Unfortunately, and the entire crew had forgotten this, the dance was that same night. That would definitely cut their hours at the factory short that night. They were on their way out when Sissy pounced on them. "Ulrich darling, you WILL be coming to the dance tonight won't you?"
"Not with you." The dance, how could he have forgotten?
"You'd better come with SOMEONE Ulrich. Or else I'll have the boys pound you LIMB FOR LIMB!"
"Okay, I'll go, just not with you."
"FINE, bring Yumi for all I care, just COME! The school needs the money from the fundraiser for our next class trip!"
The Lyoko crew groaned. "I HATE dances." Ken stuck up his nose. "I'm a wall flower thank you very much."
"Then stand along the wall and bloom. I don't care, just COME!" Sissy snarled at him.
Ken seriously considered smacking Sissy upside the head. But the principal wouldn't have liked that. She reminded him of this girl at his old school. It's too bad, she would have been a good digidestined if she didn't act the way she did. Surely there was something good about her. Of course, the crest of sincerity would be perfect for her, and Mimi would know exactly how to deal with her.
He entertained the notion as they walked to the tunnel. Sissy? A digidestined? She had the power, but the temperament was something else. Give her a viri perhaps? It would suit her. But Ken thought that Aelita would make a better digidestined. From what Jeremy had told him, Aelita would make a good digidestined of light or hope. Light for her selflessness, hope for her ability to inspire it in others, maybe even the digiegg of kindness, for that was another principle trait of her personality.
"Jeremy, you said that Aelita had a kind personality?" Ken asked.
Jeremy stiffened. "Yes, why?"
"Just thinking. I mean, I look at you all, and I can't help but wonder what crests you'd get. I mean, Davis and I once thought about it, but... it didn't go very far. We did make some recommendations to Gennai, but other than that we didn't do very much."
"Yes, Aelita would give you the shirt from her back if you needed it." Jeremy said, staring off into the distance, deep in thought.
"Hmm..." Ken said thoughtfully. They didn't say much. Then the group came to a sewer grate.
"Come on." Yumi and Ulrich lifted the grate and the group slid in one by one until they were waiting on the level below. "This way." Yumi grabbed her skateboard.
"Um... Yumi, we won't be able to keep up with you... we don't have skateboards." Pointed out Davis.
"Whoops, sorry. I guess we're walking to the factory then." Yumi flushed and put her skateboard back. "I this is going to be a long hike."
"As long as we don't run into any Numemon I'm perfectly happy with that." Ken chuckled. "T.K. told us that when he went to the digital world on his first adventure a group of Numemon chased them through the sewer."
"What were they doing IN a sewer?" Ulrich asked.
"I have absolutely no idea." Ken sighed. It was a long walk. But eventually they reached the larger grate near the factory moat.
"Right. We climb up here." Yumi started on the ladder and the group followed her hand over hand. They emerged on the bridge into the factory.
Kathy and Aelita were waiting for them. "Yo." Kathy said with a grin. "I came to bring you all to the digital world for the first time. I'm sorry to have to make you go back the way you came but the non-technical portal is in the sewer lines."
"What do you mean 'Non-technical port?'" asked Jeremy.
"Well, the non-technical ports are ones that you can open without a digivice. They're really hard to set up for most digimon, let alone for a human."
"I found her wandering around the factory." Aelita chuckled. "She pretended to be that digimon we saw earlier, Dryadmon. It turns out that Dryadmon was Kathy in disguise!"
"You're kidding! That was you?" Odd demanded, a look of respect showing in his eyes. "I wouldn't have guessed that crazy little digimon was you."
Kathy chuckled as she sheparded them back through the sewer grate. "Renamon's already gone ahead of you Yumi."
"Thanks for warning me." Yumi rolled her eyes.
"She was ready to beat the shit out of me until she realized who I was." Kathy chuckled indulgently. "That's digimon for you, ever loyal."
Jeremy smiled. "Kathy, I managed to make my crest glow last night. Will I be able to digivolve my digimon right away when I get him or her?"
"Not really. They have to go champion before they can go ultimate. You see, there are certain requirements for a digimon to digivolve. The first is that they have to have eaten. It doesn't matter if it's nutritious or junk, as long as their bellies are full. Then the digidestined in question has to be in some kind of danger. In order for the crest to activate then it has to glow during battle. The danger has to be too much for the digimon in question to handle. So to handle it, logically, they have to move up to the next level in order to handle the emergency."
"Great. That seems like it would take a long time." Jeremy sighed as they climbed back down the sewer pipes.
"Usually takes a couple of months of fighting. That's under normal conditions though. Considering the problems with the dark masters we've been having in the digital world and the problems you've been having with Xana it probably will only take a couple of weeks." Kathy winked. "By the way, we've managed to fix up the castle, so that's where we'll be emerging." She jumped over a gap in the sewer pipe, one that normally the children would have taken at speed. Then she stopped in front of a pipe. "Here we go." She slipped inside.
The air was heavy in the pipe. Normally, the air from above would circulate freshly through the pipes. But here the whole world seemed to be holding it's breath. It was dark too, until Kathy held out her hands. A small ball of light appeared in them.
"Wow." Odd exclaimed. "You can conjure a light."
"Sort of. I've got a machine strapped to my hand that does the conjuring. She held out one of her hands to show them the framework on her left arm. "I've got them on both arms. Come on." She lead them.
The tunnel seemed to go on forever. Then Jeremy heard Ulrich gasp in surprise. "I've been virtualized." He looked himself over while Kathy held up the light.
"Not quite, sometimes when a person comes to the digital world, their outfits change. It just means that your subconscious mind chose the form that you would feel most comfortable in." She held the orb aloft so that Odd and Ulrich could look themselves over.
"We're almost there." Renamon said calmly.
"Renamon." Yumi jumped in surprise. "I was wondering where you'd gotten to."
"I was coming back through the portal to get you, wondering why it had taken you so long to come."
"Sorry."
"Shall we keep going? We're almost at the gate." Kathy let her hands down and carried the light globe ahead of her once more.
They turned a corner. And low and behold, before them was the red and gold gate to Gennai's castle. Kathy knocked on it three times and shouted. "Open the gate to my destiny!"
The door began to open, just wide enough for a group of teenagers to get through. Aelita cried out in joy. So did Jeremy. Ulrich and Odd remained stoic and Ken, Davis and Yumi had seen this place before.
"Wow." Jeremy exclaimed.
"Just be careful." Yumi warned her friends. "Some of the things we can do in Lyoko we can't do here. I tried a super jump and made it three feet before I landed on top of the nearest block."
"We will." Odd agreed. "Man, no super jumps, working in the digital world might be harder than I thought."
Gennai wasn't waiting for them, so Feralae led them out a small iron door in the side of the room. "Come on. This leads directly out."
She opened the door, and suddenly they were in a grassy meadow. About a hundred yards away was a forest. They could see the spire of the communications eryie. "We're heading to the Harper Hall today. Master Scribemon has an assignment for me and it won't wait. Now where did I put that digivice?" She dug through her pockets. She pulled out a small device. "Right, Jeremy catch." She tossed him his digivice. Jeremy coolly caught it. "It's you're D-3."
"What about my digimon?" Jeremy asked.
"The temple of knowledge is in the center of the crater. Your digimon has been sealed in your digiegg there. That's our first stop." Kathy said as she began to pick her way through the meadow.
"Hurry up!" WhiteVeemon urged them. "We've got miles to go before we sleep!"
"So Feralae, how did YOU become a digidestined?" Odd asked, jogging ahead to meet Feralae's pace.
"That's a long, twisted and bitter story. Are you sure you want to hear it?" Asked Kathy.
"Sure." They chorused, curious.
"Well, it started when WhiteVeemon first learned to digivolve into Veedramon, her champion form." Feralae began her story...
"When I was ten, I arrived in the digital world for the first time. I was the first in my group to digivolve her digimon to the champion level. I thought that I could make a real difference to both worlds, so when the Gazimon village reported an Ultimate level digimon named Orochimon held them under siege I immediately offered to help. I was aided by Suzi Wong, now grown up, along with her friends, the twins Mako and Ai.
"Orochimon was strong, incredibly powerful. He had been infested with one of Millenniummon's darkspores, boosting his power. He was, however, not responsible for what he was doing. That was the tradition when handling spore infested humans and digimon. The spore was like a disease, and while it was active, you were considered not responsible, because it clouded your judgement.
"We barely defeated Orochimon, but it was my own Veedramon who dealt the final blow. At the last second, Orochimon shot his dark spores at Suzi. I shoved her aside, not knowing how one simple action would change my life. The darkspore hit my heart. I was out for over a week. The twins called a healer, who prevented the hit from becoming a fatality." Feralae drew aside the midriff of her robe to reveal a long, rectangular black mark on her chest, just below her left breast. "It was very painful. At the time I didn't realize how much of a problem that would be.
"Just before I blacked out from the wound, Orochimon said, 'You are plagued with evil, thou shalt suffer as I have suffered from the wound I have inflicted. But if, by chance, you can complete eight tests, then my curse shall be lifted from you.' My adventure had only begun.
"Once I recovered from the wound, I continued to mount Isebolt, where my enemy waited. I lifted the Holy Digiegg of Creativity, and used it's power to defeat Icedevimon. I, the littlest digidestined, had won against the most powerful evil in the area. At the time I didn't realize that there were creatures more evil than him. I thought I had triumphed. But no, there were seven more tests. One for each of Orochimon's heads that remained.
"I descended from the mountains into the deserts and was almost to the crater here when I met Scribemon near the Trailmon rock. Trailmon were train digimon that had their own rail system in the digital world. This rock was huge, and carved to look like one. It was hollow, and when wind blew over the smokestack it sounded like a trailmon's whistle.
"Scribemon led us to the Harper Hall, which is where we're headed now. There I met Myotismon and Piedmon, the Composition and Instrument Masters of the Digital World. They had their own crisis. An evil digimon called KingEtemon believed that he was above the laws of the digital world and declared himself the King of Music. Between Piedmon and Scribemon they managed to get him to dedigivolve to his ultimate form, Etemon. Etemon was so angry that he challenged anyone currently in the Harper Hall to a musical showdown. Whoever could sing better than the other, before a panel of judges got their way. If I won, then Etemon would leave the Harper Hall alone. If Etemon won, he would be granted the rank of Master in the craft. I won, and that was how I became a Harper.
"But that wasn't a test. It was too easy. The next test was simple. Gennai got a distress call from the Sailormon's Hall. They were being attacked by a fish digimon named Pukumon and his forces. I and my friends were sent to mediate, along with Scribemon and ShadowWereGarurumon. It took every ounce of patience to keep the two factions from fighting. Pukumon later attacked the delegates. He hit me with an attack that should have killed. But I didn't die, and Scribemon began to wonder why I didn't. Pukumon was destroyed.
"Then the D-Reaper revealed himself. The D-Reaper is very much like X.A.N.A. unpredictable, unable to be destroyed, unable to be reasoned with. The D-Reaper had been created to destroy all digimon and the digital world. The Digital World barely survived the first attack. It was up to myself and my friends to take him down. Out of despair, the Dark Spore manifested itself at last, changing me into the Digimon General. In my transformed state I was able to gather together an army of the most powerful digimon on two worlds, guided by the Tamers' Digimon. Still it wasn't enough.
"I was injured, and I crawled into the ruins of File Island for shelter. There on the walls I found an inscription telling of the sword of nobility housed in a shrine not far away. When I had healed, I set out for the shrine, continuing to fight the D-Reapers forces that had scattered through the digital world. I saved digimon, I failed and we lost digimon. Finally I reached the mountain where the three Holy Swords were embedded. I pulled the Sword of Nobility from the ground and transformed into a digimon for the first time. I became Bastetmon. Using her power, I sealed away the D-Reaper once more.
"But my friends, my beautiful circle of friends began to fall apart. One by one the other digidestined left the digital world with their digimon. Some vowed to find a less hazardous occupation. Some were sure that we had done our duty to the digital world. Some of them just gave up. I wouldn't. By then I had turned eleven, the age when digidestined normally entered the digital world.
"Sure enough, Myotismon, my former friend, had unearthed the Legend of the Eighth Child. He became convinced that the Beast mentioned in the scrolls was him obsessed with the idea that he was destined for evil. I could not stop him. Myotismon lifted the sword of Cherubimon's Tears and used it to transform into a monster. I fought him using my sword of Orphanimon's Lyre. I didn't know, how could I know, that a NeoLegendary Warrior can't fight the digimon who gave their data to form their spirit. But at the time I didn't even know what a Legendary Warrior was. I was able to defeat Myotismon, and deprive him of his sword, but the effort knocked me out, and transformed me into digimon shape. Myotismon turned on us and began his campaign that would eventually destroy the eighth child. Kari was saved, but Myotismon died.
"Piedmon was his mate, when a digimon mates, he or she does for life. They're bonded empathically, and when the bond breaks due to a death, the other digimon goes mad. Piedmon went mad that way. He formed the dark masters and set out to destroy the digital world. I was there when he destroyed Primary Village, the place where all baby digimon start their lives. Dead Digimon are revived there, so to make sure that his enemies, and that he himself, wouldn't be reborn again, he destroyed it. I begged, I pleaded for him to stop. But because Piedmon's data forms part of my own, I couldn't stand against him. The Japanese digidestined, who were by then at the pinnacle of their power, defeated the dark masters. The digital world was safe, or so we thought.
"Then, about the time of the crisis with Diaboromon occurred, I celebrated my thirteenth birthday with my digimon friends. They were about to bring out the cake, when Scribemon collapsed and devolved into his rookie form, Bokumon. Bokumon was very old. He had traveled with the Legendary Warriors. Somewhere, back in the past, he had been killed, right when he was most needed. Gennai sent me back in time to save him. The digital world would not hold together without him. I traveled with the Legendary Warriors, disguised as one of them. I tried to tell myself to remain distant, because it was believed that a few years in the future, the Legendary Warriors would be killed. But I could not. Indeed, I even fell in love with one of them." Kathy's look at Yumi begged her not to tell the boys.
"And so, when it came time to say goodbye, Bokumon asked me if he would see me again. I did not answer, instead I sang him a song as I disappeared to the future." Kathy closed her eyes, and began to sing. "Trailmon, trailmon rolling so fast, trailmon trailmon rolling so fast, please don't tell what trail I'm on, so they won't know where I've gone.
"When I've left, mon wait for me, way down by old Mesa Digi, where you can hear the trailmon cry, as they go rolling by.
"Trailmon, trailmon, rolling so fast, trailmon, trailmon rolling so fast, please don't tell what trail I'm on, so they won't know where I've gone.
"When I've finished my battle time, I'll leave on the trailmon line, place my spirits in their keeps, and tell them I've gone to sleep.
"Trailmon, trailmon, rolling so fast, trailmon, trailmon rolling so fast, please don't tell what trail I'm on, so they won't know where I've gone.
Kathy sighed as she spoke. "I returned to the future in grief. I fell into depression until, a few years later, the digimon emperor attacked. I received word that he'd captured Piedmon. During my time in the past, I had set both Myotismon and Piedmon on the courses that would eventually result in their deaths, I had set Wizardmon, another friend, on a course on which he would come to grief. I wanted, so badly, to make up for their deaths. So I set out to free Piedmon. That was when I met the Japanese Digidestined. They wanted to keep Piedmon out of the digimon emperor's grip.
"It was discovered that Ken, T.K., Davis, and Kari were Neolegendary Warriors like myself. Together, T.K., Davis, Kari, and I freed Piedmon. When Ken was defeated we found out that he was a NeoLegendary Warrior as well. Ken joined us.
"I waited, and watched the fates for the next challenge. I still wait." Kathy finished, she shrugged. "My friends have left the digital world behind. But I can't... I don't want to... I'm drawn here... it's my home." She said softly, almost as if she didn't know that the others were there.
"Wow." Odd shivered like a dog shedding water.
"Amazing." Jeremy agreed.
"You must have been lonely." Aelita nodded, giving Kathy's shoulder a little pat of sympathy.
Of all the Lyoko crew, Jeremy realized, Aelita would sympathize with Kathy the most. They were both drawn to their respective worlds by destiny, bound there by fate and a larger, crueler force that they could not cope with on their own.
"Here we are." Kathy grinned, extending a hand at the circle of stones in the jungle. "We keep it free of greens."
The shrine was a mosaic of colored tiles set in concrete, or something like it. In the center was a sword, a datchi to be precise, with a statue in the pommel. In depressions in the mortar stood a series of small artifacts, about the size of a large egg, but not shaped like eggs at all. Set to the north and south of the sword were a pair of golden eggs.
"Welcome to the shrine of time. Here the powers of the ages rest. And it is here that we keep the digieggs for new digidestined. Jeremy, this one is yours." Kathy stepped onto the tiles. Boots clicking on stone, she indicated the digiegg with the crest of knowledge on it.
Jeremy took a deep breath, stepped up to the digiegg, and lifted it.
A beam of golden light rose into the sky. Out of the beam flew a creature. It looked like a bald eagle, with a native American's headdress and claws on the ends of it's wings. "Well well Jeremy, you finally made it." The Digimon said proudly. "I've been waiting for you. It seemed like an eternity in there."
"Well, you already know me... but... um... I don't know you."
"How rude of me. I'm hawkmon, a bird digimon. I've been waiting for you to come. I knew you'd finally find me."
"Congratulations Einstein." Odd said with a smile.
"Well... congratulations Jeremy." Aelita crouched down so that she could be on eyelevel with the digimon. "You digimon are so much like me. I'm an AI too."
"An AI? I'm sorry, I do not know what that is." Hawkmon replied. "You do seem like a nice person however."
"Well then." Kathy grinned. "Are you ready for a hike Hawkmon, Jeremy?"
"If you will formally introduce yourself and your digimon I would gladly go." Hawkmon said, reminding her of her manners.
"Oh how silly of me. I'm Kathy, and this is WhiteVeemon."
"And I'm Yumi, this is my digimon Renamon." Yumi indicated her partner. "And these are my friends Ulrich and Odd. They don't have digimon."
"Ah." Hawkmon beat his wings, lifting him into the air as he circled around Odd and Ulrlich's heads. "Well then, let's fly."
"Um... Hawkmon, we don't have wings." Jeremy pointed out.
"You don't? That's odd, you people look like a Piddomon with different clothes and hair and HE has wings he can pull inside his body. Are you sure you don't have wings somewhere in there?"
"I can transform into a digimon and fly, and so can Kathy, but that's about it." Yumi admitted.
"Oh dear. Looks like we're in for a long hike."
And they would have left, except that Aelita stepped backwards and tripped on a digiegg. "OH!" She cried.
The egg activated, falling over. The beam of light went off, but no digimon came out. Aelita rubbed her head, which had knocked into the glass tiles and sat up. "Oh dear. I didn't mean to knock it over! Honest!"
"Of course you didn't. But it's yours Aelita."
"What??" Aelita demanded, shocked.
"You were able to lift it. I'm not sure what sort of digimon you'd get, but you lifted it. That means that the digiegg is yours." Kathy explained.
That was when an in-training digimon, right after the fact appeared in the afterglow of the egg of light. "I'm Nyaromon Aelita! I've been waiting for you!" The Digimon bounced into Aelita's arms.
The Lyoko crew stood, dumbfounded.