21: Greetings everyone! I have returned to update once again!
Sponsor: Oh joy...
21: Before I begin, I'd like to address the concerns of one of my readers. Yes I will be straying away from the anime very soon, but I decided that the first several episodes should be the same in order to properly introduce the characters. What this means is that next episode will be similar to the anime's 6th episode, but of course with my own spin (actually, I had originally intended to squish episode's 5 and 6 into one chapter entitled 'Beauty and the Geek', but it didn't work out (hence the Mimi references at the beginning of this chapter)). After that, I will be doing another episode that's similar to the anime, but a little out of order. Once that episode is done, I will begin to diverge from the anime a lot more, so don't worry you'll get to see a lot more of my creativity soon!
George: In the meantime, I happen to think these are coming out well.
21: You may not like me after this episode is done though...
George: Why's that?
21: You'll see...Mr. Sponsor do your thing!
Sponsor: The21stMartian doesn't own Digimon, so please do not sue!
21: and with that, let's roll!
Episode 5: On Thin Ice
"Tai here. Last time, my burns were cured by Magna Antidote procured by George, but since the doctors didn't believe I was fully recovered, I was forbidden from playing soccer. I decided to accompany the others to the Digital World instead where we freed Gotsumon from the Emperor's arena. The next day, we received word that Gabumon had been captured by the Emperor and was guarding a town called Santa Geria. Matt went with the newer Digidestined, much to Davis's consternation. The hostility between him and Matt culminated when Davis sucker punched Matt. As he was about to retaliate, they were captured by the Vegiemon. Just as Veemon was about to get finished off by RedVegiemon, George revealed his ace in the hole, Sobekmon a flying, fighting machine. Together with Halsemon, they freed the town from the Emperor's control by destroying a black obelisk known as a Control Spire. Now it's our mission to take out every last one of those cursed towers in the Digital World!"
The time was 9:30pm Thursday evening. The adventure in Santa Geria had just finished a few hours earlier, but the day wasn't over yet.
"What's going on Izzy?" demanded Matt as he entered the park, the other older Odaiba Digidestined were there (sans Mimi of course).
"I'm not sure," replied Izzy, "this meeting was George's idea."
"…so where is he?" asked Joe.
"That," said Tai sighing "is the million dollar question."
Barely a minute later, the Warrior of Power rounded the nearest corner at a heavy sprint and jumped over some shrubbery. Despite the exercise, he was barely fazed. A red substance was smeared around his mouth and on his shirt.
"…ummm," said Kari, "dare I ask what that red stuff is?"
"Oh," said George wiping it off with his sleeve, "sorry, I was just eating."
"…" said the other Digidestined looking on in disgust. They knew his manners were horrible, but this was worse than they expected.
"Anyways," said a bewildered George as he stared at the horrified faces of his companions, "you're probably wondering why I called this meeting in the first place."
"The thought had crossed our mind," said Matt sarcastically.
"I was thinking about that map Izzy showed us earlier," he began.
"Excuse me," interjected Joe, "but to what map are you referring?"
"Show him Izzy," instructed George, as the boy genius complied.
After Joe was sufficiently filled in, George continued.
"When I first saw the map, I was not quite sure what it is I was seeing, but now I know it's a disaster," he said.
"How so?" asked TK.
"The Emperor controls a lot of vital territories," replied George, "he occupies most of Server, a good chunk of Driver, most of the Islands, with File Island and Upload Island being the two exceptions, and bits of Databank and Hard Drive."
"…so?" asked Matt.
"Where ever we go in the Digital World, the Emperor is in a prime location to ambush us," came George's solemn conclusion, "even if we go to an unoccupied territory."
"Well, we're going to have to fight him sooner or later," said Izzy, "perhaps taking the fight to him would not be such a bad thing."
"The problem is," said George, "he can afford to lose a few territories and still come out on top. He's in a prime position to fully take over the Digital World within a week unless we do something drastic."
"A week is plenty of time," said Tai, "we'll stop him."
"If this was summer and you could afford to spend all day in the Digital World, a week would be fine, but since you can only spend a couple of hours a day in the Digital World…it's insufficient time," replied George grimly.
"…what do we do?" asked Kari.
"For one thing, I'm going back to the Digital World full time starting Sunday," said George, "for another, we'd need to target specific strategic areas within the Emperor's domain to break his position. I'll forward a list of targets to Izzy at the earliest chance I get."
"You're going back to the Digital World?" said Izzy sadly, "but we haven't finished our analysis of the new digivices yet…"
"This takes priority Izzy," said George, "however, I remember the schematics of the device I took apart. I can forward you a set of incomplete blueprints along with the list as a reference for future analyses."
"Here's a question," said Matt, "if this is so important, why are you waiting until Sunday to return?"
"A mutual friend of ours is coming to Japan for a visit. I thought I'd stick around to see her," replied George raising an eyebrow.
"And who would that be?" asked Matt.
"Mimi didn't tell you?" asked George, "I'm astounded!"
"MIMI?!" said the other Digidestined incredulously.
"Yeah," said George, "I took the liberty of zipping her an email to tell her what's been going on. I'm surprised you guys were keeping her out of the loop."
"…how'd you get Mimi's email address?" asked Izzy curiously.
"Ever since she moved to the US we've been hanging out a lot," said George, "I'd come visit her in New York fairly often. It's a short flight, and it helped her to have a friend while she adjusted to our…abnormal culture."
"She never mentioned that to me," said Sora, a little taken aback.
"Perhaps so," said George, "but there was plenty of more important information that you neglected to mention to her."
"All of this is beside the point," said Izzy, "the point being that Mimi will be coming here this weekend."
"How long is she staying for?" asked Joe.
"A few weeks at least," said George shrugging.
"Where will she be staying?" asked Sora.
George looked confused.
"At your house," he said, "that's why I'm at a loss to find you didn't know she's coming."
"My house?!" asked Sora incredulously, "does my mom know about this?"
The redhead picked up her cell phone and dialed home. A few moments later she hung up.
"…she thought Mimi would have told me directly," said Sora.
"…and this is why inter-team communication is important," remarked George flippantly.
After this, the meeting began to break up, with small groups of members discussing Mimi's return and the Digimon Emperor. Izzy cleared his throat.
"I've got one last question," he said as all heads turned to him and silenced, "your instructions explicitly were to not inform the new Digidestined of this meeting, yet they are in a better position to help you take out the Emperor. Why did you insist I didn't invite them?"
George sighed as the Odaiba Digidestined awaited his answer eagerly.
"To be bluntly honest," he began, "they're not ready for the task ahead of them."
There was much whispering after that statement. Most notable was Matt's carrying whisper of "I knew it!"
The fallen warrior raised a hand for silence, and the whispering stopped.
"Today's incident proved to me beyond a shadow of a doubt that they require careful observation…especially Davis," he continued, "He's a loose canon with a short fuse. I cannot entrust them with this task despite their advantage of armor digivolving. Thus it falls to you to keep them in line, which is why I instructed you, Izzy, to not inform them of this assembly."
With that, the former gogglehead adjourned the meeting, and the Odaiba Digidestined wandered home in twos and threes.
Davis tossed and turned. He was fast asleep and having a particularly disturbing nightmare…
He was trapped in an infinitely looping series of events where he was supposed to save the Digidestined from certain doom at the hands of the Digimon Emperor, but he kept failing…let's take a gander into Davis's dream shall we?
"There's the Control Spire," said Davis as he and Veemon saw the black tower in the distance, "let's destroy it!"
The blue bipedal lizard nodded.
"DigiArmor Energize!"
"Veemon Armor Digivolve to—Flamedramon, the Fires of Courage!"
As Flamedramon charged at the dark obelisk, several enslaved digimon appeared out of the ground. They were mostly green with a black skull and crossbones tattooed on one of their shoulder blades and red stripes. Coming out of both their shoulders were curved horns striped red and black. White spikes ran from the top of their heads midway through their tails. Their arms and legs ended in clawed appendages. On one of their horns was a Dark Ring.
"Slamming Tusk!"
The horde of evil digimon attacked Flamedramon, easily defeating him; then they stampeded Davis…
The scene whited out as Davis was overrun by the digimon. George Helltower appeared, and he was angry. He held out Davis's mini computer.
"Oohh look at this," he said sarcastically waving the device around, "I wonder what it does? Perhaps I should have used this thing to contact my friends before I recklessly charged in killing both myself and my digimon partner in the process!"
The Warrior of Power handed the computer back to Davis.
"Try not to screw up next time," he remarked as he pushed the gogglehead backwards. The scene whited out again.
The next thing Davis knew, he was back on the ridge overlooking the Control Spire. This time, however, he pulled out his mini computer and typed an email to his friends. He immediately got a response from George.
"Acknowledged. Will be there in a few minutes. Sit tight until I arrive."
As Davis put the computer away, he noticed Yolei and Cody approaching. To his dismay, TO and Kari were also approaching from the same direction. There was no sign of George, even after the others arrived.
"Well," thought Davis, "we should be able to handle this on our own. After all, George did say once that we need to operate as though he isn't going to be here forever…"
With that he suggested that Digmon rip up the ground exposing any hidden adversaries in the ground, giving them the element of surprise.
After their partners all armor digivolved, Digmon discretely tunneled to the bottom of the ridge and attacked.
"Rock Cracking!"
The ground was ripped up as Digmon's drills cut through the rock. To Davis's surprise, there were no adversaries hidden in the ground. Instead, the Digidestined found themselves under bombardment from the sky as a group of dragon-like digimon descended upon them. Their bodies and tails were blue with a gray scaly underbelly. Their heads were covered in a white skull-like helmet with two horns and surrounded by a feathery orange and yellow mane. Their tails ended in a feathery tip. Their wings were orange and torn in several places. They had Dark Rings encircling their bodies.
"Spinning Needle!"
The surprised armor digimon had no time to react as the attacks descended upon them, instantly ripping through them.
"Well done Davis," shouted an angry Yolei, "you had us concentrating on the ground when really we should have been focusing on the sky!"
The lavender haired girl grabbed the goggleheaded boy and proceeded to pummel him into the next week.
"But, but, but," protested Davis weakly, not even trying to defend himself.
"I hate to interrupt," said Cody, "but they're coming around for another pass, and we're out of digimon."
"Where the hell is George?!" thought Davis as the scene whited out again, revealing an angry George once again.
"When I say 'sit tight' I mean 'sit tight'. I certainly don't mean 'go off and attack on your own'. What kind of imbecile are you anyways?!" he asked.
"Where the hell were you anyways?" demanded Davis, in his mind George was the one whose fault this was, "you said you'd be there in a few minutes, but you never showed up!"
"Did it ever occur to you that I may just have encountered the enemy?" demanded George, "that I might possibly have been slightly delayed?"
Davis meekly shook his head, as George gave him another backwards push.
"This time, try to get it right," he said as the scene whited out again.
As the scene slowly faded in once more, Davis noticed he was holding his mini computer. George's message was displayed on the screen as the goggleheaded boy looked around. There was Yolei, there was Cody, and there were TY and Kari…it was as though the previous situation hadn't occurred at all.
When the other four arrived, Yolei began to twitch impatiently.
"What're we going to do?" she asked, "surely we can take out this lone Spire without George's help."
Davis held up his computer and showed her George's message.
"I really don't think we should do anything without him," cautioned Davis.
"Nonsense!" exclaimed Yolei, "did he not once tell the older Digidestined that he's not always going to be there to cover their backs, and that they need to learn to act independently of him? We should do the same."
"I'm going to have to agree with Davis on this one," said TK, surprising everyone, "George knows what he's doing. He wouldn't tell us to wait without good reason."
Cody and (Davis's stomach gave a lurch) Kari also voiced opinions to agree with his own. Davis was proud of himself.
"Where is he?" asked Yolei after another few moments, "We're wasting time!"
"…it is possible he encountered resistance en route to our location," suggested Cody.
"Well, if he's fallen under attack, we can get the Spire," said Yolei, "the enemies will be swarming him."
"I think we should go help George," said Kari.
"Yeah," said TG, "and even if he is under attack, that doesn't mean there aren't more enemies hiding out by the Spire."
"Well I think we should wait here until he arrives," said Davis, "besides, how're we going to find him?"
After sitting and doing nothing for a few more minutes, Yolei snapped.
"THAT'S IT!" she yelled, "WE'RE GOING TO ATTACK THAT SPIRE!"
Unfortunately, her yelling attracted some unwanted attention from enslaved digimon lurking in the air and on the ground nearby. They attacked…
"Shit," swore Davis as the scene whited out yet again.
"Why do I even bother?" asked George, "you appear too stupid to understand anything. As a matter of fact, you've died three times due to your stupidity, giving the phrase 'too stupid to live' a whole new meaning."
"It's not my fault!" shouted Davis, frustrated by this whole situation, "you told me to wait, and it was Yolei who killed us!"
"First of all," said George, "if I told you to jump off a bridge would you do it?"
"Depends on what's in it for me," said Davis.
George smacked his head, and then regained his composure.
"Second of all," he continued, "while it may have been Yolei who called attention to your position, your decision to do nothing contributed to that incident."
"How the hell can you pin her actions on me?!" demanded Davis.
George sighed.
"In order to be a good leader, one must always think about the condition of one's team mates," replied George calmly, "it was very clear that Ms. Inoue was close to a breakdown well before she actually cracked. You just didn't read the signs very well."
Davis now noticed a device floating aimlessly nearby. George grabbed it.
"Hmmm, I wondered how long it would take you to notice that," he said, "it's called a digivice, say it with me now, Di-gi-vice. I wonder what it does…"
Davis grunted; he didn't like being treated like a baby.
"It helps things digivolve of course," he said smugly.
"So perhaps we can use it to make your brain digivolve into something more useful," suggested George, "that way you would be able to perhaps comprehend that it has other uses. For example…I dunno, maybe it can help you keep track of the locations of other Digidestined. That way, if one of us falls under attack, you can…you know, go help them…instead of just sitting there like a bump on a log!"
"Well why didn't you tell me it could do that?!" demanded Davis.
"Earth to Davis," said George miming a telephone with his hands, "how do you suppose the other Digidestined found you after you sent them that email?"
"Blind luck?" asked Davis stupidly.
George smacked his head again.
"Perhaps you enjoy dying?" he asked, "perhaps I need to add some incentive to keep you alive."
"Uh-oh," thought Davis.
"If you die," continued George, "I will have you sent to Principal Toyama's office…for the rest of eternity!"
"Shit," swore Davis.
"Now then," said George pushing Davis once more, "let's try this again…"
Davis woke up sweating. He checked the clock. It was 4:17am.
"What the hell just happened?" he thought.
The dark gray clouds covered the sky blocking out any and all sunlight that could possibly have gotten through; instead it was snowing heavily. The icy terrain was pure, uninterrupted white…well mostly uninterrupted. A dark obelisk overlooked the frozen plains as several amphibious orange creatures with black spikes across their backs hauled massive iron beams towards an incomplete building several miles away. Several abominable snowmen were hard at work freezing the beams together to form the building's skeleton…this would be the Emperor's newest prison.
The Emperor was watching over the proceedings and whipping his exhausted slaves who dared to slack off; fatigue and the blizzard were no excuse for delays!
The small green insectoid digimon known as Wormmon scuttled over to the Emperor and offered the boy a coat.
"Wear this it's cold," he said in a concerned voice.
"Leave me alone!" shouted the Emperor as he kicked the small digimon backwards. At that moment, one of the orange digimon collapsed of exhaustion.
"Get up!" shouted the Emperor, letting fly with his whip.
Before the leather weapon could connect however, a white digimon with an orange Mohawk, black claws, and purple markings appeared and grabbed it.
"Hey quit it," said the white digimon as the Emperor scowled, "they're all tired and need rest. Maybe someone should use this whip on you, you big bully!"
"Well, well," said the Emperor, "Gomamon, what a surprise. I would have expected you to remain in hiding waiting for the return of your partner…"
At this, the Emperor violently shook his whip and dislodged Gomamon.
"Forget it!" said Gomamon, "how could I hide in safety while you're bullying helpless digimon?"
"You would sacrifice yourself for others?" asked the astounded Emperor.
"Always," said Gomamon, no hesitation was detectable.
The Emperor's eyes widened for a moment until he regained his usual scowl.
"Pointless!" he scoffed, "the only one that anyone should worry about is themselves! Feelings of compassion for others are a weakness that only leads others to exploit it!"
"That may be your opinion," said Gomamon seriously (A/N: can Gomamon even BE serious?! O_O), "but I've never really cared for the opinion of spoiled brats!"
The Emperor growled and issued a command.
"Whoever among you can defeat this creature will receive a special prize package," he said, "the rest will get some lovely parting gifts, so who's up for the challenge?"
The orange digimon growled as they surrounded Gomamon, who looked around worriedly.
"I know all about these Gizamon," boasted the Emperor, "they're amphibious digimon with webbed feet; their fins cut through the water like knives!"
"They won't attack me," said Gomamon, not quite believing what he was saying.
To nobody's surprise, he was wrong. The Gizamon curled themselves into spiky orange spheres and charged at Gomamon, knocking against him several times before the white digimon collapsed in the snow severely injured.
The Emperor smiled.
"That was way too easy," he scoffed.
Wormmon walked in front of him.
"Yeah they defeated him master," he said, "now tell them what they've won!"
"Right," said the Emperor, as he pushed a button on his control panel.
Instantly, several Dark Rings appeared and swarmed the Gizamon. Some tried to hop away, but while they may have been fast in water, they were clumsy on land.
"No need to fret," said the Emperor jovially, "there enough for all of you!"
He glanced at the nearly unconscious Gomamon.
"Even you," he said as a wicked grin made its way across his features.
When the last Gizamon had been captured and enslaved, the Emperor cracked his whip again.
"Now get back to work building the prison!" he ordered as the Gizamon hastened to obey, "let's go Wormmon, Gomamon! I want you to make me a hot chocolate!"
Joe's digivice went berserk. The screen flashed red and it made angry beeping noises. The blue haired medical student looked at it in concern.
"Gomamon," he thought.
He was hanging out with two of his medical student friends just outside of their school, classes were scheduled to begin soon.
"So how 'bout it guys?" asked one of Joe's friends, "you ready for that big anatomy test today?"
"Yeah, I spent the entire night looking in the mirror," replied the other, "how 'bout you Joe?"
"Huh?" said Joe distractedly, "oh, I just remembered that I forgot to remember something. I've got to go!"
With that, he ran off leaving his confused friends wondering where he was off to and what he could possibly have forgotten that would make him ditch the anatomy test.
Another school day had ended, and Davis was heading to the computer lab, when he saw Cody leaving the building.
"Hey Cody!" shouted Davis.
"What?" asked Cody somewhat coldly, he hadn't forgiven Davis for his outburst the other day.
"Where the hell are you going?" demanded Davis.
"Home," said Cody, "I've got kendo practice this afternoon, and unlike you I happen to take my appointments seriously."
"Excuse me if I happen to be a little more concerned about the Digital World than kendo," said Davis sarcastically. (He was a little grouchy from not sleeping well the night before, and he got busted for napping during history class).
"My grandfather is the instructor, and he would be very disappointed if I missed a lesson," replied Cody, "and your concerns are no concerns of mine…"
As Cody left, Davis was fuming, how could one of their own abandon them like this? As he stewed, Kari walked over to him.
"What's the matter Davis? You look like you didn't get much sleep last night," she said.
"Kari, great!" exclaimed Davis happily (sleep deprivation apparently leads to major mood swings), "I was just heading to the computer lab. You coming?"
"Sure, let's go," said Kari.
Within the confines of Davis's mind he was happily fantasizing about him and Kari alone on an adventure in the Digital World. Together, the Emperor wouldn't stand a chance against them!
However, when they got to the computer lab, Davis noticed there were others already there. He silently fumed as he saw TW and Yolei looking at the map from yesterday.
"I just can't win," he though sadly.
"What's going on?" asked Kari, as she walked over to TK and Yolei.
"We're trying to figure out which sector we should free next," replied TK.
"I have a suggestion," came a voice from behind Davis.
The gogglehead turned around and saw George Helltower standing in the doorway. Upon seeing the figment of his nightmares, Davis yelped and ran to the other end of the room.
"What's with him?" asked George innocently, as he raised an eyebrow.
"He didn't get much sleep last night," explained Kari as she glanced at the cowering Davis, "you wouldn't happen to know why, would you?"
"No clue," came the reply.
"You said you had a suggestion as to which sector we should go to next," said Yolei impatiently.
"Ah yes," said George as he enlarged a certain section to the far north of the map and pointed to a black square, "that one."
"Are you sure?" asked Kari, "that's a pretty remote sector and it's deep within the Emperor's territory."
"I'm sure," said George, "rumor has it the Emperor is building a prison facility there. It'll be a decisive strike if we can take out the sector before he can complete it…there's another reason as well."
"What's that?" asked Yolei.
"Gomamon," replied George.
The two armored figures stared at each other through the bars in their men (face protector). One was much shorter than the other and appeared to be catching his breath. As he contemplated what his next move should be, the shorter combatant suddenly imagined Upamon's reaction when the small digimon realized he wasn't coming to the computer lab. The shorter combatant faltered, and the taller combatant shouted "do!" The taller combatant struck knocking the smaller combatant's shinai aside and delivering a decisive blow to his adversary's do (chest protector). The smaller combatant faltered and nearly fell backwards, but barely managed to stay upright.
The taller combatant sighed. "Why don't we take a break?" he suggested in a somewhat gravelly tone.
The two combatants took off their protective armor and sat down on the floor of the dojo.
"What's the matter with you today Cody?" continued the man, "you just don't seem to be concentrating enough."
"I'm sorry grandfather," apologized Cody (for of course, that's who the smaller combatant was).
Cody's grandfather, Chikara Hida, stood up and faced the wall solemnly.
"You haven't lost interest in the martial arts have you?" he asked, "or hanging out with your grandfather?"
"Of course not!" said Cody.
"I can read faces," said Chikara sagely, "your expression tells me that something is troubling you deep inside. Your father acted the same way when he was a boy."
The elder Hida paused for a moment before continuing.
"In my many years of life, I have traveled far, met many people, and experienced much," he said thoughtfully, "but in my entire life I have found only one thing I can count on…"
Cody thought he knew where this was going. It was the one quirk his grandfather had. An obsession, a fascination, a fixation with…
"Prune juice!" finished Chikara Hida, as he pulled a pouch of it from his pack.
Yep. Chikara Hida constantly praised the purple drink and claimed it helped him solve every problem he encountered. Cody was a little confused by this obsession, but, he figured, it was definitely better than George's obsession with beer…and healthier too. That said, Cody still felt that his grandfather went a little overboard when he had decided to decorate the Hida household with banners that read "Prune Juice Sets You Free!" (Coincidentally, his mother agreed and the banners were taken down within a week. They now resided in Chikara's bedroom where they took up all of his wall space.)
"Would you care for a sip Cody?" he asked as he offered his grandson the pouch.
"No thank you grandpa," answered Cody, "I'm afraid this problem is too big even for prune juice."
(A/N: Blasphemy!)
Needless to say, Chikara Hida's curiosity was piqued. Cody carefully chose his words before continuing.
"There are others who are counting on me, and I'm afraid I might let them down," he said.
"I once told your father that people will only rely on you to the extent that you rely on yourself," said the elder Hida, "if you try your hardest, you will never disappoint them."
Cody processed this piece of wisdom for a few moments and realized what he must do. He gathered his kendo equipment and ran from the dojo. As he left the room, he paused.
"Thanks for the advice grandpa," he said, and then he was gone.
Chikara sat back and sighed.
"No problem is too big for prune juice!" he exclaimed as he happily sipped his beverage of choice.
"Who's Gomamon?" asked Yolei.
"The specific Gomamon we're going after is another Odaiba Digidestined's partner," replied George, "my sources have told me he was captured by the Emperor in that sector earlier today…and my sources are usually correct."
"Does Joe know?" asked Kari.
"I believe he's on his way," replied George checking his digivice.
On cue, footsteps could be heard outside of the computer lab.
"Finally!" shouted Upamon, "Cody's here!"
"Cody's not coming," said Davis, "it must be this Joe person."
"Why not?" demanded Upamon, "what've you done with Cody!"
The little yellow blob was hopping up and down in rage.
"He's at kendo practice," said Davis.
"What's kendo?" asked Upamon.
To answer, Davis picked up a magazine, rolled it up, and began bopping the yellow blob with it.
"What'd you hit me for?!" demanded the In-Training digimon.
"You wanted to know what kendo was," said the gogglehead.
Out of the corner of his eye he noticed George flash him a stern expression and he flinched. This little 'exchange' was missed by the others, but Kari noticed.
"There's something going on between those two," she thought, "and I don't like it. Davis is terrified of him."
"Anyone here?" said a voice outside the door.
"Come on in, Joe," said TK.
A tall, lanky, blue haired teenager stepped into the room. He was wearing a white Oxford shirt with a blue blazer and khaki pants. He was carrying his medical bag, as well as a bulging white bag. His black eyes gazed calmly around the room through his glasses as he stepped into the computer lab.
"Hey guys," he said.
"Hey Joe," said TK.
"It's nice to see you again, Joe," said Kari.
"Hey Joe, it's nice to meet you. I'm Yolei," said the lavender haired girl, "you're the doctor right?"
"Well, I'm studying to be a doctor anyways," said Joe.
"Then maybe you can give me a check up sometime" said Yolei flirtatiously.
"Uhhh….." said Joe awkwardly.
Surprisingly, Davis was the one to defuse the awkward situation.
"What's up doc?" he asked, "I'm Davis."
"Yeah," said Joe, "I've heard a lot about you."
The medical student glanced at George, who was pouring over the computer.
"What's the latest news?" he asked somewhat hesitantly.
"Ikkakumon's been spotted in the sector overseeing the prison's construction," replied the Martian Digidestined, "the Emperor's got quite an impressive amount of forces in this sector. This won't be easy, but if we can pull it off we'd disrupt the Emperor's control of this region."
DemiVeemon, who had recovered with a good night's sleep, walked over to Joe. To him, a bulging white bag could mean only one thing.
"Candy," said the little blue critter, as he tried to reach into the bag.
"Whoa there," said Joe, as he lifted the bag higher, "This isn't candy. These are supplies for our trip."
"Good old reliable hasn't failed us yet," said TK fondly, "as usual he's thought of everything."
"Thanks, I think," said Joe.
Gatomon's ears pricked up. She heard something disturbing.
"Someone's coming," she warned.
"Cody!" exclaimed Upamon.
"Couldn't be," said Davis, "I told you he ain't coming!"
"Quick hide!" exclaimed Yolei as the younger Digidestined began to panic.
George and Joe however remained perfectly calm and glanced at their digivices. To neither of their surprise, a yellow dot was moving closer to them.
The door opened to reveal…Cody (A/N: Bet none of you saw that one coming)
"Cody!" exclaimed Upamon as he bounced up and down excitedly, "you made it! You made it! You made it! You made it! You made it! You made it! You made it!"
Cody walked over to the blue haired teenager. Although they hadn't been introduced, Cody had deduced that he was a Digidestined due to the fact that the others weren't freaking out at his presence.
"You have to forgive him," he said to Joe, "he gets a little hyperactive."
"No problem," said Joe, knowingly.
"Hey everyone, the gate's open!" exclaimed Davis.
"Alright let's go!" shouted Yolei with enough enthusiasm to make even Davis look dull.
One bright flash of light later and the Digidestined were in the middle of a frozen plain. A gust of wind blew by just after they arrived that chilled their bones and rustled the needles of the nearby pine trees.
Davis shivered.
"Man, I hate the cold," he exclaimed, but then he had an idea.
"Hey Kari, are you alright? If you're cold maybe we can huddle together for warmth," continued the goggleheaded boy.
Joe, who was standing next to Cody flashed an 'I see what you mean' look over to George, who was keeping himself warm by radiating energy. Cody meanwhile turned towards the medical student and extended his hand.
"We haven't been properly introduced," he began, "my name is—"
He was cut off by Davis, who barged between them to confront the 4th grader.
"I'm freezing my ass off, and here you are introducing yourself," fumed the soccer star, "let's go already!"
"Here," said Joe, handing Cody an orange bag roughly the size of a potato chip bag, "you can use one of these."
The med student handed one to each of the other Digidestined as he explained.
"They're hand warmers."
"Leave it to good old reliable Joe," said Kari happily.
"I watch all the survivor shows," explained Joe, "and I figured it would be cold where we were going, so I packed appropriately."
"Got any binoculars?" asked George.
"Sure thing," said Joe, rummaging around the bag for a bit, and pulling out the binoculars.
"Pass them to Gatomon," instructed George, "she and I will take a look around to get our bearings."
The med student handed the binoculars to Gatomon, who placed them around her neck (Joe had thought to attach a string), and climbed gracefully up a nearby pine tree. She scanned around with the magnifying lenses.
George, meanwhile promptly flew up another pine tree and began looking using a magnification program in his sunglasses. A few moments later, the duo looked at each other and nodded.
"I found the Control Spire," Gatomon called down to the others.
"Where is it?" asked Yolei as the feline jumped down from her perch.
"About 20 miles that away," she said jerking her paw in the general direction of north-northwest.
"I also found the prison," said George, landing back on the ground.
"Where's that?" asked Davis.
"It doesn't matter to you," said George.
"Why not?" demanded Davis.
"Because you're not going there," replied George calmly as another gust of wind blew by causing his trench coat to flap about.
"But—" began Davis.
"None of you are," continued George, "that task lies with me, and me alone."
"Hey!" interjected Crocmon.
"Sorry buddy, me and Crocmon alone," corrected the Warrior of Power.
"Are you sure you don't need help?" asked Kari.
"We'll be fine," replied George, "the main goal is to knock down the Control Spire. If you do that, taking out the prison should be a piece of cake."
"I think someone should go with you," said Cody, "even if you think otherwise."
"I appreciate your concern Cody," said George, "but don't forget, I'm older, wiser, stronger, and more experienced than any of you. There's no need to worry."
"I still think that going in alone is not a good idea. Speaking for those of us who are mature, I'd like to—" began Cody.
At the word 'mature' George glanced at Davis and Yolei and barely concealed the snigger of laughter that forced it's way to the surface. Cody stared at him calmly.
"I believe this is a case of the pot calling the kettle black," said the 4th grader.
"That may be true," said George as he stuck his tongue out, "but I never did say I was more mature than you."
With that, he blew a raspberry, picked up Crocmon, and flew off in a zigzag pattern to avoid being followed.
The younger Digidestined stared after him in a shocked silence.
"He means well, but he's forgotten how to interact with other humans," explained Joe, sighing "that was an unfortunate side effect of being in the Digital World too long."
After another few seconds, the younger Digidestined recovered enough to begin thinking about the task at hand.
"How're we going to cross all of this ice?" asked Kari.
"Did you bring any skates?" asked Yolei, approaching the med student, "we need six pairs."
"Sorry I'm all out," said Joe nervously, unconsciously backing away from the lavender haired girl.
Perhaps it was last night's dreams, but Davis was actually thinking about the bigger picture. He glanced at their surroundings.
"Okay," he thought, "what can we use to our advantage here?"
As his eyes fell on the pine trees, an idea formed in his head.
"Hey Joe!" he exclaimed, "did you bring any rope?"
"Yeah," replied the medical student.
"What've you got in mind?" asked Kari.
"Are you sure it was necessary to leave them all behind?" asked Crocmon from his position in George's arms.
"…the Emperor will probably be guarding that prison," replied George, "and you know what that means."
Crocmon nodded, he understood now.
"I'm not ready for them to know the truth just yet," continued George as he flew onwards towards the prison.
"Claw Chopping!"
"Feather Strike!"
"Vee Head butt!"
"Timber!" yelled Davis as yet another pine tree was felled by the trio of Rookies.
"I think that's enough Davis," said Cody, as he and the others lashed the logs into a decent sized sled.
A few moments later, the sled was complete and the digimon were tied to it.
"What a great sled!" exclaimed Yolei, "I can't believe I'm saying this, but good idea Davis!"
Davis beamed, "now all we have to do is go for a ride," he said.
"Easy for you ta say," drawled Armadillomon, "we're pulling."
"I'm no dog!" said Hawkmon indignantly.
"Come on guys," said Cody, "we're counting on you."
"Okay," said Patamon enthusiastically.
"Now mush!" yelled Davis.
Gatomon, Veemon, and Armadillomon began running on all fours while Hawkmon and Patamon flew overhead, and the Digidestined's sled was on the move…
The Emperor was personally overseeing the construction of his latest prison. He had been so busy, in fact, that he hadn't noticed the intruders…yet. The Gizamon had long since finished hauling the iron support beams, and had begun building the concrete walls.
Wormmon walked over to the tyrant he called 'master' and reported what he'd been told.
"The Digidestined are here master," he said, "they're on their way towards the Control Spire now."
"…so they're here?!" said the Emperor angrily, "how could they have known about the prison so soon?"
The tyrant glanced around. The Gizamon were more than capable of building his prison without supervision, but he would leave some stronger guards…just in case.
"Ikkakumon! Frigimon! Shellmon! Let's go!" ordered the Emperor.
A large white furry quadruped with tusks and a single black horn, several white snowmen with bear-like heads, and a pink creature with a large spiraling spiky conic shell and green tube-like hair lurched after the Emperor as he marched towards the Control Spire with Wormmon tagging along.
Davis whooped as the sled sped over the frozen plains. Despite the Spire being so far away, they were making good time, and not a single adversary had yet tried to stop them.
"Would you mind keeping your voice down Davis?" said Cody irritably, "we'd like to not attract too much attention."
Remembering his nightmare and the subsequent results for the Digidestined, Davis promptly shut up and began thinking.
"It's a good bet the Emperor already knows we're here," he reasoned, "and even if he doesn't know it still won't be easy to take out the Spire."
TK must have been thinking along the same lines because he looked at Joe.
"How much farther to the Spire, Joe?" asked the hat wearing boy.
Joe was sitting at the front of the sled with the binoculars.
"Not far now," replied the blue haired teen.
The sled quickly closed the gap between itself and the Spire as the evil tower loomed up in front of them.
Suddenly, ten snowmen burst out from the snow banks and blocked their access to the obelisk. They each had a Dark Ring attached to their right legs. Furthermore a shaggy white monster with tusks and a single black horn crashed through the ice behind the snowmen; a Dark Ring was clasped around its front right leg as well.
"…Ikkakumon," said Joe sadly.
"Who?" asked Davis.
"Joe's partner," replied Kari.
"Alright you guys fire!" exclaimed Ikkakumon.
Simultaneously, the ten snowmen raised their right hands.
"Who're those?" asked Yolei.
"Frigimon," replied Kari, "watch out for their Subzero Ice Punch!"
"Subzero Ice Punch!" exclaimed the ten snowmen.
A wave of glacial energy burst out from each of their fists and flew towards the Digidestined and their sled. The Digimon faithfully dodged each blast as they zigged and zagged towards the dark tower.
"Harpoon Torpedo!"
Ikkakumon's horn was blasted off his head. The outer shell broke off to reveal a green missile with a red tip, which headed straight for the sled, but once again, the digimon managed to evade the attack.
"What'd we do?" asked Davis, trying to think back to his nightmare and remember the advice George had given him.
The Warriors of Power landed behind a glacier. A few feet away, the Gizamon were working tirelessly to complete the Emperor's new penitentiary. Nearby a river flowed.
"There's the prison," said George, "you know what to do."
"Just head in and trash it," replied Crocmon, "the same ol' plan."
"DigiArmor Energize!"
"Crocmon Armor Digivolve to—Sobekmon, the Steel Soldier of Power!"
As the duo blasted through the mound of ice, the Gizamon were caught off guard.
"Neutron Bullet!"
Carefully aiming with his visor, Sobekmon launched a barrage of bullets at the Gizamon. Six connected with their desired targets and shattered the Dark Rings, the rest missed as the Gizamon regained their senses and hopped out of the way.
As the amphibious beasts curled up and prepared to attack, several creatures burst out from the ice. The average person might mistake these pale blue creatures to be off color Gotsumon, but George and Sobekmon knew better.
"Icemon," thought George, "things just got a lot more complicated…"
"We're Icemon," said the lead creature, "we may look like Gotsumon, but we're Champion level digimon. Don't mess with us or we'll obliterate you with our Iceball Bomb and Ice Strike attacks!"
The Gizamon charged, blitzing George and Sobekmon with their spin dash assaults, but Sobekmon's armor was barely scratched since it was made of ChromeDigizoid. George, on the other hand, retreated into his trench coat. When he emerged, he seemed perfectly unharmed by the assault.
"Iceball Bomb!"
Several frozen spheres were thrown at the Warriors of Power who proceeded to blast them with either a spray of bullets (Sobekmon) or a volley of energy blasts (George) causing several explosions midair. A stray ball rolled across the ground and hit George's foot.
The ball exploded at point blank range.
Joe, who knew a thing or two about Frigimon, came up with a plan of action.
"Try to get us between the Frigimon," he said, "they're slow and probably can't turn fast enough to attack us."
The digimon obeyed, aiming at one of the gaps between the looming Frigimon. Sure enough, they managed to get to the other side without being smoked.
Ikkakumon would not let them get away so easily however.
"Harpoon Torpedo!"
This time, a whole volley of torpedoes was heading towards the Digidestined, but they flew overhead and missed. Instead, the missiles impacted on a nearby snow bank.
"Ha!" yelled Yolei, sticking her tongue out at the shaggy digimon, "missed us!"
Davis tapped her on the shoulder and she turned around. Instantly, her features paled. A massive avalanche was heading straight for them!
The digimon instantly doubled back and ran away from the massive surge of snow as fast as they could. They veered to the left and bolted, skirting the edge of the avalanche.
Suddenly, a river stretched before them blocking their path. The digimon swung the makeshift toboggan around as they once again executed a high-speed U-turn, but the forces of physics would not be denied…as the sled was turning, Cody's inertia kept him moving in the direction the craft had been moving a few seconds beforehand, ergo he fell into the ice cold waters. (A/N: and that, ladies and gentlemen, is why they invented the seatbelt)
"Shit!" swore Davis (again), as he and Joe hauled the sopping 4th grader out of the river's clutches.
When the smoke cleared, George was frozen in a massive block of ice and incapable of moving.
Sobekmon growled as he pulled a red shell out of his belt.
"Shotgun Blaster!"
A massive fireball erupted from the business end of the mechanical reptile's weapon. Not only did this incapacitate the Icemon, it also thawed out George.
The Warrior of Power spluttered and coughed. Although his hair smoked a little and he had soot on his face, it appeared as though he hadn't been hurt.
After a few seconds of shock, George snapped back to reality. Together, he and Sobekmon picked off the last few Gizamon, breaking off all the Dark Rings.
"Whew," said George, who was sweating profusely, "now all we have to do is blow up the building and we're clear. I'm surprised Ken wasn't here…"
As the duo advanced into the skeleton of the incomplete prison, a gigantic lobster-like digimon emerged from the frozen depths of the river and grabbed them.
The Warriors of Power were hauled under water before they even knew what was happening.
The Digimon Emperor was surveying the battlefield in front of his Control Spire through the lenses of his modified sunglasses. As he stood atop his perch on a nearby cliff, he watched the digimon attempt to outrun the avalanche, but in the chaos, he lost sight of his targets.
"Blast!" he exclaimed, "where are they?!"
Cody shivered as he sat by the fire kindled by Joe. After he had been rescued from the river, the Digidestined had retreated into a nearby ice cave. The walls provided some protection from the winds, but it was still cold.
Over the fire, a pot of water was beginning to steam.
"Achoo!" sneezed the half frozen Cody as Joe draped a blanket around him.
"Cody'll be fine," said Joe, as he turned to face the others.
"Good," said Yolei, "then let's go kick some butt!"
"Hold on a second," said Davis, "the Emperor's not fooling around with his security. We need a plan of action before we move in."
Everyone stared at Davis, completely dumbfounded. Finally, Yolei regained her senses enough to speak.
"Wow Davis," she said, "first the sled and now another good idea. Are you on smart pills today or something?"
"Something like that," replied Davis, inwardly shuddering as he recalled his nightmares, something which Kari noticed.
"What did George do to him?" she thought angrily.
As the four sat down near the cave's entrance to come up with a plan, Cody tried to stand up and join them. As soon as he stood up, his knees buckled and he began to collapse. Joe caught him and sat him back down.
"Easy there Cody," said the med student, "you shouldn't be exerting yourself so much."
"But I have to help my friends!" exclaimed the 4th grader.
"You're in no condition to fight. As your medical consultant, it would be irresponsible of me to let you go," replied Joe.
"But how can I be counted on if I can't even help my friends?" asked Cody.
"Is that what this is about?" asked Joe.
Cody nodded.
"Let me tell you something about reliability," began Joe, "back during my original adventure in the Digital World, I was clumsy, awkward, and terrified of everything that moved, but I tried my hardest to help my friends. It wasn't easy, but in the end, they knew I could always be counted on, and I had my place on the team."
"But didn't they make fun of you for being clumsy?" asked Cody, who was listening attentively. He had been taught to always listen to his elders.
"Sure I got my share of flak, but when all was said and done, I was still a Digidestined. To be totally honest everybody was criticized at some point on our adventure, especially Tai. We just kept working together as a team; everybody pitched in with their particular strengths and we covered each other's backs. My particular strength was that I could always be counted on. The others knew I'd try my hardest and would always come through for them…come to think of it, that's why I was given the Crest of Reliability," said Joe.
"…so what you're saying is that if I try my hardest, I can be reliable too?" asked Cody. That's what his grandfather had said, but to hear it from someone who had actually been in the Digital World before began to put his mind at ease.
"Exactly," said Joe nodding.
At the other end of the cave, Davis and the others broke their huddle.
"All right!" said the gogglehead enthusiastically, "let's go knock down that Spire!"
Cody watched sadly as they left on the sled, but he knew he'd only be a liability if he went along with them, so he remained quiet.
The Emperor saw the sled emerge from behind a cliff.
"There they are!" he thought, but something wasn't right.
He looked again…hadn't there been more of them before they disappeared?
This warranted investigation.
The Emperor punched a few buttons on his control panel and linked himself into the Dark Rings on his nearby slaves.
"Ikkakumon, Shellmon, we've got work to do," said the Emperor as he watched the sled coming nearer, "they're up to something."
George and Sobekmon tried to escape the iron grip of the Ebidramon, but his claws just wouldn't budge. As the gigantic crustacean continued to pull them deeper under water, several pairs of glowing eyes appeared as several more Ebidramon converged on the area brandishing their claws.
"This could get messy," thought George desperately.
"Twin Scissors!" shouted the Ebidramon horde.
"I wonder how the others are doing," remarked Cody.
"Are you still worried about letting them down?" asked Joe.
Cody nodded.
"Whenever I felt that way I began to think about the big picture," remarked Joe.
"What do you mean?" asked the 4th grader.
"We're all here for a reason," began the blue haired teen, "there's a big picture going on that none of us can see, so us staying behind is for a reason."
"…but what could that reason be?" asked Cody.
As Joe began to reply, he was cut off by a rumbling that shook the cave.
"Let's get out of here!" said Joe, as he and the others ran towards the exit.
The sight that greeted them was not a pleasant one. The Digimon Emperor himself was standing there next to Ikkakumon with the diminutive Wormmon next to him. The Emperor wore a confident smirk.
"I thought so," said the tyrant, "you thought you could destroy my Spire while I was busy keeping your friends at bay…well you thought wrong! Get them Ikkakumon!"
"Harpoon Torpedo!"
Joe, Cody, and Armadillomon scattered as the missile impacted the top of the cave causing the entrance to collapse.
Joe glanced towards the nearby Spire; it still stood.
"Now I know the reason we needed to stay behind," he said, "so the others can have time to destroy the Spire."
"We need to keep the Emperor busy then," remarked Cody, "and I know just how to t-t-to…Achoo!"
"Aw it appears as though the little one has caught a cold," mocked the Emperor, "Ikkakumon, eliminate them!"
The wooly walrus advanced upon the trio.
"The weak shall perish," he said ominously.
Deep underwater, George and Sobekmon were being slashed and hacked by the claws of the Ebidramon squad. Fortunately for Sobekmon, his armor prevented most of the damage, but he knew that they were running out of time. Even if their assault wasn't hurting him, both he and George would suffocate within minutes if they didn't make it back to the surface, and George didn't have armor covering his entire body like he did. The waters around George were beginning to turn red, as the Ebidramon hacked away at his exposed limbs.
As the Ebidramon continued to slash at his partner, Sobekmon carefully began aiming in pin laser in his helmet.
"I've only got one shot at this," he thought as he gritted his metallic teeth.
He modified his aim, calculated last minute factors, and fired.
As the sled began approaching the Control Spire, it became clear something was amiss. Ikkakumon was nowhere to be seen.
"Alright," said Davis, "we've gotta assume he's hiding or something. Even if he actually isn't being a little overcautious isn't going to hurt."
"Wow," thought Kari, "he's actually coming up with some good ideas today. What in the world did George do to him?"
As they began phase one of the plan, Veemon was cut loose from the sled and armor digivolved. As a fire digimon, Flamedramon stood to do the most damage to the Frigimon.
"Fire Rocket!"
Several elongated fireballs were conjured in the armor digimon's hands, which he promptly threw at the Frigimon. The slow moving Frigimon were unable to dodge as the flames impacted into them.
"Two down," thought Davis, as the sled kept on charging forward towards the looming Spire.
"Harpoon Torpedo!"
Joe grabbed Cody and hit the deck, as the missile sailed overhead. It grazed the hilltop that the cave had been a part of and caused a miniature avalanche.
When Cody emerged from the snow bank, he was completely focused.
"No more fooling around," he said, as he pulled out his digivice, "DigiArmor Energize!"
"Armadillomon Armor Digivolve to—Digmon, the Drill of Knowledge!"
"Even though I heard about it, seeing armor digivolution is still fascinating," said Joe as he admired Digmon.
The Emperor growled.
"Ikkakumon, destroy them!" he shouted.
"Harpoon Torpedo!"
Digmon's eyes widened as he saw that the target of the assault was not him, but rather Cody.
The missile was bearing down on his partner at an alarming speed.
Sobekmon's laser cut through the Dark Ring that encircled the claw of the Ebidramon that held them captive. Instantly, they were let go as the crustacean began to regain his senses. However, the newly freed digimon barely had time to realize his existence before the other Ebidramon tore him to pieces.
Sobekmon, meanwhile charged towards George, who was struggling to remain conscious. Another enslaved Ebidramon grabbed him as he sank further into the cold, merciless depths.
Sobekmon raised his left arm, compartments in his gauntlet opened to reveal a machine gun nozzle hidden in his wrist. Unfortunately, before he could get off a shot, he was grabbed from behind and his arms were pinned down by yet another Ebidramon.
"Shit!" he thought, "I've gotta free George or he'll die!"
Cody paled as the missile approached him. There was no time to escape! He'd be blown to pieces! Suddenly, Digmon jumped between him and the rocket, which instead exploded on the insectoid.
"Don't worry Cody," he said calmly, "I'll always protect you."
"Thanks Digmon," said the 4th grader gratefully.
Ikkakumon wasn't happy that his attack had been foiled. He roared and charged at the duo.
"Hang on lil buddy!" said the living drill, as his inner arms grabbed onto his partner.
Digmon flipped over and aimed his drills at the oncoming walrus.
"Gold Rush!"
Unable to react in time, Ikkakumon stood dumbfounded as the drills slammed into his arm and broke the Dark Ring. Ikkakumon dissolved in a beam of white light. When the light dimmed, a smaller seal-like digimon remained.
"Gomamon!" exclaimed Joe, who ran up and grabbed his partner as Cody and Digmon stood up and confronted the Emperor.
"Joe!" exclaimed the mohawked seal, "it's really you!"
"What day of the week is it?" asked Joe.
"Saturday?" asked Gomamon.
"Actually it's Friday, but you never could get your days straight," sighed Joe.
"Surrender," said Cody, "you are out matched."
The Emperor smirked.
"Am I now?" he asked, as he snapped his fingers.
Instantly, a pink digimon with a spiky shell burst out of the river and grabbed onto Digmon with his green hair.
"You should know by now that I always have a contingency plan. I'm never out of ideas or slaves," boasted the Emperor.
"That's Shellmon!" exclaimed Joe, "watch out for his Aqua Blaster attack. It can corrode solid rock."
"Aqua Blaster!"
Digmon, who had been holding his own in the struggle, was overwhelmed by the jet of water which crashed into him. He lost his footing, and was dragged into the river.
"How long can you pet hold his breath?" said the Emperor.
Sobekmon noticed that, this time, the Ebidramon had been careless in restraining him. True his arms and legs were incapacitated, but his tail hadn't been restrained. He lashed out with it and slammed the Ebidramon holding his partner. Instantly, the crustacean let go, and George, who had regained his wits, began a mad swim to the surface. He broke the surface in record time, and took in a few deep gulps of air before diving back into the depths. This time though, he pulled out a white sword from inside his trench coat. As the Ebidramon came at him, he hacked at their Dark Rings with the sword freeing several of them. As he approached the bottom, he slashed at the Ebidramon holding Sobekmon, and instantly, the duo began swimming back to the surface, blasting anything that got in their way. When they reached the surface, they swam towards the shore, where the battle would be in their favor.
As they climbed onto the icy shore, George blinked blood out of his eyes. His face, hands, and legs were severely slashed up and his hair was matted with blood, but once again, his trench coat was still in pristine condition.
"You alright?" asked Sobekmon, as the two began to hack at the emerging Ebidramon.
"I'll be fine," replied George, gritting his teeth and wincing from the pain, "this trench coat saved my life…"
"Fujinmon gave that coat to you right?" asked Sobekmon, curiously.
"Yeah, he said it's actually made out of a revolutionary armor that's made flexible, but also extremely durable, by micro-weaving the material," replied George.
The two continued to converse casually as the battle continued. At this point, they just needed to last until the Control Spire was toppled. The conversation was mostly to distract George from the pain, as his weakened body continued to fight, despite the blood oozing from his various abrasions.
"Fire Rocket!"
Two more Frigimon were felled as the sled continued to advance. The makeshift toboggan once again slid behind the enslaved snowmen, and Patamon, Gatomon, and Hawkmon Armor digivolved.
"Star Shower!"
"Cat's Eye Beam!"
"Eagle Eye!"
A barrage of white stars and four red laser beams collided with the base of the evil tower making it fall over.
"Timber!" shouted Davis.
"We don't have time to celebrate," remarked TK, "or hadn't you noticed that Ikkakumon isn't here."
"So?" asked Davis, "that only made things easier."
"What he means is that if Ikkakumon isn't here," began Kari.
"…he's attacking Cody," said Davis as the revelation dawned on him.
"Let's double time it back to the cave!" exclaimed Yolei, "Joe and Cody need us!"
Joe turned and saw the Spire fall, but Shellmon still hadn't let go of Digmon, and the digimon's eyes were still glowing red. What was going on here?
The med student turned towards the Emperor, who was furious.
"What?" he exclaimed, "they managed to knock down my Control Spire anyway?!"
He sighed, took a deep breath and continued.
"Ah well," he said regally, "at least I can rid myself of one of you pests before I leave. You may have noticed Shellmon is still under my influence."
"How?" asked Joe.
"We're too close to his dark digivice," replied Cody, "it can relay its power directly to the Dark Ring from this range."
"So you see," said the Emperor, "I still have the upper hand here."
"I don't think so," said Joe, "it's two on one."
"Your math is off, old man," scoffed the Emperor.
Joe shook his head.
"I'm not wrong you are," he said, "Gomamon digivolve!"
Joe's digivice glowed as the transformation took place. Almost instantly, Ikkakumon was back, but this time, his eyes were a friendly blue color.
Ikkakumon dove underwater and rammed Shellmon. This caused the digimon to let go of his captive. Once freed, Digmon climbed onto shore and launched his drills at the Shellmon breaking the Dark Ring.
George and Sobekmon sighed in relief as the Spire was felled. The Ebidramon instantly ceased attacking, and returned to the river.
George smiled at his partner.
"Time to do what we do best," he said, "blow stuff up."
An instant later, the two were flying away (George being supported by Sobekmon) from the prison as an explosion rocked the tundra.
Cody turned towards the Emperor.
"Your Spire is felled, and it sounds like George and Sobekmon have destroyed your prison. I will not ask you again, surrender you vile fiend," he said.
"Never," said the Emperor as he pushed a button on his control panel.
Immediately, he and Wormmon were transported back to base.
Shortly thereafter, the others arrived from the Spire, and stories were exchanged.
"I'm sorry, but the Emperor got away again," concluded Cody, "I failed you."
"What're you talkin' about man?" asked Davis, "you managed to defeat the Emperor while you have a cold. That's pretty amazing dude!"
Ordinarily, Cody would berate Davis for calling him 'dude', but the gogglehead's words actually comforted him for once.
Joe put a hand on Cody's shoulder.
"You see?" asked the med student, "it's just like I said. You tried your best, and now everyone knows they can count on you."
"Thanks Joe," said Cody.
The med student nodded, and turned towards his partner.
"All right Ikkakumon, this region is yours to protect," he said.
"Great," said the shaggy digimon sarcastically, "a frozen wasteland, just what I always wanted…"
"We should probably go find George now," suggested Davis, "and then we can go home."
Using the locator apps on their digivices, the Digidestined found the Warriors of Power within moments of the suggestion. However, they were not prepared for the sight that met their eyes; George Helltower was covered in blood.
"What happened to you?" asked Davis, incredulously.
"The prison was heavily guarded," replied the hybrid simply, "things got rough."
"You'll die of blood loss if you don't get yourself tended to," said Joe, "so let me bandage those gashes up for you and clean you up a bit."
"It's nothing a recharge or two won't fix," said George shaking his head furiously, and backing away from the medical student.
Tiny drops of blood flew out of his hair and landed in the snow, marring the otherwise perfectly white surface.
"Doctor's orders," said Joe firmly, as he pulled out some bandages and disinfectant.
"Joe," said George, stubborn as always, although a hint of panic could be detected in his voice, "I haven't been to a doctor's in millennia, and some how I've managed to survive."
"Sometimes even you need help," said Kari, "it's okay to admit that."
George shook his head once again, and began to take off, but, to everyone's surprise, Sobekmon grabbed him and restrained him while Joe disinfected the wounds and bandaged them.
"All right," said Joe as the last visible wound was cleaned and bandaged, "now let's see what's doing under that coat."
"I'm fine!" yelled George, "there are no more cuts and bruises."
The former gogglehead broke free of his partner's grip and flew off towards the portal home.
"What's with him?" asked Yolei.
"He developed a fear of doctors after visiting a digimon doctor several millennia ago," replied Sobekmon, "it was quite the experience."
Flashback to shortly after George's first adventure in the Digital World
"A-a-achoo!" sneezed George.
"That's some cold you got there," remarked Crocmon.
"Perhaps you should go see a doctor," said Andromon.
"I think you're a-a-a-ACHOO! Right," said George as he shivered uncontrollably, "but where am I going to find a doctor out here?"
"There's one nearby," replied Andromon, "I will take you there."
A few moments later, George was sitting in the waiting room reading a magazine.
"Mr. Helltowermon, the doctor will see you now," said the receptionist.
George walked into the designated room, and a few moments later, a digimon walked in. He appeared to be a very old man with a funny looking staff.
"Whatever is wrong with you, Dr. Jijimon will cure it in no time!" explained the digimon happily.
As he looked at his patient, he was overcome by curiosity.
"Oooh, a human," he said, "I've never treated one before."
With that, the demented doctor began thoroughly investigating this strange creature that had dropped by for a check up.
"Hmmm, yes very interesting," said Jijimon as he investigated.
"Hey," shouted George, "what're you, a-a-a-ACHOO, doing?"
"Ah," said the doctor, "it sounds to me like you have a cold. I know just what to do! A lobotomy should do the trick!"
"Lobotomy?!" said George incredulously as the doctor pulled out a saw.
"Yep," replied Jijimon smiling, "when all else fails, lobotomy always succeeds!"
"But you haven't tried anything else!" protested George as the manic doctor approached with the saw.
At the last moment, George ran out of the way.
"Hey!" shouted the doctor, "sit still or else!"
George continued to dodge the saw as the doctor swung it around.
"That does it!" shouted Jijimon picking up his staff, "Cat Cane!"
The claw at the top of his staff reached out and tried to grab George, but the Warrior of Power was too fast.
From within the waiting room, Crocmon heard several loud noises, explosions, and yelling occurring within the doctor's office.
"Is this a normal occurrence?" he asked the receptionist.
"Oh yes," she replied casually, looking up from her magazine, "Dr. Jijimon often gets carried away with his work."
A few moments later, George ran out of the office. His hair was slightly burned, and his face was smudged with soot.
"I like my brain just the way it is!" he shouted, as he stomped out of the building.
"I take it you're appointment went well?" asked Crocmon sarcastically, following his partner..
"Ironically, George's cold was cured after that," remarked Sobekmon.
The Digidestined stood dumbfounded for a few moments by the revelation.
As usual, Davis was the first to recover.
"We should probably be heading home," he said.
"Right," said Cody, "but first, there's something I need to finish."
"What's that?" asked TK.
The 4th grader turned towards Joe and bowed.
"Hello, my name is Cody," he said.
"He knows who you are!" exclaimed Davis, "what was the point of that?!"
"My grandfather says that next to prune juice manners are the best things a man can have," replied the 4th grader.
When the Digidestined arrived at the portal, they found that George had already returned to the real world.
The TV screen showed that he was just storming out of the computer lab when it turned on. Moments later, the Digidestined were once again in a dog pile on the other side, but DemiCrocmon had managed to avoid the mess.
"How the hell do they do that?!" thought Davis as he was once again on the bottom of the pile.
The Digimon Emperor swore as a whole area of black squares turned white.
"Damn it!" he shouted, "how the hell did they know about my prison?! How did they figure out exactly where to strike?! Was it just a lucky guess? No, that's not possible…they must have a spy somewhere keeping an eye on me."
Wormmon watched sadly, as his master began punching his monitors in frustration. A few moments later, the Digimon Emperor was perfectly calm.
"It doesn't matter," he said, "if they've got an informant I'll just have to be twice as careful. I can still beat those kids!"
With that, he stomped out of his control room and departed the Digital World for the evening.
As the Digidestined watched, several squares surrounding the tundra they had just departed turned white.
"I guess that means the digimon in those sectors managed to knock down the Control Spires," said TK.
Crocmon nodded.
"Before we left the prison, we told the freed digimon that the Emperor's presence in the area would be weakened temporarily after today," he explained, "so they took it upon themselves to take out the remaining Spires in the region."
"Sounds like we're winning!" exclaimed Davis happily, "I'll bet the Digmon Emperor went home crying to his mommy."
"The fight's not over yet," said Kari as she exchanged glances with TK and Joe.
The more experienced Digidestined nodded as they remembered George's presentation from the night before. This battle may have been successful, but the Emperor still had the upper hand.
"Will you come back and fight with us again Joe?" asked Cody, he had appreciated the older Digidestined's presence during their fight today.
"Sure thing," said Joe, "in between exams of course."
The Digidestined laughed as they exited the computer lab.
The computer screen's glow lit up George Helltower's face as he sat on his bed in the Izumi residence. Concern was etched on his features as he silently waited.
"He's late," thought the Warrior of Power.
Narrator: What is George up to, and will the Digidestined be able to prevent the Digimon Emperor from taking over the Digital World? Find out next time on Digimon: Digital Monsters!
George: I'm afraid of doctors?
21: Yep.
George: Huh, didn't expect that one...
21: To be honest, neither did I, but then I got to thinking, what would happen if a human got sick in the Digital World, and there were no other humans around?
George: ...but I'm half digimon too
21: meh, Spock is half human, but his anatomy is that of a Vulcan.
George: I suppose...but still...
21: What about Davis's nightmare, did you like that?
George: Yeah, that was pretty funny. How'd you come up with an idea like that?
21: I was watching an interactive Star Trek game called Star Trek: Borg (I do not own Star Trek, nor anything Star Trek related).
George: I see, someone has too much free time on his hand eh?
21: Eh, not really. I just really like Star Trek...
George: Oh, there's another question from last time you didn't answer.
21: What's that?
George: What was the line, and the anime you were referring to in the previous episode?
21: I won't say yet, but I will give the hint that it involves a young monk who is not very good with slang...
Sponsor: Can we go now?
21 and George: After we eat!
Sponsor: But you just ate five minutes ago!
21: Stop living in the past...
George: You'll never get ahead that way.
(21 and George begin to devour a whole mountain of food...the Sponsor leaves)