"Nngh

"Nngh....I feel like I've just been hit by a train." Gatomon said as they entered the lab once again.

"You practically were." Kari replied. "Neuromon is one tough digimon."

"One of the strongest I've ever seen." added Tai. "He could hang out with the Dark Masters, if they were still around."

"Doesn't sound like that would be a good thing." said Misty.

"And what about those birds? Those were pokemon?!" Yolei said with disbelief.

"They're the only ones of their kind." Brock answered. "That's why they're so tough."

"And that's why we lost." Ash groaned. The pokemon trainer stretched his arm around to try and help get rid of the aches and pains in his body after falling into the ocean from so high in the air.

"Their strength had nothing to do with them winning." Mewtwo mumbled as he stumbled into the lab, still wounded from the battle and not in the best of moods. All the way back, he had been silent. Nobody dared ask him if he was alright, seeing as how mad he was that they failed in stopping Seth. "It was simply a matter of better organization and foresight. Seth knew the battle would occur over water, thus taking away many of our potential combatants, while giving the legendary birds the advantage. They knew the best way to fight us."

"What do you mean 'better organization and foresight'?" said Davis angrily. "Those guys took out all of us when we outnumbered them 3 to 1!"

Mewtwo growled and slammed a telekinetic 'fist' into the ground, shattering a sizeable section of his marble floor, and startling the others enough to make them scream. When the shards of the ground finished falling, the others could see Mewtwo's eyes burning with rage. The digimon instictively got in front of their respective partners, and Pikachu charged up in anticipation of a battle.

The steady hum of Mewtwo's power receded, and the bluish light that surrounded him dimmed to nothing. Speaking softly, yet with a definite tone of anger in it, the pokemon said, "They are not stronger. We didn't have an overall strategy. They did. They divided us up, and finished each of us off methodically. Brains won this battle- not muscle."

The kids were still a little scared from Mewtwo's sudden outburst, but they and their nonhuman partners let their guard drop, although they still weren't too sure if he was going to hurt any of them. Mewtwo remained visibly angry however, finishing with, "They may have won this battle, but the war is not over. Seth has only brought the two species together. We still have at least a day until he can implement the final stage of his experiment."

"Then what? Without that big blue thing in the sky, we can't go to our world." Agumon said. "Unless you have a way to get there."

"...ask me again tomorrow, once you have all finished resting." Mewtwo said, walking down towards his lab.

"And what about you?!" yelled Biyomon as Mewtwo shut the massive doorway mentally, leaving them to their own devices.

"Man, I hate that thing." Davis said, walking back to their room. "Always so secretive, and acting all big and bad."

"That 'thing' saved our lives." TK said. "He managed to stand up to that mega-digimon, when our digimon were unable to beat him."

"He also saved Sora's and Biyomon's lives." Matt added. "I don't know how, or why, but he protected you two, at the risk of his own life."

"...Yeah...he did.", Sora said, as if she weren't paying attention, but lost in her own thoughts. Biyomon looked with concern at her friend.

"Well, at least we can sleep now." Veemon said. "Next time we'll teach those overgrown parrots a lesson!"

"You said it, Veemon!" cheered Davis. "We'll show 'em next time!"

****

"...And that's the whole story." Bahamon said. Seth frowned as the digimon finished relating his discription of the battle. Seth was glad that the first stage had been completed, but it was too close for comfort.

"I could see Mewtwo at the portal. He was ready to blast me into nonexistence." Seth said, obviously angry at being so close to the pokemon. "So, that means that not only did you fail in keeping him away...you had the chance to destroy him after he came back, and yet he ended up destroying Neuromon?"

Bahamon nodded nervously, but maintained his cute, innocent smile. "Uh huh."

Seth paced towards the computer, not saying anything for a while. He rapped his fingers on the computer console before him, staring at the screen where the satellite schematics continued to swirl.

"Um...Seth, are you okay?" Bahamon asked. "I'm sorry if I'm not good enough for you, but I tried my very best."

Seth turned around and leaned against the massive computer terminal. "I know you did..."

"...Are you mad at me?" the little digimon asked, backing away with a look of fear in his face, and little tears forming in his eyes. "I didn't mean to make you mad..."

Seth shook his head no. "I'm just annoyed is all."

Bahamon breathed a sigh of relief, and smiled. "I'm glad. I never ever want to make you sad." the digimon said in his childish voice.

Seth smiled. "I'm glad. Hey, could you do me a favor?"

Bahamon hopped up and down. "Anything to make you feel better!"

"Could you stand on that lighted circle in the middle of the room?" said Seth, turning to the computer terminal.

Bahamon did as he was asked, remembering that he was 'born' here only days before. "What are we going to do? Something fun?"

"Computer, delete file 'Bahamon' now."

"Huh?!" Bahamon's little face instantly filled with shock as his body dematerialized into digital particles, and eventually disissapated into nothing. All that was left was the echoes of a final scream from the little digimon.

"Well, now that that's out of the way, time to make a better weapon." Seth said, tapping his fingers on the terminal. "...Computer, turn on Napster file 'all.m3u', please. Track 6." Instantly, the song "Man Overboard" by Blink 182 played over the speakers in the lab. As the song played, Seth loaded his program to make a new digimon, and sung along with Blink 182..

"So sorry....it's over....so sorry....it's over...."

****

Mewtwo paced around the lab, ignoring his exhaustion out of habit. He couldn't forget the battle...he couldn't get it out of his mind...

Mewtwo activated the automated recorder, and began to speak. "December 22nd, 2000. Today, we engaged in a battle with Seth's minions...namely, the four legendary birds. The battle ended with Seth's transporation of the pokemon being completed, but we survived, and the digimon named Neuromon was defeated.". The pokemon paced, still feeling something inside that was annoying him to no end.

["Sora!! Get out of there!" shouted Tai as loud as he could. "SORA!!" Sora looked around from her spot on Garudamon, but she couldn't let go. She didn't want to leave her friend. ]

"I could hear their cries in my mind..." Mewtwo thought.

[Neuromon turned to Garudamon, saying "And then there was one." Neuromon started to power up for his attack, while Garudamon slammed her fists futilely at the mega-digimon's thick hide.]

"I was on my way to attack Seth. He was undefended, and his eyes locked with mine when he saw that I had made my way to him. As I charged up for an attack to destroy him and his Watch that controlled his machines, I was distracted by my thoughts..."

["SORA! NO!!!" Tai shouted. "Garudamon, get out of there, before-"

"Dream of God!!!" shouted Neuromon, unleashing the full force of the attack at Garudamon. Sora screamed and held onto Garudamon, hoping that she wouldn't let go even if she were to die...]

"Instinct took over. I teleported to where I sensed Sora to be, and brought my powers to the limit. It hurt like nothing I had ever felt before...as if my body were being held inside a fiery furnace."

["NOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!" shouted Tai, falling to his knees as the attack left Neuromon's body.

"Wait, Tai, look!!" Agumon shouted, pointing up. Tai's gaze fell up as the energies of the attack seemed to freeze in front of Garudamon.

"What the...it can't be!" Neuromon shouted, as the energies of his own attack were seemingly stopped dead in its tracks. Neuromon stared in horror as the sillohuette of Mewtwo became apparent in front of Garudamon...]

"Nobody could believe that I was diverting the power of a mega-digimon's primary attack. I didn't care about that detail. I was focused on destroying Neuromon, for trying to hurt Sora."

[Mewtwo lifted his wounded arm, and the massive energy wave did the same, swirling around his outstretched hand.

"Let's see how you fair against your own attack at double strength." Mewtwo said simply. A quick burst of blue flame surged around Mewtwo, and the power of the attack doubled as it was launched back at Neuromon.]

"Never in my short life, have I ever felt the need to help a human. The situation with Ash and his friends showed me the nature of humanity and their connection to pokemon, when Ash was returned to life with their tears. However, even then I held a hatred for humans...for wanting to create something as horrible as me for the simple purpose of fighting."

Mewtwo turned to the computer terminal, where data from the battle today was being inputed through the minicomputers in his wristband that protected him from the signal.

"Perhaps, today, for the first time ever, my instinct as a pokemon awakened. For one moment in time...I was willing to die for one human. For the girl that tried to help me when I was sad. For Sora." After a long pause, Mewtwo ended the recorder, and floated towards his private chambers, unaware of the other presence in the room.

"Mewtwo?" said Sora from the shadows, making Mewtwo cringe in mid-flight. Slowly turning around, he saw her walk up to the floating pokemon, who looked down at her with an angry stare.

"I thought you were all resting. You may not have been the ones taking the beating, but you must be tired and sore after the fight."

"I know, I just was coming to give you something before I went to take a bath."

Mewtwo floated down to the ground with a suspicious look in his eye. "What is it?"

"This." said Sora as her arms circled around Mewtwo in a crushing hug. Mewtwo cringed, but wasn't sure how to get her off. After several moments though, the pokemon felt his disgust draining away. Slowly, he felt...warmth enter his body.

Sora rested her head on his furry body. "Thank you, for being there."

Mewtwo said nothing, still unsure of how to deal with this. Eventually, Sora released him, allowing Mewtwo to step back a few steps. Sora frowned when she saw his blatant discomfort.

"I'm sorry if I scared you." she said, looking at the ground. "I just wanted to thank you...and make you less lonely. ...I'll go now." slowly Sora turned and walked back down the hall, heading for the girls' bathroom.

Mewtwo watched her walk away, and looked down at the ground in deep thought. Soon, the pokemon turned and headed for his private chambers, wondering if this was a normal feeling for all pokemon towards humans.

****

Misty sighed as she sank into the large, hot bath, feeling the pain in her back melt away. Blowing some bubbles, she soon resurfaced with a full head of wet, bright red hair. Moving it from her face, she watched as the other girls enjoyed the same feeling of total relaxation.

"Ahh....now this is a bath." Kari said.

"It reminds me of our days in the Digital World." Mimi said. "Remember when we found that mansion with a bath just like this?"

Sora nodded. "Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. Only this time, Gomamon won't come floating in."

"... pervert." Yolei said, giggling with the others.

"Aww, I like Gomamon. He's such a cute little guy...and a water digimon too!" Misty said, splashing the purple-haired girl in mock anger. Yolei and Mimi splashed back, and a little splashing war ensued between them all.

"He and Joe are quite the characters." Mimi said. "I remember when Joe was afraid of just about everything. It really got on my nerves at the time, but I can't really talk, since I know that I was kinda annoying myself."

"Now that's the understatement of the century." Sora said, laughing when Mimi stuck her tongue at her.

"It must have been a pain having to spend all that time with each other, like one big family." Yolei said. "I can't stand my family sometimes, but at least I can get away from them when I need to. You guys were stuck with each other for a long time."

"We all had our share of fights. Especially Tai and Matt. They hated each other for the longest time." Sora said.

"What did they fight about?" Misty asked.

"They disagreed with just about everything. Basically, they were both trying to be the leader, and they each had their own way of doing everything."

"That must have been such a pain to listen too for days on end." Kari said. "I know how stubborn Tai can be."

"Ash is the same way." said Misty. "He and I fight all the time, but eventually we make up, and everything's fine until the next argument."

"You sound like you're married." Yolei said, making Misty blush and the others giggle. Another laugh could just barely be heard outside the room, as if someone had ran past the door.

After everyone went silent, Mimi asked "What was that?".

****

Davis and TK couldn't stop laughing as Ash re-entered the boys' bedroom holding an armful of girls' clothes. Tai and Matt rolled over laughing when he triumphantly cast the clothing onto the floor. Pikachu and the digimon had little to say, since they were asleep after being totally exhausted from the battle.

Brock looked up at the commotion, while Izzy made his next move on the chess board they convinced Dragonite to get for them. Cody and Joe, who were watching the game, also turned to the little "Truth or Dare" session the others were having to help get the stress from the day out of their systems.

"Could you guys keep it down? We're trying to concentrate over here." Brock said, trying to stop himself from laughing at the dare Ash just completed.

"You guys are crazy." Joe added.

"Why don't you join us, Joe? You'd be a hoot in this." Tai said, making a spot in their little circle for him. "Sorry Cody, but you're too young for this."

"I'm not stupid enough to play that game anyway." Cody said, watching Izzy move his pawn up a space.

"Sorry guys, but I'm going to have to side with Cody on this one. Besides, the idea of the girls pounding me into oblivion isn't one I'm too keen on."

"Oh, come on. All you have to do is say Truth all the time, and you won't have to do any Dares to the girls." Matt said.

Joe thought for a moment, and the guys in the circle started to chant Joe's name, until finally he relented and sat in the circle (and there was much rejoicing. *Yay...*).

"Okay Ash, your turn." Davis said, being the one to dare him to swipe the bathrobes.

Ash nodded. "Alright. Uhh...TK, truth or dare?"

Being a veteran in this game from countless nights on the road with his basketball team, TK answered. "Dare, of course."

Ash smiled. "Okay...run into the bathroom and give one of the girls a french kiss!"

TK made a devilish grin, making the others laugh. "Anyone in particular?"

"Anyone but Kari!" Davis said quickly.

Ash laughed. "Okay...kiss Kari then." Davis growled and socked Ash in the shoulder, much to the amusement of the others. TK stood and ran out the door as the guys poked their heads out to make sure he did it. TK tiptoed to the door of the girls' bathroom, and gave a thumbs up to the others, who chuckled.

TK yanked the door open and dashed inside. The guys heard lots of screaming, a loud splash, and gasps of disbelief that lasted for several seconds. Soon, a loud slap could be heard, and the guys burst out laughing as TK was brutally kicked out of the room. TK quickly crawled back into the guys room, and the boys quickly blocked the door with the table in the center of the room.

The guys couldn't stop laughing when they saw the red outline of a handprint on TK's face. TK smiled half-heartedly and returned to his seat, massaging his stinging cheek as the others finished their laughing fit.

"I never knew you had it in you, bro!" Matt laughed, patting TK on the back.

"...yeah, me neither." he said, feeling his lips with his fingers dreamily.

"Okay, go TK." said Tai.

TK snapped back into reality and cleared his throat. "Uh, okay. Joe, Truth or Dare?"

Joe cringed. "Err...truth!" he said quickly, as they expected him to.

"Okay, here's a simple one. Of the digi-destined, which are you attracted to the most?"

"Which GIRL are you attracted to the most. Any creepy looks at me and you're dead." Tai said.

"No problem there." Joe said. The boy thought for a while, answering "I guess I'd have to say Mimi. Sora's too much like a sister, and Kari and Yolei are too young for my taste."

"No way? You like Mimi?!" Tai asked. "I wouldn't think of you as her type. She's an annoying little rich girl and you're...you're Joe!"

"She may have been annoying several years ago, but she's grown up since then." Joe said. "She's matured."

"In more ways than one." Matt said, looking at her in his minds' eye with a smile.

Joe frowned when he was reminded that "Mr. Rock Star" liked Mimi too. "I think Mimi's the type that would like a guy who is as kind and sincere as she is, and who could support her with a good job in the future."

"I don't think Mimi has mental capacity to think that far ahead. Her attention span is probably shorter than the time it takes to get into her shirt." Tai joked, making the others burst out laughing.

As the others laughed, Joe clenched his fists and growled. "You guys obviously don't see the real Mimi. All you see is a chest with legs!" Joe said, standing up and walking back to the chess game. The others looked at each other with confusion, wondering why Joe was angry at them for.

"Hey Joe, they're just joking around." said Ash.

"We know there's more to Mimi than her body." TK said. "She's our friend too." Joe turned to them and blinked several times, still not sure what to think.

Matt stood up and walked over to Joe, whispering "I know you want to stand up for Mimi and all, but don't worry, we don't really mean that. It's all just fun and games."

Joe nodded. "...I guess I over-reacted a little..."

Matt patted Joe's shoulder. "Don't worry. We understand. You're Joe- that's the way you are. So you gonna make one of us dance in our boxers or what?"

Joe slowly smiled and walked back into the circle. As he was about to choose his victim, somebody knocked on the bedroom door. Everyone in the circle looked up, while Brock, Izzy, and Cody just laughed at the looks on their faces.

"Uh oh...you're in trouble..." Izzy said mockingly.

Tai stood up and cracked the door open, making sure the table was still secure. Outside Tai could see Sora, Misty, Mimi, Yolei, and Kari in bathrobes. Each had an angry scowl on their face, much to Tai's amusement.

"Uh, hey girls, what's up?" the smiling teen asked.

"Give us our clothes back before we have to get ugly." said Yolei.

"Too late." Ash said, causing the room to fill with laughter.

"Nice try girls. Besides, you can't get past our little barrier here." Tai said, tapping the table reassuringly. Sticking his tongue out, he added "So nyah, nyah!".

"You're so childish, Tai." Sora retaliated. "Besides, we don't have to worry about you and your table. We have Misty."

"What?" said Tai.

"Uh oh..." said Ash.

"Starmie, go!" shouted Misty, allowing the pokemon to leave her pokeball. The brown starfish appeared before Misty, who pointed at the door. "Starmie, open the door!"

"Guys!!" Tai yelled, which brought the others to help keep the door closed. All of them put their shoulders into it, but the pokemon was stronger than them all. The table fell over, and the door flew open, causing the boys to fall into a large pile in the center of the room.

The girls rushed in and grabbed their clothes, and took Ash as well.

"Help me!!" Ash shouted as they dragged him out, giggling.

"Uh oh! He's done for!" Tai said. "You know what happens when the girls capture the guy..."

Mock horror crossed Matt's face. "You mean..."

"Yes. The dreaded Make-up torture!"