VENGEANCE

Chapter 31 – Reliable Knowledge, Part I

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A mass of people had gathered in front of the Hida's dojo in one Saturday afternoon. While not really a crowd, it was not a usual occurrence for the locals to have these many people all in one day. Parents with children seemed to be hanging around outside the dojo, while a lineup of children seemingly aging from ten and below were seen entering the dojo. A reporter was seen nearby, apparently giving out some coverage of the event happening at the dojo towards a burly cameraman who was standing near a van with a local television.

"The much-anticipated junior kendo tournament championship is now set to take place today at the Hida Dojo. The establishment's proprietor – Chikara Hida – who is also the organizer of this championship, comments that this is the first time such tournament is held at his dojo and today is indeed a grand day. Kendo students from other wards of Tokyo as well as from Odaiba gather here today with one goal: to win the coveted grand prize – the Silver Shinai trophy and a 100,000 Yen cash prize. This is Hiroaki Ishida, reporting live for Odaiba Fuji TV."

As the cameraman signaled a thumbs-up and lowered the camera, the reporter – a tall man with short dark brown hair dressed in blue suit – gave the cameraman his microphone before heading off to join two particular blond teens that were standing inside the small shade of a tree. The taller blond was dressed in a blue sleeveless T-shirt and a pair of black jeans, while the younger was clad in a light green shirt, brown cargo shorts and a white fisherman's hat covering his mop of hair. Perched on top of the younger blonde's hat was a particular orange winged hamster.

To be more precise, they were Matt Ishida, TK Takaishi and Patamon.

"Great job, dad," Matt commented, grinning. "So have you done with the reporting for today?"

Hiroaki Ishida chuckled. "I doubt you can hear me from here, son, but thanks anyway. I'm free for now...but we're going to need to shoot some snippets of the tournament and the prize-giving ceremony later, but that's Shingo's job," he replied, referring to the cameraman. Hiroaki then looked around, as if looking for someone before landing his eyes on his younger son. "Say, TK... Where's your mom?"

"Oh, mom's already inside, interviewing Cody's granddad," TK answered brightly.

"Nancy's assigned for this too?" Hiroaki asked with interest, raising an eyebrow.

TK smiled. "Actually, her boss told her that anyone could take the job, but since Cody's a close friend of mine mom wants to be the one to be writing about this for tomorrow's newspaper. We've just touched down from France yesterday morning and mom quickly called her boss asking whether she's got any assignment ready for her when she learnt about this. As for me, I'm glad we got home just in time. Cody did inform me about today though, but I was kinda surprised that it's so soon."

"That's sounds like Nancy alright," Hiroaki said and chuckled again before looking at Patamon. "So, little guy...did you enjoy Paris?"

"Yeah!" Patamon chirped exuberantly. "Although I've been there before but we didn't get to have a look around."

Hiroaki nodded before focusing his attentions to both Matt and TK. "So, since this is Cody's big day I take it that the other DigiDestined team will be here as well to cheer for him? And will the others bring their Digimon partners as well?"

"All of us are going to be here, although only the juniors will be bringing along their partners along. I don't know about the newest batch though," Matt replied with a shrug. "I think Sora told me that Tai is gonna bring along Koromon as well."

"We've had Veemon, Hawkmon, Armadillomon and Wormmon devolve into in-trainings though to make them a little more inconspicuous," TK added.

Hiroaki nodded approvingly. "That's good plan. Although now many people know about Digimon, it's best not to make them the highlight of the show."

"I don't mind being in the spotlight once in a while," Patamon quipped.

"You'll be regretting saying that when you're in my shoes," Matt muttered dryly.

Patamon shifted slightly to look at Matt. "And why would I want to be in your shoes?" he asked innocently.

TK chuckled while Matt groaned slightly. "Well...oh, never mind. I see Sora, Mimi, Izzy and Joe manage to make it here," the teen said, pointing towards a direction where four teenagers were seen walking together from the nearby block. He and TK waved at the foursome, and Sora spotted them instantly. The four DigiDestined quickly made their way towards Matt and TK.

"Hey there," Sora greeted Matt and TK, before bowing slightly. "Hello, Mr. Ishida."

Hiroaki Ishida smiled. "Hi, Sora, kids... Looks like I'm rather out of place here with you teens. I think I'll look for Matt and TK's mom inside the dojo and get the best seats...although I think they're already reserved for me." He said with a wink. The DigiDestined laughed, and Mr. Ishida excused himself and walked away towards the dojo.

"So...all of us are now here?" Matt asked, scanning around. "I don't see Tai, and any of the juniors except for TK. Cody is of course, inside...preparing."

"Davis and Ken are inside the dojo too, helping out with setting up things around," TK supplied. "I wanted to help but they told me that they got it covered, and made me find Cody instead, so after surprising him with my 'return' I decided to hang out around here. And as for Yolei, I think she's got roped in helping out her folks running the mart, at least until the show's started. The mart's getting a lot of business too this day with all the people turning up for this event. Kari's there too, helping Yolei out."

"Oh I bet Tai's there too..." Sora said, and exchanged knowing smirks with Mimi.

The guys exchanged confused looks with each other. "Is there something we should know about?" Joe asked wryly.

"Whatever it is, I think that it must be something pertaining about the way Yolei and Kari had been bugging Tai after we've taken care of that Chaos Piedmon a couple of days back," Izzy said. "So, mind enlightening me?"

"It's not our secret to tell," Mimi shot back. "Besides, I think that it's a universally-known gossip that Tai is now seeing somebody...Oops." The DigiDestined of Sincerity smiled sheepishly upon her comment, with Sora glaring at her and the other boys looking at her curiously.

"Huh? Are you saying that Tai's found somebody?" Matt asked, dumbfounded. "And I, as his best friend...don't know about it?"

Izzy pondered upon this for a while before shrugging. "Well, I think I can place some faces into this 'mysterious girlfriend' of Tai's, but I'll wait till he decides to tell us all about it. But I'm pretty sure that she's a relative of Yolei."

"Yolei's sister, then? It couldn't be...her?" Matt asked, and sweatdropped upon a mental image that came to his mind. "The girl everyone's saying that is gonna be the school's next valedictorian?"

"Well, you aren't getting anymore info out from me or Mimi anymore, as today's Cody's big day and we're here to cheer for him, not to prowl on Tai's private life. So let's get inside already," Sora suggested, and pulled a sulky Matt with her towards the dojo. Mimi entwined her arms with Joe's and Izzy's arms and the threesome joined the couple in the dojo, leaving a very confused TK and Patamon.

"Now what do you think is that all about?" TK asked his partner.

"Well, sounds like Tai now has a girlfriend from what I can take. Think I'll ask Gatomon about it."

"You'll do that, and I'll ask Kari. Now let's go in."


Yolei waited impatiently for one of her siblings to take her place at the counter. The kendo tournament was about to start, and she didn't want to miss it as Cody was going to compete as well. The boy was like a younger brother to her, and Yolei wanted to be there to cheer the loudest for Cody.

"Where is Momoe?" she grunted, as her eyes lingered to the clock which was hung on the wall above the glass door of the mart. It was ten minutes to one in the afternoon. "She should've been here by now."

A soft chuckle was heard nearby. It came from Kari, who was leaning against the counter and sipping a drink from her Cola. "Relax, Yolei...we still have ten minutes before the tournament starts, and I've already asked Davis and Ken to save us some seats."

Yolei only nodded in reply, and stood up to get a better look at the people around the mart. Amidst the crowd that was inside, the lavender haired DigiDestined tried to make out for somebody she recognized. She knew that her parents were currently at the dojo, delivering the mineral waters they were sponsoring there.

A glimpse of short, dark-blonde hair caught her attention. "Mantarou! Have you seen Momoe?"

Mantarou, Yolei's eldest sibling and only brother, looked towards her direction. "Nope! Try calling Chizuru to come down here to take your place if you wanna go to Cody's show already...I'm having my hands full out here." Indeed, Mantarou was doing his best in trying to place about ten cans of tuna on their designated places all at once. His action seemed to attract the attentions of some of the shoppers.

Yolei grunted and slumped back to her seat. "Yeah, and suffer her wrath for tearing her away with her visiting boyfriend," she said with mock-horror. "Why do I always get the difficult job?"

"You know, I still can't believe that Tai is now going out with your sister," Kari commented with a smile, changing the topic.

This seemed to uplift Yolei's moods. "Yeah, I didn't believe it either...until Chizuru confirmed herself that little detail with me, though she didn't really say that they were dating... yet. Actually, she said that she was tutoring Tai for math and science for this one-month summer holiday, as Tai really needed to get his scores up in both subjects and had approached her for help as she was so good in both. But I know my sister, and I tried to pry even further as of her reason for her willingness to tutor Tai."

"Lucky for you that Chizuru doesn't mind telling you about it," Kari said sulkily. "I've been trying to get Tai to tell me all the details ever since we got back from that battle with Chaos Piedmon...but he refused to answer anything other than that whole 'we're just friends' thing. You know...I really had considered telling Gatomon to force out the nitty-gritty from Tai until your e-mail came later that night. However it still lacks details, so continue please."

Yolei winked. "Perfecto! Anyway... it turns out that as for compensation for her teaching Tai; Tai had to accompany her...shopping. But that's not all; I think Chizuru did have a hidden agenda in her mind..."

"What? Don't keep me in suspense," Kari insisted.

Yolei looked around, seemingly making sure that nobody (without counting Gatomon and Poromon, who were behind the counters eating some candy bars) would hear what she was about to reveal to Kari. She leaned closer to the younger girl before continued in a slightly lowered voice. "Chizuru actually has kind of like...a small crush...towards Tai. At least, that's what I think. I've told her about the whole DigiDestined thingy, and she seemed to be interested when she heard that Tai, Matt and Sora are one of us too as the three of them are in her class. However she only asked in details about Tai being a DigiDestined and I told her that he's your brother and he's the leader before Davis stepped up."

Kari blinked. "It does sound like a small crush to me. And no wonder Tai's been out rather a lot before, and I thought that he was out playing soccer or going out with his friends."

The older girl then grinned devilishly. "You know...if their relationship is a success, you know what this means?"

"Uh...they'll get married when they reach legal age?" Kari asked, confused.

Yolei nodded and her grin became wider. "And... What does that make us should that happen?"

Kari's mouth formed an 'O' as she realized what Yolei was hinting. "That'll make us..."

"SISTERS!" they both squealed at the same time. "We're gonna be sisters!"

Their excited squeals generated attention from the other shoppers. Mantarou merely shook his head before resuming back to his work while the others continued about with their business. However, Gatomon and Poromon were now curious of what their human partners were talking about.

"What's this talk about being sisters?" Gatomon demanded, from beneath the counter.

"Do care to explain that to us," Poromon continued.

The two girls were about to explain to their Digimon partners when suddenly, Momoe Inoue entered the mart. Yolei immediately got up from her seat at the counter, and grabbed Poromon while Gatomon jumped over the counter and onto Kari's arms. The two DigiDestined girls then dashed out from the mart before Momoe could explain her reason for being late.

"We'll explain it over the tournament."


With the excitements happening on the human world, the Digital World also had its share of going-on. Things were rather quiet for the last couple of days, but it would about to change really soon.

Previously, Chaos Specter had succeeded in digivolving MetalGreymon into his alternate, viral mega form of Machinedramon. This Digimon, similar to the Dark Master the previous team of DigiDestined had faced four years back, was also a mindless Digimon with his thirst of power greater than his capability of feeling compassion. With all the alterations made in him and the numerous Chaos Rings clasped on various parts of his body, there was no longer the repentance Chaos Wargreymon within him.

Immediately after his success, Chaos Specter planned to finally digivolve Machinedramon and Kimeramon together to form Milleniumon. Though Milleniumon wasn't really his ultimate goal, but it would mean that he was only one step closer to his real goal: the warrior of time itself.

However, something went wrong when he attempted to merge the two viral Digimon.


: Flashback :

"MetalGreymon mega-digivolve to... Machinedramon!"

Chaos Specter was amazed when he saw the viral MetalGreymon, once his servant, digivolved into a fully robotic dragon digimon made out of shining gray metal and equipped with deadly weaponry. Embedded on the chest part was the purple Zeed Crystal. On the podium where once stood MetalGreymon was now the three-time larger Machinedramon, coated in pitch black aura.

"Chaos-AI, proceed by Jogress Digivolving Machinedramon and Kimeramon."

"Command acknowledged. Warning...the power supply of the ship will not be enough to sustain the Jogress Digivolution. Proceed?"

"I don't care what will happen; just proceed with the issued command!"

"Affirmed. Jogress Digivolution sequence activated. Transferring power from the Velvet Claw's main supply to subject: Machinedramon and subject: Kimeramon."

Chaos Specter was momentarily taken aback upon hearing the monotonous statement given by the computers. Channeling power from the main supply would only mean trouble...as was proved when all of the sudden the Velvet Claw shook violently. The lights flickered while the computers lapsed, but the main screen remained online. However Chaos Specter couldn't have cared less, as the two Digimon began to be bathed with dark aura which seemed to emanate even through the screen.

But as both Digimon began to levitate from the ground, the ship suffered a blackout and the screen went offline. Chaos Specter blinked, sworn that he could hear a crashing sound several storey below where the massive chamber containing Machinedramon and Kimeramon were located. The ship shook upon the crash – which by now, Chaos Specter had safely assumed to be the sounds of the two Digimon falling back onto the podium as they had begun levitating from it prior to the blackout.

A loud blasting sound suddenly ensued once more from the chamber, followed by a violent shook. The ship was currently hidden within the clouds of the sky, and following the crash sound the ship seemed to be pulled down by gravity. Fearing the worst, Chaos Piedmon, who was around, was immediately commanded by Chaos Specter to retrieve the emeralds uncovered by Chaos Seadramon at Emeraldo City to provide the ship with a temporary power backup. The general was also ordered to take all the technicians of the ship to the control room and the holding chamber where they were to fix the problem as soon as possible.

Within a few minutes the power was restored, but something else had occurred as well.

When the power failure happened, the Chaos Rings had ceased to function as they were powered up by the Velvet Claw...enabling the two deadly Digimon to escape once more. Chaos Piedmon could only find pieces and remains of broken Chaos Rings lying around the holding chamber and a huge hole on the wall. The clown general immediately used his balloons to seal the wall with his impenetrable bubble to momentarily rectify the problem before the technicians could attend to the damages.

: End Flashback :


"Chaos-AI, have you located any sign of our two rogue Digimon?" Chaos Specter asked.

"Negative. The searching for subject: Kimeramon and subject: Machinedramon are still in progress."

"Damn. It seems like Milleniumon is taking over the two bodies once more," Chaos Specter muttered under his breath. Then his emerald eyes glinted with malice as he broke into a sneer. "But even he can't force them to fuse together, if my technologies too have failed me. I'll track them down...Milleniumon will not get away again from me." His eyes momentarily flashed with crimson light before ceasing back to their original color.

"Masterrr?" called a purring female voice which drew Chaos Specter's attention instantly.

In came Catrina, already digivolved into his ultimate form of Bastemon. In this form Catrina indeed looked beautiful, and from the way she swayed her waist back and forth while walking meaning that she had learnt to use her charms as well as her brainpower. Without waiting for Chaos Specter's reply the feline Digimon climbed the stairs while eyeing Chaos Specter with a...flirtatious intention?

"Yes, Catrina?" Chaos Specter replied, his voice sounded disinterest.

Catrina merely smiled and didn't reply until she was right in front of the throne where Chaos Specter was sitting. Flicking a few stray strands of red hair back, she then approached the Digital World conqueror and leaned towards him close. Her deep green eyes bore into Chaos Specter's emerald orbs, as if taking in all his emotions without saying a word. Then she spoke, and any suspicion which Chaos Specter harbored against the ultimate level Digimon crumbled instantly.

"Oh, masterrr...please, please can I go out there and test out my new knowledge against those pesky DigiDestined? I've trrrained harrrderrrr these past two days, and my thinking ways have imprrroved too. I have a plan, and I think I'll succeed. I've alrrready selected an ultimate Digimon to come with me, and even he contrrrols several other ultimate Digimon who all bow to his command. He's rrreally a powerrrful Digimon, betterrrr than that Asurrramon...that I'm sure. Do you know that he's a magician as well? He claims to be a darrrk wizarrrrd, and he has this book where he stands on and trransports him arrround wherrrever he wants to go. Oh please, please, can I go?" she asked; her eyes wide and hopeful similar to a way a child looked at her parents whenever she wanted something.

Chaos Specter couldn't help but to feel amused with her enthusiasm. He also noticed that the Bastemon had toned down her meowish way of speaking like she did before, and the only evidence remaining from that was the purring sounds produced whenever there was a letter 'R' in the sentences she was speaking.

Right now, as he hadn't had anything to do, why not amuse his pet with her plans?

"Very well, Catrina... you may go. And the Digimon you've chosen sounds a lot like a Wisemon, but I don't recognize his minions."

Catrina brightened considerably and innocently gave her master a quick peck on the cheek, similar during the times when she was BlackGatomon, the difference was only when she was BlackGatomon she had licked his cheek in the ways of a cat. Now, as the human-shaped Bastemon she figured that a small kiss was much more appropriate...although as a catwoman, the urge to lick still remained, but suppressed by her more dominant human half. She couldn't figure it out, but just felt that it wasn't suitable.

If Chaos Specter was flustered by her act, Catrina was innocently oblivious to it.

"You'rrre right...I'm taking a Wisemon along with me. I think his minions are called the Phantomons, but I'm not so sure. He says that he has them underrr his command, and I believe him. Well, I'll be off now. Therrre's Asuka City to assault. Ta!" She sauntered off merrily, leaving Chaos Specter feeling dubious.

As he rubbed the cheek where Catrina had planted a kiss to him, he shook his head. 'There's no need to remember THAT now...it's in the past.' he berated mentally to himself. But then, another voice came over to his head.

'But isn't THAT the reason why you're going through all these obstacles, for all these years...only for HER? Her and her namesake, in fact?'

Chaos Specter slumped on his throne with a sigh as he continued hearing voices in his head.


Cody was with the other kendokas inside the main hall of the dojo. All the kendokas, or kendo practitioners, were around his age range, and there were sixteen of them in total including him, coming from sixteen different districts and wards around Tokyo.

Looking around, Cody was surprised to see the crowd generated by the tournament. While he knew that most who were attending the event were mostly families of the other kendokas, he was astonished to find that reporters for televisions and newspapers were here as well. (Never mind the fact that both reporters were actually TK's father and mother). He then looked for familiar faces and was attracted by shouts of encouragement from voices who he knew only too well.

"Hey, Cody! Over here!"

His green eyes immediately focused on Yolei, who was standing on the bench and waving both hands furiously to get his attention. She seemed to be obliviously garnering attentions towards herself as well. In fact, all his fellow DigiDestined seemed to be getting the attentions from the crowd due to a long banner they'd brought along. On the banner, printed in shining gold letters against a dark blue background was written...

- BREAK A LEG, CODY! -

Cody was once more surprised to find that ALL the DigiDestined had turned up for the event as well. With all, he meant his fellow teammates and their seniors. All eleven of them occupied the front bench located opposite the entrance, and six of them brought along their Digimon partners as well. At the farthest end of the same bench Cody saw his mother, Minako Hida; sitting beside Yolei and Upamon was on her lap. She waved towards Cody when their eyes met and beckoned towards the banner.

On the bench beside the one occupied by the DigiDestined sat four children who were within Cody's age, dressed identically in simple beige robes and brown pants. Three of them were boys while one of them was a girl, and Cody recognized them as his fellow kendokas – training along with him under the tutelage of his grandfather. They too, seemed to be supporting him, though without a banner they had brought along their shinai and thumped them on the floor simultaneously as a sign of support. On the bench behind his fellow kendokas Cody noticed several familiar faces too of his neighbors.

"My, my... It seems like you have a lot of supporters there, Cody," said an unfamiliar voice from behind of Cody.

Cody turned around, and his eyes met a boy with spiked brown hair and blue eyes. The boy was an inch taller than Cody, and from the looks of him, seemed to be older as well. He was smiling pleasantly as he extended a hand towards Cody's direction.

"The name's Azuma Nakagawa. I'm from Shibuya district," he introduced himself. "Pleased to meet your acquaintance."

Cody returned the greetings politely and took Azuma Nakagawa's hand. "Pleasure. I'm Cody Hida... but it seems that you've already known me."

Azuma nodded. "Your grandpa is the organizer...so go figure. I'm just glad to have finally met you. Maybe you don't know this, but my sensei is a friend of your grandpa's."

Cody raised an eyebrow upon Azuma's tone. "Really? I don't know about this. When you said friend, do you really mean friend, or the opposite? You seemed to stress on the word friend more."

The older boy blinked momentarily before laughing. "Yeah...according to my sensei, he and your grandfather are once rivals when they were young. But I think they've reconciled of what differences they had, and now they're friends."

"That's good to hear," Cody replied.

"So...is this your first time competing in such tournament?"

"Yes." Cody answered, wondering on the reason why Azuma was suddenly smiling.

Azuma then leaned close towards the DigiDestined. "You know...sensei does have a wish when he sends me here to compete. He wants me to win the tournament, and he'd told me that you're quite an excellent kendoka yourself. Of course, I'm not bad myself, that I can say...sensei trains me hard for this tournament just to see how his pupil compare to Hida-san's pupil. Hopefully, we'll get the chance to face each other. Perhaps we'll beat the other contestants and make it to the final round where we can face each other."

Cody narrowed his eyes slightly upon Azuma's unconcerned suggestion, which caused three kendokas around them to scowl in annoyance. The boy was confident, Cody noticed, but Cody didn't like the fact that Azuma's suggestion which already caused several kendokas to already dislike him and Azuma.

"We shall see," Cody said finally. "Nothing is definite for now."

Azuma grinned. "Ah...but your old man is the organizer right? Surely, you're favored..."

'That's it,' Cody thought with a frown. 'Either he's too frank for his own good, or he's set to tick me off.' The other kendokas around them waited to see how Cody would response with such a scandalous remark, and were surprised to see that the young green-eyed boy was still calm.

"There will be no favoritism in this tournament. My grandfather is not one of the judges and it's not up to him to make any decision," Cody said evenly.

"Eh, don't take it seriously Cody. I was only joking," Azuma quickly said upon seeing Cody's non-amused expression. "Now if you'll excuse me, I think I'll go around socializing some more before the tournament starts." With that, he sauntered off merrily towards another group of kendokas.

The three kendokas, who had scowled upon Azuma's slighting comment about the other competitors, approached Cody with smiles on their faces.

"You're really alright, Cody," said one of them, a thin boy with black eyes and messy black hair which Cody thought to be rather similar to TK's blonde mop. He too, extended a hand towards the young boy. "I'm Yugure Seito, from Saitama district; nice to meet you, Cody. Don't let that Azuma brat get you down, Cody... he's one pompous kendoka if you ask me. Last year there was a tournament such as this, held at Shinjuku, but I don't think I've seen you there. In that tournament, Azuma won first prize, and he's been over the moon about that ever since."

Cody smiled and decided that he liked Yugure Seito, and got to know his other two friends. They exchanged a few words before the MC called for everyone's attention to begin the tournament. Each of the contestants was introduced, and by the time Cody's name was announced it was obvious that he got the loudest cheer of all. The three judges were then introduced.

"First, we have... Mr. Akayashi Meioh, from the Shibuya division..." The elderly man, dressed in crisp blue robes and black pants, stood up. Cody noticed that this man was no older than his grandfather himself, and hearing where he came from caused Cody to become suspicious. He looked at Azuma, but the boy seemed to be looking someplace else. Then, he caught on how Akayashi Meioh stared at his grandfather momentarily before resuming on his seat.

Cody's eyes narrowed once more. Yugure whistled softly and whispered to Cody. "In case you didn't see the pattern – Akayashi Meioh is Azuma's sensei." Cody nodded as he grimaced, thinking back on how Azuma had hinted that Cody must be gaining some favoritism as his grandfather was the organizer, when Azuma's own sensei was one of the judges. Cody however, didn't doubt Akayashi Meioh's credibility and pushed any suspicious thought he had aside.

"The second judge... Mr. Haruhiko Kanagawa, of Chiba district." A man with dark hair, green eyes, and a stern expression on his face, seemingly in his forties stood up in acknowledgment before resuming his seat.

"And the third..." Cody was struck on how young the third judge was. He looked like he was barely twenty years old. The young man was blonde-haired, with blue eyes which seemed to sparkle with mirth. "...is from Shinjuku district, Mr. Jonathan Lee."

The young judge stood up to regard his introduction before signaling to the MC that he had to address something. The MC nodded, and the young judge known as Jonathan Lee took the microphone. "I am here actually on the behalf of sensei Kurayami Showa, who is ill at the moment and cannot attend today's kendo tournament. He sends his regard to all the contestants, and wishes to you all the best. Thanks." With that, the blonde judge sat again.

The MC then proceeded by explaining the concept of the tournament to the contestants where the sixteen contestants would be pitting their skills against each other in a one-on-one duel in order to proceed to the quarterfinals. Eight pairs would be drawn, and the winners amongst the pairs would be the ones to proceed, and each pair would be allocated ten minutes for demonstrating their skills to each other, and extra time would be given should the winner could not be determined. Among the eight winners from the first round, only four would proceed to the semifinals, and the two winners would proceed to the final match.

After that, the MC produced a small satchel and asked each contestant to withdraw a number from within. This was done to determine against who a contestant would be facing in the preliminary round. Cody withdrew a number, and was glad to see that he wasn't going to face Yugure and the other two friends of his, or against Azuma Nakagawa. His opponent instead was a plump boy, almost two inches taller than him.

"Alright... let the preliminary round begins. First contestants: Cody Hida of Odaiba and Suguru Masaki of Minato."


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Author's Note:

Here begins Cody's arc, which will have three chapters. I was planning to update last week, but was stalled due to some bout of flu and tons of homework! I find this chapter really difficult to write, as I'm having difficulty in describing the events happening in a kendo tournament as well as finding suitable names for all the extra characters I've come up with and the names of various wards of Tokyo for references. Then there's also the opening report given by Matt and TK's dad, and the scene where Kari and Yolei are discussing about Tai and Chizuru (are you surprised, or are you not? I'll explain on this even further in another chapter taking place after Cody's arc). You may notice that many minor characters in the Digimon Adventures – 02 era making appearances throughout the story.

On the brighter side, I'm pleased to say that... this Monday's my birthday! Joy for me... ha:) Also, I can safely say that Vengeance will be a 50-chapters story, with one prologue (the opening chapter) and one epilogue (closing chapter) making the grand total of 52 chapters. Right now I've already written 31 chapters with the prologue, which means that there are still 20 more to go, and not forgetting the epilogue! Yikes! Better speed up my writing process now. However, do bear in mind that this will subject to change if I feel like it in the future – chapters may be cut down in number, or may be added...but it should still be around the same total.

Thanks for the reviews everyone. Ninety-three reviews already...seven more to go before it reaches 100. You know, I've never thought that I would reach the number when I first wrote this. Thanks to you readers for making it possible. Remember... read and review.

Dark Qiviut – I think I've forgotten to mention in the Author's Note for the last chapter that MetalGreymon can evolve to Machinedramon, according to Megchan's Digimon Encyclopedia hosted by the Shining Celebi website. And as for the Dark Spore kids...you'll be pleased to see the latter updates for this story, as the three featured Spore Kids (plus Takaishi who's yet to make his appearance) will play a larger role. Gotta make them do something, right? After all they are the DigiDestined. Although, I can't really feature ALL the Spore Kids as who knows how many of them are actually there? However Michael, Catherine and the other International DigiDestined will only appear in the planned sequel for Vengeance.

Digi fan – Yes he can... look for my response to Dark Qiviut's review.

Jack the ripper – If you love alternative methods of Digivolution then you'll probably like the upcoming chapters. Stay tuned, ok?

Quinton Notwen – Oh my...Yolei is not that bigmouthed now, is she? Then again...now all the DigiDestined girls know about Tai and his girlfriends while the guys are still in the dark. And as for the Davis-Yolei relationship, to me they will always look like a pair of siblings judging from their bickering and all. And as for the clay statuette goodness, things may end up a little bit differently from what you may think. (shutting up now)

Bluesv20 – If you're eager to see Cody and Armadillomon Transdigivolve, then you'll only have to wait until part three of Reliable Knowledge arc.

Gerjomarty – Momoe is as old as Jun, who's supposedly older than Tai, Matt and Sora. Chizuru is mentioned to be in one of Matt's class according to the Digimon Encyclopedia by Chris McFeely, so I think Chizuru's the more appropriate choice to pair up with Tai. And I really don't know how the idea came up to me to pair these two up... I mean I just think of Kari and Yolei as sisters then the idea just came out of nowhere. The angels Jogressing are going to be a huge help to the DigiDestined in future, and soon Angemon and Piddomon will take place as the central Digimon in the triumvirate to produce yet another two different Digimon. I simply loved writing Chaos Piedmon's battle...as he was outsmarted just as Chaos Seadramon was outmatched strength-wise.

Yami Vizzini – Welcome to Digimon 02: Vengeance, Yami Vizzini. I'm glad you've decided to read my stories. Yeah, the earlier chapters are evidence of how my writing was a year and a half ago. I wanted to revise it, but I think it would be better for me to finish writing this first. And I also have Legends of the DigiDestined to write too. Oh...busy!