"Burn Rubber"
Yolei Inoue had been frightened before. When she was first attacked by digimon in the Digiworld, she had been afraid. When she, Kari, and Ken had gotten lost in the forest and encountered the Dark Ocean, she had been afraid. When Dokugumon had emerged from that pit and attacked her and Hawkmon, she had been afraid. And yet, despite all those times when fear had gripped her so horribly, she couldn't imagine being more frightened than she was right now.
"Jun, slow down!" she cried. "You're going to get us killed if you don't watch out!"
"The faster I drive, the sooner we get to Matt!" Jun yelled, gunning it.
"You know, maybe we should go this fast, since this might be an emergency," Davis whispered to his friends in the back of the van.
"We can't help if we get killed in a car crash!" Cody hissed. Then, turning to Jun, he shouted, "Jun! Do you realize you don't even know where we're going?"
Jun slammed on the brakes, bringing the car to a screeching halt and causing several cars behind her to swerve into adjacent lanes, their horns blaring as the drivers shook their fists at the spiky-haired fangirl.
"Oh, I forgot," she said, turning to her passengers, blushing slightly. "TK, will you be a sweetie and tell me where your brother is?"
"Uh, sure," he agreed uneasily. "He's at the baseball game downtown."
"Really?" Kari asked. "I think I heard Tai saying that Sora's going there too. We can pick up both of—oof!" she grunted as the van leapt forward as Jun made her way to the stadium.
"Yeah! Go! Go! Go!" Matt shouted, along with Sora and thousands of other cheering fans. The game had turned around lately and the home team was now only one point down with bases loaded, two outs, bottom of the ninth. If they hit a homer, the game would be won.
"Wow, they're doing really well!" Sora exclaimed. "This turned out not to be so bad after all!"
"Yeah, I've been having a great time here with you," he said. Then he realized what he said and felt his cheeks burning slightly. He turned and saw Sora grinning at him sheepishly as well. The two were silent in the roaring crowd for a moment.
Then, Sora broke the awkward silence, saying "Hey, the batter's ready!" a little more forcefully than she might have normally.
The batter was indeed ready. He stood poised, the bat raised as he watched the pitcher cautiously. The pitcher was motionless for a moment, then wound up and pitched a fastball right into the catcher's mitt.
The batter stepped outside the box and took a few practice swings. The pitcher wound up and pitched a second time. The stadium thundered as the crack of the bat was heard, but they instantly died down, groaning when they saw that the ball had been fouled.
The ball soared up and came down, heading into the stands in right field. Matt saw that the ball was coming towards him and stood, ready to catch it. He could see it approaching fast and it was almost his when an elderly woman from behind him snatched it in midair, inches away from his outstretched hand. He turned and gawked at the woman in surprise.
"I got it! I got it!" she cheered jubilantly. Then, she noticed Matt sulking.
"Oh, did you want this ball, little boy?" the woman asked, adjusting her thick-lensed glasses on her nose.
Sora giggled. Matt frowned, but took a deep breath and muttered, "Yes, ma'am."
"Well, here you go honey," she said, giving him the ball and patting him on the head before sitting down.
"At least you got the ball," Sora whispered, still chuckling a little bit.
"The things I do for souvenirs," he grumbled.
The pitcher prepared to fire the last pitch as the crowd sat on the edge of their seats. The air was practically electrified with anticipation and the dull roar of the crowd became remarkably hushed as the pitcher readied himself to throw the ball that could very well decide the game.
As he brought his arm back, the pitcher suddenly seemed to change, to shift and change form. Even from their positions in the stands, Matt and Sora could see the dramatic metamorphosis of the player. The big screen at the top of the stadium displayed the morphing player for all to see.
When it was over, the tall, lanky pitcher was gone and in his place was a shiny chrome creature wearing shades. He looked directly at Matt and Sora in the stands.
"Metal Etemon," Matt whispered. "It can't be…"
"Well, I always wanted to play before a crowd this big," the egomaniacal digimon laughed, "but this here is personal! Let's see you catch this: Banana slip!"
The deadly attack soared at the pair, but both leapt out of the way, tumbling into the aisle, causing the rest of the nearby crowd to scatter as well. The attack obliterated the area where they had been sitting only a moment earlier, and rubble rained down on them.
"Come on, we have to get out of here!" Matt yelled, taking Sora by the hand and leading her out of the stadium.
Metal Etemon watched them as they went, keeping his eyes on them even as the stadium erupted into chaos and the crowd began to evacuate.
"The little blues hound is trying to get away," he remarked. "It's déjà vu all over again!"
"But you have to let me in, my boyfriend's in there!" Jun wailed. "Well, he's not boyfriend yet, but we're supposed to pick him up and—"
"Miss, I don't care if he's your husband," the guard said.
"Oh, I wish!" she sighed hopefully as the six younger children and digimon rolled their eyes in unison.
"Look, it's this simple: no ticket, no entry," the guard told him. "Now either show me a ticket or take your business elsewhere."
"What if it's an emergency?" Ken asked.
"Well, we could have someone find him for you or make an announcement, but what's the emergency?"
Just then, a horde of screaming ball fans rushed out of the stadium, nearly trampling them all in the process. "Run for your lives!" one shouted. "Monsters!" shouted another.
The guard sighed heavily. "Monsters. Of course. Only in Tokyo. I shoulda stayed in Kyoto." With that, he ran inside, leaving the Digidestined to themselves.
"What do we do now?" Cody asked. Then, it seemed, his question was answered, as Matt and Sora burst through the doorway.
"Matt!" Jun cried jubilantly, halting the all-too-surprised boy by wrapping her arms around him. "Thank goodness you're safe!"
"Jun… can't… breathe!" he croaked as she squeezed the air from him.
"Oh, sorry," she said, releasing him. "Are you okay?"
"Fine," he gasped. "Fortunately Sora and I got out in time."
"Yeah, I think we're safe now," Sora added.
Jun eyed the redhead suspiciously. "Sora, eh?" She went over and bowed in greeting. "Charmed," she said coldly.
"Uh… yeah," Sora replied, confused.
Just then, a huge, silvery mass crashed down on the pavement nearby, making a crater as it impacted.
"Well, there you are!" Metal Etemon laughed cruelly, reaching out and grabbing Matt with amazing speed, holding him by the throat. "There's only room for one rock star around here, you little rat!"
"Matt!" TK cried in alarm.
"I've got it!" Patamon declared determinedly. "Patamon digivolve to… Angemon!"
The holy warrior raised his staff and brought it down on the metallic monkey's wrist, which didn't really hurt him, but was sufficient enough to cause him to drop Matt. The boy rolled out of harm's way as Metal Etemon turned angrily to face Angemon.
"What on earth…?" Jun cried in bewilderment. Then, feeling a tap at her leg, she looked down to see Gatomon poking her leg. She stared at the small feline in disbelief.
"It's probably better you didn't see this," Gatomon said calmly. "Cat's eye hypnosis!"
Her eyes glowed pink and Jun suddenly went limp, collapsing into her little brother's nearby arms.
"How'd she get so heavy?" Davis grunted, setting her lightly down on the sidewalk.
Meanwhile, Angemon and the now digivolved Ankylomon were trying to stop their fully-evolved enemy.
"Hand of fate!" Angemon attacked. The beam of light merely splashed off of the resilient Mega, who tackled his larger, but weaker foe to the ground.
"Tail hammer!" Ankylomon bellowed, thrashing the ape with his mace-like weapon.
Metal Etemon rolled with the impact and was on his feet in no time. "This ain't none of your business, you walking road block!" he yelled irritably. "So make like the king of pop and BEAT IT! Metal punch!"
With so much power behind his metal fist, Metal Etemon easily sent Ankylomon sailing back, landing on Angemon, propelling them both across the street.
"Who is this guy?" Cody asked.
"This guy? He's toast," TK answered confidently. "Ready, Cody?"
Cody nodded, holding up his digivice. Their two partners began to glow as their forms began to meld into one.
"Ankylomon!…"
"Angemon!…"
"…DNA digivolve to… Shakkoumon!" they declared in unison.
"What the…?" Metal Etemon stammered. "Whoa, mama, what is that thing? Looks like a space ship!"
"I wouldn't talk if I were you," Shakkoumon admonished in his twin voice, a twinge of humor noticeable.
"Why you… banana slip!"
The attack hit the giant steel angel dead on, but his plating was more than strong enough to withstand the blast and had indeed withstood worse. He lunged forward and grabbed the rock star wannabe by the head with one claw-like hand. "Show's over," he said calmly, and flipped the lighter digimon, slamming him into the concrete, which shattered from the force of the slam.
When the dust cleared, Metal Etemon was gone and in his place was the pitcher from the game, now unconscious.
"He turned back into a human," Ken noted, rubbing his chin thoughtfully as Shakkoumon de-digivolved to Upamon and Tokomon. "Just like before. I wonder why that is…"
As they all mulled this over, Sora quickly noticed Jun stirring on the ground.
"You guys, Jun's coming to," she warned, causing all the digimon to go back to acting as harmless toys.
Jun got to her feet wearily. "What happened?"
"Uh… earthquake," Davis replied quickly, drawing stares from a few of the others.
"An earthquake? Really?" Jun asked unsurely.
"Yeah, Matt got a cut from it," he said pointing to a small cut on his forehead that had gone unnoticed.
"Oh, are you all right?" she asked, rushing over and frantically inspecting Matt's forehead tenderly.
"He'd be a lot better if you'd get a first aid kit!" Davis said sternly.
"Oh, good idea!" she cried, snapping her fingers. "I'll be right back!" That said, she ran off to look for one.
"What did you do that for?" Matt demanded. "I'm not even hurt and when she gets back I'll have to put up with her playing nurse all day long!"
"No you won't," Davis said cheerily, "because, you won't be here."
Everyone looked at him confusedly.
"We've still got the van, and I remember TJ telling me once that you could hot wire cars!"
Matt glared at TK, who shrugged innocently. "I haven't done that in a while, Davis," he said uncertainly.
"Aw, come on, it's just like stealing a bicycle: you never forget how!"
"Oh brother…" Yolei muttered.
"Look, before I go stealing your sister's van, I've got a couple of questions," Matt said, folding his arms.
"Like why an enemy we thought was dead came back to life… again!" Sora added.
TK stepped forward. "The resurrections are happening again."
Matt and Sora went silent and nodded, comprehending.
"We'll explain more on the way," Kari told them as they went to the Motomiya's van. "Right now, we've got to pick up Tai. He's at the library a few blocks from here…"
Tai grunted as he lugged the books up to the front desk. Izzy and he had found several useful books and were checking out nearly all of them. Izzy had taken the task of finding the books and determining if they were of any use to them, while Tai had taken the equally important task of getting them off the shelf and hauling them around the library.
He couldn't help but wonder why Izzy had chosen so many books, but he had a sneaking suspicion that he was checking out so many for the sake of making him carry them all as a means of getting back at him for making fun of his height.
"Here you… go!" he huffed, dumping them on the desk.
"Thank you, Tai," Izzy said graciously. "I really appreciate your help in transporting these references."
"No… problem…" Tai puffed, winded.
"I'll take these," Izzy told the librarian, who scanned them and his library card before letting him have them.
"And these are mine," Tai added. The librarian took Tai's library card and scanned it, then frowned as she read the nearby computer monitor.
"Young man, are you aware that you have a library book overdue?" she asked in a stuffy, annoyed tone.
"Uh… are you sure?" he asked uncertainly.
"Oh, quite sure," the librarian said, clearly aggravated. "It seems you have a copy Green Eggs and Tofu that's been in arrears for quite a while."
Tai gulped. "How long?"
"Let's see…" the librarian muttered, taking out a calculator. Izzy looked at his friend with disbelief. "Eight years, four months, and thirteen days," she answered finally.
Both of the boys' mouths dropped open. "You've got a rather large price to pay, young man," the librarian told him menacingly.
"Couldn't I just buy you a new copy and call it even?" Tai asked weakly.
The librarian's face darkened and, at first, it looked as if she were about to speak, but then, something very peculiar happened. Her head grew enormous, her eyes became huge and yellow and her body became thin and spindle-like. The transformed librarian leapt onto the desk and glowered at the pair.
"Oh, I'm afraid, you have a greater price to pay, you arrogant whipper-snappers!" the creature snarled, drawing a red, gun-like weapon. "I'm afraid the only course of action is capital punishment!"
"Vademon!" Izzy cried in disbelief.
"Correct, you over-inquisitive weakling!" the large-brained digimon laughed. "It's payback time!"
"Okay, we're here," Matt said, pulling up to the curb and parking crookedly in front of the library.
"You haven't exactly mastered parking yet, have you?" Cody remarked as he hopped out the side door.
"Well, I haven't exactly got a license either, but who's counting?"
"Wow," said Davis, looking over the large building.
"What?" Yolei asked.
"So this is what the library looks like!" he chirped.
"What's a lie-berry?" Veemon asked as Yolei shook her head.
Just then, a group of people burst through the front doors, screaming about a monster as they ran for their lives.
"Noticing a trend?" TK asked to the group as a whole.
Then, they saw two familiar faces emerge from the library as well.
"Tai!" Kari cried.
"And Izzy!" Yolei added.
"Guys, get down!" Tai shouted, leaping forward as a beam of light shot forth, narrowly missing them and obliterating one of the windows of the Motomiya's van.
"Oh man, my mom and dad are going to kill me!" Davis moaned.
"Only if he doesn't kill us first!" Izzy exclaimed, pointing at their foe.
"Well, if it isn't the young Digidestined I was told about," Vademon chortled. "I was hoping I'd get some target practice in today!"
"Who is that?!" This was from Yolei, who was more than a little shaken by the sight of the alien-like digimon.
"That's Vademon," Izzy explained. "I encountered him once when he tricked me into giving up my Crest and my curiosity. I thought he'd been destroyed when Megakabuterimon thwarted his plans!"
"Yeah, well, he's about to get thwarted again!" Davis growled, removing his D3 and d-terminal. "Veemon! Digi-armor energize!"
"Veemon armor digivolve to… Raidramon!"
The quadropedal digimon growled menacingly at his large brained adversary. "You know, you're almost shaped like a lightning rod. Let's see if you act like one! Thunder blast!"
The electric attack missed as Vademon leapt out of the way with surprising agility. "Too slow, you inferior excuse for a digimon," Vademon taunted. "Abduction beam!"
The blast hit Raidramon dead on the side, causing him to roll. When he got up, he was wincing, obviously in pain.
"Gatomon, he needs help!" Kari cried, taking hold of her D3 as well. "Dig armor energize!"
"Gatomon armor digivolve to… Nefertimon!"
The angel of light took to the air and flew high above Vademon, who trained his blaster on her, but was suddenly blinded by the bright sunlight as he looked directly overhead. Raidramon saw this and responded accordingly.
"Thunder blast!" he attacked, sending a bolt of electricity at the momentarily vulnerable Vademon. He convulsed a moment as electricity coursed through his body, then turned angrily to Raidramon, raising his blaster.
"You don't learn, do you?" he snarled.
"Rosetta stone!" The stone tablet was well aimed and caught Vademon by surprise, smashing him in the back of the head, causing him to collapse to the ground, where he morphed back into the irritable librarian, who was now out cold on the ground.
"What just happened, here?" Tai asked.
"It looks like the resurrections are happening again, Tai," Matt informed him. "The others came in time to help me and Sora before Metal Etemon got to us."
Tai smiled. "Thanks, guys," he told the younger kids. Then, he turned to Sora. "I'm glad you're all right," he said with a warm smile.
Sora turned away curiously, with an almost guilty look. "Yeah," she said simply.
"Listen, there's no time for small talk," Ken said, speaking up. "We still have to find Joe."
"And Mimi!" Yolei exclaimed. "I just remembered, she's supposed to be coming today!"
"That's right!" Sora exclaimed. "If her plane was on time, she should have arrived already!"
Suddenly, a beeping was heard and the group looked down at their digivices. A small red dot was seen and it seemed to be approaching rapidly. They looked for the source and saw a taxi cab coming up the street. As it passed, the group saw an all-too-familiar blotch of pink through the window.
"Mimi," said the entire group of sixteen in unison.
"Everyone in the car!" Matt commanded, as they all piled in.
"Uh, who's driving?" Izzy inquired.
"Me," Matt replied, shortly, starting the car.
"Oh," Tai and Izzy said as one, and tightened their seatbelts.
"We haven't been back here in a while," Mimi remarked looking at the familiar sights out the window. "Say, do you think we could get the driver to drop us off at the mall?"
"I don't know, let me ask him, sweetie," Mr. Tachikawa said, leaning forward to speak to the driver ahead of them.
The driver turned around and drew a scream from Mimi and Mrs. Tachikawa. His face was red and his hair was green and he grinned fiercely.
"Red Veggiemon!" Mimi gasped.
"I don't think we had the pleasure in Puppetmon's woods, but you're guilty by association," the plant-like digimon sneered.
Mimi was about to turn to her parents for help but in their place she found two white-sheeted creatures with sharp teeth staring at her maliciously. She realized that she was now sharing a cab with a couple of Myotismon's Bakemon flunkies.
"Just sit back and enjoy the ride, missy," Red Veggiemon cackled, "because when its over, we're stopping for lunch!"
Mimi's eyes went wide as she looked from one Bakemon to another, both of which were eyeing her hungrily.
"I get the drumstick!" one said.
Mimi shrieked at the top of her lungs.
"What is that, a siren?" Matt asked, hearing a peculiar high pitched screech.
"No, it's Mimi!" Yolei cried, pointing at the cab ahead of them. "And she's in trouble! Speed up, Matt!"
As they got closer, they could see Mimi struggling with the two Bakemon in the backseat as the Red Veggiemon weaved his way in and out of traffic.
"What the… I don't believe it, those Digidestined brats are following us!" Red Veggiemon shouted furiously. Using one of his spiked appendages, he pressed down on the accelerator, speeding up and leaving the van behind.
"They're getting away!" Davis yelled.
"This stupid van can't follow them much longer," Matt grumbled, trying to keep up.
"I believe I can be of assistance," Hawkmon piped up. "Yolei, if you please?"
Yolei complied and drew her D3 as Hawkmon flew out the broken window and perched on the hood of the car.
"Digi armor energize!" Yolei hollered.
There was a flash of light and in moments Shurimon stood steadily on the hood of the van.
"They won't escape," Shurimon assured them calmly. "Double star!"
Flinging his bladed hands forward, they extended on his long, vine-like arms and embedded themselves on the trunk lid of the cab. Then, taking his feet and piercing them through the hood of the van (much to Davis's dismay), he made himself into a long, connecting bridge, preventing the cab from getting too far out of sight. Even so, they all knew it was only a temporary solution and they had to act quickly.
"My friends are coming to help!" Mimi declared proudly. "You're finished, now!"
"Bakemon, get that tailgating punk off our cab, will ya?" Red Veggiemon growled, ignoring Mimi's confidence.
The two Bakemon punched a hole in the roof and floated above the cab. They then looked to Shurimon, whose legs extended to the van as his arms extended to the cab, leaving him defenselessly facing the road as it rushed beneath him.
"Do hurry, if you don't mind," Shurimon urged. "Watching this pavement rush by is making me nauseous."
The Bakemon saw their opportunity. "Dark claw!" they attacked in unison, punching a very distressed Shurimon in the back. If they kept that up, he wouldn't be able to hold on for long.
"I think we should help, Wormmon," Ken said, turning to his small, green partner.
"I can handle them," Wormmon obliged in his nervous, low voice. "Wormmon digivolve to… Stingmon!"
The now enlarged Stingmon exploded from the roof of the van, sending scrap metal clanging loudly onto the pavement as several cars honked angrily as they tried to avoid the madness that was unfolding on the road before them.
Ken looked to Davis, whose face was buried in his hands, muttering something about how his parents would send him to Borneo for this.
"Uh… sorry about the van," Ken apologized meekly. "I hope your parents are insured."
Meanwhile, Mimi was calling to the others from the cab. "Don't hurt them, Stingmon!" she cried. "They're really my parents!"
Stingmon nodded to Mimi, wondering how he was going to stop them without hurting them, when a dark claw attack smacked him across the face.
"Well, if you two want to play rough," Stingmon menaced. Using his superior speed and agility in the air, he extended both arms and flew at the two Bakemon, clotheslining them in mid-air. Then, taking advantage of the momentum, he rocketed forward and slammed the pair into the ground ahead of the cab. The two bounced from the ground and landed awkwardly in the backseat of the cab on either side of Mimi, where they reverted back to her parents.
"Wow… that was cool looking," Tai remarked.
"Uh-huh," Matt and Davis agreed.
"Cool or not, we've still got to stop that cab before someone gets hurt!" Cody shouted.
"I think I can do it!" Upamon offered helpfully. "Upamon digivolve to… Armadillomon!"
The shelled digimon hoisted himself through the hole in the van's roof and walked out onto the hood sizing up the distance between himself and the cab.
"Okay, Shurimon," he called, "brace yourself, cause this is gonna be risky."
"What is?" Shurimon asked, his voice strained.
"This! Rolling stone!" Curling up into a ball, Armadillomon spun off the hood and along Shurimon's vines, rolling over to the cab before spiraling into the air and crashing through what was left of the roof, right onto a very surprised Red Veggiemon.
"Howdy!" Armadillomon greeted warmly from the floor. "This is where you get off!" Red Veggiemon could only watch helplessly as Armadillomon turned and stomped on the brake. Without his seatbelt on, he rocketed through the windshield when the car came to a screeching halt, skidding to a rough halt several dozen yards ahead of them, where he finally returned to the form of a cabbie.
Matt managed to stop the van without colliding with the cab and the group got out. Davis and Ken went over to check on the cabbie.
"Sir, are you all right?" Ken asked the cabbie.
"Huh? What did you say?" the cabbie asked in English.
"How come you cabbies are always from foreign countries?" Davis asked, annoyed. "Speak Japanese!"
Meanwhile, the rest of the Digidestined were checking on Mimi.
"So, people are turning into digimon we've defeated in the past?" Mimi clarified.
"Precisely," Izzy confirmed. "And they seem fairly bitter about being defeated, too."
"Well, it's a good thing we're all safe now, since… wait a minute," Mimi said, noticing something. "Where's Joe?"
Cody smacked his forehead in realization. "I forgot! I asked him if he wanted to go to the festival in the park and he said he was going to the beach near Tokyo Bay instead!"
"Then that's where we should be!" Wormmon declared.
"Quickly, Wormmon! To the Digidestinedmobile!" Matt cried energetically.
Everyone looked at Matt oddly for a moment.
"Uh… well, what would you call it?!" he demanded sheepishly.
Joe watched as several police officers tried to stop the bungee jumpers on the bridge as he sat enjoying the cool breeze blowing over Tokyo Bay. He heard something on his portable radio about a high speed car chase involving a taxicab and a minivan on the highway that ran through town.
"Nutty people out there," Joe remarked shaking his head as he took a sip of his orange smoothie. Why couldn't people remain calm and collected, as he'd learned to do?
Just then, one of the jumpers leapt from the bridge and Joe watched as he plummeted towards the water. His bungee cord stretched as he reached the bottom of his fall, when suddenly something very bizarre happened: the jumper grew to an immense size, snapping the bungee cord like twine under his weight. He crashed under the water and emerged an enormous, red, serpentine creature with a metal horn on his head.
Joe would have recognized Mega Seadramon anywhere. He was getting the exact sensation of fear he'd had when he'd fist encountered one near the Tokyo Bay bridge during Myotismon's reign of terror.
And, acting on that sensation, calm and collected Joe Kido did the only natural thing: he screamed for his mother and ran away.
"How's everyone doing back there?" Matt called to his passengers. Sora, via Matt and Tai's chivalry, was seated in the front passenger seat. Meanwhile, the other nine Digidestined and six digimon were cramped in the back seat (not to mention Mimi's unconscious parents, who'd been unceremoniously dumped behind the back seat). There was only room for five, so Tai and TK obliged by sitting on the floor, while two others had to sit on a few laps.
"I'm too old to be sitting on someone's lap!" Cody protested indignantly from Yolei's lap.
"Hey, I'm five years older than you and you don't see me complaining," Izzy pointed out from Mimi's lap with a smug, self-satisfied grin.
Just then, as they came upon the beach near Tokyo Beach, a screech emitted from Mimi: "What is that thing?!" she cried, causing Izzy to grit his teeth and wince horribly as she shrieked in his ear.
"That's Mega Seadramon," TK spoke up. "I remember when it attacked Joe and I when Myotismon had the whole city covered in fog. Joe saved me from him and Ikkakumon digivolved into Zudomon for the first time. This must be the same one!"
Matt pulled the car up to the curb. As they all departed, they heard an oddly familiar voice, screaming, "Help! I'm too young to be munchies for an undead sea monster!"
"Some things never change," Tai sighed as a very relieved Joe ran up to them.
"Guys! Thank goodness you're here!" Joe gasped. "I was taking a break on the beach when this bungee jumper turned into Mega Seadramon and I dropped my orange smoothie and it shot a thunder javelin attack at me and I can't even figure out why it's here in the first place—"
"Joe, relax!" Sora shouted, taking hold of him. "If you don't calm down, you'll give yourself a heart attack, right, Izzy?"
"What?" called Izzy, rubbing his ears.
"Thunder javelin!" a voice bellowed, and a bolt of lightning struck the ground amid the Digidestined, sending them sprawling as the charred and smoking remains of the sidewalk began to litter the area.
"That was close!" Kari gasped.
"What?" Izzy asked, cupping his hand to his ear.
Cody, meanwhile, looked to his partner. "Think you've got another Digivolution in you, Armadillomon?" he asked, taking hold of his D3.
"Only one way to find out… Armadillomon armor digivolve to… Submarimon!"
As Cody boarded his aquatic digimon, he turned to the others. "I'll try and fight him from below. Someone else get him if he surfaces!"
TK flashed a grin to Joe. "Looks like I get to pay you back for your rescue, Joe," he chuckled. Tokomon took his cue and digivolved to Patamon, bracing himself as TK grabbed his D3.
"Patamon armor digivolve to… Pegasusmon!"
TK mounted the winged-horse digimon and took to the air. As he did, however, Kari saw a black form approaching fast from the horizon. It had an odd, vaguely humanoid shape about it, and Kari thought she had seen it from somewhere before. Gatomon had the same sensation as she caught sight of the figure as well. Only when it was upon them did they realize who it was.
"TK!" Kari called in warning. "Watch out!"
TK turned his attention from water below to the new enemy and was helpless to do much more than gape with a look of shock as it unleashed its full fury.
"Darkness wave!"
Pegasusmon veered away just in time, but was propelled forward by the wave of black energy, barely keeping airborne as the attack nearly knocked him from the sky.
"Lady Devimon!" Kari shouted with grim recognition.
"Oh, so good of you to remember me, little one," Lady Devimon laughed coldly. "I was hoping I'd get to send you to your grave remembering your destroyer and I'm glad to see I won't be disappointed!"
"Villains have a real knack for over-the-top speeches," Ken grumbled.
"You sure did when you were one," Yolei chuckled, elbowing his blushing friend.
"Who did what now?" Izzy inquired deafly.
As Joe led Izzy off to make sure he hadn't suffered any permanent hearing loss, the remaining Digidestined formulated a plan.
"Okay, Kari and Nefertimon will help TK and Pegasusmon deal with Lady Devimon," Yolei proposed.
"I'll help them, too," Ken offered.
"Great," Davis agreed. "Yolei and I will help Cody take down Mega Seadramon."
In mere moments, Exveemon and Halsemon were in the air over the Bay, while Nefertimon and Stingmon aided Pegasusmon with the former Dark Master's henchwoman.
Cody and Submarimon dodged Mega Seadramon as best as they could as the stronger and larger digimon pursued them with astonishing speed. With another cry of "Thunder javelin!" and a second bolt of lightning grazing the side of the pair, Cody knew that they would have to rely on outwitting their foe, as out-muscling him would be impossible.
"This water is filthy," Cody remarked disgustedly at the dark water he saw outside the cockpit. "I can't see a thing!"
"It's okay, I have radar sensors," Submarimon assured him.
Cody suddenly got an idea. "Does Mega Seadramon have them?" When his partner replied that he didn't, he directed him over to the pillar of the bridge over the bay. Mega Seadramon, who relied wholly on his keen sense of smell, could only follow them blindly. If the contamination in the Bay was less, he might have been able to follow and destroy them. As it was so polluted and he couldn't get a perfect fix on him, he followed fairly blindly until he crashed headfirst into the leg of the bridge. With his foe temporarily stopped, Sumbarimon took his cue as he came out from behind the leg of the bridge.
"Oxygen torpedo!" he attacked, striking the serpentine monster in the chin, forcing it to emerge from the water, roaring in rage.
Halsemon wasted no time. "Eagle eye!" he hollered, sending two beams of energy straight into Mega Seadramon's eyes, temporarily blinding him.
As he huge creature thrashed in the water in rage, Exveemon made his move, aiming as best he could. "V-laser!" he attacked, sending the yellow beam at Mega Seadramon. The beam hit him dead on and he collapsed violently backwards, crashing onto the beach, where he glowed momentarily, as if de-digivolving, and then returned to the form of the bungee jumper he had arisen from.
Joe went over to see if he was okay. "Sir, are you all right? Do you need help?"
The bungee jumper raised his head and blinked at Joe before giving him a thumbs up. "Whoa, man… what a rush!" he exclaimed, and then passed out.
The remaining digimon, meanwhile, dealt with Lady Devimon, a considerably more capable foe.
"Spiking strike!" Stingmon shouted, swooping down, his glowing blade poised.
Lady Devimon dodged the attack effortlessly, gracefully flying out of harm's way and then seizing the insect digimon by his foot.
"My, but they grow large bugs in this climate!" she laughed, flinging Stingmon to the ground. She then turned her attention to Kari and TK, who hovered nearby on Nefertimon and Pegasusmon, respectively.
"As I said, I owe you, little girl; and the boy in the goofy hat will go with you," she snarled cruelly.
"Not if we have anything to say about— wait, what's wrong with my hat?" TK asked, suddenly insulted.
"Save it, we've got a battle to fight!" admonished Pegasusmon.
"I couldn't agree more," Nefertimon called. "Shall we?"
The two flew directly at Lady Devimon, who waited patiently as they got closer and closer. When they were close enough, she would unleash her Darkness Wave attack on them, finishing the pair off for good.
However, just as she was about to attack, they made a maneuver she hadn't expected. They crossed paths in mid-air, creating some kind of long, shining rope between the two of them. "Golden noose!" they cried, ensnaring her in the noose and holding her tight where she hovered.
"Stingmon!" Ken yelled from the ground. "They've got her bound! Now's your chance!"
Stingmon looked up and saw their nemesis momentarily incapacitated and soared into the air, making his attack count: "Spiking strike!"
The attack hit dead on and Lady Devimon screamed in defeat before she returned to her human form, which was so petite that it slipped through the Golden Noose and hurtled towards the ground.
Matt, standing the closest, ran to catch the falling human and dove as the helpless person landed safely in his arms. He sighed, relieved… until he saw who it was.
"Matt? Is that you?" Jun murmured as she opened her eyes wearily. "What happened?"
Matt blanched as he tried to think of an explanation. "Uh, car-jackers stole your van and all of us went off to get it back for you. They banged it up, but it still runs."
Jun smiled as she looked up into her savior's eyes. "Oh, Matt. You're my hero!" she bubbled, and leaned up to kiss him on the cheek… before unceremoniously passing out in his arms as he sighed in relief, causing the others to burst out laughing until tears ran from their eyes.
Because of their harrowing experience and all the trouble of running across town, they decided it might be best if they met to discuss the situation the following day. Once it was agreed, sleeping arrangements were made. Since the elder Digidestined were obviously being targeted, it made sense to have them stay with the younger ones. Kari and Tai let Izzy, Mimi, Davis, and Ken spend the night at their apartment, while TK took his brother, Joe, Sora, Yolei, and Cody. With a good balance among them, they slept rather soundly.
The next morning, Matt was up early to make breakfast. He had planned on saving his mother the trouble and he was just getting the ingredients for scrambled eggs ready when the phone rang. He picked it up to silence the ring and whispered a quiet "Hello?" into the receiver.
"Matt, is that you?" Tai's voice asked.
"Yeah, Tai, what is it? Why are you calling so early?" he whispered.
"Izzy's come up with a theory about these new resurrections and he wants us to hear it," Tai explained.
"Great, I'll wake everyone up," Matt said.
"No!" Tai protested suddenly. "This has to do with us older kids. Just get Sora and Joe up. Let the other guys sleep in. They had a rough time yesterday."
Matt was puzzled. Why wouldn't they include everyone? Why only the older ones?
"Don't worry, Matt," Tai
assured him. "Everything's going to be
fine. Izzy's got this figured out. Trust me."
Matt finally agreed to meet Tai and gathered Joe and Sora, slipping quietly out the front door.
At Tai and Kari's apartment, Tai was attempting to make pancakes for his rather large group of houseguests and not doing a very good job of it. He had just peeled a burnt pancake off the griddle when the phone rang.
"Hello?" he answered.
"Tai?" Matt's voice came. "Hey, are you the only one awake?"
"Yeah, it's still kind of early," Tai explained in a hushed voice.
"Well, listen, Sora and I think we've figured out something about these resurrections. We saw something at the ballpark yesterday."
"Oh, really?" Tai asked, feeling annoyed for some reason. "Well, what is it?"
"I can't explain it right now, Tai," Matt informed him. "Get Izzy and Mimi up and meet Joe, Sora, and I and we can talk about it."
"Why only the older kids?" Tai asked.
"I said I can't explain right now, just meet us!" Matt growled venomously. Then, he softly added, "Sora really thinks that this can only be handled by us, especially with you."
Tai puffed up slightly at that. "Okay," he consented. "Where should we meet?"
Kari woke up that morning amid all her friends and groaned as she stretched, popping her back. Davis's snoring had kept the majority of them up until they had gotten together as a group and put a clothespin on his nose. Upon further investigation, she found three of their number were missing. Tai, Izzy, and Mimi were absent.
This didn't at first alarm her until she went to the rest of the apartment and found no one there. He parents had gone shopping and her brother and their two friends had left without leaving a note. She decided to wake up the others, panicking slightly at their disappearance.
"That's weird," Ken remarked when he saw the situation for himself. "Why would they leave without telling us? They're unprotected without us."
"Maybe they left to get away from your snoring," Veemon joked, elbowing Davis in the leg.
"Very funny, Veemon," Davis laughed sarcastically. "Now let's find the others!"
Then, suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Kari went and answered it uneasily. She was surprised when she saw who it was.
"TK!" she exclaimed.
"Yolei and Cody are here, too," TK said. "We came as soon as you called us."
Ken looked at them, baffled. "But, nobody called you," he told them uncertainly.
The other three looked every bit as confused. "Yeah you did," Yolei disagreed. "I was there when TK took the call. Kari said that the older Digidestined had let us sleep in and come over here to start working on a plan. We all had breakfast and came over as soon as we could."
Davis was starting to get frustrated. "Look, TF, I don't know who called you, but it wasn't Kari," he growled. "The older kids aren't here, either!"
Everyone was beginning to worry now. Cody spoke up and verbalized the unspoken fear between them, his voice shaking with uncertainty: "Someone's toying with us."
Then, both Ken and Kari seemed to freeze, momentarily shivering as their eyes grew wide in sudden fear. Even the others felt it. It was like a slight, but sudden chill that blew through the room. It was as if the air crackled with electricity, or as if some person had entered the room without their knowing, but still triggered that strange "sixth sense" that alerted them of the stranger's presence.
As they became more aware of the feeling, the new presence made itself known. From the kitchen, a kind of black cloud began to form, rising from seemingly nowhere. It swirled and billowed ominously, but then began to condense and take a more recognizable form. In mere moments, the blackness had formed into a tangible being that stood there among them.
The being was tall, near to seven feet in height, in fact. He had a very humanoid appearance, with a long, gaunt face and legs and arms that seemed appropriate for his body frame. He was lean, but muscular, and wore a black, tight coat and pants that accentuated his muscular form. He wore leather gloves on his hands and heavy boots on his feet. His eyes were hidden behind red goggles and his whole frame was draped with heavy-looking iron chains. His thin, dark hair was slicked back over his head and his skin was a sickly, pale white. He looked confident and sinister, but he also had an air of benign calm as he smiled at the Digidestined with bluish lips and yellowed teeth.
"Hello, children," he greeted them with an harsh, yet flowing voice. "I am sincerely happy to meet you. Sit, if you will, for we have much to talk about and so little time for it."
(In the next episode, the Digidestined have a conference with the enemy. Then, some old friends stop by to say hello as others may have to say goodbye…)
