Chapter 3: Rockin' & InSPIREing
Crowds were lined up to see the Teenage Wolves. Tai, Sora, Agumon, Biyomon and Pikachu arranged themselves to view the event as well. "By the way, how did you get the tickets?" Tai wondered. Simple, Einstein, she bought them.
"You'll have to thank Matt for arranging this," she replied. "He knew that I would attend and told me that I had to beat Jun from asking you." Well, that wasn't expected. Sora got the VIP treatment. "I guess Ash and Cody were in the right place at the right time to help me through." Tai huffed a giggle, believing that she was a wreck when it came to asking him out.
"Well, you did say the right words to convince Tai, right?" Biyomon joked. Tai and Pikachu chuckled at the slight tease. Soon enough they arrived at the tent. That's when one grown man spotted the troupe ready to enter.
"Tai!" a man with a bandanna called out. The group turned their attentions to the upcoming adult. "There you are. Matt sent me to find you." Sounded like Matt was a bit nervous himself. But for what?
"Oh, really?" Tai hiccuped. "Are you escorting us backstage?" The bandanna man nodded before leading the group to the locker rooms in the back of the tent. Meanwhile, Ash, Cody and the lone armadillo arrived at an apartment complex. A knock on the door opened it, thanks to a brunette mother who was a little more round than Delia.
"Oh, you must be Cody and you're Ash," she identified. Ash had a bag load of presents. Talk about a shopping spree. Did he pick up something for the girls? "Ken and his friends are in his room. Please come in."
"Thank you, Mrs. Ichijouji," Cody politely accepted as he and Ash entered the complex. Soon enough, they entered a bedroom where the rest of the party was and the Digimon.
"You made it!" Kari gleefully cheered. Ash felt like he was one of them: a Digidestined. "So did you get your shopping done?" Ash held the stuffed bag. Yeah, he's done. That's when TK noticed that Pikachu wasn't with Ash.
"Hey, where's Pikachu?" he opened up. "I thought he would be coming. I mean, you two looked inseparable." It's only for one night.
"He's with Tai and Sora over at Matt's concert," he answered. "He'll be fine." Let's hope. It was a nice topic that Yolei wanted to know more about their relationship.
"Now if memory serves me right," she voiced. "You and Pikachu have been together for years with several Gym Badges. You two are pretty much an elite duo, it's like there had been no disagreements to tag along." Ash sighed, knowing the truth further from Yolei's fantasies.
"You have no idea what it was like in the early days and maybe some self guilt to tie it on." Yolei and Kari were a bit awed by what Ash was about to confess. "Then again, I bet you all had a disagreement or two with your Digimon, right?" Davis, Yolei, Kari and Ken gulped a bit, gazing to their Digimon. TK and Cody didn't really have that same reaction.
"Actually, Cody and I never really belittled Patamon and Armadillomon one bit," TK pointed out. "But I've seen Ken really make Wormmon into a useless sidekick when he was the Digimon Emperor. It was worse than when Gatomon first met Kari and doubted they were a team, Veemon criticizing Davis' confidence, Yolei ignoring Hawkmon's trust and Tai and Matt...don't get me started." Was it something in the past? Why would Tai willfully go to see Matt if there was a history between them?
"And I know why I ain't a gambler. Well, it was the first day of my career as a Pokémon trainer. I woke up late after I threw my alarm clock at a wall and got to Prof. Oak's lab in my pajamas. Instead of being there to get either Charmander, Bulbasaur or Squirtle which ended up in other trainers who quit while in the middle, I ended up with Pikachu...and let's say things didn't start out smoothly." From Ash's view of the past, he and Pikachu were not on good terms. How could it be? The way they've been acting, they appeared to be best of friends.
"I would doubt that you two were ever feuding," Kari huffed. "But I haven't been with you when you picked Pikachu." So what was the ordeal that Ash and Pikachu fail to see eye-to-eye?
"Well, Pikachu did not want to go on an adventure with me and he fought back. He was disobedient and refused to enter his Pokéball. But after protecting Pikachu from an upset flock of Spearow, he saw the trust in me and we became partners to which we thought would go forever and that was tested after dealing with a pack of wild Pikachu. I thought that the Pikachu needed a guardian and I was thinking for Pikachu's best. Well, not that I wanna say it backfired. It actually strengthened our bond. Other than a few disagreements, we've been quite a combination." Aw, that was nice. TK, Kari, Ken, Cody, Yolei and the Digimon were pleased with the story. Davis? Not so much.
"I was hoping for...I don't know, a few life-threatening moments," he groaned. What, you think everything has an adrenaline moment?
"You should have been there when Ash battled LadyDevimon," Yolei teased. "That's a life-threatening moment on its own." Kari and Gatomon bobbed nods to say so. Meanwhile back at the concert, a group on stage got done with a hit song, sending the crowd in an uproar of excitement.
"Thank you!" the blond male up front accepted their praise, even from Tai, Sora, Agumon, Biyomon and Pikachu. Pikachu was enjoying the sounds from the group. "How's everyone doing out there?!" More cheers. A happening party. That's when rumbles shook the ground, making the people stop cheering. What's going on?
"This can't be good," Tai wondered. That note sent Pikachu's senses to a new height. KABLAM! A black horned T-Rex smashed through a retaining wall. Behind it, a flock of white ghosts with spiky teeth. They terrorized the crowd and the band.
"DarkTyrannomon and Bakemon!" Sora gasped. Digimon! This wasn't good at all.
"We gotta evacuate the crowd!" Good idea, Tai. He and Sora ran over to the entrance, lifting the flap. The crowd scattered out of the tent and into the streets, the DarkTyrannomon and Bakemon trailing after them. That's when Sora remembered Pikachu.
"Quick, Pikachu! Use your Thunderbolt!"
("Yes, ma'am!") Pikachu squeaked. ("Thunder...bolt!") ZAP! A strong lightning attack from the small body made contact with the Bakemon, a good portion of them falling and covered in electricity. A redhead female with about the same hairstyle as Davis saw the rodent take out a good handful of the ghosts. Then, Tai turned and saw another black tower. He was shocked, even though Pikachu never hit him.
"No way!" he shouted. "A control spire? What's it doing here?!" That was what the Digidestined were tearing down before in the first chapter. Was there a purpose to these control spires?
"Tai, let me digivolve," Agumon ordered. Digivolve?
"That may be impossible, Agumon! There's a control spire here!" It prevents this Digivolving? "Pikachu's the only one we have working but we don't know if he could last and especially against DarkTyrannomon!" Tai was struggling with the limited options available.
"Tai!" the blond vocalist shouted as he came onto the scene with Gabumon. That must mean that he's Matt. "I can't get Gabumon to digivolve!" Tai figured as much. That spire.
"I know! There's a control spire here, not related to Ken!" That's when he remembered the other Digidestined and Ash were at Ken's place. "Matt, call Ken!"
"On it!" Matt pulled out a cell phone and hit buttons. Meanwhile at Ken's party...
"I'm sorry for your losses," Ash murmured as he gazed at Cody and Ken. There were...deaths among those two?
"You should know what's it's like," Kari, expressing the same symapthetic gesture to the two bowing head, pointed to Ash. "Latios and Lugia, Silver's mother." Ash bobbed, confirming Kari's study. That's when Ken's mother burst through the door, a phone in hand.
"Ken, someone name Tai told me to get you and your friends to the concert tent," she frantically explained. "Something about a big problem." Ash and the Digidestined gasped. There was trouble.
"Thanks, Mom," Ken snapped from his grief. "Let's go!" The kids filed out and onto the streets. Pikachu was facing down DarkTyrannomon who scoffed at the smaller...smaller rodent.
"You think that a little rat with an electric disposition will stop a Champion Digimon like me?" he snarled. Electric disposition?
("Don't underestimate me, you walking digital fossil,") Pikachu smacked. Who taught the mouse to belittle something 15, 20 times his size? DarkTyrannomon tried to claw Pikachu, only for him to leap clear and swing a shiny white tail and striking its head. The blow dazed the Digimon a bit but he recovered swiftly. Matt had to know that backup was coming. They had to stall the Digimon for as long as possible.
"I'd like to know what that was that Pikachu used," Sora wondered. DarkTyrannomon straightened himself out before he swung his own glowing white tail.
"That was your Iron Tail?" he snarled. "Here's my Iron Tail!" The swing, but that was off by a mile. Pikachu retreated back to Agumon, Gabumon and Biyomon.
"How about we combine our move with yours?" Agumon oferred. Pikachu nodded as the Bakemon swarmed in once more. To Pikachu, these were stepping stones. He bounced off one then another and another and another...slow down Pikachu! Let the cameraman catch up! The tail began to shine once more. The signal. "Pepper Breath!" Agumon coughed a small fireball which nailed Pikachu's lit tail.
"Blue Blaster!" Gabumon roared as he spat a blue stream of fire, striking the tail too.
"Spiraling Twister!" Biyomon screeched as she flapped a green swirl. That hit the tail as well. Finally, Pikachu's tail was red, green and blue as coats of his strengthened attack. He began to roll like a bowling ball.
"I don't think so!" DarkTyrannomon grinned. "Fire Blast!" That can't be good. It fired a larger fireball which was three times the size of Agumon's. It hit Pikachu but didn't cease it. Instead, the red fire became a violet color. "No way!" BOOM! Steroid-pumped Iron Tail was a successful strike to the head. The contact was so hard, DarkTyrannomon created a crater on the ground. If that was painful...
"Did DarkTyrannomon's attack fail?" Matt wondered. No one had a clue on what happened. DarkTyrannomon got back onto his hind feet and he was not happy about being a launching pad. But hey, who does?
"Tai!" sounded Davis...on a slick wolf-like beast in black, lightning bolt shaped armor. Dude, sweet. Along for the ride was Ash and Davis. The giant red bird was back and so were the flying horse and the winged sphinx and the man-bug creature too. They all arrived in time to help Pikachu out. That's when Yolei saw the problem with the control spire.
"What the heck's a control spire doing in Odaiba?!" she gasped. The giant bird might have an answer.
"Let's just destroy it and be done," it beaked. "Blast Rings!" The bird fired red rings from it's horns. The Bakemon ran interference and stopped the Blast Rings in a sacrifice.
"We need clearance!" Ken ordered. Kari was ready to heed the call.
"Nefertimon, multiple targets!" she advised. Nefertimon?
"You got it!" it acknowledged. "Queen's Paw!" From the cuffs, shards of purple stones began to shoot out and catch these ghost Digimon, knocking each down. The path was clear for Ken.
"Stingmon, go!" he ordered. That's when a purple glowing blade came out.
"Spiking Strike!" it buzzed. Stingmon punched the blade into the control spire which vaporized. That helped. DarkTyrannomon came charging back in. Without the spire, the teens were ready for more of the impact they needed as Pikachu regrouped with Ash.
"Did you help out, buddy?" Ash heedfully wondered. Pikachu helped plenty. Even Sora witnessed the power of Pikachu.
"I don't know what you feed him but he really gave us a boost," she praised. "Now leave the rest to us." Ash stood by and watched a new spectacle. "Okay guys, it's time!" She revealed a silver hand-held device as did Tai and Matt. That's when Agumon, Gabumon and Biyomon started to glow. Here we go!
"Agumon digivolve to...Greymon!" Agumon announced as he changed from a small dinosaur to a big dinosaur with a brown helmet that had a horn for a snout. That was cool.
"Gabumon digivolve to...Garurumon!" Gabumon called upon as he turned from a small lizard to the wolf from the pelt. That was a big blue wolf.
"Biyomon digivolve to...Birdramon!" Biyomon chanted as she became a ginormous bird of fire. Now all these Digimon and Pikachu faced off against DarkTyrannomon. Still, the large dinosaur wasn't impressed.
"You keep forgetting about the wave of Digimon that I'm able to inflict on you," DarkTyrannomon scoffed as a swarm of giant bees entered. Birdramon flew forward, not phased at the swarm.
"Meteor Wing!" she cawed with a flap. Clumps of fire rained from high and struck a lot of the bees. Ken and Davis scowled upon the situation. Their hand-held devices vibrated.
"Birdramon can't do it alone!" Davis huffed as his black beast had a moment of glow before turning back to Veemon. "Okay, Veemon. Let's digivolve!" Veemon began to glow once more.
"Veemon digivolve to...ExVeemon!" Veemon called upon as he became that same winged beast from before. Now Stingmon was joining in the shining. "ExVeemon..."
"Stingmon..." Stingmon named himself. That's when they began to merge together.
"...DNA digivolve to...Paildramon!" they bellowed in unison. DNA digivolve? Whoa. Paildramon: a taller version of ExVeemon with black mechanical armor around the legs, chest and arms. There was a red helmet with a visor over the eyes but he looked so awesome. Ash couldn't fathom what he was eying.
"DNA digivolve?" he gasped. "Whoa, when did you guys learn to do that? That's the coolest thing since I used Katie's Walrain's Ice Beam attack against her." Did Ash mean that he used someone's attack to his advantage?
"Desperado Blaster!" Paildramon began to fire ammo from guns attached to his hips. Each bullet tagged a bee, knocking them down. Then one bullet bounced off DarkTyrannomon, chipping off a piece of the scaly skin it was constructed under. There was a black plate under the chip and it looked reminiscent to the control spire that was already knocked down. To Ash, it wasn't normal.
"I may not be an expert on Digimon but I doubt that the overgrown fossil isn't who he thinks he is!" Was he...who he believed to be looking like?
"Yeah, Arukenimon must have used her Spirit Needle on a few control spires from when Ken was blooming them," TK informed. "We should have no problem with destroying it." So DarkTyrannomon was a phony. Greymon was ready to strike but Garurumon had to clear the bee swarm.
"I got the Flymon, Greymon!" it woofed. "Howling Blaster!" It breathed out a blue stream of fire and taking out the Flymon with ease.
"Thanks, friend," Greymon praised. "Nova Blast!" Greymon shot out a sphere of flames that approached DarkTyrannomon.
"Now I could bank on what Pikachu did but...Fire Blast!" it roared as it shot more flames at high speed which barreled into the Nova Blast. The contact ripped the Nova Blast and the fire became violet before crashing into Greymon who was propelled backwards...where Yolei was camping out watching her bird. Bad place, worse time. Ash saw it and Yolei, quickly rushing over to her side. The blast was so hard, Greymon was knocked out for the moment or longer. It stopped the backwards drag but began to fall backwards. When the shadow overlapped Yolei, she turned to view Greymon coming in for a hard landing.
"Yolei!" the bird screeched in panic. It was too far to reach her. It was helpless. Finally...BAM! Greymon crashed to the ground in heart sunk thud. "NO!" The humans turned to Greymon, unsure but quickly believing that someone was there before.
"Yolei!" Kari cried out. She feared that a Digidestined was lost. Greymon opened his eyes, viewing Ash...and two extra feet under him. Could his swiftness have resulted in him growing extra legs? No. What kind of world would establish that? Yolei was under Ash, completely unharmed. That was close. Breathing heavily, Ash tried to calm from that snapping sprint. She looked into his enlarged panicked eyes. This was the young man who saved her. He could've been crushed alongside her.
"You okay?" Ash asked. In a snap, Yolei grasped Ash's head. Was this punishment for his recklessness?
"Tell me...how this feels!" she scorned before...SMOOCH! Ash did something right to be rewarded...a kiss. It took a little bit for Ash to absorb but this may have been something Santa Claus could not have provided. Yolei giving Ash a winter long kiss...
"Guess I don't need to ask," Greymon joked. The bird saw Ash pulling Yolei back to her feet, much to the relief of him.
"Thanks, Ash," he sighed. Everyone regrouped...and the battle continued. Cody and Armadillomon haven't had any action yet. Give them a chance.
"Let's help out, Armadillomon," Cody suggested.
"You got it," Armadillomon agreed. Now it was Armadillomon's turn. "Armadillomon digivolve to...Ankylomon!" Armadillomon was no longer a small shell. It was the big shell from the beginning. "Tail Hammer!" The big shell swung its tail at DarkTyrannomon who got walloped. Greymon recovered enough to try and attack while DarkTyrannomon was stunned.
"You're finished!" Greymon roared once more. "Nova Blast!" BOOM! Nova Blast blew of DarkTyrannomon's head. There was no blood but the body soon shattered into billions of bits. The battle was done. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. The party amongst the Digimon was rockin' as the humans comforted each other. Kari and Pikachu dashed over to see if Yolei and Ash were good. They were...more than good.
"You guys alright?" she questioned the two. Yolei was nonchalant about it. Hey, she was the one to drive her lips home. Ash was beside himself. He was the one whose lips were molested.
"Yeah, yeah," Yolei tried to ease. "We're fine." Tell that to a blushing, flushing face of the trainer. Kari saw the look and feared that something occurred when Greymon fell and nearly crushed the two. She turned to Ken in a thought that maybe he saw what happened between them. She knew something had taken place. If only she realized how deep it would go.
'Why do I have a feeling that Yolei may be after Ash than Ken?' He saw Ken and hoped that he noticed the notion between the two. Right now, it was just Kari.
"Sorry about the party, Kari," he muttered. The party? The party was the least of Kari's worries. The sight of Ash and Yolei embracing each other was more or less a shock treatment that Pikachu should have provided. Ken saw the look of dismay. "Are...you okay?" That bit. Ken was blind to what Kari had been feeling about the rising situation.
"Never mind!" On that angered note, Kari stormed off and Davis got to Ken, watching her stomp off.
"What's wrong with Kari?" he blankly wondered. He wasn't the only one. Ken shrugged his shoulders in confusion.
"Davis!" the redhead, not Sora, barked out for him. Davis and Ken turned and eyed a rather upset redhead who came to Matt's concert. "What the heck is wrong with you? Anytime something problematic shows up, you're always involved!" Wait...anytime? Did that include..?
"J-Jun!"
"And why did I have to see that cute little mouse fight something that shouldn't even be alive?" Davis got blamed for Pikachu's fight? Ease off! Pikachu got to the pair and questioned the rage of her.
("Excuse me,") he squeaked as he climbed up to Jun's shoulder. Jun was a bit surprised to see the mouse that she was just talking about. Hey, speaking of Pikachu...where did Ash and Yolei stumble off to?
"Hey, how are you doing?" Pikachu chirped in a good sense, bringing a smile onto her face. "Well that's relief. I'll take you home and feed you." With that, Jun and Pikachu scurried off. Okay...
"So, are you gonna tell Ash that your sister has his Pikachu?" Matt pointed out. That would need to be told to Ash somehow. It was late and everyone had gone in for rest. Well, Ash should be able to head home. At least, that was the plan. Ash and Yolei actually looked well together in bed in a new area. Maybe he got the memo that Pikachu was okay with Jun and Davis...and Veemon, let's not forget him. Kari was still up in deep thought at a place of her own...with Tai sleeping in a lower bunk.
'I don't get it, Ash,' she minded. 'When I first met you, I was the one who kissed you and gave you hope when all of Pallet Town vanished, including your own mom. Sure when Silver's mother had passed on, you remained calm and during your battle with LadyDevimon. I even bathed with you after your battle with Pike Queen Lucy, even though we were clothed. Is it that you had loved Yolei this whole time? I need a straight answer!'
TO BE CONTINUED...