Author's Note: Sorry for the long delay in a post. But as a bonus this is an extra long chapter and believe me when i say that they meet the other digidestined in this chapter... This is about the only chapter where you will see any resemblence to the original plotline of season two and even that has been changed (we didn't do the DNA digivolution stuff because that would have been too much for the first meeting of the digidestined). Now it changes completely. No international digidestined. No Arukenimon. No original zero two stuff. But it would be boring if we went completely by the season. If you want that kind of stuff go see our fourth season fanfic "Unlock your Spirit". Kayhera posted that one
Disclaimer: I own Ami, Kayhera owns Taru, we own the plot. End of story.
Recap: Apparantly our Taru prefers to be called "Hotaru". Who knew. Well she had this freaky dream when she went home about her mom (who is dead). The next day she took Elecmon to see the grave. Kind of a creepy thing to do with your Digimon but I could think of worse things to do. The next day she asks ME if I wanted to go to Digi-World. Is she crazy or something? Of course I do! Nothing seems to be happening and suddenly Flymon shows up and we completely forget that Leormon can digivolve to Wizardmon. Luckily when Taru practically sacrafised herself for her friends Elecmon digivolved and saved the day. Unfortunatly... Flymon was destroyed just like Snimon.
"Please, please, please, please!" begged Ami, standing in her living room while talking on the phone with Taru. "Please?"
"You're worse than Elecmon when he's hungry!" cried Taru. She sighed and a timer went off in the background. "Oh, Christmas cookies are done. Be right back."
"If you say so…" muttered Ami as she heard the other girl set down the phone.
She turned to look at Leormon who was staring at the TV Ami had left on. It was strange because he didn't seem confused or fascinated by it but just stood there looking at it. But it was as if he knew she was looking at him, because Leormon looked up and blinked at her. With a yawn he walked over and jumped up on a chair to be nearer to her height.
"You could just do Christmas in the Digital World," he suggested. "Then Elecmon and I could do something too."
"We could do that too, I guess," said Ami, holding the phone to her shoulder so it wouldn't be on her ear. For being home alone, Taru made an awful lot of noise. Probably so she didn't realize how empty the house was. Ami sighed and her head dropped.
"You okay?" asked Leormon, licking his paw. Ami looked up smiling.
"Yeah! Look, the concert isn't until late so we can still do some things in the Digital World!" said Ami. "What do Digimon do for Christmas?"
"Nothing," said Leormon. When Ami looked at him questioningly he continued. "We don't really have Christmas like you do. We don't play in the snow, spend time with our families and exchange presents. Mostly we spend it like any other day. At least I do."
"Oh…. Kay…" muttered Ami, turning away and moving the phone back to her ear very slowly…
"Back!" said Taru happily. "Too bad when I bring the cookies over they'll be cold…"
"Microwave!" cried Ami.
"You're weird…" muttered Taru. "Anyways, no! I don't do concerts. Why can't we just spend Christmas in the Digital World?"
"Because… because… there's a cool concert!" cried Ami. "And I know the lead singer. His name is Matt and he goes to my school… which just makes it even cooler."
"Whatever…" sighed Taru. "I guess concerts are normally at night."
"Except for the lame concerts," said Ami. "Not that I've ever heard of one… Okay, so we'll go to the Digital World until we need to go to the concert? Okay, sounds good, see you when you come over. Bye!"
"Hey! Wait…" came Taru's muffled voice as Ami hung up the phone.
"I hate having to do that," muttered Ami. "But if I don't she'll go on and on about something! Or fold clothes and space out…"
"She's just not a phone person," said Leormon, standing up and jumping off the chair. "Nothing to stress about."
"If you say so…" said Ami, raising her eyebrows. She walked over to the refrigerator and opened it to find something to eat. Except it was completely empty save for a twelve pack of beer. Suddenly annoyed, she closed the refrigerator really quickly; walked over to the coat rack, pulled on her coat and grabbed up some extra change. "I'm going to the store to pick up some food. If I'm not back in thirty minutes I've gone to pick up Taru. Stay out of sight."
"Oh… okay…" said Leormon, his ears drooping as Ami practically stormed out of the apartment. Then slowly he turned around and went back to watching TV.
"The view would be really nice," said Ami, holding her hand above her eyes to keep the glare of the sun off, "if it weren't for those black spires!"
The small group was spending their couple of free hours in the Digital World. Elecmon had led them off to a certain valley to show them the view. Apparently there were some very pretty trees and flowers. Which was true… except there were these black pillars throughout the valley. Taru and Ami turned toward Elecmon to see him staring in shock at his beautiful valley. Leormon gave a big yawn and started down into the valley.
"Where are you going?" asked Ami, running after him. She felt a little uneasy leaving Taru behind. But since Elecmon could digivolve she supposed he would come through if there was any trouble.
"Down there," said Leormon simply. He looked over his shoulder, smiling. "It's not like fighting a Digimon, but I could still knock down a good number of those spires before we have to go."
"Oh… okay…" said Ami, still quite oblivious as to what they were doing. When they got to the floor of the valley Leormon digivolved into Wizardmon. He quickly demolished the first spire and moved onto another one.
"Wait up!" cried Taru, running down.
"You're… you're destroying them?" said Elecmon, his eyes bright with tears.
"I think you're pathetic," muttered Ami, walking over and hitting him on the head. Elecmon looked up at her, sat down and pretended to cry. Despite this Taru pushed her away and picked up the Digimon.
"Why'd you hit him? He didn't deserve that!" snapped Taru.
"Oh, never mind," muttered Ami, turning away and crossing her arms. "We should go catch up with Wizardmon," she added with a sigh.
"Yeah!" said Elecmon, his eyes amazingly dry. Ami rolled her eyes as he ran into the trees following the rubble piles. The two girls followed behind at a much more moderate pace. When they caught up there were only about three more control spires left in the valley.
"I want to destroy some!" whined Elecmon. "Don't hog them all Wizardmon!"
Turning back around with a smile, Wizardmon floated back toward Ami and landed on the ground.
"I was just getting tired anyways," shrugged Wizardmon. Ami raised her eyebrow at him, then turned away putting a hand to her head.
'Wizardmon has more of a personality than Leormon,' thought Ami, looking up at the sky. 'It's almost annoying!'
"Elecmon Digivolve!" cried the small Digimon, standing tall. When nothing happened, he blinked and looked around. He tried again two more times before he turned around confused and close to actual tears this time. "I can't digivolve! Why can't I digivolve? Why?"
"Maybe you're hungry," suggested Taru. "We'll just go back home and eat cookies before the concert…"
"Or," said Ami, grinning evilly, "the first time was just a fluke and you just can't digivolve."
"Will you leave him alone!" cried Taru, rolling her eyes. "Why do you have to be so mean to him?"
"Because I can get a reaction out of him," said Ami, shrugging. "It's no fun being mean to Leormon… Wizardmon… whatever! Anyways, he doesn't do anything. Elecmon does!"
"Err!" cried Taru angrily, putting her hands in fists.
Before anything else was said things like large needles came flying out of the air and Ami found herself in the bushes again. She got up, grumbling at Wizardmon. But when a large serpent like Digimon flew over them she completely forgot that she would have to pick twigs out of her hair again.
"Who's that?" asked Taru, as the Digimon turned around.
"Airdramon," said Wizardmon. "They usually fly in groups but even then they aren't that much of a problem. But this one is all by itself…"
"Okay, all the Digimon seem to be doing really weird things lately!" cried Ami, putting her hands on her hips.
"That's why you're here as the Digidestined," said Wizardmon.
"Now I really need to digivolve!" cried Elecmon, tears running down his cheeks. Ami wasn't sure if they were fake this time or not.
"Thunder Ball!" cried Wizardmon, hitting Airdramon right on the nose. The Digimon gave a cry and turned away. "I wish that would work…"
"Look, if they're not going to give up then I think we're much more important than just one Digimon!" said Ami.
Still Wizardmon hesitated the next time Airdramon came around and even the third. Starting to get frustrated, Ami looked around for some reason why the Digimon would be attacking them. It didn't look like its home was near by because if it was there would be more than one attacking. She didn't know what Digimon ate, but she doubted Airdramon came here for food. That was when she noticed one of the spires was glowing red.
"Wizardmon!" cried Ami, rushing out of the trees and pointing toward the glowing spire. "Destroy that!"
"What are you doing?" cried Taru. "You could have just pointed it out from the cover of the trees!"
In answer Ami picked up a rock and threw it at Airdramon. The Digimon hesitated half way towards Wizardmon and Ami prayed that Wizardmon wouldn't try attacking. Luckily he didn't and Airdramon turned around to chase after Ami. Then she realized that she had no idea what she was going to do about the attacking Digimon. When the Digimon sent flying needles at her, she cried out and hid behind a spire. She heard it start to crack but didn't have time to check it out as Airdramon came around her hiding spot. Luckily just then Wizardmon destroyed the glowing spire and Elecmon digivolved into Tyrannomon.
"Blaze Blast!" cried the large red dinosaur Digimon. The attack went right over Ami's head and hit Airdramon straight on. The Digimon seemed to burn for a little while and then the blast went away. Airdramon hovered for a while covered in burns before giving a cry and flying off.
"I think that's enough excitement for today," said Ami, sinking to the ground.
"Are you okay?" asked Wizardmon, floating over to her.
"Yeah… fine… great…" said Ami, taking a deep breath. "TYRANNOMON! WATCH WHERE YOU'RE AIMING NEXT TIME!"
But the large Digimon just ignored her, destroying a second spire and Wizardmon finished up the final one.
Half an hour later Ami and Taru were headed toward the concert in town, carrying large bags with their Digimon in them. Taru also had a book. A history book of all things… One of the few things Ami was actually good at because she could just memorize things. But she was planning on confiscating the thing when they got to the concert. For now she would let the girl feel safe knowing she had a book with her… It was pretty uneventful at first. They gave their tickets at the front, they pushed through a ton of fan girls to get some seats and after waiting quite a few minutes the band came out and started. Ami was distracted by the fan girls so much that she hardly paid attention to Taru reading. Not that the girl's eyes were moving that much…
And then the Digimon showed up. Right in the middle of the chorus Dark-Tyrannomon and Bakemon burst through the back of the stage. The ceiling started to crumble and the fan girls started screaming. Clenching her jaw in anger, Ami got to her feet.
"Head toward the exits!" she shouted, but was drowned out by all the other sounds. Starting to get more annoyed, she took a deep breath. "HEY!" The people around her stopped to look at her. "Stop running around in circles like a group of idiots and get OUT!"
In the way that girls do, they continued to scream but did exactly as she told them to do. Taru was on her feet, too and letting the Digimon out of the bags. She was starting to put her book away when Ami grabbed her by the arm and dragged her out. About two seconds after they left the spot part of the ceiling fell on top of their seats.
"Just like in the movies!" said Ami with a grin.
"You're weird…" muttered Taru.
"I can't digivolve!" said Leormon, nudging Ami's leg.
She blinked and looked up. Almost immediately her eyes landed upon a glowing red spire like the ones in the Digital World. Eyes narrowing, she picked up Leormon and walked farther away from the crumbling building.
"Come on…" she muttered, walking toward the spire.
"What are we supposed to do if the Digimon can't digivolve?" asked Taru worriedly, sticking close by.
"How would I know?" said Ami, stopping suddenly. Taru almost lost her balance stopping. "You're the smart one! Come up with some scientifical theory we can use!"
"Me?" said Taru in a high pitched voice. "But… but… but…"
"Eagle Eye!"
Two beams of red flew across the sky and hit the spire, and it fell in a pile, raising up a cloud of dust.
"Was that… somebody on our side?" muttered Ami, turning around slowly.
Coming toward them flew a giant red eagle with armor plating on its head. With it flew a white sphinx and a Pegasus. Just when she was getting over the shock of the Digimon carrying people another blue Digimon covered in black armor ran over. Sitting on this Digimon were too kids: a boy wearing goggles on his head and a guy Ami recognized as Ken Ichijouji carrying a green caterpillar Digimon.
"What the…" started Taru.
"There are other digidestined!" said Elecmon as if it were obvious.
"Hey," said the boy with the goggles. "What are you doing?"
"Um…" said Ami, looking around in a thoughtful way. "Fixing a large pest problem."
"Must you be sarcastic?" asked Leormon.
"Oh shut up mister Let's-Push-Taru-In-The-River…" muttered Ami.
"Perhaps I should digivolve?" said Leormon, ignoring her comment and jumping out of her arms.
"Yeah, sure, you do that…" said Ami, rolling her eyes. "I'll freak out about kids I don't know being digidestined!"
"You're weird…" sighed Taru.
"I've heard that one," said Ami, grinning.
She was sort of starting to feel sorry for the other kids who were staring at her and Taru in different forms of curiosity and confusion. Actually, the goggle guy was the most confused out of the group but he didn't look like he was that intelligent to begin with. The kid's Digimon were throwing the attacking Digimon into a lap top that a red head kid was holding. Ami recognized him as the computer club president but couldn't remember his name. Just as Leormon digivolved the brown haired girl that had been riding the sphinx gasped.
"Wizardmon?" she cried.
"Yeah, that's his name!" said Ami in a half proud way. "At least, that's what Elecmon called him."
When the girl called out his name Wizardmon paused but didn't turn around. He finally moved off into the fight and disappeared from view. Ami bit her lip and then rushed forward a little bit.
"Hey! Wizardmon!" she shouted. "We're supposed to be a team! Don't go where I can't see you."
"I know you!" said a familiar voice. Ami glanced over her shoulder and saw Matt walk over.
"Wait…" said Ami, turning around and blinking at him a couple of times. "You're a digidestined too?"
"Ironic, huh?" said Matt, grinning.
"How do you know Matt?" asked a boy who was probably Matt's brother. They had the same hair color and eyes. Except this boy had to be younger.
"We go to school together…" muttered Ami. "My name is Ami Nakahara, by the way! And this is my friend, Hotaru Minamoto… But I just call her Taru."
"Yeah… you…" said Taru, rolling her eyes.
"But Taru is so much cuter!" giggled Ami.
"I'm Davis," said the goggle boy. "This is Ken, Yolei," he pointed out a girl with purple hair, "Kari," the brown haired girl waved, "Cody," pointing out a small kid, "And TS…"
"It's TK…" muttered the boy who looked a lot like Matt.
"Looks like we're all done here," sighed the computer guy, closing his laptop.
"I feel bad…" said Ami, grinning sheepishly and putting her hand behind her head. "I can't remember your name."
"Izzy," said the kid. Another boy and a girl with red hair joined them. "This is Tai and Sora."
"You play tennis!" said Ami.
"You like tennis?" said Sora.
"No… Just some of those random things I know," said Ami, shrugging. "The more I know the more things I have to talk with my dad about."
"And yet you're failing…" said Taru, shaking her head sadly.
"Wizardmon!" cried a new voice. Ami turned around to see a white cat Digimon with purple stripes and green gloves staring at her own Digimon.
"Okay, why do they know you?" she asked, putting her hands on her hips and staring at Wizardmon. He ignored her and continued to de-digivolve. "You're awfully moody for a guy with little emotion."
"Well, this is fun!" said Taru. Everybody stared at her and she blushed. "What? I wanted to say something because I haven't done a whole bunch."
"Yeah… oh yeah, I was going to say something a while back!" said Ami, snapping her fingers. "So was another Digimon coming to destroy the black… thing… your scientifical theory?"
"Huh?" said Taru, blinking. "N-no… How does that make sense? And 'scientifical' isn't a word!"
"You were reading a history book, not a dictionary!" said Ami. "I don't think you've fallen that low… yet. Besides, if you were going to do that, maybe you would read a computer manual first."
"So when did you become digidestined?" said Davis, pointing an accusing finger at Ami.
"Um… four days ago!" said Ami, counting on her finger. "Ha, I'm smart!"
"Really?" said Matt. "I would think you two became digidestined at the same time you became friends. Except for Davis, Cody and Yolei we all became digidestined four years ago."
"Um… well…" said Ami, feeling uncomfortable. "Other… things… made us friends. Can we talk about something else? I know! Want to come over to my house to talk about this?"
"Um… what?" said Taru, but nobody really seemed to notice.
"Are you feeling okay?" asked Leormon, keeping his back purposefully on the cat Digimon and Kari.
"Huh?" said Ami, scratching her head. "Oh… yeah… Well, even if my mom comes home early she'll be too drunk to notice a bunch of Digimon."
"I thought you didn't want people around your mom…" muttered Leormon. Indignantly, Ami bent down and picked up the Digimon.
"Oh, shut up!" she murmured. "Besides, my place is probably closer. Definitely closer than Taru's."
"Sounds good to me!" said Davis. "Party at the weird chick's house!"
"Ami, Ami Nakahara," she said, whacking the kid over the head. "You're a disgrace to goggles everywhere!"
"I agree," said Yolei and Kari nodded.
"Awww… come on Kari…" whined Davis, frowning.
"Yay!" said Ami, throwing open her apartment door. "My house. And it's actually clean because me and Leormon were bored and so we… cleaned!"
"You… cleaned…" said Taru, blinking. "What is wrong with you?"
"Huh?" said Ami, setting out some chips on her dining room table and turning back toward Taru. "Oh, the cleaning stuff? You use to bug me about it all the time. Why is it bad that now I am cleaning?"
"Because you don't clean!" said Taru exasperatedly.
"What's wrong with not cleaning?" asked Davis, popping over Ami's shoulder holding a bag of chips. "I never clean my room and I'm just fine!"
"Except for when I get lost!" said his blue Digimon, Veemon. "I understand being lazy, but this is just pathetic."
"Well, Davis is pathetic," said Tai, putting a hand on the kid's shoulder.
Laughing slightly, Ami slid backwards away from Davis and Tai. Taru had been swept into a conversation with Izzy about relative law of animation or whatever the hell it was. Like Ami really knew because she couldn't hear them. She just knew they were talking and Taru was using her hands… like, a lot. When Ami turned around she ran smack into Matt… which was embarrassing because he hadn't been moving at all.
"You tend to do that," laughed Matt, reaching out a hand to catch her before she fell.
"Unfortunately…" muttered Ami, pushing her red hair out of her eyes.
"Hey, there are worse people to bump into!" joked Matt, putting a hand in his pocket.
Just then the phone rang and Ami gasped. When it rang a second time a smile spread across her face. She gave a quick "one minute" and ran over to the phone and picking it up in the middle of the third ring.
"Hi Daddy!" cried Ami and she could hear, suddenly, all the conversations stopping to listen in. Not that she really cared.
"How do you know it's me?" came a male voice over the phone.
"Who else calls on Christmas?" said Ami, rolling her eyes. "Speaking of… when you coming over?"
"I don't know," sighed Mr. Nakahara. "It's really busy in the office. But I'm trying, I really am."
"Sure…" muttered Ami. "But it's not like I can buy a plane ticket over to America. I'm broke… plus America really isn't my place."
"I could buy the ticket," said Mr. Nakahara. "I just have no free time. I'll let you know when I'm coming over. In the mean time, how's your Christmas been?"
"Me and Taru went to a concert…" said Ami.
"Really? How was it?"
"Oh…" said Ami, grinning at the group. "The band really brought down the house."
"That good, huh?" laughed Mr. Nakahara.
"I've got tons to tell you," said Ami, "but it's really not an over the phone thing."
"Hmmmm…" murmured Mr. Nakahara. "Guess you really want me to come over, don't you?"
"That obvious?" laughed Ami. "But I've got friends over so…"
"Friends? As in plural? When did that happen?" asked Mr. Nakahara, sincerely surprised.
"What? I can't have any friends other than Taru?" cried Ami, trying to make it sound like she was just joking.
"I didn't say that…" started Mr. Nakahara.
"Bye Daddy, I love you!" said Ami sweetly, hanging up the phone.
"You sure hang up on people a lot," said Leormon.
"And I've been on the phone, what, twice since I've met you?" said Ami, rolling her eyes.
"No, three times!" said Leormon. "You're mom called you on your cell phone when we came back from the Digital World the first time."
"Oh yeah…" muttered Ami, looking up at the ceiling. "Like I ever remember those conversations."
"Your parents are divorced?" asked Matt simply.
"Yeah, lovely ain't it!" said Ami, throwing her hands in the air. "Okay, sorry… It normally doesn't bother me…"
"Why wouldn't it bother you?" asked TK. "It's actually normal to feel upset…"
"Whatever," muttered Ami, not feeling at all in the mood to pour out all her feelings about her parents and why she wouldn't let it bother her.
She let her eyes wander around the room so she wouldn't have to meet eye contact. Some of the conversations had started up again (mostly Taru's and Izzy's) but it was much more quiet. Just then Ami noticed Elecmon with his head stuck in a chip bag, probably attempting to eat the last of the crumbs. An evil smile spreading across her face and she snuck up behind the Digimon. With a cry she grabbed Elecmon around the stomach from behind. The Digimon gave a half scream and struggled out of her hands. He hid behind Taru who put her hands on her hips. Ami stood up straight laughing and then stifled it when she saw Taru's face.
"Sorry, sorry!" she said, putting her hands up. "I couldn't help it, I really couldn't…"
"Pick on your own Digimon!" snapped Taru.
"But… it was funny," said Leormon, jumping up on the table. "Though after she already picked on him three times today… it was mean."
"Thanks for your vote of confidence," said Ami, crossing her arms. "I would say maybe I should get another Digimon but I doubt you can just trade Digimon. Besides," she added, turning back to grin at Leormon, "you're way cooler than any other Digimon I could get. I mean, what other Digimon digivolve into a wizard?"
"Um…" said Leormon, looking around as if to try and find one. "I guess only me…"
"Speaking of," said Tai, "would you happen to remember anything before you met Ami?"
"Who?" said Leormon, blinking and jumping into Ami's arms. "Me? Um… maybe?"
"Maybe?" said TK. "That's not an answer. Do you remember working for Myotismon? Gatomon? Kari? Anything?"
"Yes…" muttered Leormon.
"What's so wrong about that?" said Ami, blinking. "You can have more than one friend too!"
"Er…" said Leormon, blushing slightly. "Thanks? I guess…"
"I guess we… kind of… got that settled," said Tai, scratching his head.
As everybody started laughing Ami heard the door open. Eyes wide she saw her mother walk in and set her purse on the kitchen counter. She opened the refrigerator and Ami was waiting for her to pull out a beer… except she just pulled out a can of soda. Turning around she smiled at all the kids.
"I thought you were going to a concert," said Wakahisa-san, opening the soda can. "Didn't realize you were going to bring the party here or I would have gone shopping!"
"I already did that Mother," sighed Ami.
"Okay… when did you have so many friends?" she asked. "It's nice, but you only ever talk about Taru so…"
"We were just going," said Matt, pushing TK toward the door.
"We were?" said Davis.
Yolei hit him over the head and assisted Sora and Tai in herding the others toward the front door. A few people said some good-byes. When Taru started to leave Ami caught her by the arm.
"Hey, it's kind of late!" she said. "Don't you think you should probably go home tomorrow?"
"I have family too!" said Taru. "I ride the subway all the time. I'll be fine!"
"Hey!" said Davis who had escaped from Tai. "Ken here has to ride the subway, so they can go together!"
"Oh… okay…" said Ami, biting her lip. "I'd still rather… Well, bye!"
"Bye!" said Taru, waving and scooping up Elecmon. At the door she turned back around. "You owe me a history book!"
"I'm broke!" Ami cried back as the door shut. Then she sighed. Her mother started to open her mouth to say something but Ami walked toward her room. "I'm tired. Talk to you tomorrow if you're not busy… Night!"
"Good-night!" said Wakahisa-san, finishing her soda and walking to bed as well.