So, I'd like to start off by saying thanks to all of you. Your reviews are amazing, and they're what keep me going. I also love you guest reviewers, they are actually one of my favorite things in the world. Anyhoo, on with the story.
Oh yeah, and if you can, picture Mr. Wong more like Joe (I know, big spoiler right there, but I thought it needed to be said)
Mr. Wong sifted through his pockets, gradually getting more panicked. He seriously hadn't…? He wouldn't…? Yup, he did.
"Ugh, I left my phone at the house." He took one last look at the bus. "I should probably go back and get it." He said, smacking himself internally. What was wrong with him recently? He usually was Mr. Prepared, even when he was younger he had a huge bag filled with emergency supplies for goodness sakes.
He hurried back the way he had come, deciding to cut through the Park in order to get back to his apartment faster. However, a voice caught his attention. A purple monster wearing gloves was talking to someone. A smaller, higher pitched voice spoke up, talking back to it. He turned his attention to the Terriermon, a very familiar looking one…
He raised his eyes to the person standing just behind the Terriermon, and made eye contact with eyes the mimicked his own. The hair that was the same shade as his, though his personality was so much more confident than his had been when he was his age.
"Yoo hoo, Earth to Henry?" Terriermon said, looking up at his partner and waiting for a response. "Geez, what are you looking a-" Terriermon had turned to look at Mr. Wong as well, and now was in a similar position of shock. Mr. Wong could only look. After all this time, he had finally see it. He had known there was always a chance that Terriermon was just a toy, but now, watching him move and talk…
"Hey, what're you looking at? I'm talking over here!" Impmon yelled indignantly at the now frozen group. "Geez, you have horrible manners, even with your master, you little lap dog. What a disgrace to Digimon."
"Did you just say Digimon?" Mr. Wong said, although he hadn't meant to. There it was, the word was out in the open now, and Mr. Wong could fully realize the truth. "You are one, aren't you?" Impm on turned to face the older man.
"Huh, yeah so what?" He raised his hand and a flame appeared. "Maybe you need a bad-a-boom!" He threw it at Mr. Wong, who raised up his brief case in defense, older muscle memory coming to the forefront of his mind.
"Dad!" Henry yelled, his eyes wide with horror. Mr. Wong looked back over to Henry, but his eyes passed his son to another boy standing just behind him, a familiar boy with a white hat and blonde hair…
"Maybe you need another one!" Impmon said, another flame dancing on the tip of a single finger. Before Mr. Wong could look too closely at the boy he had to turned his attention to a searing pain in his shoulder, causing him to fall onto his knees, his other hand reflexively coming up and holding onto the burned area or skin.
"No, Dad!" Henry yelled again, panic in his eyes. "You need to get away!" Terriermon, the ever faithful companion, stepped in front of Mr. Wong protectively, glaring holes into Impmon.
"Leave him alone!"He said, and Impmon looked at him in shock.
"You're defending this guy?" He questioned, gesturing to Mr. Wong. "Whatever, I'm outta here." He jumped into the bushes, away from the scene.
"Mr. Wong, are you okay?" Takato asked, stepping towards him. A hand appeared in front of his face, obviously there to help him up. He took it and as he looked up his eyes widened again. He was an exact carbon copy of him. How would that be? It had been years.
"Fine." He turned his face to his son. "Henry, we need to talk." Seriousness dripping from his voice. Henry's eyes widened.
"No Dad. I'm sorry, but I can't right now!' He ran over and picked up Terriermon, dashing away.
"Um, it was nice to see you Mr. Wong!" Takato shouted as he ran after Henry. The blonde kid, the one that would haunt his dreams for years to come, stayed for a second longer than the others, staring at his face with a look of almost confusion.
"B-bye Mr. Wong!" The words fumbled out of the boys mouth before he dashed away. Mr. Wong stood there for a few minutes, just staring at nothing before snapping out of his reverie. He had to follow Henry and make sure his son was okay.
"Hey, are you okay, TK?" Takato asked me as we waited on the bus. We were going into the city to see if we could catch the man who was responsible for the card. Henry had been quiet the entire time and Rika was turned away from us, her body language seeing no.
I had met Rika about five minutes earlier, who had said, and I quote 'just don't get in my way' before her head away from me.
"Huh?" I turned to Takato. "Oh, yeah, I'm fine. You're dad just reminded me of…" Joe "…Someone." I replied, giving him a smile. The bus slowed to a stop and we got out and started walking the streets of the Electronic Department.
"Hey, where'd you get the necklace?" Takato asked as the sun caught on my tag. My face went a bright red as I nervously stuffed it down my shirt.
"Um, I found it. In the park." Takato looked at me, not convinced but not going to fight about right now, since Rika didn't appear to be a conversationalist and Henry was lost in his thoughts about something, probably about his dad finding out about his secret.
"Thanks for coming along, TK."
"It's not a problem, thanks for letting me come along. I know I don't have a partner, but I'm glad to help you guys chase down the mystery of the cards." I replied with a smile. We sat down on a bench that faced the area where Jeremie had said he had found the card.
"Do you think he's actually going to show up?" Takato asked, he seemed to really eager at the possibility.
"Probably when pigs fly, Sherlock." Rika sharply retorted back. We sat there in relative silence, the tense air making conversation feel unwelcome. The thing that broke it was the sound of static. I jerked my head up, the sudden change of noise catching my attention.
All the electronics where having some kind of interference, static on the screens of TV's, radios emitting white noise, even phones refusing to work.
"What's going on?" Takato asked.
"They're coming!" Terriermon yelled, pointing up to the sky. Four head jerked back as we looked up to the sky, watching as it rippled, like when a stone hit water on a calm pond. Then the sky itself seemed to open up and two figure's jumped out, bring with them a foggy covering. The ground shook as two big figures hit the ground.
"Uh, are they usually that big?" I asked. I know it seemed really wimpy of me, but if you didn't count the Ogremon a week or so ago, I hadn't seen a Digimon in at least two years, it was hard to remember how immense they could be.
"Only the nasty ones." Henry replied. "Get him, Terriermon." Henry ordered, and Terriermon seemed more than happy to go after the pursuit of the one that resembled a bull.
"What's going on?" A familiar weight appeared on my head as Calumon joined out group. The two Digimon, the other one resembling that of a giant sheep, started to wreck havoc - jumping on cars, eating the electronics.
"I don't think Terriemron can handle both of them!" Henry shouted as he whipped out his digivice, holding it up. I watched as the screen that had appeared when I found my crest appeared, but this time the arrow was pointing in the direction of one of the Digimon, and I appeared to be scanning it.
My hand subconsciously reached into my pocket and touched my digivice. That looked really useful, most of the time we had relied on our Digimon to know everything about the Digimon we came across, or Izzy to tell us what he knew about them with his laptop.
"Pajiramon," He read aloud as the picture of the sheep like Digimon appeared. "…a demon beat Digimon, Ultimate level!" the picture changed to the black one that looked like a bull. "Vajramon, same type, same nasty level." He declared. The Pajiramon bleated, the sound so strong that it sent all of the citizens unconscious, falling to the ground with a look of pain etched on their faces.
We covered our ears, our hands providing just enough of a cushion between our ears and the airwaves from Pajiramon that we stayed conscious, though when I took my hands off my ears they were ringing.
"Wow, these guys are nasty." Takato commented as he took his fingers out of his ears.
"I bet their Deva's too." Henry said as he observed them, walking around as if they owned the town. "I don't think they're stabilized." We watched as Pajiramon ate CD's, Vajramon eating wires.
"I bet they need to eat the digital equipment in order to stabilize themselves." I said, and Takato nodded next to me.
"Then I guess we'll need to ruin their meal for them." Rika looked at them, defiance coming off of her in waves. "Come on, Renamon." The air behind Rika blurred and a yellow fox like Digimon appeared, the look in her eyes reflecting Rika's. I couldn't help but to stare for a little bit, I had never seen a Digimon like her, which was kind of strange since I had been all across the Digital World… twice.
"Let's do this, Rika." She said.
"I'll take meat head, you can take little bo beep." Rika said, and Henry nodded, both of them in game mode.
"Okay, let's go." Both of them took out their Digivices and selected a card. I eyes them, curious what they were doing. Both of them swiped the card through, and as they did a light came out of their Digivices.
"Digi-modify! Thor's Hammer, activate!" Henry shouted.
"Digi-modify! Crystal fire, activate!" Rika yelled.
"Yeah!" I turned my attention to Terriermon, who was now holding a massive hammer, which seemed out of place taking into account how small he was. My eyes widened. This was new, then again when my Digivice changed the first time I could do Armor Digivolution, so I really wasn't one to judge.
"Taste this you glutton!" Renamon said as she stood suspended in the air, a kind of blue fire glowing on her fists and on her feet, and then she charged in his direction, striking him across his face. Terriermon swung his hammer, slamming it down on the back of Pajiramon's head. Both of them casually turned around to see what had hit them.
"What?!" Henry shouted.
"We didn't even make a dent!" Rika said in disbelief. A sense of foreboding made itself known in my stomach, maybe these guys were too high for Renamon and Terriermon's level.
"Take this!" Terriermon said, attempting to slam the hammer onto Pajiramon again, but she head butted him, and his body was flung one way while the hammer took off in another direction. The small bunny like Digimon landed with a dull thud onto the ground.
"So you're the pathetic little bug that answers to the whims of a human?" Pajiramon said as she but one of her hooves onto Terriermon's small body, digging it in. "Tell me, scum, what is your name?"
"None of your business!" Terriermon answered.
"And you?" Vajramon asked Renamon.
"You won't remember it after the beating I'm going to give you." She said, piercing him with her eyes. Pajiramon picked out Terriermon, holding him in her fist. He looked like a small toy in her gigantic hand. I frowned, this wasn't going well at all.
"Uh-oh, they don't look happy." Calumon said.
"No, they don't." I agreed.
"Let him go!" Henry yelled, his voice sounding angry, but when I looked over at him, I saw the beginning of fear edge its way into his gaze.
"I can't do that." She said as she squeezed her hand around his form a little tighter.
"We're wasting time!" Vajramon said. "We were told to crush the Digimon that are servants to humans and load their data." Pajiramon nodded, and then threw Terriermon into the air, taking out her weapon, a crossbow, for the first time.
"You should feel honor to have your data loaded by a Deva." She said as she sent an arrow in his direction.
"No, Terriermon!" Henry shouted, and on my head I felt Terriermon cower a for a little bit before a red light flashed for a split second. Henry's digivice came to life, emitting a screech and a light that overtook him, and the light seemed to come from somewhere in the air as well, where Terriermon was.
"Terriermon, Digivolve to…" I looked up towards the light, and I could of sworn that in that light I could see his data being stripped from him and rewritten into a new form, but the light was so bright that it was hard to be sure of what I saw. "Gargomon!" He shouted as the light died down and he came down firing bullets in direction of Pajiramon.
"Pants." Was the only thing I could think of to say.
"I know, right?" Takato said from beside me, I smiled back.
"Ack." Pajiramon said as she put her arms up around her head to protect it from the assault of bullets. He landed onto the concrete with a smug grin on his face.
"Are you going to Digivolve?" Vajramon asked as he took out one of his midnight black swords. "I'd hate to destroy before I saw that."
"I won't need to." Renamon replied.
"What did you say!" He shouted as she jumped into the air, spreading her arms out.
"Diamond Storm!" She shouted as diamonds showered onto his head. Vajramon twirled his sword, successfully annulling the attack.
"Surely that is not your best." He goaded her.
"Diamond Storm!" Was her only response, which was once again successfully blocked.
"Ahahaha, dance you sheep!" Gargo happily said as he fired at Pajiramon's feet.
"This is becoming tiresome." Pajiramon said. "Vajramon, stop fooling around and destroy her!" She shouted at her companion, who was laughing as he blocked the multiple Diamond Storms from Renamon.
"Speak for yourself, I'm having a blast!" He said.
"He's toying with her." Rika said with mild disgust. It occurred to me that she really cared to Renamon, even though she seemed to prefer to keep a cap on her emotions. Next to me Takato was looking at his own set of cards before handing one to Henry.
"Use this, I think it'll give Gargomon enough of an edge to end this." He said, and Henry nodded before taking it.
"Digi-modify! Hyper Speed, activate!" Gargomon started to run towards Pajiramon, but she raised her front hooves and then slammed them onto the ground, causing a mini earthquake, making Gargomon fall.
"I. Have. Had. Enough!" She shouted and pullout her crossbow again, loading it up. "Stay a while." She fired her arrows, pinning Gargomon onto the ground. In the background Renamon was still attacking Vajramon with no result. Pajiramon readied more arrows, aiming at Gargomon's chest.
"No, Gargomon!" Henry yelled.
"It's my job, and it's the least I could do to rid the world of this pest." Pajiramon replied, her eyes colder than the arctic. Vajramon aimed to cut off Renamon's head, but she lithely jumped and landed softly onto the smooth side of his sword.
"Calm down, beef cakes." He raised an eyebrow.
"Feisty one, aren't you?" He commented.
"You have no idea." She replied. Pajiramon ran over to Gargomon, kicking him with her powerful hooves.
"Leave him alone!" Henry shouted, and Takato handed him another card.
"Here, try this one."
"Are you sure? That last one didn't do that much good." I looked at the card with worry.
"I'm just trying to help." Henry took the card, and with a little trepidation gave it a swipe.
"Digi-modify! Rock armor, activate!" Gargomon became, stone, like a statue, but as Pajiramon hit him he just started to crack. "Not good." Henry said.
"None of me other cards even look useful." Takato said as he sifted through them.
"What about the blue card?" I asked, the situation becoming dire. "It's gotta do something useful, right?"
"I guess." Henry took out said blue card, only sparing it a brief glance before swiping it through his digivice. "Digi-modify! Blue Card, activate!" A light came out of Henry's digivice… and shot into the sky.
"Well that was disappointing." Takato said, looking up in the direction the light had gone. Pajiramon aimed her crossbow at Gargomon.
"This has been fun, but you really must go." She fingered the trigger.
"NO!" The word ripped its way from Henry's throat, echoing through the air, full of pain and hurt, but there was another voice that had said the word at the same time. A figure slammed into Pajiramon, and the arrows were shot, but harmlessly hit a nearby building.
"What the-" Pajiramon went to look at what had took her by surprise, and her eyes landed onto… Mr. Wong.
"Dad?" Henry said half in surprise, half in horror. Sure enough, there was Mr. Wong, facing the Pajiramon. He looked at her glaring, like he just couldn't take the thought of her destroying Gargomon, who he had just seen was alive for the first time five minutes half an hour ago. There was also a bit of 'oh crap I was living in the moment and now I'm in a situation I might die from' expression on his face.
"Pathetic human, get out of my way." Pajiramon reared up and slammed her hooves into his chest, several sickening cracks rang through the air as he was flung onto the ground, his glasses landing a few feet away from him. Mr. Wong gave a cough, and blood came out in a dribble from his mouth.
"Dad!" Henry yelled, and a red light shot up into the sky, coming from on top of my head. 'You're just like me 'Calumons words rang through his head. Henry;s digivice started to go crazy, and Gargomon glowed.
"Gargomon Digivolve to…" The light spread over the street. "Rapidmon!" (A/N too lazy to describe him) He shot around, firing at Pajiramon.
"What?" She said as he whizzed around her.
"How do you like that?" Rapidmon asked. "This one's for Mr. Wong!" He shouted as he hit her in the head, and she face planted into the side of a building. Rapidmon readied his guns again. "Goodbye, Pajiramon, thanks for playing." She disintegrated into data, and Vajramon did as well, Renamon landing from a well placed kick. Slowly the people around them started to wake up.
"Dad!" Henry raced towards his dad, Terriermon, once again a rookie, landing on his shoulder. He kneeled down next to him, his hands hovering over him like he didn't know where to put them. "Dad, are you okay?" The rest of us, Rika, Takato, and I, headed over to Mr. Wong as well. Calumon had left.
"H-Henry." Mr. Wong groaned and his eyes opened a bit before he fell into a coughing fit, flecks of blood coming out as well. His breaths were coming out short and painfully, his eyes scrunching shut as if that would block the pain.
"No, Dad, stay with me." Henry gripped his dad's hand, which weakly held his back.
"We need help, please!" I shouted to the people around me, Takato helping me in my attempt to grab the attention of the disoriented people. Rika was the only one that had her wits about her, and pulled out a phone, no doubt calling 911.
In a matter of minutes an ambulance arrived, taking Mr. Wong away. Henry fought them, trying to get in with his dad until he mentioned he was his son, in which case they let him in, and then they were off, the alarms going as they sped towards the hospital. The three of us were left standing there, on the streets, Mr. Wong's blood on the ground.
"We should head to the hospital." Takato finally said.
"I think goggle head over here's right for once." I nodded.
"Yeah, Henry will need all the friends he can get."
Compared to the pain in reality, Mr. Wong gladly welcomed the bliss of the blackness, but he didn't just let the world become black, because he dreamed.
In his dream he wasn't the older man with four kids, a wife, and a busy job. He was a younger kid, pre-teen, full of hopes and dreams. He was standing in a lush field full of swaying grass and flowers, the tree line nowhere in sight. His eyes landed on the only other figure in the area. It was a white and purple monster with a bright orange tuft of hair.
"Gomamon!" He ran towards the creature, who had previously had his back turned towards him, but was now turning towards him.
"Jo?" He said when he saw the boy. Jo picked Gomamon up in a hug, and tears started to pour out of his eyes.
"I missed you so much." He sobbed in his fur, Gomamon, who was also crying, patted him on the back. "I-I saved someone, I was reliable, I thought of you and I saved someone."
"Jo, you're such a pansy." But the words had no bite as they were said in between sobs. "Jo, are you okay?" Gomamon suddenly asked. Somewhere in the mess the two of them had sat down and Gomamon took a few steps away from Joe to get a better view of him. His chest was blossoming a bright red that soaked through his clothes.
"T-the pain medication must have worn off." He said as he winced, feeling the pain.
"Pain medication? Jo, are you okay?" Gomamon asked. Were they only able to talk through their link for the firsts time in twenty years because Joe was practically dying?
"I-I'm fine." He panted out, but the lush field was darkening and starting to fade, and so was Gomamon. "No, Gomamon, don't leave me!" He reached his hand towards him, but he seemed to be a million miles away.
"I'll see you again Joe!" He shouted back, and the words echoes through the void. "Even if it takes twenty more years, I'll find you!"
Mr. Wong jerked awake to the sound of beeping machines and tear stains on his cheeks.
Yeah, plot twist, totally went off from what happened in that episode ;P I actually really enjoyed writing this chapter, but it's way longer than any of the others. Hopefully more of the chapters will be this long, I'm tired of feeling like I'm not putting 100% into this stuff, you guys deserve my 100%. As I always say, I love your reviews, they make all this more than worth it!
~the-east-hunter
