You probably think that Tai and them overreacted slightly to Impmon. And maybe they did a little. But keep in mind, people do not react well to fireballs anyway and since there is already quite a bit of anti-digimon sentiment, none of the digidestined need more trouble. Don't worry though. Things will get better.
His simple little scare was becoming far more complicated. The two humans had jumped back as planned. They hadn't screamed, but you can't have everything. Then Impmon had found himself dodging attacks himself. Apparently his chosen targets were tamers. And the digimon thought he wanted to barbecue their partners and any other humans in the area. Once, maybe he would have tried. But now, all he wanted was to scare them a occasionally. But he couldn't blame the two rookie for their assumptions.
Now he had digivolved so he could stand a better chance of getting away. He had to be careful not to hurt the rookie digimon. No, he wouldn't risk that. Not again. Beelzemon never wanted to see anyone suffer like Jeri because of him. But he wouldn't let them destroy him or "stuff him back into the digital world forcibly" or whatever the hairball boy thought up. Beelzemon intended to get back to the group as quickly as possible. Any moment, fox-face would be showing up to point out how stupid he had been. At least things couldn't get worse.
"Agumon Warp digivolve to... WarGreymon!"
"Of course," the dark mega muttered. "Why shouldn't the minature pineapple-head digivolve? I never get a break after all."
"Mega Claw!" the armoured digimon announced, slashing at the virus type.
Growling to himself angrily, Beelzemon leapt backwards and upward to avoid the strike. Then from his aerial position, he performed a roundhouse kick at WarGreymon's face. The spikes on his boots would hurt the overgrown lizard but not seriously. Actually, from his expression, all he had really managed to do was tick the armoured digimon off even more.
"Bi, we got to help them," the red-head told the pink parakeet. "Think you can get up to Garudamon?"
"I can try, Sora," the bird digimon answered, taking flight.
The dark mega really didn't feel like fighting two high level digimon, especially since he didn't want to accidentally kill them and they might not have the same resignations as him about deleting their opponent. As the rookie flew near, Beelzemon made a decision.
"Biyomon digivo..."
The pink digimon was interrupted as a strong hand smacked her out of the air. She tumbled to the ground with a cry of pain. The girl, Sora, ran over to the digimon in concern but the bird was already struggling to her feet. The mega hadn't hit her hard, just enough to keep her out of the fight.
"Terra Force!" WarGreymon shouted, throwing his attack directly into Beelzemon's chest.
"Argh!" he cried, crashing to the ground himself. After a moment, he looked upwards at the overgrown lizard, "Okay, now I'm mad."
The dark mega, glaring at the creature above him, climbed to his feet. At first, he started to raise his right, weaponized arm towards him. Then, shaking his head, he spread his wings and shot through the air at the armoured digimon.
"Try this," the virus snarled, punching the reptilian mega. "And this," he growled, wacking his opponent with his huge gun rather than firing.
The super-hair boy shouted, "You'll have to do better than that to beat us, Beelzemon."
"Mega Claw!" cried WarGreymon, bringing his strike down towards his opponent's head.
The dark-winged mega brought his weapon-covered arm up to block the claws and kicked out, forcing the reptile backwards. The emerald-eyed being turned his gaze back at the human.
"You can't really be that thick! I am not trying to beat your stupid dino-freak digimon," he snapped. "Do I look like an evil psycho?" Then, considering his current form, added, "Don't answer that."
Then he heard a voice he had been expecting for quite a while. And he was actually kind of happy to hear it finally.
"And what are you doing, Beelzemon?"
Tai gripped his digivice tightly in his hand. Where ever Beelzemon was from, he had obviously learned how to dodge an attack well. In fact, he had barely used any real attacks at all. But he did knock Biyomon out of the air with his bare hand.
Somehow, the bird digimon was not seriously hurt. A blow from a mega should have done more damage. Unless the dark digimon had held back intentionally. But if he was, was it because he actually didn't want to hurt them or because he was just toying with them? After all, there was a giant gun attached to his arm and yet he hadn't fired once.
When Beelzemon asked the digidestined if he looked like "an evil psycho," the boy wanted to answer that yes, he did and yet wasn't quite acting like one. But before he could, another voice spoke up.
"And what are you doing, Beelzemon?"
The mega, with a a mischievous grin on his face, snapped, "Having a tea party, fox-face. What does it look like? Mr. Super-hair and his partner, a short dino-boy dork only orange, have decided to try and smash me. One tiny misunderstanding and look what I'm left dealing with."
While he should have known the battle would gain attention, he still hadn't been prepared for his opponent to have reinforcement. Tai studied the new arrival, or rather arrivals, in case they decided to join their apparent ally. The group was rather varied in appearance and included humans and digimon.
The speaker from earlier, the one referred to as "fox-face," was indeed a bipedal fox with yellow fur, long lavender gloves, and icy blue eyes. She was tall, taller than most rookies the boy was familiar with, and her tail flicked behind her smoothly. A girl, closer to the younger generation of digidestined like his sister Kari in age, stood by the digimon. With her red hair pulled back in a ponytail and her jeans and heart t-shirt, she seemed like the anti-Mimi.
Near them was a familiar tall figure of Leomon. But he wasn't the same one that Tai and the rest had met before. How he knew this, he couldn't say. Maybe it was the two very young children balanced on his shoulders. Or maybe it was the way he stood near another girl with short brown hair and a green dress, his body language clearly saying she was off-limits to any threats. While the Leomon he knew was protective and a noble warrior, this one still felt like a different one than before. If this one was a partner to one of these children, then that was surprising. Most partners were not at the champion level normally. So either he had digivolved in case of an upcoming battle, or he was just an unusual partner.
A boy with darker hair and an orange shirt had another semi-familiar shape on his shoulder. While the Digidestined of Courage had never had the opportunity to meet Willis personally, he had heard all about his twin digimon. The small white and green rabbit-like being was clearly Terriermon.
The final two members were rather oddly... distracting. Brown hair and a blue hoodie were fairly ordinary, but the boy was wearing a pair of yellow goggles. His expression was one of pure shock. Beside him was a fairly tall, red, reptilian digimon with odd black markings along his body. Yellow eyes blinked calmly as the digimon watched Tai and the others. A dinosaur and a boy with goggles. That was creepily similar to his life.
"Let me guess," the fox continued. "You decide to try and cause a little panic and their partners got upset." She glanced at both Biyomon and WarGreymon. "And since you were out-numbered, you decide to out-gun them."
"Toots, I can't help it they don't have a sense of humor and I didn't know they were tamers at the time," he explained, using the confusing term again. "And they freaked out over one little fireball. Are those kids hurt? No. Are they on fire? No. Is his jumbo hair still huge? Yep. So what's the big deal?"
One of the small children on the leonine digimon, the girl, suggested, "Beelzemon, please come down and stop fighting the dino. He doesn't look like a meanie."
"Munchkin, he started it," the evil-looking digimon answered, sounding surprisingly patient with the child. "And I was just returning the fight to the loser."
"But you threw a fireball at Tai and Sora," reminded WarGreymon.
"And you and Polly the parrot tried to cream me. What's your point?"
"Beelzemon, please come over here," asked the girl in green. Her voice was soft but firm. The mega stiffened slightly as she spoke. "You don't want anyone to get hurt. Them or you. And you said it was just a misunderstanding."
He landed on the ground, muttering, "I was not trying to hurt them, Jeri. You know that. They just don't seem to be smart enough to listen very well."
"Well, you guys have a lot in common then," chuckled Terriermon.
The mega grinned evilly, "Braniac, if your bunny doesn't want to be tied to the top of a flagpole by his ears, I suggest you shut him up."
"You really need to momentai," the rabbit digimon muttered.
Tai and Sora exchanged glances. While Beelzemon still looked dangerous, this new group of digidestined seemed unconcerned with his appearance and attitude. And they didn't seem like the evil villain type. They watched as the dark mega stepped towards the smaller children. Instead of cringing at his approach, their faces brightened and leaned towards him from their perch on Leomon.
"WarGreymon," the boy sighed, "I don't think he's as bad as we thought."
Takato just stared in pure amazement. After they realized that Impmon had vanished, the group decided it would be better to find the trouble-maker quickly rather than remain where Destiny asked them to. Rika actually seemed excited to have some action rather than wait around. While everyone had expected to follow Renamon as she used her strange connection to the rookie to find him, what they ended up doing was follow the sounds of battle. They found Beelzemon facing another mega. Specifically, it was a mega that Takato was familiar with.
"No way, no way, no way," he muttered softly. "It can't be."
Beelzemon eventually landed on the ground, after complaining that he didn't start it. As the dark mega threatened the loud-mouth rabbit, Takato tried to study the strangers more closely.
In addition to WarGreymon, the creature who Beelzemon had been fighting upon arrival, another familiar digimon stood by the two humans. The pink bird with blue markings on her feathers was clearly Biyomon. While Takato had never encountered either of these beings before, he knew all about them.
Then, he saw the humans. His inner fan-boy completely freaked out. The girl with her red hair and the spiky-hair boy were too perfect. As WarGreymon dedigivolved, the orange rookie fit with them just as Takato had always imagined they would in real life.
"Takatomon, are you okay?" asked his partner. "You've been staring for a long time."
"Oh my..." whispered Henry as he caught sight of the pair. While he wasn't as much a fan of the television show as Takato, Kazu, and Kenta, he could recognize the iconic characters of it. "It can't be..."
"Hey, what's with all the weird staring?" snapped Beelzemon, seeing the tamers attention on the two humans. "Even the Ice Queen looks creepy. Munchkins, did anything odd happen while I was gone?"
As the twins shook their heads, the strangers approached the group. The dark mega took his young partners from Leomon and set them on the ground before changing back to Impmon. He glanced over to Takato.
"Goggle-head, you've got five seconds to explain what's got you all spooked or I'll Badda Boom you to that weird dark dimension and back," the rookie threatened.
"I... think we've just crossed over to pure impossibility," muttered Henry.
The spiky-haired boy, looking a little uncomfortably with the stares he was receiving, tried to break the awkwardness. "Um... Hi. Sorry about... Yeah. Your friend kind of..."
"Tried to set fire to Tai and Sora," muttered Biyomon.
Impmon shouted in frustration, "I did not! That fireball didn't even singe them. I just wanted to scare them a little. You guys just overreacted."
"And why would you want to scare them?" the pink bird asked.
"Because it would be hilarious."
"Why did I expect any of you to stay put? Why did I think you might be able to stay out of trouble for a few minutes?" someone suddenly asked, sounding amused.
The entire group of humans and digimon turned. Destiny, still wearing her dark cloak but her hood pulled back, walked towards them. She was grinning and shaking her head. Beside her was another girl and a digimon. Both were just as oddly familiar-looking as the other strangers.
"Tai, what did you guys get tangled up in this time?" the short-haired girl asked.
"Kari, honest, I..." he began.
Destiny quickly interrupted, "It seems it is time to properly introduce tamers and Digidestined. Before you decide to kill each other over misunderstandings. I believe the first thing is to inform you, Digidestined, that the children and digimon before you are from another reality. And second, the harder thing to accept, is that in their reality, your world is a television show. So yes, Takato," she looked at the boy, "they are the same people you think they are. You are meeting the Digidestined of Courage, Love, and Light."
"This is so cool," the goggle-sporting boy smiled. "I've always wanted to meet them."
"Now what did you say?" asked Tai, Sora, Biyomon, and Impmon at the same time.
The dark-haired girl sighed and exchanged a look with Kari, "I think that it would be better to gather all involved and explain it all at once. I've already had to with Kari and Gatomon, and I don't want to go over it more times than I have to. Might we move to a more private setting and summon the rest of the Digidestined?"
Kari nodded, "Not everyone is in town, but we can call those who are. And our mom won't be home for a while, so we can go to our house. Right, Tai?'
"Uh... Sure?"
Agumon shook his head at his partner's response. Hopefully, things would start making sense soon. But something told him life was about to get interesting.
I know. Destiny just blurted it out. But sometimes just saying something rather than beating around the bush is more effective. And Agumon is right about things getting interesting for them soon. Of course, Destiny will have to explain some. And she still doesn't know everything yet. The next chapter will check in with Kazu, Kenta, Yamaki, Suzie, and their digimon. Thanks.