Note: These events take place at roughly the same time as Episode 20

Digimon: Digicross Episode 21
'Tenkuu no Espeon'

==Pokemon World, Cinnabar Island.

The trainer stepped back, watching as the Leaf Stone did its work on the cluster of egg pokemon. As he watched, the six Exeggcute glowed white, then seemed to become one pillar of white light, then resolve into a walking palm tree. "Exeggutor!" the pokemon announced, indicating that the evolution was complete.

Edward Silver smiled. "Alright, we're ready now."

Behind him, another trainer walked up, followed by a red pokemon with a burning tail. "Still chasing the Beast, Ed?"

Edward turned around. "Ryo! Where've you been! It's been over a year since I saw you last!"

"I have walked long and far on paths that I may never speak of, lest death comes to those unready to hear my tale of grief and sorrow." He grinned. "Actually, I've been catching up with an old friend. And of course the usual grind of saving the world. And yourself?"

Edward sighed. "I'm finally going to do it. All my pokemon are as strong as I can get them, training here." Edward indicated the Pokemon Gym behind him. "Gym Leader Blaine gave me a Leaf Stone, so I decided it was time to use it. And Exeggcute said they were ready to evolve too. Now I just have to make my way to the Orange Archipelago."

"That's where he was spotted last, right?"

Edward nodded. "I can feel it. I know that this is the best time to go." As he spoke, he pulled a silver feather out, suspended around his neck by a delicate silver chain. "I've been dreaming of seeing Lugia since I was six."

"I was there too." Ryo replied. "We were at the beach and there he was, flying through the sky. You thought it was a cloud."

Edward shook his head. "No, you did." Ryo grinned, nodding. "Hey, you want to come along? Two trainers have a better chance than one."

"Can't. My life has gotten weird again."

Edward blinked. "This isn't 'four years ago' weird, is it?" Ryo nodded. "Man. Maybe I should go with you."

"Nahh. This has been eating at you since you were six. And you're just nutty enough to do it. Just watch out; since that whole weird weather thing, Shamuti Island has been lousy with trainers looking for Lugia. The bad type, I should add."

Exeggutor's happy face looked at Edward. "We can handle them." Edward replied.

==Vermillion City Pokemon Center

Espeon woke up, startled out of his sleep by the intensity of his dream. He didn't know the source, but he knew what he saw; two monsters fighting, somewhere in the Orange Island area. One of this world, one not.

"Kurt?" Crystal Melin sat up in her bed, rubbing her eyes. "What's wrong?" she asked sleepily. She felt uneasy, as if she had had a disturbing dream that she couldn't remember. "Was it something you had for dinner?" Espeon shook his head, and leaped onto her bed. Smilling, Crystal cradled her pokemon in her arms, and the two went back to sleep.

The next morning, Crystal got ready to leave the pokemon center, rested and ready to move on. She had just defeated the gym leader there, taking her one step closer to participating in the Indigo Pokemon League. "I wonder where I should go next?" she asked out loud.

Nurse Joy heard Crystal, and walked over. "Well, Celadon's nearby, or you could go to the gym in Fuschia City. I heard that you did very well in your match against Lieutenant Surge yesterday."

"Kurt did a lot of the work." Crystal answered, scratching her pokemon between the ears.

"Well, if you're not in too big a hurry, you can always check out the cultural festival coming here. There's a group of performers coming in from the Orange Islands, and they're doing some of their ceremonial dances. In fact, I think the first show starts today; the ship carrying them docked yesterday." The lights flickered, causing Nurse Joy to 'tch' in annoyance. "That's the third day this has been happening. I hope nothing's wrong at the power plant."

==Celadon City

On the roof of the shopping center, Davis stared out over the city. As beautiful as he found the digital world, he was a city boy at heart. Plus some of the similarities between Celadon and Tokyo were a bit comforting to him. Good place to spend a weekend. Even better if there was someone to spend it with...

TK walked over to him. "Hey, you going to mope all day?"

"Who's moping?" Davis asked, a bit defensively.

"Well, you are. Hey, it was your idea to come here. Why'd you ask me to come along? Wouldn't you have rather asked Kari to go along?"

"Nahh. She and Izzy were planning something for her dad's birthday. Anyway, I don't think I could any more."

"She is still your friend, you know. You don't have to avoid her now that.." TK trailed off, wondering if he'd said too much.

"It wouldn't feel right."

TK blinked. "OK, who are you and what did you do with the real Davis Motomiya?"

"Hey! I can be as sensitive as the next guy! Besides, I didn't see you asking someone to go along!"

"Well it's not like I have a lot of choices anymore!" TK snapped. He regretted it as soon as he said it. "I'm sorry." he said quietly.

"Nahh, I deserved it." Davis straightened up and looked right at TK. "Look, I know I'm a real jerk sometimes, but, well..." Davis tammered, trying to figure out what to say. "I'm...glad you're my friend. But don't tell anyone I said that."

TK chuckled. "Sure. I feel the same way. So now what?"

"Cruise, what else?" Shaking his head, TK followed Davis to the stairwell.

==Vemillion City

"What do you mean, cancelled?" Crystal asked.

The old man shook his head sadly. "I'm sorry. But the star of our show has vanished. If we don't find Melody, we won't have a show at all." He sighed, looking around. "We're checking the town now. I suppose she might have wandered off; she loves sight seeing. But still..."

"I'm sure she'll turn up. Can I help?"

"No, we have everyone looking as it is, plus we called the police as well. But thank you for offering, young lady." The man did give Crystal a description of the missing girl, in case she did find her.

Crystal went over to a bench, and sat down. "I hope they find her. I just wish...Kurt? What is it?"

The pokemon was looking skywards. Crystal looked up. Squinting, she could just make out some sort of airship flying overhead. At first, she thought it was a balloon, then she realized it wasn't a baloon at all.

"What is that?" Though she was not able to communicate telepathically with her Espeon, Crystal was able to sense that the pokemon was disturbed by something. "Should we follow it?"

Kurt nodded.

==

Melody hadn't seen them coming. One second, she was walking by a nice little glassblower's stand, then a pair of thugs had grabbed her and led her into an alleyway, where she was tied up and knocked out with some sort of gas.

She had come to a few minutes ago, and had already realized she was airborne. "Where am I?" she demanded.

"I see our guest has awakened." The voice was adult, slightly accented, and sounded cultured. "I hope my...associates were not too rough with you. I would hate for you to have been injured."

Melody stared at the newcomer. "You..."

The man bowed. "William Jirirudan the Third, at your service. Or, to be more accurate, at my service. You, that is."

"What do you want?"

"The same thing I have always wanted. Lugia, the Guardian Beast of the Sea. He escaped me once, but I will have him. And you, my dear, are the key to that."

"Me? You're crazy!"

"Not at all. You see, I recalled that you were able to exercise some influence over Lugia. So, if I have you playing your song at the right time and in the right spot, it should be easy to capture Lugia again." Jirirudan looked at the two people in there. "Oh, and let me introduce my new compatriots. Melody, may I present Butch and Cassidy of Team Rocket? It is they who have brought you to me, and they who have graciously supplied me with this new ship."

"Don't forget our deal," Butch rasped, "Once you catch him, he's ours."

"Of course," Jirirudan said, nodding. "The satisfaction of capturing one of the legendary pokemon will be more than enough compensation."

"You're assuming I'll help." Melody snarled.

"And you're assuming that Team Rocket won't make sure you'll cooperate." Cassidy replied. "If you don't make with the music, well, we have agents all over Vermillion City. One of them is bound to come into contact with your friends from Shamuti Island, right? Just think about it for a while. Team Rocket is everywhere, little girl."

William left the room, confident that the two Rocket thugs would not let the girl escape. This time, there was no 'chosen one' to interfere. Strolling onto the bridge of the zeppelin, a technician, another Rocket grunt, approached him. "The wind is with us. We should be at our base in the abandoned power plant within the hour. Once there, we can record the girl's song and play it anywhere there's an ocean current."

William nodded again. "Excellent."

==

Crystal had been following the airship for over an hour now. Her Ponyta, which she had caught shortly after her visit to Mount Moon, was tired and needed a rest. She dismounted, seeing that the zepellin was landing. "Good work." she said to Ponyta, recalling him into a pokeball. She walked slowly towards the place the ship had landed, staying in the overgrowth. As she approached, she toyed with the digivice she had recieved.

She sensed Kurt staring at her. "No, I'm not thinking about TK." She walked forward a few more paces. "Not much, anyway" she added, cheeks reddening a bit. Quietly, the trainer and her pokemon creeped forward until they could make out the zepellin. "I think I see her." Crystal said, looking through a pair of binoculars. They were a cheap pair, but it allowed her to make out some details. "There's a bunch of people there. I think some of them have Team Rocket uniforms and...I see her!" Crystal breathed, recognizing Melody from the description she had gotten before she left. "That looks like the old power plant, the one they're planning to renovate to power the new magnet train lines."

She got up, deciding that calling the police would be the next logical step. As she did, she inadvertently caught the attention of some of the guards nearby. "Hey, you!" one of them called, running over.

Misdreavus appeared, Crystal releasing the ghost pokemon so it could hypnotise the two guards before they could sound the alarm. They dropped, sound asleep. "Good work, Kitty." she said to the ghost. Kitty took up station above and behind Crystal, and followed the trainer towards the base. All she needed was a phone, a radio, anything she could call for help with.

"I wish TK was here."

==Celadon City

"Watch you don't lose a lung or something." Davis remarked as TK bent over, recovering from a rather strong sneeze. The two were walking through the downtown area, their partner digimon joining them.

"Thanks for the image."

Davis smirked. "Maybe someone's talking about you." TK gave him a sour look in return.

"Who would be talking about TK?" Patamon asked.

"It's an old superstition Davis told me about." Veemon said. "If you sneeze really loud, it means that somone's talking about you. I guess that means Davis was really popular after that fight against the Gizamon."

"That was a cold Veemon. Different thing."

"Maybe it was that girl TK met." Patamon wondered.

Davis' ears perked up. "Oh? Who might that be?" he asked, grinning as TK's face turned crimson. "Hey, didn't Matt say you were with someone after Diaboromon showed up? Quartz, Emerald..."

"Crystal" TK replied, a bit too quickly, silently vowing to have a little talk with Matt about what he told Davis. With a large wooden club, TK decided.

==Abandoned Power Plant

Cassidy looked in on the prisoner. "How's she doing?" Butch asked.

"Same. More mad than scared. We'd better keep an eye on her, she's the type that might pull something."

Butch chuckled. "Do I look like James? You wouldn't believe the stories he's spreading now."

Cassidy grimaced. "Please, not that garbage about pokemon that can evolve at will, talk, and fight like demons. I think that Victreebel of his has chewed his head one time too many."

Butch didn't share Cassidy's evaluation. "Yeah, but what if they're right? Remember that big fight at Mount Moon? Those weird pokemon that showed up, then vanished? What if there's a connection?"

"Look, right now, our only orders are to keep an eye on this brat until she's ready to help us catch Lugia. If Giovanni wanted us to chase down every rumoured new pokemon that we heard about, he'd have told us to. He's probably got what's her face on it."

"Agent 009? The 'Black Tulip'? You haven't heard?" Cassidy cocked her head, intreigued about the latest Rocket Gossip. "Her cover got blown. She got fingered by that punk Ash and his friends over in the Johto area. The boss nearly had a coronary." (Just after the special 'Mewtwo Returns'. Neat show, worth the rental. -ed)

"Little miss wonder agent got nailed? Oh, I am *so* disappointed."

Inside the cell, Melody heard snatches of the conversation. She had never thought that anyone would think she could summon Lugia. Help revive him, even communicate with him, yes. "He's not some creature that I can summon. Why don't they realize that?" There was a small clock, mounted on the wall; William had given her one hour to think things over, or else Team Rocket would start kidnapping the rest of the performers.

"Lugia, I'm sorry" she whispered. "They're my family." She started to get up when the room chilled. Looking around, she saw a faint mist form near her, away from the door so no-one outside could see it. "A Misdreavus?" As she watched, the ghost pokemon seemed to smile, wink, then close its eyes, as if concentrating on something. A second alter, the air in front of her shimmered, and another pokemon appeared. "An Espeon!"

:Hold on: a voice echoed in Melody's mind, as the Espeon padded to her, placed a paw on her hand, and flared with energy. Melody felt as if the entire world went sideways without telling her, and blacked out.

Outside the cell, the flash was noticed. "Hey!" Butch shouted, grabbing a key and opening the door. He got in just in time to see something phase through one of the cell walls and vanish. "A teleporter! Cassidy, sound the alarm, someone's busted her out with a psychic pokemon!"

==Celadon City.

TK stopped, looking up. As he did, both his and Davis' digivices started beeping loudly. Davis took his out, looking at it. "Looks like someone's digivice is active. I wonder who's?"

TK looked at the screen on his digivice. "I don't know. None of the other digidestined are in this direction; Joe, Ryo, and Cody are in Olivine, but that's opposite the direction this signal's coming from. Could it be Kyle's?"

"No." Davis replied firmly. "He's...on our world."

"Maybe it's a new digidestined." Veemon suggested. "I think Izzy said he was talking to some of them."

"That was on the Human world." Patamon countered. "Although it could be someone from here. Maybe we should go check it out."

"Sure! Maybe it'll be Crystal." Davis teased.

"DAVIS!" The four made their way to the edge of town, where no one would see them. Quickly, their digimon digivolved, Patamon to Pegasusmon, Veemon to ExVeemon. The four flew off to investigate the new digivice signal.

==Outside the power plant

Crystal put a hand against the outside wall, as she felt her energy suddenly drain away. As she did, the digivice on her hip beeped quietly, though she didn't notice it over the din of the sirens.

Kitty, her Misdreavus phased through the wall, just as Kurt reappeared with Melody. Crystal staggered over, catching the girl and keeping her from falling over. "Melody, right?" Melody nodded, still woozy from the teleport. "My name's Crystal, and I'm here to get you home. Come on." She led the girl away from the power plant, entering the brush surrounding it as the Rocket thugs started their search.

Melody started to recover as Crystal called out Ponyta. "How did you get me out?"

"Kurt led me to you," she replied, indicating the Espeon sitting by Crystal, "then Kitty searched for you in that power plant. When she found you, Kurt used Kitty's mind as a beacon, and teleported to where you were. Then he just reversed the process, bringing you back with him. It took a lot out of him, though." Crystal stroked the side of her Ponyta, hoping the pokemon was strong enough to get them to the nearest town. "I'll get you back to Vermillion quickly, I promise."

"You're not going anywhere!" Crystal and Melody spun around. Behind them, Butch and Cassidy stood several meters away. "I'm impressed," Cassidy said, "your Espeon is strong enough to teleport another person; you don't see that level of power that often. Why not come work for us?" Cassidy's voice dropped as she smiled evilly. "It's less painful than the alternative."

"That's a joke, right?"

Butch sighed. "They're all alike, I guess. Hey, how about we show them Team Rocket's latest breakthrough?"

"Good idea. Alright kids, it's time to get beaten, and it's going to be a fight millenia in the making! Kabutops, GO!"

Melody stepped back. "But...those are extinct!"

Butch grinned. "Don't you just love genetic reanimation?"

Crystal stepped back. "Ponyta, Ember attack!" Ponyta launched a wave of flame at the two Kabutops, who just ignored the attack.

"Nice try, but these two are rock AND water types! They could tap dance in a volcano without noticing it!" Cassidy nodded to the Kabutops she had released. "Hydro Pump!" Ponyta screamed as the blast of water hit him, and collapsed. "So, what else do you got?" Cassidy teased, smirking at Crystal.

Kurt started to move towards one of the Kabutops, muscles tensed. "Kurt?"

:Trust me: came the mental reply. Crystal stopped, stunned.

==

The two digimon had been flying for some time now; airborne, ExVeemon and Pegasusmon could cover distances much more quickly than if they had gone by land. Davis looked at his digivice again. "Looks like we're closing in!" he called. "ExVeemon and I'll land and go in on the ground."

"What good will that do?" TK called over.

"Raidramon's attack is better. And a flying blue digimon is a bit harder to explain, right?"

"Can't argue that." Exveemon replied. "I could use a good stretch about now. My wings are killing me!"

"That's the spirit!" Davis yelled. "We'll have a two pronged assault!"

"Great," TK muttered, "'General' Davis strikes."

"I HEARD THAT!"

==

"Kurt!" The Espeon was knocked back to where Crystal was, the reciever of a viscious kick from one of the two Kabutops he was fighting. Though he could normally have beaten the two ancient pokemon, his energy was drained from the stress of teleporting both himself and Melody of of the building. Crystal picked up the fallen pokemon. As she did, Kurt glowed white and reverted to Eevee!

Butch watched this, wide eyed. "Cassidy-"

"I saw it too. Maybe James hasn't cracked after all." Cassidy pointed to the two Kabutops behind her. "OK kids, the demo's over. Go back to your cell, and you might come out of this breathing. Got it?" The two Kabutops advanced menacingly, bladed forearms glinting in the sunlight.

"THUNDER BLAST!" A bolt of electricity caught the two Kabutops off guard, knocking them out instantly. A second later, a blue and black monster appeared, a young boy wearing goggles riding it. "Yeah!" he said, pumping his fist, "that was too easy!"

Butch growled, pulling out a pokeball. "Skarmory, get rid of that thing!" A metallic bird appeared, cawing a challenge.

"Equis Beam!" Pegasusmon appeared a second later, firing a bolt of energy at Skarmory. The bird was able to withstand the attack, but fell back anyway, unsure of this new attacker.

Crystal recognized the rider instantly. "TK." she breathed.

"You know them?" Melody asked, incredulous. She was no pokemon trainer, but Melody was sure she would have heard about a flying horse and a big black...lizard. As she watched, Skarmory recovered and attacked again, only to be driven back by another powerful blast of lightning. Growling, Butch and Cassidy recalled their pokemon, falling back to get reinforcements.

TK and Davis dismounted and ran over to the two girls. "Crystal?" TK blinked, surprised that Crystal was here, of all places. "What are you doing here?"

"No time for that." Melody interrupted. "We have to get back to Vermillion City. I think those two Rocket thugs went for help, they're not going to let me go without a fight."

"And you are?" Davis asked. "Why would those creeps want you?"

"I," Melody replied sharply, "am sick of the damsel in distress routine, and they have some nutso scheme involving capturing Lugia. Now come on, I'm sick of this place!" Walking over, Melody clambered onto Raidramon's back. "Hey, that's my seat!" Davis yelled, climbing up behind Melody.

"I guess it's you and me." Crystal said to TK. "My Ponyta's in no condition to carry anyone." TK nodded, trying not to blush.

"We'd better split up." Davis yelled. "We'll go by land, and you two go by air. We'll meet at the pokemon center!"

"We don't even know where it is!"

"I do!" Melody called. "Get this thing moving!"

"The name's Raidramon," Raidramon growled, "not 'thing'. Now hang on you two!" Raidramon bounded off into the forest. A second later, Pegasusmon, carrying TK and Crystal, headed skywards.

==

"So, this pokemon is a Raidramon? I never heard of it!"

Davis, unaccustomed to not sitting in front held onto his digimon's sides as best he could. Melody was holding onto the lightining bolt shaped grips, and there weren't many other places Davis could grab onto. Not without getting slapped, anyway..."Yeah. He's one of a kind. So who's this Lugia guy those two are after."

"You don't know? Lugia, legendary pokemon? Guardian of the sea?" Davis shook his head. "You are out of the loop. Those two are working for a creepy pokemon collector I ran into a few months back. They think I can summon Lugia, so they want to record it and try to capture him." The two stopped talking as Raidramon jumped over a creek. After a second, she continued. "They kidnapped me in Vermillion City, and I have to get back to warn them that Team Rocket might be coming after them too!"

"No problem." Raidramon called back. "Davis and I can handle those two. Especially if they're anything like the two goons Yolei told us about."

"If you're talking about Jessie and James, forget it. Those two are more comic relief than criminal masterminds." A roaring sound ahead forced Raidramon to slow down.

A second later, an explosion knocked over several trees. Raidramon dodged the debris, then looked up. In front of him, Cassidy and William stepped out. "You're not getting any further kids." Cassidy threatened.

"Davis," Raidramon said, "Kyle told me about Steel type pokemon. I'll have a better shot as Flamedramon."

Davis shook his head. "That thing's huge. Digivolve to ExVeemon instead. We can't waste time here." Raidramon nodded, glowed, and reverted to Veemon. Melody stepped back, stunned. "He...de-evolved? Just like Crystal's Espeon."

"Like whaaa?" Davis asked, caught off guard. Quickly, he pulled out his D-3. "Did she have a gadget like this?" Melody nodded. "So it was her digivice we were tracking. Wait'll I tell the others." Davis smirked, wondering how Yolei would react to that little tidbit.

"Veemon, digivolve to...ExVeemon!"

Steelix roared, charging at the dragon digimon. ExVeemon sidestepped the initial rush, and slammed a fist into Steelix' body.

"Owowowowowowowowowowowowowowowowowowow!" The digimon shook his hand, regretting that attack. Following his trainer's commands, Steelix dug underground, preparing to launch an underground attack.

"ExVeemon! Fly up!" Davis yelled. Exveemon did so, avoiding Steelix' next attack. Seeing it was vulnerable, the digimon knocked the pokemon out with a blast of his V-Laser. Overwhelmed, Steelix collapsed. "Great! Now where's the other one?"

"Look out!" Melody yelled, as Muk came up behind the two humans and prepared to envelop them in its poison filled body.

==

"Hey, did you get another Eevee?" Davis asked, noticing the pokemon Crystal held in her arms.

Crystal shook her head. "No. This is my Espeon, Kurt. He was in a fight, and when he was beaten, he...reverted. I don't know what's wrong with him."

Pegasusmon overheard this. "TK. Show her your digivice." Confused, TK did so.

"Hey, I have one just like that!" Crystal took her D-3 out. "It's even the same colour! Is that why Kurt changed back into an Eevee?"

"It must be like with Kyle's Eevee." Pegasusmon reasoned. "TK, her digivice must have been the one we were tracking!"

"Yeah...I guess." TK said slowly. "If that's so, then I guess she must be a digidestined too."

"Digidestined? Is that like what you were talking about back at Mount Moon? About Digimon and other worlds?" TK nodded. "But Kurt's a pokemon. He can't do anything like...what we saw."

"Sure he can." Pegasusmon replied. "Ask Kyle; his Eevee can digivolve too. So can his Growlithe. And Ryo's Charmeleon, come to think of it."

"It's OK," Tk said, turning to face Crystal, "He's fine. Once he gets his energy back, I'm sure he'll be able to digivolve to Espeon again." TK smiled, trying to reassure Crystal.

A bolt of golden energy forced the digimon into a dive. "Just as it was getting romantic." he quipped, causing both riders to blush. Behind him, two pokemon flew towards the trio, grey skinned and long snouts ending in a sharp, downward pointing tip.

"Aerodactyl." Crystal said, recognizing the two. "Can we outrun them?"

"Not with the two of you. But if I land, I can digivolve to Angemon; I'm faster that way." TK nodded, and guided Pegasusmon down. Once on the ground, Pegasusmon glowed, and reverted to Patamon.

"That's what happened. Almost exactly." Crystal said, looking at TK. "And Kurt will be able to..." In her arms, the Eevee looked expectantly at TK, wondering the same thing.

"It'll happen" Patamon said. "You and Kurt are like me and TK. You just have to want it to happen. It helps that you're a nice person. Must be why TK likes you so much." the digimon stage-whispered.

"PATAMON!" TK waved his hands. "Don't mind him, he's just been hanging around Gatomon too much, that's all!"

Eevee yipped a few times, looking up at Crystal. "Not you too!" Crystal shouted at Kurt. A second later, TK and Crystal both chuckled, blushing faintly, realizing how silly the whole situation was. Lost in a forest, chased by Team Rocket, and their partner monsters chose now to were play matchmaker. "I...I think we'd better get going." Crystal finally said, still a bit embarassed. TK nodded, as did Patamon. But before the digimon could digivolve, the two Aerodactyl tore through the forest, attacking!

==

"I must say," William said, walking towards Melody, "you do make the most interesting friends. The large blue pokemon must be quite a rarity; he would make an excellent addition to my collection."

"You leave ExVeemon alone!" Davis yelled. The dragon digimon gritted his teeth, but dared not attack; the two humans were too close to Muk for him to risk an attack, and William and Cassidy kept an eye on the digimon.

"ExVeemon?' William mused. "Looks like a variant on Dragonite."

"He's not for rent or sale you creep!"

"You wouldn't be from from Pallet Town, would you?" Cassidy asked, curious. Coincidentally, Melody wondered the same thing. "Never mind. Turn over the pokemon and...listen to me. Like you'll do that willingly." She turned to face ExVeemon. "OK, you! You got big all of a sudden, so I'm willing to bet you can reverse it. Change back now, or your trainer gets a full body acid wash!" ExVeemon growled, then reverted to Veemon.

"Controllable evolution. I am impressed." William applauded.

Cassidy shrugged. "We can do the same thing with an Eevee. Now over there where we can keep an eye on you." Cassidy and William turned back to the humans, dismissing Veemon.

For a second, Davis' and Veemon's eyes met. Then, shouting, Veemon tackled Cassidy, smashing his head into her midsection. As he did, Davis grabbed Melody and jumped clear of the Muk before it had a chance to smother the two with its poisonous body. Before the two could get any further, Steelix burst out of the ground, blocking them.

"Masterfully played." William commented, walking towards Davis. "Perhaps you are related to that boy. As he did, Melody ducked, grabbing a branch. Hearing the noise, William turned around just in time for Melody to catch him across the jaw with a largish piece of redwood, knocking out the collector.

The whole sequence only took a few seconds. When it was over, Cassidy was still struggling to get up, William was knocked out, and Melody was standing over the collector, piece of wood held like a baseball bat. "I *said* I was really tired of the damsel in distress routine." She smiled as Davis gave her a thumbs up.

==

Patamon screamed as the Aerodactyl slammed into him, driving the rookie digimon into a tree. Thet two ancient pokemon had attacked before Patamon had a chance to digivolve. TK ran over, picking up his partner. "Leave him alone!" he snarled.

"Forget it." Butch, riding one of the Aerodactyl, replied. "I don't know how you can get your pokemon to evolve on command, but I don't intend on giving you a chance to do it. Now the two of you surrender or else."

Crystal tried to figure out how to battle back. If Kurt was still an Espeon, they might have had a chance. Ponyta was out, the rest of her pokemon were back at the pokemon center. That left Misdreavus. With a shout, she released the ghost pokemon.

"I was expecting that. DEVIL BITE!" Butch commanded his aerodactyl to attack, wicked fangs tearing into Kitty's body. The ghost shouted, then passed out. "Devil Bite's one of the strongest Dark type attacks, perfect for fighting ghosts." Horrified, Crystal watched as her pokemon fell, barely concious. "She's not out yet? Tougher than I thought."

"Crystal," TK whispered, "get out of here! You can't beat them!" Crystal hesitated, not willing to leave TK behind. "Go! Your pokemon aren't in any condition to battle!"

Kurt stood up, staring defiantly at the two attacking pokemon. "Kurt?" Crystal nodded, understanding. "If Kurt's staying, then so am I!"

TK recognized the look. He'd seen it from the other digidestined many times, when they were willing to face hopeless odds. Patamon stirred, coming to. "Alright. But be careful, ok?"

Crystal smiled. "OK. Kurt, get ready!" As soon as she spoke, her Eevee started glowing, as did her digivice. "What's happening?"

Patamon had recovered enough to make out what was happening. "He's digivolving!"

"Eevee, digivolve to...Espeon!" It was Kurt that spoke.

"No! Get him!" Butch yelled, making the two Aerodactyl fly towards the pokemon. The Aerodactyl screamed, sensing an easy kill.

"Stop." was all Kurt said. The Solar pokemon's psychic power made the two attackers stop dead in their tracks, falling to the ground. Butch staggered up, recovering from the psionic assault Kurt had just unleashed.

"How...how did...?" the criminal tried to say, before seeing an aura of energy forming around the Espeon. Butch was running a second later, trying to dodge the Swift attack. He vanished quickly, presumably running back to the base.

"That was fun." Kurt remarked, glowing and reverting to Eevee. He ran back to Crystal and hopped into her arms.

"That was incredible!" Crystal exclaimed. She looked at TK. "So does this mean I'm part of the team?" Caught off guard, TK started to stammer, not sure how to reply.

"Sure." Patamon replied. "Just wait'll I tell the 0others that TK's girlfriend's a digidestined now."

"PATAMON!"

==Vermillion City

Eventually, TK, Davis, Melody, and Crystal managed to meet up in the town. Melody quickly ran over to the police and told the officer there what had happened. TK had missed it, but Veemon took great pride in explaining how, after Melody had laid out her kidnapper, Davis and ExVeemon tied him up and dragged him back to town. They had been told that William Juriridan had several warrants out for his arrest, and that the authorities would be more than pleased to take him off their hands.

Davis had nearly hurt himself laughing when Patamon told everyone that Crystal's Eevee had digivolved. TK came a good bit closer to hurting him when Davis started ribbing TK about it. A message on the D-Terminals TK and Davis carried saved the boy's life.

TK read it, forgetting everything else as what he read sank in. "Digimon are attacking a place called Cinnabar Island. Cody, Joe, and Ryo are there now. Everyone else is on our world, and I don't know if they'll get this message in time."

"We'd better get going then." Melody said, grabbing Davis' arm. "I was there with the rest of the performers a week ago, I know how to get there."

"Count me in too!" Crystal said. "I still want to know exactly what happened to Kurt here."

"L-look" Davis said. "You really need one of these to go through the digiport" he explained holding up his digivice. He had planned to cut through the Digital World, hopefully picking up the rest of the digidestiend on the way. And get directions -to- Cinnabar Island. If he could pry Kyle away from June...

"This thing?" Melody asked, touching the D-3. As she did, it glowed, a bright blue-white, and a second digivice appeared.

"Yeah...like that." Davis replied weakly. "Don't you have a show or something to do?"

"It can wait." Melody replied. "You two are obviously lost without me."

"Well I...HEY!" TK and Davis shouted. Crystal started chuckling, Eevee doing likewise.

Next Episode
On Cinnabar Island, Joe and Cody meet Ryo, and try to repel an invasion led by the disgraced Dagomon. Can they win, and who are the two mysterious digimon that offer to help them? Next time on Digimon: Digicross:
'Deep Savers to the Rescue!'