Part 9: Iori's Painful Encounter!
The group were still deciding on what to do about the Gokimon and Garbamon when Iori's Digivice started to act strangely again.
"It's doing it again!" Iori announced while holding the device in his hand.
Right at that moment, Iori started to feel a bit strange, as if something was coming towards him. He the felt something clasp around both of his wrists, which resulted in shocking him badly.
"Iori!"
Iori stood there, a blank look in his eye, while looking as if some invisible force was zapping him. Everyone stared at the youngest boy, too scared, and panicked, to go near him. No one knew what to do. As of right now, Miyako was the most worried. Iori, to her, was like her younger brother, and she felt somewhat responsible for him at times.
Iori felt terrible pain as he continued being shocked. The shock was so powerful, it knocked him back violently into Jyou, who caught him. Even after his being knocked back, Iori still looked as if he were being shocked, or either having a really bad seizure.
Jyou kept yelling to try and get his attention, but it seemed as if Iori wasn't hearing him. Iori had such a blank expression on his face and his eyes looked as if they were currently lacking life.
"Iori! Say something! Iori-kun!! Can you hear me! It's me, Jyou!"
"C'mon, buddy, don't zone out on us!" Daisuke begged.
"Poor thing!" Mimi said, sorrow in her voice. "Iori-kun, please stop that!"
Jyou still had a hold on Iori and the small boy then screamed as if he was in unspeakable pain, or as if he was being tortured and could take no more.
"Iori!!" Miyako called out, her eyes starting to glisten with tears. Iori's high-pitched screams, to her, sounded as if he was being killed.
"I feel, strange…"
"What are you talking about, Armadimon?" Patamon asked.
"I feel differently right now…"
"Maybe you ate something bad," V-mon said.
"We will worry about Armadimon later," Hawkmon wisely input. "We have to help Iori-kun somehow!"
"I know, but I'm useless right now!"
"Don't talk like that, Armadimon!" Takeru scolded, overhearing the ground-like Digimon over Iori's screams of agony.
"Well, it's true!" he retorted, disgust in his voice. "He's in trouble and I can't help him!"
"You're starting to sound like Patamon when I first met him," Takeru muttered.
"It's not your fault, Armadimon," Koushirou assured him, trying his best to remain calm since he too was alarmed over their current situation. "We all can't help him mainly because we can't figure out what's wrong with him."
Izzy got quiet and started pondering.
"I think Koushirou's trying to come up with an idea to help poor little Iori, and I hope that he does," Mimi said, feeling sorry for Iori. "It could be a while, though, before he comes up with something really good plan-wise since he doesn't have his laptop with him."
"Haha!" Koushirou sarcastically laughed, although he sounded as if he was literally joking.
"I wasn't being funny!!" Mimi shouted at Koushirou, slightly angered. "I am dead serious!"
"So am I!" Koushirou yelled back. "I'm trying to figure out what's wrong! Even with my laptop, I don't think I could figure this out!!"
"YOU DON'T HAVE TO YELL AT ME!!"
"I'M SORRY, I DIDN'T MEAN TO!!!"
"THEN WHY ARE YOU STILL YELLING!!"
"I COULD ASK THE SAME OF YOU!!"
"Will you two stop arguing like a bunch of children!!" Jyou yelled at the both of them. He then muttered under his breath, "And they wonder why I was so paranoid when we were stuck in the Digital World years ago. They all acted like nothing but a bunch of little kids…"
"I'm sorry," Mimi apologized. "I'm just so worried about poor Iori."
"Yeah, I'm sorry too. I didn't mean to yell at you like that."
Izzy got quiet again and went back to thinking.
"I hope you or Jyou-senpai come up with something," Mimi trailed off, staring at Iori, her eyes starting to water some.
"What do we do, Jyou-san!"
"I don't know what's wrong with him, Hikari! It looks as if he could be having a seizure!" Jyou responded, panic in his voice. "Iori, please say something! What is wrong! What is causing this!"
"He looks like he's being electrocuted!" Hikari pointed out, wishing she could help.
"But there's no electricity!" Miyako said, literally ready to have a nervous breakdown since Iori was suffering so much.
"Then what's causing it!" Daisuke wanted to know. "How can we make it stop?!"
"MAKE IT STOP!!" Iori shouted painfully at the top of his lungs. "MAKE IT STOP!!"
The boy then screamed, tears started to form in his eyes. The boy then started to take deep, labored breaths and grasped his chest, gasping for more air.
"MAKE IT STOP!!" he screamed again, his eyes finally growing heavy with his with the salty liquid, which started to stream down the sides of his face in the form of tears. "PLEASE, MIYAKO-SAN, JUST MAKE THE PAIN STOP!!"
"Iori!!" Miyako called. "Help him!! Someone help him!!"
"We can't make the pain stop if you don't tell us what's causing it or where it is!" Jyou shouted to the boy with lots of concern, holding onto the younger, shorter boy's shoulders.
'What could be causing this,' Koushirou pondered in thought. 'His Digivice started acting strangely, then it…wait, that's it!! The Digivice!' Koushirou looked over to Jyou and said, "I know what's wrong!!"
Before Jyou could comment, Izzy got an idea and ran up to Iori. He figured that Iori's D-3 was what was causing the problem, so he figured that by taking it away, would solve it, but when he touched it he screamed in pain.
"H--h--h---e--e---l--p...ME!!!"
Izzy looked as if he was stuck in place while holding onto the Digivice, which was also still being held by Iori. While there, he felt the same shock as Iori was, but not as bad, but it still hurt him, nevertheless. A short moment later, Koushirou was blown away from Iori and the Digivice, as if he was being fired out of a cannon, and got knocked back right into Takeru.
"Koushirou-kun/Izumi-senpai/Koushirou!" Mimi, Miyako, and Jyou called.
"Takeru!" Daisuke, Hikari, and Patamon called out.
Mimi ran over to Izzy and helped him to sit up.
"What happened?" she asked.
"I don't know, but when I tried to take his Digivice, I got shocked," Koushirou said, rubbing his head. "Thank you for helping me up, Mimi-san. Luckily, when I got knocked back, I landed on something kind of soft."
Takeru sweat dropped in annoyance, his closed, left eye twitching some.
"Are you okay, Takeru?"
"Yeah, Patamon, I guess, but Koushirou is heavy!!" The boy then shouted, "Koushirou-san, get off of me!! You're not light, you know!!"
"Oops, sorry," Koushirou apologized, standing up.
During all of the commotion, Iori's episode ended, and he fell to the
ground, but was still conscious…
****
"Great!" Ken cheered from his chambers, his voice echoing throughout
it.
"What happened, master?"
"They're at the exact location! That kid should be turning on them at any moment now! The rings are now in place!" he laughed evilly, keeping his eyes on the screen before him. "Interesting side effect," the boy noted, after his laughter had subsided. "I didn't think that he would've ended up being shocked like that. It's never happened with a Digimon."
"But master, why is it taking so long for it to work?"
"Because it's never been used on a human before. He does seem to be changing some, though." He turned to his Digimon, his Kaiser-like grin plastered on his face. "My dear Wormmon…"
"Yes sir?"
"My tea, if you please."
"Yes sir," the Digimon nodded as he slithered out of the dark room.
"And don't you forget that I like four lumps of sugar in my tea and a lemon wedge and exactly one teaspoon of honey, and I also want milk in my tea! And if you forget it, you're going to get it!" Ken shouted down the hall. "And could you bring me some ohagi with my tea, I still have some that my mother made for me," he added on in a childish, innocent tone.
"Yes, Ken-chan," a voice faintly called back.
****
RP: I couldn't resist, I saw the commercial, and I loved it!
And that tea part was so kyuute!! ^_^
****
Ignoring the fact that Wormmon had referred to him as "Ken-chan," he
decided to go back to viewing what the other Chosens were up to.
"Now to sit here and enjoy this wonderful movie that they don't even know they're a part of," the Kaiser smirked. "Come on, Iori. Hurry up and turn on them. I could use a bit of entertainment. They'll be so busy focused on you, they won't even have the time to destroy my Dark Towers or ruin any other plans of mine to take over this world!"
Ken pushed a button on his keyboard, and a slot opened, revealing a microphone. Whatever Ken says through the microphone, the Head Garbamon and Head Gokimon would hear him. Each was wearing a small earpiece so as to obey Ken's instructions. It made it easier for Ken to give them orders without actually having to let everyone know about it, mainly the other Chosen Children.
"Garbamon, Gokimon, I want you to let those Digimon escape, but let them only get far enough to reach their friends," Ken commanded. "After that, do whatever you want with them. I really don't care. When you hear arguing, go and check it out! You should see a small boy there arguing; one of those annoying Chosen Children. Help out the boy and his armadillo-like partner, and make sure to destroy the rest of them!"
"Sir, yes sir!" the Head Garbamon and Gokimon saluted.
Ken started to chuckle as Wormmon returned with his tea.
"I love this job, and this vacation is just what I needed," Ken smirked evilly. "I think I'll just hang out here all day and watch them get betrayed by their good friend."
"Are you going to tell him what to do, master?"
"I don't have to," he said, taking the tea filled cup. "He has so much of an annoyance towards them, he'll do just fine without my instructions, but if something goes wrong, I will have to interfere." He took a sip of the tea that Wormmon had brought him. "Hey, this is really good, Wormmon."
"Arigatou, Ken-chan!" Wormmon bowed, his spirits rising since Ken had thanked him.
"Guess you're not as worthless as I thought, after all. You're probably the best Digimon friend I have," Ken mumbled, his tone very low.
"Did you say something, sir?"
"Eh-eh…NO!" Ken spat with a nervous sweat drop. "I said that I want you to go and, um, get me another lump of sugar for my tea!!"
"Yes, sir." Wormmon said with a sigh. 'I heard what he said. He truly is kind, but he just can't admit to it. Maybe one day he'll turn back to the nice young boy I met a long time ago, and maybe he'll actually admit that he is.'
With that, Wormmon left to get some more sugar for the tea, leaving
Ken smiling at the big screen in front of him…
****
"Iori, are you okay!" Miyako asked, hurrying by his side, just as the
others had.
Iori sat up, holding his head some. He then muttered in a barely audible tone, "Ichijouji-sama…master…hurt Chosen Children…never listen…to me…friends are…fools…"
"What did you say?"
Iori shrugged to Koushirou and shook his head, as if he was trying to figure out his whereabouts. He then tried to stand up, but his legs were a bit weak, which failed him and caused him to fall back down. Jyou and Daisuke helped him up.
Jyou then took out a canteen, which was filled with fresh water, from his bag, which were always filled with supplies and handed it to Iori. Even though Jyou's going to the Digital World was unplanned, he always kept supplies with him just in case something came up which would require him to go.
After he visited the first time when he sensed something was wrong with Gomamon, he figured that he should always carry around extra supplies, like a First Aid Kit. Also, when he was on his way home, he had just come from school, and rushed straight to Odaiba Elementary, so he had it with him anyway.
"Here, have a drink."
"Thank you, Jyou-san," Iori said, accepting the water, gulping it down.
"Take some breaths, Iori-kun," Jyou smiled at him, giving him a small pat on the back. "You don't want to choke, now."
The boy nodded as he started to drink the water down a bit slower than what he was, still a bit shaken up and still breathing a bit uneasily.
"I was holding on to him, I wonder why I wasn't shocked."
"Maybe because Izumi-senpai went after his Digivice."
"Wow, that was some fall! What happened, anyway?"
"I don't know, Daisuke-san," Iori managed to say, after having depleting the canteen of its water. "My D-3 just started acting strangely again, then it felt as if something clasped around both of my wrists. Like bracelets, or maybe handcuffs. It then knocked me back into Jyou-san. It was like a wave was coming from my Digivice, or something."
"Are you hurt? Is there anything we can do for you?"
"No, but thank you for the concern, Mimi-san. I feel better now."
"That's a relief," Miyako sighed out while wiping her brow with the back of her hand.
Izzy stared at the little boy and got a pondering look, remaining in deep thought, tuning the others out completely.
'Why did I get shocked when I tried to take his D-3? What exactly did he say after Jyou-san and Daisuke-kun helped him up? It sounded a bit harsh, to me, but I must figure out that Digivice of his! Why did it react in such a manner and what did it react to?'
"We need to form ourselves some kind of a plan to get past those Digimon," Jyou said after taking the canteen back from Iori. While Koushirou was in such deep thought, Iori had insisted on his being okay.
"Yeah, but what can we do?" Takeru asked.
"I wish my Palmon was here, along with all of the other Digimon, safe and sound," Mimi sighed. "That way, we wouldn't have to even worry about forming a plan to save them."
"Um, I don't think you have to worry about that."
"Huh, what do you mean?" Mimi questioned the goggle-headed boy.
"Look at what the Gokimon and Garbamon are guarding."
Mimi and the others looked over to where Daisuke had pointed. Mimi gasped at what she saw. Right out there, was a jail cell, which held their Digimon.
"Palmon!" the girl cheered, jumping up and down. "It's my Palmon! Yay, Pal---"
"Not so loud, Mimi-kun!" Jyou hissed, putting his hand over her mouth to muffle out her cheers. She nodded and Jyou removed his hand. "I'm surprised they didn't hear us already with what Iori went through just now."
"It's all of our Digimon!" Koushirou said.
"I only count five of them," Takeru noted. "One of them is missing."
"Piyomon isn't there," Miyako said. "I guess she was never caught."
"We have to save them!" Daisuke said.
"Hmm, all we have to do is get rid of those disgusting, unsanitary Garbamon and Gokimon," Hawkmon said. "I suggest that we have Digmon get rid of them. A couple of us could cause a diversion, Tailmon Patamon, and myself, while V-mon, along with Armadimon attack."
"Prodigious/Perfecto idea, Hawkmon!" both Koushirou and Miyako said in unison.
"Yeah, Fladramon can toast all of them!" V-mon said, giving the "V" for victory.
"And Digmon can knock the ground right from under them!" Armadimon smiled.
"Digmon could also destroy the Dark Towers," Patamon added.
"Wait, are they working for the Digimon Kaiser?" Hikari asked.
Mimi looked and shook her head. "It doesn't look like it. They're not wearing any Dark Spirals."
"Looks like it's an attack and win situation again," V-mon said.
"Yeah, looks like it," Patamon said, a bit unenthusiastically.
"Well, I'm ready!" Armadimon said.
"You know I am!" Tailmon purred.
Iori hadn't been really listening to Hawkmon's plan. Instead, he felt highly unusual.
"What is wrong with me?" the boy asked himself. "Why do I feel so strange? Why am I the only one going through such an ordeal?"
Unable to answer his own questions, he felt his legs give way again, causing him to fall down to the ground.
"Iori!!!" everyone called, Armadimon rushing to his human partner's side.
"I'm very sorry," Iori apologized, standing up again. "Can Armadimon and I sit this battle out?"
"We sure can, partner. If you're not feeling too well, then we shouldn't make you participate in a battle."
Everyone else agreed with the armadillo's words, and that he and Iori should sit out the battle and that the others would take care of the fight.
Each of the newer children, along with Takeru and Hikari, took out their D-3s, ready to head on into battle.
"Hawkmon…"
"V-mon…"
"Tailmon…"
"Patamon…"
"Digimental…Up!" all four humans called out.
All four Digimon evolved to their armored forms - V-mon evolving to Fladramon and Hawkmon evolving to Holsmon - ready to fight the group Gokimon and Garbamon.
Izzy and Jyou noticed how uneasy Iori looked. Jyou noticed how he was about to fall out again and told Izzy. He nodded and made a suggestion to Iori.
"Maybe you should go back home, Iori-kun," Koushirou suggested.
"Yeah," Jyou agreed, "if you're not feeling too well, you shouldn't be here. You could be seriously ill and you should probably go see a real doctor. I don't know that much, just know a few things based on what my father's told me."
"But I have to help you guys," Iori protested.
"We know that you always fight your hardest when out here," Koushirou told him, "but you need some rest, or maybe some medical attention like Jyou-san said."
"No, we're going to help battle! I must help…" Iori's voice then lowered some, a pitch lower than what it had ever been for a person his age, and his tone was a bit quieter, "…my master, Ichijouji-sama so that he can destroy you all!"
The boy then shook his head as if regaining control of his thoughts. Mimi, Jyou, and Koushirou gave the boy a look of confusion.
"Iori-kun…" Jyou started.
"…are you feeling okay?" Mimi finished.
'Something must be wrong with him!' Koushirou concluded in thought. 'He keeps muttering to himself, and it doesn't sound too pleasant. He sounds as if he isn't himself talking, and I am almost positive that I heard him mention something about Ichijouji…'
"Oh, it's nothing," Iori insisted, holding out his D-3. "Armadimon!
"I'm ready when you are, Iori!"
"Digimental...Up!!"
Armadimon tried to evolve, but he couldn't.
"What happened?" Fladramon asked.
"Why can't he evolve?" the giant, armored bird Digimon of love, Holsmon, questioned.
"Maybe Armadimon needs to eat something," Mimi suggested.
"No, I don't think so," Miyako disagreed. "They all ate before we left for the Digital World, like they always do. Right before you and Jyou-senpai bumped into us, actually."
"He eats the most if you ask me," Hikari stated. "Weird how Upamon can eat as much as he does, and how he always seems to be hungry."
"Sounds like another Digimon I know," Jyou sighed, wishing his Digital partner was there with him.
"Gomamon," Pegasmon answered.
"How are you feeling, Armadimon?" Nefertimon asked.
"Really, really strange; mainly because I don't feel connected to Iori so that I can evolve."
"Not connected?" Koushirou asked. "Is that really the key to evolving one's Digimon partner?"
"I always thought so, but the others evolve without us all the time," Jyou noted. "I guess for armor evolving, like with our Digimon going perfect (ultimate), they need to be connected to their partner somehow."
"With that logic, I guess so," Koushirou said.
"I bet Iori is just really tired and for some reason, it's making Armadimon too weak to evolve," Miyako said.
Iori just stood there listening to them. He didn't have a say in the matter and every time he tried to speak up, Takeru, Daisuke, or either Miyako, would cut over him somehow.
"Iori, I think you should go back to the human world," Miyako insisted.
"But---"
"Yeah, niisan, Sora-san, and Taichi-san are still there, so maybe you can catch up with them and tell them what's going on."
"But I---"
"And let them know that their Digimon are going to get saved," Hikari smiled gently.
"By us, of course!" Daisuke responded confidently, giving Iori a thumbs-up.
"I'm sure they all sensed something was wrong with their partners and are probably worried sick about them," Mimi frowned.
"I know I would," Jyou said.
"I am not going back and you guys aren't going to make me!" Iori shouted at the older kids.
Right at that moment, Iori's Digivice started to shake and glow again. Koushirou noticed, and figured that this would be the perfect time to inspect it.
"Iori-kun, may I please borrow your Digivice? Just for a moment."
"No, you jerks can not have my D-3!" he shouted as he held it close to his chest.
Everyone stared in amazement, surprised at the way Iori had just addressed them...