Chapter 13:

Generally, it's new situations that scare people. People are rarely afraid of familiar situations, but when they are, it's a pretty good indication that there's a real problem.

The Little Teenaged Geek (not that he would know anything)

Tina gaped: she was looking into the face of a girl who looked a great deal like what she'd seen in the mirror a few minutes ago. Although there was an unbelievably strong resemblance to herself in the face and the glasses, there were quite a few differences: first of all, this girl's hair was dyed purple, and her clothes were different. Tina couldn't recall a time in the planet Earth's history when what this girl was wearing was in style: she was wearing a strange, orange helmet, green boots, red pants, and had a green backpack on that made her look like a girl scout.

"Who on Earth are you!" Tina asked.

"Tina, you're all right!" The girl lurched into Tina's arms, scaring the daylights out of her. Furthermore, the girl's voice sounded quite a bit like Tina's.

"Hey, you'd better tell me who you are or I'm calling the police!"

The new girl seemed to be taken aback: "Tina, I'm…don't you recognize me?"

"No…what are you, my long-lost cousin, or something?"

"Tina, I'm your mother!"

At this, an amber-colored light went off on the traffic signal in Tina's brain. "You freak!" Tina spat.

Hearing this, Hawkmon hopped over to the foyer and looked at the new girl. "Yolei! It's…it's not possible!"

"Hawkmon, don't you recognize me!"

"I recognize you, but it's just plain not possible for you to be Yolei! Last I saw her, she was nearly forty years old!"

"I am Yolei! And this is Ken!" Yolei shoved Ken out from behind her. For whatever reason, he was wearing his digimon emperor outfit. He had the same cape, the same black gloves, and the same glasses as before. His hairstyle wasn't as unkempt as he had worn his hair before, however: his hair was the same long, smooth texture as it had been while he was a Digidestined. Behind him was Wormmon, and he looked exactly like the Wormmon she'd known for all her life.

Yolei continued, "And this is Davis!" she yanked forward a boy who was wearing a flame-pattern leather jacket, khaki shorts, goggles, and orange high-top shoes. Behind him was Veemon, but not as she remembered Veemon: this time, he had a metal helmet with a yellow crest on top of the helmet. Whatever was going on, it was very strange. Yolei begged, "Tina, something happened that changed us into kids again!"

Tina licked her lips. This was the kind of thing that scared her, but, now that she took a second look at that fear, she realized that she was almost…enjoying the fear. And she had an odd urge to conquer her fear…

"How can we be sure what you're saying is true?" Hawkmon demanded.

"Hold the phone here, Hawkmon!" Tina insisted. "Let's think this over. My hair grows back about a hundred times faster than it's supposed to overnight. You wake up later than I do, which has never happened before. It's pitch dark out at 7:30 in the morning in the summer. Then my parents show up and they're about thirty years younger than they're supposed to be."

"What're you driving at?" Hawkmon asked.

Tina took her watch off her wrist. "Hawkmon, what's today's date?"

"Let's see…yesterday was the twenty-fifth, so today would be the twenty-sixth."

"Of August?"

"Yes."

"Well, look what my wristwatch says!" Tina held up her watch, and it said that it was the fourth of April.

"More strangeness, but what makes you think it's connected?"

"Well, isn't it obvious? Something messed up time!"

"Is she dead?" Holly asked.

"Doesn't look like it," Ghenki answered. "She's still breathing."

"Then why doesn't she answer us, Chi?" Moochi asked.

"I don't know. It looks like she's fainted."

"You think we should wake her up?"

"Well, I wouldn't exactly call it safe to leave her in the middle of the road," Hare answered. He gently shook her shoulder. "Hello? Miss, can you hear us?"

A white, egg-like thing that the unconscious girl had been clutching in her arms began to wiggle. It seemed to have a face and arms and legs…what was it? It looked at Moochi and asked, "Tuck-ee?"

"Chi?" Moochi answered.

The egg-like creature walked up to Moochi and looked up at Moochi's face. It repeated, "Tuck-ee-tuck-ee?"

"What are you?"

"Tuck-ee-pee!"

"Tuckipi?"

"I think it said 'Togepi'," Holly answered.

"You're Togepi? Can't you say anything besides your own name?" Ghenki answered.

"Tuck…ee?" Togepi answered.

"Must be a baby," Holly whispered.

"You'd think the girl would know something about him," Hare commented. "What should we do with her?" Hare wondered.

"Good question. You think we should take her with us? Maybe we can find a safe place to leave her until she comes to."

"It's worth a try."

Taking the hint, Golem picked her up. The feel of cold stone against her bare skin was enough to wake Misty up with a start. "Sorry to startle you," Golem sheepishly said, scratching the back of his neck. It was apparent from Misty's expression that she was terrified to see a monster made of stone towering above her. "Say, miss, are you okay? You look a little pale…"

"I'm…just…fine…thank…you…!"

Ghenki held up Togepi to her. "We found you unconscious in the middle of the street with this guy in your arms. Is he yours?"

As she grabbed Togepi, Misty's tone of voice suddenly became much faster: "Oh,yeshe'smine, thankyouforgettinghim!"

"You're sure you're okay?" Hare asked.

Looking at him, twice as terrified, Misty answered, "Just fine, thank you!"

"Why are you afraid of Golem and Hare?" Ghenki asked. "Do you think that we're bandits, or something?"

"That…wasn't…actually what I was afraid of, no."

"Then what's the matter? Haven't you ever seen a Monster in your life besides Togepi?"

"Monster? What're you talking about?"

"Isn't Togepi a Monster?"

"Togepi is a pokémon!"

"A what?"

"A pokémon! You can't tell me you don't know what a pokémon is!"

"Uh…do you know what a Monster is?"

"A Monster? Sure, it's one of those imaginary things that kids think hide under their bed."

Hare whispered to Moochi, "Is she completely out of it or did she just insult us?"

Moochi shrugged. "Chi?"

Ghenki thought this over: if she didn't know what a Monster was, then there was a good chance that he was no longer on the Monster Planet. He was tempted to jump up and do one of his triumph screams that he was home, but then it occurred to him that he didn't recall anything called a "pokémon" on Earth, either, so this might not be Earth. "Uh…that's not what a Monster is at all. I think you'd better sit down…"

Tina was a lot more eager to accept that her mother had been turned into a child than Hawkmon. Only after Wormmon (who had gone with Ken to Japan and came back with him from the refugee camp in Montana) assured her that it was true did she begin to accept it. "But what on Earth could destroy time like that?"

"It could have…something to do with the Digiworld's being destroyed," Ken suggested. He put one hand over his eyes as he said this. It was clear he felt guilty for having created Doommon and for having given him up to the Jacqueline-Keeves institute.

Davis, with his eyes fixed to the holographic television set, patted Ken on the back and said, "It's okay, man! How many times do I need to tell you that it's not your fault that this happened?"

"Who made the monster?"

"Who pulled the trigger? I don't think it was you, Ken."

Tina sat on the sofa next to her dad and wrapped her warm arms around him. She whispered into his ear, "Relax, Daddy. I know we'll get through this."

"Honey, you don't understand, I---"

"I do understand, Dad. I talked Hawkmon into telling me everything."

"…We'll be eating her for dinner tonight, stuffed and with sage and rosemary."

"Dad…I'm not a little kid anymore. I can understand all this."

"Tina---I don't want you to live knowing that your father brought down the Digiworld."

"Dad, you didn't bring down the Digiworld. You might have made that program so that you could, but it wasn't you who used it, and it was even being used for good and not evil when it was stolen. …Do you know who stole it?"

"Yes, and we caught him red-handed."

"Then where is he now? In jail?"

"No, he got away. My APPEP stun gun didn't even faze him."

"Then---who was he and who was he with?"

"I don't know. Just let me be alone, honey, I---I need some time alone." Ken got up and began moving very quickly towards his bedroom.

"Daddy…?" Tina's facial expression shifted from sorrowfully compassionate to disciplining. She shouted after him, "Dad, it's not your fault whether you think it was or not. Just know that…please."

Tina looked back at Davis, who was still sitting on the couch, with his eyes still fixed to the TV set, his face still seemed to suggest that no brain existed behind his blank expression. "Davis, how can you think about watching TV at a time like this?"

"I'm not thinking about watching TV, I'm just watching. I always watch TV." Not once had Davis's facial expression changed, nor had he taken his eyes off the picture.

"How can you watch TV and have a conversation with me at the same time?"

"I'm a genius, you see. My attention can be split between two things at the same time. That's why I was so good at fighting while I was a Digidestined."

"You are not a genius, Davis. There is just no way."

Rika dashed out the door, barely pulling her khaki jacket over her shoulders. The threatening clouds overhead didn't shadow her enthusiasm at all. There was a digital field to destroy, and she was just the tamer to do it.

"Rika, for crying out loud, wear more than that! You'll get double pneumonia if it's going to rain!" her mother called after her. She didn't listen, being conceited and hard as she was. She thought to herself, I'm not scared of a little rain!

Renamon was leaping from tree to tree overhead, unseen to anyone who passed the two by. "You think this'll be anything worse than champion, Rika?" Renamon asked.

"We'll be able to handle it even if it is."

There was no conversation for the next few moments as the two sped to the digital field in the park. But Rika's attention was broken as Renamon yelled down to her, "We've got company! Takato and Henry."

"Have they seen us?"

"I don't think so."

"Good. I want this digimon's data, whoever it is, and I don't want them to take it from me! ---I mean, us."

"Of course."

Rain slowly began to sprinkle out of the sky, which Rika ignored. "I know how we can beat them to the punch," Rika thought aloud. She pulled a modifier card out of her pocket and swept it through her digivice. "Digi-modify: hypersonic, activate!"

Renamon shot forwards into the digital field, but was knocked back by a powerful blast: "Dark Network!"

"What!" Rika held up her digivice for a reading on the digimon inside. "Oh, great! Etemon! He's an ultimate. This will be a little harder than I'd hoped, but his data will be worth the fight!"

"Time we did our thing!" Takato shouted. Guilmon jumped forward and shot a fireball at Etemon.

Etemon batted it away like it was nothing. "What was that supposed to be? A joke!"

"I'll show you who's the jokester around here!" Takato shot back. "Digi-modify: hypersonic, activate!"

"Takato, he's an ultimate!" Henry insisted. "Guilmon has to digivolve before he has a hope of taking him!"

"He won't have one anyways! Dark Network!" Unfortunately for Etemon, Guilmon was too fast to be hit.

"Now, get him, Guilmon!"

Guilmon slashed at Etemon with his claws, but to no avail. Takato saw how the fight was going, and that Henry had been right. "Digi-modify: Digivolution, activate!"

"Guilmon, digivolve to…Growlmon!" He wound up for his attack: "Pyroblaster!" he shouted, blowing a stream of flame at Etemon.

Etemon was hurt, but not badly. As he got up, lightning flashed, as if to accent how evil he was. "You kids don't have a chance of beating me!"

Renamon got up and dusted herself off. "I'll take this one! Diamond Storm!"

"Dark Network!" Etemon shouted, hurling a ball of energy right back at the sharp bits of glass that were flying his way. He cancelled the attack, and sent Renamon backwards.

"Renamon!" Rika dashed to her fallen friend. Renamon was completely unconscious, but, judging from the fact that she hadn't burst into data fragments, she was still alive---albeit barely.

"You're nothin' but a conceited brat, you!" Etemon spat. "I'll show you who's the real deal, here! Dark Network!" He fired a blast to finish her off, but Growlmon jumped in the way.

"Pyroblaster!" he fired, canceling the attack.

"Time we finished this guy!" Takato yelled. "Digi-modify: upgrade, activate!"

Growlmon felt his firepower increase. "Pyroblaster!" he yelled as he ran towards Etemon. The concentrated flame was too much for Etemon to take, and he burst into data fragments.

Growlmon regressed back to Guilmon, and joined Takato and Henry who were moving towards Rika. Rika was still trying to see if Renamon was okay, and it was apparent that she wasn't. Henry held his umbrella over the pair, only to get a loud, "I don't want your help!" from Rika.

"Rika, we don't want Renamon to die any more than you do. You might need our help to get her out of here in one piece!"

"Would you leave me alone!" Rika spat. She felt like she was going to cry, and she didn't want anyone to see her cry---especially those two. Just as she felt the tears leaking out, she saw a bright light. She wondered, What on earth is that? Is that Renamon disintegrating? She felt herself fainting…Could it be that I've just been hit by lightning?