Chapter 36: Repercussion

"…I can't believe that Terrance was really that guy with the cloak!" Tina said, rubbing her forehead.

"It's true," Yolei said. "I saw: he had the exact same clothes as Terrance did under his cloak, and he was the same build."

"Then…but if he's the enemy and he knows where our bases are…!!"

"We've got to get everyone out of there. We'll start by relocating the orphans. But how can we get them all out of here…?"

"Is this a trick question?" Tina asked, looking at Veemon and Wormmon.

Imperialdramon beamed the children into his force field and flew off to find a new location. "But where can we hide the children?"

Tina cut in, "I remember seeing a place during seek patrol. It's a college campus with all kinds of tunnels running beneath it. I don't think that the underbirds' sonar could penetrate the walls of the tunnels."

"Is it big enough?" Yolei asked.

"I think so…but how would we handle our other base?"

"I was about to ask you that."

******

"You're late."

"…Am I?"

"Your tardiness is extreme, given the situation."

"I…I must have found an unmapped time distortion---"

"Have the mapping staff terminated," the sub-major said to one of his attendants. "I expect a report on how exactly the kugvia-tor-lelawo fell."

"A programming flaw: when I gave a steering command, it activated the self-destruct system, and there was no way to shut it down. Then the Digidestined evolved their digimon to a level beyond mega, fired on the kugvia-tor-lelawo, and they thought that they caused its destruction."

"Have the programming staff terminated---bar those on the D-Gauntlet project."

"But there is one thing: we won't have a great chance against them if they digivolve beyond mega, again."

"I was already aware of that. We have not told you this because we did not wish for anxiety to distract you from your work. But we are intending to create a copy of the very digimon you met. It will require three components to accomplish this, and we have one: Gabumon's DNA. The other two are a means by which your digi-clones can evolve to their mega forms and Agumon's DNA."

"You've just got part two," The Unnamed Figure answered, holding up the warp-digivolving card. "I stole it from their base."

The sub-major grinned. "Then you know where their base is?"

"Yes, I do."

"You must tell us. But first, I should inform you that your digi-clones of Blackgatomon and Jaymon are in need of a refit. You may take these as replacements." Out of the shadows came a pair of digi-clones…another copy of Patamon and another of Armadillomon.

"These again? They couldn't take the heat before."

"We made a few modifications that I'm sure you'll be eager to hear of…"

******

Tracy and Ash stood up against the wall as they heard more saberstrikes pass by. "So…to we take 'em down, or wait 'em out?" Ash asked.

"If we destroy them, then they won't be killing people. It's our job to keep the population at large safe, ergo, we kill them."

"Okay…here goes nothing: Tyranitar, I choose you!"

"Are you sure this is such a great idea, Ash? I mean, Tyranitar isn't the friendliest pokémon around."

"He's one of the most powerful, though. Tyranitar, use---never mind…" Tyranitar didn't even wait for Ash's command. It attacked the saberstrikes without mercy, and their sonic attacks weren't doing much to help them defeat it.

"Ash, he's out-of-control!"

"If anything goes wrong, I'll call him back!"

It was at this exact moment that another three-year-old child wandered onto the scene.

"Oh, gimme a break!" Ash shouted, watching as the child came closer and closer to the fight. "Tyranitar, return!"

"Let me try, Ash! Scizor, I choose you! Use Fury Cutter!" Scizor began making scrap metal out of the saberstrikes, but the battle wasn't much less dangerous for the kid.

"One of us has to go for the kid, Ash!"

"That'll be me. Pidgeot, Primeape, I choose you!" Ash jumped onto Pidgeot's back. "Primeape, you keep us covered! Pidgeot, use whirlwind to clear a path to that boy!" Pidgeot flew in low to try and get to the child, but it felt a sonic attack rip through its body. Ash fell off his bird and skinned his elbow. "Pidgeot, Sand-Attack!" Ash raced through the clouds of sand to the boy, picked him up, and ran further away from the fight. "Pidgeot, Primeape, return! Charizard, I choose you!" Charizard flew out of its pokéball and roared. "Tracy, call back Scizor: he won't be able to stand this attack! Charizard, end this battle, fast! Fire Spin!" A tornado of flame overheated the saberstrikes, and they all shut down.

Breathing heavily, Ash looked down at the boy he'd just saved. "You know, it's not all that smart to walk right into a situation where you're about to be killed."

The boy said nothing.

"Where are your parents?"

"I haven't seen them for hours."

"Then you saw them today?"

"I think so."

"Great. Tracy!" Ash shouted. "We've got a new problem!"

"What's that?"

"We have to find this kid's parents." Ash turned back to the boy. "Where did you see them, last?"

"I don't know…I think I'm lost."

"Great…looks like we have our work cut out for us."

"I saw I lion," the boy said after a pause, proud of his sight.

"Was it made of metal?"

"No, he was furry and yellow, and he had all black stripes on him."

"Great. A tiger escaped from the zoo, too," Ash muttered.

"Tigers don't have hair, though. This guy did. And he had a storm cloud on his back."

"He what?" Tracy asked. "Ash, that sounds exactly like Raikou."

"Raikou? What's that?"

"It's a pokémon, Ash. The legendary pokémon of thunder."

"Funny…but that reminds me: I caught that Tyranitar on this planet: not on our version of Earth. Here, there aren't supposed to be and wild pokémon. Just digimon."

"So pokémon somehow came to this parallel universe?"

"Somehow, yeah. Misty caught a Suicune, earlier, too."

"Wow…just to see that Raikou would be enough to make me famous! I've got to sketch it!"

"I'd be more interested in catching it," Ash said.

"Kachu!" Pikachu spat.

"Not that I don't have the best electric pokémon around, already…where did you see this lion?"

"Over there," the boy answered, pointing to an alleyway. "I just came out here to tell somebody. I was gonna tell those dinosaurs about it."

"They wouldn't have understood you. But we'd like to see it, too."

"Come on!" The boy ran to the alleyway.

"Wait! Don't race ahead!" He didn't listen. Ash and Tracy called back their pokémon and ran after him.

"Boy, you two are slowpokes. He was right here, a minute ago, but he ran that way," the boy said, pointing up the side of a building.

"Then let's get after them! Heracross, Charizard, I choose you! See if you can't fly us up to the roof!"

When they reached the top, they saw Raikou---but only long enough for it to run away. "After it, Heracross and Charizard!" They flew through the streets after Raikou, trying to corner it.

"This is amazing!" Tracy said. "I can't believe that I'm actually sketching Raikou, running away from us!"

"He sure doesn't want to fight," Ash said.

"The legendary cats tend to be really shy, Ash. If they see a human being, they run for it."

"What if they see a cybertooth?" Ash asked. Raikou was hit in the side by a huge sphere of red energy: the signature attack of a cybertooth.

"Cybertooths are really dangerous, Ash. We shouldn't try to take him."

"Tyranitar can take him down!"

"Ash, no!" Tracy was too late: Ash threw out Tyranitar's pokéball. Tyranitar roared at the Cybertooth.

"Kin Non!" The cybertooth shouted, firing a blast of flame at Tyranitar. The flames did little damage to his rocky skin.

"Tyranitar, use Rock Slide!" Tyranitar didn't listen: it used Crunch attack, and bit down on the cybertooth's neck. That didn't do much damage to the cybertooth. "Tyranitar, come on!"

"Ash, we have a bigger problem!" Tracy shouted: Raikou was crippled, and couldn't move away from the fight. But it was terrified, and it didn't trust Ash and Tracy to help it.

"Then we'll just have to catch it! Snorlax, I choose you! Use mega punch on him!" Snorlax struck Raikou with a glowing fist, and Raikou felt it. But Raikou returned fire: Snorlax fell paralyzed from a Thunder Wave attack.

"Let's try the pokéball, now! Pokéball, go!" Raikou couldn't move out of the way as Ash's pokéball engulfed it. But it could struggle, and it tried and tried to break out of the pokéball---and succeeded. It roared in defiance at Ash. "Aw, great!"

"Ash, he's getting mad!"

"I know, but he can't do much!"

"I mean Tyranitar!"

"Huh?" Tyranitar was on the war path more than ever. It had trashed the cybertooth, and was now going after Raikou. "Tyranitar! Stop!"

Tyranitar turned and roared at Ash.

Pikachu snorted. "Ka pi, pika chu Pika-pi!"

"Did he just insult me?" Ash asked Pikachu.

Pikachu nodded.

"That does it. Tyranitar, return!" Tyranitar jumped out of the way of the pokéball's beam. "Tyranitar, I don't want you killing Raikou! Return!" Tyranitar refused to be quelled. "What is this about? Do you think I'm not worth your time?"

Tyranitar snarled back.

"I'll take that as a 'yes'. Well, get a load of this!" Ash opened up his jacket and showed Tyranitar fifteen gleaming badges. "See how many gyms I've beaten? I don't know about you, but I think that it's a pretty good number. Still think I'm not worth your time?"

Tyranitar seemed to be weighing the options in its head. But it didn't decide in time: it felt a drop of water on its nose.

"Ash, it's starting to rain."

"---And rock pokémon don't like water. Tyranitar, return." Tyranitar went back into its pokéball this time.

There was a loud thunderclap, and the three-year-old gripped Tracy's hand. "This is even worse, Ash, since a lightning storm will make Raikou all the more powerful!"

"And with a broken leg, he'll be all the more ready to use that power on us!" Ash fished a raincoat for the child out of his backpack, and he pulled out another pokéball. "I just hope his attack will be strong enough, but not too strong. Tauros, I choose you! Use Earthquake!" Tauros sent a jolt along the ground that threw Raikou off its feet. The landing was even more painful, given its broken leg. Raikou paralyzed Tauros, too, and Ash called back both pokémon. "Tracy, I'm worried that another attack of any kind will finish him off!"

"That's where I come in. Scizor, use False Swipe!"

"What's False Swipe?" Ash asked as Scizor flew in to attack.

"Basically, it will always leave a pokémon with a little bit of energy---just enough so that it's alive to be caught."

"Perfect idea, Tracy," Ash said, pulling up his hood. "So now…are you going to try and catch it?"

"You bet, Ash. And I have just the thing for the occasion." Tracy pulled a yellow-and-black pokéball out of his pocket.

"Whoa, an Ultra Ball!"

"This thing will make it tougher for Raikou to escape. Now, here goes nothing! Ultra ball, go!" Tracy hurled the pokéball at the injured Raikou, and Raikou struggled to get out of the pokéball's grip. But it was no use: Raikou just didn't have the strength to get out, and it gave in to the bondage of the ball.

"Whoa…wait until Gary hears about this!" Tracy said.

"He'll be jealous!"

"And you're not?"

"…Okay, so I am. But, hey…I don't lack an electric pokémon in my team!"

Pikachu stuck its head out of Ash's collar. "Pi-KA!" it said, and then hid back inside when it felt a drop of rain hit its nose.

Thunder rolled again, and the boy in Tracy's arms let out a loud sob.

"It's just thunder. Nothing to be afraid of," Ash said. A light pole about two blocks away was suddenly hit with lightning. "…Okay, so maybe it is…"

"Let's get indoors, already!" Tracy shouted.

"How are we going to find his parents, now?" Ash asked, shutting the door behind them as they entered a store.

"I don't know, Ash…but, if I were one of them, I'd look for someplace where I know he'd wander to."

"And he wandered straight into a fight of saberstrikes, so---if we weren't right there next to him---he'd probably wander straight into the fight with Raikou, too!"

"And Raikou sure made some noise, so they'd be coming around here about…now," Tracy said, looking out at a bewildered couple looking around for their son. Tracy led the child out towards the door, but felt a yank back on his hand.

"I don't wanna go back out there!"

"You won't have to. If your mommy and daddy see you, then they'll come here."

"Can't they see me now?"

"No: it's too dark in here. Come on."

The child shook his head. Tracy sighed. He let go of the child's hand and shouted out to the family, "Hey! You two! Are you looking for a child with a red t-shirt and khakis?"

"Yes! Have you seen him?"

"Yeah, he's in here!"

The mother ran up to Tracy and began whacking him with her purse. "Kidnapper! Scoundrel! I wish they still allowing hangings in Japan! You---"

"Having your usual charming effect, Tracy?" Ash asked.

"Mommy!" the three-year-old shouted, running into his mother's arms. She grabbed him up and held him so tightly, she could have smothered him.

Nursing his purse-bruises, Tracy continued, "…As I was saying, I---"

The mother began whacking Tracy again.

"Uh, honey," the father said, "I don't think he's asking for ransom."

"Why not?" the mother asked, still not stopping her assault.

"Because his friend didn't do anything when our son ran up to us."

"…Oh…"

The situation went from dangerous to embarrassing. Tracy was reluctant to mention that there was a base back in the storm sewers, where they would be safe, but he did, and they agreed to come with him…after the storm was over, that is.

They passed the Jacqueline-Keeves Institute on their way, and they were in for a horrible shock…

AUTHOR'S NOTES:

This chapter was kind of long…shoot. I get an idea, and I just have to keep it going.