Chapter 2: Digital Crisis Abound
-Four million years later-
A world was teeming with lush rainforests and oceans and even deserts and glacial poles of all sorts of places. All was quiet and peaceful in this land as creatures of numerous kinds all roamed the world without any worries.
But within an area of grassy hills, darkness loomed. Up on the tallest hill, a tall black tower stood erected over the otherwise peaceful land. Its presence was accompanied by the spreading of black spores drifting all around it from base to its pyramid-shaped tip.
Any creature who neared could feel the effects these spores had on them, felt with a chilling and eerie feeling that could only be described as evil. These dark spires were a stark contrast to everything that this world thrived for.
However, as luck would have it, this spire was not going to stand tall for long.
"V-LASER!" The tower was hit with a powerful X-shaped laser cutting right through the spire and severing it into pieces.
Black soot-like dust burst out from the damage as the tower began to break apart at the tip. The tip crashed down on the grass as it disintegrated into nothing.
Up in the sky, the one creature, a blue dragon with a silver horn on its nose and white wings behind its back, who fired the blast flapped its wings as it surveyed the damage done. Behind him was a human with messy hair, a pair of goggles wrapped around his head and a navy blue jacket with flames. Grinning sheepishly at the creature, he looked at how the tower was still standing despite being cracked.
"Gee, Ex-Veemon…" He rubbed the back of his head. "You could've wiped it off from the bottom, then whole thing comes tumbling down."
"Don't blame me." snapped back Ex-Veemon. "My attacks are usually the bomb. Maybe I'm just hungry from all this flying."
"Dude, you're always hungry."
"Quit playing around, you guys!" Suddenly, the two were joined by a loud and rough female voice coming from their left. They found, as they turned, to find a girl just about the boy's age with round-framed glasses and a pilot helmet above her long purple hair. Her attire consisted of a beige army vest with a purple shirt with long sleeves up to her wrist worn underneath it, a pair of red jeans, and her hands covered in a pair of white gloves.
She was riding on top of a large red bird with a head of white feathers and two dark horns shaped like those of a ram.
"Hey! It's not like we're not trying, Yolei!" spat the boy.
"Yeah… Not trying to actually destroy the spire." Yolei shot back at him. "Seems to me like you boys are just showing off."
"Well, it's not my fault we're so cool with these slick attacks." The goggle-headed boy tried to be all proud.
"Yeah, Davis is the coolest guy around!" praised Ex-Veemon.
"Then why aren't there anyone cheering on you?" Suddenly, Yolei delivered a heart-wrenching insult before flying down to finish the job, leaving behind a bewildered Davis Motomiya to groan in frustration.
As her bird partner swooped towards the broken spire, he powered up his horns as they glowed to a bright red aura surrounding them.
"GRAND HORN!" The horns then fired a raging line of lasers towards the spire's base. The lasers cut right through the structure as fast as a comet.
The faulty structure now began to give way as it bent down and was about to fall to the ground. As the spire split up, it crashed onto the ground so hard that it eventually broke off just as its tip did, blasted into dust.
Eventually, all that was left was the bottom stump of the spire. But even that was not going to stay for long.
"ROCK CRACKING!" Suddenly, from under the ground, the earth began to shake violently as a set of drills bored its way out of the dirt and piercing right into the remains of the spire, destroying them and completing the destruction of the tower.
Once done, the drills dug the ground out and out of the large crater, a bulky beetle-like monster with six limbs and the drills attached in the main hands and his nose. He also had two very short wings, which looked useless considering their size and the creature's big build.
"Way to go, Digmon!" Then, a rather quiet and shy voice, but still sounded confident as best as it could, was heard, with the beast being complimented by the praise. The voice came from a smaller boy with short hair and was wearing a beige tunic dropping down to his short knees, with a collar wrapped around with a red line.
"Just doin' what diggers to best, Cody!"
"Now that's how you take care of a Control Spire, Davis." Yolei teased the boy again, earning a disgruntled huff from him.
With the dark Control Spire toppled, the giant flyers landed back on the ground, dropping off their human partners down. The human children then all converged together. Just then, their huge creatures soon began to glow in a bright yellow light before shrinking down to size. When the light vanished, they were revealed to have been transformed into smaller less dangerous-looking creatures; a humanoid-lizard creature of blue skin with a tiny horn sticking out of his snout, a smaller red bird with a feather strapped into a black sash around his forehead; and a golden armadillo with a purple underbelly. AS they spoke, their voices had also changed to more youthful tones.
"Well. Looks like our work here's done, everybody!" The blue creature, Veemon, cheered, before holding his stomach. "Can we go eat now?"
"Yeah." The armadillo critter named Armadillomon agreed, speaking with a Texan accent. "I've been cramming for somethin' sweet and crunchy."
"You and your obsessions for Earth cookies, Armadillomon." mocked Hawkmon, the red bird, playfully, with a British voice. "It's a wonder you're so strong after consuming those fattening snacks."
"When you gotta eat, you gotta eat. The sweeter, the better!"
As the playful conversation of food continued, the humans were having their own talk, though under not-so friendly circumstances.
"Admit it, Davis." Yolei began. "You don't have to look awesome to do your job."
"Come on, Yolei." argued Davis. "I was going to finish up the spire with a few more shots. Besides, it's not like any other bad guy is going to come in and take them as their own. These things are practically useless right now."
"The sooner we get rid of the dark spires, the better." said Cody. "Those things still give me the creeps. And I can say this for all the other Digimon."
As they continued to converse, they began to walk away from the destruction of the spire, accompanied by their Digimon partners.
Another day of hard work had gone by, and the trio had come out victorious. Their job to defend this world was starting to extinguish the flames of evil that once plagued it. It was their sworn duty after all. They were the DigiDestined, in the strange Digital World of Digimon.
Somewhere further away, another Control Spire was taken down. This time, three more DigiDestined were at work in destroying it.
A boy with a green shirt with long yellow sleeves and a white hat atop a Pegasus-like creature glad in golden armour.
A girl in a pink and white sleeveless shirt about two thirds of the boy's size riding on a sphinx-like Digimon, white in colour with its front yellow paws worn with a pair of white armour pads.
And finally, another boy with neatly combed black hair wearing a slick grey jacket on top of the right shoulder of a humanoid bug with spikes on its shoulders and huge wings beating rapidly.
They flew down back to the ground, landing down as they let their friends on board come down on their feet. The Digimon too had devolve into much smaller forms, a small rodent-like winged Digimon shaped like a little pig, a cat who could stand on two legs and had a golden ring on her tail, and a worm with purple jaws and a larger pair of frontal claws.
"And another tower bites the dust." said the boy with the hat, T.K.
"And another speck of Malomyotismon's legacy wiped out." added his faithful partner, Patamon.
"Yeah…" The neat boy, Ken, sighed sadly, catching the attention of the girl named Kari.
"What's wrong, Ken?" she asked worriedly.
"You look like a cat waiting for the mouse to come out of his hole for months." quirked Gatomon, Kari's cat Digimon.
Ken shook his head and gave a small smile to the two others, but somehow they knew it was forced. The curves of his brows said it all.
"N-Nothing, guys. I'm cool." But as he turned his head around, the two children decided to check on him. It was then they saw his smile turn upside down again. If they had to guess, there was one thing that did trouble him.
"Ken?" The boy's partner, Wormmon, wriggled up to him, clutching his leg and called for his friend, worried himself. "Is there really nothing bothering you?"
Ken could just stare at his partner in sadness, reminding him of his tragic past.
As it happened, this boy, Ken Ichijouji, was the one responsible for the darkness that consumed the Digital World before, becoming the so-called Digimon Emperor and reigning terror upon the world. But he was only a puppet for the true darkness that was MaloMyotismon, who had planted the seeds, literally, to absolute chaos.
By looking as his always-concerned Digimon, it had always reminded him of the horrible treatment he had inflicted on the poor Wormmon, whipping him whenever he was annoyed by his presence, but Wormmon would always come back, constantly worried for his 'Master', and that brought the inner pain to even bigger heights when he had to remember more of the whippings.
Up to this day, he, a changed man now, grew to regret the horrible deeds he had done. The memories haunted him, even as he finally chose the right side and defeated the very evil he helped create.
The memories caused him to shed tears every time, and now was no exception.
"Oh, Ken…" Wormmon then buried his head on his Master's…
No.
His friend's leg, catching Ken by surprise.
"I know what's bothering you. You're still upset that you helped cause all of this."
Ken did not want to lie anymore. Wormmon was right. Being the Digimon Emperor had left a very sour note in his life. A time he wished did not happen. Shedding more tears, he bent down on his feet and gave Wormmon a soothing hug.
"You're right, Wormmon." He sniffed while Wormmon also started crying. "I… I just wished I didn't let this happen."
The others present were also concerned for Ken. They were always there by his side once he joined the DigiDestined and they weren't going to stop now. They came to his side, hoping to comfort him; to remind him that his becoming as one of the DigiDestined was meant to be.
"If you weren't there, then you wouldn't be able to help us." reminded T.K. "There was a good reason you were chosen to be one of us."
"T. K's right." agreed Kari. "Even if you didn't grab that Digivice, Myotismon would always find to come back anyhow."
"Yeah. Trust me." Gatomon brought up her experience with the evil Digimon. "Knowing him, he'd be creeping around anyone's shadow like a panther in the night to get his revenge. Take it from me, a former slave of his tainted evil." She clenched her paws in, still angry at how the evil Digimon used to force her to do no good.
"Please don't be upset, Ken." said Patamon. "You did redeem yourself after all. If it weren't for you, we wouldn't be here, just like what Kari said earlier."
Ken then looked around at this wonderful menagerie of people and Digimon he had befriended before turning to the one friend who never left his side.
"You see, Ken. Your friends are there for you. Just as I am. Always." Wormmon mustered a good smile for him.
With his friends cheering, his spirits were lifted again. And from that moment, he would do his best to not let the past haunt him. Rubbing his eyes, he gave a firm nod and a real smile.
"Thanks everyone." As things were now settled, it was time to re-join with the others.
With Ken out at the front with Wormmon in his arms, TK and Kari, with Patamon on the boy's hat and Gatomon being carried in Kari's arms too, were talking amongst themselves.
Among all of the DigiDestined, these two had more experience of how Digimon work, with TK being the most experienced, as they were part of an original team who had their own problems with Myotismon and more. Practically, there was never a moment when either one would show up. Thanks to their experiences, the two had become quite close. Very close.
"Phew…" TK sighed. "I should really hit the hay tonight, but by the time we arrive back home, it's still afternoon."
"You can't argue with a good daytime nap, though." cheered Patamon.
"Maybe you're right. At least we're not keeping us being DigiDestined a secret from our parents. They'll understand."
"But don't forget." said Kari. "We still have to plan for the next semester. And I want to make sure we're all picture perfect when we're at school again."
"You can do that." TK winked. "But me and Patamon are going to spend the rest of the holidays just relaxing from our battle against the darkness."
"Fine. Your loss." The two then looked up at the sky, reminiscing about all the times they had fighting evil.
"How long has it been since we've been fighting bad guys, Patamon?" he asked his old friend.
"Since I was a little ball of fluff." joked Patamon causing TK to grin.
"Very funny."
"I'll say." added Kari. "You two are like the veterans of this whole thing."
"Hey, you were there too when we fought Myotismon."
"Still, I can't deny that you were the one who had the most experience out of all of us." Kari had her hands behind her back as she continued to praise her best friend's background with the DigiDestined business. TK could not help but feel a little flustered by the comments he was getting.
"And that goes to that little piggy up on your head." Gatomon smirked as she teased the boy's Digimon partner.
"Oh haha." Patamon sarcastically laughed. "Like you're a good kitty cat yourself."
The Digimon then went on to argue at each other as Patamon flew away from TK's head and Gatomon jumped out of Kari's arms to walk alone, with Patamon bugging her away.
This exchange, however, only earned giggles from their human partners. knowing them, they'll make up somehow.
Soon, the sun set down from the horizon as dusk came, painting the whole scene in a blend of orange and purple, while the two continued to look back at their long adventures. Ken and Wormmon were still talking to each other contently and their Digimon were still exchanging insults that turned into playful chasing.
"It's been such a long journey for us, huh?" TK spoke.
"Yeah…" Kari nodded in agreement. She was quiet for a while, feeling grateful for some reason. "Hey, TK?"
The boy faced her after she called him. He could see a small tint of red on her cheeks and a slight hint of shyness on her face, while he wondered what she was about to say.
"I just want to say…"
"Say what?" The boy grew curious as she shrugged back to her bright smile.
"Thanks." TK could not find the reason to her thanks.
"What for?"
"For watching out for m- I mean us." She bit her tongue as if she had accidentally said something that did not need to come out from her mouth. Or did it?
"Well, you've been backing us up ever since we started this. And I just wanna say for all of us, that, TK, you're awesome."
TK could have sworn he was giving her the biggest smile he could ever give her. After everything that had happened to him in the past few years, it was really a good feeling to hear that he was playing such an important role to his team.
"Gee, thanks." He rubbed the back of his head, feeling a little bit sheepish himself. "I really appreciate that." Just when Kari thought it was going to end right there…
"Actually, I would like to thank you too."
"Huh?" It was now Kari's turn to fall curious.
"Well, I… uh… really kinda like having you around to fight my battles with me. I'm really glad to have you as my friend."
Kari was blushing intensively, though she did her best to hide it from TK. That was just TK for you. He was just so kind to people and surely knew how to wow people. Maybe he'll be a chick magnet one day.
"Wait!" She shook her head trying to shake off her thoughts. "No! That was so wrong! Why did I just think that?"
"Huh?"
But then, something else went in her mind. This time unfortunately, instead of another happy feeling, this was far from anything good.
"What the?" Suddenly, Kari could see an unusual occurrence happening around her. The first thing she saw was that the beautiful colour of the sun set was being greyed out completely as the scene was now completely devoid of any colour.
"What's happening, TK?" She tried to call upon her friend, but to her horror, when she looked to where he was standing, he was gone.
"TK?" Panicking, she looked for the rest of her company, only to find that they, too, were no more. She was all alone in the darkness.
"What is this?!" Getting more fearful, the girl could not move a muscle, frozen in absolute fear. The whole land around her was grey and black with not a single form of colour, not even on herself as she looked at her hands.
"This…" However, as it so happened, this was not anything new to her. This was something she had experienced before and as always, there was nothing in her heart… "…can't be…"
… except fear…
"No… No… NO… NO NO NO!" She crouched down, shaking all around. Her body was completely numb with consuming terror and her heart being stabbed with the agony of her fear of the darkness. The enemy of light had struck her hard.
It was only about to get worse for her…
~THIS IS THE BEGINNING OF THE END~
A bone chilling voice, low and rough, sent more chills down her spine. Unable to move her body, she could only turn her head from side to side, looking for whatever was agitating her.
"W-wh-Who… Who's there?!" She frantically called out.
~YOU SHALL KNOW PAIN AND SUFFERING BEYOND YOUR WILDEST IMAGINATIONS~
Eyes now widened, she began to feel more and more scared to the core. And then, another big blow came.
In front of her pale face, two giant red eyes opened right there. Two bloody red eyes furrowed in anger, spreading a painful feeling to her heart, but the fear was so strong that she could not even cringe from that stabbing feeling.
There was nothing more she could do, but listen to the voice as it continued to pummel her with unlimited fear.
~THE DEMON SHALL BE REBORN TO ASCEND THE FALLEN FROM THE ASHES! AND THEY SHALL SMITE THE WORLD OF PEACE AND GOOD~
~UNTIL THERE IS NO HOPE, NO LIGHT, NO DREAMS, NO PEACE, AND NO FREEDOM~
~DARKNESS SHALL REIGN AND YOU SHALL FALL TO THE OBSERVER OF CHAOS ~
~YOU SHALL PERISH~
~YOUR FRIENDS WILL SUFFER~
~ YOUR WORLDS…~
Finally, to complete her utmost shock, the eyes burst open with a powerful chilling force blowing right at her.
WILL BURN! ~
The red eyes soon brightened up in a brilliant flash, blinding the girl as the fear overwhelmed her to her fullest, causing her to suddenly blacken out.
"AAAAHHH!"
"Kari!" TK watched as Kari, after being still with sudden fear, being knocked back with a powerful scream, prompting everyone else to shout out to her as well.
As her body fell, TK quickly took hold of the body before it crashed down. Ken and the other Digimon rushed to their side.
"Kari?! What happened?!" Gatomon was riddled with fear as her DigiDestined partner fell unconscious from her sudden fall.
"She's knocked out cold! ICE COLD!" Patamon could not help himself as he flew around in a panic.
"Oh no…" Then, Ken crouched down to feel her head, only to feel a sudden chill in his spine as well.
"What's the matter, Ken?" Wormmon looked to his friend, noticing a slightly less fearful face on Ken, with his irises shrinking.
"It's… no… Not again."
"What again?" TK too, desperate for answers, called out to Ken. Fortunately, Ken was still conscious enough to answer him, but the answer was probably not what he wanted. Not at a time like this, when they were just finished with their battle against evil forces.
"It's… the darkness…"
In a frantic rush, everyone had regrouped, with the rest of the DigiDestined now completely in shock about what happened to Kari, especially Davis, who was pushing himself off the edge all the way back home.
In a computer room, in another world, a computer screen began to light up a ray beam which then fired orbs of energy at the floor.
The orbs became larger and from out of them, the forms of the DigiDestined, now in changed clothes, and the Digimon, with some of them now in even smaller forms except for Patamon and Gatomon, were seen.
Now, though, there was an unconscious Kari Kamiya in Yolei's arms, with the whole team now in complete panic.
"We gotta get her home!" she exclaimed. "Call Tai! Now!"
Cody complied, running outside the room to the nearest payphone. Everyone else could only stay still around their knocked out friend, hoping that she would eventually come to.
"Come on, Kari…" TK then held the cold girl's hand in his own, praying for her recovery.
Minutes have passed since she was knocked out, and Kari was still not waking up. They could see she was still breathing, but there were no signs of her regaining her consciousness. The gang was starting to feel restless.
"I've not seen Kari like this since she was caught in the Dark Ocean." stated TK.
"Not to mention the time she, Yolei and I were there too." reminded Ken, who earned a little glare from Yolei.
"Don't even remind me about that." she said irritatingly.
"But…" Gatomon made a worried face for her fallen partner, shedding a small tear. "This is worse than what I've seen… She never blacked out for this long before. In fact, she's… never blacked out at all."
Davis, on the other hand, tried to remain as positive as he could for Kari, for it was his 'thing' to stay by her side, at least, so he claimed.
"She'll be alright. I just know it! I know my girl." As pointless as that sounded, any positive thought for Kari was still needed anyway.
"Davis is right!" DemiVeemon cheered for his partner.
TK kept on holding her hand, constantly holding on to hope to stay focused on comforting his friend as she slept.
Just how could things fall so easily right after they had made their ultimate victory against the forces of darkness? It looked that that power was not done with them yet, but with a terrible situation at the moment of their climax, they had the sinking feeling that this was going to be the beginning of another crisis, even as they hoped for it to be a temporary aftermath.
Then, as the silence seeped in some more, there was movement in Kari. Her eyelids began to twitch and her body was showing slight motion from her body. Soon, her voice was heard in a quiet moan.
"H…Huh?"
At once, the group around her was on full alert as they watched their friend coming back to life. Finally, after a while, Kari had opened her eyes.
Regaining her blurry vision, she was able to see that she was in the school's computer room, accompanied by all her friends, human and Digimon alike.
She began to regain her sight when suddenly…
"AAAH!" She was tackled by a hug of fluff and sniffles. She was able to notice the white furry body enveloping her in the embrace and that long tail with a ring.
"Kari! Thank my nine lives, I'm so glad you're okay!" She could hear the sobbing of Gatomon's voice as she returned the hug.
"Are you okay?!" shouted a frantic Davis. "Are you hurt?! Do you need medical attention?! I-I-I'll get a doctor!"
"I-It's okay, Davis…" Kari woozily assured after releasing Gatomon; her head riddled with pain as she held it with her hand. "I'll live. Ergh…"
"You sure?" Yolei then bent down on the floor to ask about her condition, to which Kari gave her a small pained smile.
"Yeah…" Then, she could see a hand out in front of her. When she looked at the person himself, she saw TK, giving her another assuring smile as she lent her a hand getting back up.
"I'm really glad you're alright." he said, which caused a little flustering on her part. She took it like a champ though and nudged the boy with her elbow playfully.
She was feeling the most grateful moment she had in a long while. From out of a horrible occurrence, she was beyond relieved to see her friends again.
"Well, like you said, I've been through a lot. Enough to take a hit."
No one seemed to notice Davis groan in envy after their exchange. Sheesh, TK sure knew how to mess up his attempts to win Kari over.
"How come he gets all the girls…?" He scoffed quietly.
However, even with everyone jubilant of Kari's awakening, there was a frown on her face, catching the gang in curiosity.
"Kari? What's wrong?" Upamon bounced up and down.
"Hmm?" Kari had come out of her train of thought when she heard the little Digimon call out to her. Now, she had to recall the moments in that terrible vision she had.
The ever-shrouding darkness all around sucking all the colour out of her world. The sudden disappearance of her friends. And worst of all. The sinister voice and those big red eyes, chanting what was believed to be a prophecy of sorts. If it was indeed a vision of what might come, then it was a good time to tell everyone and let them be prepared for the storm that might come.
"Guys…" she called.
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
Suddenly, the same computer that teleported them to the real world began to make some alarming beeping noises, prompting everyone to run for the computer screen.
Being the one with the computer expertise, Yolei pulled out the chair below the desk and sat down to do her work, to manage the program inside.
"What?!" After analysing a few screens of data, she was appalled to what she saw.
"Please don't tell me something's wrong." Cody begged.
"Yolei? What's going on?" Ken asked the stunned girl. And when she adjusted her glasses one more time, she delivered the bad news.
"There's a big Digimon on the loose… just a few blocks away. And it's going berserk!"
Right outside the middle school, the nearby square was filled with the frightened screams of fleeing pedestrians as they escape certain doom at the sight of a large Triceratops-like creature terrorizing the area. It roared in anger as it stomped on the asphalt of roads leaving behind deep craters, and totalling cars into dented burning wrecks.
The creature was so gigantic, the DigiDestined, on their way to the incident, could see the giant behemoth from outside the school gate. They took about five minutes to dash towards the attacking monster, with their Digimon following close behind.
The moment they arrived to the square, they stood to watch the menacing beast rampaging through the streets causing mass hysteria all around.
"Oh, come on! Couldn't you just stay in the Digital World where there's practically no evil around to ruin your day?!" Yolei was getting really impatient by the amount of work being dropped upon them.
"Well, guys!" Davis took to the front as leader of the team. "We'll just beat Triceramon back and send him home to the Digital World. Simple, right?"
"I don't think simple is the word you're looking for." said a stuttering Poromon.
"What are we doing standing around?!" DemiVeemon bounced up to his fellow Trainee Digimon. "We need to Digivolve! Davis, make us monsters grow!"
"You got it!" Immediately, the kids, except Kari, all took out their digital mobile devices with an antenna on top. Pointing them at their Digimon, the critters then started to glow bright all around their bodies. Since Kari was not using her device, Gatomon was the only one not being transformed.
The little Digimon, except Patamon, were the first to Digivolve.
"DemiVeemon, Digivolve to…VEEMON!"
"Minomon, Digivolve to…WORMMON!"
"Poromon, Digivolve to… HAWKMON!"
"Upamon, Digivolve to…ARMADILLOMON!"
But once they Digivolved, they, and eventually Patamon, were able to change again.
"Veemon, Digivolve to…EX-VEEMON!"
"Wormmon, Digivolve to…STINGMON!"
"Hawkmon, Digivolve to… AQUILAMON!"
"Armadillomon, Digivolve to…ANKYLOMON!"
"Patamon, Digivolve to…ANGEMON!"
While Ex-Veemon, Stingmon and Aquilamon finished their transformations, the others had new forms.
Instead of the drilling monster that he was earlier, Armadillomon was now a large ankylosaur-like monster that was given more armour around his head and an even more powerful mace of a club tail.
Patamon was now a human angel with four pure white wings and his head protected by a steel helmet, while also being armed with a golden staff. With his transformation complete, Gatomon pounced right up and landed on top of Angemon's right shoulder.
"Ready to rock, big guy?" she signalled to her teammate, with a fire within her heart ready to burn bright, as do everyone else.
"As always." The angel Digimon responded as the squad of Champions were poised to strike.
The Triceramon turned around to see the six Digimon just staring down at him. Acting on his wild instincts, the rogue Digimon stood his ground and prepared to charge at them. He knelt down to the ground and dragged its foot back and forth like a bull before jumping right up and stormed towards the Digimon.
With their human partners all protected behind a stone wall, the Digimon squad were ready to defend their friends. All at once, they charged against the beast as well.
The first to attack was Triceramon, who lunged his horn right at Ex-Veemon. The dragon Digimon was able to fly right out of the attack and crossed his arms in front of X-symbol on his chest.
"V-LASER!" The symbol fired up an X-shaped laser and shot it right at the Triceramon. The projectile struck the neck frill of the creature, forcing him back in a small distance. "X marks the spot!"
"That's it! Ex-Veemon! Show 'em who's boss!" cheered Davis.
"My turn!" Aquilamon then made a swoop down at the pinned Triceramon, charging up his horns for his own main attack. "GRAND HORN!" The horns fired crimson waves of energy speeding right for the enemy, blowing up above him.
However, despite the power evident in the blowout, from out of the red smoke, Triceramon burst out and swing his horns at the bird Digimon while he was at low altitude. The attack came so fast that Aquilamon was not quick enough to avoid it.
"Aquilamon! Look out!" Yolei screamed from behind the wall.
"HAND OF FATE!"
Fortunately, the Digimon was spared by a saving grace from a golden beam of bright energy blowing back the brutal Digimon. Aquilamon quickly turned to look and saw the angel Digimon who protected him from the attack.
"Thanks, Angemon. Remind me to pay you back for that." thanked Aquilamon.
"Don't worry." said Angemon. "I'll take a note."
"Alright, Angemon!" TK rooted for his Digimon's prowess.
"Okay, buddy." Gatomon held on to her friend's head, aiming herself right for the beast below. "Drop me off where I can pound that sucker down on his thick skull!"
"Go get 'em!" Angemon slowed down his flight to give Gatomon the height she needed to bring one powerful smack to Triceramon. In position, she leapt off from the shoulder and raised her paw clenched into a fist before swinging down on Triceramon, who had just recovered from his plight.
"LIGHTNING PAW!" Gatomon gave out maximum force right at Triceramon's head with her paw, pinning the monster down to the road and crashing him into a nasty crater on it.
"Good job, Gatomon!" Kari applauded the cat's mighty punch.
As Gatomon jumped away from danger, Triceramon slowly raised himself up. With all of this immense pressure on him, the Digimon was now even angrier, snorting in frustration.
"Oh, so you're steaming hot now, huh?" Stingmon flew right above him and raised his fist in the air. From his wrist, a glowing purple claw extended right out of it. "Well, let me cool you off!"
"SPIKING STRIKE!" Thrusting out the claw, Stingmon dived down upon Triceramon and struck the giant Digimon at his body. The blade delivered a painful poison that slowly drained Triceramon, until he had lost his strength to fight, unable to move his body.
"You got it, Stingmon." said Ken, smiling at his Digimon.
With the attack successful, it was time to finish Triceramon off. The one to deliver the final blow was Ankylomon. Moving into position, he walked towards the fallen Digimon before turning around and raising his mace tail on top of him.
"Let's finish this up, Ankylomon!" Cody cheered for his companion.
"TAIL HAMMER!" The mace was dropped down on Triceramon and clobbered the downed Digimon even further.
There was no movement from Triceramon afterwards. The giant laid down on the levelled ground, seemingly unconscious.
"I think he's finally down for the count." Davis could see the Digimon knocked out with his eyes closed shut and body frozen with inactivity. "Okay, Yolei. You got that laptop with 'ya?"
"Online and ready for Digi Mail." Yolei pulled out a laptop from the bag she was carrying the whole time. She then got into position, ready to do her job to send the Digimon back to the Digital World.
GRRRRR…
"Huh?"
RROOOARRR!
Unfortunately, the eyes opened up and Triceramon was back in the game, roaring in power as he rose from the ground and stomped towards the DigiDestined.
"Look out!" Ken shouted as he pulled Yolei back to the safety of the wall. Ex-Veemon quickly swooped down and blocked the rampaging beast by holding on the frilled-head from hurting the humans.
"Get out of here! This is going to be one brief sumo slam!" Ex-Veemon told the others to leave while he protected them.
As much as he wished to hold on, the Triceramon was able to tire him out enough to lift him in the air and flung the dragon Digimon into the air. As his foe came down, Triceramon then charged his head right at him just as he was about to touch the ground, sending him hurling towards a building.
"Ex-Veemon!" Davis yelled.
"This can't be." Yolei was at a loss for words, just watching Triceramon pummel Aquilamon next, with the bird Digimon being struck by a fire ball spat from his mouth. "Even with all of our attacks, how could he recover from all of that?"
"Look at his skin." Kari looked towards the rough scaly surface of the monster's skin. "There's not even a single scratch."
The battle resumed as Triceramon soon began picking out other targets, slamming Angemon into a wreck of cars. Gatomon scurried to help her friend by giving Triceramon another whack to the back of his head, but the Digimon was able to sense her move and retaliated with a tail whip. The thick appendage whipped the cat Digimon like a log slamming down on a car, chucking her on top of Angemon in a loud boom.
Ankylomon was next to give him his Tail Hammer once again, and this time he was going to stay down for sure.
However, as Triceramon saw the wrecking ball coming down on him, he raised both of his feet in the air and allowed the mace to slam into his hands. Triceramon stood upright as he resisted the massive object without even sinking to the ground.
"Huh? How are you liftin' my Tail Hammer?" Ankylomon stared helplessly at the raging Triceramon before noticing something very frightening. When Triceramon gave one push up, he opened his eyes. And now, instead of the wild blue eyes, they now grew bright red, bringing an almost bone-chilling feeling to the titan.
Ankylomon could feel his tail being lifted like it was a beach ball, with Triceramon throwing it as hard as he could. The power of the push was so tremendous, the armoured Digimon himself was even flung along with the tail, forcing him to fall on his shell.
When the dust settled, Ankylomon was now overturned and his underbelly was now exposed.
"Not only is Triceramon now back up on his feet…" TK stammered from the shock of seeing the Digimon being revived and clobbering their Digimon with no difficulty. "But he's also gotten stronger. Just look at him go!"
"What are we going to do now?" Kari held her hands together, praying for an end to this catastrophe.
"Wait a minute…" Then, Ken had noticed something peculiar. He scanned the Triceramon just as it was chasing Stingmon, who was flying around in circles hoping to get a lock on his target. At that moment, on the monster's right shoulder, he saw it.
"Up there! There's some sort of… flower?"
A little flower bud hanging and latching on to the Digimon in a free ride. A flower with black petals, slowly dangling from this berserker. However, from the look on Ken's face, this was no ordinary flower.
"Wait… It can't be…"
His face was stricken with sudden revelation and shock as he recognized the dark flower on Triceramon. It was a reminder of what had happened to him long ago.
"It's a Dark Spore!"
"What?!" The DigiDestined exclaimed altogether as they took their turn finding that evil plant on the beast.
There was no doubt. It was a Dark Spore which was empowering Triceramon with pure darkness, just like it had to a few children during their previous battles. A tool of evil, that they thought was destroyed forever. "But… how?"
"So that's giving Triceramon his powers. But the question is, how did he get it?" Cody asked.
"Yeah, I thought all of the Dark Spores were wiped out for good."
They still could not believe their eyes as Triceramon resumed his rampage on Stingmon and Ex-Veemon. To their horror, the rest of the squad were all eliminated, left aside by the monster's brutality to shiver and groan in absolute pain.
The two of the Champions were both side by side, ready to defend themselves against the charging Digimon. Triceramon then lowered his head and pointed his horns on them. The horns were about to strike the duo before they caught the horns and were being pushed back; their feet dragging along the road and creating crack lines.
"Let's do the puzzle-solving later." Davis protested. "Right now, we have to make sure our Digimon are okay!"
The DigiDestined paid their attention to the Digimon left fighting the enraged and corrupted beast. It was not a pleasant sight as Aquilamon, Ankylomon, Angemon and Gatomon were all knocked out of the fight. Greatly weakened, the Champions, minus Gatomon, all reverted back to their Rookie Forms and slumped down, not moving an inch.
Each of their respective partners ran to help them up while Ken and Davis headed for the two remaining fighters in the battle.
"You okay, Armadillomon? Speak to me." Cody held his partner by the shell while stroking his head. The Digimon responded with heavy shivering and a hurt expression on his face, showing signs of injury.
"Er… nothing a bowl of udon can't fix…" Armadillomon did his best to comfort his friend by cracking a food joke, but his condition was not helping one bit.
"How many… lives do I have now, Kari?" Gatomon yelped as she was caressed by Kari.
"All nine intact." The girl answered softly and sadly.
"Ergh…" Hawkmon tried to move his arm, but the pain suffered during the blowout left a nasty sting.
"Don't move, Hawkmon!" Yolei exclaimed, holding onto her friend.
"Wh-What are we to do now…?" Hawkmon weakly said.
"He's just… too powerful… TK." Patamon also whispered tiredly. "Not even Angemon can stop him."
"There's gotta be a way." TK clenched his fist in anger. He was not willing to let one Digimon ruin the city and hurt his friends and get away with it, but in the condition they were at, there was very little they could do. It was all up to Ex-Veemon and Stingmon, if they could survive at all.
The Dark Spore on Triceramon continued to feed him with rich and haunting power, allowing the beast to become stronger within every minute. The last two Champions left were losing their grip against the horns, visibly getting tired. Eventually, they lost strength enough to give Triceramon the edge by pushing them into a building.
They kept on fighting, but were getting crushed by the growing power of the horns.
Davis and Ken were just metres away from the power struggle, anticipating the worst. Triceramon was just too powerful for those two to take down now. They needed to find a solution.
"Too bad they don't have enough power to DNA Digivolve!" stammered Ken.
"Huh?" Davis gave Ken a shocked look. "What do you mean they can't? Of course they can!"
"I'll…" Ken was having trouble explaining to Davis about the inability to use their combination technique. He was Davis after all. But even if he was to know, there was no time for lessons. Action was most needed right now. "I'll explain later. But right now, we got to help Stingmon and Ex-Veemon."
"Yeah, but… how? What can we do?"
Taking a guess, Ken set his sights the dark spore on Triceramon. Carefully scanning and studying it, he tried to come up with a plan for that little plant.
"If Dark Spores give out the same dark energy as the Dark Rings I used to have…" He pained to remember the dark devices and inventions he constructed long ago to inflict suffering upon the Digital World, but he knew he had no choice but to think back to those horrid days.
After the thinking process was over, he came up with a theory.
"Davis, tell Ex-Veemon to hit the spore on Triceramon." Davis caught the word and set his sights on the plant. "If I'm correct, if we destroy the spore, we can break the corruption."
With a snap of his fingers, Davis understood.
"Great idea! Now why didn't I think of that?" Ken rolled his eyes, while Davis yelled out to his friend. "Ex-Veemon!"
"A… little… busy right now!" Ex-Veemon and Stingmon were both still being pressed violently against the wall as Triceramon pumped up more power onto them. They were starting to lose their strength as their hold started to slip.
"Well, get your schedule rechecked! We need you to destroy that Dark Spore on Triceramon's shoulder!"
The two Digimon looked around their attacker as much as they could while still pushing against Triceramon with their might.
Then, Ex-Veemon was able to spot the flower from over Triceramon's arm.
"Yep! I see it!"
"Well, what are you waiting for? Blast it!" Davis ordered. "It's our only chance to beat this guy!"
However, they were still being stuck by the full force of Triceramon's strength, but Ex-Veemon did not stop trying to at least make one last slip.
Using his tail, he slithered it right under him and coiled it around Triceramon's right leg. After one strong pull, the tail yanked off the leg, causing the berserker to trip over and tumble down, releasing his captives.
The two dropped down on the ground, breathing in lost air.
"Whoo! That was close! And I mean really close!" Ex-Veemon puffed out some air.
"Thank you, Ex-Veemon." thanked Stingmon as he was now free to flutter his wings. "Now, to deal with that Dark Spore!" He zoomed up in the air again and looked down upon the fallen dinosaur Digimon.
He deployed his venomous claw again and set his sights on the dark spore bud. Stingmon swooped down, pointing his weapon at the plant.
"SPIKING STRIKE!"
The blade cut the flower away from the stem as the plant altogether had finally disintegrated into thin air.
The Dark Spore was no more and Triceramon was now free of the corruption. He was still knocked out, but since he was actually spending more time sleeping away than waking up to constant rage, everyone knew that the situation was now under control.
Yolei wasted no time, placing Hawkmon gently on the ground and taking out her laptop again.
Thankfully, she was uninterrupted as she opened up the computer, activated the gate to the Digital World and pointed the screen at Triceramon.
"Digi-Port, Open!" At her command, the computer lit up and shined on the sleeping Digimon. The light ray eventually turned into a sucking portal that pulled him into the computer. When the light vanished, Triceramon was finally back in the Digital World.
Yolei witched her computer off before closing the lid, ending a hectic day of battling the rogue Digimon. She let out a sigh, having been exhausted by the near tumultuous conflict.
She turned around to find the last Champions finally biting the dust, devolving back to their Rookie forms. Davis and Ken walked over to pick them up.
"W-Was… Was that a finisher or what?" Despite his weak condition, Veemon was still able to show his pride for the victory, smiling meekly at his partner.
Davis also returned the gesture with a smirk.
"You showed him alright."
"Ken…" Wormmon called sickly. "Did I do good?"
Ken hugged the worm Digimon close to his head, as they affectionately rubbed each other's heads.
"You did great, Wormmon."
The humans picked up their partners and walked back to their friends, who were all carrying their Digimon as well.
After a brutal takedown, the DigiDestined went over to a nearby bus stop to allow their Digimon to rest and heal. They had been bruised quite badly from the thrashing they had sustained, but fortunately, nothing was too serious. All they needed was a little break, silently sleeping in the care of their human friends.
"Boy, they sure took a beating out there…" sighed Cody as he stroked a slumbering Upamon. The little critter snored away in peace as a bubble came in and out of his nose.
"Poor things." sighed Kari. "They are always willing to push themselves further for us and for our worlds."
"Yeah." agreed Ken. "But I don't think we would have it any other way. These little guys are true heroes."
Night was setting in; the streets of Odaiba were being darkened, only to be illuminated again by the street lights and house lamps around them, signalling the group that it was time to part ways and head on home.
However, as it so happened, Davis had one thing to ask before they could go.
"Hey, Ken?" he called to the boy genius, who looked at Davis curiously. "About that time when you said 'we couldn't DNA Digivolve'?"
The rest of the children were taken aback by what Davis said. They did not comprehend on what Ken had mentioned to him, but saying that their Digimon could not DNA Digivolve, which involved fusing two of their Digimon together into one more powerful Digimon.
"Oh… right." Ken scratched the back of his head, but he was hesitant that now the rest of the group wanted to know as well.
"What is Davis saying, Ken?" asked Yolei.
"Are you saying we can't DNA Digivolve our friends now?" added Cody.
"Well…" Ken finally spoke up. "It has to do with Imperialdramon and the Giga Crusher he used back in the Digital against MaloMyotismon."
The gang remembered back in the final battle against MaloMyotismon.
"To power the cannon to destroy him, it took the entire power of all the Digimon, the Digital World and the DigiDestined to fuel it. Thus, with that ultimate strike, much of the data power used were completely destroyed, while only fragments of it were left to spare. Thus, the beginning of the regeneration of the Digital World's energy."
"So… would this affect the DNA Digivolution process?" asked Kari.
"While there is enough data and power to Digivolve them to their Champion or Armoured states, I'm afraid there isn't any for their more powerful forms."
"That also means…" TK sighed, assuming more bad news. "Their Ultimate forms and their DNA Digivolutions."
The scene was silent. With a handicap in their hands, they were now at a glaring disadvantage.
But now, there was a new worry; one that Yolei was keeping for a while, but was too busy taking care of Poromon, she wanted to say it until the time was right. Now here was a good one as any.
"So… what are we going to do now?" she wondered aloud.
"What are you trying to bring up, Yolei?" asked Davis.
"I mean." She really didn't want to break it to them, but there was no other viable option but to let them know about how things were going to happen. "About the Dark Spore."
The group understood her concern and took it to heart themselves. This was definitely a new change of things. Just when they were finally over with their battle against evil, along came a Dark Spore popping out of nowhere, corrupting a Digimon and causing it to damage the city square in the process.
Where did it come from, and what would this mean to the DigiDestined? Would this ultimately mean that their fight was not over yet?
Everyone knew that this was inevitable. Something was wrong with the Digital World somehow, so their jobs as the DigiDestined were far from over.
For now, they hoped that these spores were just an accident, spread by a miss in the cleaning process of the Digital World.
"Well, I say we just get some rest tonight. Tomorrow, we shall just do what we always do." Davis suggested to the team. "Clear out more Spires and now, Dark Spores if there are any. Hopefully, we don't have to run into any more of those Digimon again."
At last, with their plans set on returning to the Digital World the next day, the kids finally ended their conversation and walked on again back home.
Then, TK looked at the group and noticed that someone was missing. He turned around, with Patamon resting deeply on his head, and saw Kari standing still. Her face was still stone cold after their discussion earlier with her head hanging down in thought.
"Kari?" He snapped her back into reality and she looked towards the boy.
"Huh? Oh… coming." She shook her head and continued to walk towards TK, intent on heading home. Her head, however, hung down, shielding her face from the boy.
As she passed him, TK, however, was still wanting to know if she had anything troubling her.
"You okay, Kari?"
Kari stopped. She hesitated for a brief moment, as if she did not want to tell him of what was bugging her. Regardless, she turned around and looked up to TK giving him a sweet smile.
"Yeah." she answered. "I am."
Then, TK walked towards her and put his hands on her shoulders.
Kari was taken aback by his action. The moment she felt TK's hands touch her shoulders, she could feel a small rush of heat in her cheeks along with a small patch of red on each cheek. She stared at the boy, enticed for some reason.
"Okay. But I just wanna let you know, if there's anything wrong, please… don't hesitate to come look for me, Gatomon, Davis, Tai or anyone else. We're all there for you. Always."
What she didn't realize however, was that TK, too, was experiencing the same feeling. What was this heat in his face? Why was he having butterflies in his stomach?
They continued to stare into each other for a while, unaware that they were even staring in the first place. But after a few seconds, they caught on to what was happening and quickly separated, blushing intensively.
They exchanged a few awkward glances before eventually, they laughed their awkwardness away. TK always seemed like the one person, other than her family, who would always make her feel comfortable, and she rather enjoyed having him around. Thanks to him, her mood brightened.
After having their fun and feeling all better, they looked at each other again.
"Thanks, TK." She smiled gratefully at the boy she knew for so long, causing him to give her a thumbs up in approval.
"Anytime."
With the two done with their exchange, they resumed their walk home, catching up to the rest of the DigiDestined along the way.
Their worries seemed to have subsided, but in his heart, TK was still suspicious that something was haunting Kari. That sudden burst of fear she displayed back in the Digital World was enough to tell him that.
Just what did Kari envision that caused her to faint earlier?
From the looks of things, it seemed that the event had left behind some effect to her mood now. Hopefully, he'll find out what it was someday, but for Kari's sake, he'll just stand by, willing to protect her if things go awry again.
~THE DEMON SHALL BE REBORN TO ASCEND THE FALLEN FROM THE ASHES! AND THEY SHALL SMITE THE WORLD OF PEACE AND GOOD~
~UNTIL THERE IS NO HOPE, NO LIGHT, NO DREAMS, NO PEACE, AND NO FREEDOM~
~DARKNESS SHALL REIGN AND YOU SHALL FALL TO THE OBSERVER OF CHAOS ~
~YOU SHALL PERISH~
~YOUR FRIENDS WILL SUFFER~
~ YOUR WORLDS…~
WILL BURN! ~
Back in her home, Kari was in her room, lying down on her bed and facing the ceiling. Gatomon was soundly asleep on her basket with a blanket underneath to keep her comfortable for her long rest.
Kari was thinking back at that terrifying nightmare she had back at the Digital World. Forget the terrible imagery, she was indeed sceptical about this whole day.
The vision. The Dark Spires still standing. The Dark Spore on Triceramon. Was there a connection between all of this?
It was then she hoped that it wasn't true. However, she could not help but wonder if there really was something that was about to happen.
If there was, then how would this evil come to be? What terrors would await them? Most of all, though, who would be responsible?
Ken was no longer the Digimon Emperor, Arukenimon and Mummymon were wiped out, Daemon was cast away into the Dark Ocean with no way to return, and MaloMyotismon was no more. And for all she and TK knew, the Dark Masters or any of their older enemies were out of the question too.
So, if not them, then who?
At this point, she would be willing to tell her friends about her nightmare, but then…
~YOUR FRIENDS WILL SUFFER~
That one sentence. 'Your friends shall suffer'. If this nightmare was true, then it was clear to her that should she get her friends involved, then it would spell disaster to those close to her.
So, it all came down to one question.
Was this for real? Or was it just leftover paranoia that remained even after the battle was won?
She hoped for the best that things would turn out just fine and decided to let this horrible occasion slide. Maybe she was overreacting; just very vulnerable to the power of darkness that she would end up becoming sucked into false predictions and such.
"Kari?"
Just then, she was suddenly called by the tired sound of Gatomon, who had her head perked up to find herself in Kari's room.
"Gatomon!" She got up from bed and walked towards the Digimon. She picked her up and gave her a gentle hug as to prevent Gatomon from feeling any of her inner pains. She then released herself from her embrace and looked at Gatomon.
"Wh- How did I get here?" the Digimon asked; puzzled about her whereabouts.
"After that battle with Triceramon, you and the other Digimon were knocked out cold. But don't worry. We managed to send him back to the Digital World safe and sound."
After listening to Kari's story, Gatomon let out a big yawn, intent on sleeping in again.
"Alright. So, now that that's settled, I would like to resume my feast in dreamland, if you don't mind."
Giggling at her friend, Kari complied, tucking Gatomon back to her bed. The Digimon immediately fell back asleep, curled into a ball and dozing off into her fishy fantasies.
Eventually, Kari too had to call it a night and went back to bed herself. She fluffed her pillow up as she laid down, closing her eyes and went to sleep.
"Good night, Kari."
"Sleep tight, Gatomon. Don't let the bedbugs bite."
"Oh, they'll be biting their dust if they try..."
While finally sleeping, Kari hoped that the visions would not come back to terrorize her, so she held on to the one thing she could depend on. Around her neck, she wore a necklace, which was tied with a plaque. The plaque contained a pink crest shaped like a flower. Holding on to this crest, she prayed for a peaceful and quiet slumber. It was her Crest of Light. The very symbol that protected her throughout her tenure as a DigiDestined. Containing a powerful force of light inside, it would protect her from darkness wherever she went.
With the power in her hand, she was sure that she would be able to live through the night without having to face these dark visions again…
…for now…
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
"Hmmm… Huh?"
"Ken!"
"Rgh…" A loud wake-up call from his alarm clock and the yelling of his Digimon friend, Ken arose from bed, feeling sluggish after a rough time from the day before. "Wh- what is it, Minomon?"
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
Suddenly, Ken noticed the beeping sounded really odd. For a moment, he could have sworn that his clock alarm sounded like the Digi-Gate to the Digital World.
Wait, what?!
"Hang on."
At that moment, Ken hurriedly leapt out of his bed and ran to his computer. The monitor screen was brightly lit, showing that it was switched on. Minomon was right in front of the screen, hopping up and down in an alarming manner.
"This is not good! This is not good! THIS IS NOT GOOD!" screamed Minomon.
"What's going on, Minomon?" Ken rushed to the computer and saw what was on. It was the Digi-Gate as Ken expected it to be.
But this time, there was something far worse than what he had imagined this time around.
"No…"
The window featuring the Digi-Gate was opened, with the red button on the top right of the gate program window blinking. This was not a good sign. Usually, it meant that another rogue Digimon, like Triceramon from the day before, was on the loose into the Real World.
Yet, what frightened Ken more was how fast the light was blinking. Almost faster than the eye could tell.
Having no choice but to find out just how bad the situation was, he sat down on his chair, moved the mouse and clicked on the button, waiting for the bad news to pop out.
As a map of the world opened up, his eyes widened in pure horror. All around the world, red lights were blinking from time to time. As they kept blinking, another set of dots appeared. And another. And another!
This was a really terrible sight to behold. It was a disaster waiting to happen.
The world was about to be attacked again by more rogue Digimon.
"I better call the others!"
Chapter 2 successfully completed! So yeah, here's where a lot of changes were made compared to the original story, so there isn't really any point going back to it, right? XD
Anyways, I managed to add more elements of the story into the chapter and a little bit of character introduction like the last chapter, so from now on, this is how I should write my stories from now on. With character development and slow pacing!
Plus, do look around for a few Easter Egg puns I put in there XD
Alright! I shall make my leave. perhaps after this, I'll need to take time for my other fics before continuing on this story again, but will make time for all when need be.
Till then, I'll be signing off! Catch ya later!