According to Angel: Part Five
Hello again, I'm finally bringing you the fifth part of According to Angel. I know you have all been waiting anxiously, and I hope the sixth part will be up soon. For now, enjoy!
~Jazz~
*Reality Check*
TK learns that the new enemy in the Digital World will be bigger than anything they've ever faced. Kari gets a mysterious call from Gennai, and Tony and Angel are pulled into the Digital World by an unknown force.
*Present Day*
Kari drove as quickly as possible to Matt and Sora's apartment without getting stopped by a policeman. She pulled into a parking space, then got out of the car. She took the elevator up to their apartment, then knocked on the door.
Sora answered it. "Kari!" she said, enveloping her into a hug. "We've been waiting for you."
"I'm sorry, I came as soon as he called--"
"Don't be, it's alright," she said, giving one of her genuine Sora smiles. "Come on in! Sit down, you must be exhausted. We're still waiting for Ken and Yolei. Don't worry, the kids aren't home."
Kari was amazed by her older friend. Sora was much taller, and she seemed to whaft through the room without a care in the world. She seemed to have her life completely organized. There was a wrinkle in neither sweater nor skirt. Every hair was in place, her makeup was applied neatly, and when she walked, she walked with grace.
Kari, on the other hand, viewed herself as less than Sora. Her life was hardly organized; there was always some bill she forgot to pay, or a test she forgot to grade. The clothes she wore daily were not fashionable, and she wore little makeup, for the small children she taught were highly impressionable.
Even though Sora is beautiful and admirable, I don't envy her at all, Kari mused to herself. I have a husband that I love endlessly, a daughter that is hard to love at times, but I love her all the same, and another one coming along that will add to the love I have for my family. And I have friends that I care about.
Kari followed Sora into the living room. "Hi, Kari," they chorused.
"Hi, everyone," she greeted. She took a place on the couch between TK and Mimi. She exchanged a quick kiss with him. "Where is he?" she asked.
"Gennai?"
"Who else?"
"Hiding. Somewhere in the apartment. I don't know where he is, and he's not coming out until Ken and Yolei get here."
"Have you already seen him?" Kari asked.
"Yeah," TK replied, grinning. "I was the first one here."
Kari whacked him playfully in the side. "I can't believe you didn't tell me!"
TK slid his arm around her waist. "I thought it would be a nice surprise, seeing our old mentor for the first time in about twenty years."
"I've had enough surprises in the past few months, thank you very much."
They didn't realize it, but the entire room was watching them.
Ah, young love, Matt thought, smiling. He took Sora's hand in his own, and sqeezed it.
Aww... Tai grinned.
Isn't that adorable, Sora thought, sqeezing Matt's hand back.
Izzy sat on the arm of the couch next to Mimi. He looked over at her and thought, I can't believe it. We're all still so much in love after all this time.
If this is how much in love people get when they're having another baby, Mimi thought with a smile, then I almost want to get pregnant again!
Davis folded his arms over his chest and grinned. It's a good thing I gave her up, he thought. She never would have been that happy with me. And vice-versa.
Joe nodded his approval. It's hard to believe how close they are.
Only one person in the room didn't have wonderful thoughts running through his mind.
Cody rested his arm on the mantle, and turned his head away, not being able to bear the sight.
I wish that was me, he thought. Oh, Caitlin, I miss you.
Caitlin Hida had died when their daughter Lei was barely a year old. Cody and the other DigiDestined were the only people who knew what really killed her, but they couldn't tell anyone else. Her obituary stated that she died of pancreatic cancer, but Cody knew the truth.
When Caitlin died, Cody sort of locked himself up tight and threw away the key. He was a single father trying to raise a girl on his own, and it was nearly impossible, for he had a job that took up alot of his time. So he hired a nanny to look after her, and rarely spent any time at home. He loved Lei terribly, and would give his all to keep her safe, but he couldn't look at her without thinking of Caitlin. And thinking of Caitlin made want to cry.
"Hey! Earth to Cody? Cody, are you there?" Davis knocked on his head.
Cody brushed his hand away, and gave a half smile. "I was just thinking."
"About what?"
Cody sighed in response.
"Caitlin?" Davis's voice dropped to a whisper.
Cody nodded. "Sitting there, watching them...it makes me think of how much I loved her. And how much I still do."
Davis nodded.
"I miss her. She needs to be here."
"It's okay, Cody," Davis said softly. "It's been fifteen years. You need to move on."
"I wish I could...but sometimes, I just don't want to."
"I know what you mean," Davis replied. "It was hard to move on after Gwen and I divorced, but we did. I'm glad we did."
"But you didn't have to lose her," Cody said, looking away.
"In a way, I did. I lost her to a loveless marriage."
Just then, the front door was opened, and the people in the living room could hear Sora welcoming Ken and Yolei into their home. They came into the living room, and Ken helped Yolei sit down in an armchair.
Kari clutched TK's arm excitedly. The all waited expectantly, and suddenly, a voice seemed to come out of nowhere.
"Well, now that you're all here, I think we can finally move on with this meeting."
A puff of smoke exploded in the front of the room. When it cleared, there was a tiny little man standing there, coughing and clearing it away.
"Gennai!"
*~*
I sat up, and looked around. Only one thing could describe what I saw.
"Whoa."
Tony opened his eyes and groaned. He sat up, and rubbed the back of his head. Suddenly, his eyes opened wide.
"Whoa," he repeated.
We were in...well, the Digital World, I guess. It was beautiful. The nature was
awesome. We were in, like, a clearing in the forest or something, and the trees and flowers, and the sky...it just seemed to be so much more detailed and elaborate and beautiful than what we were used to.I stood, then offered a hand to pull up Tony. He took it, and stood, brushing himself off.
"What a rush," he said.
I continued looking around, auntil my eyes travelled downwards. I gasped. "Our clothes changed!" I said.
Indeed they had. I was wearing a regular pair of blue jean flares, a fitted pink halter top that came up right above the middriff, an denim jacket, and a pair of sneakers.
Tony's clothes had changed too. He was wearing carpenter khakis, sneakers, and cutoff Adidas teeshirt.
He looked up at me, grinned, and shrugged. "Beats the school uniform any day."
I kept turning around, admiring everything. Suddenly, I heard a low rumble.
"Is that what I think it is?" I asked tentatively.
"I don't know what you think it is, but I know it's thunder!" Tony grabbed my hand. "Run!"
The sky seemed to break open and pour its wrath out upon the world. Never in my life had I seen such heavy rain! It hurt when it came crashing down, and I did my best to run through and get out of it.
After we had been running for a few minutes, Tony squinted his eyes, and pointed over to the rockside. "It's a cave!" he yelled. "We can stay there until the rain stops!"
We ran inside. Inside the cave, it was damp and cold. I shivered, and tightened my jacket around me.
We were both soaked to the skin. The rain had pounded hard and cold, and made the back of my neck hurt. I rubbed it.
"Hey, Angel, check this out," Tony said. He motioned for me to come over.
I walked over next to him, and tried to make out what he was looking at. The cave was dark, so I could barely see. Tony was squatting before a pile of wood, and he reached down to touch it.
"It's a bonfire," he explained. "And it's still smoldering. That means whatever was here before us hasn't been gone very long."
"And maybe their coming back."
Tony turned around. "You say something, Angel?"
"No...I thought you did."
"Then, who...?" Tony trailed off. He turned around.
"You're both wrong! I said it! And I'm the one who built the fire!"
I spun around. I gasped and stepped back when I saw what was standing there.
A small creature, slightly resembling a cat and a rabbit, was standing in the entrance of the cave. She--at least, I think it was a she--was drenched with rainwater, and looked extremely angry.
She took a step forward. "I don't know who you are," she rasped angrily, "but I'll bet on my whiskers that you can't mean anything good! LIGHTING CLAW!" She jumped forward with almost superhuman--Superhuman? Supercat? Superrabbit? Whatever--speed. On one...paw, I guess, there was a glove, and that hand reached out, and slashed Tony hard across the face.
"Augghhhhh!" he yelled. He fell backwards.
"Tony!" I ran over to him, and knelt beside him. Gently, I touched the bleeding marks on his face. "Are you okay?"
"Ow!" he yelled, a hand reaching up to remove mine.
"Obviously not," I commented. I then grew angry. I spun around and glared at the creature. I pointed my finger at her. "You!" I yelled. "What the hell did you do that for? What did Tony ever do to you? You ought to be condemned!"
I recogized her as soon as her cat-like eyes glowed a bright pink. "Cat's Eye Hypnosis!" Suddenly, bright pink sparks flew everywhere, and I dodged them just in time.
"You stop that!" I screamed. "Gatomon!"
*~*
"Gennai!" Kari sqealed. She jumped up off the couch and ran to hug her old mentor.
Kari released her grip on him, and looked at him up and down. "You look different again," she said. "Well, not different, really--more like the same as you looked the first time we met you."
Indeed, Gennai certainly looked different. Instead of the tall, handsome man that had been the last they saw him, he was a short man, and he looked as though he was about two hundred years old.
"It is good to see you again, my friends," Gennai began. "But the circumstances that bring me here today are far from good."
Worry crossed the faces of the DigiDestined as Gennai continued. "I know I mentioned some of this in the e-mail, but I didn't give you the full story. There is a new enemy in the Digital World. He is extracting the powers and strong points of every evil Digimon we have ever faced."
"What kind of strong points are we talking about here?" Tai interrupted.
"Imagine Myotismon, Piedmon, BlackWargreymon, Mummymon, Arukenimon, Kymeramon, Devimon, and Zendiogimon all rolled into one."
Mimi paled. This was bad.
"You will have to return to your services as DigiDestined in order to destroy the force that is there now. I have your Digivices and Crests...if you recall, you turned them into me twenty years ago."
"Do you have any idea who the enemy there is now?" Matt asked.
"Well, sort of...not really. We have gotten a recording of him from a Gotsumon spy. I have it with me..." Gennai rummaged through his pockets. "Ah! Here we go!" He pulled put a mini tape player, and pressed play.
A voice, so encouraging, so full of strength and power, burst from the small speakers in the tape player. "And this is why they've gathered together; to comfort your world, attempting to bless you with the glory of light. I alone have not forgotten the silent dread. The time is nigh to conquer a Digimon's silent fear. My Digimon friends, I bless you now with sight! Come forth out your caves, let die your twigs for fire, spill forth your oils of animal fat und wash your hands clean of decaying fuel, I bestow upon you freedom! Forsake your bombarding of atoms, fear god no longer, I, the Emperor of Darkness, demand it so; let there be darkness!"
The tape ended there. "The speaker is and ordinary Digimon," Gennai stated, "but he refers to himself as the Emperor of Darkness."
Kari clutched TK's hand tightly, thinking, Oh, Gatomon! I wish you were here with us, safe and sound.
*~*
Gatomon's face seemed to soften a bit. "H-How did you know my name?" she stuttered.
"I've seen you. In my dreams, that is. You were...with my mom."
Gatomon's eyes widened. She came closer to me, and looked me hard in the face, studying me. I looked in her eyes as well, and something told me that there was a being behind those eyes that hadn't meant to hurt Tony.
Her voice dropped to a whisper. "Angel?"
It was my turn to be surprised. "How did you know my name?!"
A happy, elated grin spread across Gatomon's face. She sqealed with delight, then ran to me, and tackled me, knocking me backwards onto the ground. She hugged me as tightly as she could with those short little arms of hers, and sqeaked, "I haven't seem you since you were a baby! You've grown so much!"
Okay, this was really starting to freak me out. Tony was looking at me with "What the hell?" written all over his face. Gatomon released her grip on me, then walked over to him.
"I'm sorry I had to treat you so rough," she apologized. "But I didn't know whether I could trust you or not."
"I guess it's...okay," Tony said slowly. I could tell that he was even more confused than I was.
Gatomon, on the other hand, seemed to know exactly what was going on. She was extremely excited. "Wait until the others see you! And...the other children! It's been years..."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, back up a minute," I said. "What the heck is going on? What 'others'? And what other children?"
For the first time since our meeting, Gatomon stopped, and stood still. She looked me straight in the eye. "You don't know anything about this, do you?" she said finally. "Where you are, who I am, how you got here?"
I shook my head.
"Well...I guess I'll tell you," Gatomon said with a grin. "But only because you're Kari and TK's daughter."
*~*
"There is one other thing you should know about our new enemy," Gennai said.
"What is it?" Izzy asked.
"As of this moment, he is very weak. In order to regain his strength, the Emperor of Darkness needs six things.
"The first thing he needs is the Child of Light. Since Hikari's crest is the Crest of Light, we can only assume that this is relative to her.
"The next thing he needs is the Child of Balance. Since before the common era, the Crest of Balance has stood between the real world and the Digital World, keeping them balanced and at peace with each other. Never before has it been issued to a child--until now. Unfortunately, since this has never occured, we do not have a clue as to who the child is.
"The last four things that the Emperor of Darkness needs are the Child of Hope, the Child of Faith, the Child of Charity, and the Child of Spirit. Only the first of these four crests has ever been issued to a child--and that was to you, Takeru. These others will be issued in time, but to whom, we have no knowledge of.
"These six crests are what keeps the Digital World and the real world at peace with each other. The other six are what keep the Digital World in motion. When these things are disrupted, all hell will break loose."
The twelve DigiDestined sat there in stoney silence. No one needed to say a thing.
*~*
"So you see, when you're on the internet, and you go to a missing page, and it says 'Page Cannot Be Displayed,' all that information you were trying to process is downloaded into the Digital World, and somewhere, a new Digimon is born." Gatomon concluded her little speech and sat down on a rock in the cave, smiling.
Well, I think I get it. I don't know. I was somewhat lost there for a little while, but...maybe. This was confusing.
Now, Tony...Tony is another story altogether. He was lost. Completely and totally lost. So he coughed and pretended to know what was going on. "Um, that computer thingy said that I had the Crest of Hope and that I was assigned to Patamon."
Gatomon's eyes grew wide. She opened her mouth, but before she could speak, I interrupted her. "And it said that I had the Crest of...Light, I think, and that I was assigned to...well, you."
"But that's impossible!" Gatomon sqeaked. "I was assigned to...Kari! And Patamon--Patamon belongs to TK!"
"TK? My dad?"
"Jeez, how many TKs do you know?"
Just then, a noise came from the entrance of the cave. We all turned around. I gasped, and sucked in my breath.
There, standing in the entrance were elevan of the most extremely drenched, semi-cute, semi-ugly, unusual-looking creatures I had ever seen.
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Okay, that sucked, but hey, it's all good. I'm just glad I got it done. ^^ R+R!
