Me: Hey-it's me! I don't own Digimon, and that's about it.
Tai: What about everything else you were gonna say?!
Me: I have no idea what you're talking about.
Takato: Yeah you do! All that other stuff about making this a Taiora, a Daiyako and a Rukato
just to frighten off anti-Taiora/Daiyako and Rukato fans away!
Me: I never said I was gonna say that-I did mention that you guys might show up and say a
few words.
Tai/Takato: Oh, crap...
Me: (chuckles evilly) While those two lament their fate, let's continue on with the story!
Digimon
The Meeting of the DigiDestined and Tamers
Part II: A Noble Sacrifice
Hey, everybody-it's me Takato! Bet you thought something bad happened, didn't you? Oh,
well, we can't all get what we want in life.(laughs) That was a joke, for those people born without a sense of humor. So, where was I? That's right-Guilmon had just Digivolved into Growlmon and we were gonna take on Ice Devimon alongside some living legends-Tai and Davis, who were in the middle of their own battles against Piedmon and MaloMyotismon. So,
the question that's running through everybody's mind is...what happened to the other
DigiDestined and Tamers, right? Since I'm going to assume that I got the right answer, I'll
shut up now and return to the Real World via the turn of the century...
"WHAT HAPPENED TO TAI?! YOU'VE GOTTA FIND HIM, IZZY!"
"WHAT ABOUT DAVIS? HE'S MISSING TOO!"
Basically, pandemonium reigned supreme with the DigiDestined. While Izzy and Ken were
struggling to find out precisely where Tai and Davis had gone, Sora, Yolei and Kari were all
trying to stay calm and not break out into a flood of tears. And we thought things were out of
order when Tai had disappeared through that vortex in "The Earthquake of Metal Greymon!"
"Calm down Sora and please, quit yelling in my ear! I'm not deaf-although I'm not sure how
much more of this I could take. Okay, here's the situation: Tai and Davis both vanished at the
same time, am I correct?" Izzy questioned calmly.
"Mm-hmm."
"So, all we need to do is track their Digivices and see where they've gone to-if they're anywhere on Earth, we'll know it. Don't worry, guys. Things will be okay soon if we just keep a level
head and stay on top of things."
"Level head?! One of your closest friends has disappeared into thin air and all you're gonna
say to me is 'we need to keep a level head in this?' Why did I even think to come here in the
first place?"
Obviously, Rika's concerned about me, but she wouldn't admit it to my face-not now, or
anytime soon. To keep things going, once Rika had realized what was going on, she found
Renamon (or Renamon found her, however that works) and they made a mad dash towards
Henry's house. Along the way, they'd run into Calumon, so they decided he shouldn't get into trouble and insisted that he come with them. He was, at this moment, playing hide-and-seek with Terriermon.
"Rika, wait! Okay, maybe we aren't trying something that we should. We could track him with
the D-Arcs, right? All I need to do is wait until he has Guilmon Digivolve and we'll-huh?
Whoa-that was quick! We found him! The only problem is, I'm not sure where he's at." Henry
noted grimly.
Sure enough, when Rika got a good look at Henry's computer, there I was, in full technicolor
on the battleground.
I steadied myself, preparing to grab for one of my cards and power Growlmon up so he'd be
able to win this fight quickly. Only problem was, my cards weren't there, with the exception of a Matrix Digivolution card! I groaned out loud, remembering that I'd left them at home for the day since I had "planned" to tell Rika how I felt, even if she did turn me into mincemeat.
"Goggle head? Is that you?"
I tooked up and saw a vision of lovliness embedded on a screen-Rika Nonaka.
"Rika? How'd you find me?"
"Never mind that-where are you? Why would you leave in the middle of a conversation and
not finish what you were gonna say?"
"Uh..." I heard a cry of pain and turning, saw Growlmon being thrown to the ground by Ice
Devimon in one shot. "Could I get back to you on this matter, Rika? I'm kinda in the middle
of something here."
"Hey-who's the chick?" Davis asked with a wicked grin on his face. I glared at him and couldn't help but laugh when Rika eyed Davis with a look and advised, "Don't even think
about it! It's already bad enough that I've got one goggle head to deal with."
"Frozen Claw!!" I heard Rika's gasp of indignation and knew that she knew that Ice Devimon was back.
"Takato, where are you? And who are you fighting with? Ahh! That's Ice Devimon!" Henry
yelled out.
"Who are those guys? Are they from the future too?" Tai asked calmly. I laughed weakly and
did what Tai himself would do in a situation like this-scratch the back of my head. "Something like that."
"Trump Swords! You'd think after a few number of years, they'd take the time to change and
to grow, but noooooo! They still have the same mundane attacks!" Piedmon gloated. That's
when Tai, Davis and I saw screens appear all around us and the DigiDestined came into view.
"Tai! Are you all right?"
"Sora, I'm okay. There's no reason to worry."
"Davis, what about you?"
"Doing fine, Yolei. No need to get worked up about this."
"Yet. Clown Trick!!"
"Crimson Mist!!"
WarGreymon and Imperialdramon were hit-hard-and were sent sprawling to the ground in
pain. After taking multiple rounds of attacks like that, I was wondering how they were
surviving this, and I came to the realization that they had to survive. If they were deleted, or
reverted to Rookies, then who would protect us? Guilmon could only Digivolve as high as
Ultimate so far, and none of us Tamers could have our Digimon Digivolve to Mega yet in
order to help out.
"And now, it's time for the piece de resistance. Trump Swords!!"
"Crimson Mist!!"
"Frozen Claw!!"
The three attacks were spiraling toward us! I moved on pure instinct alone and pushed Tai and Davis out of the way, knowing that there wasn't much for me to go home to, but they had to
return-if they didn't, then how could they start families, or have a chance to have a normal
life? That's what I kept telling myself as I felt the full force of all those combined attacks hit
me and I dropped to the ground limply.
For some strange reason, I could still hear everybody, even though I had basically been killed.
"Takato? Goggle head, you'd better answer me!"
It was strange. I could hear Rika, but I couldn't do what she demanded.
"Come on, Takato. Give us a sign that you're alive!" Henry insisted. According to Henry,Tai had walked over to where I was and felt for a pulse.
"Notihng."
"What do you mean 'nothing?' He's just playing games, trying to trick us. Get up, Takato!" Rika cried out with a tinge of concern. Tai looked up at that screen and gave her a glare of utter coldness and contempt.
"Can't you get it through that thick head of yours?! Takato's DEAD! Dead: No longer living; without life; deathlike. You see? I'm gonna lay odds that you didn't care for Takato while he was alive and I'm sure I'd win that bet. Ten-to-one, you didn't care what happened to him! And, now that he's gone and out of your life, you want him back! That's just the way it is with all you tomboys, isn't it? Belittle a certain hero of Courage, then when they start to like you, stab them in the back and go out with their best friend!" Tai was ranting at that moment, not even acknowleging the fact that Sora had grasped his explanation and was struggling to keep her tears from showing.
"All you can do is just sit there and watch as the girl you've loved for a very long time-the same girl you've saved on one occasion or another-chooses your best friend over you..." Tai made no premise at that second, but just started crying softly, not caring if anyone saw him or what. That's when a miracle occurred. Tai's Digivice glowed brightly and an orange beam came out of it and hit me square in the chest! Davis pulled out his D-3 and aimed it at me; instantly, a blue beam hit me and I glowed with that same intensity. As I was brought back, only one of the DigiDestined had one thing to say:
"Prodigious!"
I gasped out as I opened my eyes in pure shock, surprised that I'd been brought back! I weakly looked up and saw the other DigiDestined, then saw Rika and Henry, smiling broadly-although, with Rika, her smile was faint, but it was there. I'm sure she was telling me something, I wasn't sure what it was. I realized what had happened almost instantly.
"Welcome back, dude!" Davis exclaimed excitedly. I couldn't hide a smile when Rika glared at Daivs and yelled out, "The name's Takato, Fire breath!"
"If you can't defeat the Tamer, then defeat the Digimon behind the Tamer! Frozen Claw!!"
"NO!" I stepped forward, not acknowledging the fact that my D-Arc had started glowing brightly with an orange-like color. "I won't let you hurt Rika, Guilmon, Tai, Davis or any of us anymore! You'll have to go through ME to get to them!" At that moment, I heard a strange mechanical voice say, "Power of Courage!" My D-Arc not only glowed a bright orangish color, but it enveloped me, much to the shock of everyone else.
Digimodify!
On pure instinct, and some unrequited knowledge, I grabbed my only card and swiped it through in one move.
"Matrix Digivolution!"
MATRIX DIGIVOLUION!
I looked back through Rika and Henry's screens and saw Calumon hopping up and down, just like before, but Growlmon wasn't in the Real World this time. He yelled out, "Crystal Matrix Digivolution activate!" before collasping into Terriermon's outstretched arms. The DigiDestined watched in shock and amazement as Growlmon Digivolved to the Ultimate level in one move!
"Growlmon Digivolve to...WARGROWLMON!!!"
"WarGreymon, do you know what kind of Digimon that is?" Tai asked in awe.
"No, but according to Gennai, in the future will come Digimon that not even Azulongmon will know about, and a few of them will even save the world from the dark forces that try to take it over." WarGreymon explained.
"Cool!" Davis yelled out.
"NO! I won't allow an Ultimate Digimon to succeed in taking away my victory!"
"Say goodbye! Atomic..."
"BLASTER!!" I exclaimed as WarGrowlmon launched his ultimate attack-pun not intended-and defeated Ice Devimon once again! The DigiDestined and the Tamers cheered happily as I stood there in shock, still holding my glowing D-Arc in the air.
"Terra Force!!"
"Positron Laser!!"
WHAM! I looked up to see that WarGreymon and Imperialdramon's attacks had combined and deleted Piedmon and MaloMyotismon in one shot!
"We did it! We beat those jokers again, just like before and like always!" I cried out as I slapped
Davis and Tai each a high-five. Our Digimon had reverted back to Rookie mode, waiting
patiently for us to quit celebrating. A second later, we disappeared and reappeared in our own
respective times...I think.
To put it bluntly, once Tai and Davis returned to their time, they were greeted by the others with
cheers, yet Tai found Sora with a solemn look on her face.
"Tai, I'm sorry for hurting you! I had no idea you felt like that toward me. I guess I should've told you how I felt instead, huh?"
Tai nodded in agreement, then made a motioning move toward Matt. "Uh, what about...?"
"Don't worry, Tai. She talked to me and explained it to me-once she realized who she truly loved." Matt explained calmly.
Tai turned back to Sora and found hiimself locked in a kiss of pure passion-one that he didn't want to let go of. Out of the corner of his eye, Tai saw Davis and Yolei leaving, possibly going to celebrate for their first meeting. Izzy was lost in thought. Ken snapped him out of it.
"What's wrong, Izzy?"
"Not much, but I was wondering how Tai, Davis and that kid from the future-Takato-got to wherever they were in the first place, how Davis was able to get Veemon to Digivolve to his Ultimate and Mega levels without you and how the Tamers' D-Arcs work?"
"Izzy, you think too much!" Matt cracked cynically.
"I think you're going to get the chance to find out." I replied weakly as I got up from my position
on the ground. The DigiDestined who were left gasped in shock and surprise that I and Guilmon
were there! The question is...
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE'S GONE INTO THE PAST?!!!" Rika demanded angrily, pinning Henry to the wall in a blaze of fury.
"Calm down, Rika. Give him a chance to explain what happened." Renamon advised.
Rika considered what she'd said, then nodded. "Okay. One chance, otherwise, I'm going back there myself to find him!"
"Okay: You remember how Takato was glowing when he stood up against Ice Devimon on his own? Well, that must've created some sort of link between the three of them-meaning Tai, Davis and Takato. That link alone must've pulled Takato back into the past instead of his rightful time." Henry explained, despite the fact that he could barely breathe.
"Then we're gonna use these D-Arcs and get him back! He's got some explaining to do, and he's the only one to give answers that make some kind of sense." Rika declared.
"If you're planning what I think you're planning, then I'd better stay. It would be a good idea for
at least one of us to stay here and be able to bring you both back. I'll have his coordinates on
here in no time." Rika sighed with impatience and a tinge of worry as she sat down next to
Renamon and did what was hard for a Tamer or a DigiDestined-she waited.
Looking up at Henry's house, Yamaki smirked with a smile filled with darkness.
"The plan worked. One down, two to go. You know what they say, kiddies: 'For when the One
Great Scorer comes to write against your name, he marks-not that you won or lost-but how you
played the game...'"
