Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon or any of Pullman's ideas. I also do not own Descent, except for the copies of one and three in my basement.
neoKOS-MOS: Sorry this one took me so long. I have been getting really lazy on this story. Next one will be better and longer, I promise.
Gathering Forces
They'd stashed all their bookbags and stuff at MIRROR, over in the corner of the big room where they wouldn't be tripped over. Wivrig got more stares than Sky had after the rest of the Tamers saw her, but she soon retreated to the other half of the base. The katrant went through the door in the wall with the covered windows. On the way back, Sky had explained to Davis, Rika, and Jun that the room was a darkroom, one much half of the base they were familiar with, but lightless so Sky wouldn't have to wear his lightsuit all the time. Wivrig, with her heatsense, was able to get along just fine in the darkness, so she spent a lot of time over there as well.
Davis sat in one of the chairs at the desk, blankly watching the others in the room. He didn't know what he was feeling at the moment. Of course, he was happy that Jun wouldn't be getting into anything worse while he was gone, since she'd be with them in the Core. But he didn't exactly want her there all the time. The digital world was his place. His sister didn't go there. It was almost an intrusion on something he had that was special.
He shrugged to himself and looked across the room. Rika was off talking with Henry. He felt kind of butted out of that conversation. He had been talking with his girlfriend, and the dark haired boy had come over, asking to speak with her alone. He'd shrugged it off, but now couldn't help feeling a little jealous.
"You okay, Davis?" Randy asked, coming over and sitting himself down on the desk next to the gogglehead.
"Yeah. Just kinda impatient."
The older boy nodded, looking over at his digimon. "Do you wanna come with us to get some of the other kids from your world?"
Davis glanced up at him. "Sure. Why?"
Randy shrugged. "Just thought you'd like to come. All the Tamers are here, and you look kinda left out."
"I'm not..."
"I know, but they've know each other for a lot longer than you've known them." He pushed himself off the top of the desk and started over to Chispamon. "Come on."
Davis got up as well and went over to get Demiveemon, rescue him from the clutches of Suzie and her little friends. The blue cynodont waved good-bye to them as he was carried off my his partner.
"So they didn't torture you too much?"
The digimon grinned. "They're not too bad, Davis. Suzie was really nice."
The boy shrugged and walked over to meet Randy at the elevator room. They went through and he motioned for Davis to cut the window. Hesitantly, he pulled out his digivice and activated the plasma knife. They stepped out onto the invisible platform, Chispamon following, and he closed it up again.
"So, I've been wondering," Davis said on the way down, "There are three of these digimon. How are you gonna split us up?"
Randy smiled. "Yeah. We've been thinking about that. Since Hieldramon is an ice type, we'll want more fire type digimon fighting him. Nerezzamon will be faced with the light types, and I guess Zeismon gets the left overs."
The younger boy frowned. "That's not the best way of putting it."
He shrugged. "Yeah, I know, but that's the basic plan. Adara wants you fighting Hieldramon, since you have Flamedramon."
"What about Rika?"
Randy grinned at him. "You like her, don't you?"
"I..." Davis sputtered. "Well, we are dating. But don't..."
"I can tell that no one knows yet. But don't worry. She'll be fighting Hieldramon too."
The cinnamon haired boy nodded, feeling a little better that he'd be able to protect her if they got into any big jams.
"I'm just depressed because I'll be up against Nerezzamon." Randy said, slipping his hands into his pockets and looking down at Chispamon.
"It's not my fault I'm electric." The chameleon muttered.
"Yeah, I know. I just wish he wasn't hiding in the biggest, darkest cave in all of the Core. It's gonna take us forever and a day to find him."
They rode the train for a while, and then cut into Davis's world. It was dark out now, past sundown. Chispamon reverted to his champion form of Tolamon, a small, electric yellow lizard-like digimon with deep black wings and scarlet feet. Randy stuffed him into a bookbag, and they walked the block to Tai's house.
Davis climbed the stairs slightly behind the older boy, feeling a little odd. He hadn't been in Kari's house in a long time, had been too afraid to be here. And now they were going to be right in the middle of her home. The boy was a little nervous, but he pushed that aside as Randy knocked on the door.
Tai's mom answered the knock, peeking out through the opening between the door and chain. She looked confused at seeing Randy, but at the sight of Davis, called over her shoulder for her children.
"Tai. Kari. Davis's here." She shut the door again and pulled the chain back, opening it all the way to allow them inside. "And who are you?" She asked Randy.
"Randy Trudeau." He answered, holding out a hand to her. "I'm a friend of Tai's. We have Bio together."
"Well, pleased to meet you. Do you boys want anything to drink or eat. I'm baking cookies, and they should be done in a few minutes."
"Um, no, that's okay." The light haired boy said, wisely. "I just ate, and Davis's not feeling too hot right now."
"Oh, do you want something. I know a great natural cure for indigestion."
"No. I'll be okay, Mrs. Kamiya." Davis edged away from her a little.
"Oh. Hey, Randy. Davis." Tai said as he came into the room. He waved them into his room.
The two of them made their way into the room, leaving the woman to her demented cooking. Tai shut the door behind them as Randy let Tolamon out of his bookbag.
"What's up? Are we leaving already?" The older gogglehead sat on the lower half of the bunk bed.
Randy nodded. "Yeah. The Tamer's world has already been attacked. They were looking for Rika, but we got them out before anything ugly happened."
"Why were they looking for Rika?"
"Some crazy plot or something." Davis cut in, glancing over at the ambassador a little desperately.
"Yeah." He said, shrugging it off nonchalantly. "Their world is okay, but we'd like to get you guys safe before they try something like that here."
"Okay. Do you want me to call everybody?"
"Sure," he muttered, fingering one of Kari's pink markers on the table. "But tell them to stay put. We're gonna be coming to get them soon enough."
Tai nodded, standing up again. "You wanna come with? Give them the details?"
"Yeah." Randy tossed the marker at the container full of various other colors.
The older gogglehead led the way out of the room. In an after thought, he looked back down the hall before turning to Davis.
"Hey, Davis. Would you go tell Kari to get her stuff together. She's on the computer in my dad's office."
"Sure." The boy responded, turning down toward the door Tai had indicated.
The other two went into the kitchen to use the phone. Davis set a hand on the door, hesitating for a moment. He wasn't supposed to feel strange about this. It had been two months since he'd given up his crush on Kari.
"Now what?" He heard her ask from inside the room.
Confused, the boy pushed the door open.
"You have to use the card to open the red door. You should save it again before you fight the boss."
Kari was sitting in front of the computer, tensed and leaning forward as she peered at the screen. Sitting in a chair he had pulled up next hers, Izzy was watching the screen as well. The girl did something and the computer threw a rainbow of dark colors across the monitor, configuring them into a magma pit filled with flying green orbs.
"Izzy." Davis stuttered, "Tai didn't say you were here."
"Yeah, well, I didn't know you were coming over either." He replied, not looking up as Kari dodged the barrage of chartreuse projectiles and unleashed three missiles, charging up to follow those with two huge purple energy blasts.
"What are you playing?" The gogglehead asked, coming over and looking over Kari's shoulder.
"Descent." She responded absently. "I always die in this level."
A big brown ship appeared out of nowhere and unleashed six rockets at once. The short haired girl jerked the mouse to the right, dodging all but one of them. Quickly, she ducked into a hole in the wall and waited as a door closed behind her. With a sigh, she hit a key to pause the game and sat up, looking at Davis.
"Hey. Why are you here, anyway?"
"Um," he blinked and then shrugged. "I'm helping Randy. The Tamers world was attacked today, and now he wants to pull us out of our world in case the same thing happens."
"Are they okay?" Izzy asked, looking up as well.
Davis nodded. "Yeah. They're fine. Everybody got out before anything too bad happened. But, still, I think we should do this."
Kari nodded too, glancing at the computer screen for a moment. "So, am I supposed to get some of my stuff together, or something?"
"That's the plan."
She shrugged and stood up. "Save it for me." She told Izzy before walking out of the room to go pack.
The older boy shifted over to her seat and started the game up again. He flew out of the door she had just entered and launched a stream of blue lasers at a smaller enemy. Dodging a big gray missile, he launched one of his own off and grinned as it destroyed the other ship. Quickly, he ducked back into the hole and saved it. Exiting the game, he set the computer to shut down and got up.
"I guess I should go home and get some of my stuff together. Is Randy here?"
Davis nodded. "He's in the kitchen making calls with Tai."
Izzy stretched as he walked out the door, going off to talk to the ambassador before he left for his own house. Davis followed, watching as he peeking in Kari's door and saying bye before going to the kitchen. The gogglehead sighed and stopped in the girl's doorway, watching the apparently empty room.
"Hey, Kari. Can I come in?"
She appeared out from underneath the bed and looked at him strangely. "What? You just saw me. It's not like I'm naked or anything. Of course you can come in."
Blushing slightly, he stepped inside and watched as she disappeared under the bed again. "What are you looking for?"
"Tai's old soccer bag. It'll be easier to carry in the digital world."
A soccer ball rolled out from underneath the mattress, followed by an old grass-stained cleat. Slowly, the girl backed out from under the bed and sat down, dusting off a wrinkled green gym bag.
"There." She whispered to herself, standing up and setting it on the bed. She opened it up and went over to the dresser to pull out some clothes. "So, what happened to the Tamers, Davis?"
"Um," he walked over and sat down next to the bag, watching her. "They were attacked by darkness type digimon in the middle of the night. Some of them were fine, but others had to really fight their way out of it."
"Is Jeri okay?" Kari glanced over her shoulder, looking worried. "She only has Katzemon."
"Yeah, she's fine. Takato ran over to her place and held off the worst of the Bakemon."
"That's good." She mumbled, walking over and stuffing some clothes into the bag. Davis saw a lot of pink, but noticed the variation in the colors as well.
"You've been wearing less pink since you started going out with Izzy." He responded absently.
She blinked, and looked over the choice of clothing. "I guess so. I didn't really notice. I figure one of us should wear something other than one color."
Davis couldn't help smiling. "Yeah." Ever since Izzy had started college a few years ago, he had taken to wearing all black. Something about Chaos Theory and expressing control over a chaotic environment. Yolei always chided him about it.
"You know, Davis, you've taken to the idea really well." She stuffed some socks down next to her clothes. "I was afraid you'd hate me for a while, because I chose to go out with him before you."
"Well, I..." The boy paused, feeling himself blush. "I could never hate you, Kari."
She smiled, looking down at him. "I'm glad. But, still. You adapted better than I though you would."
"Well, I'm more resilient than you think."
She grinned at him before going back to get more clothes.
Davis rolled his eyes and flopped down on the bed, smiling despite himself. He stared at the interlacing of metal mesh that held up the bed above. She had woven pink and red pipe cleaners into a heart, surrounded by fuzzy yellow flowers.
"You know, for a while, I wondered if you had found another girl."
The boy stiffened a little, not knowing what to say. "Well, I..."
"Did you, Davis?" The girl came bounding across the room to jump down on the bed next to him. Kneeling over him, she peered down into his face, making him even more uncomfortable. "Did you?"
After a moment, he rolled away to show her his back. "Leave me alone, Kari." He said through clenched teeth, unable to hold back the grin.
"Oh! Who is it Davis? I bet it's Miyuki from your History class."
"What?" He sat up and looked at her. "What would give you that idea?"
Kari frowned, looking away. "Drat. I was sure. Now I'm out three bucks to Yolei."
"What? You're betting on my love life?" He was a little exasperated, but not really mad.
She grinned at him. "Well, you were the only one left who hadn't hooked up with someone."
"Tai doesn't have a girlfriend."
"Tai doesn't need a girlfriend right now, since he's married to his job, soccer team, and school work." The older gogglehead walked into the room and went in search of his other gym bag.
Kari giggled and started packing again. A few minutes later, the three of them walked out of the room and into the kitchen. Tolamon peeked out at them from Randy's bookbag on the table. Tai went over and picked the bag up, shifting it to his shoulder before heading to the door.
"We're gonna go now, mom."
"Where are you going?" She called from the kitchen, moving into the doorway to see where her children were.
"Remember the camping trip I told you about?" The older boy responded, turning back. "We'll only be gone for a week."
"But you still have school."
"It's a classroom thing we're sponsoring for Kari's school. We're taking them out for a week as a learning experience. You signed the papers for both of us."
The woman looked confused. "I don't remember any of this, Tai."
"Maybe it was dad I talked to." Kari added, folding her hands behind her back.
Dusting flour off her hands, she came over and kissed both of them. "Well, have fun. I'll miss you guys."
Tai blushed slightly as she pulled away. "All right, mom. We'll see you later."
Out in the hall, after the door had closed, Davis let the grin spread across his face. "Wow. Was that for real?"
"No." The older boy let out a sigh. "I'm just glad she bought it. Thanks for jumping in there, Kari."
His sister nodded. "But I thought Randy was here. Where did he go?"
"He went with Izzy to get his stuff. That's why he left Tolamon."
The little yellow lizard peeked his head out of the bookbag and grinned at them over Tai's shoulder "I can find us the place to cut through so there'll be an energy platform on the other side. But, where are your digimon?"
"Agumon's with Gabumon in the digital world, doing some sort of project for Gennai." Kari explained, shifting the strap of the bag on her shoulder. "And Gatomon is out with Gomamon."
Davis nodded as he remembered that Kari and Joe's digimon were in love. "So, how are we gonna get them?"
"We'll contact them from MIRROR and send someone to pick them up, same as you guys." Tolamon motioned for them to go down the stairs.
The three digidestined did so and they soon found themselves back out on the street. Randy's digimon directed them down a few turns until they came to an alley. That was where he told Tai to cut through. They stepped out onto the blue energy platform and waited for the train to come.
neoKOS-MOS: Well, it was a little lame, but it served it's purpose. Actually was longer than I expected. Hope you all liked it.
Dark Qiviut: Thanks for sticking with me. It's getting along there. Glad you liked the conversation between Jun and Rika. I thought it was pretty good.
SalimaLiAkiyama: Glad you liked both of them. And I know DavisRika is a strange one, but it's great too. Thanks for reading.
thegreatwhitewolf: Finally you get to it. But, I'm glad it was good. What exactly makes it so cool?
Well, try to review on your way out. Thanks…