Tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock...
"They've been gone for a while," said Yolei calmly.
"There's nothing to worry about," replied Cody.
"I'm not worried, I just was wondering why they've been gone for so long."
"You sound worried to me," the boy added.
"Well, I'm not," she said with slight annoyance. "TK and Kari are fine." Cody shrugged lightly but didn't reply.
Tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock...
Ken looked up to see what time it was. "Hmm...3:00. They have been gone a long time," he said, as if he hadn't realized it until now.
"They're alright!" said Yolei again, but with a little more force.
"I know," Ken replied calmly. "I'm just...wondering what they're doing."
Yolei started drumming her fingers on the arm of her chair and added softly, "Me too." Cody and Ken glanced at each other, and each saw their feeling mirrored in the other- worry. The digimon- Patamon, Hawkmon and Wormmon- looked at the kids with concern before looking at each other. The three digimon moved off quietly to a place by themselves and spoke amongst themselves.
(I know we're not supposed to interfere, but this is crazy,) whispered Patamon. (I'm worried about TK. They shouldn't have been gone this long.)
(What can we do?) asked Wormmon. (If we go, Gennai might turn us into eggs again... or worse.)
(You're right. Besides, Gennai seems to have some control over the gate,) added Hawkmon. (We may not be able to get to them.)
(There's gotta be something we can do. But what...)
Tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock...
(What if one of them used the D3 to try and contact TK and Kari?) suggested Wormmon. (Or maybe even Davis.)
(Would it work?)
(Why wouldn't it?)
(Gennai might be able to block it,) said Patamon.
(Wait a minute, why don't we just ask Gennai? There's no reason why he wouldn't tell us what's going on.)
(Hey, good idea Hawkmon. Let's do that.) The three digimon nodded and walked-or crawled in Wormmon's case- to the T.V. screen where Gennai communicated with the Digidestined.
"Hey Gennai, could we ask you something?" asked Hawkmon. He waited for a while, but no answer came. "...Gennai? Hello?" The bird digimon hopped up and knocked on the screen. "You in there?"
"What're you doing Hawkmon?" asked Yolei when the kids noticed what the digimon were doing.
"We're trying to ask Gennai about TK and Kari," answered Patamon, "but Gennai's not home."
"He must not be connected right now," said Ken. "Guess he really meant what he said about not having good connections."
"Hmm...then maybe we can use the gate now," wondered Patamon.
"What?"
Patamon and the digimon hopped to the table in the middle of the living room. "We have to try to use the gate! We've gotta see what happened to TK and Kari!"
"Are you crazy Patamon?!" said Yolei. "You wanna cheat on this?!"
"I don't care about the stupid test," said Patamon. "If TK's hurt, I want to be there to help him!"
"But Patamon, if you do this TK might not be a Digidestined anymore, and you might be taken away!" Yolei argued. "What if TK's not hurt, and you end up getting him disqualified?! Are you willing to risk that?"
"I...*sigh*...I...I don't want to make TK lose," Patamon replied. Sadly he floated to the ground once again where he was resting before. "I guess you're right."
Yolei nodded. "I know it's tough, but don't worry. TK and Kari are fine. As long as they're together, nothing'll go wrong."
Patamon nodded slowly. "...Right."
Tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock...
****
It all happened so fast. What was he supposed to do? After that Scubamon took her away, his mind went blank. He didn't know what to do to save her. He had told her that everything would be alright, but it was anything but alright. How had everything turned out so badly? Why couldn't he protect her? Kari was trapped at the bottom of the ocean, and it was all his fault.
TK buried his face in his folded arms, which rested on his bent knees. No matter how hard he tried to keep his focus, he kept seeing Kari's face in his mind's eye. Her tear-streaked face, pleading not to let her go. Her soft smile as he pleaded with her not to go. Neither plea had been met, and now things were as bad as they could get, and TK couldn't do anything about it.
No! There had to be something he could do! Thinking otherwise was just giving up, and he told Kari he would never give up. He may have failed in his last promise, but this was one promise that the young Takaishi intended to keep- no matter what the cost. Pushing all the painful emotions in his mind away, TK focused intensely on the matter at hand.
He could try swimming, he thought. That was the simplest and most obvious answer, but it came with equally simple problems. The Lord of the Deep would no doubt have a deep lair, which TK was sure was deep enough that he would run out of air long before he reached it. The path there was also bound to be guarded by Scubamon, and whatever other denizens the monstrous digimon controlled. Without a digimon companion, TK wasn't much of a threat. He'd be sharkfood within seconds.
TK growled in annoyance and looked out to the dark ocean before him. There had to be something he could do! He was a digidestined, and digidestined were more than just children with digimon! Even without Patamon at his side, TK was still TK. There had to be something that TK could do.
An idea popped into the boy's head. Perhaps there was a digimon who would be willing to help him. Yeah, right. What were the odds of that happening in a place like this? Anything that was here was definitely not on his side.
TK sighed heavily. "What am I going to do?"
Near the spot where TK sat, something out of the ordinary washed up on shore. TK happened to look up, and when he did he saw something he hadn't expected- a fresh, round digiegg.
How did that get here? TK mused. He slowly stood up, never taking his eyes from the egg, and cautiously approached the mysterious object. As he got closer, he felt some strange feeling wash over him- a feeling of deja vu. As far as TK knew, he had never seen this egg before, but something about it felt familiar. Unsure of what to make of it, but willing to accept the risk of finding out about it, the boy bent his knees and extended his hands towards the egg. He was soon on his knees, but his hands hovered away from the egg.
TK swallowed a lump in his throat, and finally touched the egg. As he expected, his hands glowed with the same energy that commonly came from his digivice. The egg became pure light, and within seconds it had metamorphosized into a brown whicker basket with a soft cushion inside, in addition to a small digimon- a digimon that TK didn't recognize.
"...Who are you?" he asked. Before the digimon could answer, it started to glow yet again. TK quickly moved his hands away and shielded his eyes from the light. When the glow disappeared and TK could see again, he saw a much more familiar digimon.
"Recognize me now, TK?" said Upamon happily. The in-training digimon looked around and took note of their surroundings, and instantly became discomforted. "Where's Cody?! How'd I get here?"
"I can explain, Upamon," TK replied. "I'm glad you're here...but why are you here? You should have appeared at Gennai's house with the others."
"What's going on TK?" the confused digimon asked.
TK suddenly got an idea. "Upamon! Can you digivolve to Submarimon?"
"What? Why?"
"Just tell me!" said TK forcefully. "Kari is in trouble, and we have to go underwater to rescue her. I really need you to digivolve to Submarimon."
"Eh...I don't think I can without Cody. I need him and the armor digiegg if I'm going to digivolve."
TK groaned. "Can't you do it without him?! I can't contact the others!"
Upamon hopped back a few steps. "I'm sorry TK, but I can't!"
TK angrily slammed his fist into the ground once, making a deep handprint in the wet sand where he and Upamon were. The digimon quickly digivolved into Armadillomon, completing his growth from the egg to his normal form. Rather than be happy for him, TK stood up and tried to figure out a way to get Armadillomon to digivolve into Submarimon without Cody. That seemed as hard a proposition as TK rescuing Kari from the undersea master on his own.
"There's got to be a way," wondered TK. "If you can't digivolve into Submarimon, then there'll be no way to rescue Kari."
"TK, I don't have any idea what you're talking about," Armadillomon said. "Could you please explain what's going on?"
TK slowly turned around, and nodded. "Fine. I'll explain everything as quickly as I can." With that said, TK relayed the recent events with Gennai, and his "tests" of the childrens' worthiness of being digidestined. He then explained what had happened with Kari and the digimon from the sea. Armadillomon listened to everything he had to say, and even mirrored most of the boy's emotions regarding the whole thing. In the end, Armadillomon was almost as worried and desperate as TK was.
"So you see," continued TK, "I really need Submarimon." TK walked to where Armadillomon stood, head bowed in thought. "I need your help. You're my only hope."
The digimon looked up sadly at TK. "I'm sorry...but I can't. I don't have it in me."
Rather than be angry as before, TK simply sat down next to Armadillomon. The digimon watched him warily, but the boy did nothing threatening. He simply stared out into the deep, dark ocean.
"Let me tell you a quick story," said TK. Armadillomon nodded, and the boy started narrating. "About eight years ago, I lived in Heighton View Terrace with my brother Matt. All the other original digidestined did too, but at the time we didn't know a thing about digimon. That is...until that day."
"That day?"
"The day two digimon appeared and battled right in front of us. It was the first time any of us had seen a digimon, and it was perhaps the single most important moment in our lives."
"What happened?" Armadillomon asked wonderously.
"Tai and Kari were out in the street with a weird looking Agumon. At first they were trying to keep this digimon under control; I don't quite remember all the details, because I was only three at the time. Soon, the second digimon- a giant Parrotmon- appeared from the sky and started a fight. At first it looked like the Agumon was doomed, but amazingly he digivolved into Greymon."
"How'd he do that?"
"As far as I know, he was trying to protect Tai and Kari. Even though they were kids, and they didn't have digivices, D-3's, or anything like that, the digimon could digivolve. It digivolved because it wanted to." TK gave a sideways glance to Armadillomon. "I know you can do it too. I know that you're strong enough to digivolve without the armor of Reliability."
Armadillomon wasn't as confident as TK was in his abilities. "Do you really think so?"
TK nodded. "I know so. Otherwise, there's no way to save Kari."
Armadillomon thought of TK's story, and thought of the trouble Kari was in. He looked at TK's determined eyes, and thought of what Cody would do in a situation like this. He definitely knew what Cody would do in this situation.
"Okay! I'll try my best," Armadillomon said finally.
TK nodded. "Then let's go!" TK stepped back a few steps, and Armadillomon set about doing something that up until now he thought was impossible. But if some old Agumon could do it, then so can he! Armadillomon grunted and strained as he tried to digivolve to the familiar shape of Submarimon. Of course, usually he had the armor digiegg of Reliability to give him support. Trying to digivolve without it was like trying to push a boulder up a hill that normally took five people to move. Compounded with the fact that he hadn't eaten anything since he had hatched, it would take a miracle for this to work.
"Come on Armadillomon," said TK supportively. "You can do it! Just pretend Cody was here."
Pretend Cody was here; sounded simple enough. He closed his eyes and pictured the small boy that was his partner. His short, brown hair...his calm, green eyes...his simple light-colored tunic and brown pants...and his quiet, even voice. Armadillomon even imagined him cheering him on like TK was at that moment. Come on Armadillomon! Let's go! You can do it!
TK watched hopefully, and noticed that the rookie was actually starting to glow. As quickly as the light appeared however, it disappeared as he momentarily faltered. Armadillomon didn't give up however. He could be as determined and stubborn as Cody any day. Now that his mind was set on it, he wouldn't stop trying until he succeeded, or until he passed out.
Armadillomon was amazed to find that something was happening. It didn't feel normal in any sense of the word, but he was actually doing it!
"You're doing it Armadillomon!" cried TK. "You're doing it!!"
"Armadillomon, armor digivolve to...SUBMARIMON, Guardian of the Sea!" The transformation finished with a flash of light, and the digimon hopped into the water with a quick reflex of his fins.
"Yes!!" cheered TK. "All right!!"
"Anyone need a ride?" Submarimon said as he opened his hatch. "Hop in, TK." The boy ran up to the digimon and climbed into the hatch, which shut above him. TK tried to get into a comfortable position, but his height made it quite cramped. Plus there was the simple fact that TK had no idea how to use the controls inside the digimon.
"Uh, Submarimon?" asked TK as the digimon submerged and made a beeline for the deeper waters. "You realize I don't know what I'm doing, right?"
"Don't sweat it. If Cody can do it, so can you." Submarimon swam through the waters, though something seemed to be wrong. The digimon was bobbing left and right seemingly at random, as if something was wrong with his balance. Underwater that may not seem to be a big deal, but a fish that can't swim in a straight line is as good as dead- especially when that fish has to fight.
"Are you okay Submarimon?" TK asked.
"Not really," the digimon answered. "You know that feeling you get when you stand up to fast?"
"Yeah."
"Well, I have that feeling, and it won't go away." Submarimon faltered again, nearly crashing into a rockface along the seafloor. He managed to swerve out of the way just in time, but not without doing a 360 spin through several patches of coral that scratched the metallic hide of the digimon mercilessly. The damage was mostly cosmetic, but still gave Submarimon some discomfort- like a scratch on a child's knee.
"I guess you spent so much energy digivolving that you're feeling a little light-headed," suggested TK. "I'm sorry. This might not have been such a good idea."
"It doesn't matter. I can still fight," Submarimon assured him. "I should be okay by the time we reach the undersea lord's domain."
TK grimly watched the waters ahead of them. "I hope so."
****
Kari felt like she had fallen into a Star Wars movie. Around her neck was a thick, metal chain that permitted her to breath underwater and also linked to her wrists and ankles with smaller chains. All together, her movement was restricted by the weight of the chains themselves, as well as the fact that she was effectively on a leash controlled by one of the sealord's smaller tentacles. She was sitting at the base of a gigantic throne roughly carved from an undersea mount, where the central mass of the undersea lord lay. Dozens of gigantic tentacles, and several dozen smaller tendrils, hung loosely from the seat, occasionally moving seemingly of their own accord. For the past few hours, he had been issuing orders to various digimon slaves and organizing something that Kari wasn't interested in. All she was concerned with was TK and her friends.
"You still cling to hope," said the monstrous digimon.
"..."
"You will learn to forget hope. All slaves do."
"I won't," Kari said simply. "I won't, and you can't make me."
"You may think that because you're the child of Light, you are special. To me, you are just another slave. You will forget just like all the others."
Kari couldn't reply. She simply stared off into the sea ahead of her, and softly muttered. "Never."
"Master!" shouted a Scubamon that raced to the base of the master digimon's throne. "Master, we are under attack!"
"Impossible. Who would dare attack?"
"It is a Submarimon!" the digimon replied.
Could it be Cody? That's impossible...
"Destroy it," he ordered simply.
"His power is too great master! He is approaching as we speak!" An explosion in the background confirmed this, making the messenger look back fearfully. "We cannot stop him!"
"Fools. I will destroy him then. Clear the path for him."
"Yes, master," the Scubamon answered. He swam off to relay the news to the other warriors, leaving Kari and her master alone for the moment. Despite the fact that the master didn't have eyes, he could see a light smile on Kari's lips.
"He will not succeed." Kari didn't say anything; she just continued to smile. That was quickly remedied with a quick tug on her throat chain by the master digimon's tentacle, which made Kari gag momentarily.
"Kari!!" The girl could hear the voice, but she couldn't believe who it was. She saw Submarimon approach wobblely, perhaps from battle damage. Instead of Cody being there like she expected, she could see TK inside the cockpit of the metallic digimon. Both boys looked at the undersea master with raw determination and anger.
"TK!!" cried Kari, resulting in another quick tug on her throat chain. Seeing Kari gag and clutch her sore throat enraged TK even more. Submarimon picked up on this and went on the offensive.
"Oxygen Torpedo!" Two focused pockets of air shot forth and exploded on the main body of the digimon enemy. Down below, Kari shielded herself with her arms (as if that would help), but even with Submarimon's wooziness he was careful enough to miss Kari. Besides, the master digimon was the size of a small skyscraper; it was hard to miss him. The attack did little damage to the massive digimon, but it was enough to distract him. Submarimon swam forward with amazing speed and geared up to use his serrated nose weapon to slice through Kari's chain. Unfortunately, he wasn't quite fast enough. As he was within fin's length of her, one of the giant tentacles slammed Submarimon away. The digimon and TK cried out as they crashed to the undersea floor.
"Come on Submarimon, get up!" said TK.
"Geez, I feel sorry for Pegasusmon now," Submarimon joked. "You're a regular drill seargent." Submarimon managed to zoom back into action as the master digimon slammed another tentacle down where Submarimon had crashed. The digimon zipped and zagged through dozens of tentacles, and managed to clear out the rest of them with a well placed Oxygen Torpedo that opened a path to Kari. Again he charged forth, and this time he managed to slice the chain holding Kari down.
"Open the hatch Submarimon!" ordered TK.
"But TK, the cockpit will flood!" he said as he swam through the water, dragging Kari with him. She held her breath as best she could, now that the magic of the chain had been destroyed.
"Come back here!" roared the master digimon. He swung several of his tentacles at the smaller digimon, forcing Submarimon to act as a living shield for Kari. Despite the painful attack, the digimon continued to swim forward as fast as he could.
"Kari can't hold her breath much longer! Open the hatch!" Rather than argue with the boy, Submarimon simply complied. As he had said, the pit flooded with water as Kari climbed in. As soon as she was in, Submarimon shut the hatch. Despite the fact that half the compartment was filled with water, and the two kids were cramped together (which some would say wasn't a bad thing), TK and Kari were smiling from ear to ear. They hugged each other fiercely while Submarimon tried to escape.
"TK...," Kari said in amazement. "I'm so glad you're here."
"Don't celebrate just yet!" warned Submarimon as a massive tentacle encircled him, along with several smaller ones. The digimon came to a screeching halt, and a sudden burst of powerful electricity shocked him. Submarimon screamed out in pain as the energy coursed through his body, and tried to break free.
"We gotta do something," said TK. "Submarimon can't hang on much longer."
"What can we do?" Kari asked. "I'm still trying to figure out how Submarimon can be here if Cody isn't."
"Long story," said TK. "Submarimon, do you think you can hold out for just a little longer?"
Another shock flashed through the tentacles enclosing Submarimon, and again he cried out in pain. "I...think...I can," he managed to say.
"What's the plan?" Kari asked.
"Try and use your digivice to protect Submarimon," TK answered. "Together, we can beat this guy."
Kari smiled. "Right." They both reached for their D3's at the same time, and in effect their hands touched for a brief moment. Unconsciously, the two paused in their action, letting their hands remain together for the briefest of moments. When the two realized the other had noticed, they started to blush. Neither had time to notice that however, as they pulled out their digivices and held them at the ready. Submarimon screamed out once more, and his metallic body was now starting to smolder and smoke from all the electric current coursing through him.
"There is no escape. You cannot hold out much longer, insect."
"Oh yeah!" declared TK, activating his digivice. "That's where you're wrong!"
Kari held up her digivice and activated it as well. "Yeah! You may think you're special, but to us you're just another beaten digimon!" TK glanced at her, and smiled at the somewhat more agressive attitude she displayed towards this monster. It was different...but intriguing at the same time.
From the cockpit, two glowing lights emanated like twin stars. The lights surrounded Submarimon like a protective blanket, and instantly the electric current running through him was counteracted. The giant undersea digimon, although shocked at this unexpected display, tried to maintain his attack and started to constrict the poor digimon with his mighty tentacles. The energies of TK and Kari protected Submarimon, but the strain of maintaining such a barrier was becoming tougher to handle.
Must...hold on, thought TK. Can't...give up. He looked at Kari, and saw that she too was faltering. Submarimon was feeling weakness creep over him as well, and despite the struggle the digimon put up, it looked as if he wouldn't get free on his own.
"We're not going to make it...are we," said Kari softly.
"I'm sorry," said Submarimon weakly. "I...don't know if I can hold out...much longer."
"Don't give up!" TK yelled. "We can win if we stick together, but you can't lose hope!"
"But TK..." said Kari. "We're not strong enough on our own. Submarimon is a Champion, and this monster is a Mega. There's no way we can win without help."
Kari felt something she wasn't expecting. TK's free hand interlocked with hers, and a powerful warmth passed through that link between them. Kari looked down at their interlocked hands, and she remembered what he had said on the beach. Don't worry Kari. I won't let anything happen to you. TK's warm smile filled Kari with a sense of hope- hope that would never falter.
"You and I, Kari," he said softly. "Together, we can do anything. If we put our faith in each other, everything will be alright."
"How can you be sure?" Kari asked in the same soft voice.
"Because...something as strong as what we have can't be destroyed."
Kari's eyes widened at his words. "...What do we have?"
TK smiled tenderly, and slowly he moved closer to Kari, until their faces were barely separated. The two kids closed their eyes, and they brought their lips together in a passionate kiss unlike anything they had ever experienced. As their first true kiss continued, the glow from their digivices increased dramatically, much to the surprise of Submarimon.
"What's happening?!" he asked. The glow around him noticeably strengthened so much that the tentacles of the master digimon were actually repelled from the smaller digimon. The intensity was like a little kid letting go of the handle while on a rapidly spinning merry-go-round; it was a painful landing for the undersea monster. With an angry yell, he was expelled with incredible force into the sea floor, creating a huge crater where he landed. Submarimon made a beeline for the shore before he could determine how much the attack affected the digimon.
It was at this point, that TK and Kari's kiss ended. The warm love that came with it, however, remained as strong as ever.