DISCLAIMER: I do not own Digimon or any of its characters. I just like to torture them. Please don't sue.
A/N: I know some of you found this fic after seeing my DigiQuotes file, so I just thought that I'd tell you, I'm having MAJOR probs with my TV/VCR combo that I use to work on the quotes, so after today's three chapters, I won't be posting to that until I get it fixed or get a new one. Also, I will be out of town effective a few days from now. That doesn't affect anything except that I will not have any time to write anything. I'll be checking my mail more often than usual, and I'll review a lot more fics. I have this fic finished (I had it finished before I started posting it, hehe), and I will post the last chapter and the epilogue while I'm away, but then I probably won't post anything for a while, because it'll take a while to write anything after I get back.
Three big events in this chapter. Lotsa stuff happening. Read on.
Arukenimon sat in her chair in the room at the center of her HQ and played with a strand of hair. "I could create a new Digimon for them to fight."
Mummymon looked over at her, standing for lack of a second chair. "Whatever you say, Darling."
"Don't call me that!"
"I'm sorry, sweetie-pie."
"Mummymon, I am not interested."
"But, Arukenimon, honey-sugar-darling! I won't lead you astray like that girl did to Ichijouji."
"Stuff it!"
Mummymon groaned, but said nothing.
Arukenimon was upset that he had that stupid infatuation with her. She was attracted to intelligence--not very unlike the Ichijouji boy. He was smart, smarter than her. But Arukenimon was sure that she could out-wit him. He might have more brains, but she was conniving.
"I don't think I'll make a Digimon. They'll tire out sooner or later in that base with no food supply."
"True!" Mummymon said, trying to display nonexistent intelligence.
"Oh, shut up."
Ken tried to sit still. Yolei and Wormmon had fallen asleep using him as a pillow, and his slightest move could deprive them of much-needed rest.
He had not thought of anything, any location more defensible. Nothing was coming. Usually he had no trouble coming up with a new strategy, but in this situation there was really nothing they could do but what they had been doing. He knew they couldn't keep it up forever. They had no way to restore their strength, and they'd soon be hungry. As a matter of fact, his stomach was already rumbling.
He heard someone stirring off to the right, and realized that it was Davis slowly pulling away from Kari, who had also fallen asleep. In fact, he and Davis were the only ones up. Davis gently laid Kari over the steps, and she didn't bat an eyelash.
"What are you doing?" Ken asked as loudly as he dared.
"Exploring, what else?" Davis said. He climbed to the top of the stairs and looked around. "Hey, is there anything else down there besides the engines?"
"Yes..." Ken started, but Davis's actions caught him off guard and he never finished.
Davis grabbed a rope attached to a pulley hanging near the opening to the engine, jerked on it a few times, and with a resounding "Yeeeeehaaaaa!" grabbed hold of it and let himself off the edge.
"Davis!" Ken yelled, jumping up, leaving the two using him for a pillow scared out of their wits. Ken immediately ran to the top of the steps and looked over the edge. Davis was swinging around, trying to get off on the floor in the middle of the room. The engine room was constructed like a thermos, a cylinder within a cylinder, and Davis was in between the two cylinders, trying to get inside the middle one.
"Davis, are you insane? Get back up here!"
Davis heard Ken but ignored his orders. This was kind of nice, not being a prisoner, free to do his own will as he pleased. He swung the rope across the room, and finally caught his foot on the floor where he wanted to be. With a few calculated moves, he was up exactly where he wanted to explore.
He heard a relieved gasp from above, and Kari shouted, "Davis no baka! Omae o korosu!"
He smiled at her empty threat, and then sighed as he realized he'd scared her, and that was why she was so upset. He was going to owe her big time when he climbed back up that rope. It dawned on him that he would have to find another way up, because the rope was closer to the outside, and he'd never be able to reach it, but he'd worry about that in a minute. He was too busy looking. All that was in this room was a small pedestal with a little gold thing sitting on it. He came closer to inspect the gold thing, and it started glowing.
"Aaah!"
"Are you okay?" Kari's worried voice came from up above, sounding far away.
"Yeah, I'm fine!"
"What's that light?"
"I'll let you know as soon as I find out!"
He stepped closer to the glowing thing. It actually started to float a few inches above where it had been sitting. He stared.
A beam of white light with a black shape outlined in it flashed at him. The shape looked something like a stylized flowerbud, with a leaf coming up each side. Then, the white light disappeared, leaving him bathed in the golden glow.
A weird urge possessed him, and he reached out to pick it up. As his fingers brushed against it, he knew what it was, but could barely believe it.
It quit glowing for the time being, and, for lack of a better place, he zipped up the blue-and-red leather jacket that amazingly still fit, and stuffed it down his shirt.
He looked around, and finally called up to Ken in defeat. "How do I get up there?"
Ken sighed loudly. "There's a ladder on the outside of the inner cylinder. You climb up as high as the floor below us, and then you'll find a walkway across to the inside of the outer cylinder. Then a crawlspace through it. On the other side of that you'll be on these same stairs and you'll have to walk up to us."
Davis nodded. "Just a minute!"
It only took him a few minutes to get to the staircase, but he didn't get to go too much further.
Between him and the rest of the group, Arukenimon and Mummymon appeared out of nowhere!
"Kuso!" T.K. cried. "Everyone attack!"
"But Davis--" Kari tried.
"He'll be okay, it's us we have to worry about!" Cody yelled. "Now Armor Digivolve Gatomon!"
Kari whimpered, but nodded. "Digi-Armor Energize!"
"Spider Thread!"
"Snake Bandage!"
The battle was short and scrappy. No one won, but the digimon were quickly back to their original forms. Veemon seemed okay, but he had only attacked, and not digivolved.
Davis saw what was going on, but remained in the shadows. He pulled the golden thing he'd retrieved out of his jacket and stared at it.
~What the hell am I supposed to do? I'm pretty sure it's a DigiEgg, but it's special. It doesn't have any of the older kid's Crests on it. And it's gold. Gold...golden armor...~
And without really thinking about it, he knew. He held the DigiEgg out at arm's length atop his right palm.
"Golden Armor Energize!" he yelled.
His digipartner, even though he was roughly a floor above him, felt the surge of energy, and rushed into the digivolving process.
"Veemon Golden Armor Digivolve to...Magnamon!"
Davis's eyes opened wide. It was the Super-Digimon he had wished for! ~Wow!~
Magnamon himself was blue, but was plated with tough golden armor. And he was a lot bigger than Raidramon or Flamedramon. And he could float above the ground. That made it nice, because he was almost too big for the stairwell, and so he floated back into the space between the inner and outer cylinders. The DigiDestined and the rest of the digimon all backed up to the walls as Arukenimon and Mummymon climbed to the top of the stairwell to follow this new adversary.
Davis himself rushed up to where his friends were, shocked as they were. He reached for Kari and hugged her. "The next time I start to do something stupid like that, remind me how *stupid* it is."
She nodded into his chest. "Don't worry about it. I'll remember. But what was that?"
"I think it's Golden Digi-Armor. And I think it's just what the doctor ordered."
All the DigiDestined watched in suspense as Arukenimon and Mummymon attacked Magnamon simultaneously.
Magnamon paused momentarily, and then released his own attack.
"Magna Blast!"
The DigiDestined and digimon held their breaths.
Magnamon's attack blasted through the webbing and the bandages.
It blasted through Arukenimon and Mummymon, too, knocking them straight back into the far wall of the stairwell. They sat there for a minute, stunned.
No one said a word.
Mummymon pixilized into scattered information. But Arukenimon barely noticed him, or his scream of pain, as she stood to her feet.
"It's not over, big guy," she said. "It takes more than a nasty fall to get rid of me. I may be going down, but if I am, I'm not going alone. Spider Thread!"
She shot her attack straight towards Ken.
He pushed Yolei away and stood firm, waiting to be enveloped in the attack, to be destroyed.
For the second time, he was sure it was all over.
And then...
What the hell was that damned beeping? If he had to die, couldn't it be without his ears ringing?
"Wormmon...digivolve to...Stingmon!"
Ken didn't hear it. He was aware only of a large dark green presence in front of him taking the full brunt of the attack and nearly falling on top of him, but saving his life in the process.
He heard a voice shout, "Spiking Strike!", and whatever was on top of him flew up, and Ken realized that it had beaten Arukenimon's attack.
"Magna Blast!"
Very satisfied, Ken watched Arukenimon scream and pixilate.
"This way!" Davis called. "We need Nefertimon, Halsemon, and Pegasusmon *now*!"
The three required digimon were digivolved, and everyone was dragged aboard.
Ken only knew that he was on Halsemon behind Yolei, and they were leaving the base. The base was malfunctioning. He could hear the code red sirens.
But who was leading them? He and Wormmon were the only ones of the group who knew the way, and *he* certainly wasn't leading. It was all he could do to keep from falling off. Yolei had a firm grasp on his arms with her own, and seemed to be holding onto Halsemon with her legs.
They made it out of the base, and then Ken knew nothing. Questions could be asked later. He just had to sleep. Consciousness left him.
The group emerged from the base to find themselves on an open plain, and they immediately made for some sheltering trees nearby.
They had escaped just in time. Explosion after explosion was heard as the base itself pixilated. Thousands of enslaved digimon fled, the Dark Spirals pixilizing and setting them free. A few of the bigger digimon that were evil, even without Spirals, also pixilated--Kimeramon among them.
The DigiDestined watched in wonder.
"Wow..." Cody said, sliding off Pegasusmon's back. "That's amazing."
Yolei nodded from atop Halsemon. She reached around and carefully pulled Ken's limp body into her arms and slid the both of them off to the ground, trying not to hurt him. Cody was by her side to help support Ken's weight. He might have been skinny, but he had more muscle than either one of them had thought.
Halsemon de-digivolved.
"I don't want to wait around," Yolei said. "Help me set him down."
Cody nodded, and with a little effort the pair had him propped up against a tree.
"Davis, how long are we staying here?" Yolei asked.
"A little while, until we figure out what to do. Why?"
"Just curious if I had time to wake him up."
Davis nodded skeptically, wondering what she was doing.
Tentatively, she leaned over Ken, getting very close. She pressed her lips to his very gently, and was soon rewarded with a response. He started kissing back, his arms reaching up to encircle her waist, and then pull her down into his lap.
She pulled back very slowly, more than a little reluctantly.
"Ken, as much as I was enjoying my first kiss, we're not alone."
Ken looked around at the others and blushed. "Sorry..."
Nobody said anything, but a round of smiles appeared on everyone's faces.
Ken sighed and looked down. "Hey, I remember Arukenimon attacking me, and I remember we escaped...but I don't know why I'm still alive. Refresh my memory, Yolei?"
"Well, Wormmon digivolved and saved you."
"*Wormmon* digivolved? Then that damned beeping was my digivice!"
Yolei nodded, laughing, and turned, holding out a hand toward Stingmon.
Ken blinked, repeatedly. This green digimon was huge, and very obviously a great fighter. Ken closed his eyes, shook his head, and looked again. He rubbed his eyes and looked one more time. "Worm...mon...?"
"Actually, Ken, it's Stingmon at your service." Stingmon flew over and looked at Ken.
Ken knew that with the shell-like skin Stingmon had, he didn't have a conventional mouth, and that it was impossible, but it looked for all the world like his new-found Digipartner was smiling.
Ken smiled himself at the thought. A real, true smile, not one of his old half-smiles.
Stingmon now let himself de-digivolve, and sure enough, there sat Wormmon. Ken reached out and hugged him. "I'm proud of you," he whispered. Wormmon just blushed and smiled.
"So now what do we do?" T.K. was asking Davis.
Ken set Wormmon down, and he went off to join the other digimon. Then Ken turned toward the others. "Uh, Yolei?" he asked, and she got off his lap so he could stand, and he helped her to her feet. "Hey, guys," he started.
The rest of the group turned to look at him.
"I was thinking, perhaps we could use one of those TVs scattered around the forest like back in the old days? We could, you know, go home?"
"We were discussing that, Ken," Davis said, "But the thing is, we don't know if everyone's family is still living where they used to."
Ken nodded. "Good point."
"But, you know, if nothing else, I bet my family is still where they were. I mean, you know, the store was just downstairs," Yolei said.
Kari sniffled, and immediately Davis was at her side. "What is it?"
She looked up. "Well, it's just, the idea of facing our families. I mean, the older DigiDestined probably know what happened to us, but everyone else, even our parents--unless Tai and the rest told them the truth--will all think we're dead. And they'll all have changed, too."
T.K. nodded, following her meaning. "We don't know who of our family is still alive, or if any of our siblings have gotten married--"
"Hell, most of *us* are married," Ken said.
Cody nodded. "Yeah. Things will be different. But I think Yolei has a point. Her family will probably still be there. That's where we'll start."
"If we can get back to Earth using one of those TVs," Davis reminded them.
This brought a choked little sob from his wife. She tried to say it under her breath, but in her emotional state, she said it almost out loud. "So much for pregnant women avoiding stress."
Everyone's head snapped in her direction at once.
She looked up, and gasped. "Did I say that out loud?"
Yolei was the first one to have it sink in, and she nodded, blankly. She left Ken's side long enough to put a hand each on Kari and Davis's shoulders, and herd them away from the rest of the group. "I think...that...maybe...you two...need to talk..."
Kari nodded, and pulled Davis a bit further away.
Yolei returned to the group. "I think we'll give them a few minutes."
The first question that Davis was able to formulate was, "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"
Kari hung her head. "I wanted to make it special, Dai-kun. And I'm not even sure."
He started pacing a circle about a foot in diameter, throwing his head towards the sky one minute, taking Kari by the shoulders the next, not sure what to think. He was enjoying being a husband--and now he was--might be--a *father*!
"Well, what *do* you know?" he finally asked, looking her straight in the eyes.
She blushed. "I've skipped for three months. And my clothes are getting snug."
It was enough proof for Davis in their lack of a physician. "Well, Kami, now we *have* to get back. Ken may be a genius, but he's no doctor."
"But...I mean...aren't you upset?"
Davis blinked. ~Hell no!~ He grabbed her roughly by the shoulders, and for a second Kari thought he was going to push her to the ground.
But he didn't, not by any means. He kissed her--forcefully, but not unpleasantly. He pulled away from her face. "What does that tell you?"
She hugged him, burying her face in his shoulder. "I was sure you'd be upset...we're so young..."
"We're married. And I love you, Kari-chan." He kissed her right below her ear. "And if I'm old enough to marry you, I'm old enough to accept the responsibility. And...Kari-chan...we may not have planned on this, but you've gotta admit, it's pretty amazing." He kissed her cheek.
"You're not angry?"
"No. We're married, Kari-chan. And even if we weren't, I'd feel the same about the responsibility."
She nodded. "I love you, Daisuke." She kissed his cheek. He turned his face and kissed her lips.
It wasn't very long before Davis and Kari returned to the group which had abandoned all attempts at conversation.
Yolei looked at Kari, who was hanging her head, blushing, avoiding everyone's glance, and then at Davis, who was beaming. "So it's true?"
Kari looked up, blushing tomato red, and nodded.
"Way to go Davis!" the three guys cheered in unison. It sounded planned, but there was no way to be sure.
Davis laughed. "Well, it wasn't entirely on purpose, but, hey, y'know, it's not a bad thing, not a bad thing." He picked Kari up off her feet and sat, placing her in his lap, despite her dignified gasp of protest. "So what's the plan?"
Ken looked around at the fading light. "I suggest we build a fire, get a good night's sleep, and first thing tomorrow morning start looking for one of those TVs. It's a faulty plan, because we don't know if we'll ever find one, but it's still the best so far."
The others agreed and went on carrying out the arrangements.
Yolei sighed. The campfire thing had sounded appealing at the time, but she'd forgotten that it meant that they all had to sleep together in the same spot. So no honeymoon for her and Ken just yet.
It didn't stop them from wrapping up in each other's arms for warmth. Davis and Kari did the same thing. T.K. and Cody each had their digimon. Gatomon, Wormmon, Hawkmon, and Veemon laid down next to each other in a row--and Gatomon made sure it was in that order. The last thing she needed was Veemon breathing down her neck. Even if their DigiDestined were together--and they were, Kami, Kari was bearing his *child*!--she saw nothing in Veemon.
Yolei clung to Ken's shirt, having decided that she was never leaving his side again. One day of worry over what was happening to him was one too many. She loved him, too much to be without him again.
He seemed to feel the tug, because his arms, wrapped around her waist, seemed to tighten. She moved her arms upwards, up around his neck. She buried her face in his chest, briefly enjoying his scent. It didn't last long, though. He lifted his arm long enough to tilt her face up toward him. "I want to be able to see you, Yolei. To look at you and be amazed with the fact that you're really mine."
She smiled, and reached her head up and gave him a peck on the lips.
He slowly bent his head to give her a soft caress of a kiss on the lips that lingered several minutes. They both wondered if it was possible to go *anywhere* to be alone, but neither one voiced it. Besides, everyone would know why they were headed where they were.
"Yet another reason to hurry home, right?" Yolei whispered.
"Assuming home is what it was...oh, Kami, Yolei, what the hell are your parents going to think of me after we explain where you've been?"
Damn. She hadn't thought of that. The Kamiyas and Motomiyas would all be happy, and no doubt the Ichijoujis would be proud to see that their son had brought such a lovely girl into their family, but with the way Ken had treated them--*before* he changed, Yolei was sure to clarify in her thoughts, saying it would come more naturally later if she did that--the Inoues might not be so happy with their daughter's choice.
Yolei wondered what her parents had thought of her sister's choices--assuming they'd married. Mimoe and Chizuru were the types that might not have. She sighed. "Can we worry about it later?"
Ken held her closer. "What will you do if they don't accept the fact that I *have* changed?"
"It won't affect me any. I'll still love you, and I meant that stuff about 'until death us do part'. That means, by your side, *for* *ev* *er*. Period."
He kissed her again, for once not able to find the right words. Her devotion made him speechless.
A/N: Veemon Golden Armor digivolved to Maganmon. Arukenimon was defeated. Kari is pregnant. Lotsa stuff happened. Lots more coming soon to a fanfic near you!
By the way, Yolei's sisters...yup. Their names *are* given in the Japanese. The oldest, the brother, however, I am still in the dark about.
A/N: I know some of you found this fic after seeing my DigiQuotes file, so I just thought that I'd tell you, I'm having MAJOR probs with my TV/VCR combo that I use to work on the quotes, so after today's three chapters, I won't be posting to that until I get it fixed or get a new one. Also, I will be out of town effective a few days from now. That doesn't affect anything except that I will not have any time to write anything. I'll be checking my mail more often than usual, and I'll review a lot more fics. I have this fic finished (I had it finished before I started posting it, hehe), and I will post the last chapter and the epilogue while I'm away, but then I probably won't post anything for a while, because it'll take a while to write anything after I get back.
Three big events in this chapter. Lotsa stuff happening. Read on.
Arukenimon sat in her chair in the room at the center of her HQ and played with a strand of hair. "I could create a new Digimon for them to fight."
Mummymon looked over at her, standing for lack of a second chair. "Whatever you say, Darling."
"Don't call me that!"
"I'm sorry, sweetie-pie."
"Mummymon, I am not interested."
"But, Arukenimon, honey-sugar-darling! I won't lead you astray like that girl did to Ichijouji."
"Stuff it!"
Mummymon groaned, but said nothing.
Arukenimon was upset that he had that stupid infatuation with her. She was attracted to intelligence--not very unlike the Ichijouji boy. He was smart, smarter than her. But Arukenimon was sure that she could out-wit him. He might have more brains, but she was conniving.
"I don't think I'll make a Digimon. They'll tire out sooner or later in that base with no food supply."
"True!" Mummymon said, trying to display nonexistent intelligence.
"Oh, shut up."
Ken tried to sit still. Yolei and Wormmon had fallen asleep using him as a pillow, and his slightest move could deprive them of much-needed rest.
He had not thought of anything, any location more defensible. Nothing was coming. Usually he had no trouble coming up with a new strategy, but in this situation there was really nothing they could do but what they had been doing. He knew they couldn't keep it up forever. They had no way to restore their strength, and they'd soon be hungry. As a matter of fact, his stomach was already rumbling.
He heard someone stirring off to the right, and realized that it was Davis slowly pulling away from Kari, who had also fallen asleep. In fact, he and Davis were the only ones up. Davis gently laid Kari over the steps, and she didn't bat an eyelash.
"What are you doing?" Ken asked as loudly as he dared.
"Exploring, what else?" Davis said. He climbed to the top of the stairs and looked around. "Hey, is there anything else down there besides the engines?"
"Yes..." Ken started, but Davis's actions caught him off guard and he never finished.
Davis grabbed a rope attached to a pulley hanging near the opening to the engine, jerked on it a few times, and with a resounding "Yeeeeehaaaaa!" grabbed hold of it and let himself off the edge.
"Davis!" Ken yelled, jumping up, leaving the two using him for a pillow scared out of their wits. Ken immediately ran to the top of the steps and looked over the edge. Davis was swinging around, trying to get off on the floor in the middle of the room. The engine room was constructed like a thermos, a cylinder within a cylinder, and Davis was in between the two cylinders, trying to get inside the middle one.
"Davis, are you insane? Get back up here!"
Davis heard Ken but ignored his orders. This was kind of nice, not being a prisoner, free to do his own will as he pleased. He swung the rope across the room, and finally caught his foot on the floor where he wanted to be. With a few calculated moves, he was up exactly where he wanted to explore.
He heard a relieved gasp from above, and Kari shouted, "Davis no baka! Omae o korosu!"
He smiled at her empty threat, and then sighed as he realized he'd scared her, and that was why she was so upset. He was going to owe her big time when he climbed back up that rope. It dawned on him that he would have to find another way up, because the rope was closer to the outside, and he'd never be able to reach it, but he'd worry about that in a minute. He was too busy looking. All that was in this room was a small pedestal with a little gold thing sitting on it. He came closer to inspect the gold thing, and it started glowing.
"Aaah!"
"Are you okay?" Kari's worried voice came from up above, sounding far away.
"Yeah, I'm fine!"
"What's that light?"
"I'll let you know as soon as I find out!"
He stepped closer to the glowing thing. It actually started to float a few inches above where it had been sitting. He stared.
A beam of white light with a black shape outlined in it flashed at him. The shape looked something like a stylized flowerbud, with a leaf coming up each side. Then, the white light disappeared, leaving him bathed in the golden glow.
A weird urge possessed him, and he reached out to pick it up. As his fingers brushed against it, he knew what it was, but could barely believe it.
It quit glowing for the time being, and, for lack of a better place, he zipped up the blue-and-red leather jacket that amazingly still fit, and stuffed it down his shirt.
He looked around, and finally called up to Ken in defeat. "How do I get up there?"
Ken sighed loudly. "There's a ladder on the outside of the inner cylinder. You climb up as high as the floor below us, and then you'll find a walkway across to the inside of the outer cylinder. Then a crawlspace through it. On the other side of that you'll be on these same stairs and you'll have to walk up to us."
Davis nodded. "Just a minute!"
It only took him a few minutes to get to the staircase, but he didn't get to go too much further.
Between him and the rest of the group, Arukenimon and Mummymon appeared out of nowhere!
"Kuso!" T.K. cried. "Everyone attack!"
"But Davis--" Kari tried.
"He'll be okay, it's us we have to worry about!" Cody yelled. "Now Armor Digivolve Gatomon!"
Kari whimpered, but nodded. "Digi-Armor Energize!"
"Spider Thread!"
"Snake Bandage!"
The battle was short and scrappy. No one won, but the digimon were quickly back to their original forms. Veemon seemed okay, but he had only attacked, and not digivolved.
Davis saw what was going on, but remained in the shadows. He pulled the golden thing he'd retrieved out of his jacket and stared at it.
~What the hell am I supposed to do? I'm pretty sure it's a DigiEgg, but it's special. It doesn't have any of the older kid's Crests on it. And it's gold. Gold...golden armor...~
And without really thinking about it, he knew. He held the DigiEgg out at arm's length atop his right palm.
"Golden Armor Energize!" he yelled.
His digipartner, even though he was roughly a floor above him, felt the surge of energy, and rushed into the digivolving process.
"Veemon Golden Armor Digivolve to...Magnamon!"
Davis's eyes opened wide. It was the Super-Digimon he had wished for! ~Wow!~
Magnamon himself was blue, but was plated with tough golden armor. And he was a lot bigger than Raidramon or Flamedramon. And he could float above the ground. That made it nice, because he was almost too big for the stairwell, and so he floated back into the space between the inner and outer cylinders. The DigiDestined and the rest of the digimon all backed up to the walls as Arukenimon and Mummymon climbed to the top of the stairwell to follow this new adversary.
Davis himself rushed up to where his friends were, shocked as they were. He reached for Kari and hugged her. "The next time I start to do something stupid like that, remind me how *stupid* it is."
She nodded into his chest. "Don't worry about it. I'll remember. But what was that?"
"I think it's Golden Digi-Armor. And I think it's just what the doctor ordered."
All the DigiDestined watched in suspense as Arukenimon and Mummymon attacked Magnamon simultaneously.
Magnamon paused momentarily, and then released his own attack.
"Magna Blast!"
The DigiDestined and digimon held their breaths.
Magnamon's attack blasted through the webbing and the bandages.
It blasted through Arukenimon and Mummymon, too, knocking them straight back into the far wall of the stairwell. They sat there for a minute, stunned.
No one said a word.
Mummymon pixilized into scattered information. But Arukenimon barely noticed him, or his scream of pain, as she stood to her feet.
"It's not over, big guy," she said. "It takes more than a nasty fall to get rid of me. I may be going down, but if I am, I'm not going alone. Spider Thread!"
She shot her attack straight towards Ken.
He pushed Yolei away and stood firm, waiting to be enveloped in the attack, to be destroyed.
For the second time, he was sure it was all over.
And then...
What the hell was that damned beeping? If he had to die, couldn't it be without his ears ringing?
"Wormmon...digivolve to...Stingmon!"
Ken didn't hear it. He was aware only of a large dark green presence in front of him taking the full brunt of the attack and nearly falling on top of him, but saving his life in the process.
He heard a voice shout, "Spiking Strike!", and whatever was on top of him flew up, and Ken realized that it had beaten Arukenimon's attack.
"Magna Blast!"
Very satisfied, Ken watched Arukenimon scream and pixilate.
"This way!" Davis called. "We need Nefertimon, Halsemon, and Pegasusmon *now*!"
The three required digimon were digivolved, and everyone was dragged aboard.
Ken only knew that he was on Halsemon behind Yolei, and they were leaving the base. The base was malfunctioning. He could hear the code red sirens.
But who was leading them? He and Wormmon were the only ones of the group who knew the way, and *he* certainly wasn't leading. It was all he could do to keep from falling off. Yolei had a firm grasp on his arms with her own, and seemed to be holding onto Halsemon with her legs.
They made it out of the base, and then Ken knew nothing. Questions could be asked later. He just had to sleep. Consciousness left him.
The group emerged from the base to find themselves on an open plain, and they immediately made for some sheltering trees nearby.
They had escaped just in time. Explosion after explosion was heard as the base itself pixilated. Thousands of enslaved digimon fled, the Dark Spirals pixilizing and setting them free. A few of the bigger digimon that were evil, even without Spirals, also pixilated--Kimeramon among them.
The DigiDestined watched in wonder.
"Wow..." Cody said, sliding off Pegasusmon's back. "That's amazing."
Yolei nodded from atop Halsemon. She reached around and carefully pulled Ken's limp body into her arms and slid the both of them off to the ground, trying not to hurt him. Cody was by her side to help support Ken's weight. He might have been skinny, but he had more muscle than either one of them had thought.
Halsemon de-digivolved.
"I don't want to wait around," Yolei said. "Help me set him down."
Cody nodded, and with a little effort the pair had him propped up against a tree.
"Davis, how long are we staying here?" Yolei asked.
"A little while, until we figure out what to do. Why?"
"Just curious if I had time to wake him up."
Davis nodded skeptically, wondering what she was doing.
Tentatively, she leaned over Ken, getting very close. She pressed her lips to his very gently, and was soon rewarded with a response. He started kissing back, his arms reaching up to encircle her waist, and then pull her down into his lap.
She pulled back very slowly, more than a little reluctantly.
"Ken, as much as I was enjoying my first kiss, we're not alone."
Ken looked around at the others and blushed. "Sorry..."
Nobody said anything, but a round of smiles appeared on everyone's faces.
Ken sighed and looked down. "Hey, I remember Arukenimon attacking me, and I remember we escaped...but I don't know why I'm still alive. Refresh my memory, Yolei?"
"Well, Wormmon digivolved and saved you."
"*Wormmon* digivolved? Then that damned beeping was my digivice!"
Yolei nodded, laughing, and turned, holding out a hand toward Stingmon.
Ken blinked, repeatedly. This green digimon was huge, and very obviously a great fighter. Ken closed his eyes, shook his head, and looked again. He rubbed his eyes and looked one more time. "Worm...mon...?"
"Actually, Ken, it's Stingmon at your service." Stingmon flew over and looked at Ken.
Ken knew that with the shell-like skin Stingmon had, he didn't have a conventional mouth, and that it was impossible, but it looked for all the world like his new-found Digipartner was smiling.
Ken smiled himself at the thought. A real, true smile, not one of his old half-smiles.
Stingmon now let himself de-digivolve, and sure enough, there sat Wormmon. Ken reached out and hugged him. "I'm proud of you," he whispered. Wormmon just blushed and smiled.
"So now what do we do?" T.K. was asking Davis.
Ken set Wormmon down, and he went off to join the other digimon. Then Ken turned toward the others. "Uh, Yolei?" he asked, and she got off his lap so he could stand, and he helped her to her feet. "Hey, guys," he started.
The rest of the group turned to look at him.
"I was thinking, perhaps we could use one of those TVs scattered around the forest like back in the old days? We could, you know, go home?"
"We were discussing that, Ken," Davis said, "But the thing is, we don't know if everyone's family is still living where they used to."
Ken nodded. "Good point."
"But, you know, if nothing else, I bet my family is still where they were. I mean, you know, the store was just downstairs," Yolei said.
Kari sniffled, and immediately Davis was at her side. "What is it?"
She looked up. "Well, it's just, the idea of facing our families. I mean, the older DigiDestined probably know what happened to us, but everyone else, even our parents--unless Tai and the rest told them the truth--will all think we're dead. And they'll all have changed, too."
T.K. nodded, following her meaning. "We don't know who of our family is still alive, or if any of our siblings have gotten married--"
"Hell, most of *us* are married," Ken said.
Cody nodded. "Yeah. Things will be different. But I think Yolei has a point. Her family will probably still be there. That's where we'll start."
"If we can get back to Earth using one of those TVs," Davis reminded them.
This brought a choked little sob from his wife. She tried to say it under her breath, but in her emotional state, she said it almost out loud. "So much for pregnant women avoiding stress."
Everyone's head snapped in her direction at once.
She looked up, and gasped. "Did I say that out loud?"
Yolei was the first one to have it sink in, and she nodded, blankly. She left Ken's side long enough to put a hand each on Kari and Davis's shoulders, and herd them away from the rest of the group. "I think...that...maybe...you two...need to talk..."
Kari nodded, and pulled Davis a bit further away.
Yolei returned to the group. "I think we'll give them a few minutes."
The first question that Davis was able to formulate was, "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"
Kari hung her head. "I wanted to make it special, Dai-kun. And I'm not even sure."
He started pacing a circle about a foot in diameter, throwing his head towards the sky one minute, taking Kari by the shoulders the next, not sure what to think. He was enjoying being a husband--and now he was--might be--a *father*!
"Well, what *do* you know?" he finally asked, looking her straight in the eyes.
She blushed. "I've skipped for three months. And my clothes are getting snug."
It was enough proof for Davis in their lack of a physician. "Well, Kami, now we *have* to get back. Ken may be a genius, but he's no doctor."
"But...I mean...aren't you upset?"
Davis blinked. ~Hell no!~ He grabbed her roughly by the shoulders, and for a second Kari thought he was going to push her to the ground.
But he didn't, not by any means. He kissed her--forcefully, but not unpleasantly. He pulled away from her face. "What does that tell you?"
She hugged him, burying her face in his shoulder. "I was sure you'd be upset...we're so young..."
"We're married. And I love you, Kari-chan." He kissed her right below her ear. "And if I'm old enough to marry you, I'm old enough to accept the responsibility. And...Kari-chan...we may not have planned on this, but you've gotta admit, it's pretty amazing." He kissed her cheek.
"You're not angry?"
"No. We're married, Kari-chan. And even if we weren't, I'd feel the same about the responsibility."
She nodded. "I love you, Daisuke." She kissed his cheek. He turned his face and kissed her lips.
It wasn't very long before Davis and Kari returned to the group which had abandoned all attempts at conversation.
Yolei looked at Kari, who was hanging her head, blushing, avoiding everyone's glance, and then at Davis, who was beaming. "So it's true?"
Kari looked up, blushing tomato red, and nodded.
"Way to go Davis!" the three guys cheered in unison. It sounded planned, but there was no way to be sure.
Davis laughed. "Well, it wasn't entirely on purpose, but, hey, y'know, it's not a bad thing, not a bad thing." He picked Kari up off her feet and sat, placing her in his lap, despite her dignified gasp of protest. "So what's the plan?"
Ken looked around at the fading light. "I suggest we build a fire, get a good night's sleep, and first thing tomorrow morning start looking for one of those TVs. It's a faulty plan, because we don't know if we'll ever find one, but it's still the best so far."
The others agreed and went on carrying out the arrangements.
Yolei sighed. The campfire thing had sounded appealing at the time, but she'd forgotten that it meant that they all had to sleep together in the same spot. So no honeymoon for her and Ken just yet.
It didn't stop them from wrapping up in each other's arms for warmth. Davis and Kari did the same thing. T.K. and Cody each had their digimon. Gatomon, Wormmon, Hawkmon, and Veemon laid down next to each other in a row--and Gatomon made sure it was in that order. The last thing she needed was Veemon breathing down her neck. Even if their DigiDestined were together--and they were, Kami, Kari was bearing his *child*!--she saw nothing in Veemon.
Yolei clung to Ken's shirt, having decided that she was never leaving his side again. One day of worry over what was happening to him was one too many. She loved him, too much to be without him again.
He seemed to feel the tug, because his arms, wrapped around her waist, seemed to tighten. She moved her arms upwards, up around his neck. She buried her face in his chest, briefly enjoying his scent. It didn't last long, though. He lifted his arm long enough to tilt her face up toward him. "I want to be able to see you, Yolei. To look at you and be amazed with the fact that you're really mine."
She smiled, and reached her head up and gave him a peck on the lips.
He slowly bent his head to give her a soft caress of a kiss on the lips that lingered several minutes. They both wondered if it was possible to go *anywhere* to be alone, but neither one voiced it. Besides, everyone would know why they were headed where they were.
"Yet another reason to hurry home, right?" Yolei whispered.
"Assuming home is what it was...oh, Kami, Yolei, what the hell are your parents going to think of me after we explain where you've been?"
Damn. She hadn't thought of that. The Kamiyas and Motomiyas would all be happy, and no doubt the Ichijoujis would be proud to see that their son had brought such a lovely girl into their family, but with the way Ken had treated them--*before* he changed, Yolei was sure to clarify in her thoughts, saying it would come more naturally later if she did that--the Inoues might not be so happy with their daughter's choice.
Yolei wondered what her parents had thought of her sister's choices--assuming they'd married. Mimoe and Chizuru were the types that might not have. She sighed. "Can we worry about it later?"
Ken held her closer. "What will you do if they don't accept the fact that I *have* changed?"
"It won't affect me any. I'll still love you, and I meant that stuff about 'until death us do part'. That means, by your side, *for* *ev* *er*. Period."
He kissed her again, for once not able to find the right words. Her devotion made him speechless.
A/N: Veemon Golden Armor digivolved to Maganmon. Arukenimon was defeated. Kari is pregnant. Lotsa stuff happened. Lots more coming soon to a fanfic near you!
By the way, Yolei's sisters...yup. Their names *are* given in the Japanese. The oldest, the brother, however, I am still in the dark about.