One second, I was in the school library. The next second, I was standing in the colosseum right behind Kotemon. My limbs acted before my brain could. I ran while tearing my hoodie off me. I would only get one shot at this.
I grabbed my hoodie by the sleeve and threw it around Kotemon's face.
"What is the meaning of this?" He demanded as I grabbed onto the other sleeve and pulled. Kotemon swung his wooden sword around wildly, the flames dying down as I kept him blinded. "Unhand me."
"Gabi! what are you doing?" Gazimon yelled as she scrambled to her feet. "How are you even here? What happened to the plan?"
"There's been a change in the plan," I kept my grip on the hoodie as Kotemon did his best to throw me off. "I say we just roll with it."
Gazimon's jaw stayed in place, like she was trying to think of what to say, but didn't know where to start. Instead she just sighed and held her claws out. They started glowing white as Kotemon began to still.
"Gazi claw!"
"Hot head!"
I only had a split second to notice the flames before letting go of the hoodie. I stared as Kotemon's head caught fire. Gazimon did the same, her claws losing their glow as she brought her arms up to block the headbut coming her way.
She took the hit, tumbling back down the stairs as I started to chase after her. I glanced back and watched as Kotemon tossed the burnt remains of my hoodie aside.
"So now my foes multiply? No matter, I will strike you all down." He started running at us as I reached Gazimon. I scooped her up in my arms and ran down until I reached the lowest levels of the seats. The holographic players on the field reminded me of my time limit as my eyes looked for anything that could help.
"There," just a few feet away was a tunnel leading downwards. If this colosseum was anything like a modern sports arena, there should have been a whole mess of tunnels underneath us. I ran in as I heard Kotemon coming down the stairs. But as soon as I reached the entrance to the tunnel, he froze.
I looked and saw his problem. He was constantly looking between me, and the field. Looked like he didn't want to miss any of the game. Well that was fine by me, I kept running into the tunnel and headed downwards.
If the outside of the colosseum looked like someone had put a bunch of modern touches on an ancient building, the inside was almost the opposite. As I walked with gazimon in my arms, I saw countless stalls selling foods and drinks, all of them with modern equipment painted or styled to look Roman.
"Oh come on, that's just a normal fridge with the roman eagle on it!" I knew the eagle symbol had some sort of proper name, but I didn't care about it right now.
"Ugh," I stopped my complaining and set Gazimon down next to the nearest wall before crouching down next to her.
"How are you doing?" I gave her a few seconds to collect her thoughts before she started getting back to her feet.
"Like I just got hit by a wooden sword set on fire," she grumbled before slipping. I reached out and kept her steady. "Thanks but I'm fine. Digimon are made from tough stuff."
"If you say so," I let go and kept my distance, ready to reach out again if it looked like she was going to fall again. Fortunately, she stayed steady this time.
"So," she started walking over to one of the benches and jumped on top of it, "what's the plan now? You can't exactly call me back now, and if we want to finish the plan, we'll need to get past sword mon out there."
"I have no clue. I don't even know how I'm here. One second I'm watching you get tossed around by Kotemon, and next I'm here." I gestured with my arm, catching sight of it out of the corner of my eye. "Man, and I liked that hoodie too."
"Oh yeah, you were wearing that, what happened to it?" she leaned forward, taking a second look at me.
"Set on fire," I stated simply as Gazimon winced.
"Sorry about that," She apologized as I shook my head.
"I'd rather my hoodie be set on fire than you." I smirked as Gazimon rolled her eyes, but there was no hiding the smile on her face. A smile that quickly evaporated.
"Hoodie aside, what are we going to do?" She looked around the tunnel. "I don't think there's any other way up to the control room, and I don't think these tunnels lead upwards."
"Say Gazimon… how long would it take you to put the video on the screen?" I had an idea, a crazy, bad idea, but it was the best one we had for the moment.
Not too long? You have… Oh no. We are not doing what I think you're thinking," she crossed her arms into a big X. "We'll think of something else."
"But it's our best shot," I argued back, getting an annoyed growl from the little cat rabbit.
"I am not going to rush in there and upload the video while you distract Kotemon," she stomped her foot and glared at me… and then immediately softened her expression. "Just so we're on the same page, that is your plan right?"
"Pretty much," I nodded as her glare returned, "Listen it's the best shot we have. I'll make sure to keep my distance and just distract him. This way I get the justice I'm after and I don't have to put anyone else in danger."
"Okay, maybe your plan could work, with one modification," I didn't like the shifty look in the cat rabbit's eyes. "Here, think fast."
I blinked as a white orb materialized in Gazimon's claw. She threw the thing and I reached out to catch it. It landed near the Rebel Drive around my wrist and went inside.
I pressed a couple of buttons and accessed the drive's storage to find the video Gazimon made. I looked up and without another word I knew how the plan had changed.
"Are you sure you can do this?" I shut off the drive and looked Gazimon in the eye. She nodded and gave me a confident smirk.
"Before I was trying to get past him to put the data in. Now all I have to do is keep him away from you. This will be way easier. Just make sure to start running once I have him distracted."
We both locked eyes as cheers from the crowd poured over us from the field.
"We're running out of time," I turned around and started walking back towards the entrance. Gazimon jumped off the bench and followed after me, getting on all four once we were both in front of the open stadium. "Gazimon… good luck."
"Thanks, but I won't need it," she smirked before running forward. She went to the left, leaving her on the side of the colosseum opposite the control room. "Hey Hot Head! The big scary virus is here to mess up your holy ritual!"
"And here I thought you had crawled back under from whence you came!" Kotemon roared as he got up from his seat near the control room and lifted his wooden sword up. He started giving chase, scrambling down the stairs, reaching the bottom and staring off against Gazmion.
And then it began. Kotemon began running to the right, so Gazimon ran the same way, keeping at a distance. So Kotemon ran the other way, causing Gazimon to also run the other way. No matter what the swordsmen did, Gazimon never got any closer.
"Would you stay still so I can hit you!" Well if that didn't count as distracted, then I didn't know what did. I emerged from the tunnels and started running up the stairs, keeping an eye on Kotemon. His big helmet must not have helped too much with peripheral vision, because he had no idea I was there.
I reached the control room with no trouble. I reached for the knob and turned… and it was locked.
"Oh come on," I grumbled as I looked around. I couldn't burst the door down without getting Kotemon's attention, and there didn't seem to be any other way in. Maybe something on the rebel drive?
I clicked it open and started scrolling through it. I hadn't really had a chance to do so until now, so I saw a bunch of stuff that looked interesting, but nothing useful.
At least, not until I found a tab labeled 'hacker's tools'. I needed to get through a door in a virtual space, if that didn't count as hacking, I didn't know what did. I hit the button to activate the skill and pointed my arm at the door.
"Hope I'm doing this right," I gulped as the Rebel Drive started to glow purple before shooting a beam of light at the door. A spinning circle appeared in front of the door, bits of it falling away until it was gone.
And then I heard the loudest clicking sound of my life ring out across the Colosseum.
I turned my shaking head downwards towards the arena. Both Gazimon and Kotemon had frozen in place, both of them turned towards me. Gazimon wore a face of utter terror while Kotemon…
Utter fury sounded about right.
"How dare you!" He started running back up the stairs as I swung the door open and ran inside. I reached out and threw the door shut. My eyes fell on a random chair and used it to block the door before slamming the deadbolt and clicking the lock.
"Well that should buy me a little time." I turned back around and started scanning the room. Unlike the mix of old and new that the rest of the colosseum wore, this control room was pure new. At the front was a giant screen that covered the entire wall and might have just been built into it. In front of it was a long console with an interface on it.
Well, that was probably it.
I rushed to the console and found the main controller. The system was already running, and I could see someone else using it on the screen. It must have been whoever was in charge of the jumbotron. Hope whoever it was didn't get into too much trouble over this.
I reached for the Rebel Drive and found the file I needed. I stared at the video, and then at the console, and then back at the Rebel Drive.
"Okay so now what?" I whispered as I heard a bang from the door. I looked over and saw a large dent in the metal. Looked like Kotemon was trying to force his way in. I didn't have time to waste. "Okay, everything else has worked the first way I've tried it. I have to just trust my instincts."
I took a deep breath and then looked at the two machines. I tried to think of the most natural way for this to work, and then I narrowed my eyes at the Rebel Drive. After a second, the glowing orb of data emerged again and floated into my hand. I gripped it tight and slammed it into the console. The main screen shut off and started playing the video.
"Hope you like being in the spotlight Coach K!" I sneered as I heard something beep to my right. It was the satellite. I thought it had disappeared when I'd been teleported into the system, but it must have just followed me out of sight. It shined gold before expanding into a small screen. It was one of the streams for the game. Looked like I would get a front row seat to the show. Kotemon had even stopped banging on the wall.
The cheers rang out as the two teams played their best, one of them clearly playing with much more fire in their veins. Coach K and the rest of the players watched from the bench. Principal Verden and his wife watched from their seats. Laura sat a few rows down, ecstatic at how well her date with Kieth was going.
The players all huddled together, ready to start when the jumbotron fizzled out to black. A couple of people took note, but most of them ignored it, figuring it was just part of the show.
That's when a loud blaring erupted from every speaker on the field. The crowd and players yelled out, most of them covering their ears. After a few seconds, the sound died down as several people looked around, trying to figure out what was going wrong.
"Looks like I now have your attention, good."
Every soul in the audience stopped as a strange husky-sounding voice came out of the speakers.
"If you will direct your eyes to the speakers, I have something I want to show you all. One among you is hiding his true colors. Ugly colors, brutal colors, colors of someone who has no right to be in any place of authority."
Upon hearing the word authority, a chill of fear ran down the back of every teacher in the audience. But none of them felt it as badly as Coach K. The only one who came close was Principal Verden, who had long learned to not look too closely at Coach K's actions to avoid learning what they truly were. Now he was doing his best to avoid the gaze of any of the parents in attendance.
The video started on the screen as Coach K rushed to his feet. He knew that angle all too well. Every player on the field froze as they realized just what was about to appear.
What followed was a well-edited montage of every incident of violence that had occurred in the school's storage shed. Every punch, every beating, all of them under Coach K's personal supervision. Everyone was too stunned to move, everyone was too stunned to speak. Everyone but one.
When the montage reached the incident from the other day, Keith started to shake in place. He wanted to close his eyes, but he knew he would have to see this. His own beatings weren't too bad, the pain from those had long since faded. It was when the other guys on the team had dragged Gabi in that felt the pain. His knuckles burned as he watched it all over again.
Even to an outside observer, it was clear what was going on. Someone had discovered Coach K's abuse… and had been silenced.
Finally, the montage switched to another part, the last beating before the game if he had to guess right. Once that was done, the screen faded to black again.
"Well now that you know this man's true colors, I hope you will all make the right choice."
And with that, the voice vanished as the screen went back to normal, displaying the score of the now stopped game.