-x-
Chapter Ten
The Crest of... Whatever
Cody, Joe and Armadillomon only had a brief moment to recover from the tidal wave, washing them away, because they were immediately dropped into a pool of water, in a dimly lit cave. Joe reemerged at the surface first.
"I hate this fucking place so much!" he yelled and swam to a stone ledge at the edge of the water.
"Oh, my god! How deep is this water?!" Cody shouted in panic, struggling to stay afloat, "Oh god, no! No, no, no!"
"Over here" Joe said mildly annoyed, now standing at the edge, looking down on Cody, "Come on, the ledge is literally five feet away from you!"
"I can't!" Cody gasped, "Can't do it!"
"Oh, for the love of god…" Joe groaned crouching at the edge, reaching out and grabbing Cody's arm. He held onto him with both hands and pulled the smaller boy out of the water.
"Thank you!" Cody coughed, laying on his back, catching his breath, "You saved my -"
"Gimme a break." Joe huffed, "You wouldn't have drowned! It just would have taken you forever to get out…"
"Uh, guys?" Armadillomon said loudly, "Uh, I can't swim too well, either!"
"Seriously? You too?"
"I mean, I can swim… kinda." she replied, "But just – give me a minute, okay?"
"You gotta be kidding me…" Joe said pinching the bridge of his nose.
He bent over to help her out, but Cody beat him to it. He was lying down on his stomach, at the edge and reached out to her. After a few seconds she was close enough and he helped her climbing out of the water.
"Thanks Cody!" she said gleeful, "I owe you one, okay?"
"Don't be ridiculous…" Cody mumbled, "I barely helped you…"
"Guys, I cannot see you in there" Izzy contacted them from the human world, "So you probably have to find the right way on your own."
"Oh, no…" Joe said robotic, "I guess we could take the giant stairs leading away from the water to a big gateway…" he added rolling his eyes, "But I'm really unsure…"
"Well, I appreciate, you describing the area to me" Izzy replied easy-going.
"So you're really not surprised, that he can talk to us from our world like that?" Cody asked Joe as they made their way up the stairs.
"If you knew the kind of stunts he used to pull back the day, you wouldn't be shocked, either…"
They entered the next room. It was a hall made of stone. It would have been completely dark, if it wasn't for the small spots of light, dancing across the walls and the ceiling, like they reflected off the surface of crystal clear water – however, the room was entirely dry. The larger spots took on the shape of the eight crests, the biggest one in the center, displaying Joe's crest. On a pedestal in the center of the hall was a slimly shaped egg with the same crest engraved into it.
The front of the egg was purple colored, with a silver inlay of Joe's crest. It's back, on the other hand, was of a light silver, with some gold ornaments near its bottom. Next to it, on the floor lay, motionlessly, what looked like a white seal, with an orange Mohawk and purple markings all over his body.
"Gomamon!" Joe said hurrying over to his partner, "Hey, wake up!"
While he didn't seem particularly concerned, kneeling over his partner, he didn't appear to be exactly pleased, to see him in this state, either.
He shook Gomamon's shoulder and the seal slowly opened his eyes.
"Joe...?" he croaked, "Finally... looks like I'm dying after all..."
"Oh, cut it out!" Joe said annoyed, "You're not dying!"
"How would you know?" Gomamon asked, forcing himself to sit up, "I've been starving in here since... well, I don't even know how long I've been here..."
"It's been almost three years, since we last saw each other" Joe said, "Does that help?"
"Huh..." Gomamon said lying back down, "So it has been over a year... I thought, I completely lost track of time... you know... since there's no daylight... told you, I was dying..."
"Hey, genius" Joe argued, "Why would your vision of death look like me at age fifteen? You shouldn't have any idea what I look like right now!"
"You know, for a death vision, you do surprisingly little to guide me to afterlife..."
"I said, stop it!" Joe said sternly, "Also, why didn't you leave?"
"And leave the treasure behind?" Gomamon asked, "I can't move it! Also, I almost died, diving down to the cave as Ikakumon, so couldn't leave the way I came."
"What about that corridor over there?" Joe said pointing to the end of the room opposite of the entrance.
"Yeah, I tried opening the door, but it wont – wait, did you just say corridor?"
He followed Joe's gaze.
"Man, I swear, that thing wasn't open, when I last passed out..." he said dazed.
"Ah, it's okay" Joe said calm, looking closer at it; a few steps led down to the corridor leading up to an industrial looking door.
"Looks like it's flooding..." Joe concluded dead panned.
"Oh, okay..." Gomamon said, "So yeah... figured, I was trapped and decided I might as well guard it like a pirate. You know, those who let themselves be buried on top of treasure chests so their dead bodies could guard them... honestly, I didn't really get it, when you told me about it back then... but now I agree with you... such dedication..."
"Until" Izzy intervened, "you realize, that they didn't do that voluntarily. They were being shot in the back by their comrades and then buried by them..."
"Hey, Izzy" Gomamon said, "Wait..." he added looking around in confusion, "Where is he?"
"Back in the human world" Joe said in passing, "Apparently he can talk to us with his microphone, now."
"Huh" the seal said, "Who knew..."
"But wait, let me get this straight" Joe said puzzled, "You have been here for more than a year? And you didn't starve to death?"
"Uh, yeah I don't get it, either... I guess the treasure saved me from dying... or something... doesn't mean I can't feel it though..." he added clutching his stomach.
"Here..."
Joe reached into his bag, pulling out a small tin box.
"Might be a bit soggy, since we landed in the water back there, but it should do the trick."
Gomamon immediately opened the box and grabbed the chop sticks inside. There was rice, a bit of meat and some vegetables inside. As expected, some water had leaked inside, but Gomamon didn't seem to care; he started basically inhaling the food, the instance he laid eyes on it.
"Oh, man that'sh good..." he munched, "Honeshtly, I thought, I'd never even shee food again... let alone eat shome"
"Hang on" Tai chimed in, "Did Joe just give food to a starving person? Are we in the fucking Twilight Zone, right now?"
"Ugh, shut up, Tai..." Joe said.
"Ish he with Ishy, too?" Gomamon asked, looking around.
"What?" Joe asked annoyed, about him talking with his mouth full.
Gomamon swallowed audibly:
"I said, is he with Izzy, too?"
"No, he can just talk to people telepathically, now – of course he's with him!"
"Geez, sorry!" Gomamon said, "Cut me some slack, I've been out of the loop for a while!"
"Cody, can you walk over to that corridor, Joe mentioned?" Izzy said.
"Sure..." Cody mumbled.
"Oh, hey there!" Gomamon said when he spotted Cody and Armadillomon, "Didn't even notice you guys. I'm Gomamon!"
He extended one of his flippers toward Cody, who shook it after brief hesitation.
"Hey, I'm Armadillomon" his partner said happy, as he walked over to the tunnel.
Gomamon looked at her for a second and blinked.
"Can you roll up into a ball?" he asked.
"Hell yeah!" she replied and did just that, "It's my attack!" she added muffled.
"That's awesome!" Gomamon said with a large smile, watching her form an almost perfect sphere, before quickly rolling into a wall, causing numerous cracks to form on impact.
"Yeah..." she said as she unrolled, "Can be kinda disorienting, though..."
She managed to get back on her feet after several attempts.
"Oh, guess that can be annoying..." Gomamon said, "But hey, it's still pretty neat"
"Yeah, it's not too bad" Armadillomon shrugged.
"So, I guess, I was right" Izzy said as Cody returned to the group, "The oil platform is connected to this room"
"Izzy, I am not leaving through that door!" Joe insisted, "Everything behind it might be underwater for all we know!"
"Oh, god..." Cody said wide-eyed.
"Yeah, you're not going in there..." Izzy confirmed, "As far as I can tell there's at least three rooms you'd have to go through, which are completely underwater at this point. And even if they weren't, the others are trapped in there for a reason, so it wouldn't help if you went in there, too."
"So we're using the laptop then?" Joe asked.
"Let's see, what Armadillomon evolves to, using that egg, first" Izzy suggested, "This room might be connected to an underwater cave for a reason."
"What, you think she'd turn into freaking submarine?" Joe huffed, "Give me a break..."
"Well, not necessarily a submarine, but for example remember, how my Digimon-Analyzer labeled Whamon a champion-level first time we met him? And then next time we saw him suddenly it stated he was an Ultimate?"
"Sure, why not..." Joe said dismissively.
"I thought, it was a glitch at first, but then I looked into it, and it turns out, there's some which are champions and some which are Ultimates. This egg is supposed to evolve her to a level that's in between the champion- and rookie-levels. It's a long shot, I know, but maybe there's one for that level, too... Or something comparable."
Joe stared blankly ahead.
"That's the dumbest shit, I've ever heard." he said.
"Which part?"
"All of it! Even for this world it's retarded!"
"Tell me about it..."
"I mean seriously, do they look like that on every level? Is there like a Whamon-sized egg somewhere in Starter Village?"
"Like I said: Unlikely, but it's worth checking out, what she turns into. Blank, you're up."
Cody took a deep breath and put his hands on the egg. He hesitated.
"What?" Joe hissed.
"What if it's honesty..." Cody mumbled.
"Why would you be concerned about that?" Joe said agitated.
"I have no idea, what he is talking about, either." Izzy lied.
"Look, can you just admit, that you lied to me, so I would come and help you?" Joe said annoyed, "Can we just get this over with?"
"If you're so convinced, we lied to you, then why are you still here?" Izzy argued.
"Yes, I am convinced" Joe said, "That doesn't mean, I'm right..."
"What a weird thing to say" Izzy said, "For you at least..."
"Anyway, uh... Cory... Colm – whatever – Blank! Let me guess what you're thinking right now" Joe said and cleared his throat, "'Oh, I'm not worthy, because I lied to save my friends!'" he added, acting whiny, "Honestly, people like you fucking disgust me! Fucking do-gooders, who act like they deserve to go to hell, because of one white lie! I don't know, if you noticed, but all you do is guilt-tripping people into thinking they're fucking monsters, because they lie on a regular basis! You know - normal people? I get it okay? You feel guilt and I do not. You're a saint and I am Satan! Get the fuck out of here!"
"I never knew you hated Kari so much" Izzy mumbled.
"He's right" Cody whispered, as it dawned on him, what he meant - what his grandfather had meant, "Intention and outcome... I want to get them out of there. By being down here... we're well on our way to help them, already!"
He picked up the egg. It started to glow, he opened his D-Terminal, and the device absorbed it.
"Argh! I fucking knew it!" Joe shouted absolutely furious, "Izzy, you insufferable piece of shit!"
"Sorry, buddy -"
"I'M NOT YOUR BUDDY!"
"Desperate times call for -"
"FUCK YOU!"
Izzy waited a second, as if to see, whether Joe was done yelling, or not.
"Okay, I can see talking to you is very productive right now... You wanna take off right away or do you wanna see what Armadillomon turns into?"
Joe sighed, still fuming.
"You know what? It's gonna be something fucking useless anyway. So, just to see you being wrong for once, I'll gladly stick around!" he added spiteful.
"You sure? The Digital World is unusually benevolent, lately"
"GO!" Joe barked at Cody who quickly raised his D-Terminal above his head:
"Digi-armor energize!"
"Armadillomon armor-digivolve to..." she exclaimed, turning into a glowing orb and flying in an arch over the stairs into the water, "Submarimon!"
"That's so cool..." Gomamon whispered in awe.
Joe didn't seem to share his partners opinion: stone faced, he stared at what Armadillomon had turned into.
"I'm going home..." he said.
"Huh" Izzy said, "Honestly, a variation of Whamon would have been more practical, but eh... at least Cody can leave the cave now. Oh, and by the way, Cody" he added, "That doesn't make up for Frogmon's stunt, that got you all trapped, earlier. So, that's three hundred Yen for the fuck-up-jar, from you."
"Sure..."
"Fuck-up-jar?" Joe asked, mystified.
Izzy explained the concept.
"So, in the long run" Izzy said in closing, "I guess we're gonna be rich after all. Told you so."
"Ha ha..." Joe said humorless, pulled Izzy's laptop out of his bag and placed it on the floor.
"You..." Gomamon said uncertain, "You're leaving, buddy?"
"Yes" Joe muttered opening the laptop, "Sorry Gomamon, but you know, how much I hate this place... looks like you can fit in there, too, so they'll get you out of here…"
"Yeah, sure it's okay, I... I get it" Gomamon said trying to hide his disappointment – but he sounded like he had a lump in his throat.
"Uh, Joe one more thing" Izzy said.
"What?" Joe asked expressionless.
"We don't have a safe place for Gomamon to stay right now, so -"
"Alright" Joe shrugged, "I'm taking him home with me, then."
"Really?" Gomamon asked excited.
"Really?" Tai asked incredulously, "Man, we really are in the Twilight Zone!"
"Gomamon, it's only fair" Joe said not even acknowledging Tai's existence, "You always had my back, no matter what. In stark contrast to certain other people!" he added, gritting his teeth.
"Hard to have your back, when you keep stabbing ours!" Tai fired back.
"I never once stabbed you in the back!"
"Technically he's right" Izzy said, "He only abandoned us, every time, he figured we were no use to him anymore. He never betrayed us."
"Leaving us for dead, counts as betrayal in my book..." Tai said grumpy.
"Okay, that's also fair"
"I told you to run, too!" Joe exclaimed, "It's not my fault if you're suicidal!"
"Hang on, I got a message from TK" Izzy said, "Let me turn this into a general chat real quick..."
Beep.
"Yo, we get it!" TK shouted, "You both have a point!"
"Do we?" Tai and Joe said incredulously.
"Guys! At this point we can go swimming in here!" TK said angry, "Can you just send in the damn cavalry, so we can get out of here and go kill the Emperor?!"
"Hey!"
"Shut up, Wannabe! Whatever he's messing with right now, I bet he has it coming, by now!"
"Spoken like a true DigiDestined" Izzy said, "Cody, get in Submarimon"
"Wait, who's Submarimon, now?" Veemon asked; he sounded amused.
"Armadillomon's new Armor-level"
If it wasn't in there heads, Veemon surely would have been able to hear the playback of his own laughter upstairs.
"Yeah, get in her, Blank!" he laughed, "Be gentle, though. I guess it's the first time for both of you!"
"Huh?" Submarimon asked puzzled, "I don't get it. What do you mean?"
"Can you just -" Joe hissed pinching the bridge of his nose, "open the gate? Please?"
"Sure" Cody said and pointed his D3 at the laptop.
The gate opened and he stepped back.
Joe took Gomamon under his arm and walked toward the glow.
"Joe?" Gomamon said somewhat timid, "Sorry, I didn't get rich, buddy..."
"It's okay" Joe sighed, "You tried. I tell you what, we'll find a way to get rich in the human world. Together."
"Hell yeah!" Gomamon said excited.
"Hey! Um..." Cody called out after them, "Thanks for your help! And... sorry for lying to you, earlier..."
Joe didn't even look back; he stretched out his left arm horizontally and gave a thumbs down while walking through the gate.
"Where the hell are you?" TK gasped; at this point the crew was literally neck deep in water. The liquid had carried them all the way up to the sealing and now they were struggling, to keep their mouths and noses above the water line.
"I thought the cave was close to the oil platform?" he continued.
"Hang on!" Submarimon said hectically, "There's only two of the Divermon left. Wont take a minute!"
"Wait, weren't there just two to begin with?"
"Yup..." Cody said dry.
"What? No way! I could have sworn it was like four at one point!"
"No, you just kept evading these two the entire time..." Cody sighed.
Submarimon hesitated for a moment.
"I'm pretty sure, I got one of them, though!"
"Please, stop rolling like this!" Cody added frenetically, "I think, I'm gonna be sick!"
"Cool!" TK said sarcastically, "So we're gonna drown now, huh? Fucking amazing!"
"TK, shut the FUCK up!" Tai said unnerved, "You're not helping!"
"Well, he isn't wrong, though..." Izzy said.
"Oh, don't you start now, too!"
"I mean, we need to get them out of there – now!" he clarified, "I hoped, they would clear the area before everything got flooded, so they could still get upstairs..."
"Worked like a charm!" Veemon shouted.
"Obviously – anyway, in the meantime I worked on an exit strategy"
"Whatever it is, you better do it fast!" Gatomon said urgent.
"Fuck..." Izzy said nervous, "Damn it, there's no other way... Huddle around TK, he's in the right spot."
"The right spot for what?" Gatomon asked.
"Just do it!"
They followed his instructions.
"As close, as you can" Izzy said tense, "That's it. Now... Hold on to your butts... or – guts... shit!"
"What do you mean by -" Yolei started but she was cut short, when suddenly the pressure of the air and water around them increased. Everything went black for a split second, then all over sudden, they were above the ocean. They could see the shoreline below them, but the scenery was gray, completely desaturated. Meanwhile the pressure increased further, threatening to crush them. A blink of an eye later, they were back to the oil platform, but on top of it this time. It was, as if a bubble was bursting around them: The pressure was released, and the water burst away from them, in all directions. It took out some of the fires in the general area, and while there were still fires raging around them, it made the general area a lot safer. Strong winds were blowing, driving the smoke mostly away from them.
The structures on top provided lots of cover for them, and thankfully so, because all of them were absolutely miserable at this point: Veemon stumbled forward and landed on all fours, vomiting violently (and cursing accordingly). Yolei lay on her back coughing non stop, while Davis was on his stomach groaning loudly into the floor. Kari apparently had a hard time deciding which part of her hurting body to hold, clutching her head at first, but once she fell to the floor, she settled on holding her torso, lying on her side. TK tried to walk to one end of the platform, but he kept falling down, as if his balance was completely gone – Gatomon was essentially doing the same. Patamon had curled up into a ball, shaking heavily, and Hawkmon was just extremely confused; dazed, he looked around and occasionally tried to fly, which resulted in him going in a small circle before falling down again. All the while he kept mumbling something unintelligible – and probably nonsensical, judging by the way he looked.
"What the HELL happened to them?!" Tai asked baffled.
"You know..." Izzy said and sounded very much unsettled, "I say, you shouldn't worry about that too much, because I can assure you it wont happen again."
"I fucking hope so!" Tai said, "Be more careful next time, man!"
"No, I meant it wont happen again, because I will not use this method again!"
"What the fuck did you do to us anyway?" Veemon asked angry, "It felt like we were being crushed to death!"
Yolei now started vomiting onto the platform as well.
"Essentially, I added you to the clipboard and then moved you to the top of the oil platform."
"Oh, the clipboard..." Kari said weak, "So that's what that was... good..."
"You copy-and-pasted us onto the platform?" Yolei asked bewildered (and still catching her breath), "You're amazing Izzy-Senpai!"
"Eh, it wasn't exactly copy-and-pasting, it was more of cut-and paste, but that's basically the idea. On the topic of being crushed, that is exactly the reason why I didn't wanna use this trick, unless there were absolutely no other options left. Remember how that strip of rock, I dropped on MetalGreymon crumbled when it fell? That was a solid piece of rock – and I didn't do that."
The group fell silent, realizing just how close to death they had been earlier.
"Don't ever do that again" Tai said threateningly, "Ever!"
"Don't know if you noticed, Tai, but I don't intent to. Who knows how fast the pressure in that clipboard increases. If we did this again, my timing might be slightly off and then -"
"Yeah OKAY, we get the idea!" Tai barked unnerved.
"Guys..." TK said still slowly swaying left to right, "That's the Emperor's Airdramon, right?"
He stood a bit away from rest of the team – staring at an enormous sea serpent, glaring back at him from the clouds of smoke.
MegaSeadramon's body was red with black stripes and a white belly. Three pairs of lateral fins grew out of his sides, along with several spikes and and few dorsal fins on his back. Green hair decorated the back of his head, and he had a small equally green, fluke. He wore a golden mask with a blade attached to it right above his eyes, pointing forward and slightly up in a shallow angle. It was lightning shaped.
"Fuck! Get down!" Veemon shouted and tackled TK from behind, throwing down behind a crate on the deck.
MegaSeadramon fired off a bolt of lightning from his blade and hit the crate. The serpent stopped to readjust his aim. His blade lit up to prepare a second attack.
"Shit..." Veemon mumbled.
"Hold on to your butt, Cody!" Submarimon shouted excited.
"OH GOD, NO!"
Submarimon shot out of the water like a rocket. She looked like a mechanical swordfish with a spiked spear at the tip of her nose. Her outer shell was colored like the egg was; She was mostly silver, with a purple belly. She had two long, lateral fins and there was a small set of propellers attached to the middle of her tail fin. Armadillomon's armor plating on her chest, as well her ears and hind legs gave of a sense of familiarity, while the crest, painted in red on the side of her shell, completed the look – but more importantly there was a cockpit stretching from her forehead almost halfway down her back. In it was Cody, pale as a ghost and screaming in terror.
She hit MegaSeadramon in the side of the head with the spear on her nose. The serpent fell sideways while firing off his attack; the energy beam hit the structures above and around them, setting them on fire, too.
Following shortly after Submarimon, were the two Divermon, gray and white frog-like creatures wearing scuba gear, roughly the size of a regular rookie-level. The reptiles fired their harpoons after Submarimon, following her past MegaSeadramon, who was shaking off the heavy hit, slowly reemerging from the water.
"Well, guess it's time to join the party then" Veemon said grinning, albeit still a little bemused, "Brainiac, think you can handle a second Digivolution?"
"Uh, sure" Davis said, getting back on his feet, "I think I got the hang of this... Digi-armor eneeeeeeergize!"
"Ugh, do you HAVE to say it, like a complete retard?" Veemon complained while turning into Raidramon.
"Shut up, saying it like that helps me, okay?"
Raidramon shot his lightning at the waters surface, creating a small ice platform near MegaSeadramon. He jumped onto it, using it like a stepping stone, in order to reach the sea serpent.
"Ugh! This damn smoke!" Gatomon complained, as she jumped onto the ice herself.
Thanks to the wind the smoke cloud was rather close to the waters surface at this point, making it hard for them to see clearly.
"That's not gonna help" she added.
"What? You're not up for a challenge?" Raidramon laughed.
"Hey, don't put words in my mouth!" Gatomon smirked.
"Digi-armor energize!" Yolei exclaimed and just a moment later Flybeemon shot past the group toward the enemy. His own lightning attack hit the water, roughly where the Divermon were chasing Submarimon. The two frogs stunned by the electricity, but despite the fact that the lightning spread over a surprisingly large area, MegaSeadramon was unaffected by it – probably because he used lightning based attacks. Still, Flybeemon's arrival, drew the sea serpent's attention, giving Raidramon an opening to latch onto MegaSeadramon's back and sink his teeth into him.
"Bad idea!" Submarimon said strained; since she was underwater too, she had been also stunned.
"Oh, bollocks!" Flybeemon said, "Sorry!"
"Izzy?" TK said suddenly, "Which way's west?"
"Your guys are fighting at the north side of the platform."
"Um..."
"To the left, TK..."
"Gotcha! Patamon, let's go!" TK said, running towards the western end of the platform, "Digi-armor energize!"
Patamon turned into Manbomon, and TK jumped on his back while he flew over the edge.
"Don't worry guys, you got this! I believe in you!" he shouted back.
"Wait, wha- ?" Yolei asked confused about his sudden departure, "West? Why – where are you going!?" she finally shouted after him.
"I'm off to kill the Emperor!" he called back casually.
"Oh, my mistake!" Yolei scoffed, "Obviously, you couldn't possibly figure out a way, to settle this without killing someone, you freaking psychopath!"
"What?" TK shouted back, "I can't hear you! The waves are too lo..."
"Did he just get quieter as he went further away?" Cody asked puzzled.
"Uh, duh!" Yolei said annoyed, "That's how sound works, Cody. Shut up!"
"No, what I meant was – ugh... you know what, forget about it..."
"Huh, so much for 'we don't have anyone who's adapt to the ocean'..." Izzy mumbled.
"Kinda forgot about him once the platform went up in fucking flames!" Raidramon argued, before biting back down into MegaSeadramon's flesh
"Great!" Yolei huffed, "Now what?"
"What do you wean?" Raidramon said muffled, since he was still biting down into MegaSeadramon's thick hide, "We figh- hey!" he added releasing his bite, but still holding onto him with his claws, as the sea serpent started to thrash around wildly trying to shake him off, "Hey, stop it, dipshit! I'm trying to have a conversation here!"
MegaSeadramon tried firing another lightning bolt at him but the Armor-level was too close to his neck, so he couldn't turn his head far enough. He threw his body around some more until Raidramon finally lost his grip. He fell towards the water, and barely managed to create an ice platform to land on.
Meanwhile, Submarimon was zigzagging below the surface, dodging the Divermons' spears.
"Hey, Flybeemon!" she said, "Can you distract these two for me? I wanna fight MegaSeadramon, but I can't get a clear shot!"
"Uh, sure!" Flybeemon said, and started to shoot stingers at the frogs following her close to the surface. He hit them, but only one stopped and turned to fight him instead.
"Nice, I think that should do the trick!" Submarimon said smirking.
"What?" Cody said nervously, "There's still one after us!"
"Relax, it'll be fine!"
"You're welcome – OW!" Flybeemon said, only to be cut off by Divermon's harpoon hitting him in the shoulder.
"Careful, Flybeemon!" Yolei called out.
"I'm okay!" he gasped, pulling the spear out of his shoulder before firing another burst of stingers at his foe.
MegaSeadramon fired another shot at Raidramon, destroying the platform he was standing on. He jumped away to the first platform, just in time, before it exploded.
"Hey, Submarimon!" he yelled agitated, "How about you start fighting this -"
An explosion followed by a large splash of water near MegaSeadramon's tail, which was underwater.
"You were saying?" she asked smug.
"Uh, I was saying, you have his attention now..."
MegaSeadramon had just decided to dive down and deal with Submarimon first. As the upper half of his body was submerged, his tail came out of the water, exposing the Evil Spiral that was located there.
"Oh, no you don't!" Raidramon barked shooting an extensive amount of lightning at the serpent and the surrounding water, creating an enormous chunk of ice in the process, with the center of MegaSeadramon's body trapped in the middle of it. Immediately, him and Flybeemon tried to hit the tail and the spiral but the serpent was whipping it around, fast.
To make matters worse, the smoke grew thicker. At this point they could barely see their enemies.
"Damn it!" Flybeemon called out, but Gatomon said:
"I got an idea! Submarimon on my mark, you shoot at his head, and try hitting him from below! You know – just in case I miss..."
"Okay, no problem!"
"What do you mean, 'no problem'?" Cody asked, nearly hyperventilating at this point.
She quickly circled around MegaSeadramon's head. Whenever he shot a bolt after her she dove further down to dodge, thus making sure, she stood below him. The only problem was, that the electricity, kept stunning her (Thankfully Cody was unaffected by this, inside).
"Damn it!" she growled.
"I deal with the fires!" Raidramon shouted, and started to shoot lightning at the lower portions of the platform, which were burning – actually managing to suffocate the flames, as the ice enveloped the structures.
In the mean time, Gatomon jumped on the ice encasing the serpent – mostly blind, but she guessed correctly and landed on top of it. She slid across it's surface and off aiming for the spiral.
"NOW!"
She hit, but just the tail and not the spiral. The impact was intense even tilting the ice a bit. Meanwhile, Submarimon barely managed to fire her torpedos in time, due to his efforts of stunning her. A split second later, an explosion followed, and MegaSeadramon's head breached the surface again. Gatomon flew past the the edge of the ice chunk, which was now, almost at a ninety degree angle. She turned upside down and hit it with her Lightning-paw, now fully tipping it over. The sea serpents head was now fully flung out of the water, while his tail was dragged down again. At the same time the smoke, finally cleared somewhat.
"Nice!" Submarimon said, satisfied.
She prepared to fire again, but MegaSeadramon shot a stream of lightning at the others above, dragging it across the waters surface when they dodged it, stunning Submarimon in the process.
MegaSeadramon repeated the progress, making sure that his attacks kept hitting the water, whenever they missed his opponents.
"Go!" Raidramon shouted, "Destroy the spiral already!"
"I can't!" Submarimon said strained, "He keeps stunning me!"
"Yeah - but not your torpedos!"
"Huh?"
She paused, but then she smiled.
"I like the way, you think!" she grinned.
In between the lightning attacks she turned, struggling to perform the maneuver as quickly as possible.
MegaSeadramon shot another stream of electricity into the water, but just a split second prior, Submarimon fired directly at the spiral, destroying it instantly.
MegaSeadramon roared and threw his head around. A moment passed, and the serpent's expression changed from angry to confused.
"Huh?" the serpent said dazed, "What's going on?"
"Freed you from the Evil Spiral!" Submarimon said airily while surfacing, "You're welcome!"
"Oh, thanks, uh... What - Why am I stuck in an iceberg?"
"Whoops! Sorry!"
Submarimon shot at the ice – only managing to break a small portion of it off.
"Um..." she said awkwardly.
"Oh, boy..." the serpent sighed, "Hang on... maybe I can – Ow! What the - ?"
Two harpoons hit MegaSeadramon, and got stuck in his hide; the two Divermon were now actively attacking him, too.
"Oh, that's right these two are still there!" Submarimon said surprised, "Wait a sec, we'll deal with -"
MegaSeadramon fired at the Divermon, roaring furiously.
" - them..."
The attack hit both Divermon, who had been right next to one another at that point. One only had his Evil Spiral destroyed – along with the arm it was attached to. The other was straight up gone.
"ARGH! Y-YOU B-B-BITCH!" the remaining Divermon shrieked (Still twitching from the electricity), turned around, and swam away, "You'll pay for this, you son of a bitch! You'll see! I will have my vengeance!"
"Um... You think, I should be worried about that?" MegaSeadramon asked uncertain.
"Probably not" Raidramon snorted, when he and Gatomon jumped back onto the oil platform, "These pricks are all talk. If I didn't know any better, I'd say they're champion-levels at best"
"Wait..." Yolei said slightly shaken, "Wh- What happened to the other Divermon?"
"He's dead." Izzy said simply.
"Oh my gosh, are you sure?" she asked frantically looking all over the waters surface, scanning it for a sign of the missing Divermon.
"Well, the log says: MegaSeadramon (neutral) obliterated Divermon (enemy)... Interesting vocabulary, I might add."
"God DAMMIT, MEGASEADRAMON!"
"Whoa! What's her deal?" MegaSeadramon asked bewildered
"Don't ask!" Raidramon moaned.
"Guys, I've been keeping an eye on TK, while you fought these guys" Izzy cut in, "Or an – ear... whatever, point is, it looks he could use reinforcements"
"Submarimon, Flybeemon, go help him" Raidramon said, "Kind of long way to produce ice the entire time"
"I don't think, I can do it, either..." Flybeemon panted, "I took few hits... sorry..."
"We go get him." Cody said, sounding like he had calmed down by now.
"You sure, you're gonna be okay, Cody?" Submarimon asked.
"Look" Cody sighed, "Compared to what we've just been through, a – normal trip across the ocean, sounds relaxing as hell..."
"Are we still going the right way?" TK asked, as him and Manbomon raced across the water, to catch up with the Emperor.
"You know, I shouldn't even help you with this" Izzy said, "You know, with you basically going rogue, and everything. However, since you are so worked up about this, I almost have hope, you might actually take him out this time. And yes, you're going the right way. You're nearly there, actually."
"Uh, TK?" Manbomon said suddenly, "Don't wanna worry you, but..."
"What the hell is that, up ahead?"
"Might be you're target, you should definitely see it by now, if it's above the surface."
"Yeah, it's not above the surface then..." TK said somewhat uneasy, "Hey – what are the chances, it's in the middle of a giant whirl instead?"
"Reasonable. All I see, is the ocean and an energy source on the map."
"Because, there is a fucking giant whirl, right in front of us!"
"Figured. Would have been oddly specific, if the ocean, you're looking at, was calm..."
"Fuck! Think you can handle this, Manbomon?" TK asked.
"Sure! I can swim up waterfalls, too!"
"You can? Holy crap!"
"Uh, okay kind of... it takes time... but I can handle this!"
"Why didn't you bring him at the start of the mission, again?" Izzy asked annoyed.
"Uh, duh! Because then I wouldn't have him now!"
"You planned that far ahead, huh?"
"Yup, definitely!"
"Uh huh, gotcha..."
"Oh, up yours! If you thought of it from the start, then why didn't you remind me?"
"Help me out here, does my job look fun to you TK? Babysitting you guys, all day?"
"Uh, not really..."
"Then why would I go out of my way to remind someone of every tiny detail, who I can usually trust, to think at least somewhat for themselves?"
"Shut up!" TK growled.
"Hold on TK, we're going in!" Manbomon exclaimed.
He swam the the rim of the maelstrom which was now spreading more than a hundred feet across the waters surface. He swam down stream, making an effort not go too fast. Finally they crossed the edge.
"HEY DIPSHIT!" TK yelled, once he spotted the Emperor, "WHAT DO YOU – think... you're doing..."
His eyes widened, when he spotted the creature, that was down there with him – or what was left of it: The Emperor was absorbing its data, by pointing his D3 at it. Only this time, he seemed to be absorbing the being itself, instead of just its data.
At this point only the creatures head, torso, arms and wings were remaining. Its body was entirely black, the arms long and slim covered with straps and bandages, and it had enormous claws on its fingertips, some of them blood-red. It appeared to have had a very thin physique, nearly gaunt, with some of its bones being visible through its leathery skin. Its large wings were tethered, and resembled the ones of a bat. In stark contrast to the rest of its body, its face was of a pale gray, but its upper half was covered by a black mask only showing two large horns growing from the sides of its head and two burning red eyes.
"What is it, now?" the Emperor asked annoyed, while the being just looked up at them, an evil smile on its face.
"Well, well..." the being said smug; he talked with a demonic, distorted voice, "Who is this now?"
"Uh, TK...?" Manbomon said, hesitantly at first, but then, since his partner just stared in shock, he added, more urgently: "TK?!"
"Devimon..." TK whispered.
"TK?" Devimon asked, before flashing a malicious grin, "Is that you, kid?"
"Wait, you know each other?" the Emperor asked irritated.
"Oh, yes..." Devimon said, "He was the one who got me killed. Who's that fish, by the way? Don't tell me, you had to replace your partner!" he added mockingly.
TK seemed to snap out of it now – at least he growled angrily at Devimon.
"Tell you what, let's let bygones be bygones." Devimon continued, "I wont do anything to you, if you help me out of here. Come on, now. I'll give you a puppy!" he added enticing.
"You can shove that 'puppy' – uh..."
He paused seeing that the line, Devimon's body had disappeared below, had crept halfway up his chest – rendering TK's first suggestion, where to put the puppy, impossible.
"Uh... down your throat..." he finished, with a sigh, having lost his momentum.
"How about a kitten?" Devimon asked, his grin still as large, as it was before.
"I'm not falling that shit again!"
"You fell for that before?" the Emperor laughed, "That's the oldest trick in the book, man!"
"I didn't fall for fucking puppies, asshole!" TK shot back, "... I just accepted shelter and some food..."
"You took food fromthis asshole? That's even worse!"
"Uh, in hindsight it might have been imaginary..." TK clarified, "Also, I didn't know it was coming from him!"
"Looks like you don't like this brat, huh, kid?" Devimon said to TK, "How about this: You help me, and I help you to take him out?"
"Don't let him trick you again!" the Emperor taunted, "Even if half of him wasn't gone, he couldn't fight for shit. I guess, you could say, it's basically his remains down here… Very chatty remains, by the way..."
"Come on, man, get us closer!" TK said to Manbomon, "We need to stop him!"
"Hang on!" Manbomon said, "Gotta be careful, or else we might get sucked down!"
"What about you, huh?" Devimon asked looking at the Emperor, as the line reached his shoulders causing his arms and wings to fade quickly, "I can help you against him, too. I could even make it a compromise; I can still give him a puppy..."
"Huh?"
"... on fire!"
"Oh, my god!" the Emperor said rolling his eyes, "Is that supposed to be creepy or something?"
"Listen, dickhead!" TK shouted, "I don't know what you think you're dealing with here, but it's even worse than SkullGreymon: you cannot control this guy! I don't care, who you think you are!"
"Oh, I don't need to control him..." the other boy said calm, "I just need his power..."
"You can't even control that!" TK countered, "It's pure evil! Concentrated dickheadness!"
"How about I dissolve his entrails..." Devimon suggested, now just little more than a head, "... slowly..."
"Yeah, okay! I think, I get the idea!" the Emperor shouted annoyed, "He's the devil! Go figure!"
"Come on, Manbomon!" TK demanded, "Don't you have ranged attacks?"
"Hang on, let's try... this!"
He threw a punch towards the Emperor's Airdramon – it had about the effect of a strong gust of wind.
The Emperor sighed.
"If you were still wondering why I'm still making fun of you... look no further..."
"Are you serious, Manbomon?"
"Sorry! I guess, those only work under water... so, yeah... no ranged attacks"
"You gonna regret this kid!" Devimon said, now actually with some menace in his voice, "If you don't stop now, I swear thi -"
He was cut off as the line crossed his mouth, erasing it from existence.
However, his facial expressions, gave them a pretty good idea, what he (angrily) said afterwards:
'WHAT? NOOO!'
And maybe something along the lines of:
'DAMN YOU! YOU LITTLE BRAT!'
"Way better!" the Emperor sighed, "Why couldn't this have started from the top...? Well, looks like we are out of time! Or rather – you are!" he added cackling.
"TK?" Izzy chimed in, "Help is on the way -"
"Great! Can they hurry the fuck up?"
"Yeah, well, in the meantime remember seeing all the dark towers in the ocean?"
"What? No, there weren't -"
TK stopped himself, and now it was his turn to flash a smirk.
"Jump out, and turn back into Patamon, when I tell you!" he told Manbomon.
"Uh, okay..."
"NOW!"
Manbomon jumped out, started to glow and shrink. Once the glow faded, he was back to Patamon, and they were both falling towards the Emperor, TK pointed his D3 at his partner.
"Patamon digivolve to..." the Rookie-level exclaimed, "Angemon!"
And thus, Patamon had turned into the ten foot angel, TK had mentioned, before: He had six white wings and a muscular, equally white, body. He had a golden armor piece on his shoulder, and a heavy golden ring around his right wrist. A blue ribbon was wrapped around his right leg and left arm. He had long red hair and the top half of his human like face was obscured by an iron helmet. The angel carried a long golden staff, as his weapon of choice.
Angemon flew and caught TK in midair, and put him on his back – all while keeping up his collision course with Airdramon.
The Emperor's lackey, breathed a stream of fire toward him, forcing him to stop, and fly upright, so that his body was in between TK and the attack. Additionally, he spun his staff around, to block the fountain of flames. This, however gave the Emperor enough time, to finish what he had started: The little bit of Devimon that was still there, vanished into thin air.
"Fuck!" TK cussed.
Without a warning, Airdramon flew directly at Angemon, biting down on his staff, he was still holding out in front of him. The angel grabbed the staff with both hands, to keep his opponent at bay.
"Actually, why not?" the Emperor said suddenly, pointed his D3 at Angemon – and immediately small bits of his data started coming loose of his skin, flying into the device.
Angemon ripped his staff to the side, flinging off Airdramon in the process. The dragon now started to fly in a circle along the liquid wall, while the raven haired boy kept aiming his D3 at Angemon, absorbing more of his data.
In response, Angemon flew towards the wall as well, chasing after his enemy. He punched after them, his fists lighting up every time, and shooting out golden beams of light. Airdramon kept evading the shots, which exploded upon hitting the walls around them, creating huge splashes of water.
Seeing, how his strategy didn't work, Angemon fell back, shot directly into the water next to him, using the blast to get launched across the eye of the whirl – and directly at Airdramon.
He punched another beam of light directly into his face before he could react properly; Airdramon was hurled into the water. Through the surface they saw that the Emperor had fallen off, and was now floating somewhere near the dragon. Airdramon, however, quickly swirled around and picked him back up. As soon as the boy had found his grip again, Angemon's data started streaming toward him again – even before they eventually shot out again.
Airdramon latched onto Angemon's staff again, but this time he ripped it out of his hand, while shooting past him, and threw it into the water. After that, he started to circle the angel again, but now the dragon flew more erratically, making it harder for Angemon to hit him. The angel remained in the center firing shot after shot at his opponent, while the Emperor kept absorbing his data.
Another fire fountain. Angemon was forced to block it, by crossing his arms in front of his face. The flames died down quickly, but suddenly Airdramon was next to them. The serpent started wrapping himself around his foe and tied him up like that. The Emperor continued stealing his assets, with a satisfied grin on his face.
Meanwhile, TK had trouble breathing, since Airdramon nearly crushed him, between himself and the angel. He looked down and saw, that there was now a black spiral attached to him near the end of his tail.
Angemon still had his arms crossed, now directly under his chin. He managed to wiggle his arm downward, just a bit – only to bring it back up in the lightest of punches. But it was enough to hit Airdramon in the face with another beam of light.
TK, who was looking up in that exact moment, was certain, he saw Airdramon's skull crack from the blast. The dragon immediately let go of them, and flew upwards. His course was wobbly, though. Dazed from the heavy hit, he was seemingly unable to fly straight anymore. He had to course-correct over and over, and they could hear him roaring in pain.
"Well!" the Emperor shouted back down, as his mount somehow had managed to climb up halfway to sea-level, without crashing into the walls, "I got, what I needed!"
He made a quick swiping motion with his D3, and suddenly the rotation of the water nearly stopped. The walls around them started to collapse, as TK and Angemon chased after the other two. Above them they saw Airdramon reemerging from the shadow of the maelstrom; they had made out in time.
TK and his partner were less lucky: There was still a good distance between them and the surface when the water finally closed in on them. TK lost his grip, as the water pushed him down. Separated from his partner, he saw through the chaos of a million bubbles, that Angemon had come out on top. There was another flash of light, indicating that either him or his opponent had fired off another attack. However, the angel didn't fly after them. He remained at the very same spot, hovering above this patch of ocean; he was looking for his partner.
TK felt himself getting dragged down, further and further. He tried to swim up, but it was impossible. He lost his last bit of strength, as he ran out of oxygen.
'Great…' he thought not strong enough to be angry anymore, but still conscious enough to be annoyed, 'So it's drowning, after all…'
He closed his eyes.
Suddenly, something big hit him from the side. He looked, but since he was to weak to see clearly, he shut his eyes again. The round object dragged him through the water, and he could tell, they were going up. He pressed his lips together, desperately trying not to swallow any water. It got harder and harder for him to stay conscious.
'Come on...' he thought strained, 'Get up! Get...'
They burst through the surface.
TK took the deepest breath, he had ever taken in his life.
Coughing, he lay on top of whatever saved him. It looked like a big swordfish – only Cody was poking out of it's head.
"TK!" the boy said worried, "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine..." TK coughed, "Thank you... you two saved my skin... again..."
"At least, this time we didn't kill anyone in the process..." Cody muttered.
"I said, I was sorry!" Submarimon said pouting.
"TK!"
Patamon shot down from the sky, directly at his partner. TK said up cross legged, and caught him in his arms.
"I'm so sorry!" Patamon sobbed, "I realized, you were gone, when I was out of the water and – and – I'm..."
"It's okay, buddy..." TK said smiling petting his back, "I'm okay. It all worked out..."
He looked at Cody.
"Guess, you guys cleaned up your end, too, huh?" he continued, "Uh, because if you didn't and you just came here to get us, for more men-power... well..."
"Oh, no it's all clear!" Cody said quickly, before staring in the distance, "It went great... really..."
"Oh, really?" TK asked dry, "Funny, looking at your thousand-yard-stare, I could have sworn, everything went to shit -"
"One of the Divermon died, and the other lost an arm!" Cody blurted out, angry.
"Oh..." TK muttered, "Okay Cody, listen. I know, all of this seems really messed up, to you, but here's the thing: Gatomon had a rough upbringing."
Cody stared at him.
"It's not her fault, she's behaving like this. I think, at this point, she just doesn't know any better."
"Wha- no! She didn't do that! MegaSeadramon did!"
"Oh! Okay, sorry! That totally sounded like something she would do..."
"You're not alone with that, TK" Izzy said, "If I wasn't there to witness it, she probably would have been my prime suspect, too. To put things into perspective, Cody, our body count per mission tripled, once we added her to the team, back then. And that's not including the casualties our two Mega-Levels usually caused."
"Oh, man!" TK said reminiscing, "That shit was crazy! I was always amazed we survived once WarGreymon started nuking our enemies! I'm surprised Odaiba still exists, after that battle with VenomMyotismon!"
"Let's just get back to shore..." Cody sighed.
Back in the human world, Cody didn't bother getting back up after exiting the gate. Instead he lay on his side, touching the floor of the computer lab with his hands, as if he was never happier to feel solid (and also real) ground beneath him.
TK on the other hand was kneeling on the same ground, gasping for air, while he was laughing at the comedy of errors, he had apparently missed out on.
"I c-can't believe – you left him, stranded on that beach... stuck in an iceberg!" he laughed, "He even gave you a r-ride back to shore!"
"And I can't believe..." DemiVeemon growled, "That you started make fun of him for it, right in his fucking face – until he threatened to kill us all!"
TK however, was too busy, laughing at the situation, to take his criticism seriously:
"Oh, man – you're such a hypocrite!" he cackled.
"Hey, I only make fun of people, I know, I can take, one on one!"
"As we established, earlier..." Izzy sighed, rolling his eyes, "That being said, he raises a good point, TK. That's six hundred Yen from you, for the fuck-up-jar."
TK's laughter got stuck in his throat.
"Wha- six hundred?! You said three hundred per fuck up!"
"Yes, and I count two fuck ups, specifically from you!" Izzy said sternly, "One was getting MegaSeadramon to consider, murdering all of you – even after you guys freed him from the spiral! And the other would be, when you went after the Emperor – alone... Mind telling us, what exactly it is, you accomplished there?" he added raising his eyebrows.
TK sighed:
"Nothing..."
"No" Izzy corrected him irritated, "That would have been fine. But what you accomplished, was giving this douche bag Angemon's data!"
"Okay, I have a counterpoint for this"
"Oh, do you?"
"Yes, but first: How come, he ended up, straight up absorbing Devimon whole, but then he didn't do the same with Angemon? … Or anyone, now that I think about it..."
"I think that's because of what the Emperor told you" Izzy contemplated, "It was just Devimon's remains down there. His broken data. What you saw, probably was just a projection of him. If Devimon was alive and functioning – well, for one, he probably would have killed him on the spot – but also, the Emperor probably couldn't have absorbed him, just as he couldn't absorb any of our partners."
"Oh, okay" TK said, "I guess that makes sense."
"So what's your counterpoint?"
"You told me to use Angemon!"
"Only because I saw that none of your other strategies went anywhere..."
"You could have told us to stop!" TK argued, "That it was pointless, too risky and – whatever else you usually say!"
"Okay, point taken! Guess, I shouldn't have trusted in you two, to save the day!"
"Thank you! ….Wait, what?"
"How about this: I'll pay three hundred Yen for that one, too." Izzy suggested, "Since, against my better judgment, I didn't try to stop you there..."
"Holy shit" Tai giggled, "Izzy is actually one of the first people to donate to the fuck-up-jar... didn't see that one coming!"
"I don't see myself beating any of your scores, though..." Izzy said.
"That's fair"
"TK? The money?"
"Yeah, yeah..."
He checked his wallet.
"Uh, I don't have it, right now..." he said awkward, "All I have is five hundred Yen"
"Fine, give it here" Izzy said, "Pay the rest later"
Izzy took the the money from TK and put into his pocket.
"Are you serious?" TK asked in disbelief.
"I'm only keeping it, until we have a proper jar or a box or something!"
"Oh!" Yolei chimed in, "I got a big tin box at home, Izzy-Senpai! We can use that!"
"Sure, bring it with you next time. Oh, and by the way" he added turning to face Davis, "Your first donations will actually go straight into my pocket!"
"Wow" TK chuckled, "Somebody's having a grudge..."
"No, dumbass" DemiVeemon said annoyed, "This is because, he payed off Brainiac's sister, out of his own pocket."
"Yeah..." Izzy muttered, "Three thousand Yen, well spent..."
"Really?" TK asked surprised, "That's it? Thirty bucks for her silence? Man, your sister is selling herself cheap!"
"Yeah!" Davis laughed, "She really is!"
"Would have been even cheaper, if we had Joe, to negotiate down, even further." Izzy said.
"After today, I'd be surprised, if we ever saw him again" Tai said, shaking his head, "You know outside of – funerals and stuff..."
"Believe it or not, I am actually quite satisfied, with the way things turned out with him."
"You're right – I don't believe it"
Izzy ignored him and turned towards Cody.
"Blank, you got the money on you?"
"Yes" the boy said standing up, "I got your laptop, too"
He gave Izzy the yellow laptop and the money he owed.
"Oh, good" Izzy said surprised, plugging it in, opening it up, and hitting the power button.
Nothing happened.
"Huh..." he said, turning device on its side.
Immediately a stream of water poured out of the laptops air vents, and onto the floor.
"Yeah, it's broken" Izzy concluded dry.
"Sorry, Izzy..." Cody said ashamed.
"Eh, it's not your fault" Izzy said reassuringly, "I was only keeping it for nostalgia, anyway. And for that, it still works."
"Really?" Tai smirked, "You have nostalgia?"
Izzy looked at him derogatory.
"Occasionally..." he said calm, "For a select few events... Anyway, apart from the whole Devimon fiasco -"
"Hey, we fucked up that Airdramon pretty good!" TK protested.
"Oh, well done!" Yolei spat sarcastically, "Beating up his mind-controlled slave, sounds like a great deed!"
"Oh, shut it, Wannabe!"
"Okay!" Izzy intervened quickly, finishing his point in a single breath:
"Apart from that, I would say, mission accomplished. See you all tomorrow."
"Yeah..." DemiVeemon said, stretching after he stood up, "Fantastic mission. My favorite part was, when we were almost smushed in that fucking clipboard!"
"I was actually referring to the fact, that we wont have to search for these stupid eggs anymore... But, if you wanna count that as a victory, be my guest."
"How was it in there, anyway?" Tai asked curiously.
"Exactly what it sounds like dipshit!"
"No, I mean, what did it look like? I remember seeing our Digimon fighting Diaboromon on the internet. And let me tell you, the internet looks fucking weird on the inside, dude"
"Nah, it didn't look weird or anything" DemiVeemon replied, "We were just up in the sky... somewhere above the oil platform... eh, and everything looked gray."
"You sure?" Yolei asked raising an eyebrow, "I don't remember seeing the platform anywhere!"
"We were there for like a split second!"
"Sure, but it was on fire, I feel like we still would have seen it..."
Kari quietly opened the door and slipped outside.
Staring at the floor, she silently made her way to the school's entrance.
She didn't even notice Gatomon, who she carried in her arms, talking to her – until the cat addressed her more loudly.
"Hello?" she said waving her paw in front of the girls face.
"Huh?"
"I said, why are we just leaving like that?"
"Oh, uh..."
Kari fumbled with her words.
"I just didn't wanna talk about this whole clipboard thing anymore, you know?" she said finally.
Gatomon gave her a sad smile.
"Yeah, that was rough" she said, "But look on the bright side: Izzy really didn't sound, like he would wanna put us in there again!"
"You're right..." Kari said with a faint smile.
Gatomon looked at her, concerned.
"Hey... what's wr-"
"Kari!"
The turned to see Davis just running around the corner, towards them, wearing his backpack over one shoulder ("OW! Watch out, jackass!" they faintly heard DemiVeemon cussing from its inside).
"Ugh!" Gatomon growled, "Can I kill him?"
"Please don't..." Kari replied cringing, "Let me handle him, okay?"
"Fine..." Gatomon sighed, "No promises, though..."
"Hey" Davis said when he caught up to them in the entrance area, "So, what are you up to? Wanna hang out? – Oof!"
His backpack had just kicked him.
"Asswipe!" DemiVeemon barked.
"Davis -" Kari begun, but Davis rambled on:
"Because, you know, uh... we could still go to the movies! Doesn't have to be 'Star Wars'... uh, um – 'Men in Black II' is supposed to be awesome!"
He quickly looked over his shoulder, as if to see, if TK was behind him, ready with a rebuttal.
"Look, Davis..." Kari sighed, "I'm really not in the mood, right now..."
"Oh, okay! I mean... we could just chill and chat a bit, if you want"
Gatomon looked like she was silently gagging.
"No, I don't wanna talk right now, either..."
"Oh, well... What would you like -"
"Hey, Romeo!" Gatomon called out, "Take a fucking hint!"
And to make matters even worse for Davis:
"Hey, sis!" Tai shouted, as he turned around the corner of the hallway himself, "Wanna wait up for me, or anything?"
He spotted Davis.
"Hey, uh..." he spoke with false kindness in his voice (his facial expression told a completely different story), "What's uh... what's going on with you two?"
"Oh! Uh... You see" Davis stammered, "I was just – um... walking past and just... uh, I said goodbye to her!"
"Huh" Tai nodded cold, closing in on Davis, "Kind of a long goodbye..."
"Yeah, you see... I just said bye and - man! She would not stop talking!"
Tai was staring daggers at Davis – meanwhile, Gatomon was pointing her claws like daggers at Davis.
"Boy, she is just really chatty!"
"Yeah, she's super chatty lately..." he said low, his voice now so drenched in sarcasm, that even Davis got the message:
"Yeah, super chatty – anywaygottagobye!" he said lightning-fast, before sprinting out the door.
"Way to go, loser!" DemiVeemon mocked.
"Shut up!" Davis sobbed.
"Nice job!" Gatomon said impressed, "I mean, I can't take you seriously, but if I didn't know you, even I would have said that was kind of intimidating."
"Thanks..." Tai said dry, "Anyway, what's with the Irish exit, sis?"
"Irish exit?" Kari asked puzzled, as they exited the building.
"Oh, right. That's when you hang out with friends, and then leave without saying goodbye to anyone."
"Oh... sorry..." Kari said shameful, "I should go back and -"
"Nah!" Tai said relaxed, "Moment's passed. Also, I do that all the time. Didn't think you were the type to pull something like that off. Gotta be real, you're making me so proud!" he added with a fake sob.
"Ha ha..." Kari said quietly.
"What's wrong?" he asked worried.
"Huh? Nothing – just... that whole deal with us in the clipboard and everything..."
"Oh, yeah okay, fair enough" Tai said understanding, "But actually I meant in general."
"What do you mean?"
"Uh, I mean, you do know we got Koromon back, right?"
"Yeah!" Koromon said excited popping his head out of Tai's bag, "And I'm AOK!"
"Yeah, thanks buddy – look, there's people coming our way... can you get back in the bag?"
"Ah, sure! Sorry!" Koromon said, getting back inside.
"Of course I know he's back..." Kari said nearly defiant, "What's your point?"
"Well, you're still kind of – off." Tai elaborated, "I mean, you're usually pretty quiet, but lately? When Koromon was still gone, I got why, but shouldn't you be happier, now?"
"Right, I'm sorry..." she said moping, "I'm just... really tired lately... I don't know why..."
But actually, she did.
"Oh, okay" Tai said.
They fell silent for a moment as they walked down the street, leading back home.
Until Tai had an idea.
"Hey, I know, what will cheer you up"
"What?"
"Odaiba-Day is coming up this Thursday. I know, you real like it, when we do stuff as a group. So, why don't we -"
But he was cut off when his sister let loose an elongated gasp:
"Our anniversary!" she called out, her eyes suddenly sparkling with excitement.
"Say what, now?"
"That's August first! That's our anniversary! The day we became DigiDestined!"
"Oh, yeah. That's why I figured, that would be a good idea..." Tai realized, "Also, he he... Our anniversary?"
"Oh, shut up!" she said boxing him playfully, "You know what I mean!"
"I gotcha" he chuckled, glad to see her so happy, all over sudden.
"Oh! This is gonna be great!" she swooned over the idea, "We gotta get the whole crew together!"
"Good luck with that!" Tai and Gatomon huffed.
"O-okay, minus Mimi..." Kari said, backpedaling a bit.
"And Joe" Tai added.
"Yeah..."
"And Sora, since I'll be there"
"Oh, come on! Just apologize!"
"I don't even know for what!"
"Just make a peace offering – or something! Please! Do something!"
"Ugh... see what I can do... but you do realize, Matt hates me just as much, don't you?"
"Aw, come on..."
"And if by 'the whole crew' you mean the rookies, too... We probably shouldn't count on Izzy to show up, either."
"Stop..."
"Oh, and I think TK mentioned that he had movie tickets for Thursday, too..."
"Okay, you're doing this on purpose now, aren't you?"