Author's Note: I'm back with another chapter; it's only been a couple weeks. Okay, All my notes are going to be at the end.
Adventures of the Tainted
Chapter Two: Reuniting
"Davis, wake up! Get up, come on, please?" Ken desperately shook his friend's shoulder. "Get up!" he shouted into the brunette's ear. Ken sighed deeply. "Davis, if you don't get up, I'm going to let your sister walk out of here with your laptop so she can write more fictional pornographic stories starring her and Matt."
Davis jumped up, knocking Ken in the forehead. Memories of when his sister stole his laptop and wrote her own 'romance novel', without telling him, invaded his thoughts. "Don't you touch my laptop, Jun! I swear I'll kill…you? This isn't my room," Davis commented. "And there's no perverted sister around."
Ken gently rubbed his forehead. "I couldn't think of anyway to wake you up. God, your head is hard!"
Davis smiled sheepishly, poking his two index fingers together. "Uh Ken? Where are we?"
"The Digital World, I believe, one of the digital forests."
The events of the previous night slowly reentered Davis' mind. "When the digivice went off, we were sent here?"
"My, my, look at what has fallen into my forest!"
Ken snapped his head around. A small, wooden, puppet-like creature was standing on one of the branches in the trees above him. "Who are you?" he growled.
"The name is Puppetmon, though I don't think you'll need to remember. Tell me, has that nasty little boy, Takeru fallen around here?"
Ken looked over at Davis, willing him to keep his mouth shut. Davis, being Davis, did not notice the pleading look in his friend's eyes. "How do you know Ts?"
"Ts? Takeru broke all my toys the last time we met. I wanted to show him that I've got some new ones. I knew you'd all be coming here, so I had them made up as soon as possible. He's not going to mess with these ones! So, where is he?"
Davis shrugged. "Dunno, don't care. Lousy ass is probably at home sleeping. Like I should be. Mind pointing out a television so I can transport myself out of here?"
"A television…Oh! Right over there."
Davis jumped up onto his feet. "Thanks," he said, tipping his imaginary hat to Puppetmon. "I'll be sure to let Ts know you were looking for him. I, hey!" Shocked, Davis saw the remains of a broken television set that looked as if it had gone through quite a beating. Ken groaned.
"Did I forget to mention that we destroyed all the televisions in anticipation of your arrival? We wanted to get some practice in so as not to disappoint you. It's been so long since I was deleted, I'm a bit rusty."
Davis' jaw dropped. "You want to kill us, don't you?"
"What a question to ask," Ken hissed so that only Davis could hear. Davis gave an apologetic smile to Ken before turning back to Puppetmon.
"As a matter of fact, I am. Puppet Pummel!"
(0)
"Taichi, what are you doing?"
"Hmm? Oh, nothing."
"Then why do you have your hand on my forehead? Do you think I have a fever?"
Tai had one hand placed over his sister's forehead and the other on his own. "Maybe Kari and I do have a fever. Yeah, that's it. Kari and I both have fevers and we're delirious. I'll wake up tomorrow and not remember anything about this crazy adventure." Tai mumbled to himself a moment longer.
"Tai, I don't have a fever, I can see the monsters on TV, and I have been to Digiworld." Kari removed her older brother's hand away from her forehead.
"But when? How?"
"I don't know, maybe I went the same way you did? It wasn't long ago, either."
"Kari, you've never been to the campsite, so you couldn't have gone the same way as I did."
"Well, I think I got there through…"
"Tai, get up, man. Get up!"
Tai awoke reluctantly, trying to keep the details of his dream fresh in his mind. "How did you get there…?" he mumbled to himself.
The confused blonde kneeing in the dirt stood and helped his friend to his feet. "What are you talking about?"
"What?" he asked, remembering Matt's presence, "oh, nothing, I just had a strange dream. It isn't important." The dream echoed through Tai's mind, but since he didn't know the significance of the dream, he decided not to worry Matt. Why would he be dreaming about when he returned to Earth for that short time after defeating Etamon? Was there something important behind his younger sister's words? Kari had not once mentioned going to the Digital World alone when she was eight, not since that day. Nor did she seem to recognize it when the eight chosen children returned to meet the dark masters. Tai decided that his mind was just playing tricks on him.
Matt turned to see that the young soccer star had not been following him when he began walking away. "Hey, come on Tai! We have to meet up with Tk."
Tai observed his surroundings. They were in a dense forest; the shades of green, so dark that they appeared black, darkened the sky above him. A small pathway had been carved out, but the lower branches began to creep across and grass had grown up where there should only have been dirt. "Are we-"
"In the Digital World? Yes."
"Where's Tk?"
"He went ahead to see if the edge of the forest was anywhere nearby. He's waiting for us down the path, let's go." Matt resumed walking. "Now!" he shouted over his shoulder.
Tai ran up to meet Matt. He wouldn't mind finding the way out of the woods, it was hot and humid and the air was thick around them. The two walked in silence trying to fathom why they would have been dumped into the unappealing forest. Tai's thoughts kept returning to his dream. "Do you think that all twelve of us were sent back?" he asked, his voice slicing through the silence.
Matt pulled out his digivice. Two red dots were basically on top of each other, there one was a short distance ahead, and two more stationed in the far upper right hand corner, barely on the screen. "These two are us, Tk's is the one just ahead, and the other two, I'm not sure. But it is two of us, so we probably are all here."
Tai pulled out his own digivice and set it to locate mode. Five dots were on his digivice as well. "Let's go find out who they are," he suggested.
"Hey guys, over here." Tk was seen raising his arms over his head and waving them back and forth. He was standing on the path winding down in front of the two boys. "Hurry up!"
Matt and Tai took off in a run, each unconsciously competing to be the first to reach Tk. "Hey there, Teeks," Tai said, bending down and putting his palms on his knees, trying to catch his breath. The air was far too dense for running.
Tk pulled on his sleeves. "I found my D-terminal with me. It will come in handy if we don't find any of the others soon."
"Well, I say we find out who's nearby, let's move out, troops."
Matt and Tk sent each other irritated glances. "Tai, get over yourself."
Tai glared at the two boys. "You're just jealous because I'm the best one here." Both Matt and Tk burst out laughing. "Hey! That wasn't a joke! Wait, do you here that?"
Matt stopped laughing and listened. It sounded like the ground was being torn up. "Maybe there are two digimon fighting nearby?" Matt suggested.
Another sound was heard, this time, a high pitched, familiar voice. "Hey, don't move! I want to play! Puppet Pummel!"
Exchanging worried glances, the boys ran forward. Their fears were confirmed when they saw a small, wooden puppet, with his back turned to them. He was standing up in a tree, attacking something, or someone. "Puppetmon," Tai gasped, "but, how can that be?"
The dust settled from where Puppetmon's attack had torn up the ground. Davis and Ken were standing behind a tree. "Davis! Ken! Over here!" Tk shouted out to his friends.
Puppetmon turned around upon hearing the blonde boy's voice. "Takeru," he said cheerily, "I was hoping I would be able to see you." Tk's face was emotionless, though those who knew him well enough would know that he was afraid. He shifted his weight from one foot the other, and back again, pulling at his sleeves.
"How'd you get back here?" Tk demanded as Ken and Davis ran to meet the others.
"Funny story, actually. I was floating around as a collection of data in the Digital Graveyard, and some lady said that she would reassemble me, so long as I promised to help her get rid of you tiresome lot. Of course, I agreed. I never did get to tell you how mad I was that you broke all my toys."
"That's a touching story, but I'm afraid we're going to have to send you right back to where you came from. You couldn't beat us before, and you won't now." Tk moved so that he was standing in front of all the others.
"How do you expect to beat me without your mega digimon? You don't even have any digimon here to defend you. I could crush you right now, but I have new toys that I want to play with, first." Puppetmon jumped drown from the tree, landing in a deep bow. "Would you like to see them?"
"I'd rather not," Tk admitted, signaling for the others to back away.
"You are as much fun as you were when you were eight. I guess you're the same mean, selfish boy who broke all my toys. I'll just kill all of you now then, and use my toys on your friends."
Tk's thoughts immediately jumped to Kari. Was she in the Digital World as well? "Run!" Matt screamed, grabbing his brother's wrist and pulling him away. The spot where Tk stood was now only a deep hole.
"Humph! I'll try again! Puppet Pummel!" The attack hit the surrounding trees as the five boys ran through the forest. Fighting to keep from tripping over the fallen tree branches, and looking over their shoulders for signs of the demon puppet was tiring enough, but the thickness of the air made it unbearable. The attacks got closer and closer as the boys quickly lost their energy.
"Psst. Matt!" Matt turned his head and stopped dead in his tracks. Davis huffed angrily as he just avoided slamming into Matt's backside.
"Why are you stopping?" he demanded. "Hello, possessed toy with a really big hammer chasing us? What are you missing about this scene?"
"Gabumon!" Matt whispered. He cut across the path and hugged his old friend.
"Let's get you guys out of harm's way!" the blue digimon suggested. Matt wholeheartedly agreed.
The others quickly ran through the underbrush of the forest, off of the cleared pathway. The watched without breathing as Puppetmon walked by, a confused expression on his face. "Where could you have gotten to, little Digidestined? Tk, you know that seek and destroy is my favorite game!" He walked past where they boys were crouching down; his hammered was raised, ready for another attack.
All five boys let out a sigh of relief when Puppetmon was out of view. "That was too close," Tai said. "We need to find our digimon; we're sitting ducks as is."
"Ahem! What am I? Am I not a digimon?" Gabumon defensively stood up and glared up at Tai.
"No offense, but you're a champion at best, Puppetmon is a mega, we're going to need a lot more power." Gabumon scoffed again, angry at Tai for his distrust in his abilities. "Do you know where Agumon is, by the way?"
Gabumon shook his head. "Not exactly, anyway. The Digital World has been acting strangely as of late, so we split up to look over different areas on the island. I was guarding this forest as Garurumon, but I dedigivolved just before Puppetmon showed up, so I've been hiding. How did you get here, anyway?"
"Our digivices," Matt responded.
"But I don't think we were supposed to come here. I think that we would have gone to the Dark Ocean if it hadn't been for our devices." Ken looked solemnly at the others.
"What makes you think something as crazy as that?" Tai asked. He hadn't heard much about the Dark Ocean, other than that Kari and Ken had both been there. Neither one were willing to give the details about it, though.
"Because the creatures from the Dark Ocean attacked us."
"That must have been the presence I felt," Tk mused aloud. "I knew it was familiar. Those things were definitely in the apartment right before we were sent here."
"You've been to the Dark Ocean too?" Tai asked, somewhat irritated that he was so uninformed about the place.
"Yeah, Kari opened up a portal for me. I thought you knew about that."
Tai shook his head violently. "I hate to interrupt, but Puppetmon is sure to come back, and we don't want to be here when he does. I suggest we get moving now." Gabumon led the way through the thicket, slashing down some of the more annoying shrubs and branches so that the humans could get through.
(0)
"Should you wake her up or should I?"
"You do it, I'm afraid she might lash out at me if I try."
"Gee, Mimi, that's comforting." Cody sighed and lowered himself to his knees. "Sora? Could you wake up now, please?" Cody gently pushed on the redhead's shoulders. A sharp pain ran through his arm, which he ignored to avoid attention.
Mimi clicked her tongue on the roof of her mouth. "It's never going to work if you just shake her lightly." Mimi sat down beside Cody and shook Sora forcefully. When Sora stirred, Mimi jumped up and put her hands together, trying to look innocent.
"What do you want Ky-Cody?" Sora sat up and glared at the junior. She silently scolded herself for almost calling him Kyle. Cody. Kyle. Nothing alike at all. Why had she almost called him that then? Perhaps she had been hoping that Kyle had been waking her up.
"I'm sorry," the younger boy said, jumping back to his feet. He looked over at Mimi, silently agreeing with her previous statement. He had never noticed how scary Sora could be. "We, uh, need to get moving."
Sora looked around. She was sitting on a cobblestone street, the houses around were made of the same material. Most of the houses, however, were knocked to the ground. All the trees were burned, and not a soul could be seen in the village. "God, this place is disgusting. How'd we get here? I need to find Tai so he can take me home."
Cody sighed; he was so uncomfortable around women, hell, he was uncomfortable around men too. Ever since he had found out, he had been afraid to do practically anything. He was already taunted enough at school, he could only imagine what his classmates would say when they found out he was gay. But then again, Jerry was an open homosexual, and he had plenty of friends. Maybe people didn't pick on the confident gay guy. Cody had the biggest crush on Jerry but he had heard Jerry say once before that he would never date a man who refused to openly face reality. He wouldn't have a boyfriend who was ashamed of what he was. Maybe that was why he never called on Friday nights.
"Hey Cody, you with us?" Mimi asked, gently tapping the boys' shoulder.
Cody jumped, "Oh, yeah, sorry. Did you say something?"
Mimi smiled at him genuinely. "Nothing important, I was just wondering if you knew how we got here."
"I really couldn't say. My digivice started glowing when my room was shrouded in darkness." Cody thought back to the box cutter being pushed into his skin; he decided to leave that part out.
"Huh, that's pretty much what happened to me. What about you, Sora?"
Sora sent Mimi a nasty glare. "Yeah," she responded coldly, elevating the tension between them.
"God, Sora, what is your problem?"
"Maybe I just don't want to be here! I want to know why we're here and how quickly I can get back. I've got better things to do than stand around in a shit-hole village in the Digiworld with some uppity New Yorker!"
Mimi was ready to give Sora a piece of her mind, but Cody intervened. "I think that we should have a look around, we might be able to find something we can take with us, or maybe a clue as to why we're here."
Cody entered one of the more stable looking buildings, Mimi started moving around some of the rubble that surrounded them, and Sora stood there, impatiently tapping her foot on the ground. "You could help," Mimi said, trying to keep herself from losing her temper. "It will make things go a lot faster."
Sora kicked a small wooden plank away from the center of the street. She sneered at Mimi before kicking a rock in her direction. It bounced up and hit Mimi in the knee. "Oh, sorry," she grumbled unconvincingly.
"Hey, I found some blankets, do either of you see a bag we could carry them in?" Cody stood in the doorframe holding twelve blankets neatly folded in his arms.
"I'll look," Mimi called, jumping over the rubble and entering another building. She moved around cautiously, wearily staring at the ceiling. A dusty black book bag was slung over a chair. She grabbed it and ran out as fast as she could. "Is this big enough?"
"Let's see." Cody and Mimi stuffed in the twelve blankets, which just fit in.
"Do you really think that we're going to need these?"
"Well, if we weren't the only ones sent here, and we find the others, I'd be willing to bet that they'd pretty pissed off if we got blankets for ourselves and not them. Seeing as we don't know why we're here, we have to be prepared for everything." Cody swung the bag behind his back.
"Uh guys, what do you think that is?" Sora pointed up to the sky. In the distance what looked like a black swirling tornado was heading in their direction. Sora ran and stood behind Cody.
The rushing air of the tornado slowed down and finally went away altogether when it was hovering above the three, revealing a woman dressed in black. Well, actually, a womon dressed in black. "Ladydevimon," Sora whispered.
"Ha! Three little humans with no digimon around to help them. Where's that angel bitch?" Ladydevimon landed eloquently on the cobble street in front of them. "I have a score to settle."
Assuming that Ladydevimon was talking about Angewomon, Sora assumed that Kari must be somewhere in the Digital World. "How should we know?" she spat out. "We only just got here!"
Mimi looked at Sora with pleading hazel eyes. "Don't piss off the scary woman who wants to cause us bodily harm."
"If she's so interested in getting revenge, she can go harass Kari and then she'd be more likely to find Angewomon," Sora retorted, her voice growing with anger.
Was Sora trying to get Kari killed? Mimi clenched her fists together, until the knuckles turned white. Ladydevimon was amused by their pointless bickering. "So, the Chosen of Light is here, after all? That's interesting, very interesting indeed. I'd go find her, but I think that I'd rather brush up on my attacks so that my battle with Angewomon will be in my favor. Darkness Wave!"
The wave of black energy rushed towards the three chosen, persuading them to start running. Most of the wave hit the house Cody had been in, sending debris flying in all directions. Sora, Mimi, and Cody ran into a building using the cover of the dust in the air to keep from being seen.
"Hey, I'm hiding here!" a soft voice whispered from the corner. "Wait, Cody? Sora? Mimi?"
"Veemon!" Cody exclaimed in hushed joy.
"In the flesh. What do you think about us getting out of here?"
"Why waste time even asking?" Sora growled.
"Where are you?" cooed a taunting voice. "I'm going to find you sooner or later."
Veemon waved his hand as a gesture to follow, moving a rug and exposing a dark stairway. "Let's get out of here before she decides to tear down all the houses!" Veemon ushered them past him, setting the rug back up before running to catch up. He cut across Mimi and jumped in the lead. "This leads to the outside," he explained. "We'll be right outside of the forest."
As soon as they reached the exit, Mimi walked past Sora, swatting her in the arm. "What the hell was that for?" Sora shouted.
"What were you thinking before? You practically told Ladydevimon to kill Kari!"
"I was just trying to save our lives. It's not like she knows where Kari is anyway. She doesn't even know if Kari was sent to the Digital World."
"That's not the point! What happened to you, Sora?"
"I grew up."
"You became a selfish bitch!"
Sora calmly walked up to Mimi and slapped her across the face. Mimi's face was shot sideways. "Don't you ever call me a bitch again" she warned.
Mimi grabbed a chunk of Sora's hair and yanked it harshly. Sora yelped in pain and dug her nails into Mimi's wrist, prompting the New Yorker to let go. Mimi grabbed onto Sora's shoulders, digging her own nails into Sora's skin.
Cody watched fearfully as the two girls fought. Veemon pulled on his pant legs, startling him so much that he nearly fell over. "Something is coming," Veemon warned.
Cody wasted no time in questioning what it was. He grabbed both Sora and Mimi, hushing their protests and hid in the bushes.
A group of five boys and one digimon walked along the edge of the forest. "Their signal is right around here. Three of us are really close by." Ken held up his digivice in the light. "It's too bad that these things can't tell us who we're looking for."
Sora jumped out of the bushes. "Tai," she screamed, wrapping her arms around his neck. Suddenly, she remembered that she was angry at Tai for some reason or another. She let go of him and crossed her arms over her chest.
"Sora? Are you alright?" a confused Taichi questioned.
"Taichi Kamiya I want you to take me home right now!"
"Little problem there, sweetheart. All of the TVs have been destroyed."
Sora glared at Davis. "Then you'd better start working on finding another way home," she hissed.
Ken shifted uncomfortably. He avoided Sora's gaze and Tai's suspicious look. "We should probably find everyone else before we make any decisions about what we're going to do."
Mimi gently rubbed her wrist. Small crescent shaped cuts had broken through her skin and had begun to bleed. "Meems, are you alright?" Tai asked, holding up her wrist.
"I'm fine, Tai," she said, sending a glare towards Sora that could kill a person. "It's no big deal." She smudged the blood with her finger and let her arm drop.
"Davish! I missed you!" Veemon ran and tackled his human partner.
"I missed you too! Wow, have you gained weight? You're crushing me!" Davis took a deep breath in as Veemon pulled away.
"Humph! I'll have you know that I'm in prime physical condition. I look great. Though I can't say the same for you," he added, pulling out a clump of dirt from Davis' hair.
Davis shrieked, jumped up, and shook his head violently to get the dirt out. "Damn that demon toy! I'm filthy!"
"Right… so I think Ken made a good point about finding the others. They might know more than we do." Tk looked back towards the forest. "We should keep moving, too. I don't know about the rest of you, but I don't want Puppetmon to find us."
"We were attacked by Ladydevimon," Cody piped up. "She said something about fighting Angewomon, and she doesn't know if Kari is here or not. I'd imagine none of you saw her, seeing as she isn't here now."
"Ladydevimon," Tai echoed. The memory of the battle between the fallen angel and Kari's digimon partner slowly came back to him. It had been a close battle, with Angemon as the obvious victor. "She must have been brought back by the same lady as Puppetmon was."
(0)
"Of all the places I could have landed, it had to be face down in a sand mound. If I were Tai or Matt or anyone else, I would have landed in a tropical oasis or a lush, green forest, but no, I get to land in the desert!"
"You know Joe, you weren't the only one who landed in the desert. Did you forget about Yolie and me?"
"Yeah, Izzy's right! Your theory about being 'anyone else' is seriously flawed. Now get a grip and let's get moving!" Yolie began tapping her foot impatiently.
"Hold on a minute, Yolie. I'm going to find out exactly where we are so that we leave the desert instead of going further into it. We've had to cross deserts before, and some of them took days to get through. I don't particularly care to repeat that." Izzy sat down Indian-style and booted-up his computer.
The map of the Digital World program was loaded. Izzy found their locations; luckily, they were not far from the edge of the forest. "What are those?" Yolie questioned, smudging her fingers on the screen over a collection of dots.
Izzy swatted her hand away and wiped the screen clean. "My guess is that the others are represented by the dots. There's eight, with us three included, someone's by themselves. I suggest we start heading towards the others, I don't see any individual dots on the map."
"Did you check the entire map?" Joe inquired. Izzy nodded his head shortly. "Maybe one of us weren't brought here, then."
"I hope…" Yolie said, though her voice betrayed her words of concern. If she was sent to the Digiworld, there should have been eleven others dragged there with her.
"I wouldn't worry too much about a missing companion. No matter where the twelve of you run off to, we're going to find you and finish you off." The three teens turned around to face the fallen angel that had threatened the Digital World years ago.
"Devimon, but how?" Izzy exclaimed, his logic telling him that this was impossible. "Angemon destroyed you. You're dead."
"Ah, but digimon never really die. You, with your infinite wisdom should realize that. Tell me where the angels are and I will let you live to see their destruction."
Joe glared up at Devimon. "You lost to one angel; you're telling me that you want us to send both of them your way. You're crazier than the last time we met."
"I have no interest in Angemon or Angewomon, I want the angels, not the digital angels. Where are they, I have use for them now that I have been resurrected." Devimon took a step towards the digidestined. "Where are they?"
Izzy looked down at his computer. "Oh my God, how is the Digital World so warped? It's being corrupted by dark energy at an accelerated rate. Is this your doing?"
"I am partially creditable for the Digital World's current state. There are other dark forces at work, ones with power you could not even begin to fathom. I need the angels so that I can match their power."
Yolie shuttered. Their, as in more than one, as in defeating evil enemies one after another. "You mean Tk and Kari, don't you?" Devimon smirked. Yolie clenched her fists tightly. "Even if I knew where they were, I'd never tell you! Go back to Hell you bastard!"
Izzy and Joe stared at Yolie in disbelief. Why she had blown up so suddenly was unknown to them. "Uh, Yolie, please don't piss off the evil digimon" Izzy hissed.
Devimon raised his hands above his head and collected energy from around him, turning black with his will. "If you cannot tell me, then I have no use for you!"
"Super Shocker!" Devimon's body lurched forward as he took a hit from behind. The energy returned to the atmosphere. "Leave them alone!" a bug-like digimon shouted.
"Tento!" Izzy hugged his partner in a warm greeting.
"How 'bout we get away from that psycho?" Joe suggested.
"Right," Izzy complied. "Tentomon, are you ready?"
"Tentomon digivolve to… Kabuterimon."
The large bug digimon quickly ushered the three teens onto his back. "Electro Shocker!" he shouted, hitting Devimon square in the chest. Kabuterimon flew away, heading in the direction that Izzy dictated.
"There they are!" Yolie screamed, tugging on Izzy's shirt sleeve excitedly. Kabuterimon lowered the digidestined down to the ground and let them jump off his back before dedigivolving.
"Yolie!" Mimi squealed, jumping at the younger girl. "I haven't seen you in ages! How are you?"
"Leave it to Mimi to make light of the situation," Joe muttered.
Mimi stuck her tongue out at Joe. "Lighten up, would ya?" Mimi gave Izzy an equally warm welcome, nearly strangling the poor teen.
"It's nice to see you too, Meems," Izzy whispered with short breaths.
"Uh Tk, I should probably let you know that Devimon has been brought back." Joe informed the group of the short encounter with the fallen angel.
"So we need to find Kari as soon as possible," Tk said.
Tai eagerly agreed. "From what we've learned, some lady has been resurrecting our old foes. Devimon, Ladydevimon, and Puppetmon have already made their appearances. Who knows who else could be waiting for us? What if Myotismon was brought back? Kari could be in serious danger!"
(0)
She lay under the overhang of the rocks that formed a steep cliff. He watched her intently, studying her features in the dim light. He sat down beside her and gently caressed the side of her face. She stirred slightly, causing him to jump back into the shadows.
"Hikari…"
A droplet of water fell onto Hikari's cheek. Reluctantly, she opened her eyes and sat up. The ceiling of the formation was only a few feet above her head. She looked around, she was sure she had heard someone call her name.
"Hikari…"
"Who's there?" she demanded, trying to keep some form of confidence in her voice.
"I must warn you, Hikari, there are many foes out for you. They wish to corrupt the purest form of light which flows through your veins. You must be weary of all things in this world."
"And what about you? Which side are you on?"
The voice let out a sharp laugh. "That remains to be seen. I assure you that we'll be meeting each other soon enough. That will be decided then."
"Why not show yourself now?" Kari asked, looking around for the source of the voice.
"You are not ready, everything must fall into place. Your friends are up north; find them quickly before an enemy finds you all alone." The voice faded as it spoke, until it was just a faint whisper in Kari's ear. She felt like she knew the owner of that voice, from somewhere or some time ago.
Sighing heavily, Kari pulled herself to her feet, carefully avoiding the rock above her. She stepped out into the light and she shivered uncomfortably. The Digital World felt so off balance, much more than ever before.
Trying to ignore the nagging feeling from the darkness in the Digital World, Kari headed north to find her companions. After a short trek she was at the edge of a forest. Kari pulled out her D3 and set it to detect mode. She wasn't far from the others, she realized. Eleven dots were stationed just above hers.
Kari continued forward until a familiar voice reached her ears. "What if Myotismon was brought back? Kari could be in serious danger!" Kari instantly recognized the speaker as her older brother.
A second voice chimed in. "Well, in case you haven't noticed, Kari isn't showing up on any of the digivices or on my program. For all we know she could be in New York, completely unaware of what's happening." Kari took a few steps forward and saw a redhead sitting on the ground, eyes glued to his computer screen. She also noticed Matt pacing back and forth, running his hand through his hair repeatedly.
"What if she's in that Dark Ocean place that you guys mentioned before?" Tai asked, turning to Ken and Tk. "She wouldn't show up in the Digital World if she was sent to that dark world."
"Tai, there are enough pessimists in our group without you being all negative. Of course I have to be in mortal danger just because you don't know where I am. Well, I'm here, and I'm fine." Kari gave her brother a disapproving glance for his negative remarks.
"Kari! How'd you get here?"
"I walked from somewhere that way," Kari said, throwing her hand carelessly in the direction she had come from. "I heard your voice, so I came this way." She decided to leave out the part about her conversing with a mysterious voice; there was no need to worry them unnecessarily.
"That doesn't explain why you weren't showing up on the D3's or our digivices."
Kari shrugged and held up her own D3. Sure enough, twelve dots were concentrated in one area. "Maybe yours needs new batteries?"
Kari looked over at Davis, who was staring dumbly. She gave him a questioning look, prompting him to explain. "You look hot," he said in a distant voice.
Kari looked down, noticing for the first time that she was wearing a different outfit. A pair of faded blue, low-rise hip-huggers and a pale pink tank top that intensified her already appealing curves, and a pair of white sneakers made up her attire. She felt somewhat self conscious with Davis' eyes surveying her body. "Stop being a perv!" she shouted, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Hey," Izzy said, realizing himself that his clothing was different. "I'm back to an orange shirt." Izzy was indeed sporting an orange shirt, as well as dark blue jeans.
"Ugh, I've got a long sleeve shirt and shorts, again." Tk found himself in the same style clothing as his previous adventures had been. His shirt was a light green, with a horizontal strip in yellow across his chest, and one down his right arm. He wore khaki colored shorts, and, as always, a hat rested comfortably on his head. Tk removed the bucket-shaped hat. "I thought I'd seen the last of you years ago!"
Davis was wearing a red shirt with blue jeans. He also sported a dark blue jacket that had flame designs at the very base of the sleeves. Ken was wearing a navy blue shirt with sleeves that nearly reached his elbows. His jeans were the same shade of blue as his shirt, and his sneakers were black. Tai was wearing a white tee and tan colored shorts that reached just past his knees.
Kari noticed that Matt looked very sexy in his tight, short sleeve, black shirt and black jeans. She avoided staring, and instead saw what the rest were wearing. Mimi had on a hot pink strapless shirt, with white flower imprints. Her pants were more formal than casual, looking almost suede in appearance. Yolie's shirt was lavender in color, perfectly matching her hair color. Her jeans were a light blue and had rhinestones along the pocket lining. A blue bandana held her hair back from her face. Sora's shirt looked more like a piece of lingerie, something that would be sold in Victoria's Secret or someplace similar. It was a tan silk cami with a lace pattern trimming at the neck line. Her shirt was extra low-rise and she wore hooker boots that zipped up to her knees.
Cody looked very much like he had when they were saving the world as children. His shirt was a neutral color, a grayish whitish mix of color, and long enough to bypass his fingers, and his pants were brown. Joe had on a white shirt with a blue vest over it. His pants were also made from jean fabric, and he had his glasses on.
"So Kari, how's what's-his-face doing?" Tai asked his sister about her ex-boyfriend, knowing that she hadn't mentioned it to him.
"Oh, we broke up."
"Really?" Tai asked with fake surprise. "Does that mean I'm allowed to beat his face in the next time I run into him?"
"No, we're still friends."
"Right, like anyone actually stays friends with their ex's" Davis chimed in.
"Actually," Kari snapped, unhappy with the sudden interrogation involving her love life, "last night we went out to dinner, as friends."
"Wow," Matt said, not realizing he was speaking allowed. "I didn't think anyone could actually pull off going out with ex's as friends. I've never seen it happen." Kari smiled at him for his (sort of) compliment.
"That reminds me, did you get my message?" Mimi asked.
"Yes I did, and, if we aren't here by the time Friday roles around, I have a date with my television and a quart of ice cream. No exceptions."
Mimi pouted. "But…" Kari's face expression remained stern. "Alright, I'll just tell them you're sick or something." She sighed, she had wanted to double-date so badly, too. "Well, did you at least tell Tai about your plans?"
"I was going to wait until it was finalized, but," she looked over at her brother; his eyes were lit up with curiosity. "I'm going to transfer to a school in Odaiba after this year is over. And Meems is going to be moving back to Japan after her senior year."
"Really?" Davis inquired, cutting in before Tai could speak. "Maybe you and me could finally hook up then?" Draping his arm over Kari's shoulders, Davis shot her a suggestive glance.
"Bite me, Daisuke."
"Can I choose where?" Davis asked, without the slightest hint of sarcasm in his voice.
"Watch it, Dai," Tai warned.
"Maybe we should start looking for the digimon," Ken suggested, resisting the urge to punch his best friend. "Gabumon, you said that they were all nearby, right? Who's closest?"
Gabumon thought for a moment. "Agumon," he finally decided.
The group set out to find the Chosen Digimon of Courage. According to Gabumon, he was in a small village west of their location.
Tai grew restless as the sun grew higher in the sky. "I wonder how long we're going to be here," he mused.
Sora glared at her boyfriend. "It had better not be long," she hissed.
"It'll be as long as we're needed," Kari said, speaking rationally. Sora's eyes narrowed in Kari's direction. Was it truly necessary for the little bitch to comment like she had?
The outline of the village was finally visible in the distance. Tai ran quickly, cutting the distance between him and his digimon partner. He was greeted by a tackle and the delighted squeal of a beloved orange digimon. "Tai! I missed you! How'd you get here? How are you?" Agumon stuffed Tai with questions before he even let Tai sit up.
"I missed you too, old buddy. I'm doing alright, considering the fact that I have no idea why I'm here. It's good to see you all the same."
Agumon's grin widened. "I'll get the others" he said.
"Are they all here?" Tai asked.
"Yep, in the last few days we all dedigivolved and we've been meeting up to try to figure out why. We didn't find Gabumon, Tentomon, or Veemon, though."
"That's alright, we did." The rest of the chosen children and the three digimon arrived where Tai was.
Agumon ran and found the rest of the chosen digimon. There was a long and heartfelt reunion between the digidestined and their partners. Hawkmon and Biyomon walked together, wing-in-wing, obviously love had sprouted between the two. Yolie thought it was fabulous that Hawkmon had found love, but Sora inwardly disapproved of her digimon's choice.
When the sun finally began to set, the digidestined decided to find a place to camp out, far enough away from the village so as not to endanger the inhabitants. They settled on the wooded area, with the village in sight. Cody distributed the blankets he had found, grateful that he had thought to look for supplies. The air was getting chillier, and most of the digidestined were not dressed for the cold.
Yolie shivered into her blanket. She looked around, trying to find a distraction from the cold. A black cloud on the horizon caught her eye. It was darkening the entire sky, though it was not past five-o-clock yet, too early to be dark. "What's that?" she asked aloud.
The digidestined, curious to know what had caught the lavender girl's eye, turned to face the black cloud. It proceeded to get closer, giving the adolescents a nervous feeling. When the cloud was directly in front of them, it dissipated, revealing a tall and slender woman. She was undoubtedly a digimon, part bird and very humanoid in appearance. She had arms with feathers that extended out past them, and long fiery colored hair that reached her lower back. Her clothing was a yellow bodysuit, showing off her stomach and most of her left leg. A green sash was tied around her waist and one was tied around her ankle. She had a very attractive face, save for the eerie black orbs that served as eyes.
"My name is LadyMiramon. I have brought you here, Chosen."
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And that concludes chapter two. As I said before, notes are at the end.
Response to reviews: Firstly, I give much thanks to the reviewers, you are beautiful people.
Sora will in fact be the wenchyist person in the known cosmos.
Cody, as the chapter has noted, is homosexual. (It might seem in later chapters that I'm a homophobe or something, but I want to assure you now that I am not. One of my favorite people in the world is gay, (My color guard instructor.))
Oh, yes, I was ordered to give Sorato fans their props. Well, I give Sorato fans their props, I suppose. This same review has forbidden anything that would so much as imply a Yolie and Izzy pairing, if I understood it correctly. I don't know if it was swearing misspelled or the word 'fic' misspelled. It may forever be a mystery. But, yeah, the Yolie and Izzy pairing is still undecided, but more likely than not.
In the Japanese version, so I've heard, Dragomon wanted to mate with Hikari to protect him and his offspring from the Digimon Kaiser. I don't know the details, but that was why Kari was transported to the Dark Ocean in the Japanese storyline. The US, fearing the corruption of children, and us teens with an unhealthy obsession for the show, did not follow that segment of the story. As far as I know, that wasn't resolved in the Japanese version, leaving it as wide open as our version was. My explanation will have nothing to do with the US's crappy dubbing, nor with the Japanese way.
Megan is not based on a real person, nor is Jerry. If they are featured in the fic at all again before the DD go home, it will be for some genuine Joe and/or Cody torture. They aren't important at all, really.
Yakari has been favored and the first signs of it will show up in chapter 3.
Okay, now just some Author's Notes:
The chapters are pretty long in my opinion. Long chapters means lots of time planning and writing, and some time reading. I'm going to alternate between stories, after a chapter from this, a chapter from the Shattered sequel (The Kaiser's Revenge) will be posted. They will come out faster after guard season is over.
Are ten reviews per chapter too much to expect? They are long chapters. I'm I setting it too high? I'm spending a lot of time on this fic, I'd love to know how I'm doing, and how to improve!
As far as I'm concerned, T rated is equivalent to PG-13. PG-13 movies sometimes use the F- word, with will probably show up in this fic by chapter 4. If anyone has a serious problem with it, let me know. I don't want to be reported or anything.
P.S. I love reviewers
Jillie062