Y/N: Okay. I'm just Jun this chapter. It was a nice little break for me in any case. I hope you enjoy, and review if you feel so inclined.
U/N: I think of all my characters, Willis is the most... boring to write. He's funny! (not when i write him) and he's clever, but he's so calm and... boring. I dunno, i love Willis, but being in his mind is super awful. But I think other than Hikari, Michael and Mimi's mother, Yamato is my favourite to write, so being him was fun... Sorry this chapter is so... odd. rushed? i dunno, it's so something-hey i just remembered my dream last night...
anyway, you should all review it and also enjoy it and also do something else that i could put here :D Anyway, yeah. bye.
Title: Digimon Adventure 04
By: Yukira and Urazamay King
Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon or its characters.
Part 4: Chaos
Chapter 38: You're on Fire!
Yamato:
"Would you just please be quiet?" Ken shot to Wormmon who had previously been humming to himself for comfort.
We were sitting in a very dark room, but a very large room. I could tell, by the way the sound moved—the acoustics—that the ceiling was very high, and that the walls were very far apart—it was the biggest room I'd ever been in. But I could see hardly anything. Gabumon had informed me that this was the first chamber, one of the ones we had come through on our way to see Fanglongmon. He had assumed that we were set up as some sort of defense—but if we were defense in the first room, then we were pawns—and Fanglongmon was using us. I decided that didn't matter. We were strong enough to defeat anything that tried to come through to defeat him... well I had hoped so anyway.
Ken and Wormmon were the furthest away from us, Ken was pacing back and forth and Wormmon was nervously sitting on the ground, flinching every time Ken came close to him. Iori was sitting near Armadillomon, both of them in complete silence, and Michael was sitting next to a smiling Betamon. Betamon seemed most at home here out of any of us... I wasn't sure why, but it was starting to freak me out. And of course Gabumon was next to me. I had tried to stay closest to Michael, he did after all seem to be in the same situation as me. He didn't look like he was being taken by Fanglongmon... it was his own choice to be here.
Daisuke and Kurayami had not come back yet from wherever it was that they had gone, but I hoped they would soon. Maybe Kurayami would know where the light switch was or something. At the same time, I didn't want her to return because she was extremely terrifying in a number of ways.
I heard a noise down the hallway to the left and looked quickly toward it. I stared for a few seconds but nothing came through, so I figured it was nothing, but when I looked back to Iori I saw that he hadn't given up hope. He was still staring down the hallway hoping for someone to come through, and I knew who that someone was. Everyone did. I felt bad for him really... the excitable Ando girl and his stalker both taken, and now him, coming here, joining the darkness...
I wanted to help him get them back now that we were so close to them, but I didn't want to go against Fanglongmon's orders. I wanted him to like me... and I wanted to become the leader. I knew it was unlikely that I was going to be, not with Daisuke, Kurayami and Ken all in line for the position. But I wanted to be the leader. And I wanted to show the others that I could do it. I wanted them all to know that just because I'd never had a chance to lead them that I could still do it—and that I wasn't just a background character in a crappy novel. I was Yamato. And I could do anything.
"Are you alright?" Gabumon asked me.
I looked down to him and smiled, nodding quickly, "Fine." I told him.
"If you say so." He said looking around. "This place is... kind of creepy. Don't you think?" he moved closer to me so he was sitting so close that he was touching me.
"Yeah," I told him with a smile, "Yeah I guess it is." I was trying to seem strong, I needed Gabumon, as well as the others, to know that I was fearless. Even though this place was actually incredibly freaky.
"Then why are we here?" He asked me, "Can you please just explain why you chose this team? I won't be mad at you, I promise."
"I'd like to know that as well." I looked up to see Michael. He had moved closer to me and away from Betamon. "You don't seem like the type that would join the dark side..."
"Neither do you." I pointed out. "So what are you doing here?"
"You were asked first." Michael pointed out gesturing to Gabumon.
"And I'm telling you to go first." I smirked at him.
"Fine, okay." Michael said, raising his hands in defense. "I... well you see, when Kurayami told me that she needed me..." he trailed off for a moment, thinking, but I was pretty sure I knew where this was going, "I felt like I belonged... for once. You know? No one seems to care about me at all. No one ever... asks what I think, no one ever wants to know my mood—or my plans—and no one seems to respect me. And then when Kurayami said that... I knew this was my only chance to fit in." He took a breath and then continued, "Koushiro though, he talked to me a bit about those Ancient Runes I had studied... and every now and then Mimi says something to me, but other than that... I'm all alone here—and even Betamon won't talk to me. " We all turned to look at Betamon, who was sitting in the same position as before, perfectly still and smiling. "I think Fanglongmon has gotten to him like he did to Ken. He's really starting to scare me..." He looked to the ground slowly, I had to admit, the strange look on his digimon's face was a little creepy... just like everything else in this place. "I just wish Tatum were here... I miss her so much..."
"I thought you two weren't dating anymore?" I asked him.
"Not for long." He said slowly, "I just wish more people thought of me as part of the group—I want to belong!"
"Well," I told him with a grin, "You can add me to the list of people that have talked to you."
"I talked to you actually." Michael pointed out.
"Well I'll have to make a habit of talking to you more often then." I smiled at him.
Michael smiled at me before asking "So why are you here?"
"I don't know." I told him honestly, "I thought about the two choices and this one seemed right—my mind told me to come here... I thought that maybe I'd have a chance to be the hero—to save the day... to be the leader. But I guess I was wrong." It felt weird to open up—especially to Michael, but he wasn't as bad as everyone had been saying. "But I was wrong."
"And it's too late to turn back." Michael said, nodding in understanding. "We've talked to Fanglongmon now... I feel like there is this intense bond now—like I can't change sides even if I wanted to."
"I know how you feel." I said to him. It was a lie—I didn't understand that... he was tied to Fanglongmon? Why wasn't I? But the more I thought about it... the more it made sense... "We can't leave..." I said, coming to the realization.
"Exactly." Michael said, "I mean, maybe we can. Maybe it's just Fanglongmon's mind powers keeping us here, but can you imagine what he or his followers would do if we just walked off? I can't imagine he'd be very happy about it."
"You're right..." I said, glancing over my shoulder. I was starting to get more scared here than I had been before. "We still could though... if we went fast enough."
"You go." Michael said, "I'm stuck here." He looked back to Betamon and then to me again, "Betamon is under Fanglongmon's influence, like I said. And he won't leave here—and there is no way I'm leaving without him. But... I don't even know if I want to. I came here to feel wanted—and I do. Kurayami wants me... Fanglongmon wants me... you're talking to me. I feel happy here—in a very strange, evil way."
I didn't understand that part, but I knew I wasn't going to, so I didn't try to connect with him there. "Well, I'll stay with you." I told him, "I still feel like this is the right path to choose... even though I know it isn't."
"Then why follow it?" Gabumon asked me.
"Because sometimes you have to make a mistake even if you know it's going to be one... just so you know what you've done wrong." I explained, "It's a stupid human thing... you wouldn't understand."
"Silly humans..." Gabumon said with a wink.
Another noise came from the back hallway, leading toward Fanglongmon's chambers and this time everyone turned as the large iron doors were pushed open and Daisuke and Kurayami came through looking very mischievous.
They walked until they were on the other side of the room, saying nothing, until they spun around to face us all.
"Fanglongmon has ordered you all to digivolve." Daisuke said with a smile, it wasn't a warm and friendly smile though; it was more of a 'do it or I might stab you' kind of smile. "It's almost time for the battle to commence."
Kurayami nodded quickly and motioned for us all to begin.
I nervously pulled out my digivice as Michael did the same, still sitting across from me. His hands were shaking and his digivice fell to the floor and clattered loudly. He nervously picked it back up and turned to Betamon who was now sitting next to him, still smiling.
"Ready?" He asked.
Betamon said nothing but began to glow alongside Michael's digivice, glowing and growing until he was a large sea serpent in the middle of the large room. Seadramon turned toward me as Wormmon and Armadillomon glowed in the background, with his evil eyes. I was reminded instantly of the moment where Gabumon had digivolved for the first time to save me.
"Digivolve..." I said nervously to Gabumon who glowed brightly and shifted into Garurumon.
"All the way." Kurayami said sharply. I noticed that Stingmon digivolved once more to Jewelbeemon, but Seadramon and Ankylomon stayed the same—neither of them had made it past champion level yet.
"Garurumon, go for it." I told him.
Soon Garurumon was Weregarurumon, and then finally he shifted once more, into Metalgarurumon.
"Good." Kurayami said as I stepped closer to Metalgarurumon, keeping my hand on him, to ensure I'd be safe. Seadramon was still eyeing me strangely before turning quickly to hear Kurayami's instructions. "As Daisuke has said, the battle will commence soon, and we need to all to be ready for it."
"Fanglongmon also would like us to point out that we will win." Daisuke says, "He knows this. He knows we will win... providing that we all stay faithful to him. If even one of us fails... the battle will be lost."
I looked nervously to Michael as Kurayami continued. "And the person who changes faith in the battle will perish. Fanglongmon will not allow anyone to stab him in the back." There was a long, and very awkward moment of silence after that as we all—or I did anyway—thought about our sudden binding contract to Fanglongmon. "Ken, I am leaving you in charge. Daisuke and I will return shortly. We have one last piece of business to attend to."
Ken nodded and smiled as the two of them turned to leave the room.
"Wait!" Iori called out suddenly, "I need to ask you a question."
Kurayami looked over her shoulder toward him, "And what's that?"
"Can I please see Natsuni? And Momoe—and Noriko?" Iori pleaded, "I just need to see if they're okay!"
"No." Kurayami said flatly before turning and leading Daisuke out of the room.
I looked to Iori and saw that his face had fallen, and he was literally pouting now—though I couldn't blame him.
"Yamato..." Metalgarurumon said quietly, "I think Fanglongmon is in my head."
"What?" I asked him slowly, "What do you mean?"
"He's getting in... he wants me to fight... I might not be yours to command soon... and if that happens... stay away from me."
"No." I told him, "I'll stay by your side no matter what."
"Yamato—I could hurt you." He tried.
"No." I told him, "You're my partner and I'm not leaving you." I smiled at him and he looked nervously toward the ground. I looked to Ankylomon and Jewelbeemon who both looked the same as Metalgarurumon, perhaps Fanglongmon didn't really want us Digi-destined... so long as he had the digimon at their highest level he could still defeat anything...
"So, why do we need someone to be in charge?" Michael asked.
"Because none of you are fully taken in by Lord Fanglongmon's power." Ken said sharply, stepping toward the front of the room where Kurayami and Daisuke had been. "But I am. I respect him and honour him. I will not be the one to turn against him. And you all need to be kept in line."
"Ken, don't be mean." Jewelbeemon said, stepping gracefully across the room to stand next to Ken.
"Please refrain from telling me how to act." Ken said politely to his partner.
Jewelbeemon looked away annoyed and stood by Ken, his arms crossed.
"As I was saying. I will be the leader, and I will keep you all in line because I am better." Ken smiled at us evilly, "And I am—"
"You're better?" A voice asked, voicing my opinion. I turned sharply to the left to see a familiar face in the entrance way. I wish I could have said I was happy to see him, but it was quite the opposite really. Piedmon was standing there, three swords on his back, his fourth one missing, with a blue teddy bear in his hands, and a green cat keychain around his belt... the cat seemed familiar to me... Nyaromon? No—it couldn't be... The mask on his face was stuck in a permanent smile—a creepy one at that. He stepped toward us slowly, passing between Michael and Iori. Michael looked nervously toward me, flinching as Piedmon slowly ran his finger along Michael's head before eerily doing a little skip and stepping up to stand next to Ken.
"You're not better than everyone. Perhaps better these pathetic excuses for digidestined... but not better than everyone." Piedmon said. "And especially not better than me."
"But—" Ken tried.
"And you." Piedmon pointed to Iori with a malicious grin on his face. "You want to see your friends? Well that's really unfortunate. You just missed them... I had to let them go."
Iori growled and clenched his fists.
"He's just toying with you." Ankylomon said sharply. "Stay calm."
"I'm just toying with you am I?" Piedmon snickered, "Maybe I am, and maybe I'm not. But... if anyone were to harm them... it would be me." He reached down and pulled a metal ring cluttered with keys of different shapes and sizes. "These keys lead to the prisoner's cells..."
Iori pulled himself to his feet, and tried to run at Piedmon but Ankylomon put his tail in the way too quickly, stopping him from moving. Iori tried to push the tail aside, but Ankylomon was too strong for him.
"If you want to save them... you'll need this." Piedmon laughed wickedly, his mouth open wide. "But... you won't have time. Because they're next on my to-do list. Oh—did I say "to-do"? I meant "to-kill"!" He laughed once more, spinning the keys around his long white, boney finger before tossing them in the air.
As they came back down for him to catch them Ken reached forward quickly and suddenly, catching them and throwing them toward Iori who caught them in shock.
Piedmon stopped laughing instantly and turned to Ken, his face filled with anger. He shot his hand forward quickly and wrapped his long fingers around Ken's neck holding him tightly. "If you want your friend to live you will give me the key back."
Metalgarurumon and Ankylomon both shot across the room ready to attack Piedmon, but with a simple wave of his free hand he shot both of them back toward Iori and I. I jumped out of the way to avoid Metalgarurumon as he slid across the ground in pain. He was quick to jump back to his feet so I knew he was okay, so I turned back to Ken.
"Don't give it back!" Ken shot to Iori, "Save the others!"
"K-Ken...?" Iori gasped in awe as Ken's digivice lit up a bright magenta colour. Jewelbeemon was standing in shock as he began to glow and change shape.
"What's Ken's crest again?" Michael asked, clearly jealous, "How is he doing this?"
"Kindness." I told him quickly. "And... I don't know." I figured it was because he put his life on the line in order to help out a friend even while under Fanglongmon's influence... but I couldn't be sure.
"Jewelbeemon digivolve to... Grankuwagamon!" Ken's digimon was now a giant black bug, standing taller than even HerculesKabuterimon had. His wings were long and transparent, tinted red. He had six long arms each marked with silver stripes and equipped with sharp silver claws. His eyes were red like the tufts of hair around his neck and he had two long black pincers that protruded from his face.
Piedmon dropped Ken suddenly and stepped back cautiously. "Fine... fine." He said with a smile. "You win this time." He said looking to the three digimon who were each glaring at him. Seadramon was not in the least bit ready to fight Piedmon. Piedmon backed away. "You're all quite strong... but I'm stronger." He smiled at us all, "I just have more important things to do."
"Ha!" I laughed, "Yeah right! You're just scared."
"No." Piedmon said honestly, "I really do have things to do."
"And what's that?" I asked him.
"Well I can't tell you that..." Piedmon smirked, "But I can say this... 'how is your mother doing...? Is she okay?'"
Metalgarurumon shot toward him quickly, barking loudly as Piedmon slipped through the door that Kurayami and Daisuke had come from. "Get him!" I yelled to Metalgarurumon.
But just as Metalgarurumon tried to jump through the door two shapes entered, blocking him.
"Where do you think you're going?" Kurayami asked, being the first of the two figures, Daisuke standing right next to her. I looked to Iori who was fumbling with the keys Ken had gotten him, hiding them quickly.
"He's going to kill Piedmon." I shot at her.
"He most certainly is not." Kurayami said. "Did they behave?" Kurayami addressed this to Ken.
Ken nodded simply, looking to the ground as his new digimon partner stood behind him. I noticed Daisuke looking in awe at the beast, as Kurayami continued.
"Excellent." She smiled, "All of you get back and stay in position. It's time."
"Time...?" Michael asked nervously.
Kurayami smiled and clarified. "The battle is about to begin."
Willis:
Taichi was running around in front of the rest of us, searching desperately for Puppetmon, calling out his name with Agumon breathlessly following behind him. We had already searched the area around us in the woods and Taichi had decided that the next best thing would probably be to search out in the open, so we were now headed back to the streets of Odaiba, where I was pretty sure we would not find Puppetmon.
"He's gone a little crazy." Terriermon pointed out from the ground next to me, it was good to have him back—I had been pretty scared that Puppetmon had got to him when we were separated—which admittedly was true, but at least he was okay still... well as okay as we all could be. I was pretty sure Terriermon was as exhausted as I was, and I couldn't blame him—not having slept since I left America... it had been a long, long adventure. And Lopmon was the one who was always the most tired out of the three of us—she always fell asleep in the most unusual places... I only hoped that Hikari was keeping her safe... and that Lopmon was doing the same for Hikari.
"I'll second that." Koushiro said. He hadn't been talking much lately, but I could tell he was just flipping through his mind, trying to find what we should do next, as Koushiro usually would have it.
"Someone should do something about that." Tatum giggled. I had almost forgotten she was there as she and her Airdramon—now Monodromon followed closely behind us. "If I recall correctly there is a digimon that can help with that—"
"Oh there is—" Koushiro piped up, smiling.
"How about I just go talk to him?" I suggested.
"Perhaps that would be a more reasonable suggestion." Koushiro said quietly.
"Good luck," Tatum smiled at me.
I nodded nervously and scooped up Terriermon for moral support as I walked briskly across the greying grass toward Taichi, hearing a loud crunch as the dead plants beneath my feet snapped or crumbled. Taichi and Agumon had stopped running and were standing next to each other talking quietly, likely trying to figure out where to search next.
"Hey," I said as I came closer, but neither listened. They kept talking in hushed tones. "Taichi?" I tried, but again neither listened.
"PUPPET PUMMEL!" Terriermon shouted out from my arms causing both Taichi and Agumon to spin around to face us, prepared to fight. "Just kidding!" Terriermon laughed causing both Agumon and Taichi to sigh with relief.
"What's up?" Taichi asked rudely, "You two suddenly decide that you want to help out?" his arms were crossed and he was staring at me with his eyebrows raised.
"No." I said flatly, easily keeping calm. I wasn't a very loud or obnoxious person like Daisuke or Taichi, but the latter was clearly looking for a little argument, and I was not going to give in and let him have it. "I came here to talk some sense into you." I told him.
"Oh?" He asked loudly. "Is that so? Let's hear it then?"
I took a deep breath, almost scared of his reaction, but I shook my head and decided that fearing Taichi was just silly. "Running around aimlessly looking for Puppetmon isn't going to help. We aren't going to find him. He ran away because he was losing. If you keep running away then you'll get split up and he'll take us out one at a time."
"Well if you had Lopmon then you'd have two digimon, and he wouldn't be able to hurt you." Taichi smirked, "But I guess you can't keep track of both digimon." Agumon stepped forward, grabbing Taichi's arm, seeing that he'd gone too far, but Taichi shook him off.
"I let Lopmon stay with Hikari to keep her safe... or don't you care about her safety?" I asked him, feeling bad for how rude it must have sounded.
"How dare you even suggest that!" Taichi growled, "I—"
"You're being really mean Taichi." I said, cutting him off. "I'm going to forgive it because... well, you're tired and it's not fair to blame you for your mood—a lot has happened."
Taichi kept his mouth shut, I had a feeling he was upset that I was avoiding the conflict.
"Fine..." He said, "Then what do you suggest we do? If looking for Puppetmon isn't the answer?"
"I don't know," I said, glancing toward Tatum, Koushiro and Monodromon who had started coming toward us, "but we need an actual plan! We need to find Puppetmon, yes, but why don't we just go find the others, and make sure Puppetmon didn't go find them instead of us—or better yet... we could just ignore Puppetmon entirely!"
"Why would we ignore him?" Taichi snapped, "We need to destroy him!"
"Yes, we do." I told him, "But think about it, Dragomon is infecting the entire planet with the Dark Ocean and trying to kill your sister, Fanglongmon is turning your friends evil and taking over the worlds—is Puppetmon really that high on your priority list? If we find him, we find him, but we shouldn't go looking for trouble unless we really have to."
"I suppose you have a point..." Taichi nodded.
"Willis has lots of points!" Terriermon smiled, "He's very smart!"
"Not as smart as Koushiro though," Koushiro added, joining the conversation with Tatum right behind.
"So what did you guys talk about?" She asked, "Did you make a plan?"
"No." Terriermon and Agumon said together.
"They just argued." Agumon stated.
"Boring stuff really." Terriermon laughed.
"Well I have a suggestion..." Koushiro added. "I say we go see my mother."
"Not this again!" Taichi whined, throwing his hands up in the air. "I just want to go find the others—we need to stop the digimon from destroying the world."
I decided that I'd stay out of this argument as well, it was clearly something they needed to work out on their own.
"And we will!" Koushiro said calmly, "Just after I go see my Mom. She wants to know I'm okay, and I just have a feeling that I need to go there."
"Well we don't rely on gut instincts in this group." Taichi said, "Not yours anyway."
"We always relied on your gut instincts when you were the leader." Koushiro pointed out.
"I still am the leader!" Taichi snapped, "And my gut is telling me to go find Fanglongmon!"
"Your gut or your head?" It was Agumon who had spoken. Everyone turned to face him as he looked nervously to his angered partner. "Taichi, this isn't you. Fanglongmon is talking to you isn't he? He wants you to come... and you're trying to fight it... you're frustrated... aren't you?"
"N-no..." Taichi lied feebly. "I... Well... yes." He admitted, "But I'm not going to join him!"
"Then why do you want to go to him so bad?" Agumon asked.
"Because I want to destroy him." Taichi said confidently. "I want him to know that no matter how much he pleads—no matter how hard he tries to get to me, I won't let him... I won't allow him in... and I will still have the strength to defeat him."
"Courage you mean." Terriermon said, "Strength is Michael's thing."
"And we will do that." Agumon said, as if Terriermon hadn't spoken. "Just after we check in on your mom."
"You're a great person Taichi." Koushiro said. "You have the strength to hold on just a little longer."
"Do I though?" Taichi shot, "I just want to go. Now."
"I could take you?" Tatum said in a questioning voice. "I could take Taichi and Agumon, that way we can go deal with this Fanglongmon guy and find Michael at the same time..."
"That would work!" Agumon smiled.
"No." Koushiro said, "Live together, die alone."
"What?" Terriermon asked, "We've lost another one to the loony bin!"
"If we split up, we will fail." Koushiro said, "We're staying together. We'll go see our mothers, and then we will go to Fanglongmon."
"And what if I say no?" Taichi asked, "Why should I have to listen to you."
"Because I'm wearing the goggles." Koushiro said flatly. I could tell he was nervous, but he was sticking up for what he thought was right, and it was pretty awesome. "I'm the leader right now, and what I say goes. We're all going to my house whether you like it or not."
No one spoke as Koushiro pushed between Taichi and me—pulling the goggles up from around his neck, and placing them firmly on his forehead—and set off at a brisk pace toward his home.
"At least he's using them right now." Taichi grinned, setting off after him with Agumon. Tatum, Monodromon, Terriermon and I hurried to catch up with Taichi as Koushiro led the way.
We all walked in silence until we found the road, which I found odd, Terriermon wasn't usually silent, and even then it was a few blocks before Taichi finally spoke up.
"I'm sorry Willis." He said, "I'm... out of it right now. I—"
"It's fine." I smiled at him.
"No." He said, "It isn't. I've been complaining about wanting to be the leader for so long now that I've actually forgotten what it means to be one. I don't deserve the goggles... if Fanglongmon has gotten this far into my mind—what makes me think that I have any right to lead this group. Koushiro was so straight forward with Fanglongmon... he really is a good leader."
"So are you." Tatum smiled, stepping up.
"I barely know you..." He said.
"I know you." She said. "The legend of the Chosen Ones has spread around the World. Everyone knows your story. The crest of courage chose you Taichi. You are the Leader. You're the chosen leader."
"But I failed—" He tried.
"Remember fighting Puppetmon?" She asked, "I don't know what those goggles have to do with being the leader, but Koushiro was wearing them then too, but you still took charge, you almost beat Puppetmon single handed."
"With me." Agumon smiled, nodding in agreement.
"What am I? Chopped dog-liver?" Terriermon asked, throwing his hands up in surrender.
"You're a great leader Taichi." Tatum smiled. "And once you remember that, you'll be even better."
Taichi didn't say anything for a moment, but then he smiled, "Thanks Tatum... but I still shouldn't have acted the way I did..."
"Well from what I caught of it..." Tatum said, tapping her chin, thinking, "Yeah, you were kind of a douche."
Terriermon burst into laughter as Taichi smirked and looked to me, "So sorry..."
"I'm over it." I said to him.
"Well good..." Taichi smiled, "I can't have you being my enemy if you're going to marry my sister."
"Marriage?" I asked slowly.
"Well yeah... if you're not planning on getting married, then what's the point of dating her?" Taichi asked. He had a point though... Was I ready to get married? No... but could I see myself marrying Hikari in the future? Most definitely. "You'll have some stiff competition though." Taichi laughed.
"Oh?" I asked him, "Who's that? Daisuke?"
Taichi shook his head. "Obviously Takeru. Do you not notice the way he looks at her?"
It couldn't make sense. He'd mentioned it before as well... but they were just best friends... weren't they? Then again... he did seem awfully jealous of me when Hikari and I were spending so much time together... so maybe he did... perhaps Takeru really was in love with Hikari...
"Anyway, we're almost to Koushiro's house, so we should catch up." Taichi smiled. "Thanks guys, all of you." He began running, practically dragging Agumon along with him as Tatum and I rolled our eyes and watched him run.
"So... is Michael okay?" Tatum asked me awkwardly.
"I think so." I told her, "Do you miss him?"
"So much..." She said, "This whole on-and-off-again thing isn't working for me... drama is too much—but right now I don't care if we're dating or not—I love him. And I need to make sure he's okay."
"Well... I'm sure he's fine." I told her. "We'll find him... I promise."
"Thank you Willis..." She smiled at me before running after Taichi leaving me no choice but to follow.
Soon we were all walking up the front steps to Koushiro's home as he pushed open the front door. The other houses on the street seemed to be boarded up and broken down, digimon had clearly been affecting this town... but where were they? And why hadn't they attacked this building?
Koushiro left the door open for us all to step in after him. I didn't bother taking my shoes off because I figured, since we were heroes saving the world, keeping mud off of Koushiro's kitchen floor wasn't really the highest on my priority list at the moment.
"Mom?" He called out. "Mom!"
"Oh hello!" Came a familiar female voice. I'd only met his mother once when I had come up a few years back to research with Koushiro over the summer, so I couldn't be sure, but her voice sounded different—strained perhaps. She didn't come from the kitchen where her voice had come from, so Koushiro led us toward her.
"Mom?" He asked, "How did you email me?"
As I stepped into the kitchen my eyes widened. The walls were splattered with baking batter and the two women in the room were stirring like crazy, their eyes wild and almost panicked as they baked for their lives it seemed. It was almost funny to see. But other than the batter on the walls the yellow painted kitchen was nicely in place just as it had been the last time I had been here, only this time instead of sunlight pouring in from the glass door that led to the porch next to the table a shadow from the Dark Ocean's sun was casting itself across the kitchen floor.
"Hey mom," Taichi said awkwardly. His mother smiled at him but kept baking.
Mrs Izumi turned sharply toward the sink and began doing the dishes slowly. "I just used the computer."
"Yeah," Koushiro said, "my computer."
"Yes, well... I'm sorry about that..." She said slowly, "I didn't mean to upset you."
"Well... I suppose it is alright then." Koushiro nodded. He sat down on a stool by the counter and grabbed an apple from a basket sitting there. He took a bite out of it and then looked up to his mom again. "So where is dad?"
"Out." His mother replied simply.
"Out where?" Koushiro asked.
"I don't know!" Mrs Izumi slammed her hands into the kitchen sink roughly and loudly. I looked to Taichi and Tatum who were both as confused as I was. She must have just been panicked. There was a war going on and not knowing if your loved ones were safe or not... I could relate... with Lopmon, Hikari... my mother. I noticed Monodromon poke Terriermon and point down the hall.
"What?" Terriermon asked. Monodromon poked him again. "WHAT?"
Tatum placed her hand on Monodromon's shoulder. "Be nice." She warned him.
"So what are you all doing here?" Mrs Yagami asked as she rifled through the fridge. Her voice sounded very strained also. They must have just been worried mothers—it made sense to me... I wasn't even a mother and I was worried about everyone I knew...
"Didn't you guys email us and ask if we were okay?" Taichi asked.
"Oh—yes, that's right." Mrs Yagami chuckled, "How silly of me."
"WHAT?" Terriermon growled to Monodromon who pointed down the hallway again.
"Oh that?" Mrs Yagami asked, "That's just some spider digimon who tried to attack us. We didn't want to kill him so we tied him up and threw him in the bathroom." Monodromon seemed satisfied with that answer.
Koushiro raised his eyebrows but said nothing.
"Well done." Taichi laughed, "Didn't think you had it in you mom."
"You'd be surprised." She said before turning and smiling at him, pulling an egg out of the fridge.
"What are you baking?" Taichi asked, looking hopeful.
"I don't know." Mrs Yagami said, looking down into the bowl, her hair falling down over her face.
Agumon moved across the kitchen and sat next to Terriermon and Monodromon. The way everyone was moving and talking... things seemed pretty normal.
"I... have to use the washroom." I stated slowly.
"Oh you can't." Mrs Yagami said, "It's dangerous."
"I think I can handle it." I said, "C'mon Terriermon." I said, allowing him to jump up on my shoulder. I set off down the hallway. I looked in the first room, but it led to a bedroom. The second door led to another bedroom. So I opened the last door down the hallway and suddenly felt a hand on my back as I was shoved into the bathroom roughly, the door being slammed shut behind me.
I tripped into the room and fell face first into the shower, tearing down the fish covered shower curtains in the process.
"Willis are you okay?" Terriermon asked sharply. "I'm... fine." I said sitting up and rubbing my face. I noted that my nose was bleeding and groaned. Of course this would happen to me.
"Do you hear that?" Terriermon asked.
"Hear what?" I asked as Terriermon jumped off of my shoulder and landed by the sink. He pulled the cupboard door open sharply and gasped as a digimon with multiple legs fell out. At first I thought it was the spider digimon they had spoken of but I suddenly recognized it as Yokomon.
"TERRIERMON!" Yokomon shouted out with glee. I laughed, they had captured Sora's digimon thinking it was evil... "We were sent to the bathroom to get hairspray!"
"Okay?" Terriermon said nervously as another digimon followed the pink flower out of the cupboard. I knew this one was Tanemon, she was holding a can of hairspray.
"Yeah! Mrs Yagami was pretty sure it was used for her bomb recipe!" Tanemon chimed in, I was pretty confused. "But then they shoved us in a closet! I don't know why!"
"They're bullies!" Yokomon growled. "And they need to be destroyed!"
"They were probably just confused. They didn't know who you are." I told them.
"Oh no," Tanemon said, "They knew."
Suddenly I knew what was going on... I scooped Tanemon and Yokomon into my arms and ran off toward the kitchen... the reason their parents had shoved them in a closet, the reason I was shoved into the bathroom, the reason we couldn't find what we were looking for—the reason for the mess and the panicked eyes. I slid to a stop in the kitchen.
"Guys!" I shouted, "It's—"
"Puppetmon." Koushiro finished for me nodding.
"NOOOOO!" A whiney voice echoed through the house. "You weren't supposed to figure it out!"
Suddenly Mrs Yagami and Mrs Izumi fell to the ground as Taichi and Koushiro ran to their rescue. Agumon, Terriermon and Monodromon stood, ready for battle as Tatum and I moved closer together, Tanemon and Yokomon jumped out of my arms leaving me with just a can of hairspray.
Suddenly my free hand was controlling itself, reaching into my pocket and grabbing my digivice and throwing it into the air. Soon Tatum and the others all did the same thing and then from the ceiling, Puppetmon fell into the room, landing flawlessly, all of out digivices in his hand.
"Now this is what I call a fair fight." Puppetmon grinned, pocketing all four digivices.
I was suddenly panicking. Without digivices how were we supposed to defeat him? Three rookie digimon would not be able to defeat Puppetmon... I looked around for something to help us, but there was nothing except a few pots and pans which looked as if they had already been used to attack something big...
As I was looking I hadn't been paying attention to Puppetmon who had come right up next to me. I looked down to him suddenly as he punched me in the chest. Everything seemed to be happening at once at that moment. I could feel my heart fluttering, as I gasped for breath, and as I flew through the air toward the glass door next to the table, smashing into it and flying outside, landing roughly on the porch. I was gasping for breath still, my ribs felt like they might just have been broken—it was literally the most pain I'd ever experienced, and to top it off, shattering that door had caused many large gashes in my skin, and so I was bleeding all over—but I barely noticed them; I was too focused on my chest.
I pulled myself to my knees and clutched my chest, dropping the can of hairspray in the process. I was practically in a ball on the wooden porch in the back yard, biting my lip and trying not to cry from the pain. One thing I remembered my dad telling me was this... "it's not pain unless you let it get to you."
I figured he meant it for bullying or something, but I was applying it to this moment. I was not going to let myself get hurt. Puppetmon could not defeat us... and he could not defeat me.
"Willis!" Terriermon slid to a stop in front of me as I looked up to see him. "Are you okay?" He looked panicked.
I nodded, still biting my lip as I pulled myself to my feet. "I'm fine." I said through gritted teeth.
"Oh are you?" Puppetmon laughed, stepping through the broken door. "We'll have to fix that, now won't we?" He raised his large hammer as I felt my eyes widen with shock. "PUPPET PUMME—"
"Pepper breath!" Agumon roared from somewhere in the kitchen behind the puppet. Puppetmon jumped in surprise and ran out of the way as the ball of fire shot past Terriermon and I.
"Beat Knuckles!" Tatum chimed in as Monodromon leapt from the doorway and punched Puppetmon as hard as he could in the stomach. Puppetmon clearly felt something as he heaved over in pain slightly before brushing the digimon aside.
"Terrier tornado!" Terriermon joined the fight, sending a green whirlwind toward the enemy. Puppetmon stepped aside easily as Taichi and Tatum shot from the doorway.
"Where is Koushiro?" I asked them. Both of them looked scared out of their minds, and also relieved to see that I was okay. Tatum was holding Tanemon, but Yokomon seemed to stay inside with Koushiro.
"He's making sure our parents are still alive..." Taichi said solemnly. Apparently the results didn't look promising.
"She'll be fine." Tatum comforted Taichi as we all turned back to Puppetmon who apparently had found the time to have both Monodromon and Terriermon in his grasps.
"Monodromon!" Tatum called out, "Cracking Bite!"
Monodromon wound up and bit Puppetmon's arm as hard as he could. Puppetmon released both digimon, without showing any signs of pain. He looked at the bite marks though and suddenly his arm seemed to fade out of existence and then back in.
"What—?" Taichi asked.
"It causes them to malfunction where they are bitten." Tatum filled in quickly.
She was a smart girl. But not nearly as smart as Koushiro—he was our planner. If he was inside checking their parents... then someone had to come up with a plan... Tatum looked too busy keeping her digimon safe... so it was up to me. What was my plan?
"Pepper breath!" Agumon shouted out, drawing my attention. The flames shot right by Puppetmon who was clearly just toying with us. If he wanted to kill us, he could have done so already. I watched as he practically danced around the three rookies attacks as they, along with Tanemon tried desperately to do some damage. Tatum ran back into the house as Puppetmon continued his dance recital and came back out with one of the dented frying pans I had seen. She ran toward Puppetmon, the frying pan held high in the air, Tanemon running after her as they both let out a battle cry.
"Tatum no!" Taichi cried out, "It's too dangerous!"
She didn't listen. I wanted to look away, but I couldn't force myself to do so. Tatum his Puppetmon over the head with her frying pan as he turned toward her.
"OWWWWWW!" He whined loudly, "Not fair! You're using weapons!"
"And you're not?" She asked, not backing down. I had to admit that girl had spunk. But Michael would kill me if I let her get hurt. I ran toward her and Puppetmon as Puppetmon raised his hammer and swung it toward her. I pushed her out of the way, but she wasn't going to have that. She stood her ground and pushed me to the ground as the hammer came around and hit her in the back.
I watched in terror as she let a long, harsh scream escape her lips. She fell through the air and landed roughly on Koushiro's parents porch table, breaking it.
"Tatum!" Taichi and I screamed, running toward her. I felt a hand wrap itself roughly around my wrist and pull. I spun around painfully until I was face to face with Puppetmon.
"You're next Mr Hero." Puppetmon said with a sly grin as his eyes glowed red. "I'm done with this game. My Master will be waiting for me... besides, the bearer of light isn't here... she's who I'm supposed to kill.
I couldn't explain why I did what I did next, but I found myself using my knee to hit Puppetmon in the stomach and then punching him in the face. He wanted to kill Hikari, and there was no way he was getting the power to do that. I glanced to his pocket where all of our digivices were, but if I wanted to keep my hand, there was no way I could get them. I wound up to punch Puppetmon again, but he caught my fist and twisted my arm sharply. "No." He said menacingly before letting go and letting me fall to the deck.
I looked quickly over my shoulder ignoring the pain all over my body as Puppetmon jumped back, off of the porch and onto the lawn. "This is getting old. So prepare to die now."
"Not a chance buster!" Terriermon said, jumping from the porch, "I'm not going down without a fight! Bunny Blaster!" he shot his attack toward Puppetmon who used his hammer as a shield. "Terrier tornado!" He cried out as Monodromon ran up toward him to help out. I looked over my shoulder at Taichi and Agumon as they helped Tatum to her feet.
She was okay...
Suddenly relief was coursing through my body—even though it shouldn't have. I was pretty sure Puppetmon had sprained my wrist, broken my ribs and even cut me open in several places, and he was still right in front of me, going to kill me... and then Hikari.
This could not happen.
As I looked back to the battle I saw that Monodromon was on the ground, not moving and Terriermon was flying through the air toward Puppetmon who was shooting at Puppetmon with his multi-purpose hammer.
"Terriermon!" I cried out, clenching my teeth and fists as I watched Terriermon fall to the ground, still, just like Monodromon.
"Taichi." I said flatly without looking back to him.
"Oh crap." He said, clearly he hadn't been watching the fight. "Agumon... you're up."
"Right!" Agumon said confidentally. How could he and Taichi be so confident always? They never seemed to falter... they were clearly the ultimate leader here. But no Agumon, even if it was Taichi's, could defeat an X-Virus Puppetmon.
Even though Puppetmon was made of wood, and Agumon was a fire dinosaur.
Only... levels wouldn't matter as much now, would they? Earth was now mixed in with the digital world... and if we were still slightly digital, like Gennai had said, then Agumon and Puppetmon must've gained some Earth like qualities... and wood would never stand a chance against fire.
"Agumon!" I shouted. "Use as much fire as you can! Just hit him!"
"Right!" Agumon agreed, running past me and toward the angry Puppetmon. "Pepper Breath!"
"Telling my digimon what to do?" Taichi questioned me as he stepped up toward me, Tatum was attached to him, trying to stay on her feet.
"Trust me." I said firmly. "MORE FIRE!" I screamed to Agumon.
"Spitfire!" Agumon roared, "Pepper breath! Baby flame!" he was shooting fire balls of different sizes from his mouth, but Puppetmon was dodging them all. But the look on his face made me think that we had the right idea... he had been complaining about fire the whole time though—we just needed to distract him...
I looked behind me at the can of hairspray and quickly grabbed it. "Hey Puppetmon!" I screamed, "Catch!" I threw the distraction toward him and he looked quickly toward it, not sure what it was. He reached up and caught it as Agumon shot another "Pepper Breath"
"Dude!" Taichi warned, "Hairspray? Fire? Explosion?"
"Oh no..." I said suddenly, diving toward the deck as Agumon's attack hit Puppetmon, causing a loud explosion in the Izumi's back yard. I didn't look up for a while. I didn't want to move. I was pretty sure I'd be content with dying right there... especially if Puppetmon was still alive.
"Willis..." Taichi said slowly. "Willis, are you okay?" I looked up at him, hopeful as he pulled me to my feet.
"Did it work?" I asked slowly.
"See for yourself..." Taichi said shakily, pointing out to where the battle was taking place. First I noticed that the fence had fallen—no, not fallen, the fence was just gone, and the grass in their lawn, as well as their neighbours lawn was scorched. Then I noticed Terriermon, Agumon and Monodromon, all laying in the grass. I began to panic—how were they supposed to defeat Puppetmon like that? But then I saw that there was a pile of digivices in the scorched grass...
Puppetmon... was dead...?
Jun:
"What do you think of all of this?" Shuu asked me, after awhile. Professor Takenouchi had left a bit ago, and so we were just sitting in his office…with a giant horse-man digimon. Centaurumon wasn't terrifying, like I originally thought he was. But he was still weird, and you know…huge. I didn't know if I could trust him just yet, but Shuu was a good judge of character, and he trusted him, so I thought I'd better try to do the same.
"I just want it to be over," I said honestly. "I want Otamamon back. I want my little brother back. I never hug him, Shuu, but I really want him here right now, so I could thank him for all he's done in the past, and what he's doing now. I just… I miss him. As strange as that is, since I haven't missed him since he moved in with the Yagami's to take care of Hikari. I want him back."
"I'd like to talk to Jou about all that he's gone through as well. I don't think it's fair that I've let him go through all of this alone, you know? I knew what he was out there doing, but hearing it in theory is way worse than seeing it. It's more real now. More dangerous."
"They will be fine," Centaurumon said. I looked up at him, unsure. "They have their digivices, but more importantly, they have their crests and each other. They are a team. A team that always comes out victorious, and will look out for each other and a team that takes care of one another. They have come a long way from the time I first met them. They have grown so much. They will be fine."
"I don't know if I can believe that until I see it," I sighed.
The door to the professor's office opened, and I'm not ashamed to admit that I screamed.
"Jun, Jun sweetheart, it's just Haruhiko," Shuu said, rubbing my arm. I blushed and looked to the ground sheepishly.
"Sorry sir, thought you might be that flame man," I said.
"As it so happens," Haruhiko said. "I have him with me."
"What?" Shuu and I said in astonishment. Centaurumon looked at us and then at Haruhiko confused.
"Sora was just here. She's fine, she thinks the others are alright, she's not sure though, as she was alone when she came," Haruhiko said. "Sorry I don't have any more information about your brothers."
"It's fine," Shuu said, though you could see it was strained. I couldn't even bring myself to lie. It wasn't fine. There was so much I needed to tell my baby brother, stuff I'd never thought of before, that I was maybe running out of time for.
"How does that explain Meramon's presence," Centaurumon asked gently, seeing that neither of us was prepared to ask.
"She recognized him immediately. I tried to keep her away, but she was insistent that she knew this particular Meramon. She was chastising him, and she told me to take care of him," Haruhiko said shrugging his shoulders.
"I apologize," Meramon said in a raspy sort of voice. One that fit him perfectly. It made me think of someone who'd suffered through a fire and come out after breathing in too much smoke…and well…Meramon was covered in fire…
"Why did you do it? Chase us I mean," Shuu asked. I looked at him nervously. He was actually going to try and reason with this monster? He was terrifying. And he almost killed us, planned on it in fact.
"I did not expect to be in this world," Meramon said trying not to touch anything except the concrete floor. Everything else was wooden except the doorframe. "I was protecting the Yokomon of Yokomon village. The Dark Ocean's Shadows had come to get them. Along with them was LadyDevimon. They were searching for a particular Yokomon. The Yokomon was young Sora's digimon partner."
"What do they want with Yokomon?" Haruhiko asked angrily.
"Alas," Centaurumon said. "The only one that can answer that is Fanglongmon himself."
"He does keep his plans secret," Meramon nodded.
"And what happened next?" Shuu asked.
"I was here," Meramon said. I was a little bit surprised, I'll admit. We at least got some warning. Digimon faded in and out before they were infesting our town. But I still didn't trust him. He tried to kill us after all. "There were big metal monsters. They hit smaller digimon without reason. I had to protect them too."
"Those are called automobiles," Haruhiko said quickly as soon as he grasped what Meramon was saying. "Some are called cars. Humans use them to get around quickly."
"I do not know what has happened to my Yokomon," Meramon said sadly. "And in my quest to not fail the other digimon I have endangered the digidestined's humans."
"It's fine," Shuu said. "You didn't do any harm—to us anyway. I'm Shuu Kido, Meramon. It's nice to meet you."
Meramon and I looked at him incredulously. Did he honestly just forgive him and start over?
"But—" the two of us said at once.
"No harm, no foul," Shuu said with a bright smile. I almost forgot what I'd been thinking. He really did have a beautiful smile, and I hadn't seen it enough since this whole thing started. "You were trying to do something good. I can't fault you for that. I trust you to not attack me in the future."
He trusted him.
I was going to have to rethink how good of a judge Shuu really was.
"What shall we venture to do next?" Centaurumon asked Haruhiko, noting the tension in the room.
"I have to go to Odaiba," he said immediately. "I need to find Toshiko."
"Who?" I asked.
"My wife," he informed me quickly. "Sora said something… I have to talk with her. We're affecting Sora and her ability to save the world. We have to work through some stuff. Find out where we stand, so that we can better assist her."
"We'll come too," Shuu said. "We'll help make sure you get there without incident. We can't have you getting killed before you get there. That wouldn't help Sora at all. And Jou will need Sora's help. And Daisuke. It's getting worse out there."
"Right," I said. Anything to help my brother.
"I will assist as well," Meramon said quietly.
"And I go wherever my partner goes," Centaurumon said firmly.
"We should leave then," Haruhiko said with a small smile. "To help the digidestined."
And as we left, I couldn't help but think I'd finally found something useful to do. Something that might help to ensure that my brother got home safely. And no matter the danger I was about to face, it would be worth it.
Next on Digimon Adventure 04: With Puppetmon out of the picture, things are looking up, but the tension is mounting, and the ultimate battle is growing ever closer. Shuu meets up with a familiar face, Hikari works with Takeru to find their way towards the camp, while Koushiro leads his group towards a fight they all know is coming. Mimi and Jou encounter a little problem on their way, and Takeru must try and keep it together when things start to get out of hand. Things are getting intense!