Last Time on Digimon: Digital Monsters.
Kari celebrated her eighteenth birthday with her old friends from the digidestined. Things were going well until Kari's weird new powers flared up again. Unable to control herself, Kari tore up her apartment, hurt her friends, and did some serious damage to the neighborhood. The other digidestined were trying to decide whether to stop Kari or try to help her when someone took the decision out of their hands and attacked Kari.
Di Di Di...
Di Di Di...
Digimon, Digital Monsters, Digimon are the champions!
Digimon, Digital Monsters, Digimon are the champions!
Change into digital champions, to save and defend the world!
Digimon, Digital Monsters, Digimon are the champions!
Digimon, Digital Monsters, Digimon are the champions!
Digivolve into champions! Power merge!
Digimon, Digital Monsters, Digimon are the champions!
Digimon, Digital Monsters, Digimon are the champions!
Digimon, Digital Monsters! Digimon!
DIGIMON: DIGITAL MONSTERS
Clash of the Digidestined
Tyler, Anna, and Dave arrived in time to see a bolt of energy shoot from the glowing mass in the center of the column of light to strike the police car, flipping it over. Terrified, the officers who had been prepared to open fire took off running.
"What is that?", Tyler asked, shielding his eyes as he tried to make out the source of the attack.
"Whatever it is, it sure is tearing up this street something fierce.", Dave said with a whistle.
Anna bit her lip and looked at the destruction around her. "People are being hurt. Can we do anything to stop this?"
Tyler clenched his fists as another bolt of light sent a streetlight crashing to the ground. "We're sure gonna try!"
Demimeramon flew from Tyler's shoulder. "I'm ready Tyler!"
Using the arm that wasn't in a cast, Tyler pulled out his D-Sphere and pointed it at Demimeramon.
D-SPHERE ONLINE.
INITIATING DIGIVOLUTION.
"Demimeramon digivolve to...Candlemon!"
"Whatever that is, we have to stop it before it does any more damage. Hit it Candlemon!"
"Be careful.", Anna whispered.
"Flame Bomber!" A ball of fire surged from Candlemon's mouth and flew through the air. For a few seconds it closed the distance to the glowing object and then it hit home. The column of light vanished and the object which had been attacking the street fell from the sky.
Tyler squinted up. "Is it just me, or does that look like..."
"A girl!", Dave exclaimed.
* * *
"Kari!", Gatomon screamed as the young girl plummeted towards the ground.
The white cat leapt through the hole in the wall of the Kamiya apartment.
"Gatomon wait!", Tai called from behind her.
Gatomon's body began to glow and morph as soon as she cleared the building. "Gatomon digivolve to...Angewomon!"
Now a six foot woman clad in white silk and borne aloft by eight white wings, Angewomon shot after Kari who has just fallen past her. Beating her wings, she shot past Kari in the air and stopped below her. Kari landed in her arms, still unconscious. Angewomon lowered herself slowly cradling Kari in her arms.
* * *
"Another digimon?!", Tyler cried as the white angel caught the falling girl.
"She's so beautiful.", Anna breathed.
"I'll say.", Dave replied.
Candlemon looked at the angel digimon who was lowering towards the ground. "I'm pretty sure that's an Angewomon. Angel digimon are very rare and very powerful."
Dave held out his D-Sphere towards Angewomon.
D-SPHERE ONLINE.
ANALYZER ACTIVE.
ANGEWOMON
LEVEL: ULTIMATE
ATTACK: CELESTIAL ARROW, HEAVEN'S CHARM
"Um guys.", Dave stammered. "She's coming this way and I think she looks mad."
Indeed Angewomon had set Kari gently on the ground and was no moving towards them with a glaring expression on her face. "You attacked my partner. Explain yourself."
Tyler took a step back but his voice was angry. "You're partner was tearing this street apart. She attacked those police officers. She's the one who needs to explain herself."
"Freeze!" The police had returned with backup. Three of them now had their guns trained on Angewomon as a fourth tried to edge past her while keeping his gun pointed at Kari's prone form. One of the officers who had been caught in Kari's initial attack stepped forward. "You're under arrest. And so is she." He pointed at Kari which unfortunately drew Angewomon's attention to the officer trying to sneak past her.
The moment she saw the gun pointing at Kari her expression hardened. She pointed her hand at the officer and it began to glow pink. "Put that weapon down.", she ordered.
The other officers immediately tensed to fire. "Get on your knees and put your hands behind your head!", the lead officer shouted.
Angewomon turned her head to look at the lead officer while keeping her hand pointed at the one whose weapon was still trained on Kari. "Tell him to get away from her, for his own sake."
"You are in no position to give orders lady. Put your hands behind your head now or we will open fire!"
On the sidelines, Tyler and the other went almost completely unnoticed. "If she's a digimon, those cops don't stand a chance.", Tyler muttered. "We have to stop her before she can hurt them."
"They're the ones with guns. Maybe we should let them handle this.", Dave said.
"Guns wouldn't have worked on that thing we fought in the park and I doubt they can hurt her. Those guys don't realize what they're dealing with."
"Something isn't right here.", Hydromon said. "Angewomon said that girl was her partner. That means she's a digidestined."
Tyler shook his head. "I don't care who she is. That girl was blasting everything in sight before and now her digimon's about to attack a bunch of police officers. There is no way they are good guys."
"She's an ultimate. I can't beat her, but I think I can distract her away from those police.", Candlemon said.
"Do it guy! We've got your back!", Dave whispered.
Tyler nodded. "Just be careful those police don't get hurt."
"Right." Candlemon tensed and then leapt at Angewomon. "Yo wings!"
Startled, Angewomon turned just in time to get hit in the stomach as Candlemon barreled into her. The sheer unexpected momentum toppled her over.
Taking advantage of the distraction, the officer closest to Kari ran to her and began putting a pair of handcuffs on her wrists.
Angewomon threw Candlemon off and snarled at the officer. "Get away from her!" Her hand came up and a sphere of pink energy formed around it. "Heaven's..."
"Open fire!" The other officers fired their guns at Angewomon but the bullets barely dented her seemingly vulnerable skin.
"Get back!", Candlemon shouted at the police while jumping between Angewomon and the object of her attack. "Flame Bomber!" The ball of fire struck Angewomon but she shrugged it off.
"Get out of my way!", she ordered.
"No way!", Candlemon shouted holding his ground.
"Get her Lushmon!", Dave yelled. The little ball of Cabbage in his arms took off and began to glow green.
"Lushmon digivolve to..."
A sphere of green energy formed around the small digimon and almost instantly cracked apart. He was now a three foot tall pile of dirt with various roots and leaves sticking haphazardly out of his body. A pair of shiny black eyes peered out and he had a mouth which was little more than a hole in his muddy form. "Soilmon!"
"Dirt bomb!" Soilmon belched a ball of mud which splattered against Angewomon's head. Momentarily blinded she staggered back , clawing the offensive substance out of her eyes.
"Should I Anna?", Hydromon asked her partner.
Anna hesitated and then finally nodded.
"Hydromon digivolve to...Midokibetamon!"
"Hydro Jet!" A shot of high pressure water from Midokibetamon's mouth hit Angewomon in the stomach causing her to bend over take several steps back.
"Enough!", Angewomon cried, flinging away most of the mud. "Kari is coming with me!" She stepped towards the body of her partner and the police who had stood nearby watching the battle tensely raised their guns again.
"Neither of you are going anywhere!", the lead officer called.
* * *
The digidestined had watched as Angewomon had landed on the ground. They had seen the three children confront her but they couldn't hear what was being said.
"What's going on down there?", Davis asked.
"Oh no. look.", Sora pointed to the newly arrived police officers as they moved towards Angewomon. The resulting standoff had shocked them all.
Tai was already moving towards the door with Davis right behind them.
"Those cops don't know what's going on down there.", Davis said. "We have to stop them before they hurt Kari or Angewomon."
"I'd be more worried about Angewomon hurting them.", Tai replied. "If she thinks they're threatening Kari she'll do whatever she has to stop them."
"So what? You want to let them arrest Kari?"
Tai sighed. "I don't want anything to happen to Kari but those men are just doing their jobs."
T.K. nodded. "From their point of view she just attacked the street and their fellow officers. They don't know she wasn't in control of herself."
"So just whose side are you guys on?", Davis demanded.
"The side that keeps anyone, including my sister from getting hurt.", Tai said firmly. "Let's go."
"Um guys...", Yolei called from the window. "Things just got more complicated."
Tai, T.K., Davis, and Rumiko ran down the steps heading for the ground floor of the apartment building. Agumon and Larvamon were right behind them and, despite Tai's protests, Davis was dragging Veemon behind him.
"These kids must be the new digidestined. You're our best bet for reasoning with them Rumiko.", Tai said to the younger girl.
"But they don't know me any more than they do you. Why would they listen to me?"
"At least you can try to prove you're one of them. You're their own age and you have the same digivice as theirs. Hopefully they'll be more willing to trust you."
"They'd better listen to her, for their sakes.", Davis growled.
"Davis, I don't want you doing anything unless I give the word.", Tai said sternly.
"I'm in this to help Kari, Tai! If those new kids are against her, then I'm against them!"
"Please don't do anything to make this worse, Davis.", T.K. pleaded.
"I'm surprised you're not with me on this T.K. If Kari can't count on you to protect her..."
T.K. spun around and slammed Davis into the wall. "Listen to me! I care about Kari more than anything else in the world! I would do anything to protect her and that includes protecting her from herself. Kari would never want anyone else to get hurt on her behalf. We're going to help her but starting a fight with the police or our fellow digidestined is not going to help anyone."
Davis shoved T.K. away. "Those guys aren't my fellow anything! They've already picked a side and it isn't mine. You do what you want, but I swear that nothing happens to Kari while I'm around!"
They emerged on the street to see Angewomon facing off against the police as well as the three rookie digimon.
"Rumiko, try to talk to those kids. Explain what's going on and try to get them and their digimon to stand down." Rumiko nodded and carefully made her way across the street to where the other digidestined were standing.
"Veemon and I will deal with those cops.", Davis said to Tai. "You help Angewomon get Kari out of here."
Tai grabbed Davis by the back of his shirt. "No way Davis. You stay here. Veemon is in no condition to deal with anyone and there is no way you are attacking those officers. I will try to talk to them. Agumon, you tell Angewomon to get out of here before she makes things any worse than she already has." Agumon nodded but Davis tried to pull free.
"What about Kari?", he demanded.
"I'll take care of her Davis. You and T.K. stay here."
Rumiko was almost on top of the three younger digidestined before Anna heard her and turned around. "Oh!", the petite blond girl cried and backed away.
Tyler and Dave heard and turned to see what was wrong.
"Um, hi.", Rumiko said nervously.
"Hi.", Dave said amiably.
"Who are you?", Tyler demanded.
Rumiko considered how to handle the situation for a moment. "My name is Rumiko. I'm a digidestined like you. See?" She held out her D-Sphere.
Dave broke into a grin. "Well how ya doin'. We were wondering when we'd get to meet you."
"Sorry for being rude.", Tyler said. "Things are a little tense right now. My name's Tyler, this is Anna and Dave. If you're digimon is with you we could use some help against that Angewomon. She's trying to protect that girl over there after she attacked this street and those police officers."
Rumiko sighed nervously. "Actually, that girl is my friend Kari. She's actually a digidestined just like us. And um, I was kind of hoping you could call of your digimon."
Anna looked startled and then confused. Dave just looked skeptical. Tlyer's face hardened in anger. "Call them off? Your friend caused all of this destruction and then that digimon threatened those police officers."
"I know, but, it wasn't her fault. She has these powers that she can't control. She would never have attacked anyone is she'd been in control. Angewomon is just trying to protect her. All she cares about is keeping those guns away from Kari. If they'd just back down I know she'd never hurt any of them."
Tyler looks less sure of himself but he still seemed determined. "Look, it that's true then just get Angewomon to back off. Those officers aren't about to shoot an unconscious girl. But even if all of this was an accident, your friend still has to answer for what happened."
Anna came forward. "Tyler, maybe we should..."
Now becoming slightly angry herself, Rumiko cut in. "Look, I know this is bad. But if they arrest Kari, she'll either end up hurting someone else the next time her powers kick in, or they'll keep her locked away because they don't know any other way of dealing with her."
Tyler was beginning to heat up again. "If she has some kind of destructive powers that she can't control then maybe being locked up is the best place for her."
"What?!", Rumiko shrieked. "There is no way I'm letting anyone stick my friend in a cell somewhere just because they're afraid of her!"
'They'll stick her in a cell because she broke the law and she's a menace!", Tyler shouted back.
Dave stepped between them just as it looked they were about to come to blows. "Guys, guys. Why don't you all calm down. Things are tense enough as it is."
"Shut up!", Tyler and Rumiko shouted together. Looking crestfallen, Dave stepped back.
"Call of your digimon!", Rumiko shouted.
"No chance!", Tyler responded.
"You should have listened to her.", Davis said quietly before decking Tyler.
"Davis!", Rumiko shouted indignantly.
"Tyler!", Ann shrieked.
"Hey now.", Dave said with a hint of irritation. "That was not called for."
"Shut up Jockboy or I'll knock you out too.", Davis growled.
T.K. ran up holding his head. "Sorry, he hit me too when I tried to stop him."
"Someone had to stick up for Kari since you were too chicken to.", Davis retorted.
"Rumiko threw up her hands. "That's great Davis! Just great! Now we'll never get them on our side."
Davis looked over the diminutive Anna and Dave who seemed to be at a loss for words. "Big loss.", he said sarcastically.
* * *
Tai move cautiously towards the three officers whose backs were turned towards him. The fourth was still busy guarding Kari and keeping an eye on Angewomon who seemed ready to attack at any moment. Tai knew that all of their digimon were naturally protective of their partners. Still, he truly hoped Angewomon had enough restraint not to unleash her power on those officers. The digimon's safety was never in question. Their bullets wouldn't even scratch her. But if a firefight did occur there was a good chance a stray bullet could hit Kari or any of the other humans and they were not quite so invincible.
Tai cleared his throat. "Officers?"
One of the cops spun on him. "Get out of here kid, before you get hurt."
Tai nodded and tried very hard to appear non-threatening. "I realize that officer. It's just that the girl over there is my little sister and I would really like to get her our of this dangerous situation."
"Kid, your sister just blew holes up and down this black and tried to fry me and my partner. The only place she is going is a maximum security prison. Now back off!"
For a moment Tai felt a flash of anger and wondered if Davis hadn't been right all along. He collected himself and tried again. "I know how bad this looks, but you guys have got to believe me when I say that you are dealing with things beyond your control. Right now the best place for her is with her family and friends. We're probably the only ones with a chance of helping her."
This time the officer spun and pointed his gun at Tai. "Right now I don't care about helping her kid! I'm more worried about the people she hurt and all the other people she'll hurt if we let her go free. Now I'll admit I don't know shit about little girls flying around and shooting lightning bolts but I'll be damned if I just walk away from this."
"I tried.", Tai said quietly. "I really did."
* * *
From the alley next to the Kamiya's apartment building Agumon considered his options. As Wargreymon he could overpower Angewomon but fighting one of his closest friends was not a desirable option. Still Angewomon was behaving irrationally and she needed to be subdued before she did something they would all regret.
"Agumon digivolve to...Greymon!"
Maybe like this he could at least talk to her and convince her how big a mistake she was making. He only hoped Tai was doing better than he imagined he was about to. "Oh well. Better put on my best face.", Greymon muttered.
"Angewomon!", he roared. "Better make this look good.", he thought.
At the sound of his voice, the police officers spun towards the alley where he was emerging. "What the hell is that?", one of them shouted.
Greymon took a deep breath. "You have broken our sacred law by venturing to the human world! You will now come with me and face the justice of your people!"
Angewomon looked at him aghast. "What the hell are you talking about?", she demanded.
"By the decree of our great lord, no mystical creature shall breach the veil to the human world! You shall face judgement!"
The police now had no idea what to do. Candlemon, Soilmon, and Midokibetamon were plenty confused themselves. "That's a Greymon.", Soilmon said.
Midokibetamon nodded.
"So what is he going on about?"
"I have no idea."
Tai shook his head. "This is not what I had in mind."
"Get out of my way you idiot!", Angewomon yelled.
"This is just weird.", Candlemon sighed. "Hey Tyler..."
Candlemon started as he saw Tyler laying on the ground unconscious. "Tyler! What happened?"
Davis looked into the sky. "Well..."
Dave pointed at Davis. "That rude fella knocked him out."
"It was kind of a heat of the moment thing.", Davis said.
"Get away from him!", Candlemon cried.
Davis backed away. "Whoa. Hey, calm down!"
"Flame Bomber!" The fire ball flew at Davis only to be intercepted by a blue streak. Veemon, now considerably singed, lay on the ground.
He was no longer inebriated although he was hardly in peak condition. "That was a mistake.", he gasped.
"Aw lighten up. I was aiming at his feet.", Candlemon snorted.
"V-Headbutt!" Veemon launched at Candlemon head first, knocking him down.
Drawn by the attention, the police now had three targets to worry about. "I don't get paid enough for this.", one muttered.
"Take him Veemon!", Davis cried pulling out his digivice. "Digi-armor energize!"
Veemon disappeared in a crackle of blue energy. "Veemon armor-digivolve to...Raidramon, the Storm of Friendship!" Now on all fours and clad in black armor Raidramon hunched over and growled at Candlemon. "Time to learn some manners rookie! Blue Thunder!" A blast of electricity threw Candlemon across the street.
"All right, everybody freeze.", the lead police officer said half heartedly. By now no one was paying attention to him any more.
Candlemon got up and glared. His gaze caught a car still burning from being struck by one of Kari's blasts. Candlemon grinned. "Let's see if this works." He concentrated and some of the flames arced through the air and absorbed into his body. "My turn.", he whispered.
In his pocket, Tlyer's digivice flared to life.
ELEMENTAL FUSION.
INITIATING DIGIVOLUTION.
"Elental Fusion! Candlemon digivolve to...Meramon!"
Realizing that the situation was spinning out of control Tai made a futile attempt to take command. "Davis! Call Raidramon off and get back inside! T.K. grab Kari and..."
"Kari comes with me.", Angewomon said firmly.
"Fine! Then both of you take her to safety, now!"
"Now wait just a minute!", one of the officers said.
"Take a nap.", Raidramon growled and zapped three of the police with a low level volt, just enough to knock them out. He was immediately tackled by Meramon.
Now alone, the final officer did the only thing he could think of. He aimed his gun at the biggest target he could fine and opened fire. The bullets bounce off of Greymon's back and the dinosaur digimon turned with annoyance. "Give me a break." A flick of his tail rendered the officer unconscious.
"What are you doing!?", Tai shouted.
Greymon immediately looked sheepish. "Sorry. But he was shooting at me."
A blast of water hit Greymon in the side of the head. He turned and saw Midokibetamon staring at him defiantly. "I really don't know who you all are.", she said. "But you're obviously not with us."
"Dry up.", Greymon said with a smile and used another flick of his tail to sent the smaller aquatic digimon flying.
"Greymon, turn back to Agumon and get out of here!", Tai shouted.
"She attacked me first.", Greymon said.
"What are you? Three years old?", Tai said with disgust.
Anna rushed to Midokibetamon's side. "Are you okay?", she asked.
"I'm better than he's going to be.", Midokibetamon said rubbing a welt on her head. She looked around and spied a pool of water spreading around a broken fire hydrant.
"No, don't.", Anna pleaded.
Midokibetamon hesitated. "Just stay out of harm's way Anna. We'll take these guys down and then sort it all out." She closed her eyes and began to focus. water from the pool flowed across the ground towards her and began absorbing into her feet.
"Please try not to get hurt.", Anna said.
Midokibetamon nodded. "Elemental Fusion! Midokibetamon digivolve to...Depthmon!"
T.K. knelt by Kari with Angewomon hovering protectively overhead. One of Kari's wrists was still in handcuffs. "Come on honey.", he whispered. "Let's get you out of here."
The feeling of a strong grip on his shoulder stopped him. He turned to see Dave standing over him. "I admit I don't rightly know what this is all about, but I can't let you take that lady anywhere until we get this sorted out."
Davis's fist crashing across his jaw sent Dave stumbling away. "Hurry up T.K. I'll keep this bozo off of you."
T.K. got up with Kari in his arms. "For god's sake Davis. Don't hurt him."
Davis nodded. "I'll try not to dent that big head of his."
Angewomon took off with T.K. and Kari in her arms.
Dave turned around to face Davis, rubbing his jaw. "I'm normally a pretty easy going guy, but I have taken about all I am going to take."
"Bring it.", Davis sneered.
A ball of mud in Davis' face broke up the impending confrontation and sent him to the ground.
"Good move buddy!", Dave cheered Soilmon. The large mound of dirt grinned.
His smile faded as a surge of electricity from Raidramon cut through him. Soilmon didn't have time to retaliate however as Raidramon was suddenly overwhelmed by a blast of fire from Meramon.
His armor smoking Raidramon turned on the flaming digimon and released an attack of his own. "Blue Thunder!"
Meramon raised his hands and launched a roiling ball of fire. "Magma Blast!"
The two attacks collided with a brilliant explosion.
"Aqua Cannon!" Twin streams of water drove Greymon back, his claws tearing gouges in the pavement.
He reared back his head and released a ball of flame from his mouth. "Nova Blast!"
Depthmon danced away on her finned tail as the ground exploded behind her.
* * *
Back in the Kamiya apartment, the remaining digidestined watched the street below anxiously.
Yolei finally turned and grabbed Hawkmon who was still slightly drunk. "Come on! We're going down there!"
Matt moved to block her way. "No way Yolei. Things are bad enough down there. If any more of us get involved, it will just make things worse."
"But...", Yolei tried to object.
"Tai is down there. He'll handle this. Just give him time."
Yolei agreed to stay much to Hawkmon's relief.
The crowd around the window suddenly drew back as Angewomon flew through the window with T.K. and Kari in her arms.
Angewomon set the humans down and T.K. laid Kari down on the couch. "Is she okay?", he asked.
Matt checked her pulse. "I think she's just asleep."
"How could she sleep through all that?", Sora asked incredulously.
Matt shook his head. "I think that display earlier left her completely exhausted."
"I just hope it doesn't happen again as soon as she wakes up.", Ken said quietly.
* * *
Back on the street things had dissolved into an all out brawl. Greymon matched his fire against Depthmon's water. Raidramon held his own against Meramon. Rumiko and Larvamon watched from the sidelines with Anna and the unconscious Tyler unable to decide whether joining the fight would help or make things worse. Tai and Davis now faced off against Dave and Soilmon although Tai had been reluctant to get involved at all.
"Look...", Tia said trying to be reasonable. "None of this is necessary. We're all on the same team."
Dave did not appear particularly upset but he was also unconvinced. "I ain't looking for a fight but your guy there did slug me and Tyler back there. And you were trying to help that girl who did all the damage. If you are the good guys, seems to me you have a funny way of doing things."
"Like we care what you think of our methods!", Davis retorted back. "Me and Tai are the leaders of the digidestined. You ought to be taking orders from us."
Tai finally had had enough. "Davis! Will you shut up! You have done nothing but make this situation worse from the moment you got involved. It's your fault that this whole fight started!"
"Yeah, well I'm also gonna be the one to put a stop to it." Davis moved towards Dave with his fists raised.
"Watch it tough guy.", Soilmon warned.
"What are you going to do? Throw more mud at me?"
Soilmon narrowed his eyes. "Check this out!" A tree planted in a pot of soil on the sidewalk lining the road had been partially uprooted. Now wispy tendrils of green energy floated from the tree to Soilmon.
"Uh-oh", Davis murmured.
Soilmon began to glow green and Dave smiled. "Now you're gonna see something.", he said with a whistle.
"Elemental Fusion! Soilmon digivolve to...Chloramon!" His body was now akin to a human body wrapped completely in green vines. A handful of leaves stuck out around his body. Half a dozen vines came out of the ground and held him a few feet off the ground.
Davis looked up at the now considerably larger digimon. He put up his hands in a defensive gesture and took a step back. "He's all yours Tai."
Tai just looked at him. "Are you out of your mind?"
They all jumped back in surprise as Depthmon flew past them. Greymon stomped forward and positioned himself between Tai and Davis, and Chloramon.
Chloramon leaned back and a pair of vines whipped out and circled Greymon's neck. "Poison Lash!" Tiny thorns dug into the skin of Greymon's neck releasing poison into his blood. Instantly weakened, Greymon sunk to his knees.
Seeing his partner in pain, Tai clenched his digivice in one hand. "I have had enough of this.", he growled. Orange light from the digivice washed over Greymon and he suddenly shrunk out of the vines' grasp. Now in his Agumon form, the small digimon looked at Tai. Tai nodded.
Dave and Chloramon looked at each other. "Now what?", Dave asked.
A sudden flare of light sent everyone including Davis stumbling back covering their eyes. "Agumon warp digivolve to...!" Now standing several feet over the humans, clad in golden armor with massive clawed gauntlets attached to each arm, the mega level digimon glowered at his bewildered opponents. "Wargreymon!"
"End this Wargeymon!", Tai ordered. "Gently.", he added.
Now turning their attention to Wargeymon the three champion digimon attacked, but they were far too outmatched. A swipe of one clawed hand sent Chloramon into a wall where he lost consciousness and reverted to Soilmon. Meramon and Depthmon were both felled by a small ball of red energy which Wargreymon threw in their direction. They were both knocked out on impact and reverted to their rookie forms as well.
Terrified, Anna seemed frozen against a wall. Tyler was just beginning to regain consciousness and Dave was standing protectively over Soilmon. Rumiko made the first move as she walked over to Tyler and helped him to his feet. At first he accepted her help, but then, seeing who was helping him, he angrily wrenched out of her grasp and nearly fell down again.
Wargreymon looked questioningly at Tai. "It's over. Return to Agumon and then go back upstairs.", Tai said. Wargreymon quickly shrunk back to his rookie level.
"Are you sure Tai?", Agumon asked. Tai nodded.
Out of energy, Raidramon turned back into Veemon. Davis went to help his partner and found Tai blocking his way. Glowering, Tai pointed back at the apartment building. "Take Veemon and go inside Davis, now." Davis began to protest, but the look on Tai's face shut him up.
Once Davis had gone the street was empty except for Tai, Rumiko, Tyler, Anna, Dave. and their digimon. "Now...", Tai said. "I think we all have a lot to talk about."
"Tai!" At the sound of Matt's voice. Tai turned around. "Tai, we just heard on the TV. There are police on the way, a lot of them. We have to get out of here now!"
"But..."
"The others are already in the Digital World. Right now, no one knows Kari was responsible for this but the first place they'll go is your apartment. If the police catch any of us here, there's no telling what will happen."
Tai was torn. "But if we run..."
"Tai please! We do not want to answer the kind of questions that are going to come up when they get here."
Tyler was watching them both from the sidelines. Now he stepped forward glaring. "So your sister tears up the street and attacks a bunch of cops then you and your friend do even more damage and now you're going to run away?"
"Hey!" Matt turned on Tyler angrily. "You've been a digidestined for less than a day. You don't know us and you don't know what we've been through together. So just back off and..."
"No. He's right."
Matt looked at Tai in surprise. "Tai...?"
"He's right Matt. Kari may not have been in control of herself but I was. I let this confrontation get out of hand. I'm supposed to be a leader but look at the example I set here. I snapped at Davis for being too aggressive but I haven't done any better. When the chips were down the best solution I could come up with was to get Wargreymon to clobber these guys. They digidestined just like us and that was the only way I could handle their disagreeing with me."
The sound of approaching sirens was evident and Matt was getting nervous. "Tai, we can work all this out later, but right now..."
"Go.", Tai said. "I'm staying. I won't let Kari take the fall for this, but someone has to take responsibility. It's time I acted like the leader I'm supposed to be and set an example."
Matt shook his head. "Kari needs you Tai. If someone has to stay behind and deal with this, let me. You said yourself that you're our leader. They're all going to need you to tell them what to do."
Tai smiled. "You're all past the point where you need me to make decisions for you. This is my fault Matt. You go join the others. Take care of Kari for me. Tell her I'll join her as soon as I'm able."
Matt placed his hand on Tai's shoulder. "You trusted me to take care of her once before and I blew it. I promise I won't let you down again."
"I know." The sirens were almost upon them. "Now go!"
Matt started to go but them looked at the younger digidestined who seemed unsure how to react. "What about them?"
Tai turned to Tyler and the others who had gathered around him. Rumiko stood somewhat apart from the group. "Please, go with Matt. I know I haven't given you any reason to trust me but I'm asking you to have a little faith. Despite what happened here we are together in this, all of us. I know you were doing what you thought was right. And you were probably more justified in your actions than I was."
Rumiko was already standing with Matt but the others were still unsure.
Tai spoke more urgently this time. "I promise that Matt and the others will explain everything. Maybe then you'll understand what you've been going through."
"I think we can trust these guys Tyler.", Candlemon said. "I can at least vouch that we'll be okay in the digital world."
"What's the digital world?", Anna asked.
"It's where we're from.", Midokibetamon replied indicating the other digimon. "Don't worry Anna. I'll watch out for you."
Tyler looked at Anna and Dave. Dave shrugged and nodded. Anna nodded nervously. "All right we'll go."
Tyler, Anna, Dave, Rumiko and their digimon followed Matt back into the apartment building. Matt turned to Tai one last time. "Good luck."
Tai nodded. "Take care of her. Take care of all of them."
Tai was left standing alone on the street. Within moments, police cars and emergency vehicles appeared from every direction. Tai sighed and waited.
"Will the digidestined be able to get together and work out their differences? What will happen to Tai? Find out next time on Digimon: Digital Monsters."