Hey! Here's chapter 9! The plot is starting to develope more now... hopefully it'll get more interesting for ya hehe. Tell me if it's getting boring though. Thanks for everyone who's reviewed the last chapter. Most reviews for a chapter so far yey! Anyway, I'll leave you to read chap9 now, enjoy!
Sithking Zero: He's been called the Undead King before. It's in the prophecy part in season 1. Good idea about the splits! You'll see I used that in this chapter, thanks for that. And thats okay about the music files.
Sightbent: Thanks! Yeah he can never stay mad at her hehe.
Fruitloop Trooper: Maybe she did a little. But she won't get away with stuff that easily in the future.
Amethyst-Love: I used to prefer to be on the internet than do homework heh. Dawn knows how to soften Tai up, he just can't resist her innocent cheeky look hehe
Adran06: Thanks! I always miss-spell that word, thanks for pointing it out. I think Strikedramon does have a name for his attack.. I must have forgot to write it.
Onyx Of Darkness: Thanks! I used to have problems trying to keep people in character when I first started writing.
Sync The Dragon Tempest: Thank you. No it's not GranDracmon... I've got some plans for him though but I'm not saying much right now heh
RainbowSprinkle: It must do, but at least TK's gonna be remarried soon. Yeah I've got the Digimon Dawn game. I love it.
Phillip Clark: Don't worry, she gets back into her tough side when she confronts them.
Digimon Season 2.5 "Digimon Adventure 03"
Episode 9: "The Lost Child"
.:Izumi residence, Odaiba, Tokyo:.
"Hey Izzy, any luck yet?" Tai asked as he walked into the study room the next morning with Agumon, Matt and Gabumon following behind.
Izzy was slouched in front of his computer. Bags were starting to appear under his eyes due to the lack of sleep. "No." He simply replied as he continued his work, typing furiously on the computer.
"Man, you look awful." Tai joked as he got a look at his friend.
Izzy sighed. "I haven't had a wink of sleep all night. I've been up trying to figure out why all the portals across the Digital World suddenly locked like that."
"No clues at all?" Matt asked as he stood, slouched against the wall.
Izzy shook his head. "Not one. Gennai and a selected few were the only ones who had access to that sort of power... the other two were Centarumon and Azulongmon... they would never do something like this without informing us...especially when they know our children have started going there... Who would do this?"
"I thought you knew everything?" Agumon questioned him.
Izzy laughed a little. "Not quite everything Agumon." He looked up at the two men behind him. "Where's Sora? I thought she'd be here."
"She's at home resting. Like you she was up half the night worrying." Tai explained. "I tried to tell her Dawn would be okay but she wouldn't listen and kept insisting on going to the Digital World to find her."
Izzy stopped typing and leaned back in his chair, smiling. "That's Sora for you. Always determined."
"Perhaps that isn't such a bad idea." Gabumon piped up from beside Matt, who gave him a questioning look. "We should travel to the Digital World and try to find them before they get into trouble."
"But Gabumon, the portals are all locked." Tentomon responded.
"The Digital Splits are not." Gabumon objected.
Izzy shook his head. "We don't want to chance that. We could end up anywhere in the Digital World and it could take us days to even find the children."
"Well I can't stand around here and do nothing." Tai said heading for the door.
Izzy swirled around in his chair. "Tai, listen to me, you don't want to chance going through a Digital Split. You could end up miles away from the children and get lost yourself. And with no way of getting home it'll be more of a risk."
"Give it a rest Iz'. We spent weeks in the Digital World when we were kids, I think me and Agumon can handle a little danger." Tai commented.
"And I'm sure the children can handle themselves too." Matt spoke up before looking at the bearer of courage. "I'm sure they can look after themselves. They already spent one night there."
Agumon looked up at Matt with a curious look. "But don't you want to come with us and look for Stacey?" he asked.
Matt suddenly froze at the mention of his daughter's name. It had been almost six months now since she had disappeared and he hadn't been to the Digital World to look for her since the portals opened about a week ago. The only time he had gone to the Digital World was to Gennai's base the other day.
"If the portals are closed for quite a while, you don't want to chance the Digital Splits closing for good too and missing your chance to find her." Tai added.
Suddenly the door flew open and Davis and Veemon arrived, panting a little out of breath. "S-sorry we're l-late..." Davis managed to gasp out.
"Davis smashed his alarm clock last night and he slept in." Veemon commented.
Davis glared down at his Digimon partner. "Well you could have woken me up! I wasn't the only one who was still asleep!" he exclaimed.
Izzy sighed and rubbed his temples. "Will you keep it down? My wife is still asleep."
"Not for much longer the way those two are arguing." Matt sighed over the two squabbling friends.
Davis sighed irritably. "So what's the plan? The kids alright?" he asked.
Izzy nodded. "I think so. I spoke to Jonathon last night and I told them to keep safe and get plenty of rest. I'll be contacting them soon. Right now I'm trying to find out why the portals locked like that."
Tai turned for the door once more. "Sorry Izzy. But I'm not gonna stand here and wait for you to come up with another one of your theories. I'm going to the Digital World. Anyone else, who wants to come, can do."
"Tai, didn't you listen to what I-" Izzy began.
"I heard what you said." The bearer of courage interrupted. "But we don't know how long the portals are gonna be locked for, do we? It could be days, weeks maybe even months. And I don't want to leave Dawn and Margaret alone for that amount of time, especially Margaret. It's her first time away from home and in the Digital World."
"Where's Kari? I thought she'd be here." Davis commented.
"She's at my place." Tai replied. "She was a little bit hysterical when I told her what happened. I think she's scared she might lose Margaret after what happened with Tenchi. Sora and TK are with her at the moment, trying to calm her down."
"So we're going to the Digital World?" Veemon asked, looking up at the brown haired man.
Tai nodded. "I don't think I could sleep at night knowing they're stuck there." he continued. "I'd feel a lot better if I was with them and knew they were safe. I don't care if I'm stuck in there with them."
Matt sighed. "Tai, you're being way too overprotective. How can they ever prove themselves as DigiDestined if you're always there to hold their hand?"
Tai sighed. "Look Matt... I'm just worried about them alright?" he admitted. "Something is in that world that killed Gennai. And if he's capable of killing him, he could be after the kids too. Gennai had experience but he was still beaten... the kids won't know what they're up against until it's too late."
Davis nodded in agreement. "Yeah. Whatever did kill Gennai is strong. Stronger than the children and if it finds them before we do, it won't hesitate in killing them too."
Everyone looked at Matt who had his arms folded. He sighed. He had never thought about it that way. Tai and Davis had brought up a good point... whatever was in the Digital World was strong if it was able to eliminate Gennai. And if his daughter was in there... she could be in serious danger too.
He finally spoke. "Alright... I'll go."
"Suppose we better start looking for a Digital Split." Gabumon sighed.
"Wait a minute, isn't there any way to create a Digital Split ourselves?" Agumon piped up. "Surely we can create one and control where it would send us."
Izzy sat there in deep thought for a moment. "That could work..." he murmured to himself. "If we could get hold of a piece of data from the Digital Split and process it I could lock a certain location in the data and that would transport you to the right place."
Tai smiled. "Then what are you waiting for? Let's do it!"
Tentomon hovered beside his human partner. "It's not as simple as that. The hard part is getting the piece of data from the Digital Split. Without that, we can't create our own."
"Tentomon's right. Once we get the data, the rest will be a breeze. It's just the tricky part of getting hold of it."
"Can't we just grab it?" Davis asked.
Matt shook his head. "As soon as you make contact with a Digital Split, you get transported to the Digital World. So it would be almost impossible to touch it."
"Wait a second..." Izzy trailed off as he got up out of his chair and walked over to his closet. He opened the door and began to rummage through, whilst the others watched him curiously. "Got it!" he exclaimed, turning around and holding something out in front of him.
"What is that?" Tai asked.
Izzy was holding a small silver gadget. It was a little bit bigger than the D-terminal and was a rectangle shape with a small screen on the front with three blue buttons underneath. On the back was a round black scanning window.
"This." He began, holding it up so everyone could see. "Is a digital data extractor. Gennai gave it to me a while ago. It allows us to extract data from either a Digimon or anything digital, like a Digital Split for example."
"How does it work?" Veemon asked.
Izzy pointed to the black scanning screen at the back. "You point this at whatever you want to scan, and press the middle button. It'll extract a little bite of the data and store it inside." He handed it to Tai. "Once you scan a piece of the Digital Split bring it back and I'll download it to my computer. Once I've locked a location on it I'll download it back into the extractor and release it again so you can travel through it... the only problem is that it will only be a one way ticket to the Digital World."
Tai looked down at the digital data extractor. "So all we have to do now is find a Digital Split."
.:Infinity Mountain, Digital World:.
The sun was just starting to rise in the sky, peeking out from behind Infinity Mountain. The place was quiet with the only sounds being the bird chirping in the trees.
At the foot of the mountain was a small secluded cave where the children had spent the night sleeping. It was partially blocked by some bushes and plants, which hid it quite well from any intruders.
Inside all the children and Digimon were asleep, except for one. Margaret was sat up, leaning against one of the rocks in the cave. She hadn't slept much. She was scared that a Digimon would walk in during the night and attack them.
She would go to sleep for about half an hour before jumping awake thinking she had heard something outside, when in fact it was only the trees and bushes blowing in the wind.
Margaret glanced over at her cousin and Agumon. They were both sprawled out on the ground snoring quietly, with Agumon resting his head on Dawn's abdomen. Margaret giggled softly at the sight. Her mother had always said Dawn had inherited her father's sleeping habits and Agumon probably got it from her over time.
The young Kimura girl sighed and got to her feet gently, trying not to wake her Digimon partner who was sound asleep beside her. She walked to the edge of the cave and looked out into the forest that surrounded Infinity Mountain.
The Digital World was a really beautiful place in the morning with the new sun rays shining down on everything. Margaret smiled a little, but her thoughts were soon broken when a sudden rustle in the bushes was heard.
Her eyes darted down. "Who's there?" she gulped, fear heard in her voice. She got no answer and was ready to shout for Gatomon when a little Digimon jumped out.
"Hi! It smiled cheerfully. It looked like a small green duckling but had a similar shape to Bukamon.
Margaret's fearful look disappeared and she smiled warmly at the little creature. She bent down next to the in-training Digimon. "Hello there. What's your name?" she asked.
"My name's Chapumon!" he replied, smiling up at the girl. "You're a human aren't you?"
Margaret nodded. "That's right."
"Does that mean you're a DigiDestined too?" Chapumon asked, gazing curiously up.
Margaret nodded again.
"There's another human here. She works for the Undead King. She was mean to me once." He pouted. "She tried to capture me but I got away. I've not seen her for a while though... she's got a digivice just like you... is she one of your friends?"
"Huh?" Margaret tensed up. Another girl is here? Maybe it was that girl her cousin told her about once, the one with the Garurumon X for a partner. But could it be...?
"I better go now!" he chirped, breaking her from her thoughts. "I'm out collecting food for our village." He turned around and began to bounce away. "Bye, bye!" he called.
Margaret smiled. "Bye!" she called back, still smiling. Maybe this place wasn't as bad as she had first thought.
There was a loud yawn from inside the cave before Margaret heard her cousin yell. "Ewww! Agumon get off, you're drooling all over me!"
Margaret giggled and turned around, walking back into the cave. She noticed everyone else had now woken up due to Dawn's outburst. "Morning everyone."
Gatomon yawned and stretched her paws out in front of her. "Margaret, how long have you been up?" she asked.
"For a while. I couldn't sleep." Her human partner replied. She then added jokingly; "Dawn and Agumon's snoring was keeping me up."
Dawn sat up straight. "Hey!" she protested.
Margaret giggled. "I was just kidding."
.:Kamiya residence, Odaiba, Tokyo:.
Sora and Biyomon were sat on the sofa in the living room. Kari was outside on the balcony with TK, who was trying to calm her down a little. She was still a little hysterical, but not as much as when she had first found out last night.
Sora took a sip of her coffee and sighed. She knew her daughter was probably safe at this moment, but she knew how easily Dawn could get herself into danger.
Biyomon glanced towards the balcony. "You think Kari will be okay?" she asked.
Sora watched as TK put a comforting arm around his fiancé. "She'll be a lot better when Margaret's home safely."
The sound of Sora's D-Phone rang throughout the living room alerting her and Biyomon. Sora got up off the sofa and picked it up from the dining table. She saw on the screen it was her husband calling her. "Hey honey." She said after accepting the call.
"Hey Sor', the portals are still locked. So me, Matt and Davis are going to the Digital World to look for the kids."
"How long will you be?" Sora asked.
"I have no idea. It could be days... maybe a week or so... but I promised Kari Margaret would come home safe so I need to go and know they're not in any danger." Her husband replied.
"Then I'm coming too." Sora replied.
"Sora, I need you to stay there with my sister."
Sora sighed. "Tai, you can't keep leaving me out of things. Me and Biyomon are hungry for some action just as much as you and Agumon. Not to mention, we're worried sick about the girls."
"Please Sora; you saw how upset Kari was last night when I told her what had happened. I know TK is there but she needs you there too. You've always been like a big sister to her and with me not there she needs someone else." Tai begged.
Sora let out a long sigh before replying. "I know... I understand. She's scared she's gonna lose Margaret just like Tenchi... she's out on the balcony with TK getting some fresh air at the moment." She glanced to where the couple were stood outside. "I just feel so useless Tai!" she exclaimed.
"Believe me Sor' you're not useless." Tai smiled before adding jokingly; "The housework always gets done and you make terrific food."
Sora smiled shaking her head. "Very funny Mr Kamiya. Just you wait until you get home."
Tai laughed. "Anyway I better go now honey. We need to track down a Digital Split so Izzy can create a new one that will send us to the right place."
"But you won't be able to get back though!" Sora exclaimed.
"I know, I know, Izzy told me that. But it's the only way. He contacted Jonathon and apparently they spent the night in a cave at the foot of Infinity Mountain. I know we'll be stuck there, but at least we'll be with the kids and keep them safe."
"Okay... but sweetie, please... just be careful. And make sure Dawn hasn't got into any mischief." The bearer of love replied.
"I will. Don't worry. We'll be back as soon as Izzy gets the portals opened up again. I'll call you again once we've found the kids alright? Love you, bye!"
Sora nodded although her husband couldn't see her. "Yeah... love you too. See you soon." She ended the call and placed her D-Phone back on the dining table before turning to look back at TK and Kari who were still out on the balcony.
She now had to tell Kari her daughter may not be home for quite a few days...
.:Native Forest, Digital World:.
Stacey was sat on Garurumon X's back and clutched onto him as he rode through the depths of the forest. It was a long trek from the base at Thunder Mountain to the destination, Infinity Mountain.
Neither human or Digimon had said a word to each other. Garurumon X's laboured breathing was the only sound heard as he kept at his steady pace.
Stacey sighed and looked up at the sky through the leaves of the trees as they passed by. "I can't believe I'm doing this..." she thought to herself.
.:Zepp Tokyo, Odaiba, Tokyo:.
Tai and Agumon were walking past Zepp Tokyo. So far there was no sign of any Digital Splits; the ones they did spot disappeared a split second later.
The bearer of Courage looked down at the digital data extractor. "Why is it whenever we need a Digital Split there isn't one in sight?" he muttered.
Agumon took a few steps forward from his human partner. "We've just got to be quick off the mark. They only last for a few seconds so once we see one we've got to pounce."
Tai sighed and leaned against the wall of the night club. "This could take all day Agumon. We haven't got time to go chasing after splits like this."
"It would be the same if we were travelling through one." Agumon looked back at Tai. "It's just this way will take a little longer when Izzy creates the new split."
"I know." The bearer of Courage muttered, sighing once more and staring up at the blue sky. "It's just... things seemed to be getting worse Agumon... we don't know how long the portals could be locked for... what if it's as long as before?"
"25 years?" Agumon gawped. "I don't think so! Izzy will find a way to fix this."
Tai sighed. "I hope so... because without Gennai... we're on our own."
Agumon nodded. He turned his head and glanced to the right. "Hey!" he suddenly yelled. "Behind you!"
Tai jumped, almost dropping the data extractor. He turned and saw a Digital Split had appeared about three meters from him. He yelped in surprise and fumbled with the device. "Uhhh which button was it?" he asked, pointing the scanner at the split.
"The middle one!" Agumon exclaimed.
Tai pressed the middle blue button. But just a split second before the Digital Split vanished into the air, like it was never there to begin with.
Agumon walked closer to his partner. "Did you get it?" he asked, peering up at the device.
Tai stared at the screen. It was blank. "Argh!" he angrily kicked a small stone against the wall. But then, the device bleeped. "Huh?" he looked at the screen once more and little digital numbers were floating about. "Hey I got it!" he exclaimed, with a grin. "There are bits of data inside, that must be it!"
Agumon smiled. "Then let's hurry up and get it back to Izzy before something happens."
.:Izumi Residence, Odaiba, Tokyo:.
Izzy was busily setting up his equipment that he needed to create the Digital Split. He had plugged a small adaptor into the modem that he would dock the extractor into to download the information.
Matt was watching his friend at work before he glanced up at the clock. "Tai's been gone quite awhile. You think he's found one by now?"
"Tracking down a Digital Split and scanning a piece of its data is harder than it sounds. You've got to spot one and catch it before it disappears." Tentomon explained.
At that point, the door to Izzy's study opened and Tai and Agumon walked back in. "We got it!" they both said in unison.
"Excellent!" Izzy grinned. He took the extractor from his friend and placed it in the slot in the adaptor. The screen lit up as the data was transferred from the device to the computer.
The bearer of Knowledge sat down in his chair and began to type away furiously on his keyboard. Many numbers and figures came up on the screen that the others had no clue about. "Okay..." he murmured to himself. "All I have to do is select a location... and then lock it into the split's data..."
The others watched amazed as their friend worked none stop. He was muttering things to himself before he moved the mouse and clicked it once before turning around in his chair and facing his friends.
"The closest location I've managed to find is in the middle of the Native Forest. It's about half a mile from where the children are." He explained.
Tai smiled. "Great work Izzy!"
"But." Izzy continued. "It might not work as according to plan. Because I've inputted the location, it might not be exactly right, data wise. You could end up a few miles off course."
Davis sighed. "So, apart from that little glitch is it safe to use?" he asked.
Izzy nodded and picked up the device. He pointed it in the middle of the floor. "Once I press this button to release the split, it will only last for a few seconds before it disappears completely. Once its disappears, I can't get it back. And we don't want to have to wait longer to create another one."
"And there is no way of us getting home until the portals are open too?" Gabumon asked.
Izzy shook his head. "You won't be able to create a split as you won't have the right equipment and stuff. And to be honest, I don't want you travelling through a split there either. It could take you anywhere in Tokyo. I just hope you find the kids before they try that. The last thing we want is them lost in the city." He sighed. "I know they were thinking of travelling through one during the day, but even then it's still risky."
Tai nodded. "Don't worry. We'll find them."
Izzy sighed and brushed his finger across the middle button. "Okay. You all ready?" he received a nod from his friends. "Alright... I'm pressing it... now!" he pressed his finger hard on the button.
There was a flash of light as a Digital Split appeared in the middle of the room in front of them. As soon as it was all complete from inside the data extractor, Tai, Matt, Davis and their Digimon partners jumped forward towards it and disappeared as soon as they made contact with it...
.:Coela Beach, Digital World:.
"Yahhhh!" There was a loud thud as Tai, Davis, Matt and their Digimon landed in a heap on the ground.
Tai groaned as he slowly opened his eyes. He could feel the weight of Agumon on top of him. He curled his hand into a fist and grabbed a piece of the ground. "Huh? Sand?" He then heard the sound of the waves crashing against the shore.
"I remember this place!" Agumon piped up as he climbed off his human partner. "This is the beach where I first digivolved into Greymon."
Davis looked around as he and the others got to their feet, brushing the sand off their clothes. "Hey this isn't the Native Forest." He commented.
"So how far is Infinity Mountain from here?" Veemon asked.
Tai looked up at the cliff that was at the end of the beach. A flashback of when Joe tried to climb up it in a bid to escape Shellmon appeared in his mind. "Well we can't see anything from here. We'll get a much better view from up there." He said pointing up.
"And how do you suggest we get up there?" Matt questioned the brown haired man.
"Hey Tai."
Tai heard Izzy's voice coming from his D-Phone and took it off his belt and held it up to his ear. "Hey Iz' What's up?"
"I see you've landed on Coela Beach. I guess the Digital Split didn't work exactly as how I hoped. But it's not all bad, I've calculated your distance from Infinity Mountain and you're about two miles away."
"So that should have us meeting the kids in about half an hour." Tai commented.
"Yeah. Although with Davis there it could take you a little longer." Izzy replied jokingly.
Tai laughed before answering. "Well thanks Iz'. We'll call you when we find the kids. Keep us updated on the portals."
"Will do, good luck."
Tai clipped his D-Phone back onto his belt. "We're about two miles away from Infinity Mountain. It should take us about half an hour to reach the kids."
"Two miles?!" Davis exclaimed.
"Boy, that Digital Split was quite out wasn't it?" Veemon added.
"Look, we've got no time to complain alright? The faster we get moving the faster we'll reach Infinity Mountain, and the kids." Tai commented.
.:Infinity Mountain, Digital World:.
Dawn was stood at the edge of the cave, slouched against the wall with her arms folded. She sighed impatiently and glanced into the hole at the bottom of the mountain. Jonathon was still sat in there with his laptop in his lap, typing away.
She stood up straight. "What exactly are you doing?" she called to him, her voice echoing a little. "The rest of us are ready to go."
Jonathon looked up from his laptop. "Go where?" he simply asked.
Dawn sighed. "Do you seriously expect us to stay here throughout the entire time? We need to explore the forest to see if there is any other way to get home."
Jonathon shook his head. "That would just be wasting our strength. The only way home is through the Digital Splits, and we don't want to chance that yet." He explained. "My father said some of our parents are on their way to help us."
Dawn huffed. "We don't need their help. We can take care of ourselves."
Jonathon packed up his laptop and got to his feet. "You maybe too stubborn to accept help but I'm not. Our parents have more experience in this world and can help us." He said as he walked towards her. "So whether you like it or not we're staying here and waiting for them."
Dawn clenched her fists. "Hey, you're not the leader here!" she exclaimed. "We can't hang around here all day. Our parents could take forever trying to reach us. We could easily be quicker getting home ourselves."
"But they already know we're here." Tentomon spoke up. "If we leave, and they arrive later, they'll be constantly trying to catch up with us."
"Tentomon's right." Jonathon added. "What if we wandered away from here and got lost? And our parents couldn't find us? We'd be in serious trouble if a Digimon attacked that was too powerful for us."
"Have you two finished arguing yet?" Gatomon asked as she, Margaret, Dan and Veemon walked up to them.
Dawn just huffed and crossed her arms. "I don't see why we have to hang around here all day."
"Dawn, we've got nowhere to be right now. It would be safer to just stay here in the cave where it's safe." Margaret spoke up. "If this Undead King is out there somewhere, he could be dangerous."
All the children and Digimon looked at the brunette with confused looks.
"Undead King? Who's he?" Agumon asked, scratching his head with a puzzled look.
"What do you know about our master?!" a voice suddenly roared, echoing off the mountain.
The voice startled the young DigiDestined and they all jumped and spun around to see the blonde haired girl and Garurumon X stood in between two large trees. The Digimon looked more threatening than the girl, as she was stood in the shadows slightly.
"It's you!" Dawn exclaimed, pointing her finger straight at the girl.
"Huh? Who is she?" Gatomon asked, looking from the girl and then to Dawn.
Dawn narrowed her eyes at the blonde girl. "She attacked my Dad and Mr Ishida last week at Zepp Tokyo. Then she captured a whole herd of Tyrannomon by injecting them with something... she got away then but she's not gonna get away this time!" she exclaimed, clenching her fists.
Garurumon X took one step forward. "We were carrying out the orders of our master. We were merely helping those Tyrannomon by turning them into X antibody Digimon."
"What is he talking about?" Dan asked confused.
"The X antibody is a virus that infects Digimon and is deadly to humans." Gatomon explained. "It makes a Digimon stronger and in some cases, evil."
Dawn glanced over at the blonde haired girl. "You're being awfully quiet." She narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "Scared we're gonna kick your butt?" she said mockingly.
The girl just sighed under her breath and avoided their eyes. "Don't be so overconfident."
"Enough talk! Let's just get this over with." Garurumon X snarled as he stepped forward.
Veemon clenched his fists. "You'll be crying when we're through with you!" he threatened.
"Yeah, so why don't you save us the trouble of embarrassing you and just go back to where you came from." Agumon added, stepping beside Veemon.
Garurumon X chuckled. "My, such strong words from puny, weak little rookies."
Dawn clenched her D-Power in her right hand. She narrowed her eyes at the champion Digimon before. "You ready Agumon? No one calls us weak and gets away with it. We'll show them what real Digimon are made of!"
Agumon nodded.
"Show them what you're made of Veemon!" Dan added.
Both kids clutched their digivices and held them outwards. "Digital Ring Release!" they both yelled. The two digivices shook as the screen was engulfed in a bright light and the two Digital Rings burst out and floated down.
Agumon and Veemon extended their arms upwards and caught the rings before the energy from them was released and overwhelmed the two rookies in a white light...
"AGUMON DIGIVOLVE TO... GREYMON!"
"VEEMON DIGIVOLVE TO... STRIKEDRAMON!
Garurumon X simply smiled as the light faded and revealed the two newly evolved champion Digimon. "Finally, a challenge. But I'll warn you. Never underestimate the power of the X Digimon!"
"You're gonna eat those words!" Strikedramon exclaimed as he sprinted forward. "Strike Claw!" he brought his right arm back before releasing his claw attack.
Garurumon X stood there and waited until Strikedramon was upon him before leaping out of the way. He soared over the dragon Digimon and landed on the ground before lifting his hind legs and back-kicking Strikedramon from behind.
"Nova Blast!" Greymon opened his mouth and released his famous fire ball attack.
Garurumon X blasted a laser beam of energy from his own mouth, which overpowered the Nova Blast disintegrating it instantly before blasting Greymon in the chest. The dinosaur Digimon was thrown off his feet and fell on the ground, landing on his back.
Dawn and Dan watched in astonishment. "He's strong." The goggle boy commented in awe.
The Kamiya girl clenched her fists. "I won't be beaten that easily." Her eyes narrowed and were focused on the blonde haired girl stood at the other end of the clearing.
She wasn't getting that much involved in the battle... something was up.
Greymon roared as he charged towards the X Digimon, about to strike. But Garurumon X shifted out of the way.
"Kaiser Nail!" he slashed his claws across the dinosaur's skin, slowing him down, before head butting him and causing Greymon to crash right into Strikedramon. The two champion Digimon fell to the ground in a heap.
Garurumon X chuckled. "Who's embarrassed now?" he mocked them.
Stacey took this chance to walk over to where the children were whilst her partner was busy battling Greymon and Strikedramon.
Dawn saw her approaching. "Hey! Just what is your problem?!" she exploded about to storm towards her, but Jonathon held her up. "Hey let go!"
"Don't Dawn." Jonathon said calmly, struggling to keep his grip. "She wants to talk. Let's hear what she has to say first."
Dawn pushed him away from her. "Her Digimon has said enough for her already! I'm gonna teach her a lesson for messing with us!" she clenched her fists angrily.
"Please Dawn." Margaret begged. "Let's leave the fighting to the Digimon."
As Stacey approached them, Dan spoke up; "You've got a lot of explaining to do, so start."
Stacey sighed, her sunglasses and hat covering her real appearance from her old friends. "Look, you're in danger here. Just get away from this area as far as possible until the portals reopen."
Dawn was taken back a little at first. "What're you talking about?" she demanded.
"Just listen!" Stacey exclaimed, almost losing her temper. "You can't stay here. You might not know it, but you're in danger."
Dawn scoffed crossing her arms. "And why should we believe you huh? How do we know this isn't some sort of trick?!"
The blonde haired girl sighed, clenching her fists a little and lowered her head a little. "This might be hard to do... but you have to trust me."
"Trust you?!" Dan cried out. "Why in the world should we trust you? You've come here to fight us!"
Margaret stared at the young blonde haired girl. "There's something about that girl... the voice... it sounds so familiar..."
Jonathon eyed the girl too before speaking; "Maybe we should hear her out."
"Have you gone mad?!" Dawn exclaimed, turning to face him. "She's attacking us and you want to trust her? I thought you were supposed to be smart!"
"Everything doesn't have to be resolved by fighting Dawn. Just talking can work things out too." The black haired boy began to explain.
"Forget it! She had her chance to explain and she's just talking a load of crap!" The young Kamiya girl retorted. "We're doing things my way! I'll get answers out of her!" she exclaimed before she began to head towards the blonde haired girl, her fists clenched.
"No, Dawn wait!" Margaret cried out to her cousin, who blatantly ignored her.
Stacey narrowed her eyes, clenching her fists more. "Fine, you wanna fight, bring it! I've had enough trying to reason with you!" she spat angrily.
Dawn continued walking towards her. "You'll be crying when I'm finished with you."
Stacey began to walk towards the brown haired girl. "I'll knock some sense into that stubborn head of yours."
"Dawn!" a voice echoed faintly in the distance.
Dawn stopped in her tracks as she heard a familiar voice call out her name. She turned around. "Dad?"
The others looked to see Tai, Davis, Matt and their three Digimon emerging from the forest and heading towards them.
"Uncle Tai!" Margaret grinned and rushed to her uncle hugging him tightly. She felt so much safer now that he was here.
"What's going on here?" Davis asked. "And who are they?" he demanded referring to Garurumon X and his human partner.
Tai spotted the blonde girl. "Hey it's that girl from Zepp Tokyo!" he exclaimed, pointing at her.
Stacey spotted her father and gulped, taking a few steps back as his blue eyes focused on her. She didn't know if he had recognised her yet.
"Hey where do you think you're going?!" Dawn demanded.
Stacey didn't hear her. Although no one could see due to her sunglasses, she was staring at her father who didn't know who he was staring back at. He had an angry look in his eyes, and she knew he would be even more let down if he knew who she really was. She snapped out of her thoughts and was about to run for it.
"Oh no you don't!" Dawn yelled. "We're not finished with you yet!" she bolted forward and tackled the blonde girl to the ground.
As the two crashed to the ground, the force from the tackle caused Stacey's sunglasses and hat to fall off and land beside her.
"This is what you get for messing with the DigiDestined!" Dawn had landed on top of her and sat up, bringing her fist back ready to punch the girl. But she froze in that position when she got a good look at who she had pinned down on the ground.
Stacey was frozen too, an emotionless expression plastered on her face. She just continued to stare up into the brown eyes of Dawn who was staring back, with an astonished look on her face.
Garurumon X stopped his fighting and noticed his partner's identify had been revealed. He growled under his breath. "How dare you child!" he roared at Dawn, who didn't seem to be paying attention. She was still staring down at the blonde girl. He roared once more and opened his mouth, firing at blast of energy at the unsuspecting Kamiya girl...
"Dawn look out!" Tai cried out helplessly.
Dawn snapped out of her thoughts and looked up to see the attack heading straight for her. "Ahhhh!" her eyes widened as the attack grew closer and closer to her...
Gatomon jumped off her partner's shoulder and sprinted as fast as she could across the clearing. She leaped into the air and pushed Dawn off Stacey and out of the way of the on-coming attack. They both fell against the ground as the attack flew over Stacey's head and collided with a tree, destroying it instantly.
Stacey slowly sat up and reached out for her sunglasses. But she paused when her eyes fell upon her father who was staring back at her. She couldn't move. He took one step towards her, his hand slowing reaching out to her.
"Stacey..." Matt whispered under his breath in total awe...
To be continued...