"TK and I have traveled all the way to the farthest regions of the digital world's primary continent, and found a gateway to the dark ocean network. There, we ran into some unexpected danger, which turned out to be caused by, of all monsters, Slothmon. But then someone else sent for me and Gatomon through a giant whirlpool. It turned out to be Dagomon, the true ruler of the Dark Ocean, who wanted to use the power of our crests for his own fight against Daemon. We couldn't let him have them, so thanks to the bond between TK and I and our digimon, we were able to escape and put an end to Dagomon's terror once and for all. And strangely enough, that also worked out for Daemon as well…"
-Kari
DIGIMON: THE DIGITAL KEEPERS SAGA
Book Twenty-Two: "Blessed Are The Meek"
It was never this quiet before, and Kellen was never before so alone. But now that Culumon had inadvertently been taken to a new dimension, the little boy who would replace Gennai as the Preserver of the digital world found himself in a dark, frighteningly quiet temple.
As dark and dismal as the room was, so were his hopes. His heart filled itself with worry, for he could sense that something was happening- many things were happening, all of which were due to the forces of evil- and there was nothing he could do about it. He started to think to himself.
"Poor Culumon… and Gennai! I know I've got to do something for them, but I'm just not sure what I can do… I never had to figure things out on my own; I don't even know if I have the strength to reopen that portal… Boy. Some Preserver I'm turning out to be…" He then sighed.
That's when things started to change. The markings of an ancient language that were etched onto the walls usually lit up whenever Gennai or Kellen tapped into their powers. But now, they started to glow on their own.
The young boy lifted his head up and gazed in awe at the mysterious glowing. For a moment, he thought that it could only mean one thing; that someone was on the outside, trying to break in. "…Gennai?" he softly guessed. He did indeed get an answer, but not from Gennai; it was the voice of Azulongmon: "Kellen, my young friend! It's me, Azulongmon."
"Azulongmon?" blinked the young boy; he recognized that voice in an instant, but he couldn't believe that one of the Gate Guardians- those four digimon powerful enough to not only jump from one reality to another but also unlock gates to new realms- was now speaking to him.
Azulongmon, the blue Chinese dragon with an infinitely-long body, replied omnisciently, "The tide of fate is turning; Gennai has lost his battle against Daru, the dark one." "Oh no!" gasped Kellen in horror; "That means he's-" "Hold on," interrupted the dragon's voice; "Don't despair so soon; he may have been beaten, but he's not gone…" Kellen stood on his feet and asked the glowing wall, "What happened to him? Where is he?" "That's what we're trying to find out," replied the voice of Azulongmon.
Then, the wall's illumination transformed and symmetrically took the shape of four great beasts: a dragon on the right, a tiger on the left, a turtle on the top and a phoenix on the bottom. This glow made up the alignment of North, East, South and West, the four corners of the world, which seemed to be made possible by these beasts. This was a sign to Kellen that not only was Azulongmon reaching him from beyond Limbo, but so were the others.
Then, the voice of the phoenix, Zhuqiaomon, said, "Daru's victory over Gennai could only mean one thing: that the forces of evil will be free to roam the digital world without the Digi-Destined knowing it. They'll be facing their enemies with no help at all from he who would normally update them with strategies and upgraded skills." Kellen frowned, "I'd like to help them, but I'm not yet ready to take up the cause."
"We know," replied the voice of the tiger known as Baihumon; "You are strong, Kellen, but not even you can save our heroes from their own fate now. Fortunately, we have an alternate plan." The young boy, not offended at all by the tiger's remark, then gave a smile, "You do?"
Then the voice of the turtle, Ebonwumon, replied, "We have the power to move across from one digital world to another, and we have been doing so ever since this adventure had gotten started. On our search, we have discovered a phenomenon: multiple realities, coming together as one!"
The young boy looked confused and blinked, "Excuse me?"
"It's true," replied the voice of the dragon once again; "Normally, the different digital worlds just pass by each other; we never knew what would happen in they actually collided. But indeed, they are! And the results are actually in our favor. If Daemon succeeds in capturing the other Digi-Keepers- and right now, that's looking to be an extreme possibility- then we will see to it that we combine this digital world with that of the others."
Kellen gasped, "You… can make worlds collide? But how?" The voice of the tiger responded, "Very carefully, and at a safe distance, we can manipulate the circulation of the dimension gates. Once this is achieved, then many digital worlds will become one. And this will be the only way we can preserve the environment here."
"You see, Kellen," informed the voice of the phoenix, "without the Keepers of Land, Sea and Sky, the digital world's natural resources could very well crumble, or simply wither and die. We cannot allow that to happen…"
The young boy then realized what the Gate Guardians were getting to; "So, by combining the strengths of many digital worlds, the data from those worlds will be strong enough to keep this planet alive." "Yes," replied the turtle's voice.
Kellen briefly paused to collect his thoughts; Gennai was defeated but not killed; instead, he's now missing in the uncharted territory of another reality. And, the Gate Guardians were now working together to join together as many different digital worlds as they could, for fear of the inevitable capture of the Digi-Keepers. All of this seemed clear… and yet, it was not.
Kellen looked up at the glowing wall and asked, "I understand what you four are doing, but… what about the Digi-Destined? Shouldn't they be strong enough to fight off the bad guys and keep the Keepers safe?" The dragon's voice replied, "The Chosen Ones are strong, but their strength is slowly declining. Soon, I'm afraid, they will fail."
Now Kellen fully understood why the Gate Guardians were so desperate to help preserve the digital world; as the phoenix explained, "We have been carefully watching them from afar, and we have seen them undergoing their tests. It's a hard thing to admit, but these heroes are going to need us. But, we aren't fully aware of what will happen if our plan is a success; there could be consequences to the merging of other digital worlds.
"That's why we need you more than ever, Kellen; as Gennai's successor, you must help us keep the digital world stabilized." The young boy gulped, "…I'm …I'm ready for such a cause?" The voice of the dragon then replied with, "You are ready when you feel you are."
Kellen took a moment to contemplate this, but then he felt a rumble in the earth. The dragon's voice then said, "We must go; our work is far from being finished." "Oh!" gasped young Kellen; "Do be careful, and I do hope you can find Gennai and Culumon! …He's lost in another world, too." "Don't worry," blurted out the voice of the dragon, "we'll do our best to find them, and restore everything before it's too late."
No sooner than that, the quaking came to a halt, just as the wall's glowing light and figures of a turtle, a tiger, a dragon and a phoenix, disappeared. All was dark again in the temple; but not Kellen's hopes. He balled a fist and gazed at it with a small glow in his eyes; now more determined to fulfill his duties than ever, the young boy replied aloud, "Don't worry, Guardians… I won't let you down. I promise."
The heart of the ocean seemed nice and peaceful, especially in mid-day, when the sun's rays made it through the first few miles of the water depth. It was here, in the center of the great ocean, where the mermaid known as Oceanamon would be in hot pursuit for an enemy's secret lair. It was here, at this hour, when she had discovered it at last.
It was just where the sun's rays began to disappear, for the ocean was now at its deepest depth of all. Even more so, it got darker because of the negative energy surrounding the mysterious underwater lair. But even though it was so dark, the Keeper of the Sea could see it clearly with her soft blue eyes. It was a castle- Greedmon's castle.
It was built in the same fashion as a medieval fortress of ancient European culture, so it seemed puzzling that such a thing would be kept underwater. But Oceanamon knew that the ocean was Greedmon's chosen lair, just as it was once the chosen lair of an older Dark Master, Metal Seadramon.
Once the mermaid with the extra-long tail discovered this fortress at last, she paused to gaze in wonder at it, but then she quickly turned around and swam away, before anything or anyone from inside would discover that she was there.
"Would you stop saying that? For the last time, Ashley's not a Mary-Sue!"
"Yeah? Well, she just acts like she's Little Miss Perfect all the time. So what if she's so smart and talented? I don't see her winning any pageants, do I? Oh, I guess that'll be the next thing she goes after."
"You don't know her at all, Davis- I mean, Daisuke! She really likes you, you know that?"
"Oh yeah? Well she has a funny way of showing it, the way she always hangs around the older guys."
"She just does that to get your attention, and I guess it worked!"
"The only reason why you like her is because she's a lot like you, and that's why I'm not interested! The last person I would ever date would be somebody that reminds me of my sister!"
"Alright, you two! Knock it off," said Saberdramon, as he carried Jun and Veedramon Zero on his back while soaring over the open sea.
She was most conscious about this tagalong Veedramon; during her argument with her brother, who was being carried by his own Champion partner, ExVeemon, she almost forgot the fact that the Veedramon actually knew him, but by a different name, Daisuke. So she vowed to herself that whatever happened on their adventures, she would act as though her brother's name was Daisuke, or else risk causing confusion and distraught for the aged digimon.
That wasn't the only thing she kept an eye on; Jun turned around and saw that Zero, as he preferred to be called, was flexing his arm muscles and sharpening his claws. She seemed most concerned for him, because she couldn't take her eyes off of the visible scars on his face and torso.
"Zero?" she muttered; "Hm?" he hummed with big bright eyes. She then said, "My brother may not have his full crest yet, but I think he has the power to make digimon become Ultimates. Maybe… Well, I mean, if you want to…"
He blinked, "Change to Ultimate? …Nah, I'm okay as I am."
"Are you sure?" she argued; "'Cause I'm pretty sure Greedmon is a Mega digimon, and that's hard to beat."
Davis overheard them talking, and took slight offense of being reminded that he was short one piece of his much-desired Crest of Nobility. Still, he stepped in to say, "We'll be fine, Jun. Just focus on getting your crest, and then Saberdramon will be all the muscle we'll need."
"He's right, Jun," added her own partner; "Even if we have to fight Greedmon, we'll win because it's all a part of our destiny."
"Destiny," Jun muttered to herself; she then began to think to herself, "I'm not sure of we should put all our hope on something we can't really prove is real… I'm starting to think these guys got this far mostly on pure luck."
They were picking up speed toward the area of the open sea that Oceanamon had discovered the hidden fortress of Greedmon. Following her path wasn't so hard for them, because she had cleverly left a trail of sea bubbles for them to follow. "We're almost there," sensed the huge black bird; Ex-Veemon smelled the salty air and nodded, "Yeah. I can feel it, too; I can see the water getting darker, too."
Then they saw something emerge from the water; it was Oceanamon, waving to them in her own way of signaling they have reached their destination. Saberdramon and ExVeemon floated down to the water, but were able to hover just above the water's surface.
The mermaid-like Keeper smiled to them, "This has been a long time coming, you guys; are you ready?" "I am!" cheered Davis; "So am I!" followed an equally excited Zero.
Jun then asked Oceanamon, "So, Greedmon's home is down there underwater?" The blue-skinned mermaid shook her head, "Yes, but it won't be underwater for long." Jun blinked in surprise, "What? But I thought-" The mermaid replied quickly, "That you were just going to sneak in and out? I'm afraid it won't be that easy; I can tell that Greedmon knows you're here. So we might as well give ourselves somewhat of an advantage…"
She then dipped her head back into the water, making the boy who would be Daisuke wonder, "…What does she mean by that?"
They got their answer to the sound of water gushing from below. Alarmed, the winged Champions fluttered back into the sky, making way for a great whirlpool that had appeared seemingly from out of nowhere.
This was, of course, the work of the Keeper of the Seas; she wasted no time in uncovering Greedmon's underwater lair, by draining it of all its ocean water.
Now the lair was surrounded by a towering wall of water; the humans and their partners could easily walk into it without struggling for air. Before the winged Champions landed, though, they took time to stare in wonder and awe at the dark castle that suddenly stood before them.
From behind the ocean wall, the Digi-Keeper watched as her heroes made a soft landing on the wet, seaweed-painted ground. Davis and Zero jumped down at the same time, while Jun took her time descending from Saberdramon's back.
Oceanamon smiled to them, "Remember, children, the true key to your victory lies within your hearts." Davis just smiled to her and waved, "Don't worry about us, Oceanamon! We'll be back with Jun's crest before you can say… Aw, the heck with it. Let's go!"
He then led the charge, with ExVeemon and Veedramon Zero close behind. Jun, on the other hand, watched as Oceanamon disappeared into the water, then she was the last to follow Davis toward the castle.
At the front of it stood a towering doorway, which had in front of it a black gate much like the kind of gates any typical medieval fortress would have.
Just as the heroes stepped close enough to it, the gate began to lift itself open. The gang watched as the door that was guarded by the gate opened slowly once the gate had been lifted. It was as if the castle was inviting them in as honored guests.
Davis gulped and said to the others, "Brace yourselves, guys…" With that, they entered with caution.
The interior of the castle seemed to reek of saltwater and seaweed, just as its exterior did. But on top of that, it was pitch black to the point where one wouldn't be able to see what was in front of his eyes, and there was a wintry chill in the air that sent chills down Jun and Davis's spines.
It became all the darker and all the colder when the front door suddenly slammed itself shut, locking in the guests.
Jun gasped first, and then became silenced by her sudden fear. "…P-Penguinmon?" she stuttered; "Where are you?"
"I'm over here, Jun!"
"Where?"
"Here!" He started flapping his flippers in the air, hoping to catch his partner with them, and when he did, she screamed, "AH!" "Sorry," his voice replied, "that was me." "Oh, whew," her voice sighed back.
"Davish?"
"I'm right here, Veemon."
"Is thish your hand I got?"
"That's me."
"Oh, sh-orry Zero."
"And that's not my hand, it's my tail."
"Oopsh."
"Who's hand do I have?" asked Davis's voice.
"I think it's mine," answered the voice of his sister.
"How can you tell?"
"Here, lemmie squeeze it."
"OW!"
"Oh! Sorry, Zero! I thought you were my brother."
"Hey, you got a good grip for such small hands."
"Then whose hand do I have??"
"It's me, Davish."
"Oh, hey Veemon."
"Who's Davis?"
"He meant Daisuke, Zero."
"Oh."
Davis's sneaker then stepped onto something on the floor; it was a marking of some kind, a stigma of an ancient digital code. The stigma then set off a series of golden lit stigmas, which were clearly etched out not just on the floor, but also on the walls and the ceiling of this great hall the heroes were venturing in.
It was one moment of radiance that lit up the room, showing everyone where they were and in which direction they were going, and then, just like that, it was over; the room fell back into total darkness.
"…What was that?" peeped an invisible Davis; an invisible Zero replied, "It was some kind of map. There are lots of buildings in the digital world that have codes like that; they're meant to preserve certain amounts of data, like the hardware of a computer or something."
Veemon was impressed at how wise the old Veedramon was; he smiled invisibly, "Wow. Dazzat mean we're in sh-ome kind of computer right now?" Zero's voice replied, "No, it just means that this place must have some kind of special power to it. Or, it could mean that it's got a hidden message… Or it could be a tra-"
WHOOSH!
Just like that, as if on cue, the stigmas started glowing again, in a pattern of an ancient code that none of them could read. This time, the glowing stayed visible, illuminating the great hall in a tone of gold. While the rest of them watched in awe, Davis gulped to Zero, "…Let me guess… a trap?"
He must have been right, because just then, the glow became even brighter, almost blinding. The stigmatic codes on the walls, floor and ceiling, unleashed before the heroes a stream of pure data. It filled up the room like air, bouncing off the humans and digimon as if they were mirrors.
Jun and Davis looked closely at the data codes that were painted on their bodies in wonder; it was like watching reflected light coming from the rippling water of a pool. It didn't hurt at all, but at the same time it didn't make any sense.
Though the moment was peaceful and harmless, all of the adventurers were taken in by a feeling of uncertainty and doom.
And then, everything went white…
"…Davis? …Davis Motomiya, are you awake yet? You're gonna be late for school! Again!!"
This was the usually "chipper" voice of Davis's mother coming from the hallway, which was sealed off by the closed bedroom door. Davis lazily fluttered his eyes open and found himself in his own bed, as if waking up from a very strange and very long dream. He yawned loudly and stretched his arms and legs to their limit.
But then, as he literally rolled himself out of bed, he realized that he touched ground with his tan Timberland hiking shoes- the same ones he was wearing in the digital world.
He gasped, "Wha?" as he took a better look at the shoes. His eyes then crawled up his legs, seeing that he was still wearing his dark green khaki shorts, and his yellow paradise-themed un-buttoned shirt over his white undershirt. This was the same exact outfit he had on the last time he was awake; he even had his hand-me-down goggles still attached to his head.
"WAA!" he screamed, freaked out completely at the fact that here he was, in his bedroom, in what seemed to be the real world.
Then someone else who was in the room with him heard his outcry and peeped, "Davish?" The young boy turned around to the bed with a, "Huh?" and saw a little lump sticking out from underneath the blue blanket. He uncovered it to reveal Veemon, his digimon partner.
"Davish!" gasped the little blue dragon, who was just as freaked out by his surroundings as his partner was; "What happened? Where are we??" Davis fluttered his eyes, as if doubting his senses, "I dunno, Veemon! Last thing I remember was going inside Greedmon's palace!" "Me too," nodded Veemon; "It's like we both had the same dream."
Davis's curious eyes scouted the room, seeing that it was completely in tact and down to the last detail and said, "…I don't think that was a dream, Veemon… Maybe this is the dream." Veemon then bounced out of the bed and suggested, "You want me to pinch you to make sure it is?"
Not in the mood to be pinched, Davis shook his head, "No! Come on, let's go figure this out somewhere else…" Not arguing with him there, Veemon followed his partner out of the room and into the hallway.
While descending from the stairs, Davis and Veemon picked up the sweet smell of pancakes being cooked in the kitchen. Driven by their hunger, they rushed through the living room and straight into the dining room, where sure enough the table was set with not one, but two sets of forks, knives and napkins- one for Davis, and perhaps the second was for Veemon.
The two of them sat next to each other at the table, each grabbing a fork and knife and started drooling with hunger. "Mmmm, pancakes!" they purred as Davis's mother came into the scene with huge trays of stacked pancakes. She placed them in front of the heroes and smiled, "Here you go, boys. Eat up." Not arguing with her, the two of them started wolfing down their food as if they hadn't eaten in a lifetime.
But then, just as Davis had a mouth full of food that made him look like a chipmunk gathering nuts for the winter, it hit him; this looked just like a normal day in his normal life, except now Veemon was in it. He gulped down his food roughly and looked to his mother and muttered, "Uh, Mom?" She looked to him with an innocent look on her face and smiled, "Yes, dear?" "Have you noticed anything weird about this picture?" he asked. "Like what, Davis?" she blinked; "Like," he replied with a raised eyebrow, "the fact that Veemon is here?"
Veemon took offense and frowned, "What, you want me to leave?" "No," his partner muttered; he was trying to show Veemon that he was testing his mother.
But she said, "Oh, I don't mind Veemon. He can stay here for as long as he wants." Davis and Veemon then bulged their eyes; "Huh??" they both blinked in surprise. Davis's mother just smiled again, "You two better get going, or you'll be late for school."
"School?" Davis gasped; "But… But weren't we just…" "Just what, dear?" blinked his mother, seeming to be confused.
Davis was beside himself; he could have sworn that he was supposed to be in the digital world, preparing for a battle that would determine who would keep his sister's Crest of Humility.
This scene didn't feel right at all… but he knew he could never win a fight against his mother, so he sighed, "…Okay, mom. I'm ready." Not much else was said after that; Davis and Veemon now felt that they had no choice but to head for high school.
That was the one place Davis never wanted to be, whether he was on a heroic mission or not.
On that same beautiful day, while still in her peaceful little neighborhood, Jun walked Penguinmon down the street to look at life on Earth. The little purple penguin waddled in at fairly slow pace, watching everything carefully, for it would be the very first time he would ever see the way humans lived.
Just as shocked to be in the real world was Jun; she took her time walking down the street as well. She couldn't believe her eyes, but they showed her a pleasant empty street with parked cars, and behind them were little houses with fences, staircases, and the whole bit.
"Jun…" muttered the little penguin beside her, "are we still in Greedmon's palace?" His partner blinked, "I dunno, Penguinmon… It looks like we wound up in my world." "But how?" Penguinmon wondered; Jun was just as baffled and replied, "I dunno. Maybe we were sent here for some reason…"
Perhaps, he thought, she was right; so Penguinmon didn't argue with her any longer, but instead continued on their way through the pleasant neighborhood.
They stopped at a corner, where nearby in a small park sat a little playground. Penguinmon approached it, with his eyes fixed on the little creatures that ran around carelessly. He saw more of them swinging on swings, sliding down a slide, and playing games like double-dutch and hopscotch.
"Jun…" he blinked in awe, "are these humans?" Jun looked at the children in play, and nodded with a smile, "Yes, of course they are."
The little penguin replied with a gleam in his eyes, "I never saw them so small before… Are they In-Training, or Babies?" His human friend felt compelled to giggle, knowing fully well what he meant by that question; but she instead just replied patiently, "No, Penguinmon; they're just little kids. Humans don't jump to the next level, like digimon do; we just start out small, and keep growing bigger as we get older."
"Oh," nodded Penguinmon; "…Does that mean you're really old?"
She giggled at last, "Heh-heh, no… I'm only eighteen; I still have a while to go before I get to be my biggest."
Her partner then looked to her, and with a certain tone of voice, he said, "You'll never get back to being a child though, would you?" She shook her head, "No."
His disappointment was all the more distinct when he glanced to the ground and frowned, "Aww… I wish I could've seen that; I'll bet you were the cutest baby human ever."
Jun was warmed by this comment, and she purred, "Aww… Don't worry, Penguinmon; you didn't miss much." She then gave him a soft noogie on the head, making him giggle.
"Look! That lady's got a digimon!"
"It's a cute little penguin!"
These were the voices of two children nearby; Jun and Penguinmon jumped in surprise to hear it. They then looked back and saw that the children, who were a moment before minding their own business, were now charging at them with joy.
They rushed Penguinmon and started hugging him and pulling at the antennae-like feathers on his head as if he were a doll; in reaction, he screamed in shock. "Hey, stop!" Jun barked; "Leave him alone!"
But then Penguinmon calmed himself, realizing that the children weren't attacking him, they were trying to cuddle him. He smiled warmly, "…Aww… Look Jun, they like me."
Jun was still stunned and blinked, "Wha…? But… How do they know what you are?" To answer her question, one of the children looked to her and smiled innocently, "We know all about digimon, Miss. We always wanted one; you're really lucky!"
Jun then realized what was going on; it was as if they had reentered the real world at a time when humans and digimon seemed to co-exist… or something like that. She stood there puzzled, as Penguinmon was now getting tickled by the children; he laughed uncontrollably.
Somehow, perhaps by the grace of God or some other phenomenon in the universe, Davis and Veemon made it just in time to reach the first floor hallway of the high school building before classes were in session.
The really funny thing was that Davis didn't feel the slightest bit silly that he was the only teenager in that hallway that had a digimon walking by his side.
All of the other teens in the hall, gathering their books or socializing with their own respective groups, didn't seem to be the least bit freaked out that there was a digimon in the hall.
Veemon was excited to be there; he started picking up his pace as he cheered, "This is gonna be sh-o cool! I'll get to take all yer clashes, play in the gym, eat yer lunch… Hey Davish? You think I'd make a good Show And Tell project?" Davis, with his schoolbag wrapped around his arms, shrugged, "Come on, Veemon, we're not in grade school anymore.
"…But I would like to see the look on my professors' faces when they finally see you. None of them believed me when I talked about you guys, and now I'll finally have the proof in front of me."
"I thought that voice sounded familiar."
Davis and Veemon heard this equally familiar voice, coming from behind a closing locker door just a few feet in front of them. Upon recognizing their old friend, Veemon and Davis jumped up in jubilation; "Hey, Ken!" cheered Davis; Veemon then looked down to see who was at Ken's feet and cheered, "And Wormmon!"
Indeed, it was Ken and Wormmon; it was as if nothing that had happened a few days ago actually happened, and here they both were in full condition, ready for their classes. Bright-eyed, Davis approached them first and smiled gratefully, "Ken, you're alright! How'd you get out of that coma?"
His best friend looked at him in an almost blank manner and blinked, "…Coma? What're you talking about, Davis?"
The spiky-haired young man explained, "Don't you remember? We were fighting Gluttonymon in the desert, and he threw you into that Power Spine, and it made you go crazy, and then you got knocked out cold?" "Yeah, yeah!" bounced Veemon; "I was there! I sh-aw the whole thing! Wormmon, you were there too! Remember?"
Veemon felt just as closely to Wormmon as Davis did to Ken, so the little blue dragon was shocked to hear his green caterpillar-like buddy look back at him blankly and reply, "…I don't know what you're talking about, Veemon."
"Huh?" frowned the disappointed blue dragon; his face not only dropped, but so did the horns on top of his head, slightly.
Davis couldn't believe what he was hearing, and he confronted Ken about it with, "Dude, you don't remember? You musta got hit harder than I thought."
His buddy then replied calmly, "Uh… Look, Davis, we can talk about this later. Right now, my class is about to start."
"Like when?"
RI-I-I-I-I-I-ING!
"…Like, right now."
Ken then gathered up his book and motioned to his digimon partner, "Come on, Wormmon."
Wormmon was about to follow his friend down the hall, when Veemon stepped forward and uttered, "Wormmon, wait." The little caterpillar turned back to him; Veemon asked, "Don't tell me everything that happened before wa-sh just a dream." Wormmon seemed ashamed to not know what his friend was talking about, and it showed in his eyes as he replied, "I'm sorry, Veemon… We'll talk later." With that, he scurried off after Ken.
Davis and Veemon just stared at each other, puzzled about how their friends were acting. "Dude," Davis muttered, "first my mom, and now Ken and Wormmon? What's next?" Veemon frowned, "I dunno; you got any more friends around here?" "Just TK and Kari," shrugged Davis, "and if they start acting weird, I'm outta here."
Then they decided to try and go with the flow by entering their first period classroom nearby.
Zero was blushing meekly, and even sweat-dropped at the sight of thousands of humans gathered together at a convention in downtown Odaiba. They were all gathered in his honor, apparently; there were TV cameras and news people amidst the adoring crowd of humans. Cameras flashed as he stood there, atop a podium, not sure just what to do or say.
"So tell us, Zero," said an interviewer nearby, "what's it like in the digital world? Being a digimon, you must consider it to be like your second home, right?"
Feeling humbled and proud at the same time by this sudden barrage of fans, Veedramon Zero cleared his throat and said, "Well, uh… Yeah. I was born in the digital world, as were all digimon. Oh, it's a nice place, once you get used to it… and, after you've defeated every evil bad guy it has to offer."
"Yes," said another interviewer, "tell us about that last great battle. It must have been amazing!"
The aged Champion blinked his eyes; for once, he was totally clueless. He scratched his head and replied, "…I… honestly don't remember what happened. I must've been knocked out or something."
Another human took up a microphone and said, "But you must have been a key factor in the war; you've obviously become one of the most popular digimon of all."
Again, the Champion was honored by the human's comment, and he replied with a sheepish grin, "Uh, heh. Yeah… Well, I wouldn't call myself the best; I really owe all my training to my human friends. Particularly, to my best buddy of all time, Taichi Yagami."
He was a bit surprised at himself; that was the first time in a while since Zero had ever even thought of his old human partner, let alone speak of him.
Just a few minutes before this moment, the Champion was asking himself how he even got to this place. But now, as he was getting showered with praise by hundreds of humans at once, he was suddenly feeling at peace with himself.
Time seemed to have gone by very fast, for before they knew it, Davis and Veemon were in their school stadium, sitting by on the bleachers near Ken and Wormmon while their soccer team was in the middle of practice.
Davis observed his surroundings well; it was a beautiful day with a clear sky, the soccer field had fresh green grass, and the team was all over the field, missing this ball and tripping over that ball, and all the while Ken was fiddling with his laptop computer, just as he was just a few days before they left for the digital world… if they left at all.
While watching his teammates, Davis commented with a grumpy look on his face, "Well, Veemon, so far nothing else is out of the ordinary… the team still sucks." His nearby friend then replied, "Well, you gotta hand it to them; at least they keep trying."
Davis then turned over to Ken and asked, "What exactly are you typing over there?" Ken glanced at him and remarked, "Some of us have school projects that're more important than disappointing soccer practices." Davis raised an eyebrow; he could have sworn that Ken made a similar comment just days… no, months ago.
It all seemed like a déjà vu at that point, so he said, "Hey, Ken? How come nobody looks freaked out at the fact that we got our digimon here?" While his focus was on his computer screen, Ken replied, "Don't you remember what happened, Davis? We won the war already; the two worlds are at peace now."
Davis gasped, "What? When did that happen?"
Ken then stopped what he was doing at last, turned to Davis and explained, "You must've been knocked out or something; all I know is that our team won the fight against Daemon's minions. Soon after that, we came back home and all our digimon came back with us."
Davis and Veemon exchanged looks, and then Davis inquired, "Does that mean we don't have to fight anymore? Is that why everybody's cool with digimon now?"
Ken smiled, "They're not just cool with it; you might just see some digimon walking by out of nowhere. They're free to roam our world now, 'cause the last battle caused a permanent bridge between their world and ours. Now we're free to go back and forth whenever we want to. And you and I, along with the others, have it even better 'cause now we're like universal heroes now."
Davis seemed tickled by this idea; he grinned, "Really? Does that mean we had a party an' everything? Did we get a parade? Did we each get medals, or crowns, or something?" His best friend then frowned, "…Geez, Davis; where've you been?" Davis felt completely lost at that point and dropped his smile, "...uh… I'm not sure…"
Veemon then nudged Davis gently and said, "I think he may be right, Davish; sh-omething did happen to us when we were in Greedmon's cashtle. You think they put ush in a coma?" Davis scratched his head, which was already starting to hurt, and replied, "I'm not sure, Veemon; I'm confused enough as it is."
Ken then resumed typing on his laptop and said calmly, "Maybe you shouldn't worry about it so much; just enjoy the fact that all our battling is behind us now." "…Are you sure about that, dude?" Davis wondered; Ken nodded, "If it wasn't, then why would I be here worried about a school project?"
Davis then blinked in curiosity; for once, he wanted to see just what Ken was so focused on. He moved down from the two rows of bleachers that separated the two of them, moved in as closely as he could to an unsuspecting Ken, and just as he reached for the laptop he asked, "Can I see what you're typing? Just for a sec."
Alarmed, Ken saw him coming two seconds too late and gasped, "Hey! What're you doing?"
Quickly, Davis grabbed the laptop and turned it to his face. For an instant, he could see unreadable symbols on the computer screen; it wasn't Japanese writing, as it should have been, but rather a font that seemed to make no sense at all.
Then just as quickly as it was taken away from him, Ken grabbed the laptop back. He then clutched onto it and barked at his friend, "What is your problem, Davis? You saw I was busy!"
Davis raised an eyebrow in surprise, "…Dude, that writing made no sense."
In his defense, Ken remarked, "Just leave it alone; why don't you go to your girlfriend over there?" Still baffled, Davis blinked, "Girlfriend? Where?" Ken pointed to his far left, "Over there!"
Davis looked in that direction, and all he saw at the end of the field was a team of cheerleaders in the middle of practice. But then he looked more closely, and recognized one of the girls: Ashley Weindenbaum.
Davis then made a face and argued with Ken, "Ashley? Dude, she's not my girlfriend. She's a Mary-Sue!" "Whatever," muttered his annoyed friend as he went back to his so-called school project.
Davis could see that he bugged Ken long enough; it was time to explore the other side of this mystery.
Davis and Veemon were approaching the cheerleaders as they were in the middle of one of their many practiced cheers; neither the young man nor the digimon paid a bit of attention to what they were chanting, just that one of them seemed to be on their side. In fact, she was the one coaching the team of cheerleaders at the time, and only stopped giving her group orders when she finally saw Davis and Veemon coming.
"…Okay, take five guys!" ordered Ashley, and on command, the rest of them started to move away. She then turned her attention to Davis and smiled, "Davis…" "Hey, Ash," he waved; Ashley then looked down at the little blue dragon next to him and smiled, "And Veemon." Veemon blinked in confusion, "Have we met?"
Davis then made the introductions, "Veemon, this is Ashley; she's Jun's friend." "Oh!" smiled the Rookie; "I heard about you; Davis talks about you." "He does?" smiled the young lady; Veemon nodded in reply, "Yeah. He says that you're a Mary S-"
"SO!" Davis cut him off just in time, thus leaning his elbow on the little digimon's head for support as he leaned back; "Whatcha up to these days, Ash?" The young lady brushed her long hair back and replied nonchalantly, "Oh, I guess it's nothing special, what after hearing all the amazing things you guys did in the digital world."
"You know about that?"
"Davis, everybody knows about that! You're world famous, you know."
"…I am??"
"Yes! They're actually talking about making special holidays for each of you Digi-Destined."
Davis never felt so honored or touched at the same time; he blushed, "Wow… I guess that explains why all the teachers went easy on me." The young lady then dropped her smile slightly and wondered, "So… I guess now that you're back, things are gonna be different around here."
"Whaddya mean different?" Davis blinked; "I haven't changed a bit."
Ashley explained, "Well, you're famous now… I'll bet you'll be rich too, so you might as well move out to Hawaii or something, and buy your own place. Maybe buy a couple cars, or whatever."
The young man was tickled by her comment and giggled, "Puh, dude!… I'm only fifteen; I'm too young to drive! And besides, I like it here. All my friends are here, you're here, Kari's here…"
Ashley then sighed, "Oh yeah, Kari… Have you seen her today?" Davis shook his head, "Nah; she's got a way different school schedule than I do, and she's probably home by now. But maybe I'll see her later."
Ashley's face started to show a slight change, as if she was beginning to feel insecure; she tapped her toes on the grass and glanced downward as she said, "Sure, you do that. And tell her I said hi, too; I barely get a chance to see her."
Davis was getting the vibe that Ashley wasn't enjoying this conversation, and asked, "Hey, wh-what's wrong, Ash? Did I say something?" The young lady then took a breath and replied, "I'm sorry, Davis; I don't think I should be saying anything, but I know how much you like her. I hope you don't mind me saying so, but…"
"What?" he asked worriedly; Ashley said, "Well, it's just that she's changed lately. She just seems a little stuck-up to me."
"Stuck-up? Kari?? No way!"
"No, it's true; every time I get a chance to talk to her, she makes it a quick conversation and then leaves with a bunch of her closest friends. It's as if she hates talking to me. Has she ever done that to you?"
"No, Kari's the sweetest girl I've ever known. You just gotta get to know her better; she loves digimon and would do anything for them. I'll bet she'll grow up to be some kind of digimon teacher or conversationalist, or something."
"But that's just it; she seems too perfect."
"Exactly; she's perfect! She's…"
And then, it hit him like a ton of bricks; this was the same exact argument that he had with his sister earlier, only they weren't debating about Kari's character, but Ashley's. And here she stood face to face with him, as if putting him through some kind of test.
Davis also noticed something else; there was a look of insecurity in Ashley's eyes, as if she were jealous of Kari, or perhaps she just felt like she didn't fit in with Davis's circle of friends.
The young man then gulped, "…Um, maybe we should just change the subject." "What's the point?" sighed Ashley; "All we ever talk about are the digimon. Not that I'm bored with them; it's just that I really have no idea how to approach them."
Davis then smiled, "I can teach you! We'll hang out sometime and I can show you everything; how to help them digivolve, and stuff. It'll be like a special class or something! Whaddya say?"
The young lady paused, glancing at Veemon for a moment, and then she gave Davis a small nod, "We'll see… I'm sorry, Davis; I guess I'm just not on the same page as you are… And I gotta say, I'm kinda disappointed at that."
The young man then felt a mutual pain of discontent in his heart and frowned, "Yeah… I think I am too."
For once, in this entire time that he and Veemon felt out of place in the world, there was a sense of peace between them.
Up until that moment, they were wondering why they were home, but now, as they were slowly but surely getting to know Ashley, they were finally feeling home at last.
The heart of Odaiba seemed to be pumping with the usual hustle and bustle of people going to work, enjoying their lunch breaks and rendezvousing with friends old and new, as usual.
But as Jun and Penguinmon traveled down one street, they could see that there were digimon walking around. On one corner stood a tall green Ogremon, waiting for a bus along with some humans, and in the window of a nearby clothing store stood "models" of Gotsumon. And even the cars that drove by had maybe one or two digimon behind the steering wheels, honking their horns to coax the cars in front of them to keep moving.
It all seemed too surreal for Jun, but at this point she had gotten the gist of what was going on. She started to think aloud, "…So, the war's over? We can all live in peace now?" Her digimon partner looked up to her while waddling by her side and frowned in disappointment, "I guess it's true, Jun; but I'm really bummed that we missed the last fight."
Jun hung her head, feeling just as disappointed, and sighed, "I know how you feel, Penguinmon… I guess the others really didn't need me after all. I've felt like a fifth wheel from the moment I came to the digital world; now I can see for myself that it was all for nothing."
Penguinmon then stopped in front of her and said, "That's not true. Jun, I've been watching you, and you get stronger and stronger every day. I know that even now, when it looks like we don't have to fight anymore, we can still be heroes."
Jun the replied with a faintness of spirit, "But Penguinmon, I never got my crest. What good am I if I don't have all my Digi-Destined tools?" Her purple-feathered friend gave her a warm smile and a soft chuckle to go with it, "It's okay. You only need a crest when it's time to battle, but just because you don't have it on you doesn't mean you're not a Digi-Destined. See Jun, it's not the crest that makes you who you are; it's your own heart and soul that gives you power."
"Really?" she replied meekly; Penguinmon nodded, "Yep. We may not have known each other for very long, but let me tell you something: I couldn't be prouder to be your digimon partner, 'cause I know you got this special gift inside that's just waiting to bust out."
Jun's self doubt was almost completely erased by that comment, and she gave him a warm smile, "Gosh, Penguinmon… I do wish I've met you sooner." The little penguin just blushed.
"No… No more interviews, please!"
It felt like hours had gone by, and during all that time, Zero had been swarmed with paparazzi and autograph-hunting fans from one street corner to another. All he really wanted was to eat, or exercise, or do something instead of being adored by many nameless humans.
As he approached a dark alleyway in the neighborhood, more people were hounding for his attention, and he was getting sick of it.
Gracefully but sternly, he pushed these annoying humans away, going, "Come on, move it! Move it; I'm looking for a place to rest." He finally got away from them as he pulled himself into the alley, where there were trashcans lined up against the walls and where clotheslines dangled across the neighboring windows.
Zero rubbed his eyes in frustration, growling softly to himself, "Yeesh! …I never had this much attention in my life, and I think I know why now: I don't like it!"
He then leaned back against one of the alley walls, catching his breath in an attempt to relax. The aged Veedramon then started to talk to himself out loud; perhaps he was used to it, for he was after all a loner for many years.
"I never had a chance to be famous like this before… Maybe I just need to get used to it. Then again, I don't remember the last time I had the chance to live in peace. I've always been fighting one bad guy after another, whether Taichi was with me or not… Hmm…
"I hate this. I hate not doing anything; I wanna go back to the days when I was a fighter; back then I was proud to call myself a Champion! I just get so bored when I'm doing NOTHING!"
In his frustration, the Veedramon turned around to the wall he was leaning up against, and let loose his balled right fist on it.
WHOOSH!
To his shock, the brick wall didn't break like it was supposed to; instead, it rippled like water. More than that, the rippling was accompanied by a series of small digital codes, like the stigmas he saw in Greedmon's underwater castle. Funny enough, that was the last thing he remembered, seeing a room filled with codes like that, and activating as well.
Zero blinked, "…Are human walls supposed to do that?" No, human walls were not supposed to ripple like water; they were supposed to shatter when punched by a Veedramon.
Then it hit him; the wall wasn't real. It couldn't have been real, otherwise it wouldn't have made sense as to why it didn't break.
Zero narrowed his eyes, "…Wait… I get it now. I don't think I'm in the real world. I don't think I left that castle at all! …This has gotta be a trick, all of it! And I gotta stop it somehow; those kids might need me right now!" He wasted no time in running out of that so-called alleyway.
When he did, he took to the imaginary street, and frantically looked around for a power source. There had to be one, and it had to be big; no illusion this powerful would be without an enormous power source.
Then he looked ahead and upward, at the two towers that stood at the highest level of the entire city. His eyes narrowed again, "That must be it…"
The sun was beginning to set, painting the clouds in the sky soft purple and orange, and turning the sky itself a bright blue fading into midnight blue. In a grassy field, far away from any people or any cares, Jun and Penguinmon laid back and watched the beauty of the scene.
The little penguin made a deep sigh, "This is the life… No battles, no enemies; just lyin' in the sun, minding our own business." Jun looked asleep with her eyes closed, but she was in fact in a moment of deep serenity; she smiled, "Yeah. This is how life should be; a world where humans and digimon can live in peace together. It's way too good to be true."
"…Maybe it is too good to be true," muttered Penguinmon, as his big red eyes gazed at the sky and caught sight of something unusual. Jun opened one eye and peeped, "What, something wrong?" Penguinmon replied nonchalantly, "Oh, nothing… That is, if it's normal in the human world for the sky to ripple like water and reveal golden lights in the process."
"…Golden lights?" Jun frowned, opening both eyes in reaction. She then saw for herself that the sky was starting to ripple, as if it were a puddle and somebody just set foot in it. Small glowing digi-codes were flashing along with the ripple effect, much to Jun's shock.
She sat up and gasped, "Oh my gosh, what is that??" Penguinmon sat up as well and frowned, "I dunno, but I think it's safe to say we're in trouble now."
"V-NOVA BLAST!"
FOOM!!
Once and again, then three times, Zero hit the two tallest towers of the city, knowing full well that this has to be the spot where the illusion was at its strongest.
Like bolts of lightning, his energy attacks exploded on impact with the towers, as Zero worked his way from top to bottom. Soon enough, the effect of his attacks would send rippling digital codes all over the place…
Ashley, Davis and Veemon have been hanging out by themselves at the soccer field while the sun was still setting. At this point, the three of them had done more bonding with each other than it seemed they ever had. Ashley was especially enjoying Veemon's company, who proved to be both cute and entertaining. She found him especially cute when he started trying on the goggles that Davis had been given by his mentor, Tai.
"Heheheheheh!" laughed Veemon as he proudly wore the goggles on his small, round head; "Look at me, now I'm a Digi-Deschtined leader! Let's go schave the digital world, and afterwards we'll play schoccer!!"
Ashley laughed at the Rookie, while Davis, sitting up beside Ashley on the cool grass, tapped his fingers and smiled impatiently, "Ha-ha, very funny. Okay, you fooled around long enough with those goggles; can I have 'em back now?" Veemon gave him a face in reply as he held onto them to keep them from slipping off his forehead, "…No! I alwaysh wanted to try 'em on! It'sh my turn!"
Davis started to get paranoid and argued, "Seriously, Veemon; those goggles are kinda old; you can break 'em." The little digimon then started to hop around and tease him, "Yer jusch jealousch, 'cause I look better with 'em on!"
Ashley started laughing, but Davis grit his teeth with frustration; "Alright, that does it!" he growled; he then got to his feet and continued, "Give 'em back, or I'll use you as the soccer ball!"
"Nyah-nyah! Nyah-nyah-nyah!" teased Veemon, as he started the chase for the goggles. He laughed himself silly as he raced down the field, with Davis close behind. When he finally caught up with his digimon partner, the two of them tumbled like tumbleweed for a few seconds, and then made a not so soft landing at the very end of the field.
But it was there when the two of them stopped being silly, for something caught their eyes in the sky. Just as Jun and Penguinmon had seen it from where they were relaxing, now Davis and Veemon could see the air rippling like disturbed water. "…what is that?" muttered a confused and nearly scared Davis; Veemon gulped, "I dunno… Should we go find out what it ish?"
"We should go tell Ashley," suggested the young man; he then turned around to say, "Hey Ash—" To Davis's shock and dismay, the girl that he was slowly beginning to bond with had vanished. Both he and Veemon dropped their jaws; "Wha?" they both muttered in confusion. Davis then looked back to the sky and narrowed an eye, "…That settles it! Something's been wrong all day, and I'm gonna find out what it is!"
The young man then led the charge long before his partner got the nerve to even move; he was still taken by surprise. Only when Davis came back, yanked the goggles off his head and yelled, "Gimmie those!" and ran off with them did Veemon finally get the gusto to take off in a hurry.
In less than twenty minutes, the two separated teams of humans and digimon partners came together at the highest towers of the city, where they caught sight of their new friend Veedramon Zero tearing them down ever so slowly with his "V-Nova Blasts."
They witnessed that with each of his attacks, the earth and everything around it started shaking and rippling all the more.
Jun was the first to approach him as the aged Veedramon started to come down to earth, by shouting, "Zero!! What in heaven's name are you doing!?" The Champion was startled to hear her voice, but recognized it, and so when he turned around to see his new friends, he smiled warmly, "Hey, guys! What you been up to?" Davis replied, "We've been having a great day, until things started shaking up. What's going on?"
The Veedramon paused to breathe, after spending nearly half an hour disrupting the atmosphere, and then said, "Look… Nothing is what it seems around here. Just take my word for it; I know what I'm doing." Jun frowned, "But Zero…" Zero reacted by staring back at her with sympathy written in his eyes; she saw this and felt in her heart that he did in fact know what he was doing. Still, she seemed reluctant about it and hummed, "…Hmm…"
Davis blinked, "You think tearing down the city's tallest buildings is helping things?" Then he felt a little tap on his arm; it was Veemon, who looked up at him and smiled, "The big guy knows what he'sh doing… 'Daischuke.'"
For once, the little Rookie remembered to call him by the name that Zero was familiar with, and Davis couldn't help but smile about it.
So he nodded, "Okay then… This still looks crazy, but we gotta do what we gotta do." He then led Jun in pulling out the instrument of their partner's evolution, the D-3; he commanded, "Digivolve, now!"
------------ Vision: Digivolution- Champions ------------
"VEEMON, DIGIVOLVE TO………….………………. EXVEEMON!"
"PENGUINMON, DIGIVOLVE TO………………. SABERDRAMON!"
------------ End Vision ------------
The three Champions then banded together and in chorus they launched their attacks at the towers:
"X-LASER!"
"BLACK SABER!"
"V-NOVA BLAST!"
KABOOM!!
In one fowl swoop, the digital codes marked all around the invisible walls started to glow, and then vanish like electric flashes. This caused a ripple effect throughout the atmosphere, ensuring the heroes that everything they have seen, smelled and touched was just an illusion- a perfect illusion that had up until this moment felt all too real.
The rippling effect caused by the illusion's weakened barrier gave way to an enormous room, one forged by brick and wood, like an ancient castle. In fact, that's precisely where they have been all along, Greedmon's castle.
All the while they thought they were in the real world, they've traveled up and down the hidden rooms of this fortress, and now they have found themselves in the very heart of it, an area wide enough to be a grand ballroom, if such a thing were accepted in such a dark and dismal place.
And then, as if he himself were a hologram, a huge golden monster with four dragon faces, one on each side of his head, came snaking through the wall and revealed the rest of his Chinese dragon-like body, covered all down the side and at the end of his tail in claws. Floating on air, he twined himself around the ceiling like a hanging chandelier; he was made almost entirely of metal, so the luster from his body made it seem like he almost was a chandelier.
The creature's fierce green eyes, the ones on his front face, beamed maliciously at the guests, and he smiled at them. There was no doubt in their minds; this was Greedmon. "So," Davis hissed as he shook a fist at the Sin, "it was you who made up all that stuff about us being home!"
Greedmon's front face grinned, "Very perceptive, boy. If you haven't figured it out by now, my castle is more than a fortress; it has its own network that can create life-like optical illusions. Think of it as my own private vacation spot. My intention was to make you all think you had nothing left to fight for, and if you don't mind me bragging, it was going perfectly..."
Then the young man raised an eyebrow, "Then how did you know what our lives are like in the real world? How did you know about the school, and my friends there, and everything? You were never there!" Greedmon's front face spoke again, "Silly boy; how do you think my siblings and I know anything about you Digi-Destined? Your lives aren't hidden from us, because we have an ally that can preserve your world, just as he can preserve ours."
Jun glanced over to her brother and asked, "What is he talking about?" Davis replied softly, "I think he's talking about the Preservers; they're human beings like us that can watch over the digital world from their own… But I didn't know they had access to our world."
The four-faced beast above them started to chuckle softly, "There's a lot about us that you don't know, boy. But I'm sure you know which Preserver I'm referring to…" He knew indeed; Davis narrowed his eyes, "Daru." "Bingo," narrowed the green eyes of the Sin.
Jun's heart started racing with anxiety, as she stared at the monster several feet above her head. Her hands started to twitch as she stepped back and gulped, "Does this mean… we have to fight him now, to get to my crest?"
The Chinese dragon grinned as if in a friendly manner, "Fight? My dear…" He then uncoiled himself and floated downward to Jun's side; as he did, he said to her, "I would give you the Crest of Humility if you want it that badly… But then, why would you? I know you were enjoying that illusionary world you were in, and I could easily make it a reality for you… if you would rather go home and forget about all this."
"Don't listen to him, Jun!" warned her nearby brother; "He's just trying to trick you; you NEED that crest!" Jun turned back to Greedmon, whose right head stared right back at her from her perspective. It said, "You only need your crest if you are willing to fight, Jun. So the real question is, are you?" He then slithered away in mid-air, letting Jun think to herself whether or not she was ready and willing to fight.
Davis couldn't wait for her answer; he grabbed hold of his own crest and turned to ExVeemon; "Okay, I've had it with this jerk! Let's hit it, ExVeemon," he announced. His tall partner, with as much heart as the young man, nodded, "Right!"
------------ Vision: Digivolution- Ultimate ------------
"EXVEEMON, DIGIVOLVE TO…………………. PAILDRAMON!"
------------ End Vision ------------
"You guys," said Jun to Davis and Paildramon, "this is my fight. I should be able to handle this." Davis replied, "It's okay sis, we'll hold him off while you take the crest and find his Power Spine. You know it's around here somewhere; without it, he'll lose his power."
Still in a cheery mood, Greedmon smiled with all four faces at Jun, "Yes, dear; go ahead and accept your mission if you want to… And while you do that, I'll happily knock your little brother and his friends around. You don't mind, do you?"
Then he launched himself at Paildramon like a snake to a leg. The Ultimate mutant took the hit, and took it hard, getting smacked into a wall and leaving an imprint in the process.
Enraged, Veedramon Zero took a charge at the giant Mega digimon, and leaped onto his left face. The giant metal monster started to whip his neck around in an attempt to shake off the Champion, which proved to be a bit more difficult than it looked.
Jun took this as her long-awaited opportunity to take action. Her partner, the oversized condor-like Champion, swooped over to her, and she grabbed onto his pale talon so that he wouldn't have to stop moving. Together they took to the air, having more than enough room to do so since the room was so wide and high leveled.
While Greedmon seemed to be preoccupied with his enemies, Jun and Saberdramon buzzed around his body to look for the one claw that held within it the Crest of Humility. Sure enough, it showed itself through the palm of one claw near his hind legs by giving off a purple ray of light.
Jun reached out her hand to grab it, and to her surprise, the claw didn't seem to put up much of a fight, so once Saberdramon flew passed it, the crest was as good as Jun's.
WHAM!
Zero went flying into another wall, just as Jun had claimed her crest at long last. The sudden crash took her by surprise, and at that moment she realized just how much of an advantage Greedmon had over his enemies. He was at least ten feet long, and had eyes on every side of his head, so no matter where they came from, he was able to see his opponents coming, and was always ready for a counter attack.
Even Davis, who was being very careful not to get caught in the crossfire, started to get thrown around by the mere force of Greedmon's swipes.
Stunned and horrified, Jun paused, and in this state of insecurity, she nearly lost her grip on the crest. "Jun!" squawked Saberdramon, snapping her out of it. "Wha!" she gasped; she then looked to her partner's face and he said, "We've got to get to that Spine, now!"
She gave him a nod, and reluctantly watched her friends get pummeled as she and Saberdramon flew away.
The Power Spine was not that hard to find, because all of the stigmas on the walls of the castle led Saberdramon and Jun right to it. The stigmas were glowing in a series of flashes, and in sequence like Christmas lights.
Saberdramon had only to follow the direction in which they were flashing, and after fluttering through one hall after another, the Spine was discovered in the main tower of the castle.
The giant black bird charged into the tower within the tower, with his human partner attached to his talon. Inside, they got their second look of the inner workings of a Power Spine; the first being Gluttonymon's, and now this. Like Gluttonymon's, it had a whirlpool of core data streaming out from underneath it, bursting uncontrollably to the surface.
"Hit it, Jun!" commanded Saberdramon; with that, Jun raised up her crest and aimed it at the core data, knowing exactly what to do.
"HUMILITY'S LIGHT, ENERGIZE!"
Her crest unleashed its own stream of data; this one was as purple as the feathers of Penguinmon. It collided with the light blue core data, causing it to convert into a purple stream.
Then, as it should have, its flow began to reverse from upward to downward. Soon, the entire Spine illuminated with a purple light, signaling that it was being shut down.
During this time, Greedmon was obviously toying with Davis and his friends. While Zero and Paildramon put up a great fight, they probably could have easily been blown away by Greedmon's attacks. But instead, he just slapped them around the humongous room until they started showing signs of fatigue.
Davis was getting fatigued himself, for he had his own swipes and falling rocks to dodge.
But at the moment the Spine shut down, the glowing digital codes etched in the castle walls started to flicker off, and this time they would shut off permanently. When Greedmon saw this, he finally made four frowns.
His opponents paused from struggling to their feet to notice not only the walls darkening, but also the beginning of what seemed to be an earthquake. In seconds, the entire scene started to tremble; it started softly, but then soon escalated, to the point where neither Davis nor Zero could stay on their feet.
While still hovering in mid-air, as if he never even touched the ground, Greedmon sighed deeply, "Well, there you go. Looks like my game's over."
"What's going on??" asked Davis, as he held onto the wall for dear life; Greedmon replied, "Your sister must have deactivated my Power Spine! Not that it was that important to me; it just means that now this entire castle is going to shatter and cave in on top of all of you! I'll have to take my leave of you, gentlemen; enjoy the last moments of your existence."
The heroes gulped as they watched the giant Sin fade out like a shadow; he took the easy way out, while they had to fly before the walls around them started to fall.
Paildramon quickly gathered himself and jumped into the air; having four wings made it easy for him to stay afloat and therefore bypass the quaking of the earth. "Guess we gotta run," he said in a calm, almost jokingly manner, and quickly swooped over to Davis, scooping him up in his arms.
Zero jumped over to them and blinked, "Got room for one more?" "Get on!" said Paildramon, offering his free arm. Zero took it, but he was heavy enough to make Paildramon use up the rest of his strength just to stay afloat. But then he gathered himself with newfound strength, and took off just before the walls gave way.
They weren't sure where they were going, as the three of them zipped through the halls of the crumbling castle. But to their delight, they happened to cross paths with Jun and Saberdramon by chance.
Together, the whole group of heroes headed in the direction Saberdramon was going, for he seemed to know the way out. He must have figured it out by his previous search for the Spine; all he had to do was go in the opposite direction, and that was that.
Time was not on their side, as the ceilings and walls of Greedmon's ancient castle were now falling brick by brick like dominoes. As fast as Paildramon was, he almost missed being bombarded by debris with every second, as he tore down the halls like a bat out of hell, with Saberdramon close by him.
The two of them were constantly dodging bricks, tapestries and the wooden columns that came falling down on him like rain.
They were only half a mile away from the front door, which was still closed shut, when the ceiling of the main hall caught up with Paildramon and Saberdramon at last. They were almost crushed completely by the falling debris, making all their friends make a jump for it to safety before they followed them into a pile of rubble.
Actually, Saberdramon was the lucky one; he got hit in the back with just one slab of brick, causing him to de-digivolve back into Penguinmon. As he tumbled down the climbing pile of rubble, he soon found himself on the safe side of the destruction, while Paildramon was getting buried.
Getting to his feet, Davis called out, "Paildramon!! …Where are you??" All he saw as a reply was a Stingmon-like claw reaching out from the debris; he was trapped under the biggest pile of debris that there was. Weakly, the claw struggled to move, but it soon shrunk away; apparently, he was de-digivolving.
"No!" hollered Davis, horrified that his digimon partner was trampled; he dared to run up to the pile of debris, thinking that perhaps he could do something about the situation. But he couldn't; not one brick was light enough for Davis to lift, no matter how hard he tried.
Zero, slightly rattled by the crash, came to his feet at that moment and paused to breathe. He witnessed "Daisuke's" plight, and gasped in surprise. The aged Veedramon then roared, "Daisuke! Stand back…" Davis turned to the Veedramon and saw in his eyes that he was about to attack. Quickly, Davis got out of his way, knowing what Zero's intentions were.
Zero then prepared himself and fired, "V-NOVA BLAST!" This attack was similar to ExVeemon's "X-Laser," only it was hurled from his mouth and came out in the shape of a "V," and it was enough to digitize the rubble that surrounded Davis's partner.
The digitizing revealed a small and weakened DemiVeemon, who laid out on the floor covered in dirt. "DemiVeemon!" Davis called out; he dashed over to his In-Training partner and collected him in his arms. As he did so, there came another great quake; now the rest of the castle was about to cave in on them.
Zero then turned his attention to the closed front door; he growled, "I'll give this all I got…" He then took a deep breath, gathering all his energy, and roared, "V-NOVA BLAST!"
Like his previous attack, he unleashed a white light of energy through his mouth, as Greymon would, that was enough to jab a hole through the front door. "Hurry!" he then hollered at his friends; "Let's get out of here!"
Jun and Penguinmon wasted no time in leading the charge to the outside world, even as the quake started to pick up momentum, shattering everyone's balance. Davis soon followed after them, looking like a quarterback running down the football field with DemiVeemon as the football. Then finally, Zero followed along.
But the gang was only a few feet away from the doorway, when the corners around it finally gave in and crumbled down. In a final effort to save his friends, Veedramon Zero took a mighty leap forward, straight over the heads of both Davis and Jun. At the last second, his body came to a stunning halt at the doorway, just as the debris came falling down.
He outstretched his flabby but strong arms, catching most of the falling rocks, and became the one and only support over the hole in the wall that would be their exit. When it became too much for his arms alone to carry, the Veedramon then leaned forward, letting the rocks rest on his bulky backside.
The humans and their digimon gazed at him in awe, stunned at this Champion's effort to allow them to escape. "…guys…" he growled between his teeth, as they grinded in frustration of the extra weight, "you… gotta… get out of here, now!"
Davis stepped forward and blinked, "…Zero…" Jun shouted in horror, "Zero! What're you doing? You're gonna get killed!" The aged Veedramon was in no mood to argue, but argue he did, "Come on, kids! Get outta here, while you still can! …I can hold it! …GO!"
The two siblings looked at each other, neither one sure what to do, but then Davis decided to take Zero's advice, and quickly he and DemiVeemon squeezed their way out of the castle through Zero's self-made opening. Next waddled Penguinmon, who just as he reached the opening, shouted to his partner, "Jun! Come on, hurry! Let's go!"
The young lady just watched in shock as Zero's bulky muscles started to cringe, almost giving way to the heavy rocks on his back. She then caught her breath, sighed deeply, and ran for it as fast as she could. Together, she and Penguinmon jumped out of harm's way.
Once outside, Penguinmon quickly digivolved to his Champion form, Saberdramon. The great black bird hollered to his team, "Hurry, get on my back! I can fly us out of here!" Jun went first, followed by Davis who still had DemiVeemon clutched around his arm. Once they were mounted, the four of them turned back to the crumbling castle, where they could just barely see their friend Zero. He was still holding onto the doorway.
"Zero!!" hollered a fearful Davis; "Hurry, get out of there!!" They could see their friend holding onto that broken doorway as if his life depended on it. They could see the tiredness in his eyes; he was using up the very last of his strength, and it showed.
In the next moment, all they could see were the last of the castle's rock formations crumbling down to the ground, making the old Veedramon disappear out of sight for good.
"ZERO!!" cried Davis, Jun and Saberdramon. Their cry would go unanswered.
The remaining team of heroes watched, as Saberdramon carried them high into the air, the ocean wall that Oceanamon had provided for them began to close up. Just as Greedmon's castle caved in all around them, now the ocean was caving in on it, until it was all washed away in a blaze of tidal waves. They had made it into the air just in time before the last of these waves came tumbling down.
They had finally achieved what they'd sent out to do; Jun's Crest of Humility was in the hands of its rightful owner at long last… But there was no celebrating for this victory. While Davis quietly cradled his weakened digimon partner in his arms, he looked ahead to his sister, who was already showing tears in her eyes.
"…Jun?" Davis muttered worriedly; she could only sniffle in reply, so then Davis continued, "You did the right thing, sis; you went for the crest and you got it. We're gonna need you and Penguinmon to finish what we started." "…I know," she gulped, "…but for a minute there, I really wanted to believe it was all over… 'Cause, at least… At least we wouldn't have to lose anybody…"
He understood her despair all too well, for deep down his own heart was breaking over the loss of Veedramon Zero.
But Davis also knew that he had to keep his spirits up; he was going to need them for the battles that were to come. He then said to Jun in a somber tone, "It's okay to be upset, Jun; trust me, I know how you feel…" He would have said more, but he saw that she was too busy wiping her tears with her arm.
Davis then swallowed his pride and sighed, "…Let's just get back to the forest. We'll have some time to grieve, okay?" Jun sniffed, "…No, Davis, you're right. We have to keep going… It's our duty to this place to keep going." Davis then bit his lip, feeling sorry for ever trying to give his sister the strength to pause from mourning.
Then Saberdramon spoke, "We could all use a good rest once we get back to the forest region… Let's hit it then." The great black bird picked up his pace and soared all too quickly away from their last battleground.
If only he stayed in the air for just one moment more; maybe then, they would have seen the body of a Veedramon emerge from the depths of the sea. He was unconscious and staying afloat thanks to a wooden plank that must have come from inside Greedmon's once glorious castle.
A tide came in, gently carrying the passed out Veedramon on its current, into the opposite direction in which the Digi-Destined had flown off to. It would take this Veedramon the rest of the day to finally reach dry land…
The beaches of File Island were calm that evening. The air was warm and flooded with the scent of salt; one would never know that it was just a few hundred miles South of Greedmon's lair.
It seemed like a perfect hour for someone like Leomon, guardian of the island, to go someplace where he could kick his feet up and relax for a while.
But it was there, on one particular beach where the sun was halfway sunk into the horizon of the sea, where Leomon had discovered something quite unusual.
It was a battered old Veedramon, out cold and half drowned, lying helplessly on his tummy, which was covering up most of what looked to be a shredded raft. The humanoid lion twitched his long ears; it had been ages since any stranger to the island had come to its shores, let alone be washed up on them. "Who," he wondered, "could this be?"
Not one to show cruelty, not even to strange digimon, the wise old lion didn't dispose of the Veedramon, but instead waited for him to wake up and be welcomed to his new home.
TO BE CONTINUED