Author's Note: I apologize for not having this chapter up sooner. Last week I had a personal matter that needed urgent attention, and as a result I didn't have a lot of time to get much else done. Plus this ended up being a much longer chapter than I expected it to be. Well, better late than never.
Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon.
Chapter 4: Day of the Devil
The day had only continued to get weirder for Toya and Kotaro since the battle against Aya and her crazed Digimon. Norn's Uncle Matt told the boys to head home while he dealt with the authorities, which had begun to arrive on the scene as soon as they left from the sound of the sirens Toya and Kotaro had started to hear. Unfortunately for Toya, Gankoomon and the Sistermon Sisters had insisted on following him and Kotaro home to their family's apartment. A large part of the reason why this bothered Toya was the simple fact his family's apartment was just a little too small for Hackmon's little entourage. It was no problem for them to house Hackmon in addition to Vic and their sister, Himeko's Digimon (who was incredibly small), but there was hardly any room for three additional human-like Digimon.
The good news was the rest of the Mikihara family had been very accepting of Gankoomon and the Sistermon duo. In fact Toya's father, Kazuma found Gankoomon to be quite fascinating. As a scholar, Kazuma had become very interested in the history and culture of the Digital World since the discovery of Digimon, and Gankoomon seemed to be a walking history book of that world. In any case, the problem of Gankoomon and the Sistermon Sisters staying at the Mikihara residence had solved itself as the evening fell. Just after dinner, a young man named Izzy Izumi came by and set up access to some sort of digital grid his company had created for storing Digimon and giving them shelter from the authorities in the event of an emergency. As soon as the connection to this grid had been established, Gankoomon, Noir and Blanc entered it while Hackmon remained in the apartment.
Later that night, Hackmon had told Toya a little about why he and Gankoomon had come to the human world in the first place, about their mission to stop the so-called Child of Darkness before she could plunge both the human world and the Digital World into chaos. The little dragon had also explained how the Child of Darkness intended to kill Norn as a way to try and achieve her goals. Upon hearing the news about the danger to Norn's life, Toya decided they should inform Kotaro and Vic about the threat. The four of them met up in Kotaro's room to discuss the matter.
"So let me get this straight, Hackmon," Kotaro began. "You're saying that as long as this 'Child of Darkness' is walking around, Norn has a target on her back, is that right?"
Hackmon nodded. "That is correct. Master Gankoomon has not told me all of the details about what the Child of Darkness seeks to accomplish, but she seems to want to hurt Ms. Norn's mother, the Child of Light. The best way to achieve that goal is to take the lives of the ones the Child of Light loves most."
"That adds up," Vic remarked. "And the Child of Darkness is the psycho lady who showed up after we took out Devidramon, right?"
"The woman we faced was indeed she." Here Hackmon shuddered a little. "She and her Digimon were more fearsome than I had imagined. Our encounter with her has shown me that my training is still sorely lacking."
"In any case, what it all comes down to is that this woman is probably going to come after Norn again," Toya pointed out.
Kotaro nodded. "Then it looks like it's up to us to protect Norn while that crazy bitch is on the loose."
"There is something you should all know about Ms. Norn," Hackmon interjected. "Though my master does not believe it, Blanc told me that there's a small chance Ms. Norn is also the one known as the Child of Radiance, the messiah of the Digital World. If this is indeed true, than protecting Ms. Norn is an even more important duty."
"I think we're all in the same page here," Kotaro agreed.
Toya nodded. "Well, I think we should all turn in now. After all, this is a school night."
With that, Toya got up and headed for the door with Hackmon.
"One sec Toya," Kotaro spoke as he stood up from his bed, causing Toya to stop at the door. "Just one thing I wanna know…you really like Norn, don't you?"
Toya turned to look his stepbrother right in the eye. "I do. I'm guessing you feel the same way."
Kotaro nodded. "There's no other girl like her, we can both agree on that. But I think we can also agree that competing for her heart should be the furthest thing from our minds right now. The most important thing right now is protecting Norn from this Child of Darkness, and the only way we can do that is to work together."
"You'll get no argument from me. But…once this is all over, don't be surprised if I try sweeping Norn off her feet."
Kotaro smirked. "You're welcome to try, but considering the way you got all tongue-tied when we first met Norn, I don't think you stand a chance."
Vic crossed his arms and quirked his brow. "I really don't get humans sometime."
"The ways of humans are strange to me as well," Hackmon agreed. "But I can tell that the two of you are very honorable. With warriors like you, there's no way we shall fail in our mission."
After the attack at Norn's school, Tai, Matt and Sora felt they had no choice but to fill Kari and T.K. in about the current situation with Meiko. The three waited until Norn was sound asleep for the night, which ended up happening fairly quickly thanks to reincarnated digital god conducting another little construction project inside Izzy's grid. Norn had decided to build a place for Gankoomon and the Sistermon Sisters to stay; a sort of guesthouse that was a combination of church and dojo according to the description Gatomon had given the others after having watched Norn work. Once Norn was fast asleep in her room with Agu and Gao, Tai told her parents the whole story concerning Meiko, minus the part where he first met the mad Digidestined at a bar and ended up taking her to his place. Needless to say, Kari and T.K. were not pleased when the heard the full story.
"Dammit Tai! Were you ever going to tell us about this woman?" a furious Kari asked as she rose from the couch.
"Of course I was!" Tai assured her. "I was just waiting for the right time."
"The right time was the moment you heard about Meiko from Gennai," T.K. told him.
"And in the meantime, that woman is sending people to kill our little girl!" Kari ranted. "How the hell could you be so stupid?"
"Look! I'm sorry, okay?" Tai responded. "The reason I decided we should hold off on telling you about this is because the two of you had already been through so much…with the Dark Ocean…then with Lucemon. The two of you finally got some real peace ever since Norn showed up. I just…I didn't want to ruin all that for you."
Kari relented and sat back down on the couch. "You really can be a dummy, you know that?"
"The only thing that really matters right now is figuring out how to deal with this new enemy," Gatomon pointed out.
"It seems to me the only way to put an end to this is to find out where Meiko is and stop her," Patamon interjected.
"You read my mind, darling. We need to go on the offensive. Until we can track down Meiko and stop her, she's only going to send more assassins to kill Norn, T.K. and Tai. Kari's parents could be in danger too, now that I think about it."
"We've been working on all that, or Izzy has I should say," Matt interjected. "Unfortunately we haven't made much progress."
"We're doing the best we can though," Sora added. "Unfortunately it looks like this is going to take some time."
"And until then, Norn is in danger," T.K. reminded them.
"Actually, Norn already seems to have a little protection," Matt revealed. "Norn's two new friends are a couple of Digidestined with some pretty strong Digimon. One of those Digimon is Gankoomon's apprentice."
"Well…that's something I guess. Still, I'd feel a lot better if Norn had some better protection than just a couple of school kids."
"Don't worry. I've already gotten that covered," Tai revealed. "As soon as Gennai told me about Meiko's plans, I immediately called Arthur Pierce. He and the rest of Team Excalibur are on their way here to Tokyo. It'll be a few more days before they get here, but they should be all the protection we'll need against Meiko."
"I'm sure Arthur already has some kind of plan," Kari assumed.
Tai nodded. "He hasn't filled me in on all the details yet, but he definitely has something in mind."
"Anyway, you guys now know the full situation," Matt spoke as he got up from his chair. "It's late, so I think we should probably take off for the night."
"Thanks for finally letting us in on all this," Kari spoke.
Tai nodded and rose from his chair. "Don't worry Kari. I'm not going to let anything happen to our family."
With that, Tai left the apartment with Agumon. Not long after he left, Matt and Sora headed for the door with their respective Digimon. T.K. and Kari got up to show the couple out.
"Hey Matt," T.K. spoke as the older sibling opened the door. "You sure those two friends of Norn's can protect her?"
"I'm sure they'll do a good job," Matt assured him. "They seem like fine boys, and like I said, their Digimon are pretty strong."
T.K.'s eye suddenly began to twitch. "I'm sorry, did you say boys?"
"Uh…yeah?"
"So you're saying I should entrust the safety of my only daughter to a couple of strange boys I've never even met?"
Matt rubbed the back of his head. "Uh…oh man."
"T.K., I'm sure you don't have anything to worry about," Sora assured him. "I don't think Norn's two friends are the type of boys who'd try anything sleazy, right Matt?"
"No! Of course not!" Matt responded. "At least…I don't think so. The kid partnered with Gankoomon's apprentice seemed pretty trustworthy at least."
"How trustworthy?" T.K. asked, still sounding very skeptical.
"Relax T.K., you're worrying too much," Sora told him. "Matt and I will be going now. We'll see you later."
With that, Sora and Matt finally left the apartment with Biyomon and Gabumon. T.K. remained standing in front of the door as though his legs had become rooted to the ground, his eyes fixed on the door. Kari came over to join him.
"Kari, is it too late to send Norn to an all-girls school?" T.K. asked.
"Why stop at an ordinary school? Maybe we could try sending her to a nunnery," Kari sarcastically remarked. "I mean she's a little young, but…"
T.K. finally turned away from the door to look at her. "Is that seriously an option?"
Kari chuckled. "T.K., I'm sure Sora's right about Norn's new friends. They're probably very nice boys."
"I suddenly don't think there's such a thing."
"I've never seen T.K. act like this before," Patamon remarked from where he and Gatomon had been watching from the couch.
"I've heard human males get a little weird when it comes to their daughters or even their younger sisters going out with potential mates," Gatomon recalled. "Still, this is pretty unexpected coming from T.K. Guess he really has become a father."
A relatively uneventful four days had passed since the attack on Norn's school. Since then, there had been no attacks from corrupted tamers and their Digimon, and certainly no sign of Meiko. Yet while there had been no moves made by the new enemy of the Digidestined, at least not any obvious ones, it had seemed to the members of the Digidestined that things in the city had become a little more tense than usual. For the past few days there had been news reports of an increasing number of street brawls and fights breaking out on the trains. The police meanwhile had been dealing with an increasing number of domestic disputes during this period, more and more of which had been ending with fatalities.
In spite of the tense atmosphere if the city however, everyone had still been going about their normal lives, including the Digidestined. Late on that particular Sunday morning, T.K. had gone out with Patamon to meet with Matt and Gabumon for lunch. As T.K. approached the appointed meeting spot with Patamon perched atop his head, he ended up brushing past a young man with slightly long hair texting on his phone without looking where he was going. The collision caused the young man to drop his phone.
"Oh! Sorry 'bout that," T.K. told the young man.
"Why don't you watch the hell where you're going, you little punk!" the young man shot back.
"Hey! Wait just a minute!" Patamon protested. "There's no reason to get so mad because of a little accident! Besides, you were so busy with your phone you weren't looking where you were going."
"Don't you have a muzzle for whatever that damn thing on your head is?" the young man shot back. "Now pick up my damn phone and apologize!"
"It's okay Patamon," T.K. spoke as he bent down to pick up the phone. "There's no need for anyone to get worked up over something like this."
T.K. lifted the phone off the ground and was about to give it back to its owner when he noticed something on the screen that sent a chill down his spine. The window still open on the phone's screen seemed to be for some sort of text messaging app, and the bottom of this window was decorated with a red bat-like symbol T.K. was all too familiar with. This same symbol adorned the chest of a creature that still even today occasionally haunted his nightmares.
"Hey! What the hell's the freakin' holdup?" the young man protested. "Give me back my damn phone already! You have any idea how much of my time you're wasting?"
"Uh…sorry!" T.K. responded as he finally stood back up.
"Oh, you're gonna be sorry alright!" the young man declared as he raised his fist. "Right after I put you in intensive care!"
Before the young man could take a swing, Matt suddenly showed up from behind and grabbed his wrist. T.K.'s older brother then turned the young man around and delivered a powerful punch to his gut, followed by a strong uppercut to the young man's jaw. The young man was already out like a light as he fell to the pavement on his back.
"Wow!" Patamon praised. "That was like something out a movie."
Gabumon had also arrived with Matt and had started to examine the fallen aggressor. "Well, his jaw's not broken. Still, I think he'll be out for a while."
"You okay?" Matt asked T.K.
"I'm fine, but I'm not so sure that guy is," T.K. answered.
"Hey, I didn't hit him that hard. Like Gabumon said, his jaw's not broken."
"I'm not talking about what you did, I'm talking about this," T.K. explained as he held up the young man's phone and pointed at the symbol. "Recognize this?"
It took Matt a moment to realize what T.K. was talking about. "That's the symbol that was on Devimon's chest!"
T.K. nodded. "So what's it doing on this guy's phone?"
"But hold on! You said Devimon got taken out by Daemon during the battle to rescue Kari from the Dark Ocean."
"Yeah, but…there's no reason to think he couldn't have come back. I mean he came back from the dead before to take me and Patamon to the Dark Ocean in the first place."
"Let's not jump to conclusions, T.K.," Patamon interjected. "That symbol is actually called the Mark of Evil, and there are a lot of other bad Digimon who have it. There's LadyDevimon, Devidramon, SkullSatamon…even most of Myotismon's forms had this mark."
"Wait, so you're saying CountMyotismon could have something to do with this?" a startled Matt asked. "With Meiko running around on the loose, him showing up is the last thing we need."
"I didn't say CountMyotismon was behind this, I'm just saying his previous forms had this mark. For all we know, this could be a new enemy entirely."
"…Or maybe Meiko herself is behind it," T.K. suggested. "I mean it doesn't explain the mark, but still…it kind of makes sense."
Matt nodded and crossed his arms. "Well we're certainly not going to figure this out by just standing here spinning out theories. We should have Izzy take a look at this guy's phone. Hopefully he should be able to figure out what's going on."
Kari had spent the morning with Norn on a mother-daughter outing, though Gatomon, Agu and Gao had tagged along as well. After spending the last few hours visiting Kari's mother, the five had decided to head for the mall to do a little shopping. As Kari and the others entered the shopping center of Nakano Broadway, they noticed a crowd of people gathered near one of the shops snapping pictures with their phones. Their curiosity getting the better of them, Kari and the others went over to see what the fuss was about. The five made their way through the small gathering to discover Blanc and Noir striking various poses with their weapons in hand.
"Hey! I remember them!" Agu spoke. "Those are the two weird Digimon who came for Hackmon the other day!"
"That's right! What were they called again?" Gao asked.
"The Sistermon Sisters," Norn answered. "I wonder what they're doing here though?"
"What do those two think they're doing?" Kari asked. "Showing off in public like this can't be a good idea!"
"I don't think there's anything to worry about," Gatomon assured her. "Those two look pretty human. I'm sure all of these people think they're just a couple of cosplayers or something."
"Norn?" a familiar voice interrupted. Kari and the others looked and saw Toya walking up with Hackmon. "This sure is a surprise."
"Oh! Hello Toya," Norn responded. "What brings you here?"
"Mostly just shopping," Toya answered. "Actually it's my older sister and her friend who are doing the shopping. Kotaro and I just got dragged along to carry their bags."
"So Norn, this is one of your new friends?" Kari interrupted.
"Oh! Forgive me. I'm Toya Mikihara," the dark-haired boy responded. "You must be Norn's older sister."
"Actually, I'm Norn's mom."
A look of amazement formed on Toya's face. "Her…her mom? Wow! Uh…I'm pleased to meet you, ma'am."
Kari gave Toya a smile but couldn't help but cringe internally over being called ma'am. It was one of those things she was still getting used to. Though Kari was still in her twenties, having a daughter who was physically about twelve years old caused people to think she was much older than she actually was.
"Hey Toya! What the heck are you doing down here?" another familiar voice interrupted. The others looked and saw Kotaro walking up with Vic. "Sis is getting ready to blow a gasket."
"Sorry Kotaro. I came down here to look for Noir and Blanc and ran into Norn," Toya explained.
Kotaro finally noticed Norn standing there and blushed a little. "Oh! Hi Norn."
"Hello Kotaro," Norn responded with her usual dazzling smile. "It's wonderful seeing you here."
"Yo! Agu, Gao, how's it hangin'?" Vic spoke as he walked up to the assembled Digimon.
"Pretty good, Vic. You?" Agu responded.
"Can't complain."
"Wait…you're the other kid's partner?" Gatomon interrupted, a look of disgust on her face as she pointed a claw at Vic.
"Yeah? What of it kitty-cat?"
"A…a Veemon?" Kari spoke, still with a smile on her face but with her eye twitching a bit. "Norn, sweetie, you never said your other friend had a Veemon for a partner."
"No. Why mom? Is that important?" Norn responded.
"Wait, you're Norn's mom?" a surprised Kotaro asked. "Um, dang! It's nice to meet you. If you don't mind me saying so, you look great for someone your age."
"Yeah, don't try and butter me up kid," Kari responded, her smile finally starting to falter.
"That's right. Your smooth charms aren't going to work on either of us," Gatomon agreed.
"Hey! What the heck's your problem with Kotaro?" Vic protested.
"Let's just say we've dealt with your type before," Gatomon told the little dragon. "And you may think you're hot stuff but you're not as cool as you think you are."
"What the hell is your problem kitty-cat?"
"Just ignore her Vic," Gao told him. "I mean who cares what a dumb cat thinks anyway?"
"Stay out of this mutt!" Gatomon hissed.
"If I may speak?" Hackmon interrupted, getting the attention of both Gatomon and Kari. The caped dragon looked Kari in the eye. "If you are Ms. Norn's mother, then that must mean you're the Child of Light. Let me assure you and Lady Gatomon that while I have not known Kotaro and Vic long, I can vouch for their honor."
"Nice of you to stick up for your friends kid, but forgive us if we don't take your word for it," Gatomon responded, sounding unimpressed.
"You know, I'm starting to think that joke I made about sending Norn to a nunnery the other night might not be such a bad idea," Kari remarked.
"To a what?" Norn asked.
"Okay folks! Show's over for the day!" Noir told the assembled people still taking pictures. "Our 'little brother' has come looking for us, so we have to be going."
"We hope you enjoyed the show!" Blanc added.
As the small gathering of people finally started to break up, Noir and Blanc walked over to Kari and the others.
"Hi there! You're the Sistermon Sisters, right?" Kari spoke. "I'm Norn's mom. Out of curiosity, would you be willing to take Norn into your convent for at least the next nine years or so?"
"Uh, we're not from a convent," Noir responded. "Blanc and I were raised at Master Gankoomon's dojo from the time we were In-Training Digimon."
"Oh! You're Ms. Norn's mother? That must mean you're the Child of Light!" Blanc realized. "It is an honor to meet you."
"Say, Noir? Blanc?" Toya interrupted. "I know Gankoomon told you to stick close to Hackmon, but could you be a little more discrete about it? You were kind of making a scene earlier."
"Oh relax kid. Everyone seems to like us," Noir told him with a dismissive wave of her hand. "In fact one girl earlier wanted our autograph."
"We're a hit!" Blanc cheerfully declared.
"There you are!" another voice interrupted. "I've been walking around this entire mall looking for you two idiots!"
Storming up to Kari and the others was a seventeen-year-old girl with long wavy blonde hair and pinkish brown eyes. She had on a white t-shirt with the Summer Camp clothing logo on the front in pink, a short denim skirt, knee-high white socks and black shoes. Draped over the girl's shoulders like a boa was a small white weasel-like creature with two short front legs and a gold earing on its left ear. Following a few steps behind the blonde was another girl who appeared to be about fourteen or fifteen. This girl had long navy blue hair and gold eyes, and wore a blue hooded jacket with a yellow t-shirt, long black pants and blue sneakers.
"What the hell have you two been doing?" the blonde asked Kotaro and Toya as she came up.
"Sorry Himeko. I was looking for Blanc and Noir when Kotaro and I ran into our new friend, Norn and her mom," Toya explained.
The blonde finally noticed Kari, Norn and their respective Digimon. "Oh! Hi. I'm Himeko Mikihara, Kotaro and Toya's older sister."
"And I'm Himeko's Digimon, Kudamon!" the weasel-like creature on Himeko's shoulders interjected, giving them a wave. "Pleased to meet ya."
"Um, hi," Kari responded. "Sorry if we interrupted your little shopping trip."
"Oh not at all. I'm sure we're the ones interrupting you." Himeko then looked from Kari to Norn and then back again. "Wait, you're the mom of Kotaro and Toya's new friend? Wow! If you don't mind me saying so ma'am, you look great for someone your age."
"Thank you," Kari responded as she once again pasted on a fake smile.
"Um…excuse me," another voice interrupted. Everyone's attention was then drawn to the girl who had followed Himeko.
"Oh! Crap! Sorry Erika. I didn't mean to abandon you like that," Himeko responded. She then turned her attention back to Kari. "Uh, this is a new friend of mine, Erika Mishima. She's sort of a genius who transferred into my school a few days ago. We're both in the computer club."
"H-hello," Erika spoke, bowing to Kari and the others.
Norn's eyes widened a bit the moment she saw Erika. She started to walk up to the blunette just as Kari was about to tell the Mikiharas goodbye. Norn and Erika ended up looking at one another in silence for several moments.
At last Norn smiled at Erika. "This day is proving to be full of wonderful surprises. I never thought I would encounter you here."
Erika smiled back and nodded. "I certainly never imagined I'd be seeing you like this."
As Kari and the others looked on at the odd exchange between Norn and Erika, Blanc tugged on her older sister's arm. "Hey Noir, isn't the girl Ms. Norn talking to…"
"You're right! I should've noticed sooner," Noir whispered back. "What the heck is she doing here though?"
"I don't know, but it seems dangerous to allow her to be here. After all, the Child of Darkness is on the loose. It would be very bad for the Digital World if something were to happen to her."
"Agreed, but remember Blanc. We can't interfere with the Vanguard's actions. Such is the will of Homeostasis."
"You're right of course. Still, we should at least tell Master Gankoomon later. He would want to know."
"Right you are. In the meantime, I guess we should stick close to her and the Child of Light since we're here."
"Okay, well I think Norn and I should be going," Kari interrupted. "We were about to have lunch and do a little shopping."
"Mom, could Toya, Kotaro and the others possibly join us?" Norn requested.
"Uh…well…" Kari began.
"Oh! If money's an issue, I'm happy to pay half the bill," Himeko offered. "I'm sure my brothers would want to spend some more time with Norn, plus she and Erika seemed to have hit it off. I guess it's cause they're close to the same age or something."
"Well…okay," Kari relented. "I do want Norn to make new friends."
"Well kitty-cat, looks like we're going to be hanging out together for a while," Vic remarked.
A look of disgust formed on Gatomon's face. "I think I just lost my appetite."
To Matt and T.K.'s relief, Izzy had indeed been at his office. He had been hard at work trying to find a cure for the comatose tamers who Meiko had used as her pawns. Like the rest of the Digidestined, Izzy had refused to believe what Gennai had said about the condition of these poor tamers and their Digimon being terminal. When T.K. and Matt told Izzy about what they had found on the phone of the angry young man T.K. had bumped into on the street, Izzy put aside his attempts to find a cure to what he had started to refer to as the "Meiko Virus" to give the phone a thorough examination. It didn't take long for the genius of the Digidestined to find something wrong.
"This text messaging app is definitely some sort of malware," Izzy informed the others as he examined the information on his computer screen. "What troubling is the coding for it is similar to the Meiko Virus."
"So wait, you're saying Meiko really is behind this?" Matt asked.
"It would appear so."
"How'd this malware get on the guy's phone?" T.K. asked.
"I'm looking at the phone's history right now to find out," Izzy answered as he continued to type into his computer. "Ah-ha! It looks like it came from a website he ended up visiting. I have the URL for it right here." He then opened the top right drawer of his desk and pulled out another phone. "I'll use my backup work phone to visit the site and see what happens."
"Are you sure that's a good idea Izzy?" Tentomon asked from where he sat next to the desk.
"It's the only good way we have to find out what's going on."
"…I think I'll go get a can of coffee from the vending machine," Matt decided as Izzy fired up his apparently expendable phone. "Be back in a sec."
Gabumon waved Matt off while T.K. and Patamon looked at the screen of Izzy's phone over his shoulder. Moments after Matt left, Izzy's phone began to load the website from the already infected phone. The website was called Oracle 666, and the only thing on the page seemed to be some sort of video. After a few short moments of buffering the video began to play. The sound of ominous music could be heard from the phone's speaker, and the first thing to appear on the video was the Mark of Evil on a solid field of black.
A few seconds later there came a static-filled transition to a black sea under a grey twilight; both T.K. and Patamon knew this scene could be from nowhere else except the Dark Ocean. The static came again and went, and occasionally the Mark of Evil reappeared over the image like the test screen of a cable channel that was having technical difficulties. A few moments later something began to rise out of the water. The thing in question turned out to be a woman whose face was completely obscured by long black hair. Soon after the woman appeared and began walking towards the viewers, she was replaced by a vortex of swirling colors. As T.K. looked at the vortex of color, he thought he saw the Mark of Evil again, as well as the silhouette of an all-too-familiar demonic-looking Digimon.
Eventually the video came to an end and the phone's web browser automatically closed. When it was over, Izzy sat in silence for several moments almost as if in some sort of trance.
"What the heck was that?" T.K. wondered.
"I don't know, but it gave me a bit of a headache," Patamon admitted.
Suddenly Izzy's right hand began to tremble with rage as he still held the phone. "That four-eyed bastard! How long did he and that two-timing bitch think they could hide things from me?"
"Uh, Izzy?" T.K. responded.
Izzy opened up the dark text-messaging app that had been downloaded onto his phone and his thumbs began to fly over the keys on the screen. T.K. and Patamon both watched as their genius friend began to compose the most bile-filled message either of them had ever seen.
"Izzy, who're you sending this to?" T.K. asked.
"It's none of your damn business!" Izzy shot back.
"Izzy, what's gotten into you?" a concerned Tentomon asked as he took wing and buzzed over to his partner's side.
"I think his message might be to Joe!" Patamon realized.
"Whoa! You're sending Joe a message like this?" a stunned T.K. asked as he attempted to grab the phone. "I can't let you do that!"
"Hey! Let go you dumb little crybaby!" Izzy snapped as T.K. attempted to free the phone from Izzy's grasp.
Both Tentomon and Gabumon immediately came to T.K.'s aid. By this time Matt came back with a can of coffee in his hand and immediately rushed over to help his younger brother.
"What the hell's going on here?" Matt asked.
"Izzy's gone nuts!" Gabumon explained.
"Let me go you assholes!" Izzy cursed.
As T.K. continued to try and get Izzy's phone, he accidentally elbowed the young genius in the face. There was a flash of gold light the moment T.K.'s elbow made contact, and soon after both Izzy and his chair hit the floor.
"Uh…what just happened?" a stunned Matt asked.
"I wish I knew," T.K. answered as he held Izzy's phone as though it were a piece of radioactive material.
After a few moments, Izzy started to get up, rubbing his cheek.
"Izzy, are you okay?" Tentomon asked.
"I…I think so," Izzy answered as he stood up. "I don't know what got into me."
"I think that weird video did something to you," Patamon theorized.
Izzy stood holding his chin for a few moments. "T.K., Patamon, what did you two see when you watched the video?"
"Well…first there was the Mark of Evil and the clip of a woman coming out of the Dark Ocean," T.K. began. "After that there were a bunch of swirling lights…and I thought I saw an image of Devimon."
"I saw the pretty much the same thing," Patamon responded. "Why?"
"I saw…a video of Mimi and Joe in bed together," Izzy admitted. "Or at least that's what I thought I saw. It really got under my skin that they would go behind my back like that."
"Wait a minute, go behind your back?" Matt asked with a raised eyebrow. "Izzy, we all know you've had a thing for Mimi for years, but…"
"Oh…darn it! Guess there's no point in hiding it from anyone anymore," Tentomon spoke. "Izzy and Mimi have been seeing each other since the battle with Lucemon."
"WHAT?" Matt and T.K. exclaimed.
Izzy sighed as he picked up his chair. "The night before Mimi went back to America, she took me to the bar in her hotel. We both had a few too many drinks and, well…look, I think you can all deduce what happened next."
"Why the heck didn't you ever tell us?" T.K. asked.
"Because I didn't know how serious the relationship was," Izzy answered as he sat back down at his desk. "Look, my relationship with Mimi is irrelevant at the moment. The important thing is this video. I don't understand how, but it seems designed to inspire an almost murderous rage in those who watch it."
"You mean it shows them the thing that would anger them the most?" T.K. asked.
"More or less," Izzy answered as he typed a few things into his computer. "Actually, I think the video's purpose is to make people angry at those closest to them. Then they use the messaging app downloaded onto their phones to vent that anger towards each other." He then called up a string of text messages onto the screen of his computer. "Here, look at the message history from the phone you brought in for me to examine."
T.K. and Matt skimmed through the message chain and were instantly appalled.
"I definitely would not let Norn see messages like this," T.K. declared.
"These two guys hate each other's guts!" Matt realized. "Though the one guy seemed pretty confused at first."
"Probably because he hadn't seen the video yet," Izzy theorized. "But look. You can see a link embedded in the following reply. That link was probably to the Oracle 666 video."
"But why would the guy embed the link in there in the first place?" Matt asked.
"I don't think he did. That was probably the work of the messaging app. The purpose of this app must be to get people to send horrible hate-filled texts to one another."
"But for what reason?" T.K. asked.
Izzy shook his head. "I don't know, but I think this app has been circulating for a few days now. You know all of the violent incidents that have been in the news recently? I think we've found the cause behind them."
Suddenly T.K.'s phone began to ring. When he looked at the screen he saw the call was from an unknown sender, but the avatar picture for this sender was the Mark of Evil. After showing Matt and Izzy who was calling, T.K. answered the call and put the phone on speaker.
"Hello?" T.K. spoke. "Who is this?"
The response to T.K. question was the sound of an all-too-familiar evil laugh. "I think you already have a good idea who this is, my boy. It's been far too long."
"Devimon! I thought Daemon destroyed you."
"He did indeed. But an even greater power deemed to bring me back."
"And now you're working with Meiko?"
"Ah! So you know about the Child of Darkness already. That makes things simpler. To answer your question, I was brought back in order to assist her."
"Are you behind that weird video and that toxic messaging app?"
"Indeed I am. But if you want me to tell you my motives for unleashing them upon the humans, we'll have to meet in person. Meet me at Tokyo Tower in say, half an hour?"
"Let me guess, I can't bring anyone with me except Patamon, right?"
The sound of Devimon's laughter came through the phone again. "On the contrary. You can bring as many of your friends as you wish. In fact I encourage it! This is my chance for revenge against not just you, but all of the Digidestined! This day you will all pay for what happened years ago on File Island!"
With those words, the line went dead. Everyone in the room was silent for several moments.
"This definitely has to be a trap," Gabumon spoke.
"No doubt, but it may be a trap we can't get out of," Izzy responded.
"You're right. Who knows what Devimon might do if Patamon and I don't show up?" T.K. pointed out.
"Well I'm coming with you," Matt declared. "We'll have Tai come and meet us there. I don't know what tricks Devimon has up his sleeve, but I doubt he'd stand a chance against Omnimon."
"Tentomon and I will remain here at the office to take down the Oracle 666 site," Izzy told them as he started typing at his computer again. "I'm also going to try and come up with an antivirus to take the messaging app off of everyone's phones."
"Perhaps you should call Kari and have her and Gatomon come to this meeting with Devimon," Tentomon suggested.
"I'd rather keep Kari and Norn out of this," T.K. responded. "Me, Matt and Tai should be more than enough."
Tai and Ken had gone with Agumon and Wormmon to a little diner in Shinjuku to meet with Detective Matayoshi. The veteran detective had called Tai earlier in the morning to tell him he had gotten some more info on Meiko. Tai set up a meeting time to talk with Matayoshi and brought Ken along mainly as support. Though it seemed like Matayoshi was an ally, Tai couldn't help but feel intimidated at the prospect of being alone with him.
"He should be showing up pretty soon," Ken remarked as he looked at his watch.
Tai nodded. "So…you still thinking of becoming a cop?"
"I've more or less decided I will."
"How'd Yolei take it when you told her your plans?"
"She seemed supportive, but…I don't know. I don't think she's completely for the idea. Yolei was pretty cold to me on the day she and Cody left for the Digital World to try and find out about the Child of Radiance prophecy about Norn."
"It could be she just needs some time," Tai assumed as he took another sip of coffee.
"I hope you're right," Ken replied with a sigh. "By the way…I heard from Davis last night. Apparently things are going well at that cooking school he enrolled in."
"That's good. He picked a heck of a time to leave town to attend this school though."
"It's not like Davis could've known Meiko was going to show up. Besides, it's a good thing Davis has been able to throw himself into his cooking. I think it's helping him to move on from Kari and what happened with Lilithmon."
"And he's got some real talent for cooking too," Wormmon interjected.
"I'll say!" Agumon agreed. "Remember when he cooked dinner for all of us a couple days after we rescued Norn from CountMyotismon? His food was some of the best I've ever had!"
"Can't think of higher praise than that," Tai responded with a grin.
"There you are!" a familiar voice interrupted. Tai and the others saw Matayoshi walking up to their booth. "Sorry I'm a little late. Things have been pretty crazy at the station due to all of the recent incidents of violence around the city."
"It's quite all right, detective," Tai replied. "So, you said you have more info on Meiko?"
"I took a little trip to Ms. Mochizuki's home town," Matayoshi began as he sat down in the booth opposite Tai, Ken and their two Digimon. "I interviewed her parents and the local police officer who originally investigated her case. It might interest you to know that Ms. Mochizuki had a Digimon of her own. But…I get the feeling you already knew that."
"We're willing to tell you what we know about her, detective," Ken responded. "But first we'd like to know what you found out first."
Matayoshi nodded and reached into his coat pocket. "Fair enough. It seems the girl got her Digimon when she was about ten. The rest of her family welcomed it with open arms, but given how cute the little critter was, I can't blame them. Here's a group photo of the family taken after Meiko's Digimon showed up."
Tai looked at the photo Matayoshi placed on the table. The photo showed a ten-year-old Meiko standing between her parents and holding an adorable Meicoomon in her arms. The Meicoomon in the photo seemed nothing at all like the savage feline that had busted into Tai's apartment a few nights ago, and the girl holding Meicoomon in the photo looked nothing like the mad woman who had tried to strangle Tai in his bed after having sex with him. Tai couldn't help but wonder what could've caused such a drastic transformation in Meiko and Meicoomon.
"As it happened, Ms. Mochizuki's father was also a scientist who had begun researching Digimon," Matayoshi continued. "Little Meicoomon ended up becoming a major focus of his studies. The doctor gave me his research notes on Meicoomon. I read over them a little and thought your friend, Mr. Izumi might find them useful."
"I'm sure he will," Tai responded as he took the black leather notebook Matayoshi passed across the table. "Thanks."
Matayoshi nodded. "Anyway, life in the Mochizuki home was pretty much perfect for a few years. Then one day not long after Ms. Meiko turned fourteen, Meicoomon mysteriously vanished. From what I was told, young Meiko took the loss pretty hard. Her parents said she became increasingly moody and depressed."
"I can understand that. The same sort of thing probably would've happened to me if Agumon had vanished like that."
"Or if I had lost Wormmon," Ken interjected.
"Anyway, not long after Meiko had turned sixteen, she had mysteriously vanished as well," Matayoshi continued. "Her mother said she had gone to bed one night and then vanished early the next morning. At first she thought Meiko had simply left for school super early, but the school soon called to say she was absent and asked to know if she was sick. The local cops were called in soon after."
"Did she run away or something?" Tai asked.
"That was what the officer investigating the case had assumed at first. He discarded that theory pretty quickly though. It seems even though she was a depressed and moody girl, Meiko was still a model student at her school, not the sort of girl who would run away from home. So the officer started to explore the possibility of Meiko being abducted. Unfortunately he could find no evidence of anyone breaking into the girl's room and stealing her away into the night. The investigation went cold pretty quickly."
"Well it's just gotten hot again," Ken told the detective. "You should know that both Meiko and her Digimon have come back, and they've been causing some trouble in this city."
Matayoshi nodded. "I had a hunch that's why you asked me to look into this. Oh! There's something else. Maybe it'd be useful or maybe it's nothing, but it seems Meiko had started keeping a sort of dream journal not long before she disappeared. The original investigator looked through it to try and get a handle on Meiko's state of mind. I thought you might want to take a look at it too."
Ken took the other leather-bound notebook Matayoshi had placed on the table and began to page through it. He went pale after reading through the first few entries.
"What's wrong Ken?" Wormmon asked.
"Meiko was dreaming about the Dark Ocean," Ken answered.
"What?" Tai exclaimed.
"Guess that explains why no one ever found Meiko," Ken stated as he closed the book. "The Dark Ocean took her."
"What's this Dark Ocean you two are talking about?" Matayoshi asked.
"It's…kind of hard to explain," Tai began. Suddenly his phone began to ring. When he checked and saw the call was from Matt, he immediately answered. "Hey Matt, can I get back to you? I'm kind of in the middle of…what? Devimon?"
"What's going on?" an alarmed Ken asked.
"Yeah…okay, got it. I'll be there as soon as I can." With that, Tai ended the call. "Ken, we need to get to Tokyo Tower ASAP. Devimon's back, and he pretty much issued a challenge to T.K. He and Matt are already on their way to deal with him."
"Is this some sort of Digimon you're talking about?" Matayoshi asked.
Ken nodded. "An evil and very dangerous one that's about to wreak havoc on the city if we don't get to Tokyo Tower soon."
"In that case, I'll give you a lift out there," the detective decided as he rose from his chair. "You could probably use some backup from the police."
"We better hurry," Tai told the others. "I don't know what Devimon's planning, but T.K. could be in real danger."
T.K. and Matt arrived at Tokyo Tower with their respective Digimon to find the area packed with people. There was no sign of Devimon, at least not any obvious ones. T.K. knew his old nemesis had to be around somewhere though. Matt meanwhile had on an earpiece with an open phone line to Izzy, who was running support from his office as he tried to take down the mysterious Oracle 666 site.
"We're here, Izzy," Matt spoke into his earpiece. "Doesn't look like Devimon's shown up yet."
"It's probably just as well," Izzy responded over the line. "I just heard from Tai. He's on his way but he's caught in traffic. Apparently there was an accident that's since broken into a fight."
"We probably have that weird video to thank. Any luck taking the thing down?"
"Afraid not. The server running the site has some of the strongest protection I've ever seen. It's going to take some time."
"Dammit!" T.K. cursed as he searched the crowd. "Where's Devimon hiding?"
Patamon looked up from his perch atop T.K.'s head towards the top of the tower and pointed. "Up there!"
T.K., Matt and Gabumon looked up towards the top of the tower. Standing on the tower's tip was an all-too-familiar horned figure with tattered black wings. He was easy to miss up there on the tower, especially with the currently overcast sky. Not long after Patamon spotted their enemy, Devimon took wing and flew down from the top of the tower. The civilians down on the ground quickly noticed Devimon's descent and quickly began to run. Soon it was only the two Digidestined and their partners standing against their old foe from File Island.
"Glad you could make it," Devimon spoke. "It's been far too long."
"What are you up to now, Devimon?" T.K. asked.
"Oh come now, boy. I'd think you'd be a little more friendly with me after how I helped you save your dear Kari from the Dark Ocean."
"We both know you did that for your own selfish reasons! If things had gone differently, you would've killed me and Kari the first chance you got."
Devimon chuckled. "All too true."
"Let's cut the crap!" Matt interrupted. "What's the deal with that weird video and the messaging app you've unleashed on everyone?"
"Ah! Right to business, eh?" Devimon responded. "Aren't you the least bit interested in reminiscing about old times?"
"The only thing I'm interested in is getting rid of you once and for all!" T.K. responded. "Patamon!"
"I'm with you!" the little mammal responded as he took off from T.K.'s head.
T.K.'s D-3 then gave out the mechanical cry of a single word. "BIOMERGE!"
With this single word T.K. turned into a ball of golden light that entered Patamon and caused a startling transformation.
"Patamon biomerge digivolve to…Seraphimon!" Patamon cried as he transformed with a blinding flash, his voice changing with the utterance of his other name.
When the light cleared it revealed a humanoid figured clad in shining silver armor, his face completely covered by a helmet with a gold cross on the front, a pair of gold wings on the sides, and a gold blade on top that somewhat resembled a Mohawk. A gold breechcloth with words written in the language of the Digital World upon it hung down in front of his legs. On his back were ten gold-feathered wings that shined with a light so bright that seemed to cast away some of the gloom from the darkened sky above.
"Gabumon, get in there and back him up!" Matt commanded.
"On it!" Gabumon responded.
In the next instant, Gabumon began to glow with a blinding blue light. "Gabumon warp digivolve to…MetalGarurumon!"
With his transformation finished, the giant mechanical wolf moved to a position beneath where Seraphimon hovered in the air.
"Both of you went straight into your Mega forms, eh?" Devimon observed. "Not very sporting of you."
"We're not interested in making this a sporting fight!" Seraphimon declared in his own voice and T.K.'s. "We intend to put an end to you before you have a chance to harm anyone else!"
"That's right!" MetalGarurumon agreed. "This'll go a lot different from our original battle on File Island!"
At this, Devimon chuckled. "I admire you confidence. Unfortunately for you, this confrontation is not going to go at all like you think. Allow me to show you the true purpose of the Oracle 666 site! The seeds I have sown shall now sprout!"
Devimon spread his long arms and began chanting in a low hate-filled language. His voice soon began to echo and the air itself suddenly seemed like it was charged with a strange sort of electricity. In the next instant, streams of crimson light began to flow from the surrounding city and came together in the sky above Tokyo Tower.
"Izzy! Something's happening!" Matt called into his earpiece. "Somehow Devimon is gathering some kind of energy."
"It isn't just energy, it's data!" Izzy responded over the line. "Specifically data from every device infected with the malicious text messaging app! The phone I used to investigate the Oracle 666 site also began streaming the data. Tentomon threw it out the window, which had a hole broken through it thanks to the data beam it sent out. But I think we now at least partly know the purpose behind the app. Devimon is trying to gather the data generated by it, likely to gain more power."
"Well can you shut it off?"
"I'm attempting to do so. The command to send out the data is being sent by the Oracle 666 site server. Until I can shut the server down, the data flow is just going to continue."
"Then you better shut that thing down and fast! I don't like at all where this is going."
Kotaro and the others had wound up having lunch at one of the little restaurants on the first floor of Nakano Broadway. The lunch had gone smoothly enough, though Kotaro couldn't help but notice how Kari and Gatomon would glare at him every now and then. Towards the end of the meal, Norn had suddenly gone off somewhere with Agu, Gao and Himeko's friend, Erika. Eventually Kotaro could take no more of Kari and Gatomon looking at him like he was the scum of the earth and went off with Vic to go find them. The duo eventually found the four at the end of an unused hallway.
"…So now you understand why I came here," Erika told Norn.
Norn nodded. "Indeed. Still, it seems as though you're taking an unnecessary risk investigating this on your own."
"Perhaps, but it's better right now if I work on my own. This way the enemy I'm investigating won't see me coming. So I hope you'll keep my secret at least for the time being."
"I must admit, I don't feel right keeping such a secret from my family, but…you have my word I will not say anything about your true identity to anyone else until it is absolutely necessary." Norn turned to Agu and Gao. "The two of you must promise the same thing."
"Well…if you say so," Agu responded.
"I don't get what's going, but if it's that important to you Norn, I promise not to say anything about your friend either," Gao agreed.
Norn smiled and turned back to Erika. "Do come to me if you feel you need help with your mission."
Erika nodded. "I will, but only if I feel there's no other option. I'd hate to trouble you unnecessarily. Anyway, so far this mission has been an enjoyable one for me. I've had fun attending a school in the human world. It's something the original me never had the chance to do."
"It's been an interesting experience for me as well, though it hasn't been without its challenges. I think I have much to learn about being human."
"Oh! Well I started out as a human, so feel free to come to me if you need any help."
Norn nodded. "Thank you. I'll keep your offer in mind."
Kotaro at last cleared his throat, getting the attention of Norn and the others. "Uh, hi."
"Kotaro! How much of that did you hear?" an alarmed Norn asked.
"Not much really. I have no clue what you guys are talking about. I can forget everything I just heard if it makes you feel better."
Norn breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you."
"There's one thing I don't get, Norn," Vic interjected. "How is it you and Erika know each other?"
Erika exchanged a look with Norn. "Let's just say the two of us go back a bit. Never mind our relationship though. What were you doing nosing around for us?"
"We weren't nosing around," Kotaro answered, sounding a little offended. "Sure I was wondering where you guys disappeared to, but Vic and I mainly needed to get away from Norn's mom. She doesn't seem to like us for some reason."
"What? How can that be?" a very shocked Norn asked. "Surly you must be mistaken."
Before Kotaro could argue, the group heard screams coming from outside the hallway. They all rushed out to find streams of red light shooting from the phones of many of the mall patrons and heading outside.
Kari rushed onto the scene with Gatomon, the rest of Kotaro's family, and the Sistermon Sisters. "Norn! There you are! Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, mom," Norn assured her. "What's happening?"
"I don't know, but we need to leave and head for Izzy's right now."
"Uh, mind if my brothers and I tag along?" Himeko requested.
"This has something to do with the enemy after Norn, doesn't it?" Toya assumed. "If that's the case, I'm not leaving her side until I find out what's going on."
"Same goes for me," Kotaro declared.
"I'm glad you both care about Norn, but you two should run along," Kari told them. "I think this is something that's a little too much for you."
"That's right. We don't need you kids getting in our way," Gatomon agreed.
"You tryin' to say we can't cut it, kitty-cat?" an offended Vic asked.
"As a knight in training, I cannot run from this battle!" Hackmon declared.
"We don't even know what we're dealing with here," Gatomon pointed out.
"That's not entirely true," Erika interrupted. "These lights are actually data streams. I can only guess as to where they're going, but their destination isn't that important. What matters is shutting this flow of data down. To do that, we need to go to the source."
"And how are we supposed to do that?" Himeko asked.
"Let me take care of that. The rest of you go do whatever it is you need to do," Erika responded before suddenly dashing off. "Himeko! Norn! I'll see you later."
"Wait! Erika!" Himeko called. "What the heck does she think she can do?"
"Not our concern, older sister of Hackmon's partner," Noir responded.
"Could you please bother to learn our names?" Toya requested.
"What we should focus on is finding out where these data streams are headed," Noir continued.
"All of you can focus on that," Kari told the Mikiharas and the Sistermon Sisters. "Right now my concern is getting Norn to safety."
"You're not going anywhere, Kari darling," a voice cut in. Kari and the others looked and saw Meiko had arrived with Meicoomon. "It's way past time you and I got to know each other."
Matt, MetalGarurumon and Seraphimon could only watch as Devimon continued his strange evil ritual. Over time more and more streams of crimson light gathered in the sky above Tokyo Tower. Then at last as Devimon's chant reached its climax, a massive blast of crimson light came down from the energy gathered above and completely enveloped the evil Digimon.
"Devimon warp digivolve to…DoneDevimon!" the evil Digimon called out from within the light.
In seconds the pillar of light faded to reveal Devimon in a new form. The demon had grown to twice his original size and had gotten down on all fours. The fingers on his large hands had become thick red talons, and he had gained a long thing tail with two batwing-shaped blades at the end like the head of an ax. His body had become grey, and on his back was a pair of massive wings that generated two large fists made from some sort of grey and black particles closely clustered together. The horns on the demon's head had grown much larger, and his face now consisted of four red eyes and a large fanged mouth with a long white tongue sticking out.
DoneDevimon let out an insane laugh as soon as his transformation had finished. A crackling stream of crimson energy continued to flow into the center of his back from the energy mass above.
"Izzy, we now have a new problem," Matt declared into his earpiece. "Devimon just evolved. I think he's a Mega level."
"It's because of the data streams," Izzy responded. "They're now flowing right into Devimon. Unless we cut off the flow, he'll only get more and more powerful."
Seraphimon looked down at DoneDevimon with disgust. "What have you done to yourself?"
DoneDevimon let out another insane laugh. "Such power…greater than I could've ever imagined! Prepare yourself, Seraphimon! This day I shall at last have my revenge!"
Author's Note: The decision to bring back Devimon for this story actually had a lot to do with DoneDevimon. When I first read about this evolutionary form on the Digimon Wiki I started thinking about whether or not I could use it in a story. The hard part was figuring out how he would evolve though.
So those of you who've played the Digimon Cyber Sleuth games probably recognized Erika. As for what she's doing in the original world of the Digidestined and how she knows Norn, that'll be explained in time.
Please review and let me know what you think.