Last Week: It was another chaotic Saturday night when Henry and Yolei went out with Ken and Davis lurking around in disguise. Although the original plan was to make sure Yolei had the worst night of her life, it was Terriermon who ended up sticking his nose in and making the night unforgettable. Unfortunately, he made things BETTER and not worse. Meanwhile, Catherine had a night out of her own with Tai and TK. And while she hoped to make a choice that night, things didn't get any easier. As for the older DigiDestined, they all got a message from Agumon and Gabumon warning them of the imminent danger that was lying ahead.


Digimon: The College Years

Episode 22- Procrastinator's Anonymous


The underground Server base had been quiet these past few days. After the victory over WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon, things had been quiet and spies didn't dare attempt to snoop around Server since then. But for Puppetmon, all this inaction was starting to get to him. He wanted to play with someone.

That's when things started getting livelier. Puppetmon entered the main chamber and witnessed an argument between Datamon…and the supercomputer screen. It appeared that the Dark One had chosen to make contact again and he was still shrouded by darkness.

"Well…you see, I'm not much closer to getting you out," Datamon explained. "The whole nature of the Dark Ocean is wrapped in mystery and even I cannot compute it. I haven't the faintest idea how to bring you here."

"I have been far too patient with you!" the Dark One boomed. "You haven't even succeeded in destroying the other DigiDestined! In fact, from what you've reported back to me, there are even MORE of them?!"

"A breed calling themselves Tamers," Datamon replied. "But we're quickly learning more about them and their techniques. They will soon find themselves overpowered by our minions and Black Gears."

"Your Black Gears are proving useless!" the Dark One continued. "And the final Dark Spore has also proven to be useless! You haven't even taken proper advantage of your servant!"

"The Digimon Empress is playing her part to the letter," Datamon protested. "In fact, she has used the Black Gears very well! You should see the new Digimon she helped create with them."

"But none of it is bringing me closer to escaping the Dark Ocean! And if you cannot find a way to release me and bring me to the Child of Light, then you will bring her to me!"

"Come again?" Puppetmon cut in.

"Once I have the holder of the Crest of Light here, I will have more power than you can imagine! And I will have more than enough power to escape this place! And once I escape the Dark Ocean, I will take over both the human world and the Digital World!"

"But if we can't get you out, how do you expect us to get her in?" Puppetmon pointed out.

"She'll deny it until her dying day, but the Child of Light holds much angst in her heart. She still struggles with the darkness. Once you bring her here, away from all that gives her hope, the darkness will overwhelm her and the Dark Ocean will claim her! My patience is running thin! Bring me the Child of Light!"

The feed died once again and Puppetmon just casually shrugged. "I can't believe I'm listening to someone whose face I've never even seen before. You'd think he'd step out of those shadows once in a while. I like to see who I'm playing with."

"As if there wasn't enough pressure on me," Datamon muttered. "I've got a big, ugly Digimon whose face I can't even see pushing me to go even faster than I'm going now, I'm out of Black Gears, and my Digimon Empress isn't even here!"

"So who needs her?" Puppetmon growled.

"ChaosGallantmon won't respond to any of my orders!" Datamon answered sourly. "It's as if he'll only listen to her."

"Give me five minutes with him! He won't like what I do with broken toys!"

"He's not a broken toy! He's still in good condition! We just have to wait for her to come back. But since she isn't coming, we might as well send someone else."

"But who else do we have?"

There was nobody present in the base until somebody else came in. It was a Cherrymon and a Black Gear was faintly noticeable in the leaves of the tree-like ultimate-level Digimon.

"If you're looking for someone to get a job done, you can count on me," Cherrymon said with a voice that sounded like a poor man's Marlon Brando. "Believe me, those twerps won't know what hit them."

"What makes you think you can do anything?" Puppetmon growled.

"Don't you know who I am?" Cherrymon shot back. "I am…Cherrymon: Master of Disguise!!"

"Master of Disguise?" Datamon repeated.

"That's right! Observe!"

Cherrymon reached into his leaves and pulled out an oversized fake nose and mustache. He put the accessory on his face. It looked like…Cherrymon wearing an oversized fake nose and mustache. Puppetmon sweatdropped.

"Huh?"

Cherrymon removed the fake nose and mustache. "I'm over here! HA! I'll bet you didn't recognize me with this cunning disguise! But that's not all! Check this out!"

Cherrymon reached into his leaves and pulled out a gigantic Afro. He put the Afro on his head and added a pair of sunglasses. For Puppetmon, this whole display was bizarre.

"Is he for real?" Puppetmon whispered to Datamon.

"Let's just humor him," Datamon whispered back.

Puppetmon nodded. "Why…where did he go? I remember a Cherrymon standing here just a second ago."

"Ha ha! I'm right here!" Cherrymon piped up. He removed the Afro and glasses and stood proudly. "Didn't recognize me, did you?"

"*I* sure didn't," Datamon said dryly. "We have one simple task in mind for you: Bring the Child of Light to us. Bring the one known as Kari."

"And smash anything in your way!" Puppetmon added.

"Bring the one known as Kari," Cherrymon repeated. "I can do that! It'll take my cleverest of disguises, but I can do it!"

"You'd better!" Puppetmon threatened as he held up his hammer. "I'm warning you! You wouldn't be the FIRST Cherrymon I've chopped into splinters!"

Datamon began placing coordinates on the computer screen. "Since I can't contact our Digimon Empress, I'll have to rely on other methods. But I believe I have a backup plan. I'll send you in through an experimental process I've been working on. Let's try THIS to get you into the real world."

The task was left to a Cherrymon on this day. Puppetmon wanted things to speed up around here, but he was cursed to go at this current pace. But if Cherrymon could succeed in bringing the Child of Light to them, he'd come much closer to winning this game.

Rika was desperately craving earmuffs more than anything. Everyone in the dorms went running around in a panic today. Seemingly everyone had projects and/or reports due tomorrow. Rika had never seen anything like this in high school. The clock struck midnight and the night wasn't even close to ending.

"I can't believe these people," Rika scoffed. "You'd think they'd have been ready for this when they came to college. How can anybody just wait until the last minute like this?"

Rika got no response. When she turned her head, she saw Kari frantically pounding her head in frustration with both fists. She was sweating profusely and moaning loudly.

"What's with you?" Rika asked dryly.

"I can't believe I waited until the last minute!" Kari wailed. "I knew I should have started on this paper sooner! Why did I let this happen, Rika?!"

"It's your own fault!" Rika snapped. "That's what happens when you put things off!"

Jeri just finished putting the finishing touches on her own paper. "And…done! My history paper's ready to go! I guess I got lucky this time."

"It could always be worse," Rika smirked. "You could be pulling an all-nighter like Kari over here."

Rika saw Kari losing more and more of her sanity by the second. Kari was about to rip her short hair out by the roots, but just settled on chewing another pen cap. Meanwhile, the Digimon weren't about to go to sleep now, either. They had plans of their own tonight. Gatomon was still covering up with a coat while she and Renamon stood eyeing each other intensely. Both Digimon stood face-to-face and were about to engage in another competition.

"Alright, Renamon. Get ready!"

"You won't last five minutes, cat!"

"This town ain't big enough for the both of us!"

"Ready…set…DRAW!"

Both Digimon drew…a card.

Renamon held up her card. "Curse of Dragon: 2000."

Gatomon smirked and held up her own card. "Dark Magician: 2500. I win!"

"Cheater! You fixed the deck!"

"Calumon was the one who shuffled the deck and you know he doesn't play favorites! You lost fair and square, Foxy!"

"Don't call me FOXY!!"

"QUIET!!" Kari shouted. "I'm trying to WORK!!"

Everyone went silent. Rika just chuckled under her breath. She found it rather funny that Ms. Perfect was starting to crumble under the pressures of doing her work at the last minute. It almost made her look normal.

For the next 90 minutes, things were quiet like a study hall. Kari kept working diligently while Rika took up writing in her diary. Everyone wondered why Rika of all girls would keep a diary, but Rika had her reasons. And among them were relieving her frustrations…and jotting down her personal opinions on certain things.

Finally, it looked like Kari had finished. She had breathed a big sigh of relief as she saved the paper on her hard drive and pressed the 'Print' button. Unfortunately, the printer remained idle and wasn't doing anything. Kari waited patiently, but after about a minute of inaction, she started pounding it desperately.

"What's wrong with this thing? Why isn't it working?!"

Rika walked over to the printer. "Hmm…looks like it's busted. You may need a new printer."

Kari buried her face in her hands. "That's just great! Now what'll I do?"

"Borrow someone else's printer," Jeri suggested. "I'm sure Davis will be more than happy to loan you his."

Kari breathed a sigh of relief. "That's a good idea."

"Kari, I think you need to relax," Jeri said soothingly. "Maybe we should all go out for some ice cream."

"And while we're at it, I'd like a balloon and a lollipop," Rika scowled.

"That probably would help me relax a little," Kari thought. "Ok, let's go. You coming, Rika?"

"Not tonight," Rika replied sharply. "I've got a lot on my mind and I don't feel like going out tonight."

Jeri leaned over towards Kari and whispered what sounded to Rika like…

"I'll bet it's Ryo."

"What was that?!" Rika snapped.

Jeri sweatdropped. "I said…I'll bet you're real hungry. You want us to bring anything back?"

Rika shook her head. "No, thanks. Just close the door on your way out."

Jeri and Kari got up and walked out, leaving Rika alone…with the Digimon. Rika didn't even want to think of what could happen between Renamon and Gatomon.

If she was lucky, things would stay quiet.

Kari was wracked by nerves. She was finished with her paper, but didn't think it was anything special…or even anything good. She didn't even think it was worthy of a C. Hopefully, some fresh air would help her clear her head. She felt lucky to have a roommate like Jeri.

When they reached the stairs, they ran into two certain young ladies who were making their rounds. It was Mimi and Sora, who were both carrying their Digimon. Kari couldn't help but notice that Sora…was wearing a hat with fake braids hanging down.

"Um…good look for you, Sora."

"Thanks. You two are the first ones we've seen who aren't panicking about homework or projects."

"Actually, Kari's a wreck," Jeri corrected. "That's why we're going for ice cream right now. You guys want to join us?"

"I'm heading down to help Matt in a little bit, so I can't really go," Sora answered. "What about you, Mimi?"

"Joe says he needs to be alone with his work, so I'm in. I'm sure Palmon, here, could use a treat."

Biyomon frowned. "What about me?"

"I'll bring you back something," Palmon grinned.

"Would you?"

"Of course!"

Mimi giggled. "We'd better get going. If everyone really IS doing homework here on campus, I'll bet the ice cream shop's empty."

That made four for this night. If there was anyone who could lighten the mood, it was Mimi. Kari felt relieved. She just wanted to get school off her mind for at least a couple of minutes.

Takato's room was getting awfully crowded. A lot of the guys had chosen tonight to come visit. The count was six and they comprised of himself, Henry, Kazu, Kenta, Davis, and Ken. They all had work to do tonight. Takato was taking a break from his College Writing class and was halfway through a short story. Henry had a computer program he was working on. Kazu and Kenta were both working on a history paper while Davis and Ken were doing group work for their economics class.

The Digimon, on the other hand, had no such worries. And while Takato took a break and everyone else worked, he decided to have a brief chat with them.

"How was I supposed to know Henry doesn't want her?" Terriermon asked again.

"You never noticed she was always around Ken?" Wormmon pointed out.

"No, isn't Ken always around that Mexican girl?" Terriermon wondered.

"No! What made you think that?" Patamon asked.

"I've noticed that, too," Guilmon cut in. "He's around that Mexican girl more than he's around Yolei."

"Rosa's just persistent," Veemon said. "Just like Davish."

Davis raised his head up from his textbook. "Huh? What'd you say, buddy?"

"Oh…nothing."

"Well, I've learned my lesson," Terriermon nodded. "I won't butt in anymore. But just how IS Henry planning to get out of this?"

"I'm sure Davish will think of something," Veemon grinned. "He always knows just what to do."

Takato looked over at Davis, who at the moment, just happened to have broken his pencil. Suddenly, he started to feel very sorry for Henry.

While they all continued working, someone knocked at the door.

"Who is it?" Davis asked almost smugly.

"Just open the door, Davis!"

Davis walked over and opened the door to reveal that their pizza had arrived. And the delivery boy…just happened to be TK, who had a sour expression on his face.

"You're late, pizza boy!" Davis smirked. "I should keep your tip."

"Just pay me, Davis."

Pizza was a must for any college student, especially on a night such as this one, but Takato got the feeling that Davis just HAD to call the same pizza place that TK was working at.

"You think the girls are having this kind of night?" Takato asked no Digimon in particular.

The Digimon all shrugged.

Kari finished up another sundae. "I really needed this. Thank you guys so much."

Jeri and Mimi both sweatdropped. They had all found a table outside the ice cream shop and each had a sundae while Palmon ate inconspicuously underneath the table. But Kari had a bit more than one sundae.

"Kari…that was your fifth sundae," Mimi said dryly.

Kari chuckled sheepishly when she noticed the five empty sundae cups in front of her. She did want to get her mind off her studies for a while, but she didn't think she'd lose track of what she was eating.

"You know, I was forced to learn these lessons the hard way, too," Mimi began. "Back when I was a freshman, I had this ten-page paper for my College Writing class and I thought I could wait until the last minute like in high school. That was a very bad choice. I ended up stressing out so much and I think I even gave myself premature wrinkles. And needless to say, I lost out on a lot of beauty sleep."

"What was your grade?" Kari asked curiously.

"A C+, but I could have done so much better if I had only put in the proper time like I should have."

Kari hung her head down. "I guess waiting until the last minute ISN'T the best way to do things. I've been stressed like you wouldn't believe."

"I'll bet," Jeri nodded. "You even brought the disk with your paper on it with you."

"Isn't that crossing into the realm of paranoia?" Mimi pointed out.

Kari shook her head. "With the way Gatomon and Renamon are going, I think this disk is safer here with me. I wouldn't want something bad to happen to it. You know, I probably shouldn't even push my luck. We should get back."

Mimi looked under the table. "Palmon, you finished?"

"I'm done, Mimi. I wouldn't want to gain inches on my waistline."

Everyone was about to get up and leave when they noticed that there was a panic around the corner. People were starting to run and, naturally, that drew attention from Kari, Jeri, and Mimi.

Kari already had a bad feeling. "NO! Not tonight!"

"We'd better check it out," Mimi sighed. "Maybe it isn't even what we think it is."

The three of them walked towards the scene of the panic. The first thing they noticed was an abnormality. There was a Cherrymon standing at the corner. But this Cherrymon wore a black Afro wig with a large yellow tank top along with black makeup.

"Excuse me," the Cherrymon said casually. "I'm looking for a girl named Kari. Do you know where I can find her?"

"How did YOU get here, Cherrymon?" Palmon demanded.

"Cherrymon? I'm not…Cherrymon. I…don't know who that is. I'm American basketball player, Kobe Bryant."

"We know who you are, Cherrymon!" Mimi added.

Cherrymon looked legitimately baffled. "Wha?!" He removed the Afro wig and tore off the tank top. "How could you see through my amazing disguise?!"

"We've seen the likes of you before!" Mimi huffed.

"Is that so?" Cherrymon smirked evilly. "Then that must make you DigiDestined! Which one of you is Kari?"

Mimi scoffed. "You expect me to just tell you that Kari's the girl standing behind me?" She sweatdropped. "Oops."

Cherrymon peered over at Kari. "So you're the one I'm looking for. I've got someone waiting for you. So let's go."

Palmon stood between Kari and Cherrymon. "She's not going anywhere and you're going back to the Digital World! Don't make me have to drag you back there!"

"Look at me. I'm really scared of a little sprout."

Mimi reached into her pocket and pulled out her Digivice. "Let's show him who's a little sprout!"

**Palmon…Digivolve to…Togemon!**

Cherrymon now found himself staring into the hollow black eye sockets of the cactus-like Togemon. The big tree tried to rush for Kari, but Togemon stepped in his way.

"You want her? You'll have to get past my Needle Spray!"

Togemon fired a flurry of needles that served as enough of a distraction. Mimi waved for Jeri to get Kari to safety. Before Kari could even say anything, Jeri dragged her off away from the scene of the battle. The Digimon invasions had been coming for a while, but this was the first time one of them had actually come seeking out Kari.

For the first time in a long time, Kari started to feel the darkness tugging away at her again.

Gatomon closed her coat again. She was starting to feel a draft come in. She was almost hoping things between her and Renamon could die down, but every time she felt the cold wind against the bare skin where her fur should have been, she became furious. It kept her motivated towards her goal of getting Renamon OUT of the room and OUT of her life.

But in the meantime, Gatomon was content with outshining her rival in every aspect, no matter how small or trivial. She took pride in beating Renamon in just about everything, especially with Renamon's superior attitude.

"Hey cat, I've got one more little game for you."

"And what's that?"

Renamon grabbed a large sheet from Jeri's drawer. She hung it up on the wall. It was a 'Pin the tail on the donkey' game.

Rika saw it and sweatdropped. "I swear…I feel like I've gone in back in time 15 years."

"A kid's game, Renamon?" Gatomon scoffed. "I have a feeling you have something more than that in mind."

"Perhaps I do," Renamon replied. "I'm getting tired of cleaning your litter box. If I come closer to pinning the tail on that donkey, then you clean your own filth…and leave the coat off."

"That's degrading!" Gatomon gasped. Then she thought about it and got an idea of her own. "Ok, Foxy. I'm game. But if *I* win, then I get to shave you just like you shaved me."

Rika chuckled. The Tamer had a lot of confidence in Renamon, but Gatomon believed in herself. She knew she couldn't lose this game. It was a matter of catlike reflexes, which Gatomon had plenty more of.

Gatomon grabbed a blindfold and wrapped it around Renamon's eyes tightly. She made sure to pull it VERY tightly. Once Renamon was blindfolded, she started slowly moving towards the sheet. Rika was focused on writing in her diary, so she wasn't looking. That's when Gatomon went ahead and signaled for a little help.

Calumon was right by the sheet. Once Gatomon signaled, Calumon pulled the sheet a few inches to the left. It was underhanded, but Gatomon knew that Renamon deserved that and more. Renamon put the pin by the donkey's stomach and was off by a couple of inches. Renamon removed the blindfold and saw she had missed.

"Missed it! But I'll bet you won't do any better, Gatomon. It's your turn."

Renamon walked behind Gatomon and wrapped the blindfold around her EXTREMELY tight. Gatomon's eyes nearly bulged out. Knowing Gatomon couldn't see, Renamon quickly removed her coat. Gatomon immediately felt the cold wind hit her shaved body and grew annoyed.

"That's a cheap shot, Foxy!"

"It's your move, Gatomon. Pin the tail on the donkey and I'll be joining you."

Gatomon smirked. She would have loved the chance to humiliate Renamon the way she humiliated her. So she moved forward, knowing exactly where to find the donkey's rear. But when she reached over to pin the tail, she didn't feel the sheet or even the wall. She felt…spikes.

"YEOW!!!"

Gatomon frantically leaped in the air and removed the blindfold with her left hand. She saw that her right hand had been pricked with several spikes. She looked over and saw that Impmon had sneakily positioned a cactus in front of the sheet. Gatomon had pinned the tail on a prickly green cactus.

Renamon chuckled. "Looks like I win."

Gatomon couldn't believe it. "That's not fair! You cheated!"

"You didn't say a stray cactus couldn't get in your path, did you?" Renamon pointed out. "Just like a stray fireball could hit my arrow?"

Gatomon knew she should have seen it coming. She had been duped. There was a reason Renamon had suggested this game. She had this planned all along. Feeling angered, she focused her attention on Impmon.

"And what's YOUR stake in this?!"

"You mean BESIDES seeing your new fashion trend?" Impmon smirked. "I did it because I've known Renamon a lot longer than I've known you, cat. And friends are supposed to stick together."

Gatomon was taken aback by that answer. "Friends? So…you're really Renamon's friend?"

"What's it to ya?" Impmon asked suspiciously. "Hey, don't let that spread around. If anyone asks, I'm still the tough, scrappy loner that every human loves to hate. Got me?"

Gatomon nodded, but she was still speechless. It was starting to sink into her that Renamon wasn't the loner she met all those years ago. Maybe she HAD changed. She was starting to feel like maybe she should make an effort to be friends with Gatomon.

But when she felt the wind hit her skin, she realized she wouldn't be trying anytime soon. For now, she'd just stay angry.

Kari found herself hiding under a bench in the park. She never saw herself as the helpless type, but Gatomon wasn't around to help her and Cherrymon was clearing chasing after her, though she couldn't understand why.

She felt ready to panic at any moment, but she could hardly concentrate, because Jeri's pager kept going off. It kept Kari on edge.

"Jeri…we're going to get spotted. Shut your pager off!"

"I…I…can't! I'll…just set it on 'vibrate'!"

Jeri set her pager on 'vibrate' and decided that maybe it was the best time to move. She grabbed Kari by the hand and moved her away past the restrooms and towards the playground. But that wasn't the best move to make, because they saw Cherrymon on a teeter-totter. He was wearing an oversized red cap and holding a giant lollipop.

"Deedle-dee-dee, I'm just playing on this teeter-totter just like a normal little kid."

Kari gasped. "Cherrymon!"

Cherrymon was in disbelief again. "What?! How did you see past my disguise?!" He removed the cap and dropped the lollipop. "You're a clever one, Kari. You may be able to see past my awesome disguises, but you won't stop me."

Cherrymon lunged towards Kari. Jeri stepped in between them, but he didn't stop advancing. But before Cherrymon could reach either of them, someone else stepped in to save the day. It was a gray dragon Digimon standing on two legs with long claws and a gold faceplate. It was a vicious thing that was practically frothing at the mouth.

Jeri recognized this Digimon. "Cyberdramon!"

A familiar voice sounded behind them. "Back off!"

Kari turned around and saw Ryo had arrived just in time to help them. Cyberdramon must have belonged to him.

Cyberdramon leaped into battle. "Desolation Claw!"

Cherrymon took several steps back to avoid Cyberdramon's vicious onslaught. Cyberdramon was ruthless and wasn't about to let up.

Cherrymon attempted to fight back. "Pit Pelter!"

Cherrymon fired his Pit Pelter attack, but Cyberdramon swiped each shot away like they were tennis balls and slowly stalked his prey. The fight wouldn't last long at this rate.

Kari looked over and saw a confident smile on Ryo's face. She had to admit…she was glad he had shown up.

Mimi couldn't believe she had let Cherrymon escape. She was frustrated with herself. She knew she had to find him before he found Kari. And for that, she needed a little more power. That's why Togemon had Digivolved into Lilymon and headed towards the park where they last saw Cherrymon heading.

"Do you see anything, Lilymon?" Mimi asked desperately.

Lilymon, who had taken to the sky, pointed forward. "There!"

Cherrymon was being backed towards them. He had his back to them and had his hands full with a vicious gray Digimon that was backing him up more and more with each swipe he took. His aggression was unparalleled. Lilymon was about to jump in, but Mimi's cell phone rang. This wasn't the time to even think about answering a cell phone, but she heard a voice come through the receiver.

"Mimi! I've got a little surprise for you!"

Mimi recognized the voice. She immediately picked up the phone. "Gennai?!"

"I had a feeling you guys were in trouble. Is Lilymon around?"

"Uh…yeah, she is!"

"Hold up your phone, Mimi! I've got a little gift for Lilymon from Ebonwumon!"

Mimi didn't hesitate in doing what she was told. She held up her cell phone and a green light came from the receiver. The light struck Lilymon and, indeed, she got a surprise.

**Lilymon…Mega Digivolve to…Rosemon!**

For the first time, Lilymon had reached her Mega form. Mimi didn't even think she had one. But she saw it when she saw an elegant Digimon with red and black tights with a white cape of flower petals. Her head was made up of rose petals and she had a whip of thorns.

"I am Rosemon, the graceful yet formidable flower warrior. I attack with my Thorn Whipping and Rose Spear, leaving my enemies wilted."

Rosemon stylishly stepped forward until Cherrymon literally bumped into her. He took a step back and found himself surrounded by Rosemon and the other Digimon. In a vain attempt to protect himself, Cherrymon reached into his leaves and put on a pair of oversized glasses.

"Uh…you wouldn't hit a mon with glasses, would you?"

The other Digimon answered that by slapping the glasses off. Rosemon was about to attack, but noticed something in Cherrymon's leaves. It was a Black Gear.

"I believe this can end peacefully," Rosemon said nobly. "Rose Spear!"

Rosemon tossed her Rose Spear right at Cherrymon with pinpoint accuracy. The Black Gear dissolved into data and Cherrymon was suddenly free, no longer under the Black Gear's influence. He shook it off and stood there, no longer a threat to anyone. But apparently, no one told that to the other Digimon. He lunged in to attack.

"Desolation Claw!"

Cherrymon was hit and was knocked back. He was fortunate that such a dangerous attack didn't delete him on the spot. Rosemon put a stop to his aggression.

"Thorn Whipping!"

Rosemon lashed out with her whip and wrapped it around the aggressive Digimon like a lasso. That's when his partner showed up. He took out his Digivice and it extended out to a whip of its own. He lashed at his partner with the whip.

"Down, Cyberdramon! Down!"

Cyberdramon was finally beginning to calm down. Rosemon and Cyberdramon's partner combined to ease Cyberdramon's rage. Once it was all over, Jeri and Kari finally walked over. Kari immediately walked over to the Cherrymon.

"I want to know! Who sent you?"

Cherrymon looked down and scratched his chin with a branch. "Do I know you? Hey, where am I? This isn't Server."

That got Mimi's attention. "Server? You came from Server?"

"That's right. I was wandering around the forest by the Koromon Village, but when I wasn't looking, something hit me in the head. That's the last thing I remember."

Mimi was starting to remember the day before. "Server. Sounds like the work of that Digimon Empress that Agumon and Gabumon were trying to warn us about."

"What do you mean, Mimi?" Kari asked curiously.

"Agumon and Gabumon sent us an e-mail warning us of a Digimon Empress who was tossing Black Gears in Server. But they told us she was all out of them because she had another Digimon who was apparently unstoppable."

"I'll be the judge of that!" Cyberdramon snapped. "I'll crush him!"

"Izzy has a theory that whoever that Digimon Empress is, it's the same person bringing the Digimon here," Mimi continued. "And whoever it is, is the mole from Odaiba U. Any idea who it is?"

"Not a clue," Jeri said quickly.

"I haven't seen anything suspicious," Kari muttered. "But why me? Why would she want me?"

"That's what we'll have to wait and find out," Mimi sighed.

Kari then focused her attention on Rosemon. "She's amazing! I didn't think she could go past the ultimate level!"

"Me neither!" Mimi squealed. "I got the call from Gennai and it just happened. She looks tough as nails and certainly has a wonderful fashion sense."

"Flowers are SO me!" Rosemon grinned.

Kari looked at her watch and gasped. "Mimi, it's almost midnight!"

"Well…it's late," Jeri said, trying to calm Kari down. "But at least your paper's done."

Kari nodded. "That's true. I still have my disk right here."

Kari reached into her pocket and pulled out…a broken disk. The disk must have broken during the entire melee. Kari saw it and nearly broke into tears.

"NO!!! MY PAPER!!!"

Mimi gulped. "Uh…we'd better get back. We've got a long walk ahead of us."

Ryo smiled. "I brought a car here. If you can get Rosemon over there to de-Digivolve, I'm sure we could all fit. I'll give you guys a ride back."

Kari's eyes brightened. "Ryo, you'd really do that?!"

Ryo nodded. "No problem, Kari."

Kari breathed a tremendous sigh of relief. Being the way she was, Mimi would have usually added to that sentiment. But she had a lot on her mind, besides sending this Cherrymon back through a Digiport.

This situation was getting more serious. Something had to be done, yet she felt helpless. It was time to do some more mole hunting.

As soon as Kari got back to the freshman building, she made a beeline for her door, not even waiting for Jeri to follow her. She didn't have anymore time to waste since she had to start her paper over from scratch. All she had was the recollection of what she wrote. It would take her at least a couple of hours to finish this time around, so she had to go fast.

Kari finally reached for her door and reached into her purse for her key. She pulled the key out, but fumbled with it for a while before finally dropping it to the floor. Kari felt like crying. It was like nothing was going her way tonight. She bent down to get it, but someone else had picked it up for her. It was Ryo.

"Let me help you with that."

Kari took her key and sighed. "This just hasn't been my day. For more reasons than one."

"Hey, we took care of Cherrymon and you'll get your paper done. What's left for you to worry about?"

"Why ME? Whoever this Digimon Empress is, why is she after ME? I'm not the only DigiDestined here, you know! What makes me so special?"

Ryo frowned. "I wish I could answer that."

Kari shook her head. "I haven't felt this tortured since…the darkness. I've got so much on my plate right now with college, getting along with Rika, trying to make things work with Davis, getting over my LAST boyfriend, and now to have whoever this is chasing after me…I'm starting to feel this darkness again."

"Darkness? What do you mean?"

"When I was 11, I…started to feel this darkness surround me. It's like it was always trying to take me away. And the first time, it actually did. It took me to this place called the Dark Ocean. I'd never seen such an awful place in my life. There were no signs of life and no signs of color. It was terrible. There were creatures that were masquerading themselves as Digimon, but then they…morphed into these dark…things…and they wanted to take me away to be their queen."

"How did you escape?"

Kari thought about it and got even sadder. She remembered the one who did save her that day. It was TK. She shuddered to think where she would be if it wasn't for him. No matter what problems would arise between the two, Kari would always be forever grateful.

"It was………a friend. A friend rescued me. I don't ever want to go back to that place again. That's why I get so scared every time I feel the darkness. I get scared nearly to death. And I don't want to start feeling that way again!"

Ryo held Kari's shoulders. He brought her to a friendly embrace. "You don't have to. The darkness only has power over you as long as you allow it to. The reason you haven't felt anything until now is because you never let the darkness have power over you in that time. Don't let it start now."

"I guess it's pretty silly of me to ask if you've ever felt this way before."

Ryo chuckled. "Kari, I'm the same guy who spent who knows how many days stuck in the Digital World with no way out. I had to face the three forms of Millenniummon thinking I would never see home again. Trust me…I may not know EXACTLY how you feel…but I'm pretty close."

Kari leaned on Ryo's shoulder without even realizing it. Another thing she didn't realize was that the door suddenly opened.

"What's going on here?"

It was like a huge wakeup call for Kari. She realized exactly what kind of awkward position she was in. And then she noticed that Rika was standing at the door, staring a hole right into both of them.

Kari's eyes widened. "This isn't what it looks like!"

Ryo was a little calmer. "It's just a friendly hug, Rika. Jealous?"

Rika scoffed. "Yeah, right! Me? Jealous? You've got some ego, you know that?"

"I just know that you probably wish this was you right now."

Rika focused on Kari. "Don't you have a paper to do?"

Kari was instantly brought back to reality. "Yeah!" She gave Ryo a quick kiss on the cheek. "Thanks for everything, Ryo."

She walked back into her room and she saw why Rika brought her paper up. With Kari back inside, it left Rika free…to slam the door in Ryo's face.

"Don't let the door hit you on the way out," she smirked.

Rika slammed the door, which was the international signal for Ryo to go away. Kari rushed back to her computer…but noticed something a little strange.

"Gatomon…where's your coat?"

"Don't ask," Gatomon grumbled. She was sitting on her bed without her coat.

Kari just shrugged and went back to work. She didn't have much time before school would start. It was hours away.

A college student's work was never done.

While everyone was finishing up with homework, Izzy Izumi had other things on his mind. He was looking through the archives of his laptop and looking up all the information he had on the Digimon. Ever since he met the Tamers, he was fascinated with their methods and tools. He had already encountered many Digimon in his lifetime, but since meeting the Tamers, Izzy had run into some he had never even seen before.

Just as Izzy was looking through Guilmon and his champion-level Digivolution's entry, he heard his cell phone ring. He yawned before picking it up. For some reason, he was feeling tuckered out.

"Hello."

"Izzy?"

"Mimi? What are you doing calling at this hour?"

"It's this whole mole thing. It's getting a lot more serious. I'll be right over to tell you all about it. Or is it too late?"

Izzy looked at the clock. He hadn't noticed, but it was almost 3 in the morning. Often times, he'd get so wrapped up in his laptop that he'd lose track of time. It certainly explained why he was feeling tired.

"If it's imperative, then come right over. How soon can you get here?"

"I'll be there right away!"

Izzy wondered what could be so important that Mimi would have to come over at this hour. But if it really WAS that important, then maybe this was something he should tell the rest of the DigiDestined about.

Or better yet…something he should tell the undercover Hypnos agents.


Next Week: With the pressure of homework and projects off (for the moment), our DigiDestined friends focus on something much more enjoyable. In fact…it's RUSH WEEK at Odaiba University! What happens when Davis, Kazu, and Kenta try and join their first fraternity? And what happens when Rika and Kari actually COMPETE for a spot on the same sorority? Bad blood between the two roommates is about to escalate even further. Come see it on the next Digimon: The College Years!


Any comments? Then mail me at AmericanCaptor@hotmail.com and don't forget to review below!