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The Digital World
Near Primary Village
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TK held his D3 towards the TV set once again, while the others looked on. "Digi-port open!" The gate glowed slightly, but like the other times it failed to open. He pocketed his digivice. "Looks like we're stuck here."
Davis moaned in complaint. "Why did this have to happen tonight! There are 384 other nights in the year."
"Davis, there are 365 days in a year, not 385," corrected Kari.
"Either way this still is the worst night it could have happened!" he yelled. "Now we're going to miss the dance!"
Izzy's voice could be heard on their digivices. "The gate should have repaired itself after the source of the problem was destroyed. I'll try and work on fixing the gate another way. Keep in touch." The transmission ended as abruptly as it started.
Mewtwo nodded slowly. "Missingo isn't that easy to destroy, especially here in the Digital World. He's still alive, somewhere."
"What is he?" asked Hawkmon.
"Whatever he is," added Veemon, "he messed up my digivolving after I touched him."
"That reminds me," said Patamon. "I'm not a flying pig!" TK laughed, while Veemon backed away from Patamon's general area, laughing nervously.
"Not only that, he stripped away our armor during the fight and turned us into Rookies," said Armadillomon. "I didn't think that could be done."
"I don't think Missingo did any of that on purpose."
"Care to explain what you mean?" asked Gatomon. "If he's a pokémon from your world, you should know a great deal about him."
Mewtwo frowned as he crossed his arms and bowed his head in thought. "...Actually, I know very little about him. All I know is that Missingo is not a normal pokémon, and is rarely spoken of, even among pokémon researchers in the human world. He's the only one of his kind as far as I know, and I'm not sure if he has a mind of his own, or is just an animal running on instinct. Either way, he's a dangerous creature."
"If he's a pokémon, how come he hatched from a digiegg?" said Cody from his rock seat. "Elecmon mentioned that Missingo hatched from an egg in Primary Village."
"I don't know how that happened, but it may have something to do with the fact that he is entirely digital," replied Mewtwo. "There are some pokémon who are digital life forms like yourselves, and may be able to pass for digimon if they really wanted to. A Porygon, for example."
"That might mean he could be reconfigured like a normal digimon," said Yolei, "but how did he get reconfigured? Better yet, how did he get here in the first place? There are no pokémon in the Digital World, other than Mewtwo."
"...He most likely got here the same way I did," said Mewtwo. "During the experiment, when the two worlds were linked."
"All the pokémon were here when that happened," added Kari, "but they were returned afterwards with a signal like the one that brought them here."
"Why wouldn't Missingo have gone back?" said Biyomon, joining in the conversation.
Mewtwo shook his head. "I don't know. Whatever the reason, his presence in the Digital World is a death sentence for everything living here. Missingo is a living virus; any digital or electrical system he touches becomes corrupted, warped or completely erased. For a digimon and the Digital World, that would mean death."
Veemon's eyes were wide with shock, realizing how close to death he had come. "But...but, I touched him and I'm all right."
"Digimon are made up of gigabytes worth of data, even at the Rookie level," said Yolei. "It would take a really big virus to completely erase something that big. Missingo is just not strong enough I guess."
Veemon frowned and looked down at his hands. "I hope you're right."
"Missingo possesses very weak abilities and endurance, but his strength is incredible. Even at his current level, he has the raw force of a higher-level digimon. If he continues to gain strength, the spatial distortions around him could easily wipe out everything in his path like a hurricane, without him even lifting a finger."
"We have to stop Missingo before he wanders into a more populated area and deletes millions of digimon," said Palmon.
Veemon's knuckles cracked as he balled his hands into fists. "Then let's start looking," he said evenly.
"There's a problem," said Cody. "Where do we start looking? The Digital World is a big place for a monster to hide in. He could gather energy quietly for a long time before we find him."
Davis nodded. "I guess we'll just split up and start searching. We'll keep in contact with our digivices...oh wait, you don't have digivices," said Davis, referring to Mewtwo, Biyomon, and Palmon.
"We'll gather the other digimon," said Biyomon. "We'll evacuate any digimon in Missingo's path, and protect them if necessary."
"Remember, since the gate is broken, we can't bring the other digidestined to the Digital World, so you won't be able to digivolve," said TK.
"...We know," said Biyomon.
"Don't worry about us," said Palmon. "We can take care of ourselves."
Cody stepped towards them, followed by Armadillomon. "Please, allow me to come with you. Armadillomon can't fly, so the searching should be left to the others. Besides, if we do find trouble, you may need us."
"You're right, I suppose," said Palmon. "Okay, you're coming with us then."
"Be careful," said Mewtwo.
The three nodded wordlessly. "You too," said Biyomon softly. Cody and the three digimon went to gather the other digimon from the original team of digidestined as fast as they could.
"I can keep in contact with you all telepathically," said Mewtwo. "Between the five of us, we should be able to find Missingo quickly." Mewtwo closed his eyes and tilted his head back as the blue energy that was his psychic powers flared up around him, blowing dust and grass away from him like a strong breeze. He floated into the air a foot or so, and hovered quietly as he waited for the others to digivolve.
"Okay guys, your turn!" said Davis, pulling out his digivice, along with the other digidestined.
"Veemon, armor digivolve to... Raidramon, the Storm of Friendship!"
"Patamon, armor digivolve to... Pegasusmon, Flying Hope!"
"Gatomon, armor digivolve to... Nefertimon, the Angel of Light!"
"Hawkmon, digivolve to... Aquilamon!"
"All right, let's go!" The monsters sped off towards the four corners of the globe, hoping that they could find Missingo in time.
****
"Look!" said Kari, pointing down towards a patch of forest in a mountain valley. Even from their altitude, Kari and Nefertimon could hear the roar of Missingo's destructive energies. They could actually see the distortion of the Digiworld, as if the environment itself was a rubber picture and the pokémon was a huge weight rolling along it, stretching out and twisting the world around it as it moved.
"I'll call the others," said Kari. She pulled out her D3 and tried speaking into the device, but was instantly met with loud static that made her cringe. She shook it a few times, and even checked the batteries to make sure they weren't falling out, but it should have been working as far as she could tell.
"The signal must be messed up because of Missingo," said Nefertimon. "We should get away from him if we want to get a signal."
"We can't, look over there!" said Kari, pointing farther down the mountain valley. Up ahead, they saw a familiar sight- a huge dam that held back a massive river within the forest. "That's the dam that Golemon almost destroyed. That means..."
"That means there's a town not to far down the valley!" finished Nefertimon. Indeed, they could see the massive city of digimon down below, oblivious to the oncoming threat. "If he keeps going that direction, he'll go right through that town in ten minutes!"
Kari frowned in anger at the situation. "...Wait a minute!" Kari closed her eyes and squinted as she "thought" as hard as she could.
"Kari?"
Kari blinked in surprise. She had doubted that thinking at the pokémon would work. "Mewtwo, is that you?"
"Who else would be talking in your mind?"
"You'd be surprised at how many voices find their way into my head," answered Kari.
"Have you found Missingo?"
"Yes, quick, tell everyone to meet me at the dam!" Nefertimon finally touched down on the outer edge of the forest next to the river. Kari hopped off quickly and retreated out of the battlefield.
"I've alerted the others, they should be arriving soon. Agumon and his friends are already in the city below you, and are making their way to your position."
"The others? Aren't you coming too?"
No answer came.
"...Mewtwo?"
"Here he comes!" shouted Nefertimon. Kari snapped out of her light trance, and the two determined fighters watched as the trees of the forest shook with the arrival of Missingo.
****
Izzy groaned as yet another attempt to repair the digital gate collapsed. The program was more complex than he had anticipated, and the errors themselves were constantly changing, which made it difficult if not impossible to correctly repair the problem.
"...Can you hear me Koushiro?"
Izzy fell out of his chair in surprise. "Mewtwo?" Izzy said in confusion. "I didn't know you could communicate telepathically through the computer."
"Neither did I, but I had to try. There's something you must help me with."
"What is it?"
"I need you to find a way to open the gate between our worlds."
"What? Why? I thought you liked it here."
"...It's not for me. We have to return Missingo to the other world."
"But...I thought you guys were going to destroy him?"
"If we can, we will. However, something tells me that might not be possible. Cody said something that troubles me..." There was a pause in the message, as if Mewtwo was thinking to himself. "Koushiro, you have to try. It may be the only chance for survival this world has."
Izzy sighed. "I can try Mewtwo, but I can tell you right now it's next to impossible to reopen that gate. You and I both know that the energy needed to activate that gate again is tremendous. That kind of energy isn't just lying around, even in the Digiworld."
"There must be a way. Are you sure there aren't any massive power sources you can use?" Izzy fiddled with his pen, and made a quick list of things that might do the trick. It was an exceptionally short list.
"Unless you have a nuclear power plant with you, I can't open the portal. You yourself might have enough energy, but you can't power a gate with your abil-" Izzy stopped in mid-sentence as a thought entered his mind. "...But I think I know something that can."
"...Name it."
"Mewtwo...did that guy Seth ever tell you about the Golden Digiegg?"
****
"There they are!" yelled Agumon. Behind him, Gabumon, Gomamon, and Palmon ran up the hill as fast as they could, with Cody and Armadillomon right behind them. Above them, Tentomon and Biyomon flew ahead. Up ahead, a loud explosion could be heard, and the digimon looked up to see a small cat flying through the air, along with a young girl in pink and yellow. Both landed ungracefully in the green grass with a loud *thump*.
"Oh no!" yelled Cody. The boy ran up to where Kari fell, with a heavily battered Gatomon nearby. "They're breathing, but they're not getting up anytime soon."
"Cody, get Kari and Gatomon out of here with Armadillomon!" ordered Gabumon. "Leave Missingo to us until the others get here!"
"But...you can't fight this thing at your current level!" said Cody. "Gatomon was using a digiegg and she-"
"Do it Cody!" yelled Agumon. Cody was gripped by indecision, but the tone of Gabumon's voice helped move his feet. Armadillomon carried Kari on his back, while Cody picked up the tiny Gatomon and helped Armadillomon keep Kari steady as they ran from the battlefield.
The six digimon stared with determination at the floating mass of black dots that was Missingo. When the pokémon's blue glow had reached a level satisfactory to the monster, it again started moving towards the town.
"Okay guys, this is it," said Palmon. "Missingo."
"Try to slow it down! Pepper breath!" Agumon's mouth opened wide, and several fireballs shot out at Missingo. The moment they hit the blue aura generated by the pokémon however, the fireballs dissipated into nothing.
"Remind me never to introduce any of my new friends to Agumon," said Gomamon. "Marching Fishes!" A horde of flying fish from the dammed river nearby launched at Missingo, meeting with the same fate as Agumon's attack- disappearing into nothing.
Palmon leaped to the front. "Let me try! Poison Ivy!" The digimon shot out her leafy tendrils to a nearby tree and latched onto the tree trunk. She pulled with all her might, uprooting the tiny tree and sending it flying at Missingo. The tree itself burst into brown and green pixels the instant it hit the distortion around Missingo.
"Our attacks aren't strong enough," said Agumon. Missingo reached the part of the hill where they were, causing them to hop backwards a few yards to avoid touching him.
"Everyone shoot your attacks at the same time!" said Tentomon. "All the energy together may be enough to get through."
"Okay, let's try it," answered Agumon. All the digimon but Palmon (who didn't have a projectile attack) charged up their power.
"Pepper Breath!"
"Blue Blaster!"
"Spiral Twister!"
"Super Shocker!"
"Marching Fishes!"
The attacks melded together in mid-air as they sped towards Missingo, and upon contact with the pokémon the attacks exploded.
"All right!"
A noise that sounded like a howl of pain from a deep pit echoed through the air. The digimon looked at the source of the noise, and watched as Missingo rumbled towards them, rather than the city.
"Uhh...I think we got his attention," said Gabumon.
