A/N: I don't own digimon or any of its characters. I'm going to hopefully keep updating this every few days but NANO just started. But i wont forget about this, I swear! Ill just update less than every two days haha. Hope you enjoy!
That night, TK and his mother ate dinner together. It was microwavable TV dinners with slimy mashed potatoes and chewy steak, but TK appreciated that his mother took the time to sit with him. He asked about her work, her newest article, how ridiculous her next deadline was, and she inquired about school, friends, and Patamon.
"So, are you ready for the dance tomorrow?" his mother asked. TK felt his smile fall slightly as he stirred his mashed potatoes.
"Sure," he said without taking his eyes off of his plate. "Matt helped me pick out some clothes this afternoon."
"Your brother?" she replied with a laugh. "Then I'm sure whoever you're taking to the dance will be thrilled." TK smiled again, envisioning the last getup his brother wore at his previous concert.
"Well, Sora helped me pick it out, really," he said. "Matt just kept forcing Tai to try on really ridiculous shirts." They laughed again.
"Just try to have fun tomorrow, okay?" she suggested. "You're in high school. It's not the end of the world."
TK thought about those words late into the night. As he tossed and turned, anxious to fall asleep because he knew that the dream, and the dance, were coming, he wondered whether it truly wasn't the end of the world or not. With Devimon returning, certainly more powerful than before, how could they hope to defeat him? It had cost them Angemon last time. His hand found its way to the crest on his neck. Hope was the last thing they had. They needed it.
Dawn came too quickly, and at the same time, not quick enough. The nightmare had revealed to TK a clock striking 10, and a blue lake, while the insane laughter rang behind him, chilling his bones. He sat up, drenched in cold sweat, thankful for the sunlight. When he saw his clock, he cursed and sank back down into the bed.
"This dance is giving you a lot more anxiety than it should be," Patamon noticed. "Shouldn't you be excited for things like this?"
"Probably," he answered, his toothbrush stuck in his mouth, his hair sticking up in odd places. "But I've never done things the normal way. Have you seen my hat?"
At 8:00 that evening, TK got into his brother's car, both of them dressed nicely. Patamon sat in the backseat, and in case something went wrong, TK's digivice was strapped to his belt. He and the other DigiDestined had always taken to keeping them around, as a precaution.
"Did you really have to wear your hat to the dance?" Matt asked, his face wrapped by an incredulous grin.
"What's wrong with my hat?!" TK asked. "Its my signature. It wouldn't be me if I didn't wear the hat!"
"I think he looks nice," Mimi said, walking up to them in front of the school gymnasium. She was wear a sparkly pink dress, and had kept the stars in her hair, though it was braided down the side.
"Did you really come back from America on your spring break to go to this dance?" Matt asked.
"Well, you know..." she began, with a side glance at where Joe was standing, talking to Izzy and Cody. "My friends are here." She turned and waved at somebody.
It took all of TK's self control not to drop his jaw. Kari walked in, wearing a light pink dress, nervously wringing her hands together. TK wanted to hold her hands, to tell her that she needn't ever be self conscious again, that she was the most beautiful girl he had ever had the privilege to see. But then the moment passed as Davis, Yolei, and Cody walked up to them.
"Hey, guys!" Davis waved at them. "Wow, Kari...you look beautiful!" Even though he knew that Davis was over Kari, the comment still rubbed him the wrong way. I should be the one to tell her how beautiful she is.
Kari visibly lightened up after receiving a little bit of praise. She looked at TK, as if expecting him to say something. Yet every time he tried to speak, he felt as if somebody had shoved a tennis ball down his throat. He could feel his mouth still open, and his mouth was getting dry. He tried to swallow before speaking.
"L-Lets go inside," he stammered. Kari raised one eyebrow and pursed her lips, but she allowed herself to be pulled inside by a dolled up Yolei. TK felt an arm go around his shoulders, and then his brother was whispering with a chuckle, "Smooth, bro." TK could feel himself turn bright red, and he shrugged away Matt's arm as his brother laughed behind him.
The dance committee had redesigned the entire gymnasium for the theme "Winter Ball." The fake icicles that hung from the ceiling lit up, and the white decorations made it seem classy, yet cold. The cold was just an illusion. It was hot, and cramped. The inside of the gym was packed much beyond TK's comfort level. After his previous battle in the Digital World, TK had become less tolerant of being touched by other people. He had headed straight to the drinks table, in an effort to avoid contact and heat. He could tell that his friends felt the same way, save perhaps Davis, who was making his way to the middle of the dance floor.
Nearby, he was surprised to notice that Mimi and Joe were on the dance floor. A slower song had come on, and Mimi was trying to teach Joe to dance. She was incredibly patient; he stepped on her feet a remarkable amount of times, but instead of getting annoyed, she smiled every time. The way she looked at him made TK's stomach hurt. Although they were dancing awkwardly, the connection between the two was undeniable. He wondered if he would ever have that, and subconsciously he began to scan the crowd for Kari.
His eyes, now looking slightly the right, fell upon the most hideous sight TK had ever seen. Kari was standing right next to Shinji, her eyes focused on what he was saying. She was shaking her head slightly, but smiling. He kept pointing out the dance floor.
He's asking her to dance! I should be asking her to dance! TK thought in horror. For one split second, determination washed over him. He was going to march right up to Kari, tell her how much she meant to him, and ask her dance. However, his body was not on the same page as his mind; in the end, he just looked confused, with one foot outstretched and his body weight pulling him backwards. He thought about maybe going to talk to Matt about what to do, when he heard the clock strike.
His head whipped around to the clock. Sure enough, it read 10:00.
There is no way I should have been able to hear the clock over this crowd, he thought to himself. How could he hear the clock tick over the roar of the music and the screaming teenagers? Then he saw blue fur run into the hallway. Thinking he recognized it, he followed.
"Gabumon?" TK exclaimed. "What...what are you doing here?"
"We're all here, TK," he heard another voice say. He turned around to see Agumon, Biyomon, Tentomon, Palmon, Gomamon, Patamon, and Gatomon. Bouncing towards them from down the hall was DemiVeemon, Upamon, and Poromon.
"What are you guys doing?!" TK shouted. "This is not a good time! How did you even get out of the digital world?"
"We dont know," Tentomon admitted. "One minute we were just in the Digital World, and the next...we were here."
TK did not like the sound of that at all. It happened the exact moment that he heard the clock? And then his nightmare came back to him; the clock reading 10:00. He started backing up towards the gym.
"Somethings about to happen," he said. "We've got to go..." He was interrupted by a loud crash echoing from the dance, and the sudden stop of the music. TK and the digimon ran into the room to discover a large, bright, tornado-like funnel had formed in the center of the room. The students were running over each other in their desperate attempts to get out of the way. TK had a hard time getting to the center of the room, like trying to swim against the current. His teeth clenched in frustration, he could feel his own blood pressure rising. The already boiling room became hotter. Determined to get through, TK screamed out loud.
"Patamon!" he shouted, and through his closed eyes he could see the light of his digivice shining.
"Patamon digivolve to...Angemon!"
"Is that an angel?!" a boy from somewhere in the mess shouted. TK found it easier to push past people as they were distracted by Angemon. He looked and saw that his digimon had been joined by Angewomon and WereGarurumon.
"Angemon!" TK shouted. "Get it!"
"Hand of Fate!" the angelic digimon shouted. His orange attack went straight into the vortex and disappeared. Then the laughter began.
"My old foe," a deep, dark voice rang out. The vortex began to spin faster and faster. Plastic plates and cups and even the chairs began flying around the room. The light of TK's digivice glowed so brightly he thought he would be blinded; but suddenly the wind died. When the light faded, TK saw that they were standing in a meadow, which he automatically recognized as in the Digital World.
Flying near them was TK's worst nightmare in the flesh. Devimon was exactly the same as TK had remembered; the same wings, riddled with holes; the same black hood, the same fangs, the same empty eyes. His own fists were clenched in rage.
"He's only a champion, we can take him!" Tai called out. "Agumon, you gotta digivolve!"
"You heard him," Joe said. "Everybody, quick! Ultimate level!"
"Agumon digivolve to...Greymon! Greymon digivolve to...MetalGreymon!"
"Biyomon digivolve to...Birdramon! Birdramon digivolve to...Garudamon!"
"Tentomon digivolve to...Kabuterimon! Kabuterimon digivolve to...MegaKabuterimon!"
"Gomamon digivolve to...Ikkakumon! Ikkakumon digivolve to...Zudomon!"
"Palmon digivolve to...Togemon! Togemon digivolve to...Lillymon!"
"Veemon digivolve to...ExVeemon!"
"Hawkmon digivolve to...Aquilamon!"
"Armadillomon digivolve to...Ankylomon!"
"You think digivolving can beat me?" Devimon cackled. "It took all you had to beat me before, and now I'm much stronger! Attack, my army!"
At the sound of the command, the ground surrounding them began to shake. It was uncomfortable, especially for the girls still in heels, and from the distance massed a large group of dangerous looking digimon.
"Theres Vilemon...and Ogremon...Pajrimon, Tankdramon, Guardromon!" Izzy listed off the names of the types of digimon he saw. Some were champions, some were ultimates, and all of them looked plenty dangerous.
TK stared down at his crest, but he could not get it to glow. Without it, Angemon could not digivolve to MagnaAngemon.
The battle had begun. MetalGreymon launched his Giga Blaster attack into a crowd of Vilemon, who scattered. MegaKabuterimon, Zudomon, and Lillymon were rounding up a bunch of Ogremon and DarkTyrannomon.
TK could see that Devimon's army was no match for the DigiDestined, yet he could get get rid of his overlying sense of doom. Devimon was back and he was attacking.
"TK, what are you doing?" Matt demanded. His clothes were stained and wrinkled from the fight. "Hurry up and help Angemon digivolve! We could really use MagnaAngemon right now!"
An Ogremon had escaped Zudomon's attack and had found Angemon. He hit Angemon directly with a pummel whack attack and was about to hit him again when Angewomon's Celestial Arrow cut through the green beast.
"Oh, I know all about you," Devimon said calmly, directing himself at Kari. "I have a friend you might be acquainted with." He snapped his unusually long fingers, and the sound made TK want to cover his ears. Then the cackling began.
Not as deep a voice as Devimon, this cackle belong to a female. Returning with her former horror, the black feminine demon landed directly next to her counterpart.
"LadyDevimon!" Angewomon said, her angelic voice mighty above the uproar of battle. "Are we really going to do this again?"
In reply, LadyDevimon opened her arms wide and screamed "Darkness Wave!" Angewomon flew quickly to the left and managed to escape contact, but LadyDevimon was just as quick and managed to avoid the volley of arrows sent forth.
It was more than TK could bear. The battle around him had grown much more fierce; numbers and numbers of new, evil digimon arose all around them, two for every one of their fallen comrades. All the digimon were tiring out; he watched Aquilamon and ExVeemon fall prey to a group of Airdramon, and Ankylomon was thrown 15 feet by a Stegomon.
He saw that WereGarurumon and MegaKabuterimon had dedigivolved to Garurumon and Kabuterimon, and Garudamon was the only one having any success against the army. Sora's Crest of Love glowed brightly, giving strength to her partner.
Meanwhile, Angewomon was having a hard time against LadyDevimon. In their previous encounters with the demon digimon, Kari's partner struggled greatly before being able to defeat her, and in the last time Gatomon and Aquilamon had to DNA digivolve to Silphymon in order to destroy her.
"Not today, Blondie!" LadyDevimon yelled as she roundhouse kicked Angewomon, who collapsed to the floor.
"Angewomon!" Kari screamed and, despite the danger, ran for her partner. LadyDevimon chuckled at Kari's helpless efforts to awaken her partner, who had not dedigivolved.
"We keep playing this game, its getting boring!" LadyDevimon taunted. Kari send a glare in her direction that could break glass. The determination and courage in her eyes were astounding to TK. He then noticed that her Crest of Light had begun to glow dramatically, and so had Kari.
When Kari and her crest had reached the highest level of light TK's eyes could portray, he noticed Angewomon rise, surrounded by light.
"Heaven's Charm!" She spoke calmly but the power in her voice itself caused several digimon around her to dissipate. The purple and pink energy flung itself at her enemy.
"You're right, LadyDevimon," Angewomon said. "This is getting boring. It always ends the same way." LadyDevimon gave one last, piteous scream as her data was scattered and she was destroyed. TK at last began to feel hope bubble into his chest.
"You fool!" Devimon screamed, his bony fingers stretched to Kari. His pitless eyes began to glow, and the darkness and shadows of every creature surrounding him began being pulled towards the devilish thing. Darkness encompassed his entire body, and lightning and thunder echoed in the sky. TK noticed that the darkness took the form of an egg, and his mind immediately jumped to the worst conclusion. "Devimon warp digivolve to...Daemon!"
It was TK's worst nightmare come real; this is what the dream had shown him, he was absolutely certain. Daemon was the personification of the powers of darkness; TK knew him to be more powerful than the Dark Masters and Apocalymon combined. What little light TK felt inside him died quickly, replaced by an unquenchable despair.
"They say the youngest original is to destroy me," Daemon said. His voice was deep, harsh, and void of any emotion besides malice. He was shorter than Devimon had been, but much more frightening. His very presence gave off an aura of death and destruction.
"Hammer Knuckle!" His two fists combined and smashed the ground next to Kari. To TK's utter dismay, Kari was thrown high into the air, too high to survive the tremendous crash that followed the attack.