[copy/paste disclaimer here.]
{the story now has starting and ending songs - they are DIGIMON ADVENTURE songs, and they are copyright of their owners, not me. I'm using them for fun!}
"VERSION UP" and starting animation begins....
Backstep 04
Scrambled Digital Eggs, Anyone?
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Location - somewhere in the Digital World
Time - approximately six days (almost five) before Digital Conundrum
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Daisuke, Miyako, Iori, and Ken were camping out by a tree in an unknown location of the Digital World, their digimon beside them. It was a calm, cloudless night, lighted only by the screens of the D3s and a small campfire.
"The sky looks so calm," Ken sighed, staring at the strange constellations in the evening sky. He leaned against the large tree, and felt Wormmon crawl onto his lap.
"Ken, it's late," Wormmon whispered. "Daisuke and the rest are already asleep. You should go rest, too. I'll keep watch."
Ken shook his head and looked down at his partner. "Nah. I'll stay here and help keep watch." He took Wormmon in his arms and stood up. "You could tell me if you see anything suspicious."
Wormmon nodded his head and scurried on his clawed legs. "Alright. Hey, look here, Ken - a walking stick!"
Ken bent down and picked up the stick-like insect Wormmon had noticed. "It's just an insect, Wormmon," he chuckled, placing the struggling insect on the tree. "It won't harm us."
"Well, you did say look for anything suspicious," Wormmon sighed.
"Yeah, that's true." Ken looked back up at the sky. Two shootings stars sped across the heavens, seeming to fall far away from the Chosen Children's campout. They were strange stars, almost like spaceships entering the atmosphere of a planet. There were two human men, seemingly American, both enclosed individually by shields of heat. Upon one's backpack and another's waist was a digivice, the screen glowing green.
Ken rubbed his eyes, and the two strange stars disappeared.
Yet Ken could not deny that two humans had entered the Digital World.
Or at least it looked so.
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Location - some place near the Chosen Children's camp, Digital World
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Parker and Buck opened their eyes gingerly, and then rubbed them as if drugged. They had blacked out after entering the strange wormhole in Los Angeles, and now they felt as if a steamroller had gone over them multiple times. And maybe one had while they were out.
"What the heck happened?" Buck groaned, sitting up. He rubbed the back of his neck tentatively. "At least the backpack protected our backs."
Parker nodded and slowly got to his feet. "You're right about that. But where exactly are we?"
The men were outside, at the edge of a forest plunged in evening darkness. A cave carved in mountain rock was just behind the men, framed by boulders and struggling pine seedlings.
Buck stood up and sighed. "I have no idea. For all I know, we're in Yosemite." He started to walk into the cave and settled himself near the entrance. "And these backpacks have camping equipment."
"Could be," Parker stated, following Buck into the cave. "Now let's get some rest. If we're in Yosemite, we know that no bears are going to attack us."
"Thank god for park rangers," Buck yawned. He removed his backpack and placed it behind his head like a pillow. Seconds later he was snoring.
Parker removed his backpack, and then unclamped the strange digital device from the strap. He stared at the screen - instead of a grid-like map, a lime-green glow filled it in its entirety. Parker pressed a button, regaining the map, marking only his presence and Buck's. "Nothing new there," he sighed, pressing another button.
This time's Owsley's bewildered face greeted him.
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Location - NNL
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Andrew Owsley had been seated before his computer since Parker and Buck had left for Los Angeles, trying to find a way to contact the mysterious digital world mentioned on the Digital Conundrum disk. He had had no real success in the past three hours. Once he had managed to tap into some Japanese personal palmtop device called a Digivice version D3, but had only called up the video images of six Japanese children. The children were staring at the screen back at Owsley, but were either speaking in Japanese or sleeping. Owsley held up signs, even yelled - but the children didn't seem to notice or understand English.
Moments later Owsley tapped into an earlier version of the Digivice - the Prime Digivice. The lives of six more Japanese children were displayed on the screen - and none of them paid attention or seemed to understand him.
"Great," he sighed after attempting to communicate with the last of the children - a kid named Mimi Tachikawa. "I thought the Japanese were taught English at their age." He was about to close the Prime program when two more names flashed onto a list. Owsley scrolled down to the bottom and, puzzled, looked at them.
"Francis Parker and Cameron Williams?" Owsley gasped. "That can't be right." He double-clicked on Buck's name, and the video screen above the list showed Buck sleeping on a hiking backpack. No use trying to talk to him.
Owsley then clicked on Parker's name, calling up a window of the chrononaut. Parker seemed to stare straight at the young computer genius through the screen. "Scooter?" he called out, his words also on a caption below his image. "What are you doing here?"
Owsley gasped and shook his head. "What do you mean, Parker?"
"You know what I mean," Parker whispered harshly in reply. "You're communicating with me through this strange digital device that I have! How did you do it?"
Owsley could only shrug. "I don't know. I just tapped into a Japanese program called Digivice Prime. It translates whatever the bearer of a Digivice Prime or a Digivice version D3 says into whatever language, but not what a little hacker like me babbles. Parker, where are you and Buck?"
"I don't know," Parker hissed. "I was hoping you could tell me! For all I know, we're in Yosemite!"
Owsley looked elsewhere on his computer monitor for some sort of clue. "Well, on my screen there's a list of all the users of Digivice Prime, the window where your picture's at, and - here it is! There's a map and a locator of all Digivice Prime and D3 users in your area. You're-" He paused. Shocked, he removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes. "Uh, Parker, you and Buck are...."
"Where?" Parker nearly yelled out. "Don't keep me hanging!"
It took Owsley a while to get over his astonishment, but his eyes turned to dots as he spoke. "Parker, you see, you, Buck, and four other Digivice D3 users are in a place called the Cave-Ridden Mountains ... in the Digital World."
Parker sweatdropped and laughed nervously. "The Digital World? Owsley, you've got to be kidding me. This Digital World that was mentioned on the Digital Conundrum disk - Buck and I are in it?" He broke into laughter again. "You'd better double-check your information, Scooter."
"I'm not kidding!" Owsley exclaimed. "You and Buck are in the Digital World! I don't know how, but you are." He paused for a moment, then: "You know, I should tell Talmadge about this. He'll be glad that we finally have physical contact with the Digital World."
Parker sighed, exhausted. "Yeah. So what do you want me to do - wait for orders?"
Owsley shook his head. "I don't know. Maybe you should seek out this Guardian of the Trumpet of Hope and tell him not to toot his horn. If that doesn't work, then at least find this Center or these Holy Stones and try to protect those areas. You know that if you can't find a way to stop the disappearances, we can't backstep - we don't know how to get you and Buck back here."
"But you have Donovan - can't he backstep for us?"
"Parker, you're the only one certified to backstep - Donovan's scores are still less than par." He yawned. "I'll tell Talmadge about this Digivice program, then find a way to bring you back when we need you to." Owsley then walked out of his quarters, but not before seeing Parker settle himself down on his hiking backpack.
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Location - Buck and Parker's camp in the Digital World
Time - five days before Digital Conundrum
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Buck awoke the next morning to find Parker roasting a few finger-sized Vienna sausages over a portable gas stove. He groggily awoke, took his digivice from a pocket, and made his way to the fireside.
"Well, good morning, Frank," Buck yawned. "I see you got breakfast ready."
"Courtesy of Delores and the Romanian government," Parker laughed, taking a sausage fresh off the stove. "They're fully cooked, Buck - take one."
Buck warily grabbed a sausage and threw it into his mouth. "Not bad, Frank." He looked back at the cave entrance, then at the strange trees that grew before it. "Have you figured out where we are yet?"
Parker nodded, but his eyes didn't agree with his message. "According to Owsley back at NNL, we're in some place called the Digital World." He took another sausage from the stove and bit into it. "But then, Owsley's had a good twelve hours to double-check his Intel. He'll call us in a while."
As if on cue, Parker's digivice started to beep. Throwing the rest of the sausage into his mouth, Parker took the digivice for his pocket and pressed a button. Owsley's face, along with Talmadge's and the rest of the Backstep senior staff, filled the screen.
"Hey there," Parker said energetically. "How's it going?"
"Parker," Talmadge said, "I'm glad that you and Buck gained contact with the Digital World. How exactly did you two manage to do so?"
Parker brought a hand to his chin and sat in thought. "Well, you see, Bradley, it's a long story. This Delores girl from the past timeline, she ... kind of invited me and Buck to Los Angeles. She indirectly brought us to her apartment, where we met her and Nicolae Carpathia-"
"You met President Carpathia?" Nathan Ramsey exclaimed, interrupting Parker. "Wow - he's one of my heroes! Did you get any souvenirs from him?"
Parker narrowed his eyes skeptically. "Ramsey, you need some new heroes. Nicolae just happened to be the one that trashed Buck's apartment! And to top that, he transformed into some sort of creature named 'Mummymon' and attacked us!"
Ramsey, apparently trusting Parker for one of the very few times he did, regained his composure and backed away from the screen. It was Talmadge that spoke next.
"What happened after Nicolae attacked you, Parker?"
"Well, after that," Parker continued, "it kind of gets hazy. First thing I know, we're being chased after by a crazed mummy, and then we fall by a cave entrance!" He sighed. "Things are quite screwed up now."
"They'll be even more screwed up if you don't prevent the disappearances," Talmadge scolded. "You and Buck have less than five days to prevent them from happening. Owsley is still trying to find a way to bring the two of you back here if you fail or succeed. You know that we have no way to backstep and undo all of this - again - if this doesn't work."
Parker nodded. "Yeah. Owsley's going to keep in touch?"
"I will, Frank," Owsley droned.
"All right, Frank," Talmadge sighed, "the world is depending on you."
"Again," Parker added sarcastically.
"There'll be a victory beer when you two get back," Donovan laughed, flashing a thumbs-up. "Oh yeah - we tried to guard Dr. Rosenzweig, but Nicolae found a way to woo the good doctor. The Eden Formula's out of our hands."
"So this is even more urgent," Talmadge stated. "Be sure to find a way to protect the Guardian, the Stones, or that Center. Godspeed, Frank."
Parker gave a mock salute. "Same here."
And the digivice screen went blank.
Buck looked at Parker as the other man shoved the digivice into his pockets. "Uh, Frank," he ventured, "what exactly did your friends mean by 'backstep' and 'previous timeline'? Does this have to do with your experimental aircraft?"
Parker sighed and took another sausage. "Buck, we don't test experimental aircraft at NNL. Heck, half of the people there aren't even test pilots."
"Then what do you really do?"
"Well, Buck, what I'm about to tell you is the most top secret information in the United States military. You have to promise not to tell anyone. Okay?"
Buck nodded. "Yeah. You have my word. And unlike other journalists, I won't break it." He stared down Parker from across the stove. "Tell me."
"All right. Buck, have you ever made a major mistake and want to live that moment again, just to have things go differently?"
Buck was taken aback by the question. "Sure. Why?"
"Buck, I've been doing it for three years." The reporter was about to interrupt him, but Parker held up his hands in protest. "You see, Buck, I'm part of a top secret organization that's experimenting with time travel."
"Time travel?" Buck gasped. "Isn't that impossible?"
"Well, not really. I don't know the exact workings, but I've done it." He paused to regain himself, but Parker was still nervous when he continued. "But anyway, whenever something gets really screwed up, I'm the lab rat the government sends back in time to fix things. There's just one catch."
"And what's that?" Buck asked, bringing his voice down.
Parker bent his head as close as he could to Buck and whispered his response.
"I could only go back seven days."
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Location - the Chosen Children's camp
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Daisuke clumsily rose from the ground and stretched his arms, not seeming to notice the nettles that clung to the back of his jacket. "Good morning, everyone!"
The other Chosen Children sat up and rubbed their eyes as the digimon moaned groggily. "Same here, Daisuke," Miyako yawned, cleaning her glasses.
"What's to eat?" V-mon chimed, jumping around Daisuke. "I'm hungry, hungry, hungry!"
Daisuke sweatdropped and laughed. "Well, you see, we didn't bring anything to eat. Not even some sushi."
The group hung down their heads and sighed. "Just great," Miyako groaned. "The one day Daisuke chooses to bring meals, and he forgot."
"Remind me not to have him volunteer for catering," Iori droned.
Ken, who was keeping watch, rejoined the group. His D3 was in his hands, and his was staring at the screen intently.
"Guys, I think there's two more people in our area," he stated.
"Where?" Daisuke asked energetically, forgetting about the food problem.
"It looks like they're just a few miles south of us." He held up his D3 for the group to see. True to his word, there were two red dots clumped together a few grid boxes south of the group.
"I hope they're Hikari and Takeru," Iori said. "We haven't seen them since our adventure in America a few months ago."
"Yeah!" Daisuke cheered. "Let's go, V-mon!" He ran off south, V-mon chasing his heels.
"Here we go," Miyako moaned, carrying Hawkmon in her arms. Iori, Ken, and their digimon followed soon after.
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Location - an apartment in Los Angeles
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Delores and Nicolae were eating their breakfast of instant ramen when they heard Parker and Buck's voices again on the computer speakers.
"I thought that Buck and Parker were killed in the fall!" Nicolae gasped in disbelief, slamming his bowl of ramen on a table. "This can not be possible!"
"It's true, all right," Delores groaned. "They're talking about some sort of ... time travel."
"Time travel? I thought it was impossible."
"Well, I guess Parker and the staff at NNL figured it out. You know what this means."
"And what is that?"
"We're going to have to destroy this time machine that they have. Destroy the time machine, and then there'll be no way to stop us - or the Conundrum."
"But NNL is an NSA compound. Will we not be found out by the government?"
"Oh, come on - we're digimon! The United States government can't punish us! Now, if you excuse me, I have another explosive to make." Delores stood up from her chair, not realizing that her bowl of ramen was still on her lap. Her ramen spilled over her dress again - in the same spot that was stained on her other dress.
"Argh!" she growled. "Why does this always happen when I eat ramen?"
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Location - Buck and Parker's camp
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Buck and Parker heard a crackling on their earphones that Delores had given them. In the midst of static interference, they could hear Delores and Nicolae speak about ... something.
Nicolae - "Time travel? I thought it was impossible."
Delores - "Well, I guess Parker and the staff at NNL figured it out. You know what this means."
Nicolae - "And what is that?"
Delores - "We're going to have to destroy this time machine that they have. Destroy the time machine, and then there'll be no way to stop us - or the Conundrum."
Parker ripped off his headset and yanked Buck's from his head. "They overheard our conversation," he growled, tossing the headsets onto the portable gas stove.
"And I guess that isn't a good thing," Buck sighed.
"Of course not! Buck, those two crazy digimon know about the time machine at NNL! If they destroy it, then there's no way to go back in time and undo this!"
Buck nodded. "Alright." He stood up and faced the cave. "Just one thing, Frank. When you first called me, you told me about the Digital Conundrum disk as if I already knew what it was. Why me, Frank?"
Parker sighed and hit his head on his fist a few times. "You see, Buck, in a previous timeline, these disappearances had already occurred. On that day, I was sitting next to you on a jet destined for London. We both saw a movie on the Internet that had an angel blow a trumpet, which sequentially brought about the disappearances." He looked up at Buck, whose back was turned to him. "The disappearances brought about many casualties - among them the President and Vice President of the US. In order to prevent these disappearances from happening again, I was sent back to America so I could travel back seven days before the event. But before that, you showed me the Digital Conundrum disk - and made a copy of it for me."
Buck turned back to face Parker. "So that's why you called me. You thought I knew something about the disk."
Parker nodded. "Basically, yeah."
The digivice in Parker's pocket started to beep annoyingly again. Parker pulled it from his pocket and pressed a button. Owsley's drowsy face greeted him.
"Hi there, Parker," Owsley droned. "Anything new?"
"Not really," Parker said, smiling. "Just overheard from Delores and the gang that they're planning to do away with the Sphere."
Owsley sighed. "Let me guess - you blabbed."
"Well, I didn't know that the headset I wore doubled as an open-channel two-way radio! I was just telling Buck about the Sphere, and then I hear the two digimon talking about blowing up NNL!"
Owsley nodded and typed something on his keyboard. "All right. I'll just tell Talmadge this, and then we'll do something about it."
"Okay." He looked back at Buck, who was staring down at his digivice. "Why exactly did you call us so soon?"
"Well, Parker, I called you because I got two new bogies on the display screen. They're not identified as Digivice users. Have Buck get here and set the digivice for map-grid mode."
Parker motioned for Buck to come to him. The reporter made his way down and looked questioningly at Parker. "Frank?"
"Could I see your digivice for a sec?"
Buck turned the digivice for Parker to see. It was already in map-grid mode, showing two flashing blue stars near their location.
Parker turned back to his digivice. "Owsley, were you talking about the blue stars? We have two flashing blue stars near our location."
Owsley nodded. "Yeah. Databank here says that they're Digimentals of Truth and Time. They're in the cave that's behind you two."
"And what do you want us to do?" Parker asked sarcastically. "Go look for them?"
"I would assume so. They may help you two find a way back here in case things get screwed."
Parker nodded. "Okay. You keep in touch?"
"Yeah." Owsley logged off, his face blinking off the screen in a flash of light.
Parker pressed a button on his digivice, calling up the grid map. The two flashing blue dots were behind him, according to the grid.
"We're going to go into that cave," he said gamely, calmly walking inside. "Come on, Buck."
Buck looked down at the two backpacks and the steaming gas stove beside his feet. "What about our stuff? Won't a bear get at them?"
"Are you kidding?" Parker laughed. "No, of course not! They'll be safe out there. Now come on - we may have an opportunity to come and return as we please."
Buck sighed and sullenly followed Parker into the cave. "Fine," he droned, brushing his long bangs from his face.
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Location - Buck and Parker's camp, a few minutes later
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Though Daisuke and V-mon were the first to run out towards where the strange D3 readings emitted from, Miyako and Hawkmon were the first to arrive on the scene. Iori, Armadimon, Ken, and Wormmon followed immediately behind them. The camp before them brought sparkles to their eyes.
"It's ... an abandoned camp!" Miyako cried out in glee.
"They must have food of some sort in the backpacks!" Iori gasped.
"It's a bonanza of survival equipment!" Ken drooled.
"I'm hungry...." Daisuke and V-mon groaned in unison behind their friends. They had limped up behind the group unawares, tongues lolling out of their mouths and hands wearily on their stomachs.
"If you two were so hungry," Miyako scolded, "then you should have at least not have run out at breakneck speed out here! It takes more energy to run than to eat!"
Daisuke and V-mon sweatdropped and crumpled slowly to the ground, both with dumbstruck expressions crossing their faces. "Just get us something to eat," they moaned, more or less in unison.
Armadimon scampered off to one of the backpacks and opened the main compartment. After a few minutes of burying his muzzle into the bag, he crawled out with two cans in his clawed forefeet.
"Look! Vienna sausages!" he cried out.
Before you could say DIGIMENTAL UP, Daisuke and V-mon ran to Armadimon and snatched the cans from his hands. The gluttonous boy and digimon made a show of opening the cans and shoving the finger-sized sausages into their mouths.
"Hey, hey, you two," Armadimon warned, waving his forelimbs before his face. "There's enough in there for each of you to have a can or more!"
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Location - the cave behind Buck and Parker's camp
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Parker and Buck were surprised that the trail through the cave seemed so well trodden. The dirt was packed hard, with hardly a rock disturbing the path. Light streamed through the occasional hole carved into the roof of the cavern. Travel and even an undisturbed view of their digivice screens were unexpected for the two men.
"I guess we're almost at those blue stars," Buck stated, staring down at the map grid on his digivice. The two red dots that stood for the two men were on top of the blue stars.
Parker shook his head and stopped walking. He looked down at the ground below his feet, then back at his digivice. "Buck, we're right on top of them," he breathed.
"Where?" Buck ran to Parker's side and looked down. "I don't see anything except for our feet and some dirt."
"You're the journalist," Parker scoffed. "You must have, what, a degree in observation?"
"And what are you implying?" Buck sighed angrily and shot a glance towards the hole-ridden roof of the cave. In the corner of his eye he thought he saw two gold-colored objects floating above his head. Disillusioned, he rubbed his eyes and looked back up. Sure enough, there were two golden oblong-shaped objects, large enough to fit in each of the men's palms. The two items descended, one landing in Buck's free hand, the other in Parker's.
Parker shoved his digivice into a pocket and stared at the strange object in his hands. It looked like a scarab beetle from an Egyptian temple, decorated with emeralds. A symbol resembling a simplified clock face was engraved upon it. "What is this?" he asked, turning to Buck.
Buck could only look at a similar item cradled in his palms. His was like a golden flame held at bay by a cord of red tied with bells. Engraved on the flames was a symbol akin to a stylized question mark. "I don't know," he managed at last. "They're probably the Digimentals that Hooter was telling us about."
"And you're absolutely right about that, Cam."
Buck and Parker's eyes grew wide as they searched the cavern frantically. Who had spoken to them? Surely it wasn't Parker - he didn't have that tinny, almost robotic voice. But that voice sure sounded familiar....
"I didn't say anything," Parker laughed. "Did you?"
Buck shook his head. "Don't look at me."
"Then who did?"
Two shadowy figures jumped onto Buck and Parker's chests, sending them to the ground. The two men gasped, the air rushing from their lungs as the strange figures settled on their stomachs. Despite the generous lighting of the cave, they could only see the creatures' eyes.
"Hey there, Frank! Remember us?"
It was that tin-like voice again - and it was coming from the ... thing on Parker's chest! Parker managed to ease his head forward to take a closer look at the creature. It was insect-like, probably only two feet tall. Monstrous green eyes stared from a head in shades of gray, and sharp-looking claws were held before the insect's face, not in any position to frappe him. Shielding his transparent wings was an equally gray shell, scattered with black spikes. A small pair of 'hands' extended from ... springs ... and obviously this creature was sitting on Parker's chest on another pair of legs. Parker shuffled back through his jumbled memory, back to days before the Backstep program had changed his perception of time ... back to his childhood in a church-run orphanage ... just to find the strange creature's identity....
"Tentomon?" he said at length.
The insect nodded his head. "That's me!" He shoved his head towards Parker's, stopping only an inch before the man's nose. "You sure have grown a lot since I last saw you."
"And when was that?" Parker groaned, sitting up. Tentomon flew off of Parker and settled himself on the dirt-covered floor of the cave. He now had a view of the creature on Buck's chest - a furry creature as long as Tentomon was tall, with blue stripes interrupting his red fur and nine feather-like tails in a fan formation on his rump. It looked like a rodent.
"Oh, I'd say ... sixteen years ago - according to time in your world," Tentomon replied.
"Sixteen years?" Parker mused, looking down at the Digimental in his hands. "But then ... I was, what, eleven years old?"
Tentomon nodded again. "Well, I guess somewhere about there. Now, do you mind helping me get Cam up?"
Parker took a step towards the reporter, but Buck had managed to stand up on his own. The strange rodent was by his side, balancing on its hind legs. "I'm Elecmon," the rodent said, waving a clawed forepaw. "I was Cam's partner."
Buck looked down at Elecmon condescendingly, hands on his hips. "It's Buck, Elecmon," he hissed. "Cameron's just a formality."
"Humph! That wasn't so sixteen years ago - Buck." Elecmon crossed his forepaws about his white belly, and his large ears fell.
"Oh, really?" Buck turned to face Parker, his eyes angrily narrowed. "Frank, what exactly are these ... creatures? And how do we know each other?"
Tentomon and Elecmon chimed a response before Parker could even muse upon an answer. "We're digimon - digital monsters!"
"Digimon?" Buck scoffed. "Oh, so you're like that mummy guy that trashed my apartment a few days ago? Are you going to trash Parker's ... apartment ... now, too?"
Elecmon always sounded as if he were in a sour mood, and now was no exception. "No, of course not. Now, pests like Mummymon - whom you so graciously described to us - he's the kind of guy that would trash your pad. And I frankly didn't expect that - not after we defeated him sixteen years ago."
The digimon's response seemed only to make Buck angrier. "Oh, so we did some undead slaying when Parker and I were teenagers. Well, you can get this into your digimon head - Frank and I didn't know each other when we were kids! Sure, I may remember a little punk named Francis, but not Frank Parker here!" He turned away from his partner. "And you can also try to understand that I didn't fight any darn mummy sixteen years ago, either!"
Elecmon sighed. "You were always like this, Buck - always skeptical."
"Well, this is nothing compared to the air strike on Israel three years ago," Buck muttered. "I can believe hail falling from the sky and destroying three entire air forces, but not me fighting the undead and juggling schoolwork at the same time."
"This doesn't sound good," Tentomon chimed.
"And what do you mean by that?" Buck and Parker yelled furiously, temples throbbing.
"You see," Tentomon explained, "the hailstorm you mentioned took place at the same time as one here. Now, three years ago a massive hailstorm crashed through the Digital World. It's what made this cave formation look like Swiss cheese. Now, throughout the Digital World, on these little television sets scattered about, there was an image of a strange digimon warding away darkness with a blade of light."
"A lightsaber, like those on Star Wars?" Parker asked.
Tentomon looked dumbstruck, but otherwise continued. "I don't know what you're talking about. Anyway, the beams from this digimon's blade sent the hail to this world. Days later, the storm stopped, and the images flashed off from the televisions."
"So?" Buck asked. "What's that got to do with anything?"
"Well, it means that something worse is going to happen," Tentomon said.
"And does it concern this strange digimon that caused the hailstorm?" Parker asked.
Tentomon nodded. "Yeah. The digimon is known as Holy Angemon, and legends say that he, along with another digimon, are the primary Guardians of the Center. Now, this hailstorm that Buck mentioned signals the impending end of one of the Guardians."
"Do you know which one?"
"No," Tentomon shrugged, "but we can help you find a way to the Center."
Parker and Buck smiled. "Okay," Buck sighed. "How about this - we'll put our differences behind us, and you can take us to the Center. We'll tell Holy Angemon or this other Guardian that they're in danger, find a way to protect them, and then we'll talk about what supposedly happened sixteen years ago. Deal?"
Elecmon and Tentomon reluctantly nodded. "Deal."
"Now let's go out and get back to camp," Parker breathed. "Maybe you can tell us how these Digimentals work over some Vienna sausages."
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Location - Buck and Parker's camp
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The Chosen Children and their digimon were seated around the portable stove, cans of Vienna sausages in hand, paw, claw, or wing. Delighted with the breakfast they had stumbled upon, they dug their hands into the cans of preserved sausages and took generous bites. Well, except for Daisuke - he was still shoving them down his throat.
"How many more are left, Armadimon?" he asked, throwing another can behind him. "I'm still hungry."
Armadimon stuffed his nose into a backpack, and then soon emerged all too quickly. "Sorry, Daisuke - no more."
Daisuke stood up, his temples throbbing. "No more Vienna sausages!" he roared. "This is an outrage!"
"Hey, the rest of us have to eat," Miyako said between bites.
"But it's Vienna sausages! I love Vienna sausages!"
Strange footsteps silenced Daisuke for a rare moment. The boy turned towards the cave - footfalls seemed to echo from within.
"You hear that?" he asked.
The children nodded. "Yeah," they whispered in unison.
Presently two grown men exited from the cave, two digimon before them. The men were holding golden items, similar to Digimentals, in their hands. One of them, a young man with dark hair and dark clothing, pointed an angry finger at Daisuke. He said something, but it was in English.
"Does anyone know what he's saying?" Daisuke asked when the man finished talking.
The kids shook their heads. "None of us know English - except for hamburger and hot dog and 'how are you'," Ken sighed.
"I thought you were the genius of the group!" Daisuke yelled. "Now, I don't know what these yahoos want - but I'll tell them to stay away from our hoard of Vienna sausage! V-mon - Digimental Up!"
The screen of Daisuke's D3 lit up red as the Digimental of Courage was activated. V-mon, who was beside Daisuke, started to glow with a red light. "V-mon, armor evolve! Fladramon, burning courage!"
A dragon dressed in armor covered in a flame motif appeared before Daisuke, poised in a battle ready. "Nobody goes after Daisuke's horde of Vienna sausage!" he growled.
The man that had pointed at Daisuke took the Digimental in his hands. One of the digimon that had come out with him, a Tentomon, flew over to the man's side. The digimon seemed to whisper something in the man's ear, to which the man smiled gleefully.
Soon the man held the Digimental away from his body. He narrowed his eyes and glared at Daisuke. The boy may not have known what the man had said to him before, but he seemed intent on gaining his hoard of Vienna sausage.
(For our purposes I will tell you what Frank Parker told Daisuke in his most serious NSA-agent voice - not so that we are left in the dark any longer.)
"I don't know who the heck you are, kid, but you've depleted my entire supply of Vienna sausage! You're going to have to pay, too! Tentomon - Digimental Up!"
The man with the blond hair and unusually long bangs - Buck Williams - followed suit, extending his Digimental before him. "You stole our breakfast!" he growled behind clenched teeth. "Elecmon - Digimental Up!"
Daisuke was threatened, yet he was stubborn enough to hold his ground. The Chosen Children behind him could only look dumbly at the strange American adults that had digimon partners in tow.
"I can't believe Daisuke's dumb enough to claim someone else's Vienna sausage hoard as his own," Miyako grumbled.
"I wonder how this turns out," Iori scoffed.
to be continued
"Itsudemo Aeru Kara", ending animation, and credits play....
{the story now has starting and ending songs - they are DIGIMON ADVENTURE songs, and they are copyright of their owners, not me. I'm using them for fun!}
"VERSION UP" and starting animation begins....
Backstep 04
Scrambled Digital Eggs, Anyone?
-------------------------------------------------
Location - somewhere in the Digital World
Time - approximately six days (almost five) before Digital Conundrum
-------------------------------------------------
Daisuke, Miyako, Iori, and Ken were camping out by a tree in an unknown location of the Digital World, their digimon beside them. It was a calm, cloudless night, lighted only by the screens of the D3s and a small campfire.
"The sky looks so calm," Ken sighed, staring at the strange constellations in the evening sky. He leaned against the large tree, and felt Wormmon crawl onto his lap.
"Ken, it's late," Wormmon whispered. "Daisuke and the rest are already asleep. You should go rest, too. I'll keep watch."
Ken shook his head and looked down at his partner. "Nah. I'll stay here and help keep watch." He took Wormmon in his arms and stood up. "You could tell me if you see anything suspicious."
Wormmon nodded his head and scurried on his clawed legs. "Alright. Hey, look here, Ken - a walking stick!"
Ken bent down and picked up the stick-like insect Wormmon had noticed. "It's just an insect, Wormmon," he chuckled, placing the struggling insect on the tree. "It won't harm us."
"Well, you did say look for anything suspicious," Wormmon sighed.
"Yeah, that's true." Ken looked back up at the sky. Two shootings stars sped across the heavens, seeming to fall far away from the Chosen Children's campout. They were strange stars, almost like spaceships entering the atmosphere of a planet. There were two human men, seemingly American, both enclosed individually by shields of heat. Upon one's backpack and another's waist was a digivice, the screen glowing green.
Ken rubbed his eyes, and the two strange stars disappeared.
Yet Ken could not deny that two humans had entered the Digital World.
Or at least it looked so.
-------------------------------------------------
Location - some place near the Chosen Children's camp, Digital World
-------------------------------------------------
Parker and Buck opened their eyes gingerly, and then rubbed them as if drugged. They had blacked out after entering the strange wormhole in Los Angeles, and now they felt as if a steamroller had gone over them multiple times. And maybe one had while they were out.
"What the heck happened?" Buck groaned, sitting up. He rubbed the back of his neck tentatively. "At least the backpack protected our backs."
Parker nodded and slowly got to his feet. "You're right about that. But where exactly are we?"
The men were outside, at the edge of a forest plunged in evening darkness. A cave carved in mountain rock was just behind the men, framed by boulders and struggling pine seedlings.
Buck stood up and sighed. "I have no idea. For all I know, we're in Yosemite." He started to walk into the cave and settled himself near the entrance. "And these backpacks have camping equipment."
"Could be," Parker stated, following Buck into the cave. "Now let's get some rest. If we're in Yosemite, we know that no bears are going to attack us."
"Thank god for park rangers," Buck yawned. He removed his backpack and placed it behind his head like a pillow. Seconds later he was snoring.
Parker removed his backpack, and then unclamped the strange digital device from the strap. He stared at the screen - instead of a grid-like map, a lime-green glow filled it in its entirety. Parker pressed a button, regaining the map, marking only his presence and Buck's. "Nothing new there," he sighed, pressing another button.
This time's Owsley's bewildered face greeted him.
-------------------------------------------------
Location - NNL
-------------------------------------------------
Andrew Owsley had been seated before his computer since Parker and Buck had left for Los Angeles, trying to find a way to contact the mysterious digital world mentioned on the Digital Conundrum disk. He had had no real success in the past three hours. Once he had managed to tap into some Japanese personal palmtop device called a Digivice version D3, but had only called up the video images of six Japanese children. The children were staring at the screen back at Owsley, but were either speaking in Japanese or sleeping. Owsley held up signs, even yelled - but the children didn't seem to notice or understand English.
Moments later Owsley tapped into an earlier version of the Digivice - the Prime Digivice. The lives of six more Japanese children were displayed on the screen - and none of them paid attention or seemed to understand him.
"Great," he sighed after attempting to communicate with the last of the children - a kid named Mimi Tachikawa. "I thought the Japanese were taught English at their age." He was about to close the Prime program when two more names flashed onto a list. Owsley scrolled down to the bottom and, puzzled, looked at them.
"Francis Parker and Cameron Williams?" Owsley gasped. "That can't be right." He double-clicked on Buck's name, and the video screen above the list showed Buck sleeping on a hiking backpack. No use trying to talk to him.
Owsley then clicked on Parker's name, calling up a window of the chrononaut. Parker seemed to stare straight at the young computer genius through the screen. "Scooter?" he called out, his words also on a caption below his image. "What are you doing here?"
Owsley gasped and shook his head. "What do you mean, Parker?"
"You know what I mean," Parker whispered harshly in reply. "You're communicating with me through this strange digital device that I have! How did you do it?"
Owsley could only shrug. "I don't know. I just tapped into a Japanese program called Digivice Prime. It translates whatever the bearer of a Digivice Prime or a Digivice version D3 says into whatever language, but not what a little hacker like me babbles. Parker, where are you and Buck?"
"I don't know," Parker hissed. "I was hoping you could tell me! For all I know, we're in Yosemite!"
Owsley looked elsewhere on his computer monitor for some sort of clue. "Well, on my screen there's a list of all the users of Digivice Prime, the window where your picture's at, and - here it is! There's a map and a locator of all Digivice Prime and D3 users in your area. You're-" He paused. Shocked, he removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes. "Uh, Parker, you and Buck are...."
"Where?" Parker nearly yelled out. "Don't keep me hanging!"
It took Owsley a while to get over his astonishment, but his eyes turned to dots as he spoke. "Parker, you see, you, Buck, and four other Digivice D3 users are in a place called the Cave-Ridden Mountains ... in the Digital World."
Parker sweatdropped and laughed nervously. "The Digital World? Owsley, you've got to be kidding me. This Digital World that was mentioned on the Digital Conundrum disk - Buck and I are in it?" He broke into laughter again. "You'd better double-check your information, Scooter."
"I'm not kidding!" Owsley exclaimed. "You and Buck are in the Digital World! I don't know how, but you are." He paused for a moment, then: "You know, I should tell Talmadge about this. He'll be glad that we finally have physical contact with the Digital World."
Parker sighed, exhausted. "Yeah. So what do you want me to do - wait for orders?"
Owsley shook his head. "I don't know. Maybe you should seek out this Guardian of the Trumpet of Hope and tell him not to toot his horn. If that doesn't work, then at least find this Center or these Holy Stones and try to protect those areas. You know that if you can't find a way to stop the disappearances, we can't backstep - we don't know how to get you and Buck back here."
"But you have Donovan - can't he backstep for us?"
"Parker, you're the only one certified to backstep - Donovan's scores are still less than par." He yawned. "I'll tell Talmadge about this Digivice program, then find a way to bring you back when we need you to." Owsley then walked out of his quarters, but not before seeing Parker settle himself down on his hiking backpack.
-------------------------------------------------
Location - Buck and Parker's camp in the Digital World
Time - five days before Digital Conundrum
-------------------------------------------------
Buck awoke the next morning to find Parker roasting a few finger-sized Vienna sausages over a portable gas stove. He groggily awoke, took his digivice from a pocket, and made his way to the fireside.
"Well, good morning, Frank," Buck yawned. "I see you got breakfast ready."
"Courtesy of Delores and the Romanian government," Parker laughed, taking a sausage fresh off the stove. "They're fully cooked, Buck - take one."
Buck warily grabbed a sausage and threw it into his mouth. "Not bad, Frank." He looked back at the cave entrance, then at the strange trees that grew before it. "Have you figured out where we are yet?"
Parker nodded, but his eyes didn't agree with his message. "According to Owsley back at NNL, we're in some place called the Digital World." He took another sausage from the stove and bit into it. "But then, Owsley's had a good twelve hours to double-check his Intel. He'll call us in a while."
As if on cue, Parker's digivice started to beep. Throwing the rest of the sausage into his mouth, Parker took the digivice for his pocket and pressed a button. Owsley's face, along with Talmadge's and the rest of the Backstep senior staff, filled the screen.
"Hey there," Parker said energetically. "How's it going?"
"Parker," Talmadge said, "I'm glad that you and Buck gained contact with the Digital World. How exactly did you two manage to do so?"
Parker brought a hand to his chin and sat in thought. "Well, you see, Bradley, it's a long story. This Delores girl from the past timeline, she ... kind of invited me and Buck to Los Angeles. She indirectly brought us to her apartment, where we met her and Nicolae Carpathia-"
"You met President Carpathia?" Nathan Ramsey exclaimed, interrupting Parker. "Wow - he's one of my heroes! Did you get any souvenirs from him?"
Parker narrowed his eyes skeptically. "Ramsey, you need some new heroes. Nicolae just happened to be the one that trashed Buck's apartment! And to top that, he transformed into some sort of creature named 'Mummymon' and attacked us!"
Ramsey, apparently trusting Parker for one of the very few times he did, regained his composure and backed away from the screen. It was Talmadge that spoke next.
"What happened after Nicolae attacked you, Parker?"
"Well, after that," Parker continued, "it kind of gets hazy. First thing I know, we're being chased after by a crazed mummy, and then we fall by a cave entrance!" He sighed. "Things are quite screwed up now."
"They'll be even more screwed up if you don't prevent the disappearances," Talmadge scolded. "You and Buck have less than five days to prevent them from happening. Owsley is still trying to find a way to bring the two of you back here if you fail or succeed. You know that we have no way to backstep and undo all of this - again - if this doesn't work."
Parker nodded. "Yeah. Owsley's going to keep in touch?"
"I will, Frank," Owsley droned.
"All right, Frank," Talmadge sighed, "the world is depending on you."
"Again," Parker added sarcastically.
"There'll be a victory beer when you two get back," Donovan laughed, flashing a thumbs-up. "Oh yeah - we tried to guard Dr. Rosenzweig, but Nicolae found a way to woo the good doctor. The Eden Formula's out of our hands."
"So this is even more urgent," Talmadge stated. "Be sure to find a way to protect the Guardian, the Stones, or that Center. Godspeed, Frank."
Parker gave a mock salute. "Same here."
And the digivice screen went blank.
Buck looked at Parker as the other man shoved the digivice into his pockets. "Uh, Frank," he ventured, "what exactly did your friends mean by 'backstep' and 'previous timeline'? Does this have to do with your experimental aircraft?"
Parker sighed and took another sausage. "Buck, we don't test experimental aircraft at NNL. Heck, half of the people there aren't even test pilots."
"Then what do you really do?"
"Well, Buck, what I'm about to tell you is the most top secret information in the United States military. You have to promise not to tell anyone. Okay?"
Buck nodded. "Yeah. You have my word. And unlike other journalists, I won't break it." He stared down Parker from across the stove. "Tell me."
"All right. Buck, have you ever made a major mistake and want to live that moment again, just to have things go differently?"
Buck was taken aback by the question. "Sure. Why?"
"Buck, I've been doing it for three years." The reporter was about to interrupt him, but Parker held up his hands in protest. "You see, Buck, I'm part of a top secret organization that's experimenting with time travel."
"Time travel?" Buck gasped. "Isn't that impossible?"
"Well, not really. I don't know the exact workings, but I've done it." He paused to regain himself, but Parker was still nervous when he continued. "But anyway, whenever something gets really screwed up, I'm the lab rat the government sends back in time to fix things. There's just one catch."
"And what's that?" Buck asked, bringing his voice down.
Parker bent his head as close as he could to Buck and whispered his response.
"I could only go back seven days."
-------------------------------------------------
Location - the Chosen Children's camp
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Daisuke clumsily rose from the ground and stretched his arms, not seeming to notice the nettles that clung to the back of his jacket. "Good morning, everyone!"
The other Chosen Children sat up and rubbed their eyes as the digimon moaned groggily. "Same here, Daisuke," Miyako yawned, cleaning her glasses.
"What's to eat?" V-mon chimed, jumping around Daisuke. "I'm hungry, hungry, hungry!"
Daisuke sweatdropped and laughed. "Well, you see, we didn't bring anything to eat. Not even some sushi."
The group hung down their heads and sighed. "Just great," Miyako groaned. "The one day Daisuke chooses to bring meals, and he forgot."
"Remind me not to have him volunteer for catering," Iori droned.
Ken, who was keeping watch, rejoined the group. His D3 was in his hands, and his was staring at the screen intently.
"Guys, I think there's two more people in our area," he stated.
"Where?" Daisuke asked energetically, forgetting about the food problem.
"It looks like they're just a few miles south of us." He held up his D3 for the group to see. True to his word, there were two red dots clumped together a few grid boxes south of the group.
"I hope they're Hikari and Takeru," Iori said. "We haven't seen them since our adventure in America a few months ago."
"Yeah!" Daisuke cheered. "Let's go, V-mon!" He ran off south, V-mon chasing his heels.
"Here we go," Miyako moaned, carrying Hawkmon in her arms. Iori, Ken, and their digimon followed soon after.
-------------------------------------------------
Location - an apartment in Los Angeles
-------------------------------------------------
Delores and Nicolae were eating their breakfast of instant ramen when they heard Parker and Buck's voices again on the computer speakers.
"I thought that Buck and Parker were killed in the fall!" Nicolae gasped in disbelief, slamming his bowl of ramen on a table. "This can not be possible!"
"It's true, all right," Delores groaned. "They're talking about some sort of ... time travel."
"Time travel? I thought it was impossible."
"Well, I guess Parker and the staff at NNL figured it out. You know what this means."
"And what is that?"
"We're going to have to destroy this time machine that they have. Destroy the time machine, and then there'll be no way to stop us - or the Conundrum."
"But NNL is an NSA compound. Will we not be found out by the government?"
"Oh, come on - we're digimon! The United States government can't punish us! Now, if you excuse me, I have another explosive to make." Delores stood up from her chair, not realizing that her bowl of ramen was still on her lap. Her ramen spilled over her dress again - in the same spot that was stained on her other dress.
"Argh!" she growled. "Why does this always happen when I eat ramen?"
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Location - Buck and Parker's camp
-------------------------------------------------
Buck and Parker heard a crackling on their earphones that Delores had given them. In the midst of static interference, they could hear Delores and Nicolae speak about ... something.
Nicolae - "Time travel? I thought it was impossible."
Delores - "Well, I guess Parker and the staff at NNL figured it out. You know what this means."
Nicolae - "And what is that?"
Delores - "We're going to have to destroy this time machine that they have. Destroy the time machine, and then there'll be no way to stop us - or the Conundrum."
Parker ripped off his headset and yanked Buck's from his head. "They overheard our conversation," he growled, tossing the headsets onto the portable gas stove.
"And I guess that isn't a good thing," Buck sighed.
"Of course not! Buck, those two crazy digimon know about the time machine at NNL! If they destroy it, then there's no way to go back in time and undo this!"
Buck nodded. "Alright." He stood up and faced the cave. "Just one thing, Frank. When you first called me, you told me about the Digital Conundrum disk as if I already knew what it was. Why me, Frank?"
Parker sighed and hit his head on his fist a few times. "You see, Buck, in a previous timeline, these disappearances had already occurred. On that day, I was sitting next to you on a jet destined for London. We both saw a movie on the Internet that had an angel blow a trumpet, which sequentially brought about the disappearances." He looked up at Buck, whose back was turned to him. "The disappearances brought about many casualties - among them the President and Vice President of the US. In order to prevent these disappearances from happening again, I was sent back to America so I could travel back seven days before the event. But before that, you showed me the Digital Conundrum disk - and made a copy of it for me."
Buck turned back to face Parker. "So that's why you called me. You thought I knew something about the disk."
Parker nodded. "Basically, yeah."
The digivice in Parker's pocket started to beep annoyingly again. Parker pulled it from his pocket and pressed a button. Owsley's drowsy face greeted him.
"Hi there, Parker," Owsley droned. "Anything new?"
"Not really," Parker said, smiling. "Just overheard from Delores and the gang that they're planning to do away with the Sphere."
Owsley sighed. "Let me guess - you blabbed."
"Well, I didn't know that the headset I wore doubled as an open-channel two-way radio! I was just telling Buck about the Sphere, and then I hear the two digimon talking about blowing up NNL!"
Owsley nodded and typed something on his keyboard. "All right. I'll just tell Talmadge this, and then we'll do something about it."
"Okay." He looked back at Buck, who was staring down at his digivice. "Why exactly did you call us so soon?"
"Well, Parker, I called you because I got two new bogies on the display screen. They're not identified as Digivice users. Have Buck get here and set the digivice for map-grid mode."
Parker motioned for Buck to come to him. The reporter made his way down and looked questioningly at Parker. "Frank?"
"Could I see your digivice for a sec?"
Buck turned the digivice for Parker to see. It was already in map-grid mode, showing two flashing blue stars near their location.
Parker turned back to his digivice. "Owsley, were you talking about the blue stars? We have two flashing blue stars near our location."
Owsley nodded. "Yeah. Databank here says that they're Digimentals of Truth and Time. They're in the cave that's behind you two."
"And what do you want us to do?" Parker asked sarcastically. "Go look for them?"
"I would assume so. They may help you two find a way back here in case things get screwed."
Parker nodded. "Okay. You keep in touch?"
"Yeah." Owsley logged off, his face blinking off the screen in a flash of light.
Parker pressed a button on his digivice, calling up the grid map. The two flashing blue dots were behind him, according to the grid.
"We're going to go into that cave," he said gamely, calmly walking inside. "Come on, Buck."
Buck looked down at the two backpacks and the steaming gas stove beside his feet. "What about our stuff? Won't a bear get at them?"
"Are you kidding?" Parker laughed. "No, of course not! They'll be safe out there. Now come on - we may have an opportunity to come and return as we please."
Buck sighed and sullenly followed Parker into the cave. "Fine," he droned, brushing his long bangs from his face.
-------------------------------------------------
Location - Buck and Parker's camp, a few minutes later
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Though Daisuke and V-mon were the first to run out towards where the strange D3 readings emitted from, Miyako and Hawkmon were the first to arrive on the scene. Iori, Armadimon, Ken, and Wormmon followed immediately behind them. The camp before them brought sparkles to their eyes.
"It's ... an abandoned camp!" Miyako cried out in glee.
"They must have food of some sort in the backpacks!" Iori gasped.
"It's a bonanza of survival equipment!" Ken drooled.
"I'm hungry...." Daisuke and V-mon groaned in unison behind their friends. They had limped up behind the group unawares, tongues lolling out of their mouths and hands wearily on their stomachs.
"If you two were so hungry," Miyako scolded, "then you should have at least not have run out at breakneck speed out here! It takes more energy to run than to eat!"
Daisuke and V-mon sweatdropped and crumpled slowly to the ground, both with dumbstruck expressions crossing their faces. "Just get us something to eat," they moaned, more or less in unison.
Armadimon scampered off to one of the backpacks and opened the main compartment. After a few minutes of burying his muzzle into the bag, he crawled out with two cans in his clawed forefeet.
"Look! Vienna sausages!" he cried out.
Before you could say DIGIMENTAL UP, Daisuke and V-mon ran to Armadimon and snatched the cans from his hands. The gluttonous boy and digimon made a show of opening the cans and shoving the finger-sized sausages into their mouths.
"Hey, hey, you two," Armadimon warned, waving his forelimbs before his face. "There's enough in there for each of you to have a can or more!"
-------------------------------------------------
Location - the cave behind Buck and Parker's camp
-------------------------------------------------
Parker and Buck were surprised that the trail through the cave seemed so well trodden. The dirt was packed hard, with hardly a rock disturbing the path. Light streamed through the occasional hole carved into the roof of the cavern. Travel and even an undisturbed view of their digivice screens were unexpected for the two men.
"I guess we're almost at those blue stars," Buck stated, staring down at the map grid on his digivice. The two red dots that stood for the two men were on top of the blue stars.
Parker shook his head and stopped walking. He looked down at the ground below his feet, then back at his digivice. "Buck, we're right on top of them," he breathed.
"Where?" Buck ran to Parker's side and looked down. "I don't see anything except for our feet and some dirt."
"You're the journalist," Parker scoffed. "You must have, what, a degree in observation?"
"And what are you implying?" Buck sighed angrily and shot a glance towards the hole-ridden roof of the cave. In the corner of his eye he thought he saw two gold-colored objects floating above his head. Disillusioned, he rubbed his eyes and looked back up. Sure enough, there were two golden oblong-shaped objects, large enough to fit in each of the men's palms. The two items descended, one landing in Buck's free hand, the other in Parker's.
Parker shoved his digivice into a pocket and stared at the strange object in his hands. It looked like a scarab beetle from an Egyptian temple, decorated with emeralds. A symbol resembling a simplified clock face was engraved upon it. "What is this?" he asked, turning to Buck.
Buck could only look at a similar item cradled in his palms. His was like a golden flame held at bay by a cord of red tied with bells. Engraved on the flames was a symbol akin to a stylized question mark. "I don't know," he managed at last. "They're probably the Digimentals that Hooter was telling us about."
"And you're absolutely right about that, Cam."
Buck and Parker's eyes grew wide as they searched the cavern frantically. Who had spoken to them? Surely it wasn't Parker - he didn't have that tinny, almost robotic voice. But that voice sure sounded familiar....
"I didn't say anything," Parker laughed. "Did you?"
Buck shook his head. "Don't look at me."
"Then who did?"
Two shadowy figures jumped onto Buck and Parker's chests, sending them to the ground. The two men gasped, the air rushing from their lungs as the strange figures settled on their stomachs. Despite the generous lighting of the cave, they could only see the creatures' eyes.
"Hey there, Frank! Remember us?"
It was that tin-like voice again - and it was coming from the ... thing on Parker's chest! Parker managed to ease his head forward to take a closer look at the creature. It was insect-like, probably only two feet tall. Monstrous green eyes stared from a head in shades of gray, and sharp-looking claws were held before the insect's face, not in any position to frappe him. Shielding his transparent wings was an equally gray shell, scattered with black spikes. A small pair of 'hands' extended from ... springs ... and obviously this creature was sitting on Parker's chest on another pair of legs. Parker shuffled back through his jumbled memory, back to days before the Backstep program had changed his perception of time ... back to his childhood in a church-run orphanage ... just to find the strange creature's identity....
"Tentomon?" he said at length.
The insect nodded his head. "That's me!" He shoved his head towards Parker's, stopping only an inch before the man's nose. "You sure have grown a lot since I last saw you."
"And when was that?" Parker groaned, sitting up. Tentomon flew off of Parker and settled himself on the dirt-covered floor of the cave. He now had a view of the creature on Buck's chest - a furry creature as long as Tentomon was tall, with blue stripes interrupting his red fur and nine feather-like tails in a fan formation on his rump. It looked like a rodent.
"Oh, I'd say ... sixteen years ago - according to time in your world," Tentomon replied.
"Sixteen years?" Parker mused, looking down at the Digimental in his hands. "But then ... I was, what, eleven years old?"
Tentomon nodded again. "Well, I guess somewhere about there. Now, do you mind helping me get Cam up?"
Parker took a step towards the reporter, but Buck had managed to stand up on his own. The strange rodent was by his side, balancing on its hind legs. "I'm Elecmon," the rodent said, waving a clawed forepaw. "I was Cam's partner."
Buck looked down at Elecmon condescendingly, hands on his hips. "It's Buck, Elecmon," he hissed. "Cameron's just a formality."
"Humph! That wasn't so sixteen years ago - Buck." Elecmon crossed his forepaws about his white belly, and his large ears fell.
"Oh, really?" Buck turned to face Parker, his eyes angrily narrowed. "Frank, what exactly are these ... creatures? And how do we know each other?"
Tentomon and Elecmon chimed a response before Parker could even muse upon an answer. "We're digimon - digital monsters!"
"Digimon?" Buck scoffed. "Oh, so you're like that mummy guy that trashed my apartment a few days ago? Are you going to trash Parker's ... apartment ... now, too?"
Elecmon always sounded as if he were in a sour mood, and now was no exception. "No, of course not. Now, pests like Mummymon - whom you so graciously described to us - he's the kind of guy that would trash your pad. And I frankly didn't expect that - not after we defeated him sixteen years ago."
The digimon's response seemed only to make Buck angrier. "Oh, so we did some undead slaying when Parker and I were teenagers. Well, you can get this into your digimon head - Frank and I didn't know each other when we were kids! Sure, I may remember a little punk named Francis, but not Frank Parker here!" He turned away from his partner. "And you can also try to understand that I didn't fight any darn mummy sixteen years ago, either!"
Elecmon sighed. "You were always like this, Buck - always skeptical."
"Well, this is nothing compared to the air strike on Israel three years ago," Buck muttered. "I can believe hail falling from the sky and destroying three entire air forces, but not me fighting the undead and juggling schoolwork at the same time."
"This doesn't sound good," Tentomon chimed.
"And what do you mean by that?" Buck and Parker yelled furiously, temples throbbing.
"You see," Tentomon explained, "the hailstorm you mentioned took place at the same time as one here. Now, three years ago a massive hailstorm crashed through the Digital World. It's what made this cave formation look like Swiss cheese. Now, throughout the Digital World, on these little television sets scattered about, there was an image of a strange digimon warding away darkness with a blade of light."
"A lightsaber, like those on Star Wars?" Parker asked.
Tentomon looked dumbstruck, but otherwise continued. "I don't know what you're talking about. Anyway, the beams from this digimon's blade sent the hail to this world. Days later, the storm stopped, and the images flashed off from the televisions."
"So?" Buck asked. "What's that got to do with anything?"
"Well, it means that something worse is going to happen," Tentomon said.
"And does it concern this strange digimon that caused the hailstorm?" Parker asked.
Tentomon nodded. "Yeah. The digimon is known as Holy Angemon, and legends say that he, along with another digimon, are the primary Guardians of the Center. Now, this hailstorm that Buck mentioned signals the impending end of one of the Guardians."
"Do you know which one?"
"No," Tentomon shrugged, "but we can help you find a way to the Center."
Parker and Buck smiled. "Okay," Buck sighed. "How about this - we'll put our differences behind us, and you can take us to the Center. We'll tell Holy Angemon or this other Guardian that they're in danger, find a way to protect them, and then we'll talk about what supposedly happened sixteen years ago. Deal?"
Elecmon and Tentomon reluctantly nodded. "Deal."
"Now let's go out and get back to camp," Parker breathed. "Maybe you can tell us how these Digimentals work over some Vienna sausages."
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Location - Buck and Parker's camp
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The Chosen Children and their digimon were seated around the portable stove, cans of Vienna sausages in hand, paw, claw, or wing. Delighted with the breakfast they had stumbled upon, they dug their hands into the cans of preserved sausages and took generous bites. Well, except for Daisuke - he was still shoving them down his throat.
"How many more are left, Armadimon?" he asked, throwing another can behind him. "I'm still hungry."
Armadimon stuffed his nose into a backpack, and then soon emerged all too quickly. "Sorry, Daisuke - no more."
Daisuke stood up, his temples throbbing. "No more Vienna sausages!" he roared. "This is an outrage!"
"Hey, the rest of us have to eat," Miyako said between bites.
"But it's Vienna sausages! I love Vienna sausages!"
Strange footsteps silenced Daisuke for a rare moment. The boy turned towards the cave - footfalls seemed to echo from within.
"You hear that?" he asked.
The children nodded. "Yeah," they whispered in unison.
Presently two grown men exited from the cave, two digimon before them. The men were holding golden items, similar to Digimentals, in their hands. One of them, a young man with dark hair and dark clothing, pointed an angry finger at Daisuke. He said something, but it was in English.
"Does anyone know what he's saying?" Daisuke asked when the man finished talking.
The kids shook their heads. "None of us know English - except for hamburger and hot dog and 'how are you'," Ken sighed.
"I thought you were the genius of the group!" Daisuke yelled. "Now, I don't know what these yahoos want - but I'll tell them to stay away from our hoard of Vienna sausage! V-mon - Digimental Up!"
The screen of Daisuke's D3 lit up red as the Digimental of Courage was activated. V-mon, who was beside Daisuke, started to glow with a red light. "V-mon, armor evolve! Fladramon, burning courage!"
A dragon dressed in armor covered in a flame motif appeared before Daisuke, poised in a battle ready. "Nobody goes after Daisuke's horde of Vienna sausage!" he growled.
The man that had pointed at Daisuke took the Digimental in his hands. One of the digimon that had come out with him, a Tentomon, flew over to the man's side. The digimon seemed to whisper something in the man's ear, to which the man smiled gleefully.
Soon the man held the Digimental away from his body. He narrowed his eyes and glared at Daisuke. The boy may not have known what the man had said to him before, but he seemed intent on gaining his hoard of Vienna sausage.
(For our purposes I will tell you what Frank Parker told Daisuke in his most serious NSA-agent voice - not so that we are left in the dark any longer.)
"I don't know who the heck you are, kid, but you've depleted my entire supply of Vienna sausage! You're going to have to pay, too! Tentomon - Digimental Up!"
The man with the blond hair and unusually long bangs - Buck Williams - followed suit, extending his Digimental before him. "You stole our breakfast!" he growled behind clenched teeth. "Elecmon - Digimental Up!"
Daisuke was threatened, yet he was stubborn enough to hold his ground. The Chosen Children behind him could only look dumbly at the strange American adults that had digimon partners in tow.
"I can't believe Daisuke's dumb enough to claim someone else's Vienna sausage hoard as his own," Miyako grumbled.
"I wonder how this turns out," Iori scoffed.
to be continued
"Itsudemo Aeru Kara", ending animation, and credits play....