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Chapter Three
The One who Inherits the Goggles
"Kari stand still" Izzy commanded, "Or hold the camera stable"
"Oh, sure" Kari said putting a hand on her camera.
"Oh, look at that, Kuwagamon" Izzy said calm, "Day of callbacks, eh?"
"See? I told you!" Tai said pointing at Kuwagamon "He has one of those black rings, I talked about!"
"You mean the ones that make Digimon - what was it you said? 'All aggressive and shit'?" Izzy asked.
"Pretty much"
"Not too sure, if he's a prime example for that theses"
"Huh?"
"Izzy is right, he's always been kind of an asshole" TK said.
"Yeah, he's not exactly acting out of character" Kari added.
"Oh, okay, got it..."
"Hey, looks like you know this guy -" Veemon started, but was interrupted by Tai:
"What gave us away?" he scoffed, "I mean, you can tell we run into this dipshit constantly, if even my sister knows him!"
"Sure, whatever" Veemon said dismissively, "Still, that reminds me: How did you know my name? I mean, you told me you're their supervisor and all, but that doesn't explain much..."
"True, but I also told you, I could hack this place." Izzy said, "My computer runs a program called 'Digimon-Analyzer'."
"Holy crap! I didn't even know something like that existed!"
"Doesn't surprise me" Izzy said, "I made it."
The group fell silent for a second.
"Dude, you started using it day two..." Tai said incredulously, "We all assumed you downloaded it or something."
"Download it from where?" Izzy asked, "The Digital Internet? I felt like a demigod in here, thanks to human technology - even back then! I swear our technology is leagues ahead of this world - And this is called 'the Digital World'!"
"Okay, got it" Kari said hectically, "None of us should ever double-cross Izzy. Go figure. Now, how do we deal with our old friend here?"
"Oh, now you're pushing it" Tai said, "You don't know him that well. Also: duh! We digivo- oh, shit that's right... Oh, but we have Gatomon - crap! Forgot about the tail-ring"
"Let me get this straight" Veemon said, "The only Champion-level Digimon on your team is basically a toddler -"
"Fuck off, cunt!"
"And the rest of you can't fucking digivolve? Man, you guys suck!"
"Hey, asshole! The digivolving part isn't our fault!" Tai said.
"How do you know?" TK asked, "Maybe you just suck. Patamon? Let's kick his ass!"
"Oki doki!"
TK pointed his Digivice at Patamon.
"Patamon digivolve toooooo..."
Nothing happened.
"Wait, no..." Patamon said, "Maybe if I spin around..."
Patamon started flying in circles.
"Yeah, so like I said, you suck." Veemon said in passing, "Now what?"
"It's not our fault!" TK shouted, "It's like we're being blocked or some shit!"
"Oh, now we're being blocked!" Tai said grumpy, "When it was just me, it's because I suck, but when it happens to you, too - oh, wait that actually makes a ton of sense - I'll just... shut up now..."
"Looks like we now know what those black obelisks are for." Izzy said, "Most likely at least..."
"Oh, shit! You're right!" TK said.
"What black obelisks?" Veemon asked.
"You'll see when we get outside" TK replied.
"If we get outside!" Kari corrected, "What's the plan?"
TK opened his mouth to respond but was interrupted, when a purple light flashed up before Kuwagamon's face.
"COVER!" Veemon yelled.
Everyone ran for the sides of the cave just as Kuwagamon's energy blast flew straight through the room, hitting the crest of courage, destroying the engraving in the process.
"Since when can he do that?" Tai shouted.
"Maybe that's what the rings do" TK said, "Give 'em new moves. Or maybe if they are already assholes they give them energy blasts, instead of turning them into assholes."
"Actually, he did always have that move." Izzy pointed out calmly, "I always wondered what the hell 'Face Melting Shears' was supposed to be... Guess, we know now. Still no clue, why they never used it, though."
"Well, who cares?" Tai said, "Bottom line is, we're even more boned, now!"
"Yup" Gatomon said, "If we had at least one of us outside, our chances would be... well, for starters, we'd actually have chances!"
"Wait" Agumon said to her, "What about your crew? Didn't you say, you lost 'em in the forest somewhere?"
"Oh, yeah? And how would they find us? They don't even know where we are. Plus, I didn't loose them, they abandoned me, the second shit started hitting the fan, in the woods. Cowards..."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa" TK said confused, "How about we start at the beginning: Your crew?"
"Oh, that's right, you don't know, yet!" Gatomon said almost amused, "Once you guys left this world, our group kinda fell apart."
"Huh" Izzy said, "That kind of reminds me of something..."
"Either we kept loosing each other or some of us just took off on their own. And since I always worked with other Digimon, I figured I'd get myself a new team. I wandered around and recruited some other Gatomon and Salamon. You know – since we're basically related and stuff. Also, each of them was either weak or dumb, so I figured they could be easily taken advantage – I mean, convinced to follow me."
"You went out recruiting, weaker Digimon?" Tai asked skeptically, "You mean like back in the day, when you worked for Myotismon?"
"Essentially"
The original DigiDestined all looked at her, eyebrows furrowed.
"What?" she said defensively, "Old habits die hard! So, yeah, long story short, when I heard of the whole deal with the black rings, I tried finding the rest of the regular crew with them, that's how us three eventually met again. But then, in the woods, all hell broke loose, one of us got turned, I lost my tail-ring, and when we couldn't shake our attackers on the way here, they went 'Well, every Digimon for themselves!'. But – obviously with less confidence and more sobbing and weeping. I hindsight they were all pretty lame, so my guess is they're all either dead or turned at this point, so... fuck it."
She shrugged, finishing her story.
"How about we talk plans?" Veemon said, "You know: useful shit? One of you draw his fire, then I'll go in and headbutt him. Once I hit him, I can slip outside -"
"What a hero..." Tai said dead panned.
"- then I can keep him distracted from the outside, so you can get out! Once he's concussed after I hit him, he should have a hard time hitting me. I'm pretty fast."
"Sounds like a big 'if'." Izzy said.
"Yeah, dude. You're gonna die in like two seconds." TK added.
"Screw it!" Gatomon said grim, "I'm way faster than any of you. I'll handle the distraction."
"Gatomon, no!"
"Kari, I know I'm not as strong as I used to be. But I'm still fast enough, to keep this stupid bug busy! Plus I'm not an idiot. I won't let him kill me, so don't worry about me!"
She calmly walked to the middle of the room.
"What are you doing?" Kari asked with notable panic in her voice.
"No need for you guys, to draw his fire" she answered winking at Kari.
As soon as Kuwagamon fired, Gatomon jumped forward diagonally, dodging the shot and simultaneously getting closer to Kuwagamon. She reached the entrance, before Kuwagamon had a chance to fire again. She slid through under him and jumped up behind him. Before Kuwagamon could even react properly, Gatomon had already sprinted along his back toward his head using all of her momentum she struck his head with her lightning-paw - not even causing him to flinch.
"Shiiit..." she groaned.
Kuwagamon spun around hitting her with one of his arms, sending her flying. They lost sight of her, once she passed the top of the entrance.
Seeing this, Veemon collapsed to the floor; Gasping for air he rolled around, laughing hysterically.
"I - I can't! J- just give me - give me a minute!"
Kari, on the other hand, now really started to panic.
"Oh, my god!" she said tearing up, "Oh, god no! Izzy where is she? Is she okay?"
"Hard to tell" Izzy said, "Since she has no Digivice her blip vanished when she got too far away from you. Last time I saw her blip, she was still moving pretty fast. So my guess is she flew way into the forest."
Veemon started cackling even louder.
"No! We need to help her!" Kari said desperate.
"You need to get outside first..." Izzy said contemplating.
Kuwagamon fired another energy blast, but this time he only hit the side of the entrance. A few rocks came loose and fell to the floor.
"Ha! What a horrible shot!" Tai laughed, before nudging Agumon's shoulder, "Look at that, man. He might be worse than you are!"
"Yeah yeah, blah blah blah..." Agumon said annoyed.
"Tai, you might wanna look again." Izzy said, "I assume he did that on purpose."
Kuwagamon hit the side of the entrance again. More rocks fell off, making the gap larger. Bit by bit.
"Oh, shit..." Tai murmured, "Izzy, a plan would be nice!"
"I had one but that would take too long. Let me think..."
"Well, our rookie-levels managed to kill champion-levels before." TK said.
"No killing!" Yolei shouted.
Veemon's laughter died down. Breathing heavily he got back upon his feet.
"What's her deal?" he said, now that he was done laughing at Gatomon's failure.
"Oh, yeah she has this weird no-killing policy" TK explained.
"It's called being a good person!"
"Just go along with it. We kind of need her for the mission." he added.
"Oh, my god!"
"Come on now!" Tai said, "We don't like it either, but we need to work together here"
"Ugh! Fine!"
"Okay, now how about this: They could probably defeat him" TK said looking insistently at Yolei while saying 'defeat', "Right?"
"Yeah, but last time they pulled that off, it was all of them together." Tai argued, "I doubt 'boom-bubble' and 'pepper-breath' would do much against this prick."
"Separately not, I agree" Izzy said, "However 'boom-bubble' is basically compressed air and since oxygen feeds fire, merging both moves should enhance -"
"Izzy, we are about to die!" Tai yelled, just as Kuwagamon broke more rocks off the entrance, "Speak English!"
"You know the phrase 'fanning the flame'? Do that! Patamon use 'boom-bubble' to fan Agumon's flame."
Veemon started giggling again.
"What?" Izzy hissed.
"You sure, you wanna phrase it like that, man?"
"Shut up, you're not helping."
"Okay, sounds like a plan" Tai said, before adding: "to get out. But then what? You think we can outrun him?"
"It depends. If you can run as fast as sixty miles per hour, you could just make it."
"Izzy that's not funny!" Kari said, now almost hysterical.
"I wasn't joking."
"We gotta help Gatomon! Now!" she cried.
"Give it a rest." Veemon said, "There's no use. When you go into the woods, look out for an egg."
"Shut up!" Kari sobbed.
"Yeah, shut the fuck up!" Tai said putting an arm around his sisters shoulders, comforting her, "Unless you got a damn plan or something useful to say!"
"Gee, I don't know! How about using the damn egg!"
"The egg?"
"Yeah! The freaking artifact I was buried under! The one with your crest on it. How about using things with fucking crests on them? They're used for some sort of special Digivolution called Armor-Digivolution."
"Well, since regular Digivolution doesn't work, this might be our best shot." Izzy said, "How do we use it?"
"Easy" Veemon said, "Brainiac over here picked it up, right?"
"Yep" Izzy said, "I already don't like where this is going... Also, see TK? That's a good nickname."
"All he needs to do is hold up the egg over his head and say 'Digi-armor energize'."
"Crap!" Tai growled.
"What's wrong now?" Veemon asked.
"Davis' D-Terminal fucking absorbed the egg." Tai said.
"Also, who comes up with these stupid phrases?" TK added annoyed.
"For real" Izzy agreed, "Hang on, I'll access the egg on Davis' D-terminal."
"Oh, right. It's probably saved there, huh?" Tai said, "Also, what? He can't do it himsel- Yeah! I know! Don't tell me..." he added, realizing his mistake.
"Okay, Davis" Izzy said, "The egg should be on the display of your D-Terminal now."
"What?" Davis asked, while opening his D-terminal, "How did you know?"
"Just hold it up and say the phrase, already!"
"What was it again?"
"Digi-armor energize" Veemon said.
Davis held up the open D-terminal, high above his head.
"Diga- no, hang on... Digi-oma... damn it!"
"Guys, you better hurry!" Tai said watching Kuwagamon now almost squeezing his way in.
"Come on, man! It's not a fucking tongue-twister!" Veemon said hectically.
"Okay okay, Digi-armor enegmi- no... Dig-armor... ugh... Digi-armor energ... energ... wait"
"What are you doing?" Veemon asked baffled, "It's not a hard 'G'! Come on now think of energy! It's derived from energy!"
"It's de-what?"
"Wow..." TK said dry, "This is not, how I saw my life ending... oh, well..."
"I'd rather kill myself than being killed by fucking Kuwagamon!" Tai said.
"Yeah, I never imagined any of us going out on a high note, but that would be just embarrassing..." Izzy said.
"Can't someone else do this?" Tai asked agitated.
"No..." Veemon growled, "It has to be him. The egg chose him."
"Great fucking choice!"
"Okay, okay let's do this step by step." Veemon said quickly, "Follow my lead alright? Digi..."
"Digi"
"Armor..."
"Armor"
"Energize"
"Energize"
"That worked better than expected..." Izzy commented.
"Now all of it together"
"Digi-ammo energize"
"At least he gets 'energize' straight now..." Veemon mumbled, "Come on now... focus! It's Digi-ARMOR"
"Digi-armor" Davis said, "ernergize"
"Uugghhh..."
"Yeah so, Kuwagamon is almost in." Tai said, "Fanning the flame?"
"Fanning the flame." Izzy confirmed, "Go for it."
Patamon and Agumon got in position aiming for Kuwagamon.
"Digi-armor energize"
"Yes!" Veemon said excited, "Now hold up the thing and say it again!"
"Digi-armor..."
He stopped dead in the middle of it.
"No! What are you doing? Energize! Energize!"
"Energize!"
"Oh, fuck you! The moment's passed!"
"Agumon, Patamon! Go!" Izzy demanded.
"Pepper-breath!"
"Boom-bubble!"
Agumon's flame and Patamon's air bubble collided in mid-air while flying toward Kuwagamon. The fire extended into the bubble making it grow to more than double its size. The fireball hit Kuwagamon in the face making it crawl backwards and out of the cave again. He shook his head violently to get rid of the flames. Suddenly Veemon shot toward the cave entrance jumping head first into Kuwagamon's burning face. The impact shoved Kuwagamon away form the exit. The bug stumbled and fell on his side. The flames died down, but Veemon had broken off one of his pincers with his headbutt.
"Move! Now!" Veemon commanded.
"Oh, my god!" Yolei shouted, "Did you just destroy one of his pincers? You could have killed him! I said, don't do that!"
"Hey, I'm trying, okay?!" Veemon defended himself, "Now move!"
"Wait, were you trying to kill him or not to kill him?" TK asked as they sprinted to the exit, Kari up front.
"You know what's fun?" Veemon asked, "Trolling somebody so well, they don't even realize, it happened - Only to have some moron blurt out 'Wait a minute! Did you just fuck with them?'!"
"Oh..." TK said, "Right, my bad."
Once they were out, Kari ran straight for the forest, before Tai had a chance to stop her.
"GATOMON!" she screamed, "Where are you?! I'm so sorry, please don't leave me!"
"Crap!" Tai said, quickly following his little sister into the forest - with Agumon closely following him.
"Did we just loose like half of our party?" TK asked baffled, "In like five seconds?"
"More like a third." Izzy said, "Still: talk about a downward spiral... just listen to our new best friends..."
"Come on, man!" Veemon shouted at Davis, as they joined the others, taking cover at the tree line, "Just say it! It's not that hard!"
"Digi-armour enginize!"
"Digi-armor energize!" Veemon shouted clearly far beyond what little patience he had left, "Take a deep breath and focus!"
Kuwagamon was now back on his feet and started cutting down trees in order to get to them.
"GO!"
Davis held up his D-Terminal:
"Digi-armor eneeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrr-!"
"-GIZE!" Veemon yelled absolutely furious, "IT'S GIZE YOU COMPLETE IMBECILE!-"
"...gize!"
"WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?" Veemon ranted on, literally glowing with anger, "HOW MANY TIMES DID YOUR FUCKING MOM DROP YOU AS A KID?"
Now he was glowing completely white, even starting to float a few inches above the ground.
"ARE YOU ACTUALLY RETARDED OR DO YOU JUST HAVE A - oh, look that, I digivolved." he added surprised, "Oh, look at this armor, dude! That's bad-ass!"
"Eh, I'm not too sure about that..." TK said.
Veemon had grown a bit, so now he was about six feet tall. He now had egg-shaped armor pieces on his arms, legs and one covering the upper half of his head, although this one was more triangular shaped, better fitting the shape of his head. The head piece had a large horn on top, which looked just like the one on the egg. He also had a chest plate and three claws at the armor pieces on his hands and feet respectively. The armor closely resembled the egg with the crest, having the same flame pattern. Otherwise his appearance hadn't changed.
Nor had his attitude.
"Oh, fuck you! You're just jealous! Now: time to kick some serious ass!"
"Wait a minute" TK said as Veemon sprinted towards Kuwagamon, shooting a fire ball from his fist, that hit the bug in the face, almost achieving the same effect as Agumon and Patamon's combined attack previously.
"I'm listening" Veemon said, "Seriously, keep talking! I can fight and talk at the same time."
"Yeah, so shouldn't you have said something like 'Veemon digivolve to -' well... what's your name now, anyways? Or is it just 'Veemon plus stupid armor'"
"Oh, right! I forgot! It's Flamedramon"
"Dude, that would have been the last name, I would have given you..." TK said unimpressed, "How about FlameEggmon?"
"Piss off"
"So you mean to tell me" Izzy said in disbelief, "That all the time you said cheesy crap like 'Agumon digivolve to...' it wasn't even a necessity, but some pointless crap you blurted out for no reason, instantly letting our enemies know what they'll be up against next?"
"Guess so" Flamedramon said shrugging, then rolling out of the way as Kuwagamon tried to stab him with his remaining pincer, "In hindsight it kind of felt like I should have said something... eh, but I wasn't really paying attention, so whatever."
"Yeah, it's... kind of like a sneeze" Patamon said, "When you digivolve you just feel like calling it out... I always thought we had to say it..."
"See, this is exactly why I never ask you about things related to the Digital World." Izzy said, "I suppose even Tai knew more about this world, within the first few hours, than you did, after several years of living in it! I assume the stupid attack-name-calling is entirely nonsensical, too, huh?"
"Whatever gave you that idea?" Flamedramon asked laughing, punching multiple fireballs toward Kuwagamon.
Izzy sighed.
"This might be a good time to remind you, that our camera ran off... I can't tell from the audio, whether you are using your official moves or not."
"Shit, that's right. How are Tai and Kari doing?" TK asked concerned.
"I'm checking in on their audio occasionally. So far, it's just a lot of heavy breathing and yelling Gatomon's name. Not exactly rewarding..."
"Out of context, that sounds really messed up!" Flamedramon chuckled. He punched Kuwagamon's chin from below sending him tumbling into the trees, breaking a few of them down in the process.
"What about the camera?" TK asked
"I shut off the connection."
"Why?"
"Because now it looks like a shaky-cam version of 'The Blair Witch Project'..."
"But that one's - known for its shaky-cam..."
"You know what, TK? I'm with Veemon. Look up the fundamentals of comedy. I guarantee you it'll change your life!"
Flamedramon dodged one of Kuwagamon's punches, grabbed his arm and as the bug pulled back, he took advantage of the sway landing on his back. Kuwagamon took off, but Flamedramon grabbed the sides of his head, jerking it around, causing him to fly into the side of the cave - head first. Dazed, the bug slumped to the floor.
"Alright" Flamedramon said cracking his neck, "say your prayers, biatch!"
"No!" Yolei screamed, "Don't kill him!"
"Shut up!"
"No! Why is it always killing, with you people?"
Flamedramon aimed for Kuwagamon's neck but the Digimon spun around and punched Flamedramon off himself, hurling him into a tree.
"Crap!" he gasped.
"Ha! Karma! Serves you right!"
"Can somebody shut her up?"
"Hey, Cody!" TK said suddenly, "What do you think about this?"
Confused, Cody stared at TK before answering:
"Um... well, like I said: I think we shouldn't - "
"Shut up, Cody!" Davis, Yolei and TK said in unison.
"Jinxed!" Davis and TK (who apparently had counted on this, to happen) added, just a split second later, pointing fingers at one another and Yolei, respectively.
Davis and TK exchanged completely bewildered looks, almost seeming horrified about just how wrong their plans went. Yolei, meanwhile looked devastated at first, but then quickly recovered from the initial shock and started looking around sternly, presumably for another soda machine. Her expression suddenly changed to pure horror and she stared straight ahead for a few seconds, before shaking her head vigorously while covering her ears - as if she was trying to repress a mentally scaring event, connected to vending machines...
"As much as I enjoy the sweet sound of silence, right now..." Izzy said, clearly in absolute bliss over the recent turn of events, "I doubt Cody would be a very good narrator... "
He sighed.
"Screw it: Takeru."
"Thanks for letting me wait dickhead..." TK murmured.
"Hang on" Flamedramon said, "How did that work again? Do nicknames count as saying their names?"
"No, just call him Brainiac. Her we call Wannabe." Izzy said.
"Okay, got it"
"Also, I can't see you right now, so maybe you're already on that but try hitting the black ring. It was around his neck, wasn't it?"
"Yeah, he's already working on that." TK said.
"What?" Flamedramon said confused, "No, I was trying to slid his throat!"
Yolei groaned frustrated.
"Or break his neck" Flamedramon added, "Whatever comes first."
Yolei groaned even louder.
"Noises really should count as talking" TK said shaking his head.
"Agreed" Izzy said, "Rookies! If you scream or grunt or whatever, by accident, that is fine. However don't do it on purpose, while you're jinxed!"
"They nodded we're in the clear" TK said.
"Splendid"
Flamedramon tried attacking Kuwagamon head on, but the bug shoved him away with his remaining pincer.
"Alright, that's it!" Flamedramon said annoyed, lit both of his fists on fire and stormed towards the insect again. He started throwing fireballs at him in a rapid fashion, but Kuwagamon took off, dodging most of the attacks. He flew in a circle and started firing purple lasers at them again.
"SHIT!" TK yelled running deeper into the woods, "Izzy, he's airborne now and he's firing purple shit at us again!"
Izzy didn't respond.
"Izzy? IZZY?"
Flamedramon was also taking cover behind a tree.
"Why isn't he answering?" he asked leaning out of cover at every given opportunity, firing fireballs at Kuwagamon.
"I don't know! What do we do?"
"Gone for half a minute and all hell breaks loose!" Izzy said annoyed, "I'm back now, so would you calm down, already?"
"Where were you?" TK asked.
"I was talking to Tai and Kari" he explained, "Gatomon's blip is back on my map."
"GATOMON!"
"Kari, calm down! We'll find her okay?"
"I can't lose her!" Kari sobbed, "I can't lose her!"
"Calm down!"
"This is all my fault!"
"Here we go again..." Tai muttered, "How is this supposed to be your fault?"
"I was so horrible to her!"
"Oh! You're right! That's why she decided to let Kuwagamon send her to the fucking moon! You had nothing to do with that!"
"Listen to your brother" Izzy stepped in, "It was her call, so let's stop with the blame game."
"Shut up, Izzy!" Kari said unnerved.
"No! Listen!" Izzy insisted, "I've got news for you: Gatomon's blip reappeared on the map."
"Oh, thank god!" Kari said incredibly relieved, "Where is she?"
"Turn to your right" Izzy said, "Pretty much ninety degrees. You should reach her shortly. Gotta go, people are yelling for me on the other end. I feel like a fucking babysitter..."
Kari immediately turned right, sprinting like hell.
"Come on now!" Tai said, "Let's just keep yelling her name... That seemed to work just fine."
"We gotta hurry! Gatomon?!"
Suddenly she froze. Tai heard it, too. A short, high pitched scream, followed by a noise like shattering glass; typically the sound of a Digimon dying.
"Sounded like a dying Gato- I mean cat!"
"GATOMON?" Kari screamed in panic.
"Kari?" a familiar voice said.
Gatomon jumped through the bushes ahead of them. She appeared to be unharmed.
"You're okay!" Kari said happy, running up to her partner hugging her tightly, "We heard a Digimon die and thought it was you! I'm so glad you're alright!"
"Yeah, that was weird, wasn't it?" Gatomon scratching her neck, "No idea where that came from – anyway, we should get going, let's move!" she added talking very fast.
"Okay..." Tai said confused.
"Oh, I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry! Are you hurt?"
"Uh... no, not really" Gatomon said, "Well, the opposite actually. Look!"
She showed them her tail; a small golden ring, engraved with ancient runes now dangled from its end.
"No way..." Tai said in disbelief, "You actually found it?"
"Yep" Gatomon said with a grin, "Looks like my luck finally turned around!"
"Oh... I'm so happy for you..." Kari said quietly.
Gatomon looked at her, disenchanted.
"You're still mad about the whistle, aren't you?"
"What? No! I'm just glad to have you back!"
"Come on, you would be over it, if I never found the ring again." Gatomon said, "It would've evened out the sides."
"Why are you doing this, right now?" Kari said, tearing up again, "I said, I'm sorry for what I said and I mean it!"
"Yeah, but you are clearly disappointed that I found the ring again."
"No, I'm not!"
"Yes, you are. Just admit it, it's okay!" Gatomon said soothingly, "I can deal with it."
"I am not!"
"Ugh, hike back's gonna be a blast, I can tell already..." Tai moaned.
"I can't hit him!" Flamedramon shouted, "How about a plan?"
"Oh, forgive me! I suppose this is my fault!" Izzy snapped at him, sarcastically, "Serves me right, for thinking you could think for yourselves for ten seconds! We need to lure him to the ground again, so you can hit him directly."
"Yeah, okay we figured that much!" TK said, "At least - I did... Point is: How do we do that?"
"I got it!" Flamedramon said suddenly, "You guys run back into the cave!"
"What?" TK asked, "Are you crazy? After all we did, to get the fuck out of there?!"
"Eh, I can see where he's going with this" Izzy said, "Let him finish."
"When he see's you going in, he'll have to get to the ground, to get to you. Once he's there I can attack him from the outside."
"Okay..." TK said, somewhat uncertain, "But I gotta tell you: That clearing between us and the cave looks fucking huge, all over sudden..."
"Well, sucks to be you then." Flamedramon shrugged.
"Dude, seriously?"
"Of course not! I'll cover you once you're out!" Flamedramon scoffed.
"Remember, though: Their job is to draw him out." Izzy said, "If you intervene too soon, he might get distracted by you instead."
"Huh... yeah, I hear you." Flamedramon said, before turning to the rest of the crew again, shrugging, "You better run like hell then."
"You guys are dicks!" TK said, eyes narrowed, "Both of you!"
"It's only like fifty feet." Izzy said, clearly rolling his eyes, "You should be fine."
"Easy for you to say..." TK muttered, "On my mark, we run like hell! Ready... Go!"
They started running - except for Davis.
"What happened to 'set'?" he shouted, before running, too.
"Brainiac, you're not allowed to talk!" Izzy said harshly.
"Oops, sorry!"
"Rookie!"
Davis made a gesture as if zipping his mouth shut.
They sprinted across the clearing. Just as Davis reached the middle of it, Kuwagamon began diving toward them, firing at them again.
"Davis! Run!" Cody shouted as he and the others arrived inside the cave.
Davis jumped forward, but Kuwagamon's shot exploded, right behind him, tossing him and making him nearly land in his head. On the bright side, he was now almost in the cave. He got up, stumbling into the cave. Suddenly he reached up to his hair, gasping and spinning around; his goggles lay on the ground just a few feet behind him. He tried reaching them, desperately but TK grabbed him by the shirt and dragged him back inside. Davis struggled but TK wasn't having any of it:
"Stop it, idiot! It's too -"
Kuwagamon landed on the ground with such force, the ground beneath him exploded - exactly where Davis' goggles were.
"Yeah - that..." TK said, pulling Davis into the cave, who just went completely limb. Devastated, he stared at the spot where his goggles just vanished, unable to express his grieve verbally.
"Cover!" TK barked dragging Davis around the corner, before dropping him on the floor. He just remained there, lying on his back, blinking repeatedly and breathing heavily, clearly still in shock about what had just happened.
TK took a few deep breaths, then he turned to Cody:
"You said his fucking name! What is wrong with you?"
"Oh, that's right..." Davis said, still distressed, "I can talk now..."
"And you just reminded him, he can talk again..." Izzy said, "Can you please stop, pointing shit out?! Clearly, it's not working out for any of us!"
"Who cares about the stupid jinxing?" Cody said, "He nearly died!"
"Good to know where your priorities lie, Cody..." Izzy said.
"Cody..." Davis said, "shut up..."
"There's your reward, by the way" Izzy said.
"Lesson learned, I guess..." Cody muttered.
They saw the purple light of Kuwagamon's attack flooding the cavern, but suddenly it was gone. It looked like it was knocked to the side. They heard Kuwagamon growling and carefully went to the entrance to peaked outside; Kuwagamon was on his back again and Flamedramon used the opportunity, rushing toward him from the side. He hit the black ring but didn't destroy it right away. Instead he literally bounced off and jumped at the same time using the energy of his approach to fly up high above him. He reached the high point and an aura of fire appeared around him. Once he came back down he shot two fireballs behind him and upward, in order to speed up his descent. With both hands he aimed for Kuwagamon's neck. He hit the black ring, shattering into a thousand pieces.
"Yeah! You hit it!" TK cheered.
"Dammit, I missed!"
"Wha-? Oh, you mean... yeah, sure..."
"Well, still got some juice left!" Flamedramon said, preparing for attack.
"No!" Kuwagamon shouted, who had apparently turned back to normal, realizing that he wasn't able to fight anymore, "No attacking! Me leaving!"
"No, that's not gonna happen, pal." Flamedramon said, shaking his head.
"Please! Me hurt!" Kuwagamon argued, backing off and pointing at his missing pincer, "Me don't want fight anymore!"
"Once you hatch again, learn our language!"
"Dude, let him go." TK intervened, "He's not a threat anymore."
Flamedramon hesitated, but when he turned around again, Kuwagamon already flew away.
"Crap..."
Yolei nudged TK's arm.
"What?" he asked turning to her.
She made a gesture as if she was blowing him a kiss, albeit with a rather annoyed look on her face.
"What... is that supposed to mean?"
"What?" Izzy asked.
"She just... I don't know it looked like she was blowing me -"
"He he" Davis giggled.
"- a kiss... or something. I don't know it looked kind of weird - Wannabe, I don't know sign-language! Stop it!"
"It means 'thank you', TK" Izzy explained.
"Oh! Now I get it! See, she still looked angry when she did it. That totally threw me off!"
"Guys, I'm still pretty pumped!" Flamedramon said punching into the air, "And I'm pissed, I didn't get to finish that sucker off. Just point me to something I can trash or else I'll just burn the forest down."
"I just thought of the perfect use for your remaining energy" Izzy said, "When you look away from the cave, turn to your left."
"He he" Flamedramon said, a grin spreading across his face, once his gaze fell upon the dark tower next to the cave, "That's exactly what I was talking about!"
Without any hesitation he sprinted toward the tower, which stood a small bit away on another clearing with just a slim tree line separating it from theirs. He barraged the base of the tower with fireballs, shooting them through the trees. When Flamedramon himself reached the obelisk, he engulfed himself in an aura of fire again and jumped using every bit of force he could bring up, punching the base of the tower with both fists. The base exploded sending debris everywhere and making the tower tip and finally collapse.
"Booya!" he shouted, but then he started to glow and shrink. He got even smaller then before, apparently growing back into his in-training-form. He was now roughly half his regular size, only his head remaining similar in size to that of his rookie-level, albeit noticeably rounder. His arms and legs had shrunken down to little snags.
"God dammit... I devolved even further" he said, "Oh, well. I think the tower fell on a Terriermon over there. Guess I got a kill count for today after all!"
Yolei rolled her eyes.
"So, you devolved to the in-training-level, huh?" Izzy asked, "Are you now DemiVeemon, by any chance?"
"Damn! That analyzer-thingy is good!"
"Guys!" somebody shouted.
They group turned to the forest where the voice came from. Tai, Kari, Agumon and Gatomon reemerged from the woods.
"Thank god, you're alright!" Kari said, relieved to see them all.
"Oh good, you found her" TK said.
"They sure did." Gatomon said, "But it gets even better: Look what I found!"
"Kari, camera." Izzy said quickly.
"Right..."
Gatomon dangled her tail-ring in front of herself, to show everybody.
"What are the odds, right?" she said grinning.
"Disturbingly slim" Izzy said incredulously, "Hypothetically speaking, if you would have died while being separated from your ring, would it have been disintegrated, too."
"I..." she hesitated, "guess so... why'd you ask?"
"Just curious..." he replied dry.
"Wait a minute" TK said, "Didn't Matt grab Etemon's guitar, because he wanted to keep it as a war trophy?"
"No, I don't think that happened." Gatomon denied.
"How would you know?" TK argued, "You weren't there."
"Yeah, but I was one of the guys Myotismon sent to spy on you. None of you carried a freaking guitar around!"
"Yeah, he didn't get to keep it, but it was still there, after Etemon died."
"Because it wasn't part of his body!" Gatomon said impatiently, "It counts more as a weapon."
"I don't think it does" Agumon said.
"Yes, it does! I'm pretty sure!" Gatomon growled, "I've been around a tad more than you! I think, I would know better, now wouldn't I? Plus, he didn't die, he just got sucked into another dimension. Remember? Joe told us."
"Yeah, I never listen to him..." Agumon said, "He's pretty boring..."
"So, anyway" Tai said, "What did we miss?"
"Oh, it was awesome!" Davis spouted out excitedly, "The dig-volution thing worked and Veemon became - uh... uh"
"Flamedramon..." DemiVeemon said.
"Flamedramon! Yeah, he got this sick looking armor with flames on it and shit! Then he beat up Kuwa... wa... -mon and he gave up because he knew he couldn't possibly win! Well, the other guy did, not Flamedramon..."
DemiVeemon shrugged.
"Yup, pretty much."
Kari looked at him, eyebrows raised.
"No, for real though, what happened?"
"I know, it sounds crazy but that's actually what happened." Izzy confirmed, "Very much dumbed down, but other than that, that's how it turned out."
"Huh..." she looked at Davis again, "Wouldn't have been my guess. What happened to your goggles?"
Davis froze. He turned and quickly ran over to the crater Kuwagamon created - only to drop to his knees.
"No..." he whimpered, his voice cracking. He picked up the mortal remains of his goggles with both hands and stared at them, as if he was about to cry. They were completely crushed and almost unrecognizable.
"Are they broken?" Tai, who couldn't see the goggles clearly from his position, asked.
"Yes..." Davis sniffled.
"Good" Tai said cold, "There can only be one goggle kid."
TK went to fist bump Tai, who accepted, but not without looking at him completely confused.
"What was that for?"
"'There can only be one'." TK said grinning.
"I don't get it"
"Highlander?"
"What?"
TK's smile vanished.
"Never mind then..." he said disappointed.
"TK, instead of quoting movies, how about you try digivolving Patamon again?" Izzy suggested, "With the tower gone, it should theoretically work."
"Huh? Oh, yeah. Sure." TK said, "Patamon, you're up!"
"Patamon digivolve... Nope... still not working..." Patamon said disappointed, "aw, man..."
"So what? It's not the towers, after all?" TK asked annoyed.
"Let's not jump to conclusions, here" Izzy said, "we don't know the exact range of these things. There's a few more, less than a mile away from you."
"Shit..." Tai said.
"Well, I'm still around" Gatomon said, "and I'm all powered up again."
"Okay, so you can take down five of those?" Izzy asked, "In about twenty minutes? Because that's how much time we have left until the school will be closed. Actually let's skip the second part. Looking at the map, I know for a fact you won't be able to make it."
"Okay, then let's not take out all of them, then." Gatomon suggested
"Let's stick to 'none' for now." Izzy said, "Seeing how we'll probably need at least twenty minutes for the debriefing alone, and there's no tower on your way to the nearest TV -"
"There's a TV right here." Tai said, walking over to the treeline in front of where the tower stood, kicking said TV lightly.
"Huh, looks like, we should be on high alert, then." Izzy said dry, "The Digital World is acting way too convenient lately..."
"Nah" Tai said relaxed, "I was just right, that's all. TV's everywhere."
"That is still inaccurate..."
Izzy cleared his throat.
"I'm kind of shocked to say this but - good job... I suppose..."
"Doesn't sound very excited to me..." TK mumbled.
"TK, I fully expected to be forced to open the debriefing process with 'That was acceptable, but in the long run you're all gonna die'. This mission went unbelievably well, considering the - uh... crew we ran with. Speaking of which: Tai, Kari, Wannabe has been jinxed, just FYI..."
"FYI?"
"For your information, Tai."
"Oh. Um, which one was Wannabe, again?" Tai asked looking over to Davis and Yolei, "Was it him or her?"
"Take a wild guess, Tai!" Izzy hissed, "Was it A) the idiot grieving for his goggles, who's been babbling the entire time, since the moment you came back, or B) the nerdy, fan-girly idiot, who didn't speak a single word, up until now? Which seems to be extremely out of character for her, I might add!"
"Yeah... I get the idea..."
"In any case... DemiVeemon, I think you have earned your place in our crew." Izzy said, "Which is more than I can say about most of our new additions combined... You came up with some good strategies, you really took charge and you delivered the best overall performance of any of my team-mates since... well - since Tai lucked out, picking a card... when he had to choose between two..."
"Eh" Tai shrugged, "I'll take it as a compliment."
"Can I add something to that?" DemiVeemon asked.
"It depends..." Izzy said cautiously, "Are you planning on giving any credit to Brainiac?"
"Oh, hell no!" DemiVeemon said offended, "I wanted to say the opposite! That it was all me, and I alone deserve to be celebrated for it. I went through hell, teaching him that stupid phrase, for fuck's sake!"
"Well, to be fair, the others made some decent decoys" Izzy suggested, "Other than that, I agree... ninety nine percent, because I do believe you guys started running around like headless chicken, the second I left to inform Tai and Kari about Gatomon's whereabouts."
"That's fair."
"Alright good job, every- no wait, let me rephrase this: Good job DemiVeemon." Izzy said, "To all the others... thanks for participating, I guess? Let's wrap this up, alright?"
"So, are you guys going back to the human world, now?" Gatomon asked.
"They have to" Izzy explained, "The timescales of both worlds are synchronized again, meaning we'd have to deal with missing child reports, all the time, if they were to stay. And that wouldn't be very productive for us."
"Can I come with you, TK?" Patamon asked, excitedly circling around TK's head.
"Izzy?"
"Eh, whatever. Take them with you."
"Awesome!" Agumon exclaimed.
"Not you, Agumon." Izzy said sternly.
"What? Why?" Tai asked eyebrows furrowed.
"Because he won't pass as a stuffed animal in our world." Izzy said, "That's a rule for all of you by the way: If your partner doesn't look like they could be a stuffed animal or a regular one like Gatomon, they can't come with you. Unless, of course, you handle it on your own. Because, I sure as hell, wont help you disguising them!"
Tai looked at Agumon.
"Sorry, man you gotta stay here, then"
"Oh, come on!"
Gatomon sighed.
"I'll stay, too."
"Why?" Kari asked, but she didn't sound nearly as worried about her partner, as she did, previously.
"She's got a point" TK said, "you can act like a cat and no one would get suspicious."
Gatomon hesitated, almost as if she didn't think of a good reason, when she suggested it. A split second later her eyes lit up though:
"Well, obviously we can't leave Agumon here on his own. He'll die in like ten seconds."
"Hey!"
"Agumon, nearly everyone in this world is trying to either kill or enslave us." she explained, "It really isn't a stretch to think that! And since I'm a champion-level by default, there's really no better bodyguard than me. We stick together and search for the others. We'll search for Tentomon first, Izzy, so you don't have to worry about him anymore." she added persuasively, probably in case he was against the idea.
"What do you mean, 'search for him'?" Izzy asked dismissively, "I was about to give you his coordinates. I've been keeping taps on him, ever since we left, three years ago. He's fine. I just couldn't communicate with him. So adding him to the network, along with the others, eventually, sounds like a decent enough plan for me."
"Then how come, you can talk to us, right now?" TK asked scratching his head.
"All of your Digivices have been connected to my laptop at one point or another. I used that to create a permanent connection between them, to monitor all of you, at least in terms of coordinates. Since you're in the Digital World now, I can use that connection even more efficiently, and thus communicate with you."
The group stared blankly at Karis camera.
"You hooked up your Digivices to my laptop in the past, that's why I can talk to you."
A collective "oh" swept through the group.
"And why can you monitor Tentomon and none of the others?" Kari asked Izzy.
"Because he's always been connected to my Digivice." Izzy said somewhat impatiently, "I can hook up my Digivice right now... and... now I've got his coordinates. It's northwest of your position just follow the path through the jungle, the others came from, until you reach the desert. From there, head further northwest, you should see it pretty soon, on foot it's only an hour away from the jungle. The place is called... oh, for fuck's sake! Temp City? Really? This world sucks! All those stupid PC related names... Now then, I think that's everything. Head back through the TV and let's call it a day. Tai, Kari, you drop by my place and give me your Digivices so I can use my program to keep an eye out for Agumon and Gatomon. Although, coming to think of it, bring me all of them. Yours, TK's and the D3's. I wanna try to add some of the D3's features to the old Digivices. No need for all of you to come to my place, though! Just give 'em to Tai and Kari they live nearby. No, Wannabe, I mean, that's not option!" he added in reaction to Yolei, telling him, she had no problem coming to his apartment, in sign language.
"Now let's get going, school closes soon."
"Wait!" TK exclaimed suddenly.
"What, TK?" Izzy asked annoyed.
"We need a new leader or Izzy won't help us in the future!"
"I was hoping, you forgot about that..." Izzy muttered.
"Don't worry, man. I got this" Tai said confidently, "Our new leader will be... Izzy. Because who the fuck else."
"Tai, when I said 'we need a new leader because the old one sucks', I didn't mean, that I should be the new one. That being said, I appreciate the fact that you saw through my non-existing scheme. It shows that you're learning after all."
"What?" Tai asked, "Oh, yeah! That would have been a sweet plan to get my position!"
"Yeah well, pick someone else." Izzy said.
"Wait, shouldn't we put it to a vote or something?" TK asked.
"Nah, I got another one..." Tai said, however, he sounded a little annoyed, "Don't really like it, though..."
"Sounds like a fifty-fifty chance to be a good one" Izzy said, surprisingly, "I mean your ideas usually suck, however there were also a few of my plans, you didn't like, albeit because you didn't understand them, which ended up successful."
"Every plan, you come up with, is a success!" TK argued.
"Oh, yeah?" Izzy replied, "Remember the one that involved killing Myotismon? Call me a pessimist, but I still believe that didn't work out in our favor."
"Come on, man, don't be so hard on yourself." TK said.
"Hehe, hard on..." Davis chuckled.
"It's not like you knew, he'd come back!"
"Huh..." Izzy said, "You're right. If only someone informed us about a prophecy or something, before we killed that son of a bitch! I stand corrected; My plans do always work - unless Gennai fucking sabotages them!"
"Well..." Tai said, taking of his goggles and walking toward Davis and DemiVeemon, who clearly joined him just to make fun of him, because of his broken goggles.
DemiVeemon softly giggled at the sight of Davis slowly rocking back and forth, while he was still on his knees. Once he noticed Tai walking over to them, his own goggles in hand, Davis cocked up his head, slowly opening his mouth in disbelief.
"No way..." he mumbled, a smile slowly forming on his face.
"I really don't wanna do this, but I guess it makes sense..." Tai sighed, looking somberly at his goggles - then he walked straight past Davis and gave them to DemiVeemon.
Davis' smile collapsed, making room for yet another look of utter devastation.
Meanwhile DemiVeemon stared at the goggles in his hands.
"The fuck am I supposed to do with those?" he asked.
"Ugh..." Tai growled, "It's symbolic, you prick! It means you're the leader now."
"Wait" TK said, "He's the new leader? He's a Digimon!"
"You got a problem with that?" Gatomon asked aggressively.
"Um... well..." TK started, frantically looking around, "No, it's just... I was just surprised, is all... We never had a Digimon as a leader..."
"Yeah, that's what I thought..." Gatomon mumbled.
DemiVeemon giggled.
"Look who came crawling back." he said smug.
"You wanna say that again?" Gatomon said challenging, dangling her tail ring in front of her face again, "To my face?"
"Since you put it like that... No, I'm - I'm good..."
"Not so tough anymore, eh?"
"Well, I'm not suicidal! When we were both basically rookie-levels I could have easily beaten you, but now? Now you'd fucking obliterate me! I'm not insane... Also, I don't need your stupid plastic goggles!"
"Come on, now! It's like me passing the torch, so to speak" Tai explained, "Since I'm retiring and stuff"
"You're retiring... at age fourteen?" Izzy asked in disbelief.
"Well, from being a Digidestined. It's not like we're getting paid or anything..."
"Yeah, no, I won't fucking wear these!"
"Hey, I need new goggles..." Davis said hopeful, "Just saying..."
"Rookie" Tai said through gritted teeth, "I'd rather flush 'em down the fucking toilet, than give 'em to you!"
"Here you go" DemiVeemon said passing the goggles to Davis.
"Awesome!" Davis exclaimed.
"Dude, what the fuck?!" Tai said angry.
"What? I thought they're mine, now. Well, I just decided I don't want them anymore. So I passed them on."
"That was my final 'fuck you' to Brainiac, before I retire, and you know it!" Tai hissed with narrowed eyes.
"Well, consider this my final 'fuck you' to you then, crows nest" DemiVeemon said grinning, "Bye now! Won't miss ya!"
"Fuck this!" Tai shouted, "I changed my mind, he's not the new leader!"
"Wah! He gave my goggles away!" DemiVeemon said, imitating a whining baby, "Now I'm mad, because I love my goggles so much, I wanna fuck them!"
"In all seriousness, Tai" Izzy intervened before Tai could say anything, "That might the stupidest reason to take the leadership away from somebody, I heard in a while."
"You know what? I don't care then! Rookie, give me back my goggles! Now!"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" DemiVeemon stepped between Tai and Davis, "I gave him my goggles! They seized to be yours, the second you fucking passed them over to me. Deal with it, bitch!"
"Why do you even care?!" Tai asked, "It's not like you give a fuck, whether that moron is happy or not!"
"No, but I sure love the idea, that you hate it."
"That's it! Let's see how well your fucking face can hold up against my foot!"
"Everybody stop!" Izzy stepped in, his voice now amplified, so it hurt their ears, causing Tai to stop his move towards DemiVeemon.
"Tai, let me handle this." he continued his voice now back to its regular volume, "DemiVeemon, good thinking there -"
"What?!"
"I said, let me handle this, Tai! We were searching for an alternative for my promise to Brainiac."
"Promise?"
"Yeah, I needed to get the rookies to meet with us, without revealing any sensitive information to them. So I lied to them, making them believe there was an actual reward for coming. Long story short, they got upset, so I needed promises we could actually keep. Now we have Brainiac's. Good work DemiVeemon."
"But -!"
"Davis" Izzy resumed, ignoring Tai's protest, "I told you we would find something else. Not only do you have new goggles, now, you also have the exact goggles of the guy you - let's face it - copied from the very beginning. Win-win."
"In other words, he gets to keep my goggles, but needs to back off of my sister..." Tai summarized, "Okay then. I'm cool with that."
"Aw, man! That sucks!" Davis said frustrated.
"Hand over the goggles, then" Tai said stretching out his hand.
"Um..."
"Again, they're not yours anymore" DemiVeemon said.
"Okay, okay. How about this, idiots: Davis, I wont stop you from going after Kari. However, there will be no guarantee, Kari will ever even pretend to care about you. You just keep the goggles" Izzy suggested, "Sound good everyone?"
"Yep" Davis said, "as long as I can still date her."
Kari groaned frustrated.
"Yeah, cool your jets, there. I also won't stop Tai from killing you, should you do that, just so you know" Izzy clarified, "Can we fucking wrap this up, now?"
"Yeah..." the group mumbled.
Yolei, suddenly went in front of Karis camera and started making hand signs in front of it.
"What's she saying?" TK asked.
"She wants to know, what about their partners. Hers and Cody's I assume..." Izzy translated, "Well, genius, we haven't got a clue where they are, now do we? Also we're out of time. Everybody, line up in front of the TV. Gatomon, Agumon you know where to go, try not to get killed, that would set us back at least a few weeks. Now hurry up!"
Hastily the group said goodbye to Agumon and Gatomon.
DemiVeemon looked at Agumon and Gatomon and then the remaining teammates heading to the TV.
"Eh, fuck it" he said shrugging, "I'll go to the human world, too. I wanna see what it's like."
Davis proceeded to open the gate:
"Open, gate to the Digital World!"
"Why does this even work..." TK growled.
"And why does it work like that both ways?" Tai added, when the TV actually started to shine a bright light upon them, idicating that it worked in deed.
And just like that, they were all gone again.
"Thanks for staying, by the way" Agumon said, "Didn't expect that from you, I gotta say..."
"Yeah, I came up with that pretty fast, huh?" Gatomon answered, grinning.
"Wait, what?"
"Eh, I'll explain it on our way to the city. Just keep quiet about my plan, alright?"
"Your plan?"
"Oh, yes..." she said, "This is a good one."
Just an hour later, an Airdramon landed near the cave. The aqua colored, serpentine Dragon had a skull for a face and red tattered bat-like wings.
Off its back jumped a young boy, not older than eleven. He had spiky black hair and wore a long dark blue cloak, as well as angular shaped, gold framed shades, with a strange symbol in the middle, resembling an 'M'.
The boy looked at the crater, where the black tower stood and grimaced.
Gritting his teeth he turned around looking at the battle damage in the area. He scanned the clearing, his focus being shifted towards the entrance of the cave, where the most mayhem had been caused.
He entered the cavern. Curious he looked around, at the crests at the walls, the damage caused by Kuwagamon and, most importantly the small hole that was all that remained, at the spot, where the egg was located.
"Man!" a voice said behind him, "They really caused a wreckage, huh?"
The boy turned around. There was a small worm like Digimon with green skin and purple eyes.
"What are you doing here?" he growled cold, "I flew in on Airdramon! How did you catch up so fast? Slimy little jew..."
"Don't be mad!" the Digimon said cowering, "I just wanted to see what happened! I mean, no one ever destroyed a tower before... so I... kind of stowed away on Airdramon's tail..."
"Ugh! Maybe the rings, do turn them sort of numb..."
"So the tower was destroyed in a battle, that took place here" the worm said, "Not an uprising, after all"
"No, you maggot!" he barked, storming to the exit, "This was deliberate! The fight took place in and in front of the cave. The tower was too far off. They destroyed it before or afterwards."
He paused at the entrance.
"Here's what I wanna know: Obviously there was an egg in here. Where did it go? Did they take it? And more importantly: Why didn't I find it before?"
He fell silent for a moment.
"I wonder" he said, "Whoever fought here... Do they know more about these things?"
He climbed onto Airdramon's back.
"Let's go!"
"Wait for me!" the worm shouted, hurrying to get to them in time.
"Eh, you know the way!" the boy scoffed as Airdramon took off.
"Oh, okay..." the small Digimon said, "I guess I'll... walk... then..." he added, watching the kid disappear beyond the trees.