Glancing at the clock, June saw that it was still early, about 7:30 am. She shifted a bit, and realised that she had not gotten changed after getting home. "Mom's going to be furious when she sees all these wrinkles in my dress." she muttered, starting to get up. Mentally, she recalled everything that had happened the night before, her date, the battle they had just missed...
Kyle's engagement ring. June shivered, still overcome at the thought of it. Dad had turned white when he had seen it, mom cried a bit, and Davis...well, he stopped plotting Kyle's murder, anyway. Oh, there had been the expected 'finish school and get a job' speech dad had immediately launched into (Once mom had peeled him off the ceiling) that June agreed to (as had Kyle, whom mom was already calling 'son', to dad's chagrin). That reminded her; she still had to have a nice long talk with Elecmon about spying on her. But it could wait.
Someone was pounding on her door. For a split second, June was afraid that it was her dad, intent on taking her engagement ring away. Then the door almost flew open. "June!" Davis almost yelled, clearly panicked about something. "You've got to see this!" Without waiting (or listening), Davis grabbed June's arm and half dragged her to the television.
"And reports are coming in just now about mysterious black towers appearing, seemingly at random, all over the world. So far, three have been spotted in Japan, with other major population centers, including France, New York, Vancouver, Hong Kong, London..."
June got up, ready to call Kyle, but found that Davis was on the phone already.
==
Digimon: Digicross episode 36
-Worlds Tour part 1: Vancouver's lights, New York's sights.
==
The next two hours saw a small army of digidestined descend on various parts of Japan, sending digimon back through the portals and destroying all the spires they could find. Disturbingly, they couldn't contact Ryo, though Melody and Crystal had been only too happy to come help. Kyle had come though the digiport, bringing Tai and Kari with him.
"It's too early for this! Shurimon, take care of that oversized rodent already! I need my beauty sleep!" Yolei snarled (No, she's not a morning person -ed).
"I almost have him...NOW!" Shurimon yelled, and leaped back as the lake he and Musyamon were fighting over suddenly erupted. Depthmon came shooting out, and caught the sword-wielding digimon in a vortex of water.
"Digiport open!" Melody shouted, aiming her digivice at the laptop Yolei was carrying. A portal icon appeared, and Musyamon was sucked through. "Not bad, Depthmon! I'm glad all that loafing on the beach didn't make you too much of a wimp."
Depthmon switched back to V-mon. "Hey, I was building up my heat tolerance! Besides, those pina coladas are addictive." Melody sighed.
Shurimon landed, and released the digiegg he was using, turning back into Hawkmon. "I wonder how the others are doing?"
Across town, Noriko Takaya shrieked and ran as a large spider came running at her. "Someone please save me!" She regretted shouting, as she was overtaken by a coughing fit, and fell down, too weak to get up.
Cody and Armadillomon chased after Dokugumon, wishing that TK was with him. "Get away from her! Digiarmour energize!" He stumbled as he activated the digiegg, nearly dropping the laptop Izzy had loaned him.
"Armadillomon, armour digivolve to...Digmon, the wisdom of steel!" Digmon aimed his drill missiles, ready to fire. "Dokugemon's too close to that girl! I have to get closer." he huffed, stomping forward. Cody's heart was in his mouth, as he realised that, by the time Digmon was in position, it would be too late for that girl.
Wings were flapping. Suddenly, a white streak shot between Dokugumon and Noriko, stopping the digimon in its tracks. Dokugumon reared back, challenged by...a duck with a green onion?
Cody's mind instantly shot back...months, was it? It was when he had first met Kyle, and he had shown the group something on his pokedex. "A Farfetch'd?" he gasped.
"Farfetched! Far, FarFARFETCHED!" the duck pokemon honked, waving his impromptu weapon at Dokugumon. Unimpressed, Dokugumon shot forward, trying to bite the pokemon in two. Farfetch'd dodged the attack, swinging his onion stalk as he moved. The spider reared back, a bright red 'X' on its forehead now. Dokugumon spent a few seconds trying to get around the pokemon, then just webbed it up.
That, however, had given Digmon more than enough time to get in position. "Gold Rush!" he yelled, sending all five missiles slamming into Dokugumon. The spider digimon was knocked out, and quickly sent back to the digital world through the laptop.
Cody ran over to Noriko. "Are you alright?" he asked, helping Noriko up. "Don't worry." he said, nodding to Digmon. "He's a friend, just like this...duck? Are you a pokemon, by any chance? Did Kyle or Ryo send you?" Farfetch'd shook his head defiantly, as if saying 'Me? Owned by a human? Don't be silly!' Digmon managed to free the duck pokemon, who promptly ignored him (Rather catlike, yes? -ed)
"You mean, there are more of those monsters loose here?" Noriko asked, still shaken by her first encounter with a digimon.
"Don't worry, my friends and I are sending them back to their own world." Cody assured her. "Umm...do you want me to walk you home?" Cody asked, unsure what to do next.
Noriko smiled a bit. "Aren't you a bit young to be a knight in shining armour?"
"Uh...well, grandpa always told me to never leave someone who's hurt alone when there's giant monsters running loose." Cody replied, dead serious (Yes, Cody's grandpa really did say this. It was after a Gojira marathon and...ah, skip it -ed).
"Well, we can't go around disappointing your grandfather, now can we?" Noriko answered. She glanced at Farfetch'd who had waddled over to Noriko. "Umm...thank you?" she said to the duck, not sure how to talk to...well, a duck. Farfetch'd nodded, glowed for a second, and glanced up as a small rectangular piece of metal appeared over him.
"A digivice!" Cody gasped, recognising it instantly. "Does that mean...your partner is Farfetch'd?"
"Farfetch'd!"
==
Davis had to fight not to laugh out loud. Exveemon and Angemon were fighting the Sabirdramon that had appeared last night, and was now back, eager to settle scores. With him was a Monochromon, which Crystal and Strabimon were battling.
"Shining Nail!" Strabimon yelled, ramming one hand into Monochromon's head, knocking the heavily-armoured digimon out. It was Strabimon's pose, so much like Domon Kasshu's 'Shining Finger' pose from 'G Gundam', that nearly had Davis cracking up. Plus he sounded a bit like Domon, if he were in his early teens and had just inhaled a bit of helium.
Angemon thrust his fist forward, aiming at Sabirdramon. "Hand of Fate!" The attack struck Sabirdramon in the back, forcing him towards Exveemon.
"Got him!" Exveemon called, tossing him towards the digiport TK had opened. Sabirdramon vanished through, and, after a few more strikes from Strabimon, Monochromon went through as well.
Crystal's pokegear rang. "It's Kari." she said as TK and Davis ran over. "They managed to get a Triceramon through a digiport, and that Izzy wants us to meet him in Haighton View Park. He says something big is happening."
"He must be talking about all those spires that appeared all over the world." TK replied. "Maybe we're going to go after them all ourselves."
Davis pumped his fist in the air. "Cool! World Tour!" Crystal looked at TK, who only shrugged and sighed.
==
Izzy tried not to look too nervous as the digidestined gathered around. "I assume everyone here knows about the Control Spires appearing all over the world?"
"All over the world?" Matt asked, stunned. "And are there...?"
Izzy nodded. "Yes. Digimon have also appeared. And whoever sent them here fixed it so that our old digivices can't open a digiport to send them back." He demonstrated with his own digivice on his laptop. The portal appeared, but did not open. "As many of you discovered, only those of you with D-3s can open digiports now. Worse, we can't travel through the digital world to help out those other places." Izzy's laptop glowed. "Incoming portal...it's Ryo."
"About time." Caryl muttered. "Figures he'd leave me to do all his work for him."
Ryo appeared, face dark. "Bad news. Izzy told me about the Control Spires in this world. Well, I just took one out near New Bark Town, and I've heard reports of more in the Orange Islands."
"My home!" Melody gasped. "Have any digimon appeared there?"
"I took care of two, but I haven't heard any reports of any in the Orange Archipelago. Mind you, they could be laying low, or just be mistaken for unusual pokemon. I talked to Edward, he's going to check it out."
"I'll go too." Melody said. "That's my home too." She stopped, looking at Davis.
"What? Like you said, it's your home. Just leave saving this world to me."
Crystal glanced at TK, then spoke up. "Count me in. Sorry TK." TK, blushing a bit, nodded to Crystal.
"You'd better get going then." Izzy said, then stepped back as Crystal and Melody went through. "Not you, Ryo. Not yet, at least.
"This is going to be tricky, but we're going to have to separate into teams of two and help out the digidestined who don't have D-3s like you do."
Yolei grimaced. "You'll be breaking up all our DNA teams if you do that. If we run into trouble with other Ultimate or even Mega level digimon, we might not be able to fight them."
Gennai stepped forward. "Well, I can actually help you there. Mewtwo and Azulongmon are a bit tapped out, but Ebonwumon and Zhuquiamon still have some power to spare." He opened his hands to reveal a digicore. "If I could have all the original digidestined children step forward?" Tai, Matt, Sora, and Joe did so. "Kari? TK? You too. I can use this digicore to temporarily repower your digimon. You should be able to digivolve them back to their Ultimate levels again."
"I can become WereGarurumon again?" Gabumon asked. "All right!"
"What about Mimi?" Sora asked. "She's not here."
"I'll send the digicore with whoever goes to New York." Gennai replied. "Now, how to pick who to go where..."
"Actually, I might be able to answer that." Izzy replied. "I was toying around with this a year after our first trip to the digital world. What I did was enter everyone's name in a database, and write a program to randomly select teams of digidestined. When I heard about the control spires appearing here, I modified the program to also select cities."
"Wait." Joe said suddenly. "Izzy, you planned for an attack of digimon world-wide?"
Izzy shrugged. "Lucky guess? Actually, I started toying around with it after our first trip to the digital world. Remember, digimon started appearing all over the world then, too."
"But how will we get there?" Tai asked. "Swim?"
"Imperialdramon." Gennai answered. "He can travel quite fast when the need is there."
"Right. I've modified the program so that Ken, Davis, Kyle, and June are on the same continent. In this case, it's North America, where there are four trouble areas: Vancouver, New York, Southern California, and Mexico. I already contacted Seth, and he and Kyle Evanick are headed to Southern California."
"I bet Casey insisted on going with them." Yolei commented.
"Actually, she did." Izzy replied. "Okay, North America teams: Ken and...Matt. You're off to Mexico. Davis, you're meeting Mimi in New York. That leaves Kyle and June to go to Vancouver." Both Kyle and June blushed as everyone looked at them, grinning knowingly.
"Try and behave you two." Matt joked, getting a dirty look from Kyle. One of Kyle's pokeballs opened, and Ivysaur appeared, marching over to where Davis was.
"Ivysaur?" Kyle asked. "I...oh, right. Palmon." The plant pokemon refused to look at anyone, ignoring the barrage of laughter.
"Okay, the rest of the teams. Hong Kong. Kari and...me?"
"TOTALLY RANDOM, HUH?" everyone (except for Kari) chorused.
"It was!" Izzy replied.
"Don't worry, we'll make sure they behave." Gatomon said, glancing at a now furiously blushing Kari.
"Or at least tell everyone what happened." Tentomon added.
"Ahem. Anyway...Australia: Cody and Caryl."
"Yayy!" Caryl cheered. "I get the cute one!" Immediately, she latched onto Cody's arm. Cody looked pleadingly at Ryo. Renamon just groaned.
"London: Ryo and Joe."
"I hope they cleaned up the Thames." Gomamon sighed. "And I hope it's warm there. I hate ice."
"I thought you liked ice." Joe replied.
"Not every day of my life."
Izzy took a deep breath, calming himself. "Russia: Yolei and Sora."
"See?" Gomamon commented, noting Yolei's rather dark expression.
"France: Tai and TK."
"Agumon?" Sora asked.
"I'll tell you about everyone he talks to." Agumon replied.
"Gee thanks." Tai replied sourly.
"Oh, and there are others like me in all the cities you'll be going to. They'll be co-ordinating with the local digidestined, give you directions if you need it, and handle translations if needed." Gennai glanced at Izzy.
"Okay, that's everyone." Izzy said, still not meeting anyone's eyes. "We should leave soon, half an hour, if possible. Say your goodbyes. I...hello?" Izzy said, seeing a face he didn't recognise.
"Uhh, I followed Cody here." Noriko said. That arched a few eyebrows. And took some of the attention off of Izzy (much to his relief -ed). "I think...well, I think I'm one of these digidestined too." she indicated Farfetch'd, and held up her digivice.
"Um." Izzy said.
"I'll fill her in." Gennai replied. "You'd better get going." Everyone else nodded, and left. "So...this is a pokemon, right?"
"Far." the duck pokemon responded, smacking Gennai with his green onion.
==
Ryo had started to head to Ken's place, when he noticed Caryl following him. "Caryl?" He stopped. Caryl was normally cheerful and, well...hyper. Now, she looked almost...worried?
"You'll be careful, right?" Caryl asked.
"Hey, it's me." Ryo replied. "Besides, I'll have Joe with me. Tell you what, I'll be careful if you promise not to torment Cody too much, alright?"
The old Caryl was back. "Awww. He's so much fun, he just needs to lighten up!"
"I will keep her restrained. If I can." Renamon sighed, resigned. She looked up. "And I will make sure nothing happens to her."
"Thanks." Ryo replied.
"Oh, Ryo?" Caryl asked. "I want a big ceremony, with a live band, and a huge cake for the reception."
"Bwaah?" Ryo asked.
"Our wedding, silly! I'm not letting June beat me!" Ryo facefaulted, and Caryl cracked up.
==
Seth got off the phone, still bleary-eyed. He had been rudely woken up that morning when a small herd of Pagumon had trotted through town, and had been up the rest of the day trying to herd them back to the nearest computer. "I'm glad this is one of the new models." he sighed, glancing at Wizardmon. "Okay, I just talked to Izzy, and we're going to meet Casey and Kyle Evanick on the way to South California. There's a control spire there that needs to be busted, and a lot of loose digimon."
Wizardmon nodded. "Well then. How shall we get there?"
"How? Uhh...well, can't you, you know...'whoosh' us there?"
"'Whoosh'?"
"You know, do that magic thing and teleport us? You are a wizard, right?"
"Ahh...I don't do the teleport thing..."
Seth sighed. "This is gonna be a long walk..."
==
"Mmm-Hmm...right. Okay, I'll make my way there. Okay, see you there, Mimi." Stuart hung up the phone. "So, how do I get to New York?"
"Swim?" Monodramon suggested.
"Hmm...Hey, I know! Come on!" Stuart aimed his digivice at the screen.
"But I thought the digiports were all scrambled!" Monodramon protested.
"To the Digital World, yes. But we can take a shortcut through the Pokemon World instead! Digiport Open!"
==
Ken heard a knock on his door. Briefly, he wondered if it was his mom again, trying to talk him out of this latest adventure. He opened the door and saw..."Yolei?"
"Your dad let me in. Look, about yesterday-"
Ken tried not to panic. "Ahh...I'm really sorry, I don't know what came over me."
This is the guy I had a crush on? Yolei tried not to laugh. "It's alright, I'm...okay with it. Just ask next time, alright?"
"S-Sure...Umm, I noticed you had a new outfit the last time we were in the digital world."
Yolei nodded. "Yeah, that was a really brilliant piece of software, Ken! It took me a while to figure it out, but I managed to get it to stop giving me my regular digital world outfit and store a new outfit on my D-3."
"Oh...well, it looked nice."
Yolei stammered for a second, then recovered. "Well of course it looked nice." she replied, smirking. "I mean, who needs phys ed when you're saving the digital world? I spent hours trying to get it right." She stepped closer to Ken. "And I'm glad someone appreciated it."
Hawkmon and Wormmon were watching this from the doorway. "I'm worried about Ken. Is he alright?" Wormmon asked Hawkmon.
Hawkmon sighed. "I'm just glad she's not going completely crazy. For the longest time it was Ken this and Ken that."
"I heard that!" Yolei snapped.
==
"Newton? That's not even in America!"
Monodramon sighed. "You and your shortcuts."
==
"You will do fine, Cody." his grandfather said. "Do not worry, I will keep an eye on your mother. Now you be careful. And remember to keep your arms up!"
"Yes grandpa."
"Good. And I expect you to behave yourself around this girl you'll be with."
"I'll try. But she's...well, very hyper."
"Nevertheless, I expect you to conduct yourself in an appropriate manner. Armadillomon? Please make sure Cody is unharmed."
"Will do!" Armadillomon said, standing on his back legs and making a passable salute.
==
"Newport?" Stuart looked at the sign. "I wanted New York!"
"Well, Izzy said the digiports were a bit scrambled. One more time?"
==
"So, we're off to save the world again." Tai sighed. "You think I'd be more...I don't know, worked up."
"You're just worn out." Sora told him. "With everything that's been happening. Maybe when this is over, we could go back to that beach in the Orange Islands?" She glanced at Matt. "You and Mimi could come too."
Matt looked at the sky. "I could use a break. So could Mimi. I wonder how her parents are taking this. They must be freaked with digimon appearing in New York." Matt looked around. "Where's Kari?"
"Over there." Tai said. "With Izzy." He and Matt tried not to laugh.
"Oh, stop it, you two." Sora said, mock-annoyed. "I think it's sweet, what's going on between those two."
==
"Honestly, Kari. I didn't rig it." Izzy said.
"Oh?" Kari pouted. "I almost wish you had."
"With Tai within kicking distance?" Izzy asked.
"Oh...Look, Tai's alright with us seeing each other. He just likes to act tough, you know that."
"I know. I just..." Izzy sighed, unsure what to say next.
"Izzy? How about, after this is over, we go to dinner somewhere? Just you and me, no digimon or battles or evil plans to take over the world?"
"You mean, a date?"
"Well, what else would it be? So, can we?" Izzy nodded, speechless. "Great." Kari stood on her tiptoes, and kissed him.
==
"NEWARK?"
"Hey, we're getting closer?"
==
"TK?"
TK looked up. He was in his room, putting a few things together for his trip to France. "Davis? What are you doing here?"
Davis sighed. "Oh, I just had to get out. Kyle was getting the third degree from dad, and June was freaking out. It wasn't pretty. So, you ready?"
"Ivysaur seemed to be." TK nodded to the pokemon, who was following Davis around.
"Yeah, I let him out once we got here. Kyle gave me his pokeball for the trip."
"Davis, I'm sure Melody's fine." TK said.
"Huh? Well, yeah, of course she is. I mean, she's learned from the best, right?"
"Sure Davis, the best."
Veemon spoke up. "And she's got a V-Mon of her very own too! You can't go wrong with a digimon like that!"
TK and Patamon glanced at each other, trying not to laugh.
==New York
Mimi looked up the stairs. She had just reassured her parents that she would be fine as long as Palmon was here, hung up the phone, and had started up the stairs to get changed into something a bit warmer.
However, there was a loud crash coming from her room. "It must be looters." She whispered. "Oh, Palmon, please, come back in here, I need you!" Morbidly, she listened, wondering how many there were.
"I think this is the place!"
"Well it's about time! You and your shortcut! We went through how many places to get here? And we wind up in a girl's bedroom?"
"Hey, you weren't exactly a lot of help, pal! Come on, let's go find everyone." The door opened.
"Huh. Something smells familiar." the second voice said. Both were getting close.
Frantic, Mimi looked around. Seeing no useable weapon, she clenched a fist, and got ready. "GET LOST, PERVERTS!" she shrieked, swinging blindly. She felt her fist hit something, which went down almost instantly.
"Ahh! Stuart!" Monodramon yelled. "Wake up! Can you hear me?"
Mimi gasped. "Stuart? Oh God, I'm so sorry, I had no idea you were coming by digiport! Oh, please wake up! Are you alright?"
"No problem..." Stuart moaned, lying on the floor, dazed. "I'll do the math test now, Mr. Kennedy..."
"Mimi!" Palmon shouted, running in. "I heard screams, are you all...Oh, hello Monodramon. Umm, you're a bit early."
"Thank Sam Beckett here." Monodramon sighed as Mimi helped Stuart up and into a chair.
==And back to Tokyo!
There were several dozen tearful farewells from the parents to the digidestined as they got ready to leave. All of the digidestined had lunches made for them, some useful odds and ends like mapbooks and whatever foreign money could be gotten hold of.
"You ready?" Davis called to Ken, June, and Kyle. The other three nodded. "All right, let's do it!"
"Veemon, digivolve to...Exveemon!"
"Wormmon, digivolve to...Stingmon!"
"Exveemon...Stingmon...DNA digivolve to...Paildramon!"
"Elecmon, digivolve to...Leomon!"
"Growlithe, digivolve to...Arcanine!"
"Arcanine...Leomon...DNA Digivolve to...Komainumon!"
"Komainumon...Paildramon...Mega Jogress digivolve to...Imperialdramon!"
The parents gasped as the four digimon grew, combined, and combined again, into the giant dragon that had helped save the city only two days earlier. The children were wrapped in white light, and reappeared inside a glowing white dome on Imperialdramon's back. They all waved as the dragon levitated, then seemed to vanish.
"Where...?" Nancy Takashi gasped.
Gennai looked at the parents. "Don't worry. Imperialdramon is capable of moving at incredible speeds. By now, he should be near Australia. Then he'll circle up, dropping teams off all over the globe, ending at North America, where the four teams will take care of the digimon there. Then they'll summon Imperialdramon again, and pick everyone up for the trip home.
"As I said, you have no need to worry. I have watched all of them, and I know they'll do just fine. All we can do is wait."
Mr. Ishida sighed. "Wish I'd brought a camera crew. I'd have loved to have a picture of this for when they get back." He glanced at his ex-wife. "They do grow up fast, don't they?"
Nancy nodded. "Despite everything we do, yes. I can't even stop him from dating."
Mikah nodded. "Seems to be a problem, with this digital world stuff. Monsters flying around, children acting all mature and saving the world...I don't know about you, but I'm feeling almost obsolete."
"Oh, it's not that bad." Mikhail spoke up. "They're still not old enough to drive. And we do control their allowances."
==St. Louis, Missouri
Michael gasped as he saw Imperialdramon land just outside the airport, letting off five kids about his own age and one digimon, and then Imperialdramon split into four more digimon. "Hey, long time no see!"
"Michael!" Davis yelled, running over. "We're just off to save the world. And you?"
"Oh, just try and stop me." Michael replied. "Okay, my dad's managed to book everyone flights to their respective areas. Just give your pilot a call and he'll bring you back here. Kyle, June, you're on the next jet to Vancouver, but you might have to do a bit of hiking; I don't know if Vancouver Airport's still open with all the digimon around."
"We'll manage." Kyle said. "If things get really bad, we can take the Pyroangemon express."
"What about Arcanine?"
"Worn out, the poor thing." June said. "He doesn't have an in training form to fall back on, so he'll rest."
"Eh, I can handle things just fine." Eevee said, perched on Kyle's shoulder.
"Good. Oh, congratulations." Michael glanced at Ken and Matt. "I've got you on a minijet to Mexico, you'd better get going too. Davis, that leaves you and me. My dad's flying us to New York."
"Cool!" With that, everyone left.
==New York
Davis hopped off the jet, Veemon following him. "Wow. So this is New York! Cool! I wonder if we have time to catch a game here?"
"Or eat those big apples they have here!" Veemon added, looking around. "Funny. I don't smell any apples."
"No, Veemon, New York is called the Big Apple." Davis explained.
"I thought it was called New York."
"It is, but it's also called the Big Apple sometimes."
"Oh! Like when June calls you Davis, but also sometimes calls you an idiot!"
"Yeah. Like that."
"Davis!" Mimi yelled from the other side of the chain-link fence. "Over this way!"
"Hey, Mimi! Palmon!" Davis ran over. "Stuart? Uh...what happened to your eye?"
"Don't ask." Stuart replied, still holding an ice pack over his left eye. "And don't. Ask. Monodramon. Either. Got it?" Gulping, Monodramon nodded.
"Ah, good, you're here!" an adult said, running over.
"Gennai?" Davis gasped.
"Close. I'm Benjamin, the local Gennai clone."
Michael, who had been holding back, looked at Stuart, then Mimi. "Right hook?" Embarrassed, Mimi nodded.
"You punched out Stuart?" Veemon asked. Stuart said nothing. The pokeball Davis was carrying chose that moment to open.
"Ivysaur!" Palmon squealed, running to the fence. Ivysaur ran over, then tried to pry the fence open.
"Uhh...the door's just over here." Benjamin said as Ivysaur's vines started to pull the wires
apart.
==
"A digicore?" Mimi gasped, looking at the small object floating over Davis' D-3.
"Yeh, I got it from Gennai just before I left. We were able to power up the other digimon so they could go Ultimate again."
"I can become Lillymon again?" Palmon asked.
"Down boy." Stuart said to Monodramon. "Hormonal reptile."
"Ryouga wannabe."
"I got us here, didn't I?"
"Children, please." Benjamin said, trying to break the two up. "Okay, there are several digidestined up in the north part of town, they'll drive the digimon here towards Times Square. It should be pretty easy to handle, really. Michael and Seadramon went ahead to check on the others' progress."
"Looks like we got the easy job." Davis said. "I can deal with that."
"It looks like all of the digimon came from the Digital World, not the Dark Ocean. They're more confused and scared than anything." Benjamin looked up. "Lou and the others should be here soon. Umm, you two done?"
"Hey, we're having a moment, alright?" Palmon replied, who was talking to Ivysaur. "Can't a girl talk to her boyfriend?"
"I'm gonna have to see the children from this one." Benjamin muttered.
Mimi threw a snowball at Benjamin. "You lout!" She glanced at Stuart and Davis.
"What?" Stuart asked, still holding an icepack to his head. "We agree completely!"
"Yes, he is a lout." Monodramon added.
"Well, you'd know." Stuart muttered.
==
Phil looked around, watching the procession of digimon following him. "We're near Times Square!" he called. "We should be able to get everyone home!"
"Great!" Steve, Phil's friend replied called back. "Once this is done, we can sit back and relax. Who thought we'd be taming digimon on Christmas?"
"Well," Maria answered, riding Centarumon, "it'll make for an interesting report."
"Like anyone'd believe us." Lou answered, hanging onto Tortomon's back. "If our folks knew what we were doing, we'd be grounded for the next decade." He glanced at Maria. "So, Mimi and Michael are going to meet us there?"
"Yeah. I think...Hey, Michael!" Maria called, waving.
"Someone's happy." Florizamon said to Phil, who started laughing.
"Trouble." Frigimon called. "I think Seadramon's making them a bit nervous. Okay everyone, nothing to see, just a giant flying serpent. Move along."
Cherrymon panicked. "It's a trap!" he shouted. "Pit Pelter!" Everyone dove for cover as small bombs flew everywhere. Cherrymon ran off under cover of the smoke and dust.
"I think your boyfriend freaked him!" Lou griped as Tortomon checked on him.
"He's not my boyfriend!" Yet, Maria added.
"We'll have to calm these digimon down before we can go after Cherrymon!" Tortomon said. There's too many of them to let loose now!"
"Phil, send the other digidestined a message! Michael, you caused this, go check on the two Raremon at the end of the line!"
"US?" Seadramon gasped. "What'd we do?"
==
Davis checked his D-Terminal. "Email? Looks like one of the digimon panicked and ran off! And the others are too busy trying to keep everyone else calm." He looked up. "It's up to us!"
"Then it's time to fly!" Mimi said. "Palmon, digivolve!"
"Palmon, digivolve to...LILLYMON!" The digicore Davis had brought allowed Palmon to skip her champion form and evolve straight to Lillymon. "Wow. It's been a while, hasn't it?"
Stuart glanced at Monodramon. "I said DOWN boy!" Exasperated, he bounced a snowball off of the dragon's head. Giggling, Lillymon knelt down, picked up Ivysaur (who went from bluish-green to red), and flew off.
"Lucky little planter." Monodramon grumbled. "Monodramon digivolve to a heartbroken-" he stopped as Stuart glared at him. "Uh, I mean...Monodramon, digivolve to...Strikedramon!"
"Good." Stuart said. "Now go run it off." he pointed in the direction Lillymon had gone. "Umm, any chance of a lift?"
"Veemon, digivolve to...Exveemon! All aboard!"
==
Confused, Cherrymon attacked anything that didn't look right to him. Of course, in downtown New York, this was darn near anything that wasn't a tree. And there weren't a lot of those where he was headed.
"I'm surrounded...the air smells of death...I'll destroy them all!"
"There he is!" someone called. Cherrymon looked, and saw a digimon approaching. Humanoid, large claws...ENEMY! "Okay, let's just..."
"Pit Pelter!"
Strikedramon dove back as several explosions went off around him. "Found him!" he called, then ran forward again. "Okay, buddy. There's a girl I'm trying to impress, and you're my ticket! Strike Claw!"
"Illusion Mist!"
"Ah, nuts!" Strikedramon yelled as the mist washed over him.
==
"Strikedramon? Strikedramon!" Stuart called. "I could have sworn he was around here."
Davis glanced at his D-3. "According to this, he should be right around here. Where are we?"
"Empire State Building." Mimi said, pointing up. "I mean...whaaa?"
Davis and Stuart looked up. "S...Strikedramon?" Stuart gasped. Currently, his partner was wrapped up in Cherrymon's vines, and was being carried up the side of the building by the tree digimon!
"Wow. For an oversized oak tree, he can really move." Davis muttered.
"A LITTLE HELP UP HERE?" Strikedramon shouted. "This is *so* embarrassing!"
"Biplanes?" Stuart suggested.
"Leave it to me!" Exveemon said, flying up.
"Just wait here, alright?" Lillymon said, putting Ivysaur down, then following Exveemon.
"Be careful!" Mimi yelled. "Cherrymon's got a hostage!"
"That idiot probably tried to show off. Again." Stuart grumbled. "GET HIM DOWN HERE SO I CAN KICK HIS BUTT!"
Exveemon, only hearing part of this, nodded. "Kick his butt? Alright, here I go! Cover me!
"Exveemon, wait!" Lillymon yelled, then dodged as a swarm of bombs started falling from Cherrymon. "Flower Cannon!"
Cherrymon was distracted by Lillymon's attack. Exveemon took the opportunity to fly around behind the tree digimon, and kicked him off the ledge of the Empire State Building.
"Strikedramon!" Stuart yelled. Cherrymon landed hard on the skating rink, Exveemon following close behind.
"Don't worry...the evil tree monster broke my fall."
"Enemies!" Cherrymon yelled. "Take this!" With that, vines shot out, tangling up everyone except Ivysaur.
"Lillymon!" Mimi shouted as her partner was wrapped up.
"Prepare to be plant food!" Cherrymon flinched as a spray of Razor Leaves hit him in the face. "Who dares?"
"Saur..." Ivysaur challenged.
"Ivysaur!" Lillymon shouted.
"Free Exveemon!" Davis yelled.
"Please, don't let me owe my life to Ivysaur!" Strikedramon begged.
"SHUT UP AND LET HIM RESCUE US!" everyone else yelled back.
The two plant monsters immediately went at it, Ivysaur's Vine Whips blocking Cherrymon's vines, Cherrymon's bombs blocking Ivysaur's Razor Leaves.
"Why did you want to free Exveemon first?" Mimi asked Davis, who was trying to get his arm free.
"I have a plan." Davis replied. Mimi repressed a shudder. "Okay, now!"
"SAUR!" Ivysaur yelled. Even evacuated, New York had a lot of lights. It wasn't as good as sunlight, but it was enough for Ivysaur to pull off a low powered Solar Beam. The ray of light stabbed out, severing the vine that held Exveemon. That digimon glowed, and became Veemon.
At the same moment, Davis got his hand free, and held out his D-Terminal. "Digiarmour energize!"
"Veemon, armour digivolve to...Flamedramon, the fire of courage!" The armoured digimon landed beside Ivysaur. "Okay, you're a giant tree, and I use fire attacks. Do we really have to do the math here?" TO underline his point, Flamedramon's hand rippled with a bright orange flame.
Cherrymon subsided. "I'll be good."
"Good. Now put everyone down. Gently. Yes, Strikedramon too." Cherrymon did so. Lillymon pulled away, running towards the two. "Please, no need to-"
"Oh, Ivysaur!" Lillymon wailed. "I was so scared! And you came to save me, just like you always do!" she sniffed, holding the pokemon close.
"Hey, what about me?" Flamedramon asked.
==
"Well, that went well." Davis said offhandedly. "All the digimon are back in the Digital World, and...where's Ivysaur?"
"Don't ask." Monodramon snapped.
"There's still a few digimon left to go through the portal." Benjamin said. "He and Palmon are helping the other digidestined out."
"Keener." Monodramon growled. "What's that four-legged flowerbox got that I don't?"
"Charm?" Mimi suggested.
"Mad battling skills?" Davis added.
Stuart shrugged. "Built in Wave Motion Cannon?"
"Co-ordinated body colours?" Veemon hazarded. Groaning, Monodramon went off to have a good sulk until the plane arrived.
==Hong Kong (Interlude)
"Think they're all right up there?" Tentomon asked. The group was on a double decker bus, headed towards where Kari's D-3 had indicated a digimon in the vicinity.
"Yeah." Gatomon replied. Around her neck was Kari's digital camera. "Kari knows I have this, in case I have to prove anything."
Up on the top deck, Kari and Izzy sat together, thought they were both a little uncomfortable, knowing that they were being watched by Gatomon. "I wish mom would trust us a little. You'd think we were going to elope or something."
"Well, that's what parents do, right?" Izzy replied. "Dad decided to sit me down for ten minutes and lecture me. Tentomon nearly fell asleep."
"What? Oh, now I know how June feels! What did he say?"
"Oh, he made me promise to...what was it...oh yeah, 'not to lay so much as a finger on Kari, be alone with her for more than a minute, talk about going on a date, getting engaged, marriage, or what to name the kids'. Your mom stopped him before he got too far along."
Kari giggled. "I guess Kyle and June got them all scared. And, I don't care what movie we go to see, when I'm in high school, after I get my teaching certificate, and Kyoko."
"Huh?"
"The date, getting engaged, when we get married, and what to name the kids, silly." Kari smiled. "So this way, you can't get in trouble if dad finds out." Both of them relaxed a bit. "See? I have everything all figured out."
"What if it's a boy?" Izzy asked playfully.
"Don't be silly. Girls make much better digidestined than boys."
Izzy opened his mouth, then thought for a second. "Well, Sora probably wouldn't have let Tai and Matt fight each other so often. Hmm...I'll have to study that."
"Call her a test subject and I go to both your parents." Gatomon said, poking her head up out of the stairwell.
(Note: The rest of the Hong Kong sequence went pretty much as it did in the original TV series, so there's not much need for me to retell it here. Okay, the Phoi brothers were a little miffed when they found out Izzy and Kari were about to start dating, but they got over it. And the eldest did take a bit of a shine to Mina. And Gatomon did get a few embarrassing shots of Kari and Izzy together. -ed)
==Vancouver
June looked around. "It's so...wet here." It was a small downpour, the two humans and their partners standing under an awning on one of the main streets. "I thought it was winter."
"Welcome to the Wet Coast (that's NOT a typo. -ed)." the local Gennai said. "Hi, I'm David, one of Gennai's counterparts. You must be Kyle and June. Oh, congratulations."
Kyle sighed. "Does EVERYONE know about our engagement?"
"The ring is a give-away." June sighed. "But I don't mind the attention!"
"Well, we'd better get going. Are your digimon ready to fight?"
"Well, Growlithe's resting in his pokeball, but Eevee's ready to go. And I let Scizor out when we got here but I...HEY, STOP HORSING AROUND AND GET DOWN HERE!" Kyle suddenly yelled.
"In a second!" Scizor yelled back. "Metal Claw!" he shouted, grabbing Musyamon's blade and wrenching it out of the digimon's grip. he dodged around the disarmed digimon and, with a second claw swipe, hurled Musyamon towards the ground.
"Digiport open!" Kyle said, opening up a digiport, drawing Musyamon in (And his sword).
"Showoff." Elecmon muttered.
"You should see him when he actually has to fight someone." Eevee replied. "He's almost as good as...I am, come to think of it."
Scizor glanced at Eevee. "Please. Kyle, I think I saw a few more digimon two blocks over. I couldn't see how many, though. They're kicking up too much dust."
"Well, let's go then!" June said.
"Yes dear." Kyle replied. June stuck her tongue out at him, then headed down the street, Kyle following her.
David glanced at Scizor. "You didn't tell him? I know you talked with Gennai before we left."
"After this is over." Scizor followed Kyle down the road, as did David. "Are there any other digidestined here?"
"Three." David replied. "And they should be here in about fifteen minutes. Vancouver's closed up with all the monsters flying around. There's Kaari (Pronounced 'Kerry' -ed), he's got a Veedramon partner, Yuri, she has a Yashamon for a partner, and Kei, with her partner Deputymon."
"Not another one." Scizor groaned.
"Relax. This one's smarter. If you don't mind Kei. She's...excitable."
==
Kyle looked at his digivice, incredulous. "Jagamon." he said, looking at the small herd of digimon milling around aimlessly.
"A whole herd of them." June added.
"Don't be too careless." Leomon said. "They may look placid, but they can cause a lot of damage if they start stampeding."
"Maybe we can drive them towards a digiport with Pidgeot." Kyle thought out loud. "She could do it with Whirlwind; it wouldn't do too much damage around here."
"Odd." David said. "When I saw them, they were kicking up quite a ruckus. And I think there was another digimon with them."
"I don't see anyone." Kyle said, looking around. "Just a herd of Jagamon. Well, I guess-"
"AHH! HUMAN!" one of the Jagamon shouted, starting another stampede. With a mighty roar, the entire herd took off away from the small group of digidestined.
"Okayyy..." June trailed off.
==
"Why won't you just STAY DOWN!" the redhead snarled. "Deputymon, keep trying to bring him down!"
"Will do, pardner!" Deputymon replied. "JUSTICE BULLET!" The giant cannon that made up his torso erupted, firing off a massive bullet. The bullet's target evaded the shot, cackling madly.
"Kei!" the raven-haired girl beside Kei said. "Keep that up and we'll level half the city! Really, you could try showing a little restraint!"
"Hah! The only way we're going to finish this oversized turkey off is by blowing him out of the sky, not by sneaking around like your little stickboy's doing!" There was a sudden cracking noise, and Kei looked up. A blue-skinned humanoid carrying a pair of wooden swords had jumped on the back of the Vilemon they were fighting, and smacked it on the back of its head.
"Good work Yashamon!" Yuri shouted. "See, Kei?"
"Show-off."
"Hothead."
"Jerk."
"V-Breath Arrow!" The attack knocked out the Bakemon that was making its way over to where they were standing.
"If you two are quite done?" the boy asked, shaking his head. He was a bit older than the two girls, thin, had dark hair, and wore glasses (Think Keanu Reeves, but smarter. -ed). "Nice shot."
"Eh, someone had to do it." Veedramon said, lumbering into view. "But whoever sent those other digimon here is serious. Oh, Kaari, I think I saw at least one more Bakemon, but it took off before I could get it."
"Well, it's not hard to...find..." Kaari said. "I think we should start running now."
"Why?" Kei asked.
"Yeah, we took down both of them." Deputymon added.
"Yes, and a fine job you two did of that. But I'm really more worried about that." Kaari answered, pointing down the road. At the herd of Jagamon. Heading in their direction. "Very fast we should run." he Yoda'd for effect, then took his own advice, everyone else following him.
"Can't we just blast 'em?" Kei asked, still running.
"Too many!" Yuri replied. "Unless you want to rip up half the city!"
"I can live without Harbour Centre!"
"Oh sure, just because you didn't get into Simon Fraser University!"
"Could we deal with this later!" Kaari yelled, exasperated. Unlike the other two, Kaari was able to get a ride on his digimon, and was seriously considering charging into battle with the Jagamon herd, just to get away from those two bickering. He turned, and saw that the Jagamon had stopped.
"Oooh! He's so BIG!" Kei squealed.
"Um." Leomon answered, not sure how to take this.
==
Gennai and Kyle were sending the last of the Jagamon through a digiport. While they were working, June was introducing herself to the local digidestined.
"So, been here long?" Yuri asked June.
"No, just a few hours. We're from Japan. Well, I am. Kyle's from a little place called Stone Town."
"Oh, he's the one from another planet?" Kei asked. "So, what's it like dating an alien?"
"Kei!" Yuri snapped, elbowing the redhead.
"What? He's not from this planet!"
"It's an alternate dimension, Kei. Honestly, if you'd read a bit more..."
"Yes, they're always like this." Kaari sighed. "Our digimon showed up here about a month ago. Too bad Kei's into heavy artillery."
"We do make the perfect pair." Deputymon said, nodding. He glanced at Scizor. "Hey, I had a cousin who said he fought a red bug. That you? Cause I'm a lot stronger than he is."
"He would beat you in a second." Yashamon said. "His power is quite evident."
"Ahh, don't feed me none of that mystic samurai spider sense garbage." Deputymon grunted. "I say I can take you in a fight." Scizor didn't reply, he just stared at Deputymon. "Well, you gonna fight, or just stand there like a Woodmon with rootrot?"
June opened her mouth, but was stopped by Kaari. "Can't stop it, just let him get it out of his system. It's not a full day until he's insulted someone a lot stronger than he is. Umm, he won't completely destroy Deputymon, will he?"
"I don't think so. Kyle did do a good job of training him. And he's fought Ultimate level digimon and survived."
"Ultimate?" Kei asked. June was about to answer when there was a blur of motion. Deputymon tried to draw a gun, but Scizor seemed to flicker, then vanished. He reappeared behind Deputymon, one claw aimed at the back of the digimon's head, yellow energy of a Hyper Beam starting to build up. "Cool." Kei whispered.
"Any questions?" Scizor asked.
"Um, no..."
June held back a groan, then looked up. "Kyle?" she asked hearing him call her name.
==A minute beforehand
David closed the laptop, and Kyle sighed as the last of the Jagamon were herded through. "Well, that was easier than I thought."
David nodded. "Well, they can't all be wild battles. I...Huh?" David looked at the ground, which seemed to be shaking.
They both heard the roar. Kyle went white, hearing it. "No, it couldn't be."
"What?" David asked, but Kyle was already off, running towards the harbour and calling June's name.
"Hey, what's up?" Eevee asked, running alongside. "What's all the..." he stopped as he heard the roar. "That was..."
"Kyle!" June yelled, running towards him. "What is it?"
"Trouble!" Kyle answered, as he rounded a corner. He skidded to a stop, and June crashed into him. He got up, helped June up, and turned to see..."Gyarados..." There were three of them. Giant blue serpents, faces locked in a perpetual scowl, thrashing around the harbour, smashing the docks to bits. "How'd they get here?"
"More digimon?" Leomon asked.
"No, pokemon!" Kyle answered. He held up a hand as Deputymon raised a gun. "No! They're not digimon, they're living beings! If you attack, you might kill them!" He glanced at June. "How about a digiport?"
June shook her head. "No. Stuart emailed me and said that the digiport between this world and the pokemon world are all messed up! There's no telling where they might end up."
"Then we'll have to catch them."
"Catch them?" Kaari asked. "Umm, with what?"
"Pokeballs. But I don't have any empty ones with me. I'll have to go back to Stone Town and get some."
Kei looked baffled. "But I thought that the digi-doors or whatever they were screwed up! How are you going to get to wherever this Stone Town is?"
Yuri nodded. "You might not be as lucky as Stuart was (no jokes! -ed). It could take forever to get there."
"No choice. Eevee, digivolve to Pyroangemon and help out here. I'll be right back. I hope." Eevee nodded, and quickly evolved into the fire angel. Kyle aimed his digivice at David's computer. "Digiport open!" With a flash, he vanished.
"Good luck." June whispered.
The Gyarados started howling, then surged forward. They identified the digimon as possible enemies, and struck first, hyper beams firing wildly.
==
Kyle exited the port, looked around for some sign. "This is...Shogun Geckomon's village?"
Ninjamon appeared in front of Kyle. "Where's Scizor? I challenge him to a duel!"
"AW, COME ON!"
==
Above her, Pyroangemon deflected a hyper beam, while Deputymon and Yashamon teamed up on the closer of the three Gyarados. June ducked, and saw Leomon starting to wade out. "Don't! They're water-type pokemon, you'll be at a disadvantage!" Reluctantly, Leomon stepped back. "Scizor, can you draw one of the Gyarados to Leomon? He can knock them out easily enough once they're on land."
"Risky, but good idea." Scizor replied. "You've been hanging around Kyle too long; you're starting to think like a pokemon trainer."
June smirked. "Heh. Maybe I'll try to be a gym leader some day."
"DUCK!" Veedramon shouted. June did so, just as Pyroangemon flew down, deflecting another Hyperbeam with his shield. The blast struck, and bounced off the shield, heading at an angle into the city.
==
James McNider sighed. The campus was closed for the season, and he had just finished cleaning up the 6th floor of the Simon Fraser University Academic Quadrangle. So he was understandably perturbed when the Hyper Beam Pyroangemon just deflected managed to shear off the north-east corner of the building (give me an 'F' in History 337? TAKE THAT, SFU! -ed).
==
The portal flared again, and Kyle stepped out (carrying with him a hand-written challenge letter to be given to Scizor when he could manage it.) He saw he was in a pokemon centre, took off out the door, and made for the nearest store he could find.
"I NEED 20 ULTRA BALLS QUICK!"
He calmed down quickly after the shopkeeper called out his Machamp.
==
Kaari glanced over to where Deputymon and Yashamon were battling. "Okay, now!" he yelled. Veedramon ran over, tackling the first Gyarados. Unfortunately, this left him wide open for the third Gyarados to charge at him. Scizor's Hyper Beam cut the space between human and pokemon, distracting the latter and allowing the former to get clear. Scizor charged forward, claws crackling with energy.
"We're doing it!" Kaari said. "Once Kyle gets back, we can trap 'em and take 'em home!"
"Shame we can't cut loose." Kei complained. "Those Jagamon were almost pathetic!"
"Hey, at least we didn't have to wreck half the city fighting them." Yuri replied. As she spoke, the computer David was carrying flared, and Kyle stepped out. "I made it! Okay, get clear! Pokeball, go!" he shouted, hurling one of the pokeballs at the Gyarados Deputymon and Yashamon were fighting. It glowed red, then was pulled into the ball.
"YEEE-HAW!" Deputymon yelled. "We got it!" So excited was he that he fired off his Justice Bullet, punching a hole in the side of Harbour Center.
Kei looked at the hole in the building. "Oops..." she said, as Kaari, June, and Yuri facefaulted. Kyle, catching the other two Gyarados, missed it all.
==
"So...who's going to fix this?" June asked.
"I made the mess, I'll fix it." Deputymon sighed.
"You couldn't fix a sandwich." Yashamon replied.
"What? You take that back!"
"Make me, cannon brain!"
"You're on, stick boy!" Kei and Yuri tried to break their partners up, before the expected fight could damage the downtown even more.
Kaari and Veedramon sighed. "So, what will you two do now?"
"Wait for Ken and Davis to signal us, I guess." Kyle answered. "We're all doing this simultaneously, so it shouldn't be too long."
David nodded. "I'm keeping up with my other counterparts. Assuming that Mewtwo doesn't atomise Ilya in Russia, it should be about half an hour. Everyone else seems to be doing all right."
"Half an hour?" Kaari asked. "Hey, I know a place nearby. It's an Italian coffee place called Callabria, it's still open. Wanna go?"
"Sure." June replied. Kyle nodded, and the group set off, trying hard to ignore the sword strikes and cannon fire behind them. A Starbucks store caught a Justice Bullet, but no one minded.
==Australia
"Mmm...I love this place!" Caryl said. It was bright, sunny and warm. "I wish I'd known we were going to the beach."
"There is no time for that now." Renamon said. "Over there. See the spire?"
"That didn't take long." Cody said. "Digmon can destroy it, right?"
"I'm surprised that more people aren't freaking out here." Armadillomon looked around. "Must be a really laid-back place."
"I was here once, about a year ago." Caryl said. "Oh, alright." she grumbled, seeing Renamon's expression. "Come on, let's go wreck the spire."
Cody nodded. "Digiarmour energize!"
"Armadillomon, armour digivolve to...Digmon, the wisdom of steel! Gold Rush!"
Renamon jumped into the air, arms crossed. "Diamond Storm!"
The two attacks hit the spire, smashing it in a second. "See, easy!" Digmon said. All around them, people had gathered, and started applauding. Caryl turned to the crowd and bowed.
"Please don't encourage her." Renamon moaned.
"Hey, I get little enough time for my adoring public!" Caryl replied. She nodded to one person in the crowd. "Hey, can you get our picture?" The boy, about her age, stepped forward, holding a large camera. "It's one of those ones that spits out the picture after you take it, right? Neat! Come over here, Cody!" Hooking her arm around Cody's, Caryl pulled the boy into the shot as Renamon and Digmon (Also at Caryl's 'request') stood behind them. There was a click, and the picture came out of the bottom of the camera.
"Uhh..." Cody stammered, embarrassed by the attention.
"See? You look adorable!" Caryl said. "I'll get a copy made and send it to you when this is all over!"
A tall man looking like Gennai pushed through the crowd. "There you are! Come on, we have to destroy the control spire!"
"But we just did." Cody replied.
"There's another one out on the coral reefs, and the digimon around it are wrecking the whole place."
"Like them?" Digmon asked, pointing out over the ocean.
==
Derek and Crabmon held onto the sailboard for dear life. Right now, they were being chased by Shellmon, Gesomon, and Ebidramon, just because Crabmon had made one stupid sushi joke. "Remind me to introduce you to my mom's boiler!" Derek said, trying to keep the craft upright.
"Help's on the way! Oxygen Torpedo!" Gesomon and Ebidramon immediately turned and ran. Shellmon came after Submarimon.
Derek gaped as a giant yellow fox jumped off of Submarimon, spun in mid-air, turned into a comet of bluish fire, and slammed into Shellmon. Even more stunning was the fact that there was a girl on the fox's back, seeming to have enjoyed the whole thing.
"Great job, Kyuubimon!" Caryl shouted.
"Are you alright? My Dragon Wheel can be a bit...intense." Kyuubimon replied.
Submarimon pulled up beside Kyuubimon and Caryl, now safely perched on a floating (and unconcious) Shellmon. "Are you alright?" Cody asked.
"Sure we are." Caryl replied. "I mean, it's not like we could have ridden inside Submarimon together. Unless you really wanted me in there with you." she added slyly. Cody stammered, turned a rather fascinating shade of red, and started studying his feet.
"Caryl." Kyuubimon reprimanded her partner.
"Are you for real?" Derek asked.
"You bet!" Submarimon replied. "I'm Submarimon, that's Kyuubimon, the two humans are Cody and Caryl (she's the insane one), and you must be Derek. Hogan, the local Gennai clone, told us you'd be out here, so we decided to come lend a hand. Er, fin."
"Pleased to meet you! I'm Crabmon, and Derek here is...well, Derek. Look, there's a black tower thingy on the reef nearby, and we need some help getting rid of it. Hey, how come you could digivolve?"
"We destroyed the Spire on the beach." Caryl answered. "Are there any more digimon at the other spire?"
"Yeah." Derek replied. "Ebidramon and Gesomon are on the way back there, and I think there's a Scorpiomon there too. We couldn't get close enough to make sure."
"Well, then we'll have to, won't we?" Kyuubimon asked.
==
"We surrender!" Gesomon said to Kyuubimon. Beside him, Ebidramon was nodding eagerly.
"You cowards!" Scorpiomon shouted. "Fight them!"
"No way!" Ebidramon replied. "We didn't sign on for this! Come on, we're leaving!" With that, Gesomon and Ebidramon took off, diving into the water.
"Well, that was anticlimactic." Cody said to Armadillomon. "Look, why don't you let us take that spire down, and we'll get you back to the Digital World?"
"Never! I finally found a place that I love! The clean air! The pure ocean waters! No humans! I'm never leaving this place!"
"Oh for..." Caryl said.
"Allow us! Armadillomon, digivolve to...Ankylomon!"
"Be careful!" Derek said. "You might damage the coral reef if you go stomping around like that!"
"He's actually very light on his feet." Cody replied. "You heard him Ankylomon!"
"You're not getting rid of me that easily!" Scorpiomon roared, charging forward.
It was almost too easy. "Tail Hammer!" Ankylomon growled, spinning around and sending Scorpiomon flying with a single well-placed tail swipe.
"I guess you are....!" Scorpiomon said, making a splash as he hit the water.
"Mine!" Crabmon called. "Water's my element, and that oversized sandcrab's got nothing on me in the deep! Crabmon, digivolve to...Coelaman!" Coelamon dove in.
"Should we follow him?" Kyuubimon asked.
"Nahh, he can handle it." Derek replied. "But that spire's got to go."
"Very well then. Foxtail Inferno!" The fireballs shattered the spiral, which promptly vanished. "As you said, Cody. This was rather anticlimactic."
"Oh, I don't know. We got to travel, go to the beach, meet lots of interesting people, and save the world to boot! I like it." Caryl replied.
"What about Coelamon?" Cody asked.
"He'll be fine." Derek replied. "He's a lot faster than Scorpiomon underwater." A second later, Scorpiomon came running out, looking stricken.
"Please, make him stop! That crazy freak's worse than that Gomamon's supposed to be!" Cody winced, having personal experience with Joe's partner's sense of humour. "I'll do anything, please, just make him go away!"
"What did he do?" Caryl asked.
Coelamon crawled out of the water. "What? I was just telling him about Goethe."
"Who?" Cody asked. Derek shuddered.
"You know, the German philosopher? Only wrote stuff in the morning. Only philosopher who went from bed to verse." Scorpiomon started running, actually jumping into the digital portal that Cody had opened on the laptop Caryl had brought. "What? I didn't even get a chance to tell him about the buddhist hamburger joint."
Caryl blinked. "Eish?"
"You know, the place that'll make you one with everything?"
"I think we need Imperialdramon to pick us up." Armadillomon said, switching back to his rookie form. "Right *now*!"
"I do not believe he would be dragon his tail." Kyuubimon replied.
Caryl glanced at her partner, slightly nauseated by the bad pun. "Okay, Crabmon's not allowed to talk anymore!"
"Try and stop me!" Crabmon replied. "I have an escape claws!" he added, snapping his two claws in the air.
"That's it, I'm leaving." Hogan said, jumping into the water and swinging for the nearest boat. Fortunately, it was filled with the rest of the Australian digidestined, who were all too familiar with Crabmon.
And yes, they did send all the Digimon home. Another 10 minutes of Crabmon's jokes, and the humans wanted to join them.
Next Episode:
The second part of the World Tour! Russia, France, Southern California, Mexico (well, a brief bit there.) and, courtesy of author NinetalesUK, Joe and Ryo in London! And a lot of digidestined. Lots. Too many to manage, almost...
Digicross chapter 37:
World's Tour Part 2 - The SoCal Dragon!
Wow. Guest authors. I must be doing *something* right.
Kyle's engagement ring. June shivered, still overcome at the thought of it. Dad had turned white when he had seen it, mom cried a bit, and Davis...well, he stopped plotting Kyle's murder, anyway. Oh, there had been the expected 'finish school and get a job' speech dad had immediately launched into (Once mom had peeled him off the ceiling) that June agreed to (as had Kyle, whom mom was already calling 'son', to dad's chagrin). That reminded her; she still had to have a nice long talk with Elecmon about spying on her. But it could wait.
Someone was pounding on her door. For a split second, June was afraid that it was her dad, intent on taking her engagement ring away. Then the door almost flew open. "June!" Davis almost yelled, clearly panicked about something. "You've got to see this!" Without waiting (or listening), Davis grabbed June's arm and half dragged her to the television.
"And reports are coming in just now about mysterious black towers appearing, seemingly at random, all over the world. So far, three have been spotted in Japan, with other major population centers, including France, New York, Vancouver, Hong Kong, London..."
June got up, ready to call Kyle, but found that Davis was on the phone already.
==
Digimon: Digicross episode 36
-Worlds Tour part 1: Vancouver's lights, New York's sights.
==
The next two hours saw a small army of digidestined descend on various parts of Japan, sending digimon back through the portals and destroying all the spires they could find. Disturbingly, they couldn't contact Ryo, though Melody and Crystal had been only too happy to come help. Kyle had come though the digiport, bringing Tai and Kari with him.
"It's too early for this! Shurimon, take care of that oversized rodent already! I need my beauty sleep!" Yolei snarled (No, she's not a morning person -ed).
"I almost have him...NOW!" Shurimon yelled, and leaped back as the lake he and Musyamon were fighting over suddenly erupted. Depthmon came shooting out, and caught the sword-wielding digimon in a vortex of water.
"Digiport open!" Melody shouted, aiming her digivice at the laptop Yolei was carrying. A portal icon appeared, and Musyamon was sucked through. "Not bad, Depthmon! I'm glad all that loafing on the beach didn't make you too much of a wimp."
Depthmon switched back to V-mon. "Hey, I was building up my heat tolerance! Besides, those pina coladas are addictive." Melody sighed.
Shurimon landed, and released the digiegg he was using, turning back into Hawkmon. "I wonder how the others are doing?"
Across town, Noriko Takaya shrieked and ran as a large spider came running at her. "Someone please save me!" She regretted shouting, as she was overtaken by a coughing fit, and fell down, too weak to get up.
Cody and Armadillomon chased after Dokugumon, wishing that TK was with him. "Get away from her! Digiarmour energize!" He stumbled as he activated the digiegg, nearly dropping the laptop Izzy had loaned him.
"Armadillomon, armour digivolve to...Digmon, the wisdom of steel!" Digmon aimed his drill missiles, ready to fire. "Dokugemon's too close to that girl! I have to get closer." he huffed, stomping forward. Cody's heart was in his mouth, as he realised that, by the time Digmon was in position, it would be too late for that girl.
Wings were flapping. Suddenly, a white streak shot between Dokugumon and Noriko, stopping the digimon in its tracks. Dokugumon reared back, challenged by...a duck with a green onion?
Cody's mind instantly shot back...months, was it? It was when he had first met Kyle, and he had shown the group something on his pokedex. "A Farfetch'd?" he gasped.
"Farfetched! Far, FarFARFETCHED!" the duck pokemon honked, waving his impromptu weapon at Dokugumon. Unimpressed, Dokugumon shot forward, trying to bite the pokemon in two. Farfetch'd dodged the attack, swinging his onion stalk as he moved. The spider reared back, a bright red 'X' on its forehead now. Dokugumon spent a few seconds trying to get around the pokemon, then just webbed it up.
That, however, had given Digmon more than enough time to get in position. "Gold Rush!" he yelled, sending all five missiles slamming into Dokugumon. The spider digimon was knocked out, and quickly sent back to the digital world through the laptop.
Cody ran over to Noriko. "Are you alright?" he asked, helping Noriko up. "Don't worry." he said, nodding to Digmon. "He's a friend, just like this...duck? Are you a pokemon, by any chance? Did Kyle or Ryo send you?" Farfetch'd shook his head defiantly, as if saying 'Me? Owned by a human? Don't be silly!' Digmon managed to free the duck pokemon, who promptly ignored him (Rather catlike, yes? -ed)
"You mean, there are more of those monsters loose here?" Noriko asked, still shaken by her first encounter with a digimon.
"Don't worry, my friends and I are sending them back to their own world." Cody assured her. "Umm...do you want me to walk you home?" Cody asked, unsure what to do next.
Noriko smiled a bit. "Aren't you a bit young to be a knight in shining armour?"
"Uh...well, grandpa always told me to never leave someone who's hurt alone when there's giant monsters running loose." Cody replied, dead serious (Yes, Cody's grandpa really did say this. It was after a Gojira marathon and...ah, skip it -ed).
"Well, we can't go around disappointing your grandfather, now can we?" Noriko answered. She glanced at Farfetch'd who had waddled over to Noriko. "Umm...thank you?" she said to the duck, not sure how to talk to...well, a duck. Farfetch'd nodded, glowed for a second, and glanced up as a small rectangular piece of metal appeared over him.
"A digivice!" Cody gasped, recognising it instantly. "Does that mean...your partner is Farfetch'd?"
"Farfetch'd!"
==
Davis had to fight not to laugh out loud. Exveemon and Angemon were fighting the Sabirdramon that had appeared last night, and was now back, eager to settle scores. With him was a Monochromon, which Crystal and Strabimon were battling.
"Shining Nail!" Strabimon yelled, ramming one hand into Monochromon's head, knocking the heavily-armoured digimon out. It was Strabimon's pose, so much like Domon Kasshu's 'Shining Finger' pose from 'G Gundam', that nearly had Davis cracking up. Plus he sounded a bit like Domon, if he were in his early teens and had just inhaled a bit of helium.
Angemon thrust his fist forward, aiming at Sabirdramon. "Hand of Fate!" The attack struck Sabirdramon in the back, forcing him towards Exveemon.
"Got him!" Exveemon called, tossing him towards the digiport TK had opened. Sabirdramon vanished through, and, after a few more strikes from Strabimon, Monochromon went through as well.
Crystal's pokegear rang. "It's Kari." she said as TK and Davis ran over. "They managed to get a Triceramon through a digiport, and that Izzy wants us to meet him in Haighton View Park. He says something big is happening."
"He must be talking about all those spires that appeared all over the world." TK replied. "Maybe we're going to go after them all ourselves."
Davis pumped his fist in the air. "Cool! World Tour!" Crystal looked at TK, who only shrugged and sighed.
==
Izzy tried not to look too nervous as the digidestined gathered around. "I assume everyone here knows about the Control Spires appearing all over the world?"
"All over the world?" Matt asked, stunned. "And are there...?"
Izzy nodded. "Yes. Digimon have also appeared. And whoever sent them here fixed it so that our old digivices can't open a digiport to send them back." He demonstrated with his own digivice on his laptop. The portal appeared, but did not open. "As many of you discovered, only those of you with D-3s can open digiports now. Worse, we can't travel through the digital world to help out those other places." Izzy's laptop glowed. "Incoming portal...it's Ryo."
"About time." Caryl muttered. "Figures he'd leave me to do all his work for him."
Ryo appeared, face dark. "Bad news. Izzy told me about the Control Spires in this world. Well, I just took one out near New Bark Town, and I've heard reports of more in the Orange Islands."
"My home!" Melody gasped. "Have any digimon appeared there?"
"I took care of two, but I haven't heard any reports of any in the Orange Archipelago. Mind you, they could be laying low, or just be mistaken for unusual pokemon. I talked to Edward, he's going to check it out."
"I'll go too." Melody said. "That's my home too." She stopped, looking at Davis.
"What? Like you said, it's your home. Just leave saving this world to me."
Crystal glanced at TK, then spoke up. "Count me in. Sorry TK." TK, blushing a bit, nodded to Crystal.
"You'd better get going then." Izzy said, then stepped back as Crystal and Melody went through. "Not you, Ryo. Not yet, at least.
"This is going to be tricky, but we're going to have to separate into teams of two and help out the digidestined who don't have D-3s like you do."
Yolei grimaced. "You'll be breaking up all our DNA teams if you do that. If we run into trouble with other Ultimate or even Mega level digimon, we might not be able to fight them."
Gennai stepped forward. "Well, I can actually help you there. Mewtwo and Azulongmon are a bit tapped out, but Ebonwumon and Zhuquiamon still have some power to spare." He opened his hands to reveal a digicore. "If I could have all the original digidestined children step forward?" Tai, Matt, Sora, and Joe did so. "Kari? TK? You too. I can use this digicore to temporarily repower your digimon. You should be able to digivolve them back to their Ultimate levels again."
"I can become WereGarurumon again?" Gabumon asked. "All right!"
"What about Mimi?" Sora asked. "She's not here."
"I'll send the digicore with whoever goes to New York." Gennai replied. "Now, how to pick who to go where..."
"Actually, I might be able to answer that." Izzy replied. "I was toying around with this a year after our first trip to the digital world. What I did was enter everyone's name in a database, and write a program to randomly select teams of digidestined. When I heard about the control spires appearing here, I modified the program to also select cities."
"Wait." Joe said suddenly. "Izzy, you planned for an attack of digimon world-wide?"
Izzy shrugged. "Lucky guess? Actually, I started toying around with it after our first trip to the digital world. Remember, digimon started appearing all over the world then, too."
"But how will we get there?" Tai asked. "Swim?"
"Imperialdramon." Gennai answered. "He can travel quite fast when the need is there."
"Right. I've modified the program so that Ken, Davis, Kyle, and June are on the same continent. In this case, it's North America, where there are four trouble areas: Vancouver, New York, Southern California, and Mexico. I already contacted Seth, and he and Kyle Evanick are headed to Southern California."
"I bet Casey insisted on going with them." Yolei commented.
"Actually, she did." Izzy replied. "Okay, North America teams: Ken and...Matt. You're off to Mexico. Davis, you're meeting Mimi in New York. That leaves Kyle and June to go to Vancouver." Both Kyle and June blushed as everyone looked at them, grinning knowingly.
"Try and behave you two." Matt joked, getting a dirty look from Kyle. One of Kyle's pokeballs opened, and Ivysaur appeared, marching over to where Davis was.
"Ivysaur?" Kyle asked. "I...oh, right. Palmon." The plant pokemon refused to look at anyone, ignoring the barrage of laughter.
"Okay, the rest of the teams. Hong Kong. Kari and...me?"
"TOTALLY RANDOM, HUH?" everyone (except for Kari) chorused.
"It was!" Izzy replied.
"Don't worry, we'll make sure they behave." Gatomon said, glancing at a now furiously blushing Kari.
"Or at least tell everyone what happened." Tentomon added.
"Ahem. Anyway...Australia: Cody and Caryl."
"Yayy!" Caryl cheered. "I get the cute one!" Immediately, she latched onto Cody's arm. Cody looked pleadingly at Ryo. Renamon just groaned.
"London: Ryo and Joe."
"I hope they cleaned up the Thames." Gomamon sighed. "And I hope it's warm there. I hate ice."
"I thought you liked ice." Joe replied.
"Not every day of my life."
Izzy took a deep breath, calming himself. "Russia: Yolei and Sora."
"See?" Gomamon commented, noting Yolei's rather dark expression.
"France: Tai and TK."
"Agumon?" Sora asked.
"I'll tell you about everyone he talks to." Agumon replied.
"Gee thanks." Tai replied sourly.
"Oh, and there are others like me in all the cities you'll be going to. They'll be co-ordinating with the local digidestined, give you directions if you need it, and handle translations if needed." Gennai glanced at Izzy.
"Okay, that's everyone." Izzy said, still not meeting anyone's eyes. "We should leave soon, half an hour, if possible. Say your goodbyes. I...hello?" Izzy said, seeing a face he didn't recognise.
"Uhh, I followed Cody here." Noriko said. That arched a few eyebrows. And took some of the attention off of Izzy (much to his relief -ed). "I think...well, I think I'm one of these digidestined too." she indicated Farfetch'd, and held up her digivice.
"Um." Izzy said.
"I'll fill her in." Gennai replied. "You'd better get going." Everyone else nodded, and left. "So...this is a pokemon, right?"
"Far." the duck pokemon responded, smacking Gennai with his green onion.
==
Ryo had started to head to Ken's place, when he noticed Caryl following him. "Caryl?" He stopped. Caryl was normally cheerful and, well...hyper. Now, she looked almost...worried?
"You'll be careful, right?" Caryl asked.
"Hey, it's me." Ryo replied. "Besides, I'll have Joe with me. Tell you what, I'll be careful if you promise not to torment Cody too much, alright?"
The old Caryl was back. "Awww. He's so much fun, he just needs to lighten up!"
"I will keep her restrained. If I can." Renamon sighed, resigned. She looked up. "And I will make sure nothing happens to her."
"Thanks." Ryo replied.
"Oh, Ryo?" Caryl asked. "I want a big ceremony, with a live band, and a huge cake for the reception."
"Bwaah?" Ryo asked.
"Our wedding, silly! I'm not letting June beat me!" Ryo facefaulted, and Caryl cracked up.
==
Seth got off the phone, still bleary-eyed. He had been rudely woken up that morning when a small herd of Pagumon had trotted through town, and had been up the rest of the day trying to herd them back to the nearest computer. "I'm glad this is one of the new models." he sighed, glancing at Wizardmon. "Okay, I just talked to Izzy, and we're going to meet Casey and Kyle Evanick on the way to South California. There's a control spire there that needs to be busted, and a lot of loose digimon."
Wizardmon nodded. "Well then. How shall we get there?"
"How? Uhh...well, can't you, you know...'whoosh' us there?"
"'Whoosh'?"
"You know, do that magic thing and teleport us? You are a wizard, right?"
"Ahh...I don't do the teleport thing..."
Seth sighed. "This is gonna be a long walk..."
==
"Mmm-Hmm...right. Okay, I'll make my way there. Okay, see you there, Mimi." Stuart hung up the phone. "So, how do I get to New York?"
"Swim?" Monodramon suggested.
"Hmm...Hey, I know! Come on!" Stuart aimed his digivice at the screen.
"But I thought the digiports were all scrambled!" Monodramon protested.
"To the Digital World, yes. But we can take a shortcut through the Pokemon World instead! Digiport Open!"
==
Ken heard a knock on his door. Briefly, he wondered if it was his mom again, trying to talk him out of this latest adventure. He opened the door and saw..."Yolei?"
"Your dad let me in. Look, about yesterday-"
Ken tried not to panic. "Ahh...I'm really sorry, I don't know what came over me."
This is the guy I had a crush on? Yolei tried not to laugh. "It's alright, I'm...okay with it. Just ask next time, alright?"
"S-Sure...Umm, I noticed you had a new outfit the last time we were in the digital world."
Yolei nodded. "Yeah, that was a really brilliant piece of software, Ken! It took me a while to figure it out, but I managed to get it to stop giving me my regular digital world outfit and store a new outfit on my D-3."
"Oh...well, it looked nice."
Yolei stammered for a second, then recovered. "Well of course it looked nice." she replied, smirking. "I mean, who needs phys ed when you're saving the digital world? I spent hours trying to get it right." She stepped closer to Ken. "And I'm glad someone appreciated it."
Hawkmon and Wormmon were watching this from the doorway. "I'm worried about Ken. Is he alright?" Wormmon asked Hawkmon.
Hawkmon sighed. "I'm just glad she's not going completely crazy. For the longest time it was Ken this and Ken that."
"I heard that!" Yolei snapped.
==
"Newton? That's not even in America!"
Monodramon sighed. "You and your shortcuts."
==
"You will do fine, Cody." his grandfather said. "Do not worry, I will keep an eye on your mother. Now you be careful. And remember to keep your arms up!"
"Yes grandpa."
"Good. And I expect you to behave yourself around this girl you'll be with."
"I'll try. But she's...well, very hyper."
"Nevertheless, I expect you to conduct yourself in an appropriate manner. Armadillomon? Please make sure Cody is unharmed."
"Will do!" Armadillomon said, standing on his back legs and making a passable salute.
==
"Newport?" Stuart looked at the sign. "I wanted New York!"
"Well, Izzy said the digiports were a bit scrambled. One more time?"
==
"So, we're off to save the world again." Tai sighed. "You think I'd be more...I don't know, worked up."
"You're just worn out." Sora told him. "With everything that's been happening. Maybe when this is over, we could go back to that beach in the Orange Islands?" She glanced at Matt. "You and Mimi could come too."
Matt looked at the sky. "I could use a break. So could Mimi. I wonder how her parents are taking this. They must be freaked with digimon appearing in New York." Matt looked around. "Where's Kari?"
"Over there." Tai said. "With Izzy." He and Matt tried not to laugh.
"Oh, stop it, you two." Sora said, mock-annoyed. "I think it's sweet, what's going on between those two."
==
"Honestly, Kari. I didn't rig it." Izzy said.
"Oh?" Kari pouted. "I almost wish you had."
"With Tai within kicking distance?" Izzy asked.
"Oh...Look, Tai's alright with us seeing each other. He just likes to act tough, you know that."
"I know. I just..." Izzy sighed, unsure what to say next.
"Izzy? How about, after this is over, we go to dinner somewhere? Just you and me, no digimon or battles or evil plans to take over the world?"
"You mean, a date?"
"Well, what else would it be? So, can we?" Izzy nodded, speechless. "Great." Kari stood on her tiptoes, and kissed him.
==
"NEWARK?"
"Hey, we're getting closer?"
==
"TK?"
TK looked up. He was in his room, putting a few things together for his trip to France. "Davis? What are you doing here?"
Davis sighed. "Oh, I just had to get out. Kyle was getting the third degree from dad, and June was freaking out. It wasn't pretty. So, you ready?"
"Ivysaur seemed to be." TK nodded to the pokemon, who was following Davis around.
"Yeah, I let him out once we got here. Kyle gave me his pokeball for the trip."
"Davis, I'm sure Melody's fine." TK said.
"Huh? Well, yeah, of course she is. I mean, she's learned from the best, right?"
"Sure Davis, the best."
Veemon spoke up. "And she's got a V-Mon of her very own too! You can't go wrong with a digimon like that!"
TK and Patamon glanced at each other, trying not to laugh.
==New York
Mimi looked up the stairs. She had just reassured her parents that she would be fine as long as Palmon was here, hung up the phone, and had started up the stairs to get changed into something a bit warmer.
However, there was a loud crash coming from her room. "It must be looters." She whispered. "Oh, Palmon, please, come back in here, I need you!" Morbidly, she listened, wondering how many there were.
"I think this is the place!"
"Well it's about time! You and your shortcut! We went through how many places to get here? And we wind up in a girl's bedroom?"
"Hey, you weren't exactly a lot of help, pal! Come on, let's go find everyone." The door opened.
"Huh. Something smells familiar." the second voice said. Both were getting close.
Frantic, Mimi looked around. Seeing no useable weapon, she clenched a fist, and got ready. "GET LOST, PERVERTS!" she shrieked, swinging blindly. She felt her fist hit something, which went down almost instantly.
"Ahh! Stuart!" Monodramon yelled. "Wake up! Can you hear me?"
Mimi gasped. "Stuart? Oh God, I'm so sorry, I had no idea you were coming by digiport! Oh, please wake up! Are you alright?"
"No problem..." Stuart moaned, lying on the floor, dazed. "I'll do the math test now, Mr. Kennedy..."
"Mimi!" Palmon shouted, running in. "I heard screams, are you all...Oh, hello Monodramon. Umm, you're a bit early."
"Thank Sam Beckett here." Monodramon sighed as Mimi helped Stuart up and into a chair.
==And back to Tokyo!
There were several dozen tearful farewells from the parents to the digidestined as they got ready to leave. All of the digidestined had lunches made for them, some useful odds and ends like mapbooks and whatever foreign money could be gotten hold of.
"You ready?" Davis called to Ken, June, and Kyle. The other three nodded. "All right, let's do it!"
"Veemon, digivolve to...Exveemon!"
"Wormmon, digivolve to...Stingmon!"
"Exveemon...Stingmon...DNA digivolve to...Paildramon!"
"Elecmon, digivolve to...Leomon!"
"Growlithe, digivolve to...Arcanine!"
"Arcanine...Leomon...DNA Digivolve to...Komainumon!"
"Komainumon...Paildramon...Mega Jogress digivolve to...Imperialdramon!"
The parents gasped as the four digimon grew, combined, and combined again, into the giant dragon that had helped save the city only two days earlier. The children were wrapped in white light, and reappeared inside a glowing white dome on Imperialdramon's back. They all waved as the dragon levitated, then seemed to vanish.
"Where...?" Nancy Takashi gasped.
Gennai looked at the parents. "Don't worry. Imperialdramon is capable of moving at incredible speeds. By now, he should be near Australia. Then he'll circle up, dropping teams off all over the globe, ending at North America, where the four teams will take care of the digimon there. Then they'll summon Imperialdramon again, and pick everyone up for the trip home.
"As I said, you have no need to worry. I have watched all of them, and I know they'll do just fine. All we can do is wait."
Mr. Ishida sighed. "Wish I'd brought a camera crew. I'd have loved to have a picture of this for when they get back." He glanced at his ex-wife. "They do grow up fast, don't they?"
Nancy nodded. "Despite everything we do, yes. I can't even stop him from dating."
Mikah nodded. "Seems to be a problem, with this digital world stuff. Monsters flying around, children acting all mature and saving the world...I don't know about you, but I'm feeling almost obsolete."
"Oh, it's not that bad." Mikhail spoke up. "They're still not old enough to drive. And we do control their allowances."
==St. Louis, Missouri
Michael gasped as he saw Imperialdramon land just outside the airport, letting off five kids about his own age and one digimon, and then Imperialdramon split into four more digimon. "Hey, long time no see!"
"Michael!" Davis yelled, running over. "We're just off to save the world. And you?"
"Oh, just try and stop me." Michael replied. "Okay, my dad's managed to book everyone flights to their respective areas. Just give your pilot a call and he'll bring you back here. Kyle, June, you're on the next jet to Vancouver, but you might have to do a bit of hiking; I don't know if Vancouver Airport's still open with all the digimon around."
"We'll manage." Kyle said. "If things get really bad, we can take the Pyroangemon express."
"What about Arcanine?"
"Worn out, the poor thing." June said. "He doesn't have an in training form to fall back on, so he'll rest."
"Eh, I can handle things just fine." Eevee said, perched on Kyle's shoulder.
"Good. Oh, congratulations." Michael glanced at Ken and Matt. "I've got you on a minijet to Mexico, you'd better get going too. Davis, that leaves you and me. My dad's flying us to New York."
"Cool!" With that, everyone left.
==New York
Davis hopped off the jet, Veemon following him. "Wow. So this is New York! Cool! I wonder if we have time to catch a game here?"
"Or eat those big apples they have here!" Veemon added, looking around. "Funny. I don't smell any apples."
"No, Veemon, New York is called the Big Apple." Davis explained.
"I thought it was called New York."
"It is, but it's also called the Big Apple sometimes."
"Oh! Like when June calls you Davis, but also sometimes calls you an idiot!"
"Yeah. Like that."
"Davis!" Mimi yelled from the other side of the chain-link fence. "Over this way!"
"Hey, Mimi! Palmon!" Davis ran over. "Stuart? Uh...what happened to your eye?"
"Don't ask." Stuart replied, still holding an ice pack over his left eye. "And don't. Ask. Monodramon. Either. Got it?" Gulping, Monodramon nodded.
"Ah, good, you're here!" an adult said, running over.
"Gennai?" Davis gasped.
"Close. I'm Benjamin, the local Gennai clone."
Michael, who had been holding back, looked at Stuart, then Mimi. "Right hook?" Embarrassed, Mimi nodded.
"You punched out Stuart?" Veemon asked. Stuart said nothing. The pokeball Davis was carrying chose that moment to open.
"Ivysaur!" Palmon squealed, running to the fence. Ivysaur ran over, then tried to pry the fence open.
"Uhh...the door's just over here." Benjamin said as Ivysaur's vines started to pull the wires
apart.
==
"A digicore?" Mimi gasped, looking at the small object floating over Davis' D-3.
"Yeh, I got it from Gennai just before I left. We were able to power up the other digimon so they could go Ultimate again."
"I can become Lillymon again?" Palmon asked.
"Down boy." Stuart said to Monodramon. "Hormonal reptile."
"Ryouga wannabe."
"I got us here, didn't I?"
"Children, please." Benjamin said, trying to break the two up. "Okay, there are several digidestined up in the north part of town, they'll drive the digimon here towards Times Square. It should be pretty easy to handle, really. Michael and Seadramon went ahead to check on the others' progress."
"Looks like we got the easy job." Davis said. "I can deal with that."
"It looks like all of the digimon came from the Digital World, not the Dark Ocean. They're more confused and scared than anything." Benjamin looked up. "Lou and the others should be here soon. Umm, you two done?"
"Hey, we're having a moment, alright?" Palmon replied, who was talking to Ivysaur. "Can't a girl talk to her boyfriend?"
"I'm gonna have to see the children from this one." Benjamin muttered.
Mimi threw a snowball at Benjamin. "You lout!" She glanced at Stuart and Davis.
"What?" Stuart asked, still holding an icepack to his head. "We agree completely!"
"Yes, he is a lout." Monodramon added.
"Well, you'd know." Stuart muttered.
==
Phil looked around, watching the procession of digimon following him. "We're near Times Square!" he called. "We should be able to get everyone home!"
"Great!" Steve, Phil's friend replied called back. "Once this is done, we can sit back and relax. Who thought we'd be taming digimon on Christmas?"
"Well," Maria answered, riding Centarumon, "it'll make for an interesting report."
"Like anyone'd believe us." Lou answered, hanging onto Tortomon's back. "If our folks knew what we were doing, we'd be grounded for the next decade." He glanced at Maria. "So, Mimi and Michael are going to meet us there?"
"Yeah. I think...Hey, Michael!" Maria called, waving.
"Someone's happy." Florizamon said to Phil, who started laughing.
"Trouble." Frigimon called. "I think Seadramon's making them a bit nervous. Okay everyone, nothing to see, just a giant flying serpent. Move along."
Cherrymon panicked. "It's a trap!" he shouted. "Pit Pelter!" Everyone dove for cover as small bombs flew everywhere. Cherrymon ran off under cover of the smoke and dust.
"I think your boyfriend freaked him!" Lou griped as Tortomon checked on him.
"He's not my boyfriend!" Yet, Maria added.
"We'll have to calm these digimon down before we can go after Cherrymon!" Tortomon said. There's too many of them to let loose now!"
"Phil, send the other digidestined a message! Michael, you caused this, go check on the two Raremon at the end of the line!"
"US?" Seadramon gasped. "What'd we do?"
==
Davis checked his D-Terminal. "Email? Looks like one of the digimon panicked and ran off! And the others are too busy trying to keep everyone else calm." He looked up. "It's up to us!"
"Then it's time to fly!" Mimi said. "Palmon, digivolve!"
"Palmon, digivolve to...LILLYMON!" The digicore Davis had brought allowed Palmon to skip her champion form and evolve straight to Lillymon. "Wow. It's been a while, hasn't it?"
Stuart glanced at Monodramon. "I said DOWN boy!" Exasperated, he bounced a snowball off of the dragon's head. Giggling, Lillymon knelt down, picked up Ivysaur (who went from bluish-green to red), and flew off.
"Lucky little planter." Monodramon grumbled. "Monodramon digivolve to a heartbroken-" he stopped as Stuart glared at him. "Uh, I mean...Monodramon, digivolve to...Strikedramon!"
"Good." Stuart said. "Now go run it off." he pointed in the direction Lillymon had gone. "Umm, any chance of a lift?"
"Veemon, digivolve to...Exveemon! All aboard!"
==
Confused, Cherrymon attacked anything that didn't look right to him. Of course, in downtown New York, this was darn near anything that wasn't a tree. And there weren't a lot of those where he was headed.
"I'm surrounded...the air smells of death...I'll destroy them all!"
"There he is!" someone called. Cherrymon looked, and saw a digimon approaching. Humanoid, large claws...ENEMY! "Okay, let's just..."
"Pit Pelter!"
Strikedramon dove back as several explosions went off around him. "Found him!" he called, then ran forward again. "Okay, buddy. There's a girl I'm trying to impress, and you're my ticket! Strike Claw!"
"Illusion Mist!"
"Ah, nuts!" Strikedramon yelled as the mist washed over him.
==
"Strikedramon? Strikedramon!" Stuart called. "I could have sworn he was around here."
Davis glanced at his D-3. "According to this, he should be right around here. Where are we?"
"Empire State Building." Mimi said, pointing up. "I mean...whaaa?"
Davis and Stuart looked up. "S...Strikedramon?" Stuart gasped. Currently, his partner was wrapped up in Cherrymon's vines, and was being carried up the side of the building by the tree digimon!
"Wow. For an oversized oak tree, he can really move." Davis muttered.
"A LITTLE HELP UP HERE?" Strikedramon shouted. "This is *so* embarrassing!"
"Biplanes?" Stuart suggested.
"Leave it to me!" Exveemon said, flying up.
"Just wait here, alright?" Lillymon said, putting Ivysaur down, then following Exveemon.
"Be careful!" Mimi yelled. "Cherrymon's got a hostage!"
"That idiot probably tried to show off. Again." Stuart grumbled. "GET HIM DOWN HERE SO I CAN KICK HIS BUTT!"
Exveemon, only hearing part of this, nodded. "Kick his butt? Alright, here I go! Cover me!
"Exveemon, wait!" Lillymon yelled, then dodged as a swarm of bombs started falling from Cherrymon. "Flower Cannon!"
Cherrymon was distracted by Lillymon's attack. Exveemon took the opportunity to fly around behind the tree digimon, and kicked him off the ledge of the Empire State Building.
"Strikedramon!" Stuart yelled. Cherrymon landed hard on the skating rink, Exveemon following close behind.
"Don't worry...the evil tree monster broke my fall."
"Enemies!" Cherrymon yelled. "Take this!" With that, vines shot out, tangling up everyone except Ivysaur.
"Lillymon!" Mimi shouted as her partner was wrapped up.
"Prepare to be plant food!" Cherrymon flinched as a spray of Razor Leaves hit him in the face. "Who dares?"
"Saur..." Ivysaur challenged.
"Ivysaur!" Lillymon shouted.
"Free Exveemon!" Davis yelled.
"Please, don't let me owe my life to Ivysaur!" Strikedramon begged.
"SHUT UP AND LET HIM RESCUE US!" everyone else yelled back.
The two plant monsters immediately went at it, Ivysaur's Vine Whips blocking Cherrymon's vines, Cherrymon's bombs blocking Ivysaur's Razor Leaves.
"Why did you want to free Exveemon first?" Mimi asked Davis, who was trying to get his arm free.
"I have a plan." Davis replied. Mimi repressed a shudder. "Okay, now!"
"SAUR!" Ivysaur yelled. Even evacuated, New York had a lot of lights. It wasn't as good as sunlight, but it was enough for Ivysaur to pull off a low powered Solar Beam. The ray of light stabbed out, severing the vine that held Exveemon. That digimon glowed, and became Veemon.
At the same moment, Davis got his hand free, and held out his D-Terminal. "Digiarmour energize!"
"Veemon, armour digivolve to...Flamedramon, the fire of courage!" The armoured digimon landed beside Ivysaur. "Okay, you're a giant tree, and I use fire attacks. Do we really have to do the math here?" TO underline his point, Flamedramon's hand rippled with a bright orange flame.
Cherrymon subsided. "I'll be good."
"Good. Now put everyone down. Gently. Yes, Strikedramon too." Cherrymon did so. Lillymon pulled away, running towards the two. "Please, no need to-"
"Oh, Ivysaur!" Lillymon wailed. "I was so scared! And you came to save me, just like you always do!" she sniffed, holding the pokemon close.
"Hey, what about me?" Flamedramon asked.
==
"Well, that went well." Davis said offhandedly. "All the digimon are back in the Digital World, and...where's Ivysaur?"
"Don't ask." Monodramon snapped.
"There's still a few digimon left to go through the portal." Benjamin said. "He and Palmon are helping the other digidestined out."
"Keener." Monodramon growled. "What's that four-legged flowerbox got that I don't?"
"Charm?" Mimi suggested.
"Mad battling skills?" Davis added.
Stuart shrugged. "Built in Wave Motion Cannon?"
"Co-ordinated body colours?" Veemon hazarded. Groaning, Monodramon went off to have a good sulk until the plane arrived.
==Hong Kong (Interlude)
"Think they're all right up there?" Tentomon asked. The group was on a double decker bus, headed towards where Kari's D-3 had indicated a digimon in the vicinity.
"Yeah." Gatomon replied. Around her neck was Kari's digital camera. "Kari knows I have this, in case I have to prove anything."
Up on the top deck, Kari and Izzy sat together, thought they were both a little uncomfortable, knowing that they were being watched by Gatomon. "I wish mom would trust us a little. You'd think we were going to elope or something."
"Well, that's what parents do, right?" Izzy replied. "Dad decided to sit me down for ten minutes and lecture me. Tentomon nearly fell asleep."
"What? Oh, now I know how June feels! What did he say?"
"Oh, he made me promise to...what was it...oh yeah, 'not to lay so much as a finger on Kari, be alone with her for more than a minute, talk about going on a date, getting engaged, marriage, or what to name the kids'. Your mom stopped him before he got too far along."
Kari giggled. "I guess Kyle and June got them all scared. And, I don't care what movie we go to see, when I'm in high school, after I get my teaching certificate, and Kyoko."
"Huh?"
"The date, getting engaged, when we get married, and what to name the kids, silly." Kari smiled. "So this way, you can't get in trouble if dad finds out." Both of them relaxed a bit. "See? I have everything all figured out."
"What if it's a boy?" Izzy asked playfully.
"Don't be silly. Girls make much better digidestined than boys."
Izzy opened his mouth, then thought for a second. "Well, Sora probably wouldn't have let Tai and Matt fight each other so often. Hmm...I'll have to study that."
"Call her a test subject and I go to both your parents." Gatomon said, poking her head up out of the stairwell.
(Note: The rest of the Hong Kong sequence went pretty much as it did in the original TV series, so there's not much need for me to retell it here. Okay, the Phoi brothers were a little miffed when they found out Izzy and Kari were about to start dating, but they got over it. And the eldest did take a bit of a shine to Mina. And Gatomon did get a few embarrassing shots of Kari and Izzy together. -ed)
==Vancouver
June looked around. "It's so...wet here." It was a small downpour, the two humans and their partners standing under an awning on one of the main streets. "I thought it was winter."
"Welcome to the Wet Coast (that's NOT a typo. -ed)." the local Gennai said. "Hi, I'm David, one of Gennai's counterparts. You must be Kyle and June. Oh, congratulations."
Kyle sighed. "Does EVERYONE know about our engagement?"
"The ring is a give-away." June sighed. "But I don't mind the attention!"
"Well, we'd better get going. Are your digimon ready to fight?"
"Well, Growlithe's resting in his pokeball, but Eevee's ready to go. And I let Scizor out when we got here but I...HEY, STOP HORSING AROUND AND GET DOWN HERE!" Kyle suddenly yelled.
"In a second!" Scizor yelled back. "Metal Claw!" he shouted, grabbing Musyamon's blade and wrenching it out of the digimon's grip. he dodged around the disarmed digimon and, with a second claw swipe, hurled Musyamon towards the ground.
"Digiport open!" Kyle said, opening up a digiport, drawing Musyamon in (And his sword).
"Showoff." Elecmon muttered.
"You should see him when he actually has to fight someone." Eevee replied. "He's almost as good as...I am, come to think of it."
Scizor glanced at Eevee. "Please. Kyle, I think I saw a few more digimon two blocks over. I couldn't see how many, though. They're kicking up too much dust."
"Well, let's go then!" June said.
"Yes dear." Kyle replied. June stuck her tongue out at him, then headed down the street, Kyle following her.
David glanced at Scizor. "You didn't tell him? I know you talked with Gennai before we left."
"After this is over." Scizor followed Kyle down the road, as did David. "Are there any other digidestined here?"
"Three." David replied. "And they should be here in about fifteen minutes. Vancouver's closed up with all the monsters flying around. There's Kaari (Pronounced 'Kerry' -ed), he's got a Veedramon partner, Yuri, she has a Yashamon for a partner, and Kei, with her partner Deputymon."
"Not another one." Scizor groaned.
"Relax. This one's smarter. If you don't mind Kei. She's...excitable."
==
Kyle looked at his digivice, incredulous. "Jagamon." he said, looking at the small herd of digimon milling around aimlessly.
"A whole herd of them." June added.
"Don't be too careless." Leomon said. "They may look placid, but they can cause a lot of damage if they start stampeding."
"Maybe we can drive them towards a digiport with Pidgeot." Kyle thought out loud. "She could do it with Whirlwind; it wouldn't do too much damage around here."
"Odd." David said. "When I saw them, they were kicking up quite a ruckus. And I think there was another digimon with them."
"I don't see anyone." Kyle said, looking around. "Just a herd of Jagamon. Well, I guess-"
"AHH! HUMAN!" one of the Jagamon shouted, starting another stampede. With a mighty roar, the entire herd took off away from the small group of digidestined.
"Okayyy..." June trailed off.
==
"Why won't you just STAY DOWN!" the redhead snarled. "Deputymon, keep trying to bring him down!"
"Will do, pardner!" Deputymon replied. "JUSTICE BULLET!" The giant cannon that made up his torso erupted, firing off a massive bullet. The bullet's target evaded the shot, cackling madly.
"Kei!" the raven-haired girl beside Kei said. "Keep that up and we'll level half the city! Really, you could try showing a little restraint!"
"Hah! The only way we're going to finish this oversized turkey off is by blowing him out of the sky, not by sneaking around like your little stickboy's doing!" There was a sudden cracking noise, and Kei looked up. A blue-skinned humanoid carrying a pair of wooden swords had jumped on the back of the Vilemon they were fighting, and smacked it on the back of its head.
"Good work Yashamon!" Yuri shouted. "See, Kei?"
"Show-off."
"Hothead."
"Jerk."
"V-Breath Arrow!" The attack knocked out the Bakemon that was making its way over to where they were standing.
"If you two are quite done?" the boy asked, shaking his head. He was a bit older than the two girls, thin, had dark hair, and wore glasses (Think Keanu Reeves, but smarter. -ed). "Nice shot."
"Eh, someone had to do it." Veedramon said, lumbering into view. "But whoever sent those other digimon here is serious. Oh, Kaari, I think I saw at least one more Bakemon, but it took off before I could get it."
"Well, it's not hard to...find..." Kaari said. "I think we should start running now."
"Why?" Kei asked.
"Yeah, we took down both of them." Deputymon added.
"Yes, and a fine job you two did of that. But I'm really more worried about that." Kaari answered, pointing down the road. At the herd of Jagamon. Heading in their direction. "Very fast we should run." he Yoda'd for effect, then took his own advice, everyone else following him.
"Can't we just blast 'em?" Kei asked, still running.
"Too many!" Yuri replied. "Unless you want to rip up half the city!"
"I can live without Harbour Centre!"
"Oh sure, just because you didn't get into Simon Fraser University!"
"Could we deal with this later!" Kaari yelled, exasperated. Unlike the other two, Kaari was able to get a ride on his digimon, and was seriously considering charging into battle with the Jagamon herd, just to get away from those two bickering. He turned, and saw that the Jagamon had stopped.
"Oooh! He's so BIG!" Kei squealed.
"Um." Leomon answered, not sure how to take this.
==
Gennai and Kyle were sending the last of the Jagamon through a digiport. While they were working, June was introducing herself to the local digidestined.
"So, been here long?" Yuri asked June.
"No, just a few hours. We're from Japan. Well, I am. Kyle's from a little place called Stone Town."
"Oh, he's the one from another planet?" Kei asked. "So, what's it like dating an alien?"
"Kei!" Yuri snapped, elbowing the redhead.
"What? He's not from this planet!"
"It's an alternate dimension, Kei. Honestly, if you'd read a bit more..."
"Yes, they're always like this." Kaari sighed. "Our digimon showed up here about a month ago. Too bad Kei's into heavy artillery."
"We do make the perfect pair." Deputymon said, nodding. He glanced at Scizor. "Hey, I had a cousin who said he fought a red bug. That you? Cause I'm a lot stronger than he is."
"He would beat you in a second." Yashamon said. "His power is quite evident."
"Ahh, don't feed me none of that mystic samurai spider sense garbage." Deputymon grunted. "I say I can take you in a fight." Scizor didn't reply, he just stared at Deputymon. "Well, you gonna fight, or just stand there like a Woodmon with rootrot?"
June opened her mouth, but was stopped by Kaari. "Can't stop it, just let him get it out of his system. It's not a full day until he's insulted someone a lot stronger than he is. Umm, he won't completely destroy Deputymon, will he?"
"I don't think so. Kyle did do a good job of training him. And he's fought Ultimate level digimon and survived."
"Ultimate?" Kei asked. June was about to answer when there was a blur of motion. Deputymon tried to draw a gun, but Scizor seemed to flicker, then vanished. He reappeared behind Deputymon, one claw aimed at the back of the digimon's head, yellow energy of a Hyper Beam starting to build up. "Cool." Kei whispered.
"Any questions?" Scizor asked.
"Um, no..."
June held back a groan, then looked up. "Kyle?" she asked hearing him call her name.
==A minute beforehand
David closed the laptop, and Kyle sighed as the last of the Jagamon were herded through. "Well, that was easier than I thought."
David nodded. "Well, they can't all be wild battles. I...Huh?" David looked at the ground, which seemed to be shaking.
They both heard the roar. Kyle went white, hearing it. "No, it couldn't be."
"What?" David asked, but Kyle was already off, running towards the harbour and calling June's name.
"Hey, what's up?" Eevee asked, running alongside. "What's all the..." he stopped as he heard the roar. "That was..."
"Kyle!" June yelled, running towards him. "What is it?"
"Trouble!" Kyle answered, as he rounded a corner. He skidded to a stop, and June crashed into him. He got up, helped June up, and turned to see..."Gyarados..." There were three of them. Giant blue serpents, faces locked in a perpetual scowl, thrashing around the harbour, smashing the docks to bits. "How'd they get here?"
"More digimon?" Leomon asked.
"No, pokemon!" Kyle answered. He held up a hand as Deputymon raised a gun. "No! They're not digimon, they're living beings! If you attack, you might kill them!" He glanced at June. "How about a digiport?"
June shook her head. "No. Stuart emailed me and said that the digiport between this world and the pokemon world are all messed up! There's no telling where they might end up."
"Then we'll have to catch them."
"Catch them?" Kaari asked. "Umm, with what?"
"Pokeballs. But I don't have any empty ones with me. I'll have to go back to Stone Town and get some."
Kei looked baffled. "But I thought that the digi-doors or whatever they were screwed up! How are you going to get to wherever this Stone Town is?"
Yuri nodded. "You might not be as lucky as Stuart was (no jokes! -ed). It could take forever to get there."
"No choice. Eevee, digivolve to Pyroangemon and help out here. I'll be right back. I hope." Eevee nodded, and quickly evolved into the fire angel. Kyle aimed his digivice at David's computer. "Digiport open!" With a flash, he vanished.
"Good luck." June whispered.
The Gyarados started howling, then surged forward. They identified the digimon as possible enemies, and struck first, hyper beams firing wildly.
==
Kyle exited the port, looked around for some sign. "This is...Shogun Geckomon's village?"
Ninjamon appeared in front of Kyle. "Where's Scizor? I challenge him to a duel!"
"AW, COME ON!"
==
Above her, Pyroangemon deflected a hyper beam, while Deputymon and Yashamon teamed up on the closer of the three Gyarados. June ducked, and saw Leomon starting to wade out. "Don't! They're water-type pokemon, you'll be at a disadvantage!" Reluctantly, Leomon stepped back. "Scizor, can you draw one of the Gyarados to Leomon? He can knock them out easily enough once they're on land."
"Risky, but good idea." Scizor replied. "You've been hanging around Kyle too long; you're starting to think like a pokemon trainer."
June smirked. "Heh. Maybe I'll try to be a gym leader some day."
"DUCK!" Veedramon shouted. June did so, just as Pyroangemon flew down, deflecting another Hyperbeam with his shield. The blast struck, and bounced off the shield, heading at an angle into the city.
==
James McNider sighed. The campus was closed for the season, and he had just finished cleaning up the 6th floor of the Simon Fraser University Academic Quadrangle. So he was understandably perturbed when the Hyper Beam Pyroangemon just deflected managed to shear off the north-east corner of the building (give me an 'F' in History 337? TAKE THAT, SFU! -ed).
==
The portal flared again, and Kyle stepped out (carrying with him a hand-written challenge letter to be given to Scizor when he could manage it.) He saw he was in a pokemon centre, took off out the door, and made for the nearest store he could find.
"I NEED 20 ULTRA BALLS QUICK!"
He calmed down quickly after the shopkeeper called out his Machamp.
==
Kaari glanced over to where Deputymon and Yashamon were battling. "Okay, now!" he yelled. Veedramon ran over, tackling the first Gyarados. Unfortunately, this left him wide open for the third Gyarados to charge at him. Scizor's Hyper Beam cut the space between human and pokemon, distracting the latter and allowing the former to get clear. Scizor charged forward, claws crackling with energy.
"We're doing it!" Kaari said. "Once Kyle gets back, we can trap 'em and take 'em home!"
"Shame we can't cut loose." Kei complained. "Those Jagamon were almost pathetic!"
"Hey, at least we didn't have to wreck half the city fighting them." Yuri replied. As she spoke, the computer David was carrying flared, and Kyle stepped out. "I made it! Okay, get clear! Pokeball, go!" he shouted, hurling one of the pokeballs at the Gyarados Deputymon and Yashamon were fighting. It glowed red, then was pulled into the ball.
"YEEE-HAW!" Deputymon yelled. "We got it!" So excited was he that he fired off his Justice Bullet, punching a hole in the side of Harbour Center.
Kei looked at the hole in the building. "Oops..." she said, as Kaari, June, and Yuri facefaulted. Kyle, catching the other two Gyarados, missed it all.
==
"So...who's going to fix this?" June asked.
"I made the mess, I'll fix it." Deputymon sighed.
"You couldn't fix a sandwich." Yashamon replied.
"What? You take that back!"
"Make me, cannon brain!"
"You're on, stick boy!" Kei and Yuri tried to break their partners up, before the expected fight could damage the downtown even more.
Kaari and Veedramon sighed. "So, what will you two do now?"
"Wait for Ken and Davis to signal us, I guess." Kyle answered. "We're all doing this simultaneously, so it shouldn't be too long."
David nodded. "I'm keeping up with my other counterparts. Assuming that Mewtwo doesn't atomise Ilya in Russia, it should be about half an hour. Everyone else seems to be doing all right."
"Half an hour?" Kaari asked. "Hey, I know a place nearby. It's an Italian coffee place called Callabria, it's still open. Wanna go?"
"Sure." June replied. Kyle nodded, and the group set off, trying hard to ignore the sword strikes and cannon fire behind them. A Starbucks store caught a Justice Bullet, but no one minded.
==Australia
"Mmm...I love this place!" Caryl said. It was bright, sunny and warm. "I wish I'd known we were going to the beach."
"There is no time for that now." Renamon said. "Over there. See the spire?"
"That didn't take long." Cody said. "Digmon can destroy it, right?"
"I'm surprised that more people aren't freaking out here." Armadillomon looked around. "Must be a really laid-back place."
"I was here once, about a year ago." Caryl said. "Oh, alright." she grumbled, seeing Renamon's expression. "Come on, let's go wreck the spire."
Cody nodded. "Digiarmour energize!"
"Armadillomon, armour digivolve to...Digmon, the wisdom of steel! Gold Rush!"
Renamon jumped into the air, arms crossed. "Diamond Storm!"
The two attacks hit the spire, smashing it in a second. "See, easy!" Digmon said. All around them, people had gathered, and started applauding. Caryl turned to the crowd and bowed.
"Please don't encourage her." Renamon moaned.
"Hey, I get little enough time for my adoring public!" Caryl replied. She nodded to one person in the crowd. "Hey, can you get our picture?" The boy, about her age, stepped forward, holding a large camera. "It's one of those ones that spits out the picture after you take it, right? Neat! Come over here, Cody!" Hooking her arm around Cody's, Caryl pulled the boy into the shot as Renamon and Digmon (Also at Caryl's 'request') stood behind them. There was a click, and the picture came out of the bottom of the camera.
"Uhh..." Cody stammered, embarrassed by the attention.
"See? You look adorable!" Caryl said. "I'll get a copy made and send it to you when this is all over!"
A tall man looking like Gennai pushed through the crowd. "There you are! Come on, we have to destroy the control spire!"
"But we just did." Cody replied.
"There's another one out on the coral reefs, and the digimon around it are wrecking the whole place."
"Like them?" Digmon asked, pointing out over the ocean.
==
Derek and Crabmon held onto the sailboard for dear life. Right now, they were being chased by Shellmon, Gesomon, and Ebidramon, just because Crabmon had made one stupid sushi joke. "Remind me to introduce you to my mom's boiler!" Derek said, trying to keep the craft upright.
"Help's on the way! Oxygen Torpedo!" Gesomon and Ebidramon immediately turned and ran. Shellmon came after Submarimon.
Derek gaped as a giant yellow fox jumped off of Submarimon, spun in mid-air, turned into a comet of bluish fire, and slammed into Shellmon. Even more stunning was the fact that there was a girl on the fox's back, seeming to have enjoyed the whole thing.
"Great job, Kyuubimon!" Caryl shouted.
"Are you alright? My Dragon Wheel can be a bit...intense." Kyuubimon replied.
Submarimon pulled up beside Kyuubimon and Caryl, now safely perched on a floating (and unconcious) Shellmon. "Are you alright?" Cody asked.
"Sure we are." Caryl replied. "I mean, it's not like we could have ridden inside Submarimon together. Unless you really wanted me in there with you." she added slyly. Cody stammered, turned a rather fascinating shade of red, and started studying his feet.
"Caryl." Kyuubimon reprimanded her partner.
"Are you for real?" Derek asked.
"You bet!" Submarimon replied. "I'm Submarimon, that's Kyuubimon, the two humans are Cody and Caryl (she's the insane one), and you must be Derek. Hogan, the local Gennai clone, told us you'd be out here, so we decided to come lend a hand. Er, fin."
"Pleased to meet you! I'm Crabmon, and Derek here is...well, Derek. Look, there's a black tower thingy on the reef nearby, and we need some help getting rid of it. Hey, how come you could digivolve?"
"We destroyed the Spire on the beach." Caryl answered. "Are there any more digimon at the other spire?"
"Yeah." Derek replied. "Ebidramon and Gesomon are on the way back there, and I think there's a Scorpiomon there too. We couldn't get close enough to make sure."
"Well, then we'll have to, won't we?" Kyuubimon asked.
==
"We surrender!" Gesomon said to Kyuubimon. Beside him, Ebidramon was nodding eagerly.
"You cowards!" Scorpiomon shouted. "Fight them!"
"No way!" Ebidramon replied. "We didn't sign on for this! Come on, we're leaving!" With that, Gesomon and Ebidramon took off, diving into the water.
"Well, that was anticlimactic." Cody said to Armadillomon. "Look, why don't you let us take that spire down, and we'll get you back to the Digital World?"
"Never! I finally found a place that I love! The clean air! The pure ocean waters! No humans! I'm never leaving this place!"
"Oh for..." Caryl said.
"Allow us! Armadillomon, digivolve to...Ankylomon!"
"Be careful!" Derek said. "You might damage the coral reef if you go stomping around like that!"
"He's actually very light on his feet." Cody replied. "You heard him Ankylomon!"
"You're not getting rid of me that easily!" Scorpiomon roared, charging forward.
It was almost too easy. "Tail Hammer!" Ankylomon growled, spinning around and sending Scorpiomon flying with a single well-placed tail swipe.
"I guess you are....!" Scorpiomon said, making a splash as he hit the water.
"Mine!" Crabmon called. "Water's my element, and that oversized sandcrab's got nothing on me in the deep! Crabmon, digivolve to...Coelaman!" Coelamon dove in.
"Should we follow him?" Kyuubimon asked.
"Nahh, he can handle it." Derek replied. "But that spire's got to go."
"Very well then. Foxtail Inferno!" The fireballs shattered the spiral, which promptly vanished. "As you said, Cody. This was rather anticlimactic."
"Oh, I don't know. We got to travel, go to the beach, meet lots of interesting people, and save the world to boot! I like it." Caryl replied.
"What about Coelamon?" Cody asked.
"He'll be fine." Derek replied. "He's a lot faster than Scorpiomon underwater." A second later, Scorpiomon came running out, looking stricken.
"Please, make him stop! That crazy freak's worse than that Gomamon's supposed to be!" Cody winced, having personal experience with Joe's partner's sense of humour. "I'll do anything, please, just make him go away!"
"What did he do?" Caryl asked.
Coelamon crawled out of the water. "What? I was just telling him about Goethe."
"Who?" Cody asked. Derek shuddered.
"You know, the German philosopher? Only wrote stuff in the morning. Only philosopher who went from bed to verse." Scorpiomon started running, actually jumping into the digital portal that Cody had opened on the laptop Caryl had brought. "What? I didn't even get a chance to tell him about the buddhist hamburger joint."
Caryl blinked. "Eish?"
"You know, the place that'll make you one with everything?"
"I think we need Imperialdramon to pick us up." Armadillomon said, switching back to his rookie form. "Right *now*!"
"I do not believe he would be dragon his tail." Kyuubimon replied.
Caryl glanced at her partner, slightly nauseated by the bad pun. "Okay, Crabmon's not allowed to talk anymore!"
"Try and stop me!" Crabmon replied. "I have an escape claws!" he added, snapping his two claws in the air.
"That's it, I'm leaving." Hogan said, jumping into the water and swinging for the nearest boat. Fortunately, it was filled with the rest of the Australian digidestined, who were all too familiar with Crabmon.
And yes, they did send all the Digimon home. Another 10 minutes of Crabmon's jokes, and the humans wanted to join them.
Next Episode:
The second part of the World Tour! Russia, France, Southern California, Mexico (well, a brief bit there.) and, courtesy of author NinetalesUK, Joe and Ryo in London! And a lot of digidestined. Lots. Too many to manage, almost...
Digicross chapter 37:
World's Tour Part 2 - The SoCal Dragon!
Wow. Guest authors. I must be doing *something* right.