Last Week: Paildramon took the fight to Ebemon, but the fused Digimon wasn't enough to overcome the fiendish foe. Beelzemon soon joined the fight with his guns blazing, warming Ebemon up for Imperialdramon and Justimon, who knocked the extraterrestrial Digimon back to the Digital World. Things got interesting when Davis revealed that he recognized Beelzemon from a year before. Meanwhile, Joe and Mimi were having tea with Ms. Mackenzie and learning about the prophecies she had been seeing—and apparently, there's a big battle coming in the future. The next morning, Kari finally came to and woke up with a huge hangover…and TK lying next to her. After explaining to her what happened, TK notes that Tai has called for a meeting of the DigiDestined and the Tamers to take place the next night. Kazu and Kenta are busy trying to clean up the mess from the pajama party of the night before and ask trusty Guardromon to help. Unfortunately, Guardromon gets mixed up again which leads Kazu to the conclusion that his partner has had his wires crossed. That leads to Henry getting called in to help fix him up. But despite making Guardromon WORSE, Henry's work apparently impressed the robotics professor, Professor Junichiro, to a point where Henry has been encouraged to enter this year's Robotics Fair.


Digimon: The College Years

Episode 35- Koromon Massacre


More than 24 hours had passed since Tai made that fateful discovery. Make no mistake about it, he was relieved that the person masquerading as The Digimon Empress wasn't Catherine, but he was still shocked to learn that it was Rosa. Whoever it was, she was still a major threat to the DigiDestined and Tamers, as well as Tai's little sister, who had been targeted. With that in mind, Tai called for an emergency meeting of the DigiDestined and the Tamers.

Of course, bad timing still had a way of interjecting itself. The fourth floor lounge was being used by another student club, so Tai had to find another site for the meeting. It didn't take long for him to use his craftiness and creativity, though. Tai soon found a place to meet and now he found himself waiting for everybody else to show up. The only ones there thus far were the older DigiDestined, but for some reason, they didn't seem to like the site of the meeting very much.

"You couldn't find a worse place to meet, could you, Tai?" Matt grumbled.

"Don't be so hard on him," Joe said. As usual, he had Gomamon in his arms, since Gomamon wouldn't stay put in Joe's apartment. "I'm sure Tai could find a worse place to meet if he really tried. Just be thankful things haven't gotten any worse."

"You mean things get worse?" Mimi whined. "I've never seen so much dust in my life! I just bought this dress three days ago and now it's full of dirt! Thanks a lot, Tai!"

Tai drummed his fingers on a nearby wooden crate. "So I take it you guys don't really…like this place?"

"It's not that we don't LIKE it, per se, Tai," Sora tried saying. "But…well…we HATE it! This has got to be one of the worst meeting places ever."

"It's not as bad as when Tai had us all meet at the cemetery back when we were kids," Izzy pointed out. Like Joe, he was carrying Tentomon in his arms. "We spent half the meeting looking over our shoulders."

"Point taken," Mimi nodded.

"Wait, what's wrong with THIS place?" Tai asked.

As if on cue, dozens upon dozens of festively colored lights turned on around the older DigiDestined. Equipped with time-sensitive mechanisms that would activate upon nightfall, dozens of Christmas lights, holiday decorations, and animatronic dogs with reindeer antlers that would bark to the tune of "Jingle Bells" all turned on. Indeed, Tai had called for a meeting of the DigiDestined and the Tamers inside one of the university's storage facilities—the storage facility that happened to contain the university's Christmas decorations.

"Any other dumb questions?" Matt growled.

"Ok, so I admit this isn't exactly the best place to meet," Tai sighed. "But I couldn't find any other place on such short notice."

While the only ones there for the moment were the older DigiDestined, that didn't last long. The next one to come in was Takato, who came in with his loyal partner, Guilmon. Guilmon, as usual these days, was wearing his Odaiba U sweatshirt, so he must have been coming back from practice. Takato slowed down when he realized he was surrounded by Christmas lights and animatronic dogs barking to the tune of "Jingle Bells".

"Uh…I didn't know there was a Christmas theme to tonight's meeting," Takato muttered. "I would have brought my Santa hat."

Guilmon sniffed around, stopping by the barking animatronic dogs. "They look so real. Why don't we have any of these at home, Takato?"

"Because if you did, I'd personally have to kill you," another voice called out. It was Rika, who came in with Kari and Yolei.

"She makes a good point, boy," Takato noted. "Remember that year we put up the singing Santa Claus on our porch?"

"Is that the year she hit you with a giant candy cane?" Guilmon asked.

Takato sweatdropped. "Yeah…you remember that. So Rika, where's Jeri?"

"Kari and I haven't seen her all day," Rika answered. "We don't know where she's been."

Takato scratched the back of his head. "This is too weird. Where has she been going lately? Any ideas, Rika?"

"She's YOUR girlfriend, Goggle Head," Rika scoffed. "How should *I* know?"

As mysterious as Jeri's whereabouts were, Sora changed the subject towards Kari, who was recovering from nearly being taken by the renegade Rosa.

"How are you feeling, Kari?" she asked.

"F-Fine. Why do you ask?" Kari replied nervously.

Mimi shook her head. "Just as I thought. She's still shaken up. A near-abduction will do that to a girl."

Kari grinned sheepishly. "Yeah…near-abduction…"

"Yeah. Not like it could be anything else," Yolei grinned, who was greeted with a subtle elbow to the stomach from Rika.

"Hey, check this out," someone else said. "Christmas in springtime."

Kazu, Kenta, and Henry all came in next. They all had their partners with them. Terriermon leapt off Henry's shoulder to get a closer view of the barking dogs. He was fascinated at first, but was soon rolling his ears up in an attempt to cover them.

"Is there any way to shut them off?" Terriermon shouted.

"I think they're stuck like that until midnight," Joe answered.

"It's times like this I HATE having long ears," Terriermon grumbled.

"I kinda like it," Guilmon grinned. "It's catchy."

"Haven't seen you guys in a while," Takato told his friends that just came in. "Where have you guys been hiding yourselves?"

"We've been getting Henry and Guardromon ready for this year's Robotics Fair," Kazu answered.

"Robotics Fair?" Takato repeated.

"Don't ask," Henry sighed. "Let's just say I have to get Guardromon in working condition before the Robotics Fair."

"Sounds intriguing," Izzy cut in. "How's that coming along?"

"I think he's making progress," Kazu replied.

"Ask Guardromon to do something," Kenta added.

Izzy walked up to Guardromon. "Ok. Guardromon, do a headstand."

Everyone braced themselves for a demonstration. There would have been an awed silence if not for the animatronic dogs still barking out "Jingle Bells." Unfortunately, it wasn't what they all had in mind. Guardromon pulled his head off and proceeded to stand on top of it.

Kenta chuckled nervously. "Well…technically, it's a headstand."

"I feel like his wires are getting more crossed by the day," Kazu growled. "Haven't you figured out how to fix him yet, Henry?"

"I've been trying, but this isn't easy!" Henry shot back. "I feel like I keep making him worse. I'm running out of ideas."

Izzy walked over and started examining the malfunctioning robot Digimon. "Maybe I can help. Name me a time and a place and I can give him a checkup."

Kazu shrugged. "Well, it's worth a shot. It's not like things can get any worse."

"I'm glad you feel that way, Kazu," Guardromon said. "Right now, I feel like I haven't a head to stand on."

Kazu groaned at the bad joke. "Ok, maybe they can. How does tomorrow sound, Izzy?"

"Tomorrow's fine with me."

While Izzy made his plans for tomorrow, Tai looked around to make sure everyone was present. He noticed that not everyone was there, but didn't know exactly who remained.

"Ok, so is that everybody?!" Tai cried out. He was forced to raise his voice over the barking of the animatronic dogs. "Who are we missing?"

Takato looked around. "We're missing Davis, TK, Ken, and…uh…"

"Me?"

Tai saw who was at the door of the storage facility and breathed a sigh of relief. "The guest of honor. Come in, Cody."

Despite it being a school night, Cody Hida managed to get to the university for this meeting. Tai knew how imperative it was that he show up, since he'd probably be able to provide some of the most important answers.

"So that just leaves Davis, TK, and Ken?" Matt asked.

Someone knocked on the open storage facility door before sticking his head in. "Hello? Is this where the meeting's being held?"

Rika's face immediately turned red. "How did YOU find out about this, Ryo?"

"I got a little phone call from Kari. She wanted me to meet you all here."

"I wasn't the only one who was attacked the other night," Kari explained. "Ryo was also targeted by a Digimon attack that night. So I figured it would be best if I invited him to the meeting tonight."

"You got attacked, too, Ryo?" Matt asked.

"Save the questions for when the meeting starts," Tai growled. "Now where are Davis, TK, and Ken?"

As if on cue, the three DigiDestined in question literally stumbled through the door, one falling on top of the other…with TK on the bottom.

"Can you guys get off me?" TK groaned.

Davis and Ken both rolled off of TK's back and stood up. With everyone present, Tai wanted to go ahead and pound his gavel. Of course, he didn't have a gavel, so he simply pounded a brick on a wooden reindeer…inadvertently plowing right through its wooden back in the process.

Tai chuckled nervously before tossing the brick aside. "Uh…meeting called to order. Glad you could all show up tonight. As you all know, something big has happened in the last few days and it's something we all need to discuss as a group. For those of you who don't know…and since most of you were at the pajama party, I'll bet a lot of you don't…"

Kazu and Kenta exchanged a high five.

Tai cleared his throat. "A lot of you are probably unaware that Kari was almost taken by that Digimon Empress last night. And many of you are probably unaware that in trying to take Kari, TK and I not only managed to stop her, but we also managed to unmask her. For those who don't know…our Digimon Empress turned out to be Rosa."

That created a lot of murmuring amongst the crowd of DigiDestined and Tamers. Apparently, word hadn't gotten around and with the heavy burdens that college brings to students, it didn't surprise Tai in the least. But particularly, after the initial shock, everyone started looking at Ken.

Ken blinked. "Why are you all looking at me?"

"People, we can stare at Ken later," Tai sighed. "I know Rosa makes us all want to look at him, but the one we SHOULD be looking at…is Cody."

As if on cue, everyone shifted their gazes to Cody. Everyone was picking up on Tai's logic now.

"Cody, you're in Rosa's class, right?" Matt asked. "I mean, you're both juniors in high school."

"I guess you could say that," Cody replied. "But Rosa…as The Digimon Empress? Makes sense, considering she hasn't been seen around school in weeks."

Izzy's eyes widened. "Weeks?"

Mimi tugged on Joe's sleeve. "Joe? Didn't we hear Ms. Mackenzie mentioning this to Dr. Marquez?"

"Rosa's mom?" Ken asked. "What are you guys talking about?"

"Ms. Mackenzie was warning Dr. Marquez of something involving Rosa," Joe explained. "This must be what she meant. Ms. Mackenzie somehow knows something. She explained to us that she's been seeing visions."

"And the visions don't get any better, so a happy ending might not be in the works," Mimi said grimly.

"What else do you know, Cody?" Joe asked.

"Not much else to note," Cody answered. "But looking back…this really isn't much of a shock. She's been starting to change over these last few months."

"What do you mean?" TK asked.

"I never knew Rosa to be that smart. But recently before her disappearance, Rosa started displaying…well…brilliance that no one ever knew she was capable of. The teachers were talking about moving her into more advanced classes. And don't even get me started on what kind of skill she suddenly started showing on the soccer field. It's like she became Odaiba's best soccer player overnight. But the changes didn't end there.

"Lately, she's also been more prone to anger. The smallest thing would tick her off. And it recently started to get more physical. Before she disappeared, she nearly broke a teammate's leg."

Davis bit his lower lip. "Doesn't sound like the lovey-dovey Rosa I've been seeing."

Yolei turned her head. "Ken? What is it?"

Ken had a distant look on his face as he took all this in. "This is all so familiar. I know what's going on."

Everyone went silent. All eyes were on Ken now, but the silence seemed too awkward to break.

"Well…by all means, tell us," Tai coaxed.

"There's only one explanation for Rosa's sudden changes. It's a Dark Spore."

Rika frowned. "I know I'm going to be sorry I asked, but what's a Dark Spore?"

"A Dark Spore is a seed of darkness that was once planted in each of Odaiba's children. With enough negative emotions, a Dark Spore can turn a child into a tool for evil. They were created by an evil Digimon called MaloMyotismon. But we were all able to stop MaloMyotismon and the Dark Spores within the children have all been kept neutralized."

"But when did Rosa ever get a Dark Spore implanted?" Cody pointed out.

"Those are questions that would be nice to answer and all, but there's something else we should be worrying about," Tai cut in. "She'll likely still come after Kari and we're still unsure why. We've got to do something."

Silence. Nothing could be heard except the barking of the animatronic dogs.

Tai sweatdropped. "So…any suggestions?"

Kari also sweatdropped. "Maybe I should get myself a bodyguard."

Tai perked up. "You know, that's not such a bad idea. I'm sure we can plan around a few schedules."

Kari's sweatdrop didn't fade. "Wait! Tai…I wasn't serious!"

"I don't want anybody leaving her side. I want a DigiDestined or a Tamer with a Digimon partner at Kari's side at all times. I don't want her alone for a second. During class, during lunch, during all times of the day—whether she's on-campus, off-campus, in the dorms, in the shower…"

"TAI!" Kari snapped.

"I think we get the point," Matt cut in. "We should start making shifts."

Kari bit her lower lip. "Shifts? I don't like the sound of this."

To say the year had been interesting would be a tremendous understatement. Impmon was worried that things would be boring, but with everything that had happened (Digimon-related or not), it was anything but that. And it was never more evident than in Rika, Kari, and Jeri's room, where four Digimon also occupied the area.

But of course, things had gotten a lot quieter there in recent weeks. A lot of it had to do with the recent reconciliation of Gatomon and Renamon, two lifelong rivals who were attempting to put aside their long-time grudges to at least get along for the rest of the year, even if they weren't friends. And without the back-and-forth conflict between the two, things quickly got dull.

Gatomon was about to sit and take a nap on the ground. Renamon was about to lie down herself while Calumon was getting his cabinet drawer reader. Impmon couldn't believe they were really about to turn in. It was only ten o'clock.

"You know, things ain't as exciting as they used to be," Impmon noted.

"With everything that's been happening lately, you don't think that's exciting?" Gatomon muttered dryly.

"That's not what I mean," Impmon responded. "I mean that things with you and Renamon ain't what they used to be. There ain't no excitement with youse two anymore. You know, youse two would always be tryin' to see who was the better Digimon and all that good stuff. Maybe youse guys don't think it was so great, but at least it added a little fun here and there."

There was a brief pause. Gatomon was obviously trying to understand what Impmon was saying, but it didn't take Renamon long to figure it out.

"I believe what Impmon is saying is that he'd like to see a competition," Renamon noted. "Even if it is a friendly one."

Impmon would have loved to see a competition, but he had other things on his mind. He had a much better idea.

"I don't want to say…competition, per se," Impmon said. "It's more like a friendly little game. Like…oh say…Truth or Dare?"

"Since when would YOU suggest anything like Truth or Dare?" Renamon asked suspiciously.

"Since I thought about how much fun things could get," Impmon smirked.

As hard it was for Renamon to understand, it wasn't a difficult concept for Impmon. Was a game of Truth or Dare exactly the "Impmon way"? Far from it. But when he thought of the notion that some of the truths or dares could strike a nerve, the mischievous one felt there was no better way to spend the night.

Calumon eagerly stuck his head out from his cabinet drawer. "Ooh! Can I play?"

"Sure, why not?" Impmon grinned. "So let's get this thing goin' already."

Impmon didn't waste any time. "Renamon, truth or dare?"

Renamon thought about it. "Dare."

Impmon handed her Gatomon's bent litter box. "I dare you to make a BIGGER dent on this over Gatomon's head."

Gatomon's eyes widened. "HUH?!"

Renamon didn't hesitate. "Gladly." She took the litter box and clobbered her rival over the head with it. The loud clang echoed throughout the dorm room and likely throughout the building. Sure enough, there was a much bigger dent in Gatomon's litter box than there was before.

"Hey, what was that for?!" Gatomon demanded.

"Those are the rules of the game," Renamon answered. "And it's not like me to play without honor for the rules. Now I believe it's your turn. Gatomon, truth or dare?"

Gatomon briefly hesitated. "I guess I'll take dare."

Renamon bent down towards Calumon. The little one raised an ear while Renamon whispered something to him. Upon hearing the order, Calumon ran under Rika's bed.

"Ok, cat. I've got a dare for you. Calumon?"

Calumon ran out from under Rika's bed with a bowl in his hand. The bowl was covered in a stack of paper towels. Calumon handed the bowl to Renamon, who promptly removed the paper towels to reveal some kind of green soup.

"I dare you to eat this—no questions asked."

Gatomon sniffed the soup and nearly turned green herself. But she wasn't the type to turn down a challenge, no matter how bizarre. So she took a gulp of the soup…and nearly spit it out.

"What IS that?" Gatomon gagged.

"Some onion and broccoli soup that Rika brought back a week ago from the cafeteria that she never finished."

Gatomon coughed. "AGH! I'm gonna get you for that, Foxy!"

Impmon chuckled. This night was already getting off to a good start. And if this was a taste of things to come, this night would soon be a lot of fun.

A long time had passed since Agumon and his merry band of Digimon had that furious battle with ChaosGallantmon. Since that day, he and the others remained at the Koromon Village, trying to regroup. Though the mission to destroy the Black Gears was ultimately successful, ChaosGallantmon dominated the battle to a point where even WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon could not defeat him.

The Koromon have been very hospitable and provided them all with a safe haven and a place to think. So far, the only plan of action anyone was able to come up with was to send an e-mail to Tai and Matt. But as far as stopping ChaosGallantmon was concerned, there was no plan of action set. He was undoubtedly one of the most powerful Digimon ever known.

Of course, there was hardly an atmosphere of concern in the Koromon Village. In fact, many of the Koromon were sitting in a circle while Armadillomon walked around them, tapping the tops of their heads. They were playing a game.

"Koromon, Koromon, Koromon, Cockatrimon!"

Upon tapping the "Cockatrimon", the Koromon came out of the circle and started chasing Armadillomon around. As grim as the situation was, it was nice to see that none of the spirits in the village had been dampened.

"Any ideas?"

Agumon turned his head to see that Gabumon was sitting at the stool next to him. "I haven't thought of anything. I guess we did what Gennai wanted us to do, but I've got to believe there's more that we can do to help. I mean, this can't just be it. Can it?"

Hawkmon, in the meantime, was perched atop one of the many tall, luscious trees that inhabited the Koromon Village. He got a good birds-eye view (no pun intended) of the outside of the village, which would inevitably work to help Agumon create a path back to the sea. They would have to return to File Island eventually.

Hawkmon was contentedly standing on one of the branches, but suddenly jumped up and started flapping his wings frantically.

"Agumon! Gabumon! We've got company!!"

Agumon and Gabumon stood up. The game Armadillomon was having with the Koromon came to an immediate halt. The ground started shaking as heavy footsteps could be heard in the distance. The rumbling grew louder as whatever was coming their way came closer. Tall treetops that were visible in the background were soon falling over.

And finally, the intruder approached. The Digimon Empress stepped forward, but behind her was the destructive force that was clearing everything in his path. It was ChaosGallantmon.

Armadillomon walked over behind Agumon and Gabumon while Hawkmon flew down from the tree towards his friends. The four DigiDestined Digimon were now together, facing up to their greatest challenge.

"What do you want?" Gabumon demanded.

"Something attacked our base of operations," The Digimon Empress explained. "I don't suppose YOU four would know anything about that, would you?"

"We don't know anything about your base of operations," Agumon pointed out.

"But if you tell us where it is, maybe we can think of something," Armadillomon quipped.

The Digimon Empress sneered. "Insolence!"

ChaosGallantmon echoed his mistress's displeasure by slamming his lance on the ground, shaking the ground.

"Why don't you keep your mouth SHUT?" Hawkmon snapped at his colleague.

"I'd stop playing games and tell the truth if I were you four," The Digimon Empress snarled. "Talk! What do you know?"

"We've never heard anything about that!" Gabumon shouted.

The Digimon Empress sighed. "Very well. ChaosGallantmon, DESTROY THE VILLAGE! I don't want a single life spared!"

ChaosGallantmon slowly and ominously stepped forward. Sensing that no good could come from him, Agumon and the others desperately tried to attack.

"Pepper Breath!"

"Blue Blaster!"

"Feather Strike!"

"Diamond Shell!"

Just like before, the rookies' attacks harmlessly bounced off the exterior of the hulking Mega. He continued his slow, intimidating pace.

"What now?" Hawkmon asked.

"Run for it!" Agumon shouted.

Agumon and the others tried to run. ChaosGallantmon was about to reach out and stop them with his lance, but he soon unexpectedly found himself on the receiving end of an attack…from the Koromon.

Each and every one of the Koromon were attacking with their Bubble Blow attack. It didn't phase ChaosGallantmon, but it did get his attention which allowed Agumon and the others to make an escape.

"They don't stand a chance!" Armadillomon stated. "Those brave little guys won't last long against that giant tin can." He took out the box that Gennai that given them and started pounding on it. "Come on, work!"

The box had allowed Agumon and Gabumon to Warp Digivolve, but it appeared that the box's power would only work once. No matter how much Armadillomon desperately pounded it, it did no good. The box wouldn't respond.

The Koromon kept blowing while Agumon and the others made their escape. ChaosGallantmon continued stepping forward until he reached the center of the village. He perched his mistress on his shoulder and raised his lance. The tip of the weapon began gathering a dark light—the weapon charging its power.

Hawkmon dove forward into a conveniently placed trench. "DUCK AND COVER!!"

Everyone followed suit. Agumon and the others covered their heads while ChaosGallantmon released an apocalyptic attack.

"Final Elysian!"

The lance unleashed its full power and the result was disastrous. The dark energy of the Final Elysian attack spread throughout the village. Every single Koromon caught in the blast was obliterated. Everything caught in the blast was vaporized. What was once a thriving, luscious Koromon Village had now been reduced to a wasteland. Agumon had never seen anything like it.

"He's destroyed everything!" Gabumon gasped.

Agumon was in disbelief. "What now?"

Armadillomon kept pounding the box into the ground. "Come on, you lousy box! Work already!"

Armadillomon got so frustrated that he tossed the box towards a rock. The box bounced off the rock and then clunked Agumon on the head. What happened next, however, was a sight to behold. The box began to react.

Unfortunately, it didn't create the effect any of them desired.

The box glowed a black light and shot out towards Agumon. The result was a transformation, but it wasn't a Warp Digivolution. It was a corruption. Where Agumon once stood, now stood a large, skeletal creature.

Armadillomon took a step back. "Uh oh!"

Gabumon confirmed it. "SkullGreymon!"

SkullGreymon didn't waste a second in wreaking havoc. He turned around in the blink of an eye, knocking the remaining three rookies away with a swipe of his bony tail. But before making another move, he saw ChaosGallantmon walking away over the horizon. SkullGreymon ran towards his new adversary, hoping to catch him.

Gabumon shook off the cobwebs and got to his feet. "Come on, guys! Get up! We have to catch him before something bad happens!"

Armadillomon and Hawkmon both got to their feet and followed Gabumon. All three rookies now found themselves giving chase to SkullGreymon.

For Gatomon, this night wasn't much fun. So far she had a litter box cracked over her head, been forced to eat old green soup, and had her tail fur dyed green. She wanted to kill Impmon for suggesting this game of "Truth or Dare".

Renamon chuckled. "Ok, cat. I believe you're up again. Truth or dare?"

Gatomon didn't want to risk another humiliating dare. She bit her lower lip. "Truth."

"I thought you'd never ask," Renamon smirked. "Ok, so I want the absolute truth. Gatomon…have you ever been jealous of me and my abilities?"

Gatomon tilted her head. "Huh?"

"Ever since you first met me, have you been jealous of me?"

Gatomon sighed. "You want the truth? No. I've never been jealous of you."

"Don't lie now," Renamon muttered. "The rule is you MUST tell the truth."

"I AM telling the truth. I was never jealous of you at any point. I've always been happy with myself and who I am. I don't know where you ever got the idea that I was ever jealous of you."

Renamon furrowed her brow. "Ok…sufficient. Who's next?"

"I believe you are," Gatomon answered. "Truth or Dare?"

Renamon thought about it. "Truth."

Gatomon grinned. "Hoped so." Her grin faded. "One question. Renamon…why did you throw me off that cliff all those years ago?"

Impmon chuckled. He got a mischievous grin on his face. Calumon's ears shrunk, knowing that the answer could lead to a violent eruption.

"I think it's time to end this game," Renamon said bitterly.

"Answer the question, Renamon!" Gatomon snapped. "Why'd you do it? Why have you always hated me from day one?"

Renamon was walking away, but Impmon grabbed her by the tail.

"Hold it, toots. You can't just end the game. That's against the rules. Answer the question."

Renamon picked Impmon up by the ears. "I can't believe you set this up."

"I wanna know this, too, Renamon," Calumon added, hoping his innocent voice would sway Renamon. "Why can't you two just get along? Why don't you like her?"

Renamon closed her eyes. All eyes were now on her. There was no escaping this question anymore. It was time for her to confront Gatomon and her past demons once and for all.

"You want to know why I don't like you?" Renamon began. "I will tell you. It goes back many years, long before I met Rika.

"I was a young Digimon—very naïve in my young age. I wasn't familiar with the workings of the Digital World, but I soon figured out that I needed to fight in order to survive. And then I made it a focus to become the mightiest Digimon in the Digital World. But to do that, I had to find the proper training. Eventually, I found the ones to train me. A group of fearsome Digimon—experienced warriors who knew how to battle.

"They took me under their wing and began training me. I learned much under their tutelage and they soon admired my courage and perseverance. They loved my desire and sincerity to learn. And with them, I found a home…and a family. Then you came along.

"When you arrived, everything changed. Everyone wanted to take care of the helpless Salamon that had come from who-knows-where. Once you Digivolved into what you are today, everything only got worse. You completely threw off our focus. You started going on about this lost child you were supposed to find and about how you didn't know your purpose in life. Soon enough, our training sessions stopped entirely. You had everybody wrapped up in your sob story.

"So that's why I did what I did. I took you and I tossed you off that cliff. I thought that once I got rid of you, everything would go back to the way it was. Everything would pick up as it was before you arrived. Unfortunately, that didn't prove to be the case. I was shunned by those I considered my allies and sent away to wander the Digital World on my own…just like you. I was left without a home…"

"And without a friend," Gatomon finished.

Renamon scoffed. "Well, if you know so much about this story, why don't you tell me what happens next?"

"You wander the world alone, not a friend in the world—wondering if anybody will ever accept you for who you are…and feeling lonely as the day you were born. You wonder if you'll ever feel happiness…and you confront you share of hardships, difficulties, confusion, and even false friends. But one day, you find a REAL friend…and then you feel a happiness that you've always wanted to feel. It's such an amazing feeling that you feel numb to it at first, but slowly you begin to feel it. And you start to wonder where you ever were without it."

Renamon hesitated. "That…was beautiful."

"It's my life," Gatomon retorted. "If you stopped to think about it, you'd see that we have a lot in common."

"And what made you see all this?" Renamon asked. "If I'm not mistaking, you haven't seen with those eyes since we arrived."

"Well, I'll admit I needed a little help," Gatomon sighed. "And that's why I have Calumon to thank. Calumon told me a lot about you and your friendship with him and Impmon."

"Hey, hey, hey!" Impmon snapped. "I don't want to hear no 'F' word, unless it 'fry' or 'fricassee'!"

Renamon turned to Calumon. "You told her my life story?"

"It's true, Renamon," Calumon explained. "You two DO have so much in common. Can't you two just be friends? You'd make great friends.

"I've had to watch you guys fight with each other everyday since we moved in. And these past few weeks things just got so much worse."

"We didn't fight these last few weeks," Renamon pointed out.

"Yeah, but you didn't talk to each other at all, either," Calumon shot back. "You two would act like the other didn't exist. This isn't any way to live! For the next few weeks, we're still going to be living together. And what happens next year when Rika and Kari decide to room together again? You know that's on their minds.

"And it just gets so much sadder to see when I realize that you two are so much alike. You could be best friends…but first you have to put the past behind you. Whatever happened between you two happened a long time ago. You two can be so forgiving. Can't you forgive each other and become friends?"

Renamon hesitated. "The little one makes a point. You always think with your heart, Calumon. Thank you." She turned to Gatomon. She slowly paced towards her…and extended her hand. "And as for you—I would be honored to call myself your friend."

Gatomon raised an eyebrow. "You mean it this time?"

"I honestly do. Consider the past forgotten."

Renamon and Gatomon exchanged a sincere handshake. Upon seeing this sign of friendship, Impmon nearly gagged. He got to his feet and headed towards the window.

"Alright, this is getting sickening. Come on, Calumon. Let's go up on the roof. Maybe we can rain some fireballs on a few humans."

"Ok."

Impmon and Calumon climbed out the window, leaving Gatomon and Renamon all alone.

"So…what now?" Gatomon asked awkwardly.

Renamon kept her usual calm demeanor. "Truth or Dare?"

Gatomon blinked. "Huh?"

"Truth or Dare?"

"Uh…truth…"

Renamon bent over to look Gatomon in the eye. "Is it true that Veemon STILL has a crush on you?"

Gatomon's eyes widened. "I should hope NOT! I thought he and I settled that years ago."

"That's not what I'm hearing."

"Really? What are you hearing?"

"Have a seat and I'll tell you."

And with Impmon and Calumon out, that opened the door for Gatomon and Renamon to do what many female friends did: gossip.

Tai ran a hand through his hair. Of course, with his unique hairstyle, Tai's hand virtually disappeared in the sea of hair. The meeting went on a mind-numbingly long time, but at least they were making some semblance of progress. Although when he looked at his sister, he saw a murderous look. Tai blew on a lock of hair. This was obviously the gratitude he got from trying to protect his baby sister.

"Ok, so now that everyone's shifts are all set, what's the next order of business?" Tai asked.

Kari stepped forward. "We talk about the other person who was attacked that night."

Ryo, who was casually munching on a sandwich, stopped all movement and swallowed. Everyone's attention was focused on him.

"Why was that Digimon chasing you, anyway?" Davis asked.

"He wanted you for a reason," Ken added.

Ryo thought about that. "Ebemon said something about something Cyberdramon and I did. But we don't have any clue what he's talking about."

Davis tried prying further. "What do you mean? What does he think you guys did?"

"He thinks we destroyed a base of operations or something."

Tai blinked. "Uh…anyone have any ideas on that one?"

Silence. Nothing could be heard except the barking of the animatronic dogs. Terriermon boldly raised his right ear.

"I have an idea!" he said brazenly. "How about we shut those dogs off?"

"I think it's catchy," Guilmon grinned. Soon enough, Guilmon added his voice to the barking dogs. Terriermon clamped the red lizard's lips shut with his left ear.

"I meant ideas on what Ebemon was babbling about," Tai muttered dryly.

"Oh! No clue there," Terriermon chuckled sheepishly.

"From the sound of this account, it appears that there's a base of operations somewhere in the Digital World," Izzy assumed. "Apparently, there are still pieces of this puzzle that we have yet to uncover."

"Any ideas how to uncover them, then?" Tai asked, getting more exasperated.

"Not a clue."

Tai pounded his head on the makeshift podium. He was obviously out of ideas and there was nothing more he'd be able to accomplish on this night. Face-down on the podium, Tai simply waved his hand.

"Meeting adjourned. Go to bed! All of you! Especially the freshmen, or I'll write you all up!"

With the meeting over and no reason to stick around, everyone started walking away. The only ones that stuck around were the older DigiDestined…and Davis. Davis walked up to his old idol.

"You ok, Tai? You look tense."

"Tense? Tense doesn't even begin to describe it," Tai sighed. He groaned loudly. "I'm too old for this!"


Next Time: With the school year winding down, Kari's suddenly finding it much more difficult to focus now that she has someone looking after her every second. Knowing he's made a major mistake, Davis tries to take a shift watching over Kari to make amends, but is it too late? With the revelation that Rosa is The Digimon Empress, Takato is simply relieved that it isn't Jeri. But the question remains: Where HAS Jeri been going all this time? Takato's determined to find out…even if it means hiring Detective Ken Ichijouji to find out for him. Izzy and Cody both head over to assist Henry in fixing Guardromon, but are interrupted by a distress call from the Digital World. The out-of-control SkullGreymon is still on a rampage and the remaining rookies will need help in rounding him up. Find out what happens on the next Digimon: The College Years!


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