Hey, sorry it's been a long wait for this chapter. I would have had it up sooner but I had to unexpectedly go to America...long story.
Anyway, there was something I forgot to mention in the last chapter ; and thanks to Fruitloop Trooper mentioning it in his review I remembered. The thing is, I've given the children japanese names and using their english ones as nicknames. I'll still use the english ones all the time and I'll occasionally use the japanese ones. Anyone who's seen my journal on deviantART will understand what I'm on about ad understand the meanings etc. Here are the names:
Akira "Dawn" Kamiya
Danjuro "Dan" Motomiya
Jonasan "Jonathon" Izumi
Shinju "Margaret" Kimura
Suteishi "Stacey" Ishida
Kojirō "James" Ichijouji
Fernanda "Fern" Hida
Misa Jun "MJ" Takaishi
Torishia "Tricia" Kido
Keiti "Katie" Ichijouji
Again thanks to everyone who reviewed!
Fruitloop Trooper: Thanks. I acutally forgot to mention the japanese names at the beginning of the last chapter ;
Sync The Dragon Tempest: Well it's not exactly a "new" evil if you know what I mean
xazavier009: Thanks!
RainbowSprinkle: I hope you didn't think the private message I sent you was being mean. I was just explaining why I called it "03" etc. I'm glad you like some bits of it.
GrammaTron: I could have used Geogreymon. But Agumon and all his digivolutions are my faves so I wanted to have them in the story. I found Strikedramon on a Digidex website. It's really cool, it lists loads of Digimon.
Episode 6: "Another Day, AnotherBattle"
.:Odaiba Elementary, Odaiba, Tokyo:.
Dawn was in the middle of her history class, but her mind was someplace else. She was gazing out of the window she was sat next to ignoring the drones from her teacher as he rambled on about the ancient times of Japan.
After hearing the news about Gennai last night she couldn't think about anything else. She hadn't met him in person. The only time she saw him was in old photos and when he projected himself through her digivice. But she knew he was an important friend of her parents and they had been deeply saddened by his death.
Dan was sat at the desk next to his best friend. He had his mind on what had happened to Gennai too but he looked more convincing than Dawn was at pretending to listen to the teacher. His head was down and he was jotting the odd note from the board.
The young Kamiya girl sighed a little too loudly, which alerted the teacher's attention. He stopped writing on the board and turned to look at his class. He soon realised where the sigh had come from as he saw Dawn looking out through the window.
"Oh I'm sorry. Is my class boring you Miss Kamiya?" he spoke in a sarcastic tone as he crossed his arms.
That snapped Dawn from her thoughts and jumped turning her attention to the front of the classroom. "Uhhh." She stuttered. She could feel the whole class watching her.
Mr Koga began to walk towards her. "If you do find my lessons that bore some then perhaps a 10,000 word essay on Tokyo's history will be more interesting?" he paused by her desk.
Dawn grinned sheepishly, looking up. "Well… I was just-"
"I'll expect it on my desk first thing Friday morning. And I will accept no excuses if you fail to do so. That should keep you busy." Mr Koga interrupted and returned to the front of the class.
Dawn just groaned and sunk down in her chair. Extra homework, that was the last thing she needed right now. Especially after that little talk her parents gave her a few nights ago……
flashback
"Dawn, you can't keep going to the Digital World everyday and not do your homework." Her mother stated as they were sat at the dining table.
"But Mom!" Dawn complained. "I think saving the worlds is more important than my stupid school work!" she hit back.
"Not at the moment it's not." Her father added. "Right now neither the Digital World nor our world is in that much danger. We've only had the odd Digimon appear and that's no excuse to skip your homework and go to the Digital World every night."
"But-"
"Sweetie." Sora sighed, cutting in. "You only need to go to the Digital World when you need to. It's not a place to go and play your games. It's still a dangerous place even when it's not crawling with bad guys. We just want you to concentrate on your studies right now; otherwise you'll start getting into trouble with your teachers."
"And if we receive another letter from the school saying you've failed to do your homework then we'll ground you from going to the Digital World all together." Tai warned his daughter.
"What?! That's so unfair!" Dawn exclaimed, sitting up right.
"Your father's right." Sora agreed. "Please Dawn, for now concentrate on your studies more. You can still go to the Digital World when all your homework is done."
end flashback
Dawn crossed her arms, sulking in her chair. She hated regular homework and now she had extra to do. She would never get to go to the Digital World for a while at this rate.
.:Gennai's base, Digital World:.
Tai stepped over some of the rubble caused by the explosion that had destroyed the wall and walked further into the room accompanied by Agumon, Sora, Biyomon and the other six original DigiDestined and their partners.
The room was cold and had a chilling feel to it. No surprise as there had been a death here under twenty four hours ago. Unknowingly, Tai was stood right in front of where Gennai had taken his final breaths.
He bent down and picked the metal pole that, unknown to him, Gennai had used as his weapon. Tai stared at it for a few moments before throwing down on the floor aggressively, making most of the group jump.
Joe surveyed the room around him. The wall they had entered through was completely destroyed. And from the explosion, a thick layer of dust covered everything. It looked like it hadn't been used in years let alone hours. "This is awful." The blue haired man finally commented. "I can't imagine what he must have gone through."
"Who would do such a thing?" Kari murmured, still in a state of shock as she stood next to TK, clutching her fiancé's arm. They had been together for over a year now. "Gennai didn't have any enemies… did he?"
"We were on the top of the villains' most wanted list." Matt commented with his arms folded. "But I can't see why they would go after Gennai. He wasn't a threat to them."
Gabumon looked up at his partner. "But he was our friend. Maybe that was a big enough threat for whoever did this to kill him?"
Tai slowly walked towards the desk where the computer was still switched on. His fists were clenched with anger. "We should have been here for him." He muttered.
"But Tai." Agumon began. "We didn't know he was in danger. If he was alone then there would have been nothing anyone could have done."
Sora walked up to her husband and wrapped her arms around his, clinging onto to him and resting her head on his shoulder. "Tai, I'm scared." She admitted in a whisper. "Dawn comes to the Digital World everyday… if this thing is capable of killing Gennai she'll be in danger too."
"We're all in danger." Matt muttered from behind. "Killing Gennai was obviously a warning of some sort to us. We just don't know what."
"Then why didn't he come after us instead of attacking poor Gennai?" Mimi questioned as she stood next to her husband.
"I have no idea Mimi." Palmon sighed. "But we couldn't have done anything."
"We let him down!" Tai suddenly exclaimed, startling everyone. "He helped us and we should have been here to help him! He was all alone probably out numbered as he tried to defend himself! Now he's dead and we didn't do a single damn thing!" he slammed his fist down on the desk, causing Sora to jump back a little.
She hadn't seen her husband like this in years. She took a step towards him. "Tai…" she began, but stopped, unsure what to say.
He remained in that position, leaning over the desk with his eyes closed. "When I find who did this I'll kill them." He muttered darkly. He opened his brown eyes and something caught his attention.
When he had slammed his fist into the desk, it had caused the small drawer underneath to open up slightly. "Huh?" he opened the drawer further and his eyes widened at the sight inside it.
"What is it?" Biyomon asked.
"Our…our crests." Tai murmured in disbelief.
"What?" Joe asked, unsure if he had heard his friend correct. "That's impossible! We gave our crests up years ago."
Izzy stood there deep in thought. His hand rested on his chin. "Gennai mentioned a few weeks ago he was working on something secret and that it was a surprise. Maybe that was it?"
Agumon poked his head over the drawer and peered inside. "Are they real?" he asked.
Tai hesitated slightly before reaching into the drawer and taking hold of his crest that lay on top of the pile. The crest he hadn't seen for over 25 years. The crest glowed a bright orange as it was touched by its rightful owner.
He clutched it in his hand as the other seven members of the DigiDestined fished out their own crests and held them in their hands, as they glowed their own unique colour.
"They look real enough to me." Gomamon said as he watched Joe's crest glow. Something he hadn't seen in years.
Tai stared at his crest before clutching it in his hand. "Obviously Gennai created these for a reason. We can't let him down again."
Izzy nodded as he too looked at his crest of Knowledge. "Something big must be out there. There is no other explanation to why he would reconstruct our crests after so many years of not needing them."
TK nodded in agreement. "He must have known something was coming. And I'm guessing whatever it was got him before he had chance to tell us."
"Maybe that's why he killed Gennai?" Kari suggested in a low voice.
Mimi glanced at the small drawer that was open. There didn't appear to be a lock on it. "Thank goodness whatever attacked him didn't find our crests before we did. Otherwise they would have been destroyed."
"We just got lucky." Matt replied. "As you can see there is no lock on that drawer. Anyone snooping around could have found them easily."
Tai looked down at his crest once more before placing it around his neck where it used to hang all those years ago. "Whatever it is... we'll get them. There's no way I'm gonna let them get away with what they've done." He muttered, clutching his crest of Courage.
.:Tamachi Middle School, Tamachi, Tokyo:.
School was just getting out. Children were piling out of the building dressed in the typical all grey uniform of the Tamachi school. As the crowds began to disappear, a lone boy appeared from inside the school grounds.
He paused by the main gate and looked down both ways of the street. The boy, twelve years old, had dark blue hair that was slightly spiked but in a neat fashion. The hair at the back was a little longer and reached the bottom of his neck. He was dressed in the school uniform.
Kojiro "James" Ichijouji was his name. He was Ken and Yolei's eldest child. He glanced up at the tree that loomed over the school gate. "C'mon Wormmon. Time to go home." He muttered under his breath.
On cue, a small insect Digimon jumped out from the branches of the tree. The little monster, Wormmon, landed by his human partner's feet. "Good day at school?" he asked.
James shrugged his shoulders. "Not bad." He then began his journey home. "Let's go. My parents aren't home and I don't want to leave Katie home alone for too long."
"Don't worry James." Wormmon spoke as he walked beside his friend. "Hawkmon will look after her until we get back."
The walk along the street was a quiet one. It was just them two as most of the students had already disappeared from the area on their journey home. As the two friends edged nearer to the corner of the street, they didn't notice two other friends approaching them from the left.
"Hello James." A polite but shy voice said as the boy walked passed, seemingly not noticing the owner of the voice.
"Huh?" Upon hearing him name, James turned to his left and saw a girl, the same age as him, walk up to him, accompanied by her own Digimon partner Armadillomon.
It was Fernanda Hida, Cody's only daughter. She attended the Tamachi Middle school, so she was dressed in the girls' version of the grey uniform. Her dull brown hair was blowing freely in the slight breeze, as she wasn't wearing her sandy coloured bandana like usual.
"Oh hello Fernanda." He replied, before looking both ways and crossing the road.
Fernanda and Armadillomon followed. She quickened her pace to be level with him as they walked. "Have you heard about these Digimon attacks happening recently?" she asked in her quiet voice.
James nodded. "My father's been dragged in to investigating it. The police think it's a gang playing stupid pranks." His tone seemed uninterested as he carried on walking.
"It's quite scary. Anyone could be attacked at any time." She continued the conversation.
"Suppose." James responded.
Fernanda looked at little uneasy. "Do you think we should train our Digimon?" she asked, quietly.
"What for?" James questioned, quickly glancing at her.
Fernanda stuttered a little due to the look he gave her. "Well... I... thought if a Digimon attacks, our Digimon would be strong enough to fight whatever came up." Her shy voice replied.
"That's a very good idea Fernanda." Armadillomon spoke up, trying to reassure her. "We should be prepared just in case."
"I don't see why we should be prepared for a few Digimon who get lost in the city." James muttered. "What happens if one appears during class? We can't exactly drop everything and leave. Besides, our parents will take care of things."
"True... but what if our parents are too busy? And my father did say we are the new DigiDestined, which means it's our job to protect the city."
James sighed and came to a halt. "Look, I don't have time for this Digimon nonsense. There is nothing to worry about alright? It's just a couple of lousy Digimon who have accidently got transported here. It's hardly the end of the world."
Fernanda remained quiet and lowered her head a little. She hated when she said something wrong. It dented her self-confidence.
"I'm far too busy with school work to go running around after lost Digimon. Anyway, the others who have been dealing with these last few attacks can carry on with that job. I'm busy right now. The day when the world is in real danger of being wiped out, that's when I'll be interested okay?"
Fernanda glanced up at him. "I just thought..." she whispered.
"I'm not stopping you from training Armadillomon up. If you want to get involved in this Digimon business then go ahead. Right now my studies are more important." James finished his rant, before looking down at his Digimon partner. "C'mon Wormmon." And with that, he strode off with Wormmon scuttling after him, leaving the two friends behind.
Fernanda remained stood still until James and Wormmon disappeared around the corner. "I would train Armadillomon myself but I haven't got a clue how to do it... this is all so new to me right now."
.:Ichijouji apartment, Tamachi, Tokyo:.
The elevator doors opened on the fifth floor and James and Wormmon stepped out before they closed again. Walking a short distance towards his front door, he fished out his keys and put them in the lock. Only to find the front door was already unlocked.
James sighed and took his keys out before opening the door and stepping inside the warm apartment. "Katie!" he called as he removed his shoes.
A few seconds later, small footsteps could be heard and a little seven year old girl came running down the hallway from the living room. "Hi James!" she greeted as she smiled up at him, her light blue eyes beaming but her glasses slipped down her nose a little. Her lavender coloured hair was tied up in two pig tails.
She was dressed in her usual attire, which consisted of a pink thick jumper with blue cross makings on and the sleeves were rolled up half way up her arm. Her bottom half was dressed with blue shorts that had two aqua coloured stripes down the sides, and pink thick socks.
James put his school bag down before turning to her. "Katie, how many times have I told you not to leave the front door unlocked?" he questioned his little sister.
Keiti "Katie" Ichijouji pouted. "I'm sorry big bro. I guess I forgot. Hawkmon would protect me if anything happened anyway."
James sighed once more as he headed down the hallway, followed by his sister and Wormmon. "That's not the point. If something happened to Hawkmon and me or Mom and Dad weren't here, you'd be in trouble. Please keep that door locked if you're here by yourself."
Katie smiled once more. "I will. I promise." She then dashed past her older brother and went back into the living room where her Digimon partner, Hawkmon was sat on the floor just in front of the sofa.
"What have you two been doing since you got home?" James asked as he walked in.
Katie had now joined Hawkmon on the floor where they were playing with some dolls. "Just playing and watching cartoons." She replied.
As her brother began to walk out to the kitchen, she added; "But there was this strange dog outside on your balcony before. Mommy won't be happy if you're keeping a secret pet."
James halted in the doorway and turned to face his little sister. "What?" he asked. "Did you see this Hawkmon?"
Hawkmon shook his head. "No. Katie was in your room collecting her hair brush she left in there yesterday, when she came back and told me this large dog was on the balcony. By the time I got there it had vanished." He explained.
"It was just staring through the glass at me. It was big and black. It was the biggest and most funny looking dog I've ever seen." Katie giggled.
James remained there for a moment before leaving the room and heading into his own room, where Wormmon was already sat on his bed.
"What's wrong?" Wormmon asked as his human partner walked past him and opened the balcony door before stepping outside into the cool evening air.
"Katie said there was a huge dog out here earlier...and by the time Hawkmon came to take a look it vanished." James explained as Wormmon appeared by his side. "She said the dog was just staring at her."
"You think it's a Digimon?" Wormmon questioned, scrambling up the safety rail of the balcony.
James was silent as he processed the information through his mind. "I'm not sure." He finally spoke. "If it is, why would it be here and staring at my sister? What would it want with her?"
"I can't answer that one for you James. But if it is a Digimon, then we're the only ones who know about it right now and therefore, we must deal with it before it causes serious damage." Wormmon replied.
"He was stood right there."
James and Wormmon turned around to see Katie and Hawkmon stood behind them just at the edge of the balcony door. Katie was pointing to where her older brother was stood.
"If it is a Digimon, may I suggest we take care of it before it harms someone?" Hawkmon spoke up.
James sighed and turned his head, looking out at the city of Tokyo. He didn't have time to go chasing a monster that might not even exist. It could just be his little sister's imagination. But if it wasn't... and someone got hurt, it would be his fault for not doing anything.
"We don't even know where it is." He muttered under his breath. "It could be in Odaiba for all we know right now."
"We can track its signal using the portal on the computer." Wormmon responded, motioning to the computer in the room by the balcony door.
Thanks to Izzy, all the DigiDestineds' computers had the portal installed on them. That way if they needed to go to the Digital World they didn't have to travel to his laboratory to do so.
James turned to his little sister. "You sure you saw that dog?" he questioned her. "Because if I find out it's your imagination, I won't be pleased."
Katie nodded slowly. "I did see it big bro."
James paused before replying; "Okay." He headed back inside his room and sat down at his computer desk, which was next to the balcony door.
Katie, Hawkmon and Wormmon gathered round as the blue haired boy began to type away. A map of Tamachi appeared on the screen and radar began to scan over it. The bleeping was at a constant one second speed. But as it crossed over a certain area of the map, the bleeping got faster until it stopped and a message appeared on the screen saying 'Digimon activity located'
"Right, the Digimon is four blocks away from here. According to the signal it's not moving so if we hurry we might be able to catch up with it." James explained to Wormmon as he exited the map and shut his computer down.
"Can we come?" Katie grinned excitedly as she and Hawkmon followed James out of his room and towards the front door.
James shook his head as he put on his shoes. "No. It'll be dangerous. I don't want you getting hurt. Just stay here with Hawkmon and keep this front door, and the windows locked." He instructed her before he opened the door. "Mom and Dad should be home soon anyway. Tell them I'll be back soon and I'll explain everything when I get back."
"Okay" Katie pouted as she watched her older brother and his Digimon leave, closing the door behind them. She walked up to the hall table and took a set of keys before putting them in the lock and locking the front door.
She sighed as she took the keys out and hung them on the small hook on the wall, beside the front door.
"Don't worry Katie. We'll get our chance one day." Hawkmon said to her.
.:Tamachi Station, Tamachi, Tokyo:.
The Digimon in question, a Dobermon, was snarling at something... or someone it had cornered in a back alley near the train station. He opened his mouth just enough to show its sharp teeth as it edged closer to its victims.
Unfortunately, the victims he had cornered were Fernanda and Armadillomon. The small rookie Digimon was stood protectively in front of his human partner, as the brown haired girl quivered in fear.
"Do something Armadillomon... can't you talk to it or something?" Fernanda spoke very quietly.
"Like he'd listen to what I have to say." Armadillomon replied, keeping his eyes firmly fixed on his foe. "All he is interested in is sinking those teeth into us."
Fernanda gulped and took one small step back. She was no visibly shaking. "This is what we get when we decide to take the short cut home."
Dobermon began to move around them, as the two were now firmly backed up against the wall of the alley. He slowly paced from one side to the other, his mouth open and his eyes fixed on them. A small dribble of drool escaped his mouth and dropped to the ground.
And without any warning, he pounced!
Fernanda screamed and ducked out of the way, as Armadillomon leaped up and with one quick swipe, he slashed his left claws at the dog Digimon.
Dobermon was surprised by the attack and fell to the ground. But he soon scrambled to his feet, growling under his breath. "Black Beam!" opening his mouth wider, he fired a laser beam of black light.
Armadillomon jumped out of the way, pushing Fernanda to safety in the process. The attack struck some dustbins, which were destroyed instantly and now, on fire.
"What's his problem? We didn't do anything to him." Fernanda cried quietly.
"Evil Digimon don't care if we do anything or not. They're only concern in hurting anyone that gets in their path." Armadillomon replied. His attention was fully on Dobermon. If there was a surprise attack, and he wasn't ready, it could end the worst way possible.
The sun had almost vanished behind the tops of the tall city buildings. It was getting dark now. And with Dobermon being the colour he was, he blended well into the background of the alleyway.
Armadillomon curled up into a ball. "Diamond Shell!" he rolled towards Dobermon and rammed into him with all his force. But the champion Digimon was much stronger and squatted the rookie away with his paw.
Fernanda watched helplessly as Armadillomon was thrown into some garbage bags. "Armadillomon!" she cried out.
Dobermon strode over to where the rookie was laying in the garbage. "Grey Reaml!" he released a thundering roar that echoed throughout the alley.
Armadillomon groaned and sunk to the ground, his eyes drooping a little. "That roar..." he moaned. "It's draining my energy..."
Once Dobermon was satisfied his opponent was weak enough, he slowly turned his attention to the quivering girl still frozen in the corner of the alley. He growled slyly under his breath as he edged closer and closer...
"Armadillomon!" Fernanda cried.
Armadillomon groaned at the call of his name. He opened his eyes as best as he could and lifted his head off the ground to see Dobermon approaching his human partner. "Hey... you big brainless mutt... come and get me."
But his insults didn't alert Dobermon. He continued slowly stopped and bent his legs a little, obviously about to pounce...
"Sticky Net!"
And just as he did pounce, a large web like net appeared from nowhere and wrapped itself around Dobermon. The dog Digimon howled and scrambled on the ground, trying to get the net off him.
Fernanda tuned her head to the right to see James and Wormmon stood at the edge of the alleyway, the streetlamp's light shining down on them. "James!" she smiled.
James averted his gaze to the dog. "Hey you! Why don't you pick on someone your own size instead of defenceless girls?"
Dobermon stopped squirming around with the net, which was now almost shredded to bits. He growled and forgot about Fernanda and made his way towards the two new arrivals.
"Fernanda, you better get clear of here and get to safety." The blue haired boy spoke, his eyes fixated on Dobermon.
Fernanda smiled warmly at his kindness to her. He had saved her from certain death.
"Get ready Wormmon." James whispered to his friend as he took off his digivice and clutched it in his hand.
Wormmon stood defensively in front of his human partner as James's black digivice burst into a ray of light...
"Huh?" James brought his digivice up closer to his face. The screen was glowing brightly and moments later, a Digital Ring burst out of the screen causing the young boy to step back in shock.
The ring floated down. Wormmon looked up and caught the Digital Ring in his mouth before he was engulfed in a brilliant white light...
"WORMMON DIGIVOLVE TO... KUWAGAMON!"
Stood in front of James now, was Wormmon's newly digivolved champion form. It was Kuwagamon. Previously known as the very first Digimon that attacked the original eight DigiDestined, this Kuwagamon was the very opposite from that Digimon.
Kuwagamon growled and snapped his pincers together twice. Dobermon snarled back, his white teeth glistening in the light from the street lamp. Both were trying to outwit each other.
Dobermon got tired of waiting and lunged at Kuwagamon with his mouth wide open. He sunk his teeth into the insect's arm. The force from the attack sent Kuwagamon flying back, out of the alley and taking the battle into the middle of the road.
Fernanda and Armadillomon rushed over to where James was stood at the edge of the pavement, his glowing digivice still firmly in his hand. She glanced at him and was about to speak but James got there first.
"Stay back Fernanda." he spoke. "This could get dangerous."
Fernanda stared at the blue haired boy before taking a few steps back and observing the battle.
Kuwagamon thumped Dobermon to the ground with one swift punch before bringing his leg back and kicking the dog Digimon across to the other side of the road.
Dobermon slid against the concrete and came to a stop when he collided with a building wall. Shaking his head to overcome the sudden dizziness, he scrambled to his feet. "Black Beam!" opening his mouth, he released his high energy attack.
Kuwagamon spread his wings and leapt into the air. The Black Beam attack struck a parked car, setting it on fire instantly.
James held his arm out in front of Fernanda and Armadillomon and backed up a little as he felt the heat from the fire on his skin.
Kuwagamon floated down and landed with a hard 'thud' on the ground in front of the burning car. The force of his impact caused the ground to shake a little. "Power Guillotine!" He charged at Dobermon with his pincers wide open... and just as the time was right, he clamped them shut!
But Dobermon was too fast and jumped up into the air, landing on Kuwagamon's back before leaping off. "Black Beam!" he spun around and blasted Kuwagamon with his attack.
The attack bombarded the insect Digimon in the back. He screamed in pain and was thrown forward, slamming into the wall.
Dobermon grunted pleasantly and turned his back on the fallen Kuwagamon and sprinted right towards the two children and Armadillomon with his sharp fangs showing.
Fernanda screamed and clutched on to James' arm as the dog Digimon gained closer and closer to them. He pounced, his two front paws stretched out in front of him and drool escaping his mouth...
James' blue eyes widened with horror and Fernanda squeezed hers shut in fear as she tightened her grip on his arm...
Dobermon was about to make impact on his prey... but as he was inches away from the DigiDestineds faces, something impaled through his abdomen. He froze in shock, his eyes wide open.
James and Fernanda looked up to see one of Kuwagamon's pincers had pierced through his body.
Fernanda's green eyes were glued on the painful expression plastered across Dobermon's face that was inches away from her own. She continued to stare at him as his body burst into thousands of pieces of data, without any warning. Her eyes followed the fragments as they floated gently in the air before disappearing completely...
He had died right in front of her. She had never witnessed that before. Even though he was only fragments of data, Dobermon still seemed very real. And even though he had attacked and was going to kill her, she couldn't help but feel sorry for him.
She was brought out of her thoughts when Wormmon came scuttling over and jumped up onto his partner's shoulders. "Are you okay Fernanda?" he asked, noticing the look in her eyes.
Fernanda averted her gaze to the blue haired boy and his Digimon next to her. "I'm okay..." she whispered.
Armadillomon placed a comforting paw on her right leg. "Don't worry Fernanda. He'll get reborn at Primary Village and be back to his bad ways soon." He said with a hint of humour at the end.
His human partner couldn't help but smile. But the smile didn't last long. "Are you sure?" she asked, looking up at the sky, which was now beginning to show the stars. "Do Digimon who get killed here really go back to the Digital World and get reborn?"
Armadillomon nodded. "Of course they do. Even though you can't see it, when the data disappears it's transported back to the Digital World."
James sighed and took a step forward and placed a hand on her shoulder. This short time out with Fernanda he had really begun to understand her. "Fernanda you have to understand. If Kuwagamon hadn't of killed him, he would have killed you and Armadillomon. At least with Dobermon he has another chance at life. If that was you, you wouldn't. You'd be gone forever."
Fernanda paused for a moment. "I know... but do we have to reason everything with killing them?" she asked, looking James straight in the eyes.
James nodded. "I'm afraid so. That's how they are."
Wormmon nodded. "Some Digimon don't want to talk they just want to fight." He added.
Fernanda sighed. She then turned to face James and Wormmon completely and bowed politely. "Oh and thank you for saving me and Armadillomon. We can't thank you enough."
James smiled a little. "No problem." He then paused for a second. "And... I should apologise for how I treated you earlier. I didn't mean to sound rude. It's just... all this fighting... I don't want to get involved as it means getting my little sister involved too. And I don't think she's ready for something like this."
Fernanda smiled. "I understand. No need to apologise."
"Whenever the Digital World or fighting is mentioned I just get this feeling... I can't explain it. It's not an angry feeling... it's like... before when you mentioned all these attacks. I just got irritated. Like I was getting constantly reminded of what's gonna happen with my sister soon."
"But if she's a DigiDestined you have to allow her to join the team at some stage." Armadillomon commented.
James let out a long sigh. "Yeah... I know."
.:Ichijouji apartment, Tamachi, Tokyo:.
"We're home!" Ken's voice called through the apartment as he allowed Yolei, Hawkmon and Wormmon to enter before he closed the door.
There was no answer. Usually by this point they would have heard James call 'hello' and Katie would be running to greet them.
"James? Katie?" Yolei put down her shopping bags and removed her shoes. "Anyone home?" she walked down the hallway and glanced in each room she passed.
"Maybe they went out." Ken suggested as he removed his jacket and hung it up on the coat rack.
Yolei continued to check each room. "At this time? It's dark out there. James knows I don't like Katie being out at this time." She peeked into her son's room, before sighing with relief as she spotted her daughter. "There you are sweetie.. Where's your brother?"
Katie was stood with her nose pressed up against the glass of the balcony door with Hawkmon next to her. She was staring out at the city. She sighed, her breathe fogging up the glass. "I wanted to go..." she murmured.
By this point, Ken had joined his wife along with their Digimon. "What did she say?" He asked, leaning a little towards her.
Yolei walked further into the room. "Go where? Katie, where's James?" she asked, getting a little worried.
Katie turned to face her mother with a pouting expression. "They went to look for this big dog. I wanted to go but James wouldn't let me."
Ken and Yolei looked at each other with puzzling looks before turning back to their daughter. "What big dog?" Yolei questioned her.
"I think she means a Digimon." Yolei's Hawkmon spoke up. "Is that right Katie?"
Katie nodded slowly. "I think so. He had to use the computer to track it down. Why wouldn't he let me go with him?"
"Katie, it's very dangerous when battling a Digimon. It's not play fighting that you and Hawkmon sometimes get up to."
"He probably thought it would be best for you to stay home so you wouldn't get hurt. I'm sure he'll take you next time." Wormmon added.
Katie didn't reply and turned back to face the balcony door, staring outside once more. "He thinks I'd get in the way... doesn't he?"
"No of course he wouldn't." Ken replied. "Maybe he thinks you're not ready yet. Like I said, it's dangerous... and scary. I'm not trying to put you off Katie but if you were fighting an evil Digimon, and you got scared. You'd be trapped, like an endless nightmare-"
Yolei smacked her husband across the arm. "Honey, that's gonna put her off more!"
Ken turned to his wife. "What do you want me to say? That it's like a walk in the park? I don't want our little girl going to the Digital World and getting hurt."
Yolei's Hawkmon raised one of his wings. "May I suggest the time when Katie feels ready we go the Digital World together? That way we can look after each other and explain to her what its like."
"Not a bad idea... What do you think Katie?" Ken asked, looking at his daughter.
"But Daddy..." the little girl moaned, as she turned to face him again. "Why does big bro get to go on his own?"
"He's older sweetie." Yolei replied. "Look, we'll talk about it more when your brother gets home okay?"
Katie pouted and nodded before turning her back on her parents and again, looking at the city outside.
Ken glanced at his wife with a look that clearly said 'this is gonna be hard'. "Well, we'll get dinner started. I'll call you when it's ready alright?"
Getting no answer from their youngest child, Ken and Yolei left with their Digimon, closing the door but leaving it an inch open.
Katie continued to pout as her parents left the room. "I'm not a scared little girl like everyone thinks I am."
.:Thunder Mountain, Digital World:.
The doors to the castle flung open and Gennai's killer strode into the hallway, laughing so evilly that anyone that heard it would be left with chills running down their spines. The two Dobermon X followed him into the building.
"Good work boys." He congratulated them. He took something out of his pocket and threw two dog treats to the Digimon behind who snapped them up hungrily. "Taking that old man out was so easy it makes me think how simple it would be to eliminate those DigiDestined."
As he passed, a door creaked open and Stacey poked her head out and watched her master walk past triumphantly. She narrowed her eyes a little at him.
"No one can defeat me!" he proclaimed proudly to no one in particular. "Three times! Yet I just keep coming back. When will they ever learn?" he laughed, amusing himself so easily.
"You're like the Undead King, sir." Garurumon X spoke up, startling Stacey who he had snuck up on behind.
Stacey darted back behind the door and watched her Digimon partner walk out of the small room she was in.
"Why yes." The hooded figure cracked a cruel smile. "Now I have eliminated the most respected being in this world, it's time to introduce myself to every single Digimon out there and let them know I'm not someone who will be messed about with." He threatened. He smiled slyly. "It's time they met their Undead King."
To be continued...