==Tokyo, Thursday Night
Hitomi's pokegear beeped. Only half asleep, Hitomi got up from the cot she was sleeping on, and activated the phone. "Hello?"
"Hitomi? It's Hiroki. Can I talk to you? I have something I need to tell you..."
==
Digicross Tamers episode 16
'Wargrowlmon, defend Hypnos!'
==
Hitomi was a bit surprised, not expecting Hiroki to call at this time of night. "What's wrong, Hiroki?"
"It's...Well, you remember when Ryoko and I went to that other digital world, and met those other digidestined?"
Unconsciously, Hitomi nodded. "Yes, I do. One of them looked like you, right?"
"Yeah, it was Tomoki. But something went wrong there, and Ryoko, Izumi, and I are going back there to find out what happened."
"What?" Hitomi gasped. "Just like that?"
"It'll be alright." Hiroki said reassuringly. "Ryoko and Sneasel will be there, and Izumi as well; Izumi was able to find another spirit and evolve into a stronger digimon, and Ryoko and Sneasel have been practicing a whole lot since they got back. And I've been training with Armadillomon when I could get some free time, too."
"Hiroki..." Hitomi whispered.
There was a pause on the other end of the line, then Hiroki spoke again. "Izzy says he's nearly ready to try out the video connection with those people at Hypnos, but I can't wait for that 'cause I'm really worried about Tomoki."
"It's alright. You should go check on your friend, Hiroki."
Hiroki sounded relieved to hear that. "I just wanted to say...that is...when we both get home, there's a circus coming to my home town, and I was wondering if you'd like to go with me. I mean, could I take you to the circus some time? I promise, I won't take you on any of the kiddy rides!"
Hitomi stared at the phone, tears building up. "I'd like that." she whispered into the phone. "But only if you promise to be careful."
"I will." Hiroki replied. Hitomi heard some voices over the phone, muted and hard to make out. "I have to go now. I just called to let you know that I might not be here for a while. But I'll call from the other digital world when I get a chance."
"G...good bye, Hiroki-chan." Hitomi said into the phone. "Please take care of yourself and Armadillomon."
"I'll see you soon." Hiroki replied. "And Hitomi...? I love you." He said, then hung up. Hitomi sat on her cot, just staring at her pokegear.
"I love you too." Hitomi whispered back into the phone.
A few hours later, Eevee crept over to Nami, who was still awake and watching Hitomi sleep. "That was Hiroki, right? The boy that likes Hitomi?"
Eevee nodded. "Yeah. It sounded like he was headed into a digital world, and called to let Hitomi know where he was. It's a shame, I think she was looking forward to seeing Hiroki on Saturday, assuming Izzy can get all the bugs worked out of the video link system."
"She's only eleven years old." Nami said. "How can she have a boyfriend already?"
Eevee chuckled. "Oh, don't worry. Hitomi didn't even know it until Jeri spelled it out for her a few weeks ago. Even when they get back, they're both going to be spending a lot of time too embarrassed to talk to each other without looking silly and blushing a lot. Besides, I know Hiroki, and his parents. He'd never do anything to hurt Hitomi. Of course, I will be going as her official chaperone. Kyle'll probably ask Scizor to go with her too."
Nami nodded, smiling. "Well, goodnight, Eevee."
"Night." Eevee replied. "I wonder if Yohko was listening in...?"
==New Bark Town, Saturday
"Are they here yet?" Matt asked for the fifth time that hour. He, Mimi, and their two children were with them, waiting just outside of Izzy's lab.
Mimi sighed, rolling her eyes as she did. "For the fifth time, they'll be here in a few minutes. Honestly, Matt, don't you have any faith in Izzy?"
A young girl looked up. "He's just worried about Hitomi, even if he'll never admit it." Matt shook his head, shrugging.
"Yohko," Mimi said to their daughter, "don't tease your father. That's my job. You're supposed to be harassing your brother. Right, Taichi?"
Taichi Tachikawa shrugged. "Don't look at me. All she's been doing is eavesdropping on Hiroki's phone calls." Yohko blushed a bit, failing to look innocent.
"Young lady," Mimi scolded, "what have we said about that sort of thing?"
Yohko sighed. "Don't eavesdrop on other people's phone conversations. Unless I share it with you."
Mimi nodded. "That's right. So what happened?"
Inside, Izzy and Ken were doing the final calibrations on what Davis had once dubbed as a 'super-dimensional cell-phone', Izzy had called the 'Inoue/Kamiya Signal Drive system', and everyone else (Kari included) called an unholy mess that might work, or take the whole place with it when it went up.
To Kyle and June, it was their first chance to actually see how their daughter was doing. "What if it doesn't work?" June whispered to Kyle.
"It'll work." Kyle replied. "I've seen Izzy like that before. He'll make this work if he has to wire in his laptop computer and Tentomon to run it." Kyle smiled a bit. "I still can't believe he's got that thing with him."
"I heard that!" Tentomon yelled, watching several gauges.
"I was talking about the laptop." Kyle replied.
Eevee, perched on Kyle's shoulder, shrugged. "It's still the best reference source for anything to do with digimon. Is he done yet?"
"Soon!" Izzy called, standing on a stool and checking the wiring. "I just have to make sure I have this thing set to receive signals from Hitomi's digivice. I've had to guess a bit since she said her digivice changed."
"It'll be fine." Elecmon said to June. "We may rag on her Eevee all the time, but he's an... acceptable fighter. Don't tell him I said that, though."
"At least we can tell her where the digiegg of loyalty went." Growlithe added. "I never knew I missed being able to fly so much."
"A little too much." Kyle said. "You know we'll have to give it back to her when she gets back."
"I know." Growlithe replied. He looked up, ears twitching. "Sounds like Yohko got some dirt on someone...ah, Hiroki, just before he left. It seems he...oh my." Eevee, also listening, almost fell off of Kyle's shoulder.
"Hmm? What was it?" June asked.
"Later." Growlithe said, just as the Tachikawas entered the room, as did Kari and Kyoko.
June knelt down, and looked at Kyoko. "How are you today?"
"Fine, thank you." Kyoko replied. Her eyes were bright, but there was something in her voice. June hugged Kyoko, glancing at Kari as she did so. Kari shook her head slightly, indicating that they'd talk about it later. Matt and Kyle were talking, nothing significant, just small talk to fill the time.
"Are we late?" A female voice called, as three more humans and a pokemon wandered in. Caryl Kyashi, Ryo Akiyama, and their daughter Akira entered the room.
"Soon!" Izzy yelled, not noticing the newcomers, and feeling a little harried at this point. At his console, Ken shrugged to the rest of the people helplessly, then got back to work.
"I haven't seen you in years." Kyle said to Caryl and Ryo. "How've you been?"
"Oh, it's a been a nightmare." Caryl sighed over-dramatically. "Challengers everywhere I go, legions of rabid fans, speeches and guest lectures every few weeks. I'll be glad for a vacation. I don't know how Prima put up with it."
"Prima wasn't as much of a showboater as you, dear." Ryo said. Caryl stuck her tongue out at her husband.
"And how've you been?" Kyle asked Akira. "Last time I saw you, you were about 6 years old. You've grown up."
"But I haven't lost my youthful charm." Akira replied. "Renamon and I are too busy dancing to grow up. Hey, where is Renamon, anyway?"
Ryo looked over his shoulder. "Outside, with mom's Renamon. We're sorry we couldn't come any sooner Our ship was stuck in the Houen region, and the nearest city didn't have a working computer."
"We managed." Akira said. "Relax! We got a free plane ride out of it!"
"Akira." Ryo said. "This is a very important occasion."
"We know." Akira replied, looking at her partner digimon. "I haven't seen Hitomi in years! I want to know how she's been."
"Akira!" Yohko ran over to Akira. The two hugged, having been friends since birth. "I'm so glad you made it. You remember my brother, right?" She indicated Taichi, standing off to the side and feeling a bit overwhelmed.
"How could I forget?" Akira asked. "You CAN come over, you know." she said, inviting Taichi over. "We won't bite."
"Almost done!" Izzy called. "Kyle, June? You're up first, just..." Izzy stopped, realizing for the first time that there were quite a few more people in the lab than he'd expected. Kari sighed. 25 years, and he still hadn't changed.
==Hypnos HQ, Tokyo.
The tamers were all gathered by one of the screens, while Janyu, Babel, and Dolphin worked madly at the controls. In the Scanning Dome, Reilly and Talli were busy trying to reconfigure the equipment that normally detected digimon so it could do something quite different.
"Signal detected, I'm establishing a link now." Talli called.
"I have it." Dolphin yelled back, deafening Babel. "We're just running the signal through the processors."
Jeri glanced at Hitomi. "Are you alright?" Hitomi nodded. Beside her, Eevee and Noctowl rested on the floor, waiting for the experiment to finish. They were as eager as Hitomi to see pictures from their home. "I'm a bit nervous too." Jeri said.
"Yeah." Takato agreed. "I mean, we're actually going to be talking to the digidestined from the TV show. How cool is that?"
Rika sighed, a bit annoyed. "Get a grip, goggle head." she sighed. "They're probably nothing like the characters on TV." Rika shook her head. "We didn't come here for an autograph session, you know."
"You can't really blame him." Henry replied. "I mean, this isn't at least a little weird to you? Haven't you ever wondered what it would be like if you met Tai or Matt or Joe?"
Rika snorted. "I'm not the one with the goggle fixation here." Standing by Rika, Alice smiled, but said nothing.
"It's coming through!" Dolphin said, stepping back from his console. "Speakers and mics are on, we're a go!"
On the large screen in front of the tamers, there was a wash of static. The image cleared a few seconds later, leaving two figures staring at them through the screen that no one except Hitomi recognized.
"Mom! Dad!"
"H...Hitomi..." Kyle gasped.
"Dear..." June stammered. "You're alright! We were so worried about you..."
==
It took about 20 minutes to get the introductions out of the way. There was some guffaws when, on introducing Takato, Kyle's Eevee had asked what it was with some kids and goggles. It was when they got to Rika that things got odd.
"Come on!" Jeri whispered to Rika. "They can't see you from here!" She half-dragged Rika over to the screen.
"And this is Rika, she's the really good digimon tamer I told you about."
"Really? Maybe she could come here and help...oh." Kyle blinked, getting his first good look at Rika. "Umm...Akira? Could you come here for a sec? I think it happened again."
Curious, Rika glanced at Hitomi, who shrugged. Akira stepped into view of the monitor. "Hi, Hitomi! You probably don't remember me, but I'm Akira, we last saw each other about five, six years ago and OH WOW!"
Rika stared, stunned. Aside from Akira's hairstyle, pagegirl length, no braiding, Rika would swear she was looking into a mirror. Renamon darted forward, catching Rika as she nearly stumbled backwards. "You're...me?" Rika gasped.
Akira recovered, her usual personality coming back. "Nah. I'm *much* more graceful." she replied impishly.
"Akira." A voice off-screen said.
"Sorry." Akira sighed. "Hey, I have a Renamon for a partner too! Come over here! No, you!" A Renamon joined Akira. "My Renamon and I are dance partners. Do you dance?"
"D-dance?" Rika asked, still a bit dazed.
Akira nodded. "Hey, why don't we get together once Izzy gets the portal going between our worlds? I'm sure we'll have loads to talk about!"
"That would be interesting." Rika's Renamon replied.
"Great!" Akira said. "Can you bring him?" she asked, indicating Henry. "He's cute!"
"Gwaah?" Henry went, stepping back. Terriermon collapsed with laughter. Even Janyu had to hold back a few chuckles.
"What's wrong with Henry?" Guilmon asked, noticing that Henry's face was bright red.
"When you're older." Renamon sighed.
"I think I need to sit down." Rika said a bit weakly.
"Rika, that's so neat! You have a twin sister!" Jeri said. Rika looked at Jeri, expression unreadable.
"Maybe I should speak to the people in charge for a few seconds." Izzy said, cutting in.
"Oh wow...that's Izzy!" Takato whispered.
"In the flesh."
"Sorry, it's just...wow." Takato tried to stay calm.
"Call me Dolphin." Dolphin said, stepping into range of the screen. "So, you're really Izzy, from the TV show?"
"Yeah. Sorry, no autographs."
"No, none of that. Just making sure I wasn't dreaming. You're a pretty popular TV character here."
"I hope they got our good sides." Izzy replied.
"Well, Alice thinks you're hot." Dolphin said, smirking.
"DAD!"
"Should I tell him about the webshrine, dear?" Dolphin asked his daughter.
"DON'T YOU DARE!"
Kari leaned in, giving Izzy a chance to recover. "We arranged for a little surprise for your new friends. Care to say hi to the rest of the Japanese digidestined?"
Hitomi and the rest of the tamers gasped as the entire contingent of Japanese digidestined, and their children, started introducing themselves.
==
A few floors down, Makuramon worked quietly. He had managed to hide the alterations he had made to the Juggernaut system so far, altering its function from simply destroying digimon to a more useful end. He had managed to entirely miss what was happening upstairs, so focussed he was on his plan.
Carefully, he ran a test program. On a computer screen, a map of Tokyo appeared, dozens of small red lights appearing on the map. After a few seconds, the lights started vanishing until only one was left.
"Excellent. Now that I can find Calumon whenever I wish, capturing him will be that much easier. And I can dispose of this human-constructed wastepile all the sooner!"
==Two hours later.
Takato and Henry sat in the park, watching their digimon play. After the call ended, Hitomi had broken down, Ms. Asaji and Jeri offering to take Hitomi home for the rest of the day. Guilmon walked over to Takato. "What was wrong with Hitomi?" he asked.
"She just really misses her parents." Takato replied. "I guess seeing them again just reminded her how much."
Henry nodded. "Yeah. Her parents seemed really neat, and not just because of who they were. It was pretty neat, wasn't it?"
Takato nodded. "Yeah. I mean, how many people can say that they've actually talked to TK, of all people?"
Henry arched an eyebrow. "You did seem a bit eager about that. I'd have thought you'd have wanted to talk to Davis or Tai more."
"Nah. TK always seemed more...I don't know, in control of things. I just put on these goggles to show the difference between Digimon and Humans to Guilmon. I did see your eyes light up when Cody stepped on the screen."
Henry shrugged. "Hey, I liked him."
"It's a martial arts thing!" Terriermon yelled from where he was playing. Henry shrugged helplessly. Laughing, Terriermon ran over, hiding behind Henry.
"Hey, where'd Rika go?" Takato asked. "She left right after the call ended."
"Home, I guess. I think seeing Akira creeped her out a bit."
"Maybe it was seeing a non-psychotic Rika?" Terriermon suggested.
"That was rude." Henry answered, giving Terriermon a light rap on the head. "Well, my dad's going to be out of town for the week, so I have to get home a bit earlier and keep an eye on Suzie. Later." Waving, Henry left, taking Terriermon with him.
==Nonaka home
"Rika? Is everything alright?" her grandmother asked. Rika had come home, said nothing, and just went to her room and sat down.
"Sure." Rika said. "I just need some rest, that's all."
"Did everything go well with Hitomi's parents?" Yuka asked. Rika had told her grandmother about Hitomi shortly after she had introduced Renamon.
"Yeah. I just need to let it sink in, that's all."
"Of course dear. If you need anything, just ask." The door closed, and Rika was alone again.
"Was that what I could have been?" Rika wondered aloud. "She looked so...happy."
"She was not you, Rika." Renamon said, appearing. Startled, Rika jumped up. "Now you know how the other tamers feel when I do that." she added wryly.
"Funny." Rika replied, a bit annoyed with herself.
"All Akira did was choose a different path."
"She had a Renamon too, though." Rika countered.
"I didn't see the resemblance." Renamon replied. "I'm much better looking."
"HI!" Calumon yelled, flying in through the window and tackling Rika. Behind him, Unown floated in, making several noises at Renamon, which she took as a greeting.
"C-Calumon?" Rika asked.
"That's me! Come on, let's play!"
"Wait!" Rika said, getting Calumon's attention. "What kind...I mean, are there other digimon like you?"
"Like me?" Calumon asked. He thought for a second, ears retracting as he did. "I think I'm kind of unique." Floating beside him, Unown chirped in the affirmative. "It'd be kind of weird if there was another Calumon out there. But I bet he'd want to have as much fun as I would!"
"You're alone?" Rika asked.
"Of course not!" Calumon replied. "I have Unown as a friend, and you and Renamon and Guilmon and even Impmon, although he's going on about something called data and how he wants my data, but I can't give him my data because I don't have any to begin with but he insists that I have data to give him do you know what that means Rika 'cause I'm really confused?"
"Impmon?" Renamon asked. "It seems he survived the takeover of Hypnos after all." she observed. "I did wonder about him."
"You and me both." Rika added. "Should we go after him?"
"I see no need. As long as Yamaki is out of the picture, Impmon should not be a major threat." Renamon replied. "I still cannot believe he and Yamaki are partners."
==Stone Town, Kyle and June's home.
"We're home!" Kyle yelled. A small Pidgey flew over, landing on Kyle's head. "Yes, I missed you too, Pidgey. Did you take good care of the place while we were gone?" The Pidgey cooed happily.
"Well, of course he did a good job." Eevee, perched in his usual position (Kyle's shoulder), commented. "Growlithe and I did give him pointers."
"A-HEM!" Elecmon grunted. "*Who* gave him pointers in protecting this house? I did all the work, while you just whined about the old days."
"That's enough, you guys." June cut in. "I think I'm going to have a light dinner, a nice bath, then turn in." She looked at her husband. "So, what are we having?" she asked impishly.
"You're in a good mood." Kyle replied.
"It's just knowing Hitomi's alright, and with friends. It was...like looking at us, when we were just starting out. I just know she'll be alright with them."
"Yeah." Kyle agreed. "Though that whole goggle thing is starting to worry me."
"Takato seemed nice." June said. "So did Jeri, for that matter. I think Rika was a bit put out, seeing Akira and Renamon. Strange that, both looking alike and having the same digimon for a partner."
"Alice and Dobermon were nice." Growlithe added.
"Yeah. So, that was Guilmon. That Takato's got some imagination. It's the first time I've ever heard of someone creating a digimon by drawing one." Kyle looked out the living room window. "I miss her so much." he whispered.
A minute later, June wrapped her arms around Kyle's waist. "So do I." she whispered in his ear.
==Monday, Tokyo
Hitomi stepped out of the bathroom, dressed for school. "I'm ready to go." she said.
Nami Asaji looked up. "Okay. If we hurry, we can catch the bus and get to school a little early. Eevee, Noctowl, behave while we're out."
Noctowl cooed, settling in for a nap. "Alright. Though I'd feel better if I went with you."
"We'll be fine." Nami replied. "If anything happens, Hitomi has her pokegear with her. She can call if something comes up." The two left.
With luck, they managed to catch the early bus. "Hitomi, are you alright?" Nami asked.
Hitomi nodded. "Yes, thank you. I just...really felt homesick over the weekend. I never knew how much until I saw mom and dad on the screen."
Nami placed a hand on Hitomi's shoulder. "Don't worry. I'm sure you'll make it home."
"M...maybe you could come with me?" Hitomi asked. "I think mom and dad would like you. And you could meet all of the children there."
"You mean that?" Nami asked. "I could...come with you?" Hitomi nodded. "Thank you." she said quietly.
The two got off near the school. Hitomi spotted someone running towards them. "Jeri!" she called. "Over here!"
"Hitomi!" Jeri replied. "Good morning, Ms. Asaji." she added hastily, bowing to the teacher.
"The bell hasn't rung yet, Jeri. Though I do hope you finished your homework for today." Jeri nodded enthusiastically. "You're early today. You don't have classroom duty this morning, do you?"
"No, I just wanted to get in a bit early." Jeri replied. "And I wanted to see Gabumon at the park, too."
The two girls chatted on the way, Nami walking a few paces behind them. She enjoyed the sight of Hitomi acting so...normal. No giant monsters or secret government agencies, just a normal schoolgirl.
She'd miss that the most when Hitomi returned home.
==Park
Calumon and Unown wandered around. They had challenged Gabumon and Guilmon to a game of hide and seek, and were currently 'it', and trying to find Guilmon. "Ooh...Guilmon is so good at this. Who'd have thought a big red dinosaur could hide so easily?"
"Hey, creampuff!" Looking down, Calumon spotted Impmon. He was about to fly down when he remembered Renamon's warning.
"I'm sorry, I can't talk to you. Renamon said I'm not supposed to."
"Not SUPPOSED to?" Impmon cackled. "Does Renamon tuck you in at night and give you a bottle, too? Come on, I just wanna talk, that's all." Calumon landed on a branch, well out of reach of Impmon. Beside him, Unown hovered protectively. "Come a little closer, I wanna get your data, ya flyin' jelly roll."
"I don't wanna!" Calumon replied.
Impmon summoned up a fireball, letting it hover over his left hand. "Get down here or I'll make you come down!"
"Renamon said that you're not much of a threat without Yamaki, so as long as I stay away from you, I should be alright." Calumon replied, utterly unaware of what he was saying.
"I'm...not...a...THREAT? GET DOWN HERE YOU LITTLE HAIRBALL AND I'LL SHOW YOU A THREAT!"
"I'm sure she meant it in a nice way!" Calumon answered, flying away with Unown. Snarling, Impmon chased after Calumon and Unown, hurling fireballs as he did. A minute later, Impmon came running back, Gabumon and Guilmon chasing -him-.
"Does this mean we're playing battle tag now?" Calumon wondered.
==Hypnos HQ
Babel checked the report in his hands again, and looked at the readout for the mainframe. "Still nothing." he said into a small communicator. "Whatever is causing that error message, it's not coming from the primary system. Could we have been hacked?"
"I doubt it." Reilly's voice came back. "Our firewalls are top of the line."
"Meaning that there's a big 'crash me' sign taped on the front door of our network." Babel replied sourly. "What's this thing supposed to be running, anyway?"
"It holds data for the prototype Juggernaut system. Isao was experimenting with it when..." Reilly trailed off.
Babel nodded. "Maybe we should wipe the system then. It could be that he left this thing running when the kids hit this place. That could explain what's eating up all the system memory."
"It's possible." Talli replied over the communicator. "I've checked it with every diagnostic we have; there's no viruses or other hostile programs present in the Hypnos mainframe."
"Alright. I'll have the techs wipe the mainframe core and reload everything. Babel, can you get Ramone on it? I haven't seen him around, and his office is near the mainframe." Back in her office, Reilly had a sudden sense of alarm, but quickly dismissed it.
"Sure. I'll contact you in a bit. Out." Babel made his way down to the mainframe.
The central mainframe was in what was referred to as a 'clean' room, the components being kept inside a totally sterile environment, free of dust, microbe, or static discharge. Operating and programming it was done through one of several remote booths, where programs could be loaded and deleted as needed. Yamaki, when he was here, had spent much time in the various booths, working obsessively to finish his ultimate program: the Juggernaut, intended to be the destroyer of all digimon.
Babel saw that Ramone's office was empty, the door left wide open. "Hey, Mike? You down here? Mike?" He wandered along, then gasped. Michael Ramone, chief technician, was -inside- the clean room, directly working on the mainframe! "Hey! Get out of there!" Babel stormed into the nearest booth, activating one of the speakers. "You'll wreck the whole system! Are you nuts?"
"No, just tired of this pathetic charade. You didn't think you could destroy all of us, did you? Certainly not with this human designed waste of data! MAKAWW!" Abruptly, Ramone's body seemed to de-resolve, and a smaller form appeared.
Babel recognized the digimon. "Makuramon!" he gasped. "Security! Intruder in the mainframe core! HURRY!" He also slapped an alarm button, praying that someone got here quickly.
"It's too late! I have completed my modifications to your pathetic weapon. Destroy us? Your little toy will enable us to destroy you! Primal Orb!" Makuramon hurled the small metal sphere, smashing through a wall, and entering another control booth.
Babel tore out of his booth, ran down the hall, and got there in time to see Makuramon exiting. "Brave, but futile!" Makuramon taunted, attacking with his staff. Angered by this digimon, Babel ignored all tenants of conventional fighting, stepped forward, and punched Makuramon in the face.
"Y...You...you hit me!" Makuramon stammered. "No human lays a hand on a Deva and escapes with their life! You and your whole world will pay for that sleight!"
Babel cocked his fists, memories of his days as a boxer came back. "Bring it, you wimp-panzee!" Enraged by the taunt, Makuramon dashed forward, murder on his mind. Babel sidestepped the wild charge, grabbed Makuramon's staff, and slammed the digimon into the wall.
Dazed, Makuramon stood up, leaning on the wall. "I underestimated you. Few digimon have ever laid a hand on me. Be honored, for you are the first human to join their ranks…in the afterlife!"
"Hold it right there!" a security guard shouted. "Don't move!"
Makuramon sniffed. "Please. I see that it is about to get infested with humans! So I shall go now, and capture my prize! MA-KAW!" he shouted, deafening everyone there. There was an explosion, as Makuramon's Primal Orb tore a hole in the side of the building.
"Prize?" Babel wondered. He then noticed the readout on one of the data panels on the mainframe. He ran over, read the information, eyes widening in horror. "Reilly!" he yelled into a communicator one of the security guards offered him. "Wipe the mainframe NOW!"
==
Upstairs, Talli and Reilly worked their controls. "It's no good!" Talli called back. "The system's locked up!" She turned and looked at Reilly. "What's the Juggernaut program doing? I thought it wasn't complete!"
"Looks like Makuramon finished it. How could I not have seen this coming?" Reilly said, staring helplessly. "I'm reading a power buildup! Babel, get everyone out of the core! Sound the evacuation alert!"
"Reilly?" Talli gasped.
"There's a lot of power being pulled into the mainframe. There's no telling what Makuramon did. We could be sitting on a bomb. Now evacuate!" Talli got up, and, after one last look, Reilly got out of her seat and followed her. "I'm sorry, Isao." she whispered.
==School
Lunch was nearing, and the class was restless. Nami Asaji glanced at her plan for the day, and turned back to the board. "Okay class, this is going to be a simple math problem. No groaning, Kazu." She hid a smile as she heard a quiet "d'oh!" from the back of the room. "Now, I want someone to come up here and solve this problem. Kenta, would you like to?"
Kenta glanced at Hitomi, who was paying attention, and got up. "Yes ma'am." he said. Now I can really impress Hitomi with my knowledge of mathematics, he thought to himself. He went to the board, ignoring Kazu's glare, and started working on the problem. "Is it 16?" he asked when finished.
"Yes. Very good Kenta." Nami said. Kenta grinned, and gave a little 'V for victory' sign, unknowingly aiming it at Hitomi. "Now please sit down, unless there's something you'd like to say to the class?" Blushing, Kenta did so. With a slight grin, Nami saw Hitomi's face go a bit red too. "Kazu? You seemed like you followed what Kenta did. Would you like to answer the next problem?"
Startled, Kazu got up, suddenly aware of the fact that he never got around to finishing last night's homework. Deciding to make a wild guess, Kazu put on an air of mock confidence, and started up to the board.
"Woah, what's that?" Takato gasped. Nami was about to reprimand Takato when she saw what had caught his attention.
Ever since Hitomi had been kidnapped, Nami had been uncomfortably aware of the twin Hypnos towers, easily visible on the Tokyo skyline.
Both towers were glowing green, and emitting beams of light into the sky. The fire alarm rang twice, then the principal came on. "Attention all students. We've just had a report of an accident a short distance from the school. Could all staff and students please follow the evacuation plan and exit the building in a calm and orderly manner? All classes please meet on the east side of the building, instead of their regular areas? Thank you."
"You heard him!" Nami called. Everyone got up, grabbed bookbags, and quietly left the classroom. Takato, Hitomi, and Jeri made sure they were the last students to leave the room. "I don't think you should go there." Nami cautioned the three tamers. "It might not be a digimon."
Hitomi's pokegear rang at that moment. "Hello?" she said. After listening for a few minutes, Hitomi looked up and said "It's Ms. Reilly. She said that a digimon infiltrated Hypnos and sabotaged the main computer. Then the digimon left, saying something about a prize."
"Prize?" Jeri wondered.
Takato thought for a second. "Calumon!" he suddenly yelled. "We have to get to him! Ms Asaji?"
"I'll cover for you." Nami said. "Be careful. I'll get Henry to meet you as soon as possible."
==Park
Calumon looked around frantically, trying to hide from an enraged Impmon. He had returned after Gabumon and Guilmon left, having said something about a digital field forming. "I said get back here!" Impmon yelled. Unown turned, and fired a bolt of energy, striking Impmon. He staggered, but recovered. "Nice try, alphabet-head." he taunted. "I've been loading a whole bunch of data, so I'm a lot tougher than I used to be. Now why don't you give up?" Leering, Impmon summoned up another fireball, intent on destroying Unown right there.
"I wouldn't." a voice behind Impmon growled. Turning, Impmon saw that Alice and Dobermon standing there. "Well, well. If it isn't a chew-toy."
"You want a piece of me?" Impmon replied, unshaken. "Then let's dance, doggie."
==Outside Hypnos
Reilly looked up, as the two towers of the Hypnos building glowed green, pulsing at regular intervals. Talli and Babel ran over to her. "There's no radiation detected. It's like nothing we've ever seen." Talli reported.
Dolphin joined them. "Actually, we have seen this energy before. I'm surprised none of you have noticed it already."
"What are you talking about?" Reilly demanded.
"Bio-emergence." Dolphin replied, causing everyone to blanch. "It looks like whatever that Makuramon did, it used the juggernaut program to create a rift between the digital world an here."
"You mean, another digimon could come through?" Talli gasped.
"One big one. Or a lot of smaller ones." Babel reasoned. "How long has this digimon been working here?"
"I don't know." Reilly replied. "He was always just...there. He really made a name for himself helping Isao work on the Juggernaut program."
"In other words," Dolphin amended, "Makuramon, in the guise of Michael Ramone, played Yamaki, and all of us, for saps." The energy pulsed all the brighter, and a bolt of green light shot out, arcing to a point a few miles away.
Takato, Henry, Jeri, and Hitomi came running. "We came as soon as we could." Takato wheezed. "I...WHAT'S THAT?"
'That' was a large, furry boar, shuffling slowly towards Hypnos. Gabumon jumped up onto a Hypnos van, trying to get a better look. "Vikaralamon." he whispered, stunned.
"You know him?" Jeri asked, incredulous.
"He's one of the Devas, a group of extremely powerful digimon." Gabumon replied. "So they did come here."
"We'll have to discuss this later." Reilly replied. "That digimon is going to destroy the whole town, and it looks like it's headed this way. Can you stop him?"
Terriermon nodded. "Sure. We'll have him whipped before you can say 'bacon and eggs.'"
"What's bacon, Takatomon?" Guilmon asked.
"Food, Guilmon, it's food." Takato replied absently, not thinking about what he was saying. Noctowl, carrying Eevee, arrived at that point, followed by Rika and Renamon. "The park!" Takato gasped.
"What about it?" Rika asked.
"Calumon's there, and Makuramon's going after him!"
"Makuramon's HERE?" Gabumon half-yelled.
"Is he another Deva?" Jeri asked.
"You know the Devas?" Renamon gasped.
"Later!" Henry cut in. "That monster's headed for Hypnos, and dad's apartment. We have to stop him!"
"But what about Calumon?" Takato replied.
"Hitomi and I will go help Calumon." Rika replied. "We can get there faster. Come on!"
"I'll get a vehicle-" Reilly started to say.
Rika shook her head. "No need. Digi-modify! Digivolution ACTIVATE!"
"Renamon, digivolve to...Kyuubimon!" Rika and Hitomi climbed onto Kyuubimon's back, and the two humans (and one pokemon) sped off, Noctowl flying close behind them. (Their story will be dealt with in the next chapter -ed)
"Okay." Henry said. "Now we just have to handle the giant pig. Anyone got any ideas?"
"Unless you happen to have a frying pan the size of a football field, no." Terriermon replied.
"The Devas are extremely powerful and ruthless." Gabumon said. "Our only hope will be to strike hard and not give him a chance to recover. Be careful; Vikaralamon's not very fast, but his furry hide acts like armour, and he can trap opponents with attacks launched from his mouth."
"You never told me about any of this." Jeri said.
"I prayed this day would never come." Gabumon replied. "But I swear I will tell you all I know when this is over. We should digivolve now, while we have the chance."
"Digi-modify! Digivolution activate!"
"Guilmon, digivolve to...Growlmon!"
"Gabumon, digivolve to...Leomon!"
"Terriermon, digivolve to...Gargomon!"
==Wong residence
Melin Wong looked around, worried by the sudden tremor that shook the apartment they lived in. "Suzie," she called, "get under your desk, just like we practiced!" Living in earthquake prone Tokyo did that to people.
"Mommy! I'm scared!" Suzie's voice came back. "There's a monster shaking the building! I need Tewwiermon!"
What is her fascination with that toy of Henry's, Melin wondered for the nth time. "Henry will bring him home soon, dear. He'll chase away the scary monster."
"I hope he hurries!" Suzie yelled. "'Cause the monster's going past my school!"
Confused, Melin looked out the window. Her eyes widened as she saw a giant wild pig marching in their direction. "Suzie!" Melin yelled. "Get your coat!"
==
The Tamers, minus Hitomi and Rika, ran towards Vikaralamon, Leomon recalling all he knew of the giant pig digimon. "So, are all the Devas this bad?"
"Most of them, yes. Ever since they started serving something called the True Sovereign. Who he might be, I don't know. All he wants is to destroy the digital world. And this one, from the looks of it."
"And Calumon?" Jeri asked. "Why was Makuramon so interested in Calumon? Because he can make digimon digivolve?"
"Calumon doesn't make digimon digivolve, he IS digivolution, given physical form. It was hoped that if we hid him, the True Sovereign would be easier to defeat. When I came here, I thought that the Devas could not follow; it's normally impossible for digimon above the champion level to come to this plane."
"Why's that?" Takato asked.
"Later!" Henry said. "We have to stop Vikaralamon now, before it's too late."
"Hey, aren't we near...SUZIE!" Gargomon suddenly yelled. Gargomon ran ahead, firing his weapons at the giant Deva, with little effect.
"Digi-Modify!" Henry yelled. "Power Charger, activate!"
"Gargo Laser!" Gargomon shouted, his weapons power increased in effectiveness. "Any TIME, guys!"
"Pyro-Blaster!" Growlmon lobbed a fireball at Vikaralamon, impacting in the same area Gargomon was shooting at.
"Digi-modify! Offense Plug in V activate!" Jeri called.
"Fist of the Beast King!" The combined attacks slammed into Vikaralamon.
The pig Deva turned, knocking over a small house as it did so. "Leomon." he rumbled. "I thought Majiramon and Antylamon had defeated you. Once again, I will have to finish what they started."
"What are you doing here?" Leomon demanded. "This is not the digital world! You have no need to be here!"
"The Catalyst draws us." Vikaralamon rumbled again. "We must have him, to purify the digital world, and, by extension, this one."
"By...extension?" Takato gasped.
"Humans created the digital world." Vikaralamon went on. "Therefore, humans must be purified as well."
"No....NO! FIST OF THE BEAST KING!" Leomon's attack slammed into Vikaralamon's face. "I will not let you!"
"You have no choice, traitor. Boar Bog!" A sticky black goo oozed out of the pig's mouth, trapping Leomon.
"Leomon!" Jeri yelled.
"Don't worry!" Takato yelled. "Growlmon, cut him out of there!"
"Okay, Takatomon! Dragon Slash!" Growlmon's attack cut some of the substance away, allowing Leomon the chance to free himself with his sword. However, Vikaralamon moved away, dismissing the three digimon as harmless.
"He's almost at my home!" Henry yelled. "Everyone, use your strongest cards! Digi-Modify! Machinedramon's Giga Cannon Activate!"
Takato nodded. "Imperialdramon's Giga Crusher Activate!"
"Metal Seadramon's River of Power, Activate!" Jeri added. The three champion digimon glowed with the added power.
"Giga Cannon!"
"Giga Crusher!!"
"River of Power!" The three attacks struck Vikaralamon, and the three tamers were momentarily blinded by the release of energy.
"Did we get him?" Jeri yelled.
"I think...no..." henry gasped, as he saw Vikaralamon continue moving away, a scorched spot on his side the only sign of the attack. "That was our best attack, and it did nothing..."
"Henry..." Takato whispered. "No. We have to keep fighting! Growlmon!" Roaring, Growlmon charged, slashing away with his arm blades. Getting annoyed, Vikaralamon twisted his head around, and launched a Fusion Ball at Growlmon, slamming him into a wall. Growlmon slumped to the street, apparently unconscious. "Growlmon!" The other two digimon, enraged now, started attacking wildly.
Takato ran over to his partner. "Growlmon...Growlmon! You have to get up! Everyone's depending on you! GROWLMON!"
==Hypnos
"Okay, we're ready to cut the power!" Dolphin yelled. "Babel, are you sure those lockouts you set on the backups will work?"
"Yes!" Babel called back. "Do it! Once we cut the power to the mainframe, we can shut off the Juggernaut program remotely, and maybe send that giant pig packing!" He wiped some sweat off his brow. "Man, Tao picked a lousy time to leave town for the week."
"Deal with it!" Reilly cut in. "Talli, anything?"
Talli looked up from the remote tracking van, which was able to track digimon within a few blocks. "He's still approaching and...my god, there's a huge power spike!"
Reilly glanced in the direction of the park, where Makuramon had gone. "What's happening?" she gasped.
==
Takato's, Jeri's, and Henry's D-arcs started glowing brightly; Takato noticed a small red triangle, no, a prism, spinning on the small screen. He had a card in his hand. As he watched, the card turned blue, resembling the card he had used to bring Guilmon to life seemingly a lifetime ago. The words came to him, as if he had always known them.
"Digi-Modify! Matrix Digivolution, activate!"
Growlmon's eyes snapped open, as he felt the power rip through him. "Growlmon, matrix digivolve to..." The other tamers watched, stunned, as Growlmon's body got even larger, his arms and torso were wrapped in silvery armour, as was his lower jaw.
"WARGROWLMON!"
Vikaralamon ceased moving, twisted his huge body around, adding to the collateral damage. "How is this possible? No one has digivolved since the Catalyst left us."
"Then call me 'No One'!" Wargrowlmon roared. "Let's do it, Takatomon!"
"Right! Plasma Blades!" The edged blades on Wargrowlmon's arms glowed bright blue, and the rocket thrusters on his back lit up, moving Wargrowlmon, slowly at first, but rapidly picking up speed, towards the giant Deva.
"How pathetic! Boar Bog!" Wargrowlmon simply ripped through the attack. "This is not possible! Fusion Ball!" This attack Wargrowlmon batted away.
Henry looked at Takato, noticing that his movements seemed to be matching Wargrowlmon's. Even now, the boy's arms were held out in front of him, as if he were the one attacking, not Wargrowlmon.
"What's he doing?" Jeri asked.
"They're linked." Leomon gasped. "What one does or feels, the other one matches." He winced as he saw Vikaralamon fire another Fusion Ball at Wargrowlmon, driving the digimon back. Takato's face seemed to reflect Wargrowlmon's struggle, and Jeri wondered why Takato was trying to bring his arms together.
"Leomon, attack!" Jeri suddenly said. "We have to distract Vikaralamon so Wargrowlmon can get through!" Leomon nodded, and began firing blasts of energy. Henry told Gargomon to do the same thing. As luck had it, one of Gargomon's shots caught Vikaralamon in the eye, breaking the Deva's concentration.
With a roar, Takato suddenly flung his arms apart, as did Wargrowlmon, shattering the Fusion Ball Vikaralamon was pushing him away with. Another swipe, and a huge gash was opened up in Vikaralamon's side, just above his eye. "Time to bring home the bacon!" Wargrowlmon roared. "Atomic..."
"BLASTER!" Takato completed. The two weapon ports on either side of Wargrowlmon's torso lit up, drawing in energy, then firing two bright red beams of energy, right into Vikaralamon's wound. The pig Deva roared in pain, then disintegrated. The beams of energy dissipated, and Wargrowlmon reverted to Guilmon.
"All right!" Takato yelled, running over to Guilmon. "You did great!"
"I'm glad, Takato. Can we eat now?"
Takato nodded. "Sure, you can...hey, you didn't call me 'Takatomon'."
Henry was about to say something when his cellphone rang. "Hello? Rika, what's..." Henry's face went dark. "We'll be right there." He hung up. "We have to get to the park. Calumon's been hurt!"
==Next Episode
While Takato, Henry, and Jeri and their digimon were battling Vikaralamon, Rika, Hitomi, and Alice were racing to save Calumon and Unown from both Impmon and Makuramon. But a desperate action results in Calumon being mortally wounded, and another digimon reaches the Ultimate level. Next time, on Digicross Tamers, Episode 17...
'Don't die, Calumon! Unown's fateful merger!"
Hitomi's pokegear beeped. Only half asleep, Hitomi got up from the cot she was sleeping on, and activated the phone. "Hello?"
"Hitomi? It's Hiroki. Can I talk to you? I have something I need to tell you..."
==
Digicross Tamers episode 16
'Wargrowlmon, defend Hypnos!'
==
Hitomi was a bit surprised, not expecting Hiroki to call at this time of night. "What's wrong, Hiroki?"
"It's...Well, you remember when Ryoko and I went to that other digital world, and met those other digidestined?"
Unconsciously, Hitomi nodded. "Yes, I do. One of them looked like you, right?"
"Yeah, it was Tomoki. But something went wrong there, and Ryoko, Izumi, and I are going back there to find out what happened."
"What?" Hitomi gasped. "Just like that?"
"It'll be alright." Hiroki said reassuringly. "Ryoko and Sneasel will be there, and Izumi as well; Izumi was able to find another spirit and evolve into a stronger digimon, and Ryoko and Sneasel have been practicing a whole lot since they got back. And I've been training with Armadillomon when I could get some free time, too."
"Hiroki..." Hitomi whispered.
There was a pause on the other end of the line, then Hiroki spoke again. "Izzy says he's nearly ready to try out the video connection with those people at Hypnos, but I can't wait for that 'cause I'm really worried about Tomoki."
"It's alright. You should go check on your friend, Hiroki."
Hiroki sounded relieved to hear that. "I just wanted to say...that is...when we both get home, there's a circus coming to my home town, and I was wondering if you'd like to go with me. I mean, could I take you to the circus some time? I promise, I won't take you on any of the kiddy rides!"
Hitomi stared at the phone, tears building up. "I'd like that." she whispered into the phone. "But only if you promise to be careful."
"I will." Hiroki replied. Hitomi heard some voices over the phone, muted and hard to make out. "I have to go now. I just called to let you know that I might not be here for a while. But I'll call from the other digital world when I get a chance."
"G...good bye, Hiroki-chan." Hitomi said into the phone. "Please take care of yourself and Armadillomon."
"I'll see you soon." Hiroki replied. "And Hitomi...? I love you." He said, then hung up. Hitomi sat on her cot, just staring at her pokegear.
"I love you too." Hitomi whispered back into the phone.
A few hours later, Eevee crept over to Nami, who was still awake and watching Hitomi sleep. "That was Hiroki, right? The boy that likes Hitomi?"
Eevee nodded. "Yeah. It sounded like he was headed into a digital world, and called to let Hitomi know where he was. It's a shame, I think she was looking forward to seeing Hiroki on Saturday, assuming Izzy can get all the bugs worked out of the video link system."
"She's only eleven years old." Nami said. "How can she have a boyfriend already?"
Eevee chuckled. "Oh, don't worry. Hitomi didn't even know it until Jeri spelled it out for her a few weeks ago. Even when they get back, they're both going to be spending a lot of time too embarrassed to talk to each other without looking silly and blushing a lot. Besides, I know Hiroki, and his parents. He'd never do anything to hurt Hitomi. Of course, I will be going as her official chaperone. Kyle'll probably ask Scizor to go with her too."
Nami nodded, smiling. "Well, goodnight, Eevee."
"Night." Eevee replied. "I wonder if Yohko was listening in...?"
==New Bark Town, Saturday
"Are they here yet?" Matt asked for the fifth time that hour. He, Mimi, and their two children were with them, waiting just outside of Izzy's lab.
Mimi sighed, rolling her eyes as she did. "For the fifth time, they'll be here in a few minutes. Honestly, Matt, don't you have any faith in Izzy?"
A young girl looked up. "He's just worried about Hitomi, even if he'll never admit it." Matt shook his head, shrugging.
"Yohko," Mimi said to their daughter, "don't tease your father. That's my job. You're supposed to be harassing your brother. Right, Taichi?"
Taichi Tachikawa shrugged. "Don't look at me. All she's been doing is eavesdropping on Hiroki's phone calls." Yohko blushed a bit, failing to look innocent.
"Young lady," Mimi scolded, "what have we said about that sort of thing?"
Yohko sighed. "Don't eavesdrop on other people's phone conversations. Unless I share it with you."
Mimi nodded. "That's right. So what happened?"
Inside, Izzy and Ken were doing the final calibrations on what Davis had once dubbed as a 'super-dimensional cell-phone', Izzy had called the 'Inoue/Kamiya Signal Drive system', and everyone else (Kari included) called an unholy mess that might work, or take the whole place with it when it went up.
To Kyle and June, it was their first chance to actually see how their daughter was doing. "What if it doesn't work?" June whispered to Kyle.
"It'll work." Kyle replied. "I've seen Izzy like that before. He'll make this work if he has to wire in his laptop computer and Tentomon to run it." Kyle smiled a bit. "I still can't believe he's got that thing with him."
"I heard that!" Tentomon yelled, watching several gauges.
"I was talking about the laptop." Kyle replied.
Eevee, perched on Kyle's shoulder, shrugged. "It's still the best reference source for anything to do with digimon. Is he done yet?"
"Soon!" Izzy called, standing on a stool and checking the wiring. "I just have to make sure I have this thing set to receive signals from Hitomi's digivice. I've had to guess a bit since she said her digivice changed."
"It'll be fine." Elecmon said to June. "We may rag on her Eevee all the time, but he's an... acceptable fighter. Don't tell him I said that, though."
"At least we can tell her where the digiegg of loyalty went." Growlithe added. "I never knew I missed being able to fly so much."
"A little too much." Kyle said. "You know we'll have to give it back to her when she gets back."
"I know." Growlithe replied. He looked up, ears twitching. "Sounds like Yohko got some dirt on someone...ah, Hiroki, just before he left. It seems he...oh my." Eevee, also listening, almost fell off of Kyle's shoulder.
"Hmm? What was it?" June asked.
"Later." Growlithe said, just as the Tachikawas entered the room, as did Kari and Kyoko.
June knelt down, and looked at Kyoko. "How are you today?"
"Fine, thank you." Kyoko replied. Her eyes were bright, but there was something in her voice. June hugged Kyoko, glancing at Kari as she did so. Kari shook her head slightly, indicating that they'd talk about it later. Matt and Kyle were talking, nothing significant, just small talk to fill the time.
"Are we late?" A female voice called, as three more humans and a pokemon wandered in. Caryl Kyashi, Ryo Akiyama, and their daughter Akira entered the room.
"Soon!" Izzy yelled, not noticing the newcomers, and feeling a little harried at this point. At his console, Ken shrugged to the rest of the people helplessly, then got back to work.
"I haven't seen you in years." Kyle said to Caryl and Ryo. "How've you been?"
"Oh, it's a been a nightmare." Caryl sighed over-dramatically. "Challengers everywhere I go, legions of rabid fans, speeches and guest lectures every few weeks. I'll be glad for a vacation. I don't know how Prima put up with it."
"Prima wasn't as much of a showboater as you, dear." Ryo said. Caryl stuck her tongue out at her husband.
"And how've you been?" Kyle asked Akira. "Last time I saw you, you were about 6 years old. You've grown up."
"But I haven't lost my youthful charm." Akira replied. "Renamon and I are too busy dancing to grow up. Hey, where is Renamon, anyway?"
Ryo looked over his shoulder. "Outside, with mom's Renamon. We're sorry we couldn't come any sooner Our ship was stuck in the Houen region, and the nearest city didn't have a working computer."
"We managed." Akira said. "Relax! We got a free plane ride out of it!"
"Akira." Ryo said. "This is a very important occasion."
"We know." Akira replied, looking at her partner digimon. "I haven't seen Hitomi in years! I want to know how she's been."
"Akira!" Yohko ran over to Akira. The two hugged, having been friends since birth. "I'm so glad you made it. You remember my brother, right?" She indicated Taichi, standing off to the side and feeling a bit overwhelmed.
"How could I forget?" Akira asked. "You CAN come over, you know." she said, inviting Taichi over. "We won't bite."
"Almost done!" Izzy called. "Kyle, June? You're up first, just..." Izzy stopped, realizing for the first time that there were quite a few more people in the lab than he'd expected. Kari sighed. 25 years, and he still hadn't changed.
==Hypnos HQ, Tokyo.
The tamers were all gathered by one of the screens, while Janyu, Babel, and Dolphin worked madly at the controls. In the Scanning Dome, Reilly and Talli were busy trying to reconfigure the equipment that normally detected digimon so it could do something quite different.
"Signal detected, I'm establishing a link now." Talli called.
"I have it." Dolphin yelled back, deafening Babel. "We're just running the signal through the processors."
Jeri glanced at Hitomi. "Are you alright?" Hitomi nodded. Beside her, Eevee and Noctowl rested on the floor, waiting for the experiment to finish. They were as eager as Hitomi to see pictures from their home. "I'm a bit nervous too." Jeri said.
"Yeah." Takato agreed. "I mean, we're actually going to be talking to the digidestined from the TV show. How cool is that?"
Rika sighed, a bit annoyed. "Get a grip, goggle head." she sighed. "They're probably nothing like the characters on TV." Rika shook her head. "We didn't come here for an autograph session, you know."
"You can't really blame him." Henry replied. "I mean, this isn't at least a little weird to you? Haven't you ever wondered what it would be like if you met Tai or Matt or Joe?"
Rika snorted. "I'm not the one with the goggle fixation here." Standing by Rika, Alice smiled, but said nothing.
"It's coming through!" Dolphin said, stepping back from his console. "Speakers and mics are on, we're a go!"
On the large screen in front of the tamers, there was a wash of static. The image cleared a few seconds later, leaving two figures staring at them through the screen that no one except Hitomi recognized.
"Mom! Dad!"
"H...Hitomi..." Kyle gasped.
"Dear..." June stammered. "You're alright! We were so worried about you..."
==
It took about 20 minutes to get the introductions out of the way. There was some guffaws when, on introducing Takato, Kyle's Eevee had asked what it was with some kids and goggles. It was when they got to Rika that things got odd.
"Come on!" Jeri whispered to Rika. "They can't see you from here!" She half-dragged Rika over to the screen.
"And this is Rika, she's the really good digimon tamer I told you about."
"Really? Maybe she could come here and help...oh." Kyle blinked, getting his first good look at Rika. "Umm...Akira? Could you come here for a sec? I think it happened again."
Curious, Rika glanced at Hitomi, who shrugged. Akira stepped into view of the monitor. "Hi, Hitomi! You probably don't remember me, but I'm Akira, we last saw each other about five, six years ago and OH WOW!"
Rika stared, stunned. Aside from Akira's hairstyle, pagegirl length, no braiding, Rika would swear she was looking into a mirror. Renamon darted forward, catching Rika as she nearly stumbled backwards. "You're...me?" Rika gasped.
Akira recovered, her usual personality coming back. "Nah. I'm *much* more graceful." she replied impishly.
"Akira." A voice off-screen said.
"Sorry." Akira sighed. "Hey, I have a Renamon for a partner too! Come over here! No, you!" A Renamon joined Akira. "My Renamon and I are dance partners. Do you dance?"
"D-dance?" Rika asked, still a bit dazed.
Akira nodded. "Hey, why don't we get together once Izzy gets the portal going between our worlds? I'm sure we'll have loads to talk about!"
"That would be interesting." Rika's Renamon replied.
"Great!" Akira said. "Can you bring him?" she asked, indicating Henry. "He's cute!"
"Gwaah?" Henry went, stepping back. Terriermon collapsed with laughter. Even Janyu had to hold back a few chuckles.
"What's wrong with Henry?" Guilmon asked, noticing that Henry's face was bright red.
"When you're older." Renamon sighed.
"I think I need to sit down." Rika said a bit weakly.
"Rika, that's so neat! You have a twin sister!" Jeri said. Rika looked at Jeri, expression unreadable.
"Maybe I should speak to the people in charge for a few seconds." Izzy said, cutting in.
"Oh wow...that's Izzy!" Takato whispered.
"In the flesh."
"Sorry, it's just...wow." Takato tried to stay calm.
"Call me Dolphin." Dolphin said, stepping into range of the screen. "So, you're really Izzy, from the TV show?"
"Yeah. Sorry, no autographs."
"No, none of that. Just making sure I wasn't dreaming. You're a pretty popular TV character here."
"I hope they got our good sides." Izzy replied.
"Well, Alice thinks you're hot." Dolphin said, smirking.
"DAD!"
"Should I tell him about the webshrine, dear?" Dolphin asked his daughter.
"DON'T YOU DARE!"
Kari leaned in, giving Izzy a chance to recover. "We arranged for a little surprise for your new friends. Care to say hi to the rest of the Japanese digidestined?"
Hitomi and the rest of the tamers gasped as the entire contingent of Japanese digidestined, and their children, started introducing themselves.
==
A few floors down, Makuramon worked quietly. He had managed to hide the alterations he had made to the Juggernaut system so far, altering its function from simply destroying digimon to a more useful end. He had managed to entirely miss what was happening upstairs, so focussed he was on his plan.
Carefully, he ran a test program. On a computer screen, a map of Tokyo appeared, dozens of small red lights appearing on the map. After a few seconds, the lights started vanishing until only one was left.
"Excellent. Now that I can find Calumon whenever I wish, capturing him will be that much easier. And I can dispose of this human-constructed wastepile all the sooner!"
==Two hours later.
Takato and Henry sat in the park, watching their digimon play. After the call ended, Hitomi had broken down, Ms. Asaji and Jeri offering to take Hitomi home for the rest of the day. Guilmon walked over to Takato. "What was wrong with Hitomi?" he asked.
"She just really misses her parents." Takato replied. "I guess seeing them again just reminded her how much."
Henry nodded. "Yeah. Her parents seemed really neat, and not just because of who they were. It was pretty neat, wasn't it?"
Takato nodded. "Yeah. I mean, how many people can say that they've actually talked to TK, of all people?"
Henry arched an eyebrow. "You did seem a bit eager about that. I'd have thought you'd have wanted to talk to Davis or Tai more."
"Nah. TK always seemed more...I don't know, in control of things. I just put on these goggles to show the difference between Digimon and Humans to Guilmon. I did see your eyes light up when Cody stepped on the screen."
Henry shrugged. "Hey, I liked him."
"It's a martial arts thing!" Terriermon yelled from where he was playing. Henry shrugged helplessly. Laughing, Terriermon ran over, hiding behind Henry.
"Hey, where'd Rika go?" Takato asked. "She left right after the call ended."
"Home, I guess. I think seeing Akira creeped her out a bit."
"Maybe it was seeing a non-psychotic Rika?" Terriermon suggested.
"That was rude." Henry answered, giving Terriermon a light rap on the head. "Well, my dad's going to be out of town for the week, so I have to get home a bit earlier and keep an eye on Suzie. Later." Waving, Henry left, taking Terriermon with him.
==Nonaka home
"Rika? Is everything alright?" her grandmother asked. Rika had come home, said nothing, and just went to her room and sat down.
"Sure." Rika said. "I just need some rest, that's all."
"Did everything go well with Hitomi's parents?" Yuka asked. Rika had told her grandmother about Hitomi shortly after she had introduced Renamon.
"Yeah. I just need to let it sink in, that's all."
"Of course dear. If you need anything, just ask." The door closed, and Rika was alone again.
"Was that what I could have been?" Rika wondered aloud. "She looked so...happy."
"She was not you, Rika." Renamon said, appearing. Startled, Rika jumped up. "Now you know how the other tamers feel when I do that." she added wryly.
"Funny." Rika replied, a bit annoyed with herself.
"All Akira did was choose a different path."
"She had a Renamon too, though." Rika countered.
"I didn't see the resemblance." Renamon replied. "I'm much better looking."
"HI!" Calumon yelled, flying in through the window and tackling Rika. Behind him, Unown floated in, making several noises at Renamon, which she took as a greeting.
"C-Calumon?" Rika asked.
"That's me! Come on, let's play!"
"Wait!" Rika said, getting Calumon's attention. "What kind...I mean, are there other digimon like you?"
"Like me?" Calumon asked. He thought for a second, ears retracting as he did. "I think I'm kind of unique." Floating beside him, Unown chirped in the affirmative. "It'd be kind of weird if there was another Calumon out there. But I bet he'd want to have as much fun as I would!"
"You're alone?" Rika asked.
"Of course not!" Calumon replied. "I have Unown as a friend, and you and Renamon and Guilmon and even Impmon, although he's going on about something called data and how he wants my data, but I can't give him my data because I don't have any to begin with but he insists that I have data to give him do you know what that means Rika 'cause I'm really confused?"
"Impmon?" Renamon asked. "It seems he survived the takeover of Hypnos after all." she observed. "I did wonder about him."
"You and me both." Rika added. "Should we go after him?"
"I see no need. As long as Yamaki is out of the picture, Impmon should not be a major threat." Renamon replied. "I still cannot believe he and Yamaki are partners."
==Stone Town, Kyle and June's home.
"We're home!" Kyle yelled. A small Pidgey flew over, landing on Kyle's head. "Yes, I missed you too, Pidgey. Did you take good care of the place while we were gone?" The Pidgey cooed happily.
"Well, of course he did a good job." Eevee, perched in his usual position (Kyle's shoulder), commented. "Growlithe and I did give him pointers."
"A-HEM!" Elecmon grunted. "*Who* gave him pointers in protecting this house? I did all the work, while you just whined about the old days."
"That's enough, you guys." June cut in. "I think I'm going to have a light dinner, a nice bath, then turn in." She looked at her husband. "So, what are we having?" she asked impishly.
"You're in a good mood." Kyle replied.
"It's just knowing Hitomi's alright, and with friends. It was...like looking at us, when we were just starting out. I just know she'll be alright with them."
"Yeah." Kyle agreed. "Though that whole goggle thing is starting to worry me."
"Takato seemed nice." June said. "So did Jeri, for that matter. I think Rika was a bit put out, seeing Akira and Renamon. Strange that, both looking alike and having the same digimon for a partner."
"Alice and Dobermon were nice." Growlithe added.
"Yeah. So, that was Guilmon. That Takato's got some imagination. It's the first time I've ever heard of someone creating a digimon by drawing one." Kyle looked out the living room window. "I miss her so much." he whispered.
A minute later, June wrapped her arms around Kyle's waist. "So do I." she whispered in his ear.
==Monday, Tokyo
Hitomi stepped out of the bathroom, dressed for school. "I'm ready to go." she said.
Nami Asaji looked up. "Okay. If we hurry, we can catch the bus and get to school a little early. Eevee, Noctowl, behave while we're out."
Noctowl cooed, settling in for a nap. "Alright. Though I'd feel better if I went with you."
"We'll be fine." Nami replied. "If anything happens, Hitomi has her pokegear with her. She can call if something comes up." The two left.
With luck, they managed to catch the early bus. "Hitomi, are you alright?" Nami asked.
Hitomi nodded. "Yes, thank you. I just...really felt homesick over the weekend. I never knew how much until I saw mom and dad on the screen."
Nami placed a hand on Hitomi's shoulder. "Don't worry. I'm sure you'll make it home."
"M...maybe you could come with me?" Hitomi asked. "I think mom and dad would like you. And you could meet all of the children there."
"You mean that?" Nami asked. "I could...come with you?" Hitomi nodded. "Thank you." she said quietly.
The two got off near the school. Hitomi spotted someone running towards them. "Jeri!" she called. "Over here!"
"Hitomi!" Jeri replied. "Good morning, Ms. Asaji." she added hastily, bowing to the teacher.
"The bell hasn't rung yet, Jeri. Though I do hope you finished your homework for today." Jeri nodded enthusiastically. "You're early today. You don't have classroom duty this morning, do you?"
"No, I just wanted to get in a bit early." Jeri replied. "And I wanted to see Gabumon at the park, too."
The two girls chatted on the way, Nami walking a few paces behind them. She enjoyed the sight of Hitomi acting so...normal. No giant monsters or secret government agencies, just a normal schoolgirl.
She'd miss that the most when Hitomi returned home.
==Park
Calumon and Unown wandered around. They had challenged Gabumon and Guilmon to a game of hide and seek, and were currently 'it', and trying to find Guilmon. "Ooh...Guilmon is so good at this. Who'd have thought a big red dinosaur could hide so easily?"
"Hey, creampuff!" Looking down, Calumon spotted Impmon. He was about to fly down when he remembered Renamon's warning.
"I'm sorry, I can't talk to you. Renamon said I'm not supposed to."
"Not SUPPOSED to?" Impmon cackled. "Does Renamon tuck you in at night and give you a bottle, too? Come on, I just wanna talk, that's all." Calumon landed on a branch, well out of reach of Impmon. Beside him, Unown hovered protectively. "Come a little closer, I wanna get your data, ya flyin' jelly roll."
"I don't wanna!" Calumon replied.
Impmon summoned up a fireball, letting it hover over his left hand. "Get down here or I'll make you come down!"
"Renamon said that you're not much of a threat without Yamaki, so as long as I stay away from you, I should be alright." Calumon replied, utterly unaware of what he was saying.
"I'm...not...a...THREAT? GET DOWN HERE YOU LITTLE HAIRBALL AND I'LL SHOW YOU A THREAT!"
"I'm sure she meant it in a nice way!" Calumon answered, flying away with Unown. Snarling, Impmon chased after Calumon and Unown, hurling fireballs as he did. A minute later, Impmon came running back, Gabumon and Guilmon chasing -him-.
"Does this mean we're playing battle tag now?" Calumon wondered.
==Hypnos HQ
Babel checked the report in his hands again, and looked at the readout for the mainframe. "Still nothing." he said into a small communicator. "Whatever is causing that error message, it's not coming from the primary system. Could we have been hacked?"
"I doubt it." Reilly's voice came back. "Our firewalls are top of the line."
"Meaning that there's a big 'crash me' sign taped on the front door of our network." Babel replied sourly. "What's this thing supposed to be running, anyway?"
"It holds data for the prototype Juggernaut system. Isao was experimenting with it when..." Reilly trailed off.
Babel nodded. "Maybe we should wipe the system then. It could be that he left this thing running when the kids hit this place. That could explain what's eating up all the system memory."
"It's possible." Talli replied over the communicator. "I've checked it with every diagnostic we have; there's no viruses or other hostile programs present in the Hypnos mainframe."
"Alright. I'll have the techs wipe the mainframe core and reload everything. Babel, can you get Ramone on it? I haven't seen him around, and his office is near the mainframe." Back in her office, Reilly had a sudden sense of alarm, but quickly dismissed it.
"Sure. I'll contact you in a bit. Out." Babel made his way down to the mainframe.
The central mainframe was in what was referred to as a 'clean' room, the components being kept inside a totally sterile environment, free of dust, microbe, or static discharge. Operating and programming it was done through one of several remote booths, where programs could be loaded and deleted as needed. Yamaki, when he was here, had spent much time in the various booths, working obsessively to finish his ultimate program: the Juggernaut, intended to be the destroyer of all digimon.
Babel saw that Ramone's office was empty, the door left wide open. "Hey, Mike? You down here? Mike?" He wandered along, then gasped. Michael Ramone, chief technician, was -inside- the clean room, directly working on the mainframe! "Hey! Get out of there!" Babel stormed into the nearest booth, activating one of the speakers. "You'll wreck the whole system! Are you nuts?"
"No, just tired of this pathetic charade. You didn't think you could destroy all of us, did you? Certainly not with this human designed waste of data! MAKAWW!" Abruptly, Ramone's body seemed to de-resolve, and a smaller form appeared.
Babel recognized the digimon. "Makuramon!" he gasped. "Security! Intruder in the mainframe core! HURRY!" He also slapped an alarm button, praying that someone got here quickly.
"It's too late! I have completed my modifications to your pathetic weapon. Destroy us? Your little toy will enable us to destroy you! Primal Orb!" Makuramon hurled the small metal sphere, smashing through a wall, and entering another control booth.
Babel tore out of his booth, ran down the hall, and got there in time to see Makuramon exiting. "Brave, but futile!" Makuramon taunted, attacking with his staff. Angered by this digimon, Babel ignored all tenants of conventional fighting, stepped forward, and punched Makuramon in the face.
"Y...You...you hit me!" Makuramon stammered. "No human lays a hand on a Deva and escapes with their life! You and your whole world will pay for that sleight!"
Babel cocked his fists, memories of his days as a boxer came back. "Bring it, you wimp-panzee!" Enraged by the taunt, Makuramon dashed forward, murder on his mind. Babel sidestepped the wild charge, grabbed Makuramon's staff, and slammed the digimon into the wall.
Dazed, Makuramon stood up, leaning on the wall. "I underestimated you. Few digimon have ever laid a hand on me. Be honored, for you are the first human to join their ranks…in the afterlife!"
"Hold it right there!" a security guard shouted. "Don't move!"
Makuramon sniffed. "Please. I see that it is about to get infested with humans! So I shall go now, and capture my prize! MA-KAW!" he shouted, deafening everyone there. There was an explosion, as Makuramon's Primal Orb tore a hole in the side of the building.
"Prize?" Babel wondered. He then noticed the readout on one of the data panels on the mainframe. He ran over, read the information, eyes widening in horror. "Reilly!" he yelled into a communicator one of the security guards offered him. "Wipe the mainframe NOW!"
==
Upstairs, Talli and Reilly worked their controls. "It's no good!" Talli called back. "The system's locked up!" She turned and looked at Reilly. "What's the Juggernaut program doing? I thought it wasn't complete!"
"Looks like Makuramon finished it. How could I not have seen this coming?" Reilly said, staring helplessly. "I'm reading a power buildup! Babel, get everyone out of the core! Sound the evacuation alert!"
"Reilly?" Talli gasped.
"There's a lot of power being pulled into the mainframe. There's no telling what Makuramon did. We could be sitting on a bomb. Now evacuate!" Talli got up, and, after one last look, Reilly got out of her seat and followed her. "I'm sorry, Isao." she whispered.
==School
Lunch was nearing, and the class was restless. Nami Asaji glanced at her plan for the day, and turned back to the board. "Okay class, this is going to be a simple math problem. No groaning, Kazu." She hid a smile as she heard a quiet "d'oh!" from the back of the room. "Now, I want someone to come up here and solve this problem. Kenta, would you like to?"
Kenta glanced at Hitomi, who was paying attention, and got up. "Yes ma'am." he said. Now I can really impress Hitomi with my knowledge of mathematics, he thought to himself. He went to the board, ignoring Kazu's glare, and started working on the problem. "Is it 16?" he asked when finished.
"Yes. Very good Kenta." Nami said. Kenta grinned, and gave a little 'V for victory' sign, unknowingly aiming it at Hitomi. "Now please sit down, unless there's something you'd like to say to the class?" Blushing, Kenta did so. With a slight grin, Nami saw Hitomi's face go a bit red too. "Kazu? You seemed like you followed what Kenta did. Would you like to answer the next problem?"
Startled, Kazu got up, suddenly aware of the fact that he never got around to finishing last night's homework. Deciding to make a wild guess, Kazu put on an air of mock confidence, and started up to the board.
"Woah, what's that?" Takato gasped. Nami was about to reprimand Takato when she saw what had caught his attention.
Ever since Hitomi had been kidnapped, Nami had been uncomfortably aware of the twin Hypnos towers, easily visible on the Tokyo skyline.
Both towers were glowing green, and emitting beams of light into the sky. The fire alarm rang twice, then the principal came on. "Attention all students. We've just had a report of an accident a short distance from the school. Could all staff and students please follow the evacuation plan and exit the building in a calm and orderly manner? All classes please meet on the east side of the building, instead of their regular areas? Thank you."
"You heard him!" Nami called. Everyone got up, grabbed bookbags, and quietly left the classroom. Takato, Hitomi, and Jeri made sure they were the last students to leave the room. "I don't think you should go there." Nami cautioned the three tamers. "It might not be a digimon."
Hitomi's pokegear rang at that moment. "Hello?" she said. After listening for a few minutes, Hitomi looked up and said "It's Ms. Reilly. She said that a digimon infiltrated Hypnos and sabotaged the main computer. Then the digimon left, saying something about a prize."
"Prize?" Jeri wondered.
Takato thought for a second. "Calumon!" he suddenly yelled. "We have to get to him! Ms Asaji?"
"I'll cover for you." Nami said. "Be careful. I'll get Henry to meet you as soon as possible."
==Park
Calumon looked around frantically, trying to hide from an enraged Impmon. He had returned after Gabumon and Guilmon left, having said something about a digital field forming. "I said get back here!" Impmon yelled. Unown turned, and fired a bolt of energy, striking Impmon. He staggered, but recovered. "Nice try, alphabet-head." he taunted. "I've been loading a whole bunch of data, so I'm a lot tougher than I used to be. Now why don't you give up?" Leering, Impmon summoned up another fireball, intent on destroying Unown right there.
"I wouldn't." a voice behind Impmon growled. Turning, Impmon saw that Alice and Dobermon standing there. "Well, well. If it isn't a chew-toy."
"You want a piece of me?" Impmon replied, unshaken. "Then let's dance, doggie."
==Outside Hypnos
Reilly looked up, as the two towers of the Hypnos building glowed green, pulsing at regular intervals. Talli and Babel ran over to her. "There's no radiation detected. It's like nothing we've ever seen." Talli reported.
Dolphin joined them. "Actually, we have seen this energy before. I'm surprised none of you have noticed it already."
"What are you talking about?" Reilly demanded.
"Bio-emergence." Dolphin replied, causing everyone to blanch. "It looks like whatever that Makuramon did, it used the juggernaut program to create a rift between the digital world an here."
"You mean, another digimon could come through?" Talli gasped.
"One big one. Or a lot of smaller ones." Babel reasoned. "How long has this digimon been working here?"
"I don't know." Reilly replied. "He was always just...there. He really made a name for himself helping Isao work on the Juggernaut program."
"In other words," Dolphin amended, "Makuramon, in the guise of Michael Ramone, played Yamaki, and all of us, for saps." The energy pulsed all the brighter, and a bolt of green light shot out, arcing to a point a few miles away.
Takato, Henry, Jeri, and Hitomi came running. "We came as soon as we could." Takato wheezed. "I...WHAT'S THAT?"
'That' was a large, furry boar, shuffling slowly towards Hypnos. Gabumon jumped up onto a Hypnos van, trying to get a better look. "Vikaralamon." he whispered, stunned.
"You know him?" Jeri asked, incredulous.
"He's one of the Devas, a group of extremely powerful digimon." Gabumon replied. "So they did come here."
"We'll have to discuss this later." Reilly replied. "That digimon is going to destroy the whole town, and it looks like it's headed this way. Can you stop him?"
Terriermon nodded. "Sure. We'll have him whipped before you can say 'bacon and eggs.'"
"What's bacon, Takatomon?" Guilmon asked.
"Food, Guilmon, it's food." Takato replied absently, not thinking about what he was saying. Noctowl, carrying Eevee, arrived at that point, followed by Rika and Renamon. "The park!" Takato gasped.
"What about it?" Rika asked.
"Calumon's there, and Makuramon's going after him!"
"Makuramon's HERE?" Gabumon half-yelled.
"Is he another Deva?" Jeri asked.
"You know the Devas?" Renamon gasped.
"Later!" Henry cut in. "That monster's headed for Hypnos, and dad's apartment. We have to stop him!"
"But what about Calumon?" Takato replied.
"Hitomi and I will go help Calumon." Rika replied. "We can get there faster. Come on!"
"I'll get a vehicle-" Reilly started to say.
Rika shook her head. "No need. Digi-modify! Digivolution ACTIVATE!"
"Renamon, digivolve to...Kyuubimon!" Rika and Hitomi climbed onto Kyuubimon's back, and the two humans (and one pokemon) sped off, Noctowl flying close behind them. (Their story will be dealt with in the next chapter -ed)
"Okay." Henry said. "Now we just have to handle the giant pig. Anyone got any ideas?"
"Unless you happen to have a frying pan the size of a football field, no." Terriermon replied.
"The Devas are extremely powerful and ruthless." Gabumon said. "Our only hope will be to strike hard and not give him a chance to recover. Be careful; Vikaralamon's not very fast, but his furry hide acts like armour, and he can trap opponents with attacks launched from his mouth."
"You never told me about any of this." Jeri said.
"I prayed this day would never come." Gabumon replied. "But I swear I will tell you all I know when this is over. We should digivolve now, while we have the chance."
"Digi-modify! Digivolution activate!"
"Guilmon, digivolve to...Growlmon!"
"Gabumon, digivolve to...Leomon!"
"Terriermon, digivolve to...Gargomon!"
==Wong residence
Melin Wong looked around, worried by the sudden tremor that shook the apartment they lived in. "Suzie," she called, "get under your desk, just like we practiced!" Living in earthquake prone Tokyo did that to people.
"Mommy! I'm scared!" Suzie's voice came back. "There's a monster shaking the building! I need Tewwiermon!"
What is her fascination with that toy of Henry's, Melin wondered for the nth time. "Henry will bring him home soon, dear. He'll chase away the scary monster."
"I hope he hurries!" Suzie yelled. "'Cause the monster's going past my school!"
Confused, Melin looked out the window. Her eyes widened as she saw a giant wild pig marching in their direction. "Suzie!" Melin yelled. "Get your coat!"
==
The Tamers, minus Hitomi and Rika, ran towards Vikaralamon, Leomon recalling all he knew of the giant pig digimon. "So, are all the Devas this bad?"
"Most of them, yes. Ever since they started serving something called the True Sovereign. Who he might be, I don't know. All he wants is to destroy the digital world. And this one, from the looks of it."
"And Calumon?" Jeri asked. "Why was Makuramon so interested in Calumon? Because he can make digimon digivolve?"
"Calumon doesn't make digimon digivolve, he IS digivolution, given physical form. It was hoped that if we hid him, the True Sovereign would be easier to defeat. When I came here, I thought that the Devas could not follow; it's normally impossible for digimon above the champion level to come to this plane."
"Why's that?" Takato asked.
"Later!" Henry said. "We have to stop Vikaralamon now, before it's too late."
"Hey, aren't we near...SUZIE!" Gargomon suddenly yelled. Gargomon ran ahead, firing his weapons at the giant Deva, with little effect.
"Digi-Modify!" Henry yelled. "Power Charger, activate!"
"Gargo Laser!" Gargomon shouted, his weapons power increased in effectiveness. "Any TIME, guys!"
"Pyro-Blaster!" Growlmon lobbed a fireball at Vikaralamon, impacting in the same area Gargomon was shooting at.
"Digi-modify! Offense Plug in V activate!" Jeri called.
"Fist of the Beast King!" The combined attacks slammed into Vikaralamon.
The pig Deva turned, knocking over a small house as it did so. "Leomon." he rumbled. "I thought Majiramon and Antylamon had defeated you. Once again, I will have to finish what they started."
"What are you doing here?" Leomon demanded. "This is not the digital world! You have no need to be here!"
"The Catalyst draws us." Vikaralamon rumbled again. "We must have him, to purify the digital world, and, by extension, this one."
"By...extension?" Takato gasped.
"Humans created the digital world." Vikaralamon went on. "Therefore, humans must be purified as well."
"No....NO! FIST OF THE BEAST KING!" Leomon's attack slammed into Vikaralamon's face. "I will not let you!"
"You have no choice, traitor. Boar Bog!" A sticky black goo oozed out of the pig's mouth, trapping Leomon.
"Leomon!" Jeri yelled.
"Don't worry!" Takato yelled. "Growlmon, cut him out of there!"
"Okay, Takatomon! Dragon Slash!" Growlmon's attack cut some of the substance away, allowing Leomon the chance to free himself with his sword. However, Vikaralamon moved away, dismissing the three digimon as harmless.
"He's almost at my home!" Henry yelled. "Everyone, use your strongest cards! Digi-Modify! Machinedramon's Giga Cannon Activate!"
Takato nodded. "Imperialdramon's Giga Crusher Activate!"
"Metal Seadramon's River of Power, Activate!" Jeri added. The three champion digimon glowed with the added power.
"Giga Cannon!"
"Giga Crusher!!"
"River of Power!" The three attacks struck Vikaralamon, and the three tamers were momentarily blinded by the release of energy.
"Did we get him?" Jeri yelled.
"I think...no..." henry gasped, as he saw Vikaralamon continue moving away, a scorched spot on his side the only sign of the attack. "That was our best attack, and it did nothing..."
"Henry..." Takato whispered. "No. We have to keep fighting! Growlmon!" Roaring, Growlmon charged, slashing away with his arm blades. Getting annoyed, Vikaralamon twisted his head around, and launched a Fusion Ball at Growlmon, slamming him into a wall. Growlmon slumped to the street, apparently unconscious. "Growlmon!" The other two digimon, enraged now, started attacking wildly.
Takato ran over to his partner. "Growlmon...Growlmon! You have to get up! Everyone's depending on you! GROWLMON!"
==Hypnos
"Okay, we're ready to cut the power!" Dolphin yelled. "Babel, are you sure those lockouts you set on the backups will work?"
"Yes!" Babel called back. "Do it! Once we cut the power to the mainframe, we can shut off the Juggernaut program remotely, and maybe send that giant pig packing!" He wiped some sweat off his brow. "Man, Tao picked a lousy time to leave town for the week."
"Deal with it!" Reilly cut in. "Talli, anything?"
Talli looked up from the remote tracking van, which was able to track digimon within a few blocks. "He's still approaching and...my god, there's a huge power spike!"
Reilly glanced in the direction of the park, where Makuramon had gone. "What's happening?" she gasped.
==
Takato's, Jeri's, and Henry's D-arcs started glowing brightly; Takato noticed a small red triangle, no, a prism, spinning on the small screen. He had a card in his hand. As he watched, the card turned blue, resembling the card he had used to bring Guilmon to life seemingly a lifetime ago. The words came to him, as if he had always known them.
"Digi-Modify! Matrix Digivolution, activate!"
Growlmon's eyes snapped open, as he felt the power rip through him. "Growlmon, matrix digivolve to..." The other tamers watched, stunned, as Growlmon's body got even larger, his arms and torso were wrapped in silvery armour, as was his lower jaw.
"WARGROWLMON!"
Vikaralamon ceased moving, twisted his huge body around, adding to the collateral damage. "How is this possible? No one has digivolved since the Catalyst left us."
"Then call me 'No One'!" Wargrowlmon roared. "Let's do it, Takatomon!"
"Right! Plasma Blades!" The edged blades on Wargrowlmon's arms glowed bright blue, and the rocket thrusters on his back lit up, moving Wargrowlmon, slowly at first, but rapidly picking up speed, towards the giant Deva.
"How pathetic! Boar Bog!" Wargrowlmon simply ripped through the attack. "This is not possible! Fusion Ball!" This attack Wargrowlmon batted away.
Henry looked at Takato, noticing that his movements seemed to be matching Wargrowlmon's. Even now, the boy's arms were held out in front of him, as if he were the one attacking, not Wargrowlmon.
"What's he doing?" Jeri asked.
"They're linked." Leomon gasped. "What one does or feels, the other one matches." He winced as he saw Vikaralamon fire another Fusion Ball at Wargrowlmon, driving the digimon back. Takato's face seemed to reflect Wargrowlmon's struggle, and Jeri wondered why Takato was trying to bring his arms together.
"Leomon, attack!" Jeri suddenly said. "We have to distract Vikaralamon so Wargrowlmon can get through!" Leomon nodded, and began firing blasts of energy. Henry told Gargomon to do the same thing. As luck had it, one of Gargomon's shots caught Vikaralamon in the eye, breaking the Deva's concentration.
With a roar, Takato suddenly flung his arms apart, as did Wargrowlmon, shattering the Fusion Ball Vikaralamon was pushing him away with. Another swipe, and a huge gash was opened up in Vikaralamon's side, just above his eye. "Time to bring home the bacon!" Wargrowlmon roared. "Atomic..."
"BLASTER!" Takato completed. The two weapon ports on either side of Wargrowlmon's torso lit up, drawing in energy, then firing two bright red beams of energy, right into Vikaralamon's wound. The pig Deva roared in pain, then disintegrated. The beams of energy dissipated, and Wargrowlmon reverted to Guilmon.
"All right!" Takato yelled, running over to Guilmon. "You did great!"
"I'm glad, Takato. Can we eat now?"
Takato nodded. "Sure, you can...hey, you didn't call me 'Takatomon'."
Henry was about to say something when his cellphone rang. "Hello? Rika, what's..." Henry's face went dark. "We'll be right there." He hung up. "We have to get to the park. Calumon's been hurt!"
==Next Episode
While Takato, Henry, and Jeri and their digimon were battling Vikaralamon, Rika, Hitomi, and Alice were racing to save Calumon and Unown from both Impmon and Makuramon. But a desperate action results in Calumon being mortally wounded, and another digimon reaches the Ultimate level. Next time, on Digicross Tamers, Episode 17...
'Don't die, Calumon! Unown's fateful merger!"