Y/N: The Internet is back! My parents had to get a repairman in to fix it, so we were without it for five days. I'm so sorry about the late update. If I could get anywhere—other than work—to upload it, I would have, but I've been swamped. I did however put the break in internet access to good work. I've got half of my work for the next chapter done, and some extra stuff you'll get to see a bit later than that. :D hope you enjoy this chapter and consider leaving a review? Anyway, I'm Taichi this time around, and my brother is Sora and Satoe Tachikawa again. This is kind of fun. But also, I noticed that Taichi is used a lot in this arc…. Oh well. Taichi's fun to write as.
U/N: This was fun to write i guess... I've been waiting for this Sora-becomes-awesome chapter for a while now and i think i'm going to be looking forward to every time i write Sora from now on. I also think that Satoe is my favourite character to write (other than the digidestined) and so this chapter was fun :P Tai's part isnt' done yet, (so was, he just didn't know because the internet was down for those five days….)(No it wasn't you fool. i wrote this author's note like a few weeks ago. your chapter was not done yet because for some reason i'm the only one able to get ahead) and so i can't say much about it, but yep :D Enjoy it and stuff, please leave a review aaaaaand... bye :D
Title: Digimon Adventure 04
By: Yukira and Urazamay King
Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon or its characters.
Part 4: Chaos
Chapter 38: Dance Puppet
Sora:
We were walking again! It seemed to me that was all we ever did. Even though it had only been a couple days, it seemed like it was forever. My legs felt like they were wood—it felt like I was dragging wood along with my body, and worse—my feet were on fire! Not literally of course, but they certainly felt that way. I wanted to take my shoes and socks off and just sit at the edge of a river and relax with my feet soaking in the cool waters—that is, until I remembered that the waters were infested with darkness due to Dragomon or whoever that made the Dark Ocean fuse with the Digital world.
The worlds were together. All three of them—well I wasn't sure how many there were—but I did know that there was at least one more—the World of Dreams—or whatever the others had called it. I'd been near it once—never inside though. I found myself fiddling with the long silver key in my pocket... what was this key for? What door did it open? I had almost forgotten about it completely... I only wished I knew...
I looked at the surroundings of the three worlds and sighed, it was not pretty. The sky was still bright from the strange sun in the middle of the night, but everything seemed to be turning greyer—and worse, was that everything seemed to be dying. The tree's leaves were falling to the ground and shattering into a million pieces all around us as we walked down the strange road. The road was from Earth, and I knew it well, it was near the University that my father worked at—only it was different now with all of the grey trees growing at the sides of the street, tearing apart the houses that once lined the streets, and creating a ceiling of leaves above us, mostly covering the sky.
Tentomon was buzzing around me, like an annoying fly—the only difference was that I actually found the hum of his wings comforting. I mean, I had to admit, Biyomon's flying was much less irritable, but at the same time, Tentomon was my friend now I guess... He was nice, and I enjoyed his company, but I couldn't deny that Miyako talking excitedly with Hawkmon just next to me was making me a little jealous. Okay, a lot jealous. I just missed her—and yet I had no clue where she was! Everyone else seemed to have found their digital partner, but me. And worse—or better, depending how you looked at it—Miyako had figured out a way to go into mega, which was more than I had done considering Biyomon was still MIA!
I half listened as Miyako listened to Hawkmon's story about how he was avoiding capture from one Miss Ladydevimon before he had caused her to lose his trail and that was when he had found us.
As Hawkmon and Miyako began to walk faster, away from Tentomon and I Tentomon buzzed around my head, coming to the place where Miyako was, and then he turned his head toward me and said in a quiet voice, "Why do you think Miyako was able to have Valkyrimon to show his self whilst fighting Machinedramon?" We both instinctively looked over our shoulder to where Machinedramon had fallen to pieces and exploded into data. I had almost forced it out of my mind... it was just weighing me down really, I was on a journey of self discovery and out pops a giant three thousand ton metal dragon digimon—it was just in the way of my mind evolution. "Hello? Sora?"
"Oh—sorry!" I said quickly, "Well... I guess it was because she showed her crest, right? She knew truly what her crest meant?" I scratched my head and thought to myself, that made sense—that was how we had all gotten to mega so far.
"I suppose." Tentomon said, switching sides again, "But I was really more curious if you had any theories on why or how it happened? How did she show her crest? What did she do?"
"I... don't know." I admitted, thinking back to the battle.
"Well I think it may have been the way she was battling." Tentomon said. "She was not fighting for the wrong reasons—she was fighting to win, and fighting to save everyone else."
"Well that's true..." I said, noting that in my mind. She had done that—and that was a significant bout of Honour right there... I had always thought that Iori would be the one to help Miyako out with Honour—but apparently she didn't need the help at all.
"Also I believe that her most recent digivolution might have had something to do with her broken relationship with Ken." Tentomon continued, "Now, I will not pretend to understand relationships between you humanoids, but I can tell you this: Miyako showed honour and respect in herself, not returning to Ken Ichijouji. He has, for lack of a better phrase "broken her heart", and so, it shows great honour and strength—integrity if you will for her to not dwell on the man who has caused her so much pain."
"So she is showing that she honours herself...?" I asked, "By not going back to Ken? Because she still loves him... but she knows that returning would be the wrong thing to do... unless he could prove himself worthy? Prove that he's changed..."
"Exactly." Tentomon said, "You are learning to think outside the box, Sora. I like that about you."
"Th-thank you?" I tried. He buzzed happily through the air, faster, toward Miyako and Hawkmon. He was right though... Miyako was respecting herself. She was being mature, and smart about the entire situation. Why couldn't I be like her? Why was I looming so much on Yamato? Why did I care so much that he had left me? I know I was in love with him... I know he left, knowing what it would mean to us—he chose to split apart from me... and so I knew I should be hurt—but why couldn't I be stronger? Why couldn't I let this experience help me...? Make me better than who I was?
I was taken out of my thoughts by a loud, ear piercing scream from Miyako, drawing my focus toward her. Tentomon and Hakwmon were both suddenly on either side of her, as she pointed toward the trees along the right side of the street. I ran to catch up to them, all of them standing still, staring at the trees.
"Are you sure?" Hawkmon was asking in a panic, as he took cautious steps toward the trees that Miyako was still pointing to.
"Yes I'm sure!" She squeaked, grabbing my wrist, and pulling me suddenly toward her.
"I do not see anything." Tentomon said, following Hawkmon's lead.
"Stop!" Miyako shot at them. "Let's just keep going."
"Don't you want us to check—" Hawkmon tried, but Miyako cut him off instantly.
"No." She said, "Let's just go... I think it's time we found the others again."
I looked to the ground, letting my head fall and found myself thinking. Miyako had found her digimon, discovered her crest inside of herself and even gotten herself into a perfect place after her break up... but I was still stuck trying to get over Yamato—I wasn't ready to go back. I needed more time... my mind clearing mission wasn't over... and I didn't even want to think about it at that moment. I was more curious as to what Miyako had spotted in the trees, but by the look of pure terror on her face I knew it wasn't good... but I also just... didn't want to know at all...
"Let's go then," Hawkmon said with a grin. "Shall I digivolve and take you all to where you need to go?"
Miyako nodded, "Yes."
"No." I said flatly. "No, I can't go yet. I just have to do one more thing."
"What's that?" Miyako asked, nervously looking back toward the trees.
"My dad's workplace is just at the end of this road." I explained, "I know it seems unlikely that he'd be there given everything that's been going on, but he's kind of obsessed with Digimon... he might be there—he just... I have to check. I just want to talk to him." I told Miyako. I was coming up with the idea on the spot, but it might help... I was in a pretty bad place at that moment, so anything could help really.
"Then we'll go back?" Miyako asked me, still staring at the trees.
"Yes. I promise I'll go back to the others with you after that." I said, trying to smile but giving up. She broke eye contact with the trees and then looked toward me and nodded, smiling.
"Let's go." She said, "It was selfish of me to not wait until you were ready Sora." She turned and began leading the way toward the University. "We'll wait until you're ready to go. When we both are."
"That's very honourable of you Miyako!" Hawkmon smiled, taking flight and flying next to her.
"See?" Tentomon said walking next to me before taking to the skies and flying around my head again, sounding off in his familiar buzz.
I listened to the sound of his wings as the four of us walked in silence toward the University at the end of the street, thinking about Yamato. I had been living at his house—I'd have to go back there and get my things, well that was just asking to be awkward. Maybe I could get Takeru to get them for me—no, I knew that was a coward's way out of things. I'd have to do it myself. Maybe that would give me some time to talk to him about the whole break up... or whatever it was. Maybe we didn't actually break up—perhaps he was just taking time to think—maybe he didn't even go to the dark side—maybe he was just searching for something... someone—what if he had been taken by one of the remaining Dark Masters? And here I was trying to figure out how to get over him—
No Sora.
He's gone.
It was hard to admit to myself, but actually killing the last threads of hope made me want to cry, at the same time as making me feel... relieved almost. Without Yamato there in my mind, without that lingering feelings of hope and love... I knew I was ready to talk to my father... for some advice...
Which was good because we were stepping into the school's parking lot now, which was littered with strange craters as if a digimon war had happened right there. I knew I should have been worried about it, but I wasn't. No more than I already was anyway. Both of my parents could be dead—I was aware of this. They were both somewhere on this strange mutated world surrounded by crazed digimon... and I hadn't seen or spoken to either of them in so long... I couldn't even remember what the last things I had said to them were... but I knew they couldn't be good.
"Sora...?" Miyako said slowly, pointing toward the front door to the University. The door was scorched, melted and blasted open. My heart panged violently as I ran inside quickly. I saw a broken and melted pipe on the floor next to the door, but didn't stop to examine it, quickly running toward my father's classroom. As I worked my way through the tall, arched hallways, I heard Miyako's footsteps and Tentomon's humming following me, and I could only assume that Hawkmon was there with them. Soon I was sliding to a stop in front of his classroom, fiddling with the handle, pushing the door as hard as I could, but it wouldn't open. I began slamming my fists into the door as hard as I could become vaguely aware that Miyako and the others had caught up to me. I heard things being pushed around inside, I stepped back listening to the sounds until suddenly the door flung open.
"Sora...?" It was my dad. He was standing, panting in the doorway, sweat beading on his face, his clothes were out of place, his tie draping over his shoulders. His greying hair was messy and he looked shocked to see me, but suddenly he smiled and stepped toward me, wrapping his arms around me without a second thought.
"Dad!" I cried out, suddenly feeling tears in my eyes. I held them back because I had no time to get emotional. But just seeing him again—seeing that he was okay... I cleared my throat, "I need to talk with you."
"I'll just wait here..." Miyako smiled at me, waving politely to my dad before stepping into the classroom with Tentomon and Hawkmon, shooting me a smile and a thumbs up, mouthing the words 'Good luck'.
"Good bye Sora!" Tentomon buzzed to me, "Be back soon—Koushiro wants me to protect you—and any friend of his is a friend of mine!"
I smiled at him before turning to my father.
"What do you want to talk about?" Dad asked.
I wiggled free and smiled at him before setting off back down the hallway. He followed me. I didn't speak until he was in stride with me, trying to figure out what to say.
"What is going on with you and Mom?" I asked him. I had meant for it to come out less blunt than that.
He looked nervously toward me and then sighed, "We're taking... some time apart." He looked to me to see my reaction but I made sure not to let out any emotion. I didn't want him to see the vulnerable side of me for some reason. I guess it was because he didn't seem to care about me anymore—he never called to see if I was okay, he never said anything to me, or about me... why would I let him know me?
"How long...?" I asked him.
"I don't know..." He admitted, "Look—what's this about Sora? Don't you have more important things to be doing with your time? As far as I can gather the worlds are becoming one. You, as a Digidestined need to rescue the world—you should be out there saving it."
"I can't." I told him as we turned a corner. "I needed some time to myself."
"Why?" He asked.
"Well... Yamato and I broke up." I told him, realizing that I couldn't hide that if that was what I was here to get help with.
"Oh honey... I'm sorry." He said, hugging me again.
"Yes, well..." I said, pushing free again and setting off, once again, down the hallway. "As I was saying, I can't save the world if I can't figure out my crest of Love. Besides, I can't find Biyomon."
"Well Miyako has Hawkmon." He pointed out, "Biyomon will turn up eventually. Love never dies Sora—and you love her. The bond between the two of you is so strong that even living in separate worlds can't break you."
"Love never dies?" I asked him, "Oh really? Well remember Yamato—because I was in love with him Dad. And he turned evil. And before that—Taichi! I'm pretty sure there was love there too—he ignored his sister and ruined her life, and broke friendships over me." I saw that Dad was raising his eyebrows at me, so I ignored him, "I loved them so much that they turned evil and dumped me. Love seems to be dying all around."
"Love never truly dies Sora." He explained further.
"Then why did he leave?" I asked sharply.
"I can't explain that to you Sora." Dad said, leading me down another hallway.
"And what about you and Mom?" I asked him sharply. "What there? Why do you two not love each other anymore? I thought Love couldn't die! Or did you never really love each other? And if that was the case then why is my crest love!?" I could feel the emotions rising inside of me as I tried to hide them once more—why was I so emotional now? Couldn't it wait? "And I mean—"
Dad stopped me and placed his hands on my shoulders. "Sora..." He said quickly, "I did love your mother—I do love your mother. It's just very complicated. I can't explain it to you... But whatever is meant to happen, will happen. Not every story has a happy ending, but I do know that in the end, the story you choose—the one you end up following will have a happy ending. Because you are the most caring, nurturing, kind and loving person I have ever met, and anyone would be lucky to have you, because you're perfect Sora."
I decided in that moment that hiding my emotions was stupid as I threw my arms around him and hugged him as tightly as I could, letting tears flow from my eyes—but they weren't tears of sadness anymore—I was... happy. "I love you Daddy..." I said as he wrapped his arms around me again.
"I love you too Sora," He smiled at me. "Now can you do me a favour?" He asked me as he released me and I took a step back.
I nodded, "Yeah..." I told him with a smile, wiping my eyes with my sleeve.
"Can you go kick some ass and be the hero I know you are?" He smiled down at me as I nodded with a grin on my face.
"Sure thing!" I smiled at him. "if we can figure out how to kill the God of the Digital World..."
Dad looked shocked for a moment before smiling and saying, "Everything has a weakness Sora. You just have to figure out what it is."
I tried to thank him for the advice but I was cut off by a loud banging just down the hallway, the way we had come—the way toward the classroom. Standing in the arched entrance to the hallway was a flaming humanoid digimon that I recognized instantly as Meramon.
"I thought you'd killed him!" Dad gasped.
"I thought he'd killed you! And no, I didn't run into him." I told him, "And I told you! I don't know where Biyomon is!"
"Well he's been trying to get into the school for a while." Dad said, "We'd better run—I think he might be angry..." Dad turned to run, but I instinctively stepped toward him as Meramon. "Sora! What are you doing?" He hissed from behind me.
I ignored him and continued walking as Meramon began to step toward me slowly. He was staring directly at me with his shallow blue eyes as I worked my way toward him. "Meramon...?" I said as I was coming closer. "Do you... remember me?"
"Sora it could be any number of Meramon's." Dad informed me as if I had no idea as to how the Digital world worked.
I ignored him again and moved closer to Meramon. "It's me... Sora." I said, "What's wrong...? Why are you doing this?"
"Sora..." Dad warned.
"Meramon...?" I ignored him again. I was close enough to touch him now, and I could feel the intense heat radiating from the flicking flames that made up his structure as we both stopped walking. "Meramon...?"
"RAH!" He screamed out suddenly, the flames on his body growing as I felt my dad wrap his fingers around my arm and drag me away from the creature.
"No!" I insisted, ripping free of his grasp and stepping toward the growing digimon. "Meramon! Stop! Stop now!"
Meramon stopped screaming, and stared at me, but his flames did not die down.
"Meramon!" I yelled again. "MERAMON STOP!"
The flames died down suddenly as he tilted his head toward me, opening his mouth slowly, revealing the orange thread tying his lips together. "Help... me." He said slowly.
I found myself smiling and clapping as I jumped toward him. "Help with what?"
"Sora be careful!" Dad warned from behind me.
"What... is happening...?" He asked, "Why ... am I here?"
"I have no idea." I smiled at him brightly, I noticed his frustrated expression and then held up my hands in defence. "But I know someone who might!" I stepped aside and motioned toward my father who looked shocked, he always wanted a moment alone with a digimon, so I figured he wouldn't mind too much with Meramon tagging along. "He can help you. He knows what's going on."
"Help me..." Meramon said, stepping past me and toward my father.
"Dad..." I said as he nervously began walking with Meramon, looking over his shoulder toward me. "Thanks... I'll be back to see you when we're done with this. When we win." He smiled at my confidence and winked at me.
"Good luck Sora." He said before he turned to Meramon to explain what was going on. I wasn't really sure if my dad really did know what was going on. But I was positive that that Meramon was the one from the Yokomon's village—and the Yokomon's had told me that Meramon was a very friendly digimon while not under the influence of the Dark gears... but he was easily angered. And he was confused—in a new environment. Of course he'd be mad!
But I didn't have time to think about that. I threw Meramon to the back of my mind, just like Yamato. I had to get Miyako, Tentomon and Hawkmon, and we had to get back to the others. I was ready to face Kurayami and her band of evil—and I was ready to fight for the sake of all the worlds if it meant keeping my parents safe... including my mother... even if we weren't talking anymore.
I set off at a run toward Miyako.
Taichi:
I so did not have a plan. This wasn't how this battle was supposed to go. Puppetmon shouldn't have ever taken control of our digimon, no matter how short of a time. I was supposed to be with Agumon right now, and Willis with Terriermon, and we'd digivolve them to mega and kick some serious puppet tail.
Instead, I was running through the trees with a rabbit—who insisted he was a dog but I still couldn't see it—with Puppetmon chasing after us. On the plus side that actually left Willis, Koushiro and Agumon relatively safe for the time being. Too bad that didn't help Terriermon and me in the situation.
"This is not good," I said.
"That's an understatement," Terriermon said grumpily as we rushed through the trees. I could hear Puppetmon following behind us. He was letting out slow, agonizing breaths. Agonizing because he somehow managed to even make breathing into a whine… He was such a nuisance, really. It might've been a relief to actually let him kill me.
Of course I wasn't about to let him win. It would just make him whine out a victory song, and I couldn't let the world endure that.
"Come back here! Don't run away. I just want to play," Puppetmon said.
"Does he really think that'll make us stop?" I asked Terriermon incredulously.
"He doesn't seem smart," Terriermon reminded me. I rolled my eyes, and looked back over my shoulder. The wooden puppet digimon was making his way towards us, and fast.
"Weave through the trees," I suggested, picking Terriermon up—my legs were longer. We were moving faster now, but the trees were going to cost us precious ground if the weaving didn't help deter our chaser.
"Stop doing that!" Puppetmon shouted at us after I heard him crash into a tree in his haste to get to us. I almost snickered. I would have, had I not almost hit a tree myself when I looked to see if he'd recovered yet.
"It's working," Terriermon said happily.
"Don't jinx it," I warned him. I was running out of energy. I didn't like that feeling. I'd only been running two, three minutes tops. I could usually run for over an hour without feeling this drained. The lack of food, water and sufficient rest was the cause. But I ignored the ache in my chest and the stitches in my side. I had to keep Terriermon safe, until I could find the others again. I also had to stop trying to speak while running.
"He's gone?" Terriermon said confused. He'd been looking over my shoulder, watching Puppetmon like a good watch-dog—if he was in fact a dog and not the rabbit he appeared to be, I was still questioning that—and appeared to have lost sight of him. It didn't mean he was gone. It just meant we were sitting ducks because we'd lost our enemy.
I tried to quiet down my heavy breathing to see if I could hear him following us, or his whiny complaints at least, but I couldn't hear anything other than my own foot falls.
"We've got company," Terriermon said, his voice wavering. I glanced at him, after dodging another tree, and saw he was looking to the sky.
There was an Airdramon above us, and it looked pretty frightening. Of course that was mostly just because I immediately assumed it to be one of Puppetmon's goons—not that I'd seen any others before.
"Great," I groaned. "Okay, so an aerial search is going to damper our progress. We can't just run like we have been…"
"But that means that Puppetmon's going to catch up," Terriermon pointed out, glaring at the Airdramon.
"So what're you suggesting?" I asked him.
"I'm going to take down the Airdramon," he said confidently.
"Are you?" I asked skeptically. It's not that I doubted Terriermon's skills. It was just that he was a rookie, and Airdramon…well Airdramon was a very large, flying champion.
We were doomed.
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" I asked him.
"Yep," he said happily. "You're just going to have to help me out. Cheer me on…do what Willis usually does."
"I can't," I told him. "Willis has the power to help you digivolve. I can't do that. You know I can't."
"I meant be supportive," Terriermon said. "Gosh, you really are dumb like Willis says."
"That's Daisuke," I said on reflex. It wasn't the time to put down my 'replacement'. I liked to hope that there would be plenty of time for that later.
"Where are you?"
Great. Puppetmon was back. And it looked like he'd gotten lessons to find a way to be more annoying. His voice made me appreciate nails on a chalkboard—and I had a university professor that actually did that occasionally, just to see if we were paying attention…it's not fun.
"It's either Puppetmon or Airdramon, and I don't know about you," Terriermon said. "But I think I've got a better chance at taking out a champion than I do a mega. So I'm going to take that chance."
The dog-rabbit had a point.
"Okay," I said. "Let's do this thing."
"Bunny Blast!" Terriermon shouted, hopping out of my arms and sucking in a huge amount of air. He shot the superheated air towards the belly of the flying dragon. "A direct hit!" he cheered.
The dragon winced, and turned to look at us. His eyes however went straight passed us, as if he couldn't see us. Odd. I thought for sure he would've attacked instantly.
"Come out! Now," Puppetmon continued to whine. His voice was growing more distant. I shuddered, thinking he'd find the others instead.
"Bunny Blast!" Terriermon said again, shooting another blast of hot air at the aerial digimon. It, again, hit him in his soft underbelly. If I wasn't afraid of him trying to kill us, I'd have felt bad for the guy.
"Throw me in the air," Terriermon demanded.
"What?" I asked in surprise. He expected me to throw him twenty feet in the air so he could attack the thing head on? That was just not humanly possible, not to mention safe.
"Just throw me as high as you can," he insisted. "I'm going to hit him harder."
"Whatever," I said, forcing myself to put a little extra oomph as I threw him up. I got him up a grand total of six feet, and that was only because Terriermon was jumping at the same time.
"Terrier Tornado!" he yelled, twisting his body around and around. His ears were whipping out to the side, creating a green tornado that covered his body completely. The tornado lifted higher and higher into the air until he was level with Airdramon…and then suddenly, the tornado was gone. "Buddy Blast!"
This time, the ball of hot air landed right between Airdramon's eyes.
"Stop that!" Airdramon shouted in a distinctly feminine voice. I hadn't expected that in all honesty.
"No! You won't get us," Terriermon shouted, as he fell back down towards the earth. I was trying to stand underneath him, so I could catch him before he crashed into the ground. He hadn't thought this out very well I'd discovered.
"I'm not trying to get you," she shouted back. That was when I realized that Airdramon's mouth hadn't moved in the slightest.
"Who are you?" I shouted out, catching Terriermon in my arms, and setting him onto the ground—just in case he got any more crazy ideas about flying. It didn't matter what he was, neither dogs nor rabbits were supposed to do that.
"Who are you?" she countered.
"Look," I said. "We don't have time for this. Are you working for Fanglongmon or not?"
"I don't even know who that is for certain. Airdramon didn't teach me much about him," the voice said.
"Then I'm Taichi. Taichi Yagami," I said. "This is Willis' Terriermon."
"Willis? Where is he? Is he with Michael?" she asked.
"You see, that's not the right way to respond," I said with a sigh. "You're supposed to give me your name so I can see whether I want to trust you or not. Honestly, aren't you digimon taught manners?"
"I'm not sure if they are, seeing as I'm not a digimon," the girl said. "Airdramon, get closer to the ground. I think he's Michael's friend."
Michael's friend? I wasn't too sure about that, but I knew him.
The Airdramon nodded briefly before following her instructions.
"Oh, I remember you," she said. "You're hair isn't easy to forget. You might want to get it cut soon."
"My hair stays the way it is," I snapped, taking in her appearance. Her hair was longer than it was the last time I'd seen her, and she was wearing ridiculous clothing for a battle—a knee-length tartan skirt and a crisp, white blouse—but I did recognize her. "You're that girl aren't you? The one Michael wouldn't let Iori meet 'cause he thought Iori liked you or something. Yeah, you're…what's her name."
"Tatum Jefferson," she replied. "Yep, that's me."
"Michael's girlfriend?" I asked.
"Michael's hopefully soon to be girlfriend," she said sheepishly. "We're off at the moment."
"Ah," I said awkwardly.
"So, do you know where he is?" she asked.
"Not a clue," I said.
"Yeah we do," Terriermon said. "He's at the bad guy's base, right?"
"Shut up," I hissed. "Nope, he's not there."
"What was that for," he whispered at me.
"He probably won't want her to know he's a bad guy now," I told him.
"You're whispering skills need work," Tatum informed us. I rubbed the back of my neck sheepishly.
"Sorry," Terriermon and I said together.
"So is he actually evil, or is he just getting really into a role?" she asked.
"Don't know," I said. "Haven't seen him since he joined them. We're uh, headed there now."
"Where's Willis?" she asked, looking between me and Terriermon.
"Hopefully somewhere safe with Agumon and Koushiro," I said.
"Over that way," Terriermon said waving his hand in too vague of a direction to be helpful.
"Puppetmon's over that way too," she said. "We saw him. He didn't see me though, so he probably though Airdramon was one of this Fanglongmon guy's digimon. He looks pretty tough, doesn't he?"
The way she said it almost sounded like cooing. It was kind of disturbing.
"Willis is over there Taichi," Terriermon said. "We have to go save him. I can't let him get hurt. Lopmon would never let me hear the end of it."
"Can't have Lopmon gloating, now can we?" I joked. I looked into the trees, seeing if Puppetmon was anywhere near us. I couldn't see him, but if I strained myself, I could just hear him saying "Come and play with me. We'll have so much fun!"
No. We wouldn't. But I couldn't exactly yell that out to him, or he'd find us immediately.
"Hey, Tatum," I said suddenly.
"What?"
"Do you think you and Airdramon could give us a lift?" I asked.
"Where are you thinking?"
"To Koushiro, Willis and Agumon," I said hastily. "We have to get to them before Puppetmon does, and I think he's getting pretty close."
"Will you eventually meet up with Michael?" she asked. "Because that's all I'm looking for."
"Yeah," I said. "We're kind of headed to Fanglongmon's base right now."
"Excellent. I wasn't going to just leave you here, but it's nice to know I'm able to barter for things," she said happily. "You hear that Airdramon? We're finally getting a second assignment!"
She let Terriermon and I get on first—though I thought it was just because she was wearing a skirt and thought we'd peek—before crawling up onto her digimon.
"You got a first?" Terriermon asked, tilting his head.
"Yeah. We helped eradicate the digimon that were infesting the state of New York," she said proudly. "Which I only just now realized that Willis didn't bother helping with."
"Willis' mom is convinced that Lopmon and I are just stuffed toys," Terriermon said. "We couldn't do much to help without revealing that we weren't. She's very close minded."
"Oops," Tatum said. "I might've blown your cover."
"With the state of the worlds right now?" I said. "It was already blown."
"She'll try to keep Willis away from us," Terriermon said sadly.
"You're a rough and tough digimon," I told him. "Let her try."
He laughed, and seemed to forget, so I was thankful. It wasn't a good time to worry over things like that. There'd be time for that later…if there was a later. We had to make sure of that first.
"Take off buddy," Tatum told Airdramon.
"I have to ask," I said. "Why doesn't Airdramon speak?"
"He can't," she said. "But that's okay. He communicates fairly well with me. I can be your translator if you ever need one."
A digimon that couldn't talk?
"But how does he shout out his attack name?" Terriermon wanted to know.
"It might surprise you," she said wryly. "But you don't actually need to say it in order to use it. It just gives your opponent warning if you do."
"You totally say it for him," I said with a laugh.
"So?" she said defensively. Terriermon and I started laughing. Airdramon was shaking beneath us, so I assumed he was laughing at her too. It was quite funny in my books.
Not funny enough to forget that it got us noticed by Puppetmon though.
"There you are!" he said happily. "I knew I'd find you. I'm the best at hide and seek. You found more friends for me to play with? That's great! Now I'll get to have more fun."
I groaned.
"Oh no," Tatum said. "What do we do?"
"Get to the others fast, and hope that he doesn't catch us with one of his Puppet Pummel attacks," I said.
"There's more than one?" she asked horrified.
"That hammer of his is talented," I said dryly. "He can shoot us from where he is. Or he can jump and hammer us like a nail."
"Just great. Michael better appreciate the trouble I'm going through to find him. I already had to take down a Brimpmon," she said. I wondered idly what the hell a Brimpmon was, but shook it off. Agumon was more important at the moment.
"Agumon!" I yelled out. "We could really use you right now!"
"That's not going to help," Tatum pointed out.
"But they might hear us," Terriermon said. "Willis! I need to digivolve. Help me!"
"Really?" Tatum said raising her eyebrow at us. She looked down to Airdramon, and patted his head. "Ready for a Wing Cutter?"
"Not gonna yell it for us?" I asked with a grin.
"Wing Cutter!" she shouted out, before laughing with me. Airdramon's wings rose high above us, before shooting down swiftly. The speed seemed to create two blades, which crashed into Puppetmon.
"You do want to play," he said happily. I hated that we were making him happy.
"Puppet Pummel!" he said—practically sang—swinging his hammer up into the air, and letting loose a barrage of gunpowder. He was swinging the hammer towards us, and I knew that if it hit, we were done for.
"Digivolve!"
"Willis?" I asked, but I didn't need an answer. Terriermon was glowing beside me.
"Terriermon digivolve to…Gargomon!"
"Let's see how he likes it," Gargomon said. "Bunny Pummel!"
I was really questioning his dog-hood. Two attacks now that said bunny… It's not even like that sounded tough.
But it did look it, when he dived off of Airdramon, and delivered an uppercut to Puppetmon—who was headed towards us—before shooting a round off into his face.
"Hey! Oww," Puppetmon said. "You're not supposed to fight back."
"Taichi," Agumon shouted at me. I searched around, trying to see him. He was standing with Willis and Koushiro, near a small group of trees. Koushiro and Willis were watching the battle intently, but Agumon was just staring at me. Waiting for me to give the okay.
"Now!" I yelled back at him.
"Agumon digivolve to…Greymon!"
"Yes!" I exclaimed. "Now get him. He's made of wood. Let's see this puppet burn!"
"Nova Blast!" Greymon roared before spitting a ball of fire directly at Puppetmon.
"Not fair!" Puppetmon cried. He jumped over the flame though, and turned to Greymon with a glare. "You might have fire, but I've got more firepower."
"We'll just see about that!" I yelled. "Greymon, it's time for ultimate."
"I'm on it!" he called to me.
"In the meantime," Gargomon said. "Gargo Pellets!" He let loose another round of bullets from the vulcans on his arms. "Let's see you dance."
It seemed like Gargomon really hadn't enjoyed being Puppetmon's puppet.
"Greymon digivolve to….MetalGreymon!"
"Mega Claw!" MetalGreymon announced, swinging his metal claw at the wooden puppet.
"Puppet Pummel!" Puppetmon declared, matching MetalGreymon's swing with his hammer. They hit one another. It became a battle of wills, but it was a battle MetalGreymon was going to lose. He just didn't have the same power that Puppetmon did. He did however have explosives in his chest.
"Giga Blaster!" he said with a malicious ferocity. The hatch on his chest opened, and the explosive hit Puppetmon straight on. The explosive kept moving though, and Puppetmon held on for dear life.
"Willis," I shouted. "Time for more, don't you think?"
"Right," he said with a nod. "Gargomon!"
"Gargomon digivolve to… Rapidmon!"
"Homing blast!" An explosive shot off of Rapidmon's back, trained directly on Puppetmon's location…on another bomb…
"Tatum," I said frantically. "Get us to the ground before it hits."
"Right," she said. She tried to keep her face calm, but I could see she was freaking out. "You heard him Airdramon. Get us out of the air."
Airdramon dropped us to the ground quickly, thankfully, because the two bombs met, and they made one hell of an explosion.
"Did it work?" Tatum asked me.
"I don't know," I said. "Let's hope."
"Luckily," Puppetmon's voice rang out. "Hope isn't your crest, as it clearly isn't on your side."
"Damn it," I said. I supposed that's what the X-virus did. Made him twice as strong as before. I should have remembered. He just looked so weak and tiny.
"Spinning Needle!" Tatum yelled. Airdramon shot numerous air spears out of his mane. It looked cool, but it was useless. What did she think she was doing? Airdramon was a single champion against a…double mega!
"Hurry up and digivolve," she said. "I won't be able to buy much time. Tornado!"
Airdramon stirred the air around him into a twister, sending it for Puppetmon.
"I don't have time for this," Puppetmon said. "This is getting boring. I don't like boring."
"Then let's give you more of a challenge. Willis! MetalGreymon!" I said loudly.
"Rapidmon!" Willis shouted, nodding at me.
"MetalGreymon digivolve to…. WarGreymon!"
"Rapidmon digivolve to… MegaGargomon!"
"Wing Cutter!" Tatum yelled as they transformed. Airdramon's blades were knocked aside easily with Puppetmon's hammer.
He meant it when he said he was done playing around. He'd been toying with us the entire time.
"Puppet Pummel!" he bellowed. The oddly annoying whine was gone from his voice. I was pleased to hear that, even if he was going to actively try to destroy us, it was nice to know the last thing I heard wouldn't be that whine.
He'd run towards WarGreymon with his hammer, intending to bash him into the ground. But I wasn't going to let him. Not if I could help it. I decided to channel my inner Tatum this time.
"Brave Shield!" I hollered. WarGreymon looked at me in surprise, for just a second, before using his shield to deflect the hammer when Puppetmon decided to throw it at him.
"Not fair!" Puppetmon said.
Damn it. The whine was back.
"Mega Barrage!" Willis chimed in.
"I knew I wasn't the only one," Tatum said happily. "Admit it, it's fun to feel more involved.
MegaGargomon let loose a volley of firearms. Puppetmon shrieked in anger as some of them hit him.
"I see what you mean," I told Tatum with a smile. "Terra Force!"
I could have sworn I saw WarGreymon roll his eyes before he lifted his clawed hands into the air in order to gather all of the energy within the atmosphere in order to fire a super-dense, high-temperature fireball at Puppetmon. I was kind of glad Yamato had chosen a few of the classes he did. I found it much easier to understand just what my digimon was doing now.
I kind of felt like I figured Koushiro must.
It was kind of cool.
Not as cool as hearing Puppetmon start crying in frustration when he barely managed to push away WarGreymon's attack though.
"You're not supposed to be strong! I have the X-Virus. Fanglongmon gave it to me. I'm two times as strong as you!" he whined.
"You're two times as strong as one of us," Koushiro pointed out. "There're two of mega level digimon fighting you. We're stronger, because we have the crests. An artificial virus isn't going to change that."
"It should," Puppetmon pouted.
"Let's end this," Willis said.
"No!" Puppetmon said. "Not just yet. I've got a party trick for you."
"What?" Willis asked.
"Puppet Pummel!" he shouted, shooting a blast of gunpowder at the ground, creating a large cloud of smoke. "We can play again when you find me!"
When the smoke cleared…he was gone.
"Damn it!" I growled. "We almost had him."
"Hey, what's Tatum doing here?" Willis asked. I was surprised he was so quick at letting the escape go, but then, if he was dating my sister—or whatever it was they were doing—he had to be a hopeless optimist.
"I'm looking for Michael," Tatum said.
"I meant in Japan," he elaborated.
"And I'm still looking for Michael," she said. When he was still looking at her expectantly, she sighed. "Mr. Washington gave me a ride. He brought me and your mom over in his jet."
"You brought my mother into this?" Willis asked in horror.
"She demanded that she come along," Tatum said. "She got me kicked out of the airport too. I left her and Mr. Washington at the community centre. A lot of people were gathering over there with food supplies and whatnot. I guess they figure the digimon are the sign of the apocalypse."
"But my mother!" Willis complained.
"Where do we go now?" I asked, interrupting them. "We've got to find Puppetmon, before he does anymore damage, but we've got to get to Fanglongmon's lair by the time the others do."
"Mimi's on her way there now, with Jou, Takeru and Hikari I think. They've got Gomamon, Gennai and Patamon to help, and DemiVeemon and Otamamon to protect," Koushiro said.
"How do you know?" I asked.
"Got a phone call while we were running from Puppetmon," Willis said snickering. "Boy was Mimi mad when she found out he'd forgotten to call her."
"We were running for our lives. I was a little busy," Koushiro said, rolling his eyes. "We've got to go now."
"But where would Puppetmon be headed?" I asked, looking around. He could have gone absolutely anywhere.
This was going to be much harder than I thought…
Satoe:
We were getting off of the airplane on some island in the Pacific, Keisuke was right behind me, hurrying along. Time was racing now. Our airplane had been forced to land before its destination airport in Japan due to the attacks around the country itself and that one other plane had already been taken down by the monsters. This was just not my lucky day! How was I supposed to get to Japan to see if the traitor was okay? I had a feeling she wasn't though... I had a feeling that she needed me.
"Satoe—this way!" Keisuke said sharply, grabbing my wrist and pulling quickly, dragging me through the tight knit crowd of people. I was shocked to say the least at the amount of people on the random island in the middle of nowhere. I supposed that since this was the closest the airplanes would get to Japan, and the battling going on over there was World-wide news. I bit my bottom lip as Keisuke dragged me through the bustling crowds. Elbows and shoulders slamming roughly into me from all directions, people trying to get around, tripping me, screaming loudly as I walked by. It wasn't a pleasant time for me at all.
Finally though Keisuke had successfully dragged me out of the crowd and toward a strange dock. I looked over my shoulder trying to make sense of where we were or where anything else was for that matter but I couldn't even tell where we were—I thought perhaps it was a marketplace, but it was far too crowded to be sure.
"Sir!" Keisuke called out, catching my attention. I snapped my head back to the docks we were headed toward and saw that there was a man sitting in rags at the end of the nearest dock with a long wooden fishing rod in his hands and next to him was a very classy man with a white sailor's hat. He was standing next to a large shining black and white boat. "Sir!" Keisuke called once more, coming to a stop in front of him.
"Can I help you sir?" The man asked in English, turning to Keisuke and tipping his hat in my direction.
"Would you let us use your boat?" Keisuke asked. "Please sir! It's very important. We need to get to Japan—our daughter is there and we're very worried!"
The man shook his head simply. "The waters are different nowadays." The man motioned to the sea around him. Keisuke and I peered around him and saw that there were large waves crashing around in the black waters. As we looked back to the man he turned to his boat, "But... for the right price..." I heard a splash in the water and I looked to the man who was fishing. He hadn't seemed to catch anything but there was a green, red, yellow and white fish jumping around, in and out of the dark waters. I didn't recognize the fish—then again I'd never studied fish—but even so, I could be pretty certain that not many types of fish had teeth as sharp as that one seemed to. I nervously stepped closer to Keisuke.
Keisuke turned to me quickly having left his wallet back in America. I hurriedly unclipped my purse and reached inside looking for money but came out empty handed. "Where is my money?" I asked quickly, "My wallet—it's gone!" I looked back to the crowd of people and practically growled. I had been pick pocketed.
"No money?" The man said, "No ride." He looked away from us and hurriedly clambered onto his boat and out of sight to us.
"Now what?" I asked Keisuke. "How are we supposed to get to Japan?"
"Why are you so worried about her?" Keisuke asked me, ignoring my question. "Do you not think she can handle herself?"
"I'm not worried about that thing." I told him.
"That thing is our daughter. Mimi." Keisuke shot at me. I threw my hands over my ears instantly and began singing loudly. I could see him mouthing her name over and over again but refused to listen. Suddenly though a hand tapped his shoulder and I dropped my hands and stopped singing to look toward the man who had been fishing earlier, still dressed in rags.
"Did you say Mimi?" The man asked, "In Japan? Mimi Tachikawa?" I gritted my teeth as the man repeated her name over and over.
"Yes!" Keisuke grinned, "Yes that's her! Do you know of her?"
"No."
Keisuke's excitement visually fell and I had to admit that I was a little put out too. If the man seemed to know so much about the girl then how could he not actually know her? It was infuriating that he would waste so much of my time. Even if that girl was a traitor—a cheat—a liar and a backstabber... I knew I had to save her—to see if she was okay. She was my daughter after all... "Then why did you—?"
"I know someone who does know her." The man said with a grin. Suddenly my excitement was back up, but Keisuke didn't seem to feel the same.
"Can he get us to Japan?" Keisuke asked sharply as the man turned toward the waters, stepping toward the edge of the dock. "I mean knowing her is one thing, but getting us to her is another."
The man didn't answer. Instead he watched the sharp toothed colourful fish swim out deeper into the ocean.
"Sir?" I prodded the man with my finger, poking him in the face.
"Sir!" Keisuke said sharply. "Can this person get us to our daughter?"
"Person?" The man laughed, "Oh it's no person."
"What?" We both asked together. We were answered by a simple point as the man stuck his finger out and indicated for us to look out to the water at the fish. Suddenly the fish began to glow. I looked nervously to Keisuke who was watching in amazement.
"Swimmon digivolve to... Whamon!" I heard a loud booming voice sound as the waters all around us exploded causing a large wave of the water to raise. I found myself clinging to Keisuke as the wave crashedinto itself and rush toward the docks and shore. I relaxed a little as the water level rose slightly, the water washing onto the old wooden dock and soaking my feet and designer heels sending instant shivers all through my body.
"MOM!" I heard a shriek. I looked to Keisuke who had clearly also heard it. "DAD! HELP! DADDY! MOM!"
"Mi...mi?" Keisuke asked, his face pale as a ghost. I grabbed his hand tighter and bit my lip once again.
"Oh—don't worry about that." The man said, "The water is just playing tricks on you. Try not to touch it. It does weird things on your mind and if you say in for too long... well... it affects digimon strongly—just imagine how it could affect a human."
I wanted to question this man, find out who he was, how he knew so much about digimon, those strange creatures my daughter was so involved with, but I didn't have the time. I had to get to Japan.
I looked out to where the fish had been and stared in awe at the large fish—no... whale. It was resting on the top of the water, bobbing up and down, waiting for us.
"Take my row boat to get to him." The man said smiling. Gesturing toward a small wooden boat tied to shore. "Don't row too fast, like I said, you don't want the waters touching you." The thought of the spine chilling waters and cries from my daughter were sent buzzing through my mind again. "And watch out for Dragomon." The man said with a grin.
"W-who?" I asked him.
"Dragomon." He repeated. "The digimon God of the oceans. He's not a nice fellow. Watch out for him. He's planning something big... it's going to go down soon—he and his minions are showing up more often in the waters. Don't worry though. Whamon will protect you unless Dragomon shows up. If that happens. You're scooped and Whamon will try to run... but I don't know if he'll be fast enough."
"This is comforting." Keisuke said sarcastically.
"Just be careful." The man said. "And when you find your daughter... you need to tell her to be careful too. Whamon said that Dragomon is after her and her friends. It could get bad really fast."
"Then we have to go." Keisuke said sharply. "Thank you sir for all of your help." He said, shaking his hand quickly and hurrying into the row boat next to us.
"Good luck." The man said to me. I nodded and hurried after my husband.
Next on Digimon Adventure 04: With Puppetmon remaining a major threat, and Fanglongmon getting his plans ready, will the digidestined be able to prioritize their long to-do list? Willis has to fight more than one battle next time around, while Yamato gets a confrontation from a different Dark Master. Jun on the other hand has to pull herself together, and try to get past her fears.