Disclaimer: Another chapter. Thank you for your reviews, I'll try to keep
it coming faster, especially since its summer. Also, I hope the reviewers
of my Tamer stories will also review this please.
Stingmon's Spiking Strike!
"Can we stop yet?" pleaded Yolei as the group continued to march through the desert.
The Yokomon had said that there was a factory in this direction, and though they didn't have a clue what it did, it was still the first sign they had heard of advanced technology, so they decided to head there next.
"Oh come on, I'm sure we'll get to that factory sometime soon," Davis said encouragingly. Davis' boundless enthusiasm always managed to keep him cheerful, even at times like these.
Ken looked around at the group. Most of them were panting, aside from himself, TK, Davis, and Cody. Ken knew TK played basketball, and Cody kendo. But everybody else was already heaving from the heat.
"Maybe we should take a break, Davis," Ken said.
Davis scowled for a moment, wondering what was wrong with trekking through a really hot desert, in a strange place, with a bunch of power lines surrounding them.
Davis ran that thought through his head again, and then decided that maybe it would be a good idea to rest for a moment.
"Okay, rest stop!" he shouted, and most of the group happily sat down.
Yolei took out her laptop again, but frowned when only static appeared on the screen. "Ah man, my laptop is down again."
Davis, hearing that, immediately rushed over. "Here, let me help. All you've got to do is give it a couple of subtle adjustments," Davis said confidently as he whacked the laptop repeatedly.
Yolei screamed in terror and yanked the precious machine back, and then growled menacingly at Davis. "Do that again, and you'll wish that you had never gone to summer camp!"
"Don't all of us wish that," moaned Michael.
"But then we wouldn't have met and become friends," said Betamon, who was sweating slightly in the hot climate. Michael smiled down at his partner. "Well, I guess that is one good thing about going to summer camp."
Catherine sat down next to Michael. "You know, Michael, why did you come to summer camp anyway?" she asked in English.
Michael was slightly surprised at the way she phrased the question but decided that there wasn't anything to do.
"Well, I wanted to take a vacation from my father, and he was shooti- busy with another project of his, so I was alone at the house back in New York. We don't talk much anymore, except for when he has some free time between projects."
"What are zese projects?" Catherine asked, curious.
Michael stiffened for a moment. "Uh, he just likes to travel, that's all. And since we're on the subject, why did a nice French girl like you go to Japan, and then go to a summer camp there?"
Now it was Catherine's turn to look embarrassed. "Well, I've never really had many friends," she said slowly at first. "I've been home schooled for most of my life, and only recently went into a private school. But I've never really made many friends, cause they didn't like me for my status."
"Status?" asked Michael.
"My family isn't very popular," Catherine said, and her tone said drop it so Michael didn't ask. "So, when I heard of a chance to travel to Japan, to get away from it all, I jumped at it."
Michael was about to ask more questions, when Davis jumped in front of them. "Hey guys, how its going?"
Both foreign children started, and instinctively jumped away from each other a bit. "Uh, hope I didn't interrupt anything," said Davis, sweatdropping a bit at the glares he was receiving.
Davis looked up and saw an even bigger threat. "Uh oh, gotta run," he said and then dashed off, seeming to have limitless energy.
A few seconds later Yolei arrived, panting. "Which. way. did. Davis. go?" she growled out while still trying to catch her breath.
Both pointed to the tree Davis was hiding behind.
Davis yelped and continued running when he realized his secret hiding place was no long so secret.
Yolei growled again. "How much energy does that boy have? No matter, I'll catch him eventually, and then I'll beat him up, just like he beat up my poor laptop."
Yolei then ran off again after the still energetic goggle-boy.
"Do you zhink zat Yolei will actually catch Davis?" asked Catherine.
Michael shook his head. "I doubt it. Davis never seems to run out of energy.
***
While Yolei was still pursuing Davis, intending to decapitate him for harming her computer, Ken was actually evaluating the computer instead of working on vengeance.
Ken was slightly surprised when the computer actually booted up.
"Hey Yolei," he called to the purple-haired girl. She stopped, half because Ken called her, and half because the last hundred laps around their campsite had exhausted her, while Davis still looked like he could do another hundred. Obviously, he had been doing those extra laps in PE.
Yolei hobbled over, with Cody helping her, as she approached Ken and her computer. Ken gently handed it over, and Yolei opened the screen.
She brightened up when her screen saver, various pictures of Ken from the newspapers showed up.
"Yolei, is your computer okay?" asked Ken as he crossed behind her to look at the screensaver. Yolei yelped, and quickly clicked her mouse, to make the screensaver disappear.
"Uh yeah, its fine," she said. "You're a genius, Ken! You got it to boot up in no time!"
Ken shook his head. "But I didn't do anything." Wonder if Davis whacking it helped somehow? Nah.
"Stupid Davis," Yolei muttered as she checked that all her programs were still intact. "He hangs around Tai Kamiya way too much, I heard from Izzy that Tai does the same thing to his computer all the time."
Ken sweatdropped at Yolei's mumbling, but figured that it was just typical for the relationship between the two.
Yolei groaned when she checked the power supply. "Man, if I don't find a plug sometime soon, my laptop is going to go poof."
"Hey, is that a factory?" TK asked as he gazed out into the desert.
Everybody jumped up when he said that, and squinted to see through the desert hot air, and saw that indeed there was a large metal building.
"Hey, maybe they'll have a working phone!" Davis shouted. "Come on, lets go!"
With that, he again dashed off.
Everybody again sweatdropped as it seemed Yolei's chase hadn't sapped any energy from the goggle boy, and they all wearily followed him.
***
"This place is huge," Cody said as he gazed up at the distant ceiling.
They had managed to find a way into the factory, and had found it going at full pace, making tons of things, though none of them had a clue what for.
"This is great!" Yolei said. "I'm sure I can recharge my laptop here! They might even have a self-charging battery around here."
"Wonder if anybody is here?" TK asked as he cautiously walked around. "After our last couple of encounters, I'm almost expecting something to happen."
"Maybe we should split up, so we can cover more ground," Michael said.
"Alright then," Davis said. "Me, Kari, Ken, and Micheal can go this way, and everybody else can go that way, okay?"
Nobody could find anything wrong with Davis' plan, so they all started walking again.
***
"Found it!" Yolei cried happily as she found a plug, and plugged in her laptop. The laptop beeped to show that it was restoring power once again.
"Hey Yolei," Cody called from another room, "can you tell me what any of this means?"
Yolei rushed in, and gasped as she saw a giant circular room, every inch of it covered with strange symbols.
"Maybe my computer's translator can figure something out," Yolei said as she left to drag her laptop there.
***
"This is definitely strange," TK said as he and Catherine inspected the assembly lines.
"What iz even more strange," Catherine added, walking with him, "iz zat it makes the zhings, and then takes zhem apart again."
Catherine was correct, as the metal arms attached devices to a base, and then a few feet away, different arms detached the devices.
"TK," she said as they continued walking through the factory, "why are you always so cold?" she asked.
"What do you mean?" TK asked her.
"Well, most of the time, like when you're around me, or Yolei, you're always seem so, happy," she said. "But when you're around Davis, or when you get mad, its almost like you're a different person."
"Catherine, I'm not always like that," TK protested.
"Its just that you sometimes seem a little too much like your brother, Matt," Catherine said, shivering for a moment. "I've met him once or twice, but he's always frightened me with that cold glare of his."
"I know what you mean," TK agreed, "but he is a good brother and friend, even if we only see each other every now and then. But he does tend to be a bit of loner."
"Yeah, but you almost act exactly like he does towards Tai Kamiya, towards Davis."
"Catherine, I'm sorry if I scare you at times," TK said as he took her by the shoulders and stared at her. "But its just the way I am. I've always looked up to Matt, and my dad, and with my mom away so much of the time, they were my main role models.
"I know that," Catherine sighed, "its why I fell for you, you were always so cold, but I knew that you were a good person underneath, and that I just had to find it."
"Even though you're just about the only person who is ever able to make me feel like that," TK agreed.
"But please, we're stranded here for who knows how long," she continued, "please try to behave civilly towards everyone, even Davis. I know that he tends to get on your nerves sometimes, and is a jerk at times, but he is still mostly nice."
"True, it just takes a kind word from Kari, and he's Mr. Wonderful," TK mumbled, thinking of Kari. Catherine was right, he did tend to be cold at times, but that was because he had always listened to Matt. But he had always regretted his behavior towards one person because of his brother.
***
"I wonder how old this place is," Cody wondered aloud as he reached for the wall. His hand brushed some of the characters.
Even though it was only a light touch, it was still enough to erase part of one glyph, and with that one change, the plant suddenly shut down.
"What happened?!" Yolei asked as she rushed back inside with her computer.
"I don't know," Cody said, slightly panicked, "all I did was wipe some of the writing off, and then, I don't know, it turned everything off!"
Yolei thought for a moment, and then brightened as she pulled out a marker.
"Do you think you can rewrite exactly what you erased?" she asked.
Cody nodded, and Yolei handed him the marker, and he walked over to the wall, and carefully wrote what he remembered as the original design.
Instantly, the plant started again, working in the same haphazard manner as before.
Cody wiped his forehead in relief. "Glad that's over with," he said.
Yolei, meanwhile, was taking pictures of the characters with a digital camera she had borrowed from Kari. "I think that this is some form of binary, a data language. But what is amazing is that you changed the data here, and it affected this whole place!"
"What does that mean, exactly?" Cody asked.
"It means that this entire world could be like a giant computer!" she said excitedly. "When you changed the programming on the wall, you changed our surroundings! Izzy told of his theories once on a Digital World, but I thought they were ridiculous until now! Maybe these binary codes will tell us of a way to get home!"
"Then what are you waiting for?!" Cody shouted uncharacteristically. "Start translating so we can get home!"
Yolei stared at him for a moment, and then started imputing the photos she had taken with Kari's camera.
Don't worry, Mom, Cody thought, I won't leave you like Dad did.
***
"I still can't believe that you can actually digivolve into two different Digimon," Davis said to Veemon, as they walked through another area of the factory.
"Well, most of the time Digimon just digivolve to one thing, like when I digivolve to X-Veemon," Veemon explained, "but when you use the Digimental of Courage, you help me to armor digivolve to Flamedramon instead."
"So with a different armor, you could digivolve into something else?" Davis asked, his eyes shining.
"Yep," Veemon agreed, his eyes just as shiny.
Before they could get lost in their daydreams of an "Ultra-cool-mon" armor Digimental lying around, Kari and Gatomon tapped both of them on their shoulders.
"Come on guys," she reminded them, "remember why we're here."
"Uh, to look for ice cream," Davis answered lamely.
Kari couldn't help but chuckle, but then whacked Davis in the head lightly. "No, to find a way home."
"Oh yeah," Davis said.
"Boys," Kari grumbled to herself.
"Yep," Gatomon agreed.
"How'd you hear that?" Kari asked looking at her partner.
"Good ears," Gatomon said, tapping her ears. "Believe me, I know the feeling. When I was traveling around, I had to avoid all the male Digimon looking for a girlfriend. Demiveemon just happened to be the nicest one I met, so I traveled around with him as an excuse to not date any of the others."
"How'd he take it?" Kari asked, looking at the exuberant dragon Digimon, who was currently dashing ahead with his equally exuberant human partner.
"Well, actually, I sorta gave him the idea," Gatomon said. "You see, I was born. elsewhere, and I didn't have a very good childhood. After several. complications, I traveled around, having a feeling that I was looking for someone."
"Me?"
"Yeah, I knew you would come, eventually. I also knew I had to get to somewhere to meet you. When I asked most of the other Digimon I met, most laughed outright, except for one. but still, none of them knew how to help me. But then I met this cute little blue thing."
***
"Hello, have any of you ever had a feeling that you had to go somewhere, that you were waiting for someone?" she asked yet another group of Digimon.
"Well, my waiting is finally over," one of the Gotsumons had replied, and smiled alluringly at her.
"No, seriously, as if you feel as if you have a destiny somewhere," Gatomon insisted, ignoring the last comment.
"Destiny?" they all asked, and then roared with laugher. "Sister, the only destiny around here is trying to stay alive," another Gotsumon answered. "Is something wrong in that cute little head of yours, puss in gloves?"
Gatomon growled, and then raised one gloved paw. "Never. ever. call. me. that!" she ground out.
"What are you going to do about it, puss in gloves?" another asked as they started laughing again.
"This. Lightning Claw!"
A few minutes later, Gatomon walked away, muttering to herself, as she left behind a pile of unconscious Gotsumons.
"That'll show them not to laugh at me," she said. "Especially when they think I'm at the same level as them."
"Excuse me," a tiny voice squeaked from beside her.
Gatomon was broken out of her fit of rage as she realized that someone was talking to her.
She turned to her right, and saw a tiny Digimon, probably an In-Training at most. Unlike most, he wasn't just a bouncing, talking ball of fluff, but he had actually had a torso, arms, and legs.
Gatomon blinked. "What are you?"
"I'm a Demiveemon," the blue thing said.
"Never heard of those before," Gatomon said.
"I know," he said sadly. "I get that a lot. I don't think I've ever seen anybody that remote looks like me."
Even though most Digimon at his level oozed cuteness, Gatomon's heart still went out to this lost little creature.
"Well, what do you want?" she asked.
"Well," he said, perking up again, "its just that you seemed nicer to than most-"
Gatomon held up her paw again, and extended her claws. "Make another comment like that, and you'll wish you had never been born."
Demiveemon blinked. "What'd I say?"
Gatomon stared at the innocent little thing and realized that she had taken his words in completely the wrong way.
"Sorry," she apologized. "I'm still a little pissed over that last incident."
"It's okay," Demiveemon said, shrugging away the sudden aggression. "Anyway, I was just wondering if you've ever heard of a Davis?"
"A what?" Gatomon asked. "I've never heard of a Davismon either."
"No, not Davismon, a Davis," Demiveemon corrected. "I don't think he's a Digimon at least."
"What, you're looking for a human?" Gatomon scoffed. "I don't think anyone even believes that they exist."
"Well, when I woke up, this man told me that the one I was waiting for was Davis, and-"
"Alright, enough of the jokes," Gatomon said, holding her claws threateningly. "If there is one thing I hate more than Digimon looking for someone to pick up, it's a Digimon that is patronizing someone, specifically me, and that is making fun of me."
But the innocent Demiveemon still didn't get the threat. "Really! I'm still waiting for someone, but then the man left, muttering about feeding salt crackers to fishes, and I started walking in this direction."
"Oh, and I'm sure you know exactly where to go where to wait for your 'someone'?" Gatomon asked sarcastically.
"Yep," he answered. "I know I have to go that way," and he pointed towards the nearby ocean.
Gatomon stared, her jaw falling open. Recovering, she snapped "Hey! How'd you guess I wanted to go that direction? I never told anybody exactly which way exactly I wanted to go!"
Demiveemon didn't notice Gatomon's shock. "Wow! You're heading that way too? Then we can go together!"
"Hold on, shorty," she said. "I don't know how I'll cross the ocean, but I don't need a little In-Training slowing me down."
"I promise I won't hold you back!" he promised earnestly. "Just wait till I digivolve! Someday. Maybe after I find Davis."
Gatomon stared at him dubiously for a moment, and then brought her tail, and the attached ring around.
She wasn't a holy Digimon (at least she didn't think she was), but her Tail Ring had been known to have. strange properties. When she concentrated, and she stared at a Digimon's reflection in it at the same time, sometimes she could see their upper forms.
When she had tried it on herself once, she was startled to sometimes see an angel, sometimes a pink dragon, and sometimes a warrior angelic woman.
She brought the Ring up to the light, and she could see Demiveemon's wide eyes reflected in it.
Her eyes glowed, just like when she used her Hypnosis attack, and then for a moment she just froze.
After she a moment, she jumped up, nearly scared, when she had seen a golden armored warrior, a hovering black dragon, a humanoid version of that dragon, and then a shining, well, paladin was the only word that could describe that final form.
She knew that it would take years before he could come anywhere near those Digimon she had seen, but she knew that it was always good to help Digimon with lots of potential. It meant later on, she could call in favors.
"Alright fine," she agreed, "you can come with me," and at this, Demiveemon cheered.
Another idea suddenly struck Gatomon. "Oh yeah, if any Digimon asks if I want to be their girlfriend, then I'll say you're my future boyfriend, and I want you to agree, okay?"
"Okay!" Demiveemon instantly agreed, still too happy to really care what Gatomon dictated. He just knew that he was one step closer to Davis.
"I hope I don't regret this," Gatomon muttered to herself, watching Demiveemon doing somersaults at having a new traveling partner.
***
"Did you regret it?" Kari asked the cat Digimon as they continued walking.
Gatomon snapped out of her memories. "Well, most of the time not. Its just that Demiveemon actually started to like me that way, but it provides good entertainment, and he knows that I probably won't start looking for anyone, so he thinks he still has a chance."
"Does he?" Kari questioned softly so that no one else heard.
Gatomon shrugged uncomfortably. "Maybe. I'm still deciding. It depends on if he grows up sometime."
She frowned. "And I'm still not sure what he'll digivolve into. I know that I could've seen his possible Mega forms, but four of them?! Well, maybe two, cause three of them resembled each other. But still, he'll be extremely powerful.
"But he has been a good friend, and if it weren't for him, I don't think I would've been able to cross the Net Ocean," she continued, "and sometimes, I think he might be something to me, but. someday."
Kari looked at her friend. "Mind telling me how that story?"
"Someday," Gatomon said, smiling mysteriously at her.
They both shared a laugh at that, and Gatomon realized how few times she had laughed before meeting Kari. The only one who had managed to keep her marginally happy was.
"Hey, we found something!" Ken shouted from where he and Davis had been exploring.
Gatomon lost her train of thought at the sudden interruption, but she reminded herself to get back to it sometime soon.
Digimon and partner ran forward.
***
"What is it?" Davis asked, walking around, and knocking on it at random points.
"Its seems to be some sort of robot, or android," Ken theorized, as he also examined the Digimon they had found. "But he seems to be completely inert now."
"Well, maybe its better if we don't wake him up," Michael said slightly nervously. "Usually in the movies, these things turn out to be killer robots or something like that."
"Don't worry, I'm sure he'll be nice, just like most of the other Digimon we've met," Kari said.
"But the question remains, should we wake him up somehow, and how do we do it?" Ken asked.
Davis and Veemon both raised their fists at the same time, but Kari and Gatomon quickly said "No!" loudly, and Davis and Veemon lowered their fists, disappointed.
The question became moot a moment later when they heard a distant voice shout "Super Shocker!" and a small bit of electricity flew out from somewhere, and struck the robot, though it didn't seem to harm it.
But it sure did seem to wake him up as it opened its eyes, which were definitely glowing red.
"Uh oh," Ken said. "The last time we saw red glowing eyes, a Black Gear was controlling the Digimon."
"But this guy is all gears and screws!" Davis said as he slowly backed away, and also positioned himself in front of Kari.
"Then we have a really big problem," Michael said. "I don't think there's enough room for Seadramon, or X-Veemon in here."
"Andromon online," the android said aloud. "Intruders detected. Intruders must be terminated."
"You guys go, I'll hold him off," Davis said as he stepped towards the dangerous robot with Veemon.
"Yeah, we can handle this big tin can!" Veemon said.
"But Veemon, he's a Ultimate!" Gatomon shouted.
Veemon paled. "Uh oh."
"We'll figure something out," Davis said grimly. "Digi-Armor Energize!"
Veemon leapt into the air, as the Digimental of Courage flew out of Davis' D-Terminal, and flew towards Veemon.
"Veemon armor digivolve to. Flamedramon! The Fire of Courage!"
"Go!" He shouted to the others. "We'll hold him back!"
"But you can't do it alone!" Ken protested.
"Go!" Davis and Flamedramon shouted again, as Andromon said in a monotone "Target locked. Gatling attack!"
His chest plate opened, and two missiles flew out.
"Fire Rocket!" Flamedramon retaliated as he shot fireballs from his gauntlets.
The fireballs and missiles collided, creating a giant explosion that rocked the entire factory.
***
"Yolei, did you hear that?" Cody asked as their group walked through the factory.
"Not now, Cody," Yolei said as she stared at her laptop. "That wall back there said that there were 2 Digimentals hidden in here, and it gave directions. I figure that if its just like with Davis' Digimental, then it should belong to one of us."
After a few more moments, they arrived at a room, where there was a pedestal with two Digimentals resting on it.
One was silver, with a red mark, and two wings sprouting from the side. The other was yellow, with a purple circular symbol on it. Under each was more binary characters.
Yolei held up her laptop, and the translation for both popped up. "The silver one is the Digimental of Love, and the yellow one is the Digimental of Knowledge."
Hawkmon and Armadillomon cheered. "Yes, Ms. Yolei, I was once told that I was compatible with the Digimental of Love, and my associate here can use the Digimental of Knowledge. But to activate them, you must think of that particular trait."
"Me?!" Yolei asked incredulously. "Love, but-"
A familiar voice screamed in another part of the factory, followed by more explosions.
"Ken!" Yolei shouted as she heard him shout. "I've got to help him! But how-"
She was interrupted as the Digimental of Love rose up off the pedestal and floated to her. Yolei smiled. "Yes! That was easy. Ready Hawkmon? Digi- Armor Energize!"
"Hawkmon armor digivolve to. Halsemon! The Wings of Love!"
"Cool," Yolei said as she saw the four legged Halsemon. "You're much smaller than Aquillamon, so you should be able to maneuver easily in here."
"I'm ready, Cody," Armadillomon said, confident that his partner would be able to summon his Digimental quickly.
Cody nodded, and tried to think of himself and knowledge. He knew that he sometimes judged people too quickly, but he had promised himself that he would know all the facts before jumping to conclusions. He remembered another friend that had suffered because of that.
Cody broke out of his trance when the yellow egg like shape landed in his arms.
"Ready to join the party, Armadillomon? Digi-Armor Energize!"
"Armadillomon armor-digivolve to. Digmon! The Drill of Knowledge!"
Armadillomon was now an insect-like creature, with drills for a nose, and his hands also.
"Halsemon, you take the high road, and I'll take the low road," he said as he turned to one wall, and started drilling right through the wall, in the most direct path to the battle.
Yolei and Cody smiled at each other over their personal victories, while TK and Catherine wait quietly for them. Neither had Digimon that could digivolve yet, but they were willing and able to help.
"Let's go!"
***
"Fire Rocket!"
Flamedramon was valiantly trying to delay Andromon, but the Ultimate Digimon was proving to just be too much for one Armor Digimon to handle.
"We've got to get out of the factory!" Michael shouted as they raced through the rooms.
"I know, but do you see any exit signs around here?!" Davis shouted back as they raced through another room. "Seadramon is too large to really fight well in here, and I don't think Veemon has enough time to shift forms!"
"Wait, I've got an idea!" Ken shouted as he saw an unmanned crane in the room they had just entered. He jumped into the driver's seat, and started it up.
"Good thing I took those extra engineering courses," Ken said as he swung the crane towards the entrance where they had come through.
A moment later, Flamedramon was sent hurtling through the door and crashed into a wall.
"Flamedramon!" Davis shouted as he ran to help his Digimon.
Flamedramon grunted as he slowly got up, with Davis' help. "This guy is like a walking mountain," he said. "But I can hold him. I think."
"Let me help!" Ken shouted as he worked the levers on the crane, just as Andromon entered the room.
"Target locked," the robot and his missile plate opened once again.
"On no you don't!" Ken said as he moved the crane so that the hook hooked onto Andromon's back and hoisted the Digimon up.
"Got him!" he said as the others cheered.
Their happiness was short-lived however as Andromon's hand started spinning, and he shouted "Lightning Blade!" and he threw a curved blade of electricity at the crane.
The spinning blade cut through the cable holding him, and he dropped back to the scaffolding.
Davis yelped. "Scramble!"
The chase continued as the children and Digimon frantically made their way towards the roof of the building, but once they reached the open air, they realized that they had no way off.
"Where did Andromon go?" Kari asked as they panted from the long run.
Davis, who of course still had energy, was looking around warily. "I think we lost him, but I still got a bad feeling about this."
"Betamon, do you think you can digivolve?" Michael asked.
"Sure, as soon as I catch my breath," the water Digimon said, panting.
They heard a noise from the stairwell and whirled around, but saw it wasn't Andromon, but was instead TK and Catherine.
"Guys, what's going on?" TK shouted as they made their out.
"We've got this killer robot chasing us!" Davis shouted. "And he's an Ultimate! Anyway, he's too much for Flamedramon alone, we need more Digimon!"
"Where are Yolei and Cody?" Kari asked, looking around for the last members of their group.
"Zhey found zheir Digimentals, and are on zheir new Digimon and on the way up," Catherine explained.
"That's great!" Ken said. "With three Armor Digimon, we should stand a chance. But what I'm really worried about is where is Andromon?"
Ken's question was answered as the ground they were on starting shaking, and then Andromon emerged from the ground, roaring.
"Help!" Catherine shouted as she nearly fell through one of the new holes, but TK and Michael quickly grabbed her arms.
"I've got you!!" they both said, and glanced at each other for a moment, but then pulled the pretty French girl up.
"Intruders located," Andromon said he marched forward towards the group, but then the ground started shaking again, and then Andromon fell through a new hole that had appeared before him.
"That should hold him," Digmon said as he jumped up with Cody on his back. "I'd say he went down about four levels, and I would like to see that tin can walk away from that."
Unfortunately, a few moments later, Andromon leaped back up through the hole also.
"Well, if that didn't work, then try this on for size, Gold Rush!" Digmon shouted as he fired all his drills at Andromon, but they all bounced off of Andromon's armor.
Digmon paled. "Uh, that little tin can remark, that was just a joke, right?"
"Target acquired," Andromon said. "Lightning Blade!"
But before he could fire his attack, another attack from the air knocked him back. "Eagle Eye!"
Andromon's attack was canceled out, but otherwise he was unharmed.
"Anybody call for help?" Yolei yelled from on her Digimon.
"Yolei, we need your laptop!" Ken called. "I think he's under the control the control of a Black Gear, so it would be best if we freed him, otherwise, I think he'll overwhelm us!"
"Got it!" Yolei answered as Halsemon landed for a moment, long enough for Yolei to get off.
Yolei took her laptop off her back, and plugged her D-3 in.
"Scanning," she said as she searched for the Black Gear. "Found it! Its in the lower right leg!"
"The question is how to get to it!" Ken said, as he watched the battle.
The smaller Armor Digimon were keeping Andromon's attention on them, and were able to dodge his attacks, but they couldn't really harm him, or get in close enough to attack him.
Ken hadn't realized how close he gotten to the battle, but Andromon had, and he focused on Ken long enough to launch another of his Lightning Blade attacks.
"Ken, no!" Wormmon shouted as he jumped in front of the attack.
"Wormmon, don't!" Ken tried to warn his Digimon, but then his black D-3 erupted with pink light.
"Wormmon digivolve to. Stingmon!"
Wormmon's form had shifted to that of a wasp-light creature, with pink energy blades on both arms.
"Whoa," Ken said, amazed at his new Digimon.
"Spiking Strike!" Stingmon shouted as he deflected Andromon's attack with both of his own blades.
Ken quickly put his tactical mind back on the battle and formulated a plan.
"Halsemon, you focus on keeping his arms occupied!" Ken ordered. "Digmon, aim your drills for his eyes! Try to keep him from seeing anything, even temporarily! Flamedramon, make sure he doesn't fire any more missiles!"
The Armor Digimon paused for a moment, to confirm the orders with their own partners, but they all nodded.
"Listen to him!" Davis shouted. "He's been able to make strategies that trashed most of the Japanese soccer teams!"
"Including yours," Yolei added.
Davis scowled. "Hey! My team managed to win one or two games!"
The Armor Digimon leapt forward with the new plan, and Andromon had to rush to keep up an effective defense. With Digmon's drills constantly swarming his face, he couldn't see anything more than a few feet away, and Halsemon made sure to neutralize any of his energy attacks. The one time he tried to fire his missiles, Flamedramon caused them to explode prematurely, while they were still in the launchers, doing the first real damage to Andromon.
"Stingmon, wait for an opening," Ken ordered. "When you can, I want you to dive for that sparking leg of his. Hopefully, that'll destroy the Black Gear."
Stingmon nodded, and hovered in the air as the Armor Digimon continued waging a fierce battle with the powerful Andromon.
As Andromon's arms flew to block all the different attacks, Stingmon saw that his arms were blocking less and less lower attacks, but he was also starting to score hits on the Armor Digimon.
In an amazing show of agility, Andromon jumped into the air, temporarily away from his foes, and before the Armor Digimon could recover, he was already heading for the children.
"Not on my watch!" Stingmon shouted as he flew towards Andromon. "Spinning, Spiking Strike!"
Stingmon started kicking rapidly, and though Andromon managed to block all of the kicks, Stingmon did force him away from the vulnerable children.
"You are an intruder, you will be terminated," Andromon said as his right arm began spinning again. "Lightning Blade!"
"Spiking Strike!" Stingmon fought back as he extended blades from both of his wrists, and blocked Andromon's downward swing.
The Champion and Ultimate dueled for a moment, with Stingmon straining against the one blade, when relief came in the form of several powerful attacks from the Armor Digimon.
The dangerous game resumed, as the Armor Digimon attacked a slowing Andromon, and Stingmon waiting on the sidelines.
Finally, Stingmon saw his chance, and he dove forward. "Spiking Strike!"
The Armor Digimon made sure to blind Andromon with all of their attacks at the same moment, and then Stingmon's blade made contact with Andromon's flesh leg, and drove deep in.
Andromon roared in pain, but at the same time a Black Gear emerged from the leg, and immediately disintergrated.
Stingmon backed off, as did all the other Armor Digimon, waiting to see if Andromon was now a changed Digimon.
Andromon blinked his eyes once, then twice, and he seemed to scan the group.
"Who are you?" he finally asked. "And how did I get out here?"
Everybody sighed in relief, as did all the Digimon as they all glowed, and dedigivolved to their lower forms, with the Digimental Armors flying back to their owners.
***
Hovering above them, a purple bug Digimon, holding a communicator, watched as the kids told Andromon what had happened.
"Devimon is not going to be happy with this," Tentomon spoke into the communicator, "but then again, when was he ever happy with anything we did?"
"Never really," answered another voice. "I was wondering if you would have to wake Andromon up. I thought one of them would've tried to use the Tai Kamiya solution."
"One of them did," Tentomon reported, "but I think his girlfriend stopped him, so I just gave Andromon a little shock to jump-start him. I don't think anybody saw me."
"You better be sure," the voice said. "Also, when did those Digimentals get there?"
"I have no idea," Tentomon said. "I thought I knew that factory inside and out, especially without Andromon even knowing I was there, but I was inside that room just yesterday, and it was empty."
"Which means that we're not the only ones who are watching those new kids," the voice said. "And we know the only other person in the Digiworld who can come and go almost anywhere, and has the power to not fear anybody, either."
"Yep," Tentomon said. "From some of the conversations I've overheard, I'd say at least one or two of them woke up with him right there, and that he gave them a general direction to go in. Spoiled little new Digimon. When I was their age, I never had that much help-"
"That's enough Tentomon," the voice said. "Your shift is over now, so you can just go back to that broken twig that you call a house."
"Its a tree house!" Tentomon shouted back into the communicator. "You remember that next time you need help with your microwave!"
The testy Tentomon then flew off back to his tree house.
***
"I apologize for my attack on you," Andromon said as he led them through the factory again, this time at a much leisurely pace. While most of them enjoyed the slow walk, Davis was still jumping up and down with excess energy.
"I have heard of the Black Gears, and a long time ago, I was infected with one, but thanks to another Digimon, I was freed from it, and I took several precautions to prevent it from happening again," he told them. "Obviously, those safeguards are no longer effective, so I must upgrade my security again."
"Andromon, have you ever heard of any sort of Dimensional Gate or something?" Ken asked.
Andromon shook his head. "I am sorry, but I haven't."
They arrived at the bottom level of the factory, and saw a small gate leading underground.
"This tunnel leads to the sewers," Andromon said. "After you walk a little ways, you should be able to emerge above ground again outside the factory. I believe Toy Town should be located near the entrance, but I do not know how Monzaemon will react to your coming. All I can do is wish you good luck, and perhaps give you this."
Andromon held out a small package. "This is a self-recharging battery. It should be compatible with your computer, and help you in your travels."
Yolei and the others gratefully accepted the gift, and then they again set off, on their quest to figure out some way to get home.
***
Yolei tapped irritably at her computer as she tried to install the new battery.
"Come on, work," she muttered as she tried another command.
"Here, this always works!" Davis said confidently and whacked the laptop.
Surprisingly, after the last hit from Davis, the computer displayed an "Installation complete" message.
Yolei stared. "That actually worked?"
Davis beamed. "See?" he said. "I knew that that technique I learned from Tai would work!"
Yolei calmly set down her computer, and then walked over to Davis and then whacked him in the head.
"That reminds me," she said, "though it worked, I cannot allow the integrity of my computer to be smeared. As such, you must die! And I've been riding on Halsemon, so I'm all rested, while you're still tired from the Andromon chase, so you'll never be able to escape my wrath!"
"Says who?" Davis said, smirking at her, and then raced off at full speed.
Yolei gaped for a moment, and then started shrieking. "Hey! How come you still have all that energy?! You have no right to have all that energy! Come back here so I can clobber you!!"
Yolei ran off, but Davis already had quite a head start.
TK just shook his head at the vengeful chase. "Think she'll catch him?"
Kari also shook her head. "Not a chance."
To be continued.
Finally, another part on my first fanfic! I apologize for the lack of work on this, but I've been struck by Tamers inspiration.
As it is now the summer, hopefully, my writing pace overall will greatly increase!! Though reviews always help my imagination.
Stingmon's Spiking Strike!
"Can we stop yet?" pleaded Yolei as the group continued to march through the desert.
The Yokomon had said that there was a factory in this direction, and though they didn't have a clue what it did, it was still the first sign they had heard of advanced technology, so they decided to head there next.
"Oh come on, I'm sure we'll get to that factory sometime soon," Davis said encouragingly. Davis' boundless enthusiasm always managed to keep him cheerful, even at times like these.
Ken looked around at the group. Most of them were panting, aside from himself, TK, Davis, and Cody. Ken knew TK played basketball, and Cody kendo. But everybody else was already heaving from the heat.
"Maybe we should take a break, Davis," Ken said.
Davis scowled for a moment, wondering what was wrong with trekking through a really hot desert, in a strange place, with a bunch of power lines surrounding them.
Davis ran that thought through his head again, and then decided that maybe it would be a good idea to rest for a moment.
"Okay, rest stop!" he shouted, and most of the group happily sat down.
Yolei took out her laptop again, but frowned when only static appeared on the screen. "Ah man, my laptop is down again."
Davis, hearing that, immediately rushed over. "Here, let me help. All you've got to do is give it a couple of subtle adjustments," Davis said confidently as he whacked the laptop repeatedly.
Yolei screamed in terror and yanked the precious machine back, and then growled menacingly at Davis. "Do that again, and you'll wish that you had never gone to summer camp!"
"Don't all of us wish that," moaned Michael.
"But then we wouldn't have met and become friends," said Betamon, who was sweating slightly in the hot climate. Michael smiled down at his partner. "Well, I guess that is one good thing about going to summer camp."
Catherine sat down next to Michael. "You know, Michael, why did you come to summer camp anyway?" she asked in English.
Michael was slightly surprised at the way she phrased the question but decided that there wasn't anything to do.
"Well, I wanted to take a vacation from my father, and he was shooti- busy with another project of his, so I was alone at the house back in New York. We don't talk much anymore, except for when he has some free time between projects."
"What are zese projects?" Catherine asked, curious.
Michael stiffened for a moment. "Uh, he just likes to travel, that's all. And since we're on the subject, why did a nice French girl like you go to Japan, and then go to a summer camp there?"
Now it was Catherine's turn to look embarrassed. "Well, I've never really had many friends," she said slowly at first. "I've been home schooled for most of my life, and only recently went into a private school. But I've never really made many friends, cause they didn't like me for my status."
"Status?" asked Michael.
"My family isn't very popular," Catherine said, and her tone said drop it so Michael didn't ask. "So, when I heard of a chance to travel to Japan, to get away from it all, I jumped at it."
Michael was about to ask more questions, when Davis jumped in front of them. "Hey guys, how its going?"
Both foreign children started, and instinctively jumped away from each other a bit. "Uh, hope I didn't interrupt anything," said Davis, sweatdropping a bit at the glares he was receiving.
Davis looked up and saw an even bigger threat. "Uh oh, gotta run," he said and then dashed off, seeming to have limitless energy.
A few seconds later Yolei arrived, panting. "Which. way. did. Davis. go?" she growled out while still trying to catch her breath.
Both pointed to the tree Davis was hiding behind.
Davis yelped and continued running when he realized his secret hiding place was no long so secret.
Yolei growled again. "How much energy does that boy have? No matter, I'll catch him eventually, and then I'll beat him up, just like he beat up my poor laptop."
Yolei then ran off again after the still energetic goggle-boy.
"Do you zhink zat Yolei will actually catch Davis?" asked Catherine.
Michael shook his head. "I doubt it. Davis never seems to run out of energy.
***
While Yolei was still pursuing Davis, intending to decapitate him for harming her computer, Ken was actually evaluating the computer instead of working on vengeance.
Ken was slightly surprised when the computer actually booted up.
"Hey Yolei," he called to the purple-haired girl. She stopped, half because Ken called her, and half because the last hundred laps around their campsite had exhausted her, while Davis still looked like he could do another hundred. Obviously, he had been doing those extra laps in PE.
Yolei hobbled over, with Cody helping her, as she approached Ken and her computer. Ken gently handed it over, and Yolei opened the screen.
She brightened up when her screen saver, various pictures of Ken from the newspapers showed up.
"Yolei, is your computer okay?" asked Ken as he crossed behind her to look at the screensaver. Yolei yelped, and quickly clicked her mouse, to make the screensaver disappear.
"Uh yeah, its fine," she said. "You're a genius, Ken! You got it to boot up in no time!"
Ken shook his head. "But I didn't do anything." Wonder if Davis whacking it helped somehow? Nah.
"Stupid Davis," Yolei muttered as she checked that all her programs were still intact. "He hangs around Tai Kamiya way too much, I heard from Izzy that Tai does the same thing to his computer all the time."
Ken sweatdropped at Yolei's mumbling, but figured that it was just typical for the relationship between the two.
Yolei groaned when she checked the power supply. "Man, if I don't find a plug sometime soon, my laptop is going to go poof."
"Hey, is that a factory?" TK asked as he gazed out into the desert.
Everybody jumped up when he said that, and squinted to see through the desert hot air, and saw that indeed there was a large metal building.
"Hey, maybe they'll have a working phone!" Davis shouted. "Come on, lets go!"
With that, he again dashed off.
Everybody again sweatdropped as it seemed Yolei's chase hadn't sapped any energy from the goggle boy, and they all wearily followed him.
***
"This place is huge," Cody said as he gazed up at the distant ceiling.
They had managed to find a way into the factory, and had found it going at full pace, making tons of things, though none of them had a clue what for.
"This is great!" Yolei said. "I'm sure I can recharge my laptop here! They might even have a self-charging battery around here."
"Wonder if anybody is here?" TK asked as he cautiously walked around. "After our last couple of encounters, I'm almost expecting something to happen."
"Maybe we should split up, so we can cover more ground," Michael said.
"Alright then," Davis said. "Me, Kari, Ken, and Micheal can go this way, and everybody else can go that way, okay?"
Nobody could find anything wrong with Davis' plan, so they all started walking again.
***
"Found it!" Yolei cried happily as she found a plug, and plugged in her laptop. The laptop beeped to show that it was restoring power once again.
"Hey Yolei," Cody called from another room, "can you tell me what any of this means?"
Yolei rushed in, and gasped as she saw a giant circular room, every inch of it covered with strange symbols.
"Maybe my computer's translator can figure something out," Yolei said as she left to drag her laptop there.
***
"This is definitely strange," TK said as he and Catherine inspected the assembly lines.
"What iz even more strange," Catherine added, walking with him, "iz zat it makes the zhings, and then takes zhem apart again."
Catherine was correct, as the metal arms attached devices to a base, and then a few feet away, different arms detached the devices.
"TK," she said as they continued walking through the factory, "why are you always so cold?" she asked.
"What do you mean?" TK asked her.
"Well, most of the time, like when you're around me, or Yolei, you're always seem so, happy," she said. "But when you're around Davis, or when you get mad, its almost like you're a different person."
"Catherine, I'm not always like that," TK protested.
"Its just that you sometimes seem a little too much like your brother, Matt," Catherine said, shivering for a moment. "I've met him once or twice, but he's always frightened me with that cold glare of his."
"I know what you mean," TK agreed, "but he is a good brother and friend, even if we only see each other every now and then. But he does tend to be a bit of loner."
"Yeah, but you almost act exactly like he does towards Tai Kamiya, towards Davis."
"Catherine, I'm sorry if I scare you at times," TK said as he took her by the shoulders and stared at her. "But its just the way I am. I've always looked up to Matt, and my dad, and with my mom away so much of the time, they were my main role models.
"I know that," Catherine sighed, "its why I fell for you, you were always so cold, but I knew that you were a good person underneath, and that I just had to find it."
"Even though you're just about the only person who is ever able to make me feel like that," TK agreed.
"But please, we're stranded here for who knows how long," she continued, "please try to behave civilly towards everyone, even Davis. I know that he tends to get on your nerves sometimes, and is a jerk at times, but he is still mostly nice."
"True, it just takes a kind word from Kari, and he's Mr. Wonderful," TK mumbled, thinking of Kari. Catherine was right, he did tend to be cold at times, but that was because he had always listened to Matt. But he had always regretted his behavior towards one person because of his brother.
***
"I wonder how old this place is," Cody wondered aloud as he reached for the wall. His hand brushed some of the characters.
Even though it was only a light touch, it was still enough to erase part of one glyph, and with that one change, the plant suddenly shut down.
"What happened?!" Yolei asked as she rushed back inside with her computer.
"I don't know," Cody said, slightly panicked, "all I did was wipe some of the writing off, and then, I don't know, it turned everything off!"
Yolei thought for a moment, and then brightened as she pulled out a marker.
"Do you think you can rewrite exactly what you erased?" she asked.
Cody nodded, and Yolei handed him the marker, and he walked over to the wall, and carefully wrote what he remembered as the original design.
Instantly, the plant started again, working in the same haphazard manner as before.
Cody wiped his forehead in relief. "Glad that's over with," he said.
Yolei, meanwhile, was taking pictures of the characters with a digital camera she had borrowed from Kari. "I think that this is some form of binary, a data language. But what is amazing is that you changed the data here, and it affected this whole place!"
"What does that mean, exactly?" Cody asked.
"It means that this entire world could be like a giant computer!" she said excitedly. "When you changed the programming on the wall, you changed our surroundings! Izzy told of his theories once on a Digital World, but I thought they were ridiculous until now! Maybe these binary codes will tell us of a way to get home!"
"Then what are you waiting for?!" Cody shouted uncharacteristically. "Start translating so we can get home!"
Yolei stared at him for a moment, and then started imputing the photos she had taken with Kari's camera.
Don't worry, Mom, Cody thought, I won't leave you like Dad did.
***
"I still can't believe that you can actually digivolve into two different Digimon," Davis said to Veemon, as they walked through another area of the factory.
"Well, most of the time Digimon just digivolve to one thing, like when I digivolve to X-Veemon," Veemon explained, "but when you use the Digimental of Courage, you help me to armor digivolve to Flamedramon instead."
"So with a different armor, you could digivolve into something else?" Davis asked, his eyes shining.
"Yep," Veemon agreed, his eyes just as shiny.
Before they could get lost in their daydreams of an "Ultra-cool-mon" armor Digimental lying around, Kari and Gatomon tapped both of them on their shoulders.
"Come on guys," she reminded them, "remember why we're here."
"Uh, to look for ice cream," Davis answered lamely.
Kari couldn't help but chuckle, but then whacked Davis in the head lightly. "No, to find a way home."
"Oh yeah," Davis said.
"Boys," Kari grumbled to herself.
"Yep," Gatomon agreed.
"How'd you hear that?" Kari asked looking at her partner.
"Good ears," Gatomon said, tapping her ears. "Believe me, I know the feeling. When I was traveling around, I had to avoid all the male Digimon looking for a girlfriend. Demiveemon just happened to be the nicest one I met, so I traveled around with him as an excuse to not date any of the others."
"How'd he take it?" Kari asked, looking at the exuberant dragon Digimon, who was currently dashing ahead with his equally exuberant human partner.
"Well, actually, I sorta gave him the idea," Gatomon said. "You see, I was born. elsewhere, and I didn't have a very good childhood. After several. complications, I traveled around, having a feeling that I was looking for someone."
"Me?"
"Yeah, I knew you would come, eventually. I also knew I had to get to somewhere to meet you. When I asked most of the other Digimon I met, most laughed outright, except for one. but still, none of them knew how to help me. But then I met this cute little blue thing."
***
"Hello, have any of you ever had a feeling that you had to go somewhere, that you were waiting for someone?" she asked yet another group of Digimon.
"Well, my waiting is finally over," one of the Gotsumons had replied, and smiled alluringly at her.
"No, seriously, as if you feel as if you have a destiny somewhere," Gatomon insisted, ignoring the last comment.
"Destiny?" they all asked, and then roared with laugher. "Sister, the only destiny around here is trying to stay alive," another Gotsumon answered. "Is something wrong in that cute little head of yours, puss in gloves?"
Gatomon growled, and then raised one gloved paw. "Never. ever. call. me. that!" she ground out.
"What are you going to do about it, puss in gloves?" another asked as they started laughing again.
"This. Lightning Claw!"
A few minutes later, Gatomon walked away, muttering to herself, as she left behind a pile of unconscious Gotsumons.
"That'll show them not to laugh at me," she said. "Especially when they think I'm at the same level as them."
"Excuse me," a tiny voice squeaked from beside her.
Gatomon was broken out of her fit of rage as she realized that someone was talking to her.
She turned to her right, and saw a tiny Digimon, probably an In-Training at most. Unlike most, he wasn't just a bouncing, talking ball of fluff, but he had actually had a torso, arms, and legs.
Gatomon blinked. "What are you?"
"I'm a Demiveemon," the blue thing said.
"Never heard of those before," Gatomon said.
"I know," he said sadly. "I get that a lot. I don't think I've ever seen anybody that remote looks like me."
Even though most Digimon at his level oozed cuteness, Gatomon's heart still went out to this lost little creature.
"Well, what do you want?" she asked.
"Well," he said, perking up again, "its just that you seemed nicer to than most-"
Gatomon held up her paw again, and extended her claws. "Make another comment like that, and you'll wish you had never been born."
Demiveemon blinked. "What'd I say?"
Gatomon stared at the innocent little thing and realized that she had taken his words in completely the wrong way.
"Sorry," she apologized. "I'm still a little pissed over that last incident."
"It's okay," Demiveemon said, shrugging away the sudden aggression. "Anyway, I was just wondering if you've ever heard of a Davis?"
"A what?" Gatomon asked. "I've never heard of a Davismon either."
"No, not Davismon, a Davis," Demiveemon corrected. "I don't think he's a Digimon at least."
"What, you're looking for a human?" Gatomon scoffed. "I don't think anyone even believes that they exist."
"Well, when I woke up, this man told me that the one I was waiting for was Davis, and-"
"Alright, enough of the jokes," Gatomon said, holding her claws threateningly. "If there is one thing I hate more than Digimon looking for someone to pick up, it's a Digimon that is patronizing someone, specifically me, and that is making fun of me."
But the innocent Demiveemon still didn't get the threat. "Really! I'm still waiting for someone, but then the man left, muttering about feeding salt crackers to fishes, and I started walking in this direction."
"Oh, and I'm sure you know exactly where to go where to wait for your 'someone'?" Gatomon asked sarcastically.
"Yep," he answered. "I know I have to go that way," and he pointed towards the nearby ocean.
Gatomon stared, her jaw falling open. Recovering, she snapped "Hey! How'd you guess I wanted to go that direction? I never told anybody exactly which way exactly I wanted to go!"
Demiveemon didn't notice Gatomon's shock. "Wow! You're heading that way too? Then we can go together!"
"Hold on, shorty," she said. "I don't know how I'll cross the ocean, but I don't need a little In-Training slowing me down."
"I promise I won't hold you back!" he promised earnestly. "Just wait till I digivolve! Someday. Maybe after I find Davis."
Gatomon stared at him dubiously for a moment, and then brought her tail, and the attached ring around.
She wasn't a holy Digimon (at least she didn't think she was), but her Tail Ring had been known to have. strange properties. When she concentrated, and she stared at a Digimon's reflection in it at the same time, sometimes she could see their upper forms.
When she had tried it on herself once, she was startled to sometimes see an angel, sometimes a pink dragon, and sometimes a warrior angelic woman.
She brought the Ring up to the light, and she could see Demiveemon's wide eyes reflected in it.
Her eyes glowed, just like when she used her Hypnosis attack, and then for a moment she just froze.
After she a moment, she jumped up, nearly scared, when she had seen a golden armored warrior, a hovering black dragon, a humanoid version of that dragon, and then a shining, well, paladin was the only word that could describe that final form.
She knew that it would take years before he could come anywhere near those Digimon she had seen, but she knew that it was always good to help Digimon with lots of potential. It meant later on, she could call in favors.
"Alright fine," she agreed, "you can come with me," and at this, Demiveemon cheered.
Another idea suddenly struck Gatomon. "Oh yeah, if any Digimon asks if I want to be their girlfriend, then I'll say you're my future boyfriend, and I want you to agree, okay?"
"Okay!" Demiveemon instantly agreed, still too happy to really care what Gatomon dictated. He just knew that he was one step closer to Davis.
"I hope I don't regret this," Gatomon muttered to herself, watching Demiveemon doing somersaults at having a new traveling partner.
***
"Did you regret it?" Kari asked the cat Digimon as they continued walking.
Gatomon snapped out of her memories. "Well, most of the time not. Its just that Demiveemon actually started to like me that way, but it provides good entertainment, and he knows that I probably won't start looking for anyone, so he thinks he still has a chance."
"Does he?" Kari questioned softly so that no one else heard.
Gatomon shrugged uncomfortably. "Maybe. I'm still deciding. It depends on if he grows up sometime."
She frowned. "And I'm still not sure what he'll digivolve into. I know that I could've seen his possible Mega forms, but four of them?! Well, maybe two, cause three of them resembled each other. But still, he'll be extremely powerful.
"But he has been a good friend, and if it weren't for him, I don't think I would've been able to cross the Net Ocean," she continued, "and sometimes, I think he might be something to me, but. someday."
Kari looked at her friend. "Mind telling me how that story?"
"Someday," Gatomon said, smiling mysteriously at her.
They both shared a laugh at that, and Gatomon realized how few times she had laughed before meeting Kari. The only one who had managed to keep her marginally happy was.
"Hey, we found something!" Ken shouted from where he and Davis had been exploring.
Gatomon lost her train of thought at the sudden interruption, but she reminded herself to get back to it sometime soon.
Digimon and partner ran forward.
***
"What is it?" Davis asked, walking around, and knocking on it at random points.
"Its seems to be some sort of robot, or android," Ken theorized, as he also examined the Digimon they had found. "But he seems to be completely inert now."
"Well, maybe its better if we don't wake him up," Michael said slightly nervously. "Usually in the movies, these things turn out to be killer robots or something like that."
"Don't worry, I'm sure he'll be nice, just like most of the other Digimon we've met," Kari said.
"But the question remains, should we wake him up somehow, and how do we do it?" Ken asked.
Davis and Veemon both raised their fists at the same time, but Kari and Gatomon quickly said "No!" loudly, and Davis and Veemon lowered their fists, disappointed.
The question became moot a moment later when they heard a distant voice shout "Super Shocker!" and a small bit of electricity flew out from somewhere, and struck the robot, though it didn't seem to harm it.
But it sure did seem to wake him up as it opened its eyes, which were definitely glowing red.
"Uh oh," Ken said. "The last time we saw red glowing eyes, a Black Gear was controlling the Digimon."
"But this guy is all gears and screws!" Davis said as he slowly backed away, and also positioned himself in front of Kari.
"Then we have a really big problem," Michael said. "I don't think there's enough room for Seadramon, or X-Veemon in here."
"Andromon online," the android said aloud. "Intruders detected. Intruders must be terminated."
"You guys go, I'll hold him off," Davis said as he stepped towards the dangerous robot with Veemon.
"Yeah, we can handle this big tin can!" Veemon said.
"But Veemon, he's a Ultimate!" Gatomon shouted.
Veemon paled. "Uh oh."
"We'll figure something out," Davis said grimly. "Digi-Armor Energize!"
Veemon leapt into the air, as the Digimental of Courage flew out of Davis' D-Terminal, and flew towards Veemon.
"Veemon armor digivolve to. Flamedramon! The Fire of Courage!"
"Go!" He shouted to the others. "We'll hold him back!"
"But you can't do it alone!" Ken protested.
"Go!" Davis and Flamedramon shouted again, as Andromon said in a monotone "Target locked. Gatling attack!"
His chest plate opened, and two missiles flew out.
"Fire Rocket!" Flamedramon retaliated as he shot fireballs from his gauntlets.
The fireballs and missiles collided, creating a giant explosion that rocked the entire factory.
***
"Yolei, did you hear that?" Cody asked as their group walked through the factory.
"Not now, Cody," Yolei said as she stared at her laptop. "That wall back there said that there were 2 Digimentals hidden in here, and it gave directions. I figure that if its just like with Davis' Digimental, then it should belong to one of us."
After a few more moments, they arrived at a room, where there was a pedestal with two Digimentals resting on it.
One was silver, with a red mark, and two wings sprouting from the side. The other was yellow, with a purple circular symbol on it. Under each was more binary characters.
Yolei held up her laptop, and the translation for both popped up. "The silver one is the Digimental of Love, and the yellow one is the Digimental of Knowledge."
Hawkmon and Armadillomon cheered. "Yes, Ms. Yolei, I was once told that I was compatible with the Digimental of Love, and my associate here can use the Digimental of Knowledge. But to activate them, you must think of that particular trait."
"Me?!" Yolei asked incredulously. "Love, but-"
A familiar voice screamed in another part of the factory, followed by more explosions.
"Ken!" Yolei shouted as she heard him shout. "I've got to help him! But how-"
She was interrupted as the Digimental of Love rose up off the pedestal and floated to her. Yolei smiled. "Yes! That was easy. Ready Hawkmon? Digi- Armor Energize!"
"Hawkmon armor digivolve to. Halsemon! The Wings of Love!"
"Cool," Yolei said as she saw the four legged Halsemon. "You're much smaller than Aquillamon, so you should be able to maneuver easily in here."
"I'm ready, Cody," Armadillomon said, confident that his partner would be able to summon his Digimental quickly.
Cody nodded, and tried to think of himself and knowledge. He knew that he sometimes judged people too quickly, but he had promised himself that he would know all the facts before jumping to conclusions. He remembered another friend that had suffered because of that.
Cody broke out of his trance when the yellow egg like shape landed in his arms.
"Ready to join the party, Armadillomon? Digi-Armor Energize!"
"Armadillomon armor-digivolve to. Digmon! The Drill of Knowledge!"
Armadillomon was now an insect-like creature, with drills for a nose, and his hands also.
"Halsemon, you take the high road, and I'll take the low road," he said as he turned to one wall, and started drilling right through the wall, in the most direct path to the battle.
Yolei and Cody smiled at each other over their personal victories, while TK and Catherine wait quietly for them. Neither had Digimon that could digivolve yet, but they were willing and able to help.
"Let's go!"
***
"Fire Rocket!"
Flamedramon was valiantly trying to delay Andromon, but the Ultimate Digimon was proving to just be too much for one Armor Digimon to handle.
"We've got to get out of the factory!" Michael shouted as they raced through the rooms.
"I know, but do you see any exit signs around here?!" Davis shouted back as they raced through another room. "Seadramon is too large to really fight well in here, and I don't think Veemon has enough time to shift forms!"
"Wait, I've got an idea!" Ken shouted as he saw an unmanned crane in the room they had just entered. He jumped into the driver's seat, and started it up.
"Good thing I took those extra engineering courses," Ken said as he swung the crane towards the entrance where they had come through.
A moment later, Flamedramon was sent hurtling through the door and crashed into a wall.
"Flamedramon!" Davis shouted as he ran to help his Digimon.
Flamedramon grunted as he slowly got up, with Davis' help. "This guy is like a walking mountain," he said. "But I can hold him. I think."
"Let me help!" Ken shouted as he worked the levers on the crane, just as Andromon entered the room.
"Target locked," the robot and his missile plate opened once again.
"On no you don't!" Ken said as he moved the crane so that the hook hooked onto Andromon's back and hoisted the Digimon up.
"Got him!" he said as the others cheered.
Their happiness was short-lived however as Andromon's hand started spinning, and he shouted "Lightning Blade!" and he threw a curved blade of electricity at the crane.
The spinning blade cut through the cable holding him, and he dropped back to the scaffolding.
Davis yelped. "Scramble!"
The chase continued as the children and Digimon frantically made their way towards the roof of the building, but once they reached the open air, they realized that they had no way off.
"Where did Andromon go?" Kari asked as they panted from the long run.
Davis, who of course still had energy, was looking around warily. "I think we lost him, but I still got a bad feeling about this."
"Betamon, do you think you can digivolve?" Michael asked.
"Sure, as soon as I catch my breath," the water Digimon said, panting.
They heard a noise from the stairwell and whirled around, but saw it wasn't Andromon, but was instead TK and Catherine.
"Guys, what's going on?" TK shouted as they made their out.
"We've got this killer robot chasing us!" Davis shouted. "And he's an Ultimate! Anyway, he's too much for Flamedramon alone, we need more Digimon!"
"Where are Yolei and Cody?" Kari asked, looking around for the last members of their group.
"Zhey found zheir Digimentals, and are on zheir new Digimon and on the way up," Catherine explained.
"That's great!" Ken said. "With three Armor Digimon, we should stand a chance. But what I'm really worried about is where is Andromon?"
Ken's question was answered as the ground they were on starting shaking, and then Andromon emerged from the ground, roaring.
"Help!" Catherine shouted as she nearly fell through one of the new holes, but TK and Michael quickly grabbed her arms.
"I've got you!!" they both said, and glanced at each other for a moment, but then pulled the pretty French girl up.
"Intruders located," Andromon said he marched forward towards the group, but then the ground started shaking again, and then Andromon fell through a new hole that had appeared before him.
"That should hold him," Digmon said as he jumped up with Cody on his back. "I'd say he went down about four levels, and I would like to see that tin can walk away from that."
Unfortunately, a few moments later, Andromon leaped back up through the hole also.
"Well, if that didn't work, then try this on for size, Gold Rush!" Digmon shouted as he fired all his drills at Andromon, but they all bounced off of Andromon's armor.
Digmon paled. "Uh, that little tin can remark, that was just a joke, right?"
"Target acquired," Andromon said. "Lightning Blade!"
But before he could fire his attack, another attack from the air knocked him back. "Eagle Eye!"
Andromon's attack was canceled out, but otherwise he was unharmed.
"Anybody call for help?" Yolei yelled from on her Digimon.
"Yolei, we need your laptop!" Ken called. "I think he's under the control the control of a Black Gear, so it would be best if we freed him, otherwise, I think he'll overwhelm us!"
"Got it!" Yolei answered as Halsemon landed for a moment, long enough for Yolei to get off.
Yolei took her laptop off her back, and plugged her D-3 in.
"Scanning," she said as she searched for the Black Gear. "Found it! Its in the lower right leg!"
"The question is how to get to it!" Ken said, as he watched the battle.
The smaller Armor Digimon were keeping Andromon's attention on them, and were able to dodge his attacks, but they couldn't really harm him, or get in close enough to attack him.
Ken hadn't realized how close he gotten to the battle, but Andromon had, and he focused on Ken long enough to launch another of his Lightning Blade attacks.
"Ken, no!" Wormmon shouted as he jumped in front of the attack.
"Wormmon, don't!" Ken tried to warn his Digimon, but then his black D-3 erupted with pink light.
"Wormmon digivolve to. Stingmon!"
Wormmon's form had shifted to that of a wasp-light creature, with pink energy blades on both arms.
"Whoa," Ken said, amazed at his new Digimon.
"Spiking Strike!" Stingmon shouted as he deflected Andromon's attack with both of his own blades.
Ken quickly put his tactical mind back on the battle and formulated a plan.
"Halsemon, you focus on keeping his arms occupied!" Ken ordered. "Digmon, aim your drills for his eyes! Try to keep him from seeing anything, even temporarily! Flamedramon, make sure he doesn't fire any more missiles!"
The Armor Digimon paused for a moment, to confirm the orders with their own partners, but they all nodded.
"Listen to him!" Davis shouted. "He's been able to make strategies that trashed most of the Japanese soccer teams!"
"Including yours," Yolei added.
Davis scowled. "Hey! My team managed to win one or two games!"
The Armor Digimon leapt forward with the new plan, and Andromon had to rush to keep up an effective defense. With Digmon's drills constantly swarming his face, he couldn't see anything more than a few feet away, and Halsemon made sure to neutralize any of his energy attacks. The one time he tried to fire his missiles, Flamedramon caused them to explode prematurely, while they were still in the launchers, doing the first real damage to Andromon.
"Stingmon, wait for an opening," Ken ordered. "When you can, I want you to dive for that sparking leg of his. Hopefully, that'll destroy the Black Gear."
Stingmon nodded, and hovered in the air as the Armor Digimon continued waging a fierce battle with the powerful Andromon.
As Andromon's arms flew to block all the different attacks, Stingmon saw that his arms were blocking less and less lower attacks, but he was also starting to score hits on the Armor Digimon.
In an amazing show of agility, Andromon jumped into the air, temporarily away from his foes, and before the Armor Digimon could recover, he was already heading for the children.
"Not on my watch!" Stingmon shouted as he flew towards Andromon. "Spinning, Spiking Strike!"
Stingmon started kicking rapidly, and though Andromon managed to block all of the kicks, Stingmon did force him away from the vulnerable children.
"You are an intruder, you will be terminated," Andromon said as his right arm began spinning again. "Lightning Blade!"
"Spiking Strike!" Stingmon fought back as he extended blades from both of his wrists, and blocked Andromon's downward swing.
The Champion and Ultimate dueled for a moment, with Stingmon straining against the one blade, when relief came in the form of several powerful attacks from the Armor Digimon.
The dangerous game resumed, as the Armor Digimon attacked a slowing Andromon, and Stingmon waiting on the sidelines.
Finally, Stingmon saw his chance, and he dove forward. "Spiking Strike!"
The Armor Digimon made sure to blind Andromon with all of their attacks at the same moment, and then Stingmon's blade made contact with Andromon's flesh leg, and drove deep in.
Andromon roared in pain, but at the same time a Black Gear emerged from the leg, and immediately disintergrated.
Stingmon backed off, as did all the other Armor Digimon, waiting to see if Andromon was now a changed Digimon.
Andromon blinked his eyes once, then twice, and he seemed to scan the group.
"Who are you?" he finally asked. "And how did I get out here?"
Everybody sighed in relief, as did all the Digimon as they all glowed, and dedigivolved to their lower forms, with the Digimental Armors flying back to their owners.
***
Hovering above them, a purple bug Digimon, holding a communicator, watched as the kids told Andromon what had happened.
"Devimon is not going to be happy with this," Tentomon spoke into the communicator, "but then again, when was he ever happy with anything we did?"
"Never really," answered another voice. "I was wondering if you would have to wake Andromon up. I thought one of them would've tried to use the Tai Kamiya solution."
"One of them did," Tentomon reported, "but I think his girlfriend stopped him, so I just gave Andromon a little shock to jump-start him. I don't think anybody saw me."
"You better be sure," the voice said. "Also, when did those Digimentals get there?"
"I have no idea," Tentomon said. "I thought I knew that factory inside and out, especially without Andromon even knowing I was there, but I was inside that room just yesterday, and it was empty."
"Which means that we're not the only ones who are watching those new kids," the voice said. "And we know the only other person in the Digiworld who can come and go almost anywhere, and has the power to not fear anybody, either."
"Yep," Tentomon said. "From some of the conversations I've overheard, I'd say at least one or two of them woke up with him right there, and that he gave them a general direction to go in. Spoiled little new Digimon. When I was their age, I never had that much help-"
"That's enough Tentomon," the voice said. "Your shift is over now, so you can just go back to that broken twig that you call a house."
"Its a tree house!" Tentomon shouted back into the communicator. "You remember that next time you need help with your microwave!"
The testy Tentomon then flew off back to his tree house.
***
"I apologize for my attack on you," Andromon said as he led them through the factory again, this time at a much leisurely pace. While most of them enjoyed the slow walk, Davis was still jumping up and down with excess energy.
"I have heard of the Black Gears, and a long time ago, I was infected with one, but thanks to another Digimon, I was freed from it, and I took several precautions to prevent it from happening again," he told them. "Obviously, those safeguards are no longer effective, so I must upgrade my security again."
"Andromon, have you ever heard of any sort of Dimensional Gate or something?" Ken asked.
Andromon shook his head. "I am sorry, but I haven't."
They arrived at the bottom level of the factory, and saw a small gate leading underground.
"This tunnel leads to the sewers," Andromon said. "After you walk a little ways, you should be able to emerge above ground again outside the factory. I believe Toy Town should be located near the entrance, but I do not know how Monzaemon will react to your coming. All I can do is wish you good luck, and perhaps give you this."
Andromon held out a small package. "This is a self-recharging battery. It should be compatible with your computer, and help you in your travels."
Yolei and the others gratefully accepted the gift, and then they again set off, on their quest to figure out some way to get home.
***
Yolei tapped irritably at her computer as she tried to install the new battery.
"Come on, work," she muttered as she tried another command.
"Here, this always works!" Davis said confidently and whacked the laptop.
Surprisingly, after the last hit from Davis, the computer displayed an "Installation complete" message.
Yolei stared. "That actually worked?"
Davis beamed. "See?" he said. "I knew that that technique I learned from Tai would work!"
Yolei calmly set down her computer, and then walked over to Davis and then whacked him in the head.
"That reminds me," she said, "though it worked, I cannot allow the integrity of my computer to be smeared. As such, you must die! And I've been riding on Halsemon, so I'm all rested, while you're still tired from the Andromon chase, so you'll never be able to escape my wrath!"
"Says who?" Davis said, smirking at her, and then raced off at full speed.
Yolei gaped for a moment, and then started shrieking. "Hey! How come you still have all that energy?! You have no right to have all that energy! Come back here so I can clobber you!!"
Yolei ran off, but Davis already had quite a head start.
TK just shook his head at the vengeful chase. "Think she'll catch him?"
Kari also shook her head. "Not a chance."
To be continued.
Finally, another part on my first fanfic! I apologize for the lack of work on this, but I've been struck by Tamers inspiration.
As it is now the summer, hopefully, my writing pace overall will greatly increase!! Though reviews always help my imagination.
