MERRY CHRISTMAS! (and Merry Christmas Eve to others, like me!)
Here's the next chapter (my gift to all you readers!) I hope you like it!
PLEASE R&R!
Disclaimer: Digimon Tamers (c) Yukio Kaizawa
Claimer: everything else (c) me
Chapter Thirteen: Prolonged Too Long
"Mmm…" Henry groaned as he opened his eyes, discovering that Kori had disappeared from his arms. Turning his head to the side, he saw that Terriermon was alone where he slept.
Hmm… where's Kori and Gatomon and Patamon?" he wondered, sitting up and stretching.
Suddenly, the door quietly opened and Kori stepped back into the room, dressed in a white t-shirt and dark blue jeans, holding onto her black dress, Patamon on her shoulder with Gatomon walking alongside her. She was wearing the Crest of Light around her neck, while a single blue jewel was set in the center of the metal band hanging around her right wrist.
As she noticed Henry was awake, she greeted with a smile, "Good morning Henry."
"G-Good morning," he replied. "You're looking a lot better today."
"Thanks," she said, folding the dress into a bag. "What are we doing at school today?"
Standing up, he looked at her. "Today's 'Track and Field Day', and so we're just meeting at the field next to the hospital."
"I see…" she murmured, her golden eyes dim.
"Is something wrong?" he asked.
She hesitated to speak, and she looked away as she put on her dark brown collared sweater.
"Kori?" he asked worriedly, his arms wrapping around her waist.
She refused to make eye contact with him, and looked at her partners. "Gatomon, Patamon, I need you to contact the other Digimon and tell them I need to meet with everyone at the field. I'm not sure whether this can wait."
"Kori, what's wrong?" Henry inquired worriedly.
She turned in his arms and looked at him. "I had a dream, a vision. Serena's sending out some dark Digimon out today. Her powers are increasing quicker than I thought. She must have found something to help her."
"Doesn't that mean you get weaker?" he asked, his voice filled with concern.
She nodded, suddenly hearing a loud, terrifying roar, waking Terriermon with a jolt.
"Come on, we need to get going," Kori said immediately. "I've already checked myself out of the hospital. We need to go, now!"
"Terriermon!" Henry called, the bunny Digimon hopping onto his head before they all ran out of the hospital in a few minutes, reaching the 'track and field' field.
A huge Digimon with a body covered in metal stood on the field, every step it takes causing huge earthquakes and footprints in the ground. Next to it was a Digimon that looked like a WarGreymon, but except it was gray-coloured, and it didn't have the Crest of Courage on its shield.
Both Kori and Henry pulled out their Digivices and looked at the data presented.
"Machinedramon, a huge machine type," Henry breathed, "It's a mega, not to mention its attacks are Giga Cannons, Dragon Fire, Catastrophic Day, and Infinity Hand."
"And that's BlackWarGreymon, the virus counterpart of WarGreymon. It's also a Mega, which is not fun at all. It can cut through anything, has incredible physical strength, and special attacks that we should take note of include Terra Destroyer, Dragon Crusher, Black Tornado, Ultra Tornado and War Blaster," Kori explained gravely. "Serena's trying to wreak havoc on this world. She must have some sort of interior motive for this."
"Terriermon, I think it's time we biomerge," Henry suggested, looking at his partner.
"No," Kori said immediately, removing her sweater and tying it around her waist securely so she could move better. "This is something beyond what we can just attack. There's something I want to try, but I can't do it until Rika and Takato get here too."
His grey eyes glimmered with hope. "The Golden Digi-eggs!" he gasped in realization.
She nodded, taking out a modify card from her deck. "Digimodify! Warp Digivolution activate!"
"Patamon," "Gatomon," Both Digimon were shimmering in pink and blue light.
"Warp digivolve to…"
"Seraphimon!" "Magnadramon!"
Kori grabbed Henry's hands as her wings appeared before she pulled him into the air with her as BlackWarGreymon's claw smashed at where they were standing. Terriermon pulled himself onto Kori's back and sat above her wings, holding on tightly to her dark brown jacket.
"Seraphimon! Magnadramon!" Kori called, "Hold them off until the others arrive! I'll need Takato and Guilmon's help for the next part!"
"Got it!" both holy Digimon replied before beginning to blast away and distract the two dark megas.
"Demon Scratch!" Kori quickly turned to just barely miss the scratch attack, the claws of her unknown attacker just deeply scratching her arm, causing her to accidentally let go of one of Henry's hands.
"Kori!" Terriermon exclaimed in alarm.
"Kori! Are you alright?" Henry asked as they began to slowly lose altitude.
"Yeah," she replied in a pained grunt, blood trailing down her arm as she re-grabbed his hand. "D-Damn," she breathed, "that Vilemon's claws are sharp."
Terriermon glared at the Vilemon. "Bunny Blast!" Bubbles of power flew from the Digimon's mouth and hit the evil Digimon.
"Ugh… dizzy," Kori murmured before they landed on the ground, nearly collapsing to the ground before Henry grabbed her against him. "Okay… sorry, hold on…" she mumbled against him, closing her eyes and focusing.
Suddenly her wound closed and vanished, the dizziness deserting her.
She sighed, pulling away with a smile. "All better. Before you ask," she said, showing him the gem on her metallic bracelet, "the gem in my bracelet can hold my healing power, which I can proceed to use on myself. Helpful, eh?"
"You sure you're okay?" he inquired.
She nodded before wrapping her arms around his waist, pulling him up with her as BlackWarGreymon's foot stomped upon where they used to be. Flying high above the two evil megas, his arms wrapped around her in return before they swooped down to meet with Takato, Rika, Jeri, Ryo and their Digimon.
"Hey guys," Henry greeted, "you guys made good time."
"Are you two okay?" Jeri inquired worriedly.
Kori looked back up at Magnadramon and Seraphimon. "We're fine," she replied quickly before looking at Takato. "Takato, I need to borrow Guilmon from you for a brief moment," she said.
"Okay," he responded.
"Be careful, Kori," Terriermon warned.
Kori nodded in the red Digimon's direction. "You ready, Guilmon?" she asked, pulling out a card.
"Ready, Kori!" Guilmon replied cheerfully.
"Digimodify!" Kori shouted, "Dark Digivolution activate!"
Black and red light surrounded Guilmon, engulfing it completely.
"Guilmon dark digivolve to… Megidramon!" The Mega dragon Digimon appeared in Guilmon's place, its red eyes raging, razor-sharp teeth dripping with acid.
"Megidramon, you still with me?" Kori inquired, looking somewhat in pain.
"G-Guilmon?" Takato choked in fear. He and the others remembered what had happened last time Guilmon had digivolved into Megidramon through Takato's anger and blood lust.
"I'm still me, Takatomon," Megidramon answered with a growl.
Kori's head swam as light and dark swam inside her mind, both the light of her Digimon partners and the true darkness of the dark digivolution of Megidramon embraced her, crashing into her senses. "T-Takato?" she stammered, holding onto Henry for balance, "T-Take back over control of Megidramon."
As she felt a huge burden being removed from her shoulders, she glanced up briefly at Seraphimon and Magnadramon and they instantly knew what to do. Five beams of light flew from them and landed in front of Takato, Jeri, Rika, Ryo, and Henry, turning into five eggs.
"W-What am I suppose to do with this?" Jeri breathed.
"U-Ugh," Kori moaned as she collapsed on the ground with exhaustion, knocked out.
"Just follow our lead," Rika retorted.
"Golden Armour Energize!" she, Takato and Henry exclaimed, Jeri and Ryo following in suit.
Golden glows surrounded their Digimon partner's bodies, and they instantly leaped at the two evil megas.
"Kori!" Henry exclaimed, dropping down to his girlfriend's side and taking her into his arms. "Kori, wake up."
Her golden eyes fluttered open and she sat up warily. "Dammit…" she breathed, "we have to go to the Digital World immediately after this battle. This can't be prolonged any longer."
"But we're not even ready," Takato reasoned as the others' attention was on the glowing Digimon fighting against the evil megas.
"Very well then," she sighed, Henry helping her up to her feet. Looking back up at how their partners were doing, it seemed that something wasn't right.
"Oh no…" Rika breathed, "It looks like both BlackWarGreymon and Machinedramon are about to use their most powerful attacks."
Kori tensed before pulling away from Henry before powerfully flapping her wings up so it drove her up in front of the two gigantic Digimon.
"Kori!" Ryo shouted, the others shouting after them.
"This has gone far enough," she declared, the Crest of Light bursting into a brilliant white light, as elements of water, fire, air and lightning spinning around her before the light exploded all over Shinjuku, wiping out all other evil-filled Digimon in the city.
BlackWarGreymon and Machinedramon cried out in recoil before they vanished into red data, being absorbed into the gold-glowing Digimon's' forms. Takato and the others shielded their eyes from the light as it was warm and burned their eyes like the sun.
When the light faded, Kori's wings dissipated away before the girl plummeted towards the ground.
"Ah! Kori! No!" Henry screamed.
Immediately Seraphimon and Magnadramon caught their tamer and brought her down to their friends before they de-digivolved back into their normal forms.
"Kori! Kori! Wake up!" Henry shouted, shaking her motionless body, "Kori!"
"She sacrificed herself for the rest of us and the city," Takato realized in shock.
Her eyes just barely half-opened and she looked at them. "What are you talking about?" she murmured quietly, "I'm still here. I'm not leaving so soon."
"Kori, you're awake!" Ryo exclaimed in relief.
"Just barely," she murmured. "Are the Digimon alright?"
The other Digimon popped into her view behind and in front of the tamers.
"Because of you we are," Gatomon replied.
"Are you alright?" Patamon asked.
Warily, she stood up, eyes scrunched close tightly as she tried to halt her dizziness. "Yes, I'm fine," she replied. "Now… Patamon, Gatomon, it's time we returned to the Digital World."
"Wait, what?!" Rika exclaimed, "You're just going without us?"
"I must go, whether with or without all of you. My return can no longer be prolonged, as it seems my friends and allies in the Digital World are weakening as Serena's power's grow," Kori explained, turning away. "First I must return back to the apartment to get everything I need and take care of a few others before I leave."
As she began to walk off, Henry grabbed her wrist, causing her to turn to look at him.
"I'm coming with you," he declared boldly.
Terriermon hopped onto his shoulder. "Hey, don't think you're leaving me behind!" he added.
The others chimed their agreement, causing Kori to sigh.
"Very well. Now… I'll give you all one hour to say your goodbyes, then we'll meet by Hypnos Tower or something. I need to console Yamaki about one more thing before we leave," she announced.
"Hey, why don't we meet at the hideout?" Takato suggested, "There's not a lot of people in the park, so it wouldn't be suspicious."
Kori pondered the idea for a moment before nodding. "Very well," she agreed, "we'll meet at the hideout in an hour. Ryo, your father already knows me, I believe, so I don't think I'll need to go with you. As for the rest of you, I will accompany you to meet your parents for a goodbye, knowing they'd probably be reluctant to allow you guys to come with me. Henry, your parents already know me, so we'll pop by on the way to my place. Oh… and if any of you run into Kazu, Kenta, or Suzie, make sure they don't come with us. I need them to stay here and protect this world if Serena decides to launch a surprise attack for some odd reason, though I suspect not, considering her primary focus will be on me."
Henry drew her against him and kissed her, softly and tenderly. "I won't allow Serena to hurt you, no matter what," he promised her quietly.
She gave him a gentle smile. "I know you'll do your best," she replied, putting back on her sweater-coat. "Come on, let's get going. First… we'll go see Rika's mother and grandmother, next, Jeri's dad, thirdly, Takato's parents, and lastly, back to the apartment where we can speak with Henry's parents."
"Got it," they all agreed at once before Ryo left.
As they ran to the sidewalk, two vans pulled up, Yamaki stepping out of one, Riley stepping out from the other.
"Kori," Yamaki greeted curtly.
"Yamaki, good timing," she replied, "have you found the mole?"
He dipped his head, removing his black sunglasses. "I'm afraid they escaped. They were the ones who were monitoring you. I'm not sure whether they've read through your profile, but I don't think so. He was kept under my personal surveillance," he explained.
"Good," Kori sighed, "we're heading to the Digital World. Is there anything else I'll need to communicate with you?"
"We'll have to find some sort of transport when you guys need to return," he answered. "Though we'll work out the details on that later before the time you actually return."
Nodding, she thought, Well… if everything goes well… I won't be returning with the others back here. "Oh yeah, I almost forgot," she murmured, taking out a piece of paper from her back pocket and handing it to him, "I need you to do a check on this person. Can you get me a copy of the file?"
Staring at the name, he looked back at her and replied, "Yeah. I'll give it to you before you leave."
"We're meeting at the park in one hour, you know, the hideout? Yeah, we're meeting there before we leave," she told him, "if there's anything else, you can find me there before we head off."
"Very well," he replied. "Now… I expect there may some business you all need to take care of. Kori… take the car, you still have your license, don't you?"
She grinned, "Yep, catch ya later."
"We'll take care of this mess," Riley added cheerfully.
"Thanks," Takato said.
Once Yamaki tossed Kori the keys, she gestured for the others to climb in before buckling in herself, starting the engine and driving off with great speed and accuracy.
"First stop," Kori announced, swerving around a corner, "Rika's place."
Well... it seems like their plans to go to the island are now cancelled. Ah well...
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