Disclaimer: Digimon is a franchise owned jointly by Toei Animation and Bandai, and conceptualized by Akiyoshi Hongo. Doctor Who is a property owned by the British Broadcasting Company created by Sydney Newman. The concept of The Tamer: A Digimon Adventure is a fan fiction idea. Please support the official properties.
Author's Notes: Hey readers! Welcome back to the start of the Dark Master Arc of the The Tamer: A Digimon Adventure. I want to give a big thanks to all the readers who left reviews and liked or favorited the story! I wouldn't be here without you guys! And I want to give a big thanks to Ace Spiritwell for doing the coverart for this story. Check out their fanfiction account and give their profile on deviantart a look. Alright, I present to you the next chapter of The Tamer: A Digimon Adventure!
The Tamer: A Digimon Adventure
Chapter 36: The Dark Masters
It was dark in Myotismon's Castle. He preferred it dark because he was a vampire, but the current occupants kept it dark as they'd purposefully blocked out the sun in this part of the Digital World. Outside, violent wind storms blew across a baron land scape while inside the air was still and only silence could be heard through its vast halls. Atop the highest tower was an observatory being used by four foul beings. The first had a long, slender body covered in golden plates which parted into two tails. Mechanical tubing fed down the long body of the creature from a golden helmet from its head. A single long metal blade protruded from the end like a spike and a gaping cannon held the place of its nose.
The second was a large machine made in the shape of a dragon, plated in grays and blacks. Every limb and joint was mechanical, whirring and whizzing as they moved. Mounted on its back were two large cannons that adjusted and raised themselves according to wherever the creature chose to attack.
The third was smallest and most humble appearing of the four, standing in stark contrast to the former. While it was a large mechanical dragon, the third was a small wooden puppet complete with strings and a controller bar mounted to its bag. It carried with it a large wooden hammer and dressed in ragged doll clothes consisting of a red cap and blue overalls.
The last could be considered the most normal of the other digimon - dressed in a single red overcoat with a white ruff around his neck. Decorated across the coat were the symbols for the four suits - a heart, a spade, a diamond, and a club - each positioned to match the fours swords on its back that all fit into a cross shaped sheathe. Each sword was inserted at a different end of the cross and came together in the cross shape. Its green pants and a pair of bright yellow boots contrasted with the rest of its attire, a regal affair that seemed to almost mock the importance of its clothing. Flaming red hair came out from the back of its head and was styled straight back like a sharp knife. It finished its attire with a black and white mask that concealed a pale white face with bright red lips. The creature stared straight into a telescope that was angled skyward towards a world that appeared in the sky of the Digital World. While observing through it, the fourth mused, "It seems that Myotismon wasn't able to defy his fate. The Digimon Tamer and Agumon are returning."
"So Myotismon failed," the second said defeatedly, "We've been at this a thousand years. What's the point?"
"You idiot. We don't want to die! That's the whole point!" the first almost growled. The third laughed playfully, "And to have some fun while we're doing it! We might as well enjoy what we do!"
"Analysis after analysis has reached the same conclusion every time. No matter how much new data we add, or how many variables we account for, the conclusion is the same," the second stated with its mechanical voice, "We cannot win. We can never win."
"Don't tell me this talk of destiny is getting to you," the first hissed impatiently, "Destiny said that the Ancients would survive the war. Do you see any Ancients here?"
"We cannot ignore the outcome of the algorithm," said the second.
"Then perhaps we need a new formula," the fourth proposed excitedly, "Mix things up. Let's make a grand entrance for the digidestined. Myotismon may have failed but he succeeded in one crucial area: he proved the digidestined can be broken. If we can break them, we can beat them."
The third looked up at the world in the sky playfully, "You mean the girl? She looks like she'll be the most fun to play with! Or maybe the youngest ones! They look like they would love my toys!"
"I believe it would be best to roll out the welcome mat for the digidestined's arrival," the fourth cackled gleefully. He turned to the first, "Fetch the prisoners and bring them to the gate."
"Yes. And you should get your soldiers ready!" the first told the second. The second's expression was unable to change because of its static metallic helm, but they could sense its disapproval all the same. It sighed, "I'll dispatch a division of my best shooters."
"And I'll bring all of my favorite toys!" said the third, "Oh! This will be so much fun!"
"Then let us go to greet our visitors!" said the fourth, "MetalSeadramon, Machinedramon, Puppetmon, and I, Piedmon, shall give the digidestined a welcome they won't forget, because they won't live to remember."
"You're really bad at the evil speeches."
Wizardmon didn't wait long for the others to return. Joe and Bukamon were the first ones back, followed by Matt, TK, Tsunomon, and Patamon. Sora and Yokomon came next and asked, "Is it just us so far? Where's Mimi and Izzy?"
"Here," Mimi said on approaching, appearing tired and downtrodden. She seemed resigned and tired now, but was less agitated than before. Meanwhile, Izzy seemed nervous but carried a more upbeat personality. Bukamon wasted no time asking, "What's with you two? Did we miss something?"
"Nothing happened," Izzy said quickly, "It looks like we're all here."
"Not all of us," Wizardmon sighed, "We're still waiting for The Tamer, Koromon, Kari, and Nyaromon. I'm glad you've all decided to go."
"We had our reasons," Mimi said sheepishly, hugging her partner more tightly. Izzy agreed, "It's safer if we all go together."
"That's right," Yokomon agreed, "If we stick together, then who cares about destiny?"
"It's our responsibility to see this through to the end," Joe agreed.
"For better or for worse, right Matt?" Tsunomon looked up at his partner cheerfully. Matt nodded and tussled his little brother's hair. TK giggled excitedly and asked, "So when do we go back?"
"Soon," Koromon called out to them. He and Tamer approached them and Tamer patted his partner on the head quietly, "So you've all decided to come?"
"That's right," Sora nodded, "We're all going. Where's Kari?"
"I left her alone to go talk with her mom," he answered quickly, "I figured if they were going to decide if she should go, I shouldn't be too involved."
"Which is why you spent so much time dressing up the Digital World as a nice place," Koromon commented in disbelief. Tamer sighed, "Every word was true and I didn't exactly leave out that she might die."
"Honestly, that does sound like something you'd do," Sora pointed out. Tamer responded with annoyed grunt, "Whatever. We'll just have to wait a little longer for the Kamiyas."
"You're a Kamiya," Koromon added, a point Tamer ignored entirely. They waited in anxious silence for Kari and her mom to return. It wasn't a long wait and they gave their answer right away when they did, "We're going with you. To the DigiWorld."
"DigiWorld. That's new, haven't heard it be called that yet," Tamer mused excitedly at Kari, "So that's all of us. Is everyone ready?"
"Yes, we are," her mom answered, to the surprise of everyone else. Mimi was the first one to remark on her comment, "Wait, you're coming?"
"No, you're not," Tamer said right away, which angered the mom, "Yes I am! I'm going with you Tai."
"And how are you going to do that without one of these?" he asked seriously while showing his digivice, "Sure, you could latch on to Kari - but it only supports two lifeforms. Nyaromon will have to stay behind. You can try to force it, but who knows what will come out the other side? Kari will be safe, but maybe only half of Nyaromon will show up and half of you. Or, you any Nyaromon will fuse into being. A cat-girl. That could be interesting. Wait, what am I saying? You might be my mother! Nope, still weird to say. Then again, the scie-"
"What's he doing?" Kari's mom asked them. The digidestined shook their heads and Koromon said, "Give him a minute. He'll run out of steam eventually."
"-isks are too great to warrant any insight. Sorry, what were we talking about?"
"We're talking about bringing me to the Digital World," Kari's mom replied. Tamer laughed, "Nice try. You can't come."
"Why not!?" her mom snapped.
"Did you miss the part where I said you need a digivice? You're not coming," Tamer growled. She asked, "Then where do I get one?"
"You don't," Tamer said. Kari's mom hissed, "Why? Because I wasn't chosen?"
He looked at the woman who might be his mother stupidly and cocked his head to the side"Yes, basically. And don't ask me why your daughter was because I had nothing to do with it. The fact is, she was chosen and you weren't. She can go, you can't. It's no wonder you two didn't take long to decide."
"Don't you take that tone with me!" her mother snapped. Tamer opened his mouth to respond, only to find himself smacked across the back of the head by Mimi, "Stop it. You're being a jerk again."
Nyaromon smiled, "Finally, someone hit him."
Tamer massaged the back of his head and sighed, "Fine. It's almost time to go back so I need to know now. Are you going to go to the Digital World?"
Kari's mother looked down on her little girl and she said, "I have to go mom. This might be the only way."
"I know, I just...I'd feel better if I could go with you," her mom sighed, "You'll take care of her, right Tai?"
"Digimon Tamer," he replied under his breath, "I'll do my best, but I'm not making promises. She might not come back."
"Tai! Promise me," their mother said again. Tamer stared into her eyes and sheepishly answered, "I can't."
She became distraught when she heard those words, on the verge of breaking down again. So Sora jumped in and took hold of Kari, "Forget about him. I'll take care of her!"
"Sora?" she said quietly, before hugging the girl, "Thank you. Please take care of them! Both of them!'
Sora could see the pleading look on her face, but only the others could see how distraught she looked herself. Sora smiled, "I'll do my best. I promise. I'll protect Kari and keep Tai out of trouble."
"Digimon Tamer," he said again, earning him an elbow in the rib. Relief washed over their mother's face and she kissed her daughter on the forehead, "Come back safe, Kari."
"I will mom," Kari hugged her mother tight. Her mother returned the hug and the two held each other for a long time.
"I'll be waiting," the mother told her as she finally let her daughter go. Tamer called them all to make a circle in the middle of the street while he asked again, "Okay, is everyone ready to go back?"
"As we'll ever be," Bukamon said anxiously. Tamer showed them his aged digivice and pointed to two buttons on it, "Press these buttons at the same time. On three...one, two, three!"
They did as instructed and their digivices beeped to life, "Okay. You're all linked to my digivice now. It'll pull you guys through with me. Stay close to each other and don't let go of your digimon, no matter what. Keep your hands and feet inside the right at all times. In the event of an emergency, tuck your head between your knees and try to throw up on your parents! On my go. Digiport Open!"
He thrust his digivice skyward and a rainbow of lights appeared over head - the aurora borealis from earlier that marked their first trip to the Digital World. Right on signal, eight beams of light descended from the Digital World upon the children. The familiar feeling of floating over took the kids as Joe asked, "We're not going to be flooded by water again, are we?"
"No, but you may feel a sudden flying sensation," Koromon said, wrapping both of his ears around Tamer's arm. Joe popped an eye brow in disbelief then noted that Tamer's feet were no longer touching the ground, "What? What's happening?"
The digivices in their hands started floating upwards, pulling the children along with them. The kids hung on tight in fear, as they were pulled skyward into the rainbow colored lights. They clung to their digimon too, afraid of dropping them or letting them fall to their deaths. TK laughed playfully, "No way! We're flying!"
"Hold on tight, Nyaromon," Kari said to her little partner. The others awed in astonishment as they were pulled skyward, while Tamer and Koromon were relaxed through the whole experience. They heard voices below calling up to them; their parents shouting at them to be safe and to come back alive.
"It seems your family is trying to wish you farewell," Wizardmon commented, surprising them as they realized he was right beside them, "What are you...how are you doing that? I thought Tamer said you needed a digiv-"
"I lied," Tamer stated bluntly, to Kari's surprise, "Tai! You can't just lie to mom like that!"
"You saw what Myotismon did," Tamer's tone became more serious, "There's a lot worse than him where we're going. It'd be better if we didn't bring any of your parents into this."
As they ascended skyward, they took note of three military helicopters comings towards them fast, their blades spinning so fast that they could feel the air being whipped around them. Izzy went into a panic and asked, "Uh, guys. Those helicopters are getting close."
"Maybe they're just trying to get a look?" Motimon suggested, "It's not everyday another world appears in the sky and a rainbow bridge connects the two."
"If they keep coming like that, they're going to crash into us!" Yokomon panicked.
Tamer started counting down aloud, "Five…four…three…two…one…now."
Right away, the helicopter's blades slowed down and the lights went out along the fuselage. They lost altitude and began their descent, one fell onto the street below and the other two crashed into the water. By some miracle nobody on the ground had gotten hurt by the crash and people were already running to help the injured. Izzy commented, "What happened? It's like they just lost power!"
"It's a side effect of being too close to a dimensional distortion," Tamer explained, "It screws with electronics."
Izzy had already prepared his counter argument, "But our digivices-"
"-are powered by the Firewall, not electricity," Tamer said to him, "Here we go!"
As he said those words, he vanished in a flash of bright light. The lights flashed brighter as they were pulled one by one back to the Digital World. They each felt a falling sensation, followed by a sudden splash of water before falling into darkness - the same as the last two times they'd travelled between worlds. The digidestined and the digimon screamed as they fell through into the Digital World, before they realized they were standing upright in a darkened room.
There was a soft rumble behind them and a bright light that cast shadows behind them started to dim. Behind them were the large stone doors of the gate in Myotismon's Castle slowly closing shut on them with a loud crack. It took the last of the light with it and left them in darkness.
From the street level, Yukio Oikawa had gone into shock as he lay over the body of his best friend - now dead from the digimon that had torn him in half. His wife and son were here earlier but had to leave because they simply couldn't look at their loved one anymore. The sight of his body, and the thought of how much pain he must have been in when he perished was too much for them. So Oikawa was left alone to grieve over his friend. At some point, he'd started talking to friend's body as if he were still alive. No, not if. He was alive. His best friend wasn't dead. That was a lie. He was right here, lazing about like he always did. The others just didn't get that.
Then the fog cleared to reveal the upside down world in the sky and Oikawa leapt for joy, "Do you see that Hiroki? It's the Digital World! Like we always talked about! That's the world of digimon!"
His friend continued sleeping, ignoring everything that was happening around him. So Yukio gaped up in awe of the world for his friend and recounted to him all the things he'd hoped they could do if they could ever get there. If they could, he wanted the two of them to share in those hopes. His family, his wife and son, would come too and they would be able to meet digimon and they would travel its world. That was the dream, wasn't it?
When the rainbow light came down to connect the two worlds, Yukio's joy turned to curiosity. Then amazement when he saw eight children and eight digimon rising up to the sky. That was when the envy, the jealous fever over took him, "Wait! Wait! Take us with you! Take me with you! Please! Don't leave me here!"
His calls were in vein as the children and the digimon disappeared in a bright flash of light, along with the rainbow that connected the two worlds. He slammed his hand against the cold concrete, "No! Please! It's not fair! Don't leave us like this!"
"Life isn't fair," a voice said behind him. He turned around and saw his friend's eyes were now wide open. He turned his head to stare at Yukio, "That's why you have to seize what you want for yourself. Even if it means playing the long game."
"What? No, Hiroki! You're dead!" Yukio backed away from his friend, watching the man force himself up even though he was just a torso. He smiled, "What do you mean Yukio? I'm alive! You were telling me all about the Digital World in the sky, remember."
"No, this isn't right. This isn't-"
"Do you want to go?" Hiroki asked, giving Yukio pause, "Go?"
"To the Digital World?" A twisted smile contorted onto his face as his lips parted wide to bare his bloodied teeth, "We can go. Together. It will just take some time. Then I can come back. And everything will be just as it was."
"You mean-"
"Yes," Hiroki's impossible smile somehow became wider. Yukio sank to his knees and crawled to his best friend, "Yes! Hiroki, yes! I'll do whatever it takes! Take me to the Digital World! You'll come back and we can travel together! You can bring your family too! Cody and Fumiko!"
"That's the spirit," Hiroki encouraged his friend.
"What do I have to do?" Yukio asked his friend, grasping on to him.
"Sleep," Hiroki's mouth opened wide to reveal a chasm of darkness that crawled out from within. Yukio dropped his friend and watched him go limp to the ground, but this didn't abate the darkness. It charged and enveloped Yukio, crawling up his body and restricting his movements. His heart raced when it pried his mouth open, only to crawl its way inside and choke him from within. Breathing became difficult and the world faded to darkness.
"Is everyone okay?" Tamer asked aloud, "Kari? Nyaromon?"
"We're fine," Nyaromon answered, groaning from the sudden stop. The others murmured they were fine and Tamer took a quick head count to make sure they were all here. Kari looked around them and asked, "Where are we?"
"We're back in the Digital World," Koromon answered, "Right back where we left."
"No way! You mean this is Myotismon's Castle?" Bukamon asked, "How can you tell? It's so dark!"
Tamer mumbled something about the castle not always belonging to Myotismon and replied, "I set our digivices to bring us all back here. It shouldn't be this dark though. Give me a second."
They could hear the familiar sound of button presses on a digivice's screen before the lights came on. The first light came upon them, and revealed them all standing before the now closed gate with one marked difference - Tamer's clothes were replaced with his long black pants and black sweater sweater worn beneath a white robe with a grey trim. Tanemon was the first to pick out the change, "Hey! You're clothes!"
"Hm? Oh, haven't worn these in a while," Tamer remarked as he looked down at his new clothes. He inspected the robes carefully, and even took note of the white boots. However, only he had achieved a new set of clothes. Motimon asked, "That's weird, why is he the only one to get new clothes?"
"These aren't new, these are…what my people wore," Tamer answered quietly, "If anything, this is just what my cloak used to look like before it go so…old."
"Now that you mention, it does sort of look like your old cloak," Izzy noted curiously. Everyone else saw the glimmer of curiosity on Mimi's face but didn't say a thing about it. Lights continued buzzing to life to reveal the darkened cave they were in.
The final light came on to show a group of Gekomon and Otamamon bound by ropes. They lay on the ground unconscious, beaten with injuries and bruises. Joe gasped and ran straight for the Gekomon, "Hey! Are you okay? Hey!"
The green reptile stirred, "Huh? It's you!"
It shot up and grasped on to Joe's shirt, "You shouldn't be here! Go!"
"Not before we get you guys out of these ropes," Matt blurted out as he started working on the ropes. The others joined in trying to undo the bindings until Koromon digivolved to Agumon and cut the ropes with his claws. Once they were all freed, Tamer asked the Gekomon, "What happened to you guys?"
"Tamer! Thank goodness you're here!" the Gekomon pleaded, "We tried to fight! We really did! But they were just too strong! You have to run, or they'll get you too! Please! Save yourselves!"
"Save ourselves from who?" Izzy asked the Gekomon, "Who were you fighting?"
"The Dark-"
Before the Gekomon could finish its words, a loud bang echoed and a beam of light turned its head to data. The body slumped over and followed suit, leaving nothing behind. Additional beams shot forth from the darkness and turned the captured digimon to data, followed by mechanical stomping like thunder. Digimon emerged from the dark - Mekanorimon with their arms outstretched and cannons aimed towards the digidestined. Agumon smiled and tried to lighten the mood, "Well hey guys! Great welcome party, but you didn't have to bring so many friends!"
The Mekanorimon remained silent and Bukamon added, "I don't think they want to throw us a party."
"Tai, are we going to be okay?" Kari looked up to him worriedly.
"Of course not. But they're not going to kill us. Yet, anyway," Tamer pointed out. He walked towards the Mekanorimon and asked, "Are you? If you were going to kill us, you'd have done it by now. So where's your bo-ACK!"
Tamer leapt towards Agumon and smacked him across the back of the head. Agumon returned the favor and punched the boy in his stomach. The two started fighting each other while Sora asked, "Tamer! Agumon! What are you two doing?"
"This really takes the cake for all the stuff they get up to," Yokomon said, as the two barreled right through the center of the group. The digidestined and their digimon moved out of the pair's path while Tamer shouted, "This isn't on purpose!"
"I think we're being controlled! It has to be-" Agumon's mouth slammed shut before he could answer.
"It has to be who?" Izzy asked Tamer. He tried to answer, only to scream when his mouth slammed on his tongue. Tanemon sighed, "Those two are hopele-Eh! Help!"
She started spinning in place on one leg like a ballerina while the other digimon leapt to the ground to join her in dance. Tsunomon yelped, "Help! I'm getting dizzy!"
"Speak for yourself! I didn't know I had it in me!" Motimon mused while performing some odd dance from yesteryear. The digidestined were just as confused as the others until Izzy noted, "You guys aren't doing that voluntarily are you?"
"Of course not!" they said together. Tamer and Agumon tried to speak too but were unable to do so with their mouths shut. Realization struck the little boy and he said, "I get it! You're being-"
Before he could finish, Mimi threw herself on to him and wrapped her arms around him in a hug. Everyone else blushed at the display, and Matt went ahead to cover both TK and Kari's eyes. TK stuck out his tongue in disgust while Sora said, "Mimi, I don't think now's the time for-"
"It's not me! Something made me do it!" she said defensively, "Izzy! That had better not be you making your hands go there!"
She was so much taller than the boy and she obscured him so well that it was anyone's guess where his hands were going. He didn't respond either, which didn't help his case. The others finally figured it out when Matt took Sora by the hand and started dancing with her in a waltz, while TK froze in place for Kari to press her face against his cheek, and Joe jumped in the middle of the dancing digimon. Both little kids retched at what was happening to them while Matt started shouting into the air about leaving the little kids alone.
Joe in particular was not amused but seemed to dance more gracefully than his lanky appearance would suggest.
Whoever was doing this to the digidestined didn't take politely to Matt's shouting and promptly dragged them all upwards by their ankles. Everyone screamed in surprise as they dangled upside down, with the only clear sight below them being the Mekanorimon keeping their weapons aimed at them. Joe bemoaned, "What is going on? Tamer! Agumon! What is happening right now?"
The two were unable to answer as their mouths still refused to work and their hands were busy slapping away at each other. It was obvious from their expressions that they were furious with their predicament.
"Will you two stop slapping each other for one second and tell us what's going on!" Mimi shrieked at them.
"Yeah! I know you two bicker a lot but this is ridiculous," Nyaromon added of the two while they continued slapping away at each other. Kari pleaded of her brother, "Tai! Please! Stop it! Agumon! Don't hurt each other!"
Her pleas fell on deaf ears as the two laid into each other. Through the darkness, they heard a shrill childish laugh mock them, "Aw! The poor kiddies are helpless!"
"Hmm...let's not waste anymore time and waste them already!"
"Perhaps the algorithms were wrong. Fate predetermined that we would be helpless, but it seems they are helpless."
"But where to start? Shall we start with the oldest and work our way down, forcing the youngest to watch in utter horror as everyone they know and love dies? Or perhaps save the oldest for last so that they know that everything they've ever done has been for naught?"
There was a moment's silence as the digidestined and their digimon stared into the darkness in complete shock. Then the first voice said, "Huh, normally those two have some kind of quip by now."
"You closed their mouths shut, remember?" the second voice pointed out. The first voice clicked its tongue, "Oh right."
They heard a snap and both their mouths came open at the same time. In unison, they said, "Puppetmon!"
"I have no strings to hold me up! There are no strings on me! But I have strings on you. Look at what I can make you do!" the first voice sang as Tamer and Agumon began dancing involuntarily. Although, the two seemed to be enjoying it, "Nothing like a bit of dancing to cool you down after a nice spar!"
"I'd prefer some stretches myself," Agumon thought aloud, "Am I the only one who sees an irony in here?"
"I think I preferred them without the quips," the second voice hissed. The third added, "I think this is the part where they try to lull us into a false sense of security so that they can more easily trick us later on."
"Nope, no quips. We are completely being pulled by your strings! Literally!" Tamer said. Sora noted the fearful look in his eyes and realized that he may genuinely have no plan to get them out of their predicament. She looked at Agumon because he was always easier to read but he looked just as helpless. It was obvious that they were just trying to buy time now.
"Do whatever you want with us and we'll have no choice to obey!" Agumon added, "Think about it! You could have us do a synchronized ice skating routine! We'll call it Digidestined on Ice!"
"I think I'd like to put some digidestined on ice," the fourth voice said menacingly, "Or perhaps we should do it with fire?"
As it spoke, a display of fire encircled them and burning them with its heat. They could feel the sweat pouring down their skin and Tanemon yelped, "This heat! It's too much!"
"You're killing us!" Joe shouted.
"That's the idea, isn't it?" the second voice said with just as much malice, "Or maybe you'd prefer to be drowned!"
A torrent of water fell on them from above. They were helpless upside down and could do nothing as some of the water made its way into their noses, making them gag and cough. They tried holding their breath but that only did them so good for so long as they had to breath eventually. This led to them getting mouthfuls of water whenever they tried to breath, and they were forced to close their mouth again. The water stopped and they took the chance to gasp for breath. The third voice declared, "Enough! This is why the others failed. They toyed with the digidestined instead of flat out destroying them."
"What's it to you? You're the one who spent the last hundred years moping about inevitability?" asked the second.
"He is right. Let us make a grand entrance before taking a bow for the digidestined's finale," the fourth voice sang. The light's came on to introduce each of the four voices as the fourth voice continued, "Tonight's performance was brought to you by the Dark Masters. In charge of puppetry, Puppetmon! Stage hands and technical direction was handled by Machinedramon! Water works and mood provided by MetalSeadramon! And the lead director for the performance was I, Piedmon!"
Each Dark Master appeared as they were introduced: a wooden puppet, a metal dragon, a mechanical serpent, and a clown with swords. Although only two of them were actually intimidating, the way they'd introduced themselves more than made it clear that they were not playing games. Of course, none of that mattered as Tamer and Agumon began booing them, "Boo."
"This play sucks."
"Guys! Don't aggravate them!" Sora shouted at the two. Tamer winked, "Or what? They'll kill us faster? The fact that they haven't yet means that they're stalling. It's because their performance sucks and they want applause before they kill us."
"Well, they're not getting any because it sucked," Agumon added.
"They were just talking about it!" Yokomon shrieked at them. Tamer blinked, "Huh, I guess they were. We're still not applauding them."
"So why are you trying to get them to attack us?" Mimi asked, "Or is this what's supposed to happen? We're supposed to die?"
"No, we're supposed to win. But destiny has been derailed. I kept saying that I have no idea what will happen anymore, didn't I? Who knows, maybe we will. But that doesn't mean we're supposed to," Tamer explained, "Like I said, I'm winging things as I go."
While Tamer spoke, Sora noticed that his eyes constantly shifted on to Joe. Joe had his eyes closed and was quietly mumbling to himself but he was too far away for her to hear properly. Not that it mattered since Tamer added, "To be honest, my plan right now really is to buy as much time as I can and hopefully talk them to death. Unless you have a better one?"
"Yes! Literally any plan would be better than that!" Matt shouted at him, "Anything we say will be better than that plan!"
"Oh, like what? Talk them to death even faster?" Tamer asked mischievously. Izzy defended the blonde haired boy, "I'm pretty sure no one would say that."
"Well, we're waiting," Agumon goaded them, looking at the others with earnest expectation. A beat of silence followed before he asked, "Well?"
"Well I can't now because all I can think about now is talking them to death twice as fast," Matt grumbled, making both Tamer and Agumon laugh, "Ha! See? We knew it!"
Mimi growled, "If you weren't all the way over there, I'd slap you!"
"Then I guess it's a good thing that I'm-" Tamer stopped when he found himself moving over to Mimi. Once he was in arms reach, she slapped him as hard as he could while he screamed, "Ow! Why?"
"You know why!" Mimi spouted. Tamer pointed at Puppetmon, "Not you! Him! Why did you put her in arms' reach?"
"I got bored of listening to you guys talk and thought it would be funny," Puppetmon replied, "It wasn't. Let's fix that."
He snapped his fingers and the two slapped each other at the same time. And again. And again. Until both of them had swollen cheeks with red hand marks. Puppetmon laughed out loud, "Ha! Slapstick! Now that's funny!"
"It's not! It hurts!" Mimi whined painfully while TK hissed, "Why don't you leave them alone you big bully!?"
Puppetmon stopped laughing, "What's the matter? Feeling left out? Here, let's fix that!"
With a flick of his fingers, the girls all flew over to TK and hugged him, "There! Now you're not so lonely you little mommy's boy!"
"I am not a mommy's boy!" TK yelped while the girls demanded to be let go. Puppetmon cackled playfully and snapped his fingers again, "Fine! Hold these then!"
With another snap of his fingers, their In-training partners flew into the girls' arms to be hugged tight. So tight, that they turned blue from being unable to breathe. The girls' panicked with Kari saying, "Nyaromon! No! Are you okay?"
She opened her mouth and made shallow gasps for air while Puppetmon's laughter grew louder, "Hahahaha! This is rich! I don't know why the others had so much trouble with these guys! They're not dangerous at all!"
"Enough of this!" Machinedramon snapped and fired beams of energy from the cannons mounted on his back. They struck something above the digidestined and they started falling to the ground with a scream. Thinking quickly, Sora held out her digivice and pointed it at her partner, "Yokomon! Save us!"
"You too Motimon!" Izzy called out.
"Got it!" the two digivolved straight to their champion forms and went to work saving who they could. Birdramon swooped down to catch Sora, Wizardmon, Mimi, and Tanemon on her back. She also grabbed Matt and Tsunomon with her talons. Kabuterimon latched onto Izzy, Joe, Bukamon and TK with his arms. Patamon was able to fly naturally and called out to the four who were still falling, "Oh no!"
Kari, Tamer, Agumon and Nyaromon plummeted to the ground. Tamer grabbed onto the other three and shouted, "Hang on!"
"They're going to fall!" TK shouted out. The others gasped while the Dark Masters cheered at the thought of the first blood drawn. Before they splattered all along the cave floor, a pink bubble appeared around them and cushioned their descent, halting just inches above the floor. The children stared in awe while the Dark Masters booed. Puppetmon whined especially loud, "Aw! That's no fun! What'd you go and do that for Machinedramon?"
"I said we can't waste any time! Let's hurry and finish them!" its mechanical voice echoed, "Mekanorimon! OPEN FIRE!"
"Twin Beams!" the Mekanorimon said in unison at the exact moment they launched their attacks at the digidestined. Kabuterimon and Birdramon were peppered with attacks before they knew what was going on, and regressed to their rookie forms of Biyomon and Tentomon. Everyone thought this was it for them as they all fell to the ground. Sora and Izzy reached out for their partners as they screamed, closing their eyes as they came to a sudden stop without hitting anything. They opened their eyes and found themselves inside a large pink bubble that shielded them from the attack while a new voice spoke, "That was a close call. It looks like you were right to call for my blessing Joe!"
"Piximon?" Bukamon asked, "What are you doing here?"
"I heard someone praying to me. Yup yup," Piximon smiled, floating in the center of the bubble with his spear held high above him. Sora looked over at Joe who was quietly scratching the back of his head, "That was me. Just promise you won't throw us in a cave this time."
"That's okay, I don't think most of you really need the cave anymore," Piximon smiled assuringly, "Which is good news since we won't have time for it. Or rather, you won't. Besides, I'm going to be throwing you out of a cave instead!"
"See, now there's more of them! Why'd you have to go and ruin the mood Machinedramon?" Puppetmon groaned, jumping up and down in place childishly. MetalSeadramon roared, "You idiot! Machinedramon has the right idea! RIVER OF POWER!"
A blast of energy shot out of the cannon on his snout and Piximon smiled, "Time to fly!"
With a twirl of his spear, the pink bubble zipped past everyone and into the depths of the castle. The Dark Masters were left far behind but still had the sense to order their minions after them. They could already hear the thunderous footsteps as hundreds of the Dark Master's soldiers started their pursuit. Amidst all this, Joe sighed, "This isn't exactly the rescue I was hoping it would be."
"What did you expect? I said this isn't my war and I have no interest in fighting guys who can cream me," Piximon said pleasantly, "Yup yup! All the same, I think it's safe to say that this is where my story ends."
"Ends? Piximon! What are you talking about!?" Mimi asked worriedly as they continued flying through the castle. They eventually came to the impossible room full of bridges and stairs that twisted or turned infinitely in random directions. The bubble took the most random route through this room while Piximon explained, "Everything has to end and everything dies, one way or another. That is the truth I learned a long time ago. It has lasting effects on everyone and affects everyone differently. I figured 'why worry about it until I get there'? Well, we're here now. This is the end and there's no point in me delaying the inevitable. But this doesn't mean I'm lying down to die. I accepted my fate a long time ago and am prepared to do what I must. Just as you must be prepared to do what you must. There will be hardship ahead for all of you. But you've each grown since we first met and in different ways. I can tell because a lot of time has passed and each of you is different front before. Use what you know, rely on each other, count on your friends, show courage before danger, spread love through the Digital World, be sincere with yourselves, bring hope to those without, and help bring back the light! Consider this my parting and final lesson to you all."
"Piximon! You can't just die!" Bukamon pleaded only to be ignored. He turned his attention to Tamer and Agumon, "You two never passed the test. I can't blame you for that, but you should know that the reason I never let you back in is because I was scared of what would happen if you went through it again. You've changed since I last saw you, I can see that much. But it doesn't look like it's enough. So this may be my last warning to you. No matter what, do not go in the cave! Not yet, anyway. Do you understand?"
"But-"
"Do you understand?" Piximon said more sternly. Both Tamer and Agumon nodded, "Yes."
Piximon waved his spear again and he moved outside of the bubble, "Good luck digidestined! Don't worry about me! Take care of each other and save the Digital World!"
"Piximon!" TK shouted too late. Piximon waved his spear again and the bubble zipped off at higher speed, through the main room, into a grand entrance hall and out into the courtyard. As the castle disappeared into the distance, they could make out several flashes of lights and loud booms. They pounded against the bubble wall to get out but that did nothing. They continued on over the barren wasteland around Myotismon's Castle, then through forests and deserts and oceans. They went further until they came to a large city.
The buildings were a mix of architectures from different time periods - crystalline white towers reached out into the sky, beside more modern towers, surrounded by smaller buildings made of brick and wood in various states of disrepair. The bubble soared over it until it came to a small side street, where it set everyone down gently. When everyone was safely down, Matt asked, "Where are we?"
"Aca'dehmia," Agumon answered, "The city where the first battle was fought and where the war began."
Author's Notes: The Dark Masters have made their move. Will the digidestined be okay on the run? What will become of Piximon? Where have they found themselves? Find out on the next chapter of The Tamer: A Digimon Adventure which will be released in two weeks on September 2nd at 5 PM CST. If you loved it, let me know in the reviews section. I usually reply in a day or two! I also welcome constructive criticism and speculation on the next chapter! Unless it's a guest review, then I'll reply in the next Author's Notes. Just remember that guests have to sign their reviews.
Now for lines from the next chapter:
Sora tried a different method, "Have you remembered anything else?"
"It did! Andromon! Is that you?" Tanemon asked into the darkness.
"Guys! You're forgetting about Piximon! We have to go back and get him!" Mimi scolded them.
Bukamon groaned, "Did you have to be so rough?"
"No buddy. She just wanted to go help Piximon," Matt offered to his little brother.
Guest Review Responses:
NightSeeker: Thanks for reading and reviewing. No comment at this time.
Mr. R: Thanks for reading and reviewing. Yes to 02 and Tamers, but no comment on Tri. I have a few ideas on what to do with it within the continuity of this story but I want to know where they're going with the main show before that.
KRUSA1: Thanks for reading and reviewing again. While I appreciate your enthusiasm, there are no plans to convert this into a webcomic or a doujinshi. To be honest, I've tried delving into webcomics before and I'm not fond of it.