Hey there guys so this chapter is a bit on the long side and it took me forever to write. So I hope you guys enjoy it and thank you to the people who read and reviewed.
I don't own digimon...major sadness
Chapter Three: Friendship Frozen in Ice
Matt didn't know why he kept the picture in his wallet, maybe because it conveyed the idea of a happy family. Sighing deeply he took out a couple of bills and tucked his wallet into the back pocket of his pants. He handed the cashier his money and took his receipt from her. At the sound of two familiar voices he finally realized what restaurant his aimless driving had brought him to, Davis' Noodle Shack.
"Don't worry Jun I've got it covered, Kaede's going to have the best birthday party ever." Matt heard Davis say. He was glad that Davis and Jun seemed to be on better terms then they had been when they were younger. "Arisu has already started buying decorations."
"Thank heavens for your wife." Jun sighed. As the two of them started toward the door they seemed to notice Matt. It shocked him to no end when Jun squealed at the sight of him. "Ohmigosh Matt!" She rounded on her brother who was looking at Matt with an apologetic smile. "Why didn't you tell me that he moved back to town?"
"So we could avoid this." Davis said waving his hand around to indicate their current situation. "Sorry about this Matt."
"Its okay." Matt said dragging a hand through his hair nervously. Looking around at the bustling restaurant he decided that it was best to say something about Davis' obvious success. "Glad to see that your dream came true, I can't wait to try your noodles I've been hearing a lot about them at work."
"Thanks." Davis said with a sheepish smile.
"Matt do you still sing?" Jun asked seeming to snap out of the trance she had been in.
While music was still a big part of his life he gave up singing the day Kotone left him. Singing reminded him too much of her, of the blissful moments of his life—of their life together. Sitting in a box in the back of his closet were the songs they'd written together, the song he sang to her on their wedding day, and all of the lullabies they wrote for Kai.
"Only to Kai." Matt answered shifting awkwardly from one foot to another.
The Motomiya siblings nodded. "Don't worry about the party Ari and I have it covered." Davis said as he ushered his sister out of the restaurant no doubt to keep the atmosphere from getting anymore awkward than it already was. "Tell Kaede her Uncle Davis loves her so much."
"Is she married?" Matt asked simply out of curiosity.
"No, her boyfriend left her after finding out she was pregnant. He wasn't the family type." Davis said clenching his hands in to fists. "I have to go make sure Veemon and DemiVeemon haven't destroyed the kitchen but I hope you enjoy your meal and I'll see you later at Izzy's."
Matt nodded making a mental note to call Izzy and tell him that there was a good chance that they'd be a little late. As he sat waiting for his noodles he couldn't help but think about the photo, the times when life was simple and he didn't have to take his daughter to the psychiatrist once a week. He shook the image of his daughter bleeding on the bathroom floor barely alive from his head and replaced it with the image of her smiling up at him as he tickled the ivory keys of the piano.
Kai sucked in a deep breath before following Amaya into the lunchroom. After a week of her cousin's begging and pleading Kai finally gave in and agreed to join her and the rest of the school in the lunchroom. She had to remember that the kids here weren't the ones that chipped away at her and made her feel like nothing. They weren't the friends who turned on her and broke everything she was.
"You're looking a little pale Kai." DJ said when they sat down at the table.
"Are you okay?" Ryuu asked softly.
"I'm fine." She said nervously tugging the sleeves of her plaid shirt down.
She wasn't but how could she explain to her teammates why she wasn't without having them think she was crazy. The last thing she wanted was for them to think she belonged in the mental ward. Had she grown up with them she might have been comfortable enough telling them why she couldn't stand being in the lunchroom but she had moved away and they'd forgotten about her. They were strangers to her, not friends. Their toleration of her was strictly due to the fact that they needed her to save the Digital World, it was because of this reason that she wouldn't allow herself to get close to them. They'd use her then leave her, like the others.
"Earth to Kai." DJ said snapping her out of her rather depressing thoughts. She looked up at the dark haired boy. "How are you liking it here?"
"Its big." She answered quietly. "My old school only had two hundred students for first through eighth grade."
"What?" DJ exclaimed.
"Yeah we lived in a small country town." Kai said unwrapping the sandwich she had packed for lunch. Staring intently at the brown crust she said, "The same kids were in my class since the first grade and we didn't switch classes. Its really different here."
"Do you miss your friends?" Ryuu asked.
"No." Kai answered fighting the urge to scratch the scars on her wrists.
"Well Taki's glad you're back." Amaya said.
Kai doubted that since Takumi had barely spoken to her. She found it funny that the group was still using the nickname she'd given Takumi when they were younger and she couldn't say his name. Oh how she yearned for the days when all she and Takumi would do was lay on the grass and try to see things in the clouds or kick the soccer ball around his backyard with his dad or sit quietly beside each other listening to her dad strum the acoustic. Those were the days when everything was perfect, her mother loved them, she wasn't depressed, and she had friends.
Friendship, there was no doubt in her mind that the symbol flashing on the screen meant friendship. Her dad had told her that much when she saw the very same symbol tattooed on his wrist. Looking at the screen of her D-Power, at the flashing symbol, a waved of disbelief crashed over her. How could her strongest trait be friendship when she had no idea what it meant, when she didn't believe that it existed?
"What's up?" Her dad asked drawing her attention away from the symbol on the screen. "You haven't said much since Izzy told everybody what their crests are."
"It has to be a mistake." She said quietly. "I can't be the one to bare the crest of friendship."
"Kai, you were scanned and they took the strongest of your traits to make your crest. It isn't a mistake." Her dad said wrapping an arm around her shoulder. "Friendship does exist Kai, I can assure you of that."
"Not for me it doesn't." Kai said looking down at her wrists.
Kai could tell that her dad wasn't about to drop their conversation. He wanted her to believe that there were such things as friends. She couldn't believe that because all the people she had called friends stabbed her in the back, it was their fault she had the scars on her wrists and had to attend weekly therapy sessions. "Kai not all people are like the ones who hurt you. Eventually you will see that and when you do you'll see that the crest of friendship was really meant for you."
He straightened the grey knit hat on her head before giving her a reassuring squeeze. Over the past couple of month she'd come to see that he believed in her more than she believed in herself. While she didn't want to disappoint him she couldn't help but feel like ultimately she would. Looking down at Gabumon she knew that she'd disappoint him too, with her not believing in friendship he wouldn't reach ultimate level.
"We're almost there." Takumi called out to them. "Good thing too because I'm ready to get out of this frozen wasteland."
"The others were lucky in their locations." DJ said blowing into his glove covered hands. "At least Izzy gave us a heads up about where we were going."
"Yeah and that he was able to set these as our outfits for when we're in this area of the Digiworld." Davis said tugging his beanie down lower.
"When we get back I'll ask Sora to make us all a pot of hot chocolate." Tai said as he led the small group forward. "Yeah and then I'm taking a hot bath after which I'll steal all the blankets in the house and snuggle underneath them."
Kai's smile was directed at the ground but was caused by the words her Uncle Tai had spoken. Vaguely did it register that even after eight years of being away from him, Tai was still 'Uncle Tai' to her. She liked that after all this time he could still bring a smile to her face.
Looking up at her dad she said, "I think Uncle Tai has the right idea, with the blankets. Lets gather up all of the blankets in the house and camp out in the living room like we used to."
She could tell by her father's rapid blinking that he was either not believing his ears or about to lie to her. She knew it was the former. "Okay that'll be fun, I'm sure Raiden would like it."
She knew Raiden would be enthused by their plans for the evening especially since he had to stay back with Akira and Izzy while they went out and searched for the crests of friendship, sincerity, and hope. For some reason the map had only shown them the location of three of the crests, Izzy had deduced that it was a security measure put in place just incase the map fell into the wrong hands. The group had split up into smaller groups with Akira, Emi, Ryuu, and Raiden staying behind. Raiden didn't like the idea of being left behind but with Akira's promise to show him cool computer games he stayed in the real world.
"Quit complaining about the cold DJ at least you get to wear warm clothes. In case you haven't noticed I'm naked!" Veemon yelled at his partner. "What I wouldn't give for some fur."
"Sorry about that Veemon." DJ said to his partner who was shivering from the cold. DJ took off his beanie and extended it out to Veemon who looked at it with a confused expression on his face. "Take it you need it more than I do."
"We've got company." Takumi said looking up from his D-Power. "Ten or so enemies closing in on our location fast."
"Leave this to us you three get to the crest." Tai said to the kids. To their digimon partners he said, "Its time to digivolve."
"Agumon digivolve to Greymon."
"Gabumon digivolve to Garurumon."
"Davis!" Veemon yelled.
"Right, digi-armor energize!"
"Veemon armor digivolve to Flamedramon, the Fire of Courage."
"Come on guys." Takumi said not really wanting to leave their dads behind but knowing that they had everything covered. Noticing the look of hesitation on Kai and DJ's faces he added, "They're going to be okay we have to get the crest."
Nodding DJ and Kai followed their leader in the direction of the crest's location. They ran into the forest following the map carefully. Takumi tried not to think about how those X-Antibody digimon knew where they would be. He hoped that it was a coincidence that they were there and that the hooded man hadn't figured out a way to read the map. It was a good thing that the crest could only be lifted by the person it was meant for otherwise they'd be in quite the predicament if the hooded man indeed got the map working for him.
"There's the cave!" DJ yelled as they neared the spot indicated on the map.
"Subzero Ice Punch." A row of Frigimon X yelled.
"Duck." Takumi yelled bringing Kai down with him. He turned his head and found his partner. "Agumon digivolve."
"You too Veemon." DJ said.
"Gabumon, you too." Kai said looking at her partner.
"Agumon digivolve to Greymon."
"Veemon digivolve to ExVeemon."
"Gabumon digivolve to Garurumon."
Turning to face her Takumi told Kai, "We'll handle these overgrown snowmen, you and Garurumon get to the cave and find your crest."
"Okay." Kai said shoving Takumi's arm off of her shoulders and getting to her feet.
Hesitantly she climbed on top of Garurumon's back. "Hold on tight." Garurumon growled as he started toward the line of Frigimon X. Using his powerful hind legs the wolf like digimon jumped over the line and dashed toward the cave. "You okay?"
"A little queasy but I'll live." Kai said.
Carefully Garurumon sped through the cave taking the turns Kai told him to. As they neared the end of the cave Kai noticed that the unnatural blue hue of the cave wasn't present anymore instead the cave was a mix of black and grey. Looking down Kai saw a thick blanket of black mist covering the cave floor. Shudders wrecked through her body at the sound of hard menacing laughter, the source of which she couldn't find. She felt Garurumon shudder and slow to a crawl, the thick blanket of mist was slowing him down.
"Do you smell that?" Garurumon asked.
She inhaled and the scent of both salt and iron blood immediately filled her nostrils. "This is so strange, it's like we've entered a parallel universe where—" She stopped mid-sentence at the sound of groans and moans. "What was that?"
"I don't know but it can't be good." Garurumon said trying to pick up the pace but unable to do so in fact he stopped moving all together. "I can't move Kai, something has a hold of my foot."
Looking down Kai saw that the black mist had risen to the height of where her feet dangled. Her eyes widened to the size of saucers as a very solid hand reached out from the blanket of mist and clamped around her foot. She automatically tried to pull her foot out of its grasp but it held on firmly. Focusing on the sea of black mist, she tried to see past the darkness to find the owner of the hand. She could barely make out a shape of the creatures, they were humanoid in figure, though with longer legs and arms, sprawled across the cave floor, holding hers and Garurumon's feet tightly with no intention of letting go.
"What are those things?" She asked still trying to pull her foot free. The hand grasping her foot tugged and she almost slid off of Garurumon. The groaning and moaning got louder, more of the creatures were staggering and crawling into the cave. "I think we're in the middle of a real life zombie infestation. Garurumon attack!" She shrieked as the hand holding her foot managed to pull her off of her partner and down on to the cave floor.
"Howling Blaster!"
"Do you think they're in trouble?" DJ asked Takumi as they waited for Kai to come out of the cave. "It's been too long."
"You're right but we can't leave here, the Frigimon X would just follow and then we'd all be trapped in a cave with them and whatever it is that's attacking Kai." Takumi said looking at the cave wondering if Kai and Garurumon were okay. He looked over to where Greymon and ExVeemon were fighting off the Frigimon X. Far off in the distance he could see something headed their way. "DJ please tell me you see that too."
Gulping DJ said, "I see it but what is it?" Squinting DJ tried to make out what the figure was but saw that it wasn't alone. "Ah now there's two of them."
"The first one is IceLeomon X and the one that just zoomed past him is called Cyberdramon, they're both ultimate level digimon." Takumi said looking up from his D-Power to his frightened friend.
"We're toast." DJ said looking at their tiring partners. "They're only champion level and already tired from fighting off the Frigimon."
"Greymon, ExVeemon look out!" Takumi yelled.
"Frozen Fury!"
"Nova Blast!"
The two attacks met creating a blanket of steam over the battlefield. Takumi couldn't see Greymon or ExVeemon but he could hear their grunts. DJ tugged on his jacket drawing his attention away from the battle he couldn't see. To his horror Cyberdramon was leaving IceLeomon X to handle them and going straight for the cave.
"If they weren't in trouble before they are now." Takumi said trying to figure out a way to warn Kai about their new friend. Then it hit him; the D-Powers had a communication function. Pushing the correct button combination he was able to bring up the communication screen, he scrolled down to Kai's name and hit the button. "Kai? Please tell me you can hear me." All he heard was static, groaning, growling, more static, and a shriek. "Kai, what's going on? Answer me dammit!"
"She's in trouble." DJ said taking the D-Power from Takumi's hands. "Kai listen a digimon called Cyberdramon entered the cave, he's an ultimate level digimon so watch your backs." With that the communication link was severed. "What do you think they're fighting in there?"
"I don't know but we can't help." Takumi growled punching the ground.
The steam cleared in time for them to see IceLeomon X whack ExVeemon in the gut with its staff and send another of its Frozen Fury attacks at Greymon. Both champions hit the side of the cave and were ganged up on by the Frigimon. ExVeemon kicked some away and Greymon managed to swipe some away with his tail.
"This is the end, any last words." IceLeomon X growled at the two fallen champions.
"How about this, don't mess with our kids!" Davis yelled. "Flamedramon!"
"Fire Rocket!"
"Terra Force!"
"Metal Wolf Claw!"
"They're megas he stands no chance." DJ said looking at his D-Power. "WarGreymon is the final form of Agumon and MetalGarurumon is the same for Gabumon."
"Where's Kai?" Matt asked when the three adults reached the two boys.
"In the cave but—" Takumi answered looking over at the cave and thinking about what they heard over the D-Power. "Something's happened. When we called her over the D-Power there was a lot of static, some groaning and moaning, and she was screaming. Cyberdramon also went into the cave."
"Matt take MetalGarurumon and go help Kai, we got this guy." Tai said pushing his friend forward, not that Matt had plans of staying put while his daughter was in trouble.
Kai stared at the D-Power in disbelief; it had just fired a beam of white light at one of the 'zombies.' Not giving it a second thought she aimed the D-Power at the zombie gripping Garurumon's leg. The 'zombie' howled with pain before withering away. Before she could react another one grabbed her foot and started dragging her across the floor. Using what little strength she had left she kicked at the creature with her free foot, she gasped when her foot went right through the creature. Getting it together she aimed her D-Power at it and watched as it and several others withered away.
Quickly she ran back to Garurumon and freed the rest of his legs. Without hesitation she pulled herself onto his back. "Go now before we're zombie chow!"
He started forward but a hoard of creatures was blocking their exit. "Howling Blaster!" The creatures disintegrated into a wisp of black smoke.
The sound of waves crashing against the shore echoed loudly through the cave as they ran forward.
"I think we just survived the first round of the Zombie Apocalypse." Kai said noticing that the color was back. "Hey we just reentered the world of color." Looking back she saw that there wasn't any sign of their battle against the 'zombies.' "Garurumon is it possible that we entered a different world back there?"
"Yes as to which world I'm not quite sure." Garurumon said.
"Well it has to be one with an ocean or was I just imagining the sound of waves?" Kai asked.
"No I heard them too." Garurumon said.
"Desolation Claw!"
Kai was thrown off of Garurumon's back and after making sure nothing was broken she inched toward Garurumon. "Get to the crest I'll handle him."
"Are you sure?" Kai asked hesitant to leave her already weakened partner alone.
"Go!"
Kai ran the few feet that were left to the crest. She found herself outside in a circular clearing. Directly in front of her was a pool of crystal blue water and at the base of the mountain wall was a circular inlet with a small iceberg protruding from the ground. Carved into the mountain was the symbol that her dad had tattooed on his wrist and that was flashing on the screen of her D-Power. She started forward but someone grabbed her and pulled her against them.
"I didn't think you'd get out of the Dark World." The man whispered into her ear sending shivers down her spine. "I was hoping the Shadows would have done away with you but I suppose it's a good thing they didn't because only you can melt the ice around the crest."
"Let go of me!" She screamed trying to squirm out of the man's hold. He only tightened his grip around her hands and pushed her forward. "How did you even get here the map won't work without—"
"Without a D-Power, well here's a newsflash for you Blondie I have a D-Power and a crest of my own too." He said in a low gravely voice.
"That means you're DigiDestined." Kai said still trying to break out of his grasp. "Who the hell are you?"
"My name is Yuudai." He answered pushing her into the pool of water. "Now be a good girl and get me the crest, if you do that Cyberdramon will make your partner's end swift and painless."
"Why do you want the crest if you have your own?" Kai asked standing up and hoping that she wouldn't get sick.
"The thirteen gates keep the Master imprisoned in the Dark World. The Guardians of the gates hold the thirteen keys, otherwise known as the crests. Now get me the crest of friendship if you want your pathetic excuse for a digimon to meet his end without pain. There's no way he can win against Cyberdramon, he's an ultimate level digimon."
"Metal Wolf Claw!" Cyberdramon flew into the clearing and hit the mountain wall beside the pool.
Kai and Yuudai looked toward the entrance of the clearing. Gabumon and her dad followed his digimon partner in. Her dad spoke to Yuudai, "Meet MetalGarurumon, a mega level digimon."
"Your digimon didn't stand a chance against him." Kai said pointing to the spot where Cyberdramon had fallen, in place of the ultimate level digimon was its in-training form. "He went all the way back to in-training level."
"I will get the crest but for now enjoy your victory." With that said he and his in-training partner disappeared from the clearing.
Kai pulled herself out of the pool and walked over to the iceberg. Looking at it carefully she could see the tag and crest frozen inside. Getting it out of the ice was going to be the problem; Izzy forgot to tell them to bring an icepick. Her D-Power vibrated and after pulling it out of her coat pocket a blue light erupted from the screen and iceberg. When the light faded away the iceberg was gone and lying on the snow-covered ground was her crest, a digi-egg shaped like a flip-flop with a nail going through it, and six white cards. She picked up the crest and cards but just stared at the digi-egg. When she touched the digi-egg it disappeared into her D-Power.
"That's strange." Her dad said. "When we found the digi-egg of friendship I couldn't lift it despite the fact that I had the crest of friendship. The digi-egg belonged to Davis."
"We'll ask Izzy about it." MetalGarurumon said as they rode back through the cave.
The DigiDestined sat around the table in the conference room waiting for Izzy to congratulate them on getting the three crests and explain the digi-egg mystery. When his computer program was up and running he smiled at them all.
"Well I would call today a success, we got the three crests on the map with little to no injury, congratulations everyone. As for the digi-eggs, please direct your attention to the screen." The screen showed a video of Davis, Cody, Yolei, TK, and Kari activating their digi-eggs. "In the past there was only one copy of each digi-egg and only those who carried it could use it but during an accident in which the D-Terminals got mixed up we saw that Veemon, Hawkmon, Armadillomon, Gatomon, Patamon, and Wormmon could use any one of the digi-eggs to armor digivolve."
"So if they have to carry them why do I have the digi-egg of friendship and what's up with the cards?" Kai asked looking down at her D-Power.
"I was getting to that." Izzy said dragging his hand down his face in an exasperated manner. "The one who bares the crest that corresponds with the digi-egg keeps the egg and those whose digimon can armor digivolve get the cards. Kai, DJ come here and lets demonstrate how this works." Kai and DJ got up from their seats and walked up to the front of the large room. Izzy handed DJ one of the cards Kai had found. "Alright Kai take out your D-Power and say 'digi-egg transfer' while pointing it at the card. DJ when a picture of the digi-egg appears on the card swipe it through your D-Power and say 'digi-armor energize.' Go ahead."
The two kids did as instructed and before they knew it Raidramon was standing in the room. When he de-digivolved the card went back to being blank. Izzy told the group that each egg got six cards, that way it could be used by all six digimon had access to the egg not just one.
"Wow that's cool Izzy." Davis said looking at the card DJ held in his hand. "I'm guessing that the symbol on the back tells you which card goes with which egg."
"That's correct." Izzy said distributing the other cards to the kids. "Now go home and get some rest, tomorrow we'll have the locations of three more crests."
Matt looked over at his two kids, who were eating s'mores with their digimon partners atop of a large pile of blankets, then back at the picture in his wallet and the one he'd chosen to replace it. He took the family portrait out and replaced it with a picture of Kai and Raiden sitting on either side of him watching as he strummed the guitar. It was a photo his mother had taken when she joined them on one of their living room campouts.
"Hey dad Gabumon, Tsunomon, and Dorimon are going to finish all of the s'mores if you don't get over here quickly." Kai said laughing at the eating habits of their digimon.
"Hey save me some, I made them." Matt said closing his wallet and making his way over to the living room. "Ah man looks like I'm too late."
"You can always make more." Raiden said.
"Nuh-uh I think you've reached your sugar limit for the day." Matt said laughing at his son's pout. "How about I play you guys a little song?"
"Okay." They all said.
For the first time since Kotone left him he played one of the lullabies they had written for Kai. After getting through the whole song without falter Matt knew that they were going to be okay as a family.
To be continued...
So you found out that Davis' wife's name is Arisu and that he has a niece named Kaede. You also found out that Matt's ex-wife left him when Kai was five and Raiden was one.
So what did you guys think? Did you love it? Hate it? Are you excited for more? Do you want to knows what happens next and what the Dark World is exactly? Please review and you'll get the next chapter.