Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.
Summery: AU.
Part V
Server Islands, here we come.
Silence filled the dark central room of Karatenmon's castle, as the dark digimon watched his servant Musyamon bowing before him. "Things are not going the way I expected them too." The tone of his voice as cold as ice, the only sound coming from the tapping of a finger on his throne's armrest. "And you, one of my best warriors, you really disappoint me,"
Twitching at the cold anger behind those words, Musyamon dared to look up at his master. "The digi destined, they surprised me." Stammering a bit as he spoke, the digimons eyes moved from one side of the room, to the other, watching Karatenmon's other favorite digimons staring back at him. "They were greater in number then I had expected."
Simply staring at his servant, Karatenmon showed no sign of caring about the information, instead his eyes focused on another shadow in the room. "Musyamon, you not only failed me, but cost me four supreme members of my army, and by your own hands." folding his arms in front of him, Karatenmon stared down at his servant as his head lowered again. "This is an act I will not allow, but you will be given a last chance, defeat the two children, or die trying."
Musyamon head snapped back up at the word, a look of disbelief on his face. "But, lord Karatenmon, I have served you faithfully, I." The slow drawing of his master's swords had the digimon lower his head again as fast as he could. "I understand master, I will not fail you. "
"See that you don't." Karatenmon replied without a sign of care, and then he focused his attention on another digimon in the room. "Gorillamon, the girl I sent you to hunt down, have you any news of her?"
Stepping forward and bowing like Musyamon, the huge digimon smirked as he shot a quick look over at the one who displeased the master even more then he had. "Yes my lord, I have tracked her to the capital of the Server Islands, File City." His eyes shining as he saw the glee on his masters face. "And, I have heard rumors of another human in the city as well, and this one, haven't found her partner digimon yet."
Standing up from his throne, a look of determination and victory filled Karatenmon's eyes. "Excellent, this means we can shot destroy two humans, with one move." A dark laughter filling the room as he turned around to leave the place, stopping only to address the second digimon standing before his throne. "Gorillamon, I leave the matter of the File City up to you, Musyamon, you will also head for the city, I suspect the two brats will show up to meet the others there. When you see them, destroy them "
"Yes, sir." Bowing in sync, the two digimons watched their master leave, a dark laughter bubbling up inside of them as well.
Staring ahead of him, Taichi did his best to ignore the constant flood of words coming from hid mother, the only interruption to it, came from his father whenever he felt like joining in the constant yelling as well. Off to the side, he could see Kari, Gatomon and Tailmon peeking in on his chewing out.
Silently cursing Kari as she pulled her head back out after noticing his glare, Taichi returned his attention to his parents when he felt them glare even harder at him. "Look, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to worry you, but I just had to get away from everything." Trying to give them a standard excuse he had read in some book, the messy haired boy cringed when he saw the look of absolute rage in his fathers face. "I'm sorry, okay?"
Struggling very hard to avoid smacking his son on the head, Susuko Yagami settled for clenching up his hands. "I don't care what you were feeling, if you ever, and I do mean ever, pull a stunt like that again, I will be forced to do more then just ground you." Glaring at his son as he finishing talking, the older didn't looked one bit disturbed by the glare he received back.
Opening his mouth to protest, Taichi shut it when he spotted the ice-cold glare in his mother's eyes. "And grounded is just what you are, and when that grounding ends, is something we will be thinking about, for the remaining time of this month."
Glaring hard at his parents, Taichi clenched up his owns hands under the table, silently wishing that he had just told his sister and her friends off. No kind of help was worth this. "Fine." Spitting out an answer as he stood up, Taichi glared over at the door opening, seeing the three pair of eyes quickly moving away. "And I'll use that time to consider when I will start talking to you two again."
Out in the hallway, Kari, Gatomon and Tailmon flinched at the sudden sound of a hand striking flesh. Clearly, the last part of that sentence hadn't been the best thing to say to them. Flattening his ears, as he looked back, Tailmon hissed in anger as he watched his partner run a finger over a new, bright red handprint on his left cheek.
The only thing stopping from running in to avenge his partner's injury, the sudden tackling from Gatomon as she struggled to hold him.
In the kitchen, Yuuko Yagami lowered her hand and used it to point at the kitchen door. "Go to your room right now, and I don't want to hear or see you until tomorrow morning, you got it young man?"
Not answering them, Taichi simply ripped the door open and stormed out of the room, sending a murderous glare at his sister as he passed by her and the two digimons. Then he walked into their shared room, slamming the door behind him.
Standing behind in the hallway, Kari dared a quick look down at Gatomon and Tailmon. "I, think it would be best if I stayed away from him." Her eyes turning towards Tailmon as he pushed Gatomon off. "Tailmon, you mind looking in on him?"
Getting a smirk on his face, the Gatomon like digimon walked over to the door. "Of course I will, I'm his partner, there's no way I'll turn my back on him at a time like this."
Staring after the white male feline digimon, Kari sighed a bit as she looked own at Gatomon. A tired and sad expression on her face as she picked up her own digimon partner. "I really messed up this time didn't I, maybe, they wouldn't have been so hard on him if I had helped to explain it."
Feeling the waves of doubt coming form her partner as she spoke, Gatomon looked up at her with a sad expression on her own face as she placed a paw on her partners shoulder for comfort. "It wouldn't have mattered if you did, in fact, it might have made it worse." Staring over at the door into Taichi and Kari's room, Gatomon sighed. "He would have been far more angry if you had stood up for him."
Lowering her head a bit, Kari hugged her partner digimon closer to her. "I know. It's just that, I wish it didn't have to be this way."
Closing her eyes at the sincerity in those words, Gatomon simply rested against her partner as she continued to hug her. "I know." Gatomon replied as Kari walked off towards the living room.
Inside the bedroom, Taichi grumbled a bit as he dropped down into the only chair, his feet resting on the desk as he stared out the window. Wondering for the untold time why he had chosen to go back with Kari and the others. Back to this boring world, when he could be there in the digital world right now, having an adventure.
Moving his attention away from the window as Tailmon entered the room, Taichi smiled a bit as his partner jumped up onto his lap. "Getting a bit heavy Tailmon, maybe you should cut back on the midnight snacking." A slight joking tone to his voice as Tailmon glared at him.
"Tailmon?" Taichi started before stopping, a look of doubt in his eyes as he gently stroked the feline digimons back with one hand. "Did we do, the right thing?"
Closing his eyes and settling down, Tailmon started to purr as he enjoyed the backrub. "Maybe, the others have agreed to help us in the fight with Karatenmon."
Eyes narrowing a bit, Taichi snorted at the mentioning of the other digi destined. "I don't need her help, Kari can stay with her group and deal with the emperor, I was chosen to fight Karatenmon, not her." His voice growing bitter as he stopped stroking Tailmon, choosing instead to let his hand rest on the feline digimons head as gently as he could. "So maybe I should have returned to the real world instead of just wandering around, but if I had, we wouldn't have met Michael and he had had to face Musyamon and those Kougamons alone."
Silence filled the room for a few seconds, then a small beeping sound made it know. Drawing the attention of both human and digimon to the small white object placed on the desk along with Taichi's D3. "Who'd mail me at this time?"
Watching as Taichi picked up the D-terminal, flipping it open with a disinterested expression on his face, Tailmon sighed with relief. At least his partner had been directed away form his angry thoughts. Then he tensed up as the look on his partner's face quickly turned into one of confusion as he read the message on the screen, then an excited one. "What, what's it say?"
Staring down at his partner, Taichi grinned and turned the D-terminal to face Tailmon. "It a message, from the Digimon Master."
Reading the screen, Tailmon's eyes narrowed as he read the message on it out loud. "Greeting's Taichi, I'm concerned with your lack of progress in reaching the Server Islands. Therefore I have moved a TV set into the center of the Islands, more precisely the city known as File City. Whenever you feel like going, just open the gate program on your computer, it will take you directly to it."
Closing the D-terminal when his partner stopped talking, the messy haired boy leaned back in his chair carefully. "Digimon Master." Speaking the words out with a curious note, Taichi dropped the D-terminal onto a nearby table. "This is the third time he's contacted me."
Tailmon nodded a bit as Taichi had told him about the mails that had led him both to Primary village and to that dark world. Both times it had been a message that had drawn them into a battle, first with Demidevimon, and then Karatenmon, both fights that had barely been won by them. "You're going to trust this so called Digimon Master?"
Rubbing a hand on his chin, the messy haired boy shrugged a bit. "Well, it does sound like a good deal. We get a means to reach the Server Islands instantly." The words filled with excitement as he spoke, then he grinned a bit as he stood up form the chair. "Best of all, we won't need Kari or her friends help anymore."
Rising an eye at that statement. Tailmon sat down on the floor and began to lick his paw gently. Waiting until his partner had stopped celebrating before talking. "And what about Michael and Betamon, are you going to accept their help?"
Looking down at his partner, Tai sighed a bit as he pulled back the cover on his bed. "Of course, you heard what Betamon said back on the beach, there are four chosen ones in the legend." Getting a bit of the happy look back as he dropped down onto the soft bed, he grinned a bit. "Besides, he was not as high and mighty acting as the others were."
A cold wind blew across the rooftops of Odaiba as lights began to flicker on here and there, the sun sinking down behind the ocean line, hidden beyond the tall buildings. On a flat, barren rooftop, a single person stood near the one ventilator in the whole place, a dark brown trench coat wrapped tightly around his body.
Lifting his head, a smile graced his face as he closed the laptop. Tucking it away under his arm as he moved over to look down at the city below him. Watching as a few humans moved towards their home while the ones enjoying the nightlife began to come out. "How are things progressing on the other end?"
At his sudden question, two shadows moved out from behind the concrete railing running around the building, both of the small figures wearing a large pointed hat on their heads.
Turning his head slightly, the trench coat wearing person looked over at them. "Well, Sorcerimon, Witchmon?"
The wizard like digimon stepped forward at the second question, clenching his hand tightly around his staff. "Slowly, the human girl, Jun, reached File City today, but the false soverns noticed her before it was time." Holding shi breath, he watched as the human merely nodded a bit and refocused back onto the city below. "We managed to get her out, but it will be harder to free her digimon from the cells below the castle."
Holding up a hand, the human turned around and smirked a bit. "Do not worry about that, I have already made a back up plan in case of such an event." Then the smirk vanished as a frown formed instead. "The fourth member, do we have a lock on her position?"
Witchmon coughed a bit as she pushed Sorcerimon out of the way roughly. "Well, I stole the object from the temple of fire like you said, and gave it to her when she showed up." Getting a tired expression on her face, she faced him again. "And while we're at it, did we have to chose her of all the destined people out there?"
Simply sporting a sudden grin on his face, the trench coat wearing human turned his head to the side. "Well, I must admit it didn't take much research on her and her digimon to select them, but I do believe she was the best choice we had at the time." Coughing a bit, he stuffed both hands into his pocket. "Besides, I have the outmost confidence in her. And the information I gave her, should help them greatly in the digital world."
Getting an annoyed expression, Witchmon planted both her hands on her hips as she pouted a bit. "You mean I gave her, and while we're at that. Why am I the one who has to keep running around saving and handing out stuff to people?"
Smirking at her tone of voice, Sorcerimon shook his head a bit. "Because you're good at it." Then his face grew more serious as he looked at the human before him. "I hope you know what you're doing, if her brother find out what you have been up to, it won't be pretty."
Getting a concerned expression as well, the human man simply shook his head. "Yes, well. We have better hope that he can accept that his sister is needed for this plan." Then he gave a small humming sound. "What off her digimon partner?"
At this question, Socerimon grinned behind his cloak as he pushed Witchmon out of his way. "Yes, Flymon will only be needed for a few more hours. Long enough to get her to File City, her partner is waiting for her there."
"Good." The human man replied as he pulled the top part of his trench coat in closer to him. "All that's left now, is to hope that our chosen champions can stand up the tasks ahead of them." His voice sinking into a whisper, the man sighed a bit as he turned around. "Come, let's us depart. I have a task tomorrow that I can't avoid, and you two have to prepare to inform the children of the events that will transpire."
Bowing to the person, the two magic using digimon slowly floated through the air after the human, a curios, yet concerned look in their eyes as they watched the human city below.
Standing outside the closed, metal barred gate, Taichi Yagami stared up at the concrete and glass building with a tired expression. One of the many things he hadn't missed doing his track through the digital world was this place. In fact, he wouldn't have been here this early, if someone hadn't suspected him of trying to run away again.
It was that way Michael found him a few minutes later. "Hey, Taichi!" yelling out a greeting to the messy haired boy as soon he got closer to him.
Turning his head slightly to the side, Taichi gave a half hearted greeting back as he struggled to avoid yawning in front of him. "Hey yourself Michael." Then he shook of the tiredness as he stood up a bit more. "How do you feel now, after yesterday?"
The blond haired boy shrugged a bit as he walked over the to the gates of the school, his bag slung lightly over his shoulder. "Well, it took Betamon meeting my father to stop him from sending me back to America." The blond grinned a bit as he looked up at the building before him. "Not that I would mind in the first place, this place is a bit to much, I can't believe you go to school on a Saturday."
"You don't in America?" Tai responded as they walked in through the front doors of the school. A thoughtful look on his face as he entertained the thought of sleeping in on two days of the week instead of just one, but it would most likely meaning he'd have to deal with Kari's constantly getting praised by their parents that much longer. "Strange."
Frowning a bit at the comment, Michael stopped as he looked down a nearby hallway, spotting a familiar group of kids sitting in a small group next to a table. "Hey, isn't that your sister and the other kids over there, the ones who saved us?"
Shooting a glance over to see them, Tai beat down a snort and settled for handling it as calmly as he could. "Oh, right, you want to talk with them?" His question leaving out no doubt that he wouldn't mind if they just walked right on and ignored the small group completely.
Slowing down to a stop next to the messy haired boy as he took in the tone of voice, Michael stared at the dead tired look on the boy's face, as he was busy staring at anything but his sister and her friends. Feeling that an explanation was needed, Michael grabbed Tai's shoulder and dragged him off to a more seclude spot.
Finding it a bit further down the corridor, he stopped and turned to face Tai as the boy began to massage some feeling back into his shoulder. "Okay, what is it with you and your sister, I've only seen someone talk of someone else with that level of hate in movies."
Not answering right away, Tai just continued to rub his shoulder, and then he finally gave a low sigh and leaned against the wall as he looked back in the direction they had come from. "I don't know if I hate her, or what she has become. Mom and Dad's precious little angel who saved them from the big bad monster."
Voice lazed with anger as he spoke, Tai noticed Michael blink a bit at his comment, clearly not understanding it completely, if at all. "It was about four years ago, Odaiba was taken over by a digimon called Myotismon, he capture every single resident he could, holding them as hostages to lure out the eight digi destined."
Closing his eyes, Tai's face got a rather dark smile on it as he tightened his hold on his bag. "I was stuck in town at the time, visiting my grandmother in order to relax." Smile fading away as he continued, Tao felt a bit of anger at them memory. "I had gotten injured in a soccer match a week before, and the doctor recommended I didn't move to much or there might be some trouble with it healing."
"Kari while having gotten a cold, was well enough to go to camp when vacation time started so she got to go while I had to stay behind." Voice faulting a bit at that part, Tai quickly forced it back under control, not wanting to bring out that dark time more then necessary. "Sora who was my best friend at the time also went to the camp and both of them were called to the digital world to help save it along with the other five."
"One of their enemies, Myotismon, came to the real world to find the eight digi destined, taking over the district by covering it in a mystic fog bank." Looking up with a slightly happy smile on his face, Tai grinned a bit at another memory that came back due to how close the two things had been. "Secondly, he captured as many humans he could, trying to see if one of them was the one he was looking for."
Tai would have continued his recount, if the class bell hadn't gone off at that moment, the loud constant ringing making both of the boys cringe as they noticed just how late they were going to be if they didn't hurry up.
As they left, Hojo Futabaki moved out from behind a door and stared off after them with a bit of a curious expression, but still with a trouble one as well, eyes intensely focused on both boys as they rounded a corner. "Digi Destined and a digimon called Myotismon, interesting story Mr. Yagami, very interesting indeed."
Staring out over the class with a look of pure authority as he pulled open the door, Hojo's gaze instantly caused the entire class to settled down and shut up like he expected them too when he entered the room. "Today we will continue the study of the warring states period, and the impact it had on the following eras." Speaking out the class plan for the day, he quickly scanned the room and marked down the names of the students, stopping as he spotted the student that had been absent for the last few days and the one with the interesting story. "Mr. Yagami."
Looking up as his name was called out, Tai stared at the indifferent looking teacher as he slowly noticed that he hadn't even noticed him come in, or gotten out the notes for the class. "Sorry, I was distracted by a personal thought."
Merely nodding in return as he watched Tai take out his books, Hojo shook his head. It wasn't rare to meet a student like that Yagami kid, he had a good head on his shoulders and could do better then he was currently doing, but like so many others he had met, he lacked the motivation to do more then just what he had too in order to get home a good grade.
Grabbing a piece of chalk, Hojo began to plot down some words on the black board. "If you're still paying attention Yagami, we've been covering the period of the warring states, we have covered the reasons for this periods unrest, and will continue today with the final years." Taking the chalk off the black board, he didn't turn around to see if the boy in question was listing. "And while you may have missed most of the information, I will still expected you to be able to answer when and if I ask you."
Getting no further comment from the teacher on his absence, Tai cast a quick look over at Michael, then down at the blond haired boy's notes, cursing under his breath as they was in English, and while he could speak the langue fairly decent, in his opinion that is, he had far more trouble reading it.
Resorting to letting his head hit the desk, he ignored the looks and comments he knew it would draw, this day was not going to be one of his better ones it seemed. The only hope left was that somehow faith would jump in and save him from suffering another period of holding water filled buckets in the hall.
"Class, has anyone seen or heard a reason for Miss Motomiya being absent today?" The sudden question from the teacher making him snap up again to at least look like he was paying attention, something which he had to do, Hojo had this air about him, that while he would show some restraint, you shouldn't expect to get it all the time.
And he really, really didn't want any more trouble for the day, he had to get back home as soon as he could, try out the new gate and stop Karatenmon. And if getting to do that meant listing to your military like teacher, he would do just that.
Still, he couldn't help but wonder at the same time, why was Jun absent from school, could she also be a? Forcing the thought down before it could even form, Tai focused on the teacher to avoid thinking about it again.
The flames of the fire flickered even higher up towards the ceiling of the room, while the birdman like digimon stared at it. "Tell me Karatenmon, do you have all four keys to my prison." The voice giving off a bit of a strained tone to it as it questioned Karatenmon on his progress. "I am growing increasingly tired of looking at the walls of my prison, wondering when I will be free once again."
Bowing an extra time to the fire, Karatenmon pulled out the orb he had gotten a hold of already. "We have secured one my master, but an unexpected problem has shown itself." Placing the orb on the ground, the birdman like digimon stepped back away from the fire. "The chosen to stop us had arrived in this world, already I have battled with them, as has two of my servants."
"And you lost?" Came the demanding reply less then a second later as the fire moved forward to hover above the orb. "All of that will not matter in the end." Moving back to its original size, the fire seemed to lose some of it strength. "Karatenmon, gather all four keys here before I lose my patience. Unlock the doorway to my prison, and I'll end that legend before it can even start."
Stepping back, Karatenmon gulped as a dark laughter filled the room, chilling him to the core of his being. And behind that laughter, he could feel the power to back up the claims it had made. "As you wish my master, but I thought you only need three of the keys to be released."
Swirling around like a twisters, the fire expanded once again. "Three keys will weaken the prison, allowing me to break out, four will remove it completely." Moving around the birdman like digimon, the fire shifted into a darker version of itself. "Now go, bring me the other keys."
Bowing as he drew on his powers, Karatenmon lifted up into the air and slowly faded away. "As you wish, I will return with the next orb." Completely fading away as he finished speaking.
Moving back to the fire pit, the flames returned to a smaller version of themselves. "See that you do Karatenmon, my power may be great, but my patience is another matter." Laughing darkly again, the fire glowed as a large shadow formed above it, red eyes glowing as they fully focused on the orb before it. "Yes, already I can feel the presence of this orb weakening the seal, hurry up Karatenmon, I cannot wait to be free again."
Walking out the door of the school, Tai sighed as he cast a look up at the sky above him, the day had been a rather good one, despite the rotten start of it, and a few times here and there, but he had liked it. It had also helped to get some of the dark feelings from the past out into the open, maybe now Michael could understand why he rather not spend time with his sister.
Not as if they had even complete their job, they had never found out who Myotismon had been looking for as far as he knew, Kari and her friends had been forced to handle several powerful digimons on their own, heck he could be that eight digi destined, but he seriously doubted it.
If he had been, he would have been called on to help them, not sit on the side lines and watch as everyone else protected his sister, his sister who had saved him, his parents and the world, something he had never done, and never could do.
Or so he had thought, but then he had called in to help fight against Milleniumon, but no one had believed that so he had stopped talking about it, but now they knew he was a digi destined, one of those chosen to fight against the dark digimon Karatenmon.
And then his sister showed up again along with her friends, rushing in to save them, and acting as if they were just a pair of children in need of protecting. And after that she would properly keep on insisting on helping him, somehow force either herself or one of her friends into his group to monitor them.
How did she expect him to learn how to handle not only himself, but also a group if he constantly had to have a chaperone following him everywhere, correcting him every single time he made a mistake, no one could learn anything if someone constantly told them what to do.
Breaking up his thoughts before they became too dark, he noticed that Michael, Kari and Sora were standing at the school gates, talking with each other. Stopping as he reached them, Tai didn't even cast a second glance at Sora or Kari, instead he focused on the blond haired boy. "Michael."
Staring back at Tai, Michael nodded a bit as he smiled. "There you are, I tried to find you doing the school breaks, but you just vanished each time."
Giving a half convincing smile back, Tai remembered having a desire to be alone for a rather long time after telling him about his past, for a chance to sort out how he felt about it, if the bitterness of his sister getting treated as a heroine, to see his parents talk about how great she had looked in the final battle, would fade a bit now that he was sharing these memories with someone else.
And how he and Sora had drifted apart, a pair of friends since their youngest days drifting apart because he didn't share in the special bond between his sister and her. Without the loss of a digimon like they had had to endure, he could never be a part of that group.
"I'm Sorry, but I had to think about something." Finally answering Michael's question, Tai secured his bag and gave a small nod at him. "I'll see you later right?"
Getting a slightly startled look on his face as he realized just what Tai would have been thinking about, Michael quickly grinned a bit sheepishly. "Sure, I'll be over as soon as I've gotten permission from my dad to do so." Seeing Tai's questioning look, he shrugged a bit. "Hey, he didn't let me go completely, I'm still under tight supervision for just disappearing like that."
Opening his mouth to answer, Tai stopped as he noticed Kari staring at him from her place at the gate. "What?" His voice carrying a bit of the anger he felt at her from the past few years.
Blinking her eyes, as she felt slightly hurt by the angry tone of her brother, Kari took a deep breath and focused herself on the task of getting her brother to tell what had really happened the other day. "Tai, we're heaving a meeting over at Izzy's place, we were going to discuss the treat of the Digimon Emperor, but we've decided to add in the evil digimons you and Michael have been fighting, so if you would join us, we'd be more then happy to give you some advice on how to fight them."
Nodding a bit in agreement, Sora smiled at her old friend, wondering if getting a digimon would have caused him to calm down and forget that stupid grudge he had been carrying against her and Kari for last few years. "Yeah, We'd be more then happy to help you fight Karatenmon, after all the more we are, the bigger a chance we have of winning."
Giving them both a tired and annoyed look, Tai shook his head a bit as he began to walk away. "Thanks but no thanks, I think I can handle it without you two." Looking over his shoulder as he felt someone move to stop him, he looked right into Sora's eyes as she moved back again. "I can handle it, I know I can so just stay out of this."
Watching her brother walk away from them, Kari's left eye got a slight tick to it as she planted both her hands on her hips. "I can handle it, who does he think he is? No one can win a fight on their own."
Standing with a slightly amused expression Sora shook her head a bit as she faced Michael. "Sorry, but it's just, for a moment I was reminded of something long ago." Staring back in the direction that Tai was walking in, Sora grinned a bit as she noticed that he wasn't walking very fast. "Well, I think we've taken too much of your time, better hurry up if you want to make it to your meeting Michael."
Looking a bit unsure at her, he finally gave in and nodded as he moved to see if he coudl catch up with Tai. The anger that the messy haired boy had for his sister could be a problem if it wasn't dealt with soon enough. The last thing anyone needed was open war between Tai and the older digi destined.
Left behind, Sora cast a look over at Kari. "Well, we'd better get over to Izzy for our meeting as well." Pushing gently on Kari's shoulder when she didn't move or answer her. "Kari, you okay?"
"Idiot." Word spat out, Kari turned and stomped off, her bag clenched tightly to her body. "We offer to help him and he insults us, I don't care who he think he is, if he's always that hotheaded he'll get into a lot of trouble."
Feeling Sora plant a hand on her shoulder, Kari looked up to see her smiled down at her. "And he'll find a way out of it, he has handled it on his own for this long, and while I agree it's not wise for him to run around on his own all the time." Sora's voice took on the carrying level it had back in the digital world as she spoke to the younger girl. "I think he's learned something already, that one should be prepared before running off."
Giving Sora the what-are-you-talking about look, she shook her head a bit. "And that's a good thing, how about the other things we could have told him about, like what digimons to trust and." The rest of her sentence was cut off a finger was placed on her lips by Sora.
"He's going to be fine." Sora muttered out as she looked down at Kari. "I managed to give Michael my mail address, so if they get into trouble, he's knows who to call." Voice slightly amuse as she spoke, she looked over her shoulder. "And besides, Tai doesn't want to listen to us talk about the old days."
Not even answering that remark, Kari stomped off with Sora walking behind her, her whole body trying to figure out why her brother kept on rejecting the helps she and her friends could him, the knowledge they had gotten in the past could come in handy, no one else had fought as many evil digimons as them, no one.
Staring up at the city's skyline above her, Jun sighed as she tried to think of something to do, just walking around no longer had any merit to it, and her whole day was looking rather darker by the moment, as more then once, she had seen several digimon looking at her for longer then she had wanted or expected.
The conversation she had overheard on the castle yesterday was also still fresh in her mind, the way those two digimons had talked together hadn't given her any hope that they would be likely to help her. And since they had sounded like the leaders of this city, she expected several digimons to be looking for her as well.
Somehow, she ha expected that life as a fugitive would be a lot more glamorous then this, constantly looking over her shoulder to see if she was being followed, spending the night sleeping behind a building hoping not to be caught. But ranking in as the most annoying thing about her status as a fugitive was the nothing to eat part of it.
Holding a hand over her grumbling stomach, Jun blushed as a few nearby digimons turned to face her with curious expressions on their faces. "Sorry." Mumbling out the comment Jun took of walking as fast as she could, making sure to keep walking towards the other end of the square she was facing.
From the bits of conversation she had picked up there was a restaurant somewhere at the end of it, and no matter how dangerous it was, she wanted to see if she could get something to eat, either by begging or working for it, in the worst case scenario, she would have to steal it.
Walking further into the square, she didn't notice the wizard like digimon keeping a firm eye on her from his place beneath a buildings window. Tapping one hand onto his hat the digimon stood up and kicked another digimon hiding nearby, this one busy petting a black cat that was rubbing up against her. "She passing the square, and heading for the business area. Really, what is she thinking, there are more guards in that place then anywhere else."
Shrugging a bit as her cat settled down to rest on her hat, Witchmon stared after Jun as well, with one of her hands curled around her trusted broom in a loving way. "Maybe she's just hungry you know, she didn't get anything to eat since she was brought here you know."
Smirking slightly as she hovered up into the air, Witchmon looked down at Sorcerimon with a bored expression. "And I do believe it your turn to make contact with her." Waving a hand at the young wizard like digimon, she took off flying, already late for her own meeting in the other end of the town.
She had to be ready for when the heroes arrived, and make sure that the last member of the group was ready to meet them, and besides, Sorcerimon could do with some extra work. He was getting far to lazy in her opinion anyway. "Meet you outside the drunken digimon bar."
Scowling as Witchmon left, Sorcerimon grabbed his staff and prepared to follow after Jun, stopping only when he spotted two familiar digimon talking at the other end of the square as well, both of them looking rather mad at having the other one along. "Damn, what are they doing here?"
Moving fast to avoid getting spotted by Gorillamon and Musyamon as they split up, Sorcerimon kept looking right ahead of him, putting one foot in front of the other while trying to spot the reddish brown messy hair style of the human girl he had to find.
Sometimes it couldn't pay to be on the side of good, there was far to much work involved in it. And with that pleasant thought, Sorcerimon turned around the corner and spotted Jun standing just up ahead, with her arms raised up over her head and yelling for them to spare her life.
Looking further ahead of her, Sorcerimon began to swear as well as he could, his eyes narrowing as he saw the two Kingtmons taking up guarding positions around Jun, yelling out that she was under arrest and would be brought to the arena by orders of the earth sovern Panjyamon.
As they left in a orderly fashion with Jun walking in between them, Sorcerimon slapped a hand onto his face, cursing the day even more as he noticed something else he hadn't wanted to see. "Great, and now he's here as well, can anything else go wrong?"
Not looking down at the wizard like digimon as he passed him, Panjyamon allowed himself to smirk, already one of the four legendary digi destined had been capture and brought to the arena. And in those fighting pits, he had no doubt that she would be proven to be nothing more then a failure.
No one could ever beat him and the other sovern, no one. They had been chosen to rule the Server Islands on the day that the original soverns had been lost, each of them in charge of an elemental temple and the balance of the islands. There was no way four humans would ever be able to change that, not in his lifetime.
Across the town, Witchmon tapped her foot as she looked around at the skyline of the city, trying to see if Flymon was going to show up anytime soon. The digimon was carrying something precious for the cause, and she was not going to stand by and watch, as it was lost because of one digimon's mad ambition.
Finally spotting the growing area in the distance, Witchmon smiled as she prepared to greet the young human girl, before frowning as something else caught her attention, something down on the ground. "Not now." Stepping back, Witchmon growled a bit as she began to fly off.
For all of her boosting, she wasn't a match for one of Karatenmon's elite warriors in a one on one fight; she would need some kind of backup. And there was only one kind she could think of at the moment, but would they get there in time, and how could she convince them, the blond haired boy was sure to be more then a bit angry with her.
Landing heavily on the ground, Tai, Tailmon, Michael and Betamon could stare as several confused digimons looked back at them from various places around them. But what really had Tai staring were the buildings behind them; towering up much like they did back home, but not as tall of course, and the mixture of building styles seemed to have come from all over the world.
Pushing the blond haired boy off, Tai stood up and coughed a bit as he felt just where he had landed on the rough street, as his D3 had been pushed into his side as he landed. "I take it the gate worked?" came the mumbled comment as he swept his messy hair back in place. "But I didn't expect it to drop us off in the middle of a town."
"I'll say." Michael agreed as he too stood up, Betamon sitting in his arms. "But I still don't understand how you knew the gate could take us here, that guy, Izzy, he hadn't." Trailing off, Michael blinked as he spotted someone familiar smirking at him from just across the street. "You?"
Tipping her head slightly, Witchmon gave a dark laugh before turning and running off, her hat dangling dangerously close to falling off as she felt her body lift off from the ground, her powers allowing her to glide through the air as her broom formed below her.
Rushing off after her, Michael felt his D3 fall into his hands as he struggled to see just where the witch like digimon was flying towards, while also keeping a clear mind as to why she was staying in the open so much if she was running away from him. "Get back here you witch!"
Looking back at the blond haired boy, Witchmon gave a loud crackling sound before pulling down slightly on her left eyelid and sticking her tongue out at him. "You want me Blondie, you'll have to catch me first!" Even as she spoke, she noticed how his digivice began to glow. "Oh yeah, that's the way boy!"
Feeling power rush into him from where he was struggling to keep up with his partner, Betamon allowed it to fill him, as his digivolved champion form was faster and better adapted to chasing someone down then his rookie form. "Betamon digivolve too." Growing several sizes bigger, the small frog/fish like digimon turned into a sea dragon like being that filled most of the street easily. "Seadramon!"
Left behind, both Tai and Tailmon stared at the scene left behind by their friends, before taking off as well, the two of having an easier time keeping up with the blond haired boy then Betamon had had.
And hidden in the shadows, a large digimon gave a deep growled as he kept a close on the two boys and their digimons, it was rather unexpected to see them sow up so easily, but a welcome surprise. Now they would have three players in the arena, and not just one.
Stepping out into the light as he began to laugh, Panjamon didn't waste much time deciding how to follow the humans kids as he had to chase them down, but instead of running along the ground, the lion man like digimon took to the rooftops, clearing the distance with several jumps from one wall to the other, finally reaching the top of a building after a few seconds.
Jumping onto Seadramon as he passed, Michael kept staring at Witchmon as she blew him a kiss of all things, her eyes twinkling with amusement before flying closer to him. "Wow, you must really want me to go to such lengths." Voice full of laughter as she spoke, she quickly moved to stand on Seadramon, right in front of Michael. "But you don't have time to be chasing me boy."
Pointing a finger into the distance, her eyes became serious as her whole demeanor took on a level of business Michael had only seen in his father when he tried to get a better salary out of the movie directors. "What do you mean?"
Planting a finger on her lower lip while closing one eye, Witchmon leaned in closer to Michael while grinning. "I would have thought you'd be more busy looking for your other two members?" Standing up and pointing with her broom in a northwestern direction, her eyes filled with amusement again. "One of them is currently getting chased by a servant of Karatenmon in this city, and the other one is trapped below the arena by the false soverns."
Floating off the back of the sea dragon like digimon as the head turned to look at her, Witchmon gave a quick salute at the blond haired boy below her. "Till next time, and remember, you haven' much time in which to save her." Giving a final round of laughter, Witchmon flung out her free hand and grinned as several multi colored burst of lights went off from her fingertips, forcing the boy to look away form him. "TaTa!"
Clenching up his hand, Michael snapped his head around to see something strange, Tai sitting on the back Lynxmon as the large fiery lion like digimon stopped on a nearby rooftop. "Tai, how can you?" Pointing a finger at the digimon, he blinked as the messy haired boy grinned back at him. "Never mind that, listen up, Witchmon told us the next member of our group is in trouble, we got to hurry up."
Nodding back at him, Tai whipped out his D3 and stare down at it, a small red dot blinking in the upper right corner of it. "I got another signal coming in alright, but its a good deal away from here, we'll have to hurry if we want to get there." Yelling out a direction for Lynxmon, Tai barely had a second to grab a hold of the flame covered digimon before they went off running again, with the brown haired boy looking back over his shoulder at his blond comrade. "Follow us!"
Barely hearing the last words, Michael nudged Seadramon to make him follow after Tai, his eyes closing a bit to guard against the level of wind resistance he had to endure as the digimon took off running as fast as it could. His eyes turning to blink as he almost thought he saw someone following them for a second, but a second glance revealed nothing but rooftops behind them.
Jumping across the rooftops form the other direction, Musyamon kept staring down at the digimons below him, smirking as he noticed several of them starting to panic for some reason, the reason soon showing itself as the small form of an young human trying to force its way down the street became clear. "You're mine!"
Jumping down as he pulled out his favorite sword, Musyamon laughed darkly as the girl noticed his shadow while she heard his yell, starting to turn around to face her doom, as he knew she would. "Ninja Blade!"
"Thermal Mane!"
"Ice Blast!"
Colliding in mid air, the three attacks exploded in a sphere of melted ice and steam as fire collided with hot air and ice chunks, the street below taking the blunt force of the after match.
Landing on the street in a battle ready stance, Musyamon cast a quick look up as he noticed two figures standing dramatically in the sunlight, nothing more then the outlines of human bodies visible to him. "You two!" But that was all he needed to see, those two bodies had become far to familiar to him lately. "I'll kill you for causing me to be humiliated before Karatenmon."
Smirking down at him, Tai laughed as he saw Lynxmon land safely before the human girl and guarding him. "You are more then welcome to try Musumon, but I doubt you can win this time."
Next to him Michael nodded as he held out his D3 at him. "We're ready for you this time around, and you have no one to help you fight us." Voice mocking as he spoke, Michael looked up to see Seadramon block off the other end of the street. "And Seadramon and me has a score to settle with you."
Staring right back at them without losing any of his composure, Musyamon simply stood straight up as his free hand moved down to grab a hold of the handle of his sword as well, tilting it to allow light to gleam of the blade. "Very well then brats, I accept your challenge, but be warned, I will leave none of you alive."
Moving into action as he uttered out the last word, Musyamon wasted no time in kicking Lynxmon in the face, using the momentum to rebound back towards the charging Seadramon. "Shogun Sword!" A sharp blade of light shooting out in a half arc as his sword cut through the air.
Twisting his body around to avoid the attack, Seadramon growled as he opened his mouth to fire off a counter attack, the samurai like digimon still flying towards him. "Ice Blast!" The attack hitting nothing but empty air and a small wooden log as Musyamon vanished into thin air. "A ninja trick!"
Popping back out of thin air on the sea dragon like digimons back, Musyamon laughed as he lifted up his sword to deliver a strike right into the neck portion of the body. "Goodbye fool, Ninja!"
"Thermal Mane!" As the yell echoed through the street, the samurai like digimon looked up in time to life his blade up as a shield, but not escaping the full fire attack as Lynxmon landed on Seadramon's back as well, the flames making up his body flickering up even higher. "You will not harm him, do you hear me?"
Allowing a bored look to reach the fiery lion like digimon, Musyamon simply jumped back down onto the street as another cone of fire shot past the place where he had just been. "You two are really stupid, throughout this whole battle, you have barely even hurt me."
Speaking with a bored voice, Musyamon spun around and lifted up his sword as he cast a dark look up at Michael and Tai, grinning as the two humans back away. "What this battle need is a higher stake." Slashing out and sending a wave of power into the building, his laughter echoed through the air as he watched the human children begin to fall down as well. "And what better way to do that, then place your partners in danger."
"Electric Thread!"
Screaming loudly in annoyance, rather then pain as the highly charge web snapped onto his foot. Musyamon spun around to see the young girl and digimon he had been hunting to begin with moving back into hiding. "You little brat, I'll." The rest was forgotten as Seadramon soared by over him, catching Tai and Michael on his back before they could hit the ground. "Hey!"
Picking up the sound of four paws hitting the ground rapidly from behind, Musyamon spun around with his sword held out to defend him, or he tried to as all he managed to see was the lower part of Lynxmon as the fiery lion like digimon jumped up over him. "Wild Nail Rush!"
Screaming in shock and pain, the Samurai like digimon felt the full brunt as nine fireballs impacted him and the ground from above, his sword not even able to shield him from the attack. "You bastard." Staggering around to face Lynxmon swearing as the lion like digimon landed, Musyamon lifted up his sword, and blinked as something large, blue and golden in color shot down from above, its jaws wide open as something glinted inside of them. "No."
"Ice Blast!" Letting lose with the most powerful attack he could, Seadramon's eyes glinted as each chuck of ice hit Musyamon right in the upper chest and head region, the samurai like digimon's sword getting tossed away through the air as the frozen water mixed in with his ice chucks knocked it away.
Then he felt the small digimon scream in pain as he was finally thrown back through the air from the force of his attack, hitting the wall of a nearby building with a sickening crack that made him cringe a bit, but only a bit.
Staring in a bit of a different way from his place on Seadramon's back, Michael had to close his eyes and turn away as Musyamon fell back down to the earth, his body almost peeling off the wall he had impacted, with a few bits of the wall falling down with him. "I, I didn't expect it to be like this."
Barely hearing him, Tai simply stared at it, not sure what to feel as part of him was cheering over having won his first true battle without help from his sister or her friends, or sickness over the way Musyamon were just laying there breathing heavily after losing.
Hadn't his sister once told that digimons turn into some kind of dust after dying, that they couldn't really die since they were always reborn at Primary Village, so killing them wasn't like killing a human. So why was he feeling like he had just beaten up a human, and were simply watching him die from his wounds.
Stepping closer to the fallen digimon as they slid down form Seadramon's back, Tai cleared his throat a bit as he looked down at him. "So, I guess we win this round huh?" Trying to smile a bit in the end, Tai stopped when he felt the digimon look at him. "So, where is Karatenmon, you know the goy you work for?"
"Karatenmom will rule these Islands, and the age of Mystimon will come to pass." Spitting out a bit of digital blood, Musyamon coughed as he felt his body grow cold, clearly the final attacks had completely drained him to the point where there was no turning back. "You all fought brave, I am proud to die this way, the way of a warrior."
Getting a slightly confused expression on his face, Tai cast a look over at Michael as the boy nodded solemnly at the fallen digimon. "You understand what he meant by that last bit?"
Face turning a bit grim, Michael smiled sadly at Tai as he turned to face him. "There's a saying in the west, he who lives by the sword, dies by the sword." Turning to face Musyamon again, he gave a small nod. "I'm guessing he hoped to die like a warrior, fighting."
Smirking a bit at the blond haired boys words, Musyamon slowly began to laugh. "Indeed, fighting is everything to me, from the moment I was hatched I knew fighting was the way of my life." Eyes dimming a bit, the tall samurai like digimon lifted up his sword and gave a salute with it at Michael and Tai. "You two fought well together, but next time we meet, it shall be me who win."
And with those words, Musyamon's eyes dimmed until they were completely dark and his sword fell to the ground, clanging loudly as it hit the bricks making up the road. "Farewell, digi destined." A second later, his body broke down into a cloud of digital data that drifted away into the sky above them.
Staring at the place where his former enemy had been, Tai felt a wave of pride run through him as him and his team had finally beaten a digimon, but he still felt a small regret knowing that the victory had demanded the life of a digimon to be achieved. "You fought well too Musyamon, maybe we will meet again."
"Thank you for saving me."
Turning around, Tai and Michael were met by the girl who smiled at them as she stepped up closer. "Thank you for the help, if you hadn't shown up, I could have." Bowing a bit to show her gratitude, she stood up again and gave her best smile. "I'm Noriko, and this is my partner, Kunemon, nice to meet you all at last."
Staring halfway confused at her, both Tai and Michael turned to look at one another as if they didn't believe what they had just heard. "You have been expecting us?" Tai finally blurted out as he cast a non-believing look at her. "But how, we only learned of you because of what Witchmon told us."
Looking down at the group form the top of his hiding place, Panjyamon didn't know if he should smirk or growl at what he had just seen, those two humans and their pet digimons had defeated a high ranking member of Karatenmon's army. Maybe they were not such an easy to beat group of loser anyway.
Face twisting into a sick smirk, the large lion man like digimon stood up and grinned darkly as he cast a look up at the sky above him. "Truly, they have great strength, but I wonder if they will survive the arena." Drawing his sword as he spoke, Panjyamon cast a look down at the group. "Or should I end their misery right now and just kill them, it is all up to me to determine if the legends come true or not."
Staring into the street, his lips pulled back and revealed his sharp teeth as he jumped off the roof and into the street below him. "Time to see how brave these destined children really is."
Turning around at the sudden yell and sound of Panjyamon landing, the three kids and their stumbled back to see the digimon towering up over them, one short sword held out in a fighting position as he stalked closer to them. "Hear this, I am Panjyamon, the ruler of the Island of Earth and sovern of the west, face me in battle digi destined, in a fair battle within the arena, or face your death now."
Stumbling backwards, Tai cast a look up at the tall digimon as he kept coming closer to him and the group. "Witchmon didn't say anything about him."
"But I think it's safe to say he's not our friend." Michael added in as he watched the light glint of the sword blade as it moved forward ever so slowly. "More then safe actually"
Staring down at the two humans, Panjyamon's face split into a dark grin. "So, will you fight valiantly in the arena, or do I have to get violently disappointed?"
TBC: All together at last part I.
AN: A shorter chapter for this story then normal, and witha part looking far more rushed then it should, I could explain it with some excuse, but I'll befranka nd tell you that I just wasn't feeling up to writing that scene. This story should now be back on tracks again, and coming out with no problems involved in it, if not, feel free to mail me and ask why it isn't updated, just remember I have a life, other stories to work on, so I can't throw out a chapter like this every day, or week for that matter.