Message of Mewtwo Chapter 6: The Lightning Demon Attacks, a digimon/pokemon fanfic

Disclaimer: I own neither Pokemon nor Digimon, but I do own all original characters such as Stellath, Nicole, and the newly introduced villain.

A/N: Wow, I was motivated. I am actually committed to finishing this story, despite my long intervals of not updating... and despite that I started this in 6th grade many many years ago. Major differences from the original include that there was no villain, no battle, just everyone running through the forest trying to get out of it. I thought I would just introduce one of the main villains here.

And I hope the NG is all right. I think this chapter is relatively dramatic and could use just a little bit of comic relief at the end.

Chapter 5

The Lightning Demon Attacks

The next morning began with a bang. Scyther was the first to awaken, and she had begun doing some basic blade practice to warm herself up for the starting day. Of course, this meant that the light sleeper Venusaur had quickly awoken as well, though he didn't move from his spot. It was only when Haunter decided to play a ghostly prank involving fish and rocks on Venusaur that the poor plant pokémon bellowed in shock and literally jumped in the air. This resulted in him landing on the tails of both Raichu and Charizard. The ranges of their responses reached much further than the area the pokémon were in.

Needless to say, no one was too pleased with Haunter.

Aside from the explosive wakeup call, nothing else very interesting occurred that morning, aside from various beings complaining about how their hair stood on end, or how their clothes were now singed. The Digidestined and digimon, still groggy from awakening much earlier than they normally would have, wordlessly began munching on some of the fish that had been dried out the day before.

Then Tai had a realization.

"Joe," he began , as his face slowly contorted with the expression of awful truth, "You didn't wake me up last night."

Joe suddenly froze as he realized the exact same thing. "Oh no," he said quietly, burying his face in his hands. "I – I... whoops?"

"You fell asleep?" Tai asked, extremely un-amused, crossing his arms and glaring at Joe with a stern expression on his face. "Even with Gomamon!"

"Hey!" Gomamon called over indignantly from where he sat conversing with Biyomon.

Tai continued to glare at Joe, finally rolling his eyes. "You're lucky we weren't attacked."

Then Haunter barged into the conversation. "Of course we weren't attacked, I was watching everything!" Then he gave a cackling laugh. "Besides, I'd scare half the attackers away or something!"

Tai turned to stare at Haunter, while Joe also lifted his head up to do the same. "How does that work?" Joe asked skeptically.

"I'm a ghost-type. I don't sleep," Haunter answered simply.

Tai immediately stood from his place in the sand, and walked over the pokémon. Then he stuck out a hand and tried to touch Haunter.

He received a bit of a shock as his hand went right through.

Haunter's grin only widened. He began cackling with a deep, almost evil tone.

The eyes of the other five pokémon, Stellath, and Nicole widened considerably as they recognized the old prank. Immediately, they all shrieked out, "TAI, MOVE YOUR HAND! NOW!"

"Too late," Haunter answered cheerfully. The Poké group groaned and smacked their foreheads in unison.

Tai blinked, not sure about what was going on, and tried moving his hand. To his horror, he found that he couldn't even twitch his fingers. "Wh-what?" he tried shaking his entire arm, and found that Haunter shook along with it. Then he took his other hand and cautiously brought it to Haunter as well, finding the pokémon suddenly solid (or as solid as a ghost can become).

He stamped his foot out of pure frustration. "This isn't funny!"

"You're the one putting yourself in me," Haunter answered innocently.

"Let me go!"

Haunter only cackled, and let his large tongue roll out of his mouth. Right on top of it was what looked like a bomb, straight from all those Nintendo games Tai loved playing.

Tai widened his eyes as he saw that the fuse of the bomb had been lit. He quickly squeezed his eyes shut, preparing to duck and cover from the oncoming explosion.

SPLOOSH.

Bombs definitely did not sound like that when they exploded.

Tai and Haunter both stood in stock silence, dripping wet and somewhat shocked. As water trickled down his face, Tai opened an eye to glance at an equally surprised Haunter, whereupon he saw the bomb on the tongue fade away, as though it had been an illusion. Haunter just gazed past Tai to the person behind him.

Tai turned his head, to see Joe standing with a hand stretched out, a stunned look on his face. Even further behind him stood the entire Digi team, staring at Joe in disbelief.

Then Tai wildly shook his head, sprinkling the already soaked Haunter with some more water droplets. He grinned wryly at Joe. "Well, I guess we know what your power is."

"... Yeah..." Joe mumbled, lowering his hand and staring at the ground.

Behind him, Gomamon bounded up, a playful look in his eyes. "Think on the bright side! We have what you were looking for yesterday, a fresh water source!"

At that, Joe perked up. "Hey, you're right Gomamon!" he suddenly pounded a fist into his palm, realization brightening his face. "So we aren't going to have to worry about dehydration, and Tai can even boil it for us!"

"Or me," Charizard commented from the sideline in a bored tone, inadvertently spitting out a couple fish bones while flicking his flaming tail.

Joe winced slightly. "Or you," he said.

The rest of the morning passed without incident, by which time the Digi group plus Nicole felt the need for caffeine and the others felt almost edgy, wanting to get going. Knowing that they had a mission, a definite difference from the beginning of all of their adventures, gave them motivation to start working, to do the job they had been sent into the world to complete.

As various digimon and humans packed up the fish, while the others finished cleaning up the remainders of the camp, Nicole remembered something, and placed her hand into her pocket, fingering two round objects, the stones she had received from Lugia. She felt somewhat curious, wondering why there were only two stones when there were four 'Chosen' ones.

Briefly, she recalled the entire conversation with Lugia, and suddenly remembered that Lugia had said she was a Chosen one. Although she had been naturally inclined to believe the great pokémon, somehow she did not find herself completely convinced.

A Mew heart does not mean I'm special, she quickly told herself, wondering for the millionth time what would have happened had she not had it. After a quick inner debate, she decided that she had better just give the stones to the only other known people of the prophecy.

Swiftly, she strode up to where Matt was sitting in the warm sand tying a large bundle of fish together, and dropped the two stones in front of him. Matt jumped slightly at her sudden presence, and looked up at her in confusion. "You need something?"

Nicole sighed impatiently. "Look in front of you."

Matt did so, his eyes widening when he noticed the teardrop symbol floating inside each of the hollow, transparent stones. "Whoa," he exclaimed, dropping his load of fish to pick up the two stones. He stared for a moment, examining them both. "I'm guessing these are important?"

Nicole nodded. "Yeah, Lugia said to gain the signs of the other Guardians of this world. She's already given her sign." She motioned to the teardrop symbol. "Since you're a Chosen, you're going to need them – and before you ask," she added, seeing Matt open his mouth, "there are only two. Give one to Gabumon for me, will you?"

Matt closed his mouth and nodded, for lack of anything better to do.

Nicole grinned. "Thanks. Oh, and one more thing. Do you remember that song that Lugia sang right when she flew over us towards the sea yesterday?"

Matt put a hand to his chin and tried to think. He could recall that it had made shivers go up his spine from just the melancholy it portrayed, but he couldn't remember the exact tune. He shook his head, "No, not really"

Nicole sighed and said, "Okay, in that case, listen."

Quietly, she began humming a soft melody, a minor, almost mournful tune. Matt listened carefully, taking in the fact that it seemed like a haunting elegy, trying to take in the progression of notes that made the song individual. He couldn't help but think that it was very simple, yet beautiful at the same time.

At the end of the song, Matt nodded, playing it over again in his mind. "All right, I got it." Then he glanced at Nicole. "You have a pretty good voice."

"Thanks," she grinned again. "By the way, if you run into Moltres, you're gonna' have to play that for him in some way. See you in a few."

With that, she jogged past him to check up Charizard, who seemed to be vocalizing his need to hunt.

Matt blinked. She's sure direct...

Within a few minutes, everyone had finished packing, the campfire had been doused and covered (courtesy of Joe and his newfound power), and group had convened in a large huddle close to the higher part of the beach, close to the edge of the forest.

As usual for the Digi group, Tai stood before everyone to address them. Although some people might call him oblivious, he actually paid close attention to everything – especially because the adventure two years earlier, since the smallest detail might be something important in making a decision. At the moment, the thing that caught his focus the most was that all the pokémon had crowded around Nicole, and they all glanced at her from time to time. He narrowed his eyes slightly, not sure what to think of her.

Then he quickly shook his head to rid himself of any random thoughts, and spoke to the entire group. "All right, so we're heading into the forest to look for Moltres, right guys?" he crossed his arms, grinning at everyone.

"Yep, and to alight it as well!" Gomamon shouted from where he was.

Joe turned in wide eyed shock to stare at his partner. "Since when have YOU become a pyro?" he shouted in astonishment.

Gomamon grinned and waved his flippers nonchalantly. "Since you learned how to dump water on things."

"Right on, dude!" Charizard suddenly marched up with a teethy grin. "Pyros unite, right?"

Gomamon glanced up at Charizard's huge figure and grinned back. "Yep!"

Scyther smacked her forehead with the flat of her blade. "Oh dear Mew, not another one," she groaned.

Charizard put his claws on his hips. "Any problem with pyros?" he challenged with a playful look on his face.

Scyther glared. "Yeah. I'm a bug type. Bugs and fire DO NOT MIX!"

Charizard immediately had an apologetic look on his face. "Oh yeah... I forgot."

Scyther shook her head and turned away from the dragon like pokémon. "Hmph. Anyway, carry on Tai."

Behind her, Charizard scratched his head looking very sorry, concerned, and somewhat crestfallen. Not far away from the two, Nicole made a mental note of it.

Tai cleared his throat. "Okay, so basically we're going in. Don't ask me to light anything on fire, I'm sure our resident pyros will handle that." He stopped for a moment, contemplated his own position on the fire issue, and then added, "On second thought, just don't ask me."

Close to him, Sora and Matt both snorted.

"Anyway," Tai continued, ignoring his two friends, "Let's keep an eye out for any large fiery birds, and off we go!"

With a loud whoop from the digimon in particular, the Digi group began trekking up the beach and towards the forest. Behind them, the other group just sat for a moment, glancing at each other.

Finally, Charizard broke the silence. "But you... don't just... LOOK for Moltres... it doesn't work that way..."

Nicole knew Charizard felt uneasy about searching for such a legendary fire pokémon, especially as a fire type himself. Sighing, she reached up to pat his shoulder. "I'm sure it'll turn out fine," she said reassuringly. "They don't know very much about pokémon, after all."

With a resigned sigh, she beckoned to the pokémon, and together they followed the Digi group.

Venusaur poked at a tree. "This shouldn't be here," he remarked dryly, snapping off a branch and glancing at the needles. "Makes me wonder what kind of world we're in."

From ahead in the group, Izzy commented back. "I once thought the same thing when we were in the Digiworld. It's possible that we're in another type of medley world much like that one."

"Medley worlds are weird."

"We should find some way to have you and your team visit the Digiworld. It's definitely weirder than home..." Izzy paused and glanced at Tentomon, whose expression was completely unreadable. "At least for the humans."

Surrounded by trees, the large group of monsters and humans finally came to a large clearing. With a large collective sigh, everyone stood still to regain their bearings and relax a little from the long trek.

Biyomon flew up over the trees at Izzy's request, and in a few moments returned with the news that she could barely see the beach, and in the far distance opposite, she had seen what looked like a desert. At that point, Mimi crossed her arms and plopped herself on a log.

Everyone gave her quizzical looks.

"We aren't getting anywhere," she answered to the various stares, "The forest is just, like, huge. And we've been in here for how long? It's hard looking for something when we're not in quite the right kinds of places..."

Tai tried answering back defensively. "It's a giant fiery bird. How hard can it be to find?"

Nicole snorted in amusement.

In return, everyone except for the somewhat downcast pokémon turned to stare at her.

Tai glared. He was starting to find her a bit annoying. "What's so funny?"

Nicole shook her head in a pitying manner. "You can't just look for Moltres, you have to wait for it to deem you worthy of its presence. Unless you plan to capture it for some reason, which is of course a pretty horrible thought."

Tai threw his hands up into the air in exasperation. "Fine, we're not getting anywhere, and apparently we can't actually find Moltres. What brilliant idea do you have to help us find this Legendary creature?"

"Besides lighting the forest on fire? I don't have one." With that, she turned straight to Charizard and asked, "Charizard, what do you think?"

The large dragon-like pokémon blinked in surprise. "What do I think?"

Tai rolled his eyes. "Sure, turn to someone else to ask."

Nicole eyed Tai angrily. "Charizard would know best, that's all."

"Whatever."

The two gave each other mean looks before stalking away towards their respective groups.

Everyone watched the exchange in silence, wondering just where the entire conflict had come into place.

Finally, Charizard shook his head vigorously as though trying to remove extraneous thoughts from his head. Then he smiled uneasily, trying to look as unthreatening as possible. "Okay, how 'bout I lead for now, and I'll do the best I can to find Moltres, 'kay?"

Tai shrugged. "All right, I guess that works... uh, fello pyro?" he added weakly, as he quickly took into account Charizard's size and firepower.

The pokémon chuckled, seemingly knowing fully well just what kind of image his presence made. "Thanks then, flame boy."

He took to the air, flying above the trees to get a sense of direction and where to go. After a few minutes of unintelligible growling and the occasional bit of roaring, Charizard returned to the ground where he gave everyone a toothy, cocky grin. "Okay then troops, let's head on out."

Without any complaint, the group began to move again, only this time they continued behind the large pokémon.

Matt took the moment to run up to Tai, and whisper into his ear. "Tai, I have this really weird feeling we're being watched."

Tai blinked and glanced at Matt. "Is it a good vibe?" he asked back.

Matt shook his head. "No. It's like... something bad is going to happen, but it'll lead us in the right direction."

Tai just stared at Matt, who in turn shrugged. "Blame the psychic-ness," the blond replied.

Tai shuddered. "Well... keep using it then."

"Will do..."

"Something's wrong."

With looks of vague surprise on their faces, everyone turned towards Nicole and Matt, who had spoken at the same time. "Did you two plan that or something?" Gatomon asked jokingly. Her eyes however held a bit of concern, something that did not go missed by anyone.

Matt glanced over at Nicole, who seemed more silent than usual, and decided to go ahead and explain. "We're being followed, and whoever's following us is not going to help us," he said simply. "We should keep on our guard."

No sooner had he said that, a clap of lightning struck the ground right in front of him.

Everyone stood still for a moment, before the realization struck them.

Instincts pushed the digimon to circle around the humans, each in the attacking position and ready to either defend when necessary or digivolve at slightest notice. The pokémon did the same, each one tense and ready to act, though each kept an ear out for any commands.

Stellath darted around the silent circle, alert and keeping a close watch on everything. She glanced over to Nicole. – Shield. –

- I'm on it. I'm waiting for the next attack. -

- And it's right... –

Nicole's eyes glowed blue.

A massive onslaught of electricity came down on the group, roaring with power and crackling. It met with a blue, glowing shield that had created a dome around everyone, and the lightning flashed as it continued to rain down relentlessly. The impact shook the ground, and it seemed the shield barely held the attack from making contact with its true targets.

Outside, trees and foliage disintegrated into piles of ash, others became charred, and even more were set aflame. Energy continued to rain down, destroying everything around the dome as it tried to push through.

Those within the dome huddled together, not sure what to make of the new development, and they did only what they could do – wait out the attack. Tai held onto Kari tightly, as did Matt with TK, trying to give whatever comfort and security there was left. Nicole seemed the obvious source of the defense, as her eyes were glowing and body almost humming with power, and as a result everyone could only watch as she held the shield up. The digimon and pokémon stayed in their positions, ready to defend the moment the psychic energy died away.

Still, the lightning continued to crackle and pound against the dome. The glowing walls still seemed strong, and Nicole seemed to still be holding her ground fairly well, yet...

Stellath landed on Nicole's shoulder, and let out a slight battle cry as she too began to glow faintly. The walls of the dome thickened, and some of the lightning was repelled, but as a result the onslaught only grew stronger. Everyone had to shield their eyes in some manner, for the flashing outside the dome had come to the point where it surrounded and blinded any who looked directly into it.

Matt glanced over towards the pokémon Master, standing still with her eyes tightly shut now, her body looking stiff and tense in concentration. At closer look, he realized that sweat was beading on her skin, as though the task was taking all her energy...

Then his newfound abilities told him she desperately needed help.

Without any hesitation, Matt tried to focus on the shield.

He found it confusing, with power that he could not enter his own into. He had no idea how to channel his energy into a solid form, or how to strengthen something of someone else's creation, and the amount of mental strength needed for such a task felt overwhelming.

Suddenly, Gabumon was beside him. Even TK was staring slightly, having apparently noticed a bare flickering light come over his brother's body as he tried to focus his energy. The digimon placed a claw on Matt's shoulder, and pointed towards Nicole. "Aim towards her, she'll channel it," he suggested, more in hopes of the idea working than anything else.

Matt thought about trying to push his energy into Nicole, so that she could continue to hold the shield.

Within a few moments, he felt something warm inside him begin trickling out of his body, and apparently heading towards another figure. He felt momentarily weaker and fatigued, but knew that the survival of the group might depend on this push of energy, so he tried to continue focusing...

Without warning, the lightning outside the dome flickered and stopped. Instantly, the world seemed dark, a sharp contrast to the blinding flashes of earlier.

Then the shield faded.

And Nicole collapsed.

Instantly, the pokémon were by her side. Stellath flew back into the air, carefully keeping aloft, while Charizard gently picked Nicole up, nudging her prone body with his nose. "It's okay, you did good," he muttered soothingly.

Beside him, Haunter shook in worry. "I told you that you overexerted yourself last night! Now look at you!"

Nicole propped one eye open. "It's all right," she answered weakly, "But we're still in the middle of a battle, guys."

A glance around the area brought both hope and fear into the hearts of all. The surrounding undergrowth had been completely destroyed, and whatever was left had caught on fire...

And it was quickly catching onto everything else in the forest.

"We need to get out of here now!" Sora shouted, immediately grabbing onto her digivice. "Let's airlift everyone out!"

Biyomon nodded, following up on Sora's words. "Let's all get to the desert, we'll be safer there."

The roar of huge flames beginning to surround the area only emphasized the point.

"Biyomon digivolve to... Birdramon!"

Suddenly, Nicole called out with a faint voice, "Watch out, you'll be a huge target..." then she glanced at the circle of pokémon. "Haunter, go with her."

The ghost pokémon saluted and floated off towards the larger digimon.

Sora hopped up onto Birdramon's legs. "Come on! We need to leave!" At that point, she literally grabbed the closest person, Matt, and hauled him by the shirt next to her. "Let's go!"

As everyone scrambled to find a ride, Izzy and Tentomon glanced at each other, as did TK and Patamon. In unison, they all nodded.

"Tentomon digivolve to... Kabuterimon!"

"Patamon digivolve to... Angemon!"

The Poké group's eyes widened at the two new Champion level digimon, but still always battle-ready, Nicole gave more commands. "Raichu, go with Angemon. Scyther, you're with Kabuterimon." Then she sighed. "Stellath, if you're feeling all right, you airlift more people, and... Venusaur and Blastoise, back in the balls."

As Raichu and Scyther left to follow orders, Venusaur and Blastoise stared at Nicole in shock. "You're kidding me!" Blastoise said in disbelief.

Nicole rolled her eyes, despite being almost unable to move and being held in Charizard's arms. "Fine. Venusaur, you go back in and you'll be back out in the desert for defense. Blastoise, go with Stellath. Um... Stellath, can you handle it?"

The dragon replied by growing to the size of a semi-truck.

As Blastoise rumbled off to be held in Stellath's now massive claws, Venusaur gently unfurled a vine and reached towards Nicole's belt. He shared a nod with Charizard before touching the white button on a pokéball, and in a flash of light, he was gone.

Charizard himself glanced around at the rest of Nicole's team, seeing that each pokémon seemed fit and ready to fight if need be. They had to be more prepared than usual, he thought, as he looked down at the limp figure in his arms and looked as though she was dazed and about to pass out. "Take it easy, all right?" he whispered to her, not knowing if she heard him or not.

By the digimon, Gabumon clambered onto Birdramon's leg next to Matt, and held on tightly. At the same time, Tai and Agumon climbed onto the other leg, grabbing on in preparation to leave.

With as much strength as he could muster, Tai focused all his energy on the surrounding flames. The fire died down a little, being held back from continuing towards encompassing the group, and Tai kept trying to concentrate as the others found their rides. Haunter came to float by Birdramon, ready to aid in battle at any given moment.

Joe and Gomamon found their place with Izzy on the back of Kabuterimon, as did Mimi and Palmon. They glanced around sadly at what remained of the forest, watching as the fire consumed various trees and destroyed the underbrush. Mimi coughed as some smoke came blowing into her face, to which Joe tried his best to fan it away. Scyther stood ready to take off, and she helped a little by using her wings to create an air current.

Joe sighed and lifted his hand. Some sprinkles of water began pouring over the flames, but Scyther flew up to him and gently tapped his shoulder with the flat of her blade. "Save the energy," she suggested, "You'll probably need it to help us get out of here."

Kari and Gatomon were with TK atop Angemon, holding onto the great digimon's shoulders while staring at the wreckage around them. All four found themselves sweating the heat of the flames, and as a whole they knew not what to do. Raichu had already climbed up and now sat next to TK, her small body tense and her tail whipping around in preparation.

Tai finally stopped concentrating on the flames, and decided to give the command. "All right everyone, let's move out!"

As a whole, the great creatures launched into the air, leaving behind the destruction caused by the previous attack. They escaped from the forest fire, gradually lifting up high above the trees and the flames. Cherished cool air blew down at them from above, and the strength of the many sets of wings pushed smoke and heat back down and away from the group.

Everyone breathed in the atmosphere with a sigh of relief. Below, a sea of orange and red that continued to move further, catching onto more trees and growth as it spread. With a slightly sorrowful glance, Birdramon called to the others. "Follow me! I'll get us to the desert!"

Wordlessly, the group began after her as she headed towards one dark area, where the flames would not spread. For a few moments, it seemed as though the only sounds were the burning and crackling of wood, the falling of charcoaled trees, and the beating or buzzing of wings. The light of the forest fire illuminated them from below, casting strange shadows across the faces of everyone.

Then something caught the eyes of TK, Kari, and Gatomon atop Angemon.

"There's a flying thing over there," TK commented, staring in the distance.

Kari nodded. "Yeah... maybe it was in the forest and is trying to escape?"

TK looked at her sadly. "Maybe."

Gatomon, with somewhat sharper eyes than the humans, was staring at it a little closer. "Wait... it looks like a bird... it's carrying someone... human looking..."

The flying creature let out a powerful shriek, and began to zoom towards the group.

Almost immediately, the pokémon and Stellath shot their heads in the direction of the shriek. They recognized it.

"It's a Pidgeot!" Blastoise bellowed out, voicing the news to everyone.

Gatomon decided to call out to everyone as well. "It has someone on it!"

That caught everyone's attention.

Charizard glanced down at the bundle in his arms before flying close to where Scyther and Kabuterimon were. As the Digi group eyed Nicole in worry, Charizard turned to the bug pokémon. "If the Pidgeot has someone on it, does that mean it's trained?"

Scyther nodded, her wings buzzing. "Probably. And that means..."

The Pidgeot shrieked and shot towards the group, spreading its wings and then backing away slightly, began to flap them hard.

A huge gust of wind blew into the group, suddenly knocking everyone off balance. Humans and digimon struggled to remain with their rides, both Scyther and Haunter were blown away from those they were to protect, and everyone cried out as the air suddenly pulled and tugged at their bodies, relentlessly trying to tear them apart.

Only from years of training did Charizard manage to use the attack to propel himself towards the Pidgeot. Riding on the wind, he glided forward straight out and opened his mouth to let out a flamethrower.

It dodged, its aerial agility moving it out of the way easily. With a growl, Charizard decided to fly by and attempt to knock it away, and hopefully seeing who the trainer was as well.

Making sure he was securely holding Nicole, he did a backflip in the air, staying upside down as he glided towards the Pidgeot.

The sight almost made him stop, as he came closer and the haunting light of the fire below lit up the Pidgeot and the figure on its back. The pokémon had hints of black and purple running through its feathers, and even its eyes looked strangely deep and dark. The effect of the fire made it seem like shadow in the form of the Pidgeot – either that, or something sinister had engulfed its body.

The fact that it only shrieked out in instinctual cries and never anything intelligible made Charizard even more suspicious.

At that point, he saw the figure on its back.

A man dressed in dark purple robes was muttering to the Pidgeot. His long, yet spiked blond hair blew away from his face by the force of the wind and the motion of his mount, a black cloak streaming out behind him. Yet when he turned to gaze at Charizard, it was the handsome face, the green eyes, and the symbolic crescent tattoo on his forehead that made Charizard's stomach grow cold.

The lightning pendant told the rest.

"You!" Charizard gasped, unable to believe whom he was seeing. "The hell are you doing here?" Then he remembered something, a memory from many years earlier, but still... "This world is where you..."

The man smiled menacingly and held out a hand.

Lightning struck. Charizard roared in pain as he tried to shield Nicole from the onslaught, but the electricity did more than attack; it trapped him in place, where he could not move or escape from the agony of having the energy flowing through his body.

The man and the Pidgeot came closer, the man still holding out hand where he held the lightning entrapping Charizard. With a look of glee, he began talking in suave, yet boasting tones. "Interesting, meeting you and your trainer here." His eyes glanced at Nicole in Charizard's arms. "Hmm. She's grown a little. But I remember her very well."

Then he smiled as he looked into Charizard's blue eyes. "I have long wanted to capture you and make you my own."

Charizard writhed as he tried to overcome the pain and escape from the man's electrical grasp. He let out another roar, this time as a cry of help. His eyes rolled and he gasped as he watched the man pull out a black pokéball and prepare to throw.

A green blur rammed into Pidgeot. The bird pokémon gave a long cry as it tumbled away, while the man shouted in horror as he lost his concentration. The electrical field and lightning faded, and Charizard found the torturous pain dissipate... but it was not until he felt air rushing past his body that he realized he was falling.

Slowly managing to unfurl his sore wings, he turned upwards out of the fall and glided back into the air. He took a good look at the scene around him, as he was sure he had missed some action... such as various bolts of thunder aiming around the entire group, as well as what looked like flying creatures made purely out of electricity.

He looked back to where Pidgeot flew about, leading an agile chase. When he saw who was after Pidgeot, the one who had saved him, he decided that as soon as the group reached someplace safe, he was going to glomp her in gratitude.

Then she buzzed over to him. "Charizard, you okay?" Scyther asked as she gently touched a blade flat to his shoulder.

He nodded tiredly. "Yeah. Thank you." Then he grinned at her. "You deserve a hug and a kiss when we get out of this."

He expected her to whap him on the head like she usually did. To Charizard's surprise, she smiled back. "Just don't crush me," she said, before turning her expression grim again. "Get Nicole to safety, and help everyone else. I'll keep Pidgeot and Jelly Man busy."

Charizard let out a laugh, despite himself. "Call him that to his face."

She winked. "Oh, I will." With that, she buzzed back off to resume chase.

Looking down at the figure still limp in his arms, Charizard gently nudged her with his nose. If she hadn't passed out before the attack, she was certainly unconscious now.

With a breath of determination, he flew off towards the group, to help them to safety.

The group was actually doing quite well in their attempts to hold off the attacks by the time Charizard returned. The smaller Rookie (or Champion in Gatomon's case) digimon were each using their attacks to ward off any bolts of lightning or electrical monsters, helping their rides move a little closer towards the desert. The pokémon were each doing the same thing, trying to protect the humans and still flying digimon as they tried to get to safety.

Some of the humans had also found that they could help as well.

Lightning monsters burst into flame, others were surrounded by blue energy before popping, and others were even diverted away into the fiery forest below by spheres of water. The three boys, although not all on the same digimon, felt their abilities somewhat more powerful and trained than when they had first discovered them.

Even so, both Gabumon and Sora had had to hold Matt back by the shirt to stop him from jumping off of Birdramon and onto Angemon to help the younger Digidestined. Tai had actually tried earlier, and was now reduced to being held somewhat captive in Birdramon's claw. Unwilling to attack a friend just to escape, he had resigned himself to helping against the attack.

Matt finally had enough of it. "Fine fine, I won't jump off! Can you let me go now?" he asked irritably as he grabbed onto Birdramon's leg.

Sora and Gabumon nodded and released.

At that moment, Pidgeot chose to fly straight through the middle of the battle area.

Izzy, seated on Kabuterimon, squinted at the bird pokémon. "Hey, wait, if..." he began muttering to himself as he looked at it carefully. Then he looked over to Joe. "Joe! Wet the bird!"

Everyone else on Kabuterimon stared at him. Joe blinked incredulously. "What?"

"Wet it! Soak it! Something! It's weak against electricity right? Get the thing wet, we get it hit by lightning, and it stops attacking us! And whoever that guy is on its back too."

Charizard flew by just as Izzy shouted out. He called back, "Yeah, get Jelisvan, he's behind the lightning!"

Raichu paled, shrieked, and fell over. "You can't be serious!" she screamed. "Him! How'd he get here!"

"Beats me!" Charizard shook his head, wincing at the memory of his recent encounter. "Listen, I'm getting Nicole to safety – get to the desert pronto! Scy was holding off Pidgeot last I saw. Rai, aim for it good," he saluted, before flapping his wings and speeding towards the desert.

Raichu blinked for a few moments, before turning to Izzy slowly. "How did you know Pidgeot was weak against electric attacks?"

The red-haired boy shrugged. "I don't know, I simply examined the bird as it flew by and somehow knew."

Those on Kabuterimon's back stared at Izzy.

Unfortunately, even while strategies were being planned, the attacks still came. With Pidgeot and Jelisvan in the midst of everything, suddenly the bolts of lightning became more and more accurate. Scyther still chased after Pidgeot in attempts to keep it from targeting everyone else, but while the bird pokémon was distracted, its rider was certainly not.

Even worse, the man looked over to Birdramon and seemed to see exactly where many attacks were coming from. With one hand held out, he pointed at Birdramon's legs, targeting those holding onto her.

The lightning struck without warning. Tai, Sora, Matt, Gabumon, and Agumon all cried out as the electricity ran through them, burning pain tingling across their bodies and forcing them into close huddles. Birdramon could feel what was happening, and she tried to rise into the air to escape the attack and counter, but as she moved...

Apparently under orders, Pidgeot shot forward and rammed Birdramon in the side.

The lightning stopped. Contracted muscles loosened.

Matt fell.

"NO!" Tai, Sora, and Gabumon shouted in horror. Birdramon began to dive down, only to have another bolt of lightning shot directly at her. Others who saw what had happened screamed, and those who could fly tried to escape from the battle zone to catch their falling friend, only to have even more bolts strike directly at them. They were tiring and could not last much longer against the onslaught of electrical energy.

As he fell, Matt could feel the air rushing past his body, heat from the forest fire rising, and his own sense of panic. As the flames grew closer, he could see his life flashing before him, as gravity took him down. No! I can't die yet! Not now! He continued to shout in his mind, as a scream escaped his lips.

Matt could do nothing but flail helplessly in the air. The heat was overwhelming now, but the picture of everything speeding past him only furthered the realization of his own demise.

He could only accept the inevitable. Closing his eyes in unwillingness to see the flaming tree tops and blackened ground, he suddenly found his mind peaceful, as though he knew what to expect, and what was to come.

Yet as he waited for the end, something powerful burst within him. He creaked his eyes open, seeing a blue glowing film that covered his vision, gradually growing until he could see nothing but the light...

Above, denial and anger filled the hearts of all. Haunter and Scyther had both sped forward and been able to stop any more direct attacks by the pair of attackers, but Matt had already disappeared into the sea of flames. With battle cries and shouts of revenge, the entire group was all but trying to destroy the one who had caused the death of their friend.

Kari hugged TK close as the blond boy stared blankly down into the fire of the forest. His entire being seemed in shock, unable to believe what had just happened, and he could only shake his head, whispering, "It can't be... he's not gone... he's my big brother... it's not..."

At that point, those aboard Kabuterimon decided to put their plan into action.

Spheres of water shot at Pidgeot from all directions, forcing it to dodge awkwardly so it would not be hit. It shrieked in frustration as it dived out from beneath a huge ball of water that nearly came splashing down on top of it.

Blastoise could see what Joe was trying to do. She looked up towards Stellath's head. "Stellath! Get me over to that damn bird so I can help kill it!"

Stellath's voice thundered in a ranged tenor. "Leave some for me too."

The golden dragon let her wings push her towards Pidgeot, as it still tried to escape from the bombardment of water. Jelisvan looked both amused and disoriented, for he apparently could see no point in attacking something it was not weak against, yet at the same time he had stopped attacking. All that was left from earlier was the lightning monsters still flying about and growing less in number.

Stellath came from below and started upwards. Blastoise in turn, began to aim her water cannons.

With a great whoosh, a jet of water spurted out, becoming something like a hose trying to catch and soak something moving quickly. Stellath continued various aerial maneuvers as she tried to help Blastoise shoot at the Pidgeot.

Atop Kabuterimon, Joe watched, raised his hand up, and began counting to himself for the right moment. "One... two..."

In conjunction with Blastoise's attacks, Joe finally hit his target, and Pidgeot and Jelisvan both cried out as the water soaked them both.

As the water finally stopped Pidgeot and Jelisvan from going any further, Kabuterimon buzzed forward. "Hold on tight everyone!" he shouted as he prepared to let off his attack.

He reared back, making sure those on his back were still there, and watched as Raichu scrambled up his head and jumped off into the air. From nearby, Blastoise called out, "Kick their asses Rai!"

Kabuterimon and Raichu together attacked.

"Electro Shocker!"

"Thunder!"

The electricity created a booming sound as it hit Pidgeot and Jelisvan, the static energy from it making everyone feel the attack's power. Lightning flashed brightly, making it difficult to see what was happening within to the targets, but everyone could hear over the crackling of shocks and hum of energy, Pidgeot's shrieks of agony.

Then another flash of light beneath the electricity lit the area, only as it faded, another flying creature appeared. It let out a vague cackle as a figure dropped on top of it, holding up two balls – one of them aimed upwards.

The light flashed again from the ball, and the shrieks of Pidgeot were immediately cut off. With that, the electrical attack ended abruptly, leaving Jelisvan atop another flying pokémon looking somewhat amused.

He laughed into the shocked faces of everyone. "Very interesting. Not quite the power I was hoping to see; I'd hoped you would challenge me more. Oh well... it will make any later encounters easier."

With that, he flew away into the darkness, still laughing as he went.

This Chapter's NG:

Blastoise's Guide on How to Stop the Jelly Man

Stellath came from below and started upwards. Blastoise in turn, began to aim her water cannons.

As the bird continued to fly about, dodging all of Blastoise's attacks, the giant turtle pokémon grew annoyed. "Goddamn bird!" she growled. "Slow down ya stupid thing!"

It of course, did not listen.

At that point, Blastoise began screaming at it.

In the space of five minutes, many languages had been spoken (though unfortunately, everyone could understand them), everyone present stood in shock, TK and Kari's vocabularies had grown tremendously, and even Jelisvan and Pidgeot had stopped in pure astonishment at just how many obscenities they had just heard.

Blastoise used the opportunity to blast them both. Then she stuck out her tongue childishly. "Ha ha Jelly Man!" she shouted, looking as though she would be doing some sort of butt wiggling victory dance were she on the ground.

Behind Blastoise, everyone atop Kabuterimon blinked. "Wow," Mimi said, "Maybe we should curse people out more often."

Then all proceeded as written.