({A/N} Sorry it took me forever to post this. I had a science project due, I couldn't get on the Internet because our server wouldn't let us… (I drone on as you start to read story) ))
Clones, Part 3
By Lab Creation
Tai ran away from the cave as fast as he could. His clone and DarkGreymon didn't notice he had escaped until it was too late.
"You may have escaped this time, original!" Tai's clone yelled to him, "But you'll never escape the wrath of our creator!"
Tai gasped and panted for air. He slowed his pace and continued his search for Agumon. He searched for hours yet came up empty-handed. He'd almost given up hope when out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a splash of orange in a tree.
"Agumon!" Tai cried.
The little orange dragon lifted his head weakly. A smile crossed his face when he spotted Tai running toward him.
"Tai," Agumon said weakly, "You're alright."
"You bet I'm alright," Tai called between breaths, "But what about you?"
Tai reached the base of the tree and stood on his tiptoes to pull Agumon out of it. Once in his arms, he hugged the little dinosaur tightly.
"What happened to you?" Tai asked.
"I'm not quite sure," Agumon responded, "One second I'm standing next to you, the next I'm flying through the air, and then I was up in the tree."
"This is just too weird," Tai said, half to himself, "Can you digivolve?"
"I'm too weak. I probably can't even attack," Agumon replied.
"Well, then we'll just have to find you something to eat quickly, won't we?" Tai said to him.
Agumon gave him a smile. Tai picked him up and went off in search of food.
~*~
Izzy struggled to keep his head above the water. He was a good swimmer but the currents tried to pull him under with a tremendous force. He noticed that the water was starting to move faster.
"~Usually when water starts to move faster, that means that…~"
To his horror, there was a huge waterfall coming into view. Izzy tried to grab onto something stable but it was no use. The roar of the waterfall was becoming unbearable. The waterfall loomed before him. For a split second he saw over the edge, then suddenly everything rushed toward him in a blur a motion.
SPLASH!!!!!
Izzy was lucky enough to land in the water, not on the sharp rocks. For a moment, nothing came to surface, and then his head was thrust above the water. The river carried him a little farther to calmer water. Coughing and sputtering, he swam to shore.
Of course, after recovering from the trip, Izzy dug into his backpack and pulled out his precious laptop.
"~Darn it. Soaked,~" Izzy thought as he looked down in sorrow at the laptop.
"Izzy, will you please quit looking at your laptop and notice me?"
"Huh?" Izzy looked up, startled.
"Over here. I'm stuck."
"Tentomon!" Izzy said happily.
Izzy got up and pushed aside a bush. Tentomon was twisted up in a vine, unable to get free. He reached down and untangled the insectoid Digimon from the unexpected snare.
"Are you alright Tentomon?" Izzy asked him.
"I'm alright. Since I can fly, I didn't have a rough landing like some of the others did," Tentomon replied.
"Did you see where the others landed?" Izzy queried.
"Everything was going to fast. My wings only slowed my decent a little," Tentomon responded.
"Well, I bet you're still hungry. Let's go find something to eat," Izzy said.
"You bet. Let's go!" Tentomon answered.
~*~
Sora walked around in the inky blackness of the cave, looking for an opening. Sweat trickled down her forehead, then soon came to rest on the neck of her shirt. She was gasping and panting for air. She'd almost lost hope when she heard a voice on the coming from the other side of the solid, rock wall.
"Sora? Are you there?"
"Biyomon!" Sora exclaimed happily through her ragged breaths.
"Stand back, Sora!" Biyomon called out, "I'm going to bust you out of there!"
Sora backed up against the cave wall.
"SPIRAL TWISTER!!"
BOOM!!
The cave wall exploded and light flooded the cavern. Sora was blinded for a moment but soon recovered and saw a familiar face flying toward her.
"Biyomon!"
"Sora!"
Biyomon flew into Sora's waiting arms.
"Oh, Bi! I thought I'd lost you!"
"Don't worry. I'm alright. I thought I'd--"
"METEOR WING!!"
Biyomon's sentence was cut short as DarkBirdramon shot her attack into the cavern. The attack slammed into solid rock, causing several large boulders to be dislodged.
"Sora! Look out!" Biyomon cried.
Sora jumped sideways and the falling rocks just missed her. Biyomon flew out of her arms.
"SPIRAL TWISTER!!"
Biyomon shot her attack at the wall opposite of the attacking DarkBirdramon. The rocks dislodged themselves and fell away, creation a doorway.
"Let's go, Sora!" Biyomon yelled to her digipartner.
"Right behind you!" Sora called back.
The two of them shot out the small doorway and into the sunlight. Behind them, the cave collapsed into nothing more than a pile of rubble. Sora and Biyomon turned a sharp corner and ran right into DarkSora.
"Think I'd let you two get away so easily?" DarkSora sneered, "I'm only beginning to have fun."
Biyomon was so mad that she couldn't stand it anymore. She shot her attack and DarkSora.
"SPIRAL TWISTER!!"
The attack shot toward the clone. Then, just at the last second, DarkSora jumped some thirty feet into the air and landed onto DarkBirdramon's back.
"You know, the good thing about being a clone is that before you are made, the creator can manipulate the DNA so that we can do things the originals can't," DarkSora said with, what seemed like, a wicked smile.
"Biyomon, we can't win unless you digievovle. Can you do it?" Sora asked desperately.
"I think so," Biyomon replied, "Here I go!"
Sora's digivice started shining and Biyomon digivovled.
"Biyomon digivovle to… Birdramon!"
Then the two of them turned to face the clones…
~*~
"HOWLING BLASTER!!"
DarkGarurumon shot his attack at Matt who still lay on the ground unable to get up. The blue beam of energy streaked toward him. Matt closed his eyes expecting the worse. Just as it was about to hit him, a blue blur jumped in front of him, taking the attack full force. Whatever it was that just saved him gave a yelp and was sent flying backwards, over Matt's head and hit the ground with a terrific thud. Matt then recognized the creature.
"Gabumon!" he cried.
Then, forgetting all the weakness and pain he felt, he jumped up and rushed to his injured digimon's side.
"Gabumon?" Matt asked, worried.
The reptile digimon opened his eyes weakly and looked straight into Matt's dark blue ones. He gave a small smile and slipped into unconsciousness. Matt quickly picked up the heavy bundle and dashed off as fast as he could. DarkGarurumon started coming at him, faster than before. Matt glanced back at the wolf-like digimon and noticed there was no rider. He turned his head around and suddenly skidded to a stop. Right in front of him was his clone.
"Leaving so soon?" his clone said sinisterly. His clone suddenly lashed out and grabbed Matt by the collar, causing him to drop Gabumon. Matt struggled to loosen his clone's grip, but to no avail.
"Hope you have a nice trip back down the mountain, original," he said with a twisted smile. With that he swung his arm and let go of Matt. Matt was airborne for a couple of seconds, then he hit the ground. He couldn't stop, so he kept rolling and sliding down the mountain. His clone smiled and kicked Gabumon down the mountain as well. After what seemed like minutes later, Matt came to a halt at the base of the mountain. He groaned and sat up weakly. He turned his head and saw Gabumon come to a stop.
"I'm coming, Gabumon," Matt said, attempting to get up. He managed two steps and then fell down again. Gabumon lay there, motionless. Matt continued to make his way over to Gabumon. He tried to walk over to him, but soon gave that up, for he had no strength. He resorted to crawling and was soon by his digimon's side.
"Gabumon? Wake up," Matt said, shaking his digimon gently. Gabumon still lay there motionless. Tears started coming to Matt's eyes as he expected to worse. He shook Gabumon again.
"Come on, Gabumon, wake up," Matt pleaded though almost choked sobs. Suddenly Gabumon stirred. Matt's full attention was on Gabumon now. His digimon opened his eyes and looked at Matt.
"Hey, Matt," Gabumon said with a smile, "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine, Gabumon," Matt said, a couple of tears running down his cheeks, "I'm fine."
Matt picked up his digimon and set of to look for food.
~*~
T.K. scrabbled through the briar patch, unhooking his clothing from the sharp thorns every now and then. T.K. heart kept beating faster and faster with each passing second. DarkAngemon walked around the perimeter of the thorns, waiting for a chance to attack him. He trembled as his clone scanned the area with those cold eyes of his. T.K. slinked back into the shadows.
"Hiding isn't going to do you any good, original!" DarkT.K. snapped, "I'll find you!"
T.K. was even more nervous now. He was near the edge of the patch. He saw a small opening where he could wriggle through and escape. He looked at the opening, then DarkAngemon, then the opening again. He gulped and took his chances. He got as close as he could to the opening without being seen. Then, he made a dash for it. It would have worked except he didn't notice a small stone in his way. His toe hit the rock and it skittered across the ground. DarkAngemon raised his head and took wing. He landed in front of T.K. T.K. skidded to a stop and tried to run the another way. DarkT.K. jumped off of DarkAngemon's back and landed in front of T.K. He was trapped.
"There is no way to escape," DarkT.K. hissed.
T.K. looked around him nervously. He was petrified. Then, DarkT.K. gave a nod of his head and DarkAngemon raised his hand to attack him. T.K. gasped and took a step back.
"HAND OF FATE!!"
T.K. let out a yelp as the attack shot toward him.
"T.K.!!!"
An orange blur slammed into T.K. and he was knocked out of the way of the attack.
"Patamon!" T.K. cried happily.
"Don't worry T.K.," Patamon said, getting up, "I'm here to protect you."
Just then, DarkT.K. came down upon them. He was moving so fast the air around him whistled. He came down, ready to stamp T.K. out of existence. T.K.'s eyes widened and he rolled to the side just avoiding DarkT.K.'s foot. He scrambled to his feet and got a good distance away.
"Come on, Patamon!" T.K. yelled, "I don't want to fight!"
"I'm coming!" Patamon called back.
They ran as fast as they could to get away from the clones. DarkT.K. jumped on DarkAngemon's back a went after them.
"Faster, Patamon, faster!" T.K. shouted.
The turned a corner and found themselves at a dead end. They were going to have to fight. They turned around and got ready…
~*~
Joe ran through the woods, looking for Gomamon. DarkIkkakumon couldn't follow him, but just the thought of him scared him. A chill ran up his spine as he remembered his last encounter with him.
"Joe! JOE!!"
Joe skidded to a stop. The voice was muffled but it sounded like Gomamon.
"Gomamon?"
"Joe! Over here!"
Joe followed the voice and soon came to a ravine.
"Joe! Down here!"
Joe cautiously peeked over the edge. There was Gomamon dangling from a vine some twenty feet below him.
"Gomamon!" Joe said happily, backing away from the edge a tad.
"Joe! Help me, will ya'?" Gomamon asked.
Joe turned his head and saw the vine Gomamon was hanging onto. He grabbed it and pulled.
"That's right. A little more…" Gomamon said.
"Gomamon, I know how to pull a vine," Joe said with a sigh.
"Sorry Joe, but if you were in my position you'd probably be doing the same thing," Gomamon replied.
"I guess so," Joe thought aloud.
Soon Gomamon was sitting on solid ground, far away from the edge.
"That was certainly terrifying," Gomamon remarked.
"Just looking down terrified me," Joe said.
Gomamon stifled a giggle at Joe's remark. He was used to Joe's complaining. Gomamon then jumped onto Joe's head.
"Come on, Joe. I'm hungry. Let's go find something to eat," Gomamon said.
Joe's stomach growled and he gave a small laugh.
"Me too. Let's go," Joe answered. They got up and went to find something to eat.
~*~
Mimi scooted back as far as she could in her little hiding spot. It was no use. DarkTogemon had spotted here and was advancing. Mimi nearly choked Palmon as she held her close. Suddenly, the object she was hiding behind was lifted up by none other than DarkTogemon.
"Playing hide-and-seek are we?" Mimi's clone snickered, "Looks like I win."
DarkTogemon prepared to attack. Mimi gave a small yelp and grabbed the brim of her ten-gallon hat and pulled it over her head. She expected to hear DarkTogemon yell out "Needle Spray", but it never came. Instead…
"NOVA BLAST!!"
A ball of fire slammed into DarkTogemon at full speed. Mimi looked up, surprised, and spotted her rescuer.
"Tai! Thank goodness!" she cried, relieved.
There, in the door DarkTogemon had made, was Tai and Greymon. Tai jumped off of Greymon's shoulder and ran to Mimi's side.
"You alright?" he asked concerned.
"I'm fine, but Palmon's hurt," Mimi replied looking down at her injured digimon.
"Come on," Tai said, grabbing Mimi's hand and pulling her up, "Let's just hope Greymon can keep your clones occupied long enough for us to escape."
Mimi gave a nod and they made a dash for it. DarkTogemon jumped in front of them, but Greymon head-butted her out of the way.
"Hurry," Greymon said in a gruff voice, "They're more powerful than I expected."
"Well, if you need to digievolve to ultimate, just call me," Tai replied quickly. Mimi and Tai dashed out of the building, leaving Greymon to keep the clones occupied…
___________________________________________
*laughs insanely* I left you all hanging again. Not demanding reviews, but, again, it would be nice to get some. Please don't flame me if I injured your favorite character.