"Are we far?" asked Travis to Pidgey. The Digidestined were following Pidgey down a path. The multi blue hued bird was flying slightly above and ahead of them. Its shimmery colors were sparkling in the digi-sunlight.
"Not very," replied the bird. "I don't like to stray too far from it. You never know if a way to go home might show itself."
"Why didn't you say anything to us before, Max?" asked Jinjo.
Max shrugged. "You didn't ask?"
"Don't give me that excuse," said Jinjo.
"I didn't think they were related, really," said Max. "Pokémon are caught and trained. I had over three hundred of them. Here, only Digidestined have partners and most of the time you have only one, according to Cody."
"Right, except for Willis," Cody laughed. "He ended up being special."
Max's eyes lit up. "Hey! I just remembered something. A couple days ago I called Professor Monahan, this really nice lady who gave me my first Pokémon. Anyway, she said they've been having trouble with the Pokémon computer system. A lot of Pokémon have gone missing too. They think Team Rocket's behind it."
"Who's Team Rocket?" asked Armadillomon.
"They're this ring of criminals who try to steal as many rare Pokémon as they can," said Max. "I ran into them a couple times. They're easy to defeat."
"But the Pokémon isn't with team Rocket," said Cody. "They're here, in the Digiworld."
"But how?" asked Sefie.
"Here we are!" chirped the Pidgey. The bird swooped ahead into a clearing. It was a small town with a few houses and stores. All for them were blocky in color and jagged. Max swept his eyes over the area.
"Pallet. It's Pallet Town."
"That's what I thought too," agreed Pidgey. "But it's not. It just looks like it."
"Like a copy?" said Sefie. "Copy-paste?"
"That's probably what happened." said Travis. "If whatever it is can take Pokémon away from Real Life then it can take the dimensions of some other stuff."
"Smart," said Jinjo. "I'm surprised. And I thought you were just some cutie hotshot guitarist skater," she teased. Travis glared at her.
"Aniki!" Sefie distracted Travis long enough for his annoyance to fade away.
"So, it's just like Pallet Town?" said Cody to Max.
"Mostly, except for that weird black thing."
"What weird black thing?"
"That weird black thing." Max pointed. A few feet from the Pokécenter stood a twenty-foot tall black obsidian monolith. Unlike the rest of the town, it wasn't blocky and jagged. It was smooth. He and Cody called the rest of the team over. "What is it?"
"Looks like a tombstone," said Travis.
"Morbid thought" commented Jinjo.
"A lot of us materialized in front of it," said Pidgey. It raised a wing towards a group of Pokémon huddled together under a nearby tree. "Like them." Pidgey flew towards them. "Marril! Beedrill! Geodude!"
"Pidgey! You're back! Did you get food?" asked the Marril. It didn't look much like a Marril though. Instead of being blue it was red and black. Its tail was shaped more like a Pikachu's and its ears were of a Houndour.
"Sorry. I ran into these guys." It flipped its head towards the Digidestined. "They're Digidestined!" Pidgey puffed up its feathers with pride. "They're' going to save us all!"
"Are they like Trainers or something?" asked Geodude. It was wet looking and had the golden scales of a Magikarp.
"Even better! They're special," said Pidgey.
"I don't trust anyone but trainers," huffed Beedrill. "They've got to have the badges."
"I'm a trainer," piped up Max. He unzipped his vest and showed the Pokémon his rows of badges. "I never leave home without them!" Sefie caught sight of the shiny things and immediately asked to look at them.
Beedrill relaxed. "Okay. You guys are fine with me."
"Did any more Pokémon materialize?" asked Jinjo.
"Sure, five more since Pidgey left and that was an hour ago," said Geodude. It pointed to a very shaken looking Meowth being comforted by Eggecutes.
"Is it alright?" asked Sefie.
"Sure, just shocked," said Marril. "It really liked its owner. Poor little guy."
"How do they materialize?" asked Armadillomon.
As if the monolith had heard the question, it's smooth surface started to frizz with static snow. In front of the monolith, a figure started to take shape. After a moment or so of frizzing, it fully appeared. It was a little frog Pokémon. It was bright green with red and yellow warning spots running down its back. It stood there a moment, blinking its giant red eyes. "Ribbbbbbbiit?" as soon as the last rolling 'r' ended, it fainted.
"Aiee!" squealed Jinjo. She ran towards the little Pokémon and skidded to her knees. "Are you all right?" She picked it up and tapped its cheeks. "C'mon. C'mon now. Wake up!"
"Wait," Max rummaged in his pocket and pulled out a vial of something. "This is a revive." He handed it to Jinjo. Travis looked at him oddly.
"Why, pray tell, do you have that?"
Max shrugged, "I forgot to clean my pockets out."
Jinjo poured the contents of the vial into the frog's mouth. Its eyes blinked open and it sprang ten feet into the air.
"Riibbb!!!!!" It landed directly on Jinjo's head.
"Ieepppp!!!" Jinjo's head sagged under its weight. "What are you doing?"
The frog looked upside-down at her. "Ribbbbittt." It promptly jumped off her head and landed neatly on the ground. Jinjo knelt down and held her hand over its head.
"Translate!"
"Sorry about that," said the Pokémon. "I was just a bit freaked out." It whipped its head side to side. "Hey, where am I? It's so blocky here. Kinda like leggo. I swallowed one once by accident, " It flicked its tongue out briefly. Travis and Sefie jumped back in surprise. It stretched out three feet. "It didn't taste very good." It looked up at the Digidestined. "Who are you?"
"I'm Cody, he's Travis, that's Sefie, That's Max and the one you landed on is Jinjo," said Cody.
"Well, I'm Ribmon," said the Pokémon.
"I've never heard of you before," said Max. "And I was a trainer."
"Well, there's a lot more of us out there then you humans realize." Retorted the Pokémon. "You guys just didn't get to my area yet. Ha!"
"You're in the Digiworld." Said Sefie. "Don't ask why 'cause we don't know either."
"That's a lot of help chica," said the frog rolling its eyes. It smacked its lips. "Wow, my mouth feels hot." It flickered its tongue again. This time, the whole tongue was encased in flames." Ribmon pulled its tongue back in. "What?!"
"Your data was altered when you went from the Pokémon world to the Digiworld," said Jinjo. "You must have changed from whatever element you were before to a fire element."
"Gotcha," said Ribmon. It fanned its mouth. "This is going to take some getting used to."
"I hear ya." Said Pidgey nodding agreement.
Ribmon eyed Pidgey from talons to feathered crown. "What? What's your element?"
"Wind."
"Big change." Ribmon rolled his eyes around again.
"I'm a bit of ice too," said Pidgey indignantly.
"Again, big change."
"You got beef with me, chicken legs?" said Pidgey. "Oh, excuse me, tastes like chicken. You're not good enough to be a chicken."
"What was that Popsicle tail?" Pidgey reflexively looked back at its tail feathers. Sure enough, he was had gotten so riled up that it had stood up on end, looking like blue Popsicle sticks.
Ribmon and Pidgey glared daggers at each other.
Travis, Jinjo, Cody and Max exchanged looks. Jinjo elbowed Cody lightly and whispered. "Do you think their brains got jumbled too? Cuz I'm sure not all of it's there." Cody snickered but ended up coughing in his polite attempt at covering it up.
"Um, aniki?" Sefie tugged on Travis' jacket sleeve.
"Yeah Sef?" replied Travis, though he didn't divert his eyes form the arguing Pokémon."
"What does that say?"
"Sound it out."
Sefie tugged on his sleeve again. "Aniiiiikiii! Loooook!"
Travis sighed and looked down at Sefie. She was pointing at the monolith. "What is it?"
"Look," Sefie insisted. "Look! Look!" she jabbed her pointing finger at the column. Sefie scowled, seized his wrist and dragged him over to it. She jabbed her finger at the monolith once more. "Look! Closely!"
Travis squinted, then blinked, then yelled, "Hey guys, check this out! Sefie found something." The 03s and the Pokémon ran over. "There's something written on this thing."
The kids and Pokémon looked at monolith. Etched deeply into the stone were lines and lines of symbols all the way to the very top of the monolith.
"Hieroglyphics?" asked Sefie.
"Definitely not Egyptian," said Jinjo.
"It's Digimon language," said Cody. He stepped up to it and traced a couple of the symbols with his fingers. "Well, some of it anyway. I know a little Digimon writing, not an awful lot though. Izzy's the fluent one of the bunch. A few of them I don't understand-
"Pokémon!" cut in Max. "I know them! It's in Pokémon language too!" He pointed at a symbol. "That means Pokémon…and that one," he pointed to another, "Means trainer."
"What else?" asked Jinjo.
Max shook his head. "I don't know…I never finished my Pokémon language class."
"Something tells me whatever that thing says explains everything," said Ribmon.
"No kidding, Chicken," said Pidgey.
"Lay off, Pops."
"Quiet for a second, will you?" said Jinjo impatiently. She activated her glove's communications function. "Ntropy, you there?"
"Yah, go ahead."
"We're in a place Max says looks like a place called Pallet town. There's this giant twenty foot monolith here. Every time it goes static every…uh, help me here, guys."
"Twenty minutes or so," said Pidgey.
"Right, twenty minutes or so, a new jumbled up Pokémon appears."
"Maybe that's what's controlling the element switching."
"Maybe, but that's not what we called for," said Jinjo. "There's writing on it. Cody and Max say it's a combination of Pokémon and Digimon languages."
"Hybrid, hmm, so you want me translate it."
"Yup."
"Right…Look, I'm not fluent, and I'm pretty sure Izzy isn't either." Ntropy sighed. "Whatever, I'll rig up something."
"That's all we ask." Jinjo flicked her wrist to turn the link off.
"So…all we do is wait?" asked Max.
"Guess so," said Jinjo.
"We never just wait," said Cody. "Something always happens."
"A little paranoid, aren't you?" said Travis.
"He's right," said Armadillomon. "We know from experience.
A sharp hiss filled the air, followed by static. All of them clamped their hands to their ears. "The monolith!" yelled Jinjo. "It's gonna blizzard again!"
"Let's get outta here!" yelled Travis. He grabbed Sefie's wrist and pulled her into a run away from the monolith. The rest of them followed suit.
"There! Behind the pokécenter!" yelled Max. They ducked behind the building and poked their heads out from behind it to watch.
"Is it just me or is it flickering more than before?" asked Armadillomon.
"Not just you," said Pidgey. All eyes were on the monolith. "It's going haywire!"
"I'd hate to see the Pokémon that comes out of that," muttered Jinjo.
"Too late." Said Cody. "Look!"
A large figure started to manifest. It was as large as the monolith. It's image flickered wildly, it's colors changing constantly. It wasn't smooth like the other Pokémon that had come out from the monolith, but blocky in color and jagged like the rest of the Digiworld. Not to mention a lot more messed up.
"It looks like my ice cream after I mush it all up," said Sefie.
"What is it? Max? Cody?" asked Travis. They shrugged. "C'mon guys, you're the two experts here."
"I haven't a clue," admitted Cody. "I know Digimon, not…not…whatever that is."
"It's…it's…" Max shook his head. "I don't know." He reached up to scratch his neck. He looked at his glove. "Oh yeah!" He stuck his hand out. "Scan!!"
"What's'it say?" said Sefie.
"Processing…processing…Darn!" Max frowned. "I guess it's confused." He studied the monster. "It looks…familiar though…" He yanked out his pokedex and pointed it at the monstrosity. "Arrg. Nothing!"
A loud roar filled the air. The monster was snapping its head side-to-side, sweeping his gaze about the area. It spotted a group of Pokémon huddling behind a tree.
"Jeez! It's heading for 'em!" said Travis.
"We haveta do something!" pleaded Sefie.
"Right!" Cody looked at Armadillomon. "YOu up for it?"
"As always Cody."
"Let's go." Cody started to walk out towards the monster when Jinjo grabbed his arm.
"What do you think you're doing?"
"Help those Digimon, now let me go!"
"Are you nuts?"
"Yes. They need help," insisted Cody. He jerked his arm away and dashed out with Armadillomon. Cody pulled his old digivice out as he and his partner skidded to a stop just a few feet from the monster.
"Armadillomon digivolve to Ankylomon!"
Three long seconds passed as nothing happened. Cody and Armadillomon looked at each other. "Uh oh," said Armadillomon.
"Of course! My old digivice doesn't work. That means you can't digivolve."
The monster turned around, finally noticing Cody and Armadillomon.
"Double uh oh," said Armadillomon. "Regular attacks?"
"Go for it."
With an encouraging war cry, Armadillomon burrowed himself into the ground and shot up below the monster.
The monster reeled back, shook its head from surprise and swiped a hand at Armadillomon, knocking him off to the side.
"Armadillomon!" cried Cody rushing to his friend's side.
"I'm ok. I'm ok." Armadillomon shook his head. "Charge!" He got up and attacked again.
"Armadillomon doesn't stand a chance by himself," moaned Jinjo.
"Pidgey, can you attack?" asked Jinjo
"Uh, I think so."
"Ribmon?" asked Travis
"Let's go!"
Ribmon and Pidgey shot out from behind the Pokécenter and flanked Armadillomon.
"All for one, and one for all!" yelled Ribmon.
Jinjo, Travis, Max and Sefie joined Cody on the front lines. "What they said," grinned Travis. Cody grinned back.
Armadillomon broke off from the trio and started to claw at the monster. Ribmon and Pidgey looked at each other. "What do we do?" said Ribmon.
"Lick it or something!" yelled Jinjo. "You've got a fire tongue, remember?"
"Oh yeah, right!" Ribmon started lashing at the monster with his tongue.
"Peck 'em!" yelled Travis. "Beat sand into its eyes or something!"
"How'd you know I could do that?" said Pidgey. It shrugged then flapped its wings hard sending an icy whirlwind at the monster.
"Go go go!" cheered Sefie.
Travis looked over at Max. "Any luck at scanning this guy?"
"Thinking…thinking…thinking…crash it all!" yelled Max with supreme frustration.
"I'll take that as a no."
Pidgey swooped down and sent am icy whirlwind attack at the monster. "Is that all you can do, Pops?" jeered Ribmon.
"It's better than thinking you can lick the thing to death!" countered Pidgey.
"Less talking, more attacking!" scolded Armadillomon, narrowly missing another swipe.
"Are we even hurting this guy?" asked Pidgey.
"Nope," said Armadillomon. It's too strong." He scowled, "This guys' gotta be at least a champion level Digimon."
"I got it! I got it!" yelled Max. He waved his hands. "The scan's done."
"Well, read the bloody thing already you git!" yelled Jinjo back.
Max blinked, "Bloody…git?"
"She lived in England for a few weeks," explained Travis.
"Right…" Max started to read off the scan results. "Level N/A, HP N/A, PP N/A…attacks unknown…what's going on?"
"That's probably the Digimon part of it," said Cody. "Digimon don't really have levels while I'm guessing Pokémon do."
"Yeah…Elemental…Wind! Use wind against it!"
"Right! Pidgey!" yelled Travis. "You heard the dude."
"Whatever ya say," said Pidgey. Pidgey flapped his wings towards each other sending a strong blast of air at the monster. The monster tipped backwards a bit but regained balance soon after.
"Arg!" cried Max. "It changed element!"
"What is it now?" asked Cody.
"Ice."
"You heard 'em Ribmon!" yelled Jinjo. "Fire's good against ice, right?"
"I think…" Ribmon hopped high into the air and flickered his tongue. A fireball rolled out from it and flew towards the monster. The flames hit the monster's chest but scattered upon impact.
"It's water now." Max frowned, "Darn, where's Pichu when I need him?" he shook his head. "Cody-
Cody cut him off. "Armadillomon, it's your turn." Armadillomon nodded and attacked. No effect.
"What is with this guy?" said Sefie.
"I think…I think I know," said Max slowly. "It's a trainer legend. No one really believes it though. Only a couple people have seen it and they were crazy."
"Get on with it Max," said Travis impatiently.
"Well-
"Guys guys guys!" screeched Sefie. "Lookit!" She pointed franticly at the monolith again. It had started to blizzard again, though not as wildly as it had when the monster had appeared. This time, a small Pokémon appeared at the base unconscious."
"Looks like a Ditto," said Max.
"What's a Ditto?" asked Jinjo. She waved her hand before Max could launch into a really really really long explanation. "Forget it, I'll look it up later."
"The big monster thing's gonna hurt it!" yelled Sefie. The monster had forgotten all about Armadillomon, Ribmon and Pidgey and was starting towards the downed Pokémon. "We gotta help it!"
"It's going berserker again!" said Jinjo. Her eyes went wide. "Uh oh, we're screwed." Two more monsters had appeared, each as messed up as the first. The monsters looked at each other then down at the ditto. Two of them suddenly turned to the Digidestined team and the Digimon/Pokémon while the other one remained interested in the ditto.
"Uh oh…" echoed Cody. They Digidestined started back away from the three monsters. They backed right into the Digimon.
"Anyone got a plan?" asked Armadillomon.
"Yeah, I got one." Said Travis. "Run!"
"Yup." Chorused Jinjo, Max and Cody.
"NO!" cried Sefie. The older kids looked at her incredulously. Sefie wrenched her hand away from Travis' hand and bolted straight for the ditto.
"Sefie!" Travis tore after her. Sefie darted in between the monster's legs and snatched the ditto into her arms.
"Gotcha Ditto. That's your name, right?" she asked the pale blue Pokémon. It blinked its eyes at her then nodded. "It's ok. I'll getcha outta here… she looked up at the monsters now surrounding her. "Somehow…Eep."She wiggled her way backwards, as far as she could get from the monsters. She crashed into the monolith, cornered. "Ani- ani- aniki!" She set her jaw and stood up with the Ditto still in her arms. She whipped her head around, looking desperately for a way out.
"Hey, block head!" a large rock hurled itself at the monster closest to Sefie. "Over here!"
Sefie and the monster turned towards the voice. Travis was tossing a rock in his hand. "Come and get me!" he threw another rock, nailing one of them on the head..
A high-pitched beeping sound caught Sefie's attention. It was her glove. She raised it to her ear and mouth. "Uh, hello?"
"Sef, it's me, Jinjo." Came the voice. Sure enough, Jinjo was on the other side of the monster speaking into her hand. "Look, we're going to attack this dude with all we've got at one time. Is that ditto of yours strong enough to attack? We'll need to get this guy from all sides."
Sefie looked down at the squirming Pokémon. "Ditto? Can you attack? We kinda need your help."
"Dit dit," nodded Ditto.
"She says yeah..I think."
"She?" questioned Jinjo. "How you figure? Whatever. On the count of three, ok?" she signaled to the other Digidestined. "One…Two…Three!"
"Now!" shrieked Sefie. Dittocatapulted from sefies arms and torpedoed towards the monster. She would have looked exactly like a horizontally falling drop of water if not for her eyes and mouth. She hit simultaneously with the other four attacks. The monster screeched in pain and doubled over.
"Sefie-chan! Iku zo!" yelled Travis. He was waving franticly at her. The monsters were too busy tending to their fallen comrade to notice her. She barreled out. She and Travis regrouped with the others.
By then the monster had recovered and was angrily started looking for them.
The Digimon and Digidestined looked at each other and came to a sound unanimous plan of action. "RUN!"