"Who are you?"
The stranger smiled. "A friend. Listen, I need to ask a favor of you and Mew."
"A 'favor'?" Mewtwo stretched his psychic senses, evaluating the stranger. On the surface, he seemed harmless; an old man, bent with age and apparently helpless. But under that facade! "You are as much a human as you are a pokemon. Again, who are you?"
"It's about a friend of mine..."
****
Digimon: Digicross TV Series episode 08
"Hellos and Good-byes"
****
==Stone Town Hospital==
Kyle felt consciousness return slowly. His eyes opened, and he managed, through the haze, to make out several familiar faces.
"Dad? Where am I? What happened?"
Mikhail Ellison sighed, relieved to see his son awake. "You're back home in the hospital. As to why you're here, we were hoping you could fill us in."
Kyle blinked. Names came back to him, connected with other faces he could see. Davis, Cody, Joe, Izzy, yeah, those were the names. Then he remembered the battle.
"I remember...I was wandering in the Digital World, I can't remember where, then Ken showed up, and he had this...thing with him."
Davis asked first. "Thing?"
"Yeah. It was some sort of composite Digimon." Izzy's eyebrows arched, but he said nothing. "It had parts from all sorts of different Digimon. We tried to get away...Growlithe! Eevee! Where are they?" Kyle tried to sit up, then stopped as pain flooded his body.
"It's alright." Mikhail calmed his son down. "They're at the pokemon center. Growlithe's just recovering now, but Eevee, well, whatever hit him; he's still out. Was it that thing?"
"No, Eevee...digivolved again."
"To Flareon?" Cody asked.
"No, he went one more, I think you'd call it an Ultimate level. Pyroangemon, I think it was. Yeah, that was it."
Izzy replied. "I hope you don't mind, but I had a look at your digivice. Here's Eevee's entry." Izzy thumbed a control on Kyle's pokedex, and the metallic voice read out the entry Izzy had selected.
"Eevee: The Evolution pokemon. It has the ability to alter the composition of its body to suit its surrounding environment. The Eevee belonging to Kyle Ellison was caught April 12, 087 AT, and is a Data/Normal type. Known digivolutions include Flareon and Pyroangemon."
"DATA?"
"Yup" Izzy confirmed. "Oh, And your Growlithe is a Vaccine/Fire type too." He mock sighed. "You really should keep better track of your pokemon."
"It makes sense." Cody thought out loud. "Both Eevee and Growlithe have been exposed to the Digital World the most. And digivolving would be the most sensible way for Eevee's body to adapt. I wonder if any of the other pokemon have been affected."
Davis held a hand up. "This is all really fascinating, but we're getting sidetracked. Kyle, we know who did this, but we're still missing the why, how, and with what."
==Stone Town Pokemon Center==
Nurse Joy checked the readouts on Eevee and Growlithe again. Growlithe was recovering fine; he'd be out in a day. Eevee, however...
A small sigh escaped her. Eevee was showing the same symptoms that Growlithe had the first time Kyle had brought him through the computer screen in the storage area, along with two people who were not from this world.
"Maybe I should call it 'Digi-shock'" Joy said quietly to herself.
"An apt name" a voice echoed, both in her ears and in the back of her mind. Turning, she saw two figures. One was an old man, white haired and bowed with age. The other was clearly non-human, bipedal, with light gray fur, long tail, and black and white eyes sparkling with intelligence.
The older figure spoke first. "Good evening, milady. I am Gennai, and this is Mewtwo. Don't worry, he's an expert in pokemon biology." Mewtwo bowed, and walked towards the room where the two pokemon were.
"Wait! You can't-"
"I must." Mewtwo answered psychically. "If what has traveled to the other world is to be stopped, all the digidestined will be needed."
==Tokyo==
June stared at her drink, not having touched it since it was served 12 minutes ago. Lost in her thoughts, she missed the person who came to her table. He was tall, aged but not old, and had white hair, wearing a gray suit and tie.
"June Motomiya?"
"Yes? Who are you?"
The stranger held his hand up. "I'm Kyle's guardian when he's here." He noticed June's confused look. "Forgive me. My name is Bryan Chevalier, friends call me 'Bri'." He presented a small business card, complete with phone number and email address.
June hmph'd. "I suppose you're one of them?"
'Bri' smiled. "If you mean a digidestined, no, but I am associated with them."
"So what brings you here?"
"I'm afraid there was an accident." He forestalled June's next question. "He's fine. In the hospital, but nothing worse than a twisted ankle and a few dings."
"What...what happened?"
"Wrong place at the wrong time, I'm afraid. He was very, very lucky. Would you like to see him?"
Nod. "How?"
"I should warn you, if you accept what I am about to offer you, everything you know will be thrown out the window. It'll mean a hard life with many difficult choices." He held up one hand. In it, there was a small, teardrop shaped object, all white and glowing slightly. "Last in the series, not yet assigned. Think carefully. Once you decide, there's no turning back."
"I fell for a guy who's from another dimension. How much more could things change?"
"Kid, you haven't even pulled the curtain on the window yet."
June took the device. There was a brief flash of purple, then it faded.
==
"The link...!"
Mewtwo was briefly staggered by the connection he felt. "The last time I felt something like this was-"
"Ash, yes." Mewtwo looked at Gennai. "Mew filled me in. Mind you, Kyle has his digivice to strengthen the link. You should see a similar one on Growlithe." A quick scan confirmed it.
Mewtwo focussed his power into the two pokemon for a full minute. "Growlithe will recover shortly, but I can only do so much for Eevee; his damage was more systemic, what Nurse Joy termed 'digi-shock'. That will take time to heal. What of Kyle?"
Gennai smiled. "Mew should be there about now. You know how he loves an entrance..."
==
"We're not discussing anything," Mikhail said sharply. "Kyle's hurt, and he's in no condition to go charging back in to fight some oversized jigsaw puzzle!"
"Dad..." Mikhail looked at Kyle. "Dad, that thing, it was named Kymeramon, by the way, but that monster..."
"Yeah?"
"It also read as a pokemon."
Joe voiced the group's question. "You mean Ken has access to pokemon DNA?"
"Don't ask me how, but I saw it, plain as day. It even used a pokemon technique, SandStorm. Ken said that he threw Porygon's data in the mix, that must be where those other factors came in."
"So..."
"Mew." Everyone looked to the open window, where a small pink catlike creature with a long tail was hovering. It flew in, hovering over Kyle's bed. It giggled then flew around the bed, causing it to glow in a soft pink radiance. Kyle began to levitate, pushed up by the psychokinetic force acting on him.
"Kyle!" Davis said.
"Mew!" the creature said again, giggling. The bandages on Kyle unraveled, and disappeared. Burnt skin healed itself, while the many abrasions and cuts vanished without so much as a scar.
"Told you he'd make a flashy entrance."
Joe and Izzy recognized one of the figures. "Gennai!" they said in unison.
"Joe, Izzy, good to see you again. I see you've met Mew."
Kyle and Mikhail went pale at the name. "That's...MEW!!??"
"Who's Mew?" Cody asked.
"Mew is a legendary pokemon, thought to be a myth. But why is he here?"
"Because this gentleman asked us." Mewtwo said, walking in. "I am Mewtwo, genetically cloned from Mew's DNA. Both Mew and myself are Psychic type pokemon of great power."
Kyle stood up, testing out his ankle. "I'm healed!"
Mewtwo allowed a small smile. "I told you we had great power. Yet this will not help us in the upcoming battle. All the digidestined will be needed." Mewtwo gave Izzy and Joe a look. "Past and present."
"I'll spread the word," Joe said. "Cody, can you open a portal for me?" Cody nodded, and left the room with Joe.
"What about Eevee and Growlithe" Davis asked. "Can you heal them?"
"Growlithe! Growl!" A frantic barking, followed by the shouts of several inters, were heard. Then, Growlithe charged through the door, and bowled over Kyle. "Growlithe! You're better!"
"Growlithe's injuries were easy to handle. However, Eevee suffered more systemic damage, and will take about a week to heal. I have done all I can-"
"HEY" an orderly shouted as he charged into the room. "You can't..."
"LEAVE" Mewtwo's aura flared, the command unmistakable in his 'voice'. The orderly, a blank look in his eyes, turned and walked calmly off. Turning back to face the digidestined, he continued. "As I was saying, Eevee will be fine. And the fewer people who know about me, the better."
"Showoff" Gennai muttered.
Mewtwo ignored him magnificently. "And now, Mew and I must leave." Mewtwo held one paw up. "We may meet again, digidestined. Until then, farewell." In twin flashes of purple and pink, Mew and Mewtwo vanished, teleporting away.
"Surreal" Davis said, Izzy nodding in agreement.
"OK, so now what?" Mikhail asked. "There's an Ultimate Stage 2 pokemon flying around the digital world that's incredibly powerful. Can he be stopped?"
Izzy started to answer, but was cut off as someone else entered the room. Davis was shocked to see that it was his sister, June!
"Ju...JUNE?? How...??"
June smiled at Davis' reaction. "Well, there was this tall guy with white hair that said he was Kyle's guardian." Kyle and Mikhail exchanged confused glances, mouthing 'guardian?' "Anyway, he said that he knew a way to get me here." She held up a small device.
"A D-3?" Izzy gasped.
"There's no escape from her" Davis groaned quietly.
Gennai, still there, palmed his face. "Tell me," he asked, "did he say his name was 'Bri', or some variant on that?" At June's nod, he went on. "That starry eyed old busybody...*ahem*, well, I'll assume you know about the portals and the digital world."
"Yes, and the Emperor."
"Alright. I'll finish setting things up. Why don't the two of you talk." Gennai said, leaving the room.
"Two? But there's-" Davis started.
"Come ON, Davis." Izzy said, grabbing Davis by the elbow and marching him out of the room. The door closed, leaving only June and Kyle in the room.
"So, you're looking better."
"Had a visit from a legend" Kyle replied. "June, listen, I really did want to tell you everything."
"Like you said," June replied, cutting him off "it wasn't your secret to tell. It's all right. I'm sorry I got scared the way I did. So, tell me about yourself."
Kyle told.
==
About two hours later, an unusual event was taking place in Kyle's home. The living room currently was occupied by all the Japanese digidestined, past and present, as well as Kyle, June, everyone's Digimon (or pokemon), Kyle's father, and Gennai. Kyle quickly filled in everyone about his encounter with Kymeramon, the events at the hospital, and the fact that yes, June was now a digidestined (was Matt shuddering?).
"That's pretty heavy," Mimi said, after hearing everything. "But if this thing's an ultimate, what can we do? Our Digimon can't match that kind of power the way they are now."
"Hopefully, we won't have to." Izzy said. "I managed to get some useful information from that scan of the spire I did a few days back. It's got some really interesting properties."
"Well, spill already" Tai, who was getting impatient, said.
"Well, as I figured, Ken made the same mistake I did; he believes, as did I, that the Digital World is just a giant computer program. Only with him, he's taken it to an almost ridiculous level."
"So you're saying he doesn't even know what he's doing?" Sora asked.
"Nope. And I think we can use that against him. Here's a map of the area Ken's been controlling. See how the spires seem to form a sort of path here, and here? I'll bet he has some mobile base of operations. And if we can take that out, we should be able to tip the scales in our favor."
"How?" Yolei asked.
"I'll take this" Kari said. "Izzy confirmed that the spires aren't independent; they're just relay points for Ken's digivice."
"So?" Davis asked.
Gennai stood up. "That means, my begoggled friend, that there is a central power source for the control spires. Take that out, and everyone should be able to digivolve. I assume Izzy has a plan?"
"Izzy does" the computer expert replied. "But it's extremely risky." Everyone nodded, waiting. "Well, we split into three groups. One group, the fliers, draws Kymeramon away from the base. No fighting, just draw him off and stall him. A second group myself, Cody, and Davis, sneaks into the base while Kymeramon's out and disables the main system. Hopefully, that'll kill the spires so the third group, the rest of the original digidestined, can digivolve and help the fliers out."
"That's a lot of ifs," Cody said. "Yeah," Joe agreed, "and what about Ken? He's not gonna like a group of kids tearing up his place."
"Based on what you've told me about this Ken," Mikhail reasoned, "I'd be willing to bet he wouldn't be too far from this Kymeramon being."
"That's what I'm figuring, too" Izzy said.
"What about me?" June asked.
"Well, without a Digimon partner, there's not a lot that can be done." Izzy said.
"Besides, once we digivolve, we're planing to leave the kids behind" Agumon added.
"No way!" Matt said. "Where you go, we go!"
"Matt," Sora said, a bit sadly. "This isn't like the fight against Apocalymon. Our Digimon aren't as strong as they once were. If the fight got too intense, we'd...just be in the way..."
"It's not that at all!" Gomamon said. "We just don't want you to get hurt!"
"With all due respect, Gomamon, if this doesn't work, the danger zone's gonna be everywhere. I'm a pokemon trainer, and I'm going in. Eevee did it, and so can I!"
"YEAH!" everyone chorused.
==Digital World==
"More! MORE!!" Ken laughed maniacally. Kymeramon had been repaired, and was even now leveling another part of the digital world. The monstrosity, a reflection of Ken's twisted vision, was once again operating at full efficiency.
"Master, haven't you done enough?"
"Enough, Wormmon? Once Kymeramon finishes, all the chaos will be removed, and I can control the entire world. Nothing will happen unless I will it!"
Outside, two figures regarded Ken's mobile base and Kymeramon impassively. The smaller, catlike figure asked "Mistress, you do not look pleased."
The taller, white haired woman sniffed disdainfully. "That fool has placed all his power in Kymeramon. He's behaving like something out of a comic book. Never mind, once he's finished, his 'pet' can dispose of him. I hate loose ends."
==Human World, 2 days later==
Kari packed a few things away in a small backpack. She, and the rest of the digidestined, had told their parents that they were all going on a camping trip, and that the older kids were going along as chaperones. Matt's dad and Izzy's parents had been co-opted into driving; they had a good idea of what was going on, and the kids knew that those adults would not turn them in. Thanks to Gennai's influence, Mimi had 'won' a week long flight to Japan for one, and had arranged to stay with a guardian while there.
"Kari, there's someone here to see you!"
"Thanks mom! If it's Tai or one of his friends, send him up!"
Izzy walked in a minute later, looking as if he were walking into a minefield. "Um...hi..."
"Oh, Izzy! What are you doing here?"
"I..well..about the concert..."
"Is something wrong?"
"No, no, I just wanted to make sure we were still on."
"I wouldn't miss it. At least Tai will finally shut up about it! He keeps asking if he should send Scizor along as a chaperone."
[Animation note: SD Scizor snapping his claws together, thoroughly evil look on his face]
Izzy facefaulted. "Sounds like him. Look, I just wanted to make sure. No fighting. If something goes wrong, get out of there. Promise me."
"What could go wrong?"
If it's like the last time we followed one of my plans, Izzy thought, plenty. "I just don't want anything to happen to yo..to any of you."
Kari smiled, truly touched. "I promise, nothing fancy."
==Pokemon World==
"Revives, check, Super Potions, check, field kit, check, lucky Moon Stone, check..." Kyle finished packing his gear, said his good-byes, and headed off.
"Kyle," his father said as he was leaving, "be careful."
"I will, dad, promise. Ken caught me off guard last time. Now, I've got friends and firepower. We can't lose."
"Are you sure Growlithe is enough? You're not taking any other pokemon?"
"Too risky, besides..." Kyle trailed off as he opened the front door. Outside, Scizor, Marowak, and Ivysaur were all waiting outside. All had the 'just TRY and leave without us' facial expression going full blast.
"Look, I appreciate the gesture, but there's no way I can risk you guys getting hurt. Growlithe can digivolve, but you guys aren't strong enough!"
~And YOU are?~ the psychic message resonated in Kyle's mind.
"Mewtwo?" Kyle looked around, but saw no trace of the psychic pokemon.
~You're going to need all the help you can get. I suggest you take it where you can~
Sighing, Kyle turned to get his other pokeballs. He was not surprised when he saw his father had already gotten them. "Let's go guys!"
==Digital World, outside Primary Village==
"This place has seen better days."
Mimi and Palmon looked around sadly. The last time they were here, there were hundreds of digieggs and newly hatched Digimon playing all over the place. Now, the nursery was silent and unoccupied. She silently wished she hadn't been the first to get here.
"Don't worry" Palmon said. "Once we stop Ken, this place should be back to normal!"
A few minutes later, the rest of the digidestined arrived, singly or in groups. Izzy walked over to the control spire above the village, connected his laptop, and ran a program. "This will take a few minutes, but it should tell us where Ken's base is. Everyone know what to do?" Everyone, human and digidestined nodded. Izzy's laptop beeped suddenly. Checking the readout he announced "OK, Ken's base is Northeast of here, moving away. If we want this to work, we're gonna have to go now!"
"Digiarmour Energize!" Kari, TK, Yolei and Kyle yelled in unison.
"Gatomon, armor digivolve to...Nefertimon, the Angel of Light!"
"Patamon, armor digivolve to...Pegasusmon, Flying Hope!"
"Hawkmon, armor digivolve to...Halsemon, the wings of Love!"
"Growlithe, armor digivolve to...Cyberarcanine, the strength of Loyalty!"
"We're ready!" Pegasusmon said. "Mount up!"
"I call Nefertimon" Davis yelled.
"Too late!" Kari yelled back, flying off. She, Cody, and Armadillomon waved as they ascended.
Yolei sighed. "Get on, flyboy. And keep it down back there."
Halsemon mock-grunted as Davis and Veemon climbed on. "Alright, who's been snacking?"
"Hey, I was hungry!"
"You were, you ate two burgers before we left, Davis."
"And WHO scarfed all the fries, Veemon?" Halsemon took off.
"Get on, Izzy!" TK said. Izzy and TK flew off.
Kyle released two of his pokemon before leaving. "Scizor, Ivysaur, I want you to help out here. When the fighting starts, you know what to do, right?" The two pokemon nodded. Kyle climbed on Cyberarcanine's back, and he flew off, joining the other three fliers.
==
"Hey, Izzy!"
"What is it, TK?"
"I heard you asked Kari out. True?"
Izzy gulped. "Well.... Yeah, there's no problem, is there?"
TK smiled. "Nah, but I think we need to talk. After this is over."
"Right."
==
The rest of the digidestined watched as the first two groups in Izzy's plan of attack flew off. Tai sat down, sighed, and lay back.
Sora sat down beside him. "You alright Tai?"
"Yeah, just frustrated. If it wasn't for those spires, I'd be up there too."
Sora smiled. "We can't be heroes all the time, Tai."
"I know. Say, isn't your birthday in a few weeks?" Sora, puzzled by the subject change, nodded. "Is there anything you want?"
Sora held back a giggle. "Anything but hairclips."
Mimi walked over to June, and sat beside her. "So, June right? I'm Mimi."
"Oh, hi. You're Matt's friend, right?"
Mimi blushed slightly. "Well, it's not like we're steady or anything."
"Really? When Matt took me to dinner, you were all he could talk about."
"Matt did WHAT?" Mimi asked, looking over in Matt's direction. Matt began slipping away. Maybe Kymeramon can eat me, he thought to himself. He was saved when a small Digimon ran up to the two girls.
"Hello Mimi, it's nice to see you again!"
"Huh? Have we met?"
Elecmon looked a little crestfallen. "I'm Elecmon, I was in charge of taking care of Primary Village, until the Emperor showed up."
Mimi tried to remember. "Was that when we were fighting Devimon, or was it the Dark Masters? I didn't get to see much of Primary Village, and it's been a few years."
Elecmon smiled. "I think you're thinking of my cousin, Elecmon. He ran it until recently, then I took over. We met under ...different circumstances."
Mimi thought furiously, trying to remember all the Elecmon she met. "I'm sorry, but if you're right, then it must have been your cousin I met. I'm sorry."
"It's alright. I've changed a bit since we last met."
==
"We're getting near. We'd better land!"
The airborne digidestined landed in a small clearing on a cliff. In the near distance, they saw a large structure, airborne, moving slowly towards them. As it moved, it left control spires in its path.
"Let me guess" Davis said, deadpan. "That's Ken's base."
"You going to be able to make it in time?" Yolei asked. "I'm not too crazy about fighting that monster for too long!"
"If things work out fine, you won't have to." Izzy answered. "Wait for my signal, then start your attack. We'll get in, and you get out of there. Got it?"
"Got it" Cyberarcanine growled. "You get under cover, and we'll draw them this way."
"Good luck" TK said.
"Here's Marowak" Kyle said, handing Izzy a pokeball. "If things get tight, a few well placed earthquakes should help out."
"Thanks. You'd better get going."
The flying Digimon took off again, leaving Cody, Armadillomon, Davis, Veemon, Izzy, Tentomon, and Marowak (in his pokeball) waiting for the flying base to get near enough to approach.
As the flyers approached, Halsemon noted "They don't seem to have noticed us."
"Don't tell me you're complaining!" Yolei retorted.
"Cyberarcanine, you want to open?" Nefertimon asked.
"Gladly. STEEL FIRE BLAST!!"
==
Ken was knocked out of his chair by the sudden shaking of the base. "Report!"
"Unidentified intruders" the computerized voice replied. "Displaying on screen." One of the monitors blinked on, displaying three digidestined and one very PO'd pokemon trainer. And they were attacking the base!
"What are they playing at? Deploy Kymeramon. Wormmon, come! I want to see this for myself."
"Shouldn't one of us stay here and pilot the base?"
"Like anyone could even get in here. Ready Devidramon!" Ken swept out of the room, supremely confident in 'his' creation.
Wormmon started to leave, then faced the console. I can't stop him, he thought to himself, but maybe I can help those that can. He searched the control console until he found the appropriate button.
"Sticky Web!" The burst of threads from Wormmon's mouth hit one of the buttons. A small indicator light glowed, indicating that several secondary hatches were now opening.
"I hope Ken doesn't notice."
==
Outside, the four fliers continued their strafing of the base. They pulled back when a pair of large cargo doors opened up, revealing the monster that Kyle had described. Kymeramon flew out, charging straight at the group.
"Everyone scatter!" TK yelled. As the digidestined spread out to present a harder target, Ken also exited the base, riding a large black Digimon.
Looks like Dad was right, Kyle thought. Now's your chance, Izzy.
"Heat Viper!"
==
"They're out!" Cody called. "And the base is headed this way!"
Davis squinted at the oncoming base. "It looks like there are a bunch of doors open" he remarked.
"One of the attacks must have hit some sort of automatic system" Izzy figured. "That will greatly assist our initial insertion."
"Huh?"
"He said it'll be easy to get in. Armadillomon, you ready?"
"You bet. Veemon, can you carry Davis and Izzy?"
"Raidramon can. Davis, let's do it!"
"Digiarmour Energize!"
"Armadillomon, armor digivolve to...Digmon, the drill of Power!"
"Veemon, armor digivolve to...Raidramon, the storm of Friendship!"
Cody hopped on Digmon's back, while Izzy and Davis rode on Raidramon. Tentomon, being able to fly, didn't have a lot to worry about. "There's an opening!" Tentomon called, pointing to an open door in the side of the flying base. As it passed, the Digimon and humans entered the base through the door left open by Wormmon.
==
Joe's D-Terminal bleeped. "Hey guys, a message just came in!"
"What's it say?" Matt asked.
Joe looked at the screen. "It's from Izzy; they're in, and Ken and Kymeramon have left the building."
"Any word on the spires yet?" Gabumon asked.
"No, they're still looking for the control room."
==
The fight had been going on for several minutes now. The four armor Digimon battling Kymeramon had settled into hit and run tactics, aiming for the most vulnerable points: eyes, joints, wings, stuff one would normally expect.
"What's this guy made of? ChronDigizoid alloy?" Halsemon growled.
"Keep fighting!" Nefertimon said, pulling out of range of one of Kymeramon's arm swipes.
"Cover me!" Cyberarcanine called. "I'm going in!"
"Star Shower!"
"Tempest Wing!"
"Rosetta Stone!"
The series of attacks impacted around Kymeramon's head, temporarily obscuring its sight. It also allowed enough time for the armor pokemon to get in close.
"RAZOR WING!" The outer edges of Cyberarcanine's wings glowed, and as he made a near suicidal run between Kymeramon's wings, struck at the white wings Ken had copied from Angemon. The wings, which had sharpened to near monomolecular levels, inflicted some damage on Kymeramon's wings, slowing it down.
Several hundred yards back, Ken shouted orders at the bestial Digimon. "Fight back with your Heat Viper! Don't just sit there!" Obediently, the Digimon did as asked, trying, and failing, to connect with the powerful attack. So caught up in the battle, Ken failed to notice that they were being drawn away from the base.
Wormmon did notice, and silently hoped that whatever plan the digidestined had, would work.
==
"Thunder Blast!" Raidramon's electric attack took care of the last of the Bakemon guards in the area. "This is nuts!" Davis said. "We're just going in circles!"
"No we're not!" Izzy insisted. "Look at all these cables along the wall and ceiling. If we follow them, we should find a central junction."
"You mean like that?" Cody called, having gone ahead. He indicated a large door, marked 'Command Room - Digimon Emperor only'
Izzy scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, I guess...CODY, LOOK OUT!"
"MAROWAK!" FwipfwipfwipfwipTHWACK!
As Cody turned, he saw Marowak's bone club hit a Vegiemon right in the head, shattering its control ring. It bounced off and returned to Marowak's hand.
"Thanks Marowak!" Cody said.
The bonekeeper pokemon bowed, which Cody returned. "Maybe you should meet my grandfather; he might like you."
Davis went to the door and tried to open it. "Locked."
Digmon gently shoved Davis aside. There was a squeal as Digmon's powerful drills went to work on the metal door. After a second, it fell into several pieces. "Unlocked."
Davis walked in, entering Ken's central control area. "This is it? I don't see much."
Izzy walked over to one wall. "I expected something. Do you think..." As he reached one wall, he reached out a hand, hoping to find a switch. Instead, a console came into existence, as did several banks of monitors. "Prodigious!" he breathed, impressed.
"Some sort of holo-terminal setup?" Raidramon asked. At Digmon's inquiring glance, he replied "I saw it on one of Davis' tapes. Tenchi something or other."
"Davis, you're an otaku?" Cody asked, incredulously.
"What's an otaku?" Raidramon asked.
"Some sort of skin condition?" Digmon answered, uncertainly.
"This is all very nice" Tentomon cut in, "but, as we're inside the Emperor's base, which is crawling with his guards, and heaven knows what else, could we PLEASE get on with this?"
==
Cyberarcanine fired off a second Plasma Buster, with little more effect than any other attacks used by the digidestined to date. Kymeramon was too strong to be affected by any of their attacks. "This is getting pretty high, Kyle." Cyberarcanine said, noting the altitude the battle had taken them to.
"I know. But the further away from the base we draw them, the more time Izzy has to take out the spires!"
As the armoured pokemon swung around, Kymeramon saw an opening. "ZAP CANNON!"
The ball of electricity shot at the two. "Kyle, hang on!" Cyberarcanine yelled. But he was too slow to dodge the attack. The two were enveloped in a ball of electricity, screaming in pain as they were electrocuted. They passed out quickly, Cyberarcanine reverting to his Basic form of Growlithe.
As the original digidestined approached the battlefield, they saw Kyle and Growlithe falling.
"No..." June said, horrified.
"Biyomon, you have to digivolve!" Sora yelled.
"I'm trying!" the bird Digimon replied.
==
Izzy opened up his laptop, and placed it on the ground near the holoterminal. The IR port on Izzy's computer was able to receive data from Ken's terminal.
"What are you doing?" Davis asked.
"First things first. If I can call up a map of this place, I can load it onto my own computer, and we can get out of here that much quicker if we have to. There, it's done" Izzy shut down the laptop. "Now, I have to see how Ken's organized this system of his."
Izzy typed furiously for several minutes. "Pretty weak security, for someone who's supposed to be a genius" he said. "I don't think he actually expected anyone to ever get in here."
"Criticize later, we gotta shut Ken down now!"
"I'm on it.... THERE!" On one of the monitors, a window appeared:
:Spire control/status
:1,020 spires active. All nominal
:Production system:Auto (1/50m)
:Command?>
Izzy quickly typed 'help' at the prompt. A series of commands appeared, which the digidestined scanned through. He typed in one command, 'display ext.', which called up a larger monitor screen which lit up and displayed an image of the fight happening outside. The digidestined fighting Kymeramon were holding on, for now.
"Why not just format the whole thing?" Davis asked.
"Better to shut everything down first" Cody answered. "If we just wipe everything, we might blow the whole place up."
"Maro! Marowak!" the pokemon called, pointing to a small box near the corner.
Digmon had a look at it. "It looks like an old disk drive!"
Izzy grinned. "Perfect! One sec while I try something." Izzy pulled out a disk, and slotted it into the drive. Another screen lit up, displaying
Welcome to syshack1.1 (LGun production)
display user passcodes?>[y/n] y
syshack1.1> Passcode 'Sam'
Thanks for Playing!
"And WHERE did you get that little program?" Tentomon asked.
"Guy I met online. Nice enough, but he thought Myotismon's appearance was a CIA plot. Think his handle was 'Langley' or something. I promised I'd try out this program he sent me, but I didn't dare use it at home."
"What DO they teach you these days?" Tentomon sighed.
Ignoring Tentomon, Izzy went back to work.
:Spire control/status
:1,027 spires active. All nominal
:Production system:Auto (1/50m)
:Command?>shutdown
:WARNING: Command will shutoff all spires until manually
restarted.
:Enter Passcode:***
:Accepted. Shutting down.
"YES!" Davis and Cody yelled.
==
Biyomon felt a familiar change. "Biyomon, digivolve to... BIRDRAMON!" Birdramon flew up and managed to catch Growlithe in one of her claws, but missed Kyle!
"KYLE!" June shouted. Unnoticed, her digivice started glowing. Elecmon, who had followed her, also felt a change coming on...
"Elecmon, digivolve to...LEOMON!" Leomon ran, jumped, and caught Kyle, absorbing most of the impact the trainer would have suffered if he had hit ground. Birdramon landed a short distance away, placing Growlithe gently on the ground.
June and Sora ran up to Leomon. "Is Kyle..."
Leomon smiled. "He's fine, just unconscious. Here," he said, handing Kyle to the two, "take care of him."
"I'll fill in for Cyberarcanine" Birdramon said, flying to the battle. As she flew up, Scizor ran by and jumped on Birdramon's back.
"Where's he off to?" Sora wondered.
"Probably payback for what happened to Kyle" June replied.
==
:Warning! Spires shut down. Run Betrayal.exe
:Updating Kymeramon.exe. Kym.os.dat updated
:Wiping all passcodes.
:Autoguidance reset. Target des. "Primary Village' selected
:Warning! Power Core overload initiated! Detonation on
contact
:-with Target des. "Primary Village".
:Evacuate Immdiately!
Izzy's eyes widened in horror. "No..."
==
Outside, the digidestined battling Kymeramon had pulled back. For a second, the monster had stopped, and landed abruptly.
"Did we beat him?" Yolei asked, unsure of what to make of the situation.
Then the monster raised its head, roared, and, in a booming voice, announced "I'M FREE!" The monster flew straight up, moving faster than ever. Heading straight for Ken!
"Kymeramon, what are you doing?!" Ken shrieked, as the monstrosity bore down on its creator.
"FOR ATTEMPTING TO CONTROL ME" the ominous voice echoed, "YOU WILL DIE. FOR ALMOST SUCCEEDING, I WILL MAKE IT QUICK!!" Kymeramon's head reared back. "HEAT VIPER!" The blast of energy cored Devidramon, causing the Digimon to disintegrate. Ken and Wormmon fell.
==
"Trouble!" Joe said, watching the battle through a pair of binoculars he'd brought.
"What's up?" Matt asked.
"I thought that monster had been put down, but it just got back up again, and now it's moving faster than ever! And it's attacking Ken!"
Tai and Matt's eyes went wide (impressive feat, given that this is an anime series) at that. "Attacking KEN?" they chorused.
"Birdramon just saved Growlithe, and...it's Leomon! He's back!"
"'Bout time!" Matt said. "Well, let's get in there!"
The rest of the Digimon digivolved, and headed for the battle.
==
"I failed..." Izzy said in a small voice.
"Whaddaya mean?" Davis said.
"I was so caught up, I never figured that there'd be some sort of failsafe mechanism....I failed again..."
*SMACK*
Davis was as surprised as Izzy. He hadn't seen Cody spin Izzy around, pull him down to his level, and hit him across the cheek with an open palm. "We came here to do a job" Cody said in a sharp tone. "Now snap out of it!"
"Remind me to never get you mad at me, Cody" Davis said.
Cody suddenly realized what he did. "Oh...Izzy, I'm sor-"
Izzy stopped him. "No, I needed it. You're right, we have to finish what we started. But how??"
"Can't we unplug the power core or something?" Davis asked.
"That could work!" Izzy said. He called up the base map on his computer.
"Only a genius thinks of the obvious stuff" Davis said in a cocky tone.
"Or someone who's seen too many bad action movies." Cody replied.
"GOT IT!" Izzy yelled. "The power source is three floors down, and back 28 rooms. We have to hurry!" The group charged out the door.
As they exited, Cody called out "Wait up! We should make sure no one tries to undo what we've done so far!"
"On it Cody! Rock Cracking!"
"MarooooooWAK!" The combined attacks wrecked the control room, rendering every system in it utterly unusable.
==
So, Ken thought to himself, this is how it ends. I guess I'll see Sam soon...
Ken's train of thought was jarred as he hit, not the ground, but a flying Digimon. "This is..."
"Yeah," Yolei said, "I saved you. Don't ask me why, but you're probably the only one who can stop that thing, so sit down, shaddup and hang on!" Wormmon was clinging onto Halsemon's back, too scared to do anything.
"That's telling him." Halsemon said, diving to avoid another attack from Kymeramon.
"So, why's that thing after you anyway? Aren't you its daddy?"
"Just put me down, I'll have that thing reprogrammed" Ken snarled.
"Rrrrr.....YOU IDIOT!! THIS ISN'T A GAME!" Yolei screamed. "WE'RE PUTTING OUR LIVES ON THE LINE TO CLEAN UP THIS MESS YOU MADE, SO STOP THE HIGH AND MIGHTY ACT AND FIX IT ALREADY!!" Yolei kept at Ken for a few minutes, then finished off her argument by unceremoniously dumping Ken in front of the other digidestined. Ken started to get up, then noticed the rest of the digidestined.
"Go on" Tai said. "Give us an excuse."
==
"Scizor, you ready?" Birdramon said. The Steel pokemon nodded, tensing. If Kyle knew what I was planning, he thought to himself...
"Meteor Wing!" Birdramon cried, firing a hail of fireballs at Kymeramon. The monster was distracted by the attack, giving Scizor time to leap from Birdramon's back, spin in midair a few times (think Trowa Barton -ed), and land on Kymeramon's back.
"Scizor!!" Scizor cried, firing a Swift attack at one of Kymeramon's wings. The stars impacted on the wing, doing little damage. Kymeramon's skeletal arms tried to hit the bug pokemon, but they were unable to connect.
Heavy artillery, Scizor thought. Putting his claws together, he focused all his energy into them, causing them to glow with a golden light. Crying out loud, he fired the Hyper Beam at the wing he had already hit. The wing, one of Angemon's, buckled under the assault. Kymeramon screamed, and his arms began searching madly for the attacker.
Seeing it was time to leave, Scizor ran down Kymeramon's back, leaped off, spread his wings, and glided towards the ground. He spun in midair, and fired another Hyper Beam at Kymeramon, but it had little effect. Birdramon caught him as he flew down. "Nice work" she said.
"ENOUGH!" Kymeramon roared. "HEAT VIPER!" Kymeramon put all its energy into the blast, forcing Birdramon and Pegasusmon to land, badly injured. Nefertimon and Kari were suddenly alone.
"NOW, CHILD OF LIGHT, YOU DIE!"
"NOVA BLAST!" Unknown to Kymeramon, the fight had dropped in altitude, to a level where the ground based Digimon could attack. The fireball caught Kymeramon in its torso.
"Get away from my sister" Tai snarled. The other Digimon attacked.
"Harpoon Torpedo!"
"Fist of the Beast King!"
"Needle Spray!"
"Howling Blaster!"
"Ivysaur!" Ivysaur tossed a Solar Beam into the attack.
Kymeramon was pushed back by the assault. The monster landed, and glowed alarmingly. "SELFDESTRUCT!"
Kymeramon exploded.
==
As Kyle came to, he made out June's face. "What...?"
"Shh. You're alright." June said. "Everyone else is banged up, and a lot of the Digimon are out of the fight." Kyle's eyes widened, but before he could ask, June continued "They're fine, but that last attack knocked a lot of them back to their rookie levels. It's just Leomon and Kari's Digimon left."
"Nefertimon" Leomon said.
"Right"
"What attack...?"
Kari walked over. "It was something called 'self-destruct'. Kymeramon blew up, and knocked most of the Digimon out."
"It's just a flesh wound" Nefertimon said, failing to conceal her limp.
As they talked, Kyle recalled Scizor, who was about to collapse after that last attack. Where was Ivysaur? he thought to himself. As he looked, he explained. "Self-destruct takes all of a pokemon's energy, and channels it into a single concussive blast. It also KO's the pokemon using it. Now's our chance to-"
"I THINK NOT" Kymeramon's voice echoed. The digidestined children, still dazed from the force of the blast, looked in horror as Kymeramon stood up, laughing. "RECOVER!" Kymeramon's wounds vanished. Its wings still hung crazily, not able to generate any lift, and SkullGreymon's arm was still shattered at the joint, but it was strong enough to stand. And walk towards the children.
"Looks like it's up to us!" Nefertimon said, flying up. "Rosetta Stone!" The attack impacted on Kymeramon's chest.
"Right! Fist of the Beast King!" Leomon's attack actually pushed Kymeramon back a few feet, but he ignored it.
Growlithe added his fire attacks, but Kymeramon did not notice it. "YOU FIRST!" One of the black arms on Kymeramon seemed to stretch, right at Kyle and June. The two digidestined, unable to move, held each other, waiting for the blow to connect.
"IVYSAUR!!" Four vine whips grabbed the two, pulling them clear of the oncoming attack.
"Ivysaur! You're alright!" Kyle said, happy to see his first pokemon still conscious.
==
"In there!" Izzy said, as they approached a small room, connected by four catwalks in a large spherical chamber. Raidramon blasted the door open, and they entered the room.
"That's it?" Cody said. Inside the spherical chamber, there was a small pedestal, with a black, rectangular object on it.
"Yep" Izzy said. "According to the map, this is the main power room. If we can destroy it, we can power down the whole base permanently."
"Then let's do it!" Davis said. "C'mon Raidramon, blast it!"
"One barbecue, coming up! Thunder Blast!" The blue lightning shot at the object, and was absorbed into it!
"Maybe your batteries are low?" Davis wondered.
"All together!" Cody said. All the Digimon attacked at once.
"Super Shocker!"
"Gold Rush!"
"Marowww-WAK!"
"Thunder Blast!"
The combination of attacks impacted on the object. For a second, nothing happened. Then, the black surface began to crack, emitting rays of golden light. One of the beams hit Raidramon, turning him back to Veemon.
"Veemon, you alright?" Davis asked.
"Yeah. In fact, I've never felt better!"
"Is it just me," Tentomon asked, "or is that beginning to look like a digiegg?" Everyone looked at the object. AS the light increased, they could just make out the rest of the dark crust on the egg cracking off, leaving a golden digiegg. When it had finished shedding the dark surface, it floated over to Davis.
"What...?"
"Davis" Cody urged. "If it really is a digiegg, you'd better try it out! I don't know how much longer the others can hold out!"
"You ready Veemon?" Davis asked. At the digimon's nod, he held up the egg, and said "Golden Armor Energize!"
"Veemon, golden armor digivolve to..."
==
So far, the three remaining monsters had managed to keep Kymeramon back. Nefertimon had moved the children and KO'd Digimon to safety, while Leomon and Ivysaur kept attacking the beast with fist and whip.
"Fist of the Beast King!"
Ivysaur fired a swarm of Razor Leaves at Kymeramon. "FOOLS! YOU THINK-"
"BEAST SWORD!" Leomon's blade cut into Kymeramon's leg. Kymeramon cried in pain as the sharp blade bit deep.
"ATOM FORCE!" Kymeramon cried, detonating the ground around him. The force of the attack staggered Leomon and Ivysaur.
Ken watched as the battle took place. "Why are they fighting?"
"What are you talking about?" Yolei replied.
"Kymeramon is the superior program. Surely you can see that."
"Pr...program?"
"Yes. Aren't all the Digimon programs?"
Yolei held Poromon up to Ken's face. "Does this LOOK like a program?" At Ken's confused expression, she went on. "LOOK STUPID, THEY'RE ALL AS ALIVE AS YOU AND ME, SO DON'T GO PULLING THIS 'PROGRAM' GARBAGE ON ME!!"
"What are you talking about?!" Ken snapped. "They're not real!" June stopped Kyle from running over and belting Ken; she noticed that Sora had the same task with Tai.
"Yes they are, Ken."
Everyone stopped, looked at Wormmon. "Ken, I don't know why you believe that, but you're wrong. We are living beings."
"NO! It's not true!"
Wormmon stared at Ken. Then, in a slow, level voice, replied. "Yes, we are. As real as Sam was." Everyone could tell from Ken's reaction that *that* was a low blow.
"This isn't getting us anywhere. Ken, how do we stop that thing?" June demanded.
"Ken didn't do all this!" Wormmon said.
Ken looked at Wormmon, stunned. "You're lying."
"No. I didn't say anything because I was too scared, but there's another force at work. She entered something called a 'Tyranitar' into Kymeramon's DNA sequence. That's why it looks so different, and why it's using so many attacks."
Kyle pulled out his pokedex. "Tyranitar" he said to the device. It beeped, displaying the appropriate entry:
'Extremely strong, it can change the landscape. It has an insolent nature that makes it not care about others. Its body can't be harmed by any sort of attack, so it is very eager to make challenges against enemies.'
"Lovely" Tai said. "An Ultimate Digimon crossed with a superstrong pokemon, and it loves to fight. What's next, it can digivolve to Mega?"
"No..Kymeramon's MINE! I MADE HIM!" Ken ran to the battlegrounds, ignoring the other Digimon. "KYMERAMON, YOU WILL OBEY ME! I MADE YOU!" The monster noticed Ken, and flicked him away with a casual toss of its tail. Ken landed several yards away, barely conscious.
"Ken!" Wormmon raced to his partner's side.
"Wormmon!" Matt said. "hold up, it's too dangerous out there!"
"No, I have to get him out of there."
"But he doesn't care about you!"
"He did" Wormmon said, determinedly. "And as long as there's a chance he will again, I'll be there for him." Wormmon raced past Kymeramon, and tried to drag Ken out of there. He was surprised when Yolei and Matt came down to help.
"Hey," Yolei said, "if you think there's something worth saving..." she trailed off as Kymeramon turned to aim a Heat Viper at them. The energy built up...
"Magna Blaster!" A swarm of missiles hit Kymeramon, exploding and actually damaging the monster. Everyone looked up to see what looked like Flamedramon, but covered with golden armor!
"I'm Magnamon, and you," indicating Kymeramon, "are history! MAGNA PUNCH!" The two beings began fighting it out. As they did, Kabuterimon, carrying Izzy, Davis, Cody, Armadillomon, and Marowak, landed and reverted to Tentomon.
"What is that?" TK asked. "Is it Veemon?"
"Yep! We found a golden digiegg in Ken's base!" Davis said, all smiles. "Pretty neat, huh Kari?" Everyone their just palmed their faces.
"He never quits" June groaned.
"That...was on my base?" Ken asked. Matt and Yolei had finished dragging him clear of the battleground.
"Yes, it was" Cody said. "Though I can see why you'd have
missed this. How someone like you could have any kindness in them
is beyond me!"
At everyone's confused look, Cody explained. "When Veemon used
the egg, there was a crest image on it. Armadillomon identified it
as the crest of kindness."
As they talked, Ivysaur, Leomon, and Nefertimon returned, and reverted to their unevolved forms (or just passed out, in Ivysaur's case). "Magnamon told us to get back" Gatomon said. "We've..." the Digimon collapsed, utterly exhausted. Kari gathered Gatomon up in her arms. She looked around, and asked "where's Wormmon?"
"There!" Sora called, pointing to the small Digimon, marching to the battlefield.
Ken ran up, and grabbed Wormmon. "Where are you going?" he demanded.
"There's one Digimon that isn't worn out yet, and that's me" Wormmon replied. "I told the others, and I'm telling you, if this brings back the Ken I knew, then it's worth it. STICKY WEB!" Wormmon spat a tangle of threads in Ken's face. He staggered back, clawing at the fibers, pulling his goggles off. Wormmon dropped down, then tackled Ken in the stomach, knocking the human down. Then the small Digimon charged back towards Kymeramon.
Caught up in the fight against Magnamon, Kymeramon didn't notice Wormmon approach. The rookie level Digimon fired a string of webbing into Kymeramon's right eye, hoping to blind him.
"DIE WORM! HEAT VIPER!!"
Ken got his wind back just in time to see Wormmon knocked back by the shockwave of the blast. In the back of his mind, he saw Sam flying backwards when that car hit him. And he remembered...
"I'm here Master. Use me..."
"Hello, Ken. Feeling down?"
"Hello, Ken, I'm Wormmon. I'm your partner..."
"WORMMON! NOOO!!!" Ken's digivice glowed, some of the black on it fading a bit...
"Wormmon, digivolve to...STINGMON!" The insect Digimon grew, equaling Leomon in size. He was all green and black, forearms covered in some form of black chitin, transparent wings coming from his back. Stingmon flew over to Magnamon, who had pulled back.
"Wormmon?" Magnamon asked.
"Stingmon, when I'm like this. Listen, I know how that thing was made. If I give you an opening, can you take it?"
"What are you planning?" Magnamon didn't like the tone of Stingmon's voice; it was too calm.
Stingmon looked back at Ken, still stunned by Wormmon's transformation. "Just take care of him. SPIKING STRIKE!" Red energy blade extending from one of his forearms, Stingmon charged straight at Kymeramon.
"HEAT VIPER!"
Kymeramon flew right into the beam. Everyone gasped, thinking the Digimon had sacrificed itself for nothing. For a long moment, the flash of the beam blinded everyone...
Then Stingmon, carried more by momentum than by his horribly burned wings, drove his blade right into Kymeramon's head. There was an awful cracking sound, as the attack penetrated the helmet Kymeramon had on its head. "Magnamon, NOW!" Stingmon yelled, his voice a rattle.
Magnamon touched ground right in front of Kymeramon, then flew up, carrying Kymeramon with him. After reaching what Magnamon figured was a safe height, he addressed the monster one last time.
"This ends now...EXTREME JIHAD!!!" Magnamon felt his armor convert into pure energy, which was released in a single pulse, directed at Kymeramon. How much energy?
Kymeramon was vaporized. That much.
==
When the light cleared, Davis saw DemiVeemon lying on the ground, unconscious. "DemiVeemon!"
"Davis? Did we get him?"
"Yeah, you did, buddy. What happened to-" Davis' question was cut off by a choked cry. Looking around, he saw Ken, by Stingmon's body.
Stingmon was a mess, to put it kindly. His whole body was covered in burns, one of his red eyes was cracked and blackened, his left arm was *gone*. "K-Ken" Stingmon croaked. The other digidestined ran over to the two.
"Stingmon...why?"
Stingmon looked at Ken, then glowed, reverting to Wormmon. His injuries didn't look as bad. June looked up at Kyle and Joe. Neither would meet her eyes. "You're back...it was worth it..." And then he disintegrated.
==
Back in the Human world, all the digidestined met and tried to get their minds off what had happened. As they talked, the radio could be heard in the background.
"And in other news, boy genius Ken Ichijouji has miraculously reappeared. So far, no reports on why Ken vanished mysteriously several weeks ago, though authorities are still looking for leads..."
"Well, we won. Now what?" Cody asked. None of the digidestined felt very thrilled; after Wormmon had vanished, Ken had pretty much broken down, and had run off. The golden digiegg had also vanished, leaving behind a small rectangular object, which TK had identified as a crest.
"Now," Tai said, "we have to fix Primary Village; none of the Digimon that were destroyed will come back until it is."
"The Digimon can come back?" Davis and Cody asked, incredulous. Kyle looked interested, too.
"Yeah" TK said. "When a Digimon is destroyed in the digital world, it can come back as a digiegg." TK didn't seem willing to go much further than that, so Kari filled the rest of the group in.
"When we were fighting the Dark Masters, we lost a lot of our friends in the digital world. But, we found out that as long as Primary Village is intact, they have a chance to come back."
"So Wormmon will-" Yolei asked.
"Yeah. Should we tell Ken?" Kari asked, seriously.
"Hey, where's Kyle?" Davis asked. Then, looking around, he noticed one other person missing. "And where's June...No, they're not...!"
TK grinned, glad to finally have something to smile about. "Kyle said something about introducing June to his father. They figured they should leave before you got here."
"GAHHHHH!!!! I'LL TEAR HIM APART!!!!"
==
"Hello..Oh, Kyle. Is it over?" Mikhail asked, as his son walked into their house.
"Yeah, I guess....listen, with all the commotion, I never got the chance...well..." June walked up beside him.
"What he's trying to say is that I'm June Motomiya. Pleased to meet you."
"Well, come on in, June! I have a lot of embarrassing stories about Kyle that are dying to be told."
"DAD!!"
Next ep:
With Ken gone, the digidestined take a few days to relax, rebuild,
and straighten a few things out. What does TK want to say to Izzy?
And why is Gatomon talking to Ken? Next on Digimon: Digicross-
"Listen, I just wanted to say..."