Chapter Twenty Nine: Gatomon Comes Calling
Tokyo had was quite the sight to see once the sun went down. In the more rural neighborhoods and districts, it looked like a neon fire was burning in the distance. For one young lady walking home from work, the night was comfortably balmy. The fog rolling in was a little creepy, but it could be far worse.
And then, out of the dark fog a carriage rolled forth. It was made almost entirely out of wood and there was no driver, nor a horse to pull it. It simply rolled along on it's own. The woman's eyes were averted when a bat came down out of the sky, hovering in her face for a few seconds before lifting into the sky again. By the time she looked up again, the wooden carriage was right beside her.
The door on the side opened and, instead of some horrible, ghoulish monster, a much more dangerous one stepped out onto the street. He was just over six feet tall, had slick blonde hair and was wearing a red opera mask of his blue eyes. His clothes were fine, blue silks and his cape was black with red interior. He was beautiful. The woman found herself completely entranced.
The creature stepped forward, placing one gloved hand on her chin, delicately lifting her head up and leaning in closer to her. The woman parted her lips slightly, expecting a kiss. The creature bared his fangs, expecting a meal. Only one would get what they wanted.
As the carriage pulled away, the young woman was left on the ground, laying there limply. There were two little wounds on her neck and her eyes were blank as she stared up at the sky. She would live, but only barely.
+-9
On a small strip of land that led into the Tokyo bay, Demidevimon was pacing back and forth in an annoyed huff.
"I hate this fog!" he exclaimed as he stomped around on the boat that Myotismon had acquired, "Master, where are you? I'm getting mildew on my wings!" out of the dense fog came the vampire digimon's carriage, "Aha! Finally! Sheesh, couldn't he take a cab like everyone else?"
The carriage came to a stop and the bat digimon winged over to the window to look inside. Myotismon was certainly looking happy at the moment.
"At last," Demidevimon told the evil digimon, "I was starting to worry."
"Calm down," Myotismon told him simply, "I went out to have a bite to drink, and to get familiar with the city. It is always so difficult to get a good meal when one is away from home."
"Yeah, right," the little bat said, not really catching on, "So, what do we do next, boss?"
"We are continuing the search for the Ninth Child," he turned to face the bat digimon, "The details are of no concern to you."
"Well, uh, as I always say," Demidevimon spoke as he watched the master's carriage lift into the air of its own accord and float over to land on the boat, "whatever you say!" He quickly flew to the controls of the boat and started it up. Soon, the boat and carriage were lost to the fog, not to be seen until after sunrise.
+-9
The next morning, in the Suzumebachi apartment, they were having breakfast as usual. There was of course a fourth place set for Skymomon, but it was exactly as was expected. Despite her impending departure, Lucy and her parents were not acting any different towards one another. Her mother still made dinner, her father still listened to music thirty years older than his adoptive daughter and she still watched cartoon in the mornings.
Skymomon was sitting right beside her, the monkey's large blue eyes glued to the screen with stars in them. Occasionally she would laugh at some of the antics that would happen on screen, and Lucy would giggle at that. It was really interesting, seeing her partner react to different things on screen.
"I'm gonna go meet up with the others in the park today," Lucy told her parents, "Actually, before I get ready, do either of you know of the Ninth Child?"
Donovan looked to one another then shrugged, "Not a clue, sweets," her father told her, "As far as we know, it could be anyone. Maybe even that little boy next door that likes you," he grinned teasingly while Lucy blanched.
"Don't even joke about that!" the little girl exclaimed.
Her father just laughed while her mother hid a giggle behind her head.
"Here, honey," her mother said, holding out a couple of bento boxes for the girl, "Why don't you take a bento for you and Skymomon? I'm sure you'll be out there all day, and it'd be cheaper to take a lunch box than to buy food from a convenience store."
"Thanks, mom," Lucy said to her mother as she moved to her room to grab one of her favorite accessories. It was a medium sized shoulder bag, nowhere near the size of Mimi's. It could hold the bento boxes and a few other things, but that was fine with her. She just liked the look of it, the black bag with a pink stripe on it attracting her eye when she first bought it with three weeks worth of allowance. She placed the bentos in the bag and sat down next to Skymomon, keeping an eye on the time before they had to go meet at the park.
+-9
Upstairs, in the Kamiya apartment, Tai had already stuffed himself with breakfast and was now looking through his drawers and shelves for his contact book from West Side Elementary.
He opened a drawer, "Junk," he opened the one above it, "Stuff," another drawer, "More Junk," another, "More stuff," Tai grumbled to himself about his own habits, "Man, I was a messy kid!" he perused the books he had on the top shelf above the desk that he did his homework on, finding mostly comic books, "I can't believe how unorganized I was," he pulled a finger down the title of each comic book on the shelf until he came to one that looked a little out of place. He tried to pull that on down but ended up causing a pile of books to fall and him and Agumon, who had Digivolved from Koromon earlier that morning.
Kari opened the door to their room, an inquisitive look on her face, "Whacha doin'?"
"Looking for my old phone book," Tai groaned from his place on the floor, covered by junk and old comics, "It'll have exactly what I need."
Agumon popped up then, a book on his head, "And I'm helping."
Kari made sure that their mom wasn't looking then moved into the room, closing the door behind her, "How come?" The kids would miss it as a news bulletin began to broadcast about a rash of anemia cases among young women in the city.
"We have to find the ninth kid, Kari," Tai told his sister, "Then we can save everyone from Myotismon."
"Oh," the little girl nodded, "that makes sense, I guess."
"Tai," their mother's voice came through the door, "Your friend, Izzy, is at the door."
"Coming!" he called back. He opened the door a crack to check where his mother was. She had her back to them, doing something in the kitchen. Agumon and Tai then sneaked by very carefully with Agumon right behind his back. They had just barely made it by the kitchen when Agumon tripped. The sound attracted their mother's attention, but Kari covered for them, moving into the woman's view to distract her and allow the boy and his digimon to exit the apartment.
Just outside they met Izzy and Tentomon, who was wearing a green jacket and a hat.
"Hey," Tai greeted.
"Hey," the tech genius said back, "Agumon, you Digivolved!" he pointed out.
"You bet I did! All I needed was a good meal," the yellow dinosaur said.
"Psst!" Tentomon attracted their attention as he walked up to them, "It's me."
"Tentomon?" the wild haired boy asked, one eyebrow lifted, "Nice disguise, dude."
"Thanks, Tai," the insect digimon said while rubbing the back of his head, "I put it together myself."
"Wait 'til Mimi sees you," the boy said to the bug.
"I need one, too," Agumon realized.
"Yeah," Tai nodded, "Any ideas?"
"Mm-hm," the yellow digimon nodded.
+-9
A minute or so later, the two boys and their digimon were going to the fifth floor of the apartment building.
"What did we come here for, Tai?" Tentomon asked.
"I guess no one really knew, but Lucy and I live in the same building. She said she lives in apartment Five Oh Four," the boy explained. Beside him, Agumon was walking about in a black hoodie. They reached the door and hit the doorbell. A few seconds later, a man in his mid thirties opened the door.
"Can I help you?" he asked.
"Uh, yeah, we're looking for Lucy, is she here?" Tai said, hoping they had the right apartment.
"That's my cue," came the girl's voice as the TV was turned off. She grabbed her bag and her partner and made for the door. "Bye mom, bye dad!" she said to them as she slipped past her father, closing the door behind her.
"Hey, Lucy," Tai said with a smile of greeting.
"Good morning," Izzy said.
"Hi, Lucy," the digimon said together.
"Sup, guys?" Skymomon waved.
"So, how did your parents take it?" Tai asked as they made their way towards the ground and into the park nearby.
"Surprisingly well," the girl said with a smile, "They wish I could stay here, but they knew I would have to go. They even knew I was from the Digiworld. That was a nice surprise," she grinned a little mischievously then, "Dad still fainted when Skymomon talked for the first time though."
The other two boys and the digimon chuckled at that.
"Yep!" Skymomon chirped, "He went down like a sack of potatoes!"
Lucy giggled as she remembered it, then looked at the two digimon in disguise, "So, what's up with the clothes?"
"We're incognito!" Agumon said with a smile.
Lucy looked up from the poor disguises the two digimon were wearing to the crowds of people around them. No one was really looking at them twice.
"Wow," she said, "They're surprisingly effective."
"Tell me about it," Tai said with a grin, "I was expecting screams of terror any minute now."
"So," Izzy began, changing the subject, "did the two of you find your address books from school?"
"Oh, well," Tai stumbled for a moment then continued, "Sora was in my class so I figured we could just use hers."
"Uh-huh," the shorter boy deadpanned, "Couldn't find it, huh?"
"I lost mine when we moved," Lucy said, "I tried looking for it a couple years ago to call one of my friends from class, but I just couldn't find it."
"Ah, well," Tai said, "I bet we're not the only ones that didn't bring address books."
"I guess. Let's just hope our books don't have the Ninth Child in them where the others don't," the girl said as they crossed the street into a park with a lot of greenery, the place where everyone was supposed to meet.
Soon enough they were in a clearing that was out of the way. Izzy, Lucy and Tai were joined by TK and Matt. Each of them had their digimon as well, but theirs were small enough to still pose as stuffed toys.
"Alright, listen up, everybody," Tai began the meeting, "I called you all here today 'cause, well, there was nothing good on TV."
Matt shook his head and deadpanned, "Ha ha, very funny, Tai. So, where are the others?"
About that moment, exactly, Sora and Biyomon broke into the clearing at jog, the bird digimon flying.
"Hey, wait!" the human girl called, her address book in hand, "Don't start without me!" she breathed out a sigh of relief as she finally stood before the group, Biyomon landing right next to her, "Good morning."
"Okay, so, where's Mimi?" Tentomon asked after one of the last two members of their group that had yet to show up.
"She's probably out buying clothes," Izzy suggested.
"I don't think so," Lucy said, pointing over the boy's shoulder. There, coming towards them while pushing a baby carriage with Palmon inside wearing a blue bonnet was Mimi.
She sighed dramatically as she stopped pushing the carriage, "Oh, get out and walk, you're too heavy to push."
"Mimi, how's that going to look?" Palmon said to her partner walked around to the side, "I'm supposed to be a wittle baby."
"You just grew up! Now, get out!" Mimi insisted.
Soon after, minus Joe and Gomamon were sitting in a circle.
"Hey," Sora started the conversation, "Did you guys see it? It was all over the news on TV this morning!"
"More and more of Myotismon's digi-bozos are popping up in the city," Matt said next, having caught that report.
"And they're very real," Tai added.
"What do you mean?" Agumon asked his partner.
Tai placed his arms behind his head and said, "The last time we came back, there were digimon all over the place, like now," he lay back, looking up at the leaves in the trees above them, "But only Kari and I could see 'em. Everybody else walked right by 'em, as if they weren't even there," he explained to everyone, remembering how Ogremon had been waiting for the light to change. "Now, even normal people see 'em, and there on the news and everything. It's like they're really here this time!"
The kids and digimon gasped at that.
"Maybe this time it's because they came through the gate that Myotismon made," Izzy theorized.
"I don't like it," Matt said, "If they can be seen, then they're physically here. If they're here physically, then they could do a whole lot of damage."
"Yeah, like what?" TK asked.
"Do I really need to remind you what those evil digimon are capable of?" Matt asked.
"Creepy," Mimi quailed, holding herself by the shoulders.
"Complete systems failure," Izzy said, hinting at what would happen with techno talk.
"So what are sitting around here for?" Tai asked, sitting back up, "We gotta get out there and find the ninth kid if we wanna stop these guys! Save the Digiworld and we'll save our own!"
"Go, Tai!" TK supported the wild haired boy.
Sora nodded her own acceptance of that.
"What's the plan?" Matt asked.
"Yeah, I mean, do any of us have any idea where the Ninth Child is?" Lucy asked.
"Well," Izzy began, "I've got a theory."
"Stop!" A familiar voice shouted. The entire group panicked for a moment, thinking they'd been discovered by a passerby, but then recognized the voice as Joe's. The boy was running towards them with a blue duffel bag in place of the supply bag he used to carry. Gomamon was peaking out of it.
"I want to hear Izzy's theory!" he continued as he ran, "Don't start until I get there! I love Izzy's theories! Hold on!"
"Alright! We wont start without you," Tai eventually said to the boy as he approached.
The group opened up a spot for the two newcomers and then Izzy began his explanation.
"We've already concluded when the digimon attacked four years ago, all of us, including the Ninth Child, were there," Izzy recapped what they knew so far, "It is also safe to assume that each of us were given Digivices for a reason. Last night, I picked up an unidentified Digivice reading. I think it was the Ninth Child. Obviously, I lost the signal, but it's clear that they're in this vicinity. That's why the monsters are here, too."
"Monsters? Worse than snakes!" Mimi said then held up her contact book, "And this is supposed to help us? I'm lost."
"My conclusion is that the Ninth Child can be found in one of these address books," the tech genius proclaimed, "Somehow, we have to make a lot of calls and patrol the city at the same time."
"That's gonna be a little rough," Lucy said, "We only have so many hours in the day, and Myotismon's goons don't have a curfew."
"Well, I guess I can do some calling, as long as my folks don't find out," Joe said, "but I've gotta do some serious studying. So, I can't go on the search with you."
"What?!" Matt balked.
"Joe, it's summer!" Tai exclaimed.
"I'm getting an early start," the boy said plaintively, "This year I'm gonna be prepared."
"Here, then," Mimi said, handing the boy her address book as she stood up, "If you're not coming with us, then you might as well do my calling for me, okay? Thanks!" She moved off then, Palmon following her with the carriage.
"Joe, we're talking about the fate of the world here!" Matt said, his disgust palpable, "If you're gonna chicken out, you can call all the names in my book, too! See ya!" He dropped his book in Joe's hands and walked off with TK in tow.
"Yes," Izzy agreed, "It might make more sense having one person concentrate on all the calling instead of split it up." He dropped his book on the pile as well, walking off with Tentomon afterwards.
"He has a point there," Sora said with a smile as she put her book on the stack as well, "Good luck!" She walked off to join the others then, leaving only Lucy and Tai.
"Oh no!" the blue haired boy exclaimed to the two of them as they came over, "Not you two as well, Tai, Lucy!"
"Nah, I lost mine a while ago," Lucy waved it away, "Just thought I'd tell you to cross reference the book. Find out if some of the same names are in each book so you don't accidentally call that person twice." She walked off then, following after TK and Matt.
"Gee, thanks," the boy sighed, then looked up at the wild haired boy that was still standing there.
"Ah, don't worry, I'm not that kind of guy, Joe," Tai said with a grin, "That's my job, and you've got enough on your plate."
Joe stood up, stars in his eyes and tears of happiness rolling down his face, "Thank you, Tai. You're a totally great guy. Thanks a lot!"
The boy laughed sheepishly and turned away from his friend, "Ah, well, you know..."
Sora, Lucy and Izzy turned back to watch the spectacle and the older girl rolled her eyes, "Mister Generous. I bet he couldn't find his address book."
"Well, how'd you guess?" Izzy asked with a grin.
"'Cause it sounds like something he would do," Lucy told him.
With that taken care of, the other seven members of the group got on a train to start searching the rest of the city. The train took them right by the bay that Raremon attacked the night before. The kids were staring out the window in horrified awe.
"Whoa," Tai breathed, "Look at all that damage from last night's battle."
"It could be a lot more, too, if this goes on," Matt said.
"We've gotta hurry up and find that Ninth Child," TK told them.
"I agree," Lucy nodded, "The sooner, the better."
"We will," the older blonde said, "We're not called the Digidestined for nothing."
In the waters of the bay, a boat that no one took more than a passing notice of, was moving under the bridge that the kids were about to cross. There was a wooden carriage in the back and a digimon at the wheel.
"Master, are we almost there?" Demidevimon asked, "All this water is making me queasy," he complained, "Those Digidestined brats are probably miles away by now!" He would never even guess that, at the exact moment he passed under the bridge, the children were in the train above him.
But he still kept driving, Myotismon not bothering to answer him. The boat ended up driving into a thick fog bank that seemed to roll in out of nowhere. It covered an island nearby and just so happened to obscure the view from the TV broadcast building.
The workers inside were in awe of this strange event.
"Hey, look," one worker said to another, "That fog's coming in again. I've never seen anything like it."
"At the same time, we're havin' the hottest weather on record," his buddy said.
"And I heard somebody say they saw snow falling last night," the first guy added, "The Ozone layer must be messed up worse than we thought."
On the island nearby, completely obscured by the fog, Myotismon's carriage moved off the boat and rolled over the grass until it stopped on a certain spot. Not a second later, the ground opened up and the carriage gently floated down into a dark space. The hole above it closed so that the only light was a few torches that seemed to be hanging in the air.
"Welcome, oh Great One," Gatomon greeted, "Everything is ready."
The evil digimon stepped out of his carriage and looked around at his new quarters, "Perfect, Gatomon. As always, you have done excellent work," he praised her.
Soon, the cat left his quarters, appearing to just rise up out of the ground. She walked determinedly forward, ready to continue her patrol for the Ninth Child. But she would not go unharassed.
"Hey, whiskers, what do you think you're doin'?" Demidevimon demanded of his rival for the master's attention.
"I don't think, I know why I'm here. I'm finding the Ninth Child," she told the bat simply.
"That's my job, fur ball!" he snapped at her, "I'm in charge, here."
"Yeah, right," Gatomon snarked.
Demidevimon glared at her and continued, "Listen up, puss in boots, quit suckin' up to the master! 'I'm the master's cute little pet,'" he did a poor imitation of her voice, "Gag me with a fur ball!"
Gatomon just turned her nose up at the bat digimon, "It's really hard to feel threatened by a bowling ball with feathers."
"Nyeh, nyeh, nyeh!" he mocked her, "Just keep out of my way! I'm finding that kid, not you! Got it? Go take a catnap, kitty litter!" He laughed annoyingly as he flew away to complete the master's work.
The cat digimon glared after him. He was such an annoying bug! One day it would be easier to just squash him and get it over with. She honestly couldn't wait for that day.
'That flappy winged joker couldn't find water if he fell out of a boat,' she snarled mentally.
+-9
At a station near down town Tokyo, the Digidestined, minus Joe, had gathered to peruse the streets in hopes of finding the final member of their group.
"So how do we do this?" Lucy asked.
"We should split up, to cover more ground," Izzy suggested, "The probability of running into the Ninth Digidestined increases exponentially if we separate. Myotismon is employing a similar tactic with his minions. You'll notice that we have not had to fight them more than one at a time."
"That's a great plan, but what about if we find one of the big bads out there?" Matt asked, "I don't think any of us should go alone." He obviously had no intention of leaving his little brother on his own, with or without monsters lurking in the city.
"Okay," Tai said, "so we split up into two groups of two and one of three. Who wants to take the third person?"
"I'll go with Matt and TK," Lucy volunteered.
"Mimi and I will go together," Sora said next.
"Alright, that leaves Izzy and me. Let's get this show on the road!" The wild haired boy exclaimed as they left the station and began to search the surrounding areas.
"Good luck, everybody!" Sora called as they split apart.
Tai and Izzy's path took them down a street that had a restaurant. The delicious scent drew the attentions of their disguised digimon.
"I see food," Agumon said as he and Tentomon looked into the restaurant.
"Agumon, keep your mind on the mission, alright?" Tai scolded as he and Izzy walked by. The tech genius was looking squarely at the Digivice in his hand, hoping for a signal to pop up again like it had in the warehouse docks.
"Anything?" the older boy asked.
Just then, a group of children ran by, laughing and enjoying the day. The two boys and their digimon stood to one side as they passed.
Izzy looked at the screen of his digivice after the were far enough gone and sighed, "No, there's nothing, yet."
+-9
Down at the docks, hoping that maybe the kid had returned to the place, Lucy, TK and Matt were watching a crew of construction workers sifting through the wreckage with their machines.
"Aw, doesn't look like he's down here," TK complained, "That would've been too easy anyway."
"Yeah, right," Matt agreed, "Where should we go next?"
"Maybe they're in one of the parks somewhere around here," Lucy suggested, "If they are a kid like us, and if they don't know about the digimon yet, they might just be doing every day stuff while everyone is looking for them."
"Good enough for me," Matt sighed, leading away from the docks now.
+-9
Joe was sitting in his room, the phone held to his head as he dialed yet another number.
The person on the other end picked up and he grinned nervously even though the other person couldn't see it.
"I know this is kind of strange," he said, "But I was in second grade with you and I was wondering..." It was gonna be a long, long day. At least Gomamon was enjoying this time, napping on the boy's bed.
+-9
Mimi and Sora had worked their way around to one of the housing neighborhoods. To keep people from being suspicious about their digimon, both Palmon and Biyomon were in the baby carriage now. If anyone looked, they'd just see two girls carting around their stuffed toys, there was nothing too odd about that, really. Sora was pushing the cart for a while, not minding it as much as her search partner.
Unfortunately for the two digimon, it was a rather tight fit for the both of them to be in that one carriage.
"Hey, stop pushing," Palmon said to the bird.
"I'm not pushing you, you're kicking me!" Biyomon complained right back.
"You crossed the line onto my side, you big cheater!" the plant digimon groused, pushing against the bird digimon.
"I am not a cheater, you're a liar!" the pink one said.
"I'm telling!" Palmon finally cried.
"Knock it off!" Sora ordered, "If you two keep fooling around, someone's going to get hurt!"
"I know how they feel," Mimi said, looking at her Digivice for a response, "Just walking around in this heat is enough to make anybody cranky. You know what this is, Sora? A big, fat drag!"
+-9
In the shade of a tree near one of the beaches in Odaiba, Gatomon was watching people play and swim without a care in the world and was finding herself amused by them.
"What silly creatures," she said softly, where no one could hear her, "Pea brain dolts. Laugh it up. When Myotismon's through, you wont be laughing," she turned around and walked off into the park on all fours.
In that same forest, Kari, dressed in her day clothes of a yellow sleeveless T-shirt, a pastel pink ascot and darker pink pants, was chasing the family cat. She had the camp whistle around her neck still. She liked it and wanted to keep it.
"Miko, come back here!" she called out, "Where'd you go? Miko!"
As she walked through the trees, another cat, this one white with odd, clawed booties on its front paws passed her by. It had large, blue eyes and a ring on its tail.
She knew it was a digimon immediately.
"What a funny looking kitty," she commented, getting Gatomon to stop and look back at the human girl, "Hi there," she said after the two just stared at each other for a couple moments, "Are you a friend of Agumon? Are you one of them?""
Gatomon's eyes widened and she turned to fully face the girl. She meowed a couple times, trying to convince the girl she was just a normal cat, but Kari was unconvinced.
She just crouched down, smiling a friendly smile at the cat, "What's your name?"
The digimon just meowed a couple more times, turning to run off.
"Wait, don't go!" Kari called, reaching out for the digimon, but it did no good, "Mmm," she hummed sadly, turning around to continue looking for Miko. She apparently didn't notice as Gatomon began to follow her, wanting to keep an eye on her.
'So, she knows about Agumon. Hmm, is it possibly this little squirt is the Ninth Child?' Gatomon asked herself as she followed the girl across the street, just narrowly dodging a car and a motorcycle as the light changed. She followed the human child back to one of the apartment buildings, maintaining a good distance so that she wouldn't be discovered before she got to her home. If nothing else, the girl might lead her to one of those bratty Digidestined.
Finally, on the thirteenth floor, just as Kari was about to enter her apartment, she turned to look at Gatomon, who had thought she was being slick.
"Hey, I know you're there," she giggled a little bit when the cat digimon freaked out and ducked out of sight, "You can come in, if you want to. Mom's not home," she opened the door to her home and walked in, leaving it open for the digimon to come in, should she so choose.
Gatomon peaked around the corner, glaring in the direction that the little girl had gone. Slowly, she approached the door. The girl knew she was a digimon, or at least had an inkling to it, so she could be setting a trap for her. She peaked into the apartment, hearing one of the new broadcasts about the odd weather Myotismon and his minions were causing.
She ended up making it all the way to the kitchen counter without the girl noticing, being extra silent this time. She glared harder at the admittedly adorable little human. If this really was the Ninth Child it was her job to destroy her. No matter the odd stirrings in her cold heart.
+-9
Mimi was pushing the cart again as they moved through the park. The two digimon were being more calm, but it was still a rather tight fit. And the weight was beginning to wear on the girl.
"I'm not cut out for this kind of work," Mimi complained, "If I ever have a baby, I'm gonna hire somebody to push her around, that's for sure," she sighed heavily as she stopped pushing the digimon. Their weight combined with this heat was just too much. "Hold on, let's take a break, alright?" the girl pleaded.
Sora turned around to face her fellow girl with a slight frown, "Again? Well, make it quick."
Mimi smiled happily and moved the cart into the shade before lifting Palmon out and reclining on a bench, "Ah," she sighed gratefully, "Last night I got to sleep in my own bed, with the AC cranked up, watching my own TV, wasn't that the best, Palmon?"
"Dinner was really something, too," the plant agreed.
"Wasn't it great?" her partner continued to gush, "My mom knows all the best takeout places in the city. She never has to cook."
"Sora's mom made our dinner and it was delicious!" Biyomon proclaimed happily before saying, "Well, all of it except for this green, mushy stuff," she turned to Sora, "What's it called?"
"What?" the girl asked as she looked up from her city map. The conversation caught up with her and she smiled as she said, "Oh, spinach," she turned back to the map and held up a red marker, "Now, let's see. Where was I?" she crossed off a small section of the map that represented the park, "Hmm."
"Would you look at that?" Mimi marveled, "She's not even tired."
"Your different," Palmon told her partner, "You like to take things easy."
"Finding this kid's harder than finding a good sale," the brown haired girl said as she looked off into the distance. She gasped as she saw the Tokyo Tower. She stood up then with a smile on her face, "Hey, Sora, if we really want to find this kid, we should go where lots of people gather."
"You thinking of any place in particular?" The other girl asked as she stood up as well.
"Yep!" Mimi grinned, "Right there," she pointed at the tower, "Besides, from up there, we can really get the lay of the land, you know?"
Sora couldn't disagree with that, so the two of them began to make their way towards the Tokyo Tower.
Unfortunately, they were not the only ones to have that very idea. One of Myotismon's minions stood at the base of the tower. He was wearing a heave trench coat despite the stifling heat with a green bucket hat on his head. Visible under his hat, the person was wearing a metal face plate that had a permanent grin on it, and two little, red glowing dots represented his eyes. He stared up at the tower, wondering if the child he was looking for, or any of the children he'd been warned about would be here.
The question was answered when he heard a couple of young girls getting on one of the elevators to the observatory towards the top of the tower. The closely matched the descriptions given to him and the 'dolls' in the baby carriage were clearly a Biyomon and a Palmon. Both species of digimon rumored to be partnered to the Digidestined.
"Ah, there," Mimi breathed once they got to the observatory, "Isn't that better? Nice and cool. I knew this place would have AC."
"It feels great!" Palmon exclaimed as she threw her arms up to feel more of the cool air. Mimi saw this and pushed her back down into the carriage a little roughly.
"I should have guessed you had an ulterior motive," Sora said with her hands on her hips. Despite this observation, the two of them moved towards one of the large window sections, looking out over their home. It was a beautiful mix of buildings and streets and parks. And it really put into perspective how large the area they had to search was.
"Isn't your house over there?" Mimi asked, looking off in the distance.
"Yeah," Sora breathed, "It sure is real being back in our own world again."
As they were speaking, the elevator dinged and another, freakishly large person stepped out, into the observatory. The temperature changed in a second, rising ten degrees the moment the elevator doors opened.
"Does it feel like it's getting warmer?" Palmon asked her partner.
"Yeah, it does," the girl answered, "Let's move over, closer to the blowers." Sora couldn't deny that the AC was a god send in this heat, so moved with the other girl and the two digimon to stand directly in front of the machine, watching as the ribbon that was tied to the vent proved that it was still on by waving around in the air.
"There, that's more like it," the plant digimon sighed happily.
"Wonderful," Biyomon agreed.
And then it shut off, the ribbons falling limp.
"What happened to the air?" Mimi asked, disappointment in her tone. The rest of the people in the observatory were wondering that themselves as the heat began to quickly rise.
"Maybe this heatwave finally got to be too much for it," Sora mused.
Mimi then gasped as she looked around at the rest of the people in the tower, "Look at that weirdo, wearing that coat in this heat!" she placed her hands on her hips as she frowned at him, "And such an ugly one, too!"
"Hey!" Sora grabbed the other girl by the arm, "Mimi, be quiet, he'll hear you!"
"Oh, and what's he gonna do?" Even as she asked that, the man turned around to face them, chuckling menacingly.
"See," the red headed girl said, "He heard us! I told you!"
Mimi was still mostly unrepentant for her comments. What really grabbed her attention, along with everyone else up there, was the blue-white fire that lit up at his feet and swirled around his body, burning away everything but his pants and boots which had stylized flaming skulls on the front.
Screams filled the air as what stepped out of the flames appeared to be a heavily muscled, blue man. He stood nearly ten feet tall, had deep blue hair and had chains wrapped around his torso and arms. Then people noticed that the fire hadn't dissipated in the slightest, he was actually on fire and didn't look to be burning in the least. Perhaps scariest of wall, he was looking down at Mimi and Sora from the eye holes in his metal face place with a grin.
"Well," Mimi quipped, "I guess that explains the coat."
+-9
In another part of the city, Tai and Izzy were still trying to find the Ninth Child. They were having about as much luck finding that kid as they had finding adults on File Island. That is to say, none.
They were just crossing a street when Agumon stopped.
"Is it me, or did it just get hotter all of a sudden?" he asked.
"I hadn't noticed," Tentomon said.
"Look up at the tower," Izzy pointed out, "It's almost like it's bending."
"Impossible," Tai breathed, looking at the optical illusion created by the hot air rising so rapidly. It really did look like the Tokyo Tower was being turned into a wet noodle, swaying side to side. "Wait a minute," he said suddenly, reaching for his mini telescope and putting it to his eye.
Just as he did, he caught sight of Birdramon exploding out of the observation deck of the tower, followed quickly by a man burning with blue-white fire.
"Oh, no!" he cried, "We've got trouble!"
Atop the tower, Birdramon flew up into the air as the evil digimon laughed. She turned to face him powering up her signature attack. The Meteor Wing fire streaked through the air as usual and smacked into roof around the digimon, but the intense heat didn't even look like it was distracting him. Togemon approached from behind, the sound of her heavy steps hidden by the roar of the fire.
"Get ready for my Needle Spray!" She fired the usual onslaught of thousands of pins zipping towards the evil monster.
He was unimpressed. He lashed one of his chains at the giant cactus digimon, his raw heat burning away the needles that were about to hit him. The blue fire covered chain slammed into Togemon, easily knocking her for a loop.
"Togemon!" Mimi cried from her place next to Sora. The two of them had come up to see how the fight was going. It was not to their favor. Especially as the cactus had nearly crashed into them.
The evil monster laughed maniacally, holding one of his chains tight between his hands. He only vaguely noticed it when another digimon buzzed by overhead.
Looking up would find Izzy, Tai and Agumon riding on the back of Kabuterimon.
"Explain this to us, Agumon," Izzy insisted, "Just who is this guy?"
"He's Skullmeramon, his element is fire," the yellow dino explained, "He's tough and he can sure dish it out!"
As they were speaking, the digimon took aim at them and spoke the name of his attack, "Metal Fire ball!" He proceeded to spit more of the blue-white fire like a river from his mouth. Kabuterimon was able to pull back from the stream.
Unfortunately, the blast of unnatural fire struck one of the support beams on the tower and the structure began to lean to one side.
"The tower's gonna fall on the city!" Tai exclaimed.
"Grab it, Kabuterimon! Hurry!" Izzy ordered his partner. The insectoid rushed to do as his friend bid him. Pushing the tower back into its usual position, but it was no easy thing. It would take time and that meant he couldn't help fight the digimon threatening his friends.
"Don't you know not to play with fir?!" Skullmeramon roared.
In response, Tai turned to Agumon, "Ready?"
"Yeah!" He jumped off Kabuterimon's back, falling through the air as the power of Digivolution coursed through his entire body, "Agumon, Digivolve to Greymon!" He landed on the roof of the observation deck, shaking it and making the people below scream in fear. "Nova Blast!" The massive fire ball exploded on the evil digimon's chest.
And it only served to make him stronger. Like Meramon in the beginning of their adventure in the Digiworld, Skullmeramon absorbed the attack and grew from it till he towered over the blue striped dinosaur before him.
"Great! Now we've really made him mad!" Tai exclaimed while the evil digimon laughed, "He swallowed that Nova Blast like a hot fudge sundae!"
"All it did was make him stronger," Izzy agreed, "Unless Greymon Digivolves again, he's toast!"
Skullmeramon wasn't just gonna stand around and let that happen though, he charged the dinosaur that had just given him a major boost in power. Before he could grasp the smaller digimon, Greymon jumped into the air as the energy to Digivolve yet again filled him. The symbol of the Crest of Courage was absorbed into his body and he grew into the fully evolved Metalgreymon form. The tattered wings on his back allowed him to stay aloft should he so choose. Instead he landed on top of the observation deck. He roared at Skullmeramon and stomped forward.
The fiery digimon met him halfway and, for a fraction of a second, it looked like Metalgreymon was going to push him backwards. But it was not to be. Skullmeramon started reversing his opponents momentum, slamming him to his knees, damaging the roof of the observatory.
Birdramon swooped down, trying to take advantage of the evil digimon's back being wide open, and Togemon had the same idea.
"Light Speed Jabbing!" Togemon yelled, only able to punch the punk in the back two or three times before the raw heat set her on fire.
"Look out!" Mimi cried her warning, "This guy's tough!"
Birdramon tried her luck then, dive bombing at him, but the monster just looked up at her, opening the mouth on his metal faceplate and roaring his attack, "Metal Fire Ball!" It struck the flaming bird digimon right on the chest. It was a blue-white blaze that stood out against the oranges yellows and reds of Birdramon's normal coloration and it caused her severe pain if her screeching was any indication.
But it did give Metalgreymon the opening he needed to get away from the evil digimon and get up into the air again. He wasn't making that mistake again. He may be a cyborg type, but that heat was a little to intense, even for him.
"Hey!" the cyborg dino yelled, pointing his metal left arm at the fiery digimon below, "Up here you bucket of bolts!" Skullmeramon looked up at him just in time to hear him shout out the name of his secondary attack, "Mega Claw!"
The end of his massive metal arm, with the three gigantic blades shot down out of the air at the evil monster. It was connected to Metalgreymon by a black line. Skullmeramon dodged to the side of the attack, lashing his chains around it.
"I've got you!" he told the digimon partner of one of those pesky Digidestined as the arm was pulled back into it's base. He kept a strong hold of the chain and was preparing an attack, planning on hitting him with a Metal Fire Ball, then smashing him into the roof of the tower, then firing another Metal Fire Ball at point blank to finish the job.
But it was not to be.
Metalgreymon dodged the first blast of blue-white fire, then roared, "Who's got who now?" He began using the chain wrapped around his left arm to pull Skullmeramon into the sky.
For a moment, the evil digimon was able to maintain his footing on the roof. But Metalgreymon roared as he pulled with all the might he had to offer. Once the fiery digimon was in the air, he swung him about till he was in the air over the park, then the cyborg dino fired his most powerful attack.
"Giga Blaster!" The twin missiles that appeared to be eyeless black sharks zipped through the air, slamming into Skullmeramon's stomach.
Nova Blast empowered the fire man. Giga Blaster didn't. The evil digimon was rendered into nothing more than a mist of fractured data particles.
+-9
In the Kamiya household, Kari was still just sitting on the couch, watching the news. It was currently broadcasting about the fight atop the Tokyo Tower. It seemed the tower was massively damaged, but no one was seriously hurt.
Gatomon was in the room, too, watching the little girl with a frown on her feline face.
'She isn't too bad, for a human. Better company than some digimon, that's for sure," she hopped up the back of the couch as she thought about how she'd rather spend time with a pack of Numemon than Demidevimon, 'Still, orders are orders, and I'm not gonna be the one who let's the Ninth Child get away." She moved till she was just a little to the right of the girl's head, holding up one of her clawed booties, prepared to make a lethal strike.
But she hesitated. Something in her was telling her not to do it. Not just telling, screaming.
And it caused her to hesitate too long. The little girl turned around, startling her.
"Hi!" She smiled, holding out her hands for the cat digimon, "Come here."
Gatomon reared back, not sure why she did so. She ended up losing her balance and falling off the back of the couch. She ended up landing on her back instead of her feet. She sat up then, and shook her head back and forth rapidly. Her head obviously wasn't on straight. Why else would she hesitate to strike down some pipsqueak of a human? She thought about it for a moment and realized that she couldn't go through with it right now. That voice inside her was still screaming at her not to do it and she simply couldn't with that distraction in her mind.
She turned and began to walk out of the apartment on all fours.
"Are you going already?" Kari sounded sad to see the cat digimon go, but when Gatomon looked back at her, she had an inviting smile on her face as she stood there with her hands behind her back, "But you'll come back again, right?"
Gatomon's cold heart twitched in her chest and she ran. She didn't know what this was, but she didn't like it, it was keeping her from doing her job. But she did know that that girl was the cause.
'Here sweetness makes me lose my edge, but I'll be back and I'll be ready for her,' she thought as she ran off into the evening light to get her mind straight.
Chapter Twenty Nine: End
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