I believe that, judging from the responses from last time, having Tai and Agumon Biomerge to VictoryGreymon would have to be labeled as "a very good idea." To clarify a couple of things, this does not make Tai a tamer. He is still a Digidestined. He's just a Digidestined with a new trick up his sleeve. Next, he can still have Agumon Warp digivolve to WarGreymon. He couldn't before because of he wasn't really himself anymore, but he's out of his depressing moment now and back to his old self. Finally, VictoryGreymon is about to demonstrate that just because it has been a little while since Tai helped save the world directly, that doesn't mean he isn't still a force to be reckoned with.
Now, we'll return to the regularly scheduled program. Specifically, a little destructive fighting and an update on a few characters. Enjoy!
"Elemental Kitsune!" the mode-changed Sakuyamon announced, the colorful foxes she summoned leaping forward and ripping apart the blue Keramon who emerged from the mist.
Moving in beside her, the robotic Biomerged vaccine added, "Laser Sighted!"
The pair of megas swiftly reduced the number of Guardian-infused rookies and vaporized sections of the blue mist. Ahead, Minervamon and Dianamon moved across the rooftops, slashing away the fog and enemies with their bladed attack to clear a space to stand before completely decimating their targets. Large pillars of fire that spontaneously appeared further away marked Marsmon's steady progress into the territory. Valkyrimon's speed and agility meant that the Biomerged digimon lost track of his position a while ago, but they didn't doubt the vaccine was doing plenty of damage.
Directly in front of them, the three angels of the group were raining down a storm of powerful attacks.
"Celestial Arrow!" called Angewomon, firing her projectile.
"Excalibur!" MagnaAngemon added.
With his blade-like arms outstretched, GuardiAngemon began to glow and announced, "Golden Ripper!"
"Whoever said 'nice guys finish last' has never seen an angel digimon on the attack," muttered Terriermon's voice as he viewed the explosion of data that followed their destructive path.
"Well, 'nice' doesn't mean 'weak' or 'pushovers,'" his partner reminded. "And angelic digimon are known for being particularly powerful."
"Gate of Destiny!" shouted MagnaAngemon, creating a large portal that started swallowing up aggressive digimon and mist alike.
"Remind me to never tick him off," remarked Terriermon's voice as the portal sealed up and the angels moved on.
The newly cleared area of rooftop looked like an island of normality in a sea of blue fog. Unfortunately, this image only lasted a moment. Five figures climbed up the sides of the building and gained positions on the roof. Their long, thin limbs and their creeping movements gave the impression of a large spider or insect, complete with six legs. For the most part, they were white with sections of blue on the horn on their head, along their back around the spikes on their spine, where the limbs attached to their body, and their feet themselves. Only the grey spikes and claws and their yellow-green eyes varied from these two colors.
"Infermon," Rika's voice identified. "Ultimate level. Only they're supposed to be red and white instead of blue and white."
"The Guardian program is affecting their appearance as well as their capabilities," explained Henry's voice from the crest-empowered MegaGargomon. "They can enter the mist without harm and are undoubtedly more durable than normal ultimate level digimon."
"Then we better not underestimate them," Sakuyamon stated in her dual voice as a small blue flame appeared on the tip of her staff. Concentrating, she began to spin it and formed a thin ring of fire that swiftly turned white-hot. With a confident smile, she announced, "Ring of Truth!"
The spinning flame circle shot across the rooftop, striking three out of five of the Infermon, but the creatures seemed relatively unharmed by her attack. One was knocked off the edge and vanished back into the mist below, but he crawled back up the side of the building with two more following him.
"How about something with a little more punch?" Terriermon's voice suggested. "Mega Bom…"
"Wait," interrupted Henry's voice. "This is still a city and it isn't even our city. Shouldn't we try to keep the property damage to a minimum?"
Two of the Infermon tilted their heads up and stated, "Spider Shooter!"
As the pair of Biomerged megas dodged the shots fired, Rika pointed out, "Angewomon and MagnaAngemon aren't holding back and this is their reality. A little mass destruction is preferable to the end of all life on the planet."
"Which means blast the spiders away," Terriermon explained from within MegaGargomon. "Mega Bombardment!"
"Why does this sort of thing keep happening? I'm taking a test or trying to find out my score or I'm attending a seminar and the end of the world begins again because of Diaboromon. What if this continues during college? How am I going to keep my scores up and maintain my studies if disasters keep happening? I'll end up dropping out because of my failing grades."
"Relax, Joe. You're more worked up over school than our current problem. You're going to be fine. The day you fail in school is the day Myotismon opens up a nice coffee shop. So, don't worry about that now."
The dark-haired teenager adjusted his glasses and took a tighter grip on the large, white-furred walrus currently swimming across the body of water separating them from Odaiba. Similar to how the area had been cut off in the past by Myotismon, no one was able to enter the increasingly mysterious mist. The main difference this time was that it wasn't a powerful ultimate and his minions preventing entrance, but humans who just wanted to protect the citizens from harm. The other bright side was that it was actually possible to evacuate people this time, but Joe was still forced to have his aquatic champion provide transportation since he couldn't just stay away and safe like the rest of the population.
"Fine, I can panic about the killer mist instead," he decided. "We're heading towards something reported to cause several health problems, is spreading fairly quickly, and all we know about it is from a brief news report. How do we even know if we can fight it? We might turn out to be completely useless against it."
Ikkakumon reminded, "Izzy seemed to know what is going on. If we can find the others, they can fill us in about what is going on and what we need to do to stop it."
The two of them had been in Joe's seminar when the news reached them. The Digidestined of Reliability had been listening attentively and taking careful notes (while Gomamon lay sleeping beside him, having decided that while Joe might be interested in learning all of this, he wasn't) when a frantic student burst into the room, shouting at the group to turn on the news. The professor, initially furious at the interruption, did relent enough to turn on the television in the corner of the room briefly. The man on screen began describing a blue fog taking over the city, only for Izzy and Tentomon to interrupt the news anchor with his own explanation. Though the professor tried to regain control of the chaos the announcement caused, Joe and his partner were already heading out the door.
"I still can't believe I cut class already and I haven't even begun my first official semester of college," the boy moaned. "My professor is never going to let me back in his class."
"I thought we were off that topic," the digimon muttered. "Are you saying you would have rather stayed there?"
"No," he stated instantly and firmly. "As important as my studies are to me, they aren't the only things that matter. People depend on doctors, police officers, and government leaders to do important jobs to help and protect. As a future doctor, I'll someday have that responsibility. But as a Digidestined, I already have an important responsibility. Our friends depend on us to help during an emergency and that's what we're going to do."
There was a moment of silence before Ikkakumon pointed out, "I bet your professor will accept 'world saving' as a valid excuse for leaving, even if he doesn't cancel the class today entirely. Disasters tend to distract people from learning, so no one else will be listening to his lesson anyway."
High above, flying steadily towards their home and the threat to the world, was a fiery-orange bird. She was far larger than any non-digital bird could ever be and she currently carried a passenger. Perched on the clawed foot of Birdramon, still wearing a tennis outfit and her auburn hair blowing in the wind, was the Digidestined of Love.
After one of her matches, her mother and Biyomon had come down from the stands with her cell phone. A short but frantic message from Mrs. Kamiya instantly sent the girl into action. Her mother, there to support one of her daughter's few "girl" activities, knew the teenager would have to go and accepted this fact. Sora had the power to protect those she cared about and her mother had slowly learned to let her. She would always want to keep her daughter safe and uninvolved in the battles that she would always run towards, but the woman couldn't do that anymore. The girl was growing up and she had to let her stand on her own.
She would be missing her final match of the day, but Sora was perfectly fine with this. While tennis fulfilled her desire for a competitive sport, it would always be less appealing than soccer. Her mother, however, worried about her being hurt in that rougher sport and wanted to help cultivate at least some of her daughter's more feminine traits. The girl resented these efforts in her youth, but accepted them more grudgingly as she aged as her parent's attempt to show her love. So Sora allowed a few changes to her life and tried to be more understanding of her mother's view. Worrying about getting hurt during a soccer game when the teenager faced giant digimon often enough might seem silly, but small things like playing tennis instead offered some comfort to the woman. Besides, she still managed to enjoy the occasional short game with Tai.
Tai. Her best friend since before she could remember. The person who once threw up in her hat when they were kids and didn't manage to tell her before she put it on. The boy who rescued her from Datamon. The Digidestined who bought a hairclip for her birthday, couldn't figure what he did wrong, and still tried to apologize through his ignorance of the crime. That specific instant was particularly memorable since it resulted in several conflicting thoughts concerning him. She'd watched her computer for an e-mail from him, but refused to speak on the phone to him when he called. Anyone else who might have given that same present would have been met with a smile and a "thank you" instead of accusations of an intended insult to her appearance. At the time she didn't know why she was acting so crazy about it until she opened his e-mail. Reading the words "love, Tai" at the end brought everything into focus, leaving her intensely happy and painfully afraid. When he later explained that he meant to write "from, Tai," she remembered that it was relieving and disappointing. But, Tai was still Tai and she was still Sora. Their strong friendship endured it all and they remained close.
And yet, it wasn't the spiky-haired brunette who was her boyfriend, regardless of what Impmon seemed to think or what Agumon and Biyomon wanted to believe. He never asked or even suggested such a thing after that e-mail typo and she couldn't. Even as the Digidestined of Love, the idea of trying to get closer to him and trying to put her emotions into words seemed terrifying. He already said he loved her and took it back… or, rather, didn't even mean to say it in the first place. It was clear enough they could never have a future beyond just being friends, so she pushed him back just enough that she could enjoy that friendship without trying to mentally analyze each action or word for a deeper meaning.
Then, Sora made another discovery. While she and Tai maintained a fairly close, but "just friends" status, she noticed that she began feeling closer to Matt as well. The blond musician had been a friend for several years due to their history as Digidestined, but she realized that it was more than just mere friendship she felt towards him. What she felt about Matt was similar to what she felt about Tai, but it was also different. Slowly, Sora had to admit she loved Matt. Which also meant admitting she loved Tai, but in a different way. She loved both boys in their own way. The biggest problem with that, beyond the fact it would be hard to tell either one of them, was the concept that she could love them both at the same time. Sora would have to pick one, the other, or neither eventually, but it wasn't like she loved one more than another. The choice seemed impossible.
Unlike the other crests, Love wasn't straight forward or simple. Courage, Knowledge, and even Friendship seemed so easy to understand. But her trait wasn't as clear or basic. Pure and simple compassion, the bonds between family, the closeness between friends, the unbreakable and impossible to describe connection to a digimon partner, a temporary but powerful crush, and the well-known and yet rare deep romantic love for another person were all a part of her crest and sorting through these different aspects of the same emotion were impossible. Was Matt or Tai just an extremely close friend to her, a temporary crush, or was one of them her true love?
Finally, around Christmas, she made a choice. Between the two of them, Sora decided she could accept a rejection from Matt somewhat easier than Tai. The spiky-haired boy had too much history with her and he'd clearly already stated he didn't love her with that e-mail typo event. On the other hand, the Digidestined of Friendship had various girls state they love him every day because of his band. Any rejection Matt might give could be viewed as less personal if she wanted and they could probably preserve their friendship by laughing the whole thing off as her getting caught up in the fad if it didn't end well. In the end, she made the safer choice since she couldn't simply figure out who she loved more.
And he accepted. He returned her affection and they officially became a couple. Both their lives were busy, but they still found time to watch a movie or go shopping together. She attended a large percentage of his band's performances, listening to him sing songs for numerous screaming fans. It was kind of nice to be able to speak up when the girls at school start discussing their boyfriends or crushes. But when Tai found out… he looked so hurt at the news and still managed to be supportive of her decision. That moment hinted to her that he might actually care about her more than a friend, but also proved to her that she still loved him even when she picked Matt. The extent of either one of their affection was still in doubt (he might just find it awkward for his two friends to be dating and fear being left out), so she still didn't know if this would end up being the right choice.
But Tai and the others were in danger currently. Regardless of the exact type of love, she cared about the well-being of her friends, family, neighbors, the innocent people who lived in the city, the various digidestined and digimon slowly appearing across the globe, and even those individuals who treated the digital creatures like a plague because they didn't know better. She wanted to help and protect them all from harm, even though she admittedly cared more for some than others. And Tai was undoubtedly placing himself in the deepest trouble possible.
Gaining a firmer grip on Birdramon's leg, the Digidestined of Love focused more firmly on the present. Matt was out of town, along with almost everyone else, so any available people and digimon were needed in Odaiba. Though Mrs. Kamiya's message ended up being light on the details, they were enough to convince Sora of the severity of the situation. Everyone could be killed and the world destroyed. But she wouldn't let that happen.
"Just hang on. We're coming," the girl muttered. "Just wait a little longer, Tai."
His inner fan boy nearly died of excitement and shock when Tai's digivice changed into a D-arc. The same inner fan boy managed to revive long enough to freak out again when his hero vanished in a familiar bright light and a new giant reptilian digimon appeared. Ever since the day he first gained the ability to Biomerge, Takato had wondered what it would be like if that happened on the television show. Now, he could see his dream come true in real life and it exceeded anything even his extensive imagination could have hoped for.
VictoryGreymon had looked around in confusion for a moment, undoubtedly asking questions inside his head, until he finally verbalized an actual phrase to the outside world.
"Did we just… Biomerge?" asked Tai's voice.
"See? Impossible stunts and crazy miracles," shouted Impmon. "Though Takato already pulled off that one a while ago, so it isn't as shocking."
"But he's awesome," the tamer argued. The sheer exhilaration brought on by his hero gaining even more power threatened to shove all other rational thought out of his head. "He's WarGreymon, only more buff and with a giant sword."
"Either way, he isn't moping about anymore and we can get the show on the road," the purple rookie pointed out. "That fog is getting closer and the Cyclops-jellyfish are starting to take notice of us."
Both facts were true and fairly important. During Tai's earlier dark mood, Takato felt at a loss of how to break through the fog of depression to the hero he knew existed underneath. But the moment the older boy placed the goggles on his head, the entire atmosphere shifted from hopeless to awe-inspiring. The Digidestined had reversed from his spiral downwards to regain his confidence. That shift lead directly into the unexpected Biomerging. During this entire time, the blue mist advanced along with the small baby digimon. Their single-eyeball gaze remained on the children and digimon, completely focused and creepy.
Takato pulled out his D-arc and gave his partner a grin. Ai and Mako grabbed hold of their shared device hanging around the girl's neck.
"Guilmon Biomerge to… Gallantmon!"
"Impmon Biomerge to… Fatemon!"
The children and rookies vanished into the forms of two powerful megas. One was heavily armored, lance-wielding knight. The other was the more lightly-protected, sword-carrying warrior. Both viral in nature, one held a specific trait the other currently lacked. The green-eyed fighter bore a black set of wings where the first Biomerged mega wore a cape. But Gallantmon was capable of gaining flight in the right circumstances.
As the pair reached their mega levels, VictoryGreymon descended on the swarm with his powerful sword, "Dramon Breaker!"
Dozens of the small, blue creatures shattered into data under the force of the blade's impact. The large, triple-bladed weapon lacked the deadly sharp edge of most swords, but it made up for that difference with the sheer weight and power of the tool. Due to the size, the sword seemed almost too large to be wielded even by the giant reptile, and yet VictoryGreymon moved it easily around him.
"Dramon Breaker!" he called again, smashing the weapon into another group of Kuramon.
"I think your hero is over his depression," Impmon's voice remarked from his Biomerged form. "But we can't let him have all the fun, can we?"
Dark energy forming in one hand and bright light in the other, the mega hurled both towards the numberous creatures while shouting, "Balanced Reality!"
While Fatemon started assisting VictoryGreymon, Takato focused on his own abilities from within his red sphere. In theory, he should be able to mode change. Every piece of evidence suggested this capability was within his grasp. He'd done it in the past, so he should be able to recreate that event.
"Any ideas?" he whispered to his partner.
"Well, we could try thinking about it really hard," suggested Guilmon's voice. "Maybe remembering how it felt will help."
Nodding, the tamer closed his eyes as he focused on the past. The clear memory of the D-reaper, the knowledge that Jeri was trapped inside, Grani's voice, and the new rush of power that filled him as he changed all began to play in his mind. He could recall the sensation of his mega form shifting in midair, his lance and shield being replaced with a sword and spear, his armor changing to red, and his cape vanishing while a series of white wings sprouted from his back. He could remember that feeling so easily. In fact, he could almost remember how to recreate that feeling if he concentrated hard enough.
"We can do this," Takato mumbled, opening his eyes. He stared at the various orbiting symbols and unknown strangeness that existed just outside the crimson orb he occupied. His mind continued to play back the memory, his imagination strengthening his recollection of the sensation. As he mentally recreated the feeling as closely as he could, he noticed the symbols orbiting him starting to accelerate and morph. Then, the feeling of changing into his Crimson Mode was no longer just in his mind. He could actually physically feel the sensation. He grinned, "Awesome."
And there is another chapter for my readers. I hope you liked it. In my continuing efforts to try to make some sense of the interesting and, at times, complicated relationship between Sora, Matt, and Tai without turning anyone of them into a complete jerk or out of character, I examined it from her point of view this time.
Her crest always struck me as less straightforward and simple than some of the others. If love was easy, there would be far fewer songs out there (and almost zero country songs). Love comes in a variety of… well, not types. It comes in different categories. It is possible to love different people equally, but in completely different ways. So, the way I see it, she actually loves both boys, just not in the same way. She doesn't know how to describe the difference in how she loves them, so she had no easy way to choose between them. How this will end up (will she stay with Matt like in the epilogue episode at the end of season 2 or end up with Tai or something entirely different) is yet to be revealed and probably won't be for some time. Romance is not the focus of the story, but it is still sprinkled in occasionally.
Plus, there was a little action in the chapter and Joe showed up. That means all of the Season 1 Digidestined have appeared at least once now. Which means there are quite a few fighters on the way or present that I'll have to keep track of. But I feel pretty confident so far.
Reviews are always appreciated. Thanks.