Puppetmon's Playtime (Part two)
Scene: Now deep into the forest, the Digi-Destined have begun their second encounter with the Dark Master Puppetmon. TK has been taken captive by the evil doll, and in attempting to rescue him, Benjamon discovered he couldn't Digivolve and has been killed by Puppetmon's Puppet Pummel. We now rejoin our story...
On Benjamon's chest, the pale blue rose unfurled its petals and grew, leaves reaching out and rapidly spreading across the still body, tendrils wrapping about his form as the rose expanded hugely, sinking roots into the soil. Matt drew back, stunned by the enormous plant that was now pulling itself upright. Then large bloom opened to the sun, releasing pollen that showered down around it in a shimmering translucent blue screen.
It was enticing, and beautiful. The blossom filled the air with a subtle sweet odor that, for no reason at all, seemed to call Matt forward. Out of all the senses, smell is the strongest memory enhancer- and this scent brought back vivid memories of all the fun, happiness and love that Matt had experienced before his parents broke up. Evenings home when his father didn't work late, trips to the candy store; the memories became more detailed as he drew closer to the sparkling azure field. Finally, he reached out...
His hand stopped at the surface of the swirling indigo pollen cloud, and something else appeared in his mind, snapshots of another life, and someone else's memories.
It appeared to be just a normal, even boring life, at first... Shades of the past flickered through, showing a boy who didn't fit in because of behavior, who didn't get along with his peers as often as he did with adults. Focusing on study, school work, very intelligent academically, but hardly any friends. Harder assignments, new schools, new situations... Years flashed past... Work, study, hardship, survival. Attempts to deal with life's pain by laughing and joking on the surface, staying out of the way and keeping temper under control through years of slights, insults and threats. Then, computers. A great deal of focus on a date that the rest of Matt's mind dreamily identified as four years ago... A big event, unprecedented... massive curiosity, work, copy transmissions... showing something on a screen...cracking codes... lines forming a shape, then filling it in with color... A Gabumon? Matt's mind snapped back to the present in shock before a memory of hard work hit and washed him back down into it. Work. Years of work. Typing, more typing, studying the copied programs. Finally, exultation as a wire frame formed on a screen, becoming the image of the creator, the image memory showed in the mirror. A new Digimon, Benjamon.
Again, Matt recoiled from memory as recognition broke in. But this time, experiences bombarded him, no longer completely human feeling, more cold and calculated. Darkness, then light. Zeros and ones... Finally, images, a reality. Pain, an enemy attacking. Fight. Keep fighting. Train, study fighting. Some purpose derived from copied data, something that would need help, would require a team member to fight, to protect, to give up life so that others might survive in a battle of utmost importance. Fight. Win. Learn. Efficient and high speed, move beyond reaction into intelligence. Tests. More zeros and ones. Other forms to take, more powerful, supplied by...someone... something missing. Cut from memory as with a scalpel, a precise slice taken away. Then, light, true light, sunlight. Smoke in a room, computer equipment. A pull towards the west. Something important in the west, across the sea. Run. Carry out duties to 'Digi-Destined'; save them, fight by them, and protect them at all costs. This was Benjamon's life.
More recent events percolated through Matt's mind as the ground rumbled and shifted on the belts, bringing all the separated Digi-Destined into the same area. Fighting Phantomon, Myotismon...Something tapped him on the shoulder, and the memories faded away without a trace.
"Matt, what's that?" Gabumon asked, pointing a forepaw at the gigantic flower.
Her eyes closed, Mimi delicately sniffed the air... "Oh, it's lovely!" she breathed, opening her sparkling eyes.
Joe sniffled, and sneezed once. "Figures that I'm allergic..." He moans, holding a handkerchief to his face and moving away from the rose.
Tai gazed about the clearing, counting up his friends. "Hey, where's TK and Patamon?" he inquired.
"And Benjamon?" Sora added, also doing a nose count of Digi-Destined and Digimon.
Matt's state of shock was broken; he crashed to his knees, tears streaming down his face. "Puppetmon took TK!" he cried, flinching when Gabumon tried to put a comforting arm over his shoulders.
"WHAT!?" the others said as one.
"Puppetmon tied me up and threatened to kill me if TK didn't do what he said!"
"That jerk! Where'd they go?" Kari fumed with surprising heat.
Matt sobbed again, beating the ground with his gloved fist. "I don't know!" he shouted tearfully. "When Benjamon went after them, I knew, but now..." Matt trailed off into silence as he stifled his sobs.
"Benjamon went after them?" Gomamon echoed, thinking.
Palmon giggled, earning her an icy glare from Matt. "TK and Patamon should be fine, then!" She grinned, then swallowed, and took a step towards Mimi for protection from Matt's chilly gaze.
"Benjamon's dead." Matt said quietly. "He couldn't Digivolve, and that rose over there ate him."
"Huh?"
It was at this time that TK knocked Puppetmon's Joe figurine over, forcing Joe to fall over as well.
"Joe, are you all right?" Gomamon asked squeakily.
"I'm fine, Gomamon." Joe replied, blinking. "But I'd like to know why this keeps happening to me!"
"In the meantime," Gomamon said patiently, "WOULD YOU MIND GETTING OFF OF ME?"
"Oh. Sorry, Gomamon." As Joe pushed himself to his feet, his hand closed around a black square. "What's this?"
Rubbing the charred block with his thumb, the oldest Digi-Destined uncovered a silver surface, polished to a mirror-like finish. "Oh no!" he gasped. "It's Benjamon's Digivice!"
Returning swiftly to the group, Joe held out the carbonized Digivice in the palm of his hand.
"What happened to it?" Izzy asked Matt. "I've never seen damage to a Digivice before. It appears to have been overloaded and burned from the inside out, judging from the scorch marks." He concluded. "I wonder if I can get anything useful from it."
Unholstering his yellow Pineapple computer, Izzy found it already active, a strange diagnostic program filling the screen as soon as Izzy put the damaged Digivice in.
"Whoa! No wonder he couldn't Digivolve."
"Hey Guys!" TK yelled as he emerged from the forest with Patamon following close behind.
Green...Green all around...Pain... What happened? Where am I? Green...
Tentomon pointed to the terminal with one gray claw. "Izzy, what's this program you're running?" he asked his friend.
"I'm not running it, Tentomon." Izzy replied, moving back to his computer.
"Then who is..."
"Hey, mon! Don't touch that dial!" a rich, mellow voice exclaimed. A window opened on the screen, showing a tie-dyed Digimon with lustrous black hair and entrancing green eyes. "Peacemon's the name, and I'm poppin' in ta jive with ya about what's happenin' in my Flower Power."
Digimon Analyzer:
Peacemon: Ultimate level, Data type. Hallucinogenic plant Digimon.
Peacemon is the owner of an underground combat arena. He may look undependable, but don't let that fool you; his healing abilities make for a powerful ally!
The window closed, showing a rather annoyed Peacemon. "I love the intro, but I'm tryin' to tell you cats about your friend!" Peacemon took a long puff on his green rolled joint, looking at Izzy thoughtfully. "You are his friend, right?"
"Most assuredly, yes!" Izzy replied, the Digi-Destined and Digimon present nodding in agreement.
Another toke. "Cool. He did say he was down with the Digi-Destined, that's way groovy."
"Well, what's happening?" Agumon asked, sticking his snout between Izzy and the screen to see.
"Oh, right. I was drifting..." Peacemon drawled.
"More like tripping." Joe muttered, making Mimi giggle softly.
"I'll level with ya. Benjamon's hurt bad. How bad? Just take a look."
Two windows popped up, one with an extensive list of injuries, in the other...
"My God!" Sora whispered.
"That's HORRIBLE!" Biyomon exclaimed, her pink wings covering her beak.
Mimi gagged and spun away from...
A picture of Benjamon, holed, pulped, lacerated, and bloody.
Peacemon's window reappeared, overlaying the gruesome image. "I take it you that you Digi-Destined don't have strong stomachs."
TK wailed; Patamon and Kari immediately went to his side, trying to comfort him.
"Do us a favor and never show that again!" Gomamon half-shouted at Peacemon.
"EVER!" Palmon exclaimed, gently holding Mimi.
"I dig." Peacemon answered, closing the window.
Green...Pain leaving...Why? Why couldn't I change?
"Prodigious!" Izzy gasped, looking through Peacemon's program.
"What is it, Izzy?" Joe asked, kneeling by the boy genius (and away from the flower pollen).
"That rose is the most powerful data recovery and repair suite I've ever encountered! Antivirals, scanners, defragmentation, compression, recovery, decryption, encryption... Everything! If I could market this, I'd make every other security and data repair application obsolete!"
"You flatter me, Mon!" Peacemon said smugly. "Now, you just have to let me work my mojo, and you won't have to scream when you next see this frood." He took a drag on his joint... "Say, there's some information here I just decoded... Wanna see it?"
"Sure, why not?" Izzy answered.
Digimon Analyzer:
Benjamon: Rookie level, Vaccine type. Hero Outsider Digimon.
Created in the analog world by a hacker, Benjamon represents pure chance, having no ascribed destiny. Powered by a passive energy retrieval program embedded deep in his coding, Benjamon and all his Digivolutions have access to practically unlimited power; he uses energy from his surroundings to form his attacks.
As his creator, I want to remain unknown to him, so he can find his own path instead of looking to me. For more information, contact Drowzee1@...
The profile encrypted itself, leaving only an e-mail address blinking on the screen.
"Do you know what this means?" Izzy whispered reverently.
"No..." Joe said slowly... "Should I?"
"Benjamon doesn't even know his past! He thought he had corrupted his image to fit in, damaging his profile to line noise, but it was just encrypted! He's been given false memories, and programmed from the ground up! Such a complex program, given consciousness... This Drowzee1 not only had to learn about Digimon, but create one... And I'm betting that Benjamon and Drowzee1 have the same set of memories!" Izzy's mind raced, and his mouth struggled to keep up, creating a disjointed stream of consciousness... "Think of the time it took!"
"Izzy, are you feeling all right?" Sora asked quizzically. "Do you need to go lay down somewhere?"
Green... hardly any pain at all, now... Feel strange, shaking outside...Outside? Where am I? An explosion?
As quickly as it had arisen, the pale blue rose withered, turning brittle and brown, splitting the stem asunder.
Benjamon blinked owlishly as he stepped into a battleground.
"ICE WOLF CLAW!" Metalgarurumon barked, firing a freezing ray of ice.
"TERRA FORCE!" Wargreymon countered, summoning an energy ball to hurl at his fellow Mega.
The two attacks met, destroying each other and rending the air. Not too far away, a distinct chuckle that verged on hysterical laughter emerged from Puppetmon's wooden mouth.
Benjamon traced the noise, eyes narrowing as he looked upon the small Dark Master, upon the Digimon that had nearly deleted him.
Metalgarurumon and Wargreymon clashed once again, filling the air with blinding light and cacophonous noise. Psisauromon wouldn't stand a chance against the warring Mega Digimon, so Digivolving was pointless.
Looking around the clearing with the residual red glare that comes from looking at green for an extended period of time, he saw the Digi-Destined scattered about the glen, except for Tai and Matt, who were shouting something unintelligible as the area was once again filled by the sound of Metalgarurumon and Wargreymon's battle.
"IZZY!" Benjamon roared above the din as he ran over to what was probably his best information source at this point. "WHAT CAUSED THIS?"
"Welcome back!" Izzy replied. "While you were recovering in Peacemon's flower, Matt disappeared and..."
"Came back in a really bad mood!" Gatomon finished as she went off in search of Kari.
"Right! So..." Izzy continued.
"Metalgarurumon challenged Agumon to a fight!" Tentomon added, flying over and scuttling up to Izzy.
Izzy began to look annoyed, his left hand clenching into a fist. "Which is odd, considering..."
"Gabumon couldn't Digivolve because Matt's crest wouldn't glow!" Palmon smiled, then her expression darkened. "Matt seemed really shocked, and left."
"ARRGH! Can't I finish a sentence without someone interrupting?!" Izzy yelled, pulling at his hair.
"I'm sorry, were you saying something?" Gomamon asked impishly, wisely staying out of Izzy's reach.
"AAAAAHH! Here's something no one else can tell you! I found out why you couldn't Digivolve!"
"YOU DID?" Benjamon shouted happily, impulsively hugging Izzy. "What was wrong?"
"You stayed Champion for so long and used so much energy that you burned out your Digivice. Lucky for you, everything here is software, data, and I managed to get it to refresh. It's fine now." Izzy removed the silver Digivice from the slot in his computer that Gennai had installed just before the Digi-Destined had left the Digi-world for the first time. He passed it to Benjamon, who accepted it gratefully.
"Thanks, but why hasn't anyone tried to stop this stupid fight?" Benjamon asked, looking at Matt and Tai, who were now exchanging blows and rolling on the ground.
"How can we?" Sora asked in response.
"None of us can stand up to them!" TK sniffled, distraught at his brother's actions.
Benjamon nodded, and whirled to face Tai and Matt. "Why in the Digi-World do you keep fighting?!" he demanded, listening to the laughter of Puppetmon become so frequent as to be continuous. "Can't you see Puppetmon's behind this strife?"
The laughter ceased as a wave of light swept over the battlefield, transporting the Digi-Destined and their Digimon... Elsewhere.
Benjamon stood alone. "Failed." He whispers. "I've failed to protect the Digi-Destined. Now the worlds are doomed..." tears flowed down from under his glasses, and he clenched his hands into fists with rage as memories of laughter echo in his ears; his eyes ablaze with anger, pupils narrowing to vertical lines of hate. "Puppetmon's fault!" he snarls. "Puppetmon will DIE! Failed... FAILED!!"
Benjamon Digivolved, murder in his heart.
What happens now? You'll find out in the next episode of Dragon B...
Umm... The Benjamon Story... yeah. That's right...
I'd like to thank Cutiemon for the use of her character, Peacemon, without whom, this would not be possible (within the realm of realistic explanations).
Scene: Now deep into the forest, the Digi-Destined have begun their second encounter with the Dark Master Puppetmon. TK has been taken captive by the evil doll, and in attempting to rescue him, Benjamon discovered he couldn't Digivolve and has been killed by Puppetmon's Puppet Pummel. We now rejoin our story...
On Benjamon's chest, the pale blue rose unfurled its petals and grew, leaves reaching out and rapidly spreading across the still body, tendrils wrapping about his form as the rose expanded hugely, sinking roots into the soil. Matt drew back, stunned by the enormous plant that was now pulling itself upright. Then large bloom opened to the sun, releasing pollen that showered down around it in a shimmering translucent blue screen.
It was enticing, and beautiful. The blossom filled the air with a subtle sweet odor that, for no reason at all, seemed to call Matt forward. Out of all the senses, smell is the strongest memory enhancer- and this scent brought back vivid memories of all the fun, happiness and love that Matt had experienced before his parents broke up. Evenings home when his father didn't work late, trips to the candy store; the memories became more detailed as he drew closer to the sparkling azure field. Finally, he reached out...
His hand stopped at the surface of the swirling indigo pollen cloud, and something else appeared in his mind, snapshots of another life, and someone else's memories.
It appeared to be just a normal, even boring life, at first... Shades of the past flickered through, showing a boy who didn't fit in because of behavior, who didn't get along with his peers as often as he did with adults. Focusing on study, school work, very intelligent academically, but hardly any friends. Harder assignments, new schools, new situations... Years flashed past... Work, study, hardship, survival. Attempts to deal with life's pain by laughing and joking on the surface, staying out of the way and keeping temper under control through years of slights, insults and threats. Then, computers. A great deal of focus on a date that the rest of Matt's mind dreamily identified as four years ago... A big event, unprecedented... massive curiosity, work, copy transmissions... showing something on a screen...cracking codes... lines forming a shape, then filling it in with color... A Gabumon? Matt's mind snapped back to the present in shock before a memory of hard work hit and washed him back down into it. Work. Years of work. Typing, more typing, studying the copied programs. Finally, exultation as a wire frame formed on a screen, becoming the image of the creator, the image memory showed in the mirror. A new Digimon, Benjamon.
Again, Matt recoiled from memory as recognition broke in. But this time, experiences bombarded him, no longer completely human feeling, more cold and calculated. Darkness, then light. Zeros and ones... Finally, images, a reality. Pain, an enemy attacking. Fight. Keep fighting. Train, study fighting. Some purpose derived from copied data, something that would need help, would require a team member to fight, to protect, to give up life so that others might survive in a battle of utmost importance. Fight. Win. Learn. Efficient and high speed, move beyond reaction into intelligence. Tests. More zeros and ones. Other forms to take, more powerful, supplied by...someone... something missing. Cut from memory as with a scalpel, a precise slice taken away. Then, light, true light, sunlight. Smoke in a room, computer equipment. A pull towards the west. Something important in the west, across the sea. Run. Carry out duties to 'Digi-Destined'; save them, fight by them, and protect them at all costs. This was Benjamon's life.
More recent events percolated through Matt's mind as the ground rumbled and shifted on the belts, bringing all the separated Digi-Destined into the same area. Fighting Phantomon, Myotismon...Something tapped him on the shoulder, and the memories faded away without a trace.
"Matt, what's that?" Gabumon asked, pointing a forepaw at the gigantic flower.
Her eyes closed, Mimi delicately sniffed the air... "Oh, it's lovely!" she breathed, opening her sparkling eyes.
Joe sniffled, and sneezed once. "Figures that I'm allergic..." He moans, holding a handkerchief to his face and moving away from the rose.
Tai gazed about the clearing, counting up his friends. "Hey, where's TK and Patamon?" he inquired.
"And Benjamon?" Sora added, also doing a nose count of Digi-Destined and Digimon.
Matt's state of shock was broken; he crashed to his knees, tears streaming down his face. "Puppetmon took TK!" he cried, flinching when Gabumon tried to put a comforting arm over his shoulders.
"WHAT!?" the others said as one.
"Puppetmon tied me up and threatened to kill me if TK didn't do what he said!"
"That jerk! Where'd they go?" Kari fumed with surprising heat.
Matt sobbed again, beating the ground with his gloved fist. "I don't know!" he shouted tearfully. "When Benjamon went after them, I knew, but now..." Matt trailed off into silence as he stifled his sobs.
"Benjamon went after them?" Gomamon echoed, thinking.
Palmon giggled, earning her an icy glare from Matt. "TK and Patamon should be fine, then!" She grinned, then swallowed, and took a step towards Mimi for protection from Matt's chilly gaze.
"Benjamon's dead." Matt said quietly. "He couldn't Digivolve, and that rose over there ate him."
"Huh?"
It was at this time that TK knocked Puppetmon's Joe figurine over, forcing Joe to fall over as well.
"Joe, are you all right?" Gomamon asked squeakily.
"I'm fine, Gomamon." Joe replied, blinking. "But I'd like to know why this keeps happening to me!"
"In the meantime," Gomamon said patiently, "WOULD YOU MIND GETTING OFF OF ME?"
"Oh. Sorry, Gomamon." As Joe pushed himself to his feet, his hand closed around a black square. "What's this?"
Rubbing the charred block with his thumb, the oldest Digi-Destined uncovered a silver surface, polished to a mirror-like finish. "Oh no!" he gasped. "It's Benjamon's Digivice!"
Returning swiftly to the group, Joe held out the carbonized Digivice in the palm of his hand.
"What happened to it?" Izzy asked Matt. "I've never seen damage to a Digivice before. It appears to have been overloaded and burned from the inside out, judging from the scorch marks." He concluded. "I wonder if I can get anything useful from it."
Unholstering his yellow Pineapple computer, Izzy found it already active, a strange diagnostic program filling the screen as soon as Izzy put the damaged Digivice in.
"Whoa! No wonder he couldn't Digivolve."
"Hey Guys!" TK yelled as he emerged from the forest with Patamon following close behind.
Green...Green all around...Pain... What happened? Where am I? Green...
Tentomon pointed to the terminal with one gray claw. "Izzy, what's this program you're running?" he asked his friend.
"I'm not running it, Tentomon." Izzy replied, moving back to his computer.
"Then who is..."
"Hey, mon! Don't touch that dial!" a rich, mellow voice exclaimed. A window opened on the screen, showing a tie-dyed Digimon with lustrous black hair and entrancing green eyes. "Peacemon's the name, and I'm poppin' in ta jive with ya about what's happenin' in my Flower Power."
Digimon Analyzer:
Peacemon: Ultimate level, Data type. Hallucinogenic plant Digimon.
Peacemon is the owner of an underground combat arena. He may look undependable, but don't let that fool you; his healing abilities make for a powerful ally!
The window closed, showing a rather annoyed Peacemon. "I love the intro, but I'm tryin' to tell you cats about your friend!" Peacemon took a long puff on his green rolled joint, looking at Izzy thoughtfully. "You are his friend, right?"
"Most assuredly, yes!" Izzy replied, the Digi-Destined and Digimon present nodding in agreement.
Another toke. "Cool. He did say he was down with the Digi-Destined, that's way groovy."
"Well, what's happening?" Agumon asked, sticking his snout between Izzy and the screen to see.
"Oh, right. I was drifting..." Peacemon drawled.
"More like tripping." Joe muttered, making Mimi giggle softly.
"I'll level with ya. Benjamon's hurt bad. How bad? Just take a look."
Two windows popped up, one with an extensive list of injuries, in the other...
"My God!" Sora whispered.
"That's HORRIBLE!" Biyomon exclaimed, her pink wings covering her beak.
Mimi gagged and spun away from...
A picture of Benjamon, holed, pulped, lacerated, and bloody.
Peacemon's window reappeared, overlaying the gruesome image. "I take it you that you Digi-Destined don't have strong stomachs."
TK wailed; Patamon and Kari immediately went to his side, trying to comfort him.
"Do us a favor and never show that again!" Gomamon half-shouted at Peacemon.
"EVER!" Palmon exclaimed, gently holding Mimi.
"I dig." Peacemon answered, closing the window.
Green...Pain leaving...Why? Why couldn't I change?
"Prodigious!" Izzy gasped, looking through Peacemon's program.
"What is it, Izzy?" Joe asked, kneeling by the boy genius (and away from the flower pollen).
"That rose is the most powerful data recovery and repair suite I've ever encountered! Antivirals, scanners, defragmentation, compression, recovery, decryption, encryption... Everything! If I could market this, I'd make every other security and data repair application obsolete!"
"You flatter me, Mon!" Peacemon said smugly. "Now, you just have to let me work my mojo, and you won't have to scream when you next see this frood." He took a drag on his joint... "Say, there's some information here I just decoded... Wanna see it?"
"Sure, why not?" Izzy answered.
Digimon Analyzer:
Benjamon: Rookie level, Vaccine type. Hero Outsider Digimon.
Created in the analog world by a hacker, Benjamon represents pure chance, having no ascribed destiny. Powered by a passive energy retrieval program embedded deep in his coding, Benjamon and all his Digivolutions have access to practically unlimited power; he uses energy from his surroundings to form his attacks.
As his creator, I want to remain unknown to him, so he can find his own path instead of looking to me. For more information, contact Drowzee1@...
The profile encrypted itself, leaving only an e-mail address blinking on the screen.
"Do you know what this means?" Izzy whispered reverently.
"No..." Joe said slowly... "Should I?"
"Benjamon doesn't even know his past! He thought he had corrupted his image to fit in, damaging his profile to line noise, but it was just encrypted! He's been given false memories, and programmed from the ground up! Such a complex program, given consciousness... This Drowzee1 not only had to learn about Digimon, but create one... And I'm betting that Benjamon and Drowzee1 have the same set of memories!" Izzy's mind raced, and his mouth struggled to keep up, creating a disjointed stream of consciousness... "Think of the time it took!"
"Izzy, are you feeling all right?" Sora asked quizzically. "Do you need to go lay down somewhere?"
Green... hardly any pain at all, now... Feel strange, shaking outside...Outside? Where am I? An explosion?
As quickly as it had arisen, the pale blue rose withered, turning brittle and brown, splitting the stem asunder.
Benjamon blinked owlishly as he stepped into a battleground.
"ICE WOLF CLAW!" Metalgarurumon barked, firing a freezing ray of ice.
"TERRA FORCE!" Wargreymon countered, summoning an energy ball to hurl at his fellow Mega.
The two attacks met, destroying each other and rending the air. Not too far away, a distinct chuckle that verged on hysterical laughter emerged from Puppetmon's wooden mouth.
Benjamon traced the noise, eyes narrowing as he looked upon the small Dark Master, upon the Digimon that had nearly deleted him.
Metalgarurumon and Wargreymon clashed once again, filling the air with blinding light and cacophonous noise. Psisauromon wouldn't stand a chance against the warring Mega Digimon, so Digivolving was pointless.
Looking around the clearing with the residual red glare that comes from looking at green for an extended period of time, he saw the Digi-Destined scattered about the glen, except for Tai and Matt, who were shouting something unintelligible as the area was once again filled by the sound of Metalgarurumon and Wargreymon's battle.
"IZZY!" Benjamon roared above the din as he ran over to what was probably his best information source at this point. "WHAT CAUSED THIS?"
"Welcome back!" Izzy replied. "While you were recovering in Peacemon's flower, Matt disappeared and..."
"Came back in a really bad mood!" Gatomon finished as she went off in search of Kari.
"Right! So..." Izzy continued.
"Metalgarurumon challenged Agumon to a fight!" Tentomon added, flying over and scuttling up to Izzy.
Izzy began to look annoyed, his left hand clenching into a fist. "Which is odd, considering..."
"Gabumon couldn't Digivolve because Matt's crest wouldn't glow!" Palmon smiled, then her expression darkened. "Matt seemed really shocked, and left."
"ARRGH! Can't I finish a sentence without someone interrupting?!" Izzy yelled, pulling at his hair.
"I'm sorry, were you saying something?" Gomamon asked impishly, wisely staying out of Izzy's reach.
"AAAAAHH! Here's something no one else can tell you! I found out why you couldn't Digivolve!"
"YOU DID?" Benjamon shouted happily, impulsively hugging Izzy. "What was wrong?"
"You stayed Champion for so long and used so much energy that you burned out your Digivice. Lucky for you, everything here is software, data, and I managed to get it to refresh. It's fine now." Izzy removed the silver Digivice from the slot in his computer that Gennai had installed just before the Digi-Destined had left the Digi-world for the first time. He passed it to Benjamon, who accepted it gratefully.
"Thanks, but why hasn't anyone tried to stop this stupid fight?" Benjamon asked, looking at Matt and Tai, who were now exchanging blows and rolling on the ground.
"How can we?" Sora asked in response.
"None of us can stand up to them!" TK sniffled, distraught at his brother's actions.
Benjamon nodded, and whirled to face Tai and Matt. "Why in the Digi-World do you keep fighting?!" he demanded, listening to the laughter of Puppetmon become so frequent as to be continuous. "Can't you see Puppetmon's behind this strife?"
The laughter ceased as a wave of light swept over the battlefield, transporting the Digi-Destined and their Digimon... Elsewhere.
Benjamon stood alone. "Failed." He whispers. "I've failed to protect the Digi-Destined. Now the worlds are doomed..." tears flowed down from under his glasses, and he clenched his hands into fists with rage as memories of laughter echo in his ears; his eyes ablaze with anger, pupils narrowing to vertical lines of hate. "Puppetmon's fault!" he snarls. "Puppetmon will DIE! Failed... FAILED!!"
Benjamon Digivolved, murder in his heart.
What happens now? You'll find out in the next episode of Dragon B...
Umm... The Benjamon Story... yeah. That's right...
I'd like to thank Cutiemon for the use of her character, Peacemon, without whom, this would not be possible (within the realm of realistic explanations).