Kari burst in the door and startled her brother, who was watching TV.
"Tai." she panted, half out of breath. "We have a problem!" She was now holding her chest in pain.
"What is it, what's wrong?" he asked, trying to calm his sister.
"I.I.I was walking down the street when I saw a Devidramon jump off a building!" she puffed out. Tai just raised an eyebrow, wondering about his sister's sanity. She saw this and added, "I know you think this is weird, but there was a girl riding on him. They flew into a huge light in the sky." Kari was now able to catch most of her breath.
"I don't know why, but I feel like something's wrong. There was something strange about that Digimon, something bad. Tai, we have to call the others." she insisted, looking completely serious. Tai nodded. He didn't want to upset his sister, plus he didn't want to have another event like what happened eight months ago with MaloMyotismon.
"I'll call everyone and tell them to meet here," he affirmed, picking up the phone.
~
Jenny and Erika were now flying over the Digital World, heading to some old city Piedmon had told them about. They were supposed to meet up with another Digimon there. Piedmon had told Jenny that when they got there and found the new Digimon and his partner, she was to give him the chip. Apparently back when Piedmon had ruled the Digital World with the other Dark Masters, he had created a bunch of weapons and things. She didn't really understand what it was he was talking about; all she knew was that these things would help them take back the Digital World. All the information about them was on the disk. He told them that in the city they could create these weapons for their own use. The Digimon would find they would know what to do with the chip. They were to stay in the city, while Teena collected the other two DigiDestined and Digimon in the Digital World. She would then meet them there.
"So, what do you think these new weapons are like?" Erika asked, hanging tightly onto Jenny's waist so she wouldn't fall off. Gazimon sat in her arms so he was between the two girls.
"Who knows? If you want my opinion, it could be anything. That clown is crazy," she asserted, looking back at Erika. She then smiled evilly and teased, "So, are you going to ask him out?"
"Oh God! Don't say such things!" Erika shuddered at the thought. Jenny just laughed.
~
Meanwhile Devimon and Teena flew over the ocean. The cool air made her braided hair start to mess up. She shivered slightly as the cold wind picked up. Devimon noticed this and held her tighter, then moved his large arms back and forth warming her skin.
"Thanks..." She said smiling up at him. Devimon smiled down at her. She looked so lovely as the sun bounced off her pail skin. He had felt strange the moment he first saw her, he had never seen a girl so lovely. She was perfect, he thought. Everything he wanted. Nothing, no one would take her from him. He wasn't sure what exactly Piedmon's plan was, but knowing him, their DigiDestined were just stepping stones. He figured that they would become slaves just like all the other humans would when they had conquered both worlds. Slaves or worse.He shuddered at the thought. Regardless of what his fellow Virus Digimon did with their children, Teena would stay with him. He wouldn't let anything happen to her. He had only known her for a few hours but he felt an incredible connection between them. He smiled down at her again. She noticed this and just gave him a funny look.
"What?" she asked. He smiled again, "Nothing my dear." He said. Teena looked at him then just shrugged her shoulders, and looked out at the sea. "Beautiful" he whispered.
~
Kari sat in the room. Most of the DigiDestined were there: Ken, Yolei, Matt, Sora, Izzy, Tai, TK, and Joe. Mimi was online in America, talking to them through chat; Davis was late (of course). All of their Digimon were there and sat quietly. Kari got up and said, " I guess we should start without Davis." Just then she hear a large crash.
"WAIT! Don't start without us!" Davis cried as he burst through the door, completely out of breath.
"We would have been here sooner if Davis hadn't spent all day fixing his hair!" DemiVeemon announced, running into the room.
"Hey!" his human shouted. "I wasn't the one who had to eat on the way; you should have eaten before we left! Then we wouldn't have had to stop!"
"Davis, just sit down, Kari has something to tell us." Matt said. Davis quickly sat down as Kari explained what she had seen.
"So some DigiDestined decided to go joyriding, what's the problem with that." Joe asked.
"That's not the point. One, most of us DigiDestined are smart enough to not let our Digimon be seen unless it's important. Second, Kari hasn't been wrong about these things before. If she says something's wrong I believe her," Izzy informed them.
"So what do we do? We can't just burst into the Digital World ready for a fight, not knowing what's going on!" Yolei pointed out.
"I guess the best thing to do is to contact Gennai." Izzy theorized, hooking up his own computer.
"That's a good idea. Gennai would know what's going on, if something's up," Tai said.
"But wouldn't he have contacted us if there was something wrong?" Sora asked.
"We can't depend on that, bad things have happened before and we waited until the threat showed itself before we did anything," Matt said.
"I agree this time, if we have someone who thinks something's wrong, lets check it out. That way if something is up, we'll be ahead of the game." Ken said.
"Well, I hope you're all nice and comfortable, because this might take a while." Izzy said as he searched through his computer files. They had no choice but to wait.
~
Taila ran down the street in a huff, her golden hair flying in the wind. Damn, I'm going to be late! she thought. She was supposed to be at her karate lessons five minutes ago. She had signed up for karate at her school because it was closer than another place that offered it. She had just moved from California to Japan, and she was new to the area. She had gotten lost halfway here and had to get herself back on track. She smiled as she saw her school; bursting through the doors, she ran down the hall towards the gym. As she got to the door, her instructor opened it and glared at her.
"Only people who take karate seriously will be allowed to participate in my class. Next time come on time!" he barked as he slammed the door in her face. Taila just huffed and puffed. Normally she could talk her way out of anything, but she was too out of breath, and her instructor hadn't even given her a chance to explain.
Just great! she thought as she walked down the hall. She hated it here. She had only been here for a week, but she hated it. She wanted to be back home in California, where the ocean was. Japan's waters were nothing like the ones she knew and loved. Not only that, but she hadn't made one new friend. She scuffed her lucky sneakers along the ground as she walked down the hall. Now she had to wait for her mother to come and pick her up when she got off work. She couldn't find her way around in the daylight, let alone the dark. It was going on five o'clock, so her mother wouldn't be there for another hour or so. Talia walked into the computer lab and sat down. She could search around online until then. She moved the cursor around, clicking on things, when suddenly what appeared to be a strange screen saver popped up. It looked like a warm sandy beach.
"Hey!" Talia exclaimed as she attempted to get rid of it. "Damn it! Well, two can play at this game." She got up and walked over to the next computer. As soon as she touched the mouse the strange screen popped up again. Talia jumped in shock, then turned around. Her face went white. Every computer had the same picture on it. Weird.she thought as she took a step back. Suddenly, all the computers started to glow. She covered her eyes as it got brighter, and then screamed as she felt herself falling.
~
Talia felt warm all over as she felt herself waking up. She wondered how long she had been out for. She could hear the ocean as she tried to sit up and open her eyes. No way. she thought as she saw the clear blue waters crashing against the sandy beach. The sun was setting into the water and cast many shades of red and yellow in the sky. It was beautiful, just like home. She then heard a voice.
"You're awake." it said softly. She looked to where the voice was coming from and saw an aqua blue egg lying in the sand next to a round shiny object of the same color.
"What? Where am I?" she asked.
"You're with me, in the Digital World," the voice said. Taila got up and moved closer to the egg.
"Are you talking to me?" she asked as she bent down.
"Yeah, I am," it confirmed. "Hey, pick up the Digivice and let me out, will ya?!" it demanded as the egg glowed.
"Digivice.you mean this thing?" she inquired, picking it up. As soon as she did, the egg began to glow so bright she had to shield her eyes. When it stopped, she looked to see an amphibian-like creature gazing at her with big red eyes.
"Hi! I'm Betamon, and we're partners!" it proclaimed.
"You're who? My partner?" she asked.
"Hey!" another voice called out. Talia fell over as she watched a large winged man land in front of her.
"What the?!" she exclaimed, her eyes wide with fear.
"So, you must be one of the new DigiDestined," a girl with long black hair commented, eyeing her up. "I'm Teena, and this is Devimon," she explained, holding out her hand.
"Hey Devimon, how's it going?" Betamon questioned.
"Very good, though it's been a while since I've seen you. I believe last time you weren't so small," he teased. Betamon frowned.
"I'll be towering over you soon enough!" he shot back. Talia just lay in the sand dumbfounded for a moment, then reached up and took Teena's hand. She pulled her up off the ground.
"I'm Talia," she explained hesitantly, and started to brush the sand off of her jeans. "Hey.these aren't my clothes!" she said in shock.
"So I take it from the looks of you that you have no idea what's going on, do you?" Teena asked.
"Umm...no, I don't." Talia replied, examining herself. She was happy to find her sneakers remained the same.
"Teena, it's getting dark. I think we should find a place to camp for the night. Both of you will need rest," Devimon said as he watched the sun fade into the sea.
"Yeah, I'm getting hungry, too," Teena noted, hearing her stomach growl. "Too bad clown-boy didn't leave us some sleeping bags or food," she added.
"Oh, boo hoo, I didn't think you would need things like that, you being so tough and all," the now-familiar voice said. Teena saw the screen where the evil clown was laughing at her.
"Oh, go away! Are you going to watch us while we sleep now?!" she accused, having had her fill of the arrogant Digimon. Piedmon smiled evilly "Well, now that you mention it, how about I come and tuck you in, little girl?" He gave her a lustful look which shut her up for a moment. Devimon glared at him; he simply smiled back and said, "Don't worry, I have better things to do with my time. Anyway, I do have some backpacks here with camping supplies, food, and lots of things you'll find useful. There's one for every DigiDestined; I thought that while on Earth I'd pick up some things to make you feel more at home."
"You probably stole them." Teena commented.
"Hey Teena, who is this guy?" Talia questioned, pointing at the screen.
"Well, if you don't want them." he said slyly.
"Wait! We want them!" Talia cried out. "I don't know what's going on, but I don't want to sleep on the ground!"
"Well, perhaps if you apologize." Piedmon smiled evilly at Teena.
"Bite me!" she replied. He frowned.
"Well then, if you don't want to be nice, you will have to suffer." Piedmon glared.
"Wait, please!" Talia interjected, getting an idea. "I'm sure a man of your standards wouldn't stoop to her level. Your much more mature than that," she flattered, smiling. Piedmon ate it up.
"Well." Piedmon smiled. "Very well, but I promise you, Teena: If your attitude doesn't change, you will regret it." With that, he disappeared. Two backpacks appeared beside them.
"Oh, I'm so scared," Teena growled under her breath.
"You should be." Devimon warned. This got a surprised reaction from his partner. "I'll do everything I can to protect you, but Piedmon is not someone you want on your bad side. He's very powerful, Teena, and completely unpredictable." Teena flashed him an angry look, then turned to Talia.
"And what was that all about?" she charged.
"Hey, let the clown think what he wants if it means we get the bags. I don't care what he thinks; I didn't mean a damn thing of what I said," she assured. "But you didn't have to apologize and we still got the stuff."
"You're a sneaky one, good stuff," Teena approved, smiling, then bent down to pick up the bag. She figured the red one was hers and the aqua one was Talia's. On the side of each bag was a sleeping bag of a similar color.
"Hey! This thing is light! Wonder what's in here" Talia speculated, sitting down in the sand; Teena sat down next to her.
Talia opened the bag and thought she was going to die. Teena's eyes grew wide when she did the same.
"What the.?!" she marveled as she started to empty the bag. Inside both bags they found a jacket, clothes, underwear, socks, a pair of boots, some food, matches, bathing suits, pots, soap, other cleaning products, and more. But the thing that made them both go white was the shiny laptop. They both had one in their color.
"Wow.the clown knows how to shop." Talia remarked as she looked at the computer.
"Now I know he stole this." Teena said, not wanting to sound as impressed as she was. Talia then noticed Betamon was missing.
"Hey where did the little green guy go?" she queried as she started to repack her bag.
"I'm here," he affirmed as he trotted up from the water. Underneath him were about ten large fish.
"I thought I'd get us something for dinner. We should save some of the food for an emergency," he said. Teena had now gotten up.
"Lets eat then!" Teena insisted.
"We can make camp in the forest." Devimon said. "Staying here in the open isn't a good idea. We can eat after we find a place to camp, and then we can explain what's going on to our new friend here."
Teena nodded and threw her backpack over her shoulders. Devimon carried the fish and led them through the woods. Talia held her Digimon tightly as they walked through the dark forest.
~
Jenny and Erika had made camp in Myotismon's old castle. They felt safe being somewhere one of their Digimon was familiar with. Jenny snuggled into her sleeping bag. Devidramon held out his large claw and wrapped it around her, pulling her close to him. She smiled up at her Digimon.
"It was nice of Piedmon to give us this stuff," she remarked, looking over at Erika. Gazimon was snuggling in next to her. She giggled as his fur tickled her.
"Yeah; I guess I still don't like him though." Erika smiled.
"Yeah, me neither. He creeps me out," Jenny admitted, closing her eyes.
"Yes.Well, regardless, you girls really made him mad today. You should be more careful-Piedmon is dangerous. You forget that he might hurt you," Devidramon whispered. Of course both Digimon had begun to develop feelings for their DigiDestined. They cared for them very much; Devidramon especially because he had already met his DigiDestined four years ago. But both of them were in the stage were they cared more about revenge, and themselves. These DigiDestined were just tools. They weren't ready to take Piedmon on to protect their DigiDestined.Little did they know that this would change.
~
The DigiDestined still sat in Kari and Tai's living room. Izzy was still searching for Gennai, but was having problems. Kari was now watching TV like the rest of them. They were all worried now. They hadn't been able to get a hold of Gennai and they had been trying for four hours. It was now nine o'clock at night.
"And now for the news." the TV reporter said. All of them were bored and tired. Then Davis saw it.
"Hey, look you guys!" he exclaimed, pointing at the screen. They saw some junky footage of a large black creature jumping off of a building and flying into a light.
"That's what I saw." Kari said. "But there was a girl on its back."
"Hmm." Matt just sat, thinking.
"And in recent news, there are four young girls missing tonight. Teena Mehumi was in her room this morning, but when her mother came in to see her, she was gone." A picture of a girl with black hair appeared on the screen.
"Hey, do you think that this might be important? The last time children when missing it was because of a Digimon." Cody said, who had joined them later that afternoon.
"I don't know." T.K confessed. Now all of the kids were watching.
"Erika Varco was reported to not have attended afternoon classes, or even come home," the announcer continued. "Talia Venu was also reported missing a few hours ago. Apparently she had shown up for her karate lessons at Odaiba Middle School, but was unable to attend them. She hasn't been seen since. And Jenny Satoshi has also gone missing later this morning."
"Hey!" Kari cried, pointing at the picture. "That was the girl!"
"Are you sure?" Ken asked.
"Yes! That's her!" Kari shouted.
"Quiet!" Sora said, trying to shush them. "We don't know if these cases are linked. The only thing that all four girls shared was they all went to Odaiba Middle School."
"So." Tai said, looking at Kari. "Tomorrow's a day off; do you want to check out the school?" he asked. Kari nodded.
"I think Kari's right," Ken said. "Something's wrong. I can feel it. When I saw that footage I just felt cold all over."
"I agree.I don't like this. The fact that we can't find Gennai is worse." TK added.
"Okay, listen up. This is what we'll do," Tai commanded. "Izzy: you, Yolei, and Cody stay here. I want you guys to contact Gennai; at the same time, look up that Digimon we saw. I want to know everything about it. Ken, you and Davis try to contact the other DigiDestined around the world. Find out if anything weird has been going on and if any of them know those girls. Especially the one with the Digimon. It's a long shot, but we need to know if anyone else knows her. Tell Mimi she can do the same. Sora, Matt, and Joe can find out where those girls live. Talk to their parents-I want to know everything. And find out if they have friends that could help us. The rest of us will sneak into the school and look for clues. We'll meet back here; you can all spend the night if you like. I'm sure Mom wouldn't mind. Because if we haven't heard from Gennai by morning, I want to have a group of us go to the Digital World. I'm sure we all feel the same on this one. Something's up and I for one don't want to wait around to find out some creep has been plotting something again." They agreed and moved out, each group starting their own task.
~
Piedmon sat on top of a large building in his true form. He looked out at the bright lights and loud noise coming from the city. He smiled to himself. "These humans have no idea what I've got in store for them." he chuckled. "Soon these buildings will be gone and both worlds will cower before me. They'll all pay!"
"Tai." she panted, half out of breath. "We have a problem!" She was now holding her chest in pain.
"What is it, what's wrong?" he asked, trying to calm his sister.
"I.I.I was walking down the street when I saw a Devidramon jump off a building!" she puffed out. Tai just raised an eyebrow, wondering about his sister's sanity. She saw this and added, "I know you think this is weird, but there was a girl riding on him. They flew into a huge light in the sky." Kari was now able to catch most of her breath.
"I don't know why, but I feel like something's wrong. There was something strange about that Digimon, something bad. Tai, we have to call the others." she insisted, looking completely serious. Tai nodded. He didn't want to upset his sister, plus he didn't want to have another event like what happened eight months ago with MaloMyotismon.
"I'll call everyone and tell them to meet here," he affirmed, picking up the phone.
~
Jenny and Erika were now flying over the Digital World, heading to some old city Piedmon had told them about. They were supposed to meet up with another Digimon there. Piedmon had told Jenny that when they got there and found the new Digimon and his partner, she was to give him the chip. Apparently back when Piedmon had ruled the Digital World with the other Dark Masters, he had created a bunch of weapons and things. She didn't really understand what it was he was talking about; all she knew was that these things would help them take back the Digital World. All the information about them was on the disk. He told them that in the city they could create these weapons for their own use. The Digimon would find they would know what to do with the chip. They were to stay in the city, while Teena collected the other two DigiDestined and Digimon in the Digital World. She would then meet them there.
"So, what do you think these new weapons are like?" Erika asked, hanging tightly onto Jenny's waist so she wouldn't fall off. Gazimon sat in her arms so he was between the two girls.
"Who knows? If you want my opinion, it could be anything. That clown is crazy," she asserted, looking back at Erika. She then smiled evilly and teased, "So, are you going to ask him out?"
"Oh God! Don't say such things!" Erika shuddered at the thought. Jenny just laughed.
~
Meanwhile Devimon and Teena flew over the ocean. The cool air made her braided hair start to mess up. She shivered slightly as the cold wind picked up. Devimon noticed this and held her tighter, then moved his large arms back and forth warming her skin.
"Thanks..." She said smiling up at him. Devimon smiled down at her. She looked so lovely as the sun bounced off her pail skin. He had felt strange the moment he first saw her, he had never seen a girl so lovely. She was perfect, he thought. Everything he wanted. Nothing, no one would take her from him. He wasn't sure what exactly Piedmon's plan was, but knowing him, their DigiDestined were just stepping stones. He figured that they would become slaves just like all the other humans would when they had conquered both worlds. Slaves or worse.He shuddered at the thought. Regardless of what his fellow Virus Digimon did with their children, Teena would stay with him. He wouldn't let anything happen to her. He had only known her for a few hours but he felt an incredible connection between them. He smiled down at her again. She noticed this and just gave him a funny look.
"What?" she asked. He smiled again, "Nothing my dear." He said. Teena looked at him then just shrugged her shoulders, and looked out at the sea. "Beautiful" he whispered.
~
Kari sat in the room. Most of the DigiDestined were there: Ken, Yolei, Matt, Sora, Izzy, Tai, TK, and Joe. Mimi was online in America, talking to them through chat; Davis was late (of course). All of their Digimon were there and sat quietly. Kari got up and said, " I guess we should start without Davis." Just then she hear a large crash.
"WAIT! Don't start without us!" Davis cried as he burst through the door, completely out of breath.
"We would have been here sooner if Davis hadn't spent all day fixing his hair!" DemiVeemon announced, running into the room.
"Hey!" his human shouted. "I wasn't the one who had to eat on the way; you should have eaten before we left! Then we wouldn't have had to stop!"
"Davis, just sit down, Kari has something to tell us." Matt said. Davis quickly sat down as Kari explained what she had seen.
"So some DigiDestined decided to go joyriding, what's the problem with that." Joe asked.
"That's not the point. One, most of us DigiDestined are smart enough to not let our Digimon be seen unless it's important. Second, Kari hasn't been wrong about these things before. If she says something's wrong I believe her," Izzy informed them.
"So what do we do? We can't just burst into the Digital World ready for a fight, not knowing what's going on!" Yolei pointed out.
"I guess the best thing to do is to contact Gennai." Izzy theorized, hooking up his own computer.
"That's a good idea. Gennai would know what's going on, if something's up," Tai said.
"But wouldn't he have contacted us if there was something wrong?" Sora asked.
"We can't depend on that, bad things have happened before and we waited until the threat showed itself before we did anything," Matt said.
"I agree this time, if we have someone who thinks something's wrong, lets check it out. That way if something is up, we'll be ahead of the game." Ken said.
"Well, I hope you're all nice and comfortable, because this might take a while." Izzy said as he searched through his computer files. They had no choice but to wait.
~
Taila ran down the street in a huff, her golden hair flying in the wind. Damn, I'm going to be late! she thought. She was supposed to be at her karate lessons five minutes ago. She had signed up for karate at her school because it was closer than another place that offered it. She had just moved from California to Japan, and she was new to the area. She had gotten lost halfway here and had to get herself back on track. She smiled as she saw her school; bursting through the doors, she ran down the hall towards the gym. As she got to the door, her instructor opened it and glared at her.
"Only people who take karate seriously will be allowed to participate in my class. Next time come on time!" he barked as he slammed the door in her face. Taila just huffed and puffed. Normally she could talk her way out of anything, but she was too out of breath, and her instructor hadn't even given her a chance to explain.
Just great! she thought as she walked down the hall. She hated it here. She had only been here for a week, but she hated it. She wanted to be back home in California, where the ocean was. Japan's waters were nothing like the ones she knew and loved. Not only that, but she hadn't made one new friend. She scuffed her lucky sneakers along the ground as she walked down the hall. Now she had to wait for her mother to come and pick her up when she got off work. She couldn't find her way around in the daylight, let alone the dark. It was going on five o'clock, so her mother wouldn't be there for another hour or so. Talia walked into the computer lab and sat down. She could search around online until then. She moved the cursor around, clicking on things, when suddenly what appeared to be a strange screen saver popped up. It looked like a warm sandy beach.
"Hey!" Talia exclaimed as she attempted to get rid of it. "Damn it! Well, two can play at this game." She got up and walked over to the next computer. As soon as she touched the mouse the strange screen popped up again. Talia jumped in shock, then turned around. Her face went white. Every computer had the same picture on it. Weird.she thought as she took a step back. Suddenly, all the computers started to glow. She covered her eyes as it got brighter, and then screamed as she felt herself falling.
~
Talia felt warm all over as she felt herself waking up. She wondered how long she had been out for. She could hear the ocean as she tried to sit up and open her eyes. No way. she thought as she saw the clear blue waters crashing against the sandy beach. The sun was setting into the water and cast many shades of red and yellow in the sky. It was beautiful, just like home. She then heard a voice.
"You're awake." it said softly. She looked to where the voice was coming from and saw an aqua blue egg lying in the sand next to a round shiny object of the same color.
"What? Where am I?" she asked.
"You're with me, in the Digital World," the voice said. Taila got up and moved closer to the egg.
"Are you talking to me?" she asked as she bent down.
"Yeah, I am," it confirmed. "Hey, pick up the Digivice and let me out, will ya?!" it demanded as the egg glowed.
"Digivice.you mean this thing?" she inquired, picking it up. As soon as she did, the egg began to glow so bright she had to shield her eyes. When it stopped, she looked to see an amphibian-like creature gazing at her with big red eyes.
"Hi! I'm Betamon, and we're partners!" it proclaimed.
"You're who? My partner?" she asked.
"Hey!" another voice called out. Talia fell over as she watched a large winged man land in front of her.
"What the?!" she exclaimed, her eyes wide with fear.
"So, you must be one of the new DigiDestined," a girl with long black hair commented, eyeing her up. "I'm Teena, and this is Devimon," she explained, holding out her hand.
"Hey Devimon, how's it going?" Betamon questioned.
"Very good, though it's been a while since I've seen you. I believe last time you weren't so small," he teased. Betamon frowned.
"I'll be towering over you soon enough!" he shot back. Talia just lay in the sand dumbfounded for a moment, then reached up and took Teena's hand. She pulled her up off the ground.
"I'm Talia," she explained hesitantly, and started to brush the sand off of her jeans. "Hey.these aren't my clothes!" she said in shock.
"So I take it from the looks of you that you have no idea what's going on, do you?" Teena asked.
"Umm...no, I don't." Talia replied, examining herself. She was happy to find her sneakers remained the same.
"Teena, it's getting dark. I think we should find a place to camp for the night. Both of you will need rest," Devimon said as he watched the sun fade into the sea.
"Yeah, I'm getting hungry, too," Teena noted, hearing her stomach growl. "Too bad clown-boy didn't leave us some sleeping bags or food," she added.
"Oh, boo hoo, I didn't think you would need things like that, you being so tough and all," the now-familiar voice said. Teena saw the screen where the evil clown was laughing at her.
"Oh, go away! Are you going to watch us while we sleep now?!" she accused, having had her fill of the arrogant Digimon. Piedmon smiled evilly "Well, now that you mention it, how about I come and tuck you in, little girl?" He gave her a lustful look which shut her up for a moment. Devimon glared at him; he simply smiled back and said, "Don't worry, I have better things to do with my time. Anyway, I do have some backpacks here with camping supplies, food, and lots of things you'll find useful. There's one for every DigiDestined; I thought that while on Earth I'd pick up some things to make you feel more at home."
"You probably stole them." Teena commented.
"Hey Teena, who is this guy?" Talia questioned, pointing at the screen.
"Well, if you don't want them." he said slyly.
"Wait! We want them!" Talia cried out. "I don't know what's going on, but I don't want to sleep on the ground!"
"Well, perhaps if you apologize." Piedmon smiled evilly at Teena.
"Bite me!" she replied. He frowned.
"Well then, if you don't want to be nice, you will have to suffer." Piedmon glared.
"Wait, please!" Talia interjected, getting an idea. "I'm sure a man of your standards wouldn't stoop to her level. Your much more mature than that," she flattered, smiling. Piedmon ate it up.
"Well." Piedmon smiled. "Very well, but I promise you, Teena: If your attitude doesn't change, you will regret it." With that, he disappeared. Two backpacks appeared beside them.
"Oh, I'm so scared," Teena growled under her breath.
"You should be." Devimon warned. This got a surprised reaction from his partner. "I'll do everything I can to protect you, but Piedmon is not someone you want on your bad side. He's very powerful, Teena, and completely unpredictable." Teena flashed him an angry look, then turned to Talia.
"And what was that all about?" she charged.
"Hey, let the clown think what he wants if it means we get the bags. I don't care what he thinks; I didn't mean a damn thing of what I said," she assured. "But you didn't have to apologize and we still got the stuff."
"You're a sneaky one, good stuff," Teena approved, smiling, then bent down to pick up the bag. She figured the red one was hers and the aqua one was Talia's. On the side of each bag was a sleeping bag of a similar color.
"Hey! This thing is light! Wonder what's in here" Talia speculated, sitting down in the sand; Teena sat down next to her.
Talia opened the bag and thought she was going to die. Teena's eyes grew wide when she did the same.
"What the.?!" she marveled as she started to empty the bag. Inside both bags they found a jacket, clothes, underwear, socks, a pair of boots, some food, matches, bathing suits, pots, soap, other cleaning products, and more. But the thing that made them both go white was the shiny laptop. They both had one in their color.
"Wow.the clown knows how to shop." Talia remarked as she looked at the computer.
"Now I know he stole this." Teena said, not wanting to sound as impressed as she was. Talia then noticed Betamon was missing.
"Hey where did the little green guy go?" she queried as she started to repack her bag.
"I'm here," he affirmed as he trotted up from the water. Underneath him were about ten large fish.
"I thought I'd get us something for dinner. We should save some of the food for an emergency," he said. Teena had now gotten up.
"Lets eat then!" Teena insisted.
"We can make camp in the forest." Devimon said. "Staying here in the open isn't a good idea. We can eat after we find a place to camp, and then we can explain what's going on to our new friend here."
Teena nodded and threw her backpack over her shoulders. Devimon carried the fish and led them through the woods. Talia held her Digimon tightly as they walked through the dark forest.
~
Jenny and Erika had made camp in Myotismon's old castle. They felt safe being somewhere one of their Digimon was familiar with. Jenny snuggled into her sleeping bag. Devidramon held out his large claw and wrapped it around her, pulling her close to him. She smiled up at her Digimon.
"It was nice of Piedmon to give us this stuff," she remarked, looking over at Erika. Gazimon was snuggling in next to her. She giggled as his fur tickled her.
"Yeah; I guess I still don't like him though." Erika smiled.
"Yeah, me neither. He creeps me out," Jenny admitted, closing her eyes.
"Yes.Well, regardless, you girls really made him mad today. You should be more careful-Piedmon is dangerous. You forget that he might hurt you," Devidramon whispered. Of course both Digimon had begun to develop feelings for their DigiDestined. They cared for them very much; Devidramon especially because he had already met his DigiDestined four years ago. But both of them were in the stage were they cared more about revenge, and themselves. These DigiDestined were just tools. They weren't ready to take Piedmon on to protect their DigiDestined.Little did they know that this would change.
~
The DigiDestined still sat in Kari and Tai's living room. Izzy was still searching for Gennai, but was having problems. Kari was now watching TV like the rest of them. They were all worried now. They hadn't been able to get a hold of Gennai and they had been trying for four hours. It was now nine o'clock at night.
"And now for the news." the TV reporter said. All of them were bored and tired. Then Davis saw it.
"Hey, look you guys!" he exclaimed, pointing at the screen. They saw some junky footage of a large black creature jumping off of a building and flying into a light.
"That's what I saw." Kari said. "But there was a girl on its back."
"Hmm." Matt just sat, thinking.
"And in recent news, there are four young girls missing tonight. Teena Mehumi was in her room this morning, but when her mother came in to see her, she was gone." A picture of a girl with black hair appeared on the screen.
"Hey, do you think that this might be important? The last time children when missing it was because of a Digimon." Cody said, who had joined them later that afternoon.
"I don't know." T.K confessed. Now all of the kids were watching.
"Erika Varco was reported to not have attended afternoon classes, or even come home," the announcer continued. "Talia Venu was also reported missing a few hours ago. Apparently she had shown up for her karate lessons at Odaiba Middle School, but was unable to attend them. She hasn't been seen since. And Jenny Satoshi has also gone missing later this morning."
"Hey!" Kari cried, pointing at the picture. "That was the girl!"
"Are you sure?" Ken asked.
"Yes! That's her!" Kari shouted.
"Quiet!" Sora said, trying to shush them. "We don't know if these cases are linked. The only thing that all four girls shared was they all went to Odaiba Middle School."
"So." Tai said, looking at Kari. "Tomorrow's a day off; do you want to check out the school?" he asked. Kari nodded.
"I think Kari's right," Ken said. "Something's wrong. I can feel it. When I saw that footage I just felt cold all over."
"I agree.I don't like this. The fact that we can't find Gennai is worse." TK added.
"Okay, listen up. This is what we'll do," Tai commanded. "Izzy: you, Yolei, and Cody stay here. I want you guys to contact Gennai; at the same time, look up that Digimon we saw. I want to know everything about it. Ken, you and Davis try to contact the other DigiDestined around the world. Find out if anything weird has been going on and if any of them know those girls. Especially the one with the Digimon. It's a long shot, but we need to know if anyone else knows her. Tell Mimi she can do the same. Sora, Matt, and Joe can find out where those girls live. Talk to their parents-I want to know everything. And find out if they have friends that could help us. The rest of us will sneak into the school and look for clues. We'll meet back here; you can all spend the night if you like. I'm sure Mom wouldn't mind. Because if we haven't heard from Gennai by morning, I want to have a group of us go to the Digital World. I'm sure we all feel the same on this one. Something's up and I for one don't want to wait around to find out some creep has been plotting something again." They agreed and moved out, each group starting their own task.
~
Piedmon sat on top of a large building in his true form. He looked out at the bright lights and loud noise coming from the city. He smiled to himself. "These humans have no idea what I've got in store for them." he chuckled. "Soon these buildings will be gone and both worlds will cower before me. They'll all pay!"