Last Week: In one final attempt to amend for his failed endeavor at the sorority house, Davis decided to run upstairs and steal a pair of underwear from Rika. He managed to lure Kari out of the room and distract the Digimon, but ran into a roadblock in the form of Calumon and his healthy set of teeth. After getting bitten by Calumon, Davis was caught by Rika, Ryo, and Kari…and that's when the fireworks started. Rika discovered Takato behind the curtain on a ladder…and she promptly pushed it over. Then Kari vented her anger on Davis. Meanwhile, Tai and Matt confronted Yamaki for the first time, but were interrupted when Joe called with the bad news about TK. Kari also got that bad news and rushed over to visit him in the hospital. As for the villains in Server, The Digimon Empress somehow found out about the Juggernaut system and Datamon is now readying a disk that will alter the program completely. That night, however, the villains experienced a major shakeup. A mysterious Digimon broke into the Server base and began wreaking havoc on everything. ChaosGallantmon showed up in the nick of time, but the damage had been done and the villains now have a new problem on their hands. Who is this mysterious Digimon?


Digimon: The College Years

Episode 31- One Last Trial


Kari walked through the door of her dorm at 2 am. The lights were out and everybody seemed to be asleep…except for Jeri, who was diligently working on a paper. She turned around when she saw Kari walk in.

"You usually don't walk in this late," Jeri noted.

"Tonight's an exception," Kari replied sadly. "TK's in the hospital."

Jeri gasped. "He is?! Is he alright?"

Kari nodded. "He's in pretty bad shape, but he'll pull through. He was attacked by a Digimon at the campsite." That's when she realized something. Something hit her like a ton of bricks. "Hey! Jeri…weren't YOU at the campsite?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"Then shouldn't you already know that TK's in the hospital? Shouldn't you already know about the Digimon attack?"

Jeri stammered. "Uh…I had to leave the campsite early."

"Why's that?" Kari asked curiously.

"There was something I had to deal with. I'm actually not finished with it. I have to wake up early tomorrow and leave for while."

Kari was ready to pry a little further, but then looked over at her bed. Her pillows were completely destroyed. There were feathers all around her bed. And that wasn't all. There were broken plates around the bed as well as Gatomon's litter box, which was bent beyond repair. And at the foot of Kari's bed was a broken picture frame.

"What happened?!" Kari cried.

Jeri shook her head. "The result of a colossal battle. After everybody emptied out of the room, Renamon and Gatomon completely tore the place down trying to fight each other. By the time I got back, I was just in time to see your pillows explode in a burst of feathers. And yet they both insist they technically didn't lay a finger on each other."

Kari surveyed the damage. She saw her pillows destroyed and her blankets slashed. Kari tapped her bed with a finger. As soon as she did, a spring popped up out of nowhere. Then she saw Renamon lying on Rika's bed with an ice pack on her head. Gatomon was lying on the couch with a bandage around her head. They were both pretty worse for the wear.

"That does it!" Kari huffed. "I've had enough! I can't take this anymore! I'm going to put an end to this fighting once and for all!"

"What do you have in mind?" Jeri asked curiously.

Kari wasn't exactly thinking that far ahead. She knew she wanted to make peace between the two bickering Digimon somehow, but didn't know how to go about doing so. In hopes of getting something going inside her head, she looked out her window.

That's when she got a clear view of the parking lot…and a perfect view of a certain someone riding a motorcycle. It was her brother, Tai. It appeared that he had finally fixed his motorcycle after it was busted by Mephistomon. That's when a light bulb appeared over Kari's head.

"I've got something in mind…"

If there was one disadvantage to losing the Digimon that were under the influence of the Black Gears, it was that there was nobody around to clean up the mess that was made. The next morning, the Server base was practically in shambles after the mysterious Digimon showed up and went on its rampage. Puppetmon was never the type to clean his toys, so picking up the pieces of this mess was a foreign concept to him.

In the meantime, Datamon was working at his supercomputer, which was still out of order. But the super genius of the Digital World looked to be progressing faster than anybody originally anticipated.

Puppetmon took a break from his cleaning duty to check on his colleague's work. "Isn't that thing up yet?"

"It won't be fully operational for weeks," Datamon responded. "That intruder did quite a number on my machines. However, I have managed to restore our communications link."

"What good does that do us?" Puppetmon asked.

"It means we can still communicate with our other partner in crime. From the report she gave me last night before the attack, she has pinpointed the location of the Juggernaut system. It has been based…in Odaiba University. And if my calculations are correct, she should be downloading the program's data structure onto my disk. Once she returns it to me, I shall successfully reprogram it to do our bidding…and I indeed have the perfect task for it."

"That's good and all…but one more question. What broke in here last night?!"

"That seems to be the 1,000,000 Digi-dollar question. The probability of anybody, human or Digimon, locating our base was approximately 2.4 percent. The probability of anybody actually BREACHING our walls undetected is significantly lower. Discovering our base and breaking in should have been impossible. There is no way the DigiDestined or the Tamers could have found us!"

Puppetmon knew the same thing. None of them knew he and Datamon had been reconfigured and nobody was aware of The Digimon Empress's identity. And supposedly, none of them even knew of a base in Server. Then he started to realize something.

"Wait a second! The ones WE'VE seen supposedly aren't aware of us. What about that weird kid that just showed up one day?"

Datamon paused. "Weird kid?"

"The one with the Cyberdramon. That Cyberdramon made short work of Cherrymon. What if HE did this?"

Datamon thought about that. "The Cyberdramon…he could certainly fit the description of the perpetrator. And we know next to nothing about his Tamer. The notion that they attacked us seems very plausible."

Puppetmon took out his hammer. "Then let's go smash them! We can find somebody to make them pay for all this! There has to be a good Digimon out around Server that we could use."

Datamon paused again. "Good Digimon…out in Server…"

Puppetmon didn't give Datamon the chance to finish his thought. It didn't take long for the demented puppet to think of the Digimon best suited for this task. He grabbed his hammer and started heading out to find that right Digimon for the job…much to Datamon's chagrin.

"Puppetmon! Who's going to clean up this mess?!"

After what were very hectic weeks on campus, things were finally starting to calm down when the sun rose in Odaiba. But Kazu loved excitement. He liked it when things were lively and couldn't stand it when things got too quiet. Kazu and Kenta were both lying on their beds while MarineAngemon slept in his drawer and Guardromon stood motionless in the corner.

"Where is everybody today?" Kazu asked.

"Not sure," Kenta sighed. "I think Takato's still working on his comic, Henry's working on some homework, TK's still in the hospital, don't know what Ken's doing, and I'm not sure if Davis is in the mood to do anything right now."

"What makes you think Davis isn't in the mood to do anything?"

"Well…I heard this from Rika and Ken, but it's looking like those stunts the frat wanted Davis to pull landed him in pretty hot water with Kari. Last I heard, the poor guy's a wreck."

Kazu bit his lip at the thought of that fraternity. "That stupid frat. They think they're so big with their reputation and all their members. They think they've got such a tight brotherhood. But we're brothers, aren't we, Kenta?"

Kenta nodded. "Two brothers…uh…with different mothers."

"Exactly! If they think they've got it any better than we do, they're dead wrong! In fact…I think it's time we showed Alpha Zeta that we don't need them to make the most of our college experience!"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

Kazu reached under his bed and pulled out a notebook that had gathered a lot of dust. Kazu blew the dust off, which went flying over to the open drawer where MarineAngemon was sleeping. The fall of so many grimy particles quickly had the little one sneezing.

Kazu looked through his notebook. "Kenta, what was one of the things we promised to do when we reached college?"

"Uh…not flunk out?"

"Besides that."

"Uh…make sure Guardromon doesn't blow out the walls?"

"Besides that."

"Uh…keep our dorm clean enough so that it doesn't attract wildlife?"

"Besides that! We promised each other we'd throw the wildest party this campus has ever seen!"

"Oh…I remember that!"

"The year's winding down, bud. And we haven't done anything to ensure our legacy."

"You mean stealing a rival school's statue wasn't enough to ensure our legacy?"

Kazu thought about that. "It would for anyone else. But this is US we're talking about. People aren't going to remember Kazu Shiota and Kenta Kitagawa for stealing the Shibuya Samurai statue. If I have anything to say about it, people will remember Kazu Shiota and Kenta Kitagawa for throwing the biggest party in the history of Odaiba University."

Kenta chuckled. "When does it go down?"

"Kenta, throwing the biggest party in the history of Odaiba University isn't something that's going to happen overnight. It's going to take days and maybe weeks of planning ahead. And the first thing we have to do is get the word out. So we'd better get started on making about a hundred…no…a THOUSAND flyers!"

"A thousand? That should take a couple of minutes."

"And then we spread them around…and get ready for the big party. Or better yet…let's make this one good. Let's make this…oh, I don't know…a pajama party!"

"A pajama party?"

"Everyone will be in their pajamas," Kazu said slyly. "Including the girls."

It didn't take long for Kenta to bite on that one. "I like that idea! But Kazu, where are we throwing this party? We can't fit too many people in this room."

"No, no, no. We need more space. That's why I'm thinking…"

Kazu chuckled mischievously. There was only one place he could throw a party to remember.

"…the freshman dorm building."

Kari couldn't stand another day of Gatomon and Renamon being at each other's throats. Things had escalated too far. She had to do something to stop the insanity before it was too late. Her bed was already a casualty and the repairs would likely come out of her account. But in order for Kari to stop the madness, she had to make a quick stop. She had to stop by her brother's room.

Kari knocked on the door and waited for somebody to answer. She didn't know if Tai was there or not, but things would go a lot easier if he wasn't. Somebody finally opened the door. It wasn't Tai. It was Matt. Kari breathed a sigh of relief.

"I'm glad to see you, Matt. Is Tai around?"

"He hasn't been here all day."

Kari suddenly got a sinking feeling. "Uh…do you happen to know if he took his motorcycle?"

"I think he's in class. His motorcycle's still here, but I think he's got the keys."

"Darn it," Kari grumbled. "I really needed to use that motorcycle."

"Don't tell me Tai's got you riding that thing, too!"

"No, it's not for me! Well, not exactly for me, anyway. It's pretty complicated, but let's just say I have a way to make peace between Gatomon and Renamon and it involves using Tai's motorcycle. But I can't do it if I don't have those keys, so I guess I'll have to hold off."

Matt shook his head. "You don't have to hold off. I've got an idea. Follow me."

Matt stepped out and Kari followed him out of the building. Kari tried not to lose her friend amidst the college crowd, who were all heading to and from class. Matt didn't stop to wait, either. He kept going until he reached the parking lot. And that's when they both reached Tai's motorcycle. It was vehicle that Kari had come to despise, knowing how dangerous it was and the potential for injury it brought. But Kari needed it for this day.

"You want to borrow Tai's motorcycle? The simple thing to do…is hotwire it."

Kari blinked. "Isn't that illegal?"

"Not if Tai doesn't know about it. And I'll make sure he doesn't find out."

Kari reluctantly obliged. "Ok, I'll do it. How do I hotwire this thing?"

Matt placed Kari in position and then walked her through the whole process. He explained each step as he led her hands to the right spots each time. Then Matt held up two wires and motioned for Kari to hold them, one with each hand. Matt then brought Kari's hands and the two wires together. The ignition started.

"Just repeat all that every time you need to start it," Matt said over the roaring engine. "When you're done, just bring it back here and Tai will never know you had it."

Kari stepped up on the seemingly mammoth motorcycle. She had never boarded this monstrosity before and she never pictured herself actually getting on such a thing in her life. Kari struggled to keep her balance and keep from slipping off, but she finally made it on and was in position to ride out.

Even Matt noticed how awkward this looked. "Kari Kamiya on a motorcycle. What's wrong with this picture?"

Kari ignored that. "I'll be back in a few hours."

Kari revved the engine, nearly startling herself in the process. Matt passed her a helmet to ensure her safety, since this would be her first time riding a motorcycle. Once Kari had it on, she went ahead and pressed the accelerator.

"AAAAHHH!!"

The motorcycle took a sudden burst forward and Kari nearly fell off the seat. The vehicle was wilder than she thought. It would be a long ride to the park. But if she wanted to get the Digimon in her room getting along, she'd have to gut it out. So she carefully turned the bike 90 degrees and started riding out…trying her best not to fall off or look foolish.

Matt just shook his head. "Getting more like Tai everyday."

The past few weeks weren't pleasant ones for Davis. It seemed like such a long time ago since Odaiba's Rush Week started. And at the time, he had only one thing on his mind. He wanted to be a member of the Alpha Zeta fraternity. And he was absolutely willing to do anything necessary to be a part of that brotherhood.

In the weeks since Rush Week, the wannabes were weeded out, including Kazu and Kenta. Davis couldn't believe they decided to quit over something as simple as a skydiving stunt. Weeks after the initiation rituals began, Davis was the only would-be frat brother remaining. And he had done everything asked of him.

Then things went terribly wrong because of one errant panty raid. He had failed to retrieve one pair of underwear from the Delta Gamma sorority house. Then everything went even worse when Davis tried to get a pair of Rika's underwear from her room. The means by which he tried to get them were what did him in.

He had gotten around to thinking about it. That day was actually the first time he had spoken with Kari in weeks. He saw exactly why she had been so hurt. The first time he had given her any attention in a long time and it was just to distract her while he went out for that stupid fraternity. Davis had put Alpha Zeta over Kari…and he didn't realize it until it was too late.

That's when Davis decided he had finally had enough. He couldn't take it anymore. The rituals had taken their toll on him and he wasn't going to endure anymore punishment. And he wasn't about to do anything else now that the frat had affected his relationship with Kari.

So he stormed to the frat house. Usually, Davis came here to get a briefing on his next initiation ritual, but this time he was here for something far different. Davis stormed through the front door and immediately spotted the usual suspects. The ponytail and the buzzcut were casually sitting on the living room couch, reading through the Dragon Daily, Odaiba U's school newspaper.

With his nose buried in the paper, the ponytail chuckled. "This comic rules! This Goggle Man sounds like some other doofus I've met."

Davis cleared his throat.

The ponytail raised his head and put the paper down. "Ah, Davis! We've been waiting for you."

"Yeah, I'll bet you have. I've got something to…uh…you got my name right!"

"Of course we got your name right! We never butcher the name of a brother."

Davis blinked. "A brother?"

"We heard about the results of your attempted panty raid," the buzzcut explained. "To say the least, we were very disappointed that you came back completely empty-handed. I mean, even a kindergartner could come back with a pair of women's underwear. Your failure to retrieve a single pair of panties shamed our fraternity greatly."

"But then we heard about what else happened over there," the ponytail continued. "I mean, you TOTALLY saw one of those Delta Gamma girls in the shower. That's classic! So how did she look? They weren't fake or anything, were they?"

Davis tried to cut this interrogation off. "Uh…she didn't actually come out…"

"Eh, we'll talk about that later," the ponytail interrupted. "You can tell that story at one of our awesome frat parties! And you're definitely getting in now that you're a part of Alpha Zeta!"

Davis didn't know what to say. "So…even though I didn't bring anything back…I'm still in?"

"You earned it, Davis!" the ponytail grinned. "You did everything asked of you and more. Total loyalty to your brothers is what we look for in an Alpha Zeta. You're going to make a great brother and we're proud to finally make you a member of our prestigious fraternity. Congratulations!"

The buzzcut reached over and tossed Davis a sweater. "Here is your official sweater. Wear this proudly and guard it with your life. And make sure it doesn't shrink in the laundry."

Davis caught the sweater like a pro and then just stared at it. This had been what he worked so hard for. He couldn't believe he was finally holding the letters of Alpha Zeta in his very hands. He had done it. He was officially a fraternity brother. His perseverance had paid off.

He had suddenly forgotten what he had gone there to do in the first place.

"Our first party is this Friday," the buzzcut said. "You'll be there, won't you, Davis?"

Davis was completely caught off-guard. He didn't know what to say, except…

"Yeah! I'll be there!"

Takato peeked in through the window of the frat house and couldn't believe what he was seeing. He was hoping to see something worth drawing, but what he was looking at wasn't funny at all. After all he had heard from Davis these past few days, he was shocked to see him just accept the sweater so easily. A few minutes later, Davis started walking out. Takato decided to head him off.

When Davis was out the door and walking away, Takato called out.

"Davis!"

Davis turned around and was obviously surprised to see his goggled counterpart there. "Takato? What are you doing here?"

Takato didn't answer that. Instead, he just pointed out the obvious. "Nice sweater."

Davis looked down at the Alpha Zeta sweater he was now donning. "Oh…yeah…I got in! I finally made it!"

"You sound awfully proud of yourself," Takato grumbled. "You tried to steal Rika's underwear, you alienated Kazu and Kenta, you used Kari, and I took lumps that should have been yours. But hey, you made it into that frat, and I guess that's all that matters, right?"

Davis frowned. "What's all that supposed to mean? What are you saying?"

"Do you remember the first day I met you?" Takato demanded.

"How could I forget? You nearly took my head off for slamming that door on your nose."

"No, you slam the door on my nose EVERYDAY. I'm talking about something else. Remember the first day we met? Remember what you told me about Kari?"

"Yeah, I told you I'm madly in love with her."

"That's not what I'm seeing," Takato shot back. "These days, you seem to be more in love with that fraternity of yours."

"That's not true!" Davis shouted.

"Oh yeah? Just a few hours ago, you were moping around because you realized what a jerk you had been. You finally got it through your head that MAYBE a fraternity wasn't worth the price of your friendships…and your new relationship with Kari. You were telling me how much it killed you that after all that effort to get Kari to finally like you, you were throwing it away over a fraternity. You told me that Kari meant more to you than Alpha Zeta ever would and you were willing to admit it. But I guess that sweater you're wearing says differently. I guess it says that it IS ok to step over your friends to get what you want."

Davis scoffed. "I guess you would know. You AND Goggle Man."

Takato stopped in his tracks. At that moment, he realized he had been caught.

Davis went on. "You want to talk about stepping over your friends to get what you want? Let's talk about you! I don't know what you might have thought when you met me and talked to my friends, but I'm going to clear something up for you, Takato. I might mess up once in a while, I'm definitely not perfect, and sure…some things might not go exactly like I hope and even though I have good intentions, things tend to blow up in my face. But despite all that, I'm NOT stupid! I know when someone's making fun of me! And I know when someone's making a parody out of me in a campus-wide newspaper! It didn't take me long to think something was up, but I didn't want to jump to any conclusions. But you pretty much confirmed everything for me when I saw you on that ladder holding up your notebook. I can't believe you followed me! Just to see if you can imitate my life through art!"

Takato was stuck. "That day on the ladder…"

"Yeah, I'm sure you weren't supposed to get caught. But did you think you could hide that from me forever? How long did you think you could go on before I'd find out? I can't believe you even did that in the first place without telling me. I thought we were friends!"

And that silenced Takato. Here he was accusing Davis of sacrificing his friends for his own needs…and yet Takato was doing the very same thing. He felt like a jerk.

Davis turned around to leave. "I guess the only thing we have in common is our taste in goggles."

Takato knew he should have said something. He should have apologized at the very least, but Takato was in no position to say anything. He had messed up bad.

Goggle Man had been exposed…and it had cost him a good friend.

As the day went on, Kari knew exactly how to put an end to all this bickering between Gatomon and Renamon. She rode the motorcycle to the parking lot in Odaiba park and found a relatively empty section to park in. After she brought the motorcycle to a stop, she grabbed her cell phone and made a call. She needed to call her trusting roommate and partner-in-crime.

"Pick up, Rika," Kari muttered to herself.

"Hello?"

"Rika? You all set?"

"They're both in the backseat. Kari, what's your plan? You still haven't told me."

"You'll see what my plan is as soon as you get everyone here. Just bring them over and I'll explain everything."

Kari hung up her cell phone and waited for the familiar sight of Rika's car. It didn't take long for it to come into view. After Rika arrived and parked the car, she stepped out and looked over at Kari…and what she was standing next to.

"Kari, is that what I think it is?"

Instead of answering, Kari called out to the Digimon. "Gatomon, Renamon, could you two come out here?"

Gatomon came out first and gasped when she saw what her partner was standing next to. "Kari…is that Tai's motorcycle?"

"You bet it is. I've got a little something for you and Renamon to do."

That's when Renamon appeared out of thin air behind Rika. "Rika, what is going on?"

"She's obviously got something for you to do," Rika smirked. "What do you want them to do, Kari?"

"That depends," Kari answered with a wink of her eye. "Do you have our OTHER friend in there?"

"It took some effort, but I managed to bring him in, too," Rika replied.

Rika reached into the car and pulled out the next guest. It was Impmon…who was tied up.

"HEY, LEMME GO, YA LOUSY HUMANS!! I GOT ENOUGH OF THIS GARBAGE FROM AI AND MAKO!! NO FAIR!! YOUSE HAD BETTER UNTIE ME!!"

"He hasn't stopped complaining," Rika sighed. "But at least we got him here, tied up just like you asked. NOW will you tell me what your plan is?"

Kari didn't say anything. Instead, she just grabbed the squirming Impmon and led him over to a nearby tree. She tossed the rope up over a branch and pulled Impmon up and left him dangling like a piñata.

"What did I do to deserve this?" Impmon grumbled.

"I think you know the answer to that," Kari shot back.

Impmon sweatdropped. "Uh…I don't know what yer talkin about."

Kari shook her head. "Denial to the bitter end." She looked over at Gatomon and Renamon and brought back her cheerful smile. "I know you two have been arguing repeatedly about who's the better Digimon. Well, I want to go ahead and leave it to one last competition, winner take all."

Gatomon just tilted her head. "Uh…ok…what do we do?"

"Very simple. You see Impmon hanging from a tree over there. I want to see which one of you can retrieve him the fastest."

"A time trial," Renamon clarified. "Sounds interesting."

"It gets more interesting…considering you have to use the motorcycle to do it."

Gatomon's jaw dropped. "You want us to use THAT THING?"

"I've had my fill of motorcycles in the Digital World," Renamon added.

"If you two are as good as you say you are, then I'm sure you won't have a problem mastering a motorcycle. Now I have my stopwatch with me, so I'll be timing you. Whoever brings back Impmon in the fastest time will be the winner. Sound fair?"

Gatomon tapped the motorcycle with the tip of her claw. "I don't know…"

"Oh, step aside, cat," Renamon scoffed. "I'll go first, just so you can see how it's done."

Renamon stepped onto the motorcycle while Kari walked over to hotwire the ignition one more time. Rika inched over to Kari and whispered into her ear.

"Kari, I'm not seeing the point to this. What exactly is this supposed to accomplish?"

"You'll see. Just be patient," Kari responded. "Oh, and one more thing, Renamon. You have to get Impmon down WITHOUT getting off the motorcycle."

Renamon hesitated before finally nodding. "Done. Shouldn't be a problem for me."

Once Kari hotwired the ignition, she stepped aside and let Renamon give it her best shot. She revved the engine and started moving forward while Kari started her stopwatch. The motorcycle picked up velocity as Renamon inched closer to Impmon. She was ready to get him down, but nearly forgot she couldn't get off the motorcycle. So she stayed on, trying to keep the bike's balance, but found it very difficult. She couldn't get Impmon down and passed him up completely. The only contact she made with him had him spinning around.

To get Impmon, Renamon would now have to turn the other way. So she got good hold of the motorcycle and made a perfect 180 degree turn. She rode towards Impmon again, who was noticeably closing his eyes. Renamon stood up on the seat, amazingly keeping the motorcycle's balance, and cut the rope the only way she knew how.

"Diamond Storm!"

Renamon's Diamond Storm attack cut the rope and Impmon came falling down right onto the back of the motorcycle. After getting Impmon, Renamon rode back and brought the bike to a complete stop.

Kari stopped her watch. "Four minutes, thirteen seconds."

Renamon stepped off the motorcycle. "Let's see you beat that, furball."

Kari picked the dizzied Impmon up and dragged him by the arm. "Ok, let's get you in position again."

"I'm gonna fry youse," Impmon slurred. "Uh…all three of youse."

Rika handed Kari an extra rope and she started to tie up Impmon.

"Too bad it had to come to this," Kari said casually. "You two were getting along so well until you decided to start fighting again. It's really a shame. This wouldn't be happening if you two had nothing to fight about. I just can't believe you two couldn't just get along. I wonder why you two had to start fighting again? If you hadn't done this, we wouldn't have to be hanging Impmon by a rope."

Impmon's eyes widened. "Wait! So yer sayin this is all 'cause those two are fightin?"

"That's right. I can't believe Renamon had to go and cover Gatomon with feathers and I can't believe Gatomon had to stuff glue in Renamon's sandwich."

"Wait! They didn't do nothing!" Impmon cried. "That was all me! I did all that!"

Gatomon and Renamon both turned beet red. "WHAT?!"

"I'm the one who covered the cat in feathers and I'm the one who put glue in Renamon's sandwich. Now unite me already! I'm a Digimon, not a piñata!"

Kari giggled. "I was hoping to squeeze all that out of you." She looked over at her roommate. "And that…was my plan. Worked just like I hoped it would."

Rika didn't understand quite everything. "Wait…explain your whole plan to me."

"I saw everything that was going on lately. Somehow, I knew Gatomon and Renamon sincerely wanted to be friends and I believed them when they each claimed they were innocent. There was only one thing Gatomon's feathering and Renamon's sandwich had in common and that was Impmon. He was around just as everything happened and in both cases, he was the first one on the scene.

"But even seeing all this, I had no evidence. So I practiced a little something I used to practice with my older brother in our later years. I got a confession out of him. And using him as a tool in a competition between Gatomon and Renamon was all it took to get him to confess."

"I'm impressed, Miss Perfect," Rika smiled. "Your plan went off without a hitch."

Renamon angrily stepped towards Impmon. "Impmon, explain yourself."

"Yeah, what's the big idea?" Gatomon demanded.

"I'll tell ya what the big idea was!" Impmon growled. "I didn't want to go through months of seeing you two all friendly. I liked things the way they were…at least until THIS happened."

Renamon sighed. "Impmon, Gatomon and I will ALWAYS be in competition with each other."

Gatomon nodded…and stopped. "Huh? We will?"

"Of course we will. I'll always know that I'm the superior Digimon and you'll always THINK you're the better Digimon. Nothing about that will change."

Gatomon nodded again. "I guess you're right. I'll always know I'm better than you."

"The point I'm making is…" Renamon said, ignoring Gatomon, "our competition will never end. The only difference is…she and I will put our age-old grudge aside."

Impmon scoffed. "Sounds like some of that human mush I hate so much."

"Be that as it may, it will do you no good to attempt to drive a wedge between us again," Renamon said. "The cat has proven herself as a good roommate and a fierce warrior on the battlefield. I'm proud to call her a friend."

Gatomon was taken aback. "You mean that? We're friends?"

"Don't push it."

Rika snickered. Her partner really took after her. With everything seemingly cleared up, Kari knew there was only one thing left to get out in the open.

Kari cleared her throat. "Ok, so now that we've established who the real culprit is, don't you two think some apologies are in order?"

Renamon hung her head down and begrudgingly apologized. "Ok…I'm sorry I accused you of putting glue in my sandwich."

Gatomon followed suit. "I'm sorry I accused you of covering me in feathers."

Kari crossed her arms. "AND…?!"

Renamon and Gatomon both sighed and delivered their next apology in unison. "I'm sorry I tried to beat you into a bloody pulp yesterday."

Kari smiled. "There! Now we can all get along!"

"There's just one thing I don't understand, Kari," Rika noted. "I understand everything you wanted to do, but…did we really need Tai's motorcycle?"

"No," Kari admitted. She grinned wryly. "I just wanted to take it for a ride. I was hoping to see what exactly about it my brother liked so much."

"Bad girl," Rika smirked. "So did you like it?"

A motorcycle ride was interesting to say the least. It really was exciting. But Kari wasn't about to admit that.

"I'll admit…MAYBE it gave me a rush."

"Come on, Sora!"

"No! Stop it! I don't want to!"

"Just do it, Sora."

"Matt, 'no' means 'NO'!"

Over in Sora's room, Matt wasn't getting anywhere. He didn't know what else he could do, but Sora obviously wasn't in the mood. But he wasn't about to give up. She'd give in eventually.

"Sora…"

"Matt, NO! I am NOT taking my hat off!"

Sora stubbornly tightened the hat on her head. It's been several weeks since the shampoo Mimi concocted left her bald and Matt was eager to see if any of her hair was growing back.

"You can't wear hats forever," Matt sighed.

"Sure I can. That's the beauty of having Mimi for a roommate."

"You're being ridiculous," Matt groaned. "Mimi, tell Sora she's being ridiculous."

"I don't know, Matt," Mimi said unconfidently. "You know how I get when it comes to a bad hair day. I can only imagine how Sora must be feeling."

Matt obviously wasn't going to get help from Mimi, so he played another card. "Sora, how long have we been together?"

"Years."

"Exactly. So you shouldn't worry about what I think. Now take that hat off."

"MATT!"

Matt reached over to take Sora's hat off, but the young girl put up a struggle. She even bit Matt's finger. He let out a pained yell, but he didn't give up. Eventually, he reached over with his good hand and got a good grip on Sora's hat, but she wasn't about to let go.

"Sora, let go!"

"No!"

"Will you let go?"

"NO! Matt!"

Biyomon, who was sitting against the wall, casually examined her wing. "Looks like they're at it again."

Palmon examined one of her vines. "I haven't seen Sora this stubborn since the time Matt accidentally pushed her in the pool."

Matt pulled as hard as he could, but Sora had grown surprisingly strong. He didn't think someone could get so strong playing tennis. Matt continued to pull until he finally overpowered Sora. The hat came flying…and so did Matt. He flew back until he hit his head on the wall.

Matt rubbed his head. "Ok, that hurt a little bit."

Then Matt realized he had Sora's hat in his hand. He had succeeded in pulling it off. He then looked over…to see that some of Sora's hair had really grown back. Her hair was short in length, but it was growing back nicely. A head of short blond hair was actually rather appealing to Matt.

Matt smiled. "That's…not a bad look for you."

Sora smiled back. "You think so?"

That's when someone knocked on the door. Mimi was more than eager to answer it.

"Ok, I'd better answer that before a romance novel breaks out."

Mimi walked over to answer the door and was surprised to see the Resident Director, Ms. Mackenzie. Matt and Sora knew it was time for business. They still had jobs to do.

Ms. Mackenzie looked around. "Oh good. I managed to catch three of you here. I'm sure you can relay what I'm about to tell you to Tai."

"Something up, Ms. Mackenzie?" Sora asked.

"Just this."

Ms. Mackenzie held up a flyer and handed it to Sora. The three RA's then gathered around it to see what it was. It was a flyer advertising a big party for next Friday.

"Hmm…looks like fun," Mimi said cheerfully.

"Read the rest of it," Ms. Mackenzie sighed.

Everyone kept reading the flyer. Matt was the first one to find the kink that Ms. Mackenzie wanted to bring to their attention. The flyer was advertising the party for…the freshman dorm building.

"OHHHHHHHH…" the three RA's breathed in unison.

"I would hate to completely reject the idea of a party. After all, I was young once and I can understand the need to let loose once in a while. But you can all understand what a danger this may pose and the potential liabilities we face."

"So what do we do?" Matt asked.

"I'm not going to stop this from happening," Ms. Mackenzie replied. "Not only because of the whole need to let loose, but also because we don't know exactly who's throwing the party. There's only one thing we can do. We need every RA to be alert and patrolling the whole building to make sure things don't get out of control. You're going to have to be on your toes."

Matt didn't like the sound of that. Next Friday looked to be a chaotic night. The girls also had worried looks on their faces.

Ms. Mackenzie turned to walk out. "But I'm sure you're all more than capable of handling everything on your own. Consider this a test of your ability to take control."

"Uh…aren't you helping us?" Mimi asked.

"I may be forced to take a trip home next week. If it comes to that, you're all on your own."

Matt and the girls glanced at each other nervously. They didn't know what to expect next week. And with the possibility of Ms. Mackenzie being away, things had the potential to turn disastrous.

"I won't take up anymore of your time," Ms. Mackenzie said. "I'll go ahead and go. And tell TK I wish him the best. Hope he's out of the hospital soon."

"Oh…thanks," Matt replied.

Sora smiled after Ms. Mackenzie left. "Well…looks like there's going to be a party here next week. And the flyer says it's a pajama party. Sounds like fun."

"But what if things get out of control?" Matt pointed out.

"Then we have to take charge," Sora answered. "We aren't little kids anymore. We have to take charge. Right, Mimi? Uh…Mimi?"

Mimi had her attention elsewhere. "She wants us to wish TK the best…"

Matt shrugged. "Yeah, so?"

"How does she know TK's in the hospital?"

Silence. That was a very good question. TK being in the hospital was a fairly recent occurrence and it wasn't something that had spread around campus. In fact, other than the dean, TK's professors, and his friends, nobody else even knew he was in the hospital.

Mimi shifted her eyes. "Joe's right. There's something weird about that woman."

Puppetmon searched up and down the Digital World, but finally came to a stop in an arbitrary position in the Server desert. Somehow, he knew this would be a good place to find his playmate.

"Hey! It's me! I could use a playmate right about now! Where are you?"

A ray of light suddenly shot down from the sky. Out of the light came a white, metallic skinned Digimon with a round, elliptical head with many metallic tentacles for feet and four metallic tentacles for arms. He held up two space-age ray guns and had many wires running through his head. This was the extraterrestrial Mega Digimon known as Ebemon.

"Glad you showed up," Puppetmon said. "I've got a job for you…"


Next Week: The party gets started in the Odaiba freshman dorms. Kazu and Kenta look to cement their legacies by throwing a huge pajama party! But with that party coming on the same night as the Alpha Zeta party, Kazu and Kenta have some competition…including their old friend, Davis. The RA's will have a tough night ahead of them, as they'll have to keep order. How wild will the younger DigiDestined and Tamers get? Find out on the next Digimon: The College Years!


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