::Ch. 1-Topsy Turvy:: Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon. I do own Trikmon©, and the concept of this story.

The Meek Shall Inherit the Earth

Chapter 1: Topsy Turvy

Miyako Yolei Inoue was pretty sure she was going to get lost. The recently returned-for-good Mimi Tachikawa had invited everyone to her new home for a reunion. Mimi's parents had decided that Japanese high schools were far more advanced than American, and thought their darling daughter would do better back in her homeland.

"Good ol' Odaiba!" Mimi had sighed at the reunion. "Nothing like being home. Even if it is just so I can go to a tougher high school!"

Yolei looked around the house ——no, mansion—— for Hawkmon. One of the bonuses of defeating the Digimon Kaiser was they could go back and forth to the Digital World whenever they wanted. And Mimi did say she wanted everyone. In fact, Palmon hadn't left Mimi's side since the party began. Yolei had wondered how Mimi's parents would handle it all. They handled it by leaving the house before anyone arrived.

Yolei didn't blame them.

"Yolei, my dear!" a cultured voice called, and the purple haired girl turned. Hawkmon waved at her from the other side of the long hall. "What are you doing down there? Everyone's on the back deck."

She smiled, sheepishly. "Sorry. I just didn't know where to go. This place is huge!"

"Well, come along," Hawkmon said, offering his arm in a most gentlemanly manner, as she walked up beside him. "Wouldn't want to keep everyone waiting."

"Of course not," Yolei laughed, taking his feathered arm as best she could.

As the two friends walked down the staircase, the rest of the Digidestined and their digimon were out on the deck, enjoying the late summer sun.

"That cord is flat, Matt," Mimi frowned, leaning over to pluck on Matt's bass guitar. "Is this tuned right?"

"It's just fine," Yamato Ishida scowled, trying to keep his instrument away from the pink haired singer. "I tuned it myself."

"Well, then you're playing out of tune," she said, a matter-of-factly.

Takeru Takaishi, who was sitting next to his brother, nearly choked on his burger when he heard Matt's strangled gasp. Hikari Kamiya patted TK on the back, giggling.

"Don't die on me, TK," she grinned, eyes shining.

TK pounded his chest to get the piece of burger down. "I'll try not to," he coughed, smiling slightly.

From across the deck, next to the pool, Daisuke Motomiya fumed at the two. Or, more accurately, at TK. He took a step toward him, but a strong hand clamped onto his arm.

"Lighten up, Davis," Sora Takenouchi beamed. "It's a party!"

There was a near silent splash, and Sora squealed as two wet arms wrapped around her waist.

"Gotcha, Sora!" Taichi Kamiya cried. He fell back into the water, taking a yelling Sora along with him. The splash was much louder this time, what with Sora's thrashing and all.

When the brunette popped back up, she was furious. "Tai!" Sora screamed. "I'm gonna kill you! I'm not even in my bathing suit."

"Lighten up, Sora," Tai mocked, smartly swimming away from her. "It's a party!"

Tai's laughter quickly became yells of fright, as Sora lunged after him, fire in her eyes. Biyomon and Agumon, meanwhile, stayed safely at the edge of the pool, staring at their human friends with confusion and embarrassment.

Iori Hida sat contentedly on the deck, his back against the sleeping form of Armadimon. The youngest and most serious of the Digidestined, Iori looked like he was actually relaxed. His dark eyes were on Jyou Kido and Koushirou Izumi , who were leaned over a chess board.

"You're not going to beat me this time, Joe," stated Izzy, smiling. "I've observed your every move from all our previous games. Calculated them all up, found the moves you're most and least likely to do, and formed a plan that'll stop you in your-"

"Checkmate," Joe said.

"-tracks," Izzy sighed, deflated. "How? How is it possible? I never lose this game to anyone!"

"Can't say that anymore, Izzy," Tentomon stated, earning himself a glare from the computer whiz.

"If it makes you feel better," Gomamon said, patting Izzy's leg, reassuringly, "Joe beats me all the time."

Izzy's forehead hit the board with a defeated thud. "It doesn't."

Gatomon and Palmon, meanwhile, were keeping a safe distance between themselves and the pool, which was now quickly losing water due to Tai's frantic splashing to get away from Sora. Gatomon stayed clear for obvious reasons, but Palmon had learned that the pool wasn't as friendly as Mimi's water hose. She had foolishly dipped her foot in once to get a drink, and was fortunately pulled back by Mimi before she took too much. The chlorine had made Palmon fiercely ill for a few hours. That was enough for her.

But that didn't mean the two female digimon weren't up to a little fun. They were slowly stalking Patamon and Gabumon from behind. The two digimon, connected by brothers, were nibbling here and there at the various hors d'vurs and such that were on the buffet table. They looked completely oblivious to the sneaky cat and plant digimon.

Casually, Patamon turned his head toward the two girls, blew a small Boom Bubble, and then went back to work on his food. Gasping, Palmon and Gatomon tried to back up in time. But it was too late. The bubble exploded. Not hard enough to hurt them, or even send them flying. Just hard enough to send them falling roughly on their backsides.

"Patamon's hearing is impressive," Gabumon said to the two girls, without turning to them. "Don't you think?"

Palmon frowned while Gatomon huffed.

Veemon had sat himself down on a chair, and stared up into the sky with a strange look upon his face. Noticing the oddly silent behavior of his usually energetic friend, Davis sat down next to him.

"What's wrong, Veemon?" he asked.

"Huh?" Veemon blinked. He looked at Davis, and gave his best smile. "Nothing, really. I just have this silly feeling in my stomach, that's all. Probably one too many burgers."

Davis couldn't imagine Veemon actually managing to eat himself full, but he let it go. After all, stranger things had happened. And this was, as Sora said, a party. Time to just sit back and have some lazy fun before school started again.

Yolei and Hawkmon had finally made their way to the deck, and had joined Agumon and Biyomon, who were still watching Sora. She had finally gotten a hold of Tai, and was dunking him repeatedly in the water, yelling, "Try to laugh now, you jerk!" While Tai was flailing around and gasping for breath, it was hard to miss the amused smirk that seemed plastered on his face.


He sat in the darkness, his fingers strumming the only sound to hear.

They were almost all together, digimon and Digidestined. So easily killable in their current position. But no, that would be too easy. Besides, there was still one who wasn't with them. But he would be there soon enough. When the time came.

The sitting figure's ears perked at a small, scuffling noise coming to his right. He looked over, and let a small smile cross his twistedly handsome features. The old man, tied up by what could've been puppet strings, was struggling valiantly. But, vainly. He'd never escape. Not until his captor wanted him to.

Sitting in darkness, the figure stilled his fingers.

It was time.


The blue sky over the Tachikawa house darkened, gray clouds covering all to see.

Mimi blinked. "That's funny. I didn't hear anything about a storm today."

But no rain came. No thunder came. Just more dark clouds, until it was nearly pitch black. It happened with an unnatural quickness. Then, without a single gust of wind, a strange coldness settled, seeping into their bones, and making them shiver.

"This isn't right," Tai muttered, slipping out of the pool, with Sora right behind.

Yolei inched herself next to Iori, protectively.

Something loud rumbled, making the ground beneath them shake, violently. No thunder could do that. Everything stilled, and they silently waited, each instinctively knowing there would be more. Then, it began again, this time hard enough to knock everyone to the floor. When it stopped, many pairs of frantic eyes were looking about.

"Everybody okay?" Tai called.

Heads nodded, but Mimi looked highly upset.

"It's underneath my house!" she shrieked. "Get it out. My parents will kill me if it destroys my mom's favorite vases!"

Vases were on the bottom of the Worry List, however. Once more, the ground quaked, worse than before. People and digimon alike were flung around like rag dolls. Kari nearly fell off the deck, TK grabbing a hold of her just in time to pull her back.

And that's when the deck split open.

Mimi screamed, though whether it was from fear or anger that her house was being destroyed, was unclear. Whatever the reason, she kept on screaming as a dark form rose from the gaping hole.

He wore no flowing cape to make his form seem more menacing. He didn't need to. He wore no mask to hide his cold, gray face. His head was topped with long, drooping black hair, that spilt over his nearly white blue eyes. His thin lips were twisted in what one might consider a smile. His gaunt form, so thin it looked like it could brake in a strong wind, was wrapped tightly in black straps, top to bottom. His toes were exposed, sharp, long toenails shining oddly bright in the darkness. His hands, long and clawlike, swung limply at his sides at he watched the Digidestined and digimon tried to settle themselves.

"Who is that?" Izzy asked, looking down at his digimon.

"I-I don't know," Tentomon answered, stumped and unsettled. "I've never seen him before!"

The figure's smile widened, showing off two rows of nothing but gleaming, sharp, jagged teeth. "How rude of me. Making my entrance without properly introducing myself. My name is Trikmon," he bowed his head, slightly. "I'm here to destroy you. That is all you need to know."

Tai didn't seem impressed, and straightened himself. "Yeah, well, others have tried, buddy. And they've all failed! You're not gonna be any different."

Matt, meanwhile, was edging his hand toward his digivice, hidden beneath his shirt. But when he felt around, he found nothing.

"My digivice is gone!" he stated, blue eyes wide. "It must've fallen off in the shakes."

Trikmon smiled wider, if it was possible. He held out his large fists, and uncurled his long fingers. In his hands rested all eleven digivices. "Are these what you were looking for?"

"Oh, God," Yolei whispered, pulling Iori close.

"That's not possible," Tai uttered, stunned. How could he have gotten a hold of all the digivices? He hadn't made a single move since appearing. Not even a flick of his wrists. Just what type of power did this guy possess?

"It doesn't matter!" Davis shouted. "Remember what Gennai said? The power to Digivolve is in us, not the digivices. We can do this!"

"Right!" Ten voices answered, though some sounded more sure than others.

"Can you, now?" Trikmon raised a thin brow. And his smile widened even more.

Sora felt suddenly sick. And not from nerves. It was like someone had spun her around for over ten minutes after she had eaten a full meal. Her head swam, her stomach twisted. Her eyes burned and blurred. She placed her hands on her head. What was going on?

She tried to clear her vision, and her eyes, though still bleary, caught sight of Trikmon's left hand, which was slack at his side. Then, she saw it move. Barely. Just a slight tick of his forefinger. But it was enough. She knew. Sora didn't know how, but she just... knew.

"He's going to do something!" she cried.

But it was far too late. The street lamps, which had automatically gone on when the instant darkness came, blew out with violent hisses. All of them. The lights in Mimi's house sparked off. All across Odaiba, the electricity failed.

For the Digidestined, the world went black.

And then the screams started.

But not from Mimi, or any of the other Digidestined, for that matter. But, from the digimon. Unable to see what was happening, the children stood where they were, horrified at the sounds of their friends in pain. Iori and Tai began to frantically feel around, desperately trying to find their digimon companions. But it was useless, and the cries of pain continued.

"Palmon... " Matt heard Mimi whisper, tearfully. "Palmon!"

Through the screams, TK strained to hear Patamon's voice. He heard something else, though. Something that made his blood run cold. Trikmon... singing.

Gone, gone.
Everyone's gone.
And you're all left wondering,
What went wrong...

He didn't understand the meaning of it, but it made TK shudder with dread.

Then, as suddenly as the screams had started, they ended. And the power came back, the street lamps and house lights flooding the still dark city with light.

Yolei blinked a few times, adjusting her eyes. Trikmon was gone. Just vanished. Her relief was short lived, as she looked down to find Hawkmon. Only, Hawkmon wasn't there. All the digimon had vanished, and in there place were... children.

Frowning, Yolei looked around. These children were unconscious. Stunned, she took in their conditions, same as everyone else. These sleeping children were surprisingly naked, and odd looking. Their ages ranged, from what she could tell. From eight to seventeen, tops. And their skin tones were wrong.

Yolei nearly tripped over a green colored girl, with short, maroon, yellow-streaked hair. The green girl's eyes opened, revealing they were an even darker emerald. As fragile looking as a flower, the girl put a shaky hand to her curly hair.

"Mimi?" she whispered, in a voice familiar to Yolei. "Mimi, where are you?"

Oh, no. Yolei paled. It wasn't possible. It just couldn't be... "Palmon?" she asked, her throat instantly raw.

The green girl looked at her. "Yolei... Where's Mimi?"

Miyako Yolei Inoue, who was so sure she was going to get physically lost earlier on, sunk to her knees, mentally and emotionally lost. She couldn't scream, her throat too dry. Couldn't force the words out of her mouth to tell everyone what she'd found. So, Yolei did the only thing her body was allowing her to do at the moment.

She fainted.


Someone was patting her cheek, gently, trying to wake her up. Which, she really didn't want. Frowning, Yolei tried to brush the hand away from her face. Her action resulted in someone flicking her on the nose.

"Ow!" Yolei's brown eyes shot open, as she placed a hand to her reddening nose. She sat up, noting she was on Mimi's living room couch. She looked over to the person who had woken her, and jumped a bit, startled.

It was a boy she had never seen before. Perhaps sixteen, with snow white hair and skin. His T-shirt, however, revealed that the white skin ended at the base of his neck. His skin tone fused to a rich brown past that. Almost shaking, Yolei looked at the boy's face again. On his cheeks were familiar red markings, and his eyes were a bright blue that she knew anywhere.

"Hawkmon?" Yolei said, hesitantly.

"Yes, Yolei?" the boy answered. With his mouth. Not a beak.

She reached out, her hands touching his face, making sure he was real. Her fingers went from his smooth face, which was looking at her with shock and confusion, to his short white hair. No feathers to be seen. And he had hands and arms, not wings. Regular, human legs, clad in jeans; not the thin, yellow legs she was used to seeing.

"What happened?" Yolei squeaked, finally.

"Well," Hawkmon began, taking her hands gently off of himself, "we're not quite sure. When the lights went out, the rest of the digimon and I were suddenly in immense pain. Like we were being stretched. And then, we fainted, from the pain, I suppose.
"When we woke up, we were all like this. Humans. And, uh," he flushed, "naked, I'm afraid. Joe was good enough to drive the boys around their houses for some clothes for us. And Mimi took out some of her old clothing, as well."

Yolei shook her head. "How long have I been out?"

"Oh, a few hours," answered Hawkmon.

"A few hours?" she repeated, startled. "Where is everyone?"

"They're on the deck," he replied, helping her up. "Izzy brought back his computer."

The two friends walked to the back, and opened the patio doors. Solemn faces greeted them. Yolei took it all in. Next to Matt sat a boy that looked no more than seventeen. Yellow skin, and spiky, shoulder length white hair, streaked with blue stripes. His bright, red eyes were hooded, distant. Gabumon, Yolei quickly decided. Palmon, who Yolei recognized from before, was now dressed, and sitting next to Mimi, her head resting on the pink haired girl's shoulder.

A small girl, who had to be Gatomon, sat by Kari's leg. All white, with purple tips on her hair. Her aqua eyes were somber. Next to her, sat Patamon, Yolei suspected. Light orange skin, with darker hair, he was a boy of Gatomon's age. Eight, Yolei guessed.

"Come in and sit," a pink skinned girl told Yolei and Hawkmon, kindly. She had blue, spiky hair, wide set baby blue eyes, and was sitting next to a frowning Sora. Biyomon.

Trying to let it all sink in, Yolei sat on the deck, Hawkmon right beside her. All eyes shifted from them to Izzy, who was typing furiously on his computer.

"The blackout didn't do any damage, from what I can tell," he said, eyes fixed to the screen. "So, maybe I can connect us to the Digital World. Or at least, Gennai."

"Gennai, yeah," Tai nodded. "He's got to know about this Trikmon."

"He could tell us how to get back to normal," said a brown haired, orange skinned boy. Yolei knew Agumon's voice when she heard it. "Right?"

"We'll see," was all Izzy offered. His fingers clicked along for a few tense, silent minutes. "No," he murmured every so often. "Can't find the gateway... Nope... not there..." Then, the computer exclaimed a 'ping,' and Izzy brightened. "I've got mail from Gennai!"
Everyone held their breath, as Izzy opened the e-mail. His dark eyes scanned it for a moment, then he cleared his throat.

"'Digidestined-

"'I don't have much time. He's coming. Download this file and stay in whatever house you're at. Stick together. Let no one out of your sight. Watch the eyes.

"'-Gennai'"

"The eyes?" Joe repeated. "What does that mean?"

"I don't know," Izzy answered, watching his download go through, slowly. "Gennai sent us a firewall. It'll probably surround the whole house, and should keep us relatively safe."

"So, we're just going to stay here and do nothing?" Davis asked, irritably. "What about all the missing people?"

Yolei blanched. "Missing people?"

Iori nodded. "Everyone's parents are gone." He frowned, worried. "Even my mother and grandfather."

"Jim's missing, too," Joe muttered, barely audible. Gomamon, pure white of skin and red of hair, patted his friend's shoulder, reassuringly.

"Least you were still there," Davis said to a short person next to him. Yolei finally noticed that Jun Motomiya was in attendance. She gave her younger brother's arm a little squeeze, and smiled, though barely.

"Yeah, well," Tai's eyes narrowed, "nobody's going to be missing for long. We'll get them all back. Just you wait."

"Wait," Sora nodded. "That's all we can do. Wait, and see what Trikmon's next move is."

The words struck a true cord to everyone there. But, no one wanted to admit that they were basically clueless. When Izzy said the download was finished and the firewall was up, no one looked the least bit happy. Not even Izzy.


A half hour after the firewall had been erected, almost everyone had gone inside. The former digimon were trying to get used to wearing clothing, some not even used to walking on two feet. Kari was busy giggling at Gatomon, who was complaining that shoes were stupid and useless.

A pretty, pink haired girl remained on the deck, her red-brown eyes staring at the hole in the middle of it. She didn't hear the door open, and someone walk out. She jumped slightly when a boy with maroon skin and bright, orange hair sat next to her.

"Mimi," he said, setting his light green eyes on her.

"Tentomon," she acknowledged. "I thought you'd be with Izzy."

"He's too busy trying to connect to the Digital World," he explained.

"And Palmon?"

Tentomon smiled, which Mimi found surprisingly pleasant. In his real form, Tentomon's insect face never changed. Mimi noted that his human form was highly expressive. He had a nice smile. "She's learning how to drink with her mouth."

A short laugh forced its way out of Mimi. "Poor Palmon."

"Hmmm." He pierced her with a look. "What are you doing out here, Mimi?"

She turned away, shrugging. "Nothing."

"Mimi..."

Her shoulders began to shake. Not too noticeable, but Tentomon knew she was crying. For a moment, he didn't know what to do. Izzy never got emotional; he always kept things pretty much inside. Mimi was the exact opposite. She always let everyone know what she was feeling, when she was feeling it. He had to do something, Tentomon decided. He couldn't just let her sit there and cry.

He placed a hand on her shoulder. She took it as an invitation, and turned around, wrapping her arms around his neck, much to Tentomon's surprise.

"It's my fault!" Mimi cried.

He blinked, and patted her back, awkwardly. "W-what's your fault?"

"That this all happened," she confessed. "I wanted to go back to Odaiba so much. When my parents thought about coming back for school, I said yes because I missed everyone, not because of school. I couldn't have cared less about what stupid school they sent me to. I just wanted to be with all my friends again. If I hadn't been so selfish about wanting to be with everyone, we would've never moved back.
"A-and then," she gasped, "and then, I'd have never had had this party. And Trikmon would've never turned you into humans, and our parents would still be here. Don't you see?" she cried. "It's all my fault!"

Sometimes, Tentomon just didn't understand women. Mimi, in particular.

"Mimi," he said, uncomfortably, "while I guess you could say that it's admirable that you'd take responsibility, it's unnecessary. I'm sure Trikmon would've gotten to us regardless of where we were."

She pulled away, wiping her wet eyes. "Ya think?"

Tentomon nodded. "I think. Look at what he's done, Mimi. He could've picked us off one by one if he had wanted to. You can't blame yourself."

"But, my parents," she began.

"We'll get them back," he said, firmly. "We've beaten everyone before, right?"

She sniffled, but smiled. "Yeah. I guess you're right."

Tentomon sighed, relieved to see her smiling again. He was, however, enormously glad that he was Izzy's digimon. He just wasn't cut out for emotional people.

"Mimi," Palmon called, walking out. "There's someone at the door."

Tentomon and Mimi blinked at each other.

"Someone got through the firewall?" Mimi questioned.

"Maybe it only works on Digimon?" Tentomon offered, unsure.

Frowning, she got up and walked to the front door, where Tai, Matt and Davis stood, staring out. Mimi shoved her way past them to their visitor. It was Harry Miyagi, a seven year old who lived only two houses down. He was in tears.

"He won't stop crying to tell us what's wrong," Matt explained.

Mimi patted the small boy's head, comfortingly. His blue eyes opened, and focused on her. The instant recognition sunk in, he threw his arms around her waist.

"They're gone, Mimi!" he sobbed. "They're all gone!"

"Who's gone, Harry?" she asked, soothingly.

"My parents," he sniffed. "And Jenny's, too. We tried to get Mr. Soako, but he's not answering his door. No one is. You're the first place to have people in it. Mimi, where is everyone? I want my daddy!" he wailed.

Mimi's eyes connected with Tai's. "He's taken everyone's parents," she whispered.

"No. You're wrong."

Everyone's head snapped to Joe. It was odd to hear him sound so firm on something. He was sitting on the couch, his eyes closed tightly.

"What do you mean?" Tai asked.

"He took Jim," Joe reminded, his lips thinning for a moment. "Jim's not a parent. He's not even married. Trikmon didn't take all the parents." He opened his eyes, and he looked at everyone, darkly. "He took all the adults."

Next chapter: A Boy and His Worm