I don't own Digimon

Our Master's Call

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"It's a whirlpool of some sort!" growled Seadramon as he was being tugged along with the current. Jason was too busy watching his tag as its light seemed to circle around the mouth of the sea dragon.

"Seadramon can you form a bubble in your mouth whilst holding your mouth open?" asked Jason quietly.

"Jason…this isn't the time…" growled Seadramon quietly.

"Please…just do it…" Jason said.

The dragon obliged and the tag shot out of the mouth of the dragon. As the sea serpent was being tugged around the eddy the light shifted always pointing towards the epicenter.

"Seadramon…the crest…it's what's causing this whirlpool!" said Jason quietly.

"Then we have to get it!" growled Seadramon. The sea serpent swung around and chased down the purple beam of light.

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"What is he doing!?" growled Depthmon as he watched Seadramon disappear into the whirlpool. His eyes narrowed. "Whatever it is; he won't accomplish it!" Depthmon dove forward.

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"Just a little closer!" Jason called as the water became more and more tumultuous. Jason could make out. There was a large cross in the middle of the whirlpool.

"Uh…we have company…" growled Seadramon.

"Just go!" yelped Jason as he reached forward falling through the bubble and the tag touched the statue. There was a large purple flash. The whirlpool stopped in mid spin and then suddenly the water shot up in upheaval. Jason coughed and looked around. He was on the surface. Submarimon was flailing around. Seadramon was hovering over him.

Jason looked down at his tag and crest. Suddenly something grabbed him from below. It pulled him under the water. He looked down to find large kelp ropes grasping hungrily at his legs. He reached down but another strap of kelp wrapped around his chest pulling arms back against his sides.

The visored face of Depthmon floated up to his. A cold smile split his lips, "Mr. McFarland, so close, but ever so very far away…"

Jason would have lashed out but the seaweed vines tensed. He held his breath as long as he could but he knew he couldn't last long.

"Now, you'll just perish," said Depthmon quietly.

"Ice Blast!" a stream of ice shot like an arrow between the boy and the beast. Depthmon growled. The blue green sea dragon blasted the seaweed causing it to explode.

Jason swam for the surface. Blades sliced around him. He reached through the water and exploded through the surface tension gasping air. He looked around; they were still in the bay's cove. Large rock faces surrounded them. Seadramon roared up next to him. Depthmon was in his jaws. The large sea serpent swung its head around and released Depthmon into the stone face.

"Water Breath!" a rod of water slammed into Depthmon cracking the stone he was pressed against.

"Did you think you could beat me with water!?" growled Depthmon as he held himself against the canyon face. He flicked his right wrist forward and fired a blade at Seadramon. The large sea serpent roared as it fell backward into the water.

"Eat this!" Submarimon rushed forward. He was glowing brightly. "Oxygen Torpedo!" two golden blasts shot forward and exploded into the rock face.

"Ice Blast!" Seadramon shot up under the place where Depthmon was falling and covered the sea creature. Depthmon shone and then exploded into dust releasing a blast of energy that sought out Jason and merged with his crest. A second blast erupted from Submarimon and merged with Jason's crest.

"Uh oh…" whispered Submarimon as he stopped. "This could be a bad thing…I'm starting to feel that shrinking feeling…"

"What, Now!?" yelped Steven as Submarimon de-digivolved to a large grey crab. Seadramon whirled around and picked up the waterlogged digi-destined and the digimon.

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"Gen-general Assaultmon…" Goblimon was peering around the corner into Assaultmon's personal quarters. Not that it was much. It was much like Assaultmon's command room, save there was a little place for Assaultmon to jack into the base's power supply. The large metal titan opened one of its golden eyes. The small green goblin had bandages wrapped around its midsection.

"Weak little organic with its fragile, insignificant body," thought Assaultmon as he caught sight of the bandages. "What do you want?"

"I-I'm reporting that General Depthmon, has not been replying to our hails," whispered the little creature hesitantly. "I have tried to contact him over the last two hours, my lord, and he has yet to even send a simple message back…I fear…"

"You are not to think about those things," growled Assaultmon, "Your place is not to think, it's to do what I tell you. Continue the hails; we'll have to continue the hails until we can find a water digimon to search out his lair. Search out Mantaraymon; he is still with us isn't he?"

"Yes…my lord," Goblimon bowed quietly. "Oh…and the Mecha Norimon squadron leader is on line, three…"

"I will speak to him here," growled Assaultmon as he pressed a button on the consul in his room. "Now, go!"

Goblimon yelped and skittered out of the room. Assaultmon turned to the screen and looked at the Mecha Norimon.

"General Assaultmon!" The metal man stood at attention. "We have arrived at the pyramid station, and…well…"

"Report!" growled Assaultmon impatiently.

"We have met with resistance," said the robot bluntly.

"Resistance?" One of Assaultmon's eyebrows rose up in interest.

"There is a static shield surrounding the pyramid," replied the soldier. "It's short circuiting our forces…"

"So…he's learning…" growled Assaultmon as his eyes narrowed. "Continue to find away into the station." The Mecha Norimon nodded and then the screen went dark.

He was rebelling. Assaultmon growled softly. The generals had arrived suddenly and were powerful. He had faced off against them but their combined power was too strong. Assaultmon was smarter than what people gave him credit for though. He knew they were organic and that they had organic desires. So slowly he bought them off, with food, power, and knowledge. He then had come to separate them. He knew that separated they were no threat, but now, one of them was thinking of striking against him; but he would not succeed. The humans unknowingly were assisting Assaultmon; with each general they struck down they also cut down the chances that the generals could successfully rebel. The humans themselves though, were growing stronger. He had never expected them to be so strong as to survive his generals. He chuffed angrily. He must not lose his throne to humans.

"You could always ask for help," said a feminine voice from the door of his quarters.

Assaultmon jerked his head up. The digimon's body was shrouded in the backlit shadows of the hall. "I thought you and your friend were off in the Village of Origins dealing out the digi-eggs for that master of yours…"

"You must mean that master of ours…" replied the woman quietly waving her hand back and forth between her and Assaultmon; indicating that they were under the same master. She lifted her hand up to her ear and played with it nonchalantly. "You know all you have to do is say, 'I can't beat up eight little kids,' and you know we'd come and save you from those mean wittle children."

"Don't tempt me!" growled Assaultmon; he lifted his cannon arms.

"Heh, now master would not like that…even your dragon lord would not stand against our master," said the woman quietly. She flicked back a large feline ear. "You know; we'd make you a general in our armies if you abdicate your control of this territory. You could hunt down the insurgents."

"I will not be an underling to a pussycat and a bird!" growled Assaultmon. "Leave now, I'm sure you have eggs to attend to!"

"Actually, ever since Anubismon's destruction, the eggs have become less and less, our master is becoming, more impatient with the lack of new minions," whispered the woman. Her hazel eyes shone on Assaultmon. "Just remember I offered, but if you want to die most, unheroically then be my guest."

"I will crush the Digi-destined!" growled Assaultmon his cannons glowed crimson. "Those pathetic organic apes will be crushed under my hoof!"

"I doubt it," replied the woman quietly. "You'll be scrapped metal if you don't reach out for help."

"I need no help from the likes of you," growled Assaultmon. He drew in close to the woman. "Now leave here, before I send you back in twenty little boxes."

"Feh, you never were any fun anyways," growled the woman and she flicked her wrist disappearing in a twisting veil.

Assaultmon shuddered. "How dare she treat me like a child!" He turned and jacked himself into the wall.

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"Well?" said a refined masculine voice.

"His head is as hard as his metal," growled the woman as she climbed the temple stairs and walked up to a long futon and laid her body out in a restful feline sprawl.

"Tis a pity, he would have made a powerful ally," said a man as he walked out of the shadows.

"Well, we'll just have to watch over the situation, call Tsukaimon," said the woman. The male nodded silently and faded back into the shadows.

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Jason and the others ran up to the group of digi-destined at the shanty. The sun was just starting to warm the air. Jason ran forward and shouted, "We did it!"

"We got Depthmon," called out Otamamon.

"And I got my crest!" said Jason quietly.

"Mmm," Brendan looked at the crest quietly. "Another general, another crest…"

"I know," said Jason. He narrowed his eyes.

"I think our crests are linked to the generals," said Brendan. He sat down. "Each general has been relatively near a crest. Each time we fight a general and defeat them, a portion of their energy seems to shoot into our crests. Then there is the timing, according to the computer terminal at Alpine Tundra the geysers closed up few weeks or a month ago. That was about the time we were in the Temple of Calumon. Do you remember what happened when the guardians of the temple were defeated?"

"A portion of their power went to the statue, and a portion flew wild…" replied Kevin quietly.

"Not wild…they flew here!" announced Brendan. He furrowed his brows, "The crests' power must not be containable; I mean they must leach out and any digimon that's close enough for a long enough amount of time would digivolve…"

"You mean that thing that was at the middle of the whirlpool was a crest?" asked the large grey crab.

"Yeah…" said Jason he looked at the crab. "Did you ever go near it?"

"Well, soon after Depthmon's arrival the village sent an inspection team to find out a way to disabling Depthmon's whirlpool," said the crab. He looked out to ocean. "Well we got out to that cross, but Depthmon attacked. I was trying to hold him off while my friends escaped when the cross pulsed; the next thing I know I'm Submarimon and I continued fighting Depthmon, but he tied me up in that dang kelp…" the crab sighed.

"So it's not limited to one digimon," said Steven quietly.

"What if Assaultmon gets his guns on the crests!" yelped Amy loudly.

"He'd be able to make an army…" Brendan looked down at his crest. "We have to get our hands on the other crests before he realizes and tries to get them for himself."

"What's to say he doesn't just take our tags and crests and then use them?" Janet asked.

"The tags, when unioned with the crests; contain the leaching powers of the crests and the tags bring the power into synch with us…" said Michelle quietly as she stared at her tag. "I-I don't know how I know that. It's just something stuck in the back of my head."

"So, then once we have the crests in our tags then the power of the crest can only work at our behest?" asked Brendan. He looked at Michelle quietly.

"I-I think so, I don't know how I know I just know," replied Michelle quietly.

"Then we have to find the others and get them unioned to the tags!" said Kevin loudly.

"Yes, but where do we start looking…" said Jason quietly.

"I thought that Gennai guy was supposed to be talking to us…" said Kevin quietly as he looked around.

"Message! Message! Oh, please someone tell me someone's waiting for a message!" screeched a bird as it dropped down out of the sky. It was a red hawk with a little Indian feather attached to a bandana.

"Who are you?" asked Brendan cautiously.

"I am, Hawkmon, hired to send a message from Gennai to the digi-destined!" The bird stood up straight and saluted and then slouched huffing and puffing.

"Oh…" whispered the children.

"Oh? OH! OH! Is that all you can say!" yelped the bird as it flailed around in a panic. "I'll have you know it's not safe flying in these parts!"

"It's just…we'd hoped he would speak to us, face to face…" said Brendan quietly.

"Nope, now do you want this message or not?" growled the bird quietly.

"Yes, already, now just get on with it!" shouted Amy as she glared at the bird.

"Well, I don't know if I want to now…" said the bird, but Amy grabbed it by the head.

"If you want to deliver another message, out with it!" growled Amy. The bird gulped and nodded.

"Gennai says, the digi-destined shall take the southern road to a missionary, they should find their crests upon the voyage," said the bird quietly. He stepped back.

"That's it?" asked Janet quietly. She looked at the others.

"Yes, why?" asked Hawkmon.

"Well, it just seems…" Janet looked at Renamon.

"Short," finished the fox quietly.

"Yeah, we were kind of expecting a longer message," said Brendan.

"Well excuse me, I wasn't the one that made it, I just delivered it," growled the bird. He turned. "Now, I have to go, good day!" The bird took off and flew to the south.

"Should we go?" Mark asked quietly. He looked at Lucemon.

"The crests are too dangerous to leave ungathered," said Lucemon quietly looking at everyone. "To allow the chance that Assaultmon to find and use their powers is daunting enough for me to say it is best we go…"

"There aren't many crests left, just Mark's Michelle's and Janet's," said Brendan. "But even with three crests, he could create a very powerful army, or…."

"What?" the others looked at the paling Brendan.

"If he used the combined power of the three remaining crests on himself…." Brendan looked up. The others were looking in awe trying to comprehend what Assaultmon would possibly turn into.

"Then it's decided, we go south on the road…" said Kevin and he turned to start off. A green frog stood in his way. It had a horn wrapped around its neck.

"You mustn't, the road to the southern missionary bottlenecks over a ravine that is guarded by the General Harpymon. She is ruthless and she demands a toll!"

"Then we must go, to get the crest she harbors," said Michelle quietly.

"Can we eat first?" asked Otamamon. The others' jaws dropped.

"Of course, it's been a long night, we should sleep in a bit too…" said Jason quietly patting Otamamon's head. "Gekomon, would you please host us one last time…"

"Of course, of course, come along I'll make eggs and fish and some beans, yes the green ones!" the frog hopped about in front of the children as they giggled after him.

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Who are these strange new comers that are trying to bribe Assaultmon? With only three crests left, will the digi-destined finally gain the power to destroy Assaultmon?

AN: Thanks to Alforce. The rest of you don't forget to review….