Digimon: Pokedestined 03
"Fire-Dog's Rage; The Blast of Fire!"
"So, what did you learn, Izzy?"
"Well, I've done as much checking as I dare on your pokedex, Kyle, and I've found something interesting. Have a look."
After about a week in the Digital world, Kyle had come through the portal to the world of the Digidestined, hoping to figure out some way of getting home. To that end, Izzy had agreed to examine Kyle's modified pokedex, to see if there might be any clues.
Izzy indicated a section of Kyle's pokedex. "I was checking this device last night, and I accessed the digiportal function."
"As you know, the digivices that the Davis, Kari and the others have is able to detect digieggs, and open portals to the digital world. Here, "he pressed a few buttons on the pokedex mini keyboard, "I managed to access a function called 'portal 2', but it's been disabled for some reason. I think if we manage to get this function working, we might be able to find a way for you to get home. It looks like some sort of missing code block."
"Code block?" Kyle asked.
"Yes, it's like there's a whole block of programming missing. It's the only annoying bit from an otherwise remarkable piece of technology. It's a lot more compact than the digimon analyzer I used."
"Digimon analyzer?"
"Here, I'll show you." Izzy pulled out an old laptop. Grinning, he said "I haven't used this in a while, except to keep track of my trig trapper score. Anyway, I'll just pull up the analyzer and..." Izzy quickly clicked open a series of pictures, obscuring the background picture. Clearly embarrassed over something, he asked "you didn't see anything, did you?"
Unable to repress a grin, Kyle said "Nopenopenope, I definitely did *not* see that picture of Kari on the startup screen."
"Please....don't tell her about it....."
==5 minutes later==
"This display is pretty neat; I wish the pokedexes were set up like this."
"It was a bit of a lifesaver...huh? Mail from Gennai!"
"Who?"
"Gennai was a person who lived in the digital world. He and a group of others were responsible for the original digivices, giving us our digimon, the works. I wonder what he wants?"
Opening the email, A small tinny voice came from Izzy's laptop. "Hello, and long time no speak, Izzy. I understand we have a visitor from another world here. Get in touch if you get the chance, I need to ask him a few things" The message ended.
"If he's still online, I might be able to gt in touch with him; ever since my last trip to the digital world, I've been trying to create some sort of 2 way communication system with him."
"You mean like an IRC system?"
"Yeah. Here goes." Hitting a few keys, Izzy sent a signal from his computer to the source of the email he had just received. Another window opened up, and Gennai's face appeared in it.
"Ahh, Izzy, I'm suprised. You managed to set up a videolink; good, that'll make things much faster. Now, is our mystery guest here?"
"Right here, sir" Kyle said.
"Ahh, don't bother with the 'sir' stuff, just call me Gennai. Now, tell me about what happened. Don't be too long, I don't know what the local phone rates are."
Kyle quickly related the events that brought him to the Digital World, his first encounter with the emperor, and what had happened since then. Gennai listened to the narrative, then asked "A Porygon, you say? Small, looks a bit like a duck, angular?"
"You've seen one?!" Kyle asked, suprised.
"Yes, but you're not going to like it. One of my digimon agents spotted a being matching that description being carried away to one of the Emperor's hideouts, about three days ago."
"We have to get it back! There's no telling what that creep could do!!"
"Slow down, Kyle. You won't accomplish anything if you go charging into this. You have your digivice?"
Kyle took out his pokedex. "You mean my pokedex?"
Gennai looked at the device. "Hmm, looks like the digivice that was sent to you fused with your pokedex. Can you hook it up? I want to do some diagnostics on it."
Kyle set the pokedex down, and Izzy hooked up a cable adapter from his laptop to the pokedex. "It's hooked up" he announced. "Good," Gennai said, "I'll need a minute or two."
As Gennai worked, Kyle asked "So how does this Gennai guy know about the digivices, anyway?"
"He's one of the ones that helped construct it. That, our tags and crests, selected our digimon for us, if it wasn't for him and his group, we would never have even known about the digital world, much less saved it."
"Group?"
"Ask me about it later, I think he's done" Izzy said. As Kyle watched, his pokedex seemed to glow for a moment, then returned to normal.
"Kyle, I've upgraded your pokedex, it should be a bit more stable now. In fact, except for one major component, you should be able to open a digital gate to your own world."
"Major component?"
"Yes, you need a program code that originates from your world. Based on what you've told me, Porygon should be what you need to open a portal."
"So it's even more important that before to get Porygon."
"Yep. Oh, I've also added in a few extras to your pokedex. I won't go into any details, you'll see what they are as you go along. Well my server's about to time out, so I'll have to sign off. Later!" The connection terminated abruptly.
"'As you go along...' Is he always like that?"
"'Fraid so. Come on, let's contact the others."
===
"How's he doing?" Kari asked as she, Kyle, Eevee and Growlithe, who was still unconscious, raced back on Nefertimon to the portal home.
"Not good, he's still unconscious. How far to the portal?" Kyle replied. Eevee was perched on Kyle's shoulder, while Kyle held onto Growlithe's still body.
"We're almost there! Don't worry, he'll be alright."
Inwardly, Kyle kicked himself for the nth time. From a technical standpoint, they had achieved everything they had set out to do; One of the emperor's bases was wrecked, and Porygon had been retrieved. But the trap they were expecting came off in a way none of the digidestined never expected...
==
"Growlithe, finish it with an Ember attack!" "Growl!!"
"GOLD RUSH!"
"Fire Rocket!"
The last of the emperor's guards had fallen; in the tighter confines of the base, it was difficult for the Guardromon to use their grenade destroyer attack without catching themselves in the blast. Kyle, Growlithe, Eevee, Davis, Flamedramon, Cody, and Digmon entered the room.
"Is it just me," Cody said, "or was that too easy?"
"Hey, we're the good guys." Davis said. "And the good guys always kick the villain's butt. Hey, Kyle, this what you're looking for?" Davis indicated a small cage in one corner of the room. Pulling out his pokedex, Kyle scanned the creature within.
Brightening, he said "Yep, that's Porygon. You OK in there?"
"Pory? Porygon, Pory." Porygon nodded.
"Good then. Get into this pokeball and I'll get you home." Kyle pulled out one of his unused pokeballs, opened it, and the digital pokemon was pulled inside.
"That's handy" Davis said, looking sidelong at Flamedramon.
"Don't. Even. Think. About it." Flamedramon replied, deadpan.
==
"Master?"
Wormmon watched with his 'master', Ken, a.k.a. the Digimon Emperor, as the digidestined retrieved Porygon and got ready to leave.
"Excellent," Ken said, "My plan is proceeding exactly as I predicted. I've gotten everything I need from that creature of theirs, and that old shack was expendable anyway."
"Everything you needed?"
"You wouldn't understand, your brain is much too feeble to see what I have in store." Plus, Ken went on to himself, If I can adapt the way data from several different creatures was used to create this Porygon thing, I might be able to create a better partner for myself...
"Still," Ken continued out loud, "The mice did run the maze, and deserve something for all their efforts." Activating a keyboard, the Emperor called up a bullseye on the screen, over Flamedramon's head. "Now, my little blue friend, your power shall be mine."
==
Unnoticed to the digidestined, a small part of the wall faded out of existence and a black ring slowly floated out, creeping towards Flamedramon. At the last instant, it picked up speed, and shot towards the unsuspecting digimon...
Who was promptly knocked out of the way by Growlithe. The fire pokemon had sensed the ring an instant before anyone else could, and tackled Flamedramon before the ring could hit. Unable to change it's course, the ring locked into position around Growlithe's neck, and crackled with an evil black energy.
"Growlithe!" Kyle called, as the pokemon leaped away, towards the center of the room. As everyone watched, he glowed, the way Cubone did when he evolved into Marowak, although the light that shone now was tained with shades of some dark energy. Growlithe's form twisted, expanded, and resolved into a form Kyle knew very well: Growlithe's fully evolved form of Arcanine!
"What happened?" Cody said, stunned by the sight before him.
"I think I saw a dark ring appear, it nearly got me, but Growlithe knocked me out of the way. Hey, thanks big-" Flamedramon's words were lost as Arcanine tried to bite Flamedramon's hand off!
"Was it something I said?" Flamedramon said, stunned. "Kyle," Davis yelled, "can you call your dog off? I don't want to start calling Flamedramon 'Leftymon'!"
"There's a dark ring around him!" Cody said. "Digmon, can you get it?"
"Sure thing, Cody! Gold OOOFFF!!!!" The Armour Digimon was knocked over by Arcanine's charge. Digmon hit the far wall, glowed, and reverted to Armadillomon. "Ouch."
"Get him Flamedramon!" Davis called. "Marowak, back him up!" Kyle added, releasing the small ground type pokemon.
The two creatures charged Arcanine head on, both winding up their strongest attack.
==
"This was unexpected" Ken said, watching the battle. He had hoped to capture Flamedramon and learn his secrets, but this was an entirely unexpected bonus!
"Popcorn, master?"
"SHUT UP!"
==
TK, Kari, and Yolei were still waiting outside of the base. The original plan was that the flying Digimon would provide cover, while the rest of the team went in and tried to recover Porygon. Plus, the smaller area inside the building would limit the ability of the flying digimon to move around in a battle.
"They've been gone a while, I hope they're alright." Yolei said, looking at the building.
"I'm sure they're fine," TK said, "What could possibly go wrong?"
The building chose to answer that by having one of its walls explode outwards, Veemon and Marowak flying out of the building onto the ground. The two fighters got up slowly, as Arcanine walked out of the building.
"I hate it when you say that" Kari said, as the airborne digimon and digidestined came down for a closer look.
Seeing Arcanine, Yolei asked, "Is that a giant sized Growlithe?"
At Arcanine's growl, Kari answered "Let's not stay here to find out. Everyone FLY!" The flying Digimon scattered, just as Arcanine shot a huge gout of fire at them, before giving chase. As he left, the other digidestined came out.
"Marowak!" Kyle called. Marowak saw Kyle coming towards him, and gave a thumbs up. "You're pretty badly hurt, you'd better rest for a while." Pulling out a pokeball, Kyle recalled the injured ground type pokemon.
"You OK Veemon?" Davis asked, crouching beside Veemon. "Yeah, just get the number of the Whamon that ran over me..." Standing up, Davis turned to Kyle. "OK, spill. What was that thing?"
"Arcanine, Growlithe's fully evolved form. He's known for his incredibe agility despite his large size, as well as his powerful fire attacks." Kyle turned away, and ran towards Arcanine, who was at present trying to fight the flying digimon.
"Where are you going?" Davis said.
"Growlithe or Arcanine, he's still my pokemon, and I'm not going to let him get hurt because of me!" Eevee, forgotten in the confusion, chased after him.
"He's going to get himself killed!" Davis said, picking up Veemon and going after him.
"Loyalty's like that" Cody replied, and went after him. "Wait for me!" Armadillomon said.
==
"Blast it!"
"Not enough butter, master?"
"I can't control Arcanine; he must be different from the other digimon in some way. Never mind, he's still berserk, I might as well sit back and enjoy it."
==
"Golden Noose!"
Nefertimon and Pegasusmon flew towards Arcanine, golden line shimmering. The lariat caught Arcanine as he tried to leap over it, and the two digimon quickly tied Arcanine up, rendering him immobile. Kyle caught up with the battle, calling out 'Don't hurt him, it's Growlithe's evolved form! There's a control ring on him!"
"So that's what got into him." TK said, as they landed. "What happened?"
"Growlithe saved Flamedramon from being caught by a dark ring, but he got caught himself. Then he evolved and went nuts."
Kyle walked towards Arcanine, trying to look as unthreatening as possible. "Arcanine, it's me, Kyle. Do you remember me?"
The fire pokemon looked up, and a confused look crossed it's face. Then the ring crackled again with dark energy, and the look passed, being replaced with an expression of sheer rage. Roaring, Arcanine fought against the golden lariat holding it down, snapped it, and leaped straight at Kyle.
An invisible barrier stopped Arcanine's attack; Eevee had managed to get between the trainer and the berserk pokemon, and threw up a Reflect to stop the attack. Seeing an opening, Kyle pulled out Growlithe's pokeball, and opened ut up. "Arcanine, return!" The giant dog vanished in a flash of red, and returned to the pokeball.
"That should hold him." Kyle said, then stopped. The pokeball was acting unusually. It was getting...
Warm?
"It's gonna give out! Get clear!" Kyle yelled as he threw the pokeball away from him. The ball exploded in midair, and Arcanine reformed, now truly enraged.
"Star Shower!"
"Rosetta Stone!"
"Tempest Wing!"
The three attacks shot towards Arcanine, but his agility enabled him to dodge the attacks. He fired another blast of fire at the airborne digimon; Halsemon and Nefertimon got clear; Pegasusmon was caught in one of his wings, and fell.
Kyle started to move to assist TK, but Arcanine got between him and the rest of the digidestined. "Kyle!" Kari called. "Get clear so we can stop him!"
"No, this is my fight! Arcanine is my pokemon, and my responsibility. If there's anything left of the pokemon I grew up with, I'm going to reach it!"
Kyle walked towards Arcanine. "Arcanine, I know you can hear me. Now stop acting like this and settle down!" Arcaine turned to face his trainer, and howled. Out of nowhere, a giant blue waterspout formed.
Dragon Rage! Kyle thought to himself, I'm finished!
The attack shot towards Kyle, and would have hit if Eevee hadn't managed to put up another Reflect. "Eevee!" Kyle said. "You're alright!"
The little evolution pokemon panted, strained by the effort of creating another defensive barrier. "Listen, you can't keep this up much longer. Get clear, I'll be alright!"
Before Kyle could continue, Arcanine fired again. This time, it was a long stream of flame, that impacted on Eevee's reflect. Despite the heat, Eevee held onto the shield, although the strain was clearly showing. Changing attacks, Arcanine charged, intent on simply stampeding through the weakened barrier.
There was a sharp pop, and Porygon appeared. Seeing the oncoming pokemon, Porygon fired a barrage of small triangles at Arcanine, distracting him. Arcanine fired a second blast at Porygon, who just stood there. At the last second, Porygon's colour seemed to turn reddish, as the fire wave hit it square on. Porygon emerged from the attack, slightly scorched, but otherwise unharmed.
"Now, while he's distracted!" TK Yelled. All the digimon launched their best attacks; Halsemon, Pegasusmon, and Nefertimon's attacks disoriented it enough for Veemon to hit the ring square on with a headbutt. It shattered, and Arcanine slumped to the ground, defeated. He glowed white for a moment, then de-evolved back to Growlithe.
The digidestined ran towards the fallen pokemon, to check on his condition. "How is he?" Davis asked. "He got hit pretty hard," TK said, "We'd better get him to a doctor. At the very least, we should get him out of here!"
"Come on!" Kari said. "Nefertimon and I can get you to the nearest portal-What's happening to Porygon?"
Porygon glowed bright white, and, like the evolution the digidestined had seen before, Porygon also changed shape. Its form became less angular, it's beak now thin and narrow. "Porygon2" it said.
Opening up his pokedex, Kyle scanned the creature. "Porygon2" it said, "the evolved form of Porygon. It's programming code is more advanced, enabling it to respond to a wider array of situations." Porygon2, still hovering in midair, turned to face Kyle, or rather, his pokedex. Then the pokemon seemed to glow again, and dove *into* Kyle's pokedex. Porygon2's image appeared on the screen for a moment, then faded, closing back up. The digivice insignia glowed as the device finished closing up.
"Deal with it later" TK said, "You've got a pokemon to take care of."
Kyle, carrying Growlithe, and Eevee hopped on Nefertimon's back and, with Kari to navigate, set off for the nearest portal.
"We'd better get word to Izzy that we're coming in with a wounded pokemon" Cody said. "Good plan" Davis said, pulling out his terminal, and sending an urgent email to Izzy. Davis also cc'd it to Joe, as that person had the best medical training of all of them.
==
"There's the portal" Kari called as Nefertimon landed and devolved back to Gatomon.
"Then let's not waste any time!" Kyle said, pulling out his pokedex.
In his concern over Growlithe's condition, it is understandable that he failed to link Gennai's message about how to get home with what happened to Porygon2 at the end of their last battle.
"Digiportal Open!" The screen glowed, and the digidestined, and their partners were pulled in. Kari's last thought was that this felt somehow different from the other times she went through the portal...
==
-Stone Town Pokemon Center-
Nurse Joy looked at the figure of Mikhail Ellison, father of the missing Kyle Ellison, still waiting by the videophone for any news about his son. All anyone knew was that, after Kyle had visited Professor Bill Cedars' lab to view a new pokemon experiment, he and his pokemon had been missing for a week now.
"Mike, you know we'll let you know as soon as any word comes in." Joy said.
"I know" the tired ex-police officer said, "I know. I just feel so blasted helpless. If I don't do something, I'll go nuts."
Joy was about to reply, when Chansey ran into the waiting area, excited about something. "What is it, Chansey?" The pokemon grabbed Joy and dragged her to the pokemon storage area, where the local trainers kept the pokemon they weren't using at that point. Intrigued (and glad to have something to distract him, even temporarily), Mikhail followed.
Inside the storage area, one of the computers that received transported pokeballs was coming to life on its own, even though Joy had received no reports of incoming pokemon. As they watched, the screen faded, turned a bright blue...
Then a digital portal opened up, and Kyle and Kari came out of the screen!
As the various beings regarded each other in stunned silence for a minute, only Kyle found the strength to speak. "Dad?"
To be continued...