'Fire Fight'
Opening: 'Type: Wild' (Pokemon)
==Hypnos main lab, Friday morning
Yamaki turned and faced the man that had addressed him. "Good morning sir" he said, formal and humorlessly. "Is there a problem?"
The man shook his head, taking off the glasses he wore. "Not yet. We've been monitoring your progress on these so called 'Wild Ones' you've been tracking."
"And as I've said in my reports" Yamaki said hotly, "we do not have the resources to deal with these threats. Yet. What we need is to capture some of these things and analyze them. Once we know how these things work, we can better deal with them."
"A live capture?"
Yamaki snorted. "If they truly were alive." At that point, an alarm sounded in the monitoring room. Yamaki walked over to an intercom, and hit the transmit button. "Report."
Talli's voice came over the speaker. "A new Wild One is emerging" she said. "Attempting to localize it now."
"Where's Reilly?"
"It's her day off, sir. I've been trying to contact her, but there's some form of interference."
==Tokyo park, a bit earlier.
It was a nice day; to top it off, there was a professional development day scheduled today. IN other words, it was a Friday off for the kids. Henry, Takato, and Hitomi were in a secluded part of the park, doing something which no other digidestined group, in any dimension, had even considered doing.
Training. Granted, this amounted to nothing more than an upgraded game of 'tag' between the three digimon there, and the Tamers were discussing how to use the cards (not that Hitomi could, at any rate), but give them some credit. How often did you see Agumon practice how to aim? Or make sure Gabumon didn't impale anyone on that horn of his? Or Gatomon not to shred the easychair? Anyway...
"So any card can be used in your digivices" Hitomi asked. "That must be handy."
"Yeah. It's too bad you only got a D-3" Takato said. "So, if I swipe a card like Wargreymon, will Guilmon get all his power?"
"'Fraid not" Henry replied. "You'll get an attack that's a bit more powerful than a rookie level attack, but not by much. It's more useful to change attack types."
"Attack types?" Takato blinked, confused by the term.
"Sure" Hitomi said. "Say you're fighting a Meramon or a flame using digimon. Then you'd want to use an ice or water type attack to counter it."
"Or," Henry added, "you can use a defensive attack, like Wargreymon's shield, or Gatomon's hypnosis attack."
"What about this card" Takato asked, holding up an 'Ultra Digivolution' card.
Henry's face went grim. "Trust me, you don't want to mess with that sort of thing."
Some yards away, the game of tag continued. "GOTCHA!" Guilmon tackled Eevee, nearly flattening the pokemon with an overeager tackle. The others came running.
"Umm...little overkill there, bud" Takato said. Hitomi picked up the semiconscious pokemon. "Umm...sorry about that."
"Oh, he'll be fine," Hitomi replied. "He just needs a good rest for a while. Right?"
"That and a new spine, thanks" Eevee croaked.
"Oh, moumantai, you big baby" Terriermon said. "It's not like he made like a sumo wrestler."
"Moumantai?" Hitomi blinked, not recognizing the word.
"It's his way of saying 'take it easy'" Henry explained.
"Well, why don't we have Guilmon jump on YOUR back and see how easy you take it" Eevee replied. Terriermon stuck his tongue out at Eevee.
==Across town
Rika followed the signal on her digivice, the holo-compass leading her to another digimon. A part of her wondered what she'd face this time. That boy and his dinosaur? Rampaging Allomon? Musyamon? Or Hitomi...annoyed, she sighed loudly. She hated leaving fights unfinished, and for all she knew, the girl and Eevee were training as hard as she was, and would be all that more difficult to beat. In addition was the disturbing things Renamon had told her about where Hitomi was living and what she had with her...The beeping from her D-Arc got louder, indicating she was almost there. But she didn't see any sign of a digital field...
"TAG!"
Rika nearly fell over, more from surprise than actual impact. Whirling around, she saw Calumon and Unown there. "T...tag? Who...?"
Calumon looked up, blinking. "Hi! You look sad, maybe I can cheer you up?"
-Great- Rika thought to herself, -I've got a digital Muppet from Sesame Street here. - She took out her D-Arc, and tried to get a reading on the creature. "Nothing? OK, this is getting old. Who are you?"
"My name's Calumon! Want to play?" As he spoke, a second creature appeared beside him. The Unown made that odd squealing noise, seeming to edge back from Rika. "You're name's not Hitomi, by any chance, is it?" -Her AGAIN?- Shocked, Rika watched as the second creature floated up, single eye (she guessed) looking at her. Then it squealed again. "Oh, you're not. Never mind."
Rika blinked, shaking her head. "OK, this has gone far enough. Drop the cute act and tell me what the heck's going on here!"
Calumon tilted his head, looking hurt. "I just want to play with someone."
Renamon materialized. "Rika? What..." Renamon stopped, looking at Calumon. "You're kidding, right?" Then she noticed Unown, and seemed to freeze. "Rika, I need to talk to you. Now." Before the girl could protest, Renamon gathered Rika up and jumped away, carrying her tamer to the nearest rooftop.
"OK, well, I guess I'll see you later" Calumon said, watching the two leave. Then his stomach grumbled a bit. "Hey, want to find some food" he asked Unown, who nodded in midair.
On the rooftop, Rika tore herself out of Renamon's grip. "What was THAT all about" she demanded angrily.
"That creature" Renamon said. "Not the white one, the floating squiggle. It felt a bit like Eevee."
Rika stopped. "Another one?"
"It wasn't exactly like Eevee. It was definitely not a digimon, nor was it native to this world." Looking over the ledge, the two saw Calumon and Unown leave the area, almost careening into an apple cart as they left the alley.
-I can't believe I'm doing this- Rika thought to herself. "Looks like we're playing tag with Calumon and Unown." Ignoring Renamon's baffled look, Rika took out her digivice and started looking for Calumon.
The search didn't take as long as Rika had feared. Renamon had pointed out that Calumon seemed to have two basic motivations: playing, and eating. So Rika started for the nearest sources of food, and soon found a terrified shopkeeper that claimed that a flying white rat had taken some apples, apologized, and left with what looked like a flying inkblot. Renamon spotted a discarded apple core, and the pair soon tracked down Calumon and Unown.
"Be careful" Renamon said. "We don't know how they will react. Diplomacy might be better than Diamond Storms here."
"Great." Rika walked down the small alley, deserted at this time of day. At the end, she saw Calumon and Unown sharing the last apple. Watching Unown...absorb the apple was an unusual experience. The apple seemed to float up a bit then vanish somewhere into the Unown's body.
Calumon saw Rika, and his ears extended. "Rika, you found us! Well, I guess I'm 'it' now."
"Wait" Rika said. "Before you go, I need to know something. How do you know Hitomi?"
Unown began making that odd noise again, Rika guess it to be that creature's mode of speech. "Unown knows her. He says that if she ever catches him, she'll take him back home with her and he won't be able to play with me any more."
"Back home...you mean to the digital world?"
Calumon shook his head. "No, Unown means to the place where Hitomi comes from." Unown 'said' some more, and Calumon translated. "He says there was this nice place he was resting, then Hitomi and these two pokemon appear trying to catch him, but he hid then decided to see where they were going so he hid in her backpack and then they went to this place she called a 'pokemon center' and there was this big corridor of light and he panicked and there was this flash and..." Calumon stopped, realization hitting him. "Hey, I did see you. You were going through the digital world when that mean, nasty Maildramon was chasing me. You and Hitomi and Eevee. Wow! What a coincidence!" Unown squeaked, apparently pleased. "Well, I'm going to go rest now, it was nice talking to you Rika. See ya!" Calumon's ears seemed to stretch a bit, and the digimon, followed by Unown, flew off into the afternoon sky.
"That was abrupt" Renamon noted.
Rika shot a scowl at her partner. Then, fighting down the irritation, said, "Not from the digital world...where else could she be from?"
==
The digimon felt the call...the light was near, it could feel it. Gathering its considerable strength, the digimon managed to breach a hole between the worlds. There was strength to be found, strength and digivolution. As the hole widened, it could feel a part of the digital world itself rush alongside it, filling the area with a dense fog.
==
"A digital field" Henry said, watching as the fog formed around the group.
"How big do these fields get" Hitomi asked.
"Depends on the size of the digimon entering this world." Henry felt his heart sink as the fog continued to pour out. A short distance away, the three could see a column of light appear, shooting through the center of the fog.
Hitomi winced as the light, refracted by the particles in the fog, dazzled her a bit. Then her eyesight adjusted. "It's going to appear right on top of us!"
"Guilmon!" Takato called. The others looked and saw that Guilmon was staring intently at the light, growling fiercely. "Come on, get back!" Takato ran over to his digimon, and began pulling Guilmon back. Terriermon and Eevee ran over. As they watched, a digimon stepped out of the light. It was large, reptilian, and...pink?
"Tyrannomon" Hitomi said, recognizing it immediately. "How did it get here?" As they watched, the Tyrannomon looked around, seeming to search for something. "What is it looking for" she wondered.
The Tyrannomon looked at the group, seeming to notice them for the first time. Then it saw the digimon, and snarled loudly. "I think it's looking for us" Terriermon said, scared. The monster stepped forward, ready to attack. A blast of flame from Tyrannomon confirmed Terriermon's observation.
"Digi-armour energize!"
"Eevee, armour digivolve to...Templarmon, loyal defender!" Takato and Henry watched the digivolution, still unable to believe what they saw. -It's like they stepped right out of the TV show- Henry thought absently.
Beside him, Takato pulled a card out. "Ready Guilmon" Takato asked. The digimon nodded, eager for a fight. "Digi-Modify! Offense Plug in V activate!" Guilmon glowed red for a second, then fired off his own attack, boosted by Takato's card. The fireball slammed into Tyrannomon, driving the digimon back a few steps. "Yeah! That's how to do it!" Unfortunately, this also had the effect of forcing Tyrannomon to reclassify the humans as threats now. Straightening up, Tyrannomon looked at Takato, and moved to attack him!
"Look out" Henry yelled, shoving Takato out of the way. The two narrowly dodged a second fire blast from Tyrannomon.
"Leave Takatomon alone" Guilmon yelled, running up and biting Tyrannomon. Angered by the pain, Tyrannomon kicked Guilmon off, turned to face the humans again, and got a snout-full of electricity as Templarmon unloaded his Shock Bomber attack.
"Come on, you wannabe Greymon, come and get some more" Templarmon taunted, daring Tyrannomon to attack.
==
Several yards away, Reilly, taking a break from her duties at Hypnos, watched the battle intently. Her digital camera had already captured shots of the tamers there, and their digimon. "What is going on here" she wondered. "I wish I could make out what they're saying." A slight buzz came from her cellphone. Relieved that she had switched off the ringer, she opened the phone.
"Reilly" Talli's voice came over the speaker, "where are you? The board's going nuts!"
"I'm at the site now" Reilly replied. "Have Yamaki send over a response team. There's a battle between several Wild Ones here, and I think there are some humans involved too."
Yamaki's voice came over the phone. "Negative. Stay there and observe only. We're not equipped to deal with Wild Ones yet. Try to determine what the humans are doing, and report back as soon as possible." the connection cut out.
"Lovely," Reilly said to the phone, and resumed watching.
==Hypnos headquarters
Yamaki cut off the connection, thinking. "Sir" Talli protested, "we have to do something, she's trapped out there! What if one of those things goes after her?"
"As long as she stays clear, she'll be fine. Digimon are only interested in one thing, defeating and absorbing other digimon." He turned to leave. "I'm going out. I'll handle this personally."
==Park
"That's it, keep swinging" Templarmon kept taunting Tyrannomon. "I've fought Numemon that were tougher than you!"
"Sure enjoys egging him on" Takato observed, stepping back from the fight.
"I just hope he doesn't get overconfident" Terriermon said, watching. "Tyrannomon are supposed to be really fierce when they get going."
As Templarmon feinted and distracted Tyrannomon, Guilmon, powered up with another card, launched a wave of ice at the giant reptile. Staggering, Tyrannomon roared again, swinging his tail and catching Guilmon on the side of his head. The rookie digimon went flying, landing several yards away from the battle.
"Guilmon" Takato yelled, running to his partner.
"You're fighting ME" Templarmon yelled, slamming his electrified baton into Tyrannomon's side. The two traded strikes for a few seconds, until Tyrannomon, getting lucky with a claw swipe, managed to catch the armoured pokemon with another tail swipe, and knocked him into a tree. Templarmon glowed, and reverted to Eevee. Hitomi ran over to get her partner clear of the fight.
"Looks like it's up to me" Terriermon said, jumping out of Henry's arms. "Unless you want tall, pink, and fiery to use us for snacks!"
"No" Henry yelled. "I won't risk it, there has to be another way."
"Like-" Terriermon said, turning to face Henry. As he did, he realized what a mistake he had made. Tyrannomon punctuated that lesson by kicking Terriermon back into Henry. The two were knocked back, dazed by the impact.
Looking back, Takato saw that Tyrannomon was now threatening Hitomi and Henry, and neither of their partner digimon were able to fight. "Only one thing to do" he said, going over to Guilmon. "Come on boy, we have to fight off Tyrannomon. Wake up!"
"It dinner yet" Guilmon asked groggily.
-He's too weak- Takato realized. "I'm sorry, but there's no other way." Takato pulled out another card. As he did, Henry, recovering, saw the card that Takato pulled out, recognizing it from the picture on front. Henry started to shout a warning, but Takato was already using the card. "Digi-Modify! Ultra Digivolution activate!" For a second, nothing happened. Then...
"Guilmon, digivolve to...GROWLMON!"
==
Reilly almost fell backwards, watching the transformation. "What was THAT" she nearly shouted. As she watched, the two giant reptiles grabbed each other, and began wrestling. There was no plan or strategy, merely sheer brute force and violence. She was mature enough to admit it; this scared her a lot more than the initial fight. As she observed the battle, a part of her mind noted that the new monster looked like it came from of a 10-year-old's drawing of a dinosaur. She never really knew how accurate that observation was.
==
"Uhh...what...?"
"Hitomi? Wake up" Henry said, gently shaking the girl. Beside her, Eevee watched the fight, not sure who to cheer for.
"Where's Takato?"
"On the other side of the battle" Henry replied. "He can't get around. We have to stop those two before they destroy each other!"
"Then we have to get to Takato" Hitomi said, getting up. "He's the only one Guilmon will listen to. Whatever Guilmon is now." Hitomi looked at Growlmon. "He looks like how a 10 year old might draw a dinosaur" she said, more to herself than anyone else. The two edged around the fierce battle.
The two digimon were tearing at each other, ignoring everything else. Both had neglected their flame attacks in favor of using their claws on each other. Growlmon remembered just enough to use the blades on his arms, which gave him a slight advantage offensively, but left him open to counterattacks from Tyrannomon. Both monsters 'bled' from various wounds, Growlmon being badly bruised around the head and upper torso, Tyrannomon having lost an eye from one of Growlmon's Dragon Slicers. Henry and Hitomi tried not to pay much attention to the fight.
"Takato," Hitomi said, grabbing Takato by the shoulders when they reached the boy, "you've got to stop him!"
"I can't" Takato replied. "He won't listen to me!"
"I told you not to mess with that card" Henry snapped. "Now we're going to have two dead digimon!"
"Stop it" Hitomi cried. "That won't solve anything! Takato, you made him digivolve, you have to calm him down and get him back to Guilmon!"
"I'll do it" Terriermon said quietly. "Oh come on, Henry," he said to his tamer, "even if Takato manages to talk dino-boy down, Tyrannomon's gonna rip him apart! And I'm gonna need more than an offense upgrade to stop two champions!" Henry looked at Terriermon, not sure how to reply. "Hey, as long as you're there, I promise I won't go mental, alright?" Henry nodded, taking a card out.
"Digi-modify! Digivolution activate!"
"Terriermon, digivolve to...GARGOMON!" Gargomon moved towards the two, waiting for an opening. Then, as the two dueling reptiles separated for a second, Gargomon opened up with his main attack. "Gargo Laser" he called, pelting Tyrannomon with a hail of energy blasts. Tyrannomon, caught unawares by the attack, was thrown backwards by the assault, glowing as he did. No one noticed where Tyrannomon landed, as everyone was now paying attenti0on to Growlmon, who had fixed Gargomon with a look that said 'that was MY kill'.
"Growlmon" Takato yelled, running towards his digimon. Unfortunately, Growlmon, still gripped by rage, mistook Takato's voice for an enemy attack, and launched a fireball at the boy. Gargomon knocked the boy clear, getting himself singed in the process. Then the rage took Gargomon over, and he began attacking!
"GARGOMON! STOP IT!" Henry yelled at his partner, but the digimon would not listen. Takato was having similar luck with his digimon. Hitomi and Eevee watched as the two champion level digimon tore at each other. Finally, Growlmon, having already suffered severe injury in his fight with Tyrannomon, collapsed and reverted to Guilmon. Gargomon, still acting on instinct alone, aimed his weapons at Guilmon ready to finish the digimon off. Henry ran between the two digimon, blocking Gargomon's aim. "Stop it now" he said. "You promised!" Gargomon stepped back, now confused, torn between his desire to finish the fight and absorb Guilmon's data, and his loyalty to Henry.
"H...Henry..." Gargomon stuttered, passing out.
Takato starred at his partner. "Wh...what have I done...?" Then he turned and ran, ignoring Hitomi's calls to come back.
==
The Gazimon staggered away from the park. The force of Gargomon's attack had knocked the digimon through the digital field, and had forced Tyrannomon to revert to the rookie digimon Gazimon in order to preserve its life. He still felt like a Maildramon had stomped on him, though. And the sudden sharp pain in his neck didn't help any. In fact, it made him really drowsy...
Yamaki walked over to the fallen digimon, tranquilizer rifle held in one hand. "So, this works on your type as well" he said. Memories of two years ago replayed in his mind, and the desire to finish off the digimon then and there was very strong in the back of his mind.
Reilly walked up. "Sir?" Yamaki stopped himself, brought his feelings under control. "So, what will you do with him now?"
"I will bring it," he replied, emphasizing 'it', "back to Hypnos, where we can examine it and find out how we can destroy the rest of those things."
To be continued...
Closing Theme: 'Never Too Far From Home' (Totally Pokemon CD)
Next Episode:
Hitomi confronts Takato about the realities of being a digidestined.
At the same time, we see the Digital World in a state of civil war, as
digimon from all over try to solve the mystery of why they can no longer
digivolve. Next on Digicross Tamers episode 5:
'Beast-King Dethroned'