"Playing Games"
Here is the next chapter. Please enjoy and review!
Just when we thought it was the end for WarGreymon, Whamon came to the rescue by ramming into MetalSeadramon and WarGreymon was able to escape, but MetalSeadramon attacked Whamon and hit him with his River of Power, blasting a hole in the whale as he went down into the water.
WarGreymon then used his Terra Force as MetalSeadramon used his River of Power, the dino cutting through the green beam and also destroyed MetalSeadramon for good.
It was kind of weird how he went through his mouth and then burst out of the tail, but at least it worked.
"So much for your impenetrable crome digi-zoid of armour. Looks to me like you got a little rusty." WarGreymon said.
"Next time you decide to rule the waters, do everybody a favour and take a bubble bath instead." Kabuterimon said.
"We won." Tai smiled.
WarGreymon then turned back into a tried Koromon.
Later on, all of us were together as Whamon came back up looking really hurt from everything he had been through.
"Digidestinds…please save this world." He said.
To our horror, he faded away into data as we all cried out for him to not leave and he just died right in front of us.
"Whamon, where did he go?" TK asked.
"Look there everyone." Izzy said.
"It's happening to MetalSeadramon too." Matt said as the Dark Master of Water faded away into data.
"They're floating in the sky." Sora said.
"I know where they're going." Gomamon said.
"Spiral Mountain's peak." Tentomon said as the ground started to shake.
"No, that's the real reason for all the shaking. Over there." Tai pointed.
Over at Spiral Mountain, the water that was on it was draining away.
"The ocean!" Sora gasped.
"It's, uh, disappearing." Joe said.
"Look, Spiral Mountain's ocean is almost completely gone." TK said.
"But why?" Patamon asked.
"The Digital Ocean is being reconfigured because we kicked its Dark Master's butt." Gomamon said.
"Quite interesting, but does this affect us?" Izzy asked.
"Absolutely, it changes everything. If we're gonna get any surfing in, we better hurry." Tai joked.
"Those wimpy Dark Masters are no threat to Super Joe." Joe joked as he was sharing the hype with everyone.
"That's the digi-tude I like to hear from you humans." Gatomon said.
"All right! Let's go." Tai said as everyone cheered.
"Wait!" Mimi called making us all turn to her.
"We're not through here yet." She said.
Mimi and Palmon were making three mounds in the dirt with a cross made out of sticks on top of each one.
"Mimi, what're you doing?" Tai asked.
"In case you haven't noticed, some of our friends are gone." Matt reminded with a bit of bite.
"Oh, sorry." Tai said.
"That one is to remember Chumon, the one next to it is Pixiemon and this one here is for Whamon." Mimi said with a sad look.
"Mimi, they're not dead. It's more like they've been downloaded to a different computer." Sora said as she walked over.
"That's right. We're digital. Our information just gets reconfigured." Gatomon said.
"We'll always come back, but as for you humans…" Nekomon trailed off.
His and V-Mon's ears both lowered at the bad thought.
"It doesn't make it better that they're gone." DemiMeramon reminded.
"What better reason do we need to get the Dark Masters? Payback for making our friends leave." Tai said.
"I'm not going." Mimi said startling us.
What the heck did she just say?
After everything we've been through she's just gonna give up?
"What are you sayin'?" Tai asked.
"I have had enough. Every time we fight, we wind up losing another friend!" she yelled in despair.
"This is war, Mimi, and sometimes people we like get hurt, so deal with it." Tai said.
"Stop it, Tai!" Mimi shrieked as she covered her ears.
"Enough! Why don't you stop and think about other people's feelings for a change?" Matt said to Tai.
"Huh? What're you talking about?" he asked.
Oh, not again.
I hate it when they fight; it makes everyone more depressed than they usually are.
"We all know you're right, Tai, but just give us a little space." Matt said making Tai look even more confused.
"We miss our friends who fought alongside of us. Not everyone has ice running through their veins like you do." Matt yelled.
I whimpered at the oncoming fight while my three digimon hovered around me.
"What?" Tai asked in surprise.
"Calm down." TK said.
"You're so busy looking forward that you don't take time to look back. We've lost some good friends here, Tai, and it's nice to remember them once in a while." Matt said.
"If we always do that, we'll never have enough time to save the world." Tai yelled back.
"You still don't get it. I know you can hear me, but you're not listening." Matt said as Mimi started to sob.
"Stop it, you're making everyone upset! You two are supposed to be friends." Sora said.
"Don't cry, Mimi." Palmon said as she comforted her partner.
"We're sitting ducks out here. Let's find some place a little less out in the open." Joe suggested.
Our group all then started to walk off while I felt like just getting away from everyone else because of all the arguing that was going on.
We were all walking down a forest path as Kari, TK and I gave our brothers wary looks while everyone else looked so down from what was going on.
"You OK?" Kari asked Tai.
He kept quiet as he walked off, Kari stopping as the others all kept going so I stopped and looked over to her.
"Why'd you stop Kari?" Gatomon asked.
"Did you hear a noise just now?" Kari asked.
"A noise?" V-Mon asked.
"What kind of noise?" Gatomon asked.
"You mean you didn't hear someone speaking a second ago?" Kari asked.
"What?" Nekomon asked.
"You mean a voice?" DemiMeramon asked.
"No, I didn't hear anything at all." Gatomon said.
"Weird." Kari said.
"Come on; let's get back to the others. There's safety in numbers." Gatomon said.
"She's right. Come on." Nekomon said.
Tai and the others were waiting on us as we ran up to them.
"Where were you six?" Tai asked.
"I thought I heard something but it was just my imagination." Kari said.
"It's dangerous out here so stay with the group." Tai said.
"OK, I'm sorry." Kari nodded.
As we started moving, the forest around us seemed to be moving fast past us which made us all stop to look at what was going on.
"Huh, what's this?" Tai asked.
"Why are the trees running so fast?" Kari asked.
"What is going on?!" Joe asked.
"Things aren't moving faster, we are! The ground we're standing on is accelerating!" Izzy yelled as everyone cried out as the ground moved forward.
"We gotta jump off!" Tai called.
We all jumped off of the moving land and ended up on the still forest floor, but then it started to move.
"Now this one's moving." Izzy cried.
"Obviously someone's trying to get us somewhere and in a big hurry." Sora said.
"You're right and why do I get the feeling this someone's not too friendly?" Matt asked.
"Oh no!" TK cried.
"This is the first time I got carsick without a car." Joe whimpered.
"I got a plan." Tai said.
His plan was to get up into the trees since they weren't moving and it was safer to hide in the thick leaves and branches from whoever could be watching us.
"I have a hunch that one of the Dark Masters is behind all this." Sora said.
"I bet you're right." Izzy said.
"We have to do something. I say we either keep going or build a nest." Joe said as he clung to the tree trunk.
"I say we have to fight whoever it is sooner or later so let's get to it." Tai said.
"Oh come on, again with the fighting? Why don't you just go to a neutral court order already." Matt snapped.
"Come on, Matt. Please stop arguing." TK begged as he placed a hand on Matt's arm.
"You keep out of this." Matt said.
"All right, Matt. Let's play it your way. We'll stay up here and wait for the enemy to get us." Tai said.
I whined at this while Nekomon hissed while V-Mon and DemiMeramon shook their heads at this.
"That's not what I meant!" Matt said.
"Stop it, Matt!" TK yelled.
Tai then just disappeared right in front of us making everyone gasp.
"Where'd Tao go? He just disappeared." Matt said.
"Did he fall?" Kari asked.
"Oh no." Koromon said.
"He vanished into thin air." Joe said.
"Look, now Mimi's gone!" Sora gasped.
"Mimi come back!" Palmon called.
Sora and Izzy then faded away making us all gasp.
"Maybe their screen savers are on sleep." Tentomon said.
"Joe!" Gomamon cried.
"Kari!" Gatomon called.
They had faded away too.
"Everybody's disappeared but us." TK said.
"I think it's over." Matt said.
But now we're separated from everyone else." TK said worried.
"Don't worry, TK, we'll be all right without the others. Especially Tai." Matt said.
This made me look down sadly while V-Mon hugged me and Gatomon gave the child of Friendship a glare along with Nekomon.
"TK?" Matt said.
"Yeah?" TK asked.
"Stick close to me and I'll protect you no matter what." Matt said.
"Listen Matt, the only reason we got this far is because we worked as a team. Each one of us plays a part along the way of keeping us together, including Tai. And if he's gone, it'll really hurt Dai." TK said.
"But I…" Mat trailed off.
"And I don't need you to protect me all the time either. If you haven't noticed, I've grown up a lot. I fought alongside you guys since the beginning and I've always held my own." The child of Hope said.
You tell him, TK!
"TK, that's not what I meant. What…what I wanted to say was…" Matt trailed off.
"What?" TK asked.
Matt looked off to the side sadly as he tried to think of what to say, but he was failing.
Just then, a vision flashed in my mind of Joe crying out in pain and I gasped as I looked over my shoulder.
What happened to him?
Matt then faded away and Izzy was replaced with him.
Then TK was taken away as Mimi showed up.
'Welcome back." Izzy said.
"We should be saying that." V-Mon said.
"You know, I'm getting tired of doing nothing." Biyomon said.
"I won't be some cat stuck in a tree. Let's go look for them." Gatomon said.
"Good idea. I'll start by looking for TK." Patamon said.
"Oh, this is awful." Mimi whined.
"You said it. How can it get any worse?" Koromon asked.
"I'll tell you how. The branches are starting to crack." Izzy said.
"They should learn to fly." Patamon said as the other digimon jumped down.
"Hey, wait. Daisuke, you haven't be moved at all?" Izzy asked.
I shook my head to say 'no'.
"Huh? Why is it only her?" Mimi asked.
"Who knows?" Izzy shrugged as he started to think.
Just then, a vision came to my mind.
It was Puppetmon and he grabbed TK.
"No!" I yelled shocking them all.
Quickly, I jumped down and started running off with my three digimon chasing after me as I tried to sense out where TK was as I ran off to where he was scared for him.
"Dai, you need to calm down. By the way, why are we running?" V-Mon asked.
"Puppetmon. He has TK!" I said.
"Princess, calm yourself and focus. You'll find him better that way." Nekomon said.
I stopped as I clutched at my Crest with a determined frown.
"V-Mon, let's save our friend." I said.
"You got it." he smiled.
"V-Mon digivolve to...XV-MON!"
We got onto my dragon's back as he soared off through the forest when I sensed something was off.
"Matt…" I whispered.
Something was wrong with the Crest of Friendship; I could feel it and it made me worry over what could have happened.
"Down there!" DemiMeramon cried.
XV-Mon then swooped down and there was TK and Patamon as they ran through the forest.
"Hey, look up there!" Patamon smiled as TK looked.
"Hey, Dai. Great timing." TK called.
XV-Mon landed in front of them as I jumped off of his back.
"What happened with Puppetmon?" I asked.
"I tricked him to get away. He was the one using toys to make us all get separated and hurt us." TK explained.
"Makes sense. Puppetmon is always playing games. It's how he fights. Nice work tricking him, kid. I didn't know you had it in you. I'm real proud of you." Nekomon explained making TK chuckle at that.
A sick feeling was bubbling in the pit of my stomach just like it had before when I felt something wrong with the Crest of Friendship.
Just what is going on?
"We need to find the others and fast before Puppetmon catches us." Patamon said.
"Right." TK nodded.
We all got up on XV-Mon and he took off into the forest, quickly finding our friends and siblings there and it looked like a fight was about to start up yet again.
"Hey!" TK called stopping it as everyone turned to us.
"Hey everybody! Hi, we're back!. TK called as he waved to them while XV-Mon started to turn back into V-Mon while TK, Nekomon and I landed on our feet with V-Mon while Patamon and DemiMeramon flew in the air.
"Oh, TK." Matt said worried.
The others all cheered as they ran over to us, Tai grabbing me and squeezing me in his arms.
"Don't you ever run off like that again." He scolded.
"I got it, now let me go." I said as he set me down and Kari giggled as she hugged me next.
"See everybody? I told you I could do it. I can take care of myself just fine." TK said proudly.
"You're the man." Kari praised.
"Great going, TK. Great job, buddy." Tai said.
"We were worried about you." Mimi said.
"Boy, for a little kid that was a pretty big escape." Joe said.
I looked over at Matt to see the sad look on his face as he seemed to be stepping back away from the group.
"Stop it, guys. You're embarrassing me." TK giggled.
Matt was walking away with Gabumon running after him as Joe glanced over to see them leaving.
"I also smashed the remote control that was moving the ground underneath us." TK said.
"That's terrific TK." Joe said.
"Prodigious." Izzy said.
Really?
No one's going after Matt; the guy who's Crest isn't working?
"Everything's gonna be all right now. Puppetmon was using these dolls to control us. That's why all those weird things were happening." TK said as he placed down his backpack to show off the dolls.
Tai took the doll of himself and looked it over.
"Is this me? I don't look anything like this." Tai said.
"Wow, Mimi. Your doll is really pretty." Sora said as everyone took their own dolls.
"What? No way! I would never wear rags like this. Oh, I could take her to the mall for new clothes." Mimi and as the two older girls laughed.
"All right, you go!" Palmon and Biyomon laughed.
Silently, I snuck off from the group and went off down the path that Matt had gone down, V-Mon following me while my followers stayed back with the others.
You're not getting away that easy, Mr. Cool so I'm coming after you.
To be continued…