Disclaimer: Digimon is a franchise owned jointly by Toei Animation and Bandai, and conceptualized by Akiyoshi Hongo. Doctor Who is a property owned by the British Broadcasting Company created by Sydney Newman. The concept of The Tamer: A Digimon Adventure is a fan fiction idea created by me. The Life Of Kari Kamiya is a fanfiction property that extends off that story and belongs to me also. Please support the official properties.
Author's Notes: Hey guys. Welcome to the second short story in The Life of Kari Kamiya. If you're still here, that means you loved the first one and wanted more. I don't have much else to say so let's get started.
Edit: Because I'm a massive dingus, I forgot to mention that the cover art is by none other than Ace-Spiritwell. Why not give their fanfiction a read and check out their deviantart to show thanks?
The Life of Kari Kamiya
Moving Forward
"It's been, one week since you looked at me
Cocked your head to the side and said you're angry.
Five days since you laughed at me saying,
'Get back together, come back and see me.'
Three days since the living room,
I realized it's all my fault but couldn't tell you
Yesterday, you'd forgiven me
But it'll still be two days 'til I say 'I'm sorry'
Izzy turned down the volume on the radio so that he wouldn't have to listen to it anymore. He'd been busy scouring the internet and hadn't stopped since their adventure in the Digital World. Although it had only been one week since they'd returned, it felt like ages past and it was weird how quickly life resumed some semblance of normalcy. The effects of Myotismon's invasion were still felt everywhere, as crews worked to clear out the debris of damaged buildings and teams were still looking for survivors in ruin.
The internet, which Izzy had been scouring since their return, was abuzz with conspiracy theories, stories of encounters with digimon, and all kinds of speculation over what had really happened. Forums, social networking sites, web blogs, image boards and more were filled with nonstop chatter about the digimon and the Digital World appearing in the sky.
Most of it was hate fueled paranoia, and Izzy couldn't blame them after what Myotismon had done along with what many had lost. It whipped into a frenzy for new weapons, a stronger military, and counter measures to prevent another invasion. A few expressed hopeful idealism about first contact with life from another world and wanted to use that to begin the search for more worlds. Izzy chimed in a few times to share his own thoughts, always refraining from bringing up his own experiences in the Digital World, but was usually called out as a delusional and idealistic youth who couldn't see the danger that was present. Thankfully, he'd found some refuge in an IRC being used by members of one forum to talk about the positive implications of what had transpired.
Izzy took a deep breath and sighed as he opened up another window to visit another website. As soon as he typed in the address, a pop up window appeared and began running some unfamiliar code to him. This caught his attention and he quietly mused to himself, "Okay, that's new. Better stop this before it breaks my computer."
As soon as he said that, he noticed the code switched to a series of 1s and 0s flying past his screen at high speed. After a few minutes, the code started to form shapes and pattern until stabilizing in the shape of a circle. Izzy was already trying to close the window to no avail, as well as end terminating the program. He tried running his antivirus software but it seemed stuck in the startup process - leaving him stuck watching the strange code as it continued to execute itself. After a few minutes, it finally took the shape of an egg. The egg's surface stretched and cracked as the newborn tried to escape the shell. Izzy blinked in disbelief, recognizing the digiegg and wondering what digimon he just saw be born.
He looked back over to the IRC he was on and noticed others posting similar experiences. A foreign program was running on its own on all of their screens and none of them were able to stop it. He tried typing into the IRC, but the influx of voices drowned his out in the chat. Izzy held his breath as the egg finally hatched and he saw a little orange eye peek out from within. It blinked and Izzy blinked back.
A new window appeared beside it to display the word 'Hello'.
"Hi," Izzy said quietly.
Kari stood in front of the mirror, adjusting her pink dress so that it looked nice and brushing her hair with help from her mother. Only a week had passed since her trip to the Digital World and the invasion of the monsters, but to her it seemed the world had carried on like nothing happened. Or mostly like it didn't happen. There were still buildings being cleared and other that had been destroyed.
To her surprise and her mother's astonishment, their father had come looking for them after the invasion, deeply worried that they were in danger and that the monsters had gotten to them. He'd met them shortly after Kari returned from the Digital World with the other digidestined. Despite all the arguing she'd known them to do before they were separated, her parents were oddly kind to each other if awkward. The two knew they'd left things on uncertain terms and weren't sure how to pick up even though it was what they both wanted.
They weren't sure how much of what transpired to tell him and limited it only to what they could back up. They knowingly left out the part about Tai, since it would be impossible to prove without him there. After learning that their home had been destroyed, he asked them to come stay with him for as long as they needed. Kari and her mother noticed the warmth in his voice when he offered, as if he was trying to say that he wanted to pick things up where they'd left off.
Her father had gone in to work that day as his work was now behind schedule because of recent events, leaving the two of them at home to get ready for a friend's birthday party. It wasn't much, but Kari's mom managed to scrounge enough money to use as a present, even if it was just 1000 yen. It was the most her mother had been able to put together after losing everything when their home was destroyed, but it was enough for a simple birthday card with some change for her friend to get something nice.
They heard a knock at their door and found family friend Sora Takenouchi standing there, ready to walk Kari to her friend's birthday party. They exchanged a few pleasantries and her mother begged her to be careful, making her promise to call as soon as she got to her friend's place. Kari nodded and checked one last time for the card, the birthday money, and her small digivice. She'd kept it close since their trip to the Digital World - mostly because it reminded her of the time she'd spent with Gatomon and Tai. She headed out with Sora - a girl who was a few years older and the best friend of her older brother. Or was the best friend of her older brother.
Kari didn't like to think about it but her brother lost all of his memories during his time in the Digital World. The reason she didn't like to think about it was because she knew that despite that, her brother was still in there somewhere. Part of him still treated her the way he did before he'd gotten lost in another world. And it hurt her, depressed her whenever she thought about how he would still be lost but now somewhere she couldn't go - meaning that she may never see him again.
She smiled at Sora once they were down onto the street, saying, "Thanks for taking me to the party Sora."
Sora smiled back and brushed the girl's hair, "Of course. Are you excited for your friend's party?"
"Yeah," Kari forced a sheepish smile, "I haven't been able to see her much this summer because I was sick. But I've been feeling better ever since we went to the Digital World."
Sora's expression became more concerned and Kari hoped she didn't mention the forced smile. It quickly became warm again, "That's good. I bet she'll be happy to see you too."
As the two kept walking, neither of them noticed the electronics acting up - the traffic lights sending signals into disarray, the radioes being distorted by static, or the televisions in the windows suddenly displaying the same image of a one eyed baby jellyfish.
She waved goodbye after dropping her off, and Kari met a few other friends there for the party. They were all happy to see her after her lengthy illness and were even happier to see each other alive. Some were concerned that they wouldn't see each other again, which made this party all the more important. They all went to their friend's door at once and rang the doorbell to greet the excited girl.
Sora kicked off her shoes as soon as she was back home, greeting her mother who was busy in the kitchen washing dishes. She'd noted Kari's somber look but felt it would be better to leave it alone - since she was pretty sure what it was about. Sora just managed to sit down to watch TV when there was a knock on the door. There, she found Izzy standing there with his laptop under his arm, red in the face, and gasping heavily for breath, "Izzy. What's wrong? You're all sweaty."
"The egg! The egg hatched! A digiegg! Internet!" Izzy gasped out incomplete sentences that left Sora blinking and confused. After letting Izzy in to get a drink of water, he set up his laptop in her father's office and connected to his work computer to show her the image on screen. A strange little jellyfish moved back and forth with a playful look in its eyes while Izzy explained what happened. After his lengthy story, he finished, "I don't think it's a danger right now. It just seems to be hanging out on this one website and eating data."
"What do you mean eating data?" Sora asked. Izzy pointed out a date on the page, "This is a forum, right? So these posts contain the date and times they were posted. This forum was active until only a few minutes ago, but it says the last post was two months ago. That's because the digimon ate all the posts after this one. And there goes that post."
"It ate two months worth of data like that? Shouldn't we do something about it? Why don't we just put it in the Recycle Bin and press delete?" Sora suggested, throwing out more questions than answers. Izzy looked at her and explained, "I already tried that! It didn't work. I tried notifying my family's service provider but they didn't believe me. They wanted to sign it up for a free one month trial."
"You'd think they'd take it more seriously," Sora frowned, noting Izzy's response, "We're just kids. They're not going to take anything we do seriously."
No sooner did he say that, but the computer made a beeping noise and a new window opened to display a single message - 'Koromon! Digivolve to! Tsumemon!"
The little jellyfish became pixelated and the screen flashed white before it was replaced by a new creature - something resembling a blue hand with long pointed nails and a large eye. Sora blinked at the recent digivolution and commented, "Well, that's not good."
"I looked up this digimon in the database back when it first showed up," Izzy said, "As it is now, it's pretty weak and it will be until it gets to at least the rookie level. But at this rate, it could reach its Mega level soon and then we're in trouble. According to Tamer's people, this type of digimon is just as strong as the Dark Masters."
She blinked, "What's the big deal, though? It's not like eating a few comments on the internet will do any harm."
"Sora, everything these days is done with computers and data. Cash transfers, stocks, communications through phone services, military satellites...oh crap! If this digimon gets into an army computer, who knows what will happen!" Izzy panicked. Sora looked at the little digimon crawling back and forth on the screen, feeling the sting of panic finally reach her, "We can do something about it, right?"
"Not without our digimon," Izzy replied. Sora frowned, "So we just sit here and watch this thing destroy the internet? That blows! I wish Biyomon were here."
"You have mail," Izzy's computer said. He opened the email in a new window and blinked, "I don't know this address and the subject is blank. How did this get past my spam filter? Oh. Uh, Sora."
"Yeah," Sora looked over at the email on screen and gasped in surprise at the message. She read aloud, "'Wish granted'. What does that mean?"
"Sora? Sora is that you!?" She heard the familiar voice of a little pink bird. Sora looked around to make sure she hadn't gone crazy, then heard Izzy say, "What's this? There's a new program running on my laptop! Is that even possible?"
He opened another window and it showed something resembling a video feed. The video display a small white room with a single door packed full of their tiny digimon partners. The little pink bird jumped up excitedly on seeing them, "Sora! Sora! It really is you! I'm so happy to see you!"
"Biyomon!" Sora nearly shouted, grabbing hold of the screen excitedly, "This isn't a video, right Izzy? This is real! That's Biyomon?"
Izzy clicked away at his keyboard to open a command terminal, "It doesn't look like one. I wonder if this has anything to do with the database on my computer. I'm going to run a diagnostic to make sure that digimon hasn't done anything to-"
"Yep. That's Izzy. Only he could talk like that," Tentomon cheered happily, "Oh, I missed his alien speak."
"It's good to see you too Tentomon! I thought the boundary between worlds was sealed. So how did you get in there?" Izzy asked, bringing any joy their reunion had to a screeching halt. Palmon shrugged, "Don't look at us. We were helping rebuild Koromon Village when suddenly there was this bright flash of light. Next thing we know, we're here in this room. Where is here, anyway?"
"My computer," Izzy said, "It's...really weird actually."
"No way. This room is much bigger than your computer," Gomamon pointed out. Gatomon scoffed, "It probably is. Let's face it! This has The Digimon Tamer and Agumon written all over it."
"You think so?" Gabumon asked with doubt, "I don't see it."
"Bright flash of light and suddenly we're not where we were a second ago? Possibly on another world? Oh yeah," Gatomon nodded proceeding over to the door, "Which means behind here will be a-"
She pushed it open and was greeted by a flurry on 1s and 0s zipping past at high speed. Sometimes there were words and symbols mixed in, along with the occasional image. Beyond the mess, they could see an even bigger white space that gave them a headache. Gatomon finished her sentence, "Big headache. Izzy! The crap are we looking at?"
"That looks like the internet," Izzy guessed, seeing the logo of a familiar company whip past, "Prodigious. I've always wondered how all this data would manifest physically. I just wish I could see what you guys are seeing."
Gomamon made his way over to the door, "I don't know what this internet is but you're not missing much. Just two naked humans who look like they're wrestling. Huh, that lady's gotta open her mouth more if she wants to eat that guy."
"I don't think that's what you think it is," Gatomon commented quietly. Sora quickly changed the subject, "Anyway...I'm happy to see you guys but we need your help! There's a digimon loose on the internet in our world and we need your help to stop it!"
"A digimon? How did that happen?" Biyomon wondered.
"I'm telling you, Tamer and Agumon," Gatomon rolled her eyes. Tentomon ignored her, "Well, I for one would be more than glad to help. Do you still have your digivices?"
Izzy flashed his digivice to them, "Always! Sora?"
Sora looked at the computer whiz, happy that she wasn't the only one who kept her digivice on her. She pulled it from her pocket, "Let's save our world!"
"Alright!" the digimon said together. Palmon looked at them directly, "So...where's Mimi?"
"She's not here. Don't worry. I'll go call the others and get them here as soon as we can! You guys just be ready to join once they're here!" Sora nodded to them before running out to start making calls to the other digidestined. Before they left each other a week ago, they'd decided to trade addresses and phone numbers in case they needed each other again.
First she called Joe, only to learn that he was busy at a prep school studying for high school entrance exams. She didn't have time to track him down and pull him away from school, so she tried Matt and TK next. Their parents had sort of started living together since their dad lost his job when it was blown up. Her call was answered by their mom who said they'd been sent to spend a week with their grandmother so that she and her ex could sort a few things out. She gladly offered their grandmother's number but that call didn't go anywhere useful.
She dialed the number and was greeted by the elder lady's voice. She explain, "Hi! My name is Sora, I'm a friend of Matt and TK's."
"Oh, those are my grand children," she replied. Sora said, "Can you tell them Sora is on the phone?"
"The phone has sores?"
"No, my name is Sora and I'm on the phone," Sora tried again. Her grandmother replied, "I know I'm on the phone."
"Can I please talk to your grandsons?" Sora asked almost pleadingly, losing patience with the older woman. The older woman replied, "Oh, I like talking to them. They're such good boys. I think I'll go do that."
Before Sora could answer, the phone hung up and she was left wondering just how anyone could think it was a good idea to put kids in that woman's care. She tried dialing the number again, hoping that their grandmother didn't pick up and was relieved to hear Matt's voice, "Hello?"
"Matt! It's Sora!" she sighed in relief. Matt's voice repeated, "Sora? Oh, now it makes sense. TK! Grandma meant to say 'Sora is on the phone', not 'sores on the bone'."
She giggled when she heard TK sheepishly say, "She got sort of close."
"So what's up Sora?" Matt asked, "I didn't think I'd hear from you for a while."
"There's a digimon loose on the internet and it's eating a lot of data. We need your help to stop it. Our digimon are on Izzy's computer ready to do what they can but they'll need your digivices to digivolve," Sora explained, hoping that Matt would be able to help. He was silent on his end for a second but replied, "We have our digivices but...what do you mean they're on Izzy's computer?"
"I'll explain later. Do you guys have a way to get online?" Sora asked. Matt grumbled, "Not really. The most advanced thing our grandmother has is a VCR and she doesn't even know how to set the time on it. TK and I are out in the country so I doubt anyone here even knows what a computer is. But we'll start going door to door and hope someone has one. We'll call when we find something."
"Okay, talk to you soon Matt," Sora said before hanging up. She sighed and readied to dial the next number on the list - Mimi. Sora hesitated to dial the number at first, thinking about the fact that she was among the many people who'd had to schedule a quick funeral for the ones they'd lost. As much as Sora knew Mimi and Palmon wanted to see each other, she also knew that it would add insult to injury to interrupt the funeral. But would it be worse to rob her of the only chance she might have to see her friend again?
She reminded herself this was for the best with the fate of the internet and possibly the world at stake. It took a few rings before someone picked up - Mimi's somber voice greeted her, "Hello?"
"Hey Mimi," Sora greeted, waiting for her to reply. It was a long period of silence, "Sora? Now's not a good time. We're in the middle of-"
Sora interrupted her, "I know and I'm sorry. But there's a digimon on the loose on the internet and we need your help to stop it. Without you, Palmon can't-"
"Palmon?" Mimi paused, "Palmon is there?"
"Yeah, she is," Sora replied. Mimi's end of the phone was silent for the longest time before she replied, "Okay. I have some time before the ceremony actually starts. What do I have to do?"
"Does your dad have a computer?" Sora asked.
"Yeah, for his job."
"Okay. Get online as soon as you can. Izzy and I are already sending Biyomon and Tentomon in. We'll see you soon," Sora said before hanging up the phone. This left the last digidestined - Kari. She was at her friend's party and she didn't have a phone number which meant she'd have to go get her. Time was a factor so she would have to run there to get the girl.
"Izzy. Will you and Tentomon be alright by yourselves? I have to go get Kari," Sora said. Izzy looked up at her, "Tentomon and I will do what we can by ourselves but hurry back."
"Will do," Sora nodded.
Kari sat around the table with her friends while they played 'Old Maid'. Somehow, the birthday girl had started losing terribly during their first game and they'd decided to restart. Now luck had turned against her and she was the one who wasn't able to win. As soon as she'd get rid of the card, she'd draw it back again and everyone was somehow able to know which card it was. Unexpectedly, there was a knock at the door and the birthday girl's mother greeted a familiar voice to Kari, "I'm sorry to bother you, but I need to talk to Kari for a minute."
"Sora? What are you doing here?" Kari put the cards down absentmindedly and didn't hear one of her friends say, "Kari, you left them face up."
"Hey," Sora waved from the door, "Sorry, I didn't want to ruin the party but something came up."
"I can't right now Sora," Kari said, until Sora retorted, "We think it might be about Tai."
"Tai!?" Kari gasped hopefully, mind racing with the possibility that her brother might have come back. Behind her, she could hear the birthday girl asking, "I don't get it. Who's Tai?"
Although her friends were trying to whisper, she could hear them saying,"You don't know? That's the name of her big brother."
"Kari has a big brother? I didn't know that."
"She had a big brother. He died a few years back, didn't he?"
"Yeah, but they never found a body. My dad says that when that happens, they just say they're dead."
"You don't think they found him, do you?"
"Maybe they did. Who knows."
Kari looked at Sora carefully, reading the urgency in the older girl's face. Kari nodded and bowed to her friend apologetically, "I'm sorry, I really have to go. Thanks for inviting me and happy birthday."
"I hope your brother is okay," one of her friends said. Kari noted the birthday girl's annoyed look and offered the most apologetic smile she could while putting on her shoes to join Sora outside. The birthday girl's mother thanked her for coming and Kari apologized one more time for leaving so abruptly.
Tentomon whizzed through a bright white tunnel, occasionally passing by large windows through which he could see the face of humans all staring in confusion. If it was anything like with Izzy, they were all looking at their computer screens in confusion - wondering what a digimon was doing flying past. At a juncture where his tunnel joined with another he was joined by Palmon, "Hey Tentomon!"
"Palmon!" the little bug breathed a sigh of relief, "I was worried I would have to do this alone."
"Yeah, Mimi just got online. So does this information super highway thing have a bathroom? I have to go," Palmon complained quietly. Tentomon shrugged, "I don't know. I'm more worried about all these people we've been passing by."
Two of the windows they passed started moving along side them - one had Izzy and the other had Mimi. Mimi saw her partner and excitedly screamed, "Palmon!"
"Mimi! It's so good to see you!" Palmon replied excitedly. Mimi returned the emotion, "I missed you so much, Palmon."
"What's with the outfit?" Palmon pointed out her muted black dress, "That's not really your color."
"It's...nothing," Mimi frowned, looking away from the screen sadly. Palmon sensed her hesitation and changed the subject, "So where's Biyomon? I don't see her anywhere."
"She's still here on my laptop," Izzy replied, "Sora went to get Kari and it'd be dangerous to have Biyomon go in without the ability to digivolve. Speaking of which, it looks like the digimon just digivolved to its rookie form."
"So where are we going?" Tentomon asked, "I'm getting motion sickness just flying around like this."
"I've already typed in the address. Just use my password to get online - 'Prodigious!'" Izzy explained.
"Prodigious!" the two digimon said together, watching a gate on the side of the tunnel open up to reveal large white void full of floating cheeseburgers, chocolate bars, magazines, books, and other oddities. Palmon commented, "Huh. I don't know where we are but it needs new wallpaper."
"It's the website for a convenience store. We have hundreds of them in our city. It looks like it's just eating data but I don't think it should be causing any serious problems yet," Izzy told them, unaware that a poor customer a few blocks away was being charged several million yen for a bar of chocolate. In the void were long strings of 1s and 0s zipping past at high speed which Tentomon pointed out. At the end of one was a tentacled digimon with long wiry arms, slurping up the string of data quickly and enjoying every bite it took of the data. Tentomon pointed it out, "There he is! I don't think he's noticed us yet."
"Good, let's sneak around and get him from both sides," Palmon said. The two digimon split up, using the floating food as cover to help them approach the little squid digimon. Once they were in attacking distance, Tentomon opened up with a blast of electricity, "Super Shocker!"
The little squid digimon writhed as the current ran through its body and destroyed the numeric string it was eating. While they were unaware of the consequences at the time, a convenience store's prices increased three digits. With it shocked, Palmon used her vines to restrain the digimon and pin it to the ground, "Got you! You're in a lot of trouble mister."
It took the rogue rookie level digimon a moment to compose itself, and it asked only one question once it recovered from the surprise shock, "Are we playing a game? Let's play!"
Mimi shuddered, "Okay, why does he sound like Puppetmon but like a thousand times creepier?"
Izzy was at a loss for an explanation when suddenly, the little rookie digimon's wiry hands wrapped around Palmon so that he could throw her into a nearby floating bag of potato chips that exploded on impact. Tentomon hurried to attack with blasts of electricity, but the rookie digimon managed to maneuver around all the electricity with ease. Palmon recovered from being thrown but complained, "Okay, now he's in trouble."
"He's a lot tougher than he looks! I think it's time to digivolve!" Izzy suggested to them, holding up his digivice. Their two partner digimon nodded in agreement and were overtaken by a bright light. Unbeknownst to the two digimon, thousands of people across the Real World marveled at their computer screens while watching the two rookies digivolve to the Champion level.
"Tentomon! Digivolve to! Kabuterimon!"
"Palmon! Digivolve to! Togemon!"
The two champion level digimon pursued the tentacled rookie digimon through the white space, oblivious to the hundreds of people watching them. The rookie turned to face them and fired two blasts of fire from his mouth, "Bug Blaster!"
Togemon kicked herself off a passing chocolate bar and used it to slam her fist into the rookie, only to miss and strike the ground behind it. The little rookie's giggle echoed hauntingly through the room and left him wide open to a jolt of electricity from Kabuterimon, "ElectroShocker!"
The current's path arced behind the rookie who began moving more erratically to avoid the electricity but was still too slow to avoid the strike. They could feel the blast from that distance and the digidestined appeared in windows behind their partners. Mimi asked, "Did we get him?"
Izzy looked very carefully, "I don't know. But a good chunk of my screen is just empty space now. Whatever you did messed up the website. Hang on a second, something is moving."
As the smoke cleared, they could make out the outline of an insect like monster with spikes on its body. They could see a smooth white piece of armor covering the body, head, and paws while the exposed bits revealed long slender tentacles that arched rather than bend at joints.
Through the eye slits, they could see big blue eyes staring at them coldly and analytically, as if it were a predator deciding whether or not now would be a good time to strike. Kabuterimon announced, "It digivol-"
Before he could finish, it whipped itself towards the bug digimon and slammed him against the far wall before leaping away and cackling playfully. Togemon spun around to keep the digimon in sight, "This guy's fast. What is he?"
"Hang on, I'm checking the database that...oh crap. GUYS! He's an Ultimate now!" Izzy shouted at the screen, "He digivolved straight past his champion form to Infermon. You need to digivolve fast!"
"Yeah, let me get right on that," Kabuterimon pushed himself off the wall and readied to digivolve, "Kabuterimon! Digivolve to!"
"Togemon! Digivolve to!"
"Spider Shooter!" Infermon leapt off the wall again and tucked in all his exposed limbs so that he resembled a bullet flying through the air. He opened his mouth and fired a flurry of shots that struck both digimon in the middle of their digivolution process. It laughed its horrible giggle and said, "They're watching. Hope you don't mind."
"What is he talking about?" Izzy asked before pausing, "Oh...that's not good. He just posted my email online and...wow that was fast. The emails are just pouring in. I didn't know my inbox could ever get that full."
Izzy looked back at their digimon to see Tentomon and Palmon caught in a daze. He asked, "Tentomon, are you okay?"
"I'm fine. Just one question, who's Tentomon?" the little bug asked. Palmon looked over at him, "I think I'm Tentomon. I'm fine by the way."
"Palmon, you're okay right?" Mimi asked her partner specifically, only to see the little plant look at Tentomon, "Are you going to answer her?"
"She asked you," Tentomon replied.
"Yeah, but she said Palmon. I'm Tentomon," Palmon replied, rubbing her head, "Wow, that digimon sure hits hard."
Mimi gasped at the thought that her friend would have forgotten her but relaxed when Izzy added, "I think they'll be okay after a minute's rest. Getting hit in the middle of digivolving probably threw them off."
Mimi nodded nervously and looked back at the Ultimate digimon giggling excitedly. While she watched, she witnessed a little red dot moving across its body until its stopped in the center of its forehead. In a blink the digimon moved just as the space it had been standing on blew apart. The digimon laughed playfully, fleeing from the red dot that pursued it. Palmon looked around in confusion, "Okay. What's happening?"
"Who cares? Look out!" Tentomon replied, grabbing the plant digimon and flying away from the explosions. They ducked behind a bar of chocolate, watching three figures in hooded white robes and black armor hurry past - two tall figures and one short one. Accompanying them were three digimon - an Agumon, a Palmon, and a Gabumon. The tallest of the robed figures shouted, "Go! Keep it moving. Palmon, Gabumon, Agumon, box it in. Tamer go left. Keeper go right. I'll hang back! Let's take this thing out before-"
Before he finished, Infermon slammed into the hooded figure from above - crushing it to data with a mischievous laugh. The shortest of the robed figures ran towards their fallen comrades, "Legatus!"
Infermon turned to face the short one and readied to attack. The short figure froze until Agumon dove in and pushed it aside in time to avoid getting blown apart, "Tamer! Look out!"
"Stay in formation!" the Palmon said, whipping out her vines in an attempt to restrain the digimon, "Poison Ivy!"
She took hold of Infermon and smiled, "Got you! Keeper! Finish it of-whoa!"
Infermon spun itself in place and managed to throw the Palmon into Gabumon who hurried in to assist. From a distance, the other hooded figure readied a digivice and held it as if preparing to attack. Infermon noted this and moved out of the way of the light from her digivice. The other Palmon was dragged along by Infermon, straight into the beam of light where she screamed in agony before turning to data. The Gabumon panicked, "Keeper, relocate now! Agumon, let's circle around and try to get it back into a corner!"
"Okay, Tamer, will you be alright?" Agumon asked the boy under his arm. The little hooded figure stood up and produced a digivice, "Yeah. I'll be fine. Come on, we still have a mission to do."
"Tamer, if you've got any ideas then I'm open to suggestions," Keeper called out, repositioning herself to keep Infermon in sight. Palmon and Tentomon peered out of the corner while a window of Izzy appeared beside them, "Did you hear that? It's Tamer! And Agumon!"
"I knew it!" Mimi declared, "Tamer does have something to do with this."
"Who are the others with them though?" Tentomon asked, watching Tamer narrowly avoid getting blown apart by Infermon. He ran behind a floating magazine and shouted, "I have one idea. You guys won't like it though."
"Do it!" Keeper replied. Tamer ran away from their group while Agumon and Gabumon tried to keep Infermon's attention, pelting the digimon with small blasts of fire to harass it. Unfortunately Infermon ignored them and went straight for Tamer, who'd positioned himself behind a large bar of chocolate. Infermon punched right through it and landed some distance away, confused about Tamer absence until it was blinded by a bright light, "Surprise!"
It staggered momentarily and Keeper saw a chance to fire another blast of light at it. It took the hit and bounced away straight, stopped my short of the Gabumon's feet. Infermon's first action was to grab the Gabumon and throw him at Tamer, knocking them both away. Keeper fired two more shots of light at Infermon as it fled down a hole back into the wires of the internet. Tamer rolled out from under Gabumon, "Okay. That didn't go at all how I thought it would."
"Does anything ever go the way you guys plan it?" Gabumon moaned, rubbing his head. Agumon thought for a moment and replied, "It did the time we got Gennai to put on robes covered in ketchu-"
"Enough chatter," Keeper snapped at them, "Report."
"I'm good," Agumon said.
"A little dizzy but I'm still good," Gabumon replied.
"Only my pride is hurt," Tamer replied. Keeper glanced around the white room at the damage they'd done and the various windows of people who witnessed the fight. Mimi and Izzy both reeled away from their monitors as it seemed she looked directly at them, "We've made too much of a scene. We'll fall back for now and continue after the target."
"Copy," the rest of the group said in unison. There was a flash of light from her digivice and they vanished, leaving nothing behind. Tentomon blinked, "Looks like Gatomon's right! This has them written all over it."
"It would explain how you guys got in my computer," Izzy mumbled never mind that, "Go after Infermon. He's gone to a...telephone company website. Oh that's not good."
As he finished, both his screen and Mimi's disappeared, leaving the digimon wondering. Palmon asked, "Where do you think they went?"
"Probably to do whatever humans boys and human girls do," Tentomon replied, earning him a slap.
Sora and Kari were out of breath as they ran back into her apartment. Sora's mom was holding a tray with glasses of oolong tea in her hands and remarked, "Welcome back Sora. Here, have some tea."
"Thanks Mom," she said grabbing a glass for herself and Kari. The two went straight to her father's office where Izzy was busy messing with cables and a cordless phone, connecting them in a fray of cables that didn't seem sensible. Sora asked, "What happened? What did we miss?"
"Where do I start?" Izzy said, busily messing with the different computers and turning them on, "First, that digimon is now an ultimate level and he wiped the floor with Palmon and Tentomon. Second, he put my email address online which is slowing down our internet connection with all the emails I'm getting. I tried using a spam filter but that didn't work. And then he brought the internet down by attacking the phone company. Oh, and Tamer showed up and-"
"Tai's there? Is he okay?" Kari chimed in with questions, "When did he get back? Is Agumon with him?"
"Yes, maybe, no idea and yes," Izzy replied to each question quickly while typing random numbers and letters into his computer, "I'm trying to use a satellite phone to help us reconnect to the internet but it'll take me a minute. Hi by the way. How've you been?"
"I was at a birthday party when Sora came to get me," Kari asked excitedly. Izzy continued, "I hope you at least had some cake before you came down."
"No," Kari said glumly. Izzy's eyebrows popped and he quickly rotated his laptop towards her, "Anyway, why not catch up with Gatomon?"
"KARI!" she heard her feline companion say from the screen of Izzy's laptop. The little kitty was jumping up and down excitedly while waving her gloved hands. Kari blinked in disbelief, overjoyed to see her partner again, "Gatomon!"
"It's good to see you! I know it was only a week but I really missed you! It felt like an eternity," the cat said excitedly, "What was that about a party? There was milk right? I mean for the cake."
"Sorry Gatomon. I don't think Izzy would like it if I put milk in his laptop," Kari smiled.
"No, I really wouldn't. And we are online!" Izzy said with a flew more clicks on the keyboard. The screen connected to the homepage of a search engine that Izzy started using to search for the bug. He visited all kinds of websites, scanning the screen briefly while commenting, "It looks like major news outlets aren't reporting it yet, but image boards and social sites are going nuts. It's still in the website of the phone company which gives us a chance to catch it off guard."
Before he finished, they all heard the phone ring. Sora's mom answered and gasped when she heard whatever was on the other side, dropping it to the floor. Sora dashed back out into the entry hall, "Mom, what's wrong?"
"I don't know, but I'm hanging up," she explained while picking up the phone, spooked by whatever was on the other end.
"Hang on a second," Sora snatched it away and put it to her ear. The sound of mocking laughter filled her ear and terror struck her at the realization it was the rogue digimon on the internet. She shivered and placed the phone back on the receiver, "That digimon is mocking us."
"Digimon? Sora, what's going on?" her mother looked upon her anxiously, obviously scared not just for her daughter but also for everyone else after what happened just a week ago. Sora knew it was better not to keep secrets and pulled her mother into her father's study. Her mom gasped at the site of the computer screen displaying their digimon as they moved around the internet while Izzy's laptop showed the remaining digimon on their way to join them. Kari had moved to the screen and was watching her partner intently while they spoke.
Sora began, "There's a digimon on the internet and were trying to stop it before it causes any more harm. Where is it now, Izzy?"
"If I'm following it right, it's using the phone lines to move from one phone company to another. I'm tracing its last IP address to a place in France. No, it jumped again to the U.K. Dang, this digimon moves quick," Izzy answered just as his laptop beeped, "Perfect! It looks like Matt and TK are connecting. It's time to upload Gabumon and Patamon."
Palmon and Tentomon continued soaring through the internet after the rogue digimon, ignoring the thousands of windows they passed with the faces of humans watching them. They were joined at another intersection by five more: Biyomon, Gatomon, Patamon, Gabumon and Gomamon. Palmon waved excitedly, "Hey! You guys made it!"
"Is TK on this ride?" Patamon asked curiously. Gatomon replied, "No. he and Kari aren't tall enough. They should definitely try again in a few years."
"Sora's finally back and she brought Kari with her so this time you guys don't have to go alone!" Biyomon said enthusiastically. Gabumon added, "Matt and TK are online too. Whatever that means."
He looked at a passing window where they could see the faces of Matt and TK. They noted the people behind them and Gabumon asked, "Hey Matt. Who are those people?"
"They're some really good friends of ours," Matt replied excitedly, muttering under his breath, "Since the only computer in town is literally in the barbershop. It looks like everyone's here though."
"Not everyone. Joe's not here but I'm not letting you guys have all the fun!" Gomamon replied with glee, smiling a big toothy grin.
"Speaking of missing, guess who turned up?" Tentomon asked rhetorically. Gatomon nodded, "We heard. I told you so."
"Focus guys," Izzy said, trying to bring their attention back to the matter at hand, "I've tracked that digimon all the way to America. It looks like he's gone to a stock exchange."
"What's a stock exchange? You mean like stockings? It's kind of early for Christmas," Tentomon reasoned. Izzy groaned, "Don't worry. Just digivolve as soon as you get there and be ready for a fight. He's a lot smarter and tougher than he looks."
"Yeah, he wiped the floor with our butts. And some other guys," Palmon said as they continued out the tunnel and into another large white room. Strings of ones and zeroes moved around the room in random numbers, as did clouds of other numbers. The digimon blinked while Izzy explained, "This is the New York Stock Exchange. If it damages any data here, it could bankrupt some of the world's wealthiest companies and plunge us into a global recession."
"There's the moon man talk again," Gomamon commented, "Man, I missed that. Okay guys! Let's digivolve!"
Despite the distance from each other, the digidestined were able to power their digivolutions from their rookie forms to their champion forms and finally into the ultimate forms. All of the digimon scattered around in search of the rogue digimon as they entered another vast white chamber. Instead of food, they found long strings of numbers that turned green when they increased and red when they decreased.
It didn't take long to find it eating one of the strings of numbers, reducing it to zeroes. The digimon quietly moved into position to surround the digimon and prepare to take it off guard. When they were each in position, Angewomon opened the attack with a shot of light from her arrow, "Celestial Arrow!"
The digimon didn't have time to react when it was pierced from above by the blast of light. It staggered briefly, struggling to move from its injury but still able to twitch grotesquely and turn its head enough to see the digidestined's partner coming towards it. MegaKabuterimon slammed his horn into it and managed to clip its leg before it wriggled out the way, knocking it off balance so that it crashed into a roll. Garudamon and WereGarurumon moved in with Lillymon next to cut it off, pursuing it as it attempted to flee despite its injury, "Spider Shooter!"
With it off balance, the digimon partners were able to outmaneuver its attacks but had to watch as strings of numbers were destroyed in its place. Izzy chastised them, "Guys! Be careful! There's a lot of sensitive data here."
Mimi scolded the boy, "Who cares about that? Guys, keep yourselves safe!"
They pursued the angry digimon as it moved hastily around the room, trying to predict its movements and trap it before it could get away. Garudamon commented, "This thing moves faster than Piedmon and hits harder too. We can't keep up!"
"This is no good," WereGarurumon growled, "I think it's time for me to go Mega Matt."
"Yeah! Go for it!" Matt held up his digivice. Blue light shot forward and struck WereGarurumon as he howled, "WereGarurumon! Digivolve to!"
Before he finished, Infermon slammed into him from the side and pinned him against the white wall. It giggled playfully as WereGarurumon's digivolution regressed him back to an unconscious Gabumon. Matt panicked, "WereGarurumon! NO!"
"Our digimon are vulnerable during digivolution," Izzy commented, "It knows that! You have to help him, MegaKabuterimon!"
"You too MagnaAngemon!" TK cheered his partner on. Their digimon moved ahead to rescue their friend while Infermon was distracted, but it quickly noticed them with a laugh. It extended two more of its limbs from its body and used them to pin the two digimon against more numbers. MegaKabuterimon was large enough to be harder to hold while MagnaAngemon used his sword to cut himself free, injuring the digimon further. Its laughter died as it recoiled from losing a leg and threw Gabumon at the attacking angel. MagnaAngemon caught the unconscious rookie in both arms and failed to notice Infermon flying towards him. By the time he did, Infermon tackled and pinned them against the back wall. It stared at the angel digimon's face and warned, "Don't interfere. I must complete the mission. My master's will be done."
"Master? What master?" MagnaAngemon managed to ask before Infermon slammed him repeatedly into the wall until his strength faded and he regressed to Patamon. TK went into a panic and called out for his partner, "Patamon! Patamon! Are you okay!? Speak to me! Patamon! Don't worry! I'm coming."
Watching the scene unfold, Kari commented, "TK. You can't. But Angewomon can!"
"You too Lillymon!" Mimi declared.
The pixie and the angel circled around to attack Infermon from both sides, hoping to catch him off guard with a two pronged attack. They each fired one shot that Infermon leapt away from, cackling mischievously as both Patamon and Gabumon fell to the ground. Angewomon and Lillymon caught the falling rookies in hand before they fell, leaving Garudamon to pursue Infermon. Gomamon perched on her shoulder and called out Infermon's location as it moved around the room - crashing through strings of ones and zeroes, and occasionally through long strings of numbers.
Angewomon and Lillymon fell back with Gabumon and Patamon in hand to keep out of their way. Garudamon did her best to keep up but it was obvious that Infermon held the advantage in terms of speed despite his crippling injury. MegaKabuterimon joined and tried to block the ultimate at every turn - only to always slam into another string of numbers. Angewomon looked down at Patamon in her arms bitterly, before clicking her tongue and handing the rookie to Lillymon, "Protect him, okay?"
"Got it. You be safe too," Lillymon took the rookie in her hand. Angewomon raced to join Garudamon and MegaKabuterimon in their pursuit. As it dragged on, they realized the pursuit was useless and Angewomon opted to use her bow. It was hard to line up the shot with the digimon's flailing movements but she tried to anticipate its movement. After careful observation, she learned its patterns and readied to fire away at where she thought it would go next. With its next leap, she fired at where she it would go and managed to miss when Infermon leapt out of the way. She clicked her tongue, "No way. It's too fast."
Kari watched the screen in disbelief as they struggled to keep up with the digimon. Her heart sank as she moaned, "They can't fight it! They can't even keep up! He's too fast."
"We can beat him Kari," Sora put a hand on her shoulder, "Don't give up yet. We just have to have faith in our digimon."
"It's...it's the emails!" Izzy said from the side, looking between the screens, "The emails are flooding my computer and slowing down the internet connection. It's also slowing them down! I can't get rid of them fast enough."
"What if you disconnect your email account?" Kari suggested hopefully, unable to watch Angewomon and the others struggle any longer. Izzy shook his head, "We'd lose the internet connection. I'm doing what I can with the emails but we're on the defensive here."
"We're trying to save the world and you're answering fan mail!" Sora shouted in frustration until they saw the screen flash white. All three of them focused their attention on the monitor to see the digimon Infermon had digivolved. A new window appeared with a single message - 'Infermon! Digivolve to! Diaboromon!'
"Well, that's not good," Sora commented upon seeing a more humanoid digimon wearing dark blue armor with spikes on the shoulders and the back. It's helmet led to a pointed top with horns on either side, with long blonde hair flowing from the back. Its hands fed out into long red talons that dug into the website as it moved around. Mimi commented, "I never thought I'd see a digimon that was more creepy than Piedmon but I was wrong."
It leapt up into the air and extended both arms out - pinning both Angewomon and Garudamon on opposite sides of the website. Kari felt panic wash over her as their digimon regressed to their rookie forms from their injuries - leaving only Gomamon to try and pry Biyomon free, "Let go! Let her go! You big jerk!"
Lillymon wanted to help but had to keep her distance while Gabumon and Patamon were unconscious. This meant MegaKabuterimon would have to try and be charged straight for the Mega level digimon with his horn - only to be punched back when a third limb extended out to crush MegaKabuterimon, turning him back to Tentomon. Leaving the others to fend for themselves didn't sit well with Lillymon as she watched the Mega continue laughing hysterically. Then something else moved across the screen, so quickly that everyone watching had to blink to make sure they saw it right.
Diaboromon's mobility was limited with his arms and leg pinning Salamon, Tentomon, and Biyomon. As a result, there was nothing he could do against a pair of Garurumon and Greymon from slamming into each arm and dragging down to the bottom of the website. Diaboromon looked back and forth at the two champion level digimon in confusion, a sentiment shared with Matt who stumbled at Garurumon's presence, "What the? Garurumon!? But how?"
His answer came when two figures in white hooded robes reentered the field with digivices. The shorter of the two ran ahead and slid to a stop in front of Diaboromon. He held his digivice into its eyes and shouted, "Hi! Say cheese!"
It screeched in pain when the light blinded it and it thrashed violently enough to kick off Greymon and Garurumon. The other hooded figure appeared above the mega and shouted, "You over did it again!"
"It wouldn't be problem if you'd kill it already!" The short one shouted back, "Hurry up! Before it gets the ability to see again!"
"Web Wrecker!" it howled, its chest armor opened to reveal a canon that fired bolts of light aimlessly. The taller hooded figure fired light from her digivice but it did nothing against the Mega level digimon and she perished with so little as a whimper. The injured Garurumon managed to sit up in time to see her death and growled in anger, "NO! Howling Blaster!"
The sound alerted Diaboromon to the direction he needed to face - to fight Garurumon. The hail of blue fire met the flurry of bolts in the air, resulting in an explosion that knocked the small hooded figure down and lifted his cloak off his face to reveal fiery brown hair and a face concealed by goggles - Tai Kamiya. Kari covered her mouth in a gasp upon seeing her older brother, watching as the shock wave of another blast rolled him into WarGreymon, "I gotcha!"
Still in pain and slightly disoriented, Diaboromon leapt away into a nearby tunnel to escape. Greymon watched angrily, "It got away, Tamer. We lost Keeper and Garurumon too."
"I know. We'll just have to try again. We keep on trying until we beat it," Tamer replied, raising the goggles over his head, "Let's go after it. We need to stop it before things get-"
"Aaaaah!" Lillymon howled as she tackled Tamer to the ground to keep them from leaving, "You're not going anywhere! You're staying right here and telling us how you-"
"Get off!" Greymon roared, using his tail to whip the Ultimate digimon off his partner. Tamer scrambled to his feet and gasped, "Lillymon? No, that's not right. You're not Palmon, Palmon was killed. Who are you? And what are...oh."
He looked up and seemed to notice the screens through which the other digidestined were looking at him. For a moment, Kari felt like he looked right at her and she gasped, "Tai! You're okay! When did you come back? What's going on here? What does that digimon want on the internet?"
Tamer blinked a few times before pointing at himself and asking, "Who me? Who's Tai? I think you're confused. Sorry for the confusion. Come on Greymon!"
"Oh no you don't Tamer! Tell us what's going on right now!" Matt barked at him, pointing out Gabumon and his injuries, "Gabumon and the others were seriously hurt because of that thing so you better start talking!"
"Do you always yell when you say hi to people? It's kind of rude you know," Tamer lectured, "I'm sorry about Gabumon but I'm afraid that has nothing to do with me. Although I am curious about how you got these digimon but I don't have time to deal with that. We have a rogue digimon to destroy."
"What's with that answer?" Mimi asked with a grumble. Kari looked at her older brother pleadingly and asked, "Tai! You said you wouldn't keep any more secrets."
"Did he? Well you better make sure to tell him that the next time you see him," Tamer remarked at his sister, bringing tears to her eyes. Kari asked, "You know who I am right?"
"Should I?"
"I think I get it," Izzy said as realization dawned on him and he asked, "Tamer! How old are you?"
"That's kind of personal, isn't it?" Tamer looked almost offended. Greymon nudged his partner, "Tamer, we don't have time for this."
"I know, I know. We should-" he paused, raising a hand in the air to signal for quiet and put the other hand to his ear. He nodded silently a few times, ignoring the question so Izzy asked again, "Tamer, how old are-"
"Shh!" he stopped Izzy short and continued standing there, "Copy command. Casualties at four dead, two wounded. Target escaped. Continuing pursuit."
His eyes narrowed and he looked up at the screen. Kari was unnerved by the uneasy look in his eye as he replied, "Command, they're kids and time is a factor."
He paused again before pulling something out of his ear and stepping on it, "Dumb conversation anyway. Right then, you guys - you have digimon which is odd but Greymon and I need a hand. I won't question where you got them since it looks like fate brought us together for a reason. There's a digimon-"
"Threatening our world and about to destroy the internet, we know," Mimi interrupted, "We're here to help so get on with it. Answer the question!"
"She's a ball of sunshine, isn't she? At least she's open and honest," Greymon commented, annoying the girl even further. Tamer sighed, "If you guys really want to know, I'm about four hundred and thirty five. Greymon here is four hundred and twenty seven. What does that have to do with anything?"
"That explains it. Kari, I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this but that Tamer standing there hasn't met us yet," Izzy said, confusing the little girl even more. Izzy went on, "He's still Tamer and that's still Greymon. This is just them from the past. The Tamer we know was over a hundred thousand years old. That Tamer is only a couple of hundred; he literally has no idea who we are."
"I think he's supposed to be the smart one in the group," Greymon whispered at Tamer, who began to question what this meant about the others. Tamer responded, "Talking nonsense doesn't make someone smart. It makes them crazy."
"You can talk," Greymon snickered.
Kari turned to the screen and stared at her brother in disbelief. She didn't want to believe it and asked, "So then Myotismon? The Dark Masters? The crest of light and warp digivolving? You don't remember any of that?"
"You're using a lot of words you shouldn't know in a context that makes no sense," he replied unapologetically, folding his arms impatiently, "Hey Greymon, do you think she's smart too?"
Kari was at a loss for words at the back handed compliment and tried to think of something to say only to have no words. Sora sensed this and tried to bring the conversation back to the rogue digimon, "We can stop it, right?"
"Probably. Our chances are definitely good as long as we beat it before…never mind," Tamer replied, "We can beat it."
The uncertainty in his voice made them nervous. He was always bad when it came to telling them the truth, but he' never been this obvious about it. That was made truth when a new window appeared with a single message - 'Decision is made. Coordinates locked. Impact in ten minutes.'
"What does that mean?" Sora's mother gasped, while Tamer cursed under his breath. Kari looked at her brother expectantly to ask, "Tai...Tamer, what's going on?"
"We were trying to stop that from happening but it just did," Tamer answered nonchalantly, readjusting his goggles over his eyes, "If we're going to stop it, we'll need to go now."
"What's going on? Can someone explain?" Lillymon asked anxiously. Tamer sighed, "Look, my team was trying to stop that rogue digimon from launching what you people call a nuclear warhead. I'm a little short on details but, if I remember right, it has an effective range of 20,000 kilometers and a payload of 1 megaton. If I had to guess, that counter means that in 10 minutes, some part of the world won't be there any more."
Sora's mom and Izzy's jaw fell open in disbelief. It was a lot to take in and even more to digest as they tried processing it. Kari and TK both looked to the older children with them, wanting to know what a nuclear warhead was and why Izzy and Sora's mom were so worried. Sora's mother explained what it was and Kari had to gasp in disbelief that a weapon so powerful could be going anywhere in the world. She did not want to believe any of this was possible, a new window appeared on Izzy's screen with the message - 'Who is the real one?'
Kari felt the lump in her throat as the threat was confirmed, watching Izzy's screen intently as the rogue digimon on the screen split into two, then four, and eight. Izzy blinked in disbelief, "No way! It's multiplying! How is it doing that?"
"It's a smart weapon," Tamer said, "I can explain on the way. First, let me take care of your digimon."
Kari, Sora, and Izzy noted as he went to each of their digimon and made a show of doing something with his back to them so that it was hard to see what he was doing. One by one, their unconscious digimon jolted awake and refreshed - without injury or any sign of the battle they'd just been through. He stopped and looked closely at Gabumon when his turn came up, surprised to see the rookie digimon laying there. He mumbled, "Destiny indeed."
"Hey, what are you doing to our digimon?" Matt asked into his computer. Greymon assured him, "Helping make sure they can fight."
Once Gabumon sat up, he asked, "What happened!? Did we win!? Where is...GREYMON!? What are you doing here?"
"Keeping you alive," Greymon replied while Matt added, "They don't know who we are yet. They're younger than the Tamer we-"
Tamer interrupted, "Okay, can we stop with that? If you guys are from our personal future then I'd prefer it if you guys kept it a less obvious secret. And don't tell me anything more about the future. We have to keep destiny on track."
"Hey, don't talk to them like that Tamer," Sora spat back, "It's not like we've done any of this before."
"But you have met us, which would explain this annoying headache I'm having," Tamer interrupted, massaging his temple, "We're wasting time. You, smart one. How much time do we have?"
"Seven minutes, and we're at the thirty fifth set of multiplication. We need to hurry!" Izzy said, "I'm trying to trace where Diaboromon went but I keep running into firewalls and encryptions."
"Don't worry. We already know where it went," Tamer tapped the side of his head, "Follow us."
Greymon lowered his hand for Tamer to climb on and the two flew into the air, down into the tunnel that Diaboromon fled into. The digimon looked at each other then to their partners. Lillymon asked, "Should we go after them?"
"We don't have much choice. That nuke could be going anywhere in the world. Beating that digimon is the only chance we have of disarming it and we'll need all the help we can get," Izzy said, "Especially since it's multiplied. After 35 multiplications, it'd be over 17 billion Diaboromon now."
"Well I guess that settles it then," Gomamon sighed, "Let's go!"
Together, the seven digimon traveled with Tamer and Greymon through the internet unaware that they were being watched online by everyone with an internet connection. While they flew along, Kari watched the timer count down closer and closer to its impending impact time. She swallowed a lump in her throat fearfully while her brother continued his explanation, "Like I said, it's a smart weapon. It's a digimon like yours only it's artificial in nature. It doesn't have a moral sense of right and wrong like we do, all it has is its mission and a desire to complete it."
"So what is its mission?" Sora's mother asked, "I mean obviously, it's trying to destroy us but why?"
"It's mission is to learn as much about your world as it can, then decide whether to destroy it or to recruit it. Obviously, it chose to destroy your world and I bet it had to do with you guys fighting it," Greymon answered, not hearing Izzy mumble, "Yeah. That. And not anything it found on the internet."
Greymon went on, "We've killed a bunch of them before. They're not so bad if you can get to them when they're young but they become a problem when they get this old."
"Or this many. I still don't get how any of us are going to stand a chance against that many of them," Tentomon mumbled as they flew along. Greymon answered, "Quality over quantity. They're strong, so we'll just have to be better. There's nine of us but we'll make it feel like there's more. Make yourselves feel like a hundred!"
"If its numbers we need, I have all these emails," Izzy joked. Tamer looked up at him, "Emails huh? How many?"
"Enough that it's slowing down my computer and our internet connection," Izzy responded. Tamer nodded and pressed a few buttons on his digivice, "Do me a favor, will you? I'm sending something your way, do you mind opening it?"
"Yeah, but what?" Izzy asked, just as another email popped up on his screen. Izzy looked at the address of the sender and asked, "Wait, this email-"
"Open it," Tamer said again. Izzy clicked it and watched the screen blinked a rainbow of colors before returning to normal, as if nothing happened. Nothing seemed out of place so the digidestined were left confused about what they'f done. All the while, Gatomon dreadingly commented, "Nine of us against 17 billion at Izzy's last count. We're in trouble."
Tamer looked over his shoulder and gave a thumbs up, "Sounds like a fun time."
"You're nuts, you know that right?" Matt added into his computer screen. Tamer shrugged off the remark, "I've heard worse. We're coming up on the exit point."
As he spoke, they flew past several damaged walls and gates with holes blown through them, "It looks like security here wasn't enough to keep him out."
"I've never seen a firewall or encryption like that," Izzy observed, slowly putting everything together in his head, "He fired a nuclear warhead. Oh no, he can't have."
"Izzy, what is it?" Sora asked worriedly.
"He's in an American military computer. I don't know which one, it could be a typical computer, it could be a super computer. Whatever he's in, it needed that kind of security which is probably how he got the nuke in the first place. If he can do that, what can he do against us?" Izzy said, to the worry of Kari, Sora, and her other. That concern turned to surprise when a new window appeared with Joe's face on it. He spoke at just above a whisper, "Hey guys. I'm sorry I'm late but I'm here now."
"There he is. Good old reliable Joe," Gomamon said cheerfully on seeing his partner, "It's good to finally see your face again pal."
"Same to you Gomamon," Joe said with a half apologetic smile.
"It's about time you got here. Where were you?" Matt frowned, frustrated at their turn of luck. Joe's smile turned to a frown, "Sorry, I was in the middle of my entrance exam when the computers did something weird. For a second it looked like a digimon ran past my screen. Anyway, they kicked everyone out but I snuck back into one of the empty computer labs. I figured something was going on."
"Well, better late than never," Gomamon replied with a cheer. Still worried,TK asked, "I don't know. Will it make a difference Matt? I mean, we hurt him but he was still able to beat us. Even MagnaAngemon didn't stand a chance - can we even beat someone so strong?"
"I don't know TK, but they'll do their best. Isn't that right, Gabumon," Matt stated more than asked of his partner. Gabumon nodded, "You bet."
"Of course they can," Mimi declared, "We're going to kick his butt and send him back where he came from."
"It'll be tough, but it looks like we've got an audience of people cheering us on," Izzy stated as he glanced over at the emails pouring in even faster to his computer. Sora sighed, "Yeah, no pressure."
"Don't get so down. The frown doesn't suit you," Tamer stated matter of factly, taking Sora off guard as he added, "Smile. It looks prettier. And ditch the hat too. You shouldn't hide your hair beneath a hat."
"Are you seriously flirting right now?" Mimi accused angrily. Greymon snickered, "He's only doing it because she looks like-"
His mouth shut when Tamer jabbed in the gut with a sharp kick, "That's enough out of you. Target's fifty meters ahead. Engage on sight. Everyone, digivolve up!"
The digimon digivolved as far as they could before he even finished his sentence. MetalGarurumon, Garudamon, MegaKabuterimon, Lillymon, MagnaAngemon, Angewomon, and Zudomon went into the darkened room ahead - ready to battle the dangerous digimon. On arrival, fear gripped them as they saw countless numbers of Diaboromon lying in wait and cackling away. The sheer number left them frozen in terror. Kari gasped, "How many are there now?"
"I have no idea," Izzy mumbled, "I stopped keeping track after the fiftieth set of multiplication."
"Don't give up yet guys," Tamer assured them, "We can still win."
"How?" Garudamon said sarcastically. Greymon replied, "We just have to find the original, the one holding the keys to the nuclear warhead. Take that one out and the rest will die."
"Yeah, we'll just destroy trillions and trillions until we get it right," Garudamon roared, "How were we planning on winning again?"
"Hope," he stated quietly, "It's a surprisingly strong emotion and a good weapon."
"He's right," MagnaAngemon nodded in agreement, to the dismay of everyone else present. Zudomon rolled his eyes and sighed, "Okay, but is there anything practical we can do?"
"Well, now would be a really good time to dodge," Greymon nodded, pointing out that every single Diaboromon stopped to face them. The armor on their chest parted so their cannons could fire. The light descended upon them like hail and Matt shouted, "SCATTER!"
The digimon spread out in different directions as the attacks rained in from all around them. Lillymon, Angewomon, and MagnaAngemon had the easiest time because of their small size and fought back at every chance they had. Garudamon, MegaKabuterimon, and Zudomon weren't and were struck by the blasts as quickly as they came in. Their partners screamed out for them as they were blanketed by attacks, hoping that they would be able to move out of the way of the attacks. MetalGarurumon launched a barrage of missiles in the hopes that they would do something but found too late that explosions barely put a dent in the number of digimon that were present.
"It's no good," MetalGarurumon said, trying to keep moving to avoid the attacks, there's just too many of them. A light in the dark, MagnaAngemon cut the air with his blade and shouted, "Don't lose heart. We can still win! Gate of Destiny!"
The golden gate parted, revealing a blinding white light and a howling wind that swallowed the attacks in mass. But the attacks were many and some struck the sides of the gate, cracking its frame and forcing the gate to break apart until it crumbled to dust. The winds died and the light vanished while MagnaAngemon's voice shook, "How did that happen?"
"Don't know, it shouldn't have been possible," Tamer shouted, "Greymon! Go for Garudamon, MegaKabuterimon, and Zudomon. They're sitting ducks under all this fire."
"Angewomon! Help them!" Kari shouted at the screen, seeing her partner caught up in dodging the hell fire. The remaining digimon who were still able to move gathered the others together around Tamer, moving in sync to avoid making themselves a larger target but also staying close enough. Greymon breathed fire on to the Diaboromon while shouting, "Whatever you're planning, do it fast!"
Without a word, Tamer held up his digivice and just as they were blanketed in a hail of fire from the Diaboromon. The digidestined collectively panicked as they watched the cloud of smoke destroy the area their partners were in. Mimi panicked and shouted for her partner, "Lillymon! Lillymon! Are you okay?"
"Angewomon! Tai!" Kari slammed the monitor so hard that the entire screen went blue with an indiscernible scribble of numbers and letters. She was dumbfounded by the computer's sudden behavior, "What's happening? Izzy, what's wrong with the computer?"
"Kari! No, no no, no!" Izzy shouted, typing away at the keyboard and pushing buttons on the computer in futility. When nothing happened, he pushed the power button on everything, "I have to reboot the computer. It'll take me a minute just to reconnect through the sat-phone."
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I didn't know," Kari pulled her hands in close in panic, faulting herself for making such a stupid mistake at such a critical time. Sora patted her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her, "Hey. Don't worry. We'll get back online soon. Just calm down."
"We don't have time!" Kari panicked, "That bomb is going to go off soon and we're losing time restarting the computer because of me! This is my fault."
"Kari, is this what Tai would've wanted?" Sora asked her. The question gave Kari pause while Sora explained, "I know you've been bummed out since we came back from the Digital World a week ago. It's about Tai isn't it? Do you think he'd want you to be beat yourself up over this?"
Kari hung her head quietly, trying to find the words to express how overwhelmed she felt about everything that happened. Her brother disappearing after finally seeing him again, all the death and destruction from Myotismon's invasion, having to part with her digimon after becoming friends with her, and seeing them all come back for one more battle against the end of the world. And any hope of seeing her brother again was dashed when Izzy learned the truth - he hadn't even met her yet. She tried to remember what Tai had said before he'd left last time - to go out into the world without fear because nothing could stop them. His last words to them were encouragement.
After a long silence, she answered, "No. He wouldn't."
"So don't get down. We'll get online and we'll finish what we started," Sora said encouragingly.
"Okay, we're back online," Izzy said as he restarted the web browser. Upon getting online, the flood of emails nearly overwhelmed his computer while Izzy sputtered, "Oh come on. There has to be a way around this dumb thing."
He clicked away as many windows as he could to open a new window to get back to the website they were on previously. As soon as the site loaded, the sight that welcomed left the four left them silent while Matt's voice growled, "Guys! Where'd you go? You picked a hell of a time to go to the bathroom."
On screen, were the still and battered forms of their digimon. Greymon, MetalGarurumon, Lillymon, MagnaAngemon, Angewomon, Zudomon, MegaKabuterimon, and Garudamon. Gripped tightly in Greymon's arms was Tamer, as unconscious and beaten as the rest of them. The only sign of life was the blinking light from Tamer's digivice, still held firmly in his hand. Kari's brought her hands to her chest as she felt her heart sink again, "No. No! Angewomon! Tai! Greymon!"
Sora was barely able to speak at above a whisper, "Garudamon. What happened?"
"There's three minutes left on the timer," Izzy frowned, "And the emails! They just keep pouring in."
"I don't know what Tamer was thinking. He said they were waiting on help and that it would come, but he didn't say what," Joe's voice shook nervously, "They just...stood there and took it."
In unison, the swarm of Diaboromon cackled playfully like children - a chitter of giggles that unnerved the frozen digidestined. Mimi's face was frozen, "No! It can't end like this."
"This is it, isn't it?" TK hung his head desperately, looking at his partner wide eyed and with no idea what else to do. Matt looked at MetalGarurumon with his mouth hanging open, "You can't give up. Not yet MetalGarurumon. The whole world. Our world. It's all going to end here. You can't stop yet. Not here."
Kari looked down at the defeated Tamer, terrified by the implication of watching him die right here. They would never meet each other on that day Myotismon would invade, she would have never met Gatomon, they would never go on the trip to the Digital World, nor would they have stopped the Dark Masters or saved reality. She wondered if this meant she would forget everything as well and clutched at the screen with tears, "Please. Please, get up. You can't stop here. I don't want everything we've done to disappear. Not like this. Everyone's counting on you! You can see them, right. On Izzy's computer! All the emails he's getting! You can give up. Please, don't give up."
Tamer's digivice stopped beeping and a new window appeared on his screen, "File Transfer Complete."
Kari blinked and Izzy closed out the window, only for a hundred more message windows to pop up on screen. Each window was an email from someone somewhere in the world, all addressed to Izzy and containing messages to cheer them on.
"Don't Give Up."
"Keep Fighting."
"Please protect us."
"You can do it."
"We believe in you."
"Fight to win!"
"Save our world!"
"Save our family!"
The flood of messages cheering them inspired hope and renewed vigor, so much that none of them heard Izzy mumble under his breath about why only some emails were showing. The individual email messages closed and turned into balls of light that danced around the digimon, holding them in their glow and silencing the Diaboromon. In the center of their wounded digimon, MetalGarurumon and Greymon shone the brightest in the amazing display of light. Thunder cracked and light flashed when the lights lashed out all at once, forcing the Diaboromon to move to the corners of the room away from the light. In the center the digidestined's digimon sprang to life - renewed as if they hadn't just been beaten to a pulp and digidestined breathed in relief. Mimi gasped, "Lillymon! You're okay!"
"I'm fine. What is that?" Lilymon said, beholding a white figure emerging from the golden light.
"Is that MetalGarurumon?" Matt looked on, seeing the glow resemble the familiar outline of his partner. Kari shook her head and disagreed, "No. It looks like WarGreymon!"
"I think it's both of them," Izzy commented, "They're becoming one digimon."
"I've heard of this! It's called Digifusion!" Angewomon proclaimed, "You don't think they're becoming-"
"There's no doubt that's who it is," MagnaAngemon declared, "The Royal Knight of the Second Seat."
"Omegamon," a triumphant voice cried out from the light, fading away to show a knight in pale armor and a horned helm. Beneath the helm, a pair of bright blue eyes stared out into the dark with an intensity that left the Diaboromon cowering. It's left pauldron was a golden shield imbued with the crest of courage, leading down to a gauntlet made in the image of WarGreymon's helmet. It's right pauldron was silver and covered in spikes, and led down to a gauntlet in the shape of MetalGarurumon's helmet. Emblazoned upon his chest were the combined symbols of the crest of courage and friendship. The majesty of the newly arrived digimon distracted everyone from hearing MegaKabuterimon mumbling, "Huh, I could've sworn his name was Omnimon."
"Whoa, that's so cool," TK said in awe, "Greymon and MetalGarurumon became one digimon."
"That's DNA Digivolution, or Digifusion," Tamer said, appearing upon Omnimon's shoulder and holding tight so he wouldn't fall off. Angewomon flew beside them and asked, "How is this possible?"
"Of course, the emails!" Izzy said in astonishment. Tamer nodded and showed them his digivce, "Short version: Omegamon here is being fueled by all the positive emotions that I just channeled through the digivice. Millions of positive emotions channeled into energy through this - we can heal digimon and digivolve them into something powerful."
The Diaboromon began moving in coordinated unison, realigning themselves to target the newly digivolved digimon in front of them. MagnaAngemon prepared to open his Gate of Destiny until Omegamon moved before him. With a commanding voice that echoed both WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon, "Stand behind me."
"Are you sure?" MagnaAngemon asked, watching the blasts closing in on their position. Omegamon moved the hand that resembled WarGreymon's helmet and produced a steel sword engraved with the letters of an unknown language, "Transcendent Sword."
"Here they come," MegaKabuterimon shouted, moving to protect the smaller digimon under him. Omegamon stood tall and swung his sword with enough force to spin himself in place, kicking back each blast towards the Diaboromon. They broke their ranks and scattered before the returned barrage, vanishing in a hail of fire and smoke as they were blown apart. The remaining Diaboromon scattered in a frenzy while Omegamon raised the arm with MetalGarurumon's head to produce a cannon from its muzzle. Following his lead, the other digimon readied his attack while Tamer shouted, "All of you guys. Together!"
"Supreme Cannon!"
"Wing Blade!"
"Vulcan's Hammer!"
"Celestial Arrow!"
"Flower Cannon!"
"Gate of Destiny!"
"Horn Buster!"
The first shot fired by Omegamon created a blast so large that the Diaboromon caught in the blast vanished in a brilliant display of light. The other attacks caught the Diaboromon at the periphery of the blast while a few more thought to throw themselves at the digidestined's digimon. The Gate of Destiny swallowed them whole and they vanished screaming into oblivion. From beside her, Izzy said, "They just eliminated several trillion in a single blast."
The digimon launched another round of attacks on the Diaboromon and blew apart another trillion digimon. Kari watched in awe as whole parts of the screen went white as the Diaboromon were cleared out en masse. The digidestined cheered their partners on while the timer continued to count down until only a minute was left. With that minute remaining, a single Diaboromn darted across the screen in an attempt to escape the attack. Izzy shouted, "There's only one left but the timer hasn't stopped."
"That has to be the one controlling the nuke!" Tamer shouted, fiddling with his digivice, "I can disarm it and try to change its course but I'll need to take back control of the system. To do that, we'll have to take him out."
"Already on it!" Lillymon shouted, taking off in a display of speed the others hadn't seen before. Tamer directed the other digimon, "Stay on him. It's fast so we'll have to box it into a corner to even get it. Garudamon, MagnaAngemon stick left. MegaKabuterimon and Angewomon stick to its right. Zudomon and Omegamon, stay as close behind as you can."
Everyone went in pursuit of Diaboromon, doing what they could to box the digimon. Its speed kept them on the chase and the ticking clock made catching the digimon would be impossible. Matt swore under his breath before mumbling, "This guy moves too fast!"
"You shouldn't swear Matt," TK commented sheepishly.
"We have to slow him down! There has to be some way we can do that, right? Y'know, like how the emails slowed us down!" Sora commented. Realization set in and Izzy went to work on his laptop, "Of course! He emailed us so we can email him back!"
"Izzy, what are you doing?" Kari looked away from the screen briefly to glance at whatever he was doing. He replied, "He's about to get mail."
"Was that supposed to be a one-liner?" Sora's eyes narrowed in disbelief, "Because it was pretty bad."
"Izzy, you're not really the action hero type. You know?" MegaKabuterimon commented, looking away just long enough that he nearly crashed into a random string of ones and zeroes in front of him. Izzy groaned, "Oh, forget it. Send!"
Immediately, Diaboromon froze in place in the center of the room as an hourglass icon appeared over him, rotating as the pixelated sand filled to the bottom. A progress bar appeared over him with a counter indicating the millions of emails he was receiving. Tamer cheered, "Clever, you're definitely the smart one."
"There's twenty seconds!" Matt shouted. Tamer fiddled with his digivice while their digimon closed in on Diaboromon. The mega level made one final attempt to stop them, using all of its might to turn towards them with its chest cannon trying to prime itself. It never had a chance to fire, as it was crushed beneath a hammer, two swords, an arrow, a horn, and two fists. The laughter died and a new window appeared on Izzy's screen - 'Connection Terminated'.
"Ten seconds," Izzy said, watching the timer as it counted down. They could vaguely make the boy out on screen doing something to his digivice and he replied, "Working on it."
The timer continued ticking.
Nine...
Eight...
"You can do it Tai!" Kari said at the screen.
Seven...
Six...
"Five more seconds," Matt shook nervously.
Four...
Three...
"Well, at least we tried," Joe sighed.
"Don't quit yet Joe," Zudomon joked.
Two...
One...
The whole room shook violently and Sora grabbed hold of Kari for safety. Sora's mother knowingly pushed all of them to the floor and used herself to shield them while shouting, "Duck and cover!"
They braced themselves for the roar of the explosion and death - thinking that they were too late to stop the nuclear warhead from detonating. Loose items rattled off tables and bookshelves onto the floor around them. As quickly as their apartment started shaking, it stopped. Silence followed and everyone looked up to see that they were all still alive. From the computer, they heard Tamer sigh, "Done. I don't think we've ever cut it that close before."
"What about that time with the bomb?" Omegamon asked nonchalantly. Tamer shrugged, "Doesn't count. Besides, I like working under pressure."
"Oh shut up!" Angewomon growled, "Kari! Are you there? Are you okay?"
"We're fine," Kari said, feeling tears in her eyes and leaping up towards the screen, "We did it! We won!"
"We beat him. Man, I felt that all the way over here," Joe sighed, reclining in his chair and drawing a long breath. He looked over his shoulder and clicked his tongue, "It was good seeing you guys again. I wish I could chat but I have to sneak back out of here before anyone catches me. Bye!"
"Later Joe!" Zudomon said as Joe disappeared. Once Joe vanished, Omegamon regressed to Gabumon and Agumon - both tired from the battle they'd just fought. Agumon wasn't given any respite as Tamer grabbed hold of him and said, "Whoever the hell you kids are, thanks for the help. Now if you'll excuse us, we have to get yelled at by our boss."
"You mean you have to get yelled at," Agumon corrected his partner. Kari heard this and said, "Wait Tai."
"Nope," Tamer shut her down quickly, "Looks, it's pretty obvious that you guys know me and that we're meeting out of order. I think it's best if we just leave it at this and say good bye for now."
"We do owe them, Tamer," Agumon pointed out, earning him a thankful smile from Kari. Kari's heart skipped a beat when Tamer nodded and looked at her, "Okay, so what's up?"
Her mind raced as she tried to pick the words she would say to her brother, knowing these could be the last ones she could ever say to him. Eventually, she just said the first words that came out of her mouth, "Thank you for letting me see you again."
He shot her a quizzical look until his digivice started beeping again. He examined it quickly and a soft smile appeared on his face, as if he'd been told a secret. With a wink, he replied, "You're welcome."
"What was that about?" Agumon asked curiously. Tamer shrugged, "Eh, it'll make sense when we get to it. Digiport open!"
The screen flashed white for a moment and they all looked away to keep from being blinded. When it subsided, the screen displayed a blank webpage but separate windows were still open for Mimi, Matt and TK. Matt glanced over his shoulders once, "Um, I gotta go. Looks like I'm up for a hair cut."
"What?" Izzy asked. Matt waved it off with an excuse, "Don't worry about it. See you guys later."
His window vanished, signaling the end of the call. Mimi looked at the screen a bit longer and smiled, "I wish I could've talked to Palmon a bit longer...it was good seeing you guys. I have to go now."
Her screen closed too. Sora's mother went to the window and parted the curtains to behold a new sight on the edge of the Tokyo Bay area. A missile crashed into the shallow water and was now the spectacle beholden by hundreds of people on the street, taking pictures and trying to make phone calls. Sora's mother breathed a sigh of relief, "Thank goodness."
Sora joined her at the window, "Yeah. Bet that'll be on the news for a while."
"Matt and TK's parents will definitely have their hands full with this one," Izzy noted, closing his laptop, "I think I need a break after all that."
"I think we all do," Kari agreed, falling flat on her back to the floor with a contented smile on her face.
Author's Notes: Thanks for coming by to read the first installments of The Life of Kari Kamiya. I hope you guys liked it and that it was everything you guys hoped for. Why not drop a review to let me know what you guys think? And be sure to favorite and follow because that's the only way to know when the next story comes out. And for those in the know, Part 2 of The Tamer saga will come out March 31st. Be sure to come back for that. Until then, have a good month and I'll see you guys soon!