidestined's resident genius.
"Who... are... you?" Izzy grimaced.
"You should know by now, mate," answered his attacker.
Izzy gasped... or would have if he hadn't been focusing on where the knife was in relation to his heart.
"Derek?"
"In the flesh. Though I don't go by my God-given name anymore. I go by Dingo Jack now. Or maybe it should be Green, given our codenames and everything."
"But... why?"
"I'm here to kill you, Izzy. I'm doing so in order to keep you from finding out the truth!"
Suddenly, two prison guards ran into the cell and tackled 'Green' to the ground, forcing the knife out of his hand in the process. Derek struggled to break free, but the two of them were too much for him to handle alone. As Izzy picked himself up from the ground, three more guards arrived at the doorway. Two of them ran towards Izzy and pushed him hard into the wall, pinning him against a surface once again.
"What the hell is going on in here?" the guard in the doorway asked. "And how did he get in here?" he followed up with, pointing at 'Green.' "Get that scumbag out of my sight before I beat him to a pulp myself!"
The two guards got Derek to his feet and dragged him towards the door, though the Australian resisted mightily, trying to break free of their grip. Seeing this, the guard at the doorway, who looked like he was the leader of the group, walked over and delivered an uppercut to the gut. The blow succeeded in knocking enough wind out of Derek that he stopped struggling instantly, making it easier for him to be dragged out.
Once Derek was out of the room, the duo that were restraining Izzy released their grip on him. They then immediately walked past the Head Guardsman and out of the cell, leaving the duo alone.
"You mind telling me what's going on?" the Captain asked. "You two have a disagreement on your escape plan or something?"
"Couldn't you see that he was trying to kill me?" Izzy shot back.
"So it seemed. But you never answered my question."
"He wants to shut me up! That's why they all framed me... because I know too much! Now they want to kill me for it!"
"Oh, really? Well, we're going to get to the bottom of this! Guards!"
The same two guards that had just ran out of the room came back in, this time to handcuff Izzy's wrists. Once that was done, they led him out, following the Head Guardsman towards the interrogation quarters.
Miami, Florida
Centarumon gasped heavily as he trotted alongside the highway, heading north towards the outskirts of the city. Riding on his back were Maria and Mimi, the latter still asleep with her arms draped around the former's stomach.
"Sure a deep sleeper, isn't she?" Centarumon observed.
"I guess so, given all the running around she had been doing," Maria replied. "I'd rather have her awake so I can tell her what's going on, but she doesn't seem to respond to anything!"
"What a dra... uh, Maria?"
"Hmm?"
Centarumon pointed straight ahead, as a group of seven Digimon appeared on the horizon, all walking in their direction. Maria pulled out her D-3 and tried to analyze them in order to assess the situation.
"They're too far away to identify them," she said, glancing at the D-3 screen, "but they're definitely Digimon. Seven in all. Looks like all rookie-level."
"Where'd they come from? And are they coming for us?"
Centarumon came to a halt all of a sudden, spooking Maria slightly as she looked up. The seven Digimon had started to run towards them.
"They're going to attack!"
"Damn it!" Maria cursed, before turning to Mimi and starting to shake her. "Wake up, you! Wake up, damn it!"
"I can't attack with you two riding on me!" Centarumon exclaimed.
"We're going to have to run then! It's our only hope!"
"Wait!" one of the Digimon shouted.
"Wha?"
Maria's D-3 then started beeping loudly as the results of the Digimon Analysis were coming through. Seeing their identifies revealed, she breathed a sigh of relief and smiled.
"Calm down, Centarumon... they're on our side."
"You sure?"
"Mimi!" cried Palmon, leading the pack as she leapt up, bounced off of Centarumon's head, and landed right in Maria's face. She had hit them with enough momentum that the three of them, Mimi included as she was still holding onto Maria by the waist, fell backwards and off of Centarumon.
"Sí, incluso si su manera del saludonos seamos poco ortodoxo (Yes, even if their way of greeting us is unorthodox.)," Maria remarked in Spanish, wincing in pain as she had landed on top of Mimi... who had finally been awakened thanks to the fall and to Palmon rubbing her face against her.
"Ack, Palmon!" Mimi yelled. "What did I tell you about you and making your kinky dreams a reality!"
"Get a room, you two!" the other six Digimon yelled at the same time.
Maria got to her feet and saw Agumon, Floramon, Gomamon, Gatomon, Patamon, and Veemon standing there before her and Centarumon, happy as could be. Mimi followed soon afterwards, carrying Palmon in her arms.
"Is that you, Maria?" Mimi asked, not instantly recognizing her. "And can you tell me where am I and what I'm doing here?"
"It's a long story..."
"What? What do you mean Michael, my own husband, tried to have me kidnapped?" Mimi freaked out. "And you... you saved me? By pulling me out of a moving taxicab in the midst of rush hour in downtown New York?"
"I honestly didn't see that coming!" Agumon admitted.
"I don't think any of us did," Gatomon added.
"But why would he do such a thing?" wondered Gomamon out loud.
"We haven't figured that out yet," Maria said. "And by me, I mean the rest of the American Digidestined. We had a feeling that Michael was working with those same guys who attacked all of those Digimon villages earlier today. And have killed all of those innocent people and Digimon. Though to be fair, we don't know how deep Michael is in this thing... at the least, we know he's working for them in some capacity."
"And you guys didn't think to warn me of this beforehand... why?"
"We didn't have any proof! We didn't want to approach you and Michael with circumstantial evidence. He is, after all, our faithful leader. Well... he was faithful."
"Wait... what about my boy? Is Monty..."
"He's safe and sound back at Steve's house in Denver. He found your butler and your babysitter watching them and took them out of the mansion for their protection... just in case Michael or someone else came after them. Obviously, your husband didn't want to get him involved in all this, so he probably told them to keep an eye on him as per normal. The both of them were as clueless as you are now when Steve dropped by."
"But what would drive Michael to do such a thing?"
"Especially after how much we trusted him over the years!" Palmon added.
"Phil and Lou are taking care of that, and they're working with Tai to figure out an answer."
"Tai?"
Maria nodded. "Yes. Apparently, you weren't the only kidnapping target..."
Mimi gasped. "Peg and Jake... Tai's wife and his kid!"
"No need to worry," Maria reassured, putting a hand on Mimi's shoulder. "They're alright."
East Meadows, New York
"Peg!"
"Tai!"
Tai smiled with glee as his wife emerged from a nearby police tactical van, looking fine with the exception of a few bandages covering up some bruises and minor cuts. Peg ran into Tai's waiting arms, and the two shared a long hug and a kiss, both happy that the other was alright.
"Oh God, I was so worried that something bad had happened..."
"It was horrible, Tai. Just horrible!"
"It's okay... Phil told me everything. Where's Jake?"
As if on cue, the door to the van opened again, and Jake appeared, being carried out by a police officer. He also had some bandages on him, mostly on his legs.
"Jake!" Tai shouted, running over to his son.
The officer squatted down and put Jake down on the ground feet first, where he waited for his father to come over.
"Jake... boy am I glad you're alright!" Tai exclaimed as he picked his son up from the ground and gave him a hug.
"We got attacked by some bad Digimon, daddy! I was scared... and I got hurt..."
"It's okay. Daddy's here now. And I'm gonna protect you, no matter what!"
Tai held his son tight and refused to let go for what seemed like several minutes. Peg joined them, sharing in a loving embrace as the police officers around them looked on, some doing their hardest to hold back tears of joy... but to no avail.
Phil was among those who were watching, and he probably would've broken down in tears as well if not for Lou suddenly running up and whispering something into his ear. Something that quickly put Phil in a state of panic, as he ran over to break the family up.
"I don't want to break up this scene..." Phil started to say.
"Something bad's happened, hasn't it?" Tai asked, handing his son over to Peg.
"Remember how I told you that our so-called 'terrorists' intend to destroy their own people in East Antarctica? Well... they're in the process of making that a reality."
Tai gave Phil a puzzled look, not exactly sure what he was hinting at.
"About ten minutes, two nuclear missiles were launched from a secret military base in Arizona. They're heading for Zan Konolchuk, the most populous city in East Antarctica."
Peg gasped with fright. "Those monsters! Are they trying to start a war?"
"They won't if the military can stop them."
"The problem is... they can't seem to deactivate the missiles. And at their current speed, they'll hit their target in about 20 minutes."
"If they can't stop it... is there a way we can?"
Phil nodded slowly. "There might be one way. How fast do you think we can get in touch with the rest of the Digidestined?"
Osaka General Hospital
Davis peered out into the hallway, trying to see if there was anyone around. He could also see the nurses' station, which at the moment was vacant.
"Okay, the coast is clear!"
Davis opened the door, stepped out, and waited as TK followed, hobbling out with crutches to support himself with. A concerned Karone was standing next to him, distraught over what her husband was about to do.
"You're in no condition to do this!" she pleaded. "I know you feel bad for not being able to save Kari's life, but you don't have to do this!"
"This isn't about getting revenge for Kari," TK said to her. "This is about potentially saving thousands of lives. I have to do this."
"Davis... please convince TK not to go with you!"
"Uh..." Davis hesitated, trying to stay out of the argument.
"I'll be fine," TK reassured his wife. "Davis will be there to protect me. And so will Patamon and Veemon."
"What?" Davis gawked in surprise. "But..."
TK winked at his friend, then turned to look at Karone again.
"Nothing's going to happen. We're just going to save the world."
TK leaned over and gave Karone a quick peck on the lips. He then nodded at Davis, who walked over to the nurses' station and aimed his D-3 at one of the computer monitors.
"But how are you going to..." Karone murmured before a Digi-port appeared before them.
"I guess luck's on our side!" Davis said with a goofy grin. "So, let's hit the road!"
"Please... be careful."
TK nodded as he and Davis were sucked into the computer monitor. In a flash, the Digi-port disappeared, leaving Karone standing alone in the barren, quiet hallway.
Or was she?
"Mrs. Takashi?"
"Eek!" Karone screamed, turning around and seeing a man standing behind her.
"Sorry," he said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. "Didn't mean to frighten you like that."
"Wait..." Karone said, remembering his face. "Aren't you Ryo? Kari's... uh..."
"You can say it... Kari's husband."
Karone breathed a sigh of relief. "You scared me for a second. Hey... wait a minute! Aren't visiting hours over? How'd you get up here?"
Ryo ignored her question and instead imposed one of his own.
"Where's Ken's room?"
Digimon Research Lab
"I'm glad that's finally over," Matt said as he emerged from an office room with his D-3 in hand.
"I've already forwarded the necessary documents to the proper authorities," Penelope buzzed over the pseudo-communicator. "They should be letting him out of his cell in a few minutes, tops."
"Well, now that I've saved Izzy's butt... time to save the butt of someone else near and dear to me!"
"There's no need for that, Digidestined of Friendship!"
Matt peered over his shoulder and saw Francois, Catherine's fiancé, standing behind him with a few soldiers around him. They had their rifles in hand, but they weren't aiming them at Matt. Suddenly, Sora appeared, pushing her way through the group and running towards Matt.
"Matt!" she cried.
"Sora! You're alright!"
Sora jumped up off the ground and leaped at Matt, wrapping her arms around the back of his neck and her legs around his waist. The two shared a long, passionate kiss, swapping saliva, to the disgust of Penelope, who was watching from behind Sora's head.
"Ugh... remind me never to fall in love with a boy."
Penelope then logged off, her job having been completed. Matt and Sora finally stopped to give themselves a breather, and to explain what had happened.
"Are you okay, honey?" Matt asked. "I'm sorry for leaving you at gunpoint like that."
Sora laughed, then playfully punched Matt in the shoulder. "Hey, I'm the one who told you to leave me! For the good of the mission. Speaking of which..."
"Done and done," Matt said, holding up his D-3. "They should be waking him up and shuffling him out of his cell in minutes!"
"Thank goodness!"
"So... what about the real traitor?"
"He's in our custody," Francois cut in. "When we spotted him with Sora at gunpoint, we had him quickly surrounded. He decided to surrender, apparently valuing his own life over the multitude of charges we're going to lay on him. He'll be spending the rest of his days behind bars for what he did."
"What about us?"
"We'll drop the trespassing charges, Matt... provided you and your wife do a favor for us."
"Such as?"
Francois led Matt and Sora back to the main research lab, where the staff was hard at work investigating reports of a disturbance over the Pacific Ocean.
"About fourteen minutes ago," Francois told them, "a pair of nukes was launched from the United States. At first, we thought they were headed for Japan... isn't that right, Rena?"
At a nearby computer was Rena Yagami, the building caretaker whom had left shortly after the accident involving Joe and the two other scientists who had died in the Jagamon stampede, had been called back in for duty.
"We just learned about this a few minutes ago. While it's true that the two missiles were heading towards Tokyo, they have since disappeared."
"Disappeared?" Matt gasped in shock.
"How is that possible?" Sora asked.
"At first we thought the missiles had cloaked themselves, but that particular missile model lacks such a capability. But then we noticed some strange energy envelope them about 650 miles north-northeast of the eastern Japan coast. An energy you two might be familiar with..."
Rena brought up a map of the area in question, which showed a light blue ring of energy circling about the two missiles. A few freeze frames later, both the ring and the missiles vanished.
"That looks like..." Sora began.
"...the opening of a Digi-port!" finished Matt.
"There are Digi-ports in the middle of the ocean?" a confused Francois asked.
"Six, to be exact," Sora explained. "Spread all over the world."
"But only one of them isn't underwater... the one at this coordinate exists about 40,000 feet above sea level," Matt told them.
"As such, it's the highest Digi-port in the world. And one that, subsequently, is rarely accessed from either side."
"So whomever launched the missile apparently knew that. Someone in America," Francois pointed out, noting that the missiles' origin in Arizona. "But who?"
Suddenly, Matt's D-3 began to beep loudly. He answered it and saw Tai on the other side, in a somber state of haste.
"Matt! Thank goodness you answered!"
"What's going on?" Matt asked as Sora squeezed in next to him.
"Sora's with you, good... look, we've got a situation! There are two missiles that were just launched from a base in Arizona..."
"We know," Sora cut in. "We're tracking it from here."
"Here? Where's here?"
"The Digimon Research Lab in Osaka."
"I thought the military had kicked you... never mind that! We have to stop it! We figured out that they're heading for Zan Konolchuk, a city in East Antarctica!"
Matt and Sora looked at each other in shock.
"Did America declare war on them?"
"It's a long story that I don't have time to go through! Those missiles are gonna hit in about fifteen minutes!"
"Actually," Rena interrupted, calculating some vectors with a few of the other researchers. "Given the latest development, I say we have considerably less than that."
"What latest development? And what do you mean by considerably less?"
"Yeah," Matt said hesitantly. "What kind of time frame are we talking about here?"
"284-and-a-half seconds," Rena told them. "And counting."
"How?" Tai wondered out loud. "How is that possible?"
"Tai," Sora said solemnly, "the missiles are traveling through the Digital World. Whomever launched them managed to open the Digi-port above the Pacific Ocean."
"You mean the 'Forgotten' Port?"
"Well, it's not exactly forgotten anymore... especially if those missiles hit their targets."
"This isn't good. We're going to have only one chance to save that city."
"And how's that?" Matt asked, wanting for Tai to get to the point.
"We have to rely on the power of our D-3s. We need to call forth... the Circle of the Digidestined!"
Author's Notes:
I have to admit... Blue's death did not end up as dramatic as I thought it would be, but it definitely served its purpose. Now the only real person to worry about is the leader of the 'terrorist' cell himself, Jindra Maseroon.
In case anyone's having a case of memory failure... Steve was the only American Digidestined that hadn't been mentioned in this story. Until now, of course.
Can 'The Circle of the Digidestined' save a city of innocents from being obliterated by two nuclear missiles? You're gonna have to come back next week for the exciting conclusion!
Next Episode - ...Brings Things Full Circle
Only 'The Circle of the Digidestined' has the power to stop
the missiles from hitting Zan Konolchuk. What does it
involve? Will it work? Will one of our heroes sacrifice
himself in the process? You don't want to miss this finale!